Sitting in my green room

Lila Kate

2010-09-11T21:24:00.001-05:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Eating Lemons....

2010-08-22T21:29:00.000-05:00

Lila is so funny. Here is a little video I took of her eating lemons a few weeks ago. She keeps trying them...wonder when she will figure it out =).

Eating Lemons from Stacey George on Vimeo.

School starts tomorrow. I'm ready for it, except for the fact that someone in some high up place decided that it would be a good idea for 6th graders to start school at 7:35 in the morning. Seriously? So for the next 4 years until Bella gets her drivers license, I will be rising super early to get her to school. Yuck, yuck, yuck. I don't do mornings. I missed out on all the ability to get up super early in the morning genes. All this summer I have been getting to work by 8 in attempts to prepare myself and it has been painful pulling myself out of bed...now I will be up even earlier. I need to win the lottery so I can hire myself a kid carter arounder. Soccer also starts tomorrow. I have never started soccer season as tired and worn out as I am now...kind of a scary thought how I might feel in 8 weeks. I hope to survive mentally intact...we shall see. Well I better run. I need to get junk ready for tomorrow so that maybe I can sleep that extra 15 minutes =). Night.

Good Daughter

2010-08-15T23:22:00.000-05:00

My mama said that I should blog. Apparently my sister has started a blog and she is blowing me away with her posting skills. So, being that I try to be a good child, I will blog tonight so that my mom will be happy.

So....what to blog about. My baby turned 1 a few weeks ago. Time certainly does fly. She is so much fun. Cuddly. Happy. Sweet. Saying a bunch of words. She is big...almost 23lbs and 30 inches tall. Someone just sent me this picture today. Was taken almost exactly a year ago. Ms. Lila hanging out unhappily in her daddy's firefighter helmut. She still looks the same to this very day when she cries.

And here are a few pictures of her a week ago. Looking at the prized walleye her daddy caught.

Being her smiley happy self....

On a mission....

She loves balls

So anyway, we went to Minnesota on vacation a week or so ago. Had fun.

Caught fish. Relaxed.

Staring the fish down....

The big girls caught a lot of fish....

Well that is about all I can muster for tonight. Will try to be better about the ol' blog in the future. Until then, good night.

still here.....

2010-07-16T23:48:00.000-05:00

I am still here...haven't blogged for awhile. Been busy, been lazy. Trying to enjoy my summer without any pressure to do much of anything. Enjoying a few more weeks soccer free =).

We had a large party at our house again this 4th of July. Lots of people. Tents in the yard. Fireworks...just a few that the state of Iowa might just consider unacceptable. Firefighters, it seems, are a bit obsessed with fire....who would have known? Here is one of those that exploded in our yard that evening. I think our show was better than the city of Des Moines' show....seriously. That one was pretty weak...must of been budget cuts or something.

Have been perusing the internet this evening since my baby girl has gone to bed. Looking for inspiration for the wedding. It is EVERYWHERE...almost overwhelming the ideas that are out there. One of my favorite blogs I have found is Brooklyn Bride ...cause you know getting married in the middle of a cornfield in Iowa is very similar to getting married in Brooklyn, NY =)....perhaps deep down inside this Iowa girl's heart is in NY...who knows? And when I say middle of a cornfield, I seriously mean middle of a cornfield. My house is surrounded by a cornfield. Perhaps I should take a picture. In fact, to add to the charm of my future in the middle of nowhere wedding setting, here are my across the street next door neighbors...they are kind of cute

Anyway, I shall leave you with a picture of my baby and her daddy. They are both awesome, like them a lot. More later, have a good night.

It has been awhile....

2010-06-25T16:36:00.000-05:00

And yes I am still here. I contemplated blogging at least 10 times since my last post, but just never got around to it. So I will do an update...

My beautiful baby girl is 11 months old now. It is hard to believe!! She started walking a month ago, she is almost running now. About 2 weeks after she started walking, she started crawling and then last week I saw her roll from her back to tummy for the first time. She is a bit backwards :). She says hi, bye, and ball. She is super fun right now.

We got passes to adventureland this year. Here is Lila and Emma riding the firetruck. Lila wasn't too sure about the whole thing.

And here is Bella and Emma riding one of the roller coasters. They love going here. I could do without it...oh well, I guess that is what mommies do.

I have been wedding planning a bit. We have a date (next year). We have a location (our home). We have a photographer and entertainment. I am lucky to have talented individuals in my family (my SIL is the photographer and my brother is in the band). Now I just need to figure out what we are wearing, the decor and what we will be eating.
I am 6 weeks into my body transformation challenge and so far I am not transformed. The reason would be is that I am having a heck of time eating like a body builder...I eat healthy but not in that manner. Egg whites and chunks of meat, peanut butter, protein shakes...just not my thing. Anyway, the workouts are good, I don't have any issues following them and actually I notice a substantial difference in my upper body strength ( i tend to be a bit puny in the arm/shoulder etc area) so I am pleased. I would also say that my clothes are a touch looser so perhaps I am doing better than I thought. Will have to get my body fat done to confirm. Anyway, that is all for now. Will try to be a better blogger in the future.

R.I.P.

2010-06-01T23:53:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it is 11:41 p.m. and I have wasted all of this time. I went looking for a photo of Betty the Crazy Idaho Cat . For some reason I couldn't find one, but I found all sorts of interesting photos from years past and had to look at them. Low and behold a few hours have passed. Anyway, the reason I was looking for pictures of Betty is she disappeared a few weeks ago. I found myself almost sad even though I had tried to give her away about 1000 times. Unfortunately she must have succombed to living out in the middle of nowhere. We had 6+ lovely years together. Anyway...we have new kitties here compliments of my sister and her cat Lucinda.

Here is Daphne....

And Fred.....

Lila seems to like them both....

It has been busy here. We are down to the last week of soccer. Which is good, cause I am teetering on the edge of insanity with all of the practices and games.
I have completed week 2 of my body transformation challenge. The workouts are fine. I am struggling with the protein. I basically suck at getting that much protein. 6 weeks left...need to figure it out. I ran yesterday when the gym was closed out in the middle of nowhere (which I quite like...one of the things I like about the middle of nowhere). I saw this pretty little weed flower and came back to take some pictures of it. Here is one of them. Ran 3.6 miles, it is getting easier. Still don't want to do a marathon dear sister.

The garden is busy growing. Here is my first harvest. A pretty little radish. I accidently left it out on the counter and he was all shriveled into nothing by morning. I pulled a buddy of his the next day and he was quite tasty.

And one last photo...some strawberries from my patch. They are quite tasty as well. As it is late, I am going to close. I have more pictures, but I will share those later. Good night =).

A little bit of Everything

2010-05-17T23:49:00.000-05:00

Hello from the great state of Iowa. Unlike most days, I have lots to say. First of all, thank you to my new readers who complimented my blog. It is nice to know that other people besides my mother appreciate my efforts.
As of this evening, I have my ring on my finger and I am enjoying it. Who would have known it would take a week to size it? It was so large that I couldn't even put it on my thumb, now it fits perfectly. I keep looking at it and thinking Holy crap, it wasn't a dream. This will also give me something more interesting to blog about....wedding plans =).
Anyway, before I show you some pictures of my baby (I am feeling a bit guilty that I haven't been taking very many pictures of my big girls...perhaps I should try better) I was going give a quick update on my fitness adventures. So I am proud to say that I have pretty much lost all 50+ lbs (i stopped counting after it got too depressing) of the baby chub that I so adeptly put on (minus the 7 lbs or so of lean body mass I gained during the pregnancy). So I have been thinking about what I wanted to accomplish next. A few weeks ago, my lovely sister so kindly asked me to participate in the Des Moines marathon with her in Oct...as much as I really really wanted to do that (ha!) I politely declined as I had already made other plans. For the next 8 weeks I am doing a body transformation challenge. I figured I could be pretty disciplined for the next 8 weeks as it is only 8 weeks out of my life and see what I could accomplish. The workouts are a bit more disciplined than I am currently doing, but not that different so that won't be a problem. The food thing is of course going to be the issue. I actually eat quite healthy, so much so that I get made fun of at work for it. That being said, I am not rigid about it, if I feel like having a treat, I will, etc. So eating "clean" for 8 weeks and getting the right proportion of nutrients is going to be my challenge. Getting protein is a bit of a chore for me and as of day 1 I have already fallen short of the recommended amount of protein...131 g today. But I will try again tomorrow. Need a better plan...or perhaps any plan (unlike today). It will be interesting to see if following this diet will burn some fat while adding muscle...have never been overly successful at doing that all at the same time. Anyway, I will shut up and move onto more interesting things...but will keep you updated.

So yes, some pictures of my baby. We were outside the other night and she was picking through the grass again.

I think she was a bit disappointed with the taste of the dandelion seeds...do you think?

Sitting on my new rocking chairs on the front porch (part of my revamping of the outside porches).

And that is all for now. Have a lovely evening.

Yahoo!

2010-05-12T00:10:00.000-05:00

It was 3 years ago that we had that first awkward meeting at the gym, I told several people I didn't think anything would come of it, but I would just go for the dinner...I was very wrong....now I have one of these and I couldn't be happier. That is all for now. Have a lovely evening.

Happy Happy May

2010-05-08T11:24:00.002-05:00

Hello all....
Happy May to you.
It is a good day here. I am happy....which is lovely. The weather sucks today, nasty cold. Have been working outside a lot before it got cold. Gardening. Shoveling Rock. Planting. Staining. I like outdoor stuff. Here are my planters that were custom made by mr. handy. Pretty aren't they?

