What You Never Want to See

So I decided to take apart Collin's room downstairs and ready it for painting. He doesn't sleep down there at all. It is pretty far away from the rest of us, and I think that's his primary reason for not sleeping in there. He says he doesn't like sleeping there because it's such a mess.

And that mess is always Jack's fault. Not.

Oh, Collin also hated the fairies on the wall, left over from when Malena had a fairy garden room. I took those off when I realized they were causing a problem. However, taking them off did not make him want to return to his room.

So I'm redecorating. Anyway, we cleared everything out. And found...

A mouse hole. This is actually the picture after we stuffed it full of steel wool.

EEEK! Doug says, "We live in a concrete house, there should never be mice!"

I say, "There's the hole, honey. It tunnels from underneath the house. Go figure that out." I personally think that the foundation wasn't properly sealed to the outer walls. When there is a lot of water around the perimeter of the house (the ground was not properly graded away from the house), it leaks into the house. From the bottom of the wall.

At any rate, I stuffed some steel wool into the hole and put some D-Con in there for good measure. Hopefully that will be the end of the mouse tales.

I did take the opportunity to line the kids up and harangue them on the dangers of eating downstairs, though. All while pointing to that little mouse hole.

Again. EEK!

First Day of School: Jack

Yes, it's time for first graders to go to school. Jack is so excited.

Don't you love the socks-and-sandals action? Yup, that boy takes after his mama.

He got to meet his teacher yesterday, and she gave us a "tour" of their daily walks...to the playground, back in, how to stand in line. Very informative and Jack was just hanging on every word. Even better: she gave him a little baggie of fishes, because he is "of-fish-ially" in first grade.

Cute!

Back to School in July: Collin

Having school start in July is a little like going surfing in December. It can be done, but it just feels a little...out of season.

This is our first year on year-round school, so we're just rolling with the punches. Collin is back to school today, and Jack will be back to school tomorrow (pictures tomorrow to follow, of course)!

He is not wearing a backpack because his shoulders were burned  this weekend while swimming (what do you mean, did I put on sunscreen?). And, in case you're wondering, the shirt says, "Always be yourself / Unless you can be Batman / Then be Batman."

Have a great week!

What's Blooming

This week, there is only one new bloomer: the gladiolus.

The best part about this is that these are the bulbs I refused to dig up last fall. Remember that? If they died, I was going to be sad...but not sad enough to buy bulbs that I have to dig up and overwinter in the garage every year!

Happily, they survived. Somehow, I even ended up with a different color - the original glads were pink and purple, and I had some red this year. Freaky.

Or maybe one of my neighbors gave it to me. Happens on a regular basis, so I can't rule it out.

Anyway, hope you have a very happy week!

California! There We Went!

As kids, we always sang the song "California, Here I Come!" on our way back to California. Obviously we lived in California at the time.

Yes, I am "one of those" Californians. Hopefully someday I'll outlive that epithet, but whatever.

So we returned to California for a week of family, friends and the beach. Family first...I got to spend time with my dad, his wife, two of my sisters (woot!) and several nieces and nephews. Even a great-niece or two. And to prove it, we have pictures:

This is me, my niece Danja and my sister Dustie. My niece-in-law was having her baby shower and we just laughed and laughed...then we did an encore dinner the next night and did our nails. So awesome.

Doug went to his grandma's birthday party - we had to divide and conquer with two family events scheduled on the same night! - and the kids got to hang out with Omi (Doug's mom) and their great-aunts and great-uncles. Here's Bonnie with Omi:

And the boys getting into a wrestling match with their Great-Uncle Bob (Doug's uncle - I also have an Uncle Bob):

The kids also got to go to Papa's work (Doug's dad). The two youngest climbed on the sign and made funny faces:

Jack is doing a karate chop on the left. No idea what Sophia is doing, honestly. The kids also got to go to the beach with their great-grandma:

Apparently, Bonnie had it in her head that we were going to the beach every day. Doug did a good job of making it happen, with the exception of the 4th and 5th of July, when it was going to be packed. We stayed home those days. Here's a few more fun pics from the beach. It is tradition that someone always has to be buried in the sand, right?

This vacation, it was Jack.

He actually begged to have this done more than once, so don't feel sorry for him.

See? Super proud of being covered in sand. So is his sister...

She even had sand on her tongue. Yuck.

Doug also found a fun park for the kids to play in. And all my kids are climbers. Evidence?

There ya go. That's Malena on the apex of that curve.

My favorite moment of the trip, though, was at the beach. The two older girls found a long piece of seaweed that they attempted to jump rope with - it was so long!

Doug and I just got to sit and watch and absorb the peace of the waves. Ahhhh. Then it was back home to a hot house (Doug had turned off the air conditioner completely in our absence) and weeds. Our poor yard was invaded while we were gone.

Between the heat and the weeds, we've been seriously hung over from the vacation. We loved seeing family, though, so that made it worth it. Totally.

What's Blooming

A couple of weeks have gone by since I've done a blooms post, so I thought I'd catch you up. Several flowers are starting to look spent, but there's still a few new ones popping up to take their place.

There is an annual coreopsis that looks a little like my black-eyed susans:

Speaking of black-eyed susans, this lovely "Autumn" variety (also an annual that reseeds itself) has bloomed. It was hiding in my other flowers, so it's probably been in bloom for more than a few weeks - but it's a new sight for me:

The hostas, although burning from the scorching sun, are still blooming:

These are miniature hollyhocks. I planted them this year and they are adorable little things. They don't like to stay still for pictures, though, so I'm afraid this isn't the best view of them:

And finally, the strange plant that I still can't identify. It popped up last year with the wildflowers and I hoped against hope that it would come back. It did, and it brought friends.

Tomorrow I'll share our trip to California - the reason I'm so behind in showing you our flowers!

Family Pictures Revealed!

I know you're just dying to see our family pictures (I certainly was!), so I thought I'd start out the week with them! First, the whole family...

Then the two that started it all:

This picture is so obviously touched-up, it's a little funny. But I love it anyway. Then, the sisters...

And the brothers...

And individual pictures.

Fun, huh? Have a great week!