Saturday, April 30th

Started off the day getting little house things done....changing the beds, changing the towels, doing laundry, putting things away, etc. Then it was off to Saturday Zumba. There were 133 people there in the gym zumba'ing away today! And Crystal brought out some new songs and choreo. My only problem with that...I CANNOT do the Running man for the life of me! I feel like a complete spaz!!! I wish that with some serious concentration I could pull off the new moves, but alas! I've pleaded with the girls to teach me how!!! After zumba the boys and I headed off to the car wash while Casey and Pete went to fetch the poker table for the party next weekend. It was here, while the boys were so very excited, that I realized how fun it is to see the world through their eyes. It gives me a chance to relive childhood, and appreciate the little, simple things in life much more. They squealed with delight when the water was squirting the car and making a ton of noise. And they squealed with delight once or twice more when I was getting them with the vacuum. They love the carwash!!!!! We came home and took a spin on the bikes and made it back inside just in time to see Uncle Pete! They love Pete!! Then it was time to break out the fingerpaint and create some awe inspiring masterpieces! It took them awhile because they're both a bit OCD like their mom, and aren't too sure about getting dirty when it comes to having paint all over their fingers/hands. They went back to putting their stickers on plain paper, and tracing around them. That's when I decided it was time to go enjoy the sun, outside, in the cold. I cannot freaking believe how cold it still is here, when tomorrow is freaking May. But oh well, enough said about that. We put batteries in the new bubble gun and they had a bubble duel! I just bought a thing of bubbles on Wednesday, and I'm sure it will be gone after a couple more bubble sessions...and the jug is ginormous! My cousin suggested a recipe for homemade bubbles...may have to give it a try!! After a wonderful cobb pasta toss we decided it's family movie night. So we're now enjoying the movie Tangled. The boys are so funny. They have denied wanting to watch it ever since it came out on dvd...but they really seem to like it thus far. Even though it's about a princess... I love my boys so dearly! : ) We shall see if I decide to watch a movie with the hubby tonight, or if I decide to head back down and scrap some more...lord knows I have enough to get done down there!!!!

Friday, April 29th

Another terrific Friday on the books! Started the day off with another kindergarten readiness program. Today the focus was on PE and music. They had a couple of BSU basketball players and one football player come to help with the PE portion. Lucas had a ball!!!! He was dying to do more than just dribble the ball with the bball players, but they wouldn't let them shoot baskets. He was really shy about letting me take his picture with any of the BSU guys, but finally gave in and humored me!! Zach was feeling much better thankfully, and made it the whole day without vomiting or any diarrhea!!!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!!! We were able to go grocery shopping without any problems. We found another bubble gun, so that there will be less fighting about there only being one gun!!!!! Once Casey was done working from home, we headed over to the mall. Dinner was at Old Chicago...I had earned my adult beverage, bad news though, they switched their cider, so no more Ace Pear Cider...it's some granny apple cider now...meh! My big reward, and early mother's day present came when we headed out into the mall. Two new bras, after another fitting. The girls have settled into place and the previous ones weren't fitting properly any longer. Come to find out that I needed to go up a cup size...not going to complain since they fit properly now! We headed down to the store with the waterfall for the boys, and were on our way to see the puppies when we realized that the pet store isn't there anymore! SAD day for my boys. Upstairs to ride the cars. I checked out Lady Foot Locker for the pair of dance Nike shoes that I'd like to buy, but they didn't have any in black that I liked. So over to Roth's we headed, and I instead spent at least twice as much on a new pair of Dansko's. I love those clogs! And this pair is tooled, so they are brown, with dark, almost black designs all over them...thus, I can wear one pair with either brown or black instead of needing one brown pair and one black pair! If these last 6+ years like the last 2 pairs, then the hubby will be able to justify spending so much on one pair of shoes!! I am spoiled by my 3 boys! Lucky, lucky me!! And the night just got better once the boys went to bed...another 10 pages of pictures scrapbooked! I finished Zach's 2nd birthday party!!! And then I did 6 pages of Lucas' 11th month of life. And I came to the sad realization that it's gonna take me forever if I literally scrap every picture I've printed of my boys. So I'm going to have to stick to some highlights, and be picky with the rest! Easier said than done because I look at those pictures of Lucas, and his many expressions, and I have THE hardest time eliminating any of them! Oh well, he'll be 6 in September, so I really do need to get at least his first year done finally!! And Zach will be 4 in July, and I've only got 2 months done for him. Need to get on it! : )

Thursday, April 28th

Lucas attempting to fly his mini kite at the school behind our house

Some of my beautiful tulips

We woke up to a grumpy whiney Zach again this morning. He had about a 1/4 of his glass of milk and maybe that much of his breakfast bar, and he puked. So I decided that day 5 of this is long enough to not know what the heck is going on with this kid, and I took him to the doctor. Dr Bateman was out so we saw one of his colleagues, and Zach was not really into that, even though Dr Jordan was a very nice guy! He said that Zach's throat and tonsils were fine, no ear infection, his urine had a lot of ketones in it and was very concentrated (to be expected given his history of 5 days of this crap) but no signs of infection there, and he ruled out antibiotic induced c diff colitis from the azithromycin he'd had last week for his bronchitis. So his official diagnosis, prolonged viral gastroenteritis. Good news that it wasn't something horrible....bad news that we have no idea what's really causing this, nor when it will end! His butt is raw from the diarrhea, and obviously hurts badly since he wants me to put diaper cream on it. My poor little man!!!!!!! Had to cancel swim lessons today since I don't want to pay the cost of cleaning up puke from the pool...and/or diarrhea! Lucas is driving me absolutely insane because he's been cooped up in the house too much these past several days with mom and brother being ill. So tonight after dinner I took him back to the school (in front of our dining room windows, so dad and brother could watch) and had him try out his mini kite. The wind had been howling so I thought it would be perfect weather for it, but alas, the wind wasn't constant, and he's not good enough to keep it going! But he ran up and down the length of the school several times trying to get it going good... and more importantly, he had a lot of fun trying! Can't wait to do it again when Zach is feeling better and can try too!! I noticed as we were coming home from the doctor's office this morning how beautiful my tulips are this year. Not sure if it's a combination of all the precip we've had and the mild/cold temps....or what it is....but they are BEAUTIFUL! I had to take a moment to smell the tulips and grab a few pics of them as well. Hard to believe I was enjoying photographing something so much when it wasn't my kids or some big event! ; ) And my biggest accomplishment of the day...the blog is FINALLY caught up!!!!!!! I'm going to kick myself in the butt if I let myself get this far behind again! Afterall, what is a journal if there aren't any entries in it!?!

