So disappointed in California

It was decided that yesterday that Prop 8 will stand. We as a state have officially taken away the rights of our citizens. Why? I like to believe it's because there were so many people like myself that just did not think for an instant that it would pass. Had I any idea that there was an actual chance of Prop 8 passing, I would've done a little more to show my support in voting NO on 8. I have learned a powerful lesson and only hope to have the strength to speak up next time. I am not a political person in any way. Basically my decisions are based on how something will affect me and my family, but Prop 8 passing will and can have an affect on my family.

I have a friend with an ability to get involved and really try to make a difference. She spoke at the Rally in Fresno last night. With her permission I'm including her speech. Thank you Vickye (So I Married a Republican) for your efforts and inspiration!

One thing stood out to me during the Prop 8 campaign. Prop 8 supporters were not afraid to pull the kid card. They were not afraid to say “Oh, but what about the children?” Well, I am going to pull it right back on them. What about the children?

What about the LGBT kids in this state? All 2-6 hundred thousand of them? What about all of the children being raised by LGBT people? What about their grandchildren, their nieces, nephews, their cousins? What about them? So, when they say “what about the children”, what they really mean is, what about their children.

Okay, what about their children? They are taught that gay is wrong. Ours are taught that love comes in all shapes and sizes. Theirs are taught to exclude. Ours are taught to include. Ours are also taught, from an early age, what it is like to be excluded, thanks to their children and parents.

Their children are taught that there is only one way. They are taught only what their parents want them to know, rather than all there is to know. They are taught what to believe, rather than the facts. They are taught that morality is a narrow road and that only they have the map.

Our children look at this differently. Ours are given the facts and taught that beliefs need to be backed up by them. Ours are shown the whole world and trusted to find their way with the love and knowledge we have given them. Ours are taught that morality must be aligned with justice, or it will be neither. Our children are given the entire rainbow of colors and an entire world to paint them with.

So, to say, “what about the children” is very misleading, because they really don’t care about children. They teach their own children a set of values that will fall apart the moment their child hits the real world, causing pain and confusion. They try to condemn our children, simply for being who they are or who their parents are. And, by passing and upholding Prop 8, they have shown ALL children that justice does not matter anymore, it simply matters who has the louder voice. They are teaching that equality is no longer a foundation of our country, that the majority can vote away the minority’s rights.

We know this to be a temporary aberration and will teach our children as such. We will teach our children to never stop fighting for what is right; for what is just. We will never teach our children to rejoice over someone else’s loss. We will teach our children that justice and love trump tradition, every time.

So, Prop 8 is not really about families, because they set out to invalidate the families of these children. It’s not really about marriage, because they are trying to prevent loving marriages. And it is definitely not for the children, because teaching a child to exclude is only the first step towards teaching them to hate.

So, the next time someone tells you they oppose same-sex marriage, I want you to ask them “But, what about the children?”

It's certainly something to think about!

Monday, sweet Monday-or is it Tueday?

Monday was another great opportunity to sleep in. Ciera and Brian woke around 11. Logan and I slept soundly until 12. We slept away the entire morning. Ciera had softball practice from 2-5 and then we all headed to Brian's parents' to swim. The weekend was beautiful, but it heated up some on Monday. The kids and Brian all swam for a bit and I just got my feet wet.
I knew it was going to be hard to get to sleep on time, but I thought if I tried hard we might be successful. Unfortunately we started brushing our teeth a bit late.

Both kids claim it was after midnight before the finally fell asleep. That of course made it difficult to get up this morning, but we did make it to school on time, although a touch grumpy. It was another minimum day and then Logan's friends came over for an hour or two.

Somebody had a dentist appointment to get a cavity filled. She wanted to remain nameless and faceless.

Can you guess who belongs to these feet? (The coloring is off, she really wasn't that blue).

The filling went well and then it was time for a pitching lesson. Brian took her tonight and I headed out to the baseball field to watch a brave little boy play AA Farm baseball. Isaiah (from Strong and Courageous) has been fighting and winning his Leukemia battle for 2 years now. His strength and courage continue to amaze me. He has such a wonderfully supportive family too (and they're a ton of fun to visit with). I went to school with Isaiah's dad and Isaiah's sister, Sienna, went to school with my kids for 2 years. Plus, his mom is expecting a new little baby in September and she has the cutest little pregnant belly. I'm so glad that I got to see them. I had almost forgotten how much fun it is to watch a Farm game. The kids are all so excited to be there, but they have such short attention spans. They all hit great and made some great outs. I somehow managed to miss all of Isaiah's hits, but I saw him run the bases like a pro! Thanks again for the invite Oates'.

