{So.Incredibly.Sore}

Well, I did it!

I joined a gym.

Today my butt literally got kicked into gear. The other two days I spent on the treadmill, and roaming around the weights wondering "hmm... how the heck do I get in there to lift weights?", then I went home after doing the weights I KNEW how to do.

Then today came.

I signed up with a personal trainer.

And she literally kicked my butt into gear.

She told me "warm up for a bit", so I walked for 15 minutes on the treadmill. Then she came back over and said "OK, go ride the bike for a few minutes" (which turned into 20 minutes by the time she was ready for me), then she showed me the circuit, and we tested the weight limits for me. Then she left me alone. So.... I went to the elliptical for 20 minutes (man that is the BEST machine!), and I did a circuit of weights.

I.AM.DYING. Can't move. So sore. But, I'll go back tomorrow.

{Just call her...}

Senator Katie N!!

That's right... yesterday Katie's class had to pick 3 judges and 4 Senators for the class, and Katie was *uh-hum* the ONLY girl picked to be a Senator (they voted, and she got the most votes out of all 4 Senators... YAY for Katie!). So, the Prez is a boy, Vice-Prez a boy, and three of the Senators are boys.... see a trend? They had their first meeting yesterday, and she said "all was good... all was good." I'm sure it was Katie! You were the ONLY girl there!

And sadly on Miss Maddie's side, she is now sporting a mini black eye. :( I decided to pull out the box of clothes that Katie outgrew years ago to see if anything would fit Maddie, and we took the pile of clothes to her room. She put on a skirt, which had a LONG belt on it, and it popped her in the eye, and now, well, it's swollen a bit and puffy, and this morning it's discolored. At least Halloween is coming up, so her Soccer Girl costume will match the black eye. :)

And news on moi? I joined (OK, I'll join tomorrow, I used the free pass today) an all woman's gym. It was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!! Hopefully I'll get (in the tone of a game show host) A BRAND NEW BODY!! I worked out 1 1/2 hours today, and I'm feeling it baby! Very sore... very sore. Tomorrow is pilates at 8:00, and my new treadmill friend Carmen said that is THE class to go to, so I will go! You can't beat a two year membership of only $19 a month plus tax. This month only it's a $25 enrollment fee vs the $125 enrollment fee!

And on to my final victory lap of the day... I managed to cancel our lousy Cricket broadband service. Talk about horrible service this company has. We called I don't know how many times to ask "why the heck is our broadband slower than dial-up?", and finally "give me my money back!!"... no one knows anything at that company. Fortunately, I went INTO the store today, only to be directed to the "corporate office", and after 45 minutes of THEM trying to get somewhere w/ my account, my account is FINALLY discontinued and I can send them back my broadband modem. Whew! They told me there should be a billing sticker I just place over my box that it came in... and guess what? It's not there. I don't remember ever getting one. Apparently there are laws & rules & regulations, and Cricket just doesn't follow any of them. Boooo on them! I'll lose my $35 activation fee, minus my shipping costs, but oh well... at least I'm DONE with Cricket!

{What a great weekend}

Well, my parents just left San Antonio by plane about 20 minutes ago, and I am able to upload some pictures of our glorious weekend together. It was filled with food, food, and MORE food! We did go shopping one day, took a tour of the new grocery store (it is fabulous, let me tell you!), ate out a few times, watched 6 movies ... and had a relaxing time!

Wednesday night the girls and I picked them up at the airport. I had dinner (soup) waiting in the crockpot at home. Katie had gotten her spacers in just prior to the airport trip, so she was a little uncomfortable. We had dinner that night, and relaxed, unpacked and watched our usual TV shows that night.

Thursday morning after the girls left for school, Mom, Dad and I went to our new grocery store. It is an awesome store, and it took us over 1 1/2 hours to go through everything. Awesome place, let me tell you. I had NO clue brussel sprouts were grown on stalks. They were there, ON THE STALKS! NO kidding! Saw tons of veggies & fruits I had never seen before, so that was cool. Ate wonderful samples, saw tons of foods from all over the world... amazing. We unloaded all that stuff (this stuff was going to make our amazing dinners for the next few nights), ate breakfast (amazing muffins from the bakery), then headed to The Rim, a really nice shopping area close to our home. We went to Ulta for mom to buy her some Bare Minerals makeup, Ross' where Mom found the girls a new dress each, Target for something (did we even get anything there?, but who can resist a trip to Target? Not I!), TJ Maxx, and the amazing Home Goods store (LOVE that store!). We finished w/ a trip to the ice cream place: Cold Stone Creamery. Yumm!

