Hoffmann's Happenings!!!

I GOT IT!!!

2012-01-28T12:41:00.000-08:00

And I start on Wednesday. I feel so blessed!!!

Job Hunt

2012-01-24T09:40:00.000-08:00

Now that Ryan is done with school ( and taking his state boards as I write) we have decided that both of us should go back to work.We will work opposite shifts so that our kids don't have to be in daycare. I applied for and interviewed for a job with our school district. I thought the interview went great (although I totally bombed a question about a ten minute seizure being a life-threatening emergency ~ oops). That was the Friday before all the snow, so it's been a week and a half. The kids were off almost the entire week, so I know the administration offices were closed. I've had very brief contact with the interviewer, but I really don't know where I stand. Aside from this job being fun and interesting and stable, it would give me the same breaks my kids have from school. So perfect! I've been looking at other nursing jobs and nothing jumps out as something that would utilize my skills as well as this would. I know whatever happens it will be a blessing.

How our kids passed the time when we were snowed in:

2012-01-22T17:55:00.000-08:00

Parker mid-smolder ~ notice the diaper he's wearing ~ that's what 22 days on the road will do to an autistic child
We're working on the potty training again (although I got peed on tonight ~ seriously).

I let Bryce download "pocket frogs" on my ipod. He was pretty happy with that.

My sweet angel put daddy's gloves on her feet to keep her tootsies warm.

Best for last! Apollo had a great time being a ninja warrior jedi knight. I'm not sure if the undies on the head are part of the ninja or jedi uniform :)

Meet our new Washer

2012-01-18T12:33:00.001-08:00

The newest and hardest working member of our family
Can't wait to meet you on Jan 26th

So Blessed!

2012-01-18T07:35:00.000-08:00

Ryan is very good at selling things on craigslist. Since his dad has done so much for us, and it's a small way we can do something for him, Ryan has been selling items for his Dad. He has been trying to sell this antique furniture for over a year now. At first Ryan and his dad agreed to try selling it for $800, no bites except the scam ones. Lowered the price a few times all the way down to $500. Still nothing except the scams. Remember last summer when our dryer died? We fixed it by adding a new heating element, but now our washer is dying. It's not spinning the clothes enough to get the water out and it takes three cycles of 70 minutes each to dry a load ~ not very energy or time efficient. Ryan's dad gave us $600 for Christmas that we were going to use toward a new washer and dryer. His dad also gave us some things to sell on craigslist and said we can keep whatever money we make from it. Ryan heard from a friend that if you list antiques for ridiculous prices, people will think it's worth more and buy it. So we listed the furniture for $1000 and the first day we had several responses (and one scam). We sold it yesterday for the full price!

THEN

Since I've been researching washers and dryers, I've been reading reviews and I was pretty confused at what the size difference is between 3.4 cu ft and 3.6 cu ft. So we went to Home Depot so I could see first hand. The washer I wanted was $450 for the 3.4, but I realized that it's enough smaller than the 3.6 and that's the one I want for $599. We're trying to buy cheap with less bells and whistles so there is less opportunity for things to go wrong. As we were leaving we walked by the clearance items. There was a Maytag Bravos dryer that had been a floor model. Originally $850, marked down to $550 with and extra 30% off making it $380 ~ you can't even buy a cheap dryer for that! So we bought it! It has every bell and whistle we could hope for! I feel so blessed we found it! Now we just need to find a washer...

My Dream House

2012-01-15T11:57:00.001-08:00

http://www.houseplans.com/luxury-home-plans?pv_page=1

A funny thing happened the other night...

2012-01-14T17:28:00.000-08:00

But we're not laughing quite yet.
Ryan and I had a board meeting for Hospitality House. We were only going for 45 minutes, so we left the kids home with Bryce in charge. Shortly after we left, Halea pulled a lamp down on her face. She nicked her cheek. Rather than calling his parents, Bryce took Halea to our next door neighbor's house to ask for a bandaid. They gave him one and he went back to finish caring for his siblings. No big deal, right? It became a big deal when the neighbors called the police and reported us for leaving our kids unattended. Really?!? The police came by and found that Bryce is old enough to care for his siblings and spent some time talking to the kids (now Parker wants to be a police officer). They left shortly before we got home. Still not a call to his parents. I found out the police were in my home when I noticed Halea had a jr police badge on her pj's. My take on this: Bryce should have called us ~ but he didn't. He went to the neighbors (the same neighbors who take their dog potty in my yard ~ but do you see me calling animal control) and they reported us to the police. Good feelings gone.

Yesterday Parker fell off of our kitchen fireplace (he shouldn't have been laying on it in the first place). He landed on the cement below the stove and had blood flowing out of his right ear. We took him to the ER where we discovered that his eardrum was still in tact. They did a CT scan and did not find any brain damage, so the blood was coming from behind his ear drum. Hmmm. He seems to be fine now. Because of his autism he does not feel pain or doesn't complain about it ~ so it's kind of hard to gage how he's doing.

I know we're going to laugh about all these funny things happening ~ just not quite yet.

Bryce

2012-01-07T10:33:00.000-08:00

We're Home Part 2 (longest blog post EVER)!

2012-01-07T10:30:00.000-08:00

Jake and the Neverland Pirates

Nemo Submarine

Sleepy Superheros

Laguna Beach

Autopia

Carousel

Amazing family pictures ~ no one is crying!

Universal Studios

Halea with Curious George at Universal Studios

Ryan and Halea in Whoville

New Year's at Downtown Disney

Feeding the pigeons at Santa Monica Pier

Venice Beach

Burying Bryce's feet

Tinkerbell and Halea

Grizzly River Run at California Adventure

New Year's Eve

Belle and Halea

Ariel and Halea

Parker telling Ariel all about his new star wars transformer toy

Halea at princess faire

Climbing death at Huck Finn's island

Waiting to go in the haunted mansion

Tarzan's Treehouse

On our way home!

We're HOME

2012-01-07T10:01:00.000-08:00

Bryce at Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco

Bryce and mom at Fisherman's Wharf

Ryan and the boys in front of their future home if they aren't good. (Alcatraz)

Filbert street is the steepest hill in America ~ we hiked up it pushing two strollers.

Auto-Flushing public toilet ~ you would think that would help but is still stunk

Ryan and the boys at the top of Filbert street

San Diego hotel hot tub

Rawr!

Halea LOVED this baby polar bear even though it's not real

A monkey escaped from the zoo!

Muscle Men

At Sea World petting star fish

watching the blue horizon's show

cool guy

Ghetto Christmas ~ sad to say I've had worse

Daddy and his precious princess

Apollo peeking in Minnie Mouse's fridge

Halea checking herself in Minnie's mirror

Tired Princess

Getting ready to ride Star Tours

Graduation Vacation

2011-12-14T21:28:00.001-08:00

My sweetheart graduated from nursing school last night! It feels so good to be done (even though it wasn't me that worked hard in school for the last three years, it still feels like a relief for him to be done :) We are going to celebrate for the next three weeks and let the stress of three years of being broke and school frazzled melt away! We're going to tour California from San Francisco to San Diego ~ and everything in between.

If you're thinking of breaking in to my house to steal all of our good stuff, it's not here. We took it with us!

The Nutcracker

2011-12-12T21:12:00.000-08:00

I took my sweet Parker and three of his classmates to the Nutcracker.

This is about as good as it gets when it comes to getting a good picture of Parker.

The whole group. Ok, I didn't have to take care of the big moustachie guy.

Too bad little Austin wouldn't squeeze in for the picture. Mandi is Parker's future wife and Maddi is his school mom. They really love him!

So pretty!

Christmas

2011-12-06T12:14:00.000-08:00

This is a different kind of Christmas season for us. We have SOOOOOO much going on! Ryan is in his final week of his nursing program and will be graduating next week. He will be giving a speech at graduation that is hilarious and should make it a memorable night for everyone there. We are planning a vacation to Disneyland to celebrate Ryan being done with school (at least until next June). There are so many things to be thankful for and I'm counting my blessings each day.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T09:08:00.000-08:00

We had a great time in Utah for Thanksgiving. We did the drive down there in one day with about 8 stops. It was a long day, but the money it saved with not having to get a motel room made it worth it. And the kids did GREAT! There was only one melt down that was remedied with extra snacks.

We stayed with my brother and his family. We had not seen each other much over the last 10 years. Our children have similar challenges which makes my sister-in-law one of the only people I know who understands what I'm going through. It was so nice to be able to talk to someone who gets it.

On the day that these pictures were taken, Jen and I had taken off to Wal-Mart and left Ryan and Chris with the kids. It was like heaven! No one was begging me to buy them anything. No one was melting down and causing a scene in the store. It was so nice! Chris and Ryan (my husband, not my brother) took the kids to the park. This was the only time anyone thought to get the camera out, so this is all we have to remember the trip from ~ but they're great pictures!