When Ciera gets home, we will head out to Target to see about a gift for her friends. She has decided that she needs to get her friends an end of the year gift, "something totally useless." We are all very excited that tomorrow is the last day we have to get up early for school. We have 81 days to prepare for the next school year!

I made it out to walk this morning and am hoping to head out again this evening once it cools off. I'm really loving the new sneakers.

Tomorrow we have our end of the school year picnic at the park. Hopefully it will be comfortable in the shade. We have no real plans for the rest of the week. Ciera and I head to Stockton again this weekend. Logan only has 2 more basketball games left in the season. I'm very bummed about missing so many of his games, but at least Brian gets to be there. I'll get to see his last game though and I'm looking forward to it.

Camera uploads

Also on my Weekend List was for Brian to teach me how to upload pictures from our new camera to Picasa. My mother in law had talked me through it Sunday night, so I decided to give it a shot on my own yesterday (or Friday night, the days are blurring together already). It was just as easy as she had said it'd be.

I'm going to try to take some random shots of our days to post along with the boring text. Perhaps it will be easier to stay on top of things that way.

Also on the Weekend List is for Brian to show me how to save and import the pictures from other people's albums and from our e-mail. I know this isn't super difficult, but it does require him teaching me.

The list is growing shorter and longer all at the same time. There are so many things that need to be done and as we finish one project, I come across another that needs to be added.

Our master bedroom ceiling fan started squeaking horribly this week. So after exhausting all efforts to 'fix' it, we broke down and bought a new fan yesterday. Brian spent the better part of this morning installing the new fan. He did a great job and I'm looking forward to using the 'remote' that came with it.

Introducing,

My new sneaker!

I put new sneakers on my Weekend List and I finally got over to Famous Footwear 1 hour before closing. I hate trying on shoes even more than I hate trying on clothes, so this was NOT a fun trip. I arrived armed with socks and I immediately got busy. I knew I needed to not even pay attention to the color or how hideous they looked. I simply needed a sneaker to walk in and go to the gym in that would be comfortable. I am VERY big on comfort and I haven't had a comfortable sneaker in years. I tried on several different pairs and brands. I finally settled on two and had to decide between them, without letting color or cost be the deciding factor. I tried them with socks and with just the 'footie' nylon, since I really prefer to go sockless. After 45 minutes of intense scrutiny, I finally decided on this pair. I'm actually quite excited for it to cool off so I can go test them out tonight. They are really squishy, comfy and they aren't too tight around my foot, nor does my toe rub.

I then headed over to Home Depot to pick up paint for Ciera's room. I'm thrilled that she finally decided on a color and am debating whether to get started right away or wait a week until they are out of school. Just a few years ago I could go crazy and paint all night, but my body just doesn't quite care for that type of abuse anymore. It takes me much longer to recover when I mistreat it.

Totally off topic, but has anyone seen the new Jonas Brothers show on Disney? It's playing in the background and I happened to catch parts of it last weekend as well. I'm not sure whether it's really neat that they are doing such a 'down to earth kid' show or totally creeped out by it. I Fell In Love With the Pizza Girl is not one of their better songs.

Got Milk?

I typically don't post the same thing on both blogs, but I have difficulty deciding which things belong where. This seems to belong in both. I get a little 'crazy' excited when I see all the milk I've been able to freeze. It keeps me very optimistic that there will be enough to get the babies through their first year.
I forgot to take the before picture. This is my empty freezer that had 22 days worth of milk in it this morning. Each shelf holds about 40lbs of milk. I believe there are about 112, 16 oz bottles. I'm filling 4.5-5 bottles per day.
The bottom two pictures are the chest freezer my mom brought over this afternoon so I can store the milk easier. I'm a little surprised that it's almost full already. I can probably fit 4-5 more days worth of milk in it. I should have enough room to store the milk until mid to late June. Hopefully by then STE has more room in her freezers.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Even after completing so many of my list items, there was still time for some trampoline fun.
The net is in the way, so it makes the pictures look really 'dotty', but you get the idea.
Brian stands on the patio and throws the football into the trampoline. Typically the kids have to 'fight' against each other to get the ball.
Fun times!

Catching up, again

I'd been doing a great job of walking my 30 minutes- 1 1/2 miles per day up until this last weekend. With the heat and softball there was no way I was going to get out and walk, although I did bring my beat up sneakers just in case (I still haven't gotten to Famous Footwear to try and find a new pair).

So on Monday I had some making up to do. I walked Monday morning and Monday night. The dog is so happy to take these walks with me, although I still haven't been able to get anyone else to walk with me. I made a trip to Costco for more bottled water and some other necessities, like milk. The kids have started drinking milk like crazy. Ciera had a lesson that night and I finished up the unpacking and laundry from our trip.

