Totally hooked

I have a confession to make. I have no idea who Jack's Mannequin is. Never heard a single song of theirs, or his, before. But I can't seem to get this song out of my head. I saw the video on Stephenie Meyers site. Check it out here: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/

Let me know what you think, because I'm curious if I'm the only one this song has grown on.

As soon as I hear any time frames for our move, I'll let ya'll know. But check the cookie blog for Roo's school picture. SOOOOO cute! And his eyes are open! :)

My 5

List 5 fears, 5 joys, 5 obsessions/collections, 5 surprising facts about you.

Fears:
1. my kids drowning (can I include being in a flood in my car and trying to get all my kids to the roof on this one?) :)
2. fire
3. spiders
4. losing my pictures, scrapbooks, videos, memories from our past
5. my kids or Brad getting deathly ill and dying before me

Joys:
1. my hubby
2. my kids
3. sleeping in
4. watching TV or movies (ie Monk, Psych, Law and Order, The Closer, football)
5. yummy food

Obsessions/Collections
1. blogging and reading blogs
2. chili peppers
3. Bollywood
4. we have a china cabinet full of stuff we've collected from Europe and that family and friends have brought back from around the world
5. I would be absolutely lost without my PDA. I need a new one soon. Mine is dying.

Surprising facts:
1. I hate scary movies. I can't even watch scary commercials
2. I was born in California
3. I played the flute in middle school
4. I love rafting
5. I'm moving to Philadelphia soon. Brad was just offered an ENT position there on Friday. :)

Extreme life makeover

Our town is going a little crazy these days. The show Extreme Home Makeover is a mile from my house and the street I frequent has been closed. But I have some excitement of my own to share:

We are moving to PHILADELPHIA!

I know. This is totally crazy. I can't argue with that. But there was an opportunity we can't pass up. On Friday Brad got offered an ENT position at a great hospital. We've been praying about it the last few days and feel that this is best in the long run for our family.

Brad had originally wanted to do ENT when we were applying for residencies. We didn't match any of the spots. We were disapointed, but grateful that he got a surgery spot. He loves doing surgery. The thing that makes this such a hard decision is that we love Lansing. We are so happy here and it is hard to think of leaving. But we couldn't pass up the chance for Brad to do ENT, when it was what he's wanted for so long.

Logistically, I'm scared silly. Brad leaves in 2 weeks. There is A LOT to do before he leaves. But I just have to believe that it is going to work out. I have no idea when the kids and I will be able to get out there. Obviously selling the house is going to be a huge factor. As soon as the kids and I get an idea of when we'll be going, I'll let you all know!

A couple new pictures are up on the Cookie blog. Stinker in her duct tape diaper. Jamo lost another tooth. Lots of stories to share, but it will have to wait a little while...

Updates!

I've got a new slide and new videos up on Cookie. As always, if you need an invite, just let me know. Anyone we know is welcome!

My boys are getting so big! I can't believe it! Roo has been having problems with a bully at school. I told him that sometimes people are mean because they are sad, or scared or lonely and wish they had friends and that maybe he should try being nice to him. He came home from school and said that he and the bully are friends now and that he invited Roo to his birthday party. Isn't that nice? Bully isn't being mean to him anymore! I know it isn't always so simple, but it sure is nice when it is.

It blows my mind that Roo is 4. It really does. Granted, he will be 5 very very soon, but even still... Last night we were reading the kids stories and getting them ready for bed. Roo started to read the book. It was one he checked out from the library, so it isn't like it is one he has read a hundred times or something. I got it on video. It is on the cookie blog.

Yesterday I woke up to see 2 diapers on Stinker's floor, which I thought was odd. She's been taking one off a night, but where was the other from? Then Brad called and said that he had to put another diaper on her this morning before he left for work because she took hers off. Apparently she is now taking them off in her sleep. Heavy sigh.

I'm running out of options here, people. I just got done cleaning up her room again because this time it wasn't pee. ARGH! I am seriously considering potty training her. But that might also require me to make her crib into a toddler bed, and I don't know if I'm ready for that. My boys were in toddler beds at 14 and 16 months and she is almost 22. I just know I can't keep doing this diaper thing with her or I will go crazy.

