Happy Monday - The LAST Snow Storm

Amazing

This morning we bundled the kids up to take them outside to play in what will hopefully be the last snowfall of the season. Quinn's snow pants were just a tad too short on him - could he have really grown that much in just a few months?

Tonight as I was singing to and rocking Liam before laying him down for the night I was trying so hard to figure out a way to preserve what I smell, feel, see, and hear while spending that time with him. The way he runs into his room first, to climb up onto his chair and laugh and laugh and laugh as I pretend to sit on his lap, all before scooping him up and sitting down with him. And the way he curls up on me, or sits up on my lap and laughs at the song he's asked me to sing (lately, it's been The Sneezing Song), or the way he'll lay across my lap, place his head on the arm of the chair, and ask to hold my hand under his body while I rock and rub his back - all with the sweetest smile on his face. Sometimes he tries to sing along and the way he sings, "chocolate chip cookie..." just makes me smile every time. Oh, the smell of his skin, his hair - some days like maple syrup, others like his daddy's cologne, and other days he smells so clean after his bubble bath. But it's the days in between those, the smell I cannot describe, that I want to remember. These times, before naps and bedtimes, that I have with him are so precious to me, so hard to describe, I'm afraid I won't be able to remember how it all makes me feel. Amazing, these kids of mine.

Tonight as I was tucking Quinn into bed and getting ready to sing to him (another made up song, tonight's request was, "a song about all the days that you love me, mommy") he asked me to set up his blanket over his pillow, but then changed his mind and said, "oh, never mind mommy. I'm growing up now, so I can do lots of things that you can do, so I'll just do it." I'm not sure what I said, but we ended up talking about how he IS growing up, and how I'll always love him even when he's grown up, and if he ever needs help, I can still help him even when he's big and tall. And to that he said, "yeah, and if you need help, when I'm big and tall and live far away from you, you can just call me on the phone and I can come over and help you. We'll help each other when I'm all grown up too. Just like we do now." Sigh. Amazing, these kids of mine.

My Brain

Last night I went to a Step Jam class. I'll admit, I haven't been going to any classes regularly, but have been to a few on Saturday or Sunday morning the past few months - and have been able to hold my own. I enjoy a class that challenges me, one that has me thinking, "what comes next?" But last night. Oh my god. For the first time, ever, the instructor had to stop the routine to go back and teach me how to do a "revolving door". Turns out, I should have been using both feet to turn backwards, not hopping on one foot around. I figured it out quickly, well, quickly after having to have her draw attention to the fact that I couldn't get it. Anyway... I did figure it out and was happy to realize why I kept ending up on the wrong foot during the combo. But, the entire class just kicked my ass. Mentally, not physically. I have been doing The Shred pretty religiously (like 6 out of 7 nights a week), so I'm not in as bad of shape as I thought. But, Holy Toledo, I could not think of what came next with all the combos. I was doing my best to keep up with the rest.





Every day on my way to work I think of a million and one things I need to get done. Then, every night at home I sit down with my fancy new paper to make a To-Do list for the week and this is all I can come up with.




I should probably add "put your shoes on" onto the Tuesday and Thursday, since last week I took Quinn to school, Liam to music class, and then dropped off some Creative Memories product - all in my slippers.


I went to an awesome conference a few weeks ago and was reminded of a lot of stuff I already believed to be true about young children, but have forgotten about after being in a public school for 7 years. I want to write about it here. I want to figure out what I can do at work to feel better about the experience I'm giving the 4 and 5 year olds in my class. I want to figure out how I can make it all work together - or what has to give. I want to, but I keep getting stuck.



My brain, it's just not working. And, unlike Christie, I cannot blame this on a lack of sleep.

Happy Monday!

Weekly Winners - 3/22/09

Fresh hair cut

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Blue Eyes

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Little guy - Big climb

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Hi!

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Sunny side
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Moment of thought
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Strange
(I didn't take this one, but I thought it was interesting...)

Just a typical day at preschool...

Quotes from my preschoolers are always entertaining. Today was one of those days they just kept making me chuckle.

"Who keeps leaving their balls in our room? It's kind of rude."

"You put your stick in the wrong place."

and my personal favorite...

"It's okay, I'll just marry both of you!"

St. Patrick's Day at the Tub

Our morning started with me putting some corned beef into a crockpot and making Quinn some green oatmeal. Nothing is better than green oatmeal with blue berries. Apparently, Quinn likes to have a green breakfast. Oh - I also covered Quinn's arms, hands, and cheek with shamrock tattoos. They look so cute!

After we dropped Quinn off at school Liam and I headed outside to play!

