Am I lost?

I have no idea where I am or how I got here.

My tiny anti-normal life has been completely turned upside down.

I will give you four reasons why. Any guesses?

Yep, the bigs and the littles. SCHWEW!

This was our schedule yesterday afterschool...

345 girls on the run
4 cheer
430 piano
5 piano
630 football pictures
630 volleyball practice in a different town
7 football practice
7 city council meeting

I am surprised that I am able to get everyone where they need to be. Thankfully my dh is around to help out during the week. Although, last night, he did text me once during the evening asking me who I had with me :) Is is weird that I wasn't even alarmed?

I have things to write about, lots of things. As you know the birthday month is quickly approaching. But first, I have to find out where I am and where I am going next.

Miss you ladies :)

Sneak peek

This happens to me every summer. I tire of cooking. I dread heating up the kitchen, messing up the dishes, kneading the bread with my hands.
Then one day, a couple of months later, I remember I love cooking. Then I decide to cook everything. It started on Monday. First, I made LOTS of zucchini bread.

 

Then my neighbors came over and we put up over 100 bags of corn.

This morning I had to use up the tomatoes that have been SLOWLY ripening in my garden and QUICKLY ripening in my mom's. So I made 4 quarts of salsa. Then I was hungry and I needed to try out this calzone recipe for sensible sisters. Here is a sneak peak...

Ryan said they were sort of crooked so I should make them again to practice the shape. "Make them again tomorrow," he said. I filled these with homemade salsa, sweet corn, ground beef, and marble cheddar cheese. Yum. Next time I want to make broccoli and cheese, I think or maybe chicken...

Family Time

squeezing out some family time these past few weeks...

 Madison Crazy Days

 District Tournament mustache fun

 a quick visit to the ZOO

 watching daddy at the state tourney

 waiting patiently for 50 cent foul balls

 sitting with Grandpa and Grandma at the ballgame

 visiting the Brookings childrens museum

trying to catch water in her mouth...

Leapin' Lizards

I have so much to catch you all up on. Is that a sentence? I don't think you can end with a preposition. Oh well, Karen will set me straight.

Because I don't really have time to be writing, (read: children are doing dishes and cleaning out the car unsupervised at the moment) I am going to keep this brief (and random).

1) It's August already. (read: IT'S !@#$ AUGUST ALREADY) sigh...

2) We are still playing baseball. Yes, you read that right. We started in May and we are still going strong. Ryan pitches tonight at 5:30 in Mitchell at the State Tournament. You can listen to the game here.

3) We are still selling our house. It hasn't even been two weeks since we announced this, but I have never vacuumed my laundry room so much. It is CRAZY! I have 24 totes of house stuff in the garage. My sil helped me clean out the clutter to show the house. I owe her my life, or at least a steak dinner...

4) I am not only obsessed with prescription glasses now. I have an absurd obsession with running shorts. Last weekend I almost lost a pair, while I was wearing them in a 5k. Not a good thing. Another incomplete sentence, sorry Karen. I will only buy ones with a drawstring now. The good news is that I improved my time from May by almost 5 minutes while holding my shorts and walking one third of the race for fear of becoming spontaneously naked.

5) My electricity bill is ridiculously high this month. I have no idea why.

6) It is not quite so hot out there this week but I still find myself keeping out of the sun. I think I am allergic to it. Last week we had a long weekend of camping in Madison. I forgot my camera. It was fun. We were with a group of people from the village which made it even more fun even though Ryan had to drive back and forth from Lennox almost every night for ball games. Maleah swam in the shallow lake while Nora and Addison and Dad and Gavin caught fish and I tried to upload photos from my cell phone. It was a nice break from reality. We hope to get one or two more camping trips in before school starts.

7) The SpudFest planning is coming along quite nicely. It has been interesting to sit on the sidelines, kind of, this year. I did get my hands into a few things, but nothing terribly time consuming. We have some new and amazing events planned and if you have Saturday August 20th free on your calendar you should come to the village. It will be a bit different this year with events mostly located near the swimming pool. Vendors, volleyball, swimming, bean bags, kids games and events and much much more...