Too much of a good thing?

Perhaps I have over-done my trips to the Y. Today, I was driving to go weigh in at my new clinic and we drove by the Y. Daven said, "Look mom! It's the Y! Hey, wait a minute... where are you taking me?" He just couldn't fathom us going somewhere that wasn't the Y. Yikes.

If you were one of the many teenage girls who had a crush on Kirk Cameron many eons ago, here is another reason to like him. Even though he is an actor, he won't kiss anyone but his wife. Obviously that isn't a feasible option for all actors, but you gotta respect the guy. Impressive.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26851749/

Politics anyone?

I'm not planning on taking up a new hobby as a political blogger, but if anyone is so interested, I have some McCain/Palin signs you can put up in your yard.

And while I'm not in CA and can't vote on Proposition 8, here is a link to more info about it.

http://whatisprop8.com/

I realize that many of you aren't from CA, but knowledge is still power. You never know when similar legislature will come to your state.

Neglected

Before I forget, there is a new slide on the cookie blog. Mostly blurry swimming pictures, so feel free to skip (after you look at Jamo's lost tooth...). ;)

Oh, my poor little blog. Left alone and with no attention. Pobrecito!

What's our latest and greatest? Hmm, we've been busy! Monday nights I have belly dancing and Roo has soccer and basketball. Belly dancing again has been fun. I like the program here a lot. A lot more focus on technique and repetitive motions, which helps. Tuesday nights I have my 12 step program. Wednesday nights I work with the youth in my church. Thursday nights the boys have swimming lessons. If Brad isn't on call, I try to get to volleyball, but it's been awhile since I've made it out.

My cardio/strength class at the Y has definitely leaned more to the strength side. Today she made us run stairs though. Ugh. Cruel. Strength is good. I could definitely use the toning! :) I'm trying to figure out how to shower and dress at the Y and maintain some sense of modesty. That has been interesting. I bought a swimsuit to shower in. And I learned that there is just no easy way to put on jeans modestly after showering. I may have to start bringing baggy pants or pajama bottom pants to solve that problem. I have potentially found a Thursday racquetball partner. Come on, Chalae! It's fun! I would still like to go on Tuesdays, just to keep the habit of going the same time every day, but I'm not sure what I'll do yet. Maybe play racquetball (anyone? anyone?) or do some elliptical. Maybe just sit in the hot tub and veg out. Now that sounds like a winner!

Jamo pulled his tooth out on his own. I came home from my class and he showed it to me. What a kid. I haven't had to pull out a tooth yet! And because I'm so prepared (or not), I had to raid his piggy bank to get the gold dollar to put in his tooth pillow. I need to go to the bank. His other tooth is days away from falling out and I'd like to be prepared this time.

Roo is loving basketball, but seems to prefer soccer. He loves riding on the bus. He feels like such a big kid. Apparently there is a pretty tough kid in his class, but he manages to avoid fights, so that makes me happy.

Stinker is so girly. I am not. I don't do shoes. I'd rather be barefoot. I won't sacrifice comfort for fashion. Okay, maybe on a rare occasion. But seriously, I'm not a shoe girl. Never have been. But Stinker? Get that girl in the shoe aisle and her eyes light up like a Christmas tree. She's trying on every single pink, jewel-encrusted shoe she can get her hands on. It's like nothing I've ever seen, or experienced. She is turning into quite the little chatter box and has finally decided that words may be an effective method of communication. Oh, and she doesn't like keeping her diaper on anymore. Ugh.

Well, that is about it. Maybe I can give my poor, neglected blog more attention this week.

YEAH!

I finally got the 'after' pictures up on the cookie blog, so go have a looksy. Oh, and there is a short slide of Stinker and Jamo.

For the record, there were lots of places in the kitchen where the tape ripped off paint, so I have a lot of touch ups to do. I have to get myself motivated to look at a paint brush again, so it could be awhile...

Yikes! It's Ike!

