A Few Randoms For A Bored Reader

So I have a few updates about what we have been up to though to say anything other than "not much" would be exaggerating.

Let's see, Kennedy went to a birthday party on Saturday where they got to do Tie Dye T-shirts. She about drove me nuts while we had to let the colors set that first 24hrs. I read the directions to her probably 4 times to calm her fears that I wasn't just neglecting the shirt and messing it up, I was following directions. She is so VERY proud of this shirt. She tried to make the middle look like a heart which it actually does resemble. I don't know exactly how I am going to get it off of her...

Aly is almost 2 right? So you may be wondering why her pacifier is in her mouth though she is obviously not in her bed. Well, I discovered a couple of days ago that she is getting in all four of her Eyeteeth (aka cuspids...I think) which explained some of her crabiness and why she was being picky about food etc. She kept going upstairs and pulling her blanket and pacifier out of her crib and after taking it away a few times I made the tooth discovery and figured, 4 teeth coming in at once? have your pacifier and blanket.

I don't think I have mentioned much about Kohen and his bloody noses. None of which were caused by me by the way, except for that one time Kohen called for me in his bedroom after I had put him down and I opened the door and kacked him in the nose cuz he was standing right behind it...Make sure you add that to my application for Mother of the Year. But other than that he gets them if his nose gets whacked but mostly for no reason at all. So this morning we went in, having finally decided to cauterize the blood vessels causing the problem. Kohen was great, of course, we all know dealing with pain is not a problem for him. They did numb the nostril and his eyes watered when they did it but he has acted totally normal today since then. Hopefully it worked and we didn't get the inside of his nose seared for no good reason.

The Scoop

Alright. Nathan has been out of town with work and so I am back to my single-mom status...boo for that. And for some reason I have felt completely indifferent towards posting since he's been gone. It doesn't really make a whole lot of sense because I usually post about things that happen while he is at work but...Anyway, we will see him for a bit this weekend which will be great.

So The Scoop- for anyone who hasn't caught wind of it yet- is that we are moving. Yup, Nathan got a new job (very similar to what he was doing before we moved from Boise) and we will be moving to Northern California by the end of the summer. Moving again? FTL, But moving back to the West Coast, FTW! We will be in the Walnut Creek area and hopefully Nathan will be able to wrap up his job here by mid-summer so we can head out to Cali. after that. The kicker is that when we go to Boise this summer at the end of June, Nathan will leave the kids and I there and so we will pretty much be moving at the end of June...I am so in denial...

Baby Love

This post is just me pausing for a sentimental moment. Look how big my baby is. And cute. But don't be fooled by how serene she looks here- remember the camera shutter opens and closes in less than a second which is about as long as Aly sits still these days. Just in the last few weeks she has become a little busy-body getting into something new while I am literally cleaning up her last exploratory adventure. She has sampled the water from each of the four toilets in our home but seems to prefer the the basement bathroom blend the most...or maybe it's just that she can grab a cup from the play kitchen and sip at her leisure whilst I check her other hot spots looking for her but hardly wanting to know what I am going to find.
And when she has really gotten into some great mischief, like finding a stray crayon to color a wall with, she does this pleased-with-myself gallop as she makes her gettaway. I love that little gallop but I fear what has inspired it. So when I see it, I try to just enjoy it for a moment before going on the hunt for her latest ground zero.
Aly is talking up a storm. It might just be average but it is more than Kohen or Kennedy were talking at this age. When I was changing her diaper the other day she covered her eyes and started counting like for hide and go seek ; "un, tu, see, sor, sive, sicks, sebun, ate, nine, ten! elebun, welve, sir-teen, sor-teen, sifteen, sicks-teen..." I could not believe it!!! I only had to prompt her at nine and I thought for sure she was done at 'ten!' but then she got serious again and kept on with 'elebun...'. Oh, another favorite is that she calls Kenna 'Tenna' which is probably just cute to me but hey, this is my blog so deal ;) Anyway, I love this little Wild-Thing.

