Things about me that may surprise you

Every once and a while, I will think about myself and things that I do or have done that cause my family to think I am so weird, or I am so cool.  Alot of times, David will call me a "spy", just because it is so weird.  So, I thought it would be fun to share a few of those things.  Ha.

1.  As a child, I didn't eat syrup on my pancakes.  It made it soggy.  When I was little, maybe around 4 or 5, my Sunday school teachers made pancakes in Sunday school.  The teacher made me eat them with syrup.  I was mad. I think it made me cry.

2.  I tend to hang on the traumatic things about my childhood.  And then proceed to use them as excuses when I am seeming to go crazy.  Ok, I don't use them as excuse.  But, for some weird reason, I hang on to them. 

3.  I eat syrup on my pancakes now.  Too much. Especially with chocolate chip pancakes.  My waistline is proof.

4.  As a child, I also didn't eat milk on my cereal.  You know, the soggy thing.  I began eating it with milk in college.  On a trip.  To Poland.  And for whatever reason, lack of bowls in the dorm where we stayed or something, I used a glass.  Cereal, in a glass, with milk, eaten with a spoon. 

5.  To this day, I still eat cereal, in a glass, with milk, and a spoon. 

6.  David says I make annoying slurping noises when I eat cereal.  I try to avoid him when I do it.

7.  When I fill a muffin tin with muffin cup liners, I count them.   I can't help it.  There are twelve every time.

8. That makes me sound Type A.  I am not.  By any stretch.

9.  One of my dearest friends enjoys organizing her folders every January for the new year.  She color codes her clothes.  I think that there is something wrong with her.

10. I eat and write with my left hand. I use scissors, bat, throw a football with my right hand. Actually, I can throw a football equally well with both hands. Now, you may be thinking equally well means nothing, but suffice it to say, David was impressed

11.  I bungee jumped in college.  I charged it on my parents credit card, then called them later and told them about it.  :)   On the way home from bungee jumping, we walked under the bridge across the Tombigbee River.  Remember my post about being fearful of heights?  Yeah, something changed with childbirth. 

12.  Speaking of children, my foot grew a 1/2 size with each child.

13. Back to the childhood trauma thing- I am not a cat person.  Kitty, my mom's and aunt's cat, did not like the fact that I overtook her queenly roll in the family.  It was so bad that I remember being told often to not look her in the eyes.  I did.  Once.  Under the kitchen table.  Her claws met my face.  Too this day, even kitten's claws make me nervous.

14.  I love dogs.  I love this dog, on most days.  Except when he wants to play keep away with the socks. 

That is all. For today. 

Monday Morning

Monday mornings here can be a bear, or it can run like a dream.  I never really know how it will go until I wake up.   Here is how our morning went today.

This morning I woke up a little later than I wanted.  I don't usually set an alarm, because I usually wake up at the same time.  And, my mom will get a laugh out of this, I already had a text from her about what Jake needed to bring for their math session this morning.   My brain starts working and I realize I will have to run by the store to get something for the kids to take in their lunch tomorrow. We are out of things that don't need cooking.  I hopped up, get dressed, and headed to the kitchen to eat breakfast telling the dog to shush and quit whining.  As I walked into the kitchen, I realized the dishwasher didn't get run last night.  David was working on a leaky faucet and kept having to turn the water off.  I didn't want to start it and then have it turn off, so I would be smart and start it at bedtime.  Hee, hee.  I ignore the stack of dirty dishes awaiting their turn to get clean.

As I ate I realized the dog had some extra energy, so while I drank my coffee, I went outside to throw the ball around with him.  I threw, he just stood there.  By the way, he is a retriever.  Yep.  I found the soccer ball.  He loved that, went crazy, I went inside to begin supper. 

Supper starts in the morning.  This is really a good way to do it, because the bewitching hours of 4:30-6:30 are just that-bewitching.  For us, in this season of life, we are gone most days between 3:45-7:45.  So, we eat lots of crock-pot suppers.  And that means, it begins early in the day.

Apparently, I didn't print off the recipe like I thought, so I had to get on Pinterest.  I caught myself from getting too distracted, found it and proceeded to copy it down.  By copy, I mean write it.  We were just about out of copy paper and I knew the kids would need it for school.  (I was right.  Before 9:00 we were out).  Jake and Katie came wandering in.  Jake told me his molar was hurting again real bad.  I took a look.  I can't tell if it is pushing on a bracket and decided it deserved a trip to the dentist.

I call David to check in for the morning.  He left before we were up and going.  Fill him in, then between the dog barking (he knows David isn't at home) and two children standing in line waiting for me to get off the phone, I end the call early.

