Nine on the Ninth on the Tenth

one  :::  We went on a little getaway this past weekend. I like to lovingly refer to it as Hades but it's real name is St. George, Utah. No offense to the lovely city or the lovely people I spent my time with while there (my sister and her family, my parents and my own little family), but it was not my idea of fun or vacation. Aunt Judy and her clan have a condo dealio there and they invited us all along for a week of fun in the sun. My kids drove down on Monday with them since Dan and I both had to work that week. (Dan's school didn't get out until Wednesday and I'm teaching summer preschool...yes, I should have my head examined.)

I was dreading it but after 4 days away I really missed my kids and worried nonstop about them getting sunburned (even though my mother is perfectly capable of smearing on loads of sunscreen) or drowning (they pretty much lived in the pool from what I heard) or kidnapped (I worry about that every day, not just because they were away from me).

Dan drove us down there on Thursday (4+ hours and the stupid setting sun was in exactly the right spot the entire drive so that my sun visor never ever got it out of my eyes...yes, I'm a dream to take on road trips). The next day was spent doing nothing (except for the swimming and family bonding). And then the next day Dan woke up saying that he had puked all night and he slept THE ENTIRE DAY. I got to go "hiking" with Aunt Judy, Cate and cousins Kris and Raymond. We pulled up to the sand dunes in Snow Canyon State Park (interesting name that's for sure), got out and walked on hot sand so we could sit and dig in the hot sand. I'm baffled by this one but Aunt Judy said it's fun.

Then we drove a little further down the road to let the kids climb on rocks to see pioneer names carved in the stone. I was pretty sure someone would plummet to their death but it didn't happen. Then on down the road to Jenny's Canyon for more rock exploring. Oh, good golly if it wasn't freaking 100 degrees outside it might have been bearable.

Dan woke up Sunday morning feeling somewhat better which is good because he got to drive home with my Dad. I rode in the minivan with my mom and all 5 kids. Oh, what fun times we have.

two  :::  I am telling myself that just because I hate summer and all the long hours of daylight that never seem to end, I am not a weirdo or a bad person. Everyone is different. Summer makes me so grumpy. I can't do it. Really. I'm struggling right now. All you crazies who hate the cold and snow and winter, I'm feeling that right now. And that's ok. You be you and I'll be me. Just do your best to leave me alone until about the middle of October because that's when it cools off enough for me to start getting happy-ish. The looooong days of summer remind me of the first month of Danny's life (which was actually November into December) when he cried every day from 5:00-7:00 in the evening and then woke up every hour and a half the rest of the time. No naps, only if I held him. I thought I'd die. The days never ended so a fresh new one could begin and I could feel a renewed power that I could do this new mom thing. It was not a happy time for me and summer reminds me of that. Days that never end. And when they finally do and sweet darkness comes, it's 9:30 and all I can do is go to bed. Blah.

three  :::  I am also telling myself that this is not the time in my life to have an awesome garden, although I deeply want to. There are weeds. I can't even give a hoot. I mean really, I planted parsnips and radishes. Those are totally for my mom. I'm not eating that. I'm praying that my watermelon make it this year because that's all I'm looking forward to. Well, that and the zucchini. Those are good. I think when I'm 60 and I have time and the space in my head to care about gardens and weeds, look out. It'll be grand. And also when I move and my garden spot isn't in the hot summer sun in the evening. Blah.

four  :::  Cate and I got a birthday pedicure yesterday. Our birthdays are this month, only 2 days apart. I thought it would be fun to start a birthday tradition with her. She was very excited and really wanted hearts on her toes too. It turned out to be a lesson in waiting for her. They were busy and only 2 workers were there. The guy started with me since I'm sure he knew it would take a while to file away all my hideous cracked dead skin. It did. Cate had lots of smiles when it was finally her turn though, mostly because it tickled her so much. I asked her if she wanted to do it again next year for our birthdays and she said no. Too bad. I'm forcing her. She was mostly looking forward to the special flip flops and she did get those so I think it wasn't a total waste.

five  :::  I think I might need to spend some time every evening from about 5:00-9:00 in my mom's walk-in closet in her bedroom. No windows so I can hide from the blazing sun. That would be a bit extreme, I realize that but in all honestly the thought has crossed my mind.

six  :::  I've been struggling for a while with this dumb blog. I used to enjoy writing stuff and sharing pictures of my cute kids. I think some people actually read along and were slightly interested in my life. The enjoyment is gone. So is my time. Having a job can do that to you. The only chance I have anymore to come here is after kids are in bed. And then I have to decide if I should go exercise (which I never choose) or watch tv because my mind just needs to turn off for a little while before bed. And then I'm too tired and all I really want to do is one (or more) of three things: cry, run away from home or sleep. Those things are not conducive to collecting my thoughts and putting them on the screen. Who even cares anyway? I ask myself. Most of my faithful readers have abandoned me (I say that knowing full well that I'm a big nobody and I'm totally ok with that. Can you even imagine the horror of being an awesome blogging somebody and going to events and blog conferences where you interact and socialize and talk to people? I don't even want to think about it.) So I quit for a while. It's hard to have a desire to be here when I'm not happy and a lot of the time I'm not. It's true.

And then my kind friend brought over a jar of her yummy strawberry jam and a thank you card for driving her son to school all year (which was totally my pleasure and on the way and I was very happy to do it so that Cate didn't have to walk into school alone). And that friend wrote something about how she likes reading my blog because reading about my crazy makes her feel less alone in hers. So I guess I'll keep doing it. This one's for you, Debra.

seven  :::  I'm not a very good friend. At this point in my life I feel like I'm giving everything inside me to take care of myself and tend to the constant demands of my family. I've got nothing else for anyone else. I'm hoping that at some point this will all get easier and I'll be a good friend again (I've had times in my life when I had lots of friends, in case you thought I was a horrible person). How it is that I still feel like I'm in survival mode at age almost 41 (holy crap!) with a seven-year-old and an almost six-year-old is beyond me. But it is what it is and I just get to keep on plugging along because I just really love my family.

eight  :::  I don't bake much anymore. No time. Plus I think my will power to not eat an entire loaf of chocolate chip banana bread has left me so it's all good. I just feel bad about it sometimes because I want my kids to learn kitchen stuffs. This summer we're going to have cooking school and we're going to give the food away so I don't get fatter than I've already gotten.

nine  ::: Cate and Danny took naps Sunday and yesterday around 5 or 6 in the evening for a few hours each. It was disastrous for their bedtimes. I get up at 6:00 for work and not going to bed on time isn't good for me. I fell asleep around 10:30 last night and Cate woke me up at 11:35 because she wanted to sing a song to me. Seriously. I was still awake at 2:00 this morning. And I woke up at 6:30. This is the blog post you get when I've had four-ish hours of sleep. You're welcome.

