Look Out World, I'm Hitting Snooze and Beef - The Gateway Meat

My first morning of getting back on track. Alarm went off at 6:30, I rolled over Sydney and turned it off. Next thing I knew, Sydney was asking me for breakfast at 8:30. So much for hitting the ground running! I got a total of zero chores done but we did manage to make it to the gym. Not in time for the Boot Camp class though so I just walked on the treadmill and sprinkled in some running here and there.

We invited Jack and Ben to the gym with us since we haven't seem them in over a week (gasp!) so brought them back to the house for lunch too. I really wish I had their energy! I just want to take a nap! I'm off tonight so we'll see how much (productive things) I can get done between now and bedtime.

As I knew it would, my beef consumption has turned into bacon consumption. Bacon is my favorite meat and what I miss the most when I eat vegetarian. How sick is that? Probably the nastiest, worse thing for you (hot dogs aside) and it's my favorite. I don't get it.

My acupunturist called this morning to cancel my appointment for this afternoon. He's sick. I'm out of herbs so I get a little reprieve from that. Although I think I'm getting use to it now. And I've only been doing once a day since I didn't see him last week to refill.

I guess the moral of the story is that I am starting to feel better but I'm not quite there yet.

In other news, I got Quinn signed up for the Jr. Kindergarten class at Sonship (her old preschool). Oh, I just got a call that Sydney has a spot in the Tues/Thur class at the same school (with Quinn's teacher from last year no less)! That is going to be so much better than the Lake Wilderness class! Sonship has a day care that we can utilize so that I can go to work earlier and get some more hours at some point. BIG stress off me now. Whew!

Well, on that note, I guess I'll go try to get some chores done.

I'm Pooped!!!

Ugh! Sydney was up all night last night (she has a stuffy nose), which means I was up all night too! I think the two of us got a total of 3 hours sleep - on the couch no less. I say it again - UGH!!!!

I would have just laid on the couch all day but we had a little birthday party planned for Sydney. More on that later.

So, on top of feeling like crap because I'm tired, I feel like crap because I've been eating like crap. I am starting a weight loss challenge this week so am eating all of the crap still left in the house before the challenge begins (more on the challenge later).I was eating really well when we got home from our trip - mostly raw. I've even gotten compliments - one friend asked if I was pregnant. She said I was glowing. In fact she's asked me more than once about that. I'm not, for the record. Another friend said my skin looked really good - I didn't even have makeup on that day! I haven't really noticed a change (aside from my 'pizza face') so those compliments were nice to hear.

I'm bummed about our dinner tonight. I had raw tacos planned. But, the "beans" are taking longer in the dehydrator than planned so that is throwing everything off. I still have to make the shells in the dehydrator, but now there is not enough time for them to get done for tonight. So, we are having a cooked meal (left over pasta and sauce from the weekend) and will do the tacos tomorrow I guess. I got some money for Christmas for some more dehydrator accessories so I really need to order those!!!

So back to being tired. I tried napping but that didn't go well. My next plan was to plop the kids in front of the TV upstairs while I sat in front of the TV downstairs and posted this blog. Somehow the girls have made their way downstairs and the chaos is swirling around me again. So, maybe I'll head upstairs and post pictures or something. I want to try to do something productive this afternoon!!! Wish me luck!

Quinn's 1st Day of Preschool!

Quinn had her very first day of preschool yesterday (09/09/09)! She has been very, very excited to go to school - even before we ever enrolled her! In fact, we finally enrolled her because she wouldn't stop asking us when she could go to school. I hope that enthusiasm continues!

Anyway, I was totally unprepared for it. I didn't think about going to buy her a special 'first day of school' outfit or even plan out the day at all. Like have a special breakfast and lunch planned and fun things like that. But, none of that seemed to matter to her. We did head out in the morning to get her some clothes. Well, we set out to get her A outfit and we ended up with several outfits plus a pair of shoes.

I did manage to take some pictures and video so I'm happy about that! Here's how the day went:

Quinn poses for pictures on the front porch. She looks so grown up to me here. Where did my baby go?:


Sydney got in on the action too. They were so funny. By the way, Quinn picked out her whole outfit by herself!:








Here is the before school video:

One of Quinn's BFF's, Jack, is in her class. They posed for a picture before we headed in:

We've got to meet Mrs. Laura a few times and just really love her already. Other friends that have had her love her too so we feel good about her teaching our girl!

Here are Jack and Quinn getting their name tags on:

Quinn finds her coat/backpack hook:

And Mrs. Laura shows her where her cubby is. Quinn is excited that her cubby is marked with a horse sticker!

