Saturday, January 30, 2010

Back in the days....

Check out this olllllld pic from gymnastics. (someone added this to my facebook so I thought I'd share) Not sure how old I was here, but I definitely see my kids in this picture!

Friday, January 29, 2010

WOW

That is the only word I can formulate right now....

Remember baby Allie? 5 years ago last September she passed away from Leukemia at only 9 months old. I followed her mom, Jenny's ,blog and became obsessed with finding a cure for Leukemia and Lymphoma......and so started my journey with Team in Training. I didn't even care about the running at first, I just wanted to raise money to find a cure for this dreaded disease that takes the lives of our families, friends and children.

I have done a few events with Team in Training since then, my first event (and marathon) in San Fransisco, and most recently in Rome, Italy. I decided to do another one this coming June; The Rock and Roll marathon in San Diego.

But this is not the purpose behind the post. Back to Jenny and baby Allie.

After Allie passed, Jenny and her husband had another baby girl who they named Maggie. Now she is 3 (or 4?). Last week she had another baby girl, Katie. I still follow her blog to this day, as she was such an inspiration to me. One of her friends is a photographer and took pictures of her new baby girl today. Please check this link and scroll down to the 5th picture where baby Katie is holding a locket with Allie's picture in it....and try not to cry.

Betcha cant.

Parker the nut!

So Parker has a habit of coming out of his room at night. And when I say coming out of his room I mean like 659826 times. Usually its that he "has to go to the bathroom" or "needs a drink" or "needs to tell you something", but recently we have gone in there after hearing much commotion and he is out of bed, lights on and playing with stuff in his room. Last night he came out though because he needed to "tell me something" (which turned out to be 'Ummm, ummm, ummmmmmmmmm I love you.'), but he was decked out in this get-up! A Happy New Year pimp hat, sunglasses and a stuffed snake tied around his waist. He's a mess and I couldn't help but laugh!


In other news, all has been pretty quiet around here. Eden had her 18 month check up yesterday and she proved to be just as advanced as I thought she was! ;) He even commented on how it was amazing that she was already jumping with two feet at her age and that I "need to keep an eye on her." Ummm, you're tellin me Dr. G! She can climb up my barstools now and climb onto the island....where my GINORMOUS knife set is located! I will come in the kitchen and there she is, standing on top of the island walking around. I guess I need to store my barstools away from the island until she gets a little older and knows better than to stand up there! But, she was 26 lbs 2 oz, which keeps her in the 75th % (she has been there all along) and 32.5 inches which keeps her in the 90th.

Her new 'game' is blowing bubbles in her cereal bowl. She will have bubbles covering the cereal and at least 3 inches high. Its hilarious! Here are the beginnings of the bubble mountain...

Also, here's a quick pic of her and our friend Callie at Jacobs soccer game!


Jacob turns in his Haiti money today. He raised $210! If you told me you wanted one, I sent it out and paid the money for it since the money was due today. I am so proud of my charitable little dude!

And lastly, on the subject of Charitable, I have decided to sign up for another race with Team in Training. I will be running the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon on June 6th with Ana, Jen and Ashley. I couldn't be more excited and we are going to have a BLAAAAAAST!! Not sure what I am thinking on this; I still want to keep up my weight training (which will mean double the work and double the time)...but I have always wanted to do this marathon! Plus, a girls trip to San Diego? Awesome.

Hope you are having a good week. TGIF!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Poor dude!

So he has been standing out at the road since school got out....and no sales so far!!

Bath TIme!!

Eden and her boyfriend Nolan great time in the bath last night! They're so cute!! ;)




Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The Haiti Books.....

Are ready!! Let me know if you want one!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Haiti

Jacob is obsessed with raising money for Haiti. They must be talking about it at school because we haven't said a word to him about it. He is even writing a book that he is going to sell for $5 (on notebook paper, mind you...I guess I'll make photocopies and staple them together?). It's all about Indiana Jones if you are interested in buying one! He said he is giving all the money to Haiti. He has started his collection already with the two pennies he found on the ground tonight after his soccer game. :)

 
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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Tuesday tidbits

Yep, its Wednesday. Sorry! The day got away from me yesterday.

Any Tuesday tidbits I had though have escaped me....because today is a very sad day! Our family dog, Boomer (my parents dog) passed away today. My Dad took him to have his annual shots and check up and it was mutually decided that it was time he be put to sleep.

