I RAN!

WOO HOO for me!!! I ran about 1/2 a mile yesterday! I am starting in on this thing where you end up not-walking a 5K when you are through - about 90 days. There's no time goal, just the goal of not walking that race. I figured that this was a good place to start seeing as how I haven't run in about Oh..a bajillion years..since high school actually. I exercised in college and ran some here and there - even on an elliptical machine in grad school. But, this was me, picking up my feet, tromping along on the treadmill going about oh so fast. Tom had a big grin (he was running right next to me) as I walked my first half mile, ran the second, then walked the third. I didn't expire, I didn't fall down or trip, I didn't poke an eye out (yea reduction and good bra!) and I can still walk. So, tomorrow we are back after one day of rest. Hopefully I will update you in a month or so when I'm running about 2 miles (which seems like an awfully long distance).

Xmas: The Third Part

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Xmas: The Second Part

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

When Buffalos Attack

I was reading this article on Yahoo News and went hunting for the actual video mentioned in the article. What I saw was amazing so I thought I'd share in case you missed it otherwise. Watch the whole thing but don't fret - there are no animals harmed in the making of this video...

Baba's Birthday

Dad (Hi DAD!) turned 65 while he was here. While we tease hum about being old, he's really still a kid at heart. So, we gave him a birthday fit for that kid at heart! The kids covered him in stickers, he blew out the candles on his cake (all 65 of them!) and then we went outside and played with bubbles! (And he loved every minute of it!)

Happy Birthday Baba!

Xmas: The First Part

We pulled out all the decorations and found that our tree smelled like mold. Yuk. Guess that's one of the hazards in living somewhere where it is slightly humid...and keeping the tree in a cardboard box in the garage. So we found a great substitute:



But our Xmas Tree and all of the branches weren't very accommodating. They got up and walked away shortly after this pictures was taken. So, we found another solution:

You'll notice that all of the ornaments were up high on the tree - we had a wily 16 month old running around and he was all over those ornaments! The tree we ended up getting was the same tree we bought last year (artificial as we're allergic to real trees) so we were set.

Best bowler in our family?

Up until last week I would have said Tom - he consistently beats the heck out of me when we bowl (which is maybe like once a year). But this time I was the big winner. He started smack talking so I had to put him in his place. (Above that's Max, Sam, Ian, Suzie, Tom)

We all had a great time. And even though Tom only arrives at the bowling alley kicking and screaming, he too had fun (except for the losing part - but he brought that on himself by talking all that smack!

The kids did really well too - they had bumpers up to help them out, so they became masters of using those bumpers. Ahhh...boys...making up their own games.

Looking for Santa?

Well, you can find him here: NORAD As of 10:47 pm Eastern he's in Detroit, MI, but he's skipping around! There are also some very cool videos about some of the other places he's been and I'm sure you can see those in the next few days as well. Have a very Merry Xmas!

The WORST Holiday Blogger

I've been blogging for a bit over a year now, and I hit this holiday season and it all ground to a halt. I wasn't out of town, I wasn't overrun by company, and we weren't over loaded with activities. Guess I just fell out of the routine. So, it's back on the blog horse with me! But for now, this is it. Have a great holiday and I'll fill you in on the rest of the past week or so tomorrow!

Religious Education

Heard from the back seat while driving through Burger King:

Sam: It's Jesus' Birthday.
Ian: Who's that?
Sam: A baby.
Ian: Huh?

Yeah...

No way to top this!

his is the best first dance ever. Do take a minute to watch it:

Things Kids Say - Part 4

Yeah I went back and looked - not really a gazillion things they have said, just four. And this one's a doozie.

Scene: Suzie in the van driving Ian and Sam to preschool
Ian: Mommy?
Suzie: Yes Ian.
Ian: You look old.
Suzie: Why do you say that Ian?
Ian: It's all those lines on your face.

Sigh...

Staying up Late?