The girls semi cooperating....about as good as it gets

Lila lookimg all proud of herself....why you might ask?

She has figured out how to empty things and it makes her happy. freshly folded clothes out!

I have also been taking pictures. Here are some lovely irises in my yard. Working on taking pics in full fledged manual mode which I usually don't. Also trying out a few new Lightroom presets....think I am liking them.

Lila looking at her daddy's new deer target....

And finally my back porch. I stained the old wood furniture, bought an outdoor rug, some plants and bought that cute little outdoor light (with candles) that I had been eyeballing at Lowe's for the last month or so. I like it =). The whole setup makes me happy. Well that is all for now. Have a lovely day.

More of my baby...

2010-04-20T23:01:00.000-05:00

I wanted to post these pics of my baby. They were taken about 2 months ago. Danielle Fox took them. She was the one who took those cute ones of Lila as a newborn.

All pooped out after a long shoot.

That is about all for now. I am making a list of about 5000 things I need to accomplish on my half "day off" tomorrow. Later.

Thank you spammers

2010-04-18T23:30:00.000-05:00

I would like to take the time to thank all the spammers that have left comments on my blog...very informative and it really makes me want to buy your products. Thanks again.
Alrighty then. Since I have been neglecting the older two a few pictures of them to start things off. We are fully into the soccer season now. 5/7 days we are doing soccer. I haven't liked it in the past and I don't like it now. Soccer mom, I am not. I am sort of a home body and to have activities that many nights per week is bothersome to me. Oh well, such is life. Here is Emma in her first game of the season. She did awesome. Scored at least 4 goals (had to step away for a moment to feed Lila and she thinks I missed one or so) and was quite aggressive and super fast. Someone made them tuck their shirts into their shorts and Emma had hers pulled up to her neck. I wanted to stop the game to relieve her neck from the shorts...but they don't allow that sort of thing =).

Next, the almost woman-child, Isabella. She also did awesome. Scored 3 out of her teams 4 goals and assisted the other. Was a good soccer weekend for my girlies.

And of course, I couldn't post with a pic of my baby. This first one cracks me up. She was watching the dog who was about to pounce on my back as I was lying on the ground. She was almost shaking with worry.

This last one was cute too, just being joyful.

I have been super busy organizing things in my house. I don't know why I feel the great urge to do such things. Outside I am staining the planters Jeremy made me. Instead of the giant garden that went a bit out of control last year (was very pregnant I do have somewhat of an excuse) going to take it down a notch and control it within the confines of these beauties. Will take a pic soon. That is all for now. Have a lovely evening.

testing 1,2,3....

2010-04-08T23:18:00.000-05:00

Post #2 for the evening. Here is an 8 second experiment....Sorry about the very poor quality. Was shot in the dark. Just wanted to test this out to see if it works or not. Lila dancing at one of her sister's school concerts....

Untitled from Stacey George on Vimeo.

Took me awhile....

2010-04-08T23:01:00.002-05:00

But I am finally posting again. Also made a quick new banner. I suppose it looks okay. I realized that on my computer at work(which has the smallest screen ever made in the whole entire world) that it looks like I made my blog gray and that is it. So if you have a small screen at home and are wondering why I did that...I didn't. There is actually contrast between the posts and the semi transparent gray background that is covering a graphic gray print.
So what have I been up to? Work (shocking), my 9 weeks of soccer hell have started (5 out of 7 days we have soccer)...first games this weekend, have been trying to REALLY learn my camera and some technical aspects of photography. Right now it is screwing all my pictures up...but I suppose you have to do that to learn, huh? I have been organizing my paper mess. I actually do not have a stack of 6 inches of paper on my desk. Next project is my junk in the basement. Workout wise I have hit a bad streak. I am going to the gym, but struggling a lot. I need to organize myself there too and make a plan. My post baby chub removal has stalled and I want to get rid of a bit more. Speaking of baby chub, I will leave you with a few pictures I took on Easter of my cute little one. Enjoy and have a lovely day.

You might notice the large bonk on her head (I photoshopped it out on 2 of them, forgot to do this one). She and Bella had a little accident. All is well except Jeremy took to calling her Mikhail Gorbachev this week. Such a funny man.

What do you think?

2010-03-27T00:30:00.000-05:00

So....I became aware of some fancy new blogger templates this evening. Decided to update. Like it? I like the color gray for some reason...so I went with that, Need to update my header/title/pictures. Just realized that it is over 2 years old. Maybe I shall do that tomorrow. Probably should rename the blog as I no longer sit in my green room to write it. Maybe sitting in my "dusty trail" colored loft? Doesn't sound as catchy does it?
Sitting here holding my unhappy baby. She is an excellent sleeper usually...unless she is sick. i have a suspicion that her first ear infection has not cleared. Guess i will have to go look tomorrow. hopefully the night will improve when the ibuprofen kicks in.
Anyway, i love amazon . com and i also found this handy little link tool tonight that i thought i would try out to see how it works. i recently finished reading (on my sony reader that i got for my birthday) this book:

One of the best books i have read in quite some time. Anyway, typing with one hand is too hard so i will end (why i have chosen to ignore the shift key). night.

long time no blog...

2010-03-22T23:07:00.005-05:00

I of course have been meaning to blog, but life has just gotten in the way. Have been busy, but what is new? I can't forsee a time in the next 18 years when I will not be busy.
My baby is 8 months old today.

(Here she is enjoying the grass for the first time ever. I couldn't get her too look up, she was very enthralled).
Time flies. I have just been realizing that over the past few weeks I am slowly starting to feel like myself again. Being pregnant, working, giving birth, having a newborn, working, being a mommy to the older ones, working... takes it out of you for a bit. maybe a bit longer than I anticipated? Perhaps it is just being older? who knows. Anyway, I am trying to take advantage of my newfound energy. I am working on getting the house more organized (we moved here in June, lila was born in July...need I say anymore?). Trying to take my workouts to a higher level. Etc. Etc. Making good progress on all of it. Perhaps I will update on those accomplishments later. I will leave you with another picture of the day. We went to a water park this past weekend for the end of spring break and the girls really had fun. Lila LOVED the water. That is all for now. Adios.

Emerging from the crud

2010-03-07T23:34:00.003-06:00

Happy March to all! It is finally warming up around here and there is hope that spring may come. It is supposed to rain quite a bit this week which should make the gravel or more accurately mud road that I live on quite fun. Living out in the middle of no where can certainly be fun (luckily civilization and paved roads are only a quick drive). Have also been sick the past 4+ days. My normally robust immune system (quite strong from being spewed on by sicko kids on a 5 day per week basis) caved and I got the crud. I hate being sick. Don't have time to be sick...but as of right this moment I am finally feeling better....just in time to go to work tomorrow. Anyway, a photo from today. Miss Lila enjoying her daddy.

Doing pretty well on the picture a day. I normally take about 5 pictures during the months of January-March (the bulk of my several thousand pics each year are taken outside) so this year is quite different. Well that is all for now....must get to bed.

Winter Bites

2010-02-20T00:07:00.003-06:00

Dear 4 wheel drive---
I so missed you these past 3 days of not using you. I am so glad the roads are covered in snow again and we can blissfully travel down the road at slow speeds....yahoo!

I hate winter. By morning we should be up to the number 3 crappiest snowiest winter ever.

That's all.

2010-02-16T22:42:00.003-06:00

Hello from the frozen tundra of Iowa. Can I just say how tired I am of winter. The cold...the dreary...the deep piles of snow...the drifted snow and ice covered roads...I could really just do without it. I don't know that I have ever been so thankful to have a 4WD as I am this year. Other than the terrible weather, life is going well. Work is busy. Girls are well. Picture a day is progressing just fine. As always, a picture of my baby. I sure do like her. She is great fun (the majority of the time). And secondly a picture of me and J taken the other night. That is all for now. Have a lovely day.

my baby....

2010-02-03T23:40:00.001-06:00

Isn't she cute?

The last few weeks in photos

2010-01-31T22:51:00.007-06:00

So, believe it or not I am still going strong with my daily photo. Think I have only missed one picture so far...so instead will be using another trinket from the day. Feeling good about how I have been doing. So anyway...here goes....
Oh wait...before I start. I happened to turn on the T.V. tonight to dateline and there was a story about the Heroes of children's hospitals. www.dateline.msnbc.com (said the video would be up later this week there) Usually when there is a story about doctors on t.v. it is about surgeons or "important" doctors, not the lowly pediatrician. Anyway, it was pretty cool to see a story about pediatricians in training. Brought back some good memories, some sad memories...made me proud to be one of them. Hopefully made people realize that pediatricians are not just the stereotypical jolly dr. that treats ear infections and gives shots...we have a lot of specialized training and are super super cool =). Anyway, back to the pictures.

Jan 17th It is still snowy, cloudy, and cold here. Will summer ever come?

Jan 18th Day one of vacation in Jamaica

Jan 19 Me and my guy. I like him.

Jan 20 Our little villa we stayed in while in Jamaica

Jan 21 The water was absolutely gorgeous here. Was almost fake looking.

Jan 22 Shopping for stuff for the girls.

Jan 23 Vacation is over already! Good-bye Jamaica

Jan 24 Having a dinner with my parents, grandparents, aunt and my girlies. Photo is courtesy of my high quality phone camera.

