Halloween fun

The party went well. The weather was amazing! The kids were playing outside after they got done trick or treating- not usual for Halloween in SD. I was standing outside waiting for trick or treaters, the kids didn't have to have on snow apparel under their costumes- very unusual for Halloween in SD. I didn't get very many pics of just our kids in their costumes cuz by the time we were all dressed and ready their friends were already showing up for the party! I did manage to have one of Haley's friends take a pic of our family quick before the rest of the kids arrived.

The mummy wrap game:




Even got Kyra and Dan to join in:

Bobbing for apples:

The cutest little dinosaur you ever did see:

Scott is out of town this weekend at a photographer seminar. The kids and I kept pretty busy yesterday. We cleaned the house, got groceries, put away the Halloween decorations. We took Colleen to Look's Market with us. Scott wants me to make him some buffalo chili and I was feeling like I needed some moral support to go to the market. She was a good sport and went with eventhough she probably thought I was crazy. We went out for supper with Steve and Colleen, came home and all 4 of us snuggled in my bed and watched Lion King. If the weather is still really nice today, we might hit the zoo for a little while. Really we should just stay home and clean up the backyard before the snow flies. Maybe we can get that done while Will takes a nap........

Pumpkin fun

There are so many things I could say about tonight's family project, but I think I will let the pictures do most of the talking for me.....

So, as you can see, Will loved helping daddy carve a pumpkin! Yeah, we carved pumpkins a couple weeks ago because the girls and I were all excited and couldn't wait. Well, those pumpkins are looking really sad and wilted so we got a couple new ones at Hy-vee (slim pickin' there) and carved them up when we got home.

I am really excited about throwing a party tomorrow for the kids. I hope they have fun- the weather sounds like it's going to cooperate and everything. YEAH!

Another weekend blown away

Literally- BLOWN, yesterday was so windy we had white caps in our toilets. Sanford Women's was having a fall family festival yesterday. It was supposed to be at McHardy park in Brandon. Thankfully they moved it indoors to Brandon Lutheran church. There weren't a lot of people there, I think most of them looked at the trees blowing over and never even thought to check to see if it had been moved.

We spent Friday and Saturday at the Expo for Her at the convention center. For being 2 days of standing in one spot, it could have been worse. It was steadily busy, so that is always a big help. Hopefully Scott will get a few calls this week for some sessions.

I don't think we have anything going on tonight. Tomorrow night Haley has a music concert at school. Wednesday night Hannah will be gone for Order of St George- I think Haley and I will start cleaning out the garage. Thursday night is Hannah's conferences and major garage cleaning. Friday night is Halloween and the party. Gonna be another busy week. Scott is leaving us for the weekend to go to a photography convention, so it will be a long weekend for me too.

Anyone want to go to work for me today? I feel like I need a couple days at home to get caught up on some stuff........No takers? Fine, I better go get ready then.

Thank goodness it's raining!

The only reason I say that I am glad it is raining is cuz I am not ready for snow. There is snow falling not too far from here. We have gotten 2 inches of rain in the last 2 days and it is still coming down. That would have been like 2 feet of snow! YUCK!

I spent yesterday at home with Haley and Will. Haley didn't feel good when she got up and by 6:00 she was throwing up. I sent her to bed and she slept until a little after 10. Once she got up, she was fine. It was nice spending a few hours alone with Will. We read, did some puzzles, worked on writing W, cleaned his toybox and played tickle monster. I don't get to spend a lot of one on one time with him. He really is a funny little boy. He reminds me so much of Haley at that age. Super independent, but if he wants help with something he wants it now! Hannah has always been a lot more easy going. I wouldn't want them to all be the same, how unexciting that woud be!

I went to the dentist yesterday and I was sure I had at least 3 cavities. My mouth has been so sore lateley. Turns out no cavities, no cracked teeth, just receding gums exposing nerves. When the dentist sprayed cold air on a couple of spots, my butt came off the chair. "I think we found the sensitive spot" Well, DUH! He told me to change to sensitive toothpaste and gave me a rx for some flouride treatments that I need to do everyday. If that doesn't help, I may end up with a root canal somewhere down the line. Oh joy!

I suppose I should go take a shower and get ready for work. Tomorrow I have the day off to help Scott at the Expo for Her. Hopefully we will get some more portrait sittings out of the 2 days of sitting in one spot! Since it was my idea for him to have a booth there, I feel like I should be there the whole time so he can leave if he wants to......hopefully it's not as boring as a bridal show.

Ok- seriously- gotta go get in the shower!

The end of a fun busy weekend

Usually our weekends are really busy with work related stuff. This weekend was maybe more busy than most, but it was with fun-related stuff. Saturday morning I went shopping with my mom and finally found a new comforter for our bed. We also went shoe shopping and hit a couple of stores in the mall. Hannah had her last soccer game of the season Saturday afternoon. Haley had a lego league meeting from 4-6. While Haley was at her meeting Colleen and I took Hannah and Will shopping for Halloween decorations and other party stuff. We got some really cool stuff, just need to find some lights or something yet. We picked up Haley and went out for supper. Pretty busy Saturday for not having a wedding!

Yesterday we went to Omaha to take pictures. Long trip for pics, but it was nice. We met up with a photographer that Scott knows there and wandered around the Old Market and an abandoned train depot. We took the kids to the "big slides" for a little bit and then hit Applebees before heading back home. Oh- I almost forgot- I got to have Schlotzsky's for lunch too!

All in all, we weren't home much this weekend, but we did get some family time in. Michael even took some family pics and some of just Scott and I. Hopefully he got some good stuff. I would love to have some new stuff for my office.

I haven't had time to figure out how busy we are this week. I don't think we have anything going on tonight, but past that I have no idea!

Better go get ready for a super fun Monday! (maybe if I tell myself it will be super fun, that will help?)

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

I am quite excited about the fact that it is Friday. We don't have a wedding this weekend, I am going out for supper with some friends tonight, and we are actually planning a family outing on Sunday! WOO HOO!

Last night the kids and I worked on pumpkins. Will and I painted and the girls carved. I don't have a lot to talk about this morning, but I wanted to post some pics of the pumpkins in progress. We didn't take any of the completed pumpkins- it was getting kind of late by the time they were done.

