Wrong place at the wrong time...

Have you ever been in the wrong place at the just the wrong time?  I mean if you hadn't been right where you were at that very minute or two feet over it wouldn't of happen...

On Sunday, I got whacked, pelted, bamboozled with a large, huge, ginormous rock, boulder, mountain in the face which came careening, whizzing, flying at me from the lawn mower.  Basically what I'm saying is that it hurt something fierce and knocked me to the ground.

Wrong place at the wrong time...ugh!

My wonderful husband though, jumped off the lawn mower made sure I was alright and then proceeded for the next couple of hours to move everyone of those stinkin' river rocks out of that flower bed (which I had already planned on moving anyway...just hadn't done it yet) so we could put down grass seed.  I love that man...

Just wishin' I wasn't in that wrong place at the wrong time...

A clean car and homemade bagels...

These two things are completely unrelated....

I sent my oldest outside to wash the cars this afternoon and our smallest wanted to join him.  Thought it was so cute.  Our oldest is so good to him and on most occasions is very patient (granted the little one is three and he will try any one's patience after a while). 

I like to see them together as one is about three times taller than the other.  They call each other "bro".  I love that...

This of course, has nothing to do with the boys...but I just have to tell you our new favorite love in our house.  Now granted, the way I try to cook new things that could change tomorrow...but for now everyone loves these.  Homemade bagels, yum!  I had a boatload of cream cheese that I needed to use and decided that I would try my hand at homemade bagels.  I made a strawberry cream cheese spread to go with it and it was delicious. 

To be honest, I've always been intimidated by bagels...not sure why, just was.  Now though, after having done them....they are incredibly easy and way cheaper than the store bought and so much better.  So take it from me, try to make some...you won't be disappointed.

5k Flower Power...

This morning my husband and the two older kids ran in a 5k Flower Power.  It benefited the Botanical Gardens located downtown, thus the whole flower power theme.  I liked the whole girly flower theme...my son said, "well at least the shirts are black".


Racers getting ready to run

And they're off...





I got to enjoy these two little ones company while the other part of the crew were out huffing and puffing their way through downtown.  We waited at the finish line with some breakfast and watched the freakishly fast people cross the finish line...in like three minutes.  Just kidding...kind of.

This one is mine...the one in black...on the right (don't know who the one on the left is).  He came in first from our family and 5th in his age category.  He was flying.

This one is mine too (in the red shorts)...I'm so proud.  She is flying as well.  Just look at that determination.  She held on fast all the way through the end.  She placed 1st in her age category.  You go girl.

And this one I'm so very crazy about.  Don't let him tell you otherwise...this man was flying as well.  He also got 5th in his age category.  Run baby, run...




And then there were three...

Yesterday we had our first summer swim meet where we had three of our four kids competing.  It was very exciting and actually great for me.  Every couple of events I got to see someone compete in something.  I got to cheer all night long.  Yeah!!! 

I did find it funny that one lady in front of me asked me after I had yelled for my kids at MANY different events..."just how many kids do you have on the swim team?"  I would have loved to surprise her and say something like 10 or 15  and tell her we're hoping to overtake the swim team soon just to see her surprise (insert evil laugh)...but alas, I only said 3.  Of course, that in and of itself, about caused her turn white, pass out and then come to with a paramedic team attending to her.  Just kidding...she only smiled...and looked at me funny, come to think of it.

Our little girl was nervous from the "get go".  I'm glad her Daddy was volunteering as a runner that evening so he could be with her as much as she needed.  She did fantastic and even won her heat in one event.  She came home with several ribbons and a big ol' grin on her face.



We are a breast stroke family, apparently with a little twist.  This little one is great at back stroke too.  Who knew?  She may be the one who is great at all the strokes.  And that is really hard to do...








Our oldest girl (who I affectionately call the "goggle fiddler" at swim meets...because she gets so nervous that she just fiddles with her goggles until she is on the blocks) loves to compete.  She is great at the breast stroke and also got several ribbons in her different events.

She has the sweetest disposition and stayed with her sister so she wouldn't be too nervous.  I love that about her.

Our son (in the American flag swim cap) also loves swim meets.  Granted, he loves the "social" part of them, but he is also finally finding his "swimming groove".  I think he likes being able to out swim several of his friends.  He also brought home several ribbons from the meet.

