Facebook

I, along with the rest of my family, have become a facebook junky. It is great fun and a fantastic way to reconnect with old friends, make new friends, support one another...and PLAY. Well, I have totally neglected my 'blogging' because I have been too busy visiting and farming on facebook. (If you want to know about farming, just check out facebook.com . It is fun, but I hear there are a lot of other really fun games too, such as Vampire Wars and Fashion Wars, to name a few.) Sadly, I could not log on to the facebook site at this time, due to 'maintenance' issues or something like that. The good news is, HERE I AM AGAIN! Yeh!

On the second, I started a post entitled, 'Glynna's Health Log 2009'. I did not finish it and ended up deleting it, since it was old news, so I will give it a shot again. I thought if I am accountable to 'the internet world', maybe I will stick to my goals better. :)I am weighing in every Monday morning at the gym. My goal is 135 pounds. My highest weight was 225 pounds back in the early spring of 2005. My size 20 jeans were too tight for me so I was wearing elastic pants or sweats because I refused to purchase a size 22. I decided it was time to do something about this. I was uncomfortable and depressed all the time. I could not sleep very well because my hips and back hurt so I tossed and turned all night. I started walking with a friend/neighbor of mine in Fernley, NV. By May, I had lost 10 pounds and was down to 215 pounds. I could fit into my size 20 jeans again and I was just elated. I loved exercise again, but food (namely, chocolate and pastries) was a great challenge for me to control. So, I decided to join Weight Watchers. One year later, in June, 2006, I became a lifetime member of Weight Watchers and have been an advocate for the program ever since. Attending meetings faithfully was key for me. I loved the support and the valuable information taught each week, and, of course, I needed the accountability. All of the people who work for Weight Watchers 'have been there and done that' so they are terrific supporters. They totally understand how hard it is to lose weight and keep it off. I even worked for WW for a few months. My ultimate goal is 135 pounds, but I set my Weight Watchers goal at 155 to become a lifetime member faster. I got my weight down to 147 pounds over the summer of 2006, I was a size 10, felt fabulous, and was sleeping through the night without a problem at all.

Anyway, about a year ago, or so, I started putting a little bit of weight back on. I have gained 20 pounds back. I weigh 167 pounds as of yesterday's weigh in. And, I know EXACTLY why. It is because I STOPPED ATTENDING WW MEETINGS EVERY SINGLE WEEK. For the past two weeks I have been back on track. I am exercising regularly and keeping track of what I am eating. I was a little frustrated that I did so well last week and did not lose one pound, but I know from past experience that if I persevere - and I will - that the weight will come off. This time I will not quit at 147 pounds (if my 40 year old body will allow it) and I will reach my real goal of 135 pounds.

Well, that is it for now...I've got to go see if I can get back on Facebook before the Daycare kids wake up from their naps...hee hee.

I hope you are all having a fabulous start to your new year! I certainly am. I know Chad is out of work right now and I only have two full-time daycare kids, but I have really enjoyed having Chad around. He and I are great friends. We really enjoy one another's company...and isn't that just how it should be in a marriage. I am very happy and very grateful. I love you honey!

Happy New Year 2009

Here I sit at one o'clock in the afternoon, barely out of bed, hair a mess, third rice krispy treat in hand, last night's make-up all over my face...(lovely image isn't it?), READY TO START MY NEW YEAR RIGHT...Hey, I did get dressed.

Not only am I blowing that 'fresh new start', but I am admitting it to the world...hang on a sec...I am having a muddy buddy attack...What kind of nut job am I?! Don't answer that.

Ok, ok, I admit it. I am not as witty as my husband or children, but at least I try. Hey! I have done two good things this fine new year! I got dressed and I tried to be witty. Whoo hoo!

