A Quality Day

Yesterday was Stevie's off-Friday so I pulled him away from the yardwork, where the pavers are still not quite done, to spend some good quality time with his girls.

After dropping Harper off at Grandma's we took Shyla to Paradise Bakery for breakfast where she enjoyed about 1/3 of her orange muffin but many bites of my bagel and Stevie's sandwich.

Then we took her to see her second movie: Disney's Brave (Stevie took her to see Hop many months ago, and they only made it through about 30 minutes).  This time we nearly didn't make it through the previews.  She was "scared" of the dark theatre and the big seats.  She cried and whined until I took her out where she had the choice to go home or back into the theatre.  She chose the theatre.
Truly I don't think she enjoyed the movie and I doubt we will go back for awhile.  I found the movie to be dark and violent, and not humorous as Pixar movies generally are.

Harper and Grandma seemed to have a lot of fun!  Wearing hats and tiaras and eating!  I think it's nice for the kids to get individual time with their grandparents once in awhile.

After a late nap we went to Beth and Dave's house for a yummy dinner and playtime!

(The picture above cracks me up.)  

These girls will pretty much grow up together and be as close to family as you can be with no blood relation.  It was simply a really quality day!

Gold Friends

"Make new friends, but keep the old, some are silver and the others gold."

I'm sure you've all heard that song.  I am blessed to have a lot of gold friends.  This post is about two of them!

But first, last night I had this conversation with Shyla:

ME: "Sweetie, tonight after bath Mommy is going to go out to dinner with friends and I want you to be a really good girl for Daddy."

SHY: "You is going to bring dinner home?  For me?"

ME: "No sweetie.  Remember you already had dinner?  I made chicken and corn and you ate it all up!  I'm going to have dinner with friends.  At a restaurant.  We are going to eat it there."

SHY: "Why?"

ME: "Well because I have really, really good friends who I don't get to see very often and I really enjoy spending time with them.  Someday you will understand.  So, for tonight, will you be a good girl for Daddy?"

SHY: "Please move.  I am watching my show."

Anyway, last night I got to have dinner with two of my closest friends, whom I rarely get to see: Maren and Pauline.  I'm sure I've posted about them before.  I basically grew up with these two lovely ladies, playing on the same softball team for years (and years).

You have to understand that we weren't on just any softball team.  It is hard to explain.  We were on a really good team that traveled a lot.  We spent nearly every weekend of our summers, as well as many weekends during the school year, traveling all over the country (except Phoenix as we got older, but that's another story for another day) for softball tournaments.  The majority of our team went on to play collegiate level softball, many at the division one level, or at least had offers from such programs (another story for another day, perhaps).

We sacrificed a lot for this indescribable experience.  We missed a lot of Friday Night Football Games, weekend parties, family functions, and almost missed prom preparations one year.

Now that I am a parent I am beginning to realize just how much our parents sacrificed so we could have this experience as well.  Money, quality time together, sanity, just to name a few things.

But regardless of what we sacrificed, willingly of course, what we gained far outweighs any of that.  We learned responsibility at really young ages.  We learned teamwork, and what it felt like to be a group of individuals working diligently toward one goal.  We learned assertiveness; how to stand up for each other and, at times, how to stand up to each other.  We learned how to lead, both by example and by words.  We learned to accept each other's differences and enjoy our similarities.  We learned accountability, that we would only be as strong as our weakest player.  We learned how to properly pack, behave in an airport, take care of our money, and countless other things that we will and have taken into our adult lives.

I'd like to pause here, momentarily, to say "I can't believe we are almost 30!"

We had wins and losses, on and off the field.  Good days and bad days, on and off the field.  And we helped each other through each one.

In the 10+ years since we all shared a field (of dreams?) together, donned the same mesh uniforms, and sought out an Old Spaghetti Factory everywhere we went, I have had a few lucky opportunities to get together with some of my besties from that era to reconnect.

Last night to got to catch up with these two beauties:

It's amazing how so much time can pass, yet so many things remain the same.  When you share your childhood with someone, sometimes it can feel like they know you better than you know you.

Thank you, ladies, for being such an integral part of my life.

WW 6-25-12

Not much to say today.

For the third week in a row I weigh the exact same.

So, I am still exactly 20 pounds away from my goal.

And not feeling overly motivated....

