Waaaay to much fun

Thanks to Dooce, I spent the weekend taking photos with my iphone and the Hipstamatic App.

Foxi Roxi and her 41st birthday cake.

St. Joan’s Palm Sunday’s Service.  This is darkness coming over the land!

KP pondering life.

Lucy pondering a duck.

PJ pondering her ever changing creative abilities.

Me, moments off my bike, pondering how I will survive the next 6 months of training.

What are you going to shoot today?

First times

For my mom, this year has had its bumps, but she is moving through it the best way she can.  And I must say, she is doing a great job.  Changing what you have known for 40 some years is hard, even for the best change agent in the world.

If you have been around me at all in the past months, you have heard me utter, “2010 is STILL going to be a good year”.  And I do honestly believe that.

I said this exact thing to my mom last night, while we sat in the ER waiting for the second of two CT scans to be done and her lip to be stitched up.  When I said it, she gave a a very grim…”When?”

She fell while on a walk, during a stunning spring day, with her friend.  Simply caught her toe on some winter-heaved-pavement and down she went, on her face.  Lots of stitches, lots of swelling, lots of bruising.  She said I could post the photo, but…I’m restraining myself.  She thinks it looks worse than it feels.  Yup, it’s hard to look at.

This year has a lot of firsts for her.  Her first time to the ER.  Her first stitches.  Her first decisions by herself without a partner in crime.

She is finding her way.  She is amazing.

How lucky I am to be the one to hold her hand as she got her first set of stitches.

Where’s NuNu?

Getting close

Here she is, Cedar Lake.

My kids dipped their toes in yesterday and announced it was still cold.

Cold yes but at least there is open water and sand and if you throw a big enough rock it will break the ice.

The joy!

Down to one

At one point in time, our family had seven animals living in the house.  As of yesterday, we are down to one.

Whiskey “bit it”.  It was sad but no tears were shed.  My kids are getting the hang of the circle of life.

KP’s night time prayer went like this, “And I pray that Grandpa and Whiskey can now be together in heaven.”

I’m not sure Whiskey is going to feel the same way after last Easter.

And I pay this guy

I have a coach to help me through the mind field of training for the Ironman.

I meet this coach, along with a few other ladies, on Thursday mornings to run exhausting hill workouts.

This is the type of coach that tells me to bring my “A” game.

And today, as he laid the workout out there, my heart started racing and I buckled down to do what I was told.

I ran up the hill, the hill I was suppose to run in under 2 minutes and 40 seconds, TWICE.  I found the blood rushing out of my arms and legs, my body aching and falling apart, my mind started screaming as everything was going to shit, DEAR GOD HELP ME,  DEAR GOD HELP ME, PLEASE!!

Seriously, I was thinking, “I have to blog about this because this is crazy.”  So crazy it felt like my vagina wasn’t even getting oxygen.

So very, very crazy-dumb-stupid-idiotic.  It is so wrong to push your body to the point of feeling like your going to fall over or vomit or pass out.  It is so wrong on so many levels.

But…it’s so right.  It is so right,  that I did both hills in under the time I needed to.

HEEEEEELLLLLLLLLL YEAH!

Ironman or bust BITCHES!

Hell yeah…

What else is there to do in Minnesota in March?

Adam and the “No Daddy No” team took to Lake Calhoun for the Polar Bear Plunge 2010.

Sitting still

Today at church, while I sat still and listened to what was being said, I remembered a story a neighbor of my parents told me.  I have forgotten all about this, until today.

One of my parent’s neighbors has dreams.  He dreams about about good things and bad and about people he knows.  Many times he dreams very interesting dreams about people at very interesting times.

This particular neighbor had a dream about my dad, the night he died.

In his dream he saw my dad.  The entire scene started out gray.  The next thing he saw was my dad dressed all in white, a great white light surrounding and emanating out of him.  Only the dark rims of his glasses showing through.  My dad looked at his neighbor and said, “Don’t I look just great!”

And as I remembered the telling of this dream, I felt him there…there with me.

Sizing

Yesterday, after school, KP was in a pile on the floor crying.

I walked up to him to ask what was wrong and it was pretty clear by looking at him that he couldn’t get his jeans on.  He seemed to need new ones because somehow he peed on the old pants he was wearing.

KP:  I JUST CAN’T GET THEM UUUUUUUPPP!

Me:  This is not big deal buddy, the zipper is just up already.  Let’s pull the zipper down and it will be easier to put your pants on.

KP:  Standing there looking mad at me and the world and his pants.

Me:  Ummm, KP, how many pairs of underwear do you have on?

KP:  A smile moving across his face. Let me see, one, two, three, four.  I have four!

Me:  Why do you have four pairs on?

KP:  Because my pants are always too big.

How adults say goodbye is different

My friend Ellen was wielding the camera during my dad’s funeral and burial.  She caught this shot, which I just love.  Here it is…the last touch the kids will ever get of their grandpa.

However, the story doesn’t end there.

Before the casket even got out of the hearse, KP was standing at the edge of the very large grave, peering over the edge to see indeed how big that hole was and wondering what was going to happen next.  Like maybe he might even fall in.

After the burial service, as people were dispersing, the kids asked how the casket got into the ground.  Which quickly turned into, ARE WE GOING TO SEE GRANDPA GO INTO THE GROUND????

I quickly shot a look to my mother that said, you ok with this?  And with her nod of approval, the funeral director got the tooth missing, butt crack showing grave digger to come out early and lower my dad into the ground.

As they were watching in amazement, as the box went deeper and deeper, they each grabbed a flower from the arrangement on the casket.  And once the casket was in, they asked if they could throw in their flowers.

And with great gusto, as only little kids can get away with, they started throwing flowers into the hole and onto of the casket and belly laughing as they did it.

My mothers parting words were, “Your dad would have loved that.  The kids circled around him and the final thing he would hear, their laughter.”