I'm Feelin' Sassy

I have been growing my hair out for 2 1/2 years and I just chopped it all off. It feels great to have a new do.


Not a great picture...but I hate taking pictures of myself and don't want to ask a coworker to take one of me at work.
Can you tell I LOVE this shirt? I wear it way too much.

Mom I'm home and we have a ....

Saturday afternoon I was in the back feeding Sophie when I heard Todd and Tayson home from a "quick errand" to the pet store to buy a starfish for Todd's aquarium. I know better than to let Todd go to the fish store since I can't think of a time he has managed to leave the fish store with the "one item he needs to pick up". I thought we were safe this time since he had already visited his favorite fish store earlier in the day and he doesn't like the store he had to go to in order to pick up this particular starfish (which is food for 2 of his shrimp...sick!).

So Tayson walks in and yells "Mom I'm home and we have a lizard". What? He's joking! Nope. He had a lizard and all the goods to go along with it. I was so mad when I saw them I actually said "what the crap?" right in front of the kids. Of course at this point I can't make them take it back or I would break Tayson's heart. UGH!!!

I have the feeling the lizard won't last more than a week or so before he escapes from one of the boys and Shadow eats it. Luke isn't scared at all and loves to hold him but Claire is petrified of the lizard.


The boys made their pet a new home out of Lego's.



He's a very fast lizard so it was hard to get a picture of Tayson holding him. Good thing Todd is fast and can catch it when it gets away.

Flashback Friday - Kittens

My mom got a kitten last year and she just had her first little of her own. Three adorable little kittens. All the grand kids love playing with them. Here are some pictures of the kids with two of them.


Luke and Tayson holding the kittens (Sherry yours is the sweet gray one)


Claire isn't sure if she likes them or not so grandpa was helping her.

Now for the flashback...

We always had at least 1 cat growing up. We had SO many pets. A dog, a cat (or two), a guinea pig, rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, goldfish, frogs, a snapper turtle...and I'm sure I've missed a few. We didn't have all of these pets at the same time. But we had a dog, a cat and at least one other pet all the time. (I could write story after story about our pets growing up and I should so I have them all documented because they are hilarious.)

This is a picture of Patches and one of her litters. Oh how I loved our calico Patches. She was the best cat. She was queen of the house and we would carry her around on a pillow. She was an amazing hunter and every time she had kittens in order to teach them she would bring injured but still alive animals in the house (mice, a baby bird, a baby bunny, moles, etc). She would let her kittens play with them then she would kill them - totally disturbing!!! I remeber crying for hours when I found patches on the side of the road dead. I loved that cat and didn't really like any other cats we had after her.


George, Steve, Danny and Sherry on the front row.
Me on the back row.

Notice the sweet perm? It was my first perm ever and I HATED it. Sherry always called me a poodle and I would cry! My mom threatened me with a perm if I didn't start fixing my hair - and as you can see she won that battle.

Like Father .... Like Son

I decided to put my new blogging camera to good use this past week. Every time I picked up a pair of Todd or Tayson's socks I took a picture.

For some reason they both have a habit of taking off their socks wherever they are and leave them for the house sock fairy (see #18)to take care of. I thought about leaving the socks laying around the house and not washing them until they ran out...but I couldn't handle leaving them for more than a few hours before they drove me crazy and I just picked them up. When Todd realized what I was doing he actually tried to remember to pick up his socks so I would have less evidence.

Here are a few pictures from the past week (the bottom row are all Tayson's socks)

How do you spell....

This morning while I was finishing getting ready for work Luke was in playing nickjr.com on the computer (Claire and Chelsea were both in there too). The game Luke was playing had him type in his name so I heard him spell L-U-K-E while he typed and then I heard the following conversation:

Chelsea: what does that spell?
Luke: bubba
Chelsea: No bubba starts with a buh sound what does L-U-K-E spell?
Luke: It's MY name. It says bubba

Apparently giving him a nickname and calling him it all the time wasn't such a great idea. He can spell and write his name but he thinks it says bubba. He is really going to struggle with reading and phonetics!!! Oh well, it's too late now and really bubba just fits the kid. None of our other kids have nicknames but that one just worked for him. I'm not sure if Claire knows his name is Luke.

