Corn Maze and Holidays

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch in October. I can't believe Thanksgiving is this week and Christmas is around the corner. I am in love with this time of year.

Chillin'

Hey!!!
It's been quite a while. We moved. We lost our computer. We got a new computer, and now I am totally out of the habit of getting on it!
However I decided to get on today, and check a few things, including this way non-happening blog!
We love our house. Love it. We have made lots of new friends in our new area, and are finally feeling a bit settled.
It's nice to not be so over-focused on the house now. We have had some wonderful days visiting the corn-maze, carving pumpkins, hosting a Halloween party and trick-or-treating. Last night was great as we sat around the fireplace as a family and just laughed and talked and shared stories about this and that. We are finally starting to RELAX and it feels good.

still around

Yes, this blog has been ignored for a while. Just thought I'd fill you in on why. We are moving into our new home next weekend. This past month as been extremely chaotic. It seems we have had to run out to the house for this or that at least once a day. There have been meetings with these people and those people, and trips to Home Depot for this or that. Not to mention normal life and parental duties.
At the end of the day, Trev and I hit the pillows pretty hard. So, blogging has been put on a back burner. It will probably remain that way until we are more settled.

The bright side to all this is that the house has turned out so beautiful. A dream come true for Trev and I, and it's really exciting to see those initial drawings we made sit in reality right before our eyes. I'll post a picture as soon as I think to take my camera with me out to the house.

This week will be full of touch-ups and final fixings, and hopefully all will be good for us to go. I dislike packing and moving, but at least there is the excitment to push you through it!

Monkey A & Steve

My daughter is so sweet.
I have been very busy lately, so I am finally able to sit and write about last weekend.
Trev and I were out with a boatload (no really..a real boatload) of friends on the river early Saturday morning. The guys like to go when the water is like glass - great wakeboarding. The kids were with a sitter.
I answered the cell phone and it was Monkey A, though I could hardly recognize her voice. She was sobbing and I knew immediately that something "real" had happened.

Through her sobs, I heard her inform me that Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter, died.
I tried to calm her and help her over the phone but my heart ached for her, and I was done having fun on the river because all I could think of was that I needed to be there to talk with her about it and comfort her. When I explained my reaction to the phone call to all in the boat, a conversation ensued over Steve Irwin and his dangerous life, and they thought it was cute that our daughter was upset. But they don't really know my daughter, and it was much more upsetting than cute.

Okay, now to clarify this drama. MA has loved animals since she could notice them. ALL animals, slimy and scary included. She has never been afraid of worms, snakes, big dogs...you name it. So, she discovered Animal Planet long ago and has been a DEVOTED fan of the channel, and especially any show with Steve Irwin. She would frequently visit the website, and she knows lots of trivia and facts about animals, and about Steve personally. For about a year she has been telling everyone she knows that her dream is to work at the Australian Zoo, and someday to meet Steve. All her family has responded the same way..."Can't you work at a zoo in the U.S.A?" I think it's easy to laugh off the dreams of an 11-year old, but I think because of Steve Irwin's enthusiasm and obvious love of animals, she saw a kindred spirit, and she adored him.

Since then we have talked about his death, his life, and she has started a letter to the family (her idea). She had a rough few days, but seems to understand that this is part of life. She is determined to honor him in her own way. She continues to watch his reruns on Animal Planet every day, and has watched her copy of his Crocodile Hunter movie a few times this week.

So I guess I write this in honor of my sweet daughter and Steve Irwin. I am sad he is gone, and sad for her loss. But I'm proud of her reaction, and her ability to see good, and make the best of what has been one of the first heartbreaks in her life.

