Photography Friday....on Saturday!! ;D

Egg Races and Egg Tossing game!

Alicia and I and the Children thought Egg and Spoon races would be fun!

The pics are a little blurry as Rex was trying a new lens and the sun was
setting rapidly!

But you can still see the joy!!

Ooops!!! Don't step on it Anna~!!!!

LOL!!

Go Alicia Go!! ;D

LOOK at all that happy!

No one kept track of who was winning or who won..

We all just kept playing and playing!

Even little Alex!!!

He was very careful! I LOVE his sticking up hair here!

:D

Then a game of toss the egg. We all stood close and passed the egg to one another....

Then we'd take a step backwards each time around..

Can you see the egg in the air!

And again!! ;D

Jack couldn't!!!

Another egg shot!

This one was a really high one....... um....... waaaaait............ woah.......... um.....

.......ughhhhh......... THAT was foolish!! ;D

Ooops.

Fun times! ;D

Fabulous Fun Filled Friday! ;D

Hellooo!! ;D

Today was awesome! ;D Boot Camp kicked Boot and my ARMS !! Yowzah! I couldn't lift my drink bottle to my mouth halfway though !! Phew!!! It feels good though, I KNOW I've exercised when that happens! After Boot Camp I came home, showered and tidied up the house a bit and then Mary and the kiddoes came to play again!! I LOVE that they came two days in a row!! How awesome is that?!?! :D

The children spent a lot of time riding their bikes to the park and playing there and Mary and I sat and righted the worlds wrongs, sipped tea and knitted some!!! ;D I also made a long list of everything I have to get done this weekend... you know, besides have fun and hang out with the kiddoes! ;D Mary and gang stayed until gone 6 and STILL Jack sobbed and wailed when they left! He was only appeased by the prospect of Boot Camp for Kids tomorrow and then Jorie coming to play with him tomorrow afternoon whilst hubster and I go bike shopping. I say shopping, I mean looking~ with~ longing at. Jack has instructed me I have to go out if Jorie comes.. he wants her with no interruptions from me I guess!! ;D Jessie was excited to hear that we are going to the Pioneer's Park Nature Market tomorrow too but I didn't think Jack would be all that bothered, so that can be a surprise!! :D

So for now, I suppose I'll just go and lay my head down for all of five minutes, wake up and start the madness all over again!! I'm really LOVING all this crazy busy we have going on! It's such an awesome change and I just know it won't last so I'm hanging on to the roller coaster and we'll see when it slows down again !!! ;D

Boot Camp, Friends to visit, a Marvelous Magical Milk Experiment and a delicious dinner with friends!!

What a lovely day!! **happy sigh!!** :D

This morning I Boot Camped and I felt great ! I worked really hard and kicked my own ass!! ;D After Boot Camp I came home and tried out a new Camel Bak hubby had bought me to carry water on The Bran !! It works well and will keep me well and truly hydrated! ;D Not long after that our friends Mary, Will and Charlotte came to play and the kids ran around outside most of the time! We did wrangle them in to try out our Marvelous Magical Milk experiment!! It was really fun and the kids enjoyed dragging tooth picks through the milk afterwards!!! They had to leave earlier than we'd have liked today but hopefully they have been persuaded to come and play again tomorrow!!

I did some work this afternoon, wrote an article, filled in some paperwork, etc etc and then we gathered up ourselves and headed out to my friend Elayne's house for dinner. She took special care to make me a fantastic Vegan meal.... it was so good!! I'm ashamed at the lousy stuff I've been putting together for my family after that!! And she's not even VEGETARIAN!! It was awesome. It's lucky for everyone at the table that I'm on this diet for Boot Camp right now or I'd have eaten the lot !!! YUMMMY!!! We'd have loved to have stayed and hung out all night but the kids were all starting to freak out so we had to go home! Can't wait until next time!! ;D

Tomorrow looks set to be another Fun Filled Fab Friday !! Bring It ON!! ;D

A little something for you... I know you've been waiting for it....!

PHOTOS!! :D

These pics are from The Great Red Cabbage Water Experiment!! ;D

First you boil up half a red cabbage until the house reeks of it and the red cabbage looks GROSS then you strain out the cabbage leaves and keep the purple water that remains. Pour the cabbage water into several glasses, an ice cube tray (preferably a clear or whiteish one ) or little bowls. Add various household condiments and try to figure out which are more base and which are more acid. As you add your pantry components the cabbage water will change color from deep purple, to violet, pinks to blues and even, if you add the right thing, completely clear!! The kids loved changing the colors back and forth and had a great time trying to guess which color was going to come up next! Alicia noticed that the color changes were less obvious at my house than at hers and we figured it was likely something to do with our water supply... we have VERY hard water here...! Anyway, fun was had none the less! ; D


We used; Peroxide, alum, baking soda, lemon juice, white wine, cider vinegar, white vinegar and laundry detergent.

Serious Sciencsy Stuff !!





Pretty neat fun!! AND we have a ton of purple water left over so we can do it again and again and again! ;D

Tuesday.... right?? It's Tuesday today???

Yow! ;D

Well.... um.... I'm trying not to use the word "busy" today... but ....ah.... it's been a FULL day today! ;D I started out working on some stuff for Greg, I got the kids outside to play in the beautiful ( if rather breezy ) sunshine and I did a little work. I decided, since I was missing Boot Camp today that I would get some exercise here at home so I jumped rope 300 times, did 50 tricep dips and went for a one mile run whilst carrying two jugs of water each weighing 5.5 lbs. I'm insane. Anyway, after that I wrote an article for the Examiner and then got the kids ready to go to town. We ran so many errands I was dizzy with it, but finally we got all done, headed home and had a snack. I sent the children back outside and wrote some more articles, then cleaned the kitchen and picked up the living room. The laundry remains. I barely notice it anymore! ;P After a quick dinner the kiddoes and I played a rousing game of Farkle whilst Daddy mowed the ( now neck high ) grass! After Farkle, vitamins, teeth and BED !!!!! ***sigh*** Sheesh!!

And now, here I am, begging you to please hang on with me and I SURELY WILL get some photos out to you soon! One thing that's holding me up is I need a program that reduces my pictures en masse. I used to have one but when the computer had it's virus last, well, the program "Poopapeered". : ( Rex has another copy of it, I just have to nag gently remind him to put it back on for me!! ;D When he does, well, look out!!! ;D

So, goodnight, again, all!

