Sunday with my boys...

What a great day I had with my boys...6 1/2 fun packed hours. We started out at the Troll in Fremont. They loved it.

Yes, Mo does have an extremely sour look on his face. He did not want to 'climb' the troll.

Cade was my poser.

Gee- I wonder what this kids name is???

Next we were off to the zoo.

I told them to hold hands when they crossed the street! Of course, I told them to walk too. 1 out 2 is still a success in my book.

Then I made the mistake of buying them dipping dots. Take my advice- NEVER buys these for yourself or your children. I imagine its what an astronaut eats in space. This just happened to be freeze dried tropical blend...

Finally, we took a leisure drive through Richmond Beach and Woodway. Me- dreaming of actually being able afford a home in these neighborhoods, and them- telling me to hurry up and get to the beach!

The tide was way out.

No! I did not let him climb this pile of rocks (please ignore the splintered wood with rusty nails- I am still trying to forget it). I turned around and there he was at the top in his rubber boots. Oh boy!

We had a great day full of adventures. What kind of adventures did you have today?

Before 40 List- Number One...

So as promised yesterday, I am blogging about 'My List of things to do before I turn 40'. Now, I have 4 years to complete this list so don't freak out worry I am not going to try and do these all within a week or even a year. First of all, when you start seeing the weekly post you will know that some of them will take time...training...patience...and a little bit of stupidity (all will be revealed, eventually).

With that said, let's start with 'Number One'.

Number One:
'I will train and run a 5K.'

I am flashing back to high school. One of the things I was proud of during that time was my track performances. I was good, even spectacular at some moments. I was a sprinter and a jumper. Distance was NOT my strength...and distance to me started with one lap-400 meters-around a track. During my final year, I competed in a pentathalon- 5 events which included 100m hurdles, high jump, long jump, shot put, 800m run. Now I had an advantage because I already did three of the events on a normal rotation every week. Shot put- well lets just laugh now because there is nothing like seeing a 115lb girl through a piece of lead...don't worry, I think my coaches were laughing too.

Now-the crux- I had to run jog around this track twice. Hmmm, that shouldn't be too difficult. We practiced once - I threw up - we decided to just wing it in the pentathalon since I was notorious for awful practices.

Well- 'bang'- the race began....lets fast forward to the end. I finished second in the 800m run, but at the final 200m my coach was there to cheer me on to the finish...I think I glared daggers through him when he said, "Just 200 more meters Cassandra! You can do it!" Did he really have to remind me how much more I had to run? I knew ALREADY!

So to some of you a 5K is no big deal. Like Domestically Challenged (I love her blog), a 5K is just a warm-up for her. Or my good friend April, she trains for triathalons, a 5K is easy peasy... But to me- it will be an accomplishment...it will be hard, but I know I can do it!

I do plan on doing this one within the next few months because I have a couple of other 'Numbers' that won't be possible without the training and dedication that a simple 5K will take...

Alrighty! Have a good night. More '40 list' to follow next Saturday...oh, I did win the Pentathalon if you were curious...one of my favorite memories.

Mo- Packin' the grapes...

Morgan is in snack-arrest. So for the past 2 hours I have been his enabler.

grapes...

pears...

cheese...

Here he is packing in the grapes like a squirrel.

Happy snacking...

Photo Companion for 10 Reasons why I love...#10 Moss

To me it is beautiful...

10 Reasons why I love...

...living in Northwest Washington. They are in no particular order.

10. No spot is exempt from the soft, furry moss...yards-roofs-bricks-trees-cars-you name it. It truly is beautiful. (I will add a few photos tomorrow so you get what I mean!)

