Ok...who's going into the volcano?
Clearly some drastic measures must be taken. The weather gods have been angered. I wonder what sacrifice will be necessary to pry Winter's greedy mitts off the forecast and usher in some balmier fare. These are not images you'd expect of the end of May, and yet...

The flowers I planted so optimistically on Saturday

My daughter wearing my coat...the one I thought I'd put

away for the next six months!

A little eavesdropping never hurt anyone...

Every week I take my oldest son and his friend to Karate. I get great insights into the nine year old mind by listening to their conversations. I make sure the radio is on so they don't think I'm listening but not so loud that I can't hear. This was one of their most recent exchanges...almost verbatim.

J: Dude, did you know that Obama is trying to make it so no one can have guns?

B: No way!

J: Yes he is. You know what that means?

B: What?

J: Our military guys are gonna have to use bows and arrows!

B (with great concern): Dude, that's never gonna work against tanks...

Crash Site
Tow Yard

I'm posting this for informational purposes.

A lot of you have asked what happened. I don't really know. I was in the very back with my oldest son. I had just closed my eyes since everyone had settled in--watching a movie. I heard screeching, heard the impact of us hitting something and then the squeal of tires. I saw us turning in circles and then we were rolling...several times. F looked at the van yesterday at the tow yard. We think the rear of the van was airborn for awhile since the front sustained the most damage. I asked my Aunt later if she thought we rolled a lot and she agreed, saying she felt like it would never stop. As soon as the van came to rest of its side, I unclicked my kid's seat belts and gathered them into one area of the van and did a visual inventory. Lots of crying but no bleeding that I could see. I asked if my mom was alive and she said she was. She was stuck in her seat belt, suspended above my Aunt in the front. At that point I began frenetic prayers that some one would come because I couldn't reach either of them and couldn't get out of the van. A minute later the faces of some very startled men peered through the broken glass. They were able to cut mom loose and move her out of the van and then my Aunt. I handed my toddler through the window, then K and then J. One of the men on site was an off duty nurse so he got my Aunt on the ground, J too since he had a huge knot behind his ear and my mom taken care of. Mom, Auntie M and J were loaded into ambulances and the rest of us waited with some very nice firemen. It was a tense time since I'd really wanted to stay with my son, but one of the guys reassured me that if his injuries had appeared life-threatening, they would have flown in a helicopter. My toddler kept pointing at the mess and saying, "Mommy! Our van broken!"

Of all the scenarios I run through in my mind, none of them have us all surviving. There were so many things that could have been different. We were protected. Mom broke a rib. Auntie M is still in the hospital and is having surgery on her broken shoulder today. She also broke her leg. J had a CT scan at the hospital and was discharged that day. The rest of us have bruises where our seat belts restrained us. They are absolutely beautiful tattoos and I am grateful to have them.

Thanks to all of you for your offers of help, your prayers and for listening. The kids and I are all still rattled. F had to deal with a very emotional woman on the drive home yesterday. I didn't want to get into the truck...let alone drive. I did for maybe an hour before I burst into tears on some curvy roads. All I wanted was to be home and out of a moving vehicle. For a little while my excursions will be within city limits!

I'm Dreaming of a White...Easter?!?!

A chilly easter egg hunt and marshmellow peeps for breakfast!

It's Easter in the Intermountain West!

A Very Bad Idea
(my first one this week...)

I woke up this morning, bright and early and saw that it had snowed during the night. This is where things went horribly wrong.

I decided it would be a GREAT idea to get all my kids up and ready before 7:30, dress them in Santa hats and head out into the virgin snow to take the dreaded CHRISTMAS picture (did I mention that it's Monday morning??). If you are a mom, you will get immediately that evidently my synapses were not making proper contact this morning. The incredible part of this story is that I actually did get all my kids up, coiffed and dressed. We loaded into the van (because I have to borrow my neighbors trees anytime I want ambiance) and that's when it all started to disintegrate. I had made my plan while imagining fantasy Stepford children, pouring liberal amounts of bleach on what my reality actually is...whiny kids who have no tolerance for cold or inconvenience. Bribery worked on the older two, but my toddler isn't so corruptible yet. As soon as I got a shot ready, he'd step out of it or turn around or make his Oscar the grouch face. Meanwhile kids number one and two are screeching through clenched teeth, "Mom! Take the dang picture!" My optimism faded and I asked myself what the heck I was doing outside in the cold, on a Monday morning taking pictures of my kids (who historically speaking, compare this sort of activity with Chinese water torture). By the time we were done (two seconds later), all kids were upset, one was crying and I had pulled a muscle in my back.

Next Monday I'm hitting snooze, throwing back a Valium and sleeping for an extra two hours.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are my Halloween pictures!

Black Belt!

Geisha Girlie

Sweet Bee...

On Halloween night, three neighborhood boys showed up with their bodies covered in peeling pink paint. Matching pig snouts and white wings completed their costumes. "The three pigs?" I asked. "Swine flu," they answered. Ah...

This, I am convinced, is how the swine flu infected my unsuspecting household. The very next day my oldest had a temperature of 103 and was laying about in atypical malaise. We even went to the hospital and had the sucky snot test to confirm that he was, indeed, H1N1 positive (called such because it wouldn't be p.c. to insult pigs). So for the next two weeks I had two kids and one spouse come down with the disease that has caused such a media frenzy. Ya know what? We all survived. But that's why you are seeing my Halloween pictures after Thanksgiving.

Mental Health Moment (warning: this post contains profanity)...

I've been insanely busy for the past month and a half. I think of things I'd like to blog about but something else more important comes up. Not more fun, just more important...like book reports, nasty colds and the stomach flu. I keep waiting for my life to "get back to normal" but then I realize, this is the new normal!

damn it...