Back to School

When it's "back to school" time, I'm usually ready. This year has been no exception. The kids' arguing seemed to be getting a little louder lately, the excitement of playing outside seemed to be fading, and I think we've all started to miss the bit of sanity a schedule can bring.
So school started this week and I'm wondering where that sanity is?
I kind of forgot that with the start of a new school year also comes the start of all their other activities. They have to be driven to and from school each morning until our home is finished. Then they have to be driven everywhere else after school for scouts, ballet, Activity Days, piano lessons and whatever else they haven't signed up for quite yet.
I was looking forward to the moment I was home in the house with just MD, and a lovely level of quiet, just to hear myself sigh with relief, "Ahhh."
I'm still looking forward to that moment. I'm laughing at myself, yet I'm still hoping that I'll have a moment to look around the peaceful, clean home I envision and say, "Hmmm, what should I do today?" Don't laugh... it could happen!
Here's a rundown of Wednesday.
Got up at 6:00am.
Drive 20 mins. to get MA to middle school by 7:50am.
After MA dropped off, we sit in car at elementary school until 8:30am when other 2 kids start class. (not enough time in there to run home in between school times, but there is this whole 40 minutes of waiting. Gotta figure that out.)
Get home around 9:00, finish getting myself ready, and MD and I fed and dressed when MA calls to tell me she forgot her shirt (after dressing down for P.E.). Make a new 20 min drive out to school, and 20 min. drive home. Trev calls to tell me they messed up some paint stuff at the house, and I need to go over and meet with people.
After meeting, I'm on my way home again with the goal to get some exercise done, and house picked up a bit. But, phone rings before I make it home, and Trev needs a lunch brought to him at the office. He forgot one, and doesn't have a minute to run anywhere. Okay. Go home, make lunch, feed MD lunch, and head out to his office. Just about to drop it off when phone rings again. It's my mom. "Are you missing somebody?" she asks me. What? "Are you missing someone?" No clue what she is talking about. Turns out Wednesday is the kids' one early release day of the week, and I wasn't there to get MA so she walked to Grandma's house (luckily just down the street) and was waiting there. AH! I forgot about that! Okay, so I will drop off the lunch for Trev, and go get MA. Then I do the calculations and realize that since the other kids have early release too, I will have to go directly from the office to their school and get them first.
Okay...skip to the long drive to both schools, long drive home. I pull up in the driveway now (It's 3:00pm), and then I look at the car console and realize I have papers there that I was supposed to drop off at the builder's office at 2:00. I drop kids off at house, to turn right around and drive to builder's office. As I'm pulling out of driveway, Rachel shouts out, "Oh Mom! You need to go to the school office and get the picture packet for tomorrow!" Wasn't I just AT the school? Why didn't you tell me while we were THERE MA?? On my way to the builder office, I call the school. Luckily they are closed for the day. Unfortunately the builder's office is closed also. I drive home with a headache.
I walk in, tell the kids I need a rest for just a few minutes...fall on my bed and sleep for 20 mins. Somehow I managed to make dinner and help with homework after that.
I am not lying when I tell you that Tuesday was almost identical and of course Thursday morning MA and I had to go even earlier to school in the morning to get her picture packet before school started.
I filled the suburban gas tank on Tuesday morning, and by Wednesday night it was half empty. Hey, same as my enthusiasm and energy level!

House update

I know I have not been real good about posting updates on our house construction. I'm not sure why, because it's a major part of our lives right now.
Anyway, this photo is about a month old, so there has been even more progression than you see here. The columns have the rock on them, and the porch is done except for the stairway.

As of today, they are painting the interior walls. Cabinets will be put in next week. The exterior has not been painted yet. This is such an exciting time because we get to see our dream really come together. So far we have been thrilled with the progress and results.
The only snag was when our copper wiring was stolen a few months ago. The frustrating part was Trev, Mike and I were out there at the house while the thief was inside posing as a worker with broom in hand. As soon as we left, he cut the wires and fled. You can read a little bit about it in our Tri-City Herald. This was in the paper a few days ago.
CLICK HERE to read our new home's minute of fame.

I really will try to get a more recent photos soon.

The Cowgirl in Me

What a weekend!
Trev and I got to see the Tim McGraw and Faith Hill Soul 2 Soul II concert in Seattle. It was so fantastic.
We spent the day at Seattle center. We strolled around, visited the Science Fiction Museum, and got our faces drawn by an artist near the Space Needle. How sweet of her to leave out the laughter lines around our eyes and smiles, leaving the picture of us looking about 10 years younger.
The weather was beautiful, the company sweet.
The concert started at 7:30 and we were thrilled to find our seats were only about 20 feet from the stage. We had a great view and saw the country singers up close. We really enjoyed ourselves. They were both wonderful performers. Faith can really belt it, and Tim knows how to entertain the crowd. And yes, she is as beautiful live as in all the pictures you see of her. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing.