8) The girls are flooding the kitchen. That is my cue to wrap this up :)

Home for Sale by Owner

$97,000

1978 Rambler, on a 66 x 165 lot. The house has new cement board siding (2009) and many new windows. It has a front deck and a basement walkout and features a lower level kitchen. This home has 1040 square feet of updated living space. There are 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The kitchen is 18x12 with laminate flooring and lots of birch cabinets. The living room is 18x14. The basement has a fireplace, large bedroom, bathroom with large, handicapped accessible shower and large living space as well as a kitchen with a cook top, fridge and convection microwave hood oven. The house has a gas furnace and central air conditioning. The lot has a spacious backyard with an apple tree, shed for storage, a cherry tree and several rhubarb bushes.
This adorable home is move in ready!. Recent updates include new trim and doors on the main level and some brick landscaping. Conveniently located only walking distance from the main street businesses, the school and several churches.

Birthday Blessings!

Happy Birthday USA (and auntie Tracy!)

here it comes

diarrhea of the mouth that is...


This morning (in the shower) I was formulating a blog post just like a do every morning. It was a good story, it had highs and lows, a little love and war, parenting advice and a bonus freebie. Then I turned the shower off and it all went down the drain, just like it does every morning.

By the time I got upstairs to my coffee two kids were up and there was no more quiet time for mom. So here I sit while the house is in chaos typing up a post because I love you. I can't even hear myself think right now let alone form a complete thought and put it into a sentence. Hence, diarrhea of the mouth.

Are you ready? Wait for it...

It is SO STINKING HOT OUTSIDE. I can hardly breathe. I think it was last week when I was complaining about the air being cold and hurting my lungs on our morning routine. This week the air is so think I can chew it. I took my workout wear off this morning and it was as wet as my swimming suit. Ew. Sorry. Good thing I am a go with the flow kinda gal and these temperature changes don't stop me from working out. I am loving our early morning routes. It has been nuts these last two weeks with one or more of us always on vacation so I have been changing it up. My muscles are screaming at me but I sure do like not gaining anything because I have been eating CRAP.

My (smart) sister is running the concession stand at the youth games. I volunteered (stupidly) to help her out. Four or five nights a week I make chocolate covered rice crispy bars and popcorn treats to sell at the counter. We are usually down there by 5pm and things don't quiet down until after 10 most nights. It is exhausting. Then getting up early to walk and run. But that isn't the half of it. Do you know how hard it is to be around all that food all night long? I started the summer out feeding my kids supper before we went down and then they begged me for food all night long and I eventually gave in and fed them chips and cheese, walking tacos, bbq's, hot dogs, fruit and yogurt and veggies and ranch and a Gatorade with laffy taffy, ring pops, super ropes and rice crispy bars for dessert. Then I got smart and stopped feeding them supper before we went. Yep, I am a smart mom :)

The garden (yep this is how my brain works no transitions) is BURSTING with strawberries and spinach and lettuce and cilantro. I am so proud of those little green plants. I took photos about a week ago but they have changed so much it isn't even worth posting them. We get an ice cream bucket of strawberries about every other day. I have to cover the plants with tulle so the birdies don't eat them. We have been stuffing our faces with the berries. There is just no comparison. It makes the ones at the grocery taste like paper. Ours are tiny and misshapen and as sweet as honey. YUM. I have so many I don't know what to do with them. Do I freeze them? I am not much of a jelly maker but I may have to start. This is a lot of strawberries. The best crop we have ever had. I am dreaming of a balsamic vinaigrette with the spinach and strawberries and sugared pecans...yum.