We had a great Mormon celebration last night. Instead of waking up with hang-overs, we wake up with puzzle gut (as my mother-in-law calls it). Ya, we like to claim we are not addicts...and then someone shows up with a BIG bowl of muddy buddies...and someone else shows up with a mountain high tray of donuts...then someone else shows up with a lovely package of chocolates just screaming out my name...I mean your name...he he...Before you know it, it is 3am and you wish you could barf...Gee, that sure sounds a little teensy bit like a non-mormon celebration...he he...

Anyway, we did have a great party. I took lots of pictures, as usual, and irritated alot of people, as usual...hee hee. Hey, everyone just has to deal with the fact that I like memories. We had 16 people eating, playing a Wii bowling tournament, chatting, texting, eating some more, laughing, cleaning (Mom), and eating some more, etc. etc....It was great fun.

I told my family I would make crepes for breakfast on New Year's Day...no matter what time of day it was...but the only response I got when I mentioned making more sweet food was "Uuuuuhhgggghhhh". I took that as a "Please! No! Just shoot me before you put more sugar in my body!". Needless to say, we ate eggs instead.

I am officially part of facebook now so any of you out there who want to be my friend are invited...so far I have two friends...Angie and Kelly. I NEED FRIENDS!!! What I really need is to know how to create my own farm...That looked so fun.

Happy New Year 2009! Best wishes and lots of love to you all!

Merry Christmas 2008

I hope anyone who read my last post knows I was just kidding about the title, "Stop the World, I want to get off!" I know sometimes we all feel like that, but overall, I have a very good life. I have so much to be thankful for. I am married to my best friend. I love being with him. We have alot of fun together. He makes me laugh just about on a daily basis. I am so impressed with how intelligent and witty he is. I hope my children take more after him than me. I did well in school because I worked my butt off, but learning new things does not just come naturally for me. I have to work hard to get information to stick in my brain. That may have something to do with having four children too... (wink).

******

Anyway, I did not get a chance in my last blog to share any info about our Christmas holiday. We had a great Christmas day. Jordan had to go on a scavenger hunt to find his Santa gift and Duncan had to dig through a big box of shredded newspaper to find his. We like to keep things fun...or should I say, Santa likes to keep things fun.

I gave myself a fabulous Christmas present. I did not cook or clean or even get dressed the entire day. It was AWESOME! I went to breakfast at my sister-in-laws in my PJ's and even went to Dennys for Christmas dinner in my PJ's. Ok, I admit, I was a teensy bit embarrassed...but I did it anyway. Ya, I like to live on the wild side now and then. Emily, Duncan, and Annie joined me in my Christmas Pajama Day and they were pretty embarrassed at Dennys too. It was funny. I did feel a little guilty about making people work on Christmas Day.

Well, one of my daycare kids in napping here in the office and I don't want to wake her up so I am going to make this a short post, but later I will get back on and post about my weight loss efforts...they are sad...very, very sad...yurk.

Stop the world, I want to get off!

Long time, no blog. How many times can I use "busy" as my excuse for everything? In fact, December 2008 has just been a whirlwind for me. Thanksgiving was here only a moment ago and now the New Year is around the corner. Did Christmas even happen? Well, my photos are proof that it did. I warned all of the Todd family that I had four years of holiday photos to make up. They did bear it, but I can't guarantee they were grinning about it. ;P I will take this opportunity now to thank all of you for being gracious about my photo frenzy over the past several weeks and to thank those of you who found photos to share with me due to my very devastating loss.

I hope your holidays were happy. Considering the crazy past few weeks we have experienced, our holiday was nice. You have all heard the phrase, "when it rains it pours". Well, boy have I got a CRAZY example of that! It is so crazy I feel more like laughing about it than crying! First of all, at the beginning of the month I lost a family of three kids that I was prepaid for (meaning that I depended on a fairly large sum of money at the beginning of the month which I did not receive), then, Chad's car, which is not even two years old, broke down on our way to a business dinner in Salt Lake, (Chad's parents had to come from Ogden to pick us up that night and then go back the next morning to tow Chad's car back to the dealer for repairs), then Chad was abruptly informed that his facility was closing and all of the employees, including himself, were being let go at the end of the month, then our furnace quit working...HELLO! December...cold..., and then all of our favorite grandpa-and apparently, a favorite for many people-died.