Funny, I just realized that all of the pictures I have of the kids, they are all doing the breast stroke.  They did do other strokes I guess I just forgot to take those pictures.  That's probably good I guess.  With as many kids I have on the team and as many strokes they swim, someone might think I'm the "official photographer" of the swim team...just clicking away at every other event. 


Living at our house...

Right now, at this moment we have a slew of animals living at our house.  Okay, technically they are living in and around our yard, but I'm still going to count them since they are reeking havoc with my plants and my garden.  Of course, the kids have named them all since they are with us everyday and on most days several times a day.  So here goes...here's the new additions to our ever-growing family. 

(Please note that I had nothing to do with the naming of these creatures...believe me, I probably would have picked things like Billy Bob or Lu Ellen...so maybe these are better, given that)

There is "Snowstar" the baby rabbit, who is not such a baby anymore due to all of the petunias he has eaten from my front yard.

There is "Jumpy", a squirrel, whom we've mentioned before since he loves to eat all the bird seed from the feeder...he is quite plumpy now.

There is "Milk Dawn" a momma deer, who is very badly injured.  She will not put any weight at all on one of her front hoofs.  So she hobbles around and seems to be losing weight.  I would love to call in some rescue squad for her, but my husband remind me...it's just the circle of life.  Circle smircle...some things are meant to be broken.

With the momma deer are two little babies...we call them "Wild Fawn" and "Fawn Star".  They are exceptionally cute and love to eat my grass seed.  Oh why do I even bother to grow grass at this point.  They're so cute, I'd just dump the bucket of seed for them....not for plumpy though.  The bird feeder hanger just sags with his big ol' fat self now.

Finally, there is our stealthy animal.  The one who has the mischievous side...our raccoon.  My son called him "Coon Star"...just because it irritated his sisters...imagine that.  Anyway, we left our garage door open one night and that little varmint dragged out my brand new bag of bird seed...for jumpy, of course....and then proceeded to feast away, all the while strewing it through my flower bed.  Not my favorite...

For now, I'm just waiting for the rest of the animals to arrive...since it seems to me that we are attracting every animal on the planet.  I hear that a zoo somewhere up north lost a bunch of their animals just recently.  I wonder...does anyone know what a giraffe or rhino like to eat?

Ya big baby...

I came around the corner from cleaning the bathroom and this is what I saw. 

Hmmm...maybe I've been not counting all the children I've got.  One...two...three...four...oh, that's right, that one over there...five.

Ya big baby...don't let me disturb you. 



Making noodles...

This past weekend we decided that we would head downtown and go to the large farmer's market.  I love farmer's markets.  I love the vegetables and flowers and crafts that people sell.  We walked for quite sometime just taking in all there was to offer. 

One of the things I came across at one booth was a person selling homemade noodles.  The kind that said "Tomato and Basil" and "Butternut Squash" and "Spinach" noodles.  I was definitely intrigued.  I have made the spinach noodles before, but never tomato and basil, much less the squash one.  Couldn't let this one pass me by....plus I now had a hankering for noodles for dinner....funny how that happens.

So that evening I "created" my own recipe of tomato and basil noodles.  After a few minor setbacks...mostly it was me eating too many of the tomatoes and not putting them into the noodle mix... I think I finally got it right.  And yes, I do have all the noodle making attachments for my big ol' Kitchen Aid mixer.  No way, would I ever cut up all those crazy noodles by hand.  I mean, I'm a little crazy...but not that crazy. 

When it was all said and done, I threw some chicken in for good measure and we had ourselves a pretty good meal that everyone seemed to love...which is good because now I have a boatload of these noodles in the freezer. 

Man, do I love to cook...which is good that I also love to run.  Or maybe it is the other way around, I have to run because I love to cook.  Ugh!  Too much thinking on a Wednesday...or is it Thursday?  Somebody help this brother out...

This man...

This man...

...is so very good to all of us 
...wakes up early in order to get our high schooler to swim practice by 6:30
...provides a wonderful living for us
...plays hard with us
...is training for a 5K, just because our kids wanted to run one
...will put up with a thousand games of Sorry
...will answer a 3 year old's hundreds of questions
...loves us unconditionally
...is the best father around

We love you to pieces...Happy Father's Day!