A Few Gems From Kennedy

My dear sweet Kennedy...like most 5 year olds she is very observant and lately she has had some real gems.

She and Kohen were playing with the soccer ball and Kennedy was getting seriously frustrated so she came to me to plead her case:

Kennedy: Mom! Kohen wants to play football with his feet- but you are supposed to play with your hands!
Me: Okay, well I can see why that would be frustrating for you because you want to play soccer. But did you know in other countries they call soccer, football? So in a way you guys are both right.
Kennedy: (pause) But we're not in THAT country. We're in THIS country!



Then I was wearing a brand new shirt from American Eagle yesterday. Kennedy was all excited about the movie we got for Friday Night Movie Night, Swiss Family Robinson (which she called 'Family Swiss Robinhood'...cute) when she stopped mid-sentence and asked what was on my shirt. I looked down wondering what kid had slopped on me and not seeing anything I asked her what she meant and she pointed to the bird thats kind of printed on the shirt. (above) Realizing now what she meant I told her I thought it was a picture of an Eagle. She looks at me doubtfully and says, "I think it's throw up from when Aly ate bananas."......So now no matter how I look at it, my new favoritest shirt is kind of tainted because I think she is right...it totally looks like a baby spit up on me. Out of the mouth of babes, right? Pun intended.

Kill Me Now!

The same afternoon that Nathan washed the cars, I went to get in the van to run an errand and as I walked around the back I stopped short when I saw this:

Wondering how dust had covered the van so quickly -and on a freshly washed car- no less, I leaned forward to get a closer look. It's not dust...It's pollen. Okay, that would explain why I have been literally dying of allergies lately. The car was covered in pollen from the time Nathan dried it off and pulled it into the garage! I am sniffin and snottin like nobody's business. I sometimes have sneeze attacks where I sneeze 20 plus times in a matter of a couple of minutes. If it happens when I am driving I have to pull over. I actually took a picture of myself after one of these sneeze attacks but I just couldn't bring myself to post it with my red and watery eyes and swollen nose. I've given up on wearing make-up because if I do it will only be a matter of minutes before I look like I just got kicked off the Bachelor- mascara all running down my face. I have all the medicine and I do Nasal Rinses which are usually totally helpful, but the last week or so...no luck. I guess it is the price we pay for living in such a beautiful, lush, green area...k, even that's not a good enough excuse. Needless to say, I am really looking forward to all of this rain in the forecast.

Trader Joe's Disaster

I have been wanting to go check out a store called Trader Joe's for a while now. It is 15 minutes away and a smaller grocery store with all sorts of organic products and when I went I didn't want to take the children with me. But this morning I needed out of the house and so I ignored that little voice in my head that said 'you're nuts' and took all 3 kids anyway.

We found the store easily and though the carts were smaller I put Aly in the front, Kohen in the back and trusted Kennedy to walk by me. I could tell right away there would be little chance for reading labels and delving into the treasures that are surely at Trader Joes. I started to just grab a few things that caught my eye like Organic Veggie Tortilla Chips, Organic White Cheddar Corn Puffs, and some salmon. Each child was constantly asking me things and asking when they could eat the things I was putting in the cart and Aly was trying desperately to eat the Cheddar Puffs through it's plastic bag (any chance the bag is organic???) and, "can we have this?" -Red Wine- and, "why does that lady have so much stuff in her cart?" - probably because she isn't shopping with kids!... I was ready to get outta there 15 minutes after we made our entrance.

So we are checking out and an intimidatingly silent African-American woman with dreadlocks is our checker. I take Kohen out of the back of the cart to make room for the 2 bags and ask him to please hold on to the side of the cart while I pay. A moment later I sense movement and I turn in time to watch the cart tip over with Kohen hanging on the side and Aly and the groceries still in it. I guess the least Kohen could do for tipping the cart was break it's fall with his shin, poor little guy. A nice mom behind me came to my aid helping calm a scared Aly while I comforted Kohen. The scary checker lady never moved or said anything to me, let alone offer any help. She just stood there impatiently waiting for me to pay. Thoroughly embarrassed I left the store with my organic-loving tail between my legs, carrying one crying child and consoling another as I tried to push the stupid little cart out to the van.