The good ending to this story is that Grandpa and Grandma are reunited...and I got to have all of my siblings and my Mom and Dan, not to mention my cousins, Kyle and Brenda, all in my home at the same time. That part was fabulous...especially listening to Blaine and Bryn sing, smelling Theresa's amazing cooking, and watching Angie harvest crops and blood online...hee hee. (If you want details on the blood thing, you'll have to ask her...hee hee)

I'm not complaining. It has just been a crazy month. As always, my blogs are late at night and I have a lesson to teach tomorrow. Thank goodness next week our church meetings will be starting at one o'clock in the afternoon. Whoo hoo! I love afternoon church. What else can you do on Sunday? Hello! Sleep in! ha ha.

Anyway, Chad has been giving me a photo posting lesson. I was going to post some Christmas photos as well, but we are having a few technical difficulties so Chad will figure out the problems and I will post Christmas photos next time. I will explain the four I did actually upload to the blog.

The first one is of Chad with his crew at the Cummins facility in Salt Lake. The second one is of Bodie being taught to leave no evidence of dessert...cake? What cake? The third is a photo of my mom, sisters, and me.

Love you all!

Hey, while we were all together, why didn't we take a sibling photo?! Poop! (Is that ok to say on the Internet?...HAHAHA), and, thank you, Jesse, for the lovely little goodbye gift on Theresa's rental. Those cute little snowmen did not last though. Shortly after your departure, Chad started using the poor little guys as snowballs. Aaaaah...

Vacation Pics: Vegas and the Stratosphere

OK. This is part 2 of our vacation pictures. Not sure how many parts there will be, but I hope it will end before you get bored. We start off this edition with a few more pics from the wedding (because I got some pics from my mom and dad and they had some good ones). We then have some from our trip to the top of the Stratosphere and a couple of the rides there.

This is why Chris and Kelly chose this resort for the wedding. Behind that mountain is Lake Tahoe. Beautiful.

Me and the prettiest girl at the whole wedding (sorry Chris and Kelly =).
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...and the kids.

Honey and Grampa were overdue for their afternoon nap.

Annie knows what is REALLY important.

I guess I had better include this one. This is me presenting the Best Man Toast (and me without a toaster...yeah yeah, bad joke but whatcha gonna do? =).

Now...on to VEGAS. Whoop whoop!!

Annie, Honey, and Grampa on the top of the Stratosphere.

View of Vegas from the observation deck of the Stratosphere.

Jordan and Zack...appearing suspiciously not up to something. I got my eye on you 2...

The spire of the Stratosphere...actually a rocket ride called Big Shot, at the top of which you are over 1,100 feet in the air. It is very cool because at the top of the ride, you can't even see the Stratosphere building below you. Wow. I almost peed myself (I think Emily did, but don't tell anyone...shhhh).

Aliens we encountered on the top of the Stratosphere. Gorgeous aliens, but aliens nonetheless.

A view of Vegas at night...1,000 feet in the air.

One of the thrill rides, Insanity.

The third ride, X-Scream.



Notice how overwhelmed they were with excitement...

Next post - video (bad, dark video, but video all the same) of one or two of the rides.

Vacation Part 1: The Wedding

In another post I said we would get some photos of our recent summer vacation on the web. Well, things got away from me and I never did post more photos, but now the wife and kids are out of town (HALLELUJ....cough cough...umm..I mean...gosh, I sure do miss them just to death - whew..nice save Chad..heh heh)

...ANYWAY

Here are the long awaited photos. I am sure that droves and droves of you, our loyal readers (all 3 of you) were checking back daily to find out what we did on our trip. Well, here ya go:

First off, Jordan and Emily went to work with me the day we left.

