Lucas, the graduate!

My big little man graduated from preschool this morning! I seriously have not a clue as to where the better part of 6 years has gone! I still clearly remember my pregnancy, labor and delivery with him! How is this possible? He's such a smart little guy. I love his sense of humor, and the things he says and does that just warm my heart! He was so stinking excited to go to the graduation ceremony this morning...it was mostly because it wasn't just mom, dad and brother coming to see his performance, but it was also Grandpa and Grandma Coltrin. He did a fabulous job. And Conndra goes above and beyond to help commemorate the event. They take pictures all throughout the year, and then save certain projects and pictures, and make this big 3 ring binder that is presented to the parents on graduation day. And if that wasn't enough, she also put together a slide show, had it set to music, and made a copy for each child's parents. I almost cried watching it...I'm such a sentimental baby sometimes!! I can only imagine the emotional wreck that I'm going to be on the first day of kindergarten this fall. I've watched the dvd twice since I brought it home. Even for those parents that aren't diehard scrapbookers, they are such nice keepsakes to have. We celebrated with a trip to Target, and the purchase of a Cat in the Hat dvd. They also bought new cars with their allowance. Unfortunately for their dad, they are built like their mom in the money department. Why save it when you can spend it and have cool stuff NOW!?! I did do my community service project message, and preached saving their money to save up for something more expensive, bigger and cooler, but alas!! Then it was back to the real world, laundry and housework! Dinner, and bedtime for the kiddos. Caught up on the blog again, for 5 minutes! Just need to add pictures for the last few days worth of posts, but must get some shut eye first!!

Tuesday, May 23rd

A great start to my day with a trip to Starbucks! Another crappy day at work, another day where I just couldn't force myself to head out to zumba afterwards. I came home and sympathy stuffed my face with a ton of chips and salsa. I really needed zumba, but just couldn't force myself to do it. I felt guilty of course after the chips and salsa, and just had a bowl of cereal for dinner! The kids couldn't believe me! The only good thing about it...Biggest Loser finale! I was happy for Olivia that she pulled it off and won the whole thing, but she wasn't my favorite, not by far!!!!!!! She looked great though, as did her hubby! I am seriously done with Biggest Loser now though. I say that every season, and then I tune in just to see what the next season is looking like. But without Jillian, and it's 2 hours every week on sitting on my butt surfing the net while watching...I can do without! I figure I need to turn that in to an automatic 2 hours of scrapbooking every week! At least then I have something to show for it!

Monday, May 23rd

Dropped the boys off at preschool/daycare. Headed over to get the ol' allergy shots. Thankfully I remembered to take my allergy meds this time, because my allergies are so terrible that I was in desperate need of my shots! As I sat waiting for the nurse to come give me the shots I decided that today was the day, I needed an anaphylactic reaction so that I wouldn't have to be at work!! How terrible is that, that I'd rather have anaphylaxis than suffer through 8 hours of hell?!? Sad, but unfortunately true! I told Cassie what I was thinking, but she said she wasn't in the mood for anaphylaxis, so I wasn't allowed! And of course nothing happened!! The good news is that meant I got to have my massage! I told Maire about all of the tension in my shoulders, and the corresponding headaches I've been having lately. She talked me into trying the cupping technique. I was scared...it involves flames! But other than the big ol' hickies on my back, which my kids think are way cool, I wouldn't know she did it! It didn't hurt at all! And I think it really did work! Too bad for her that she sees me next the Monday after I run my half marathon! Maybe I won't be in as dire straits as I was this time! My calves were so stinking tight, and the tendons in my feet! The hubby treated me to Taco del Mar for lunch. I love their 320 calorie burrito, it puts me in the right frame of mind for a shift where I may or may not get to eat! Work was drama, drama, drama with all of the stupid cuts in tech hours, my most dreaded patient calling and telling me to screw myself, the old lady who you would've thought I was killing when she was just getting her blood pressure taken, the lady who was pissed because I couldn't tell her if we carried a product anymore...mind you she didn't even know what the freaking name of it was...and so on! And those were just the highlights! Couldn't sleep again for the life of me!