I couldn't help but feel like I had just gotten my trash kicked by karma. When I was about Kohen's age I too was once hanging on the side of the cart while my mom checked out at the store and I tipped over the cart dumping my little sister onto the floor and giving the back of my mom's legs some heinous bruises from where the cart landed on them...I mean seriously, what are the chances!? Maybe that Mom-Curse: "I hope you have a child just like you!!!" really works, though I am pretty sure my mom didn't start saying that until I was quite a bit older and sassier. At any rate, Kohen has a huge blue and purple goose-egg bruise on his shin but luckily that is the only injury. He humbly told me he was 'Sorry' several times on the way home and I think this traumatic event might have possibly cured Kohen of hanging on the side of the cart...though I'm not holding my breath.

Small Misunderstanding

At lunch today after working all morning together doing Saturday chores Kennedy was whinning at me to turn the t.v. on. Irritated with her whinning I kindly informed them:

Me: Look guys, the warmer it gets outside? the more I'm going to kick ya outside.

Kohen: *gasp!* That'll hurt!!!

_____________________________________________________________

And then we have Kennedy's quote of the day outside with her dad:
"Hey look dad, there is some bird poop right there...They should have bathrooms in their nests."

Cowboy-Spiderman's Latest Weapon

Look what Kohen wandered upstairs carrying all nonchalantly. Ahhh! was my initial reaction but after securing the area I did what any good blogger would do...grab the camera. I know Kohen didn't know he had picked up lighter fluid *sheesh!*- I think he just saw the flames on the package and thought- 'yes, this looks like fun...' He seemed a bit surprised that I was taking a picture of his newest find. He's looking down at it like "what did I miss?" -umm, try the warning that says 'keep out of reach of children' for starters. Nathan was going on an overnighter with the scouts and had all of his stuff out and packed up ready for when he got home from work. (that is my disclaimer should Child Protective Services happen upon our blog). Question: why are boys so inherently attracted to dangerous/poisonous/deadly things?! Anyway, since we avoided burning our house down via liquid accelerant today- I think we will consider it a happy ending.

WICKED!!!!!

I have been looking forward to this quick trip up to New York with a couple of my friends for a long time. Mostly because we were going up to see Wicked on Broadway!!! At the last minute one of my friends couldn't go :( she has a new baby who suddenly refused a bottle. So I called my cousin Shelly to see if she wanted/could go and I was so excited when after a little figuring she was able to come!

The car drive was great and went a lot like this: yack, yack, yack, yack, yack yack, yack! A lot of talking. And the closer we got to New York the more excited I was to see the great New Jersey Turnpike. I of course knew it was 'great' because Simon and Garfunkel sang about it in a song, "counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike, they've all come to look for America". So I sat up in my seat and paid attention as we approached but after going through a toll it all just looked like your run of the mill freeways. So I asked Christy, "so where is this turnpike?" and she says, "that was it." I frantically started taking pictures out the back window but the illusion was speeding away faster than we were. Shelly took a picture of me giving my "that was it?!", look which I feel illustrates the moment well.

When we arrived in N.Y. we walked around the Times Square area and Rockefeller Center and did a bit of shopping before we went and fell asleep for a couple of hours in our room -which we were all grateful for, having been up since the wee hours of the morning. Then we got ready and had a great dinner before going to....

WICKED!!! I was so giddy and excited. I could whip out a bunch of descriptive words to describe the show but I feel like they would fall so short. AMAZING!!!! SO AMAZING!!!! It was so entertaining and the voices these people have...it just isn't normal...or fair. Seeing this musical will forever be a highlight of my life. Seriously.