Oh, incase you missed my articles today, here they are... you know, if you are having trouble sleeping or something....!! ;D

Down Syndrome girl to star in Fox's Glee

Study finds spanking leads to bullying

The Week of the Young Child


Toodles! ;D

Monday?!?!? AGAYUN!?!?!

Wow Monday's come around pretty quick these days don't they?!?! :D

Well you'll be THRILLED to know I ran the full mile on Boot Camp today without stopping once. Pah. I know, I used to run MUCH more than one mile but that was then and this is now!! I kept going by reminding myself about Eddie Izzard and his amazing 43 Marathons in 51 days! He just told himself "Don't stop!" If he can do THAT I can run a poxy mile!! ;D ( that doesn't mean I wasn't pretty darned proud of myself though!! )

This afternoon the weather was magnificent!! It was in the high 80's and the children were outside most of the day !! ( of course the fact that I had told them if they spent more then 5 minutes indoors I'd find them chores to do had very little to do with it.....!! ; D) I had imagined I would get all sorts of my own chores done today... I literally have TONS of laundry .... ok, ok... not TONS LITERALLY, but a LOT of laundry piled up waiting to be folded, the kitchen is a disaster, the house needs to see a vacuum and really, I MUST change the bedding BUT the weather is lovely, the windows are open, I'm thrilled to be getting up and getting out, exercising and biking...... LIFE IS GOOD!! FAAAAR to good to worry about domestic crapola!!! Face it, even after I'm dead there'll be damn laundry to do and dishes to wash... I'm not wasting my time on it all now!! ;D ESPECIALLY when it's lovely out. The next time it rains I'll clean my house! Or when Lisa, Mary or Elayne next come to visit which ever comes first!!!;D

Before dinner tonight Jessie asked if she could go for a bike ride with me! She got on her bike and would you believe she challenged me to keep up with her !!! LOL!! the noive!! ;D We had a lovely ride though town, through the park and along the trails.... ! She did really well. We had a couple of hills that I had to change gears for and the poor little mite didn't HAVE any gears! She just had young lady ooomph I guess!! ;D It was really lovely to be out on a ride where I could just coast along and not worry about how far or how fast I was going! Nice! ;D

Anyhoo folks, I've kept you long enough. I'm going to bed! No Boot Camp for me in the morning tomorrow... Rex will be in Omaha so I'll stay with the kiddoes. I actually might MIGHT get some cleaning done as I do think they are predicting rain. I also want to go through the closets and clear out that which is more than 10 years old.... !! Who am I kidding... I have pants that my MUM used to wear probably 30 years ago. ***swoon!!*** I almost can't believe that myself!! ;D

Night all...!! Sweet dreams! ;D

LOL!!! Yup.... Another busy day and I'm LOVING it! : D

Today started out with a Sunday morning Boot Camp! ;D After our 20 miles last night I really didn't think we'd be in any shape for exercising but we did AWESOME AND won a competition ( well, it was a three way tie, but still!!) where we won a delicious protein drink!! ;D After Boot Camp I came home and worked on the house a little, showered, changed, read and finished a book, made lunch etc etc.... Jorie, the babysitter from across the road came over to go for a bike ride with the kids and whilst they were out Rex called saying he needed me to run over to Roca and take him some ear protectors.... they were up in the cherry picker trimming trees! I took Lucy and let her run loose around the property for a few minutes whilst we chatted. Lucy was so good and came RUNNING to me when I called her! I was so pleased! I also found a TON of tiny little clay pots which I brought home to plant little seeds or something in ! They are so sweet looking! ;D

Anyway, once the kiddies got back and after Jorie and Jack had played Hyperdash for a while, we went outside to play basketball with Daddy. Then it was time for dinner.... then time for the kiddoes to go to bed!!! They were asleep by 8:30 !!!! Yeeee hawww!! ;D

Now it's time for me to go and sit with hubby and fold 64,000 tons of laundry.... or... I could skip it for one more day...!! ;D

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

FANTASTIC Friday! ;D

You have got to LOVE a Friday that starts out with friends coming over to visit, hanging out, copious cups of tea, chatting, playing, filthy feet from mud puddles, sunshine on your face AND getting the fridge cleaned... THEN your best buddies from Minnesota arrive and everyone hangs out together ... more tea... more trips to the mud puddle... more chatting .... THEN the local kids persuade their Mom to let them sleep over along with the Minnesota kids, more chatting, excitement, playing, running around, laughing, Wii playing, game playing, dress up, trains, movies, food, laughing some more.... bedtime...lights out...whispering, giggling, patently not sleeping.... !!!

Good times.... good times. :D

Blogging in!

Well I'm back from my third day of Boot Camp and today am feeling pretty good! I woke up feeling stiff but that makes me feel GOOD as if I have accomplished something! I Do have a stupid cold though. Nothing too major but annoying non the less. I can't remember, apart from Migraines, when I was last sick. It's been a year I'm sure! Anyway, that's annoying!!!

Today we are going for another walk with litter pick up in mind! It's a really windy day which makes litter pick up all the more challenging!

The kiddoes are being themselves today! Jack is being stubborn and slow to react and Jessie is being wild seemingly driving him daft on purpose! Who knows!? As long as they do it outside!! :D It seems such an obvious thing but it took me until only recently to realise that Jack's personality means he is slow to move. He can not or rather will not be hurried. For someone such as myself who is impatient and fast moving it's a real lesson to have to slow down and wait for him to be ready to do something. The more you rush him and pressure him, the slower the boy becomes!! Clearly this can set the stage for a battle of wills of epic proportions, but now I have learned it's Just Jack I can rein in my impatience and let him do a lot of things in his own sweet time. Naturally if there was an emergency then all bets are off!! ;D

Anyhoo... there you are, an update on our morning!! I imagine the rest of the day will revolve around tidying the kitchen up and sitting around reading in the sunshine!!

