Well then...

July 8th came and went this year without any notice until days later...

It was an after thought this year, that date that seemed to have such profound significance just one year ago. Jack, you've come a long way, baby...and so have your Mommy and Daddy.

Three weeks ago, I brought home a swimming pool. The water park would cost $228.00 for the package deal that we could use for roughly six weeks, since they go back to school the second week of August. The pool cost $249.00, plus no driving, no parking, no inevitable registration ticket for the van because I am incapable of ever paying for it on time, no over priced concession stand food and drinks, no wet seats in the van, no eeewwww every time I see someones diapered baby in the water, and we can use our own pool until it gets cold, whereas the water park closes after Labor Day every year. The pool took less than an hour to assemble and start filling. It is NOT my fault that the Dearly Beloved decided that the entire back yard had to be cleaned up, taking a full day, before the pool could go up. I would have made the kids clean up the area the pool was to be set up in and done the rest later as incentive for the kids to be able to get in the pool!

Two weeks ago I brought home a swing set. Again, it was a great deal, and all three kids love it. I bought a baby swing for Jack, and there's a nifty saucer thing that will encourage his abdominal muscles to strengthen while he balances himself in it! That took a full day to assemble.

Last week, since we are a family of five now, and since the front porch glider canopy is long gone, and cannot be replaced anywhere, and it's only a two-seater anyway, and looks really junky and broken down on the front porch, I brought home a new glider. The old canopy-less glider is now under the tree in the back yard, and the new glider resides on the front porch, shiny, gleaming, smooth and canopied! Which really has nothing to do with us being a family of five, but it's just the perfect size for My Love and I to sit on the porch in the evening breeze.

And The Dearly Beloved said to me, "If you bring anything else home for me to put together, I'm going back into the house and pretending I never saw it. You're on your own." I'm pretty sure that he meant it, but I'm not going to test it out. I did see his chest swell out quite a bit when he saw how much fun Jack was having on the swings and saucer while The Girlie and The Poddest of Pods were whooping it up in the pool.

I love my new job...been there since June 8th! At my old job I was working about 80 hours per week with nary a thank you, all for $50.00 per week travel reimbursement. This job? I'm working about 40 hours per week for roughly the same pay, but the travel reimbursement for two weeks paid for the swing set, the pool and the front porch glider, including tax!

A huge thank you to the Dear Daddy for all of your hard work and for all of the great fun your children are having as a result!