The Crafts

Many years ago when I was young and full of energy I was a pool rat. Not only did I swim competitively through college I also lived at the pool for play. I love swimming. Back in the day when I would swim from 1:00 to 5:00 each summer afternoon and again from 7:00 to 9:00 each summer evening, I remember seeing these disgusting, leather skinned mamas. There were a dozen or so of these deep tanned ladies. They would all line themselves up in a row, each relaxing in a deck chair gabbing, gossiping and sometimes peeking from behind sunglasses to make sure their kids were still present. Well, now that I am a mom and I too take my kids to the pool I have decided that I totally want to be one of those moms!! I don't really want the leathery skin but I think I am going to love being a pool rat mama. I love swimming with the girls. I love basking in the warm sun with the girls. I love jumping off the diving board. I love it all. By the way, when googling "leathery tan" here are...

As I type this Matt and I are crashed on the couch attempting a full fledge long weekend recovery.  Wouldn't it be fantastic if every weekend was a three day weekend?  I sure wouldn't mind it. Our weekend was full with... *golf tournaments*     * grill out with my parents and sister *     *bike ride*      *visit multiple parks*     * shopping for groceries and summer clothes *     *realize my swimsuit is see through* * first summer trip to the pool *     * cleaned out the litterbox *     *watched "black swan"* *watched "the fighter"*     *went to church*     *took a bubble bath*     *made homemade jambalaya*      *read a book in peace*     * lay mulch in flower beds *     *made molasses cookies* *ate a sandwich called the big pig*     *v acuumed *     * grill out with matt's parents *      *cleane...

The sun is shining. My coffee is brewing. The girls are still in bed. My husband just left for work looking mighty cute. We have a fabulous weekend ahead of us. My parents are coming to town today. I get to run during the day...by myself...in the sunshine. School is out. The local pool opens tomorrow. These pics are a month old so everything you see here is now green and lush. I gotta go grab that coffee...and some half and half. It's going to be a good day!

Whether you like her or not, Oprah had some very inspirational words to share yesterday. Well, the words I heard between screams sounded inspirational. I made the royal mistake of attempting to watch something on television with both girls awake and present. Either they disliked my attention to something other than them or they just wanted to act like little stinkers. In the end, any inspiration I absorbed from Oprah's last goodbye quickly poured from my head, pooled on the carpet and was splashed in by the girls.  This weekend Matt and I are playing in a golf tournament...without the girls. Sunday cannot come fast enough. Even now my girls are chanting mom, mom, mom as they eat their lunch. I ate my lunch leaning against the kitchen counter in the room next to them. You know when you try really hard to do something amazingly fun for your children only for the entire event to end in disappointment. Those moments really get me down. Like eating alone in the kitchen down. Or l...

Last night was the Iowa State Cyclone Carnival. It's an annual tradition for our family. Most years the event includes bouncy tents, the chance to play catch with ISU football players, shoot baskets with various basketball players and other fun things. This year the event was celebrated with thunder, lightning, hail and driving rain. Not quite as much fun. Despite our slight disappointment, Kate got her picture taken with a couple of 'Cyclone celebrities.' Including none other than heart throb and head men's basketball coach, Fred Hoiberg. I'm not saying I think he is a heart through, I'm saying lots of women (and some men) I know think he is a dreamboat.   This is an assistant coach for the ISU women's basketball team. Kate told her she is in 1st grade. Umm, no sweetie. You are only 4. Who knows where that came from? And there you have it. Those are all the pictures we took. Darn rain. Boo to you. CJ and I only made a short appearance. Poor, sad CJ cam...

According to rumor it takes a person 21 days to create a habit. My sister, Lindsay, wants to run The Bix with my dad and me this July. My sister, Lindsay, is not a runner. (Although she has run a couple of races with me but I think the last time she ran was in February and before that...June 2010!) So our conversation on the topic went like this... So, I guess I am running the next 21 days in a row. Make that 18 actually since the running pact was made 4 days ago and we've now completed 3 days of training. I've created a little running log on the right hand side of my blog. This is actually kind of fun...although we are only 3 days in. Well, Lindsay. Now that I've put this out there for the 'whole world' to see you are really, really being held accountable!  Happy running, sis!!

While the husband is away, the girls will play...kinda, sorta.. Matt was away for a few days so I decided to road trip it to Lawton, IA for a visit with my grandparents. And I sweet talked the lovely Lindsay to come along. We're sisters. Can ya tell? After four hours in the car and a one hour playground stop in scenic Sac City, we landed at the farm. I have lots of fond memories of my grandparents house. My brother and I used to run up and down this hill countless times. We'd sometimes barrel roll down it or sit on the propane tank pretend to camp. Ryan and I would park ourselves under my Grandma's mulberry tree filling our bellies and dotting our shirts with mulberry juice. This city kid loved eating fruit straight from the tree. It felt rebellious. The mulberry tree came down years ago but there are still plenty of apple trees to climb. I took A LOT of pics of Lindsay and the girls climbing trees. These were a couple of my favorites of Lindsay. The first looks like...

Miss Claudia wants to pass along a very important message. Don't do this (pictured below) and attempt to walk, run, skip or jump at the same time. She learned her lesson the face first way.

Whew... I've really been thinking lately. I recently snagged a copy of Simplicity Parenting  thanks to  Misty  and it has been an eye opener. My interest in this book began several weeks ago at the mom's group I attend. Our group leader provided a thorough summary of the book's contents and after much discussion I knew I had to get my hands on it. The book explains how many parents are throwing their children into adulthood long before kids are ready. Often times it's not even a conscious decision we are making. Kids are exposed to too much, too fast, too soon in life. Parents are busy with work, and chores, and 87 news stations telling us the world is about to end and our kids soak all of that in.  They hear our stresses and breathe them in like oxygen. Our stress becomes their stress. Kids have closets and rooms and tubs and bins overflowing with toys. They have soccer practice and piano lessons and homework and no regular bedtime or meal schedule. Kid...

I hear a lot of people complain on Facebook about status updates involving what people ate for dinner. I agree with the complainers, most of the time, unless it is something super awesome that I would want the recipe for. So, because I am probably one of those annoying this-is-what-I-ate-for-dinner people, I thought I'd do a whole blog post about what I ate for supper. And then you can complain about me on Facebook. For dinner the other night I had heart shaped pasta... Yes, I actually sat the bag of pasta on my windowsill to take a picture. I thought it might look like a more interesting background than my kitchen counter. But instead it looks like...well, like maybe I don't have cabinets or something. Moving on... So, you know that old saying, "a watched pot never boils?" Well it does...eventually. I stood there watching and staring, staring and watching partially out of boredom and partially out of excitement for heart shaped pasta. And because I felt the water...