a HILL of a good time.........: iPhone July Randomness

Ready or not here comes July! When I was uploading these pictures I quickly realized I had a very happy trigger finger in July. This month was a hearty one of Summer fun and a bunch of randomness.. Enjoy!!
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The boy...in the car...obviously this is theme on my phone.. He is just so darn cute!

and then it was time for the 4th of July. This is probably one of my favorite holidays.. We spend the entire weekend at my parents house --Hanging out at the pool, enjoying good food, having some cold drinks and lots of family time. One of the weekend nights we head down to my uncles house and shoot off fireworks. Usually my mom, who is not a fan of fireworks, stays at the house with Chaz--Bless her!! Saturday we headed to the fireworks tent right down from my parents house.. Chaz was so excited but did have a clue about what. "We get fireworks!!!!" still, no clue what he was really talking about..

and then he decided to pick out his own and put them in my basket..

"I love dis one, Momma!" Sure you do..

"What about dis one??"

Now comes one of my favorite sets of pictures.. If you went to the stands this year you probably noticed some very "creative" names for the fireworks.. Here are just a few of my favorites. Feel free to giggle amongst yourselves...

One last look at the loot.. Note: there were probably 4 baskets of "stuff" along with many armloads.. Did I mention I LOVE the 4th??

Fletcher, Izzy and Sally were able to spend the 4th with us. Mom was wonderful and kept the kiddos while we went to shoot off fireworks (we did a few in the driveway before they went to bed) Good times!!

and then it was back to "normal" life. Why wouldn't you put a bag on your head and jump around on a bench in the kitchen???

I love to find irony in a run of the mill shopping trip so when I came across this one I posted the picture to Facebook with the caption "Can you tell me what is wrong with this picture?" I didn't get a single response.. Either my friends don't see an issue or they don't share my sense of humor.. Probably the latter.. Oh well, I found it amusing.

As I mentioned before we spent many a night on the back porch this summer. Most of the time I was perched on the bar stool watching mindless T.V. while Ryan was pacing in the backyard on a business call.. He often wore what was quickly coined his "worker hat" it bears a striking resemblance to the Touch-A-Truck hat from a few posts back, no?

This summer my son discovered guns.. I didn't necessary try to avoid this but I also didn't think it would come this soon. I had come to grips with the fact that this part of "being a boy" was inevitable but I don't know that I was ready for "Bam, Pow, POW! I shoot you!" Yikes! Well, at least it is a water gun, right?

and then.. like a gift from God himself...PAINT WITH WATER! Water! Not messy paint to stain the floor, clothes, shoes, hands and everything else it comes in contact with ... but WATER!! Oh how I love this invention!

One afternoon I found my little cutie on my bed having a conversation on the play phone with Handy Manny. "Manny, you broke your bike?? On no!! You mad at me? I mad at YOU!!! Can't believe your bike broke" It was a very intense conversation to say the least..

My little Black and Decker man! His Papa, Daddy and Dah would be so proud!

Another thing I do is take pictures of things I see while driving (please no emails on how dangerous this is.. there are times that a picture must be taken.. I am very careful when taking moving pictures :) Now with that said.. is THIS necessary?? Talk about dangerous!

My son thinks my bra is his helmet.. Or my "boobs" as he calls my bra.. Somethings you just have to laugh at..

Must be another Saturday! His absolute favorite thing is the kid's ride on ice cream truck. It grosses me out every time BUT it is a good bribe for getting through the mall without a meltdown. We literally have him trained. If he can make it through the entire mall trip being a "good boy" he can ride the ice cream truck.. He gets one ride and then we leave.. It works like a charm.

I have to share this little find I saw at Gymboree.. Now, I will say these are probably the cutest little pair of skives I have even seen but for $10 each I will also tell you they did not make it into my purchase pile.. No sir!

and then we were off to Target.. now normally I don't document a Target trip like this, but this one needed a little play by play... Let me set it up for you... we needed about 30 minutes to waste before lunch.. SO we decided to run into Target and grab a few things I had on a list..We were finished with our trip and almost out the door when I hear "Uh oh, we didn't go to the toys" from Chaz. Now being the "mean" mom that I am I would have quickly just turned to Chaz and said "Sorry the toy department is closed today" I would have said it with a smile and been on my way. Nope, no mommy guilt here. I will use that one for as long as I can.. But not this day...His daddy was with us. So what does Ryan do? Well, much to my dismay he turns the cart and heads straight towards the toy department. I knew this would not turn out well as I was just back there a few days ago and it was slathered with Toy Story 3 items.. Uh oh!!

It took about 1.23 second for my kid to notice the Buzz in the plastic box.. Now, as many of you know if it is in a display like this it probably has a pretty hefty price point.. This one was no different $130.00!! WHAT?!?! What evil person makes a toy for small kids that costs $130! Do you realize how quickly my kid could destroy that thing?? Ryan said "Oh he just wants to look" Sure..