Wednesday, April 27th

Zach woke up running around and looking like he was back to 100%! Woohoo...or so I thought! We dropped Lucas off at school, and then headed over to Target. The boys and I all got new sandals, and the boys got some new swim trunks. We were running critically low on bubbles so we bought the biggest jug that I could find! Then we made a Costco run. Brought everything home and put stuff in the freezer and fridge, and left to go get Lucas from school. I had just put gas in the car at Costco. And I came up with this totally random idea to head down to see Shoshone Falls on Thursday after swim lessons. I called Casey to see what he thought, and since he wasn't exactly dying to go (after growing up in Jerome and having seen the falls a million times) he was fine if I wanted to do it. Lucas asked if we could go now instead of waiting until tomorrow, so I called Casey back and informed him of the change in plans. I located the portable dvd players and put them in the car, grabbed some snacks for the return trip, and we left right after lunch! We had to make a stop in Mountain Home for Zach to poop, but he seemed fine, so onward we went. The falls were absolutely beautiful, and noisy to boot. Lucas had been asking me if there would be people waiting to ride over the falls, and if we could. Zach thought it sounded fun...and then they saw the falls! Lucas told me to be careful when I walked up to the railing of the fence to take a picture. He wanted to make sure that I'd never get my camera back if it fell down! Haha!! We didn't stay too long as Zach was starting to get really whiney. I figured he needed a nap, and the car ride home would be perfect timing. We made a slight detour in Jerome to see the house where daddy grew up, which Lucas thought was way cool. Only he didn't understand why he didn't get to see more of it. I told him that there were other people living there now, and they wouldn't want us to ring the doorbell and ask to see the inside of the house where daddy grew up...he still doesn't understand why that isn't polite! Zach could've cared less, but he was so tired and cranky at that point. We headed back down the road and Zach finally decided to sleep when he hit the off ramp at the mall. So he got about 15 minutes of nap, since we hit Boise straight up 5 o'clock and rush hour traffic. We weren't even home 5 minutes, and as I was taking sleepy, cranky boy's shoes off he puked all over me and the floor. Arghhhhhh!!! Here we go again!!!! He crashed on the blankets at the side of the couch, Casey cooked dinner, and I got to clean up the mess. After dinner Casey and Lucas headed outside to water the sod where the construction had torn up a part of our lawn. Zach perked up and decided to go out and play with dad and brother. He was out there having a grand old time playing with bubbles and such. That kid loves to keep me guessing as to what he's up to. The boys also got their first real shower tonight. Lucas has decided that it's time to learn how to shower, so that means that they both get to learn how to shower! Lucas should be good to go on his own here after a few more times with my help. Zach on the other hand...it shall be awhile!!

Tuesday, April 26th

Woke up feeling a tiny bit better, but oh so tired from Zach being awake one million times throughout the night. The craving for my Starbucks was intense, but I didn't figure that it would be good for my tummy. My Sprite and Cherry Coke Zero was going to have to do the trick. I get to work and my tech was not feeling well either, so he went home as soon as my 2nd tech got there. Thankfully, even though we had our warehouse order to put away, it was a relatively slow day, and it didn't beat me up too bad. We ordered Papa John's pizza since I hadn't had much nausea that day. Zach hadn't puked all day, although he thought he had to a couple of times. I was lazy and watched Biggest Loser and the new Voice show before calling it a night.

Monday, April 25th

Woke up feeling terrible, dealing with immense nausea and diarrhea for myself....and more puking from Zach. Called in to work, but decided not to call in for Tuesday morning, which I was sure to regret after the fact. And to top off all of this, my damn cell phone was giving me much grief. I had to plug the magic jack back in so that we could use the home phone. Come to find out that Casey was having the exact same issues with his cell phone...at least he had a work phone to use in the meantime. While commiserating with Zach, mother nature entertained us with quite a springtime thunder and lightning storm. The rain was pounding down, and Lucas tells me, 'wow mom, that cow has a really full bladder today'. Made me laugh quite hard! It's because I'm always telling him that it's raining like a cow peeing on a flat rock. One of the things I always heard my dad say to me growing up. I so needed that on a day like this...there's nothing worse than a sick kid except when mom is sick too! I didn't have energy to even load the dishwasher or do some dishes. I had no choice but to do a few loads of laundry however, with all of the puking that was going on. And the movie filled afternoon with us lying around was the perfect time to work on getting my dear blog caught up. I'm getting there, and vowing not to get so darn far behind again!!!!! A few minutes a day is all that's necessary, but somehow it just doesn't get high enough on the priority list most days! I've decided that the picture thing is part of my mental block against it, so I'll focus on the words rather than the pictures, and if I should happen to have a picture it'll be a bonus for the day! I tried at the last minute to call Krystle and switch shifts with her for Tuesday, but she wasn't feeling well either, so it was an early bedtime for me, in the hopes that I may be semi ready for Tuesday morning at work (with no Starbucks no less).

Happy Easter, Sunday, April 24th

Easter morning! Such fun for the boys! The EB put an egg right next to Lucas' clock, and so even though he was awake long before it, he waited patiently until 7:30 to start the hunting, and came running ever so excitedly into our room to inform us that the EB had been here! They discovered their baskets and their goodies! Megamind and Bolt were the 'big' gifts. They also got new color wonder coloring books and markers, mini kites and chocolate bunnies. It was so much fun to have both boys sooooo into the holiday spirit this year! They went to church with Grandma after breakfast. Casey and I went for a bike ride since I didn't have time for 1 and 1/2 hours of running, and hadn't done any of my long runs. As soon as I was done with that it was time for all of the preparations to begin. Ham, twice baked potatoes, spinach dip, salad, dinner rolls, jello salad, green bean casserole and veggies for the dip were what's for dinner. I had also planned a beautiful egg shaped fruit pizza for dessert, and it turned out marvelously! And then 15 minutes before everyone arrived, and 45 minutes before dinner was to be served, Zach started puking! Talk about stress...I hadn't finished cooking, and with Grandpa's surgery just over a week away, I was worried about him or Grandma getting sick. UGHHHHH!!!!! So what started off as a very happy Easter ended up in misery for Casey and I, and my poor little man!

