Broken!

My poor, sweet Charlotte has our family's first broken bone. I was carrying her down the stairs when I slipped and fell and landed on her leg. She has a broken tibia and is pitiful and adorable and it's so sad.

How I blog if I am sitting at my desk with no blogger access...

Beach: 75% chaos.

Ah, the beach.....what a relaxing, beautiful, sunshiny way to rest before school starts.....ahhhh, smell the ocean air, feel the gentle breeze, listen to the screaming children. Screaming children?! Where's the sound of the waves crashing on the shore?! Where are the seagull calls and the gentle engine sounds of the advertising planes?!!!! NO WHERE BECAUSE I CAN'T HEAR MYSELF THINK OVER THE SCREAMING, WHINING, CHILDREN!!!!!!

OK, OK, it wasn't that screamy...but there were moments of total insanity at the beach. Here is a picture of Owen's usual location. We would be sitting on the beach, enjoying the moment for 4.6 seconds and he would say, "Can we go watch TV now?"

Beach baby Charlotte. Sand in every orifice and skin fold is a sign of a beach baby, right? Nevermind that she was afraid of the water. The beach we stayed at had these cute little swingsets spread out on the beach - great idea. Char would spend all day swinging if she could. Unfortunately for her, Todd and I would only push her for 30 minutes or so each day. (Mostly Todd).

The beach one night after dinner:

Muscle man Owen:

Building a sand castle. The condo we stayed in is two balconies above Owen's head!

The elusive bathing suit photo.....AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....can you believe that I have lost 50 pounds! (We'll see how much I kept off while eating ice cream and cheese balls at the beach....)

Charlotte, during one of her timeouts for hitting Owen over the head with a shovel:

This is a pucture of Owen acting like "King Grog the Old" during Viking putt-putt. Cracked me up.

The adorable boys at putt-putt. :)

Charlotte, taking a break from putt-putt to sit in a dragon egg, and then demonstrating her putting form. Look out, LPGA!!

Riding a bullfrog. That's what she said.

Family photo-op. I set the camera on one of those swingsets, hit the timer, and BAM! Look how it turned out! I should be a pro.

Henry wasn't a big fan of the camera this weekend. Here he is, giving me the finger:

Wednesday Weigh In and WINNER

Scene: Weight Watchers Meeting Room, 5:30 PM. Enter Jane.

Jane: Hi Leader Becky! I was so sad when you weren't here last week, so I thought I would eat like a fatass this week, gain back some and celebrate hitting 50 pounds again next week!

Leader Becky: ha ha ha, Jane! I am so proud of you....ramble ramble....

Jane gets on scale. Leader Becky still rambling

Leader Becky:  Listen to me! I am just talking about everything and look! You lost a pound!

Jane: What!? HA HA HA HA HA. So, let's see. This means....you can eat whatever the hell you want and STILL lose weight!!!

Leader Becky:  More rambling, ha ha ha ha, good job! I don't even remember what you looked like 50 pounds ago! Wow!

And....scene.

Loss: -1.0
Total Loss: -51.2
Feeling: Excitement, hottness, and a little bit of dread about next week! This can't keep going!!!

The winner of my book giveaway is Anna! Here is her comment:

Anna said...
-0.8 Hanay. :) So proud of your continued progress. <3 Anna

Anna, I will bring the books over to your new house as soon as I finish reading them. Hee hee.

Me in high school

A friend just posted this picture on facebook of me in a HS drama production.
A la Jack Sh*t Gettin' Fit, my version of "The Way We Were" (youtube link here to Babs)

Memories, light the corners of my thighs.
Misty watercolor memories of the weight we were.
Scattered pictures of the pounds on our behinds
pounds we gained with one another!
Look at the weight we were.

Can it be that it was all so simple then or has the USDA rewritten every line?
If we had the chance to eat it all again tell me would we? Could we?

Memories, may be super skinny and yet...what's too healthy to remember...we simply choose to forget

So it's the weight we will remember...whenever we remember...the weight we were.

