Heaidng out in a few hours

My bags are packed we're (almost) ready to go, we're waiting here beside the door...can you hear it? John Denver, Leaving on a Jet Plane. We're driving through, 8 hours total and 6 1/2 of them today. I hope the little girls decide to travel well. There are so many things to do when we get home and I'm sure only a fraction of them will actually get done. Depending on the internet connection issue there might not be anymore blogging until I get back.

I guess I should make final rounds to make sure we can rock on out of here as soon as Brett, Bridget and Broderick return from Gallup.

Getting ready to head home

Our trip home is 2 days away, we leave Friday afternoon. It feels like a bunch of hurry up and wait. Hurry do this no wait cause you can't do that yet. Final preparations are in order as is most of the house. Most things are clean and looking decent, which is good because Brett is hosting D&D so he has friends coming over tonight. I mowed the yard today and had the kids clean up some weeds and broken toys. Now I have tomorrow to do laundry after music class, pick up another book for Broderick and pack up clothes. I also need to pack a bag of toys for Lucy and Julia and make sure there are enough movies to entertain everyone in the car..and headphones so I don't have to listen to the umpteenth showing of Dora. We are getting oh so close. I think it's time to get the kids ready and go play at the pool for a little while to get out of the house and burn some energy. Lucy is dire need of sleep today!!

Ok so it's been almost a month...

Time certainly slips away and next thing you know a month has gone by. Things are going well here, Julia is doing the army man crawl everywhere and getting into things, she even figured out how to open the pantry door last night which is not a good thing. Lucy is doing ok with the entire potty training things though there are times she seems not to care about the fact she should be using and the potty. Bridget is being very helpful this summer with the little ones. I did ask her the other night how many children she might like to have when she's older (much, much older thank you) and she replied "not very many" I said 1? 2? she replies yeah. I asked why not more? Her reply "they are too much work"!! Too funny. Broderick and I are totally looking forward to heading home on Friday and have been counting down the days.

Our trip home will consist of visiting Aunt Joyce, Brian, Aunt Amber, a trip to Curtis Orchard apple donuts here we come, Sidney fun days, Monical's pizza, Sidney Dairy Bar ice cream, good chinese from First Wok, coffee and salsa via Cafe Aroma, sandwiches from Cafe Paradisio and a trip to the Farmers market. I know it sounds like all we are doing is eating but these are things you just can't get in Nebraska. We will also be visiting family and going to my 20th high school reunion. All of this in a weeks time! Busy,busy busy...oh yes I forgot to mention that we are helping my mom move into her new house as well. It sounds like a lot but I am so looking forward to going home. The question is will I come back...????

One of Those days

You know it's going to be a rough day when you wake up at 6:15 with your youngest who should be sleeping at least until 8:00. To further the issue I didn't get to bed until almost 12 as I was trying to spend time with Brett. We had just enough milk for 1 1/2 cups of coffee but not a full second cup. Lucy wakes up around 8 and had an accident in her pull up not a big deal I thought. She then proceeded to pee two more times through her underwear and her pants. I have no idea what got into that child as she's been doing great with the potty. Our morning plans were cancelled due to more rain. We are cooped up in the house with the napping schedule messed up due to Julia's early morning wake up. Then Broderick shoots Lucy with a nerf dart gun (numerous reminders NOT to shoot at people) and left a mark on her arm. All his weapons are now in a box in the garage. I have had to repeat my self serveral times with the Bridget and Broderick and a few of those times they've done what I told them not to right after. Perhaps something is in the very damp air today. It definately makes you feel like you don't really want to be a parent today. I am hoping things turn around later today.

Why does it always seem that when the day starts a bit off it just keeps going? How are you really supposed to have enough energy for your children as well as your husband when you are operation on roughly 6 hours of sleep? Never mind the fact that you get absolutely no time for yourself, it's a wonder I'm not this crabby all the time!!

We talked about going to dinner and doing an outdoor concert after. If the weather would co-operate that would be great, we need to get out of the house today.

you'll never guess what we saw last night

We took the little ones out on our nightly walk down to the boat dock and were heading up the hill for a walk around the circle. I saw what I thought was a big dog doing between yards and didn't think much more about it. After another minute Lucy said she had to go potty so we turned around to head back. Walking past the boat dock Ilooked down and saw the 'dog' again. I commented to Brett that it looked strangely like a cow. He looked and said that's because it is. Sure enough there was a baby black cow wandering by the dock. It's ear was tagged so clearly belonged to someone but we had no idea how it managed to get here. We told our neighbors and we all came out to see it, then 911 was called to find someone to come out and capture it before it got hurt. You never know what you're going to see around here!!!

Strawberry fields...