Maleah made an AWESOME catch last night at the ballgame. The team we played was very good at the plate and hit the ball every time. It was the last inning and they were popping up every time. Our team is still in that stage where they are mostly afraid of the ball. They are little, ages 10 and under, and you can just see the fear in their face and they back up and hold their glove out while their other arm shields their body. Maleah, on the other hand, is a chatter box and she is always yelling out things on the field. She is telling the girls to watch or get ready or shouting encouraging phrases to her teammates to play. She yelled out, " Don't be afraid of it - catch that ball" right before a high pop came right to her. She stepped forward to it, caught it and immediately got rid of it back to the pitcher. I was screaming, "Nice catch, Mia" from the stands and she was already thinking about her next play. It must be something in her blood. It's a desire to play and run and never give up. She got herself out of a pickle last night, too. Just plain outran the second and third basemen to reclaim her base. "SAFE" the ump yelled and she didn't even blink. She put her hands on her knees and watched the batter so see when she could run again. It is a joy to watch her. I love to see her face so caught up in the game and her knowledge of the sport surprises me every time I see it. I am so blessed.

Gavin loves the game as well, has since he was 18 months old. That boy was born with a baseball glove on his hand I think. But lately, the fishing pole has taken over. He has always loved throwing a line in and he has this classmate that loves to fish, too. Last week his mom took the boys down to the part of the river that flows through town and they both caught walleye. If you could have seen the look in Gavin's face. He was so proud of that catch. He has begged to go everyday since. Almost makes me want to learn how to put a worm on a hook, ALMOST. Ryan went out the other day and out fished his buddy for the first time, EVER. It was a good week here for fishermen and it was in our own backyard, too:) I do love a good walleye baked in butter with a little lemon...mmmmmm.

Speaking of fish (the kids are engrossed in PBS cartoon so my brain is coming together now enough for smooth transition into my next topic). I got two free samples of fish oil and started taking them in the morning with my protein shake and my vita slew (I like to call it that it reminds me to eat or else I have vita slew in my belly urping up my throat all morning). I take a multi vitamin, calcium with added vitamin d (EVERYONE NEEDS TO ADD VITAMIN D if you don't do it shame on you) vitamin a and lysine. I added the fish oil this past week. The first pack was three or four pills and I didn't have a problem with it. The second pack I began a couple of days ago. Different brand. Same size pill. Very similar. Same nutritional info. on the package. Same benefit. I figured I was safe. SO WHY AM I BURPING UP FISHY GUNK ALL DAY LONG. It is terrible. I shouldn't take the last two. So I know for a fact that I will not buy this brand. Too bad I threw the other sample package away so I will never know the one that did not give me fish indigestion And that,my friends, is why the Lord created free samples :)

So I was bound and determined to get a "good" meal in yesterday because we have been eating chips and cheese and hot dogs and tacos and crap for weeks upon weeks. I spent all morning mixing up turkey meatballs and rolling them and baking them. I had a few cans of progresso light creamy mushroom soup I was going to throw them in the crock with and serve it over penne with spinach salad. I was cooking and slaving away and the house smelled like onion heaven when I popped open a couple of cans of soup and dumped them in the crock. I stirred it ever so gently so as to not break the turkey balls and this foreign smell hit me. It smelled weird...like...fishy...like... I RAN to the trash to get the soup can and read the label "Light New England Clam Chowder"! That is the story of my life.

There you have it.  A post with no photos. I HAVE photos. I do. I just don't have enough patience to wait for the upload.

May your 4th of July be safe and blessed.

Ew, I just burped fish breath. Gross.

He's back, project man that is...

this time thanks to my MAD freecycle skills we scored 800+ free bricks with mortar on them so we chipped off each and every piece of mortar and borrowed the girls sand from their box and set them in the ground, a little around the driveway and more in the front of the house

we loaded these up on that 99 degree day last week...it was HOT

Gavin removes some of the mortar. He helped a ton.

framing the driveway...

removing the old cracked sidwalk pieces

clean slate, sort of

starting the brick

sanding the cracks, we are about 20 bricks short so now we have to decide what to do

blessed exhaustion

This week by the numbers;

