Catching up

So, this is what I was afraid would happen-- I would get so busy, I would fail to update this as frequently as I would like and would start off each post that I do get to make with an apology for it being so long since the last one.  I promise to get better, but here we go again.  Sorry, it's been a few days and I missed a Wendesday's Winning Words, again.  I need something that will transport my thoughts onto Blogger because I think about what to post while exercising, showering, etc. but when I'm actually in front of a computer, I appear to have other things that more urgently need my attention.  So this is a combination report of the recent happenings in our world.  I will start with what would have been my Wednesday's Winning Words because it's short, sweet....and awesome.

Our prayers at night continue to be interesting.  This week, on a few occassions, we got a "...and God bless the Aggies.  And the Aggie Band."   L.O.V.E. him.

Also, we are starting Crock Pot Mondays in our house.  We are fortunate enough to have two amazing sitters (YAY for Meagan and Shanon!) that help us out with the kids by bringing them home/to practice most of the time.  Well, Monday is my day to pick them up and get them home.  As a result, it's a challenge to get dinner on the table early enough for everyone to eat, play, get ready for bed, etc. in a reasonable amount of time.  So, I decided we are going to have crock pot meals on Mondays.  This week, one of my friends posted one of her new favorite crock pot recipes on her FB page, so I stole it because it looked so easy and yummy.  It was both.  Equally.  I'm normally a 8+ hour crock pot recipe kind of girl because of the work day, and this one is only 5 hours, but because our house is so close to work, I just ran home at lunch, popped it in and dinner was ready when we all got home.  So, it goes like this for

Crock Pot Chicken Pizza:

Layer the following in your crock pot
4-5 chicken breasts in the bottom of your crock pot
a sliced bell pepper and diced small onion
a 14 oz. jar of pizza sauce (I used Ragu)
20-30 pepperonis (cover the top)
1.5-2 cups mozzarella cheese (again, cover the top)

Cook on low for 5 hours.  It is fantastic served with a salad and Italian bread!

Finally, last weekend after the soccer game, while Delaney and I stayed home and watched the Aggies lose it in the 2nd half (still bitter), Justus went dove hunting with his Dad (and by that, I mean that Dad hunted and Justus went along).  While at his Grandma and Grandpa's, he got to ride DRIVE a tractor.... Yikes!

As the story goes, it didn't take him too long to start trying to run into things....  Good thing it's quite a few years before he gets a motorized vehicle of his own!

It's official....I'm a soccer mom!

Sorry for the absence lately, but it's been quite a week!  Work has been beyond insane, and on top of that, we had a week full of sports and a sick baby. 

So, I've told you before about Justus and his hockey.  He likes it and still goes to skating practice to get better so he can eventually actually play hockey.  This week though, we entered the world of competitive (and I use the term loosely since they don't even keep score) soccer!  That's right people, I'm a soccer mom.  For real.  Now, I didn't play soccer growning up, so this is all new to me.  I do understand that it's apparently a very popular kids activity--mostly because I think it's one of the first ones they can do.  I am the first to admit that I have no expectations of college scholarship offers for 4-5 year olds playing soccer.  I just think it's great for them to get out there, learn the game, meet new kids, and have fun.  Justus did exactly those things, and I was so proud!  Wednesday, he started practice with his new team.  At this age, there are 6 kids on the team.  So, here he is in action at practice.

The next night, he got to attend a clinic hosted by the nationally ranked Fightin' Texas Aggie Soccer Team at their field.  Notice the difference in field quality from the local park above.

Deep concentration

 I'm not sure about the technical soccer term for this move, but I'm sure it's something very advanced and not at all my child dancing in the middle of the field.

The Aggie Soccer Team and Coach G!

Finally, today was game day and Justus was excited.  I have never seen such a thing.  It was a sea of soccer madness.  I wish I had a picture of the whole thing.  It was like a pee wee soccer tournament on crack!  Kids everywhere, parents everywhere, and more fold up chairs than Academy has in stock.

