I Guess I'm A Little Stiff...

Today was my nephew's birthday party at a local roller skating rink. Dave and I took the kids fully intending to sit on the sidelines or help JonJon in the little beginner's rink (which does not require skates). We get there and get the rental skates on the kids. Let me tell you they are ickier than rental bowling shoes (who really wants to stick their foot in a pre-sweaty skate?) . Eddie takes off and does pretty good. In my opinion if you are upright in a pair of skates, you are doing good. Erica takes off and hugs the wall, but she remains upright too. Hey, whatever it takes right? Dave sacrifices his toes and takes JonJon off to the beginner's rink, so I think I'm getting off easy. Well it isn't long before JonJon says he is ready for the big rink. As much as I try to talk him out of it, he wants no part of the kiddie area. This requires Dave or I putting on a pair of skates. He has a bum ankle, I have a bum thumb. Guess who wins a pair of sweaty skates. I rent the skates and try not to think about all the feet that have been in there before mine. After I'm all laced up I very carefully make my way to the rink. I tell JonJon to let me make a lap around first to get used to skating. Just an FYI I only went skating a handful of times as a kid and only once since getting married, so it has been a while. I get out on the floor and scoot my way around very slowly. I'm like the little old gray haired woman going 3o mph in freeway rush hour blocking traffic. There were tiny little three year olds skating backwards faster than I was. I finally make it around doing my little shuffle the whole time muttering things like "watch out" "show off" "whoa, whoa, whoa" but I stay upright. I gather JonJon and we make our way around the wall a few times. I also went a few more laps solo.

After the party was over (and I was back in non-rolling shoes) Dave said he was impressed with my skating. He said that "I never fell even though I looked like a mannequin on roller skates" .

Bulls Eye...

My husband was looking for something to chase away the winter blahs and came home with this little dart board. Lots of fun although I'm lucky to hit the board and not just bounce my dart off the wall. The kids are pros. They walk right up and stick the dart right on the bulls eye every time. Now why didn't I think of that?

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Here's A Bit Of Nostalgia For You...

I was about ten years old when I got my first camera. Santa brought me a Polaroid One Step and a three pack of film.

It was big, bulky, and loud but I think I went through all thirty pictures within the first hour. I took pictures of everything. Pictures of my sisters, my dogs, my toys, my parents absolutely no one and nothing was safe until that last picture was spit out the front. I still have my photo album from then and still have pictures of my little sister dressed in kooky outfits that I talked her into modeling for me (if I posted them she'd kill me). I eventually graduated to a little 110 Kodak then to a 35mm, a couple little point and shoot digital camera and most recently to a dslr Pentax k200d (my baby). But none give that same excitement of two giggling little girls standing over an undeveloped picture sitting on the table waiting for the picture to appear.

Sadly Polaroid is going to quit producing the nifty film that you had to shake to make the picture show faster. Everyone knows the faster the shake the faster it developed. Just recently though I found out about this very cool site called Poladroid. It is a free download where you can take your digital photos and turn them into Polaroid looking pictures, complete with the "polaroid noise" (you know the one) and gradual fade in. You can even shake it. Granted, it isn't the same but fun none the less.

Wordful Wednesday All Covered In Snow...

Well this is the result of 24+ hours of snowfall. We have about 8 1/2 inches of the white stuff covering everything. It's a really dry powdery snow so everything just glitters in the sunlight. And can I just say how happy I am to finally see sunlight. A couple days of clouds is just so blah.
















But, the snow gave us two snow days in a row and the kids are out there throwing snow, sledding, making huge piles and rolling around somehow able to ignore the fact it is cooooold.

JonJon is all smiley with little pink cheeks and nose.

Erica climbing Mt. Everest or at least a big pile of snow from digging out the driveway.




And the teenager, oh so happily (you can tell from the huge smile on his face) digging out the rest of the driveway.

You can see more Wordful Wednesday here.

Quick We Need French Toast...

The snow is falling rather heavily right now and has been for a couple hours. It started out with freezing rain and sleet. Now it is those big, fluffy snowflakes (Dave called them angry snowflakes) falling quite rapidly. The forecast is for up to 8 inches, all you that live up north can just go ahead and call us big babies ;-) . Tonight was supposed to be karate for Eddie and swim class for JonJon at the YMCA. After driving on slick roads to picks Eddie up from his chess tournament Dave and I decided it would be best to skip the YMCA since that would give the roads two more hours to get messy. We made a pit stop on the way home at the grocery store instead to make sure we had everything we would need for tomorrow. As we walked by the dairy case I couldn't help but laugh. The normally full egg and milk area was practically empty. Dave and I made bets with the kids if the bread aisle was ransacked. It was, but we saw people looking lost by the lack of dairy and bread. Apparently french toast is the food of choice for snowbound people. We decided to buck the system and buy stuff for spaghetti.

Wordful Wednesday In The Woods...

