Outlook On Life

I am usually a fairly positive person. Not an optomist by any stretch, but try and look at the good and not focus on the bad. Not read, watch or engage in things that I know will not make me feel happy. Talk about the good things in life and not the bad. Focus on the good and not dwell on the sad.

I fell off the wagon. When exactly, I'm not sure. But I have been getting some strong messages from the universe that I need to go back to my old habits to really find some true, solid, know it in my bones, life is amazing - happiness. I think that I got derailed sometime during the custody battle, infertility challenges, work changes and remodeling. Not too surprising, actually.

But all that is changing now! I'm back on track - or at least I am going to give it my best shot again. It will take a while for me to change my way of thinking again to what it needs to be. But I will get there.

What exactly is how I need to be thinking you ask? Let me tell you:

1. Wake up every day grateful for what I have. (Healthy children, a happy marriage, a home to call my own, a wonderful extended family...)

2. Visualize what I want out of life. (To have money in the bank, to travel the world, to wear a size 8 again, be happily married to Bob for then next 50 years, to finish the art room, happy children...)

3. Focus on the good things in life. Talk about positive things. Think happy thoughts. Read happy stories. Write about happy things. Watch happy movies and shows. Listen to happy music.

4. Don't focus energy on negative things in life. No sad movies. No sad stories. No sad news. No talking about negative people or hanging around negative people.

5. Take some time every day to be alone with my thoughts. Either with 30 minutes during nap times to do something I enjoy (painting or scrapbooking) or in the bathtub when the kids have gone to bed.

6. Make daily exercise a priority. Gotta love those endorphins.

These things are small changes, but they have a big impact.

High Maintenance

It is a good thing that Logan is cute because he is driving me NUTS!

We are going on a week now of constant whining, crying, screaming and general bellyaching. If I give him 100% of my attention, he is fine. If I try to clean the kitchen, make dinner, pick up toys, feed Alexis or heaven forbid - sleep - he fusses. This week he has been waking up about four times a night so I am getting a bit testy from lack of sleep.

I went to my beloved MOPS yesterday and he kept melting down in the nursery so after 20 minutes of trying to nurse and calm him down he had to accompany me back to the meeting and sit on my lap the last 90 minutes. Not quite the baby-free rejuvenating experience that I had two weeks ago.

This morning I took Alexis to a playdate and left him with Debbie K and she said he was an angel. But then again he got 100% of her attention the whole time he was there. He is most definately NOT the independent type like his sisters.

What do you do to try and force a kid to self entertain?

Is this a phase?

Is this a boy thing?

HELP!

Maiden Voyage

The baby backpack gets lots of use at our house. I was hoping to get Mandee's old one so we would have two, but I will have to buy one here. Got two kids, need two backpacks.

When Bob pulls out the backpack Alexis runs over and tries to climb in it. It is her favorite thing to do when Bob is doing yard work or we go for a hike. It must be nice to be tall when you are so small.

This past weekend Alexis was taking a nap and Bob had to mow the lawn so he decided to try Logan in it . I was busy sanding an old nightstand to put in the lounge (there will be a post about that when I'm done with it) so I couldn't watch him.

Logan LOVED it! The noise from the lawnmower didn't seem to bother him either. He just leaned way over so he could see what Bob was doing. I need to start saving my pennies so I can get over to REI to buy another backpack. Bob doesn't want me to show these pics to Alexis for fear she will get upset.

Volleyball

Volleyball has started for Katya. She began practices the second day of school and has been to practices four days a week for 90 minutes a day. Wow! She had her first game last week and she has two a week for the next four weeks.

Now, I don't want to brag ...but... Katya is a force to be reckoned with on the court. She has a killer serve and she is really, really, REALLY aggressive. There is a competitive streak that runs deep in her and my brother both. From what I have read, it seems that Dylan has it too.

I took a few pics from her last game and I thought I would share. If you hadn't noticed by now, I am a major shutterbug. : )

MOPS

MOPS is my new favorite thing.

