Space Derby

Today we had our Cub Scout Space Derby. It was a lot of fun. We learned from our mistakes last year and there were no broken rubber bands, no broken rockets and no tears! I love that. Here is J-mans rocket, it got all the way to the end of the track both times and he took 2nd place in our den! The first place rocket shot down the track so fast it kept going past the end of the track. We took more notes this year to get ready for next year!





T-man enjoyed being a goofball today at the space derby. He got to play with another scouts younger sibling and that kept him occupied for most of the time, but then he had to come stir up some trouble!

In other news, we are getting ready for Thanksgiving. We are going to head south this year for dinner at my Mom's with all the peeps. We're gonna have a great time! I am also stocking up on cheap turkeys (yes, more than one - at least 3) and starting to think about getting the Christmas stuff down. Is it just me? Did 2007 fly by? I really think this was a fast year, or maybe things just seem faster the older you get? Not that I am old.....

Fall Picture Summary!

Another Birthday

That was then...................................

This is now......................................

Five years ago tonight I gave birth to this little guy! He was ALOT smaller then, only 4 pounds 10 ounces. He has since gained about fourty pounds and grew about 2o inches or so. And today he is 5.

He got the Ben 10 watch! Apparently it is the coolest thing in the world!

He was so excited about opening his presents, that he was having a hard time talking on the phone to his Aunt and Uncle who were wishing him a Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday T-man!

He saved my life tonight....For Real

Tonight while we were eating dinner my husband saved my life. I took a bite of food and then tried to clear my nose and sucked a piece of chicken down my windpipe. It was a little scary not being able to breath or swallow. I tried making my self cough to get it out, but I was in trouble. I managed to squeak out "choking" and Mitch came over and started patting my back, that was not helping me so I stood up. He asked if I wanted the Heimlich Maneuver and I shook my head yes. He had to do it twice, because he was too afraid to do it hard enough the first time, but the second time he put some muscle into it and out shot that hunk of chicken. Luckily I caught the hunk before it flew across the restaurant. Yes I said restaurant. We love to do outrageous things in public places. The scary part was - nobody seemed to notice. My husband gave me the Heimlich Maneuver at a crowded Outback Steakhouse and nobody seemed to notice. The kids were fascinated by the whole thing and took it all in stride. Nothing can phase them I guess. Or maybe we did not tell them - hey, Mommy could have died from choking. It happens. Boy am I going to take smaller bites now. And my throat is really sore. This has been quite a week.

We Survived the Birthday Party

We are tired, but we survived. The bowling was fun for everyone! We had 4 lanes of 4 kids each and one adult lane. J-man's 89 year old Great-Grandmother even bowled 10 frames. She did pretty good too.

Go Great Grandma Marge!!!

Dad helping T-man to give the ball a little more speed....

J-man and friends waiting for pizza. J-man has the honor of wearing our family birthday hat.

So after the bowling and pizza and presents we headed home with 3 extra little boys for a slumber party. This was our first foray into the more than one friend spending the night arena. We have had cousins over, so I figured it would be about the same. Ha Ha. Not so much. We made them play outside for a couple of hours when we got home. Then we had a video game marathon. We decided that we would end the evening with a movie and settle everyone down. The movie was good, we watched Firehouse Dog and then figured they would just fall asleep, it was 10pm after all.

Well this is what they were doing at 11pm.

I pretty much gave up after that and went to bed and let Mitch handle the chaos. I think they finally went to sleep around midnight. They were up at 6 am. They thought they had one over on us and snuck downstairs to play video games. I slept much better after that, lol.

Funny thing, J-man and T-man are taking a nap right now..... a little tired are you?? Wonder why?

Introducing...........

My new favorite baby, AKA Baby Backer. He is cute, he is quiet and I can't wait to get my hands on him again! He was born on 8/31/07 at 9:46pm and weighed in at 8lbs. 6oz. and was 21 inches long. He put his poor mother through some serious torture. Everything turned out okay in the end. He had a fan club waiting for him consisting of 2 sets of grandparents, an uncle and 3 friends who couldn't wait to find out that he was, in fact, a he! These are the proud parents, the one I used to refer to as the girl under the kitchen and her husband.As soon as the doctors and nurses were done messing with him he settled right down as we passed him around.

