last little bit of summer

I apologize for the shortage of posts and even moreso of pictures--the camera called it quits this week. I'm thinking it's the battery and went to Walmart (hell) for groceries and stopped by their photo center to pick one up and once the not-so-happy photo guy finally came over and assisted me, he let me know that they didn't carry camera batteries and that I'll need to go to Best Buy or Radio Shack to get them. Since I had two cranky kids, a car full of perishables, and avocado dip to make before the cookout, I haven't had the opportunity to go yet. This week, I promise.

I'm pretty sure my blood pressure rises as soon as I pull in to the Walmart parking lot. I try to avoid the place, but it's sooo convenient with it's 24-hour shopping and stock of everything that exists in the world (except for camera batteries). My patience is thin these days, understandably--two kids under 5 and no husband at home, a recurring ant infestation (where the hell are these things getting in???!!), a dog that's getting out of the fence and getting into everything else, a million things to do and keep up with--agh! Some days I shouldn't be allowed in public.

James did fantastic for his second week of preschool. Everyday he announced proudly that he did not have to go to time out! I guess once was all it took? I've been trying to find fun things for Riley and I to do. It's great getting things done around the house and running errands, but we need some fun too! We went swimming on post with some friends Tuesday. Ran errands Wednesday. Had a playdate at the Columbus Museum in the Transformations room on Thursday morning. I'm so sad I didn't take the kids there sooner! The transformations room is downstairs, free! and they have all these neat little stations set up like, a coloring station with markers, crayons and ink (to make finger prints), a bucket of foam blocks, puppets, a room of chalkboard walls with a bucket of chalk in the middle, a dress up station with a stage and curtain for "performing", a shape room, a reading center, and tons of chairs all over for the mamas--although with so much to do, there was rarely any sitting going on. Riley loved it and was all over the place! The whole time I kept thinking how much James would love it, too.

Friday night, some of the girls from our meetup group went to see "The Help". I read the book last month and fell in love with it, so I've been counting down for our movie night. The sitter came and stayed with the kids, I put on my new Anthro dress, and headed out blaring music and singing obnoxiously like a teenager. The movie was really good, and the group of girls I went with were a great movie-going bunch. I'm pretty sure the old couple in front of us were not happy we were there, but we had a blast. It was a lot longer than I'd thought it was going to be, and I tried so hard not to be a book snob about it, but I couldn't help but miss some major parts they skipped or changed. I won't spoil anything for anyone who hasn't seen it, but I will encourage everyone to read the book, because it clarifies and fills in a lot of holes that the movie left.

Yesterday our group had their end of summer bbq, and it was a hit (the one I made the avocado dip for). They had it at one of the community centers on post and had a ton of food and a bouncy house for the kids. The turn out was big, there were several families there that I hadn't met before. One of my friend's husband graduated this year from OCS and I had a nice, long talk with him about Jason and his experience going through it now. I have to say, after gaining a little insight on the ins and outs (that Jason hadn't shared with me yet), I felt a lot better. In the least it made a lot more sense!

Today was our lazy day, cooking, a little cleaning (not enough to count, really) and a whole lot of nothing. I meant to be more productive, but these stupid ants have found a new entrance to the house and got into the jelly cupboard. Ever since I got back from Tennessee a few weeks back we've had a problem with them. While I was gone a whole bunch came in through a crack in the floorboard in the dining room and got into all the cereal boxes and bread! I killed them, threw out the food, cleaned the mess and got some plastic containers to keep our cereal in from now on. Then I had a box of doughnuts sitting on the counter and came home to find the inside swarmed with them! I didn't even know where they were getting in from! I spent the whole week cleaning and killing and throwing stuff out. I put all the sugar in my canisters in ziploc bags inside them, cleaned everything with Windex (tip from a friend!), everything. Once I got rid of them and started to breathe easy, I saw them swarming the Bisquick box on top of my jelly cupboard. This time it looked like they were coming in near the window, so I sprayed there, but I don't know how much good this'll do. I've had to throw away so much food where it's either had them all over it or been sprayed with ant poison or Windex. It's exhausting and frustrating and endless so I'm finally breaking down and calling the exterminator tomorrow. As much as I love summer, I wish it would start cooling off so we can get rid of these things!!

This coming weekend my in-laws are coming and relief is in sight. We're doing good, but it still gets very overwhelming and breaks are rare, so I'm sooo happy that help is on the way! Callaway is having their hot air balloon festival this weekend and we've been looking forward to it all summer. I'm excited to take them and to even just get something done around the house. I have barely been in my craft/sewing room at all since we moved, except to move stuff around in there and I'd love to be able to work on some projects--or even just get it organized enough to work on some projects! I've also got my hands full planning Riley's upcoming birthday party. I've never gotten to throw a big party for either of my kids, so I'd really like to do it up for them this year. Especially since Daddy's missing them both, I'm hoping it'll help ease the emptiness of him being gone so long.

Again, sorry there aren't any cute pictures of the kids this week, but I promise I'll make up for it!