We went to two temples while we were there to do Ryan's mom's work. I am so grateful that Jen was willing to care for my four and her four to let that happen. She rocks! We enjoyed seeing the sights in temple square ~ this is where I wish we had gotten some photos. It was a beautiful day to walk around (without coats) and enjoy the fall colors and the nativities they have set up. It's pretty cool being in a big city that is Christian.

The trip back went quicker with less stops. My dad rode back with us, so it was nice to have another driver. I miss Chris and Jen a ton, but it is nice to be back home with our own beds.

Handprint Turkeys

2011-11-18T12:24:00.000-08:00

I used to think of myself as pretty cool ~ until the other night. Since I art docent for two of my son's classes, I have to do all the prep work ahead of time. I go every two weeks and it had slipped my mind that I needed to finish the "final touches" for the handprint turkeys. First came the panic of "oh crap, I need to get these things done" then the acceptance that I'd better get to work, NOW! So I was sitting there making pilgrim hats for the turkeys, wondering how I got there. I used to be cool. Now I make turkey pilgrim hats out of construction paper. Then it dawned on me that I'm still cool because I recognize how dorky it is to be a grown woman making things out of construction paper. (Unlike the parents who take their kids to a Wiggles concert and get into it as much as their kids do ~ that's a long story involving free tickets). It's important for me to realize that doing the things that motherhood requires is part of the job, but I don't have to identify myself as a craft-lady (or crap lady, or other swear words). It just part of the job.

On a side note to all the moms out there. Please note that when you throw your child's art work away, take a second to give a moment of silence for all the "love" that went into that project ~ someone had to cut all that paper and make sure that the globs of glue that your child put on the paper were wiped away, and someone had to resign themselves to the reality that their life is not their own anymore because they are a mom (a really, really good mom ~ who might have kids that poison themselves occasionally and wander into the street).

Perspective Blessing

2011-11-12T20:11:00.000-08:00

I was blessed with an experience that I wanted to follow up from my last post. After what I've been through with my kids lately I was beginning to feel like I should have been an aunt instead of a mom. Of course I made the choice to be a mom, but I was feeling like my choice was kind of a sucky one. Wouldn't life be great if I could wake up whenever I wanted to, go to a job and have adult conversations with people who appreciate my contributions to my field of expertise, and be able to do whatever I want with my off-work time? That's where my head was. My parents came and picked the kids up on Thursday night. Ryan and I had a board meeting that night. It was exciting to not have anything to rush home to or worry about. After the board meeting we went home. Our house was empty. Like the life had vanished from our home. It was cold and empty. It was such a hollow feeling not having my littles there to greet me. There were no teeth to brush, no books to read, no one to kiss goodnight (aside from my sweetheart). It made me appreciate all of those little things that fill my home with the vibrancy of life. It made me realize that it's my littles that transform my house to a home.

And the award for Worst Mother of the Year goes to:

2011-11-09T14:38:00.000-08:00

Me.

While I was running this morning, my children woke up. They dug through the cupboards and the fridge, probably looking for candy (since we did away with it four days ago). What they found was Halea's amoxicillin. When I went to give her the morning dose, I couldn't find it in the fridge. I looked all over the kitchen and then found the container empty on the table. It looked like someone had tried to wipe up a small pink spill, but there should have been much more pink from that bottle. Where did it go??? Well, the green diarrhea that Halea has been having since then would indicate that she drank 20 doses of antibiotic, but the way Apollo complained of a sore tummy, makes me think he drank it. Crazy Monkeys! I don't think I will ever know who actually drank it, but I'm pretty sure Apollo was the one who worked on the child-proof lid since Halea's two year old monkey fingers do not have the dexterity that Apollo's do (wow, that was a long sentence)!
These things happen. My children wander into the street, too. They beat on each other. They would drink poison if it was pink like bubble gum. So why would the pharmacy, Dr.'s office, and Poison control act like I'm not doing a good job of mothering my FOUR children? Maybe I should have acted more shocked and nervous when I called, to give them a better feeling, just like when a neighbor brings one of my wanderers back from the street ("oh no, I can't believe they were in the street (again)" I say ~ but really, I just didn't have it in me today. And at least I CALLED!!! So don't act like I should be sterilized and have my kids taken away because they got into the "pink goop" (google that ~ at least I don't feed my kids chicken nuggets ~ that's real poison)!
Since I'm on a roll, I've been wanting to talk about this for a while, so I'll just keep going. Not related to today in any way except that I'm not the world's greatest mother:

JUST BECAUSE YOU WATCHED A SHOW OR READ A BOOK OR KNEW SOMEONE WHO HAD/HAS AN AUTISTIC CHILD OR A CHILD WITH ADHD OR BOTH, DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE AN EXPERT ON THAT SUBJECT. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT IS LIKE TO LIVE WITH ONE OR TWO OR THREE OR FOUR CHILDREN THAT ARE AFFLICTED WITH THESE "SPECIAL GIFTS". DON'T ASK ME IF WE'VE TRIED DIETARY CHANGES ~ ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! I'M THE QUEEN OF DIETARY CHANGES. DON'T INSULT ME WITH THIS CRAP OF HOW THE FOOD THAT I'M FEEDING MY CHILDREN IS WHAT IS CAUSING THEIR SYMPTOMS. DON'T YOU THINK IF IT WERE THAT SIMPLE I WOULD HAVE MADE THOSE CHANGES TWELVE (12, REALLY 12) YEARS AGO??? BELIEVE ME, I'VE TRIED! YOU ARE PROBABLY ONE OF THOSE NAIVE PEOPLE WHO THINKS WEIGHT LOSS AND HAPPINESS IS JUST A PILL AWAY, AND FAIRYTALES REALLY DO COME TRUE.

I'M NOT A PESSIMIST IN ANY WAY, QUITE THE OPPOSITE. I'M EXTREMELY OPTIMISTIC THAT THE JOURNEY MY CHILDREN AND ME WERE SENT TO LIVE OUT ON THIS EARTH IS GOING TO LEAD US TO WHERE WE WANT TO BE. AND I'M ETERNALLY GRATEFUL TO HAVE EACH MEMBER OF MY CRAZY FAMILY TO GAIN EXPERIENCE WITH, DEVELOP PATIENCE FOR, AND GROW WITH. CRAZY IS FUN!

I'm glad that I got that out of my system. Ok, pity party is over! Now I'll go back to cleaning my dirty house and raising my sweet babies.

Ryan's Serenade

2011-11-07T20:21:00.000-08:00

My sweet husband knows I love bathroom humor the very most of all. It's probably because I had two older brothers and a family full of sensitive digestive systems ~ one of my mom's famous phrases "drink more water".
Ryan is singing the Chicago song:
If you leave me now, you'll take away the biggest fart of me.

And

If you leave me now, I'll cut the greenest fart and leave.

Oooh baby, please just go!!!!

I know you just don't want to stay!

The best part is that he's doing it in a super high-pitched Peter Gabriel voice.

Anything to make me laugh. I love him!

Call Me Crazy...

2011-11-05T15:21:00.000-07:00

But I just turned my kids Halloween buckets over to them. I need it (the candy) out of my house, so I'm allowing them to dispose of it however they see fit. Yes, they will probably get sick, but I'd rather have them get sick now than in three weeks when we're traveling. And my butt can quit getting bigger every time I see those stupid "fun size" candies. I want to be fun size!

Follow-Up from Halloween'sday Nightmare

2011-11-03T10:59:00.000-07:00

We had gross episode part 2 ~ way worse the second time. A plumber was called and he stayed ALL day and came back the next day. It was $2200. OUCH!!! But at least we won't be swimming in a poop sea. When we remodeled the house a couple years ago to make a room for Halea we had a "handyman" do it. He wasn't that handy. He wasn't qualified and we knew his work wouldn't hold forever, but it was a bandaid. It's turned out to be a really expensive bandaid. There really is something to doing things right the first time. How I wish my brother lived closer ~ he's a plumber and an awesome person.

More Halloween Fun

2011-10-31T20:44:00.000-07:00

I wanted a Halloween picture with all of my kids. Of course Bryce is too cool, so he refused.

We even fought about it.

This picture looks like we're hugging, but I'm trying to muscle him into posing for a picture with me. Below it looks like I finally won, but what you can't see is that my leg is wrapped around his legs and as soon as the picture was taken he bit me. Can you see how my biceps are flexing to keep him there? I sure love him!

Halloween'sday Nightmare

2011-10-31T12:50:00.000-07:00

Halloween'sday is what my kids call Halloween (especially if it falls on a Wednesday).

