James and his fishing pole

This is James and his beloved fishing pole. You may remember the history of this particular toy- it actually belonged to the little boy loving next door. The kiddos next door moved and left the shell of this toy so my little scrounger picked it out of their trash. True story. And I, as a wonderful mother, let him both DO that and KEEP it. For the record, I did clean it.

In this picture, it looks like the scope of a rifle. Who knew fishing poles could be so multi-purpose? He's also used it as a pointer, sword, plush stuffed-animal to snuggle with at night- the list goes on.
I LOVE this picture. we attached a shoe string to act as a fishing line and he wanted to " Sit on the moon and fish" just like the DreamWorks boy.
Of course, nothing happens in this house without Oliver being somehow involved.
And now James has decided that he wants to go fishing for real. With his toy pole of course. Not sure how that will work out yet.

The Triathlon

Since I KNOW you all want to hear a play-by-play about me and the triathlon, here it is.

Saturday morning I was awakened at 12:30am by a little boy who needed to go potty. This is good. I'm glad that he can identify when he needs to go and that even in the middle of the night, he can clearly state "mommy, I need to go potty". But I really just wanted to sleep. So I got Drue to handle the potty. I got up again at 5:10am with a crying baby who just wanted to be held. But I just wanted to sleep. So I brought him into bed with me, and I laid awake for the next 45 minutes thinking about all the stuff I needed to do before I left. The alarm went off, I got up with the kiddos and thank heaven for Sesame Street!

Cut to the pre-race meeting. It was not in the instructions that we needed to place our bikes BEFORE the meeting. That means I missed the meeting because I was 3 miles up the road finding where to put my bike. By the time I made it back, the meeting was over and I had to ask a fellow Cooper YMCA-er what they said in the meeting. Essentially, nothing.

The race.

I was in the 7th group to go. Swimming is first and I skunked them all. Seriously. Swimming is my strong point though, and everyone has them so I don't feel like I'm bragging. I laped all the other swimmers at least twice. That was fun:)

After the swim was The Run. Swim-Run is not the normal series of events for a triathlon, it is usually Swim-Bike, but I was okay with the run being in the middle. It's my most difficult event so it was nice to get it over and done with just a little ahead of the ladies in my heat even though 3 of them passed me at mile 2-ish. The thing that slowed me down during the run wasn't my inability to run fast. I wasn't really all that tired. It was the two little boys, obviously brothers, who seemed to have gotten VERY behind and separated from their age-group pack. So, I ran with the little guys. They were great and such troopers. Their dad seemed relieved when I ran with them to him at about mile 1.5- but they were really cute kids. The rest of the run, all I did was get passed and not by people from my heat either! I was passed by at least 3 people from the heat after me.

But that's okay because I passed them in the bike.

The Bike.

I was actually looking forward to this because I knew I had a chance to make up lost time from The Run. And I did.

The course was a mile loop repeated 10 times. Half a mile down hill, half a mile up. The half uphill was of course hard. But it was crazy hard for me.

Why?

Weeeeel, my bike decided I didn't really need any gear controls anymore after the first 1/2 mile. SO what that means is I did 10 miles in 1 gear- the downhill race gear. I was essentially WALKING up the hill on my bike for 10 laps! I tried making up for lost time during the turns and downhill slope but it was so exhausting to climb that monster hill again!!!

I had a great music mix going for the run and the bike and on the last lap the song changed to Muse- This is The End. Seriously. It was great music to end to.

After I pulled into the finish area, I couldn't believe I had done it. I had no idea what my time was but I knew I was proud of myself. I was also not prepared for how emotional I got. This was a huge thing for me- I've never felt such a surge of gratitude to my body that it was able to go the distance and race so hard. I can honestly say I have no regrets about this race. I did everything I wanted to do and worked my tail off the get there.

And, of course, it paid off.

In my division, I placed second and in the Women's over-all I placed 2nd with a time of 1hr. 35 minutes and change.

