Natalie -- Movin' Up!

In all the hubbub of Katie starting kindergarten, I think I forgot to mention Natalie's big milestone.

She's moved up to the 3-year-old room at daycare!  This past week was her first week in Ms. Sheena's class, and she LOVES it.  She feels like such a big girl.  And she is.  Even though she won't be 3 until October, she has mastered the necessary skills (ie, potty and behavioral) to be able to move up before her birthday.  Natalie is a smart cookie, knows all her letters, and has better speech than many people her age.  I credit her good speech to being around Katie so much.  Nothing like an older sibling to challenge you to do better!

We're so proud of Natalie.  It's hard to believe she's this old already.  Like I was just lamenting about Katie, how did she get so old!?!?!  Wasn't she just born the other day!?!?!  Time truly does pass in the blink of an eye.

Way to go Natalie, our little superstar!!!

Running with Katie

Before kindergarten orientation on Monday, we had a little break in the rain, enough for Katie and I to go out on the local bike trail.  I'd never taken the girls out there, so Katie was super-excited to come with me!  I ran, and she rode, for about 1.5 miles.  She was a little scared to go over the boardwalk, but we made it!

We had a good time out there together.  Can't wait to take her, and maybe Natalie, back out sometime soon!

First Day of Kindergarten

Katie started kindergarten yesterday!  Here are our 2 superstar girls in the morning:

After Colin took Natalie to daycare, Katie and I stayed at home to relax and pack our lunches before her big day.  I wanted to drive her in on the first day (after that, she's taking the bus from our daycare).  Check out her new lunch box we bought just for kindergarten!

We loaded that into her new Tink backpack (I promise it doesn't look THAT big when it's on her!  She's just standing at a funny angle).

And we were off!  The weather was miserable, and has been for days.  You can see the raindrops on the car windows right before Katie and I got out of the car at school.

I walked Katie all the way to her classroom.  Since we'd been to orientation,she knew exactly what to do!  Her table is the one nearest the markerboard.

I'm so glad you had a great first day of school, Katie!  We know you'll shine in kindergarten!!!

Kindergarten Orientation

This morning I took Katie to kindergarten orientation at our local elementary school.  It was very exciting for us to meet her teacher, and also to see that we already know 2 friends in our class.  There are 7 sections of kindergarten at our school, and although I knew a few families attending there, I really had no idea if any of them would end up in Katie's class.  What a nice surprise to find familiar faces!


We got to unpack Katie's school supplies, see her table that she'll sit at with 3 others, and go on a little scavenger hunt around the classroom to make sure we could find all the important stuff (bathroom, cubbies, etc).  The teacher is using a lot of frogs in her decorating theme, which we both thought was pretty cute.  Her teacher walked us through their schedule and some of the rules of the classroom.  We filled out some forms, and then that was pretty much it for the morning.  We'll be back at it bright and early on Tuesday!


I can't believe she goes to big school tomorrow!  How did she get to be so old already!?!?!?

Great Season, Lizards!

We finished up the basketball season today.  It was a great season for the Lizards!!!

Katie scored the first 2 baskets of the game for our team, and she was ecstatic.  It was great to watch the kids dribble, pass, and shoot, and just think about how much improvement we've made over the course of the season.  It's really great to spend time with the kids like this, and I love working with my friend Cherie to coach them, too.  (Although she may not appreciate me posting a picture of her tushie like this...  oops!)

Everyone enjoyed the end-of-season party, complete with giant cookie sandwiches!  Our favorite part.  :)

Can you believe that next season, Natalie will be old enough to play basketball, too???  :)

Busch Gardens

Before school started, Colin and I wanted to take the girls to Busch Gardens during the week when the crowds are smaller.  We went on Monday and had a GREAT day!


The girls got to play in the Sesame Street area for a while, including the splash zone!

We had lunch and got to watch one of the shows, "Dance to the Music", during our meal.  It was a lot of rockin' fun 70's music, so I loved it.  The girls had a great time, too, and even got to meet one of the dancers after the show.

After a couple more rides, we went to "Lights, Camera, Imagination!", which is a Sesame Street 4D movie.  Once we got Natalie to keep the glasses on her head, we had an awesome time!  It was a short-ish video (20 mins or so) about how all the characters used their imaginations to create their own movies.  We even had some surprises -- we got wet during the show!  It was really fun.

Then we had a walk around to see some animals, and Natalie's gorillas.  She is so intrigued by these guys.  We'll probably have to make a point to see them every time we go to Busch Gardens.


Our day ended with some ice cream, and then 2 sleepy girls who had a late nap in the car on the way home.

I'm so glad we took a day off work to do that.  It was fun to spend some special time with the girls before Katie starts kindergarten.

