And Now.. Why I Didn't Heart Halloween..

Cause I usually DO heart Halloween.
Everything about it: wigs, candy, pumpkin patches..
sassin' up the typical witch costume..
ALL of it.
But THIS year.. it kinda.. um.. BLEW.
I'd bother explaining, but it's sorta LAME.
No, wait.. I have to.
But since it's after midnight.. and we all know I should be in bed.. I'll keep it short, and quickly list just WHAT factors contributed to the "suckiness", if you will:
1. The cold.
2. The rain.
3. The cold and rain, together.
4. Running too many grown-up, necessary, but not at all festive, errands that day.. leading to a late start in the nights event.. therefore leading to..
5. Jesse getting to his posse late (along with misplacing his mustache adhesive.)
6. Sam not knowing what to be.. or even if he felt like going anymore.. and then deciding.. no, he did not feel like going anymore.
7. Bo not being able to find any of his friends that had all started trick-or-treating at NOON, and finding he was suddenly embarrassed to dress up at all.
8. Sophie.. demanding that no matter what her brothers were doing.. she wanted to go.. and she wanted to go NOW.
9. And ME.. scrambling in a mad panic to go.. anywhere.. just go.. cause somehow the freakin' Halloween Queen herself, had forgotten to buy CANDY-- and kids were approaching.
(Yup. I was the lady handing out stale doughnuts. Where have my priorities gone?)
10. Finally getting to a neighborhood to do the deed.. and having two boys sit pouting in the car, in the rain..
while Sophie pranced joyfully through the horribleness chanting:
"Trick-or-treat! Thank you! Happy Halloween!"
Okay.. the Sophie part made me happy.
A holiday can't be a total bust with THIS Pirate Princess around:


When I apologized to the car-full of ticked kids for the night not exactly panning out as we'd hoped..
her reply was precisely:
"It's O.K. Mom. I'm not mad. I still love you."

So.. maybe it didn't BITE it that hard after all.

We hit some townhouses later to make Sophies little tiny pirate legs get more for their efforts (the doors are so conveniently close together!)and followed her in the dry car as she fearlessly marched onward,
alone,
from door..
to door..
to door.

We ended the night digging for the last decent reject pumpkins to carve at Wal-mart..

..because, of course.. somehow we'd missed getting around to the carving, of the pumpkins.. (busy week folks.. busy week.) and made everything better with a Twizzleberry Yogurt stop on the way home.. cause after all.. who doesn't need more sugar on Halloween night?

Sophie made sure she didn't miss out on even one last melted drop.. which made us laugh out loud.
She didn't appreciate the laughter,
therefore said she was sad, and mad..
to which Bo replied:
"Wow. THAT'S a rough combo."
Which made us all laugh out loud, again.

So we had our moments.. but over all.. not going down as one of our best.

We'll aim higher next year.

Why I Heart Payday.

Because when you only have $1.49 left in the bank.. you're out of milk.. and gas..and you're pretty sure another overdue Redbox fee is pending out there somewhere-- it gets stressful.
Maybe it's time we started that crazy concept called,
"Budgeting."
To those of you who are payed, as we are, every other Friday..
and today is that day..
Happy-Happy Payday, to you.

Well THAT Was Fun..

So the fam and I just went up to Park City for my
PINK Half Marathon..
Fun plan? Check.
Good family bonding time? Check.
Tight quarters riding up?? Check.
Here's a sample of what a family of six looks like in a car for barely, 5..
cause their minivan for 7..
"don't run good".
COZY.
Needless to say.. we were short a seat belt or two..
but obviously getting to my race trumped child safety.
(Don't tell the authorities.)
Sophie kept busy doing this..
and was quite content most of the two hour drive.. til' she did this..
upon being told we would be stopping by the outlets before getting to the hotel hot tub.
After a delightful stop at the Nike store..
the girl did get her hot tub time in..
(Have I mentioned the pleasure I find in orange and pink stripes.. on her belly??)
Happy kids, are so much cuter than angry ones.. NO?

Moving on..
The hotel was quite shmancy..
I appreciate a little shmancy now and then.
I mean.. fire on rocks?
What's not groovy about that??
Right under our place was a cool little gathering place..
(that if you're observant, and hungry.. you will notice housed the oh-so-tasty Kneaders.) We enjoyed eating it, out on the patio, in the perfect temperature, in our gorgeous surroundings, multiple times.
When it got too late to eat anymore there..
we got some to go.
Indulging, is fun.
So are complimentary robes.
The next day was the big race!
I got me some pink on.. ate my usual banana.. and got ready to RUN!I then continued to run for exactly 1 hour, and 36 minutes (and maybe 9 seconds?? Don't recall. Should I know that??) and rounded the last bend to see my little family-o-peeps cheering me on!That would be me reaching out to love on them.
They make me happy.
Maybe I coulda shaved that last nine seconds off if I hadn't stopped for thier sweet little high fives.. but it was totally worth it.It's nice to be greeted by tiny legs in striped leggings.
(Oh. And pink Converse with ruffle socks.)
My Fan Club Pres. was very supportive..
and I never could have handled having all the kids there to be apart of it without him.
We sat in the mountain sunshine waiting to receive my "1st in age group 35-39" award!