Jan 25 Back to work...the chart pile up is acutally much less than I expected after being gone a week.

Jan 26 Bella and Lila. Lila loves actual food.

Jan 27 Goofing off. The girls took pictures of us running slow motion into each others arms with the end result being this.

Jan 28 Late night. Forgot to take a picture. So the computer it is. I love my giant screen.

Jan 29 Danielle Fox took this picture of Lila when she was 1 week old. She finally brought this canvas by today (along with 6 others). Going to hang them at my office instead of the cheesy "art" we have hanging up now.

Jan 30 Yes, it is true. I am apparently 37 years old. Wow..................

Jan 31 Did I mention that this child loves to eat and drink out of a cup? She reminds me of a little bird. She is so super cute.
Well that is all for now. Have a lovely day. Later.

Back from vacation....

2010-01-25T00:10:00.002-06:00

Just got back late last night from Jamaica. A much needed tropical vacation. Here is one pic of us taken by one of the many papparazzi roaming around the resort...I had attempted to straighten my hair but the lovely Jamaican humidity wanted nothing to do with that, 5 minutes after going outside it started to frizz/curl up...lovely. Anyway, more later, I should sleep now as I have to go back to work tomorrow =(.

Year in Review

2010-01-08T00:01:00.000-06:00

A very quick layout using a free template....

Belly pictures, part 65

2010-01-07T00:01:00.001-06:00

Entering the 3rd trimester....

Lila's Babybook

2010-01-06T00:01:00.002-06:00

More belly pics...what can I say? I did a really decent job of taking pictures of the belly in progress. Good news is that we are over half way through the pregnancy =).

BTW, happy birthday to my brother if he reads this...or Keesha, tell him for me =) He must be really old by now as I know I am going to super super super old in a few weeks =)

More Belly pics....

2010-01-05T00:01:00.001-06:00

Yes, I know, more belly pics. Getting closer to being done with those. I figure they might be fun to look at in the future.... Lila might enjoy seeing what I looked like, who knows?

3 days in a row!!!

2010-01-04T00:01:00.000-06:00

Yes, it is true....3 days in a row. Actually I am not that on the ball. I am just using blogger's handy dandy schedule posting where I can create and then post later...sneaky, huh? Anyway, another babybook layout to post. And that is all for now....later.

2010-01-03T00:01:00.000-06:00

I can pretty much guarantee that I am not going to put each picture of the day on here, maybe every now and then. As you can see from the first 2 pictures, I am not going to be worrying about taking great pics...just something quick to document the day. Here is Sammy and Emma creating something. This is one of the girls favorite things to do...artsy stuff.

And another baby scrapbook page.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T14:39:00.004-06:00

So I have been a crafty little person the past day or so...have done more in 2 days than the whole past year. I finished a mini book from the summer of 2008. I also completed a bunch of pages for Lila's scrapbook. The summer book was traditional and Lila's was digital. I sure do love paper, but I am finding the digital thing much less time consuming, much less of an ordeal to start/stop/complete. Which in my case, with life being quite busy and hectic, it seems that I may just have to change to digital to get anything done. I don't want to be one of those people who has all their photos in a box in the basement or I should say sitting on my hard drive, not printed or viewable. Last year I thought hard about doing the project 365...taking a picture for each day of the year. I failed miserably when on I think Jan 3rd I realized that I hadn't even started...so I quit before I even started. This year, I pledge to make it....which may just be a possibility as I have already gotten my first 2 days taken. Anyway, here is the Jan 1st picture taken 12:01ish at home. I changed it to blown out black and white cause it was a terrible photo and I like that my face is hard to see (it was an especially terrible picture of me =). Poor Lila was not part of the festivities (if you can call it that...one prominent member of the family had a nasty gastrointestinal bug) as she was sleeping.

And finally, the first of the layouts from my scrapbooking extravaganza. I blocked out my abs of steel as I felt weird showing a naked belly picture to the unknown masses.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T23:05:00.001-06:00

Chubby Baby

2009-11-13T22:44:00.002-06:00

My lovely mother has reminded me that I have not updated in sometime...so here it is, a quick one. First of all, my beautiful fat baby. She has got the double chin going on =). She is so very sweet, such a good happy baby. I am thoroughly enjoying her.

I continue to plug away at the baby weight loss. I have lost a bit over 5 lbs in the last month which I am pretty pleased with. I had my body fat measured today and was pleased to find out that I actually gained 7 lbs of muscle during the pregnancy. I guess all the working out and lifting was not wasted. That makes me feel a ton better as I really only have about 13 lbs left to lose to get back to my original condition....which sounds a heck of a lot better than the 20 that the scale is telling me. Well that is all for now. Se ya later.

Quick update

2009-10-04T14:58:00.006-05:00

Hello blogland. Just a quick update. Things are well here. Girls are doing well. Exercise and diet...ehhh....okay. Only lost 0.8lbs in the past 2 weeks. That would be because I am still not watching what I eat. I was really hoping that by exercising and breastfeeding I would start dropping....but not so lucky. To my lovely Frytown Friend who I will mention again cause it seems to make her happy =)...I'm not posting my workouts to make anyone feel bad. Just trying to keep myself in line...it is easy to make excuses not to workout and for me really easy to make excuses not to eat how I need to. For example the week of Sept 21st I didn't do so well...only did the AMT and one weight training session...I have all kinds of excuses such I was home with Lila and Jeremy broke his foot and couldn't watch her, etc. but they are pretty poor excuses...could have figured it out if I really wanted to. Last week I did better. I walked once, ran once, AMT'd once and 2 relatively intense weight workouts. I got the weight workout out of oxygen magazine. I like that mag...no pansy crap in there. Now I just need to get over my food excuses and I will be good. I really don't want to diet...not one bit I tell you. But I need to just a little to get where I want to be. I have 15 weeks to get rid of the excess...why 15? Going on vacation to the beach!! Very excited but also having anxiety already about leaving my baby. Anyway, that is all for now. I will leave you with some scrapbook pages I did the other day...yes, friends, I actually did something. For some reason I can't get myself to bring out the paper and scissors, so I did digital. I think they turned out okay being that I don't really know what I'm doing digitally speaking. What do you think? Have a lovely day.

Update

2009-09-20T13:21:00.007-05:00

Thanks to all that checked in. I appreciate knowing someone is here and that I am not talking to no one.

So an update on my quest to lose my baby fat....I have actually been sort of trying for about 4 weeks. By sort of trying I mean that my workouts have increased to about 3-4 per week and I am trying to watch what I eat. I am not doing the hard core diet yet as I am a bit nervous about my ability to keep feeding my child if I diet too much (breastfeeding). So as much as I would like to get this stuff off fast, I am taking a more moderate approach in the best interest of my lovely little baby. So I struggled with being famished last week and didn't do so well on my eating...my workouts have improved remarkably though. Feeling much stronger and a little less lard like as I move.

Overall here are my stats:

Down 4.4 lbs, 3.5 inches off of my waist, 1.5" off my hips and 1" off of my thighs. I actually thought I was doing much worse than this so writing this stuff down has been useful as I don't feel like quite as much of a loser...still a ton more to go but a decent start.

My workouts: (2 weeks worth)
Sept 7-12
8th: 2 mile run (thought I might die)
9th: cardio intervals on the AMT (fancy super cool better than elliptical machine)
3 sets of balance squats, one leg bridge on each leg
cardio intervals on AMT
2 sets (ran out of time) of squats with shoulder press, one leg row, v-crunch
10th: 30 min walk pushing Lila in the stroller
11th: 1 mile run/warmup
2 sets of balance squats, one leg bridge, v-crunch
AMT intervals
2 sets of squat with shoulder press, one leg row, ab-x crunch machine

Sept 14-18
14th: 2.5 mile run (felt much better today...didn't feel like a total tub of lard)
15th: 1 mile run/warm up
express weight training circuit + abs (8 weight machines moving from one to the next quickly)--2 sets
16th: walk pusing Lila 20 minutes
17th: 1.25 mile run + 15 minutes on AMT doing intervals
18th: 10 minute walk/warmup
express circuit x 2 sets

So there you have it...what I have been doing.

Now something more exciting...some pics....
Lila last week in our yard

Bella turned 11 last Monday...time flies!

And finally me having a little fun with my baby that loves to stand. Since she has been staying home with her Daddy a lot these past few weeks they have been practicing standing...she seems to love it. She was actually standing by herself...i would let go and snap a pic quickly =)

Had enough of the fun...

Well that is all for now, have a lovely day

Anyone still here?

2009-09-10T11:29:00.014-05:00

So I thought it was about time for a proper update. I don't know if anyone still reads this after my poor blogging history over the past few months...but if you still do...check in so I know to keep blogging otherwise, what is the point?

So we will start back 7 weeks ago to the birth of the lovely Lila. I did end up having a stupid c-section. I really thought I was going to go into labor the Sunday before she was born, was having painful contractions every 8 min or so all night long and then they stopped Monday morning...and then nothing. Wednesday arrived and I had decided that if I hadn't gone into labor we would do the repeat section...wasn't thrilled, but I also didn't want a stuck baby as she grew fatter and fatter (as what happened to the lovely Bella). So yes my lovely Frytown surgeon friend I did end up saving my pelvic floor musculature, but we pediatricians worry about ripping babies out of the womb when they aren't quite ready and all the badness that happens because of that...so I was quite nervous about the whole thing. But she was more than ready to come out and was screaming very loudly as soon as her head was out...(warning very mildly bloody photo below =)....
The circulating nurse apparently loved cameras so she was more than happy to snap a few shots of the whole thing.

