Well there goes THAT day

My bad, I thought Michelle had Friday off. At least I could swear she told me she did. So here I was thinking I didn't have ANYTHING to do on Friday. Oops...except Jake's 13th birthday, we should at least have a special dinner with cake and ice cream for him. Guess I'm going to the store...but which way? I have major stores in 3 out of 4 directions. The problem is they are all 15-25 miles away. It would help too if Jake could make up his mind what he wanted for his birthday dinner. Then my decision was made for me. Michelle came running down the hall at 7:59am asking if I realized she had to be out the door in one minute (seems she forgot to set her alarm). So south and to boring Walmart it was.

Jake finally decided he wanted chicken, mashed potatoes, onion rings and pasta salad. I didn't manage to make the pasta salad and I think he'd have preferred greasy but yummy Walmart fried chicken. I splurged on something we haven't had in quite a while...shake n bake! I bought a box of extra crispy and parmesan encrusted. Then I added in a container of Italian flavored bread crumbs with some spices from the cabinet. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. Pat and Alex came out for a brief visit. They took Luke and Jake home with them because they were having an Xbox party with 5 tvs setup in their living room. Michelle went along for the ride.

So Jake turned 13 yesterday...another teenager. That makes 8 down and 4 to go. It seems like Sean and Danielle will never be teens but I know it'll only take a blink of an eye before I'm wondering how they got to be so old. For now, I'll just enjoy sitting here cuddling a sleeping Sean while I type. Although I should be moving my rear end since we're going to the beach today. It's the very rare Saturday when none of my kids have to work (except for Liz who's in Norway and working her fanny off since it's their summer conference) nor are there any activities planned at church (that I'm aware of). Michelle's not going, she already had plans with a friend. Drew and Allison have Allison's family reunion to attend, so they're opting out and Val went to Chicago to see a concert. And of course Liz is in Norway. Pat and Alex were all for it though! It's only going to be in the high 70s so might be a bit chilly up there but the day looks to be beautiful!

Sean is getting so big, he went on an excursion without me the other day. Val's best friend Janna called and asked if Val could take him to the beach so Kolson (Janna's son, that I was her coach for the birth of) could have someone to play with (or alongside...since they're 2). It was so hard to let him go off with them. I knew they'd keep an eagle eye on them but still...that's my baby! Val said he was perfect for her, sat and played while Janna had to chase Kolson around most of the time. He had tons of fun though and was very animated when he got home. Now if I could just get that sitting and playing to transfer to a shopping cart, I'd be happy. I had Sean by myself after dropping Michelle off at work yesterday. By the time we were done running errands, I was EXHAUSTED and my arms hurt! I guess I've been too lax in what I've allowed during shopping trips. Or having helpers who take him out of carts, carry him around, or hold his hand and let him walk...has spoiled him. All I know is that the kid is not a shopper. But he is a boy. lol We ran to JoAnn's because I wanted to buy yarn for a baby shower gift I need by the end of the month. While I'm wrestling him to stay in the cart, he's yelling CAR! CAR! CAR! I looked around to see where they might have a Lightning McQueen or NASCAR project set up, but I didn't see one. It happened a few times until I realized if you squinted your eyes and looked through the glass front of the store (we were WAY in the back, came through the street entrance) you could just make out the front right quarterpanel of a real car that was sitting in the middle of the mall. After we paid for the yarn, we went out to see the cars. He was so disappointed when we walked away and he realized he wasn't going to be able to get IN the cars. Poor guy.

I was asked how and what you feed all those kids at the beach. The answer is...apparently not enough since they all want to stop at McD's on the way home! LOL I tend to over buy for the beach actually. For some reason I feel like we can't be there without fruit AND cookies AND candy AND chips to go with our real food. Usually when we go to Southwicks we go for the whole day so I'll bring lunch meat and a few loaves of bread for lunch. Chips and fruit on the side. Then for dinner we'll grill. We'll probably do the same that Della did when her and I went...hot dogs, burgers and Italian sausage. I'm making the pasta salad Jake wanted for his birthday dinner and we have a watermelon we'll cut up. I'm thinking of running to the store on the way up and buying corn on the cob too. We've only had it once this year and it's YUMMY and easy on the grill. The problem is keeping them hydrated. It seems we can never bring enough drinks even if we have a 2.5 gallon igloo jug filled with ice water as backup. On that note, I should probably try to peel the boy off my shoulder so I can get the pasta cooked, things packed and our shopping list made. Have to remember to add batteries to the list...I NEED my camera to work!!!