I hope you have a lovely day too! ;D

One Small Change

With Earth Day coming up this month it's hard to not think about the Earth and ways to "save" it. I'm not really an "Environmentalist".... I believe that climate change is a cyclical thing and has happened before and will indeed happen again. Nothing stays the same, everything changes..... However, having said that I will say that I see no need for the people on Earth to cause harm to the planet, to pollute, to use up all the finite resources with little or no regard for the future ahead. I've recently come across the blog One Small Change and have decided to try some small changes over here. We recycle already of course. I'm sure most people do these days? Now we are trying to do more "reusing" too. I try and repurpose plastic that won't recycle by using them to grow wheatgrass and such..and we use glass jars for all sorts of things. I'm trying to buy products with less packaging, buying more local, trying to grow our own produce and hope for a bigger garden this year since I'm usually just a tomato grower!!! We're growing lots of sprouts and have seeds already started to go in the garden very soon. However, we're also going to be putting up a washing line again to hang laundry out to dry. My line used to run under three huge cottonwood trees which would result in my damp laundry being covered first with cotton and then secondly with bird poop. Not a happy result. I'm working on getting my hubby to put up another line for me.... it seems like a lovely idea. I also want to work on our local council to get them to agree to allow chickens to be kept within the city limits.. this year seems like a good one for that.

This coming month the children and I are planning to start taking take trash bags with us on our walks through the town. We often pick up garbage we find but there is sometimes more than we can or we WANT to carry so a trash bag will be a great solution. This Small Change will certainly make a difference to the little footpaths we frequent. Another plan for this coming month is to Seed Bomb the river sides along our walk. There is a small little river that runs through the town and the banks are crying out for wild flowers. I'd LOVE to see some sprouting up, a sort of "Miss Rumphius" kind of thing.

The biggest change I would like to make this coming month is to move towards "Family Cloth".... I'm not sure Rex is keen and I'm fine with that, but I certainly would like to try it out... so there you go.... One Small Change actually inspired several small changes! :D

Are there any changes you would like to make this month?

*****************************************************************

We're back from our walk through the neighborhood and happily we collected two full bags of trash. Sadly we collected two full bags of trash and we had to leave some behind as our bags were FULL....



Tomorrow, another walk... another couple of bags.... Small Changes....

Just thinking out loud! ;D

So it's occurred to me this is not so much of an AP parenting blog these days, is it?!?! :D Sorry about that, swings and roundabouts you know! ; D

I went to Boot Camp again this morning and feel fantastic so far.... yeah.... remember Monday??? It could still go horribly wrong but hopefully I took the right precautions today, stuffed myself with carbs, took Gatorade with me and ate Shock Blocks ( or something like that.... gross things but crammed with carbs and electrolytes. ) All being well I'll avoid the migraine today! Boot Camp is really really hard work but it feels SOOOO good when it quits!! Luckily the guy teaching it is soooo friendly and nice you can't help but forgive his obviously sadistic nature!! ;D

The temperature is already 63 outside and the kids and I are going to go for a quick walk with the dogs to stretch out my legs then we're going to meet Lisa at Pioneers Park for a picnic!! Should be lots of fun! We might even get in a bike ride tonight....!!! Are we mad?? Why yes, we are! :D

So enjoy your day, hope it's a warm one for ya! ;D

Totally Terrific Tuesday! ;D

Wow we had a lovely day today!! It really helps that the weather was wonderful and hey, I wasn't puking!! Score!!! I laid in bed for HOURS this morning reading my books whilst Rex slept and slept.... he has a sinus infection and wasn't feeling the best. The kids took advantage and played downstairs in peace! I took the kids and dogs out for a walk after lunch and they played in the huge streams formed from the melted snow! It was so muddy they got filthy filthy but had a wonderful time!!!! Once home the children played outside for a while with Daddy pushing them ever higher on the swings!! They squealed and laughed with fear and delight! I ended up sitting in the shade of the house as too much sun too soon can give me, guess what? Migraines!! I managed to miss another one today SO THAT'S GOOD!! :D Around dinner time Rex suggested calling some friends of ours and asking them to come over and bring pizza!! SCORE!! They came soon after with two huge pizzas and their three small children ( um, the friend's children, not the pizza's children, right? ) Rex and Jay went to the garage to work on a planter they were building and Elayne and the kiddoes stayed inside ... the children all played together and Elayne and I chatted on and on over pot after pot of Darjeeling tea! ;D ( Darjeeling makes me come over all posh and call everyone Dahhhhling!!! Care for some Darjeeling, Daahhhling??) LOL!!

Anyhoo.... after the planter was completed the "MEN" came inside and played a few games of chess whilst Elayne, Jessie, Jack and I played Pictionary! We laughed and played and drank more tea...!! About 11pm my children were asking to go to bed!! Poor kiddoes! They don't do late nights well!! We had thought about the grownups watching The Hangover together ( I love that movie!!) but it just got too late to be a sensible idea and I planned to make another attempt at Boot Camp in the morning so we postponed that plan and Jay and Elayne went home....until next time!! ;D Rex and I walked out to see them off when they left and we listened to the frogs croaking and noticed moths on the side of the house..... the temperature was still 64 degrees..... wonderful! We had such fun this evening, I hope to do it again SOON!!

Given the boot......!

Hmmm...... Went to Boot Camp this morning! Set my alarm, got up early, workout frenziedly and felt fantastic!! The temps were in the high 70's so the kids, dogs and I went for a long walk in the sun.... and my head started to nudge me. I got home and tried to make more to eat ( I'd been eating before and after Boot Camp but thought maybe some additional protein would help my head...... ) ate more food, head really started to bang......by about 3pm Mr Migraine was here. Perfect. Went to bed and left hubby, sick with a sinus cold, to take care of the house and kids. I threw up everything I have eaten over the past week and still my body was trying to throw up more. Bleurgh. I woke up finally at 10:40 pm and feel much recovered. Exercise, it's what's not for dinner.....

Worn out! ;D

I spent most of today in a sort of stupor~! :D I couldn't get myself motivated to do anything and felt really sluggish. I lay in bed reading for a while, got up, dressed, had breakfast and then sat in the sun on my bedroom floor and read some more! Once I'd finished my book I came down and spent some time with the kiddoes ( Rex was out for the day ) and after lunch I lay on the floor talking to the dog who was sleeping in the sun.... and.... I fell asleep too. I really needed the sun I think. It's starting to get warm here but the wind is strong and still chilly. I need HEAT! I need my bones to feel warm again!! I said to Jessie I think I am part Gecko or something! I need to sun to get me moving!! Once I'd slept a while and sufficiently warmed up we all went for a nice walk... Jack took his ( far too small ) tricycle... and along the way Jessie made friends with a sweet dog called Mia and a girl called Maisie. She was excited to make a new friend and I was happy for her!

