Grab a tissue

I have had this picture sitting in my email for a year now. It was taken by a friend, then sent to me. I didn't know she had taken it. Every once in a while I'll revisit it. I'm not sure why it intrigues me so. It kind of haunts me.

We were at a track meet and I can't remember why, but I had put her in time out. I'm sure it was something terrible. For some reason, I feel like such a mean mom when I look at this picture. Is it because it was cold and windy and her hair is flying all over the place? But then I think, "No, she deserved a time out whether it was cold and windy or not."

But OH, how this tears at the heart strings!

I have another picture sitting in my email that haunts me, too. It's a picture of Chris and me at the mud baths in Costa Rica. But I think the reason that one haunts me is because I was in my bathing suit.

Yeah, that's definitely it.

Slave Driver

I'm not one to toot my own horn, but...

Wait. Yes I am. TOOT! TOOT!

Today the kids and I totally rocked. We've gotten a little behind lately on the yard work and general upkeep of the house because we've been spending so much time on the kitchen.

Which, by the way, has a tile back splash now, thanks to me! Just ignore that missing tile back in the corner. It's just a minor detail. I'm willing to look past it and I think you should be too. Thank you.

Now I promise not to torture you with any more pictures of the kitchen.

Well anyhoo, all that behind stuff is a thing of the past because check out all that we accomplished today:

Mowed, edged and weed eated (or is it weed ate?) (or weed eatered?) the lawn
Bathed the poor, stinky dog
Washed the Yukon
Went to Home Depot to replace the weed eater
Finished planting the garden
Folded a bunch of laundry
Worked on stripping and sanding the railing to the stairs
Went back to Home Depot because the stripper wouldn't spray. That sounds bad.
Pulled weeds
Sprayed weeds
Swept up a TON of helicopters from our maple tree
Finished grouting the tile
Finished drying out the flood in the basement (don't ask)
Okay, I'll tell you...The stupid flipping flapping ding dang walla walla bing bang water softener overflowed the other day! (I feel better now.)
Cooked a REAL dinner
Vacuumed
Daniel took a ride on a plane:



AAAAAAND we found this:
Can you tell what it is? If you guessed alien from Mars, you're right! No seriously, folks. It's a partially developed bird in an egg. How cool is that? The kids will take turns taking it to school, then Keaton has placed "Dibs" on dissecting it. He also wants to dissect our old weed eater and Chris' cell phone that went through the wash. What a scientist!

Oh, yeah. There's one more thing I did today.

I updated our blog.

Playing catch up on some recent activities

Jantzen had a field trip to a goat farm. She is a true natural with animals. She was in heaven. The only thing she really wasn't interested in was milking the goats and tasting the milk. Those little goats were very patient with her. She carried them around for quite a long time.

And Chris had a "guys day" at Mt. Hood Meadows with his brother Spencer and brother-in-law Brian.

I'm not sure, but I think they were in heaven too. Most of our skiing consists of taking Jantzen down the easiest runs and taking the boys on the intermediate runs. So it's always a treat for Chris to have some time to go on the harder runs. Although we love skiing with the kids, it's exhausting to help them get their gear on, pack the food, carry all the skis to the lodge, buy the tickets, and get everyone on the lifts. This day consisted of none of that hogwash. It was men, snow and skis. That's all.

I'm not sure exactly what this picture is, but isn't it cool? I love when I find little treasures like this on the camera.

Apparently it was a very warm day. But as you can see, my husband kept his jacket on just like his mommy, oops, I mean wifey told him to do.

It was also a day when Jennifer and I would call every phone number for Mt. Hood trying to get a human being. Why? Because our dear husbands didn't check in with us all day long, that's why! And out of the three phones those guys had up there, none of them seemed to be working. And it's not like them to not check in with us. And it would have been just like them to hike somewhere out of bounds and get hurt dropping off some insane cliff. And...And...And... We were worried! But don't you worry. We had the nice fellas at Mt. Hood check the entire parking lot for their cars, just so we could know if they made it off the mountain. Their cars were gone, so we stopped worrying and started cursing their names. It turns out all of their phone batteries died. They knew they had a problem when that happened. According to reports, when they realized what had happened they said something to the effect of, "Oh man, we're screwed!" Because they knew that they had little wifeys at home that would worry about them, then once the worry was gone the rage would come out. I can't speak for Jennifer, but Chris did the dishes that night when he got home. Bad boy! Bad, bad boy! You're grounded. And did you brush your teeth yet? Make sure you get all the sugar bugs off. Then go clean your room.

