A little of this, a little of that.

I haven't been keeping up with reading everyone's blogs. I took a night off from reading and this morning bloglines says I have 45 new posts to read. PEOPLE! You can slow down a bit, I may be a fast reader but not THAT fast. Good gracious.

A run down on a couple of the kids. Gemma is enjoying her new form of transportation. Walking is now her method of choice and she is getting quite good at it. Sometimes it even looks a little bit like a run, if you can call it that. Not too much crawling going on, she is definitely a mover and a shaker. She still does enjoy being carried around by yours truly. A new funny trick: when I try to set her down on the floor, she holds her right leg up and refuses to put it down. She looks so ridiculous with the toes of her left leg barely touching the floor and her right leg way up in the air. This is her little way of communicating to me that she wants me to continue to hold her. As if I didn't know that by the arching of the back and the whimpering and whining that she turns on and off like a switch. It's a good thing she's cute.

Caedmon is on the verge of riding bike without training wheels. All of the kids had a very high standard set for them when their oldest brother learned at age three. Tyler was hilarious, zipping around on a tiny little blue dino bike. This is the same bike that Caedmon (4 1/2) is trying to learn on. When I realized he might do better with a little bigger bike, I pulled out the taller red one. He looked at me and asked, "Did I just level up?" We have GOT to cut back on video games around here.

Baseball and softball practices are in full swing for Tyler and Noelle. Tyler has "leveled up" and is now in the 5th and 6th grade little league. I am so nervous I think I might pee my pants. This is the more competitive league. The league where some of the dad's get a little "vocal". It's kind of sad that they had to put a paragraph on the info sheet about "parental behavior". I applaud the league though. They have made a lot of changes this year to keep it fun for the kids and to keep the parents under control. *clapping*

Like I said, Noelle is playing softball this year. It is her first real involvement in sports. She has taken swimming lessons and that is about the extent of her extra curricular activity resume at the ripe old age of nine. We are so excited to go watch her team, the Yellow Jackets. Go Welly!

Camryn is making it through tornado season just fine. She loves to draw and I have noticed that she has been doodling a whole lot of funnel clouds lately. It must be good (and cheap) therapy. Let it out Cam, let it out.

This whole thing is starting to sound like a really bad Christmas letter. Let's break it up a little bit.

Two new favorite grocery store finds this week:

Sassy Salsa Jolly Time microwave popcorn. It leaves your finger tips nice and orange.
And also, Strawberry Milkshake PopTarts. Heavenly.

I just went out to the PopTart website and saw that they make a flavor called Frosted Caramel Chocolate. How come OUR little store doesn't carry that flavor? It's probably best that they don't.....

Our crabapple tree is in full bloom. Too bad it only lasts a week or so. I stepped out the back door yesterday and was immediately blessed with the heady aroma. If I'm scarce this weekend, you'll know where to find me, sitting out on the deck breathing deeply. Ahhhhh.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Too much Wile E. Coyote?

Caedmon was convinced that banana peels really ARE slippery.....

I Am From

I came across this really neat thing over at Mary's Owlhaven. It's a little writing assignment type thingy and it was really fun to do. Here is the "form" if you want to try it too. I feel like I could write ten of these and they would all be different, I have so many fond memories.

I Am From

I am from sheets hung out on the clothesline, from Ajax and dusting socks. I am from the smoky smell of the wood burning stove. From the mulberry tree that left our feet forever stained and dirty, from the gravel driveway. I am from Sunday night popcorn and my Grandma's freckles, from Howard and Cecil and Val and Rosie.

I am from dessert lovers and deer hunters. “From stand up straight” and “it's time to rise and shine.” I am from dinner time devotions. From Saturday morning bible studies in the living room and the coffee cakes and egg bakes.

I'm from small town hospital, from Germans and Lithuanians. From buster bar dessert and home grown sweet corn and tomatoes straight from the garden. I am from the camping trip when dad accidentally used dish soap in our breakfast, from the rope swing in the hay mow where bales on steamy summer afternoons. I am from the whistle of the pressure cooker announcing supper is almost done.