One of Lila's first photos....She was 7 lbs 8 oz (my smallest baby by about a pound) and 20 inches long

Me and my baby about 1 hour old....

Lila and her daddy...

The view from my room...state capital

Everything went really well. I don't want to sound braggy or anything but I am pretty proud that I kicked this c-section's buttocks thoroughly. I was up and around very quickly, minimal pain and felt remarkably well...perhaps it was all my hard work with working out the entire pregnancy? My nurses at the hospital thought I was a strange abnormality and kept telling me I was a boring patient...so to ease their boredom, I checked out early and came home to all the "little mommies" that almost drove me crazy with their desire to be helpful and such....so crazy I thought long and hard about checking myself back into the hospital just to get away from all of them =).

So since then have just been busy...
State Fair...

First day of school...

Soccer...

Taking care of my baby....(who by the way is the super coolest baby ever...)

So to end with, a few photos of my nonbaby children so that they don't feel neglected =)

One more thing...I have a crapload of weight to lose (one thing the regular workouts didn't seem to help unfortunately). Those that have been long time readers may remember I documented my bodybugg experience on here 3+ years ago when I lost 17ish pounds. This time I have about 30 to lose to get back to my prepreggo weight. So I think I will start doing that here on a weekly-ish basis...will keep me honest perhaps? So if anyone would like to join me...that would be great. All for now...later.

Florida 2009

2009-08-23T10:59:00.002-05:00

Shutterfly is offering a free photobook until August 26th (hurry, there is still time!). Here is mine with some pictures of our vacation to Florida in June. I will be interested in seeing the quality of this book. Anyone ever get one of these before?

Click here to view this photo book larger

Want to see a cute babe?

2009-08-20T14:10:00.004-05:00

Yes, I know it has been awhile...but in my defense, I believe I have an excuse. Been busy =). Anyway, just saw these cute pictures and thought I would pass them on to others. Check out this site
scroll down to the end of the post and enjoy. And if you haven't figured it out...that cutie is mine. Hard to believe she is 4 weeks old now and I only have 2 more weeks before I am off to work again =(. That is all for now. Have a good day.

Sorry so slow.....

2009-07-30T10:35:00.002-05:00

been a bit busy =)..... Miss Lila Kate Milani arrived July 22nd at 9 a.m. She is healthy, beautiful and loved much by all. Promise more later....

Happy 38 weeks

2009-07-15T21:33:00.004-05:00

The end is in sight....Doing well. All my whining and feeling like absolute crap ended last Friday night after I decided to play softball with all the girls. My thought with participating in such an activity was that as crappy and crampy as I was feeling perhaps I would go into labor with a bit more physical exertion....didn't happen. In fact, when I got done the pretty significant pain was much decreased as was my swelling. By the next morning, I could walk without feeling like I wanted to cry and I felt 100% better. Not sure what happened...must have jostled the baby around to a new position and she moved to a much more comfortable for me position. Anyway, feeling fine now...wondering if that is good or bad as far as going into labor. Here is my 38 1/7 week picture.

Went to the doc today. Had an ultrasound to estimate the size (which as you may know is not very accurate at this point). The estimated weight was 6 lb 14 oz today. So now I need to take that possibly inaccurate information and make a decision on whether I want to do my repeat c-section or see what happens. I am pleased the weight appears to be much smaller than my other kids were, but it still doesn't make the decision easy...lots to think about. Anyway, that is all for now. Have a lovely evening, I think I will go eat some ice cream =)

A few more pictures....

2009-07-09T22:31:00.006-05:00

Here are a few of my maternity pictures that we took a few weeks ago. There are about 60+ of them that I thought were really good. I'm kind of hard to please in the picture taking arena, so I was pleasantly surprised that there were a lot to chose from. Here are a few of the more internet appropriate ones. There were some other really good ones that I just don't feel terribly comfortable posting...so these are what you get.
I'm probably going to print them all off relatively large and make a nice book of them. Probably won't be hanging anything on the wall, but I think I will really enjoy looking back at these in the future.

I really like this one...there was more to it that ruined the whole pic so we chopped it off and it ended up being just a pic of us...which has rarely existed.
Another one of the 2 of us....
My belly and some pretty flowers....
Me.....(pictures of me are also quite rare)
Another one of us....perhaps even wall appropriate

I am a little hesitant to include this last one as some may not find it appropriate, but I think it is my favorite one...I find it very artistic. And who knows....since you can't see the face...maybe it is me, maybe not...might have just pulled it off the internet randomly......

Anyway, no other baby news to report. Nothing is happening unfortunately. I hurt like crazy. Honestly don't know if I have felt anything quite like this before. Getting up, walking, getting dressed...all of it makes me want to cry. The c-section is starting to sound like a very pleasant option. Hopefully all will be done soon....gotta run for now. Later.

Computer is back....

2009-07-06T23:42:00.003-05:00

So my computer is back....working well, but nothing that was on it before is on it now. My biggest loss was my Itunes collection...some of which was backed up, some not.... So I'm trying to recreat that...a long task ahead.
Had a good 4th. Had a bunch of people over at our house. Had a little bit of everything going on....wrestling....
Fireworks....
Eating....smores here
Camping out...our front yard....
That is about as much as I can upload for one evening. I will leave you with my 37 week photo. Now that I am officially term, if anyone can give me some tips for going into labor I will love you forever. Tired, must go to bed. Have a lovely evening.

By the way, my butt is not that big...shadow there. My belly on the other hand...not shadow =).

Still no computer

2009-07-03T19:54:00.002-05:00

My computer is still not in my possession. It apparently has a major issue. I am so so so thankful that all of my photos are on my external hard drive as it seems I have lost everything else that was on my computer. I guess it is running again, but everything disappeared on it. Another lesson in backing up what is important to you...for those who have not done that. I would have lost 5+ years of photos if I hadn't backed up. So anyway, that is the reason I have not posted any pictures recently.
What else...
*Carolina Liar was good, enjoyed it.
*I am so ready to have this baby...uncomfortable to say the least. Her head is very very low and making me uncomfortable. Unfortunately, as of my appointment on Wednesday, nothing was happening.
*Waiting for my disc of photos to arrive from the maternity shoot. Will post some of those when I get them back.
*The new house is livable now and ready for baby. Got an offer on the old house, was terrible. Would have had to write a check for about $46,000 at closing!?!?! Seriously? They didn't appreciate my counter offer (which was a fair amount less than what I paid for it almost 5 years ago) and thus I still own 2 homes. I feel like I am being punished for other's financial irresponsibility/and or bad luck. I can't compete with foreclosures. Sucks. Gets a bit more stressful as the baby is coming soon....babies are expensive!!!!
*We have a bunch of wild turkeys that like to run through our yard at the the new house...that is one type of wildlife I have yet to experience at my home.
*That is all I can think of....hopefully I will get my computer back in working order this weekend and can start editing pics again and hopefully baby news soon! Have a lovely 4th.

2009-06-24T18:40:00.001-05:00

35 weeks and no picture today. My computer broke over the weekend with the heavy storms we had lately? Makes me wonder what a surge protector is for if it doesn't protect. So I have no access to my photo editing stuff. Luckily all my pictures are on an external hard drive and seem to be intact. Had an OB appointment today. All is well. I'm now at the every week appointments. Fun. Have finally bought enough stuff if she decided she wanted to come tomorrow, I am actually ready. Was at the downtown gym today getting dressed and had a rather bizarre experience. 2 ladies I have never seen in my life looked at me as I was getting dressed and started talking about me...not to me, but about me and how they thought I looked and how they looked when they were pregnant...was strange. At least they were saying nice things and not how I look like a bloated whale. Anyway, that is about all of the pregnancy related stuff I can think of. Tomorrow night the girls and I are going to go see Carolina Liar. They are playing downtown and kids get in free so I'm only out $12 if it stinks. I think it will be good though. That is all for now. Hopefully, my computer will be fixed soon. Talk to you all later.

A little late....

2009-06-18T07:49:00.001-05:00

Here I promised to post soon with a 33 week pic and such, but I guess I never got around to it. So here I am a week and a half late with my update. We will just skip the 33 week pic and go straight to the 34 week pic as they look basically identical. I feel as if I am expanding extremely rapidly. I am measuring small, which gives me some hope that I might be able to deliver this kiddo in a non c-section manner...but I measured small with Bella and she came out a nice plump 8-6...so I am not overly hopeful. I am starting to feel the fatigue and grumpiness and such that so many people feel that last month. I'm tired, I hurt, I have some swelling unrelated to car rides. But I am trying to maintain a good attitude and trying really hard to enjoy this last pregnancy of mine.

Anyway, onto other things. I started editing the pics from the vacation. Here is one of the better ones of the 4 girls. It was really hard to get them all to look semidecent at the same time. Seemed like one of them was always doing something to make the picture look less than ideal. This one looks okay though...but can you guess which one really really had to pee? I have some good individual ones, perhaps I will post later.

Speaking of pictures...J and I took maternity pics yesterday. He was less than thrilled, but once we were done he said it wasn't as bad as he thought because he wasn't made to smile very much by the photographer (poor guy hates to smile apparently). It was kind of fun. I am not a good model though, felt silly most of the time...I rarely get my picture taken so I am not used to it. Had some Demi Moore-ish semi unclothed ones done, that was fun standing out in my yard half naked...good thing about living out in the country I guess. Hope they turned out good. We shall see. Anyway, that is all for now...tired, gonna try to sleep early.

