Just laugh!

….or maybe cry!!   That’s what our neighbors probably do when they see the front yard after a toddler swim party – haha!

 
Note the clothes, diapers, toys, towels and pool paraphenalia!

How did it get way?  Just like this…….

                                           
And incase you are curious…YES…I did leave it like this for several hours!  I guess I’m white trash, what can I say?  That and after a couple hours in the sun, when naptime came around it was REST time for me!  Don’t worry we went back out after nap, made a bigger mess, that I then had to clean up later!  I always put my messes back together….well almost every time and everything!

(Pictures were taken on Wednesday, July 7th, same day as the first swim of the season!)

A Day at the Beach!

Amy, Alex & I ventured to the beach today with the triplets, Camryn & Jordyn for some fun in the sun!  We had a great time, the kids loved the sand and water, I of course took a lot of pictures!  Like usual I went click-crazy!  Took so many cute photos, that I made them into a collage!

There were a few photos, that were too cute, and needed to be showcased on their own!

The four 3-year-olds enjoying the sand!
(And apparently wishing they were bigger and could play with the older kids!)

 
Myself & Alex with the triplets
(I dare you to try to get three 3-year-olds to smile at the camera at the same time!  Needless to say I posted the best picture of Alex & I!)

LOVE this photo of the trio!  How sweet is that??!!

We had a great day!!  Got the kids home and they were out!  Their mom even came home early, so I got to leave early too!  What a great way to start the weekend!  A big thank you to my sister, Alex, for helping me out with the triplets, she made the trip more enjoyable for me!  Thanks Amy, for meeting up with us!

Happy Friday!!

What would I change? What do I wish I had done differently?

I had a hard time picking which question to answer, because they both fit!!  So this week I’m answering TWO questions, as they really go and hand in hand for me!

1.) What would you change about your life if you could?

2.) I wish I would have...describe a time when you didn't take action, but later wished you would have.

There really has been nothing in my life that I regretted, seriously.  I feel that my life has gone really well!  So when reading these questions what came to mind is lack of a foreign language.  Foreign language, wasn’t a graduation requirement for high school – but it required at 98% of colleges.  With that being sad, I didn’t take a language, thus couldn’t get into a 4-year university right away. 

Freshman year, first quarter, at my local community college, I took American Sign Language and I enjoyed it.  However, never took the second one.  Putting me at 1 year of language instead of 2.  I finally decided to transfer to a university that has a language pre-requisite and now have to fulfill it. 

I assumed (yes, it’s not good too), that I could easily just take ASL 2, after 5 years of not using it.  Yeah…that didn’t go well.  I lasted about 20 minutes before leaving and joining the 101 level class.  So I’m back taking that same language again. 

I have to admit that I am enjoying this class, this time around.  Our instructor is awesome and is making learning ASL fun and enjoyable.  We’ve had three class sessions and I have learned so many new 'signs’, it’s unbelievable!  Loving this class and happy I am re-taking it.

If I could I would have taken a language in high school – it would have made things much easier.  I’m mad and frustrated with myself for taking the easy way out in high school and regretting it now.   I now tell ALL high school students I meet to make sure they take a language, even if it’s not required – there’s no doubt it will help them in the future!  Don’t make the same mistake I did and save yourself a lot of time, money and brain cells!

First Swim of the Season!

Summer is officially here in Seattle!  It was a long time coming, but it’s here now!  Madison & I took a dip in the pool for the first time this season.  Let me tell you it was coooooooooold!  I didn’t get in above my waist, but Madison was all over the pool!  The heater needs to be turned on or we need a few more days in a row of sun before I get all the way in!

   

Thanks for stopping by Mr. Sun!  Please don’t be a stranger and come back again soon!

This post is part of Wordless Wednesday on the following blogs:
Wordless Wednesday’s
Live and Love…Out Loud
Seven Clown Circus
A Beautiful Mess
It's A Blog Party

4th of July 2010

Madison, Alex & I had a fun 4th of July up in the cul-de-sac with a big block party!  The weather was so-so, but at least it didn’t rain…much!  There was delicious food, lots of people and fireworks!  We had a great time!  Be warned….there is a TON of pictures in this post!  If you are afraid of oober-cuteness, you’ll want to leave this post right away :)

How cute is this photo of Gabbi & Pey-Pey??!!

Maddie joined the big kids in a game of kickball!

Around 9pm, the Sparklers (or magic wands as Madison called them), were pulled out.  You wouldn’t believe the amount of sparklers they had!  Every kid got at least a box of their own, and we’re talking 30 kids!  Even the babies (can’t call them that much longer) got to have a go at them!  They all loved it, at first weren’t sure what they were supposed to do, but quickly caught on!

Cul-De-Sac full of Sparklers!

          
Jack & Gabbi

Ryan & Nate

Maddie & Alex

Maddie, Alex & Brittani

Once the sparklers were all gone, it was time for the real show!  Who doesn’t love fireworks (well amazingly enough, a lot of people don’t…I don’t quite get why, but they don’t!  Something about them being dangerous??).  We all sat back and enjoyed the show!

Nate, Jack & Ryan are ready!

Maddie, Alex & Brittani, too!


We can’t forget about Gabbi!

Jack quickly discovered his fear of fireworks…or at least the noise!

