Valentine's Day and Other Things

Is it already the 3rd week of February? How this month has flown by!

I really wish I had something witty to title my post or to tie everything together, but my carb-and-caffeine-deprived brain can't come up with anything. I often feel like I use my blog as more of a journal than anything else, so this is just a glimpse into the past couple of weeks at our house...nothing too exciting, just life as usual in Kansas...but I guess that's what our lives are really all about...the days and nights of doing the everyday things that become part of our memories and part of who we are.

The first week of February Lisi agreed that the Cinderella dress needed a washing, she wore Belle for all of an afternoon. Then Cinderella appeared again. She's starting to get over wearing it everywhere we go, well, kind of--she brings such smiles to our faces!The beginning of Feb. was Pride Week at school. Every day the girls got to do something fun. One day was crazy hair.
One night was Pride Night. The girls showed us around their classrooms, ate a pancake dinner (no I did not cheat on my diet!) and....we heard a strings concert. All I can say about the concert is that after hearing the 5th grade I have hope for the 4th graders. They just need a little work (o.k., quite a bit of work) playing their notes TOGETHER as a group.
To celebrate the 100th day of school, Abbie got to sing with a group on the Colt Channel, the morning broadcast at the elementary school. Her teacher told me that when she had to pick someone who wouldn't be shy in front of the camera, it only took a couple of seconds to decide on Abbie--yes, Abbie has never had a problem with being shy, she can pretty much talk to anyone and loves performing!

Thursday and Friday they were out of school for conferences and it snowed...again! But this time the temperature stayed higher and snow was absolutely the most perfect snow you can imagine. Perfect for snow angels and snow balls and snow forts and snow men and just plain perfect for playing in!

You can see how much snow is coming down, the girls look blurry from all the flakes.
Lisi's cheeks were so rosy she looked like a little doll.

Friends came over to join in the fun. In the backyard, they built snowmen...
and in the front yard a snow fort was under construction.I have to put this down as the best day of snow we've had all year!

This past week we did our final fundraiser for the 5th grade farewell, selling Smencils (again!) and smalentines, (smencils that have valentine scents) before school. 468 smencils gone in 5 days. They sold very well, considering that our school is fairly small and that we'd already sold 600 in December, for approximately $600 profit. Not bad for about 10 hours of work total. Since I'm helping co-chair the 5th grade farewell again next year, I really hope there will be something simple and easy next year, too.

Kierst's assignment was to create a valentine's box, write directions and then present everything to her class on Friday. She chose to make an ipod, and did a great job. Unfortunately, she started throwing up early Friday morning, so no school for her, although laying in bed, white as a sheet she tried to convince me at 7 a.m. that she really didn't feel THAT bad. Poor thing! She has the worst luck getting sick-she's missed overnighters at Timber Wolf Lodge, sleepovers, parties, etc., they always hit at the same time! Abs had a great time at her Valentine's party! The little boy to her right-you can't really see him, she has a crush on. She gave a special valentine to him, and told me she liked him, like I said, she's definately not shy (Abs and I are quite a bit alike when it comes to our personalities, but here's where we differ--I always had a hard time saying how I felt about someone, she has no problem letting everyone know!)Friday we went to a special opening for an exhibit of artwork from throughout our school district at the local library. 12 pieces were chosen from our elementary school, and one of Abbie's was chosen. Way to go, Abs!! Friday night was also our ward Valentine's dinner and silent auction. Both Chris and I bid on babysitting hours without consulting the other, ending up with more than we'd planned on by the end of the night. Oh well, can you ever buy too many babysitting hours?

Kierst got 3 fouls in her b-ball game Saturday, truly a surprise to me, Chris said it was a pretty dirty game on both sides. He's enjoying going to her games so much that he's been working around them as much as possible, going to the hospital, leaving for the game and then going back to finish up.

Saturday night we went on a valentine's date to one of our favorite Meditteranean restaurants. Yummy kabobs is all I have to say about their food.

Sunday after church the girls and I got surprises ready for Chris. They cut out hearts... decorated their own giant cookies...and we zoomed to Chris' hospital. We weren't sure we'd make it before he left for the day, on the way there we called to "check his schedule" as we always do, and he was almost done. But we did make it in time, bringing the goodies up to the NICU and surprising him. He took the cookies to the staff room for everyone to enjoy.We decorated his car before we left--a full heart attack--the girls could barely wait for him to see it! After being married to me and my cheesy ways for almost 15 years, I'm sure that Chris wasn't surprised or embarassed too much.