After the show it was late but we changed and walked a block over to Times Square and grabbed a hot chocolate as we took in the sights. One of which was...wait for it...my first celebrity sighting, Carly Smithson from American Idol. Well, actually Erica saw her first and she and Christy were freaking out. It was hilarious. But Carly and her tatted-up husband were very cool. Shelly generously offered to take a picture for us and I was really glad Erica insisted Carly's husband be in the picture too. As we were walking away in shock, Shelly patiently asks, "Okay. Now who was that?" No wonder she was so willing to take the picture! She hasn't been watching American Idol this season! Thinking of the scene we made through Shelly's eyes makes me laugh even now. She must have been wondering why were freaking out over those two. Funny.

It was really a great trip and I have to thank Nathan for encouraging, helping, and supporting me to be able to go. He was great- they were even on time to church! Kennedy's quote of the day was, "Dad, it's okay that my hair is ugly. You're just not a good doer. But that's okay." She said this regarding the braid that Nathan attempted which was down-graded to her hair down with a barrette in it. Aly and Kohen's hair though...not bad. Not bad at all.

A Service For 50,000

So. Two years ago, May 1, 2005 I was a very pregnant Erin in my home in Boise sitting with an interviewer and their laptop for over an hour answering difficult questions for the General Social Survey. This is the huge survey that they get most of the statistics that are used all of the time in news and magazines, by politicians etc. I got paid something like $40 bucks so I think I felt like it was interesting enough and I had done a good job. By giving my oh-so-humble-opinions I represented 50,000 fellow Americans opinions and I felt a sense of pride about that...seeing as all of my conservative views are the correct views anyway, lol.

Anyway, I had pretty much forgotten I had even done the survey until this past Saturday when Kennedy opened the door for a lady who *surprise!* would like to schedule a follow up Survey to see how my opinions had changed, if at all, over 2 years. At first I was like, 'how in the world did they find me?' and then I felt a little silly for not realizing this would be an ongoing thing I had committed to. At any rate the lady made an appointment to come back Monday. So last night there I sat with Agnetha (she is from Sweden) who self-consciously admits in her thick accent that this is actually the first time she has really given the Survey...have you read my blog long enough to know where I am going with this???

2 1/2 hours later Agnetha finished her first survey ever and she left me totally starving and mentally exhausted. 2 1/2 hours!!!! Sheesh. I had forgotten the type of questions they ask. While they are still fresh in my mind I will share a few, understanding that most questions have options for answers that you have to choose the closest one to what you think or experienced. They ask about where I grew up, estimated population, views of area. My parents education, work, Nathan and I's education, work, what social class I grew up in, how much Nathan and I made last year, religious views, questions about gender/race discrimination in jobs, my opinion of working mother's (a little difficult to answer when being asked by a working mother, btw. There was no option for mother's working once their children are in school or only working if necessary. No, it was more like "A mother's place is in the home" do you agree, or disagree with this statement?!), situations I feel abortion is acceptable, and a series of 3 questions about 3 different groups of people, Blacks, Homosexuals, and Communists within our community. I set up three surveys to the left that you can anonymously answer that are the same as what she asked me. I am curious to see if I represented my friends and family accurately.

They end the interview after they turn the laptop over to me and I privately answer super personal questions about my sexual preference, experiences, partner(s), birth control, have I ever been tested for Aids, etc. And since this interview took so long I was s-p-e-n-t by the time she left. But I feel a real responsibility to answer these questions properly to represent my beliefs...I hope I did a good job. And maybe I wouldn't mind if they couldn't find me two years from now...No, I actually believe it is important so I will endure...and then blog about it. :)

Bunny in the Papoose

When Aly came up to me, handed me her favorite little bunny and then turned her back to me and just stood there, it took me a little while and a bit of gesturing from her before I figured out what she wanted. Turns out she wanted to carry her bunny papoose style. It has become her new favorite way to carry her little bunny leaving her hands free to get into all sorts of other mischief.. 10 points for being cute and clever.