Sunday, May 22nd

A day that I showed myself that I really need to believe in myself, all the time! And that I can do what I set my mind to. Since I haven't been training near as much as I should be, I'm having to put in the mileage and not worry so much about the time, for this half marathon. The weather hasn't been cooperating, and I haven't been good about motivating myself to run on the treadmill, I get too bored and won't push myself on that darned thing! But today, I was going to run 10 miles come hell or high water! So as Casey left to drop the boys off at church with Grandma, I left to do this! I had my new socks and new tank top on, and new headphones on with music pumping away! I remembered to grab a bottle of water, knowing that I shouldn't be running for over 2 hours without any hydration. I walked down to Cloverdale to warm up, and started to run after I hit Cloverdale. NO GO...the media pocket in the back of the tank top wasn't snug enough, so the iphone flopped around on my back/butt like a dead fish. Had I been running 30 minutes/3 miles...I could've lived with that. But I knew there was no way I could stand it for over 2 hours/10 miles. Bad news though, the house was locked up tight, like Fort Knox. I had to sit in the front yard and wait for the hubby to get home to put my armband on and try again. Now it was after 11am, and I was worried that I wouldn't have the energy to finish since it had been so long since lunch. So while he went on his bike ride I decided to make a little trip over to Dick's to find a water bottle that has a strap to make it easier to hold while running. It wasn't a smart decision on his part to not accompany me to Dick's! $90 later, another new tank top, a new water bottle belt, GU energy pack, and new headbands...I was home and ready to do this!!!!! Now we understand why it is that I still have to work 2 days a week. I had some lunch, got everything ready, and sunscreened up. I thought I was going to die just over a mile into my run. My whole stomach was a giant cramp...I didn't wait long enough after eating! For the love of Pete!!! I focused on my breathing, hydrated, and pushed through the pain. I was going to walk it, if nothing else. I ran some, walked some, made excuses and did terrible for the first 3+ miles. Then I decided that I was going to pull through this, stop with the excuses and go! I ran almost the entire time, only walking to get a drink here and there from 4.5 miles until 9.8 (when I got home)!!! I tried the GU energy stuff, strawberry banana flavor for the first time ever. I had it at mile 5, and it made a HUGE difference! The GU is 100 calories, and is 25 grams of carbs (only 5 is simple sugar, the rest is the complex stuff so that your blood sugar doesn't spike and then crash), and has electrolytes to replace what you're sweating out! I loved how I felt afterwards! The packaging and the stuff I read online says to do it 15 minutes before the long run and every 45 minutes during the run. So for this coming weekend, I'm going to try just that and see how I do. I hope it will feel better than today did. My friend Sarah also sent me this link about hydrating before the long runs/race days and with info about eating for training/racing, so I'm reading it and going to try some of that advice as well. Who knows, maybe it will help the speed too if I'm feeling better! I had a chocolate protein shake as soon as I got home, after I guzzled a big ol' glass of water. My muscles were that 'holy crap I just got my butt kicked' sore, and I figured I'd be lucky if I could walk on Monday! After a nice hot shower I had just enough time for a quick cat nap before dinner! And I carb loaded at dinner again...LASAGNA!! : ) Of course Sunday evening was anything but lazy since laundry and housework were calling my name before work on Monday and Tuesday! Another fast, but great weekend!

Saturday, May 21st

The monster truck bounce house at the carnival

The petting zoo at the carnival

Lucas throwing the 'pie' in Tina's face

A very busy, but very fun family activity day! We started the day off with swimming at the 'big' pool. The boys call it the 'big' pool because the one that they are normally in for swim lessons every week is a small wave pool, and the one on Orchard is a full size pool. And since they had make up vouchers from a missed lesson, we decided to take the opportunity for a make up session. The email I got back from them said that our time was 10am, and when we got there it was really 9am...but they let us stay and swim since it was their mistake and not ours. The boys had a blast! They got in their noodles and swam all over the pool by themselves. Zach was jumping in from the wall, just like he'd been doing it forever. Lucas was still way too apprehensive to even think about jumping in! I'm not sure where this fear of the water is coming from, because he's been so good lately. Hoping it's short lived! Lucas did awesome putting his whole head under water to retrieve rings off the dock for his dad. It was a fun start to our day! We headed home and had some lunch. Then it was off to the school carnival at Summerwind. They invited all of the incoming kindergarteners and their families to attend. It was fun! The boys bounced in the monster truck bounce house, threw a pie in Tina's face, ate cotton candy, played on the equipment with other little kids (and played a game of tag with them), pet the animals, and enjoyed a sno cone. We all got a little more sun than I had bargained for...but being the group of butt white crackers that we are, I'm not all that surprised! It was a gorgeous afternoon for the carnival! Came home from the carnival and charged up the batteries for the RC car. Then we headed out to James and Julia's house in Nampa. They had a few friends over for a BBQ. It's cute because Lucas remembers very well, and very fondly the time we went out for the pumpkin party, 3 years ago, they had a bounce house and some of the bigger kids were jumping up and pulling the roof of the house in, and James yelled at them to stop it. And he also remembers racing dad's RC car out on James RC track. There wasn't a bounce house this time, but there were several little ones to play with, and a couple of older girls...my boys had more fun with the girls than anyone else! : ) Going to have my hands full here in a few years!! They got to race cars with James and Corey and dad. Then, as if they hadn't played hard enough that day they decided to literally run the track several times. The only bad thing about that for me...it's a dirt track! They were so filthy, but they were having fun, so what the heck!! They slept exceptionally well!! It was an awesome day!

Friday, May 20th

Started off a day of ugliness (since I had to go to work) with the presence of a beautiful butterfly! One of the caterpillars had emerged from it's chrysallis!!!! I knew that would happen though because I didn't have time to shred kleenex and soak it in the sugar water mixture, nor did I have time to go buy some carnations to put the sugar water mix on! But I made time, in the hopes that we'd have more by the time I got home from work! Hit up Starbucks on the way in to work (there's ALWAYS time for Starbucks!). It was another weird day. And our biggest asshole of a patient was in. I really don't know who he thinks he is, but he told me that I had it all wrong when I was discussing the size of the needle he needs for his testosterone. I'd be more than willing to have him drop his pants and let me shoot him in the ass...I'd make sure to show him that I know what I'm talking about, and that he is the one that is wrong. It seriously amazes me that these people a)think that their shit doesn't stink because they have money, and b)I'm going to be nicer to them and work harder for them when they treat me like shit! I was badly tempted to tell him to STFU, and not to let the door hit him in the ass on the way out the door to another pharmacy....but I'm sure it would spell disaster for my job, and that would upset the hubster! After my crappy day, I went and picked the boys up from daycare...they quickly brightened my mood! When we got home to see if we had more butterflies we discovered that 3 more had hatched, and that the cat can knock the butterfly house off the counter onto the floor rather easily! She must've saw something moving around up there and went to check it out, and thought it was a new toy for her. We have to put it up on top of the refrigerator now so she can't get to it! The hubby treated us to dinner at Buster's in Eagle! I LOVE their fish and chips...cannot seriously get enough! We came home and watched the movie Funny People after the boys went to bed. It was funny, and sad, and something think about! I really like Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen, so I was pretty sure I wouldn't be disappointed...and I wasn't!!