It stands for Mothers Of PreSchoolers and it is the best thing socially that I have done up here so far.

I am kind of a dork in new social situations. I am always so terrified that I will do or say something stupid and need to go and stand in the corner for my ignorance and lack of wit. I don't feel exceedingly cool, or exciting, or even interesting for that matter. And when I am feeling remotely stressed out or uncomfortable I become Ms. Stone Face. I hate that I do, but I do. Like I said, I am a dork.

One day many months ago when I was having an exceedingly hard day with juggling two babies, I was shopping at the local grocery store. I was going to get a coffee for myself because I really, REALLY needed it but then realized that I couldn't because I had no place to even put it. I was wearing Logan in the front pack and had Alexis in the child seat. I must have had a look on my face like I was going to burst into tears when the most wonderful woman approached me and asked if I had considered going to MOPS. I looked at her as though she was speaking Spanish and she proceeded to tell me briefly what it was about and how to sign up. She gave me some much needed and appreciated words of encouragement and then proceeded to do her own shopping. When I got home I called and got signed up for it even though it didn't start until this month.

MOPS is a place for mothers of children 0-6 can go and have a reprieve. My local MOPS is held at the church down the street and is run by the nicest ladies EVER. The meetings are every other week and I have my second meeting this Thursday. The kids go to daycare for two hours and play while the mothers all meet, have some wonderful breakfast foods, listen to a lecturer (the theme this year is The Home Factor) visit and do some activity. Both babies had the best time in their daycare and I was given a pager in case either of them needed me. Evidently Logan bounced for two hours and Alexis (after a brief, yet silent tantrum) proceeded to play with every doll and block in that room.

I got to meet some wonderful ladies, whom I would have never spoken to otherwise. I'm not saying I have a new BFF or anything, but it was nice visiting with these people. I just got an email from my table leader reminding us of our next meeting and it triggered all my warm and fuzzy feelings from the last meeting. I can't wait for Thursday.

New Fav Photo

I made some darn cute kids. Not sure how - but they are all beautiful!

Taking photos of them is my hobby as I try and record their lives for them. Someday they will want to take the time to sit and look at photos of themselves. Or their kids will. Or their grandchildren.

Anyhoo...I downloaded the pictures from my camera and one really stands out to me as a fabulous photo of Alexis. I think this one will be put on the wall as an 8x10 black and white. Granted, I have loads of pictures of Alexis - but this one I really like for some reason. Maybe it is the light.

Future Bookworm

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery there is.

I love to read. I mean I REALLY love to read. Prior to Alexis, I could easily consume two to three books a week. I spent HOURS at Borders reading through books and magazines with my chai whenever I had a free hour or three. Now I don't have that much time for my favorite hobby, but I have been trying to fit it in here and there with books from the library (staying at home I don't have my book fundage anymore).

Evidently, someone has been watching me.

Crock Pot Recipe Tuesday

Ever wonder what to do with those roasting chickens (the raw ones) that COSTCO sells in the two packs? How about throwing one of those puppies in a crock pot in the morning and have a delicious cooked chicken with the meat falling off the bone that evening? Sounds pretty good, huh?

Baked Slow Cooker Chicken

1 (2 to 3 pound) whole chicken
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp paprika

1. Wad three pieces of aluminum foil into 3 to 4 inch balls and place them in the bottom of the slow cooker.

2. Rinse the chicken, inside and out, under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels. Season the chicken with the salt, pepper and paprika, and place in the slow cooker on top of the crumbled aluminum foil.

3. Set the slow cooker to High for 1 hour, then turn down to Low for about 8 to 10 hours, or until the chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear.

The Duck Races

Bend is big into festivals, farmer's markets, races of every kind (especially bike) and the Great Drake Park Duck Races. The duck races are an event sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Bend (we have four of them in our little town) as a fundraiser for their main charities.

