Happy Birthday, Peanut

Today is my little peanut, my baby, my little guy's birthday. He is now 3. I can't even begin to tell you how strange it seems to me that he is now 3. It really doesn't seem that long ago that he was just born and here he is now so big and so full of energy and life. It's a bittersweet day, really. He's getting so big and has grown so much yet I'm a little sad the years are going by so quickly.

Happy Birthday, Nate. I love you more and more everyday. Watching you grow and learn has been a joy and I can't wait to see what the next 3 years brings (well, I CAN wait, but since I know time will go fast, I am excited to watch you grow even more).

Below is a picture of Nate in the hospital in a stocking the hospital put him in when we first got to see him after I was out of recovery (since it was around Christmas time.) Below that is a picture we took of Nate in that very same stocking. Crazy!!

Tagged

I was tagged, yet again. I don't mind these really, but I never have people to tag back to, at least in the blogger world. So anyway here's how it works:

1) Link to the person who tagged you.
2) Post the rules on your blog.
3.) Write 6 random things about yourself.
4) Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.
5) Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6) Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

I was tagged by my twin sister, Wendi

So six random things . . .

1. I was a major tomboy growing up. I always hung out with the boys playing army or GI Joe. I climbed trees and played in forts. I don't know if there just weren't any girls in my neighborhood or what, but I was a tomboy.
2. I had my top front teeth chipped when I was 8 or 9 in the pool by a boy who thought it would be fun to jump on my head as he was jumping into the pool. I didn't have it fixed until I was a sophmore or junior in high school, and until then I never smiled with my mouth open. I wish I knew who that boy was, I could have sent him my dentist bill from last year!
3. When I was in first grade, I had liked a third grade boy who was the son of my moms friend. One day, he and his friend were horsing around and the friend threw sand at him. So in his defense, I grabbed some sand and threw it at the friend. The boy thought that was pretty dumb and I didn't get any points for attempting to stick up for him. Now, I didn't realize kids this young "liked" other kids. Obviously its not the same as when you like someone in high school, but still.....is this something I really need to be worrying about soon? Oh dear.
4. I am terrified I will flunk out of nursing school- that is when I am finally in nursing school. Ray assures me this will not happen, but I tell him that if I was only able to manage a B in my Anatomy and Physiology lecture class, then I will surely flunk out. A nurse should get better than a B in A&P, right?
5. We just put up our Christmas tree tonight. Sad, isn't it? We are late for everything it seems.
6. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to open the windows when the weather is nice out. I don't know what it is exactly, but if the weather is cool enough to where you can open the windows and it feels cool enough inside the house, I feel the need to do it. If I don't it drives me crazy! I honestly don't know why. I can have all the blinds open and the AC on set to 70, but it just feels so different to open the windows and let the fresh air in. Today was one of those days. It just makes me feel at peace. Weird.
   

So now I am tagging the following: Tara, Carla, Brandi, Tessa

Sorry

It may have seemed as if I had abandoned my blog, but I assure you that I have not. Things have been crazy here, as usual. And they're only going to get even crazier until mid-December. Here's why:

• I have a quiz this Monday night 11/24
• Thanksgiving is Thursday 11/27
• I have a wedding to attend 11/28
  
• I have my final in that same class as the quiz on Monday 12/1 (but the good news is this class is now over FOREVER! Yay!)
  
• I have a power point presentation in my other class on Wed 12/3
• I have to take Grace to a ballet dress rehearsal for a condensed Nutcracker performance that she is in on Fri 12/5
• Saturday 12/6 Grace has her first of five performances
• Sunday 12/7 Grace has the second performance. Then she's going to my moms to make cookies (they do this every Christmas time). Then dinner at my mom's
• Wed 12/10 I have my very last test in my A&P lecture class, then this class is over for good. Thank goodness!
• Thursday 12/11 Grace has her Christmas Program at school
• Friday 12/12 Grace has her third performance for the Nutcracker
• Saturday 12/13 Grace has the last two Nutcracker performances
• Sunday 12/14-Wed 12/17 We will be at Disney (shhhh! the kids don't know yet!)
• Then we're back home with family in town and then its Christmas

See, I told you I'd be busy! 3 tests in 3 weeks, sigh! But the end will be fun. I'm really looking forward to Disney.

And what is my blog without mention of weather. It has been ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL here this week. I have no idea what happened, but we've had a front over us the entire week with lows in the 40's a couple of nights! I wish it would be in the 40's every night, but hey, I'm not going to complain. I must say though, that we haven't had weather like this in a very long time. Usually, the fronts come through and last only a couple of days, then disappear and then maybe another front will come thru in a few days after. I only had one pair of pants for Grace for school because of how the fronts usually work here. But not this week. I had to wash those pants a few times!! I guess I should go pick up another pair jut in case! And to top it off, it looks like we have another front just in time for Thanksgiving! It always helps the holidays to feel more "holidayish" when its cooler out! Who wants to sweat on Thanksgiving and Christmas?? (Ok, nevermind, I know someone out there is wanting to!).

So thats my catch up blog. Please come back and check in again. I will blog again, eventually. =)

A Little Update

Hey, what do you know. I'm actually updating this thing somewhat regularly. Anyway, just thought I'd throw in a little update. In my A&P lecture class, I took my test last Wednesday and I thought I did really good on it, only to find out I got an 86 (7 wrong). Sigh. Yes, I know an 86 is a B. I also know a B is a good grade. I also know that it was hard enough for me to get B's in high school, so I should be happy. I just get a little disappointed because I do work hard and I think I know the info, but for some reason I can't get out of the B funk in that class (all 3 tests were B's). And now I worry because my professor said, "Well, that was the end of the easy tests!" Great. Just wonderful.

