Does this sound like fun to you???

Merril got home at 2 p.m. this afternoon from his SaddleSore 1,ooo ride. The rules include no speeding, no use of stimulants to keep you awake and alert, ride 1,000 miles and do it in under 24 hours. He left yesterday at 7 p.m. with his friend, Ryan, and rode through the night and most of the day. He said he, "had a good time!"

Here's his GPS. He went 1,010 miles, riding for 14 hours and 13 minutes. HOLY. COW. They rested for 4 hours and 5 minutes. So the entire trip took just over 18 hours. Now to me, that doesn't sound like fun to bust it for a little piece of paper but whatever. I knew he was nuts when I met him, no surprise here. But I'm telling this story all wrong. Let's back up.

Here's the chief mechanic. He's making sure the saddlebags are properly packed with tools and such.

Here's Merril right before departure, looking sharp and alert.

Here he is on arrival at 2 p.m.

Notice the bloodshot eyes and kind of crazed look about him. Let's just say I don't consider this a really healthy past time. He had a shower and took a nap for a couple of hours. He's wandering around sore but happy.

Easter Sunday and Iron Butt...

As a kid, I don't remember so many holidays that included candy, but now I'm keenly aware of all the sugar. I need to buy less when it comes to candy holidays but for now, on with the story. We started our Easter Sunday with the egg hunt and found that Juliet was very possessive of her basket and its contents. No one was allowed near it, even me. She looks like she's investigating Maxine's basket to note its treasures.
Jack just wanted everything for himself.



We went to church and took this picture when we got home. It was the only good one with Jack. Afterwards, he jumped around like a goof and was blurry.
Maxine and Juliet wanted to pose so I caught this little face. I love her cheeky cheeks!And to change the subject, my husband has decided to do an Iron Butt motorcycle ride. The Iron Butt Association is composed of motorcycle riders who have completed a long distance in a short period of time. Merril intends to leave this evening to get his SaddleSore 1,000. He'll need to ride 1,000 miles on a motorcycle in under 24 hours. There are other rides including a Pacific to Atlantic coast ride in under 50 hours. He's even got one, and maybe two, friends to go with him. Sounds like a case of sore bum to me.

Jack's Easter tie!

I was a little scared about making a tie for Jack but I found an easy, free pattern online and it went right together! The website has easy to follow instructions and the downloadable pattern here. I cut out the pieces last night and put it together today. It's mostly ironing and sewing slip stitches by hand. It was really easy! Now all three kids have matching Easter outfits. Wahoo!

Easter dresses...

I just finished the dresses for Maxine and Juliet tonight!  Yeah!  I need to make a tie for Jack because he feels left out.  He wants me to make him a shirt too but that's not gonna happen.  I'll barely get it glued together by Easter Sunday.  Maxine has been wearing her dress for a few days, pinned in the back because I hadn't finished the buttons.  The bottom fabric is a dragonfly pattern and it's glittery.  The dress spins excessively and Maxine LOVES it!

The only casualty is my sewing machine.  It's so out of wack.  It's not a totally fabulous machine but it's sewing like a dog now: missed stitches, loopy stitches, jamming, etc.  I've adjusted it all over the place but I just need to take it in to be serviced.  And one day, I vow to have a really great sewing machine!  

Resurrection cookies...

Since Easter is coming up, I wanted to share a cool Easter activity that I heard about last year. Someone told me about resurrection cookies to make with kids.

These are to be made the night before Easter:
Pecans are smashed, to represent Jesus being beaten; kids taste salt to represent Jesus' tears; eggs are beaten until white and peaks form to symbolize purity; etc. There are scriptures to go with each of the ingredients and parts of the story. Afterwards the cookies are put in the oven and then the oven is turned off and taped shut (the tomb was sealed) and the kids go to bed. In the morning, the cookies are done and hollow inside, to symbolize that Jesus had been resurrected and the tomb was empty. If you Google "resurrection cookies", websites with the recipe and scripture references pop up or you can just click here.