9. The feel of the rain mist hitting my face. Honestly, you only need an umbrella 5-10 times a years...the rest of the time I just call it 'spit' and umbrellas don't work

8. The beach is only 15 minutes from our home. (SPLISH SPLASH!)

7. The slopes are only 60 minutes from our home. (SWISH SWISH!)

6. FRESH Salmon- especially that one week in the early summer when we get Copper River...nummy!

5. It's green here... year round! No crunchy dead grass.

4. Beach Jewels...I could wonder all day up and down our beach looking for them!

3. The Fog- it is ethereal. It can appear morning or night and stay as long as it likes.

2. NO BUGS- Well, maybe a few every once in a while. (Notice I did not say 'NO SPIDERS!')

1. And final my wonderful hubby says, "Natural Beauty". and I would agree, and the list above would confirm this statement.

Go for it! Why do you love living in _______ ?

Lists...

What is it about a list? Why do we like them so much? Whether it is to go to the Grocery Store or to write out your daily errands, we humans seem to be addicted to making lists! AND I AM NO DIFFERENT.

i.....love.....them....

Why is that? Well, could it be just to overwhelm us with the tasks at hand? or maybe for some it gives them purpose? Huhhhh? For me? Well, I am glad you asked. To me it is all about crossing off the list- the sense of accomplishment at...

buying rain boots?
buying a loaf of bread?
dropping off the dry cleanin?

No!!!! It a sense of accomplishment for providing for my family, my friend and myself. It has nothing to do about 'things', it has everything to do about 'the people'.

Buying the rain boots- Morgan is going to be smiling from ear to ear with happiness. And he will be able to SPLASH!

Buying a loaf of bread- Cade will get to forego those wonderful cafeteria lunches for a yummy sandwich which is made and cut just the way he likes it. That equals a happy Cade!

Dropping off the dry cleaning- ummm, this one doesn't make anyone happy, not sure why I added it.

Okay, I know I know you want to know what the purpose of my rambling is all about. Well, it's about 'My List'. 'My List of things to do before I turn (gasp) 40!' I am going to start a weekly blog dedicated to one item on my list each week. It should be fun, and maybe might just learn a little more about me and my crazy mind. Look for it every Saturday my crazy creepers...

So- go forth and start your own lists...

Not Me Monday...

It's that time again... Not Me! Monday! This great idea was created by MckMama. You can head over to her fabulous blog to read what she and everyone else did NOT do this week.



Well, I am always prepared when I go to the grocery store. I make a list so that I only have to make one trip- preferrably once a week. So, I DID NOT find myself at the grocery store 3 times yesterday buying items before each meal. Nope- definitely was some stranger. NOT ME! or maybe it was me just trying to escape the chaos of two small children, hmmmm- I wonder? Nope- doesn't ring a bell.

Morgan just adores playing with play dough, and...it...gets...everywhere... So, I did not just let it lay around on the floor all day so that my boys would eventually step on it and smear it into the floor. Again, not me...

I am NOT addicted to Etsy now. I did not find myself spending way to much money on gifts for my family and myself. Nope! Not me, again. (Warning, don't click on the link unless you are prepared to spend for quality time shopping for homemade items!)

And last, but definitely not least...I did not find myself pinning down a 3 year old 1-3 times a day for the past 5 days to insert eye drops for pink-eye. No way! I would not torture myself (or him) that way unless the doctor's made me do it...(cruel, mean doctors!) And I would not even CONSIDER bribing the same 3 year olds with M&M's to let me do this! NOT Meeeeee!!!

Go forth and enjoy your Not Me Moments for the week!

Laugh of the Morning...

Morgan: " It's NOT a lovely day for an orange juice, Mommy."

...pause...

Morgan: "It's a lovely day for a Guinness."

Oh boy...

This and That Thursday...

Another week of random thoughts and happening in the life of the Row's. Here I go in no particular order...

Can you believe that Cade just ate the LAST Samoa? The box was clearly labeled with a purple magic marker 'CASS'. I could have sworn he knew how to read...

'Parenting' magazine keeps sending me free magazines. Are they trying to tell me something?

Bob and I have now survived two days of giving Mojo eyedrops. I promise it is equivalent to eating live bugs on one of those 'Survivor' episodes. The bugs are actually preferred...maybe.