and a little p.s. just because I can  :::  I watched a show on Netflix today called something like The Mortified Series. I don't know exactly but I'm not going to look it up because I'm already up past my bedtime. It's a show where a guy talks to actors and famous people about their past. They look at old pictures and journal entries and it's just really interesting to me. Today's episode was Rick Schroeder. I used to watch Silver Spoons and I'm not ashamed to admit that I thought he was pretty cute (back then he was Ricky). He cried when the guy asked him about his grandma. Then he cried again when he was talking about meeting his wife because he loves her so much. Then he cried talking about the anxiety he feels every day and how much he worries about stuff. Him crying made me cry and I think I like him all over again. We could be friends, bonded by our ability to cry easily and our anxiety. That's why it's good to tell your story I guess. It makes people feel not so alone in their crazy. Right, Debra?

the end

Nine on the Ninth

∞ Dan had a birthday today. I am married to an old man. He's a good one though and he puts up with a lot of crazy around here (most of it from me).

∞ The kiddies are sleeping at my parents' house tonight. Dan and I went out to dinner. I ate a bleu bacon burger and beer battered fries. Yum. 

∞ Danny finished another round of swim lessons today. He passed. Yippee! His lessons are an hour long. Cate swims by herself while he has his lesson. Today Ray Ray joined her. It was a joyous day because I didn't have to get in the pool with them. They did it solo. I figured with a lifeguard every 5 feet there's no reason for me to get in. I hate wearing a swimsuit so this is working out very nicely for me. I tried not to think about it too much because I didn't want to be crying tears of joy at the city pool.

∞ Cate and I fed our neighbor's lambies today before her school started. They were born on Easter and their mama died so we give them a baaa-baaa of milk (formula?). Our neighbors are very kind to let us help them. It's a highlight of our day. Those lambies are so dang cute.

∞ I ate 2 hard boiled eggs and some carrots for lunch today. I was preparing myself for the burger and fries I was hoping to eat for dinner.

∞ I ate a tomato and 3 eggs fried in coconut oil for breakfast. That was also to prepare myself for the burger. It was worth it.

∞ Danny told me this morning that our backyard has lots of weeds. It's true. It does. Cate got upset at me last night because I pulled a few dandelions in the front yard. I told her they're weeds and she said it's ok because there's plenty in the back yard for her to blow. And that's why our backyard has lots of weeds. If I was an old retired lady with 9 hours a day to dedicate to yard work, things might be different. 

∞ I gave myself the morning off today. Instead of waking up at 5:45 and folding laundry or washing dishes I slept until 6:15. And then I got up and washed dishes. Awesome. Some people treat themselves to nail polish or perfume or new make up. I treat myself to nice smelling dish soap. It's true. I buy the good stuff. I've got 4 different flavors under the kitchen sink right now. 

∞ I'm going to eat some dark chocolate chip gelato now. I bought it last night and I'm proud of myself for not eating it for breakfast.

Nine on the ninth

1. It was 32 degrees out today when I took Danny to school at 12:30. The truth about cold, windy, rainy weather in April is that I love it. Like big fat kiss you on the lips love it. I know there are a lot of people who have issues with the cold, windy, rainy and heaven forbid snowy weather in April. I am not one of them. I don't know why so many people are in such a hurry to get started on the hot, sunny days of summer. It is something I will never understand. Do they just love all that yard work? Today was a lovely weather day (and I'm probably the only person who thinks so and I'm totally ok with that).

2. I'm getting my very first mammogram tomorrow. Mam-o-gram-o. I'm going with a friend because that's how we girls like to do things. I'm not worried or scared about it hurting at all. I'm just dreading the embarrassment of someone seeing and/or touching my boobies. I'm going to just try to not make eye contact with the poor soul who has to assist me and probably make a few nervous jokes because sometimes I just can't help myself. When I was making the appointment, the lady asked if I had implants and I laughed and said, "I wish." Ha. I'm almost 40 and my grandma had breast cancer so off to the mamo-gramo I go.

3. I started making dinner at 4:00 today. Sometimes I do that. And then I let it sit on the stove (or in the oven) and come to room temperature while we wait for Daddy to get home. If it gets too cold, no problem. That's what a microwave is for. Today was my lucky day because the kiddos were invited to come play next door with their little buddies at 5:00 so I even had some quiet time. I washed dishes. For the second time today. To make room for the dinner dishes that would need to be washed. Hi. My name is Cathy and I wash dishes all day long.

4. I really want to take the kids (especially Danny) to this Lego exhibit on Saturday. It's probably almost as good as Lego Land. But this is free and Lego Land is totally not free. The description says that CNN named it one of the top 12 must see exhibitions in the entire world. That's pretty cool. 

5. Tomorrow will be 10 weeks until my 40th birthday. I have no idea how that happened but it did. Danny says I'm not old until I'm 60 so I guess I should stop talking about how old I am around him. He also says I'm not old because I don't have all those bumps all over my face like witches do. Speaking of bumps all over your face, Cate's been talking a lot about chicken "pops" lately and that you can catch chicken "pops" when chickens dance around you. Oh my.

6. A few months ago I got on a Brussels sprouts kick. I couldn't get enough. I ate them for lunch almost every day (well, just the week days because Dan thinks they're stinky so I didn't make them on the weekends when he was around). I've moved on and found a new addiction. Asparagus. Roasted in the oven with a little olive oil and kosher salt (doesn't that sound so very fancy?). It is so good. Especially the tips because they get brown and crispy and just so darn yummy. Dan doesn't understand why I like the asparagus so much because it's a weed. But it's ok because I don't understand why he likes artichokes. All that work scraping tiny bits off of all those leaves just to get to the middle and that weird looking heart thing. Yuck.

7. I've been watching Prison Break during my daily laundry folding and dish washing (and also late at night when I can't sleep but my brain is too tired to read). Hulu recommended it based on my past viewing preferences. Yikes. So I started watching it and I liked it. I watched the last episode this morning (there are only 4 seasons but I won't tell you how quickly I watched them all) during my laundry folding and Dan's shirts ironing party. It was mostly a good ending but had a sad part that I didn't expect and I cried. Then I thought it was kind of dumb that I was crying during the final episode of a show called Prison Break. I think I need to find a good book to read. Or a new show.