After I took a 4 hour nap yesterday, I didn't sleep well last night. At 4 am I got up and went in the bathroom to find that our toilet overflowed (not just water, the "remnants" of what clogged it too). I got the plunger and figured I would take care of the problem myself. The more I plunged, the more "soupy" water overflowed onto the floor and my pj's. So GROSS!!! I got the steam cleaner out and used the attachment to suck the grodie water and "chunks" out of the toilet and off of the floor. I plunged at least 500 times and could not get the clog to budge. Then I snaked the toilet and that didn't help either. So after working on the disgustingness for an hour, I cleaned up the mess and went for my early morning run (6 miles). The toilet is not fixed yet, but I'm done trying. Someone will bigger muscles and more tolerance for poop can take care of it!

1/2 good

2011-10-30T07:32:00.000-07:00

If you are interested in my Satly's 1/2 marathon experience from yesterday, check my other blog:
monicasweighdown.blogspot.com

Play

2011-10-25T08:22:00.000-07:00

I started up Mama's Dance party last night after returning from zumba. I feel so alive when I dance, even if it's just in my kitchen or my living room with my littles. I saw how alive my husband appeared when he was playing softball. Doing something that you really love is so important to helping you feel like you are living.

7 alarm challenge

2011-10-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

We had our season finale party and award ceremony for softball last night at the Wingdome. (I got the award for Most Improved)! They have seven levels of spiciness of their wings ~ 7 being the hottest. They also have a promotion called the 7 alarm challenge. You eat 7 number 7's in 7 minutes ~ you can't use a napkin, drink anything, and you have to lick all the sauce off of your fingers. If you can do it, the wings are free and you get your picture on their "wall of flame" and you get a t-shirt. Ryan loves spicy foods, so I knew if anyone could do it, it was him and he took the challenge. He waited 1 1/2 minutes before starting to eat, then ate for the next four minutes finishing every bite including the sauce laden lettuce on the bottom. He took the challenge like a champ ~ and got the t-shirt. Three of our team mates ate one number 7 to support him. I tried a popcorn seed size taste of the sauce and my mouth was on fire.

Today he's the King of the toilet. I love him enough to not point out that he brought this upon himself, or that this is probably the stupidest thing he's ever done ~ I don't need to, he already knows. I did point out that I don't think anyone would be surprised if he got stomach cancer from all the damage he does with spicy foods. He said he's done with the spicy stuff. We'll see.

It was an unforgettable way to close out our softball season.

Seattle Rock n Roll 2012

2011-10-17T09:02:00.000-07:00

The hubs and I signed up for the Seattle Rock n Roll 1/2 marathon next June. Early registration and knocking off $15 helped us make the decision to sign up now. They are working on a new course, so that should be a big plus. I'm excited!

Friends

2011-10-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

I had such a nice day. Ryan stayed home with the kids and I went shopping and out to lunch with three of my girlfriends. I haven't had a time where I could go shopping with girlfriends without kids in a LONG time! I found some really cute things, too! I have my sisters and a lot of friends, but everyone has kids and being a mom means you're kind of isolated ~ and that sucks! I feel so blessed to have a husband that understands and encourages me to nurture my friendships (and stays home with the kids while I do).

It's been a while...

2011-10-14T19:39:00.000-07:00

I haven't really had any earth-shattering things going on in my life. I'm running a lot to shed the pounds I've put on since my last show and am using the Salty's 1/2 marathon as my motivation. I've improved my softball game quite a bit. It's kind of sad that as the season is ending I'm finally getting better ~ but there's always next year. The kids and Ryan are back in school. Now that we're in the swing of things, I'm really enjoying the structure that their school schedule provides to my life. Parker is doing very well in school ~ not academically, but socially. He's still his weird little self, but his classmates see to accept him the way he is. I love that! So, life it good!

Food for Thought

2011-10-06T13:31:00.001-07:00

Rock Band

2011-10-05T19:38:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love the lead singer in a band? (HOT) ~ or a guy that can play the guitar and poor out his love to you in sweet songs. My sweetheart is working on it. I saw this picture and I thought it was so fitting!

Sad day for One

2011-10-04T18:12:00.000-07:00

I took all my kids to see our Dr. for a flu shot. We will be traveling quite a bit in the next few months and the worst thing that could happen would be someone getting sick. I got them all prepared that they would have a poke and it would hurt for a moment and then we would go get icecream. Bryce was the most freaked out about the whole thing, but I gave him the pep talk about how he has to be brave for his siblings and I knew he could get through it.
Our Dr. informed us that children over 2 get better immunity from the flu sniff (inhaler) than the actual shot ~ unless they have wheezing or asthma. Bryce has asthma and wheezing, so he was not a candidate. Poor kid. He did have the shot and he lived through it (although I'm pretty sure the medical assistant wanted to kill him after all the questions he asked).
We all got icecream. Bryce thought he should get more than everyone else, so the little ones got little cones and he got a big one ~ which is how we always do it, but no one needs to point that out to him....

Pigtails

2011-10-04T07:11:00.000-07:00

Halea with her best friend Erica (Eka)

Halea's tiny pigtails and horrible rash

The day has finally arrived that my girl has enough hair for pigtails. Yes, they are very thin and I can probably count how many individual hairs each pigtail has, but that's not the point! I've waited two and 1/2 long years for this! And she even left them in for a couple hours!

Modest, not Amish

2011-10-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

I heard from a friend about this company called Down East that makes modest, but cute clothing for women. I was impressed at their website, so I googled "women's clothing modest". Here's what I found:
http://www.hannahlise.com/
http://www.modestclothing.com/
http://www.modestapparelusa.com

but the AWARD goes to:
http://www.liliesapparel.com/

Peace-Making

2011-10-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

I went for a 10 mile run with someone this morning. It was supposed to be 9 miles, but we took some "detours" and it cost us an extra mile. I'm not going to name name's, but someone complained pretty much the whole time. Of course I didn't let on how much the complaining was annoying me because I'm a loving, peace-making woman. I ate up the resentment and at times hatred. When I saw this, I thought it was perfect! The greatest part of the run was the drive home and realizing that I just ran 10 miles!

Fem-bot

2011-09-29T10:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday as I was waiting at the bus stop with Bryce and Parker, Parker started doing robot kung fu. Robot kung fu looks like the robot (dance) with kung fu moves ~ Parker made it up. So he kung fu'd my both of my hands off. I told him I could still kung fu with my elbows, so he swiftly sliced those off too (not really, just pretend). Then I told him I still had my head and could kung fu him with that, so he sliced my head off, too. He stepped back and took a second to look me over. He said "now all you have left to fight with is your boobs". I looked around to see if any of the other mothers had heard him ~ they did. The bus couldn't get there fast enough and two minutes later it did. So I guess my son sees me as a fem~ bot, as well as the other bus stop moms.

Walk for the Women

2011-09-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

Today my husband and I walked with our kids (all of them) in a two mile walk to benefit the Hospitality House. We serve on their board of directors and raised money to donate to this very worthy cause. When we registered they gave us a raffle ticket for registering. We didn't think much of it, but after the walk they called my name as a winner. I was able to pick from the available prizes including a two hour limo ride, a night at the Radissen Hoel, a high-end haircut ~ but with my husband's encouragement we walked away with dental work valued at $500. Really??? Dental work?

I'm grateful for anything we received and I the more I think about it, I feel like it was a blessing that he guided me that way. Maybe we're both growing up (especially me).

New Blog

2011-09-22T10:46:00.000-07:00

My competition blog was so popular, that I decided to do one with a similar theme, only healthier and more manageable. monicasweighdown.blogspot.com/

I'll still keep updating this one with our family goings-on, but the other one is my exciting new baby.

Ya Ya, I feel real crappy (from sandlot)

2011-09-21T11:43:00.001-07:00

We have had the flu since last Friday. It has circulated through everyone except Bryce ~ Parker and I have had his extra dose of sickness. I'm on round two today. We thought we were over it, so Ryan and I did an 8 mile training run yesterday. I pushed the stroller with Halea in it. It seemed a lot harder than it normally does, but I thought it was because I was pushing the stroller. No, it's because I'm still sick. I'm excited to heal up from this and move on.

She's Gone

2011-09-17T19:49:00.001-07:00

She is my sister, Andrea (Pinks). She surprised me on Tuesday afternoon by calling and asking if I could pick her up from the airport. Of course I was thrilled and rushed through the five minute drive to the airport. Originally she was going to go home Thursday, but thanks to United's flight loads, I was able to swindle two extra days with her. We went out to lunch, shopping, made a slurpee run ~ all the essentials to sisters. But I think my favorite part was doing her hair and makeup. She doesn't make herself a priority with getting dolled up, so it was nice to be able to do that for her. We also went out to lunch with our mom and that was a major highlight, too. We were just missing our baby sister to make a complete set.

Two of my little ones threw up last night and I haven't felt good all day. Once I dropped her and her littles off at the airport, I came home laid down. I have been laying around ALL DAY. I hate those days. I'm sad that she's gone and my body aches. But mostly sad.

Awesome Day

2011-09-15T17:50:00.000-07:00

Me and Apollo's conversation as we waited for his bus this morning.

Mom (me): "Apollo, how are you feeling today"?

