2 weeks until school starts!!

Can you tell I am counting down to school starting back up??

I love my boys. i really do. But they drive me crazy.

Yesterday was a "getting ready to go back to school" day. I am actually giddy about it. I always loved going shopping with my mom and buying school supplies. That was the one day of summer I really looked forward to,. It made me excited for class and a new teacher and new friends. There is something so unexplainable about the newness of the supplies. The sharp pointy crayons. The pencils with erasers still intact. A brand new trapper keeper with the crisp ZIP sound still in the velcro and the perfect shiny folders inside. The rubbery smell of the pink pearl erasers. It was almost a rush for my younger self.

930 AM:
Finn had his 5 year physical and dr appointment. he had to have it before he started school.
His regular pediatrician Dr. R ____ was booked. So we had to see a new dr who just started at the practice. So we are waiting and Dr. B_______ walks in and says "I know your brother, Finn!"
She had done her residency at UNC and took care of Peter pre and post transplant and had been on call if he went in for treatment etc. She said "I remember seeing you when you were just a little guy coming to visit your brother!" So it was nice to have a familiar face.
BUT poor little guy had to have 5 shots. DTP, Hep A, MMR, Polio and Varicella. But he was a trooper...although refused to talk to me for about 2 hours. Boy was he mad. But he milked it for his grandma. "I got 5 shots and they hurt. I cried and cried. my arm still hurts...cough cough" (I dont know why giving him shots would make him cough)
But to make up for the injustices of it all we let him choose where he wanted to go to lunch. yesterday was Charles day off and since Finns birthday is Friday we made this his birthday choice and he was happy with it.

400pm:
My mom, the boys and I all went to walmart to get school supplies. Having one kid in school was expensive enough. Now having TWO is double the trouble. And they each had a list a mile long of things needed.)
#2 pencils, chubby pencils, crayons, fat crayons, colored pencils, markers, erasers, glue sticks(the big fat ones),tennis balls, a ream of paper each, various sizes of zip lock bags, clorox wipes and hand sanitizer, folders, composition notebooks, baby wipes, kleenex , scissors, pencil boxes, highlighters, dry erase markers blah blah blah.
so 72$ and a kitchen full of school supplies later I am having quite the time sorting them out.

TODAY:
I am going thorough their clothes drawers. They have plenty of jeans and shorts. but MANY of their shirts are too small now. My boys grow long in the torso. SO the pants still fit, but the shirts are now half shirts a la Homer Simpson. So i have some clothes shopping to get done as well. Another excuse to spend money!!

I know I will miss them once they are gone, but right now I am impatient to get them out of the house!! I am so tired of fighting over Transformers and fighting over who plays the video games and fighting on the trampoline and fighting at the pool and fighting on the computer and fighting about taking the dog for a walk. I am tired of Peter telling Finn what to say and how to play. i am tired of Finn trying his darndest to get Peter in trouble.
i am so sick of hearing "Im Thirsty!" or "Peter hit me!" or Peters saying "Fine Finn! You wont play it my way? Then I quit!" GAH shut up shut up shutupshutupshutup.

Lord grant me patience to last two more weeks.

Come get me out of this dress!

A few days ago my BF Lindsey wrote a hilarious Blog entry about the time we went on a post graduation cruise. Before we went our separate ways for college, we decided to have one last Sarah and Lindsey hurrah and go on a Caribbean Cruise to St Maartens, St John and St Thomas.

It was 1994 and we were 18 years old. We had smoking hot bodies and low self esteem.(a great combination dont you think?)

Anyway we knew that there were going to be 2 formal dinners, and several other events and fun things aboard the ship. So like two hot blooded teenage girls we set out on a shopping expedition of epic proportions. We bought Bikinis(which never made it to the cruise. They were strictly for pre cruise tanning on the top of Lindseys Roof. A bottle of Qwik Tan MAY have been involved. Dont ask)

We shopped for shorts, shirts, bathing suits, formal wear, sundresses etc.

One day we went to Marshalls. We were feeling good. We found 2 red brocade dresses, 2 black spandex hooker style slip dresses(which, looking back, mysteriously disappeared after my mom went through my closet "looking for old clothes to donate) and a few other goodies for the final touches to our Last Hurrah Cruise.

Well this particular day in Marshalls I found a cute sundress I really liked. It was a white with Pink and green and blue florals. It had kind of a flouncy skirt and a narrowed waist with a real June Cleaver sleeveless bodice with a shallow scoop neck.. It was just so cute and bright and cheery, and it was in my size. i took it to the dressing room to try on.. I unzipped the back, slid it on and had Lindsey zip up the back. It was really cute, but I have a very long torso so the skirt kind of ended ABOVE my waist, which was a real shame. So Lindsey unzipped and went back to her dressing room and I started to take the dress off. I started lifting from the bottom hem and pulled the skirt up over my head. The bodice started to follow, but was quickly caught on something...my chest(which over that summer decided to show itself a little more prominently). I tugged again. Nothing. It wouldnt budge. I tugged ever harder and the bodice kind of flew up and stuck, right up over my chest and around my shoulders, pinning my arms into the air.

"LINDSEY!" I whispered as loudly as I could without the entire store listening in. "Lindsey, I'm stuck!"

"Whhaaaat? She asked, confused as to how I could get stuck in a dress. "what do you mean you're stuck? The zipper is stuck?"

"NO. I am stuck. Me. Stuck. Inside this dress and I cant move my arms. COme here and help!"

She finished changing and hustled over to my dressing cubicle. She took one look at me and lost it. She was convusling against the wall, laughing so hard she was crying. Every time she would try and talk her voice would get about 14 octaves higher(dog whistle register here) and she would just crack up again and again. She could only get about 3 words out at a time she was laughing so hard. And not giggles either. Loud everyone can hear us from 3 miles away kind of laughter. I was standing there, in this dress my arms above my head, stuck by this STUPID DRESS (I hated the dress by this point.). My hair had gotten a little caught on the zipper so it was sticking out the top like a flaming fountain.

I couldnt get my arms up or down to try again. I couldnt move. I had visions of having to call security and having people cut me out of this dress. Finally Lindsey sprang to action. I concaved my chest and hunched my back as best I could and she yanked. The dress came whooshing off and I was free. I was like the butterfly emerging from the cocoon.By the time the whole thing was over we were laughing so hard. We had tears streaming down our faces, I was standing there with my legs crossed so I wouldn't pee myself, and we had salesladies popping in and out asking "Are you girls alright in here??"

Now as some of you know Lindsey is a very talented artist. One thing she is REALLY good at is Charicatures and cartoons. In fact we have a whole notebook full of funny drawings from all our expolits, lists of inside jokes(257 to be exact) and funny poems and stories we have written.

I happen to be the keeper of the notebook right now, so i DO happen to have a cartoon of this funny event.

This Artist Rendition of events is copyright Lindsey Aramburu 1996 from the 2nd journal of Lindsey and Sarah. Please to enjoy.

I miss you Lindsey, cant wait to fly out to Spokane and see you nad the trip to Vegas in Feb!!

May we be able to add many more drawings to the Journal!