Me and the new Mom, happy and relieved! I went back today to see them again. Mom is doing well and recovering nicely. Baby Backer is a being a dream baby, for his first 24 hours anyway. He only cries when he needs something or when they mess with him, then he goes right back to sleep. We passed him around and J-man and T-man got to hold him. Briefly. And with assistance. I got to wake him up to get him ready to eat today by changing his diaper and handing him over to Mom to eat. It was all very exciting. I can't wait to go back tomorrow and I will look forward to babysitting him as much as possible if he keeps up the dream baby behavior. If all goes well they should be headed home tomorrow!

Oh yeah. Tomorrow is J-man's Birthday Party. This is going to cut into my baby time. Grr. We are taking 17 kids bowling and then 6 little boys are coming back to our house for a sleepover. Am I crazy? Ask me Sunday at noon. If I mumble and drool that is not a good sign, may need to call professionals.

Water Polo

Go #12!
Um, don't drown him #3, he is smaller than you!
This is the whole team after winning their final match for today.

Today was the start of the championship tournament for water polo. J-man's team played 3 games today and won all of them. The second game of the day was very exciting and ended in a tie so we had a shoot-out. It was very exciting for the kids, and I have to admit I got into it. I was afraid to watch sometimes, because these kids are basically trying to drown each other, and it is very physical. I was highly entertained by a "Helicopter Mom" from the other team. She was hovering around the pool yelling that her kid was getting fouled. It looked like a two way street to me. Her kid got out of the pool crying and she walked over and started yelling in the ref's face. Then she started yelling at our coaches. Then she went back to her kid. Then she went back and started yelling at the ref some more. All this time the ref kept the game going and was walking up and down the side of the pool with the movement of the ball. I was impressed that the ref did not lose it with her. I myself would have told Helicopter Mom to get the H-e-doubletoothpicks out of my face and sit her butt back in her chair and let her kid and the coaches and the ref work it out. She did provide me with some entertainment this afternoon and for that I thank her. I really don't want to be one of those pain the butt Moms, so I should also thank her for the what not to do at a water polo match lesson. Yes, Thank you Helicopter Mom, and I hope that your baby is okay tonight.

More water polo fun is planned for Sunday - the winner take all match, loser takes second. They all get medals - YEAH!

Maybe we are Crazy

Warning: If you do not like to read about throw up stop now, do not read.

Tonight we had plans to go to dinner with Aunt Kelly who is in town on business. We picked her up at her hotel at 7 and went to the Rainforest Cafe because the kids love it and Aunt Kelly's name should be Auntspoilsmerotten. We had a 25 minute wait, but luckily aforementioned restaurant is located in a shopping mall. 25 min? Is that all? Okay. I can shop quick. So I bought a new Franklin Covey planner and gave my husband a small heart attack. (But its pink and its much thinner than my old one. I need it to stay organized and SANE - I swear.)

When we finally got seated in the restaurant Daddy took the boys to the potty. We order. The boys want to go look at the animals. Everything normal so far. Then T-man says that his tummy hurt. Yesterday when his tummy hurt he had the Big D, so I told Daddy that he should take him to the potty. Daddy said "I just took him, he doesn't need to go again." Okay. So T-man then crawls into Daddy's lap. Whimpering. Bad sign, but he is not in my lap, so no worries, right? Next thing I know Daddy is covered in vomit and yelling at me to take T-man. I couldn't resist. "I told you that you should have taken him to the bathroom." But then it didn't really matter because I ended up having to clean up T-man. It was - very colorful - and very odoriferous. Don't mind me, other patrons in the restaurant - just taking this vomit covered child to the bathroom for some clean up. Keep eating.

