Day 136--5K Success!

After another awesome 5K race with the Girls on the Run program, Cami gets a much needed splash of water down her back thanks to her good friend Mikhaela.

Day 135--Show & Tell

The caterpillar craze continues.  Today Adam brought his chrysalis into school to share with his kindergarten class.    

Day 134--Silly Grandpa

"Grandpa, Grandpa!  Look at this cool caterpillar I found!"

"Yum!  I love caterpillars for dinner."

What's wrong with this picture?

Here's a hint....

First person to guess correctly wins an awesomely cool prize of a super secret nature that is not worth any money, but is totally priceless.  

The Prayers of the Children

I love the simplicity and the sincerity of children's prayers and feel like us adults could learn a lot from their genuine expressions of gratitude and love to their Heavenly Father.  Instead of the rote recitations that seem to cumber us as adults,  they simply notice what's around them and pray for divine protection over those people and things that are nearest and dearest to them.  

They bless friends, brothers, sisters, blankies, special toys, stuffed animals, butterflies, princesses, pets, books or whatever else is on their mind.  I love that they trust God enough to recognize that He cares about what they care about.

Sometimes I get so caught up in praying for what I'm supposed to be praying for, that I forget to truly open my heart and communicate with God.  

As I say my prayers each day I am trying a little harder to remember to look around at the simple beauties of life that surround me and strive to better express my gratitude for them....  The sunset, the rainstorms, the kids not fighting, the azalea bushes in bloom, a clean bathroom, a thoughtful friend, a sweet husband, beautiful music...

Today I reflect back and express gratitude for what has brought me these tender feelings to ponder over.   With five kids in the house I've heard a lot of sweet, heart felt prayers, but lately  Ellie has prayed for us all to be more helpful and pretty.   Each day we all silently giggle that our sweet four-year-old's heart felt desire is for us all to become a little more princess-like, but really she has taught us what prayer is truly all about.    

Day 133--Grandpa's Here!

Hip hip hooray...Grandpa's here! My brother Pete is graduating from GW law school this weekend and my Dad is here to celebrate the occasion. Ellie was fascinated with Grandpa's hair (or lack thereof) . Read here to find out how cool my Dad is and why he's sporting the new no-hair look.

How to Disorient a Middle Aged Mom...

I am a creature of habit.

I have a routine for everything...waking up, showering, making lunches, getting kids on bus, grocery shopping, dinner time, cleaning up, bedtime, etc. It's one of the things that keeps me sane.

Today I ran into my local Safeway to pick up a couple of items I was running low on. I like Safeway. It's bright. It's clean. Everyone's friendly. It's only a half mile from my house. I know where everything is.

Wait. Scratch that.

I know KNEW where everything is WAS.

For some inexplicable reason, they've taken everything off the shelves and shuffled it around. They say they're trying to reorganize, I say they're trying to mess with the middle aged Mom!

Not only is NOTHING where it used to be, but since they're in the middle of the reorganization process none of the aisle signs were correct either.

What are they trying to do to me?

I was so disoriented after I left with only half my grocery list, I promptly called Glen to tell him something important. Except I didn't really call Glen. I called Nate, called him "Hunny", told him I loved him, and left him a great message all about kids and life.

Now all I need is for Glen to go out of town and for guests to start arriving to really mess me up...

Oh wait. I'm already there.

Day 132--Summer Food

The weather just can't make up its mind. One day it's cold and rainy and I feel compelled to make soup just one last time, then there are completely gorgeous days like today when the grill calls out to me. I just took over the grill from Glen last year and I tell you my grill has never been happier with it's more regular use and more creative menu. :) After years of only cooking hot dogs and hamburgers it was pretty happy to see these chipotle chicken fajitas tonight! Yum, yum!

The Reason Why...

In the course of my blogging I've often stopped to wonder why it is that I enjoy blogging so much?  

Is it because I  like to stay connected with family and friends?   Or  just that I like to write? Or that I love sharing my stories and photos?  Or  perhaps it's just because I like having a creative outlet that's totally cost and mess free?  

While all these reasons are undoubtedly true, it wasn't until I received the following message from a friend that I really understood the true passion behind why I like to blog so much.  

"I just looked at your blog. YOU ARE HILARIOUS! Who knew!"

That's it!  For as long as I can remember I've tried to be funny.   I've admired my siblings and friends who come by it so naturally and wondered why it seems so hard for me.  

Sadly I have to admit that I've never uttered a witty comment in my entire life.   Never.  Of course, any of you who knows me in person are not surprised by this fact, but for those of you who don't know me here it is spelled out for you:  

My brain + My mouth =  blubbering   

But somehow,  

My brain + My fingers =  occasionally funny reflections on life

And it is for those occasional moments when I capture a witty reflection on life and make someone laugh that I am completely and totally hooked on blogging.  