A side note: I am hating yummy smelling candles right now! They make me so hungry and I am not supposed to have treats....especially right before bed. UGH!

Pick up lines

While at Chili's for my birthday desert Todd and I were paying more attention to other's conversations than talking (it's a sign of a long, healthy marriage right?). Let me first describe the "players" Boy #1 is in the orange shirt, Boy#2 is the balding one in all black w/shorts and Boy #3 is in jeans and striped polo. The ladies are in red and green behind Todd and weren't co-operating with my stealth photo taking.


I got to use my brand new blogging camera to take a quick photo as the action happened (notice Todd pretending to be the focus of my shot...of course that was just a ploy to not look so obvious)



So we here the following conversation...

Boy #1 to both Ladies: Hey. Can my friend ask you a question?
Ladies: Ummmmm sure
Boy #2: Do you like Boys to Men?
Ladies: some mumbling we couldn't hear
Boy #2: They are only the BEST band of the 20th century.
Ladies: OK
Boy #2: My friend (points to boy #3) is doing their show if you want to come just give him your number and he'll send you an e-vite.
Ladies: So we get an invite or we get to go?
Boy #2: It will put you on the "list" and you are in for sure.
Ladies: No response (that we could hear)
conversation is over.

I was laughing so hard at this conversation and even more at the fact that I pulled out my blogging camera for a quick shot of the scene. I've only done this once before. The rest of the night I kept trying to think back to the single days to the best pick up line ever used on me and for the life of me couldn't remember any. How sad is that!?! I know I had some good ones back in the days.

Any of you have any good ones?

A Perfect Birthday

Yesterday I turned 36 years old! Man that sounds so old and I do NOT feel that old, it must be Todd and the kids that keep me feeling young.

For my birthday I wanted to go on a bike ride and I really wanted Todd to come and who could turn down a birthday request like that. So we loaded our bikes up and headed over to Traci's to ride up Southfork. And this is what we saw...



And here we are....


Hans, Traci and Josie (who obviously did not go on the ride), Kami, Me, Todd, and Leigh Anne

It was a little overcast (we started around 10:30 am) and by the time we got in the canyon and started up the mountain the rain came. It rained on us the entire 4 1/2 miles up (lightning and thunder included) then stopped sometime on our way down. The road was wet and there were lots of leaves on the ground, so it was a little scary and I didn't go fast coming down. Luckily, there were no casualties. Todd rocked the house for his first ride up Southfork! Even with the rain and wind the ride was awesome and we earned the right to a yummy b-day dinner at Cafe Rio.

Then after dinner Todd and I went to Chili's for desert (I really didn't want a whole b-day cake around the house) and we had molten lava cake...yummy!!!



Then we went to see "The Dark Knight". I realize I am way behind the times, but a newborn will do that to you.

It was such a great b-day! I decided I must really like road biking because I got 2 bike jersey's, bike shorts, a bike jacket, a bike pump and a bike ride for my b-day.

AND....I got a sweet new camera just for blogging!!! That's right a small camera that I can take with me everywhere and don't need a college degree to operate (maybe now my pictures will be in focus). Here is the camera Todd bought me in Crimson red.

Flashback Friday

I decided in honor of my b-day tomorrow I would post a birthday picture for my flashback.

Let's go back to 1973 when I turned 1....no memories to go along with this one. I was a little too young to remember. But here I am with my siblings.


Sherry, George, Steve, and me in the front crawling away.

And while I was looking for this picture I came upon this one. I've been thinking A LOT about how similar my little family is to my mom's (at least the first 4 of us). Two boys, then 2 girls...which makes Sophie just like I was positioned in my family. Not that it makes me love her more than my other kids it's just so fun to see the similarities. I wonder if my family will look like this in a few years...minus the crazy 70's outfits of course.