Princess Basket-Case

Yesterday we attended a Princess Party at our favorite little toy store Mildred & Dildred.  It turned out to be a bit of a disaster just because it was too close to nap-time and there were a lot of people there.

When we got home, Harper played with a basket.

Here's my little princess, in tennis shoes, ready for the party.

There were a lot of princesses walking around; I could only get her to pose for a picture with Belle.

She was much more interested in the escalators and the fountains.

After the party we had a visit from basket-case lady and unfortunately she is back today.  Therefore, I must wrap this up and go tend to her.

An Open Letter to our Dog

Dear Pancake,

You have been part of our family for about 5 years now, but I don't even really remember a time when you weren't here.  Or a time when I showed up to work not covered in hair.  We all really love you.

From the time you joined us up until I went on bed-rest with Shyla, you got 2 walks each day, nearly everyday.  I really loved that time together, just me and you.  I am sorry you don't get walks very often anymore.  I am going to make it a goal to make sure you get out more, at least 4 times each week is a good starting point.  In my eyes last night's walk was a bit of a disaster, with Shyla dropping your leash 3 times then giving up the leash when we were at the halfway point.  But, you probably still enjoyed it!  It took us more than 20 minutes to get around our small neighborhood, but you got to sniff and pee a lot.

You are not a good watchdog but you are really great with the girls.  Shyla loves to give you "salmon treats" and she loves to be in charge of letting you in and out.  Harper loves to hug you and tug at your ears, and you let her do it all.  Shyla's songs about our family always include you!

You get in trouble for jumping on Grandma and Grandpa when they come over.  I wish you could control that, but I know you are just excited to see them all.

When we go on vacation you get to stay with Auntie Chelsea.  We love having you there because we worry about you when we are gone but when you are with them we know you are loved and getting attention.  We always wish we could take you with us, but with the exception of Pinetop it's really not possible.  One of these days you are going to have to meet Baxter.  Please be nice so you can continue to stay there.

It makes me happy to know how much the girls love you and that we are truly a family of 5.

Be good.  

Love, your family

Weight Watchers 6-19-2012

Two updates in one!

Last week we spent the week in Scottsdale.  I did my best to stay get on track; luckily we had an almost full kitchen (how the heck do you use a convection oven?) so we did most of our cooking and eating at the hotel rather than restaurants and fast-food.

I attended a WW meeting in Scottsdale.  It was a bit of a disaster.  I had forgotten my book at home so my mom came over and texted me my membership number.  Apparently, the membership number means nothing.  I was a little annoyed at this, and annoyed that they couldn't just let me step on the scale.  "Just login to WW on your phone" the nice lady told me.  Am I the only young person left that doesn't have a smart-phone?  To make this really long and incredibly boring story shorter, I ended up paying the $13 fee and will have to call the WW in the sky to be issued a refund.

Anyway, I was down exactly 1 pound.  The meeting was boring (I should have known since there were only 9 people there!); I think I'm becoming a meeting snob, but attending that 30 minute meeting is some of the very little "me time" I get each week and I want it to count.

Fast-forward to this week.  I have a lot to do today (oops, better get started) so I went last night instead. I had zero change and I count that as a win.  Factoring in vacation, lack of gym time, and Father's Day, a maintenance week is something that makes me proud.

However, I have a lot of WW work to do.  In exactly 15 weeks something very special is happening and I would really like to be at goal by then.  But that means losing approximately an average of 1.3 pounds per week.

I am exactly 20 pounds from goal.

I heard this last night and it sucks but it's true:

"You cannot look the way you want to look, and eat the way you want to eat."

Happy Father's Day 2012

Yesterday was Father's Day!  My family is very blessed to be surrounded by amazing dads!

To celebrate we had the family over to our house for a late lunch.  I wish I had gotten a picture of the whole group, or at least all the dads, but I failed.  The dads who came are: Grandpa Pop, GP, Grandpa Steve, and Stevie.

The kids played well together and we took a decent family picture:

Then Zac photo-bombed us:

One of Stevie's Father's Day presents was a magnet with this picture on it.  I got this idea (on Pinterest, no doubt) to take a picture each year in a Daddy t-shirt (the same each year) to show how the kids grow.  So we used 2 of his basketball jerseys that are, obviously, way to big.  Both girls thought it was hilarious to be wearing them!