You Don't See That Every Day

For the past few weeks my son and I have been 'training' together. We signed up for a 5k race, just so we would be (more) motivated to go out and run. Well today was the showdown. The Day of The Race. We had to get up early in order to get our fan club together and moving in time for a 9 am race start. Thankfully all the girls, and my husband, were ready to go in time. The weather teased us the whole drive to the race site, with sprinkles of rain. And then we saw the sunbeams shining through the clouds. (I always hear an "Alleluia" being sung in my head when I see sunbeams breaking through the clouds.) My husband calls this Jacob;s Ladder. I had not heard it called that until today! But I like it! We got there in plenty of time, and checked in and warmed up. I tried not to 'coach' the boy too much, but just a few last minute tidbits of advice. Adoring fans along the route I thought we would race together for maybe the first mile, but my son had d...

Baby K had cake for the first time on her birthday yesterday. And like her momma and siblings, she really really likes chocolate cake. Likes it so much she had to wear it in her hair and smoosh it into her face Thankfully she has enough self control to push the bowl away when she was done, even though there was cake still in it. Something her momma needs to learn.

In one year, From this: To this: Happy First Birthday to our baby K.!

We had a lovely weekend. Well ... except for the rain that came on Sunday, my husband not feeling well, the child who came down with some sickness on Sunday afternoon and the post-holiday crankiness today, we had a good weekend. Since the weather report was for sun and warm weather on Saturday (and rain-rain-rain on Sunday), we held our own family Easter egg hunt that afternoon. We considered taking the girls to one of the public egg hunts, but figured they would be overrun with people also enjoying the sunshine. Sun is a rare occurrence here in Oregon in the spring. G and I hid the eggs for the girls in our backyard. Our son helped. He decided this year, since he is 12, that he is too old to hunt for Easter eggs. Too bad he didn't know I filled them with coins this time instead of candy (way too many cavities happening around here!) We went ahead and hid one special egg just for him to find anyway. Of course after that, the kids wanted to hide the eggs for us to find.  It's...

This is what my kids do when they get a little sunshine.

Easter is coming up and thus a menu needs to be made. And I've got my list making notepads ready to go! Instead of the traditional I want to try a little something different. Dreams of just a platter of bacon were nixed when I invited the in-laws over for Easter dinner. Instead, we'll be having a nice ham. But then I got a little crazy and decided on potato salad. It must have been the sun shining in the window that did it for me - it looks like a warm day outside (even though it isn't!) and that makes me think of summer, and picnics and potato salad. We'll have some corn, carrots, and salad. Hopefully I can make a batch of dinner rolls. And, of course, a delectable dessert. I'm thinking either cream puffs, with pudding inside, or else a chocolate coconut cake. We've also got to make these nests . ** I made them last year for Easter and they seemed to be a big hit. To round it out, I bought some sparkling cider so we can all partake of a special drink. A...

Today is a birthday! Miss M. is 8! Here is a picture of my April babies. Miss M and Baby K were born a week apart, 7 years apart. Miss M weighed 9 lbs at birth, Baby K was nearly 9 lbs. (only 5 ounces less than that). Their siblings were all much less than that. They both have dark, dark hair, unlike their siblings who are blond.  And they look like their father's side of the family; while their siblings take after my side, at least in the beginning. 

I went for a run the other day with baby K in the stroller. Is there an technique to this stroller running? Am I missing something here? So I tried running with both hands on the handle. That became frustrating because I couldn't swing my arms - which is kind of important when running. If I tried to swing my arms while holding onto the handle, I could see baby's head bobbing a little bit too wildly for my comfort. So I switched to just holding on with my left hand, which happened to have the safety loop attached to that wrist. My right arm was swinging wildly at that point. So I knew that wasn't going to work for long. So I switched to holding the handle, and the safety loop, with my right hand/wrist. That felt even more awkward. I briefly, for a nanosecond only , considered just holding the safety strap and moving the stroller ahead of me with a push. But I didn't. I kept my hands on the wheel, so to speak. But then my shoulders started to hurt, because really, whe...

It's that time of year again. My sweet husband's birthday! It's not a "major" birthday this year. No '0' on the end of his number of years. But it's still a special day to me! Because without him in this world, he wouldn't be in my life. And I might have just ended up stuck with that guy I had been seeing before G. (yikes!) A poem for my sweetie: Happy Birthday to you You live in a zoo The kids sure love you and I do too.

