What could be better than Karaoke?

When we were in Pine Valley with Shayne's family, McCall brought the funnest (is funnest even a real word?) game. Sing Star. It's kind of like Guitar Hero, so people say, I've never personally played Guitar Hero. You pick a song from a list of all kinds of music genres. The screen will then show the music video, the words, and rates you on your singing abilities. Pretty much how well you can sing on key. You can also compete against one another. Oh... and it records your singing so you can play it back afterwards. Scary. Yes, scary but holding that microphone and belting out the latest Brittney Spears song next to Shayne, well that just feels right. We all had a blast! And if you were wondering who was the better singer, Shayne or myself? Be surprised... it was Shayne. Watch out Brittney!

Picture time

We just got back from my sister's in California and then left for a Scott Family reunion at Pine Valley. Lots of fun. Cousins. Food. Games. Driving. And now laundry. Since Shayne and I are so cheap we took advantage of having a lot of cameras around and tried to get a new family picture, one that includes Maggie who will be turning 2 in a week. Here are some of our options:

This one turned out pretty good. I love Maggie sucking her thumb here.

We are all kind of squinting though.

Not bad but I think we were all looking at different cameras.

I love Kate in this one. It is not a family-picture-taking-session
without one or more of the girls in tears.

Here's Maggie (crying).

This one is probably my favorite because everyone is smiling soooo big.
We may have a winner. Or we will try again when we head up north in another week.
Sadie get your camera ready.

What's it like with 2 less kids?

Great. We sent Parly and Clayre to my sister's house in California for a week. They are having so much fun and will probably not want to come home with us when we go out to get them in a day or two. They got to go on an airplane by themselves. They were not at all nervous and thought it was all pretty exciting. But not as exciting as the fact that my sister got stuck in traffic on her way to get them for 3 hours one exit away from the airport. It all worked out though, my brother-in-law, Dustin was in the area and got them and took them to lunch while waiting for Emily. They have enjoyed swimming, picnicking, shopping, movie watching, playing with their cousins, driving around in a golf cart, and even getting a haircut.

At home Kate and Maggie have also had a lot of fun. They are bosom buddies now. We let Kate sleep in Maggie's room and after the first night of catching Kate trying to get Maggie out of her crib (at Maggie's request) they have done very well together. Kate has taught Maggie some more dance moves and how to attempt a cart wheel. Kate: "Parly and Clayre are partners. And Maggie and me are partners."

I have enjoyed a lot more time to myself, especially in the afternoons when Kate would go off to play with friends and Maggie was napping. Books, movies, and naps myself. Nice! The downside to no older girls around? No extra help. I actually had to get up and get Kate breakfast, that was always Parly's job. Boo. And on Saturday, Shayne had to wait until I was home from my long run before he could go on his. Normally Parly could be in charge for a little while if I was running a little late. Sorry Shayne. But of course we miss the little brats, and it will be nice to have them home. I'm just glad they got to have so much fun.

What's a little spilled milk? Okay actually, what's a lot of spilled milk?

Wondering what I have been up to? How about what my kid(s) have been up too....while I was swimming, biking, and running. That would have been last Saturday at the Summer Games Triathlon. I am currently training for the Spudman Triathlon in July, so I decided last minute to go and do the Olympic distance (1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 10 K run) in the summer games triathlon. A pre-race before the "real" one. It was a lot of fun, if you can believe it. And I was very glad I did it.

Shayne felt that taking all 4 girls out in the heat for 3+ hours to watch me didn't sound all that enticing, so he kept them home. Here's what happened at breakfast:

I guess Kate wanted to get the milk out by herself. She dropped the whole gallon on the floor which broke open and well.... the picture pretty much says it all. Let's just say I think I had it a lot easier that morning.

I love Kate's face in the picture, actual real remorse. And thank you Shayne for cleaning it all up before I came home.

Step lightly chunky!

So, Clayre and Kate hate tuna fish. Parly loves it. I was tired of making two different kinds of sandwiches for lunch, so I told them that they were going to eat it, that I wasn't going to make anything else for them, and that oohhhh look the tuna sandwiches are cut into cute little bite size pieces. Well? Yum mom! Can I have more, please mom? (Okay, so they probably didn't really say please here.) More? Really? Wow. Simple.

Another lunch sandwich my kids started to complain about was the good old Toasted Cheese. Easy. Yummy. Something else besides PB& J. Well, after a while when I would make it I would get... uhnnn, again? Can I just have more chips instead?, and No thanks (actually probably NO! here.) So then I started to cut the toasted cheese into strips and serve it with homemade marinara sauce.... okay, not homemade just whatever store-bought spaghetti sauce we had. I told them to dip the cheese strips into the sauce and wa-la. They loved it! And still do. So another tip on how to be the Laziest and Greatest mom ever at the same time: CUT. Cut. And, yep just cut. It makes everything taste better. How? Who knows? Just do it!

Lazy mom pulls through.

