Beach Photos

This weekend, we stayed with my cousin Landis and his wife Kat at their place in Richmond, just outside of San Francisco. To kill some time before dinner, we took a walk with the kids along the Bay Trail and enjoyed the sights along the way. The kids loved playing in the sand at the beach. Mike and I captured some cute shots there.

Our Freaky Fun Weekend

We went to San Francisco this weekend to take part in the Bay to Breakers 12K. The infamous road race was in it's 97th year. It is a wild and crazy event that is notoriously San Franciscan, complete with costumed runners and "uncostumed" ones, too (a.k.a. naked participants). Seriously. Our first sighting of a nudist, was actually a bouncing male spectator near the start. A weird sight for sure and we found it kind of hard not to stare. As the race progressed and we saw more flesh, we got mostly used to it. Not to mention that all of the streakers (that we witnessed) were older men who really should have kept their clothes on in my humble opinion. Oh well.

We ran as a family and were fully clothed, thank you. In fact, we all dressed up in costume: me as Wonder Woman, Mike in drag (just kidding, really as a cow), Lucas as a lion and Emily as Elmo.

Mike, my seriously strong husband, pushed the kids in a double jogging stroller for the entire 7.5 miles, even up a really steep San Francisco hill. And he didn't complain once. What a guy!! He and the kids were huge fan pleasers, too. Everyone was yelling "Hey cow!" and "moo" and telling the kids (who were just along for the ride, mind you;-) that they were doing great. Even giving them high fives. And me, nothing, except one drunk guy who beckoned me with a "Hey Super Girl!" I even went to slap a five to a person that had just given one to my husband and they pulled their hand down just before we connected. I was overshadowed by a cow and a couple cute kiddos. Perhaps next time I will push the stroller and get more support.

We saw some interesting sights, like a straight looking guy on our train into town wearing pink hotpants and a fuzzy, cropped sweater and a care bear headpiece (he was going to the race). A team of people dressed as salmon walking the opposite way of the racers (swimming upstream). A masked Hillary and Obama arm in arm waving at the crowd. And a shocking "Save the Boobs" float that was promoting breast cancer awareness.

Tonight, I received my race photos and noticed that a naked guy and I finished at the same time. Great, weird naked guy stole the thunder in my finishers photo, too. Dang it!

All in all it was a great time, despite the 2 hour bus ordeal where the driver got lost, being cold and exhausted and unable to nap afterwards like I always used to do following hard races. It makes a difference doing these things post kids.

A Little About Me

Where was I 10 years ago?

I was 21 years old and just about to graduate from college. I was pretty unsure about the future: I had no idea what I would do after graduation (no job lined up, not sure where to live as my parents were out of state, yet the boyfriend, Michael, was back home). I also had a nagging fear that I would be one credit short and unable to graduate.

5 things on my "to-do" list...

• Become more like Jesus and follow more fervently after him
  
• Get cracking and more serious with my marathon training
  
• Enjoy life more
  
• Keep the house cleaner
  
• Get to bed at a better hour so I am not tired ALL of the time
  

Snacks I enjoy

• granola bars
  
• yogurt
  
• dried fruit
• chocolate
• a cup of coffee, heavy on the sugar and cream
  
• teddy grahams or goldfish crackers (stolen from the kids;-)
  
• fresh baked goods
  

Five things I'd do if I were a billionaire...

• Pay off debt.
• Give generously to the church and other charitable organizations.
• Buy a minivan for me so we can all fit easier and an Evolution for Michael so he's not working on his dumb car all the time.
  
• Pay for my family and Michael's to move out here. We miss them so!
  
• Travel around the world (Italy, cruise to some exotic islands, maybe even live in different places for a while just to try them out).
  

5 bad habits...

• Craig's List
• Anger
• Pride
• Talking at inappropriate times or too much
  
• Saying idiotic things (mostly being accidentally rude, foot in mouth type stuff)
  

Places I've lived...

• Chicago, IL
  
• Casselberry, FL
  
• Orlando, FL
• Tallahassee, FL
• Roseville, CA
  

Jobs I've had...

• Fifi's Poodle Palace-I washed dogs, painted their toenails, put bows in their hair and perfumed them, too. Seriously! First job.
  
• Retail (County Seat, Circuit City, Petite Sophisticate)
• Food (Angel's Diner, Barnies Coffee)
  
• Cumulus Broadcasting-My college internship. I was the promotions assistant. The job rocked!! I got to do parades and other events, live broadcasts, even helped out with a morning show once.
  
• American Real Estate and Financial Services-Marketing Assistant. First job out of college. I was told that I was so good at making copies! That made me proud;-).
  
• Laser Institute of America-Marketing Coordinator. Got to travel around the country to do various trade shows and conferences.
  
• Campus Crusade for Christ-Marketing Manager and eventually Event Planning Manager which I loved!! Great place to work.
  

Watch What You Read

We returned our library books today. The large stack included a board book that Emily threw up on during a coughing fit in her bed recently (she now has asthema like her brother--JOY!). I cleaned it up as best as I could with wipes and Lysol. I told the librarian about it and said that I was prepared to buy the puked upon book. She looked it over and determined that it didn't appear damaged.

So...all of you locals, don't let your kids cuddle too much with the library book "Hugs." If you see it on the rack, maybe pass it on by...

We also let Lucas read his library books while pooping on the potty. Wasn't there a Seinfeld where George took a book into the restroom and the was forced to buy it/couldn't return it? Hmmmm...

The Haps

Today my butt hurts. We did squats yesterday and I am feeling it. I love (and hate) the pain!! Our new, somewhat lofty goal is to try getting up one morning at 5:30 am to work out, and hopefully one evening and weekend morning, too. I also want to get in 3 runs per week, one of them being a long run. I am really going need to start getting serious about this if I want to be able to complete the CIM (California International Marathon) with my sister in December and not walk (er...limp) away injured like I did last time. These workout goals are pretty lofty as we have had weeks go by with no gym workouts together and me only getting a run or two in, but I hope that we succeed. Maybe more exercise will help me not feel so darn tired all of the time. Such a catch-22, though, because I often feel too tired to be motivated to exercise.

We are planning on doing The Bay to Breakers 12K in San Francisco in a few weeks. It is a very unique event where most runners dress up in costume (and some even illegally don their birthday suits). I plan to be Wonder Woman and I think that Mike will be running as a cow.

Oh and we had a new roommate move in this weekend. Jeanette is Michael's age, sweet, quiet and great with kids. In fact, she now teaches at a Montessori school and was previously a nanny. Lucas was kissing her at dinner on the night that she moved in which is really quick for him to be won over. I think that it will be a really great thing for us and her.

Road Rash

Lucas was practicing on his big boy bike yesterday, a two wheeler with training wheels that our neighbor, Blake, gave him. He was doing great and looked like such a big kid riding it. Before I helped him climb on, I told him that we really need to get him a helmet. Of course, those were famous last words.