Chef Haley

Ok so she's not into fine cuisine or anything, but Haley is learning how to cook. She asked me to start teaching her how to make a few things. So far her "specialty" is french toast. I have been having her help me with supper at night just so she can learn a little bit about cooking. Now, I know, I am not the world's greatest cook, but my family seems to be getting along just fine. I won't be the one to teach her the fine art of cooking, but I can certainly give her the basics. Besides, I can't see Haley wanting to learn how to make new and creative dishes!

Yellow pumpkins?

Well, the kids and I finally got around to making the sugar cookies tonight. I went to make the frosting and found out we didn't have any red food coloring left. Kind of hard to make orange without red. When Haley saw the yellow frosting she said "Since when is yellow a Halloween color?" My smart butt comment was "since mommy doesn't feel like making a trip to the store just for food coloring". So we have yellow pumpkins, yellow cats and yellow ghosts. What the heck, they will all taste the same anyway and I wasn't planning to enter them in any contest so who cares? The girls handed out invites to the Halloween party today so I guess I can't back out now. Hopefully not all the kids they invited can come, I think between the two of them they invited over 30 kids. That would be a little more than I am prepared for. I don't think it will be an issue though. Having the party on Halloween night will probably keep a few of them from coming. That and a few of the kids are of religions that don't celebrate Halloween.

I suppose I should get some work done. The laundry room is calling my name........wait maybe that's the bills on the counter......or maybe the dishes in the sink........or .....nope, I know it is the couch and blanket calling for me to snuggle and watch House. Yup, that's got to be it!

Hannah the mechanic?

After 2 years of desperately needing new tires and brakes on his truck, Scott finally decided to take care of it. We got tires a couple of weeks ago and that made the brake issue even more pressing. This week Scott decided to fix the brakes himself. This week he also decided to paint the garage floor again. So- we have a nice clean shiny garage floor that we can't drive on for a week. Not the best timing to have to fix a vehicle, but that's the way life goes most times. For some reason, Hannah decided she wanted to help daddy fix the brakes. I guess Scott even had her using the impact wrench and taking off nuts. She is the girlier of the two girls so I think it's kind of strange that she is the one out helping, but whatever. I think Scott probably taught her the usage of some 4 letter words- he was having a tough time getting the rotors off. As long as she doesn't use the experience for show and tell at school it shouldn't be a problem!

Well, today is Saturday. Hannah has a soccer game at 9. We have a wedding in Luverne from 12-4. Tomorrow we have a bridal show all day. One of those weekends where no matter how fast I move, I will not get anything accomplished. I cleaned the house last night. This morning I mixed up some sugar cookie dough. The girls really want to make Halloween cut outs. I figured they could make cookies with grandma today. If grandma doesn't want to make them, we can do it this evening instead. I think pumpkin carving and painting will have to wait until next week, but that's ok.

I suppose I'd better get everybody ready for the game. At least it's not raining!

Too busy or uneventful life?

It's been awhile since I posted. I'm not sure if it's because I have just been really busy or if it's because we haven't really had a lot of excitement. I haven't been taking any pictures lately so that's part of it. I really want to take more pictures of everyday life, cuz the kids are growing up so fast. Colleen told me about a place that will print out your blog- pictures and all- and make a book out of it. I need to look into that. Sounds like a wonderful thing to have for the future.

We are busy trying to plan a Halloween party. I am going to let both girls invite some friends for games and trick or treating. I don't know how many kids will come since we are doing it on Halloween, but I figured I should take advantage of the years that the girls will let me help plan a party for their friends. Haley is getting dangerously close to being "too old" to let mom help. I am not looking forward to that, but she is so much like me that I know it is inevitable.

Ok s0 how perceptive are you? For the detail oriented, you will notice that it is 5:30 in the morning and I am blogging. Why is that strange? I should be out running. Coulda, shoulda, didn't. The alarm went off this morning, I got dressed to go running, I came downstairs and decided to go on the elliptical instead of freezing my butt off outside. I was on the elliptical for about 10 minutes and I couldn't take the clunking noise anymore- it needs a new bearing or something. So here I am - burning calories by typing. I think I am going to have to start doing my dvds in the morning. It is getting awful cold out overnight. I am definitely not a die hard runner. No winter running for me!

A quick request from those of you who read this. Please pray for my uncle Marv DeRuyter. He had surgery yesterday to remove a large mass from his thyroid. He has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. His surgery was pretty extensive and now they are waiting on some path reports. I am sure his family would appreciate a few extra prayers lifted up for them.

Well, I'd better at least do a few crunches this morning before I hit the showers. I'll see what I can do about blogging a little more often- I'll even try to get some more pics on here!

Proud of my girls.....

Today was the last day of the Sioux Falls running club race for the kids. The girls did awesome. We had set goals for the girls so they could earn supper out and ice cream. Hannah's goal was to run her 1/2 mile in less than 4:30. Last week she ran it in 4:58. Today she ran it in 4:26. Haley's goal was to run her mile in less than 9 minutes. Last week she ran it in 9:29. Today she ran it in 9:09. Sooooo close to making it by her goal. Since both girls tried so hard and improved so much from the first race, I took them out for supper- McDonalds and then to Cold Stone for ice cream. Eventhough Haley didn't technically make her goal I was so proud of both of them for trying hard and not stopping to walk at all. The three of us had been going out at night and running a mile together to practice. I hope I can convince them to still go running with me eventhough the races are done. I think it is a good habit for them to get some activity every day. They spend so much time inside playing or reading and soon it will be too cold to go outside very much.

Ok- enough mommy gushing. I need to go tuck in all of my angels. Have a nice night!

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy B-day to me! I am (gulp) 31 today! You know 30 wasn't so bad, so I suppose 31 will be just fine too. Scott bought me a carpet cleaner for my b-day and he even used it already! When I got off work yesterday he had the living room floor cleaned. I know, I know, men are not supposed to buy that kind of thing as a gift, but honestly it's what I wanted. Flowers are great, but they die. Jewelry is wonderful, but I can only wear so much at one time. Really- keeping our house looking nice is way more important to me anyway. I take pride in keeping a clean house, so when it's gross, I feel gross. Make sense?