So Parly had to do a report on an animal for school. I was gone when she was assigned this, so my little sister and her husband stepped up. They talked her out of doing it on a dog or a cheetah saying everyone would choose those and convinced her to choose the Three-toed Sloth. Well she got busy and found a lot of cool facts about this sloth with the help of her very eager and internet savvy Uncle Christian. Then she transferred all the information onto a poster board, by writing row after row of sentences, leaving a little space for pictures. While I was away in Boston, I received a voice mail from Parls telling me all about her report and said that I would have some good ideas for her...I guess my mom told her about my history of creative school projects.

So, I mapped out a plan for Parly's poster and then told it to her. She was a little sad that she had already written out a whole poster, but she thought the new poster sounded funner and wanted to do it. Here is how it turned out:

She wrote all the cool facts on the leaves. And the sloth hanging from the tree is made out of fuzzy brown paper to make it more life like. Good job, Parly!

Well Clayre watched Parly doing her project, thought it looked fun, so she decided to do one herself. She choose a deer. Shayne was so loving that Clayre wanted to do a project that wasn't even assigned...because it meant more work for me. I hate more work! But I couldn't really tell her that she can't learn and share information about a deer just for fun.... could I? No, not even I, the laziest mom ever. Here's how Clayre's turned out:

Note: the small deer on the bottom, again made out of the fuzzy paper, but Clayre added the white dots and white belly herself. Genius. Also her information she wrote around the poster so some of it ended upside-down. I asked her how people were going to read it and she said that they would just turn the board around. Genius. So cute. Good job, Clayre.

A++++ all around!

Wow. What can I say? Hard. Hard. But amazing! I will try to highlight the good and the bad of my race.

• Morning of the race: driving to the starting area to find the exits closed. Bad. Got out and walked from the exit to the start. Bad. Miles ran: 26.2 Miles walked before the race: 2. Definitely not fun. Plus as I was walking I realized I probably could have just flashed the police my race number and Shayne could have driven me all the way there. Oh well.
• Starting the race. Good. Very exciting. I mean I was running in the Super Bowl of Marathons.
  
• Miles 1-6. Good. Energizing. Lots and lots of runners. Nice down hill slope.
  
• Mile 7 + when I realized that they weren't going to have any sports goo or gel until mile 17 and I didn't pack any with me. Bad. Very Bad. Seriously, I was dieing. I almost begged some off other runners. I wish I had. Thankfully I was able to grab a couple of orange slices and bananas from people in the crowds.
• At each 5K I would run over a mat that would read my chip and electronically post my time and pace over the internet so family and friends back home could track my race. Good. That was cool.
  
• Hitting the half marathon mark knowing that the worst part of the race was still ahead of me. Bad. I don't like to complain. Well maybe I do, but this marathon was HARD! I have only run in the St. George Marathon which has significantly more downhill..long stretches of downhill and the second half lots of steep downhill. Not so in Boston. There is up, up, and even more up. I mean there is a spot in the race that is called Heartbreak Hill!
• Running through Wellesley. Good. This was just after the 1/2. It is a famous spot because of the noise. You can hear a ringing before you see anything and then there is a line of girls (Wellesley is a girls college) and they are screaming and yelling. It was SO awesome. I'll tell you the best thing I did was wear a sign that had my name on it. At the expo there was a station that was handing out large stickers and a sign that said wear your name, crowds like to yell out your name. I grabbed one. I kind of thought it would be dumb. But it was so great. When ever I was feeling crappy...which was kind-of a lot I would run close to the sides and people in the crowds would read my name and shout out encouragement. I cannot tell you how great it was to hear my own name yelled out....even when I knew it was from people I didn't even know. So when I ran through Wellesley, I ran over to the line of girls, they all had their hands out to give fives and for probably a quarter of a mile I gave constant fives and heard my name yelled out over and over. It was such a boost!
• Seeing Shayne (and Josh) at mile 17. Good. I was counting down the miles. Here I was really hating it and it was so good to see someone I knew and get a very much needed pep talk.
• Mile 17. Power gel station. Good. Finally! Advice to anyone planning to run the Boston Marathon : Pack your own gel!!!!!
• Water and Gateraid stations every mile. Good. These saved me. Mentally I was struggling. I was feeling weak and depleted. I just told myself to run to the next water station where I would grab a drink and walk through it. Again here I heard a lot of support from the volunteers reading my name and telling me I could do it.
• Mile 19-21. Bad. Here is where you just keep going up and then still have to run Heartbreak Hill (one of the steepest spots on the course).
  
• Mile 21. Good. Here is another great crowd spot. You run by Boston College. There were a lot of loud noise that really pumps you up. Plus only 5 miles to go.
• Mile 24. Bad. Only 2 to go. I knew I was going to be close to 4 hours. But my legs would not go any faster. It was here that I came to peace with that fact that when I told people my time at Boston it would have to be with a 4 in the front and not a 3.
  
• Mile 25. Bad. Missed seeing Shayne. He was there. And he is still not sure why he never saw me run by. Maybe it was because there were lots of runners...25,000?
• Mile 26. Good. Turning the corner and see all the crowds, all the runners, and especially the finish line.
• Mile 26.2. Good. Finished. 4:01.26.
  
