Picture Overload: Massive Grizzly Fight

Oh wonder of wonders. We got to the bear display and they were not sleeping!

In fact they were in the water.

Look at the paw on that guy!

And then the wrestling match began.

And all the moms kept saying, "oh, it is ok, they are just playing"

And maybe they were. But it got pretty intense.

They must be brothers.

Speaking of brothers.
If you have brothers, were you always pummeling each other?

And was there anything your mom could have done to stop you?

Awesome.

Aunt Elise says I have beautiful brown eyes

2 Stories, One About Frugality and One About Disposing of Clutter

Story #1-



Last week Noah decided to cook. Of course since he was cooking it was going to be a new recipe from his Bon Appetit magazine. And of course the ingredients are not the normal ones I stock in my kitchen. (as an aside, why do you think I have a half used bag of organic pastry flour in my fridge?)



Anyway, we invited company to come over Thursday night and Noah and I spent Wednesday night peeling pearl onions and chopping vegetables. When all the pre-work was done, Noah wrote out instructions for me for the next day and we went to bed.



Late the next afternoon I pulled out my instructions (which, by the way, were written in a Color Wonder book that had almost been spirited away by the kids during the day).



Instruction #1: combine 2 cups chicken broth and one bottle of hard cider with the premade food in the fridge.



Ok. I see the bottle on the counter. Now remember, we don't drink. Noah had gotten 1 bottle of hard cider from somewhere to use in the recipe.



I try to twist the cap. That is how you open premium rootbeer, after all.



It was not a twist top.



I look in my utensil drawer. I remembered I had gotten rid of the bottle opener on my last "declutter" crazy fest.



Now what. I continued looking around the kitchen, trying to find something to open it with- getting rather irritated, I might add.

My can opener is electric, and doesn't have a bottle opener thingie on it.

A knife, a screwdriver? Both seemed like bad options. I could envision the glass bottle flying across the room and shattering.

A-ha! Suddenly I remembered something. 18 months ago I had inadvertently taken a hand can opener home from church (oops). I had recently come across it and stuck it in my purse to bring back. Only I had been back and forth to church a number of times and had continued to forget to take it out of my purse.

And it was still there.

Nice. Disaster averted. Bottle opened, and can opener returned to purse.

Husband walked in door 5 minutes later and upon hearing about my dilemma and rather immoral solution (the stolen can opener being the immoral part), picked up the kitchen shears on the counter and pointed out the bottle opener on them.

I suggested that the next time he cook his own food.

Story #2

I buy new swimming suits frequently, and this annoys my frugal self.

I have to do it though because I am in the pool a lot for lap swimming as well as playing with the kids, and suits just don't last that long in the big, bad vat of chlorine. It also probably doesn't help that I just buy regular suits from the store that are probably more for the occasional swimmer.

Anyway, I was at Target last week and found 2 one piece suits on clearance. They both sort of fit. (by the way, this wasn't Target totally lame clearance, this was get a suit for $8 kind of clearance). I haven't worn a one piece suit for a long time, but they are nicer to swim laps in and besides that, they were cheap.

As I said though, they sort of fit. The black one had a semi plunging neckline that I knew would be a problem (especially while I am nursing) while swimming laps.

But, ever resourceful, I knew I could just wear something underneath it.

So today I went to swim and put a (rather large) tank top made out of swim suit material underneath the black suit.

I had gone one lap when I discovered the problem. Somehow the tank (which of course was too big) was pulling air and water in under the suit. I could fill the air under my back as I swam and then it would bubble out.

Awkward.

Yeah, I must have had a continuous bubbling coming from my suit as I swam laps.

Great.

All I could do was hope that my non-streamlined front crawl was creating enough turbulence in the water to mask the bubble.

Maybe that will be my new tactic for keeping people out of my lane.

Guilt: Controversial Monday Style

We just got back from a fun trip to the Zoo. I apologized to Berean for not doing age appropriate things with her, but explained that it is just part of life as a 4th child.



She was all like, "but Mom...all my friends get to nap with their moms and chill in their cribs, and go on little walks around the neighborhood and I have to be hauled all over the city in my car seat. AND what is worse is I have to EAT whenever you want me to and in the most inappropriate locations."



And I told her that she was going to be happy when she is older and can show her friends pictures of the greatest Grizzly Bear fight ever and be all proud saying, "and I was SO there to witness it".



But then she reminded me that she spent the majority of the weekend snoozing in her car seat underneath the trees while we raked and rolled up sod in the new lot. And that somehow when hanging out with friends Sunday night she ended up with cheeto dust all over her forehead.



