Living in the now.

The other day I was talked into taking all three of my children to the BMX track in the pouring heat (mid 90's) without Jody. When we arrived Nick examined the track with nothing short of delight. He ran to the top of the nearest hill and shouted some gibberish including the words "bike" and "down" while gesturing at me and his strider (which is still too large for him) I smiled and scaled the hill in my Chaco sandals with the strider in hand. When I got to the top and looked down I said "well, buddy, I really don't think we should do this, it looks way too big for you..." He smiled at me again with that winsome grin and said "but zoom zoom Mommy, zoom zoom!" In a moment of foolish parenting I turned to mush and acquiesced. We began hurdling down the hill and I tried to put my sandals into a skid which seemed to work more like a slide and then one of us lost control. We went something over teakettle and well, it was a very dusty and humiliating experience. I still have a wound on my hand that got infected at one point and Nick makes a point of kissing practically every day. What really put me over the top was when Jody's friend Tony casually mentioned to me that maybe we'd be better off on the little kid course on the other side of the BMX track. Yes, that's right. He watched us hurdle to what could have been my child's ultimate demise knowing full well that there was a much wiser alternative a stones throw away. I have not quite forgiven him yet.
We dropped the price on the Kasson house and aren't very hopeful. It's disappointing to see something you loved and invested so much time, money and energy into losing value every time you inhale or exhale but we've reached the point of not caring. No matter how low we have to go, we'll do it now. It took alot of time to get to this point, but we've reached it, so hopefully it'll be a blessing to someone else.
At last checkup a couple of months ago, Jody's cancer appears to be well in check. I suppose that Dr. Grant, who I can't help but have a little crush on, did a fantastic job even if the insurance company disagreed. We've been back and forth with them about four times now. They've haltingly paid a little more each time. Here's hoping that now, a year after Jody's successful surgery we'll at least get that resolved.
Gin will be here in a few days and I truly hope to make the time to blog while she's here and document some more wonderful childhood memories her trips afford our kids. A camping trip to Yellowstone is in the works this time. I can only imagine the great memories for the cousins to share.
Eden and I just watched Cary Grant's last movie "Walk, Don't Run." It was a very good film.
So, after spending three straight days painting at least 14 hours each day, I finished painting my entry and living room. It was grueling and with out sheer determination and little people constantly bragging on my work, I'm sure I would have thrown my paintbrush at a light fixture and gone to the pool but I am SO glad it's done. It's inspired me to do some decorating which I used to love and basically just put on hold after leaving Kasson. When I look at the pictures I took when we were trying to sell that home, I see the care I took with the placement of each item there. When I look around here, I'm starting to see it again.

A Happy Father's Day

Friday Jody got home from a very long week of work. I guess he worked around 60 hours while I sat and mulled over which park to hit, whether I should have a second Corona at Jen's house or how I was going to summon the energy to hit the pool again. He got out of the truck with a six pack of Mikes Margarita's for me and a heart melting smile on his face. I mean, can I be any more spoiled? I was supposed to have dinner made and a beer in hand for him after a week like that! Anyway, we rushed him in the house to open his present from us and examine his handmade cards. Why I didn't photo any of this is now beyond me and why I have not a single photo of Jody with the kids for Father's day is another unforgivable faux pas. Everything we got him fit perfectly, a major coup for me! I never seem to get just the right thing! Then we chilled for the rest of the evening and Jody and the girls went and picked up QDoba for dinner. The next day we packed up way too much stuff and headed up to Wind River Ranch in Estes Park for the night. Jody had some work to do up there (surprise, surprise!)We went swimming which was such a hoot with Nick. I put this life jacket on him and he just swam around all proud and giddy. Hilarious. Eden mastered swimming on her back across the pool. Kaitlyn just ran around worried that she was too hot in the hot tub and too cold in the pool and finally deciding she should just supervise. Jody eventually chased us all back to the cabin which due to some confusion didn't have sheets and towels yet. I jumped into some clothes and it wasn't a moment too soon because a breath later three men were in our room with us trying to insist on making our bed for us while I washed my makeup off in the sink. I shook hands blindly because I hadn't found my glasses yet and was trying not to be rude. I don't know how I managed to keep the giggles at bay during this serious discussion but we did manage to get all of those men out without them making our beds for us. I think that if I had let them do it, I'd have to have been allowed to video tape it for America's Funniest Home Videos. Especially the tall guy with the handlebar mustache and straw hat. We meandered around the ranch on Father's Day morning while Jody worked (of course, see the pattern here?) the kids fed the horses, we inspected the work Jody was doing, we played on the playground, pretended in the ghost town clapboard building thingy and had a good time. We finished things off with another trip to the pool and then headed back down to Longmont. I got rib eyes, corn on the cob, grilling veggies and some fresh bread and we made what Jody thought was the best dinner in months. We polished the night off with raspberry milkshakes. That was our Father's Day and I think it might be one of the best!
A few funny moments I'd like to document for laughter later.
Eden: Kaitlyn, have you ever kissed a toad?
Kaitlyn: Nooooo...
Eden: I have.
Kaitlyn: Did it turn into a prince?
Eden: Well, no but it was really funny, he was just sitting there staring at me and I held him like this and kissed him. (giggle giggle)

Nick has ratted all over the Wind River Ranch and he stands surveying a wooded area. He says "Mommy, the bears are through that jungle."

Kaitlyn sits staring at Karhys in the bouncy seat with the vibrator on. Her assessment "I think it feels to her like she's going up into outer space".

She also found it so interesting that Karhys liked the quilt on the wall that she asked Hannah if she thought it reminded Karhys of something she had at home.

One more on her, we are trying to watch something on TV and her terrible Handy Manny music on the computer with the computer game is so loud, we beg her to turn it off. She casually goes to the volume settings and turns it off. How many barely 5 year olds can do that? I honestly don't know. Maybe it's fairly common but I guess it doesn't matter when something becomes an accomplishment for a child, it's still just as amazing.