Once home it was about time for bed and Jack said he was tired! Rex called and said he'd collected a basketball back board that I'd found on Freecycle and he'd picked up a new net to go with it! Jessie is going to be so excited! ;D

Other than that, folks, it was a very laid back day... just the way I like 'em! ;D

What a swell party this is!! .... or was...!!! :D

Today was the day for Rex's birthday party so I had a few things I wanted to get done. Rex asked what he could do to help, so I said take the kids and leave the house!!! ;D He called up his buddy Jay and the two guys and their two kids each set off to the Omaha zoo!! ;D Apparently they all had a wonderful time!! I got SOOOOO much work done in this house!! ;D I completely cleaned out Jessie's room, which had been a dreadful mess, I even moved the bed and washed all the bedding! I did every scrap of laundry in the house, all washed, dried and put away.... I removed all the recycling, cleaned every room, dusted, hoovered, polished, washed, cleaned, tidied, sorted.... yesterday I had even cleaned out the fishtank and washed the dog!! ;D Hey, you never know what people are going to notice when they come to visit! ;D

Rex was out until 6:45.... the party started at 7....!! ;D I was ready when they got here and the birthday cake was warm out of the oven!! Lots of our friends came and they all brought tons of food and wine..... ! We all sat and chatted and ate, ate and chatted! Rex and I said later that we should probably have played some games of some sort, we usually like a good game of cards or pictionary for sure.... ah well... I hope everyone had fun anyway!! All the kids played so nicely together in the basement or up in the kids rooms we barely saw them most of the time! Our last guests went home about midnight and by ten minutes later Jessie and Jack were fast asleep! I think Jack was in mid sentence talking to me when he fell asleep! The dishwasher is now running, the table is all cleared off, the kitchen is clean and everything is back as it was. If it weren't for the fridge full of left overs you wouldn't know there had been a party here tonight! ;D

We had a really lovely time... I'm so grateful that Rex and I have such lovely friends.

Happy (un)Birthday, Hubby. ;D

Speeeeding along! ;D

Remember my quest to slow down a little, be more mindful, do more yoga... yadda yadda yadda... and remember my complaint that since making that quest life has instead sped up to be a blur!?!? LOL!! Well yeah, here I am, speeding along!!! ;D

It's Rex's birthday party tomorrow night ( and if I hadn't invited you, please, consider this your invite! ) and I have to get the house organized and cleaned, food prepared, cake baked, children bathed ...*** breathe, breathe***!! :D Actually, I'm not all that worried about it, it will all be just fine. I HAVE asked Rex to take the kids out for the day though... it's SSOOOOOO much easier to clean a house when no one is in it, even if they ARE really willing to help! :D

Anyway, I have just found this blog, and it has inspired me, again, to slow down. Ahhhhhh. One of the things it suggests is to go to bed early and get up early... yah... I seem to have forgotten how to do that but it was something Rex and I were talking about today, so tonight, I am going to cut this post REALLY short and get an early night! ;D

Suffice it to say we had a lovely day, the weather was very nice ( a bit windy but not too bad! ) and the children played outside a lot! I got a lot of the housework done so it won't be too frantic tomorrow and I even cleaned out the fishtank and washed the dog! ;D

I hope you had a super day too! :D

Good (early) night! ;D

Rex's Birthday!! yeahy!! ;D

What a sweet birthday we had today! :D The children woke us up at O Dark 30 this morning with a rustling of packages and a Happy Birthday song!! ;D They couldn't wait to give Daddy his gifts and, as usual, bickered over whose present Daddy should open first!! The children had each picked out fun T shirts for him.... Jessie's was a bright blue "Team Mario" T shirt so they can wear Mario shirts when they play Wii !! Jack had picked out a brown T shirt with Hersheys printed across it "because Daddy likes cwokwick" !! He also got Daddy a large Hershey bar to match his shirt! ;D Daddy opened his cards and presents and then the kiddoes made him some coffee and toast. We got up and got moving and Daddy suggested we go to a restaurant in town for some breakfast. We had faaar tooo much cake, brownies and lemon scones! It was delicious! After breakfast we went to Greenwood to visit some friends at their store...we chatted with them and checked out their warehouse! We drove around for a while just enjoying the peace and the lovely weather then came home and worked on Spring Cleaning the garage and the house ready for The Big Party on Saturday! :D

We were just getting ready for our date night out when the phone rang... it was the babysitter's mother....uh oh.... the babysitter was sick... could we reschedule ????? Uuuuuhhhhh!!! After a few minutes of being really disappointed we realised we could still have a nice birthday so we tossed around a few ideas and landed on going to Applebees for dinner. It's cheap, cheery and the kids love it. We ate some yummy food and the kids were about asleep at the table. Jack fell fast asleep in the car and when we got home we just carried him straight to his bed! Poor little fella! :D We'd chosen to not get dessert at the restaurant and opted to stop at the next door grocery store to pick up ice cream on the way home, but now we are home, we are too full to even think about eating it!! I'll bet it will still be good tomorrow!! ;D

Just a quickie tonight, I'm exhausted! ;D

We had a lovely day today... the children and I went to the mall to get a couple of things for Rex's birthday tomorrow. This is the first year we have been really short of cash in a long long time and it was nice to not go crazy with big purchases, rather to just get one or two little things that he will like. I did splurge on something for him, felt guilty about it and returned it about 10 minutes later! ;D

Jack had been a real weirdo at home in the morning before we left and I was dreading taking him out in public!! Sometimes he will argue ANYTHING with you!! He will tell you the sky is green if it suits him! ;D Now I don't care what color he thinks the sky is but if I say he needs to hold my hand or walk by me in the mall.... that sort of thing is not negotiable, so I'm less than keen to take him when he is in a contrary mood! Funnily enough, once we got OUT the house, he was a sweetie and he sat in the back of the van with Jessie singing his HEAD off to Carly Simon!! And heaven forbid I should try and put any other kind of music on... oh no.... Carly is the only way my friend!! He sings at the top of his lungs and knows ALL the words!! It's so cute!!! I'll video it one of these times...!!

