Wednesday, February 23, 2011

A whole lot of catching up...

The McDowell's were spread across the country this last weekend and I have a ton of catching up to do so I'm going with a quick bulleted recap today.

1. Ryan and Ross were in Holton with Grandpa & Grandma Sharp. Ross learned to say "pa pa." He's repeating sounds all over the place but he looked at grandpa when he said "pa pa" and he said it a lot on Thursday when I dropped them off. The had a good time with grandpa, grandma, Aunt Cheri and some of their cousins. They even got to go to Eugene's birthday party.

2. Of course, Holton can NOT be uneventful. If I go out of town and leave them there, it means that SOMETHING will happen. One of them will get sick, grow some new teeth out of the blue... something ALWAYS happens. This weekend... PINK EYE! Poor Ross' eyes drained and drained and matted when he slept. I think they were the worst on Sunday and Monday so I took him to an urgent care clinic Monday afternoon for drops. Then I got to spend Tuesday at home with him so he didn't contaminate the whole daycare. Which actually didn't end up mattering as it sounds like more than half of his daycare had the same stuff. Here's how miserable he was Monday:


3. I was in Sterling, Virginia!!! Yes, I was RIGHT outside of DC... but nope, we didn't go to DC. Been there, done that! I hung out with my BFF and had the greatest time! We ate chinese, pizza, Olive Garden, got pedicures, played a LOT of Monopoly Deal and I cuddled and cuddled with her new 8.5 week old baby, Aaron. He's a DOLL, just like his big brother Ethan!! I learned my lesson - Friday to Sunday is too quick of a turn around for that kind of visit. Next time I think I'll have to stay ONE more night.

4. Russ and Reid were in St Louis. Reid went along with an Atoms team to play four games and they caught a Blues game as well. Sounds like they had a great time. They won all four games pretty easily. Reid played extremely well when he was paying attention but also had his moments of completely not focused as well. He's getting better as he gets older but he still doesn't have a whole game of focus in him for many of his games. Russ was pretty proud of how he played overall and even stopped at a park on Sunday to let him play for a while before they headed home (what a good dad!). Reid said that the Blues game was a ton of fun and really enjoyed the whole weekend.

5. Hockey Ross was in Boston for the weekend. They won 2 games and tied 2 games. He said they played pretty well all weekend. He missed his connecting flight on Sunday and got stuck in Newark, NJ. Apparently the train at the airport got stuck and most airlines tried to delay flights but his got released before they made it to the terminal. He was stuck with the two coaches and five other players so they made the best of it. They went to Times Square on Monday morning and even got interviewed by MTV. Pretty good weekend I think. And Hockey Ross turned 19 on Sunday. We celebrated with him the weekend before since we weren't all going to be together this weekend.

6. I did weigh in today, basically to pay my $2 to the deserving winner. I knew I'd be up (see number 3 above and I didn't even mention that I skipped my long run and didn't work out for three whole days)... but it was worth it. I was actually quite pleased that I was only up 1.2, I thought it would be much worse. This week I am getting back on the wagon and getting SERIOUS. I am trying to eat only whole, non-processed foods for 7 days. NO sugar, flavored water, preservatives, and a ton of words I can't pronounce etc. The ONLY exception I'm allowing myself is quaker oatmeal if I so desire. I am not about to eat regular oats with no flavor. I have guaranteed my competitors that I will lose 2 pounds this week and challenged them to up their game as well!

Weigh in Results:
The Lone Male: -2.40% (he lost 5.9 pounds and is ready to get serious too!)
Mrs Consistent: -0.92% (a solid 1.6 pound week, she totally got robbed this week)
Nancy Nazarene: -0.77%
The Cheater: -0.48%
Myself: 0.72% (I'm at 167.8. I have 37 days to get to 160 for the Rock the Parkway half marathon - no more excuses!)

7. I went to www.random.org and did a number generator to pick a number between 1 and 4 and the winner of the CSN store giveaway was #4. I'll be sending you the information on how to use your $20 gift certificate, Cheri!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

MY FIRST EVER GIVEAWAY!!!

I know, I know... I didn't post any adorable pics of my kiddos this week and then I'm going off and leaving Blogland (and my kiddos) for the weekend as well. I thought maybe I'd leave something fun here over the weekend to keep you all interested. CSN Stores contacted me wanting to do a $20 giveaway on my blog. Never heard of CSN Stores? Well, they have just about anything you could ever want from over 200 stores! That's right - I'm talking cookware, bookcases,swing sets, and tons of other awesome things!

If you are interested in winning this $20 gift card leave a comment on the blog with something that you find at one of their stores that you would put the gift card towards (maybe we'll all see something we can't live without) and I will randomly select a winner next week upon my return.