I suggested that he turn around in our neighbors driveway to head home. He did so, but went over the curb, lost his balance and flew from the bike, hitting his head and face on the street. I watched it happen from a few feet away. I heard the sickening thump of my child's skull connecting with the road. He started screaming and I ran to him and scooped him up in my arms. I was too scared to look at his face, for fear that he had knocked out a tooth or scraped up his handsome cheeks. I just held my screaming son to me and walked home, leaving the bike in a heap behind.

Emily was across the street in our driveway when it happened and walked into the street to help her brother. "Lukie, Lukie" she called walking across the street with her arms out. I hustled over to her to get her to safety.

I took Lucas home and realized that he was screaming now for his bike and his shoe that he apparently lost when he fell. I set him down to retrieve his things and was so relieved to see that some splotchy road rash was the only injury that he suffered. His mouth and teeth were intact and there was no blood on his face. Praise God!

And today one of the first things that we did was to buy him that darn helmet that I have been putting off.

Like a Sailor

My boy started cussin' tonight. It was bound to happen. I just didn't expect it until middle school or so. A drop of butter fell from his bread onto the plate and he said, "CRAP."

I wasn't sure if I had heard him right.

"What did you say, Lucas?"

"CRAP!!"

Yep, I heard him loud and clear that time.

"Where did you learn that word?"

"Grandpa."

So I will let Grandpa take credit for teaching my little boy to swear, but really he probably picked up crap from me. I do let the occasional crap or worse slip out accidentally.

And Speaking of That...

Emily went poopy in the potty today!! I don't want to get my hopes up, but maybe she will train early. She has been going pee pee periodically for a couple months, too. What a big girl!! It helps that she always wants to do what her big brother does.

All Because of a Coat

We met Michael for lunch yesterday at a KFC near his office. The man in front of me in line was wearing a Miami Hurricanes jacket. The Hurricanes were another arch rival of my college football team, the Florida State Seminoles.

It is always neat to meet someone from back home, too, so I said something about his jacket. We struck up an easy conversation about Florida and college football rivalries. He told us that he was in town for a Lutheran Pastors Conference.

"Oh, my best friend grew up Lutheran. In fact, her mother, Carol, works for a Lutheran office in Orlando."

"Carol, you know Carol?! I grew up with Carol in Fort Lauderdale. She used to be a dental hygienist and worked on my teeth."

What a fun small world experience!

So Carol...

Pastor Jim (I think that was his name??) in Tampa is visiting Sacramento, happened to run into your daughter's best friend at a KFC and says "Hi." If he is single, I think that you should consider marrying him!;-). Pretty coincidental.

Surprise Dinner Guests

The authorities paid me a visit again. This time they made a house call right in the middle of dinner.

Instead of it being a California Highway Patrolman racing after me on the freeway, it was the Roseville Fire Department, 3 firefighters and their shiny red truck all in our front yard.

We heard the truck rumble up and I hoped aloud that it might be UPS delivering a surprise package. WooHoo, what could it be?

Michael said that he thought it sounded like a bigger truck than UPS, maybe a even fire truck.

And Lucas excitedly chimed in, "Maybe the fire truck is coming to rescue me!" From what, we will never know? Hey, my dinner wasn't that bad;-).

Michael got up, looked out the window and confirmed that it was a fire truck. No package for me, but still kind of exciting. What is going on? My thoughts immediately flashed to the girls that I had corrected 30 minutes or so earlier for laying in the middle cul-du-sac (eating popsicles and lying in the road--so smart). "Girls, that is not a safe thing for you to do." I prayed that they had not foolishly laid back in the street and gotten hit.

We all jumped up to peer out and see what was going on and were shocked to see the uniforms coming out of the truck and heading up our driveway. What the?

They had received a call from a neighbor in the neighborhood behind us reporting smoke in our backyard. They had even given our address. Hmmm, no smoke back there and I hadn't even burned dinner. Weird. I wondered how neighbors behind us would know our street address, but shrugged it off.

I put it all together just now, hours later. I think that those girls played a prank on us to get back at me for scolding them. They called 911 and reported a disturbance at our house. Would a couple of 7-year-old girls do such a thing? I made lots of prank calls when I was a kid, but never one like that!

They both seem like sassy girls with little adult supervision or respect for authority. They walk around the neighborhood like they own the place, even sometimes peering in our windows, picking our landscaping (flowers) and playing in our front yard. I've corrected them before about these things and wonder sometimes if I am being a mean, crabby woman. The kind that yells at the kids to stay out of her flower beds, but I don't know, I feel like they should know better. I teach my kids to stay out of people's yards. It is not polite to trespass. And come on, we have flowers and pretty things in our yard to make it look nice and to enjoy. Not so that the neighbor kids can wear flowers in their hair and play flower girls by littering the rose petals all over the sidewalk. Pick your own darn landscaping! But I digress...

Well, if nothing else, the surprise fire department visit provided us with some dinnertime excitement! Lucas loved seeing his heroes come to our house.

Now what to do about the sassafras potential pranksters? Making a false 911 call is a pretty serious offense!!

Busted

I got pulled over and ticketed today for the first time since my college years. I was doing 80 in a 65. I had no idea what the speed limit was, but 80 seemed like a pretty good freeway speed to me. I was mostly keeping up with traffic, there just happened to not be a lot of traffic around when I was caught. Darn it.

And the stinky thing is, I was going to pick up another great Craig's List deal. I was saving $100 from buying it at the store new. I don't know what my ticket will cost me, but I would guess more than $100. Not such a deal after all.

On a positive note, the seller took pity on me and cut the price by 20 bucks and I got a message from Classmates.com today that they will be refunding me my $15.

On Dating

Here is a conversation that I had with my 3 year old last night:

Lucas: Bye Mama, I'm going on a date with Mary.
Me: What?! Mary who?
Lucas: She has a little lamb.
Me: Is the lamb coming on the date?
Lucas: Yes!

Sheesh! Kids are dating younger and younger these days. I couldn't help but smile that he wants to go out with a nursery rhyme. Not too baaaaaaaaaaaad. Could have been someone like Mary, Mary quite contrary or the little girl with the little curl.

Working Girl

As of May 2, I will officially join the work force again. Very part time, just one morning per week, but it still counts for something. I will be working in our church office as an administrative assistant--helping do the weekly bulletin, making reminder calls, keeping the church calendar, helping to plan events, etc. I am pretty excited as it will be nice to get out of the house for a few hours per week, be around other adults, and help out with our income, too. Serving my church is an added bonus. And I think that my new boss, our Pastor Brad, will be a good guy to work with.

I just received a social security statement and it was weird to see $0, no income for 2006. I wish that I got a paycheck for being a stay at home mom. It would be a fat one for changing all of those dirty diapers, making 3 meals per day, keeping the house mostly clean, playing with the kids, driving them to school and the doctors office, keeping up with laundry, dishes, etc. It is by far the hardest job that I have ever had, and sometime so thankless. But I wouldn't have it any other way!

One of the coolest things about me working is that Mike is going to take off Friday mornings to be with the kids. This way they won't have to go to a sitter and they will get some extra quality time with their daddy, which is so important.

