Emergency! Chase of the Chihuahua

{Picture 1970’s TV show "Emergency"}
This morning as we were driving down the street we noticed a lady running down the sidewalk in her church clothes and several cars stopped in the same spot. It caught our attention but couldn't figure out what was happening. We kept driving and about 5 blocks later we saw a small brown and white long haired chihuahua making a break for it down the sidewalk of the very busy street. We pulled over to see if we could get the dog to come to us, which didn't work. Things only got worse for the chihuahuah as he decided he should move from the sidewalk to running IN the road. Jim straddled both lanes of traffic with his hazards on, laying on the horn, swerving from side to side to stop people from passing and hoping to corral the dog back onto the sidewalk and it worked! Jim scared the dog enough with the horn to get him off the road and down someone's driveway where 4 cars of complete strangers managed to catch the dog and return it to it's tearful owner. Looks like this Chihuahua's Milo and Otis days are over.
Nice work good Samaritans of Des Moines, give yourselves a pat on the back.

The Lynchs Take On the Lone Star State

I am just getting around to writing about our super trip to Texas last week to visit my family. The drive down has never been easier. It takes between 11-12 hours to get from here to there which can seem like an eternity with cranky kids and a sore tush. This time around the boys were amazing. They never asked when it would be over, never complained that it was boring, and just were generally amazing. It felt like family time instead of just passing the hours until we got there. We noted on the way down that driving south in March is like watching spring in fast-forward. With each state we passed there was a little more green grass, a few more buds on the trees, and a lot less snow. By the time we got to Texas there were even flowers growing. It was so fun to see the boys get excited about it.

It is amazing to see how much fun can get packed into a 3 day visit. We got to see my Aunt Brenda who we have not seen in way too long. I have so many memories of her from my childhood and all are so fun. I just generally think of her as a super fun person. I love seeing the kids having pillow fights, tickling and teasing with Aunt B. It seems that they have decided she is super fun too.

After 2 days of rain and "cold" temps we were able to get out on the lake with my dad. It is the only thing the boys asked to do while we were there. Nolan kept telling me, "Tell Poppa I can go on the boat now because I am so so so big!". It was chilly and windy but there is something so special about being on the lake with my dad and the boys seem to think so too. We caught no fish but nobody cared because we all got to go fast in Poppa's boat.

To top off the whole trip we spent a morning at the Dallas Arboretum which had several playhouses designed around children's books. There was a Peter Pan; Red Fish, Blue Fish; Treasure Island; Eragon; The Bamboo Cutter's Daughter and many others. Poppa and his friend, Joyce, had the forsight to get the books to read to the kids before we went so they knew what the houses were about. It made it all so much more intersting. The kids had so much fun running from house to house, climbing, and reading the summaries and I loved being in the midst of so many beautiful flowers. Winter is long but when spring is this beautiful it is well worth the wait.

All Things Better

Well, the sickies are almost completely gone and I am feeling much better. Unfortunately, the sickies caused me to break one of my all time favorite rules... that the house must be clean before going on vacation so that when you come home it seems as if the cleaning fairy came and cleaned your beautiful house. As we were leaving for Texas Jim was busy with work & I was sick and had various mom things to take care of before leaving, and the boys... well you know they are not going to say "Mom, how can I help clean the house before we leave?". Cleaning the house was NOT going to get done. When we rolled into the driveway late on Monday night, a car to unpack and tired kids to get to bed I was very very sad to see that the cleaning fairy had not come to visit at the Lynch's. After getting every other immediate need met (ie: groceries, laundry, etc) I am happy to say that the 1st floor of the house is totally clean, purged of winter sandiness and grime. The 2nd floor is tolerable All that makes me one happy mama. Now, I can go enjoy my cup of coffee and play outside for the rest of the morning until it's time to dirty the kitchen with lunch preparations!

Happy 1st Day of Spring everyone!!!

Sickies.....

Why why why does one always have to get sick the week that family is in town and you are preparing to go out of town!? When you find the answer to that let me know so I can prevent it in the future. Ick!

Laundry Quarters

Does the title of this post bring back nostalgic memories of the days when you used the laundromat? I didn't think so.

