Monday, September 21, 2009

some irreverent singing


warning: it is quite possible that only the grandparents of the featured children will find this video pleasing in any way.
pace's favorite song is "how firm a foundation". in this video, i captured the efforts of lead singer gretchy and air guitarist pace singing "foundation". this is approximately the 30th time they sang it for me in this one setting (in my room, while i was 'reading a book'). i finally pulled out the camera when they promised they would go sing somewhere else after i took a video of them.
the other 29 uncaptured versions were actually a lot better than this one. the silliness level went way up when i got out my camera.
mostly i just wanted to document that pace knows all the words to this song, which i think is pretty funny. he knows the words for the second verse too, but i cut the video short (you're welcome).
anyway, here it is, for your viewing pleasure, should you choose to indulge.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

get ready for some (un)organized chaos


i didn't mean for the pictures of my bike to show up first on the post, but that's how it worked out.
okay, so this is my favorite part of the bike. i made the bike shop throw in this seat for free when i bought my bike. i said "listen, i've had 5 kids and i need a really great seat. that's just the way it's got to be." i literally said that. i don't think that's too much to ask, do you? anyway, it worked, and they switched seats for me. and yes, that is a hole in the middle of the seat. it's heaven, i tell you.
this is the rest of the bike. it's very, very fun. i have to make myself not ride it. sometimes i get on it and just ride around the driveway for a bit. i know you all don't care, but thanks for looking anyway.



here are a bunch (okay, more than a bunch) of pictures from our last couple of weeks:


this is gretchen's reading finger. her kindergarten teacher sent it home with her the first day of school. gretchen absolutely loves it. she puts it on her finger to point to the words as she reads them. before she reads anything, it's "wait! i have to get my finger!"
pace and loren have become quite the air guitarists. pace's go-to guitar is a spaghetti noodle box. i'm not sure why.
madeline and gretchen finally had a swim meet! swim team is different here, as it's year-round. the meets are not really in the summer (=rainy season). notice the pouring rain. i think they had fun. we didn't get very many pictures (the rain put a damper on the whole photo op thing), but here are some shots of them lining up and then swimming butterfly (of sorts). gretchen spent a lot of time looking sideways to see what the girls in the other lanes were doing. don't mind gretchy's baggy saggy swimsuit. you wouldn't even believe me if i told you how many suits we have gone through this summer. at least i don't have to buy winter coats, right?
the girls had a "new york fashion show" the other night. loren and i were at the adult meeting of stake conference, and they had some friends over to help babysit/have fun. the kids took the pictures themselves. i like the facial expressions that go along with the new york fashion.
loren's birthday was monday. as you can see, we sang a very nice rendition of "happy birthday".
pace is my rain baby. i didn't even know he was outside in it until i looked out the window and saw him. he'd even had me take off his clothes, but i didn't know that going in the rain was his goal. i just thought he wanted to get undressed (not an unusual thing for him). we get spectacular rain storms here. pace loves it. i like it, too, unless i'm trying to determine if i should get the kids ready for swim team, or if the pool's going to be closed because of thunder/lightening. since it rains pretty much every afternoon, it's always a toss-up.


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Monday, September 14, 2009

another triathlon--am i officially addicted?

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i did another triathlon on saturday. so much fun! i don't even know why it's so fun, because it's also dang hard, but maybe finishing something so hard is what makes it fun? or is that just crazy? there are only 2 parts of doing triathlons that i don't like. number 1: the jitters/nerves/butterflies i get the couple days before the race, when i'm wondering what on earth possessed me to sign up for it (i don't get nervous once i'm actually at the event--go figure). number 2: the run. gotta do something about that run. you should have heard the stern talking-to i gave myself on saturday while i was running. it makes me laugh that i have to mentally cheer myself on when i hit the run. whatever it takes, right? the swim and the bike parts are purely pleasurable. i guess 2 out of 3's not bad. i improved my time over the first one by 8 minutes, which was exciting. i got 5th in my age group (which sounds like a nice accomplishment, and it is, unless you know that ALL 6 of the women in the 50-54 age group beat my time. i can't wait to be 50! they were honestly amazing--one lady had a 15 minute run, which means she runs 5-minute-miles, which is basically faster than faster than fast)......anyway, i think i beat them on the swim part, though, so there. it's funny because everybody has their age written on their leg, so when someone flies by you, you instantly know you just got passed by a 52-year-old lady (not that 50 is old, mom). on the flip side, it's pretty fun knowing you just passed some 24-year-old guy. next time i do a triathlon i'm going to write my age plus the number of kids i have. that will show those 50-somethings! actually, it was just a more elite-athlete type of race than the first one i did. when we showed up saturday morning, loren took one look at the people walking around and said "oh boy. these people are serious about their triathlons." lots and lots of muscles. and seriously expensive (=fast) bikes.
speaking of bikes, i got a new one (only moderately, not seriously, expensive), so i don't have to borrow my friend's anymore (i am now not getting any birthday or christmas presents for like the next 10 years). i have to stop myself from getting on it every time i pass it in the garage, it's that fun to ride. and the seat is HEAVEN!!!!!! i will post pictures of it later. first i have to do some posts about my children, lest i start feeling guilty for posting about the triathlon before writing about gretchy's reading skills or pace's singing/air guitar abilities or liesel and gwyneth's new york fashion show.