One More Week Left and Lots to Think About

The boys had an amazing time up at Mt. Charleston from what I've heard! Hard not to, to be honest. The first day up there, it was raining like crazy and turned out that the cabin they had booked had a leak. Lucky for them, the cabin right next door was vacant so they were upgraded from a king bed and sleeper sofa to a gigantic cabin with two kings, a full living room, and dining room! It was so spacious that the Mr. called to invite me along. I, however, did not go. It was a boys' weekend and on top of that, I was very clearly enjoying my quiet time.

 
They dirt biked until the Mr.'s bike literally blew. That night, they went on the night hike that I registered them for. Their guide made it an awesome experience. The next day they hiked two trails, one of which brought them to a "waterfall". I put that in quotations, because the Mr. gestured them as he told the story about a sad little trickle rather than a "waterfall". But as he put it, "It was more about the journey." By the end of the two days, all their feet hurt from the 11 miles they'd trudged. Their spirits were high when they dropped off Chris, though. Much of that, I think, stemmed from the adrenaline still in their systems. All the ache hit them the next day!

Now that the Mr. is back, we have this week left before the semester starts. This is quite possibly his final semester of school (thank goodness!) and it is, of course, a pretty hectic schedule. That said, Chris put his foot down and told his dad, who we work for, that he simply was not going to work during his last week before all the crazy begins. Mr. Senior understood, so we have daddy this week! Dianna got to enjoy a morning at the library for the first time in a long time. We have a few more things planned for her while we have this rare amount of unbridled family time. And now I have a helper to aid me in finishing the kids' room once everything arrives in the mail.

While the boys were gone, I was job hunting for the Mr. Due to an unfortunate situation with a past employee, there is trouble brewing in the family company that will very likely bring an end to it. We've always been blessed with such flexible hours by working in real estate and with your own flesh and blood. For more flexible hours, we're hoping to find a job in retail. Crossing our fingers on that one. We are so lucky to also have some extra to tide us over while we are job hunting. Thank goodness!

I guess we're in an in-between time, looking for a new start and hoping for an end to the Mr.'s college career. Once he's done with school and we've finally settled into a new job and routine, it'll be my turn to finish school. But right now, that feels so far away. Right now, we need a job. Hopefully one that he likes.

The Weekend of Nothing

The Schulte boys have just left for the weekend to Mt. Charleston. They'll be dirt biking, hiking, fishing, and all those other manly man things boys like to do.

The kids are currently with the Mr.'s mom. Tomorrow they will be with my parents.

That leaves me here at home. All alone. I mean all alone with Nike, our dog.




I can hear the air-conditioning turn on, and the sound of the fan in the laptop cooling its innards, and and and...I can hear myself think. Oh, it is shaping up to be a wonderful weekend.

Ya hear that? It's the sound of nothing and it is lovely.

Excitement Abounds (For Me, Anyway)

I cannot tell you how thrilled I am about this news: we're finally able to do the kids' room!

All week, I've been brainstorming ideas. There is a whole lotta DIYing going on in my head.
I think our best bet is to give ourselves a deadline, especially since the Mr. is almost done with his last summer session classes.

So by the end of the week, I plan to have everything ordered and bought so that when it all arrives, we'll be ready to get down to business! I'm shooting to be done by the end of the month. That gives a week for online purchases to arrive and a week to really work on the room.

Here's a little idea board of what I have in mind. The large wave image in the center is a full wall decal. I'm so happy to have found it on Etsy; thank you, you creative people out there. Behind it, I intend to paint a very light blue. Like I said about the DIYing, I'll be busy making pillow covers, an upholstered headboard, a silhouette of both of the kids, a mobile, and repurposing a trunk and lamp from other parts of the house. On top of that, we'll be all over the place buying things new and also used from Craigslist.

 

Can't wait to get started! Speaking of getting started, I'm late for my workout. Catch ya later with updates on this development.

To Two Years

Happy anniversary to the love of my life. I'm so lucky to have found you. We have an amazing life ahead of us and I'm thankful to share it with my best friend.

We haven't had much time to ourselves lately with our schedules, but having a family day was so fun. We knocked two things off my list, too!

Bellagio fountains and garden. Seeing the look on Dianna's face was priceless!

Ten Things We Need To Do Before Summer Ends

With the start of August here, I'm feeling slightly alarmed that we haven't had much of a summer. At least as far as fun goes. The Mr. has been in summer classes trying to get through a slew of courses so he can graduate this winter. On top of that, we had a baby and now he's left to pick up the slack in the family business that I was responsible for. But Chris' last summer class ends in a week or so, leaving about two weeks before he starts the fall semester. So...we have a month to get this fun done!

1. Swim in the pool more. Yes, we have a pool and I can count on one hand the amount of times we've used it this summer.

2. Go to the beach. We live in Las Vega and the beach is only three hours away. This is totally doable. Possibly in conjunction with number three.

3. Visit the Cunicelli's in Bakersfield! They're the Mr.'s cousins who he has visited every summer since before he knew his colors, which Michelle taught him years and years ago.

4. See the Bellagio garden with Dianna. I've been wanting to do this for quite some time because she loves flowers. The first time she said "flowers" she also said "pretty!"

5. Go see the Bellagio fountains. This was what the Mr. and I were SUPPOSED to do on our first date, but never got to because the car broke down. That really did happen on our first date. And here we are over three years later and we still have yet to do this.

6. Spend the day at Lake Las Vegas. We stayed there last year for our anniversary and loved it.

7. Have a picnic.

8. Go on a hike. We used to go crazy on our hikes, climbing all over the place, but with Dianna I just want to have a nice little hike. We've never done this with her.

9. Have a Harry Potter day. This consists of us watching a few of the movies while munching on donuts.

10. Have a barbecue to celebrate Dean's birth! He was born just before the intended baby shower and I got sick the week of the second planned shower. This next one really needs to happen!

I think this is all plausible. I'm excited to possibly knock one or two of these off this weekend, because Saturday is our 3rd wedding anniversary.

We'll see what happens. Happy summer!