Just for Rachel

I don't have anything exciting to say but she needs something new to look at...

Hotel California

Do you hear that sound? It sounds like my eyeballs boiling inside my head. I love summer and I love warm weather but I think we may have entered one of the circles of hell.

I made the mistake of walking to the mailbox without shoes today and burned the bottoms of my feet. Why would I do such a thing? Because the heat is boiling my brain.

We have 2 softball games to play tonight. I've drank so much water to hydrate myself for tonight that I will probably look like Violet Beauragard by the time I get there.

This heat is seriously making me rethink the leather chair I sit in while I work.

It's also making me seriously rethink the whole "AC isn't worth it in the Northwest" train of thought.

Much better

I'm feeling so much better today. 100% better, actually. Having a fever while it's 95 degrees sucks. I had the best night sleep I've had in a week.

Just wanted to drop in and update that before I go take another cold shower and then lay in an ice bath.

Where's the video camera when you need one?

I know this makes me a horrible mother, but this was the funniest thing I've seen all day. Or week. Or even year.

Maddie and Joel were chilling outside by the pool and I went outside to talk to them and Maddie says "watch me" and goes running full blast toward the slip n' slide....only the water wasn't turned on...which makes for a very dry slip n' slide. If she wasn't such a speedy quick runner I could have warned her in time...or not. She hit that slip n' slide with screeching halt.

I know you're picturing it and you're laughing, aren't you? I tried not to laugh at the time, but damn...it was funny.

She cried but not because she was hurt, because her pride was a little sore.

Bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh

I am sick. I have been sick for a few days now but it's been off and on so I could tolerate it but for the last 24 hours it's been constant. Not sick as in "cold" sick, but like "flu" sick. Not "flu" sick like vomiting, etc., but like achiness and chills and fever. I have lost the will to even move my mouth to talk. It's 90 degrees out and I am freezing my ass off. Last night I was fully clothed in bed with 3 blankets on me shivering, even though the temperature didn't drop below 75 in the house all night.

I couldn't really find any medicine at the store that solved my problems so I bought some Dayquil and took enough to harm a small animal and I feel a little better. I threatened my kids with medieval torture to behave themselves and so far so good.

I have a lot of pictures from our trip to Seattle this weekend and Michelle's visit on Friday but I don't have the energy to post them right now. Tomorrow, I hope.

Independance Day

Today is the 2 year anniversary of the day I left my job. It was without a doubt the very best personal decision I ever made and I have not regretted it for even one day since. The only thing I regret is that I didn't do it sooner.

Today Michelle and her girls are coming to hang out with us. They're on the ferry on their way over now!! YAY I am hoping these clouds go away because I thought the Maddi(e)s would go in the pool, but so far it's looking like a morning of inside activities.

Dylan has learned something new this week (besides how to further irritate me with his attitude). He has learned the art of sleeping in. Almost all of his life he has been an early riser - between 6 and 6:30 almost every day. Lately he's been sleeping in until 8-8:30. This comes at a really bad time, because you see...Dylan starts middle school in about 6 weeks, which means that his early rising skills would have come in handy but if he continues this sleeping in trend I'll be dragging his butt out of bed in the morning. Just another thing to butt heads about.

Close call

Last night I made Hamburger Helper for dinner. Not my favorite thing to cook and not even my kids favorite thing to eat but I haven't been grocery shopping in awhile so sometimes you have to eat whatcha got.

I got the dinner on the table and I sat down to some pretty grumbly faces - Joel's included. He said it didn't taste good. I tried it and um....well...there was something seriously wrong with the meat. I halted forks and made everyone back away from the table and sent Joel to Burger King while I destroyed the evidence. There was something clearly WRONG with the meat, but thank God we didn't eat it. I was a little sick last night but it had been going on all day (I won't gross you out with the details of it, but let's just say I spent a lot of time in el bano) so I knew it wasn't the meat.

Maddie seems to be feeling better I guess. She hasn't had a fever since last night. She is tired today because she woke up at 5:00 a.m., but she's with grandma Cheryll and Grandpa Dave this afternoon/evening so she's their problem right now.

Fever

Maddie woke up with a low-grade fever of 100.8. I went and got some Tylenol and she was pretty okay for the whole day. She didn't seem sick. Then around 6:00 her temperature rose right back up to exactly 100.8, which is odd.

