Good Times at Target

In case you were wondering, Summer vacation has been a huge success so far. And by huge success I mean that no members of our family have made the evening news for strangling any other members of our family.

Expectations: exceeded.

We've even gone out in public together, such as yet another memorable trip to Target yesterday morning. Target is like heroin for moms. After every trip I swear I'm going to cut back, or maybe even quit cold turkey. But I just keep going back to it, over and over. With the kids even. That's how powerful it is.

In the middle of this week's fix, in the girl's department, Mia made this comment: "Mom look at this belt! Oh wait, it's Hannah Montana. I'm definitely not in to her."

I have seriously never been so proud.

And that's when Sam came around the corner with a bra on his head.

Yes, so proud.

Then there was a little conversation we had this evening when Sam was having a hard time understanding why he has to wait until he's an adult to buy a real boat with his own money. "But that will take too much longer," he said. "I need to get a boat tonight... Is Target still open?"

He's like a crack-baby. I'm telling you, I've got to cut back. For the kid's sake.

And speaking of cutting back, I'm going to be taking a little blog break for a while. Come now, no tears. I've posted something like 3 times in the last 2 months-- let's not pretend we didn't all see this coming. Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it and we'll all go back to being best blogging buddies. I promise.

The Monster at the End of this Week

It's called Summer Vacation.

Did you love The Monster at the End of this Book when you were little too? Lovable, fury, old Grover could only imagine the horrors waiting for him at the end of the book and did everything in his power to keep from getting there.

Well, every time I think about The Last Day of School (consequently followed by the First Day of Summer), I end up in tears. There's very little I wouldn't do right now to keep Friday morning from ever happening.

Never mind that in the book, the moral is that Grover had nothing to be afraid of but himself. This isn't Sesame Street. These are my kids we're talking about. At home with me for the rest of the summer.

All day. Every day.

For 75 days.



Oh have mercy.




*Oh, and my apologies for the graphic description of Sam and a towel in my last post. With a recently potty-trained 3 year old boy, we're being exposed to a whole new world as parents. Seriously, who needs a dog? If you came over, he'd probably hump your leg.

**OK, I'm probably going to have to delete that before he gets old enough to read it huh?

A Scene From the Lives of Overtired Kids (Vancouver Trip, Day 3)

Cascadia Hotel, room #807, 5:36 PM:

Mia is holed up in a corner of the hotel room, snarling like a wild animal at anyone who comes near her, talks to her, looks at her, or even thinks about coming near her, talking to her, or looking her.

Sam is on the other side of the room humping a towel.

Nate is a human barnacle.

I think it's about time to go home.

Due Date

No, I don't have an announcement.

I was just remembering that Nate's due date was 1 year ago today. And if you remember (what, you don't?), I was sitting around not going into labor at all. He was born a week later, which means that he turns 1 next Friday. I figure I should do a preemptive birthday post, as I can almost guarantee I won't ever get around to it if I wait until his actual birthday. Don't believe me? Well, seeing as how I have yet to post about our recent white water rafting trip, Mother's Day, our 11th anniversary, and traffic tickets #3 and 4 (yes that's right: Mark felt a little left out), it's really quite likely that the kid will be 5 before I even upload the pictures from our camera (assuming I actually take any). Of course by then, cameras will be obsolete and we'll just take pictures from the microchips embedded in our foreheads. Can't wait for that.

Anyway, what a difference a year makes. I swear he isn't really any longer, just wider.

This kid stops little old ladies in their tracks at the grocery store. It makes for very long shopping trips. And he pretty much has everyone in this family wrapped around his little finger. Mia and Sam can be smack in the middle of trying to tear each other apart, but if Nate crawls by they'll immediately stop and rush over to shower him in hugs and kisses. He is my little peacemaker. There may only be 10 pictures of him since he was born, and most days he's lucky if anyone remembers to feed him, but really we love this kid. Happy 1st Birthday Nate-- we'll be sure to give you some cake and wrap up one of the other kid's old toys or something. And I'll try to remember to take a picture.

And while I'm ahead, we're going to Vancouver, BC this weekend, and we had a great time.

In other news, we had a death in the family this week. Mia's captured pet caterpillar, Mr. Fuzzy, sadly didn't make it through 3 days of being left alone in a cage with some dried leaves and a rock. Looks like it will be a while until we're ready for a puppy.

Oh yeah:

Whitewater: So fun. And very very wet. Thankfully, there are no pictures of us in wetsuits.

Mother's Day: We forgot to call both our mothers. Is that even forgivable?

11th Anniversary: Yep, still married.

Traffic tickets: Let's just say we're seriously considering selling both our cars.

Mother's Day 2009

There you go, all caught up and more.
Hope you have a great weekend Memorializing.

Lately

• I've been having recurring dreams about being on the The Amazing Race.
• I've been getting a kick out of Sam saying "what the heck?"
• I've been thinking about my side bar.
  
• I would love to know if you read my blog.
  
• I find crafting so compelling and so problematic.
• I've been compiling a list of all my past and current running partners (Carol, Michelle, Cary, Heather, Kris, Amy, Jen, Courtney, Patti, Ruth Ann, Julia, Brooke, Jeni, Lisa, Karla, Sara, Diana, Michal, Marie M, Marie B, and Kathy-- did I forget anyone?) All of you are superwomen in my book.
  
• I Vote or Die.
• I haven't watched Wife Swap at all.
• I've been reading a book called Living Simply with Children, and boy is it making me laugh, though I don't think it was meant to be funny.
  
• I've mistaken myself for a master gardener, which is why I haven't gotten around to posting these pictures from April:

Proof that we let our kids take candy from strangers.

If you're related to me you might recognize these people. We're looking forward to having them live closer to us (hopefully soon by the way).

From a trip to a local farm. Probably the happiest moment of Sam's life. Seriously.

"You find me irresistible don't you?"

Our vegetable garden, ready for planting (for the first time since we've lived here).

And here are the seed packets that I was going to plant in said garden, that is until Sam spread them all around the backyard flower beds. 1500 carrot seeds, 100 cucumbers, 225 peas, and I don't know how many watermelons and beans. Thanks Sam! That was sooooo helpful.

That does it for April. What have you been up to lately?

See Mark Jump

Mark had a birthday back in April. It was during our unemployed phase, so the theme was "Low Budget, but Not Low on Fun."And to prove that I love him, I made him make this video so I could post it on our blog and show everyone what a fabulous birthday I put together for him. (Because let's face it, this blog is about ME, not him right?). Some friends of ours graciously allowed to go over to their house while they weren't home and jump on their trampoline. Mark loves trampolines almost more than he loves me, so he didn't even notice that I didn't get him a present!

The first slide show is just for fun. In the second video you will see why I married this man: for his crazy trampoline skills.

Oh, and in case you were wondering: thirty-five!

Walk-a-Thon

From the Press Conference:

Reporter: Sam, you just walked around the playground for 15 minutes! How did you find the strength to get to the finish line?
Sam: More juice, please.

Reporter: Sam, will you be competing in the National Preschool Championships?
Sam: I haffa go potty.

Reporter: Mia, you've obviously been Sam's biggest supporter. What's it been like for you?
Mia: Awwww, these medals aren't even real gold!

Reporter: Sam's Mom, tell us about when you knew your son was destined for walk-a-thon greatness?
Sam's Mom: Well, he started walking when he was about 13 months old, and it was obvious right away. He's pretty much been walking ever since.

*Sam would like to thank all the big people, the color red, and goldfish crackers.

Editor's Note: I have no idea why Sam and Mia were holding hands the whole time, and no, they do not do that at home.