Two peas in a pod

I haven't done any laundry in, oh, two weeks. Addison had run out of clean underwear, so she was wearing bloomers today (which she apparently liked better than underwear because she refused to take them off), all of my shirts were dirty except for the ones that needed to be ironed, and I was down to the uncomfortable underwear in the drawer. We had a bbq to go to today so I ironed a shirt, threw on the horrible underwear and went to the party.

I see my wonderful friend Brenda and notice she looks adorable in a cute little top and jean skirt. When I told her she looked cute, she proceeds to tell me she really needs to do laundry and how she was down to nice shirts and that last pair of underwear, the ones you never really like to wear. I started laughing and said "um yes I do know because I'm wearing mine right now!"

Ahhh so nice to have someone you can relate to.

What IS that?!

So I'm looking at the Hy-vee ad trying to decide what to make for dinner (by the way when I told Devin about e-mealz he said "isn't that what you already do?" Um yes...that's whole point! I hate it!) and Addison says "Mom look at all this mess!!" I looked over to the carpet and there was a big pile of what looked like sand.

"Oh honey that is probably sand from the sandbox that is from one of your cups or something" I told her, and go back to what I'm doing. She was playing with her tea party set, and they take that outside a lot. It was a reasonable assumption.

All of a sudden Ainsley rounds the corner, out of the kitchen with a plastic measuring scoop filled...with something.

It is not sand. It is LITTER from the litterbox!

And a collective "ewwwwww" was heard from living rooms and offices around the country.

Devin's 30th and e-mealz???

I truly detest planning out meals. I know it is the best option for saving money and for avoiding the whole "oh dear Lord it's 5:00 and I have nothing for dinner" situation, but I hate it. I hate making decisions, I hate combing through the recipes, and going through the sales flyers. I hate trying to figure out if all of those meals is going to leave us with only $20 of grocery money for the next week. It all stinks. I wish I was Oprah and could just hire a healthy chef like Bob what's his face. No that's not right. Bob's her trainer. That Art guy was her chef. He was on Top Chef and had the cute southern accent...........I digress.....

Have any of you used E-mealz? Dave Ramsey always plays those commercials on his show, and it sounds kind of nice. They give you a list of ingredients and you go buy everything.

Here's my issue with that:
I kind of like to buy healthy stuff, not really kale and flaxseed healthy, but you know...decently healthy.

I don't really like being told what to do, even if I've chosen the person or program myself. Would I just have to deal with that? I am sure the answer is yes!! You'll have to comment and tell me what you think...


Anyway, Devin's 30th birthday was today. I have been trying for weeks to figure out what he'd like. Getting Devin to tell you his opinion on anything is very difficult (google "phlegmatic"), but he did say that he didn't want a party. Addison really couldn't figure that one out. "When's dad's birthday party going to be?" she kept asking me.

My mom and dad watched the girls for us overnight Saturday so we could go out. We started out with coffee and then went over to the plaza, but it was just so miserably hot out that we didn't stay there very long. We looked pretty ridiculous walking around in 100 degree weather holding coffee cups! Had some Houlihans for dinner and rented a movie. Before we went home I convinced Devin to participate in one of my all-time favorite activities: drive around cute neighborhoods and pretend like we can buy houses there! He objected at first because Devin is very practical and isn't much of a visionary, but I promised him that I would not go home and immediately beg him to move out of the Shawnee ghetto just yet. I think he got into it a little bit. He and I talked about what was an absolute must for our next place and what didn't really matter all that much.

Then we went home and watched Invictus, which I was positively dreading. It ended up being much better than I thought. Still would have preferred Valentine's Day but it was his birthday celebration not mine. Our original idea was to go out to the movie theater, but the only movie playing was Inception and neither of us thought we were intelligent enough for that one.

There's not really much money in the ol' budget for birthday gifts right now, but I was so excited when my boss handed me a check from Gap Inc for back pay that I was owed. Yippeee! I decided to use it to buy Dev a K-State cycling Jersey. I was so excited about my big surprise until he told me that he saw a deposit in our checking account and emails from the cycling store and put two and two together. :( At least he didn't know it was a K-State one, and it was really cute to see him take it out of the bag and try it on right away over his work clothes. My mom made him a cookies 'n cream ice cream cake complete with 30 candles. All in all, I think he felt special and that is what matters the most.

Happy Birthday Devin! I love you!