ONE wonderful hold your belly laughing cancer survivor luncheon with the most amazing surviving women I know
FIVE 3 mile walks before the day begins
FIVE days of G.A.D.G.E.T  (God's always doing great exciting things!) VBS
ONE 99 degree day hauling bricks for landscape project
THREE bruises on my shin from afore mentioned activity
ONE super helpful nephew during afore mentioned activity
ONE night of painful turbo kick after too long of a hiatus
ONE 4 mile run to help stretch the aching muscles
ONE very long cold night in the concession stand
FOUR ballgames (2 in freezing cold weather)
ONE baby blanket crocheted during
ONE softball tournament in beautiful weather
ONE rainout cornbelt baseball game :)
TWO pans of bars devoured
ONE massive garage sale organized
800+ bricks loaded and unloaded in the trailer and several hundred set in sand already
ONE amazing Saturday afternoon spent with family, wood stain, margaritas and food :)
ONE VBS church service with 50 children singing
ONE Sunday family brunch
ONE afternoon with nothing planned
MOUNTAINS of laundry to do
HUNDREDS of emails ignored
NOT ENOUGH sleep

Slow and steady...keep the pace...He knows what He is doing

This week has been one of the busiest, longest, hardest weeks I have ever survived. I can't remember the exact moment I started feeling the ground crumbling beneath my feet but the struggle as a whole I will not soon forget.

Was it this week that the wind was so strong I thought the house might move off its footings? I have never in all my 13 years of living here felt the power of the wind like that. I was afraid (read lazy bum) to hang clothes out for fear of a)getting strangled by a sheet and b) having my skivvies land in Father's yard. So I played it safe and did not do laundry at all. I am regretting this today, as I have most other days this week.

Most of it is all sort of one really hazy blur but I do faintly recall a Monday evening turbo kick class that kicked my butt and made me feel muscles I didn't know I had. Which put a major kink in my final week of "training" for my first 5k. My two runs quickly reduced to one painful wet, rainy run on a damp evening. It was less than motivating to say the least.
My accountability partners were what kept me going this week. Dutifully showing up every morning even when I forgot to set the alarm and I was super late and I put my shoes on in the street. Although we had one scare late in the week with an abandoned car that forced us to re-route our normal 3 mile speed walk. I joked that we could be the crime stoppers; we know so much about the soft quiet routine of our little village because of our consistent morning treks that one out of place vehicle makes all our alarms go off.

I am pretty sure there was a day in there that I got some blanket making in with my neighbor. We laid out a few tops for quilts and she even had one finished by the end of the week. We are making recycled fabric squares to sew together for blankets for the Linus project at a local hospital. Maleah came over to help us with color choices because, frankly, my neighbor and I are equal color choice opportunity blanket makers (read; not real fashion conscientious).

There was a lot of planning for the supper club. This time in particular there were some difficult hoops to jump through. I made some phone calls checking prices on some unique ingredients. I ordered some homemade spicy sausage from the local butcher, begged my husband to pick up some printer ink for the food labels and sweet talked my mother into getting the last but most important ingredients. I was trying to get all ends tied up by Thursday night because I had volunteered to ride along for Maleah's field trip on Friday and wouldn't be able to do any supper club prep that day.
My checks finally arrived and I scrambled to pay all the bills that were not-so-patiently waiting for me. Why can't everything just be done online? The kids had practice most evenings so I think we ate supper around 8 every night which is almost 3 hours later than normal for our house. The late meal did not fare well on toddler and child size stomachs making my snack cabinet deplete light years faster than usual. I was down to one gallon of milk by Thursday and managed to ration that out until Sunday, but not without much trials and tribulations. Did you know that there is more to breakfast than cereal?
Thursday night we put most of the finishing touches on the supper club event but even with all my planning, Friday morning began with me (at the wee hours of 5am) putting 50+ pounds of raw pork into roasters at the church. I prayed my husband would remember to check them even though I had a commandeered a reliable neighbor as a backup plan.
I was trying to recall the amount of sleep I had gotten while riding on a school bus with 40 children to the end of the year field trip and all I could really come up with was not nearly enough. My head was pounding and I was recalling how much I (read sarcasm) adored my bus rides as an elementary student. The field trip actually turned out to be an amazing day. The kids had a blast touring the theatre department and getting fake scars on their faces and some new dance moves and a tour. They ended the day with a quick ice cream stop to Cold Stone where I treated my self to a scoop of coffee flavored cream with fudge sauce.

