CLICK HERE FOR BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND MYSPACE LAYOUTS

Friday, June 26, 2009

My Terminator

One of my favorite parts of uploading photos is finding random shots the kids have taken. We have tons of shots out the van windows, of random rooftops and the back of our seats. I was delighted to find the following pictures.

On our way home from Lake Tahoe, we stopped at the outlet stores for a bit. Logan decided he really needed/wanted sunglasses. His claim was that they would help him to see his DVD screen in the car better. He insisted that he wasn't concerned with how they looked, he only cared about how things looked while wearing them. A few days later he told Brian and I that when he made a serious face while wearing them, he thought he looked a bit like the Terminator (they'd been watching all of the old ones in preparation for the newest Terminator at the theater).
Logan must've figured this out while taking snapshots of himself on the drive home.



Even a Terminator has to smile once in a while.
Posted by Picasa

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Finally uploaded my pictures

I could save each entry and post it on a day when I just can't seem to get to blogging, but that would not be my style. I finally have a chance to do this, so I'm doing it up big. If you miss a daily blog from me, feel free to only read one entry per day. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

As soon as I remember how to post video you'll have days of entertainment.

More Tahoe pictures

I just loved this picture of Logan. He's getting so grown up!
Both kids will claim that the other is no fun. I just love it when I can capture them enjoying each other. The ball had gotten wet and they thought it was funny to throw a wet ball at each other. It was a bit too cool to enjoy the spray coming off the ball.
Logan getting splattered.
Domesticated squirrels, or at least the closest I've ever seen. We couldn't believe how close they'd let us get. This poor squirrel would never survive in the wild now.
Posted by Picasa

Lake Tahoe

June 13 & 14, 2009
Ciera had a softball tournament in South Lake Tahoe. The weather was crazy-pouring rain and hail on Saturday and cool with blue skies on Sunday. They only played one game on Sunday, so we headed to the Lake Tahoe shore for the first time. We only stayed a little while, but the kids had a great time throwing around a nerf football with their dad (pictured below).

Ciera will rarely play with her brother, but if Brian is playing with Logan, she will almost always join in.
I asked her to turn around and this is what I got:
And she couldn't help but then strike a pose, that she asked me to delete.
Posted by Picasa

Logan's first basketball camp of the summer

June 8-12 Logan attended a local basketball camp from 1-4 with his buddy Brandon and his brother Colby. There weren't a lot of kids, so he was able to get a bit more one on one attention. Logan really liked the guy running the camp and had a lot of fun. He pushed himself each day to learn something new and improve. His friend missed quite a few days, but Logan went every day and made the most of the day camp.
Here are the boys headed into the gym on the first day. The lighting wasn't cooperating with my camera, so all of my other photos are very dark.


Posted by Picasa

Logan's last basketball game pictures

Logan is number 3
I already blogged about this, but here's the pictures (as requested by Mimi).




Posted by Picasa

PIctures from the last day of school

Every year on the last day of school they walk to the local park for a school wide picnic. An older class buddies up with a younger class to walk there. Here's Logan with his 'buddy'. I was so proud of him as he immediately squatted down to be at 'eye level'. He did a great job with his kindergarten buddy.

And then there's Ciera. She doesn't really care for little kids and had a tough time buddying up with a 3rd grader. She did walk near her though, so I guess that counts. Plus the girl did not get hit by a car, so she did her job.



Posted by Picasa

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day!!

Father's Day
June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day to the best dad ever!!


I did not grow up with a doting dad or a great father/daughter relationship. One of the most important things to be in choosing a life partner was someone that would be a great father. Is it possible to really know if someone will make a great parent when they're only 21 years old? I KNOW I got very lucky with my husband. Not only is he a great man that loves me unconditionally, he's willing to support me through anything and put up with me when even I don't want to be with myself, but he's the BEST dad I've ever met!! He loves being with the kids and being an active role in their lives.