I'm excited to try it this year because I've wanted to add a spiritual context to Easter. We've always just done eggs. (I'm sure none of you need the recipe because you're awesome mothers and have been doing this for years but I thought I'd just pass along the info just in case.)

HAPPY EASTER!

Finally finished...mostly

My living room has been cluttered for a month because everything in the entertainment center was thrown on the floor. Tools and random screws littered the carpet but today, it's finally all clean. Here's the finished project.

Here's the left one:

Here's the right one:

Here they are around the t.v.
I had to spend an additional $10 for some hardware so that brought my total to $82 for the whole project. I'm glad we saved some dough but it was more work than I thought it was going to be. Plus, I plan on doing a shelf in between. I found some board to use in the basement but it wasn't found until I was mostly done painting. I'll get it done before Christmas so my village can sit on it.

I'm very pleased with the results. Merril gets credit for the magnetic door latch idea but the rest was conceived, painted and reconstructed by myself. Personally, I didn't know if it was going to work out. I thought the whole thing was going to be a bust. Woosh! Now I need to focus on Maxine's Easter dress because I only have a little over a week!!

Oh, and work continues on the basement! I've got a guy coming tomorrow to do the baseboards, door casing and shelf work for the closet! Wahoo!

First Soccer Game...

Maxine announced that she'd like to play soccer this year. Okay. A Dad in the neighborhood is coaching and Maxine's friend is on the team. Maxine's taken 1 tumbling class and that's the extent of her athletic training. It's just not something we focus on at our house. So I bought the city jersey and shin guards and descended into the dregs of being a "soccer Mom." Yesterday was her first game and she played better than I thought she would!

Kicking in the ball.

She actually scored a goal too! Not that it matters because they don't keep score. At least the goal made soccer fun instead of just a lot of running around.

So in the end she got some exercise and had fun!

Food for thought: During dinner, I asked Merril, "If the singular for mice is mouse and lice is louse, is a single grain of rice a rouse?" Merril, puzzled said, "I don't know." Which prompted a Google search which returned the following: One of the mice is called a mouse, but one of the dice isn’t a douse, nor one grain of rice called a rouse, nor a cube of ice called an ouse. And why isn’t a house one of the hice or a blouse one of the blice? (And for that matter, why isn't a spouse one of the spice?) Happy April Fool's Day!

I don't need to know...

We're having one of those mornings where the kids (and myself) seem bugged by everything. So I made them some popcorn for a snack and came in to check blogs. Jack and Jules were eating contently but the sound has switched to laughter and what I can only gather as mess making. Popcorn is a snack and entertainment at our house. It's generally smashed into little pieces and it's buying me a few minutes to unwind. However crazy it sounds, if I go in to check on them, I'll break the spell. They won't want to continue their game if I go see what's up. So as long as it's happiness I can hear, I'll let them do their thing. *Someone little left their gum on the desk and now it's on the elbow of my jacket.*

What we've been up to...

I apologize for my boring posts lately.  While sick, I didn't feel like posting pictures.  So here's some stuff that was missed.

A gas station opened by our house and they had a monster truck, race car, and chopper.  Of course, Jack had to go check it out.  It was cold so we didn't stay long but Jack thought the monster truck was HUGE!  He also wanted to know how the driver gets up to the door to get in.  

And now the entertainment center project!!

Here's the primed pieces.

I've got one almost put together.  The backer isn't on yet and there's a glaring white strip in the front that somehow got missed when the black painting was going on.  I'm going to need to touch up a spot or two so I'll just paint it then.  Oh, and put the shelves in. 

But here's the first glimpse:I'm actually really pleased with it!  It turned out way better than I thought it would.  I was pretty worried I was going to have to scrap the whole thing for a bit.  Total cost of project for both sides: $72.

Welcome Home Megan!

Merril's sister, Megan, finished her mission and flew home two weeks ago.  But I'm just posting the pictures now because I kind of forgot about them on my camera.  :)  

We made a sign to welcome Aunt Megan home!  

