Conserve A Plate Friday

There are many things that I wish I did better. I would like to run a faster mile, be a more patient mother, get really good at clipping coupons, I could go on.... Topping my list of things I need to be better at is cooking dinner. I. hate. cooking. dinner! Around 5:00pm every night I start getting anxious because (most of the time) I have no idea what I am going to feed my family for dinner. I then spend the next hour wondering how long I can get by without doing anything before Wes says, "Whats for dinner?"

So, last night was the same song and dance. The boys were both in bed, it was 8:00, and my (poor, hungry) husband asks the inevitable question. Instead of being reasonable I decided to spazz out and declare that I absolutely could not make dinner cause I hate it so much.

Wes: "Babe, its ok, chill out!"

Kelly: "Can we just do peanut butter sandwiches? Please?"

W: "That's fine, I don't care." (Just feed me something please!)

So I proceeded to make this for dinner.

Well almost, ours was on wheat bread and instead of jelly we had sliced apples, but you get the idea.

So I put the sandwich together, turned to my waiting husband, and handed it to him. He looked at the sandwich, looked at me and asked, "What is it, conserve a plate night?"

That's right folks. Not only did I serve my husband peanut butter for dinner, I didn't even put it on a plate! I am an AWESOME wife.

Our New Toy

Ever since Liam was born I have been wanting a double jogging stroller. And since this is me we are talking about here I have of course wanted the top of the line, Cadillac of strollers, this one in fact...

However, the above stroller sells for upwards of $500 and even I, of the spare no expense spending philosophy, couldn't justify that kind of expense. (petulant sigh). So, I have been a good little girl and have been checking out the nearby children's consignment store for a double jogger to appear. Of course that is one of the most popular items so when they come in they are snatched right up, meaning that it has been hard to find one...until this week that is!

I found a pretty good one - a jogging stroller that is actually designed to be used while running and not just to look sporty - that still seems in good working order. The fabric was faded and atrociously stained,...

....see? (yuck!)

But a little soap and water, and the scrubbing power of myself and this little helper...

....and it cleaned up, good as new! So I got my double jogger (for $80!) and now I can push both rugrats in the stroller together. Of course, at the rate that Liam is packing on the pounds, he may exceed the weight limit of the stroller before Noah!

Julie, this is for you....

So, our friends Julie and Devin have recently made a 6 month move to Hong Kong. The last time we saw Julie she was telling us all about it and Noah was very interested. Ever since he has asked to see pictures of Hong Kong and will ask, every now and then, "Is Miss Julie still in Hong Kong?" All of that to say, when I was going through some of Julie's facebook pictures I thought Noah might be interested so I called him over to see. He sat with me while I flipped through pictures of the skyline and of parks and he was really enjoying it until we came to the following picture.....



"Momma what is that?!"

I wasn't entirely sure but I took my best guess, "Noah those look like eels or something."

His eyes got big and he pointed to the screen in disbelief and said, "Do people eat eels?"

"Well, yes Noah sometimes they do."

I watched him taking that in. He turned back to the picture and started muttering to himself. "That is disgustin' ....I don't want to eat eels, they look like worms....." All of the sudden his eyes got even bigger and he turned to me with a look of horror.

"Does Miss Julie eat worms?!?"

All I could do was laugh and inform him that to the best of my knowledge Miss Julie does not eat worms - and even 6 months in China probably won't change that!

The Liger (An Update)

No, that is not a typo. I meant "Liger". We have many nicknames for Liam (most of which make no sense) but this one, is the one that we use the most. It was bestowed upon him by my sister when he made a noise resembling a baby cat and she said, "What are you, a baby liger?!" (If you're not a fan of Napoleon Dynamite you might not get it). Funnily enough, I am reading the book Eat, Pray, Love and there is a part that discusses the Balinese culture's idea that the day of the week you are born on tells a lot about you. Apparently people born on Thursday, like Liam, are guided by the spirits lion and tiger! No I have not gone off the deep end, I just think it is funny that we call him Liger and he was born on a Thursday....

So, anyway, Liam is well into month 3 and doing all sorts of things now. He is smiling and laughing and cooing and talking (and sometimes squeaking) like a crazy person. He is working on sitting up and the other day, while sitting in the Bumbo seat he grabbed a toy. He was very excited until he tried to grab another toy and couldn't do it, at which point he worked himself up into such a fury that I had to take him out of the seat so that he didn't hurt himself. My children are both a little bit prone to temper tantrums...I have no idea where they get it! (hint, me!) Liam also rolled from his stomach to his back for the first time yesterday which was pretty exciting.

He is much more laid back than Noah was - unless of course he is hungry and then all bets are off! He doesn't nap much but does sleep very well at night. He is pretty much done with life around 7:30 and is ready to eat and then be put in his crib and left alone! He will sleep about 7 or 8 hours and then wake up again to eat, immediately go back to sleep and then wake up for good around 6:30. So, if he is a cat napper during the day I am not complaining because I will take good sleep at night any day! Plus we are gone so much that he couldn't really take a solid nap during the day even if he wanted to!

Liam and Noah get along so well and it is so sweet to watch them be brothers! I can't wait to watch their relationship develop as they grow up. We are having so much fun with these two little guys!

Our Family

Here is our first decent family photo, taken on the fourth of July. (There was another one, taken about 3 days after Liam's birth but nobody - except maybe Noah - looks good in that one, and if I have my way it will never be seen by any other human eyes!)

Random Thoughts

I have often been asked, especially when I was training for my half marathons, What do you think about while you run? Usually, people say it in the tone of voice that implies what they really mean is, How are you not bored out of your mind? I never know how to respond because I am not usually consciously processing the thoughts cross my mind while I run, but the other day I decided to try to remember what I was thinking about during my 3 mile run so that I could accurately answer the question next time it came up. So, without further ado....

I hope that I actually think interesting thoughs. Oh my gosh, what if my thoughts are totally banal and make me seem dumb?!

Did I charge my IPod? Dear God, please tell me I charged it, I cannot make it 3 miles without music today! (Check battery icon on nano and find it half full and breathe a sigh of relief.)

This feels pretty good...3 miles should be easy.

3 minutes later....

Ughh...maybe I should only run 2 miles. No! No, I will do 3. I swear. Unless my right hamstring starts to get sore then I will cut it short.

Is my right hamstring sore?

"We've only got 4 minutes to save the world....."

I wonder if there are geese in the back pond today. I wonder if today is the day they will give chase and peck my eyes out. (Have I mentioned my irrational fear of birds?)

No geese, but lots of goose poop. Watch out!

I want to walk, I want to walk. Wait, someone is coming. Look cool. Pick up the pace, yeah that's it Kelly. Smile like it aint no thang!

Nothing. I think nothing for at least half a mile. It's like a black hole of thoughts.

Okay, "Bulls on Parade" on repeat for the rest of the run.

Not much longer now. Pretend you are racing Kelly, but your actually good and fast and at the front of the pack. (Running stronger now.)

And...I'm....done! (Breathing heavy). Now, that feels good!

A Day At The Beach

To celebrate the 4th of July we packed up (a ton of crap) and headed to the beach. Now, I know that doesn't sound like all that novel of a concept seeing as how we live at the beach BUT we almost never go. This year however, Noah is really into it so we decided we must make a trip there and what better time than a holiday weekend when Wes has 3 days off in a row! Of course we had to invest in a tent/umbrella for Liam to sit under so we literally looked like pack mules carrying all our stuff across the sand but it was well worth the work!



Liam and Noah under the umbrella...Noah was not into sitting still to pose for a picture....


.....he was much more into playing by the water....



....and building sand castles!