This is a super long post. Sorry. Feel free to just look at pictures and get the idea. ;)

Michigan is no where near an ocean, so I haven't spent a lot of energy worrying about hurricanes. Perhaps I should have...

It rained all day yesterday. And when I say 'all day' what I mean is there wasn't a minute that it wasn't raining from when I woke up until 11 pm. Granted, I wasn't looking out the window all of those hours, so you'll have to take my word for it. Today is much the same. Constant rain. It hasn't always been a hard rain, though it does have its moments. But it has been sprinkling, raining, or pouring for 2 days now.

And now you are all dying to know how our basement is doing after last year and this year's flooding. (Don't worry Natalie! As soon as we hear the alarm go off, we'll get all of your stuff upstairs!)

To give you a little background, our basement was flooded when we bought it as a foreclosure. We had a double sump pump, and a water guard system installed. But then there was a storm last year that completely overwhelmed the system. There was a lake in our yard from the porch out to the trees. The sump pump just kept pumping into the backyard, which kept running into the basement. Obviously something had to change.

We spent countless hours and dollars putting in undergroud pipes. We have a large one (we are talking a foot diameter here) put at the bottom of a 60 ft long ditch. We then covered the pipe with rocks, so we wouldn't just have a huge ditch in the backyard. We connected all of the rain gutters and the sump pump to pipes that run out to the large pipe in the backyard. Then we built a berm (a small hill) so that the water wouldn't run into the yard once the ditch filled.

We didn't quite get the berm done in time, and a good sized storm that filled the ditch and came through our hole in the berm. We finished the berm and thought we were in good shape. We were wrong.

The next storm did great at keeping the water on the other side of the berm, but there was still tons of water on our side of the berm, with no way to get to the other side. Our next idea was to put a sump pump in the yard and run it into the ditch as well. It would have worked great last week, had Brad finished getting the electricity run out to it. Sigh.

Therefore, this is our first test of our new system. If this doesn't work, I honestly don't know what else we can do. At least there is an alarm on the basement system so we'll know before it starts to flood.

I have a couple of pictures on this blog, but if you want to see the slides, you'll have to log into the cookie blog. There are lots and lots. I took some originally, because I thought the water was so high, but it just kept getting higher and higher and higher, so there are multiple set of pictures.

Women, sheesh

Today, I arrived at my cardio class and couldn't see anyone there. Not a soul. I got in, and Pam and another lady were there, but we were the only ones for about 10 minutes. It felt weird. Eventually 4 more people showed up. I kinda like being in a smaller class. Pam worked our hineys (or is it hinies?) off. It was great. Then afterwards, I went and did some elliptical for about 15 minutes.

I came home and after showering, feeding kids, starting laundry, etc, I sat at the computer to email and such. I saw a lady walking by with her kids in a stroller and I felt guilty. That I should be out there taking my kids on a walk. What is it with women? I already worked my butt off this morning, the kids have been out of the house - not just cooped up, so I logically know I shouldn't feel guilty that I'm not going on a walk. So why do I?!?!?!

In case you are wondering, my current theories are 1) residual guilt from years of inactivity and 2) I LOVE going on walks and haven't been making it a priority lately.

What are your theories?

Falling for fall

Fall is my favorite season of all. I love it. I thought I'd list my reasons why.

• Football
• leaves change colors
• crisp air
• cider
• my birthday
• football
• cool nights
• corn mazes
• I love all things pumpkin: pumpkin bars, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin seeds etc.
• I love carving pumpkins, not the artsy part, the pulling out the gooey inside part
• football
• Thanksgiving
• I don't have to feel bad for not wearing shorts or swimsuits anymore
• new shows on TV
• it smells different (or am I just crazy - don't answer that)
• Did I mention football yet?
• and now that I'm a mom with school age kids, let's add SCHOOL STARTS!!!!!! to the list

Anyone care to add to the list? I think I have football covered. :)

Owie!

So, my cardio/strength class was ALL strength today. I haven't felt it yet, but I probably won't be able to move tomorrow. At least she found Pam's 'Bootylicious' mix CD and used that today. :)

I've accepted that no one wants to go belly dancing. But can I convince anyone to play racquetball with me?? It would be Tu and/or Thur mornings. I have some flexibility on the time, so let me know! PLEASE! :)

Y, oh Y?