Touchy Situation

Today I purchased the deal of the week from a lady selling her son's clothes on Craigs List. I tell you, I love that site. We also sold a loveseat on it today and I keep walking around the house trying to find more to get rid of. One of these days, Mike is going to come home and we will have no more bed...

Anyway, back to my find...I bought Lucas a ton of his new size clothes (3T) from her for just $15. It included 16 shirts, 1 shorts outfit, 3 pairs of pants, 2 sets of pjs, and a pair of shoes. All for the same amount that classmates.com took from me. See blog below. Pretty great bargain.

When the woman that blessed us with such a great deal answered the door, I noticed that she had a black eye. A pretty obvious one. I automatically jumped in my head to the conclusion that someone hit her and assumed that it was her husband--that bastard!! I didn't know what to really think, if I should say anything, etc. I don't know her at all. You don't want to assume... she could be in a martial arts class, or be a klutz and bumped into something, or.... You don't want to seem like you don't care either. I said nothing about it. And did the only thing that I could think of that was appropriate and might help her. I prayed for her safety and for God to bless her for helping us out so much. Was there anything else that I could have/should have done?

Disgruntled

I HATE being foolish with money. It is especially hard when money is so tight. Well, we just noticed an automatic withdrawl in our bank account from Classmates.com. I had joined 3 months ago for $15 to get in contact with a dear friend whom I had lost touch with over the years. She was even in my wedding, so I thought that $15 was a good price for finding her. I would not have joined had it been more than that. We can't afford frivolous purchases these days.

Anyway, apparently Classmates has a little disclaimer when you join that you will automatically be billed when you expire. So, I received no reminder, nothing. They just went into my account and stole my money. And that $15 though it doesn't seem like a lot was half of what we had left to last us all week.

I pleaded with them tonight via email to give me my money back. I asked for a manager to contact me. We'll see how they handle it. If they don't refund me, I will certainly never give them business again. I am fuming over this.

And that friend, that I joined for...she never wrote me back.

More Sleep Inhibitors

• That darn nightingale that sings it's stinkin' head off at midnight, 4 am, etc. How can you silence a songbird?
  
• The police helicopter that circled and buzzed our cul-du-sac and general area for 15 or so minutes during nap time recently and then blared an alarming message: "Attention on the ground...there have been a string of burglaries in the area...the suspects are traveling on foot...Keep your doors locked."
  
• The new flannel sheets on our bed that are too hot.
• And the old roommate's alarm that would go off starting at 4 am and then he would snooze it 3-4 times (or longer on weekends or during the early evening hours).
  

Not So Refreshing Honesty

This evening we took a meal to Lucas' teacher who had surgery this week. I loaded the food in the front seat and went to the back to strap Lucas into his car seat.

Lucas: Ooooo, Mommy. There is a stinky smell. Is that YOU?
Me: (Horrified as I hadn't gotten a shower yet) Um, no. It's the dinner that we are taking to your teacher.

Great, my dinner had a stinky smell. Just what an unshowered dinner donor wants to hear.

Photo Shoot

The weather was beautiful yesterday and we were outside enjoying a lovely spring morning. I often have a hard time remembering to take pictures of the kids (the camera is never around when I see a good opportunity and I don't want to miss the moment to leave and find it). I took advantage of the pretty lighting, landscaping and cute kids and snapped quite a few. Most of them turned out well. Emily does pretty great with the camera. Maybe she doesn't even really realize what I am doing (as she is so unused to me taking her picture). Lucas is fairly uncooperative. He wants to "ham it up" instead of acting normal or asks to see the picture while I am taking it. The pose of him looking up in the air was his idea. And the shot of the kids by the bushes is a favorite spot of Emily's to hide.

On a similar note, Emily now loves to play hide and seek, a game that Lucas and I have been playing for months. Emily used to just stand there and look at me, giving away wherever I was hiding. Dang her. They don't have the game quite down, though, because they always tell or show me where they are hiding. Come find me in the closet mommy!

Emily Unplugged

Brownielocks

I had a Goldilocks moment today. No I did not break into someone's house, eat their porridge all up and then take a nap in their bed.

I broke my son's guitar/drum set stool while sitting on it and reading him a book. Sure, it felt a little wobbly and unstable, but I'm pretty light and thought that it would be ok. Then Emily needed comforting and I picked her up and cuddled her on my lap. Next thing you know, PLOP, I fell on my butt onto the floor.

So, now I feel like a big oaf and my boy has no more cool stool (though we have 4 other stools in the house). I guess that I should avoid sitting on them.

And the answer is...

Here is the answer to the radio contest that I thought for sure that I had right last week.

Q: What is it that men do that drives 90% of women crazy??

A: Leave the cap off the toothpaste.

Dumb, dumb, dumb. I've never had this problem, nor have I ever heard a woman complain about it. So I am not a part of the 90%, nor do I know anyone in that percent. Oh well.

Anyone ever driven crazy by this?

Insightful

Yesterday we bought Lucas a Fisher Price doctors kit using a birthday gift card. Thanks Miss Christa, Mr. Demel, Andrew and Sam!! He loves it!

I showed him how it has all of the tools that the doctor uses: the stethoscope, the thermometer, the mouth and ear light. And then my little guys pipes up..."Where are the suckers?" I didn't know what he was talking about at first and then remembered.

The suckers are his favorite part of going to the doctors office. Our pediatrician has been handing sugar free suckers out for the past year or so to sweeten the appointment. In fact, Lucas often asks him for one the second he enters the exam room. It's a little embarrassing and cute all at once.

So Lucas naturally thought that his doctors kit should come with suckers. To him, that is an essential requirement of the visit. I think I'll surprise him with a dum dum the next time he goes to play doctor.

On a side note, Emily is not as fond of the toy as her brother has been chasing her around with the fake needle telling her come back and it won't hurt, etc.

Nervy

What up with people today? I think that technology has only assisted in making some ignorant people more rude.

Here is my example from today...

I received a piece of mail for our old roommate Matt, who moved out last week. I tried calling him, but got a strange woman's voice mail instead. I hung up and tried again, this time reaching Matt. I must have dialed wrong in the first place.

An hour or so later, I get this call:

Me: Hello.
Demanding Voice on the line: WHO IS THIS?
Me: Uh, this is Amanda.
Annoyed sounding voice: Did you call me?
Me thinking to myself: Who the hell is this?

Then it dawns on me, it is my accidental call. My wrong number. The lady whose voice mail I hung up on. That is who is calling me back now. Demanding to know why I called her.

Me: Yes, but I didn't mean to.
Voice: Sigh.
Click.

This is the second time in the past 6 months or so that I have received such a call. The last lady actually did yell something like "Why are you calling me?"

I don't get it. It is pretty easy to misdial and accidentally call someone. Why do some dumb people who have caller id think that it is acceptable to call back those who didn't leave a message? Obviously I didn't want to talk to you that bad. Get over yourself and stop bugging me!

