Just a little taste

I stepped inside for one quick second and came back to this

Did Tyler seriously think I wouldn't notice if he gave Robby a taste of his fudgesicle?

"But I was just letting him have a little taste, Mom."

I've turned into one of those bloggers who only ever writes about her kids and never posts pictures of herself or her own life. But as with most of you, my kids ARE my life. So here are a few pictures of what I have been up to lately.

Let's see...where do I begin with my glamorous life?

To start off with, the other day while I was fixing breakfast, Tyler decided it would be funny to attach these chip clips to the back of my shirt and because I was in a hurry and trying to do too many things at the same time, I didn't even notice. I spent the rest of the day with these things attached to my shirt. It wasn't until we got in the car to go somewhere that I realized what he'd done. I wonder if anyone at Target would have had to guts to tell me that I had chip clips attached to my clothes or would they just have wondered if I was starting a new fashion trend? Nah, this has "clueless mom" written all over it.

Later that evening, I thought it would be fun to attempt jumping (softly) on the trampoline with Robby. I spent so many months sitting on the sidelines during my pregnancy (because seriously, it only takes trying that one time to discover why it's a bad idea for a pregnant lady to jump on a trampoline...need I say more?) that I wanted to "jump" right in a play with my boys like we used to do. Not such a good idea.

Lucky for me, the baby puke totally missed my new shirt (thanks again Jen), because as a mom, I only have a handful of cute clothes that actually fit and are somewhat clean at any given time. I needed the shirt to wear the next day on our trip to the zoo.

(Sorry...I just had to throw in this picture of my guys at the zoo. They are just too cute).

Then this weekend we packed up the car for our picnic at the park with our friends from church. Sounds fun enough, right?

But this is how I really felt about it. Darn Texas weather! It was FREEZING!

My family is my life. And I like it that way, but I am glad for some of the other things in my life that let me step out of that role. Last August, I jumped in as our community social committee chairman. Luckily I have a co-chair who helps me spearhead all these activities and events. It's been good for me to feel like I'm a part of the community and like I do something besides the "mommy gig." I've met some fabulous people and have had a lot of fun.

Last week we put on our community Easter egg hunt. It was a TON of work, but I feel like it was a huge success and I'm pleased with how things turned out. There are a few things I'd like to change for next year, mainly purchasing about double the eggs. I guess I was wrong in thinking 600 eggs was enough! Poor Tyler didn't even find any eggs in his age grouping. Luckily he had a few connections and I snuck him in with the older kids. At least we had enough cookies and lemonade and even had some good relay games for afterward.

Here is my co-chair, Michele, she is super fun! When she approached me about purchasing an Easter Bunny costume, my response was, "Sure, but who would be crazy enough to wear that thing?" Silly me. Michele loves this kind of stuff. She thrives on throwing a good party! (Sorry the picture is so blurry. I couldn't hold still because I was laughing so hard. Oh, and I didn't get a picture of Tyler with her. He was way too terrified...not sure I blame him).


Well, there you have it. The average weekend of a stay at home mom. At least I left out all the parts about mountainous loads of laundry, floors that never stay clean and one poopy diaper after another.Life is good.

Autumn

We've been blessed with some truly beautiful weather over that past couple of days. It's much cooler and the evenings are crisp and chili. I love it, but I have to say that it is this time of year that I really miss autumn bike rides in Utah and gorgeous fall days in New York. I was reading my friend's blog who still lives in New York. It made me yearn for beautiful fall foliage and crave yummy apple cider doughnuts. Seriously delish. If anyone finds any here in Texas, please let me know.

