Girl Named Traditionly

I'm pretty sure "traditionly" isn't a word, but I don't know the adjective form of tradition I suppose. The weekend was all about Christmas traditions for us. Saturday Kylie and I went shopping with my mom to finish our Christmas shopping, and we had so much fun! Kylie was so cute because Dad had given her $1, and I gave her $1 to pick out anything she wanted. Being 3 1/2, she doesn't really understand how it works, and at Kohl's she picked out a $5 stuffed animal she wanted and gave the cashier $1 and said she was saving the other dollar for a toy at Walmart. At least she's learning that you have to have money to buy things. She then picked out a $10 toy to buy with her remaining $1. Pete has some serious accounting work to do with her! 

Then Saturday evening we headed down to Silver Dollar City for our annual trip to see the lights. Us and 25,000 other people had the same idea. They ran out of parking spots, so being Rhiannon and Pete, we made up our own. We saw a chain down around where the tram drives. We drove over it and parked in the tram turn-around. Then it took approximately 30 minutes to wait in line to get into the park, then it was shoulder-to-shoulder once we got in. We stayed for a total of 45 minutes before joining the herd of people leaving when the parade ended. We had a good time, and the girls were good while we were there. As you can see in the picture, by the time we left Claire was a little done being there. 

Then Sunday we had our Christmas with the Zoromski's. Kylie got an apron with her name on it, which she was SO excited about. She said she wants to wear it forever (she's going to be even more excited when she sees the kitchen we got her to go along with it!) 

And, we actually got all 3 kids to sit down at one time long enough to take multiple pictures of them!

I can't wait for this weekend, and to have a week off to spend with them! This is the first year that Kylie's been old enough to understand Christmas and really get excited. It makes it so much better to see it through their eyes and get excited with them! Kylie loves to listen to and sing Christmas music, and knows the words to every song! She tells everyone she sees "Merry Christmas" and it's so sweet, it warms your heart.


On another note, Kylie has a urinary tract infection that I'm pretty sure she's had for a couple weeks, and I'm a bad mom and didn't take her to the doctor because I thought she was making it up. I've learned my lesson. She started her medicine today, so hopefully it will start working quickly. We have to take her in Wednesday for an ultrasound, but hopefully it comes back normal. 


Claire had her 18 month check up today and was fine. She's 60th percentile for height and 35th percentile for weight (even after having a belly full of pancakes and eggs!) she had two shots, but so far no reaction this time.

Girl Named Holiday Popcorn

Peppermint Marshmallow Popcorn

3 bags microwave popcorn, hulls removed
2 sticks butter
1 cup brown sugar
16 oz bag of marshmallows (any flavor, I used peppermint for Christmas)

Pop the popcorn, put in bowl. Microwave butter, brown sugar and marshmallows for 2 1/2 minutes, stir, then 1 more minute. When it thins out, pour over popcorn, mix, and enjoy!

Girl Named Behind Schedule

Last week was an exhausting week! Claire started off the week throwing up on Monday. Then Tuesday everyone was fine. Tuesday night Becca's kids started throwing up so we had to keep the girls home Wednesday and Thursday. Then I got sick and laid in bed and slept all day Friday. My mom came and got the girls Friday morning and they kept them until Sunday morning. I didn't get any Christmas shopping done this weekend, or cleaning. Sunday everyone was fine, so we were looking forward to starting a normal week. Sunday night, Becca started throwing up so we had to keep the girls home again on today. HOPEFULLY everyone is better and tomorrow I can actually work a full day! This is what my living room looks like after a day at home with the kids...

Kylie decided last night to have a complete meltdown (I know that may completely surprise many of you! ;) ) and not eat her food at dinner. We were having cream cheese chicken croissants and potatoes au gratin, nothing that should be gross to a toddler. Well, we had a standoff similar to the peach incident of 2011. She wouldn't even take a bite, dad and I both argued with her, tried to reason with her, bribe her, anything we could do to get her to eat. Finally, after peeing her pants all over the living room, she took a screaming bath, and went to bed screaming at 6:30. Don't worry, we saved her potatoes for her to eat today, and she again, wouldn't take a bite at lunch. She must have eventually gotten hungry because she ate them, but they must have been the most disgusting old, hard, cold potatoes by that point. On the other hand, tonight at dinner she ate all of her ham and mashed sweet potatoes, so who knows what will please that kid. But, when going to bed tonight she got up every 15 minutes and came out with a different excuse ranging from "it's too cold" to "it's too hot" to "I just need a little bite of chocolate" to "I just have a show I want to watch". I continue thinking I am a horrible mom 90% of the time because I don't know how other moms do it. I only have 2 kids, but they absolutely wear me out! I am exhausted every night, and I get so short-tempered with them because they won't do anything I tell them to do. I'm sure every mom deals with the same stuff, I just think they do it with more grace than I can muster. But then they do things like this and I can't imagine my life without them.