Anyway, I will be spending my 31st b-day at a stranger's wedding. Oh well- that's the life of a photographer's wife! The kids are going to spend the night with mom and dad so that Scott and I can go out after the wedding. It will be nice to not have to worry about getting home right away so that grandma can go home. I don't know what we are going to do, I would like to go out to eat and maybe have a couple drinks. I would love to go somewhere that we could dance a little, but there isn't really a good place for that around here- Buck's is too country for us. Oh well, we never have really been big partiers so why start now?

Well, I'd better go get ready for today's wedding! Have a piece of cake for me today!

Running cuz it's fun!

The girls are participating in the Sioux Falls Running Club's cross country races again this year. It's 3 Wednesdays, no cost, no "competition", just running to run. Haley's group has to run 1 mile, Hannah's group has to run 1/2 mile. The first run was last Wednesday. Yesterday both girls improved on their times from last week. I made a deal with them that if Haley can run her mile in under 9 minutes and Hannah can run her 1/2 mile in under 4:30, I will take them out for supper and to coldstone after the last race. Yesterday Haley ran her mile in 9:29 and Hannah ran her 1/2 mile in 4:59. Both girls want to run with me every night to practice cuz they really want cold stone! I really like these "races" because although there is a timer up, there are no prizes for the fastest. All of the kids get a popsicle when they are done, so they all feel like they've accomplished something. I think it's a great way to get kids out and moving! Here are a couple pics I took yesterday as the girls were running. The one of Haley is as she is finishin up her first lap- she had to run 2 laps. The one of Hannah is supposed to be her "finish line sprint".

Big news!

Nope, just kidding. Got you to start reading though didn't it? Not much happening lately. I know I passed a Sunday and didn't do a weigh in report. That's cuz I am working on revamping my diet plan. I hit a wall with the last one and need to come up with something different. I think what I really need is some kind of implanted device that will render me completely paralyzed every time I try to eat something I shouldn't. I don't have a problem with getting up in the morning and working out. It's the evening munchies that win out in the end. But, lucky for you, I won't be writing about my weight for a little while. Maybe my next diet will be a secret and one day you will see me and exclaim "Wow, you're hot!" A girl can dream right?

Work is starting to settle down. The new dr is still trying to get in her groove, but it's coming along. The reception department has lost a few people recently so I have been spending my down time helping out on the phones. Boy am I glad I don't do that full time anymore!

What else is happening.......we had a bridal show on Sunday, it was busy but we didn't really have a lot of people that were talking to us. I think with our pricing, we are going to be a lot less busy. I'm not sure what I think about that. I guess as long as we are busy enough to keep the same amount of money coming in, we should be ok. With the economy going to crap, I wonder how much people are really going to spend on their weddings anymore. Might be lots of Vegas weddings in the future.

Haley made it on to the "lego league" team at her school. They are going to be building robots for a competetition. She is pretty excited. It will mean some afterschool meetings and probably a Saturday or two, but I think it's great that she wants to do some more creative, critical thinking kind of things. You can never go wrong with that kind of experience!

Well, I suppose I should get ready for work. Seems like it's going to be one of those days where I am just not in the mood to work. Too bad I think one of my supervisors is going to be working my front desk today. Guess I will just have to pretend to be working!

Have a good one!

Can you catch a spider with a clamp????

This morning Hannah was getting ready to take a shower when she noticed a cute little friend in the tub......

Of course, being Hannah, she wouldn't dream of stepping into the tub and disturbing him. When mommy wouldn't go help her, she resorted to calling for Will. Will went in to check out the situation. From the living room , we could hear him say "Don't touch him Hannah, I will be right back." Will went to his room for what I assumed would be either his hammer or screwdriver, but lo and behold he comes out with a CLAMP! At this point I thought, "I have got to get a picture of this!"

Will was leaning way over the edge of the tub holding out his clamp saying "come here little spider, come here". Well little spider would have nothing of the sorts and mommy finally had to intervene with a kleenex. Poor Hannah almost had herself a heart attack when I tried to hand her the spider filled kleenex. One quick flush and our new little friend was gone.

Later Will had to go potty and he said he needed to use mommy's bathroom. When I asked him why he said cuz he didn't want to pee on the spider!

Life with Will is never going to be dull!

Life thru the eyes of a 2 year old

Oh excuse me 2 1/2 year old. I don't really have much to blog about but there have been some cute Willisms lately that I thought I would share.

Ask him how old he is " I am 2 1/2." (he's not really- he won't be officially 2 1/2 until 10/18)

Ask him what his name is " Will, W I L L, Will" Sometimes just for good measure he will add an extra l or two when spelling his name.

At precisely 4 45 this morning Will was crying for me. It wasn't the usual "mommy, I have to go potty", so I peek in his door and ask him what is wrong. "Hannah stole my lawnmover". Well my dear little bubba, Hannah is still asleep way up in her bed, so I don't think she has your lawnmower.

The other day we were at Amy's and she and I were talking about the weather and how pretty soon we will be playing in the snow. Will piped in with "you can't play in the snow until you have your glubs on" And somewhere in the conversation about why there isn't snow "the snowblower needs to make it snow and it's turned off right now."

When I asked Will what he was going to do with daddy today "we are going to do stuff with screwdrivers"

At last but not least- when he hasn't pooped for a couple days and finally is able to- he has to look at it and always says "it's like a baseball!"

Have a good night!

Blah blah blah

That is how I am feeling about my diet. BLAH freaking BLAH! Yup, it's Sunday and I got on the scale and YUP- my weight went up again. Today will be bad cuz we are having kick off Sunday at church so there will be food and then we have a potluck at Dr Bell's house tonight - so there will be lots of food. That means that I have to kick my will power into high gear the rest of the week. I know what the problem is, I just can't stop myself from snacking. I need to redirect my energies into working out or something instead.





This past week was pretty uneventful. Work was still pretty stressful, but that should be getting better slowly. There was a surprise this week- Travis is home! He showed up unannounced on Thursday and is here until next Sunday. He stopped by the studio on Friday and got to see Will, so he stopped by the house yesterday to see the girls. Hannah decided he was pretty comfortable to cuddle with. I did get Will close enough to him to get a picture of all 3 kids with their uncle.