Wacky Dream

I am in the process of looking for part time work and just blogged about lesbian kangaroos. These two came together early this morning in a strange dream.

It went like this: A friend offered me a job driving a cab for the Rainbow Cab Company. I asked what the company's colorful name meant. She told me that it worked in the gay community. I accepted the job and when I told Michael about it he said that he didn't know that there was such a thing as a gay cab company. Me either.

I woke up and told him about it. I was half asleep.

Me: I just dreamed that I got a job driving for a gay cab company.
Him: So, are you earning imaginary income?
Me: Yep, I'll buy you a little something with it.

Radio Contest

The question of the night on 100.5 The Zone was as follows:

What is it that men do that drive 90% of women CRAZY??

And crazy is meant in a bad way.

Well I called with the answer that I knew was correct. Of course, it is when men leave the seat up after peeing. Duh. 90% of women know that!

And I got through after dialing and redialing about a million times, all the while running on the treadmill and breathing heavily. The dj laughed at my answer and said that it was a good guess and even put me on the air. Perhaps it was because of my breathing. But I was wrong!

I now know the correct answer (or at least the lame one that he said was correct).

Anyone have any guesses before I reveal it?

Lesbian Kangaroos

Today we picked up the remaining animals for Lucas' Noah's Ark. A few were missing when I bought it used on Craig's List recently. Noah and his wife (Can anyone name her?? It isn't in my Bible) were MIA, too, but the sellers couldn't find them after an extensive search. So Robin Hood and Maid Marion it is...

"Noah" and his bride looking on at the bouncing beauties

Anyway, we now have some kinky kangaroos on his Little People boat. They gave us another mama in a pink bow with a joey in her pouch. Certainly this is not how Noah had it or there would be no post-flood kangaroos! Unless of course that the babies mated...huh. Maybe our kangaroos aren't so gay after all?

Just made me chuckle...

I hope that my blog isn't blocked from Michael's work with a racy title like this!

Party Hardy

My 3 year old son, Lucas, enjoying his birthday cake

This weekend, we celebrated Lucas' 3rd birthday. We had his party on his actual birthday (March 1) which fell on Saturday this year. It figures that on Friday, Lucas came down with a cold complete with snotty nose and horrible cough. Last year, we had to cancel and reschedule his party and finally cancel for good due to his and Emily's sickness. I was not going to do that again. He didn't really understand his party then, but this year he did and would have been really disappointed.

I called and warned all of the guests that Lucas had a cold. A couple families didn't make it to avoid his germs, but we still had a good sized party.

It was a fun time--the kids played pin the tail on the donkey, we all made our own pizzas, though Lucas refused to eat and asked to open his presents the whole meal. We took an intermission to open gifts so that he wouldn't explode with excitement (he's just like me in that regard). He got some fun things, too, including a bunch of puzzles, a Noah's Ark without Noah and his wife but Robin Hood and a hippie looking Maid Marion instead (what can I say...it was a cheap Craig's List buy;-), a stomp rocket, toy power tools, a lite bright, and a Lego construction truck set, among others. He was in heaven with all of the new toys.

After this we ate the cake I made him. He requested a boring vanilla cake with whipped cream frosting (he is NOT like me in this regard). I begged him to have at least a marble cake, or add something to the vanilla. Finally I convinced him to let me include a lemon layer. It turned out pretty great. Similar to my favorite birthday cake my mom always made me. He was enjoying it, the party was going smoothly. It was almost over...when he started to cough and was not stopping. He gets these fits periodically and especially when sleeping. The doctor says that his lungs tend to have an asthmatic response when he get sick. Yet the asthma medicine doesn't seem to help him. Hmmm...

Anyway, I picked him up and took him out of the room to try to calm him down. "Shhhh, buddy. Take deep breaths." And then he covered both of us with vomit. I don't know what he was throwing up, as he didn't really seem to eat anything but chips. Apparently he had eaten a whole lot of chips. So there you go. My most public dirty mom moment. This beat the time that he pooped on me as an infant in San Francisco as no one got to see that but Mike.

Happy Birthday, Luke. Next year, don't party til you puke!

Rethinking my Music

Today, while driving with the kids I had an old CD playing some fun, booty shakin' tunes.

"Tonight, I'll be your naughty girl..."

Lucas pipes up from the backseat: "Mama, what's this song about?"

Me: (Caught off guard because he has never asked this before) "Uh, it's about a boyfriend and girlfriend, I mean a husband and wife...and dancing...and being pretty and...stuff. "

I was really fumbling around saying completely stupid things.

Lucas: (Clearly confused) "It's says naughty girl."

He recognized the phrase from me labeling Emily as such when she is intentionally not obeying me or does something really bad. I guess that I can understand his confusion.

I went to change the song at that point, but Lucas said that he liked it and wanted to hear it. After all, it was a song about his little sister;-).

Perhaps, I need to start listening to less of my radio favorites when the kids are around and to more wholesome stuff like Raffi (70's folksy kids music singer) or Christian music. That way I don't have to sweat again when trying to explain a song's meaning to my two year old.

"The more we get together, together, together,
the more we get together the happier we'll be."--Raffi

Hmmm, that sounds a little spicy, too!

That's it, no music for you.

Why I Couldn't Nap Today

So today I could not sleep again during nap time. Sleep is eluding me more and more lately (both during the kid's nap times and at night), but today I had a good reason for my inability to snooze.

I kept hearing all of these banging noises and thinking that it was my kids up and hammering on toys, I was on edge and unable to relax. I got up, walked around to see if they were out of their rooms, listened at their doors and when I could tell that they were quiet, I dragged myself back to bed. I lay there unsuccessfully for over an hour, desperately trying to rest and silently cursing whoever was making all of that ruckus.

Turns out it was both of my neighbors...one was hammering a metal pipe (What?!) and the other was cutting down a tree right outside our bedroom window. I opened the blinds to take a photo of the tree cutting culprit, as proof. He saw me standing there and snapping away at him. Probably wondering, "What the hell?" Well Buster, stop chopping down your trees when I am trying to have a quiet, lazy Sunday afternoon. Hmph.

Eye Openers

Two things I learned this week:

1) Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream beats Bryers all natural vanilla hands down. This really surprised me because I have been happily eating Bryers with their real vanilla bean specks my whole life and thought it was pretty top notch. I am not normally into plain old vanilla ice cream, unless there is some homemade chocolate birthday cake or cobbler involved. We had apple strudel this time with the Dazs and both were tremendous. Thanks, Aunt Linda for the introduction!

2) And, you should never shut your eyes while running on a treadmill. I did this tonight for a moment to visualize myself running in a race and ended up flying through the air and landing in a heap on the floor. It was really pretty scary and my knee is still throbbing.

Off to shower and then eat some ice cream as a reward for my 9 minute jog. I really would have gone farther if I hadn't been such a klutz.