Yesterday we loaded up and headed to Bellevue Berry Farm and picked some strawberries. Lucy had a great time loading up her little basket as did Bridget and Broderick. Julia wasn't too happy about it as she was strapped into her mei tei carrier affectionaly dubbed the octopus. We rinsed some off with water once we got back to the car and had a small feast of fresh berries. Once home there was some lunch followed by...more strawberries! Now I have about 3 pints left, I started with 4 but I'm sure they ate an entire pint yesterday. I'm thinking a strawberry pie made with Grandma Samsons' recipe is in order. I haven't had one of those in almost 2 years now.

After our berry adventure I had Broderick start in mowing the yard. It is 3/4 of an acre and we have a push mower. He did some I did a lot. I am bagging most of the grass so that it doesn't get tracked all through the house but it meant that I had to dump the bag after about 5 min. of mowing in the back yard. The back is like mowing carpet it's so thick!! It probably took 2 hours to mow the entire yard but at least it was some exercise!!

Today we are hanging out at home, there's laundry to do as usual and some general clean up. At least the sun is out and isn't breezy even if it is a little chilly.

garage sale, sand art, art show and cold stone

It was a busy weekend here. Our neighborhood had a garage sale and we were able to sell some of our baby items that we no longer need and some other odds and ends. We didn't do too bad. After the sale we went downtown and wandered through the Taste of Omaha. The kids each did a ride or two and had a small ice cream cone. After that we went over to see the sand creations at 'Sand in the city' at the Quest center. Our favorite one was based on the move Monsters vs. Aliens. Today we went to an Art Show at one of the little shopping centers. Since it had been rainy earlier it wasn't crowded and wasn't too hot. I bought a pair of hand created mugs as my favorite coffee mug was broken about a month ago. While we were there we stopped at Cold Stone Creamery for some ice cream. I'd been saving up calories for that treat for a week or two. I ordered a small 'chocolate devotion' and only ate about half as I couldn't eat any more. Lucy happily ate all of her chocolate ice cream w/m & m's. Bridget and Broderick didn't finish theirs either but Brett helped them out. After the art show we went to Toys 'r us to get a new car for Lucy as we sold hers yesterday. This one is much quieter so you can actually have a conversation with the person next to you. When we got home Brett put it together and after Lucy's nap we went and took it for a test walk. It did great. Lucy loves her new pink car and even gave it a hug before coming back in the house.

I think that about covers everything. Tomorrow should be a nice day and I am planning on getting up and going for a walk tomorrow as long as it isn't raining again. I am so close to being down 10 lbs. A little more exercise on my part could just be the extra umph to get it done!

Feeling dizzy

So I have woken up dizzy the past several mornings but it seems to clear up within about 10 min. Not so today. It is, in fact, much worse than usual and isn't going away. I called my SIL, who is a Dr. and told her what was going on. She suspects it is Labyrinthitis a virus of the inner labyrinth of the ear. The good news it is usually not serious but it can take several weeks to clear up. She suggested I try some non drowsy type of dramamine and rest. I hope it works because it is serious enough that I would not feel safe driving anywhere in my current condition. This also doesn't bode well for trying to finish getting things ready for a garage sale tomorrow. Yuck!

Thursday-music class day

We totally love Deborah at Baby Maestro! Bridget and Broderick have been going with us since they are out of school and Lucy just loves this. Broderick is so great with her during class and even played with another little boy after class who was so excited to have a 'big kid' to play with. We made it home without Lucy falling asleep in the car, hooray! Both the little ones went down for nap and I went out to the garage to work on pricing and sorting for the garage sale. I'm still not done.

In other news my box from Wendy finally arrived today, carrying it's precious cargo of haircolor! Thank goodness for that! I was debating letting my white hair grow out and being done with the color. Then I remembered my 20th class reunion is at the end of July, so...it will stay colored until then. Speaking of the reunion I am working on getting rid of at least 20lbs. prior to that and so far am down 8lbs. I really need to just get up in the morning and exercise but I keep coming up with excuses. Most of which are related to the fact that it has been rainy most mornings. After the garage sale is over I'll do it. Really I will, or at least I'll give it a good go.

No smoking at the zoo!!

I am so glad to see that our beloved zoo is now tobacco free! How much sense does it make to spend money to see animals at a zoo and contaminate them with second hand smoke? Not to mention that the zoo is full of families with small children and having to walk through a cloud of smoke to get to an exhibit or worse yet being next to someone puffing away is less than pleasant. We had a great day. We saw bears, that were even awake today. We also saw giraffes, flamingos, baby ducks, baby prairie dogs, seals, jaguars, tigers, lions and my favorite gorillas. The temp was perfect not too hot or too cold. Although it was busy, it wasn't overly crowded.

The only unfortunate part was that Lucy slept in the car and won't take a nap now, so I have to work on garage sale stuff later tonight since the sale is on Sat.