Saturday, April 23rd

The BIG egg hunt down at the Fairgrounds. Had planned on getting there early to help set up. BUT, the power went off some time in the middle of the night, and it was the one day where the kids actually slept in until 8am! We did make it in plenty of time for the hunt though. They had all kinds of fun stuff for the kids...the easter bunny, the smoke house, a fire truck, an ambulance, arts and crafts, and a chance to win some cool prizes. We came home and had some lunch, then it was time to get serious since I had the family coming over for dinner the next day. I got to go grocery shopping, and Casey entertained the boys with some much needed lawn mowing. They have so much fun 'helping' dad and I with the yard work this year...they're pretty cute! Casey and I watched the movie Red after the boys went to bed. And half through the movie I remembered that I needed to get the Easter baskets and eggs ready for the morning festivities! So I got the pleasure of stuffing about 5 dozen eggs, and then got to hide them. Lucas got such a kick out of the fact that the eb was in his room hiding eggs while he slept last year that I did it in both boys rooms, as well as our bedroom this year. I've always loved the holidays, but I truly love them 1000 times more since I've got kids that can get into the holiday spirit! Their enthusiasm is oh so contagious!!!!

Thursday and Friday, April 21st and 22nd

Thursday was nothing exciting, another day of swim lessons, and both boys did great. And of course there was work after that. Friday was an exciting day! Even though I had to start it off with work! The boys had their egg hunt at preschool and daycare. They also painted their faces to make them look like bunny rabbits! My super handsome boys were super adorable!! Casey got to have lunch with his buddy Pete. Since Pete doesn't work with him anymore they rarely get to have lunch together, but this was just like the good ol' days, it was a Hugo's lunch Friday! And of course after working for 8 hours at that place that I can't stand, I was in no mood to cook. I asked the boys where they wanted to go for dinner, and of course Red Robin was their first choice, and vetoed. Vina was the 2nd choice and vetoed, since we'd just been there. Casa Mexico was the 3rd choice, and a fabulous one at that!!! I NEVER veto mexican food!!! Once the boys were in bed I retreated to the scrap room, and Casey played online with his friends. Since I've stopped teaching workshops back in February, I've managed to get 48 pages done!!!!! I'm so proud of myself! Just wishing it were a bigger drop in the big ol' bucket! It sure does feel good to scrap the night away, and know that it's all for me!!!

Wednesday, April 20th

Lucas got to go on a Xplore field trip at preschool this morning. He came home with a bag full of pine cones, flowers, rocks and a magnifying glass. Sounds like it was a huge success...he had a ball!! I had forgotten to take my zyrtec before I took him to preschool so I told Zach that I didn't want to go to kick. He told me that I had to go because he wanted to make new friends at the gym! How funny is that, my 3 year old telling me that I had to go to the gym!! So of course, I can't argue with that cute little man, I went. I was mad as soon as I got there though. You cannot do childwatch without the family membership, unless you want to pay the drop in rate every time, which is a ridiculous $8.50 a pop!!!!!! And if I upgrade my membership to the family one, it goes up to $67 a month (from $42), and I still have to pay the $17 a month for the childwatch. So instead of $42 a month I'd be paying double that to do the childwatch, one day a week, for a little over an hour...not hardly worth it if you ask me. I was really bummed because I LOVE that Wednesday morning kick class. Looks like it's Saturday or nothing, and because it's hard on the ol' legs, Saturday's are out until after my half marathon!! BUMMER!! I'll eventually get over it! After lunch we headed over to see Tom at Brownfield's for what is hopefully our last visit with him for Zach's club foot shoes/brace. He said that his feet looked great. And then he went over the signs to watch for if he is indeed finished with the brace in a couple of months, the signs that his feet are reverting back to the club foot position. Hopefully they won't revert! I don't want to go back to shoes or anything else, not after all this kid has been through!

Tuesday, April 19th

Today was a kick butt and take names kind of day. The boys went to spend some time at Grandma's house so that I could run a few errands and have lunch with a friend from pharmacy school. I dropped them off and ran my little butt off. Best Buy for movies for the easter baskets. Michael's for adhesive for scrapbooking. Target for candy for the easter baskets. Toys r us for coloring books for the easter baskets, and I happened upon the Butterfly kit too. It's really cool. You send in your coupon for butterfly larvae, and they send you catepillars in the mail. You feed them and watch them grow. Within 7-10 days they form the chrysallis. Another 7-10 days later the butterflys hatch from the chrysallis. I'm so excited that I can hardly wait for the catepillars to get here...and I don't usually do creepy or crawly things very well at all!!! I met my friend Kathy at Chicago Connection pizza in Meridian. She is about 13 weeks pregnant with her first child. It is always fun catching up with her, and today was that much more fun talking about pregnancy and sharing her excitement about the baby!! I topped off a wonderful day with zumba at Limelight. And Casey was like a little kid on Christmas morning. His new game Portal 2 was released today, so he got to spend some time playing that on the computer before bed while I was entertaining myself with Biggest Loser and the season finale of Parenthood. It was a fabulous day!

Monday, April 18th

After a weekend of listening to Zach's cough getting worse, I decided to take him to the doctor. He was diagnosed with bronchitis, and was rewarded with an antibiotic. And of course the stupid nebulizer treatment was increased back up to twice daily. Once a day is pain enough, but arghhhhh, twice a day sucks!!! After Lucas got home from preschool and had some lunch we decided to color easter eggs. This was Zach's first year actually assisting in the coloring department. He thought it was great fun to dye the eggs as well as decorate them with stickers. After the boys went to bed I was able to get the boys webpages updated with another month's pictures...however, I'm still behind by a whole month. Normally I do March's pictures in April instead of February's. Eventually I'm going to get back on track with everything, but life keeps happening. My mother in law frequently tells me that they never used to go and do as much as I do, especially when the kids were little. It's so a sign of the times....constantly on the go, constantly a million or more things to do. Thus, the webpage and the blog take the lowest position on the totem pole so that I can tend to more important things!! I think I need to put in one late night a week and then I'd get that much more accomplished...problem is, I value my sleep too much! : ) On a side note, one of my running inspirations, a friend from high school, Ryan, ran the Boston Marathon today, and did it in 3 hours, 18 minutes! I admire his strength and courage!! I'm still not convinced that I'm a full marathon contender, nor a half ironman...and especially not the Boston Marathon because you have to qualify, and in order to do that you have to be fast...he averaged 7 1/2 minutes per mile. It still inspires me when I'm playing that head game with myself to go farther, or to keep running, instead of walking.