Tuesday it all finally hit me. I dropped the kids off at school and went back to bed. I woke up feeling SO much better. I got in a double walk that day as well.

Ciera's class went on a field trip to John's Incredible Pizza on Wednesday. It wasn't entirely educational, but it was an end of the year trip for the 6-8 graders. The kids had a great time. Brian now gets to pick his furlough day, so he spent the day at his mother's, helping her get the yard ready for open pool season. Then he and Logan headed to basketball practice. Once again, I got in 2 walks and am getting faster every day (maybe every week is more accurate).

Thursday I got my morning walk in the morning while it was still cool. I spent most of Thursday in Ciera's classroom finishing up some typing for her teacher. Ciera had practice that evening. I had hoped to walk the track while she was at practice, but it was just too warm still. So I walked around 8:45 at home once it cooled down.

Friday I was up at 5am to pump and decided to stay up. I got in my walk at 6:30 when it was nice and cool. I was a bit surprised to see so many people out walking or running at that hour. There's hardly anyone at 9am. I was feeling very ambitious since I was up and moving so early. I grossly underestimated how long it would take to do everything and ended up rushed by 10. I got laundry done, dishes done, cupcakes baked for Logan's class, pumped again, showered and was out the door at 10:45 to pick up pizza for Logan's class party. We are definitely celebrating the end of this school year!

Logan had a few friends over after the minimum day. They seemed to have quite a bit of fun on the trampoline, playing with the hose and water guns. By 4:30 they had all gone home and Ciera and I headed out to get a jump start on my Memorial Day Weekend List. I have so many things that I've been meaning to get done and just no time to do them. So I decided to list them all out so that we don't forget to do them while we're busy sleeping in. Brian is a little less enthusiastic about my list. Ciera and I got my Target returns done (some items I'd had since March), headed to Home Depot to get paint samples for her room and look at ceiling fans. Logan has been asking for a ceiling fan for 2-3 years and we never get around to doing it. Everyone else has a fan, I think we need to make it a priority this summer. We also stopped by the AT&T store to look at phones. The kids would both really like a phone to text, but we just can't seem to figure out how to go about doing it without spending an extra $60 a month. They both get about $20 for allowance and that's really as high as I'm willing to go for it. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of options for $20 a month. I have a very bare bones plan that meets my needs and offers a ton of minutes. I can't modify it at all and keep my minutes, so we're a bit stuck as to what to do. Someday we'll figure it out I'm sure. Ciera also thinks it's a tad unfair that she has to pay for it. So we may never do it.

Ciera has softball practice Monday afternoon and she still has to go out each day with her day, but we have no other obligations this long weekend. My nephew, Jackson, slept over Friday night, so Logan has been busy jumping on the trampoline and playing Wii with him.

It's still quite warm, although weather.com claims it will only be in the mid 80's this weekend. I'm optimistic that we can get a lot accomplished this weekend and still relax quite a bit as well.

I know, I know

I really left things hanging last week.

Most of the time I don't even think twice about putting all of my information out here for everyone to see and then there are times that I have a bit of paranoia, like last Friday. I started to write about us being gone to Stockton all weekend and the fabulous deal we got through Priceline, but then paranoia hit. What if was telling someone to feel free to come rob my house since we'd be gone from Saturday to Sunday night? Are burglars really reading through all of my mundane tales, just to know when my house will be empty? Probably not, but you never know. It's just like the cars that will park across the street from our house and just sit there. They are probably just parked in the shade, near the park, enjoying their lunch or making a call. But every now and then I think someone is staking out our house to become familiar with our habits and that any day now someone is going to come try to rob us. Paranoia or perceptive?

We received game times for Ciera's weekend tournament on Wednesday night. They were going to have to be at the field in Stockton at 7am, which meant we'd have to leave home by 5:15 and Sunday's game times would also be early. So Ciera and I decided to try to get a room. Priceline here I come! I was able to get a room about 15 minutes away from the field for only $44 a night. When we arrived Friday night, we were both SO pleased! It's was a beautiful, new Best Western. The water pressure was amazing and they had pillow top mattresses with soft blankets! Since my neck had just finally started feeling better from our last hotel stay in Fresno, I was thrilled with our Priceline outcome. Since we got such a great deal, we decided to stay Saturday night as well.



Logan and Brian had a basketball game Saturday morning, so it was just me and Ciera on Friday night. We had a very nice drive down together and enjoyed a Panda Express dinner.

