Ging and I did a little Geocaching today after school before picking up Daddy. It's the first one we've found with goodies in side of it. It wasn't a hard find, see... 
It's the mailbox on the fence. Easy Peasy, but it was still fun finding the goodies. We traded a Sonic toy for a plastic slinky. Hopefully we find more goody caches soon!
Russ and I have been working on non-stop fun and excitement by building my website and getting this business up and running. I'm taking that wonderful class and tonight was homework night. I'll admit it's still a bit confusing, but it's exciting and fun and I still am loving every second of it. I may look confused, but don't let that fool you into thinking that I'm really not confused, because I am. But it doesn't bother me, because I'm having fun!
Fun! Fun! Fun! But that just how our family rolls. Tonight Chuck and Mom came over for your weekly whatever. It started with The Big Bang Theory...Oh, Sheldon & Leonard, come back from Antartica soon! We miss you!!... Whoa, ok back on track...now we get together for Monday nights to watch movies or another TV show or just dinner. And what's funny is that even though it's just about every Monday night, it's still an unplanned random spur-of-the-moment. This is probably the most random tradition ever in the history of spur-of-the-moment traditions.
Anyway...The boys had a go at Ginger's new hool-a-hoop, convinced they could do it as well as they could when they were younger. This is why Mom and I love Monday nights so much, it's pure never-to-be-found-anywhere-else entertainment!! This is a picture of Chuck workin' the hool-a-hoop. And then there's Ginger schooling Chuck on the proper hool-a-hoop procedural movements. It was great laughs...as usual.
Oh....and look at the pretty mushroom that has still survived the mean kids that walk to shcool and back.
n Ashli, then..., then.... it's a good thing Shay's good at what she does because she did it all day long.
This next picture is Shay getting elbow deep in Ashli's hair. Ashli loves pretty colors and she puts them all in her hair. Shay is amazing and makes Ashli's hair look beautiful, not like some really messed up ones I've seen out there.
Next came Aubrey. She just started the 6th grade and has finally reached the age of dying her hair with her parent's permission. A slow start off with one color, she will have to graduate to the more-than-one color of the rainbow like her Mom, Ashli. Shay turned 
Aubrey from a Sandy Blonde to a Chocolate Brown. I think it looks great on her.
unday afternoon ride through Marymy & Boppy's neighborhood. It was a great day, lots of fun, lots of food, lots of laughs, and lots of hair on the floor.
I love big mushrooms in yards. Some people find them a nuisance, but not me. I gaze at them longingly and wonder if they are as poison as my mom made them out to be. Like I'd be tempted to eat a mushroom!! HA!! But still, I'm scared to touch those silly things, a mushroom might grow under my fingernail or out my ears. I blame my huge dislike of mushrooms because of these large yard mushrooms. If these are so full of poison, then how can I trust them on my plate? Does the plate somehow cleanse the mushrooms of all poisons? Sure, I know, I know...they are a different kind of mushroom. But I'd rather not take my chances.
What a fun day! Ginger was blessed with some money from Uncle Jimmy for school clothes. And she's been saving every little penny she finds for a very long time. She's a great saver, unlike her mother. I need to learn to leave all 17 of my purses at home when I go out with my mom. We could learn a thing or two from a girl who loves purses and hides money in all of them.
Anyway...today is the day we've been waiting for! We got her money together and headed to high-end store, Wal-Mart!! I'm so glad she's into pink clothes and not what label is on the pink clothes! She picked out tons of clothes, new shoes that she of course had to test-run, and a hool-a-hoop. Then she picked up what she's been waiting for!! She could hardly stand it! It's been 
months and it's finally here!! It's the Hannah Montana movie!!! It's a very cute movie and I recommend it, and I've already seen it six times and still not tired of it.
