Living in Munchkinland

It rained over five inches one night this week. It rained hard and loud. We had hail and rain hit our bedroom windows sideways and keep us up all night. It totally flooded our yard and came in between the cracks of our windows. The ponds over flowed, the river over flowed and made a great roaring noise as it poured over the dam. School was delayed. Davis and I hiked down to the river and around the ranch in our rain boots and took pictures. It was not the worst river flood we've ever had. Not even close. But it was a BIG rain and definitely worth noting.

Michael woke up early in anticipation for the Tough Mudder. He woke up early several times, but finally got up at 6AM and was on the road at 6:30. I wished him luck and then focused on the day. I cleaned the house and got the kids ready and by 8:30 AM we left the house to head to Dick's Classic Car garage where Davis participated in his very first derby race with the cub scouts. He and his dad had worked really hard on his car and made a Mach 5 with Speed Racer as his driver. It was a very cool car. They did four heats. Davis came in second in every one of his heats. They took the winners of those heats and raced them against each other to find the winners. Davis was not too disappointed that he didn't win. We had tried to prep him for a loss just in case, and it seemed to work. He was very happy that his car had gone over 200 miles an hour. Sam burst into tears at Davis' loss, however. Seems I forgot to prep the brother. He eventually got over it though and al

Today is the fifth anniversary of my blog. This is my 598th post. Happy Anniversary to me! I started the blog when we lived in Phoenix. It was a way to keep up with my friends and family. Sam was 2 months old and Davis was two months shy of two. I was anticipating my 30th birthday. Here's the Initial Post . Feel free to go back in time with me. Writing this blog has been a way for me to connect with others and keep a history of our lives for my family. Each year I turn a years worth of the blog into a book. (I'll get it together to make the 2011 one soon.) It's my way of journalling/scrapbooking/making photo albums. It's been really nice to look back and see when a certain thing happened, or where we ate on that trip, or what I thought during a certain point in time. I can't put everything into the blog. There are lots of things that are just too private to put out there, but I think this blog has been a good representation of where we have been. It

I hosted another soup swap yesterday in honor of National Soup Swap Day. I can't remember how many soup swaps I've hosted over the years. I"m thinking this might have been the sixth. It was really fun. Michael helped me clean the house and get it ready for the party. I cooked up some soup and decorated the house a bit. I bought some prizes and opened the wine. Michael with the boys and Violet and Graham met up with several of the dads with their kids at our friend David and Rachael's house. They had a great time and it got them all out of the house which was fantastic. We had thirteen ladies participate and thirteen different soups! They all sounded delicious and there was a scramble to get some of them. The wine flowed and we had so many good things to eat. I wore my new sparkly pocketed pants and felt fabulous. I got to spend some time with my ladies and that is always a win. My very best friends were all there and it was almost perfect. I love soup swap

We had a wonderful MLK day. Michael had to work, but the boys and I drove out Monday morning to pick up Dad and Lilliana and head for the courthouse. We met up with our friends Anne and Jeff and their children and gathered with our fellow UU's for the program. We had our picture taken for the newspaper (which thrilled the kids). We ran into our friend Alex with her kids which made Sam's day because he loves her son Miles. The boys played on the courthouse lawn and we listened to a very moving program. After the program we all marched down MLK street to the Dunbar center. The weather had started cloudy and cool, but it grew warmer and warmer and turned out to be a lovely day. We all enjoyed our march and Dad got interviewed by the local college paper while we marched! Everyone had cake at the Dunbar center and then we walked back toward the courthouse with our large group plus some friends we met on the way. As we approached the square we met Cheris with Violet and Gra

I took the boys back to stride rite this afternoon to get some another pair of shoes (not light up) so he could wear them to school and since, apparently, he had outgrown his old ones. When I got there, I got them to remeasure his feet again just to make sure. I couldn't believe he'd grown from a 13 to a 2.5 in three months. Sure enough, the original measurement was wrong! He is a 13.5 and so is his brother. I told them how they'd mismeasured and they apologized and switched out the shoes for the proper size even though they'd been wearing them for two days. Alls well that ends well. And I still think it's funny that the boys wear the same size. Sam has big feet, just not clown feet like we thought before.