Saturday was an early morning, but we were thankful to not be playing in the late afternoon when it was 104. We were back at the hotel and in the pool by 3:30. The girls played great and won all 3 games on Saturday.

Brian and Logan made it to Stockton for our last game of the day on Saturday. Logan had played at 9am and since Brian is coaching he is the one that gets to go to all of the games. I was bummed to have not been there. I heard it was perhaps Logan's greatest game ever. He scored almost all of his team's points and he did a great job at point guard. He was aggressive and a team player. His team is still not winning much, but he's had a great time and really learned a lot. He's been applying things he's been taught before but never been confident enough to use in a game. I have to miss next weeks game too. I'm hoping Grandma or Papa will take some video for me though.

Sunday was another long and HOT day. The girls won their 9:45 game, but didn't play again until 2:15 (and really they didn't start until almost 3:15). The winner of the second game went on to the Championship game. The girls did a great job of hanging in there and not giving up, but ultimately the other team won. They had a girl hit it over the 205 fence and that about did us in. Ciera got to play 1st base during this game, which is why you can only see her feet in the pictures in the other post.

Logan kept busy playing with the other siblings. They got water guns and kept cool with them for awhile. They then got really spacey and started just squirting the ground. They had a ton of fun playing in the dirt and mud (a waste of good water gun water in my opinion, but it kept them happy).

We stopped by Grandma and Papa's to swim on our way home. I even got in with just my clothes on, it was THAT good! (I have since found a swimsuit). After cooling off a bit, I left the kids with Brian and I headed home to get unpacked and the laundry done. It was a long, hot weekend, but we all had a good time-and nobody robbed the house!

This is my excuse...

This is one of the many reasons why I just can't seem to finish updating the week.
I'm very aware of what a bad blogger I've been. I've thought about all the things we've been doing, but I just haven't had the time to actually record them. I will get caught up by the end of the 3 day weekend, but there's a ton of things on my 'mental list' to get done. We'll see if this makes it onto the 'finished list'.

Today was the last Friday of school and Logan's class got to have their FIRST party of the year. Their teacher bought them pizza and milk. She allowed me to bring in ice cream cone cupcakes and Capri Suns. We got to make "oobleck" (cornstarch and water-fun stuff) and have a water balloon relay.

Try to find my kid-it's much harder with the new hair cut.

Playing with his retainer. He claims he never does this, but here is picture proof.

Oh look, Logan's playing with his retainer AGAIN!! It's going to be a long summer with mom on 'retainer patrol'. (The green stuff is the oobleck).

Another teaser post

Logan's Sunday in Stockton
5/17/2009

Making mud pies with the other siblings

Just a teaser post

Ciera's Sunday in Stockton
5/17/2009

That's Ciera's foot on 1st Base

That's her foot again!

More softball and basketball this weekend...

.

Another hair cut and a little bit of buyer's remorse

When I woke Logan up yesterday he was very adamant that he had told me he wanted a hair cut and that he thought his long hair this year just looked bad. Unfortunately he'd had the conversation with Brian on Monday night when I went to bed early. Brian called about 9:30 to share the news with me, a little late. So after school we talked about hair cuts and looked at pictures. He decided he really liked Kris Allen's hair, from American Idol. Armed with 2 pictures we sought out a place that was open at 7:20pm-most were already closed.

While getting the haircut he asked the gal to go shorter, not once, but twice. He came home sporting a faux hawk and a smile. He was happy with it all night and tried out several different styling options. Brian and I love it as well.

Fast forward to this morning and there was definitely buyer's remorse. He chose to take the anger out on me and implied that it was my fault that it was so short (a number 4 on the sides). He went to school with his angry face on and I'm curious to see if he's over it by lunch time. I 'think' it finally occurred to him that he'd be showing the kids at school and he was a bit concerned about their reactions. Who really knows. I will have to get a picture. I think it's very current AND easy to care for.

Ciera got her fillings on the right side done yesterday and did very well.

I took the van in for the 30,000 mile service and walked home briskly-25 minutes. I then tried to be productive around the house. I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped, but I got through more of Ciera's room and got the sheets changed out on both kids' beds. Then it was time to walk back to get the van (briskly or I'd be late) and pick Ciera up for her dental appointment.

We were going to have crunchy tacos for dinner, but when I pulled the meat out of the freezer it was moldy. I had taken it out once before and didn't use it, so I thought I could just refreeze it. I guess I'd left it in the fridge for too long. Moldy, frozen taco meat was not what we wanted to eat. So we headed to Taco Bell-I really wanted some nacho cheese on a crunchy taco.

Not a bad day!