For Rach, From Ainsley

Dear Aunt Rachel,
Your life might change a lot when you have one of me.
I sure do like to get into stuff. I like to climb too.

















I also make a big fat mess when I eat. My mom thinks cleaning spaghetti sauce out of the carpet is a real pain in the...well...you know...


































Your house might look a little different after you have one of me. My mom spent the whole day cleaning the house yesterday, but now it looks like this:


















But my mom doesn't get too stressed. She knows a fun day of playing with my sister and me was worth it.

My mom wanted to me to tell you that she's sorry she had to cut your conversation short earlier this afternoon. My sister locked our keys in the car at the mall and my mom had to call roadside assistance. Sometimes those kinds of things happen when you have a couple of me. Don't tell her I told you, but these kinds of things happen to my mom more than other moms. She is a little scatterbrained...

I am really not trying to scare you, Aunt Rachel. I might make my mom a little crazy sometimes, but I make her laugh a lot too. In fact, I think I make her laugh and smile more than I make her crazy. My sister makes her smile too. My mom thinks we are worth the messes, roadside assistance, and the spaghetti sauce stains. She thinks having kids really does change everything, but it teaches you how to love in a way you never thought was possible.

I think you are going to be a very good mom too, Aunt Rachel, and my mom wanted me to tell you that you can call her whenever you need some encouragement along the journey.

Love,
Ainsley

Adventures in Triathlons

Ha! Me in a triathlon! That is funny! Really funny...I don't even know how to swim in a straight line.

Devin signed up for the Shawnee Mission Park Triathlon that was this past Sunday. Being the dutiful, ever-supportive wife that I am, I decided to bring the girls to cheer him on. I haven't had the best luck doing this in the past. Either parking is too complicated (KC Marathon) or the girls get bored and tired and fussy (Jackon County Triathlon last year) or my timing is way off (always). Then there's that whole Marie has no sense of direction and can't read a map thing. Anyway, since I've been on the receiving end of this and know firsthand how amazing it feels to see your family cheering you on when you're running, I really wanted to go. I thought we'd go cheer him on for a bit, and then head to church to help in the nursery.

I'm so good. I pack the girls some breakfast for on the go. I get their outfits ready THE NIGHT BEFORE and even pack a spare outfit for each of them in case they want to put their feet in the lake and get too wet. I even got up early instead of pretending like we can all be out the door in 15 minutes, which is unfortunately the norm for me.

Mishap #1 Woke up to cat puke all over the carpet. Lovely.
Mishap #2: Realized in the car that Addison never went to the bathroom that morning. There are porta potties there, but trying to keep Ainsley from touching everything while keeping Addison from falling in the freakishly deep poop ravine. No way. Quick stop at the gas station.

I pull in to Shawnee Mission Park thinking "Yipppeeee! We've got plenty of time! And it's not that hot out! Yes!"

Then I see that we have a good mile to walk, downhill. That means the return trip will be uphill with my piece of crap double stroller. I hate my double stroller. The tray fell off a long time ago and it's bulky and heavy. But it carries two kids. Oh well. We've got plenty of time.

We get to a place were we can see the cyclists go by and start to wait. It was cute to see Addison and Ainsley clapping for all the other competitors. It was also cute to see the man waiting next to me for his wife to ride by, pulling his kids in a wagon, obviously a very proud husband. We're all happily waiting and cheering.

Then we see some flashes of lightning and some staff come running in to announce that they're calling it all off. The proud husband and I start yelling at them. He yells "but she trained for months for this thing!" I yell, in typical Dave Ramsey fashion "but my husband paid eighty bucks for this thing!!!" We get some kind of lecture of safety....bla bla bla....have to keep all the contestant safe...bla bla bla....

Anyway just then Devin came riding up. He was pretty disappointed, but Devin never really gets that upset about anything for very long.

Then the skies opened and it started to POUR! He rides away to get his stuff and I am left to push that blasted stroller up that friggin' hill in the pouring rain. Everyone else starts to cut through the grass, so I do the same. I had to make Addison get out and walk. She started to cry (Ainsley's already whimpering). I said "let's pretend we're dancing in the rain!" That doesn't work. Then I promise her hot chocolate from Starbucks. BINGO! I am trying my best to maintain a positive "isn't this so fun?!" kind of attitude, but it's not easy with my clothes completely drenched and stuck to my body in a most unappealing way and mascara dripping down my face, pushing that stupid stroller up the dang hill. At least I was getting some exercise. Since they stagger the starting times, you usually have people leaving these things at different times as well, but since it got called off and since it was pouring, every single person was trying to get out of there at the same time. From the same road. It was crazy.