Last night I did have time to go through the 10 trash bags full of clothes that Claire has outgrown in her 18 months of life. It was a ridiculous amount of clothes, and it took me 3 hours to sort, take pictures and get posted on Craigslist to sell. And, I may have cried a good portion of that time, every time I pulled out a miniature pair of pajamas or onesie that the girls wore, it seems like not very long ago. It was Pete's idea, because he got the wood floors put down in the basement this weekend (big step!) so we had to get rid of everything we can to get carpet put down and furniture moved in. We literally have a whole room of baby paraphernalia. It's much harder on the mom than on the dad I think, it reminds me of how small they used to be and how big they are now, and how I will never have another tiny baby of my own. It's very emotional!

Well, on to another day that will hopefully be "normal", and maybe I can get my Christmas shopping all done on Saturday? A girl can dream...

Girl Named Off Her Game

Happy Thanksgiving! This morning I got up early to run my first Turkey Trot 5K. I had heard there were 7,500 people registered so I wanted to get there early, as I was concerned about parking. The race started at 8:00, so I left the house about 6:45. I found pretty close parking when I got there a little after 7:00, and with no friends (that I knew of) running, I had no idea what I was going to do for 45 minutes. I sat in my car for a little bit, then decided to go down to the Expo center and hang out and look for people. I don't run in a jacket even when it's cold because I get so hot and constricted so when I have a race I put my keys in my console and leave my car unlocked because I have no place to put my key (please don't steal my car at the next race!). I got my headphones on, got everything ready, put my keys in my console and locked my car. That's right, as soon as I shut the door I realized what I had done. No biggie, I called Pete at 7:15 and left him a message and told him he would need to come up there with the girls at 9:00 so I can get in my car. It completely threw me off, and I got even more thrown off when I realized my Gatorade Prime was locked in my car (I honestly can tell a difference when I drink it before I run, I'm not crazy). At this point, I was willing to pay someone that I saw with one, until I realized my money was also locked in my car. At this point, I began wanting everything that was in my car, including my jacket (because you don't want things until you know you can't have them) and considered breaking a window. I had no choice, so I just went to the Expo. I found a couple people I know and talked for a while, and headed to the start line. As soon as I got there, I realized I had to pee but didn't have time. That threw me even more off. They sounded the gun, and it took me at least 5 minutes to cross the start line in the crowd. The first mile went well, and I tried to pace myself (I pretended Heather was there with me) by the 2nd mile I was tired, and could really tell I didn't have my confounded Prime. By the 3rd mile my new running shoes were creating a blister on the bottom of my foot.  I made it to the last 1/4 and it was a slight hill, it just about killed me. I managed to sprint the last .1 but still came in at 40:09. I was disappointed in my time (4 minutes slower than my last 5K, 3 weeks ago) but with the crazy morning I had, it was acceptable. It was the first time I haven't PR'd in a 5K, and the first one I didn't get a picture at because I had no friends there (maybe I can just pretend it didn't happen :)) I was just glad to be done. Pete and the girls got there about 9:15 and got me into my car and we went to Village Inn and had breakfast, and that made me feel better. 
     We went to my grandparents house for Thanksgiving dinner, and had a great time. Claire was tired and cranky most of the day, but she made it through. We had awesome food, and I more than compensated for the 3.1 miles I ran! It ended up being a great day with family, and I am so thankful for all the blessings in my life. Because of the crappy race, I made myself register for the Jingle Bell 5K in 2 weeks, just to redeem myself. I know I can do sub 36:00 in that one, and Heather better be there with me this time!
 