Friday night was as smooth as a baby's bottom. The meals went together with a lot of effort but amazing results. A few kinks were ironed out quickly and pretty painlessly. Honestly I can't remember much of it as I was running on empty until I stuffed myself with turkey meatballs in Marsala mushroom sauce with roasted carrots, beans and asparagus and some chewy bread. After that I was so full I just went through the motions. At the end of the night a very kind friend backed her pickup full of my junk up to my house so I could avoid the dreaded 18 trips across the street to my house.
I noticed the smelly brown liquid only moments after lifting my heavy basket full of meals. Sniff, sniff...it was the bourbon. The bourbon that I spent phone calls price checking and talking to connoisseurs about whether or not I could "get away" with buying the cheap stuff. It was the bourbon and it was leaking all over.

It all happened so quickly but it feels like I watched it in slow motion. I heard the click of plastic an felt the tension give way on my right hand. Then I was holding the handle as I watched the basket full of 9 meals swing to the left and crash into the wall, fall and violently tumble to the bottom of my carpeted basement. The ice cream bucket full of spicy sausage soup was flung into the family room. The pork ribs with bourbon sauce splattered like blood along the wall and door frame. Other bits and pieces of chicken and cheese and unrecognizable bits of food clouded the entire hall.
The next thing I knew I was on the floor sobbing uncontrollably and my husband was yelling, "ARE YOU OKAY?" I was, but I wasn't. I felt like all my work for the week had been flushed down the toilet in the blink of an eye and the worst part of it was, I still had to clean up the mess. Have you ever tried to clean up 8 cups of spicy sausage soup out of carpet? It is not easy. Especially when you are crying the whole time. I just couldn't stop. I carried buckets of slop to the trash and damp smelly towels into the overflowing laundry room. I poured hot water and disinfectant on the carpet and soaked it up over and over until I felt like I couldn't mop up anymore. I washed my hands, put a cold rag on my swollen eyeballs and crawled into bed.

When the alarm went off the next morning I wished  I had never signed up for the run. My head was pounding, my eyes looked like someone beat me up and I was extremely sleep deprived. I went to the coffee maker first knowing full well my running pants would regret it later.

Maleah grabbed her pillow and blanket to ride in the car with family on the way to the race. She easily dozed off while we met my sister in law and exchanged packets. We donned our new t-shirts and took out our numbers and then I saw the signs. Each participant got a sticker that said, "I am running for..." I looked at my family as they were writing names on each others and I saw my own name over and over. Again, the tears started flowing. Hugs, tears, hugs and not enough room on my paper for all the names I wanted to write and off we went to one of the most amazing events I have ever been to in my ENTIRE life.

Because I endured months of chemotherapy, I was given a survivor shirt which allowed us to obtain the best parking but we were late and I was nervous that all that crying in the parking lot would come back to haunt me. One of the last spots at the far north west end of the parking lot was just waiting there for us. The sea of people was amazing. I really have no words. Standing there in that parking lot being one of many for the same purpose was so wonderfully empowering. I saw several people that I knew. I hugged. I cried. I heard the call for the 5k runners.
We decided as a group to stay together. Our goal was to keep it under 45 minutes as the course was hilly and we were of all ages from 9-36. We started slow but quickly spread out to an even pace that we felt comfortable keeping. The streets were lined with spectators shouting words of encouragement. People were everywhere, on the sidewalks, in the yards, on the corners, in the street. I saw one amazing mom pushing a triple jogging stroller. Every time someone walked by me I read their sticker...for my mom, for my sister, for my friend, for my family...I was moved to tears several times. again. My feet just kept moving. Maleah was fast and slow and she got some leg cramps. I think she needed a little hydration. She became discouraged but she kept on trodding. We stayed in each others sight as we made each turn. I saw friends, gave fives, shook hands kept on moving my feet. I saw Shawn Cable (local news caster) run ahead and snap some photos and then get back in  pace with the t-shirts that matched him. I saw Phil (local weatherman) too, he is kinda short :) My father-in-law was standing on the side lines but I missed him.
We really had no idea how fast we were going we walked for a very short time once on the home stretch while we all caught up to each other. Then, my niece said, "we are almost there" so we ran to the finish line. We had the exact same time. She pushed me until the very last step and it was wonderful to have her support.