8. I made this yummy blueberry breakfast strata for dinner on Sunday. Cousin Jarrett said it's the best dinner ever and I should make it every Sunday. I think he ate 4 servings. I made a vanilla sheet cake for dessert. Why? I have no idea. Do you really need cake for dessert when the dinner part was kind of like a dessert? Apparently the answer is yes. It was yummy but really sweet. I wonder if it was actually sweet or my taste buds just haven't recovered from my 40 day abstinence from baked goodies. Who knows and who cares.

9. I went to Costco today after dropping off the kids at school. I wandered around in peace and quiet. It was nice until I almost started to cry. What a weirdo. Here's what happens when it's quiet enough in my head to actually think about stuff. All the stuff that I can possibly worry about, front and center. All the stuff I'm not doing but I should be doing, I think about it. All the overwhelming feelings of the overwhelmingness of life stuff/mom stuff/wife stuff/church stuff...it's all there. I didn't let any tears drip down my cheeks though. Don't worry. I guess all the noisy kids running around this house all morning long are actually doing me a favor. It's too hard to think about the bad stuff when I can't hear myself think. So thank you, dear noisy children. I almost cried at Costco today but at least I remembered the pita chips. 

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?

nine on the ninth

++ Thankful for this cute kid of mine. She grabs a pencil and paper and just writes or draws pretty much every day. And that tongue. Oh, how I love her tongue of concentration. I just sit and stare (and hope that she doesn't notice me because then she'll stop doing it). I know every mom thinks her kids are the cutest but COME ON, PEOPLE. Just look at her. I wonder if her preschool teacher gets a kick out of watching her tongue exercises while she's writing at school. And have you seen a cuter pencil grip? She looks so grown up standing there holding her pencil correctly. I love it.

++ Thankful that I'm not the only person in this house who likes pears because when you buy a bag at Costco they all seem to ripen at exactly the same time and you gotta eat 'em fast. I had three today. Cate had one.

++ Thankful for this little reminder I received in the mail yesterday because all my gray hairs, wrinkles and aching bones haven't been making me feel old enough. Looks like somebody out there is keeping tabs on me and knows I'll be 40 this summer. Blech. And I'm not even sure what I've got going on is sufficient for a mammogram because when I lay down I can feel my ribs through them (all the way around). Enough said.

++ Thankful that we live next door to Haircut Angie and she's willing to cut this cute kid's hair with 5 minute's notice. I make the call and it's done. No driving him anywhere. No loading up other kids in the car to drive to a haircut place. No me being the one who has to cut his hair (even though I used to know how and maybe still could if Haircut Angie ever moves). And he's big enough to walk next door by himself so I give him a kiss and send him on his way. He loves it I think. And so do I.

++ Thankful for kids who request to make cookies and love to help me in the kitchen. It drives me bonkers most of the time but by golly, I'm going to be a good mom if it kills me. It's nice to have little helpers to get the ingredients out of the pantry for me too. Plus, I'll send Danny off to college one day knowing the difference between baking soda and baking powder. Today he wanted to add a "pinky" of salt to the bowl. He meant pinch because I taught him that one last time. I let him. (Also thankful to Marisa and her yummy cookie recipe!)

++ Thankful for a tiny bit of alone time today while both kids were at school (even though I had to waste some of it at the bank and even more of it at Costco buying toilet paper and milk). I'll take what I can get. Remember those days when both kids napped for three hours every afternoon. Yeah, me too. I miss that. But now nobody wears diapers so I guess it's some kind of trade off.

++ Thankful for new grass to run on. Just wishing Grama Bama and Grandpa could be here to enjoy it too. Also thankful that Cate has that cute little Ray Ray cousin of hers to play with (and boss around).

++ Thankful that our kind neighbor brought over some corn this morning. "Last of the harvest," he said. It was yummy. Thankful for my dutiful little corn shucker too. She and Ray Ray each ate a cob before it was even cooked.

++ Thankful for Dan and for enduring all my crazy stuff. I'm pretty sure he deserves better than me. I'm trying but most days I fail miserably. Good thing there's always tomorrow. Can you tell Cate loves him most? Can you tell this picture was taken at the time of day when she's ready to crash?

That's all I got.

I've been feeling super cruddy lately (in a whole lotta areas of my life) so I figured today would be a good day for some blessing counting. I took pictures with a purpose today. Find things to be thankful for (because sometimes that doesn't just come naturally to me...big shocker). I'm thankful that even though I start out the day hopeful and ready to notice all the good stuff and I end it on a crappy note, I can go to sleep and wake up and give it another try (even though sometimes it all just feels like Groundhog Day).

the end

nine on the ninth

>> Cate dressed up this princess piggy to bring to preschool on her first day. It looks so sad. I love having a little girl who does silly stuff like this. She left piggy princess in the car while she was in school but brought it with us when we went to pick up Danny from kindergarten.

>> I stick my phone in the bike trailer when we ride to the school to get Danny. Cate usually finds it and takes pictures. Most of the pictures feature my bum. I delete those right away (or share them with you, depending on how wide I look). After 2 weeks of school pick up and drop off I have a few feelings I'd like to share. I was really excited to be able to ride my bike to take Danny to school. I figured it would be good exercise (even though it's only 6 blocks away...or something like that). Cate enjoys riding in the bike trailer so I knew that would be easy. Plus, I'm getting some good use out of it after not using it very much this summer. I've gotten to know the crossing guard. Come to find out, his mom was my grandma's really good friend (his mom is Evelyn, in case you're reading this, mom).

One day this week I drove to pick up Danny instead of riding the bike (because I was tending the nephews and had left the big ones at home alone and I was trying to hurry). Big mistake. I was sitting in the carpool line losing my mind. When I ride the bike, I coast down the sidewalk, he sees me and off we go. When you drive there, you have to wait until all the other cars in front of you have picked up their kids and then you can pull up to the spot where kids are allowed to get in the car. When I finally reached him and he got in, he told me I was late and was not very happy. I was not very happy either. It would have been faster for me to drive home, get on the bike, ride home and then drive back to the nephews' house. I would have been back at their house faster than I had gotten to the pick up spot. As long as it is in my power to do so and the elements don't conspire against me, I will be riding the bike.

Only problem with riding the bike is that I feel like a big weirdo. Know how many other moms I've seen riding bikes with bike trailers to the school? ONE. That's it. I don't enjoy sticking out. I like to blend in with the crowd. My bright orange bike probably doesn't help me blend in either but whatever. I'm going to keep on riding though because I'd rather be that old lady on a bike than freaking out of my mind in that carpool line. I wish I'd realized how good we had it all those years nobody had to go to school and we sat around in our jammies all day. Dang it and the end.