Last night I had my A&P lab class and we got our grades for our mid-term. I was soooo nervous about this test. I really wanted to do well, and I studied (and even helped others with things they didn't know while studying) and I really felt good about it. Yet, I still worried. The night of my mid-term, I laid in bed that night thinking about all the answers I might have gotten wrong. Funny, and sad at the same time, I know. I couldn't help it. I just wanted to know then and there how I did, and I had to wait a whole week. So, last night, he starts passing out the tests (well it was more like our answer sheets for the test, as they were all practical questions: microscope slides, physical bones sitting there on the table, and models, etc.). I'm waiting, and waiting, and waiting as it seems everyone else is getting their test back but me. I start thinking "Great. Watch me be the very last one." Then I start to notice that the people I think are smart and know their stuff are starting to get their tests. So I think, "Ok, maybe he's going in order of worst to best...." Finally, last paper in his hand, he says, "And saved the best for last," as he hands the paper to me. My jaw drops. The top right hand corner, in red, it says 100. Now, granted the highest you can get on the test with the extra credit was 108, so I missed 4 things out of 54 questions. But, I got a 100. It was the highest grade in the class (the next highest was a 98). I was the only one to get a 100, and it was the highest grade for his other lab class as well (apparently their class didn't do as well as our class). So, I felt really good. REALLY REALLY good. See I guess it just goes back to high school. I was not a good student. Never knew how to study. So I never studied. I did my home work and took my tests. But now, I am a way better student, and I work really hard. And I'm just glad, at least in one of my classes, its showing.

And actually, my grade is a 102. The professor said he was going to give everyone 2 points because he did that to his other class for a question hardly anyone got right, in both classes, so to be fair he said he'd give us the points as well. Yay.

And that concludes todays updates. I will leave you with a funny video of an Saturday Night Live skit, well more of a rap, about Sarah Palin as Palin herself was on the show and in the skit watching along. Too funny:

Girls Night

Three of my friends have birthdays in October, so they decided why not have a girl's night out at a restaurant to celebrate? Great idea! I had such a great time just relaxing and hanging out with them. I can't wait to do it again. We went to a great, but pricey restaurant called Grand Lux Cafe. It's owned by Cheesecake Factory and the meals were delicious. The dessert was as well. I split a molten chocolate cake with my friend Carla. That I highly recommend!! Here are some pics from the evening.

In other news, I had my mid-term in my A&P lab class, I think my very first in all of college so far, last night. While I think I did pretty well, I know that I answered some questions incorrectly. Good thing is there were 4 extra credit questions, so the highest possible score is 108. We will see next Monday how well I actually did. My professor told us it was one of the most grueling mid-term/finals in the entire campus. I do find that hard to believe though. I am SURE microbiology will be harder. unfortunately, I will be taking that in a couple of semesters. Sigh. Stay tuned for the results! (My lecture class has a test this week, too. I'll keep you posted on that as well.)

And last but certainly not least is my little guy is sick. He's had a little cold for a few days. Then he has some stomach issues, and now he has a fever. He's been laying around that house, which for Nate is like, unheard of. Ever. So keep him in your prayers that he feels better soon. Poor little buddy.

Our Rainy Day of Fun

This past Saturday, Ray was working in Stuart about an hour and a half away from here. He had spent the night there on Friday to save the extra 3 hrs of drive time. Originally, the kids and I had planned to come up after Grace got out of school on Friday, go swimming for a bit, maybe get a bite to eat and sleep over, have breakfast in the morning and then head home. This way Ray could spend some time with the kids, and for the kids, it would seem like a mini-vacation. Well, things changed and Ray had to end up working later that night than he had hoped. So we canceled our visit. My plan was on the way home, take the kids to this Playmobil Fun Park. I had wanted to take them, since its cheap (only $1 per person, they just try to get your money when you leave, with the exit leading directly THRU their store!) but its an hour away, so it's not really on my way anywhere. But I figured if I'm driving home from Stuart, it would be on the way. But our Friday/Saturday plans were changed and that would no longer work.

So Saturday comes and its raining, badly, all day. I think it said 80 or 90% chance of rain, which means, its going to be raining for sure! I think the kids were bored, and I was a little bored, too, and we all missed Ray, so I decided we would drive up and go to the Playmobil Fun Park (and with the hour drive up I knew Nate would get some naptime in there), and then about 5:30 we would leave and head a half an hour north to surprise Ray and pick him up from work and maybe go out to dinner. The kids had a fun time in this CRAZY place where they have all these sections of toys set up for the kids to play with. It can be kind of crazy when there's a lot of kids in one section. Grace had to wait a little while to be able to play at the Princess Castle table. But the kids had a great time. I'd like to go again, with Ray next time (it helps when you need to be in 2 places at once to actually have 2 people there) and stay for longer. Anyway, I called Ray about 5pm and double checked he was still thinking he was getting off at 6, and then told him I would come pick him up. So off we went, picked up Ray and decided to have a little dinner at Carrabba's. My dinner and Ray's were both VERY good. I highly recommend the Polla Rosa Maria if you go!! Then after dinner, Ray wanted to stop by this place called Riverwalk in downtown Stuart. Its a really nice area along the St. Lucie River (which I thought was the ocean, ha ha). There was a few restaurants or bars nearby, I think, but it was just a really nice place to walk around at or to sit for a while. It was very nice out; not too warm and very windy. It had a nice little playground for the kids to play in, so we let them work off some energy for a little bit. We had a great time, except for when Ray stubbed his toe on the playground, and actually cut his toe a little. But other than that it was nice day and nice evening with Ray. Ray thought my ideas were very good! I'm glad he approved. He worked hard and deserved some fun time!

I took some pictures of the kids playing, but I haven't downloaded it yet. So here are some pics from the internet of where we went:

This is the entrance to the park/store

This is a pic of the type of castle Grace was playing with.
She had a great time playing with other kids.