Cade just stated that he can read a book without saying the words out loud. Something that seems so normal to us adults is quite special to a 1st grader!

I brought home blueberry muffins a couple of days ago. Bob looked at me and said, "Women! this is like bringing kryptonite to Superman." (I may have embellished his words just a little-see, I have a lousy memory.) Bob can't eat blueberries...they not be so nice to him.

I wish that when you put on your work-out clothes they would force you to do the deed. I would be in super-duper shape then!

Did I really just use the phrase super-duper? Oh well.

Normal Night with the Row's...

My sweet family. We really are normal...I mean-

Cade always does the dishes when asked...and wears my gloves.

Morgan walks around everyday with double pink eye...

Bob fills out March Madness brackets every year at this time...

Well, that part is normal actually.

How normal is YOUR family???

It's Ending on a Pink Note...

...Pink eye that is. Nothing like walking into Daycare to pick up my boys this afternoon and literally yell, "WHAT HAPPEN TO MY MORGAN!?!?!"

I didn't really yell, it was more like a heavy, loudly elevated sigh. I KNEW exactly what was wrong and I couldn't believe it!

My one night to pick up the boys and be with them all by myself...and I have to spend it at the Walk-in clinic, so that someone can tell me what I already know, so that I can get my hands on the eye drops, that are going to cause my baby to yell-kick-scream, and tell me he doesn't like me anymore...Wow- that sounds so FUN! And I get to do it 3 times a day for the next 7 days!

Now there was one fun thing about the whole dance. Well, it was fun once we got there. And I didn't once have to hold his legs and arms down with my body. The doctore dropped numbing solution in his eyes and then yellow dye. Morgan though this was COOL...

...And here is the Quote of the Day:

The Evil Sweet Doctor Lady: "So Morgan, does everything look yellow?"

Morgan: "Yes, I must have superhero vision."

The doctor proceeds to turn the light off and then look at his eye with a black light...this is all to verify he doesn't have an eye injury. She is nice enough to give him a mirror so he can see what it looks like.

The Sweet Doctor Lady: "Do you see your eye glowing?"

Morgan: "Woooow, I have laaaaaaaaaaser vision."

My little Pink Eyed Superhero. Just call him 'The Might Pink Mojo'.

Good Night.

Not Me Monday...

It time for Not Me! Monday again... This great, liberating blog idea was created by MckMama. You can check out her blog to read what she and all the other Not Me! addicts did not do this week.



I did not find myself on Saturday feeding my boys at 9:30am, 2:30pm, and then creating a new meal time called 'snacker' at 8:00pm. I think consistency is way overrated.

I have a hyperactive 6 year old. So I would NEVER let him eat an entire bag of sour gummy worms. I mean, that would just make him more hyper right? I would also never let him drink two orange flavored energy drinks along with said gummy worms.


On Friday I made Chocolate covered Strawberries for our game night with friends. I did not bother cleaning out the chocolate dipping dish. Why? Because, Who would even consider heating up the day old chocolate dish the next morning and licking the spoon clean of melted goodness. NOT ME! I just heated it to clean it. Well... at least, I cleaned it!

Alright...that is my confessional for the week. I hope you all have another Not Me packed week. I know I will.

I baked...Cupcake Pops!

Like most days, I am reading all my favorite blogs when I find a link to some really cool Cupcake Pops by Bakerella. Well, after reading the tutorial and all the comments on her blog I thought I would give it a go since they are beyond cute. Now I am a realistic person and smart enough to know this is not gong to be easy (when reading all the comments I think some of the people actually thought it would only take a few minutes!) , but the end result would be rewarding and so fun to give away on St. Patty's Day! So here is my baking journey for the month ( yes, I said month because I just killed the baking bug with these little pops!)

Step One Bake the cake
Level of Difficulty: 1- easy peasy...

Step Two: Add the Frosting to the crumbled cake & Mix
Level of Difficulty: 1-easy peasy... except that I REALLY wanted to eat the frosting all by itself.