Now when they are babies this is to be expected and much easier to deal with. Smaller volume and all. And when they are toddlers you at least have a diaper bag or a change of clothes just in case of accidents. But when they are almost 5 you sort of just throw them in the car and go. At least I do. And it was 85F today, we didn't even have coats. Luckily his shirt was good. The shorts I sorta got clean. His socks and shoes were toast. I left them on and brought him back to the table. Auntspoilsmerotten had gotten Daddy a new shirt from the restaurant gift shop and the restaurant staff was there with the mop and towels. So should we go home? We already ordered. Nah, well just stay. Do you think anyone around us noticed??

I gave T-man a bag in case his tummy hurt again and then our food was there. Everyone ate, except T-man. He nibbled and drank a little 7up. Is it crazy that we stayed and ate?? We asked for the check as soon as we were finished so we could rush the sick boy home. Then we told throw up stories in the car and laughed all the way home. Like the first time J-man threw up when he was 2 1/2:

He was crying and said "Mommy - I just spilled my juice all over the
floor!" Um, no J-man you threw up, you are sick. "I don't like being
sick." Ya think? Try being the pregnant Mama who's got to clean it
up.

We laughed all the way home.

Yep we are Crazy.

My 4 yo has an addiction

I didn't mean to do it. I'm only a little bit sorry that I did it.
What did I do? Thanks for asking.
I got my son hooked on Starbucks Pumpkin Scones. Yep totally hooked. Asks for them like some kids ask to go to McBurgerplace or asks for candy. Yesterday I realized the extent of the addiction as we drove to our THIRD Starbucks to get T-man his fix. The first two were out of pumpkin scones. Luckily we live in latte land and have A LOT of Starbucks to choose from in a 2 mile radius. Also Starbucks has conveniently packaged a smaller version of their pumpkin scones in a multi pack that we can take home for when it is not convenient to take your 4yo to Starbucks. They seem to freeze well but don't last long enough at my house to really put that one to the test. Sigh. At least I get my caffeine fix at the same time and he is not asking for lattes.
Yet.

Got Tagged! 8 Random Things

Thank you Melanie, I have been Tagged!

Here's the deal:

1-post these rules

2-each person tagged must post 8 random(... hopefully interesting) facts about themselves

3-those tagged should write a blog post of these facts

4-at the end of the post, 8 more bloggers are tagged and named

5-go to their blog and leave a comment telling them they're tagged
Here goes.......

1. I am not a morning person, I have to FORCE myself out of bed every morning to get to my early (self scheduled) shift or the pool for the early morning (kid free) workout.

2. I am addicted to cop shows - Animal Cops, Cops, Beach Patrol - If you know of any other cop shows let me know....

3. I am a sex cop. Yup that is the nickname for my job officially a "disease investigator" for the health department but when you are investigating STD cases, you are known as a sex cop or the STD police. How would you like that on your business card? I got a badge and everything....of course its also a bus pass.....

4. I still secretly listen to (and love) Whitesnake. I had to replace my cassette tapes with CD's because the tape squeaked real loud and was distracting to the music. They are coming out with a new album in the Fall.....aren't you excited??

5. I have been to 23 of the 50 states, unless you count landing at an airport, then I can add 4 more states, but I don't think that counts. Someday I hope to have visited all 50 states......

6. I have worked at lots of random jobs: Strawberry picker, house cleaner, babysitter, K-mart (cashier AND customer service), Taco Bell (lasted 2 weeks), sold shoes (what was the name of that shoe store?), security guard (ya- I laugh too), office slave, auto parts delivery driver, athletic trainer, cheerleading camp trainer, hostess at 2 different restaurants, Hospital phlebotomist at 3 different hospitals, health educator intern, lab tech, PSBC mobile technician, sleep center office manager, teen clinic MA, drug treatment center MA and finally a sex cop. It all makes sense, huh. Like I was planning it.

7. I hate tofu. Hate it. Can't make me like it no matter how you disguise it.

8. Thanks to my sister-in-law and their 55 acres we have 3 cows. Not just cows, but longhorn cows. We will be down to 2 cows in the fall (and get a full freezer) and then back up to 3 next spring if everything goes according to plan.

