Josh's Joke & Having Company

Here is Joshua's Joke:
Why did the Ostrich stand on one leg?
If he stood on the other, he'd fall down.

Yeah, I thought Marian's was funnier too. But he wanted me to share it with you.

And today Dan had invited the new guy from work for lunch. See, he's going to be Dan's replacement, and he's moving in almost accross the street. He's got a wife and a kid the same age as Delaney, so Dan invited them for lunch. He wanted to BBQ burgers (and then he said he wanted to grill steak and chicken as well. I said, buy it yourself). I felt like I needed to represent well. So we had corn on the cob, baked beans, potato salad and cantelope as well. Waaay too much food for so few adults who would eat it and 5 children who would not. It was tasty food, but much of it now fills the fridge.

As I type this very moment, Delaney is helping herself to the last piece of Sweet Potato Pie. I didn't make it; our company did and it was yummy. Delaney has now eaten the entire last slice, by herself. Our new friends were very nice and it was a pleasant lunch. I somehow always feel so frumpy around women with fewer children and much nicer clothes. Sigh. Someday when no one is going to grab me with grubby sweet-potato-pie smeared hands I too will invest in attractive clothing. Or maybe I'll be beyond caring by then, as I am now!

My main thing was cleaning up the house. Usually our company is the missionaries, or people I know well, so I'm not so motivated to try to impress. Hey, I've got 4 rowdy kids, a terminally comfortable wardrobe, and a permantly tired look. I feel the compulsive need to try to impress! When missionaries come over, I hope they are only there for the food and don't spend as much time on the house. Today I wanted it to look like I put housekeeping as a priority. I don't. I will allow that containing the mess and keeping a clear pathway is a priority, but spotless shine- not. However, today I wanted it to appear that I keep a spotless house. I feel it was a reasonable job, as long as no one looked behind the couch or on the shelves.

I keep telling myself that once we move I will do a better job maintaining, but will I? When the choices are cleaning the bathroom or vaccuuming, I expect I'll vaccuum, since that's something you see right away. And if sitting down reading Confessions of a Pioneer Woman is an option, the vaccuuming and bathrooms are going to have to wait.

The Fossil Museum

Today we were going to have PlayGroup at the park. It rained though. Its been drizzling most of the week. I even got to run in it this morning. Die-hard, that's me. But my running prowness is not the point of this. What we did today is! We didn't go to the park; it was raining! We packed a lunch and drove forever and rode the ferry and went to the Aroura Fossil Museum. I know, you are on the edge of your seat, wondering, was it worth the trip?!

I will tell you that it is 10 miles shorter to take the ferry. Plus, you get to ride the Ferry! The kids loved it. It was raining, so they didn't realize they could, conceivably get out. Thus they were content to rock with the boat and enjoy watching the ugly, gray water with its frothy waves and whitecaps.

Oh yeah, back to the Museum. If you love shark teeth, its the place to be. If you love hunting for shark teeth, its the place to be. The museum itself is tiny, but it has some fun stuff in the gift shop. It has lots of shark teeth and some nifty fossils, and a short video, but I don't know what the video was about. We had to leave 3 minutes into it. 4 kids in 4 directions, all making noise....

The kids LOVED the fossil dig. I did buy them buckets, but we could have brought our own. They had a good time digging in the dirt, and we found a lot of shark teeth in varying sizes. We probably would have stayed longer, but Marian wore shorts and it was a very windy 45 degrees out! I'm not a bad mom, I'm a mom who lets her daughter make her own choices and learn her own consequences!


So, here are the photos of our grand adventure:


Callie refused to join the other kids for a group shot. She is skulking in the corner instead. Note Marian's knobby knees in her summery shorts on this very NOT summery day.

They loved this giant shark mouth. Everyone had to get their picture taken in it. Next time maybe I'll get up there too!

This is why we did not stay for the film. Marian is making shadow puppets and I have no clue what Joshua is doing!!

Here's me and Delaney, curtesy of Joshua. I am collecting shark teeth into Joshua's brand new bucket. And just looking at Delaney in this shot cracks me up every time.

Marian's Joke & other Randomness

Marian actually told a joke. I mean a real one, not the stuff she says that isn't funny at all! I was really excited. Joshua is obsessed with jokes right now, and Marian has apparently learned from him. Her joke goes like this:

What's invisible and smells like bananas?

Monkey Burps!

Yeah, gross, but darn funny! I laughed at that and she looked so pleased with herself. So it was worth it.

Here is what I found when I was running on Saturday. Okay, I had finished my run (all 4 miles, yeah, I'm good) and as I was walking, I saw this butterfly and I brought it in to show the girls. Then we released it. It didn't fly well and the wind was bad, so I hope it is okay.