George, Me (in a headlock), Sherry, Steve
I loved my blanket and would wear it like a cape all the time.
Aren't Steve's pants awesome?

Chores

Tayson had his 6 year check up today. We know our doctor really well (he went to med school with my bro) and he is so great. The kids quote him around the house ... "Dr. B said we shouldn't let people see our privates" or "Dr. B said I shouldn't eat this treat so I can be healthy". So I love the talks he has with my kids at their checkups.

Today he was talking to Tayson about doing chores around the house. Here is part of their conversation

Dr. B: Tayson do you do chores?
Tayson: Yeah...I set the table and I clear it off after dinner and when Luke and Claire forget to put their dishes in the sink I do it for them.
Dr. B: Do you get extra privileges for doing extra chores?
Tayson: ....long pause.....
Dr. B: Like staying up later than your baby sister?
Tayson: Yeah
Dr. B: Who does the most chores at your house?
Tayson: I don't know
Dr. B: Does your mom do a lot of chores?
Tayson: Nope. None that I ever see.
Dr. B: Does she fix you dinner and breakfast?
Tayson: Well, yeah.
Dr. B: And does your mom get extra privileges like staying up later than you?
Tayson: Yeah
Dr. B: Does your dad do chores?
Tayson: Only one. He vacuums.
Dr. B: He goes to work too. So you can have food to eat and a house to live in.
Tayson: Yeah he does.

What happened here? At the end of the appointment the doc told me I should make sure my kids know when I'm doing chores. So I guess I'll just be walking around the house constantly saying... "Tayson I'm picking up your socks, which I will put in the dirty clothes basket, then wash, then fold, then put away so you have clean socks to wear" or "Tayson, I'm going to go to work now to earn money, then I'll go to the store to use that money to buy food, then I'll put it all away, then I'll use it to fix your dinner, then I'll clean up after I fix dinner and after we eat dinner"

OK I'm done ranting about chores. It's just funny to me that I actually have to point out the "chores" I do around the house so that I can earn extra privileges like staying up late (to get more chores done) when I would much rather just go to bed!

On a side note: the kid is healthy and growing up too fast!

Where were you....

This post is VERY late due to an extremely busy week...but I didn't want to go without posting it.

In September 2001 I went on a "girls only" trip with two of my college friends Amy and Kati. The plan was to spend a few days with our old roomie Kris in Washington DC then head up to NYC.

While in DC we did all the great sight seeing for the first few days.


Amy, Kati and I at the Washington Monument


Amy, Kati, Kris and I at the Arlington National Cemetery


On the day we went to the museums it poured down so we bought these sweet blue rain parkas at the Smithsonian and cruised around DC for the rest of the day in them. Yes, we got plenty of good double takes that day.


Amy, Kati and I at the Washington DC Temple

Then on the morning of September 11 we were heading to NYC for the last 4 days of our trip. While Kris was up getting ready for work that morning she was watching the Today Show and woke up with the horrible news. We all sat there glued to the TV. We were in her apartment when we heard the crash of the plane into the Pentagon. We could smell the burning from where we were. We decided to head to the grocery store to get extra water and some food "just in case". That night we drove by the Pentagon and saw it burning (I couldn't find the pictures to post). The phone lines were too busy to call out so it took a long time for me to get a hold of Todd and let him know I was ok. He thought we were already in NYC since that was the plan.

Obviously, at this point our trip to NYC was cancelled. We spent a few days doing nothing but watching TV and crying. It was next to impossible to get a rental car, but Kati's dad (who travels a lot) got us a rental car "just in case". Luckily, the airports were back up and running by the 15th when we flew out. My flight was scheduled to leave at 5:30 pm - I don't remember what time I finally left Baltimore but I finally got to SLC at 3:45 am.


