Life Lately

wheeeeeeeeeeeee-weeeeee!

Here's a look at life lately 'round these parts.  We were super busy last week at camp, Cal earned his first pay check, the boys were put to work and Andy is working on his "reading."

Let the fun begin:

I don't think I ever posted this picture from Cal's last day of UNC baseball camp from a few weeks ago...? Maybe I did? It wasn't showing up for me, so I am posting it again.  Because-- I mean, that smile....! 

Last week, Cal was my assistant at camp.  He worked very hard there...and also had a lot of fun! Our buddy Wells was there-- and sporting one of Cal and Andy's hand me down shirts! love love love seeing our clothes on other kids! It makes me smile-- and also makes me so sad to think that my boys used to fit in them and now they are so big!

Cal had a few special buddies in our class- it made my heart happy to see him with the kids.  

(trying to blur out kids' faces in pics-- not because they aren't the cutest things ever, but because I wanted to respect their privacy!)

He was actually a really big help the whole week-- I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but he did great!

 This little cutie loooved to shout CALLLLL nonstop- it was precious.  He was attached to Cal's side the whole week.  When we had to send the assistants on a mission, this kiddo would say "'ere Cal go?" over and over and over again, until they returned.  It was pretty much precious. 

 Walking the class back inside-- Cal had his hand grabbed immediately every time.  And again- he looks HUGE!

Other than camp.... I've started assigning chores around here and the boys LOVE it! Holy cow! This excitement will not last.  But for now, I love that they want to help out.  Andy loves cleaning the windows for me (the amount of doggie slobber on the windows in this new house is epic).  

 ..and Cal loves to swiffer! (and the amount of dog hair we need swiffered is also EPIC...!)

 If the above room looks super empty...it is.  And I am about to lose my mind.  We need furniture in that room.  We just need to take the time to go pick it out...! We've been talking about it for FOREVER.  And we just haven't gone and shopped.  It is a big room and kind of overwhelming to think about the furniture we need in there.  I have somewhat of a layout in my mind, but it's not there yet.  I *think* I have found what I like... hoping to take Eddie to see it and then we can pull the trigger and get that ish sent to us.  Hard to do when he works all day every day and then we go to the beach every weekend.  Here's hoping this week is the week! I want to share pics of the house at some point.  But I am not there yet.  The Master isn't anywhere near done- at all.  The powder bath needs a lot (it is currently just painted in a really ugly color...nothing hanging...nothing.  I don't love it.). It's a process.....

Went over to a friend's house the other night for dinner and wine and Big Brother (!!!) and she had these cocktail napkins out-- now that's a party I can vote for!

Meredith and Marshy aren't Big Brother lovers like the rest of us.  

My boys have had these back packs for years, and I looooove them.   But after 4 years, Cal's zipper isn't working any more....plus it gets a little nasty after a while! I am sure I could send it back and they would replace the zipper- BUT, I made a deal with him and he got to pick out a new backpack for first grade.  He really wanted an Under Armor one and I have heard excellent things about their backpacks (and their return policy on all of their items...!) and decided to order him on.  

 He was PUMPED when it came in! He picked the colors and everything.  This kid is HARD on things, so we will have to see if this back pack can stand the test of Cal....

Friday, at the end of camp, Cal got his first pay check! Think he was excited?? Ohhhhh yeah he was!!! He couldn't stop smiling (and asking to go to the bank to cash it....).

Andy is determined to get ready for kindergarten.  I made a grocery list and, back when Cal was learning to read, I would put an item in the cart and then tell Cal what it was and he would mark it off.  Well- Andy remembers this and decided he wanted to do the same thing.  It was really really sweet-- and he did a great job.  

 But it was seriously the longest trip to the grocery store.  Ever.  I mean, EVER. 

 He didn't care where he was, he would drop to the ground and start finding words, adding words, and, at one point, he was working really really hard and he finally stood up and goes "look, mommy- I wrote I love you mommy daddy cal hank. I didn't put bruce because I don't know how to spell that" Bless him. 

 Still. In. The. Teeter. 

 It was one of those times where it could have been totally annoying, but he was really proud of himself and it was a good little teaching moment-- the former teacher in me was eating up the fact that he was WANTING to learn and was working hard to piece it all together. 

So, I have had some weird shoulder pain for a few months.  It is annoying and drives me crazy, but I didn't think much of it.  We have friends that were in town in June and the hubs is a shoulder surgeon (hi, T!).  He looked at it and thought it might need something done to it and suggested I see a doc locally to get it taken care of.  Well, I don't really have time for surgery or the recovery from surgery...! so I put it off and put it off.  Well it has been hurting more and more and I have been having to modify workouts and it started waking me up at night hurting.  SO, I finally went to see a doctor and see that little white ball in the below X-ray?

 It is a little calcium "ball" (there is a much more technical term that I don't care to remember) that is causing the pain.  The GREAT news is I don't have to have surgery on my shoulder! WOOOHOOO! I am going in in a few weeks and they do an ultrasound on my shoulder and stick a big ol' needle down there and suck out the calcium ball and I am good to go! HOLLA! I was dreading surgery.  I heard the recovery was 6ish months of being in a sling. Can.you.imagine.  So, that's all great! And I can't wait to have a pain free shoulder!

We went to Target this week so Cal could spend some of his paycheck-- he picked out two xbox games (in the move, we packed his games and can not find them anywhere.  What? They can't just disappear, right?? So where are they??? hmmmmmm)

They each got a slushy too.  And I posted this on instagram and will say it again here.  I swear to you, the number of times a DAY I hear "hey, mom?" is astounding.  What feels like every 5 minutes it is this: "hey, mom? Mom? MOM! Mom. Mom? Mooooommmm??? Hey mom! Mom? MOOOOOM!!!!" Not even exaggerating.  

 It's a good thing they are so stinking cute.  Love these clowns. 

So that's a long winded way to share what's going on in our world lately!

Ohhhh, and Bachelor in Paradise.... y'all watching?
Thoughts:
-Chad.  He is just scary. He needs to go home and seek therapy.
-Lace. She also needs therapy.  And I think she was provoking Chad the whole night and he was too drunk to see when she was done playing.  But she was calling him names the whole night too. (doesn't make his actions okay)
-I can't wait for more characters to arrive to the island because it was boring with just those people
-When did Nick get a hot bod? Because, yum.
-Chris Harrison putting Chad in his place at the end of the first episode was amaze.  Go on, Chris Hare!
-Daniel is a joke. And I think I might enjoy laughing at him through the "season"
-Jubilee is trying realllll hard to be different than how she was on Ben's season.
-I love some trash TV.