Little Cassanova

Here is a picture of Emily's first "boyfriend" Sam (my best friend, Christa's son who is Lucas' age). Apparently, he is really smooth with the ladies as you will note in the photo. He was super sweet to her the whole time we visited always making sure that she was included in playing. He has several other girlfriends though, so I suppose she was just another one to add to his list. Just like a guy. Hmmph. Anyway, how fun would that be for my little girl and my best friend's son to marry someday. Ok, so I am really getting carried away here and thinking ahead, but...aren't they cute together?!

Long Overdue Update

It's been a month and a half or so with no blogging. Though it has been mostly refreshing taking a break during the busyness of the holidays, I have been feeling a bit guilty about not writing, too. Hopefully I haven't lost all of my loyal readers.

So here is an update as to what has been going on in the Lomonaco household and in my life:

• that wretched pinkie toe never got better and after 6 weeks of pain and I finally I went in for an X-ray. The doc called me the next day and said that after reviewing the X-ray, the toe was in fact fractured and not to run on it for 4 weeks. Fast forward to 4 weeks later: I get back from being out of town after taking the running sabbatical to find a letter from the doctor waiting for me. It says "Good news! The toe is not fractured." What the hell? I don't know why it hurt so bad and for so long if it wasn't broken. And why did he call to say it was broken and then that it was not. Pretty frustrating.

• The kids have been sick 3 out of the past 4 weeks. I am so over wiping snot, putting up with fussier than normal kids, having Lucas repeatedly miss school and all three of us miss church, getting up to administer cough syrup in the middle of the night, and getting too little sleep because of this. I am sick now, too, and it is no fun.

• I have resolved to run in the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco this October with my sis, Katie and my two dear running and blogging pals Karin and Jen. I will do it if my body--knees and that bloody, non-broken but still uncomfortably pinchy toe--will allow.

• Lucas has been potty trained since November, though we are still dealing with accidents and messy times where he misses the toilet altogether or forgets to put the lid up or squirts his shirt, etc. It has not been an easy process, but is sure is nice not to need to buy diapers so much (we still use pull-ups at night and on occasion).

• I think that I am going to be quitting my Pampered Chef gig. It hasn't been very fun or fulfilling for me and was quite harder to get into than I had imagined. When I mentioned to one friend months ago that I was now doing Pampered Chef, he said, "Who isn't?" I guess that the market is pretty saturated out here. I am also newer to the area with less of a friend network here to help me get started than if I had signed up a few years ago in Orlando. I hate to fail at something and this experience only made me feel bad about myself. Plus I could never quite get past my hate of these types of parties and not wanting to be pushy. It just wasn't for me!

• Emily is starting to speak more now which is really cute and fun. Last night when I got her up to give her cough syrup she held out her little animal to me and said, "Bear!" I can't wait to be able to have real conversations with her like we can with Lucas.

• In December, I traveled by myself for five glorious days to Ohio to see my family and visit my grandma who was having health issues. We also went as a family to Orlando for Christmas to see our Florida family and friends. It was such a fun time complete with a trip to Disney, which the kids LOVED!!
  

Enough already. I will try taking a blogging laxative to be more regular again. Gross.

The Power of CANDY

Today I had one of those nightmarish mom experiences where both of my kids were screaming at once in a public place. I was actually buying noodle bowls from the sweet noodle bowl man who asked me when the baby was due after Emily had been born. See here for a refresher.

First Lucas started wailing...I don't know what happened, I think that the noodle bowl man scared him. Then I put Emily down so that I could pay and she started bellowing. My purse contents dumped out onto the floor amid all of the chaos and I noticed a forgotten pack of Sweet Tarts. Quickly tearing off the wrapper, I popped one in each child's howling mouth and enjoyed the immediate silence.

Man, that's some powerful stuff. I don't even like Sweet Tarts yet I had to have one then, too.

Hmmmm, Sweet Tarts are a good metaphor for being a parent. Mostly sweet with a little sour.

Freakish Foot

Ouch!

I thought that I broke my toe yesterday after accidentally kicking Lucas' Learning Tower which was left in the middle of the kitchen so that he could help me cook.

The doc was 99% sure that my bone is intact though. It's just badly bruised, looks really messed up and hurts like heck if I wiggle it or if one of the kids steps on it (which surprisingly happened quite a few times yesterday).

No running or even wearing shoes for me for awhile.

Sorry for such a grotesque photo of my unpainted, unkempt toenails, but I thought that I might give you an after Halloween scare.

Happy Halloween

Guts

Do I have what it takes to do or say what is right? Sometimes, I am not so sure. I often wonder if I would be like Peter and deny Christ if threatened. Or would I have the courage of the teenage girl(Cassie Bernall) shot and killed at Columbine for saying that she believed in God (perhaps an urban legend, but it still makes me think).

I was confronted with this question again when reading The Kite Runner. Young Amir finds his friend being tortured and abused by 3 bullies and hides, watching in the shadows while biting his hand to keep himself from screaming. If he had confronted the bullies what would have happened? He was just a weak little boy and they were bigger, stronger and out-numbered him. Sadly, I may have done the same thing, hidden in fear. But I hope that my reaction to my friend afterwards would have been better than his. He just dropped his friend because of his own shame. Pathetic.

What would you do? Sometimes we need a guts check.

A Good Read

Lately, I have been taking the kids to the library every few weeks to pick out new books and videos for them.

I love to read, but with so little spare time, I rarely allow myself the opportunity to do so. Plus when I am in the middle of a good book, my life becomes all consumed with finishing it. Finding out what happens. I spend all of my breaks/nap times reading and stay up way too late in the evenings with my nose glued to the quickly turning pages. For example, I finished the new Harry Potter this summer in less than a week, I think.

Well, it's been a some months since I reached the end of Harry (no pun intended), so a couple weeks ago, I actually picked up some much craved for fictional material for myself for a change.

One was a total junk read, but just what I wanted at the time. A book that I could blow through in a day. A Janet Evonovich, Stephanie Plum Novel called Twelve Sharp. It was ok. Just the same as all of the other ones, though. Funny, dim-witted, and frustrating. Stephanie is this moron of a bounty hunter in Jersey who is afraid of her own shadow and keeps going back and forth between the two men in her life. I just want her to settle down with the cute Italian cop already!

The other, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, was just as my sister Katie had described it....Aaaaamazing!! It was a beautiful story set in war-torn Afghanistan about two boyhood playmates, one with an undying loyalty, the other full of cowardice, a betrayal, and finally a hope for redemption. I loved the line that was spoken to Amir, the main character near the end of the book:There is a way to be good again. These words really resonated with me and I was so grateful that the character had a newfound hope instilled in him. A way to make things right.

It is a must read in my book (HA) !! In fact, I saw it on display for sale at Starbucks where it said that it is coming out as a movie. I am sure that the film will be awesome, too, but they are rarely able to capture the entire essence of the novel.

Seasonal Squares

Fall has got to be one of my favorite times of year. I had no idea what fall was like in Florida as the leaves didn't really change and we had maybe a week of cooler, nicer weather until the heat and humidity kicked it into full gear again.