2009-06-12T09:30:00.001-05:00

I should have an update soon. I have my 33 week belly pic and beach pics to upload as soon as I find my camera cable.... We have been moving and will need to locate that first. Until then.....

2009-06-03T16:51:00.001-05:00

Took pictures of the girls last night on the beach...hopefully got some good ones. After took a swim in the ocean. Had a few stingrays swim pretty close to us. Was kind of cool...but freaked the 2 little ones out. They took off screaming and spent the rest of the evening on the beach. Today has been sort of rainy. J and I and the alien played golf...made it about 12 holes before the waddling set in and decided to just putt on the rest of the holes. That is all for now. adios.

2009-06-02T14:04:00.001-05:00

The 8 month old fetus & i hit golf balls this a.m. (32 weeks today!) Now sitting by the pool reading...having fun...

2009-06-01T14:33:00.001-05:00

Posting from phone, why so short. Hunting seashells on pensacola beach. Beautiful here...i love the beach :)

2009-05-30T16:01:00.001-05:00

Lounging on the beach, having a lovely time...

2009-05-29T10:41:00.001-05:00

14 hours into our trip, in mississippi. I have cankles now, such fun. More later.

They forgot....

2009-05-26T21:29:00.004-05:00

to turn off my internet. Turned the TV off, but this seems to still work. However, I need to box up the modem and send it back...so no more internet for a bit. We are also heading off for a lovely week in Florida, leaving Thursday, lounging on the beach like a beached whale....it will be fun and is much needed. Haven't taken a vacation since July of last year...not sure what has been wrong with me. Anyway...one more pic until I get back. 31 weeks...new picture location is in the girl's bedroom. All for now...see ya.

She turns 30

2009-05-18T22:00:00.004-05:00

Not me...the baby. 30 weeks. I think today alone she gained a good pound, I feel stretched. Feeling pretty good though other than my typical aches and pains. Here is my pic for the week.

A few pics of the girls too....Emma playing soccer. She did well. Scored 4 goals....

And Bella. Emma was out with a friend when I took this, therefore no fancy pics of her today.

My internet is getting turned off tomorrow in preparation for moving to the other house. Not sure when I will have it again at the new house. Haven't even called to get it turned on. Lovely satellite out there too. Anyway, I don't know how much I will post as posts without pics probably bore you all to death. We will see, maybe I'll figure out how to upload a few pictures at work. Anyway, that is all for now. Have a lovely day.

Better late than never

2009-05-07T08:37:00.005-05:00

Here is a photo @ 28 3/7 weeks. I feel the need to add the 3/7 as every day in my mind is important =).

Feeling a little less stressed than I was a few days ago. The new daycare that is close to our new home and that I was going to send the girls to this summer pooped out on me a week ago due to lack of interest in their summer program (new daycare and pretty rural = apparently not good combination). Found something else relatively close to work and cost effective (yeah!). Only have to pay for the weeks they are there which is an entirely refreshing new concept to me. Since we are moving, thought the girls might have to change school districts, but got official word yesterday that they will still be in the same district. Worse case is changing elemenatary schools...but happy in the end all 4 girls will be going to jr. high/high school together. So 2 things down and out of the way...now to sell my house, move, prepare for baby, catch my work stalker (don't worry mom...all is under control)and try not to go crazy in the meantime. I did have a nice surprise yesterday....

J and the girls got me this for mother's day, a complete surprise. Some may say kitchen appliances aren't very romantic, but I have always wanted one of these and it makes me very happy. We "cookers" as Emma likes to call them, get excited about kitchen appliances =). That is all for now. Have a good day.

Let the fun begin....

2009-04-27T23:34:00.002-05:00

And so 27 weeks have arrived....the end of the second tri and the start of the 3rd. With that of course comes lots of fun....I don't bend in the middle anymore. I have seen some swelling in my ankles, yesterday I had pitting edema after a long car drive...lovely. My clavicles are slowly disappearing. My internal furnace is gearing up right in time for summer. Sleeping sucks...rolling over sucks. My pubic symphysis likes to moan and creak and send sharp pains through my body with 90% of my movements. My hormones are in high gear. I'm proud to say I am still working out 5 days per week, although I have no clue what good i am accomplishing as the weight continues to pile on at a rapid rate. I'm going to keep going maybe I will be rewarded after delivery with a very fast recovery....who knows. Everyday the girls say your belly is getting really big mom. Everyday, Emma likes to poke on what she calls my "button button" which is my fully reversed belly button and says silly things to my belly. I'm going to have a massage tomorrow thanks to the very lovely J who I think feels my stress and pain or perhaps just wants me out of the house cause I am a crazy prego woman.....
I actually got over my paranoia enough to buy the kiddo a little outfit on clearance at Old Navy and a fuzzy white blanket...miracle upon miracle, nothing bad has happened. Perhaps I should prepare a bit more, only 5000 more things to buy. That is about all for now...enjoy the photos. And btw, not as psycho or depressed as I may sound above...I am actually quite mentally stable and happy =).

She is a growin.....

2009-04-21T20:17:00.002-05:00

26 weeks done. Nothing much to report. Lots of soccer going on around here taking up lots of time. A pic of the old belly this morning for your viewing pleasure...

Here is last weeks which I never got around to posting. 25 weeks.

Going to a medical conference in town on Thursday and Friday which sadly I am excited about not because I am going to learn something, but because it is as close to a vacation as I have gotten to lately. Sad, very sad. Anyway, that is all, have a lovely day.

Up close and personal with the belly...24 weeks

2009-04-07T00:00:00.000-05:00

Have officially made it to 24 weeks which is a significant milestone in my pediatrican head. And to celebrate such an occasion...a lovely photo of my belly. Perhaps some day I will get creative enough to post something else besides the lovely belly pics, but for now that is all you get. Oh...maybe I will post a side note since something just popped into my head. Actually watched 2 movies that I enjoyed. Haven't watched anything decent in awhile...maybe that is because someone always wants to watch war movies and they aren't my thing...but anyway watched "seven pounds" and tonight I watched "what happens in Vegas" liked them both. Seven pounds wasn't terribly realistic but I enjoyed it a lot. What happens in Vegas was incredibly cheesy and cliched but I liked it anyway. Or maybe I liked them both cause I just enjoy gazing at both Will Smith and Ashton Kutcher...hmmmmm. Anyway...back to the belly, enjoy and have a lovely day.

23 weeks

2009-03-31T19:58:00.003-05:00

Here is my latest photo of me. 23 weeks...hard to believe in less than 4 months she will be here. Perhaps I should start planning.....still have a few months to worry about that. Anyway, she is very active which eases my always worried mind.

Happened to look out the window the other day after the lovely (very sarcastic there) spring snow. Incredibly bright sunset. Too lazy and too cold to go out so you can see the screen marks on the pic. oh well. I really detest winter...wish it would start acting like spring. That is all for now. see ya.

Belly shots

2009-03-22T22:14:00.005-05:00

Good evening. For the one lovely human who expressed interest in seeing my enlarging belly, here they are. I did not post the shots I took at 5 6/7 weeks as my belly was not clothed and I feel weird about my naked nonpregnant looking belly being posted on the WWW. In retrospect, looking at it now, it was very flat and toned....big sigh....anyway as much I struggle with losing my very hard worked for body, I wouldn't change a thing...And so, we pick up at 13 4/7 weeks. It may not look like much to those that don't know me, but I am definitely very "thick".

Next...we skip a few weeks and head to 18 5/7.

And most recently, last week at 20 5/7....That's all I got. Hope it was thrilling.

<
What else...My pubic symphysis has already become unstable and hurts like crazy. I'm having braxton-hicks contractions which is kind of freaky, but mr. doc tells me the more kiddos you have the earlier you feel them. This baby is pretty active and strong...you can actually see my belly move from the outside. And last but not least....Maternity clothes SUCK. Seriously? Why would I want to wear some cute poofy thing with a bow? (no offense to those that like cute poofy things with bows but it is so not me) I was hoping in the 6 years that have passed since I last did this things would have improved. nope. that is all for now, have a lovely evening.

Runner's High....

2009-03-15T14:04:00.002-05:00

It is warm today....I can not tell you how happy that makes me. If I never had to experience cold again, I would be a very happy girlie. So, feeling wonderful today. I worked out this morning...was about 2.5 miles into my brisk walk and decided I couldn't take walking anymore and starting jogging (don't tell my mommy she will worry =). Jogged the last mile and it was wonderful beyond words. I seriously think I have a major runner's high going on right now. I felt like crap the first trimester and was afraid of causing bodily harm to the kiddo, early second tri everytime I moved up and down felt as if I was going to lose control of bodily functions...now not so bad...so it has been quite a few months since I have jogged and I have missed it a lot...today was just a confirmation of that. Not sure how long I can continue as I'm sure my belly will be bouncing all around soon....but it was good to do at least once again....then I'll be back to my walking and super fancy AMT machine (a jazzed up elliptical machine that I think gives a much better workout and the machine I credit that I can still run a mile without dying even though I haven't run in 5 months). Speaking of my belly. I have been taking periodic pics of it, perhaps if my runner's and spring weather high continues, I will post those sometime soon. To leave you all a picture....started making a little baby album for the alien (as we so lovingly call her...after her 3D ultrasound pic @ 11 weeks). I only have the cover done, better than nothing. Got the album @ walmart...martha stewart line. adios.