Which means I came home with a medal. That was amazing.

things I need to blog about

Here's a list of all the things waiting to be blogged about:

My new computer

The boys

James on his bike

James in a tree

James ans his fishing pole

boys in the tub

Oilver vs. broccoli

Oliver and books

and just around the corner

Drue's DMA recital #1 starring yours truly (and a violin and a cello, but who cares about them?)

So there.

But I have a few really great reasons to NOT be blogging right now:

I am doing a sprint triathlon tomorrow

Amy's getting married in 2 weeks

I've made 2 pairs of shoes with ModPodge

Wedding gifts

Messenger bag for James

practicing like a crazy-head for this recital. Have I mentioned that this piece is REALLY hard?!

and that's just half of my total list.

Things are busy. I am busy.

But if you'd like to leave a message I'll get back to you as soon as possible

*beeeeep*

Funny as heck

Sorry, no photo for this one either.

But I promise to elaborate enough so you get the picture.

Thursday was the Music Department Picnic and Drue invited the boys and I up to campus to partake of the free food. Free anything is a great reason to go anywhere in my book. As a matter of fact, I'm going to CA in 4 weeks to see a free wedding:) But that's another story.

So, we go to campus. James is running around and showing everyone his fishing pole.

(side note on the fishing pole. Our neighbors moved recently and James was very good friends with the kiddos. These particular children had more toys than I've ever seen in one place- and of course, they left some behind in the move. This fishing pole is the remains of a Spiderman fishing pole that used to light up, used to have a line and sinker and decoy fish attached, used to have a spinning.... well, whatever that spinning thing is inside the handle of a fishing pole. Essentially, he rescued from their trash pile a shell of a one-time fishing pole. And he loves this thing. So OBVIOUSLY it had to come with us to the picnic. Nothing like fishing at a picnic.)

People are laughing at how cute James is and cooing at Oliver who is toodling around- such an angel. But the wasps are getting really excited about all the free food for them so we decide to move our family indoors.

This plan is working beautifully: the kids are contained, food is consumed, things are good.

UNTIL

James. He is 4 and has very little understanding about what is appropriate to say aloud and what we need to keep to ourselves.

Enter rather rotund man. Walking down the hall towards us.

James notices him.

and in a stage whisper says:

Wow. You're REALLY big. That's Amazing!

It is fortunate for us that at the same time, this same man is commenting to James on how neat his fishing pole is so we cannot be sure whether or not he heard our little boy's observation.

But how do you explain to a 4 year old (who just barely is beginning to communicate his feelings, wants, and discoveries to us) what is appropriate to say to strangers and what might not be as acceptable???

We laughed hard after that poor man was securely out of sight. But what do you do?!

Return to normalcy

I don't really have a picture for normal. Do you?

We are really excited around here for the return of our routine for 9 months of the year. A full 2/3 of the year is spent in much the same way. And boy am I glad.

I've heard it said that there are 3 good reasons to be a teacher- June July and August. (thanks Taylor)

I disagree.

To me and mine, June, July and August mean a departure from the routine, un-structured time, too many people in the house at one time. I cannot keep my house CLEAN with all 3 boys home. 2? yes. 3? no. Not a chance.

It's not that I'm ungrateful for the extra time spent with family. I have to say, it's been GREAT having Drue home for the summer in the morning- he makes a great "manny" for when I need to do Yoga AND it's Oliver's nap time. Soooooo nice. I go do yoga and D stays home while O sleeps. It's a win-win-win.

HOWEVER

being a teacher means there is NO income for 2 months. Well, that's not really true. I teach piano, so there is some income. But the lion's share takes a vacation.

Here's what I love about the end of august/ september:

School starts

income returns

I have the house to myself and Oliver for 4 hours a day!!!!! (It might actually STAY clean, or at least picked up)

There are more, but I can't list them all....

And all the fun things happening this fall deserve a mention:

Picking apples at the Martin's Hillside Orchard

Drue's recital (I'm playing in the trio)

My triathlon

Amy's wedding and week-long trip to CA

The ward campout

Roadshow

Halloween

And that is just September and October!

