Some Favorites From Earlier . . .

Now-a-days, with my unfortunate need to be tethered to an external hard drive when I download pictures, I download a ton of pics and try to get a good number of them transferred to my desktop to post at later times.  Thus the vast number of, "yesterday," "last week," and "earlier" posts. (-:

Here are three favorites from our first trip to the lake on Friday evening and one pic of Liv waiting for the parade to start.

 Awww...isn't that just the sweetest?

They're going to love that when they're 43 and 40!

Always eager to act as "helpful big sister."

She really is the greatest with her little sis.  Never hesitates to lend a hand and is always the first one Liv runs to if things aren't going so well with mom, ha!  I have to say, it's quite the new experience to raise a two year old with a thirteen year old girl in house, especially when one is above forty, just sayin'. (-:

 I'm fairly certain this is near the conclusion of Livia's first "Lake Dance Recital."

Love, love, loved the light in her hair!

Livia drawing in dirt whilst awaiting the Memorial Day Parade.

By the way, it was 51 degrees outside this morning at the start of my Masters swim.  That's not funny!  At least it warmed up to 52 by my drive home...still not funny!

Better get these up here already . . .

For school will be over in a blink of an eye!

Yikes and Yeah!!

Last week was the end of the year band/choir/recorder concert.  I was down for the count with the ol' stomach bug though and had SP take some pics and video.  Wish it was lickety split easy to get video up here 'cause I imagine you'd love to hear some third grade recorder or beginning band???  Next time...

We have a trumpet player...

 A happy, peace-loving trombonist...

 And the mystery man on recorder!

And while they played, she...

 Danced and . . . 

Danced and . . . 

 Danced!

 Ta-da!!!

Shirley Temple watch out!

Three reasons why . . .

 I endure swimming outside at 5:46a.m.

 (well, technically that's 5:41a.m. since I'm one of those "clocks five minutes fast people")

 One

(Beginning of the swim)

 Two

(Middle of the swim)

Three

(Post shower!)

A better start to the day there can not be.  I think this is my fourth year with the A2 Masters.  I'll look back in the archives for a link (wow, it's my fifth year...AND...I did NOT lose the post baby fat I hoped to lose last year!!!).   I moved myself up a lane again this summer which means I have to swim FASTER, yikes!  I kept pace with the others yesterday pretty well and fortunately on one drill (10, 100 meters freestyle at 1:45) where I don't think I could have kept that pace, they didn't either.  I think we were pretty steady at about 1:50/1:55 though which is pretty good.  My first year I started out in the very first and slowest lane out of seven lanes. I've gone up one lane every year except I slid back one lane (two? can't remember) when pregnant with Livia. I am now in the fourth out of seven lanes.  I would be fine getting into lane five, amazed to get to lane six and doubt I'll ever swim in lane seven. We'll see how it all pans out over the years.

My recommendation...join a Masters Group, great work outs, great people, all levels are welcome!


Update for Thursday, May 31st...just to stay grounded though...it was 51 degrees outside at the start of this morning's swim and a balmy 52 by the drive home.  That's actually NOT so pretty!!!

Memorial Day . . .

A day to remember.

 We stood, we clapped, we waved.

Such an honor to be protected as a nation by all who serve, have served and have given their lives for that cause.

And, they all waved back, every time!

Hard to pass by that two year old.

(-:


Oh, oh...AND...
I almost forgot,

 On our drive to drop off our "overnighter" friend of Ben's we happened upon this tank at a VFW Post.  I mean, how perfect was that.  So I said, "Whoever wants a picture with the tank, hop out."  And these two hopped out.

Then I hear down to my left, "Chs, chs" (translated as "cheese") and I'm like, "Who let you out of the car?  And, I don't have any cheese right now" (That might have come out in a slightly exasperated tone as it was now nearing lunchtime and 91 degrees).  And then it hit me, "Oh, 'CHEESE,' fine, go stand over by the tank, we'll get your picture too!"
(-:

Oh, that's right, I also had a story that I wanted to share, debated sharing and I guess, my clicking fingers have decided, "it's a go!"  So, here it is.  


Well, after the parade, the two year old was really close to an emergency potty situation and we were parked in a church parking lot in a neighborhood.  I was really tempted to ask any old homeowner if Liv could use their potty (and yes, I would have said "potty" more than likely) since the church was closed, but, as I approached our car I noticed the "curb" of the parking lot was made from cinderblocks. YEP, with the holes upright.  Sorry but, they are absolutely the perfect sized holes for two-year-old bums.  And there was a nice private spot between our car and a neighboring car. 

At this point, if you have or know a two year old you should take this tip and use it again and again, that was the absolute PERFECT potty to discover in such a situation (plus, I had kleenex in my purse, I mean c'mon...PERFECT).  Now, from this point in the story forward, I suggest leaving if you're faint of heart....


o.k....we'll wait a minute for those that need to click away...the story is going to take a very steep decline away from anything remotely tip worthy...


