Leaving on a jet plane...

Well, our bags are packed (with enough clothes to change 3 times a day), my nails are done (which include my fake toe nails that gross out my husband) and my bikini line is waxed (so I don't scare small children at the beach) ... We are ready to go! We leave from Portland tonight and head to San Juan, Puerto Rico and then our cruise sets sail on Sunday. I will be trying to post from the ship so we'll see how it goes. We are going to having so many adventures I want to share with you - zip lining through a rain forest, kayaking along hidden beaches, snorkeling over a shipwreck, swimming with giant sea turtles, cruising on a pirate ship... I am so excited I can hardly stand myself!

Water Bugs

These little water bugs of mine have been chirping "Aquatic Center, Aquatic Center" since March. Finally (said Owen) Mark and I took them today.

They're already asking when we can go back.

Holy Huge Yard Sale!

Seriously.

I have no idea where all this stuff came from. Granted, it wasn't all mine, but still. I am shocked myself. I am also exhausted. Putting on a yard sale is almost as much work as having a baby. Harder perhaps, because I didn't have any drugs to help me with this one. My best friend Dawn, my mom G. and I all decided it would be a great idea to have a yard sale so I started working on pricing things on Monday. It has been non-stop since then. The best story is Thursday though. Let me tell you about Thursday...

Thursday morning I got up bright and early and the unloading event commenced at around 8:30. First my parents brought over their first pick-up load. We unloaded and laughed and had a great time. Then Dawn showed up with her first pickup load and we still laughed and giggled "Oh what fun we are going to have!". Then my dad came back with his second pickup load and Dawn arrived with her second pickup load and I started to think "hmmm.. this is a lot of stuff." Then both my dad and Dawn came back with a third pickup load. I was starting to feel like I lived at The Salvation Army. I was hot and dirty and smelly by this point and thinking "What was I thinking!". As we started to set up the tables (which took us almost 4 hours to do!) my neighbors were starting to come out of their houses and point at us while shaking their heads in amusement. One of them was brave enough to come over and say "I've never seen a yard sale this big!". Another neighbor yelled at us "It looks like a mini Wal-Mart over there!". They laughed for a while and then came over and bought some of my junk (so who got the last laugh?).

We finally stopped at 9:00 that night so that we could shower and make the signs. I had been diligently checking the weather and we were in for low 80's with some clouds. I was feeling excited and needed to get some sleep because I wanted to get up by 5:30 to make sure everything was ready for our yard sale by 6:45. It officially started at 7:00 but, like a boy scout, I like to be prepared. Mark and Kye (our dog) slept outside to safe guard the goods and Dawn slept with me in the master bedroom. I had a hard time falling asleep because I was so excited but I finally managed. Then at 3:30 I sat bolt upright in bed. I heard something and smelled something bad (and it wasn't Dawn).

The sound I heard was water. Water hitting things outside. What I couldn't determine is whether or not it was my neighbor's sprinklers or rain. I figured it was sprinklers because I had been checking the weather report faithfully and there had been no mention of rain. I decided to get up anyway. I looked out the window and sure enough it was ... rain. I sounded the alarm by yelling "THIS IS A LEVEL 3 YARD SALE EMERGENCY!" and running around the house without my bra on. Dawn and I quickly headed outside to try and cover up the goods. We had about 3 tarps to cover all of this up.

Where was my husband you ask? He was just waking up. He had been under a table and since he had worked graveyard the night before and not slept yet that day he was exhausted. I forgave him a little and then yelled at him to do something and save the yard sale. Dawn and I were running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to put stuff under tables and under tarps. I came up with the brilliant idea of cutting up garbage sacks and laying them over things. Things were not looking good. We were pretty much up after that and we weren't too hopeful about people showing up. But never count out the determined yard saler. I tell you what. We had tons of people there at 6:30 who came and started shopping. They simply lifted the tarps and looked underneath. Dawn and I covered and uncovered things with tarps 8 different times on Friday as it rained all day but we still managed to sell around $900.00 worth of stuff. On Saturday we didn't have any rain but we did have customers and we managed to make around $1,700.00 between the 3 families. My share of the loot was around 675.00. Not too shabby. Dawn and I also cooked baked goods and sold those. I made cookies and sold them for $2.50 a dozen and they went like hot cakes.

Am I going to do another yard sale any time soon? NO WAY!

Well... let me go and count my money again.

Cowboys Peter Pan and Tootsie Roll

Another busy day. Another busy week. But soon... summer break will be here. I came home around 7:00 and found my boys. Playing. Together. Everything else could wait. I had to watch. At first they didn't notice me.

But then Owen spotted me and crowed "Mommy, look! Daddy let us take our shirts off!". Then he puffed out his chest at me and grinned. My little Man. With a snot nose.

Meet Cowboy Peter Pan. He informed me he's not just a cowboy - he's a cowboy cop.

He works hard at his many jobs. Filling containers with pea gravel ...

Then raining them down on his brother's head.

Meet Cowboy Tootsie Roll. There is something about that little imp that melts my heart.

His underwear even make me smile.

