Day 9 - Happy Father's Day

To all the dads in our lives, Happy Father's Day!The Dad
PapaPapa Bear

Grandpa Gold

Day 8 - The Young & The Wreckless

Ragnar: 12 runners, 192 miles, 35 hours and almost no sleep. It was A.W.E.S.O.M.E. I will talk about this weekend's adventure some more soon, but right now I am too doggone tired. Yesterday feels like so long ago.

Day 7 - Hip Hip Hooray it's My Birthday!

Today is my birthday and to celebrate, I'm going to do this. Wish me luck! I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow with a birthday montage

Day 6 - Girl: "What do you get when this is all over?"

Boy: "....... a shirt."

I find this hilarious as I am about to embark on a big adventure this weekend. Yes, I pay to do this and all I get is a shirt. I think anyone who runs has had this conversation.

What kind of ridiculous things do you pay to do?

Day 5 - What Did You Get in the Mail Today?

I love getting mail. I'm not talking about the mail from people who want money and all the junk. I want the real deal. Send me a letter through the post and you will light up my life for days. I love when a mail order gets to me too. I always wait in anticipation, like I did for this fabric that got to me today. Here's why...

I made a blanket for my niece, Sydney, when she was born. It has become her blanket, THE BLANKET, I'm talking when said blanket is put in the wash, the red phone lights up at the White House type of crisis. I can not tell you how much this makes me happy, that something I gave her she can't live without. Unfortunately, the blanket does need to be washed from time to time and there is no substitute. So my sister and I came up with a brilliant plan: I will make her another blanket, just like her favorite one. Oh it's hard to be so smart all the time! Hopefully our little trick works...

The hard part of this was finding the same fabric I used to make the original blanket. After much online searching I found the two fabrics at two different shops. This is major because this line of fabrics is over two years old and has been discontinued. I have been waiting for the fabric to get here and lo and behold, both fabrics arrived today. Yay! No...wait....Not yay. That's not what I ordered! The cherries are perfect, but do you see that flowery print? It's all wrong. Not even the same designer. I can't trick a 2 yr old with that! Junk mail! Here's what it was supposed to be:

I will try to look on the bright side. When the fabric store remedies the error, at least I'll have some more fun mail to look forward to!!

What did you get in the mail today? Something fun or mostly junk?

Day 4 - A Favorite Photo of Your Best Friend

My Sissy
She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities. She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway. She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows you are smiling, even in the dark. She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink. Some days, she's the reason you wish you were an only child. ~ Barbara Alpert

Day 3 - The Perfect First Date

Well one thing is certain, in today's era of texting, Facebook, Twitter and the world of online socializing, I honestly think kids these days do not know how to establish real relationships. Will humanity survive? Who knows, but what I do know is Ashley on this season of The Bachelorette had THE BEST first date last week when she and the potential "man of her dreams" had a private dance lesson, afterwhich they went to a mall and had a picnic where she encouraged him to practice the dance with her and BAM, the music started and flash mob erupted. How freaking cool is that?! To end it all they had a live band play for them and the crowd.

I would die if the man of my dreams had surprised me with something like that!

Too bad reality T.V. isn't real. At the end of the day, if I were in the dating world I would be happy with a phone call from a rad guy asking me out. He would pick me up with a bouquet of flowers in hand. We would go for a picnic in the park, ride the paddle boats in the pond and feed the ducks. It would be an afternoon of quality time to get to know each other. Just talking. Face to face. He would think I was so cool, he'd call me and we'd go out again :)

Day 2 - A Photo of Something You Ate Today

I'm not totally sure why what I ate today would be of any interest in a blog challenge, but whatever. I started the day with a GIANT slice of watermelon. Watermelon yells SUMMER! to me and since it was snowing here just a few weeks ago, I thought I'd wishful-think about the warm days that are nigh. Of course I have to balance a slice of watermelon with something a little more naughty. Kati was making cookies and I needed to go for a run. A perfect combination - run to Kati's house and eat cookies! I like it. And I like these little chocolate chip/oatmeal delights. Thanks Kate!

Day 1 - A Photo of Yourself and How the Day Was

I know, it is so trendy. It's like getting a chain email with 100 questions to answer about yourself, then you're supposed to send it to 10 friends and the guy you've been dreaming about is supposed to magically appear. My hunka burnin' love never appears, but I still answer the question because you just never know what could happen. Well, it's another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody, so I'm starting the blog challenge right here, right now. Just like the magical email, there is a good chance the 30 days won't happen. Hang with me anyway because you never know what you might find out...

Day 1: post a photo of yourself with a description of how the day was.

This photo is a year and half old, but it is truly one of my favorites. I have not changed much, except my hair is blond now. My little punkin JW, is totally different, as you can probably imagine.

Speaking of JW, today was all about him {actually, most days are all about him anymore}. We had lunch with Gramma Nay and Papa Bear and headed back to their house to visit for awhile. JW's newest life lesson is all about climbing the stairs. Gramma Nay has a staircase to the second floor that JW thinks is awesome to play on. We spend the better part of our visits climbing up and down the stairs. While JW is great with the going up, coming down still requires some supervision. Today was no different, with one exception. My little dude followed Papa Bear up the stairs but decided to come back down while Papa Bear was not looking. JW knows he has to go down the stairs on his belly. He KNOWS this. Today he decided to be brave and come down like a big boy, stepping down while facing forward, and it resulted in disaster. PLUNK PLUNK PLUNK down more than half the staircase. My mom and I jumped up as fast as we could and I caught him before he hit the bottom. Fortunately JW came out with nothing more than a bonk on the head, and some rattled nerves. Scared the crap out of all of us. Needless to say, he didn't go back up the stairs the rest of the day.

JW's accident proneness for the day doesn't stop there. After lunch we were helping Gramma Nay clean off her patio. She has a picnic table that is just high enough to be out of sight for JW, but it doesn't clear the top of his head. It's like he has a blind spot for those 2 inches or so between his eyes and the top of the table. EVERY TIME he walked by the table he ran into the corner of it. He must have bonked it six times today. We finally moved the table from his path to avert any future brain damage to the kid.

It was otherwise a very lovely day full of wagon rides, blowing bubbles and chasing Gramma's chickens.

GRRRR!

Whenever I am frustrated or annoyed I tend to let out a growl, "GRRR!" I do this to avoid cursing because you-know-who is a little mocking bird and I really don't need him walking around preschool saying "DAMN IT!" all the time. I never realized how much I growl until JW started doing it too. I am reminded every time, without fail, when I need to take a deep breath because JW always repeats after me, "GRRRRR!"