Anyhoo, thanks to Carly Jack was in a great mood and the mall trip went well. We Taco Bell'd lunch ( cheap cheap again! ) and bought some ingredients for tomorrow's birthday cake! Once home the kiddoes weren't all that hungry due to their very late lunch so Jack had an apple and watch Thomas with Daddy whilst I went downstairs and about killed myself on my bike!! Lisa, of the bike, sent me a link where you ride for 30 seconds at full tilt and then ease off for 20 seconds, rinse and repeat for 20 minutes. I. About. Died. Still, it IS a damn good workout and I can see myself punishing myself again tomorrow!!

After my ride it was time to put the kiddoes in bed. I conned them upstairs by reminding them they had to wrap their presents and write their cards so there was much whispering and hustling around the house with wrapping paper, scissors and tape!!! Bless their hearts! They LOVE to surprise Daddy on his birthday!! ;D Jack wrote Happy Birthday all by himself in his card but made me write the rest as it was a pretty slow process! ;D Poor kid!! ;D

Anyway, now they are sleeping, I'm ready to sit on my beehind and rest before bed. I suppose I could have one more chocolate? After all, cake tomorrow...!! ;D

Fractions make us frantic, a solution to the cat problem and when sleeping kids lie...

So I thought it would be "fun" to do some fractions with Jessie, you know, 'cause I'm insane!! ;D Turns out I can only remember the absolute basics of fractions but I DO remember how much I hated them as a school child! We abandoned fractions for a day or so and I got some advice from my buddies online. This time I told Jessie we were going to take it reeeeeeally slowly. If she didn't get it, then we would work on it, slowly, until she did. It's not a biggie, if it gets to be a worry for her then I'll back off and we'll try again another time but today we had a bit of a breakthrough! ;D I made a few strips of paper, one to equal one whole, one was two halves, another was four fourths, up to 16 sixteenths!This website was super helpful. We played a game with a fraction die that we made, where you roll the die and then use the fraction on the die to cover up the "whole" ... it really helped Jessie to see what each fraction was worth and she caught on very quickly that 2 /16 was the same as 1/8 etc. She asked to play several times and I was so proud of her! : D

This was after one round of the game... see the paper "die"


Playing again..!


Jessie wanted to show me what she'd figured out for herself!

We used dominoes as fractions... she had to show me what the dominoes represented.



two fourths OR one half! We did things such as 5/4 so she could see that this meant one whole and one fourth etc. She's getting it! It's so exciting! ;D


So after solving some fraction problems we decided to tackle another problem....the CAT problem! ;D We realised that if we simply close the door to the upstairs and no longer allow the cats up there then they can't pee on the beds any more!! ; D WOW!! What a concept!!!! LOL!!! It's good too, as we see a lot more of the critters now!! Kitten objects... he sits behind the door and meeeaoooowwwwws at us!! ;D Pah! he had his chance! He's lucky he's not "on the farm" !! :D Bloody cat!

And finally...!! I had a real scare tonight. Jessie had gone up to get ready for bed. Jack and I faffed around downstairs, getting his vitamins, putting on his PJ's and loading the dishwasher etc. I intercomed Jessie and told her that Jack was on his way up and could she make sure the cat didn't come up too. She didn't reply so I figured she was probably doing her teeth and didn't hear me. When we went upstairs Jessie wasn't in the bathroom where I thought I'd find her. I looked in her room, darkness, nothing. I looked in Jack's, mine... nothing. I ran downstairs and searched the place... nope... not there. I went to the basement calling for her at the top of my voice..... nowhere. I went outside and looked as best I could in the dark, trying to think where on EARTH she could be. All I wanted was to hear her voice...I was getting really panicky and Jack was scared, sitting on the couch with his fingers in his ears. I hit the intercom button to Jessie's room again...."Jessie....if you are hiding, come out now. In 10 seconds I'm calling Dad...!!" I was really starting to lose it. I couldn't think HOW she could have disappeared and kept wracking my brain to think if she had said she was going outside or what....??? Suddenly and from seemingly out of nowhere she appeared looking all frantic and scared, running down the stairs. In my panic I yelled at her "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!!?!!? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?!?!??" She was in such shock she couldn't respond...!!! It turns out the poor thing had been fast asleep in her bed. When I looked in her room I wasn't expecting her to be in bed, so I didn't see her there. She had been dreaming, had a scary dream and woke up to hear me yelling for her.....!! Sheesh. We were both freaked out by the whole thing!!

I think I'm going to need a stiff drink...!! of coffee probably! ;D LOL

This cat is pushing my buttons, poetry in hand, biking hurts my butt, sunshine, wheat grass, and making a hash of everything!!

Well.... we woke up this morning to find TWO piles of cat poop on the floors. One in my room, one in Jessie's. I later discovered the cat had peed on my bed. I was so FURIOUS. DAMN CAT !!! I hoisted all the bedding downstairs to wash ( it's no wonder I can't keep up with the laundry.... ) and ... once down there... discovered the bathroom door had been inadvertently closed ( we had kiddoes over playing yesterday ) and so the cats couldn't get to their litter boxes all night long. OK. So I didn't strangle the cat. ... However.... tonight, I went to put Jack to bed..... PEE AND POOP ON HIS BED!!!!!!! GAAAAAHHHHHHH!! I'm DISGUSTED and HORRIFIED and FURIOUS....!!!!!!! aaaaaaaaggggggghhhhhhhhhh. What to do what to do??? I know for sure we're keeping the cats shut downstairs from now on. I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner. They just can not go upstairs anymore. It is probably too late though....GAH!!

Anyway.... deep breaths..... moving on......!!!

The children had a go at some dice poetry from Alicia's Examiner Page You pick a topic and then roll a die. You then write the number of words as on the die until you are satisfied with your poem.

This is Jessie's

Spring.

Flowers,
Bunnys and Birds
Sprouts
Deer, fawns at dawn
The sweet berries
Love Spring.

This is Jack's.

Swings

High
and low
Go high, go fast, slow
wind on face
feel joy.