Our apartment in New York (Albany area) was less than a couple miles from several small farms, most of which had a quaint country store associated with it. There were dozens of apple orchards and pumpkin patches to choose from and we enjoyed sampling each of their apple cider doughnuts. It was just too easy to run out on a cold, autumn Saturday morning to one of our favorite local farms to pick up a few warm doughnuts along with a couple cups of fresh apple cider. Oh they are sooooo good! I'll never forget Tyler's first experience with the delicious dessert. I was one of those crazy moms who didn't want my child eating french fries and sweets, but I couldn't resist sharing this culinary delight with him. He was about 9 months old and we gave him a small morsel of the sugary good stuff. His eyes bulged out and he flapped his arms, grunting for more. We gave him a bit more and then tried to hide the bag with the rest of our doughnuts. We couldn't fool him. Every time he caught a glimpse of the white bag he'd squeal with delight and grunt for more. He was focused and fixed on that bag and nothing in the world could distract him. It was hilarious and oddly enough, some things never change.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of some of our fall outings that year.

These pictures make me laugh at the Texas attempt at a pumpkin patch with it's evenly spaced rows of pumpkins laid out on some grassy field, bounce houses, and wooden cut-outs of popular cartoon characters all while pushy moms chase around their children dressed in matching Halloween or autumn outfits trying to get "the perfect shot." Oh and it's usually blasted hot and the kids are more about climbing and playing and not so much into posing for their photo opp. That doesn't mean we won't be going to the pumpkin patch (check back in after Friday) it just means all the while I'm there, I miss the quaint, beautiful lifestyle we enjoyed in lovely New York. Oh and I miss this adorably kissable baby boy! Who said he could grow up so fast?

Yahoo!

Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone for your wonderful advice, tips, and thoughts! I loved reading what you all had to say. It was SO helpful as I sort out all of this crazy stuff. If you have any more advice, feel free to keep it coming! Seriously ladies, this is why we blog!!! Love it.

I thought I'd update you on my quest for acquisition of all things baby and nursing. Yesterday I took a trip to Kid to Kid (the consignment store). I was dropping off a few things that we no longer needed, and I was curious to see if they had any of the items on my list. BINGO!!! I scored a gently used Bjorn carrier as well as a brand new baby sling still in it's original packaging. And not just any sling, the exact sling I was looking at online (hot slings). With my credit from the items I dropped off, the total was less than what I would have paid for the sling alone. I have amazingly good Karma when it comes to that store. I hardly ever go there, but when I do, I am amazed at how I score! I've popped in on two other occasions and found exactly what I was looking for down to the brand and color.

Oh, but it doesn't end there my friends. I was looking on Craigslist for a Madela breast pump. More good Karma!!! Posted just the day before is the exact Madela electric breast pump I've been eyeing for almost half the price (plus several extra parts, most of which are still in the original packaging). And even better, the lady only used it on weekends for 2 months, so it's practically new!!!

Yep, I'm thinking of changing my middle name to $, pronounced "cha-ching!!!"

By the way, one last thing. As I have been washing all of Tyler's baby clothes, I have discovered that Oxyclean works wonders (thanks for the tip, Alycia). I soaked the clothes for about 45 minutes in Oxyclean and then washed once more with a scoop more of Oxyclean and that Dreft baby detergent. Almost all of the spit-up stains (that weren't visible when I put the clothes away four years ago) have come out. There are a few things that are slightly discolored, but hardly noticable.
There, now I can feel like I've given back in some small way!

Busy

Where have I been for the past week and why haven't I posted?

I've been a little busy planning this:

A few weeks ago I did something really crazy and decided to step into the position as the Social Committee chair for our neighborhood's HOA. Thank heavens there was another lady who was willing to co-chair with me, so I haven't been doing this all on my own. She's fabulous and we work really well together.

Our first event was this past Sunday (yeah, not my favorite, but it was already on the calendar. Hopefully it will be our last Sunday event). I was thrilled with how it all turned out. In past events when I was serving on the committee, we've only had turnouts of about 50 people or so. I always felt like we could do much better (our community has over 1,000 homes), so our goal with this event was to have a larger number of people in attendance. We did it! We had well over 200 people show up. It was a blast. We had bounce houses, hot dogs, snow cones, cotton candy, a bike parade- the works! We put a lot of effort into it and I felt like it really paid off.

