Last month in review...

Wow! Has it really been almost a month? Time sure flies!
Much has happened in Mayberry....some good, some bad, some ugly and some just plain funny:

Too Much Information
My father-in-law and his wife are in town, the latest link in the ongoing chain of family helpers while hubby is in a full-arm cast following his surgery. Last night, he was grilling dinner on our deck while hubby and I were discussing the latest statement from our medical flex plan. Despite the recent surgery, this has been a reasonably healthy year for us...which means we have an excess of funds in the account which we will lose at the end of the year.
He suggested I might want to consider Lasik.
After a moment of pondering, my response was, "I wonder if laser hair removal done at the gynecologist would count?"
At that precise instant, my FIL walked in with a plate of steaks. The look on his face was priceless.

Fast Food
We have got to start eating healthier. As evidenced by my two-year-old recently, at the drive-through window of our bank. As soon as the window went down, she hollered "No pickles, no onions, girl toy!" at the teller.

Vacation Countdown
We are taking a weeklong summer vacation as a family, to the Smoky Mountains. I have never been there, and we're all really looking forward to it. We still haven't finalized a place to stay, but have narrowed it down to a few choices. We are definitely doing a little cabin (not a hotel) and we want to be in a quiet place in the mountains, outside Gatlinburg. The trip is less than a month away!

School Countdown
T-minus one week until I am the only person in our house who must rush around to get ready in the mornings. What a relief that will be!!

BMW Fenders cost $1,100 each
I learned this the hard way, by parking my invisible black 325i behind my husband's aunt's minivan in our driveway. It happened one afternoon while I was at work (I carpool), but nobody told me that evening. I noticed the damage to the front bumper the next morning when I left for work, and I immediately called my husband. Who said, "Oh yeah, I meant to tell you...."
Later that day, my four-year-old explained the details of how it all went down:
"I'm sorry I have to tell you this Mommy, but Aunt Judy hit your car. She drove backwards and made a loud noise and bonked your car and then she said, 'Shoot!' and Daddy moved your car to a different spot and we went to Publix."
We both felt awkward asking his Aunt to pay for the repairs, since she stayed with us for 3 weeks to help out. The guy at the BMW dealership referred us to a reputable body shop, who said they could fix it - instead of replace it - for half the price. Better...I guess?
We still haven't gotten it fixed. Although I really like this car, and it's my first NICE car (it replaced a 4-year-old Chevy Venture), I just can't justify spending $500 to fix a cosmetic issue.

We're Portable!
My brother-in-law's cousin got married last weekend. It was a brief ceremony and casual party afterwards. We brought the kids, and had a great time.
We brought the kids...and had a great time.
It used to be that we would never even think about bringing the 3 little ones to a wedding. The stress just wouldn't be worth it. Heck, we wouldn't even think about taking all 3 to Publix at the same time! But now....we can do fun things together as a family, and actually ENJOY them.
Like the wedding.
The kids had an absolute blast dancing, and we got some really great photos. I wish we had brought the video camera, since still shots didn't capture the hilarious essence of the moment very well.
The whole ride home, I thought about what a perfect place our little family is in right now....