Did ya miss me?

I know I haven't posted in oh.....like, forEVER, so here it goes:

We had a fun summer with the girls. Pretty uneventful, but then any time we get the whole family together, just day-to-day stuff gets to be more exciting. They're back in Belton now and have just started their new school (IN Belton, not Olathe where their mom works and where they were going). They seem to like it. The reasoning behind the school change was so that they would have more time for after school activities if they didn't have such a commute. I hope they find something they like that they can now participate in, being so much closer to home and all.

Glynn and I and the babies are hitting our stride again. It's so difficult to get used to the girls being there and then having them gone, just boom, like that. And it's tough on Maddie and Brady too, they love their big sisters and don't understand why they're gone all of the sudden. We try to tell them about it but there's only so much that they can understand. Poor babies.

But they are doing great, sweet as can be and growing like weeds. We took them with us yesterday to go look at a pop-up camper (which we bought, but that's a different story) and they really thought that was cool. They kept calling it their "tent" and Maddie kept asking, "Can we sleep in it?" "Is it ours?" She was so cute. Brady noticed a swimming pool in the backyard of the house and was very upset that he couldn't jump in it right then. He LOVES his water! Poor baby. So we got the end of a very loud 2 year old fit after that. He didn't understand why he couldn't just go jump in! This, of course, comes after an awesome weekend at the Great Wolf Lodge where he was a maniac on the waterslides (according to Grandma and Grandpa) and some serious playtime in a baby pool at Grandma's house. He may just be the next Michael Phelps. With a tad bit shorter legs. :-)

I am scheduled for a nerve block this Wednesday (FINALLY!) and hoping it will be one of the resolutions to this pain! Although, I gotta say, since they changed my medicines around, I am really not hurting that much anymore at ALL! My big problem last week was a quick round of the flu which is finally beginning to pass. Whew! When it rains, it pours around here!!!

I've GOT to go find a cup of coffee, it's just not gonna happen around here if I don't. I'll try to be better about posting, I just tend to get caught up in life and not write as much lately, I'm being too self-centered right now. :-) Forgive me?

At long last, another post. I've been just a BIT busy this summer, people!

So here I am again. Miss me? I know you did, you don't have to say it.

It's been a crazy fun summer with the girls here. I love having my family complete. Please remind me of that the next time I am literally ripping my hair out just to hear something other than the bedlam of 4 kids chasing each other around the house, jumping on furniture, and fighting over flashlights. Or whatever. That was just an example. :)

I'm TOTALLY kidding. Granted, the noise level has risen to just below the sound I imagine a 747 would make landing in our living room, but at least it's happy noise. (most of the time). The kids are having a blast with each other.

We've evolved, our campouts have gotten more high tech. Last week, Glynn made a Wal-Mart run with the girls for groceries and a backyard water toy of some sort. He came back with 4 individual pup tents, complete with backpack, sleeping bag, compass, and flashlight. Each individualized to child per character. Brady's has Lightning McQueen, Maddie's has Disney Princesses, and the girls both chose (big surprise!) Hannah Montana. So now instead of us all crowding on the couch or air mattresses, we have tents pitched throughout our upstairs. It's really cute.

Last weekend, the girls decided that they wanted to sleep OUTSIDE in their tents, and "really" camp out. Dubiously, I agreed, with absolute certainty that they couldn't make it all night. I even went so far as to offer them $25.00 EACH if they could make it all night outside. Then I made sure to tell them the story about the man with the hook for the hand. (I seriously thought Sarah's eyes were gonna pop out of her head). The result? Sarah, poking her little blonde head out of the indoor staircase, saying, "Jodie, I'm not gonna do it. I'm sleeping on my bed." Bless her little pea-pickin' heart. She made it outside for a couple of hours before she got too scared and came inside.

Surprisingly, ANNIE stayed outside all night. ANNIE! That is not the one I expected to make it. Those girls have traded places lately, with Annie being the more adventurous one and Sarah being uncharastically cautious lately. Annie's explanation for this role reversal? "Yeah, I kinda got to her (Sarah)". I never laughed so hard as when she told us that.

Even out of the lake in their shoe! Sarah wants to go so slow and Annie puts up with higher speeds! I remember last summer when Sarah was getting thrown out of the shoe and Annie was the one holding on for dear life, almost crying when we went "too fast" aka 8 mph.

It's just interesting to watch them grow and change so much. One thing will NEVER change, though. Sarah will always be a bull in a china shop and Annie will always be working an angle somehow. I have a feeling it will lead to a life of Sarah being some sort of artist (where she can make a mess for a living and call it "abstract art") and Annie having a career in law.

Maddie and Brady are really having a lot of fun with their big sisters and just LOVE spending time with them. It's so cute. They trail along behind them, wanting to be just like them. Their little mini-me's.

So off I go from work today to get the house ready for yet another Spencer family campout. I wonder if I'll ever see my living room floor again.......