This is also another example of the types of things the kids had to play with.


This is a really nice pic of Riverwalk. See the wodden dock looking thing?
You walk on that alongside the River. It was nice!


And here is another really nice pic of how the bridge looks at night.

Bullets of my Life

I don't really have much to say, but I am trying to post a blog more often, so I will update you on my life in bullet form:

• My hubby is a wonderful man. Just thought I would tell everyone how great of a husband I have. Love you, Ray!
• My kids are great, too. Yeah, they may get me frustrated at times, but they're great and I love them and I wouldn't trade them for the world. Love you, Pumpkin and Peanut!!
• It's fall. It's still a tad bit on the warm side, but the mornings are starting to be a lot nicer here. Fall is my favorite time of year! Yay, Fall!
• If you didn't already know, I'm currently in school this semester. I'm taking Anatomy and Physiology 1 -lecture class-(further referred to as A&P1) and A&P1 Lab class. Many of you know I'm going for a degree in nursing, but at the moment I am completing the pre-requisite classes for the nursing program at BCC. Next semester I need to take A&P2 and A&P2 Lab, and then I can apply to the program. The earliest I could start the program is Jan 2010.
• I have currently taken 2 exams in my lecture class and 2 quizzes in my lab class. I've gotten 2 B's on my lecture tests and 2 A's on my lab tests. While the B's are good, I am trying to get A's because the nursing program accepts applicants based on a point system. Each applicant is given a certain number of points based on their GPA (4.0=16 pts, 3.9=15 pts, etc. etc.). Then you get 1 pt for being a Broward resident, and 5 pts for meeting some HOSA requirement. Possible 22 pts. Then when its time to accept applicants, they the number of openings that they have from the top of the list down, depending on pts. So, I am trying to get as many points as I can, which is the main reason I am obsessed with A's. Heck, I am grateful for B's since in high school I wasn't the best of students.
• I currently have to leave for my lecture class in 26 minutes.
• Grace is FINALLY getting in one of her top front teeth. They've been out for a while and now one is coming in.
  
• Nate LOVES watching Chip and Dale. Ray bought a Chip and Dale DVD, and Nate askes to watch it every day!
• Now I must go eat so I can leave for class!
  

Fire Extravaganza

Each year, my city has a Fire Extravaganza in the parking lot of Wal-mart. It's an all day event for the family, including raffles for TONS of gift baskets (which include gift certificates to stores and restaurants) and bike raffles, a fire truck and ambulance on display for kids to tour, a fire hose the kids can hold and turn on to aim at a target, a fire safety house, a K9 demonstration, a fire-rescue excavation demonstration (complete with the jaws of life) and a bunch of local vendors vying for you business. Its fun, and with the interest Nate shows in fire trucks, I had marked this day on my calendar a while ago, looking forward for this day to come. The kid seriously knows where like 4 fire stations are, and every time we drive by them, he looks to see if the doors are open so that he can see the fire truck. He just LOVES fire trucks, or Tire trucks, as he calls them. Well, that day finally came- yesterday. I'll add some more pictures later, but here is one of Nate after he got to dress up like a fireman.

A-Z About Me

I've been tagged by my friend, see her blog HERE, who is apparently getting me back for doing this to her some time ago. So, here you go. In case you were dying to know whether I like apples of oranges better, this is your source for info. And if I tagged you, you must do the same thing on your blog!

Attached or Single? Attached to my man, Ray. We've been married for 6 and a half years!

Best Friend? Sara....been friends since we were 13 (Yikes, that's a loooooong time. I'm old!)

Cake or Pie? Hmmm. I guess that depends. I like both. Guess I prefer chocolate cake. But Blueberry or Apple pie is good too. So hard to decide......

Day of Choice? Any day that ends in Y. Ha! Well, I guess I would have to say any day that Ray is off from work, which is mostly weekends.

Essential Item? Right now? My anatomy book. I have to study a lot!

Flavor of Ice Cream? Cherries Jubilee (from Baskin Robbins), Cherry Garcia (from Ben and Jerry's) or just plain ol' chocolate.

Gummy Bears or Worms? Either. I'm not opposed to one or the other. It's not my favorite candy in the world, but I will eat bears or worms.

Hometown? HollyWOOOOOOD

Indulgences? Lattes. Gotta luv' me some lattes.

January or July? January. It's way cooler out than it is in July

Kids? Two- Grace and Nate

Last Movie I saw in a Theater? The Dark Night

Middle Name? Marisa

Number of Siblings? One- a brother named Jordan

Oranges or Apples? Apples

Phobia or Fear? I really, really, really hate bugs. And they scare me. Especially roaches. Ewwww!

Quote? "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies with in us." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Reason to Smile? My family. I'm blessed. Fo' Sho'

Season? Fall/Winter, which really doesn't happen here, but its definitely cooler, so I love it.

Tag five more: Carla, Brandi, Tessa, Wendi, Katie (but I don't know her blog address) KT- if you read this, you're tagged!!

Unknown Fact About Me? I can water-ski (well, I could water-ski, haven't done it in years, and I slalomed once or twice), and I was a pretty good archer, too.

Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals? I love me some protein. Chicken mostly.

Worst Habit? I'm a nail biter. =(

Xrays or Ultrasounds? Ultrasounds. They're cool.

Your favorite Food? Pizza. Fo' Sho' . I can eat that all day every day no problems. Well none except for the weight I would gain doing so, and the artery clogging to go with it.

Zodiac? Aquarius.

My Little Angel

First of, let me just say that yes I know I am a horrible blogger. I'm actually quite good at being a bad blogger. Truth is, I thought I was going to be blogging more, and then school started (for me....I've been going on and off, a semester here, a semester there). What I didn't know was how difficult my classes were going to be. So, alas, I have not had much time. Sorry. I will try to blog, though. I want to. I really do. And the best I can say is that I will try.