We drove home the next day only to pack everyone up for a couple nights of camping near Mount Rainier. We got to hike quite a bit on the mountain, and enjoy the amazing scenery. The wildflowers were just gorgeous. Monkeys A & B were brave and swung from a rope swing into icy glacier water near our campsite. Trev and Uncle Mike were crazy and jumped from a bridge into the same icy water.
There is something I love about camping. Who cares how you dress or look as you hike around, roast marshmallows, and sing campfire songs. It's fun to chase bugs, mice, birds and deer in the woods. It's hard to beat going to sleep under a star-filled sky, the smell of campfire in the air and hot cocoa in your belly.
What more can I say? That was just a GREAT weekend.

Bored Mom

Have you heard about the "bored mom"?

CLICK HERE to read about this author and mother.

Here is a mom who finds her kids boring. She does not enjoy being with them, and they know it.
It makes me sad. Angry at first, but mostly sad. Just from my own experience of being a mother of 4 children, I feel that she is surely missing out on joy that can come from no other source. I feel her children are missing out on the love, joy, and security that can also come from no other source.
I'm pondering the reasons for the difference in our mothering attitudes. Is it innate? Is it the experiences we have each had with our own mother? Is it a choice of selfishness vs. selflessness? Whatever it is, I am glad that I have chosen to make mothering my priority. My life has been enriched in ways I can't explain. There is a deep sense of fulfillment and peace in choosing to view my "job" as one of extreme importance. I am raising the future. I am giving them of myself so that they will be taught well, but also so that they will always know that they are understood. They are loved and supported. That there is someone in their corner ALWAYS. Isn't that feeling of being cherished vital in a world like ours? Don't my children deserve to have a solid foundation in this craziness that surrounds them? Don't all children?

Every single night I have the pleasure of tucking my kids in. It's not always easy to drag myself away from what I am doing to go from bed to bed, singing each one their favorite lullaby. With 4 kids, this ritual takes my time. But after kissing each one of them, the air fills with back and forth "I love you's!" And it never fails as I walk down the darkened stairs, at least one of them always shouts , "You're the best mom in the universe!". That isn't why I do it, but it's things like that that keep me going. I know as they go into the teen years, I won't be hearing those beloved words like I do now. But that in no way discourages me. I will never regret the time, sweat, tears, and heartache that go with being a mom. NEVER.

Ich liebe sommer.

"Deep summer is when laziness
finds respectability."
~Sam Keen

We just can't help it! We took another mini vacation. Sorry that is all my entries seem to be about these days, but alas...it IS summer!

This time we rented a cabin for a few nights near Leavenworth, Washington. It was nestled in the forest with a swift, shallow river right in our backyard.
It was fantastic. We had planned to spend a day visiting the small shop-lined Bavarian town, and maybe rent a raft to take a long float down the river.
Instead we were taken in by the beauty right in our backyard, and spent the whole time RELAXING.
We fished in the morning. The kids spent a few hours in the river, collecting big river rocks to make their own dam. We roasted hotdogs over the firepit for lunch, and spent some time in the hammock. We went inside for a few hours and read books and took naps. We eventually drove into the Bavarian town and got icecream and visited the toystore, but then came right back to the little cabin to enjoy more laziness outside. The stars were abundant and amazing. The kids enjoyed a bubbly dip in the hottub, and then we called it a night.
We couldn't believe we were only there a couple of days, it really seemed like we were there longer.
I love summer.

View from the top

Good news!
Trevor is back from his 2nd Mt. Rainier climb. Didn't I say there would have to be at least one more? Happily, they summited this time. He said it was the most physically challenging thing he has ever done. While doing the summit climb, they had steady, freezing winds that had gusts of over 60 mph. Yikes.
Yes, that is him brushing his teeth at the top. (Had to take that one for the office).
He returned home red-eyed and dead tired, but somehow in his zombie-like state we still drove out to see the new house progress (that update should be my next post), and as you can imagine he dropped as soon as he hit the bed.
I'm proud of him! Thanks for the picts Trev, as I will most likely never go up there to take them myself!

Where was Mr. Broccoli?

Maybe this is one of those things where "I guess you had to be there". I'll share anyway.
My sister and her family stayed with us the week of July 4th. She brought her A&E copy of Pride and Prejudice to share with me since I had never seen it before. While she was here, Monkey A and I watched the first half with her. We didn't get time to watch the rest, so she left it for MA and I to finish.

