multitude monday

is it monday again already?  i just about forgot i was going to start posting again today!  here we go...
if you want to see my other multitudes on mondays posts, they began on mother's day with this post.

54. holiday weekend in Duluth with just my hubby!!!   (Thanks AGAIN to my parents for making it possible by taking the kids.)
55. yarn shops!  and getting to shop at 4 in one weekend!  WOOT!
56. a mall to shop at too!  (can you tell we live in the middle of nowhere?)
57. my new purse in a lovely shade of PINK! yes!
58. a couple new outfits too
59. new clothes for my man as well
60. finding a fun gift for hubby's dad (his early b-day/father's day gift)
61. did i mention yarn shops?  well, i should have mentioned my beautiful new yarns and needles too!
62. going out to the movies with my man--we saw Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and Kung Fu Panda 2 (in 3D).  and yes, we enjoyed them all.
63. coming home
64. hugs and kisses from my boys
65. my hubby's 45th birthday
66. getting our Bible Bee box on Friday (exciting!!!)
67. dinner with my inlaws (to celebrate their eldest son, of course)
68. the first day of summer swim lessons (today)
69. finding out there's another boy in bubba's level who's "behind" on swim lessons so he's not the only 11 year old in level 4
70. time to knit while bubba was in lessons because cj was being such a good boy
71. planting raspberry plants that were given to me (actually, we were originally getting them for my mom, but she let me have them since she already has a few plants and i didn't have any yet)
72. going for a walk with my little man, cj, to try and find monarch caterpillars (no luck this time)
73. finding tadpoles in our front ditch instead!
74. being the kind of mom who catches tadpoles--eight in all--so we can watch them grow legs

75. accidentally catching THIS while trying to get tadpoles and being thrilled even though we didn't know what it was

76. learning that it's a triops (i couldn't find any info to tell me if they are native to minnesota though)
77. going for a family walk and seeing all kinds of wild strawberry plants in blossom.  (gonna have to keep my eyes on those for berries!)
78. pizza
79. falling asleep to the sounds of a gentle rain and distant thunder
80. waking up to the sounds of birds (the one rather loud and crazy bird that has a bunch of different calls was kind of annoying at 4:30am, but otherwise it's kind of a nice way to wake up)

 
On a side note: I decided to put the tadpoles and triops in the same container.  Mr. Triops (as he's been dubbed) eats mosquito larvae and other stuff like that so I'm hoping he'll clean out any bugs from the ditch water we collected with these critters.  Hopefully he won't be hungry enough to eat the tadpoles! Not sure he'd do that, but you never know...

 

They seem to be getting along well enough, but it's only been a few hours. 

thirteen

lucky or no, thirteen is how many years i've been married to my best friend.  and yes, after 13 years, we're still the best of friends!  i love love love my man and am so very thankful the Lord gave me such a wonderful husband! 

happy anniversary to my sweetheart!  i ♥ u!

4.18.1998

i've put off posting this today because i'm bummed that my man had to leave today.  i'm not talking about the normal go-to-work leave here.  i'm talking about the my-hubby-has-to-go-to-the-cities-7-hours-away-and-won't-be-home-until-thursday-and-i-have-to-spend-my-anniversary-alone-with-the-kiddos kind of leave.  it stinks--at least we think so.  you can take my word on that.  but he had to go for some work-related classes or workshops or whatever they are.  so i understand.  really.  i do.  in my head i do.  but not so much in my heart which tells me he should be here spending our special day with me! 

so what did i do all day?  let's see.  i spent the morning here at my computer.  mostly just doing some perfectioKnits-related stuff and Facebook. and dripping on occasion.  after lunch, i decided to distract myself a bit and did a little baking.  had to use up my nearly black bananas before they weren't usable, so i baked a batch of banana "muffins" for cj who doesn't care for cherries.  {just used the same recipe and baked in muffin cups!}   and then a double batch of my mom's banana-cherry bread.  yum!  the house smells wonderful!  i just wish i hadn't bumped the top of my arm on the edge of the oven as i was reaching in for the bread pans.  yowch!  that hurt.  still does a little.  i used an ice pack to cool it down and it doesn't look like it's going to blister.  still not really sure how that happened.  i'm usually VERY careful when baking!

after my baking, i turned the computer back on and did some more perfectioKnits-related business {found some buttons that i think will be perfect for some of my items. good price.  ordered 2 kinds in lots of 100.  so excited that they're coming from the UK!}

we finally decided on ramen noodles for tonight's dinner. 
[yes, mom, we'll manage.  i even have chicken thawing in the fridge for tomorrow.]
and now i'm back on here writing this while the boys are deciding which movie we're going to watch.  i think they've decided...so it's time for me to go!

11 years!

11 years ago today, on a lovely saturday afternoon, i married my best friend {and the most wonderful guy in the world--if you ask me!!} we've had a good mix of lots of laughter as well as a few tears over these past 11 years and i hope and pray that God sees fit to give us many more years of life together. i'm so thankful that He has blessed me with a hard-working, fun-loving, good-cooking, and family-oriented husband and i certainly wouldn't trade him for the world! [happy anniversary, sweetheart!]

yesterday's lunch with mom and dad was really nice. the food turned out good too! i was going to take some pics, but got so busy that i forgot. oh well! you'll just have to take my word for it that it was delicious! next time i make macadamia nut encrusted chicken, i think i'll try the other recipe i found. although the one i used was yummy, i'd like to try it with a little coconut added to the nut mixture. a little sweetness might make it just that much yummier!