The Fall classes started today at the Y. I need you Becky! We had a new instructor today. She was good, but she was no Pam. I miss the hip hop music. And the new lady just had surgery so there is a lot she can't do. It didn't feel like the work out I was used to. Oh well. Pam and I got to work on the ellipticals for 15 minutes after class, so that should count for something, right?

And then tonight I had the infamous belly dancing class that apparently no one else wants to go to. It was a little crazy. Brad said last night, "I'm not on call tomorrow so I'll be home to watch the kids so you can go." I just smiled and nodded. Home in time? Right....

He didn't make it home. I dropped Stinker off at the Tot watch, got Jamo to the kid's gym, and then took Roo to his basketball class. Yes, it is stressful having so much to do, but at least it is all in the same building, right? I had to leave half way though my belly dancing class to get Roo from his basketball class and take him to the Tot watch (he can't go to the kid's gym for 4 more weeks, when he turns 5 - and let me tell you, he is waaaay bummed). I wish I could have watched him play, but when I got back, it looked like he was really enjoying himself. He was practicing blocks, which happens to be my favorite part of basketball. :)

***Update*** Okay, I read Becky's comment about not showing skin and it cracked me up. Me, show skin?? As if! Totally would not happen. I just go in my t-shirt and work out pants, just like my cardio class. In fact the belly dancers had on more clothes than some ladies in my cardio class! Just to clarify...

My most loyal reader

Ladies and gentlemen, today is the birthday of my most loyal reader. Happy birthday, daddy! I sure love you!

Videos, finally

Blogger finally let me get the videos up. Check out the Cookie blog!

Brad stories

I don't have many of these, but I do have a couple today!

The resident the year ahead of Brad has resigned. So they are down to 3 residents and 3 interns in surgery. His work load just increased. As if he wasn't already busy. Sheesh.

Going along with said work load, he gets pages frequently. One day he was at home making some calls about his student loans. He dialed and after getting a hello said, "This is Dr. Mons returning a page." The stunned silence on the other end alerted him to his error. He needs more sleep. :)

If you haven't had a chance already, I put up quite a few posts yesterday. I think the first one was about the wedding pictures, so if you want to see those, be sure you get that far.

Blast from the past - high school memories

Kate did this on her site, and I loved the idea. I have a few high school friends on here who will probably call me out if I'm lying, so I'd better be careful with my answers. :)

1. Did you date someone from your school?
not seriously, just some casual dates.

2. What kind of car did you drive?
An awful Subaru. I hated it. It died on me all the time. But it was better than the van. :) Oh, and the rear windshield wiper would squirt out water backwards, so that was cool. My brothers would try to soak people. Crazy boys.

3. Were you a party animal?
hmmm, define party... Maybe. I went to parties, but I don't think I was an animal.

4. Were you considered a flirt?
Can I plead the 5th? Probably. :)

5. Were you in band, orchestra or choir?
I played flute in middle school, but I wasn't good enough to play in HS. :(

6. Were you on any varsity teams?
I lettered varsity in track my freshman year, but then I quit the following year. Basketball I only made it to C-team before I got cut. Volleyball I only made it to JV before I quit to start working after school.

7. What was your school's full name?
Los Alamos High School

8. School mascot?
Topper. As in Hilltopper. Don't ask. I don't know how to explain it. :)

9. If you could go back and do it again, would you?
Not a chance.

10. What do you remember most about graduation?
I'm such a dork. I left right after the graduation ceremony and missed all of the parties so I could go spend the weekend with my boyfriend who was at BYU. I missed everything!

11. Were you in any clubs?
Does Business Professionals of America count? I was in that a few years and even president of it for a year. I started working after school I think it was during my sophomore year, so I didn't have time for a lot.

12. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? That was a long time ago actually. I graduated in 95. Maybe I'm too old to play this game. For what it's worth, I did go to my reunion in 2005 and it was lots of fun!

