Saying so long to the Sac

It's official. Our old house is now someone's new house.

We moved over Christmas, but the house had not sold. It sold a whopping 21 hours before the company buy out was to happen. OH to have all of those hours of my life back spent keeping it show ready!

That was back in January.

The new peeps didn't want to move until school was out (which I kind of understand, but I kind of don't because our school system ROCKS), so they've been slowly bringing stuff up on the weekends. Word on the Sac (as in cul de sac) is that they are finally moving in this weekend.

So here is an open letter to the newest occupants of one of the best houses in the most awesomest neighborhoods on the greatest cul de sac ever:

Dear New Neighbors,

Congratulations on moving into your new home! We hope you enjoy living there as much as we did. True, we were only there a little over two years, but we packed in enough memories to last a lifetime.

While it may look like any other cedar plank house in the town, there are a few things you should know. First, I'm not sure who was against overhead lighting in 1989, but as I'm sure you've discovered, it can get a little dark upstairs! If the outlets go out in the bathrooms, do NOT call an electrician. There is a reset button on a random outlet in the garage. Don't ask. It was probably the same guy who was against overhead lighting but all for white tile countertops in the kitchen.

You have an awesome tree in the front yard. In the winter, it will look like this

It's fantastic! It will stay this way from November until about March, and you will start to think that it's dead and will never come back again, but then you will go to Augusta for the Masters (ok, maybe not, but sometime in April) and see this when you return

And out come the most beautiful leaves you've ever seen that match the front door PERFECTLY!

Now about trees. In the back yard, you get to see this lovely, that is not technically yours, but you can sit on your deck and admire it

And the big tree that is perfect for climbing drops leaves the size of your kids' head! No kidding!

And as much fun as they are to jump in, be careful because a few good gusts and your yard looks like this

But enough about the trees! Well, one more, just because I love snow

Let's talk about the fence.

The split rail makes a nice neighborhood marker, but our, I mean, your fence in the back is a cute little one. I originally didn't like it and wanted to put up a privacy one like we had in Florida.

That would have been the biggest mistake ever.

Because on the other side of that fence are some of the greatest people on this planet.

Sure, the circle isn't made up of cookie cutter early 20's couples with 2 kids a dog and a cat, but that's what makes our, I mean, your cul de sac so great.

On your left, you have a fabulous family of six. They are awesome for multiple reasons. The older two kids give you a glimpse of what you'll be dealing with in a few years and you can learn from what they do, but there are still littles to enjoy playing with and pass your favorite outfits down to. You couldn't not get along with the wife if you tried and the husband is hilarious (although be warned, he HAS to get the last word in and will argue with a rock, but that's kind of his job!).

On the other side is another family, but with older kids. She is great to swap book ideas with, and he has the greatest smelling cigars on earth (and that's coming from someone who hates the smell of smoke). These are the people who will see you shoveling snow and bring their blower over to clear your drive and walkway without even asking. They'll watch your dog when you're out of town and sit on your back deck to keep you company.

Next to them is a lovely family who kind of keep to themselves, but are awesome. They just finished majority renovating their master bath and kitchen so they can help you out in that area. She is also a phenomenal cook!

Moving on around is another great family. They have older kids, high school and college, but love having kids running around the Sac. They even left their basketball hoop up and love letting all the kids shoot hoops (although the snow plow may have taken it out in December). He makes a mean loaf of pumpkin bread and she is super sweet. They got a new baby named Daisy a year or so ago. She's a golden and she's kind of nuts, but sweet and I'm sure she's calmed down by now.

And the last house on the Sac is another family of four. They have a fantastic driveway that is perfect for racing down. You never know what adventure will be going on in their front yard! It might be a picnic blanket of toys or a bounce house, but regardless, you're invited to join in the fun.

