Headed in the right direction????

our food habits, that is.......I am thrilled with Safeway's newest line...Safeway Organics.I finally feel like 'packaged' foods have made a step in the right direction. Believe me, my kids get their fair share of sugar-coated-crap, but I try to find a sense of balance. You know, try to offset all the junk with a bit of good. So Safeway definately has got my business with this line. And as if being healthy wasn't enough, the prices are great too...well, compared to all the other healthy food sold up here. (On this one) Safeway rocks!!! Now if they would just create organic Diet Coke? I'd really be lovin that. How about tequila....you think it's organic???

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So let me tell you about my day....
My friend Kim & I have planned for the last couple weeks to have a Girl's Day out. And it took loads of planning & organization, but we got it all worked out for today. This was a particularly big deal as we have never done this before..the 2 of us, no kids......hmmm, what a thought :) So our big girls were going to Girl Scouts Day Camp & we had a sitter lined up for the little guys. We were set. The boys had soccer camp from 9-10:30am but another friend (who also has kids in soccer camp) said she'd drop the little ones off at home, where the sitter would be waiting. We were golden.....or so we thought. I get up early this morning to be sure I was ready for a 9am departure....we were to hit the road right after dropping the girls off at GS camp. We would be free until 4pm. As I get out of the shower I hear the phone ringing....it's Kim. Our friend who was transporting the boys called her to say her kids weren't going to soccer camp due to the light rain. Mind you, soccer camp is "rain or shine". Okay...we can deal with this....time to regroup. So Kim arranges for her father-in-law to transport the boys & all will be well. Girls are off to GS camp & we head to the soccer fields....it's now 9:10 but we are just a tad behind schedule. We arrive at soccer to see all of the coaches with the 'big kids' group (ages 7-10) and 3 of the littler kids sitting in the pavalion with a mom. Hmm? Coach says (in his uber-thick British accent) "We canceled for the little guys since nobaody came".......what??? we are only 10 minutes late & 3 others are here...the only 2 that didn't show belong to our friend who bailed this morning. "We'll try again tomorrow" he says. Okay...regroup again..... we call the sitter who lives next door to Kim & see if she can watch the boys a tad early. Uhm....yeah, but she needs atleast an hour to get ready. Okay.... that's not really early but we'll just wait it out.....what choice do we have. So we hit the coffee stand & head back to her house to wait on the sitter. At 10:30 the sitter shows up like she just rolled out of bed in her pajama pants, flip flops, and a ratty pony tail......this took an hour???? If that's true, then girl must have been lookin really rough this morning. So at 10:40 we pull out of the driveway...an hour & a half late, but we are grateful to just be on our way. Then I jinxed us.....I said "Do you hear that??? Silence...isn't it beautiful." Not 2 freaking minutes later my cell phone rings.....crap, it's a number I don't recognize.....who could it be??? Yep, the First Aid Tent at Girl Scout Camp. On that side of town it had started to rain pretty heavily & D. had managed to get her shoes filled with water while playing tug-of-war. She was freezing.....poor thing was sobbing when she got on the phone. "I just want you to come & get me Momma" she begged. At that I just motioned for my friend to continue straight instead of merging into a turn lane to head for the highway to Anchorage. So we go pick up my girl...... we decide just before picking her up, that we'll just take her with us. Out of our four children combined she is the oldest & is hands-down the easiest to take withh us on a day such as this. There's just one problem.....her shoes are soaked. And a trip home would mean 1/2 hour in the opposite direction. She has spare socks, but who takes extra shoes to DAY camp??? So a detour to Payless (in a nearby stripmall) is necessary to get girlie some shoes. She was thrilled....she ended up with Patriotic Airwalks (knockoff Crocs). Finally we get on the highway toward Anchorage (an hour away) at 11:39. A mere 2 1/2 hours late. After travel time, we have a whopping 2 1/2hours to ourselves....well, ourselves & an 8year old. But we weren't about to be beaten...we hit the ground running & made a major dent in Nordstroms. I found some cute shorts for the trip & some much needed undergarments. Oh yeah... you gotta love having your daughter along to try on bras...fun, fun! And that leads us to the quote of the day:

D: Mom this is crazy??
Me: What?
(as she points out a very lacy, revealing demi bra with rhinestone straps)
D: Why do they have all these fancy bras???? It's not like anybody's ever going to see you in it.
Me:(gulp) Yeah...pretty silly isn't it. (As I pray that she keeps thinking this way for a very long time!)

