Sledding

The boys have decided that they absolutely LOVE sledding. I absolutely DON'T love sledding but only because you get wet, cold and muddy. I'm not a fan of wet, cold and muddy. However we actually had a lot of fun and I'm happy we went. I even got to race the boys down the hill. It really was such a fun time. The boys have decided they would like to go every Wednesday (early out days) until the snow completely melts. That could be awhile since the snow keeps a'coming. I do have to say....it is also good exercise hiking up the slick hill again after racing down. So...it's completely worth it. And I feel like I'm doing better with part of my "do stuff that my kids want to do (within reason of course) in an effort to become a better mom....even if I don't particularly enjoy the activity." resolution. Funny thing is...I had a bit of a bad attitude when we headed out but as we were leaving, I was soo happy we had gone. We had a blast and it was worth every cold bone in my body.

Ry riding with Nate

Ty helping Ry up the hill

Ty watchin Nate and Ry speed past

Nate helping Ry up the hill (I love how my boys help each other...sometimes anyway)

Ever since the days of Bunco when one of the prizes for winning was a Hot Chocolate maker, I have REALLY wanted one but never bought one. Well, they had them on sale at a local grocery store today and I finally have had a little extra money to spend on one. I am SOOO excited about it! We made our first cups tonight and they were absolutely delish. It kind of reminded me of the movie The Santa Clause when the cute little elf girl gives Tim Allen's character some hot chocolate that was shaken not stirred. Granted...this hot chocolate is stirred but it seriously comes out perfect! No hot chocolate clumps, barely any chocolate residue on the bottom of the cups, and always the perfect temp. It was definitely a purchase that I am happy I made and the perfect way to end a wonderful, chilly day!

Our new hot chocolate machine!

Where Did Fall Go?

The one thing I really hate about the weather here is that we never cycle through normal seasons. On Monday it was like 90 degrees and we had our A/C on. Last night it was raining so hard it kept the boys up. This morning it has snowed. Not a ton...and it's not sticking. But its still there and its still cold. I don't think we've broke 40 degrees yet. Ugh. The plus side...its perfect soup weather! I love a crockpot corn chowder recipe that I found in one of my many books, so that was on the docket. I got all the ingredients in there and we were out othe door yesterday morning. I came home to cold soup. The stupid crockpot hadn't been plugged in. Argh. But I just ended up cooking a batch by stove top and it was absolutely delish. I'm looking forward to leftovers for lunch today.

So I'm happy its starting to cool down, but I'm not so happy that fall got passed over. The snow can wait at least one more month and I'll be happy.
In other news, I had the kids' SEP meetings this week. Tyler is doing fantastic. On his Dibels tests (some great academic test) he scored 20-30 points over the average in all categories. I'm pretty positive she said he was the highest in the class on one of the tests if not all of them. He is also a very good student and listens well. He has lots of friends and everyone likes him. Makes me happy he is doing soo well.
Nate is also doing great. They test the Dibels alittle differently for him and its clumped in one score instead of 4 like Tylers, but he was about 20 points over the average as well. He was struggling with getting his homework turned in...he would do it but not turn it in. So he has started working with his teacher in the homework club at school and has improved significantly. He was also having a hard time remembering to write down his reading, but that is also getting better. So the two places he was struggling have been improved since his teacher and I talked about it.
I'm sure proud of those kiddos...as much as they hate when I push them to do homework and reading, they are smarty pants and doing well. I completely attribute that to daycare though...they should be taking credit for always doing a great job at making sure my kids are on track. I'm guessing that Ry will be the same way. I hope.

Random

Yesterday was a good day. Work was good, and I learned some good stuff. After work I jog/walked a mile and felt amazing for it. Then we went home and I made some healthy HG Alfredo with some additions of my own...namely a steamable package of broccoli and cheese.

