nine on the ninth

It's been a while since I did this little nine on the ninth ditty. That's probably because I have to think ahead and actually try to take pictures of stuff all day and that requires a lot of brain power. My brain has been feeling like a bowl of mush lately (and my body too for that matter). It gets to be 9:00 on the evening of the ninth and I think oh, shoot. nobody cares what we did today. i'll just go to bed. honk shooooo honk shoooooo honk shooooo (that's dan's snoring, not mine). 

But you're in luck. My friend, Monica (and fellow Girl Scout of Troop 91) mentioned on facebook this week that she misses my nine on the ninth. I didn't even think she read this gobbeldy gook but I guess I was wrong. So if you're reading, this one's for you, Monica. I hope you enjoy my day way more than I did.

>>Danny's third soccer game this morning. Dan and I got invited to dinner at our neighbor's house last night. That doesn't happen often (or ever). We had a grand time. The kids stayed up way past their bedtime because we were gone and the babysitting peeps were just having too much fun with them. Wouldn't you know it, the morning we actually have to be somewhere at 9:00 they don't wake up at 6:30. I started waking them both up a little after 8:00 and it pained me greatly to do so. They haven't slept that late in ages. (And really, I've been wondering lately if there will ever be a time in my life when the sleep habits of my children aren't an issue. Maybe when I'm 80? I can only hope.) So anyway, soccer game! His team lost. He kept score (because the coaches certainly don't). I love watching him play. He runs and kicks and tries so hard and it's just the cutest thing. After game treat from one of the moms, donut and orange juice. Gone before we got to the car.

>>A hefty serving of whisker pie. Have you ever heard of whisker pie? I think it's something Dan's dad used to do to him and his siblings. The dad says, "Hey, kid. Want some pie?" The kid smiles and says, "Yes!" and then the dad rubs his whiskers all over the kid's cheek. Then the kid laughs and gets more whisker pie. Except in this picture it looks like Cate's the one doing the rubbing. Then I asked her if she wanted some whisker pie from my leg and she declined. Rude.

>>Rabbit food for lunch. In other words, yum yum yummy! This is the salad I brought to the dinner last night. I have lots left over. I'm happy about that. Baby spinach, strawberries, blueberries, toasted slivered almonds and feta cheese. Thank you to Costco for everything except the almonds. And the dressing too. I bought that at the grocery store. It's some kind of blueberry flavored concoction and it is divine. It probably has sugar and other stuff that's bad in it and maybe it negates the nutritional value of some of the other stuff but I figure it's better than eating a cheeseburger and fries so I don't worry too much. You know how much I hate summer with all the sun and heat and sweaty forehead stuff going on? Well, the thing I don't mind so much about summer is the strawberries and blueberries coming back in full force to Costco. I shall be eating this salad daily until fall rolls around again. It's a lofty goal but without goals, I'm nothing.

>>Trader Joe's taste testing with the toddlers. Dan met up with Grandma and Aunt Nancy at Trader Joe's yesterday. It's a good thing that store is in downtown Salt Lake and there's no way I'll ever drive myself there because it could get seriously unhealthy around here. When Dan and I lived with Aunt Nancy in California right after we were married she'd come home from Trader Joe's with all kinds of goodies. We didn't have Trader Joe's in Utah (until a few months ago) so I had no idea what it was all about. I honestly thought it was a snack food store. She bought the yummiest cookies and chocolate treats and those pretzels stuffed with peanut butter. Yum. I was shocked to find out it had produce and bread and actual food. I had no idea. Anyway, Dan brought home a few goodies for us to snack on so Cate and Ray Ray and I tried each one (no, cousin Ray Ray doesn't live here now...he just thinks he does). From the top, Inner Peas (some kind of puffed pea flavored snack), peanut butter stuffed pretzels, sweet potato chips and kettle corn. I loved them all. Cate's favorite was the popcorn but in second place were the Inner Peas. I'm pretty sure I'll have that entire bag of sweet potato chips eaten before the weekend is through. Thanks a lot, Dan.

>>Lunch #2 with 2 cute boys. I was telling Danny this week that I feel like he and I never get to do anything together, just the two of us. He agreed. So I told him that today we'd do something and leave Cate at home with Daddy. His choice. Well, he spent the morning playing with cousin Jarrett so when it came time to leave his house and do something fun with his dumb old mom, he didn't want to. He said what would make it actually fun is if Jarrett could come too. So being the pushover that I am, Jarrett came too. Danny chose McDonald's. I sat there with my Diet Coke and free wifi and decided maybe it wasn't so bad after all. We'll try again another day.

>>Writer's workshop. Danny's teacher sent home his first two installments in his journal notebook from school. They have writing time almost every day called Writer's Workshop. Every day on the drive to school we come up with an idea of what he could write about. That was his idea. He likes to be prepared. I've been loving reading through some of the stuff he's written. One day last month Cate, Danny and I went with Cate on her preschool field trip to Texas Roadhouse. "Texis Rod Haws" That first picture, I went to Texas Roadhouse. The second one, I had two rolls. If you ever get the chance to go on a fieldtrip to Texas Roadhouse, don't pass it up. The moms got big salads and fountain drinks. The kids got macaroni and cheese (which my kids wouldn't eat). And everybody got baskets of hot rolls with that evil cinnamon butter. Best field trip ever. And it was free. Oh, and we got two free kids meal tokens too. The best.

>>Getting a lot of use out of our annual pass. Because I am incapable of sitting around and doing nothing on a Saturday afternoon, I took Cate and Ray Ray to the dinosaur museum. It's free for us and they both love it. You know what the museum is like on a school day morning? Ghost town. That's when we usually go. But on a Saturday afternoon? Crazy town. Holy moly. They had fun and I didn't lose anyone so that was good. The bad part, Cate tripped and fell on the sidewalk as we were about to enter the building. She cried a lot but I figured I could just kiss it better and be done with it. Nope. She actually scraped off a layer of skin on her knee the size of a dime. We got a band aid from the front desk people and then she spent the rest of the time in the museum either begging to be carried or walking without bending that knee. Oh, fun times. Our fifty cent ice cream cones at the end almost made it all worth it. 

(See why I don't do this nine on the ninth thing very often anymore? I'm going all out today. All or nothing. Way more information about our day than anyone wanted. Too bad)

>>Stopping to smell the roses. Dan bought these for me at Trader Joe's. I've told him all our married years to not buy me flowers. I'd rather he spend the money on chocolate. Well, he knows I'm trying to eat healthy (so my body will stop feeling like a bowl of mush as previously mentioned) so he decided to express his love to me in the form of little red rose buds in a pink bucket. So kind. That blue bookshelf thing needed something and I think those love flowers did the trick. 

>>Since the daylight was quickly fading and so was I. Grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner on a Saturday night.

I realize this may be super boring to read about the minutia of my day. That's ok. I read a lot of boring stuff on the internet. Sometimes I click around this blog and read old stuff. I get a kick out of my old nine on the ninths. It's fun to read about the little stuff instead of deep, meaningful, inspiring stuff all the time. 

One last observation from the day, I am incapable of just relaxing on a Saturday. It will not happen. Even if I wanted to, there would be little people around trying to thwart my plans. Me relaxing on a Saturday means sitting on my bum watching tv. That is not a Saturday activity (in my opinion). So to avoid the feeling that I should be scrubbing or folding or sweeping or dusting something on Saturday afternoon, I keep myself busy dragging kids around town doing things that will make them happy. I am cuh-ray-zeeee. But at least I realize it. Now where's my serotonin popsicle?