>> It's a good thing I ride the bike actually because I made these cookies three times last week. THREE! I might even make them again this week for a church activity. They're yummy but the best batch I made was at Aunt Judy's house with her brown sugar that was so hard I had to dig it out of the glass container with a sharp knife. You can tell she's not a baker. Maybe stale old brown sugar is the way to go with these cookies. I don't know. They're yummy though.

>> When I was a kid my dad used to ask me two questions every day after school. How was school today? What did you learn? My answers were always the same. Fine. Nothing. Wasn't I a sweet kid? I decided to ask Danny those same questions every day after school too. I thought it might be fun to carry on the tradition. I've been keeping track of his responses. So far school has been good every day except Friday. That one was thumb sideways. He's learned I don't know, nothing and the gingerbread man. Dan and I told him that we might have to look into switching teachers since Mrs. Caldwell isn't teaching him anything. We were kidding of course. I was excited to hear that he actually learned something on Friday. I did overhear him singing a new song the other day as he played in his room so that's good. He says he does not have a girlfriend. I like to ask that one since it makes him smile. He told Dan that he doesn't make a peep at school. I guess that's a good thing but I'd really like his teacher to know that he does talk and he knows stuff. It'll happen right? At least he's not getting in trouble.

>> I've got a cool new app on my phone that lets me take pictures of stuff and then it tells you what color paint it is at Sherwin Williams. Pretty cool since I have plans to paint things around here. Not cool because it just reminds me that I have no time to do anything I want to do, like paint things around here. I've pretty much got four hours a week to myself. That's not a lot. And you'd think my kids are old enough to keep themselves happy while I tackle a little project that I really really want to do and that I know will make me happy. Nope. I'm doing something wrong here. I just know it. But until I can figure out how to get things done, I just go ahead and clean stuff and fold stuff and push kids in the swings. I can't bring myself to actually write a to-do list of all the stuff I'd like to do because I think I'd just be wasting paper and it would sit in a drawer and never have anything crossed off. It'll be old, brown crinkled paper by the time I get time to do anything. So until then, I just take pictures and color match things on my phone and dream.

>> Another cool app on my phone. Artkive. You take pictures of your kids' artwork and then it keeps track of it for you. You can even make books of the collections. I love it for Cate's chalkboard drawings. That way I can erase them but still remember how cute the cowgirl was that she drew, complete with her name on the hat. Now I can take pictures of the art they bring home and throw the rest away! Just kidding. We'll keep a few of the best but there's no need to fill the attic with it right?

>> A picture of Cate smiling on her first day of school (since the ones I posted the other day all looked kind of strange).

>> I took the kids to the library yesterday afternoon (even though I was sick as a dog and would have rather been napping...cate even told me I had boogies coming out of my nose). Cate was wandering around looking for sparkly books about princesses. I hadn't seen Danny for a while. I looked up and down the aisles. No luck. I knew he couldn't have gone to the car because his books would have set off the alarm. I was getting pretty close to worried when I spied him. He was stretched out on the couch reading his Star Wars book. I'm not sure why but I really love this picture.

>> I pulled out all my flowers a few days ago. Gone. They were stringy and done growing and September means pull out your flowers. So I did. There were oodles and oodles of snails left behind. Yuck. I can't remember seeing so many snails in my flowers before. Maybe it has something to do with no rain this summer? Or no snow last winter? Or all the cat poop that gets deposited there before the flowers grow big enough for the cats to stop using the dirt as a litter box? The snails in the picture above are not from my flower beds. They're from my neighbor's. We did some weeding for her a few weeks ago. And that is the hand of a teenager, not mine. You won't ever find me holding an escargatoire of snails. Yuck. (I found that fancy name here. I guess you can also call it a rout of snails or a walk of snails. I like escargatoire better though).

That's all.

Exciting stuff.

I know.

That's my life.

Plus, I'm sick and just doing the best I can.

the end

nine on the ninth

I helped Dan get a little bit of setting up, organizing and sorting done in his classroom today. Aunt Judy was swell to watch our little ones so we could actually get something accomplished. I have to admit it was kind of fun being there. I pretended it was date night except it was day time and we didn't go to a movie or dinner or whatever other crazy stuff it is you young people do on date nights. Kids somewhere else and I can get a word in edgewise counts as date night for me.

Maybe someday soon I'll have my own classroom to get all spiffed up. That'll be fun.

nine on the ninth

the Insta.weekend edition (because I was having fun taking pictures with my phone)


This weekend started on Thursday (like every good weekend should). My man and I ditched the kiddies and went to the movies. I liked it. Dan did too. I think I might have seen a tear trickle out of the corner of his eye for poor little Rue.

Dinner at my favorite restaurant. Training Table. It's a Utah original in case you hadn't heard. The first time I ate there (which was 20 years ago when I started college) I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. Why I remember that I will never know. Ever since then I've ordered the #25. Turkey, bacon, tomato with yummy ranch sauce. I've strayed from my favorite a few times but almost always regretted it. Don't forget the cheese fries. I never regret those. I've been eating the same thing at the same restaurant for 20 years. Eek. That picture is Dan's burger. I think it looked like someone poured puke on it.

Not pictured: We stayed at a hotel that night (to celebrate our 14 years of wedded bliss), slept in until 9:00 and missed the hotel breakfast, relaxed until check out and then went to eat brunch (because we're fancy and that's what you call eggs and bacon at 11:45 in the morning) and saw our across the street neighbors at the restaurant. Came home. Picked up the kids (just Cate though since Danny didn't want to leave Aunt Judy's house). I went to the gym (waaaaaaaaaay too much eating out). Then we got ready for more eating out.

Dinner with a friend for her birthday at the new fancy shopping center in the big city. Yummy sweet potato fries and meeting new people (which gives me anxiety up the wah-zoo).

Cate and I watch our Saturday morning cooking show together. She usually will sit on my lap and enjoy it (as long as we watch it on the DVR so I can fast forward through the commercials). As soon as it's over she hops off my lap and heads to her little pink kitchen to bake something. This time it was blueberry pie with green blueberries.

Grama Bama's brother and his wife stopped in for a little visit. I wonder why we straighten up the house for visitors when it turns into Cate's chance to bring out every toy and baby doll she owns to show off. Good thing they're family and just think it's cute.

I got busy baking cake for Sunday dinner dessert. This one was strawberry sheet cake (even though it wasn't baked in a sheet cake pan). I thought it was quite yummy (that bite was the taste test before we brought it up to share with the family) but the texture was weird. I'm going to give it another try some day. Maybe make an actual sheet cake out of it. I also made peanut butter sheet cake. That one is a keeper for sure.

While I slaved away in the kitchen, a little bit of Scrabble junior was happening at the kitchen table. Grama Bama sent me a text while we were away the day before. She said Danny was excited to play the game because he was going to "take her down". Ha! That's my boy!