I managed to get the girls changed into their dry clothes, convince Addison that Ovaltine at Grammy's house is even better than Starbucks because it will have marshmallows, and we headed to my parents' house so I could throw my sopping clothes in the dryer before going over to church.

So now Devin is gearing up for the Kansas City Marathon in October. He did the half last year and is wanting to do all 26.2 miles this year. I have no doubt that he'll do well and you can bet that we'll be there to cheer him on. Shenanigans and all.

I'M STILL HERE! I PROMISE!

Oh my goodness it has been such a long time since I've blogged. I have been SO BUSY these last few months. Where do I even begin?!

Over Memorial Day weekend I went to St. Louis with some of the coffee talk girls. It was probably one of the best trips I've ever had in my whole life. First off, I didn't have to take care of the kids, so even if we had taken a trip to Carthage, MO to see Civil War reenactments (I tried to think of one of the most boring places you could go) it would have been a blast. The whole time I kept saying "This is so fun!" or "How fun is this right now?!" and got some stares like "Uhh you don't get out much do you Marie..." I know they all agreed with me; I just like to tell everyone when I'm having fun (or not). We drank lots of wine, ate frozen yogurt for dinner one night, went to the movies, did everything spontaneously, and enjoyed being together. Oh and 4 of us got nose piercings!

The next day I drove down to Wichita with Em and Kelly and threw a surprise baby shower for Rach with her sister-in-law Katie. I told Donita to tell Rach that it was just going to be family and maybe some ladies from church. She showed up and saw us! I wish we could have been together longer, but it was so good to catch up and see her cute little pregnant bump before she and Brandon headed off to Florida.

Then, the next day after that we went to D.C. to see Devin's dad retire from the ARMY after nearly 40 years of service. It was amazing to see all the Rileys' friends and family that traveled from really far away to be there for such an important day. Old high school buddies, an 89 year old Uncle, his mom and siblings, all his kids and grandchildren, etc. etc. I can't imagine how wonderful it must have felt for him to accomplish something so huge and then see all the faces of your support systems through the years congratulating you. It is almost like a little glimpse of heaven. Heyyyy...kinda like the LOST season finale (which I loved by the way)!! I digress....

We arrived home and then had a good visit from Aunt Shel. She and my mom threw a cute princess party for Addison's 4th birthday. Devin and I bought Addison her first bike. When we wheeled it out Ainsley was as excited as Addison was, and Addison was nice enough to let Ainsley try it out first.

Aunt Shel made the cake and did a great job. The girls decorated princess crowns and played princess games and had lots of fun. While she was here, we also shopped for a bridesmaid dress for me and flower girl dresses for Darren and Amanda's wedding in Colorado which was coming up that next weekend. These next pictures were taken at the Kansas City Toy and Miniature Museum near the plaza. I love being with my mom and aunt.

A couple days later we took off for Buena Vista, Colorado to be in Darren and Amanda's wedding at Spring Canyon. My camera is a real piece, so I didn't take any pictures, but I am hoping to steal my sister in law's from facebook when she gets around to posting them...hint...hint...

Ainsley is almost 17 months old and is SO DIFFERENT from Addison! It just blows me away. She doesn't like any of her toys and would much rather play with Addison's stuff, she loves entertaining people, she's LOUD and silly, and gets into everything, and I see lots and lots and lots of time outs in her future. I also see a lot of laughs.

I'll post more about our Colorado trip and our crazy adventure home another time, but I am so happy to be home. This week I did nothing but read Breaking Dawn (you can go ahead and add me to the list of Twi-moms who let their house and kids go so they can do nothing but read Twilight books). It was shameful, really. Instead of feeding Ainsley cereal, I stuck her in a high chair with a bowl of dry cheerios and a cup of milk so she could feed herself. Addison stayed in her pajamas all day (I did too). The girls weren't complaing though. They had a blast running through the sprinkler in the backyard, although I will admit that Ainsley was stark naked (except for her crocs) while I read my book. I also went to the Eclipse midnight showing with some friends and had such a fun time.

Well that's enough blogging for one day! More to come...