You're entering into a great group, so treat them well! We've been through a lot together. Celebrating the birth of a new baby, mourning in the loss of a teen, things that bring you together and make you realize what a family you've become. These are people who will watch your kids sleep while you drive yourself to the er, clear off your snowy driveway, mow your front lawn while you're out of town, shoot fireworks off in their driveway, come hang on your deck and watch movies on the side of your house, and share a margarita with you while you wait for the school bus on a not-so-awesome birthday declaring it "Margarita Monday!" They will celebrate your wins and cry with you on your losses. They'll support and encourage your kids and throw a tennis ball for your dog, help you build a swing set and let you cook in their ovens.

So play in the snow, jump in the leaves, curse the lack of lighting and bleach the kitchen counters, but get to know your neighbors. They are the greatest ones you could ask for!

Ode to a Strip

And somehow, in the madness of the last few weeks, my baby, my first-born, my little angel turned six. SIX!

She's workin' on a whole new hand!

So here's to you, my sweet girl! Thank you for stumbling through this crazy thing called parenthood with us!

Everything about you has taken us completely by surprise! We joked that our little shoebox house was too small to have a baby in and the only way we'd be able to have one was if the dog were constantly in motion. In early fall of 2004, we told June to start shuffling around the house because there was a new kid coming to town!

I felt fantastic during my entire pregnancy with you, and boy did it show. I stopped looking at the scale when I hit the 55 pound gain, both because I didn't want to know the number and I was too big to see my feet, where the digital read out was!

The surprises kept coming when the doctor served you with an eviction notice at 37 weeks! After 24 hours in labor and a swift c-section, you were here! I remember one of the nurses saying, "8,

9!" to which I screamed, "S

he's 8lbs 9 oz?!? She was three weeks early!!!" but they quickly told me that was just your APGAR score. When I finally got a good look at you (after the ped on call telling me you had small, deformed ears that might never be normal - totally wrong by the way), we were surprised again to see that head full of hair! I expected a bald baby and could almost give you pigtails! And you were a thumb sucker from the start. Wanted nothing to do with a binkie, but would suck your thumb (or my pinkie finger) happily!

Not that I'm biased, but you were always ahead of the game. Sitting up early, waving, clapping, crawling, walking, all your milestones you hit early, which means I was always on my toes trying to catch up to you! You were always a pretty happy baby and loved discovering new things. You and Taylor got a kick out of the spinnie balls on your exersaucer!

You were one before we knew it, and became a big sister just

before you turned two. You took over your roll nicely and were always Mommy's little helper. You fell in love with your baby brother the minute you saw him and were always by his side.

You started school with Ms. Nancy and quickly wrapped her around her finger. You were the best puzzle putter together-er and cutter in the class. Your patience always astounded me. You would sit and just keep trying until you got whatever it was right, whether it was your putting on your sandals or snapping your car seat, YOU were going to do it.

At one point, you told me you wanted to be God when you grew up. When I asked why, you told me it was because you wanted to create lots of things. I told you God already cornered the market on that one and you've now settled for and author, illustrator and a teacher, but not a mom ("Because who wants to change poopie diapers? Not me!"). When I was your age, I told Ma I wanted to be a blue crayon, a teenager and a cheerleader. What can I say, I aimed high!

Your attention to details is crazy scary. Take for example the free art project you did in school a few months ago:

My computer, according to Strip

Which is hilarious because my actual computer? Looks like this:

An apple on the top and 900 windows open at all times. And I wonder why my battery goes so quickly!

Sometimes I worry that you take life too seriously.

You freak out if your brother is swinging on the swing set or if two people are swinging next to each other because he MIGHT get hurt, or the MIGHT bump into each other. Seeing kids get balloons makes you anxious because all you can think about is what will happen if they let go of the balloon and the thought of them being sad makes you sad.

Don't over-think things and miss out on some fun!

You transition beautifully. It's hard for me to believe that you've laid your little head down on your pillow in four different rooms in five years. You've moved more times before your 6th birthday than some people have in their entire lives. And in every step along the way you embrace life and find all new friends. At one point, after this move, you told me, "It' so weird how people down here remind me a lot of people I already know. It's like God gives us the same people, just different faces." You always find the good in people.