After being at the pool all day setting up and helping out, making a few trips to the grocery store for extra ice, then slipping off to sacrament meeting, then returning to the pool to see if the vendor had arrived to collect his stuff (which he hadn't), then waiting 45 minutes for him to finally show up, I went home and crashed. I felt like I had been hit by a bus.

And now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go get ads in the papers for our upcoming community wide garage sale, get signs made, have a little chat with our vendor who chewed out my co-chair for a mistakes HE made, collect bids from other vendors to replace said Mr. Jerk-face Vendor for next year's events, start planning our Halloween hayride, re-work next year's schedule and budget and submit it for approval, go over minutes from our committee meeting on Wednesday, and submit all my receipts for reimbursements- good thing I can do most of this while sitting in a chair!

Oh what have I gotten myself into???

Ouch. I can feel a stress induced braxton hicks contraction coming on.

And yes, John and Tyler were GREAT helpers. I loved how inventive they were in delivering several supplies from our house to the pool- they just loaded up the bike trailer. I can't wait until next year when we can enter the bike parade/contest with the tandem, Tyler's tag-along, and the baby trailer all decked out and hooked together. Here are a few more pics of my favorite (and most helpful) people!

For reals?!?

Well, you know what we'll be watching next July.

(check it out here or here)

I survived

So last week John was gone on business the ENTIRE week. I was a little worried about how I would survive given my current condition (BIG MAMMA). But we did just fine. I think the thing I love most about living here is all of the wonderful friends I've made. They helped me survive the week and actually made it a fun one.


We enjoyed a trip to a local water park with the Shepherds. Thanks again for the invite, Tiffany. We really had a blast. Tyler kept himself happy and busy for hours playing here



I loved watching him jump across the lily pads and splash down all of the slides.



But most of all, I loved giggling to myself as I took a few pictures of this classy gentleman. Seriously, do you love the gun tucked into his shorts? Nice.





We also enjoyed a playgroup visit to the fire station. Tyler did not like the fire truck horn honking, but he was cool with assuming his position behind the wheel.





Then when Jen called later in the week informing me that Shayne would be out of town, we knew neither of us wanted to cook so we headed off to Rosa's for some good eats. It was a circus with the three kids. But I say it was a HUGE success given that no one pooped their pants, no drinks were spilled, and we didn't even get a standing ovation when we left the restaurant.


After dinner we were off to make good on a craving that Jen had set into motion a few days prior. Earlier in the week she reminded me of this delicious dessert that we both LOVE. That was all it took. Neither of us could stop thinking about it, so we had this brilliant idea to satiate the craving. We rushed home, put a movie on for the kids and set to work. Just about the time we finished, I checked the recipe and discovered that the cake would take 1 hour to cook and not the 30-40 minutes we had originally thought.


Our kids were bouncing off the walls and there was no way they were going to survive staying up past bedtime...okay truth is, there was no way WE were going to survive them staying up past their bedtime.


We looked at each other with tears in our eyes. We both very much NEEDED a piece of cake. What are two pregnant women with a very strong craving to do? We dried our eyes, gave the kiddos some cheerios and told them that was their dessert (as you can tell from their faces, they didn't mind), and set to work dividing up this lovely cake so that we could both enjoy. In the end, it was delicious, worth the work...But I'm sure it would have tasted even better if I could have enjoyed it with a friend (and have no fear, Tyler did get to have a slice or two of the cake. Yeah, we had it for breakfast the next day).


Thanks again ladies (and gentleman, in Mr. Tattoo's case) for helping me survive what could have been a very long and lonely week!!!

Texas love

The other day, Arlene asked me if I REALLY like Texas.

Arlene, does this answer your question?

We do love it here, and I'm praying we don't move any time soon because that little Texas flag hanging on his wall took forever to stitch. Hope y'all come visit soon!