Sunday, April 17th

I was oh so proud of myself today!!!! I ran 6 miles in one hour, seventeen minutes! That is the farthest distance I've ran in one stent. I didn't stop to walk much, and felt great at the end. I considered going farther, but since I hadn't done any short runs during the week, I didn't want to push it and injure myself. And I figured if my friend Sarah can run Robie in one hour 41 minutes, 13.1 miles, climbing up and then going down 2000 feet I need to kick it up a notch in the speed department! She is also ready to do a half ironman though, and the thought alone kills me! I cannot even imagine how much training and effort goes into a half ironman! I also went to zumba since my friend Indi was teaching. And I got an extra surprise, Teri had also become a zumba instructor on Saturday, so she taught her first 2 songs ever! Came home and showered quickly. And then my mother in law and I headed over to the egg stuffing party. They had around 4000 eggs to stuff for the egg hunt, and this normally took the 2 sisters days/weeks to accomplish. But we had many people come and help today, so we started at 3, and they were finished by 5:30!!!! Came home and we bbq'd some steaks and corn on the cob, and enjoyed some time with the boys!

Saturday, April 16th

Started the day off with a friendly round of Wii play, family competition. It's sad that my 5 year old can beat me at so many of the games on there. At least the 3 year old is still too tweeky to beat me at most things!!!! Spent the rest of the morning doing yard work, because I didn't trust the weather that I'd be able to get it done Sunday. I got the back shrubs and bed cleaned up while Casey dismantled the ruined gazebo. It was another productive day of yard work. It looks so barren back there without the structure of the gazebo there. We didn't get in quick enough to get a new one on sale, so we're patiently waiting for another sale on them since we don't want to spend three or four hundred on a new one! I decided to paint the ol' toe nails for the first time this year...I love how pretty my ugly feet look with a fresh coat of paint! And we were able to enjoy a dinner out at Famous Dave's with Ryan. I couldn't believe how much crap I got for trying to order a turkey burger though. The boys thought it was terrible to order it, but they were out and I had to substitute in the real thing, and I'm sure it was an extra million or so calories. It was a tasty million calories though!!!! This was also the coveted Race to Robie Creek day. It's touted as the toughest half marathon in the northwest. I had several friends running it this year, and I hope to be able to join them next year!

Friday, April 15th

Fresh after their haircut!

A good Friday indeed! Started the day off with a field trip to Louie's to make pizzas with the preschoolers. Everyone looked at me funny when I paid money to let Zach make a pizza too, but then pulled out a good ol' PB&J for him to eat! I know, it's strange, the kid does NOT like pizza, not even a tiny little bite! Took the boys to get their hair cut after lunch. We had the gay guy cutting Lucas' hair, and it amused me greatly! He was talking to Lucas like he was 15 and not just 5, and you had to have seen the look on Lucas' face the majority of that time! He did a far better job cutting his hair than the lady did that cut Zach's! Oh well, even the crappy cut that Zach got looks better than the shaggy dog look that he'd been sporting!! After a quick dinner I was off to scrapbook group. I love hanging out with the girls and scrapping again, just like old times. I like not having to do all the creative behind the scenes stuff, and just show up and copy (adding my own little flair of course). Go at my own pace, not have to pay attention and teach... I'm pretty sure that I won't be going back to teaching any time soon! Although I won't be going next month...the pages are waaaaay too girly. And while she did turn the girly pages into an Easter theme, I already have Easter pages that I'd done for my workshops. And I just don't think I'll have enough pictures for 12 pages! So I'll miss the festivities in May. Unless I decide to pack a bag of my stuff and go scrap and hang out. We shall see!!

Thursday, April 14th

The messiest kid alive, I swear! Enjoying a cupcake!

Casey needed to take some time off, and since there was an open house for the incoming kindergarteners, he just took the whole day off. So I let him take the kiddos to swim lessons. I guess Lucas stood up and jumped off the board!! I love it when he finally trusts us that we're not going to let him get hurt! I got the house cleaned up and ready for the party. We headed out to the open house. What a waste of time that was! I cannot even say that the kids had fun, and there were only 3 kids that showed up with their parents! Oh well...we want to be involved and supportive, and we were! The jewelry party was ok...didn't have many people show, but I swear I have the worst luck with that, and nobody ever comes when it's my turn for a party, regardless of what it's for! I did it mostly to help my friend Emily, so that she can build her contact list up...so I did help in that department a little! And the boys had a ball playing with their friends while the moms shopped!! The best part of today...we found out the results of Casey's dad's bone scan and CT scan...the cancer has not spread out of the prostate! Hallelujah!!!!!!! He's decided to have surgery, now we just have to wait to hear a date!

Tuesday and Wednesday, April 12th and 13th

Worked Tuesday morning, no wonderful or exciting stories really. Other than that the purse snatcher guy was back for more narcotics. I still cannot believe that he shows his face at our pharmacy. But he really is that dense that he doesn't think it's a big deal!!! Wednesday morning I decided to give kick and childwatch a try. I was really worried that Zach wouldn't go for it since Lucas wasn't there with him, but he did awesome! And I didn't have to pay a dime for it since I could just use one of my guest passes for it. It was the first day doing the new release, and whoa bear, it's really leg intensive. I was glad that they removed the situps and pushups...well sort of! My legs really could've used the break though! Had to get the house in order for the jewelry party the following night.

