Michael's Annual Blog Post

And guess what?  It has to do with bicycling and the awesome things I can carry on my Xtracycle FreeRadical.

As some of you know from Katie's blog posts, we order produce from Bountiful Baskets.  I'm usually the one that goes down to pick it up and I am usually picking up someone else's in addition to our own.  Why doesn't Katie ever pick up the baskets?  You'll have to ask her, but I think it's because she's lazy.

As it happens, yesterday I picked up THREE baskets, each weighing about 30 pounds.  For those of you who are math-challenged, that's 90 pounds of fruits and veggies riding around on my caboose.  A 30# box on each side and one on top.  I don't think it's the most I have ever carried, but it's definitely my best-documented load.  For other loads, see two sleeping kids, a ton of someone's dirty laundry, kids, tent, and floor lamp, and finally two steel floor sign holders for work plus my fixed gear.

For visualization purposes, I present to you the following infinitely-awesome-and-forever-looping-"roundabout". Click the image to begin. Be patient - it will start in a moment. Press ESC on your keyboard to stop the animation.

An Epiphany

For a long time I thought nobody read my blog.  I thought it was my quiet little corner of the internet.  Then I posted about how I was starting to sleep through the night and what a joy it was.  My children then got sick, stayed sick, got better, got sick again and then shared their sickness with their siblings.  This has resulted in my not getting a full night's sleep in weeks.  That's when I came to this startling realization: The Fates are reading my blog, and they are laughing at me.

 Shrews.

Just Another Day

This afternoon we were all sitting quietly in the living room.  Sam had just got up from nap and I had taken his diaper off to let him air a bit.  I was sitting on the couch taking a break and Sam was sitting on the rug with his back to me looking at a book.  All of a sudden he went very still.  I said, "Michael, is Sam peeing on the rug?"  Michael looked over and said he didn't see anything.  Sam continued to sit very still.  I said, "Sam, whatcha doing?"  He turned around with his mouth wide open with a look of great concern.  I pointed this out to Michael.  Sam then looked back at me again with the same open mouth and look of concern.  The expression was frozen on his face.  I said, "Michael, would you check on Sam.  You don't think he...?"

By that point Michael had walked around Sam and found out, yes he had, shut a sensitive bit of his body in the book.  The worst part was he couldn't figure out how to get it out.  Michael opened the book back up and Sam started to cry.  I guess the blood rushing back was more painful than the smashing.  Poor unfortunate boy.

This is something he will be thankful to forget.  That's why we have to memorialize the story on our blog.  We will remind him many times throughout his life, being sure to include the story in his wedding toast.  That's the kind of parents we are.

C is for Cookie

The kids made cookies for a church activity.  I put them in the oven because they didn't want to.  Other than that they don't seem to need me anymore.  Next thing I know they are going to be cooking for their own families.

Poor Sick Baby Boy

Lately we've been sick more than we've been well.  Just as one kid is getting over the crud another one comes down with it.  Sam decided he slept better in our bed than his.