It's like one big commercial

I have become a woman of convenience. A lover of all things disposable. It must have been the sixth kid that sent me over the edge, but here I am. Let me share some of my favorite "making-my-life-a-whole-lot-easier" products.

I know cleaning used to be all about a bucket of water and some Lysol, but I have fallen in love with Mr. Clean. Actually, it was his magic erasers that got me. They really are magic. I'm not sure how they work and I don't think I want to know. It would take all of the magic out of the magic. Crayon on the wall, soap scum in your shower, and everything else in between can be solved with one of these babies. Love them.

Growing up, I helped mom dust with a sock pulled up to my elbow. We were reminded not to spray the dusting spray over the hardwood floor or someone would end up flat on their back. Much like a banana peel. For awhile I dusted with a bucket of water and a sponge. Really, it was THAT bad. I hated dusting. But now I love it. *using my best commercial voice* Thanks to Swiffer dusters. I even put the kids on dusting duty, it's so easy and so fun. I still only do it every month or so. *gasp* Ok, maybe even less often than that.

Kandoo wipes. These little babies crack me up. I picked them up in the store, trying to decide if they would be worth it. When I looked at the package and saw the wiping frog, they went straight into my cart. Now I trust that my little independent wipers are"clean" if you know what I mean.


My newest venture has been the disposable toilet scrubbers. Ever since I put Tyler on bathroom cleaning duty, I wanted to find a way to make it as sanitary are possible. I really didn't like the idea of him winging the wet toilet brush all over the room. *shudder* So I caved and bought these. It was a wonderful mother/son bonding experience as we figured out how to work the thing and we both smiled as the toilet water turned a lovely shade of blue. I also bought some Clorox wipes for him to use on the sink/counter area. Do you hear that? It's the sound of me, cracking the whip on these little slaves, I mean children.

So there you have it. Some of my indulgences. Who would have thought that toilet scrubbers could fall into that category? An indulgence should involve chocolate. How about I will eat some chocolate while my son scrubs the toilet. Sounds good to me!

Seven Things I Say- A Meme

Thanks to Super Mom, I am tagged. It's kind of fun to have a meme to spice up this twice a week blog. Sorry everyone, but it's summer and the old blog has taken a back seat to more important things. (the pool)

On with the meme. What does the Laundry Lady say?

1. "Chuck" I call my kids Chuck. All of them, and sometimes even my husband. I think this originated when Caedmon got his first pair of Converse knock offs.

2. "There is only one Mommy!" This one I pull out when I go into martyr mode. If all of the kids need me at once and I'm in the middle of something, I remind them that there is only one me to go around.

3. "super" The adjective of all adjectives. "Are you super hungry Jack?" Sometimes I use it incorrectly in sentence structure, just for fun. "I super want to go to the store." Another fun little word I have been using lately is "sassafrass". Mostly I've been using it to describe Noelle and her new hair cut.

4. "Oh. my. word."

5. "What, is up, mydog?" I'll send you on a wild goose chase to show you where I got this one. Good old Homestar. Click the linky then click on Puppet Stuff, and then when you get there, click on Biz Cas Fri 1. It's so stupid it's funny. Or maybe it's just me.....

6. "Jack, get out of the street." Followed by. "Do you want me to hang your bike up in the garage?"

7. "Who wants to go to the pool?" It's a good thing it's raining today or we would be outahere.

How about we see what Truth and Mopsy have to say. Tag, you're it.

Gemma

Screeching, squealing, climbing, grinning, toddling, scavenging, and eating fist fulls of dirt. This is what it is to be one. I find it quite appropriate that her first three words are "Dadda", Mamma", and "Uh Oh".

A look back at Gemma's first year of life.

Happy Birthday to our little Gemster.

Friday Flashback-Baby Jack

I love this picture. Proud uncles on the left, the two oldest sibling in the middle, whispering about something, and Daddy on the right, admiring his third son. Baby Jack is oblivious to the crowd surrounding him and sleeps away.