I was perusing a few stores' websites to see what their hours were, thinking I could run a few errands when the little guys are in school tomorrow. I figured they'd close at regular hours tonight and open at regular hours tomorrow morning, but I was hoping that at least one or two of them would open an hour early so I could sneak a bit more in. What a shock to see that one place, L. L. Bean, is open 24 HOURS from now until Xmas. Also, Kohl's is open basically 16 hours a day from now until then - all the way up until midnight. Well, isn't that convenient? I can spend every waking hour stalking the wiley...well, the wiley....winter coat. Yes, I'm good to go on Xmas gifts, with the exception of a few small things, but I am coatless. I have a nice jacket that will get me through (and it did for the first snow) but it is certainly not warm enough to protect me when I get down and play in the snow. Now, normally in December I would be fine with that other coat, but they are predicting possible snow - and definitely a wintry mix this weekend. And that means that I will be cold. So, it's off to the store to grab the jacket.


So the question is, should I hit up the store tonight after the kids go to bed? Or should I fight traffic and possible sleet and ice and snow, not to mention traffic in the morning to obtain said coat? If you know me then the answer is very easy. I regularly stay up very late. So tonight you'll find me out hunting up the wiley winter coat. Yupl I'm staying up late for a reason this time.

<-So what do you think - won't I look cute (warm) in this?

You are not going to believe this

I mailed my Holiday cards today. Now, off the bat that might not seem like such a big thing. People around this time of year mail all kinds of cards out. Some get theirs out early, others cut it close and they end up arriving right after the holidays. But these were the cards from 2006. Yes, I said 2006. I've already apologized for not sending them out once, but they actually did go out today. So count me in for those who have gotten their cards out in BOTH 2006 and 2007. I'm counting this whether it really counts or not - it's done.

Then again I have three cards here that need new addresses and more stamps. I'll get those done tomorrow...

We survived our drive to Orlando and back. We still all like each other (just like on the drive out) and other than a little extra wear and tear on the van (let's just say that the kiddos trashed it and now it desperately needs a bath on the inside) it was a fantastic trip!

We saw Mickey:


And Santa:


And had a beautiful drive back home:

Ahhh...The Family Roadtrip

We are into hour 15 of our road trip and we are all still talking to each other, have had basically no trouble and only one minor kid meltdown. All in all a very good start to our trip. But, don't take this as any indication of my support for the family roadtrip. I stand by my assertion that we are a flying family, and even a good roadtrip won't change that.
My slightly insane husband suggested that we drive from DC to Orlando, Florida...all in one day. Remember those three beatiful little men that I've mentioned before? Well, between them and the thought of a full day with no real food and rest stop and gas station potties, I'll admit the idea of being on the road for that long was not appealing.
While not admitting that Tom was right (don't want him to get a big head), we do travel well together. I personally believe that a few Game Boys, some cool DVD's from home, and the occassional snack made this trip an easy one.
So, we're almost there - I'll be sure to say "Hi" to the Mouse for you!
P.S. - Tom wanted me to be sure to mention that "As a demonstration of my profound commitment to my family's safety and in the best interest of those concerned" we actually left last night. In the middle of rush hour. From Washington DC area. Yes, rush hour. While not the best timing, we thought it would be better NOT to attempt a 15 hour drive in one day. Personally I think Tom realized his folly.

So much for the spice

I wanted to add some spice to my look - so I decided that a bit of color in my hair would be the way to go. I wasn't interested in coloring my hair, because I like the color of my hair, but adding a touch of color. Well, if you don't know, I have brown hair. In the summer it has red highlights from the sun, but it's just brown. I wanted some bright pink or purple, and since the holidays were coming up, I figured that it would be best to get the purple as I wear lots of reds over the winter and I figure that purple would look better. Well, my stylist was all over this. She hunted up some temporary color for me and we went to work. A good, oh, 20 minutes later we were rinsing and I could tell from her facial expression that something was wrong - terribly wrong. She told me to come sit back down and we'd dry to see if it "worked." I was afraid from her look that my hair had fallen out or it was green or something strange like that. But no, there was nothing. I don't mean there was nothing wrong, but there was nothing at all. My brown hair was still brown with maybe one or two STRANDS of hair purple. So, we went back and did a larger chunk of hair (since it only takes about 20 minutes total), and we sat down again with the mirror and looked. Well, there was a bit more purple in my hair, but again, nothing visible without the mirror up close. Dangit. I want my purple hair but the purple hair doesn't want me. Deflated, my stylist and I decided that we'd think on it and see what we could come up with - maybe using actual hair color that is semi-permanent (the purple was also semi-permanent and would wash out in a bout 6 weeks, but shw ants to use actual real hair color) so that it shows in my hair. But, this would only be red as real hair color doens't come in wild colors. The temporary pink may or may not work - same kind as the purple but lighter.

