yes i'm here .. kinda of ..

where have i been you ask .. well .. i have been buried under vacation laundry and i have been at work .. like on time .. or pretty close to on time for the last few days .. 

we got home from florida late thursday night .. i managed to get the suitcases in the house and opened .. i had to dig thru and find ellie's homework .. she had school on friday ..

got up on friday morning and woke up two totally and completely exhausted children .. wake up wake up i said .. we all have to get moving this morning ..

ellie was going back to school .. it was cash's first day .. i had a early meeting at school and then off to work .. jeff had to be in tulsa for a boat show and mike was gone which meant that we were short handed at work .. which really means that i was going to be the service department ..

i know .. so funny !!!

jeff worked in tulsa all weekend long .. mike was gone all weekend and i was the service department all weekend long .. 

and now .. now that mike is back .. the boat show is over and jeff is back  .. we have rested up from our trip and my laundry is done .. i finally feel like my head is above water ..

and now .. my mom is gone ..

gone for 2 weeks .. 

and now .. i am back under water .. 

send oreos please 

Carry on's

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Carry on luggage

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

our day at the beach

we stopped by the surf shop yesterday morning to check on surfing lessons and surf boards .. for some reason we were going to purchase a surf and carry on it onto the airplane after we surfed ..

thank goodness the surfing lessons were all booked up .. 

so instead we bought a skimmer board ..

you throw a skimmer board onto the edge of the water and then run along side of it and then jump on and skim along the top of the water .. sounds pretty easy right ?

cash got a body board and ellie and her skimmer board ..

first you have to wax your skimmer board .. that way your feet will stick to it when you jump on it ..

while ellie was waxing jeff tried out cash's body board ..

ok babe .. i am going to throw this into the water .. you then run along and jump on it .. 

she tried all afternoon long .. i have about 206 pictures .. we are going to work on it a little more today .. i will keep you posted !

cash played in the sand .. 

and body boarded "his" way .. 

and me .. i sat in my rented chair and took pictures .. all afternoon .. 

Surfing !!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

bing .. out of office auto reply ..

today our morning started in the airport .. having breakfast ..

and we will be here the rest of the week ..

beach time .. sand castles .. bike riding and surf lessons are on our agenda .. 

just hoping that silly tropical depression irene doesn't ruin our plans !!

oh baby .. i think i will need a new dress !

i stopped by and checked on the bqbird on my way thru tulsa the other day .. before i show you just now pretty she looks now .. i thought you might want to remember how sad she looked before we started the whole beautify process .. you restore old cars ... you beautify bqbirds .. just wanted to make sure you knew that !!

now .. for the beautified version ..

they were able to find the same kind of fun fabric for the trunk ..

she is all painted ..

new door panels ..

new front seats .. 

new back seats ..

new pretty headliner .. 

the best part is that she doesn't smell like mold anymore .. and i am pretty sure that there are no more little mice families living in her .. 

just a few more things to do and we will be all done .. 

so close my friends ... so close .. 

and now .. just what will i wear on date night when we take her out for the first time .. 

i am thinking a new long skinny lbd and elbow length white gloves .. 

a classy look for a classy car ... 

babe babe wake up .. ellie has school today !

my first day of school starts like this .. 

babe .. poke poke in the ribs .. babe babe .. jeff says .. ellie starts school today .. poke poke in the ribs .. you better get up .. i roll over and look at the clock .. jeff it's 6:30 .. we don't have to get up yet .. oh .. he says .. i didn't want her to be late .. 

concern .. at 6:30 .. ugh .. 

instead of going ahead and getting up and running my miles .. i rolled over and went back to sleep for an hour .. it is the first day of 3rd grade and i can do that .. 

after breakfast .. getting dressed and packing her lunch .. and the most fun part of our morning .. waking up not so mr happy cash .. ellie had to bribe him with a trip to jones hardware .. actually the conversation went like this .. 

cash get up .. i'm going to be late ..

i don't want to get up ..

cash please get up .. 

NO 

mom will take you to jones hardware and you can get a new tool

OK !

no cash .. you can't wear that .. that is way to much camouflage .. you don't match at all

humph .. ellie says .. and then hollars .. mom .. cash so does not match .. what will all the girls say ..

cash was then forced to change into a better first day of 3rd grade outfit ..

i reminded ellie that he could just wear his pj's and sparkly flip flops instead ..

after all the fashion drama .. we headed up the hill for our first day of 3rd grade picture with grandpa .. 

and then picked up granny and headed to school ..

cash is going to miss ellie today .. he and i will come home and have the house to ourselves .. he will ask about 19 times .. can we go get ellie yet .. 

ellie .. i don't think she is going to miss us much .. 

all right mom .. can we go in now ..

her classroom smells like fresh wax .. notebook paper .. pencils and crayons .. i love that smell .. it makes me think of fresh scrubbed little kids .. all wiggly and nervous sitting at their little desks waiting for the first day of school to start .. 

i had to stand still for just a moment and take it in .. 

just in case you need to know how to fill out your paper .. 

jobs .. 

ellie is the librarian .. she is perfect for that .. i hope that she just doesn't reorganize mrs. byrds library the way that she thinks it should be .. 

the reading corner .. cash settled himself right into the big green chair ..

look at all the fun stuff .. all nicely stacked and organized and ready to go .. 

just in case ellie forgets where she sits .. 

cubbies for all the essentials .. crayons .. pencils .. glue .. 

granny .. cash and i picked ellie and kinzee up at 3:25 .. 

ellie is a little upset with mrs. byrd because she did not send home any homework .. poor mrs. byrd was having to explain herself already .. 

ellie the binders just aren't ready yet .. 

i told mrs. byrd not to worry her little most wonderful teacher self one minute .. i have plenty of math sheets .. spelling and multiplication facts at home that we can work on .. 

no problem .. 

so we came home from school and did homework .. after we played american girls and bitty baby go to paris to swim at the beach .. 

i know .. maybe i should start with geography .. last time i checked there was no beach in paris .. 

anyway .. homework tonight ..

because it is 3rd grade after all ...

labeled and ready to meet the teacher ..

after the late night labeling session we had we were all ready to meet Mrs. Byrd this morning and drop off all of our supplies .. 

we picked up kinzee and took her with us .. after all we are in 3rd grade now  .. 

and of course daddy ,, granny and cash went to .. it is 3rd grade after all ..

and 3rd grade means lockers .. LOCKERS my friends .. not cubbies .. still trying to get over this .. both girls of course picked top lockers .. no .. they are not quite tall enough to open them and they for sure can't reach the hook at the top to hang up their coats .. but .. doesn't matter .. they are in the 3rd grade now so a top locker it is .. i told them the story of how i always had a bottom locker .. never failed .. all 4 years at bishop kelley and i NEVER had a top locker .. and yes i am still worked up and upset about it .. well .. my junior year john lang had his jaw broken in a football game .. he had his jaw wired shut .. which means that he could not open his mouth to chew ... which meant that his mom put his lunch into a blender every morning and then poured his lunch into a giant cup with a straw so he could drink it .. one day it tipped over in his locker .. which was on top .. and drained down into my locker which was on bottom .. yuck yuck yuck is all i can say !!

so .. pick a top locker whenever you can ..whether you can reach it or not .. who cares .. at least you won't have someone else's lunch drain down all over your stuff ..

the 3rd graders and mrs. byrd .. i don't know who is more excited .. the girls .. or mrs. byrd 

and just like that .. she is now a 3rd grader .. 

make it stop someone .. please ..