Monday, November 30, 2009

Belated Cyclocross Pics

Last race of the season.
A set of barriers in the middle of a deep puddle. Nate was one of the few racers who enjoyed the added challenge (most would say unnecessary discomfort).
And two of the cutest boys anywhere... My little bell-ringer (I'm not allowed to call him little within his hearing any more)
How I love his expressions!


Joshua is running after Nate so as to be able to cheer longer
The start of the "a" race. Bear is the yellow and red in the middle of all the blue. A's get to run to their bikes instead of starting on them. More challenging for the riders and entertaining for the watchers.
Here you can see the big puddle
Nate is clearing weeds that are in the way of a shot he wants to attempt
He was hoping to catch a really good splash :)
And that's all the cyclocross for this year. Nate took second in his class. He'll have to move up next year if he keeps riding. I think he's planning to race mountain bike short track in March. I think we're both looking forward to it. He would like to talk me into racing cyclocross next year. I would have to start progressing physically a good deal faster than I am at present to consider it. Might be fun though... :)





















































Tuesday, November 24, 2009

It's Rambling Time

Yep, it's time for me to talk without a goal. To wander around the recent moments in my life that stand out to me as I sit this morning.

How does one keep little boys from bickering all day long when the sun doesn't shine? Whether they are busy or not it seems to come pouring endlessly out of them. Legos, crafts, school, firewood, food...doesn't seem to matter.

On the other hand, those adorable smiles, inquiring minds, sharp little wits and glorious hugs make for the best days ever!

A new writing project looms before me. Looms in every best sense of the word. Can looming be a positive thing?? Should I say...uh, strange, a different word to use escapes me at the moment. When am I ever wordless? OK, so it's not looming. I just can't wait to get started. I'm waiting on someone who I'll be working with. Just a little waiting and I'm going nuts. I'm a little excited. More than a little. But, I'm nervous too. I've never worked collaboratively with someone before, not on non-fiction anyway(in high school my friends and I did a little swapping fiction back and forth). I'm nervous to put my words to someone else's thoughts. What if I don't get it right????? Lol! But I was daydreaming last night about having the material in my hands, organizing thoughts and themes, polishing, rewriting and I was getting happy :) Happy at the thought of sculpting with words. After a long, long time away from such work.

We are attempting at last to clean our house of all the clutter, and because of the clutter all the trash, dirt, and piles of un-put-away stuff that has accumulated over the past three years. I started yesterday with enthusiasm. By the end of the day I was thinking this is impossible! I'm trying not to look too closely at anything right now. Trying to keep my mind on small bits of the project so as not to become completely overwhelmed before we even have a good start on this. My plans for yesterday were derailed by a particular circumstance which caused me to have to clean a different room than I planned on starting with. I mostly didn't let any frustration into my thoughts. Until this morning when I will be gone for a while and my hubby can't do what he planned to do while I was gone because I didn't get to do the "before" step I planned to do yesterday...

It's all right though. He and the kids will have a great time hiking up the mountain instead ;-) They are exploring places to make some bike trails. We are excited to share our wonderful property with our mountain-biking friends. Once our house is clean, ahem, we'll have some of them over to help us clear trails and whatever other fun we can get up to.

Well, I'm off to see if the boys' breakfast is ready, do my stretches and otherwise get on with my day. Thanks for joining me this morning :)

Sunday, November 22, 2009

For The Crayon Stains...

I am going to try one of the recipes here:

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf001203.tip.html

Ok, I tried a mixture of detergent, borax, oxiclean, and vinegar. Soaked for a few hours and then checked. Decided to soak overnight. Washed twice(agitated twice I should say, without rinsing); rinsed twice, this morning. The lightest stained clothes came somewhat clean, all of the t-shirts have big oily stains all over though. The heaviest stains still left some color in the clothes. So this was a partial success. Not as much as I was hoping for with all the rave reviews on the site I got the recipe from.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

A Strange Surprise

Yesterday evening I opened the dryer to pull out some comfy pj's in preparation to cozy up for the evening. Imagine my surprise as I stared at clothes covered in a rainbow of colors. Yellow, teal, orange and red. What?!?!?


Then I spotted it.

An empty crayon wrapper. And another, and another...

Some little boy's pockets had been full of crayons. And his mama apparently forgot to check said pockets before washing clothes yesterday.


So, I don't suppose there is a way to get melted crayon out of clothing? Some of the clothes are obviously hopeless. There are a couple things, like my work-out pants that have only a few splotches on them though...

I am accustomed to finding rocks, screws, nails, acorns, leaves and various other small objects in the dryer. This is a first for crayons though, and hopefully the last time :)

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

OK Matt, The "REAL" Pics From Sunday :D

Well, some of them anyway. The stinking computer wouldn't let me upload any more. Hope it's enough to get your fix, lol



























Monday, November 16, 2009

Autumn Colors

These pics were all taken the same day :)














And, because I can't help it, pics of my marvelous boys too :D


















Wednesday, November 11, 2009

When You Have A Cold...

Maybe you'll be lucky enough to have a mama crazy enough to let you lick out the empty honey jar while lying on the couch...

Or maybe you'll hang out on the exercise machine just cause you'd rather not lie down but you really want something to lean on...
Or maybe, when your littlest boy says it sure would be nice to have some toast with his tea for breakfast, then a moment later says hot soup to dip it in would be even better; you decide that making bread and soup would be a fantastic way to spend the morning... ;-)



Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Ephesians 1 in The Message

I, Paul, am under God's plan as an apostle, a special agent of Christ Jesus, writing to you faithful Christians in Ephesus. I greet you with the grace and peace poured into our lives by God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ.


How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people--free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free--signed, sealed and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what's coming, a reminder that we'll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.

That's why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the Christians, I couldn't stop thanking God for you--every time I prayed, I'd think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask--ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory--to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for Christians, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him--endless energy, boundless strength!

All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Another Week, Another Race

We had a fun time watching the cyclocross races today. It started out raining, after the first two races the sun came out to warm us. Nate says of this first pic, "I'm still smiling, must've been the first lap." Which it was :)

The mud was very sticky, followed by stretches of gravel which stuck to the mud and built up on tires and other parts. There were a lot of broken bikes today. Many of the racers carried their bikes through the stickiest stretches.
Third lap, walking instead of jogging, getting tired.

Cowbells, along with shouts and various other vocalizations, are used to encourage the riders on to greater efforts. Some serious bell ringing going on here...
Brannon amused himself with trying to break open horse chestnuts on the pavement
The second race proceeded a bit faster than the first, with faster riders and a more packed track.


Love that smile :)
Third race. I loved these lines: the riders, the numbers, the fence posts, and more numbers.
A good friend of came along for the morning. The boys definitely enjoyed his company

A little rest anyone?
Trying to keep up with the big kids...good thing he had that little lounge...and good thing Zach will wait for him ;)
Bear in the lead

Over the barriers

Finding entertainment
Of course, hills equal sliding...especially if it's wet out
Finding agates

My fav pic of the day as far as photography goes...love the flying mud and the bright jersey. Not a bad second place finish either, especially for being up most of the night.
Beautiful smile
And last but not least, the results of sliding down muddy hills. Hopefully there's a towel in the car to cover the seat with... ;-)