I am from thirty photo albums that are looked at and laughed at by all. I am from home movies that are rewound and slow motioned over and over. From laughter and giggles and smiles as we remember the past.

Why I am a weirdo- A Meme

Gibee tagged me for this meme. Six weird things about me in no particular order.

1. When I eat Lucky Charms, I eat all the cereal first saving all of the marshmallows until the end. This way I have at least three full spoonfuls of pure sugar delight at the end of my morning cereal experience.
2. When I load the dishwasher I have a very specific way that I do it, but when I put the clean dishes away, it's a free for all. Don't open the cupboard, it will rain down tupperware on your head. Just a note- I don't care how OTHER people load my dishwasher, I'm not uptight like that. I just have to do it "the right way" when I load it.
3. I do not wash my makeup off before bed. And I can't believe I am admitting this next part...most of the time I don't brush my teeth either. GROSS! I know. I usually just crash and I don't want to mess with all of that "personal hygiene" stuff, so I just throw on my pj's and hit the pillow. Mom and Dad, I'm sorry about all the money you spent on braces, and I promise that I DO brush my teeth in the morning.
4. When I am getting dressed to go somewhere and I am frustrated with my wardrobe selection, sometimes I stand in front of the closet hoping that maybe something new will appear. Or I leave the closet and come back a few minutes later, just in case I missed an awesome shirt or pair of pants that I didn't see the first time. A girl can dream can't she?
5. I have stinky feet.
6. My elbows overextend when I straighten them. Nate thinks that one is really weird.

I tag:

Nate

T

Ang

Hannah

Surfing dictionary dot com?

This afternoon I hit the grocery store for a few items with my three little ones that aren't in school. We only came out with three bags so had Caedmon and Jack each carry a bag out to the car. As we walked I was praising them for their efforts and strength. I said "You guys are my little...." but I stumbled while I was searching for the word for "carry out boys" or "grocery guys" Caedmon completed the sentence for me: "minions Mom? Are we your minions?"

Yes Caedmon, you all are. My six little minions.

Anna

It was a happy day when Anna joined our family. Sister-in-law isn't the right word to describe her. I remember the day she married my brother Shane, I was standing up there bawling like a baby. I literally sobbed the entire wedding. It was the single most beautiful wedding EVER in the history of the world. I'm not even kidding. There was such a sweet spirit in that chapel, it was as if God was sitting right there in the front row. (He probably was.)

Anna, you are such a perfect match for my brother, God truly brought you two together. I love you, have a GREAT birthday, and celebrate with a new pair of adorable shoes.

Distracted part two

Back in January I wrote a little bit about how distracted I can be. It's really quite ridiculous. Let me give you an example from yesterday:

I finished up switching Noelle and Camryn's winter and summer clothes. (round of applause for me please) I didn't feel like I was up to tackling the boys' stuff quite yet so I started puttering around the house, doing other little jobs. The trash can was overflowing, so I pulled the bag out and took it outside. When I was about to put the new bag in, I noticed how dirty the inside of our garbage can is. You know how sometimes the bag comes off of the edge but "someone" was lazy and just threw whatever it was they were throwing away in anyway. Well that thing they were throwing away must have been spaghetti sauce and it was crusted all down the inside of the can. I dragged the can and the recycling bin out side to be hosed down. Isn't that ambitious? Wait. It gets better.

Now you have to know that our garbage can and recycling bin sit in the bottom of the "pantry" which is just a small coat closet in the kitchen. When we moved in, we hung a pretty little curtain over the door way, not that it keeps Jack out of the chocolate chips or anything. With the garbage can and bin out of the closet, I was faced with the brutal reality of how nasty this closet had become. The wall was scuffed and dinged and dripped on all around the garbage can and the floor was kind of sticky. I grabbed a bucket and sponge and started scrubbing. The floor looked better right away but the walls were not giving up their grime. That's because this closet had only ever been primed, never painted. I thought, "I'll just paint this area around the garbage can, that should spruce this pantry right up". So I did. I grabbed some white paint and slapped it right on that wall.