Dinner was Cocolito's. Chips and salsa. Yum.

Sunday morning. Posing in her new Easter dress from Grama Bama. I decided that the best thing about having a daughter is the Easter dress. I might change my mind somewhere down the road but for now that's got to be it. You can make little boys extra handsome on Easter of course. There's just something special about the Easter dress. Well, I also think little girls are way more adorable in swimsuits too but what do I know.

After church we headed up to Aunt Cindy's house for dinner and family time. Yummy ham and potato salad and other stuff. And cake of course. Then an egg hunt in the front yard. I think it's going to be a sad, sad day when my little boy no longer wears fireman rain boots with his pants tucked in. Sad indeed.




And after reading about all the food I ate this weekend you'll understand why my diet starts today. Ug.

I'm a week late

Here's my nine on the ninth from last Friday. Some day I'll get my act together. I think I totally skipped February so it doesn't really matter anyway.

>>Cate woke me up bright and early to play doctor. Open your mouth. Wider. Wider. Wider. Hmmmm. It's worse than I thought. Where does she come up with this stuff? Maybe she was talking about my morning breath, not my tonsils.

>>Reese's peanut butter cereal. I don't know the real name. That's close enough. I like it. A lot. It's been for sale at Costco the last few times I've gone. I keep buying it. Oatmeal and I are on a break right now.

>>Chocolate for dessert (breakfast deserves dessert too you know) sitting on top of the strip we pulled off the Grama Bama countdown chain. She'll be here soon. Not soon enough, but soon.

>>I switched out the cookie jars. For winter I use the snowman. Winter's done. I don't really think winter was even here but I call it officially done when I switch out the cookie jars. I love this cookie jar. It was Grandma's. I think it's kind of summery because of the peaches. Right now there's Girl Scout cookies inside.

>>Talking Time with my boy. His teacher thinks he'll be ready to graduate soon. See. I told you he's a genius.

>>Taking a walk down the street to pick up Cate from her little friend's house after Talking Time. It was a nice day for a walk. We stopped by the bakery on the way home for a donut. Ever since I worked at a donut shop my senior year and ate all the donuts I wanted and gained A LOT of weight, I can't stomach the smell of the inside of a bakery that smells like donuts. I like the bread smell but the donuts kill me. I wonder if I eat too much chocolate, I'll some day not be able to stand the smell. I hope not. (See that tree behind Danny? You can see it in the movie Footloose if you look real fast. Also seen, the roof of my house. No kidding.)

>>Getting all prettied up for pictures. First time I've ever used a curling iron on her hair. It didn't curl.

>>Some afternoon refreshment on the way back to pick up the pictures. Aunt Judy kept the kids at her house so I was all by my little lonesome. I liked it a lot. I think I need more time all by my little lonesome on Friday afternoons. It's good for me.

>>5:00 snack of slightly thawed berries on my bed. Look! There's my feet! Danny stayed at Aunt Judy's house. Cate and I came home. I turned on a show for her and told her I was all done (meaning pretty please let me just go sit down and rest my weary bones for a few minutes without asking me for anything). That lasted about 10 minutes.


And now for my big time favorite picture from the day:





(Thanks to Dan for his amazing DNA and to CameraShy for the picture...and now they have bunnies. I should've waited. Dang it.)


I know, right?

The cuteness just about killed me.

Forget about where did my babies go. Where did my toddlers go?

I sure love 'em. Even when they don't give me a moment's peace to eat my slightly thawed berries and stare at my feet.

I'm sure there will be plenty of time for feet staring when they're both away at college...if I last that long.

nine on the ninth

I don't have 9 pictures for today.
Monday is not my finest day.
I've got 9 thoughts instead.
Those are hard to come by sometimes.
Consider yourself lucky.

one
I tended the nephews today.
I got Cate and Ray Ray settled to watch a movie.
Charlie Brown Christmas.
I walked away to get a drink.
I came back to peek on them.
That's how they looked.
Adorable.
It lasted a whole 30 seconds at least.
Ray Ray can't sit still.
And Cate can't seem to be quiet.
They are a lovely combination.
I'm tired.

two
Dan starts swimming lessons tonight.
I usually go to the gym at night.
Not tonight.
I'm going in the morning this week instead.
Early in the morning.
I haven't gone anywhere in the cold,
dark morning for a very long time.
I'm not the only person with the bright idea
to go to the gym in the cold, dark morning.
The parking lot was full.
My StairMaster was taken.
So were almost all the elliptical machines.
All except my favorite one.
Yes, I have a favorite.

three
I was thinking about my grandma today.
It's been 10 years since the Olympics came to Utah.
10 years.
It seems like a long time.
Grandma passed away a year and a half earlier.
I remember laying on the front room floor
watching the opening ceremonies and crying
because of how much I knew Grandma would have
loved it that the Olympics were in Utah.
She would have sat in her special chair
in the kitchen watching every single event
on the little t.v.
She might even have moved into the front room
in the evenings to watch the ice skating.
That was her favorite.
I remember just wishing she could have been
there to watch with us.

four
I think about chocolate every day.
If I don't have some, I want some.
If I do have some, I want some more.
That's why I go to the gym.
See, I'm thinking about chocolate again.

five
We played chutes and ladders after dinner tonight.
And candy land.
Danny is very competitive.
Cate is observant and quiet.
I think we need to play more games with her.
It's the quietest she's been all day.
Either that or get a puppy.
Those seem to make her quiet too.

six
I made breakfast for dinner tonight.
Pancakes.
Scrambled eggs.
Bacon.
Pears.
I call it pretend dinner.
That's what my mom used to call dinner
that she didn't put much thought into.
Not that we cared.
Pretend dinner tasted just as good as the real stuff.
Other pretend dinners that are my specialties:
grilled cheese sandwiches and soup
any other variation of breakfast for dinner
dinner involving meat that I didn't have to remember to thaw
(because it probably didn't involve meat at all)

seven
It's cold today.
I let the two little ones play outside this afternoon.
They didn't seem to mind.
I sat bundled up in a blanket on the front bench to watch them.
I wondered if all the cars that drove by
thought I was a horrible mom for letting
the kids play outside in the cold.
At least they had coats on.

eight
It's Kaycee's birthday today.
She's one of the young women at church.
She's 17.
And she has a blog.
I wish I had a blog when I was 17.
Wouldn't that be fun to look back and read 20 years later?
Sure, I had journals and I took pictures.
That's like a blog.
But not quite the same.
I didn't even have a computer when I was 17.
I know Kaycee looks at this blog sometimes so
Happy birthday, Kaycee!
I hope you made yourself a cute little
balloon bouquet at work.

nine
Today in my perusing the internet time
(while Ray Ray was napping and Cate was
confined to the downstairs bedroom for quiet time)
I learned
how to avoid ruining hard boiled eggs.
That's a good one for me.
I usually end up with that gray stuff around the yolk.
Yuck.
(The trick is heat slowly, cool quickly! Who knew?)