Now the kids are tired of holding the sign and decided to lay down.  In their defense, it was about 10 o'clock and they were tired.  I don't even want to imagine what was on that airport floor.

Here's Megan and Ma Campbell.  She was very excited!

Sick, sick, sick...

Our family has been pounded with illness lately. 2 1/2 weeks ago we got colds. 1 1/2 weeks ago, Max, Merril and I got the flu. And now Maxine and I have been diagnosed with pneumonia, everyone else is better. Max and I are on antibiotics and getting better but it's been a long time coming. Over the past week, my competancy as a parent has gone in the toilet. Diapers were barely getting changed. Luckily, Juliet and Jack just got the cold and have been spared the yucky stuff. I feel bad for Maxine because she's been sick the longest and was sick during the entire Spring Break holiday. What a bummer. But things are looking up and it's Spring! I haven't worked on my garden yet but it's getting time! I hope you are all doing well!

I hope I didn't make a mistake...

I just put the 4th coat of primer/paint on the entertainment center pieces. Now I wait. I hope it turns out but I'm a little apprehensive. Mainly because I didn't start with real wood. It's just an entertainment center made out of particle board with contact paper. If it doesn't work out, I just spent $70 and 5 evenings working on something I'm not even going to like. Urrgggg. We'll see.

Update...

The entertainment center has 2 coats of primer and 1 coat of black. 2 coats should do it. I hope. And I'm on page 207 of my book and even made the kids dinner *wink to Em.* Yeah!

Books...

I have a book discussion on Thursday. Through twists of fate, I didn't receive the book until today. I'm on page 57. I have 373 pages to go. Yikes.

P.S. I'm not an exceptionally fast reader.

Update...

I planted a peach tree and primed the entertainment center. I hope to paint the entertainment center tomorrow and finish it up this week. Pictures to follow.

So...how's that project coming?

I'm still working on the entertainment center. :) I finally got the pieces marked and ready for cutting. I had to plan, mark, and measure and that's not my strong suit. I like to imagine how it'll turn out and paint.

Today, I took the wood to a friend's house and borrowed her table saw. Merril, overhearing that I was going to use a table saw said, "Be careful with those things. People lose more fingers using a table saw than any other tool." I thought to myself, "Good to know." I was very focused on my hand placement whilst using the saw and am happy to say that I'm using all ten fingers to type.

Then I brought the pieces home and prepped them for primer. Here I'm cleaning some trim.

Here are the cut pieces, ready to be primed.

And then, like an idiot, I got a crazy idea to make my kids' Easter dresses. What...was...I...thinking? Juliet's is almost done. I still need to hem it and attach the buttons on the back. The buttons are little dragonflies to match the dragonflies on the dress. (Suddenly the word dragonfly looks weird.)
Maxine's will be identical except the bodice is pale yellow instead of pink. So the dresses will be similar but different.
And then I'm going to make a tie out of the leftover yellow material for Jack . *chuckle* We're having high hopes for the tie but it might just be hot glued together the night before Easter.

Merril's sister, Megan, is flying home from her mission in Sweden today! We're going to the airport to welcome her home! I'm excited to see her after a year and a half. She's probably somewhere over the ocean about now! Wahoo!

Bowling FHE...

We went bowling for FHE and were able to get the lane with the bumpers in the gutters. I would have had a ton more gutter balls if it weren't for the bumpers. Merril bounced off them a couple of times too. In the end, we had a 3-way tie for first place. Jack, Juliet, and I tied at 99 but no one could bust 100. Merril came in at 90 and Maxine finished up with 80. Jack got 2 strikes and Juliet got 1 strike by some fluke of bowling luck. Maxine was supremely disappointed that she didn't get a strike too. We tried and tried but to no avail. It was fun but I kept wondering when the last time the bowling ball holes had been disinfected. Eeewwww!

Dig a hole...fill it up...