The Tale of A Frog in Photos

And then they buried him.

He Lives

Dogs have an average life span of 10-25 years. During the Roman Empire, Romans had an approximate life expectancy of 22 to 25 years. Today my little brother turns 25, he's got the dogs and the Romans beat.

I am happy to report that Shane survived years of stitches and sprains. He pulled a sweet bike-dive off of the chicken house roof and walked away. There was one skateboarding incident and countless snowboarding falls. Firefest did not claim his life or any of his limbs and he has never been bitten by a rabid squirrel while chasing them across his college campus. I'm sure there are many, many more feats he attempted that we will never know about, and it's pobably a good thing that we don't. Shane, have an awesome birthday. And wear a helmet.

Friday Flashback-DiaperFest

This morning as I changed a quick Gemma diaper, I got to thinking. I had just opened a new package of Luvs size 3's and I paused to take a trip down memory lane.

Back January 1997, we had just brought home our new little winter princess. Noelle had just rounded our family out to a nice even quartet. We were living in married student housing in the Great White North, and our two kidlings were sharing one of our two tiny cinderblock-walled bedrooms. We had a white, not-really-wood, type dresser thing for the kids to share. It was almost like a little mini entertainment center. The left side of the dresser opened up and had three or four shelves inside. In an attempt (a very futile attempt) to be semi-organized,( it's a life long struggle) I opened all of the packages of diapers that we had received as gifts and the ones we had bought and stacked them into straight tidy white stacks on the shelves inside the dresser. Rows of toddler diapers along side little newborn diapers. It was an overwhelming moment for me, my life's destiny staring me right in the face. I grabbed the camera.

If I had a scanner I would share.

I chuckle at myself now. I was a young (very young) mother taking a new step in parenting. Nate was gone during the day going to school and working three different jobs to support our family, and I was home with my our little ones. I was now outnumbered. The diapers were a wake up call to me. A visual of what was to come. Oh if I had only known. I haven't quit changing diapers for eleven years and three months. We have always had at least two kids in diapers, sometimes three if you count pullups.

As I wrapped up the diaper this morning and threw it into the trash, I smiled to myself. What kind of a picture would it be if I had ALL the diapers (clean of course) that we have used in the past eleven years, stacked up in a room? How long would they stretch if we lined them all up end to end? A mile? Ten miles? I think that if the nineteen year old mother that I was could have seen that picture, she would have passed out. One day at a time, one diaper at a time.

Introducing a very funny lady.

If you have a stomach of steel, go see what SuperMom has been up to. The poor dear. No wonder she's Desperate.

Again with the baseball

We have been spectating to our hearts content. The trick has been to master the watching-two diamonds-at-the-same-time and not miss any big plays on either field. Noelle looks over at us every few seconds, just to make sure our eyes are glued to her. We wouldn't want to be caught *gasp* talking! So most games so far have been spent standing between fields, looking back and forth, almost as if we are at a tennis match. Until last night.

Last night we had to divide and conquer. Nate took Caedmon and Camryn to Noelle's game. I took the two littles to Tyler's game in a nearby town. I'm sure things were lovely at the YellowJackets' field. Caed and Cam probably played beautifully and uneventfully on the playground with their friends. I however, learned a few things.

• A slushy and a big grab bag of Doritos will keep a two year old occupied for approximately 45 minutes. Good to know.
• I can down a 44 oz Cherry Pepsi in approximately 1 hour. All by myself. Maybe I should just put in an I.V., it would save the hassle of having to actually pick up the cup and put it to my mouth.
• Pack toys for the little ones, but don't underestimate the enthralling power of a good dirt pile.
• When the game goes long, (REALLY, REALLY long) just pack them up in the van and turn on a movie. Sword in the Stone is awesome, even after you've watched it 400 times.

Some tips for you, just in case.

