I HATE LAUNDRY

People, I don't get it. Last week, before we left on our "trip" (long weekend), I did laundry. I did enough that by the time I was folding there were no dirty clothes. We left on our trip with no dirty clothes, excepting maybe the kids PJ's from the night before. Then, I did laundry on vacation. Really, sad, I know. I was naive enough to think that one outfit per person per day was enough (and when it comes to laundry, I have to be honest, my hubby is just a big kid, with bigger clothes and bigger messes) I came home and this week, it's been insane. Yesterday, I realized that I had stacks of dirty laundry, stacks of clean laundry waiting to be folded, and stacks of laundry that were clean and folded, just needed to be put away. I obviously have a problem completing a task. I feel like that old cartoon character Cathy, that always had the huge, overflowing "in" box on her desk, and nothing in her "out" box. Except my box is full of laundry. And you can't find me, my children, our clothes, the "desk", or the in and out boxes due to the laundry. And yet, here I am, blogging. Maybe, just maybe, it's a problem with my priorities. Nah!

Beach Day 2

My kids “endured” a lot of days at the beach this summer while I was training for my triathlon.  It was a good thing all around,  Yes, that’s Sadie on the beach again.  Yes, she’s holding food in her right hand.  I wish I knew her secret.  She weighs 25 lbs soaking wet, but she is always eating junk food.

 

Hmmm….notice another pattern?  I think there are a number of doctors who would not sympathize with the fact that this baby doesn’t sleep through the night.  He STILL (today, at 8 months) wakes up 3-4 times a night.  He STILL is not on a schedule.  Seriously? How is a girl supposed to do that?  I am torn between the guilt of making 4 other people cater to his schedule by staying home all day, and the guilt of dragging a tired, cranky baby all over Southeast Wisconsin.  Lose, lose situation.  Motherhood.

The girl with Brooklyn (and the owner of the stylin’ shades) is our babysitter.  It totally rocked to take her with me to the beach.  I swam for a few minutes, then I sat on the beach and handed out snacks, ate a nice lunch from the sandwich shop across the street, and watched Jack.  The babysitter played in the lake with the kids.  Lazy mom, maybe.  Happy mom, definitely.

Beach Day

No, this poor baby does not take naps in his bed.  Get ‘em when and where you can.

Cheetos anyone?  A trip wouldn’t be fun without snacks.  Last week, I asked Ty if he wanted to go to the park.  He kind of snubbed me and in a very “only if I have to” kind of voice said: “only if there are good snacks”.  My kids are so stinking spoiled.  Shouldn’t a trip to the park be enough?  Shouldn’t a trip to the park and a few stale pretzels be enough?  No, we want the park and GOOD snacks.  I’ve created monsters.

Go Brewers

Back in July, we headed to a Brewers game with the kids in tow.

Someday, Jack will use this as blackmail.

From the looks of things, Brooklyn is crying, Ty is looking smug (and happy) and Sadie is trying to look completely innocent.

Jack slept through most of the excitement.

Baby Jackson -- 5 1/2 Months

I have so many other things I should be doing right now...
Do you think they're siblings?

Sunk

I am in mourning. One of my favorite friends met an untimely demise. My camera. This past weekend, we went on a long weekend trip to a cabin on a lake. Friday afternoon we went fishing. Sadie flatly refused to keep on her life jacket while we were on the dock. She was standing next to me when she took one step too many and ended up in the lake. The entire incident was so terrifying, that the mental image of seeing her sinking; hearing Jake screaming "get her" and realizing that I was in the lake are all a memory that are one. Fortunately, she was FINE and was only in the lake for a few seconds. It was AMAZING to me that everything worked out, she doesn't seem scarred by the experience, and I was able to keep it together. I'm an overprotective momma bear, and I think that part of being overprotective is not only the fear of something "bad" happening, but my inability to react to it. This time, we were blessed, everything worked out. I was driven by instinct. I don't even remember thinking about jumping in the lake. Fortunately, Jake also followed that same instinct and would have been there had I not been there. Unfortunately, he had the camera in his pocket. The screen of my camera looks like one of those paper weights with colored water and oil, that you can tilt to make waves...
I'm so bummed. We didn't get any pictures of our trip AND after paying big bucks for a big promise "warranty" from Best Buy, I found out that "submersion" is the one and only exclusion. Ugh. Don't worry, they haven't heard the last of me. The saleslady when we bought it (we NEVER buy warranties) said ANYTHING is covered, and I specifically remember her looking at my four peanuts and saying "even if one of your kids drops it in the toilet". Sounds like submersion to me.

For Grandma(pa)s Eyes Only

Okay, I usually don't post videos. Of course, you don't have to be Grandpa/ma to watch, but they're a little long and probably most appreciated by those who are Jackson's biggest fans.

Pineview Reservoir 2

I’m behind on blogging, here’s some stuff from our trip a few months back.  Within hours of being together, Lis and I had packed all of the “girls” in a Jeep and convinced them that we should go shopping.  Too bad we don’t know Ogden better, all we could find was a Dollar Store.  Being cheap Mormon moms, we all went home happy anyway. I never really had the chance to go boating before I was married.  Since then, I think I’ve been pregnant every boating trip.  This trip was the first time that I not only got up on skis, but really was able to have fun and stay up.  A first!

I guess because we’re both bossy and our kids were super hungry, Lis and I put ourselves in charge of cooking the not so lean burgers (I think they were 80% fat).  We smoked out the entire covered patio, the neighbors were probably ready to call the fire department. Thanks to our incredible looks and superior negotiating skills, Lis and I were able to talk the guy working in bike rentals to let our willing hubbies “test” out these mountain scooters (rather than paying for mountain bikes).  They had fun, but it took them a bit of time to get down the mountain.  While the downhill was fun, uphills were hard with no way to pedal up the hilll as you would on a bike.  They ended up having the walk a lot of the run.

Pineview Reservoir

  

Really Mom?  Are we seriously spending all day at the lake? 

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