Banjo the Bunny

This morning, we awoke to a dead rabbit. Well, not really. He wasn't laying on our bed or anything. He wasn't the first thing we saw when we woke up. You know what I mean.....

Camryn has been on Banjo duty for the summer. She is in charge of water and food. This morning I was watering plants on the deck and she came around the corner of the garage and announced, "Banjo didn't drink any of his water, I think he's dead." I asked her why she thought he was dead and her reply was, "Because he's just laying there and he has flies all over him."

And yes, he was dead. The kids and I had a very lovely burial service for the old boy. Caedmon, who was the one who caught Banjo in the rabbit scramble at the fair, said a few words but was quickly distracted by a cool looking bug a few feet away. Nate wasn't able to be there. You know, work and everything. So he wrote a wonderful little tribute to our deceased rabbit. Bring the Kleenex, it's a real tear jerker.

Banjo, you will be missed.

The Good News/The Bad News

The Good News:

Mr. Postmaster has issued some sweet DC Comic Super Hero stamps. I know Flash Gordon will put a smile on the student loan billing department's faces when they receive our monthly payment of an arm and a leg.

The Bad News:

Jack likes these stamps too. The front of our silverware drawer looks extra Super covered in $7.80 worth of "stickers".

The Laundry Family Outdoors

We camped.

Oh man was it great. We love to camp and we go with the same crazy-fun family every year. Between the two clans there are eleven kids eleven and under. Yee Ha! It's so much fun.

We swam, we ate, we roasted hotdogs and marshmallows, and we plain old roasted (it was a 95 degrees). We laughed, we talked, we fished, and we ate WAY too many s'mores. Wait, maybe that was just me.

Check out our mammoth tent. It rules. (camera phone, sorry)

The kids love camping because it means that they get to eat really crappy food. It's like a dream come true. Nothing says balanced breakfast like a marshmallow-dog.

Now granted, that pic is from last year's camping extravaganza and we know better now. Healthy food for healthy bodies. Blah, blah, blah.

This time we had poptarts and s'mores for breakfast.

My Addiction to Chlorine.

We have already established that the heat is dear to my heart. I'm still loving this weather. Mowing the yard in the middle of the afternoon is a great way to lose ten pounds. Or to lose ten friends, the smell of a sweaty woman is a little overpowering.

I have another quirk to confess. I'm a bit compulsive about it too. And obsessive. Oh no! Don't do the math on that.....

I cannot stay away from the pool.

There. I said it out loud. Well, kind of. We have three months of summer in Iowa. Three little months. 92 days. Why would I want to waste a perfectly good sunny day in the house doing boring old housework?

Take yesterday for example. It was completely overcast. A very warm day, but the sky was nothing but grey clouds. There was not a speck of blue sky to behold. Deep inside my soul, I was a little bit happy. I would be able to accomplish SOMETHING around this house. Why would we want to go to the pool when there is no sunshine? It completely defeats the purpose. I am a sun-worshipper. I worship the sun.

The pool opens at one. Fine. Lots of clouds, I just kept hacking away at balancing the checkbook. Nothing says fun like a day spent in front of a computer screen of online banking. Good times. Then it happened. At about two thirty, out of the corner of my eye I saw a ray of sunlight stream across the room. I took a peek out the window and *gasp!* blue sky and a few white fluffy clouds. All bets were off. I started barking orders to the kids. "YOU! Get the towels!". "YOU! Put a suit on Gemma." We scrambled around like wildcats and pulled into the parking lot by 2:35.

I'm like a mad woman. I panic. I don't want to miss a bit of summer. It won't be long and my poor oldest three will be chained to their desks, grinding their #2 pencils down to a stub. It won't be long and the wind will be a howling and the leaves will be a falling. It won't be long and we will have to worry about things like boots and snowpants and mittens and hats. So for now, I'm going to let the floor mop it self. I'm going to let the furniture dust itself. I'm going to let the laundry..... wait, that's taking it a bit far.

Today my to do list is a mile long. One of the things on the list is to pack for tonight's big camping trip. I need to clean out the van and get it all loaded up. But guess what? The forecast is 91 and sunny. Come one o'clock, you know where to find me. Look for the lady in the brown suit and pink shades.

Gemma- A Meme

Awww. Isn't this precious? A meme for babies. Thanks for the tag Baby, whose Mommy is Desperate.

