For better or worse

This is why I love the Sunday comics! Can anybody else relate?

(Click on picture to make bigger)

Daddy of the Year award

I would like to nominate my college basketball lovin hubby for an award. He will tell you that this is one of the best times of the year. Not because winter is on its way out, or the buds on the trees are starting to bloom. Rather, it's because of a little something that has to do with "bracketology." But this past Saturday while the field of 32 was being dwindled down to 16, what was he doing? He was setting up a playset. Our neighbors very generously gave us their playset their kids grew out of. They must have felt sorry for our girls when they looked over and saw two little blondies wandering aimlessly around the backyard with nothing to do but "make salads" with buckets and dead leaves. They told Dan "if you can haul it, you can have it." Deal. We are Dutch afterall!

On Saturday afternoon after a sunday school leadership meeting, we recruited some of the guys to help carry the sections of the playset from our neighbor's backyard into ours. Dan then spent the remainder of the afternoon putting it all back together. I felt like it was Christmas morning with the girls asking for the next 3 hours, "can we go on the swings now?" "How much longer?" "Is daddy done yet?" Finally at 7:45, Dan had it all put together. When I opened the backdoor I felt like I was at the starting line at Churchill Downs. "And off they go!" The darkness didn't even phase them.

I think Dan would argue that the girls' excitement and joy was as good as any award.

Green Thumb

I definitely do not have the green thumb in the family. My husband's got that. I don't think I have the patience or the attention span. You mean, I plant the seeds and then we have to wait until when?! I'm an instant gratification kinda gal. My husband on the other hand finds it therapeutic. After a day's work he likes to go out and fiddle with the garden, I just get to reap the rewards. There is nothing like a garden fresh tomato!

I asked Annika what it takes to make a garden grow. She said, "God needs to send rain and sunshine. Also a garden needs love." We've got plenty of that around here!

I hope to show the progress of the garden so here are some pics of Dan getting the garden plot ready. He is going to try raised bed gardening this year. We'll see how it grows! :)

Tilling up the ground...the tiller didn't really do a good job, so he ended up doing a lot of it with a shovel.

Daddy's fan club

The rectangular boxes that you see on the side will surround the plots.

What's in your pocket?

The other day I was cleaning the house and as I swept, dusted, and vaccumed I was putting stuff in my pockets. You know the little stuff that you don't want your vaccuum to pick up because then it starts to have that funny smell of dust and burning rubber...you know what I'm talking about! Or that little stuff you know has a place but you're just not sure where that place is. Now that Landon is crawling like champ I am more aware of what's on the floor. I just have to teach his older sisters this! So at the end of the day, the house was all clean and I emptied out my pockets. I found quite an impressive stash of items!

I didn't realize how much I had in there! Plus, I didn't think my pockets were that big. But, it's better than this little girl:

It was only 6 1/2 years ago...

that I ran the Marine Corps 1/2 Marathon followed by the Army 10 miler just a few weeks later. Shout out to R who can talk anyone through the miles. Well some wild hair climbed up my you know what and I decided to run another one. Crazy, yes. But I needed something to get me motivated to get this baby body in shape (even though I argue that these love handles give the little ones something to hold on to). So the other day I signed up for the KC 1/2 Marathon on October 17. It's a little ways away but I figure the 7 months will give me time to ease into my training. Before I can start training, I need to get the gear of course. You know, the cute running clothes, the great shoes, etc. This is where y'all come in. Remember way back when I asked y'all to help me out with some music? Well, I need your help again. I need a "Running Playlist" on my Ipod. What songs get your blood pumping and get you motivated to burn some calories? Come on you know "B**tylicious" or "Eye of the Tiger" has a way of inspiring you, so don't be shy!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Annika was so excited because today in honor of Dr. Seuss's 105th birthday she got to wear her p.j.s and robe to school. I have decided I will be wearing my p.j.s all day as well. Thank you Dr. Seuss!