training wheels.

A few months back I did a strange thing. I thought to myself, you've done a few races, you should probably sign up for a triathlon. So then, I did. This is especially strange timing because I still have this list of 33 things and compete in a triathlon isn't even on the list. I dutifully printed up a training program and (mostly) plugged away at the running and biking portions and completely ignored the swimming. Then Claire got sick. Then I got sick. Then Mister got sick. No one was running or biking or swimming. No one was moving. In four weeks I will be swimming and biking and running and attempting not to drown or crash or fall.

Thankfully, we are no longer sick, so I guess it is time to dust off the training program and get moving.

i'm just sayin.

"Put your self care above anything else. Say no unless it's an absolute yes. Choose to spend your time and energy on things that bring you joy and make decisions based on what you want instead of what others want." oprah.com
Sorry, Claire, you've had diarrhea for five days now, I'm busy with some self care. Everett, you want to play blocks? That really wouldn't bring me joy. By caring for them when we reach the end of ourselves, we teach them to love. They don't really need to be taught self-care. They're already experts. And I am too. When I love them when I am at my weakest, I learn something far more valuable than how to care for me.

washable not edible, son.

things we didn't do this week.

2 playdates
2 swimming lessons
1 Mom's Group
1 5K
1 meeting at church
1 birthday party (with horsey rides!)
1 going away barbecue
Dudes,could you please stop being sick so I could go somewhere? Anywhere?

mom, interrupted.

I woke up this morning without a voice.

No ability to answer my 4 year old's unending questions.
No ability to call for Mister Baby when he risks life and limb.

For the first time in four years, I am taking a sick day. Nate has the kids at the park and I am headed back to bed. I have a feeling we won't be eating local tonight.

16. eat entirely local for a week.

You'll notice that many of the items on my 33 things list have to do with food. I love food. Also, I had just read this great book. I knew that I would wait til summer to attempt my own week of local deliciousness, even though I have a weird kid who goes with me to the farm each week to pick up milk and routinely asks me whether the grapes at the market are from Maxico, I'm not normally obsessive about things being local.

So celebrate, locavore style, I'll share a week's worth of seasonal dinners with you and skip recapping our awesome neighborhood egg breakfasts and leftover lunches. Since today's meal* photographs like a bowl full of greenish glue, I'll show you Saturday's farmer's market haul:

*Because I add to kale to everything, I added a ton of kale to this recipe. I also added extra onions, 3 potatoes and some very local chard and spinach that needed to be used up. To compensate for the additional veggies I added extra broth and a bit of water. It made for some tasty, tasty green glue.

worse than that one time i gave tlo's mom an inadvertent bob.

Today a child left in my care decides to give herself a haircut. A child with beautiful long hair. When I find her with scissors next to her ear and a pile of soft curls at her feet, this sensitive little girl starts to cry.

Later, Claire asks her friend why she cut her hair. The friend answers, "Because it was getting long."

I guess that's what I'll be telling her mom this afternoon.

jammin

Seriously, where is the sun? It should be time for hikes and pools and splash parks. Instead we are building forts.
These two clearly don't have a problem with a day spent in their jams.

ain't no mountain high enough.

As I write this, I hear the pitter patter of tiny feet that are supposed to be napping. My Mister Baby has discovered sweet freedom and this mama needs advice.

What do you do when your toddler learns to scale crib walls? What do you do when this happens during the week that your husband is a few thousand miles away and has taken with him the keys to the shop (and access to even a screwdriver)?

inheritances.

Me: You have your daddy's nose.
Claire: And everything else on my body came from you.