It was at this point that I took the final plunge. I realized that chances are, I would never get back to painting the REST of the pantry so I better just do it now. I changed into my painting clothes, pulled all the food off of the shelves, took the shelves down and went crazy. There were cobwebs in the top of that closet that were a hundred years old. Well, maybe not, the house was built in 1979, but whatever. My hard work was rewarded when I found a long Nestle's Crunch bar from Halloween on the very top shelf. Bonus! And yes I ate it.

The closet looks great, not that anyone is ever going to notice. It's a closet for goodness sake. I put the kitchen back together and all of the food is back on the shelves and I discovered that we have five boxes of instant rice, so that's good. Today I tackle the boys' clothes, and who knows what else. Maybe I'll end up staining the deck. I sure hope not.

Endurance

Yesterday was the 110th Boston Marathon.

I was running my own little marathon over here at my house. It was the Laundry Marathon of 2006. No new records were set, I didn't win a medal, but we did come out with baskets full of clean underwear, so that's a bonus. I busted it out people. I followed the advice of a legendary launderer, "Keep your machines running." And that's what I did. Truth be told, the marathon isn't over yet. It's more of a duathlon. I'm about to tackle the looming winter clothes/summer clothes switch. Waaaaah. Not one of my favorite jobs.

Anyway, back to the Boston Marathon. Craziness.


And that's the second wave of people.

I have dabbled in running the last few years and it has totally piqued my interest in races like this. Rita Jeptoo's time just blows my mind. How is that humanly possible?


She rules in a big way. Yes, the men were faster, blah, blah, blah.

I'm sure there are many, many inspiring stories but I want to point these guys out to you. Team Hoyt. I'm sure some of you already know their story, it is just plain beautiful. A dad and his son conquering the almost impossible.



Wow.

Armed and Dangerous

It's the Post-Easter Chocolate War and my arsenal is full.

I'm on a major sugar high

Just popping into the cyber world long enough to say hi, and then it's back to the jelly beans.

I just finished hiding Easter candy all over our living room for tomorrow morning's big Easter egg hunt extravaganza. We had plans of hiding eggs outside this year, but the thunderstorm tonight has kept all the chocolate inside yet again. I love my messy kids, but I'm not sure I'm up for muddy clothes on Easter Sunday. I think I have stashed little piles of jelly beans and chocolate in every available hiding place. The ritual goes a little something like this: hide 4 peeps, eat one. Hide four peeps, eat one. Etc. Etc. Etc. And now it's off to bed with a very full stomach, thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law.

Two quick questions though. Dust bunnies don't eat chocolate do they? If they do, we are doomed. and Am I a dork because I spelled out the word "EASTER" with jelly beans in the middle of the living room floor? I was going to spell "HAPPY EASTER" but I didn't have enough beans left. It seems I ate too many.

Another Chapter inThe Jack and Caedmon Show

We have entered a new season. Yes it's spring, but really I think it should be called the Season of the Worms. We live in a quiet little neighborhood on the outskirts of town. You would never suspect what kind of horrors live under the soil of our quaint little yard. Millions and millions of worms. Late at night, when the smell of rain hangs in the air, you can find my husband tiptoeing across the yard, with a flashlight in one hand and a coffee can in the other. The grass literally teems with the things. Nate's Dad comes and collects a few hundred to feed and tend until they are monsterous beasts at least an inch in diameter. They might even grow teeth, I'm not sure. He then takes them Up North to the lake where he uses them to catch lots and lots of yummy fish. Just a side note. I'm becoming a lot more comfortable with putting the worm on the hook ALL BY MYSELF. I know, I'm a big girl now.

Back to the story.

