Oh you GUYS!!!

WHAT a busy day!!! I know I keep saying that, but, REALLY!! A busy one! ;D

The kids and I went to Boot Camp today for Jungle Kids.... a fun boot camp for children from ages 6-11. My two had a BALL !!! :D Jack's face as he ran and ran and ran..... delighted!! Jack really liked Steve, the gym owner, and kept holding his hand as they were running and he said "I LOVE Bootcamping!!" At the end of the bootcamp the kids and trainers all put their hands into the middle for a cheer. They all shouted "WAY TO GO, JACK" and cheered!!!! How lovely was that?!?!?

After boot camp we went to Rocket Fizz as I had promised the kids I would take them. I let them pick out one candy bar each. I refrained. I don't know HOW I did, but I did. From there, Super Saver! I was in the middle of shopping when Lisa called and asked if I'd like to meet her for soup at Panera!! Well!! Who wouldn't!!?!!? I had some delicious Black Bean soup, the kiddoes had grilled cheese sandwiches and Mac and Cheese. It looked REALLY good!!!!!! After lunch Lisa went home for a meeting and we headed back to our house where we found Daddy laying under the Jeep fixing the fuel line!!! We left him to it and I went inside to clean up the kitchen and to check in with the library to see what they had called about yesterday. Ugh. I'm REALLY glad I did. I'm not going to tell you HOW big the library fine is because my Mum reads this blog and I worry about her heart. Seriously. It's HUGE. I'm going to go in and see if they'll let me stack shelves. For the Rest Of My Life. **sigh**

I decided it would be good for my mental health if I went for a quick run. I headed out to run a mile and did feel a lot better when I got back.

I'd not been back long when I heard the dog barking and Jorie, our neighbor / babysitter had rolled over on her skates to say hello! Jack wanted to go for a ride with her and he got out his little trike to go along!! She was so sweet to him! She told him she'd ride with him tomorrow at 2 o'clock!! He has a date!! ;D He does think she is rather special! ;D

As we were outside when Jorie left we all became enthralled with the ENORMOUS Cherry Picker that was parked in the driveway!! ;D Daddy had brought it over to put up a basketball backboard over the garage. A friend had been using the cherry picker to fix his chimney so we borrowed it when he was through! We managed to persuade the children to ride up in it and I was so proud of Jessie as she overcame her fear of it and ended up driving it herself!!! :D Whilst I was having a ride in it the phone rang and it was Lisa... She was ready to go for our bike ride tonight. Twenty miles. Whoosh!! ;D I ran inside to change, scarfed a cup of red beans with salsa, a vegan sausage pattie and a cup of spinach for my dinner. It was so yummy!! I grabbed my bike, kissed the family and drove off to her house where we put my bike on her bike rack and drove on to Pioneers park.

The wind was blowing in our faces as we took off riding. We made great time and were riding a lot faster than we used to. We decided to ride ten miles then turn back which we don't really like doing, but sometimes you just hafta !! We passed our boot camp place and the tires were still sitting out in the driveway. The temptation was too great so we stopped and I grabbed one ( a HEAVY one it turned out! ) and ran the length of the parking lot and back with it!!! I just wanted to say I'd done it!!! I got back on the bike and pedaled on. Apart from the bugs trying to eat Lisa alive ,there was very little excitement...we turned around to go back.... AND... the wind was in our faces again. We're still trying to figure out how that happened!!

Anyway, we did our twenty miles and the sun was going DOWN!! It was all but dark by the time we reached the car ( which was unfortunately at the top of a huuuuuge long hill...... ) but we made it home, safe and sound. My kiddoes were pleased to see me when I got back and little Jack... man.... he was so tired!!! I lay down with him and talked to him about Jungle Kids..... and he was OUT !!! Sleepy boy!!