O.K. so, as we sat on the "potty" in the parking lot , at the end of the parade in the blazing hot, beating down sun I did notice some dew on the day lilly leaves growing up just behind, yet dangling all over, the clean, dry cinder block that held my precious two year old.  "Ah" I thought, "drips of dew to keep the flowers fresh on such a hot, hot day.  Can't believe our luck to stumble upon such a fresh, clean little area." We finished up and went into the car.
Then, in all my glory, I exclaimed to all the kids what an amazingly perfect scenario sat just outside our car door allowing Livia to go potty in this emergency situation.  To which one of the boys responded, "Yeah, I had to go really bad and it worked great for me too!!"
"Um, pardon me son..."
"WHERE WAS IT EX.ACT.LY THAT YOU PEE'D?????"
Son's reply, "Oh, just outside your door, by those weeds, it was perfect!"


Yeah, you got it...all over the day lilies rubbing all over her back!


I could NOT make this stuff up if I tried!!!

And . . .

We're off to the races!

The annual run to see who hits the water first:

 Oooo, Ben takes it by a hair due to Lara's miscalculation of wearing shorts down the hill and deciding to shed them before the plunge.  Third year in a row for the B-man (which, I've never called him and we don't actually call him, for some reason it just seemed to fit there, (-:).

Anyway...

We're jumping into summer with both feet over here and lovin' it!

psst...5:45a.m. is going to come early tomorrow...

Well, Wednesday wasn't so funny . . .

Welcomed that day in the wee morning hours with a horrible bout of vomiting followed by an entire day in bed aching and more vomiting...sorry, not my typical fare here, it is what it is though.  But, I had no idea what my last post was and upon checking in, thought it pretty funny that I was hoping to start this week in particular with a little humor.

I'm going to need all the humor I can get to close out this week...you should see the house with a mom out of commission for now two days!

Wow!!

Let's start the week with a little humor . . .

Shall we?

In other news, the clock is ticking down until a week from tomorrow (Monday) when I jump into my outdoor summer Master's Swim at 5:45a.m.-ish.  Still loving those swims, still despising the time!  Can't wait!!

Hope you have some good humor in your week to come. I'm sure we'll have a chuckle or two over here, maybe I'll even manage to record one or two!

Hockey . . .

You know your kid loves the game when at the conclusion of a season of losses (one tie, way to go last night guys!), he says..."This was the BEST season I've ever had!"

This year, as in last, Ben did a hockey clinic on Sunday nights from Sept.-May, never played a game.  That was starting to get old for him mid-winter but he stuck with it.  Then, come April he joins the short, six week, Spring League with two, sometimes three, games each week.  It is DEFINITELY a busy time (especially with a mom lacking good judgement who lets the kid sign up for track and Y baseball too...I will never get over that one...but I learned a thing or two at least...check back in to see if it stuck, ha!).  But boy oh boy, did he LOVE playing those games over these past weeks, so fun to see.  Probably also fun for the mom to see when we're at this "gentle hockey" stage with no checking allowed.  Not sure how excited I'll be about him playing hockey with the big boys if he takes it that far!

I didn't learn a thing or two . . .

The two year old has been up at least six times already and just to add an extra umph to the wearing of nerves, she's decided to wear her shiny, black patent leather shoes, with HEALS, to bed...so now I have..."click-clack, click-clack, click-clack...MOMMY, PEE-PEE!"

And, since we're kinda on the topic...I may not have learned how to get the two year old to stay in bed, but I SURE DID learn how to reinvigorate the five year old with reading practice.  If you are not fond of potty humor you may like to click off this page now and come back tomorrow.

O.K., you've been warned.

This was last week's book of the week for W. to have ready to read by Friday.

 Well, after having grown up with three brothers and now having three sons a natural instinct hit me immediately after reading the very first page of this book.  And that instinct was...to add the word "poop" after the word "go."  Please, click away as needed.  I'm simply going to forward this link to my brothers and we'll be done with it! (-:

 We only added the word out loud once, after that it was totally just implied with these words and we laughed and we laughed and we laughed...every single one of us.

I mean c'mon, "he will get gas!!!!"  Hysterical!

(Folks, this has been a VERY long journey to get me to this point, those of you with girls will N.O.T. understand!)

 He's gonna go in his RIG, siiiiiick Dad, that's disgusting!

Oh, and then of course, gotta zip up!

Certainly Mom will have much more sense than Dad than to participate in any of that madness...

 Eww, Mom...not you TOO!!

Please, NO...

 Ah man, not you too, Tim, and in your jet none the less!

And thus concludes this decade's potty humor.

Sorry!

(-:

And can you imagine, William had to go to school and read that to his teacher with a straight face, HA!

One Night . . .

Princess had a breakdown!

Time: A couple weeks ago, probably 9:30p.m.