• Mile 26.3. Bad. My calf cramped. But no worries a medic was near by and she stretched it out good.

So even though the race was hard. I am glad I did it. My favorite was definitely having crowds of people throughout the whole race. Their were a lot of people handing out ice, water, popsicles, orange slices, or sponges soaked with water. I even saw this little boy, who was probably 4, holding a half empty water bottle asking the runners as they went by if they needed some water. So cute. So great. Amazing experience.

Boston, Mass.

I'm looking forward to a little getaway with my husband. It's fun to think about eating out: which means no planning, preparing, serving, clearing, washing, sweeping.....just eating! I love that. It will be nice to not have to worry about any complicated bedtimes: no need for hurrying, bathing, washing, scrubbing, diapering, dressing, guiding (more like pulling, yanking, dragging), pleading, yelling, kissing(I may miss that).....just sleeping. The traveling will be a breeze: no 2 days of packing, planning, preparing. No need for strollers, crayons, books, movies, paper, pencils, markers, blankies, dolls, wipes, diapers, band-aids, drinks, or snacks..... just me, and maybe snacks and a couple of good books. This weekend will be great. Oh ya, I guess there will be something else: running, running, and more running. 26.2 miles to be exact.

No Parking!

So what does No Parking actually mean? Does it mean that a vehicle can never be stopped at or around a No Parking sign? Is there a time limit? How about 1 minute or 30 seconds? Is that okay? What about if you never leave your vehicle when "parked" there? You don't even get out of the car. So obviously No Parking means No parking, but I think that it is okay to be waiting in a No Parking "zone" if you are still in your vehicle.

Soooo, why all of this talk about the definition of parking? Because the other day I had an angry old man tell me "No Parking! (pointing to a sign) You stinkin little BIT**!" Yes, he did. At least he called me little. Of course, I was in my van so I'm not sure he meant it as a compliment about my size. So, let's go back a few moments before that awesome outburst. I was picking up a couple of girls from dance and I wanted to park where I could see them come out of the door and they could see me. No need to get out of the vehicle, just a little honk and a wave over. Less work. There was a nice spot by a tree. Shade. Perfect. No Parking sign posted on the tree. I'm not getting out. So park on.

Well, I saw this car about to back out of a parking spot. I glanced and noticed that he had plenty of room to back out with a turn and head on his way even with me "parked" directly behind him (I was at least two car lengths away). He backed straight out then went forward, turned the wheel a small degree, backed straight out again, forward, turn, back straight, then forward. This was crazy! Is he serious? I watched through the corner of my eye, because I could feel his angry devil eyes on me. At first when I saw him drive back and forward once I thought about moving for him.....even though anyone, even a 10 year old could have backed out of that spot with me "parked" there....but after the second attempt, I knew he was driving like an idiot on purpose. He didn't like me parking there. And he wanted me to know it. So I sat there and laughed. He finally pulled up along side me. And spewed those delicious words. I just sat there and gave him a smile and a shrug. I wonder what more he would have done or said if his wife wasn't sitting right next to him. Ouch! I was dying, it was actually quite humorous.

So parking or no parking? Well, to tell you the truth if a cop would have been anywhere nearby I wouldn't have "stopped" there. So there you go.

It's a boy....finally!

Some of you may know that Shayne and I have discussed adopting a baby. A boy baby, because we are not able to produce one ourselves. Well, we decided to go ahead with all the paper work a few months ago. We have kept it sort of hush-hush since the selection process can take a while. It happened a lot faster than we expected. I guess the birth mom felt bad enough for Shayne having to raise only girls and picked us because of it. We are pretty excited. I'm not sure I'm all ready for the whole newborn thing again, but I have a lot of little helpers. Here's a picture of me and the little guy. The verdict is still out on the name. Good thing Shayne didn't release our list of boy's names yet.




Actually, this picture is of me and my newest nephew, CJ. I got to spend a weekend with my little sister who just had a baby. It was so great! I guess I was a lot of help. I'm a big advocate for breastfeeding. I enjoyed nursing my 4 girls and worked at WIC for a little while helping other moms with breastfeeding problems. Since this is her first baby, I offered to come and help her out with the whole nursing thing.

It feels good to make things really truly easier for someone, just by giving of myself. My knowledge. My time. It wasn't hard, but it came from me. I did help her with breastfeeding. I know she would have done it and done it well without me, but it was nice to help her gain her own confidence. I was able to take away a lot of the guess work and endless questions we have when it comes to nursing a newborn and that allowed her to be able to focus on recovering and healing. I got to spend two amazing nights sleeping with a beautiful little infant laying on my chest so Sadie could get a few more hours of desperately needed sleep. What's the perfect gift for a new mom? Definitely sleep. I enjoyed my quick stay immensely and would have loved to stay longer, but Shayne held down the fort at home with the 4 female brats that we call our children, long enough. Thanks for letting me come Sadie and Christian. And thanks for making me feel so good.
***Also about what's written above the picture, keep looking up and make sure you notice the date of this post. Just a hint.