I've had so much fun getting to know you over the past 6 years and can't wait to see what the next year brings! Happy Birthday, Strip!

And the beat goes on...

Training for the half has been going well. I've been hitting the pavement and have logged some personal bests in both distance and time. I've just started thinking to myself that I just might be able to do this!

Outside of work, Hubs and I have been hanging out with coworker of mine (J) and her husband (T). We were chatting up the half and got J interested. Hubs worked on T and the next thing I know, they've signed up to run it, too! Yay! We had also been talking about this crossfit kind of gym really close to work and J mentions how we could totally workout there together before work while the kids are in summer camp.

"Yeah! That sounds awesome! I've ALWAYS wanted to try one of those programs, and I know it will really help me with my half training!"

Next thing I know, I'm getting text blasts from her this morning about the training schedule and pricing. THEN she texts me to say, "There's an evaluation tonight and it's free, so I'm getting a sitter for the kids."

Umm. I think I just signed on for this?

So, while I was cooking dinner, Hubs put in 3 miles, I got one kid bathed and pj'd fed them both, Hubs and I weighed on the wii, and I got ready to leave. Before grabbing my water bottle, I decided to brush my teeth again as a courtesy to whomever I assumed would be resuscitating later.

We got there earlier to sign all of the paperwork stating that we wouldn't sue the facility if we had a heart attack mid-session. The saving grace was that the main sessions had ended, so the gym was pretty much empty. Except for the class of 5 high school boys doing v-ups and sprints.

It started out innocently enough. We had to take off our shoes, sit down, put our feet on this scale thing, lean forward and measure our flexibility. I did pretty well on this part! Then, shoes back on and we hit the bikes to warm up. We both got a little nervous when Fitness Man pulled out the measuring tape and medicine ball. We had to sit on the floor and chunk the 9 lb ball as far as we could without moving our backs. Awesome.

As we got a little water, he was saying something about a shuffle and left turn something. We walked to the other end of the gym and he spelled out what we were supposed to do.

"Oh! Suicides! That's what we called them in high school, anyway."

Exactly. Down and back, down and back, down and back. Now do it again.

Still doing ok. Back to the bike. Level 10, TEN, 3 minutes on the clock and go as far as you can.

Three minutes later, 2 sets of jelly legs wobbled over to the scale, because apparently it was weigh in time. J said they probably did it that way so we wouldn't fight it. You're just so happy to stand still you don't care that there's an ugly number facing you!

After writing down my height, I stepped up. Mr. Fitness was holding the digital readout, so I peeked over a little to see what it said, which lead Mr. Fitness to say it out loud, and I mean LOUD. I watched him write it down and then I told him, "That's the last time you'll see that number on my page. It's all down from here."

And back to the wall.

"Now you just need to run all the way down to that cone and back."

"Oh the farthest one?"

"Yup."

"Nice. Down and back?"

"You got it! 5 times, ready?"

I'm sorry, what? He was perfectly nice and cheery for us, but I've got to admit, I need someone SCREAMING at me. I need a good, "PICK UP THE PACE!" or "I'VE SEEN 70 YEAR-OLDS RUN FASTER THAN THAT!"

We got some water, and he started describing what the classes really look like. I'd like to describe them for you, but he just started sounding like the teachers on Charlie Brown movies.

But, alas, they have my debit card number, so I guess I'm in for the long haul! As we staggered out to our cars, J was pretty silent. When I got out of the shower, Hubs was laughing and said I had a text.

So I got home, said hi to my sitter and then

went straight to my bathroom to throw up.

Fun :-)

I texted her back about how awesome we were going to feel after the first two weeks and we'd be itching to work out, to which she responded, Ms. Optimistic are we? Um nope, but they have access to my money, so I'm GOING to get something out of this!