Girl Named Thankful

I really need to try and write more often! Life passes and I forget to record it as I should. I have been reflecting on life a lot lately, and I am so eternally grateful for everything I have in my life, and my life in general. I am so blessed to have my wonderful husband, and my two smart, beautiful, funny, caring daughters. I have awesome friends that are always there for me. I have a stable job that pays the bills. I honestly couldn't ask for anything more! It's nights like tonight, when it's cold and dark and rainy and I come home to my family and the house is warm, and dinner is cooking, and kids are running around laughing that I really realize how lucky I am. I look at my girls and get teary eyed from appreciation. I didn't jump on the "November post every day what your thankful for on Facebook" bandwagon, but I do feel with Thanksgiving approaching it's important to reflect on what you're thankful for, and teach your children to do the same. It's so easy to let day-to-day stresses get to you, and to focus on the stupid little things that don't matter, instead of focusing on the big picture and what is important in life. We have a choice every day - how we react to things, big or small. I have had several large events in my life lately that were very trying and I really got to know myself. I am happy to say I'm proud of the way I've reacted and treated people, I've tried to be as classy and professional as possible because that's the way I want people to perceive and remember me. I'm hoping reacting in a positive manner will get me farther in life than reacting (the way I wanted to!) badly. I feel that God is responsible for dealing with people and not me. If God is happy with the way I'm acting and conducting myself, that's all that matters. I hope to teach my children to be classy and always take the high road, however hard it may be. I'm thankful that my mom taught me that as well, and how to be thankful.

Personal Records

Me and Heather after the Skaggs 5K

I am just now getting a chance to write, but last Saturday I had a 5K and achieved a personal PR - 36:05! On top of that, I ran the whole time without walking. It was the best race I've ever had, and I was right next to my "bertie" Heather the whole time. It was awesome, I was on a high all weekend afterwards! I have another 5K on Thanksgiving, the Turkey Trot, and then I think I'm done for a couple months. I'm hoping to run the Turkey Trot in 35:00, but that may be stretching my limits right now. 

Too cute to be mad at...

Claire has really been setting PR's of her own, with the milestones she's been reaching. She is so smart, and has really figured out how to do a lot of things I would rather she not do! But that's what kids are for, right? She is in to absolutely everything, climbing on everything. This picture was taken an hour after bedtime, when she decided that if she's cute enough, maybe I will let her stay up for a little while. It worked. Her hair is straight off There's Something About Mary. Kylie is just as cute, but she's bigger. She definitely is manipulating with her words though, and telling me that "Daddy told me I could" when he's not even home. Kids are absolutely the best thing in life, I don't know what I ever did without them!

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Mile Posts: Run Like A Child: Race Yourself

Mile Posts: Run Like A Child: Race Yourself: It is easy to get caught up in the world. To fall victim to what we see in magazines, the Internet, the TV. Everyone wants to BE . Be be...


This link is a blog I follow, and she is a superfast runner (in my opinion). It was exactly what I needed to read today. I know that all runners go through ups and downs, and I'm not even sure I consider myself a "runner". I run 2-4 times a week, for 5-9 miles average. I do about one official 5K a month, and usually one unofficial 5K on my own. Here lately I have gotten so slow. For those of you who don't know me personally, I am a heavy runner - I recently lost 20 pounds and am still working on it, but I'm still 40 pounds heavier than I would like to be, and probably 50-60 pounds heavier than most super fast runners are (I know I will never be there, and have no false hopes of running a 9:00 mile) but I do know what I'm capable of, and have an idea of where I can be if I lose some more weight. When I used to run, I would feel light and sometimes I would feel like I could run forever. Now, I feel so heavy and sluggish and I'm struggling to keep up with where I used to be. As Dorothy's post said, I'm not competing with everyone else, I AM competing with myself and how I used to run, and that's the discouraging part. At my peak, a couple months ago, I was running 11:40 miles (which I know is not fast, but it's fast for ME!) now I struggle to run a 12:30 average mile, WITH walking. When I run, I can run a 11:45 - 12:00 mile pace, but I just don't have the endurance to keep it up more than 5 minutes. I don't know what's happened. I haven't gained any weight, though I have been eating more unhealthy lately. I was doing Weight Watchers, but I spent a week in Vegas and haven't gotten back onto my diet since then. I'm wondering if my eating habits are affecting my running. My plan is this week to drink no diet Coke (uuugggghhhh) and go back on the diet and see what happens. I have a 5K on Saturday, and I cannot imagine doing it running the way I am right now. I have 3 runs before then hopefully, so I'm going to take my friends advice and do a little speedwork. I really hope I don't disappoint myself on Saturday, and I'm dreading it, and I hate that. I used to get excited, and I guess I need to figure out how to get back there. I have been under A LOT of stress at work, so I think that may have something to do with it as well. If you're a runner and have ever dealt with this, please give me your tips as to how you got out of the rut. I would appreciate it!