This is Delaney, when the neighbor came over. It was so cute. She hid in Dan's legs and I had to get a picture of her. I guess she thought we were going to run away and leave her!

Okay, last thought for the night.... We have come up with a working plan for our move. Dan wants to detach on May 19, have the movers come the 19-20 and head up to DC on the 22-23. He will check in and we'll scope out the housing options. Then, after Memorial Day weekend, me and the kids will drive to my parents' house, while Dan stays behind. He will have time to really find a house, and I'll get to spend time with my family and drive to Colorado for our family reunion the end of June.

There are several drawbacks to this plan-1. Joshua will miss the last 3 weeks of school. 2. I'll send waaay too much time traveling and in hotel rooms with 4 cranky children. and 3. I'll miss the CP Triathlon. I have really been looking forward to it. I did it the last 2 years and I was going to try to make a better time this year. In 06 I was about 4 weeks pregnant when I did it, and in 07, I'd just had Delaney in Feb. I wasn't sure I could be ready for the trathlon (400m swim, 10 mile bike, 3 mile run), but I did it. I told Dan I had to have a special shirt.

This was my shirt last year. I had another design in mind for this year. So the delimma now is, that there is another sprint triathlon the next town over, but it is May 10. I can run, and I've been biking (only 4 miles) for the last 4 weeks, and I haven't been in the pool at all. Sooooo, 5 weeks to triple my biking, and to get my swim going. Ug. Yeah, the bike on this new one is 12 miles, not 10. I have a mountain bike and I suck at the bike part. I don't want to do it. If I don't try though, I know I'll kick myself. I just hate to get out of my comfort zone. I loved the CP one, its in my backyard! I run that path. I swim laps in that pool, and I bike that road. (Okay, I bike part of the path by that road!) I'm going to have to do the May 10 one. I will kick myself if I don't. Sigh. Now to find some motivation....

Yummy Dinner Recipe

This is one of my new favorite recipes. It is simple, delicious AND its not too shabby for ya either! I found it in one of my parenting magazines and I don't do all the things they say (like add fajita mix to the chicken....Puh-leeze! Too much work!) So here it is, the way I like to make it.......try it and enjoy it tonight.

Oh, one tricky thing is you need a tall round casserole dish. A pie pan is about 1/2 inch too short, but it is the right size around. You can make it on a pan, but mine doesn't balance as well as I'd like, so I need the sides on a pan to hold it up properly!

Mile High Tortilla Pie
5 Tortillas (and whole wheat work great!)
10 oz cooked chopped chicken (with or without fajita flavoring!)
1 can (19 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (11 oz) corn (or corn with red & green peppers), drained
1 cup salsa, more or less depending on how you like it
2 cups shredded cheese

Mix chicken, beans, corn and salsa together. Put a tortilla in the pan or casserole dish. Spread chicken/bean/corn mixture on top, just covering the tortilla. Sprinkle cheese on top of that. Place a tortilla on top of that and repeat, layering the mix, cheese and tortillas, finishing with the last tortilla. Sprinkle cheese on the top tortilla and bake 15-20 minutes at 425. I like this plain, but Dan likes it with sour cream and salsa.

Spring Break

Joshua is in the middle of his 3 weeks off and the girls are out of preschool for this week. So we had some fun things planned to get them out of the house. On Monday Dan was home too, so we all went to The CowCafe for lunch. The kids had a great time. Dan was irritated because he thought any place with a name like "The Cow Cafe" should serve burgers. Fortunately, all their food is delicious!

On Tuesday we went to the Aquarium. It was way too crowded.

On the plus side, everyone was watching the feeding of the otters, and the kids had the petting pools all to themselves. Usually I rush them away from all that water and petting of crabs and sting-rays, but this time I let them stay as long as they wanted and they loved it.
Delaney thought the fish were fascinating. She spent too much time running randomly.




On Wednesday I took a break. I dropped all the kids off at a sitter's and I went to Quilting, all by myself, and I loved it!





Yesterday we went to a neat park. I've been here 3 years and I had never heard of this place. How is that possible?!! The kids had a blast. I didn't. My nose dripped and I sneezed and rubbed my eyes and wanted to die. We didn't stay as long as I would have liked, all because of me. And they didn't get to eat their picnic lunch outside- they got to eat it in the car as I drove home in an allergy induced coma. It was a fantastic park though. We will have to go again.... maybe when the trees stop pollinating!





So today we are not going anywhere exciting. I had wanted to go to the Fossil Museum today, but I'm not up for a long drive. I think we'll return books to the library and call it a day!