Out here it is gorgeous. Leaves started turning reds, browns, yellows and oranges at the end of September. Doesn't that seem early? The weather has been cool and crisp and today is cloudy. I love overcast days for a change as we see sunshine and only sunshine for the whole summer. No afternoon thundershowers out here.

Anyway, to celebrate the arrival of this awesome season, I made pumpkin squares yesterday afternoon. They turned out delicious so I decided to share the recipe with you.

PUMPKIN SQUARES

Yield 16 squares

1 3/4 C all purpose flour
1/3 C granulated sugar
1/3 C packed brown sugar
1 C cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 15 oz can of pumpkin
1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/3 C chopped pecans (optional)-1/3 C seemed scant. I will add more next time!!

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside 1 cup of crumb mixture.

2. Press remaining crumb mixture onto the bottom and halfway up sides of ungreased 2-quart rectangular baking dish.

3. In another large bowl, stir together pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, cinnamon, salt and allspice. Pour into crust-lined baking dish.

4. Stir pecans into reserved crumb mixture. Sprinkle the pecan mixture over the pumpkin mixture.

5. Bake 50-55 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack. Chill in refrigerator within 2 hours. Cover for longer storage in refrigerator.

ENJOY!!

Washed Up

This week I decided to throw in the towel for now with my marathon training. I need to see a doctor before I can continue about my messed up left knee. It has never been the same since I injured it in the marathon three years ago.

I never did anything about it back then, just stopped running for a year or so due to recovery time and then pregnancy.

I did a 10 mile long run a couple weeks ago and that same dadgum knee was in immense pain that evening whenever I stepped on the leg. It hurt me for days. I scaled back with my long run the following week and didn't really notice any pain after 6 miles.

But then I bumped the knee early this week, merely brushed it on a bookcase when crawling around with the kids and saw red. Since my injury, my knee has turned into something worse than a funny bone. I gimped around again for days and I have this huge purple bruise. All because I bumped my knee.

Actually She's A Girl

I've found myself needing to tell people this lately. I could just let it go when they say what a cute little son I have (when referring to Emily), but dang it...I don't want to.

But, I have actually done the same thing before, guessed a baby's gender wrong based on what they were wearing (c'mon moms, don't dress your infant girls in all blue). Ok, so I have done that, too. In fact, Emily was in blue pajamas on her first night in the hospital. I was saving the pink girly ones for the "coming home outfit." Numerous hospital staff complimented me on my handsome new son.

Being that I am not much of a girly girl myself, I typically go for comfort rather than fashion in how I dress her. Dresses are only worn to church and parties or special occasions. Most of the time now that the weather is colder, (sorry to all of you still sweaty Floridians) she is in pants and a long sleeved onsie. And I try to shy away from pink, though she still wears it quite a bit.

Anyway, after having her called a boy 3 times in one weekend (and she was in lavender two of those times), I went out and bought her a collection of hair clips.

Now if someone dares to make that same mistake again, I am going to tell them to look at her frickin' hair clip. Now I better understand why some people/cultures pierce their baby girl's ears. Not that I would do that but...

I realized today why her gender identity is so important to me. Why it is not ok for people to think that she is a boy. Funny, this is something that I had almost forgotten about until now. I had short hair from age 5-10. Not a cute sassy bob, mind you, but really short, boy hair. Hideous. I remember being called "sonny boy" by an old man in the grocery store. And I did not like that one little bit. I may have been a tomboy with short hair, but I was NOT A BOY.

Neither is my little Emily. She's a girl and she is beautiful.

Blackmail Material

I got an incriminating photo of my son last night. One that I will show to future girlfriends or at least his future wife.

I bought him some cowboy boots to complete his cute cowboy Halloween costume. He is super into them. As soon as he got out of the tub and I toweled him off, he ran straight into his room, pulled them on and started dancing around, singing and clapping his hands.

Naked in his cowboy boots. Quite a funny sight for sure.

And on a similar note, the word that we taught our kids for their bottom is "dupa." It's Polish and meant behind as far as we knew. Well, it turns out that it is the more obscene form of behind, a Polish curse word. Come to think of it, I think that Mike learned it from his mother. She used to call him a "pain in the dupa." Hmmmm. So if you are Polish or know Polish and hear our kids talking about their asses, please know that we didn't mean to teach them to cuss. Whoops!

One Year Later

Our little miss turned one today.

We had a fun day celebrating her.

First we had a special breakfast with Daddy (he went into work a little late this morning).

Then we had our morning walk and I remembered to wish her a happy birthday right at 9:22 am when she was born a year ago.



After her nap, we took a fun trip to Toys R Us to get a her soft dolly.

In the late afternoon, we met our friends and old neighbors for a park date. We haven't been to the park in awhile and Emily loved it. She took the most steps that she has yet (5 or 6).

And later in the evening we had a super dinner at the same friend's house which was followed by a special birthday cake with strawberries and chocolate (see it all over her face;-) and she got to open a gift...a big stuffed horse, which she loved.

It was a good day.

I love my girl and can't believe that she has been with us for a year and that she has only been with us for a year all at once. Does that make any sense?

We are so happy and blessed to know and love Emily!

Painful Public Potty 'Pissode

Yesterday while at Target shopping, Lucas said that he needed to go potty. I hightailed it to the front of the store, dumped my merchandise at a checkout isle to pick up afterwards, and got both kids out of the cart and into a potty stall. Now came the fun part.

I had to put a paper cover the seat for Lucas, pull down his pants and remove his diaper, have him hold on to the germy seat with both hands so that he wouldn't fall in, help him aim the stream that shot the back of his pants and was mostly missing the potty, all the while holding a squirming Emily.

Once that part was done, I had to figure out how to get his non-pull up diaper back on and wash his contaminated hands without putting Emily down on the filthy floor.

My solution was to bring the cart in...the big "A" kind that you can put 2-3 kids in. Well if you have ever driven one of those, you know that steering it is no easy task. It is especially challenging when holding a baby in one arm and trying to keep a half naked toddler from streaking out the door. After several failed attempts to get the thing inside the restroom (I kept crashing into the door) and Lucas showing his business to anyone walking by the restroom area, a nice lady heard my grumbling and came to help me.

Holy cow! One of my friends had said how she was dreading potty training because of public restrooms, but I had no idea how impossibly hard it would be.

It was like a scene from a comedy, yet I wasn't laughing in the moment. Luckily, I can now.

Ernie's New Do

I laundered a garage sale bargain Ernie doll yesterday and his black, fuzzy hair tuft didn't fare too well in the dryer. It's not a bad look for him per say, just a whole new style for Bert's annoying, but lovable buddy. Now our Ernie has a fro. Maybe this is how he looked back in the 70's. Anyone remember?

And as a fun side note, Lucas used the potty 11 times yesterday!! I tried a new tactic for the first time-rewarding him each time he goes on the potty. Disco-tech Ernie is one of the potty prizes but hasn't been picked yet for some strange reason. Ahhhhh freak out!

You Happy, Katrina;-)

I was reminded that I hadn't blogged in awhile, so I went a little crazy with the updates tonight. Sorry. It's either feast or famine with my writing. I'll try to be more consistent.

