Friday, May 18, 2012
Friday 5.18
I have been putting off my post for today. I figured if I waited until after the kids were in bed it would be more enjoyable for us all. But then a humongous, disgusting, monster mess happened. So after getting that cleaned up the kids are still awake and I am going to go do this instead....
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Almost Summer
Sometimes I feel like this is my view ALL day long... driving to and from school:)
There are only four more days of school! I am really happy that I won't have to wake up the little girls from naps to go pick up kid anymore... at least for awhile. I'm also sure that in a couple of weeks I'll be all crazy because I have run out of ways to entertain the kiddos. So the cycle goes year after year:)
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Live in the moment and censor the backlash
I'm feeling a little nostalgic and reflective today. It is crazy that next year I will have a 3rd grader, 2nd grader, and a Kindergartner! I can hardly believe that those little babies of mine are growing up so fast.
Some days things are smooth and happy at our house. The minutes slip by and I wish they would slow down so I could have more time to imprint the little joys in my mind. I wish there was a way to remember everything perfectly. It makes my heart hurt to think that no matter how much I write down, some things will fade and be forgotten.
Some days are hard and discouraging, but I still wish I could slow time. Then I could stop and gather my patience and remind myself that it's ok... there are more good things to come. Spills and fights are fleeting, and there are worse things than kids that stay up all night reading and are cranky in the morning.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
On my mind
Praying and thinking about my Nicky because he has something hard to do today. I know it will all work out and it will be worth it because he's the best and he deserves it. I sure do love him and all he does for our family!
Monday, May 14, 2012
Friday, May 11, 2012
Weekend Plans
Tonight my family is coming down to visit.
Saturday morning we set off for the 1st annual Nogales Classic (60 miles).
My little brother is going with us and it should lots of fun, and hopefully not too hot!Then Sunday is Mother's Day:)
Thursday, May 10, 2012
My Day 5.10.12
I started off by driving the big kids to school (10 minutes late I might add) only to realize that Channing had left his folder and lunch box on the counter at home:( I decided to make the trip back right away since everyone was already in the car and buckled. That's half the battle anyway right? By the time that was done we had been in the car going on an hour and baby girl was not happy about it.
I fed the younger kids and then struggled for a while to get Farrah down for her morning nap... she's been a bit fussy lately. I finally got her down and did a little bit of straightening up. Then I had to start getting Rand ready for preschool and Blythe ready for her hearing screening at the school. She's being screened for speech problems.
After dropping Rand off we would have 30 minutes to kill before the hearing test so we decided to stay and eat lunch with him at the preschool. That went well... Farrah cried most of the time and Rand teased Blythe until she whacked him in the head several times. Rand "accidentally" finished off Blythe's juice box for her, and she freaked out again and applesauce was spilled. In other words - just your typical day at our house, but this time with a captive audience of 3 teachers and 15 other children:)
We left to go to the school office for the test. Blythe did well, but Farrah was unhappy. I ended up having to leave the room because she was too loud. No babies allowed to cry during a hearing test... go figure! While I am sitting in the front office, feeding Farrah little bites of Blythe's leftover lunch, a note arrives from the preschool for me. It turns out Rand slipped on the basketball court and smacked his head hard on the concrete. He is very upset. The nurse has been called to come up and look at him but they would like me to come also.
I'm torn... my Rand-o needs me, but if I take off and Blythe comes out and finds me gone I know she'll be upset. She has been having really bad separation anxiety lately. I was actually surprised she didn't get upset when I left the room with Farrah. She was too distracted playing a game on the nurses cell phone to notice though.
I decided that Blythe should be done any minute and I would wait for her. She came out about two minutes later and we headed back over to the preschool. Rand was being held by his teacher and watched over by the nurse. He also had an ice pack on his head and all the skin scraped off of his elbow. He was pretty upset, which is unusual for him. He usually takes injuries in stride. I held him for awhile so he could decide if he wanted to come home now or if he was ok to stay and finish school. He went back and forth so many times I started to get a bit annoyed:) Ultimately he decided if he could get "that special medicine" (Neosporin) and a band aid on his elbow he would stay.
In order to do that we had to walk about 10 miles back to the nurses office. By this time Farrah was, as we say over here, "done for the day" and screaming her head off in the stroller. At the same time one of the other teachers brought Blythe, who had just peed her pants on the play ground, even though I'd taken her to the restroom 2x during the last 30 minutes and tried to get her to go, over asking if I had extra clothes for her. The phrase "when it rains, it pours" my have been thrown around several times at this point:)
The nurse talked Rand into walking down with her and one of the teachers. A kiss goodbye sealed the deal and he was left in good hands. I headed into the classroom to find the other teacher in the bathroom wearing latex gloves and trying to clean Blythe up and changer her. I graciously let her off the hook and took over this duty. All the while Farrah sits in the stroller outside the bathroom door and screams hysterically.
