A duck says...

CRAP. CRAP. CRAP.

Really? According to Brody it does. (and a pig says moo....wow, we're going to have to review the animal sounds aren't we?)

Markers=the devil

Dearest relatives and nice friendly people.

Please please do not buy non washable markers for our kids. I appreciate all gifts of any way shape and form, but I cannot accept these awful things known as non washable markers anymore. Pink stripes do not look good (nor come off) of my couch, wall and table. I loath you pink marker. You sent me over the edge today.

P.S Mr. Clean you are not magic at all.

Training

It's official. My name, birth date and stats have been officially entered into the Des Moines marathon runner identification.

Marathon. Ha! I laughed too. Let me re-phrase. Marathon relay. There is no way (and no desire what so ever) to run an entire 26.2 miles on my own without possible death. However, I am now starting training to be on a team of five people. Four run five miles and one runs the last 6.2. I am running five. My wonderful husband has also been entered....he's on the boys team. I am on the girls team...and we are going to beat the boys team :) My team is made up of some awesome ladies. Combined total of 10 children birthed between us. Some runners, some aren't, but all are going to kick some hiney.

No turning back now! I'm actually pretty stoked about it. It's good motivation for me to keep up with my training thus far. I know I can do it, five miles isn't that much, but you must remember that I competed as a sprinter in college. That is...I ran nothing over 200 meters. I will need help pacing myself so that I don't die because I tend to take off waaaaay to fast and then end up dying later. That's the sprinter in me. Since I've already been running, it hasn't been that hard but I will need new shoes (ahem, dearest husband who might happen to read this...did you catch that? I might..okay, I need new shoes, mine are way past due on mileage)

Wish me luck!

Goose poop and centipedes

Baylor....astonished at the sight of 1 million geese taking over the beach. Okay, so maybe one million is a bit of an exaggeration, but there were a lot. With geese comes large amounts of nasty green piles of poop. Yes, poop.

Baylor trying to dodge and weave his way between piles of nasty poop. Notice that there IS NO ONE ELSE ON THE BEACH. I can see why......And then there were these nasty little things. ALL OVER. When I mean all over....I MEAN ALL OVER. They started crawling up my legs ahhhh. I don't mind bugs at all, and I'm not grossed out very easily (unless it's barf) but these with the combination of goose terds sent me over the edge. A nice day at the beach turned into a ten minute dodge of poo.

Mooooommmm! Poooooooooooppppp. Don't touch. (he says this after he picked up a huge pile) I want you to notice that I also refrained from taking a close up shot of the goose poop.

You're welcome.

Dedicated to a higher purpose

223 years ago, a group of men otherwise known as our Founding Fathers decided to dedicate their lives and principals in which they believed in, to a higher purpose. The simple act of signing their names to a piece of paper gave us the freedom and Independence we have today. This declaration and the sole foundation of our nation was based on faith and a higher law. The higher meaning, "In God We Trust." So simple, yet so forgotten these days. Calvin Coolidge puts it simply.

"There is finality to the Declaration: “If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions.”

We try to teach our children the value of things. The value of manners and a simple thank you. The value of a simple act of kindness to a stranger or the extra time you take out of your day to have a conversation with the next door neighbor. The value of a real conversation that doesn't involve short hand, slang or rude language. The value of our friendships or family and most importantly our faith. The world is constantly changing, constantly progressing and it will be always be morphing into something we can't always wrap our heads around. We can however, cling to the simple facts that the foundation of our nation was based on. Be thankful, be grateful and continue to pray for the best country the world has ever seen. Dedicate your life to a higher purpose!

A nice shade of peanut butter

Here is the new paint job on the front porch. I went to Ace (the local hardware store) looking for plain Jane grey paint and came back with a shiny glossy shade of peanut butter. I also saved a total of $21. They had a stack of paint cans that someone had miss mixed and they were selling them for $4 a gallon! I spotted a porch paint and grabbed it. It may not match (yet...going to finish the painting of the nasty green later) but it was cheap. It's also glossy polyurethane which means it won't dry for another two days. Poo. There is also a Frito stuck in the middle (I'll give you one guess who tossed that out there) where I can't get to it. Total cost=$4 paint, $6 brush and $3 paint thinner.
Here is project number two. It was an old cedar hope chest that was given to me and I tried to no avail to strip and sand it, but there were so many coats of goo on it that I gave up. Instead I mixed two left over paints from our house and antiqued it. I plan on covering it will gloss but I lent it to someone and can't remember who. Hey, who has my clear gloss?! It doubles as a very nice toy box and place to store unsightly large plastic toys. If you can't tell by the color, it's a pale shade of green and I love it. Total cost=$0.
And then there's this dude. This was yesterday at nap time. I heard a rustle upstairs and then turn around to see Baylor standing on the stairs....uh, naked of course...covered in foaming hand soap. I cropped out the boy parts but they were covered, his legs were covered as well as his hiney and toes. My first instinct was to get angry because he wasn't napping but I couldn't stop laughing (could it be the large plastic whale in his mouth or the look on his face?) So I grabbed the camera and snapped a few. The explanation for his strange lathering is he was "itchy" He did get a few bug bites when down in Southern Illinois and was itching like crazy. Apparently foaming hand soap gets rid of the itch.

Sticks and shells and homemade bread

Such a serious look for such a serious little dude. He was on a mission. A mission to seek and destroy anything in his path. Doesn't matter where he may find himself....a beach, a forest or my kitchen, he is the ultimate destroyer of all things.
We're also training the kids for their debut in the circus. What this photo doesn't show is the double front flip that he did (and landed of course) I'd give it a 9.6, the landing was a little shaky.
Why would you want to play in the sand or jump off rocks when you can sit in the front seat of the car and put on chapstick. Mmmmmm chapstick. I was waiting for him to rub it in his hair.

Instead, he decided to attack me with a pen.

Do these jeans make my butt look big?

Okay, so today was adventures in hiking, starring Baylor and Brody and yours truly. We headed out to the Pal (Palisades Kepler State Park) and hiked on a few trails and then walked along the shore to find sea shells (or more like clam shells) Baylor could hardly contain himself with jubilation over finding such precious objects.
And then there's this punk, where everything becomes a weapon. He lagged behind, trying to throw every single pebble into the Cedar River. We finally grabbed him at pebble number 579. He could have stayed there all day, but I was rather freaked out by the fast moving current. I have a huge fear of fast moving water and my children falling into it.
I think we might be moving on past the, "kiss your brother" stage. This smooch looks a little posed and slightly juicy.

This would make for a great senior photo shot...minus the cheesy grin. He's still cute regardless.

Clearly Brody is trying to tell his brother something very important...like the meaning of life.....or the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow. Baylor obviously has other things on his mind...like why his mother made him wear red tennis shoes.

oh, I almost forgot the homemade bread. I made...okay, Bri (my awesome sister in law) helped me make this artisan bread. You make a starter batch and then go from there. It was pretty simple and my first loaf was yummy but slightly undercooked. You can keep the dough in the fridge and use it for up to four days. I made mine with whole wheat flour and it filled the house with a wonderful aroma. Bri is visiting us for a few weeks, driving to Shreveport, LA to find a house and taking my mom with her. I'm totally jealous of their road trip, but I'm sure they'll have a blast. Kort and Bri are moving to Louisiana very shortly. They have to find a house in about two days...best of luck!