He can be shoving rocks down his pants or ...

wiping snot off his face. I still just want to pick him up and kiss him all over.

These two boys are hard to beat - they make my life complete.

Even when they're digging rocks out of their pants.

Wiffle Ball

Caleb has officially entered the arena of sports . We signed him up for wiffle ball this year and it has been very interesting to say the least. His first game was last Tuesday.

What the picture shows: Caleb following his coach's direction and putting his hand's on his head so he can listen to what she says.

What the picture doesn't show: Caleb running up to me and telling me that "He's got it from here and I can leave now".

What the picture shows: Caleb doing his stretches with the other children.

What the picture doesn't show: Caleb hitting and being hit with the new hats that they just got and then trying to stand on his head.


What the picture shows: Caleb sitting down in the outfield.

What the picture doesn't show: Caleb so oblivious to the ball that it practically hits him as his coach and I are both yelling "STAND UP CALEB!" for the 10th time.

What the picture shows: Caleb ready to bat.

What the picture doesn't show: Caleb giving me a thumb's up as he walks up to the plate.

What the picture shows: Caleb watching the ball and getting ready to swing at it.

What the picture doesn't show: Caleb goofing off during many practices and the many "wiffs" it actually took before he could hit the wiffle ball.

What the picture shows: Caleb actually hitting the ball!

What the picture doesn't show: Caleb jogging slowly to first base waving to his grandma and I, yelling "Did you see me! Did you see me!"

What the picture shows: Caleb running the bases.

What the picture doesn't show: Nobody has hit the ball yet, Caleb is just running.

What the picture shows: Caleb chatting it up with the other team.

What the picture doesn't show: Caleb having to be told by her that he needs to head on to the next base and later Caleb asking me if she can come home with us. I guess he likes bossy women.

What the picture shows: Caleb sliding into home plate.

What the picture doesn't show: Caleb sliding into every base as he went around but for home plate he saved something special. He not only slid into home plate he twirled around on his bottom three times before he just laid there.


See him get into position for the bottom twirling?

Then he just laid there visiting for a little while with the girl who was patiently waiting for him to move so she could bat.

What the picture shows: Caleb and his team doing the end-of-the-game cheer.

What the picture doesn't show: Mom G. and I doing the same end-of-the-game cheer.

All in all, Caleb had a great time and that's what made it worth the torture of me having to watch and not jump in and tell him what to do. Well ... Ok, I did jump in and tell him twice what to do but that's it! It was a lot harder to sit and watch than I thought it would be! I can't wait until Mark gets to go. Then I'll sit back and laugh as he tries to control himself and not tell Caleb what to do! We'll see which of us has the more self-control. I know where my money is!

Boise Trip

It's time I told the truth. I married Mark for his family.

On Mark and I's second date he took me to meet his family. Not only did I get to meet them, but I got to spend the evening with them as they celebrated the countdown till Christmas with an advent wreath and activities. I'll never forget how his mom opened the door and hugged me in welcome. She has always acted out in love and this weekend she gave us another example of how she loves us.

We were all going to travel to Boise for my nephew Ukiah's graduation party and Mom brought this package to school for me. She had made "bingo" cards for the boys to play on the road trip. She drew and colored each square and she made each card different.

She had a prize for each child that catered to their interests. Dinosaurs = Owen, Army Delta Force = Agent Caleb.

She even made sure that they had sacks to put their toys into after they opened the packages.

The boys were thrilled and the car ride was great. Isn't my mom great? I did tell Mark before we got married though - "Do not expect me to be like your mother!" I already knew way back then that I could never measure up! My plan for the car ride was to try out the new DVD players the boys got for Christmas. Not quite the same...

Anyway, moving on. The graduation party was a blast. I loved seeing all the family members that could attend and while I wasn't very good at taking pictures (I was busy eating) I did get a few. Here is the graduation guy. Pretty tall huh? I was hoping for a nephew in the NBA but Ukiah wasn't listening to my subtle hints. UKIAH - JOIN THE NBA SO YOUR AUNT MIRIAH CAN HANG OUT COURTSIDE WITH ALL THE COOL PEOPLE! There - Maybe he'll get that one.

I got to meet little JD, the newest baby to enter the family. He was oh-so-very sweet and when I held him I heard him say he loved me. Well, not in those words exactly, but those coos and smiles he gave me meant the same thing. I love babies. My husband won't admit it but he does too. When no one was looking, he would come over and smell the babie's head and just breathe in JD's sweet baby smell. Jesse (JD's dad) asked Mark what he was doing and Mark said it's like puppy breath - there's no smell like it. I have to agree.

The boys playing with their new toys.

The boys doing one of their favorite things - wrestling.

Mark and his sis solving the world's problems. That would be a really interesting conversation. Think McCain vs. Obama.

Owen helping with clean-up.

Before we could leave town, we had to stop here:

My boys (all of them) spent a looooong time looking at things. Don't you just love the striped polos? Who does their shopping anyway?

I finally gave them this look and said "Let's go". They complied. Looking at this picture I can see why.

It was a very quick trip but well worth it. We had a great time visiting and hope to see everyone again soon!