So today, I dug a hole. It took about 2 hours. Reason? I want a fruit tree. I had always planned to plant fruit trees in my back yard. Well, our back yard isn't getting any closer to being completed. If I had planted a fruit tree when we moved in, I'd have a fruit-bearing tree by now! So I decided I didn't want to wait anymore. Unfortunately, our house sits on gravely-rock-sand. (Mostly rock.) If I ever want this tree to have a chance, I was going to have to dig a hole and fill it with good soil. I think this is a great start. The hole is about 2 1/2 feet deep and 2 1/2 feet wide. (I'm kind of kneeling in there, not standing.) I got some sun and some exercise too. I'll let Merril dig later.

Let's go to Vegas...

We went to Las Vegas to trade motorcycles with a guy. Hopefully the new motorcycle will sell for more moolah. Warning: Shameless plug- You can check out the Ebay auction here if you want to see pictures. When he told me he wanted to trade bikes, in my mind I was thinking, "Only if it's a BMW." I lost. It's a BMW 1150 something something something.

Anyhoo, we took the kids and decided to show them around! We tried to eat at the Orleans because they have a fabu Mexican place called Don Miguels. It's closed on Mondays. So we went over to the Paris for dinner. The kids had pizza slices but I had a toasted ham and swiss croissant. Then we had fruit tarts and eclairs for dessert.

Jack insisted on calling his eclair a doughnut. (I think you get thrown out of France for something like that.) Just kidding. French people are very nice as long as you don't go over there shouting, "America is the best thing ever!" Seriously, Americans are fat, ignorant, and arrogant. I love America, I really do. But I think Americans are a little spoiled. (Where did that come from??)

So on with the story, we ate and then walked across the street to watch the Bellagio fountain show. Here we are waiting for the show to begin. I have my classic, "Everyone look at the camera and say CHEESE!" face. But everyone else had a happy face so I can't complain.

Maxine loved the fountain show and stated that she felt like she was dreaming, only she was awake! (Parents score 2 points) Then we walked up to see the conservatory.

I don't have any pictures of the conservatory because it was being converted to a new theme. Maxine was bummed that we couldn't walk inside but settled for walking around the perimeter. It was a quick trip and we'll be heading back soon because Merril's little sister, Megan, will be coming home from her mission in Sweden in a little over a week! WOW!

Ambition...

I have a big projection TV. Merril gave me an entertainment center a long time ago when we used to have a smaller TV. So now the big TV doesn't go with the entertainment center and sits adjacent to the entertainment center, sort of. I want a new entertainment center, the type that has two bookcases and the TV sits on the floor between them. Reminiscent of this:

This picture was nabbed from my sister's blog. Nelson Family

So anyhoo, buying a new one is kind of out of the question right now so I'm trying to make mine work. I intend to take it apart and remove the middle section and then paint it black, to match the TV.

Here's the beginnings of the project. I apologize for my nasty phone picture. I couldn't find my camera. (Notice Chuck: The Evil Sandwich-Making Guy on the TV) I'm hoping to have most of it torn apart by tomorrow and marked for cutting. I still need to call a friend and see if I can use her table saw. It'd make things easier than hacking at it with a sawsall. I'm going to need some trim pieces but the rest should be reusable. So yikes!! I just hope it looks decent when I'm done.

A picture's worth a thousand words...

Home for wayward Scouts...

The International Scout tends to have a sort of cult following. Merril has loved them for years and I think neglected Scouts all over the world can feel that love and want to be near it. It's almost magnetic. But seriously, how many is enough?

Scout #1-

Current status: broken

Current location: my back yard

Reason for being here: going to be fixed up one day

Scout #2-

Current status: running (a rarity at my house)

Current location: parked next to the driveway

Reason for being here: Merril's Uncle McKay didn't want to pay to store it anymore. Merril intends to buy it some day.Scout #3-

Current status: broken

Current location: in front of my house, kind of on the sidewalk

Reason for being here: Not quite sure, it's a long story

Rick, Megan, and Dan-you'll all recognize this Scout. It's bounced around and has arrived back here again. I believe we're storing it until Merril's cousin from Washington state can come get it. I hope. I feel like I could sponser one of those starving children commercials for Scouts.