Okay, I think I need more blogger friends, cause Gretchyn, Bonnie, Kristie, Bobbi and my sister are about it, and some of them haven't blogged in a very long time. I am a blog stalker, mostly reading strangers blogs. Is that #9?.......

Weekend on Whidbey

Well we were supposed to go camping to Mt. Rainier, but the weather was supposed to be crappy, and I am not a camping in the rain sort of a girl, so we wimped out. But since we were already packed, we made a quick switch and headed over to Whidbey Island, where some friends have a cabin. The best part - We got to take a ferry to get there! The weather turned out great. Whidbey Island has a great dog beach. Yukon had a great time, I was a little afraid that he would not be able to walk the next day because of his bad hips, but he did great!
The best part of the trip was dinner on Saturday night. We had crab! Mitch and Frank spend most of the day setting their traps and re-setting their traps and throwing back of the girls who kept getting caught. This was the first one that we caught and could keep, a red rock crab. We followed him up with a bunch of Dungeness, but it took several trips out to the traps. Eventually we had enough for everyone to have some for dinner. Yum.
This weekend was not long enough. I have a huge pile of sandy laundry to do, and since I was gone all weekend, no projects got done around the house. Oh well there is always next weekend!

Another Month Gone

Where do they go? Only one month left of summer. That means I have to start planning J-man's birthday party. Should be low key this year since we are going to have it over labor day weekend this year. We usually go out of town for that weekend, but not this year. This year we are expecting a baby!! No not me, Christine and Ryan are due Sept 4th and I don't want to miss it! They did not find out the sex of the baby and the suspense is killing me. They don't realize that I am plotting and planning around this big date. I am planning on making some dinners for their freezer, and I can't wait to go shopping for pink or blue, cause they got enough green and yellow! Its gonna be great to snuggle up to a little baby again, but then leave and go get a full nights sleep! Is that evil of me to think that way? I owe Christine big time babysitting for all the times she watched the boys, and I am sure she is planning on cashing in!
So the birthday party this year is going to be bowling. Okay.....Mr. Gutterball can't break 100 and can barely lift a bowling ball wants to go throw gutter balls with his friends. Fine with me, I am pretty sure they serve beer, so much better for the parents. Now that bowling alley's don't totally reek of smoke they are not so bad. I wonder if they will let me bring in a cake? Just trying to keep the mess out of my house, but J-man is thinking slumber party too. Hmm. No.
Got one more camping trip planned for this weekend at Mt. Rainier. The weather is not supposed to be that great, and I am not up for camping in the rain, so might be home early. If it is nice I am excited to get that close to the mountain and get some hiking in. We are taking Yukon with us, but I am not sure how much hiking he can do, poor guy had to be helped up the stairs last night to go to bed. Bad hips suck.
In a couple of weeks I am joining my Mom for the Relay for Life for the American Cancer Association. She signed me up as a Cancer survivor, which I guess I am, but I don't like to talk about it. I have my next check on Thursday, lets hope for another cancer free visit - Woo Hoo! I will be dedicating my walk to Jan Nelson, my friend Jen's Mom, who is currently battling against ovarian cancer. Battling is the right word, she is fighting so hard and I am so inspired by her strength, and she is so supportive of Jen and an awesome Grandma even during radiation!
This morning I was up at the pool swimming with our pools masters swim program. It was my second time and I think I am going to stick with it for the rest of the summer. The coach is a friend from College and she is helping me with my strokes and pushing me to get a really good work out. J-man is impressed that I joined "a swim team" but was very disappointed to learn that we don't have meets. He can't understand why I am doing it. Oh maybe to see if I can lose 30 pounds or so? Plus I have to admit it feels great. I got into a rhythm today in the water, I need to see if I can get my kick-turn back and practice0 butterfly a lot more, it was really hard to get out of the water on that one. Maybe I should sign myself up for some lessons right along side of T-man! He is working on side breathing now, it is pretty funny to watch.
Well time to go back to the pool for water polo and swim lessons.