Everyday Life

Things have just been so busy lately! A lot has been going on at work, which makes all aspects of life busy, I've found. For a while I was neglecting my running, but last week I made myself run 4 times, and today I registered for two races, one next week and one next month. I am so happy that I've made myself focus on running again. It's so easy to let it slip when things get hectic, but it truly is the only thing I can do that keeps me sane and makes me feel focused and energetic. If you're reading this on my actual blog, you can see my 3 new running widgets that will allow me to be more accountable to everyone reading, and you can share in my progress! This morning Kylie said "When I get bigger, I want to race with you!" and that made me feel good. She for sure will do races with me, and I can't wait to share that experience with her (and Claire, eventually!)

I guess we've finally decided on Halloween costumes. And by "we", I mean Kylie wouldn't decide because she's 3 years old, so we came to a decision we could all be happy with. They are both going to be princesses. I know, not very creative, especially compared to last years' "Dora and Boots". But Kylie went from Jessie from Toy Story, to a devil, to a butterfly princess, to a normal princess. That's where we stayed. It will be cute though, and next year hopefully she will be old enough and excited enough to actually choose a costume. We shall see.

I'm so excited to be having a CMC Accessories party Saturday night for my "bertie" Heather, then me and her and hopefully a couple other friends that said "maybe" will be going out to dinner and for drinks afterwards. It's crazy the things I get excited about now that I'm older! I've been looking forward to it all week though!

Fall

It's been a while since I've written, life gets busy! I had a great 3-day weekend with my family, we made cookies, went to the park, ate Mexican Villa, ate Golden Corral, watched football, went on a walk and colored. It was the most enjoyable weekend I've had in a long time - no stress about work (I didn't even think about it!) I enjoyed spending time with my girls so much, they are so much fun right now! Kylie is so funny, and Claire is starting to talk and do funny things. No one was sick, no one threw a fit, no one got hurt, it was amazing! To top it all off, this morning Kylie slept until 8:30 and Claire slept until 9:30! That is totally me being braggadocios about my weekend - I'm sure after saying all this, tomorrow will be a horrible day :) Oh well, I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend with my girls, and I thoroughly don't want to go to work tomorrow! We have Radiothon on Power 96.5 this week, and I'm pretty excited about that, so maybe it won't be so bad!

Conversations

Kylie is at an age where she can have a full-blown conversation, and I love it. When we got in the car tonight the first thing she said was "So tell me what did you do at work today?" I said "A lot of work!" and she said "Oh. What kinds of work?" so I told her everything I did (which included wearing a viking hat, giant sunglasses and pink gloves, dancing on camera, and doing a pyramid which Heather fell off of. I know, all in a day's work!) and when I finished she said "Oh yes, that is a lot of good stuff you did!" then she proceeded to tell me everything she did. It was so cute! When we got home I fixed dinner and after dinner she wanted to make me a bracelet out of construction paper. In the process, she knocked her milk off the table and spilled it all over herself and the floor. She began apologizing profusely (I assume afraid of getting in trouble) and I had a parenthood moment that I was very proud of (in contrast to my last post) and I told her it's okay, we just need to be careful with where we put our drinks. She knelt down next to me and said "Mommy, I'm SO sorry, I can't believe I spilled it" I gave her a hug and a kiss and she said "Mommy, I will always love you!" and it was the sweetest thing she could ever say, and it completely made my day. These are the moments in parenthood that you treasure and make it all worth it!

Mom of the year...