Apollo: "What"? (his first response always)

Mom: "Are you feeling good today"?

Apollo: "No, I feeling awesome".

I hope we can all feel awesome every day.

*this is a picture of him making a sand angel in Cannon Beach last week

Moody Trudy

2011-09-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

Halea Butterfly (yes, that's her real, legal name) has turned in to quite the Moody Trudy. She cries over ANYTHING and is the first to whine over not getting her way. The boys whine too, but not to the level that she does. She comes to tell on her brothers and demands that I spank them (sometimes I'll do it softly just to appease her and the boys think it's funny). Maybe it's just that she's a girl or that she's 2 or a combo of a lot of factors.

This picture was taken right after she fell in a deep tide pool ~ so that kind of crying is totally acceptable.

Cannon Beach 2011

2011-09-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

We had the BEST weekend in Cannon Beach, OR. It's a special place for us because it was one of the only things Ryan and I had in common when we met. During our first conversation we talked about our favorite things in Cannon Beach and I was left wondering what it would be like to go there with him...Now I know it's awesome!

We took a tour of the Tillamook cheese factory (free cheese), played on the beach a lot, did Seaside (gross little town) where I tried my first and last deep fried candybar, played at a park, and pet every dog we came across.

On our last day, Halea and I left the boys at an arcade and went out to lunch. We had a wonderful lunch just us girls. She kept me entertained with games of peek a boo, and "where did Halea go" (under the table).

It was a nice getaway, but not very relaxing. It's nice to be home to our own beds and getting back into the routine of the school year.

Back 2 Schule

2011-08-31T15:07:00.000-07:00

That's from Megamind. Summer has been nice, but it's time for the kids to go back to school. They have their school supplies and their first day of school outfits laid out. We visited Bryce and Parker's school this morning and got to meet both of their teachers. Although Parker has never attended Marvista, many of the teachers, therapists, even the principle already knew him. He was in full distractibility mode today, so I think that was a good first impression for his "school team" to see. I feel like he has a good team to work with and they will take him where he is at and help him to thrive. Bryce's teacher has a reputation for being very strict. I was worried until I met him. He was very calm and I think it will be good for Bryce to have higher expectations to meet. It should prepare him for junior high next year. This year looks promising.

My Selfish Summer

2011-08-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

I've been having a few me days (mostly every day since my birthday almost a week ago). I've been lounging outside enjoying the sun and reading books. I took an outdoor bootcamp class this morning ~ that was fun and HOT! I'm going to a friend's house to play in the lake and enjoy some girl time. Ryan doesn't see anything wrong with me taking a less hands-on approach to our home and kids. I'm feeling slightly guilty about all of this "me time", but it's so rare that I get to have it that I'm really trying to relish in it while I can.

I'm not trying to brag, but....

2011-08-20T17:39:00.001-07:00

My husband ROCKS! Yesterday was my birthday. I had to teach my class ~ but I love that, so it wasn't a problem at all. Ryan and the kids did presents with me before I left to teach my class ( I got a cell phone, painting canvasses, and giftcards to my favorite stores), and he told me he was going to make breakfast for me when I got home. When I got home, the table was set with the fine china and crystal glasses. The food was REALLY fancy ~ egg souffle, fresh cut fruits, muffins, quinoa, sparkling cider, tea, bacon (all my favorites). I couldn't believe he would put so much effort into a breakfast for me and the kids. There was a knock on the door and a couple of my friends stopped by to wish me a happy birthday. Then a couple more and I realized that this was a surprise party for me (I didn't get it with the first group ~ sometimes I'm a little slow)! Ryan planned a brunch for me and six of my friends. He prepared all the food himself and borrowed pretty dishes from my mother-in-law. Brunch was such a great time with my friends! After they left we went shopping and out to lunch. Then we did the amazing trapeze thing (see below). I feel so blessed to have such a great husband, great family, and great friends!

Mon's Birthday Trapeze

2011-08-20T15:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Ryan and I did a flying trapeze lesson. It was so cool! I was able to get my feet up once to do a hanging knee back flip. (it's a lot harder than it looks). Here's the video posted on youtube if you're interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpc-oWi8Ev0

So here's the funny thing. After everyone had gone and we had a grand finale where an advanced student was able to do a "catch" with one of the instructors (student is upside down, so is instructor, instructor grabs student's wrists and student lets go of her bar, being caught by the instructor ~ so awesome). I forgot that I was standing on the middle of a three tier observation deck that doesn't have any stairs. I stepped off and sort of caught myself, except that my toe caught the leg of an aluminum folding chair and we both fell on the floor with a really dramatic, loud crash. I was so embarrassed that I laughed with tears streaming down my cheeks all the way to our restaurant for dinner. When I woke up this morning the laughter started up again and it hasn't really stopped since. It was definitely a birthday to remember.

* Ryan and I were imitating Parker's thinking face that we have now named "the smolder" (from Tangled).

Finals

2011-08-17T13:08:00.001-07:00

Ryan took his last final this morning and is on his way home now. He will have five weeks off before returning for his last quarter in his nursing program! The kids go back to school Sept 1st, so I hope we can enjoy these last few weeks as a complete family before we have to jump back into the kid's school routine. Let summer begin! Yay!!!

Game On

2011-08-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

We started our summer softball season yesterday. We had two practices as a team, but it was surprising to see how many team members we had last night. 10 ladies and 11 men. That's HUGE for a softball team considering you only need five of each gender to play. I played catcher and took a few too many balls to my shins and ankles (which really hurts). I wore my hannible lecter mask, so at least the pretties were covered (very important). I did ok as the catcher, just ok. When it was time for me to bat I botched it EVERY SINGLE TIME! I didn't get a single hit. Not one. I nicked the ball once with the tip of the bat, but they didn't count it because I was the only one who felt it. Our sponsor is the Wing Dome and they have spicy chicken wings ~ a number 7 is the hottest and it's known to make grown men blubber. Before the season started our team made a deal that for each time a player strikes out, they have to eat 1 number 7. My brother-in-law taunted me that I would need to eat four number 7's (thank you, I wasn't counting). The coach (my love) said that was only for the guys, so I'm off the hook. Yay! But I would like to improve my game at least a little. Or just hit the ball once. Really, is that asking too much? It's funny how the best player on the team and coach can be married to the worst player. I guess opposites do attract.

Three Amigos (or two amigos and one amiga)

2011-08-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

A week ago we took met my parents at my grandma's house to drop Bryce off to spend a week at my parents house. On our way home I thought it would be fun to take the ferry AND it WAS! The kids did great ~ although I couldn't get them to look at the camera at the same time. During the next week we missed Bryce a lot. They kept themselves busy (especially Halea) by taking baths and spreading confetti (from the paper shredder). Ok, I'm really trying to make these photos fit my post and it's not working well ~ aren't they cute, though??? Life is very different without Bryce home. The house is much calmer for me and more boring for the little ones. We are all glad to hame him back.

"Mom, your butt's really fat"

2011-08-10T12:05:00.000-07:00

My darling Parker (the autistic one) has not learned the difference between making an observation in his head and vocalizing that observation out loud. His observations are usually right on, but the things he says can be hurtful. The worst part is that he doesn't understand that his observational comments are hurtful.

This morning I was getting in the shower (so I was naked). It's always a big show when mom's getting into the shower since we did away with all TV and video game time ~ which really means I don't get a break from them and they are glued to me all day every day. There I was naked getting ready to hop in the shower when Parker said "wow mom, your butt's really fat". I wasn't sure that I heard him correctly, so I said "what"? He repeated his statement again. I looked in the mirror and yes, it's gotten a little bigger since my competition days, but not that bad...I told him that his words are hurtful and he shouldn't say that. He said, "I know mom, but your butt is really, really fat". I again tried to tell him that his words are mean and he needs to not say that and that my butt isn't that fat. He assured me that my butt is really fat and that he needed to tell me.

I took my shower feeling more self-conscous than usual. Part of me felt hurt and the other part of me thinks it may just be the kick in the (really, really fat) butt that I need. My 33rd birthday is coming up next week, so it's probably time to reign my better eating habits in.

HOT YOGA (not hot in the sexy sense)

2011-08-08T16:34:00.000-07:00

I'm being sarcastic with the picture I posted. I don't love hot yoga, but I don't hate it either. I only hate one of the instructors, so I will make her the subject of today's post.