I told the kids the Boomer went to doggie heaven, Jacob looked distraught and confused and was very quiet and Parker asked "if he was coming back?". I said "No buddy he is not coming back" and then he asked if "we would see him when we went to Poppy and Bebe's house?". I said no and he thought a minute and said "its OK, in doggie heaven he is building a tower with legos.". (????)

Goodbye Boomer, we love you!!

Boomer
1994-2010

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Beautiful

When I was growing up, my mom used to tell me that I was beautiful. I remember her telling me frequently, ingraining it in my brain, perhaps so I could get through those hormone-laden teenage years liking the way I looked.

Problem was? I didn’t. I didn’t feel beautiful. I felt awkward. I was a little chubby; I had freckles all over the place. I had pale skin, yellow hair and huge feet. By 5th grade I was taller than the boys and that didn’t help matters at all. By my junior year in high school I weighed 150 when everyone else weighed 100. I wore baggy clothes and didn’t even try to make myself look pretty.

My friends? Now they were beautiful. They were skinny and tan and looked great in their clothes. They had boys who liked them, not just liked them. I was one of the guys and they were one of the girls. I wanted to be one of the girls.

Now that I am an grown, I can look back and see that I was a little awkward, but mostly OK. I hadn’t lost that round baby face yet, but that’s OK too. You grow out of it, and you grow up.

I never really believed my parents when they would tell me I was pretty. I distinctly remember asking my mom if this certain friend was pretty, if that certain friend was pretty. And her answer was always “Yes she is, but she’s not as pretty as you.”

I then thought that she was saying that just to make me feel good. “I know what she is doing”, I thought, “and I wish she wouldn’t.”

I now know that she truly did believe that. I can’t imagine looking at any girl, ever, and thinking that she is prettier than my Eden.

So how do I do it? How do I raise a daughter to love herself, inside and out? I can’t imagine anything that could have been done differently in my case; after all, my parents put me on a huge pedestal! But I still felt ugly and different and chubby and weird.

I wish I knew then what I know now. That freckles are cute. ‘Yellow’ hair is awesome. Being tall is cool (even if it does mean you get big feet also). And pale skin is.....just different. It’s not better and it’s not worse. It's just different.

I wanted a little girl so badly, but now that I have one, I find myself thinking of growing up and how hard it was to be a girl sometimes. I am scared for her and I am scared that I won’t be able to do a good job.

Boys aren’t nearly as hard to mess up.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Eden

Eden is obsessed with Jacob's jeans. Every time she gets out of the shower, she grabs the jeans Jacob had on, runs to a corner of the house where we "won't be able" to find her (or so she believes), and sits down to try to put them on. So funny!

 
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Parker's "guy"

Up until today, I had never seen Parker draw a person. He tried a long time ago for me and drew a misshapen circle for the head, and then two eyes randomly on the paper (not in the head/circle) and then a mouth randomly somewhere else on the page. Parker is awesome at many things, and GREAT with holding a pencil and cutting with scissors, but he does NOT know any of his letters (well, except P!) and doesn't draw anything that makes sense.

It has bothered me, because I am a worry wart, want-to-make-sure-my-children-are-up-to-par type of mom and I have really worried that he was "behind" even in this small area of development.

When I went to pick him up at school today, all the other children were drawing pictures of people, and Parker was scribble scrabbling on a piece of paper. I asked his teacher if she'd ever seen him draw a person and she thought about it and said, "You know, I don't think I have!?"

Sooo, of course, in fashion of the worry wart, want-to-make-sure-my-children-are-up-to-par type of mom I am, I sat him down after school and asked him to draw a person. He was very reluctant and wanted me to make the paper into a paper airplane instead. I promised him that I would after he drew me a "guy". So here it is! he pointed out what all the strange looking things were so I diagrammed them for you.

Again, most 3.5 year olds have much more "mature" looking people I'm sure, but I am so proud of Parker. Go dude!

(Also out of the blue today he told me something he wanted for his birthday on "June 1st". I was so stunned that he knew/remembered his birthday. Also his teacher told me his motor skills as far as holding the crayon and the scissors were the best in the class. P Diddy in da house!)




Parker drawing, originally uploaded by jhdevenny.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Stuck!