Just think, for pennies a day...you could sponsor one of these Scouts. Don't let this opportunity slip away. :)

Shaved head...

Merril couldn't stand the long locks of flowing hair so it was mohawk time. *cue the eye rolls and head shakes* Here's the before:

Here's the after (from behind, painted green and orange):

We went to the sand dunes so he could ride his dirt bike and look like a punk. Doesn't he look happy!

Oh well, at least he has a ton of hair.

I knew he was a punk when I married him. At least he keeps things interesting. :)

Oh, and one funny bit about the sand dunes. I drove Merril's red truck around the dunes with the kids. I'm not a super wheeler but I can hold my own. So anyways, we were driving around on this hill and watching others play on the hill. Merril was sitting on his bike and a guy on a 4-wheeler stopped and said, "Is that your Dodge?"

Merril said, "Yeah."

Guy said, "Is that your old lady drivin'?"

Merril said, "Yeah!"

So it's official, I really am old.

My favorite age...

Around 18 months marks my favorite age for my kids. Kids at this age eat whatever you throw at them, are learning and speaking a lot, have an abundance of personality, and small amounts of attitude. Juliet seems to have more faces and personality than my other kids. Maybe I'm not remembering correctly. Anyhoo, kids at this age move from being a service burden to lots of fun. Here are my favorite things about Juliet at this age:

She loves water! If a swimsuit is within a 5 foot radius, she'll either bring it to me and insist upon wearing it (usually over her clothes, it's February for crying out loud!) or she'll say, "Boat!" And 9 times out of 10 I can find her playing in the sink.

She loves to be "up high." This one can have its disadvantages. None of the other kids have been so interested in height. She likes to stand on counters, tables, the couch, whatever. (Maxine's just out of the frame so you don't have to call CPS on me. *wink*)

She also likes to hang. This is a low bar in the closet.

She's just barely discovered that she's tall enough to reach it....and hang from it. She's yet to fall from it.

She's quite the partner in crime as well. She follows Jack and he doesn't seem to mind. I found the two of them having a snack of grapes while sitting in the fridge. (I like how she's almost pointing to Jack like, "It was his idea Mom. I just went along with it.")

Basically, I wish children were somehow born at this age. It's my absolute favorite. I'll enjoy it until the tantrums take over. Se la vie. P.S. Someone asked how Jack was doing with potty training. *indifferent shrug* He pooped in the toilet until he received his reward, now he's back to going in his underoos. Whatever. He'll figure it out eventually. Oh, and Merril shaved his head. *eye roll* Pictures to follow.

Birthday surprise...

I turned 29 yesterday! Instead of taking me out to dinner, Merril got a sitter for Jack and Juliet and took me out to breakfast. After breakfast, we went to the Parade of Homes and looked at a home worth 3 million dollars. I didn't take my camera so it was nice to just wander around and look with my eyes instead of behind a lens. Later that night, I had Young Womens and was surprised with balloons and tulips from the leaders. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who called or sent a gift! THANK YOU!!

I'm still a little weirded out by the age. Women claim they're 29 for the rest of their lives. I don't feel that old and I'm amazed that I'm pushing 30. It's been great so far! I'm looking forward to more!

Wow, time flies...

I feel like we didn't do anything last week and then I looked at the pictures on my camera. The pictures tell a different story. First off, it snowed on Monday. And not the little flakes but serious, huge cotton-ball-size-flakes falling from the sky. It melted by the afternoon.
On Tuesday, we went to a pond to skip rocks. I say "skip" rocks but rocks were just thrown. Maxine had one that was almost a skip but it smooshed across the surface more than anything. Maxine's trying to master the perfect throw. Juliet just looked at the ducks. (She was happy, just not in this picture.) Then I remembered I had some animal crackers in the truck so I ran to get them. After reading all the signs by the pond and ascertaining that it was okay to feed the ducks, I ran back. We fed the ducks and Juliet thought that was hysterical! The ducks were pretty tame. "Hello ducks! Quack, quack, quack." She said this until we left and then said, "Bye ducks. Quack, quack quack."

