lessons learned.

• Special K and Diet Coke. Breakfast of champions.
• Left a voicemail and used the nonword "tooken"......"TOOKEN"?! I wanted to call back and 'splain just how tired I was, but decided that would make the damage worse.
• Dear Deceptively Delicious. Your recipes are deceptively time consuming and not delicious. But I'm good for one more round.
• What are cute kids good for? Free car scent tree at the car wash. "I'm taking this!!" (Grabs a scent tree and inhales). Ahhhhhhhh". If anyone can reference that quote you can be my BFF.
• Nation: I'm turning 30 this weekend, which means the end of the world is imminent. So....brace yourselves?
• I also feel that turning 30 justifies me buying whatever I want, whenever I want all month long. So, spouse......brace yourself?

Sometimes.....

Your child wakes you from a dead sleep at 3:30 in the AM to say.....

"Mom. I really don't like watermelon."

And then you spend the rest of the night tossing and turning over the insanity that is your life.

you know...that one day...when we ate some turkey...

Thanksgiving: We eat an extraordinary amount of food, stare at the TV for hours, and then maul each other over $5 DVDs at 4 in the morning. AMERICA. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO US?

This is how we spent our day of thanks:

Kathy making rolls.

I actually can be helpful. Meet the biggest batch of mashed potatoes ever cooked.

Men doing manly things. Gary (left) cooked the most amazing smoked turkey.

Kat and Bryn made this infinite fruit salad. Heavenly.

Kids table!

Aaaaaaand the cherry on top, a fresh DC.

We did not Black Friday it up with the rest of crazy nation. Instead we watched a medley of Chevy Chase movies until wee in the morning.

Thanksgiving. CHECK.

falling off the face of the planet.....

Sometimes it happens. For reals. I won't go into the ridiculously busy schedule this house has been experiencing, but I will say that we've definitely made time for some stellar parenting. Such as family night at the pumpkin patch, which involved terrifying Ells and laughing hysterically about it.

D took her down this giant slide. Girlfriend loves slides, so we thought it would be the thrill of her life.

It must be confusing being a baby. One minute your on solid ground holding your dad's hand, and the next your careening through the sky while he's screaming. Wait for it....

I still laugh....Every. Time. And no, she wasn't cold. We think she was just a bit stunned. Pres, totally enjoyed himself. High fives all around.

Also, new blog is coming soon. And it will blow your mind. Stay tuned friends.....

lessons learned.

• Who knew you could get so attached to a car? So long Element. Its a sad, sad day.
• Halloween costumes post Halloween is awesome if you're a child. Not so much of you're an adult.
• There is a Costco Food Court Sandra Oh. I kid you not. And she isn't kidding around either. Costco Food Court is very much like unto a hospital OR. Only more delicious.
• Also, at said Food Court, there was a lady with the body type I like to refer to as "Skeletor". How can someone really be that thin? Its unreal. It made me rethink my hotdog decision. But only for a split second. Cause how delicious are those? Screw you Skeletor.
• Days that start out at 5 am because your husband's newly installed "Mario Bros. 1-Up" sound on his phone jolted you awake, will probably never be good days.....for anyone......especially if you're name begins with D.
• Winter has already sucked the life and motivation out of me. For reals. Maybe its time to invest in a maid/nanny/personal assistant/personal chef/personal shopper/personal stylist/personal makeup artist/personal hairdresser. That should do it. Yup.

the robo turkey.

Good thing I went to college so I could spend my mornings changing the world by making preschool homework assignments

such as this.....

Your child is supposed to "dress their turkey". PG chose to dress him as a robot. DONE. He actually helped as much as he could. I'm not one of those "sure I'll do it for you" moms.

He named it Garth.

Yup. Changing the world one Robo Turkey at a time.

the triathlon.

IT. WAS. FREEZING - 30 degrees. And windy. Really windy. (The day before it had been a balmy 66 degrees. Figures). It was so windy in fact, that they cut the bike portion down almost completely just so you could "practice your transition time". I felt gypped. All of that practice for the bike. But, what do I hate more than failing? FREEZING. So that eased my disappointment a bit.

Anyway. Here are some pics. And then I shall review the race overall.

Too bad my bib # didn't reflect any of my finish times. But it's still pretty awesome. 6:30 am never looked prettier. esh.

The fakest thumbs up ever. "Kill me now. It wouldn't even be messy because my blood is frozen". Check out the wind blowing the flags. Sick.

At Mimis for victory breakfast. Literally we're in running tights, we swimsuit tops, with wet cap hair and flip-flops. We felt stunning.

Thanks Dave for watching the kiddos, bringing them to the "finish line", and grabbing breakfast with us. Then taking a 2 hour nap, because your morning was that exhausting. ;)

This triathlon was very unorganized. I didn't have to travel far, and it was a good way to get some experience I guess, because I just wanted to finish. I wasn't concerned about race or transition times. But I probably would never participate in it again, or recommend it.

• There was no way to distinguish "officials" if you needed help or had questions. Once we did find someone, they had no idea how to answer any of our questions. For the most part all the racers relied on each other for help/info.
• Most racers, including ourselves arrived early. There was no where but outside in the wind and snow for us to hang out until the race started.
• There was only 1 transition area - outside. So from bike to swim they assumed stripping to your suit in 30 degrees would be normal and pleasant.
• There were NO mile markers.
• I had no idea which lane to enter the pool in and what line to cross to actually finish. When I completed my swim some dude standing at that lane just smiled but didn't say anything. So I just hung out in the deep end trying to get warm, until I heard that same dude tell the swimmer behind me to get out and turn her chip in. So I'm sure my swim time is off by at least a minute.
• Oh also, as we were eating breakfast I realized they didn't have anything, not even water, at the finish for the racers. Weird right? My first triathlon yes, but not my first race. That's never been the case.

Pretty bummed about the bike portion. So bummed that I'm seriously contemplating a late entry in the St. George Turkey Tri next weekend so I can just get done what I've been training for.

Thanks Amber for helping me with everything. It was fun despite all of the pandemonium. And thanks for putting up with a newbie.