Summer loving....

Summer is in full swing in the Dodds house.

Yep, kids have been fighting as much as possible.

No one wants to sleep in their own bed yet they don't want to bunk together in the family room either. But they do anyway.

And, I, being a glutton for punishment.....don't really enforce bedtimes during the summer.

What?! You crazy woman!

I know!

Hey, it does eliminate the need to cook breakfast because everyone is waking up closer to lunch. Well, the big kids are. G hasn't gotten the memo that he can totally sleep in during summer.

We haven't made any road trip treks further than an hour and half yet. I'm itching to get on the road.

Yes, I'm craving a road trip.

Me...the chick with three kids. And family that lives 12 hours away.

It's tradition. And I miss my family.

And I'm already getting pretty stoked about all of the thrift shop stops I may find along the way.

Because, I'm addicted.

Just try to park me in front of a Goodwill and keep me in the car.....you.just.try.it.


Today, we went from three wild and crazy kiddos to one wild and crazy kid.

The big kids got dropped off at camp.

I've gotta' say...I was a bit sad after we dropped them off. I will miss them.

And this is coming from the woman who has been singing,

CAMP, SWEET, CAMP....I CAN'T WAIT FOR YOU!

Let's get real here. Teenagers are nuts. They are plain out of their minds. Plus, my son eats more than a whole football team. And he puts no time limit on his non stop eating....all night long this child wanders into the kitchen and "quietly" makes himself sandwiches with massive amounts of lunchmeats and cheeses and polishes off handfuls of homemade muffins in a single bite.

Come to think of it, he might have a tapeworm.

My daughter isn't really trouble, per say....actually she's an amazing stylist who just happens to curl my hair for me because I have zero talent in that field. I can barely blow dry it without sucking my hair up in the vent.

Smell of burnt hair. Bad.

BUT....she does like to get bossy. She's 11. And a girl. That's her life. She also has two brothers. Which might be the worst punishment ever. Two brothers who are total extroverts and always all up inyourface.....yep. She claims that T is super nice at camp.

I can only hope that this is true.

And I'm also wondering, why the hell doesn't he act like that at home?

We've almost finished with swim team season....our first attempt at this sport. I like it! 

Yes, you have to get up at ungodly hours to pack a cooler with diced fruit, water bottles, and Gatorade or maybe just a family size box of Cheez-Its. You have to sweat it out with swim team parents who you may or may not enjoy. But I kind of dig it. R has gotten pretty lucky and all of her swim buddies are really encouraging and sweet to each other. They also have a lot of fun together chilling out between events.

Soccer starts soon.

This means waking up at ridiculous hours and trekking across fields of icky wet grass and I always wear flip flops anyway even though I can not STAND the feel of wet grass on my feet. Hours in the sun.

But I love it.

I scream my head off.

I am that mom that you are cutting your eyes at because you think I'm being too loud and maybe telling my kid to take your kid out.

Just kidding.

Maybe.

Our plans for this week while we are 2/3's child free?

Get ready, folks...we're getting CRAZY here.

I'm cleaning R's room and giving it a much needed makeover.

Yep. I'm exciting. Dang it.

And I am way too excited for some of the projects I already have planned.

Some random pictures of our summer so far?

SURE. These are from my phone because I am way too tired right now to walk over to where my camera is and take out the memory card and blah, blah, blah..... :)

 He lost his 2nd tooth today!  And he's super amped up about being an only child for a few days. Can you tell?  He sang a snippet of Thrift Shop this afternoon to for all of my Instagram followers.

 My name is Liz. And I am addicted to thrifting. Goodwill score today.

 He stopped being embarrassed of me for one picture and then he resumed his usual disgust and dismay at his parents being involved.

 She still loves us.

 Swim meet tats.

 Chomping down on some S'mores with my boy.

 My company every morning while I'm trying to enjoy my cup of coffee.

 What my family room looks like every night.

 Summer. Ice cream truck. Friends who own an ice cream truck. Bare feet.  Done.

 Our girl started her first step towards a straight smile. Back braces and retainer on....4 months down the road we should have a full on brace face.

 We found THE products to turn your crunchy swimmer's hair into amazeballs hair.

