Life Teen

So - I just got home from my first Life Teen meeting as a Core member at our church. It was fun and I'm so glad I went. Life Teen is a ministry for High School students - "Leading Teens Closer to Christ" As a core member, I am one of the adults that helps out with the retreats as well as the weekly Life Teen meetings. Tonight was my "introduction" and it was fun. They are participating in a nationwide clothing drive. Life Teen set a goal of getting 50,000 lbs of clothes nationwide. Our parish alone - as of tonight had almost 14, 000 lbs of clothes. Amazing! So, I of course am all wound up and excited from getting to spend an evening with high school kids who are participating in the youth group and am looking forward to more nights like this. Just had to share - thanks for listening!

Biggest Loser Quote

So - one of the few reality shows I do like to watch is The Biggest Loser. The sad part is that I usually am sitting eating pretzels and sometimes drinking a beer while watching it. Not good. Tonight I got a big glass of water instead. We finally watched the first one - we record it so we don't have to watch all the dramatic interruptions and pauses - we can fast forward through them. Anyhow - one of the ladies said something tonight and I want to have a shirt made - "There is no epidural for exercise." I thought it was classic. I was sad to see the first couple voted off, but they looked awesome in the follow up. We'll see how it plays out. I'm running with a neighbor tomorrow evening - maybe it wasn't a good thing to watch Biggest Loser tonight because now I'm all motivated. Hopefully we won't hurt ourselves - she hasn't done anything in about 6 months since she had her baby. I think we are a good match for running together. Thanks for listening and have a great night.

(Buurrrp) Amen!

So - just didn't know if I could follow up the last post with anything meaningful. Well - our girls are pretty free when it comes to burping (out both ends as we call them fanny burps). Valerie seems the most gassy. We are waiting for the time she rips one during church and boy is it going to echo on the wood pew. I think we'll have to leave because we'll be laughing so hard. Anyhow - I digress. Belching....tonight at dinner, it was Valerie's turn to say prayers. As she is saying it a rather juicy burp escapes, she doesn't miss a beat and keeps right on praying. After she finished and said Amen - she said excuse me. What else are we supposed to do? We can't help but laugh at her. Just had to share.

Somebody's Tired

Valerie has been tired the last couple of days. I let her sleep today and she slept until 9:30. She didn't take a nap and had to get up to use the bathroom during dinner. Well - she was in there for a long time and it got really quiet. Got up to check on her and this is what we found. Yes she is asleep.

Exercise Update

Well - after not exercising since last Tuesday...I got out and ran tonight. Didn't want to, was finding every excuse not to do it, but decided I needed to just get out there. I'm glad I did. I only did a mile, but it actually felt good. Still have to stop and walk, but I'm okay with that. Todd and I just need to be okay with me working out in the evenings right now with kids having snotty noses. I had to wake Valerie up at 9am today for school. If I knew she would have slept for another hour, I may have let her go, but my luck she would have gotten up at 9:15. Oh well - she did have a good day at school. Veronica was great for me today - we dropped off recycling, went to Kohl's, went to the grocery store and then got Steak n Shake. It was nice. Then she took a good nap so I could get the grass cut and Valerie watched a movie and played nicely inside while I did that. Overall - not a bad day.

Valerie First Day of Preschool

Ready to leave Ready to go inside

A New First

It happened today...Samantha got her first official phone call from a friend. The good news...it was a girl. The bad news....it has begun. One of the girls in her class lives just around the corner and wanted Samantha to come and play. We just had too much tonight - it was the first night of Religious Ed for Samantha. I answered the phone and this little voice asked for Samantha and it caught me so off guard; I asked who was calling and she told me. I gave the phone to Samantha and told her who it was. Then Samantha answered her with "Maybe another time." Then they hung up. I called the Mom back just to make sure it wasn't misunderstood and that Samantha really did want to play, but we couldn't. It was too funny. She seems to be making a lot of friends and "blossoming" socially - which I'm very happy to see her having fun with lots of different people. We went to the Back to School Bash a few weeks ago and it was just me and her. She is a lot like me. She kind of hung back a little and took it all in and checked it out and then she started seeing people she knew and once that happened she took off and was playing and didn't want to leave. That is exactly how it worked for me that night too. I gradually started seeing people I recognized and talked to some that I knew just a little - so it was good for both of us to broaden our social circles a little more. Thanks for listening. I have pictures from Valerie's first day of school I'll try to get out here soon. Bad news here - I am working on the second week of not working out. Took Valerie to the doc last Monday, Samantha got off the bus Monday with a fever so everyone stayed home. Then Veronica had a fever again on Friday so we were back at the docs and she is finishing up a round of antibiotics. Valerie had a fever today so she has started on them as well. Maybe next week all will be healthy enough for the Y and I won't be sick. UGH!

Book Recommendation

Okay - so I have a book I would recommend to everyone. It is called The Shack and the author is William Young I believe. The main character - Mack, suffers a great loss in his life and he meets God in a shack. It is actually the trinity that he meets and the description of how they work together within people and why things happen the way they do....it is a very interesting view of our relationship with God and with each other. There is a very insightful discussion about freedom of choice too. I bought it yesterday and finished it last night. Keep in mind, I'm a reader and I stayed up until 11:30 so I could finish it, but it is a relatively short book. I am going to read it again so I can really absorb more of it this time around. Speaking of God and faith - I had the opportunity to experience an act of grace this evening. I've mentioned Beth - who is expecting the baby, Jeremy, with Trisomy 13. Well, my church has a shawl ministry that I was involved in at one point. They knit and crochet prayer shawls. I contacted Beth's sister to see if she would appreciate a shawl. Her sister had been thinking the same thing, but just hadn't called me about it yet. I got the shawl last week and was able to give it to Beth tonight. Here is where the grace comes in. I had a general idea of what the shawl looked like - at least the colors in it. Well - when we unwrapped it to show Beth, it was an actual triangle shawl that she could wear. Not the more rectangular "blanket" that is typically given. Then it turns out all the colors in it are Beth's colors that she likes to wear and she would actually wear a shawl like this. I'm amazed at how these things work out. I have another friend that helps out with the shawls and she says she doesn't pick the shawls for the recipient, the shawls pick them. There is also a friend who tells me there are no coincidences. I believe her. God has a plan and sometimes based on our choices he has to alter it slightly, but he does know what we need. As usual, thanks for listening.

