Hobby Lobby, that was a cheap shot

Every time I walk into the foyer of Hobby Lobby I am blown away by how good it smells, I literally stand there and breathe it all in a couple of times. Yesterday after walking around and around figuring they had to be selling their 'signature ' scent somewhere I asked a sales Assosciate if they sold it, sure enough she sent me to the aisle with potpourris and candles, told me it was Fall berries (or something like that) I picked up the bag, took a whiff and no nothing like what's in their foyer, I ended up sniffing every bag and every candle and nothing came close so I walked away defeated. On my way out the store Victoria stopped and said "No way, Mom it's AirWick Plug in's " HUH ? Sure enough all along the power strip on the back wall camouflaged by Christmas trees and furniture were Air Wick and Febreeze plug ins. Apparently it must be a special combo that someone has found works well together because there would be an Airwick and Febreeze plugged in next to each other and then about 6 more outlets down would be the same combo.
So now I'm off to Walmart to figure it out, Hobby Lobby, you could make a fortune if you would just come up with your own signature scent, surely you are aware of how many people wak in and exclaim "Man, it smells good in here."

Zoom, zoom, zoom

That's how August felt to me, it just whizzed by before I could say "Summer" and I'll be honest it made me a little sad, sad knowing that after the much anticipated build up to Summer we're almost to the end of it. 6 more weeks and it'll be Fall, I love Fall and all that it brings, but I don't love knowing that we have to say goodbye to the warm temps, close up the pool which brings hours and hours of fun, rake up leaves and start putting on socks again.. BLECH.

So a quick recap of what August meant to us this year.

Reagan turned 8 and instead of having a birthday party this year she opted for a trip to Build a Bear workshop with her best friend, where ironically they built bunnies instead, then it was rides on the roundabout at the Mall just to be silly and lunch at Pizza Hut.

 

We got to spend more fun days at the beach, towards the end most of the tourists had left and we got to enjoy more open spaces without fear of being trampled ... Don't get me wrong I'm not a tourist hater, I certainly appreciate how they boost the economy in this area for several months of the year, it's just nice to be able to enjoy the sand on our feet not kicked in our faces :)

We had some crazy weather, the most extreme all coming in the same week, first we had an earthquake (unheard of for around here) then we had a visit from hurricane Irene and while she was visiting there were tornados cropping up all around us, it was scary to hear about but at the end of the day we came out of it ok, just a lot of tree clean up afterwards and a pier at one of our local beaches took a pretty hard hit.

We experienced some issues with burst water pipes, a broken water pump and over flowing sinks, that has warranted the need to a newly painted kitchen ceiling... any offers ?

Ben still won't co operate when I try to take his picture

And then it was time to go back to school :(

Wonder if September can top all of that, so far she's been pretty calm :)

Kids lunches: How to cut up an Aussie Apple

Stolen in its entirety from here http://designdazzle.blogspot.com/2011/08/kids-lunch-how-to-slice-aussie-apple.html   Maybe stolen is a harsh term, so I'll say borrowed, but this is the most brilliant idea on how to cut up an apple for the kids lunch boxes and not have it turn brown, you have to go check it out.

Just like her Momma

When I was Reagan's age I loved to iron (in fact I still do) Monday was always laundry day for my Mum and every Monday night Mum would take out all of the shirts, blouses and skirts from the pile and let me have at the rest. Yesterday Reagan saw me prepping fabric and asked if she could do the ironing, once she was done she asked "Can I iron all of your fabric from now on ? That was fun"

Yep she's my kid

Whoa

Whereas March came in like a lamb, August came in like a Pride of Lions and then some. The light show we were treated to was quite amazing, the cracks of thunder were sometimes  deafening , the wind was tumultuous as it carried away huge limbs from a couple of trees and yet the rain was soothing and reassuring, telling us that the crops would be watered and the wells replenished.

YES !!!!

"Yes !!!!" That's what my younger two shrieked at me just now, want to know why ?

 Because they've been begging me for the last 3 days for homemade pizza, Thursday Daddy was home and he doesn't care for the wheat crust so that wasn't going to work, Friday Daddy left for 4 days so pizza was promised for dinner Friday night, guess what ? This mom forgot *OOPS* but I redeemed myself and bought them fast food, that is a rare treat and so they forgave me. First thing this morning Reagan reminded me "Remember Ms Heather's pizza for dinner tonight, ok ?"  "Ok, Deal, I promise." We went out to the mall, bought sneakers and flip flops, checked out the new Hobby Lobby *SWOON* and then had to run home for the Comcast man to come and fix our phone, We were all having such a fun time that we forgot lunch so everyone was hungry by the time we got home and I kept hearing "We are having homemade pizza tonight right ? we're STARVING !! " Yes 10,000 times yes, you will have pizza tonight, so with beady eyes watching I measured out the ingredients into the breadmaker pan, once beady eyes were satisfied that they were in fact getting pizza tonight they walked away.. might have been their biggest mistake of the day. I closed the lid to the breadmaker, set it for the dough recipe, walked away knowing that I had 1hr 40mins to sew, 1 hr and 40 mins later the beeper went off, I hurried out to the kitchen, turned off the breadmaker, opened the lid and guess what ? I'd forgotten to add the pan.. FAIL. So another 2 hrs later after their stomachs were beginning to think their throats had been cut I was finally able to pull this from the oven and feed two incredibly hungry yet grateful children.

Half Birthday's and Pool Surfing

Sometimes in order to get a little sanity break and to get things done around here like, I dunno, cleaning and laundry, it's best if I add an extra child into the mix and sometimes that extra child comes in the form of the 7 y/o's best friend in the whole wide world and sometimes that best friend just happens to have her half Birthday on the day of your playdate and that best friend has a big girl crush on your 13 y/o son and he finds it funny and just happens to love little kids and is an awesome baby sitter to his 7 y/o sister and before you know it you have a match made in Heaven. He's a certified baby sitter and has taken a course in water safety, so guess what ? I trust him to be out at the pool keeping watch on his little sister and friend and he just so happens to need some extra cash, Heaven I tell ya. So while I was in the house ( A/C) cleaning and doing laundry they were in the pool having a grand old time, such a good time in fact I had to take a break and take pictures, boogie boards make excellent pool surf boards in case you haven't heard (in case you're wondering, while 'pool surfing' was going on I was out there the whole time )

After spending hours in the pool and then just chilling in the 7 y/o's bedroom it was time to partaay, remember we had a half Birthday to celebrate, so everyone was called down for 'Snack time' Little Miss G was told that she had to cover her eyes before she could see the snack and then SURPRISE !!

I think she was happy :) It was a challenge figuring out how to do 7 1/2 in candles, so we went with 7.6, the . being a raspberry, creative huh ?

Tonight I feel rested and invigorated, amazing what adding an extra child to the mix can do for you, now I'm going to have movie time with my 2 youngest, I need to hear some chatter before I go to bed :)