Saturday, March 29, 2008

I have soulmate types of friends


I was just realizing this week how great my friends are and how well matched-up we are.

My girlfriend Ellen had a birthday on Thursday and we all wanted to help her celebrate the big day. So, she said, "You know what I really want to do? Go to Target. Without kids. With my friends. I just want to wander around the store and not worry about someone falling out of the cart or crying or needing to use the bathroom. Can we go to Target? Is that lame?"

Not lame at all. I wish that I had thought of something like that FOR her!

We are all planning a girls beach trip in a few weekends and we can't wait to get away from Asheville, husbands and children to relax on the beach.

One of my other friends asked me if there were any races that we could run in on Saturday morning. Mind you, not all of the girls going would be taking part. But the fact that just even one of my friends would be interested in running a race while we have three days at the beach away from our kids...that speaks volumes.

And of course, we are know that we have to get to the beach via Trader Joes or Ikea in Atlanta and that we need to be at the beach before 8pm on Thursday so that we can catch Grey's Anatomy.

Amazing.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Quite a week

We have had quite a week with the kids since they were out of school for Spring Break. Exactly what kind of break kids in Mother's Morning Out has yet to be determined.

But we had an Easter Egg Hunt with the Knauers, a snowstorm on Monday, gymnastics class on Tuesday, mommy meltdown on Wednesday, Daddy trip to Chapel Hill on Wed-Thursday and a beautiful sunset today. See pictures below:





Also, we went to the Y this afternoon; but thanks to Spring Break my kids are used to having me around all week and so they promptly lost it when we arrived at Childwatch. They never settled down and I had to load them back up in my car 15 minutes after I got there. We came home and had a great time playing in the yard. But I pouted like a child for a good hour until I could embrace that my kids just wanted to play at home.

I can be as stubborn as a child sometimes.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Addendum to my Target Post

I already have discussed my much beloved Target in a previous post here. But, I just read another post about the Target Pharmacy on Parent Hacks about how you can REMOVE the stopper from an old Target pharmacy bottle and put it in, say the Children's Tylenol or Advil bottle.

Umm brilliant?! I struggle with these bottle because all they come with is a little cup and Lucy is too little to drink successfully from the cup. Oh, Target...I love you even more.

And since Lucy decided that running a 102 degree fever today was a good idea, I will be putting this little tip into action.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Exposed

Matt just came home and asked what was being recorded on our DVR. I told him I didn't know, so he checked. What did he find that was taping?

Frontline on PBS: The Iraq War: how it began, the conflict, the history and today.

also taping?

The Hills on MTV.

He asked me if I would stop recording one of them so he could watch what he wanted. What did I choose to keep?
The Hills. Of course!

I mean, we all know about Iraq. I need to find out what happens to Lauren in Paris!

Friday, March 21, 2008

Personality






Asher has been getting a lot of press on the blog lately, but the truth is...Lucy has even more personality than her brother. I know that is hard to believe. But she cracks me up every hour right now. She is always doing something silly, for example right now she is trying to climb UNDER my couch and is very mad that she can't. VERY MAD.

But here are some pictures of the kids from this past week:




Oh, and the toy of the week? An old pair of goggles.



Who would have guessed that those would be the toy that both of my kids are fighting over. I would give them another pair, but all I have left are my serious very nice goggles that make it possible for me to swim. And I can't make that sacrifice. Not even for my children.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Finally



This past weekend, the whole family went to visit Matt's parents in Columbia. This time of year in South Carolina is AMAZING and this weekend was no exception.
75 degrees, sunny and beautiful. Gah, can Spring please hurry up and get here? This weekend totally gave me spring fever. I can't wait!
Anyway, we had a great night on Friday night celebrating Matt's birthday/setting up the Sloan's new in-house wireless network! Hooray for an escape from Dial-up! Early Saturday morning, Matt and I headed to Five Points to run in the Run for the Green 5k, I ran a personal record, 24 minutes and Matt finished a few minutes behind me at 28 minutes. We were both EXTREMELY happy with our times. Give it up for my husband on his birthday (today) for having lost four-inches off of his waist since this time last year! Woah. That is serious weight loss people.

Anyway. We left the 5k and went to watch Watts (our nephew) play in soccer game and score a goal! Woohoo! It gave me soccer fever, watch out world! Asher Sloan is going to be eligble to play next fall!