I got Blythe all fixed up and we left the school with clean underwear and shorts minus a shirt. ( I didn't pack and extra shirt for a potty accident). Her shoes were soaked though so I took Farrah out of the stroller and put her in. Then I proceeded to try to maneuver through the classroom door, a swarm of small children right outside the door, and a chain link gate while holding the baby and pushing a quirky fold up stroller from Walmart!
You know what... we made it though. In honor of the occasion I threw all caution and health to the wind and we went to Mcdonalds for French Fries and a Dr. Pepper! I think we all deserved it.
The girls fell asleep in the car and it was less than an hour until time to pick Rand up so I drove up Madera Canyon and sipped my DP and listened to talk radio. It was kind of nice... maybe even relaxing since I love all of those things. I think it was about this point when I officially gave up my plans to ride my bike on the trainer sometime today.
We picked Rand up, drove home, unloaded everyone, fed them all a snack, laid Farrah down, checked the mail, and did a few more chores.
An hour later I woke up Farrah loaded everyone back into the car, picked up the big kids, came home made the boys dinner so they could go to the BMX track. Somewhere in there Nick came home... I'm pretty sure I saw him for a second in there. The boys left and I got the girls ready to go out to dinner with a couple friends. At this dinner with my three girls and two other grown ups... I made the shocking realization that boys cause all the problems in this family when we go out;)
We were home by 7:30 and the big girls showered while I got Farrah to bed. Then we rented a movie and watched while we waited for the boys to get home. After all as Ainsley pointed out, it's not fair to go to bed when they get to say up late!
They came home at 9:30 just as the movie ended. I quickly regretted all decisions to let any children stay up past 7:30PM and Rand proceeded to have melt down because I couldn't understand what he was saying... oh wait, he was complaining that it wasn't fair that he had to go to the BMX track while the girls had dinner at a restaurant. The kid has nerve, I'll give him that!
By this time I throw my hands in the air, after all who can please these people anyway? We finally get everyone squared away and into bed and then Nick and I end up staying up until 12:30 instead of going right to bed like good parents who have to get up early the next morning... An act which culminated in the kids being 10 minutes late to school again this morning
Ok, so there were a few special circumstances in here, but for the most part this is what our life is like. So the next time you hear me say that we like things a little chaotic and messy you'll know what I mean. After all my day had the potential to be so boring when it started, and look what it turned in to! That is why I love my little family- crazies and all, and also why I am sometimes grouchy a lot:)
The END
I fed the younger kids and then struggled for a while to get Farrah down for her morning nap... she's been a bit fussy lately. I finally got her down and did a little bit of straightening up. Then I had to start getting Rand ready for preschool and Blythe ready for her hearing screening at the school. She's being screened for speech problems.
After dropping Rand off we would have 30 minutes to kill before the hearing test so we decided to stay and eat lunch with him at the preschool. That went well... Farrah cried most of the time and Rand teased Blythe until she whacked him in the head several times. Rand "accidentally" finished off Blythe's juice box for her, and she freaked out again and applesauce was spilled. In other words - just your typical day at our house, but this time with a captive audience of 3 teachers and 15 other children:)
We left to go to the school office for the test. Blythe did well, but Farrah was unhappy. I ended up having to leave the room because she was too loud. No babies allowed to cry during a hearing test... go figure! While I am sitting in the front office, feeding Farrah little bites of Blythe's leftover lunch, a note arrives from the preschool for me. It turns out Rand slipped on the basketball court and smacked his head hard on the concrete. He is very upset. The nurse has been called to come up and look at him but they would like me to come also.
I'm torn... my Rand-o needs me, but if I take off and Blythe comes out and finds me gone I know she'll be upset. She has been having really bad separation anxiety lately. I was actually surprised she didn't get upset when I left the room with Farrah. She was too distracted playing a game on the nurses cell phone to notice though.
I decided that Blythe should be done any minute and I would wait for her. She came out about two minutes later and we headed back over to the preschool. Rand was being held by his teacher and watched over by the nurse. He also had an ice pack on his head and all the skin scraped off of his elbow. He was pretty upset, which is unusual for him. He usually takes injuries in stride. I held him for awhile so he could decide if he wanted to come home now or if he was ok to stay and finish school. He went back and forth so many times I started to get a bit annoyed:) Ultimately he decided if he could get "that special medicine" (Neosporin) and a band aid on his elbow he would stay.