The Weigh in came, the weigh in went...

and I'm at the bottom of the heap. Luckily I was only up one pound - it should have been much worse given my week. Basically I have made no progress in three weeks now. I'm heading to DC to see my BFF this weekend and trust me, I DESERVE this trip so all promises of doing better the next week are going to have to wait a week! I'm skipping my long run, I'm eating what I want, etc etc. I'm going to party it up until next Wednesday and then I think I'll do something drastic... stay tuned!

p.s. - This has been a stressful week for me so I didn't even want to weigh in today; however, I knew that wasn't fair to my partners in crime as SOMEONE deserved my $2 so I weighed in but I didn't bring my camera or get any pictures. I promise a new better mood next week :)

The Results:
Nancy Nazarene: -0.08%
The Cheater: 0.12%
Mrs Consistent: 0.12%
The Lone Male: 0.53%
Carmen: 0.60%

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Wednesday Weigh In

Ok, I can not get this picture to rotate the appropriate way... and after dealing with an insurance company all day (I digress)... I am done trying!

BUT I am thrilled to report that I weighed in at 165.6. I was NOT expecting a 2.2 pound decrease this week. I HAVE been working out super hard but my diet has been horrible. I REALLY enjoyed myself for the Super Bowl. I had quite a spread (for just our family) and I enjoyed it all thoroughly.

Russ and I have been doing P90X consistently for 2.5 weeks now and I am already seeing differences! We're doing P90X in the mornings (starting around 4:30/4:45 people - that is dedication!) and then I have been sticking with my running schedule over noon times and on Saturdays. I try to run 3 - 4 days per week. I'm on target for 22 miles this week if I stick with my plan. (we'll see). I can feel that the extra weight training is definitely helping in my clothing sizes and with my running speed.

I decided to go ahead and post my pictures from today. I'm at 7.2 pounds now. I can't "see" a difference yet but these are size 10 pants... and they are fitting a tad better... more work to do of course! (and I didn't wash my weigh in shirt this week). That's Hamad in the picture. I have one from last year with him in it too - he's got a secret love for my camera!



This was a horrible hair day. My hair is driving me NUTS these days. Because I'm working out twice a day I am usually showering two or three times a day and I wash my hair every time I shower which I've read is not good for it. I'm thinking about trying some dry shampoo... anyone ever tried it??? Please let me know if you like it! It's hard not to wash your hair after a four mile run because I sweat... A LOT!

Results...
Carmen: -1.31% ($8 in my pocket! I haven't done the math but I think I'm up like $10 overall on this challenge)
The Cheater: -0.96% (She's still 0.6 less than me)
Mrs Consistent: -0.35%
Nancy Nazarene: 0.15%
The Lone Male: 0.41%

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Our snow fort

Sunday afternoon I told the boys that they were going to go outside in the afternoon and play while Ross took his afternoon nap. Of course Ryan was thrilled with the idea and Reid only took a little prodding to get into the idea. I told them that after I got Ross laid down that I would come outside and play with them.

I bundled up and went out. We started with building snow men but the snow was HEAVY and I couldn't get the pieces lifted up very well. We decided to make a snow fort. For some reason I actually really got into making the fort with the boys. I was digging it out and they kept wanting it bigger and bigger so all three of us could fit in it. Russ looked out the window from his office and saw us doing it. He was sneaky and came down the driveway (in SHORTS) and took pictures of us. I didn't even notice him I was so into working on our fort :)



Once all three of us could fit into it our plan was to hide in it and scare Hockey Ross when he got home. He was at the gym working out. We were out in the yard fooling around when his jeep came down the street and we all three ran for the fort and hid (I'm sure he saw us). When he got out of the jeep the boys jumped out and ran for him.

Finally, I made the boys go inside to warm up some. It was actually not "that" cold... I think in the 20s but the boys had been out for almost two hours and I had been out for at least 90 minutes and I was DONE. I decided I was counting that as my second workout for the day :)

Funny side story - Reid and I were laying inside the fort digging out the snow and Reid says "You know, I feel like the luckiest kid in the whole world." I thought he was going to go on and say because I was making him a fort or something similar so I asked "Yeah, why is that?" Reid says, "Well you know some people got dads that are robbers or other bad things." Yep, that's true - some kids did.

