Monkeys in a Cage

If you're going to make faces at Mom...

Then she'll put you in a cage...

You little monkeys!

More Stuff I Love

For the three people that read this blog, you may remember a past post about the things I love. I mostly focused on fall and all the amazing aspects of it. But I need to add something to my list. Some (well, like 2 of you) will call me crazy but, I can't help it! I have fallen in love with my weight lifting class! It's tough, really, it kicks my butt! I think that is why I love it. It's only been 3 weeks and I can already see results. I love it! I'm getting muscle tone in places I didn't even know I had muscles. And, here's the best part, because I have been doing a 20 minute warm up on the cardio equipment, my thighs are already losing some of their rotundness.

On that note, I also love my new MP3 player that my wonderful husband got me for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. I love to have music blasting into my ears as I push through 20 minutes on that darn elliptical machine. Having the music flow directly into my ear holes, I can focus on it instead of the tiredness of my almost rubbery legs.

I love that the gym provides 2 hours of child care for Hannah while I work out. What a blessing! Ah, peaceful, kid-free work out! (Josh is in preschool while I am at the gym, in case you were wondering.)

Oh, I forgot to mention that I love the instructor of the class. She is motivating and so funny. It is really hard to laugh when you are trying to "hover" for one minute and fifteen seconds, but she'll get a giggle out of me almost every time. She knows just what to say to drag one more set of lunges out of me.

I love that I have 3 mornings a week to torture, I mean, do a little something for myself. I love my new weight lifting class. You will be calling me Arnold pretty soon. OK that would look gross and weird. I'll just work on a light tone instead.

Fun Times

This is Super Dude. The kids dressed up on the 30th for a costume party at the gym.

We pretty much just raided the toy box and dresser for their costumes. I didn't buy any costumes since we were going to spend Halloween at the race.

Mt. Washington, I believe.

Shad coming in on his last lap.

It's like a relay race. Instead of passing a baton, they trade off a transponder that is scanned as they come into the check points. They had it strapped around their waist. Shad just about to leave on his last lap. They took turns doing one 25 mile lap at at time that took about 60 minutes. The race started at 11 am Saturday and ended at 9 am on Sunday.

Pit Row

Shad

Hannah loves to try on Shad's helmet.

High five, Smokey!

CANDY!

(Notice the wonderful wind.)

Home made fishing game.

At the Halloween party.

I saw more grown ups dressed up than kids. Sheila and Mel were hilarious!

The look back, gorgeous!

I wanted to be sure and share the happy times that occured at the race. It really was a fun time. I love watching Shad race. I think it's that whole man in uniform doing a man thing that gets me. And it was so great to just get to spend the weekend with him. I am so ready for the bridge to be done so Shad can come home and live with his family again!

One Scream

This weekend the kids and I met Shad in the wind tunnel so that he could participate in a 24 hour dirt bike race. He was on a team of guys (6, I think) and they all took turns making an hour long lap, 25 miles. It started at 10 am on Halloween and ended at 9 am today. It was a lot of fun and I will post some pics soon. But I wanted to share something that I experienced there that has gotten me thinking a lot.

As Shad went out on his first lap at about 2 in the afternoon on Halloween, Greg (Shad's brother) and I took the kids up to the first check to watch Shad come through. As we stood there an ambulance headed up the hill with a woman waving her arms for it to follow her. I said something to Greg like, "Uh oh, someone wrecked." I really didn't think a lot about it because it happens. Usually a mild concussion or a broken bone, but nothing really major. Shad came through the check and then the kids and I headed up the hill to the Halloween party that some of the ladies put together for the kids. It was a great party in the howling, cold wind, for sure!