The weather has been pretty yucky the past couple of days. Hannah's soccer game was even cancelled yesterday due to rain. It's looking pretty dreary today too. Guess we won't be at the Sunday School kickoff too long if the rain comes. That's ok- I think Scott has some running around he wants to do today and then it's off to the potluck!

Seriously, is it Friday yet?

This has been a really really long week. I don't know if it was being at work at 7 two days in a row, the stress at work that I'm not used to dealing with anymore, not going running in the morning, who knows- probably a combination of everything, but this week has seemed neverending. Tomorrow is finally Friday!

Got an email from mom this afternoon saying that Travis is home. Huh, didn't expect that. I'm not sure what prompted this visit and he probably won't tell me either. Hopefully we will get to spend a little bit of time with him. The girls love picking on him so I am sure Will is going to as well. We don't have a wedding this weekend so they won't be able to spend all day Saturday driving him crazy like they usually do when he is home.

Not much else going on in my life. Scott is trying like crazy to get more sessions at the studio. Seems to be working a little - he has booked a few family sessions for the next couple of weeks. I don't know what happened to our big plan of trying to get caught up this summer, but we are no farther ahead than we were in March. Might be a long winter for us. I guess we just keep plugging away and doing what we can with what we have.

Well, Scott is out shooting tonight and the kids are getting ready for bed. Maybe I will crash a little early too.

stress is very bad for my diet

Well I'm not stuck at 147.8 again this week- nope- went up. ARGH! I am a major stress eater and this week was very bad for that. I am back up to 149. Know what that means? This week I am going to have to torture myself. I think it's going to be about time to start working out to dvd's in the morning again. It is getting really cold during the night and the daylight time is getting much shorter. I think Tony Horton (p-90x guy) and I will be spending our mornings sweating together again. I hope to still be able to get some running in - probably in the evenings. If the weather warms up a little again I can run in the dark too.

We had a wedding yesterday- outside- in the rain. The ceremony got done just as the rain started to get more steady. Good timing right- well, the couple didn't see each other before hand so we still had to do all the pictures. At least we could get in to their reception location and we took all of the pictures there. Worked out fine and the couple didn't even seem too stressed over the deal.

Not too much else going on. The kids start Sunday school again today. I am not teaching this year. I just decided to take a break- when Will starts I will probably offer to teach his class for a couple years.

I hope it is nice out today. Maybe I can get an afternoon run in or something. It is dark and cold this morning and Will is up so I don't think I will get out before I need to take a shower.

Well, Will is yelling for me. Must be done with breakfast!

Monster Free!

Will has been more afraid of noises lately and he is just sure we have monsters in the basement. He was telling everyone about it Monday night so grandma Meyer told her she would get him some monster spray. Well that sure got his attention! He was very excited about the thought of spraying to get rid of monsters! Last night she brought over a spray bottle of "Will's anti monster spray". Boy oh boy was he a happy one! He spent most of the evening monster hunting. He stood at the top of the stairs and kept spraying thru the railing towards the basement. He says next he needs to bring it to Amy's cuz "Amy's got big monsters too". Funny kid- smart grandma!

Well the new dr started yesterday and I had the biggest headache when I got home. Unrealistic expectations mixed in with overworked frusteration made for a rough afternoon. We just need to get thru the next couple of weeks and hopefully everything will even out for everyone.

On the workout front- with the headache I had yesterday, I didn't run last night. I did go this morning though and made it 3 miles again. It was awful cold out though! My hands were numb after the first mile and I didn't sweat until I got home and in the house. Think I will need to break out the sweatshirts pretty soon!

Blame it on the rain.....

I didn't go running this morning. Not cuz I am lazy or didn't want to- I woke up to rain at 4:30 and decided then that I wasn't going to be able to run outside today. I did do 20 minutes on the elliptical though and if it is nice tonight I hope to go running after supper. Seriously I do, I promise.

Yesterday should have been a day to get stuff done, but really I did more relaxing than doing. I did get a lot of laundry done and got the house semi picked up. We had my folks, Scott's folks and Amy's family over for a mini potluck. I just thought it would be nice to have a relaxing end to the weekend with everyone. The kids got to spend some time playing together and the grown ups got to have a good sized meal without a lot of fuss. I like having everyone over, especially when the kids can go outside for awhile. They have so much fun together that they get a little loud in the house. I am glad that they play so well together though. I also like having both sides of the family over at the same time cuz I think it's great for my kids to see everyone as one big family instead of two separate ones. Maybe it's just me, but I like it.

Back to work today. Our new doctor is starting today so this next couple of weeks should be real interesting for me. Since I have never met her I have no idea what she is going to expect from me. I have already figured out that she is not very organized or into paperwork so that will keep me busier in itself. That's ok though, I like to be busy and as long as she is pretty user-friendly we will be just fine.

Well, I suppose I should get to it!

how to know you had a good family outing......

1. At least one person has really sunburned at least one part of their body . Check- mommy has pretty purple shoulders.

2. At least one person has nearly fainted from the excitement. Check- Hannah collapsed in the middle of the midway. We can call it excitement if you wish, but I think in reality she got a slight case of heat exhaustion.

3. At least one person lost their lunch. Check- Will threw up his supper, lunch and snack all at once in the car on the way home. He was trying to finish his sandwich so he could have his cookie and he choked.

So all in all we must have had a great day yesterday! Actually we did have a good time. We spent a good 8 hours at the state fair. Steve and Colleen and Amy & Cameron & the boys were all there too. The kids had a great time on the rides. It's so fun to see Haley going on all the rides, she is such an adrenaline junkie! The other kids follow her and go on all the rides too, but she is truly the one who is having the most fun.

Other than the fact that it was 90 degrees, 40 mph winds and felt like we were in the middle of a dust storm all day, I think everyone had a good time just being out and doing something. There are so many things we could/should have been doing at home, but sometimes you have to just stop and enjoy life instead.

Today will probably be a little more of doing the could have/should haves but that's ok too.