Katie's Field Trip

Katie has been in the summer camp group at our daycare center this summer.  They take one field trip a week, and this week I was thrilled to be able to accompany them on their trip to the aquarium!  We had 16 kids, 3 teachers, and 2 parents.  What a crew!  We started off with lunch at a picnic pavilion behind the facility.  Katie even picked out a lunchable for me, so I brought my lunch and sat with her and her friends to eat.  After that, we toured the facility.  Besides the otters, the alligators pictured below were one of the favorites!

Bailey and Katie posed for a quick picture before we moved into the shark room.

We toured the entire aquarium, had a potty break, and then went back upstairs for the 2pm dive show.  The kids really enjoyed that, too, as did I.  We had tried to watch the dive show on an aquarium visit when Natalie was a baby, but she got fussy and we had to leave right when it started.  It was very interesting, though, as the diver introduced us to her favorite coral and sea life, and also talked about the things people do that harm coral, like touching it or littering in the water.  Here's part of our group after the dive show (sorry it's a little dark):

Once the tour was complete, I was able to take Katie with me instead of having her ride the bus back to the center.  We took a tour of one of my job sites as our own little side trip.  Here's Katie on her first-ever visit to a closed landfill:

When I asked her afterward what she thought of my site, all she said was, "It was nice."  I asked if she had any favorite parts, and she kind of shrugged, then repeated that it was nice.  I guess that's better than the alternative!

Since we still had a little time before we needed to pick Natalie up, we ran by Kohl's to use a discount card I'd gotten in the mail.  I had her help me pick out one item of clothing for each family member.  Daddy got a new shirt, Natalie and I each got cute dresses, and Katie got a tunic/leggings/scarf outfit that is about 75% sparkles.  She would!

It was a fun day hanging out with my big girl!!!  Thanks for the great afternoon, Katie!

Mom on the Run

Yesterday was just one of those days...  girls were difficult in the morning.  I had problems all day at work, starting from about 5 minutes after I got in, and lasting up through the time that I left (which was late).  I changed in the bathroom at work, like I usually do.  If I'm in my workout clothes when I leave the building, then I really have no excuse.  I MUST work out!

It had rained most of the day, and traffic was terrible.  I was late.  I called Colin.  I told him I needed to run outside and may be home a little later.  He tried to convince me to just go to the Y.

Didn't want to be inside.  Being inside all day had made me crazy.

It was over 90 outside.  Didn't care.

Puddles everywhere with more black clouds blowing in.  Didn't care.

Didn't have my hydration pack with me, only a regular water bottle.  Didn't care.  I could carry my water in my hand.

So I went to a park near my house and ran a quick 2 miles.  And when I say quick, I mean it!  I usually run in the 10:00 to 10:20 range.  These were clocked at 9:36 and 9:45.  Ha!  Maybe I am faster than I thought!

Took a quick picture and hopped back in the car, feeling refreshed and ready to head home and see my family.

I usually don't take pictures of my post-workout glow.  So why this time?  Check out Jen @ Prior Fat Girl and find out!!!

And now it's Thursday morning...  Time to take a deep breath and remind myself that today is a new day with new possibilities, and that everything will work out OK.  And if it's not, I'll lace up those Sauconys and hit the road again.

Cake and Ice Cream and Inception

The festivities continued yesterday when Colin's parents came over for supper.  We had a delicious steak dinner with my new friends, Ore-Ida Steam n' Mash Potatoes.  Those things are awesome!  And sooo easy.  But back to the birthday...  After we finished eating, Colin opened the gifts from his parents, which included this shirt: 

Isn't that great???  They made it last weekend when the girls were over there to "sew".  We love it!

For dessert, we ordered a Caramel Pecan Crunch Cake, and it did not disappoint.  Paired with chocolate ice cream, it was amazingly delicious!

After dinner, Colin's parents stayed with the girls while he and I went to a movie.  He chose Inception, and while not totally my style, it *was* his birthday, so I readily agreed.  And I actually liked it!  I will admit that I'm not good at sitting still for 2.5+ hours, but I made it.  Parts of it were a little freaky, but it was a good movie.

Here's Colin modeling his new shirt today.  He had a great birthday weekend!

Happy Birthday Colin :)

Yesterday was Colin's birthday, and we started off by giving him his birthday gifts at breakfast.  The girls loved the card they picked out for him!

We got him some new shirts, as well as a gift card to a sporting goods store.  Colin has been hitting the Y more frequently lately, and I think he is in desperate need of new shoes to work out in!  Hopefully he uses the card for that (fingers crossed).

The girls and I treated him to supper at Chili's after work.  The girls cooperated (for the most part), and we had a nice meal.  I even had a chicken wrap that I'd never seen on the menu before -- yummy!  I tipped off our waiter that it was Colin's birthday, so he got to enjoy the birthday brownie sundae all by himself as the girls and I shared a chocolate lava cake.  It was just a great night out as a family.