Now, apparently, I'll be crazy training 3x per week in addition to running. But as I told J while we were biking our butts off, "Just think! In a few months, we'll be sipping our celebratory beer before the boys even make it to the Animal Kingdom!" Boo yow!

Happy Birthday, Nugget!

This post is a bit late, but the kid celebrated his birthday for so long, I feel like he should be 5 by now!

With Spring Break, I feel like I completely lost time planning for it, but things turned out great! I delayed sending out the invitations because I was HOPING we could have the party at the fire station. I had to get clearance from the city's head chief, and he wouldn't call me back, so I said forget it, we'll have it at the house and pray it doesn't rain. Late Thursday night, I remembered I had to send out the invitations, so I printed out these:

They didn't have just fire truck stickers, so some kids got a truck, some got the boots and hats and some got a hydrant. Not going to win an award, but better than an evite!

The next week, I had everything put together for the party, but I couldn't find any fire fighter

badges, so I called the station. They guys said to come on over and they'd have some stickers a

nd coloring books for me, and Nugget could tour the station. Sweet!

The super cute very polite fire guys let Nugget climb all over the truck. He got to go inside and push a bunch of buttons and climb on the front and look at every little thing.

They were SUPER patient as he pointed to EVERYTHING and said, "What's that?" and they

would answer. Then every answer was followed up with a "What does it do?"

I've never seen a kid so excited about the jaws of life.

He even got to go in the kitchen and they gave him a banana. As we were leaving, one of the guys gave him a purple glove blown up like a ballon and you would have thought he gave Nugget a million bucks!

So the next day was party day!

The boys took Zoe to the spa (because I didn't know ANY of these kids and didn't want one freaking out about a dog and having to deal with a scared kid and a Zoe locked in our bedroom. Plus, she needed a bath. Aunt T entertained the kids and I finished throwing stuff around. Here are some party pic:

We also had "Pigs in a Fire Blanket," but I didn't get a picture.

I thought up lots of fun, cute, fire themed games and activities, and while I won't share them all, I will share their favorite:

Yup. Uncle J had one balloon left and tied it to the bucket of water guns. The kids LOVED it.

Later, we let a bunch of 4 year-olds take out their aggression on a fire truck pinata (no pull string, just give the preschoolers a stick!), opened presents and had cake.

The kids grabbed a fire pail party favor, and we took the birthday boy out for some hibachi deliciousness where Nugget fell asleep at the table. Now that's what I call agood day!

First day of training in the books!

Hilarious and available at Zazzle. I may have to get it. Or the shirt.

Not the greatest day, but I got it done. There were many points where I could hear God saying, "STOP! This is not for you!!"

I got up, got the kids up, slapped on my running gear and loaded the car (Strip backpack, Nugget backpack, Nugget lunch, my work bag, Nikon camera, video camera (Nugget had an Easter program today), workout bag, toiletries, work clothes, work shoes, heart rate monitor, heart rate watch, iphone arm band. I think that's it. Oh! I forgot to pack my lunch, so as I grabbed Nugget a snack out of the pantry, I snagged a sleeve of crackers and a jar of peanut butter. Rounded it out with a gatorade in the garage, 2 bottles of water and a cup of applesauce. Gotta love the day after a Costco run). Packing for Disney seems so easy compared to that.

Made it to Strip's school early, although I think we still could have gotten there a few minutes earlier. Scooted up to Nugget's school and this is where things went wrong. I thought I could sneak into the office, drop off my work stuff, unlock and drop my bags in the shower room, drop Nugget at early drop off, run, sneak back into the shower room and be sitting at my desk by 9:00.

I thought wrong.

I unloaded the car (see trunk description above) and dropped my stuff at my desk. Went to unlock the shower building and my key didn't work. Tried the second key and that didn't work. Lugged everything to Nugget's preschool, dropped off my clothes, bag and gatorade in the director's office (glad to have friends in high places!), plopped Nugget's stuff in his room, drug him down to the early drop off room ("Dat's not my class!!") then ducked in the bathroom to put on my heart rate monitor.