Day 131--Long Lost Cousin

Actually Ryan isn't officially my cousin, but he's cool enough that we claim him as part of the family.  He and his family (including his wife and my official cousin Mandi) used to live about an hour away.  We've missed them since they moved to Texas a few years ago and were so excited when he came back to say, "Hello" tonight while on a business trip!  

Mother's Day Festivities

Well, it's official.  I'm getting a complex.  Either Glen is getting sickly in his old age or he really doesn't like putting the kids to bed.  

He's gotten sick a grand total of twice in the last several months...first on my birthday and then again today.  Thankfully this illness only had him bedridden after 8:00 today and not the entire day like on my birthday.    

Of course, I am somewhat of a slave driver, so despite Glen's illness he did mostly prepare this yummy Chili Cornbread Salad for me (recipe coming soon).  I say mostly, because about 3/4 of the way through he almost sliced off a finger and was banished to taking care of that for the next hour.   

Thankfully Cami was not feigning illness* today and did not almost sever any limbs, so she was able to make me this yummy lemon delight cake, which in addition to the lemon pie filling layer also had a crumb topping  (recipe coming soon too).  Since it was low fat I figured I could eat an extra piece without too much damage.  It is Mother's Day after all.  

Then since it was a perfectly GORGEOUS day, I dragged everyone out for a walk around the neighborhood.  Notice Ellie holding tightly to her caterpillar container.  Emma, Adam, & Ellie have been completely obsessed with caterpillars lately.  At first they were picking up each one they found and adding it to their container.  After they had about a dozen of them in there, I convinced them that they may be a little claustrophobic in there.  

At that point they changed their efforts to saving caterpillars one at a time from the perils of the sidewalk and street.  Dozens of local caterpillars are now safely residing in grass and trees thanks to the efforts of three kids!   

Then Ellie presented me with this beautiful fruit basket that she'd made for me at preschool. 
 I'm sure it would have been really delicious!

Despite Glen's illness (*which I may add was decidedly not feigned as I may have inferred above) they all made sure that I had a wonderful day and made me feel so loved!  

I've decided that for next year I'm starting Glen on a mega-dose of Vitamin C in March, just to make sure...

Day 130--Saving the world...

one caterpillar at a time.  

My kids have been obsessively collecting caterpillars the last few days.  They have a little container that ended up with 11 caterpillars in it.  After convincing them that the caterpillars may not like being so squashed together in such a small place, they decided instead to direct their efforts towards removing caterpillars from sidewalks and roadsides where they may get squashed and then moving them to safety in the grass.   

Dear Mom,

I just wanted to take this opportunity at Mother's Day to pour out my heart to you in a public forum.

First I wanted to thank you for all the support you've given me through the years. I know I wasn't the brightest kid around and I appreciate you not getting upset at me for all the stupid things I've done. Like when you almost had to remove me from your insurance policy for causing so many broken bones and dislocated limbs (was that 4 that I was directly responsible for?). Of course with me only being third smartest how was I to know that I shouldn't put my feet in Dad's bike spokes while it was moving? Thank goodness after the second time I did it, I knew enough to realize that bikes were NOT my friends.

How grateful I am that you are not one to hold a grudge, like the time when you thought I was so sweet for bringing you a drink of water without being asked. Too bad you didn't notice the water was yellow until it was too late. While a child of greater intellect (like H or Tim) at least would have flushed first, a lesser Mom surely would have screamed (louder).

As a mother of a teenager now, I am especially grateful for your patience with me at that time of my life. With my mood swings and clothes hogging ways I know I wasn't the easiest to live with. Thankfully most of Kristina's scars have healed from where I pinched her for stealing my clothes, but unfortunately time will never erase the sour expressions on my face in all those pictures where I was pretending to be a supermodel.

When I look back at that time in my life I know that without your stalwart direction that I would not be who I am today. Faithful family home evenings and family prayers were just a small part of the guidance you gave me. I pretty much know that if we had called our tv table a coffee table like most people do, that I'd probably be drinking coffee right now. Or at least Mountain Dew.

Although most people might call you serious natured, I know that it's just because they don't really know you well. The day you hung up this sign on our fridge was the best and the worst day of my life:

The worst because I loved chewing gum and I knew that I had failed you in a big way(and continue to fail you to this day) and the best day ever because it was then that I realized that my Mom was totally hilarious!

So, without further ado I need to go fold the "arbs" (see Mom, I know a bad word when I see one and would never want to embarrass you by typing out B-R-A on the internet where everyone [even boys] can read it!)

Although I know all too well that I'm not your favorite child (PETER!!!), I hope that by publicly baring my soul like this that you will know that truly you are my favorite mother. Really, I would never exaggerate that kind of thing.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Love,
Your favorite oldest daughter (now that's a title I can live up to),
Lara

PS Happy mother's day to all the rest of you mothers out there too! 

Day 129--Small Delights

Rejoice! It's caterpillar season!