My turn next......!!! Snore !!! :D

Sheesh we had a busy one today! ; D

Our day started out fairly busy.... Rex went out at 5:30 am to meet some friends for breakfast. At 8am he met another friend for bagels and discussed a potential job ( fingers crossed ) at 9 am I left the kiddoes at home and headed to Boot Camp just as Rex left the bagel place to head home. I got to Boot Camp at 9:30 and did an hour's work out. At 10:30 I headed home, got home at 11. At 11:15 Rex left to go to Waverly and, simultaneously our friend Mary and her children drove in. We visited and played and drank tea until 6pm when they left. At 6:30 Rex arrived home and changed his clothes. At 7pm Rex left to go and meet a friend for a drink and then a night of bowling!! I got the kids their dinner, started getting them ready for bed and then noticed Jessie's hair was One Huge Knot. Poor girl. It took about an hour and a half to comb it, put conditioner through it and then have her shower it off. She was UNHAPPY. She was tired anyway and hates having me mess with her hair. Ugh. Sooooo, Jack got ready for bed and said he was going to go to his bed and hide. He LOVES to hide. Off he went and I had a suspicion what was going to happen next. Yup. He was right under the covers when I went in..... faaaaaaast asleep! :D Bless him!!

Anyway!!

I naively brought my book downstairs after getting my PJ's on ready for bed. I was going to read a book, right after I blogged, cleaned the kitchen, emptied and reloaded the dishwasher and folded two baskets of laundry. Har de har. Here I sit. Still. !! I've been trying to get photos together of the past week... I have HUNDREDS!!!!!! It's going to take me For EVER to get them on Blogger, so I have put them up on facebook. If you are not on facebook or you are not on my friends list, feel free to email me and I can email YOU the link to the pics!!! :D I've only put the first batch up tonight.... to come....Easter fun, egg and spoon races, egg tossing, egg decorating, egg hunting, cabbage experiments and ironing plastic bags onto shirts....!!! Can you tell WHY I have so many PICS?!?! :D


More tomorrow folks!! And it's off to the kitchen for me!! :D

BootY camp today, tidying the house and date night! ;D

Today's boot camp was all about the butt!! ; D I KNOW it's going to hurt tomorrow!! My free week at N10sive boot camp was up yesterday so this morning I paid my dues and am a fully paid up crazy person member!! Whoooot!! ;D

When I got home and showered etc I started on cleaning up the house... tackling the laundry piles, picking up small toys and so on.... It's almost impossible to keep the house tidy when friends are staying... too much fun to be had!! : D

Tonight Hubby wants me to sit with him and watch a movie! We've hardly had two minutes together since last week and so tonight is catch up night!! I'm looking forward to it. I think we're going to watch The Hangover again... SUCH a funny movie I'm sure we could watch it a dozen times and still laugh like drains!! ;D

Enjoy your evening, folks!

Alicia and kiddoes head home, I fall asleep on the couch for 3 hours. Tired much??? :D

This morning started out with us "Gluing" plastic bags onto T shirts with a hot iron! It was fairly successful though some bags melted better than others.... Fun to try though!! The kiddoes all wore their shirts as they got ready to leave. Rex was going to drive the family all back to Le Mars to meet up with Alicia's hubby and they all left at 11 o'clock. The kids and I waved them bye bye and headed back into the house... we always miss them so much as soon as they leave... :(

I was talking to Jack tonight and I asked him what he loved best about the visit. He said he loves Alicia because she read books to him, he loves Alex because he "showed me the fireplace"....( Long story! ) and he then went through the list of all the kids and told me all the good times he'd had with each of them. I love that he loves Alicia and Alex first though!! ;D So sweet! Alicia and the children are family to us. We just love being with them and can't wait to see them again. Every time we get together it's like we've never been apart. We all pick up right where we left off!! Hurry back Minnesota Gang!!

Anyway, I had plans of tidying up the house a bit, catching up on laundry, cleaning up the kitchen and so on, but first I wanted to make myself a cup of tea and I was going to sit on the couch and read some of my book. yah. I made the tea, sat on the couch and yes, I did read my book.... all one and a half pages of it. In only moments I was OUT like a light. I roused a couple of times, opened bleary eyes, tried to wake up.... failed..... back to sleep. I woke up at FOUR THIRTY !!!!!!!! Yow. We spend so much time having fun, walking, playing, doing crafts, chatting, drinking tea, eating dinner, etc etc etc.... there's no time for SLEEP!!!

