Ian Jams Out.....Cha Cha style.....

Check out the video of Ian singing with Steve James. This man composed all of the songs for the "Parents Empowered" organization for helping prevent kids from harmful behavior such as alcohol and drugs...the songs are catchy and fun. He chose Ian's school to perform his songs for the Mayor's office tonight. It was a lot of fun and I was pretty impressed with his music! The kids clearly loved him. Ian complained a few times that the hand movements for his song were "cheezy" and that he was too embarrassed to do them. I told him before we went tonight that he would look more cheezy if he stood up there and didnt do them and everyone else was doing them.... I believe he actually listened to me for once! Check him out....

Song Title: Honesty (la verdad, yo dire)

Ian's Recital....

I cant go on enough about the music program at Ian's school. Maybe it is normal for schools in other places to have a piano program in their curriculum but I've never heard of it. In our school district, Ian's school is the only one to have this program. Starting in 2nd grade they get piano lessons once a week and each student gets to work at his/her own skill level. Not only do they have a big Grand Piano but they also have several electric pianos with headphones so the kids can all practice their pieces. At the end of each semester they give a recital. They have to introduce themselves before hand and announce the name of the piece they have chosen...one of the kids in the class got up and announced that autographs would be available after the performance if we were interested! I thought that was pretty clever.



I wish that Ian would want to take lessons again outside of this program but as much as he enjoys what he is learning, he doesn't want to take anymore.

I would also love to put him in some type of voice class....a children's choir perhaps. He has a wonderful voice and I would like to see it develop more. But, I don't want to push him into something and then have him hate it. His interest right now lies in Tae Kwon Do...wonder how long that will last! ha ha. Without further ado...here is a video of Ian's song. Its kinda long....and slow....but watch him count with precision. So cute.


Ian Playing the theme to Jurassic Park by John Williams:

If You Dont Facebook.....

...then you missed the news about Evan. He has been having a lot of trouble over the years with eye pain in the morning and headaches. I took him to the eye doc once and they said his eyes looked fine. So we just kept enduring.... Lately though they seem to be worse. Also, he gets bloody noses very easily and is really hard to wake up in the mornings. His pediatrician suggested I test him for allergies first. Did that. No allergies. Then the allergist suggested I have him see and Ear Nose & Throat doc because his tonsils were pretty large and he thought perhaps getting his adnoids out might help his issues. I put it off for a while (almost a year) because the thought of him having an unnecessary surgery like that made me nervous. But, like I said, lately its just getting worse and he is so miserable. So, the ENT doctor says: He needs his tonsils out; He needs his adnoids out; and he has a deviated septum which needs repair. They cant do the septum surgery until he is 16....hopefully he wont need it by then. But, on June 23rd, he will be getting his tonsils and his adnoids taken out and they will also be cauterizing the inside of his nose to stop the nosebleeds. I'm not looking forward to seeing him go through this but I am encouraged by the doctor telling me that this should solve all of his problems and that he will sleep so much better that we might even be able to wake him up in the morning!! I cant even imagine it.....

Start Your Engines....

Tonight was the annual Pinewood Derby for our scouts. Last year was our very first one....let's just say it was a learning experience and leave it at that. We were much better prepared this year and it showed in the races. We let the boys do the majority of their car helping with little things here and there. Ian chose every color in the palette for his car and Evan went with a little more traditional colors and style. Both cars turned out great.


This was Evan's very first Pinewood Derby and he was pretty excited. His car performed really well, beating both cars that he raced (even though they are technically racing against the clock not the cars). He was equally excited that he ranked 14th out of 40 cars. Evan was awarded his Wolf badge tonight and after an entire year of sitting in the box, mom FINALLY got all of the boys' patches attached to their shirts so they were all official tonight!

This is Ian's second Derby...last year his car placed 38th out of 40. Like I said...learning experience. So this year he placed 25th out of 40. He would have been disappointed in that except for the fact that his car actually beat one of the cars he raced with and what's more important apparently is that this car that he beat was the kid who won the whole thing last year AND is in his class at school. Poor Noah....he was not a happy camper about losing....sadly, Im not sure who was more upset, him or his daddy. Ian was awarded the World Conservation Badge tonight. This was a great honor and not something that many scouts receive. His den made special efforts at improving the environment and donated money to save the Panda's in China.