Quick recap of the past month:

• Lucas was offered a scholarship and started preschool.
• Emily turned 11 months, started waving and saying Hi, and now kisses on command.
  
• She is considered healthy by the specialist that we had to see regarding her "failure to thrive." He thinks that our pediatrician is a "nutter." He didn't say that, I could just tell.
  
• I had my own Pampered Chef show and got lots of free stuff and will get paid for it, too. WooHOO!
  
• I'm starting to get into a running groove again.
• We had an awesome long weekend last weekend with a family movie night, trek to the state fair to watch a monster truck show and see the animals, and day trip to Bodega Bay to take in the lovely beach. We did not get eaten or even threatened by the birds.
• Mike started a new project at work and is still working on his old one, too. His job is pretty secure again. Praise God.
  

Running Report

I ran three times this week!! That is a really good record for me lately. Two times were on the treadmill for about 3 miles and this morning I ran a glorious 8.5 outside (half of these were with my family--Mike pushed the kids in our new double jogger and half were by my lonesome). And then this afternoon, I took an hour and a half walk with a friend. That's a lot of sunshine and cardio in one day, almost 4 hours worth. Maybe I can do this marathon, Jen!

Playmates

My kids are playing together more now and it is sooooo stinkin' cute. When I bring Emily down in the morning, Lucas says "Play with me, Em-ly." One of his favorite things to do is to have his sister push him in this hippo ride on/walker toy. He says "Push me, Em-ly" and she totters along pushing her big bro. Then he reluctantly takes a turn pushing her. I just want to eat them up sometimes. Here's a cute picture of them with Lucas doing the pushing this time. We took a video, too, which I will try to include...

School Daze

Wow, what a hectic and busy week we had!! Lucas started preschool on Tuesday and really loved it. No tears when I left him either day or the whole time there. So glad for that as I wasn't sure how he, a shy boy, would do in an unfamiliar setting. In fact on Thursday as I was putting him down for his nap, he asked to go back. He wanted to go back right then. Probably just stalling his sleep, but still...

He told me that he likes his teacher, Mrs. Spiers (pronounced like Britany's last name). Before school started, I was teaching her name to Lucas pronouncing it wrong saying Spy-ers and he thought that I was talking about bugs. He started referring to her as "that spider lady." Great. I couldn't help but laugh when he said it though and he kept saying it to be funny. I was happy to hear the correct pronunciation.

Anyway, he is now in school two mornings a week for three hours. It is going to be wonderful for all of us. He is having fun, meeting new kids, getting more exercise and outside time, and learning. And I am getting free time to run on the treadmill and take care of myself more for a change while Emily naps. The almost one year old is getting to snooze in a quieter house and some special girl time with her mommy when she wakes up. It is nice.

Adding Insult to Injury

This morning my kids slept in for the first time all week. They slept until the blissful hour of 6:30. This was huge because Lucas is back to his old evil tricks of getting up at around 5:30 most days much to our delight. But wouldn't you know that today would be an early running morning for me. I had to be out the door at 6:30 (luckily not as early as I go on weekdays). It was tough to get up when I finally could have been getting a little more snooze on for a change.

Erin and I ran 8 miles again today. We did the same run last Saturday. I felt great last week...could have kept going and going like the Energizer bunny. Today, not so much. I felt my knee joints starting to ache, my toe was burning with each step as the run progressed (I discovered a nice blister when I got home), I got a friction burn in my armpit because I forgot to apply my body glide, and I felt like vomiting for some reason in the last mile or so.

And to make matters worse, after I got all cleaned up I went outside and a neighbor asked me if I was pregnant again. I felt embarrassed for her and for me that 11 months later, almost a year has gone by since having Emily, and I still look slightly pregnant apparently. Damn it, I hate what having kids did to my body. Shot to hell, I tell you.

I'm Alive

There was an old pep phrase that I had taped to my computer monitor back in my Sprint telemarketing days.

It went something like this: I'm alive and awake and I feel great!

So that is where I am at today. Definitely better than I was a month or so ago or even last week for that matter.

I had a realization today. An epiphany of sorts. I was trying to take a much needed nap while the kids were doing the same when I heard the phrase "Bloom where you are planted." in my head.

This message really resonated with me. I spend much of my time more or less hating my life, feeling this crushing burden on my shoulders, drowning in my many responsibilities (kids, housework, cooking, Pampered Chef, marathon training, trying to be a decent wife) that I can only do halfway, and fighting daily just to keep my head above the water. I've prayed before that I wouldn't just survive (that's how my life feels, like survival mode), but thrive.

Well, I was reminded of that prayer and desire again today in a fresh new way. So tonight, instead of being ticked off if Emily wakes up in the middle of the night and screams for 2 hours like she did last night, I will try to bloom. Even though I am in a hard place, flowers grow best in manure. I want to be beautiful and flourishing in this season. I am sick of being a bitter stink weed.

School Days

I am so very excited for Lucas!! My big boy will be starting preschool two mornings a week in September. Ever since we visited the class a month or so ago, he has been asking to go to preschool. He loved it and who wouldn't...Thomas the Train, cars and trucks, puzzles, a playground, and snack time! What is not to love?

I found out this week that he was accepted for a scholarship to the school which makes it possible for us to afford. So stay tuned for tales of his first day of school...

Discouraged

I have been feeling a little down this week. Mainly with Pampered Chef and my supposed to be happening running training program.

Pampered Chef has me down because I've come to a road block, I've exhausted my contacts (this is not really true, but it feels like it)and my August calendar is completely open with NO business coming in as of yet. It seems like the bulk of my friends here, though I haven't really asked many people outright, are not really interested in hosting parties. I want to do well with this (well as in bring in a 3-4 shows per month), but I don't want to do what it takes to do well. Like asking people to host a show for me. Being a pushy sales person sucks, but so does not making money. It's also hard because I don't know that many people here (we've been in town for just shy of 3 years now) and I have been mostly introverted being overwhelmed with the kids. It seems so wrong to start calling people up out of the blue to ask for their business. Sigh.


I have the running blues because my partner finally quit on me this week. At least she can't train for the marathon with me which translates into she can't run more than 2 times per week or do any long runs. That is really when I need a partner for...the long runs. I called up another friend to see if she will do weekly long runs with me. Her name is Erin. It rhymes with Sharon, my current partner and Karin, my beloved Orlando partner (who quit on me too, what do I do wrong with my partners?!). No word back from Erin. If your name is Darrin or Taryn or something else that sounds similar, and you want to train for a marathon, give me a call.

Blogging has been pretty hard to do lately. I've been so exhausted and overwhelmed. I even thought that I might be pregnant earlier in the week and joyfully found out that this was not the case. NOT ANOTHER BABY!!! NOT YET! I AM NOT READY OR ABLE TO HANDLE ANY MORE KIDS NOW. I am already on the brink of insanity.