Emma

2009-02-27T09:00:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday to my beautiful little goofy girl! 6 years old!

Naming the baby

2009-02-26T19:57:00.002-06:00

Random names off of the girls list of names to name the baby:
Isabella: Maria, Jordan, India, Niki, Lilah, Marisa, Macy, Miranda, Kasey, Lilly
Emma: Kafee, Kale, Gaveedo, Odeey, Poo, Spunsh Bob, Pat, Cadin, Lato, Sale (sally), Cloepoo, Zoom
Can you tell who the goofball of the family is?

Pictures of the baby...

2009-02-25T15:36:00.003-06:00

Had an ultrasound today...all looked well. Looks like girlie #5....=) Bella was very excited. Emma said, "why do we always has to have girls?". That is all for now, have a lovely day.

Hello

2009-02-16T11:42:00.002-06:00

So what have I been up to? Took some photos of a friends wedding. I told her she was very brave to have me do that and it was proceed at her own risk...here are a few of my favorites. Other than that has just been the same old stuff, working, working out, working on the house....working seems to be the common theme here. Anyway, that is all for now. adios.

Posted via Pixelpipe.

Interesting Facts...in case you care

2009-01-22T20:04:00.003-06:00

1. I am still alive.
2. I will try to blog more than once a month.
3. I have excuses...like I'm very tired.
4. I own two houses.
5. Owning two houses is mildly stressful in the current real estate market, would like to sell the one I am sitting in right now.
6. I made light fettucine alfredo for supper tonight, grilled chicken and real not from the can green beans, it was delicious.
7. Life is good....
8. I haven't scrapbooked for awhile cause a.) I'm very busy b.)I own two houses and am trying to fix up the other one, keep this one clean and get rid of unecessary junk c.) I'm very tired. I do have some pages I need to take some pictures of...that shall be my goal for the next week.
9. My partner at work is gone practically every other day. I need consistent reliable help...dr. marvasti?
10. I think my birthday is next week...I'm going to be old...I think that is a sign that you are getting old when you are not sure how old you are or when the date that you turn that age slips your mind.
11. I am working out 5 days a week and yet I continue to gain weight...and yet I am not as bothered by it as I might be.
12. Why am I gaining weight? Yep...that's mine. 13+ weeks and all is looking well even at my advanced maternal age =). An unexpected but happy surprise...we are looking forward to July.

13. That's it.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-20T14:51:00.003-06:00

didn't realize it had been so long! Here is one version of our Christmas card this year. Also some pictures of the girls. Yes I realize now they are sideways, but am feeling a bit too lazy to turn them. I figured you could turn your head easier. Have a lovely Christmas, will try to post more frequently.

2008-11-22T16:54:00.003-06:00

I don't know that I have ever felt so busy in my life. I think part of my busy feeling is due to having to keep my house looking perfect all of the time. It sucks. But...you never get another chance to make a first impression so I feel like it has to be ready to go at all times. I ordered some frames for pics I took of the girls and they came this week. Usually I would let them sit around for awhile before I put them up, but because of the house thing, I took them out of the package that night and put them all together and hung them up...here they are

This is my room that for 3+ years had no purpose, no furniture...so it is looking a bit better finally. let's see...why else am I busy? bella is playing basketball and has practice twice a week, girls have church on wed night, my partner at work is missing in action again. I'm not complaining =)....just making excuses for my lack of blogging. So today...I have been a completely lazy bum. It is 5 pm and I have accomplished absolutely nothing very useful. I slept in. I ate breakfast and lunch. I got a free photobook on snapfish from the oprah show which I spent too long making. I made a calendar page for my mom's annual calendar she gives to grandma...I realized that I forgot how to use photoshop since I have been using lightroom so much for my photo editing. It took longer than it should have but it turned out okay I think.

I finally washed my face and brushed my teeth about an hour ago. I played memory with Emma. I have been watching a marathon on bravo about the real housewives of orange county. Interesting group of women...spoiled and shallow. I watched grey's anatomy and I think it is going off of the deep end again...I'm disappointed, they should have learned from their failures last season. Overall, a good lazy day. I think that is all I can think of at the moment. Have a lovely rest of the weekend.

Halloween, ScrapFaith, House

2008-11-05T23:15:00.004-06:00

I just realized I did not take very many Halloween photos of the girls. This was one of the only ones that was half decent. Here they are getting ready to make the rounds....

If you haven't checked out the scrapfaith website in awhile...you should. If you are interested in faith or scrapbooking or both have a little peak. The link is off to the right. There are some changes that are taking place...including free stuff just for commenting...can't beat that. Anyway, me plagiarizing the scrapfaith blog with the following:

There are amazing changes coming up in the near future here at ScrapFaith.
Including....

- Slideshows of all submitted challenge layouts.

- Monthly prizes. But NOT for a chosen layout, because art is subjective. Instead we will be giving away a large prize pack each month from a winner of our comment draw. That's right...starting in NOVEMBER, each time you leave a comment in a certain month you are eligible for the prize. Only one comment per post please. So if you leave a comment on every post you have the best chance at winning.

- A ScrapFaith Flickr group where you can post any faith based layout you choose.

- A re-design of some of the features on our site.

- Even more inspiration from our amazing team.

- More amazing Guest Artists. Check out the growing list by clicking the link in the right hand tool bar.

And yes, my house if for sale....it is quite lovely if I do say so myself...let me know if you'd like to buy it, I will give you a deal =). Not really going anywhere far, maybe just 10 miles east or so...we shall see how it all works out...will let you know more as I know more. Until later....

Happy Belated Halloween

2008-11-02T21:51:00.006-06:00

Here are a few photos of Halloween....and surprisingly my children are nowhere to be found. I do have some pics of them from the wierd thing they call Beggar's night (Oct 30) that takes the place of oct 31st trick or treating...I just haven't edited them yet. Anyway, J and I went as vampires this year which I found much more appealing than the popeye and olive oyl that we were last year. Here we are with fresh blood and all on our faces....I forgot I was supposed to be evil and not smile.

Me and my friend Dawn the playboy bunny...

J and I again...blood not so fresh anymore

And in other freaky news.....

Wanted: Nursing home buddies

2008-10-30T13:36:00.001-05:00

According to this site I am going to live to the ripe old age of 101. May need a nursing home buddy....any takers?

Some pics....

2008-10-28T23:14:00.002-05:00

Hello to all. I have some pictures here for your viewing pleasure. Took these of the girls a few weeks ago.
Emma and Bella....

Emma....

And Bella....

I also have some scrapbooking projects in the works so I'll be posting those soon so stay tuned. My few days off were lovely, way too short, but nice. Life seems to be treating me well right now (knocking hard and long on very large pieces of wood right now which I feel the need to do as a large portion of my adult life has sucked pretty hard). Anyway, hope I haven't jinxed myself, but thought I'd actually share that things are going well. Adios, until next time.

Happy

2008-10-23T00:11:00.001-05:00

I am filled with joy.....I'm not working until Monday. I need it badly. Maybe I'll even have time to blog....we shall see. More later.

Hi

2008-10-16T21:36:00.003-05:00

I got my pictures I ordered today, so I should be getting some scrapbooking stuff done sometime soon....until then a picture Emma drew in K...notice the red stuff all over the place, that would be blood. This came home in a book with her K classmates pictures...all so sweet...ballerina, teacher, etc. My kid? Blood all over the place, sick people on the floor. Nice...

And lastly, I took a little class on making a collage background type thingy...was fun. here is my finished product.

That is all for now, have a lovely weekend.

Still alive and well

2008-10-09T21:57:00.002-05:00

It has been awhile, didn't quite realize how long. Just been busy.......but doing well. Took a couple of pictures of the girls last night. Busy editing those. Going to try to upload a bunch this weekend and order some pictures. Will then actually have something to scrapbook...=) Anyway, some pics of the girls last night...enjoy and have a good day.

A tiny little project

2008-09-21T21:30:00.005-05:00

First of all....5 comments on the last post? how about that? wasn't too hard now was it? Keep 'em coming. And no, Starla Dawn I was not trying to induce guilt...I just enjoy the comments. And to Jenny, yes I could make your pictures pretty, but I might have to charge you as I am busy busy girl ;-). Anyway, a little preschool graduation book I put together very quickly as you might be able to tell. But it is done and semi-cute. That is all for now, have a lovely day.

Photos.....

2008-09-18T22:33:00.004-05:00

For those of you who take time to comment, thank-you...I appreciate it. It always makes me smile and feel all warm and fuzzy. Anyway, to answer the question of Lightroom....yes, I have been liking it a lot. It is a lot faster and easier than photoshop and I feel like I have a lot more control...maybe because it seems easier to understand, not sure. I took a little course here.... www.kelbytraining.com which helped a lot with learning how to use it. Anyway, last week I was scrolling through a bunch of images and picked out some of my favorites....here they are. Have a lovely day.

A photo of Bella a few years ago

My momma's flowers...this was actually taken a few years and camera's ago =)

This boat was taken at a nearby lake...the picture actually was pretty unimpressive, but I jazzed it up a bit in Lightroom and really like it now

Bella a couple of years ago

The next 5 were taken in Cambodia last summer.

The girls a year ago...need to be taking some more of them soon.

Miss E. last year.

I love this one cause it was completely spontaneous...not staged at all.

stuff in my yard

4th of July x 2.

A lake in Minnesota.

And the lovely flower again.

