I love Costco and girls' time.

           Okay, so call me crazy but one of my favorite things to do and definitely Trevor's favorite thing to do is go shopping at Costco.  There is something very exhilerating about bringing home food storage and knowing our family will be taken care of for a while if disaster happens.  Plus, it's just nice to have a crap-load of food sitting on my storage room shelves.  I get this same feeling after shopping trips to Gymboree and getting the kids' clothes for an average of $6.00 per item (jeans included!).  Yes, my friends, it is possible....

           On a different note, poor Lolo is not feeling well.  Fever, cough, belly ache...she said to me, "mom, I juss wanna go to da doctos and has her six me um-morrow."  Picture her saying that with her big brown eyes staring up at you and with her mouth pouty, just a bit.  She is precious.  Oh yeah, before she started feeling sick, I took her to get her first hair cut.  She is three and has never had her hair cut before. Just a trim-she is my long-haired girl.  Diva also got her hair cut-a longer a-line-she looks darling.  She spent the rest of the day flipping her hair and telling everyone to look at her beautiful hair.  OH MY!!!!!

Crazy night

Do you ever have one of those nights that you just want to curl up with a big bowl of ice cream, put chocolate syrup on top and then lick (I said lick) the bowl clean?   Yeah, I am having one of those nights.  Fortunately for me I only had about a 1/2 a cup of ice cream left in the carton to eat.  I made a pact with my friend Carla that if I wanted to pig out that I would call her and she is supposed to talk me out of it-I still have a few pounds of baby weight to lose-but I was hoping she would just have ESP and call me to stop me.  I was too driven to call her.  Right now I have no regrets.....we will see about tomorrow though.  Ahhhh, gotta love being a mom.  :)  But hey, my house is SPOTLESS!  4 kids and all....Can't wait for the hubby to get home!

I think I should be appalled

Right now we are temporarily down to one toilet (long story) but expecting to be back to two within the next few days.  So, little Lolo comes running up the stairs screaming she needs to go potty, and as she sits down Sporty comes storming in freaking out that HE needs to go.  I tell him to chill for a second until she is done.  Well, he storms off pouting and Lolo finishes.  I call to him to tell him it's his turn and he does not answer.  Next thing I hear is the back door shutting-HE PEED IN THE BACKYARD!  He says to me, "I NEEDED to go so I peed out by the shed."  I had to turn my head to keep from laughing!  Such a BOY!  So, moral of the story, stay away from yellow snow.

Yeah, I am running for fun

So I have commited to running the RAGNAR race/Wasatch Back.  Me, crazy me!  Even though I have been playing competitive sports my entire life- even now- I have NEVER ran for fun.  When I was in high school we had to run "tours" around the school for basketball conditioning-I HATED it!  I would rather run up and down the court with a ball shooting layups for an hour than run for 20 minutes around the school or even on the track.  Well, this last pregancy was real bumpy for me (lots of crap that put me high risk for uterine eruption) so I had to take it easy-the not-quite-bed-rest for about 3 months.  Now, that is very hard for me to do when I eat, sleep, and breathe working out, chasing my other kids, and am on the go all the time.  Even after the birth of baby Z I had to "relax" for 3 months (that's about 6 months total!)-I had some complications after the 4th c-section-so when September 10th arrived, and I was "cleared" for normal living, I took off running, literally.  I have a good friend that would run with me about 3x a week, at night after my 4 kids and her 5 were asleep.  Then winter set in and all the gunk that came with it, so we took some time off.  Elise-I dare say I am ready to take off again.  So anyway, I am going to be training for not only the RAGNAR, but I am also training for the Marathon Relay.  I am super excited to train for both, but also to run both with my good friend Carla and my sister-in-law Bradi.  Running is something I hope to maintain the rest of my life.  I always feel soooo good after a nice long run.  Plus, it's not bad in helping me lose the last of my baby weight, and to maintain my girlish figure!  Hee hee hee hee hee...  Now if I can only lay off the chocolate....

Lolo needs some blog time

So my hubby commented that Lolo needs some blog time-so here's a spot for you my wee one.  Last week was all about Diva with her birthday, then the family party and now a friend party, and little Lolo was bent all out of shape.  I could her Diva crying downstairs on many occasions, saying, "BUT IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!  QUIT RUINING IT FOR ME!"  Very sad indeed-sniffle, sniffle.  Apparently, my little girl has turned into the green-eyed monster and does not like that Diva got all the attention-never mind that her own birthday was two weeks before.  Such a stink!  I never grew up with sisters, so this is all new to me, and frankly, I don't like it.  My sister arrived when I was in 7th grade, so there has never been that rivalry.  Anyway, back to Lolo-she is the funniest, mischevious little twerp you will ever meet.  She teases Trevor and me all the time-her favorite is when Trevor hugs me and will yell out, "Kiss!  Now hug.  Kiss!  Now hug.  DIP!"  and then she giggles this daring little giggle.  Oh she makes me smile.  She is always calling Trevor "stinkah"-they have a tight bond.  I am posting a video of her from about 6 months ago that I think is hilarious, so I hope you enjoy it too.  She LOVES to sing.  Oh yeah, it was right before bedtime and she has a MOP for hair and it is not done.  I just had a baby-alot of things got neglected the first few weeks after baby Z's birth.