The boys weren't too fond of it, but I thought it was absolutely delightful. It made 5 servings and each serving is 220 cal. Not too shabby I say. After eating and getting the boys' homework done (see? good on my goals today!) I got a text from friend (we shall refer to my ice cream guy as this from now on) wondering if he could stop by and say hello. And he did. I got kiddos put to bed and we had a good talk about school, politics, religion...all the stuff you probably shouldn't talk about but we actually share the same views on for the most part. He also asked alittle about my history and ended up learning probably more than he would've liked, but he kept asking questions. So he officially knows my past and is okay with it. Thats probably a good sign, since my past has been a rough one with lots of ups and downs. He also asked about Grayson. And was understanding. That meant alot. So it was an all around good night I think. And it felt soo good to run again...that is something I'm going to definitely keep up. Hopefully I can get my butt back in shape soon enough. This is good...Life is good....

And now some random kids pics I found :)



Ty and Ry like to sit out on the balcony...and I thought it was soo cute they squeezed into the same camp chair :)




Yes thats called child labor...wierdly they love cleaning their bathroom.



I love this pic...they were bored while we were waiting for Grandpa to come save us from a flat tire. And of course Ry refused to pose. Thats my boys!

A Brain Dump and the Gurgles

*It's kinda funny to me how I can tell the most subtle changes that are occuring within myself. Its more of that growing up stuff I think. I don't know what it was about moving into the new house, but I've never had more of a desire to make sure my house is clean and dishes are done. Add in laundry to that. Instead of having the mindset of "Ah I'll do it later" I actually do stuff as it comes up. Maybe its because this house isn't as overwhelming as the other place was (size wise) but I like to chalk it up to me growing up a little.
*Along with the adult growing up....I've been having AHA moments left and right with my money. I tend to be an impulse buyer. I'll tell my kids that we don't have enough money to spend on a pizza one night, however a couple nights later I will be lazy and get take out, even though I really don't have the money. I didn't realize until recently that I'm a walking contradiction. And being a bad example to my kids. What am I teaching them? I am slowly changing my ways which will also bring on a fiscal fast pretty soon just to be able to get myself back in check.
*I am wondering what my body is up to. The plus side...I've lost probably 5 lbs in the last 2 days. The downside, that is because I haven't been able to eat much and what I do eat doesn't stay in my body long. I thought it was getting better last night, however I woke up this morning to gurgly tummy that I'm hoping goes away soon...but its sure making me not want to eat. Or do much of anything else sadly. I can't help but wonder if it is something I caught from my kids who were all sick last week, or a side affect of dehydration, or some funky bacteria that may or may not have been in the pool/hot tub at the hotel. For some reason I've been thinking about that the last day or two....hmmmmmm.
*Nate has been struggling AGAIN with school. His report card showed mostly N's which are the 3rd grade equivilant to an F. The plus side, he is doing well on his bell work. But that is the only thing. We do homework at home, and try to read every night, however he doesn't get his homework to his teacher. I need to come up with something that will show him the importance of turning in his work, especially when the majority of the time its done. If anyone has suggestions....please send them my way!
*Tyler has been struggling with just about everything. I don't remember Nate ever going through such a defiant stage. I ask him to do ANYTHING and he is too tired, or doesn't feel like it. No matter what I say or do he isn't changing his attitude. Again...some help here would be nice if anyone has experienced this before! I've tried everything and most nights end up tearful for both him and I. I just don't know whats going on with him, but I need to figure it out soon.
*I've been considering counseling for the older kids. I always thought they were adjusting well, however I'm starting to see a decline in both and wonder if they might benefit from having someone to talk to. Maybe their lack of will to do anything is related to such? I dunno. Either way, I'm worried about both of them and hope we can find something that will help them out soon.

Okie Dokie I think thats all for today. Have a good one ya'll :)

New recipes

Yesterday was an all around great day. Work went well, school went well, and our evening activities were a blast! On the docket for dinner was tortilla pizzas. We just got a tortilla and added pizza sauce, mozerella cheese and whatever toppings the boys wanted then threw them under the broiler until the cheese melted. It seriously was super delish. I folded mine and made a sort of pizza pocket type of deal but the boys ate theirs like actual pizza.