Her name is Allie, but I will call her Alolf (after hitler). She had the room at 113 degrees with 40% humidity before class started and filled up, so I'm guessing it was at least 115 degrees in there with the doors shut and people filling the place. Normally it's supposed to be around 105. Once the 90 minute class starts no one is supposed to leave the room. There's also no talking allowed. So basically you are trapped in this room with no way to vocalize your discomfort (two things I hate: being trapped and being quiet). Each pose is supposed to be held for a short amount of time and then you rest between poses. Alolf started running short on time, so she eliminated the rest periods to none and kept working us through poses without a break in between, she also had us hold the poses longer than any of the other instructors have. Her yogi's in the front row were laying down in savasana pose (rest pose, lying down, heels together, palms up), so that means they couldn't even hack it! She was annoyed that people were laying down and asked what was wrong with us. People said it was the heat, so she opened one of the doors for a few seconds. I did get through the class, but I felt like I was going to die in there. My body rebelled in the next few days and my back seized up. I went back to a different instructor for another session (also 113 degrees, but rest periods were provided) and my back pain was gone, so much better of an experience. My two week trial for ten bucks is up tomorrow and I have enjoyed three of four sessions. I don't feel like it made me a more spiritual person, but I did use muscles I don't normally and now I know that I could survive in a desert that is 115 degrees (for ninety minutes, anyway).

*One cool thing: see the picture posted? I was able to pull my leg up high enough to see my foot over my head. Pretty Cool!

Parker: The Avenger or Bike Messenger???

2011-08-02T20:07:00.001-07:00

Parker dressed himself in all of his fancy gear. Notice the bike helmet, combat gloves, shin guards (also for combat), and life jacket. In his exclamations I couldn't decipher if he thought he was a bike messenger "got to get it there", or some kind of combat avenger "I'll get those guys". I'm guessing it was more combat avenger by the hellish scene him and Apollo created with a Halloween bucket, various outdoor furniture, a camping pad, and other outside toys. I've been laughing since I took the pictures repeating in my mind how weird and funny my kids are. Just love em!

The light at the end of the potty train tunnel

2011-07-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

Why is Halea holding THREE lollipops? Because she pooped AND peed in the potty that many times!!!

Summer Fun (the real kind this time)

2011-07-29T19:10:00.000-07:00

We had the BEST day at the beach today. Ryan and I decided to take our kids for a picnic at Alki. We didn't really know what to expect with our unruly crew. Sometimes it can be breezy at the beach, so I packed jackets for the kids. We stopped at the store and got lunchables for the kids and sandwiches for Ryan and I. The weather couldn't have been nicer ~ we didn't need the jackets (but that's ok because my great grandmother used to say it doesn't cost much to carry a jacket ~ she was right). The kids stayed engaged with us and never took off out of sight. They buried Ryan's feet in the sand and then he buried their's. I tried to skip rocks with the kids, but my skill level for that is the same as their's so we all had fun throwing rocks in the water. After our fun on the beach we strolled the boardwalk where the kids got to hear all about the various milestones of where I was when I was finishing up the marathon. (I'm sure they loved it). They got to stop and pet dogs. It was a perfect day. It made me appreciate where we live ~ close to the mountains, three minutes from the beach, and ten minutes from a useful beach.

Who killed our summer adventures you ask?

2011-07-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

Being the fun mom that I am, I took my kids to the splash park at the library after we took Bryce to the Dr. for a possible fractured foot. (this was the clencher on the summer fun). I had packed a nutritious lunch that they sat and ate. Halea got it in her head that the water would be more fun naked, so she ripped off her dress and her diaper. When I tried to re-dress her, she ran from me. It was embarrassing chasing my naked two year old having her laugh and scream NO at me. She stopped laughing and started kicking when I was carrying her back to the van to go home. I was hopeful that my girl would not be a wanderer like her brothers, but no such luck. Her brothers also took turns peeing in the water ~ Ugh. It will be a nice home summer.

Summer (bummer) Adventures

2011-07-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

I'm really trying to make the best of my summer single parenting since Ryan is in the middle of a crazy summer quarter in his nursing program. I've tried to take the kids out quite a few times (knowing that it will be hard), but it's a disaster each time. They really are happy being at home all day every day. So why fight it?

Bryce's Return

2011-07-15T06:57:00.000-07:00

We picked unmedicated Bryce up from camp early yesterday. For various reasons, it was determined by a leader that Ryan or I would need to come stay at camp with him or bring him home :( Since Ryan is in school and I have to take care of our littles, we drove the hour there and home and got our boy.

After the murderous rampage I went on that killed Fire, my guilt drove me to paint Bryce's room. Ten minutes into the project I wanted out of what I had started. I was bare wood that sucked up all the paint I could put on it, and it had grooves that needed a tedious job of being filled. So annoying, but I finished it when I ran out of paint. It looks good.

Bryce was sad about losing his Beta, REALLY SAD. He told me I don't deserve to have pets. I agreed (yay!). I think he got over it and likes his room.

SOLVED: The mystery of the missing fish

2011-07-13T10:04:00.001-07:00

For Bryce's birthday, we got him a beta fish and one for the girl he likes. We had Fire, a red beta and she had Ice, a blue beta. My mom also gave us an aquarium set up with two coy, so I put the the three fish altogether. Fire wasn't doing very well in the big tank, so I moved him back to his original vase. He didn't look very happy, but I didn't worry about it too much.

Bryce went to scout camp on Monday morning. I have taken the responsibility of caring for the fish because I kind of like it. Tuesday morning I went to feed Fire and I couldn't find him. His water looked pretty murky, so I poured some of it out, hoping to disturb him enough to have him swim out and see him. I didn't see him. I took out the rocks, shells, everything in his tank, and still no Fire. I was dumbfounded as to the fish's disappearance. There was no trace of him anywhere. I asked the little ones if they had seen him. Parker said no, Apollo said he was in the treehouse (he wasn't).

I decided to clean Fire's vase and accessories in the dishwasher. This morning when I was unloading the dishwasher I dumped a small conch shell out and the water was red. Little chunks of Fire came out.

I feel HORRIBLE! I killed my son's fish while he was away at camp. Part of me wants to replace the fish and pretend that nothing ever happened. But I know I need to own up to my mistake and hope he forgives me.

Family

2011-07-06T17:27:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at the family reunion in Port Angeles. Everyone was there! There were no hard feelings and no fights (at least not that I'm aware of). It was so cool that all 20 cousins could get to know each other. My brother is staying with us for a few more days. I'll be sad to have him go, but it just means I'll have to start counting down the days until the next reunion (in two years).

Family Reunion

2011-06-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

We kicked the family reunion of 2011 off by running in the Seattle Rock n Roll 1/2 marathon last Saturday. My sister and I ran it together. It was fun to run with one of my sisters! I was pretty sore for four days after the run, but that just made eating bad food and hanging out with both of my sisters that much more fun! I have an empty house for a few hours as my sisters have left for our parent's house. My brother will be coming in tonight. It's been years since I've seen him, so it will be nice to catch up. It has been FIVE years since we have had each member of our family together. There are nieces that I have never met and nephews that I haven't seen since they were babies. I LOVE my family and I can't wait to have all 34 of us together!

Softball

2011-06-22T07:43:00.000-07:00

My day in the sun finally came! Ryan was so short of girls on his softball roster that he asked me to play. Of course I had to think about it for a while (just to add drama), but I agreed to play. And I didn't totally suck. Some of the girls are really good. I was able to hit the ball most of my at-bats and I was able to catch the ball most of the times Ryan pitched to me when I was playing catcher. It was a great time!

Children's

2011-06-17T17:17:00.001-07:00

I took Halea to Children's today for a transfer of care from the crappy office after the incident last time. We were treated so well! Our kids got to play while Halea was in the cast room (full of other children that have casts, too). They took off her pink cast and replaced it with a below the knee purple walking cast. She's healing well. It looks like she will have this one for three more weeks and then hopefully she will be healed.

Rumpus Room

2011-06-15T15:24:00.000-07:00

We've had this space up above our detached garage. We've used it as a storage place for all of our overflow crap from the house. For a long time we've talked about turning it in to a play room for our kids, but it was never a priority. With school getting out soon, it's become a priority. The last two days I've been painting it. Now all that's left is painting the floor trim and the job will be done. The kids will have a computer (no internet), a tv/dvd/vcr set up, a mini trampoline, basketball hoop, queen sized bed perfect for launching themselves onto the mini trampoline, and much, much more. Ok, that's really about it. I'm so excited for them (and me)! Since we've done away with tv in the house, their only source of media entertainment will be in their rumpus room, which means my house will stay way cleaner. And that makes me happy!

*Over two weeks without TV! Woop Woop!

Bath Time

2011-06-10T21:04:00.000-07:00

Halea had her first bath in 5 weeks (give or take). I double bagged her cast and tucked the bags inside of her cast as well as I could. Then I put one of Ryan's socks over the whole thing to try and keep the bags compressed on the cast. I chose to put her in the kitchen sink because I thought it would be easier to keep her leg elevated out of the water in the sink. She loved it! She kept pouring water from the cup over her head and cheering for the bubbles from the soap. It was so cute to watch her enjoy her bath. And her cast barely got wet!

Velour

2011-06-08T19:12:00.000-07:00

I love my velour track suits. They have been a source of much teasing from my husband (1999 called, they want their track suit back), but I love how comfortable and stylish (I thought) they are. I went to a practice for a flash mob that I will be in and there were mirrors all around. I hadn't seen just how fat I've gotten and how bad the track suit looks. I think it's time for some dietary changes and to let the track suits go. Ouch.

