Weekend is over

Phew! What a crazy weekend!

Friday we went to Multnomah Falls, and the Bonneville Dam and fish hatchery with Grandma Ard and the visiting families. That night I played softball again on Melissa's work team. I was so proud! I never struck out! I got to 2nd base once! The other times they caught me out or got to the base before me. So, yeah, I suck, but at least I didn't strike out!

Saturday morning, Steve and Becka went to a Daddy/Daughter Activity at church. They enjoyed that. As soon as they got home, we sped over to Clackamas Towne Center to see Wall-E with all the cousins. It was cute. Had a blatant political message running through it, but overall, I liked it. After that, we went to 6 different stores looking for a bike for Miss Becka. She got tons of birthday money to use for it. This was, of course, at lunchtime on a 100 degree day, with Rachel who hadn't had a nap. By the time we gave up on the bike hunt and got to Grandma's house, we were grouchy and hot. Steve, Grandma and Becka went to another store and came back with a new bike! Hooray! I will post a pic tomorrow!

I left at 5:00 with the girls to go to Kelsie's birthday party. After the party we went back to Grandma's house. Rachie played in the water for a bit, Steve was grilling the food. It was fun visiting with everyone. Rach started to totally melt down and I was so frustrated because Steve was either grilling or playing on the computer with his brother. Ugh...Damn computers!

So, we loaded up and came home. Rach was asleep before we even turned off of Grandma's street. Although, when we got home, she started SCREAMING and cried for almost an hour before she fell asleep again. Poor baby girl! Nothing we did helped.

I then spent until 2 am working on Primary stuff. I am subbing for the Primary chorister for the rest of the summer. Today went well. I had fun, but we were just reviewing. Starting next week, I have to actually teach them a new song. That will be interesting! Gonna spend a lot of time online looking for ideas.

We had planned on going back to the Ards this afternoon, but Steve had Home Teaching and interviews to do, so we ended up sticking around here, watching movies and then visited my mom. We hadn't seen her in over a week, so it was extra fun. We played Rummikub and Skip-Bo, both of which I COMPLETELY sucked at tonight. I couldn't concentrate with Rachel "helping" me.

We did have a small thunderstorm today. It wasn't as impressive as I had hoped. The sunset was amazing though, as they always are after a thunderstorm. I, of course, had forgotten my camera. I was wishing for it when we were driving home from Mom's and saw several places to take some great pictures!

All in all, it was a fun weekend. Crazy busy, but filled with fun and some memories too!

Bleh

Ugh. I thought I was doing ok off my meds, but I can feel the anxiety and depression creeping back up on me. Time to get the prescription refilled.

Nothing super exciting happening around here. We got to visit with all of Steve's family on Sunday. That was fun! Since everyone is in town, we took pics and they turned out great. I did have some up on my dropshots, but Steve made me take them down because he hadn't edited them yet. Meany!

Next week I start really kicking up my walking. I am on a walking team with Melissa and her co-workers. There are two teams competing to see which can get the most miles in. I figure I have to walk an average of 4 miles a day to keep up. When am I gonna get that done? lol! I am also gonna start the "couch to 5K" plan that I have had sitting here for a few years now. The time has come to get myself in gear!

Our website is almost finished. I need to write the Bio about us for it, and I have a few pics to add that Steve hasn't gotten up there yet. I need to also work on a watermark to add to the photos. I forgot about that being one of my "jobs."

Melissa and I are planning a trip to Forks, WA. Hopefully we can go in September. The book series that I am currently obsessed with is based there, and we want to go visit and take pictures, etc. It will be so much fun!!

I am already wishing summer vacation was shorter. My kiddos do nothing but fight! I guess they have to get used to being around each other all the time again or something. Yesterday we went to the library, and today to the free movie, but the minute we get back in the house, they go off. Especially Becka. She was screaming at me all day today. Ugh! Sometimes I wish I could duct tape her mouth shut so she could see that really, it is her smart mouth that gets her into the most trouble.

I go back to the doctor tomorrow. I haven't lost any weight since I was last in there. Actually, I may have gained. But, I am on the right track now at least. Melissa and I are walking at least 4 times a week, plus I am bike riding, etc with the kids and Steve. My goal is to be down 15 pounds by the time we go on our vacation in August. Hopefully by Christmas I will be down about 30 pounds. By my birthday I would love to be down 50 pounds. After that, I hope to maintain. I know I won't ever be like before I had the kids, but I would like to be healthier and to feel ok about my appearance. Of course, if I get pregnant between now and then, that will throw all my plans off by a few years. That's ok though. I would rather be fat and have my babies than skinny and not have them.

OK, so this post has nothing of any importance in it, just me rambling. I should head to bed. It is midnight and the kiddos have been getting up when Steve leaves at 6:15am. Haven't they ever heard of sleeping in???

Becka's Birthday

My Baby Girl is officially ten years old! Exactly ten years ago, after 30 hours of labor, 24 of it on pitocin (horrid stuff) and an emergency c-section, I was FINALLY holding my sweet baby. I can't believe it has been that long. Seems like it can't be 10 years! I am also thinking that I am definitely not old enough to be the mom of a 10 year old!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BECKA!!