Today's post is about the handy skills of the Lynchs. I am sure many of you are saying...WHAT?! The Lynchs are not handy!

WRONG! We ARE handy!

Yesterday, as we were running 1 of our many many loads of dirty laundry, the washer suddenly made a terrible noise like someone stuck a piece of metal in a fan while it was running. This is not good for a fan and certainly can NOT be good for a washer. After successfully repairing our fancy (yet crappy) dishwasher a few weeks ago we decided that we would give it a try on the washer. I started scouring the internet for a solution to our washer noise. It seems that most people who reported hearing the awful grinding had a coin or some other foreign object in the drain pump. Everyone said, "It was simple to remove the drain pump, dump the coin and put it back in!". So, surely the Lynchs can do that. After unstacking the dryer from the top of the washer in a closet that is only about 2" wider than the W/D itself, getting to the bottom of the washer and unscrewing the 4 screws... sure enough it was a quarter causing all the ruckus. We successfully reassembled the washer and restacked the unreasonably tight fitting dryer and ran the test load. IT WORKED! Thus proving my theory...

The Lynch ARE in fact handy!

Now on to the treadmill...it seems that the walking belt is in need of replacement.

Happy Birthday to Nolan

(pics from top L to bottom R:1 yr, 2 yr, 3 yr, 4 yr.)
Yesterday was a big day at our house, the baby of the family turned 4 years old! He has proven his worth in turning 4 this week by accomplishing several milestones that seem to have just cropped up on their own. He is now wearing big boy undies ALL the time, even at night. He can zip his own coat and buckle his own seat belt in his booster. I love the excitement that comes with each new thing he learns. He is quite proud of all his new accomplisments.

As is tradition with this blog (if you can have tradition after only a few months...) I am going to post 10 things to love about Nolan. Feel free to add on as you see fit.

1. Your big blue eyes are amazing!
2. You make everyone laugh at our house, even Quinn.
3. You taught me how to enjoy being a parent.
4. You love all things boy; cars, trucks, planes, boats, bikes, dirt.
5. You love to help me in the kitchen and look super cute in your apron.
6. You love to be center stage and you want everyone else to join you there.
7. You are forever making friends everywhere we go.
8. You want to be a clown when you grow up.
9. You are super snuggly.
10. You have forced me to slow down and take a new look at life through your eyes.

I love you Nolan Miles! Happy Birthday Little Man.

100 Days, a Deer Trap, Head Casts and Other Random Stuff

<----1st day

100th day -->

Yesterday was Quinn's 100th day at school. I have made 100 lunches, and driven back and forth to school over 200 times and he has learned at least 1,000 new things and most likely many many more. He loves being a kindergartener.

Yesterday was also one of those day where all sorts of random but funny things happen.

On the way to school, we were talking about how upset we were that the deer was eating our cute little apple trees all to bits when Quinn decided he had a solution. He said "Ok, we can put a hammock between the two trees and then you can tie me and Nolan to the hammock and we will have bowls with coconuts in them. We will be really quiet and when the deer comes you and Daddy will flip us over in the hammock and we will spill the coconuts on the deer. I bet that will keep them away!" I see a few flaws in the plan but what the heck, I am sure the end result will be effective.

Tuesday is also one of the days Nolan goes to school. As we were driving to school I was encouraging him on things he could pretend that some of his other friends might know about, such as Diego the pet rescuer. When we got to school Nolan immediately informed Mrs. Cocks that he was Diego and he brought animal rescue items in his bag like "band-aids, head casts and arm casts just in case any of the animals gets hurt". How Mrs. Cocks and I kept a straight face I will never know.

At the end of the day while I was making dinner I got to the last line of my recipe and it said "let cool 10 min. before feeding to your pup". After rereading it at least 5 times I vaguely remembered reading something on Rachel Rays website about recipes for pets. Apparently this one serves a dual purpose and we should have invited our dog friends to dine with us last night. Interestingly enough, all the humans in our family loved it until they found out it was supposed to be dog food. Eating dog food does run in Jim's family (you know who you are!).

I also discovered yesterday that no matter how many applications of eye make-up remover you use it will not take away dark cicles under your eyes. Really, it doesn't!