Monday, April 11th

Started the day off on the right foot with a massage before heading in to that dreaded place known as work! I warned her that I'd been doing kickboxing, and more zumba, and that I'd started running again! I was a mess, but felt soooo much better after she worked her magic on me! She also suggested that I find a supplement called L glutamine for those days when I'm going to do a workout that I know will cause a great deal of pain. It helps break down the lactic acid so there isn't as much soreness. Great idea...now I just have to go find some!

Sunday, April 10th

I managed to pull off a 4.7 mile run, with very little walking going on! I had Casey drop me off at McDonald's again, and I did that same route...only I was able to pull off the full route, and didn't sell myself short! After the boys got home from church we went out and worked in the yard. The boys were proud of themselves because they earned 2 quarters for helping pick up these annoying pine cones (that look like little brown catepillars) in the grass and flower bed. I trimmed the fluffy trees, raked the leaves out of that flower bed, and raked up a bunch of dead grass and pine cones from the yard. It always looks so pretty when it's done, but it takes forever and is quite literally a pain! The biggest thing I detest about being a homeowner by far!! We came in and watched the end of the Masters. Well, Casey watched the end of it anyways, I slept thru the last 1/2 hour of it! I'm glad that it always falls on his birthday weekend, and I've vowed to get us there to watch it in person one of these years! After the Masters was over we headed out for his birthday dinner with his parents. And to everyone's surprise he picked MEXICAN!!! Surprising considering that he normally vetoes most of my requests for mexican food! It was a nice end to his birthday weekend!

Saturday, April 9th

Date night, dinner at Cool Hand Luke's

Hooray! The hubby is finally as old as I am!!!!! He doesn't let me forget that whole 3 and 1/2 months that I'm older than him! I ran out of time to take the kids to get him a birthday card. So I pretended to be them, and picked out this Star Wars card with Yoda on it, his light sabre lit up and made noise when you pushed the button. The kids LOVED the card they gave daddy, and dad agreed that I couldn't have picked a more fitting card from my boys to him. They are currently Satr Wars fanatics!!!! After breakfast (Krispy Kreme donuts) we headed over to Kohl's and got some new shirts for Lucas, and Zach begged for 'just one, mommy, pleeeeeeeeease', so of course I gave in! And then we headed across the parking lot and traded in some games, and got dad the new Donkey Kong Country Returns game for the Wii. While I snuck out to go check out the new stage, and zumba in the gym at the Y, they had something to entertain them!! After zumba was the highly anticipated pick up for the Bountiful Basket. I got corn, lettuce, chayote squash, celery, tomatoes, cantalope, apples, oranges, strawberries, blueberries an what we thought were bananas, but were really plantains (disgusting...we found out the hard way that they are not intended to be eaten raw). After an afternoon of the kids fighting constantly we were happy to turn them over to the babysitters for a date night. Off to Cool Hand Luke's in Eagle for a double date with Pete and Misty. We got there a bit early so we decided to check out Erickson's selection of beer. I found a raspberry beer to try, and Casey found a few for him as well. Good thing we called ahead and got on the list, we found out when we got there that it was prom night for Eagle High School! Dinner was fabulous...I even surprised Casey by eating almost my entire prime rib! After dinner we headed back to Pete and Misty's house for a rousing game of rummy, which we refer to as 'F... your neighbor'. Misty was the big winner that night, the rest of us might as well have been playing pinochle and shooting for the moon! : ) And of course we can't play that game without harassing Joe since he's in Seattle and couldn't be there to play with us. It was a fun birthday for the hubby!

Friday, April 8th

Started the day off with Starbucks and work! While at work my new laptop was delivered! They had attempted to deliver it Thursday evening, but since nobody was home to sign for it, they made us wait until Friday. Casey worked from home so that he'd be here to sign for it!! WOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Paula and I somehow got on the topic of pooping while at work, and she was telling me about this stuff that her friend sells at her boutique in Eagle. It's called Poo perie, and if you spray it in the toilet before you poop it gets rid of the poop smell. Being as it was the day before the hubby's birthday, I of course had to stop and get some on the way home from work! : ) When we got home the kids had decided that Vina sounded good for dinner, and who was I to argue with that! So what had started off a rough day because of work, ended up being a great day! After dinner Casey set up the laptop, and while 'we' watched the movie Defiance I got to play on my new toy!!!! I was bored to tears by the movie, but Casey thought it was ok. I probably would've liked it better if I was into the whole history thing more, but I'm just not!!

Thursday, April 7th

Another uneventful day. The kids had a blast at swim lessons this morning. They got to do something new, which is always exciting for them! They have this new 'board' that they float in the pool and it provides a deck of sorts that the kids can jump off of. Zach sat down to do it, but I'm sure he'll be standing up to do it in no time at all. My cautious kiddo Lucas also sat down to 'jump' in...no big surprise there!! After lunch it was off to work for me...and not even any interesting stories to share from that experience! : )

Wednesday, April 6th

Very uneventful day except that after lunch we went and picked up my car. And to my surprise, it was only $870 instead of over $1000!!! They replaced the timing belt, water pump and the stupid sensor that was causing the light to keep coming on. The only bad news, I have to keep the car longer now that we just put a bunch of money into repairs for it!!! Not like I was going to convince the hubby to buy me a new car anytime soon anyways, so oh well!!!!

Tuesday, April 5th

Dropped the car off at the mechanic's shop first thing. Noticed that Lucas' face was looking sunburnt, but figured it was likely because he literally crawled out of bed put his shoes and coat on and left. But awhile after we'd been home it wasn't getting any better. Upon further inspection I noticed that his feet and his hands looked really red too, but no rash anywhere else. I called the doc's office just to see if it sounded like I should bring him in, or if I shouldn't be at all worried about this. They had me bring him in, and thank goodness!!! The kid had a raging case of strep tonsilitis with scarletina. His throat was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen, and I couldn't believe that he hadn't been complaining of a sore throat. I asked him if his throat was sore, and he said no. I told him that he was a tough little man. After we'd picked up his antibiotics and had some lunch I asked him again, and he told me that it didn't hurt because he's a tough little man, and he has big muscles! ; ) I love that kid!!!!!!! It was an uneventful day other than that, I was thankful that he was the only one that had it, and not Zach too! Although Zach did NOT appreciate my efforts in looking at his throat with the home kit I have!