It was a great night! I do have to share this funny picture of Ian. After his den was awarded their patches, the scoutmaster grabbed Ian on his way off the 'stage' and asked him to choose the scout cheer. Ian discussed this at length with the guy as you can see from the picture and ended up making up his own 'cheer'..... It takes Ian half an hour to decide something as simple as what treat to buy at the store so this was a bit stressful for him. He is soooooo indecisive. Im sure the scoutmaster didnt know what to think ;)


After the races were through they let the kids have their own little races between each other. Ian and Evan just HAD to race their cars against each other. Evan's car won by a hair.... Here they are at the starting line, ready to go!



Here are some videos of the cars racing if you care to take a look. We had a great time!

Lovely Sunday....

What incredible weather we were blessed with today!! After church, we had a delicious meal of baked ziti pasta and breadsticks (thanks Mel) and then decided to take a little drive down to Temple Square to walk around and enjoy the gorgeous weather....it was so nice. I forgot my camera but took some decent pictures with Denver's new phone. Oh I hope this weather will stick around for a while.... hope you all enjoyed your Sunday!

....another little story....

So, in my big ole Mothers Day post I forgot to mention a cute story. This is more for my own memories sake but still cute.... We haven't been to church in the past 3 weeks, I know *gasp*...stuff happens. Anyway, in primary they have been teaching the kids the song about the Stripling Warriors. Unfortunately, my kids hadn't really learned it so yesterday when they called the primary up to the front of the chapel to sing the song for all the mom's, they weren't too sure about going up. But, they marched up there and stood and smiled and didn't care that they didn't know the song....sort of. Miss Addison got up there and stood right in front, chin in hands looking all cute and smiley. Then they started singing and pretty soon I saw her put her fingers in her mouth and her eyebrows got all wrinkled up and I knew, without a doubt, that she was crying. Sure enough, she couldn't keep it in anymore and started bawling. We were sitting clear in the very back so I didn't jump up right away. The primary president came forward to scoop her up and that just made her scream louder....the worst part is that they were right behind the microphone. She just kept crying "I want my Mommy".... very appropriate for the day I guess. She spent the rest of day saying "I didnt sing mommy, I didnt sing".... She was just embarrassed that she didnt know the words. It was like deja vu from her dance recital. Good times :)

Mothers Day 2010....

I'm sitting here trying to think of something deep to say about Mother's. It shouldnt be difficult considering how sacred the calling of Motherhood is....I myself having a wonderful Mom of my own and being a good mom (hopefully) to my own children, I ought to have something profound to say. The only thing I keep thinking about is GRATITUDE.

• Gratitude for a childhood free from abuse and full of LOVE.
• Gratitude for healthy, beautiful, sweet, funny little people that I was given the privilege of raising.
• Gratitude for women around me who set examples daily and cause me to try harder to be a better person.
• Gratitude for the opportunity to be a Mother as challenging as it can be sometimes.

I guess I just feel thankful that I get to celebrate Mothers Day at all. I know there are many women out there that want to be moms and for whatever reason haven't been able to. And there are many children out there who aren't treated the way they should be by the moms they have. That is probably the most disheartening thing to hear....knowing that there are good women out there who deserve to be mom's and cant. Anyway, there are definitely days, on occasion, when I would like to "check out" so to speak from the daily grind of being a mom. There truly is no personal space, no silence, few adult conversations and forget being able to just leave the house whenever you feel like it on your own time frame. But, one thing I like to do late at night when everyone is sleeping is browsing total strangers' blogs...I find it fascinating to read about life from someone elses perspective and quite often lately I have run across blogs with stories of heartache and loss. Loss of a child. Unimaginable pain. So today, I would just like to say that I am GRATEFUL for the noise, the chaos, that lack of personal space and my sad social life that exists only on Facebook because Im pretty sure that the parents who have lost children would give anything to have all of that back in their lives. To those that have had this experience, I am so sorry and I vow to appreciate more the craziness that Motherhood is. I will try to be more patient and loving and realize that even when they are driving me crazy and I feel like screaming they are my world and they rely on me and love me unconditionally and more importantly I LOVE them with every fiber of my being.

Today in church my kids made me Mothers Day cards and one of the statements they were asked to finish was.....'I Feel Special When I am With You Because..... '

Ian said....You Love Me
Evan said....I Am Safe
Addison said....You Kiss Me

Love Them, Kiss Them, and Make Them Feel Safe. The 3 most important things a Mother can do.... I hope this means I am succeeding.

And to my Mom....you definitely succeeded. Thank You for everything. I LOVE YOU!

