Blog Marathon - Mile 25 - Shooby Dooby Down to....

RUBY'S

After a full morning of cleaning and nagging to clean, we took our family to Huntington Beach. We took a long walk to get to the pier. It was cold and windy. We arrived at Ruby's right before the dinner rush. The joint was full, but we didn't have to wait. We were seated at a round table which offered a view of the ocean where the kids saw a couple sea lions.

Jayson entertained himself (and gave several others a near heart attack - mom included) by latching and unlatching the red divider. Sometimes he used it as a jump rope. Several falls were included, but nothing damaging.

Fun. Fun. & Yum. Yum.

Blog Marathon - Mile 24 - Wonderful Wednesday

It's come to my attention that I'm not very good at running marathons ;)

So look out for a photo loaded entry:

I took Jayson to Santa Ana Zoo. It's a smaller zoo on level ground, so it was a good location to go with a toddler who is not fond of staying in the stroller. We first went on a little exploration through a maze. Then Jayson drove the jeep.

There are not a lot of BIG animals there. The biggest were the camels - you can actually ride them on weekends. They can pee for like five minutes straight. I know this because all the toddlers were mesmerized by this and it just didn't end.

There are lots of varieties of monkeys. Most of the day Jayson was standing on fences looking at monkeys.

It's kind of cool to go with mom when you are the only kid. It's WAY easier to get her to buy carousel and train tickets ($5 combo ticket + $3 for mom's train ticket since she HAS TO stand along child on carousel). Since Jayson gets free admission and mom got half price admission with her LA Zoo Pass, it was a rationalized sale. Oh, mom bought a popsicle too.

Then we wandered over to the farm section. This little zoo is like a 3-in-1 (animals, ride, farm). Oops - make that FOUR. They have a little playground and concession stand.

Jayson enjoyed feeding Bonnie the goat. The bully goat kept trying to get all the grub, but we liked the sweet goat.

I had to give Jayson the food tablets one at a time or they'd be dropped and slurped up immediately. He had to learn to hold his hand flat like a plate. We spent a few quarters on food because he loved it so much.

I loved spending time with my Goose.

Blog Marathon - Mile 23 - Awesome Awesome Awesome & a Fart Bomb

I've been at this Back to School Thing for THREE weeks. I'm just barely getting it down. The mornings are killing me. James need to be ready by 7:15 a.m. and I drive the other two at 7:50 a.m.

I finally got myself up early enough to bake some German Pancakes for breakfast. Pretty awesome. Everyone at my house likes them - eggs, whole wheat flour, milk, bit of butter - good start for the day. Jessica doesn't like eating in the morning, but she ate today. Awesome.

I packed three complete lunches and snack bag for Jayson and I. Lunch bread is a HUGE issue right now. Nobody is eating the homemade. Jessica refuses to eat the store bought wheat. Jacob refuses to eat the store bought white. James prefers the white over wheat, but will accept either. NOBODY wants meat and cheese. Peanut butter daily - that's PB & honey for Jake and Jess and grape jelly for James :) Again - Awesome.

Except that oldest child left his lunch on the counter - OOPS.

But since I was going for TRIPLE AWESOME, I called the carpool to talk to James about his lunch. Options: you can buy lunch and eat your other lunch after school or I can drop off your lunch and you need to remember to pick it up at "the window." I must say that his reply was awesome. He said, "which would you prefer?" Seriously. I raised that kid that replies, "which would you prefer?"

I would prefer that all lunches that I get up early to make are NOT forgotten, but in this instance I prefer that they are eaten. And because I was awesome, I dropped his lunch off at school.

The other Awesome thing I did was have a Wonderful Wednesday date with Jayson. We will get to that at Mile 24 (hopefully).

An AWESOME surprise was a visit from a good friend that I hadn't seen in ages. Could use more of those kinds of surprises - WONDERFUL.

While she was here, there was a rap on the door. My kids eagerly darted across the tile and swung the door open. POP!!!! It was a Fart Bomb. The explosion catapulted the little foil pouch up into my doorway where the contents of the STINK leaked all over. Ewwww. Gross. Smelly. Our prank pulling tween neighbors have done it again.

Just Sayin' - this is hillarious

Private Blog

P.S. Thinking about a private blog again. Not for sure, but would like to compile email list if I do. Please submit your address to jjscrazydays (at) gmail (dot) com if you would like to be an invited reader. Thanks.

How to NOT have dinner ready on a busy school night

Attention Marathon fans: I AM going to finish my blog marathon. I really want to. It may be after the FINISH ribbon has been taken down. I may be crawling and out of breath. But I WANT to finish. Suffering from a new cold + all the regular stuff. This little update doesn't count in the race - just a little sideline chat while I catch my breath.

I'm sure many of you can help me compile a HUGE list of how NOT to have dinner ready on a busy school night, but have you tried this way:

*defrost premade meal a day in advance that is ready to go except for ONE ingredient in the sauce

*go to grocery store and buy $200 of groceries but forget one needed ingredient

*bump that meal to Tuesday night after you get a chance to drop buy the market quick to make the sauce

*proceed to meal plan #2

*defat chicken and place in crock pot for meal plan #2

*add sauce, plug in, turn on, walk away with a spring in your step

*check back in 2 hours when your home is lacking the aroma of dinner and find out you have a short in the crock pot chord

*wiggle cord and feel things start to heat up (in your temper AND in your crock pot)

*so now dinner isn't going to be ready until 8 p.m. YEAH!!!! so frustrating

Blog Marathon - Mile 22 - Tuesday is Like a Holiday at Our House

This marathon is killing me. I'm out of breath. I'm not getting to things as quick as I'd like. I keep falling further and further behind, but I've just gotta finish....

TUESDAY is Garbage Day. The truck comes by three times - 0nce for trash (black cans), once for recyclables (blue cans), & again for green waste (green cans). Jayson looks forward to this every week. "Come on" he'll say as he hops and scrambles his feet in anticipation.

My older boys watched the trash truck too. They would sit on the step of our front door and watch from the porch. Goose runs around court following the truck. Some of the drivers honk for him or wave. He never seems to tire of this ritual.

Just a note: See him clasping the neckline of his shirt? It's his signature move. He used to hold on to my shirt. As he became more independent with the bottle, he would hold his shirt when he drank his milk. Now we see him do it when he's content.

Some days Jayson makes it his personal mission to close all the lids of the cans. It's a BIG job. I can usually only stand to watch him do a few before I make excuses to go back inside.

Until next Tuesday....