Busters

The boys are currently on a lego kick. We've had them forever, but they recently realized that they're actually fun, and they run to play with them after school. Thing 3 can't put together all the sets, but he loves the lego people. In fact, he loves the lego legs. He calls them “busters,” and he pulls them off all the lego people and just plays with the busters. Our playroom usually looks like there's been some sort of lego massacre, with legless lego people lying all over the place. Sometimes he'll put the busters on top of each other so there's one tall, mutant buster. Other times he'll line them up and have them kick in bizarre rockette style.

I don't know how he came up with the name busters, but it stuck. The whole family calls them busters now. I curse the busters when I step on them in the middle of the night when Thing 3 wakes me up and makes me tuck him back in bed, and I shake my head at the busters when I find them clanging around in the dryer. Busters have totally taken over my house!

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Oh, I love March. I'm like a kid at Christmas with my nose pressed against the store window, gazing longingly at the Red Rider BB gun. It's March Madness, baby! The brackets came out today and I'm in heaven.

We have done a pool with our friends (for bragging rights only, of course!) for about 10 years now. I've only won it once, and it's a year when my brother in law has chosen to experience some very selective memory loss. I know I'll never win again. Usually someone wins who has no clue about college basketball and just picks all the high seeds (except the two years my dad won). I end up grumbling about it for a few weeks and then placate myself with chocolate and Mariners games.

All three Things are already claiming victory with their picks. Thing 1 has declared that he will win with his superior knowledge and insider information. Our brain washing of Thing 2 is complete, he picked BYU to win it all and is appalled that anyone would pick differently. I love his dedication. It's totally me at his age. I'm just afraid he will end up like this kid:




And Thing 3. He picked Gonzaga to win it all, after all, he's heard us talking about them constantly for the last 4 months. But it's his final four that's really gutsy: Gonzaga, BYU, Portland State, and To Be Decided. Yep, he picked the winner of the "play in" game, one of the two worst teams in the tournament, to go to the final four. I love it.

We've sent out our email to everyone from last year. If you want in, let me know. It doesn't matter if you are a huge basketball fan or not; like I said, you actually have an edge over me if you aren't. And, hey! You could be the one I grumble about in April!

Thing 3 Turns Four!

I can't believe my baby is four! He started off as our miracle baby, surviving being inside a very sick mommy and having the cord around his neck. Now he is our comic relief and one smart cookie. Last night a friend of ours was sitting with us at Thing 2's basketball game (He is finally well enough to play in a game! Yay!), and she asked Thing 3 to dance for us. He jumped right up and did this booty shake thing that Thing 2 taught him, much to the delight of the crowd/horror of his mother. Well, I guess I wasn't too horrified - I had to stifle a few giggles myself. Thanks, Thing 3, for being a part of our family and making us smile!

We had a birthday party for him on Saturday. Here is a picture of the poster that the kids colored for him, and one of the little rascals themselves. It was a "Halloween" birthday party. Yes, it's March, but hey, that's what he wanted. Who am I to judge? We had a pirate, Diego, four Star Wars guys, a ninja, and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

A Friend to the Rescue!

After my last post, a dear friend of mine asked me if I wanted her iPod mini that she wasn't using anymore. Jen, you rock! It came in the mail yesterday, and it works great. I think she was worried that I would mind that it's pink. On the contrary - I am so thrilled to have a working iPod that pink is my new favorite color. Thanks, Jen!

Something completely unrelated - Thing 2 has pneumonia. This is the second time he's had it in the last couple of years. He had a chest x-ray on Tuesday and you could see some junk in there. He has missed a lot of school, but he is back at school today after begging me to let him go. This round of medication seems to be working. He has more energy, but is still pale and coughing. We're keeping our fingers crossed that he will get better soon - he has been sick since the end of January! I know many of you have been praying for him - thank you. We received a nice call from his Sunday School teacher today to see how he was doing, and my grandmother put his name on the prayer roll at the temple the day before we found out he had pneumonia after feeling prompted to do so. We feel so blessed to have such great friends and family!

Spring

There's a line in the movie "IQ" where Meg Ryan's character says, "It's spring. Everything goes through an upheaval in the spring." Well, I guess spring has come early at my house, because despite the snow we had last week:

• My dishwasher is to the point now where the dishes have to be absolutely pristine when I put them in if I want them to be clean when I take them out. I'm not sure why I still run the thing.
• Our fireball truck is crazy. Sparky couldn't get the key to turn in the ignition the other day. Apparently we do weird things when we turn keys, because last year with our minivan we not only couldn't get the key to turn, but we got the key stuck and had to get the whole ignition replaced. Our fingers are crossed that it won't happen with the truck.
• Most importantly, the bottom fell out of my iPod mini. Seriously. It just fell out. Now, I've had it for almost four years, which I hear is like 102 in human years. They don't even make minis anymore. I'm guessing it's time to let it go, but I'm having a hard time. I always have that thing with me, and I've grown quite attached to it. We've had a beautiful relationship. Sure, there was that rocky patch when it had trouble syncing up to iTunes, but we worked through it.

So anyway, this is going to be an expensive spring. We've picked out the new dishwasher and are ordering it today. We're praying that the truck gets over its dislike of our keys, so we don't have to pour money into a 16 year old truck. And the iPod. Well, of course I have to get a new one. Can you picture me without earbuds in my ears? I'm thinking of getting either a Nano or an iTouch. Obvously, the Touches are cool. But they're more expensive and quite a bit bigger, which could be a pain when I take it running. Anyone have any thoughts?

Fun With Weather

I have discovered the best way to get your weather forcast in Kitsap county. My neighbor, Matt, has a blog called Forecasting Kitsap. He is a high school senior who I suspect will someday be the weather guy for one of the local channels. The kid has been saying he want to be a weatherman when he grows up for as long as I've known him (8 years now!) He has already had some amazing opportunities, including writing this blog for our local newspaper, The Kitsap Sun. Check it out. Even if you don't live here, he has some video clips that are fun, especially the football one.

Bumble Bee 5k

My Brother-in-law had a bunch of us run the Holiday Bowl Bumble Bee 5k together when we were in San Diego. It was a beautiful race along the harbor. What wasn't so beautiful was the mile markers. They were invisible, so we had no idea how far we were along the course. At one point I saw my sister-in-law with a video camera. As I was waving to her, I thought, "Hmmm, I wonder how much I have left?" 5 seconds later, I turned a corner, and BAM! Finish line. I had a kick of about 3 seconds. I definitely had too much left in me at the end. Usually in the afternoon after a race I'm like a toddler in the car at 5 pm - I can't stay awake for anything. But we went to the beach after the race and well, I wouldn't say I was a bundle of energy, but I wasn't dead to the world either. Here's a picture of the crew and some quick footage. Look for Thing 1, and watch as I almost mow over the guy ahead of me at the end. Who stops just after the finish line?

Thing 1 ran the race - his first 5k! He finished 22nd out of the 54 in his 12 and under age group, with a time of 27:16. I was so proud of him. I finished 10th in my age group out of 51, with a time of 24:17, which I was not so proud of. I was hoping to be under 24:00 at the very least. But it was fun. Thanks for suggesting it, Tim!