What happens is that people can "sponsor" a duck for $5 a piece. Then at 2 o'clock they release all the little multicolored duckies into the river (much to the surprise of the resident ducks) and they float downstream to a funnel that feeds one duck at a time through so they can record who the winners are. The prizes are AWESOME! We're talking about a boat (Bob was drooling over this one), a car, ski passes, hotel vouchers for weekend getaways, decking material (we could have used that)...etc.

Before the official duck race started, there was a kids duck race. Every child that was in attendance was able to sign up for a free duck, get a free t-shirt, a free HUGE red licorice stick, and a coupon for a free kids meal at Applebee's. It was awesome! The kids race had their own prizes and I think they had a total of 75 prizes ranging from a tubing party for 10 at Mt. Bachelor to a Wii Playstation to bike helments to Happy Meals from McDonald's.

We had fun just cruising around, watching the ducks, visiting with our friends Ed and Barbara that joined us and hanging around Katya who was working a Campfire booth selling yo yo balloons, helicopter balloons and those huge punching balloons. The weather was just beautiful and couldn't have been more perfect.

As the kids were falling asleep on us we waited for the prizes to be announced for the kids race since you had to be present to win. Guess who won something from our family? Logan!! He won a Happy Meal gift certificate! Granted, after watching "Super Size Me" we won't be going back to McDonald's any time soon - but it is so cool he won!

Unfortunately, we did not win anything from the main duck race. Bummer! But there is always next year! I need my mother up here to sponsor a duck. She has the best luck of anyone I have ever met. She'd win us a boat for sure.

New Carseat

Little Logan is getting longer and the time will soon be here when he can no longer fit into his infant carseat.

Last year about this time I did some research on carseats and the one most highly rated by Consumer Reports was a brand called Britax. And these carseats can work with kids up to 65 pounds. (With my kids they will probably be in third grade before they hit 65 pounds. Ok, I might be exaggerating just a bit.) I had never even heard of that brand, but I found it on Amazon.com my favorite place on the internet. Imagine my surprise when I found lots of fun covers for the carseats! Butterflies, flowers, sport images, swirly colors...etc.

For my car Alexis got one that is peach with pale peach and pink Hawaiian style flowers. It is very pretty and the fabric is a super soft microfiber type material. For Bob's car she got a zebra print.

Well, I noticed that my now favorite brand of carseat is on sale for one week. We're talking $60 bucks off kind of sale - you can't pass that one up. So, I took at look at the available styles for this year. I love having a little boy, but the carseats just aren't as fun as for girls. They had grey with black (too hot in the summer), tan (boring), green w/ brown swirls (Bob and Katya didn't like it), blue with sports logo stuff on it (we don't watch football), lots of college logo and colored ones (no thanks), plain blue (boring) and plain grey (really boring). The only one left that was cute, fun and had some personality that was boy worthy was Cowmooflage. So that is the one that we got for both cars.

It is fun though, isn't it?

Crock Pot Recipe Tuesday

This is an amazing recipe! My mom makes the best chicken and dumplings and I have never really liked any other that I tried - until now. This makes a lot of food, so it can easily feed about five to six people. You might just want to add another chicken breast and another can of chicken broth if you are worried if it will make enough.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Poultry seasoning
Seasoned salt
Dried parsley
Salt & Pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 (10.75 ounce) cans of Healthy Request Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can of low sodium, fat free chicken broth
1 onion, finely chopped
2 (10 oz) pkgs refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces

1. Place the chicken, butter, soup, chicken broth, seasonings (to taste) and onion into slow cooker and fill with enough water to cover.

2. Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High. OR you can use frozen chicken breasts and cook on low 8 to 10 hours (like I did). About 1 to 1 1/2 hours before serving, use forks and tear apart the chicken. Place the torn biscuit dough in the slow cooker on top of the broth. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.

This is really delicious and I am sure that your families will all love it.

WOW

Basically, after you see this video all you can say is "Wow". This is a clip from "Britain's Got Talent" (the British version of American Idol) where an unknown man named Paul Potts auditions.

Watch this.

He, of course, has since rocketed to stardom and you can read all about him here. I love Cinderella stories! Even if Cinderella happens to be a guy.

