The view from here. It's refreshing and cheap. And something to do while Sean watches baseball daily to chase the boredom away. And believe it or not, I've even started swimming for exercise. I've swum for three days already and plan to swim today -- that's four days in less than a week, of exercise, from me! Who knew? Well, five if you count my bike ride on Sat. So it looks like this: Thurs.-swim, Fri.-swim, Sat.-bike, Sun.-off, Mon.-swim, Tues.-swim. I usually add in some crunches/ab work, some push-ups and leg lifts. Hoping to lose a few pounds, since summer is half over. Better late than never I guess.

It's summer so that means my kids have POPSICLES on the brain. Well, not only in summer, but summer makes the thoughts of cool, refreshing snacks explode. We don't have an ice-cream man that drives around and sends them into a frenzy running home for money like I did a million years ago when I was a kid. We just have an occasional Mexican guy pushing a cart with a bell when we are a baseball. (don't shoot me and tell me it's a stereotype; it's NOT; it's a true statement)

So I went in search of some popsicle molds just to try to add to the fun of it all (and maybe save some $$ in the process). I love William Sonoma stuff but can't bring myself to pay through the nose (+ shipping) for these cool molds.

I mean REALLY! They are cool and all that but not THAT cool........close to $25, yikes.

Then I came across theses nifty little ones at CVS in the bargin bin for $2! They've tried orange juice, apple juice, strawberry lemonade, and Coca-cola pops so far. Strawberry lemonade is the definite favorite. Maybe we'll try to make some limeade ones. And if I'm feeling really zany I might even buy some Kool-aid mix for them.

Not exactly the cool firecracker (red-white-blue) ones that I used to get from the ice cream truck, but definitely better than the frozen-Kool-aid-in-a-cup-and-flip-over-method my Mom used.

So life continues to throw curveballs our way. I wish I played baseball because maybe I could knock one out of the park by now.

The latest info. is that we aren't moving. At least not immediately. Sigh. The job offer didn't pan out and the story is just too long to explain. Collin will continue on the hamster wheel that is SoCal for now.

Maggie's ears are better but she is still coughing for hours nightly. I'm not a good Mom when it comes to this. I JUST WANT HER TO STOP but it's not that easy. It's just another notch in the stress rope, ya know. And Ian and Amanda are coughing now too; not as bad and it seems like an allergy-thing. I simply don't have the energy to attend another doctor appt. for them to tell me 'it's allergies'.

Fourth of July was filled with good food and friends up at the Faris' house. Eight kids that all get along great. A nap in the hammock for me was a nice bonus.

And the day after -- the topper is that I am living in summer cast-land again.......we dealt with it all last summer with Amanda's arm. Now Sean is sporting a thigh-high cast on his left leg! He loved it for about 10minutes; now he's over it. Thank goodness we have been swimming a ton and hit the beach twice last week b/c now the world has stopped for him. The doc. thinks his knee (osteo condritis desecans) has an 80% chance of healing well on it's own IF he stays off of it. We opted for the cast for four to six weeks because it forces him to stay off of it. I'm not thrilled but I know it is the best for him. We'll still go to the pool but he'll spend his time watching, tossing sink sticks, reading and playing cards with me.

Guess I'm forced to organize, clean, and unpack without the distraction of the beach calling my name.