Our Little Wildlife Project

The younglings have been re-released into their natural habitat. An adjustment period will be necessary. We are hoping that the reintroduction will be deemed successful.

(School is out and summer vacation has begun)

Fugitive

If you were to drive down a certain street in a certain town in the Midwest this morning at exactly 7:26am, this is what you would have seen.

• One father with a dirty knee climbing back into his car, now late for work.

• A gaggle of giddy kids, the smaller ones still in their pajamas, the older ones now extremely close to missing the bus.

• One wet haired mother, clad in a red bathrobe and flipflops, carrying a very large and very guilty looking white and black bunny.

Two for Togetherness. A meme.

Twelve years ago, Chilihead tagged me for this meme. Being the procrastinator that I am, I'm finally getting around to it. Twelve years later.





2 things you compliment your husband on while in his presence.
1. How great he looks in his brown corduroy pants.
2. He rocks at the internet.


2 compliments you make about your spouse to your friends.
1. He knows a little bit about EVERYTHING.
2. He is a master lawn-smith.

2 traits you married him/her for.
1. His heart for God.
2. His commitment.

2 days you cherished the most with your husband being together.
Okay, the obvious answers would be our wedding day and the birth of our kids, so I'm going to say those are a given and require myself to list two OTHERS.
1. We lived in Grand Forks North Dakota when the city was flooded in '97. The whole town was evacuated and we fled our home with our two little babies in a line of cars that was miles and miles long. It was scary but I felt safe with him. We made it though that day together.
2. When I had a miscarriage. He just held me and let me cry.

2 material things you could give your husband if you just inherited a fortune.
1. A gift certificate to Tiger Direct. Because there is NO WAY I can pick out computer stuff for him.
2. A riding lawn mower and a house with a big yard to go with it.

2 things you would miss the most if she/he left for two weeks.
1. Know that he is there when I hear scary noises that could possibly be axe-murderers.
2. Sitting and talking with him after all the kids leave the dinner table.

2 thoughts that crossed your mind when you first met/saw your spouse.
1. Oh my gosh. Look at those eyelashes.
2. He's a junior AND a football player. Wow.

2 favorite dates
1. When we were teenagers, we spent an evening ice skating on the river. It was dark and we were the only ones on the ice. The huge slow snowflakes were falling down through through the light of the street lamp. It was a magical moment.
2. The midnight showing of Star Wars Episode Three. It wasn't really a date, some of his buddies were there too, but he let me come along. We are geeks like that.

2 funny odd things you love.
1. Can it be a love/hate thing? Three words: Restless leg syndrome.
2. He loves the movie "The Last of the Mohicans" and can hum the soundtrack. And does. Often.

2 places you have lived with your spouse.
1. The ghetto
2. married student housing

2 favorite vacations
1. Omaha zoo and stealing firewood from an old man's garage
2. Chicago in the winter and the dangerous trip he made to the downtown pharmacy for our sick little Caedmon.

2 people I tag
1. Melanie, Yes they are all hers.
2. The lady who hides in her bathroom.

I Am Not the Center of My Universe.

I was sitting around, wallowing in my own self pity, and minding my own business. The last three days have been rough and I have allowed myself to just sit and marinate in my own whine. I have been sick, the three littlest kids were doing everything they could to make sure I didn't get any rest, and the cupboards were almost empty. Or so we thought. I didn't really feel up to a trip to the grocery store, so I was treated to the lovely complaints from my kids about how we didn't have aaaaaannnyy thing to eat. They didn't like the cereal choices and bean soup for supper wasn't going over very well. And then I read my dear friend's blog.

She would like you to think that she is as dull as dishwater, but don't let her fool you. She is wonderful and vibrant and so generous and makes the best cup of coffee for miles around. She also just wrote about some heartwrenching yet encouraging things . Things that make me feel so petty. I was sobered by what she shared and the photo she posted is stuck in my mind forever. If you want to be yanked out of a self centered funk, go see what "T" has been talking about.