I gave her some more Tylenol and she didn't eat much dinner and she just kind of laid around the rest of the night and then went to bed.

Her body is clearly fighting off a virus of some sort. Other than the fever she seems just fine though and has no symptoms of any kind of cold or anything. Weirdness.

Mouth of the South...er North

My son's mouth is a thing of beauty. He learned to talk earlier than most and he just never shut up since. Lately this talking thing is getting him in super duper trouble.

His newest thing is this:

For example....

ME: Dylan, you forgot to bring your towel in.
DYLAN: YOU forgot to bring your towel in.

ME: Go brush your teeth.
DYLAN: YOU brush your teeth.

ME: It's time for bed.
DYLAN: YOU go to bed.

ME: You need to get off the computer.
DYLAN: YOU need to get off the computer.

I emphasize the word "you" because he says it in the snottiest form possible. We had Dennis at our house since Monday and he was the example I wanted Dylan to follow because he is polite and sweet and doesn't get snotty. Dylan kept pulling this "snotty you thing" as I call it and I warned him several times because I would hate to go all nazi mom on him in front of his friend and then he did it again and Dennis' eyes got super big because I think he thought it was GO time. He's now had his final warning. If he does it ONE more time he's grounded in the most major way possible. He'll be learning what boredom really is.

35 months

35 months is a very long time.

The next time I see Ryan Star in concert it will have been exactly 35 months since the last time.

In other words....

HE'S FINALLY COMING TO SEATTLE.

I can stop taking it personally now.

Now begins the countdown.

********56 days*************

Week In Review

Welcome to the condensed version of my life.

First, we played 4 games this week (yea, that's right...4) We lost one and won 3 and they were all so much fun. We have two more on Monday. Joel has 4 more with his men's league this weekend.

I haven't been plagued with too many ailments so far this year with softball. The last two years it was always one thing after another and I was beginning to think I was getting too old for this. Well, after 4 games in 3 days I am starting to now feel a little sore. My legs hurt a little.

Last night after the game about half of the team went down to Azteca and had a late dinner. We brought our kids with us and I gotta say, they were angels, which is a little unusual for them. Not in general, but given the condition. We were there for well over an hour and it was past their bedtime and they were already wiped out from a long day in the sun. By the time we left both of our kids were looking as if they were going to fall asleep at the table.

Now we're off to another long day in the sun, to watch Joel's softball tournament.

Shoot-out at the Crazy House

It's always an adventure here. If the kids are driving me nuts bickering, I want to pull my hair out. If they're getting along, they're probably getting into some sort of trouble.

Today we had the latter of those scenarios.

First of all, it's 75 degrees here today. Beautiful day. Lovely day to play outside, don't ya think? Well my kids thought so too, and I thoroughly enjoyed the peace and quite of them playing outside. They come inside for a few moments and when they come downstairs they're dressed in head to toe double layer clothes, hats, sunglasses and winter boots. Did I mention it was 75 degrees outside????

Maddie said they were playing a game and this was their uniform. I had a feeling I knew what game this was, but I didn't say anything because it's not the first time they've played this particular game.

15 minutes later Maddie is SCREAMING. She said she got hit in the leg with a BB gun.

They were playing "war" with the Air Soft guns. I did suspect as much considering what they were wearing, as I make them bundle up for safety purposes. I don't quite know what she expected it to feel like if she got hit with an air soft pellet but I'm guessing she thought it would feel something like marshmallows or a pillow fight because she was screaming bloody murder. Playing war is supposed to mean against imaginary enemies, not each other....but boredom can lead to some stupid choices on my children's behalf.

I decided then that the air soft gun war games would be a no-no for awhile. At least now Maddie has an idea of what it might feel like to be hit with one. Now she probably will opt out of that particular game next time it comes up. Oh who am I kidding. She'll probably be out for revenge. I should warn Dylan.

Funny times

I don't know what I would do without these kids. They make me laugh on a daily basis. If laughter is the best medicine, I must be the healthiest woman around.

Here are some gems I've heard lately:

ME: Dylan, could you please take this to the mailbox for me?
DYLAN: Why do I have to do it?
ME: Because I'm making your lunch for you...
DYLAN: Touche.....(I've never heard him say that before, lol)

Maddie was going on and on and on about something and Dylan says "Don't let my face fool you, I'm really fascinated."

Coldplay Rocks my Socks off.

Okay, so I am finally home and you want an update, right? I'll start from the beginning...