And then I felt a little guilty, 'cuz I am pretty sure Deacon never had cheeto dust all over his head or missed his bath 2 times in a row. (oh, I shouldn't have said that. A six week old who hasn't had a bath in 6 days? Bad mom, for sure).



So I have been thinking about guilt a lot lately. I feel guilty when I don't spend enough time with Noah. I feel guilty when I don't make supper. I feel guilty when I miss the baby's bath day. I feel guilty when I yell at the kids. I feel guilty when I don't "play" with them that often. I feel guilty when I leave their AWANA verses until Wednesday afternoon. I feel guilty when I drag the baby on age inappropriate activites. I feel guilty when I work, I feel guilty when I don't. I feel guilty when Roman doesn't have pjs to wear. I feel guilty when I fall asleep on the couch and don't spend time reducing clutter. I feel guilty when I don't have the energy to go on a run late at night or to take the kids to the Y so I can swim.



Aww, so much guilt.



And guilt is looked at so negatively.


And I realize that I have too much of it about things that are simply out of my control.



But SOME guilt can be good, I think.

Guilt can let us know there is a problem. Something we have done wrong, or something we need to improve on.



Feeling guilty about not "playing" with the kids much can force me to sit down and play a game with them (even when I don't want to at all) and I often find myself having fun and both being blessed by it and blessing them. That seems like a good thing.



Feeling guilty about not making supper means I may throw something together from the freezer or pancakes or may think about it earlier for the next day. That saves money. That seems like a good thing.

Feeling guilty about not keeping up with a friend may force me into a phone call I don't really have "time" for, but in the end I may discover that talking with her is what I really needed and was ultimately more important that what I had planned.

Do you see what I mean?

What things do you feel "guilt" over that actually pushes you to do the right thing or a new better thing?

Children of the 2000's

The above is a picture of Chief Chirpa- the (made up) Chief of the (made up) Ewoks on the (made up) moon Endor. Of course the (made up) Ewoks are part of the (real) movie Star Wars which is about a bunch of (made up) people in a (made up) galaxy at a (made up) time long, long ago and far, far away.

We are trying to make all this clear to the children.

They acknowlege that Star Wars is made up.

But they refuse to believe that Chief Chirpa is a man (or at least a male Ewok).

They all insist that the Chief of the Ewoks is a woman (or at least a female Ewok).

I told them that Chief Chirpa was male.

My sister told them Chief Chirpa was male.

Noah told them Chief Chirpa was male.

But they still call him her.

They asked me how I knew.

I told them that He was a Chief and typically Chiefs are male (ok, so I don't know much about Star Wars, so I have to go with "typicals")

They stared at me blankly.

Oh, yeah. They were all born after the year 2002.

Google and the Internet are mainstream.

They don't know what a film camera is.

and they are used to women being able to be in authoritative positions, just like men.

Chirpa sounds female to them, so (she?) (he?) is a woman (or at least a girl Ewok).

I am not going to argue about a (made up) Chief from a (made up) moon anymore.

But, I was born in 1980 during the Jimmy Carter administration

and I think

that Chief Chirpa is a man. Or maybe not a man. Maybe just a male Ewok.

7 years ago

Today, tax day, 7 years ago.

Noah and I sat on a hill in Deming Park, Terre Haute, Indiana.

We were overlooking our favorite disc golf course.

And eating Jimmy John's sandwhiches.

Pre-kid ideal picnic.

Who needs a basket and P B & Js when you can bring it all in a white bag that says,

"Subs so fast you'll freak"?

I told him I was pregnant.

We laughed.

We cried. (probably him, not me :)

7 years later.

Tax day.

Blogging in my pjs (I know, I know- but it has been a long week)

Listening to 4 kids play around the house.

Turning 30 in a couple of months is on my mind.

There have been many laughs these last 7 years.

And many tears.

And I am sure there will be more.

Happy Fatherhood Anniversary, Noah! I hope I can celebrate many more with you!

Isn't he...

Pretty much the cutest little boy ever? I know I may be *slightly* biased, but I am pretty sure it is only slightly.

I will try to get a post written about him soon...

But, well, I think I have been to bed before midnight twice since Berean was born...

And I am getting ready to break my own personal code and host a Norwex party...

and I am thinking about breaking another one of my codes and actually writing a blog post about all my amazing grocery deals this week... (and I might even buy paper towels)...

so his update will have to wait.

Just a little longer.


P.S. I will try to post some pictures that include his face. I know you are all dying to see it :)