(Are we surprised Sophie wanted in on the spotlight??)I ended up 6th overall out of the 400 runners.. and left feeling KINDA thrilled about the whole thing.

Just Some Stuff..

Sophie, smelling a perfume sample at Kohls:
"Oh my gosh.. this smells like a dream."

Bo, while looking at a collage of baby pictures of himself, sings to himself with a silly grin..
"Oh Bo, what a cute baby.. you're just so much cuter than your big brothers.."

Sam, who has suddenly become interested in 'watching his weight', when taking a piece of bread from the sacrament tray at church, turned and whispered..
"How many calories in that?"

Jesse, trying to explain why he just didn't click with some kids, asks..
"Ya know the kind of kids that try to use logic, to be funny?? Or like, scientific observations? It's just not that funny."

In other news:

We're missing a chicken. Hmmm.
Anyone seen Princess Girl? She's the white one.
Guess we should of put a collar on her.
Last night Sophie saw a chicken in Africa on the Amazing Race,
and asked if that might be ours.
I doubt it.

We finally got our butts in the back yard and picked up the 200 peaches that had fallen off our very heavy laden peach tree branches.
I made cobbler, and ate half the pan, in under an hour.

I ran in the rain on my favorite trail today.
It felt so good..even if I had 15 gnats on my shirt and 2 in my EYEBALLS afterward.
EW.
I'm running a half marathon in Park City this weekend.
Wonder if there's a gnat problem up there.

My KIA broke down on me again.. and then started again.
Ya just never know if you're gonna make it where you're going or not.
I like livin' on the edge.

That's all for now.

Just A Swangin'.. (And A "Swor-in"..)

Sophie loves to swing.
LOVES it.
She will run to the yellow swing that Grandma bought,
that hangs from our huge front tree.. 10 times a day.
Just to swing.
It's just, so, fun.
She used to need pushing..
but has now mastered the art of pumping..
so is free to swing whenever she darn well feels the urge--
but still prefers, as young princesses will, to be pushed.
Delights, in being pushed.
DEE-lights I tell ya.
Jasen has started to take her on little later night sneaks over to the school playground for a good night swing on the big school swings.
It's dark.. and they go even higher.
She laughs like it's the most fun she could ever know..
and never, ever, tires of it.
She comes in giddy.
Elated.
Her cheeks cold and flushed from the night air.
I love how simple the pleasure of it is to her.

I also love.. that while takin' a little poop yesterday,
(Sophie still. I know-- you were thinking it was ME.)
she stuck up her middle finger and said,
"Is this a swore? My friend said this was a swore."
I laughed out loud.. and then replied..
"Yeah. Kind of. That's a way people swear using their hands."
"Oh." She answered. "Why do people do swears?"
"Well.." I continued..
"I guess some people think it's cool. Don't you think that's kind of dumb?"
"Mom." she says, in this kind of tender, but reprehending sort of tone..
"Everybody makes mistakes."

Grow Up Already...

So just when I think I MIGHT be becoming more like those "grown-ups" I've heard talk of..
(ya know the ones: they watch the news and prepare budgets.. they keep receipts and take vitamins.. and I'm pretty sure they know how many countries there are in the world.)
So although I do not do any of the above mentioned items..
I do show glimpses of a grown-up here and there.
I mean, after all:
I recycle.
I keep my kids clean.. pretty clean.. and fed.
I can do basic math. Very, basic, math.
And there's a BUNCH of wrinkles on my face.

So as I was saying.. I think I'm legit in a few facets..
if only a very, rare, few.
But the other day-- in the bathroom of a frozen yogurt place called "Spoon Me"--
I seriously started doubting my maturity in general.
In those ever-so-popular vinyl letters, they had decorated the walls with phrases like:

"You.. Me... Spoon?"

or

"Feel like spooning?"

I know. Cute. A play on words with the places name.
But what turned it from cute..
to freakin' hilarious, for me, personally..
was the way in which other customers..
much likely a bit younger than myself,
had cleverly peeled all the S's and N's off every "spoon".. turning it into.. um.. "poo."
Therefore.. the phrases had become..

"You... Me... poo?"

or

"Feel like poo ing?"

Or my very favorite..

"Shhh. Just poo."

I laughed out loud.
Like a 5th grader.
For a good while.

I mean what's not funny about THAT?
(Don't answer if you're in a real grown-up kinda mood.)

Losing the "Cool" In "Cool Mom"

Soooo... Sophie started a new dance class on Thursday.
Of course she was excited.
Of Course.
Of course she wore her best multi-colored tu-tu and matching bow.
Of course.
Of course on the ride there,
I started singing some made-up ditty that went a little something like this,

"Very first day of dance class!
Very first day ofdance class!"

Of course.

To which my 4-year-old..
who in the past has always seemed to find me quite enjoyable and witty..
replied:

"Could you please not do that.
It makes me feel embarrassed."

Of course.