Dried Mangos

Rub-a-dub-dub, one curly haired girl in the tub.

Here's the deal.
When I'm running, my mind is totally relaxed. I can think things through. I have a clear head. I can solve some problems. Some, not all. During this time, I always think of great ideas to post on this blog. They are great, witty, inspirational, and entertaining. At least, in that moment I think so. After I'm done running, I can't just go straight to the computer. Sweat, Stink, Kids, Dogs, pick up kids, prepare meals, yada, yada, yada. By the time I get time to post anything, the great ideas are gone. Poof!
Or, I'm just lazy.

So there are a few things that I have wanted to post about, but this is in it's basic form. Today is my day off from exercising this week, so witty is out the window.

We put our house up for sale. Whoo Hooo! So far we have had 5 showings. It's a lot of work. I knew this, but wow. It feels like I clean, clean, clean, have a few days off and then clean, clean, clean.

We sold our old Honda. It was running out of steam. Ruby was pretty sad. She had to take some pictures of it before it left. We bought a Toyota from Lew's friend, Bryce. Bryce took great care of this vehicle. No one had ever sat in the back seat. Well, we've broken the thing in, alright.

This serves as a heads up if you are coming over to my house. I don't want you to get lost. There is a for sale sign out front, and a new vehicle.

Ruby takes dance at Shellie's School of Dance. Love it. Her teacher is Shayla. Love her. So it gets even better. For the spring dance concert, Ruby is doing a dance with Sweet Lew! Isn't that the best! I'm so excited. It's going to be so adorable! I cried when Shayla told me about it. Oh! I love it! Lew, not so excited. But he will do anything for little Ruby, so I'll keep this updated. he he!

I went to the library the other day. I found this book by Sara Gruen. She had written a book called Water for Elephants. I really liked it a lot. (the movie will be released soon). Anyway, I thought I would give her next book a try. One problem. It's called Ape House. Now, I have a few things that really pull on my heart. My family, babies, dogs, elderly people, cancer patients, and primates. When I was little, I remember watching the movie Project X with Matthew Broderick. I was sobbing at the end. My Grandma called and I couldn't utter a logical word to answer the phone. I just blubbered and handed the phone to Cassi. I always wanted to have a pet money. I love their eyes. Anyway, I started reading this book and got to the second page and I had to stop. Nope. No reading from this point on. It hurt my heart just to read the second page, and wonder where this book was leading. I had to protect my heart, and shut the book.

Lets see what else is going on...

The kids and I are watching Beauty and The Beast. Zane is crying at the end. Such a cute, sensitive boy.

Ruby is doing fantastic in school. She gets 100% on every spelling test. We went to a mother and daughter activity at her school. We got to wear our jammies, eat breakfast foods and play games. Ruby loved it. We had a really fun time with a bunch of chicks from her class.

Valentine's Day is not really a big celebration for Lew and I. The kids enjoy getting the valentines ready for their friends. And of course the CANDY. This year Sweet Lew surprised me. He had texted me a message that was really confusing. It was hints to find my gift. But we had a showing and piano lessons so I didn't get to look for it. That night, Lew couldn't hide his excitement. He continued to try and get me to go downstairs. He has a way of trying not to smile, but his dimples show, and his mouth curls up in the corners. So cute. I could tell he was dying for me to go look for it. When I finally did, I found a huge box...with....a...new....CAMERA!!! He bought me a new camera! It's an slr. Meaning I can use different lenses. It came with two and he bought me another one too. So exciting. I'm still learning how to use it, but I love it. Oh, there is so much to learn about it! I had the best Valentines ever! I love my Lew and I'm so very, very lucky to have such a great husband and best friend who loves me right back.

Next post, I will try to keep those great ideas in my head and post them. Or maybe strap the laptop to the treadmill?

Ooooohhhh la la!

Real or Fake?

So?

Did I trick you?

It's actually a picture of Zane's butt!
He has the cutest little butt cheeks, and I wanted to play a trick on Lew...
This is perfect black mail material for the teenage years.
Happy Valentines Day!

Friday, February 25th

"I'm not a robot,
I'm not a monkey.
I will not dance,
even if the beats funky."

-Mike Shinoda, Linkin Park

Live.
February 25th.
Energy Solutions Arena

I have goose bumps already.

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

Lately Zane has said little things that has given me some comedic relief. Here I go...

-While walking through my room Zane said, "Mom, I smell red."

-Ruby was reading a book with Zane intently watching her. After watching her for about 2 minutes he told her (in a sweet, sincere tone), "Your beautiful Roob". Isn't he so sweet! He really is a tender hearted kid.

-Zane asked me to get something out of Lew's top drawer. I pulled the drawer out and heard him mumble some words. I asked him to say it again. He replied, "I wish you the best of luck".

-On Wednesday we were getting Zane ready to go to preschool. He really wanted a specific toy. Zane likes to hide toys, and then forgets where he put them. Since we were just about to walk out the door, I told him to find another toy, and we would look for the other one later. Instead of whining, he directly said to me, "I absolutely have to find it." Thankfully, I found it.

- Zane, Ruby and I were working on homework. I was helping him with his ABC's. When we got to the letter L, he drew a blank. So I suggested that we sing it from the beginning. Here is how it went for the little dude. A B C D E F G H I J K (mumble) mnop Q R S T U V W X Y and . . . . L!
Zane is a little protective of the letter Z, so he won't say it at the end of the alphabet. Sometimes he thinks it's a number. For example, he'll tell me how much something costs, oh about 0 and a 0 and a 0 and a 1 and a Z.

Zane has such a sweet, tender heart. We are putting the house up for sale and he does not want to move. Before he goes to bed he will kiss the wall and tell me how much he is going to miss the house.
When I get something for Zane and he really appreciates it, he will grab my hand, or give me a hug with a kiss and say, "Thank you so much mom." Oh, how he melts my heart. I am so grateful for such a good boy.

Damn Stocking!

It was a year ago, way back in November of 2009, I purchased this stocking for Zane. I even blogged about it. In my lack of experience and knowledge of embroidery, I thought I would be able to have it done for Christmas '09. Nope.
So throughout the year I had worked on this thing. It came camping with us in July. In October

I really dedicated a lot of attention to it. November, I would squeeze more and more minutes in with it. In December, panic set in. I started staying up late to get it finished by Christmas. The week before Christmas I was about to pull some all nighters. I decided to enjoy Christmas instead, and slept.

Well...

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

On February 2nd 2011, I finished Zane's Damn Christmas Stocking!

Why the cussing?

Because I'm very upset! Stupid stocking. I loved working on it. It's worth it, especially because Zaner just loves it. After I got the hang of it, the work became relaxing. I just wanted the damn thing to be done by Christmas.

February 3rd, I started working on Ruby's stocking.

It might get done by Christmas 2015.