Documenting our Chaos

As most of you are aware, I have scrapbooked for years. I have books and books of Reid's first four years of life. Then, the last couple of years I began to get WAY behind. With the three kid's and our crazy schedule I was only able to find 2 - 3 times to go to scrapbook events and never enough time at home to work on them. I have stacks of pages that I need to get dated and put in books. I have tons of pages I need to do. Oh, and I have a third child whose baby book isn't even 25% filled out (isn't that how it always goes)! I decided before the end of the year that I was just going to give up scrapbooking as a hobby. BUT... then Becky Higgins (oh my obsession with all things Becky!!) decided to develop a brand new kit that was created to make things simpler. Well, I'm going to work to get caught up but in a much simpler fashion.

My fabulous thoughtful husband (who loves to have the boys' lives documented just as much as I do) bought me Project Life for Valentine's Day... and gave it to me early! Project Life is a MUCH simpler way to document and scrapbook. I was so torn on whether to complete 2010 (which I have done nothing on), start 2011, or do Ross' first year. I decided that my kit would be for 2010 so I could get busy into it and finish it quickly. I am also starting a Project Life digital version for Ross' first year! So, two kits and my goal is to have them both DONE by June 1!! Then I'm going to start on one for 2011!

As with the Becky Higgins tradition, I had to get a picture of myself with my Project Life box. I had no clever ideas and I was ready to tear into it so I just asked Reid to snap a photo of me. He didn't do so bad!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Bibarel, the Bitch Pokemon


I took Ryan along in the van to pick up Reid from a birthday party today. Reid had left his Nintendo DS in the van and Ryan was playing a Pokemon game on it. He's just recently began figuring out how to actually "play" the games. He excitedly told me that he had gotten the Fire Pokemon. I'm driving along just listening, "Good Job Ryan." A few minutes later he say "Hey, I just got the Bitch Pokemon too!" I didn't respond immediately. He continues on, talking to the DS now "I got you Bitch Pokemon." I had no clue what Pokemon he was trying to say so I just said "Good Job Ryan" and he continued on playing. I wanted to call someone and laugh about it so bad but I knew he'd be embarrassed.

Later that afternoon, Reid was laying on the living room floor playing the same game and Ryan was laying beside him watching. I was at the top of the stairs watching Ross play. I heard Ryan say to Reid "Hey, you got the bitch Pokemon too." Reid reacted sharply saying "Ryan that's not it's name, you shouldn't say that word. That's not nice." I'm not sure Ryan realized what Reid was even saying, as far as he knew that was the Pokemon's name. I hollered down at Reid and asked him what the Pokemon's name was. It was Bibarel.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Snowpocalypse Part II

During morning naps Wednesday Russ and I bundled up to go tackle the shoveling. We hadn't touched it all day Tuesday. I got a message Wednesday morning from our neighbor across the street that we had a huge drift against our garage door. When we opened the doors, this is what we saw:

It's hard to tell just how much snow is there but this is what it looked like when I cleared one path:

We shoveled and shoveled. It took us over and hour to get our drive clear and the sidewalk leading up to our front porch. We never finished our sidewalk by the street. This view of our sidewalk to the front door shows how much snow we shoveled well:


The first pic I took when we went outside was time stamped with 9:49 and these last few pics were from 10:57. I went inside to check on the older boys and to wake Ross up and Russ stayed out for another 15 minutes or so cleaning up a bit.


The older boys had done a GREAT job playing together. They got out this race track and all of their match box cars by themselves and were playing so nicely with it.

Since Tuesday and Wednesday had been spent in pajamas with pretty much no exercise I told the boys that after lunch they could go outside to play. They ate good lunches and we bundled them up. Russ went up to take a nap himself (that shoveling killed his back) and I played with Ross for a while. The boys were in and out of the house no less than 8 times. I was getting so annoyed but they needed help with their gloves, snow in their faces and they wanted to tell me all about what they were doing. Finally I laid Ross down for his afternoon nap and I went out to see what they had done. I put on a coat but nothing else... smart, huh? Russ had piled a large mound of snow up against our third garage door in front of Hockey Ross' jeep. Ross had left for practice and the boys were using that mound to build a fort. They had a pretty good size hole dug so I helped them dig it out more and make it bigger so they could climb in. We got it big enough that one person could fit all the way in it laying down or both could kind of squish in it sitting up. They were excited! Here are the best shots of their fort that I got:






I should have zoomed back and got one good overall shot but it really was cool. This morning when we were pulling out to go to daycare they were excited that it was still there. I'm not sure where they thought it was going to go... with the temps at -6... eek!

Anyway, school was cancelled again today due to the frigid temps so they are all at Bether's house and she said they are having a great day. School is out tomorrow for a professional day but I haven't decided what the plan will be. Next week they only have school three days due to conferences.

Well, I'm thoroughly sick of snow pictures now. I'm ready to post some pictures of the boys out riding their bikes on dry streets with the sun beating down!!!

