Volleyball Party & BBQ at the Rhodes...

...Always a FAB-u-lous time!

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The "grown-ups" (if we can qualify to be called that!)

enjoyed a mean bracket Volleyball Tournament...

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Our team rocked... 2nd place! Woot-woo!

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Teresa, Me, Matt, Dusty &... Jared?

(Hey... wait! Jared wasn't on our team!)
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...And that is... ahem... NOT necessarily because of me, I might add...

(Look at everyone... just praying I'll get it!)

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...Although I DO launch a pretty consistent "Under-handed Missile"!
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...Which I think everyone would totally agree... (Right?)
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My Man Matty, on the other hand, showed off some "Mad Skillz"!
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And so despite our rough start, we played like CHAMPS!
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Meanwhile, the "kiddies" barely left the Pool!

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My Little Fish NEVER want to get out...
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...Unless it's for the Waterslide!
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Some "Water-Babies" even crashed, Pool-side... KJ was out for the night!

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Good Food... Good Friends... Good Times...

What's NOT to love about a Rhodes Family Party?

Night on the TOWN...

We finally made it out for a fun Date Night with Krista & Tom,

who we adore and don't see nearly often enough!

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Yummy dinner at our special half-way spot:

La Vigna

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and then a great flick:

What Happens in Vegas !

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I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard at a movie!

It was rolling-in-the-aisles-funny!

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...Which had pros & cons for us Mamas-to-be!

(We laughed so hard I thought we BOTH might really pee our pants!)

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Krista, my long-time BFF

(since High School! ...And aka: My Twin Sister),

and I have been friends through thick and thin...

Yeah... This is one of those "thicker" periods...

We are both due to have baby boys, again, just a few weeks apart!

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We topped off our fun evening with a treat... Matt-style...

Cookies & Ice Cream from Smart Cookie

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The evening ended way to quickly... We love and miss you guys!

To Celebrate the Last Day of School...

Each of the big boys got to invite a buddy out for a fun night on the town...

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Trev brought his best-est pal, Hudson Eady...

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Kade brought his fave-or-ite friend, CJ Hirsche...

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and I brought my handsome hubby!

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After a quick bite at Bajio's (YUM!), we all headed for the Feature Presentation...

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

(or as T calls is "Narnicles of Narnia: Prince Thaz-peon").

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The boys were GLUED to their seats for the entire movie!

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They LOVED it! (So did we, actually! It was great!).

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Totally worth the price of admission... not to mention a hard year's work at school!

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Funny thing...

When I "buddied" the boys up for the evening,

we noticed that our boys were both in camo shorts & green t-shirts

(totally unintentionally, I swear! They dressed themselves...)

and their pals were both in plaid shorts & red t-shirts...

Their was one of each "uniform" in each "pair"!

Doot doo-doot doo... WEIRD!

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They all got a good laugh at this as they stumbled through the Parking Lot pretending to be "Siamese Quadruplets" connected at the hip!

Little Entrepreneurs...

Trev and a couple of his little neighbor friends, Sachi & Taegan,

saw the last day of School as a great opportunity to "set up shop" and make some MOOLA!

They set up a little Lemonade Stand down on the corner of our cul-de-sac

and spent the afternoon selling all kinds of treats from their Mommies' pantries...

Kool-Aid, Otter-Pops, Rice Krispie Treats, Cookies, Fruit Snacks & Roll-ups (you name it!)

to all the Elementary School Kids walking past on their way home.

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They ended up making $36 in just a couple hours!

(Not bad for a couple of 3, 4 and 5 year olds! They thought they were rich!)

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Thanks to Angi for the great photo...

(Dayne was napping and I never made it down to the corner with my camera before they got bored and closed up shop.)

Just as LOST as ever...

Well, as usual,

the Season Finale of my weekly "guilty indulgence" has left me

with more questions than answers...

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Sigh... They brilliantly know how to keep me coming back for more!

It will be a LONG Summer of waiting...

Indeed... it has come to this...

My children are eating Hot Dogs for Dinner...

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Yes... you heard that right... HOT DOGS!

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Kade even loaded up "duel-ies".

2... yes, TWO... and he'd have had 3 if I'd let him!