Today we have very little on the schedule. I just got done walking my brisk 30 minutes, Ciera is going to Moriah's and Ryan is coming over after school for Logan. I have a meeting at school tonight, Logan has basketball and hopefully we can all be in bed early.

I've been tagged-not once, but 3 times

I'm not really one for playing along, so I'll answer the questions and leave it at that, although Betsey, Jackson and Ciera can consider themselves tagged :)

Crazy 8's

Fill in the following lists AND
tag 8 blogger friends, go tell them you tagged them…


8 Things I Am Looking Forward To:
Summer
Fitting into my clothes without losing too much of my milk supply
Sleeping in
Ciera's extra softball efforts to pay off
Watching 'Super Aggressive Logan' on the court
Seeing what and who my kids grow into
Seeing STE's kids grow and blossom
Blog updates from everyone

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

Walked 1 1/2 miles
SDrove on the field trip
Showered
Ate too much ice cream
Fluffed the feather bed
Replaced the toilet paper in the bathroom and the paper towels in the kitchen
Wore a new outfit
Applied sunscreen to my face and lotion to my legs

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:
Care about cooking and enjoy it
Travel
Find a job/career I was passionate about
Find the perfect sneaker without having to look or at least with minimal effort
Spend more time with friends without losing family time
Go back in time
Actually meet some of my blog friends
Enjoy excercise

8 Shows I Watch:
The Office
John & Kate Plus 8
Intervention
Celebrity Rehab (Dr. Drew)
Sober House
Big Love
What I Like About You (Ciera's fault)
Degrassi (also Ciera's fault)

8 Favorite Fruits:
watermelon
grapes (preferably the seedless black ones)
cherries
watermelon
apples (fuji or gala are my faves)
mandarins
apricot
peach (just learned this summer that I like this)

8 Places I’d Like to Travel:
U.S. East Coast
Cross country drive of US
Australia
Europe (broad enough to count as two)
Europe
Ireland
Hawaii
Canada

8 Places I’ve Lived:
Lincoln, CA
Rocklin, CA
El Paso, TX
North Highlands, CA
Sacramento, CA
Loomis, CA
Newcastle, CA
Carmichael, CA

TAGGING:

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5.
6.
7.
8.

Tuesday's agenda

I'm already feeling much more rested! I was able to get to bed by 9:30 last night and had a great night of sleep.

Today I am dropping the van off for service after taking the kids to school. I will then walk home and back when it's ready. This should count for my daily walking today if I remember to keep up the pace.

I'd really like to get my bedroom back in order. I've got to put away all the 'winter' sheets, pack away the maternity stuff and clean the master bath.

Ciera gets 2 of her 3 fillings done today at 3 and then throwing with Brian. Now that the Tuesday night league is over, we are left with an unscheduled Tuesday night. I'm not sure what we'll do with it, but I imagine both kids will be thrilled to catch American Idol without having to record it.

Logan's research report is due today. He practiced the oral portion all afternoon yesterday and I do believe he is ready. Now we can focus on preparing for his oral book report that's due next week.

We only have 8 full days and 3 half days of school left for the year! I think we all are looking forward to summer this year. This will be the first summer in years that I won't be making them do a ton of 'summer work', just a bit of it.

So tired

4:30am up to pump
5:00 shower
5:30-6:30 back to bed
wake up Ciera
6:40-7 back to bed
7:00 get ready, make oatmeal, fix 21 bagels with cream cheese for Logan's school snack, get Logan up
8:10 take the kids to school
8:20 back home to pump and eat the oatmeal that was hot at 7:30
8:50-10:30 field trip for Logan- Physical Fitness testing
10:40 arrive at library to find they don't open until 12
10:45 back home to pump, eat leftover pizza
11:30 sweep, mop, vacuum, start laundry, wipe down kitchen, tables and bathroom
1:00 make lunch for my mom and 2 1/2 year old niece, Dorothy
1:20 pick up Ciera from school early so she can get her hair highlighted by my mom
2:00 have tea parties with Dorothy
2:30 make dinner-scalloped potatoes with ham pieces
2:55 pick up Logan from school
3:15 return home and take dinner out of the oven-pump-have some dinner and share it with Dorothy
4:00 get everyone ready to leave or settled with afternoon homework plans
4:20 leave for Ciera's pitching lesson
5:00 arrive at lesson
5:23 start walking
5:52 finish 1 1/2 miles around the track with music for the first time (borrowed Ipod)
6:15 head home
6:45 arrive home-heat dinner-eat dinner-listen to research oral report
7:50 pump, computer time, blog time
8:40 wash pump parts-go to bed

Good thing I get to do most of it all over again tomorrow!

A wonderful weekend!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend.

