Bring it On...

Crazy Week is officially OV-AH!!!

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any more hectic…Saturday, after the wedding (see some of my fav shots below) we headed over to the neighbor’s house for a cookout/slip down the water slide with too many going at one time so that you tumble and start crying/get soaked in the left out in the sun for too many days, bug and grass infested wading pool/run around in the yard until you’re a sweaty mess/fire off way old firecrackers while plugging your ears near tears cuz the noise is just “too much”/go to bed way past your bedtime without taking a shower or bath because mom and dad are just too doggone tired to deal> relaxing evening.

But, that’s all done…fun was to be had…but it’s over now (lay a whisper, on my pillow, leave the winter on the ground…it musta been “Love” (read FUN), but it’s over now)… With all the MJ news lately, it’s got everyone remembering their 80’s childhood…It’s funny how things stick in your head…but, I digress…

So, we’re done with crazy week and ready to acclimate to some normalcy again! Of course, my house is quite the disaster…again, it’s amazing to me how 3 small children are able to wreak havoc in such a small amount of time. Who am I kidding, most of the mess comes from my “brilliant” ideas to store our new and freshly dug up produce, and shaving the dog (not at the same time mind you) But, I DID make a large mess, much to my husband’s chagrin…

And, well, that means my day is cut out for me from the start…it will begin in the laundry room and probably end there too…with bleaching, scouring, vacuuming, and other warm, household chores in the middle…but, compared to having to pack lunches, jump in the car, while making sure everyone has their shoes and has gone potty at least twice before we head out for a day of cousin fun…yeah, bring on the house baby!!! I’m there!!
Here are just a few pics from the wedding that I shot on Saturday and a few garden pictures…cuz you know, they go SOOOO well together!

I love her expression in this photo...

And now...for the garden pictures: We picked our potatoes...My Italian Stallion "swears" there were over 200 potatoes...I'm not sure that's "quite" accurate, but since he does most of the weeding, hauling of the dirt, washing of the produce...I'm just gonna humor him and let him think that we are our very own little potato factory!

In Which I Prop up my Feet and Sip on Pop

I wish I had something terribly exciting to write about…something beyond all terrificness that would just force your eyes to bug out of your head leaving your mouth salivating over the next word that would appear on the screen…

But it seems that between the news surrounding Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and now Michael Jackson…well…I’m just not up to par…

Couple that with the sweltering heat and my late night frantic searches for my external flash (I will get to this later) I believe that my mental capabilities may have melted away…

It’s been a week…

That’s putting it lightly.

Don’t get me wrong, I adore spending time with people…friends, family, kiddos, dogs, cats, rats…okay, maybe not the rats, but they play some mean basketball, let me tell you!!!

Beginning LAST Saturday, we have spent every single day with someone outside our immediate family…and not just someone, the entire T crew of cousins…

The wedding, a birthday bash, swimming, the Zoo, COSI, Park class…it’s just mayhem waiting to happen. Putting all those kiddos together in one place is wayyy fun for them and for the moms/aunts/nanas a majority of the time…it’s the necessity of having eyes in the back of your head that is overwhelming…

Just trying to keep track of everyone has been a major feat …that alongside the usual “dealings” you have with children aged 8 weeks to 10 years old…I can’t tell you how many “hurt feelings” aka “she took my seat, I was gonna sit there” OR how many “where is Munchkin? I just had her here a minute ago?” OR how many “NO, we don’t have anymore snacks, you’ve already eaten the entire bag of pretzels and popcorn my dears!” that we have heard this week!

And yet, when it is all said and done, as the girls and I are sitting at home quietly, peacefully and totally exhausted…we are quite content…it’s been good to be with everyone, to love on one another and enjoy…we just may not be “seeing anyone else” for a few days!

And one LAST note, before you get entirely too bored with this plethora of useless information…I FOUND MY FLASH!!! What? Did you loose it or something?

Yeah, I haven’t written about that because…well, to be completely honest, I had a deep pit in my stomach and the thought of writing it out on the screen was probably going to make me throw up…I was THAT sick about it! I lost it sometime between May 2nd and the present…I’ve torn my house APART…let me rephrase…I have basically ripped, thrown, pulled, slammed, whipped everything from it’s place in my home sweet home in search of that thing (which costs about $250 mind you!) I wrote lists of every place I could have been and where I took my camera bag…I called the zoo even…I was desperate!

Low and behold, it was at Peanut’s gymnastics class…I’m thinking that Little Munchkin snuck it out of my camera bag as I was snappin’ shot and I never knew it until I went to use it again for the wedding LAST weekend! I called the gym as my last ditch effort. We were last there on June 1st! almost a MONTH ago!

The tears started flowing and they cheerfully said, “Oh yeah, is that what this thing is? Yep we have it”…just like that…we’ve got it here…You better believe I ziplined it over there and held that precious piece of equipment in my hand!

And so…that’s my week’s story…I’m done…kaput! My emotions have run the gamut…I think I’ll just go sip on my fountain drink and soak in the quiet as I lovingly gaze at my long lost flash!!!
Have a great weekend!

The Five Senses of Summer

It's PEA PICKIN' time

Just thought I'd share a little piece of heaven from our house to yours!

Ahhhh...the joy of summer!!!

Amidst the sweltering (remember my daughter's word?) heat, the perspiration dripping down your face, the "aroma" wafting from bodies after running around in the yard, the arguments peaceful discussions over the thermostat, the bees, snakes, and flies...there is a glimmer of the reason I love summer even still...

My garden is beginning to produce...yes, we've had the lettuce, but now it's gettin' close...I can just taste it!!!

They aren't posing or anything right? nope, not my girls!!!

Enjoy, Mamarazzi

We Went to the Zoo Today

Yes… I took my darling children to the zoo.