Step Three: Roll 'Dough' into balls
Level of Difficulty: 1-easy peasy... nice and messy too! My boys will enjoy doing this when they get older...MUCH older as I would not suggest you try and make these with small children. At least not MY small children.

Step Four: Form the Cupcakes with the Flower Cutter
Level of Difficulty: (For the first 5 minutes) 5- Holy Cow what have I gotten myself into! I have sticky dough all over my hands. My cupcakes look more like what my Parent's dog, Daisy, leaves behind when she gets nervous!!! AND I have absolutely NO idea what I am doing.
Level of Difficulty: (After the first 5 mintues) 2-Oh this isn't so bad its actually kind of fun now that I know what I am doing...

Step Five: Coat the bottom of the Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate
Level of Difficulty: 4-This was super-duper hard for me. I could not get the chocolate to run down the sides very easily...but I did get to eat ALOT of chocolate since it was soooo messy.

Step Six: Coat the top of the Cupcakes with White Chocolate & Decorate
Level of Difficulty: 1-easy peasy...

I have them chilling in the frig tonight. I will wrap them tomorrow! If you want to try them click on the link above for Bakerella and follow her directions. I will definitely make these again...

Happy Baking everyone...

I tell him...

I tell him he can't play video games at the breakfast table. What does he do? He sits on the floor.

I tell him to go put on pants. We don't run around the house in our underwear. What does he do? He puts on his Chewbacca costume pants. (Happy Birthday Uncle Matt. I am sure he did it JUST for you!)

I tell him to smile...What does he do? He smiles.

They are so sweet when they kinda listen...

Random Rambling-Try to keep up...

Rainy, Cold Day...
2 boys couped up in the house...

One GREAT idea- Let's go to IKEA. Bob and I can check the boys into the Play Area for an hour and tour around nice and slowly, almost peacefully.

30 miles to IKEA...
Yes! We are here...

30 minute wait to get the boys into the play area...uh-oh, so the GREAT idea just became the BAD idea. It is now 1:00pm.

2 shopping carts...
1 boy playing the DS and totally oblivious to the goings on in the store...
1 boy that won't let his cart STOP!!! I felt like a sled dog- mush! mush!

1:45 We are out of here! We have light bulbs, fun vases for me to experiment with in arranging in different rooms throughout the house until I find a spot that I like or don't like! AND- we have a shelving system to put together with 6 bins to hold legos.

1 hungry boy yelling for food...
1 boy, again oblivious to what is going on around him...
(By now, I hope that you know which boy is my trouble maker. His name rhymes with 'Organ' if that helps.)

30 miles to Home...
Secretly smiling to ourselves when we see we are going in the ONLY direction of I-5 that traffic is moving...(YES! Something goes our way!)

Ahhhhh- Home. WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HOME? Someone must of broken in and played with the toys, and left my kitchen in shambles! Oh yeah- I guess I haven't cleaned up yet. Oh well, at least the breakfast dishes aren't still sitting on the dining table. Oh wait- they actually are.

3 hours later...
1 Morgan Nap later...
1 IKEA shelving system put together by Father and Son...

What? Why is Cade wondering around the house all bored? Aha! He is the only Rowan who is NOT asleep! Why is he looking at me? Why won't he go away!

1 mother who needs to get the boys out of the house- now finds herself at Nordstrom buying them both new shoes. I am crazy, I am crazy, I am crazy...

1 escalator with a 6 year old (up & down)...
1 boy running EVERYWHERE and riding a rocking horse made for a 1 year old (Umm- this would still be the 6 year old, you know- the one whose name rhymes with 'Made').
The boy that rhymes with 'Organ' was a complete angel who stuck by my side without a single mush, mush moment.

Home again...
Bob is awake...
Dinner? Let's call it 'snacker' instead since it is now 7:00pm.

3 hours later...
I guess we better get the boys down...
Jammied...teeth brushed...snoring boys...ahhhhhh.

Tomorrow- rain is in the forecast again- BUT it won't be another day like today! At least I can hope!