A Bug's Life

Kennedy and Kohen discovered a couple of ants down by the garage door. This was big. Big for Kennedy as she went all Code Red and demanded permission to call her Dad and apprise him of this serious situation. Big for Kohen because he sat right down and got a little sugar ant to crawl up onto his hand. Classic. I got distracted by Aly and just a few minutes later Kennedy and Kohen are racing up the stairs to show me what they had put in their new bug house.

For some reason I didn't make the connection at first between the ants downstairs and the bug they had 'just' caught and put in the house. I saw the grass and I was nervously looking for the huge black spider I was sure Kohen had gingerly picked up and put in there. Then I saw it. It's there in the above picture, south of the grass, a little black speck- my children's first successful bug catch ever. They were so proud. As they chattered away to me I was trying to get a good shot of the ant and before I knew what he was up to, that little sugar ant walked right on out of the mesh cage.

I showed the kids their little ant was making a clean getaway and the below pictures were their sincere reactions. Kennedy was like, 'Hay-ee!' and Kohen was all, 'Didn't he see the grass we got for him?'.... They had never conceived that their little ant could or would just walk on out of the house/prison they had so feverishly/lovingly prepared for it.

At dinner they were telling Nathan all about their ant misadventures and at one point Kennedy says, "Kohen likes to pound with his hand....He just pounded that ant really hard with his hand....really hard...........He really likes ants." I sense some of the hilarity of that moment might be lost in translation somewhere between our kitchen table and the Bloggersphere but trust me, the way she said it, all serious, it had Nathan and I rollin'. I don't think I will ever look at a sugar ant the same way again.

Touche'

This is a picture of Kennedy holding our dear friends' baby, Zoe. Zoe was a preemie so she hasn't been allowed out or around children until recently. As you can see, Kenna was loving having a real baby to hold. Speaking of babies, the following is further proof that Kennedy isn't one anymore. *sniff*
So, Kenna's backpack totally busted open a week or so ago. Not the type of tear that can be patched up or I assure you I would have tried just so the bag would make it through this year. But alas, it's a goner. So on Monday I took all three children with me to the store on a hunt for a back pack. Kennedy liked several backpacks pointing first to one with the Disney princesses on it, then one with a My Little Pony on it, and then one with....brace yourselves....the Bratz dolls on it.

I told her 'No way' were we getting that backpack and when she asked why not I thought, "Um gee, let's see. If I wanted my young impressionable daughter to think that looking sexy was important at 5, or that getting Collagen injected into your lips is necessary to be cool, or that you need to keep your years supply of make up on your face, then these little tarts would be the perfect role models!" But as I tried to pick just one reason, Modesty was the answer that came out first. She has been very aware of this lately so I thought my reason might be reason enough. And for a few minutes it was.
Then on the relatively silent drive home Kennedy asks, "Mom, why didn't you want me to have that one backpack?" I answered again that it was because they were dressed immodestly and she pauses and then says, "But Mom, you said we shouldn't not like someone because of how they dress." Yikes...she has a point there. Look at her using my words against me! Already! But she was being sincere so I was more just shocked that she had connected the issues (and somehow, I hadn't). I told her she was right, that we don't just judge people because of how they wear their clothes. Then I tried explaining more that the dolls were not good examples for many reasons and Dad and I had long ago decided we didn't want our children playing with them. How should I have answered her? Any ideas? Input? I always come away from important conversations feeling like I didn't do that hot...and also irritated that it always happens when Nathan isn't around because of course, he always knows how to explain things...

Part One

Saturday Nathan and I decided to try and drive an hour to Baltimore's Inner Harbor area and go to this really cool looking hands-on Children's Museum. We risked it all by loading up the children at nap/quiet time. We told Kenna and Kohen they couldn't talk because it was quiet time and within minutes the miracle of the century occurred: All 3 children fell asleep! I still can't believe it. It was such a good omen. They all woke up as we pulled into Inner Harbor and though Aly was about an hour short of her regular nap, she did amazingly well. Having learned from mistakes in the past, we tell the kids absolutely nothing about where we are going in case for some reason it falls through or something is closed, or someone gets sick etc. So they were surprised and thrilled when we walked into this 3 story playground.