If emotions are rollercoasters....

then my life is an amusement park. You know for the most part it's pretty fun...some bits keep you on the edge of your seat, never knowing what thrill is just around the bend. And, of course, there are the areas that make you wonder "Who the hell thought this was a good idea??". All-in-all it's good though. We are happy, healthy, & well taken care of. Each & every day I count my blessings...... but you know there are the days when a girl looses her head....I was there this morning. Just a little cry-fest....totally self-imposed, worrying about things that are really minor in the big picture. Today I was freaking out about our upcoming trip....
~how will I fit "IT" all in?? Seeing all my family, making sure I spend enough time with everyone & don't end up with a lapful of regrets at the end of the month.
See, my parents divorced when I was like 2 or something...long before I could remember it. And growing up it seemed totally 'normal'. It's only been since I've been a mother myself that I've realized how abnormal it really was. Sure, loads of kids come from 'broken homes', but it wasn't until the last 7 or 8 years that I understood how much that can suck. Really suck. My parents are both great & I love them both to death. And no, I have never wished them 'back together'. Nope, I can't see it. But what I do remember is trying to share holidays & weekends and stuff. That stunk....not just for me, but for everybody. And now I am getting ready to go home for a visit. A friend called me last night & asked if I was getting excited......then it hit me. I had a massive knot in my stomach & my heart hurt...you know, the heavy feeling in your chest. At first I couldn't figure it out.....then it dawned on me. I was already trying to figure out in my mind how I was going to 'split' my time. Nobody has said anything, it's just what I associate with home. Damn. I am 32 years old & I really need to get over this. So I talked to my dad, & my mom, & my aunt & my sister & my hubby and I cried.....and I've cried some more. My 'face' from this morning has been transfered to a pile of tissues littering my van, my bedroom, my livingroom.....okay you get the point. They've all assured me it'll all be okay...and deep down I know it will. But I still worry. It's times likes this (and a whole lot more) that I think it would be easier to just move back east so everyone was closer and trying to see everybody in both mine in K.'s families wasn't so hard. I don't know...maybe someday...
And just when I didn't think I could cry any more...my little man came & wiped my tears. "I love you Momma. You wanna buy me some ice cream?" Yep, this is the part of my 'amusement park' I love.

And too cute not to share.....

This photo is from this past Sunday.....my girl's 8th birthday. I can't believe she has gotten so big!!! We spent the day at my Mom's....a few presents, a freaking fabulous dinner of crab legs (D's favorite) & at D's request, banana splits for dessert. The kids got to end their day 4-wheeling in the woods. G-ma rocks!

Okay so Blogger is jacked up.....

& it won't let me put more than 2 pics per post...

So R. goes to play at his friend K's house & comes home looking like Pigpen from Peanuts.....infact, I am sure he smelled like him too. The very first words out of his mouth:
R: Mommy, can I play Gamecube?
Me: Not until you take a bath, dirt-boy
R: Why???? I just taked one the other week.....
Me:Eeeewwww... Don't let people hear you talk like that. They'll think I don't feed you either.

So someone please tell me how my cutie-pie goes from looking like this to looking like THIS.......

And believe me..this picture doesn't even begin to illustrate the degree to which my son has gotten filthy. God really challenged me when he gave me a boy......I had NO idea!

And did I tell you how thrilled he is to pee on trees??? And not just out in the woods either...at the park, at the soccer field...I even had to drag him away from one (toward the public restroom) while visiting a local garden center with a friend the other day. It doesn't help that said friend also has a 4 year old son fond of 'give the trees a drink'. I think I just need to start carrying a margarita around in a sports bottle. Whatcha think? I call it liquid sanity :)

Strangers out my window........

so I am diligently vacuuming my floors this afternoon & using the attachments along my baseboards (I know, all this detail is just way too exciting!) when I see movement out of the corner of my eye. Huh?? There were 3 strange men standing out on my back deck. And just before my heart came completely out of my chest, I realized they must be the guys here to install our fence. I knew they were supposed to be coming, but they were also supposed to come on Saturday, Monday, & Tuesday....so I had just kind of given up hope. But taa-daa!!! Schotzie girl now has her own little playland!! And believe me, while I am loving the fence now....I will be LOVING the fence come January when it is butt freezing cold outside! Who wants to take a dog out to pee when it is -25 degrees Fahrenheit??? I never thought I'd be so happy to see $1700.00 worth of chainlink in all my life!!! Some people carry pictures of their children...I'll be carrying pictures of my new fence. **Can you say dork??** So I just now need to come up with a name for this sweet thing....any suggestions???

The last day of spring......

tomorrow officialy marks the beginning of summer & let me tell you it is awesome here in the Land of the Midnight Sun!!! Alaskan winters may suck, but summer ROCKS!!!
So far we have been having a super busy summer.....picnics, soccer camps, birthday party, Girl Scout camp, hundreds of moquito bites, a wicked summer cold, chicken pox, a 4year old with horrible (words truly can't describe how bad this is) smashed finger........
okay maybe summer hasn't been all fun & games so far, but we are enjoying it none-the-less!

The Narnia party was awesome & D. was sooooo suprised!!!! We had a houseful of giggling girls....man can those girls go the distance when it comes to staying up late. Who'd a thought??? D. also got some really awesome Narnia presents from her friends. One girls even made her a custom Narnia frame. I'll share more pics once I can find them amongst the thousands of files on this bloody PC.

Other than that, we are gearing up for our trip...just one week to go & so much to do here at home in the meantime. But we are all getting excited to go see our family in Ohio......look out Stark County.....here we come!!!! I mean really....just look at the type of rifraff that are headed your way....be very afraid ;)