All about the Gemster.



3 Things That Scare Me
Being tossed up in the air.
Swings.
The look in Jack's eye

3 People That Make Me Laugh
How about five people?
Tyler
Noelle
Camryn
Caedmon
Sometimes Jack

3 Things I Love
Mommy
Sucking my thumb
Riding in the wagon

3 Things I Hate
Going to bed
Being buckled in my carseat
When Jack picks on me

3 Things I Don't Understand
Why I can't pinch everyone.
Why everyone gets all upset when I give "kisses" to other babies. Biting? What's that?
Why no one will let me eat dirt.

3 Things On My Floor
My sisters' dirty clothes
My sisters' stuffed animals
My sisters' toys

3 Things I'm Doing Right Now
Singing
Climbing on the laundry baskets
Dumping clothes out of the laundry baskets

3 Things I Want To Do Before I Die
Climb onto the counter. (I have already mastered the table. So far I can pull out the bottom drawer and stand on it and peek up onto the counter. It won't be long now.)
Pay backs for Jack.
Drink pop like everyone else. I've tasted it and boy is it good.

3 Ways To Describe My Personality
Determined
Easy going
Delightful

3 Things You Should Listen To
Me humming while I suck my thumb
My glo-worm.
Me crying to get out of my crib. I want to be free.

3 Things You Should Never Listen To
"Gemma, get down"
"No No"
Any of my siblings tattling on me

3 Absolute Favorite Foods
spaghetti
pancakes
anything sweet

3 Things I'd Like To Learn
How to climb out of my crib
How to get down from the table.
How to get on the counter

3 Beverages I Drink Regularly
breast-milk
water
milk

3 Shows I Watch
The Jack and Caedmon show.
That's about it

3 Babies I Tag

Bella from Reflections on Bella
Ailah from Are They All Yours
Claire Bear from The Mother Load

Just a few things....

Let's talk about the weather. Yes, it's been a bit hot. Am I the only one who loves the heat? This is the weather I live for people. Nothing says summer like sweat running down crevices that you didn't know you had. Or at least weren't fully aware of until you felt the trickle. The hot temps really just make us more in touch with our bodies. I wore my most favorite pirate dress to the baseball game the other night, thinking it would be a nice and cool alternative to regular-type clothes. It stuck to my body. So that's a nice look. Still, I love the dog days of summer. Bring it.

Speaking of clothes, it didn't take long for me to cave. Remember the skinny jeans that we talked about just last week? Well, I ran across a pair on the Target clearance rack for $5. I just couldn't pass them up. Really they aren't that bad. But just so you know, "skinny jeans" doesn't mean that they make you look skinny. In fact, Nate* told me that they made my butt look bigger. Do I care? No. They were five dollars. Besides, he's a nerd. What does he know anyway?

Gemma has passed another milestone, she has learned to drink from a straw. It's the simple things that make life easier. Hooray for the Gemster.

Let me just wrap up this little post with a glimpse into the insanity that is my summer. My children think this little ditty is hilarious. I love Bloo. I even think that Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends is a pretty funny show. This little cartoon even cracks me up. After hearing it over five thousand times in one day, not so much. But Cartoon Network in general.....meh. I'm so glad we don't have cable any more. Well, we have basic, but really, that's nothing.

*Don't be mad at Nate for telling me that my butt looks big in my skinny jeans. I'm not mad at him. He said it in the most nicest way possible. He likes big butts and he cannot lie.

Work for Me Wednesday-Laundry baskets

I've talked about our little laundry system before, but I'm reposting because it "works for me". Here are a couple of pics of our laundry closet.

Laundry has taken over half of the family room. I spend a whole lot of time in front of those two machines. I fold laundry directly out of the dryer and into the baskets. Each person in our family has their own basket that they are responsible for putting away. Shirts and dress pants are hung.

Someday all of my wildest laundry dreams will come true. I dream of a true laundry room. A huge area with a couple changing rooms. The clothes would not go to the closets, we would go to the clothes. Everything would stay in that room, no putting laundry away.

A girl can dream can't she? But for now a row of baskets on a futon works for me.

More tips and tricks over at Shannon's place.

I Love Him Anyway.

Saw this little quiz over at Shannon's and had to take it. Opposites DO attract.