Monday, April 4th

Lucas woke up telling me that his tummy hurt, but I assumed it was because he was full of mucus from having forgotten to take his allergy meds the day before. So off to preschool we went, and I had barely returned home when the cell phone rang, and Lucas was puking at preschool. I'd taken Casey's car since we'd be doing more driving than him, and with the light on in my car again, I didn't want it to flash the 'have it towed now' light. And Lucas had thrown up several times by the time I got there to get him. All I could think was please, do not let him barf all over Casey's leather seats!!! We made it home without any problems. Broke out the thermometer, 102.5. I panicked. This kid rarely gets this sick, and NEVER spikes a fever like this! Broke out the ibuprofen, and he barfed it right back up. Broke out the zofran, and after no more puking for half an hour, broke out the tylenol. Fever finally broke, and he took a few naps. By dinner time he was much improved!
Finally remembered to log on and get my first Bountiful Basket! I was so excited, I could hardly wait to pick it up and see what kinds of goodies I'd get!!!
Tuned in and watched Raw with Casey since it was the one right after Wrestlemania. I was so glad that I had! Stone Cold did the SCSA stunner. The Rock was back and stirring up crap with John Cena! And Trish Stratus was back...and looking super hot. It was humorous!

Sunday, April 3rd

Decided that I need to get my butt in gear with this half marathon training, and I'm failing miserably just because I hate running on the treadmill. So I mapped out how long it is from the McDonald's at the bottom of the hill at Glenwood/Chinden to home. 3.6 miles if I came home down Goddard and Edna. 4.8 miles if I back track to McMillan and down to Cloverdale. I was REALLY sore from doing both kick and zumba the day before, but I was sure I could still pull it off. Casey dropped me off after we dropped the kids off at Grandma's church. It's a good thing that he drove off and left me there, as we'd agreed. I hiked up that damn hill, and by the time I reached the other side of Capitol High School I was ready to call and beg him to come get my sorry unable to run butt!! My hamstrings were burning sooooo bad, and I was running against a head wind. It was cold and miserable. I'd forgotten to take my allergy meds, and I was so full of snot I felt like I couldn't breathe. I'd pretty much sabotaged myself. But I remember reading in the trainers notes that it didn't matter whether I walked it or ran it, just going the distance would help increase my endurance. So I walked home. But I walked the shorter route, and as fast as I could push myself, so I ended up with a 15 minute mile. Not bad given the above...but much worse than what I'd intended to accomplish. After the kids got home from church we headed out to the grocery store, and the darn check engine light came back on in the car. That means I have to get it back in and get the darn sensor replaced. And to save a little in labor costs, they were just going to do the 70,000 mile maintenance which included replacing the timing belt and water pump...to the tune of $1000. But like Casey said, whether it's now or in a few months, there's never a good time to repair your car when it's going to cost that much!!! After the grocery store I came home and decorated for Easter. The boys have so much stinking fun helping me decorate the house for the holidays. I found another 6 dozen eggs that we've collected from egg hunts over the past couple of years, so I stuffed those as well, to donate for the big hunt. Casey headed over to Ryan's for Wrestlemania, and I spent the evening with my little men. Since they had their Easter baskets and plastic eggs out, they insisted on doing a million egg hunts that evening...but once again, they were having so much fun that I just didn't have it in me to deny them another million egg hunts!!!! I was totally jealous that I didn't get to watch Wrestlemania though. Stone Cold was a guest referee, and the Rock is back! So was Trish Stratus. Oh well, there's always next year!!

Saturday, April 2nd

Not such a good Saturday! Started the day off right with an awesome group kick class at the Y. And since I had an hour to kill before zumba I decided to come home and chill until zumba, and it's a good thing that I did. Casey's dad had called and decided to stop by...which meant that the biopsy results were in, and probably weren't good. Sure enough, it's prostate cancer this time. But that's about the only thing that was a for sure at that point. They'd know more after the bone scan and CT scan on Tuesday, and then those results would be in on the 14th...which is an eternity away. It's one of those things that sucks on so many levels! I mean, we're all born knowing that we won't live forever, that we'll all eventually die, and how long you get between birth and death is different for everyone. But once you get that diagnosis of cancer, it's more eminent, and a death sentence. And after having battled it once with my mom, even though it was under completely different circumstances, and not my parent, I'm not sure I'm ready for this again. My father in law is a very strong man, with a very capable and loving spouse...but I'm not ready for my husband to have to experience the hurt of losing a parent (whether we get 5, 10 or 20 more years). Oh how I hate that darn C word!!!! I was glad that I had decided to go back to zumba...to get it off my chest and out of my thoughts, to just process. My zumba girls are chicken soup for my soul, as is the class. So I as feeling much better by the time I got home. Casey and I decided to watch the movie Date Night after the boys went to bed...pretty darn funny! And just what our spirits needed!

Friday, April 1st

Their cool crowns from Buffalo Wild Wings

Stupid me, signed up for an extra shift on April Fool's Day! Guess we all know who the fool is!! ; ) Disneyland airfare and hotel are now paid for after working my two extra shifts, so I'm done doing anymore of those for awhile now! It was a very busy day so I literally didn't have anything to eat other than a pack of fruit snacks! My hubby took pitty on me and my starvation and let us go to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner! I love their stuff!! Casey had a fabulous day, for his birthday present, the new widescreen monitor had arrived. So after dinner he came home and got it set up, and then got to try it out with a rousing evening of Left for Dead with his buddies. He's lucky I let him have his birthday present a whole week early! Especially since we all know that he would've made me wait had the tables been turned! But I love how excited he gets about his new techie toys!! And a few extra good wife brownie points never hurt! : )

Thursday, March 31st

The boys running wild at the school behind our house!