Last but not least

School pictures are up on the cookie blog! They are such cute boys!! They are in different schools because Jamo is in first grade and Roo is in High5, a program here for kids with late birthdays since the cutoff is in December. I drive Jamo to school, and Roo takes a bus. The first day, the bus was 45 minutes late getting him, but Brad had already taken him. And don't get me started on his first bus ride home. I waited and waited and waited outside. I pulled weeds to distract myself. I thought, hey, they were late this morning, so it makes sense they'd be late now. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I called the transportation department. No answer. Called the school. No answer. Kept calling both repeatedly. No answer. I was thisclose to just calling 911 and finding out where they had my baby. But, I'm not that dramatic. Instead, I cried and bawled like a baby and kept calling until someone answered the phone. It was one and a half hours late bringing him back. I was so ticked. No one called me. No one even returned my calls. I didn't even know if he'd gotten on the bus since he didn't ride it there. When I finally did get someone on the phone, she confirmed that he was on a bus and that he would be arriving soon. Friggin' ridiculous people. You don't keep a 4 year old on a bus for nearly 2 hours and not communicate with the parents. Oh, and this is all while my house is going major changes. Like I needed that kind of stress.

For the record, I let him ride the bus again the next day, and while it continues to be late, it hasn't been nearly as bad.

House pictures up!

As mentioned in the wedding picture post, there will be no slides posted on this blog and there are too many to do individually. Sorry!

The kids did great through the destruction. The boys played together or on the computer the entire time (aren't I a stellar parent) and hardly needed any intervention. Stinker was another story. She wasn't being bad, just very involved. She wanted to do everything we were doing. It took one of us just to keep an eye on her constantly. Therefore, I have tons of pictures of Stinker, and none of the boys helping. The boys did a great job helping us pick up wallpaper, I just didn't get pictures of it. Slacker mommy. But do not fear, school pictures are soon to follow, and that is all the boys.

Besides ripping off wallpaper and painting the entire first floor of our house, our dream team of Brad's dad and Uncle George and Aunt Olivia, got lots of other stuff done. We ripped out the dividing wall, put in new light fixtures in the hall, living room, and dining room, painted and fixed our old lamp, moved an outlet, moved a light switch, put on our porch handles, put switches on the toy room and office lights so the fan and lights are separate (and saving us hundreds of hours in marital counseling as I hate it when Brad turns off the light but not the fan and I trip over everything to turn it on), building up the wall in the kitchen, installing laminate flooring, making drapes for the front window, chipping the circle garden, and painting and installing new floor boards. And that, my friends, is why I haven't been blogging or anything else on the computer for over a week now. Oh, and don't forget that the guys got to go to the UofU game against Michigan. If you know me, you know I LOVE LOVE LOVE football. But they wouldn't let me go. I couldn't promise that I wouldn't cheer for Michigan so they left me home. ;) That's okay, Olivia and I got lots of work done by ourselves. And we had fun to boot.



Okay, for those of you unwilling to make the effort to log-in to the Cookie Blog, here are a couple of pictures for ya!

Living room

Dining room

Ripped out wall

Painted dining room

Laminate flooring

Wedding pictures!

I got the wedding pictures just before my house demolition began, so I hadn't gotten to it yet. There were close to 800 pictures on the CD, and I'm thinking ya'll don't care to see that many pictures, so I picked out about 40. Unfortunately, that is too many to upload individually, so I put it in a slide show. And because all of the slides are connected in my account, I can't put up one slide without giving people access to all of them. So, if you want to see wedding pictures, you'll have to go to the Cookie blog linked to the right. You'll need a password to get in, so email me if you need one. If I know you, you are more than welcome to have access, you just have to let me know. Thanks!

Really quick note!

I'm not officially back yet. I still have to paint my kitchen. But I wanted to do a quick post so if you were interested you'd have a chance to check out the gorgeous bracelets Dana is making.

http://charmeddesigns.blogspot.com/2008/09/twilight-bracelet.html

So pretty!

Long post and a plethora of pictures on its way. Hopefully tomorrow. Ciao!