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!