My Crappy Hot Day

The disadvantages to moving in the middle of July: Monday 90 degrees, Tuesday 90 degrees, Wednesday 90 degrees, Thursday 90 degrees, Friday 90 degrees...No air conditioning; Being surrounded by cardboard boxes (I hate the smell of cardboard); Saying goodbye (while sweating in the non-air conditioned 90 degree heat); Recovering from saying goodbye over several bottles of wine with great friends while being surrounded by cardboard boxes, 90 degree heat without air conditioning, and two hot cranky kiddos....
Did I mention that it's going to be 90 degrees or higher all week here in the Springs?
Ugh. I make excuses to run errands just to get into my air conditioned car or a store! Not very green of me, I know.

My Babysitter

I think we should send PBS a large check just for the fact that all of Toby's favorite cartoons are on PBS. Right now he's jumping on the bed shouting "Mom! Bob the Builder's on! Come and see!" I should be getting ready for church. It's nice to have the 3 year old occupied while attempting to get ready in the morning (or check email for a second). The cool thing about Connecticut public television (which might be our only TV option) is that you get 3 PBS stations: Boston, Rhode Island, and Connecticut! :)

My Kids are Helping Me How?

Trying to downsize our stuffed animal collection means we have to take them all out to play. Which equates to: no packing or giving away animals; take pictures instead!

My Superman

This is how Toby helps me pack. He finds his old Halloween outfit and wants to wear it today. While I pack one box he is unpacking another! So fun.

My Countdown

Hard to believe there are only 7 more days in this house. The moving van will be here one week from today. Yikes! Any idea how long my to-do list is? Well, there's one full page for every room of the house, it seems...
We're looking forward to cooking a ton of food to use up what we have in the freezer. It reminds me of the time that BJ's mom cooked up all that meat from her freezer before she moved to Ohio (how long ago was that???). BJ and a bunch of UNC wrestlers ate all that meat until they made themselves sick! I don't think we have that much meat to use, but there is a Prime Rib involved.
The kids are sleeping (glorious synchronization--who knows how long it will last), so it's off to more pre-packing duties!

My 4th of July

We had a great time for the 4th. We went to Keystone for three nights with my parents and my older sister and her family. It was really fun. This is a perfect visual to highlight the trip. BJ looks tired (which he was--he came up late after a Collective Soul concert and graciously took the uncomfortable sofa bed). I look sunburned (we walked to the downtown area of Keystone's resort at least twice every day). Toby looks wired (he didn't get to bed before 9:30 every night). Norah looks the most well-rested because, well, she slept a lot. She actually slept through the night for the first time while we were there.
It was really fun, and while the fireworks were simple, we got to sit really close and they echoed throughout the valley of Keystone. Toby (and Norah) really enjoyed them. The best part for me was to watch the fireworks through Toby's eyes. It was like seeing them for the first time. He got so excited and at one point he stood up and yelled "Oh my gosh!" So cute.

My Summer Vacation

The news came in this week: I passed my comprehensive exams!
I will officially be a "master" of something (once I get my piece of paper in the mail that declares it). That feels nice. It feels even better to know that I have no desire to go back to school in any way, shape, or form in the future. Just in time, I'd say, considering we're going to be spending about 3 years with BJ back in school shortly. So this is the last of the summer vacations we'll have for a WHILE. And of course (leave it to the Strawsers) it won't feel like we're on summer vacation because we'll be downsizing and prepping our house to get ready for moving day--a mere two weeks from now and all our earthly belongings will be stuffed on a truck heading east. Sad day.

So my summer reward for finishing my master's has come and gone: I read Stephenie Meyer's newest book, The Host. Roughly 600 pages of interesting Sci-Fi mixed with a little bit of lovey-dovey stuff--completely clean because, after all, she is a Mormon housewife you know. It felt good to read a book and not have to review it or get tested on it, so that's all I'm going to say about my "reward" book. I am still waiting for that perfect margarita (now that it's official).... That will be a nice end to a short summer vacation, too.