As I type, Emily is howling and starting to sound hoarse in her bed. Her new thing is not wanting to take her naps. She used to do just fine, falling asleep soon after putting her down after sometimes fussing for a few minutes. That former blissful few minutes of fussing is turning into almost an hour of outright screaming. She is a stubborn little girl, she is standing up, her face all runny and her heels are dug in. She is determined to win. And so am I. Who will be victorious?

On a positive note, I used the treadmill for the first time yesterday. I christened it with a 3.25 mile run during their naps. It felt great to be able to exercise and do something for ME for a change during the day. And I got a shower in afterwards as an added bonus.

I think that Emily will win today. Again. After going in to comfort her 4-5 times, she is not letting up. No nap for her this afternoon.

Damn, and I really needed one today.

Thrivin'

Just look at this girl pleased as punch with her new, big girl skills...does she look like she is not thriving to you?? Emily can now pull herself to standing (she greeted me this way after a nap last week), is starting to cruise around holding onto furniture, and runs when she is clutching my fingers for balance. She is also starting to stand on her own momentarily now. She will be walking soon, we suspect.





Though her blood work came back that she is anemic (she isn't eating much in the form of solids to get iron), she seems normal in every other way. We have a few more tests and specialists to see, but at this point, the docs can just bite it as far as I am concerned.

Unmotivated, Uninspired, Under Pressure...

Alright, I have every excuse in the book for not blogging for awhile, but here is a snapshot of what is going on in my life...

* Emily is 9 months old today and was labeled as a failure to thrive because of her low weight (15 something pounds). She has not really ever been into solid foods and is now teething which causes her to refuse to eat much at all. She screws up her face, eyes and mouth sealed shut when I try to feed her with a spoon these days, but is enjoying eating finger foods like banana on her own. All in all, she is a sweet natured and happy little girl. She says mama (her first word:) and often giggles and squeals with delight.

* Lucas has been on a milk strike for the past month, will not drink the stuff unless I coerce him and only then he will take a sip. He loves playing with his cars and trucks and is becoming very imaginative with his play, pretending that my bed foot board is the steering wheel of his "back loader." He is also speaking in full sentences and finally eats meat. He is super well behaved for a two year old, but is still pretty difficult for me to manage...likes to say no a lot and always wants his own way, dang it. He is still super cuddly and loving, but is getting more independent. He's a great big brother, makes Emily crack up even when he sits on her.

* I am keeping busy juggling all of the many pulls in my life: the kids, the house, the marathon training (or at least trying to get out there and run consistently), and now Pampered Chef. After our road trip to Oregon and seeing how packed full our Escape was, I am finally seeing the advantage (and getting over my pride) of driving a mini van. We are looking into what we can afford. Mike is considering selling his car, taking mine and replacing it with the ultimate mom mobile. It was my idea to consider that option by the way. And tomorrow I am 31.

Haiku

Four staples in a neat row,
Right on his noggin.
Watch out for tree limbs, honey.

Mike had a collision with a tree limb while walking this afternoon and came home with a bloody head. After I inspected his wound and found it to be pretty deep and still bleeding hours after the run in, he went into an Urgent Care clinic for stitches, which turned out to be staples right into his skull. Uhhhhh, It makes my head ache just thinking about it.

Small World

We did end up taking the trip to Oregon this weekend and it was fabulous, perhaps our best vacation yet and we have had some good ones. I will devote an entry to that soon, but in the meantime here was a random, small world experience that we had while on the road.

At a gas station in a small town in Oregon, a station where we were not even allowed to pump our own gas (apparently it is a law there?!), a woman struck up a conversation with my husband.

She commented about his UCF shirt--which stands for University of Central Florida-- where he went to college. She had attended another Florida school, UF or University of Florida. I stuck my head out the door and said mockingly, "You're a GATOR?!" UF was my college's arch rival. I went to FSU or Florida State University.

So at a Chevron station in a podunk town in Oregon, we had three of Florida's universities represented. Pretty cool. And to make it even more coincidental, it turns out that the Gator lady had also attended my high school but 10 years before me.

Wacky.

Party Pooper IV

Well, today I did it...something that for those of you who know me well, would NEVER expect me to do.

I signed up to be a Pampered Chef consultant.

Gasp.

Yes, I am actually going to try to do the party thing as a way of supplementing our income, helping with the mortgage and hopefully even earning enough to send Lucas to preschool in the fall. Ironically, you may remember that I have always abhorred "sales" parties, often chucking any invitation that came my way. And now I am going to choose to not only attend, but to put on these parties weekly (ideally I will do one show per week).

So, if you are needing any handy cooking tools, want to throw a fun kitchen party, or just want to pass a catalog around to your friends to earn some free gadgets, let me know.

Conundrum

Today we were invited to go with our California family (my aunt and cousins) to stay at a small cabin on the coast in Oregon for an upcoming weekend. It sounds like a dream to me...we've never been to Oregon, I love cabins and the beach, we've wanted to show the kids the ocean, clamming sounds like fun and I am sure that Lucas would get a big kick out of it, and we love to be with the family. So many reasons to go.

BUT, how would the kids handle a 9.5 hour road trip? That could be a big disaster. They have done fine with the 2 hour trips that we have taken, but this is almost 5 times as long (and that is without breaks). I suggested that we could drive at night, but then we would be so exhausted when we get there and the kids wake up...how would we enjoy our time?

Lucas was a road trip nightmare when he was about Emily's age. See here for a refresher. We went to Yosemite, which is about 4.5 hours away and he screamed for half the trip. It sucked. This is why we hesitate.

Too the cabin is small (only 2 bedrooms) and there will be 8 people staying there if we go. I don't know what the sleeping arrangements would be. My kids might not sleep at night or take their naps and will be crabby little cranks.

Anyone have any thoughts or advice on the matter? Should we go and risk bleeding eardrums and a weekend from hell or stay home and have a boringly safe, normal time where my every day looks the same? One positive if it is an awful experience, is that it could be a really funny blog or story later on.

What a dilemma.

On the Rocks

This breezy family shot was taken about a month and a half ago (pre-haircut as you can tell) at our church Easter Egg Hunt. It was taken by our friend, Chris Harder, the same photographer who captured Lucas' awesome first year portraits.

On Saturday, we finally take Emily to get her 6 month pictures done (she is now seven and a half months). What could I do? She was snotty and crusty her whole sixth month and is now only almost over it after finally giving in to antibiotics. I guess that she had a cold on crack or maybe it has just been allergies all along. Regardless, it is ridiculous!

Reason to Celebrate

It is finally over.

Our long saga of two mortgages, fear of foreclosure(s) and wondering where we will be living in the upcoming months has finally come to a conclusion. A great ending to a nail-biting, possibly financially devastating situation.

God is so good to us. As soon as we gave up control and let go of the desire to stay at our dream place, He moved in a mighty way. Almost immediately upon putting our current home on the market (I cried when the sign went up) and ironically just after firing our other realtor, we received the offer for the old place. It is truly by an act of God that we don't have to move yet again.

So you can keep our new address in your book for the time being. Hopefully we will be here for a long, long time.

Before & After