FAO Schwarz Catalog

It's here... and it is full of such cool stuff! Every year we sit down and drool over all the amazing things that we find between the covers of this catalog.

Oh, if only I were rich. I would shower all my nieces and nephews with such wonderful Christmas gifts like Spykee The Spy Robot

or a "Design-Your-Own Dress Kit". This is WAY cool, the fab recipient of this gets to design their own dress by sketching it out, picking the fabric from swatches..etc and they send it away and in 8 weeks the finished dress appears at their door. I think this is right up Autumn's alley.

Since the guys wouldn't be into designing dresses, they can do the "Make Your Own Monster Kit" and have the monster of their dreams sent to them as a huge pillow instead.

Another option is Airkicks. What kid wouldn't want these?

And of course, every playroom needs to have this kid table and chairs in it.

Well, I'm not rich which is a bummer sometimes. But it doesn't take away any of the fun that we get from ooing and aahing at everything.

Ouch

That which does not kill you makes you stronger.

I have no idea who said this, but I suppose that it is true. This week the whole house started with their new routines and it is finally becoming easier.

Katya and I started getting up at 5:30am to begin our day. She jumps in the shower and gets ready for school. I get up and trudge downstairs to the garage and get on the treadmill hoping my trusty little IPod will give me the motivation I need to work up a sweat. I have to get Bob to hook up my little tv that I had in my garage in Poway because jogging on that thing and staring at a blank wall is deathly dull.

I'm doing a 5 minute warm up, a 20 minute jog and a 5 minute cool down. I hope to work up to a 30 minute run by October and be able to work in some situps and more stretching. I am trying to throw in a few walks here and there during the week with the kids as well for good measure too.

But for now... it is OUCH! My muscles are kind of sore, my hips are sore, my knee is sore, my back is sore - getting older stinks. I don't remember ever having this many aches and pains when I would work out before.

At night I am dog tired come 7pm and I have been crawling into a hot bath at night hoping that will help my tired, sore, achy joints recover for the next days abuse. My poor hubby has been really patient with me. I hope that my energy level starts picking up or he may file a formal complaint. : )

Checkups

My chitlins went to the doctor this week for checkups. We fill up an examination room, that's for sure.

Katya was told that she is exceptionally beautiful, in perfect shape, perfect BMI (I didn't even know they calculated that this early), and is a statuesque 5' 7" now.

She is kind of irked with me since I made her get her first HPV shot. Of course, there is no way that I wouldn't have her get this shot. This shot could keep her from ever getting cervical cancer. How wonderful is that! But, this was a HUGE shot! And she has to get another one in two months and the last one in 8 months. For those of you with daughters, hold their hand because it will hurt.

Alexis was just getting her ears checked because that cold/flu/plague that we caught in San Diego lasted for a full 2 weeks (aren't you glad that we didn't come visit, Mandee?) and she was pulling on her ears again. I was so afraid she got an ear infection. Luckily, she was clean.

Logan was the next one up for examination. He is turning into a little handful all of a sudden. He rolls everywhere and can almost hold himself up. After a minute or so he kind of leans to one side and flops over. He is also Mr. Octopus arms grabbing everything within visual range and (of course) sticking it in his mouth. It is getting harder to change his diaper because he can't hold still anymore. And he is babbling all the time and going for some seriously high screaching sounds which he thinks are great.

So for all those reasons, the doctor thinks that he is right on track and doing great. That is until we get to his weight. He is 28 1/2 inches long and weighs in at 16 pounds 5 ounces. Evidently although he feels like a solid little guy - he is only in the 10th percentile for weight!! Ack. I got another talking to about starting him on solid food at least three times a day and go for the whole milk yogurt. I'm going to transition him to formula when he is 9 months and hopefully that will help too.

Alexis has always been in the 30th percentile for her weight (evidently a little heffer compared to her brother) and I am always asked how much she eats, what she eats...etc. I swear, I don't starve my kids! I know that they are tall and skinny - but they are both really active. I carry a bag of snacks with me wherever I go in case Alexis gets hungry.