Happy Birthday!!!

HIDA Scan Results

This morning I went for my follow-up appointment at the doctor to discuss the results of last week's HIDA scan.  The verdict?  I'm normal!

That was good to hear.  With the results from bloodwork, abdominal ultrasound, chest X-ray, and now the HIDA scan all in my file, we now know a lot of things that are not causing the occasional ache in my chest.  My doctor asked me to stop and think for a while, and consider how I'm feeling, then consider if I want to pursue additional, more invasive testing.  That was welcome advice.  I've jumped through a lot of hoops in the past 3-4 weeks! 

Besides more invasive testing, he said that other things to consider are possible dairy or wheat intolerances that may have developed as I've aged.  If I find that one of those food groups is a trigger for my aching, he recommends eliminating it for a week, just to see if that really was the source.  Again, I really need to think about that before making any radical changes to my diet.

I'm just glad to hear I'm healthy!  You know how imaginations can wander as you wait for test results, and my mind was no different.  Thank God I don't have any serious problems!

Heart-Healthy Meal Modification: Attempt #1

With the recent news from my doctor that I need to work to lower my cholesterol, I've already taken a few steps toward that.  I'm eating more salad and fewer chips/crackers, and adding flaxseed to my diet.  As a family we're adding more fresh fruits and vegetables to our meals.  Tonight I made one modification to an old favorite...  the jury's still out.

We like Hamburger Helper at our house, and often buy the Wholesome Helper (whole grain noodles).  With salad/other vegetables and breadsticks added, it's pretty popular with all 4 of us.  I usually buy ground sirloin, on the leaner side of the beef spectrum, but after much thought, I bought ground chicken this time.  I considered ground turkey, but surprisingly, that is actually worse for you in terms of fat and cholesterol than ground sirloin.  So I went with ground chicken, which is only marginally better than ground sirloin.

My thoughts?  Ick.

The texture when raw is slimier, and it is harder to brown than ground sirloin.  It stunk up the kitchen even with the exhaust fan on full blast.  And, being a lighter meat, it had what I thought was a disconcerting color to it, even when cooked and sauced by the Wholesome Helper cheese sauce.  My loving family didn't seem to notice and ate it all up.  I took one bite and couldn't get past the mental image of cooking it, and then pushed the rest of the meat to the side and just ate my noodles.  And a lot more vegetables.

Afterward, I was just happy the girls ate it and didn't seem to notice.  Colin and I discussed it, and I told him why I didn't like it as much as when I cook it with ground sirloin.  So, we tried it, we didn't like it, and we're back to good ole' beef next time.

I will be trying to make other heart-healthy modifications and substitutions when I can...  Any suggestions on your favorites???

Busy Saturday!

We started off Saturday morning with an 0800 basketball game for the Lizards.  We only had 6 kids show up, and our opponent only had 4!  We offered to share one of our players, but the other coach declined, and on we went with our game.  The Lizards looked great on Saturday!  Katie even scored the final basket of the game for our team.  I'll have to get some pictures from Colin since he was busy taking them with his new phone the entire time.

Then the girls and I went to the Y so we (well, I) could work out.  But we got there kind of late, and knowing what else was on the schedule, I only had time for 2 miles on the treadmill before I needed to hit the showers so we could be off to our next destination...

Eyebrow wax!  Not terribly exciting, I know, but the girls love coming to the salon because Ms. Dolores has quite the candy dish.  :)  They were well behaved and were rewarded with Hershey's Kisses.

Once home, the girls did a quick change to their swimsuits so we could head off to their lesson.  Colin was finishing up some yard work so he didn't come along this time.  Katie had a private lesson for the first 10 minutes or so as her classmate was late.  Both Katie and Natalie are doing so well!  We are impressed at how far they've come over these few months.

We had a quick lunch at home, then changed again to head off to Alexa's birthday party.  Alexa is one of Natalie's friends, and we were thrilled to be invited.  They had a water play party in the back yard with a kiddie pool, slip-n-slide, sprinklers, super soakers, and water balloons.  The kids had a great time!!!  They also had a small canopy set up to provide shade for the adults, so we took advantage of that.  After some outdoor playtime, we moved back inside for cake & homemade ice cream, a pinata, and gift opening.  It was a fun afternoon.  Unfortunately for our regular naps, it started at 1pm, so the girls didn't get to lay down before partying.  You could tell, too.  Natalie was more than ready to go by 3:15, and she conked out as soon as we were in the car.  Poor girl.

Katie and I played some board games at home while Colin and Natalie napped.  When they woke up about an hour later, we were all still a bit tired and in no mood to do our Target shopping or cook supper...  That's how it goes sometimes, I suppose.  It was a busy, but fun, day!  We'll squeeze our shopping in later today instead.  :)