Testing, testing, 1 2 3

Raise your hand if my blog crashes on your computer.

I am having problems with my blog and Internet Explorer. They just can't stop bickering and it usually results in all sorts of errors. Interestingly enough, it doesn't happen when I use FireFox. Give me a status check people.

I hate to say it, but the argyle might have to go.......

How many links can I put in one post?

Ahhhh. Monday morning. It's so hard to drag myself out of bed on a Monday, but once I do, I'm ready to attack the week. Funny how that energy fizzles out by, say, Tuesday. Heh.

Nate is back. Let's all breath a collective sigh of relief. *Phew*

He was out of town for five days, helping his parents "Up North". They have a cabin on a beautiful lake in Minnesota and they were getting a whole lot of work done up there. I don't like to tell the internet while he is out of town. I prefer to let you know that he was gone after he is home. You know, axe murderers and everything. But he's back now, and I can sleep in peace again. (I suppose it would help if I quit watching shows about horrible savage polar bears and psycho-pregnant-lady-kidnappers.)

The kids are done with baseball practices and the actual real games begin tonight. We are entering the month of the year where we either eat supper at 4:30 or 8:00. Any great crockpot recipes would be greatly appreciated. That is if I remember to start the crock pot during the day. The next month will be pretty intense, but I just love it. Baseball season is so festive. It's the true essence of summer for us. Go Yellowjackets! Go Cardinals!

I found a new fun little website for kids. Orisinal. The games are so stinking adorable. I'm trying to steer my kids toward games like these instead of games like these. The pretty music and sweet little graphics don't go over as well with an eleven year old boy though.

A couple photos to go with previous posts. Just got them developed.

Remember the worms in the tub?



Here we have Tyler and the thorn that impaled him. I swear, it looked MUCH bigger in real life.




Shannon asked about what kind of a vehicle we drive. Sometime I'll have to tell you all about our twelve passenger van that we call "The Beast". But for now, let me direct you to some photos of the interior, with WAY too many people inside.

Off to refill my coffee mug and "attack" my day. Yeah right.

Friday Flashback-Minivan Style

Just taking this opportunity to remember what it looked like when we fit in a regular type vehicle:

And also, remember this a few weeks ago? I found these close ups in a long lost file on the computer. Who knows what else my hard drive is hiding from me!

Why I've Been Scarce

I have recently jumped on the "Lost" bandwagon. Could I possibly be the only person in the whole wide world who doesn't watch this show? In order to catch up, we* have been renting the first season DVDs and I am totally hooked. I just returned discs two and three and rented four and five. I'm such a loser. And a chicken.

You know how on the show the "unknown monster thing" tears up trees and stuff? It kind of reminds me of a two year old in a patch of lilies of the valley. Know how I know that? Because today my little Jack, who is unrelated to Jack on the show, stood in my lilies of the valley and ripped them right out of the ground, tossing shiny green leaves all over like a savage beast. Not really sure what he was thinking....

I love my flower beds but they are suffering at the hands of my children. Gemma was found gnawing on the chives this morning. Countless plants have been trampled as they tried to emerge through the soil and mulch. Some have been sacrificed for the "greater good" aka, digging for worms. All but three of the little round buds on the peonies have disappeared AGAIN. This is the third year with minimal blooms. I admit it though, they do scream, "Pick me! Pick me!"

I wish I had some lilac bushes, then my life would be complete. I pick them over at my parents' house, bring them home, and then I take hits off of the lilac bong all day. The scent is absolutely intoxicating.



*Nate, Tyler, and I. Yes, we are such responsible parents. He's eleven, he can handle it.

Getting crazy with the camera phone

A couple new things around the Laundry Pile.

You remember our bunny Banjo. He's not dead, in fact he is thriving. Check out his new toy, I mean OUR new toy.



