"Hey Mom...

you know how you kinda dance around and stuff at soccer?  Don't stop cuz I kinda like it."

Emma said to me last night right before we fell asleep.

Comment approval has become necessary...

Seriously, my husband's high school girlfriend from 25 years ago (AND MY BROTHER IN LAW'S PSYCHO GIRLFRIEND) has taken to stalking my blog and leaving unsavory comments - OMG...

MARTHA & VALERIE  - GET A LIFE!!!


Now the rest of you sane people who want to leave a comment about a blog post, picture or scrapbooking project have to get approval before it shows... sorry :(

Sun in Seaside!

I seriously can't believe how gorgeous it is down here, all of the weathermen in Seattle should be fired! They said it would be stormy and high 50's and they could not have been more wrong! I know it sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm not :)

I drove down Friday with Emma and Kennedy, and Deanna and her girls joined us that night. Carl came down the next morning, and then cousin Duane joined us for a lovely dinner and beach bonfire. D and the girls left Sunday morning, and Tracy, Kenton and kellie arrived at 1:00. Carl took the kids golfing while we girls chatted and sat on the deck. We had a fabulous dinner of homemade enchiladas, guac and pico. YUM!

Today we hit the Nike outlet (ka-Ching!$!) and the town, beach bicycle rentals and ice cream. We are all taking a rest before we make spaghetti dinner.  It was an absolutely wonderful visit.  Various pics:

Pitter-Patter... my heart is happy.

We picked up Emma from camp yesterday and my heart immediately swelled with happiness - in more ways than one :)  I could not *wait* to see her and hug her and tell her I missed her (because I really did...), but her heart was swelling with happiness too.  She said she wished she could stay longer, that she couldn't wait to come back next year, and that she made a bajillion new friends!  Pitter patter, pitter patter.  The kids all had a camp t-shirt on, and everyone was signing each other's like a yearbook.  And Emma was pointing out this person, and that person, and this person's brother, and how she gave that one a piggyback ride, and how this young boy hugged her and said he'd miss her.  Pitter patter, pitter patter.  And so many kids had to hug Emma goodbye three times before we left, and it made my heart so happy that they loved her as much as I do, that they could see what a wonderful person she is and how she can light up a room.  Pitter patter, pitter patter.

And as we drove home, hearing all of the activities that she could remember, we stopped for fish and chips at Steamers at the base of the Narrows Bridge on a gorgeous sunny day in the Puget Sound.  And at the table Carl and I listened and watched her smile and our hearts went pitter patter, pitter patter.

The perils of my job...

See this blouse?  It's one of my favorites this summer.  The color and the waviness of the ruffles, perfect for me.

The fact that I fill it out so well?  Not so perfect.

See, I was working at the front counter today - helping all of the nice citizens pay their tickets - and there is a constant vacuum-type wind tunnel up there.  It blows up through the opening of the window (to keep us safe behind the bullet proof glass :O) and in the summer, it's a nice little breeze.  I usually enjoy it.  Today?  Not so much.

This young man came to pay with $20's and starts peeling them off to me, and they blow through and I'm grabbing at them like I was on a game show where they put you in a clear plexiglass box and blow money around wildly!  Sound fun?  Not today.

I was trying to do a good deed and re-ink the date stamp for my coworker's desk that I'm covering today.  Wouldn't that be a nice surprise to come back to on a busy Monday morning?  A fresh, gooey, juicy stamp ready to use?  Yeah.  Well, I  inked it up reaaaaaalllllll good and the pad was sitting right on my counter.  So when I grabbed wildly at all those 20's and bent over to catch one?  Smack dab right on the ruffles.  Damn those protruding ruffles :)

I drove my baby to camp yesterday.

And we both did really well.  I took some pictures of she and her friends, helped her set up her bunk, gave her more kisses than she wanted, and left while she joined a game of dodge ball.  You would not believe the view at this place!  Right on the Sound in a very rural part of our county, they are going to have an amazing time!

And today I already emailed her a CamperGram, and packed up a care package for delivery on Wednesday:

I miss her already and it's only been one day.  Here's looking forward to Saturday morning!!!

CHAMPIONS!

We scored 29 points out of 30 for our bracket, and shut out every team we played!  Not only did we win, but the girls played  V E R Y   W E L L ! ! !  Coach Adam was proud :)