Does he look bored or what?

That night we ate at Applebee's, then watched TV all night. I picked Mike up at the airport from his business trip. He was supposed to fly in at 10:05, but he was late. And he didn't call me. GRR! So, I went around and around and around the terminals until he did fly in.

Friday we enjoyed a trip to Sam's, and stocked up on milk, pancake mix, etc. Dad bought a huge beef tenderloin, so we had chateaubriand that night (well, can we call it that if it was done over a grill?). We had a yummy salad w/ strawberries, mozzarella cheese, and sugary pecans w/ a poppy seed dressing (I stole that idea from my friend Mandy, whose home we ate at the previous Sunday.. it was AMAZING!). I will share that recipe & pics in tomorrow's post. Watched movies all night long (and afternoon).

During this time, I introduced my parents to facebook... so that was fun!! :)

Saturday we just hung around the house. Found a great Mexican restaurant (FINALLY!) that we will definitely try again: Panchito's. Yummy! They also serve SO much food, that we realized we need to split a dish next time. They make their own flour tortillas, so they were yummy as well. Watched more movies that afternoon. (also saw High School Musical 3 too! the girls were thrilled!).

Sunday night we had our final huge dinner. A family favorite since I was a kid: Butter Yaki (I'm sure I butchered the spelling of that). Basically, it's stirfry that you cook in front of the family, and you have rice, and won tons on the side. The won tons are my favorite food of ALL times, and I always had the job of wrapping them up. This time, I was able to teach the girls how to do it, and they were able to help me! MIke did a great job frying the won tons, and cooking the stirfry on his awesome cooker outside. It was delish!!

We took a few pictures we took before they left. It was incredibly windy, and we didn't have time to take 50 pictures to see which one was best. My dad is saying in this picture "we had time the last 5 days to take a picture, and we waiting until the final 5 minutes before we leave to take pictures....." :D Yep dad, we sure did!

So sad to see them leave, but we had a wonderful time!!

{SQUEEEE!!!}

My mom and dad are coming in today!!

We're so excited we can hardly stand it!!

Not sure what we're gonna do (pretty sure food is gonna be involved, (like won tons!!)... and eating out once or twice).... and maybe a little shopping.

Now, this girl has got to get moving on her cleaning! The girls are not as big of helpers as I was hoping they would be. {{grumble grumble}}

{the girl with a smile....}

Katie decided to run for Class President of her classroom. There are 8 girls, and I believe 12 or 15 boys in her class. Eight people ran for President. She wanted the phrase "the girl with a smile with go the extra mile" for her campaign. I made some snazzy posters up for her, and her campaign manager made some great posters as well for her. Her speech was on Friday, and sadly, out of the 3 girls who ran for President, NONE of them made it to the final three. Katie did get the most votes out of all girls though. :( She was very disappointed that since there were more boys than girls, the boys were easily the ones who made it to the final three. Oh, the joys of elementary school!!

Miss K also decided she wanted to grow up a bit. She has been begging her father and me for a while to get her hair cut. Daddy loves long hair, and immediately it was "no!!". Then it was "OK, give me a GOOD reason why you want to cut your hair", and she would fail each time to come up with a good reason. I wanted to tell her so badly "girl, just use your brains and tell him 'because I want to get a more grown up look because I'm growing up Daddy!'"..... and instead she says "ummm... because I want to?" or "ummm.... because all the girls in my class has their hair cut short". Ding ding ding! Wrong answer!! So, after a week of going around and around, she finally got her hair cut yesterday. She does have a more grown up look about herself. It's still long though, she only got about 3 1/2 - 4 inches cut off. ::giggling:: Course, she thinks it's all the difference in the world.

Pics to follow soon when I think of taking them....

{A few more pics}

Forgot to download these from my camera, but they were so cute NOT to post them!

This was one of the water rides... Maddie refused to go on this ride, but Ethan & Katie rode it several times. This is what Maddie did instead (here you can see all 3 kids getting soaked, and Ethan's running away from the water!).

Forgot I had another picture of sweet Emily smiling!

Poor Adam... he was just pooped out!


This picture was from a few weeks ago, and the boy is Mike's boss' son (Kaeden). We went to an antique fair, and the kids found a well with a dead fish in it (lovely!).... so they're trying to play with it via sticks.

