Hump day

I had a rare kid-free afternoon so I headed to the nail salon for a little pampering. Halfway through my appointment, the power went out! So I ended up spending an extra 20 minutes sitting around, and of course eventually I got bored, so I snuck a picture. Why do so many women think that squirting out of too small clothing is somehow sexier than clothes that actually fit? And when you tell me you're a size XYZ I almost do a spit-take? After I picked up my kids from school we headed home just in time to see our neighbors having a new washer delivered. The kids ran out and and waited for the delivery men to reappear and he kindly emptied the box and sent them on their way with their treasure.

We got a new pet: Spot. He's a Tangerine Crayfish. He's pretty cool, he hunts the fish in his tank with great theatrics. What we didn't know about crayfish (other than our education about shellfish courtesy of Spongebob Squarepants) is that they molt.

Well when we got home yesterday evening we discovered that Spot had molted. Blech. I had to fish out his skin carcass and screeched a couple times thanks to Mike yelling at me that it was moving, and Pickles attacking my ankle once I got the shell out of the tank.

Forest Park

After getting up early to head to Lynnwood Bowl and Skate for a little scrimmage between Jet City and Bellingham (yay, my two worlds combined!), we headed to the park to let the kids run some wiggles out (they were amazingly well behaved at derby btw...)

Training has officially begun for running season... we have 6 weeks until the Hero's Half (on Mother's Day). We've got quite a race schedule this year, I'm super excited about 2011... so far it's been a fantastic year.

Tomorrow I get my tooth back. When I got braces a few years ago (for the 2nd time) the main goal was to close a particularly bothersome gap. The co-pay for braces was essentially the same as a crown so my thought was 'why not get braces and re-straighten all my teeth (again) and solve my gap problem?' Well, it didn't work as well as we had hoped, and so 2 weeks ago I got prepped (and charged) for solution #2: A crown larger than my tooth to close the troublesome gap. So it cost me twice as much and of course Thursday evening at 7:50 p.m. my temporary crown popped off. And my dentist is closed on Friday. And he's an hour away. So finally tomorrow I should get my tooth back and my gap closed.

A week of half days and sunshine.

Any guesses to what this might be? I'll give you a hint: Those are Mike's legs opposite mine...

Me all bundled up Bellingham-style ready to cheer for my sweetie at his softball game...

That got rained out. But I got some supercute little league pictures of him in front of the fire place (but I still think his jersey should say "Heather's" but he does go see Kate at least once a week so I guess I'll let it slide)


The kids and I met Michael at Legion park Tuesday afternoon.

The kids were having a dance party on the trampoline.

Boo and I packed a picnic and walked down to get my kids out of school and had lunch on the playground... they all loved it and it was the perfect way to spend the first warm day of the year.

Brady was showing Natalie how to climb up on the bars and stand (I tolerate him teaching her this because a. he's actually teaching her something and b. doesn't every kid need to learn this stunt?)

So of course after Natalie mastered it, she passed her newly-lernt skillz down to Makenzie.

69 Flights, 1311 Steps, 788 Feet of elevation

Today was the day. This year our team more than doubled, which was awesome. And all of our original team returned (which should tell you right there it's not THAT bad) and most of us recruited our siblings.
It was the 25th anniversary of The Big Climb; and this year marks the 20th anniversary of Mike's Uncle Gary's death from Leukemia, the 10th anniversary of losing my dad to ALL, and apparently (insert family drama here) the 1 year anniversary of the death of my cousin JP to leukemia as well. I've also lost my dear Crazy Aunt Larry (Lorraine) to Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Me and my fella at the top.

Team Falcons and Friends. Almost all of us are from the same high school (South Whidbey Falcons on the island, yes you bet we're here!) graduating from 1987-2012.

Team Huddle Hands.

Team Huddle Feet.

My brother Richard, me and my love.

I love doing these events with him. He makes me so proud.

I love candids of myself. I'm actually pinning a picture of my dad onto my shirt.

Post Pyramid and saying farewell to our falcon friends.
Toasting each other and our our accomplishment, and toasting those we've lost.

I was 1:08 slower than last year (19:55). I am pretty disappointed in my performance, but remember that I climb for reasons bigger than myself. My sweetie did amazing (12:27), shaving over a minute off of his time, and my brother impressed me by crossing the finish line in under 14 minutes.

Once my heart rate returned to normal (my legs feel just fine, my speedy heart is what slows me down) the sweat started to bead up on my face. My doctor has prescribed me Retin-A for my skin. And HOLY MOLY sweat and Retin-A do NOT mix! Yeowch! But it I tried to wipe the sweat from my face it was like rubbing sand on a sunburn!

Until next year...

Goodbye Yellow Tooth Road...

A quick before: This is the only picture I have of Natalie at about 18 months old before I got her broken tooth "fixed".
It was Labor Day weekend, and Natalie tore around the corner of the kitchen and fell. And cried. And it was right before nap time, so I laid her down and when she woke up I noticed 3/4 of her tooth was missing! Of course by that time it was nearing 5pm on Friday (of a 3 day weekend). When we got in to see the dentist he had all kinds of recommendations, from pulling it, to lining with silver (just leaving it alone was risky since the break was close to the nerve and could cause Natalie more pain). I decided that my beautiful little girl wasn't going to live the next 5 years with a.) no front tooth or b.) a eastern European-style silver rimmed tooth. I wanted her tooth back! So I paid to have them cap it, but unknown to me they had to do a root canal on it, which killed the tooth and eventually turned it yellow. I would have rather her live with a hole or chip! So today after school the kids were racing to the car and Natalie caught an elbow to the face which caused some bleeding. And pain. So I snuggled her up like a baby and pulled that (very loose) tooth right out, easy-peasy. But gross to pull. I hated pulling my own teeth, and pulling someone else's wasn't any more of a pleasant experience. But she's thrilled, and she said she's now truly "six", and she wants the tooth fairy to bring her a Fushigi.