I know that both little kids are healthy, even though they are considered too thin. I wonder how they calculate this weight to height thing? There seems to be such a small margin for what is considered healthy; not too skinny and not too fat. Other than feeding them cheesecake everyday, I'm not sure what else I could do to plump them up a little bit.

Katya's First Day of 8th Grade

Well, this is the first day of school for Katya. Bend is on a traditional school calendar which I do not like nearly as well as a year round schedule, but oh well.

Of course, Katya had thought out her outfit well in advance because as all girls know - it sets the fashion stage for the entire school year! I was thinking this morning about how much Katya has changed in the time we have lived here so I thought I would post the first day of school photos for Katya's middle school career here in Bend. She has changed so much! She went from a little girl to a young woman.

Next year she starts high school! Man....I'm not quite ready to think about that yet.

6th Grade

7th Grade

8th Grade

Crock Pot Recipe Tuesday!

Today, we are featuring some AMAZING baby back ribs. These turned out soooooooooooo delicious! The only thing is that you need to make sure that you get ribs that have as much of the fat removed as possible or they become a little fatty. Also, you can't be a big fan of eating the meat off of the bones because the meat falls off. I just started pulling the bones out of the pan and tossing them before I served up the meat.

Slow Cooker Barbecue Ribs

4 pounds pork baby back ribs
salt & pepper to taste
2 cups BBQ sauce
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 tablespoons vinegar
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2.. Season ribs with salt & pepper. Place in a shallow baking pan. Brown in oven 15 minutes. Turn over and brown another 15 minutes, drain fat.

3. In a medium bowl, mix together the BBQ sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, oregano, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Place ribs in slow cooker. Pour sauce over ribs and turn to coat.

4. Cover and cook on Low 7 - 9 hours or until ribs are tender.

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To go with this BBQ fare, I also made some extremely easy corn muffins that are worth the 5 minutes it takes to throw them together. Also, the muffin mix is 45 cents at the grocery store. Very economical as a side to any dish. I also can't see any reason why these wouldn't freeze well if you have too many left over.

Easy, Speedy Corn Muffins

2 eggs
1 (15 oz) can cream-style corn
1 tblsp packed brown sugar
2 (8.5 oz) packages dry corn muffin mix

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease the bottoms only of 12 muffin cups or line them with baking cups.

2. Place the eggs in a large bowl and beat until light colored. Stir in the canned corn and sugar until well blended. Add the muffin mixes and stir until just dry ingredients are moistened. The batter will be lumpy. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.

3. Bake in a preheated oven until toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, about 16 - 22 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in pan, then turn out on a rack.

Super Size Me

WOW! This was one really enlightening movie. Katya had seen it (the edited version) in her Health class last year and it really made an impact on her.

It is a documentary of one guy as he goes through a McDonald's only diet for one month and what it does to him. This documentary was in response to a lawsuit brought against McDonald's by two teenage girls as well as the growing obesity epidemic in the US in general.

I must say that this movie more than anything else has curbed her appetite for fast food. Now, I am not a big fast food person. When I was working, we did eat out at least once a week. Usually it was Chinese food from China Fun or salad & breadsticks from Olive Garden. But hardly ever was it a drive through or take out fast food place. It was fascinating to see that this guy went from extremely excellent health to his liver starting to fail, depression as well as his cholestrol going through the roof.

For any of you that doubt the effect that food can have on your physical, mental and emotional state of being - watch this movie! If anyone has a teenager who thinks that eating McDonalds, Carl's Jr or Wendy's daily is a decent diet - have them watch this!! It also talks about the impact of that much soda in your diet and what it can do to you.

Katya has been bugging me to watch this movie since she watched it last year and I am glad that it finally came up on my Netflix list. I suggest that you watch it too. For those of you with kids, there are a couple of spots that you need to mute (I didn't need to know about the effect of all this on his "personal" life), but I know there is a school friendly version out there that you should be able to get too.

Talk about great inspiration for me to continue cooking healthy meals at home. It is SOOOOO worth it!