That's where Liam amazed me once again with how brave he is getting. He climbed up our ramp thingy on our playset. He didn't crawl - he climbed, using the ropes and almost standing up. I couldn't get a picture of that, I was just a little too busy trying to make sure he didn't fall off and crack his head open. Instead...I got a good one of him going down our little slide.

After we picked up Quinn from school we headed to the Aboretum and had such a good time. I managed to keep the boys up on the way home and enjoyed a late afternoon naptime by doing the dishes, going through mail, and cooking up the cabbage.

Then, Mike got home, took the boys outside to play some more and then it was time for dinner.

Dinner where Quinn did not enjoy and almost refused to eat the corned beef or the carrots and where Liam screemed for fruit the entire dinner. It was the most unenjoyable dinner I've ever had with those two boys. I figure they were just testing out their Irish attitudes. After dinner we enjoyed some books and quick baths and then it was off to bed for the mad Irishboys.

And now I'm waiting for Mike to hunt down a Shamrock shake for me. Which reminds me... I'll never forget this night in high school. We went out to McDonald's on St. Patricks Day night and ordered 4 shamrock shakes in the drive through. They told us they were all out and my friend yelled, "WHAT? It's f---ing St. Patrick's Day!" and then peeled his tires out of there. Fun times, I tell you, fun times. But really - how could McDonald's run out of Shamrock Shakes? and on St. Patrick's Day.

***updated***
No shamrock shake was found. Mike went to THREE different McDonald's. And no shake. And I know of two people who attempted to get a shamrock shake today and had no luck. What's up McDonald's?!? It's f---ing St. Patrick's Day!

Doooood....Happy Monday!

Dude seems to be the new word around here. I blame Meghan and Victoria and their use of the word All The Time on Twitter. And now I use it all the time - and feel a little funny about it.

Doooood. Come on spring, we are ready!

Weekly Winners - 3/15/09

Most of these are just a peek into our week - with a few left overs from flying out of Arizona. I love taking shots out of the airplane window. My mind has been busy thinking about this.

Well, I've Been To the Desert On a Horse With No Name

It felt good to be out of the rain.

Or actually, I've been to the desert on a mule with a name. And her name was BeeBee. Our last day in Arizona was quite possibly my favorite and that's most likely because of the randomness of it all. The morning started with my mom and I waking up early to go for our own little sunrise hike. (You can see pictures of that here.) Then, we stopped at the grocery store and picked up some supplies to make a very yummy breakfast (my mom made the breakfast - I looked and sorted through the morning's pictures). After breakfast we took our time getting ready, lounged a bit, and then headed out to meet up with my other aunt after she was done working. From there - we headed to a casino! Yes! I love casinos, but we only had 30 minutes in there, since we had an appointment, or whatever it may be called with a ranch, to ride some horses in the desert. Anyway - right away at the casino I found my Wheel of Fortune slots and put $30 in and cashed out at $67. Then, it was time to head to the Spur Cross Stables.
To get to Spur Cross Stables I had to drive (did I mention I was the one doing all the driving of the rental van - I LOVE to drive, seriously) - anyway, to get to the stables I had to drive on a dirt road. Up the mountain. It was awesome. The ranch was awesome. Just look. This guy greeted us in the "parking lot".

Hello - jackass.

As the ranchers were getting our horses ready, our own little tour guide, Nate, was asking who wanted to go where - and I said I'd like to be last so I can take some pictures. When he finally got to me he said, "I'm going to get you a birdseye view." I couldn't believe the horse he was bringing out of the stables for me. "You've got to be kidding me. I'm going to split my jeans trying to get up on that horse." Oh, she's not a horse, she's a mule. A horse mixed with a donkey. I should have demanded my money back right then - I didn't sign up to go mule riding - I believe I wanted to go horseback riding. Anyway, I couldn't change my mind now, and hopped up onto BeeBee and was ready for the journey. (Luckily, they have a sort of loading station for everyone to get up onto the horses. Sort of like a pier or dock in a lake to get into the boat. If it weren't for that, good ol' Nate would have had to give me a lift up onto my horse, or uh mule, and then he would have been regretting laughing as he brought out my birdseye view.) Anyway...off we went on the foothill trials of the desert mountains. It was beautiful.