Ramblings

So - I should be going to bed, but am not quite ready. My mind is racing - I just finished watching McCain speak. I will say I was very excited last night after watching Palin and am thinking the Republicans may actually have a chance. Yes - I am a conservative. I discovered I was a republican while in college (although I didn't completely understand what that meant). I was playing a game called "Scruples" - not a game I would recommend with people you don't know very well. Anyhow - I had the question "You own a company that is struggling - do you make cutbacks to save the company or try other means with the chance of losing the company?" I said I'd make cutbacks because what good would the company be if it went totally under and everyone lost their jobs. This way - I could hire the people back when the company got back on its feet. Anyhow - one of the guys playing the game couldn't believe my choice and he said I was such a republican. It didn't mean a whole lot to me then. I don't like to tell people my views because in certain situations - I don't have all the facts. That is my biggest complaint with both candidates - they tell us all the things they are going to change and make better, but they don't tell us how. They are all kinds of great ideas, but how are they going to be implemented? If anyone knows where I can find that info - I'd appreciate it. I'm also not able to sleep because of thinking about my workouts - I've missed two days. Because of kids and thinking one had strep. Wednesday was out because they slept late so I was going to run after Todd got home, but opted out of it when I discovered it was 90 plus outside. Didn't make it today because I had to take Ron to the doc to check for strep. No strep, just a virus. So - now I'm motivating myself to go tomorrow and get at least a 3rd workout in this week. BUT - if it doesn't happen, it won't be the end of the world. I'm okay with it. Val is LOVING school. She can't wait to get home and show me the crafts she made that day. Although today it sounded like she told Todd she did "craps" at school. Take that however you want - we are going to ask if gambling is part of the curriculum. Sam is doing well. Homework is working out much better after dinner. She is struggling with not being a tattletale, but not being afraid to tell someone if she needs to. She mentioned a boy in her class and said he was a bully. So I asked her if he had done anything to her and she said he had taken her lunch star before she could get it. I asked if she told the teacher and she said that is tattling. I told her next time to tell the boy that she doesn't like for him to do that and to please stop, but if he keeps doing it, it is okay to tell the teacher what is happening. Every day is something I've not covered before. Well - I think I've covered all the things that keep me awake and I apologize for the random thoughts. Keep on praying for Aaron, Beth and Jeremy. The strength Beth is showing is amazing. She has such strong faith and I am amazed. I don't know if I could be as strong in the same situation. But I guess there isn't much she can do except to pray. Thanks for listening/reading. I need to get to bed - Leno is on, it is past my bedtime.

Yea! Rain!

So - don't know how long it is going to last, but it was so nice to be looking out the window and watching the rain come down! I haven't cut the grass in over two weeks. Our backyard looks pitiful - between lack of water and kids playing on it all summer. We need about 3 days of rain and no one on it. Which is hopefully what we will be getting the rest of the week. I may have figured out the homework stress. The last couple of weeks have been awful between the hours of 4 and 6pm. Part of that had to do with getting the 15-20 minutes of homework in with Sam. We were trying to do it after a snack, but before going out to play. Not really her focus at that time. Plus the other two would be needing things and I'd be so frustrated and unhappy by the time Todd got home. This week we decided to try after dinner. Just let her play after school and not worry about it. It went so much smoother. She was ready at that point and there was someone to take care of the other two so Sam could get the full attention she needs and wants. Whew! Huge sigh of relief - hope this continues. Val had her first day of preschool today. She loves it. I told Todd the hardest part was watching all the 2 year olds crying and not wanting to be there, knowing my 2 year old would stay. She cried when I made her leave. She missed the cutoff date by 7 days. She is on the waiting list - I'm hoping someone drops out. But if not, she enjoys playing at the Y while I work out. Did 15 min on the bike and weights today - need to up my weights and can go longer on the bike next time. Here's hoping it keeps on raining!

One Week Down

Well - I managed to get my workouts in last week all the days that I wanted. I went and had my "coach approach" meeting at the Y and set up 4 goals for the next 6 months - Lose 20 lbs, drink 24 oz of water a day, run 2 miles without stopping, bike an hour a week. We'll see where I am at the end of 6 months - I have a follow up appointment in two weeks to see how I'm doing. I did a 2 mile run/walk today - felt like crap. It was first thing in the morning and I was stiff. I notice a difference - even when I run at the Y, I've at least been up walking around and doing stuff - so the 7:30am run wasn't so good. The weather was nice though. I got all set to do some of the weight machines at the Y. The problem is, Ron of course had a 101.2 fever today. I don't think she had it before bed, but I'll take her temp in the morning. If she still has one, I have to wait until Todd gets home to go work out. Here's the wrench I talked about before. Val starts preschool tomorrow - I'm very excited and she is as well. It will be so nice to have a couple of mornings with just one child. Sam and I went shopping tonight. Trying to get a few things without spending a ton of money - it isn't easy. We had to keep looking at what she wanted and putting things back. There were a few tears involved, but we got through it. And then I forgot to put back one of the shirts so it came home anyhow. Oh well! So - just wanted to share my workout progress, plus it helps me keep track of where I am. Thanks!