 My honey and me on Father's Day enjoying S'mores, his new fire pit, extreme heat and mosquitoes. Love.

 Two of my loves. Our teenager decided he didn't need to participate in this family time.

 Father's Day.

 Movie night at our house is old school-tastic.

 More thrift finds.

 My mermaid.

 Headed to the rec center to swim with my baby.

 Baking has been my life so far this summer.

 Sweet morning love.

 Rec center fun.

 A decent picture of myself. Watch out!!!

 My stylist :)

 Butter. Browning. Good.

 Eat her bubbles!!

 My movie dates.

 Lunch with the hubs.

 Stormy skies in Texas.

 Tree house building fun! My husband rocks.

 My toothless wonder with glowing ears.

 Yep. More thrifting.

Last day of school shaving cream fight.

Back to School.....

I mentioned on Facebook earlier how my teenage son has been whining about wanting another pair of Jordan's for his back to school shoes. 

I can not express how much I loathe these shoes. 

#1: because they are usually around $200....and that's just ridiculous.
#2: because they are big and clunky
#3: because they make his feet look humongous while the rest of his body is a normal boy size.


So, after I told him how much I hated these shoes while he scanned page after page on the iPad pointing out the shoes he just "has to have", I got to thinking about the clothes and the shoes that I just longed to have. 

My parents probably thought they were all really ugly.  I know they hated a certain pair of black, clunky shoes I wore almost everyday in junior high because they told me that they looked like Frankenstein's shoes.  I loved them.  Like, loved them so much I wore them with everything.  While searching for 90's shoes...which are now called 'vintage' by the way....I came across these shoes that looked exactly like the ones I loved so much.  Guess what!  They are in the FoundedShop Etsy shop.  For sale. Believe it or not.

Seriously.

Then I remembered a pair of shoes I tried to get rid of years ago but R begged me not to.  She has had them in her closet all this time.  Now, these are bad. Super super platforms. With buckles. And I wore them constantly in high school....usually with short dresses, short skirts or short shorts. Sheesh, I'm locking R up when she hits 13 and we will suddenly claim that all good Christian girls have to wear Dickies coveralls.

It's no wonder I had decent legs back then. These suckers were heavy.  Of course, I never would have admitted it then.  I thought they made me look thinner. Yes, the time when I was the skinniest I have ever been...I wore platform shoes to make me feel even skinnier. I rarely took off my shorts at the beach either...
Note to younger self: your thighs get bigger. Sport your bikini now.

In honor of my strange, younger self and all of you peeps that I'm sure have pictures that seem similar to these...here are more adventures in weird clothes.

This was a phase that was a huge in south east Texas in the 90's...okay, at my junior high it was popular.  Wearing Looney Tunes (or any other cartoon character) sweat shirts and pants....and to top it all off.....wear the corresponding cartoon character on BOXER SHORTS, on the OUTSIDE of your sweat pants. Listen, people, I didn't make the trends, I just followed them.

My flannel phase.  This lasted through junior high and honestly it never really went away. I love plaid. I love flannel. But, I don't think I roll my eyes as much as I did back then. Oh, the joys.

The floral dress phase. Denim on top, flowers on the bottom. Oh yeah. H.O.T.

The peroxide blonde phase. Always nice.

My New Kids phase.  I thought Joe and I were destined to be together. It wasn't meant to be.

This is the over sized sweatshirt phase....don't forget about the hand painted domino action happening all over the front. 

oh, and the dye-my-hair-every-week phase.

After strolling through memory lane and laughing out loud at some of the things I chose to wear, I wonder how my parents felt about it all.  I know they didn't like it all.  And some of those atrocious choices were expensive.  I still remember getting my first pair pf Dr. Martens. And that was a BIG deal. 

I know, as a parent, I can't just give T everything he wants.  The hard part is when it comes to this age where you remember what that was like. You know how you HAD to have a certain pair of jeans.  And of course, they were more expensive than other pairs because that's why they're so trendy. 

The irony in this all is pretty entertaining, I'm sure, for my parents. 

Now, will the boy get a pair of Jordan's again this year?  Probably.  But I'm guessing he'll probably have to wait until Christmas.

Hope you guys enjoyed the laughs.  If you are inspired to laugh at your younger self in a post, let me know!  I would love to see.