They did a science project that spoke to my child like any chocolaty project would speak to me. They made S'mores...I won't make you guess how like Ginger did with me...They wrapped them up in tinfoil and baked them in the sun. Of course August summers are usually around 110, but this day was a cool 86, which made Ms. Brown question if she would even get to make her scientific point. The kids guessed how long it would take for the chocolate to melt (Ginger guessed right!!) It took 4 minutes. It was a great project and the kids loved it! I'm going to have to remember this one
I started class tonight! Cousin Bruce is an awesome teache
r! It's been a LONG time since I've been in a class. This is a picture of the HUGE book he's having us go through (and the awesome Livescribe Pen Russ is letting me use). And yes, the blue gift bag is a bribe...I mean, a gift. Bruce said I 
would do good in his class if I brought him lasagna instead of an apple. So I did. Hambuger Helper Lasagna...still in the box. He said that's not exactly what he had in mind. I told him he should be more specific next time.
Another photo shoot today! Gosh I love these days!! We headed to Downtown Tulsa! I found a secret place that I'm sure no one has ever found before and I'm not telling you where it is. I'll post a picture of Josh soon to show the handsome hockey fella I shot.
There is an old screen door leaning against a house in our neighborhood that I REALLY REALLY want. Russ keeps reminding me that it's wrong to steal. So today, I took a picture of it...that's as close to stealing as it'll ever get with me. I started walking today. One because I need to be in better shape to go through a pregnancy, I want to look HOT for my hubby, and for what I saw on TV this morning. A woman my age was 50 pounds heavier than me and had lost 80 pounds. When she reached the 80 pound mark (which is 30 pounds less than me for those mathematically challenged) had a heart attack. They told her if she hadn't had lost that 80 pounds, it would have killed her. I put on my walking shoes and got out the door. Lesson learned...keep walking and get better walking shoes.
My dear dear friend Tina likes to babysit me sometimes while Ginger plays with her Dad. Today Tina did a "Tinacure" on my nails. It's a fun girly time to goof off, for not a whole lot of money. Later that night Tina came over and we made a late night run to Bueno and I mentioned there was a Cache "over there". She had never Geocached before and she just 
couldn't resist it. I've looked for this one four times and still haven't found it. If she would have found it, it would have made a great blog story. But she didn't, and I love the picture of her searching by headlight at midnight.
n my way home after the movie I tried AGAIN to find a geocache that I haven't found in the three times already. I would give up, but I can't let it win. It's somewhere here, it has to be! I finally gave up, but not forever, and headed home. But then there was a little bug (the car type) and it was stuck on the curb, an island type curb, and it must have done some serious damage un
der there because all sorts of stuff was leaking out from under it. It was full of teenage girls and I'm sorry, it gave me the giggles. That was rude to laugh, but I could help it. And it is just like something I would do. Thankfully, Stefan (STEFF-AWWN) is tall enough not to get stuck. 
Friday! Friday! Friday! And I'm exhausted!! But oh so addicted to this stupid little Roller Coaster Game on Facebook. I grab my computer when I get home and put my little people to work. I even went as far as logging on to Russ' profile and setting up him a Roller Coaster park just so "he" could send me gifts to help my game. Ginger loves this game too. It has become a family time of playing together. But I'm not sure if me on Russ' profile sending gifts to my profile is considered time together. But he's on the couch next to me and Ging, but he's hooked on his own game right now, Lemonade Tycoon.
Another successful day at school for Ginger. Day 2 was just as fun as day 1, although she has to wear different shoes for PE. That was a bummer, but easily fixed. Bunko 
was tonight. I didn't think I was going to be able to go because of a photo shoot I had scheduled, but it was postponed till next week. So off to Beach Bash Bunko at Laurie's! What fun! Shawna 
went too, she is becoming quite a regular Bunko player. She and "Paisley" didn't win, but I think they had a great time. I won a traveling prize, a really cute tote bag
that's pink plaid. And NO Joy, you still can't have it. I like pink too. 
1) Laurie and her "Beach Bunko Poof" and Me. 2) Tiffany and Me 3) Joy & Laurie 4) Shawna & Me in our glorious beautiness 5) Shawna & Me again 6) Shawna and her prize for not winning a prize. It's a Hawaiian fire dancer and i
t moves. It's all one piece, so the picture and the plastic frame really make it economical, which is priority in these times. It's awesome.
sizing up all the parents to see if they can predict who is going to be their "trouble parents". 
I went to pick up Ginger from Papa's house this morning and look what we found in Papa's backyard. It looks like there was a small tornado that got a little too close. We had HUGE storms last night, and things like this make me go, "Hmmmmm..." A dead tree got knocked over, no big deal, that's easy with regular Oklahoma winds. But 2 very much alive trees were ripped in two and twisted.