Sydney and I sat out in the parking lot for a little bit then snuck back in to see how Quinn was doing. I really wanted to stay and watch her all day - not because I thought she would have a problem, but because I knew she would love it and I just wanted to see her experience it. But, I controlled myself and snapped a couple of pictures without her seeing me. She was content and so was I:

Since the whole morning was about Quinn, I decided to take Sydney to McDonald's for a little treat and Mommy time. Needless to say, she loved it!:

Here is the after school video:

After class we took some photos by the fancy sign out front.

Looks like she's missing her leg in this one!:

Group photo! We posed with Cindy, Jack and Ben in front of the sign. I'd like to say that Syd was so excited for her sister that she peed her pants. But, I think the reality was that she was wanting some of that attention so peed her pants. She had gone to the bathroom right before we left to pick up Quinn. Oh well.:

Quinn and Jack posing by the sign. They sure do have fun together!:

All in all, she had a great first day of preschool! We ran a few errands after that and then it was time for her soccer practice. K.C. met us there (he also came home for lunch so he could see her off to school with us) and then we headed off to Red Robin for a 'Happy First Day of Preschool' dinner. By the time we got home, we were all tired from the day and everyone fell asleep with little to no issues. Ahhhh, another milestone passed. ;-)

K.C.'s Stress Test

K.C. just called and said his stress test went well. Seems everything is great with his heart, health wise, so that is great news!

His doctor wants to check his cholesterol so wrote up an order for that. She thinks his issue may have been/is esophigal related (like acid reflux) so we hope we have that figured out now.

He seems to be feeling better than he was so that's good!

I have my appointment tomorrow (still haven't started my period and a second HPT was negative but the pain seems to be mostly gone so who knows!) and Sydney has an appointment tomorrow too (she has some sort of rash type of thing going on so we'll see what that's all about.

That's all I have now, more tomorrow.

Lasts, First and an Awwwwww

Sadly, I have dropped out of Stroller Strides. You know from reading my blog that it has been building for awhile. It was just too stressful for me to get there, be there (because of the girls fighting) and then leaving again. I was stressed after my workout instead of destressed. The good news is that Bonnie has just started a personal/small group training so I am able to trade in my August 'tuition' for a personal session. I may just have a session with her every month and half or so and just exercise on my own. We'll see. I've also bought an exercise ball over the weekend that I have yet to use. I just have to find the best time to use it and then make it a part of my routine.

We've also decided not to enroll in The Little Gym after the summer session ends in a couple of weeks. Well, we are still thinking about if we are going to keep Syd in it or not. Quinn for sure will not go. With pre school starting up, we don't have the funds to do both. We did sign her up for Pee-Wee Soccer for the fall so she can get in her exercise. This will be her first official 'team sport' so we are super excited to see her in action with that.

Syd is still in the biting stage and just terrorizes Quinn. Quinn usually has a bruised bite mark on her body at all times. Poor girl. K.C. and I have become so frustrated with Syd and her biting, hitting, pinching, scratching, hair pulling that we have both told Quinn on different occasions to bite/hit/pinch/scratch/pull hair back when Syd does it to her. Yesterday, Syd left a big bite mark on Quinn's leg. Much later, when I was putting them to bed, this is what Quinn said to me: "My little sister just bites me all the time. But I don't want to bite her back because I just don't want to hurt her." That's my girl! Now if Syd could just learn that lesson.....

Sydcapades

Sydney let me sleep in until 9 this morning!!!! In return, she unrolled a whole roll of toilet paper into the toilet and then tried to flush it I don't know how many times. We had a small swimming pool in their bathroom when I got up. ~sigh~


Yesterday she demonstrated her abilities to fit in small places and suck her own toe. We are so proud!

Movies, Trails, Goodwill and the Lake

We had quite the day on Tuesday!


Every summer a certain chain of movie theaters (I don't remember which one right off the top of my head) does a free movie once or twice a week. I've always wanted to go but knew the girls wouldn't sit through a whole movie. Plus, it's always during the time I'm running on the trail.


Cindy decided she was going to give it a try this year so we came up with this plan:


The girls and I went to their house. We put Quinn's booster (by the way, she is now in a backless booster seat! Sydney has Quinn's old one) in Cindy's car and Ben's seat and stroller in my car. Cindy took the older kids to the movie (Veggie Tales) and I took the little kids to the trail.


This was Quinn's first time in a movie theater. I guess they keep the lights on so that helped. I hear neither one of them was real interested in the movie. When asked about the movie Quinn says that it was about vegetables that don't have arms or legs but that talk. LOL! I think if it was a different movie, she would have loved it. But, it sounds like they had a good time anyway.