First of all, in case you've lived under a rock, Joel and I went to see Coldplay this weekend and had a little "parent vacation." We left Friday morning and came back yesterday afternoon. We've had these tickets since February so we've been waiting for this day literally for MONTHS. I've seen Coldplay lots and I already knew that those boys could put on an unbelievable show.

So Friday morning comes and who should come knocking on my door but that one Old Aunt that everyone hates, especially when she comes four days early trying to ruin your vacation. I didn't let her though, I stocked up my purse and told her to stuff it (no pun intended).

We are all packed in the car ready to go and Joel locks us out of the house. This vacation isn't starting off well. We had to get a ladder and shimmy Dylan through a window to go unlock the door from the inside to get us in the house to get the keys. Now we're off. We drop of the kids at moms and then we're really off. We were in no real hurry so we made a couple of stops for lunch and to see some sites along the way because it's a 4 hour drive. We made it in 5.5 hours. We checked into our hotel, which was great by the way, and then went driving around town for awhile. We ended up eating dinner in a restaurant next to our hotel. It was so good. We had 2 prime rib dinners and 4 drinks (2 each) for $40. We went back to the hotel and played some cribbage. Joel started not feeling well and ended up getting sick that night. It actually didn't even have anything to do with alcohol. Joel claims it had a little to do with the heat (it was 2 degrees cooler than hell) and the dinner (even though I ate it too). Anyway, by the next day he felt great (thank god) and we went and saw my nephew Joshua's rodeo and then went to the Lake with Tara and her girls, Heather and her family, Kevon and Meghan and Amanda and her kids. It was nice to relax for a bit in the shade.

Then it was concert time. We had premiere parking, which didn't seem to mean much. I have been to 2 different concerts at the ampitheater and neither time did I drive so I can't really tell you what it's like parking in the regular lot but the premiere parking didn't seem to be that great. Maybe it was though, I wouldn't know. I was so scared we wouldn't be able to find our car though. I don't know exactly how many people were there, and I heard a couple different numbers that ranged between 20,000 to 25,000 but it seemed like twice that many to me. It was insane. Anyway we get there and we realize we forgot to get some cash from the cash machine. We were hoping some of the vendors were accepting debit cards. Not so much. We waited 30-45 minutes in the ONLY ATM line there was.

Here's the fun part. We had planned to have just a beer or two before the show. They were allowing alcohol into the show, but that sounded like an accident waiting to happen. They were handing out ID bracelets so that they knew who was 21 and who was not. I went to get one and showed them my ID and it was expired. Are you kidding me???? EXPIRED??? How did I miss this?? I was kind of yelling at the guy because 1. He was probably only about 24, I could have been his mother (okay no that's not true) and 2. Who cares if it is expired, I'm still 34 years old. ARGHH. So I did end up getting one (not from that ass) from a girl handing them out that wasn't paying any attention at all. After all that fiasco and standing out in 96 degrees temperatures all I wanted was water anyway. We drank a lot of that, which was well needed.

Now it was time to find our seats. Here's the sad part. When I bought these tickets I was so excited about getting them that I accidentally only bought 1 ticket. So I had to go back and buy another 1 ticket so Joel and I weren't technically sitting together. Joel's seat was a little better than mine as far as the view went. He was in row 42 seat 35 and I was in row 40 seat 74. We both were on an aisle, but I was on the far left aisle and in every Coldplay concert I've been to, Chris Martin usually makes his way up the side aisle and that's where I was sitting. Just before the show started Joel came and stood by me anyway so we got to see the show together.

It will be hard for me to describe the show. It was unbelievable. It was definitely the best Coldplay concert I had ever seen and by FAR the best concert I had ever seen, and I have seen a LOT of concerts.

At one point the whole band walked up the right side of the ampitheater and played a few songs in the crowd and then a little while later I saw them rope off a pathway right next to me. I was giddy. Sure enough, here they come. The whole band was literally 2 feet from me. I held out my hand and I touched the drummer, Will. Chris Martin....MY Chris Martin was in touching distance of me. I didn't touch him. Not that I didn't try, but I didn't try THAT hard. If I had Chris' sweat on my hand then....well....I might have fainted. No joke. I kind of really love that man. And yes, from 2 feet away, covered in sweat, the man is still number 1 on my list.

