Tuba Abby

When I got home from work yesterday, this is what I found:

 Think they were ready for T-Ball practice?

The sun was out and it was so much fun to watch them play.  Ben takes T-Ball VERY seriously:

 Abby?  Not so much:

The best part is that wherever the ball goes, the entire outfield goes.  And then  they tackle each other and wrestle the ball from whoever ends up at the bottom of the dog pile.  Sooooo entertaining. 

Can't wait for the games to start!!

On the way to practice, we were listening to "Tear Drops on My Guitar", which in our family is known as "Abby's song".  Why?  Well because it is about her, of course!  Until very recently, she was convinced that the first words of the song (which are actually "Drew looks, at me") were "Tuba, Abby".  But within the past few weeks (we have been listening to this song in the car everywhere we go for the better part of two years) she has been listening to the words a little more carefully.  She and Ben have been debating and deciphering the lyrics as I try not to laugh so hard that I drive off the road.  Here are some snippets from my backseat:

TAYLOR SWIFT: "Can he tell that I can't breathe?"

ABBY: "Why does she say, 'can he tell that I can't breathe?'"

BEN:  "I think she says 'can he tell that I can't read."

A: "No Ben.  Momma Ben says it's 'can he tell that I can't read" but it says 'can he tell that I can't breathe,' right?"

ME: "I don't know.  What do you think?"

A: "Breathe."

B: "Read."

They went back and forth, getting increasingly louder as they tried to prove that they were correct, until finally...

B: "Momma, how old is Taylor Swift?"

M: "I don't know, 19?  21?  Something like that."

B: "Oh.  I she can probably read then.  Guess Abby's right."

Now that they know all of the words, they want to know why.

A: "Why does she have everything that Taylor Swift has to live without?

B: "Why can't she breathe?"

M: "Well, that boy used to be her boyfriend but now he has a new girlfriend so she is sad that he doesn't love her anymore."

A: "Why doesn't he love her anymore?"

M: "I'm not sure.  I think he loves his new girlfriend now."

A: "That doesn't really make sense because if you love someone they always love you back."

M: (a little nervous that this conversation is setting her up to be worried that people she loves will stop loving her, but not knowing what else to say...) "Sometimes people who love each other, for whatever reason, stop loving each other."

A: "Oh.  Are they real?"

M: "No.  It's just a song."

B: "Yeah, but Taylor Swift and her boyfriend and his new girlfriend are real, right?"

I may have to lose the Taylor Swift CD because I don't think I am up to teaching life/love lessons every time I need to run out for groceries.

Things are lookin' up

This week, someone had a BAD case of the Mondays.  And it was me.  I was a disaster.  A real Debbie Downer.  But good news, people.  We are four days into the week and I am finally getting it together.  It was a combination of things, really.  Kids at school are nuts.  I mean off the wall.  It's like I'm not even there.  I talk all day and no one pays any attention to anything I say.  I may as well be invisible.  Until someone needs to tattle.  Then it is all "Mrs. Miller he looked at me!"  "Teacher she's breathing at me!"  "Tell him to stop thinking mean things about me!!"  "Help!!  Someone just kicked me in the heart!!"  All.  Day.  Long.  (Also, I wish I was exaggerating but each of these things were in fact said to me this week).

And it wasn't just them.  I have had late night after late night and it starts to get the best of me after awhile.  Plus it seemed like I just couldn't catch a break.  The water filter in my fridge needed to be replaced and so the water barely trickled out.  It took 15 minutes to fill up each of my two water bottles each morning.  Like I had time for that.  So I would just leave it there.  And I kept forgetting about it.  And flooded the kitchen.  Three times.  And the volume button on the remote for the TV stopped working.  Super annoying.  And my hair was so long I couldn't get comfortable when I was trying to sleep.  (A weird problem, I know but it was just about the last straw.)   And the rain.  I am so over all of the doom and gloom.  And snow everyday in March?!? I just can't take it anymore.