Some more pics....

2008-09-08T22:11:00.004-05:00

These pics were from the Renaissance Festival a few weeks ago. Bella looking all cute....

Me and Emma boozing it up....that's a joke by the way. It is rootbeer. But before we got some ourselves, the girls wanted to know why all the kids were drinking alcohol. Anyway, that is all I have for now, disappointing I know. More later.

2 days in a row.....

2008-09-02T20:35:00.001-05:00

What is this world coming to? Just a picture tonight of a flower in my yard. Been playing with Lightroom a bit, am liking it. Have a lovely day.

Hello....

2008-09-01T21:48:00.002-05:00

Not sure if anyone stops here anymore.....but in case there is someone around, I have another layout for the scrapfaith site.

I have a few projects in progress that I am trying to finish...so perhaps if you keep checking in, I will complete those sometime soon. I have some photos to post from this weekend too as soon as I edit them. We went to a Renaissance faire on Saturday...was interesting, okay fun...not really into that sort of thing, but the girls enjoyed it I think. Back off to work tomorrow, my partner has been gone on and off this summer so I am very busy...which is good...but I could also use a break too. Anyway, hope everyone is well....until next time.

First Day of School

2008-08-21T21:19:00.004-05:00

Miss Bella started school on Monday....4th grade....hard to believe. Here she is in her 1st day of school rock star garb looking super cool.

Emma started Kindergarten on Tuesday. Hard to believe. She was very excited and still is. Seems to be much better than preschool, which she didn't like because she had to nap.

And finally the obligatory getting on the bus picture.

One more thing, my layout from scrapfaith the other day.....
That is all for now, have a lovely day.

State Fair

2008-08-14T20:56:00.003-05:00

Not a huge fan of the state fair, but I suck it up every year and take the girls. We went last night for a few hours. Here is the highlight of our trip....a picture with Lloyd the 11 ft long Burmese Python. The other two didn't want to hold the head, so I got it...lucky me =). Very strong snake. The picture was a rip off, but oh well...it is not often we snakes draped around our necks.

Tomorrow the Scrapfaith site will be updated. I'll have a layout over there so check it out.
The girls are enjoying their new wii...playing wii sports a lot and rockband of course.
Emma, who starts kindergarten on Tues, continues to crack me up. We were watching the Olympics tonight and I asked her if she wanted to play beach volleyball at the olympics and she very adamently said "no, I'm going to cut up dead people when I grow up, I'm going to be a pathologist". Interesting child, huh? Anyway, that is all for now. Have a lovely night.

Finally...

2008-08-05T20:43:00.004-05:00

Some pictures from our recent vacation in the land of 10000 lakes.
Bella with a fish...

My lovely emma (on the right)

And me with a fish that I caught....

What else have I been up to. Listening to old blind melon over and over again (Have I ever mentioned how I love love love 90s "alternative" rock? Nothing better). They kind of remind me of the band my lovely brother is in Trent Wagler and the Steel Wheels (nice new website by the way B.) Blind Melon is a bit more rockified than their music, but there are some similarities (hope you are not offended by that B....love Blind Melon). I espcially am connecting with this song....In fact I am listening to it so loud right now that I will probably soon be like my Grandpa Cleo, unable to hear anything.

Change ---Blind Melon

I don't feel the sun's comin' out today
It's staying in, it's gonna find another way.
As I sit here in this misery,
I don't think I'll ever, no lord, see the sun from here.
And oh as I fade away,
They'll all look at me and say, and they'll say,
"Hey look at him, I'll never live that way."
But that's okay, they're just afraid to change.
And when you feel your life ain't worth living
You've got to stand up and take a look around you
Then a look way up to the sky.
And when your deepest thoughts are broken,
Keep on dreaming, boy, 'cause when you stop dreamin' it's time to die.
And as we all play parts of tomorrow,
Some ways we'll work and other ways we'll play.
But I know we can't all stay here forever,
So I want to write my words on the face of today
...And then they'll paint it
And oh as I fade away,
They'll all look at me and say, they'll say,
"Hey look at him and where he is these days."
When life is hard, you have to change.
When life is hard, you have to change.

And no, I am not depressed. I'm fine...so Dr. M in ID you don't need to call me, but if you'd like to, I'd happily take your call.
What else...Got my T.V. up for the wii that I got the girls (and quite honestly me too). I love RockBand....I'm hoping to keep improving my (fake) drum skills so when my brother is ready for a drummer, I am the girl =). This post seems to be all about my Bro for some reason, but I am also learning lightroom inspired by his suggestion that I would love it. Still nursing my bum leg...never thought it would be so hard not to run. I ran today even though I wasn't supposed to (according to mr. trainer). I have lost a LOT of conditioning over the past 6 weeks or so with this stupid leg thing, makes me a bit sad. Well that is all that I can think of, have a lovely day all.

Update to come soon.....

2008-07-29T21:59:00.001-05:00

editing a bunch of pics from vacation. Will share soon =). Have a lovely day.

Layouts

2008-07-18T08:39:00.005-05:00

The excitement of my life....

2008-07-10T20:21:00.002-05:00

Yes, the excitement of my life has come down to me coming home every evening and watching what my friend the groundhog is doing in my backyard. Here he is tonight. I haven't named him yet...any suggestions?

In other wildlife news, my least favorite pet is still doing well.

A couple of pictures of the girls from the 4th of July weekend. Thought they were cute. I'm missing them now. They are with g-ma for a few days and then off to S.D.'s house for 2. Who is S.D.? Anyone who guesses the correct answer wins the honor of naming the groundhog. What a prize...don't wait, you don't want to lose out on that opportunity =). Have a lovely night.

Hello again....

2008-06-26T22:44:00.003-05:00

I think I had and recovered from a minor midlife crisis (yes...sad to say but I think my age qualifies me for that). Seriously. I think it started when I took a week off from the gym due to some pretty good muscle fatigue and lack of being able to recover in a timely fashion from my workouts...then a week later went back and still felt like crap and promptly injured my right hamstring doing what? don't know. But it hurt. Bad. Lacking the natural endorphins that my body has become accustomed to on a regular basis I promptly started feeling sorry for myself. Feeling sorry about my life situation...you know doing the single mom thing 99.9% of the time by myself, taking care of this big old house and yard by myself, supporting my girls 100% by myself, being just plain old completely and absolutely exhausted...physically, mentally, emotionally.... everything. Wondering what the hell I did to deserve this load of crap that has been dealt to me. Then I would of course start feeling guilty for feeling like my life was crap as I am extremely blessed. I'm healthy (except for the stupid leg...but I have a leg none the less), my kids are healthy,smart,kind, beautiful little people, I have a great job, I have some great people in my life, I'm smart, I have a lot going for me....and yet....blah, blah, blah. So no, I didn't buy a new convertable sports car, or find myself a 21 year old hottie, or tatoo or pierce myself in odd places. I almost sold my house, but decided to not do that at the moment (i did decide to try to finish my painting projects just in case I got the overwhelming urge to sell again, I will be ready). So how did I come out of my funk? Being the rebel that I am, I put red in my hair...seen nicely in the sun here....

I also bought this necklace here . It is blurry here, but it has 2 little initials on it...an "I" and an "E".
I splattered some paint on some paper (not seen here), but decided that making a mess with paper, paint and glue tends to make me a happier person.

Thus a scrapbook page, seen all cockeyed here.

Then I decided to go see the chiropracter who told me I was inches away from my pelvis twisting itself in circles and my neck falling apart (so i'm exagerating a bit). She pounded on me a bit and told me I needed to spend thousands of dollars coming to see her so I could be all better. I then went and saw my trainer and he stretched the crap out of my legs which are incredibly tight. I hate stretching. Always have. It was almost worse than giving birth. I was feeling a bit better, but still in a funk. I turned the t.v. on one night and looked at my dvr'd stuff, randomly put on a joyce meyer show (group I went to cambodia with last year) and it was about feeling sorry for yourself. Had to laugh. Decided that I was just plain stupid for feeling sorry for myself and that I was not going to let any human being make me feel bad about my life or myself ever again (yes, i know that probably won't last but right now it is working for me). And so, I've been pretty good since then. Having fun with my girls, painting walls, painting random papers, taking pictures, reading, going to a big old art festival tomorrow, looking forward to a much needed vacation in a few weeks. So that is it. The story of my life the last month or so. Hope it was an enjoyable read. I'm hungry, going to go have a bowl of cereal (my new food obsession...) Good night.

It's been a while

2008-06-14T15:23:00.002-05:00

Didn't realize how long it had been since I updated. Been having a little flooding around here. Luckily, it really hasn't affected me other than I have lost one of the routes to get to my house...here is what it currently looks like.

We all got our hair cut on Thursday. Emma was very adament that she was getting it cut short. I tried to talk her out of it, but she wanted nothing to do with it, so I decided to let her do what she wanted. When we got to the hair salon, she looked through all the magazines and picked out her favorite and chopped off about 8 or so inches. I about cried. Bella, who was just going to get a trim, also got into the spirit of hair cutting and chopped a ton too. Here are the results.... I wasn't so brave and still have my long hair. Have a lovely day...will try to post more often.

Scrapfaith Layout

2008-06-01T22:12:00.005-05:00

Here is my layout for the Scrapfaith site (can't seem to make the link work so go to the sidebar for it). Go check out the other girl's layouts also. The topic was what 3 spiritual truths do you want to pass on to your kids.