All in all it's been a good day, no fighting, no yelling and no potty accidents. What more could a mom ask?? Don't really answer that, I know the list is extensive.

A lot has happened since I last posted

I just realized how long it's been since I posted anything here. It's not a wonder really as we have a 13 yr.old an 11 yr.old a 2 yr. old (who thinks she controls the world) and a 6 month old. We are parents to 3 girls #1,3,4 and 1 boy #2. We also moved to Nebraska in Nov. of 2007. We didn't see that coming but it did and we've been here for a year and a half now. We've moved around a bit trying to figure out where to live and are currently living in a house on a lake. There's a swimming beach and pool to go play at as well as fishing to be done, so there's a little something for everyone.

I stay home with the kids and get to experience all kinds of interesting things during the day. Most, if not all, are thanks to child #3 otherwise known as Lucy, or LuLa Belle, or Lu or You Need to Stop depending on what the situation warrants. Lucky for me #4, Julia is a sweet angel of a baby and doesn't complain unless she is in need of something. I am suspicious however of the possibility that she is absorbing everything Lucy does for future reference. Bridget #1, is the oldest and can be very helpful, when she feels like. She is a great artist and avid book reader, she also plays flute and wants to learn violin. Our only son, Broderick, #2 is typically very thoughtful and worries about Lucy getting hurt. Usually when he tries to stop her from doing something she has fit and they end up getting into a head butting match (figurtively speaking) until I step it. There are definately times when he plays so well with her and she really enjoys his company.

I guess that's it for now. Brett, Bridget and Broderick are still swimming at the lake. Lucy and Julia and watching Diego and playing so I should be thinking about starting dinner.

TAFN-that's all for now

I am not a NERD!!

Exercise log for week of January 16

Although I have been exercising since Jan. 2, when the kids went back to school, I don't remember exactly what I did the last 2 weeks other than being at the gym 4 days each week and doing step class or treadmill/elliptical..so I will just go from this week for blogging purposes.

Monday 16-weigh in day 150 lbs. No exercises other than laundry and general house cleaning since kids were off that day.

Tuesday 17-elliptical 17 min. (Brett came with me) lifted upper body did abs. stretched and an extra 5 min. treadmill

Wednesday 18-step class, lifted lower body, stretched

Thursday 19-elliptical 25 min. , abs, lifted upper body talked to spinning instructer Yvette about trying that class which I may do next week I hope it doesn't kill me!

Friday 20-I realize that isn't until tomorrow but the plan is to do step class, lower body and stretch well..perhaps even an extra 20 min. on the tread mill cause I could use the cardio!

At this point I'm not going to keep track of a food diary because on the whole I don't eat that bad...if I need to do the South Beach thing...then I probably will because then I have to give up all sugar, fruit and breads for 2 weeks to break the addiction and then introduce better choices that aren't so bad for me. We'll see what happens. For now this will be the format. If you want to check up on me and cheer me on along my quest please do.

Resolutions...2006

Okay, this blog has been set up since...sometime last year and until now I haven't written a darn thing. Obvious to you if you are one of the 1350 the counter claims to have visited my page. So without further ado, here you go!

It's January of 2006, hard to believe I know but true none the less, and it's the time of year for resolutions. Some people feel that resolutions should be made on New Years Eve or New Years Day I, on the other hand, think you have the whole month of January to figure it out. This year I am trying to make my resolutions achievable and low in quantity.

First off is to permanently get rid the extra 20 some lbs. That seem to follow me lately. In order to do this I am going to the gym at least 4 days a week 5 would be ideal but since my kids seem to be off of school more than they are in...4 has to do, and yes I am exercising when I'm there doing either step class, using the elliptical or treadmill (no running!) lifting weights, ab work and of course stretching. So for the last 3 weeks I've been in 4 days each week and although I can tell I'm getting stronger and my endurance is increasing the scale has still not been my friend. If it doesn't budge soon I will have take the next step and go on South Beach for a while to get the scale going down! So I'm considering using this as a bit of an exercise log/weight loss diary thing so I'll post weekly as Monday is weigh in day (UGH) and see how this journey goes.

Secondly I would like to have another child this year. I realize that this seems at odds with resolution #1 but actually they do go together. A healthier me is better all around especially when trying to conceive. We are trying!!! WHEW!

Third on the list is to finish this house without completely ruining our finances!! It has turned out to be a bit of a money pit but the improvements we have made have added A LOT in terms of value and livability.

The last thing on my list is to try not to run over all the crazy bicyclists that seem to run rampant out here! Just kidding..Sort of anyway. Really though I would like to find something to curb my restless nature and something that I can enjoy doing for a while. Something creative and ....and I don't know what....that's the mystery of it.