Monday, October 20

Annual Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch outing

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We had such fun at the AwShucks Corn Maze. Although I misjudged how cold it was out with the wind, so we were a little underdressed. But other than that, we had a great day. It was so much better than last year when we had a horrible drought that killed most of the corn. The big kids loved the maze. We let them decide which paths to take (I kept the map so at least I knew WHERE we were). They discovered the corn in the husks early on.
Leah and Ian carried around their "corn swords" for most of the maze, swiping at the stalks and occasionally each other.

At the end of the maze, we let Erin out to run around.
Then we took pictures on this hay wagon.

At last we headed for the pumpkin patch. We didn't get any pumpkins, we just played around and took pictures.
After dinner at Big Bob Gibson's BBQ, we headed home exhausted but happy.

Sunday, October 19

Bragging rights

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So I am gonna brag for a minute here. Mike and I have this site, NFLForLaughs, that we have been doing for a quite a few years now. Some of you know what it is already. Basically we pick the winner for each NFL game each week. There is no money involved, it is just for fun. So feel free to join in, or if you don't want to start halfway through the season, remember us next season. Anyway, the point is I am in second place right now. I am only 1 game back (potentially 2 after this evening's games). I am beating Mike by like 3 or 4 games. And I don't really follow stuff like who is starting or who is hurt. Seriously, bet on me in Vegas. I have never had a week under .500 (7-6 was my worst record). Apparently I am a football guru. :)

Thursday, October 16

Not baby anymore...

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Erin has exploded with her words lately. Here is a short list of things she says: hot, up, Mommy, Dada, Ee-ah, pup-pup, duck (sounds like duh), good girl, night night, play, milk (says nuh for milk), and is repeating almost everything. It is AWESOME to be able to talk to her and know she is understanding you.

The very latest thing though is fighting naptime. She is not doing it at bedtime yet, but everyday at naptime, she stands in her crib and wails, "Mooooommmmmeeeeeeeee!" over and over. It is hard not to go in there and get her. For the past two days, I have had to go back in like 1/2 hour after I put her down and rock her a little bit. When I put her in bed after that, she still screams, but not for very long. This part is not so fun.

I just went back and read a bunch of Erin entries and nowhere have I blogged about her little attitude. No lie, she already has attitude at 14 months. I am DREADING her teen years. If you tell her no and she doesn't like it, she flails around and tries to hit you. When she wants milk and you don't give it to her, she screams and cries until she is holding her cup. And not just any cup, she only wants milk in her Nuby sippy cup, not the Playtex ones. If you give her the wrong cup, she just throws in on the ground and continues to chant, "Nuh Nuh" (milk). If you leave the gate open for ONE second, she is climbing upstairs immediately. I CANNOT get her to walk with me through a door if she doesn't want to. When we come inside in the evening to make dinner, she pitches her little fit in the doorway so no one can walk through.

I absolutely adore this little pill of mine. She is the light of my life! Some of my favorite kids when I was teaching were the ones who gave me a hard time. What is the deal with that?

Sidebar!

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I got my triathlon training graph from Google Docs to show up! I will have to resave the image every time I update it because it is static, but still it is there. Now you can follow along at home as I train.

Wednesday, October 15

Mother Warriors

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I just finished Jenny McCarty's newest book, Mother Warriors (it's in my Goodreads sidebar). It was AMAZING!!! I highly recommend it to all mothers of young children out there and anyone planning on becoming a mother. It made me think so much my brain hurt. It stimulated an intense discussion with Mike. I don't doubt any of the facts in the book. But I still am not wholly against vaccination. I guess I have to do more research. If anyone out there has researched this topic, can you send me some links or any info you found?

Training day #2

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I am trying to get a cute little graph of my triathlon training to show up in my sidebar, but I need Mike's help. So until then, I will post about it. I finally asked the lifeguard at the pool what the length was and he said 25 YARDS. The triathlon distance is 500 yds so today I swam the 500 yds in 20m15s. Then I ran 1.1 miles in 12 min. It will be so interesting when I actually have to do it because I change my clothes in between so that gives me a little rest time. Laurie came with me today and did the swimming part. It was nice to have someone to discuss swim technique with (we decided we don't have any). Anyway, day 2 complete.

Tuesday, October 14

Triathlon training

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I know I mentioned possibly doing a triathlon next spring. Well, I have officially committed to it (mentally anyway, registration doesn't begin until December). Mandi, Laurie, and Christina have all expressed interest in competing with me. So off we go. Today I swam for 18 minutes (I was supposed to swim 14, but I couldn't do it straight, so I didn't count my rest times) and completed 20 laps. I think each lap is 25 meters, which means I did 500m. Then I biked 7 miles in 24 minutes. I wasn't supposed to run today, but I haven't had the chance to use my new running shoes. So I hopped on the treadmill for a quarter-mile. Complete triathlon workout in 45 min. It was a good start.

Hive Oh Eight Day #4

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The plan for Sunday was to have brunch at the Donald's barn. Poor Keri & Keith. If you are interested in reading their trials with their contractor on the barn renovations, go here. Anyway, it was a nice relaxing morning just watching the kids play and saying goodbye.



That evening we went to Smokey Bones for dinner and watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall after putting the kids to bed. And that was the end of another Hive. *sigh*

I think we are talking about renting a house next year so we can all stay together. In many ways the house in Orlando was more fun than when we were all separated in Melbourne. So we are looking into going somewhere in between in probably October again.

Hive Oh Eight Day #3

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Saturday started off mellow. Stacy and Landon arrived at the Konicki's with Steve & Ronni earlier than the rest of the crew so we got a little relaxing time with them.

Jason set up the water slide and the kids jumped right in. When we were here in April, Leah would NOT go on this slide. What a difference a summer makes!


This is our child of a thousand faces. Seriously, I have never seen so many expressions on a kid in my life.

After playtime and some rest time, we got the kids bathed and into their costumes for indoor Hive-themed trick-or-treating.



Many thanks to Keri for stuffing the "bees" (large Easter eggs decorated like bees) and getting all of the nets and things together for our Halloween Hunt. The kids loved it. After the hunt they got to watch Word World's Halloween episode to calm down.

At 8pm, the Gator game took precedence over ALL other activities. Erin actually managed to sleep through the win over LSU. I don't even remember when Leah went to bed, I think somewhere around 10:30. Which brings day 3 to a close.

Hive Oh Eight Day #2

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After a day of rest at the Konicki house, we headed over to Erica's for our Rained Out Camp Out. We were supposed to pitch tents outside and play with flashlights and roast marshmallows. Well, it was too wet for that, so we settled for playing Rock Band, eating s'mores from the oven, playing Ring-Around-the-Rosy, and watching Cars. Here are some picture highlights:

Mike feeds Erin her dinner

Storytime with Christina

Boppin' with Spiderman craziness

Leah & Megan made our s'mores

The rockers

Resting while watching Cars

Hive Oh Eight Day #1

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After driving from 8:15am to 5:15pm, we arrived at our house in Orlando to begin the Hive celebration. The girls were really good the whole ride. The house itself was amazing: 6 bedrooms, 3 baths, screened pool in the backyard. Dave and Rhiannon arrived soon after we did and the kiddos were in the pool almost immediately.


I made tacos for dinner and the Konickis arrived a little later. The Donalds and Stewarts came late that night, but we were all around to get ready to go to Disney the next day.

Even with 28 people, 12 being kids 3 & under, it was loads of fun.

It took quite a while to get down Main Street with everyone stopping to sunscreen, get a drink, check out a store, etc. But once we got started, it went pretty smoothly. We were able to ride Winnie-the-Pooh, Dumbo, It's a Small World, and Buzz Lightyear.
Mike and & got a chance to ride Space Mountain twice while Grammy stayed with the girls (thanks, Mom!!!). The best part of the day was seeing Leah meet the princesses.

She told Cinderella, "You're my favorite." Her face was adorable. All our girls enjoyed meeting the three, Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora.

We went home after a yummy Dole Whip and ordered pizza and swam until it was bedtime (late of course). That night was crazy chaos with so many kids running around. My mom said she sat there and watched and said, "Thanks goodness I get to go home to sleep. I don't have the energy for this." :)

We actually got out of the Orlando house on time and made our way over to Melbourne for Day 2 festivities.

Sunday, October 12

Quick Update

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We had a blast at Disney and Hive both. We head home tomorrow morning, stopping for lunch in Jacksonville with Mandi. I will post some pictures and more stories about our trip probably Tuesday. Go Gators!!!

Wednesday, October 8

Off to FL

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We are headed out this AM to Orlando for two nights (and Magic Kingdom), then to Melbourne for the weekend for HIVE. Can't wait to post all the great pics when we get back! See ya!

Monday, October 6

Biggest Loser big finish

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The contest ended yesterday and I lost a total of 11.4 lbs in 8 weeks. So I am happy with the way everything turned out. Just thought I would update you. See Nikki's post if you are interested in the other losers' outcomes. :)

Sunday, October 5

More races?

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Now that I have gotten a taste of racing, I am ready for more. I have been looking into local races all day. We are going to visit Steve & Ronni for Thanksgiving and I found the Tamarac Turkey Trot in their area. I am trying to enroll Mike & I in that (while we have babysitters and we can focus on running). Then I was looking at triathlons. You heard that right. The sprint distance triathlons sound fairly reasonable. You swim anywhere from 250-750 meters, bike 5-10 miles, and run 3.1 miles. I would be interested in participating in one in February or Marchish. The schedules aren't up yet for 2009, but I will be keeping my eyes out for what is available when it gets closer. Love it!

Saturday, October 4

Race for the Cure

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Mike and I completed our second official 5K today. Unfortunately because we were in the non-competitive race, we were not officially timed. But Mike had on a stopwatch and we ran it in 38:20. I think I walked about 40 seconds of that because I had a GINORMOUS stitch in my ribs that kept me from breathing.

The day began at 5:30am for us. Erin happened to wake up 5 minutes before our alarm was supposed to go off. We packed everybody up and left our house at 6:20. At 6:25 Leah declare that she had to go potty (we just brought her straight from bed to the car, we didn't think about potty). So we had to run into WalMart for a potty break. We got to the parking garage at 7:10 and made it to the race area by 7:45. We were lined up at 8am but the race was delayed in starting because the competitive race wasn't past our starting point yet. There were 15,000 people "racing" so it was... interesting. Once the starting announcement was made it took us a good 5 min to reaching the starting line, then another maybe 10 min to break out of the crowd enough to really run. So that 38:20 is not so bad considering all that. It was not necessarily a good place to make a 5K record time. AND the last mile was mostly up a LONG hill. I was so exhausted by then, but I pushed the last eighth of a mile and was happy with the whole event.

From there we traveled to Freedom Park to the Down Syndrome Association Buddy Walk in Chase's honor. They had a bouncy castle, Dora the Explorer (from Carowinds), free Italian ices and hot dogs for the participants. I ate my hot dog while meandering around the pond (that was the walk). But it was a lovely day and much money was raised for Down Syndrome awareness and research. It was nice to do our part.

I REALLY didn't want to eat a hot dog because tomorrow morning is our last weigh-in for the Biggest Loser competition. I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight this morning! But after running I was starving and I had already eaten the healthy granola bar I packed. So I sucked it up and ate the dog. It was pretty damn good too. :) But I will have a GREAT rest of the day and I am crossing my fingers that I see that good number again in the morning.

Pops is arriving tomorrow to spend some time with us. I promised Leah that since we did so many things for Mommy & Daddy today, we could do things she wanted to do tomorrow. So we shall see what kinds of things a three year old wants to do. It should be a trip.

Friday, October 3

My workout playlist

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Sumthin' Wicked This Way Comes - TLC
Heartbreaker - Mariah Carey
Without Me - Eminem
1,2,3,4 (Sumpin' New) - Coolio
How Much - Mariah Carey
Pump Up the Jam - Technotronic
X-Girlfriend - Mariah Carey
Hit Em Up Style - Blu Cantrell
Insane in the Brain - Cypress Hill
Heartbreaker (remix) - Mariah Carey (sensing a theme here?)
The Real Slim Shady - Eminem
Jump Around - House of Pain
Baby Got Back - Sir Mix-A-Lot
Thong Song - Sisqo
Informer - Snow
Crybaby - Mariah...
Funky Cold Medina - Tone Loc
Wild Thing - Tone Loc
Gettin' Jiggy Wit It - Will Smith
Did I Do That? - Mariah
Bust A Move - Young MC
Boombastic - Shaggy
Humpin' Around - Bobby Brown
Going the Distance - Cake

There is too much Mariah in there for my liking (sorry, Megan). I got some good ideas from your list, Keri. I will be downloading from your computers next weekend.

Crying #3

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So I just got the newsletter from Leah's school for October. Her teachers are really nice and I like them a lot. One of the last lines in the newsletter is, Thank you for the opportunity to share in your child's life. We are so grateful for "our kids." And I cried. GEEZ!

Wednesday, October 1

Sugar Poll

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So the poll is over. Here is the sugar breakdown:
Skittles - 47g
Raisin Bran Crunch - 20g
Dark Chocolate - 21g
Frusion smoothie - 48g

If you take the sugar grams and divide by 4, that is how many teaspoons are in the item. Adults should have no more that 12 tsp of added sugar daily (naturally occurring sugars like in fruit don't count in this tally). So your Dannon smoothie is a daily allowance of sugar.

On someone's suggestion, I have been using The Daily Plate to track my calories. It is neat because it breaks down not only calories, but fiber, fat, sugar, protein, sodium, and cholesterol. On any given day I can see where I stand in any of those categories. I ten to go over on sodium and protein, but I am fine in the other categories. Anyway, it is a neat site.

Tuesday, September 30

Crying

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I have decided to keep track of things that make me cry lately. They are such ridiculous things too. Today it was an OnStar commercial about a car that swerves to avoid hitting a deer and gets in an accident. No kids were involved that I could see. The was the second time today after the book incident from last post.

I salute you, Dr, Seuss

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A while back we discovered this Dr. Seuss gem, On Beyond Zebra. Ronni had sent us a bunch of books that belonged to Mike as a kid. This was among them and I had actually never read it before. We fell in love on first read. The copy we had, being so old, was falling apart. I bought it new from Amazon and it arrived today. We have already read it twice and loved it even more each time. Dr. Seuss is such a master of rhyme and rhythm. There is NEVER a hitch in the meter, it flows so easily out loud. I LOVE that Leah is exposed to so many unusual rhymes. It came close to beating out The Sneetches for my favorite, but I love the lesson in that one too much. :) SO just a heads up for a good read.

On another book note, I brought the book Perfect by Judith McNaught with me to Leah's ballet class to read in between peeking in the door. I only got through the first 40 pages and I was BAWLING. The story begins with a heart-warming tale of a child whose life turns around by being adopted into a good family. Things centering around children affect me so much more now. So I am sure all the ladies in the hall thought I was a nut. I was sniffling and wiping my eyes and nose for like 10 minutes. I hope I can show my face there again. :)

Diet and ADD/ADHD

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They are linking diet more and more to the diagnosis of ADD. (I am not saying that diet is a CAUSE of ADD or can cure it, I'm just saying it is probably linked.) Dr. Fuhrman has done a case study and reversed the diagnosis of 90% of his test subjects by changes in diet alone. here are the guidelines he followed:

* a high nutrient primarily vegetable-fruit-nut diet
* 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed daily (source of Omega-3 acid which reduces/prevents inflammation)
* 1/2 oz of walnuts daily (also a source of Omega-3's)
* additional 100-600mg of DHA daily (flaxseed oil)

I still don't really know much about flax though. I would have to research it more.

Did you notice that the diet did not contain meat/dairy? The speaker (a registered dietitian) said her family rarely eats meat OR dairy. Someone asked how kids get enough calcium. She claimed that there are lots of vegetarian sources of calcium like: beans, dark leafy greens, nuts and seeds, etc. Also almost 50% of the calcium from these sources is absorbed into the body, unlike the 20% from animal protein sources. Another fact about animal proteins is that they raise the acidity of the blood. Calcium is what your body uses to counteract that, taking from your bones if need be. If dairy were the answer to brittle bones, she said, why are humans breaking their hips in record numbers despite the increase in dairy products consumed in recent years? Interesting info...

One last thing before I leave you. One of the ingredients in the Dannon Frusion smoothie is carmine. Check this out before you eat any more colored yogurt.

Monday, September 29

Nutrition seminar

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I attended a Nutrition Seminar tonight at the gym. I learned A LOT of interesting facts, many of which I will share with you over the next week or so. I am ready for bed tonight though. So I will leave you with the poll on the right as food for thought. Don't cheat and look it up!

A delicious snack

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I just made "trail mix" using raisins, cashews, and Honey Nut Chex for Leah (Erin ate raisins I cut in half and the cereal). I ate Craisins, almonds, and the cereal. It was so good! It was pretty filling and while not low-calorie, it could probably be substituted in place of a Slim Fast meal replacement bar as breakfast. So give it a try!

Saturday, September 27

Lacking one ring

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I cannot wear my engagement ring anymore. I am so sad about it. It is not due to weight loss (I wish). It is because I think I am allergic to it all of the sudden. Every time I put it on I get this big ole rash on my ring finger that wakes me up at night. Once I take it off, it takes a week or so for the rash to go away. I have tried cleaning it well in case it was a chemical on the ring that was irritating me, but it didn't help. I can still wear my wedding band, thank goodness. But it sucks.

On another note Erin pooped in the potty today! She was looking like she had to go during dinner, so Mike took her and sat her on the Dora potty ring on the big potty. She cried a bit because it was hard for her to go, but I think sitting on the potty actually helped with gravity and no diaper and all. And then there it was! How cool is that? No wonder I want another baby! My baby is not a baby anymore. :)

Friday, September 26

Weigh loss plateau

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I feel like I have finally hit that dreaded plateau. After 6 weeks and diet and exercise and a 10 lb loss, I have been back and forth between the same two pounds for two weeks. I am starting to think that, like Keri, I may be slightly starving myself. I am limiting myself to 1200 calories a day, even when I run a 5K. The websites I have been to say that my body needs approximately 2000-2300 calories on a daily basis to maintain my weight with an active lifestyle. So accordingly, I should operate on a 500 calorie loss. That leaves me with at least 1500 calories a day, you follow? So I am possibly shorting myself by 300 calories. I wanted to eat less calories than I thought because I am sure I underestimate my food when I count the calories. I rarely actually measure stuff. But even so, do you think that could be it? This past week, I have run almost 12.5 miles, swam, and worked my abs. What do you guys think?

Wednesday, September 24

If you loved Twilight...

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AND you like those teenage melodramas like Dawson's Creeek and 90210 (I am talking to you, Rhi!), you may like this series, The Vampire Diaries. Here are the first two and here are the second two. (My Franklin girls, you know what I am talking about.) The author's website has a brief synopsis of each book. They are very good. I know I first enjoyed them in high school but c'mon, you know the Twilight series is loved by teens everywhere. If you liked Twilight, you may as well give these a try. I own all four. If you are interested in borrowing them, let me know.

PS I just read on the author's website that a FIFTH book in The Vampire Diaries series is coming out Feb 2009! The series originally came out in 1991. Talk about delayed reaction. I guess she is trying to cash in on the love for vampire stories right now. Whatever the reason, I will be buying it!

Tuesday, September 23

Not quite right

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I may not have come across exactly how I wanted to in the last post. I feel like all of our parents and siblings are capable of caring for our girls and will love them to the end. I was not saying that any one of them was not able to do it. I just wanted to look at all the angles. Making those kinds of judgements is hard. Ultimately I think being with family is the most important. I am sorry if I insinuated that I do not think my siblings are willing and able to be a parent to their nieces. I know better than that. You are all wonderful and I have no doubt that you would take them in a heartbeat.

Monday, September 22

Even though you hate to think about it...

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Mike and I have an appt Wednesday to see a lawyer about our wills. The most pressing issue of course is guardianship for the kids. We are in a dilemma. All of our parents, while we love them dearly, will be at least 75 when our kids are able to be on their own, especially if we have any more. I just don't think raising kids at that age is a burden we need to put on them. Plus you never know when a health issue will arise. So we are thinking they should not be our first choice.

Stacy is the only one of our siblings who is at a place to even raise children. So she is one choice. Mike's godparents are friends of their family. So he was asking about considering our friends too. It's just a lot to ask people who are not blood-related to raise your children and still have your kids connected to their family. (BTW, I'm not asking for volunteers to raise our kids.)

Anyway, I just wanted to put it out there. If any of you have made these kinds of decisions, how did you decide? What were the factors that influenced your decision?

Friday, September 19

More children?

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I know this is kind of a "Duh" statement, but I can't imagine our life without Erin in it. Mike and I were talking tonight about how it is so strange that you have NO idea of the impact your little ones will have on you. It is so hard to believe that we could have decided to not have any more after Leah. Then we wouldn't have our little cuddlebug! And we both pretty much said that it makes us want to keep having kids, because it is such an amazing feeling to bond with a new life. Twenty years down the road, we will look back and say "I can't imagine our lives without ____, ____, and ____ in it." (or however many kids we end up having) No matter how many we have, every one of them will add to our lives something that we are currently lacking, yet we don't even know what it is yet. I am REALLY hoping to last until after our cruise next July before getting pregnant again, but I just don't know if I can wait that long. Not that I am so eager to relive the newborn days, but I am anxious to see what the next child will bring to our family. Erin has been SUCH a joy, I am ready to experience it again and again. Am I crazy to want another one so soon?

Tuesday, September 16

Baby Signing Time!

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So get this. A few blog posts ago, I got a comment from someone in the Signing Time! organization. Because I had posted several times about how I love the series, they wanted to send me two new volumes of Baby Signing Time that are going to be coming out in October to review. We watched them today. Here is what I thought:

Both Baby Signing Time 3 & 4 were lots of fun. After every sign was introduced, my three year old, Leah, was making sure I was doing it correctly. I think our favorite song of the day was "That Tastes Good" introducing many foods such as apple and pear. We also really enjoyed the "Opposites" song. My one year old was actually attempting a few of the signs.

One thing I really like about these volumes is that all of the words are put into songs. Rachel isn't trying to sign every word of the song, just the ones they are focusing on. I think it helps the kids isolate the signs to learn them. My kids really like the cartoon parts with Alex, Leah, and Hopkins. Thank you so much for the opportunity to screen these videos. We love Signing Time! and want continue to learn as many signs as we can.

Monday, September 15

Fours

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Since I have been tagged here and here, I guess I better get on this.

A) Four places that I go over and over: the gym, Walmart, Leah's school, Harris Teeter

B) Four people who e-mail me (regularly): nobody really emails me regularly just to check in, they usually have a question or a reason

C) Four of my favorite places to eat: Carrabba's, Maggiano's, Harper's, Taco Bell

D) Four places I would rather be right now: Disney World (we'll be there in about 3 weeks!), the beach, Hive reunion, on our cruise next July

E) Four people I think will respond: Keri, Mandi, Tiff, Nikki

F) Four TV shows I watch all the time: The Office (re-runs on Tuesday nights on TBS), Blue's Clues (unfortunately), Jon & Kate Plus 8, Dog Whisperer

PS Is anybody else PSYCHED for TV to come back in a week????

Sunday, September 14

I'm dreaming

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I have been SO good about not eating the pumpkin cream cheese bars and blue frosted sugar cookies T has sent over (congrats, T & B!). They have been on my counter/in my fridge tempting me for a few days now. But I was determined to do well in this weigh-in.

So instead, I dreamed (drempt?) of dessert. I was standing on underneath a ramp watching all of these chefs carrying platters over my head. There were things like a giant chocolate cake (5ft in diameter!) and tiny petit fours piled high. You think I was craving something?

So as a reward for all that, I had a good weigh-in today. I am 9.4 lbs down in the competition and am only 2.8 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight. I am so happy I did this with everyone. It has certainly served as a motivator.

Saturday, September 13

Stomach blues

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I think Mike and I ate some bad jelly in our fridge. On Friday when said jelly was eaten, we both came down with a "stomach bug" within hours of each other. Last night/this morning were rough, and we are now recovering. We SOOO wished that we had a grandparent here to pawn our kids off on. These are some of the moments that parenting gets really tough. I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel...

Friday, September 12

Leah's first fib?

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On Wednesday evening, we were waiting on the porch for Mike to come home. Leah was pulling a few weeds in the garden when all of a sudden she shouted that her hand was hurting. I looked and it was the tiniest scrape, no blood even. So we patched her up.

The next day she told me it was hurting again. She claimed the scrape was from a "mean girl" at school. She told me this whole elaborate thing about how the girl wanted Leah to "be in her family" but Leah didn't want to so the girl scraped Leah with her fingernail. I asked her if she told the teacher and she said yes and the girl got sent to time out.

The whole story sounded suspicious to me, so I asked her teachers about it today. Both of them said they had never heard a thing about this incident. So I will have to talk to Leah about it later today.

I wonder though, because a couple of days ago, Ian came home telling us about a "mean boy" on the playground who was bullying him. So did Leah feel the need to have her very own mean kid story? Or are the kids at this school pretty pesty?

I am inclined to believe that Leah has told me her first fib. I hope this is not how things are going from here on out. I enjoy having Leah tell me straight out that she hit Erin, so I can put her into time out based on her own word. :) But I guess they all figure that out sooner or later.

Update: Leah and I discussed things later and she did finally admit to me that she made the story up. I told her it's okay to tell me interesting stories as long as she says, "Mama, I'm just teasing," if it's not a true story. I think she kinda gets it.

Thursday, September 11

The bread winner

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So yesterday morning, Leah got up and was in the bathroom with Mike while he got ready for work. I didn't hear the whole conversation, but I assume she asked why he had to go to work. He answered that he had to make money so that we could pay for our house. And my darling girl said, "I have lots of money in my piggy bank. I can pay for our house." I teared up, it was such a sweet thing to say. Mike told her that she had a LONG time before she had to worry about money. I love that kid!

Wednesday, September 10

Gymboree

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I took Erin to a preview Gymboree class today. I never got around to taking Leah so didn't really know what to expect. It was lots of fun. She got to climb and sing and slide and hide and catch bubbles and play with about 10 other kids her age. I wish it was not so far away. AND was less expensive. With Leah's preschool and ballet, we can't afford Gymboree too. I hate the idea that Erin is getting shafted, but I guess Leah was not doing things at Erin's age either. Next fall Erin will probably start a part-time preschool, unless I go back to work.

Well, that's it for tonight.

Monday, September 8

Erin walking!

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I know a lot of people use RSS feeds to read blogs, so I wanted to let you know that I posted video of Erin walking on my entry Blood rushes to the head. Check it out!

Monday, Monday

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Can't trust that day...

Actually today went rather well. I went to my post-op appt and the dr said everything looked good. No dry socket for me. I guess I had some food caught in there and it was pressing directly on my nerve. But I haven't felt severe pain since yesterday morning. So yay for that...

Leah, Ian, and Erin ate PB & J sushi for lunch. I stole the idea from my friend Liz but her blog is private so I can't link you to her. But you just cut the crust off the bread, roll it flat, and spread PB & J on it all the way to the edges. The you roll it up and slice it gently. When you turn it on its side, it looks JUST like sushi. They all LOVED it. So, thanks, Liz, for sharing...

I was able to do a step class today without any pain, so my exercise schedule should be back to normal this week. Hopefully I will start dropping lbs again since I can eat fairly normally.

As you probably saw in my sidebar, I got a Wii Fit yesterday! My Wii Fit age already went from a 37 to a 30 in just one day. Mike and I really like the hula hoop game. I of course also like the yoga poses. I am excited to unlock new stuff too.

Well, that's about it. My dad finally has power back in Houma and things are settling down there too. Thank goodness Ike has turned away from FL and LA. Sorry, TX, I guess you were due.

Saturday, September 6

Blood rushes to the head

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Last night while running my 5K (go me!) on the treadmill, I was experiencing pretty intense pain in my mouth. We were talking about it later and started thinking that blood rushes to injuries and while my blood was pumping so hard it must have been pooling in my wounds. It was pretty intense and everyone is telling me not to do cardio until I go to my post-op appt. That sucks! But I guess I will listen.
Update: I am pretty sure I have dry socket, where the blood clot becomes dislodged and your nerves are exposed. Lovely.
Update2: I called my dr this AM because I was hurting SO bad. He said that if I had dry socket, even my heavy duty painkiller wouldn't touch it. So I probably didn't have it.

Erin took a few steps today! She is still nervous and doesn't like to let go, but if you get her going and gradually peel her hands from yours, she sometimes is on a roll. More often than not, she lowers herself down and crawls.



Leah has a sore throat and fever today. She has eaten a corn muffin and 1/2 a piece of banana bread ALL day. She had 2 cups of apple juice and that's it. She claims even a banana hurts her throat. So my poor baby has been a couch potato today. Hopefully she will be feeling better tomorrow.

Update on my wisdom...

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teeth that is. For most of the first week, my right side was bothering me and my left seemed almost healed. But for some reason, now my left is hurting WAY more than my right did. I even had to take the heavy duty painkiller last night for the first time since Monday. My entire right jaw felt swollen and achy all the way up to my head. I even had to use an ice pack (frozen peas) to alleviate some of the pain before the meds kicked in. I called the dr yesterday and the nurse gave me the impression that this was all "normal" and they would check it all out at my post-op appt on Monday. I hope I can get through the weekend.

On a TMI note, in the middle of the night I have been waking up to bits of food finally becoming dislodged from those spaces and running around my mouth. Food in your mouth after it had been hanging around a while digesting is NASTY! It has made me rethink my diet, which will go back to as many liquid-like substances as I can stand until my appt Monday.

On a happier note, Erin finally said Mama today (the stinker) after a week of saying the following: Dada, Ee-ah, Mimi, PawPaw, baby, and ball. We all knew she could do it, it was just her stubborn nature not to say the one thing we were all working on with her. I have my work cut out for me with that one.

She also had her 1 yr check up today (I am writing this at 4am, so it was actually yesterday. Leah woke up needing to potty and with her arm asleep so she was crying.). Erin's stats were: 22lb 2oz and 28 3/4 in long. That is a full inch taller and 2 1/2 lbs heavier than Leah was at this age. In fact Leah was 23 lbs at 18 months! So Er-bear is quite the bruiser. Maybe it's because we call her bear? :) She has another tooth popping through on the right side of her tops. The dr also said she could feel the molars on Erin's left side so they are getting close too. I am rapidly losing my baby here. Help!

Tropical Storm Hanna is currently upon us. It is raining and we are under a flash flood watch until noon. But Hanna is expected to be in VA by 8pm Sat night. So don't you worry about us. Stop on by if you feel the urge.

Friday, September 5

Hurricane Shelter OPEN

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Here at Casa Gallers, we accommodate friends and family from all states, we don't discriminate. So make your plans for Hurricane Ike accordingly and know that our shelter is ALWAYS open. :)

Thursday, September 4

1 year portraits

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Picked up her one year portraits today. Had to reorder two sheets because they cropped the picture wrong and part of it was cut off. But here are the other ones I bought...





Mike says this last picture makes her look like a troll. I think it's cute because it is a picture of her "scrunchie" face she does for us. So whatever.:)

Today we went back to The Penguin for lunch. (Mandi) There was NO wait and we had so many leftovers we already have lunch again tomorrow. I LOVE those fried pickles! Okay, so not so diet-y today. Need to get back with it tomorrow. It is SO hard with my dad in town!

Wednesday, September 3

Hurricane shelter

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My dad & Myrn are on their way to our house. There is no power where they are and they aren't allowed to go back home til the weekend. What better excuse than to come visit the grandbabies! Although I am exceedingly sad about the whole mess, I am thrilled that they are coming.

My poor aunt had lost her house in Katrina. She stayed with a friend for a month or two, then got a FEMA trailer. She has been in the trailer since then. She just moved into her brand new house last week after 3 years. Of course she had to evacuate on Sunday along with her little teacup yorkie. She got this dog around Katrina time too. Well, while she was at her friend's house during Gustav, her 3 yr old dog dies in her lap. How freaking unbelievable is that??? This woman can't catch a break. And they are not allowed to go home yet, but presumably there is maybe only minor damage like missing shingles or other such things. I hope things start looking up for her soon. I love you, Nana Zee!

Tuesday, September 2

On a tight schedule

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Well, not so tight, but busy, which makes me happy.

Monday:
Leah - school 9-12
Angelle - step 4:30-5:30

Tuesday
Leah - ballet 10-10:45
Leah - swim lessons 4:30-5

Wednesday
Leah - school 9-12
Angelle - Yogalates 6:30-7:30

Thursday
Angelle - Zumba 8:30-9:30
Leah - swim lessons 4:30-5

Friday
Leah - school 9-12
Angelle - step circuit 9:30-10:30

Saturday
Angelle - Pilates 8:30-9:30

During Leah's school, I make our appts. This Friday I have Erin's 1 yr check-up. Next week I have my surgery follow-up appt on Monday, Erin has a free Gymboree class on Wednesday, and I am babysitting T's kids while she goes for her BIG ultrasound on Friday. I like being busy, it keeps me out of my funks.

Monday, September 1

Labor day Weekend

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Overall, this weekend was a combination of painful, relaxing, and fun-filled. I did not take that many pain-killers after the first day. I was mostly just sore and sometimes chewing would hurt. But otherwise, I was able to eat a turkey and avocado sandwich today. Good times.

I got to read 2 books (see my Goodreads bar) and take naps almost everyday. Mike was so attentive. He was always checking in, trying to get me to eat something, making sure I was taking my meds. Seriously, best husband ever. Thanks honey!

We also went to the water park (I did not swim, just watched my kiddos and Mike), ate at Cici's (even me!), went shopping at Target, had a cook-out at the Maddexes, went to the US National Whitewater Center and rode bikes, and went to Matthews Alive (craft festival).

On a funny note, Erin will NOT say Mama. Every time I say Mama to her, she come back with either Dada or Eee-ah. I do not rate anymore. :) When Mike is within sight, forget it. I am old news. She is SUCH a daddy's girl. He of course loves it. Hey, it's fine with me, she will be asking for him to put her to bed soon.

Friday, August 29

Surgery and frustration

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Item 1: My bottom 2 wisdom teeth have been successfully removed with little to-do. My new love is general anesthesia. I was chatting with the dr one minute and waking up the next to, "Are you ready to try and sit up?" a mere 45 minutes later. I had maybe an hour of pretty severe pain once the first pain pill wore off but before the second one could be taken. And a few bouts with a minor amount of nausea. But otherwise not so bad. Eating yogurt, pudding (both fat-free!) and cream of chicken soup (low-fat and low-sodium). Seems like recovery will be fairly swift, thank goodness.

Item 2: I guess I am taking a different approach to the Biggest Loser contest than some of the others. Instead of truly counting my WW points, I am trying to change the way I eat in general. My diet has become about 20x healthier as a rule. I know I could probably cut back more points-wise. But what I really want to do is attempt to be a role model for my kids. I want to try to cut out more processed foods and eat in season. So it seems because of this, I am not losing weight as fast as I'd like. I have only lost 5 lbs in 3 weeks. Technically that is entirely acceptable, but with everyone else dropping some major pounds, I feel like I am not trying hard enough. That does frustrate me to some degree. I am exercising every day and I can feel that my legs are getting stronger. I hope I am making muscle and that is part of it. I plan to keep up the daily exercise for the duration of the contest (Oct 5) culminating in the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure 5K (with the Buddy Walk thrown in on the same day for good measure). After that, I want to make a plan (that works for my family) to continue to exercise at least 4 days a week. Hopefully that along with a new eating mindset will help me to eventually see the weight loss I desire. I am not expecting to win the contest with this course of action, but I feel like the long-term benefits are more important than the short-term. I just needed the contest as a beginning motivator and it has worked out perfectly for that.

So I guess what started out as a rant in my mind about the lack of weight loss, has really turned into a reality check for me. I am getting what I want out of all this, a healthier me and hopefully a healthier family. That is all I can ask for.

Thursday, August 28

Some Kangaroo facts for ya

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I know this is strange, but I realized today while reading Is Your Mama a Llama? (which has a scene with a kangaroo) that I don't know much about how they use those pouches. So if you are interested, read on.

Kangaroos usually have one young annually. The young kangaroo, or joey, is born alive at a very immature stage, when it is only about 2 cm long and weighs less than a gram. Immediately after birth it crawls up the mother's body and enters the pouch. The baby attaches its mouth to one of four teats, which then enlarges to hold the young animal in place. After several weeks, the joey becomes more active and gradually spends more and more time outside the pouch, which it leaves completely between 7 and 10 months of age. Female kangaroos enter into heat within a few days after giving birth; they mate and conceive, but after only one week's development the microscopic embryo enters a dormant state that lasts until the previous young leaves the pouch. The development of the second embryo then resumes and proceeds to birth after a gestation period of about 30 days.

How ridiculous is that? I watched this video (a little gross but SO fascinating) of a kangaroo giving birth and it showed just how tiny that baby is. It really is still an embryo.

AND the fact that a kangaroo gets pregnant again right away and the embryo "pauses" until the other joey is finished with the pouch? Those kangaroos are some crazy creatures.

Tuesday, August 26

Random things...

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1) Last night we were watching Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives and I found my perfect breakfast food. Bacon pancakes! They are being served by Brownstone Diner & Pancake Factory in Jersey City. Just so that you know how much I love the idea of this pancake, I will tell you a secret. I ate a bowl of bacon covered with syrup most mornings of my honeymoon. So if anyone ever travels up that way, try this place out and report back.

2) I am in love with something else. Remember when Erica was talking about bento boxes a while back? Well, Parents magazine featured neat lunch box ideas in its back-to-school issue. One of the articles was about bento box lunches. These adorable containers fit inside each other so nicely to make the cutest bento boxes. I want so badly to get Leah one, but since she doesn't eat lunch at school, it's hard to justify. I may just get one anyway. :)

Friday, August 22

Still lacking pictures

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I still haven't gotten the pictures from Erin's birthday from Laurie so here is a video of her birthday present. We had gotten her one of those Dora ride-on cars, but she didn't like it as much as this, which we played with at a neighbor's house. So we had to get one too.

Tuesday, August 19

Exercise addiction

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I can see how people get addicted to exercise. I always feel so GOOD after I do it. Yesterday I took a class called 30-30-30. That's 30 min of floor aerobics, 30 min of step aerobics, and 30 min of strength training. I thought I was crazy to take it, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I think running for a week prior helped my stamina tremendously. It ended up being lots of fun.

Today we met Christina and Joe at Discovery Place for lunch and some play time there. Of course I currently have no camera, so Christina will have to post pics for you. The kids had a blast looking at sharks, playing with the pulleys and levers, and running around the kids area. Kaitlyn and Erin had just as much fun as the big kids once we let them out to crawl around. They are all coming over tomorrow night for dinner and play too.

Thursday Erin has her 1 yr portraits. The photographer told us to bring in a mini-cake for her and let her smash it up right in the studio. How cool is that? So I guess I should get a cake tomorrow, huh?

Sunday, August 17

Biggest Loser update

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As you know, I am competing in a Biggest Loser competition. It began last Sunday on my vacation. But I was determined to keep track. I made myself write down EVERY BITE I ATE the entire week. I did NOT eat the bacon that was cooked every morning or the cherry pie and frozen custard everyone else consumed. I had two s'mores and a piece of Erin's birthday cake and that was about the extent of the bad stuff. I made my own healthy breakfasts like Egg Beaters with tomatoes and mushrooms, or oatmeal with a little brown sugar. I ate mostly sandwiches or salads for lunch. I had to eat what the group ate for dinner, but it was grilled chicken one night and salmon another. Of course on my nights to cook (along with Laurie) we made cheeseburgers and then tacos. So cheese and sour cream... sigh. But I was WAY better than I have ever been on vacation so that is all I can say about that.

I also exercised EVERY day. The only exception was the day I learned to water-ski. I figured that was enough exercise for that day. EVERY day I jogged. We mapped out a route that was 2 miles and I did parts of it. I ran 1.4 miles the first few days and 1.7 the last few. Last night when we finally got home, I so didn't feel like running. Mike talked me into just doing a quick run (since the weigh-in was this AM) and I ran an entire mile - to the front of our neighborhood and back! I can already see the improvement in my running.

And the best part of all this? I lost 2.4 lbs this week! That is 1.65% of my body weight (the competition goes by %, not lbs). So job well done, I would say.

Happy late Birthday my baby girl!

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My baby is one! When did that happen? As was stated in the last post, my camera fell in the lake and is not currently working. So no pictures until I get them all from Laurie.

Anyway, Erin is cruising a bit around furniture. She learned how to crawl up stairs on our trip (supervised, of course). She says Mama, Dada, Leah (eeeeeeee-aaaaaaah!), baby, and pup-pup (puppy). She can sign more, milk (still just flapping her arms), eat, bath, change, wash hands, water, and all done. Erin LOVES her milk so don't ask her if she wants milk until you have it in your hand ready to give her. :) She is still napping twice a day mostly, but I have a feeling that won't be lasting too much longer. She just wants to be a part of everything. Often she watches Leah and Ian playing and calls Leah's name because she wants to join in.

On her birthday, we gave her one of those pop-up toys where you press the button or flip the switch and the animal pops out. She loves to close them all, that's her favorite part. She got a mini-cake and was hesitant. I had to cut slices and put them on her tray because the icing was a little hard. She got more into it after that but wasn't nearly as messy as Leah was. We are gonna have cupcakes with the neighbors next weekend so maybe we will have more mess then.

The funniest thing... yesterday in the car, we were handing her board books. She would take the book and hold it on both sides just like she was reading! And sometimes the book was upside down. I laughed so hard every time I glanced in the rearview mirror.

She is my little doll and I adore her. I am already feeling like I want another baby because I miss her babiness, but I am firm on waiting until after our cruise next summer. I can't believe how fast they grow up though.

Mich-again?

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This was without a doubt our best family vacation ever! Here is a bulleted list of the things we did:

* played in the lake A LOT
* wakeboarded & tubed & swam a mile across the lake (Mike)
* water-skiied (me!)
* rode in the boat (L & E)
* dropped our camera in the lake :(
* made s'mores by the fire and made up silly songs about pirates
* grilled out almost every night (ate some AWESOME salmon)
* met lots of Maddexes
* won a little bit of money playing craps at the Turtle Creek Casino
* played mini-golf when it was too windy to swim
* did a wine tasting and bought a bunch of bottles from the Chateau Grand Traverse Winery
* walked around downtown Elk Rapids and ate some yummy frozen custard (not me)
* played Bocci ball
* played some Mario-Kart on the Wii
* watched some Olympics, like swimming, gymnastics, and volleyball
* made lots of things out of dominoes (Mike, L & Ian)
* ate cherry pie (also not me)
* just chilled in the hammock
* read 4 books (me)

Doesn't that sound like the perfect combination of relaxing and action-packed? Thanks so much to Bryan and Laurie for including us. We would love to go back sometime.

Friday, August 8

Off we go...

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We are leaving in an hour or two for a week-long trip to Michigan with the Maddexes. So don't expect a post from me for a while. I am glad to get out of here and do something besides sit in my house and play little kid games. T-minus 26 days until Leah goes back to school and counting...

Thursday, August 7

Shocked...

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that Joshua won. But it was a popularity contest at the end. Some awesome performances tonight, like the Wade Robson rabbit routine. Good to see that past contestants are doing something in the dance world. I already miss this show...

:)

Tuesday, August 5

Biggest Loser in real life

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On Sunday, we are starting a Biggest Loser contest. Nikki is heading it up and will be handing all of the numbers, money, etc. The gist of it is... $50 buy in, 8 week long contest, report your weight loss to Nikki at the end of each week, "Biggest Loser" is the one who has lost the most body weight percentage at the end of the contest and he/she takes the pot. Since many of the "losers" are at different locations, we'll be operating on the honor system and using pictures of our feet on the scale at the beginning and end of the contest. Of course, "before-and-after" full body pics will be taken too. :)

So far, I think we have about 7 or 8 losers, so if you'd like to play too, just let me or Nikki know asap. Like I said, contest starts on Sunday so you don't have much time to think about it. If you are interested in weight loss and need some motivation (like I do) this is right up your alley.

So... how much of a loser can you be?

Look Ma! No cavities!

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Leah did so well at her first dental visit today! She woke up this morning asking if we were going right away. When we got there, she went straight back with the hygienist, no looking back. I actually teared up then. An older man in the waiting room said, "She's a big girl now," when Leah left and I had to try hard to compose myself. They called me back for the exam and the doctor was pleased with the spacing in her teeth. He did say that her frenulum (the skin attaching your upper lip to your gums) was attached kinda low and we may have to snip it one day (yikes!) but otherwise everything looked great. Here she is on the big day:

That's her dentist, Dr. Savage.


On a funnier note, Erin fell asleep in her high chair eating lunch. This is a child who has never fallen asleep anywhere but her bed since she was a newborn. She even stayed asleep while I transferred her to bed. Holy cow, she must have been tired.

Friday, August 1

The newest water baby

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We went to the water park this afternoon and Leah did so well! We have just finished another round of swim lessons, this time in the preschool II class. Leah did not pass, only because of her fear/hesitation of jumping in. She has been putting her face in fairly well if she chooses to do so. But DO NOT TOUCH her while she is doing it. And jumping in, she wants you to be close to her and holding her hand.

Well, today that seemed to change a bit. She was jumping to us without holding our hands. And she was going under all the way! I taught her how to put her hand on top of her head. I told her she was only going under if the water covered her hand. It was cute to watch her put her hand up every time. So YAY!

Also, we have been in a dilemma about ballet and gymnastics next year. I really wanted Leah to do gymnastics. But she LOVES ballet. She always claims to love it more and says, "I like ballet better because I really love dancing." I looked over the schedules and the best times for us (with Leah's school and Erin's naps) are at exactly the same time for both of them! So we had to choose one. And we chose ballet. So you can look forward to seeing adorable pictures of the recital next May.

We will probably try to work gymnastics into it next year. Incidentally, ballet will cost us $42/mo and gymnastics is $56/mo. If she had done both, that would have been $98/mo just on lessons, not to mention her preschool costs. That kid is sure getting expensive. And it only gets worse...

Baby Borrowers

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I don't know if anyone watched the show Baby Borrowers on NBC. Basically there were 5 teenage couples who got to experience being parents to babies, toddlers, pre-teens, teenagers, and caring for the elderly. They just aired the "Where are they now?" bit and NONE of the teen couples are still together. I find that very interesting. I wonder how much the show influenced that. I guess after doing the grown-up thing together, they realized that they were not with the person they wanted to do it for real with. So I think the show was a success in the fact that it really did show at least those couples how it would be in real life. And you know what? They all appreciate their parents now too. I hope other teens were watching.

Slow Cooker Recipe

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So a few weeks ago, I found baby back ribs on sale at the grocery completely randomly (I had just gone in for a milk/bread run). Seriously $2.99/lb! So I bought two racks. I finally got around to cooking them a two nights ago and OH MY GOSH! Best ribs I ever had! Here is the recipe:

Smoky-Flavored Barbequed Ribs

3 1/2 lbs pork loin back ribs (or whatever kind you like)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp pepper
3 Tbsp liquid smoke (bottled in BBQ section)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (or crushed)
1 tsp salt
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 cup cola
BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ, DE-licious!!)

1. Spray inside of 5 to 6 quart slow cooker with Pam.

2. Remove inner sin from ribs. (I did not do this, but probably would have been easier if I had.) Mix brown sugar, pepper, liquid smoke, garlic and salt. Rub mixture into ribs. Cut ribs into 4 in sections. Layer ribs and onions in slow cooker. Pour cola over ribs.

3. Cover and cook on low 8-9 hours or until ribs are tender. Remove ribs from cooker. Drain liquid from cooker and discard.

4. Put ribs back in cooker and pour BBQ sauce over them. (I used an entire bottle and had another one to dip into when we ate them.) Cook another hour on low.

Seriously, best ribs ever.

Wednesday, July 30

What's your personality?

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(stolen from Mike)

Jung/Myers-Briggs Personality Test

I'm an ESFJ.

Providers take it upon themselves to insure the health and welfare of those in their care, but they are also the most sociable of all the Guardians, and thus are the great nurturers of social institutions such as schools, churches, social clubs, and civic groups. Providers are very likely more than ten percent of the population, and this is fortunate for the rest of us, because friendly social service is a key to their nature. Wherever they go, Providers happily give their time and energy to make sure that the needs of others are met, and that social functions are a success.

Highly cooperative themselves, Providers are skilled in maintaining teamwork among their helpers, and are also tireless in their attention to the details of furnishing goods and services. They make excellent chairpersons in charge of dances, banquets, class reunions, charity fund-raisers, and the like. They are without peer as masters of ceremonies, able to speak publicly with ease and confidence. And they are outstanding hosts or hostesses, knowing everyone by name, and seemingly aware of what everyone's been doing. Providers love to entertain, and are always concerned about the needs of their guests, wanting to make sure that all are involved and provided for.

Friendly, outgoing, neighborly - in a word, Providers are gregarious, so much so that they can become restless when isolated from people. They love to talk with others, and will often strike up a conversation with strangers and chat pleasantly about any topic that comes to mind. Friendships matter a great deal to Providers, and their conversations with friends often touch on good times from years past. Family traditions are also sacred to them, and they carefully observe birthdays and anniversaries. In addition, Providers show a delightful fascination with news of their friends and neighbors. If we wish to know what's been going on in the local community, school, or church, they're happy to fill us in on all the details.

Providers are extremely sensitive to the feelings of others, which makes them perhaps the most sympathetic of all the types, but which also leaves them somewhat self-conscious, that is, highly sensitive to what others think of them. Loving and affectionate themselves, they need to be loved in return. In fact, Providers can be crushed by personal criticism, and are happiest when given ample appreciation both for themselves personally and for the tireless service they give to others.

Sunday, July 27

Twilight

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The last book in the Twilight series comes out August 2nd! If you look back at my Goodreads sidebar, you will see the three Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer. If you at all like fantasy books with a love story, you will like this series. AND the movie for the first book Twilight will be out in December. If you are on Facebook and have the Flair application, you may have seen the buttons that say Team Edward and Team Jacob. These are from Twilight. I seriously recommend them, they are good reads.

Saturday, July 26

Avenue Q

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If you plan to go see Avenue Q, don't listen to the soundtrack before you go. It will be so much funnier if you don't know what is coming. But even hearing most of the jokes doesn't keep it from being pretty funny anyway. Heads up too, it is strictly an adult show. DO NOT bring your kids thinking it's like Sesame Street.

My friend Mandi and her husband Barry are here, like I said in the last post. They had seen a couple of places from Charlotte featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives (from the Food Network). Yesterday we ate at both the Penguin Drive-in and the Bar-be-que King. The Penguin won as the better food, but both were good. We ate fried pickles at the Penguin and they were fabulous. My favorite of the entrees I tasted was the fried bologna sandwich. Who woulda thunk it? We did take out of BBQ King and ate it for dinner. It was traditional NC bbq with that slightly vinegar taste. The cole slaw was also the vinegar base. I normally don't like either of those things, but pile them on top of each other and they were pretty yummy. Thumbs up for D, D, and D!

Oh yeah, going back to the Avenue Q night. We left home at 5pm and didn't get home til 11:30. We had a teenage babysitter for all that time with the girls. The kids really seemed to like her. She fed them dinner AND put them to bed! And when we got home (although she didn't give me that much info), she said, and I quote, "They were fine." And that's that. So yay for finding a babysitter. We are looking forward to many more nights out now.

Wednesday, July 23

Getting Married

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So Leah and I were talking this morning about our newest visitors, Mandi & Barry. They came in the middle of the night last night and Leah had yet to meet them. She thought they were two girls (sorry, Barry!) and I explained that Barry was Mandi's husband, that they were married. Leah then asked who I was married to and I said Daddy. She thought about that for a while. Then she said:

When Ian and I are Mommy and Daddy, I will marry him and he will be my husband.


I laughed at that and she said, "Why you laughed?"

Then later in the ride, I heard a sigh and then, "I wish we had husbands."

Don't be in a hurry to grow up, my baby girl!

Monday, July 21

The Er-bear

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She is on the move! Finally last week she started crawling for real. Gates and bathroom door must be closed at all times. Today she was pulling to standing on the sofa and coffee table. She constantly wants to be holding your hands and walking around.

Also this past week, she has been doing a bunch more signs. We have seen change (a diaper), eat, milk, more, bath, the "roll it" from Pat-a-Cake, and tonight completely unsolicited, she signed bed. So we put her to bed, even though it was a little earlier than I had planned. She went right to sleep. I LOVE that my 11 month old can tell me when she is tired. That is awesome!

Sunday, July 20

The Land of Waterfalls

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And we saw most of them. We had such an awesome time in Brevard. We drove over there on Thursday. I just realized that I didn't get ANY pictures of the cabin. I know Myrn did, so I may have to steal hers. It was a 3 bedroom, a full bed in each of the downstairs bedrooms and two sets of bunks in the upstairs bedroom. The porch on the back was really cool, the swing was made of tree trunks. We had nighttime issues though because I wanted to put the two girls in the bunkbed room, but Erin would have none of it. She always sleeps alone, so we had NO idea she was such a light sleeper. Finally we took a mattress from upstairs and put it in our bedroom for Leah and everyone slept better after that.

On Friday, we headed over to Pisgah National Forest and hiked to Looking Glass Falls. It was time for a picnic after that. Then we stopped in at Sliding Rock where Mike took a few slides. He claimed it was the COLDEST water he had EVER felt. We took a quick jaunt (like that word?) to Jackson Falls where I was interviewed for the evening news. Yes, you read that right. There was a bridge that had been washed out in a hurricane in like 2001. They had finally rebuilt it and they were doing a piece on the bridge for the news. We just happened to be walking across it when the guy was looking for people to talk to. So we chatted a bit about it. :) We watched the news that night but we never saw it. We did miss the first 20 minutes, so maybe we missed the bit. Oh well. Leah ended up wet so we had to stop by Walmart to get her some clothes to wear.

Anyway, we got some ice cream and went back to check out Slick Rock Falls. Then it was back to the cabin for dinner and clean up. Mike and I put the girls to bed and got to go out for dinner on our own.

Saturday my dad and Myrn headed in to Brevard to shop while Mike and I took the girls to Hooker Falls (that was a good one). It was actually a swimming hole.
The water was FREEZING and I had not brought a suit for me or Erin. She ended up getting wet anyway. Dad & Myrn met us there and we headed home for lunch. I put Erin down for a nap and Mike & I took Leah to the Zero Gravity Skatepark. Here are some highlights of that outing.

Then we all went out to the Pisgah Fish Camp for dinner. We tooled around Walmart. The kids went to bed and we sat on the porch drinking wine and laughing til the wee hours. That was fun.

Sunday my dad & Myrn left at 8am and we took the girls on one more hike to Triple Falls. It was awesome! The falls were all stone and Mike and I took turns climbing to the very top of the third fall(s?).
Then we went swimming one last time at Hooker Falls. I even swam all the way out to the falls! And if you know me, you know I am a total wuss when it comes to cold water. We packed up and headed home soon after.

SYTYCD Week ??

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I know I am behind, but we just got back (will tell about that in next post). I forget what week we are on now, but I cannot believe Kherington and Gev got kicked off! I thought for sure it would be Comfort and Mark. Comfort got saved by her hip hop and I have no idea why Mark was kept over Gev. Dang!

Wednesday, July 16

Good Eats!

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Here is what we've had to eat so far since my dad has been here:

grilled pork chops with a peach glaze
smashed rosemary potatoes
sauteed garlic green beans
sourdough bread

grilled steaks (1 1/4 in thick!)
grilled honey garlic shrimp
grilled asparagus

his famous spaghetti & meatballs

and now were are making lasagna with the red sauce from yesterday!

My freezer is PACKED now with all kinds of goodies. I have to inventory it next week so that I know what I even have.

We are leaving tomorrow to spend a few days in Brevard, NC. Hopefully we will get to do this. And Mike is excited about this. and my dad wants to do this with Leah. It should be lots of fun.