More Halloween Fun

 I wanted a Halloween picture with all of my kids. Of course Bryce is too cool, so he refused.

 We even fought about it.

 This picture looks like we're hugging, but I'm trying to muscle him into posing for a picture with me.  Below it looks like I finally won, but what you can't see is that my leg is wrapped around his legs and as soon as the picture was taken he bit me. Can you see how my biceps are flexing to keep him there? I sure love him!

Halloween'sday Nightmare

Halloween'sday is what my kids call Halloween (especially if it falls on a Wednesday).

After I took a 4 hour nap yesterday, I didn't sleep well last night. At 4 am I got up and went in the bathroom to find that our toilet overflowed (not just water, the "remnants" of what clogged it too). I got the plunger and figured I would take care of the problem myself. The more I plunged, the more "soupy" water overflowed onto the floor and my pj's. So GROSS!!! I got the steam cleaner out and used the attachment to suck the grodie water and "chunks" out of the toilet and off of the floor. I plunged at least 500 times and could not get the clog to budge. Then I snaked the toilet and that didn't help either. So after working on the disgustingness for an hour,  I cleaned up the mess and went for my early morning run (6 miles). The toilet is not fixed yet, but I'm done trying. Someone will bigger muscles and more tolerance for poop can take care of it!

1/2 good

If you are interested in my Satly's 1/2 marathon experience from yesterday, check my other blog:
monicasweighdown.blogspot.com

Play

I started up Mama's Dance party last night after returning from zumba. I feel so alive when I dance, even if it's just in my kitchen or my living room with my littles. I saw how alive my husband appeared when he was playing softball. Doing something that you really love is so important to helping you feel like you are living.

7 alarm challenge

We had our season finale party and award ceremony for softball last night at the Wingdome. (I got the award for Most Improved)! They have seven levels of spiciness of their wings ~ 7 being the hottest. They also have a promotion called the 7 alarm challenge. You eat 7 number 7's in 7 minutes ~ you can't use a napkin, drink anything, and you have to lick all the sauce off of your fingers. If you can do it, the wings are free and you get your picture on their "wall of flame" and you get a t-shirt. Ryan loves spicy foods, so I knew if anyone could do it, it was him and he took the challenge. He waited 1 1/2 minutes before starting to eat, then ate for the next four minutes finishing every bite including the sauce laden lettuce on the bottom. He took the challenge like a champ ~ and got the t-shirt. Three of our team mates ate one number 7 to support him. I tried a popcorn seed size taste of the sauce and my mouth was on fire.

Today he's the King of the toilet. I love him enough to not point out that he brought this upon himself, or that this is probably the stupidest thing he's ever done ~ I don't need to, he already knows. I did point out that I don't think anyone would be surprised if he got stomach cancer from all the damage he does with spicy foods. He said he's done with the spicy stuff. We'll see.

It was an unforgettable way to close out our softball season.

Seattle Rock n Roll 2012

The hubs and I signed up for the Seattle Rock n Roll 1/2 marathon next June. Early registration and knocking off $15 helped us make the decision to sign up now. They are working on a new course, so that should be a big plus. I'm excited!

Friends

I had such a nice day. Ryan stayed home with the kids and I went shopping and out to lunch with three of my girlfriends. I haven't had a time where I could go shopping with girlfriends without kids in a LONG time! I found some really cute things, too! I have my sisters and a lot of friends, but everyone has kids and being a mom means you're kind of isolated ~ and that sucks! I feel so blessed to have a husband that understands and encourages me to nurture my friendships (and stays home with the kids while I do).

It's been a while...

I haven't really had any earth-shattering things going on in my life. I'm running a lot to shed the pounds I've put on since my last show and am using the Salty's 1/2 marathon as my motivation. I've improved my softball game quite a bit. It's kind of sad that as the season is ending I'm finally getting better ~ but there's always next year. The kids and Ryan are back in school. Now that we're in the swing of things, I'm really enjoying the structure that their school schedule provides to my life. Parker is doing very well in school ~ not academically, but socially. He's still his weird little self, but his classmates see to accept him the way he is. I love that! So, life it good!

Food for Thought

Rock Band

Who doesn't love the lead singer in a band? (HOT) ~ or a guy that can play the guitar and poor out his love to you in sweet songs. My sweetheart is working on it. I saw this picture and I thought it was so fitting!

Sad day for One

I took all my kids to see our Dr. for a flu shot. We will be traveling quite a bit in the next few months and the worst thing that could happen would be someone getting sick. I got them all prepared that they would have a poke and it would hurt for a moment and then we would go get icecream. Bryce was the most freaked out about the whole thing, but I gave him the pep talk about how he has to be brave for his siblings and I knew he could get through it.
Our Dr. informed us that children over 2 get better immunity from the flu sniff (inhaler) than the actual shot ~ unless they have wheezing or asthma. Bryce has asthma and wheezing, so he was not a candidate. Poor kid. He did have the shot and he lived through it (although I'm pretty sure the medical assistant wanted to kill him after all the questions he asked).
We all got icecream. Bryce thought he should get more than everyone else, so the little ones got little cones and he got a big one ~ which is how we always do it, but no one needs to point that out to him....

Pigtails

Halea with her best friend Erica (Eka)

Halea's tiny pigtails and horrible rash

The day has finally arrived that my girl has enough hair for pigtails. Yes, they are very thin and I can probably count how many individual hairs each pigtail has, but that's not the point! I've waited two and 1/2 long years for this! And she even left them in for a couple hours!

Modest, not Amish

I heard from a friend about this company called Down East that makes modest, but cute clothing for women. I was impressed at their website, so I googled "women's clothing modest". Here's what I found:
http://www.hannahlise.com/
http://www.modestclothing.com/
http://www.modestapparelusa.com

but the AWARD goes to:
http://www.liliesapparel.com/

Peace-Making

I went for a 10 mile run with someone this morning. It was supposed to be 9 miles, but we took some "detours" and it cost us an extra mile. I'm not going to name name's, but someone complained pretty much the whole time. Of course I didn't let on how much the complaining was annoying me because I'm a loving, peace-making woman. I ate up the resentment and at times hatred. When I saw this, I thought it was perfect! The greatest part of the run was the drive home and realizing that I just ran 10 miles!