Time to hit the road!

Oh look! No sidewalks on my side of the road. After a fun game of frogger, I was cruising (and what a difference running with a fun playlist makes! Thank you, iTunes!). I knew I needed to rock out 2 miles which was good because I was about 15-20 minutes late starting. I had mapped out my path and knew where I needed to turn. Unfortunately, half a mile in, I turned down what I thought was Circle, but turned out to be Court, and I ran a tenth of a mile backtracking. Then there will hills. And very familiar cars.

By the time I made it back to work, I had passed 8 people I knew while running and STILL couldn't get into the shower. Three keys and a custodian later, that problem was solved. And in an impressive Superman-like move, I was showered, dried, re-hydrated, face made-up and dressed within 7 minutes. Why can't Disney have that kind of race?!

After today, the only thing I am thankful for is that there is still a lot of time left on that count down ticker! So ready to be able to be able to breeze through a 10k.

Every once in a while

I have a good idea. And every once in THOSE whiles, the good idea actually works (that's grammatically correct, right?!).

Here is Strip's bed:

I promise there's a bed under there. We don't make her sleep on a bed frame and a plush wonderland. But as you can tell, she is quickly poising herself for a starring role on Hoarders if we can't let go of these stuffed animals.

I was a stuffed animal lover myself (as a child. They drive me nuts now as a parent), so I know where's she coming from. But her room is smaller than mine was, so the ratio animal to square footage is not so good. As I was cleaning and organizing her room the other day, I started to separate the ones I knew she played with from the ones I'm sure she's forgotten about, and they all ended up back on her bed.

If we can't donate them, we had to come up with a better way to organize them. When I was little, they had hammock type nets that you could hang in the corner of the room and pile them all up. Problems with that? 1. They are ugly 2. her room only has one corner where it would fit and it's over her dollhouse, so they wouldn't be easily accessible and 3 I'd give it 3 minutes before Nugget climbed on the roof of the doll house, crawled into the net and ripped it off the wall meaning we'd have to go to the ER (to patch up Nugget), Home Depot (to patch up the wall) and Costco (because you can't patch up a pressed board doll house).

Option 2, I actually had. It was an ugly, white, plastic chain that you could hang from the ceiling, then hang all of the animals on the chain. Problems with this? 1. It's ugly. 2. There's only one corner of her room where we could hang it (see above) and 3. If the kids thought the poles in our basement (that were there for support. We did not put poles in our basement nor are we pole dancing people) were fun, imagine their delight of climbing a chain resulting in a trip for 2 to the ER along with the above mentioned.

Option 3, Google.

After googling "stuffed animal organization" and passing the other 2 options, I found this bad

boy. It's by Boon and it's a plushy bag with a mesh "window." The kids can stuff it full of their animals, still know that they are there and it becomes a decorative

pillow/seat/whatever in their rooms instead of a gang of plush.

Problems with this? I worried with the way my kids played that they would rip the mesh where it attached to the bag and as much as I'd love another sewing project i have no desire to fix seams and reattach zippers.

Problem 2 is that many of the reviews said it was too big (and they have even bigger ones!). So if I got one for each kid, and they didn't fill them up, there would be a deflated bag of animals on their floor. And if we DID manage to have enough to stuff it full, where would we put the things?!

Problem 3? The price. They averaged $60 each so I would be paying $120 for fuzzy Flex Force garbage bags? I think not.

Garbage Bags....hmmmm..bean bags? Bean bag covers! That's it!! They are basically bean bag covers, but a bean bag cover is MADE to be plopped on and if I got ones like the kids already have, they have super reinforced zippers and seams. I AM A GENIUS!!

But... they just got bean bags for Christmas and the covers weren't cheap. LOVE the quality, but didn't want to buy 2 more. It was time to hit ebay.

