My Chaos -

I hate, hate, hated the flooring in the kitchen, dining room and entryway. YUK! The entryway had wooden tiles that were popping off all the time, the dining room had ancient carpet and the kitchen had yellow and brown vynl tile, ala 70's. However, no longer to I have to steer guests away from those areas of embarassment. I now have the most beautiful tile floors instead. They are a natural stone of browns, dark reds and tans. I love, love, love them! Since I had new floors, the wall color would not do, so we stripped the badly painted over wallpaper from one wall. We were supremely surprised to find that it was applied right to the sheetrock, realizing it was the original wallpaper from the builder in 1971. UGH! So a mudding we went (well, Brandon did). We painted the walls, the crownmolding, the bay window, the entryway, floorboards, and these railing thingies that divide the entryway and dining room. It's amazing how different the room looks now. I admit though... I still hav...

It was another first day of school. By now Bryan's an old pro at this. It's still all new for Joshua, although he is so independent and wants to do everything on his own. Bryan took off on his own and I went to Joshua's class with him. His new teacher was very sweet! It is a little sad to know that this is Bryan's last year of elementary school. Hope it's a good one...

August was a busy month. It was full of sleepovers, swimming, Scout activities (including our first time at a Court of Honor), and pre-school start dates. Bryan and I had a nice time just the two of us. We went shopping, got haircuts and went to see a movie. We were getting a fashion show of new school clothes. Joshua and I went to Spaghetti Warehouse, shopping and Build a Bear. That was the biggest meatball ever!! Sleepovers with best buds... Court of Honor. Bryan received his first merit badge for swimming, recognized for the mile swim and received his first rank advancement! Yay Bryan! Yay Cobra Patrol! Instead of camping in the miserable heat, the scouts did lock in. They had a great time climbing, running and playing lazer tag all night. I even managed to stay almost the whole night!!

So... I said I was going to update my blog and I've been wanting to, but I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed. We were busy all summer, but when I try to think about what it is we've been so busy doing, I draw a complete blank. I think I'll have to go back and check out my photos to see why I've not only had no time to update my blog, but no time to just breathe either. Bryan went on a big camping trip for an entire week!! I missed him so much, but was so glad he was having a great time. It helped immensely that the troop leaders recognized how hard it was for some of us moms and sent pictures and emails all week long. He was exhausted when he got home and had no voice, but he was a grinning fool! He loved camp and impressed some of his leaders by signing up for and completing the mile swim. I'm so very proud of him. July also brought my birthday. It was the most fun I'd had on my birthday in a long time. I got to spend time with some really great women d...