That is all.
Good night.

nine on the ninth

Today's installment of the ever so popular nine on the ninth is ALL ABOUT ME!

Partly because I'm very important around here and I don't get enough pictures on this blog. You need to see my beautiful mug more often, I've decided.

Partly because I've got some kids that like to take pictures with my phone (which is not an iPhone so the quality is very inferior, I realize that but don't really care). Most of the time they take blurry pictures of the wall or their fingers. Sometimes they get some good ones of me, candid and not so candid.

But mostly because I'll be busy today. Busy freaking out about everything getting done for the church Christmas party tonight. No way I need to be thinking about taking pictures of us enjoying the small things about this lovely day (I think that's supposed to be the point of the nine on the ninth business but I'm not so sure anymore).

(It's your lucky day. I've got three sets of nine since after the walls and their fingers, I'm the favorite thing to take pictures of. It's 27 on the ninth! Bonus!)

The best part about today, I'm sure, will be seeing Santa tonight. He's got bells on his boots, you guys! He's the real deal.

Enjoy!



Getting my hairs did with Angie (my next door neighbor who makes me look 25 again every other month).

At the doctor's office with sicko Cate last year. That was a doozy.

Baby Ray Ray. He was so little.

Wooden spoon on my cheek! Why? Why not?

Baking again. Danny's licking the beaters.

Butt shot as I load up the oven. You're welcome.

Waiting for Danny's preschool class to be done one day.

I'm guessing from the looks of the ceiling this was a trip to Costco. I concentrate very hard when I'm shopping.

Proof that sometimes I sit down during the middle of the day and just stare.



Shopping at Target. Another face of concentration.

I like this side view Cate captured. I look at it on days that I feel like Large Marge.

My chest! It's always good to have a picture of that. It's in Cate's line of vision when she's sitting in the cart I guess.

Kissing at Cocolito's.

Thinking at Cocolito's.

More kissing at Cocolito's. Sheesh.

Sitting and staring again. See how I put my hand under my chin a lot. Covering up the extras in case someone comes by and takes a candid cell phone picture of me. (Speaking of extra chins, Cate asked me yesterday if she could kiss my chins. Chins! Plural. I felt kind of bad and then I asked her where my chins were. She pointed to my cheek. Phew. A case of mistaken identity.)

Happy on my birthday morning this past summer. Messy hair and no make-up. So pretty.

The look of shock when I saw that Dan had bought me a new tv. So not pretty.



Being goofy with Cate in the front yard. Still wearing that apron. I wear aprons a lot I think.

She tells me to make silly faces so I do.

In the kitchen with an apron on. Again.

Pretending to sleep. We all know I'm never asleep when the kids are awake. Too dangerous.

Folding laundry whilst wearing an apron. I'm June Cleaver minus the pearls. And I wear jeans under my apron, not a skirt.

Chips with my girl at Cocolito's.

Large Marge.

Large Marge, part two. She told me to be silly. I think I pulled it off.

Blurry me. Blurry Ray Ray.

nine on the ninth

Morning snuggles with Daddy: I like to send the kids in to pester Dan in the morning. Sometimes they go in and pretend they're very loud roosters. Chock a doodle doo! Chock a doodle doo! (That's how Danny says it.) This morning it was Cate and snuggle time, except she's pretty squirmy and I'm not really sure how much of it counts as snuggling.

Tears at 9:00: You know, Sunday morning is not my favorite. I think it's tough on the kids too for some reason. Isn't Sunday morning supposed to be relaxing and peaceful? What are we doing wrong? I ask myself that weekly. I have no answers other than they like to pester each other in the mornings too, not just their daddy.

Building a house: Uncle Tim and Aunt Kym gave Danny these cardboard blocks a few years ago. They are the bane of my existence. The kids love them. This is the house they built in the middle of the floor this morning (after those tears were wiped away). Those five blue blocks outside the wall are flowers. So clever. It makes my heart happy to see them playing together nicely. It doesn't last long sometimes but I'll take it.

Candy corn: White chocolate's not my favorite but those m&m's people are so clever sometimes. Grandma gave us this bag of candy yesterday. I opened it after church today and started wondering what kind of baked goodie I could make with them. Cookies maybe. Or just let the kids eat them. Probably that last one.

Speaking of candy corn: My amazingly talented friend Janell made this dress and tie for my adorable kidlets. Danny was not happy about posing for the picture. Nothing new about that. Funny thing about candy corn, I think they taste horrible. They sure look cute as a dress though. Thanks, Janell!

Church gives me a headache: Just kidding. Kind of. I was hungry. I ran home with the kids...in heels. I was tired. The headache stuck around for a few hours. I popped some pills and went to lay down in my bed. I asked Dan in my sweetest voice to not let the kids bother me. Ha. They never came banging on my door but I did hear Cate running back and forth from her room talking in a loud voice that Mommy has a headache.

Dan's organizing project: So he's trying to clean out the garage one box at a time. I'm not sure how many boxes are currently spread out all over the dining room table. I look at that pile of his precious stuff in wonder (as in I wonder if we'll ever eat dinner on that table again) and awe (as in ahhh, man. are we ever going to eat dinner on that table again?).

The last of the garden tomatoes: We ate them for dinner tonight. BLT's. I had the carb-free BLT. L on the outside. B and T on the inside. Lots and lots of B. There's still plenty of green tomatoes clinging to the vines. I'm just wondering if they're going to make it to adulthood now that it's coldish out. Dan said they will. I better buy more bacon.

Pictures from yesterday: I scrolled through the pictures from my nephew's wedding yesterday. It was a beautiful day. The ceremony was lovely. It gave me a lot to think about. Made me want to be a better wife and mother. That's always a good thing. My kids were mostly good. It was a long day. Promising ice cream and cupcakes always helps. Playing with cousins was good too. More pictures of the wedding festivities forthcoming.


And since they're just so ding dang cute, more pictures of my little candy corn and her grouchy sidekick.



And since I like to make myself feel really old sometimes...


I remember what I was doing on 10/9/87 at 6:54:321 p.m. (I don't really know how to punctuate for that last 1. Does it need another semicolon and then a zero?)

Freshman year of high school. I was in the marching band. We were playing our warm up stuff before going onto the field for the pregame show at the football game. My band teacher stopped the warm ups to tell us what time it was and to recognize that it was 10/9/87.