My score:



Nate's score:

I'm Here to Help

I have been totally cracking up when I check my referring URL's. People are searching for some interesting things on Google and they are ending up here at the Laundry Pile. I'm here to help solve the deep questions of life. And boy oh boy do people have problems! Here are some of the things the were searched for:

• stomach bug incubation period
• running dryer vent under a deck
• can toddlers take nyquil
• been farmin' long?
• how old is too old to wear lipgloss?
• clothes to wear in 64 degree weather
• prenatal vitamins giving me headaches
• What is ia sugar high
• 30 something hairstyles
• boy who put worms in his pocket but they were snakes
• bloated tick crawling on floor
• my grandma made me smell her stinky feet
• is a tick under my skin
• why do some have dimples in their cheek
• mulberry jelly didn't set
• what to do about stinky garbage
• toddler with two concussions in a row
• dusting and cleaning ok while pregnant?
• baby head butting -beavis -rugby infant parent
• children under 12, should you dye hair
• arching in microwave with chocolate chips

See what I mean? And that's not even all of the laundry questions. You can't believe how many people want to know "how to fix laundry that turned pink." Another big one is "ovaltine stains in my carpet." I'm assuming I'm the google authority on that because of this post. But there are deeper laundry issues going on in the world. Here is a sampling:

• poopy panties
• how to get lipstick off of a couch
• worms in dirty laundry
• detergent measurement for monkey laundry
• does white underwear need softner?
• dirty laundry pile crayon dance
• black long bug in my laundry
• four year old laundry
• i have little worms all over my laundry and clothes
• tiny red bugs in my laundry
• i found a bug in my laundry
• Whirlpool Duet washing machine problems eating socks
• do it yourself laundry shoot

You know. I think that last one really sums it all up and is a great answer to all of life's problems. Let's all just have a laundry shoot. You bring the shotgun and I'll bring the laundry and instead of washing it, we'll just shoot it.

Next Purchase, a Flannel Shirt and Workboots?

I think I missed my calling. I should have been a lumberjack.

Monday afternoon I got the sudden urge to trim one of the trees in our front yard so I went with it. The branches had been drooping so low that the kids could grab them and swing on them like little mini Tarzans. I had to be a party pooper and ruin all their fun. I'm sure you can just see me perched on top of a ladder with a big old pole tree trimmer. Death on a stick. And I wasn't really properly trained on how to use the equipment, I just winged it. Come to find out, the thing extends and also has some "shearing features" that it would have been good to know about. But despite my lack of skills somehow I got the job done and sent Nate a picture at work.

I figured it might be better to warn him before he drove down our street and thought that a tornado touched down in our front yard.

Works For Me Wednesday- Numbers On a Stick

This is one of my favorite things in our house, besides the husband and kids of course.

I knew I wanted to have a growth chart for my kids but I also knew that the regular poster-type wouldn't last more than two minutes around here. My parents live in a really neat old house and my Mom started marking our height on one of the door frames. I didn't want to do that either because I knew we wouldn't be living here forever. Any new owners probably wouldn't appreciate our hieroglyphics as much as we would. I needed something portable. This is what I came up with:



It's just a two by four* painted white and it hangs in our kitchen. I marked all of the feet and inch measurements with a permanent marker. On each child's birthday they stand next to the stick and I mark their height with an ink pen. You can see that the children have tried to add their own "art" to the board. It takes quite a beating. Someday, if we ever move, I am going to pack that thing right up and take it with us.

*edited to correct my lack of construction material expertise. My husband informed me that it is NOT a two by four, it's a one by four. Good to know.

Seriously?

Something has been weighing heavy on my heart lately. Deep down in the depths of my being, I have dreaded that this might happen. And now it has.

Imagine my horror when I woke up and checked my email, only to see these words:

"You've heard the buzz about the hottest silhouette to hit the jeans scene. Now get in on the trend with our must-have skinny jeans."

Thank you GAP for a rude awakening. I wonder what Stacy and Clinton have to say about this. Haven't they been forbidding tapered leg pants for the past how many seasons? And now they are being called the "hottest sellout".

Despite the horror. Despite the outrage. Despite my better judgment. I know I will wear them.