( helped him with the last bit... he had too many words so we picked the good ones! ;D )

It was really fun and the kiddoes enjoyed it!!! Waaaay more than the fractions I tried to do with Jessie later on! : D

The children spend oooodles of time outside today, playing Pioneers! I spent my time riding my bike on the trainer. Again. I put on another movie ( Ocean's 12 ) and gingerly lowered myself back on the seat. Oh dear!! My poor back end!! ;D I ended up stuffing a small cushion into my pants just to be able to sit down!!! Looks like I need to build up some calluses!!!! ( oh wait, that's the guitar..!! )
I did ride for two hours, but man, they were LONG tortuous hours!!! ;D I also had several breaks in the meantime as the phone rang a lot, Jack wanted a smoothie etc etc !; D But I did ride for two hours.... and I'm NOT looking forward to tomorrow!! ;D

Once I was through with my ride we went for a quick walk in the sun to stretch our legs. The BLUE sky was marvelous and so good for the soul! It's lovely to be warm again! ;D

I read this about growing wheatgrass the other day so decided to start some this morning... I was already sprouting the wheat as I wanted to know what would happen... now I know and I'm going to have me some grass! All the more stuff for the blasted cat to chew on! ;D I'll be sticking it in the smoothies as soon as it's long enough! ( the wheatgrass... not the cat...! )

Finally I have to share a miracle that was dinner tonight! You may have heard about my lovely recipe for Brussels Sprouts with caramelized onions? Well I was going to make it tonight only I had no onions!! GAH!! So I improvised!! I chopped the sprouts in my chopper, then chopped potatoes and mushrooms in the chopper too, so it was all REALLY finely chopped. I heated up some olive oil and cooked up the veggies! The kids LOVED it!!! I was AMAZED!! They ate and ate and ate!! They asked for more and more and more!! ;D You could have knocked me down with a feather! ;D

So there ya have it. Kid friendly Brussels.... who knew?! :D

Friends for bagels, tea and chatting, friends and family calling, two hours on the bike, a walk with the dogs and lasagne for dinner!

My friend Sandi and her gorgeous kiddoes came over today bearing a giant bag of bagels and cream cheese!!! We sat and drank tea and caught up on each other since it has been MONTHS since we saw each other last. The kids played happily and we yapped and yapped!! After they went home I chatted on the phone with my pal Alicia and then talked for a while with my Ma ! THEN I headed downstairs to my bike!!! The trainer that Jay lent me is set up so I took my copy of the Sex and the City movie, told the kids to stay upstairs and I biked and biked and biked! ;D I'm not sure how many miles I'd have done since the bike computer is rigged to the front wheel and that doesn't spin when I ride... hopefully Rex can switch that out for me soon, but I did ride for 129 minutes! My legs were pretty stiff when I got off so I did some yoga stretches and some sit ups and then suggested a quick dog walk! The kiddoes and I, the dogs and one kiddie bike made the short jaunt around the blocks and down the hill and back. Just enough to stretch every body's legs! ;D Rex got home not long after we did and he was carrying Vegetarian Lasagne and garlic breadsticks...!! Oh YUM!! I stuffed myself!!!

The kids are now sleeping and I'm headed, once again, for the couch!! An early night tonight I hope! ; D

Another slow start, Eight minutes of Tae Bo can hurt, so long, little fishies, a van full, a Lawn and Leisure show and a bike trainer! ;D

Rex was up and ready to go to the Lawn and Leisure show to help sell some furniture with our friends at Yoder's Amish Furniture! I was SOOOO not inclined to get up so I lay around until the yelling started downstairs and I hustled down in my Pj's to knock heads together!! ;D Whilst downstairs I checked mail and chatted on the phone with my Mum..... hours passed...!! I realised I had to get going as I was planning on picking up Elayne's hubby and kids to take them to the show as Elayne was working there TOO! :D Before I left though I needed to do a quick work out. I figured 8 minutes of Tae Bo couldn't hurt anybody.... right!?!?!? WRONG!! Man that man is SICK!! ;D Still, I did it and hustled to the shower to freshen up !!!

After my shower and getting dressed of course, I had to get all my lady fishes gathered together with two lucky males in order to take them to this poor guy who answered my Craigslist ad WEEKS ago and I kept promising I'd get in to drop them off!!! Today was to be the day! ;D I also found a library book that was overdue and needed to be returned and I knew that today the Yankee Candle place had all votives for $1 so I needed to plan to go there and get some more!!! Rex called and asked me to bring lights, an extension cord and some twist ties so I started to gather them together THEN realised that I didn't have the van seat installed in the back of the van as I had removed it on Thursday when I went to pick up Lisa and her bike... SO I installed the seat ( which had been snowed on, by the way! )

I got the kids cleaned up and ready to go, I'd packed a bag with a change of pants for Jack, just in case. I had phoned the Fish guy for his address and had google mapped Elayne's address and fish guy's so my errands should run smoothly. He was leaving his house at 3 so I had to get there before then.... I checked to make sure I had my badge to get me into the show, there it was, hanging on it's lanyard around my neck. We were JUST about to leave when I realised the children hadn't eaten any lunch and 8 minutes of Tae Bo can leave a person surprisingly hungry. I quickly whipped up a smoothie ( banana, rice milk, blueberries, organic orange juice concentrate and some chia seeds ) and Jack and I slurped them up. Jessie, who claims not to like smoothies, had an apple. And a taste of Jack's smoothie. Whereupon she decided she would like one. She was informed that this was not very likely as I'd just emptied the blender, maybe next time... go go go !! ;D

We got out to the car. I ran to get the extension cord from the garage, checked the mail box on the way out the driveway and off we went. I followed Google Maps ( which was stupid. What's WITH Google Maps?!!?? Do they deliberately pick the most unlikely route???? On the way home I realised how easy it would be to get to Elayne's house... following the directions was ridiculous!!! ***sigh*** ) needless to say I got lost....!!! BAH!!! I finally found it, thanks to my COMPLETELY IGNORING the map and following my BRAIN instead. ( who knew!! ) Still I was running short of Fishy time so we hustled to get the three extra kiddoes, two extra car seats, and the assorted paraphernalia that goes with kids into the van. The children were all so agreeable about their cramped quarters and got along great. I looked at my clock and had ten minutes to get to fish guy! Jay navigated and we sped off ( very carefully, Elayne!! )with a van full of small persons!!! We found fish guy with but a minute to spare and he was very gracious about accepting my fishies! I'm sure they'll have a lovely new home with him!.... From the Fish Guy to the Show!! ;D We drove there without incident and I parked impressively in a rather tight gap quite near the doors. It was at that moment that Jay realised he'd forgotten his tickets. I said, well, I have my super duper pass....and I pulled up my lanyard.... which was empty. Wah?!!? We searched the van, looked under the car seats, looked everywhere. Nothing !!! LOL!! So both of us thought we'd done a great job to get the kids organised and I'd remembered all of Rex's stuff and to drop off the fish find a library book and all that... and somehow NEITHER of us had our passes!!! HILARIOUS!! I called Rex and he sorted it all out for us after I had repeated myself a few times... yes... yes.... neither of us have got our tickets. Yes. Yes....!! ;D

