Lots of nothin'

Truly, not much is new here these last two weeks since my last post. So, there will be lots of odds and ends and random things but I think that's what I do best sometimes.

Seriously, my lack of blogging I think I will blame on Marina Claire. :) I know that that is probably not quite fair but truly, typing one hand is NOT COOL!! She is a little needy at night time and since that is my quiet blogging time, it has suffered greatly. I guess that's better than me blogging and her crying somewhere. :( She continues to change weekly and I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I will have to return to work on Oct. 20th BUT will have 4 weeks vacation to burn after that by the end of the year. (not bad huh) Anyway, I love my job so it makes the transition a little easier at least for me. Hopefully the youngest one will be sleeping even longer periods of time through the night by then.

As for updates with Emma, she is begging me to sign her up for ice skating lessons. She brings home these fliers from school and add that to knowing how to read them and it spells wanting to do everything. I think she has talked me into this one because the price is right and it will be a good and different thing to do. She had her first soccer game a week ago Saturday and they beat "St. Pius" 5 to 1, but seriously who's keeping score (besides Dave.) :) Emma scored two of their goals and was so aggressive it was almost comical. School is going great. This week she told me she learned what "accumulation" "precipitation" "condensation" and "evaporation" meant. Great Emma, now you can teach me. Their school has adopted St. Mary's School in Uganda. They have been raising money by selling Tshirts and have raised enough money to feed all 1100 and some students lunch everyday at school for the whole school year. The kids were so excited and poor Emma wants to send more food because she just can't cope with them only getting a cup of soup for lunch. And, the thought of no McDonald's is a little hard to swallow too. She also asked today if she could send them some shoes because they have to "walk barefoot on rocks to school." (I guess there is a kind side to Emma) (just kidding)

I know I go on and on sometimes but bear with me.....

I took her shoe shopping yesterday for some fall/winter church shoes. Mom and dad watched Marina and Lauren, so the adventure was rather enjoyable for the two of us. I know I have blogged over and over again about Emma's shoe fettish but it truly is an issue for Emma. ANYWAY, the first 3 or 4 places we checked either didn't have her size or "her size" didn't seem to fit at all. Probably on the fourth store I figured out the problem. She was secretly bunching her big toe up so bad that all the shoes seemed way to big for her. She admitted to me that she was doing that but just couldn't tell me why. Well, the reason is, is that dear Emma wanted to drag out the shoe shopping experience as long as she could manage and would be devastated if we found the perfect pair of shoes at the first store. Thank goodness we had some luck at Sears. BUT, when we approached the counter to pay for them, she quickly said, "mom, they kind of pinch my toes." I responded, "TOO BAD, we're buying them." You see, they were NOT pinching her toes but this purchase would mean an end to the shoe shopping. Seriously!!!! I bet if I had three boys, they would totally not care one bit what you brought home for them to wear. Oh well, memories I guess!!

As for Lauren Elizabeth......... her new favorite hobby, which Emma seems to think is SO hilarious is picking up dead spiders in the basement and flushing them down the toilet. Yes, I didn't believe this yesterday, but I witnessed today two times where Emma found dead spiders and Lauren literally came running upon Emma's beckon that she was needed to dispose of the nasty creatures. Sure enough, she bent right down, grabbed the dried up thing and threw it in the toilet. I on the other hand almost gagged and Emma stood back about 7 feet and laughed the entire time saying, "see mom, I told you." GROSS!!! She is totally potty trained now, thank goodness! the only bad thing is that sometimes at 4 or 5 in the morning she wakes up and calls for us to take her to the bathroom. I can't wait for the days where she can do it all herself.

Dave and my work partner and good friend Tom have been in Minnesota since Thursday. (I think there's another excuse for my lack of blogging) Anyway, they both love to fish so I promised the two of them that they could take a long weekend up there and they didn't hesitate to take me up on that. They both have caught good size fish up there and have eaten way too much as we always do in Minnesota. Dave called me while they were on their way up there to tell me that he got pulled over again. (We got pulled over on our way up there in May) :) Darn Cops. :)

They get back tomorrow and all of us girls are excited to have him home. He is missing his girls too (hopefully)

The house is finally looking "homier" inside. We finally got some blinds for the main level and last week I repainted two more bathrooms. Flat paint is so not cool.

We are looking forward to a bridal shower here next weekend, a football party the next weekend? and a family get together in October!

I have rambled on enough and have actually figured out how to hold the baby and type with two hands.

Here are some random pics and a pic of Dave and Tom and their prized fish. :)