Pesky Weeds!

That’s right; this picture was taken from inside the girl’s room right next to the sliding glass door. If you look closely you can see it’s brother growing through our deck outside. We have talked to the apartment management staff and they say there is nothing they can do. REALLY?! We have ivy growing through the floor INSIDE our apartment and there is nothing you a can do. Well, I guess the next thing to do is add “weed room” to the girl’s chore list.

Crazy Hair Day!

Yesterday was crazy hair day for the girls at school! Here is the first attempt...

Here is the second attempt...

They got much more creative!

Let me tell you what my favorite part of crazy hair day was. Every Thursday the girls come with me to delivery groceries to people that are too ill to go grocery shopping on their own. We delivery to about 8 people in the greater Lake city and Northgate areas. Often times we see interesting people that spark many question in the girls. So yesterday we passed a women, that may have not put much thought into her appearance that day, walking on the side of the road. Chloe, very serious and matter-of-factually says "Oh, she must have known it was crazy hair day too."

Half Marathon vs Hips

I wish I could say this past Sunday’s half marathon was a success. That those 12 weeks of training were not a waste but as I walk through the hallways at work, people tilt their heads sideways asking if I am limping. I again have to explain with embarrassment that I ran a half marathon yesterday and it really took a toll on my hips. About the 5^th mile into the 13.1 mile race my right hip started to throb with pain. I was able to relieve the pain by pulling my knee to my chest and strength out my hip but after only a couple more steps the pain would return. Here I was not even half way through the race and I was already worried I might not make it. Then as I came around the corner of my 7^th mile I saw their faces. The three loves of my life. James, Kaeli and Chloe. They stood there watching every person pass waiting to cheer me on.  It brought tears to my eyes. James said some encouraging words as the girls high fived me and I knew right then I had to finish. I wanted my girls to see me finish. I wanted to show James that the sacrifices he made so I could train weren’t in vain. I was going to finish.

I trucked through the pain. Thankful that it was only one hip hurt. Then about the 8^th mile my other hip jumped on the pain bandwagon. The pain was so excruciating that it brought me to tears several times when I had to stop running and walk.  And I am no wuss when it comes to pain, folks. I kept thinking of how I spent weeks training. Physically I was more than capable of completing this half marathon but the pain was so great. I still had so far to go. The 8^th mile was the beginning of a long uphill incline. My hips would not allow me to get more than a couple steps before I had to stop running and walk. I was forced to walk the entire hill. At the top of the hill were James and the girls again. I was so excited to see them but so embarrassed at my failure. I was walking. I couldn’t even pretend to jog up to them. I high fived the girlies and could see that James knew I was hurting. He told me I was doing great. As I passed them I had reached to top of the hill.  I was so discouraged, so disappointed and so MAD! I started jogging again. I didn’t know where the three of them were going to pop up next but I sure wasn’t going to be walking again when I saw them next. Miles 9, 10 and 11 were the longest miles of my life but there at the 11^th mile were my three cheerleaders again. I knew as I jogged up to them I was going to finish this thing even if it killed me. ¾ into my 12^th mile I could see the finish line. Up a HUGE hill! If I ever meet the man that planned out the course of this race and put the finish line at the top of a hill I will gladly punch him in the face and then repent later. As I approached the hill I saw my family again. I didn’t expect to see them before the finish line so it was a great surprise. As I passed I didn’t high five because it was going to take all the strength I had to get up that hill to the finish line but as I looked to my right there was Kaeli, running the last 100 yards uphill with me to the finish line. As I crossed the finish line and they read my name over the loud speaker I gave Kaeli the biggest hug and cried. I thanked her for being there for me. I looked around for James and Chloe and here they come up the hill. James is carrying Chloe in his arms because she refused to walk up the hill. In typical Chloe fashion that I love her for. : ) I cannot even express how much it meant for me to have them there. Cheering me on the whole way. Never giving up on me. I could have never done this without them and I am truly blessed to call them my family. James, Kaeli and Chloe, thank you for being my strength and for believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. I love you all so very much!