Thursday, May 19th

Back to work Thursday...cannot believe that an entire 8 days off just flew by like it was one or two! Took the boys to swim lessons this morning. They had a blast again, and just like everything else, this session is quickly coming to an end. In some ways I wish that I had kept them on for the summer session, because they are doing so well that I hate to lose ground with them! They did the noodle thing for quite awhile this morning, and even Zach can now navigate without assistance on his noodle! Home for a quick lunch and then dropped the bubbas off at daycare, and off to work I went! I tried really hard to have a positive attitude, but that darn place gets the best of me ever so quickly. And there is obviously a full moon lurking about...all of the extreme weirdos have crawled out from under their rocks! And we all know that my patience is nonexistant, but it's even more so when I have to deal with idiot after idiot! Ugh!!!!

Wednesday, May 18th

Today was another one of those kick ass and take names kind of days! Dropped the kiddo off at preschool. Headed home and did Zach's breathing treatment, loaded and ran the dishwasher, cleaned up the kitchen, folded the laundry and put it all away. Headed back to get Lucas. Had lunch with all 3 of my boys, at Costa Vida no less! Visited the library, and we found another Fly Guy book...in Lucas' eyes, that means we hit the library jackpot! Got the emission test done on the Passat. Headed home and while the boys played outside I got the main level and lower level of the house vacuumed. Found out from my friend Erica, that the 24th is the day for Shakespeare Festival for our group of peeps! Casey and I tried a couple of times to make it last year, screwed around until it was too late and tickets were sold out for shows that we really wanted to see, and thus we never made it! So I'm ecstatic that she's putting this together, and we'll be going with friends...even better! Got caught up on the blog. Now to update my iphone, and upload more pics from the phone and the camera to the computer! Tonight I shall watch my dvr'd episode of Biggest Loser and work on invitations for Zach's party. The new pirate stamp set that I ordered came in the mail today! Oh yeah!!!! Too bad my 8 days off have come to an end, and I have to head back to hell tomorrow! Mentally preparing for that, and a very busy Saturday!!

Tuesday, May 17th

Got some ME time this morning!!! The boys went over to play with Grandma and Grandpa for a little while. I headed home and motivated myself to go for a run while the sun was shining, and it wasn't blazing hot outside! I even pushed myself to pick up the pace for awhile. I managed to push to a 9 min/mile pace for between a quarter and half a mile. My second mile was 11:40 min/mile pace average, and my overall average was 12:23...yay me!! I'm proud of myself for even getting out there and doing it. I'm still in allergy hell, and learning to breathe through the snot, and all of the crap that's in the air right now...but it sure beats the boredom of running on the treadmill! I'd really like to find a friend that runs at about the same pace as me, because I know it would help me run a little faster, and break up the monotony...but I'm scared too, because I don't like someone else pushing me to do something! After lunch with the hubby I decided that instead of going to get my allergy shots I'd go to the Swim and Run shop and find a new tank top and skort to entice me for Sunday's long run (I'm going to try for 10 miles on Sunday). I found a cute tank top with a media pocket in the back, and a cute skort that were both on sale. And I also bought a new pair of running socks...holy cow batman, 10 bucks for one pair of socks....they'd better be worth it! I picked up the boys and we decided that Jullion park was in order on the way home from Grandma's. And while pushing Zach on the swing I came up with the brilliant idea (if I do say so myself) to get drinks from Sonic on the way home. Zach and I had lemonade (and it was happy hour, so they were super cheap), and Lucas had a rootbeer float that I had them blend for him. Simple things like the park and Sonic make them oh so happy! And when the boys are so happy, my heart is oh so happy as well!!!! And then, just in case I thought my day couldn't get any better, I had dinner with my friend Mindi! I had promised her dinner last year, as part of her graduation gift. And then she went to Ireland for part of her master's program, we went on vacation, I started up my scrapbooking business, the holidays came and went, she went to Pittsburgh, and life was just too busy for us to get our schedules in alignment...so one year later, to celebrate the one year anniversary of her graduation, we had dinner at Johnny Carino's. It was SOOOOOOO GOOD catching up with her! We managed to sit and talk for over 3 hours!! We had so much fun together in high school, almost 20 years ago...it seriously makes me wonder how it's possible for 2 friends to drift apart for the better part of 20 years, and then reaquaint through the miracle of facebook, and pick up like it was just yesterday! I am seriously blessed with great friends, and great family! I seriously love my life...except for that part time gig as a pharmacist at that crappy place I call work. I really need to get my spending in check so that I can quit that gig...my life would seriously be perfect if I could! As for Mindi and I, we've already booked our next date in August, after she goes to Ireland again, and I have my disney experience! Cannot wait!!!

