MAY–In a Nutshell

 

Thank goodness that pictures are worth a thousand words.

At the Memorial Day parade, we met one of the famous Klements racing sausages. 

Baby Jack and me at the parade

Root, root, root for the Brewers!

Poor, tired, sleep deprived baby.

I.  LOVE.  MUD.

 

We made a trip down to Chicago for Jake to do some final paperwork to FINISH SCHOOL.  While he was in meetings, we had fun on Northwesterns’ campus.  Ate some snacks, fed the fish, and found out that feeding the carp was more fun.  Afterwards, checked out the Field Musuem; where Sadie got brave enough to try a Chicago dog.

On the night of one of my long practice runs for my half-marathon, my kids met me at the end and ran home with me.

This baby melts my heart.

Hauling 6 kids, ages 6 and  under home from school.  Just thought I’d note that I did it, it won’t likely happen again.

My stylin’ peanut.  This girl wears it well.  All of it.  The way she dresses would look like a hobo on another kid.  She looks like Punky Brewster.

Walk/run at the zoo.  The kids were pretty excited.  Brooklyn ran the whole mile.  The others switched out between the stroller and riding on Jake.

Mothers’ Day tea at school.  Ty was adorable.  It is wonderful to spend individual time with my cute kids.  It was so sad to see the few kiddos who didn’t have any momma to sing to.  I wish I could do more to love those sweet kiddos who need love.

Sadie’s Birthday

I let myself get REALLY behind, again.  I was thinking about working backwards from now until I catch up, nada.  Can’t think like that.  Getting back to blogging in itself is overwhelming.  I do this for my family.  I do this for my kids.  Skipping 6 months isn’t an option.  However, it’s awful to pick up a project you are SO BEHIND on. 

Anyways, here we go.  Sadie’s birthday.  Four years old.  My baby girl.  She went to Build a Bear as a “party” with our family. 

 

We had a “friend” party with one of her best friends, Miss S.  We went to McDonalds’ and had lunch.  Then we headed to the Dollar Store to fill our own goodie bags.  Stopped for “cake” at Dunkin Donuts.  It was a slam dunk.  The girls were thrilled.  It was easy.  Win win.

Made cake.  Ate it too.

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You!!!

UPDATES! Coming soon to a blog near you. I'm back. In fact, I never was gone. We had a fabulous summer. Now, the kids are back in school and I'm back to doing something other than kids.

I love my kids. We had a wonderful, memorable summer together. I miss my kids when they go to school. However, this year, with THREE in school in the afternoon (and one at home that takes an afternoon nap) I have to say, I AM LOVING IT. I'm getting to cleaning that I haven't done in months, I'm feeling like I'm doing better at being a decent friend, I'm showering everyday (too much information!), I'm keeping up my with responsibilities at church (trying)....all and all, I'm a better mom. When my kids are home, I feel like I am more able to BE THERE, 100%. When they get home, for the most part, the laundry is done, the floor is swept, the dishes are done...I'm not trying to do all of these things while listening to them, resolving their arguments, cleaning up after them, answering their questions, laughing at their "jokes", fixing them snacks, etc. I feel like I'm doing better at all of the other things that come with being a mom, and also being a better mom.

This picture is of our latest urban outdoor adventure. I love (and miss) the mountains and hiking and escaping in the great outdoors. I love to watch my kids explore and learn. So, we went for a little "hike" on a VERY urban trail...looking for butterflies. We didn't find butterflies, but it was really fun to be somewhere where the kids could explore and walk a bit ahead of me or a bit behind without me being worried about losing track of them. That kind of independence can be hard to find in most of the places we go. It was wonderful.

The Toy Gobbler

Here's how house cleaning usually goes down at my house...the kids make messes, I ask them to clean them up (repeatedly), eventually, I get sick of the mess and I clean it up on my own (angrily). I get sick of hounding and arguing and fighting. It makes me bitter and resentful to just pick up after them, but it's EASIER.

However, this summer, I've had it. This weekend, after they'd make one huge mess and were on their way to another, I kindly warned them that I had seen the toy gobbler in the basement. I had chased him over to the other side of the basement, but that I didn't think it'd be long before he returned to the toy room to eat their toys. It worked. It's as old a trick as the book "Mrs. Piggle Wiggle", or maybe older, but it worked. They raced to the basement to clean up and actually enjoyed the work of outsmarting the gobbler.