They went up to another place in the crowd and sang some songs, including Billie Jean, which was insanely awesome. I got a little video of it but this person got a better one. It's awesome, watch that. Do it.

Anyway, I knew they had to make their way back down again so I waited in a place and videotaped them coming down rather than trying to touch them (lol). The video didn't even turn out, it's just dark and you can hear screaming (not mine...well maybe).

I got a few videos but not that many and none turned out good. Neither did many of the pictures. I found some videos on youtube that people got and I am posting the links because there were moments I really wanted to share. Again, these are not my videos, although the Lovers in Japan one is really close to where I was sitting so it must have been someone around me.

The Hardest Part. This is one of my all-time favorite CP songs but this is a different version of it and I LOVE IT. Duh.

Lovers In Japan. The butterflies. O-M-G. It was so cool. I saved a couple for Maddie. I showed her this video and she was amazed.

Viva la Vida. This one is for mom, she loves this song. Who doesn't? lol

Anyway, I could do this all day but I won't. I'll hold back. If you got this far, congratulations. I can't wait for the next show. and the one after that.

Six Years

Six years ago this morning I was waiting to go to the hospital. I was supposed to go first thing in the morning but unfortunately the L&D was full. You see, Madelyn decided not to make her appearance when she should have, on July 4th, but wait until the doctors forced her to come out. We finally made it to the hospital at 12:00 and they induced me. Four hours later and one very sadistic non-epidural giving nurse later, I still hadn't progressed much. My doctor decided to break my water for me. Less than an hour later we have a beautiful baby girl.

Madelyn Leigh Rogers was born at 4:54 p.m. on July 8, 2009 weighing a whopping 9 pounds 0 ounces.

She has changed our lives in so many ways. Before Maddie, our family was complete...or so we thought.

Maddie is a riot. She loves to make people laugh and she loves to laugh herself. She's so friendly and outgoing and I'm not sure where she gets that from. She is a combination of both a daddy's girl and a mommy's girl, but she's also a mam's girl and a grandpa's girl and a Dylan's girl at times as well. She adores her brother even if he sometimes doesn't really care. Her goal in life seems to be to love him to death....





Anyway, today is a busy day. We have two birthday parties planned for Maddie, one with her friends and one with her grandma and grandpa so she should be one happy 6-year-old today. I had to work at 6:00 a.m. this morning to get my shift over and done with so we could party later and she got up at about 6:20. She went to bed at 10:00 so she's going to be a cranky 6-year-old too.

Last night was our first 2 softball game and they were awesome. We stomped the first team 13-5 and the second team we lost to in overtime 13-12. I won't tell you how we lost but let's just say Joel ate some dirt...

Everyone played really well. Everyone hit the ball. I went 4-5 all together but the last one was a really well hit ball that got caught. BOO. Way to ruin my streak jerk face.

The List

Remember that Friends episode with "The Freebie List"? If you don't, never mind. If you do...you'll understand this.

Joel and I have lists. In fact, the discussion was brought up again last night because we are going to Coldplay this weekend and Chris Martin is (and has been for as long as I have had the list) at the very top of the list. A radio station is giving away tickets (yes, we already have some) and if you win them you are eligible to win a chance to meet the band (hi-o!). Anyway, that brought up the discussion about the list last night.

Here's mine...

1. Chris Martin.













2. Ryan Star. He's technically not supposed to be on the list because I've already met him which to Joel means it is null and void (in other words, you had your chance and lost it, lol). I just keep him on there for looks :P










3. Robert Pattinson. New to the list. Holy hot.












4. Ian Somerhalder.













5. Johnny Knoxville. Joel's a little disgusted by the last choice, but I've always had a thing for funny guys.










Do you see a theme going here? Yes, I like the dark-haired hotties. Yea, my husband has dark hair.

and then there is Joel's list. You'll also see a trend forming there...and not the one you think...

1. Natalie something or other. She golfs. She's blonde. Hmpf.













2. Maria Sharapova. She's a tennis player. She's blonde. Double Hmpf.









3. Evangaline Lilly. Hey look!! A brunette!!! WOOO












4. Kaley Cuoco. Also blonde and also probably an idiot.













5. Scarlett Johannson. Not a natural blonde. Naturally stupid probably though.














Joel says he doesn't like blondes and yet.....odd.....

Alright already sheesh

Okay so I haven't posted in a few days. I've been busy doing nothing.