So the next day MA and I watched it together. When it was over, she turned to me and said, "That was such a good ending! I'm so glad that Lizzie and Mr. Darcy got together at the end."
"But Mom, why is it called "Pride and Produce"?

I am still laughing.

*Just a note - I did not make fun of my daughter, and we both laughed together when I explained her mistake to her. And I do not continue to bring it up to her either. It just pops into my head now and then, and I have to giggle. Out loud.

frog beach

We took a daytrip to Clear Lake, near Packwood. It was beautiful! We enjoyed a pic-nic lunch by the lake, then took a hike through the surrounding woods. We had to take a little detour down the road to get some mosquito repellant, but after everyone was sprayed down, we continued on.

The kids enjoyed trying to count tree rings and they were very excited over the tree we found that had been chewed down by a beaver. MC dug through the wood shavings, and found a beautiful piece of wood that she named "dove's wing" because of it's shape.

We found a bit of beach a little later that was covered with tiny baby frogs! They were the size of small crickets and there were thousands of them. The kids caught them and chased them, and we wondered at the way they would let the waves take them from the sand to the water where they would pump those little legs to try and swim. I've never seen anything quite like that before. There were just so many of them. So after naming the spot "frog beach", we left for home.

One of my favorite parts of the day had to be the drive through the forest though. You just can't beat the strong, heady smell of pine trees. The hint of woodsmoke mixed in added just the right touch, and made us vow that we will spend many more of our summer weekends in places like this.

I am a hamburger.

She is grilled chicken and I am a hamburger.
She is the perfect lemon bar and I am a killer brownie.
She is "Pride and Prejudice" and I am "X-Men".
She is a low laugh and I am a cackle.

We are both tea and toast for breakfast, NOT cereal.
We both avoid apple juice for fear of the same stomach ache.
Miles apart, we both choose the same fabric for our curtains and throw pillows.
We sound the same on the phone.
Family rules for both of us.
Rob Thomas rocks both our worlds.

We both have an incredible sister who is also a cherished friend.

Happy 4th!

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism." ~Erma Bombeck

Have a safe, happy and fun July 4th!

Lovin' Those Dog Days

One hundred degrees and rising.
Those are the temps this week. We can always count on a few weeks of very hot weather around here. This makes for GREAT boating days!

Saturday morning I made homemade potato salad and oven-baked chicken legs. We packed them up along with some other snacks and drinks, and took off to Levy Park on the Snake River.
It was the perfect day for being out on the water. The warmth of the sun made it so you wanted to jump in and cool off. We had a great time swimming off the boat, tubing, waterskiing, wakeboarding and surfing. We enjoyed our picnic lunch as we floated along in the boat.

We love days like this. I love that feeling of coming home afterwards, warm-skinned, bodies tired from activity and sun, and full from good food and family togetherness.

ps- Had to share these great photos I took of Trev!

Cubs, Bugs & Shrubs

Guess what I got to do today!

Hint #1 : I was gone from 12:30 pm to 7:00 pm
Hint #2: I am dead tired, and a bit spacy
Hint #3: My voice sounds strained and raspy
Hint #4: My nose and cheeks are a bit rosier
Hint #5: I had a sack lunch for dinner
Hint #6: The silence in this room sounds heavenly
Hint #7: I'm feeling appreciation for my daughters
Hint #8: Today my name was, "Monkey B's Mom!"
Hint #9: On the drive home, I sat in a daze at a blinking yellow light for who knows how long until I realized someone was honking at me.
Hint #10: The title of this entry
Hint #11: The picture at the top of page

Did you guess it?
Do you know where I was?
YES! I was a leader for the day at Cub Scout Camp (400 boys). Okay, now say this slowly...
H..O..L..Y S..M..O..K..E..S...!

I'll just sum the day up with a few negatives followed by a few positives.

Neg #1: I guess the hardest part of my day was keeping track of 12 rambunctious, excited, talkative, always-on-the-move 8 and 9 year old boys. They were all over the place, and my throat is sore just from trying to keep them reigned in.
Neg #2: Mineral study time. Although interesting, the presentation was boring and did not last long enough. Extra time meant...CHAOS.
Neg#3: Boy who will not be named. I will not go into details. Let's just say this boy doesn't quite live in the same world we do. It was a world of endless wandering off, endless dropping things off the bleachers, and ...well let's just leave it at that.