Well, yesterday was Sunday so I did do a weigh in. I was really worried cuz my will power has completely disappeared. I have still been running everyday, but eating has not been well controlled. Well, I am exactly the same weight as I was two weeks ago, not up not down. I guess I should just be thankful it didn't go up. I did up my running distance again. I ran a little over 3 miles yesterday morning. (yup and then I walked in the wind all day) I am taking today off of running cuz my legs are all cramped up from all the walking yesterday. I think I deserve a day off once in a while don't you? If you said no- shut up and run yourself! Besides the wind is still blowing this morning and I am not in the mood to fight it.

Well, I suppose I should go take a shower and figure out which of the " to get done before it snows" things I want to try to get done today. Happy official end of summer!

a whole weekend off!

We actually had another weekend off! It was nice to get the house cleaned good. Hannah had a soccer game yesterday- the first of the fall season. She did pretty good considering she wasn't able to run or do anything too active all summer. It was apparent that she is a little slower and not kicking as hard as she was this past spring, but it will all come back in time.

Scott took Will running yesterday. Well, Scott ran, Will sat in his jogger and took a nap. I gave him my Ipod so he could listen to music and he was so darn cute I had to take a pic of both my boys before they headed out!

Well, today is Sunday, so yup, weigh in day. Kind of depressing. My weight is exactly what it was on Monday. I was afraid of that since I had been so munchie this week. Hopefully I can back on the "no extra snacks" track this week.

We went to the outdoor campus today to walk the trails and just have some nice family time. Will found a huge stick that he really wanted to carry around. He couldn't quite pick it up.....

I told him he should look for a smaller stick and this is what he found:

I have been doing a lot of cooking this weekend- trying to get a jump start on the week's menu. Yesterday I made another batch of Chicken Noodle Soup for my lunches. Today I cooked up some Chicken and Vegetable Toss that can be the base for a couple different recipes. I will use part of it this week and the rest for another meal next week. Kind of nice to have some more involved meals already half cooked!

Well, I should get another load of laundry done and take a quick gander at the bills to be paid and see what I have to get out this week!

The back to school chaos has begun

Well today was day 2 of back to school. I am already trying to figure out how to keep the girls organized adn on top of things. I am hoping that I can get them into good habits right away this year so we don't have so many last minute things to do in the mornings. The first day went well, both girls were pretty excited. I took a couple pictures of the girls and then Will got his backpack and wanted to be in the picture too! He is so funny, he had to have "learning stuff" to take in his backpack to Amy's. I don't know that he will actually be interested in doing any of the stuff that we put in his bag, but that's ok.

Day 2 of school- Haley got hurt at recess and has a big ol' bump on her head. She also brought home some orchestra papers - she wants to try learning the viola. I have no idea how to play a viola or anything about them. We will need to see how much it is going to cost to rent/buy one. Hopefully not too much- I don't want to tell her she can't try something new. She seems really excited about it, so I want to encourage it as much as possible. The practicing could prove to be an issue for her, but we'll see.

Well, Hannah has soccer practice tonight and I have to be at work early again tomorrow, so off to get some laundry done before time to leave for practice!

WOO HOO

Just a quick post this morning cuz I am really excited! I actually lost weight on vacation. This morning's weigh in was 147.8. That's a whole pound lighter than when we left!

Ok- gotta go help the girls get ready for the first day of school!

Last day of vacation

Today is the last day of summer vacation for the girls and the last day of our one and only family vacation this summer. I tried to post on Thursday before we left, but blogger was being uncooperative and I wasn't patient enough to type everything over. I did a pre-vacation weigh in on Thursday morning and I was 148.8. I will do a post vacation weigh in tomorrow morning. I did pretty good on the diet front though. I was trying very hard to eat well and I ran on the hotel treadmills every morning. I ran in the same clothes every morning so by this morning I was glad I was the only one in the fitness room cuz I could so smell myself. GROSS!

Well we had a pretty good vaca. Thursday we left around noon. We stopped at the outlet mall in Medford. Didn't do much for shopping there though. I had packed a picnic supper thinking we could go to a park and eat, but we just ate it on the hotel room floor. Then we all went swimming (We brought a "floatie" for Will and he was sooo excited!). After swimming, we watched a movie and crashed. Friday was Nickelodeon Universe day- lots of rides and more rides. The kids are all going to be little adrenaline junkies. There was a new roller coaster that I got the girls to go on with me and it was my favorite ride of the day! Saturday was Albertville outlet malls- we did lots of shopping there- Scott raked in a lot of new pants, which is what he really needed. Then we headed back to the Mall of America and did a little more shopping. We bought the kids each a webkinz cuz they were so well behaved in all the shopping. Scott suprised me with an ipod shuffle- an early b-day present that I have been really wanting for my early morning runs! Today we stopped at the Minnesota Zoo- bummer there- no dolphin show - that is really the only reason we went there, but oh well. All in all, a pretty busy crazy weekend, but still very nice to be away from home for a few days!

School starts tomorrow. Both girls seem to be pretty excited. Haley wants to get up at 5 am - crazy kid- can't drag her out of bed at 8 on the weekends!

Well, I want to get to figuring out how to use my ipod so talk to you later!

It's Sunday, you know what that means.....

Weigh in day.... well it was better than I thought. I was pretty sure I hadn't lost any weight again this week, but lo and behold I am down another 1.2 lbs. That puts me at a loss of 5.6 lbs in the last 3 weeks. Seems a little sad that the loss is so little, but I know that an average of 1-2 lbs a week is the healthiest amount to lose and also easier to keep off so I guess I must be doing something right. I didn't go running this morning, decided to take at least this morning off. Depending on how the day goes I may decide to run tonight. Maybe we can do a family outing today that I can count as cardio. Otherwise a day off here and there is probably not a bad thing either.

I am getting really excited to go out of town for a couple days. I just got a bunch of clothes together for Will. I will try to keep on top of the laundry this week, but it is nice to know that if I get a little behind he still has enough to get thru. Me on the other hand, I will be washing everything I wear this week to get packed. I only have a few summer outfits that fit decent enough to wear in public.

Don't know what the plan is for today, but I am going to go enjoy it now!

Little boys and baby frogs

Scott was mowing the yard this morning and found a couple of little frogs. I took Will out to see them and boy was he happy when he got to pick one up! Such a boy...