I love the school year.

More specifically I love school. I love everything about school- new subjects, new teachers, new friends, new supplies (this is my particular downfall. I purchased school supplies this year even though my pre-schooler needs none of it), new clothes; A new lease on life, a new beginning.

So, yes. I'm a bit envious of my 4 year old who gets to go to school.

But I will not trade my 4 hours of peace for anything.

Super-Hero Party!

It is James' birthday and he is 4 years old! I CANNOT BELIEVE how fast time has gone. I know that's an incredibly cliche thing to say but it is true with a capital T!

But a 4th birthday is no ordinary thing! It actually needed to have a theme. And since James is VERY into "Super-hero" stuff (and none of his super hero's have a name. They are all color super hero's: red super-hero not Ironman, blue super-hero not Power Ranger. The list goes through green and black and other colors too.) I decided to throw a super-hero party! This was so much fun!

Since it was a party for a 4 year old, I needed a treat edible with hands and nothing else.

Behold the cupcakes.

But then, I also needed an actual cake to set candles in and make wishes over.

Behold the SUPERMAN CAKE!
I am particularly proud of the superman cake. The S sign is done in 2 layers of fondant that I made, and cut myself.

James thought it was beyond awesome. It was BE-awesome!

I finally got a picture of him sans the birthday revelers.
I said, "Show me your present James!" This is what I got.
This is "Superhero James" presiding over the festivities, with his watergun. Note the cape. I made that for him for his birthday! I'll try to get pictures of it on him posted tomorrow. But he just loves it! Actually, he asked tonight if he could sleep with it.
Thank you to our friends who came to make James' day SUPER SPECIAL. We SUPER APPRECIATE having great friends like you. Have a SUPER NIGHT.

Mary the contrary.

This is a story about a little girl. A little girl who didn't like to garden. A little girl who didn't like to garden but had a mom who could garden a quarter into a money tree. A little girl who had a black thumb, and her mom raised worms.

The little girl (who DID have a little curl, incidentally) is me. Of course. And it's true. My mom is the most fantastic gardener ever. She could give Eve herself a run for her money.

I think my parents worked us so hard in the garden in the hope that one day, we too would come to love tending things in the earth and helping them grow up into wonderful DELICIOUS foods- and beautiful things too!

That plan has failed so far, until this year. Well, at least for me. I can't speak for my sister.

I live in Nebraska. Nebraska is a greenhouse. The soil is FANTASTIC. It would be plain STUPID of me to not try my hand at gardening. (well, that, and I am now a big supporter of the "slow-food" movement a la Alice Waters/ Michael Pollan- LOVE them!)

So, I got a few of my girlfriends together (and I have the BEST girlfriends!) and we created a gardening seed-share. Here's the premise: When you buy a pack of seeds, they come in HUGE quantities- 25 peas, 150 carrots, 40 tomatoes, a billion oregano- you know what I'm talking about. Who in their right mind will even attempt to start every single seed they purchase?! Answer: no one. BUT if you could get a few ladies together to SHARE the seeds, everyone could have a VERY diverse garden at very little expense to herself, simply by sharing the extra seeds!

So, we did.

And.... (drum roll) here's the result!

These are shallots. I'm in LOVE with Shallots.

My corn.
My beans and one pea plant (pre beetle invasion. a moment of silence for my dead plants please:(.)
My MAMMOTH tomatoes. That plant is over 4 ' tall and 4' wide. Just one plant. It's a gigantor.
Aaaaand the rescued tomato plant. A runt. But a nice runt. Surrounded by his friends, the carrots. Some carrots are red, or purple, or yellow, or plain ol' orange. But I'll tell you this- at least they GREW!

I saw a garden sign at the local farmer's market. It said: Grow Dammit. That pretty much sums up my gardening knowledge before. Now my garden sign will say: Grow Dammit.

At least I know that ANYTHING grows here. It's like in Field of Dreams: If you plant it, it will grow.

Nice to know I don't kill things here!