I waited till 8 to call the dentist, and they can get us in at 11:15.  I call my mom and reschedule tutoring until after that.  Sara Beth knows we are getting out and wants to go so we can swing by Target and get the new Taylor Swift cd.  Since at this point, I have to go and get copy paper and lunch for tomorrow, I realize why not.  We will all leave, go to the dentist, eat lunch at Grandmas house, go to Target.

The kids get started on school work.  Sara Beth throws in a load of laundry as I start browning meat for supper.  I am browning several pounds at one time so it will be in the freezer ready to go when I need it.  In between turning the meat, I grab clothes to throw in the laundry as well, to make a full load.  While I am browning meat and doing laundry at the same time, I am instructing 3rd grade cursive writing, clarifying 7th grade geography assignments, letting Sara Beth know that several emails have come in from her honors biology teacher,  wondering what my afternoon will look like if I end up having to take Jake downtown to the orthodontist, mentally planning what I will get at the store, what to-do's I will need to take for my 3 hour sit at swim practice and pleasantly realize, I can get grading and a grocery list done.That is if I stay focused and can do that while I visit with other swim moms.  My social outlet of the week.

Meat has been browned, I have assisted in 3rd grade helping verbs, dirtied up several more dishes and realized the kitchen won't get clean today.  I now must go "put my face on", saute onions and bell peppers, do third grade school work, smile as I think about all my kiddos watching their Latin video together, call and let my mom know we will all be there for lunch, not just Jake, put everything in the crock-pot before we leave at 11, let the dog out of the kennel, put clothes the dryer.

Hmm, I think that about covers it.
It's only 9:30.

(Disclaimer: No children or dogs were harmed during the publication of this blog.  It was done a few sentences at time and  made the mom feel much better, and that despite the fact the house will probably stay a mess for the entirety of the day, she has accomplished much already)

Summer Trip

 

As part of our Southeastern Championship swim meet, we decided to tack on a few days at the end and make a vacation out of it.  So, during the days at the meet, we began to research where we would go.



 

 Back in the days before we had kids, we tended to be somewhat spontaneous in our adventures.  We would take off driving and see where it would land us.  With the addition of children, it began to be a little more complicated- naps, kids supplies, food, etc.  Now that they are older, we decided to venture out a little. 

 

You have to understand that for some in our family that brings some excitement, but for the planner in the family - who just has to know- it can be quite the challenge. 

 

After the meet, we packed up and headed out.  We ended up in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area and began searching for a hotel room.  Ummm, apparently, the area was quite busy and that took much longer than we anticipated.  But we found a room and decided to hang out and stay there for a few days seeing the sights.

 

Bright and early the next morning, we headed out for the big kids and David to white water raft with the older group from our swim team. They had a blast.  Katie and I hung out with another sweet mom, her daughter, and one of the coaches.  The girls swam, feet up, collecting shells at a nearby beach. 

 

After that, we did all of the fun touristy stuff.  The mountain chair lift (which Mom did not do- more on that in a minute), the aquarium, the shops, Bubba Gumps shrimp, etc.  And one huge event at the end- but you must keep reading!   Before I go on, I must say that having older kids is fun.  When they were little, everything seemed to surround around nap/rest time, early bedtimes, etc.  Now, we just go with the flow, and throw all schedules to the wind.  Poor Katie- being the youngest she is alot of time along for the ride.  But out of our kids, she needs the least amount of sleep.  Which makes it so much easier.  

 



The Aquarium



There are two things I must address before I get into the next set of pictures.  David has a great sense of adventure.  I can only imagine what his life would be like if he didn't have us to feel responsible for.  Maybe we just keep him grounded.  For example, he would love to go sky diving.  Umm, not me,....which comes to my next point.  Since having children, I am truly afraid of heights.  Which is terribly unsual considering some of the things I have done.  (Post coming later on that.)  Heights creates in me this horrible feeling.  I do put on a good face and put forth good effort for my kids sakes, but it just ain't fun. 

So, when David started researching ziplines, I knew I was out.  He found this great one called Canopy Works, which ziplines you for two hours through the Smoky Mountains.  Despite the cost, he was hooked.  And so were the kids, even Miss Katie.   So, late one afternoon, I drove them all to the place, dropped them off, then had a break in the hotel room.  They had a beautiful time covering the tops of trees.  They had a blast and it was so worth it.  Katie didn't even miss a beat, seeming to be the bravest of them all.  Because of her age, she had to ride with a guide, but she didn't mind.  Here are a few pics of what I missed. :)