I think my boys are in love.

*sigh*

I watched the daughters of a friend today for a few hours. I think that Alex and Daniel now have girlfriends.

Daniel did start to get tired after a couple of hours outside.

I found a critter.

It was a gorgeous day, they played outside for hours, got filthy dirty, and had a great time. While they were playing, I totally designed (in my head) a flower bed that would look perfect at the back of the house - I just need to do some research into what grows well in almost total shade and find some cheap dirt to make it a raised flowerbed. Yet another project to keep me busy in my spare time.

So now, I'm working on some sewing - trying to get the last few bags done before the craft show next Saturday - but at the same time, I'm going to sit down on the couch to work on them and attempt to watch all of "Gone With the Wind". Yep, all 4 hours of it.

Sewing machine needles don't like going through multiple layers of denim over and over again.

And yes, when I get all of the bags done, I'll post pictures of them. They're coming out really cute. :)

Our (better) day in pictures

OK, seriously, how could the day NOT be good when it starts out with a sunrise like this?

I had to stop. I just had to. It was too beautiful to pass up.

Today was the 5th graders' Parade of States - each student is assigned a state and decorates a "float" for the parade with facts about that state. They march around town (complete with the marching band) and back to the school.

Emily's state was Connecticut.

She was getting pretty tired toward the end. They kept it going at a pretty good clip the whole time.

Hard to see it, but Daniel's pockets are stuffed with candy. Ex1 rode along the parade route to pick up any disabled floats in the school's Gator, and he had the candy - so Daniel got several huge handfuls thrown straight to him. He was a happy camper!

Back home after the parade, and back to work. This is the cabinet in the girls' room that I fixed yesterday.

Their desk. This was a freecycle treasure, and the middle drawer has never been in it. I was tired of them nagging at me about it, so I finally took care of that today.

We go for function, not beauty in this house. The whole thing needs to be taken apart, stripped, and refinished anyway. Add that to the list of things to do.

Daniel didn't have school today, so we walked when we got Alex from school. I had the stroller with me, but he walked the entire way there and back. 1.5 miles round trip. So he was tired by the time we got to the football game tonight.

Alex and Jared actually sat beside each other and didn't kill each other - amazing. But, Alex was pretty tired too because he walked the whole way home from school.

Parade of States again, at halftime. Alex and Daniel and I left right after this so that they could get to bed, but we were up 15-0 by that time. I hope that the second half went as well.

Alex read the entire book. By himself. Out loud. I've never been so proud - but he's still in trouble for breaking my van.

Good news is that I went to the local junkyard today, and they *should* have the part that I need - so instead of paying $80 for a new one, I can get a used one for $20.

Could be worse.

I hate bunk beds. And it gets worse from there.

The day started off great. It really did. I got all 5 kids up, dressed, fed, and in the van. Dropped the older 3 off at school then came tearing back to town to drop Alex off, and then Daniel and I came home.

First mission accomplished. By 8:00am, I might add.

Then I decided that I was going to strip all of the beds and change all of the sheets. That's when it started to go downhill.

Yes, that is the pile of 5 sets of sheets after I got all of the beds stripped. Then the real fun began.

Enter the cordless drill/screwdriver, to replace the slat that somehow managed to get ripped out from under the top bunk in the boys' room.

Of course, having the top mattress pulled out made me notice that Alex (the bottom sleeper) has been once again ripping at the underside of the mattress - which I had already covered with fabric once. Enter the staple gun to repair the torn fabric.

Enter the packing tape to try to salvage the plastic sheet, which has also been shredded by Mr. I Can't Keep My Hands Off Of Anything.

Oh, did I mention that I practically knocked myself out by standing up too quickly while making Emily's bed and slamming my head into the bottom of Sarah's top bunk? No? Well, I did. And I have the lump to prove it.

So something as simple as changing the sheets has now needed a cordless drill/screwdriver, a staple gun, packing tape, and a near-concussion. I was not happy. But I got all of the beds done. As in stripped, washed, changed, clean sheets put away, everything.

