Mr. Pickles makes himself at home

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We have a new member of our family, his name is Mr. Pickles.

A few weeks back my friend Kate over at My Pet Peeve generously offered to send a Mr. Pickles to us, so the girls and I could play along with the Chicken Game. I was so very excited, and then, um…promptly forgot about it.

So today, when the mailman left a HUGE box on my doorstep with a return address I didn’t recognize, I was a bit puzzled. But imagine my surprise and pure joy when I opened it up and found not one, but TWO Mr. Pickles and he brought gifts!  A giant stack of fabric that Kate claims has been languishing in her basement, never to be used.

Mr. Pickles joins our family...

I cannot tell you how very much that made my week, Kate! Thank you so much! I have ideas for at least five of the fabrics already…fear not, they will be used, and we’ll show Mr. Pickles a good time, too. I hope he is ready for some L.A.- area fun!

DIY ~ Theme Thursday

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When I found out that this week’s Theme Thursday was DIY: Do It Yourself, I was a little stumped. We haven’t exactly been doing any house projects lately, and I’ve pretty much blown all of my crafty projects on Crafty Tuesday.

So I thought I would try to capture Addie as she “do it myself, Mama!” since that is pretty much all I hear these days. And that didn’t exactly pan out either. She and I have been a little bit on the “outs” this week. (Just picture LOTS of time in the corner, mostly for Addie…but occasionally for me, too! There have been numerous temper tantrums this week.)

And then last night, Em asked if I would help her figure out what she needed to do for her jog-a-thon for school next week. I told her of course I would help her, but as far as the phone calls and asking for sponsors? I told her “You will have to do it yourself.” Ohhhh…Ding, ding, ding!

So here is Em, drummin’ up business for her jog-a-thon next week and proving you can do it yourself if Mama helps you write out a little script. She is expecting to finish 10 laps (which would be 1.25 miles!) and right now if she does, she would raise over $200! Go Em! I think she can do it…she is after all her Mama’s girl!

Drummin' up business

And there is absolutely nothing cuter than listening to her read the script, and the look on her face when everyone said “yes.”

I unfortunately did not set up the photo session very well. I was trying to do dinner, baths, and help her with her pledge drive, so I just snapped a quick, few photos – but didn’t get any great photos. However, I like this one and I tried to salvage it a bit. I’m sure there are plenty more great photos over at Stacy’s today.

Crafty Tuesday

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It does this Momma’s heart good to watch my little budding artist. If you recall we have seen glimpses of her artistic greatness in the past. And she just continues to impress me with her constant creativity. Every corner of our house is littered with scraps of paper, pictures, drawings, and notes, basically…little pieces of Emma.

I decided to get my canvases and paints out on Sunday because I have been promising the girls that we would do it, and more importantly because Addie needs some new artwork on her walls now that her baby bedding has been replaced with her new kitty quilt.

But most of my day was spent just in awe of my artiste. She is good. And she has some serious talent…if I do say so myself. She has a lot of confidence in her drawing and painting, she can look at something she wants to draw and she will draw it. And she does it with such a steady and fearless hand. It really is fun to watch.

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And her first piece…

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And her second…

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Notice, they are “signed” pieces, too! Em told J. that artists have to sign their names to the painting. (Although usually they are quietly signed down in the corner…but nonetheless!)

And J. spent pretty much the entire time cleaning brushes out for Addie. And you can see that it really helped keep her colors separate in both of her pieces…

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I haven’t finished my two pieces, I still need to put the finishing touches on them, but I’ll post them when they are done.

How about everyone else? Any good stuff to show today?

Constant Coaxing ~ Best Shot Monday

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Trying to get food into a headstrong little girl…

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I know many parents have similar eating…oh, lets call them…”challenges,” shall we?

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But ours seems to have reached epic proportions, here.

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We had breakfast for dinner last night…pancakes, served IHOP-style with whipped cream and chocolate chips, even. What kind of kid can’t choke that down for dinner?

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We’ve tried no snacks between meals, no snacks after meals, going to bed hungry, sitting at the table until something has been consumed…it is incredibly frustrating.

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It is a good thing that she is so darn cute!

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Visit Tracey’s for some other joys and challenges today.

I wish… ~ Theme Thursday

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I wish everyone had a sister like mine.

And, I wish that I could send everyone an amazing bunch of roses like those I found on my doorstep yesterday.

A rosey surprise

I think the world would be a much happier place if we could all just have a “Meesh” around.

Thanks for the very rosey surprise, Meesh (and DJ and girls, too!). I wish I could give you all hugs…oh, wait! I can! In two weeks! We can hardly wait.

Why it is fun to try a tri…

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Triathlons bring out all kinds. All shapes and sizes, and all ages. They write your age on your right calf before the race, I’m not exactly sure why, but I believe it is to teach you humility as a 60+ year old goes flying by you halfway through the race.

Somewhere in the middle

Anyhow, I do love the Nike tag inside my hat that says, “If you have a body, you are an athlete.” The oldest person to complete our triathlon was 79 years old. Can you believe that? I hope I am still walking at 79…much less swimming-biking-running!

Emma and I had a little discussion when we were going to pick up my race number on Friday.