But as I said, things are starting to look up.  With one more day of this crazy week left to go, I'm starting to feel like my old self again.  In addition to the kids getting it together (today was actually quite pleasant in room 4), Robbie bought me a new filter for the fridge (I can now fill the bathtub in the time it was taking me to fill up a single bottle) and traded in the remote.  Thanks Babe! I got a haircut today. Finally. (Note to Self: 10 months is too long to go without a haircut. You start to look like Pocohontis. And not in a good way.) And the sun has made a small appearance 2 days in a row!! (Although, I did see snow on multiple cars on the way to school this morning).  Oh, and I did eat half (maybe more?) of a pan of homemade mac and cheese in one sitting.  That definitely helped.  Yep.  I think I'm finally feeling like I can handle things again.  As Ben would say, "one more work day and then two days home with us."  I think I can make it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

He did it again!  That sneaky leprechaun escaped from our trap!  Can you believe it?  And after we worked so hard on it.

 ("Store of Gold" to lure the little guy in...)

 Ben thought that the leprechaun would like to eat Lucky Charms and we could trick him by filling the bowl with honey so he would get stuck.

 They made a ladder so he could get up to the gold (and then fall in the trap) but they kept it far away since last year he used the ladder to free himself.

 We decorated it with gold and leprechauns and shamrocks to make it that much more enticing.  And then, we went to bed.  We wanted to know what happened and what the leprechaun looked like so we set up the video camera to catch him in action.

In the morning, we checked the trap to find that he had escaped with the gold by climbing a rope he tied to the ceiling fan.  AND he ate all of the lucky charms but left the honey.  And he left some surprises around the house!

In the fridge we found Lucky Charms that turned the milk green when we poured it in along with a rainbow breakfast!

 (Yeah, that's candy, cake and goldfish crackers for breakfast...there's fruit there too.  That makes it healthy, right?)

He also used our toilet again.  Apparently he had to stand on the seat?

 As they ate their breakfast, they reviewed the surveillance footage to see how it had all happened.

 What did they find?  That sneaky little bugger turned off the lights so we couldn't see what he was doing!!!  On his way out the door, he flipped the lights back on and all we could see was the same mess we found at the trap this morning. 

As we were getting ready for our day, we found one last trick...Somehow, he moved all of Abby's underwear to Ben's drawer and his to hers!  What a mess!

 Once everyone had their own skivvies on, we headed out to register for kindergarten.

 And yes, I did cry a little bit, but not until we got back in the car.

Now we are all snuggled up on the couch (Ben decided he needed his jammies back on...) watching the original "Parent Trap"!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!!

Just when we thought we were done with babies...

Yep.  You guessed it.  MORE chickens.  I know.  I know.  But I promise we are done now.  Probably.  You see, it all started when I saw a picture of a Frizzle and I knew I had to have one.  They are soooooooo cute.  See?

Seriously.  How could you not love that?  So Robbie reserved one for me (see how we have learned from the past?) and yesterday we brought her home.  1 day old and sooooooo cute.  Meet Pinkie Gladys Gutzman.

The problem is that Pinkie Gladys Gutzman is so much smaller than the rest of the babies so she has to be in her own Rubbermaid.  And she was lonely.  So today we brought home a sister for her.  Snow Bronco.  I think we will live to regret that name but it was late and the kids were tired and Abby wanted Bronco and Ben wanted Snowball and there were tears involved so Robbie made an executive decision...which was way better than going to get another chicken to be "fair".  I actually would have voted for Robbie's name, Winner Winner. 

So now, we are probably definitely most likely done.  Because now we have Francis, Taco, Aleena, Black Bean, Tinkerbelle, Stinkerbelle, Jackpot, Charlotte, Shirley, Pinkie Gladys Gutzman, and Snow Bronco.  11 chickens.  I feel like we are kind of on the verge of being the Crazy Chicken People.  Or maybe "on the verge" is a bit conservative.  At any rate, here we are.  Two parents, two kids and eleven chickens.  One BIG happy family.  Yeah, I'm pretty sure we are done with babies.

Insanity (with a capital I)

It is official folks.  I've gone off the deep end.  I've stepped outside my comfort bubble and done something that I never really thought I'd do.  Yesterday, I ran a half marathon.  Yes, me.  Now if you don't know me well, you might not be surprised by this.  I can run.  As long as it isn't more than about a quarter mile, I'm actually pretty good at it.  In fact, I stick by my theory that if God wanted us to run more than 400 meters he would have made the track bigger.  And yes, I CAN run further.  I just don't love it.