Then there were some projects in the girls' room that I wanted to get taken care of - nothing major, but those nagging little things. Like finding a longer pull chain for their ceiling fan, figuring out how to replace the middle drawer in their desk, and putting the door back onto a cabinet. I found some scrap wood in the garage, broke out the circular saw, cut it to size, glued what needed to be glued and clamped it together on the kitchen table to let the glue dry before figuring out how to attach it to the desk. A quick jaunt to the hardware store and $10 later and I had everything else that I needed.

Of course, in between all of this, I had to pick the boys up from school. So I got Alex, came home and started working on putting new hinges on the cabinet.

Then we went to get Daniel. This is where the day went to hell.

Alex and I went into the school to get him. On the way back to the van, Alex was pitching a fit about something - I don't even remember what it was. He opened up the sliding door on his side - and when I say "opened" I really mean that he grabbed that door and slid it open as hard as he possibly could, slamming it back as far as it would go on the track. I was on the opposite side, getting Daniel in, and Alex sat down in his seat with his attitude. I went around to close the door.

It wouldn't close. Like, it really wouldn't close.

My nice, shiny, new-to-me van was broken.

I maintained a semblance of calm, but I was in a panic. Ex1 was heading back to my house with the older 3 kids, and I was sitting at Daniel's school with a door that wouldn't close. So I called him and told him what was going on and asked him to just meet me there. I messed around with the door and found that the wheels in the middle of the door were off the track. OK, that should be simple to fix, right?

No.

I lifted the door slightly to see if the wheels would slide back into the track, and the whole door almost fell off of the van. I got it back somewhat into place and thought. And thought. And thought. I sent out a panic message on facebook, hoping that someone local could come help me - no luck. Finally Ex1 got there with the other kids, and between the two of us we got the van door shut, and found out in the meantime that one of the wheels that's supposed to be in the little track was actually broken off of the assembly. My darling Alex slammed the door so hard that he broke the wheel. He broke my van.

We got home and I made supper and called around to get prices. The part appears to be fairly simple to replace - and we all know that I've done more than my share of car repairs - but the part is going to run $80 to get a new one. Yeah, right. NOT. I'll be calling junkyards tomorrow - it's been a long time since I've gone junking for car parts, so that will be fun. Sort of.

Supper was good. Emily had gone with Ex1 to a football game so that just left the other 4 kids and me. We decided on the spur-of-the-moment to eat outside, so that made for much less mess to clean.

But, I got the cabinet door put back on, got the longer chains put on the ceiling fans in both bedrooms, gave everyone baths, and everyone is still alive.










Tomorrow is another day. And I might be out of Diet Pepsi, but I have the next best thing.

Getting back on track

So after yesterday's announcement about getting off of my fat ass and getting moving, I came so close to blowing it off today. I was so not in the mood to do anything. I thought about it and debated it and tried to get out of it, but I knew deep down that I had to do it.

My original plan was to get up early enough to walk Alex to school. Uh, yeah, that didn't happen - more like getting up 10 minutes before he had to be there for breakfast, throwing Daniel into the van in his pajamas, and growling the whole way there. After we dropped him off, I got a shower and made myself look semi-human, and then got Daniel ready for playschool.

We were going to walk there. Oops.

Finally, I drove Daniel to school, and then started walking from there. I started out slowly, really just not getting into it. But as I got farther from the buildings, I started picking up the pace a bit.

Of course, it helped that I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere. Well, except for the stretch of the path that was maybe 30 feet off of the interstate. That part wasn't so pretty if I looked to the right - but as long as I kept looking to the left and ignored the noise, it was pretty.

I love this trail. I found part of it this past spring when I was out walking regularly, but I explored the whole thing today. I think I did a total of 3.65 miles.

I'm pretty sure that I found the Circle of Life tree from "The Lion King" too. I need to head out that way again with my real camera to get better pictures.

Anyway, it's been a typical day. Craziness, as usual.

Walking. Laundry. Dishes. Cooking. Bitching about what I cooked. Getting kids home and sending them back out the door to church. Homework. Running to the store to get stuff.

Oh! I almost forgot about this one - Sarah has been bugging me about shaving her legs. Really? She's 11! But, I did a very scientific study about it and after I analyzed the results I determined that this is the age where girls are starting to do it (ok, I posted it as a facebook status and polled my friends).