E: “Mama? How old do you have to be to run a triathlon race?”
M: “I don’t know, Peanut. I’d guess 14 or so.
(I hear nothing from the backseat and then whispered…)
E: “Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen.”
E: “Oh! Well that means in 8 years I can run a race with you. Because it is almost like I am six already, right?”
M: “Yes (smiling) I would LOVE to run a race with you. I’ll be 44 then.”
E: “Oh. When I’m 30, how old will you be?”
M: “61.”
E: “Can you run when you are 61?”
M: “Um, I hope so…I guess we’ll have to see.”
E: “When I’m 60, how old will you be?”
M: “I’ll be 91.”
E: “OH! Gosh. When I’m 91?”
M: “I’ll be…uh, 122.”
E: “Um, Mama…you probably won’t be here when you are 122.”

You are probably right kid, I’ll be pretty lucky to make it to 91, I think!

We happened to find the youngest athlete on Saturday, he started next to me…

The youngest

And as for that lesson in humility…he finished only 10 minutes behind me.

Sigh.

I better step up my training. I’ve got four years until Em is out here beating me.

Triathlete in training

Crafty Tuesday

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Oh, hallelujah! I actually have stuff to show today! I’m so excited – so let’s get to it.

And, if you might be expecting a bag from me…ahem, say if your name might be Blueberry or Aunt Laura…and you might want to be surprised as to what your bag might look like, you might want to stop reading right now. I’m just saying.

So, here we go.

First up, Addie has been asking me to make her a “kitty purse” ever since I made Em’s dance bag. She visited the fabric store with me the other day and I just followed her around and giggled at her pure delight and her exclamations of “Ohhhh, look at this pretty one Mama!” I think she may have inherited my love for perusing aisles and aisles of fabric.

She actually found this fabric and declared it the one for her kitty bag. So I put a little one together for her. And what do you put in a kitty bag? Lots and lots of kitties, of course!

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I maybe should have made the bag a little smaller. I think at one point she had six cats in there while she lugged it to the gym. I do love the coordinating fabrics we found, the gingham, the striped, and the inside fabric.

Addie was all smiles, and Marie seems to be enjoying it, too!

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And, like I mentioned above, I had a couple of other bags that I desperately wanted to finish and get out to my very patient friends. I found a fun green tomatoes fabric that I thought was kind of spring-like and earthy and decided to use it for these two bags.

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Plus, I think I finally got the proportions right for a reusable shopping style bag. It seems like a good usable size, although when my two, lovely models hold them – they do look like they might be a little large and unwieldy.

Ladies, you’ll have to let me know what you think when they arrive in your hot, little hands!

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Anyone else have some crafties to show today?

Cutest Fan Club ~ Best Shot Monday

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Look at me – in a photo – two weeks in a row!

So obviously this was not my best shot for today, but a photo that J. took just before my triathlon this weekend.

I definitely had the cutest fan club at the race!

My fan club

As far as the actual race – I had a very good race, for as little as I had trained.  Last year, since it was my first tri ever, I trained so hard because I was really worried about actually finishing. This year and my training? Well, let’s just say it was usually the very last bullet point on my ever-growing to do list.

So I finished the race in 1:21, a few minutes over last year’s time. I was kind of bummed when I saw the time. Well, I was relieved that it was over, since it seemed so much harder than last year, but I had kind of hoped to get a new personal best record, and beat my time.

But, hey! I did come in 17th place (out of 45)  in my age group. And when I started thinking about how little I have worked out in the past few months – I mean I just dusted off my bike last week, for the first time since before Christmas. And, I am usually lucky to get in three runs and one spin class a week. Plus, I haven’t done a brick workout since before my last tri…last summer. (A brick workout is when you stack two workouts together, like swim/run or bike/run, etc.) So considering all of this…I think I am just happy to have finished with the time I did manage.

And, it also provided a little bit of inspiration – now I am looking for another race that I can really train for.

Whew…

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…we made it!

It is Friday, my friends.

This week has been a long, exhausting one, starting with losing that one hour for the very antiquated notion of daylight savings. Are there really still farmers somewhere who truly benefit from the hour shift? I think now it is just a way to screw with the already fragile little bodies of our children. Can I get an “Amen” here?

Anyhow. We are all really tired and not sleeping well. When Addie isn’t in our room proclaiming “I’m hungry, is it time to go downstairs?” at 4:30am, (And explain this to me. If we didn’t have daylight savings, it would be 3:30am, what is she doing up at that un-Godly hour??) then there is Tiger meowing at the top of her tiny, little cat lungs.

She pretty much wanders around and just meows now. Loudly. I don’t know if she is looking for Smokey, worried we are going to take her to the vet, or just taking advantage of us not locking her into the back half of the house (because we feel so guilty – she would be back there by herself!) – or maybe it is a little of all three. But, I have been awakened by her at least 4 or 5 times every night for the past 4 or 5 nights.

So, tonight? She is getting locked in. (Don’t feel too badly for her – she gets the whole playroom, kitchen, bathroom and laundry room to herself. And besides, she had her chance!)

I need some sleep. I am running the Pasadena triathlon again on Saturday. I haven’t mentioned much about it because I’ve been more than a little worried that I was not going to get to do it again this year. And I don’t feel nearly as prepared as I was last year, but at any rate…that is where we will be tomorrow morning. Trying to finish the race, hoping the adrenaline kicks in.

Providing we don’t just all sleep through the alarm.

Wishing you all a very happy weekend.