Anyway, today is the day that 6 years ago, after 43.5 hrs of labor, I met my little angel, Grace for the very first time, making all those months and hours of waiting worth it. My only regret is that time is just going by too stinking fast and I cannot believe she is already 6. My little girl is getting bigger and bigger, and today we celebrate the joy she's brought into our lives. Without her, my life would not be complete. My little sweet pea, my little pumpkin pie, I love you. Happy birthday, Grace!!

Life Through The Eyes of Children

It's been a while, I know. Things have been hectic. We just got back from vacation, visiting Ray's brother, John, my sister-in-law, Wendi, and my little nephew, Isaac up in northern Florida. Now we're getting ready for Grace's first day of school, and Kindergarten at that, tomorrow.

But here are a few cute things my kids have said over the last couple of days to hold you over until I can get back on track and start blogging again:

• After discussing the Olympics with Grace and explaining them to her, she asks, "Mommy, do you have to go to the Olympics if you don't want to?" Ha ha- I don't know of anyone who didn't want to go =)

• Nate, after hearing me say that they took the merry-go-round down at the mall as we were entering the mall for some school shoe shopping, says, "They took down the merry-go-round? Oh no!!!!! (and puts hands over ears in shock)" Poor little guy's heart just broke I think.
  

• After telling Grace that Nate is going to miss her while she's at school, and that I, too, will miss her, she says, "Mommy, its not like I'm moving to Paris and you'll never see me again. I'll be back." I have NO idea where she comes up with this stuff.

• I asked Nate if he would like to "drive" a space ship when he gets bigger. I guess even 2 year olds know you don't drive them, you fly them because he said, "No, Mommy, I'm gonna fly a space ship!"

I think that's all my little snippets of what my cute little kids have to say for now. I'll be back soon, I promise!

My Sweet Boy

My little boy is so sweet. Just look at that face! But really, he's a sweetheart. Here's why. Last night, as dinner was cooking, I came and sat on the couch with Nate as he was watching a show. I asked him if I could rub his back, but he said no. So I then asked him if he wanted to rub my back, jokingly, but he said yes. He got up off the couch and came over and started rubbing my back. As he was rubbing, he proceeded to start singing all the songs, in order, that we sing before bed every night- Twinkle, Twinkle; Go To Sleep; You Are My Sunshine; and Jesus Loves Me. Ok, so I know you may be scratching your head, thinking, "So, what's so sweet about that?" Well, not too much, really. But the sweet part was after he was done singing. See, while he was rubbing my back, I pretended to fall asleep. So when Nate was done singing and rubbing my back, he then went to grab a blanket. He got it and tried to unfold it and put it on me, but he was having trouble, so he then tried to enlist the help of Grace, saying, "Grace, can you help me put this on mommy?" I wish I could have video taped the entire thing because these words really don't do his sweet actions justice. But my sweet little boy really touched me with his caring, nuturing, loving actions yesterday.

Today

Today is the 4th of July. We all know that. But today is also my dear hubby's THIRTIETH birthday. Yes, the BIG 3-0! He's not very happy about this, since it means he is no longer considered to be in his 20's. I have been finding this very amusing, since while most of you know I am *cough* 31 and have been in my thirties for almost a year and a half now, my wonderful husband didn't see what the big deal was when I turned 30 and had a big problem with it. Now he's understanding a little better what I was feeling and that yeah, turning 30 is sometimes kind of hard.

But really, I've been realizing a little more here and there that age is just a number. I still hate hearing the 3 part of my age, but I'm still young and I feel young. And that's what counts, right?

So here's to all the thirty-somethings that when I was a twenty-something I thought were "old." We're not really "old." Yet. Thirty is the new twenty. (Or was it fourty is the new thirty? I don't know.) And here's to my wonderful hubby. I love you, and I can't help but giving you a hard time for your birthday. But I really do love you. with all of my heart. You're the greatest hubby in the world and I'm so glad you're mine. You're the best one of the best ones! Happy Birthday.

A Busy Life

I've now come to the conclusion I stink at blogging. I try, and I have every intention to come here more often and blog. But lo and behold, I do not. The last week or so has been pretty busy. Grace had a ballet recital and required numerous practices before the big day. Then she had 2 recital performances which required us to be at the theater from 12:30pm until about 9:30pm (we did go home for about 45 minutes in between performances). Anyway, after that we had a birthday party to attend for one of Grace's friends this past weekend, and now we have a week long schedule full of swimming lessons for both Grace and Nate. Both are doing wonderful with their lessons, by the way. So that leaves me to today. I have a cold, and Grace and Nate have colds. My weight loss?? Well, I'm up a pound or two, again. But I will save that for another blog (I promise to have one in the next few days or so). I also have to say that my sister-in-law, Wendi is pregnant!! While some may not think this is such a big deal, think again. I'll save this for another blog as well, but let's just say that God is good!

I just wanted to post some pics from Grace's ballet recital and a video of her.

Here is the costume Grace had to wear. The ballet recital's theme
was based on The King and I. Grace was one of the Siamese children.


Here is Grace's class

Grace and her cheesy smile =)


Yeah, I'm not sure about the face here, but I just
wanted you to see more of her make-up

I'm a ballerina!

And here is the video. Grace is the second girl from the left. Isn't she cute?

Catching Up

Well, it's been a while since I've posted last, so I thought it was about catch everyone up on what's been going on around here. I think I will make this a bullet post.