Hee-haw...

It's been known to happen.  I wish I could say this was the first time...but alas, it's not.  It's probably like my bazillionth time...to do something, how shall I say it...stupid. 

I was at the gym this morning running on the treadmill.  I run three miles everyday.  Some mornings are great runs...others, well...let's just say, I probably should have stayed in bed that day.  Anyway, this morning was a great run.  I felt good, the pace was good and I was pushing myself pretty hard. 

While I run, I listen to music on my iPhone.  Okay, technically it's from an app on the iPhone called Pandora Internet radio.  Way cool!  If you're not familiar with it, it's just an app that you can choose your genre of music you want to listen to and it streams it in commerical free.  I'm sure there are thousands of these things, but in my own little world this is the one I know. I pick 80's cardio workout to run to...what can I say, I am a product of the 80's. 

Well, as my run got longer, my music was getting louder.  (I really hate to hear myself huffing and puffing so I try to drown it out with the music)  I was really focused on trying to go faster and I completely forgot where I was...the gym, I mean.  I mean, I knew I was on the treadmill...not that dumb.  Anyway, on comes this song...



...and I just couldn't help myself.  I was feeling good and wanted to sing along.  However, I hate to talk during my workouts so I just basically sang out one word throughout the run.  It's what I could sing out...way loud, because my music was so loud and you know, how everyone talks louder not really realizing it when they have music blaring in their ears. 

So, this is what people heard around me...

Thump, thump, thump, thump (went my feet on the treadmill), breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe... "HEE-HAW"... thump, thump, thump, thump, breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe... "HEE-HAW"... thump, thump, thump, thump, breathe, breathe, breathe... "HEE-HAW"... thump, thump...

You get the idea.  It wasn't until I realized that the two people 3 feet from me on either side were seriously giggling and looking at me.  "WHAT'S SO FUNNY?"  I commented...a little too loud.  Hit the stop button on the treadmill and then realized in the silence it was....who else, but me.

Man, it was a great run though...

I found you instead...

On Saturday, my husband's work had a wonderful family celebration.  It included a ton of inflatables, food, a band and all sorts of great things.  His company was celebrating 175 years in business.  It was a ton of fun...until, a slight mishap.

I should start by saying that my husband and I are hyper vigilant about the safety of our children.  We make sure that there is always an adult around them and many times we divide and conquer (you know, I take two, you take two to watch).  So this caught me completely off guard...

I had just taken the smaller two to the oh, so wonderful porta potty while my husband waited with the older two kids directly across from us in an open field.  The porta potties were right in the middle of a ton of inflatables and kid's craft tables.  So there were a boatload of people around us. 

When we got out of the door, I told my youngest to go find Daddy and proceeded to point to him directly in front of us across this big field.  Then, I helped our smallest girl wash her hands as well as mine.  That took a whopping 20 seconds at most.  When I approached my husband a second later, here's what happened next...

"Where is he?", he said holding up his hands.  "What do you mean?  You don't have him?"  I spun around and looked back at where we had just come from.  I looked back at my husband with sheer terror in my eyes and that's when he grabbed my hand.  "Stay calm.  Don't panic." 

My husband knows me all too well.  We are polar opposites...I am the complete freaker outer.  He on the other hand could probably stay calm if the earth were to implode.

As my husband went one direction, I took off running in the other direction screaming my son's name, scanning each and every little child in sight.  Oh my goodness, where could he go?  I ran in the other direction screaming and darting around people while checking in the nearby inflatables.  My heart was no longer in my chest...it was in my throat and about to explode.  Where was the national guard when you needed them?  Where was the swat team?  Where was the special air forces that could scan large crowds from the skies above?  I had lost my child and was on the verge of calling the president himself, when....

...the crowds parted, and there was my little one walking towards us searching the crowds for of all things...his father.  The one I told him from the beginning to go to across the field...his Daddy.

I ran with all my might, scooped up that little boy and squeezed him so tight.  "I can't find him."  He told me.  "That's okay", I said.  "I found you instead."  My husband approached and squeezed my hand again.  "You okay?"  "I'm just going to need a moment."  And then I finally exhaled.