I am now on day 12 of my allergy cleanse and day 6 of only eating medical shakes and green vegetables. I am miserable and weak. However, I am headache and body ache free. My skin is clear and I'm not sick at all. I'm down a whole dress size and fit in my clothes again. I'm glad for those positive things. That's why I'm doing it. But I hate this cleanse all the same. I really love food. I like flavors and textures and cooking. I also really love my evening cocktails. I haven't been to a restaurant in two weeks and I haven't had a single sip of liquor. I miss those things a lot. In order to stick with my cleanse I've made sure not to have any social life to tempt me. I miss my friends a lot. I can't wait to be done with this.

The boys got new shoes today and this time Davis can grow into Sam's shoes. That's right. Despite being 19 months younger, Sam's feet are now a half size bigger than Davis'. My just turned five year old wears a 2 and a half! Think he'll grow up to be tall?

Michael grew a beard over the Christmas Break. It has lots of red in it and a little grey. It was very scratchy at first, but now it's soft. I'm ambivalent about it now that's it no longer poky. Michael thinks he'll wear at least through January. Davis LOVES it. He says it is Michael's "Obi Wan Kenobi" beard and that it makes his dad very cool. What do you think?

I think I'm going to withdraw for a week or two. I am glad to be back home and had a really wonderful holiday, but now it is time for some quiet. I'm on my allergy cleanse which I truly despise, but which I desperately need. No booze, no sugar, no lots of things, and, starting this Sunday, nothing but shakes and greens for a week. This makes me not want to be around people who are eating and drinking so I stay home a lot. It also makes me grumpy and tired so it's a good thing I'm isolating myself. And my job has been hard this week. Alzheimer's really sucks and it is so hard for the person suffering from it and for the people who love them and want to take care of them. I'm exhausted. So I'm going into my cocoon and I'll come out a cleansed, cheerful butterfly. Right? We still have a few plans. We're going to the farmer's market in Austin tomorrow so I can stock up on greens and then we'll go ride our bikes with the cub scouts on the v

This morning we woke up at 6:30 and got dressed in our warmest clothes. We put a bunch of pendleton blankets in the trunk and Michael, Mom, Davis, Sam and I drove out to the Taos Pueblo to see the Turtle Dance. It was very cold, about 15 degrees fahrenheit outside. We walked up to the Pueblo with our breath frosting and as we came into the courtyard we heard the drums and some chanting. We stood and watched the men from the tribe dancing and singing. They were bare chested with small skirts. Some wore leggings and they all wore turtle shells on their knees, bells on their moccasins and furs hanging down their backs. They wore feathers in their hair and shook white painted gourds ties with cedar branches. Several priests stood on top of the pueblo's all around. They do four dances in different parts of the pueblo. We followed them from place to place until they disappeared into the kiva for a private dance. Then they were going to start it again ending up doing each dance f

We had a great New Year's Eve. After breakfast we all loaded up into our cars and drove out to see the gorge. This is a huge canyon with the Rio Grande running through it. A bridge runs over it. We drove across and then parked and walked down to look over the edge. The wind was blowing so hard that we were freezing. Davis said he wasn't afraid of heights but he was afraid that the wind was going to blow him off. We hastily snapped some pictures and ran back to the car. A few miles down from the gorge are some Earthships . We went to visit the Earthship World Headquarters. These are some really cool houses. I loved how the grew their vegetables in the long window room and how their utility costs are only about $100 a year. Michael was fascinated with the engineering aspect. It was a neat thing to learn about. Then we drove back into Taos for lunch at the Eske Brew Pub. Sam was pretty sick for the first half of lunch because of car sickness, but he felt better after