After we finished we were a little winded and I had to potty (read I peed my pants) so we all went our own ways and we met at the vehicle a few minutes later. I watched the 10k'ers finish and I saw so many people meet their goal! It was really emotional. I hugged people, some I barely knew.
The weather was fantastic. It was the most beautiful morning. I couldn't help but think that the Lord was pointing the sun right down on Sioux Falls. I KNOW He was there because He made my feet move without me feeling them. He allowed me to soak the whole morning in without pain or frustration or difficulty.
I am so ridiculously blessed. What a truly wonderful end to my week! I know He planned it to go exactly like that.

for Grandma Rosalyce

God of hope,

we come to you in grief and confusion of heart.

Help us to find peace in the knowledge

of your loving mercy to all your children,

and give us light to guide us out of our darkness

into the assurance of your love,

in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

For Uncle Larry and his family

"The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit."


Psalm 34:18 (NLT)

"The unfailing love of the LORD never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. I say to myself, 'The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!'

"The LORD is wonderfully good to those who wait for him and seek him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD. For the Lord does not abandon anyone forever. Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion according to the greatness of his unfailing love."

Lamentations 3:22-26; 31-32 (NLT)

Thank you for the comfort we find in Your presence. Through the Holy Spirit we know Your presence is with us. Send us Your peace Lord; the peace that passes all understanding. Don’t let us waiver and doubt. Give us a faith that is everlasting. We release our lives into Your hands. As we wait and watch, we know Lord that none of us will escape this journey through death. Teach us how to embrace it with faith. Give us strength to hold up those who are stepping closer to seeing You face to face. Take away the fear in the heart of our loved one who will soon see You; let them find peace in Your grace, comfort in Your love, and strength in Your mighty power over death. Comfort us as our grief seems to over power us.

Amen.

Bingo FUN!

Monday Multitudes 783-798

Help me understand the meaning of your commandments , and I will meditate on your wonderful deeds...I honor and love your commands. I meditate on your decrees...Sustain me, and I will be rescued; then I will meditate continually on your decrees. Psalm 119:27,48,117

My morning devotional compared meditating to cows chewing their food twice. It is sort of disgusting but very applicable when thinking about how we should bring those words back into our brains to rethink about them or meditate on them. I hope you have some time today to chew on God's Word.

Today, I am thankful for;

everyone back at school/work and mostly healthy again

a fun party Saturday night with family and friends

family breakfast at Grandma Bonnie's on Sunday

morning workouts

a sister who is super organized

the hope and faith of healing for JoAnn, Robert, Gertie, Karlyn, Larry, Steve, Rosalyce

a great Dr. Seuss day in the works, my kids love Dr. Seuss day and are uber excited

coupons for "real" food that is good for you

a slight warm up outside

the light at the end of potty training, I hope

kids who love to read and read and read so much that books get wet, stained and bent because they go everywhere the kids do

recipes that my family loves and the kids will eat AND are good for you

a neighbor who loves fabric, yarn and making things as much as I do, a mentor and a friend

local grocers that work with sisters to provide quality foods for families

a new website for a dear friend and a new day to renew her design journey

*sigh*

Tiiiiiiimmmmmmeeee is on HIS side, yes it is.