On a sunny morning like today, my two little boys can be found out in the freshly tilled garden, digging for wiggly, slimy treasure. Their shoes are weighted with a few pounds of mud and their fingernails are nice and black. Long after they are done digging, they are still clutching a handful of something in their little fists. Yep, the worms. Caedmon really like to put his worms in his pockets. One day, on a shopping trip to a town about twenty minutes away, we discovered that he was still carrying around a pocketful of fish bait. When we made him throw them out the window, he was so amused that one of them had stuck to the outside of the glass. Such cheap fun.

The most surprising place I have found the worms so far happened this morning. Jack was running across the sidewalk in his heavy, mud covered red chucks. His hands were full of worms and he was wearing the first shorts of the season. With a trip and a slide, his knees were scraped and his dirty little cheeks stained with tears. His tears quickly turned to smiles when I suggested a bath, with bubbles. As soon as Caedmon heard the word bath, he was stripped down and climbing into the tub too. And that's when I found out that there were more than two "kids" in the tub. Yes, they took their worms into the bathtub, now very, very clean worms. I took a picture, but you know the drill, you'll have to wait for those. Still dreaming.

So just a quick recap. Worms can be found:

• In the garden
• In the grip of a little boy's fist
• Stuck to a car window
  
• In a little boy's pocket
• In the bathtub

You never really know.....

A Nine Year Old on Easter

Tonight as we sat down to a dinner of bacon and pancakes, we folded our hands, closed our eyes and I asked Noelle to pray. I added "Don't forget, it's Easter week." She began "God, thank you for your birthday, and help us all to have a good birthday and to remember our birthday this week. Amen." Before I even poured the syrup, the other kids quickly pointed out her mistake. "Easter isn't His birthday, Christmas is!" Noelle quietly replied. "I know, but Easter is too, and it's all of our birthdays. It's the day we were all reborn."

Preach it sister!

Just a few quick things...

One of my children made a time capsule yesterday and buried it in the garden. It was a Coke bottle with a pencil, a penny, and some rocks inside. ROCKS. Because there may not be rocks in the future.

Ice Age 2 is really, really funny. Go see it. Go see it in a theatre with a hundred little kids, even funnier.

The little bracelets that they give you at the church nursery to identify you with your child? Yeah. I just realized I am still wearing mine. Oops. But oh so fashionable.

Guess what this is:

A gum headband.

The kid never ceases to crack me up.

Just A Heads Up

I just wanted to let you all know that despite the forecast for 64 degree weather across the Midwest tomorrow, it's probably going to snow. These weather people don't really know what they are talking about and I have a much more reliable predictor of the weather.

I just packed up all the winter coats.

I'm sorry, I hate to do this to you all, but it was necessary. When you entered our front door, all you could really do was throw your jacket in the general direction of the coat hooks and pray that it would stay. There were millions and millions of coats and jackets surrounding the entrance to our home. So today I am taking twenty two coats to the Good Will. I washed and put away another 18 coats, along with fourteen pairs of snow pants in various sizes. Since I love wallowing in the mess of half finished projects, I will tackle hats and mittens tomorrow.

Prepare for a snow day.

You found me HOW?

I love Google. Google is like a magic wand. Or maybe it's more like a magic carpet, taking you wherever you want to go. Or maybe it's more like a magic detective. Or maybe I don't know what the heck I'm talking about. One of the features that I enjoy about sitemeter, is that I can see how people found me, and people out there are searching for some interesting things on good old Google. These are some of the phrases people searched for and they found me, Under the Laundry Pile.

• how do you fix laundry that turned pink?
• explain blindside shekina
• dirty socks on carpet
• shiny keyboard
• "wear them without socks"
• chariots of fire themesong
• ovaltine-stain in carpet
• kleenex sofa snuggle
• "unhook the plow"
• crazy short hairstyle cuts
• how to get lipstick off of a couch
• tied her shoelaces together photo

Yeah, so if you want a crazy short cut and your socks are dirty, then just wear them without socks, but make sure you tie your shoelaces together. If you have lipstick on your couch, ovaltine in your carpet, and your laundry has turned pink, fear not it could be worse.