Also, another disturbing fashion trend. Shirts like these:

Don't let them fool you with their cuteness. Yes, they are adorable, but I don't like what they do for women who have given birth to one or more children. They scream: "Am I a maternity shirt?" I have a few pieces like this. Some with a tieback and a couple with an empire waist and I'm telling you, I get double takes from people every time I wear them. I know exactly what they are thinking. "Is she or isn't she?" Everyone wonders if I am trying to sneak another pregnancy by them but they are too afraid to ask. Again, I continue to wear them in the name of fashion despite my better judgment. And no, I am not pregnant.

I'm giving props to this lady. I stumbled across her blog via Randi and I love what she did. Oh that I had the guts to pull off the same dress for 365 days. Way to go brown dress lady. You rule.

One and a Half Stars

If, by chance, you happen to send your eleven and nine year old into the library to pick out DVD's, you might end up with a very interesting selection.

For our viewing pleasure:

Mr. Wong, Detective
Mr. Wong in Chinatown
The Muppets Take Manhattan
and last but not least...(oh the insanity)
Ernest Goes to Camp

Heaven help us.

Jack

Today you turn three Jack. You have been talking about "It's almost gonna be my birthday?" for the last few weeks. Sometimes you call it your "Super Birthday." It's obvious that you understand that birthday's are something special because when you have been frustrated with me or angry with me, you threaten that "It's not gonna be YOUR birthday Mom." Big talk for a little guy. Caedmon is especially excited for you to turn three. He is convinced that after today you will "talk better". I think you talk just fine.

I'm trying to decide if your eyes are going to sparkle more when you open your new red tricycle or when you realize that everyone is singing happy birthday to YOU. Or maybe it will be when you take that first bite of birthday cake. I'm surprised that you didn't just ask to be served a bowl of sugar with three candles in it. Another idea would be to attempt to float your three candles in your bowl of "crunchy ceeyo" for a special birthday breakfast.

Put your thumb over your pinky and raise your hand high. You are THREE!

Happy birthday JackJack.

Whodunit

Break out the magnifying glass and the pipe Sherlock, we have a couple of mysteries to solve.

1. Who is setting our rabbit free? Banjo does not have enough dexterity in his little paws to un-twist our makeshift wire latch. He may be a white bunny, but he does not know magic. I hope he enjoyed his morning of freedom, and it appears that my flowers are safe from his jaws of death.
2. Who mistook the tub for the toilet? In the wee (no pun intended) hours of the morning, it seems that someone took a wrong turn and emptied their bladder into the bathtub. Eeew.
3. Where are all of the toothbrushes? They disappear as fast as chocolate chip cookies around here. We either have a hundred or none. There is no inbetween.

We ARE the Fourth of July Parade.

We filed down the side of the street, a red white and blue line headed up by a father pushing a toddler in the stroller, a mother with a baby strapped to her torso, and four little hooligans in between. I could almost hear the people we were passing whispering and crossing their fingers, "Please don't sit by us, please don't sit by us." We finally claimed our little plot of curb along the parade route and set up camp. All of the children around us suffered significantly reduced candy profits apon our arrival. We tried as hard as we could to keep our children minding the "parade etiquette". No cutting other children off, especially toddlers. No running out in front of the farm machinery. And most importantly, feed mom and dad a steady supply of candy.

All in all it went well. Some highlights:

• Watching barefoot Jack jump up and down and squeal at the sight of the first tractor. His eyes lit up as bright as the fireworks themselves.
• Chuckling as the children scrambled for the few pieces of candy that were NOT Tootsie Rolls.
• Tyler and Caedmon's "almost" red hair. Very patriotic. We are still quite a few shampoos away from their natural color.
• Lots of new pencils and pad of paper.
• One "float" (if you can call it that) threw out a box of Mucha Lucha fruit snacks. Bonus.

There is just nothing like a small town Iowa parade. Let me sum it up in three words:

Tractors. Horses. Old cars.

I Must Have Walked the Plank.

Did you think I was dead?

Did you think that the race killed me in some sort of a freaky three-days-later-she-keels-over type thing? Let me explain my absence.

Last week was vacation bible school and I taught bible games. In keeping with my procrastinating tendencies, I spent most evenings last week searching the internet for the next morning's games. It's not that they didn't give me a curriculum, it's just that we had such large groups of kids that those games didn't work in my little room. I was in charge of decorating my room and here I am with my scurvy first mates:



I went with the "pirate secret hideout" theme and dressed as piratey as I could from my own closet. See how I am "Arrrrrging" in the photo? I make a pretty tough pirate don't you think?