Which leads me to yesterday.  I ran 13.1 miles!!!  What?!?  Why?  Good question.  The truth is that I acted before I thought.  A few months back, my great friend Anna read about the new me and my plan to get in shape and suggested that we run a few races together.  And then she threw out the idea of the half marathon and while I was still thinking about it, it started to sell out.  So before I could change my mind I signed up.  And then I went for a 4 mile run.  You gotta start somewhere right?  That was in January.  And then the realities of my life kicked in and despite my best intentions, I never got around to running anymore.  Our schedule is hectic, and finding time when Robbie was home to be with the kids just wasn't happening.  Plus, it rains a lot in January and February.  Luckily, I do have an elliptical type thing (a Gazelle actually.  Stop laughing at me.  My dad got it for me for $15 at a yard sale.  Can't beat that!)  that I "trained" on.  So much more my style.  Remember when I said that I don't love running?  It's because (unless I have a friend to run with) I get sooooooooo bored.  Not so with my Gazelle.  I can run while I watch the Bachelor.  And talk on the phone.  And check Facebook.  And it's dry.  In addition to my one 4 miler I also put in about 20 or so miles (over the course of a couple months) on the Gazelle.  Sounds like adequate training, right?  Right??

So yesterday morning, I drug myself out of bed at the crack of dawn and thought, "what have I gotten myself into?"  I briefly considered climbing back into bed and hiding under the covers but then I remembered that I had paid $50 for this and you know how I don't like to waste money.  So against my better judgement, I forged ahead.  And guess what?  It wasn't too bad!  Anna and I took it nice and slow and since we don't get to see each other much we just talked the whole way and before you know it we were at mile 11.  After that, I got a little more anxious to get done (and there might have been a few tears) but I did it!  And I didn't walk.  And I wasn't last.  And I didn't die.  To me,  that was success.

Sure, I could have trained harder.  But let's be honest.  That just isn't my thing.  And I probably could have run faster, but I probably would have started crying long before mile 13.  And I most definitely should NOT have run the stairs at my house 91 times last weekend.  My calves still haven't fully recovered from that. I've always said that if I did anything like this, I would just do it.  And I did!  Thanks, Anna, for pushing me out of my box.  And for running with me and talking with me the whole way.  I'm really not sure I would have made it without you.  Even though I am having a hard time walking today (I have an AWESOME waddle going on) and I spent all of yesterday afternoon in bed wondering what in the world I had done, I'm glad I did it.  This may have been my last experience of this kind, but never say never I guess.

Was running 13.1 miles for the first time with very minimal training insane?  Maybe.  Am I glad I did it?  Totally.

Hand Cramps

Seriously.  It's like I have a claw right now.  I can hardly move my fingers.  But it is so totally worth it because I got to do one of my favorite things...fill out forms!!!!  Not even joking.  I know it is not normal but I LOVE LOVE LOVE to fill out forms.  I get to make everything look so nice and all of the words fit on the lines (unless the lines are too small...then I just get annoyed because I write kinda big) and I ALWAYS know the right answer which is a big boost to my self-esteem.  I am completely serious when I tell you that I couldn't wait to get the kids in bed so that I could get started.  I didn't even watch Wheel of Fortune.  And tonight was awesome because I got to do A LOT of forms, because I signed both kids up for T-ball and (you aren't going to believe this one) KINDERGARTEN!!!!  More on the big K in a couple of weeks after we turn in my nice neat forms, but the big news around here is that there is not even one tear drop on either of their forms.  Yep, that's right.  I didn't cry!  Big step for this momma but I guess I shouldn't get too impressed with myself just yet because there's always registration day for that. 

Annnnnnyway, back to my forms.  Look at all of them!

 And yes, that is my special (as in "you better not even THINK about touching it") Flair pen.  Made my forms look sooooooo nice. Have I mentioned how much I love filling out forms? So now, both kids are signed up for T-Ball.  Which is new.  Originally, Ben was the only one who wanted to play but when Abby found out that her BFF was on his team she couldn't join fast enough.  Okay by me because that required 3 extra forms!!

I'll be honest when I tell you that the Internet has put a damper on my love of filling things out.  Because typing it in is just not the same.  Also, I'm a very efficient person and I know that it would have been much easier to fill each form out without the name, photo copy it and then slap their names at the top.  Much easier, but not as much fun.  So yeah, I spent my evening writing my address 8 times.  And I loved it!

Meanwhile, our little babies have outgrown their Rubbermaid so Robbie built them something slightly bigger.  Look how big they are getting!  (And before you ask, yes, they are running around my kitchen.) 

 Happy Tuesday everyone!!