Hodge-podge

One of these days I'll get blog-savvy and get this looking how it does in my head. Until then we'll have to settle for a some-what erratic format.
I want to start with a few funny things that my kids said recently. I've been journaling a few comments here and there but I need an organized list. So when I get the blog all tricked-out, it will have a 'funny/random comments' section.
Until then. . .
Bryce: "Mom, you like nasty things?" (I'm laughing as I type that one! I don't know where that came from!!), Blake: "Bryce, let's go outside and kill some weeds." Bryce: "I don't have time to kill weeds, I have to poop!"

Blaine: "I want to go to a 'fweck'(?????) store." Me: "Blaine, what do they have at a fweck store?" Blaine: "Fweck." Still have no idea what he's talking about! He loves to sing little songs and his favorite one is "So what!" by P!ink.


We were all super excited to have Blake home. I will post some pictures from his world travels as soon as we get them developed. Yes, I said developed. He forgot a camera and had to buy a disposable. I think it's been 10 years since we've bought one of those. He also has shared some funnies stories that I will post as well. I'm so glad that it was a long weekend and the weather cooperated so we could spend a lot of time at the pool.

The day before Blake came home I took the boys to our favorite museum. Every time we've been to the museum we've discovered something new. About 75% of it is outside. Inside has some classic museum exhibits-space, geology, weather, etc. But there is also a large collection of wildlife including wolves, bears, and lemurs and there's a butterfly house (which is actually sort-of creepy because it's swarming with butterflies!). Outside there is a farm, dinosaurs, and much more. The boys' favorite parts are the train ride and the playground. It's not your everyday playground as you'll see in the pictures. My only complaint is it takes about 30 minutes to get there and we always leave tired so the ride home can seem too long. But overall it's well worth the drive!











Oh Daisy Dukes. . . yesterday we noticed that Daisy's paw was a little swollen and by the afternoon it had doubled in size! Poor girl! We didn't want to wait to take her to the vet because today is a holiday so we had to use the emergency 24 hour clinic. They were nice enough to tell me over the phone that it would be $110 just to walk through the door! Luckily it is only an infection due to a puncture and she will take antibiotics for the next ten days. This is also the kitten who had worms and had to be spoon fed special kitten food. She's our little money pit! I know I'm just giving you non-pet owners 1 more reason to steer clear of pets! But you've gotta admit, she's pretty darn cute!

A LOT can go wrong in 2 weeks

So today topped them all. Catastrophies that is. First of all, our water was shut off by the city. I take responsibility for this. However, let me explain the circumstances. The water bill is the only bill that I actually have to mail in. I admit, I keep terrible records, I just pay bills (online) as they come in. This one must have slipped by me. It was due 5/6. They said that a notice was sent out on 5/17-ok, that's possible, but I know if I had seen it, I would have mailed a check asap. Here we are 5/27, only 3 weeks past the due date and they cut us off. I was furious!!!! Fortunately, it was turned back on almost immediately. Unfortunately, it was just in time for the boys to clog up a toilet. . . After it was used. . .For #2. All of it spilled onto the floor. I was screaming. Not sure what to do, but I wasn't missing my workout so I threw down some towels and we hit the gym. When I got home, I found the water in the toilet was down so naturally I tried to flush the remaining sewage down. And if overflowed. Again. Now I've used every towel in the upstairs to mop up poo water. Seriously, is this really happening? I have a very kind neighbor who sent her husband over to plunger the sucker and now we're back in business. He is also the same neighbor who re-lit the pilot light last week and watched the boys while I ran the marathon. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends! And J-diddy, Blake is at your beck and call when T-bone goes back to work.

So here's a recap of the fires I've had to put out over the last few weeks:
1. Cat fell into the bathtub, water EVERYWHERE
2. Boys write all over themselves as we're ready to leave
3. Ran out of cat food. Gave Peep the kitten food, he barfs all over the house
4. Pilot light goes out-no hot water
5. The peeing in a cup fiasco
6. "Mommy be brave"
7. Got locked out of my bedroom
8. Water gets turned off
9. Toilet overflows

This is not meant as an attempt to guilt my amazing husband in any way. Rather, I hope he views it as a shout out for all the things he does. Sweetie-you're our rock and we're lost without you!

If at first you don't succeed, tri, tri again!