I of course did not even take my camera out today, but thankfully my sister in law is never without hers. Although none of us are very fond of getting our pictures taken, I think they all took a great one!

We spent the morning at Ciera's softball game and then headed home for a lunch of Round Table pizza. Later in the afternoon we headed to Brian's parents' house for a swim and BBQ. Brian's sister and her family even made it by.
I can't really say that Papa was the best dad ever, since I did not grow up with him, but I can say he's the best Papa EVER!! The kids always enjoy being with him and love the Papacicles! I'm very thankful that they are able to have time with their grandparents outside of holidays. I Hope they will always cherish these memories.


(I will get to updating the last few weeks soon. I even have pictures. Summer vacation has kicked my butt though.)
Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

A little more timely

As I began my cleaning on Sunday I discovered for the second day, that there was a considerable amount of water on the floor between the toilet and Logan's sink. Since Logan was home I wanted to know what he had been doing to get so much water on the floor two days in a row. He claimed he was not responsible, but it was a lot of water! Turns out the toilet had been leaking from the bottom of the tank. After doing a few online checks, it looked like a fairly easy fix. After spending all day trying to get the nut off, we realized that we needed some help. My step dad came down on Monday and got the plastic nut off for us so that I could continue to fix it. I decided to replace the entire fill valve rather than just the seal since we'd stripped the pipe pretty good trying to get the nut off. I ran out of time on Monday to finish up the project, since I bought the wrong replacement hose. But by Tuesday afternoon, it was finished up and running great. We are pleased to say we almost did an entire repair all by ourselves!

Logan was pretty disappointed with the basketball camp on Monday. He said the stuff was too easy and it was boring. We had to remind him that even the high school boys break things down into basic moves and that there was nothing wrong with working on his jump stops and pivoting. Since there were only 9 kids in the camp, I felt pretty confident that the rest of the week would focus more on where the kids where with their abilities. On Tuesday I watched the last 45 minutes of the camp and Logan looked beat! He was sweaty and red faced, but he was having a great time. They worked on 3 major points and Logan was putting them into play during the closing scrimmage. It was nice to see him much happier.

Ciera and I made it back to Curves on Tuesday, but Ciera is still a bit undecided about how she likes it.

The kids are spending a lot of time with Brian on the trampoline each evening. It's nice that they've all found a way to enjoy the time together rather than separately. Logan will even come in and invite Ciera to join them.

By 9 I was feeling really tired and had a bad headache. I woke up around 10 feeling horrible. My stomach hurt and was making very sad noises. I spent the next 1 1/2 hours in the bathroom. I very rarely vomit, so I was quite surprised when I actually became sick. I did feel much better though. I then took 2 Tylenol and headed back to bed. When I woke up this morning I felt much better. Not sure what it was, but I think I will be able to stay away from the brownies for a bit.

I'm starting the book club book today, Darcy's Story, and I'm excited to finally get started on it. I've never actually read Pride and Prejudice, but it should be interesting anyhow. This is a book from Darcy's perspective.

We have a relatively calm evening ahead. We're going to go check out Jackson's basketball game tonight and that's about it. The kids have chosen Chicken Tenderloins for dinner, so that should also be easy.

STE started a blog and it's been a lot of fun to follow. Yesterday V-R rolled over for the first time and continued to practice throughout the day. She was even got on video. It just melts my heart to see them all.

Brian brought to my attention the other day that our anniversary is coming up (I had noticed it on the calendar as well). It' hard to believe we've really been married for 15 years! That's an incredibly long time. And although we've settled into a pattern and our lives and time revolve around the kids and their activities, there's still no one else I'd rather spent that time with. I'm immensely grateful that he is supportive of ANYTHING I choose to do and he's such a great father!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Summer is not so easy!

I know I've neglected this once again. But I'll tell you, it's not so easy to get stuff done now that the kids are out of school. Honestly, sleeping in every morning really takes a bite out of your day!

The camera is still in the car, so you will have to continue waiting for last weekends pictures.