I was hesitant to put a razor in her hand (ok, terrified) so we bought some Nair-type stuff (or maybe it was the real Nair) and I put it on her legs and made her sit for a few minutes and voila - it worked. She's thrilled, and I'm devastated that she's growing up so fast.

*sigh*

Oh, and she has a boyfriend. But they don't kiss or hold hands or anything, because that's gross. They just eat lunch together.

Whew.

Putting it out there.

OK, I hinted around about some plans the other night, and people got curious.

No, it's nothing earth-shattering this time - at least not to most people. But to me, it's pretty big.

Some of you might remember when I did the half-marathon last spring. I have now officially decided that I am going to do it again. They haven't announced the date for it yet, so I've just been watching the website to see when it's going to be.

So, I'm starting out by walking as much as I can (hence the massive walking yesterday, before my allergies kicked my butt) and I'm trying to watch what I eat - but, man, I really do like to eat. A lot.

But I figure that if I put it out here, I'm more likely to stick with it. This week will be iffy until I can get the allergies under control (stupid Kansas in September) but I'm still going to try to do something.

And although I finished the one in May - with a better time than what I had expected - I want the next pictures to look better than these.

I don't expect to have a supermodel body, but I would like it to be at least 20 pounds lighter than in these pictures. And more toned. And obviously, this has been a problem for a while. I can't even claim that 32 pound weight loss anymore - I have a few pounds to re-lose before I can get there.

So there you have it. My big plans.

Today's accomplishments

Figured out a way to strain the goo out of the sand plum juice, since I forgot to get more cheesecloth. Yet another use for coffee filters...

Finished up the LAST of the sand plum jelly (under Buzz's watchful eye). I am DONE. I am not picking any more this year. This is it. Done. Finished. All gone. Seriously.

Walked the boys back and forth to school today. As in, didn't drive at all. The van only started up long enough to back it 2' back in the driveway so that I could get the stroller out of the garage.

Got the boys fed, bathed, into pajamas, and into bed by 8:30pm.

.........and, last but not least....

Now, to finish cleaning up the kitchen, put the rest of the toys away, and get my head organized for tomorrow. Yikes.

Busy day

Normally, if I have the 3 older kids with me on Sunday morning, I get them up and ready and then they go to church with their father and stepmother. For whatever reason this morning, Jared decided that he wanted to go to church with me and Daniel. Lucky for him that he did, because the kids got to go up front during one of the songs to play instruments!

After church, the 3 of us ran to the store to get a present for my niece's son's first birthday.

I should clarify that. Technically, she's Ex1's niece. So she's my ex-niece. Which would make her son my ex-great-nephew? great-ex-nephew?

Whatever. She's my niece. He's my great-nephew. :) We just love to tell people that we're exes to each other just to get the reactions.

Yummy cakes. White, carrot (ok, ick on that one), and red velvet.

The birthday boy!

"I can eat the candle, right Mom?"

Whatever you do, don't stand between the boy and his cake!

I had only been to this park once, and didn't realize that there was a little mini-zoo there.

Daniel of course wanted to go play for a while...

I...I mean Daniel...was really disappointed that the rocket was off-limits.

Daniel with cousin Ashley

We got to "chase" a train as we were leaving Wichita.

Daniel thought it was the coolest. thing. ever.

He fell asleep on the way home. Woke up long enough to ask me to carry him into the house, and then he crashed on the loveseat. This was at maybe 5:00? I finally just put him straight into bed, still in his clothes, and he never even flinched. He is exhausted!

Alex came home from his father's house around 7:00, got a bath, got into his pajamas, and watched a movie until about 9:00. His eyes were getting heavy so I tossed him into bed too. Easiest bedtime we've had around here for a while.

Tomorrow is Alex's first day of all-day kindergarten! And of course I just realized that he has to have an apple and a box of cereal to take with him. Oy. Luckily, we only live a block from the grocery store, so we'll be making a pitstop on the way to school. Going to try to walk it if we get up in time.

I have big plans for this week. OK, maybe not huge, but big to me. I'm going to wait and see how much of it I get done before I say too much about it though. Have to keep everyone guessing! ;)