Another gorgeous weather day, so we decided we needed to start up the park touring again. We packed a picnic lunch and headed out to Settler's park, along with nine million other people! The biggest mistake I've made as far as park touring goes!!! I should've known better when it was the first really nice day during spring break! Oh well! My friend Jeny and her kids were also there having a picnic lunch, so the boys had a friend to run around and play with, and they had a blast and a half! I was very proud of myself and my patience, which is normally nonexistant in those sorts of situations...I made it a little over 2 hours at the park before we came home! But the boys hadn't had enough, so we went back outside! We went to the school right behind our house and played back there some more. That still wasn't enough, so we played out in the backyard until just before dad got home from work! We even busted out the bubbles and bubble wands, and the sidewalk chalk. The boys had so much fun, it's seriously good for my soul to see them playing and having so much fun together!!! I stuffed some more eggs while they were out back playing. Another plus to them being older and more coordinated this year...I can take care of stuff that I need to get done inside the house while they are out back playing. They don't feel the need for me to be out there playing with them every single second that they're out there. And they know what the rules are about playing out there. It's truly a win-win situation for all of us! There had to be some downside to all of this though, and shortly after coming inside I figured out what that was....I forgot to put sunscreen on all of us, and we all ended up with slight sunburns!! Days like this are what make my choice to be a full time mommy, and only a part time pharmacist the right choice!! Of course it's also days like this that make me want to give up the part time gig completely!!!!!!

Wednesday, March 30th

Grandma came over first thing in the morning to watch the boys while I headed out to group kick class at the Y. I wanted to try it, but I really don't like the idea of having the kids at the childwatch center, exposing them to more germs than necessary...with Zach's asthma we always end up in trouble when it moves straight to his chest. So off I went, knowing that I was going to be getting a butt kicking! It was a ton of fun, and yes, I was sore...but it wasn't as bad as I had imagined it would be! Definitely a class that I want to do again!!! After some lunch with the boys and Casey we headed out to run errands. We stopped at McDonald's and got some drinks, the only mistake there is that they don't have lemonade and Zach didn't drink but like 2 sips of his orange drink...he so doesn't drink juice unless it's lemonade! Anyways, then we went to the library and got a bunch of new books for the boys to read. Then we headed over to the post office to mail a ton of Zach's old clothes to friends in Portland, and the boys insisted that they stay and wait in the car...they're getting so big! They sat and read their new books while I mailed the package! We came home and since it was a gorgeous day we decided to head out on the bikes/scooter. They were working on the underground power lines at the school and on the street in front of our house, so we had to stop and watch the noisy big trucks for a little bit. The boys were absolutely fascinated with the big diggers and dump trucks! On the way home the neighbors were out, so we stopped to visit with them...the boys could care less about the actual neighbors, but they love the dogs!! George was telling us about all of the crime in the area lately. Some idiot smashed in the window on his little truck that he parks on the street at like 2 in the morning. They didn't take anything from inside his truck...they just did it to be jerks! They think it's the same idiots that smashed in the other neighbors back window on their motor home. I did some pretty stupid stuff when I was a teenager/young adult. But I just don't understand the need to destroy random people's stuff. WTF???? After dinner we decided that since we had The Jungle Book movie, we'd make it a family movie night. The boys have read the first and 2nd books, so they thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was an absolutely FABULOUS day with my little men and my hubby! I wish that every day could be so wonderful, but then I probably wouldn't think they were as special then!

Tuesday, March 29th

Up and at em for work first thing, thank goodness for Starbucks, it gives me that little extra get up and go that I need to deal with that place first thing in the morning! And after another crappy day at the office, I came home to find the Oriental Trading box full of easter eggs and the stuffers on my doorstep. I headed off to zumba, and came home to watch Biggest Loser and stuff some eggs! I managed to get thru 144 of the 288 eggs, without any cramping or pain!! I'm so excited about the easter egg hunt, and the fact that I'm not only donating eggs this year, but I'm also volunteering my time to make so many kids oh so happy!!!! It was a good Tuesday all in all!

Monday, March 28th

A great Monday, mostly!! While I was in the bathroom showering and getting ready to take the kiddos to daycare the boys were playing with my fingernail polish bottles in the jetted tub. The were first arranging them all different sorts of ways, and then I hear Lucas asking Zach what color of eyeshadow he wanted. They make me laugh!! I had to grab the camera and get a picture to capture the moment because they were having so much fun pretending to be putting makeup on each other! I dropped them off at daycare and headed over to the doc's office to get my allergy shot, but evidently it had expired in February, so they threw it away and ordered more, but the new vials weren't in yet. NOT COOL!!! So I decided to get rid of my frustration with a shopping excursion to Bed, Bath and Beyond. I got some new towels for the master bath, some pillows for the new couch, and new curtains for the dining room to cover the sliding glass door. They all look fabulous in their new location! After a nice lunch with the hubby it was off to work for me. And it was a pretty uneventful day at that!

Sunday, March 27th

The boys decided that the cat needed a bath this morning, so that was how the morning started! Our cat is hilarious when I give her a bath! She does this sad, mad, howling crap the entire time I'm bathing her....but she purrs the whole time too! Her coat looks so much better though!! I headed out for a run this morning....got to start getting serious about training for my half marathon. I ran 3.5 miles, and was down to almost a 12.5 minute mile! I wanted to go to zumba, but I had told Casey that it was fine to go see a movie with his friend. It was that stupid Suckerpunch movie...and I am the first to admit that I like it when hot girls are kicking ass, but not when it's a fantasy type/sci-fi type movie...I DON'T do those kinds of movies!!

Saturday, March 26th

Another big, busy, fun day in the life of the Coltrin's! We had to go get a present to take to Clark's birthday party, so a trip to Target was in order. I always stop at the dollar bins up at the front of the store, and today was a big find in the bins...butterfly nets! The boys went nuts, and of course had to have one!!!!! Casey was his usual self in selecting the present. Clark had picked out this obnoxious truck for Lucas' birthday last September, so Casey led the boys down the noisy, obnoxious toy path for Clark's gift! They found these little construction vehicles that make very OBNOXIOUS engine sounds, beeping, and talking! Casey was soooo proud of himself! : ) The birthday party was a dinner/pizza party at Bounce. The kids had a blast! I'm loving this age...they could run and play and have a grand ol' time with very little help from me... first time that I've been able to turn them loose at a play place like that, and just sit and watch them play their little hearts out! It was a huge success! After getting the boys tucked in, I decided to get caught up on my blog on the trusty laptop... the damn thing had other plans in store for me! The laptop totally, unrecoverably died! Huge bummer for me because I hate being trapped in the office to surf, or to update the blog or whatever, so no matter how fast it was replaced, it was a huge loss for me!!!! Luckily Casey's birthday was right around the corner, and he was dying for a new monitor. So I told him to order up the monitor and a new laptop for me! And thank goodness we'd just got our tax returns back!!!!

