What kids, rotting stench, and food have in common

Often when I wake up, I lay there and plan out what I can accomplish with such an early morning.  This morning was no different.  And like most mornings, I snuggled in under a blanket long enough that my early was gone and it was just another normal morning.  Except that my kids slept in.  Which is awesome.  While planning my day, I had decided to spend a few hours in the garden.  With Ryan gone, I didn't exactly want to be out in the garden while my kids were in bed.  Mostly because I didn't want them scared nor did I want them too independent if they woke up and couldn't find me.  

I stayed in the house, quietly accomplishing life.  Then Scott came downstairs.  With the kids sharing a bed, they almost always come downstairs together.  This morning was different and I asked Scott if he wanted to have a little "date" with mom.  He was excited about the opportunity so long as I didn't call it a date.  Silly boy.  Over a bowl of cereal, we looked through his scrapbook from his first two years.  Yes, a scrapbook.  I had time to do that when I had just one kid.

After breakfast, I forced the kids outside to play even though my eldest gave me 3 reasons he should stay inside.  His words: #1 I'm allergic to grass, #2 I have no-one to play with, and #3 I seemed to have forgotten the third.  My peaceful time in the garden wasn't so peaceful as my 3 kids whined and bickered the entire time.  I would have required them to pull weeds with me but then I'd have to hear the whining up close and I didn't want that either.  

With tons of weeds left in the garden, I headed in to make lunch.  Our friends, JB and Blake, joined us for a Thai dish that was almost a big 'ol failure.  I came in the house 1/2 hour late, my chicken hadn't thawed, thawing in the microwave was taking way too long, I had a pregnant lady to feed and a husband who had plans for 1pm.  Finally I grabbed some leftover italian marinated chicken, cut it up, and hoped the marinade wouldn't ruin the thai peanut butter taste.  Finally at 1pm, I was ready to serve lunch.  It was fun to chat with friends, eat good food and just live life.

After our friends left, I headed back to the garden for a few more hours of pulling weeds.  The other day, I thinned some weeds and found my rows of garlic.  I had kind of forgotten about them.  While weeding that area, I found my rows of of bellpeppers.  I had totally forgotten about those.  I even found 5 or so volunteer tomatoes growing from last years crop.  Speaking of volunteer tomatoes, I have a very nice one growing out of the side of my compost bin.  It looks great but it's a sign that my compost didn't break down perfectly.  

I came in from the garden, cleaned up, and headed to Decorah to pick up my girl.  She left with her Grandpa when he stopped by mid-morning.  With a stop at the grocery store where I didn't stick perfectly to my list, and grabbed enough items to throw together a pizza for supper.  I left my in-laws with a bucket of iris's.  The stinky water was mostly dumped out but it still stunk in the van of nasty rotting vegetation in water.  The little ones entertained themselves by pinching their nose closed and talking to each other seemingly thinking pinching their nose meant they couldn't hear anything.  By this timef it was LATE, so I stopped by the golden arches to grab some junk food for my kids.

Once home, I put away groceries, started the sprinkler on the garden, and began preparing pizza - with the chicken that was finally cooked and moist as could be.  Finally at 945, Ryan and I sat down to eat supper.  I'm tired.  Writing this down makes me more tired.  I got a lot done today.  But at the same time, I still have folded laundry to put away, bed sheets that didn't get washed, and my house isn't looking as clean as I was hoping it would.  It was a good day though.  I made some much needed progress in the garden, the kids were loved on, my hubby was well fed while he worked hard on the garage, and I am joyful tonight.

P.S. Here's last Sunday's picture: