A little over a month

...that's how long until my mil comes and then my mom comes a week later. I am hoping to have lost a little weight by then. Think I can? Yea, me neither. haha But wait, this week, I have drank a ton more water then usual, I have managed to stop eating after dinner (ok so I've eaten a few pretzels, but they don't count right?) and I've been to the gym THREE days in a row!!! I even went to a killer class last night, was still super sore today but went back to the gym today and walked on the treadmill for 30 min at a 10-12% incline...go me! I've been trying to get myself under control so the deadline of family visiting is a great motivator.

*sidenote* I left my headphones in a cubby at the gym yesterday. They were very crappy, cheap Walmart ones so I figured they would be there or would be in the lost and found. But nope, someone took them. How shameful. I don't think that $2 headphones are worth going to hell for but whatever. Anyway, I left my other headphones and my ipod in the car so I went to go get it. But I'd already checked my kids into the childcare and I have to turn in my keys. So I broke into my own car. I usually leave my hatch open in my Passport. So I climbed in the back and over the seat to open the door. So I got my stuff, got in and got onto a treadmill and everyone in the gym had a view of my car, so they all saw me break into my car. How embarrassing!

So tute!

Man, she is funny! Tonight she is sitting by me, trying to go to sleep. Of course she usually can't sleep or stay asleep if she isn't touching me. Silly mama's girl! Anyway, she looks so cute, with crazy hair, just sitting here, so tired, with sleepy eyes. But still so cute! So I said to her, "Babe, you're so cute, I could just eat you." She looks all concerned and says, "But mama, then I neber see you dain. I be so sad." Seriously, could you just eat her up!!












These pictures are from a few nights ago. She had taken a late nap so she wasn't interested in going to sleep. So while I played in my scrapbook room, she played in the playroom. She found this scarf, put it around her eyes and proceeded to do karate moves. Then she said, "Mama, take pictures. I so tute." What could I do but take 30 pictures. Both her and Mason call doing karate moves "whitcha" because thats the noise I make (like an old kung fu movie) when we are play fighting. .

July 4

Ok, so the next time I say that I want to host a party, please tell me that I can't!!!!

We tried to have a nice simple ice cream social. Just a few friends and neighbors. We were going to have ice cream, hang out and chat outside, then watch fireworks. Well, about an hour and a half before the start of the party it started pouring down rain! So we had to stay inside. The kids were all nuts!!! Running and jumping around, wrestling etc. My house feels really big normally. But with all those kids and thir parents here, man...not near enough room!! So then we head outside to start the fireworks. Chris and a few of the dads lit them about 6 feet into the road in front of our driveway. A bunch of the kids and moms sat about 10 feet down the driveway. So they were about 16 feet away from the fireworks. Then I asked the men to slide back and they were about 12 feet away from the driveway. So were at around 18 feet. (Can you see where I'm going with this??) We had a ton of fireworks and enjoyed them for quite a while. Then "the incident" happened. Chris lit one that malfunctioned and cut into the group. Luckily most of the kids were running around the yard by then and weren't around, but it almost landed on my pregnant neighbor, so my other neighbor jumped in front of it. Thankfully the only injuries were a scraped foot for the pg neighbor and a bruised thigh on the other. I almost died I was so stressed. I dispensed bandaids and neopsorin. The rescuing neighbor just would not stop talking about it. How she would have had to "kick Chris's a$$ for burning her." She just kept repeating that over and over. OK seriously, it sucks that anyone got hurt but it was an ACCIDENT!!!!!! I probably apologized 100 times to everyone (like it was my fault) but that girl just kept talking about kicking Chris's butt. Seriously!! I don't know why it bugs me so much. Probably because I was already stressed out. And I didn't want anyone to get hurt. So today I was going to call my pg neighbor to make sure she was ok. But before I did, the big mouth neighbor called to get pg neighbor's phone #. She only did that to torture me. We all have each other's phone #'s. Man...NO MORE PARTIES!!!!!!


I have been having some issues this summer. I just don't want to do anything with anyone. I love just being with my kids. I love going to the sprinkler park with my kids. I love watching them and also reading a book or mag. I don't want to have to always make small talk with other moms. Is that so wrong? I don't need playdates for my kids every day. Or even every week. My kids play very well together, although they fight too. We play games, play computer, do art projects, play Leapster, and yes watch tv, eat snacks, play in the pool, go to the library, ride bikes, play with the slip n slide, play barbies and little people, play super heros...etc. I was starting to be comfortable with just being home. I used to have to run all over the place, but this summer, I am just trying to take it easy. Now some of my friends think I'm anti social because I don't want playdates. hmmmm...I feel like I can't win.

Sorry about the whine! I'll be better tomorrow!

No news

Ok, so I really don't have much to say except, how many days until school starts????? Just last week I was talking about how much fun we were having here this summer. Just last week I was so happy to have my kids home. Just last week I was looking forward to all the fun stuff we were going to do. Fast forward to this week...I have done more yelling, pouting, crying, time out putting then I have in a long time. It's a freakin' war zone! Me against them. Whew!!!!

Been having some health issues too. I hate feeling so rotten...THAT could have something to do with why I'm so grumpy too.

If you have any spare prayers please send them my way!

Not much...

to say. Just wanted to let you know that we're still alive. We are in the 2nd week of summer vacation and doing great. We are trying to stay busy to keep us all out of trouble. Mason and Addi are at summer camp at the MDO today and were totally pumped to go. We have been swimming, to the fun stuff at the library, on a few playdates, to a couple of fun birthday parties and more. Here's what else we have planned to do:

*go see the movie "Cars"
*go swimming some more at the YMCA
*have playdates at least once a week with friends
*Summer camp again next week at MDO
*Vacation Bible school in July
*Addi's dance recital
*a visit to the new water park in our town (if it ever opens)
*a trip to the kiddie pool at Don Fox Park(it's an awesome public park with a 18 inch deep pool that totally rocks)
*lots of art projects (painting letters, bead necklaces, treasure boxes, tooth fairy boxes, fuzzy pictures and more...thank you craft dept at Walmart!)
*a few birthday parties
*possible an Ice Cream social for our neighbors and friends for July 4th

I am turning into one of those moms that is excited to have my kids home for the summer! I'm sure by the end of August I'll be more then ready for them to go back to school though.

That's all for now. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Graduation

My baby graduated from preschool today. He's so big and has brown up so much, sniff sniff!

At the ceremony the director asked each of the graduates what they wanted to be when they grew up. Mason said that he wanted to be a construction worker. I thought he said a circus worker. I about died of laughter! My kid the "carni". OH my, I was so disruptive, my shoulders were shaking with laughter during the prayer, I am so bad. But dang, it was funny! Anyway, he's all done with pre-school. Kindergarten here we come!

We're baaaack!

Man, I need a vacation from my vacation.

We had lots of fun, but it was waaaaay busy. Here is a synopsis:
Thursday: flew in, checked into the Nickelodeon hotel (it rocked) and hung out by the cool pool.

Friday: relaxed by the pool all day, it was awesome! The pool is made for kids around 5-6 years old. They can go on all the slides, they just have to wear one of the provided life jackets. We had a blast!

Saturday: We checked out of the Nick hotel (it was terribly expensive) and into our other hotel. It wasn't ready yet so we had to just walk around for 4 hours. The kids were miserable and complained the entire time. We hung out for a an hour or so at the nicest McDonald's on the planet. Seriously, flat screen tv's, waterfalls, pretty trees inside the playarea, the booths looked life furniture...way nice! We got back, settled into our room and went swimming in the pool.

Sunday: We went to Magic Kingdom. It was fun, but VERY HOT! The highlight of Mason's day was going on the Buzz Lightyear ride, then actually seeing Buzz. We went on the Stitch ride that everyone hated. Addi actually started crying and wanted to leave. We refused to wait in any long lines to see the characters so we didn't get photos with Mickey, Minnie or Donald. Bummer! We rode a few other rides and saw the Princesses in the Cinderellabration show.

Monday: We went to MGM. It was way hot then too. We went on the backstage tour that was awesome. We also went to a stunt car show that was great! Met the Power Rangers of course! Addi was quite bent that we didn't see the Pink one.

Tuesday: We woke up to a thunderstorm. The power went out in our hotel room and stayed off for 2 hours. We went to Animal Kingdom. It was COLD! I did bring sweatshirts for the kids but not for me so I complained until I got one there. We all wore our ponchos and ended up having a pretty good time. We went on a African Safari that was my favorite part! There were elephants, crocodiles, giraffes, gazelles, a lion, a warthog and even zebras that came right up to the van. Super cool! Oh wait, my other favorite part was "The Festival of the Lion King." It was like a broadway show. The people were in full make up and costume, it was the closest thing to broadway I've ever seen. I loved every second of it!

Wednesday: We got up, caught out shuttle to the airport and came home.

It was a great time, but I am so happy to be home! Now to just get caught up on all my projects:
end of year scrapbooks for my kids' pre-school teachers, planning a first aid program for a church activity, getting caught up on laundry and house stuff and getting used to the idea that my kids are going to be out of school FOR THE SUMMER IN LESS THAN A WEEK! aaaaaaaahhh! That is scary! Anyway, better go get some of my projects done!

Disney

We went to Disney today. We are all so exhausted. It was fun though!



more to come...

Florida, here we come

I don't really have much to say tonight, except WE ARE GOING TO FLORIDA IN 2DAYS! I don't know who is more excited, me or my kids. OK, yes, Mason is way more excited then me, as evidenced by his literally bouncing off the walls today. No joke, the kid was nuts. But super cute! I'm thinking Benadryl might become our friend in the next few days. He just can't relax. I'm taking Betty (my laptop) with me so hopefully I'll have internet access at the $200 a night hotel we are staying at...ouch! As long as the kids have fun- that's all that matters. That's all for now! See ya in a week!

just for laughs

Ok, SERIOUSLY, you have to check this out! It is THE funniest thing I have read for a long time. Tonight the whole "Tom Cruise flowbee" comment had me snorting, laughing loudly and brought tears to my eyes for a good 5 minutes. I even woke Chris up from his narcolepsy slumber. So dang funny!

CKC Nashville

Was lots of fun. Bought tons of great stuff...yet I stayed on budget-go me!!! I met and took classes from Michelle Hill and Donna Downey. They are just as great in person as they seem in cyberspace. Donna totally cracked me up and I would pay lots to take more classes from her. Check out her blog, there is a pic of my class. I didn't make it to the lss she taught at in the area ( I really don't like that store) because I doubt Chris would have been too happy about that after

















I was gone for 12 hrs on Saturday. It looks like she did cute projects though.




Michelle's Lil Davis class was awesome. We used all their new stuff that hasn't shipped yet. It's all glittery and lots of fun. Even the rub ons have glitter in them. Fun!! The page was super cute.

Michelle then had a thing at my scrapbook store. Lil Davis did a cross country RV trip and made a stop at my lss. She did a great make n take, taught a class and had a page contest (that I didn't win AGAIN!).

All in all it was a great day!

Oh the trauma

Look what happened today...


Addi cut her own hair. Oh, I was so pathetic. I just started bawling my eyes out. Of course then Addi started crying. Then Mason came into the room and joined in on the cry-a-thon. There was hair everywhere. Every time I looked at it, I just started crying again. So sad. I was upstairs putting stuff away and when I came downstairs Addi had pushed her chair over to the counter, climbed up on top of it, opened the upper cabinet and got the scissors out. So after I calmed down a bit we went to Supercuts to get her hair fixed.







Now she looks like this:


It turned out a lot better then I thought it would. Luckily her hair is curly so the "layers" blend in pretty well. Those bangs...oh those bangs....well there wasn't a whole lot one could do to fix them. I had the stylist cut some of her grown out bangs to sort of disguise the 1 inchers. The shorter do does look really cute and it was SOOO much easier to come out tonight after her bath.

She keeps saying that she'll never "tut her own haiw adain." And that she's sad because she wants "way, long, big, big haiw" but I keep reassuring her that it will grow. Dang she is so cute!

Nothing too exciting

I always plan things for "when things slow down." Well, that never happens. Life just seems to get busier. That's why I have such a hard time posting to my blog. I wait until I'm not busy. hahaha!

My poor little Mason. I guess I wouldn't be a mom if I didn't worry, but he can be so difficult. There has to be a more effective way to discipline him. He is such a sweet, sweet kid but it so stubborn. Man, it's so hard. I need an instruction manual.

I've been reading a really good book that I recommend. It's called, "If momma ain't happy ain't nobody happy" by Lindsay O'Conner. It's a book for Christian women, especially mothers. It explains exactly how I feel. I know I am blessed to be able to have kids and stay at home, but sometimes that doesn't make my job any easier. She gives some really good insight in how to deal with our emotions and find the joy in every day. It really helped me to know that I'm not alone in my struggles and I got some great advice to make me and my family happy. So good!

I don't know if I'll ever get used to living here in Tennessee. It's already so hot and humid. Yes, it's only 80 degrees but it's so humid that it necessitates running our air conditioner. Today I can actually see the moisture in the air. So crazy. Last night I had a meeting for church(at our stake center that is 1.5 hours away) that got out after dark. I walked outside and expected to feel a crisp breeze. I almost chocked. Yes, it was cooler, but still soooo humid. And the bugs, oh the bugs. We were coming home, after our meeting, on the interstate. The hugest, biggest most disgusting bug hit the windshield. We all thought it was a rock or something because it was so big and so loud. But it left a big gross smoosh mark so it must have been a bug. ewwwwwww! Crazy Tennessee. But on the upside, it is absolutely gorgeous here! The trees are so thick and so green. It's so pretty.

That's it for now!

Happy Weekend

We had a great Easter weekend.

*we had an egg hunt with our neighbors.
















*we colored Easter eggs (yes, Mason is in his underwear!)















*we got lots of great prizes from the Easter bunny. Addi: Polly Pocket, princess playset. Mason: leapster game, matchbox cars. Chris: speakers for his mp3 player, electronic chess. me: new camera bag, new sd card from my d50








*Mason learned to ride his bike without training wheels!

technology and other stuff

So I finally came into the 21st century (that is what century we are in, right?) and got an ipod. I am so not good with technology. It actually scares me. But I bit the bullet. Ok, so I love it! Yeah! I can't wait to take it to the Y to work out!


*I did my first photo shoot ( a REAL one) over the weekend. They chose 3pm, so the sun was way bright, but I think they turned out ok. Here is my fave. My goal is not to just do "school picture" cheese photos, I want photograph relationships too. That is why I love this picture, because it shows the little boy, holding his dad's hand. I am trying to come up with a name. It will probably be candice schenk photography unless someone can come up with something better.

*Mason lost another tooth for a total of 2.

*We've still been going to the Y doing rally well at going. It's worth it just for the childcare. And all of the treadmills have tv's in them, with cable, so all you have to do is plug your ear phones in and go. Fabulous! I actually get to watch the shows I want, have someone else watch my kids and exercise all at the same time. Couldn't be better!!!

*It's official-Chris got a promotion. He is the manager over the "tech refresh" project. It's a team that will go through all of the HCA facilities to update their computers. He's been working a ton of course, nothing has changed there. But supposedly he's supposed to be traveling less. Yea, he's only going to Florida tomorrow for 1 day in stead of a week.

*Addi has been so funny lately. She talks with her hands a lot and is sooooooooooo dramatic! Cracks me up. Her and her babies have made many imaginary trips to Ootah lately to see Gramma and Papa and Gramma Sylv.

*As for the blog, I think I have decided to keep doing it. But I am not going to go too nuts with posting. I'll try to do so at least once a week. Hope that's ok with all of ya!

to be or not to be

So in the spirit of evaluation, which I have been doing A LOT of this year, I have been evaluting this whole blog thing. I totally get why people do it and I think it's great. I don't know if I'm doing it for the right reasons though. I don't like that when something great happens in my life and I can't wait to blog it. Not tell my family or write it in my journal. That is a bit messed up for me. Not to mention, it takes up a fair bit of time. Time that could be better spent writing in my journal. To me, the hand written books are so, oh I don't know, authentic. I don't print out my posts from my blog and I don't know of any of my family that actually reads it so whats the point??!! So I am going to go on a hiatus and think about this for a little while! If anyone does read this (I know K and Angie do but I will still keep in touch with them of course) and wants me to keep updating, please comment. Thanks!!

Vacation

Orlando, here we come! I booked our air fare to Orlando...so it's official. We are going on our first family vacation! I can so not wait!!!!!!!! May 11-17. woo hoo!!!!

My Kristi talked me into posting my layouts from HOF. So here is the first one. It was the fave photo asignment.

Mason

Oh my sweet boy! I just want to put him in a bubble. I don't want to let him get his feelings hurt or figure out that some people in this world really aren't all that nice.

*at the pool today he kept trying to talk to the lifeguard, even though she was busy giving a swim lesson. He just wanted to tell her that he was learning how to swim too. He also kept trying to talk to all of the kids there. They just looked at him like he was nuts. Then when he went down the slide the wrong way another lifeguard tried to tell him not to do that but Mason didn't hear him because he was playing so hard. The lifeguard just rolled his eyes and acted like Mason was crazy. So I asked him nicely to go down the slide correctly.

*last night we went out to dinner. While Addi was in the potty, Mason and I stood there and waited for her. A couple of girls walked in and Mason couldn't wait to tell them that he had a loose tooth. I tried to tell him not to talk to strangers but he said that they were his friends.

*yesterday at the park there were some big boys, around 8 years old playing with a soccer ball going down the slide. Mason kept retrieving the ball for them when it would bounce away. He tried as hard as he could to throw it nicely back to them. He even apologized when he didn't throw it right to them. When they left to go play somewhere else, Mason didn't understand why they didn't ask him to go with them. He kept saying that his friends left him.

Oh, the pain in my heart. He is the sweetest, friendliest kid. All of those kids should be so lucky to have a friend like him. Man, I hate this. The thought of my baby suffering is more then I can bare. Can't I just lock him in the house for the rest of his childhood? I don't want him to suffer because of his naivity

Time Off

Ok, so Chris is coming home a day earlier than I thought. I know those 2 of you that read this and know me will have a hard time believing this, but my house is a disaster. I haven't made beds in 4 days. That must be a record or something for me. I haven't vaccuumed (I think that's spelled wrong but my spell check isn't working) in a week. So tonight I changed sheets, cleaned the bathroom, did a load of laundry. Tomorrow I'll just have to vaccuum the house and actually make the beds.

We've been so busy. Our time off this week has really flown. We joined the YMCA and have been going there. I worked out 2 days (pathetic huh) in a row and today am feeling it. My mucles don't just hurt, I ache...like crazy!!!! Apparently I need to start a little slower. My initial plan was to just take my kids to the child care there, then go in the locker room and read a magazine. ;) But, the thought of swimwear this season has spurned my desire to stop the giggling (nice mental image huh) and get some tone!! So we've been going to the gym, we went to Chuck E Cheese's, the mall to play in the play area, out to dinner, the park, the movie store, and more. It's been lots of fun, but I'm pretty tired. I think we're just going to take it easy tomorrow, after cleaning of course.

While blog surfing today I found this awesome quote: "True love does not come by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly." Such great words to live by. Marriage is hard, wishing that your mate was perfect makes it even harder. I know I'm certainly not perfect and I hate that I expect others to be so. This is something that I am going to work on!

Spring Break

I haven't ever been a partier so Spring Break hasn't ever really been that big of deal to me. (although I did like to live vicariously through those MTV babes). Now that I have kids, spring break means one thing...they are OUT OF SCHOOL. And no that is not good yelling. I am used to having 10 hours a week to do errands, rest, watch Martha, shop etc. Ya know, important stuff. But now they are out of school. On top of that, Chris is in Utah. (I don't envy him though because he is saying goodbye to his 85 yr old surrogate grandmother who is suffering horrible effects from a stroke and is rapidly declining.Prayers please!) Bottom line, my kids are home all week and no one is here to save me. :)

So today, we started our spring break celebration. We went to Opry Mills mall. It's HUGE. It has a full size Bass Pro Shops, Old Navy, Bed Bath and Beyond, Barnes and Noble, Saks, Macaroni Grill, Chilli's, Friday's, Tony Romas, Rainforrest Cafe, Aquarium Restaurant, a 10 screen movie theater with an IMAX plus a bunch of outlet stores and a food court. It ROCKS!!!!! The mall is a destination all by itself. We ate pizza, then shopped for a little while, getting swim suits, sunglasses, some Crocs and some clothes. Then we visited the fish at the Bass Pro shop, went to the Disney Store outlet and then ate at The Rainforrest Cafe. It was fun. I wish I could have relaxed a little more. I put so much pressure on myself for us all to look our best and of course I want the kids to be perfect so I get quite testy with them. But we made it and had a decent time.

I have lots of other fun stuff planned in the next few days. So hopefully we'll have lots of fun and make some great memories this Spring Break.

In other news, we heard that Mason did not get accepted to Thurman Francis. I am so bummed out! I only received a form letter, so I don't know the results of his test. Chris offered to call the school to find out since I am a little too emtional about it. I have total faith that God knows what is best for our family, I am just sad. I think part of my sadness is that I have to tell Mason that he won't be able to go to "his Kindergarten school." That is what he calls it. Hopefully he'll be excited about the school we are zoned for. Another part of my sadness is that the teachers who tested him couldn't see how special my babe is. He is a difficult child, but he is amazing. I hate when people can't see that! I hate that they think of him as just another kid who didn't have the right stuff. He's freaking special dang it! The last part of my sadness is that I feel like I haven't done my job in teaching him what he needs to know. I worry that I haven't prepared him. Yet, he is doing fine in Mothers Day Out. Hmmmmm...this mommy guilt is something that I am all too familiar with.

I guess that's if for now!