While they were "innocently" looking at Buzz I decided to slip some things under the cart in hopes to keep them hidden for the upcoming birthday party (I know this was a VERY advantageous goal) Within moments of his daddy putting him down he was quickly replacing the reasonable priced Buzz dress up outfit with the $130 Buzz light-up-talking-I-hope-it-does-laundry-toy... "Momma we don't need dat.. we need DIS!!!"

Needless to say it took me about 2.35 seconds for me to completely turn on the man I vowed to stand beside for my entire life.. "You did this.. you fix it!" Because there was NO WAY that I was spending $130 on a toy. Nope! Not happening!

It took a lot of time.. and a lot of tears but we were able to pry the Buzz from my child's hands.. Ryan offered him every other reasonably priced Toy Story 3 item on the shelf. Buzz, Woody, Aliens, Slinky Dog.. you name it, it was offered.. Then all of the sudden we hear "GARBAGE TRUCK!!!" He grabbed the Toy Story garbage truck off the shelf and headed to the cart. He didn't even think twice about the big Buzz again... Ryan was not quite ok with him "settling" for the garbage truck so he kept pushing for the medium Buzz and all his friends. Nope.. this kid had his mind made up..

$17.37 later we were all happy with our purchase.. And it was actually a good one. It goes everywhere with us. Yes, we get some looks but he loves it and I "saved" roughly $113 :) Happy mommy!

So this became a common occurrence at our house this summer.. head shaving. Ryan loves his hair cut really low in the summer and why pay to do it when you can drag your wife outside at 9am on a Saturday to happily cut your hair. Well, maybe not happily.. But I did it.. Many times. Chaz said "Daddy, it looks cute!" Not really what we were going for but we will take it!

and then he decided to take the TINY brush you clean the clippers with and sweep up for me. What a sweet little helper!

Snoozing in the booth at Olive Garden.

Another showing of the "worker hat"

One day during a quick cut through our old neighborhood we came upon a lost dog.. So we tossed him in and found his home. Chaz talked about him for days!

Morning cartoon watching.. Who needs stinkin' pjs?!?!

So THIS is the ultimate sign of a good summer day.. Swimsuits and shoes hanging out to dry.

We kept Fletcher for his first overnight stay. We decided to head up to my parents house to swim with the boys and ended up staying there.. Sleeping boy! He was SOOOOOOO good!!

and the next day at JJs. Seems to be a theme.. I guess he was tired from the day before.

He also started this random "old man thing" where he tells me he "needs a blanket and is really, really cold" ok, weird kid.

Ok, so we have another misplaced set of pictures. This actually took place in June but I was WAY too far in when I discovered these pictures were not in the June post but rather in the July post.. Oh well.. Anyways, this was Chaz's first trip to the "Big" movie. Good thing Toy Story 3 was playing because he LOVES both 1 and 2! We thought this would be a great one to introduce him to the theater. What we were not planning on was the place being packed. We didn't go on opening weekend...geez. Oh well after running into some new friends we met at a baby shower the day before and them graciously offering to switch seats with us--they had 3 seats and only needed 2.. Whew! We were set to go! Popcorn, sprite and a happy kiddo. He was awesome. We only had one minor meltdown when his Sprite spilled in his shoe.. A quick trip to the bathroom to clean up and he was good to go. Not a peep for the rest of the movie! (BTW, I know the picture is terrible.. but I don't care.. I know what it is :)

I had to take a few when we left the movie.. He told me each and every character.. So smart!

Yes, I let him take his Sprite in the car. This was a day of treats.. not a normal day by any means.

Look! I did buy the Buzz dress up outfit.. but it did not last to the birthday.. What is cuter than the hospital gown version of Buzz Lightyear??

So if you know me you know I am a very organized individual. I have lists that actually get accomplished, not just lists for lists.. I remembers dates, birthdays and anniversaries like no other (except my Aunt Cheryl.. she can't be matched) Anyways, I have to admit I have a fault.. my keys. I can't EVER seem to find them. I can deliberately put them in a side pocket of my purse and then when I go to leave for the day...POOF! No keys! My friend Sarah thinks this is the most hilarious (probably most annoying) thing ever.. So one day when I had emptied the contents of my purse on my desk and was at my most frusterated moment....I stood back, took a picture, sent it to Sarah and laughed...

And another random.. this is how I shop.. "Oh Chaz needs a wheelbarrow for his birthday!" He didn't get this one but he did get one. This method really works for me. I love technology!

Morning snooze..

and this year one of the most precious people in my life turned 84 years young!! My meme. When I called her to wish her "Happy Birthday" she told me she had mowed, edged and pulled weeds that day.. and it was about 98 degrees with a heat index of 107.. WHAT?!? She is simply amazing. We were able to gather the fam together for her birthday as well as my aunt and cousin's. So much fun!!

Yes, she really is that cute!

It was also a celebration of Alexis' 15th birthday (WOW!) She was a little embarassed.

and then this.. One of the best birthday tricks I have ever seen at a restaurant..hands down! We were in a Mexican food restaurant and the waiters were swarming around delivering drinks, appetizers, etc.. When all of the sudden one swooped around the side of Alexis and SMACK right in the face with a handfull of whipped cream on a napkin. CLASSIC!!!