• I still miss my little Isaac. He's getting bigger, I'm not seeing him, it's getting harder.
• Grace's last day of school was May 30th. She is now officially a Kindergartener. Yay Grace!
• Grace lost another tooth (one of the top) a few weeks ago, so now this is her 4th lost tooth. And she's not even 6 yet. She's a little sad about this though, because a younger girl in her class had just lost her 5th tooth. Apparently, children think its a competition to lose teeth. Meanwhile, the adults compete to keep their teeth. Go figure.
• Nate is still Uh-Ohless. He actually hasn't even asked for it in a while, too, so that's really good. It's almost as if the Uh Oh never happened. Now we just need to work on potty training.
• I'm working my way out of a weight-loss slump. I hadn't been working out since I got sick in February and I have finally found my way back to the gym. I also went through a couple of weeks where I ate whatever and I ended up gaining 10 lbs. TEN POUNDS in 3 weeks is just plain crazy. I know I ate bad, but heck, I didn't eat THAT bad. Anyway, I'm now working my way back down. I've lost 4.6 lbs in the last two weeks. I'm hoping to lose another 10.4 by July 4th. Stay tuned to see how that goes.
• I'm thinking there may be a better reason for me gaining 10 lbs in 3 weeks by not following a diet and eating a few not-so-good things. I know I'm 31 now, but goodness, I'm not 50! I feel like if I eat one bad thing, I will be up 1-2 lbs just the next day. Yeah, it may be water, but I am drinking a minimum of 96 ozs of water PER DAY. I can't possibly be retaining the same amount, or more, of water than I was before I started drinking all that water. It should be helping. Sigh. Anyway, maybe after next week I may have some better answers.
• My shoulder STILL hurts. I take about 3 million advil a day and nada. Its still the same. I miss yoga. I'd really like to do some yoga to destress about my shoulder, but I can't because it hurts my shoulder. Sigh again. I miss yoga.
• I love my salsa dance class at the gym.
• I love the hip hop dance class at the gym, too, but that class is at the gym further away from my house and its only on Saturdays and my Saturdays have been really crazy lately. I hope to get back to that class soon.
• I miss yoga.
• My best friend, that I've known since we were 12 or 13 is moving to Atlanta. We both got married the same year, but I had Grace (and then Nate later on), and her and her hubby were busy with Grad school getting their phD's, so we haven't hung out all that often lately. But now she's moving and we won't be able to see each other that much hardly ever. But I can't wait to visit her. I've been to the airport in ATL and I've driven through, but I really haven't visited there.
• Ray and Grace just went to a Father Daughter Dance at church last weekend. There were hundreds of fathers and daughters there, and it was a really cool time for the two of them. They got really dressed up and they looked very nice.

I guess that's all the updating I have for now. If I think of anything else, I'll post a blog. I do want to leave with you two things. One is a story about what Grace did last night. The other is a video of Nate.

Last night, I was giving the kids baths. Nate was already in the tub all cleaned up and he was playing for a few minutes before it was time to get out. Grace was about to get in the tub, and she's in the bathroom and I hear her whispering(well more like quiet talking) to Nate. I am looking into the bathroom from the living room and I am watching the entire thing. She tells Nate, "Hey Nate, dump the water out," which, if you could see Nate, he had a cup full of water. So she was telling him to dump the water out of the tub. And so he did, an entire cup full of water onto the bathroom floor. What was so shocking to me was that she then turned her head to yell out to me, "Mom, Nate dumped water on the floor!!" But as she turned and shouted, she saw me already staring into the bathroom with a look of shock on my face. She knew she'd been caught and I proceeded to call her out on it. I can't believe she did that. I know I should have expected kids to do these sorts of things, just never believed my sweet little angel would try to get her brother in trouble. On purpose. I wonder how many other times she's done this.

And in closing, here is a cute video of Nate. Enjoy. And come back soon, I promise to try to blog at least once a week.

Little Alex

Some of you may have heard about this, and some of you may not have. This is a story about a little five year old boy named Alex, who actually only lives about two hours from me. Anyway, this story is sad because this poor boy had to endure the cruel judgments of his teacher AND the other children in the class. On top of that, Alex has been in the process for several months now of getting tested for, and it's presumed he has, Asperger's syndrome, which is a form of Autism. The school was the one to bring it to the attention of the parents and that's why they started testing him in the first place, which means they obviously knew he had some issues. So the story goes like this. Apparently, little Alex was put in front of his entire kindergarten class and the teacher asked EVERY SINGLE child to say why they do NOT like him. To him, he thinks this means they hate him. Very sad. Makes my heart just hurt that there are people that think this is OK. It's not. I don't care how bad someone is, that behavior is never acceptable.

After the "why we don't like Alex" session, the teacher then proceeded to hold a vote on whether little Alex should stay in the class or go. The 14-2 vote was in favor of Alex leaving the class, which included the vote of Alex's only friend in the world, whose vote was initially in favor of Alex staying, but after the teacher sternly asked the child to repeat his vote, he changed it in favor of Alex having to leave. Poor Alex thinks even his best friend hates him.

After the vote, the teacher then asked Alex how he felt. Well, gee, captain obvious, how do you think he felt?? Gosh this story really gets under my skin. And the fact that this happened so close in proximity just goes to show you some of the many reasons why I want to get out of here. To read the story, you can click here, or google it (Alex Barton) and you will find stuff all over the web.

I can't help to well up with tears when I hear this story, and when I write it as well. I think anyone with a heart and conscience would feel some emotion in regards to this story. I guess this just hits close to home for me for a couple of reasons. Back in 2-4 grades, I remember having two friends at the Catholic school I went to. For some reason, none of the kids liked me, nor did the teachers and even the principal picked on me. I remember going home and crying multiple times. I even remember being sick with Mono in the 3rd grade and I was out for almost a whole month, and I remember hearing something about the kids being glad I was out for so long. I also got stabbed in the leg with a pencil by a kid who sat in front of me for "kicking his chair." Yeah I may have kicked the chair, but stabbing someone is a crime. Nothing was done, ad even worse, when I went to tell the teacher, she told me to go sit back down. As if I was bothering her. I've never had problems with any other school like that one. From 5th grade on, I may not have been the most popular kid, but I was never ever picked on. So I have no idea what it was, maybe financial politics that started with the teachers treating me differently and then the kids following suit. Who knows. But I also did not have any conditions like Alex may have to add to the problem. I guess the other reason this hits home is that I have a daughter the same age, about to embark on her Kindergarten journey, and I can't ever imagine anyone treating her that way.