Like I said a couple posts ago, Sunday was our anniversary. Just the two of us went out on Friday night to dinner at Texas Roadhouse to celebrate (sorry no pictures of the yummy steak and loaded sweet potato). The weather wasn't completely frigid on Sunday so we all bundled up in coats, gloves and Auntie Jenny hats and went on a hike. We used to do this more often and trust me my body knew it had been a while. But it was fun and really nice to get outside for a little while. The kids ran way ahead of us so it was almost like just the two of us going for a walk. What did we talk about? Well, we talked about how it seemed like for years we were always having to carry one of the kids when we'd go on a hike. (talk about a workout) It's bittersweet but those days are over. Now we just have three kids telling us what slow pokes we are.

Check out the other Wordful Wednesdays over at Seven Clown Circus (no relation).

Totally Inappropriate Response To A Crisis...

I'll start this post by saying I'm a very, very good cook. I can whip up all sorts of yummy stuff that my husband loves. The kids on the other hand really only like about three things hot dogs, pizza, and chicken nuggets, but I can nuke a mean dog too. Anyway, last night I was really wanting some cabbage so I decided to make my beef and cabbage. I dug out my big 6qt pot to find that when the kids emptied the dishwasher they put it away with some crusties in it. So I hand wash it and then just set it on a hot burner to dry while I mince some onions. Dave was sitting on the other side of the counter chatting with me as I chopped. When I was done chopping I grabbed the bottle of olive oil and poured a bit into the hot pot so I could saute the onions. Suddenly, WHOOSH there is a foot and a half flame out of the pot. I jumped back a bit and squeaked then doubled over and starting laughing. Why I found this so funny I don't know. But Dave apparently found it hilarious too because he was laughing too. There is this huge flame threatening to take out the kitchen cabinets while our kids are innocently watching TV and we are laughing our butts off. Finally I decide maybe the kitchen isn't the best place for a campfire so I grab the flaming pot as Dave opens the garage door for me and grabs the fire extinguisher. The whole time we are still are still laughing like fools (intermittent by me saying "Ow! Hot! Ow!") We get the pot outside and Dave hits it with a shot from the extinguisher. With one final fireball (that singed the hair off Dave's arm) the crises was over. We were still giggling as I finished dinner using a different pot. I'm thinking it's good we never became firefighters if that is our response to a fire. Some poor victim screams "Help me! Help me! My house is on fire!" and we fall on the ground laughing. Not good.

Fourteen Years...

January 11th, 1995 I married my best friend. It was a small wedding that was squeezed in right before Wednesday night services at church. In fact, we were still taking post wedding pictures as parishioners were finding a pew. But it was wonderful. Since then we've added three lovely children, managed to get Dave through school, been broke, been not so broke, moved (a lot), been on many family vacations, laughed, cried, and just had fun. Fourteen years ago we had no idea the path that was ahead of us but we wouldn't have changed a thing. And the next fourteen years are a journey waiting to be seen without any idea what the next corner will bring, but we will see it together.

Another Point In Favor Of The Donut...

January 5th Erica got to celebrate her birthday (half birthday to be exact) at school. She requested Krispy Kreme donuts for her treat (ahhh, she is my daughter) to be delivered to her classroom at 2:30. Since the 5th happened to be the first day back from Christmas break everything I did was way behind schedule. So at 1:30 in the afternoon I rush out of the house with JonJon to drive the 20 mile one way trip mostly little back twisty roads to the nearest Krispy Kreme. I just get out of town and am at my usual cruising speed. JonJon and I are jamming to the local country station as a county police officer passes me going the opposite direction. I do what most people do in such situations, I tap my breaks. I look in the rear view mirror and see him do a u-turn in the middle of the road and turn on his flashy lights. "Perfect" I think to myself. I pull over to the side of the road and dig out my license and insurance card while he walks up to my car. All the while JonJon is asking me twenty questions from the back seat. (Mommy, why did the police man pull you over? Are you getting a ticket? Are you going to jail? I'm telling daddy.)

I roll down the window and plaster a big old silly smile on my face.

Me: Hello, officer. (you know just in the off chance he was bored and looking for some small talk)

Officer: Hi there. You in a hurry?

Me: Ummm sort of. Not really. (as I hand him my cards)

Officer: Where you heading?

Me: Honestly?

Officer: *smiles* Sure.

Me: Well... to get donuts. (now I'm worried he is thinking I'm making a wise crack or a bribe. For the record the man looked as if he might have tasted a donut or two.)

Officer: Donuts huh?

Me: Yeah. My daughter requested Krispy Kreme for her birthday party at school. (I'm feeling mighty silly by now)

Officer: *chuckles* Are they hot?

Me: They're always hot aren't they?

Officer: I'll be right back.

He takes my stuff and heads back to his car. I sit pondering how much this little trip to the donut shop is going to cost while JonJon is still adding his two cents from the back seat. After a couple minutes the officer comes back to my car and says "Since your going after donuts for your girl's birthday I'm giving you a warning but slow down."

I went on my way albeit at a slower pace and managed to buy 4 dozen donuts drive back to town and still made it to the class room by 2:36. Although I half expected to get pulled over on the way back with the officer asking for a donut.