I am here.

I am about a month behind in everything, but I am here.

One of the misconceptions people have about stay at home moms is that we have more time. Time to keep things in order, time to spend playing with our children, time to clean and cook from scratch.

I am here to say hogwash.

I have less time now in my day to day duties than I have ever had in my life. There is not enough time to sleep, not enough time to get ready in the morning, not enough time to make a real meal, not enough time to run an errand, not enough time to finish that sink of dishes, not enough time to make an appointment, not enough time to read Brown Bear for the millionth time...

I have hardly enough time to breathe sometimes. That is what it feels like anyway. My problem is prioritizing my time. Today after chasing the littles and bigs around all morning and finally feeding them lunch at 3:30 p.m. in the afternoon, I grabbed my devotional for the first time in a month. This is what it said;

Turn your heart toward God. This is what the Lord says, "Turn to me now, while there is time, Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning." Joel 2:12

Guess whose timing is PERFECT?

This is what this means to me, a poor sinful being... God sees clearly into our spiritual hearts. God is not impressed with outward show (a clean house), but He is looking for people whose hearts are seeking Him. Throughout the Bible we are reminded that no one is outside the scope of His love. Even if we've moved away from God, we can turn toward Him with a repentant heart, and He will strengthen us!

Make time everyday for God. He will do the rest. It seems simple but it is not. I pray that you have time this week for Him.

Sensible Sisters Supper Club

Are you tired of hearing WHAT'S FOR SUPPER? or I'M HUNGRY?

Come and create eight healthy, low-cost, homemade 4-6 serving meals

(plus some extra homemade goodies) once a month.

First session is Friday, February 4th at 5 p.m.

You must be registered by Friday January 28th at 5 p.m.

(we need to have time to clip coupons and buy the groceries).

Prepay for your meals and take them home for the freezer the night of the event.

Average meal cost is $8.
Convenient, affordable, healthy fun!

What are you waiting for?

We buy the fresh groceries for you at the best price we can find.

You show up, assemble the meals, and take 'em home with you.

Call me, email me, or facebook me for more information and to register.

Functioning on a Friday

The wind and snow are blowing around outside making it difficult to see across the street even in town. As I opened the thermal drapes for a bit of light this morning and looked out I felt a twang of guilt for not driving the kiddos to school. At least the wind was at their back, I hope.

The week went by in a flash and somewhere in the flurry the girls have caught something. They have temperatures, gooey eyes and colorful snot. Their eyes are glazed over and they are sitting in the chair with a blanket watching George the monkey on PBS. This is not normal behavior for them. I have dug through the medicine cabinet and found some eye drops only a few months old. Hopefully it will do the trick and we will not have to brave the elements and visit the clinic.

It is cold in here today, I can feel the wind in my cold toes and fingers. Yesterday was a balmy 30 degrees and we only wore the liners of our winter coats when we went shopping.

For the last few nights we have been bothered by a mewing outside the patio door. It seems a kitten has found shelter under our deck steps. We moved them to put the siding on the house and they didn't fit back perfectly so there is a small space just about perfect for a kitty to squeeze through to wait out the cold and it certainly doesn't hurt that it is directly beneath my dryer vent where I am sure it feels a little like Florida :) The kids have taken quite a liking to him but I refuse to feed the poor creature and Maleah's allergies are flaring up so we need to find him a home. Besides the mewing is quite annoying at 3 am.

I have been whittling down my stash of yarn by crocheting yards and yards of funky scarves. I happen to love them. I may be crazy but it is fun and keeps me from stuffing my face with food. My wrists are a little sore but in the end I think the workouts are good for them :) Spent a good hour or two following a couple of other yarn hoarders around the thrift stores yesterday. They arrived promptly two minutes before me in three separate stores. I think it was a sign or something. I just don't know what to make of it.