We all struggled out of our seats, the little kiddoes put on their back pack / reins / tails and my bigger two just hopped out ( ah the joys of older children! ) but GAH!! It was FREEEEZING out. The wind was whistling and it was only 35 degrees. We fought the wind all the way to the doors ( spotting a parking place only TWO spots away from the door.... dang it! ) and walked in.... only to find we were in the wrong building and we had to harangue the poor kids all the way back and across the parking lot.....!! Poor blighters! ; D FINALLY we got inside and it was lovely and toasty warm. After about ten minutes it was a bit TOO toasty and after twenty minutes the swimming pool displays were in danger of being leaped in. We were shedding layers left and right to try and cool off!!! Anyway, the kids played "find as much free candy and loot as you can" ... they also played on the playground display stuck their fingers in the water fountain displays, made face masks, got balloons and enjoyed the heck out of their little selves! ;D It's one heck of a job keeping track of two toddlers and two older kids though... they seem to move so fast!! It was pretty noisy too and before long we all decided that we'd had enough fun and it was probably time to go home!! ;D We loaded back up, called in at Runza for some lovely hot fries and then dropped everyone off at home. Jay and Elayne said I could borrow their bike trainer so he got it out the garage for me and we put it in the back of the van!! ( I'm so excited!!!! I can't wait to set it up!! Tomorrow I'll put on a movie in the basement and hop on my bike for a few miles!! ;D Wheeeeeee!!! )

We waved goodbye, the kids wanted to visit with each other some more but we thought another day would be a better idea, so I took my two and headed south! ;D We stopped at the library on the way home, Yankee Candle where I picked up a few more votives and Jack had me smell EVERY SINGLE ONE and also Super Target's pharmacy to pick up my prescription ( duh! Closed!! ) and spent a lot of time checking out the toys ( kids ) and the yoga / biking / camping stuff ( me! ) We actually left without buying ANYTHING!!! It's a miracle folks, I don't think I've EVER done that before!!! We eventually got home about 8pm... just in time for bed!!! ;D

Rex arrived home just as Jack was about to fall asleep so he came up to say goodnight... and what had he found on the floor outside the garage door???? Yup..... my pass. !!! LOL!!!

What a full and fun day!! ;D

Starting out starving, some stretching, snowing and snoring.

I was STARVED when I woke up this morning!! I'd forgotten THAT little side effect of riding! Oh and my Bee~hind was not happy with me either!! LOL! I read some info today on the BRAN ride and they mentioned that we can expect to burn 6000 calories per day. Um. SIX THOUSAND?!?! Sheesh! ;D That sounds like quite a lot, but then I guess, when you think about Pie... it's not so much really!! ;D

I couldn't ride today if I'd tried as the weather decided that the warm weather was too much, too soon, so it's snowing. Ooooo ....kkkkkaaaay. *sigh*. Buuuut I did go to the basement and stretched my muscles along with the Billy Bank's Tae Bo DVD. Holy cow. It's no wonder Lisa is so damn fit. I only did the 30 minute work out and I about DIED!! She used to do the one hour one. I have SOOOOO much training to do! ;D

Hmmm..... I wonder if there is any parenting stuff I should mention today????!! ;D Ummmm.....!! Oh yes!! We did do Child's Play Domino Math today which was fun and I showed Jessie how, if she turns the domino vertically we can make fractions! I'm going to have her work on adding, subtracting and multiplying fractions with the dominoes...!! Swwwweeeet! ; D

Anyway, the snoring part of the title is what I aim to do very soon.... but first.... a cup of coffee and a bit of a read is in order! ;D .... and maybe a liiiittle chocolate! ;D


Toodles!!

Friends to visit, a walk to the park and a 14 mile bike ride!

We had a lovely day today! ;D Our friends Mary, Will and Charlotte came to visit and we played and played... well the kids did, Mary and I talked and talked and drank some tea... and some more tea...!! Later the children persuaded us to go for a walk to the park where they played basketball, played on the playground equipment and played Tennis. Mary and I talked and talked....!! ;D They had to leave after another too short visit and shortly after that I got hold of Lisa and we arranged a bike ride... the first of the year.... dum dum duuuuummmm!! ;D It took a bit of sorting and she didn't have her bike rack on the car and I had to watch the kiddoes, so we drove up to get her in the van and got home just as hubby was driving in!! Lucky for US as he was able to inflate our SEVERELY deflated tires....we've got a LOT to learn...!! ;D We set off, wobbling all over the place and gear shifters grinding as the children and Rex worriedly waved us adieu..! We soon realised that riding a bike is exactly like, well, riding a bike and we got back in the swing of it pretty fast. One of us got back in the swing of it a LOT faster than the other and the other got left behind more than once, though one of us DID take the time to stop and wait for the other.... ugh....!! The other should have done the boot camp perhaps!! : } Anyway, we had a really nice ride, lots of HILLS and THICK GRAVEL both of which were unexpected developments along the way... biking in really thick gravel is SO hard!!! We made it home and had ridden 14 miles. Not bad for our first day out... we now have 8 weeks to get up to 100 miles a day. Um.... !!!

Don't tell Lisa but I could barely walk when I got in the door and my legs felt like Jello!! Shhhhh!!!

Sleeping in, cleaning house, friends to visit and MORE friends to visit!

What a great day!!! It started out nicely by my waking up and thinking it was probably about 6:30 or so and finding out it was already 7:30!! I'd slept really well and felt great! I puttered around the house as usual and chatted on the phone with my friend Elayne and arranged for her and her family to come over and visit around 4 pm. I wrote a quick Examiner article as I felt so guilty I hadn't written in MONTHS... I scurried around and tidied the house and was ready when they arrived around 4 laden with TWO pies from Village Inn!! ;D (Slurp!)

We sat and chatted and the kids played... we drank tea and coffee, ate pie, chatted, the kids played.... repeat... and repeat..... and repeat.....about 8:30 the phone rang... it was the Stunning Lisa B asking if her and hubby could come over and visit since they were out and about!! SURE !! The more the merrier!!! We made more tea, ate more pie... chatted....!!! We all sat around and talked and talked and talked!!! ;D I had a wonderful time!! Once 11pm rolled around all the children were about done in!! The grown~ups realised that it was probably time for them to go home and everyone left together. It was a totally spontaneous really wonderful day and I LOVED it. I have such great friends and am so very thankful for that.