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To understand the true magnitude of this moment
you must first understand my true and utter disdain for Hot Dogs...
Weiners, Franks, Hot "Dogs"...
people should not consume things with these names!
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I have not eaten one since the 8th grade
when Dwayne Aragon told me what was in them
after having worked at a slaughter house over the summer.
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Admittedly, I did have a momentary lapse of insanity
(I was pregnant with Kade, what can I say?)
when I thought I absolutely had to have one
because the aroma from that little kiosk was seducing me...
But, alas, I did not actually EAT it...
I gagged it out before I actually swallowed the first bite!
(Poor Matt ate the rest,
shaking his head the entire time
at the fickle appetite of pregnancy...)
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Perhaps only my parents will remember my history with Hot Dogs...
How I swore I would never feed them to my own children...
How I would never corrupt their perfect, pure little bodies
with such a vile, disgusting excuse for food,
just for the sake of ease, convenience and filling up their tummies.
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Oh, no... not MY children! NEVER!
And yet somehow... somehow, we have arrived!
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In my defense, Matt bought them... (I guess they were on "Sale"!)

and the boys do LOVE them... (and probably love teasing me about them just as much!)

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...and hey, I ate TOAST for Dinner!

New... Tattoo?

So... I've heard of signing someone's CAST, but signing their ARM?

Kade came home from school today sporting this "awesome" Autograph-Arm...

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Apparently it is the new COOL thing in 2nd Grade...

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Instead of signing your friend's Yearbook, you just sign THEM!

Maybe to cover the cost of... Inflation?

So Kade burst through the door from school yesterday so excited to tell me

all about how he lost a tooth while wrestling at Recess. (Go figure...)

The whole Class was crawling around on the grass trying to help him find it

(I can only imagine...), and somehow they did!

He brought it home in this cool necklace shaped like a tooth.

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He put it under his pillow last night (as usual)

and went to bed...

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and lo and behold...

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we were all surprised when he found $8 in it's place this morning!

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Matt and I looked at each other... disgusted!

Neither of us got more than a quarter, at most!

His other teeth have been worth a few dollars each,

so why the sudden increase?

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Inflation?

The rising cost of fuel?

It is an awfully cute smile... but $8?
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Maybe the Tooth Fairy was confused... or made the rounds twice... hmmm...
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Well, whatever the story... Kade felt like one LUCKY kid!

He even got to keep the necklace!

Johnny Driveway Crash

I was transferring our old DV home videos to DVD and came across this video. I had totally forgotten about it. Have a lookie at Johnny's attempts to clear a road gap he built in front of our last house.

This Afternoon's Craving...

It may be a mouthful to SAY, but

Mmmm... Edamame... mmm..!

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Lately, Baby Bronson & I just can't get enough...

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If you haven't already discovered them, I highly recommend!

You can buy them frozen in individually packaged servings at Costco and just microwave them

for a super-quick, super-yummy, super-healthy treat!

A totally filling meal in 2 minutes and 30 seconds... can't beat that!
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And I don't go lightly on the salt... it's all about that Kosher Salt, Baby!

The conversation went something like this...

T: (Looking concerned) WOW... Mommy, you're getting lots of stripes!

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Me: Stripes? What do you mean? Where?

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T: Look... here... and here...

He gently reached up and touched the outside corners of my eyes and then my forehead...

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Me: OH! (Chuckling) Do you mean wrinkles?

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T: Yeah... wrinkles!

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Me: Yep, I am getting old!

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T: Yeah... Really old! AND they're on your lips... do you need "Shap-shtick"?

(Trevan-ism for Chapstick.)

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Me: Maybe... do you think so?

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T: I'll go get it...

(He returned a moment later "Shap-shtick" in hand...)

Don't worry Mom...

Even though you're old, you're still beautiful!

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Me: (Smiling and giving him a little hug) Thanks, Trev... I think!

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Well, at least I can always count on him to give an honest opinion!

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And thanks to Jane for this FAB photo of me at Lunch the other day...

(I stole it off her blog and tweaked it a bit...)

It just per-fectly illustrates this little incident by clearly showing off all of my "stripes" !