What we think happened is that it blended right in with my lovely brown hair (GRRR). If you look very, very closely I do have some purple strands here and there, but overall I look no different. We aren't sure that the gray hair took any of the color, but I'm not one for bleach so the whole bleaching to get the pink or purple in my hair isn't an option at this point. But, I do have an e-mail out to my cousin, who does this professionally (and has dark hair). I'm hoping that she comes through for me so that I can get that cool purple hair - it's not like I'm asking for world peace here (although that would be nice too), just a touch of color in my hair.

The Cast

In case you were wondering. Max got a soccer cast...a very easy decision for him:

And hopefully it will come off Monday!

How NoVA does parades

Not DC - they have HUGE parades, but Northern Virginia. I am a parade JUNKIE and we missed this one last year due to some unfortunate circumstances. So, we hit the Reston Thanksgiving Day parade and aside from freezing had a good time (well at least I did...). We saw the standard parade fare, old cars, scouts (both Boy and Girl), giant balloons (even a giant attack eagle balloon - check out this little girl - she ducked just before it attacked her!)

Really, no kiddos were harmed in the marching of this parade - she was holding the beak...

We also saw bands, fire trucks, and of course Ronald McDonald (huh? Yeah, Ronald). Then, we saw the Zamboni (hey, it was cold out),

the swing dancing penguins,

the Hogettes (crazy fund raising Redskin fans),

and last but not least, Santa and Mrs. Claus.

So, I was impressed enough by this parade to deem it Suzie Parade Worthy (meaning I'll drag the family again next year). Then again it doesn't take much (ask Tom about the Leander Days parade or the Anderson Mill 4th of July Parade...and I can go on). Hopefully though it will be a bit warmer, or the wind will be still for us so we won't freeze. Forty two isn't bad (did I just say that?) but when the wind chill cuts right through the pants and the wind howls past the buildings, it feels like upper 20's. But we'll be back there next year, right on time, lining up to see Santa and Mrs. Claus again!

Food

Food for your belly (from our Texas Thanksgiving last weekend):




And food for thought (from YouTube - thanks Aunt Norma and Uncle Hugh for showing us this):

Finally Fall

Here's proof:

Unfortunately, here's more proof:

YUK!

Seems that the nasty yuk hasn't quite left our house. As of today I'm the only one who still has it, but Ian has lingering effects of it - he's hacking and coughing as we speak (and yes, it's 11pm here - but he's coughing in his sleep). Can't be good for him poor little guy, but he refuses to take cough suppressant and I'm not up for a fight tonight. So, he hacks and coughs in his sleep. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully we will be feeling better.

We spent the past weekend in Texas visiting with Dad and Doreen and attending Dad's retirement ceremony. Nice to see him taking time for himself after all these years of working. We'll see how he adjusts to having free time, and see if he fills it all with "things to do," or if he just hangs out and relaxes some. I'm voting for the latter (Uh, Hello Dad - get it?).

We left town on Thursday and I was busy doing laundry on Wednesday night so that we'd have some clothes (I'm terribly behind on the whole laundry thing right now). Half way through my second load of about five that I was planning to do, the dryer STOPS WORKING. Uh, hullo? Don't you know that we are leaving town tomorrow and I have other things to do? So, instead of doing some of those other things I spent two hours at the laundromat. Now, this turned out to be much better than I expected. I piled my load of half dry clothes, the load from the washer that was clean but wet, and all that I could stuff into a couple of big baskets and headed a block up the street. Wouldn't have been so bad but it was pouring down rain. Now, I haven't been to a laundromat in YEARS. We've had a washer dryer in just about every place we've lived in for probably the past 15 years or so. Can remember one place in Sarasota that didn't have a washer/dryer, but that was waaaaay back when. Anyway, I took my quarters, clothes and detergent in and started the loads going. Two hours later all five loads were done. Amazing. Except for the rent a cop coming in and scaring off the migrant workers (who weren't bothering anyone and just had come in to find some refuge from the cold and rain) not much went on. I read the paper, drank my coke and folded clothes as they came out. I might need to do this more often. If I can get five loads done in 120 minutes - folded and everything - you might hear about this again!

