Well… Friday  or not, I’m going to go for a Thankful Thursday post today… It has been a wonderful summer vacation full of events and non-events, but seemingly crazy busy!! I have a new-ish obsession with all things fabric, and have cranked out 3 quilt tops and 3 bags in the last 2 weeks!  The kitchen looks like a bomb went off with all the little snippets of fabric and thread all about… We’re interviewing for a new music teacher, so I’ve gone to those this week…

The VERY sad news from the week (that, for the record, I’m NOT thankful for) is that my laptop is officially dead… 2 days ago I got a “warning: Hard Drive Failure is Imminent” screen of death, and as of yesterday it won’t boot at all… THANKFULLY I got all my pictures backed up… I about had heart failure last night ’cause I’m not sure about my itunes… but at least my pics are safe, right?? Not sure what the hubby is going to do about the computer, but we’ll see… So, I really have no new pictures to share ’cause they’re still on the camera and I don’t want to pull them off until I know what we’re going to do…

BUT, what I am most thankful for this week… The kids have been going to Vacation Bible School this week… 9am-noon at one of the local churches (several churches get together and run it) the theme this year is “Pandamania: Where God is Wild About You” and they have had a BLAST!! Lots of fun activities, lots of singing and dancing… But (and how embarassing) I cry every time I pick them up… At the end of the day, they all go back to the main church together and sing the songs they learned and have a “rally” of sorts… It makes me cry every day… I’m not sure I can describe it… and I know I’m sappy that way anyway, but honestly… 100 kids of all ages (campers 1-6th grade plus older counselors) all singing in praise and dancing and laughing and having so much fun together… yup… I literally cry… have to put my sunglasses on to hide the actual tears… and today is the big ending… need tissues!!

Anyway… hopefully we’ll get the computer sorted out very soon… typing on the Mac (that I detest) at the moment… but I’d love to share some pics of my fabric creations… Hopefully soon!!!

Wow! Is it already Thursday??  Summer vacation weeks FLY by!!!  Today we ate lunch at The Pushcart (LOVE it!!) and then took a little trip through the Dollar Store to get a few summery things to take to the beach :) ummm… Did I say a “few” yeah, it’s actually embarrassing to check out for $53 at the Dollar Store… That’s OK :) some of it was class idea stuff for the space, and some was trinkets for the kiddos… It’s all good :)

This morning I finished up my August Zutter Class project for Ink About It in Westford… OMGosh, do I LOVE how it came out!! It just kept getting better as I went along!!  I know that doesn’t sound right, but you know when you’re working on a project and it just flows??  This was one of THOSE projects :) I’m hoping to drop it at the store tonight after Mike gets home… I’ll share pictures once I get them off the camera…

We just posted our Summer Crop Specials at Late Night Croppers… Check them out if you want to escape the heat and craft a bit!

Here’s another pic from the trip… I uploaded the last of the pics to be printed last night!! No, I didn’t print all 1370 of them… “only” about 800 or so :) I still have to go pick them up, but this is one… Hard to see in the background, but this one is in Yosemite, and in the dip between the mountains is your first glimpse of Half Dome when you drive through the park… Lots of shadows ’cause it was getting late when we arrived… Special thanks to the family who offered to take a pic of all of us together!!

And then there is this set of 2 pictures that crack me up!!  This is Mike, being “funny” taking my picture with the kids at Monument Valley… (He did actually take one of me with the kids, but I’m looking very cranky in it… These came out better :) This was right after we were stuck in the car for about 15 minutes while a wild dog circled our car… The kids thought it was a wolf, he actually looked like a dingo… Anyway, when we finally were able to get out, Mike and I both opened our doors at the same time, and a CRAZY wind came through the car and blew the park map away, out the door and out the valley… never to be seen again… I’m SURE it was like totally my fault :) someone was cranky :) Hence the “cut her out of the picture” picture :)  Makes me LOL when I look at it ’cause it was so silly!!

Ok… Off to pack the kids for their adventure at the lake!! Enjoy the rest of your week!

I’m sure that I will have an EPIC post about our epic Western Adventure in the very near future… But I do have to say that I am VERY thankful to be home… We took a wild west tour of our own, because Mike had to go to CA for work… We turned it into 5 states in 18 days!! It was AMAZING, but I will be thankful to sleep in my very own bed tonight, and not have to share with a kicking-blanket-hogging 7 year old :)

I took just under 1400 photos (and the kids both took pics too, but I didn’t get them off their cameras yet) PLUS there’s video too…

We flew to Denver, drove up over the Rocky Mountains (and played in actual SNOW in June), into Utah to see Arches National Park and some other super cool places, then on to the Grand Canyon (with a side trip to see the Meteor Crater)… Next stop, Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam (with a drive by of the Pawn Stars Pawn Shop)… Then on to CA and DisneyLand… Up to San Jose (Mike did have to actually work for a couple days) then on to Yosemite for a couple nights… Back to San Jose and then San Francisco…

I just took the pics off the camera, and haven’t even looked through them all yet… I’ll share a couple that stand out… here’s one of my favorites… Sunset at the Grand Canyon (with the kids’ having strict instructions to have their eyes shut tight and not actually look at the sun…)

Look at this panoramic of the kids at the Grand Canyon (I think this was my favorite part of the trip… well, Arches and the Grand Canyon… Amazing sights you certainly don’t see around here!!) I think if you click on it, you can see it bigger…. I LOVE my new camera!!

The kids with their new “ears” at DisneyLand… On Sean’s actual birthday!

One of the waterfalls at Yosemite… You can kinda see the rainbow the mist was making at the bottom…

Here’s one of me and the kids at the Pacific Ocean… Almost exactly opposite the country from where we live :) Mike was pretty good at taking the camera and making it look like I was on vacation too :) I somehow expected the water to be warmer… But it was pretty cool to put our feet in the Pacific Ocean, even if it felt the same as home!!

Ok… I have a boatload of laundry to try and get to (before they shut the water off with the road construction) AND, there will be an epic post soon with lots more pictures!!!

Ok… Yes, I know it’s Summer Vacation… And, it’s easy to lose track of the days… BUT I haven’t totally lost my mind… I do know that it’s only Wednesday… BUT it’s a very special Wednesday… And, I thought it warranted a special Thankful Wednesday post :) 10 years ago today, Sean was born!!!  I have NO IDEA how it’s possible that it was 10 years ago… I mean, double digits??? I am totally NOT old enough to have a child in double digits… oh, wait… yes, yes I am THAT old :)  I could not be more thankful for my “little” boy… Who, by the way, has never been “little” by any stretch of the imagination… Arriving almost a whole week early, and weighing in at 8 lbs, 11 oz… He’s always had a very large presence!!  We couldn’t love him more than we do!! A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my first baby!!!

To celebrate… Here’s a favorite picture of him, about 10 months old… Just look at those cheeks, don’t you just want to reach through the screen and pinch them!!! I love roly-poly babies :)

And a photo from last week…  How time flies… and I fear it only goes faster from here… Less pinchable cheeks, but can you resist that smile?? I’m gonna pinch his cheeks today anyway… Just for his special double digit birthday!!!! He’ll LOVE that :)

Very Happy Birthday Buddy!!!  We love you!!