Missing My Angel- my Angel Came Home

Last Sunday a week ago my brother and his 3 boys came up to visit mom and pop. While they were here they decided to take my darling Michel home with them. This was a good thing because I was suppose to be taking her down to VA on Thursday anyway as they were all (my brother, nephew and Michel) going to New York City for a "night at the musuem". I thought no problem that will save me a trip early, I am doing the olympics here with the little guys - great.


BOY OH BOY did I miss her. It was cool having some time with the other three but I really really missed her. The only other time she was away from me for a period of time was a simple overnight at mee mee's, a friends overnight but this was 6 nights we were talking about. We did make do but it was incredibly hard. The cute thing was that while in NY my brother took the kids to the Toys R Us (it is huge) and she was shopping, picking out a purse (cause she needs one of them (she has tons)) and she couldn't decide which one to buy so she asked Uncle Eddie. I guess being a guy and having only boys (who was picking out leggos) he didn't know how to answer her so he sent me a text picture with her holding up each bag. It was so cool cause I got to see her and help to influence her - she needed her mommy.

Starting Over - The Battle of the Bulge

Look at the rap sheets in the grocery aisle and you will see all the latest ways to loss 10 pounds fast. Or maybe some miracle diet that the stars are doing and how you can do it too! In addition to these you will also see the pictures of stars being too thin or too fat and the absolute worst pictures of them.

There is definitely an obsession over weight in our country and fortunately through the years I have not had to seriously worry about it for myself one way or the other. I do worry for my girls and how they will feel about weight or if they will get sucked into what is the "right" weight, I actually do not know how I will handle that. With that being said I am not one to diet and never have been. I like food plain and simple. I have been pretty fortunate to have maintained an average weight all my life, guess because I am active. I also have been fortunate after having kids and gaining a TON of weight 40+ each time I have successfully gone back to at least my starting weight of 161. Now that 161 is still a bit heavier than I would like to see myself but at least I got back to it each time except with baby #4. The last 15 pounds were just hanging on and deciding that that was the new set weight for me - no good. A year and a half ago I did start weight watchers with a friend of mine and it was fantastic! As I said I LOVE food so it was great to be able to eat what ever I wanted but only in set amounts that didn't' allow me to go over my points. I also trained for and ran a marathon so I am guessing that helped a lot as well.

Well friends I am now sad to say my weight has been creeping up on me and I am again frustrated. I am also all inspired by so many of my girlfriends who are currently active in weight watchers and look fantastic. (Shannon, Yvonne, Jenn K.)

So today I am starting over. I do not have the time or the money in my budget to officially "attend" weight watchers but I am going to post here on Monday's my weigh in and progress.

weigh in 8/11/08 171 lbs. a.m.

weight watchers 10% would be 17 lbs

Ultimate goal 154

Wish me luck!

DIG IT

The kids are doing such an awesome job. I couldn't be prouder! Here's a sneak preview, to see the rest call 610-363-7075. We have lots of seats for our Saturday night at 7:30pm.

The young and then the aging

So I am a mom of four young kids and I am really enjoying it (most days). I love to watch as they learn new things and even as they struggle with some of those new things. Most of us will have our moments of "oh my goodness - where have the years gone and what am I doing or what have I done for me?!" My oldest is 9 now and I have those days often. My youngest will be off to preschool 3 days a week and I am not sure at all what I will do with my time when that happens. I truly go back and forth over sending her or just continuing with "mommy school".

Then we have our parents who we are now and always will be "their baby". I am thankful and fortunate to have my mom near and I beleive she is also thrilled to have me near at least on most occassions. I have 3 brothers and a couple of step brothers and a step sister as well. They are all farther away then I am. Good thing for my mom and me we have a great relationship.

Then if we are very very lucky we have our grandparents and our kids great grandparents. I am lucky to say that I have great genes in my family and I have not only know many great grandparents but great aunts, uncles and even some great great aunts and uncles. I also have had most of my grandparents into adulthood, at my wedding, etc. My one grandmother died just about 2 months ago. She was 94 and an amazing example of a life. I had the opportunity to see her, talk with her, tell her how amazing she is and how much I loved her before she passed. It was sad for the loss of my grandmother but amazing in how gracefully she lived her life and passed on to the next life. Two of my other grandparents (on my mom's side) are also still alive. They are 93 and soon to be 90. These are the two that have been causing much grief and stress in my moms life and then by default mine. It is amazing to me to see how much your relationships with your children as they are growing up truly impact how they are as adults. My mom did not have a good relationship with her parents and left - bolted as soon as she could at age 18. Now she is stuck with feeling obligated to care for them when she never felt loved by them. I am in the middle being daughter, counselor, support, and so much more. I suppose I went off here on this blog, so much of my last year has been handling my mother and assisting in getting my grandparents to a place they will be safe and cared for. The circle of life.

Days and Nights

Days and Nights come and go and when you have kids they sometimes come and go so much faster than you even realize. It is now the end of July and summer is really only just beginning, for us anyway. But.....the stores have the newest backpacks, lunch boxes and school supplies out and in your face - you can't walk into a store without seeing a yellow school bus or something -
Why does everything seem to be passing by so fast? Why does it seem like there is so much rushing and running all the time? It is the summer and I am still exhausted with the amount of running and with how much entertaining I have to do with/for my kids. Don't get me wrong I am a very active person that does enjoy being busy but I feel I long for the slow, lazy days of summer and they are not coming. So.... what will I or can I do about this?? I am making a plan to really take Sunday, the Sabbath to just relax with the family and friends if they are available as well - just relax and enjoy the day. That is my plan anyway. Yesterday was a wonderful day, We went to church, headed to moms for a swim and then home for a neighborhood birthday party. Just a really good day!

Hmm the preassure of a blog

What really is a blog - who started this phonemone? What have we come to? I love to journal and find my peace but it was always done curled up in a chair, pen in hand scratching on paper in my journal. I started or was introduced to blogging back when my youngest daughter was born in 2004 - wow four years ago. I had done the whole web page, pictures up date for friends and family far away when my oldest daughter was born in 1999 so I guess the blog 6 years later was the new and improved way to go. As you can see from my posts - or lack there off I started it - meaning I signed in and gave it a name but nothing else. Then my girlfriends from a moms group went wild and so many started blogging - and I started reading - and some of my friends are so funny I love to read their stories - they really should be in a book somewhere. So this whole blogging thing started to again intrigue me and now here I am attempting to put words and thoughts to a computer screen to share with family and friends. We will see how this goes - my lack of time on the computer or I should say lack of a real computer that is just mine limits me along with the daily duties of every day life but I will keep pushing forward and try to get those crazy moments down on paper for me to remember and for those who wish to read my ramblings as well. Thanks for looking - comments are always welcome.

First Day Of Vacation

We arrived at Myrtle Beach yesterday, Sunday around hmmm 4 ish - took about 9 hours of driving time so we did well leaving at 4:45. The kids and John went off to the beach yesterday as I went to the super walmart for some food for the week - it was amazing to me to watch the people in that store - you would have though it was the depression as they were grabbing stuff off the shelves and the items that were left were often the super size containers. It was a mad house but I think I got what I needed for the week.

The weather for the week does not look to good for us but we will still work to have a relaxing, fun, family vacation. The day today started out fantastic - we went to the pool an dhten the beach