Chris made surf and turf for Valentine's dinner, although the girls would only eat the surf part of the dinner--they can't stand steak--oh well, more for us! My favorite part of the day was going around the table during dinner telling each family member why we thought he/she was special and what we loved about him/her.

And I made it through Phase 1 of the SBD, officially it ended last night! I did snitch a bite of cookies after making a batch this weekend--but I was still pretty proud to make it through so many temptations, chocolate fountain, chocolate cake, candy, candy and more candy, and more scrumptious delights than you can even guess, without giving in. Yay for a hubby and friends who won't let you quit! They're the best!

Chris even saved his valentine's day gift for me for today so I could indulge without any guilt...a dozen chocolate dipped strawberries--my favorite! Love that man. Yes, they're actually SBD-approved desserts--not that that matters too much to me when it comes to desserts, really, if you're going to have something decadent, have something decadent. I just can't wait to enjoy all the chocolate goodness!!

Carbs and a Diet Coke

I love carbs. I mean, I really really love carbs--cake, baked goods, bread (especially white), potates (hello, Idaho!), pasta--you name it, I love it and I eat it. Lots of it. I also love Diet Coke. I love it anytime, anywhere and I don't think I can ever get enough of it.

But this week I gave up my carbs and Diet Coke.

Cold turkey.

Today is day 5 and I'm proud to say that I've made it this far without cheating. I've been cranky and irritable, headachy and hungry, and quite frankly a real pain to be around all week, but I've done it.

Why you ask? Well, I've been "dieting" since giving birth to Lisi (she's almost 4) but I've never gotten very serious about it. It's very hard to lose any weight when you're only kind-of, sort-of serious about it, but not really dedicated. I've always relied on exercise to keep the weight off, but that hasn't worked the last few years because I'd exercise and then eat cupcakes after dinner, canceling out anything good I'd done for myself. A couple of years ago I was running about 3 miles a day, a few days a week (no weight loss with this mind you), then back and knee problems hit.

Apparently my back has a herniated disc and a degenerating disc, which means that there have been days when I couldn't even walk, lay down, sit up, move, stay still--everything hurt. Fortunately, steriod shots got that under control, for the most part. And tennis has done wonders for my back because it's strengthened the muscles around my spine. My knees have some arthritis--just a little bit, but it's amazing what a little bit can do to your ability to move--crackling knees aside! Tendonitis hit when I started playing tennis again, I could barely walk, fortunately, I met someone through tennis who introduced me to some anti-inflammatory supplements that have stopped the knee problems.

But to really help the back and knee problems, though, there's one thing I need to do: take weight off! Which, as I said before, I've been semi-serious about (work out for an hour, great! chocolate cake? Don't mind if I do!)

Flash forward to last week, when I found out two of my friends were doing the South Beach Diet. I have to tell you that they really inspired me, so much that I started it myself this week. I'm really not one for diet plans or weight watchers or anything else like that--but realizing that I do need to lose the weight and that my weight loss plans have not worked, I decided to give them a try. Last weekend I went on a carb bender--I think I ate every carb I could, just to get ready for the famine on Monday.

But giving up the Diet Coke? I hadn't planned on that one. Over the same carb bender weekend mentioned above, I had some crazy heart palpatations (Chris calls them SVTs). Two times in two days. Never had those before. Went to the doc on Monday, he ran an EKG--no irregularity, heart rate 55 bpm, no blood pressure problems, etc. His diagnosis--besides the fact that I'm getting older and this is more common in "older" people (yes, he did say that!), I'm drinking too much caffeine!!

So I let it go. Completely. I guess I didn't think I was addicted to Diet Coke, but I felt like I went through total detox this week. My cravings today are all but gone for my favorite drink, but boy, was it hard. On Tuesday all I wanted was a piece of my favorite sourdough bread from Costco (toasted, and buttered) and a "mama's juice" (Lisi's term for Diet Coke--what is that saying??).

As of today, I've lost 5 pounds, only 9 more days to go on the strict phase of the diet. Yay!

Tonight I have to face my toughest test ever...a chocolate fountain at Rook Night at Salins!