Top Ten Reasons I am not a Stay-at-Home-Mom

10. I need at least 30 minutes of "planning" time every morning at my desk/kitchen table uninterupted to check facebook, my google reader, my email, and drink coffee. 2 weeks into summer and I have to get up at least 22 times each morning to get stuff - like juice, waffles, empty cups, banana peels, and other extremely inconvienient items that these kids keep asking for. (Whose kids are these people anyway!?) This morning they even asked me for BREAKFAST! The NERVE!!!!

9. I don't have enough money to stay at home AND send them to daycare.

8. I can't manage my time well. For example, each day at 4:45 I madly run around the house picking up breakfast plates, markers, paper, crafts, diapers, pajamas, 1/4 full cups of water, bathing suits, towels, toys, books, and bowls of cheeze-its. This is because Todd will be home soon and I don't want him to know what a slob I am. No, wait, he already knows. Well, I try to make the problem seem not quite so bad before he gets home. A good stay-at-home-mom would use her time more wisely and clean up as the day goes on. When Todd is home with the kids he cleans up as he goes, does 5 loads of laundry, picks up the dog shit, and plays with the kids!!

7. I don't really want to play with the kids all the time. I'd rather meet up with a friend and let them play/fight/yell/laugh while we drink beer and eat animal crackers.

6. I sometimes say "no" when they ask me to read them a story.

5. I let them watch "Despicable Me" and "Shrek Forever After" instead of taking an actual nap (although, I dare any of you to come over here and get twin 4 year old boys to nap in their beds. You might have success 1/5 days. Big deal.)

4. It's only been 2 weeks of summer and I am actually looking forward to going back to work.

3. The 4:00-6:00 hour is pure torture. No naps and high heat and general pissyness causes Todd to walk into an explosive situation every day. I feel badly that I am always about to lose my shit when he gets home, but god dammit, kids, can you just TAKE. A. NAP!? Or go play downstairs? Do you really need to be all up in my shit all day long and then get all screamy and mad at me when I tell you that we can't go to the pool in the middle of the thunderstorm or go play tennis in the 105 degree heat? Also? Can we avoid the temper tantrum at 5:00 every day when you are asked to leave someone's house/share a toy/get off your brother/clean up your mess/put back the oatmeal? Because these tantrums and the things you say are making me CRAZY! Today, Henry told me that he didn't want a mommy anymore and yesterday he told me he was "done with me." Owen repeatedly tells me I am going to jail and that I am a "meaniac." Don't get me wrong - the other 22 hours of the day are awesome. But the 2 hours in the late afternoon when they are exhausted, hungry, hot, and generally pissed off should actually count as the 120 reasons I am not a stay-at-home-mom - 1 for every minute of this time period each day. Phew.

2. I like Starbucks and wouldn't be able to get a nonfat vanilla latte if I didn't receive Starbucks gift cards from my students/coworkers.

1. And finally... it's too hard!!! I know, there is an endless debate about whose life is harder - the working mom or the stay-at-home mom?? I'll tell you what. The working mom of children between the ages of 2 and 5 has it easy. After that and before that - it's a toss up. Staying home with the boys when they were 1 was awesome and easy and fun. But now? Hard. Summer with kids older than 5? Going to be awesome. I think this summer is just a weird paradox of a 2 year old mommy-obsessed girl combined with twin 4 year olds that "don't need a nap" anymore and a mom that enjoys napping and drinking coffee. Yes, that's what I'm going with as my excuse for when they cart me away to my own special room with soft walls and people wearing white.....

(I just hope they leave me alone for my 30 minutes of planning time in the morning.)

Best Gift Ever

A few months ago, I came to school (work) to find a plastic grocery bag shoved into my mailbox. It had a single address label stuck to the outside with the name of parent of a student at school. "What is this?" I asked the office ladies. One of them responded with "I don't know, she just left it here for you." "Okay...." I reponded, grabbed the bag, and went to my room. I got distracted with a few things but finally remembered the bag. What this simple, plain grocery bag contained ended up being 1. the highlight of my year, 2. the best gift I have ever received from a family and 3. the most wondrous conversation-starter of all time.

I have received used lotion bottles before, or obvious re-gifts from students. I have gotten half-eaten snacks, homemade cupcakes with finger marks in them, and half empty bottles of perfume. This gift leaves these delights in its dust. This is the piece de resistance of awesome teacher gifts.