Was is a mental lapse in judgment?
Too much chocolate & pop over the past few days?
Perhaps it was the frantic late nights searches for my STILL LOST external flash for my camera (that is a whole ‘nother post and I am just not able to bring myself to talk about it yet)?

What was it that purposed in my head that it was perfectly fine to drag 3 young children out in 145 degree weather to walk around in the blistering sun in order to…
See animals? Nope, not much out
Listen to a show? Nope, not open yet

How about EAT? Yeah, that sounds reasonable…let’s drive 30 mintues, unload the entire car, all 3 ride in the stroller for mom to push and then once we get there, let’s just sit and eat every snack known to man…

We ate…we went to the zoo…and ATE! It was as if I had starved them for days and it wasn’t until we reached the zoo that they realized that they had to get nourishment…they needed to eat everything in sight.

We did make ONE stop to see animals…we saw fish…and boy oh boy…

It was a sight to see…all those hot sticky bodies cramming into the aquarium because the HEAT was too much for them outside…mmmmmmm, the aroma of that place was just “something”, let me tell you!

Me craning my neck to keep my eyes on my lovies as they slid their sweaty bodies along the thick glass…

Munchkin screaming at everything that went by and then going into a terrific fit due to the fact that she was 2 hours past her naptime…

Peanut distressed over the crowd of people and the fact that “someone just knocked into my knee Momma…” Let me tell you…the world was about to come to crashing end by the tone of her voice..

And my Sweetpea found a luscious word to verbalize during the entire trip… “Mom, we are sweltering out here…absolutely sweltering!!!”

Yeah, I know…it was your ridiculous mother who came up with the bright idea dear!
We’re done with the zoo for a bit…and I need a frappuccino!

A Health Lesson

After consuming the following over the past few days:

Chocolate chip cookies
Chocolate dipped cookies,
Wedding cake
pop
Ice cream
Birthday cake
pop
Sugar cookies
Baklava
Pop
Starbucks iced mocha
Scoops of icing left over from birthday cake

Take a deep breath and……I continue…

Did I mention pop?
More cookies
Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies
Mickey Ds double cheeseburger
More pop

Yeah…so I figured since I hadn’t exercised in over a week (due to a “ewyuck” feeling in my throat…it could have been the oncoming of a serious cold and therefore, much sulking, whining, complaining, and obviously eating lots of junk food is NECESSARY)

Where was I ?
Yes, so I decided that I ought to march myself down to the dungeon and start up on the treadmill…it was slow going…of course that might have been due to the fact that I just couldn’t settle on a show to watch in the wee hours of the morning (again, WEE hours interprets to about 7:30am for me…remember, I’m the one that doesn’t function well before 8:00…okay, maybe it’s more like 10)

Once I hunkered down with Matt Lauer and the gang, I began my “trot”…only be shocked to find out that in breaking news, Ed McMahon has passed away…(I won’t mention that I thought he died awhile ago…and is Johnny Carson still here?) Big Mama even had a moment of silence in remembrance of the man on her blog today…

(insert silence)

So, I continued to run to the muted television singing Little Munchkin’s newest song, topping the charts: “Popi Popi…da da das…na na side…bee bee bee bee bee bee OH”
It’s really catchy…seriously!! I’m not biased or anything!!!

This really is a pointless blog post because really, I only exercised for whoppin’ 30 minutes…after which I consumed the largest fountain drink known to man and scarfed down another chocolate chip peanut butter cookie…I’m thinking that the exercise didn’t necessarily cancel out the sweets…but oh well…

I got the reminder though later in the car when Sweetpea asked me,
“Mommy, is it good to be skinny Minnie?” (not sure where she got that one)

(listen to my ever “intelligent replies”) Sweetheart, God gave us these bodies to live in and take care of…He doesn’t care what we look like, like the kinds of clothes we wear or how we do our hair, but He wants us to be healthy. He wants us to eat those foods that help our body to be strong and work properly and to exercise…so if you are over weight, your heart has to work harder because there is too much fat on your body…”

“Mom, what if you’re too skinny?”

“Well…(here’s the college grad mommy answer) your heart has to work even harder if you’re too skinny because there’s not enough padding to protect your bones!”
(Hey, it worked…they got the point)

Conclusion from Sweetpea: “So, *Peanut, *Munchkin and I all have perfect bodies cuz we’re not too big or too skinny…and you’re perfect too right mom…except, do you really eat a lot of HEALTHY FOOD???”

Sooo…I will be getting on the treadmill tomorrow morning as well, probably with Matt & Meredith or Diane or maybe an infomercial…
And thank goodness my children don’t know what the Cheesecake Factory is, because that’s where I’m headed tonight for a girl’s night out!!!

Happy Birthday Munchkin

I was for sure I was having a BOY...you know, that maternal instinct...I had secretly been referring to the "child in the womb" as my little Will...I just "had a feeling"...Yeah, well, I had that "feeling" with all my babies and I was wrong every single time!!! And I'm so glad that I was!

Little Munchkin celebrates 2 years of gracing this world with her presence! Here are some things that I love about her!

*she loves to jabber and "talk" all the time...non stop...dis?, dada, ah done, Momma..MOMMY!!!
*she loves POP (girl after my own heart)
*she gives the best little girl hugs
*she loves to make people laugh and smile
*her giggle
*how she likes to eat with a fork or spoon...from very early on
*how she imitates her sisters in everything they do
*her joy at discovering new things
*how she likes to cuddle with Mommy & Daddy in the morning before anyone else is up
*how she likes to brush her teeth for at least a 1/2 hour each day
*her kisses

Happy Birthday my little love! I am amazed how all 3 of you are so different and each of you add a special joy to our family!!! Can't wait to celebrate!