Opinions Please

2011-06-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to decide on a Father's Day present for Ryan. Since money is tight, I thought I would get him a funny t-shirt. I like all three, so which one do you think is funniest?

The first one says: This is what a male nurse shark looks like, what about it?

The 2nd one says: That's Mr. Nurse to you

The 3rd one says: It's hard to be humble when you're a male nurse.

I'm the most drawn to 2 and 3. (sorry the pictures aren't bigger).

Misunderstood Friend

2011-06-05T16:44:00.000-07:00

Dear Fanny Pack,

I feel like I need to formally apologize for the snide / hateful remarks I have made about you over the last 20 years. I didn't like you in the 80's. Even though I heard people say how "handy" you were, I just couldn't get past your outside, physical appearance with all the zippers, pouches, secret pockets, etc. While you do come in various "stylish" colors and patterns, I had a hard time accepting the qualities that you offered because of your physical appearance. It wasn't until yesterday while I was running 26.2 miles that I made peace with you, dear friend. You held my platypus full of water, cough drops, pep-o-mints, lipgloss, tampons, and gu. Your zippers stayed where they needed to be at all times, and I never had to worry about losing my equipment. You were a lifesaver. Unfortunately, I don't think I will be using you again, but I thank you for your wonderful service yesterday.

~M. + Blisters 1 & 2

5:14.14

2011-06-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

I ran my first and last marathon today. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done ~ and I thought bombshell training was hard. I had only trained up to 8 miles (although I ran a 1/2 marathon last October). I have a new respect for marathoners. My feet began blistering at mile 4 and I got two bandaids at mile 7.4 ~ I used them for my right foot even though I felt my left foot beginning to blister. I kept telling myself that I could get more bandaids at the next aid station, but no one had them. It wasn't until mile 22 that I got more bandaids but my time was running, so I just lived with it until the end. Ryan and the kids met me at the finish line and we got a cinnamon roll at the Beachside Cafe on Alki. I have the most amazing, supportive husband in the world, who also happens to be my best friend. I love him! (Sorry about the way gross pictures of my feet, but I always want to remember this for the next time a get a crazy idea to run a full marathon two weeks later).

Love and Logic

2011-06-02T13:47:00.001-07:00

I got this book from the Love and Logic series on parenting teens. I just started reading it, but it's so applicable to our life that I can't put it down (except to blog about it). Hopefully it will give us some better solutions to parenting our oldest than helicoptering and drill-seargenting. It really focuses on letting kids suffer the consequences of their decisions and allowing them to grow from their experiences (not bailing them out). I'm excited to learn more!

Rachie, this one's for you!

2011-06-01T10:53:00.001-07:00

My sister asked about the "unfortunate event", so I will let you read Ryan's review of the Manresa Castle. I use the word Manresa'd, Ryan uses the word Manrese.

We have a new word in our family vocabulary -- Manrese-- which means to misrepresent something and consequently leave someone in a state of seething disappointment. The castle is old-- grandma doily old-- and lacks charm. The foyer is small and musty. The stairs are steep and the elevator is only operated by the overworked gal behind the reception bench-- imagine standing around with your arms full of baggage for ten minutes to get a ride up to the third floor; also imagine waiting ten minutes for the concierge to come back so you can check in/out. The rooms are awkward and cheaply decorated. Every door has a fogged window at eye level that allows people in the hallway to make out general shapes in the room -- this comes in handy when you are a 14-year-old who wants to press your nose up against the window and make groaning noises at the couple down the hall enjoying their marital rights. I guess if you are dying to stay in an old place that cannot be updated due to historical landmark laws and pay $200/night to do so, and you like stairs, and oddly shaped old rooms with water-stained windows, this is your place.

Back to Reality

2011-05-31T17:22:00.000-07:00

After such a great weekend, I didn't want it to end ~ and of course it had to. I woke up and went for a run this morning. It was a lot harder than usual and I figured it was because of all the fun food I ate this weekend. I got the kids off to school and then laid down because I wasn't feeling good. I ended up falling asleep. When I woke up I had a bunch of sinus pressure, chills even though I was wearing sweats and a blanket, and a stuffed up nose. I felt really disoriented. My symptoms got worse throughout the day.

Halea had an appt for her leg. I was bullied into the appointment by the receptionist. I warned her that I would have to bring my two little boys along for this appointment and she assured me that they would get us back to a room right away. She WAS warned. We waited for a 1/2 hour before getting back to our room and the boys proved that it was a bad idea to bring them. They had fun at the water cooler that flooded and got the floor wet. They looked in the cabinets and drawers and continued to get escorted by the nurses and receptionists back to me. They took several trips to the bathroom that involved me taking all three of them to the bathroom and of course all of us had to wash our hands each time, even if we didn't all use the bathroom. I felt so physically bad and the scoldings my children and I received did not help my emotional well-being. Apollo scolded the nurses back. Halea had to have her cast wedged to straighten her bone that was healing crooked. She wailed while they were doing it. Her sweet brothers were telling the Dr to quit hurting their sister. It was sweet to see their concern.

Ryan had to stay late at school. Ugh. When he gets home he will be on dad duty and I will be on sick in bed duty.

Weekend Away

2011-05-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

We had a GREAT weekend! We stayed at the Manresa Castle for a 1/2 hour until an "unfortunate event" happened and we checked out. Then we were blessed to find a room at another hotel that saved us over $100, so that was awesome! We biked all over the place and took in the beautiful scenery. It just just what we needed.

My competition story

2011-05-27T07:43:00.000-07:00

My sister asked me to write the story of how I got into bodybuilding and the journey that I have taken with it.

I have always been active and I have a naturally athletic build. In February of 2010 my then five year old son was diagnosed with autism and we brought my husband's mom home to die with us as she was in the last stages of early onset alzheimer's disease. I felt like I was drowning under all of my responsibilities and I needed something that was my own. I had always admired the women I saw in magazines and fitness/figure competitors, so I decided to get into bodybuilding competition in the bikini division ( just under figure). I started clean eating and took my healthy weight of 132 down to 113 for my first competition. I didn't know what I was doing and bombed it. My second competition I had a competition weight of 113 again, but was told by the judges that I was too lean and needed to move up to figure or gain some weight for bikini. That was in November. Two weeks after that competition my mother-in-law passed. Two weeks after that I had breast surgery. In five weeks I had put on 25 lbs and weighed about 137. I sought the help of trainers at Bombshell Fitness. It was a huge financial investment for our family, but my husband was supportive. My weight gradually came down, despite a ligament injury to my hip. By April I had my first competition as a bombshell. I had worked so hard and dieted like never before. The hard work and lack of carbs left me lethargic most days and exhausted for the rest of the day after my workout. Too tired to mother my four kids, too tired to allow my husband to enjoy my new sleek figure, shoving most of the responsibility that I should have as the mother of four, off on my husband (who was supportive of me and fulfilled any duty I needed him to). My hormones were out of whack and I didn't have a period for four months. My competition weight was 115. I came away from that competition improving my scores. I felt amazing! I have a much prettier face than most of the other competitors, so how could rat-faced, prepubescent looking girls be placing ahead of me? Looking back at my pictures, I can understand that what I saw in the mirror is not what the judges saw. I have a lot of loose belly skin that will never go away. I didn't know it was there. I was deluding myself that I looked just as good as a 19 year old who has never had kids. It took me a long time to make the decision to stop training with team bombshell. I had invested so much already. Over time it became more and more clear that I already had what most of my fellow competitors were looking for: a wonderful, supportive husband and a happy family life. I didn't have anything to prove to anyone. I made the decision to walk away from the competition world. Maybe just for now or maybe forever. We'll see. For a sport that endorses health and fitness, I feel like the trade off for a "healthy" body is not worth the mental stress and anguish it takes to get there ~ especially with a trainer telling me I needed to lose ten more pounds at my lowest weight. She was right if I wanted to be competitive, but I just want to be a loving wife and an energetic mom to my kids. In the month of May, my daughter has broken her leg twice, we've had oral surgery for one of my sons to remove four of his teeth after an accident, two ear infections, and still more appointments for my child with autism. My energy is much better spent on the people who need me than in a gym. My husband likes my body so much better now than he did at 115 lbs. I like me better now, too. Not so much my body, but I still have my same pretty face. There are a lot of stars who only rely on hair and make up, not a ripped body. Having energy to serve my family and others feels better to me than living a completely self-absorbed life of dieting and exercise. I believe in health and fitness, but it has to incorporate mental health and spiritual health, too. One other note: I have never loved lifting weights. I love to dance, and I'm a good runner, but lifting weights is a necessary evil to me. Part of building my spirit has been finding what I love to do. Dancing is great cardio exercise and since I love the way it makes me feel, it's a form of exercise that I will stick to. Don't do something you don't like doing.