Mine had mozerella, feta cheese and sausage

After dinner and homework, the boys REALLY wanted to try out the new swim gear we got (yay for Wal-Mart clearance!) so we went down to the pool for awhile until it got chilly. They had a blast and Ry was soo excited his floaties allowed him to go anywhere in the pool instead of just staying on the stairs or holding my hands. The other two LOVED their new goggles/snorkling gear.
We headed back in and I decided to try the Mississippi Mug Pie that we were going to do on Saturday but I forgot about. It is absolutely perfect for those of you with little ones who love to help cook and SOOO quick and easy! The boys made theirs almost all the way by themselves and it was the perfect serving size. Seriously, if you love chocolate, go check out the recipe. And bonus...it was only 7 pts on WW. Well, mine was probably more cause I heaped on the whipped cream but still, not too shabby! In the future though, I am going to use shorter coffee mugs since it really didn't fill up like the picture showed it would. That or I just didn't do it right so the cake didn't set up haha! Either way, it was the perfect amount and very satisfying.

The pic at Hungrygirl.com looks alot more appetizing, but believe me it was to die for!

Tonight is going to be the Nacho-rific Stuffed Chicken. I'm kinda looking forward to it. I also get my new (to me) washer and dryer delivered today. Yay! I can do laundry again! And it was only $376 for both plus delivery and installation. Bonus!
Hope ya'll have a great day!

Weekend Highlights

I was sooo excited for this weekend to come. Probably because I needed a little break to just breath after the hectic week. Saturday I had a disappointing weigh in and made the commitment to get back on track this month. In fact, a friend of mine and I have made a wager to see who can lose 20 lbs the quickest. He is currently deployed however, and a guy....so I think I might lose this challenge. But it is making me want to work harder. (And no....he is not a love interest. He is happily married with 2 kids. We are just friends...I know someone would ask lol) So I'm looking forward to that. So far, so good.
After weigh in we did our shopping and then decided to go swimming. We were only in the water about 20 minutes when Nate started trying REALLY hard not to cry. I swam over and asked what was up, and then saw the wasp in the water and the little prick on his finger. Poor kid had been bit (according to him. I still say stung). So we went home and were bored. I decided to check and see where my bank accounts were standing and to my surprise, my grant money from school had been deposited! That made this girl very happy because now we could go school shopping for the boys. We ended up getting them a couple new outfits plus some church clothes. And then I gave in and got me a cheapo charcoal BBQ and a couple $10 camp chairs for the deck. I brilliantly set up the BBQ all by myself and we commenced with grilling burgers instead of having the chicken that I originially planned on. And after much distress about lighting the friggin coals (for an hour at least)...we got it going and settled down to eat our burgers at 7:30 pm. And they were amazing.

Mmm burgers...yes that is cheese AND pineapple.

Sunday started out rough with me being woke up at like 1:30 - 2:00 by a crowd of people beating the crap out of some kid right outside my bedroom window. After I woke up enough to realize that it wasn't the neighbors or someone's TV, and that it wasn't stopping, I guessed on the dispatch number and called it in. That got me all hyped up so I took a shower and finally fell asleep again at like 3:00. Sunday was also our very first week at our new ward. It was in a new building so we drove up there and I decided to throw my keys and phone in my church bag and just lock my purse in the car. Nate offered to carry the church bag (so I thought) and as I was walking around the car...all doors now locked....I saw Nate empty handed....yeah. He said he decided not to take it and thought I was. UGH. So as anyone who has EVER taken kids to a place where they were supposed to be quiet for any length of time, you can imagine my disdain for wanting to try to tackle church without snacks, books, little toys, and drinks that were all inconvienently locked in my car. But we did it. And it wasn't THAT bad (if by not THAT bad I mean that they kicked and poked and proded each other the ENTIRE meeting and if my car wouldn't have been completely useless, we would've gone home for naps....)
Anyway. The locksmith we use at work came out and saved me after church and only charged me his normal rate instead of the normal weekend emergency rate. It was good.
The rest of the day went peaceful and we just enjoyed each others company. I finished the last book in the series I was reading by Traci Hunter Abramson which is rather depressing. I've really enjoyed all the books and hope she comes out with another one soon.