In order to do that we had to walk about 10 miles back to the nurses office. By this time Farrah was, as we say over here, "done for the day" and screaming her head off in the stroller. At the same time one of the other teachers brought Blythe, who had just peed her pants on the play ground, even though I'd taken her to the restroom 2x during the last 30 minutes and tried to get her to go, over asking if I had extra clothes for her. The phrase "when it rains, it pours" my have been thrown around several times at this point:)
The nurse talked Rand into walking down with her and one of the teachers. A kiss goodbye sealed the deal and he was left in good hands. I headed into the classroom to find the other teacher in the bathroom wearing latex gloves and trying to clean Blythe up and changer her. I graciously let her off the hook and took over this duty. All the while Farrah sits in the stroller outside the bathroom door and screams hysterically.
I got Blythe all fixed up and we left the school with clean underwear and shorts minus a shirt. ( I didn't pack and extra shirt for a potty accident). Her shoes were soaked though so I took Farrah out of the stroller and put her in. Then I proceeded to try to maneuver through the classroom door, a swarm of small children right outside the door, and a chain link gate while holding the baby and pushing a quirky fold up stroller from Walmart!
You know what... we made it though. In honor of the occasion I threw all caution and health to the wind and we went to Mcdonalds for French Fries and a Dr. Pepper! I think we all deserved it.
The girls fell asleep in the car and it was less than an hour until time to pick Rand up so I drove up Madera Canyon and sipped my DP and listened to talk radio. It was kind of nice... maybe even relaxing since I love all of those things. I think it was about this point when I officially gave up my plans to ride my bike on the trainer sometime today.
We picked Rand up, drove home, unloaded everyone, fed them all a snack, laid Farrah down, checked the mail, and did a few more chores.
An hour later I woke up Farrah loaded everyone back into the car, picked up the big kids, came home made the boys dinner so they could go to the BMX track. Somewhere in there Nick came home... I'm pretty sure I saw him for a second in there. The boys left and I got the girls ready to go out to dinner with a couple friends. At this dinner with my three girls and two other grown ups... I made the shocking realization that boys cause all the problems in this family when we go out;)
We were home by 7:30 and the big girls showered while I got Farrah to bed. Then we rented a movie and watched while we waited for the boys to get home. After all as Ainsley pointed out, it's not fair to go to bed when they get to say up late!
They came home at 9:30 just as the movie ended. I quickly regretted all decisions to let any children stay up past 7:30PM and Rand proceeded to have melt down because I couldn't understand what he was saying... oh wait, he was complaining that it wasn't fair that he had to go to the BMX track while the girls had dinner at a restaurant. The kid has nerve, I'll give him that!
By this time I throw my hands in the air, after all who can please these people anyway? We finally get everyone squared away and into bed and then Nick and I end up staying up until 12:30 instead of going right to bed like good parents who have to get up early the next morning... An act which culminated in the kids being 10 minutes late to school again this morning
Ok, so there were a few special circumstances in here, but for the most part this is what our life is like. So the next time you hear me say that we like things a little chaotic and messy you'll know what I mean. After all my day had the potential to be so boring when it started, and look what it turned in to! That is why I love my little family- crazies and all, and also why I am sometimes grouchy a lot:)
The END
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Pajama Day
This morning I posted this photo on Instagram, along with my thought that everyone should wear pajamas all day.
I got these responses... Thanks guys you made my day:)
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
How thoughtful of you
Guess what this is a drawing of?
It's obviously the Grand Canyon! Rand drew this beauty and brought it to me today. He told me that he drew me a picture of the Grand Canyon because he knows how much I love it! That boy has been paying attention. Way to earn points with momma Rand-o.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Like it, love it, can't live without it
My new cycling shoes. I've ridden with them for a few weeks now and they are pretty and comfy all at the same time. Thanks FIL!
Friday, May 4, 2012
Until September my love....
Speaking of things that make me happy...
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Cooperation makes it happen
You know what makes me happy? When I can get a photos of all of my kids together + they are all looking towards the camera+ they are all happy while doing it! We went on a little family outing recently and I was able to snap this photo. Seriously love that they all cooperated:)
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
How resourceful of you
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Tour of The Tucson Mountains
In the TTM there are two distances you can ride (72 miles and 27 miles). Originally my father in law and sister in law were going to ride the 72 miles with me, but it turned out that neither of them was able to ride after all.
Nick's cousin Tyler was also riding and I knew he and Nick would be too fast for me and I would end up by myself most of the time. I debated about just doing the shorter ride since I was on my own. Then we found out that this is the last time they are holding this race! It has been around for nearly 30 years but due to financial issues they will not be holding it again. With that news I made up my mind to go for it and do the longer race.
Heading out bright and early... the start line was about an hour from where we live.
Waiting at the starting line.
My ride: (boring to everyone else but I want to be able to remember)
I wanted to start out slow and steady and I did maybe too good of a job of that! I had a good group in the beginning but by about mile 15 - 20 they were just going so much slower than I wanted to. I made the mistake of letting all the faster groups get away in the beginning with my attempts to start out easy.