Saturday I made my mom breakfast and we got to visit for a few hours. With our busy schedules we just don't get the chance to do that very often. While I was gone, Brian took Ciera to her lesson and Logan finished up the written portion of his research report. Brian then took the recycling and newspapers for me. We now have our garage back AND an extra $45.

That afternoon we headed to Brian's sisters for a yummy dinner that I didn't have to make, London Broil and baked potatoes with brownies, ice cream and strawberry shortcake for desert. While there I was able to trade out a table we wanted to use for Ciera's room with a desk for Jackson. My SIL had also picked up a bedding set that we wanted for Ciera, so we were now ready to start tackling Ciera's room (I had wanted to have it done over Spring Break).

When we got home I spent the rest of the evening moving things around in her room and trying to figure out how to make it fit her needs. I reluctantly went to bed (she needed her room so she could go to bed), but I didn't make it out to walk.

Sunday morning I woke up to pump before anyone else was up. Ciera had softball practice, so I got her and Brian up and made myself a bowl of oatmeal (Brian had asked the night before if I wanted them to make breakfast, but my oatmeal isn't too tough for me to do on my own). Brian, Ciera and I headed out for practice and Logan was to work on the oral portion of his research report. I walked for 30 minutes, a little bit more than a mile, and then got to watch practice, read the paper and start a new book.

We headed home at 11:30 and I didn't really want to wait for the Papa Murphy's pizza to bake, so we called in to Pizza Guys for a Pepperoni and Onion pizza (it sounded really good). When we got home Logan was dressed and had made me a card (they didn't make anything at school, they must be too old?). It was so sweet and he had put a lot of effort into making it just perfect for me. We all ate lunch and then watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I had been wanting to see this movie since it came out, but I'm so glad I didn't pay for it at the theater. It was a good movie, but very long and slow.

It was finally time that I could throw myself into organizing Ciera's room. This was the ultimate treat for me. We haven't had anything to re-do in quite awhile (I reorganized all of my kitchen cabinets within a month of the babies being born). Logan finished up his report, Ciera did her math homework and I was in a state of bliss. We finally had to break for dinner at 6:30. I was so involved and happy in the room, I hadn't even realized I was hungry. My Papa Murphy's pizza was delicious and exactly what I'd been hoping for.

At 8:30 Brian and I headed out to walk one more time (to make up for not walking on Saturday). Then back to the organizing. I finally called it quits around 10:30, but the kids were having a hard time getting to sleep. It must've been all the excitement of cleaning and reorganizing!

It's not how everyone would want to spend their weekend, but I had the best time!

Text to go with the previous post

Well I was able to figure out how to put the picture of my Croc sandals up, but not how too add text. So you get a separate post. I wanted to clear up the misconception that I was walking in horribly uncomfortable 'clog-y' Crocs. When I'm not wearing those I sometimes wear my beat up, dog chewed, barely any shoelaces left K-Swiss sneakers. They stopped making the sneaker and I've been unable to find a suitable replacement in the 3 years I've been looking (although not very hard). I am hoping to find time this week to get over to the shoe store and try some on. I find shoes to be just like clothes though, they feel/look fine in the store, but once I get them home they are so uncomfortable or they aren't half as flattering as I thought they were. I'm just not much of a shopper.

These are what I've been walking in

5 days in a row!

I have been successful in making myself walk for 1 mile every day this week. I intend to continue through the weekend and hopefully next week I can cut down to eating sweets in moderation rather than by the package.

The scale is going down still, so I feel quite confident that if I could just master moderation that I would have a whole new (used) wardrobe to wear. I am sitting with 35 lbs of pregnancy weight at this point.

I know the pumping is really helping with the weight loss and if I would just cooperate, I'd see results. Every day I tell myself that it will be the day that I only eat 1 or 2 cookies, but so far it hasn't happened. Perhaps next week really will be the week.

I do need to get out and find a pair of sneakers that I really like. Walking a mile in my Crocs just isn't cutting it. My ankles are starting to hurt and that can't be good.

My boy is back!!

Logan had a basketball game tonight and Aggressive Logan showed up on the court-finally! It is so much more fun to watch him play when he is playing his heart out. They ended up losing again, but the whole team played so much better. Logan made several baskets, some fantastic passes and had almost every rebound (something that he doesn't always do so well). He got hurt during the 4th period and had to be pulled. He was holding his rib and even had tears, so I was pretty sure he was going to be done for the game (at times he can be a bit dramatic). Within 2 minutes he was ready to go back in for the final period of the game. Apparently he got elbowed and it 'knocked the wind out of him'. I'm not sure an elbow can do that, but at least he recovered quickly and went back out full force. Brian and I were both very proud of him for coping so well.