He did so great!!  Their team didn't win (his dad kept score, even if it's not part of the official game), but Justus did keep the other team from getting goals on a few occassions.  We may have a defender on our hands.  I didn't get a lot of pictures because we were facing into the sun and I couldn't see what I was shooting.  But here are a couple.

And between this picture on Wednesday.....

and this one today...

this little missy decided to run, on average, a 104 temp.  No fun!  But, she's coming around and had a great time watching big brother do his thing on the soccer pitch.  We have many more opportunities, so I just hope it cools down soon.

All in all, we are excited about this new adventure and look forward to seeing if he sticks with it or decides he's not interested.  I will say his focus was better than I expected.  If he had been picking daisies, he certainly wouldn't have been alone.  It's so gratifying to watch the kids grow into themselves and see the things they have a real interest in...knowing those interests are often different from our own, respecting that, and learning to see it from their perspective.

A completely different kind of 9 months

I'm talking about the same 9 months that it's been since my little angel was born, but this time it's not about her weight, what she's eating, or whether she's crawling or walking.  It's about my weight, what I'm eating, and whether I'm walking or running.  Women all over the world stress out about their post -pregnancy weight, especially if it is their last baby because they know they have no excuse to keep it on or put it back on.  Within the first few months you hear the kind compliments of "You look amazing for having just had a baby." or "Wow, don't even look like you had a baby."  Such sweet people....or smart people that know a new mother's hormones have her staked at the edge of a building and anything less than words of kindness may send her over the edge.  Time goes on and many of us find ourselves not quite reaching that pre-pregnancy goal we had in mind, or worse, putting the lbs back on.  People then start to come back with "Don't worry, it took you 9 months to put it on, so give yourself at least 9 months to take it off."  9 months to take it off, my ass.  Literally!  Whoever (read: whatever man) decided that was a good rule of thumb never considered the food addict, full-time working mother of two, whose husband works long hours too, whose baby doesn't sleep through the night until almost 9 months, who is so busy doing so much around the house in the evenings (that the family is actually at home) it's 9:00 p.m. before she even gets to sit down to eat supper. 

Yeah, I lost the baby weight.  Well, at least all but the last 4 lbs.  Then, the time came to start working back in exercise.  When was I supposed to do that??  I never had the energy when I got home from work, after making dinner, getting kids to bed, doing laundry, washing bottles, etc.  I was still getting up once, sometimes twice a night with Delaney, so an early outing was painful.  My eating habits didn't change, but I wasn't having time to run or do weight training.  And the pounds came back.  Many of you know my history with weight, so I can see how you would think  that I spent enough time at 120 lbs overweight, what difference is 20 lbs?  But, I have to tell you, this extra 20 pounds is more miserable feeling than the 120 ever was.  Because now I know different.  Finally, about a month ago when Delaney started really consistently sleeping through the night, I started getting up for a run at 4:45 a.m. At this stage of my life, this seems like a completely reasonable time to start my day.  In college, it seemed like a completely reasonable time to end my day.  Funny how things change.  I've been doing it several days a week with the C25K plan and am back to running my old 5K time....but still not quite covering the same distance in the amount of time.  It's a work in progress, but at least it's something.

With the upcoming holidays (offensive amounts of deliciousness time of year), I'm evidently not alone in my quest to drop a few.  Someone in our building organized a Biggest Loser Challenge, which starts today!! 15 women and 10 men.  We each put money in and whoever wins for each group gets the pot.  There's no training, it's all on our own.  Call it gambling, call it bribery, but I call it incentive.  If, in the end, I've done nothing to improve my situation, I may be a totally different kind of biggest loser, but I figured this would be some kind of motivation.  Do you know what kind of fabulous meal georgeous outfit I could get with $300??

Wish me luck!  Here's hoping I don't make an idiot of myself.  It's 3 months.  How bad can it be, right?

