August 29, 2012

time warp

Firstly....I'm freezing!!! We did manage to get some summer-like weather in this neck of the woods and by that I mean, it's been sunny and hasn't rained. But we really only had two days of HOT weather. You know, run in the sprinkler, complain about the heat, wearing limited clothing kind of heat. And, during one of those days I got a bodacious sunburn because I decided to live dangerously and wore a tank top. My shoulders haven't seen sunlight in over a decade so they thanked me by turning a lovely shade of barn red. Other than that, I've pretty much worn long pants and sweatshirts this entire summer. For realsies.

Secondly, I seem to have been living in a crazy distortion of time these last few weeks. Days are passing by with speed I can't quite keep track of as my little family goes from one thing to the next. What is even more crazy, when I look at my date book it seems empty. Only, blocks of time are penciled in like when we went camping, and birthday parties happened, and anniversaries flew by, and out-of-state friends/family came to visit, and FOOTBALL. Dear Gawd....Football!!! The new sport that has slowly creeped in and took over. On top of all that, school starts in about a week which makes me jump up for joy and cry in my soup all at the very same time.

I already shared some of July's summer time activities....that month that is all blurry and seems so far away. We had a garage sale, swim lessons, sleep overs, doggie birthdays, antique shopping and camping. All ancient history now.

We hit the ground running in August. So much so, that Mr. Hawthorne and my fourteen year anniversary slipped both our minds. Whoops! We made up for it with a quick grunt at each other the morning of when Mr. Hawthorne went to work and I went back to bed. Watch out all of you newlyweds, that's what fourteen years will do for you...true love I tell ya, true love. It's a beautiful thing.

Before I get too much further off track, the point of this post was one, big picture dump to keep you all abreast of our comings and goings because I'm too lazy to wrap each activity up into cute little posts. So here goes....

One of our mamas from my mom's group came 'home' to visit. It was lovely getting the ole gang back together again, watching our kids play in the river and sharing some laughs.

 
On the hottest PNW day I took the kids and joined some friends on the sound. This next picture might be the exact time frame El Fuego got his gnarly burn as I was standing behind the camera getting mine.
 
 
The girls had much fun and only came home a little tanner. Unfortunately for El Fuego, he inherited my see through skin that only comes in two colors, white or red.


 
Then my bestie flew into town with her family.
 
 
This was the first time our kids had met in person and it was exciting to see them all enjoy each other as much as they did.

 
We spent a day in Seattle together riding the Duck and going to the Space Needle.

 
Then Kelly and her fam drove down to the Oregon coast as I sulked around the house being lonely and bored. So Mr. Hawthorne sent the girls and I down the road as he stayed behind with El Fuego doing guy and football stuff. See there newlyweds...that's what fourteen years will get ya. True love baby, true love! 

 
The girls and my bestie's husband caravanned up the coast in two cars stopping to enjoy the beach and sites. Much fun was had by the two women above. Very much fun!!

 
We rocked Haystack Rock and then we parted ways as bestie and her family had to leave for the airport to fly back to their home in Michigan.
 
The girls and I stayed behind and got ourselves into a wee bit of trouble....


 
No, not really. We crossed off a bucket list of mine checking out the Goonies house and the sites the little sleepy town of Astoria had to offer.



 
Now we are home again and trying to settle into a routine. Getting ready for school to begin and trying not to be depressed about the pending cold and rainy weather.

August 8, 2012

and so it begins


On the day he was born, complete with red goggles and braces, this dude started a new adventure at the ripe age of eleven.

Football!


He hasn't been more happy being made to run drills and wear a million pounds of safety gear.


His work ethic is tremendous and he tries his hardest at everything.


And he hasn't looked more like my little, first born, baby than he does right now.

August 7, 2012

down. set. hut.

It all started around November of 2011. I saw a tv commercial for some clothing company where the people were playing a game of backyard Fall football. They were all done up in their jeans and cable sweaters. For a split second a small, yellow goal post flashed on the screen and I locked on to it like white on rice. I asked Mr. Hawthorne if he saw it. He hadn't. I explained what it was and as the neurons started forming an idea, I rambled my thought process out loud "we should totally make a goal post and have a football party for El Fuego's next birthday!!"


Flash forward, eight months ...

My backyard was transformed into a small football stadium and the boys came for some flag football fun in celebration of El Fuego's eleventh birthday.


My great friend, Julie, put her talents to work once again and whipped out an awesome Greenbay Packers football cake.


We had some grub but mostly the boys just played and played and played.







We did break from some food and cake of course but it was short lived. Boys are crazy beings and need structure to keep them from getting too wackadoo.


It was super party with lots of fun.

I was happy to end our birthday season on a high note.

August 6, 2012

11


Happy Birthday El Fuego!

August 4, 2012

pet parade

Sparky

Forrest

Mae

Dora

Franklin

Rudy

Tony

Lila

Mavis

Odie

Monroe

Max

August 3, 2012

chugga chugga


We took our annual trip to the tracks for photo ops and ice cream.

 

For whatever reason, the kids were super eager to have their pictures taken which was a delight. Even the boy was all smiles. Usually I have to twist a few arms and make a few promises just to get a grin.

 

Even poses people!! Poses!!! I almost fell over when each of the kids kept asking me to snap their images. Over and over again.


Especially the youngest member of the crew....she is all about posing.


And this one!! I swear this dude was all like "like this mom! take one of me like this!" I know. Crazy isn't it?!

I wish they had on cuter outfits or hair was actually brushed, but what the heck. Sometimes you just have to roll with it when the mood strikes.


Choo! Choo!