Our awesome rental car



It's hard to explain the way I felt at the time. I missed Todd SO much (thank goodness I didn't have any kids yet). I felt so much pride in our country and so much hurt for those who died as well as their families. I am so grateful that we were safe and hadn't left for NY yet.

You haven't changed a bit....

So I joined Face book yesterday (I know I'm totally behind the times) and it's been crazy because I am getting back in touch with people I haven't talked to in 18 years. That's right most everyone from high school I haven't seen since graduation back in 1990. However they all keep saying "you haven't changed a bit".

Do I really look the same???


Then


Now

Traci's Yummy Treats

Here is the recipe for the yummy treats Traci brought on Friday. No these are not part of my diet....but they are so good!

Peanut Butter Yum Treats

All of these are approximations. So Add more or take away of whatever
ingredients aren't your favorite...


1 & 1/2 bag of white chocolate chips
1 & 1/4 C peanut butter

Melt together in pyrex bowl in microwave or in double boiler on stove
to prevent burning.
Pour over...

8 C rice krispies
1 bag of small marshmallows
1/2 bag milk chocolate chips
1/2 bag mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix well and pour onto a greased cookie sheet. Refrigerate until
set. Break apart or cut before serving. Best flavor is at room
temperature, but are yummy cold too.

A Fun Filled Weekend

Man this weekend was jam packed ... I didn't have anytime to blog at all! Friday night was the fathers and sons camp out for our ward. Todd took both boys this year which was FABULOUS. I made Todd a nice healthy foil dinner with turkey burger and veggies and sent some hot dogs and marshmallows for the boys (not so healthy...oh well). They had a good time, but it was very cold and none of them got any sleep.

Our girls night was super fun and my little ladies have some adorable hair bows now. Thank goodness that I have so many friends with mad craft skills. My speciality was hot gluing the ribbons on the clips in preparation for the bows or flowers. It was so much fun and I tried really hard to limit the amount of super yummy treats I consumed (don't worry Traci's recipe is coming soon).

Saturday morning I got out on my bike and we rode up to Southfork. It was my first ride since last November and I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. Which is probably why I ate a bug on my way down the canyon! I was so much fun riding with the ladies and I still have a few more months of beautiful fall weather here. I love my bike and I love that I have such a great group of friends to ride with.

Then on Sunday it was my week to teach and Todd was set apart as Ward Clerk. So he has 6 hours of meetings to look forward every Sunday morning from now on. I'm not sure which will be harder for me: getting Todd out of bed before 7:00 am or getting all the kids ready and to church on time by myself.

When we were leaving church the minivan battery was dead so we decided to walk home. It was beautiful outside. The kids were hilarious. They kept saying we didn't know how to get home and that we would NEVER make it home. Silly kids. So today I got to go get a new battery. Ugh!

I promise that I will set aside more time to blog properly....pictures and everything!

Vegetable Soup Recipe

Note: I added the missing zucchini to the ingredients (2 cups)

Here is the yummy very healthy soup I made this week.

10 cups fat-free chicken broth, low sodium
4 red potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
4 cups onions, quartered
1 cup carrots, sliced 1 inch thick
3 cups celery, sliced 1 inch thick
2 cups zucchini, sliced 1 inch thick
8 ounces tomato sauce, canned
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 bunch cilantro, chopped
dash of black pepper

1. In a Large stockpot, combine the chicken broth, potatoes, onions, carrots, and celery. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-high and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes

2. Add the zucchini, tomato sauce, garlic, parsley, and cilantro. Reduce heat to medium-Low and cook for 10 to 15 minutes more, or until the zucchini is just tender. Season to taste with black pepper and serve.

Makes 18 Servings

Nutrition per serving:
49 Calories
0 g Fat
7 g Protein
10 g Carbohydrate
0 mg Cholesterol
377 mg Sodium

2 Months Old

I took Sophie in for her 2 month check up at the same time as Luke for his 4 year old checkup (and Tayson's 6 yr checkup is next week). One less trip to the doctor's office....one of the many joys of having all your kids on a rigorous 2 year schedule :)

Sophie weighed in at 11 lbs 4 oz (70th) and is 24.5 inches long (90th) with a head size of 38 cm and Luke was 38 lbs and 41 inches long. They are both as healthy as could be. I am so grateful for the my kids good health.