Pos #1: I got to be with M.B. all day, and he was so glad to have me there. I know this because he kept telling me so.
Pos #2: BB Gun Shooting. Fun to watch and help them. The best part was when they gave the leaders time to shoot. I finished and brought my tattered target back to MB to show him. He was amazed (so was I) that most of the holes were in the middle black circle. What was great was the way he took the paper from me and ran to show it to all the boys, who somehow seemed equally as proud of me. Great moment.
Pos#3: Boy who can be named; Chase. Followed me around and sat by me a lot, and presented me with a painted ladybug he made during craft time. So sweet.
Pos #4: MB's liquid eyes. He has amazing eyes. They are big, and the iris floats in a big sea of white. They are also very shiny, as if he produces a little more eye moisture than the rest of us. People who know him usually notice this and will comment on it. Today as I was talking with another leader, he glanced up at me with those eyes, and they caught her off guard. "How beautiful!" she said. He was embarrassed, but it was cute.
Pos #5: Although I am tired, I had a great time. Boys may be noisy, and burpy and they may like to smear chocolate pudding all over their faces at dinnertime. BUT, they have a sweetness I just love. They wanted to sit by me, and they kind of melted into the hugs I gave them when they accomplished something great. They shared with the kids who didn't have treats. They were concerned if another boy seemed upset about something. They laughed loud and long and had me doing the same. I think I really did enjoy myself.

I'm not going to say that I look forward to doing this again in the future, but I won't dread it. Somehow it was an experience I am glad I didn't miss.

A Good Read??

Anyone read a good book lately?

I need some good ones for the summer. The last two I read were big disappointments. The last great book I read was "The Secret Life of Bees" which was a while ago. I'm open to suggestions. I tend to like something with a bit of mystery, good plot, not too sappy, not too gorey, and no super sad endings.

This quote is sooo me!

"I find television to be very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book." ~Groucho Marx

Summer Swim

"A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken." ~James Dent

Summer break is officially here! And, in keeping with tradition, we kick it off every year with the start of swimming lessons!

Who remembers the Ranchette Estates swimming pool? Well, that is where we go for lessons each morning. It's the same pool I swam in as a kid and teenager. Day after day we would ride our bikes there to cool off and to swim until we were exhausted. It's the same pool where we used to play "Shark" and "Marco Polo". The same pool where I would dive off the diving board time after time. First a jack-knife, then a front one and a half flip, then a back flip... Anything I could try with lots of air. I loved that! (sadly, as I've gotten older or maybe it's because I've become a mom, I get butterflies where jumping and height go hand in hand). Same pool where our family would go sometimes and swim warm nights by pool light. Same pool where my boyfriend had a job locking and closing it up for the night in summers.
These memories made me smile today as I sat on the warm poolside pavement, the smell of chlorine filling my nose, and the sound of splashing and laughter in the air. Monkey B ended his lesson with a springy cannonball, and Monkey A a sensible dive.
We walked out the front gate laughing and chatting about the joys of swimming and summer.

hiking it

As a family, we like to hike around together.
As Trev trained for Mt. Rainier he would climb our own local Badger "Mountain" with a 60 lb. pack on his back, 3 times a week.
Many times we would join him, and even now that the Rainier trip is over we still continue to go.
It gets our bodies and minds outside; moving, conversing, laughing and it helps us appreciate the beauty around us.
Whenever we finish, I always have that feeling that my time was just well spent.
Not one moment of it was wasted.

Just Relax and Enjoy the Flight!

FLYING BABIES!
C.A.
A.A.
A.A.
R.A.
M.C.
M.D.
Mike

Jury Duty Day

Hello! A couple things to share quickly.

Trev is back safe and sound. I admit I am sometimes a selfish person. I got the phone call a day early saying he would be home because the avalanche factor was too high and they had to turn around (no summiting this time). Part of me was happy to have him home sooner, but the selfish part of me thought, "Guess what that means! He is going to have to go back up on a different trip to summit." As I shared that thought with him upon his return, I was given his sheepish grin.
Good thing he is too cute to slug.