And then the very next Friday night the announcer at the football game came over the loudspeaker and let everyone know that the rescuers had pulled baby Jessica out of the well. We cheered and hugged each other.

I remember weird stuff.

And I feel really old now.

nine on the ninth

Oh, boy. You're in for a treat today.

Nine on the Ninth, Boring Tuesday in August Edition.

Hold onto your seats!


ONE: I was awakened entirely too early by a little girl who had gone to bed super late the night before. Why she won't just sleep in is something I'll never understand. Maybe that trait will come in handy when she's in college and stays up late studying. She won't miss her early classes the next day. Who knows. I plopped her in the front room with Grama Bama and went back to bed to finish my book. I'm not a big reader but being stuck in the back of a minivan for over three days last week forced me into it. I'd heard a lot of buzz about these books so I read the first one. Futuristic, weird fiction isn't really my style. I'm not in any kind of hurry to read book 2.

TWO: Cate did a little light cleaning. She always does her morning chores in an apron with a big bow in her hair. Here's the exact conversation.

her: Mom, there's Steve under this basket.

me: What is it?

her: Steve. I'm trying to make it all clean for Daddy. Daddy doesn't like it when it's all dirty. I'm wiping all this Steve off so Daddy won't be disappointed.

First of all, I have no idea why she's calling dust Steve. Weird. Secondly, I'm pretty sure her daddy didn't even notice the Steve under that basket. And last, how on earth does she know what disappointed means? And why does she think that's what her daddy will be if he sees all that Steve?

Later in the day she was patting my hair. She told me she had to do that so it (MY HAIR) wouldn't be disappointed. So, yeah. She actually doesn't know what that big word means. At least I don't think she does.

THREE: We took a little trip to Old Navy to return a shirt. Cate was smitten with the mannequins. I can't blame her. They are pretty cute. At least the kid ones, the dog and the adult ones who actually have heads. She walked right up to this little girl and gave her a hug. Then she said, "Look, Mom! Is that me? Take a picture!" She also talked to the dog for a while and patted the legs of the adult mannequins throughout the store. Never have I had such an adventure returning a shirt.

FOUR: The plan was Costco after Old Navy. Cate wasn't interested. She wanted to go to the park and being the fun go-with-the-flow mom that I am, I obliged. We sat on the bench for what seemed like forever waiting for a swing vacancy. She didn't really want to play while she waited. Just sit and watch. That kid loves to swing. I'm trying to teach her how to pump so it won't be so much work for me.

FIVE: We went to Judy's house after the park and chatted with 85-year-old Great Uncle Harold in the front yard for a spell.

SIX: Then it was off to Walmart for dinner supplies. Kids at Walmart instead of kids in bed napping is not my idea of fun.

SEVEN: Dinner later with all the family. Spaghetti with homemade meatballs.

EIGHT: Bath time. I love Cate's face when she closes her eyes and plugs her ears so the water won't get in them. It's just too cute.

NINE: Taking a break from dinner clean up to sit out front. Cate ran up and down the sidewalk. I picked dead blooms off my bug-eaten petunias. Then Cate went in the back and played in the sandbox. I finished dishes and spilled the entire container of leftover vegetables all over the kitchen floor. Fun stuff.

That's about it. I warned you. Exciting stuff.

Here's the best part of all.

Around 11:00 when I was helping Cate use the toilet (because she took a nap and didn't wake up until 6:00 so of course she's not asleep at 11:00) she said, "When my fingernails are all clipped I can't get my boogers out!"

Such a keen observation.

nine on the ninth

first: Woke up at 9:41 because my kind and loving husband let me sleep in. I then sat in the front room watching Cate twirl around and do summersaults all over the floor. I don't think she sat still for 5 minutes straight.

second: Looked at this bowl of gross looking bananas and figured I'd better do some baking. Later in the day I made banana bread with three of them and stuck the rest in the freezer. Is it ok to freeze gross looking bananas? I've never done it before. The thought of making three batches of banana bread didn't appeal to me. Neither did the thought of watching little fruit flies buzzing all over my kitchen.

third: Applied the wrinkle patches my sister gave me for my birthday. I think they worked. The hideous wrinkles aren't gone but I'm pretty sure they plumped up a tiny bit. I'm satisfied. I'll use the last two patches in a few weeks so my face will be freshly plumped up for my high school reunion. Yikes.

fourth: Played a few rounds of Words With Friends with my bro-in-law. He proclaimed it the world's slowest Scrabble game EVER. Maybe so. If you're interested in playing an excruciatingly slow game with me, look me up. I'd love to kick your trash too. I take no prisoners.

fifth: Examined the garden. The zucchini plant is ginormous. The tomato plants look like they're ready to take over the world. And I'm wondering if that banana pepper is ready to be picked. Arlene? I'm looking at you.

sixth: Put down Cate for her Quiet Time (don't make the mistake of calling it a nap). She still had on her nightgown because sometimes we just don't bother to get dressed for the day around here. Snuggled in beside her you will find Idda and Mo. Right beside Mo, but cropped out of this picture, Piss. I am not even kidding you. She named one of her dolls Piss.

seventh: Took the kids to the splash pad for the first time ever. Oh, glorious splash pad, I love you so! Why did we wait so long? The kids get wet. It's not too far away from our house. It's free! And the best part, I don't have to wear a swimsuit! We'll be back. Who wants to come?

eighth: Ate dinner at Denny's and saw a rainbow out our window. Kids eat free on Saturdays and we are super duper classy folk. In our defense, we did try to eat at Purple Pig Pizza first but they only accept cash. By the time we got back from the ATM, they were closed...at 7:20 on a Saturday night. Not sure what's up with that but maybe it's a good thing. See that building on the right in the picture? That's Walgreens. The sign in front was advertising that walk-ins are welcome for Shingles Shots. Am I missing something? I understand having a sign advertising flu shots but shingles?

ninth: Made peanut butter fingers at 10:15 on a Saturday night. I lead a glamorous and exciting life. The picture is from this morning. Better lighting. Sunday morning peanut butter fingers taste just as good as the Saturday night ones though. You have my word.


A few bonus pictures from the splash pad because my kids are just so dang cute.






A bonus tid bit from today because Cate is just so dang funny.


me: Catie Bug, come get dressed.

her: Say the secret words first.

me: What are the secret words.

her: DADDY'S BIG TUMMY!


She kills me. In a good way of course.

nine on the ninth

So here's what happened yesterday...