So, after a stressful day at work and I was looking forward to relaxing and enjoying the company of my girls. I even stopped at Toys R Us and got them each a little surprise! We get home, Kylie starts playing with her Crayola dry erase board and we're having a good time. The other day we got some peaches from an actual orchard (best peaches ever!) so I cut one open for their dessert. This is where it went downhill. Kylie didn't want a bite of peach, and when she decides she doesn't want to try something, there is no convincing her. I kept asking her nicely, just to try this one little bite (I even cut the peel off and the red inside, it was just the sweet juicy peach), she refused. I started pleading with her to just try it. You moms are familiar - this is the point when you decide whether you should just give up and act like you never asked, or firmly stand your ground and teach her to do what you ask her to do. you know, teach her a lesson! On this evening, I chose the latter. So I told her she was going to go to bed if she didn't try a bite. She started crying, so I told her to take a bite, for the love of God, and this will all be over. She proceeded to fall on the floor and start crying and kicking, that of course made Claire start crying as well. This banter went on for about 5 minutes, with everyone crying, and she was covering her mouth like Fort Knox. So I picked her up and carried her to her room, put her in bed, and told her she was being a bad girl. Well, this was at 6:15, she had her clothes on from the day, and I was thinking she would get up in 5 minutes like she always does and come out and say she was sorry. She showed me this time - she immediately went to sleep, in her clothes, without dinner, without pottying, and it's now 8:00 and she's still in there. I'm only hoping she will wake up in the morning and think it was all a bad dream.
To top off that whole Emmy award-winning performance, I was on the phone telling my husband why Kylie was in bed already, and Claire walks over to me, and proceeds to wipe cat vomit all over me. Apparently the cat puked, unbeknownst to me, and Claire of course found it before I did. She took a big old handful, apparently took a little taste of it, then wiped the rest all over me. I immediately stood in the kitchen and started crying like a baby. One kid thinks I'm the worst mom, and is in bed sleeping in her clothes without dinner, and the other kid is playing in, eating, and completely covered in cat puke. This was a banner evening. I pulled myself together, gave Claire a bath (and a glass of milk!) put her pajamas on, and put her in bed.
So, next time you're thinking you're a horrible mom, or you can't handle your kids, you can think about this post, and hopefully it will help you through whatever you need to handle. I think I'm going to have a glass of wine, a bath, and go to bed. Tomorrow has to be better!

Awesome Job

Okay, not to be braggadocios or anything (but it's going to sound that way) - I think I have, like, the best job in the world. As I was contemplating posting tonight or not I thought, "I do things at work that most people would never think of doing, why not share them?" I have friends that listen in amazement as I speak of buying supplies to play "The Price Is Right", or picking out fancy dresses to wear to a masquerade ball, or buying silly hats and sunglasses to wear to Telethon. I could go on and on - there have been quite a few days that my co-workers and I have asked ourselves "We get paid to do this?!" The best part about doing all this fun and crazy stuff is, we are raising money to help sick kids. For those of you who aren't familiar, I am the Assistant Executive Director (and hopefully soon to be Executive Director!) of our Springfield chapter of Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. Today we had the first day of our first ever Hispanic Radiothon. We raised $3,800 in one day, which is pretty darn good for a first time event! (we've done regular radiothons before, just not Hispanic) All the money we raise stays local and helps local kids. You can't beat it. I get to literally do something different every day. Yes, I have an office with a desk, and there are days I am there working all day. But there are so many days when I'm out visiting sponsors, or at fun events like the PCCC Auction or Burgers & Brews, or out doing something fun and crazy like eating 4 DQ Blizzards in one day! I love not having a monotonous job, and I love having a job that means something. I can go home every night to my healthy, happy, smart, adorable kids and know that I did something that day to help families that aren't as fortunate as we are. I think that's a valuable lesson to pass on to my girls as well, and it's never to early to teach them philanthropy. Well, that's my spiel for the day, I just wanted to share with all of you how lucky I am and how blessed I feel.

Crazy nights

For the past few nights, like maybe 7, Kylie has gotten up several times in the night. Usually 3 times, but as many as 9, every half hour. This has needless to say been frustrating and tiring for everyone involved. Last night took the cake though - she got up about 4 times between midnight at 4am, then about 4:30 she came in and had wet the bed. So we had to give her a bath, change sheets, wash clothes then back to bed. She got up again at 5:00 and claimed to have to potty, she did, then back to bed. Up again at 5:30 claiming to have to potty, she didn't this time, then back to bed. By this point, I was awake and my alarm was set to go off at 6am so there was no point in going back to sleep. So I got up for my morning run (which incidentally was a beautiful morning for a run, so that worked out nicely!) But I have been so tired today, being up since 4:30 this morning. Kylie was also very tired, she cried a lot at Becca's, and was tired tonight. So she went to bed about 6:45 and will hopefully stay in bed all night! If any of you mom's have any tricks, or have experienced this with your kids, please share your wisdom!!

Too much ice cream...