Diving Champs!

Well the dive season ended this weekend. J-man dove very well and took 6th place. Our whole dive team won as well, and even though we did not have the greatest weather, we still had a good time. This was his first dive. He got several 6's for it!
Goofball even during a serious event.
Look at that height!

The Haircut won

Apparently the swim cap made quite the impression, because J-man wanted his hair cut on Sunday. Then T-man was jealous that J-man got a haircut and he didn't, so on Tuesday I took him for a hair cut also. They look pretty good, huh? Minus the sharpie art on Joey that will hopefully fade away now that swim team is over!

They are boys and never stop acting like them. I started taking pictures because they were being so nice to each other and cute, but as soon as the camera comes out they start wrestling and putting bunnie ears on each other and basically just being the playful little boys that they are. Then they scream "I want to see the picture!" and then laugh and laugh at how funny the picture turns out. Thank goodness for digital, cause 9/10ths of the pictures that they ask me to take are not printable. Funny, but nothing to send on to the Grandma's. We still try to fool them that we have good little boys that never act like monkeys.

Oh yeah, and I finally figured out why they sell just pajama bottoms for boys. I can not get these boys to wear any of their pajama tops. I didn't think that it would last but it has been months. Maybe when it gets cold out again? I am currently only buying bottoms, or the ones that come with both shorts and pants with only one top, then I don't feel like I am wasting my money buying the top that just sits in the jammie drawer all lonely and unworn. Another one of those boy things.........that drive me NUTS!!!

Haircut or Swimcap?

This has been a very busy week for the J-man. He had a dive meet on Monday and luckily his uncle Burt was around to watch!

Then he had a swim meet on Tuesday, followed by another dive meet on Wednesday. Friday was 2 birthday parties and Saturday morning another swim meet!

Well J-mans hair is getting pretty long and shaggy and fried from the sun, chlorine and more sun. It has turned white also. Mom and especially Dad are not happy with the resulting crayzy hair look. I have been joking all swim season about getting him a cap and on Saturday I gave him a choice - Haircut or Swimcap. Here is the result:

Well he got a medal on Saturday and earned lots of points for his team as well as 2 improvements on freestyle and backstroke. Go J-man and the swimcap. I wonder if he would have been faster with the ears tucked in too........

Busy Mom's Tip #3

Get stuff ready for tomorrow tonight.

Last night we got home late from watching fireworks and had to put the boys right to bed. Mitch and I vegged out in front of the TV for a little bit then went to bed. I did not put the swim bag out with the towels in it or get anything ready for this morning. So what happened?? Total chaos. I had some phone calls come in and I was on the phone until the very last minute before swim practice and so we were running out the door. I felt rushed trying to find all the stuff and I was late. So I threw the kids in the car and SMASH! Out goes the little decorative fence and my van has some nice big scratches on it. Luckily the piece that fell off of the van, snapped right back on, lol. Message from above, slow down girl why didn't you get that stuff ready to go last night?

So you see, if I would have put the towels and goggles in the bag and had it by the door and ready to go, no running around like a crazy person and feeling rushed! This works for going to work too. Pack your lunch the night before, have the coffee ready to just be turned on, have your clothes picked out..... these are all great time savers in the morning. Especially for someone like me who is not a natural morning person, but rather a night owl who deals with the early risers because I only get to "enjoy" them until they are 18. And I am still holding out hope for that "someday" when they like to sleep in. A girl can dream anyway.

Happy Fourth of July!

We had a Picnic in the Park celebration in our neighborhood. There was food and games, a bounce house and Dizzy's Tumble Bus! All the neighbors were there as well as the local Fire Department. The boys got to take a turn using the fire hose to wet each other down.

We had brought Yukon down to the park with us and J-man took him into the crowd getting sprayed. We walked home with 3 dripping wet boys!

I was worried that Yukon was going to get to hot, but not after he got hosed down, that water was cold!

Busy Mom's Tip #2

Use a calendar.