Here are Jordan and Emily pretending to be useful.

In all fairness, they actually did some work...here Jordan was working on a spreadsheet...Emily was working on her Nintendo DS...hard work to be sure!

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We went to Reno to start out because one of my best friends, Chris Palmrose (here in front) was getting married and asked me to be his Best Man (for whatever reason, I think he may have been drunk =).

(above, from left to right: Tim, Phil, Chad, Dennis I think...can't remember... I am just terrible, Kenny, and Chris)

The kids squinting.

Mom and dad.

Beauty and the beast.

Jordan just heard about the cake! Boy is he excited...

Excited? Not so much..

As you can see, Glynna was very excited to dance, especially since as Best Man I had no choice. You can also see that I am good at faking that I am enjoying it.



Quality father-son time.

Coming soon...part 2...

Size 10

I can put on my size 10 capris again! Oh, they are a little bit tight, but I am getting there!

Weight Watchers Success

Hi Everyone! It is my usual late night blog. During the day, forget it. Sitting at the computer just ain't happen'n. Nap time is my only quiet time, but the baby's crib is in the office and she is a light sleeper. That's ok. I don't mind these few minutes at night all to myself to unwind. The bad thing about this blogging thing is that blogging is replacing my journal writing...oops. But it is so FUN!

Can you tell I am in a good mood today? Monday is my weigh in day at Weight Watchers. I am not quite back down to my goal weight, but I am very close. I lost another pound and a half this week. With as many choco chip cookies as I ate, I am thrilled about a pound and a half. I am only 12 pounds from my realistic goal: 145 pounds. ( My unrealistic goal is 135 lbs, but I just don't know if that is something I can do with my heighth and age...Oh well, it is worth shooting for. I would rather shoot for 135 and make it to 140 than not try at all and end up 225 pounds again.)

Jordan and Duncan are camping out in the neighbors back yard so I am going to go up and spend some quality girl time with my daughters before bed. They are watching a movie up in our bonus room above the garage. Chad has already gone to bed. He rarely gets even up to five hours a sleep a night. Ok, there I go babbling again. Good night all!

Pride, the Universal Sin

Again, it is late; not nearly as late as usual. It is only 10:45pm. Chad and I went out to dinner tonight with his parents. We try to do a "double date" with them at least once a month. It has been quite awhile because we have been so busy trying to fix up our yard this summer. I know, that is a lame excuse to not spend time with family. Anyway, we had a good time. We always do. I can honestly say, they are our best friends.

Chad is being so faithful following Weight Watchers. He has lost 20 pounds and two pants sizes. We saved all our bonus points to go out to dinner tonight. We went to Chinese. One of our favorite places is PF Changs. This was a small restaurant similar to PFChangs called the Mandarin. We love lettuce wraps...anything seafood...well, and I guess, we pretty much like it all when it comes to chinese food.

I, on the other hand, have been fairly discouraged. I have been working out so hard at the gym and following my 22 points a day faithfully...and the weight is just i-n-c-h-i-n-g off for me. I have only lost a few pounds in the time Chad has lost 20. I guess it is true what "they" say. Once you hit 40 years old, your metabolism really s-l-o-w-s down and losing weight is hard work. We'll see on Monday morning when I weight in what the true verdict is...
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( I want to put some of those words in bold or caps to emphasize them, but there is this lady that writes a make-believe blog to make fun of mormon women bloggers and now I am too embarrassed to blog the way I want to...Stupid, I know. Who cares what she thinks. She's being pretty cynical, if you ask me. Personally, I think if women want to talk about how wonderful their lives are and their husbands are, sobeit. There are too many out there that don't even make an effort to make their lives happy and joyful. So, kudos to all you women out there trying to be happy when life can be (and often is) so very hard.) For those of you wondering what all this jibberish is, go check out this blog site. My husband thinks it is hilarious. And, as I have so obviously stated, I disagree with him. Who knows. Maybe I am being too uptight. If so, sorry. That was just my first impression. Anyway, this is the site: seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com

