My "baby" turned 10

So this is my first time having a kid in "the double digits". Wow. I'm so not ready for this stage of life! Tristian turned 10 official Dec 31. But we just had his party last night. For the first time I had to buy him "man" jammie pants, and "man" slippers. He is starting to no longer fit in kids clothes! And the shoes! oh no!

Well, so we're not to big for themed birthday parties yet! I asked him Wednesday what kind of cake he wanted. His reply, "chocolate, with white icing. Oh, and mom, I want it Harry Potter." I went all out for his brother & sister both. Cakes completely from scratch, desgned. yeah, well, it's just not fair to do easy for him right?

So since the cake wasn't fabulous like his sibilings I went a step further and made "wands." Chocolate dipped pretzels. yummmm

Then there was the Honeydukes candy. Every flavor jelly beans (jelly belly baby!) and worms.....yum?

Normally, our house is bursting at the seams with people at parties. Usually running 10-20 kids. And that's just family and a few of "mom's friends". So I allow very few "extras" to come. Last night was a very small group! About 10 adults, my 3 kids and the one friend Tristian got to invite. Sam is one of Tristian's dance buddies. They hit it off at Nutcracker '07 and are pretty much inseperable when in close proximity of each other. Sam's a pretty good kid, he was even polite enough to move over when I was taking pictures! Had to coax him back over for this one!

Happy National English Toffee Day

found out today was National English Toffee Day. yum yum
does this excuse me from my diet? I'm gonna go drink my english toffee coffee, maybe I might go get some toffee candy too.......

Oh how I love days like this

For the last two nights, my dogs have decided that night time is a good time to play, we'll sleep during the day. Now I've been keeping them outside since it's been warmer. But they seem to decide to playfully bark at each other right as I am trying to go to bed. Then every 2-3 hours after that they start again. With me yelling SHUT UP!!! GO TO BED!!!

Last night that was alternated with Dakota screaming out every couple hours. The dogs woke me up at 3 yesterday morning. Too early to actually get up, but it took me an hour to get back to sleep. This morning it was 5, but same thing.

So at 7, I get up stumbling around. Get the kids up and hit the shower. After I get out I notice this:

Yup, Dakota's got Pinkeye. Oh how exciting. Of course that means it's time for Mom's Indy 500. Find an old RX to get the treatment started. Call him into school. Call the Dr to get a new RX and to have them fax a note to the school. Here in a little bit we'll be headed to the pharmacy. And I need to lysol the house so hopefully no one else will get it!

And all of this while I'm trying to finish putting together his big brother's b-day party for Saturday. I guess the bright side is, this didn't happen on Saturday.

Talk to me Tuesday: Word of 2009 (a day late haha)

I've been bad & neglected my blog..... shame on me. lol
I'm going to do Talk to me Tuesday a day late this week, and hopefully get back into the swing of things.

My assingment: pick a word that sums up what you want for yourself in 2009?
I've been thinking, and I'm still not sure. I think the thing I want most in my life right now is GRACE.
I want to show other the grace God has given me. The grace to forgive others, even when I don't want to. The grace to over look the little things that drive me crazy. Enough grace to stop yelling at my kids, what seems like a constant thing. Grace can cover so many things in our lfe. I want this years motto to be:
Show others the grace God has shown you!

biggest loser?

So I've been thinking about needing to lose weight for awhile now. I got semi serious this spring, then quit.

One reason that motivated me: I found the piece of yarn that was used to measure the size of my belly when I was 9 months pregnant with Dakota. 4 years later, I'm the same size! BLAH!!

Reason #2: this really kicked my butt in gear, I saw how "fat" I looked in the pictures from my brother's wedding.

Now I know I don't look fat. I'm tall, and it hides well. My suggested weight range is 132lbs-174lbs. ideal is 156lbs. So I've been teetering on the top of the range for several years, but felt it was not that big of a deal.

Here's the big deal. I am considered obese! I was 197lbs in April, 192lbs the first of November. OMG! looking at the #'s makes be feel huge! lol

Here's the good news. As of today I am down to 186lbs. I have lost 6lbs in a month just by changing my eating habits. baby steps.... I've lost 2 inches in my waist & hips!

Next step: getting serious about exercising. Not just talking about it. No chasing 5 kids around does NOT count. lol

just 12 more lbs and I will be back in my suggested weight range! WOO HOO!!!! My goal is to get down into around 160lbs. I haven't been there since before my 1st kid, who will be 10 the end of this month.

I think I can I think I can I think I can I KNOW I can!!!

Nutcracker...pt1?

half way through our long week at the civic center we hit trauma.

First of all, I spent the week running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. I was "part" of the crew. which consisted of getting the angels wings and putting them on before the girls went on stage, then taking them off, returning them to the costume department as soon as they came off. And the occasional quick change, or whatever else I was needed for. I never really understood the concept of a quick change until I was asked to help during the sleeping beauty show.

These dancers come in off stage to a "room" (in this case a curtained off area). They have 2-3 minutes to get their costumes off and a new one on. keep in mind, these costumes usually have 20+ eye hooks on them and are fit tightly on the girl. It's insanely crazy!

So back to the trauma. I'm of course in another dressing room and Alyssa come in crying.

Her tooth is loose! Very loose.

Now this may not sound like a big deal, but to a 6 year old who is about to do several performances and she does NOT want that tooth out! It had been loose for several months, but she wouldn't really work on it because she was afraid to not have it for the show. (not that anyone could really see that she had lost a tooth from the audience. lol)

This turns into several mom's trying to pull the tooth for her. This sends her into a panic! She's never had her tooth pulled, she always does it herself. This is all Wednesday night.

Thursday afternoon, we go to sonic for happy hour. As we are waiting for my coke, I get her to twist the tooth and a root popped. There was a little blood, but no big deal. My coke arrives, I ask the carhop if she happens to have any napkins and she says "no, why?", looks at Alyssa, says "OH CRAP, I'll be right back!" and runs off. I turn around and Alyssa's got blood just gushing out of her mouth. lol OOPS! So the car hop comes back with napkins and a cup of ice for her. Alyssa wouldn't touch her tooth after that. Here she is showing off her loose tooth.

So Friday morning, the tooth is still hanging there, barely. Look how nasty black it got! I'm envisioning her on stage and her tooth just falling out. She's scrambling to find it, or somebody slips on it, and she's bleeding on her costume. So I had her lay down on her bed and just yanked the thing out.

Then after this, she wouldn't smile showing teeth. I think we have finally gotten pasted that stage, but there were some rough pictures for a bit! lol

wow, it's been awhile!

Not much going on around here. We've just been crazy busy with Nutcracker.