On Monday I headed back to Curves. 14 weeks PP seemed like more than enough time for my incision to heal and for my milk supply to be established. I also took Ciera with me to try it out. I made it 4 times and Ciera made it twice. I still don't know her decision about going throughout the summer, but I'm back. As much as I don't care for exercising, it did feel great to use those muscles again.

My week went a little something like this. Wake up to morning pump around 5, go back to bed. Wake up between 9 & 11, make oatmeal, pump and eat the oatmeal, head to Curves, home to shower and then whatever else needed to be done for the day.

On Monday Logan got to go to his friend Garrett's house for a bit. Tuesday we headed down to Orangevale for a cancelled pitching lesson. We went to the nearby park to throw instead. Logan and I took turns walking the dog around the park. On Wednesday Ciera went to Moriah's house and Logan had his final basketball practice. Thursday Ciera came home at 2, had a lesson at 3:30, team practice at 5:30 and then went to a teammates house to spend the night. Friday Ciera had a swim party to go to for another teammate. Logan had his final basketball game Friday night.

The game was great to watch, even if they didn't win. I hadn't seen a game in several weeks and it was amazing to watch Logan on the court. Not only was he hard for me to find because of the new short hair cut (and all of the blond being cut off and replaced with a dark head of hair), but he was so much more aggressive and all over the ball. Anytime there was a possibility of a jump ball, there he was! He rebounded, dribbled confidently (which was an area he improved on tremendously), looked for the pass and shot the ball when it was a good shot to take. He's played for 4 seasons now and has made SUCH progress and he has so much more confidence about his abilities as well. Rumor has it that he'd like to play a summer session, we'll see.

After the game they had a team party at one of the boys' pool. Only 5 of the 9 boys showed up and it was COLD, but the boys hopped in the pool, squealed for about 3 minutes and then didn't complain again. For a group of boys that were strangers just 10 weeks ago, they had a great time!

Saturday we had an "off" day from everything and there were some great movies playing. So, we made a day of it. We started with an 11:30 Star Trek which most of us really enjoyed. We then headed in to Night At the Museum which was very similar to the first one. The kids really enjoyed it and I dozed off for a few minutes. Next, was Logan's long awaited Terminator 4. He and Brian had spent the last week watching the first 3 to prepare. It was a tad disappointing to them both, as it just didn't seem to have much reason to be made. It didn't do much to expand the story. However, I enjoyed it and thought it was well done. The chase scenes didn't seem as tedious as they had in the first 3. Logan then gave up and I took him to dinner while Brian and Ciera watched Angels and Demons. Brian was fairly disappointed by it as well and said I didn't really miss anything. After the movies we stopped by Walmart to pick up a small list of groceries and Logan spent some of his birthday money on a new Nerf gun. We were home by 9 and in bed by 10:30. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

Today Ciera has a 5 hour softball practice and Logan and I are just hanging out. He's shown me all of the similarities and differences between his 3 Nerf guns and I feel so much smarter for it. I'm sure this bit of knowledge will come in handy, someday! I'm desperately hoping to get the house swept and mopped, to get all of the garbage taken to the can, to clean my bathroom AND finish the laundry. It probably won't get done, but I'm hoping!

Next week Logan's friend Brandon and his brother will be here in the mornings and then the three boys will head to basketball camp in the afternoons. Ciera has a lesson on Monday night, practice on Tuesday and Thursday nights and we head to South Lake Tahoe on Saturday for a tournament. It should be beautiful up there and we're hoping to spend a day as a family discovering the interesting things about Lake Tahoe. With it only being 2 hours away, it's really pathetic that my kids have never even SEEN the lake (and we were there last summer and didn't show them the lake). Logan says he's seen pictures of it and that's enough, but it's really not acceptable.

As I look at my June calendar I realize that this summer is going to go by WAY too fast! Ciera has tournaments every weekend, practices twice a week, lessons once a week, plus time with friends, a week long softball camp and swimming. Logan has 3 basketball camps, cousin time, friend time, swim time and possibly basketball again in July. I hope they enjoyed the laziness of last week because I don't think the rest of the summer will be so 'lazy'.