I had decided before the visit that I was going to wait on Sophie's immunizations (it's not that I'm against them I just think she's too little) and the crazy part is that my doc was out of them anyway so I didn't even get pressured at all. Yippee!

I'm not sure why but the most recent pictures I have of both Luke and Sophie are bath pictures...


Luke was having so much fun in the bath
and I just love how happy he is in this picture.


Sophie does not like her bath as you can see. It's one of the only times she cries. I think this face is adorable even though she's about to cry.

Just for my own journal keeping I thought I would also document what the other 3 were at their 2 month appointment.

Tayson was 24.5 inches long and 13 lbs 7 oz and his tiny head was 37.5 cm
Luke was 24 inches long and 14 lbs 8 oz
Claire was 23 inches long and 11 lbs 12 oz (Sophie and Claire were almost the exact same size at birth)

Me in the kitchen?

I have had no time to blog because I've been too busy shopping (I had no idea what Arugula was until last Saturday), cooking and working out for this contest.

I actually made 3 complete meals yesterday (I feel like Julia Childs).
breakfast: mushroom omelets with fresh strawberries and cottage cheese
lunch: chef salad
dinner: salmon, wild rice (not even rice-a-roni), asparagus and vegetable soup.

And since I have to make all of Todd's meals from scratch (that's right I made vegetable soup from scratch...could ya die?) I've decided that we will all be eating P90X food for dinner. I don't have the time or energy to make 2 full meals.

Yesterday when Tayson got home from school we had this conversation:

Tayson: "mom, what is that yummy smell can I have some?"

Me: "sure it's soup I'm making for dad's diet so he'll get skinnier and stronger"

Tayson: "OK, but I don't want the skinny part just the strong part so take out the diet for mine"

BTW...the soup was delicious and way low in calories (only 49 calories in a serving) if you want the recipe let me know!

P.S. Did ya hear about Lance?

Flashback Friday - High School Tag

I saw this tag on Lindsay's blog last week and thought it would be a fun one to do.

1. Did you date someone from your High School?
Nope. I didn't date until I got to the Y – and boy did I have fun making up for the missed high school years.

2. What kind of car did you drive?
A brown datsun 210. What a car too. My oldest brother George bought it before his mission then it got passed down (I'm #4) when you stopped you had to keep one foot on the clutch (it was manual) and the other foot on the brake and gas at the same time or it would die. It also had some battery problems occasionally which would require a quick wiggle with a screwdriver (which I kept in the glove box) and it would shock you sometimes when the car would finally start. Yep, we had to drive this peach of a car to the prom because the other cars were all in the shop. George washed and waxed it and it looked worse when the dirt wasn't covering up the scratches on the outside. So many great memories with that car.


This was the only picture I could find of my car - see the prom question below to see why George is helping Denise into my car.

3. What was the most embarrassing moment of High School for you?
I don't get embarrassed to easily – but it was probably when I was walking up to the front of Psychology to turn in my test and got my shorts pulled down. I pulled them up and kept walking like nothing happened. Or when they were announcing cross country results on the loud speaker one day and they called me “Gil Schultz” instead of Kathy because Sherry told them that's what I liked to be called. (someday I'll have to do a post on that nickname)

4. Were you a party animal?
No. I was one of the few Mormons in my school and everyone knew that I was Mormon and didn't drink, chew, smoke, etc. I went to the parties after the football and basketball games but never partied.

5. Were you considered a flirt?
Nope.

6. Were you in Band, Orchestra, or Choir?
I played the clarinet my freshman year to get my music credit but didn't have to be in the “band” since I was on the drill team. Then I didn't play again after freshman year. Good thing everyone in my family made fun of me when I practiced, even Sheba (our German Shepard) would howl so I never practiced.