We pretty much spent the rest of the weekend playing with Nate and Watts at the church Easter Egg hunt, the backyard of the Sloan's, at the McCormicks and back to the Sloan's. Asher slept very well once we got home on Sunday night. I didn't take very many pictures, but those that I did take are on my Flickr page. Take a look!
Here is my favorite:
I told Asher I wanted to take a picture and this is the pose that he struck. No lie.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

As seen on


my friend Robin's blog

It was too funny not to put it on here too.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Tip of the Week


With Easter on Sunday, I am wanting to dye eggs with the kids sometime this week. Who knows when?

But I just found out that hard boiled eggs are good after cooking for one week if refrigerated.

So I am boiling eggs right now and will keep the eggs all week, just in case we get a free hour to dye eggs for Sunday.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Quote from David Wilcox


Pretty much my favorite singer/songwriter, this is from WORLD Magazine,

"I've tried to sing praise songs, or write songs that might be called Christian songs, and I'm just not that good at it," he told WORLD before one sellout show. "I have no trouble talking about Jesus, but my gift seems to be to writing in ways that surprise people into thinking about faith, rather than to write songs that congratulate people in some sort of club."

Oh, how I love this man and his perspective on life.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Next on the list is right here:

I was reading this story today about a mom who got arrested for endangering her child's life by leaving her sleeping in a car, while taking her other children to put change in the Salvation Army's change bucket at Christmas.

Read the story:
Treffly Coyne was out of her car for just minutes and no more than 10 yards away.

But that was long and far enough to land her in court after a police officer spotted her sleeping 2-year-old daughter alone in the vehicle; Coyne had taken her two older daughters to pour $8.29 in coins into a Salvation Army kettle.

Minutes later, she was under arrest — the focus of both a police investigation and a probe by the state's child welfare agency. Now the case that has become an Internet flash point for people who either blast police for overstepping their authority or Coyne for putting a child in danger.

The 36-year-old suburban mother is preparing to go on trial Thursday on misdemeanor charges of child endangerment and obstructing a peace officer. If convicted, she could be sentenced to a year in jail and fined $2,500, even though child welfare workers found no credible evidence of abuse or neglect.

On Dec. 8 Coyne decided to drive to Wal-Mart in the Chicago suburb of Crestwood so her children and a young friend could donate the coins they'd collected at her husband's office.

Even as she buckled 2-year-old Phoebe into the car, the girl was asleep. When Coyne arrived at the store, she found a spot to park in a loading zone, right behind someone tying a Christmas tree onto a car.

"It's sleeting out, it's not pleasant, I don't want to disturb her, wake her up," Coyne said this week. "It was safer to leave her in the safety and warmth of an alarmed car than take her."

So Coyne switched on the emergency flashers, locked the car, activated the alarm and walked the other children to the bell ringer.

She snapped a few pictures of the girls donating money and headed back to the car. But a community service officer blocked her way.

"She was on a tirade, she was yelling at me," Coyne said. The officer, Coyne said, didn't want to hear about how close Coyne was, how she never set foot inside the store and was just there to let the kids donate money, or how she could always see her car.

Coyne telephoned her husband, Tim Janecyk, who advised her not to say anything else to police until he arrived. So Coyne declined to talk further, refusing even to tell police her child's name.

When Janecyk pulled up, his wife already was handcuffed, sitting in a patrol car.

Crestwood Police Chief Timothy Sulikowski declined to comment about the case. But he did not dispute the contention that Coyne parked nearby or was away from her car for just a few minutes.

He did, however, suggest Coyne put her child at risk.

"A minute or two, that's when things can happen," he said.

Talk about the case has intensified, particularly online, where bloggers are weighing in on various message boards.

Many have harsh words for the police department, calling the arrest of a mother who left her child in a locked car for a few minutes an abuse of authority.

Yet statistics show thousands of children are injured and dozens die every year after being left unattended near or inside vehicles.

"I am talking tens of thousands of people who leave their kids in the car for any period of time all around America," said Janette Fennell, founder and president of Kansas-based Kids and Cars. "People don't appreciate the dangers of leaving a child alone in the car."

Coyne's attorney, Michelle Forbes, argued that Coyne did not break the law any more than a mother who parks in front of a school in a rainstorm and leaves an infant in the car as she runs a few feet to pick up another child.