Behind, AGAIN...waaaay behind, AGAIN!

Friday, March 25th What a day it was! Lucas had another kindergarten readiness program, and Casey didn't want to stay home with Zach. So we got the boys up and Case took Zach to daycare on his way to work. Zach was NOT having any part of going to daycare by himself! He's so used to going with his brother, and he didn't understand why he was going by himself! I guess he threw a fit there as well, and was trying to prevent Casey from leaving. But of course he was fine 5 seconds after Casey left! They talked about math skills and preparation at the kindergarten class this morning. They got to do a project in the library using legos that they refer to as bricks. I have to brag for a moment. Tina held up the first brick and told the kids that they were going to count how many studs were on that brick. So they all count out loud to 4. Then she holds up another brick and asks how many studs it has, Lucas tells her 8 immediately. Stunned she asked how he knew that when he hadn't had time to count the studs yet. Lucas tells her, 'Easy, 4 + 4 is 8'. My little Mr Smarty Pants!! The lady that does all of the assessments also told them that next month is the PE and music awareness part of the program. And the best news of all for Lucas, her friends, a few of the BSU football players are coming to help with the PE part of it! Lucas is ecstatic, and can hardly wait!!!!! Dropped Lucas off at daycare, had some lunch with Casey, and then headed off to work as well. Grandpa had another biopsy today because that darn PSA keeps climbing. Fingers crossed that it's not bad news.

Thursday, March 24th

Today was the last week of swim lessons for the winter session. So the boys wanted Dad to come watch them. They did awesome again this week!!!! They did the whole station, red light, green light thing again...the kids do really well with it! I got some of it on video, so that Grandpa and grandma can see it too. The boys can't wait to have them come watch! It was an absolutely terrible day at work...surprising isn't it? Yeah, NO, not at all! My good friend lost his job, and the whole situation is just absurd. At the most he should've been written up for it, possibly fined, but we have this person that is just out of control, getting off on firing pharmacists for any reason she can find...and two people above her that could control her but completely lack the balls to do it. We're all walking on eggshells, afraid that an innocent error could cost us our jobs...not a good feeling, and not good for business, especially when we're short staffed on pharmacists as it is, and they keep cutting our technician help as well. I'd jump ship and go elsewhere, and so many people wonder why I don't, but really it all comes down to my schedule and my kids. I work 2 regularly scheduled days a week, with no weekend shifts, unless I sign up for extra or agree to do it. A lot of places won't hire a part time Rph currently, and if they will, you are at the mercy of people taking vacation and floating around to cover the needs. So it's different days of the week, and different shifts all the time. And you know the saying, the grass is always greener on the other side.....maybe so, until you get to the other side!! We'll see what the future has in store...

Wednesday, March 23rd

As we sat in the parking lot at the preschool, waiting to drop Lucas off, I noticed that the check engine light had come on in the car. Took it down to the shop, and had Casey meet me there. It was due for an oil change too, but it's such an inconvenience to change your plans for the day in the middle of the morning!! Turned out not to be anything serious....he wants me to wait until the light comes on again to replace the sensor. And since they have to tear it apart to do that, they might as well do the super expensive 70,000 mile maintenance which includes replacing the timing belt and water pump, at the same time to save some money on labor. So of course, it increases my NEED/DESIRE for a new car! Home to do some research, but alas, I wasn't able to con the hubby into a new car yet...since I still owe a new Chevy Traverse worth of student loans! Too bad I insisted on partying and having so much fun in pharmacy school, that I'm still paying for it, 8 years after graduation!!!! Papa Ron and Grandma Mar came by for a quick visit on their way home from a doctor's appointment downtown. The boys were so happy to see them, even if only briefly! And Lucas fell in love with Papa's new car...a 1956 Chevy Nomad wagon. It's purple and black, and Lucas has decided it's not too loud, unlike the T bucket! He can't wait to go for a ride in it with Papa! They had found a couple of t-shirts for the boys, and they couldn't have been more fitting! Zach's says 'little stinker' and Lucas' shirt says, 'let's face it, I'm in charge'....nuf said!!

Better way late than never, right?!?

The laptop died, and I've been oh sooooo busy...and unfortunately, this is at the bottom of the priority list. So, I'll hit the highlights from the past couple of weeks! I've also activated a couple of new ways to do posts, so hopefully that will help increase the frequency of posting! I'll get as many posts done today as possible, but there are sooo, so many....

Tuesday, March 22nd The boys woke up ecstatic about the day. They knew that they were off to Grandma's house, and possibly the zoo if the weather held up! So I dropped them off at Grandma's. I came home and went for a nice little run. Rounded up all of the donation stuff for the Youth Ranch, had lunch with the hubby, dropped off 4 huge bags of clothes, 2 gigantic bags of bedding, and several grocery size bags of toys at the Youth Ranch, and headed back to Grandma's. The weather was still a bit brisk and windy, but we headed off to the zoo anyways! The boys conned Grandma into joining us as well. It turned out to be a most perfect day for a visit to the zoo. The sun was shining, but it wasn't so warm that the animals were seeking shelter from the sun. They were all up and about! The boys had a ball! Of course that is in part due to the ride on the carousel, the many trips down the giraffe slide and the tunnel slide, and the geese that let the boys chase them about! While we were over near the picnic tables, checking out the monkeys, there were a couple of geese coming close to beg for food. They picked the wrong boys to beg from, my two monkeys took off after the geese and gave them a run for their money! The boys thought it was hilarious!! And I teased them later when the geese were flying nosily overhead that they were looking for the boys to poop on their heads since they had been mean and chased the geese...that was hilarious too!! Normally the lions are laying down sunbathing, but not today! I finally got to see the male strut his stuff, and man can he roar! He was even scratching one of the wood posts at the back of his enclosure, right up close to us, cool beans!! I now know that the lions are not fake! It was a really fun trip to the zoo!! To finish off the perfect day, I headed out to zumba! It is truly amazing how good I feel after that class! Burn a bunch of calories, dance my butt off, and have a ton of fun in the process! And people wonder why I'm so addicted?!?