Natey & I

Did I fail to mention how cold it was??!  It was freeeeeezing!  Even wrapped up in sweatshirts, blankets, coats and near a fire, we were cold!  Oh well, that’s the 4th of July in Seattle! 

Now that the 4th is over, it’s time for summer!  It finally made it’s debut today!  Supposed to be near 90 all week, yippppeee!  That means pool days are ahead, and I for one cannot wait!  Thank heavens for SUMMER!!

Happy 2nd Blogiversary to ME!!

I cannot believe that I am celebrating my 2nd blogiversary already!  Seems like just yesterday I posted my first post, and yet that was two-years-ago!  Crazy how time flies!  Thought it would be fun to take a look back at my last two years of blogging, how I have changed as a writer, fumbled my way through different sites, and learn tons about blogging…which eventually leading to changing my major!  Being the nerd that I am, I also wanted to throw in some benchmarking (statistics) for my own remembrance!

The Beginning: Two years ago, I started my blog on MySpace.  I wanted to learn how to ‘use’ MySpace, so I fumbled my way through.  Never did figure out MySpace, it just never made sense to me (probably the same way my mom doesn’t understand Facebook-lol).  With that being said, my stay on MySpace was short, I lasted 74 blog entries, before leaving MySpace for the big bad real blogging world of blogger!  (For the record, I still am not a MySpace fan!  I have become a Facebook-aholic, love my Facebook!).

1st Blogiversary: The next year, I posted a lot more, started to get more into it, my posts changed quite a bit.  I had a new site to discover and more fumbling to be done, while I learned basic html, added different gadgets to my site, and tried to stay true to who I was.  At my One Year Blogiversary I blogged 233 times (or 64% of the year)!   

2nd Blogiversary: Let’s see…this past year….I did less fumbling with blogger, I even started to feel quite confident with it!  I’ve learned some (I mean very basic)  HTML, that has helped me improve my blog.  I went from the basic blogger background to making my blog more unique and me!  In the beginning I was changing my blog a lot, while I tried to find “my blog”.  I have finally settled down, and have changed maybe three times in the past year – making big changes each time! 

The Last Year: As for benchmarking, let’s see, I haven’t even checked it out yet….I hope I have done better this year then last!!  Here we go….(be right back…wait right here! ha-ha)…..(okay back, did you miss me??  I warned you early I was a dork!)…. okay so I blogged 276 times this past year….holy cow for me, which is 76% of the year!! 

Benchmarking By the Numbers*

• Average 37 visits/day
• 1.77 Pages visited/visits (once they view my blog, how many separate parts of my blog do they visit on that visit)
• 73.47% bounce rate (bounce rate shows how many people clicked around to different spots on my blog…the lower the % means people are touring my blog and reading different spots).  I was told that for a blog anything lower than 75% is really good. 
• 2minutes, 57 seconds is the average time spent on my blog
• 59% of visitors never have visited before

I’m still very much a newbie at this.  Joining blogfrog has dramatically helped my blog.  I’ve made so many new friends, and learned new ways to blog and bring in a bigger audience!  It’s really fun to watch my blog grow!

The Next Year: I have big plans for the next year, well actually couple of months!  I feel that I have mastered blogger and want to try something new.  I’m gonna set-up my blog on Wordpress, and go for a more “professional” look!  I’ve learned a lot about it, and am excited! 

Why Wordpress, you might ask.  On Wordpress you own (100%) your blog and all the material on it.  With blogger, Google really owns it and at anytime they can shut it down…that really scares me!  I’d hate to lose all my memories!  I’m also excited to fumble through a new site and learn more HTML!  So look for that towards the end of the summer!  From what I understand it takes a lot of work to set-up, but I am ready and excited for the challenge!

Week 4 of Word Up, Yo! a new  word game hosted by Liz from A Belle, A Bean, & A Chicago Dog, KLZ from Taming Insanity and Natalie from Mommy of A Monster!  The word this week was FUMBLE, jump in, link-up and play along!!

 

 

*Benchmarking from Google Analytics ( from June 13 [first day of analyzing] -July 5, 2010)

Our Saturday Outing Was A ….

Quick Trip to the Science Center!

hope you have a happy 4th!

My First Blogging Award!!

Wow!  This is my first blogging award ever!!  Thank you so much Suzie Q from I Married A Moron and Survived for picking me for this honor!  I’m so excited!!  I’m finally feeling like I’m moving up in the blogging world…yay me (& Suzie Q!).

Let’s see, the first thing I need to do is to sum up my blogging philosophy in 5 words…okay lets see….

LOVE ~ FAMILY ~ FRIENDS ~ TRUTH ~ HUMOR

I also am excited to pass this blog award along to 10 of my favorite blogs!  They are listed in alphabetical order …..

1. A Belle A Bean & A Chicago Dog
2. Amy ~ Camryn ~ Jordyn
3.  Jack & Jill of *many* Trades
4. Katie's Journey
5. McNulty Quads
6. Mommy of a Monster (& Toddler Twins)
7. My Stampin' Spot
8. Steece's Pieces
9. The Fields Girls
10. This & That

Thank you Suzie Q, I so appreciate this!!  You made my day!!  I encourage everyone to check out these great worthy blogs!