Miss Chloey-lowely giving me a high five. An awesome picture taken by James

St. Patrick’s Day

For some reason unknown to me I have adopted St. Patrick’s Day as one of my favorite holidays. Maybe it’s because it’s a holiday started after a Saint and has been reduced to a reason to drink green beer, physically hurt someone by pinching them because they aren’t wearing proper attire and teachers teaching their students how to make a “humane” trap for a little tiny green man. That was my favorite part of the letter that came home explaining Chloe’s class project; it has to be “humane”. Or maybe it was Chloe’s way of explaining the project to me.

Chloe: Mommy, I need money.

Me: Ok, for what?

Chloe: Just pennies.

Me: Ok, for what?

Chloe: I have some in my piggy bank. Can I use those?

I start to think I am not asking the right question or she has already figured out a diversion strategy to get money out of me and buy something I wouldn’t allow her to buy like 273 candy bars. I try another angle.

Me: Do you need these pennies for school?

Chloe: NO MOM! I need them for my leprechaun trap.

This included the Chloe “Duh!” face followed by the eye roll that she perfected at a disturbingly young age.

Me: Alright, how many do need?

Chloe: Oh, not much. Maybe like $100. I am going to catch 3 leprechauns. One for me, one for you, and one for Kaeli. Then we all get a pot of gold.

I love this kids thinking! 

Last year I had a St. Patrick’s Day dinner. I made a cute menu that had an appetizer, salad, dinner, dessert and drinks but I soon hated that menu! Oh the pressure that cute little green and white menu put on me. I no longer could improvise or decide not to make something without anyone’s knowledge if time wasn’t permitting. Nope. That menu just stared me saying “you haven’t made the asparagus yet and everything else it is ready to serve. You can’t skip the asparagus because it says asparagus right here.” AHHH, I spent most of the night losing my mind as I tried to keep up with food items on my menu. It was a disaster. Thank goodness it was only family and Tayla that attended the party. They have to love my disaster party and lie to my face telling me how great everything is. It is in their family job descriptions to do so. This year I planned. And then planned some more. I still made a cute menu with an appetizer, salad, dinner, dessert and drinks. I even upped myself and made a nutritional Information menu to go with it. Everything went perfectly. Except for the fact I managed to prove again that I cannot bake to save my life. I can cook a wonderful breakfast, lunch or dinner but if you were given a choice between me or a monkey baking a dessert for you, you should pick the monkey… every time… seriously.  Luckily, Tayla was over. She is the baker so I made her try and fix what I destroyed. She did what she could, we slapped a disclaimer on it before anyone put it into their mouths and it turned out great! Tayla is my baking hero! I cooked a delicious meal and got to actually enjoy it along with enjoying my company. I’m such a big girl now!

The Cute Menu and Nutritional Information.

(Since all of us are on diets right now)

The green fruit appetizer. Grapes, kiwi, apples, pears, and honey dew.

The strawberry and feta cheese salad with raspberry balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

Rosemary Pork Tenderloin

Chicken, Broccoli, and Tomato with Whole Grain Pasta. 
Very tasty and very good for you!

Berry Berry Cake for dessert. Only 127 calories a slice and so yummy!

Happy eaters! Sister (aka Rachael), Amber and Tayla! The 3 kiddos are at the kiddie table. When left to their own devises they created a disaster so there is no footage of such an event.

Drool

She doesn't normally drool and the whole point of having a camera phone it to capture the moments you can never get back. I am utilizaing my resources.  Hehe...he. 

The Only Way to People Watch!