Will was up at 5:45 this morning so he and I went for a run. Boy is it a lot harder to run while pushing him in the jogger! I only made it 1 mile before I had to walk. When we got home the little goofball says "whew, running is hard work" Yeah, sitting in that jogger must be exhausting!

I did it!

I ran 2 miles this morning all by myself! Maybe you are thinking- well didn't you run 2 miles last week? Yes, but this morning Scott stayed in bed while I went running. Having him with me usually helps motivate me to push harder. Today I did the whole 2 miles and didn't even have to talk myself out of stopping, I just kept going. I am very proud of myself because I am pretty quick to give up when I start to get tired so this is a big deal - to me at least.

Yesterday mom and I took the kids to the fair. She gave them each $20 to spend how they wanted. The girls both decided not to get wristbands for the rides so that they could play games too. They seemed to have a pretty good time. Will went on the same car ride twice. He was so cute-he smiled the biggest smile he could fit on his face. Both times when the ride was done he tried to get out the car he was in and go right to another car. The last time he was getting pretty close to meltdown and he just stopped next to the ride and wouldn't come out. Good thing we were already planning to be on our way out cuz I don't think he could have lasted much longer in the heat.

Today Scott is shooting a wedding by himself and we have one tomorrow too. Hopefully Sunday is nice and we can get some family time in. Well, I can hear Will calling for me so better get him some breakfast!

UGH!

Well it was weigh in morning. Technically I did lose weight this week. A whopping .6 pounds. Yup that is POINT 6. But, I did lose another 1.1% of body fat too, so maybe I am losing some of the jiggly and getting some buffness. That would be ok too. Really my main goal is just to look and feel better- I would love to get to my goal weight, but I would settle for cute butt flat stomach too. Hee hee- flat stomach, yeah right I have had 3 kids- gaining almost 60 pounds each time- that skin will never be taut again!

We had a good wedding yesterday, the bride and groom were really sweet. The bride gave me hug first thing at the salon so I knew it was going to be a great day. She was just so happy about everything. Those days are so nice. We have certainly had our share of the not so happy not so sweet.

Haley slept at Marli's last night for a b-day party so she will probably be a bear today. She never does real good after sleepovers and the whole sleep deprivation thing. I am hoping we can get out and do something outdoorsy and physical as a family this morning. We'll see what time she comes home and what time Scott gets up. I am ready to go do something right now, but I am a lot more of a morning person than anyone else in our house.

Well, I hear Romeo crying so I'd better go let him out and give him some breakfast. Any one want to come give the dogs baths today?

Good morning!

Well it is Saturday August 2nd. Yup, AUGUST - how on earth is it August already? School starts in 3 weeks. That is a good thing though, the girls are both getting bored with summer break. We are going to get in a quick family vacation the weekend before school starts and then comes the craziness of homework, soccer and misc school functions.

On the diet front- I have been doing really good but I don't feel like I have lost any weight this week. Guess I will find out tomorrow. I am going to be bummed if the numbers didn't go down and God forbid they went up! I did have a few jelly beans this week and I felt so guilty afterwards that it so wasn't worth it. I was very good at work and passed on all the free food. There were 2 free lunches, cold stone and some homemade bars. No wonder I gained weight since I started there- free food all the time!

Well we have a wedding today. I start at the salon at 10 and we should be done for the day around 9. It's going to be a hot one so hopefully they don't mind melting. We are doing a lot of outdoor pics after the ceremony.

Well, Will is done with his cereal and Romeo is crying to go out so I guess I am done for now!

Cast Free!

The tool:

The cutting:

The laughter that ensues as above tool vibrates whole body of little girl:

The stinky nasty foot that has been in hiding all summer:

(can you smell that where you are?)

Well, dr says Hannah's leg is healed well enough that she should be able to do all things kids do. She is in a little pain in her ankle as all of her muscles are kind of "stuck". Dr said to maybe use cructhes again for a few days to help her get the muscles back in order. Hannah doesn't want to use her crutches so she is trying really hard to walk. She is pretty slow today, but I don't think that will last for long!

1 week down!

1 week down, and guess what! I actually lost some weight! I am down 3.8 pounds and .9% body fat. Only 21.6 pounds and 9.1% to go! It really hasn't been that bad. It does help that Scott is trying to lose weight too, helps keep me eating better anyway. Hopefully this week will go just as well. My goal for the week is to be under 150 by next Sunday. That is only 1.6 pounds to lose this week, should be realistic.

The past few days have been pretty tame, no major events to share. This week should be a little more exciting. Hannah gets her cast off on Tuesday, Haley gets her retainer on Thursday.

We bought school supplies today- woo hoo! I think the girls are both pretty excited to go back, I know Haley is. Hannah is just worried about who her teacher is going to be. I am really kind of surprised that we don't know yet. Oh well, we didn't request anyone specific so it's just the luck of the draw I guess.

I had to post this pic of Will in his helmet. He really likes being Grandpa's biker buddy. The helmet is so heavy that he almost tips over, but he doesn't complain at all. He is definitely all boy!

Well, I suppose that is enough random thoughts for today! Time to boil off a little more grizzle in the tub and off to bed to rest for tomorrow's 2 mile run!

Why do I have to force my kids to have fun?

It seems like some days I have to force my kids to go outside and play and be "kids". Today was no exception. Until I said the word squirt gun. Then Hannah and Will both started running around the house and yelling "squirt guns, squirt guns". Haley didn't want to play until Hannah told her she could just dump water on her if she wanted. That got her outside. I had to get a picture of Will, cuz for some reason he thought he needed Hannah's goggles on before he could play. Strange child.


Well, today is day 2 of the new diet. So far so good. I had my last appointment for the research project I was taking part in, so now I am done with adding the extra oil to my meals. That should help with the diet too! Tonight we are having turkey meatloaf, red potatoes and green beans. My poor kids don't know what to think about these meals. Maybe it will help them like more variety in their foods. I have to force myself to eat the veggies, I don't want my kids to be the same way. Poor Haley- hates anything different so she is really not liking this. I truly believe this will be good for all of us.... if I can just stick with it.......

Ready or not, the weight must come off!