Wednesday, er Thursday Weigh In

Well... we missed weigh in yesterday because of another snow day at home. We all weighed in today and I did the worst :( Being at home is horrible for me! I snack, I crave, I cave... all of it. We had Chick Fil A yesterday for lunch, I ate girl scout cookies, popcorn, etc. It was horrible. AND I haven't ran since Saturday. I knew that results weren't going to be good for me. I gained 1 pound. (WEIGHT - 167.8) So back to the gym I went today at lunch. I got up this morning and did 90 minutes of P90X yoga and then I kicked my own butt at the gym today for lunch. I needed to do 4 miles which I knew was going to be boring so I did six 400m intervals at a 9:13 pace with 2 minute recoveries. Then I ran the 1.25 miles more to get me to 4 miles.

Results:
The Cheater: -1.30% (and she now officially weighs less than me, I am SO pissed at myself)
Mrs Consistent: even
Nancy Nazarene: even
Myself: +0.6%
The Lone Male: Home with his kids again today... he'll get back in it next week.

Nancy Nazarene is thinking about quitting. She says this just doesn't motivate her. I guess it doesn't work for everyone... but it does me! For one, they all know that I gained a pound this week, I had to pay $2, and the Cheater now weighs less than me... UGH. I worked out my frustration at the gym over lunch and I'm getting back on track!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Our Snowpocalypse Summary

Well, it's late Wednesday afternoon... we've been dealing with "this" winter storm since Monday... I'm DONE! The littles ARE going to daycare tomorrow and I'm PRAYING that Reid has school. If he doesn't he might be going to daycare too. I am going into the office. I need out of this house! Also, I need to RUN... badly. I'm not crazy enough to run outside in this so I will be hitting the gym over lunch tomorrow.

Anyway, the drizzle and freezing rain started on Monday afternoon. I left work around noon and picked up the littles from daycare before their naps. We've been in the house since then (I did get out today to pick up lunch). The kids have not left... or bathed! (Well, Ross did 'play' in the tub). Seriously, we have been vegging! Ryan is currently wearing a blue camo long underwear shirt with spongebob boxer shorts - that's it. Reid is wearing a green camo long underwear shirt with white long underwear pants that have a huge hole in the crotch. Ross has on his camo long underwear pajamas that he wore to bed last night. I have not showered. See... we need to get out of this house and become part of the world again!!

Besides the freezing rain, we didn't get much snow on Monday so on Tuesday I decided to chronicle the storm through pictures. I turned the time stamp on my camera and took pictures out my front door during the day.

7:21 am

9:19 am

11:15 am


1:50 pm (the heating and cooling van is just my neighbor's that are finishing their basement, no one was without heat)

4:40 pm (can't get the front door open now because of a huge drift on our front porch)

8:23 pm (Russ had me go look in the garage. This is our backdoor to our backyard. We had not opened it all day, this snow had just blown through the cracks)


We went to bed Wednesday night knowing that school was cancelled. We skipped our Wednesday morning workout and slept in until 7!

Russ made himself some breakfast...

Reid played DS for at least an hour...

And Ryan and Ross did a whole lot of this...












Part II... later today

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

BSA Race Car Derby

Saturday night was Reid's first boy scout race car derby. I really wanted to go watch it with him but I hated spending the money on a sitter just so both Russ and I could be there. Grandpa Jerry & Grandma Cella offered to come down and watch "the littles" (I've been running with this a lot lately, comes out easier) so we could both attend.

Once they got into town Grandpa even decided to join us at the race. We had no idea what we were in for! It was a busy night... apparently I wasn't the only mom and Grandpa wasn't the only grandparent that wanted to watch. There were a LOT of spectators. The first 30 minutes was all signing in and weighing of the cars. Seems a few moms were tipped off to this fact as they came 30 minutes later. (note to self - next year... arrive 30 minutes later). The race itself was actually a lot of fun to watch - and some of the dad's were even more fun to watch. Boy, they sure can act like they don't care and then get ultra-competitive real quick. Russ had a pretty mellow (shocking) approach to it all. With this being he and Reid's first year
he just wanted the car to stay in one piece and make a "decent" showing. Which it did. Reid's car lost both of the two rounds it was in but they were both close races. The car never stuck, drag or fell apart... and it looked pretty cool. First year - success!

As we were leaving the derby I had Reid stop in his school to pose for a couple of pictures for me...
Here's Reid with Russ after the derby...


And Reid with Grandpa Jerry & Grandma Cella...

And a couple of shots from during the derby. The top is from his first race. The second is just him watching some of the other races going on...