La-Di-Da

I haven't written in over a week - a dry spell for me. Why haven't I written? I realized that every time I'd sit down to write I couldn't think of a good title, so I'd stop and walk away.

No, no, no!!  This is not the way it's supposed to be. I have to keep reminding myself who I'm writing this blog for. I'm writing it for ME. Not my loyal family and friends who read each post faithfully and "like" it on Facebook (but please keep doing so because it makes me happy!), not the still-anonymous readers in various countries who have yet to show themselves by joining the Facebook page (come on, guys, reveal yourselves!), not anyone but ME. I started this blog to have a place to write about whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Eventually one day I see it being a nice thing for my kids to read when they wonder to themselves - "What was Mom REALLY like when we were kids?"

So, La-Di-Da . . . .

Best Birthday Cake Ever
So at the end of my last post I mentioned that my kids were downstairs baking me a birthday cake. I came up with this idea when I was tucking Ella into bed the night before my birthday and she was crying because I was going to be spending most of my birthday AWAY from her since I was going downtown to a Caps playoff game. The conversation went something like this:

Ella: So what are we doing tomorrow?

Me: Well, I'm going to the Caps game tomorrow and you'll be with Daddy for most of the day until I get back.

Ella:  NOOOOOO!   (she tends to be a bit dramatic)

Me: What's the matter?

Ella: I want to be with YOU on your birthday!!!! (sobbing)

Me: But you'll be with me all day the very next day - we'll spend the WHOLE day together since Daddy is going on a trip.

Ella: But I want to be with you tomorrow!

Me: I tell you what.  How about the next day we bake a cake for my birthday?"

Ella:  Ooooh, yeah, a cake! (tears still dripping down her cheeks)

Me: Oh, I know!  How about you and Jack can decorate the cake and surprise me?

Ella:  ooooh, yeah, yeah!

Me: (getting a bit too excited)  I know!  How about if you and Jack bake the WHOLE cake? You can do the whole thing!

Ella:  YEY!  YEY! HEY JACK, WE'RE BAKING A CAKE ALL BY OURSELVES!!"

And that's how I ended up in the grocery store with my kids the day after my birthday, handing them a brown paper grocery bag (for secrecy) and a scanner and setting them loose in the store to buy the ingredients for the cake that they were to secretly make for me.  I learned later that they asked some random man to reach the numbered candles for them ("Hey mister, can you reach the number "4" and the number "2" for us?") - I'm sure he was thinking to himself "Where the heck are these kids' parents?"

They outdid themselves.  They literally baked the whole thing from start to finish - the only thing I did was to put it in the oven and then take it out with my eyes (sort of) closed so I wouldn't see what kind of cake it was.  Here was the end result . . .

The Masterpiece!!

Proud bakers!

For the record, it was delicious, despite the large blazing reminder of my age on top.

Mud Run Revisited
I'm not done talking about the mud run. It's been two weeks and I'm still thinking about it. I finally got the photos that were taken during the run by the professional photographers. I love these because it's like a glimpse from the outside looking in. I know how it felt when we we were doing it, but actually SEEING it puts it in a completely different light. We look like a bunch of kids playing in the great outdoors - pure joy.

Working our way through a string maze

Doing a crazy dance!

We decided to hold hands as we approached the final mud pit

Crawling through the mud pit looking like a bunch of happy, muddy pigs

The elation of crossing the finish line - we did it!

I love these pictures, but I was really looking forward to seeing the photos taken of us rinsing off in the showers with the scary clowns. After perusing the hundreds of photos on the website and seeing absolutely no shower photos whatsoever, I can only assume that the guy pointing the big fancy camera at us as we hosed off was not a professional photographer but some pervert with a telephoto lens. Great.

I also recently realized why I didn't have a problem with the muddy river crossings. Sure, it felt gross when my feet sank into the muck as I stepped into the water, but it didn't bother me that much. I couldn't understand why some people were turning around halfway and bailing out. Others were slipping and sliding and falling every which way. Then it hit me. All my years of swimming in muddy, leech infested ponds at Ukrainian summer camp had finally paid off!  No wonder wading through sludge and murky water didn't faze me that much. Thank you Plast camp for preparing me for my future role as a mud runner.

So, there - La-Di-Da - those are my thoughts for today. I have lots more to say but I'll save it for another time.