"As long as the car is not out of her sight, then the child is not unattended," she said.

Coyne and her husband believe she is unfairly being lumped in with parents who put their children's lives at risk.

"If I were going on a shopping spree then, yes, I would deserve arrest," Coyne said. "I was standing right there. I never went into the store.

"I'm a great parent."


If Treffly Coyne is convicted of child endangerment at her trial on March 13th, here are some things that every mother does with a child in a car that will make them criminals:


Returning a shopping cart to the cart return.


Mailing a letter.


Filling a car up with gas.

Another thing that was not mentioned in the story is that the police arrested the mom, but left the other kids on the sidewalk without taking care of them.

Proof that we are doing something right!


Last night, I was getting ready for Young Life club and Asher wandered into my room. I was fixing my hair and he got on my bed, settled in, looked at me and said, "Mommy, you are so pretty."

I immediately turned around, jumped on him and covered him with kisses. It was so unexpected and I have never heard him say anything like that before.

How sweet is that?

Monday, March 10, 2008

Fierce

If any of you know me, you know that I love Project Runway on Bravo. And I love Saturday Night Live. So, here is a video from SNL that combines my favorite loves and ummm, if you watched this past season of PR, you will laugh your butt off...

Award Winning Chili


Last night we had a the fifth annual Chili Cookoff at our area wide leadership and our team won! Nikki Petty developed this amazing chili that is the best tasting chili I have ever had.

I know that it is the end of chili season, but if it turns cold again and you need a little something to warm you up inside, give this chili a whirl:

3 lbs. Ground beef
1 lb. Neese Sausage (hot)
½ lb bacon
1 lg. onion, chopped
1 lg. green bell pepper, chopped
3 – 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 TBSP brown sugar
2 TBSP all-purpose flour
1 TSP salt
1 TSP cumin
1 ½ TSP chili powder
1 TSP oregano
1 ½ TSP cayenne pepper
3 cans red kidney, pinto, and Bush’s Chili beans (1 can of each)
1 can (28oz.) whole tomatoes, un-drained
1 can (14.5oz) diced garlic tomatoes, un-drained

• Combine beef, sausage, onion, bell pepper and garlic in a large pot and cook until meat is browned. Drain grease then return to pot.
• In a separate pan cook bacon. Be sure not to over cook the bacon. You don’t want it crispy but rather chewy. Cook it slightly; enough to give it form. Finely chop and add to ingredients in large pot.
• To large pot add brown sugar, flour, salt, cumin, chili powder, oregano and cayenne pepper. You can continue to add cayenne pepper for taste and heat, totally your preference.
• Let large pot simmer for approx. 1 hour for flavor to set in, stirring occasionally (this time is up to you as well, but at least let sit for 45 mins).
• Drain red kidney and pinto beans. Leave liquid in the Bush’s Chili beans. Don’t drain tomatoes, liquid will be need for chili. Chop up whole tomatoes.
• Add beans and tomatoes to large pot and let simmer for 20-25mins, stirring occasionally.

See What A Little Shaming Can Do?


My post last week about my thought for the day regarding cleaning the toilets in my house has worked! Matt taught Asher this week to wipe the rim after he goes to the bathroom. And he has taught himself how to do it too!

How fabulous is that?

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Ode to the Target Pharmacy


Oh Target Pharmacy, How do I love Thee?
Let me count the ways...
1. You are located inside of Target.
Even if my child is coughing up a lung and screaming because of an earache, Target is there for me. To comfort me with the promise of cute clothes that I can't pass up.

2. Easy to read labels.
You designed a bottle so that the label can lay flat and I can easily read everything that I need to know about my kids prescriptions. I love that!

3. Color coded bottles.
When three people in our family are on medication at the same time, we can tell who's is whose by the color coding. Genius!

4. The easy to fill liquid stopper in the bottle.
This is really the reason why I fill my prescriptions here. You put a stopper in the top of the bottle so that I can insert the syringe, turn the bottle upside down and pull the medicine into the syringe without air bubbles. Ah ha! Accurate dosages without having to turn the bottle and dig around the bottom of the bottle for the final amount of the antibiotic! I love that!

5. Flex Spending Demarcation.
You put a little asterisk next to all of my qualifying health care purchases on my receipt! You also TOTAL my health care purchases and put that on a separate line without adding the tax. I can file for flex spending with ease! It is amazing!