As an edit: I started this post in the AM but got super busy...so finishing it right now!
I just got out of my first day of classes and I think it will be great! However, I am thinking that I will have to buckle down and get internet since I have one online class and my accounting class is set up so that EVERYTHING is done online. So....sigh. Looks like I'm adding an expense to the budget. I hate that. But its for the greater good I suppose. Now does anyone know of a cheap but efficient internet provider in the Southern Utah region?!

Nerves man...they get to you

I've been a little scatter brained this week, probably from moving then the vaca and now school starting. Its been a blur. A very fun and exciting blur...but there are a whole lot of changes all happening one after another. I always thought I was one who could handle change. I've gone through several changes in my little lifetime and have taken them in stride. But for some reason, the recent changes are getting to me.

Moving was great. We are in a smaller place, yes, but it is much more managable than our monsterous old place and has more amenities. I'm happy with that decision. The job front is still a tad scary since funding is up in the air (which is probably where most of my anxiety lies to be honest) but I'm praying like crazy it will work out. The boys LOVED their first day of school. I was a horrible parent and forgot to take pictures...yeah I know. But I will take them once we do our official school shopping on Monday. Then you can be privvy to their 3rd day...or probably more likely their 4th day of school. Its the thought that counts...right? Right?! Anyway.

The biggest change for me personally is going back to school. I'm ecstatic to be finishing my education, but for some reason the nerves have set in. Maybe it's cause I'm old and going back to school. Or knowing its going to be ALOT of work in addition to raising my kids and work responsibilities. But I keep reminding myself that I am doing this for my kids. I'm doing this so that I can gain the education I need to be able to provide a better life for them. That is what counts.

Another thing that is positive about school is that I will have more socializing opportunities. On pretty much a daily basis my kids let me know that "we wish you would hurry up and get married so that we could have a good dad." They don't quite understand that you can't just walk up to some dude and be like "Hey! My name is Kim and I have three boys who really want a dad who will play with them, read with them, spend time with them, and all that jazz. You up for all that? Cause if so, lets get hitched..." Believe me.....I wish it was that easy. So maybe getting out and meeting people and all that jazz will put a little boost in that side of my life? Maybe.

I've also realized that I need to get back on the WW bandwagon. Even though I haven't gained back more than a pound of my weight lost, the muscle is leaving and fat is replacing it. I can physically see the change. And it sucks. So I need some way to boost my enthusiasm and get back into it. I think going to school will help, and I might use the hour break I get between two of my classes to jog on the track at the University. Since I don't have room for my treadmill and I always worry about jumping around in my apartment since I'm on the 2nd floor, I am having to be more creative. I think I will start up on my WiiFit again though. I did love that and I don't think it causes too much ruckus. Now I just need to get my butt moving.....

On the ex front, the legal paperwork is with the judge at the moment and all he needs to do is sign it. How long does it take to sign exactly? Well...we've been waiting for about 3 or 4 weeks now. But sooner or later it will all be done. Crossing fingers that its the sooner part instead of the later part. I've been kind of shocked about things that have happened during this whole process. From being lied to by the ex, to his fiance's family cornering my family to ask why I'm so horrible and such, to his dad yelling and degrading me, to a great family member coming forward to let me know they saw past his lies (thank you...you have no idea what that meant to me) to another family member who has now called my phone a total of 8 times in the past 3 days. And I'm not going to answer because quite frankly my emotions cannot handle anymore of their bashing on me. The boys are starting to see past it too and when I told them that things were finally cleared for them to go back to seeing their dad on the weekends they both started crying and begged me not to make them go. Then started the compromise thing again of "just make us go one day and then come get us" or "how about we only go for one weekend a month instead of all of them?" It breaks my heart. I guess its a good thing he hasn't tried to take them yet, but it still makes me feel bad. I know that their dad has a good heart, he is just making some bad choices right now that are affecting them and I feel like all of my efforts to make sure they WEREN'T affected by this has gone down the drain. Oh well...the only thing to do now is to just keep praying that everything will work as it is supposed to.

Well....thats all folks. Thanks for listening to my rants and raves and have a good weekend!