7. Were you a nerd?
No. I got good grades, but I wasn't a nerd. You might think so reading that I didn't date, got good grades and didn't party. But I was never a nerd.

8. Were you on any Varsity teams?
Yes. I ran Cross Country (2 years), Track (1 year), Drill Team (2 years) and I even got a varsity letter for grades (lame).

I posted these pictures a while back...but they fit well with this post so I threw them back in.

Freshman Year


Sophomore Year



9. Did you ever get suspended/expelled?
Nope. I was such a good kid in H.S. I think I got detention once for tardies.

10. Can you still sing the fight song?
I don't think my school had a fight song...do any of you siblings of mine remember one?

11. Who were your favorite teachers?
I can't for the life of me remember their names...my Biology teacher (he was hot and just out of college), my Trig and Pre-Calc teacher (Mrs. Bell maybe?). I hated my Algebra teacher!

12. Where did you sit during lunch?
We had a closed campus so we had to stay at school. I just sat with my friends. There was really nothing special about lunch at FHHS - unless you include the lunch money story (this will need to be it's own flashback post someday).

13. What was your school's full name?
Francis Howell High School

14. School mascot?
The Vikings


15. Did you go to Homecoming? With who?

Sophomore Year. I went with a big group.


Junior Year. Group again...remember I didn't date!


Senior Year. I went with Budge Tungate.
Sara and I before the dance.


Budge, Duane, Danny (my bro) and Alex
(do those guys look awesome or what).

Can you believe I doubled with my younger brother to homecoming and my older brother to prom? At least they were never my dates :)

16. If you could go back and do it again, would you?
Sure. Everyone needs to go to high school. I didn't love or hate high school it was just part of my life. If you asked me this about college I would say “heck yea!” I loved college.

17. What do you remember most about graduation?
Graduation was lame for me because I graduated a semester early and came back just to walk so it wasn't anything special. I do remember the guy who sat next to me (can't remember his name) was a big jock and he wanted to wear my honor society ropes so I let him.



Every year on the last day of school we had a huge shaving cream fight.


18. Where did you go Senior Skip Day?
I was in Paris for senior skip day, and senior prom, and the whole second semester of my senior year.

How do you like the sweet pegged jeans and Reebok high tops I'm sporting in Paris?


19. Were you in any clubs?
Honor society and DECA

20. Have you gained some weight since then?
I graduated from high school at 106 pounds – what do you think?

21. Who was your Prom Date?
Prom...seeing as I didn't date in High School I hadn't gotten asked yet my mom decided to set me up. Set me up! Yep, I went on a blind date to the prom my Junior year. I don't even remember his name (Mike maybe) and I have no pictures with him. Obviously it was a memorable date. The best part is that my neighbor asked George (who was already home from his mission) to the prom. So I doubled with my RM brother, we drove the brown datsun and I had to climb into the back seat of a 2 door car with my blind date that my mom set me up with!!!

George and I before prom. I have several pictures of us together and none with my date. Ha ha!


22. 10 year Reunion? Are you planning on going?
My 10 year was a long time ago and I didn't go. My 20 year is coming up in 2 short years and I doubt I'll go that either. I hear the reunions are just a bunch of drunk people none of whom I have kept in touch with. So it's not very tempting.

23. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself?
I would do high school the same so I don't know what advice I would give myself. Maybe I could tell myself to keep running cross country so that I could be a faster runner now that I'm older.

Confessions

There are so many things I do that I shouldn't and now it's time to just confess them all...

I finally got so tired of Claire not sleeping through the night that her door knob is now switched around and we lock her in her room at night.

I got a speeding ticket a few days ago while driving the pre-school carpool. Sorry Leigh Anne! I haven't gotten a ticket in like 8 years I think the cops around here must target mom's in minivans who are too busy quoting movies with their kids or looking for binkies (while driving) that they don't have time to check their speed.