Monday, May 16th

Lucas' spiderman domino project before preschool

As I was driving Lucas to preschool this morning, it went from rain to snow, and eventually back to rain. I'm telling you what, I HATE spring weather in Idaho!!!! It was like 25 degrees colder than it had been on Saturday, the freaking wind was blowing, and it was wet. Blech!! We decided to go start the party shopping at Zurcher's for Zach's birthday party. He had a blast helping me pick out the pirate party supplies! I LOVE planning parties, and I LOVE making my kids happy...it was truly the best of both worlds! And this was the first year that he really had a voice about what he wants! Soooooo much fun!! Lucas was ecstatic that he got to have sprinkled donuts at preschool for snack time this morning, since they were celebrating Remley's summer birthday today. And since he'd turned in his homework, he got some more cool prizes (aka cheap crappy toys)...he LOVES them! After lunch they watched a movie, and then since the sun was shining they got to go play outside for about 45 minutes! That was just long enough for me to get the beer bread in the oven and baking! A great day to have the oven heated up, and the house smelled HEAVENLY!! Tried to motivate myself to go for a run after dinner, but just couldn't do it! Instead I sat on my butt and killed time playing Angry Birds on my phone! I hate that freaking game, but there's something inside me that just keeps pushing me to finish it ALL the WAY!

Sunday, May 15th

Cannot believe that we are already half way through another month! I seriously don't know where the days escape to anymore! My day was totally thrown off by the fact that my Statesman wasn't on my driveway at 8:30 when I went out to retrieve it, and the boys didn't have church with Grandma today. We decided that since Casey needed more frappuchino, and the new coupon book for Costco was out, that we'd make a Costco run today. Surprisingly painless, especially for the first weekend of the new coupon book, and on a Sunday at 11am! We gased up the Passat since we were there, and saved a significant amount of money on gas...it's amazing that some places want $4.11 for a gallon of premium (and I have to have the premium since the Passat has a turbo in it). We only paid $3.89 per gallon at Costco! After a nice lunch we decided on a friendly family competition on Wii Fit Plus. I say friendly, but it's really anything but friendly...and it totally sucks that the only one that can't beat me yet is the 3 year old! It was fun however! I transferred the caterpillars to their butterfly habitat! I can't wait until those little buggers come out of their chrysallis! And thanks to the rain and cold temps today, it was the perfect day for a homemade pot pie! It was a great Sunday!

Saturday, May 14th

Making mud pies in the planter

Decided that since the weather was going to be questionable on Sunday, I'd move up the long run to today. I really needed to pull off an 8 mile run since I hadn't been running much of late. So I mapped it out, just a little over 8 miles, and off I went. I had to take my waterproof jacket just in case since it looked like it could rain at any given second! I didn't get wet though, and the sun came out in full force around mile 6, those last 2 miles I thought I was going to die from the heat... it was close to 80 degrees out there! Because of all the cloud cover during the beginning of my run, the darn gps malfunctioned and screwed me out of 0.6 miles of my run! I had to come home and remap it to see how far I really went. So I ended up pounding out 8.4 miles, and didn't bother with stopping the gps/timer at stoplights, so I had a 13 min/34 sec per mile average. Not bad considering I'm in allergy hell, hadn't done the midweek runs at all, and hadn't run more than 3 miles in the 3 weeks prior to that! And I had some excitement...there were two young boys, about 10-11 years old, riding their bikes on the sidewalk on Fivemile, side by side. The one closest to me told me to move, so I pointed and said that's what the bike lane is for...the little shit spit at me! Lucky for him it didn't hit me, and lucky for him my hubby wasn't with me, or he'd have gone home injured! And since there were 2 of them I didn't do anything, just pretended that I didn't notice, and kept on running. After rehydrating with a protein shake (chocolate, banana) and some lunch, we headed out to do yard work. I worked out front with the flower beds and shrubs in the one large one right in front of the house. I was sooooo excited because I got to an area of the yard that has gone untouched for the 5+ years we've been in this house! And after Casey was done with the lawn we started setting up the new gazebo! I can't wait to see the finished product! But we had to stop because a big ol' storm was rolling in, and we were both exhausted. To keep the boys entertained while we worked on the gazebo we set up the pool for them again. They still had their water gun fights today, but their main focus was on making mud pies in the one raised planter! They are such boys!!! My Uncle Byron and Aunt Darcie stopped by for a quick visit. She did the Couch to 5k program, and has lost a ton of weight and looked great!!!! She had also done her first 5k that morning at the Great Potato race. I remember doing my first 5k a year ago at Race for the Cure. I told her that she should train for a half marathon and we could do one together next year...she now thinks I'm crazy! Exhausted and sunburnt from running and doing yard work we made the executive decision to order pizza! Oh how I love Papa John's pizza and their amazing parmesan/garlic breadsticks!!!! Thank goodness I went for my long run that morning!!! After dinner we watched the movie The International...meh...thank goodness I screwed around on the computer, updated the blog a little, and ordered my new headphones. Casey liked it ok, but I wasn't impressed. I can't wait to get my new headphones. I must have small ear canals, so I've never yet found a pair of headphones that will stay in my ear well, without me having to push them back in repeatedly during my run. They say that the unique shape of these will keep them in place, GUARANTEED! They'd better for $50!!!