All that to say there are some really nice people in this world who want to help Alex see that he really is special. Someone is giving out her own address so that people can send cards to Alex to her, and she will then forward them onto to Alex's mother. I'm going to work with Grace this weekend on one myself. I think everyone should send Alex a card, so tell everyone you know about this. Click here for the site with the wonderfully sweet woman's address to send the cards to.

Uh Oh

For many of you that know me, you know what an "Uh Oh" is. But for those of you that might not know, let me explain. It all started almost 6 years ago when Grace was born. We gave her a pacifier and as time let on, everywhere she went, her pacifier went, too. They were inseperable. However, there were few occasions where Grace would drop her pacifier, and in turn we would say, "Uh oh," and pick it up. We did this with cups and toys and anything else that was thrown, but for some reason, Grace correlated the word Uh Oh with her pacifier, and that was what she called it. When Nate was born, we were in such a habit of calling it an Uh Oh, it felt strange to just say pacifier, so we called it that for him, too.

For Grace, we tried to get rid of her pacifier one day by just taking it away, and it was REALLY hard. We ended up giving it back to her and said we'd try again sometime soon. One day, we were out, and I don't know if we just didn't have any more pacifiers with us, or if we just didn't have any more at all (they got lost and broken), but Grace had been biting holes in them around that time. Once she bit a hole in it, she was unable to suck on them and no longer wanted that particular pacifier. Well, we were out, and she bit a hole in the only one we had there, and wanted another one. We ended up telling her that she broke it and we didn't have any and there wasn't anything we could do. It ended up being a while and she was doing well, so instead of getting her another one, we decided to try to get rid of it that day. We succeeded. From that day on, she never put another pacifier in her mouth. Well, with the exception of one day after that when she found one somewhere, and proceeded to find me and just look at me in the eyes while she sucked away- kind of with that look of, "Look at what I have in my mouth, Mom." I snatched that pacifier out of her mouth so fast!! Anyway, that was about 2 months after her 2nd birthday.

So fast forward to now, when Nate 2 years and 5 months old. I hadn't tried to get rid of his pacifiers yet, because he's been more difficult with things in the past like night feedings and coming completely off the bottle than Grace was, so I just didn't even want to hassle with it yet. However, the other night we were over Ray's parent's house having dinner, and Nate had to go several hours without his pacifier because it had gotten lost. On the drive home, over an hour past his bedtime, he did remarkably well, so I thought maybe we should try to get rid of it then. We had a good excuse for Nate-that he lost it and we couldn't find it. He also thinks that Baby Isaac has the others, since I had been prepping him in the fact that Isaac is a baby and babies need Uh Ohs and Nate is a big boy and soon we'd give Isaac all of Nate's Uh Ohs. I had a plan to take him to the post office and mail them in a box. (I'd always heard of people having their kids successfully get off of their pacifiers by giving them to other "babies" so I thought I'd try that). Well that was Monday night and here we are today and still no Uh Oh. He has slept through 2 whole nights, VERY well I might add, without them. Nap time yesterday was a major struggle, but other than that, he's done well.

So I think its safe to say we have gotten rid of Nate's Uh Oh. While I know this is a great thing, theres the little empathetic part of me that feels bad for him. Here's this thing that this little boy has had his WHOLE life, that is part of his life, and we just take it away. And he asks about it every now and then, and it just melts my heart because he asks so sweetly. Don't worry, I'm not going to give in now, we've gotten too far. But I still can't help feeling a little badly about it. Plus it also means my little guy, my baby, is growing up, and that's hard to realize sometimes. But I know that Nate will be ok, and me, too, and we don't have to worry about losing and finding Uh Ohs anymore.

I am an Aunt!!

I am SO excited, I am an Aunt! Isn't that awesome? But what's even more awesome is that Ray's brother, John and his wife, Wendi are finally parents! After 10 years of marriage, 5 of which they've been dealing with infertility, they have adopted this little boy who was just born on May 7th. This is a story that only God could have written, and it such a beautiful story at that. Here is a blog my sister-in-law, Wendi wrote telling some of the background of her relationship with the birthmom, Brianna (click here).

One other cool thing is that Isaac's due date was May 7th, which happened to be the day he was born. However, it was also Brianna's 18th birthday, and Brianna herself was adopted. So how cool is it that she was born into this life, adopted by a loving family, only 18 years later to give birth to a son and allow a loving family to adopt him.....THE VERY SAME DAY!!! God made sure that this story was really special for John and Wendi with the way He put all this together! Awesome, awesome story! Anyway, here are a few pics of my little nephew that I am just torn to pieces over that he's soooo far away from me :(

Issac finally some from the hospital- he's sooo stinkin' cute

Aunt Gabbi feeding Isaac at the hospital

Isaac leaving the hospital, getting ready to take his very first car ride!

I guess I didn't realize how hard it would be to be so far away, but Isaac just went back home today, 10 hrs away from me, and I'm already missing him like crazy. And all he does is sit there and look cute!!! I guess I'm sad that he's hardly going to know his Aunt Gabbi and he'll know tons more people way better than me because they live so close to him and I don't. Anyway, I'll be ok. I know he'll know me more when he's older. Or I'll have to move closer! :)

Prayer Request

Hi everyone. This blog is here to request your prayers for Michael. I can't really go into detail, just keep him in your prayers. If you read my previous blog that had more information, please keep that info to yourself, and pray.