Every time we went passed this station Kennedy would ask if she could "feed the car" again. Would it be too cliche to say here, "with gas prices these days it sure feels like thats all we do!"??

Nathan's competitive nature glaring through as he tries to get a perfect score. This scene was very reminiscent of my favorite scene from I Love Lucy when Lucy and Ethel are working in the Chocolate Factory...

This was a super cute Diner where the parents sat in booths and at tables and the children brought you menus and then food after they had 'prepared' it in the kitchen. Nathan and I must have sat in there eating fake food for I don't know how long, it was a hit.

The food was made out of some sort of silicone-ish material and was rubbery and flexible...It was kind of creepin us out.

Then there was the water room where the children could all put on rain coats and play in the water. The cloud was raining and there was steam coming out of the mountain. You could build a damn and cause the flood plains to flood- you could shoot streams of water at instruments to make sounds. You could spray the windows and squeegee them, you could build fountains...so many cool things.

When you were done playing in the water room you could get dried off by pushing the red button and standing there while a heat lamp warmed you and air blew on you. Always fun to watch your children get blasted with air...

Part Two Inner Harbor

This part was fun, Nathan and Kennedy were climbing around the wall and Nathan was playing along as Kenna was being dramatic about their 'adventure'. He would even swing her off the wall and 'save' her by putting her back on. It was sweet of him to play along because she was deep into her pretend world. Two other things to note. Nathan is sweating but not from the strain of lifting Kennedy- it was super hot in there. Also, in this little part the floor was made of thin pieces of rope and then that was it, until you hit the concrete floor two stories down. I didn't love that part so much.


After the Museum we went and explored Inner Harbor and they have ships and a submarine that you can pay to go walk through. We might have gone through the sub except it was after 5pm so we just looked. Then we had a snack and fed the 'beautiful birds!' (rats with wings) before we went and had dinner where Aly tried her first California Roll...she is her father's daughter.

Our drive home was beautiful and we enjoyed the sunset. I even got a great shot of the Washington D.C. temple. Which btw, does not have beds in it for newly wed couples to consummate their marriages like the Fundamentalist crazies down in Texas had (yeah, I said it.) It was such a beautiful and great day as a family.

A Good Way To Spend A Weekend

So, I may be a little late on this post but I but I still wanted to put it up. We had a nice General Conference Weekend listening to the General Authorities speak and most importantly we were able to sustain President Thomas S. Monson as the Prophet and leader of the LDS church. But with a weekend full of trying to keep the children quiet and occupied as we watched Conference I got to focus a lot less than I would have liked. But we try to make the weekend something to look forward to and this time we got up and for breakfast made Monkey Bread together which was a fun treat. Later the older kids got to try something I remembered my good friend Amber D. telling me she had done with her kids a few years ago. Kennedy and Kohen got to build temples out of sugar cubes and they were pretty thrilled to be using glue for once in their little lives. And they actually did it for quite some time until Kohen discovered he was playing with sugar...building temples out of sugar cubes is now officially Kohen's favorite activity.

Videos

This took place when Aly and Kennedy were trying on some new $30+ dresses that I got for under $10!! Woo hoo! Anyhow, Kenna was in love and ran up the stairs and surprised me with this little performance- considering she has only seen this scene maybe 2 times. I of course grabbed the camera and had her do it again, you will have to excuse Aly's appearance. If you have never seen The Sound of Music, I doubt this will be cute to you, just f.y.i.

Now Kohen, well, he is quite the talkative little guy. In the middle of pretend play he will often run up to me and go off on some emotional rant about something make believe, in this case I believe it was about breakfast. I had interrupted his flow by getting the camera so this is a very mellow version of the usual. 10 points to anyone who can understand what he is saying!

