4:39

Right now.
milo is in his jammies.
still.
it's 4:39.
he has been a dog for the past few days.
elsa is playing with the shopvac.
the 15th chocolate chip cookie of the day smeared across her specs.
i should be cleaning my mama's house
or weeding her overgrown yard
or cooking up some yummilicious treat for the homecoming party tomorrow.
but i'm busy.
digesting the other half of the box of cookies.
i tried to replace the tank-top-with-jeans-and flip-flops tan lines
by laying in the tanning bed and cremated myself.
i have consumed too much allergy medicine.
too much sugar.
too much caffeine.
plus i'm just realizing that what used to be procrastination
has morphed into paralysis.
it's like i'm waiting until the last minute
but then i just decide it's too much hassle in the end.
it might be because i am at that awkward stage of parenting
when your baby gets to be a year
and you realize you do still exist
but forgot a bit of who you are between diapers
and bottles and repositioning baby socks.
i'm sure i will come back around
as soon as public school takes over as boss.
summer vacation will disappear
and ballgames and bedtimes will rule.
my baby will stroll into toddlerhood
my preschooler will waltz into the halls of the elementary school
my girl will paint her eyes and my boy will start to shave
and i will be reminded of how quickly my littles grow up.
i guess for now it's good enough just to be Mom.

Counting down the days until my big babies come home. 

I dropped them off with my amazing ma and pa over a month ago and sent them on the road trip of a life time...

North to ALASKA!!! 

In just a few days I will pack up the little bubblies in their car seats and go to retrieve the adventurers.

This might explain why I have only posted once or twice in the mean time.

My days have consisted of one main goal :
 wearing out Mr. Milo and Miss Elsa. 

The trick is to accomplish this goal without wearing out the mother.

So today's sleep inducing activity:

SHEEP SHEARING 
WITH THE THOMPSONS

There are those in this world who take on the task of raising some beasts of the field in order to develop life skills.

These are people with super human powers.

Through rain and snow...

poop and muck

They spend day after day
feeding,

 grooming,

and exercising
their animals.

 

They have meetings and

community service projects.

They give speeches and

organize fundraisers.

 

They are 4H kids and their families.

 

You might recognise them this time of year...

the mothers anyways...

 

 a little wild eyed,

the hint of pig smell,

maybe a tuft of lambs wool
 clinging to her t-shirt or

a trace of manure splattered up the back of her jeans
-the look of pure love!!

It was so fun to spend a few hours watching the Thompsons get ready for fair. 

Elsa learned to baa like a lamb.

And Milo had a blast with Allie.

And our mission:

ACCOMPLISHED

the angels sleeping soundly as I type 

Good luck at the fair

Riley, Seth, and Allie

 

All American!!

Happy 4th of July!!!!!!

Elsa discovered her new favorite holiday.

She LOVED the fireworks!!!

Hope you enjoyed your friends, family, and community as much as we did today!!!

There was an old lady who noticed a facebook status...

There will be no pictures to accompany the following story.

Some brilliant old lady

(not mentioning any names)

noticed a status update from a much less seasoned friend on facebook concerning a new exercise program....

"Cause of death:P90X"

You would think that this comment would give the jiggly mature woman a hint of trouble.

Instead, her quick typing fingers jumped in

piped up

volunteered for personal pain.

So here is how things went down...

I...I mean, she, as in-the older, riper character in our little story...

towed her two youngest children into the coffee shop to pick up the DVD of the workout from the chipper bubbly little missy. 

There was a hint of trouble when the old lady noticed an evil gleam in the young lady's eyes as she handed over the disc.

After the old lady

(i'm kinda getting sick of saying that!)

got home,

cooked 800 lbs. of pork roasts for the boyscouts,

chased a three year old around the yard for 45 minutes,

got caught by a friend blowing up the baby pool while laying with her face in the grass balancing the baby who was already trying to get into the pool,

is this getting to be a run-on sentence?? 

Stay with me here...

fed the children supper,

gave them a bath

tucked them into bed,

sigh...