I did it, I got on the scale this morning. The verdict? Well - ok - I guess I did say I would tell you. 155.4 lbs. For those of you that don't like math, that means I need to lose 25.4 lbs to get to my goal weight. YOWSERS! But, that wasn't even the scariest number. My body fat came up as 35%. Holy crap! That number has got to go down by at least 10%! I just made a huge pot of chicken noodle soup from a recipe out of Eating for Life. I am going to freeze it in single serving portions and that will be my lunches at least twice a week. I need to get to Sams today and buy some more chicken breasts, cuz I am going to be eating a lot of chicken. I am also going to start making myself eat vegetables. If you know anything about me, you know I don't like anything green. On my menu this week are green beans and (gulp) brocolli. Yup, I am that serious about needing to lose this blubber. No more pop, no more eating of the free meals at work. Gotta stick to my plan and maybe just maybe I can make this work. That's enough fat talk for today!

Yesterday was a day that I think Scott and I will remember for a while. We were supposed to have an outdoor wedding in the bride's parents' backyard. It stormed early yesterday morning and the clouds all just kind of stuck around. As we were shooting pics of the couple , the clouds started to get a little thicker and a little darker. We decided to start shooting some group pics and that's when the rain decided to start. Just a few sprinkles at a time. We would hurry and shoot, stand under a tree. Hurry and shoot, stand under a tree. Well, our lights didn't like the sprinkes and decided to stop working. So, it was hurry and shoot with two flashes, stand under a tree. Pretty soon we skipped the standing under a tree and just did a "smile" click, "next! smile" click "next" . Boy do we work well under pressure. We just got the last family shot done and the sprinkes turned into streams and by the time we made it to the garage it was a full downpour. As we were all in the house, the hail started to fall as well. Needless to say, we ended up with a church wedding yesterday. By the time we got to the reception, it was gorgeous out! Go figure.

Well, Scott is at a wedding by himself today. The kids and I are just going to do some bumming around and maybe hit the pool this afternoon. Weather guy was talking chance of rain again so we will see. Sams this afternoon and then we are going out for one last supper before the diet starts. Guess I'd better get to the bumming around part of my day!

psyching myself up

Yesterday I received the two books that I ordered: Body for Life for Women and Eating for Life. I read thru both of them last night. Then I actually sat down and typed up 4 weeks worth of work outs and 1 week of food. I am starting this on Monday so I figure I better start psyching myself up now. I will do a "weigh in" on Sunday. I am going to try to not get on the scale more than once a week. Hopefully that way I can see more progress at a time and not get too frusterated. According to the books, my "target" weight should be about 130. YIKES! I don't remember the last time I only weighed 130. I think right before I got pregnant with Haley I was 135. Not to say that I was skinny then, but way better than I am now. If I can get to 130, I just may be HOT! Ok that's probably pushing it, but it's good to have goals right? I am thinking I might be brave enough to post my weight progess on here. We'll see how I feel about that come Sunday. My thought is that if I am being honest about my weight with other people, maybe it will keep me being more on track in the diet department. I'm going to try to get some "before" pictures taken too, but I promise I won't subject you to those!
Not much else to talk about this morning- so guess that means it's shower time!

no braces....yet

Haley had her follow up orthodontist appointment yesterday. She went for a consultation 6 months ago and they told us to have 2 of her teeth pulled and to come back in 6 months. Yesterday they told us she should do a retainer now to fix her crossbite and then she will need braces in about 5 years. So- in about 2 1/2 weeks we go back to get her retainer. They did all of the impressions and pictures yesterday. Sometimes Haley really suprises me. She didn't put up a fuss at all about the molding stuff. If I had asked her to do something like that she would have yelled and pouted and run away. I guess it's true that kids listen better to strangers than they do their own parents. I suppose I was probably the same way. I was always butting heads with my mom and dad, but all of my friends' parents loved me and told their kids to be more like me. Seems weird that we take everything out on the ones who love us most and are only trying to help us be the best people we can be. Oh well, I don't think I turned out too bad and I know Haley will turn out to be an awesome person too. (I'm still going to keep telling her what to do, though- I am her mom after all)

Hannah is starting to walk really well without her crutches. We even went to Wal-mart and left the crutches at home. She is so funny- I have been trying for the last week to tell her that life would be easier if she would just try to not use the crutches. Yesterday she said, "this is so much easier mom" Duh, that's what I've been saying for the last week. I guess all the "listening to your parents" comments I made above apply here as well. Dang stubborn kids anyway.

I have a Will funny from yesterday. At the supper table Scott was telling me that on the way to Amy's house Will said " I want to buy a ladder" Random ,but that's Will for you. Scott asked him why he needed a ladder. "So I can fix it". Funny enough, right- oh but there is more. So Scott looks at me at me and said "I wouldn't buy a broken ladder in the first place." Obviously Will had been listening to our conversation because he pipes up with "Fine, don't buy a broken ladder!" He just cracks me up!

Well time to hit the shower. I made it a mile again this morning. I need to keep myself motivated. Next week starts a major diet! I am going to get skinny whether I like it or not! I ordered Body For Life and Eating For Life. Both books should be here tomorrow so I can get a work out and diet figured out this weekend and start it up on Monday. I am tired of being tired, and I am tired of hating the way I look. Time for a major lifestyle overhaul!

got the constipation blues

No- not me, Will. Poor kid has been having a rough time of it lately. Grandma told me last night that she felt like a midwife helping with labor. So- I have been googling "toddler constipation remedies". The first site I opened gave me the giggles cause it talked about your child using the loo. The loo- funny word. I guess it makes talking about poop seem more classy. I have tried changing his drinking habits, I've tried a few different foods. The only thing all of the sites I looked at agreed on were fresh fruits and veggies. I guess I will just have to try to push them a little more at supper time and see if that helps. I really don't want to have to give him any medicines, but will resort to that if necessary.

What a busy weekend. Wedding Friday- hot, windy and almost all pics done outside. Wedding Saturday, not as hot, just as windy, couple not seeing each other before hand, all after ceremony pics done outside. Sometimes I wish couples would think these things thru just a little bit better. A half hour in the church yesterday would have been very beneficial. 40 family members all standing in the bright sun on one level is just not the ideal situation for a good shot. We did the best we could with what we had so hopefully they are happy with the end result. I always feel like we are missing some good shots when we do the majority of the pictures afterwards. Everyone is always in a hurry to get to the party- understandable but irritating.

