Music of the Night

I've found one thing that demonstrates the absolute reality of being a parent of pre-schoolers...the music of the night. We are finally at a stage where both kiddos sleep from 8:30 p.m. to 7 a.m., and, of course, I am still waking during the night for NO REASON!!!!

The music I hear? Well, last night it was "Our Journ-eeee to Erni-eeeee is done!" ---for those of you not familiar with that little diddy, it is the chorus to Big Bird and Ernie's game of "Journey to Ernie" where Ernie hides and Big Bird seeks. And I cannot blame a mystery TV coming on at 3 a.m. or a random tape player gone awire...it's all in my head--ahhhrrgh!

Depending on what tape is playing in the car or what video is the current fav I've woke with everything from Old MacDonald's "E-I-E-I-O" to the Wiggles singing "Gulp, gulp, drink some water!" to Miss Pattycake's "Fruits and Veggies in my tum-tum-tum, fruits and veggies, yum-yum-yum".

I find it fairly amusing and am sometimes amazed at all I've absorbed, however, last night I was awake for over an hour without being able to get the tune out...oh dear. I've always been a fan of Robert Louis Stevenson's children's poetry--here's a fav:

"The Land of Nod"
From breakfast on through all the day
At home among my friends I stay,
But every night I go abroad
Afar into the land of Nod.

All by myself I have to go,
With none to tell me what to do-
All alone beside the streams
And up the mountainsides of dreams.

The strangest things are there for me,
Both things to eat and things to see,
And many frightening sights abroad
Till morning in the land of Nod.

Try as I like to find the way,
I never can get back by day,
Nor can remember plain and clear
The curious music that I hear.

Lean forward...

...And you either fall on your face or run. That's why my Uncle Tom says running is the easiest sport in the world. So. I'm training for my first race in 15 years. No, I haven't been training for 15 years...I simply haven't ran a race in 15 years....or ran much for that matter. Tonight was a breakthrough as I kept going for 12 minutes with only a 2.5 minute walk in the middle. That's like double improvement! Extra bonus that I didn't go into cardiac arrest, too!

I'll take a moment here to thank my aforementioned Uncle Tom for being my main inspiration! He is 50-something and I think he runs every race they put on in the Wichita area...not only runs them, but usually wins in his age group...rock on! He is a very encouraging person and challenges me to set goals higher than I think I can attain. So we'll see...I've got til 3-11 to be ready for the KC St. Pat's Race...here's to hitting the pavement!

Oh, and other inspirations? How about turning 3.0., two babies, one friend who has ran marathons, one triathalons, and I can't jog 50 yards w/o keeling over! Sheesh!

Cakes of Late

Here are some of my decorated cakes...some recent, some just favs. This hobby is my creative outlet that would be perfect, except that there are always a lot of dishes to clean afterwards!


Kai's 1st BD


Elena's 1st BD


Elena's 2nd BD


This cake had a tragic ending...well, mid-life crisis...we loaded it in the truck to take to the party and when the door shut, the box collapsed on top, completely mashing the front of the much-labored-over Harley! After a hurried patch job, it was never the same, but they say it tasted good. Oh, dear!


Go Pitt State! The split face gorilla logo cakes are some of my favs to make.


Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star....Naomi!!


This cutie was too much fun! Loved the grass and sugar ladybugs!

Birthday #1!

Kai celebrated turning one with a grand display of cake-in-the-face mashing!

He figured out how to blow out his candle after Elena demonstrated the proper technique. And after picture after picture, "cheese" was added to his vast vocabulary of "quack", "sit", "vroom", and "duck"!

Chocolate Soup

That just happens to be what I'm finishing drinking...actually chocolate soy milk...I've had better beverages. This is my intro into blogging. I've spent the last hour or so checking out blogs from friends in my previous life in Knoxville. I can tell that my heart is sad...not missing life so much there, as I'm very content with my life now, but their zeal and passion expressing all that God is doing in their lives is so evident.

What am I thinking!? I have the same spirit within...I think perhaps I'm just out of practice expressing it in all my various walks of living. Okay. Shake of the blah and get to it...

Reasons for posting a blog:
1. I'm too lazy to write in my journal.
2. I'm always online anyway.
3. I can show off my sweet kiddos.
3. Writing practice! I'd like to publish something, someday...for real.
4. Why not?

Here is a picture of my family at Kai's birthday party last Saturday! He's been taking a few steps at a time since that day and even made it half way across the kitchen today!


To any and all that read my posts, hope you enjoy my ramblings...this may become addicting!