And now.... to bed! Looking forward to another friend filled and fun packed day tomorrow! ;D

I THINK it was Tuesday today.....

Yowzah!! Ever had a day that flew by so fast at the end of it you aren't even sure WHAT day it WAS?!?! I've still got whiplash from this one! ;D

We all slept in, again. I chatted on the phone with my pal Lisa in Michigan only to be reminded by my husband that I had said I would take Jack in for a haircut at noon. Um... it was 10:20. No biggie, right?? Except only Jessie was dressed...!! We hurtled around to get ready, Rex left to run errands and said he'd meet us there.... we shot off and got to the appointment on time... phew! Jack was SOOO good and looks great! He loves to get his hair cut and is always so proud at how han'some he is ! :D

After haircuts...lunch at "Shimmy Shons".... Oh I LOVE their sandwiches and I realised today if I get a Vegetarian #6, no cheese, no mayo and an UNWICH it will be RAW and I can still EAT IT!! :D Yeahy!!!!!!!! Yeah. I know. I'm an idiot and this too shall pass...!! Keep watching this space and something shiny will no doubt catch my attention, until then, do like my husband does and just nod your head and indulge me?! :D

Anyhoo, after lunch....GROCERY SHOPPING!!! Whoot. The kids were really good and we just ambled around the store. I KNOW that buying fruit and veg that is not organic WILL NOT KILL ME. But I CAN NOT bring myself to do it. I can not. **sigh** I try... I'll even pick the stuff up... but I can't bring myself to buy it. I KNOW I'm an idiot, I KNOW it's not rational... but there ya go. You knew that about me before I did! ;D So anyway, our grocery shopping consisted of a whole lot of cleaning things, laundry stuff and glad wrap. I called Rex and asked him to pick up a whole bunch of FOOD from the Organic Store... ya know, where it's good and cheap. ( sarcasm people! )

Actually the sarcasm is mostly because my head is KILLING me tonight. Another migraine. Thanks. And just my size!

I'm going to go to bed and sleep it off... typing is becoming difficult as I keep having to backspace... one mistake after another....!!! Just have time to say....

MY BRAN TICKET ARRIVED TODAY!!!!! Looks like I am one of the lucky ones who gets to ride FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY ONE MILES in 5 days.....!!!! um..... Whee???!! :D

( actually I'm really excited about it. Migraines make me a little pissy (er) ! ;D )

Goodnight Peeps! :D

LOL!! Monday.... a LOT like Sunday! ;D

Another day with not much of note...!! ;D I always say that then think of a dozen things we did, of course !!

Jessie tried to buy a $50 violin on Amazon.... and then we realised she would totally be wasting her money! The ONE review it had said it would be best used as kindling! ;D Ah..!! :D She appreciates that you get what you pay for and I'd hate for her to have a go at an instrument and to give up because it sounds crappy ( I mean, for reasons other then the obvious!!! )

Um...... Oh I ranted about an article on the homeschool list I belong to! That was fun!!

I did a bit of work... not as much as I would like, but that's the way the whole wheat cookie crumbles... ( especially if you don't put enough butter in it...! )

I spoke to my Mummy..... I also got a parcel in the mail from her with a really nice sporty top in it and several WISPA bars!! ;D ( I ate one tonight by dunking it into hot coffee and sucking it!!! YUMMMMMERS!!!! **happy sigh**!! ;D )

Um.... we went out for dinner with my friend Lisa and her family! That was a nice treat!!! ;D We all ate faaaaar too much, but it was VERY tasty!! I do wish I'd had a Margarita though!!! They are the best in town! ( apparently!! I wouldn't know or anything...!! )

I talked to Jessie about Fibonacci numbers and Pascal's triangle. She was thrilled by the idea of figuring out if a number could be divided by three by adding the digits together. If they make a multiple of three then the whole number is a multiple of three! We played LOOOOOTS of games where she would give me some outrageously large number and ask me if it could be divided by three!! ;D ( that's MATH there people! ;D ) She's also been coloring in some of those optical design pattern books and really enjoying it!! I am so glad she likes them! I used to LOVE those things! ;D I've spent a lot of time marveling at how much I have to do and yet not actually doing any of it. It's quite a skill I have!! I could spin in place for the Olympics!! Anyhoo!! Tomorrow is another nother day and I have BIG plans for it!! HUGE!!! You wouldn't believe me if I told you what they were.... so I won't... and we'll just find out together, won't we!! ;D

Sunday....!! Um.....

LOL!! We really didn't do much of anything today!! LOL!! If we DID I'll be "jiggered" if I can remember what it was!!! I slept in, well we all did, until 9:30 this morning thanks to the clock change! It was wonderful! ;D ....Other than that I can't think of a solitary thing we did that is worthy of note!!!!! My!! I know I sat and watched a TV movie with Rex and I did some crochet... Oh, I played dominoes with Jack, sort of, in that I did a domino math thingy that the fabulous Risa had on her blog.... um.....I ate far too much chocolate in preparation from my latest latest fad, Raw Food! I have tried Raw before and it didn't last long as I was all hung up on not having a dehydrator etc etc and the recipe book I had ( and long since sold ) was reeeeeeaally complicated!! Since I've been vegan for a while now, the Raw stuff is a lot easier to imagine! I thought I'd try and go mostly Raw for the month of April and see how it goes. I also need to start doing some exercise again! I exercised all of February and then..... ppppttthhhpppptttt. Nothing in March... well, Yoga, which has surprised me by making my muscles ache, but still, nothing aerobic. I need to get out on my bike and start running again too!!! Need need, must must. I wish I were happier in my skin sometimes....

Anyhooooo!! Oh I DID watch America's Funniest Videos tonight and I about lost it watching folks trying to fly model airplanes!!! Honestly I was rolling on the floor clutching my sides and crying from laughing!!! It really struck me as hilarious and I just couldn't stop!!! I love shows that can evoke such a positive reaction!! ;D

Well I suppose I will go and do some felting, or knitting, or crochet.....or probably I'll clean the kitchen. Someone's got to!! ;D