Monday, January 24, 2011

Random Cuteness

Ezme 16 Months. Loved wearing this dinosaur mask. It took me forever to try to get it off her face so she could go to bed
 

My little "Strawberry" really loved how this photo came out. Such a big girl
 

Ollie, all cozy and warm in his car seat
 

New Bedding....Love It

A few have asked to snap a picture of the new bedding I got for my Birthday/Anniversary. I just love it. We have had the hardest time finding something colorful that could really match the green walls and still sand out and make the room look more "grown-up" if you will. The best part, ITS SO WARM!!!
 

Closet Craziness......Take Two

I know you guys are at the edge of your seats waiting in anticipation on how our "closet" ordeal is coming along. Well, I was up until late last night, making plans, mapping our bedroom wall, and measuring every possible angle and came to a successful and under budget price on a good closet that we (Jason and I) can do ourselves and save a ton of money. Oh, and give us tons of space for clothes too, an added bonus you know *smiles*

Today was spend cleaning the upstairs....you know, laundry, bedding, tiding up toys....cleaning everything that has managed to allude me for the last week.

I will probably measure one more time, the wall and then hopefully make a trip to Lowe's or Home Depot to get a better look at the items up close. You never can be too careful. But I am really happy to see that there is finally an answer and our clothes will finally have a home that doesn't consist of throwing them over the chair or lying them on the floor. WOOT!

Here are a few pictures of what our room wall looks like. As you can see, it has a slant downward making it at the highest point about 8 1/2 feet high and at the lowest point about 5 1/2 feet. It's probably why we haven't put in a closet the last 6 years living here. We just weren't sure what we could do with the space. Now we know, and boy am I happy!!

Picture of the wall that will have the future closet. As you can see, the angle of the ceiling makes it a bit more challenging
 

Another photo, different angle. The T.V. will have to be moved and we also have to take into consideration of the steam heating system that is under the T.V. The chair in the picture will be moved back to the opposite side of the room once Ollie and his crib have moved
 

Update to Running

I am not sure why I didn't do this sooner, but last night while I was getting ready for bed and waiting for the last load of laundry to dry, I downloaded an App for my Ipod to help keep track of my distance and time. And I have to say, its much more accurate then the Wii. I am happy to say I managed to run 1 mile in 12 minutes and I think I can easily shave a minute off my time if I didn't have to stop a few times to help a sad fussy Oliver (as he is now while I type). My goal right now is not time but distance. I would like to reach 1.5 miles by Friday. Slow and steady wins the race! At least in this case, its going to have to be slow and steady...I don't think I have much more then that in me :-) I am excited. Now if I could only find a darn treadmill I will be all set.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Running

Curious.....Does anyone know what a good average time is if I run 1.6 miles. I can do that in 10 minutes but wanted to know if that was too slow. I tried looking the info up on the internet but I wasn't having any luck. I am pushing myself right now to try to do 2 miles in 10 minutes. Love to hear from my professional runners out there.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Organizing A Closet.....Or So I Thought

One would think this would be rather easy. And in some cases, it is. I have no problems on a daily, and sometimes hourly basis organizing the closets that the kiddos own. Both are neat, functional, well maintained. Between clothes, toys, books and shoes. Everything has its designated space, appropriately labeled bins, the works.

So why in the world is it so gosh darn hard to do my own room..........Simple really. I DON'T HAVE ONE!!! And let me tell you, the last 6 years living without one has been driving me bananas. Are clothes are folded neatly on the floor. Jason's shirts are hunt over the chair, on the floor, scrunched up somewhere in the corner of the room. I have let it go. But now, now I can no longer watch as things just get tossed around. The time has come....to get closets!

So I did the unthinkable. Me...Miss. I can organize anything, find space for it all, called Closets Etc. to come last week and do some measurements on our bedroom. I waited the appropriate 48 hours....she sent me a wonderful email with a a proposed closet and a price tag to match. All I could say was "I THINK NOT"

So I did something even better. I marched (well, more like drove and then walked) into Home Depot. I figured, you know....I am pretty handy, I can do this myself. I left thinking, yes....I can do this myself. But I have no idea really what to buy. I left thinking the blue prints I had were enough to get me through, WRONG.

So now, 2 weeks later, I am still no closer to getting closets for our room. I am not ready to give up quiet yet. But it sure would be nice to get a better idea of "Exactly" what I need to purchase so I can find out if this so-called "do it yourself" project is going to be cheaper in the long run.

And so we wait......

Hrm.

Nothing to inspiring to really write about today. I managed to fit in some Wii this morning. I just wasn't able to put in a full hour workout but am satisfied with my 45 minutes.