Rudely awakened at the crack of dawn (more or less) by a 1-800 guy asking for my grandpa. It's not strange that he'd ask for my grandpa. I live in his house. He just hasn't lived here for almost 29 years. I didn't actually talk to the 1-800 guy. I just clicked the answer button and held the phone up to my ear without saying hello. The 1-800 guy asked for my grandpa twice and then hung up. I stuck the phone under the pillow without hanging up so he couldn't call back.

Watered flowers before the kids woke up so I wouldn't have to listen to them fighting over the hose when I was done. I also watered about a million of those ding dang Chinese elm fluttery seeds. I really hate those things.

Made potions in the backyard. Complete with water, dirt, sand and baking soda. How can I say no to baking soda when Danny comes inside and says, "Mommy, can we have a wittle bit of baking soda, pwease?" in his prim and proper voice? I can't. I gave him the whole box. So now I'm out of baking soda. It was worth it.

Watched the marching band practicing outside the high school on our way to Target. In my defense, we were at the stop sign to turn the corner and nobody was behind us so I watched for a little bit and took a picture. So many memories of band practice in the hot summer sun.

And how do you like that wonky reflective material where the side mirror used to be? Isn't it swell? When I was pregnant with Danny I backed the car out of the garage one day and somehow that side mirror was over a titch too far and got swiped right off. $400ish dollars later and we had a new side mirror. When I was pregnant with Cate I backed the car out of the garage one day and somehow that side mirror was over a titch too far again and got swiped right off. Well, not as far off as it did the first time. Just the mirror fell off the second time, not the whole contraption. That reflective stuff passes inspection so there you have it. So now I'm banned from using the electric hedge trimmer (just because I sliced through 2 extension cords) and from backing out of the garage while pregnant.

Pretending to sleep (complete with snoring) at Target because he didn't want popcorn. Wanna hear what his snore sounds like? Here you go. Funny kid.

Going swimming instead of napping (because nobody ever wants to nap but they always want to swim). A few thoughts about swimming: I don't enjoy it. All of it. The water full of germs, the splashing, the kids clinging to my arms and neck (I took them by myself for the first time ever and holy moly, it's nice to know I can do it but I don't ever want to do that again). I'm at the pool wondering why I care so much about my chubby thighs and then I see other moms that don't seem to care about theirs (I can tell because some of them don't make any effort to hide that stuff) and wish I could just be like them (not have their chubby thighs, just not care so much about mine).

BUT I love my kids and I know they like to go to the pool so that's how I earn my Mommy points. AND I saw a little toddler girl walking around the shallow part of the pool with a pacifier in her mouth. Seriously! I just about lost my lunch. Ewww, gross and WHY??

The epic nap after swimming. Ah, it was a lovely 3 plus hours. Neighbor boys over to play didn't even wake her. She was out. Apparently, holding on for dear life to my neck and sliding down the kid slide at the pool a few times is hard work.

Rolling out the gray carpet I bought at IKEA the day before. Cate's bedroom is changing and I'm turning into quite the interior decorator. I kid. I have no idea what I'm doing. Candis just tells me what looks good and I do it.

Dinner at the Chick after Cate finally woke up. Those have got to be the cutest ketchup packets ever. Thankfully, nobody peed their pants at the top of the slide like the first time we went there. You know, the time the whole play place had to be shut down because my kid peed at the top of the slide and the worker lady had to come in and decontaminate it. Oh, the joys.


What a long day.

I'm tired just remembering it.

But I got me some Chick-fil-A nuggets at the end of it all so I say it was worth it.

nine on the ninth

Today's installment of nine on the ninth is dedicated to my main man.

It's his 41st birthday today.

So there you go.

Nine pictures of him.

Those pictures in the middle row are from his school ID cards.

Makes me glad he saves everything.

And that last one is quite possibly my favorite picture of him ever.

Here it is bigger for your viewing enjoyment.

(Ok, mostly it's for my viewing enjoyment.)

Happy birthday to my hunka hunka burnin' love.

nine on the ninth on the twelfth

Woke up to snow

April showers bring May flowers. Sometimes the showers are rain and sometimes they're snow. I happen to love the showers, however they come.

Took my big ol' horse pill

I finally went to the doctor on Friday morning. It was the eleventh day of me feeling cruddy so I figured it was time. I was a new patient so I had to fill out some forms before my appointment. I had to laugh when I came to the question "Do you wake tired?" Seriously? Who doesn't wake tired? People whose kids take naps during the day and sleep through the night that's who. Sadly, that's not me. Here's another good one. "Do you have unusual stress?" Well, I don't know for sure. I usually feel this much stress so I guess it isn't unusual stress, just usual stress. What kind of dumb question is that? Maybe they should have separate questions for mothers of small children.

The nurse walked me back when it was my turn. As we approached the scale in the hallway, I said a big "oh, crap" in my head. I took off my shoes, put down my phone, wallet and keys and told the nurse that I would be closing my eyes and to please not say my weight out loud. Not something I want to hear after a week and a half of no exercise. When I got off the scale she asked me how tall I am. I told her 5'11'' and she said, "That's a great weight for your height!" Bless you, nurse lady. Bless you.

Rockin' out in the truck

Cousin Jarrett got baptized Saturday morning. We made it back from the church before his family did. I didn't have my keys to their house so we just sat in the truck and waited. We cranked up the music and Dan busted out his fancy dance moves. The song: Kodachrome.

Spending time with the fam

After the baptism, we spent time with the family and ate yummy food at Aunt Judy's house (including some dip of the musical fruit variety).

Snail mail

I filled out the registration form for my high school reunion. I hear there's going to be karaoke on the Friday night get-together. Dan and I need to start practicing. I'm thinking Islands in the Stream and I Got You, Babe.

Tangled

I watched a movie while I whittled down the ironing pile to zero shirts. It's gone! Too bad Dan keeps wearing shirts to work and then I keep washing them and the pile just keeps growing all over again. Why can't he just wear t-shirts every day? Some teachers do that right?

Independent play time

Cate was playing with Grandpa while I did the ironing. She brought out lots of toys from Danny's room (since Danny was still at Jarrett's house and not there to stop her like he usually does). I think Grandpa was getting tired of helping her figure out how the train tracks were supposed to link together. He said, "Don't you have a doll you could play with?" It was funny. She went off to her room and played for a long time. All by herself. That almost never happens. It was lovely. Seriously almost brought a tear of happiness to my eye.

A New Countdown

Danny loves a countdown. I'm not sure if Dan is excited about being reminded daily how close he's getting to 41 but oh well.

Silly Faces

I figured it was time to take a few pictures with Grandpa since he'd be leaving the next morning. This is the best one. I told them to make silly faces. Grandpa just smiled a tiny bit and said, "This is my silly face." Cate's got a pretty good one though.