At one point last week, Logan decided to buy a slip and slide and he set it up himself. He spent the better part of a cloudy day out sliding on it by himself. It was wonderful to see him entertain himself and be OK doing it alone. At some point everyone has to figure out how to enjoy 'alone' time and be OK without a group of people entertaining him.

I hope to get a bit of a better routine down here pretty soon. The cleaning really shouldn't be avoided all summer long and I really want to get Ciera's room painted, but the thought just exhausts me. This is where going back to Curves should help. I feel quite certain that once I start losing some of the remaining 35 lbs I will get some energy back.

Pictures will be posted whenever I get the energy to retrieve the camera from the van-or when Brian gets home and will bring it in for me (just realized he has the van anyhow).

Thursday, June 4, 2009

BBQ Beef with Brown Rice

Ciera stayed over at a friends' house last night, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try out the BBQ Beef in the crock pot. Ciera 'claims' to not like BBQ sauce, which is crazy since it's the best condiment ever, so I knew fixing it on a night when she was home wouldn't be the best idea.

I found boneless chuck roast for under $2 lb at Sam's Club and I was thinking about dinner early enough to get it in the crock pot. It turned out delicious and I was SO pleased! I was even able to eat the leftovers for lunch today.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

The BEST socks ever!!

I am SO not a sock gal! I would much rather wear sneakers with no socks and even my winter boots I prefer to wear sock-less. Well, my new sneakers are great, but they require socks. There's a spot on my pinkie toe that rubs the stitching and is not comfy. With socks it's no big deal. I had 1 pair of socks that were acceptable, comfort wise, and they still weren't great.

I was at Sam's Club yesterday and did a bit of impulse buying (a great picnic set and these SOCKS). I wasn't sure they'd be much better than what I had, but at least there were 6 of them, they were soft, and they were thin feeling. OMG!! When I put them on yesterday to head to Curves, I knew they were something special. They felt amazing! They were light, soft and were slightly better than sock-less! The packaging claimed 'soft cotton + bamboo blend wicks moisture naturally' and it really appeared to be true. And here's the kicker, they are supposed to be earth-friendly because of the bamboo. "Your feet will thank you an so will the Earth." My feet are definitely thanking me and they were less than $1.50 a pair. As an added bonus, they are made in the USA. They come in Quarter Top or no show (at least at my Sam's Club).

ECO COOL by Burlington
You've got to try these socks!

Monday, June 1, 2009

Gotta love the kids

I previously mentioned that the kids were doing blogs over the summer. Logan had been hesitant about doing it and has been surprised to find that the funnest thing to do when he's home alone is to update his blog. He doesn't say much, but he's been doing it rather faithfully.

Today I came home to find that his newest entry included a link to his friends' blog. I was thrilled to have him show me how easy it is to do.

Without further ado, Logan's blog (and my first chance to link something). Logan's is currently open for anyone to read. Ciera has chosen to make hers private. However, it's a school privacy issue and if anyone would like to read the ramblings of a 12 year old girl, just let me know and we'll send you out an invite.

We had a busy softball/basketball weekend that I will get to later on (we did not make it to the Championship game).

Today, at 14 weeks PP, I took my butt back to Curves. Ciera went with me to check out the equipment and see if she'd like to use it this summer. She needs to build up her strength, so it could be a great option. It's been almost an entire year since I was last there, but it's amazing how easy it was to get back into and as much as I don't like excercising, I did enjoy myself and I'm ready to get going on 'regaining me'. I figure we are now out of school, that gives me a good 10 weeks to get my butt in gear and be back in PP clothes when school starts at the end of August. I will get weighed and measured tomorrow, so that I really have a good idea of where I'm starting from.

I also intend to start watching what is going into my body. There is no real good reason to eat an entire box of Swiss Rolls by myself. So that will stop today.