If you haven't been to a junk yard lately, you need to go! Seriously, it's better people watching than a coffee shop in down town Seattle. I have proof! Unfortunately, James jeep decided it didn’t like its drive shaft anymore and intentionally broke itself to get a new one. That plants me at the junk yard on a beautiful, child free, Saturday for three hours while poor James risks his life pulling parts from underneath a junk yard jeep that is only held up by three metal rims. Shady! So naturally, I had to figure out how to entertain myself. I am actually very good at this but you know who is better at it, Tayla! Together, we think we are the funniest thing to hit the plant and it’s too bad the rest of the world doesn’t agree because we could totally make money off of the material we come up with. So, I called her up! We got to spend some good quality time talking for several hours straight without “Mommy, I’m hungry. When is dinner? What are we having for dinner? I don’t like that, can I have macaroni instead? Why?!! You are the meanest mommy in the world for making me eat a well balanced home cooked meal instead of a calorie backed, no nutrition what-so-ever box of bland macaroni and cheese!!” Ok, I may have added the last part but the first four questions, I hear every day. Now remember, I have two children and I have come to believe that they have a very intricate plan of tag teaming everything! For example, Kaeli will come in the kitchen and we will go through the above series of dinner questions and then she will walk away in a huff and no joke, Chloe will walk up just as Kaeli is departing (this is where I believe the tag happens when I’m not looking) and we will go through the same line of questioning. I'm pretty sure they do this on purpose. It’s some sort of mind game to get me to break down and serve them macaroni and cheese every day for the rest of their lives. Alright, tangent over!

Let me show you what I’m working with:

This is the view from my passenger side window. I have never been to a junk yard that had trailers in it. This makes the experience a little more humorous and sad at the same time. Also, see the reddish car that over time has faded into a beautiful rust type color? Well, after about an hour of sitting in my car, I noticed some one moving in that car. It scared the hell out of me! As I was explaining the situation of my new found neighbor to Tayla I realized I couldn’t tell if the person was male or female due to the hood they had pulled over their head. This quickly became my mission for the day. I’m easy entertained, what can I say? I’m a cheap date! It took another hour before the hood gave birth to a female head! Ok, moving on…

Here is a junk yard possey. I never saw them enter the junk yard. They literally came out of nowhere but they differently knew what they were doing and had the right apparel to back it up yet still left empty handed.

This is where my companies safety representative would say “Safety first, last and always.” As he flipped through the “Do Not Do” slides on safety. I think their safety representative was on a smoke break.

Or maybe this is him single handedly trying to rip the license plate off with a hammer…

But then had to bring in reinforcements when it was proving to be a very difficult process.


That is the end of my junk yard journey. Yes. All the pictures provided were taken from the safety of my locked car. Similar to being on an African safari in your car, you are wise to remain in the vehicle. The environment here is new, strange and unpredictable.

Easy Bake Oven

Remember those? I think I used mine until I went through a whole pack of light bulbs and my dad fianlly cut me off. I got the girls one for Christmas and I had totally forgotten about the needing a light bulb to operate it part. So I looked up what type of bulb is required. It turns out there is no such bulb. I try looking for one at Target and Home Depot and no such bulb exists. So for the first hundred times the girls asked to use the Easy Bake Oven I would instead pull out the cook books they got for Christmas and let them each pick something out to cook until I could find a bulb. Then one day my sister came over and the girls asked her if she would cook something with them in the Easy Bake Oven. I told her there was no light bulb. I explained how I think the only way to obtain the correct one is by ordering it from some foreign country and I am currently writing Easy Bake Oven to explain how they are destroying little girls dreams with their evil ways. So my sister set off to look for the right bulb in hopes of saving the day. She calls me while standing in the light bulb section and rambles off a bunch of light bulbs names. None of which were the one required and most were the ones Easy Bake Oven tells you specifically not to use. We decided to compromise and get one that we thought would work. I figured if the Easy Bake Oven decides to catch on fire and melt to my counter top becoming a permanent fixture in my kitchen forever than so be it. I will have the fire extinguisher ready. But by the time she brought it home we had previous plans we had to get to and alas, the girls still couldn’t use the highly anticipated cooking device. A couple nights ago the girls asked me again to use the Easy Bake Oven. I was running around like a crazy person trying to prepare my meals for this diet and threw James under the bus and told the girls he would bake something with them. Hehe. Luckily he didn't mind at all, in fact, I think he was excited but don't tell him I told you so. So James and the girls made the best cookie sized white cake ever made in the great land of Easy Baking. Aren't they cute!