I Know, I Know

Who has been the biggest slacker with blogging this year?
Yeah, me. (I blame it on our silly computer not reading our camera card.)
We are still here, alive and kicking.

Speaking of blogging though, I ordered our 4th blog book - wahoo!
I adore those books.
I love that my kids appreciate them and often read/look thru them.
I look forward to several more.

Remember that triathlon coming up this summer?
I've started training.
Well, I'm not sure if you can call it "training".
I go to the pool a few times a week and do laps.
You know, whenever I've heard of people exercising before their kids get up I thought they were stupid. Okay, stupid may be a little harsh, but it bugged me how enthusiastic they were about it.
I feel like the stupid one now.
It feels SO GOOD to be up before the kids and get some exercise in.
Exercise that I can do where I don't feel totally defeated after.
I've found that if it's one of the first things I do when I wake up, I actually get it done.
Who knew?
Crossing my fingers that these aren't the results come race day . . .


We've got some change coming up here in the next few weeks and it kind of freaks me out.
It makes me wonder why we (the human race) are so resistant to change.
It's good change, but still change none the less.
(You're wondering what it is, aren't you? :)

Henry is almost 9 months.
NINE MONTHS, people!
I find myself trying to picture him as a little boy running around with the others.
It tugs a bit at my heart strings.

Such a happy boy.

Olivia sums up my thoughts on laundry perfectly.
Exhausting.

What to Blog About . . .

. . . when it doesn't feel like there's much to blog about . . . Let's see . . .

We rang in the New Year over at the Hunts with good food and games. In the night, poor Lucy threw up all over herself - twice. Fun. Between Henry and Lucy waking in the night, I didn't get to sleep until about 7:30am and then I had the barfies, too. Ryan's stomach was queasy all New Years day and we skipped out on Church on Sunday. We just waited for more to fall, but thankfully no one else did. And would you believe there were a couple bright sides to being sick? I was able to stay in bed and be sick for TWO days - thanks to a fabulous, responsible, and helpful 9 year-old and husband. Moms rarely get to BE sick. It's usually business as usual but feeling awful. Another bright side was finishing our blog book for 2010! Yippee!

Clay earned his bobcat in scouts. To those of you with several sons or who work with the scouts, my hat's off to you. Holy cow. I find this whole scouting thing so intimidating. It makes me wonder too if they let non American citizens even work with Scouts...I'm hoping not. Isn't that awful?

I have an insatiable desire to re-decorate my house. From new colors and furniture, changing out the toss pillows to building a mantle for our fireplace. It was somewhat calmed the other day when I started moving furniture about in the living room. Stupid living room. There aren't really any good ways to mix it up. Dang it. Micki, will you come and decorate my house? I love her house. It's so calming, warm and inviting. It's no wonder her favorite part of vacation is when she gets home. How cool is that? I love that. I don't think I've ever felt that way. Ever.

We figured out a couple weeks ago that Miss Rylee has read over 3700 pages since August. Whoa. I'm pretty sure that's more that I've read in the past several years. Before Christmas, she finished the last book of the Percy Jackson series. Go Rylee.

If you ever get the chance to ride in our van - scratch that. You wouldn't fit in our van. Anyway, if you ever pass us in the car, we're probably rockin' out to this:

Our most favorite soundtrack ever. Have you seen this movie, yet? You must. L.O.V.E. it. I went and saw it with some girlfriends on my birthday and then over the Christmas break we took the kids to see it. (Thankfully we have some major hook-ups and were able to see if for free - it would have cost over $50 to take the fam. How ridiculous is that?).

I'm 3 weeks into Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. Holy killer work out. It gets easier though, well, until you move up a level. This week I started level 2 (I actually like level 2 better than level 1, Reece) and I'm pumped to see results. I'll hopefully move to level 3 mid week next week! After the 30 days then we'll talk training; Training for the Whidbey Island Triathlon. I know, crazy. I wanted to do a triathlon before I turned 30, but Ryan messed that up when he said "I think there's one more." But, right away, I knew he was right, and we sure love our sweet Henry. So this summer it's IT.

Speaking of sweet Henry, he's just a couple lbs shy of weighing more than Olivia. It's interesting having a tiny two year old and a big almost 6 mos old. I know, I can't believe he's almost 6 mos either. Dang it. Look at how cute he is, too.

Inside This Head of Mine

It seems like there has been so much going on, yet at the same time, not much at all. I've had some things on my mind lately - so bear with my random-ness.

I can't believe it's already October. We've had some fabulous weather and when I thought we'd finally gotten a sweater day, the sun poked out and it warmed right back up again. I tried to wear a sweatshirt yesterday at the park and about roasted myself. Whether we get the nice Fall weather though it'll be Halloween before we know it. However, we've got a few things happening before then. Like: parent-teacher conferences, Ryan leaving to go hunting for a week (I think I might die), his birthday - which he won't be home for, Clay's birthday - which will consist of his baby brother's blessing and then being baptized that afternoon (invite posted soon!), and it seems the list goes on. Oh well.