As a side note, Chad read over my 'opinion' of this make-believe blog and told me that I completely misunderstood her point. He said she is not making fun of people who are happy (or trying to be happy). He said she is making fun of people who try to one-up their neighbor. For example, you know, "Well, you think your husband is so great and successful! MY husband is a doctor, a lawyer, the bishop, AND serves as a volunteer firefighter!" So, if that is the case, I guess our pride should be made fun of. Pride is the universal sin. So, again, sorry. That was just my first impression...maybe I am the one who is cynical...hee hee. That is what 'not getting enough chocolate AND not losing weight' can do to a woman. (smile and wink) See ya'll later when I am down a few pounds and less moody. (See, I am prideful too...yurk) ha ha!

First Videos from the new Digital Video Camera

We got a new video camera. It is a JVC Everio hard-disc-drive camera (no tapes, no disks, just download to the computer). Here are a couple of videos. I am also trying to learn how to change video size in the computer because these short videos at native resolution are over 100 mb big. Wow.

Yeah, I know...woohoo...real exciting to watch the kids sitting on the couch. Hey, give me a break! I have a new toy and MUST MUST MUST play with it. It is a compulsion. Better than shoplifting anyway.

Okay, here is another one, this one is Jordan and Glynna working on my birthday present. I INSISTED on building it myself, but they insisted even harder that they wanted to build it as it was my birthday present. I am decidedly against giving WORK for gifts!

So that is it for now. Look for more fun videos in the future, and probably a few boring ones as well. IF we ever get the house clean, we will do a video tour for everyone who has not been able (or simply DOESN'T LOVE US ENOUGH) to visit. =)

Family

It is nearly midnight. I can hardly keep my eyes open, let alone write a blog. But, in Mormon terminology, 'my heart is full'.

We had a 'family day' today. Monday really does not work for our family. Chad works way too late for us to have a family home evening, not to mention, he and I REALLY try to make it to the gym absolutely as often as we can. So, typically, after our chores, Saturday afternoons are our family time adventures.

Today's adventure was to Salt Lake City to visit the Planetarium. We watched "The Dawning of the Space Age" in the Dome Imax. The domes are awesome! I thought it would be so boring, but it was truly fantastic. I am so thrilled to have found a love of history. I came to the realization that I actually loved history when I visited Theresa in Hopewell, Virginia several years ago and we visited several famous plantations, as well as Jamestown. (I HATED history in school...maybe it was due to the intimidating Mr. Mudra...hmmm...)

Anyway, at the Planetarium, we had popcorn and sodas, watched the show, checked out our weights on different planets, and then went out to dinner. Dinner for six, (three being growing, hearty eating teens and pre-teen), is quite spendy, but I would throw away all the money in the world for more uninterrupted, happy, relaxed TIME with my family.
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As the sun was setting and our day, our precious free time TOGETHER, grew closer to an end, I found myself feeling very meloncholy, if you will; almost sad. Life is too busy for people, for friends, for loved ones...or so we it seems by the choices we make. We choose BIG houses and fancy cars and gadgets...which create needs for more money...instead of choosing TIME.

Forgive me if I am offending anyone. My finger is pointing only in the mirror. I am 40. Two of my four babies are teenagers, one's teen days are just around the corner. How often I long for simpler days...days without tvs, computers, cell phones, and playstations...days without aeropostale, hollister (expensive teen favorite clothing stores), and manicures...

...Hold that thought...My six year old wants a snuggle before she heads up to bed...(yes my six year old is still up after midnight...yurk...at least our church meetings don't start until 11am...yeh!)...

...ok, snuggle time ended. She couldn't keep her eyes open any longer... (smile)

I guess what I am trying to say, is that sometimes, well maybe more often than that, I feel the words in my heart, "If only..." You know. 'If only' I had made better choices when I was younger. 'If only' I had enjoyed exercise in my teens. 'If only' I had finished college. 'If only' I had never discovered the ease and temptation of using credit cards. 'If only' I had appreciated every precious moment with my babies (before they turned into greedy, arrogant, selfish, snotty teenagers-I mean...)Scratch that last thought...he he...

