Dearly beloved....

Saturday night Richard decided to get rid of the big fish tank that has been in our fireplace for years. He was just tired of fooling with it. He bought the kids a small fish bowl and they now have their very own fish.....well minus one. Nate's favorite fish "Spongebob" aka "Spongie" died Sunday morning. He looked sick when they transferred him to the little bowl but then looked as though he was going to be alright.....but then Sunday morning when Nate went to check on his fish he was dead. Poor Nate started crying. It was so sad.

Nate put Spongie on this napkin and looked at him for a while, asked everyone else to look at him, asked if we wanted to hold him. I guess it was hard to say good-bye??

Mom: Where do you want to bury Spongie, Nate?

Nate: In the "club hole".

(i thought they buried him in this hole but it was too big so they went to the backyard and laid Spongie to rest next to Goldie(Sophia's goldfish that died last year).

Saying good-bye...

Well darn-it....I just deleted the picture of the fish inside the hole.....oh well....I sure you know what it would look like:)

I have the answers....

Last week my friend Amanda called me to let me know their dog Elway was missing. This was causing her 3 year old son, Trent(who is in my preschool) lots of distress. He told his mom he didn't know what to do so he needed to call Mary Kate.

I just wanted to document this momentous occasion....for once in my life I will have ALL the answers to someone!! hardy har har

My legs....

I looked for a pic of my legs but couldn't find any....but did find this pic of my cutey-patotey neice Mariam

who is short like me and looks like me too! Look at her beautiful legs!

Earlier this week I was with some ladies who were trying to get into shape for bathing suit season. And usually when women get together(especially at this time of year) the conversation goes to all the ways we dislike our bodies. I use to participate in this kind of self-loathing.....as a teenager feeling total disgust with parts of my body! My legs were one area that I loved to hate! There were so many things wrong with them....and if I could just do more lunges or give up sugar they would be where I wanted them!! But that was then....

Oh how thankful I am that I do not do this anymore!! It took a long time, an eating disorder, therapy, and lots of journaling to stop that kind of talk/thoughts.... it is so "freeing" to just love my body! Everyone is different and it kills me that society has made pencil-thin-anexoric models the "beautiful" that women feel they need to emulate.

So today while I was carrying those patio bricks (which weighed at least 30 pounds each) I was very grateful for my legs. I have asked them to do LOTS of work this week and except for the occasional ache and pain they did so good!! I did extra exercise, helped my friend lay tile(which involved lots of up and down and carrying heavy loads) and then the work we did today....and that was on top of the normal everyday "mom" duties!

So I am giving a "shout out" to my stubby, strong, beautiful, pasty-white legs!! Bring on the bathing suit!:) Just make sure you wear your sunglasses because these legs haven't seen the sun for 9 months!:)

Moving of the camper!

yes....we have a camper....and no we haven't taken it out as much as we thought we would....but we love it! We have parked it on the patio outside since we bought it but since we are going to add-on to our house again(yes....we are adding on again! but we love our neighborhood and our house and our mortgage!) we needed to move the camper and the patio. So today Richard had the day off and we all went to work! The kids took the shovels and pried the bricks off the ground and Dad and I carried them over to the new patio/camper park spot which is on the side of the house.

The kids did so good and worked so hard!!

Nice shot of my behind...thanks Richard!

Here is a backyard shot. We really need to plant grass one day!!

A family that works together....argues together...whines together....but most of all....we stay together:)

Richard laying the final block!

Here Richard is trying to back the camper onto the patio. It is a lot harder than it looks!!!!!

Where the camper is now looks like a spot at a campground because of all the woods. We want to clean out more of the woods and make this look like our own camping spot!

My day....

I thought I would follow my Mama's lead and post what I did today(plus she is bugging me to add something and since I dont' feel like fooling with my stubborn camera that doesn't want to give up the pictures I and just going to bore you with my daily happenings!)

I slept in this morning! Which doesn't go past 730am but it sure was nice when I woke up at 530am to know I could go back to sleep! No alarm clock today! Nate came in first and asked if he could take a shower. The kid was bathed, dressed and ready to do chores before 8am! I think he is wanting his allowance early;)

Then I met some friends at the track to workout. One lady attends these boot camp style workouts and since they weren't having them on account of spring break she emailed her friends and asked if they wanted to meet at the track to do the workout sans instructors. It was a lot of fun! We did lunges, squats, tricep dips, bleacher runs, etc. And ran laps in between each of those! I was dripping with sweat(which isn't abnormal for me) by the end but felt so good!

The kids all played in the sand while we exercised. The track has some workout stations with sand all around them. We brought the shovels, dump trucks, etc. so the kids would be occupied while we worked off some tension!

Then we had lunch at the park followed by running errands. We went to Wal-Mart, bread store(they were out of my favorite bread! how rude!), State Farm, and Home Depot.

Then we headed out to the Swanson's house where I am learning how to tile. Sarah is laying ceramic tile in her kitchen and I wanted to help her so I could learn to hopefully do our own kitchen!! It is hard work but I can feel myself gaining some confidence! I think we are going out tomorrow afternoon to help some more since Richard will be in Columbus for a church meeting.

So there you have it Mama.....my post for today:) I sure love you!!

Tuesday Tell All

I know it is Sunday but what better day for a Tuesday Tell All? I saw this idea while surfing from this blog and thought is was a great idea! This person also gave reference to Blurb.com
to get her blog printed? I know you can print off the pages from your printer but I would pay to have mine printed on glossy paper and bound into a book(like those cool digital photobooks)! I use to scrapbook all my memories but now I am just blogging them! And a great thing about the blog is if your computer dies your blog is still alive!:)

The topic for this week was "The Working Girl"-name the jobs you have had besides mom.

1. My first job was babysitter. I couldnt' wait until I was old enough(12 years old) to babysit and LOVED to spend my weekends with children. When a new family would move into our church i would introduce myself and offer to babysit! I often had summer jobs and loved every minute of it!
2. I worked one evening at Olan Mills as a telemarketer....HATED it!
3. When I was in college I made extra money as a substitute teacher. I loved it before we had kids but after I didn't enjoy it as much. After I got my degree I did mostly long-terms sub positions. My first was in music. Then I had one in 2nd grade and then one in 3rd grade. I wasn't able to finish out the last one because we got the call about Sophia that changed our lives forever!! I never wanted to take a permanent job because I knew I was going to stay home when we had children.
4. I was a private preschool teacher for a family at church for a few months. That was really cool because Nate and I would go to their house 3 days a week, have school and then the boys would play. I wished I could do that job forever!
5. I always wanted to have my own preschool and when Nate started school I thought it was the perfect time to try it out! So in spring of '07 I started the process so I could be ready to open in August of that same year. This is what I am currently doing and i love it! I am very lucky that I am able to pursue this dream. I don't make much money and what I make I spend on the school but I look forward to my day with the children and that is payment enough! Do what you love, and Love what you do!!

This week's topic is "Made By Hand". Write about something that was/is homemade(quilt from grandma, child's artwork, a craft., etc). This will take some thinking!

Wouldn't be a fair without...

Something deep fried that you wouldn't think of doing yourself! They also had deep-fried candy bars on a stick!

Does not look good to me! But I would try it:)