{Family Visit}

Last week Mike's sister Tiffany & her family came to San Antonio for a work convention (well, Dan did, Tiffany & gang followed to have some fun). We visited with them from Wednesday until Saturday night, and had a BLAST! I took pictures all weekend long of Emily, their baby girl, as I couldn't get her to SMILE for the picture!! Some pics are blurry... sorry. :(

Here is a brief summary w/ pictures of our weekend:

Friday night we went to the park & played

Tiff & Dan pushing Adam on the swings

Emily LOVES her bottle.... even when it's empty!

Tiff & her baby girl

At Sea World on Saturday.... Madison & cousin Ethan

Madison on the swings Friday night

Dan & Adam at Sea World

Katie, Madison & Ethan at Sea World

"Hmm...where shall we go next?"

The BEST show ever ... Shamu!!

The kids & Dan sat in the splash zone, and you can IMAGINE how soaked they were when it was done!

Ahh ... finally got this baby girl's smile captured on camera!

{Happy Birthday Marcie!!}

A quick shout out to one of my favorite sister in laws!! :)

Marcie is in Hawaii... oh so far away from us!

Your card is in the mail. (OK, it will be tomorrow. Today is apparently an important day for government people... Columbus Day? Ever heard of it? Me neither!)

Hope you have a GREAT & FANTASTIC & GIRLY birthday!!

We miss you!!

{psst...I'm sure you're gonna kill me for posting this picture, but it's the ONLY one I have of you in my picture folders!!}

{New Calling}

Amy has a new calling ....

(drumroll please)

1st Counselor in the Relief Society Presidency.

::thud::

Someone please help me up.

{Dear Madison}

Dear Madison,

Mommy is SO proud of you for getting an invitation to the Kids' Cafe for being a Shining Star at school! That is so awesome! Your big sister was so in awe that you received this special honor, as she said this is reserved only for the students who are great listeners in school, and follow the teachers' instructions (why hasn't she gotten one yet?).

But, it truly saddens me that even though you are able to bring a guest with you, you don't want me to join you. :( You refuse to let Daddy come either! You actually stated you didn't want to enjoy this honor, and refused to go. Oh, my stubborn stubborn child. Please learn to enjoy life and not be so sensitive! No one is going to stare at you while you eat on stage!

I'm so happy you decided to invite Riley to eat with you. I guess if you won't let me be your guest, then the best person for this is a friend at school. Remember to choose the right and make good choices!!

Love,
Mommy

{Political Perspective from a 6 year old}

Madison came home yesterday showing her paperwork from school. Included in her paperwork was a Scholastic News for Kids, and on it had a picture of Obama & McCain. Inside the paper was three things about each person, and what they liked. McCain loves Mexican food, the book King Arthur and loves to hike. Obama loves chili, the book Harry Potter and he loves basketball.

Maddie’s conversation with me went like this:

Madison: Mommy… we learned about John McCain and Barack Ohana (not Obama, ohana, like “family” in Hawaiian)… and they both want to be presidents!
Mommy: Wow, well, what did you learn about them?
Madison: Well, if it were me to pick, I like John McCain because he likes Mexican food, and I LOVE Mexican food (said with the typical Maddie expression of widening her eyes big), and my favorite book is King Arthur and when we go camping, we always hike, so I LOVE hiking too!
Mommy: When did you read King Arthur?
Madison: in school
Mommy: When do you go hiking when we camp? We haven’t camped in a long LONG time.
Madison: MOMMY! I love to hike!
Mommy: OK …. OK.

So, according to the political perspective of a 6 year old, John McCain is the way to go if you like Mexican food, King Arthur and long hikes.

On the Katie update: her “surgery” went well. The dentist has a cool plasma TV playing Disney movies up on the ceiling, so Katie watched Enchanted the whole time. We went home, and from there she bled for about 9 hours. Her large tooth wouldn’t stop bleeding, but was clotting like crazy, and that was good news, apparently (I did call the dentists’ office again like a concerned mother). Last night she put a towel down over her pillow to catch any blood that may come out, b/c she is a total drooler in her sleep. Madison was VERY concerned about possibly getting blood on HER, so she kept claiming “I don’t want to sleep w/ Katie!” (remember her puking over the sight of blood?) After giving her the choice of the floor or the bed, she made a good choice and stuck w/ the bed. Here are a few pictures so you can see the girl(s) for yourself.... sorry if you get grossed out, but this morning it looked 100% better than it did last night. :)

Other exciting news today, we found our first baby lizard in the house! Yes! We didn’t scream like little girls, but I did trap him in a glass and Mike took him outside (I’m assuming it’s a him). In fact, he showed Katie, but teased her and acted like he was going to throw it at her, and she freaked BAD, and fell over a few things. ::giggling::