Okay, so I couldn't get the video to download, but believe me, IT. WAS. DARLING!  If I can figure out how to get it on here, I will.  So these pictures will have to do...I get a little bit paranoid when we are around water, so that is why she looks like the summer version of "Randy" from "A Christmas Story"

Simple things that make us smile

My baby is the smiliest baby ever!  He smiles at everything and anything.  He smiles when the cat walks by, he smiles when he sees a dog, he goes beserk when he sees his brother or two sisters-he. is. HAPPY.  Today I pulled out his sippy cup and started walking towards him and Z-man started kicking and flailing his arms about and squealing that high pitch squel that only dogs and insects can hear-he. was. so. excited!  My point-why don't I get that excited over simple things.  The answer-I am a busy mother of four and a wife to a busy coach/business owner.   So from today on I am going to get ecstatic over the simplicity of life.  For example, Lolo's low voice, Diva's girlie attitude, Sporty's ability to talk my ear off, my tulips and daffodils that are beginning to break through the ground, THE SUN!  Oh I will appreciate the sun when he decides to show himself.  I love when spring starts and I can go out on my front lawn with my kids and lay down on the grass and watch the wispy clouds.  Right now my girls have two friends over and they are playing Play-dough (ugh-mess) but their sweet little voices make  me smile.  So, no more complaining on my end-I have a good life.  Besides it's Friday-GAME DAY!  We love game day!

Birthday and Parent Teacher Conferences

Today is Diva's 5th birthday.  I cannot believe my baby girl is growing up.  This little girl and I have a very tight bond-although, she can be my worst nightmare and my best friend.  She is a FANTASTIC little girl.  Her smile is so contagious, her personality infectious, and she is just beautiful inside and out.  I had such a HORRIBLE pregnancy with her (and I mean HORRIBLE) that when she finally arrived I was so overcome with relief and joy that words cannot describe-I was thankful she was finally here.  I cannot imagine life without her.  Everyday brings a new opportunity with her, a new joke, a new idea, a new everything.  She definitely knows how to challenge me-in fact, she is me, at that age.  I take comfort in knowing that I was a twerp but grew out of it, so maybe she will too?  Ahh, let's face it-I can STILL be a twerp-just ask my hubby...  Anyway, I am thankful for her in everyway.  I apparently need to learn some lesson when she tries my patience, but I always look forward to playing "haircut girl," and "makeup girl," and just snuggling on the couch while she tells me about her day. 

Lucky for her, she gets to celebrate her birthday three times-today, tomorrow, and next week.  Fortunately for our family we live very close to grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles; so they are all coming over for cake and ice cream tomorrow.  Then Trev and I told her she could have a party with her friends.  Her response:  "I am the Queen and can do whatever I want.  And I get to be queen with my cousins and with my friends."  Isn't she the queen ANY time she is with her friends???  Her nickname is Diva, remember?  Oh, I love this kid!  By the way, I took both of these pictures to see if I had any talent in picture taking-uhhh, I will stick to being a mommy who pays the professionals  :)

Now to Parent Teacher Conferences-I just got back from talking to Sporty's teacher, and can I say I have a FANTASTIC kid!  He makes me sooo proud-he does well in school, he is kind to everybody, and he LOVES his momma!  I love the fact that he wants to do well, and he wants to work hard.  He is such a good kid-I am truly blessed.  Sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve the great kids I have-I just hope they always know how much they are loved and appreciated by their parents.  Afterall, we are human and we get mad...  Keep up the good work, Sporty, and we love you!

Nickname

Okay, so as promised, I will clue everyone in on how I became know as chuck.   As a wee 15 year old, I was asked to play on a jv basketball team at a team camp over the summer before my sophomore year. I agreed of course!  I LOVE BASKETBALL.!  So I go to this camp with a few girls I knew and few girls I didn't know and we are scheduled to play against a varsity squad.  WHAT THE!?!?!  We are TOTALLY inexperienced, we barely know each other and we are expected to compete?!  Well, we get out there and my wise coach tells me to play inside-now, I am 5'7" and the other team's center is like 5 inches taller than me and twice as wide (SERIOUSLY!).  So I listen to my wise coach and get out there and play.  My point guard gets me the ball and I turn into the lane only to see a semi coming at me so I duck under and go up the opposite side.  My coach's jaw hit the floor-she is not a tall woman.  She looks at me and says, "You just did an up and under like Charles Barkley.  You are Charles Barkley Jr-an undersized post player.  I am going to call you Chuck."  And it stuck.  Now, you could hear Coach yell my name during games, but it was usually phrased like this, "For HELL'S SAKE, Chuck!"  So there it is-my story of how Chuck came to be.  To this day people still call me that and I turn and respond. It's a good thing I am a fan of His Greatness himself-have you seen and heard how funny he is on TNT?