Another Angel

2011-05-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

My favorite consignment shop, Lollipops, is where I went searching for an ergobaby carrier. It's a cloth backpack that holds kids up to 40 or 50 lbs and makes it bearable for your back. Having gone through the first break incident without one, I decided that five more weeks of princess in a cast warranted me replacing the carrier I lost two months ago. I'm friends with the owner of Lollipops and I told her what had happened to my girl. I asked her if she had any ergo carriers. She had one and told me I could borrow it until Princess is all healed up. Such a blessing.

Angels in disguise

2011-05-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

Now that it's nighttime, I'm able to reflect on this fairly stressful day. I woke up and got the kids and myself ready to go. The little boys got on their bus and Bryce decided to leave early for his bus. I wasn't sure where I was going to run and headed out of my driveway to the right ~ past Bryce's bus stop where he was waiting for the bus (first kid in line with no one else). As I ran by I asked him if he wanted to run with me. He caught up and we were running together. We arrived to his school ten minutes too early, so we decided to play at the park across the street from the school. Playing went great until the incident. I knew it was broken immediately and I felt overwhelmed with uncertainty about how we were going to get home. I could call someone to pick us up, but it would cost me more time to use a phone at the school (since I don't have a cell phone) and wait for someone to pick us up. I decided to run us home, but every time I hit a bump Halea would scream out because it hurt her. A woman was dropping her daughter off at school and I asked her if she could drive us home ~ I had never seen her before ~ and she was perfectly willing to do it. She was an angel.

I always run on an empty stomach and eat when I get home. I never got to eat and by 2:00 I was really hungry. I asked a nurse if I could go get something to eat and she sat with Halea so I could run to the cafeteria and get some food. She was an angel, too.

Since I didn't have a cell phone, I realized that I was not going to be able to call anyone to pick up my two little boys from their bus. A male nurse asked me if he could help with anything and I asked if there was a phone I could use. Angel. He brought me a phone that I could keep in the room with me. I called and called and called ~ not getting any responses. I finally called Ryan's school and explained the situation to a receptionist. She said she would try to track him down, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to. I called the boys schools and explained the situation to each of their receptionists. They agreed to not put the boys on their busses and keep them at school until I could pick them up. ANGELS~

Ryan ended up tracking me down at the ER and he drove from North Seattle to pick up the boys from their schools. He called his dad and he sat at our house for the next four hours so Ryan could go back to school. Another angel.

Had I gone left out of the driveway this morning I wouldn't have ended up at the park. But maybe we would have been hit by a car. If I hadn't had Bryce with me, Halea probably wouldn't have gone down the slide. But maybe Bryce would have been kidnapped. Had I waited ten minutes, the school would have been open. Who knows. I know all of these events unfolded just as they were supposed to. I had angels surrounding me today. It must be that I'm supposed to learn something from these angels.

Back to the ER

2011-05-24T16:17:00.000-07:00

We spent most of the day at the ER today. Halea got her cast off yesterday (after peeing in it...again). She re-broke the same leg this morning when we were playing at the park after our run. It was the slide...again ~ this time a twirly slide. She caught her toe and it created a much worse fracture this time. The bones were broken and had been offset, so they had to reset her bones for proper placement and then cast it. She was given morphine to help with the pain, but it wasn't as effective as I would have liked it to be. It was a horrible experience and I think we'll be done with slides for a while.

Marathon?

2011-05-22T18:27:00.000-07:00

I registered myself to run in the Green River Marathon on June 4th. It's less than two weeks away. I am hoping it will be a good kick in the butt to get myself back on track with my diet and exercise since I've really fallen off the wagon since my last show. I've done two 1/2 marathons but never a full one. I'm hoping to finish in under 5 1/2 hours, but I'm not going to stress if I don't. I'd rather walk for a long time than permanently injure myself running, especially since I'm still having hip issues. I'm really not fully prepared. I'm pretty confident that I can do the 1/2 no problem, but two 1/2's back to back seems a lot tougher. I've tried to get friends interested in it, but no takers. So I will do this by myself.

Halea's Vocab

2011-05-22T18:20:00.001-07:00

My two year old is quickly gaining speed with her vocabulary. She has a really breathy way of talking unless she's in a squawky mood. When she's breathy, everything sounds sweet, like an angel. Some of her favorite things to say are yeps (yes), no way (because a simple no just can't get the point across), ocean (lotion, that she rubs into her hair), wips (lips, or lipstick/lipgloss), eww when she messes herself, Bobbo (Apollo). I love her new words.

Speaking of Surgeons...

2011-05-20T17:47:00.001-07:00

I put Halea to bed in a nice, dry diaper last night. When I found her this morning, that nice, dry diaper was a soaked diaper that she had removed along with the rest of her clothes, and she had flinged them over the side of her crib. She had also peed herself, down her casted leg. So we went back to the orthopedic surgeon. He removed the old cast and put a new one on. She will be in this one for two more weeks. Poor girl.

Like a Surgeon

2011-05-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

This really isn't an earth-shattering revelation, but since this blog is sort of a journal, I thought it was worth including this. All of my boys are obsessed with Weird Al re-makes ~ only they don't know the songs are remakes. Yesterday Parker was singing Like a Surgeon and a twinge of guilt went through me, like he shouldn't know that song. But then I realized that he only knows that song and has never heard Like a Virgin. Some of their other favorites are Eat It (Beat It), You're Pitiful (You're Beautiful), Amish Paradise (Gangtsa's Paradise), and Rye or The Kieser (Eye of the Tiger). Weird Al is coming to the Puyallup Fair in September and we may have to take the boys.

Post Op Ollie

2011-05-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

Apollo was such a trooper through his surgery. I thought they would take two teeth and possibly a third, but they ended up taking four due to an infection.

He's enjoying all the juice, soda, and popsicles he can. He's still numb and that's bothersome to him, but I think the pain will be more bothersome when the numbness wears off.

Manic Monday

2011-05-16T04:47:00.000-07:00

I usually love Mondays ~ like it's a new start to the week ~ but I'm not looking forward to this one. APollo will be getting his teeth taken out under anesthesia and then I will have to keep a close eye on him for the rest of the day. That wouldn't be a big deal,but I have Halea (new name, Bossy) who has become very demanding and needy with her cast on. Ryan will be at clinicals all day, so it's all on me. I know I will get through it. The house may or may not get cleaned today, but that has to be ok. Ehh. If either of my sisters would like to call me that would be much appreciated. Love you!

Falling Temperatures

2011-05-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

We went on a super fun garage sale-ing adventure this morning. On our way out I was going to grab something from our super old freezer and noticed everything inside was melted and gross. It really was a good lesson in thinking about our needs. I don't need gallons of my own breastmilk, especially since it's from the early days of nursing my now two year old. I don't need the top tier of my wedding cake from five years ago. And I don't even need the two pumpkin pies that we didn't eat for Thanksgiving last November (I tried to heat one of them up and it was gross). The things I'm sad to let go are:

The $20 bag of chicken wings

The $10 bag of edamame

The Costco amount of freezed garlic

The 30 lbs of meat that my parents gave me from their cow (although I was able to save some of it and give some to a friend, so less of it was wasted :)

It's a good preview of what it would be like if we lost everything, although this is on a very small scale. It's good to know that I'm not too attached to anything and that loss doesn't sting me the way it does other people. I've always said the only things I would miss if my house burned down would be the baby pictures of my kids and my wedding ring. And if I did lose everything but still had my family I would be ok.

Prince Charming

2011-05-10T13:04:00.001-07:00

Five years ago I married my prince charming. I had been in a LONG, abusive relationship and it took a huge leap of faith for me to re marry. I'm so glad I did! Ryan is my best friend, a wonderful father to our children. He makes me laugh. He accepts all of my flaws and even thinks they are cute. He knows how I need things to look forward to and lets me plan vacations or anything else that keeps me excited for the future. He runs with me. He watches tv shows that I like, to be close to me on the couch (90210). He brings me icecream at 9:30 pm if it's what I really need (to go along with my bad tv shows). We have done a lot in our five years. We've added two kids to our family and have tried having three cats and two dogs (now we have none). I love our life together and I just love him.

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T18:17:00.000-07:00

I have been spoiled today. I haven't had to cook or clean all day. I got to take a two hour nap this afternoon while Ryan took care of the kids and the house. What a great gift! I also received breakfast in bed with a song that my sweetheart wrote for me, sung by him and my kids. It was really hilarious! Each of my boys made me a gift at school and those were fun to open. I've felt like a cherished mom today. And I have been cherishing my mom. I don't think kids can really understand the sacrifices their parents make for them until they become parents.

The Works (dental works, that is)

2011-05-06T13:48:00.000-07:00

Apollo is set to have his two front teeth pulled in ten days. I'm sad about it, but he will be able to heal once and for all, and we will be able to move past this. He's been such a trooper through all of this.