Friday, May 13th

Tried to explain that today is Friday the 13th to the boys on the way to preschool...superstition is a very difficult concept to teach to a 3 and 5 year old...so I gave up! After lunch we headed off to the grocery store, and then the boys played outside while I put groceries away. I bought some steak and marinated it, and when Casey came home he BBQ'd it...it was his best job with the BBQ on steaks yet! Can't wait to start using the grill more...if only the freaking weather would cooperate. I know some people grill year round, but neither I nor Casey want to stand outside and freeze our butts off when it's cold and wet out there! All 5 of the caterpillars are in their chrysallis now. Sometime this weekend I need to transfer them into the butterfly house! Right after dinner I headed over to my friend Lacy's house for a Tastefully Simple party! I cannot wait to get my stuff! I ordered some adult beverages, and some yummy cookie bar mix, and some yummy dip mix that combines jalapenos and bacon...hoping the hubby will love it! I started the party planning for Zach's party today. Boo on Disney for not yet releasing anything Jake and the Neverland Pirates for kid's parties. I realize that there is a ton of pirate stuff out there, but Zachers doesn't want Pirates of the Carribean, or the generic stuff...he WANTS JAKE! Life will go on, but it would make my life oh so much easier if Jake stuff was out there to purchase! I did find some fun party ideas, and now I can't wait for July 9th to get here!!!!!

Thursday, May 12th

It was a very nice day!!! We started the day off with a fabulous time at swim lessons. It was safety day, so they did everything in life jackets, and the boys thought it was super cool! Only Zach forgot to ask permission to get into the pool because he was so stinking excited about his new swim trunks, and was dying to tell and show Coach Amber the new trunks! After lunch we headed over to Tully Park for some fun in the sun! Lucas is always smitten with the older kids at the park, and today showed me one of the lovely (heavily laced with sarcasm) tricks he'd learned from the big kids...he went down the tunnel slide, on the OUTSIDE of the slide. Not really a big deal except for the fact that the kid is a clutz, and his little brother loves to do whatever he does. I'm sure the days until our first broken bone are numbered! : ) They played for a very long time at the park. There was a group of big kids there, and they were all playing so nicely together. I must admit, I normally cringe when I see a herd of big kids at the park because they usually don't look out for the little guys...but they proved my stereotype to be wrong...just this one time! We came home and of course the boys were not in any hurry to go inside yet, and after playing out in the back yard for awhile they conned me into setting up their pool for them. It was a bit too cold, but oh my gosh did they ever have fun!! I wish all days could be this much fun for them...it was an absolutely perfect day! And to top it all off, when we got home, we got the news from my father in law that he is cancer free!!!!! The margins around the prostate were clear, and the lymph node was clear as well! Hallelujah!!!!! I guess some score for the cancer was high, so they'll watch him closely for awhile...but at least there isn't any need for chemo or radiation at this point! Casey took lunch with him to work so that he could attend a Fidelity investment seminar. It was mostly a waste of his time. He figures that we need 2.3 million to retire and live our current lifestyle. The good news is that he'll let me retire once we reach this amount. The bad news is that we need another 2 million to hit that mark, and that means I'll be working until the day I die, the way that I blow through the money!!!! Oh well, at least I have a goal to shoot for now!

Wednesday, May 11th

Lucas made it through the night without further vomiting episodes (thank you Zofran!!). I however, still felt terrible! I don't think that I had a single thing to eat all day. And thanks to having taken some zofran myself, I also had a hellacious headache. I called Donna to warn her about the sickness in our house, in case she didn't want to come for a visit! But I'm glad she decided to come over anyways. She stayed and we chatted for a few hours! She made me realize even more how wonderful my mom is! And made me realize even more what a great relationship I had with my mom. I feel sorry for all of those in the world that have really strained relationships with their moms, or that have abusive moms. I have always been a proponent for the motto, be glad that you still have yours, no matter the case! Not so anymore!! Donna brought the boys some fun stuff...coloring papers, paints, color wonder bubbles, & Mtn Dew and Rootbeer flavored chapstick. They colored her a picture for their Thank You card, it was cute! Today was the first day that the caterpillars started forming their chrysallis! It must have something to do with size because the 2 larger caterpillars were up top and in position. And the 'very hungry caterpillar' was the first to go into the chrysallis! The pictures don't do the coolness and at the same time, the creepiness of the chrysallis justice! I am convinced that I am WAY more into all of this than the boys are, because I have to check on them several times daily!!!!

Tuesday, May 10th

Started the day off with Starbucks since I couldn't get to sleep, and/or stay asleep, and I was dragging some major butt! The best news of the morning, a new frappuchino to try...coconut mocha frap...YUMMY! If only the rest of my day had been as wonderful!! I had really wanted to ride my bike to work (even though that means skipping out on my Starbucks), but the weather forecast was calling for rain in the morning, and I'm averse to showing up drenched to work. So I drove instead, and could've rode the bike! There wasn't any rain to speak of the entire day! Hate it when the weathermen are wrong! I was so wiped out when I got home from work that I couldn't bring myself to go to zumba! I even conned the hubby into taking me out to eat. I did have to give in to the chants of Red Robin however. Lucas started complaining about how tired he was and acting real tired and lethargic at Red Robin, and didn't devour his mac n cheese and cantalope like he normally does. And as he got ready for bed we found out why...GI bug! He barfed several times that evening. And my tummy was on the rampage AGAIN! I was like, seriously...just one week without anyone ill in my house, it would be like heaven! And with me getting it again that makes 3 times in as many weeks! So much for getting serious about that half marathon training again this week!!!!!