I found some in a great selection of colors for less than $7 each. I then noticed they were bean bag OTTOMAN covers. I was about to close the page when I thought, "Even better!!!" I can get TWO per kid and they will be small enough to have little kid seating in their rooms to read books, play, whatever!"

I bought four (gotta love buy it now option) and the seller had them to me super quick! While Strip was at school, Nugget and I got to work.

Step one:

Assess the masses

Step 2

Get to stuffing!!

There's no method to this

madness, just grab an animal

and squish it until it's in the

bag!

Step three

Keep going! You might have to sit down, but keep shoving

those crazy animals/angry birds/grinches into the bag until

full. Then zip em up!

Step 4: Ta da!

Now take a breath of relief. All of those animals (and some who had fallen off the bed) are stuffed snugly into little seats! Out of site for mom, but kids know where they are when they need "students" while playing school! They are on the floor so they can sit on them when playing and are easy to open, get out the animals and stuff for clean up.

And I know what you're looking at. "What's with the unicorn? He's not in there,"

You are right. But he's a pillow, he's a pet, he's a PILLOW PET! So he didn't have to get stuffed in the bag.

Rooms are back under control, and I can now walk by Build-a-Bear without wanting to punch something.

Good idea on paper...

Or it could be titled, "What was I thinking?!?"

This is the email I received at 10:30 last night:

Yes, you read that correctly. Three registrations for the Disney Wine and Dine HALF MARATHON! I know what you're thinking, "I didn't know you were a runner!" That's because I'm not.

I've always hated running. Even when I played soccer in high school, and we had to run for tryouts, I hated it. I thought people who ran track were insane. What is fun about running around in circles for hours? Running around in circles chasing a ball for hours, I'm totally into, but if no one's holding a cupcake ahead of me or a gun behind me, the idea of running for running seemed silly.

Around St. Patrick's Day, we did a family fun run, and Hubs ran the 5K. We had SO much fun! I had seen the Disney marathon in January and REALLY wanted to do the princess half last year, but that's about as close as I got to doing it.

But the more I thought about running, the more I wanted to do something. When I brought up the idea to Hubs, he informed me that "most people don't just decide they are going to run a half marathon. Usually, you start running. Then you run a few 5k's and maybe a few 10k's THEN you run a half marathon. You don't START with a half marathon."

So why start with the half? Why not! The thought of paying the registration fee and training to run a 5k just seems silly. A 10k, maybe, but if I'm trying for that, why not just do a half? And the biggest reason I want to do it? It's a goal I can set, and once I achieve it, I'll never lose it. I can tell myself I want to be a size 2, work like crazy, walk into the Loft and buy a pair of 2's that are loose, then walk into Nords and not have the 2's go over my knees. I could set a goal weight and NEVER hit that number no matter how hard I work (that number is 120 by the way. I think I passed it in middle school and haven't seen it since). And even if I were able to get down to a goal weight, whatever it is, there's no guarantee I'll stay anywhere near that.

But if I ran, and finished a half marathon, I'll always have that memory and medal.

And why three registrations? I thought it would be fun to challenge Hubs and since UP will be living in FL soon, I thought it would be a great birthday gift for him! Last Sunday, I ordered these from Bondi Band

(I got a purple one for me!) and three 13.1 car magnets I wrapped up the gifts and gave them to Hubs and UP a couple of nights ago. Monday, I bought a band for my phone. Tuesday, I downloaded the Nike+ app. Thursday night, UP and I planned out our training for the next 12-24 weeks. Then I mapped out neighborhood routes and put the final touches on my itunes wish/playlist. Last night I took the big step and actually REGISTERED the three of us and today, I bought a heart rate monitor watch. Basically I've done everything to prepare for this except for run.

Well, that's not true. Thursday, I ran 2.2 miles. Lance Armstrong said I set a new record, but I don't think my time was anything to brag about. This weekend, we've been training really hard on the wining and dining portion of it.

Real running starts Monday! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to figure out how to program my watch!