Go Fight Win

These are my girls~the middle school cheer squad. I have had such a good time coaching them and I love them all to pieces! This is there very first mount at a game. Caroline is the flyer on the far left. Go Crusaders!

SAHM I Am . . . .Or Not

I'm having one of those days. I have had thousands of them since I began my stint as a Stay At Home mom in 1998. I feel like a dog chasing its tail. I have a mountain of work to get to and all I can muster the energy to do is hold Greta on the couch with her Tupperware Barf Bowl. I do laundry. I make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I clean up gobs of toothpaste. I build Lego trucks. I untangle American Girl hair. And so on. I'm OK with all of that. It comes with the territory of the choice I made to stay home. My frustration lies in the fact that I seem to be the only mom who doesn't love her stay at home mom-ness ALL THE TIME. Or at least according to Facebook every other SAHM thinks they have the greatest job in the world and loves spending every waking and non-waking moment with their kids. Are all these moms lying or am I truly the only one who gets sick of being a human kleenex all day? I chose to stay home because I thought it was important to be the one with my kids. I wanted to make the choices for how they spent their time. Problem is I am the one to blame for how their spend their time. . .is there any defense for "Yo Gabba Gabba"?

I can't even complete the thought right now. Someone is screaming and I can't ignore it anymore.

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Our school came down with a new rule this week aimed at the middle school kids.

Any use of the words "stupid" or "shut up" will result in a demerit.

Any use, regardless of context or intent. Any use. Am I the only one here who thinks this is STUPID?! We already have a rule about being disrespectful. Be the adult, use your discretion, and enforce it when appropriate. Don't need to start making a list of words. "Stupid" can be used appropriately or inappropriately, just like hundreds of other words in the English language. If your goal is to stop 11-13 yr olds from being smart mouthed, saying "Don't say THIS word" is the wrong way to go about it. You better believe they spent the whole day yesterday saying stupid and shut up as much as possible. Rules without brains behind them are a recipe for rebellion. Kids act out when rules make no sense.

We have an awesome group of kids in our little middle school. They are smart, funny, friendly, well behaved and respectful. I coach the cheerleaders so I spend a lot of time with these girls plus the girls and boys from the basketball teams. All good kids. A little rowdy and immature? Absolutely. They are supposed to be rowdy and immature. They are IN MIDDLE SCHOOL! This is 2010 and if our biggest problem is kids calling stuff and each other stupid, we got it pretty good! Or well? Good? Whatever.

My Before Post

Why is it so hard? I mean seriously. Eat less food, move more. How freakin' hard is that? Very hard. I (heart) food. I love to cook it. I love to smell it. I love to eat it. I particularly love to eat it when everyone else is not bugging me. It's my treat that I look forward to all day long. My sister says our family's mealtime conversations focus around when and what we are going to eat next. That is so wrong.

January 2002 I was at an all-time high weight and an all time low. My mom was in the middle of her losing battle with cancer. Tim and I had been trying to have a baby for over 3 years. We finally gave up and started to pursue adoption. We were really excited about it. I decided that since I wasn't going to be preggers I was going to be skinny. I went to Weight Watchers and over 10 months I lost 30 pounds. I felt amazing and looked better than I did in college. Somewhere in mid-October 2002 I found out I was pregnant. Holy cow. How did THAT happen?!? Well, I know how it happens. . . . I was 2 pounds from my goal weight. Amelia was born June 2003, Greta was born January 2005 and Wyatt showed up July 2007. I never got back to where I was in October 2002.

Why can't I get there? I have gained and lost the same 10 pounds a zillion times since then. I have a million excuses but no valid reasons. I'm not one of those "never take care of myself" moms. I have no trouble getting away for a few hours to shop and EAT. I just can't seem to stick to it. Why? If I knew the answer, I probably wouldn't be fat. I want to be that cute thin athletic mom who does things with her kids. I want to wear cute clothes~it's hard enough to find stuff that doesn't make me look like either a teen or a grandma!

So here's my before picture. This is for me to look at every time I want to eat. Every time I want to skip my run. Every time I think I don't look so bad.

Random Randomness

Unemployment blows. Nothing much else to even say about it. Tim is home. ALL. DAY. EVERY. DAY. He's at the computer or on the phone all day long but it's pretty hard to keep it from sounding like the Nick Jr soundstage in the background. Wyatt is so colossally bored. I feel for the kid. He goes outside to play in the snow and that lasts about 10 minutes. He plays Legos and trucks. That lasts another 15 minutes. So that leaves Wyatt and I 11 hours to keep ourselves busy. When the girls were this age, I could get stuff done. They loved to "help" do housework. Wyatt sees a pile of clean laundry as a opportunity to throw things. He sees bathroom cleaner as a tasty snack. He sees a vaccum as a ride-on toy. He is so BOY. Sigh.

On another note, Caroline is having a fantastic time with cheerleading. I've been helping coach her squad and that's been a lot of fun. The girls are a riot and I'm trying really hard to be an appropriate role model. (Snort. . .)

Same Post As Every Other Blogger Today

It's that time of year. . . .everyone feels compelled to a New Years Resolutions. I am a realist. I always slide back to my old ways by Jan 19 so I'm not a big fan of the tradition. Funny thing is I do it every year. This year I will lose 30 pounds, save $10,000, clean my house every day, read my Bible more, play with my kids more, exercise, blah blah blah blah. I looked back in my old journals a noticed that the ONE year I actually DID lose 30 pounds and spend more time reading my Bible was the year I wrote down my resolutions in my journal. Things that make you go mmmmmmm. . . .

So here you have it.

1. Lose 25 lbs. I am done having babies and have no reason to be carrying around extra weight. It is unhealthy in so many ways not the least of which it increases my risk for breast cancer. I also feel yucky. I gained 4 pounds since T-giving and my jeans are tight. I hate that.

2. Read my Bible more. I go in spurts. I do my stuy for small group but usually not a whole lot more. Looking back in my journal I had a phase where I was copying certain verses and letting those guide my prayers. Need to get back to that.

3. Organize the toys. I don't think my kids have a ton of toys. The neighborhood children have asked me where all the toys are hidden so they don't think my kids have enough toys! They are big fans of things with lots of pieces though. Legos, puzzles, Polly Pockets, Little People. I need a better system to organize them because when the playroom is not a mess, they actually PLAY there!

4. Tim needs to find a job. Yesterday. In the South.

5. Stick to a schedule. I was the schedule nazi when my kids were babies but now that Wyatt is out of the baby phase I am not. I miss that predictablity.

So here's to 2010. What's your plan?

Merry Christmas

Nothing much to say but here's a few snapshots of Christmas.




Me with Greta and my teeny new niece, Meredith.


Wyatt looking old enough to get move out and take a wife.




Christmas 2009 will officially be recorded as the Holiday of the Legos.



Caroline with my niece Joanna. Caroline truly believes Joanna is the coolest person on the face of the planet.