Today was Diary Queen Miracle Treat Day, and I visited a total of 4 DQ's and ate a portion of a Blizzard at each one. I thought I was going to explode at one point. BUT, a portion of each Blizzard sold today will benefit Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, so it was all worth it! I got to see some of my favorite kids like Dustin, Mckenna and Megan, and my own girls even went with me to one DQ and ate a Blizzard! Claire of course ate more than Kylie did. Tomorrow it's working at PCCC all day for me, then the much anticipated WEEKEND! This week has been SO crazy busy, I have had my eye on the weekend all week.
After all the ice cream Kylie ate, she was hyper and tired at the same time (I'm sure if you have kids you are familiar with this state of mind) so everything for her was really exciting and really frustrating at the same time. At one point, she wanted me to help her potty (which she's been taking herself for at least 3 months now) and threw a fit because I wouldn't help her. Well she proceeded to pee all over the bathroom floor, her pants and the toilet. That's the second time she's done that, and I get the feeling she does it on purpose, but I can't prove it. Believe it or not, it was all down hill from there (and that wasn't a very high point!) She cried about everything, didn't want dinner, etc. So we took a bath and went to bed early! Hopefully tomorrow will be better!
One funny point of the night, Kylie was playing with blocks and Claire wanted to play as well. Kylie kind of pushed Claire away, and Claire came around behind Kylie and started hitting her on both sides of her head and screaming like a banshee. Claire is apparently past the point of putting up with Kylie's big sister bullying! We told Kylie she's on her own now, and if she can dish it out she needs to learn to take it in! It did make us laugh though :)

The Lake

The girls went to my parents house on Saturday, and Pete and I had a nice "date" at Olive Garden, then we're such party animals, we went home and went to bed! Sunday we got up and went up to Lake of the Ozarks for a friends wedding. Before the wedding, we rented a boat with some friends and spent 4 hours on the lake. Besides getting sunburned, I had SO much fun! I always tell Pete I just want to buy a boat and live on it, I love the lake so much. He doesn't agree. We went to the wedding (which got postponed for an hour because of rain). It was an absolutely beautiful wedding, it was at Shady Gators, it was very tropical with cabanas, an infinity pool with swim-up bar, tikis, tropical flowers, it was so pretty! If I had a wedding, that is where I would want to have it. Maybe we'll have our 5 year anniversary/late reception there! We drove home last night about midnight because Pete had a meeting. Today I had to set up for the Price Cutter Charity Championship Auction, and I have to do the same tomorrow. Had a nice run outside tonight before the storm came. I was happy to see the girls tonight, I missed them this weekend! Today was Aubrey's first day at Becca's (Ryan and Kara's baby) and I guess Claire just LOVED her. She would go sit next to her on the floor and say "Hi!" "Hi!", and take her toys to play with. Becca said it was so cute. I fixed Kylie and Claire macaroni and cheese with hot dogs for dinner, and of course Claire ate hers in 5 seconds, and Kylie took tiny bites of hers, then ended up throwing it up all over the table in a grand act of defiance. It was all very dramatic, so they ended up getting bath's (on a non-bath night!) to get her cleaned up. Kylie is at a very, how shall I say it, "independent" age.

Changes

Well, it's been an exciting couple of days! My boss (and best friend) Heather put in her notice today, she got a new job. I am super happy for her because I think it's a good change for her. I think she was getting burnt out at CMN. Along with that, I am now in contention for her job. I have been the Asst. Executive Director for almost 4 years now and feel like I'm ready to take over. I just have to convince our boss that I'm the right person for the job, that's what I'm facing right now. I'm gathering all my supplies, achievements, goals, plans, resume, letters of recommendation, etc. to take with me on my interview (whenever that may happen). I'm nervous for a lot of reasons; I really want to get this job, plus it's a lot of responsibility, plus it's taking on a lot more work because we recently had another employee leave that we can't replace, so it's part of her job, part of my job (all of my job until we hire someone else!), and all of Heather's job. I know I have a lot of good ideas and changes to make and I really hope I get the chance to implement them! I was so stressed out I ran for 30 minutes straight tonight, and I haven't done that since my last 5K! I know everything will work out how it's supposed to, I just want it to happen right now! :)
I'm still out of WW points for the week, but I've done a much better job each day of staying within my daily points, so I feel confident I will lose weight this week.
We had tacos for dinner tonight, and Kylie ate 2 whole tacos! I couldn't believe it, she never eats that much! Claire didn't have tacos, I thought the meat might be too spicy for her, but she still ate a good dinner and "hammed it up" the whole time she was eating. They are always doing something funny, it's so hard to remember all of it, even each night! Kylie has stayed in her bed so far tonight, so hopefully that lasts all night.