Happy Mothers Day everyone....

A Weighty Discussion....

*Warning* the following entry is not full of warm fuzzies or cute pictures of the kids. Its a reality check for me and although I do care about myself, Im not going to mince words here and I might even sound a little self loathing. Dont worry....I am doing just fine....but I am severly overweight and I am sick of it so I am going to be honest.I dont like my body. I dont like the way it looks or feels. I dont like looking in the mirror. There was a time when I loved my whole self....( see pic to the left) ...but it sure as heck isnt right now! Thats not to say that I lay in bed crying or dont want to go on living or anything that dramatic. But, I dont like going places because I have nothing to wear. I dont like shopping for things to wear because nothing fits me and I dont like the clothes that do. It's embarrassing. I feel shame when I go out to eat. Here is a huge reality check for you....that I am mortified to even share here.... We went to the movies recently and I left the theater to get popcorn. I passed a couple of girls on my way back with the popcorn (in their late 20's, not teenagers) and as I did they made pig noises at me. I thought I would die...and then I almost slapped them but was able to control myself :) How do you think that would feel?
I know that there are people out there that are OK with being fat. I am not one of those people. At all. And for those out there that say 'I should love myself no matter what'.....or 'I am such a pretty girl even with extra weight'....or that 'weight shouldnt define you'.... I want to say 'Thank You' ...really, thank you for being nice even though I know that when Im not around you are saying "wow, she has put on weight".... Its a natural reaction. Its a human reaction. Unfortunately as a society, we like skinny. Facts are facts. Ive been brought up in this society and I like skinny too. Not deathly skinny or movie star skinny. Healthy skinny. Im not asking to weigh what I did in high school. Heck, Ive birthed 3 children....Im not delirious. I have a weight in mind that by medical standards is still overweight. Oh well. I think it would look really good on me and I think about it everyday!
So, Im a realist, I always have been and the reality is - I AM FAT AND I HATE IT. There I said it....and Im not apologizing for it anymore. I dont think there is anything wrong or unhealthy about me wanting to lose weight or wishing I was thinner. What is wrong with wanting to go shopping in the 'normal sized' stores? I promise I dont HATE myself....just my weight. Unfortunately, along with the weight comes sadness, fatigue, no desire to do anything fun....you get the picture. How is that healthy?
Ok, Im done venting....so what am I going to do about it? I'll tell you....Im going to try again. If you know me at all then you know that I truly have given it a pretty good effort in the past. Lucky me, I was born with a metabolism that takes an act of God to get moving again. Last year I trained for and ran a Half Marathon. (yes that is me...huffing and puffing along!)

That is 13 miles people! I only lost about 14 pounds in the beginning....then, nothing. Now before you go thinking that 14 pounds is a lot of weight, consider the fact that to get to my realistic goal weight ( which is still considered to be heavy) I need to lose about 80 pounds. Yeah, 14 pounds isnt even close. Since the race, I have managed to put all of that and then some back on. Its true that I am under a lot of stress....I get that...and being an emotional eater to the 'Nth' degree, all I have done since that race is eat, eat, eat. But NO MORE!

Here is my epiphany. I was just thinking about last November and although I still had a lot of weight to lose, I felt fantastic!! I had energy...I was eating right, exercising...and emotionally I was charged because I knew I was doing good things.

I want to feel that way again. So, if it takes me 2 years to lose 80 pounds that is OK because in the interim I know that I will feel so much better about myself if I am at least moving in the right direction.

If you're curious how I plan on doing this....I'll share it with you. A friend of mine is a personal trainer. In the beginning of the year she started a "Biggest Loser" competition with some pretty lucrative prizes. I joined wholeheartedly... ready to win the whole thing....and then my life sort of fell apart. Long story short, I dropped out. But, she is doing it again along with the nutritional guidance that the "Live The Life" program provides. It is a program that is easy to follow, has good food, and is balanced! My kind of "Diet"..... So, today I have spent about 3 hours preparing my meals for the week.

5 meals a day for 7 days. All cooked, assembled and packaged...sitting in my fridge. No thinking...no guessing....just grab and eat. I am excited because I know that half of my problem is the nutrition and never knowing what to eat or not having the time to fix it!! I'll probably post here now and then about my progress but you should know that I expect great things from myself. I expect to win it this time....and by that I dont necessarily mean the prize money.... I expect to win the war. Stay tuned :) ... and if you actually read this entire post, thank you for listening!