Recovering

Phew! Recovering from Becka's birthday party is taking longer than I thought! lol! We had a great time on Saturday. I have a few of the pictures up on my dropshots page if you want to see.

Wanna hear what we did? If not, stop reading now! :)

First, they came to Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station and presented their train ticket to board the Hogwarts Express. Once inside, they were sorted into houses using the sorting hat. After that, they were each given the password to tell to the pink lady portrait so that they could enter into the Gryffindor common room. Once in there, they played a game of Harry Potter Scene It. When that was done, we went to Olivander's wand shop and everyone got a magic wand. Next, it was time for classes. First class was Potions, where Professor Snape (Steve) demonstrated two cool "potions" and they each got to make their own potion. The ingredients available to them were: Mandrake Teeth (chopped nuts), Bloodworms (gummy worms), Dried Spider Silk (coconut), Troll Dandruff (powdered sugar), Blast-Ended Skrewt Toenails (pop rocks), Dragon Tears (green koolaid), Hippogriff Brain (crushed pineapple), Bowtruckle Droppings (raisins), Bat's Blood (red koolaid) and Essence of Plumeria (purple koolaid). After they made their potions, they each got graded and told that in order to pass that day's class, they had to drink at least half of their potion and stay alive. Hee hee hee! After Potions they went to Muggle Studies where they learned about hobbies that muggles had, and tried out a muggle hobby called "crafts" by making a golden snitch necklace without magic. Finally, they met in the Divination Tower (top of the playground) and had a test to see if they were possessed of the "inner-eye." They had to taste 10 jelly beans and guess what flavor each one was. Following that, we had cake/ice cream and presents. At the end, they played "Quidditch." It really ended up being more like broom hockey, but was still fun! They hit a ball around the backyard with brooms and tried to make goals. Jake acted as the bludger, he ran around trying to knock the ball away from everyone, and Ang, Mom and I threw around a small ball to be the golden snitch. After that was done, I just let them play outside, and such until parents came to get them. In their goody bags, I gave them each a cool Hogwarts Journal (Mom found them), a package of "Droobles Best Blowing Gum," "Fizzing Whizbees" (pop rocks), chocolate frogs and Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans.

I lay on the couch most of the rest of the evening. I was so tired! I couldn't have done it without Steve, my mom and Angie there to help me. It was a blast, and the girls seemed to be enjoying themselves. I just don't think I will be doing anything that involved for a long time! I figure that she doesn't get a friend party every year, and 10 is an extra special birthday year. Jake wants a Star Wars birthday party this time...what kind of precedence have I set for myself?????

Old School

One of my mom's groups have been talking a lot about the New Kids on the Block getting back together. This got me thinking about all of the "old school" music that I loved back in high school! I added a few to my playlist, just in case you start to feel a bit nostalgic. My kids and I were having fun dancing to the songs as I was listening to them while adding them. Rachie especially loved it. She has always loved music.

Have I told you about her? Before she was born, Jake used to stick his face on my tummy and sing "Twinkle Twinkle" to her all the time. The day she was born, he was holding her and she started to fuss. As I reached out to take her from him, he snuggled her in tighter and started singing it to her. She quieted down immediately and listened while he sang. It made my heart melt. When she was tiny and would be colicky, Steve had a sill song that he made up for her and it never failed to calm her. In church from the time she was about 4 months old, she has always joined in when the hymns were being sung. Granted, it was her own style of singing, but cute and sweet, and kind of cool all the same. Since she could sit up, in addition to singing along, she dances to any music she hears, including cell phones ringing. I think people at church are finally used to seeing her boogieing down in the aisle in the chapel during the more "peppy" hymns. I hope she continues this love of music. It is fun to have someone who shares that love with me!

Harry Potter Frenzy!

I am in a crazy Harry Potter frenzy over here! Seriously though, I am having fun! My Hogwarts castle practice cake was a flop...not sure how I will fix that problem. I can always go back to the original idea I had and do wizard hat cupcakes if all else fails. I have everything but the chocolate frogs ready to go in the girls' goody bags. Those are cooling in the fridge. I need to make the portrait of the Pink Lady to go over the entrance to the Gryffindor "common room" and then I will be able to breathe a bit easier. I have no clue how to do it though, I am not an artist! My mom is making wizard robes for Becka and Steve, and she is gonna make the sorting hat for us also. I can't wait to take pictures and show ya all, I think it will be lots of fun!

I have been walking or doing some sort of exercise every day with Melissa, for almost a week now. It is hard to schedule it in, but having Melissa to prod me along helps a lot. I wouldn't do it if it was just me! The whole family and Melissa went for a bike ride the other day. My bum is so sore from the hard seat on my bike! We went about 6 miles though, which I know isn't very far on a bike, but for someone like me who hasn't exercised regularly in years, in is AWESOME! We got caught in a rain shower and saw the most beautiful rainbow ever! If you check out my dropshots, you will see pics of it.

What was I thinking?

Seriously, I must be deranged or have something wrong with my brain! I just now sat down and wrote out everything I need to get done for Becka's birthday party. What the heck is wrong with me??? I have SO much to get taken care of. She had better appreciate all of the trouble I am going through!

Anyone wanna come over and help me make chocolate frogs??