Yes, John made it back from London just fine. It was a fast trip, but he was there long enough to see the highlights of London- Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, and he even made it out to Stonehenge. But of all those things, what was his favorite? This:

I think secretly he would love to have joined them for one of their club rides. He brought home a copy of their riding schedule. Do you blame him? I'm sure riding through some of that country side would be absolutely breathtaking.

Since his return, we've had a very difficult and disappointing week, but amidst it all, there have been a few things making me laugh. Here are a few:

*Tyler recently picked up on Mater's line from the movie Cars, and can now be caught every now and then saying, "Holy Shoot."

*Whenever I see one of Oprah's commercials for her "Big Give" show I picture my dad with a sarcastic grin on his face saying, "I think there's a God, but I know there's an Oprah."

*John and Tyler took their weekly trip out to Home Depot on Saturday. They came home with purple flowers that Tyler chose to plant in the yard. Cute.

*Two days later, however, the flowers were killed by a wicked frost and a bit of snow and ice (I know, it's March...in TEXAS), but that made for a fun day at the park the next day when Tyler and I had a "snowball fight" with some of the remaining ice patches. Tyler loved it.

*The other night after John and I tucked Ty in bed and gave him his hugs and kisses, we heard him yell as we are walking down the stairs, "I lothe you guys!" Tyler still can't say the "v"or "f" sound, and yes, I did melt!

Running

(This picture is from my happier running days)

The other day John told me I should post something about my running (glad I have at least one reader our there).


So here it is honey.....

DEFEATED!!!

That's how I feel about my running these days. My Cowtown half marathon goal has been demoted to the Cowtown 10k. About 4 weeks ago, I came down with an upper respiratory infection. Dear old doc told me not to run until I was done with the antibiotic and not to run outside in the cold until I stopped coughing (many of you won't believe me, but yes, it does get cold in Texas). My treadmill and I have become dear friends, but I gotta draw the line somewhere. I don't do more than an hour on that thing- the boredom will kill you! Fast forward 4 weeks and I'm still coughing like a smoker! Arrrrrg, what is up with that? To make matters worse, my knee injury from last year's half marathon is starting to flare up again.

And all the while I'm running, I think to myself, "I'd rather be on my bike."

So there you have it. That's how my running is going. Thank goodness biking season is on its way!



Oh and did I mention that when I do run outside, I push my 43lb kid in our 40lb jogging stroller? He is my most loyal running buddy (since two months old), but seriously, when is he old enough to ride his bike along side me for 5 miles? Is that too much to ask of a three year old? I'm only half way joking.

Props to my peeps

Thought I'd take a second to give a shout out to a few of my peeps!

First to my pops:
Thanks a million for the ipod Shuffle you gave me for Christmas. It's helping me burn off the calories from the many wonderful dinners you took us out to.....mmmmmm....king crab legs.....mmmmm.

To Jen:

Thanks for taking the time to chronicle some of my life's events before I bought into this whole blogging thing. Thanks for your technical expertise, and thanks for the free publicity for my blog.

To Joleen:

What a dear soul! What more can I say?!? You inspire, you uplift, and you uncover....secrets...MY SECRETS! I hope you remain forever my #1 blog-stalking fan!

And lastly, to my neighbor guy three streets over:
Thanks for no longer letting your dog poop on my lawn! Love ya!

Hmmm...

So my sweet hubby set up this blog for me in hopes that I would stop blog-stalking all my friends and instead join in on some of the fun. I love the title he chose (he knows me so well). He knew exactly what was near and dear to my heart...

My BIKES

My BOYS and

MY BELIEFS

(and not in that particular order).

I Love my bikes. A number of years ago, John and I got into biking and it's something we're quite passionate about. Granted, with the addition of a third member to our biking team, we've had to lower our expectations, but we still try to keep it alive!

I love my boys. The two men in my life are wonderful. John is a great husband and father, and Tyler is the most fun little boy I've ever met. How lucky am I?!? Look at these two cuties!

My beliefs...that's what keeps me centered. What more can I say? Plus, what good would a blog be if I couldn't get on my soapbox every now and then?

Check out this article.

Just doin' what I'm told.