Well, back to work tomorrow. No early morning meetings this week so that will help. Scott has a busy one this week, so we probably won't see each other much other than to pass off the kiddos. Oh well, we have another wedding next Saturday so that we can spend a little time together.

I'd better get back to the laundry- doesn't seem to fold itself no matter what Scott thinks!

how to make a 100 lb black lab pur like a kitten

GIVE HIM A BATH! Bandit was getting pretty rank smelling and he is in the middle of a major shedding spell. I decided to give him a bath today. While I was scrubbing him he started purring- seriously you would have thought I was scratching a cat the size of a tiger by the noise he was making. While I was scrubbing in the shampoo I moved my hand and noticed that I was covered in fur up to my elbow- gross! I took a picture of all the hair in the tub, but I am not going to post it or you all will think that my house is disgusting. Yeah- it looks that bad. Later I brushed him out and it looked like he had a twin brother standing next to him with the pile of hair I got off. That can't feel good for him. I really need to get both dogs in to the vet, but I am a little afraid of what they will say about Bandit. He has a pretty big tumor of sorts along his side. He is getting pretty old for a big dog, but he is such a good dog that it will be sad to see him go.

Well, Scott and Haley are in St Paul right now. One of Scott's brides couldn't get away from work to come down for engagement pics so she is paying for his gas to go there and shoot. He took Haley with for some company and it sounds like they are having a good time. I think I actually talk to Scott more when he is out of town than when he is at the studio working. Weird, but true.

Tomorrow night is Haley's last summer singers concert of the year. After that I think we are done with scheduled summer activities.

I got Hannah a cast shoe yesterday so that she could start trying to walk without crutches. I think she forgot how to walk in the past two weeks. She looks like a little caveman trying to hop around. She gets all bent over and hobbles- barely touching her cast to the floor. Quite funny and sad all at the same time. I am sure she will figure this out just like she did the crutches.

I have a Will funny to share from last night. We were having supper, he ate about 1/3 of what was on his plate and then said "my food is all gone." I said "What about all this food that is still on your plate?" His response "that's your food, I'm ready for pudding" Sometimes he really cracks me up. Where on earth would he come up with saying the rest is mine? Goofball. Well I better get back to the reason I came to the computer- quarterly tax time. FUN!

Today is Saturday?

Boy my inner calendar is sure screwed up. I can't believe today is Saturday and we have a wedding. I sure am glad I didn't have to be at the salon early this morning. We don't start until 1 and we will be done by 8 so that's not too bad. I would like to have been able to go to the family reunion today, but we already had a wedding booked when they picked the date. Oh well, at least the kids can go with mom and dad.

Last night we went and watched the city fireworks display. We just sat in the Sunshine parking lot, but we avoided some of the traffic and crowds by not going to the fairgrounds. The kids seemed to enjoy watching them so that was good.

Well, mom and dad just picked up the kids so I'd better go finish getting ready for the wedding.

It's all fun and games till the cops show up.

What a great day yesterday! Haley and I went shopping just the two of us. We got her a couple of outfits and, of course, a couple of webkins. We had lunch at the mall too. It is so nice to spend time with her one on one. That's not something we get to do very much.

After the mall, I took both girls to the bank to set up savings accounts. One of the things Haley asked everyone for was money so that she can start saving for a car and college. We all made a quick trip to the fireworks stand to light some money on fire and then headed to home to get ready for the party.

The party was nice. Haley got quite a bit of money as gifts so she was happy. Colleen made some deviled eggs for me so I was happy. We had a "grown up" cooler full so Scott was happy. The kids got to do a bajillion poppers so they were all happy. Will got to sweep up the mess so he was really happy. We started to do the fireworks and eventhough a lot of them were duds we were all still happy. Then, the silly cop had to show up and ask us if we were done. Scott's answer "I guess we should be". The cop agreed with that and just like that, our night was done!

I don't know what the plan is for today. Hopefully we will get our mess all cleaned up this morning and then do some family stuff. We have a wedding tomorrow so it will be nice to hang out today.

My baby is 9!

How on earth am I possibly old enough to have a 9 year old? Seems like yesterday I was trying to convince Scott that he would be a great dad and could we PLEASE try to have a baby? Now look, 3 wonderful kids (most days) and I was right, he is a great dad. We are having Haley's party tonight- grilling out and then some fireworks. Hopefully the weather is nice, I don't think we've ever had bad weather for her party. She must be good luck!

Last night Will and I went to watch Haley and Kyra's summer singers concert at Terrace Park. Will really wanted to take pictures so I gave him my camera to play with. He is the funniest thing. First off, he figured out how to turn it on all by himself. Watching him take pictures is hilarious. He puts his cheek to the viewfinder instead of his eye and he almost always has at least one finger in front of the lens. He did manage to get a couple of pics that are recognizable as people. I love the one of his two fingers and a little bit of sky in between though! I wish I could bottle him up for a couple of years I don't want him to grow up just yet!

new cast, new attitude

Yesterday's dr appt went very well for Hannah. Her leg is already starting to heal. She got a short cast- powder blue. It's even water proof. She can go swimming, take a bath, whatever she wants. She has to use her crutches for one more week then she can even start walking on it if she feels comfortable with it. That news brought old Hannah back. She was smiling bigger than she had for a week. She was giggly and so happy. I think she just needed to realize that it wasn't going to ruin everything. Also knowing that she only has to wear it for 4 weeks probably helps too.

Well just got back from another run. Only went 1 mile again, but as I sit here I am dripping sweat all over so I think it was a good workout. Scott even went with me today. I like having the company and another reason to not stop when I get tired.

Today is an early off day at work so I am getting my hair colored and then I am hoping to get to Sams to buy stuff for Haley's b-day party. Need lots of food and drinks. Hopefully Scott can go with to help pick stuff out. Also need to find something for Kyra's b-day present. Not sure what to do about that. Cash maybe?

Well off to the shower!