Meanwhile the "dryer repair guy," aka Tom, promised to look at it tomorrow night after his meeting. Nothing exciting as we've already fixed the dryer twice (well, Tom fixed the dryer thus he's the repair guy...) and he says it should be another easy fix. Hopefully he's right as the dryer that came with the house doesn't work and was kind of old looking anyway. So, hopefully in a few days we will have a functional dryer. In the meantime I might just have to take a morning and head off to the laundromat again. Who knows how much laundry I can get clean with a bit of planning!

Oh yeah...and I forgot to pick up Bunsen from the vet (where he was boarded). Hope he doesn't notice...

Mom I colored you a PICTURE!

Yeah. Sounds good on paper, but on my beige burber CARPET? Done in DRY ERASE MARKER??? Yeah, not cool. Fortunately, Oxy Clean Laundry stuff gets the stains out...mostly. Yes, the laundry stuff because that's all we had. Now we have light pink and blue stains on the lovely beige berber carpet. Oh, and it's the only carpet in the entire house.

When asked if they wrote on the carpet, Sam answered "It was an accident." Nice, but we don't believe you. We can clearly see your name there. Sigh...double sigh...and the biggest sigh of all is that history is repeating itself. Apparently my kids are genetically programmed to write on the carpet with a semi permanent market. Max did the exact same thing when he was 4.5 years old...on my grey berber carpet...with a red Sharpie.

Who knew?

Who knew...

...that one of my kiddos can do a handstand on the wall?

...that the other kiddo would follow suit when he saw the first one doing it?

...that both little guys can climb a ladder/wall up to about 10 feet without any trouble?

...that both kiddos look like monkeys when swing on a rope?

...that they would bounce like maniacs on a trampoline?

...that one would hang as he moved along the length of a high bar them plummet into a foam pit?

...that the other would hang for only a second then squeal with delight as he fell into the pit?

...that they would roll and tumble and climb and flip until they had to be told that class was over?

...that they would talk for ten minutes about all the cool stuff they did at their first gymnastics class?

Not me...but this is where I found myself this morning as the little boys went to their very first gymnastics class!

How to Save $50 a Month

Step 1 - Get these:

Step 2 - Buy these: Step 3 - Use the item purchased in Step 2:

Works every time...50 bucks a pop...

I need a pop up timer

You know those pop up timers that they have on turkeys? You know - the ones that tell you when the turkey is done? O.K. I'll admit that I've only made one, maybe two turkeys but I had one on both turkeys that I made. Well, I need one of those for ear infections. I think it would be very convenient and helpful if kids came equipped with pop up indicators that told us when they had an ear infection.

Sam has been under the weather for a few days. He had a fever yesterday and this morning, so we were giving him Tylenol Plus some runny nose stuff to help with his runny nose (yeah, I know all about the recall, but he's 4.5 and I can read the bottle so as not to overdose him). The stuff dries him up some and drops his fever, plus it seems to make him feel MUCH better, and now we know that it probably masks the ear pain, or so I'm guessing. Tonight, after a day of hanging out, resting, and trying to get himself back into working order, Sam complained that his ear hurt. Well, Max whacked him (accidentally) pretty good earlier in the day, but he said it hurt as he tugged on his ear, and it was enough to keep him from falling to sleep. Poor guy - he might have an ear infection. Here's where the pop up timer comes into play.

For those of us who have kiddos who rarely get things like these, it would be great to know that he has an ear infection or not. Now we have to haul him off to the doctor to see if his runny nose caused his tubes to swell and get all gunked up (yuk!) and whether the fever was from the aforementioned gunk. Hopefully it's not, it's just an ear that got whacked on and hurts, but since we're hopping on a plane on Thursday it's important that we get this cleared up ASAP. Otherwise his head (and mine) might explode on the plane, causing the heads of all those lovely passengers flying with us to explode as well.

So, tomorrow we call the doctor, and hopefully Sam will get some relief from this, whatever it is. But oh how much easier would it be if that timer thing popped up - then we'd know - yep, it's an ear infection!