6. Prescriptions filled in 15 minutes.
It might take a little bit longer than this, but at least I can shop in Target while I wait. At our local CVS, it might take an hour to get a prescription filled and there is not a whole lot that I can ONLY get at CVS. While Target has LOTS of things that my CVS doesn't. And I don't have to deal with the attitude that is behind the counter at CVS. I swear, they have the meanest pharmacy techs there.


My local CVS has officially lost all of my business. My true love is at Target.
I am even considering get a REDCard because for every 10 prescriptions that you get filled with the card, you get 10% off your next purchase at Target. Do these people know their market or what?

Dupont Forest 12k


Yesterday morning, I got up and drove an hour to Brevard, NC to run in the Dupont Forest 12k. One of my friends was supposed to run it with me, but came down with the flu this week, so I made the trek alone.
It was 35 degrees, a wind advisory and two minutes from the start of the race; it began to snow. Perfect running weather!

I ended up finding a few people that I knew at the race (the former Robin Raulerson and a woman whose daughter is in school with Asher) and so it wasn't such a lonely affair.

About 200 people showed up to endure the race and as we crossed the start line, we realized that the last week of rain was going to make this an interesting trail run as the single track turned into a mud bog and the entire first mile needed to be taken as a walk rather than a run. I tried to avoid the puddles, but near the end of mile one, I stepped full into a puddle. With that under my belt, I was freed up to forget avoiding getting wet and just going for it.

I felt really good for most of the race. I warmed up quickly and settled into my pace. But I was not familiar with the trail and had no idea how challenging the slope of the hills would be. Around the 6th mile, we pretty much just had a steady uphill climb for the remainder of the race and my legs were beat.
I managed to push through and it started to REALLY snow on the final mile.
I finished the race at 1:09:30. I wanted to be under one hour so I am a tad disappointed with my results. I am trying to convince myself that the first mile went so slow that I could have probably finished in that time range had I been at the front of the pack. But what are you going to do? I did well and finished and had a great time. It was a great race and now I am looking for my next one!

**This is a picture from the actual race, I was just ahead of these people. On the official race tally, I finished 5th in my age group, #123 overall.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Asher Sings The Hits

Here is Asher singing every song he knows...but finishing none of them because he is so excited about being on video:



It's pretty much the cutest thing you have ever seen. I know.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Risk Taker


It has rained about three inches today in Asheville, there is water all over the roads. Completely treacherous driving conditions. So of course, I show up to pick my kids up from Mother Morning Out with NO CAR SEATS IN MY CAR.

Matt had taken the kids this morning and we never exchanged seats, nor did I even think about it. Until I had my daughter in my arms in the driving rain standing outside of my car feeling like a dummy.

What am I supposed to do? Matt is 45 minutes away and both kids are on the verge of losing it because it is 1pm and nap time. So, I do what any responsible mom does and straps the kids in the car and away we drive. But I obey every single law on the road because oh yeah, my license expired since I turned 30 over the weekend. My inspection is out of date (it expired last weekend too) and pretty much I will be arrested on the spot for endangering my children's lives in the backseat.

Another proud moment in motherhood. Brought to you by the irresponsible 30-year old in Asheville.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

30 Years Ago


I was born. That means I am now 30.
Ten years ago, I was a sophomore in college living in Whaley's Mill with a buzz cut. Ten years from now, I will be 40 with a 12 year-old and a 10 year-old.

Right now is so consuming that I can not even imagine what life will look like then. And I can hardly remember what life was like at 20. Thank Jesus for both of those truths.

I had one of the best birthday's I have ever had.

About a week ago, Matt invited friends to come over to our house and celebrate my thirty years while my parents and sister were in town. It was a lovely time and humbling to hear from my friends what I mean to them. And last night, my closest girlfriends took me out for tappas and chocolate in downtown Asheville. At 11:30pm we were still laughing at nonsense like who was our first kiss (Eric Starr) and what kinds of plastic surgery we would have if we ever had plastic surgery (tummy tuck).
And today, both of my kids slept until 9am. We went to church, took naps, went to the playground, God made it be 63 degrees here just for me and Matt and I went on a date to cheap mexican food and to see "Juno".

It just doesn't get better than that for a thirtieth birthday.