Kohen's First Drawing

For some reason I LOVE when little children draw people, you know, circles with sticks jutting out of them? Well, today Kohen drew his very first person ever and I love it. He shows Nathan and I and tells us that "This is Santa." (notice the hat with the pom pom on top) and then he kind of sheepishly follows up with, "I didn't give him a bag cuz his arms are a little small." Oh my goodness Nathan and I busted UP! And Kohen is so expressive -always using unique facial expressions and hand gestures- that to see him explain the picture was just a parental treat. Seriously. What kid draws Santa for their first person drawing ever? I wouldn't be surprised if he was already trying to earn brownie points for next December.

Chariots Of Fire

Haven't I been pretty clear that Nathan is the runner in our family? Okay. So then what do you think inspired me to suggest I go running with Nathan and the kids this evening? Yeah, I think I've been desensitized by watching all of the running that Nathan does like it is no big deal and thought that "it wouldn't be that bad"-oh man, if you could hear me right now I am laughing so hard I'm snorting...Nathan often goes running with his super athletic 16 yr old cousin Kim and takes 2 of the kids in the double jogger stroller. Well once the kids got wind that I was thinking about going they were totally begging me to go with and all excited and it must have caused me to have a moment of temporary insanity because I agreed.

Let me just preface this little story by saying that I haven't done any consistent cardio since I was very pregnant with Aly. Aly is now 22 months old. But I guess you got to start somewhere right? Starting off both Kennedy and Kohen wanted to run. This was fine. Totally cute too. Kennedy has the weirdest run, but somehow it totally works for her. And Kohen actually kept our pace for a good 20 seconds before he needed a short break in the stroller. I would just like to point out here that I can totally out run Kohen. So yeah, I'm not a total loser.

We met Kim at the corner and started up a long low grade hill. My lungs felt like the combustion chamber in an engine and with each breath I took in I am wondering how long I could possibly have left to live. I am totally ready to cheese this little 'run' and walk home but the Super-Athlete-Kim and the Amazing-Marathon-Man-Nathan keep encouraging me to push through it. My pride keeps me going through mile 1. Pretty soon the little hill drags out into a serious incline and I start walking but with really fast moving arms to keep up appearances. Kohen -back in the stroller at this point- is totally on to me and starts shouting encouragements like "Keep going mom, Keep going! It doesn't hurt, Mom, keep going!" It was so dang cute, but it was killing me as I was huffing and puffing up that hill like the Big Bad Wolf. I didn't want to let Kohen down so I started to jog when he was watching me and walk when he wasn't. This technique worked very well for when Kim or Nathan would look back to check on me, I got super good at it. Mile 2, I finally convinced them to just go at their regular pace and not wait for me cuz they were doing that like, granny shuffle trying to let me keep up. I don't know why their shuffle was still so much faster than mine. Dang.

So then , Mile 3, I was on my own...cue Chariots of Fire music...Eventually I did make it home. I was able to cut a corner of the entrance to our street and see Kennedy sprinting to our house. She probably did more actual running than I did. I am glad the children have a love of running from their Dad's example. They may have a love of eating junk food from their Mom's example. In fact you are welcome to come over for dessert tonight. I will be serving up Ibuprofen and huge slices of humble pie.

Cherry Blossoms 2008

Last week I met Nathan downtown after work with the kids. The Cherry Blossoms were at about 90% of their full bloom- in my totally unscientific opinion- and were amazing. I wanted to try and get some good pictures of the kids there this year and I have to thank my friend Jessie because she let me borrow her awesome camera, which up-ed my chances of getting a good picture even though I am certain I didn't use the camera any where near it's full ability. It was still super fun to play around with. There are all of these professional photogs down there, several had all manner of tripods, gadgets, and serious demeanor's to take pictures of the blossoms and I'll admit I felt felt a bit like one of them shooting pictures with a suh-weet camera... only you guys will know the truth!! lol. Anyway, thanks again Jessie, we had a great time.

Two of my favorites