I'm super excited to say that I'm training for my first triathlon!! I'm not excited to say that I am a terrible swimmer and have a long road, er, pool ahead of me!! For as long as I can remember I've been able to make it from one side of a pool to the other, but that is a far stretch from *actually* swimming. The boys have been taking swimming lessons for a few months now so I signed myself up for a few lessons with their teacher. I'll admit, I felt like a huge a** showing up for a swimming lesson!! Luckily she didn't have me do a 'starfish' or any jumps from the side of the pool. On the contrary, she said that I'm a lot better than I think I am. I will be staying at my mother-in-law's house this summer so I will have access to a pool (and child care) on a daily basis and I can't wait to try out my new skills.

So my new interest in swimming got me thinking about how many adults don't know how to swim. And I'm shocked!! There are sooooo many!! Even a young aerobics teacher at my gym said she won't leave the shallow end because she has zero swimming ability. What? She's so fit! And she has kids! And can't swim?? I assumed that every adult could swim (at least a little). So fess up, can you swim?

And just in case you're wondering where my interest in triathlon has stemmed from, I am a little bored with running long distance. Now that I know I can run a half marathon (with as little as 4 days notice!) the next challenge would naturally be a whole marathon. But even if I was able to-which I'm not, not even close-I think it would be sooooo boring. The tri will mix it up and hopefully get me in better shape. Now who's with me??

EDIT: Blake couldn't post a comment but he wanted to say that he's in (like he had a choice)!

Bad mom day

So today was definitely the most difficult since Blake's been gone. Early waking, nasty weather and missing dad has made for 2 ornery boys. And I lost my patience too easily today. The guilt of being a 'bad' mom was eating at me all morning until I had some alone time to collect myself (at the gym of course) and I remembered this poem my mom gave to me on my first Mother's Day. . .
A Mother's Prayer
Dear Lord,
It's such a hectic day,
With little time to stop and pray,
For life's been anything but calm
Since you called me to be a mom-
Running errands, matching socks,
Building dreams with wooden blocks,
Cooking, cleaning, finding shoes
And other stuff that children lose,
Fitting lids on bottled bugs,
Wiping tears and giving hugs,
A stack of last weeks mail to read-
So where's the quiet time I need?
Yet, when I steal a moment, Lord,
Just at the sink or ironing board,
To ask the blessing of your grace,
I see then, in my small one's face,
That you have blessed me
All the while-
And I stoop to kiss
That preciouse smile.

I've said it before. . .

And I'll say it again: I have thought about blogging so many times (and even 'started' a time or 2) but I'm gonna stick with it this time. There are so many cute and funny things that come up during any given day and I want to share them. Some (probably most) will be funnier to me and some may just be shameless brags! But I love my life and my family and it makes me proud to tell our story! So rather than trying to catch you up, I'll start with today. . .



Blake has been out of town since 5/13 so I'm really starting to lose my mind. By 9:00 this morning I knew that it was going to be a l....o....n....g day! It was pouring down rain so we were stuck inside. After a few time-outs and a round of standing in the corner the boys were playing nicely so I got to cleaning. They were playing a little too nicely so I had to see what was up. They proudly presented me with a 'pee cup'. They had found a cup on the floor and both peed in it! And when I questioned them about why they did it, they said it was an "assident". Peeing in a cup??? Is this the first time they've done this? Have I ever drank out of a cup that wasn't fresh out of the cabinet that may have been used as a pee cup? Ahhhhhh! I didn't punish them because they seemed so proud and innocent about the whole thing but I did give them a firm scolding about the ordeal! So I continued to busily clean when Bryce said to me "Be very brave mommy". Ok, whatever, I just kept cleaning and then SMACK! I get hit with a (toy) hammer. In his defense, he did give me a warning. At least next time I'll see that one coming! Finally time to run the vaccum and the boys have made their way down stairs. No major drama until I went to put the vaccum away and discovered that my bedroom door was locked! I have been nagging Blake for 2 years now that we need to change the door knobs because I don't know how to get into them if I get locked out. And of course he's out of town when this happens for the first time. I took the door knob off and broke it in the process! I guess I'll be getting my new door knobs after all. Ther afternoon was surprisingly uneventful-shouldn't be a surprise since the boys took a nap and then I had a babysitter come over!! Only 6 more days of single parenting. Hopefully there won't be too much more craziness to report!

I'm including a pic from the other day but it's fitting given that I've just ranted about my kids and the crazy things they put me through. I was putting a load of laundry in the dryer and then we were leaving for the gym (everyone was all ready to go). But that short time, Blaine got a hold of a marker and wrote all over himself and Bryce. And yes, they went to the gym with marker on their faces!