And more

I think I might start naming these posts the Poop Chronicles. I had to share this little gem. Last night, Ry was REALLY wanting to go pee on the bushes. I'm not sure where he learned this from, but I kiboshed it on the patio and told him he had to go in the actual potty. So that brings us to an hour later. I could totally tell he was stinky (ugh) but we were going to take baths and such within the hour so I just let him be stinky. I know...bad parenting, but pull ups are expensive and I didn't want to use 3 in one night and it drives me CRAZY and I think its gross to put the same pull up on after a tubby, even if it's dry. Don't judge. :)
Anyway.
I'm lounging out, the boys are outside playing, and I hear "Ryder is peeing in the bushes!" I'm thinking "Ah dang please let this not be true, since he was also stinky."
And then Ry comes running in...shorts to his ankles, one side of his pull up completely off his body, the other side twirling around his ankle...and yep. Poop EVERYWHERE. 
No need to say that a shower was in store for that one. Yup, he bypassed the fun tubby and got sprayed off instead.
I really hope that this potty training thing happens soon.

Content

I'm feeling at peace again today with my internal struggles I was having yesterday. I will go into detail later after things cool down a bit....but it is really hard to decide whether you should choose loyalty or financial security. Its hard. But I've let go. I'm leaving it in His hands. Whatever is meant to happen will happen.

The boys are soo excited to be done with school. Today is the last day. I feel bad because the fact that I'm a single mom means that they don't get the lazy summer days that I once got, they still have to go to daycare. But maybe someday I will find my Prince Charming and will have a little less work time to worry about. That would be nice.

I'm excited however, for the summer months. I'm looking forward to goin to the "beach" with the kids again, and really excited for the chance to go to Disneyland. Still need to get my butt moving on saving for that, but I think it will be okay.

I'm taking a hiatus and having a three day weekend. I'm looking forward to being able to relax and spend time with my boys. Yay for Memorial Weekend! I hope you all have a great weekend too!

random

I am having a bit of a mental block today as to what I should write. I want to write something....I just dunno what. So I guess its one of those days I just type and see what comes of it.

I am starting to get more and more excited about my weight loss. I think the fear I had of losing weight is starting to subside. Yes...I had fear. I feared I'd have a fat tongue (like on Click, the extra skin that won't shrink) that people would realize I am fat (duh...cause thats not obvious at all), that I would fail, all sorts of random wierd things. But I'm getting over that now. I'm excited to start feeling good in my own skin finally. I'm also rather excited for Disneyland. My savings goals and my weight loss goals are NOT on track, but I'm working on it and I'm hoping things align a little better so that these can both be amped up. I have pretty much 2 1/2 months to get my butt in shape...and to get money saved up. Time to work on the discipline.

I have been struggling with how to offset what the boys are learning at their dads. Ty seems to be semi- immune to it all for now, but Nate has taken on some really bad habits that I need to curb. Attempting to curb them, however, is a hard thing to do. I guess just keep praying I'll figure something out and they won't be  too screwed up in the end. I do get to have them more often now though and that makes me happy.  Less time at their Dads house means more time in an (attempted) positive atmosphere.

Memorial day is coming and again I feel crappy that I don't have anywhere to memorialize Grayson. I guess we will see how the weekend goes. I'm excited I'll have my kiddos and look forward to having a good time, whatever we do.

Brain Dump

Sometimes...you just need to not worry about whats being said or how random it is and just type whats on your mind so thats what I'm doing.

I'm excited for this weekend. I'm unsure what my weigh in is going to bring, since it seems when I do great I fail, and when I do not so great I fail...so we shall see. But I am getting excited for the 5k. And scared. Scared to death because I want to do good but I'm afraid to fail. I know I'm going to push myself and I want to be able to jog the whole thing but I'm going to have to use a whole lot of ice afterwards I think. But I really want to be able to say I did my very best and I pushed myself hard. I want to earn it. 

I've also been doubting the program which is bad. Because like I said, I seem to have fantastic weeks and I have a bad weigh in. Then of course not so fantastic weeks and another bad weigh in. I know my body is adjusting and muscle is forming and all that jazz...but it makes it very frustrating when you work hard and nothing comes of it. And as I'm writing this I feel like a hypocrite because I could've pushed myself harder and didn't. But I did make a valid effort. I should've seen something positive come from it you would think.