An addiction problem

Hi....my name is Karen....and I am an addict.  Wow, that was tough for me to say, but it feels good to finally get it off my chest.  You see, I have been spending a lot of time lately on Pinterest.  Not just lately, really, but for some time now.  I just can't seem to stop.  For those of you who are not familiar with Pinterest, I would encourage you to stay away from it because of its addictive nature, but its awesomeness is so overwhelming that I think everyone should experience it.  Fortunately, many people I know (you know who you are) are as obsessed as I am so I don't feel alone.  Thank you for that support.

I swear, I get on there to find one particular thing I pinned, and the next thing I know, I'm pinning other things and following rabbit holes to websites and blogs that I then want to add to my watch list.  It's really ridiculous...and still so very cool.

For those that are unfamiliar, I will give you a quick rundown:  It's just what it sounds like.  You pin your interests.  You create boards, and then you scroll through pictures and you can "repin" them to the applicable boards.  For example, I have boards for each kids, craft stuff, holidays, food, sayings, stuff for the home, etc.  So, I start scrolling through the main page, and I see a picture of some amazing-looking food, click on it, and it takes me straight to the blog/website where the recipe is.  If I like it, I pin it on my food board.  Eventually, I have a nice little collection of recipes.  On that particular topic, I have now made at least 8-10 recipes that I got off of Pinterest, and not one has let me down!  Through this pinning and searching, I have founds ideas for birthday parties, photo ideas, party planning stuff, crafts I would love to do if I was as crafty as I think I could be if I had the time, travel plans.....I could go on and on.  Clearly I have.  I haven't figured out what makes it so enthralling, because really, it's not anything new.  It's just one place to collect all these fantastic ideas that are already out there.  I think it's the pictures.  They get us with the pictures!  You look through a random collection of pictures (or you can always use the search) and seize on one that catches your eyes.  And that experience is different for everyone because what I am interested in, the next person may not care about.  It's all there, and a simple picture draws us in and the next thing I know, I've pinned it on one of my boards.

To complicate matters, there's an app.  So, it goes with me everywhere.  I'm bored waiting at a doctor's office--I pin.  Sit down for a little tv time or get into bed at night--I pin.  Waiting for my turn in a drive thru--I pin.  Meeting starts running a little long and I've lost interest--I pin.

Because there's ALWAYS something new!!!

You really just have to experience it.  I would say it is a worse time vacuum than Facebook, but I feel so productive as I collect all these wonderful ideas...and then use them!  For whatever reason, it is by invitiation only.  So, if I have intrigued you and you want an invitation, let me know and I will hook you up.  Or you can just go to their website, http://www.pinterest.com/, and request an invite and you will have it within 24 hours.  Let the madness begin.  Or, as they say, Happy Pinning!

Wednesday's Winning Words

Picture it: Bedtime in Justus' room with the three of us (Delaney was sleeping peacefully in her crib) kneeled down at his bed.  We finished "Now I lay me down to sleep..." and had moved on to "God Bless _____" where we name all the people we want God to bless (I thank my dad for this one because I can remember kneeling beside my bed at night saying it with him).  It's still a fairly new addition to our  bedtime routine, so it's a work in progress....as is evidenced by the following:

Justus: "...and God bless the Abominable Snowman and--"

Daddy: "Justus, this is the time we ask God to bless the people that are important to us, not your toys.  God doesn't want to hear about your toys right now."

Justus (in his very serious voice):  "No, no Daddy.  I'm not talking about my Abominable Snowman toy up in the attic.  I'm talking about the REAL Abominable Snowman, like the REAL Rudloph, from Christmas time."

***PAUSE, as I quickly turn my head away from my child so he doesn't see my snickering.  I'm dying to see how Kidd handles this moment***

Daddy:  "oh.  ok.  Carry on, then."

Well done, Kidd.  No reason to shatter the poor kid's Christmas expectations now, right?!

9 Months!!

Guess who turned 9 months old on Tuesday???  That's right, this kid!