On another note, I got called to Jury Duty this morning, and enjoyed being dismissed off the jury for my views on depression and it's possibility of being used as a defense in this particular case. I actually would have loved to stay and participate in the whole thing, but honestly did not have the time to do it. I sat there the whole morning wondering how I could possibly be involved for 4 days, while I have a zillion places I have to be with my and my kids' schedules. Being a stay-at- home mom to 4 doesn't exactly give me the freedom to be involved in a jury at this point in my life, though honestly I would love to be given the chance again some time in the future.
So in this case, I guess it was a good thing (for me anyway), that I had some input to share, and they didn't care for it.
I was booted. So off I went to Costco, to pick up M.D. , to make phone calls to the school, to put away groceries, to put away laundry and now to pick up my kids from school.
Gotta run!

ps- just a note in case I made it sound like my schedule is more important than being on a jury. I didn't mean it to sound that way. In most cases I think I would be unbiased and would love to sit in on a case, but at this moment in time, I am overwhelmed with the thought that it would last 4 days because of all the things I am responsible for right now. And it did just so happen that I might have been a little bit biased in this case. Weird.

My man and the mountain

Click here for Mount Rainier climb info

Well, Trev just left for 4 days. He is climbing Mt. Rainier. I have a few mixed feelings about this. I'm excited for him, because he has been wanting to do this for years. He's been training and he and his friend, Joel, are ready.
I'm a little worried, but try not to think about it too much. He assures me that if there is any chance of danger, they won't continue. They are going with a group of about 20 I think, and they will be with guides that have summited over 100 times.
That is reassuring.

I do hope the weather is good for them, and that he has a great time. Hopefully this isn't the start of a trend for him, but if you know my husband at all, it very well could be.

My life is never boring because of this man. I already can't wait till he gets home.

The missing egg

Monkey C found it!

It was 45 days ago that we hid the eggs for our outside Easter egg hunt. When the kids finished up, we realized we were one short. Where was that last egg? We all searched high and low for it, and came up with NOTHING!

I assumed as we mowed, weeded and played outside we would come across it eventually, but we never did.

Yesterday, M.C. came rushing in the house with a pale, dirty egg in her hand. She was giggling with delight at her find! She found the last Easter egg!
It was half burried in sand and a tuft of grass underneath the jungle gym play thingie.

Hasta la Pasta!

HASTA LA PASTA kite tube! I hardly knew ye.

Trev took it back last night. I'll just have to concentrate on bettering my skiing, tubing and wakeboarding. Love all those anyway, although I'm still a little skittish about getting up on the wakeboard again after my last face plant. OUCH.

Ain't Nothin' Like!

Every single day I drive my kids to school.
Every single day they want this song in the CD player, and we turn it up and they sing it with gusto. Even Monkey D shouts out the chorus each time, "Aint nuffin wike!"

You may not be a country music fan. Or maybe you are, but aren't a fan of Brad Paisley. That's okay. Just thought I'd share a morning in the life of the Larson family with you.

If you can picture a carload of enthusiastic munchkins smiling and dancing to this tune, maybe it will give you an idea of how it makes me feel. I look forward to it each day!

Want to hear a bit of the song and get a taste of our morning commune? (click on song title to hear)

Ain't Nothin' Like

I like kickin' back on the sofa
Flippin' through the channels just to see what's on
I enjoy eatin' eggs over easy
Soppin' up with a biscuit 'til the yellow's gone

Chorus
Ain't nothin' like watchin' a bunch of young'ns
Run screamin' through the sprinkler in their little bare feet
And ain't nothin' like finding twenty dollars
In the pocket of the britches that you wore last week

I get into getting out on my mower
In the early mornin' hours 'fore the sun gets hot
And I like goin' down to the Kroger
When the carnival comes to the parkin' lot

2nd Chorus
Ain't nothin' like throwing a hula popper
Draggin' it across a spot a big 'un oughta be
And ain't nothin' like having him for supper
With some good hush puppies and some sweet iced tea

Bridge
This old world is full of simple pleasures
They're all good but some are better

3rd Chorus
Ain't nothin' like finding that woman
That you know you're gonna love for the rest of your life
And ain't nothin' like knowing the Lord's a comin'
Back one day to make you want to do right

Repeat 1st chorus
Repeat 2nd chorus

4-wheeling in Elmo's World

Saturday we got out on the ATV's.