Actually we had Maddie's birthday party on Saturday. Mom took most of the pictures and posted them on her blog if you want to see them. I only took some of the present opening and I got this video...



As Joel said "Thank God Quinn was there or we would have never gotten to eat cake", LOL

Anyway, this week is a week of fun. We have our first softball game tonight and I'm excited. For the first time ever Joel's actually helping me out with the captain stuff (everyone already thinks he does, but he doesn't, until now). He helped me make a line-up and set up positions. He always tells me this isn't necessary, but this year we have 15 players so it actually IS necessary or there will be chaos ensuing. There will be 3 girls and 2 guys on the bench at all times and if we don't organize it then it will end up being the same 3 girls and 2 guys at all times and that's not really fair.

Dylan keeps saying "I hope you guys win" but it doesn't even matter. We just love to play and have fun and who cares if we win? Okay, well maybe we do. A little. We'll have some pictures because we gave Dylan the job title of "team photographer". I gave mom the job of scorekeeper and stats recorder because I am tired of the pressure. We do not have to keep stats in our league, but we do have to keep score and it's very difficult to do when you are also trying to play the game and since I am the captain it always falls on me to make sure we are keeping score. I usually try to rely on other people to help but in the end that sometimes makes it worse because we sometimes double mark a run or everyone just forgets....so mom gets that job. At least we'll know that the score is accurate. This year I won't have to go into anyone elses dugout and call them a liar. What? I didn't do that. Maybe I did. She deserved it. Liar.

Kicking off the weekend

Yesterday was the 3rd of July, which is a good day because it's in between my birthday and the 4th of July, and if you live here in our good old town of Poulsbo, it's a holiday in itself, lol.

We had movie night (Hotel For Dogs) and then had smores and shot off some fireworks here at the house, which is the Rogers' way of showing the kids a good ole' fashioned 4th of July good time without leaving the house.....and a yearly tradition. The kids have never been old enough to stay up late enough to watch the big firework show downtown and us parents are too annoyed by crowds to deal with it.






There was a minor sparkler incident where Maddie got a little curious about just "how" hot they were. Here's the video (yea, I did)


...and here's a video of my son acting exactly like I did as a kid. If there was a video camera on me I needed to make sure it was off ASAP.



Then at 9:45 we suprised the kids and piled them in the truck and drove up to Home Depot and brought some blankets and sat out in the field and watched the fireworks show. It was Maddie's first time ever seeing real live fireworks like that. She was amazed. They were so happy we did that. I think we have a new tradition ;)


Today we're celebrating part of Maddie's birthday with a BBQ with some family. She still has 2 more birthday celebrations next week on her actual birthday, so we're just starting the weeklong party today. She's been drooling over her cake all day. It's supposed to be in the mid 80s today so we have the pool, slip n slide and sprinkler and trampoline ready to go.

Barfday

Today I turn 30. For the 4th time. It sucks getting old.

Maddie woke me up at 6:30 and dressed in my favorite outfit, but that's where the happiness ends. She's done nothing all day but complain that nobody is wishing HER a happy birthday. Her birthday is in 6 days. I let her stay up late last night and Joel told her that her project for the day was to be good for mom. So far, mission failed.

Her preschool best friend Caitlin is coming over for a playdate today so maybe I'll get some quiet time to just read and relax before work. Maybe not.

Joel's making me a steak dinner tonight so that will be nice. I have a ton of laundry to do. Maybe a $20 bill will show up in the laundry. Now, that would be a happy birthday.

Guilt

Madelyn and Dylan don't want anyone to know about this incident, so forget about it as soon as you read it and never repeat it to them. Ever.

This morning they were both upstairs supposedly getting dressed to run to Wal Mart (okay, so we drove, not ran)

Dylan comes downstairs and his right side of his face looks funny. He said Maddie hit him in the eye. His eye was all puffy. She came down stairs and I was so furious with her and I turned her around and as soon as she saw what Dylan's face looked like she cried and cried and she hugged him and said "I'm so sorry Dylan." It would have been a touching scene had she not just given her brother a shiner.

She cried for about 30 minutes.

Then later today she just burst out crying for no reason and when I asked her what was wrong she said "I am so sorry for hitting Dylan."

So hopefully she learned her lesson. I have to credit Dylan for not hitting back, because I know that is first instinct and all. S

She begged me never to tell anyone ever. Dylan didn't say that but I have a feeling he'd rather me not.