Meanwhile, when we were done running and were stretching, Sydney peed her pants (she was out of the stroller - thank goodness!). I just happened to have an extra pair of underwear in my purse so we hit the coffee shop (I HAD to buys us some cookies and a smoothie since we used the restroom) so she could finish going potty and to change her underwear. The other gals and I had already decided that we were going to go to Goodwill after we ran to find pirate costumes for the Torchlight 5k on Saturday. So, I was planning on running home to get Syd another pair of shorts but then decided to just let her go in a bronco shirt and underwear. So ghetto I know, but I didn't want to waste the gas driving home and back.


So, while we were shopping, she says she has to go potty. So we go in and she pees. Great! A little later she has to go potty again. Turns out she pooped a little in her underwear but did the most damage in the toilet. great. So, we finish up and plan to meet at the Dollar Store to get the rest of what we need for our costumes. I decided on the way there that I'd better go home and get her a change of underwear and shorts first.


I pull into the neighborhood and see Cindy, Quinn and Jack on Evie's front porch! Turns out she thought she had my cell# but didn't. So we all went to my house and had some lunch. Our original plan was to meet them after lunch to play at their beach (they live in a neighborhood that has it's own private lake - Pipe Lake). So, after lunch, the girls and I hit the dollar store and then met Cindy and the boys at their house.


Sydney doesn't go in the water too much. She LOVED it until she went under at Lake Wilderness one time. After that, she's not too interested. Here she is playing on the beach:


Quinn on the other hand just LOVES being in the water. We bought a couple of water floaties at the dollar store and Quinn used them all! I don't know where she learned how to 'swim' but she did it like she's had lessons and has been doing it for awhile. I was very impressed to say the least. She did fall off one floaty once and went under but that didn't stop her. She got right back on and kept going. I think we're going to have to get her some swim lessons now! I have a great video clip but can't seem to get it to post. I know the original is too big so I cut it down a little, but still can't get it to post! So, here's a picture of her swimming:


We had a very fun day and all came home and collapsed!

Princesses & Pirates

So this weekend is the Torchlite 5k and then the parade, which kicks off Sea Fair. So, we had a Princesses and Pirates themed stroller strides class and then craft on Wednesday. SO fun. A couple of the other moms that are running the 5k and I all hit Goodwill after the trail on Tuesday to put together our pirate costumes for Saturday. (That's a whole other story! Will post that one after this one!) We figured wearing them to stroller strides would be a good way to work out the kinks.

The girls and I ended up winning the best costume prize at stroller strides!

Here's Mommy the Pirate (although I think I look more like a Gypsy), Quinnie the Princess and Sydney the (pretend) Princess:

Here are a couple of little pirates we encountered along the way. Pirate Jack and Pirate Ben pose with the Princesses:

Here is Quinn doing her craft:

And Sydney doing her craft:

Arg Maties and shiver me timbers!

Happy Fourth of July (late)!

Happy Fourth Of July....Late! We had a great day. Very relaxing.

K.C. entertained the girls on the front porch (that's where the breeze and shade were) while I grilled us up some grub.

I wanted to do some sort of something fun and got all kinds of ideas off the internet. I settled on doing a combination of a couple of different drinks. I made blue and red ice cubes and we poured sprite over them - that was our red, white and blue drink:

Then I got some pop rocks and poured those into the drink for a little firecracker show. It was short and apparently not too impressive:

The grub turned out great though. K.C. and the girls had turkey burgers, I had a portabello mushroom burger and we all ate red, white and blue potatoes, asparagus, corn, watermelon and Tim's Pepper Jack Cheese flavored chips. SO yummy!
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Next up was running through the sprinklers. Quinn had a blast with it:


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Sydney tried it out once or twice but wasn't too interested in it. So, I've included some pictures of her eating. Notice how her food is stacked so neatly?!:

Next up was singing Happy Birthday to America. I originally was going to serve popsicles for dessert. But, I broke down and bought an apple pie at work the night before - since it was on coupon and all - so we stuck a couple of candles in it and off we went!


After some well deserved naps and a second round of grub, we headed out to Lake Wilderness to catch the fireworks show. This is something I've wanted to do since we moved here and finally felt the girls could handle it this year. It did not disappoint! When we got there the band was still playing so the girls boogied down:

I love this picture of Syd. It looks like she's doing the hustle!

Quinn was impressing everyone with her donkey kicks!

She also impressed us with her photography skills:

While waiting for the fireworks to start, we got in a few shots with the girls:


And, watching the fireworks. Sydney just about fell asleep!


It was the best Fourth of July I've had in a long, long time! Looking forward to doing it again next year!