Place:  Kitchen...TABLE...on top of it!

 Princess, dressed in that evening's pajamas consisting of shades and her favorite sweater over her "Warning, I'm Two" sweatshirt (yes, very ironic), decided she needed a "nummy" after her fifteenth trip to the potty.  Her fed op parents didn't feel the need to jump at her whims and just let her walk off alone to the kitchen, violently crying at the horrors of such unloving parents.

 When it was too quiet for comfort I headed in!

Look at the sad, resigned face concentrating on cutting open a cereal bar.

Poor, poor girl.

And...

I do not like hand washing dishes and sometimes I'd just like to start violently crying about it, slip on my shades and go cut open a cereal bar!

So, there!

(-:

Mother's Day and the Garden . . .

On Mother's Day,

 How we think they should be.

 How they really are!

 Awww...but isn't she just the sweetest little doll?

And, does that tree to the right of her just seem a little creepy?

I got too far into editing to turn back during an attempt to erase a man.

Those are the results when you try to remove a man with the iPhoto editing feature "retouch" or "drag over spot to remove blemish."  He was a little bigger than a blemish!

One of these days I'll learn Adobe Photoshop, hahahaha!

 Oh, this girl.

The one who is "potty trained" and in a big girls bed.

The one who has to go potty fifteen times after she's laid down to bed.

And, at this stage, you never know which "MOMMY, PEE-PEE!" is really the urgent one.

So, you let her get up Ev.Er.Y. time...for at least a week.

And then you snap.

Tonight was the snap.

She's o.k., don't ya'll worry...

But tomorrow night, if I've learned a thing or two, we should have a few less trips to the potty after we get in bed...or not! (-:

Kindergarten "Mother's Tea" fruit kabobs

They were a lot easier to prepare than I thought, thank goodness.

Forgot I wanted to take a picture of them until I started the saran.

Loved the 8:54a.m. lighting though and I had to snap it quick as I was to be at the school at 9:30a.m. and I was still in my pajamas...

Yeah, I know!

The Garden:

 Globemaster Allium very slightly blooming

 No idea what they're called, but I love 'em.

Lupines from Lisa!

I think that's what I'll always call them.

Got this plant a couple years ago from my good friend and it's one of my absolute favorites, this picture doesn't nearly do it justice.

Every now and then, if I really think about all these gardens I keep carving into our landscape, I get a little overwhelmed.  They're not really perfectly designed or kept up but I sure do have fun tinkering around in them.  Moving things here or there as needed, planting 12 tree saplings the in-laws sent over in our already tree-heavy yard (not getting mad when SP unknowingly mowed a few of them down...well, not getting too mad...), weeding, weeding, weeding (I LOVE weeds, they're so quiet!), thinking about the veggies for the year, wondering if I need to redo the herb garden, what's up with my wild flower garden, where are all the flowers?, seeing poison ivy starting to pop up, and on and on.  It's a little much, but I couldn't do without them for a minute!

This year, turn over some soil and plant a garden!

Goings on . . .

 A girl's changing table morphed into a catch all book shelf/toy and clothes holder.

The embroidered alphabet ("Thanks" Aunt S.) has moved around the room with this changing table, with Livie hearing the alphabet song and watching me point to the letters since she was born.  She now identifies, L, E, M, O, Y, Z, W and A (I think, A...can't remember).  Um, yeah...and they went and changed the start date for kindergarten to being 5 by Sept. 1st, making her have wait an "extra" year (what'll be considered "extra" by me for the rest of my life) to start.  Trust ME, I'll be trying to get around that rule in two years!

A boy's latest art installment is called

"The Eiffel Tower of Crosses."

For real!

He makes these at kindergarten and brings them home for painting and arranging.

 Another boy, the third grade one, check mated me in FIVE MOVES the other day!

While I spend my time laboring over my next move he builds towers with "MY" pieces and takes picture of them.  Then I slowly and deliberately move and BOOM, within 10 seconds he responds with his next move.  Within our last five or so games, I've won once, stalemated once and lost, lost, lost. Hmph!  I love chess though and am going to conquer!

 In his spare time (HA!  I've created a monster in myself here, at one point this boy was registered for four sports at once. Say what???) he throws shot put.  Had a first place a few weeks ago a fourth place at a full conference meet and a third place at a districtwide meet.  Do you see the shot put at about 1 o'clock?

My long distance runner is being asked to show her short distance speed later today, she'll be running the 100m.  This pic is from when she came in third for the 800m run (yes, coming in before the gal with the intense runner's stance there) last weekend.  There were about fifteen other girls in front of these three.  Oh, at the Presidential Fitness testing in school yesterday she was glad to knock about 30+ seconds off her mile run from last year.  She came in at about 6:40 I think she said, pretty good for not running the mile at all this year.  The youngest two and I will be missing the meet today due to some kind of bug that two of us have.  I'm sipping a hot cold and flu drink while I type, yuck!