I have 2. One on the fridge and one that I carry around with me. Most of the time they have the same stuff on them. The only time I have gotten in trouble with double booking is when I try to do stuff with out my calendar - gets me in trouble every time. So I keep my portable calendar and sync it up with the fridge calendar and everybody is happy.
The good part about my portable calendar is that it also has an address book in it. I have it all updated with addresses and phone numbers (home, work and cell) for all my friends and family. This will come in handy when I get my new cell phone.
Why am I getting a new cell phone? Thanks for asking. I am getting a new cell phone because some LOSER (or group of losers) decided to steal my old one out of my car last night. And the car charger. I guess I could say that it was my fault for leaving it in my car, but you know what? its not. It is MY car that was parked in MY driveway. It was MY phone with all of MY friends and family's phone numbers in it and pictures of MY kids. I paid for it, and still have to pay the monthly fee for the "service" even though I am unable to use it. And I am really pissed. Could you tell? The police officer was very nice and informed me that I was not the only victim of the "car prowler". Four other neighbors got robbed and they stole a mini-van from the house on the corner. I am lucky that they did not take the garage door opener or anything else, I think it was a grab and dash, anyway I hope they catch them.
So now I have to decide what kind of phone to get - and if I want to just pay for a new phone or have Cingular (or At&t or whoever they are now) own me and my minutes for another 2 years. Ugh. Why can't I just have my pink razor back? It was so cute and it had Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband wallpaper from when I saw them at the Tractor Tavern. And I had just paid for my Maroon 5 ringtone! Those bastards stole my new ringtone!! I had forgotten all about that - grrrr. Now I am even madder!!

Busy Mom's Tip #1

Don't just cook dinner, cook 3.



That is right, if you are going to go through all the trouble of chopping, mixing and baking, might as well triple that recipe and save some for later. Most meals will freeze well, or parts of it will, and you can eat one later on in the week and the other next week. Trust me, if you do this 2 times a week or even just on the weekends you will save time. Not just the time it takes to prep the meal, but the time it takes to decide what is for dinner.

Tonight I made Meatloaf. 3 of them. We ate one for dinner and 2 for the freezer. This same meat mixture I also rolled into meatballs, 90 of them. That is 3 more meals for us. So tonight I actually made 6 dinners with one recipe. I used 8# of hamburger, 3 cups bread crumbs, 7 eggs, 1 onion (don't tell the boys about that), 2 cans of tomato sauce and some spices. I cooked the meat loaves first and while those were in the oven I scooped out all the meatballs with a cookie scoop. Meatballs go on a cookie sheet to get flash frozen and then into ziplock freezer baggies. The meatloaves got wrapped up and stuck in the freezer after they cooled. I do this alot and have various meals and meal "parts" in my freezer for dinner with very little effort.

So this is the first tip, and a most important one that I tell my friends and family when they ask how I keep it all together. I don't think I keep it all together all that well, but I try really hard to do a few key things right and this is one of them. More to come, I promise!

A great day to be outside!

We've got baby birds. We've actually had them for awhile, but they are getting bigger and louder now and I can see their little mouths sticking out of our vents in the eves of our house.

They peep really loud and then the Mom and Dad take turns bringing them food.

They are fun to watch, but they are going to need to leave soon so we can replace that screen to keep future generations out of the eves and in the trees!

We also spent some time outside riding bikes.

Look Mom, no more training wheels.

Today J-man's friends came over and asked if he could go outside and ride bikes with them. I said no, because I wanted to get dinner started and didn't want him out on his bike with out me outside. I also said no because Joey can't ride his bike with out someone running along side of him and I get sick of it so I just put the training wheels back on. So after dinner Mitch went out with J-man and took off the training wheels and yeah! he was riding his bike. Somewhat drunkenly, but he was doing it. Now he just needs to get out there every single day and practice, practice, practice. I think having his friends ride over here from their house on their bikes was very motivating! One down, one to go. T-man was out on his bike too. I see the training wheels coming off by the end of the summer. There is something to be said for having a big brother that you want to be just like!