random.

** Things are moving crazy fast at the house. At least it seems fast. Latest estimation right now is that we will be in the first full week in August. The week right before school starts. Of course.

** I have no idea how this would work if school were still in session. I do so many random house related errands nearly every day and make so many trips out there to meet with one person or another. I can't imagine if we were both working every day right now.

** Gretchen has started at a new daycare and is loving it. I love it, too. Katie is so sweet and absolutely someone I would be friends with. Gretchie goes 2 days a week to hold her spot for the school year. It took her a little while to start talking to Katie, but she's starting to see her personality now. And hearing someone say, "If I ever have a daughter, I want her to be just like Gretchen!" is a pretty nice compliment.

** I worked at school for a few hours this week. It felt so good to throw away some of the stuff I held on to last year, not knowing if it was something I would need/want. My storage space there is super limited, so it feels good to get rid of stuff!

** If you ride a motorcycle without a helmet, my 3 year old will call. you. out. She spots 'em every time. "He's not wearing a helmet! He's gonna crack his head open!" The funniest was the other night when we turned the corner and saw a guy wearing one. A little voice yells from the backseat, "Good for him! He's wearing a helmet!" Sophie, Lawson and I couldn't stop laughing.

** I am so not looking forward to running across a snake at the farm someday. Seriously. I'm really not sure what I'll do. Corey and I were hunting through the old barn the other day, looking for wood to use for a fireplace mantle. I think I spent more time looking for snakes than I did searching for wood.

** I am trying to make my laptop more efficient by deleting some of the pictures off of iPhoto. I thought 34,000 might be a bit much. They are all saved on an external hard drive and I've been working on burning them to DVD's, as well. (I can't stand the thought of losing pictures!) Once they are saved in both places, I've started deleting. As of last night (or early this morning, actually...) I'm down to 16,789 photos. And I'm only 1/2 way through 2011.

** Lawson cannot hold anything lately without tossing it in the air and catching it. (Or dropping it, instead of catching it.) Doesn't matter what it is... water bottle, remote, apples, markers.

** I've heard before that 3rd grade boys can be really annoying. I'm starting to believe it.

** 5th grade girl drama can be really annoying, too. How is it possible that I have a 5th grader?!

** My main love language is Words of Affirmation. Corey doesn't really dig that. But he tries sometimes. Sunday morning he says, "Look how pretty you look with your hair like that. You never wear your hair in a ponytail anymore." Um... yeah. Actually, I do. Pretty much every single day. But hey, thanks for noticing.

** I hate shaving my legs. I'm tall, my legs are long, my shower stall is tiny. It's not a good combination. Don't ever look too closely at my legs if you are sitting next to me somewhere. Chances are, it won't be pretty.

** Our 6 foot freezer got left open a crack the other day. Our freezer with over 1/4 of beef in it. (We keep popsicles in there for the kids... who have now all been lectured about making SURE the door is shut all the way!) When Corey discovered it (I was out of town. Of course.) things were still cold and salvageable, but some of the meat had thawed enough to drip bloody yuck all over the shelves. Shelves that were covered in frost/ice because the freezer was working so hard to stay cold. We lost some frozen pizzas and cooked a couple roasts the next day, but it could have been a disaster. The freezer still has lovely chunks of bloody ice in it, but we figure we might as well wait until we move to defrost/clean it.

** If you visit my house sometime in the next month, don't look in the freezer.

** Corey is outside cleaning out the van. He just informed me that it is the last nice vehicle we will ever own. I forget what he told me I get next. Pretty sure it's not the driver's seat that he's complaining about, though. Darn kids.

** We're headed back here for a 4th of July party tonight. The kids are so excited to see their best friends. (Me, too!) I think they've been asking when the party is every hour for the past day and a half.

** Someone might be sulking because they don't have an outfit to wear to the party tonight. And this momma might have an idea for a cute shirt to make. But... because of someone's crabby attitude, this momma is having a hard time getting motivated to make it. Receiving gifts is her love language, though, so I'll find the motivation. I just may need to spend some time away from her first.

** Corey also just informed me that before we go to any party, we need a clean house. So... time to get busy.