On the job front I wasn't nervous...until recently. As many know..the funding for my position has been cut completely out of the FY2011 budget. Thank you congress and Obama. Way to kick the little people while they are down. And ironically...in FY2012, they want to put the funding back in budget AND increase the amount. But for one year...families have to suffer and rescue scams will become record high. My boss is working diligently to find funding to keep me on at least for that year so we can re-apply for funding next year, and I'm applying for all sorts of grants from every business, bank, and foundation I can find who need to use CR money. But thats not a guarantee. I know I have a job for at least a couple more months thankfully, but who knows past there. Its a frustrating spot to be in, just because I don't know if I should be trying to apply for other jobs or just stick it out here. I really like my job and I really want to stay here. But I need to be able to take care of my family as well. Its a hard position to be in.

The legal paperwork has been served. That means come June 3, unless the ex disputes anything....this whole legal battle will come to an end. This makes me soooo happy. I will be grateful when I can recieve child support, because it could definitely help my cause a lot. That extra income will be nice. And the fact that we are re-arranging the custody and the visitation stuff, the boys will be much happier and hopefully we won't have to negotiate anymore on when they will be going with their dad. Makes me feel bad that they have to learn how to negotiate the time with their dad. But its coming to an end. I feel good about that. I just hope he actually pays the child support and doesn't job hop to avoid it.

I've decided that on the religious front, Satan works really hard on me. Like really hard. I come sooo very close to being able to resolve all my issues and get straight again, and he steps in to put doubt in my mind. "How do you know this is the right path for you? What if you make the sacrifices you need to make to follow this gospel and in the end its not true? Then where will you be? Lonely and friendless and depressed? Again? Is that how you want to live your life? If you have doubts about the truth of it, why even try to live it?"
These thoughts run through my head constantly, but even more so when I'm doing anything church centered. It makes the tasks extremely difficult and it does put a whole lot of doubt in my heart and mind. I do remember a scripture saying that as soon as I give my heart to Him, the difficulty will go away. I feel like thats true, but I don't have alot of faith in anything really, and I don't have alot of trust in anything. This has been a hard path for me. I don't know why and I know I make it 20 times harder than it needs to be.

Thats my brain dump for the day. All my thoughts and feelings of the day. And on that note...I hope ya'll have a good weekend. I'm going to be doing business expo then weigh in then 5k then more business expo then die. Should be a good weekend.

FHE

After work last night we decided to go at it FHE style. We had some BBQ chicken with potatoes and corn for dinner, then discussed some new family rules after a song. The new rule? Momma is tired of hearing "I didn't do it! It wasn't me!" So from here on out in my household, if someone says that when I asked what happened...they take automatic blame. If no one comes forward, then EVERYONE gets to bare the consequence. And if the person who did do it comes forward, they will still recieve a consequence but I will go easy on them. Hopefully this helps.

Also as part of our FHE, I have decided to go through Nate's scout book and help him pass stuff off. So we did 4 achievements last night. Afterwards, we went and got a smoothie then walked to the park. Yes walked to the park. This is not something I would've done 3 months ago.

Nate was trying to give me a "tough" look. Didn't quite work out all that well.

Ry was having a cause of "Mommas Luck" and tripped like 5 times while at the park.

I quite liked this 'twilight' lookin picture...not the vampire twilight but the twilight like right before the sun goes down.



I've been thinking about my weight loss and even though its kinda like DUR you shoulda known that A LONG TIME AGO I'm realizing that to get my full potential going...I can't be lazy. I have to push myself and I will only get out of it what I put in. I know thats just a general rule, but in my mind I figure if I just eat right and do some walkin I'll drop some poundage. Which is true. But I could be doing so much more...so much faster! So I decided to go suck it up and run OUTSIDE. Not go easy on myself and go inside. And it was fantastic. I did 3 loops around my complex/street which is .55 miles. So I pretty much did a little over 1.5 miles last night. I didn't run the whole thing, but I'd jog one street then walk the next and repeat that pattern...and by loop 2ish my lungs had stopped burning. It was awesome. I want to add one loop around every week or sooner if I feel I can handle it. Then the 5k in T minus 3 weeksish. I'm excited. For once...I'm saying BRING IT ON!