Isn't that great? Banjo now has a little harness. It is intended for small dogs such as Chihuahuas or little mini wiener dogs. Come to find out, it also works for excessively large rabbits. Here he is in action.





I'm thinking that now we can take him on little walks around the neighborhood. Wouldn't that turn heads? A woman strolling down the street with a gaggle of children and a rabbit on a leash. Our neighborhood already thinks that we are a daycare, now we can be an animal shelter too. Banjo is enjoying the new found freedom. He likes to nibble on the grass and dig holes in the yard. Nate may murder him.

Here is something else new. One of the children has been trying out his super powers on our silverware:




Maybe he is using sheer mind power, I don't know. I DO know that it's getting difficult to find a straight utensil to eat my dinner with. Gah.

Friday Flashback- Bubbly Pancakes

You asked about the pancake story and now you get it.

Growing up, our vacations were camping vacations. We had a tent and an Astro Van and we saw the world. Well, we saw a lot of the Midwest and little bit of the Rocky mountains. We took a lot of trips growing up, but this story comes from one of the most memorable.

First of all, I want to give my parents props for taking all six of us camping. Vacations are hard with a grumbling un-grateful teenager. I know. I was one. We would drive all day, set up the tent that evening, sleep, and then pack everything up the next morning and take off again. Sometimes we stayed in one place for a few days, but STILL! Our little family has dabbled in camping but we have not yet tackled the "moving every day" type of travel. My children want to live long enough to come back home. It's stressful enough staying in one place; ask the people camping next to our gargantuan tent. They can hear the yelling. "Caedmon! How many times have we told you to stop jumping on the air mattress?!"

Aaaaanyway. My Dad made a little "camp kitchen" for my mom. It was a little wooden box, maybe a foot and a half by a foot and a half. The front of it folded down and she packed a lot of her camping supplies in the camp kitchen. Inside were aluminum foil, silverware, paper towels, salt and pepper, etc. This particular morning, Dad was making breakfast for us. He was frying up pancakes and had oiled the skillet with some vegetable oil from a little tupperware container in the camp kitchen. He made a big pitcher of orange juice and we all sat down and dug in. It wasn't until after we washed our pancakes down with a few sips of the oj that we all started foaming at the mouth. "Oh Ma! I don't want Old Yeller to die." Come to find out, the "oil" was NOT oil. It was dishsoap. The pancakes tasted fine, but when we took a drink, the bubbles were activated. We all had a good laugh and made sure to supervise Dad's cooking in the future. He has become a legend among chefs.

A Moment of Silence Please

I mourn.

Trivial Tuesday

Just a list of nothing.

1. Today was a bad hair-day. I'm talking "helmet" hair, bleh. I'm hanging on to hope that tomorrow will be better. These things are so unpredictable.
2. I'm pretty sure that if there is pop (or soda for you soda people) in heaven, it's A&W Rootbeer. I had myself a ice cold glass of the nectar of the gods today and it is so doggone smooth. It's like buttah.
3. Sometimes, when Nate and I are sitting side by side at our respective computers, I get really mad and yell at him. "You're hogging all the bandwidth again!" Stupid game. I wish he would just cancel. *grumble*
4. If your husband asks you to hold the ladder while he climbs up to the very tip top to unclog a clogged up rain gutter, you might want an umbrella. I know this because I was standing underneath my husband when the putrid water started spraying and dumping down on me. Good times.
5. A golf ball sized ball can clog a downspout quite nicely.
6. Tyler found another tick. I'm so proud of myself, I pulled it out all by myself. Then I died.

The Hunter Becomes the Hunted

In my last post, I eluded to the fact that the morels are popping up all over the place. We did our fair share of hunting this weekend. The kids had a great time exploring Grandpa and Grandma's woods. Caedmon managed to find a tiny little baby toad in a sea of undergrowth. He has toad radar; it's his super power. We scoured ever square inch of their land, and came home with a delicious bounty. We love to eat them floured with a bit of salt and pepper and fried up in a whole lot of butter. Mmmmm. We came home full and happy. But we did not come home alone.