That is about all for now....except.....SOCCER IS OVER!!! Doing a little happy dance here. Last game was Saturday, we kicked some buttocks...Bella scored 2 goals and had about 4 assists...was a good game.

Yes it's true...

2008-05-26T22:07:00.012-05:00

She still scrapbooks. This isn't even what I had planned. Those pictures didn't arrive so I found some others laying around and did them all last night and today as I was on call. Can't really do anything else on call, so I scrapped in between phone calls. Anyway, enjoy.....

Don't really have a clue what to do with the team photos....I always end up hating these =)

Bella having fun at Grandma's

One of me taken by my brother or SIL...not sure who.

Miss emma exploring...

Don't know if this even counts as a scrapbook page, oh well...

Me and my girlies...

My grandma and grandpa...

That is all for now, have a lovely day.

I suppose it is about time.....

2008-05-22T20:42:00.005-05:00

that I blog again. Soccer is finally winding down, and I almost feel the sweet relief of no extracurricular activities for several months. I have some scrapbook projects in mind, didn't get around to making them this past weekend, but I did order photos....so I am getting much closer.

Emma graduated from preschool last week. Here is a picture that I took of the momentous occasion. She passed with flying colors =). I think she is well on her way to med school. This morning she wanted to open the head of a dead bird that Betty the crazy Idaho cat brought us as a gift. She thought it would be interesting to see what it's brain looked like and then she wanted to know about the bones too. I am hoping she will chose Dermatology so she can keep her mama looking young...oh well, maybe I should just let her start kindergarten first =).

Photo number 2: from my photo a day quest....chives growing in my yard.

That is all for now. Have a lovely day.

Up to nothing...

2008-05-13T17:44:00.003-05:00

Hello all....still alive here. Haven't been up to much of anything. Just the same old stuff....soccer, soccer and more soccer. Thankfully it will be ending soon. Been enjoying my camera, working, pretending to train for a 5K (i say pretending cause it is highly unlikely I will run in one, but I'm running like I'm going to =). Spent $70.75 on gas today, that would be a record. Luckily for gas purposes, I don't really drive anywhere so I only have to fill up once a week. Anyway, here are some pictures to keep you entertained for a bit. I'm getting a mild urge to scrapbook again, so maybe I'll have a layout or two to show you in a few days. Until then, adios.

My very cute Emma looking at something...not sure what.

Me and my girlies...

Another one of me and the girls...

And Emma playing soccer....she is being so aggressive this year....very proud of my little meanie....=).

all apologies to Bella who is very underrepresented in these photos...not done on purpose.

Catching up....

2008-05-04T23:03:00.005-05:00

Well, I gave in....I realized that my Norton upgrade happened around mid month and that to get to 70% of my upload limit would take forever...so I upgraded my internet package. I'm sure they probably did that to me on purpose cause I just don't spend enough each month on that stupid satellite. Anyway, here are the last two layouts from scrapfaith. Check out the site www.scrapfaith.blogspot.com to check out the other's work.
April:

May: (in honor of my mommy...happy mother's day)

ETA: I just realized those two layouts look very similar....strange, didn't do it on purpose =).

What else....
After months of thought, touching one at bestbuy (that was the turning point in my very futile effort to avoid buying a new one...although I lasted a month after that), playing with my SILs camera...I upgraded my camera to the Canon 40d. It makes me happy. I have had it for about a week. I'm having fun trying to figure it out...shoot more in the manual modes. I've joined the masses that are attempting to take a photo a day for a year (yes I know I am almost 5 months too late in starting, but who says you can't start April 27?)...I've got 8 days worth taken so far...kind of fun. We'll see how far I'll get. Not too stressed about it, if I make it cool, if not...oh well. So far I've gotten some cool photos.

I'm sure there is more to talk about, but we'll leave it at that. Have a lovely day.

Naughty, Naughty...

2008-04-30T09:49:00.002-05:00

I've been kicked off the internet by my ISP for being an internet hog. Apparently they do that? I was trying to figure out why that has happened as I really truly am not an internet hog and I really don't spend all that much time online. I'm blaming my new upgraded Norton antivirus which I think has been trying to back up over and over again (unsuccessfully) important files to their online server thus using up my monthly quota of uploading (that is where I am over, not downloading)....at least that is all I can come up with. I turned that feature off and and we'll see what happens....until I'm back below a certain level though my internet is very slow and spotty. Anyway, that is all for now. Have a lovely day, I'll be back when my ISP is done punishing me =).

Monday

2008-04-21T23:05:00.001-05:00

Got a couple of pictures from this weekend...Bella looking all grown up and Emma with her poor captured frog. The girls love to catch frogs and play with them...I'm not sure how many make it through the playing process however....

Also a layout from my digi class...

Have a lovely day.

Another Digi for you

2008-04-17T22:00:00.003-05:00

Here is another digi layout from the Digi In Deep class I am taking. I was completely uncreative with this one...didn't even change the topic of the sample layout. Oh well.
Things have been busy here with soccer 5 out of 7 days each week. Luckily it seems to rain every Thursday so Emma has yet to have a practice, leaving me a day without practice. Been tuning up my fitness routine for swimsuit season, enjoying my nike/ipod thingy, find it motivating...was going pretty well until I got strep throat for the 6th time since Thanksgiving. Got it good this time and actually went home from work I felt so cruddy. Very odd, never got strep since childhood until thanksgiving and now...not sure what is going on, but I am feeling better now. Anyway, have a lovely day.

Scrapfaith

2008-04-14T21:50:00.001-05:00

Check out the Scrapfaith website tomorrow (4/15) for the new layouts (mine included). Too lazy to post it here =). Have a lovely day.

Another digi layout

2008-04-08T23:36:00.003-05:00

Here is my last layout from the 2nd Jessica Sprague digi class I took. Now I am ready to move on to the final class...only a 1 1/2 weeks behind now =). I went with Jeremy a few weeks ago to take photos of his girls at their horseback riding lessons. Anyway....to my friend Emilie who so kindly complimented my last digi layout. I made it, but unfortunately I can't take credit for it as the actual creation did not come from my brain, I just followed directions in how to create it. However, I did learn how to make it, so hopefully someday I can apply my new skills to create something completely out of the depths of my own brain...we'll see. That is all for now. see ya.

My new toy...

2008-04-06T23:18:00.003-05:00

I got this on my Wednesday day off...a Nike+ Ipod thingy....so far liking it alot. It tracks your distance, speed, etc. You hook one part of the sensor into your ipod nano and the other sensor is in your shoe. I had to buy Nike shoes, which I usually don't do, however I found a pair that felt like my lovely Addidas that I usually buy so I am happy. You can then upload it to the nike+ site and track everything. Here is what it looks like. I haven't calibrated it yet so it is off I believe by a bit...unfortunately in the "I'm running slower than that direction"...but even if it is off I can still see my progress and close to the distance I am running. Anyway, that is all for now, just excited about my toy and wanted to share. Also...if anyone else has one I think you can do challenges or something like that with your online nike friends...if anyone is interested =). by for now.

Day off

2008-04-02T23:48:00.002-05:00

I took the day off today. It was lovely, I did nothing productive. I roamed Target, the mall, spent a little money, ate bad for me food...did not do a bit of work of any kind. Lovely. Anyway, another layout from my digi class...catching up as I'm taking the last class she is offering and I haven't finished the 2nd one yet...oh well, I'll get to it. This layout shows a few of the hundreds of pictures I took while visiting Angkor Wat this summer. Definitely would recommend it if you happen to be by chance roaming in Cambodia. Later.

A digi layout....

2008-03-31T23:36:00.002-05:00

from the Jessica Sprague class I took in Jan (I know I mentioned it before but highly worth the $$ if you are interested in digi scrapbooking). Miss Emma's birthday.

Tired...most go to bed, have a lovely day.

A new banner

2008-03-27T23:20:00.003-05:00

So much better...at least in my eyes. It has my favorite things on it...ink, staples, rhinestones....what more could you want? Yes, I know not everyone loves the grunge thing like I do, but I'm much happier now.

Anyway, it has been awhile. Not been in the blogging mood I guess. Have been busy with soccer starting again. I'm helping to coach Bella's team and Emma is playing as well. What else? Went to the Lifehouse concert a few weeks ago. I loved it. I could become a Lifehouse groupie I think. Anyway, I can't think of anything else to talk about, that is how exciting my life has been. I need to clean up the mess I made making the banner...you would be amazed how I can destroy an area just making that little thing. All for now. Have a good day.

another blurry layout

2008-03-18T23:48:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the crappy photo, but once again, didn't feel like taking more to get a better one. you get the picture. I was running last Thursday, outside for the first time in months and I just kept going...ended up running 5 miles...and it was easy and fun (relatively speaking). While i was running I started thinking about how important it has become to me (gasp!) and how much I rely on it to stay sane, how much it helps me to keep my head on straight, how much it has helped me deal with all the crap of life in the past few years, how it makes me feel strong and powerful, how it gives me confidence, etc...so in honor of that....a layout. Have good day.

Still here....

2008-03-12T22:23:00.002-05:00

Yep, I'm still here. Could it be that spring is actually coming? This has been the longest winter that I can remember. I'm sure it's probably not, but it is getting very very old. So it was lovely today to have sun and 60 degrees. The girls took advantage of it and got to play outside...without coats even...wow! I took a couple of pictures, but no one was terribly interested...thus the pictures suck...but still pictures in the sun....nice. anyway, will try to be a better blogger. bye for now.