Also, the tall grass and reeds around their pond was flattened on one side, and standing straight up on the other. I feel like a weather forensic. Is there such a thing?
Ginger is spending one last day with me at work before going back to school tomorrow. She figured out how to open my Excedrin bottle. Then I thought, "What genius' don't write the instructions on the top of the lid? These brainiacs actually had a picture on top of how to get it open." I'm sure by now that my kid could read the directions and figure it out, but any 3 year old could look at the picture and get it figured out. After taking a picture, I hid the pill bottle, she was a little too proud of herself for opening. 
Then she was "bored again". So out came her engineering little mind at work. She found two little race cars from Sonic buried in my desk drawers. (In case you are ever at my office and bored, you "should" be able to entertain yourself for weeks with everything in my drawers...unless of course you are an 8 year old). Ok...so she found two cars, found two big rubber bands and strapped them to the bottom of her feet. She was proud that she made "Roller Skates". She was disappointed that they didn't go as fast as real roller skates. In fact, they didn't go at all. Then somehow, it was my fault that she fell and bumped her knee. No worries, there was no blood, but a band-aid was required anyway. 
After work, Ginger reminded me that she wanted to get her haircut before school started. Well, in my head now I'm counting down until this little hyper one goes to bed and the first day of school is tomorrow!! We're at T minus 2 hours. We ran to Wal-Mart and waited i
n line with all the other procrastinators getting their kid's head's shaved. Ging loves getting her hair cut. But she has patiently grown out her 1st grade hair cut for 2 years so she could have long braids. I reminded her of this because I wanted her decision to be well-informed before getting about 9 inches cut off. She said, "Yeah, but I did that now." So she grew it out to make long braids, and now she's done with that. But I love her new hair cut! It suits her perfectly! She looks a lot less like a baby and more like a 3rd grader. She loves it.
So that was the end of the day. Just spaghetti (she got to choose dinner), label her school supplies, and then to bed. I thought, "Wow! I have too many pictures AGAIN!" But it didn't stop there! About 9pm tonight I heard a large truck going up and down the street. Not unusual, it's a thru street. But then it stopped in front of our house and was being and banging around. Again, not unusual. It sounded like someones car was being towed, it's happened before next door...a couple of times. And across the street are some elde
rly wonderful people, and ambulances have come a couple of times. Of course I didn't see any red flashing lights, so I new it 
wasn't firetrucks blocking off our street again for a drug bust or catching crooks. Finally at about and did see some bright lights. So I put down 9:45pm we still heard the engine of the truck the Roller Coaster game (my new addiction on Facebook) and went to check it out. It was Channel 2!! They were doing a segment on the 10pm news right in front of my house!! The news really loves me! We live down the street from an elementary school and there is a school speed limit sign across the street from our house. They were reminding everyone to slow down and fines double in school zones. School starts tomorrow!!
Today was Meet the Teacher Day at Ginger's school! Ginger was in the building less than 32 1/2 seconds until she ran into tons of friends and the hugging started. Russ and I loved watching all the little girls group together and figure out who was in whose class. Ginger has several of her best friends in her class this year. It's going to be a great year! Poor Mrs. Brown, she's going to have her hands full with that group of girls. They are all great girls with excellent manners, they won't be any trouble. I do suspect they will be working on their "Social Skills" as much as they were last year though. This is a picture of Ginger and Elizabeth who were so excited to see each other and jumped up and down when they learned they were in the same class. This is also a picture of Ginger with Mrs. Brown, in he
r seat that she got to pick out. 
After church and meeting Ginger's dad for lunch, guess what we did? Yep! We went and worked on the Tulsa house. Not for long though, 
we actually ran out of mud. We used up that whole huge bucket of mud...that I oh so just wanted to stick my whole arm in to. You know how sometimes you feel like you just want to stick both arms in a huge barrel of butterscotch pudding up to your chest just to feel what it feels like? Totally natural right?
Tina into coming over to the Tulsa house and mudding. HAHAHA!! Actually, Tina is awesome helper and is always willing to lend a hand to where one is needed. 
She's awesome. 
