When I'm alone

and left to my own devices, I can really do some pretty ridiculous things.

Today for example, I successfully mowed the lawn and did yard work at 9:30 am with both boys outside and the two dogs. (more on that in a minute). It was actually very calm and under control surprisingly enough. Ryan and Brayden played on the swing set and in the club house while I was in the back yard mowing. Then when I had to move to the front yard, Ryan went inside and got both bubble mowers and gave one to Brayden and said "Come on baby, we got to help mommy get this grass mowed." So they followed behind me as I mowed...and behind them Bowden and Bella...we had a Gautreau mow train going.

They even helped me pull weeds and sweep up. Although their weed pulling involved some pansies and their sweeping more so just moved the dirt all over the place instead of getting it in one spot, but whatever; they were helping and being very good.

Then we had lunch and quiet time. Their quiet time was my recovery brick session. Then I decided that I still had time while they were sleeping to try and re-arrange all the furniture downstairs just to see what the different sofa sets would look like in different rooms of the house. Uh, when two 6ft.5, 250 pound men have to move the stuff in...how the heck did I think I was going to rearrange it on my own. Simple, I'm super woman. Or so I think sometimes. Needless to say I moved 2 sofas, called Tim to say "Please tell me to stop" and he did, so I did. I put the sofas back then got the kids up.

Next was a little play time which mostly consisted of Ryan and Brayden "racing like mommy", then an early dinner. I put FSU jerseys on both boys, threw my FSU shirt on and headed to Chik-fil-A. They were doing a Labor day special where you wear your teams shirt and you get a free sandwich. So we played at the indoor place because it was raining and ate free chicken.

Fast forward to after the boys are asleep and what am I doing? Rearranging/cleaning the garage, cleaning the back porch and laundry. What is wrong with me. I need to go to bed already.

Before I forget. Bella is our new dog. After 3.5 years of hints, whispers, nagging and innuendos, Tim finally convinced me that we needed another dog for Bowden. So last Monday we took Ryan to the Wake County Animal Shelter and got Bella. She's a 4 year old lab mix. Other than having a few too many pounds on her, she's a great dog and the transition has been pretty seamless. She gets along great with the boys and Bowden and is very lovable. She absolutely loves to play fetch and constantly walks around with either a tennis ball or bone in her mouth, with her tongue hanging out of the other side.