I read books about the pioneers of our country, and find myself envying them. They endured so many extremely difficult hardships-very physical hardships, it is true. BUT, they were free of so many temptations of our modern society. They played outside...the WHOLE family, not just the kids. They read the Bible together. They worked hard for EVERYTHING they had...and the children were grateful...

Oh, as I have said in previous blogs, I tend to babble when I am so tired. Life is not as bad or sad as perhaps I am making it sound. It's just that sometimes, I remember to be grateful. And I am grateful for those times. Today is one of those times.

You know those water fountain things that many towns now have where the kids run around in them and the parents stand around the outside smiling and laughing and taking pictures? Our kids played in one of those today too. As I watched them, I remembered when we used to take them to a similar fountain in Reno, NV when Annie was just a baby. It was a free family activity that we all just LOVED. I loved remembering them at that age in the same setting, laughing and calling out,'Mommy! Daddy! Look at me!' (Well, Annie still does that. :) ) But I also loved watching them today, fully dressed (whereas half the tiny children out there were in their underwear. ha ha), trying to coil their way through the fountain maze without getting wet. It was cute and funny. We had a great time.

On the way home in the car we played a few word games: One game was the game where each family member says two words to create a story. It was hilarious! The wittiest one of all was the six year old! Annie had us all laughing so hard we were bauling! I won't go into details on the internet...there was a little bit of potty talk involved...he he... The other game was a memory game. Each of us had to say an item we would take on a hike in our back packs. We had to say the previous people's items before each of our own and keep getting the list bigger and bigger. To make the game a little more interesting, we used the alphabet backwords. That was hilarious too! We came up with things like, "Victor, the Underminer's, toe" and "the queen pooping octopus noodles"...

Ok, ok, don't ask.

Well, I guess I should go to bed. I have a lesson to teach tomorrow. I am teaching a very rambunchious (sp?!) group of TEN 3-year olds that families can be together forever. I think today's experience was good preparation. I am thankful for my family. I am VERY richly blessed with a husband who is loving and loyal and four children who love me despite my 'not-even-close' to perfect parenting skills. I fall down often. I am grateful to have a family to pick me up over and over again. I hope I do the same for them. For the most part, I think I am doing ok.

I love the thought of God saying, "I did not say it would be easy. I only said it would be worth it."

Good night all my friends and loved ones! May your week be filled with TIME for each other.

Sigh...

Alas...My weight loss efforts are not nearly as successful as they have been in the past. Chad says I don't have the motivation I had before. (My 20 year class reunion). What he is failing to achknowledge is his wife's PRIDE. I DO have the motivation...I have a family reunion in three short weeks! hee hee. BUT, for some reason, it is not enough. I have truly given my all to this effort for two weeks and have not lost a pound.

My husband, (the creep), has lost 11 pounds (or more).

Today I walked three miles. I am training for a 5K in September with some ladies from my church. I have never done anything like that and I am kind of excited. I don't think I am interested in tackling a marathon or anything remotely close, but I can handle a 5K...hee hee.
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Chad and I work out at the gym most days, but once a week I train with the ladies in my ward. Some days I walk to our Wal-mart, buy groceries, and then Chad picks me up. Our Wal-mart is 2.7 miles away. Not too shabby.

Emily did an aerobics class with me a few days ago when Chad had to work late. It was STINK'N HARD, but I loved it. It was especially nice just spending time with my daughter doing something that is good for both us. That same day, while Em and I were exercising, the other kids were down at the pool so following our workout, I got in the pool with the other kids. I LOVE activities with my family that are active and healthy! It makes me feel good...and it is FUN.