Little League Blues

2011-05-05T19:35:00.000-07:00

My husband is a baseball FANATIC! (seriously). He felt like it was really important to put our boys in baseball because this is when most kids start. I was reluctant because the whole swimming lesson fiasco was still very fresh in my mind. I did tell him we could give it a try. Last week was horrible ~ he took both

boys himself AND assistant coached. So this week I went with them to try to keep Parker involved, and he was supposed to help with Apollo. He ended up coaching one of the skills stations, so I got to "involve" Parker and Apollo. It was a disaster! Parker was very fearful of all the other kids, and Apollo was mad every time another child had a ball in their hand that he thought he should have. UGH!!! I tried to keep the boys integrated with the practice. The only time they did get involved was when they played catch, catch, homerun (duck, duck, goose). The boys loved it and it was really cute to watch them play with all the other kids. It's also very apparent how delayed my children's development is compared to the other kids. It hurts. I know they have issues, but it never glares at me like it does when I see other kids their age or even a bit younger listening, following directions, playing well with others, catching and throwing. If families get a special needs child, they usually get one. I have at least THREE! I know I have them for my growth and because no one else could handle parenting them, but THREE???

On a positive note, the kids got to pick their team name. Parker wanted to be Team Max, Apollo wanted to be Apollo Woodhouse. All the kids got to put their idea for a team name in a hat to be selected. And the team name is.........Chocolate Thunder!!! (google that for funny images)

Life

2011-05-04T14:24:00.001-07:00

Kinda sucks right now. Ryan is super busy with school, clinicals, work, BASEBALL (fantasy, softball, and t-ball), so that means I'm carrying the full load of the house, food, and kids (casty, and toothless). And I'm doing it all with very little money. That's probably the hardest part. I have to keep things in perspective, though. The cast will be off in a month, the teeth will come in two or three years, Ryan will graduate in eight months. So, this isn't forever. It just sucks for now.

Hot Pink

2011-05-02T12:34:00.000-07:00

Halea was thrilled to get the splint off, but was disappointed to realize that she was getting a cast instead. I kept trying to tell her how cute it is, but she doesn't care. She'll have to wear it for four weeks. Then they will check if her bones have healed or if she will need more time in the cast.

I'm counting my blessings that I bought the princess mobile (stroller) for her birthday. It's really coming in handy.

Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones

2011-05-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

Halea broke both of the bones in her lower leg last night. She was on our toy in the back yard and fell. I knew right away that it was broken. When I took her to the ER the Dr said he thought it was just a bad bruise, but I knew better. She didn't cry like you would expect someone with a broken leg to cry. When the Dr examined her, she just sat there and didn't make a fuss while he was probing her broken leg. She's in a splint that she hates! We have an appt with an orthopedic surgeon this morning to put her in a cast. We'll see how that goes.

This is all really weird. In the last month, I've been the best mom that I've ever been and this past week two of my kids have sustained serious injuries. Maybe they were better off fending for themselves. So, I'm accepting that the mother of the year award is off the table for me this year.

Wise Man Snuggie

2011-05-01T15:01:00.000-07:00

My mom made each of my boys "snuggies" when they were popular, but she didn't slit them up the back, so they are nightgowns. Each of the little boys have outgrown their's, but Bryce is still wearing his. He likes to pair it with his camo pants to make quite an ensemble. I wouldn't mind if he only wore it at home, but he wears it out riding his bike along the street in front of our house and he has taken it on his last to scout campouts.

In some ways I'm thrilled that he is not concerned about his image and couldn't care less what he wears ~ he doesn't know the difference between walmart brand and guess brand. But having an 11 year old dressed up like a wiseman can be really humiliating. So we turned the wiseman nightgown into a snuggie and now hopefully he won't be wearing it around the neighborhood.

Mom Mode

2011-04-29T06:11:00.000-07:00

I just found this picture after googling frumpy mom image. It makes me feel better and I'll explain. Things are going well, despite me getting fatter every day (ok, maybe not). I've been cleaning and going to Dr./Dentist appointments, and cooking, and spending time with my kids. I saw Kim Kardashian on the Rachael Ray show yesterday. She's gorgeous, not muscular, definitely not skinny, but still gorgeous! She wears things that flatter her and has flawless hair (extensions) and makeup. I'm trying to learn to accept my body post competition and it's really hard. My jeans are getting tight, so it's either wear sweats or wear tight jeans and be reminded that I'm not as little as I was three weeks ago. The sweats have been winning a little too much lately. With all of this in mind, I'm happier eating. Not so much about the getting fatter part, but having energy to give to my kids and not being a raging lunatic because my blood sugar is low. And at least when someone googles frumpy mom, but picture doesn't pop up (maybe now it will after this post).

Pajama Day

2011-04-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

It's a pajama day at my house. Just for me ~ I did manage to get the kids dressed. I've been cleaning all morning, so what's the point of showering and dressing when I'm just cleaning. The house looks pretty bad right now because I'm deep cleaning. Of course the one time I sat down to check my email, my father-in-law stopped by. He's the sweetest person and I'm always glad to see him, but why couldn't he have come by five minutes earlier while I was busy cleaning. What he saw was Apollo sitting on the counter watching tv with his mouth still swollen and jelly smeared over to the side of his cheek, and Halea getting in to a pack of crackers with a snot fountain coming out of her nose, and me still in my pj's enjoying a leisurely morning neglecting my children. I don't think there could be a worse impression to make. Ugh!

Ollie's big OUCH

2011-04-25T21:26:00.000-07:00

Every time one of the kids has a bloody mouth, Ryan frantically checks their teeth to make sure they haven't hurt their teeth. We have been blessed to have only dealt with minor mouth injuries...until tonight. Apollo and Parker were playing and somehow Apollo fell off of our dresser. His mouth was very bloody, his two front teeth were pushed back, and one of his i teeth was pushed forward. He will be checked by the dentist tomorrow to see if his teeth need to come out or not.

Update: I took these photos this morning. I thought overnight he would look better, but he looks worse today. He's more swollen and he can't form his words right. The pictures don't show his gums where most of the damage is. He had a chocolate pediasure because he can't eat solid foods until we get this resolved. He got a lot of it around his mouth and down his chin ~ and I think he looks like a cute monkey. Poor guy.

Easter Egg Hunt 2011

2011-04-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

Science

2011-04-25T08:15:00.000-07:00

Bryce has been working on a project for his science fair. He wanted to test two plates of food, one covered, one open to air in two settings: in the fridge and in the living room. This is SOOOO gross! The one in the living room that has been covered has molded the quickest. It's starting to stink and I will be glad when this project is over.

Job Search

2011-04-21T06:22:00.000-07:00

It's time for us to get a job. Ryan does not want me working due to Parker's excessive difficulty with me being gone, but he has boxed himself in with his softball, the little boy's baseball, and school. His schedule is pretty full already. Last night a lady from church called and offered us a job doing in home care of her dad. I'm so flattered that she would think of us. And she's willing to let me bring my kids with me. We have to work out all the scheduling and make sure it makes sense on both ends, but this could be promising.

Home Mom

2011-04-19T05:58:00.000-07:00

This has been my first week off from bombshell since I started. I had forgotten how good it feels to stay in my pj's all morning and spend time with my kids ~ cooking breakfast and cleaning. I have a hip injury that I keep making worse every time I workout, so I'm taking it easy. Each day I feel myself getting a little fatter and that doesn't feel good, but my kids don't care, and neither does Ryan. Now I just need to find a healthy medium between being fit and being a mom.

Yesterday I made these super cute rice krispy easter eggs dipped in chocolate and nerds. Bryce is doing a bake sale at his school and the proceeds will go to benefit the people in Japan. I hope they will sell well. He's only going to charge .50, so they should. I think he might just make back what I spent on supplies and I could have donated that instead, but I keep reminding myself that this will be a good experience for him. We'll see.

What a Weekend

2011-04-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

We've had a great weekend. Friday night Bryce had a sleepover birthday party, so we took the three little ones to the drive-in. We had forgotten about the sleepover and planned to see Rio (the first feature) and Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 (second feature, for Bryce). We went anyway, without Bryce and stayed for BOTH movies. We have never been able to do that! This morning we took the kids to Healthy Kids Day at the Y. They had a petting zoo, bike helmets (for $5, well worth it), a bouncy house, fire trucks, and all kinds of giveaways. Then we came home and cleaned the house completely ~ the first time since Parker's party two days ago. Then we had pizza and a movie night with the kids. We watched The Incredibles. Ryan and the little ones hadn't seen it, so it was cute to watch Parker get SO excited while watching it.

Little Parker

2011-04-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

Parker is turning 6 today. It's hard to believe it's been six years, but at the same time, I've grown immensely in dealing with this special child and six years doesn't seem long enough to have gone through everything we have. He brings such light to our home with his smile and laughter.