In honor of Katie losing her three teeth (4 if you count the night before), here is her favorite soup recipe, which we had last night.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

1 c chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups chicken broth
1 (16 oz) pkg broccoli florets
2 ½ c milk
1/3 c flour
¼ tsp pepper
8 oz Velveeta
Heat large saucepan coated w/ cooking spray over medium high heat. Add onio & garlic, saute for 3 minutes or until tender. Add broth and broccoli. Bring mixture to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes. Combine milk & flour, stirring until well blended. Add milk mixture to broccoli mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Stir in pepper. Remove from heat, add cheese, stirring until cheese melts. Place 1/3 of soup in a blender or food processor (or hand blender) and blend until smooth. Yield: 6 servings (1 1/3 cup each).
Both of my girls eat this…. and one of them HATES vegetables (Katie). VERY yummy with fresh bread or rolls on the side.

{Tooth update}

Found a dentist that was able to take Katie after school.... and after an x-ray and an exam, she has to have THREE baby teeth pulled out. Two of the teeth had fillings that fell out, quite possibly b/c there were cavities that were still developing under the fillings, which made the fillings fall out. The third b/c it wasn't in good shape at all. So, we go in at 11 this morning to get the teeth pulled out, and she's being fitted for a spacer, which will be inserted in 3 weeks. Interestingly.... her canine is supposed to come in between 9-10 years old, and it's no where near the surface to coming in. Her next tooth isn't supposed to come in until she's 11-12, and it's the one that's very NEAR the surface. So, this is telling the dentist that her teeth has a mind of its own, and they aren't following the same time scale as the rest of the puberty stricken kids.

Funny story .... last night after dinner, she sat down and started wiggling her teeth. One of her loose teeth popped (it wasn't one of the three that needs to be pulled) and she pulled it out. So, now she'll have FOUR teeth, and on the same side to boot, that will be empty for awhile. Sad part, Maddie can't handle the sight of blood. Poor kid upchucked her dinner and dessert several times, then when she thought she was done, asked Katie to show her the empty socket again, and she puked AGAIN. I knew this about her though, so family, do NOT show her anything w/ blood!!

{Parent Teacher Conferences}

Yesterday I had Parent Teacher conference meetings with both girls teachers. Katie tested kind of low on a Texas test they give all students in 3rd, 5th & 8th grade. It is VERY important that she eventually passes this test in 5th grade, to ensure she gets to move up to 6th grade. Her grades are mostly A’s & B’s, except for this test. It was a reading test (which she does extremely well at), but it was comprehension that they are tested on, and she has difficulty w/ comprehension. Which explains why sometimes she just doesn’t “get it” at some math & science. Her teachers have requested that we put her in a group that will tackle this problem (just a reading group, but her teacher basically makes them think about what they’re reading, and teaches them concepts to help them understand). They say that this will also greatly help her in math & science. So, I went ahead and put her in this group.


Maddie excels greatly at math. She is an average reader for her class. Her teacher did say that she is VERY sensitive, which we already knew, and quiet and very sweet. One funny story that her teacher shared about Maddie is that last week, she was helping another student. One little boy started making siren noises, and so she looked up, warned the boy, and finished. Then the siren noises started up again, this time w/ a second person joining in. She looked up again, told this boy to sit in the corner, and then some of the kids said “but Madison was doing it too!”. She said she kind of gasped inside herself, as this was so out of character for Madison (at this point, I was shocked as well). She said “Madison, did you make that noise as well?” Maddie replied “a little bit”. Her teacher said she was just dying of laughter inside b/c she was so happy Maddie was finally coming out of her shell a bit.


Katie woke up last night with extreme pain in her tooth. Her fillings fell out months ago, but her dentist didn’t want to refill them b/c he said her teeth were becoming lose, and it would just be throwing money down the hole if we filled them, only for her to lose her tooth (teeth) shortly after. Well, we should’ve ignored him b/c so far she hasn’t lost either tooth. She woke me up at 2 a.m. last night in extreme pain, and so I gave her ibuprofen, which after 30 minutes still didn’t work. So, I gave her another one. After an hour, it still didn’t work, and we did warm salt water rinses, warm compresses, everything. Finally I remembered she had some Tylenol w/ codeine in it for her kidney stone pain “just in case”, so I gave that to her. Within 15 minutes the pain finally subsided and she was able to fall back asleep. She is very tired this morning (I let her sleep in 45 minutes longer than what she is used to), and I’m off to find a dentist to see what we can get done. Poor girl!