I am glad the boys are in school and I LOVE how quiet my house is when they AREN'T home. Is that bad?

Yesterday instead of fixing my kids dinner I took them to the mall food court to eat so I could buy a new body fat analyzing scale.

While at the mall Claire hit her head so hard she now has a HUGE goose egg. (see below)



Tonight at the RS fall harvest I took cucumbers and tomatoes from my mom's garden because I don't have a garden of my own.

The reason Sophie sleeps so good is because I put her on her tummy and she LOVES it and sleeps for 10-12 hours straight.

I bribe Tayson to read, do homework, not fight, eat his dinner, etc. with treats.

I spent half my day yesterday reading about Nie Nie instead of doing actual work like I was supposed to be doing now that maternity leave is officially over.

I left Sophie today to go into work for a few hours. And since I have been too lazy to give her one I left Chelsea to see if she would take a bottle. Thank goodness she's a great baby she took it no problem.

I wear a girdle out in public sometimes because I'm too prideful and don't like my flabby tummy. Shouldn't I just embrace this "motherly" body I have?

I really hate flossing. I am a big brusher and I use Listerine daily...but I am so bad at flossing (unless I have just eaten corn on the cob or an apple).

I turn movies on for my kids in the minivan everywhere we go (even if we are driving the half mile to my parents house).

I feel better now that I have gotten all of this out in the open.

Sophie's Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celeb - Collage - Morph

The Contest

In my desperation to lose the baby weight I asked Todd and Timmy if they wanted to have a weight loss contest. I know my competitive side will kick in to keep me motivated. We are all putting in $100 and the winner takes it all. Wanna join us to up the ante?

We are officially starting next Monday. I started a week ago (and I've lost 2 lbs woo hoo). The boys are actually eating really bad to gain a few extra pounds to shed so they can win. I'm not willing to add any extra pounds that I will just have to lose. I'd rather lose the contest :)

The winner will be determined by highest percent of body weight lost. We are doing before pictures, measurements, body fat and overall weight at the start and finish. (I will not be posting my before picture until I have an after picture. It is just too depressing)

We are all doing different programs. Todd is doing P90X. Timmy is doing high protein and low overall calories. I'm counting calories on sparkpeople and we've added weights to our normal workouts (we already do 5 days of cardio a week).

I plan on posting more stuff and our progress on my fitness blog. So feel free to check it out and cheer us on.

Claire's Ears

We are convinced that Claire has another ear infection. She has had her tubes for less than a month and already she is up again at night and running a low grade fever and asking me for drops in her ears!!!

bah....

I am soooo tired of this. I really thought tubes would fix all our problems but nothing has changed. And to top it off I can't get in to see the ENT doctor until my already scheduled post-op appointment on Friday. I'm not sure I can last that long with a grouchy daughter who won't sleep from 2-4 am. We have been so careful not to get water in her ears during bath time and I won't let her play in the hose or go in the water at all besides washing her hair but still I have to deal with this. So annoying. I sure hope the doctor has some relief to offer us or I might just send Claire back for the model with good ears!

Smile

My little girl is finally smiling and every once in a while I get a sweet coo out of her and it melts my heart.

I can't believe she is 8 weeks old today. The time really has flown by. She is such a good baby. She eats good and she sleeps GREAT! She goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:30 (depending on how bedtime is going with the other kids) and I wake her up to feed her around 5:00 before going to workout. On the weekends when I don't get up so early she'll sleep until 7:00 or 7:30. She's amazing and I am so thankful because I need the sleep. Now if I could just get Claire to go back to sleeping through the night I could get rid of the big circles under my eyes.

Out on the Lake

I finally made it out on the lake this summer and it's a good thing we went Friday afternoon because it got very cold and rainy.


Sophie with her grandma


Tayson tubing. He won't let my dad drive fast so he gets bored easy but if we speed up the boat he won't go. He's so silly.


Claire


It felt good to ski. Although my muscles are pretty sore even from the short time I skied. I am out of shape!