And what a weekend it was! I had to spend all of yesterday just catching up on what I didn't get done on the weekend. It started Friday night with an auction and dinner out for me and G. A night out without the children ! Even though our kids don't attend the school that is part of our church, we went to the auction anyway and had a terrific time! There was a silent auction before the dinner and an oral auction afterward. I must have my father's genes in this area. I see an empty auction bid sheet and I feel bad; it looked so forlorn and lonely that I just have to put my number on it. Okay, so I didn't put it on all the empty ones, just the ones I might even be remotely interested in. And that is how I ended up with a Marie Callendar's pie; and tickets for an aquatic center for $6. Our anniversary date night is already planned too. G scored tickets to the symphony for a great price! On Saturday my baby girl got her first shoes. And she hates them. She has always ...

We read a lot of books. And I wanted to share one with you that I have read to all of my kids when they were little. I started reading this one to Baby K this week. Minerva Louise is hilarious. She has a unique way of looking at the world - through the eyes of a chicken. There are other books besides this one; it just happens to be the one we own. One other great thing about having kids - I can justify buying kids books that I like to read!

Some people are addicted to coffee. I can't get enough peanut butter. Seriously. In the morning I have pb toast; for lunch it's (still) pbj sandwiches; snack time = pb on anything - crackers, celery, bread, a knife. Dessert is usually Tillamook's chocolate peanut butter ice cream. And then I stumbled upon these little gems on the T asty Kitchen website . And I have probably eaten half the pan. I made my kids eat extra just so I wouldn't eat the whole 9x13 pan by myself!! Here is the recipe (I'll also post it over on my recipe page for future reference if needed.) Peanut Butter Fingers Cream together: 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 egg 1/3 cup peanut butter 1/2 teaspoon vanilla Add in : 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/4 cups flour 1 cup oats - instant or old fashioned Mix well, Press into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and pour 1 cup of chocolate chips over top. Put bake in oven for a ...

The one going around our house for the past two weeks: Knock Knock . Who's there? Owls . Owls who? Yep! Owls do go hooo.

Our Family: 1. My husband is running his first ever half-marathon on Sunday morning. I am so excited for him. 2 . I am running again. I know this because I actually ran before breakfast this morning. It means I'm serious this time, about getting back into the habit. It also means I have a 5k I signed up for at the end of this month! 3. My first baby is not a baby anymore. My son shaved for the first time yesterday. He would be totally embarrassed for me to tell you this. Which is why I am. 4 . It's a parent's job to embarrass their offspring at some point in life. The more the better. Humility is a good thing, right? 5 . My oldest daughter is 10. Her friends asked her "what boys do you like?" the other day at a party. I'm so proud of her response, "I'm not at that stage yet." Yay! She is so unlike her mama was in her youth. 6 . Teeth are doing strange things around here. My 8 year old is losing hers rapidly. My almost-1 year old is growing...

The end of March madness. It ended for us awhile ago. Our brackets - the ones we filled out at home to play as a family - were busted weeks ago when Duke and Ohio St. fell. Do you see all that red marker on there? That's how our son keeps track of the losers teams that we picked who did not continue. It was a surprising season for sure! There was a time I followed college basketball. I could recite the roster for the OSU team. I even won the bracket pool we had among friends at our high school one year. But like so many other things of my youth, the here-and-now family of mine takes precedence. If we didn't have a sports-nut son I probably wouldn't even know who was in the Final Four this year. (Oh, wait, I still don't know).

So for some reason the photos I upload from blogger are not sticking around on my blog. Is this an April fool's prank? Don't know. But I hope it gets resolved. You're missing out on these great beauties I have living with me. April Fool's Day is definitely a highlight for my son. He takes after his dad in the jokes department. Some of you related to us may have heard one, or two, or a dozen million, of his jokes. G. has played a number of practical jokes on people through the years - phone calls from "angry farmers" to his workplace is just one example. I'm betting his coworkers could provide some others. One year my dearest was eating breakfast while I showered. He had a bit of a grin on his face when I came shrieking out to him with toothpaste under my arms. Yes, he had managed to slab some on my deodorant. I suppose I have played a trick or two on him at some point in our life together, I just can't recall. I do have one up my sleeve for next ye...