So I got this new camera....

In case you missed it, I suffered the devastating loss of my new-to-me camera about a month or so ago. It got *ahem* dropped onto the hardwood floor, and although it still sort of worked, it wouldn't focus right and it was really having attitude issues.

So I went shopping the other night. Amazon is now my friend - especially since they gave me a nice little credit limit and I can comparison shop until my heart is content while drinking wine in my jammies ......

....anyway.....

I found what would basically be considered an upgrade to my broken camera. Don't get me wrong - I loved that camera. But, if I had to replace it, I might as well go a little better, right? I went one step up on it and found a refurbished one (with a factory warranty) for about half price, so I ordered it.

Within 3 hours, I had the email that it had already been shipped (this was all on Monday night, by the way). It arrived this morning. And I swear that I didn't tackle the mailman as he approached - although I might have startled him as I ran out the front door in all of my early morning lack-of-sleep-induced-glory.

And whaddya know? The battery was fully charged when I took it out of the box. So I had fun with it.

All. day. long.

Enjoy.

It's here! It's here! I must tear into the package immediately,
even before making my bed!!!

Could it be...... spring???
Aunt Doris's peonies say so.

Heading to a track meet.

Things are starting to turn green - luckily yesterday's snow
went away.

The boys had a little bit of room to play during the
"boring" track meet.

She amazes me. 4th place in high jump this time.

That's my girl.

Look at her go!

Checking out the track meet from above?

Heading home.

Just stuff...

To be totally honest, the past couple of days here have been kind of rough. I kind of took today "off" from the computer and focused on what is important - sleep, spending time with The Dude, going to a track meeting, and then a dinner at church. Although the issues are still present, and are still growing, it was still a decent day. Hopefully we can fix what's wrong and get back to normal soon - or at least as normal as we ever were.

Sunrise this morning - beautiful to look at, but kind of annoying
while driving.

Sarah's very first track meet. Guess who placed first in the high jump?

She's flying!!!

Found a buddy in the grass.

Driving back home.

I still have lots of things on my mind, and lots of things that I want to get out here, but I also have lots of important things that I have to take care of around the house tonight. Maybe tomorrow....

Let the (basketball) chaos begin...

Today started out entirely too early.

Sunrise. As beautiful as they are, I'd like to sleep through
one once in a while.

I had to have the herd up and fed and dressed and out the door by 7:30 in order to get Jared to a basketball clinic - which is the official kickoff for the season for him. This is his first year playing, and he's looking forward to it like crazy - but it was so funny watching him out there because he is TINY compared to the rest of the boys. But, he had fun and at this point, that's all that matters.

The ball really is bouncing - just doesn't look like it!

He gets the "Tongue Out Concentration" from me -
I admit it.

We had to leave him at the clinic so that I could take Emily across the parking lot to the other school for a parent meeting for HER basketball stuff. Her practices haven't started yet, but this was just the typical pre-season stuff that we've sat through more than a few times already. It's going to be insane with both of them playing in the rec league and then Sarah on the school team.....but insanity is my life at this point.

Then we went down the street for Emily to run in a 5K. Originally both of the girls had signed up for it, but Sarah decided at the last minute that she didn't want to do it. I wanted to, but I didn't have anyone to watch the boys so I got to just watch for a change. After the runners took off, we walked around for a while and then stopped at the library to kill some time until Emily got done running.

And they're off!

Jared decided to chase them as they came back through town.

And heading for the finish - in midair.

The weather was gorgeous - windy, but gorgeous. And oh-so-warm too. But, that didn't last.

Uh huh. In November.

Shorts. In November.

Need to tweak your archery skills for the
zombie apocalypse? WalHell has your
practice targets!

After she got done with the race we came back home for a quick lunch, then had to take Alex out to meet up with some of the Scouts to sell some more popcorn. While he was there, we did some quick shopping, then came back home thinking that we had a couple of hours until we had to pick him up again. Instead, we got the call to pick him up early because (1) he "lost his attention span" and (2) it was just too windy to be outside much longer. So we went and grabbed him then came home and I got to watch some football before making supper.

Then baths....then cleanup....then bedtime for kids.




And then the fireworks started outside...

Screen grab from some video that I shot.

Can't see a whole lot in this video, but you can hear the wind. Sort of. It was pretty intense for about 30 minutes or so, but kind of disappointing for someone who loves a good thunderstorm as much as I do.

It's official

My baby.....

....is now a kindergartner. Today was his last day of preschool.

I'm not sure where the time has gone, but it has really gone fast! He's going to be 5 years old in less than a month - and it seems like he was just born yesterday! I usually don't get emotional over the "big milestones" like this, but I'll admit it - it happened today. I don't know if it's because he's my youngest or what, but I've been all sorts of sentimental today.

After all of the kids got home from school and we ate supper, we went to the library for a little bit and then went to the park. The Dude met us there and played for a while before we came home.

After we got home, all of the kids got baths, and somehow managed to save me enough hot water that I could get a shower too - after spending most of the afternoon mowing my yard and my neighbor's yard, I definitely needed one.