Kids

I got up this morning and ran, and did a group fitness class after work. I am going to be sore tomorrow - but once again, over my Weight Watchers points for the week so I have to do a lot of exercise to catch up!
Kylie was tired today, but that didn't translate into bedtime tonight - she has gotten up 5 times in the two hours she's been put to bed. One of the times she got up, I was looking through our honeymoon photo album, so I decided to show her the pictures. She looked at one of Pete and I and said "Mommy! Do you remember when you guys looked so much different than my parents?" Man, that really cuts deep! I know we were younger, but I didn't think we were so much younger that my 3 year old would notice! Almost as bad as when she calls me "Huge bottom".

Good weekend!

We had an awesome weekend! Saturday the girls went to gma and gpa's for the day, and Pete and I went on a float (just us!) When we got there, it started storming, but we decided to go anyway since we were there. We waited the rain out for about 15 minutes, then got on the river. We had an awesome time, then came home and the girls were home! After they went to bed I met Heather at Houlihan's for dinner and drinks and had a lot of fun. Today, I got to sleep until 11:00! Then we ate at Mexican Villa (our Sunday usual) and went to the Republic Aquatic Center (our other Sunday usual) then to Walmart (again, Sunday). We came home and had baths and put the girls to bed, and Pete and I had Pizza Hut for dinner. It was so nice to have a nice relaxing weekend with the family. Besides Kylie having a minor meltdown at the pool, everyone was pretty good! Oh, and she pulled my swimsuit top down, so everyone got a good show. As far as Weight Watchers goes, I apparently make bad decisions on the weekends because I am already out of points for the week again! That makes for a bummer week, but what are you going to do!

Intruder in the House - Mommy Shorts

Intruder in the House - Mommy Shorts

I read this and cracked up - anyone who's a mom will too!

Fitness?

So, I'm already -16 in Weight Watchers points for this week, and I still have two days left. So I thought I would take a group fitness class to try and make up some of the deficit. I though it wouldn't be too hard - I run several times a week, I've done 9 weeks of P90X... Well, it was much harder than I thought it would be! I'm pretty sure the instructor had a contract on my life becuase she almost killed me. I made it through though, but I'm going to be sore tomorrow! I think I only got like 4 points for it too, so running in the morning will get me 6 more, now only -6! Oh well, next week is a new week.

Claire is getting so big, at the sitters house she (allegedly) said "Becca", "Ava", and "all done". I've heard her say "all done", but not the others. She understands when I ask her to do something, and she will do it. I mentioned peek-a-boo and she immediately started hiding her eyes. When I wake her up in the morning she always gives me a big hug and a kiss, it's so sweet (it makes my day every day!) She found a picture of me when I was a kid in a picture frame, and she kept going over to it and kissing it over and over, it was so cute! I think she might have thought it was her though, because tonight I caught her kissing her reflection in the bathtub faucet... Last night, Ethan (one of the sitters kids) wanted to send "Teddy" home with Claire for a sleepover because she liked him so much. So we had a photo shoot with Claire and Teddy, and he did everything she did - he played, he ate dinner, he put pj's on, he played in Kylie's bed, then he slept in Claire's bed with her. We sent the pictures to Ethan so he'd know what Teddy did on his adventure to Claire's house, and Ethan thought that was the coolest thing! We had a lot of fun doing it too.

Princess Party

Tonight we went to Chick Fil A for a princess party. Kylie had so much fun - she dressed up in her princess dress and tiara, and we ate dinner. There was a little baby at the table next to us, and Kylie was entertaining her by jumping up and yelling, and the baby was cracking up. Then Kylie stood up in the middle of the restaurant and started dancing and singing "Shake your body, shake your body!" and everyone was cracking up laughing, she is such a show stealer. Then she saw the giant cows (one princess and one prince) she called the prince a "crazy king cow!" So when we told her if she ate a good dinner, we would go see the cows. Well she was too excited to eat, and when we finally decided to look for the cows, they were on break (yes, even cows get breaks at work apparently). So we waited in line to get fingernails painted (she picked yellow again, just like at the Paul Mitchell princess party, I find it an interesting choice but dad said she was sure that she wanted yellow) and to get her face painted (she picked a bumblebee, but we tried to steer her towards the butterfly or cupcake). She kept saying "I sure hope we find those crazy cows. I really want to see them" So we went inside and the cows were back! She got her picture taken with the princess, and hugged her, and was so excited! Then it was time to go home, mom was tired of holding Claire outside in 95 degree weather. I can't wait until both girls are old enough to really enjoy stuff like that, and get excited about it!