I had a tough time ( mini bonk?) from miles 20-30 during the hilly section after the climb on Silverbell until I hit La Cholla. Once I got past the initial little climb on Ajo I found good people to ride with. Up until then everyone else that went by was way too fast for me to stick to for long and all the bigger groups were gone.
One person that stuck out was on this section was "Tri-girl" (that was her nick name in my mind). I sucked her wheel for about 9 miles down Ajo. She was amazing and kept up a steady pace of 19-21mph into the wind. After that I felt well rested and pulled up along side her as she was starting to look tired. I offered her a pull but I don't think she understood what I was saying. That combined with her outfit (sleeveless jersey and arm warmers), and her riding style are what landed her with her nickname:)
I had a good fast section from miles 50 to 60 riding in a line with some super fast guys. One was a bike patrol rider on a recumbent. "Bike Patrol" invited me to follow them so I jumped on his wheel. They were going anywhere from 22-25mph steady, depending on which one of them was pulling. I got too tired to keep up after that and they dropped me. I did see the bike patrol guy several more time after that though. He must have felt bad for me because he kept pulling along side me and saying "You again??? You wanna pull?"
There was also "Tatoo Guy" and the girl who kept telling me how much her left a** cheek hurt! Mine too sister, ha ha:)
From about 60 mile mark on I rode pretty much by myself. I just didn't have the legs to care so I decided to take it easy and enjoy the rest of the ride instead of killing myself when I was alone.
I finished in 4:06 and I was pleasantly surprised with my time since my goal had been to be above 16 mph average.
Photos I took while riding...
This is what getting dropped looks like!
12 miles to go!
Proof that I was still averaging over 17 mph at mile 60.
My first finish line photo at a bike race thanks to Tyler.
Afterwards...
Tyler, Me, Nick, Jordan (Tyler's buddy)
Nick's cousin Tyler was also riding and I knew he and Nick would be too fast for me and I would end up by myself most of the time. I debated about just doing the shorter ride since I was on my own. Then we found out that this is the last time they are holding this race! It has been around for nearly 30 years but due to financial issues they will not be holding it again. With that news I made up my mind to go for it and do the longer race.
Heading out bright and early... the start line was about an hour from where we live.
Waiting at the starting line.
My ride: (boring to everyone else but I want to be able to remember)
I wanted to start out slow and steady and I did maybe too good of a job of that! I had a good group in the beginning but by about mile 15 - 20 they were just going so much slower than I wanted to. I made the mistake of letting all the faster groups get away in the beginning with my attempts to start out easy.
I had a tough time ( mini bonk?) from miles 20-30 during the hilly section after the climb on Silverbell until I hit La Cholla. Once I got past the initial little climb on Ajo I found good people to ride with. Up until then everyone else that went by was way too fast for me to stick to for long and all the bigger groups were gone.
One person that stuck out was on this section was "Tri-girl" (that was her nick name in my mind). I sucked her wheel for about 9 miles down Ajo. She was amazing and kept up a steady pace of 19-21mph into the wind. After that I felt well rested and pulled up along side her as she was starting to look tired. I offered her a pull but I don't think she understood what I was saying. That combined with her outfit (sleeveless jersey and arm warmers), and her riding style are what landed her with her nickname:)
I had a good fast section from miles 50 to 60 riding in a line with some super fast guys. One was a bike patrol rider on a recumbent. "Bike Patrol" invited me to follow them so I jumped on his wheel. They were going anywhere from 22-25mph steady, depending on which one of them was pulling. I got too tired to keep up after that and they dropped me. I did see the bike patrol guy several more time after that though. He must have felt bad for me because he kept pulling along side me and saying "You again??? You wanna pull?"
There was also "Tatoo Guy" and the girl who kept telling me how much her left a** cheek hurt! Mine too sister, ha ha:)
From about 60 mile mark on I rode pretty much by myself. I just didn't have the legs to care so I decided to take it easy and enjoy the rest of the ride instead of killing myself when I was alone.
I finished in 4:06 and I was pleasantly surprised with my time since my goal had been to be above 16 mph average.
Photos I took while riding...
This is what getting dropped looks like!
12 miles to go!
Proof that I was still averaging over 17 mph at mile 60.
My first finish line photo at a bike race thanks to Tyler.
Afterwards...
Tyler, Me, Nick, Jordan (Tyler's buddy)
Jordan kept saying he wanted to go ride around on my bike because it looked so small compared to his:)
I recognized the tattoo on this guys leg after the race. Since I spent a long stretch of miles staring at it, it looked really familiar:)
Times:
After we went to eat at Pei Wei. We had a good laugh at how fitting Tyler's fortune was since he is always on the look out for a wife!
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