Cinderella, Healthcare and a Little B-Ball

Cinderella moved into our house last week. She appears every morning about 7 a.m. and leaves promptly at 8 p.m. She's very good at making us laugh with her cute little phrases, loves to snuggle next to one of us, and enjoys helping me empty the dishwasher. I caught her with my camera yesterday when she appeared after church: Her dress is becoming a little ragged, but I think she's going to be around for a while.Last Wednesday, following the Massachusetts senatorial election, I did a little dance for joy when I heard the democrats admitting defeat on the healthcare bill. Really, I did a dance around my kitchen. And I let out a huge sigh of relief. You have to know that I'm not against reform--there are a lot of problems out there, but I don't think that this healthcare bill was the panacea. And not knowing exactly what would happen to medicine was scary, to say the least. I didn't know how it would effect Chris' ability to practice medicine, not just practice medicine, but practice good medicine. I also didn't know how passage of the bill would effect our income, meaning how much the government would raise our taxes. I'm not against paying taxes, we certainly pay our fair share, but how much more do we have to pay?? Do we really need to be penalized for working hard?? We've sacrificed 10 years to be where we're at, and we certainly don't live an extravagant lifestyle, although apparently those in charge in Washington must think differently. Of course, they aren't trying to quickly pay off six-figure med school loans like we are...I could say more, but I'll save it for the next healthcare bill...

Kiersten has done a 180 in basketball over the past few weeks. She started out the season timidly running down the court and is starting to throw herself into the game. Saturday I watched as she battled with a girl who was trying to defend against her, it really was a battle as they elbowed and pushed against each other, and I was pretty proud. She even got her first foul. Don't think I'm for playing dirty or anything like that, but playing basketball takes a certain amount of aggression and perserverance, two things that Kiersten showed none of at the beginning of the year.
Here are a couple clips of Kiersten playing a few weeks ago, she's number 21.

I think we're going to put up a basketball hoop when it gets a little warmer outside:)

School was out last Tuesday, and we met friends for lunch at Costco...

and then went to Jumping Jax for the afternoon. Jumping Jax just opened up by us and it's one of our new favorite places! Lisi loved the air hockey...

and the other girls liked all of it.

Just Another Week,With a Few Firsts Mixed In

This week was just another week at our house, although we did have a few firsts...

Kiersten was in her first school spelling bee! Each 4th and 5th grade class had a spelling bee last year and the top 4 from each class competed in a school-wide spelling bee on Friday. You can tell by the picture that Kiersten was really excited to participate. I'm not sure who was more nervous, the kids spelling or the moms watching, each of us mumbling the words under our breaths and congratulating each other with sighs of relief as our children spelled correctly, or consoling each other as our children fell under the pressure. Kierst made it to the third round, yay! and then she mixed up a couple of letters. We were proud that she made it as far as she did! Abbie came down with her first case of strep throat this week. She was a real trooper going to the doctor and getting her throat swabbed--no complaining, no crying, no whining. Sorry to say that I was glad it was strep because it is so easily treatable with antibiotics--within a day she was back to her normal self. Kiersten picked it up, too, and again, love antibiotics! Amazingly enough, Lisi, did not get her first case of strep this week, even though she hangs onto Abbie every minute she can when they're together.

Thursday night Lisi had her first sleepover (friends of ours went out of town and so we watched their youngest overnight, otherwise, we don't normally let our 3-year old have one;). Lisi's room is across the hallway from ours and we spent a couple of hours laughing at their anything-we-can-do-to-stay-awake antics. Finally at 10:30 we threatened to separate them if they didn't settle down and that did the trick.

I took them to Wonderscope children's museum the next day. They loved the water...

And the face painting.

I don't think Chris had any firsts this week--which is a good thing since it was already a busy week at the hospital! He was grateful to NOT have anything new.

As for me, I played tennis for the first time in a bubble this week. If you don't know, and I didn't until this week, you can stretch a bubble over outdoor tennis courts and make them indoor courts. Apparently, quite a few clubs here use them. I'm used to playing indoor tennis, in Boise, you can play outside until the end of November, and then it's indoors until March (or if the weather cooperates, the end of Feb.). At the racquet club we belonged to all our clinics were held indoors, even in the summertime, and if a court wasn't reserved indoors, you could play on it for free, provided someone willing to pay didn't kick you off, so of course when you hit with friends you tried to find indoor courts (outdoors were first come, first served and always free). I had never experienced a bubble--until this week.