Golf

When I went in to get Claire up this morning, she put her little arms around my neck and gave me a huge hug, and kissed me on the neck. It was so sweet, and it was the best start to my morning I can imagine! I spent the day at Fremont Hills at our Scramble for Miracles golf tournament. We got lucky and it was overcast most of the day, so it wasn't TOO hot, just sticky. I drove around and took team pictures of everyone (actually Kelly drove, and he only almost dumped me out of the cart 4 times). It was a fun tournament, but I didn't get home in time to see the girls tonight. Can't ait to see them in the morning and get my hug from Claire!

Weekend

I had an awesome weekend with the family! We didn't do much, which is nice. Last night I went out with my girls Mindy and Heather Cobb and had a great time! It's so nice to have girls night every once in a while. Today we went to the Republic Aquatic Center and Andy, Heather and Avery met us there. Tonight we ordered pizza for dinner and are chilling out! I know I've had a good weekend when I only have 9 Weight Watchers points left for the whole week - yikes! Looks like no more treats for me this week! I took a couple days off from running because my leg was bothering me, so back at it in the morning and hopefully it will feel better! Now, to eat pizza and get ready to watch the new Entourage and True Blood!

Hippie massage

So, I decided to treat myself to a massage. I got a good deal on one, so I went someplace I'd never been. As soon as I walk up, to this old house in downtown Springfield, I was wary. I opened to door to find a long haired, pierced man greeting me "Welcome, you must be Rhiannon!" (I felt like he was going to say "Welcome to my lair! No one knows you're here!" and laugh maniacally). I immediately regretted my decision, but there was no going back at this point. He took me upstairs, to what he called "The Pleasure Room". At this point, I almost texted Pete to tell him where I was just in case. I went through the routine and laid on the table. He began, and it wasn't too bad, except for the fact that as he was greasing me up with his homemade oils, I couldn't stop staring at his dirty old tennis shoes. On his stereo, he was playing the usual relaxing music, peppered with an odd children's lullaby every now and then, which was interesting. He pushed so hard on my back I was clenching my teeth and wondering how much longer I had. After the LONG hour was over, he said "This is the end of your massage" (and I expected him to ask if I wanted a "happy ending") then he said "take your time getting up, I'll be downstairs". As soon as he was out of sight, I jumped off the table like it was on fire and put my clothes on as fast as possible and got out of there. I've never had a massage from a man before, and this experience has completely ruled it out for any reputable man at a reputable spa in the future. I was so glad to be done. I'm sure he was a nice man, but I will not be visiting him again! I immediately followed that up with a pedicure at a much more mainstream chinese nail salon, where no one speaks English and they don't play creepy children's lullabies while greasing me up.

Economic Impact Awards

I didn't get to see the girls tonight, I was fortunate enough to get to attend the Springfield Business Journal's Economic Impact Awards. Children's Miracle Network Hospitals was nominated for an award in philanthropic business. We didn't win, but I got to accept our nomination plaque. It was a very nice ceremony, with a nice dinner. Someone made me eat cheesecake though, which was unfortunate after that brownie fell into my hand at lunch... I did however, realize that when it's 100 degrees out, it's too hot to wear Spanx. I couldn't wait to get home! The girls were in bed, with only one minor scare tonight with questionable ham that dad fed them for dinner. All seems to be well, no vomiting yet!

Here is a link the the SBJ page to see the full story and all the nominees and winners www.sbj.net

Girl named mommy

So, I'm new to this blogging thing. I wanted to start one to document the funny things that my girls do. Kylie is 3 and Claire is 1, and I try to remember everything but any parent knows that's impossible. I also want to share my "normal parent" moments with other parents, in hopes that we all won't feel so bad about things we do, that happen to everyone! I titled my blog "girl named mommy" because last night Kylie said "You are my favorite girl named mommy!" and I thought it was perfect. So follow me for cute things my kids say that you don't really care about, and for a lot of not-so-perfect mommy moments! Enjoy!