The "Too Much" Chronicles

I don't know why, but I have this urge to talk about the things we have too much of. I guess I find it kind of amusing how we seem to accumulate way too much of certain things, but can never have enough of other things.

Chapstick. Hello? Ten. Ten different chapsticks in the house for a family of five. I'm sure Daniel has some too but I wasn't going to go picking through his room just so I could count them. And the boys each keep one at school. So really it's twelve, that I could find. I'm sure there are a couple behind the dryer.

Oh, wouldn't my dentist be proud of me now. Actually, no. Because most of these are from him. (Hi Greg. I do floss. Really, I do!)

And now for a couple of things we can never have enough of...Can you say C E R E A L ?

What's the deal with cereal, anyways. It's so expensive and it leaves me feeling hungry an hour later. So why do I buy it? Because I'm a lazy, terrible mom, that's why. I've already made a rule that it can only be eaten for breakfast. If I didn't do that, we would go through two boxes a day. I'm thinking about only allowing it on school days, too. On the weekends I usually cook breakfast, but the kids choose cereal over my home cooking! Maybe they're trying to tell me something.

On to our next item...graham crackers. Seriously, folks. Dipped in milk, yum! I have loved this treat since I was a kid. And don't get me started on graham crackers with cream cheese frosting. I can feel my rear end getting bigger just thinking about it.

So there you have it. That's what's on my mind tonight. Don't know why. More to come when I get a chance. I know you can't wait.

Soooo, what's been going on with us lately? Let's see....
Daniel finished up with the spring musical, Pirates of Penzance, a couple of weeks ago. It was a really cute play and he did a great job! Now he has more time to focus on other things like friends, girls, prom and graduation. His family will be here from Germany at the end of this month to visit and watch his graduation. We can't wait to meet them.
Keaton is still doing tennis and is making big improvements. He won the last two matches and he's got two more this week. Then he'll be done. His serve is improving a lot and he's really enjoying it.
Carson and Jantzen are still doing track. Their last meet is this Saturday. I like this track program, but it's always nice when it's over. That frees up two nights a week for other things like...
Presidency meetings! Yep, that's right folks. You're talking to the new Primary president here. For those of you that might not know what that means, it means I DON'T HAVE A LIFE ANYMORE! Just kidding... Kind of. It means that I oversee the children's organization at church. So I make sure that we have teachers on Sundays, nursery workers, and music leaders. I also make sure that the cub scout program is staffed and running smoothly. We also put on quarterly activities for the kids and a yearly program that includes all the kids and is performed during church. There are tons of other things I have to deal with, but that's the basic idea. So I'm pretty busy with that. Not to mention taking care of four kids, running my Scentsy business, training for another half marathon and finishing up this gosh-darned-diggety-doggety-blasted kitchen! (Which, by the way, is so close I can taste it!)
Chris' life consists of going to work, then coming home and working on the kitchen. Yesterday we worked together to put in some of the flooring then he worked the rest of the day putting in the dishwasher. He worked until almost 10 last night! Needless to say, things did not go smoothly, but after four trips to Home Depot and several hours of him laying on the kitchen floor with his head under the dishwasher, he got the thing hooked up and working. Yeah Chris! Thank you so much!
Two weeks ago Chris and I started a little challenge. It's called The Biggest Loser-Wrathall Edition. You see, we both gained a bit of weight this winter and we've been starting most days out by looking in the mirror, groaning and saying something like, "I've gotta get my butt into gear." Or, "Who's that fat person in the mirror?" So for six weeks we're trying to lose weight, and at the end the winner gets $100 to spend on whatever they want. Well, Keaton got wind of our little game and he wanted to join us. Nothing motivates that boy like money. So we decided to let him in. So far here are the standings:
1st place-Chris 8 pounds
2nd place-Keaton 6 pounds
3rd place-Jodi 1 stinking stupid measly pound!
I have a feeling I'm not going to be the biggest loser!
Whose idea was this anyways? Oh, nevermind.
So there you have it. As always, we're pretty busy. And it doesn't seem to be getting any better. So when I don't update my blog for awhile, you understand, right? Right?
Thanks.

Ode to my New Dishwasher

Dishwasher, oh dishwasher
How I missed you so.
You were gone for two long months.
I thought you would never return
But now you are back in my loving arms
And I shall never live without you again
Absence made the heart grow fonder
Fonder, fonder, fonder

You work so hard while I sleep
or play or wander through the aisles of Walmart
And you never complain about the work
Scrubbing, washing, working so hard while I'm away
So I can have a clean surprise when I open the door

I wish my kids were more like you.