Bob's Not Just Your Uncle

Yep, I'm a slacker.  It doesn't feel like it's been two months, but there are the dates to prove it.  What have we done?

We went to a year-end graduation for our homeschool group.  Basically the kids put on a variety show and displayed things they had made.  All voluntary.  Lots of talent and so much fun!  At one point in the show one of the kids, obviously very nervous, was stumbling over the words to his song and all the other kids started clapping and dancing in their seats cheering him on.  It was wonderful and heartwarming.  It happened more than once.

There was a birthday sleepover. . .

Meet Bob, he's a Jedi, obviously ;)  And also a cough germ, that's a lot less obvious.  He was a birthday present for a friend.  Then there was a temporary cough germ population explosion (because everyone needs a Jedi Bob) and we were inundated by the spawn of Bob.  Which is perfectly ok.  I don't know if I was the anomaly growing up, or if my kids are.  They actually play with their stuffed animals, which become characters for endless theatrical performances, dialogues, and adventures of epic comic book proportions on a daily basis.  Very much unlike mine which became prime real estate for dust mites and other flesh eating microbes because they were never disturbed.

Other than our house having the force unleashed we have been busy moving boxes.  Endlessly moving boxes.  Still.  And finding the fabled light at the end of that tunnel!  Literally kicking house cleaning arse is totally worth a bajillion trips up the stairs and a broken toe.  I'll save you the visual aid; it's healing nicely at the green-yellow phase.  

Honestly, I wasn't sure who was going to win the battle of the boxes for a while-- me or the house.  But I uncovered our final missing documents last week, decided I'd had it with the rest, inspiration struck (or desperation, neurosis is convenient that way) and I carried the rest of the boxes up into the alcove of our bedroom, neatly stacked and out of our daily lives.  It was that or a storage shed and this is easier to get to and sort at my leisure; they aren't off the hook.  If we move again before they are completely gone you're all invited to a marshmallow roast.  I have the fuel for the fire.

Everyone enjoys the clean floor and new curtains!  They let in light without feeling like we're on display ;) 

So, aside from the boxes that shall not be named, the entire house has been reclaimed and I can finally finish pulling it together, refining organization, decorating, making meaningful messes with the kids!  YAY!  We have real living space that isn't being shared with moving paraphernalia.  And project space!  It feels so good.  Just in time too.

Meet our backyard- all of it.  Ted's out taking advantage of the first day of sun we've had in a long while.  The kids did too.  Luckily there are a whole string of similar backyards, they can run in a very long straight line. :}

Summer seems to be indoor weather in Florida.  Rain, wind, more rain, more wind. . . bugs.  Idyllic yes?  The past few days we've been on tornado watch with tropical storm Debby sitting out in the gulf.  Who knew baby hurricanes could whip up tornadoes?  Not I.  Nothing like those crazy mid-west tornadoes that rip up half mile swaths and leave everything in shreds, but enough energy to blow out windows or flatten a trailer when they show up, and plenty of wind and rain so far.  We aren't flooded like they are to the north.  The rain here has been coming down in fits and torrential spurts with thunder that's just about rendered Teddy hairless from anxiety.  It made us all jump a time or two it was so close, so sudden, and so bone shaking loud.  I'm glad it moved on but feel for the people it's sitting over right now.

Can hardly wait for fall when we are planning some kayaking, camping, tubing, hiking, shelling, and general nature loving during the non-bug infested, non-hurricane, non-tropical storm tornado spawning season.  I can see why people leave Florida during the summer.