No time for a professional picture today, we had a well check to get to.  She had a great time seeing Dr. Henderson, as always.  So, here's the run down on you, little lady:

*Weight: 17.0 lbs. (19th percentile)

*Height: 27.2 inches (38th percentile)

* You wear a size 2 diaper.  If we could keep them on your feet, I think you wear 3-6 month shoes.  You are finally completely in 6-9 month clothes, and the Old Navy 6-12 month fit while the Gymboree 6-12 month are still too big.  It appears that you will be my petite child, and Lord willing, will not have to deal with the problems I have had finding shoes.

*Still no teeth in that little mouth.  I'm pretty sure I saw white behind the skin on the bottom, although still not breaking through.  You've been drooling like crazy for several months, so I no longer consider that a predictor...just part of your charm.

*You are not really interested in crawling, because you are abundantly aware that we will transport you wherever you want or need to go.  You do have some interest in independent mobility at times, so I think it's coming soon. 

*You LOVE to stand, holding on to something or someone...usually mommy's fingers.  You usually bounce, but the feet are starting to move too.

*You are self feeding puffs and Mum-Mum's, but I find a LOT in your high chair after a meal.  You are eating chunkier food, so I think we are finally ready to start other table food.  You did enjoy some of my bread the other day at lunch, so I'm pretty sure the delay now is totally on me.

*You like to clap your hands, and say "mamamama" and "dadadada." 

*Separation anxiety and stranger danger are starting to set in just a little bit.  I'm not looking forward to daycare drop off as this becomes more prevalent.  I loathed this part of your brother's development.  It makes mommies sad.

*Peek-a-boo, patty cake, and Wheels on the Bus continue to be your favorite games....and this is the part where I admit my lazy parent activity, but you like the Baby Einstein Baby MacDonald DVD.  Ultimately, your favorite toy is still your big brother.

Delaney, we love you and you bring us a great deal of pride!  Watching you grow continues to be a blessing.  Could you slow it down a little bit though, because time is going by way too fast?!  Happy 9 months, little angel.  Guess it's about time to start planning that birthday party...

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Ok, maybe it's the Second Most Wonderful Time of the Year (because I do LOVE Christmas) but college football season is a pretty close second.  Think about it---it marks the beginning of the end of what is usually  extraordinarily oppressive summer heat, its the beginning of fall and a new academic year, and its the one time of year that we get to shamelessly brainwash our children into cheering for our alma mater.  I have the generally fotunate situation of living in a college town, and not just any college town.  My alma mater's town.  So, it's everywhere!  And truthfully, it's all year long, but it's most apparent during football season on gameday.  Although the roads in town become a local version of Houston rush hour traffic, everywhere is crowded, and you have to travel at least 20 miles away to find a restaurant where you don't have to wait an hour or more to eat, this place is undeniably one of the best college football venues known to man.  You can't help but be moved by the Aggie spirit.  Yes, I accept that my children will likely grow up and go somewhere else for school, particularly if we are still living in this community.  I am okay with that and in fact, encourage it.  As much as I would like them to be Aggies, I want them to get out and find their way in the world (i.e. do their own laundry and cooking rather than relying on me to do it regularly until they are 22 or 23).  But, until that time comes....I present 2011's first College Colors Friday.  WHOOP!!

Please excuse the drool.  Mommy didn't take the picture immediately upon dressing me and I'm thinking about getting some teeth here pretty soon.

Someone obviously wasn't thinking when I was given the orange paci this morning...

We have no individual picture of Justus because he was too busy playing and we were then running late, but he was super happy to wear his 12th Man jersey today.  When we drove by the tent sale on the way to daycare this morning, he said "Mommy, look, they are open.  After you drop me off at school, go back and get me a new Aggie jersey."  We had previously discussed how his is from last year and may be getting a bit short for him.  Overlooking the facts that he rudely demanded, rather than asked, and they don't have the jersey at that particular store, it was a proud moment! 

Gig'em and God Bless...and BTHO SMU!