We had to sign a waiver if we didn't want to wear a helmet. Of course, the lady who was helping us with the forms said, "You're going on an easy one hour walking tour," which made it sound to me like no helmet would be needed. But man, oh man, during the tour, watching all the cacti and other prickly bushes pass us by, and then glancing around and thinking, "dude, if this horse, or uh mule, decided that this walk was bullshit and just started running I'd be so screwed. I hope Nate as good of a rancher as he looks. And why didn't I get myself a helmet?" Anyway, BeeBee was a good horse, or uh mule, and I felt sort of bad because I thought she was a he for the first half of the ride and kept saying, "good boy." Opps. Anyway - she forgave me. She did have a nasty habit of getting too close to the horse in front of me and we were warned before we left NOT to let them do that, because it might spooke the other horses and the last thing I wanted to do was spooke the horse my mom was on. She eventually learned that I meant it when I'd pull back on her reins for her to stop - and I was even able to stop a few times to get some cool pictures - which you can see here. (I also took some while she was walking...) Anyway... remember I said I had the birdseye view, well just look at how tall I am....

What - you can't tell how tall she is?? Look at this next picture.

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I'm the one on the far left. I have never in my life been taller than my sister, who is right next to me. When we stand on the ground my sister is at least 7 inches talled than I am. And look at us now. Seriously...when it was time to get off we weren't given the luxery of the pier/dock/thingy - Nate just told me to swing my leg around and slide down (something I've done many times, because when I was younger I did take horseback riding lessons for quite sometime). Anyway, I did just that, and was hanging onto the horse with my arms extended, legs down, and the ground was not there! I had to just let go and sort of jump onto the ground.

Birdseye View - no kidding.

Anyway - after we were done at the ranch we went to a saloon. That was awesome. You can see those pictures here.

Here's a great video of the song I couldn't stop signing - and still find myself singing it all the time!

Instant Coffee - I Can Mess It Up

Okay. So, I don't cook. Or I rarely cook. And when I do I stick with the basics. Something easy. Something with a clear cut recipe.

I just noticed that I've been making my instant coffee wrong. That's right - it can be messed up. I was looking today to see how many calories I've been consuming every day since I gave up my diet pop and noticed that the directions say to use 4 teaspoons. I've been using 4 tablespoons. If I had been using 4 teaspoons I would have only been having 60 calories a day. I'm not even going to try to figure out that math, but I'm guessing it's at least double that - not to mention all the extra caffeine I've been getting.

My plan is to eventually take caffeine out of my diet completely, but I can tell you that that's not going to happen tomorrow. Looks like I'll have to start using less and less of that instant yummy goodness in the morning.

Weekly Winners - 3/8/09

Okay, so most of these were taken a few weeks ago while I was in Arizona. I've since had my laptop taken away from me for ELEVEN days - could you imagine? Also, I've been feeling sort of off with my picture taking abilities lately and haven't really taken any worthy for the weekly winner set. My mind keeps changing - one day I think I should just "give up on the fancy stuff" and the next day I'm thinking I should try to join the local photography club. So anyway, it was very difficult to choose just a few from more than 500 pictures that I took in just a few days. As the days continue I'll be trying to share more stories of the trip with some more of my favorite pictures - I did save some, because I want to tell the story that goes with them! Enjoy!

Diet Pop, Cigarettes, Cancer, and Guilt

As soon as she could, my sister would step outside to have a smoke. She loved the extended layover we had in St. Louis, because there, in that airport, they have smokers' lounges. As soon as we'd get off the airplane, she head outside for her fix. As soon as she'd wake up in the morning, she'd head out to my aunts patio for her fix. After lunch - she'd head outside. After a long drive - she'd stay outside for a bit. Before going to bed, she'd head outside for one last cigarette.

I like my Diet Pepsi. It's got zero calories, enough caffeine to get me through the day, and it doesn't taste that bad either.

Every morning, while I was enjoying my one can for the day, my mom would remind me how bad that stuff is for me. The fake sweetener. She'd remind me of those in my family with various forms of cancer and how she truly believes that since those women were so hooked on their diet pop, that the diet pop had something to do with their cancer. And deep down, I agree with her. I don't like that I need to have a diet pop to get me going in the morning. I don't like that I can't pronounce the stuff in the ingredients. I don't like that it's not natural. And I've never believed it to be good for me.

But what just got to me was the fact that while I'm listening to my mom talk to me about how bad that stuff is for me, my sister would be on the other side of the sliding glass door enjoying her cigarette in peace.

I like to believe it's because she loves me more. But it's probably because my sister has heard it all before.

I had a diet pop every morning of our trip. Since being home, I've probably had a total of 2 cans. I've switched over to coffee. Coffee with lots of sugar and flavored cream, but no fake sweetener. I guess after 31 years, my mom still knows how to watch out for me.

Hello? Is There Anybody Out There?

Well, my laptop finally made it home today. I've missed this baby and have lots to share. Stories of mules, casinos, saloons, sunsets, Diet Pepsi, cloudy days, and much more. But for now I'm paying bills, doing our taxes, researching a compost bin for outside, looking at Wisconsin property, uploading picture to flickr, and catching up on a few of my favorite blogs.