Speaking of exercise, I have been consistent but I am just not seeing any new changes. I like my less fat more skin body but it still needs quite a bit of work. I have hit a plateau and I am getting bored. AND I have fallen off the healthy wagon concerning my meals as well which isn't helping things. So, this morning I am making whole wheat flax seed bread and plan to smother a warm piece with honey and butter to end the week on a high note, sigh. I guess I will have yogurt for lunch. I am thinking Boston Creme Pie or White Chocolate Strawberry. YUM.

Well my fingers are itching for yarn so happy Friday ya'll.

outdid, outdone, ouch

Last night Ryan told me he signed up for the biggest guns competition at work. Coffee with cream came out my nose, I laughed so hard. Thing is, he was serious. Sorry honey:)

So, after making corn chowder, bbq pork chops and homemade french bread for supper tonight. I thought it time to start the 200 sit up challenge. So I put down the extra large coffee cup and had the girls sit on my feet and the big kids count. I made it to 30 before I felt like passing out.

The nine year old decides she wants to try. She got her second wind around 80 and completed a whopping 106 on her first try. SHEESH. I think she is adopted. For the record, wanna be big guns made it to 60. Not bad for a thirty something man who weighs a buck eighty soaking wet. Love you, honey:)

At this exact moment he is bench pressing my 35 pound babies.

Dare I dream of the 100 push ups ?

UPDATE: She is currently in the 200's on lunges. Ryan told her to stop at 200 and she said, "I'll stop when it hurts."

Recovering

Today the kids slept in till after nine. That is so rare. It almost scared me, no it did. It scared me. But considering the chaotic crazy Christmas 48 hours we have just experienced I should have just expected the sleeping in.
On Christmas eve we attended church. Usually the pews are so packed there are few seats left AND Maleah had to play a few songs for the prelude so we got there early. Which is sort of a miracle in itself. The service was wonderful and it ended with the traditional candle light Silent Night. Really sets the tone.
After church we all go to my mom's. We eat. We gab. We eat some more. We gave up giving presents years ago but this year mom decided to try something different with the kids.
My sister and I think alike:) Look at those handsome cousins.

Mom gathered the kids up and told them that they were going to draw numbers and then draw a name and choose a gift to give to a cousin. A lesson in giving and in receiving. It was wonderful to see them look at the gifts to choose the perfect one for the name they chose.

I think my brother in law had the most fun of the night, though:) Mom got the kids a few stocking stuffers, too. Somehow she always ignores the no gift rules:)

After the gifts were received we laughed, hugged and cried a little. Then we all went home to our respectable homes for the night.

We got up early to stuff the stockings and the kids were already awake. It was 6 am.

Tell me why I bought markers for her. WHY!?!?!?!

A homemade gift from Maleah.

We made it to Grandma and Grandpa Gordon's by dinner time. After dinner we cleaned up and opened gifts. Ryan's mom gets everyone a gift. I am not sure how she does it. Nine children and their families and significant others. Come to think of it I am not sure how she feed us all, either. She is pretty amazing. A living Saint, I do so believe.

Gavin playing the dice game
Uncle Brian giving nerf shooting lessons.

Maleah made a haul of birthday and Christmas gifts.

Addison got spoiled...again.

This year I got a special gift. I was so surprised, and elated! An e-reader, WOHOO!
Then we played our sort of new tradition of the dice game. Once for the kiddos and once each for adult males and adult females. This is probably the highlight of the day. This year I lost one of my die in a coffee cup and the whole table was screaming at me to roll. I also noticed Ryan's dad (when he had the gift he wanted and there was less than 10 seconds left) shake those dice ever so slowly only to roll doubles at the very last second! This year we had a tie at the end and there was a roll off for the winner of lottery tickets!
Kids getting the instructions from Auntie Kim about the dice game. More living Saints. Auntie Kim and Lisa provided all the gifts for the game! WOW!

We spent the night and got home late yesterday afternoon. It was fun, but exhausting. The kids were plenty worn out from all the partying.

Another Christmas come and gone. Another new year about to turn.

I hope your families are healthy and happy and exhausted from partying during this wonderful time of year.