And lastly, Maxine lost another top tooth so she has a gaping hole in the front of her face.

She wanted to get it super clean so as she was cleaning it, it slipped out of her hand and down the drain. She was unconsolable but we assured her the tooth fairy was small enough to slip down the drain. Rest assured, she received her dollar.

Time out...

Okay, they're not really in time out. I'd finished folding clothes in the dryer and they climbed in, blankets and all. It reminds me of something my sisters and I used to do. We'd load one of us in the dryer, add pillows, close the door and turn the dryer on. It was like one of those rides at an amusement park that spins you upside down over and over. (I don't think it was very safe and I wouldn't recommend it, especially if you had mean siblings. The person on the outside is responsible for stopping the dryer when you're finished with the "ride.") I even think our little dog might have taken a ride with one of us, maybe Jeannie. It was probably hard on the dryer as well.
Anyhoo, we didn't turn it on this time around. Jack and Juliet just wanted to play house.

It's about time!!

CAUTION: Toilet story follows...
(It's a happy toilet story but I just wanted you to be forewarned if you're not in the mood.)

We had a little break through at our house!! Jack has been peeing in the toilet for around 2 weeks and doing well. We've still had an accident here and there but essentially on an upward path. However, he had yet to do his #2 business in the toilet. I've been trying not to pressure him or make him feel bad because it's just one of those things that kids will do when they are ready. No amount of coaxing, bribing, and yelling ever made Maxine get it done any quicker. My whole theme this potty training go round was, "Encourage and back off." Every time he soiled his drawers, I'd say, "It's okay, you'll get it next time. Good practice though!" I'd wash the underoos and not say anymore about it.

But today he said he needed to pee and I sat him on the toilet. He made sounds that indicated that he might need to do a #2 as well. I said, "If you need to poo, you could do it now. But if you don't want to, it's no big deal." Merril called and needed some info for work so I left Jack on the john. After a minute or two, Jack starts squealing, "Mom, I did it! I went poo in the toilet!!" So I go running in there and we cheered and celebrated! Merril was still on the phone and congratulated Jack and told him what a big boy he was. Then Jack took off to find Maxine, his biggest toilet achievement fan! She's full of happy faces and great encouragement for him. She's great.

I've felt so much better potty training Jack than I did Maxine. I tried to keep the frustration down and the encouragement up and it seems to have made a huge difference. Too bad for Maxine, she was the guinea pig.

Trampoline!

Snapped this with my phone the other day. I know it's overexposed but I just wanted to capture the crazy hair! We love the trampoline at our house.

Why I love the internet...

Merril's Dad, Mark, is a truck driver. Mark called Merril yesterday evening and said he needed to wake up at 5:00 a.m. but he forgot his alarm clock this trip.

Merril asked, " Do you have an alarm clock on your cell phone??"

Mark said, "I've never been able to find one. Can you wake up at 5:00 a.m. and give me a call?"

Merril stutters, "Ummmm....Uhhhh...let me call you back in a second."

Now just so you know, Merril has a really hard time falling back asleep once an alarm goes off. So seeking an alternative solution, we turned to the Internet. Overhearing the conversation, I Googled "wake up call to cell phone."

The wake up service http://www.mysnoozester.com/, offers 10 free wake-up or reminder calls with sign up. In under 5 minutes, we had Mark's phone verified and ready to go. Before bed, we tested the service on Merril's phone. You can also choose the type of voice that wakes you up including, American lady, Indian guy, Drill Sergeant, Pirate Captain, and Irish leprechaun. We chose Pirate for the test. Worked famously. The Internet is a wonderful thing, properly utilized. :)