Logan also got all of his work done this week, and there was a TON of it, including social studies corrections from the last two weeks. He spent all week working diligently on work that I thought he had no chance of completing. This weekend he needs to finish up the written portion of his research report and then we get to start working on the oral portion.

Saturday I will wake up early and drive almost an hour to make my mom breakfast in bed. Brian will take Ciera to her pitching lesson and then we will all head to Brian's sisters house for dinner with his mom.

Sunday Ciera has softball practice in the morning and then we will spend the rest of the day doing very little. I'm planning on a pizza from Papa Murphy's and some Dr. Pepper. I don't typically drink much soda (I gave up caffeine 4 summers ago in preparation for surrogacy), so it will be a big splurge.

Hopefully everyone will have a wonderful weekend and remember to treat their mother's with love.

Ortho, Oatmeal and a PS3

Tuesday night was the playoffs and Championship game for Ciera's Tuesday night league. They barely squeaked by against the number 4 seed, but they did make it to the Championship game and won that game easily.

Wednesday Ciera and I had dental cleaning appointments. I believe I've mentioned before just how much I love our dental office. The gal that cleans our teeth is phenomenal and I love visiting with her. I have 2 favorite dentists and I generally get to visit with both of them when I go in.

We of course had a lot of baby talking to do. They oohed and aahed at the pictures and had a ton of supportive things to say. One of the dentists had her 2nd baby a few months before I delivered, so we were even able to talk about pumping.

Unfortunately Ciera and I both have to go back for fillings. I only have 1 and am going in this morning. I think 1 cavity during a pregnancy wasn't too bad. I do have some gum issues that I will have to start taking better care of, but again, not too bad after a twin pregnancy. Ciera has always had 'unfortunate' teeth. She hadn't had a cavity in over a year or two, so we're just thankful for the break. She has 2 little ones and a third that is a bit larger. She was unwilling to skip school for the filings though, so her appointments are spread out a bit.

Wednesday afternoon the school held a volunteer appreciation shin-dig. It was not your typical stiff event with a sheet cake and some punch. These ladies went all out and each brought something to share. We had cheese, crackers, salami with cream cheese and 'something' (delicious though) and a ton of desert choices. It was a wonderful time visiting with the other parents and with the staff at school. It felt just like a little party!

Thursday we all got to sleep in a bit. The kids had 9am ortho appointments. Logan's retainer has done it's job expanding his upper teeth, so he no longer has to expand it every other day. He just has to continue wearing it until who knows when. He wasn't too pleased about having to wear it, but at least he won't have to expand it and deal with it hurting. Ciera got another bracket added and they tightened things up again. Prior to the appointment she reminded me that she'd need 'all soft food' and asked if I'd get her Jamba Juice and a bean burrito. I'm not really sure that it hurt this time as she didn't take any Advil, but I did bring her the 'special diet'.

While I was at Jamba Juice the guy asked if I wanted to try the Oatmeal. He said "It's delicious!" After I agreed to buy it I noticed that on the Oatmeal sign it says "It's delicious!" So I was a bit leery of it. I have been making my own oatmeal every day, as it's supposed to help with my milk production. I LOVE my oatmeal. I cook it in milk rather than water and add a good spoon of brown sugar. Jamba's oatmeal wasn't horrible, I would buy it if I was traveling or needed a bowl of oatmeal while out of the house. But I would definitely NOT be tempted to trade in my homemade oatmeal for theirs. It was filling though, just like he had said.

Ciera had softball practice on Thursday night, so I took her to that and walked a mile around the track. This was my 4th day in a row of walking a mile. I'm not fast, but I was consistent with my laps and I could still feel it in my legs. I really have a lot of work to do, but I figure this is a good start.

Brian headed back to the gym this week as well. It's really hard for him though because it means getting up at 4:15. I've started helping to ensure that he's in bed by 9:30 at the latest and I get him up at 4 when I get up to pump. So far it's worked out and I'm very proud of his dedication to the decision. The choice was to start using the gym membership or cancel it.

Brian has been considering getting a PS3 for quite awhile now. At Christmas time he had decided against it, but as we were talking about Mother's day and Father's Day, he mentioned that he'd decided to save up his 'extra' funds for the PS3. It seemed rather silly to me for him to wait until his birthday in July. After seeing that he was really willing to work 'gym time' back into his schedule, I decided to get it for him sooner. However, I was going to wait two weeks until Logan was done with all of his extra big projects at school. I didn't want him to be sidetracked by the PS3 and I certainly didn't want to be fighting over it with him. Logan came home Wednesday night with virtually no work. He had worked REALLY hard at school and was well on his way to completing all of the extra work and projects, AND he had figured out how to do it all on his own. So I decided to pick up the PS3 on Thursday.