Thanks.

Helping Others

Here is a story I'm sure you all may have heard by now, but I just think that its one we all need to hear over and over again. This is such a great example of the love we should extend to others in their time of need. Its a story a college senior softball player hitting her first ever home run and then tearing her ACL and is unable to run the bases. If you don't know the story, then watch and see what unfolds. It's certainly touching, and I can't help but get all teary eyed every time I watch it.

A Quiz

Got this idea from Wendi. So.....how well do you know me?

Take My Quiz on QuizYourFriends.com Can you Ace my quiz? Yes! No Let's Find Out!

Diet, Growing Up, and Yummy Treats

Well, I've been a slacker with the blogging, once again. Surprise, Surprise, lol. But just to update you, on Monday my weight was the same as last week. No loss, but no gain either, so thats good. I think this week will be the same as well, but I am hoping to do much better this week (I'd better or I will never make my goal....yikes!).

Now I haven't mentioned this before, but man, Grace is really growing up. My little girl, who's really been doing some reading here and there for a bit, has just ballooned into a really good reader out of no where. Makes me proud AND sad that she's getting older (and that I can't spell things in front of her anymore......guess I'll have to learn a new language soon). I'd love to figure out what "level" she's reading on, but she surprises me all the time with the things she's picking up on. At first, I think we just thought she was memorizing the words, but she has picked up books for the first time, never having anyone reading them to her before, and reading 98% of the words. Now we just have to pray she gets better with her handwriting.....lol. That still needs some work =)

Now, here's a yummy recipe for you to try. I just tried this last week and it was soooo good and over all pretty healthy. After the recipe, I'll tell you the modifications I made, which wasn't really all that much. By the way, I saw this recipe made on a show called Jon and Kate Plus 8, which is about a couple who had a set of twins and then a set of sextuplets through infertility treatments. Talk about a full house! Anyway, a chef named Sara Snow visited and made this on the show, so I went to Sara's website and grabbed the recipe. Yum Yum Yum.

2 C Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 C Ground Flax Seed
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Cardamon, or Cloves (ground)

1/2 C Room Temperature Butter
1/2 C Natural Cane Sugar
1/2 C Honey
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 Small Apple, Chopped (Granny Smith is the best)
1/2 C Raisins
1/2 C Chopped Apricots
1 1/2 C Unsweetened Coconut
3 C Oats (oatmeal)
1/4 C Applesauce
1 C Chopped Walnuts or Almonds (Optional)

In a bowl, mix dry ingredients together (flour, salt, baking soda, spices, flaxseed)

In another bowl, beat butter and sugar. Then add in honey, eggs, and vanilla. Slowly add in the dry mix and beat together. Stir in oats, applesauce, coconut and fruit. Drop spoonfuls onto baking sheet and bake 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees.

Now I used golden raisins instead of regular, I used dried apricots (which I think is what they meant to use, but they didn't specify). I used sweetened coconut because I couldn't find unsweetened but I didn't use as much. I also used only about 2- 2 1/4 cups of the oats because it seemed that it was going to be too much. I didn't make it with the nuts, but I think if you like nuts, it would be good to add. I also baked it for more than the 14 minutes, and I think it came out closer to 20. I basically baked it until it was starting to brown around the edges. The recipe takes some prep time, but its a very yummy treat. Try it and let me know what you think!!

Playing Tricks

You gotta love it when you and your spouse can play hilarious tricks on one another and the both of you can laugh about it. One of the things I love most about my husband is his sense of humor and ability to make me laugh (and his ability to laugh at my jokes, too). I love you, Ray!

So, I'm getting ready to leave the house today to run errands and I had to jump on my computer for something. As soon as my laptop is powered up I noticed the cute little computer background I had of Grace and Nate had been replaced with this:

In case you don't know who she is, she is the gorgeous Italian chef on the Food Network show Everyday Italian. Well, I pretended nothing happened and never mentioned anything to Ray about the incident; instead, when I returned home after running my errands, I set this as the background on Ray's computer to subtly let him know I saw what he did to my computer and that I was getting him back:

And in case you don't know who that is, that is Brody Jenner, the son of former Olympian Bruce Jenner. So, I then shut his computer back down so he wouldn't suspect me of anything. A little while after Ray returned home, he turned on his computer. A minute later I heard a yell from the bedroom and he mumbled about getting me back. But wait! I was getting HIM back to begin with!

Ah, the perils of playing tricks on the ones we love......

Growing Up

Ok, so you get two posts in one day. What a deal! But really, I actually would have posted this earlier, but I wanted to ensure I got a decent pic before I blogged.

My little girl is indeed growing fast. The other day Grace asked to get her ears pierced. Ray and I decided before Grace was born that when she was old enough to want and ask to get her ears pierced, we would do it. You see, I came from a house where my parents (mostly my mom, I'm sure, lol) pierced my ears when I was still just an infant. Ray, however, grew up in a different house, and so our views happened to clash. But, we decided on this little compromise, and then 5.5 years later, the day came. After waiting a few days, I asked her again if she still wanted to do this, and her answer was an enthusiastic YES. So there it was, our little girl wanted to pierce her ears.

We had to make a trip to the mall, and decided that while we were there, we'd surprise Grace and get her ears done on Sunday. When we got to Claire's there were 2 other girls in line wanting to get their ears done, too. One girl was about 8 or 9 and the other girl just turned 5. I wasn't sure Grace would still want to get her ears done after watching the other girls, but she was adamant about watching them, and not for one moment during the piercing process did she take her eyes off of the girls. While we were waiting, she got a chance to look at the earring choices and pick which one she wanted. I had scoped out the earrings ahead of time and knew she'd pick the white gold pink flower earrings, and she proved me right. I don't even think it took her 10 seconds to decide either. She also decided that she did not want both ears done at the very same time; she decided she wanted one ear done at a time. Whoa. She was really determined about this, too. I must have asked her like 6 times, and each time her answer remained the same. So one at time it was. And let me say, she was very brave, and she didn't even flinch. I wasn't quite sure who she was, because this is supposed to be the same girl who screams bloody murder when I try to brush knots out of her hair. But anyway, Here are some pics of the journey.