While the kids were drawing on pumpkins I heard something. As soon as I heard it my heart dropped into the pit of my stomach and I immediately looked in the direction that it was coming from. I knew what it was before I even saw the panic stricken woman with tears on her face. It was the most horrible, devastated, gut-wrenching scream I have ever heard. A couple of other ladies heard it and we all wondered together if anyone had heard an update on the guy who had crashed a little earlier. But we didn't need to ask, it was so apparent from the one scream that we all heard and the woman's face that we saw. It is amazing how one sound can trigger so many memories and feelings that you thought were pretty much gone.

I feel so much for that woman who lost her husband of only 2 months on Halloween 2009. I didn't lose my husband, but I have screamed that same scream. It came just after I watched my husband of only 2 months go from standing on the side step of the truck, to barely hanging on, to falling off the step, to feeling the bump as we ran him over, to seeing him rolling down the gravel road behind the truck. That was when I screamed that same horrible, panicked, devastated, gut-wrenching scream. Because for 5 or 10 seconds I thought it. I thought the thing that she knew when she screamed. Thank my Lord God that I only had to think it for a few seconds and not for the rest of my life! I didn't realize it until yesterday how completely scared I was that night. And when I heard her scream, it hit me like a ton of bricks. If only for a few seconds I knew exactly how she was feeling when she screamed.

So as the festivities continued around me, I said a quiet prayer for that woman who screamed. And I have prayed for her many times since. But I have also said many prayers of thanks that God did not take my husband of only 2 months away from me that night 13 years ago. It just amazes me how one sound can stir up so many forgotten feelings. One sound, one scream.

Update

The praying mantis is M.I.A. I am hoping that it crawled into the bushes to die. The kids keep looking for it. It's pretty cute, they are quite concerned. The egg pod just sits. We'll keep waiting until the day it hatches and we have tiny mantises to look at. We'll just wait...and wait...

The Circle of Life

Once again we have a new friend living on our front porch. It just kind of hangs out on the side of the house. The kids are really enamoured with it and check to make sure it is there whenever we come and go. They are quite sweet and gentle with it.

Today we were looking at the Praying Mantis and I noticed this weird looking thing. I realized that it must be an egg pod. So the kids and I came in and looked it up on the Internet and, wouldn't you know it, I was right!

The Internet also said that a Praying Mantis lives for about 12 months and that they usually die in late fall. I sometimes struggle with telling the kids the truth or protecting them from the harsh realities of life by "sugar coating" things. But this time I decided to tell them the truth about what the Internet said. So I told them that we wouldn't catch the Mantis because it was getting ready to die. Oh, poor Joshy. There were crocodile tears. "I don't want the Praying Mantis to die..." I don't know, I guess he would have been sad now or after we found it dead. I don't know? But I did tell the kids that in the spring the egg pod is going to hatch and we will have lots of baby Mantises to enjoy. No solace for Josh. Poor little dude is so sensitive. So we decided to leave it alone and just keep our eye on it. So that's what we'll do. Ah, the circle of life, so hard to take when you are a 4 year old boy.

What I Love

Fall. My favorite season. The days are still warm, the evenings crisp. I love to walk outside and smell the smokey aroma as folks burn brush in their yards. I love, love, LOVE the autumn colors as the leaves on the trees change. The fiery reds, golden yellows and crisp oranges. So beautiful. I love the pumpkins, apples and pears. I love the burgundy and yellow pansies that were sitting on my front porch when I arrived home from the desert. And I cannot get enough of the pinky yellow mums that I bought at the amazing pumpkin patch I went to last week. I see them every time I go out the front door and when I return.

I love going to the pumpkin patch with people I love and tons of kiddos! I love watching Gracie walk right out of her boots and just keep going. I love watching Josh, Hannah, Lilian, Molly, Emma, Ellie and Gracie run around, go down slides, walk through mazes and eat kettle corn and apple cider doughnuts. I love spending time with my sister, Abby, and my mom! I love having Maria for my wonderful friend! Most of all, I love God for making a season where I can enjoy all the things I love at the same time!

I also love that I was born during my favorite season. Happy birthday to me!