OWWW! My butt bone!

Drew tested out a new skill today. It involves, well...you'll see.

*WHAT*, praytel, are you talking about?

As some of you may know, my first internet experience goes back to the mid '90s. I won't go into too many details, but back when the online dating world was total societal taboo, I was there front and center getting an article published about an experience that was featured in the Sunday paper insert, Parade Magazine insert.

Most people seemingly outgrow childish/juvenile phases, but oh no. Not me. I have fully embraced that aspect of my life. Even now, I feel like the rest of the world has caught onto the gem I found in the internet long ago. It's gotten a little bit better even now as social networking sites such as Facebook have made it incredibly easy to streamline friendships.

So, one of the things I eventually broke off and pursued was the world of online forums. Having been a part of a very large family website for almost nine years now, I have learned how to say what I want to say {thank you John Mayer - click on the iTunes link to listen } without really having to say it all. And all while typing out acronyms at the speed of light, other friends can enjoy my messages while quickly deciphering my codes.

LOL has been around quite a while. In fact, some might say it has become the ultimate in internet lingo cliche. I disagree. You *can* abuse it, but when used appropriately and sprinkled throughout, it has the ability to really emphasize your emotions; particularly if you are not prone to much laughter. A friend of mine and I started to debate theology {or the lack therof} quite a bit and in our exchanges we weren't able to do much for bolding, italicizing, underlining, etc. so she introduced the *xyz* asterisks as a way to bold without bolding. Funny, I have seen it catch on in the past year or so. Call it laziness if you will. I just kept on using it because it's *far* easier than to stop typing and grab the mouse to click on bold.

So, while I try to be polite while blogging {because not everyone is "in the know" about internet lingo}, there may be times when I use it. For those reasons, I think it would be nice to share with you some common internet acronyms I use. And I know there are a *lot* more out there. For the purpose of this blog entry, I'll just keep it to the ones I am most likely to use in my online discussions, not all necessarily ones I would use here.

DH - dear husband
DC - dear child/ren
DS - dear son
DD - dear daughter
MIL - mother-in-law
FIL - father-in-law
BIL, SIL - you get the idea
IMO - in my opinion
IMHO - in my humble opinion
HTH - hope this helps
KWIM - know what I mean?
BTW - by the way
ROTFL{MAO} - rolling on the floor laughing {I'll let you fill in the last letters ;)}
IIRC - if I recall correctly
BTDT {GTTS} - been there, done that, got the t-shirt
FWIW - for what it's worth
IRL - in real life
ITA - in total agreement/I totally agree
JJ/JK - just joking
LO - little one
MYOB - mind your own business
OMG - oh my gosh
PP - previous poster
OP - original poster
SAHM/SAHP/SAHD - stay at home mom/parent/dad
TMI - too much information
TIA - thanks in advance
PITA - pain in the {well, you get the idea} ;-)

To learn more you can visit THIS or THIS {as recommended by Goofydaddy} website and dust off the old acronyms you used to use or hey, introduce a few more to your repertoire.

Third of July

On Friday, July 3rd, we took the kids to the Rock 'N River Family Aquatic Center. One of the nice things about this place is you can bring your own cooler, camp out at a picnic table that's nicely shaded, enjoy concessions and snow cones and piped in music.

Oh, and you can do lots of different water activities. They have two water slides - an open and closed tunnel - a shaded kiddie pool, a lazy river and a huge waterscape for kids.

We easily passed the day away, taking into account the time it took to get out the door and back.

Here are some pictures from our day out. Enjoy!

{Looking for tubes to lazy on}{Jonathan enjoying the lazy river}

{Neil and Paige}{Drew's head was firmly planted on my shoulder. He wasn't fearful of the water so much as he just didn't want to be away from me - that and he was afraid of the water. ;-)}

{Can you feel his tension??}

{Drew clutching for dear life - I think my kids have the gene for water paranoia}

{Paige and Ashley enjoying some sisterly bonding time}

{Quick. Call the NRA! - p90x joke}

Happy Fourth of July!

{Erica, Jonathan and Paige working on their flag project}

We spent the evening with friends Cynthia and Jesse and their three little ones. We had the All-American cookout feast of burgers, hot dogs, chips, drinks, s'mores, popsicles and a really good Riesling for the adults. YUMMY!

The kids participated in a flag-making project consisting of a whipped cream flag background and then they used blue berries and strawberries to make the stars and stripes of the flag. Afterward, they ate it all up and went back several times making it over and over again.

Then we headed out to the driveway to watch a few fireworks across the street. All in all, it was a fun-filled day for the kids!

{Anthony chowing down on a hot dog - he is only a couple of months older than Drew!}{Erica enjoying her hamburger}{Drew and baby Vincent, Cynthia and Jesse's youngest}

{the kids cooled off with the water toys in the backyard}

{Erica, Jonathan, Paige and part of Ashley working on their project}

{is she working to eat or eating to work? you decide...}

{TA DA!!!}

{Ashley's finished product}

{Erica's finished flag}

{Sparkler and fireworks time!!}

{Ashley looks a little unsure about all that}

{once she got the hang of it, Erica was all smiles with her sparkler!}

What a crafty start to the weekend!

{the kiddos with their pillows, minus the teen}

On Wednesday, I took the kids to Joann's to pick out some fabric for their very own 4th of July pillowcases. I had planned on starting them yesterday and finishing them today. Well, I never *did* start them on Thursday. And today, we were out nearly all day, first at the park and then to the Rockin' River Family Aquatic Center. We had a blast!!

{more pics on that adventure later!}

Back to my point, though. I got home and was so exhausted that I fell asleep - with loud kids and machine guns firing everywhere. Cacophony. That's tired for ya. I was actually starting to think to myself {as I woke up all groggy headed} that I would just make some dinner and shoot for getting it mostly tackled tomorrow. And then I found myself pulling out the sewing machine and all my sewing related things and I got down to business. How incredibly simple! I {probably to the gasp and horrors of sewing enthusiasts out there} don't use patterns. And I have a really bad habit of "eyeballing it". It seemed to work, though. The pillow cases look great and the kids have something unique to celebrate the holiday with. Now...if I could convince myself to finish my bedroom curtains I'd be set. Nah. I'll save that for another day.

{pinning the fabric}

{sewing the opening}

{the finished product!}

{Paige's pillow}

{Jonathan's fifty states}
{Drew's baseball and flags}
{Ashley's patchwork quilt style pillowcase}