Early night tonight, folks!! ;D

G'night.

Bootcamp, crazy kids and maybe there's just something in the air?!?!

Another really quick post tonight, sports fans..... I'm falling asleep at the switch here! ;D

We had a fun day.... I had Boot Camp in the morning, love love love it..... especially when it STOPS!! :D LOL!!! Once I got home it became clear that the children were bound and determined to drive us all BATS!!! They were being so crazy making!!! Gah!!!! We never did really get them calmed down!! Little Alex was a sweetheart though, calling me "Ma" and planting a big kiss out of the blue, right on my cheek!! Bless him! ;D

We did spend a little time cutting plastic bags to pieces to stick on T Shirts tomorrow!! We're going to iron them on....! It should be fun!! We've made up some really funny ones! ;D Photos tomorrow.... really! ;D

The kiddies watched a movie and ate popcorn in the basement... we set up chairs in a row so they could pretend to be in the theatre!! They really seemed to enjoy it!! ;D

Tonight is Alicia's last night here for a while and I'd love to have been able to spend some more time with her, but I fell asleep putting Jack to bed. Tsk. Ah well.... I'll spend some time with her before they leave. Rex is going to drive them home again..... he's so nice!! ;D

Anyway, must go before I fall asleep on my keyboard! ;D

'Night!

Boot camp, friends to play and an acids and bases science experiment!

Wow the days are flying past...!! ;D It always happens when Alicia and gang come to stay!! Happily we have done a lot of the things we had hoped to do and tomorrow we'll get to melting the plastic bags and sticking them onto T shirts...!! ;D

Today I had an 8:30 Boot Camp, went well, not too sore.... tough but not bad at all!! :D

After I got home we faffed about before Mary and the kids arrived and the children promptly disappeared off to explore the park. Once they returned, muddy beyond belief and tick riddled ( yes, ticks. already. sheesh...) then we set up our cool experiment. We boiled Red Cabbage and strained off the water into several glasses. We raided the pantry for acids and bases such as wine, baking powder, vinegar, alum, laundry detergent and hydrogen peroxide. We lined 'em all up and added a drop of either acid or base to each glass of cabbage water and watched the results!!! The water turned shades of blue to hot pink!! It was fabulous and lots of fun!! We'll have to do it again and again!! :D


I took a ton of photos and once my computer is back from the shop I'll add them!!! :D

Hoppy happy Easter! ;D

What an awesome Easter day we had !!! It was SUCH fun!! ;D I am going to have an early (er ) night tonight (boot camp in the morning you know!! ) so I won't post all the pics and stuff tonight BUT we had a blast! The kids made felt eggs, we blew tons of eggs and the children decorated them with glitter, buttons, paint, markers... all sorts of things. We also use silk ties to Tie dye eggs!! It worked really well and left fantastic patterns on the shells. I'll post pics tomorrow... perhaps!! Once Alicia is home for SURE!! We went to the park and played on the swings and the slide, we wore fancy clothes all day long... we took a billion pictures including lots of hopping in the air... we had a treasure hunt in and outside the house which took me longer to make up than it took the beggars to figure out, still, they enjoyed it and loved the Cadbury's Creme eggs, mini eggs, milky way bar and Peeps. I'm looking forward to day when I can make the clues a tad harder!! ;D We had an egg and spoon race of epic proportions and followed that with a game of toss the egg... only... it was getting pretty dark and shortly became a game of wear the egg as I foolishly leaped to catch an errant shot from my boy and abruptly realised the consequences. Yuk. and har de har... !! ;D

So.. how was YOUR Easter!?!? ;D

Hmmm..... two am.... a tad late ?? :D

Oops!! ;D

We've had a busy day today!! We've been for walks to the park, bike rides for the kids, exploring the river banks, making yummy snacks, back to the park again, a trip into town to the Goodwill stores, pizza for dinner, MORE walks to the park, making felt eggs, re-potting seedlings more laughing, more playing "etcetera, etcetera, etcetera" (The King and I ) !! I have photos to post, lots more to write and so on, but I am so VERY tired....!!!

More tomorrow.... Happy Easter, Bunny! ;D