One Day, One hour, One minute, one second

There is not many things more annoying than forgetting to change the alarm clock on a day off.

4:42am: alarm goes off.
4:42.30: alarm gets turned off.
7:20: small human alarm gives slobbery, yet sweet kisses
7:40: get out of bed, begin waking everyone else up
7:41: put last of beans into grinder to make coffee, add to grocery list
7:45: rewake everyone
7:48: round up lunch boxes, empty out half eaten lunch, begin making lunches
7:50: holler to wake them up
8:10: attempt to get dressed while dressing two others
8:12: stop everything to pour boiling water into french press. will it to brew faster today.
8:20: find socks, shoes, water bottles, backpacks, folders, housekeys, library books, hairclips
8:25: change poopy diaper
8:25.30 chase half naked toddler to re-dress
8:30: realize that my once molten lava hot coffee is now only "hot" but pour into travel mug.
chug a few ounces to add remaining amount from pot to mug.
9:30: arrive at Baker Spice to buy pie slices. A % of sales goes to charity! Pie for a Cause!
9:57: Market of Choice to buy some groceries and ZBeanz coffee.
10:00: Back already hurting from pushing "Customer in Training" mini-cart. B is in another aisle
10:20: finally make it to coffee aisle. Out of my beans. As a consolation, buy Mrs.Meyers
laundry detergent in Gardenia. We may as well smell nice.
10:25: Return 1/3 of items that mysteriously made their way into cart. B finds shelf of wine
glasses that are sooo purty. Note to self: find Patient Parenting book at Library.
10:40: Wrestle two bags of groceries, bottle of detergent, and a coat-vs-B. Coat wins
11:00: Home. WHAT?! 7 dwarves must have had a hay day in the house whilst I was gone.
There are plates with sticky syrup and bowls of drying cereal all over the counter, toast
crumbs, and old homework on the table. harumph.
11:10: Reheat coffee, even though slightly jittery. It's freezing outside and need to warm up.
11:30: Proceed to find a good playlist on line, crank it up, and begin cleaning the house for the
pending photos to be taken later in the day. Try to be chipper about it.
11:30.30: B is hungry. Debate whether or not to make a good lunch or quick lunch, or hope he
falls asleep watching the show I am about to let him see. Realize that on many levels this
is a bad idea. Make tasty lunch in the really clean kitchen. Damn, more crumbs. Sure
there is a huge sugar ant nest waiting to come inside to taunt me.
12:00: find not one, but TWO brooms! B comes to my rescue to help. Sings Teamwork song. I
think this is adorable and we have a nice conversation about helping.
12:20: B is sweeping the fridge. He will not stop, even after I glare at him and put the broom
down 100 times. Apparently the fridge, which is stainless steel, is very, very filty and
*needs* brooming on the outside.
12:21: unenlist B's help, hide the broom, put away 600 flashcards that got angrily emptied out.
2:00: Naptime donkey-kicked me. Brian arrives home, I hightail it out for longoverdue run.
Still jacked up on coffee and carbs, crank out a quick run, but have to finish at the school
to bring kids home.
3:20 Home from school, kids got rides home from C's playdate mom. Photographer taking
pictures of house.
4:00: yearbook carpool. Try to stifle giggle at hearing the teen chatter. Three girls, my son.
5:10: Take N to central pickup for soccer carpool. Continue drinking reheated coffee.
5:20: Feeling pretty smug that I put pork roast in oven earlier. The house looks and smells great
and I revel in the temporary state.
6:30: Eat dinner
6:30.01: up from table to refill milk glasses, pull B from under table, more salad dressing, etc.
7:00: Baths for the two littles, read paper and fold clothes.
8:00: Resolve tantrum, realize that it will take a bigger book than Patient Parenting.
10:00: immerse self in really bad "reality" tv, but it is enjoyable and all children are asleep.

What's a Few....In months?

I know, I know, it's been a really long time. So long that maybe you all thought I forgot we had a blog? It's the computers' fault. Really, it has been damaged goods until 4 hours ago. I've been blogging in my brain to keep in blogging shape so fear not! I will not bore you with a complete run down of the past few months. The jist is that we had a successful move, we love our new to us home, school is well under way, Halloween was a blast, and the kids are still cute. Whew, life covered. More later (taunt, taunt)

Jake's team played cousin Nick's team. It was fun to cheer for both teams.

Soccer tournament weekend (again!) Just look at those healthy, happy, shiny faces!

Run Romp

I am not sure what it was that made me do it. Temporary "fun" insanity, lack of morning coffee, or desperation, or was it a combo platter of them all? Somehow I convinced my friend Cheryl that it would be just great if she and her daughter Clara met us for a run along corridor from OMSI. Nathan and Chloe rode their bikes while Cheryl and I ran with the Clara and Beck in the joggers. Okay, it was fun and I got my run in (that's the desperate part) and we did get coffee afterwards. Plus, Cheryl and I could actually carry on a conversation in person. It was 7 miles of nice easy fatburning miles. We had to talk the bike riders out of 10 miles (apparently we are pansies) and bargained to turn around when the "path ends." Clara was ready to go home so lucky for us we were not lying when we said we were headed there. Beck fell asleep, Nathan got a rubbed finger, and Chloe? Well, she just pedals on and on. Sometimes she gets sidetracked and ends up in the grass but for the most part she stayed on her side.

In the Swim of Things

We are practicing our *walking quickly poolside* strut each morning at Grant Pool. Swim lessons have begun. The smell of sunscreen and chlorine greets us with the whistle of the lifeguards. It's a lot of work for a half and hour out of the day, but it is worth it. The park is bustling with activity and it is easy to let a few hours go by. Of course we had to have the inaugral shaved ice the first day of lessons. Both Nathan and Chloe got coffee and vanilla flavored ice and Beck got peach (it was the lightest colored flavor) Yum, so good and so summer.

Evidence of Play

Here is an actual picture of Nathan playing soccer. Usually we have loads of pictures of the kiddos on the sidelines (ie, Beck being totally cute or Chloe being goofy. No shock there) Nathan, aka big cheese of the house, had a soccer tournament over the weekend. He played for the U12 team (Nathan is a U11) They did not win win the first 3 games, but managed to win against the hardest team. Their third game was great, even though it was a loss. The games were played in Beaverton at THPRD and at Commonwealth lake. We lived there from 1995-1997 or so. It was fun to all be able to go to the game. Grandpop Wayne and Grandma Mary made an appearance for one of the games. Mary pretty much took over Beck who was giving all his time and energy to find frogs and turtles at the swampy creek. There was also a nice downpour on Sunday.