Speaking of 'healthy and fun' family activities, today we toured Wheeler Historic Farm in Salt Lake. That was very cool. And a few weeks ago, we toured the Utah Pioneer Historical 'Village'...and loved it so much, we purchased a family pass. I will post pictures from both fun activities at a later date.

As usual, it is LATE when I am posting so I am too tired so scroll through hundreds of photos...fun, but...yurk...Too much work tonight...maybe tomorrow while kiddos nap. Well, I need to put my little darlings to bed. Duncan is spending the night with a friend. Jordan was watching TV, Annie has been at the park next door, and Emily just got home from a Raptor's baseball game.

Tomorrow and Saturday, we are rotatilling (sp?) our flower beds and our garden area. So much for a garden this year. Oh well...next year definitely.

In the words of "Bruce Almighty", LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE (to you all)...(That is one of my VERY favorite movies... maybe a little sac-religious (sp?), but PHENOMENOL message..."Be the miracle". Maybe it is from Jim Carrey's movie, "Liar, Liar"...Oh well, that is an awesome movie too. We like Jim Carrey movies for the most part.

Ok, I am rambling now. I am going to bed. Good night all.

You Know Me...First...and Maybe Last...Post...Hee hee...

I'm not nearly as witty as Loggrad98 (aka Chad)...especially at 12:30 am...and I really want to go to bed so I can hit the YARD SALES first thing in the morning! Yippee! I LOVE yard sale season! Nonetheless, here I am saying howdee!...hmmm...Ok, I got noth'n...Told ya I'm not witty...and I AM tired...Ok, ok, my life in a nutshell...'Up-and-at-um' bright and early' (Wish I could say first thing I did was exercise...I tried the 5 am exercise thing...WHATEVER!)...No, I sleep in until the last possible moment...My daycare parents probably get a little nervous leaving their babies with a WITCH-look-alike...(wink).

I do like my job. My favorite are the babies. Gosh, I just love'um! The little ones are loving, trusting, cute, and fun...while the older ones are just bossy and demanding...No, they aren't that bad...but I definitely enjoy the little ones best. In fact, next year I will not be taking school age children at all. I did enjoy this past year, but putting several children in and out of car seats several times a day gets quite tedious, not to mention, it is not very fun for them either.

(Chad made the logo in CorelDRAW....he amazes me sometimes, but most of the time he is just a big pain in the butt (J/K sweetie...muah), oh, and that is Annie in the middle =)

Time for a HUGE celebration! As of today, I am the proud (and very relieved) parent of NO MORE KINDERGARDNERS! Kindergarden is a hard year...You drop the older ones off, go home to clean up breakfast and fix lunch, take the kindergardner to school, go home to play with and read to the babies and toddlers and then, very gratefully, put them down for a brief nap...just to have to wake them up (big sigh) and go pick kids up from school...

More...I REALLY admire all of you amazing moms out there who work outside your home and somehow, still manage to have the energy to cook and clean for your family and fit in a work out each day. Man, in my pre-full-time job days, I really thought I was all that getting the kids off to school and then hitting the gym for a two-hour workout five days a week. Now, I can see that I am just a GREAT BIG WUSS! Here are a few of my excuses..."I'm too tired! I don't have time! The evenings are just too busy with homework, dinner, dishes, and bathes! I never get to relax!"...and so on... But I am truly ready to get my Kaboose back in gear!

I joined Weight Watchers in June 2005. I lost 65 pounds and became a lifetime member in June 2006. I put 20 pounds back on in 2007. And I am trying with all my might to get that 20 pounds back off in 2008. I think I will create a Label entitled Weight Loss Progress to let you all know how I am doing and what I am doing to get my body in shape. Maybe that will motivate me to keep on track. And if any of you have any tips or delicious low-cal recipes, etc., please respond on my blog.

Well, I do what I can...and then collapse into bed each night...much later than I planned...Se-la-vi...(Is that how you spell that?). All-in-all, life is good...BUSY, definitely busy...but good.