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Showing posts from May, 2014

Summer Beginnings

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We are kicking off the Summer here in Nebraska!  The kids are done with school and will be home with me and on the constant prowl for food and entertainment for the next 12 weeks. Maintaining order (ie. sanity) is hard.  One thing that I have found is a must, is a tentative schedule.  Not so much for activities but for EATING!  With some kids that can get their own snacks and some who can't it never fails that you end up with a big kid eating the last of the _______ at 1:00 in the afternoon while one of the youngers looks on in over dramatized jealousy. MOM!!!! So I set down rules of what can be eaten and when.  I find that also reduces the constant questioning as to when and what we are eating.  Breakfast and snacks are a little more lenient and include some of the same things -- fruit, yogurt, toast, granola. Lunch and dinner are on the table about 11:30 and 5:30.  I write on the fridge white board, a list of the meals I will be making that week. I ask that the kids don&#

Mother's Day Thoughts

Nearly sixteen years ago, I sat criss-cross-applesause on a hospital bed around 1:00am with a baby on my lap.  I remember looking at him and thinking "what in the world am I going to do with him??" I became a mother that day. Arguably, I became a mother when I first discovered our first son. But I was a different mother the day he was born.  I became a different mother the first time he choked on spit-up, the first time he fell and hurt himself, with the first word he said, the first time he walked alone, the first time he spent the day away from me.  I will soon become a different mother as I watch him drive away. I guess I thought that "Motherhood" was a finite state.  You had a baby and became one and that was the end of the transaction.  I have learned a lot since I was 22 and had my first baby.  The transformation is the curious part.  The infinite difference in sixteen years of growth and development on my part is staggering.  More so than our children

Are Sensory Deprivation Tanks Expensive?

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You know your going to be "busy" with four children.  A logical mind understands the financial and time commitment of having a large family.  But I am finding out that: I didn't know squat. I think the most surprising thing to me is the constant existence of Survival Mode.  Anyone who's had a new baby understands what I'm talking about.  That sleep deprived, can't get much more tired than I am right now, oh lookey yes I can, gee that's new, sort of mode.  Where the things still need to be done and the house cleaned and shopping done and you're just a shell of a human zombie walking around Doing it anyway. I don't mean to seem so dark here, of course I "consider it all joy."  But really, I had no idea how insanely busy we would be.  With kids in drama, band, chorus, football, church activities and more, we run every night of the week.  And not just the actual doing of the stuff but keeping track of books and uniforms musical in

Anything But a Birthday Party!

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It's not fair! I hear that a lot at my house.  The kids say it quite a bit too.  ;o) fair (adjective) --  free from bias, dishonesty or injustice.  Legitimately sought, pursued, done, given, etc. The older I get, the more I am completely certain that fairness only exists in Heaven.  Down here on the Earth, it's 100% true what they say: Life's not fair! Some folks get the "thin genes" some of us don't.  Some work hard all their lives and still can't make enough money to cover the month.  Some people seem to have all the illness that would be too much for four people.  Others enjoy good health.  It's NOT fair. And it's probably a good think that life isn't fair.  If I got paid back in justice, honesty and non-bias for all the things I ever did -- I would be on the streets with people walking by to kick me for fun.  Seriously.  It's a GOOD THING we don't get what we deserve. Just something I was thinking about. Another t

Lincoln Marathon 2014 Race Report

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What a beautiful day for a race!  David and I upped the ante this year and went out for a little bike ride before the start of the race.  I was a little nervous about how that would go off (having to make it to the start line at a certain time) but it was just fine. The Night Before We are fairly accustomed to preparing for brick workouts the night before, so this was old hat.  We got out bikes ready, the bottles of Perpetuem and Cytomax made, the clothes all laid out and the alarm set. The Bike The alarm went off at 4:00am, as our goal was to leave at 4:45 and ride for two hours.  The mileage wasn't as important as the time spent riding -- but I figured we would make about 30 miles in two hours.  I ate my usual half a peanut butter sandwich and cup of coffee and we were on the bikes right on time. With a two hour bike ride and a two and a half hour run to do, it was important to "front load" our nutrition on the bike.  I had approximately 700 calories to consu