Today, it was the same thing. My kids had moved from art, to puzzles, to toys; leaving a disaster in their wake. I had asked and asked for them to clean up the prior messes to no avail. This time, the toy gobbler came without warning. I just told them that I was sorry, but he came, I couldn't stop him, and he gobbled up the art supplies and the puzzles. Somehow, although my kids are smart enough to know that I am the gobbler, the anger and frustration towards the gobbler is directed at the gobbler, not me. It's working. They're cleaning the aforementioned toy mess now. They're plotting how to make me happy to get back the art supplies and the puzzles. All of the angst unites them together in a cause against the gobbler...and I get a cleaner house. Win win.

13.1 Chicago

 

Honestly, these pictures are nothing short of embarrassing.  The first, my backside.  Who really wants a picture taken from behind?  You can see here my totally (not) awesome running skills.  I was not born a runner.  In the second picture, I’m preparing to cut off that biker so that I can give my kids high 5’s.  He wasn’t particularly happy, and I hope my kids didn’t hear the choice words he had for me.   When I was talking to my Grandma about my race, she mentioned that I probably am good at running because of keeping up with my kids.  No, I reminded her, it’s running AWAY from my kids that keeps me going.  In all seriousness, I’m not a born runner.  I’d like to improve my form, but right now it’s mostly about maintaining my waistline and my sanity.  SO, I decided to do my first half-marathon at the beginning of June.

 

It was on the south-side of Chicago, along the lake.  The night before, we stayed in a hotel and (early, early) that morning I met up with a good friend to bus down to the race.  It was an incredibly hot day (at least for those of us that live in the upper-midwest and have been training 50-60 degree weather).  By the time I hit about mid-race, they announced that timing was turned off; the race was still on, but to take it S L O W.  It was in the upper 80’s and HUMID.    At about mile 12.5, the Chicago PD was cruising the streets and announcing that the race was cancelled, everyone should walk and cool down.  I was ALMOST THERE and my legs started to tighten up as I slowed to a walk.  So, I took it back up to a light jog and finished the race.  It didn’t “count” and I honestly don’t know what kind of time I made, but I FINISHED.  It was a really hard race, WAY harder than my triathlon that I did last year, I think mostly due to the heat.  Several racers were taken to the hospital; I read later that someone died.  I felt great finishing the race, but wasn’t so hot on the drive home.  Thinking it was just heat stroke, but it wasn’t fun.  I’d do it again in a heartbeat though, in fact, I’d like to do one in the early fall if anyone’s game.

 

One more funny memory from this race, no pictures other than these.  I’m too cheap to pay over $40 for one 5x7 taken by event photographers.  My family was only able to be at one part of the course, not at the finish line…and Jake accidentally only got a short video rather than a picture.  My friend finished WAY before me, and we didn’t think about pictures.  When we finished the race, we cooled off a bit and ate some pizza, then headed to a beach house to clean up a little and then meet up with our families.  The hotels near the race were either really scary (Chicago-SOUTH SIDE) or really expensive (downtown Chicago); so we were too far from our hotel to shower after the race. 

The Allure of Mud (and Dirt and Rocks and Sticks)

Why, when my kids have THIS….

Do they spend so much doing THIS?  Jackson, in particular loves the mud and dirt and sand.  I made an awful mistake early this summer.  We had a rainy day and the kids were outside stomping in puddles.  I looked outside and my first thought was to drag them in and avoid the mess.

 

Then, I thought, “no, that’s not what good, fun-loving, adventurous, encouraging moms do; let them PLAY”.

 

A few minutes later, when I was rinsing out clothes in the sink, bathing kids, mopping the floor, and cleaning mud out of the INSIDE of rain boots, I had other thoughts, which are maybe not so uplifting to share on my blog .

Grocery Shopping with Jack….

and Sadie

and Tyler

and Brooklyn

“Are ALL of those kids yours?”

Yeah lady, what do YOU think?  If they weren’t, why would I bring someone else’s kids to the grocery store?

(By the way, this trip, I was stocking up for an ice cream social at school.  We don’t normally live (completely) off of caramel syrup, chocolate syrup, gummy bears, and sprinkles).  Jack is Gumby.  Moreso than any of my other children, he maneuvers and stretches and reaches back into the cart from the seat in the cart.  Only about the front 6 inches of my cart are safe.