We were followed. As soon as I saw the first tick on Camryn, my skin started crawling. The ticks love Camryn, she seems to get more than everyone else. She pulls them off herself, because she knows that I am TERRIFIED of them. I can handle spiders and other creepy crawly things, but ticks give me the heebie jeebies. It's not that I'm scared of Lyme's disease, maybe I should be. It's just that ewwww, I don't want some little bug crawling on me. So here's how the terror went down. After being in the woods all evening Saturday, we came home and put the kids to bed. As I was stepping into bed myself, my tick radar kicked in. (It's MY super power) Right there, on the floor beside my bed was a tiny brown bug. *shudder* Of course I freaked out and refused to sleep in my bed. Nate was on the computer in the family room, so I decided to sleep on the futon. I'm laying there, feeling all creepy crawly, but I finally begin to doze off. Suddenly, out of the clear blue sky, a tick drops onto my temple. I was about to barf I was so freaked out. Just ask Nate, I was on the verge of tears.


I searched for this fun little photo to show you all what the blood sucking bringers-of-death look like. Can you even imagine how hard it was for me to look at fifty images of these little terrors? Again, EWWW!

I'm going to bed now. Pray for me.

Friday Flashback and some other stuff too

Busy busy busy. It seems that since spring has sprung, I am spend less time on the computer and more time outside. I guess that's a good thing, especially for my family. We have realized that if Jack is outside, he needs a grown-up following him AT ALL TIMES. The kid is an escape artist if I ever saw one. Here he is, trying to get into the gated kitchen by using the overturned vacuum cleaner as a stepping stool. This year he reeeeally wants to be at the park with the big kids, but the park is at the end of our street. Running down the middle of the street alone just isn't a good idea when you are two. So I am officially his personal body guard, protecting him from himself.



We have done a bit of gardening, not veggies yet but mostly moving flowers around. I keep waiting for one of our trees to start growing money so that I can make a big trip to the nursery and pick up all kinds of plants. Yeah, I don't see that happening anytime soon. We have nice green trees, but it seems that they are of the non-money bearing species. Gardening can be expensive, especially when your husband loves his lawn almost as much as he loves you. So we are buying lots of not-fun type things as well. Weed and Feed, turf builder, blah, blah, blah.

Tyler was impaled last night. That's a great way to start off a paragraph isn't it? Really grabs the attention of the reader. We were doing a bit of mushroom hunting (morels are out in full force people) and he took a running dive under a locust tree. I'm pretty sure it wasn't on purpose, the kid totally tripped. Anyway, when he stood up he realized that his chest hurt a little bit and upon further inspection, we found a small black dot. It was the end of a thorn that was stuck straight into his skin. Nate had his Swiss Army knife and pulled out the tweezers. He managed to do a minor surgery right there in the woods and pulled out a thorn that was between 1/3 and 1/2 inch long. I'm kind of bad at estimating length, sorry. It was nasty though. Tyler was pretty proud of his wound, being the true boy that he is.

Finally, I give you a Friday Flashback. I forgot what a pair Camryn and Caedmon were before Cam had to start Kindergarten. They were almost as mischievous as Caedmon and Jack, but not quite. It seems that Cam wanted to practice her drawing skills and decided that her little brother's naked skin was the perfect canvas. I wish you could see each little person she drew on his back, they were hilarious. He must have just sat there so still while she did her work. It's a good thing she wasn't into pointillism.

The Best Burger King Kid Meal Toys So Far

The kid in me still pulls the toy out of the kid meal before I unwrap my burger. When Spongebob was the prize at the bottom of the bag, I was giddy. Call me juvenile, but this pic cracks me up every time. Feeling down? Just pull out the photo of the army of Spongebobs.

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.