Quickie Quote...

Okay...I have to get this one down quick before I forget.

Bob just walked in with the Boys from Day Care. I sat out some of the Easter decoration this afternoon and Mojo just spotted one of them. (It is a cheesy little 'Carrot Tree' that I found. It has chicks and rabbits hanging on it like ornaments.)

Here he goes...

Mojo, in a whisper: "What's that mommy?"

Me: "It's an Easter Decoration Morgan."

...he runs to the table, and starts mumbling to himself.

Mojo: " It is little chicks and rabbits...hanging from a carrot tree."

...he starts to turn the carrot tree in circles...making puttering noises...

Mojo: "It's a carrot-sel!!!"

This kid, he is too brilliant to be mine. He must be Bob's little boy.

Conversation of the Night...(Last Night)

Did you know that I love my oldest boy? Did you know that one of the things that puts me in awe is how much he is like me? I look at him sometimes and I think, "My mother is a wonderful person... because I know I dished out to her as much is this little creature dishes out to me!" This child is me in a male format.

So with that said...get a load of this conversation that we had last night on our ride up the ski lift. It went a little like this-

Cade: "Mom, I have two flame awards at school."

Me: "What is a flame award sweetie?"

Cade: " It's an award you get when you are good or when you read in front of the class."

....... (long pause) .......

Cade, with a mischievious smile on his face: "I got it for reading in front of the school."

Me: "Heavan forbid if you got it for being good."

We laughed so hard together we fell off the lift... JUST KIDDING...It was actually just time to unload.

Laughs to you all...

Moments for a mother...

Wow! I just had a crazy, wonderful evening last night with my boys. No stress, no tempers, just a nice, fun evening.

Tuesday's are Bob's days. Have I ever told you how lucky I am that my wonderful hubby is also the family taxi? The task that so often falls on mother's in other households, is his and his alone. He wakes them up in the morning...feeds them...clothes them...takes them to daycare...he picks them up from daycare...e-v-e-r-y-d-a-y...except Tuesday's.

Tuesday is my day to pick them up and spoil them like any mother who feels guilty for spending so much time away from her children.

So- We started our evening at Safeway (Hey-what can I say...I love shopping at grocery stores). it is Girl Scout Cookie time and they hangout at the store by our home. I let the boys each pick-out their own box of cookies. And- I got mine too! Nothing can keep me away from my samoas- except Bob when he eats them all (hence, why all of our boxes have names on the them this year)... Okay- Back to Safeway, that little Girl Scouts' mom looked at me with shock when I told her I would take 5 boxes. LITERALLY, her eyes were as big a platters...Is five boxes really that much???

Finally home and we decide to have a car race. We raced EVER SINGLE HOT WHEELS car in this house until there was ONLY ONE car left. How did it go down? Well- Morgan, of course, lost interest and Cade crushed me. His car was the Ultimate Racer- can you believe the model was a Cadillac? Go figure. Okay no pun intended, but that takes us to our next activity...

ACTION FIGURES...We have Stars, Wars we have DC Comics, we have Marvel Comics, we have Teen Titans, you name it we can find it. Again- how did it go down? Well- Morgan, again, lost interest and Cade started his own little Star Wars saga.

They were an absolute joy. No TV, No Video Games...just me and the boys. It wasn't quite, but it was peaceful.

Nighty Night!

Not Me Monday...

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
Short list this week. Does that mean I was good? Because it certainly isn't normal.

I did not, while grocery shopping last night, break a bottle of beer all over my jeans in the produce section. Nope, Not Me. Ummm-Excuse me, but c'mon~what Safeway grocery store thinks it's a good idea to surround the apple display with beer bottles!

I did not nearly pee my pants from laughter on Friday, when my girlfriends and I found ourselves looking down on a Black Diamond ski run that might as well have been a cliff. No, we would never torture ourselves that way.

And that is all I have this week! Now- go out and enjoy your Not Me moments this week, they are what make us human.

Love to you all.