Monday, May 9th

Started the day off on the total right foot with a Mother's Day Tea at preschool with Lucas! He was so excited to do his little program for me, it was really cute! They sang us a few songs, You are my sunshine, Happy Mother's Day, and one I'd never heard before. Then they went around the room and told everyone why they love their mom. Lucas wrote down on the picture that he drew that he loved me because I give him hugs. He told everyone that he loves me because I take him to the pool! Either way, it's all good with me!! Had lunch with the hubby, and then off to work it was for me. And of course that was a roller coaster ride, AGAIN! Our tech hours are being cut AGAIN, and we had a lot of crazy stuff going on that night. It was almost 11 before I even tried to lay down and sleep! Wish that I could curb my spending habit so that the hubby would let me work less...I'm quite sure it'd be better for my mental health!

Sunday, May 8th

Happy Mother's Day! Still a very bittersweet holiday for me! I miss my mom so very much, but I'm so proud to be a mom to my sweet little men! And while I had to start the day without them, I was oh so happy to be able to sleep in until 9:30 that morning!!!! Grandma was going to bring the boys home after she took them to church with her. So that gave me lots of time to get things cleaned up from the party. I had gotten as much of the rest of the house cleaned on Saturday so that I had as little cleaning as possible to do on Mother's day!!!!! I got my cards from Casey and the boys, and I had already received my shoes and new bras earlier in the month. Lucas came home with a 'flower' that he'd made for me at church. The card said, My mom is ....., and he got to fill in the blank, he chose the word 'pretty'. Fills my heart with joy every time he tells me that he loves me, or gives me a kiss or a hug....it absolutely warmed my heart to think that my boy thinks his mom is pretty! My favorite mother's day card thus far!! I decided that I didn't want to cook on this mother's day. So the boy's treated me to dinner at Casa Mexico! Imagine that, I picked Mexican food for my choice of meals! Got a cute pic of me and the boys at dinner, even one with funny faces for all of us! I did decide that after all of the extra calories I'd had Saturday at the fiesta, and then at dinner, I HAD to go for a run! So after the boys went to bed, I headed out for a quick run before the sun went down. I did 3.3 miles, at 13 min/mile. Could've been faster, but oh no, I was the fountain of snot! Probably offended a lot of people that were driving past me as I ran because I kept spitting out copious amounts of snot. The only good news is that I forced myself to run the entire time, and since it was the first time in 3 weeks that I'd gotten out to run, I felt it was an accomplishment! A very Happy Mother's Day indeed!!

Saturday, May 7th

Started the day off with a little food preparation for the big fiesta! The boys were ecstatic to be heading over to Grandma's for a sleepover. So after lunch and a little playdate at the park they headed over. Casey came home with grandma's truck, and we headed over to Fred Meyer to buy a new gazebo for the patio. Back home for more preparations, and finally it was time to PARTAY!!!! Pete, Misty, Tonia, Chris, Ryan, Justin, Drew, Dee, Michelle, Erica, Steve, Jeny, & John were the party people! New friends were made, poker was played, drinks were flowing, and the food was tasty! We drained the tequila, and all but 2 of the coronas, and 2 of the negro modelas. We were in bed shortly after 11. I had a blast, and would like for it to be a much shorter time span than 2 years before I do it again! Casey had too much to drink and we were both surprised when he wasn't praying to the porcelain god in the middle of the night!

Ready to partay!

Dropped the boys off at daycare this morning and headed out to the grocery store with the big ol' list. It's wonderful shopping in the peace of the morning...without the kiddos!!!! The clerk told me to have a good day, and when I returned to start bagging my stuff, the old man on the other side of me said he was sure that there was no way I wouldn't have a good one...referring to the cart full of alcohol! : ) What can I say, my friends are lushes! : ) After putting the groceries away I took inventory of the fiesta decorations and party supplies. I was amazed that I had enough of everything that I didn't need to make a trip to Zurchers. That made the hubby VERY happy because Zurchers is my $100 store, everytime I go in there!!! And I made the hubby even happier when I reported that my total expenditure for the party was less than $150 this time!!!!! I'm quite sure that's the cheapest party I've ever had!! I still have a lot of food and alcohol, but I've scaled it down considerably from past experience! (Now watch, way more people will come than rsvp'd...that'd be just my luck...oh well, at least stuff won't go to waste that way!) I got a bunch of cleaning, and straightening up done, and promised the boys I'd get them early to either go to the zoo playdate, or to just come home. I'm still in allergy hell, so I decided that I didn't need to be outside for an hour or more at the zoo to further aggravate the allergies. They amazingly didn't want to play outside when they got home...they wanted to watch a movie...Toy Story was the choice of the day. I did some more cleaning and party prep while they watched their movie. Then it was time to be silly with the sombrero...thus our photo shoot op for the day! And OMG, they were hilarious! I love those boys!!! I also got some more pics of the caterpillars, that are all the very hungry one...holy crap they're getting big! But I guess when you're only a caterpillar for a couple of weeks you've gotta make the best of it! : ) I don't know how they're going to hold those fat little bodies on the top of the container to form a chrysallis! I'm totally intrigued by this...ashamed to admit that mom is benefitting from this little experiment more than her boys! : ) Dinner was at Chili's tonight. I was seriously amazed at how much both boys ate...they are like the caterpillars right now...eating a ton, and growing a ton. Thank goodness for Kohl's and cheap kid's clothes!!!!! I've got more to get done, so I'd better get off here and get to it! Hoping my freaking allergies cooperate and let me zumba early tomorrow morning, and let me go for a couple of hours without blowing my darn nose every 5 seconds!