Tomorrow's going to be more of the usual, minus taking Daniel back and forth to school, but plus a "carnival" and a concert tomorrow evening. I am so looking forward to summer vacation for the kids - even though there will be more bickering and fighting, at least we won't be running around quite so much. Or if we are, it will be for things that we want to do, not things that we have to do.

Brain dump

I finally went out yesterday and did some walking - first time since I got sick a couple of weeks ago. I think I went about 2.5 miles, and I only walked (no running) but it felt good to get back out there, although I was pretty wiped out by the time that I got back.

While I was out there, I thought about a lot of stuff. A few of the things that I mentioned in this post came back to me. I realized that a couple of the things that I mentioned (namely the Diet Pepsi addiction and the getting finances under control) could be interconnected.

I have a weakness for soda - that's no secret. It's actually a die-hard addiction. I live for my Diet Pepsi. Yes, I smoke too - but not much. I can go for days without a cigarette and think nothing of it, but by God if I don't have my Diet Pepsi, heads will roll. In this town, we also have Sonic Drive-Ins - and if you're not familiar with them, they have "happy hour" every day from 2-4pm and their drinks are half-price. I can't drive past a Sonic without stopping and getting my usual Route-44-Diet-Vanilla-Coke-extra-vanilla-extremely-easy-on-the-ice-please (need the extra vanilla to cover up the Diet Coke taste). Anyway, I started thinking about how much money I've been spending lately by stopping to get a drink every time I go out somewhere - and when I started adding it up in my head, I was really pretty pissed at myself. Add to that my tendency to grab fast food any time I don't feel like cooking, and it started to dawn on me that I have been wasting a lot of money.

I made a pact with myself during that walk yesterday. For the next month - at least - no more fast food. No more stops for drinks while I'm out running around. Significantly reduce the amount of soda that I drink, period. Notice, I did not say NO soda - I know that's totally unrealistic. But I want to see if there's a difference in how much money I have left at the end of the month and see how much of a difference it makes.

It's already been a couple of days since I've had any soda - and I can tell the difference. I've been sleeping so much better already, which for me is never a bad thing. I've been sucking down iced tea and coffee, and have even been trying to do it without my usual sweetener - I figure if I'm going to go healthy, I might as well do it right, right?

So, we'll see if I make it the whole month. I seriously thought that I was going to cave today and get something to drink while I was running all over the countryside to get the older 3 kids to get them to the dentist, but I didn't do it - I resisted the urge. But it wasn't easy. The Dude and I went grocery shopping yesterday, and I got enough stuff that I shouldn't have any reason to stop for any fast food, as long as I stick with the meals that I have planned. The kids are going to complain, but they'll get over it - and it'll be good for them too.

I've also been digging up recipes to make some healthier versions of some of the food that I already make - I just have to be discreet so that the five picky little people in the house don't complain too much. I will admit that I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast this morning with whole wheat flour, and they inhaled them - so there might be hope for all of us yet!

I had also had the goal of doing one race per month every month this year, and I haven't even looked into February ones yet. I know that there was one coming up on February 4th or 5th, but I need to find the info on that and see if I can pull it off or not - if not, I need to find another one and get registered. I just have to get to the point that I can run without my lungs exploding again. I've also gotten myself into a challenge with The Dude and another friend with the 5K on New Years, but I'm going to hold off on releasing the details on that until we nail them down a little bit more. ;)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In other news, the older 3 kids had dentist appointments today. I'm proud to say that all 3 of them had perfect checkups, and handled the appointments much better than I did.

The Dude picked Alex and Daniel up from school for me while I was at the dentist with the other kids...and given the gorgeous weather we had again today, they weren't home when we got home.

So for now, I'm tired of arguing with my computer, so I think I'm going to shut it down for the night and try to get some sleep - trashed kitchen and all. I'll deal with the mess in the morning.

The official start of basketball

Both girls had their first basketball games today.

We started out with our semi-official pre-game breakfast.

Sarah's game was first. The girls played hard, but unfortunately the score didn't show it. It's so hard to get decent pictures in the gym with the fast pace and the fluorescent lighting, but this has got to be one of the best. shots. ever.

Yes, that is Sarah, flying through the air making a killer block.

Final score - not so good.

Alex and Daniel were with me of course. Jared was bouncing around between sitting with me, or his aunt and uncle, or his stepmother.

After Sarah's game was over, we headed about 15 miles up the road to Emily's game. These girls looked phenomenal - especially comparing them to last season! Emily has really toughened up and was out there scrapping it up without fear.

I didn't catch any of her flying blocks on film though. (She's #3)

There really wasn't enough caffeine in the world for this day - or at least for that early in the day with that much chaos.

The kids, again, had fun watching though.

Their final score was much better than Sarah's team's was - and this included a last second at-the-buzzer lucky shot.

After the games were over, the older 3 went with their father for the rest of the weekend and Alex and Daniel and I came home. The Dude came over and we hung out and watched movies for a while, then Alex went with his father for the night.

Tomorrow we have church, and then I have a ton of stuff to do around the house...and might do a little bit of Christmas shopping while I just have Daniel - or maybe I'll wrap the presents that I already have just to get started on that. I do need to officially finish decorating, and get some pictures of that, but we'll see how far I get on that little project!