We just told her about her ears


Getting the marks for the holes done


This is her getting the second ear done,
look how calm she looks


All done!

Weight Loss

I've been in sort of a rut lately. It all started back in February right around my birthday. I got a nasty chest cold that left me with an awful cough for weeks, making it difficult to speak at times without hacking up a lung, let alone trying to work out with an elevated heart rate. I know, I know...excuses, excuses but it was the truth. I did let it get out of hand, because eventually I felt better, but I still hadn't made it to the gym. And then it seems like every week, and every day, there's yet another reason I can't go. Sigh.

Its been frustrating to say the least. Add to that my actual "diet" has struggled with a war between what I should eat and what I want to eat. Let's just say that what I wanted to eat has usually been the victor each and every time.

A couple of weeks ago after being at my highest weight since AUGUST, something inside my brain turned off some switches and turned some other switches on. I have ALWAYS wanted to stay on track, but it has not been easy. I never wanted to stay the same for nearly 6 months either. While its great I've basically maintained my weight that long, I should have still been making progress; I have a long road still ahead of me and treading water isn't going to get me anywhere. I am sick and tired, as cliche as that sounds, of maintaining. I had a plan that this summer was going to be great, and as the weeks and months have gone by and the weight has went up and down the same 5 lbs, I saw my summer slipping away. But two weeks ago, that trigger in my brain, somewhere, said enough! I was maintaining, fluctuating between 5 lbs, but then once I got up to a point where I hadn't been in 8 months, it was time to get back in control of this weight thing for sure. I got back on track with the Weight Watchers Core plan (I'll explain that in a minute) and last week I lost 4.2 lbs, and this week I am down another 1.2 lbs. I had close to the same success the first two weeks i tried this last time, but I let it slowly get out of control and didn't follow the plan too closely. This time I plan on making it farther than 2 weeks, for sure. My plan, as of 2 weeks ago, was to be down 30 lbs by June 30th. Basically, if I lose an average of 2 lbs a week from here on out, I will make it. I plan on trying my hardest to do that, because that will put me at weight (that I should have been at MONTHS ago) that will allow me to have a pretty good summer after all.

Now what is the Core Plan? The core plan is a plan that consists of a list of foods that you can eat from. Now, with WW Points plan, you can eat whatever, but you must count your points. You get a specified amount per day and then 35 extra for the week to use however and whenever you wish. So, if you really terrible, and you don't have any points left, too bad. You starve. With the core plan, however, you can eat when ever you want and whatever you want from that list of core foods. Now, I know eating from a "list" may sound restricted, but its not really. I think, probably out of the majority of diets I've learned about over the years, this is probably one of the most sound. This to me is how we should be eating with the occasional treats. Here is the list:

• Any vegetables- canned, fresh, frozen, as long as there's no added sugar (i.e. spaghetti sauce)
• Any fruits- canned, fresh, frozen, as long as there's no added sugar
• Non-creamy soups (w/o rice or pasta in it)-canned, frozen, homemade
• Whole wheat pasta, brown rice (limit to once a day), potatoes (limit to once a day), and grains
• High-fiber and other cereals with no sugar added
• Lean meats, fish, poultry, and eggs
  
• Fat free milk products (skim milk, ff cheese, ff yogurt, etc.)
  
• Healthy oils such as canola, olive, safflower, sunflower and flaxseed oils
• Condiments such as capers, cocktail sauce, extracts, flavorings, spices, herbs, horseradish, hot sauce, ketchup, lemon or lime juice, mustard, fat free salsa, soy sauce, steak sauce, sugar substitutes, taco sauce, teriyaki sauce, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce.
• Coffee, tea, and sugar free beverages
  

Now the core plan also gives you 35 points a week to eat non-core foods. Now what I've been doing, which isn't following it to a T, but as close as possible, is I've been making things like eggs for breakfast with two thin, low calorie slices of toast with a little bit of smart balance on top. Or I make oatmeal with skim milk (all core) and add a tad of sugar. Little things that I add back in, but are probably within my 35 pts a week even though I'm not keeping complete track of it. I think its still eating WAY better than I have been eating in the past, even with the WW points plan. This plan also allows you to eat as much as you need to be satisfied. they obviously want you to not stuff yourself like Thanksgiving every day, but you're not limited to have to stop at three bites either. I don't know exactly what it is with this plan exactly, but my body likes it. I love my milk and I get at least a glass a day with the core plan with no worries.

So anyway, that's my weight loss update for now. Sorry I've been lacking, but along with my renewed spirit I will try to blog more often about my journey.

Something's Missing

From this picture.....can you guess what?

Grace lost her THIRD tooth this morning. Well, maybe I shouldn't say lost, but rather "pulled" out =)

Nature's Beauty

There's one thing really awesome about living in the HOT place I live. The sunsets are UNREAL. This past weekend, my wonderful husband surprised me with a short trip to the west coast, or should I clarify with Gulf coast. I've always wanted to watch the sunset on the west coast, as I've seen plenty of beautiful east coast sunrises. Folks, it was beautifully breathtaking. Here are some pics from the trip.

Just before the sun's magnificent decent, it was hiding behind the clouds


Pure beauty

The sun wasn't hiding, I was just taking a picture of the clouds

Almost gone...


Once the sun was out of view, you can hear people
all over the beach applaud




After the sun is gone

This last photo wasn't a sunset, but it was a really cool pic I took
on the way home. Just look at the sun rays beaming through the clouds.