She bounded downstairs

and rared up the ol' DVD

and started warming up.

"How hard could it be??"

She thought,

shortly before she realized she could not even do

a

single 

push-up

even

on her knees.

Now the plan was for the older lady to do some catching up while the younger lady took a few days off.  Then they would be on the same schedule and could work out together.

Hmmm.

So, she struggled through,

attempted to lift,

and pull and push.

It was ugly.

Real ugly.

And now she sits at her computer.

Her body numb except for the fingers that got her into this mess in the first place.

She wonders...

"If you remove comments from a day old facebook conversation,

does that mean you are freed from any unwise commitments made therein?"

Then falls asleep,

her drool pooling on the keyboard.

To be continued...

home sweet home

Yay for new wading pools and Re-entry!!!!

Happy Trails!!

Well here I sit at my Dad's computer. 

An odd silence in this

usually happening place. 

Elsa and Milo are snoozing in the other room.

And I'm thinking about

joining them.

After we shoved all of our junk into the nooks and crannies of our house and called it settled,

we came up to the mountains to celebrate the annual

Rodeo Weekend.

My sister took some

awesome pictures of our

hometown celebration!!

Check more of them out on her Hoopla! page

Milo riding the cart behind Riley the horse!





Yep, that's Grammy dancing with Smokey the Bear in the Parade!!

We also came to 

 drop off Levi and Josi

for their Alaskan adventure.

They left yesterday. 

 

The one unfilled compartment underneath the massive motor home beckoned my name. 

I even climbed in to see if maybe

I could stow away. 

And there was room,

enough to stay comfy

for an hour or two,

but I don't think the

pacifier would have fit...

or the baby for that matter...

not to mention Milo

or his stuffed Moose.

And the view would not have been spectacular.

 but my battery on my camera is dead.

again.

So that wouldn't be so bad.

Anyways, I will head back home tomorrow.

I would say "with the little ones,"

But Milo informed me yesterday that he has moved into the

"Big Kid" category.

So tomorrow I will head home with the little one and the big one,

and long to hear all the tales

of the other big kids'

adventures.

Happy Trails to you!!!

bye-bye highway 59

So it has been a while.

But it takes time

raking through every single treasure within the multitudes.

You start out

ambitious.

Methodical.

MOTIVATED.

No wasted space in a box.

The trailer filling up like an intense tetris game.

Memories awaken as you stumble on love notes misspelled with crayons.

Ratty old blankies only survive the purge by the salvation of the past that wraps around you as you remember snuggling up.

It is like an engagement.  Exciting.

New House=New Hope

The solution to a few issues morphs into the fix-all.

At least I must have conveyed that idea to the kids. 

"After the move we won't hafta...."

fill in the blank

Well Levi picked up on the notion because as I tackled a pile of laundry one day he

encouragingly said,

"Just think mom, after the move you won't hafta....O i guess we will still have laundry."

But as packing progresses

jewels become junk 

fondness: frustration

as you scribble

"TOYS"

with a faded sharpie for the 997th time.

Eventually you start shoving

and even get to the point of googling the number for the "Hoarders" TV show

in hopes of them reconciling your personal misgivings.

In the end, we all survived

and are elated to be in our home.

  I asked Milo what he liked the most. 

First he said the porch,

which is really the closest thing to heaven around here.

  Then he said he really likes

"the Big!"

And I would have to agree! 

We have some room to breathe...

and we have more than one bathroom now so we have more room to...

well lets just say the line to the potty has dwindled. 

We have a living room DOWNSTAIRS. 

DOWNSTAIRS, PEOPLE! 

And a few great hangout spots UPSTAIRS!!!

GET IT???

...cranky mothers can run away!

So goodbye to our sweet cracker box on Highway 59.

We will keep the name here on the blog...

You know keeping close to our roots!

And hello to town from the hillbillies on the corner!!

ps. no pics yet cuz i still hafta find the cord...it was relocated in the cramming stage of packing.

pps. (or is it pss??) Stay posted for a few lessons we have learned on Town Living!