Cinco de Mayo

The first one in several years that I had to work the evening shift, and thus, I didn't get to celebrate! BUMMER!!! At least I have the fiesta to look forward to, and still celebrate with lots o' mexican food and al-key-hol!! I found the fiesta music cd's that I'd made a few years ago for my fiesta, and there's nothing like a little music to totally put you in the mood for a party! Not a lot of excitement today. The boys kicked butt at swim lessons! Zach is amazing...did his 'dolphin' swim for 9 seconds under water!!!!!!! I didn't hear I can't from him one single time, and he did great with his bobbing! Lucas is stuck in a rut...he isn't making a whole lot of progress, he's doing well with what he's doing, but there's some level of fear of moving forward, not sure exactly what it is, or why. We still have a month left before we take a break for the summer, so we shall see. The caterpillars are growing leaps and bounds...I couldn't believe how much bigger they were after just one day! I'm not sure who thinks this is more fascinating....me, or the boys! : ) It's really interesting. And they've spun a ton of silk in their little container. I didn't know prior to this that caterpillars spun silk...much like the web of a spider. Put in my 8 hours for the week...off on Friday to prepare and shop for the party! It was a very slow day, totally dead at 6:30, sent my tech home a little after 8pm, and it felt like another 8 hours before 10 o'clock finally rolled around!! Oh how I wish I could reign in the spending so that the hubby wouldn't require me to work 2 days a week!!!!!!! That is unlikely however. I enjoy stimulating the economy!

LOVE my boys!!

They got to be big boys this morning, and have their cereal in a 'big' bowl, rather than in the little kid bowls, that result in me having to refill it at least once if not twice! I think they're both going through a growing spurt right now, their consumption has increased drastically these past few days! Casey was asking if we should put big rocks on their heads to keep them from growing, or if we should just all stop eating. They weren't impressed with either idea, and Zach got plum upset about both ideas!! On the way to school this morning, Lucas tells me, as we're driving past the entrance to the Bristol Heights subdivision, 'could you stop on the way back and tell them to clean this mess up, I'm tired of looking at it'! I could so hear me saying something like that to him and his brother, in reference to their toy messes!! HILARIOUS! And he's got a point...they tore it up a LONG time ago, and it's still a dirty mess with cones all around it! He was on a roll this morning. As I turned on the CD in the car, he was frustrated that I'd forgotten yet again to make a new cd with some new songs on it. So he told me that maybe I should do that first thing when I got home so that I'd quit forgetting to do it! : ) So I came home and did that while Zach watched 'the magician'. After preschool we headed out to lunch with dad, since dad's stomach was finally on the mend. And big ol surprise here, the boys picked KFC! After lunch we headed over to Demeyer park. They played their little hearts out...swinging, chasing, playing, climbing trees, racing on the 'motorcycles'...and we got to see a turtle that was hanging out in the pond. They thought there were 2 turtles in the pond...but unfortunately the one was a severely decomposed dead duck! Eeeeewwwwww!!! They were telling Casey about the turtles, and so he asked if the turtle bit them, and they disgustedly said no! It's sooooo funny when Casey messes with them and they get all bent out of shape like he's the craziest person to ever inhabit the earth! I love all 3 of them so much! As we came home from the park the boys excitedly ran to check the mail to see if their caterpillars had arrived....and they finally had! Just like Christmas morning!!! We are now the proud owners of 5 caterpillars that should be beautiful butterflies in about 2 weeks! I'm not sure who has watched them more, me or the boys, but it may be me! Such interesting little things...and I'm not really into creepy or crawly...and quite frankly, they are a little of both! : ) I was reading my friend's blog post today. I really enjoy the stuff that he writes, and today he started what will be an ongoing thing for his now 4 month old twin daughters, a list of lessons he wants them to learn. Some are just simple phrases/sentences. Some are more elaborate concepts/paragraphs. I think he may be onto something, and I think I may need to start keeping a journal of these lessons, on paper, for my boys. The things I learned from my very wise mother...and the funny, strange things my dad always says (that my husband finds very odd)...the things I've learned myself, especially those that I've learned the hard way (which is unfortunately NUMEROUS). On facebook they are doing a thing for mother's day where you change your profile pic to one of your mom. So I did. And now I cannot for the life of me stop thinking about her today...not that that's a bad thing! And then while I was cleaning up the kitchen, the iphone was on shuffle, and Wind Beneath my Wings came on... so strange given that she is so present in my mind today. So I had to take a moment through the tears to find the video and post it on my facebook page. Oh how I miss her, and what I wouldn't give for just one more day with her! I really hope my father in law is cancer free now, because even though it has been almost 11 years, I'm not ready to go through that again, even though he's not my dad. Anyways, must get back to the preparations for the Fiesta at Casa de Coltrin this Saturday! I'm getting all giddy about it! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE having parties!!!!