I'm pretty sure my neighbor doesn't read our blog, so he won't mind me saying that I think he may have some OCD going on and I'd like to tell him he's making us look bad. He keeps his lawn gorgeously manicured - I'm talking mowing 2 times a week while ours will go weeks without being mowed. Thanks for nothing. Right now with the leaves falling, his lawn looks freshly vacuumed while ours looks like there's stuff all over the floor. (And I bet if we were to compare family rooms it wouldn't be a far stretch from our lawns... the grass really is greener (and perfectly clipped) on the other side!)

There is a dead bird rotting on my deck. Don't even know what else to say about that.

I went to the dentist last week. I wanted to keep my streak of no cavities and since they couldn't do x-rays last time (because I was pregnant) they did x-rays this time. You know what they found? Eight (8!) cavities. Ones you wouldn't see without x-rays. I should have told them I was pregnant again.

I was putting Olivia in her car seat the other day and I told her how cute she was. She responds "ah know."

Making three lunches and getting everyone breakfast in the morning is kicking my butt. And, don't say to do it in the evening, I'm just as tired then.

I'm pretty sure my deep-set eyes are sinking deeper into my head. I wonder if they'll actually fall in some day.

I'm getting itchy to move. I crave a house that I will love. I'm grateful for our house now but I've never loved it. The layout is absolutely ridiculous, and we need more bedrooms. I've loved the neighborhood, but I need something different. That doesn't mean the house is ready/finished, but I am. I'm already concocting our next house in my head. Now if only we had 400k laying around. . .

I need something clever. Something clever to tell strangers when they ask me if I'm going to have more kids. Hello. So personal. Why do people think that's ok? I don't get it. I usually just smile and say "I think we're good with 6," but I want something that will kind of zing 'em. Something that might make them laugh, but then realize that "hmm, maybe I shouldn't have asked that." I was on my way to an OB appt in Ryan's truck and he had a Ziz Ziglar disc playing. A guest speaker was introducing himself and said he had six kids. I smiled. Then he said "we only have 6 kids because my wife doesn't like children." That me me laugh. I need something like that.

My favorite line from General Conference: "You Stupid Cow." Not sure we'll ever hear that again. (great talk here)

I've been taking pictures of the kids. Their own little photo shoots. I've taken some pretty awesome ones too (if I do say so myself). Tomorrow I'll take pictures of the kids together in the back yard (which may or may not include dragging a couch out there). I'll post pics soon.

Henry has outgrown the bassinet so it's time to move Olivia to a twin bed and pass the crib onto the babe....do you know what this means? We can kiss O's naps good-bye. (Although she did fall asleep on the floor yesterday (again). So I guess we'll have to see).

Hey, look at that. It may just be a sweater-day today after all.

Have a good one!

Random

I've been thinking about some things lately, but mostly getting tired of seeing the same post on here for more than a week. So bear with my random thoughts.

The kids only have 3 more weeks of school left. Where did this year go? Last day is May 21. Can't believe April is almost over.

I attended a swim team meeting last night with Rylee. What turned from having one child do swim team has now turned into 3 kids doing it. It starts May 24th with practices every morning from 8:15 for Rylee's age, to about 10:30 for the others. Luckily, we can choose which mornings to attend and are encouraged to attend at least 3 practices a week. Dual meets every Saturday in June and I believe two into July from 7am to about 2ish. I'm excited and the kids are excited. Should be mucho fun.

I just ordered our 2009 blog book. I'll probably do another post when I get it and show off the 3 years of books we'll have.

Did I tell you my laptop is dead? So sad. Olivia pushed it off the couch. It was up precariously and I should have known better. I haven't been able to resurrect it yet. I miss it. I hope I can at least get all the pictures off of it.

I did my glucose test this morning. Easy enough to drink, but boy did it make me feel yucky for a little bit. I've dreaded this past week for my weigh in. Yeah, 9 lbs in 4 weeks, not so cool. My dr was impressed, but not concerned. And, who wouldn't love their dr (even more) who still calls you a skinny minny after that. I love her.

I'm down to appointments every two weeks now. I know, I can't believe how fast it's going either. I think it will only get faster, too. Am I ready? Not really, but third trimester here we come.

I bought sweet white corn on the cob today along with watermelon. They make me happy. The almost 80 degree weather helps too, but back to rain and snow tomorrow. Booo.

I'm getting highlights in my hair on Monday. Can't wait. It's been a while - 3 weeks after Clay was born. Excited to change things up a bit.

The other day Kaycee to Ryan "Dad, do you remember when you almost had a mustache?"

Did you know...?

These are some of my recent findings:

Okay, did you know:

1. You can substitute bananas for eggs in a cake mix?

2. You retain water when your not drinking enough? (because your body thinks it's dehydrated - which it probably is.)

3. Drinking the adequate amount of water per day (for your body weight) can help you lose weight?

4. You get about 20% of the water you need each day from the foods you eat?

5. You can power wash an area rug (be careful with certain materials) and the stains will come out beautifully?

6. A mouse can fit through a hole the size of a dime? (our poor neighbors.)

7. High hormone levels can cause oily skin? (this is driving me nuts! I've never had this problem before.)

Have you found anything recently?