Both boys were very excited to set it up and play Thursday night while Ciera and I were gone. I was so surprised to see them both NOT playing when Ciera and I got home around 8:30. They were both getting ready for bed. I had expected it to be a late night and to fully be regretting suggesting that we attach it to our bedroom tv. They did a fantastic job of not making me regret any of my PS3 decisions!!

I'm home and almost all caught up!

I left early Wednesday morning to spend 3 days with STE and family. I hadn't seen the older twins since December and the babies left straight from the hospital. So I was really looking forward to this visit. I had a great time and will post about it on twinsforthetwins.blogspot.com as soon as I get pictures uploaded.

I came home Friday night to rain! It rained most of the weekend, so Ciera's Sunday softball practice was cancelled. On the way home Friday, Brian and I stopped for apple pie and vanilla ice cream. We left Raley's with 2 additional containers of ice cream-I just could not decide.

Saturday we all got to sleep in and I woke up to snuggles from Logan (he'll deny it if you ask him though). Logan had basketball pictures and a game at 3:00. It was a close game until the last quarter or two. Unfortunately they lost, and I'm not sure what was going on with Logan. He just didn't have any enthusiasm or aggressiveness. He claimed his 'lungs' were hurting, but honestly he hasn't been sick at all so I'm hesitant to believe there is something wrong with his lungs. Sunday night he declined the visit to the dr. and said he thought his chest was just bruised from a fall he had and he'll be OK after all. We'll see on Friday I guess.

After the game Ciera and Brian went to pitch and Logan and I went to find a 'cool' hat for Logan. He'd been asking for one for awhile and this was what he decided he'd like rather than a trip souvenir from me. Within 5 minutes he had picked out the hat and was ready to go (a black Volcum hat-not on sale, but still cheaper than at Lids). We then all headed to Brian's parents' house to celebrate Jackson's 10th birthday. The youngest cousin is officially in double digits. We had a great meatloaf dinner that EVERYONE ate (usually someone opts out) and cheesecake for desert.

Sunday was either going to be a movie day or a shopping day. Ciera decided after much thought, to go to the mall. To our surprise, Logan said he wanted to come as well. So Brian opted to go with us since we were all going, but honestly I think he would've been happier to stay home. Logan picked out another summer outfit, checked out the hats, bought a video game and spent the rest of the time 'playing' video games at Gamestop with his dad. He also bought his first wallet and is so excited about it. Ciera found a pair of capris that are so tight she couldn't get them on with the security tag ,2 pairs of shorts that are too short to wear to school, 2 camis, 2 t-shirts and 2 pairs of shoe laces. We also stopped by Ulta to find a new face wash that 'smells good'. We'll see how well it cleans her face.

Instead of going home and making the planned potato and ham soup, we stopped by Togo's for a yummy sandwich. Once we got home it was time to get on with the Sunday evening needs, laundry, room cleaning, homework finishing, etc.

Monday morning went as well as could be expected. We had to leave a few minutes early to pick up Ciera's friend that needed a ride. Logan was quite upset to have to leave early for Ciera's friend and he wasn't afraid to let us all know that he was irritated. We made it on time and his bad mood was quickly forgotten (he was playing happily at lunch recess).

I took Ciera a hot bowl of soup at lunch time and then returned my library books. I really haven't gotten much done today other than laundry and wiping down the counters. I also started dinner, so that counts for something. I was going to walk the dog, but I find myself out of time.

Ciera has a lesson tonight if it doesn't start raining. Tuesday I am scheduled to get my TB test done. Tuesday night Ciera has playoffs for her Tuesday night league. Her team was the number 1 seed, so they have a pretty good chance of winning the championship. Wednesday, Ciera and I have dental cleaning appointments. There's a volunteer Thank you 'thing' at school that afternoon and Ciera has a lesson that evening. Logan also has basketball practice, so it will be a busy day. Thursday both kids see the orthodontist. Hopefully Ciera's brackets look cleaner than last time! Friday night is Logan's basketball game and then we head into our last weekend of no softball tournaments.

I hope to get the house picked up this week, buy some groceries, try to figure out what to do with Ciera's room, start walking, start watching what I eat and hope that my milk production stays high. These are all just my hopes, we'll see what really happens. I would also like to find a new garbage can that doesn't drive me crazy with the bag. We're on our 3rd one and I'm still not happy. All I want for Mother's Day is the perfect garbage can, sad really!