LOL, Eden wasn't even making a peep. Parker just called me in and said "Mommy! Eden is stuck!" LOL

 
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Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Jacob's Spanish reading

Not only is Jacob learning to read in English, but he is learning to read in Spanish also. This seems like such a hard task to learn both at one time since the vowels make different sounds. Spanish is easy to read since it is phonetic, but the vowels make different sounds than English vowels which makes it difficult. For instance, take the word Pine. We Pronounce the 'i' like we say the letter 'I' since there is an e at the end, other wise we would pronounce the 'i' as 'ihhh". Well in Spanish, 'i' is always pronounces "EE" and e is pronounced 'A'. So pine would be "PEE-nay". Get it?

So in order for him to read Spanish, he has to switch his brain from reading vowels one way, to the other. Sounds awfully difficult to learn both at once if you ask me, but he is doing wonderfully! He even sounds like a little Spanish boy!

Tuesday tidbits

Lets see.......where to begin

**Mike is going through some tough stuff at work. Everyone please pray we can get through all of this still sane! ;)

**Found a new website that has been crucial over these last few days! I try to look at it once a day. http://www.happiness-project.com (not sure why it's not linking....must be a glitch...)I think Happiness is a journey and not a place....if we can always work on being happy, we will be! I am constantly reminding myself of how lucky I am and how very good I have it....even in the tough times. This website helps me with those reminders!

**Trying to budget grocery shop although I have no idea how. I have heard of "couponing" and 'The Grocery Game"...and various other ways to really save on necessities. Anyone have any input on this? It would be greatly appreciated...

**My personal training ends this month which makes me very sad. It keeps me sane FOR SURE! It is my new "marathoning". Will be referring to website above for replacement sanity. ;)

**For all my pregnant friends out there, just a shout out to you....I am living vicariously through you! (and if anyone wants to donate a sister to Eden I will be happy to love and raise her as if she were my own. Adoption is not out of the question......so long as its free!) ;)

**VERY proud of Parker this week, as he brought home a paper from school that had all of the letters traced!! This is not a big deal to most parents of 3.5 year olds, but for Parker this is a big step. GO PARKER!!!

**Jacob has another 9 week awards ceremony this Friday at school. He is receiving another award....I believe for his computer class (as I got the notification of the award from her). He won't get an award every 9 weeks, but so far we're 2 for 2...with the last one being the very best one! ;)

**Eden still a little angel.....a SILLY little angel at that! She is stringing 3 words together at the time and as smart as a whip. She is SO Jacob....which scares me a little....especially given that she is female. Double whammy!

**We've been majorly feeling the love from family members these past few days. Lots of kind words and support. THANK YOU and we love you too!

I guess that's it for today. Am very excited about the American Idol premiere. WOOHOO! Hope everyone is having a fantastic week so far!

Friday, January 8, 2010

No!

Edens new favorite word! :)

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Tuesday tidbits

I thought Id start something new for the new year....that I may acually keep up! So many times I feel like I dont have time to sit down and write an entire blog......soooo on Tuesdays I will try to jot down some thoughts that I dont have to compose into any kind of sense!

Sooo...here goes.

**worked out today and yesterday. Am trying to take one day off during the week to dedicate to my house, but its hard! Id MUCH rather be at the gym!! So Im gonna try for tomorrow....

**Eden driving me crazy. At that phase where she needs attention 24/7. Truth be told, mostly I love it, but times like right now (in her crib screaming) not so much...

**got the shaggy dogs, errrr...I mean boys haircuts today. They look so handsome!

**We had people over for New Years. Had probably 40 people in here all in all and it was fun! Wish I had made more Black Eyed Peas...I really want some for dinner tonight.

**kind of sad that the holidays are over. Bring back on the school schedule kind of stinks and it was a rude awakening this morning (no pun intended) when my eyes opened at 7. Ive been sleeping in!!

**My New Years Resolution of healthy eating is a big fat FAIL.

**on the other hand, my favorite new Years Resolution that I heard through the Twitter grapevine is "Just let it go". So far so good. :)

**look at this cute as heck pic of Parker. He's so Ty sleeping with his ball and glove!!



**and lastly for tonight...Im off to watch Biggest Loser. New Season starting tonight. Did anyone watch the Bachelor last night? WOW. What a mess. Jake is a big goober and the girls are beyond. Makes for perfect reality TV!

Night night!