The kids have their own as do Trev and I, and it's a family thing we really enjoy. Trev and I take turns passing Monkey D back and forth as we ride.
She sits on my lap with her huge pink goggles and pink flowered helmet. As we race along with many bumps in the path, and the wind flying through our hair, she is loving it. As soon as we sit on the thing, she always yells with a loud voice, "Ready? Let's GOOOOOO!"
I had a wonderful time. It's always great to be outdoors under the big blue sky, a few fluffly white clouds, warm air, and the roaring rumble of the engines. I love seeing my whole clan in front of me on their machines. The girls' long blonde hair flying behind them under their helmets. Monkeys A & B always in front leading us to new paths as we go.
This day was a little different. As we rode, M.D. continued to serenade me nonstop. It went something like this. "Wheeee-haaa!" "La la la la, Elmo's World! Elmo loves his goldfish, his crayons toooooo! That's Elmo's world!" "Yeeeeee-Haaaaa, Mama!", then the "ABC" song sung over and over, more "Whooooo-Hoooos", and back to "Elmo's World".
I was cracking up the whole time, as I realized she was enjoying herself as much as I was.

Kite Tube

Okay, yesterday was my birthday! Yay! I had a wonderful day.
Got to watch the trusses being put on the house - thrilling, got 2 dozen roses waiting at my table at Anthony's for dinner with Trev - romantic, got gifts from friends and family - so nice, and happy birthday hugs, kisses and songs from my kids - sweet!
But, I must mention the time Trev, my bro Craig and I spent on our boat. Perfect, sunny, 95 degrees, no wind - kickin!

We all tried the kite tube for the first time, and I had an absolute blast. It took us a little bit to figure it out, but once we got it going, it was amazing. I got at least 12 feet in the air and managed to stay adrift for quite a while. It was really just exhilerating. So, I'm still pumped about this, and thinking about how fun it was today. I looked into it a bit on-line though, and found that someone has already died on it, and many people seriously injured. Hmmm.

Here's a link to comments from some users...
kitetube

What do you think?
(I still had a GREAT day!)
ps - mom & dad, I'm sure I already know your comments ;)

Mom's Day

A picture of my kids in Hawaii (the 3 that are not wearing coconuts or leaves). Our 2 year old, Monkey D, stayed home with family. (see picture of her in my "Popcorn & Pilates" post).

Since Sunday was Mother's Day, I was just thinking of my 4 wonderful kids. I know I am stating the obvious when I say they are the reason I celebrate Mother's Day. I of course celebrate my own mother and my mother-in-law, 2 wonderful women beyond compare.

I felt a little shift in my attitude this Mother's Day though. I think in the past, It's been about ME. I'm a mom! I deserve flowers and chocolate!

This year, I know more what it is really about.
It's about those kids! I celebrate them, and I am blessed to be their mom. How blessed I am to be surrounded by them! They are not the lucky ones, I AM THE LUCKY ONE! What a gift for me. And same with my mom. She isn't special just because I am her daughter! Can anyone say ego? I celebrate her because I get to have her in my life!
Are you scratching your head at my profound insights yet?
Just thought I'd share.

In my opinion

Happy Monday!

I think I have discovered that there is nothing like building a house to make you realize how opinionated you are. I don't think of myself as a picky person, but I now see that I must be.
I have in my head the range hood I would like. So I look into it, and find that all hoods resembling what I want are NOT in my price range. They are a bit pricier, and I am determined to stick to our budget on things that are not "needed". I am still on the search, maybe even finding one on ebay for less. Can I picture a different type? Not really.

In this building process I find myself saying, "I know I don't want that". What do I want? "I don't know, but I don't want that." This is where Trevor rolls his eyes. And, I have to say I don't blame him that at the lighting center, he ended up kind of pushing his chair back, arms folded, with a few sighs escaping his lips. I think "resigned" would be the best description of his state of mind.

All in all though, I think we have had a lot of fun picking stuff out. The lady we work with, Susan, has even commented, "Wow! You guys are easy!" in response to our pretty much being in sync as to what tiles and other surfaces we want. So it's nice that Trev and I have similar tastes, and don't like to be wishy-washy about everything. It's only a house after all. I think what you fill it with makes it your home.
As we move from house to house, the things we find we can't live without are...
each other, friends, adequate bathroom space for a family of 6, and maybe the ice and water feature on the front of the fridge. If it came down to it, I really could take or leave the range hood.
But honestly...I think I'll take it (if I can find it).