Quick and Easy

I have slacked on posting the last day or two because I've been busy and out of town, but here are a couple little tidbits for the day. -My SpendLess has been slacking. Big time. But I'm starting over this new check. I will use cash again and not spend on my card unless absolutely necessary (like for gas only since gas is easier {more convienent for me} to pay with than cash). -I got a really good check due to having overtime and mileage, so I will be able to catch up with my savings goals and that makes me excited! -I weigh in tomorrow and I have not eaten well today. I am going to have to exercise and run ALOT tonight to make up for it, but am looking forward to (hopefully) losing weight. I better, or someone is going down. Namely me. -Tomorrow is going to be a super fun filled day. I get to keep my boys (woot woot!) and in the morning we have ww weigh in, then an easter egg hunt for the tenants at work, then Nate has scouts and I think Ty and Ry will go with me shopping, then our nephew/cousin Jack's birthday party which is our very favorite part of the day the boys have determined (HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK!). Sometime in the day I also get to go pick up some new kitchen chairs from a co-worker whos giving them away, and also possibly a new coffee table and maybe more. Not sure yet. But excited all the same! I think thats all for now. I will status update on Monday how the weekend went and how weigh in went, and maybe even a picture or two. Have a good weekend all!

Kid-isms

The boys crack me up. Here are a couple of the latest:

-This morning as we are driving to moms house. I see a cute military guy so we try to catch him, and Nate is an awesome wingman. "Come on....green light. Stay green. Momma's got to catch up to the hot army guy. Hurry mom! Cooooommmmeeeee onnnnnn." And when we catch him...."He has a nice car. But he's not that hot."

-Last night at the dinner table, somehow Tyler figured out how to get water to come out his nose. For those who knew us when he was a baby...he was notorious for having food come spilling out his nose due to his cleft palate. Somehow, after all the surgeries, he has now figured out how to get water to come out his nose without the burn. Nate tried, but just couldn't do it. Ry just laughed and thought it was a grand ol' time. Water was flying everywhere and I learned that spitting water out your nose everywhere is "hilarious and wicked cool".

-Ryder is a big boy now, did you know that? He refuses to go potty in the potty, but he is a big boy. So in order to be a big boy that apparently means getting in and out of the car and his carseat by himself and shutting the door, climbing onto his chair/the couch/his bed/etc without help, and doing what his brothers do. Which last night included him face planting it at least 3 times at the park because he wanted to jump off the big stairs like brothers. One time resulted in him biting his tongue. I hope he grows out of it soon.

Todays Randomness

So here are some random shtuff that has been going on lately....

-At work, we are FINALLY hiring for a helper for me. Woot Woot! I've needed one as my case load has grown huge! We had 80 applications, only 20 applied right, and we narrowed it down to 6 people to interview. We did those interviews on Friday between the Care and Share ground breaking and our tenant party and immediately disqualified 2 people. The remaining 4 are coming in today to present a portion of our class and do a final interview with H. I'm rather excited. We have a couple that I really like, so I think it will be good.

-With the houses....I still have NO CLUE whats going on. K from UHC is reviewing applications right now and we will find out soon who is going to get those houses and who won't. This has been the most nerve wracking thing ever and my backup plan of getting an RD loan at the end of the year may not work either, since they are changing the boundaries of where you can get a home and also are starting a new fiscal year....which means delays up to wazoooo! So....I'm praying for the houses.

-Ryder bit me for the first time. Yes. Bit me. I don't think he meant to cause he immediately said sorry and was sad, but still! I haven't had a biter. I hope it doesn't continue. Eesh.

-This week Tyler is the Star of the Week at school and he is very excited. We made a poster and he gets to bring a favorite book, a treat, and a sharing item. We took the poster today and will do the rest tomorrow. I'm excited to see how it goes when he gets home :)