Upon opening the grocery bag, I found this lovely handbag with matching shoulder strap stuffed to the brim with delights:

The first item I pulled out was a handmade sewing design that I can only assume was a 3rd or 4th grade project. Getting this framed crossed my mind for a second, but then I realized I wouldn't be able to feel its lovely texture if it were permanently behind glass.

The next item was a child-sized winter hat. Charlotte is actually wearing it right now as I type.

After that, some useful blank note cards with envelopes and a stylish silver necklace (still in its box!)

And, really, what purse would be complete without some fishing twine, gauze tied with a hair elastic, and butterscotch candy? ("You eat it!" "No, you eat it!" and "How much would it take for you to eat that?" were frequently uttered in the teacher's lounge whenever we brought out the purse.)

Some of my favorite items have been lost since I received the purse (or used, thank you!) including: a half burned candle, half used matches (we used these for the fireworks!), CIA visitor badges, a photo wallet, empty badge holders, a mint, and a jean belt.

I will leave you with this. A jar of vaseline? Lip gloss? Body butter? There is no label, so your guess is as good as mine:

Nail polish isn't just for girls

Here are some shots of Owen painting his nails. :) The minute he was done, he said "OK wash it off," but he had a good time while it lasted. :) And here is a fun group shot of me and the kids lounging on the couch:

Also check out a pic I added to the weight loss pics today.

OBL

I have this weird, creepy feeling about the news about bin Ladin. I don't know how to express my creeped-out-ness because on one hand, I believe he should have been stopped but on the other I am dismayed at the celebration in the streets over his death. I found this quote on a blog I read regularly:

While it's necessary to stop terrorists, sometimes with violence, it is barbarous to gloat over the execution of an enemy. I find the chanting crowds cheering over the corpse disturbing, and the triumphal tone of our leaders is misplaced. We killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and threw away trillions of dollars, and our trophy is the bloody corpse of one old man? There's no victory in that.

I thought he did a good job summing up my thoughts. Too bad I can't put my own thoughts so eloquently.

Winner winner chicken dinner

I won the Oscar Bet this year.
8-4.
I think this is pretty good since Todd and I have only seen Toy Story 3.
A million times.

I ran 5 miles!

With no stopping!
It took freaking forever, but I did it.

Too bad slow and steady doesn't really win the race.

Tom Bergeron? Hi, it's Jane calling. Will THIS video make it on the show??

Me scaring the boys with the Scary Maze website.

I think I'm a runner! Maybe.

How do you know if you are a runner? Is there a distance or speed requirement? Is there a weekly requirement?

Yesterday I ran 5K with the Sisterhood. Well, not really with them, I was totally alone, but with them in spirit. I ran the 5K in 33 minutes. AND in the snow. Like, a good amount of snow, too! It was covering everything!

I am starting a NikePlus training program on Tuesday to run a 10K in April or May. Then, I'll start working on my training for the Army 10-Miler in October.

I found a podcast on itunes from Motion Traxx called "Tribal 5K" that helps you run at an 11 minute mile pace. It plays some good "tribal" music (ha ha, with a few shout outs to Miami!) with a strong beat to keep you running. I enjoyed it a lot and will definitely use it again. I felt like I could have gone further.

I am going to get some new running shoes today because my ankles start hurting when I get to 4 miles. And my Nike training says to go 5 miles next Saturday. AHHHH! 5 miles!? What happened to 4?!

So, I guess I'm a runner now. Maybe?

I wouldn't go in there, either

At the park today, the boys had to use the potty. At this park, the choice for potties is either the green port-a-john or the grey port-a-john. Henry chose the green one, and then Owen and I went next. He got ready, looked in, and said, "What dat?" and I told him, "Other people's pee." He said, "I can't go in here. I need a better potty." So we looked in the grey potty and he said, "Nope, I can't go in there either. I need a better potty."

There are days that being a male are useful and preferable. When you can pee in the woods behind a tree without getting your socks wet? One of those days.

when you gotta go, you gotta go.

More V-day

The breakfast of champions! Pink Pancakes!!!

tnblsb III

tnblsb pt 2

there's no business like snow business

Here is a picture out our front window....still expecting up to 8 more inches! My favorite description so far of this storm is snOMG!
The boys, keepin' warm and watching movies....

One of our many indoor activities....working very hard at play-doh...