What I learned is that I HATE BUBBLES. Every sound echoed off the bubble, and I mean every sound--every ball hitting in every court echoed, every racquet hitting every ball echoed, every voice echoed, every footstep echoed and I couldn't even hear the score being called, much less hear whether a ball was called in or out. I felt like my head would explode with so many sounds bouncing around in it at once! The bubble also sloped downward over the back part of the court, which meant that the court looked distorted, it looked about 2 feet shorter than it really was. No one had warned me about "the bubble" and it took me about 6 games to get used to everything. I know, I know, that's all part of it, getting used to your surroundings, and I'm all for trying new things--someday I'd like to try to play on clay or even grass (things we never had growing up in Idaho!). Maybe I'm an indoor court snob, but I think I will try to avoid as many bubble matches as I can, except that I'm already scheduled to go back to the same courts in a couple of months. At least I'll be prepared this time, maybe I'll even wear ear plugs, ha ha!

Winter Wonderland...or the Christmas Break That Never Ended

I have to have a proud mom moment before commenting on the weather. Yesterday, Kierst made her first basket in a game. She stole the ball, took it down the court and shot. Yay! Kierst loves basketball, but is a little timid on the court. I'm not sure what her coach did, but she finally brought some agression to her game. Now I'm waiting for her first foul:)

It seems as though Old Man Winter is really leaving his mark on Kansas this year. Snow lays in piles everywhere, ice covers the streets and it has been bitterly COLD this past week (so much for wishing for the 60s). With all the snow and minus temperatures, school was cancelled Wednesday, Thursday and Friday--making it feel like Christmas break all over again! It was wonderful! We spent some lazy days, not having to run anywhere and do much of anything because all of it was cancelled. Unfortunately, the cold made it hard for the girls to enjoy the beautiful snow, but on the one day we had temperatures into the teens, they ventured outside to play in the perfect snow in the backyard--the kind that you want to make snow angels in, it's just so perfect, without any footprints.

Kierst, in her normal dramatic fashion, laid down in the snow, protesting our cruelty at forcing her to play outside--I think she's really a warm weather person, and I really don't blame her--it was cold; however, it was time to get some exercise:) I think she was waiting for us to tell her it was fine to come inside, but in true stick-to-your-guns parent fashion we waited it out and a few minutes later she was happily building a wall of snow.
With such cold weather this week, it really hit me how truly blessed I am. We have a warm house, out of the cold, with fireplaces that have been merrily blazing, we have been basking in their warmth all week. We have warm coats and warm boots and pants and if we didn't have them, well, we have the ability to go to the store and buy them (something that hit Kierst with understanding this year when she saw the bags of socks and underclothes we had purchased for a family adopted by Chris' practice for Christmas--when she understood that people needed just the basics of life that we take so much for granted, I think her eyes were open a little and she became more appreciative of what she really has). I'm grateful for a garage. When Chris was in medical school we lived in townhouses and didn't have a garage. Many winter mornings we'd chip ice off the windshield and wait for the car to heat up and it was freezing (and we had to walk uphill both ways in the snow to get to the car, but that's another story, hee hee). And I'm grateful that Chris doesn't have to drive downtown to work--I always worried about him driving up hospital hill during fellowship when I knew the roads were icy and frozen and just plain trecherous--now his drive is short and even if the roads are bad, they're usually better than the ones downtown. I'm grateful for Chris shoveling (no snowblower) our driveway, walkway, and the street around Tiffanie's car (so she could easily get out) in the freezing weather after he had worked a long, 10-hour day. I'm grateful for cozy nights surrounded by my husband and children. Really, this week I feel grateful for the little things, too, like hot chocolate and ice melt and new tires.

And I'm really really grateful that we don't live any further north, where these kind of temperatures are the norm (I'm from the sun belt of Idaho, remember, we get snow, but not that much and it's never this cold). O.K., little story here about why I'm so grateful for this: When Chris interviewed for residencies, we drove with his friend, Dan, who was also interviewing, to a place in Wisconsin--Marshfield, Wisconsin, which is located about 2 hours from any major metropolitian area, and what I mean by that is any town bigger than 20,000. We drove through winding roads lined with enormous pine trees, absolutely beautiful, and lake after lake, which, this being January, had little shacks set up for ice fishing. While Chris and Dan interviewed the following day, I checked out the town. I finished that in about 10 minutes. Now I have nothing against living in a small town--if there's some sunshine and it's warm and I can spend lots of time outside--there's always a lot to do, or at least I can always find a lot to do. Throw in a beach to boot and I'm in heaven. But in Wassau, it had to be about -10 all day long and the wind blew. Hard. I pretty much froze the whole day. Chris love love loved the program and hospital--it was a regional center and I'll admit, a really good program, in fact, he wanted to put it at the top of his list, but all I could think about was being stuck inside a house all winter long with kids. Needless to say, it didn't make it onto the top of our list, thanks to the good husband I have who knew that if I were miserable, then everyone else would be too. Now that you know the story, you know that I am very very grateful to be living where I am.