We are heading to a friend's 3rd birthday party today. I am hoping we can stay until the end, but kiddos were up almost the entire night and they are starting to already fall apart :-( I am not sure what it was. Full moon? Owen ended up crawling in our bed 3 times, finally I just said for him to sleep with us. Oliver got up once for a bottle, I don't even remember when. Emma-James kept getting up and asking me to cover her up, but I am thinking she wasn't truly awake. Ezme was awake a few times herself crying because she lost her pacie. I am thinking everyone will be a little off their "A" game. Including myself. I am exhausted. I think I was up from 1am-4:30am. And then Owen was up at 7am already to start the day. Blah.

I am so tired and frustrated with how messy the house got in just 24 hours that I am seriously thinking of getting a hotel room for just me tonight. Let the kids and the hubby deal with the mess, piles of laundry, chaos. I am pretty sure that today was my breaking point.

But knowing me, I will still do it all myself. The accomplishment of knowing I did it is pretty rewarding. But actually doing it....well it just sucks.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Inspired....

Inspired by a friend of mine who after having her second child decided to hit the ground running. She started working a little everyday going from small minute runs to being able to run 6 miles or more. So with that, I decided it was time to do the same. After having six kiddos, I just feel that the time is right for me to strive for a goal.

After working hard everyday (running 2 minutes a time) I have managed to score myself all the way to 20 minutes without stopping. I am averaging about 2.1 miles to 2.5 miles. GO ME! I should add, this is just free standing running along side my little Mii on the Wii. Lets just hope I can do just as good if not better come this spring/summer when I can go outside to run. Little steps for now though.

I am hoping to achieve a good solid 40 minutes by the time spring hits. Though its tough to get a good non-stop run in during the day when the kids want to play. And even harder at night when I am just plum tired and ready for bed myself. I keep reminding the goals I set for myself. And gosh darn it.....I AM IN IT TO WIN IT!!

A New Look

As you can see, I am busy playing with the website to give it a new look per say. Please be patient. I am still confused by the entire process. I really just wanted to find out why in the world my pictures on the sidebar no longer want to go up. Through my "lurking" I managed to mess everything up that I could no longer change back. So I went with it and am now trying to give it a look I will like. Hope you all enjoy!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Scroll Down....Pictures added

I have pictures up from the birthday party and such. Just scroll down starting from January 16th. Enjoy!

Birthday Party in Pictures

Sorry it has taken me a few days to post these. If you didn't know already, Emma-James has been requesting for more then 2 years now for a "Thomas the Taranchula" Birthday party. She feel in love with one back in 2009 when she was given the chance to hold the little critter and has been bugging Jason and I since to buy her own furry critter....but was willing to settle for him to come to her Birthday party.

I was extremely lucky to find the gentleman again (who remembered Emma-James very well) and his place of business and booked her Birthday Party back in November. He asked her what kind of animals she wanted to come and she had said just my spiders please. But he was kind enough to bring everything......from snakes and spiders, to lizards and baby alligators. Oh the luck :-) I think the kids had a great time honestly. Emma-James was in seventh heaven and Owen was just as excited. Even Ezme wanted to get in on the action, but sadly has to wait until she is 2 1/2 to love on the little critters. Here are some great photos of the day's adventures. Complete with a Dinosaur Birthday party per request of Emma-James.

The Guests :-) They were so well behaved
 

Emma-James (5) Taking a picture with her new "friends"
 

The cake that Emma-James picked out all by herself. She was so excited to go to the store and knew exactly what she wanted. The gentleman at the bakery tried to convince her to get a "princess" cake but she stood her ground!
 

Blowing out her Dinosaur Birthday Cake
 

Her birthday friends from school/girl scouts waiting patiently for the gentleman from Paradise Pets to come
 

The Birthday girl and more friends....
 

One of the special guests the baby alligator. Owen was in love
 

Owen was so excited to hold him. I think he was the first to always ask "Can I hold it, Can I pet it"
 

Emma-James just about drove the poor guy nuts to hold her "Tarachilla" That's all that she really cared about seeing/holding. Everything else in her mind was just extra
 

She was so in love. The other kids wanted a turn, but she just wanted to love on him so much
 

She got super close, she wanted him to climb to to the top of her head
 

Holding it one last time before he had to put him back. She was not happy with this idea at all
 

Owen's favorite....The albino Snake he thought she was very pretty and immediately asked if he could have one....Ummm, no buddy...don't think so
 

The birthday girl and her friends holding the big snake
 

Some more birthday friends holding the big snake. She was huge and heavy
 

Another group of friends holding the big snake. She was so calm and happy
 

I decided to hold her too....Why not. And she matched my outfit rather well. Just for you Dad :-)
 

Birthday Party Pictures Continued.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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