I had the pre-K, kindergarten, first and second graders come through my room and I completely fell in love with those kids.




Here I am with one of my classes. I have disguised their identities, not because of poor fashion choices, (doesn't this look like a fashion do's fashion dont's pic?) but because I don't think it would be right to post pics of other people's kids on the internet. Oh, and it was crazy hair day, which explains the blue and purple wigs. I left Caedmon un-black boxed. Notice the red hair. We opted to just dye the boys' hair for wild hair day. It is supposed to wash out in 8-10 shampoos. We'll see about that. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to dye ALL my kids' hair at the beginning of the summer or if we are going to a theme park or to the zoo. It sure does make them easy to spot in a crowd.



Here is a better pic of Chuck and Chuck with their red hair:



Great smile Caedmon.

I don't want to leave the girls out. Noelle won a prize for her fountian of hair.



Wow. Those are some super un-flattering pics. Sorry girls. You'll love this when you are 16.

Now that all of that is over, it's back to real life. Laundry, dishes and cooking real meals.

Maybe.

Arrrg.

Zzzzzzzz

"Why Heather!" You exclaim, "What are you doing awake at 12:45 a.m. when you need to be at vacation bible school at 8:30 tomorrow morning?"

You asked.

I'll tell you what I'm doing. I'm watching a wide awake one year old play with her toys like it's the middle of the afternoon, that's what I'm doing. I just spent the last hour and a half lying in my bed as she climbed all over my head. I am a human jungle gym. I was fed up with the kicking, the rolling, the laughing, the twitching, the thrashing, the jabbering and the head butting. The girl could not stop moving.

Note to self: No matter how desperate the situation, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT let your one year old drink any of your "iced coffee beverage". At least not after noon.

Success

I don't think the success of a race should be measured by time necessarily. Maybe a more accurate gauge would be the "sweat-o-meter".

While we were training for this race, on some of the sweatier days we would laugh about my little one inch ponytail. If the temps were high on a particular morning, I would coax my short hair into a rubber band just to get it off of my neck. By the end of a the run, it would be dripping down my back. Isn't that disgusting? I could literally wring it out like a wet towel. A few weeks ago I got a haircut and trimmed up the back, it was bordering on mullet. We lost our sweat-o-meter. Although the temperature was a nice cool 50 some degrees for this morning's race, by the end of 13.1 miles my hair was dripping even with no little ponytail. Success.

It was a wonderful race. The training payed off and I felt like a hundred bucks the whole time. Well, maybe more like seventy five..... I was shooting for a two hour finish. I would have been happy with 1:59:59. My final time was 1:57:19 and I am thrilled.

Friday Flashback-Goals

Spring 2004. My very first "run". I had been working out on the elliptical machine all winter and now was joining my friend outside to run for 30 minutes.

I remember the gasping for breath, the side stitch, and the overwhelming desire to stop and walk. We did. A couple of times. This was the first time I had tried to run since my junior high track career. There was no coach blowing his whistle, no "training program". It was just me, putting one foot in front of the other. Just me, fighting the desire to hit the snooze button one more time. We ran for a couple of months before she proposed running in a race that fall. A 10K, 6.2 miles. The moment those words came out of her mouth, my mind was racing, trying to come up with an out, an excuse of why that wouldn't work for me. Didn't we have something going on that weekend? Didn't I just feel a weird pain in my knee?

We ran in the race and a strange thing happened. Something bit me. There weren't any mosquitoes on the course and I don't remember seeing any bumblebees. I was bit by the racing bug. Although my friend practically had to drag me across the finish line, in those 50 some minutes of misery, something changed in the chemistry of my brain. Afterward, all I could think about was "could I have done that faster?" That's when my passion for running began.

On Sunday, I take that passion to the next level. I have officially signed up for and will be running in my first half marathon. Thirteen point one miles. When I signed up no one was holding a gun to my head, no one was twisting my arm, I signed up of my own free will. On Sunday morning, all of the training will be tested. Can I do it? And can I meet the goal time I have set in my mind? I have trained for nine weeks with two wonderful ladies who are both running their first half marathon also, it's a new level of running for all three of us. And if I start to question myself as we pound the pavement, I'll just remember that first spring and how far I have come.

1 Corinthians 9:24 and 25

24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.