On a completely different note I forgot to put post a couple of things: The day after Christmas I took the girls to see the Nutcracker at the Music Hall. With Chris working and all the Christmas craziness over, it was the perfect time to go. One of Kierst's friends was performing in it, too, which made it extra fun. After being in Clara's Dream, Abs and Kierst were really captivated by the entire show. Lisi had a harder time sitting through it, but maybe next year it will be better:)
Kierst also had a strings performance at the beginning of Dec. She did a great job!

Happy New Year

Today is officially the last day of Christmas break--the decorations are all put away (except for the lights--we're waiting for the sub-arctic temperatures to rise a little before braving that task), the girls go back to school on Tues., Chris heads back to a full week of work, and everything will pretty much get back to normal. Sigh. But in the meantime, here's a look back at the past week...
Chris had his days off between Christmas and New Year's and was on call at night and so we took full advantage of the time to play. My girls are true Daddy's girls--they'd rather spend time with him than me, which means they were in heaven.
We had to play in the snow as much as possible this week because we never know when it will melt. In Kansas the weather is so crazy that it could be 60 degrees tomorrow (ok, the weather report says 18 degrees at the most, but the next week it could be balmy). With the piles of snow around our driveway Chris made snow forts for the girls. I think the Seattle boy scout in him was coming out-- when he was in high school they made igloos in the Cascades on hiking trips. Brrr! Kierst is queen of the hill! Notice the weird white thing in our neighbor's yard behind her. Since the beginning of Dec., when it lit up our street, we've been trying to figure out what it is, but didn't have the guts to just ask the neighbor. We finally found out that it's a rocket. Ummm, is it just me or is that a little odd?
Because one snow fort wasn't enough, Chris built a second so the girls could slide between the two.

Chris filled spray bottles with colored water and the girls got to decorate their forts.

Another day we took the girls to Crown Center. First stop: Kaleidoscope. If you don't know what Kaleidoscope is, it is the best place for kids to get their creative juices flowing--just one big art center. It is run by Hallmark, which is headquartered in KC, and it is full of colorfully designed tables, creatures, and lots of paper, markers, paints, and leftover art supplies. Did I mention the puzzle maker, too? Did I also mention it's one of my kids' favorite places to go?
Lisi was grooving to the music while painting her puzzle. This picture is so typical of her facial expressions.

Abs made Chris a new year's hat.We stuck our heads through and had some good laughs at each other. After looking at all the wrinkles on my forehead in this pic, I realize I'm going to need Botox by the time I'm 40! Hee hee.Outside we saw the giant Mayor's tree and then went inside for hot chocolate and steamers (hot milk with flavoring) and called dibs on which gingerbread house out of the huge display we would want to live in. Everyone played for a while at Santa's Crayola playland. The kids wanted to eat at Fritz's but with a little convincing, they agreed to try one of our favorite restaurants on 39th Street by KU Med: Po's House of Dumplings. Delicious!

Another day the kids voted to go bowling.

Kierst got the first strike! Everyone got one--even Lisi!

After all the strenous bowling, we filled up at 5 Guys. Kierst can't even smile in this pic because her mouth is so full of food:) We've decided they definately have the best burgers in KC. And the best fries because they're made from Idaho potatoes! (Side note here...when I was at BYU and told people I was from Idaho they would always ask if I grew potatoes, haha-I could always answer well, yes, I do!haha!--my dad was an attorney, but his family owned shares in a potato farm near Burley, Idaho, that someone else ran--when the potatoes were harvested I would drive to the farm on my way home to Boise and pick up sacks of enormous potatoes--imagine the biggest bakers you've ever seen--so yes, we did grow potatoes! And you know that the best potatoes always come from Idaho!!)
New Year's Eve we went to our friends' annual party--lots of fun! However, I've come to the conclusion that we are officially OLD because at 12:05 a.m., we (along with everyone else) headed home because it was so late. Can you see Chris' goatee that he grew out this week? It had too much grey, so he shaved it off--not that he wouldn't have anyway for work next week, but like our early bedtime, it points out the fact that we are getting OLD--or that at least since Chris turned 40 this year he is getting grey and I'm still youthfully beautiful (haha! thanks to my hairdresser! and I always have to give Chris a hard time).

We finally broke down and bought 2 more remotes for our Wii. In between football games on New Year's day the girls competed against each other. I was happy to watch since I'm pretty awful at Mario Kart.