Tuesday, May 3rd

Slept even worse than I had Saturday night...my throat was killing me, and I was loosing my voice! I woke up feeling terrible from not sleeping, with this very sore throat, and this terrible feeling that I had to call off the playdate! I was so looking forward to some baby time, even if she was screaming and crying the whole time...and to the boys having a playdate! But I figured that Elena had enough to deal with, and didn't need sick kids to top off the colic, so I cancelled the playdate. : ( After lunch we headed out to Target to get a bunch of little stuff for the house. I remembered that Casey and I had talked about getting him a helmet to wear when he's riding his scooter...he's getting really fast, and getting better about balance, but he's still a clutz with that thing. So we got him a helmet. That kid has a big ol' noggin...he's wearing the size for 8 years and up, with adult being the next step up! They both decided to spend $4 of their chore money on new monster trucks...I'm glad they didn't have enough for more Star Wars figures...mom is ready for a break from Star Wars! ; ) So of course they had to come home and try the new helmet...he's getting really good on that scooter...even balancing with both feet on it for much longer periods of time! Growing up too fast for his mom's own good! And Zach managed to peddle his tricycle all the way around BOTH culdesacs! Normally he stops and walks at some point before we even get to the second one! It's fun to watch the transformation! He even made a point of making sure that I stayed 'way back', so that I wasn't tempted to push him!! The boys came home and played outside for quite awhile. They played basketball, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and even pirates! I asked what all the stuff under their slide was for, and I was informed that Zachary was pretending to be Captain Hook, and that was his treasure! I love their imaginations, and their ability to play so well together, outside, with little supervision!! Casey's dad had his surgery. The surgeon thinks they got all of the cancer, but to be sure they removed a few of his lymph nodes and sent those to pathology. If they do have cancer in them then he'll have to undergo radiation after a month of healing from the surgery. I'm hoping that they're cancer free, because then so is he!!! It could take a couple of weeks to get the results back, but they're hoping the report will be available for his post op appointment on the 12th. He did well with the surgery...thankful that he's a healthy, tough, guy!

Monday, May 2nd

On the way out the door to preschool Lucas tells me that on his next share day he's going to take Fuzzy again, because he has him dressed up in pajamas that he used to wear when he was a baby. Then on the way there he asks who's share day it is, but since we weren't there on Friday, I don't have the May calendar, and tell him that I hope it's not him...but alas, it was! So at first he was bummed thinking he'd have to wait until Wednesday to do his share, but then I remembered that Fuzzy was in the car, and still wearing the pajamas...he was beyond words ecstatic that he got to share. Afterwards I asked what the other kids thought, he told me they couldn't believe that Lucas used to be as small as Fuzzy! He was so proud of himself! ; ) While Lucas was at preschool, Dan came and cleaned the carpets. He had to use his entire arsenal to get up Senor Barfy's puke stains from my family room carpets...but there are no longer pink puke stains!!!!! I tried really hard to get him to tell me that it was time for new carpets...but he's also friends with the hubby, so I didn't win!!!! He thinks it still has another couple of years left before it needs replaced since I have them cleaned regularly! After lunch we headed out to the park. I always try to let the boys pick where we're going, and today they picked Reid Merrill, because they wanted to drive their cars on the finger skateboard park. And since it was pretty windy out they also wanted to try their mini kites again. It wasn't really windy enough the last time Lucas and I tried, and this time it was too darn windy for the flimsy kites that we have. But they ran their little butts off trying to get the darn things to fly! And they had a blast playing on the park equipment and with their cars. I was sure to thank them for sharing their cars with the other little kids that were there, even though 2 of the other little boys were little shits, and their moms were too busy talking to pay attention to what they were doing. Major pet peeve! I decided that since I was going to have Elena's son and colicky baby over for a playdate so that she could get a break and some me time, I'd clean/disinfect all of the toys and playareas of the house so that they wouldn't get anything with all of the crap that we've had around here lately. And of course to hopefully kill whatever is left so this will leave our house HEALTHY for awhile! I got it all done, and was starting to get a sore throat...but surely it was just allergies!!! Went to bed feeling oh so accomplished, and ready for the task of dealing with Little Miss on Tuesday!

Sunday, May 1st

Went to bed with a massive stomach ache, but thinking I'd just eaten way too much of the cobb pasta toss for dinner. Slept terrible....kept waking up to stomach pains, my head hurt, couldn't temperature regulate...can erase that night from the memory banks, and it's no loss. The problem is that it continued ALLLLLLL day long on Sunday. What was supposed to be a day of enjoying the sun with my kiddos turned into me sleeping alllllllll day long, in between bouts of wanting to die from the pain! I had Casey go get me some omeprazole, thinking that maybe it's reflux, or really terrible heartburn. Tried some Pepto...that stuff is just plain freaking nasty, I could only force myself to down one dose! Neither one helped at all!! I watched/slept through golf! Sunday tv leaves a whole lot to be desired! The only good thing about getting to watch golf, I stayed awake long enough to see my favorite, up and coming player, tie for 3rd place! Go Tommy Gainey, aka 2 gloves! Love that guy!! While I was watching golf on tv, the boys were dying to play 'real' golf outside. And the 'real' part of that means, with the REAL golf clubs we bought Lucas...they have several play ones as well. I missed out though, Zach tried golfing for the first time. I love to see Casey work with the boys on stuff like that...he is such a good dad!!! Zach can't wait to do it again, so he must've had fun! And Lucas reported to me that he almost hit it over the fence again, so his ego is still running high! : ) It was a very lazy Sunday around our house. The boys got to enjoy a bunch of outside time though while Casey mowed the lawn. They drew a gigantic chalk line from the garage up to the front step into the house...of which they were immensely proud of this REALLY LONG LINE mom! : ) Love them to pieces, they truly make my heart smile!