St. Patrick's Day

A blog in photos, because I've had one too many "green beers":


But first, a tasty bit of paparazzi I've been trying to get a picture of for over a week. I saw this car last week but drove past it at a high speed, missing my "pap op". As Boo and I were leaving the grocery store parking lot today, the car in question was entering it. A quick u-turn and a serendipitous moment of parking spaces becoming free and I was in prime position for snapping my elusive pic. But wait!! There is a passenger still in the car applying makeup! I persevered and snapped the shot below anyway, cuz that's how I live... right on the edge.

Gerbils on a belt? How stinkin' funny is this?!

My sweetness got me a cool new (green) mug yesterday, even though I was a grouch-biscuit. He's pretty spectacular, have I mentioned that?


Dropping B off at school this morning... guess who was NOT ready to get out of bed? And guess who was NOT thrilled with her St. Paddy's day outfit? And guess who did NOT want to sit in the back seat this morning? And guess who did NOT want to brush her hair? But you know what? As grouchy as she gets, she still does it all. She's still a keeper to me.

All the ladies of the house got haircut's today...

I'm blonder. This is the only picture I have to offer you. I actually took it to send to my bff to get her honest opinion about the color sitch... then Mike whined about her getting a picture but not him so I sent it to him, and he called me names. Names like 'Beautiful'. The nerve.

My Grumpasaurus was gone by 2:45.

A rare, genuine smile from the B. I love it.

Our Green dinner. Absolutely everyone voted "NO" on my suggestion of a traditional Irish dinner. To me, Irish food is pretty bland and boring so I wasn't too incensed. Then I was told by "someone" that Papa Murphy's sells a 'clover pizza' so I waltzed in there and asked for it. I got snickered at. And the Papa Murphy's VP's were there doing a walk-through. So I got extra attention because of my request. I pride myself on being somewhat intelligent, but I tend to take people too literally sometimes and actually believe what I'm told. Poor Brady has the same trait. Some day he'll be walking into Papa Murphy's asking for a Shamrock Shaped pizza, only to get laughed at. Luckily by the time he's my age, he'll have embarrassed himself enough over the years to have a healthy immunity to most of the giggles cast his way. Just like his mama. Anyway, I digress... The kids had: Superfood in green cups with green straws, green jell-o, and the girls had green ranch dressing with their non-shamrock-shaped pizza. And they wiped their mouths clean with green napkins. For dessert? A toss-up between mint chocolate chip ice cream, mint three musketeers, or green apple flavored Mentos...

My version of Green Beer. I don't want the Bud Light that they drop a couple of drops of blue food coloring into. I too old to drink cheap beer. So I chose to drink good beer with a green label.

The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger (original narration by Randall)

Say Cheese!

A special package arrived from the middle of America today... Auntie Jackie sent cheese heads to the kids, and a cheese beer-cozy, and beer-drinking gloves (they need them in the frigid winters there), and some yummy mid-western treats. It was a fun box to open, that's for sure.

Pickles and his "hat"
Brady using his lemonade-cozy...

Say "cheese" (yes I watch Ellen, I love her)

"Morning, Sam" "Morning, Ralph"

Pickles has decided that he likes to take the kids to school and pick them up. He cries and cries if we leave without him, so I grabbed him one day and brought him with us, and he purred the whole time. He wubs us.

The girls and I made a trip to Bellevue Square where they burned some energy off and shrieked with joy as they convinced little boys to chase them around the play area.

Boo didn't use all those fingers, anyway. (I'm kidding, this dog likes to smile a lot.)

Our Weekend (two seperate tales)

Adult Version (don't worry, it's still PG):
We headed to Bremerton Thursday night to deliver Jet City Rollergirls Track for the Wild West Showdown. 3 days of derby, derby and more derby. Oh and some Merby too. That's man-derby. There was a team there who had one skater (Merby Dick) who was 71 and a 3rd generation derby player! He was inspirational to watch. I also got to watch the always amazing Bellingham Boy Scott Slamilton who is small and spry and along with Quadzilla (who lives up to his name) made for some hard-hitting fast merby. Smelly too.

Quadzilla getting a whip from... Hollywood?


That's my boyfriend... ain't he cute in pink?

There was a lot of this around the venue. A lot.

This "woman" wore this turtleneck ALL weekend. And didn't have a woman's voice. Hmmmm... And these two are a couple too. What scares me most about this picture is that she is looking directly at me as I snapped it. Oops!

I was running the scoreboard for a particular bout when the scorekeeper "Rainman" sat down next to me and proceeded to roll out his pen and pencil collection. He took great care in which pencil he selected for this particular bout. He also wore a bowtie each day of the bout and duct taped a pencil protector onto his t-shirt when he had to work on the floor. In-ter-es-ting.

Coming back to the hotel the 2nd night our pillows were arranged creatively. The housekeeper must have come to our room at the same time her favorite show was on or something, because our pillows were fluffed and packed and stacked with precision.

Random derby jam-line. I think this is Silicon Valley vs. Lava City.

Greta Gurney's Dansko clogs are so kewl.

I have to say we looked pretty cool rollin outta town...