10 on Tuesday.

And it really is Tuesday this time! woo hoo!

1. Had a great weekend in Monterey and Santa Cruz this weekend to celebrate Pete's Birthday. We took the kids to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Saturday which is ALWAYS cool.
2. Sea horses are awesome. I know...how random and weird is that statement? But it's true. The aquarium had a new exhibit on sea horses. It was just so neat. They come in all different sizes and shapes and colors. And the males birth the babies. It's the only species known to do that. (I'm sorry, I'm a bit of a ocean/sea life nerd.)
3. I wanted to be a marine biologist when I grew up.
4. This whole "diet" thing can be hard when we go out of town. Especially at breakfast. Man, all I really want was a piece of french toast. Or a waffle. Or hash browns. mmmm. hash browns. But yeah, that doesn't quite fit into the "plan".
5. I just don't like eggs. (see #4) I've tried. I really have. But I just don't. Unless they're wrapped in a tortilla, smothered in salsa, cheese, potatoes, and sausage. Or bacon. Bacon! Not in the "plan".
6. It's official. We're moving. I know I said that before, but I wasn't 100% sure. There was still that 2% slight chance of having to wait again. But we got official word yesterday so now I'm on the hunt for a new place and quick!
7. Schools and bathrooms (of all things) have been way more of a concern about house hunting than I imagined it would be. We can find places in the area we like with great schools...but the houses seem to only have 1 bathroom. Like for real. 95% of them only have ONE. I mean, it's do-able, but....not desirable for a family of 4. We can find great houses with 2 bathrooms in neighboring areas, but the schools are bad. Like really bad.
8. Trying to get the kids to help out a little more with chores. Jake has been responsible for the dogs for quite a while now. Probably since he was about 4 1/2. I recently started having him empty the dishwasher too. At first he was all for it, but now he sort of despises it. I don't blame him. Why do you think I'm asking him to help out? ;) isn't that what kids are for? kidding. sort of. I need to find something for Megan to do though. I think maybe I'll start her off with the cat, like we did Jake and the dogs.
9. We found out today that Jake's teacher is going to be absent all week. She had a horrific family emergency. Her nephew was killed in a rafting accident. I feel just awful for her and her family right now. Praying for their comfort.
10. I need someone to deliver a giant dumpster to the front of my house. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by the "stuff" that needs to get packed up around here. I think tossing it and starting "fresh" would be SO much easier!

10 things...

1. wish i had a picture for this post, but don't.
2. how is it i'm just now really getting into shopping at Carters and OshKosh? went to the outlet here in town because Jake has outgrown his pants again and it's very hard to find pants that fit him. he is super skinny so we need a slim fit with adjustable waist bands. anyway, i got each kid 2 or 3 outfits, everything was on sale, and i had a coupon so i only spent 50 bucks. my kind of shopping!
3. this weather blows! it's cold and rainy again. the weekend is supposed to be really nice though. so i guess i can deal.
4. i am 25 lbs lighter than i was on January 24th. 15lbs to go.
5. i finally, finally used my iTunes gift card! And...this is exactly what I thought would happen. i can. not. stop. Totally addicted. Note to parents, relatives, friends, random gift givers: I will gladly accept an iTunes gift card for any (but not limited to) of the following holidays + my birthday: mothers day, memorial day, flag day, national ice cream day, 4th of july etc...
6. caller ID. quite possibly one of the last century's greatest inventions. there is this stupid debt collector that keeps calling here. over and over and over all. day. long. they are not calling for us. They are calling for someone else with the same last name. I've talked to them, Pete has talked to them...yet they still keep calling. We tell them we do not know, nor are we related to the person they are looking for. Yet they still keep calling. It is SO FREAKING ANNOYING. We only answered in the first place because I thought it would make them stop. But! they! don't! thank goodness for caller id and the fact that i don't have to answer the phone. But still the ringing every hour is driving me nuts.
7. Jake got an award at school the other day. It's kind of like Student of the Month, only they seem to do it a little different at his school. I think it used to be random selection when I was a kid...you know pull a name out of a hat type of thing. Here they pick a kid from every class that displays either trustworthiness, respect...ummmm and some other ones that I forgot! woops. anyway, Jake got the award for respect in his class this month. we were invited to the assembly where he was presented his award by the principal. and it was good that Pete got to go too since he had the day off. I'm proud of him. He really is a good kid and has been really shinning lately with his attitude around home and his schoolwork. Now, if he and Megan could just stop bickering about everything.....
8. Glee! I recently discovered that some people either a) don't watch this show at all or b) don't like it. For serious?! I don't get it. I just think it's fantastically written and the music is great. Some people say they just don't get it. Maybe go back and watch the pilot episode. But i dunno. I was a drama/art geek in high school and i think that's why i like it so much. plus Sue Sylvester.
9. there! goes! the phone! again! ARG!
10. It's finally time to say good bye to our house. It's been almost 2 years and I know I've sort of thought it would happen before, this time I'm 98% sure we will be moving by June. I'm ok with it. happy actually. i will miss my kitchen and possibly the pool and walking trail. but that's all. i'm ready to move on. we haven't found a place yet, but we're looking. and i haven't packed one thing yet. yes, i'm sort of starting to panic.

Being tourists...

Some of the best things come out of not well thought out plans. Last Friday I was going to take the kids up with my step sister, Kelly to Daffodil Hill. I got up Friday morning and got on the computer to make sure I had the directions to get there. Thank goodness I did, because we would have made a long drive for no reason. Apparently, all of said daffodils were dead. There was a late season snow storm a few days before and sent all the pretty flowers back underground. :( We decided to drive to Kelly's anyway. I knew we'd figure out something to do. We hemmed and hawed a little and finally decided to go hang out in Coloma for the day. Coloma is my old hometown. Coloma is the place where James Marshall discovered a big ol chunk of gold while working at the saw mill in 1848 which triggered the California Gold Rush of 1849. Living about 3 miles from this place, I learned A LOT about the gold rush growing up.
Anyway, though I'd been to the park many, many times before, I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I did with my kids last Friday. When we were teenagers we used to go down to the park to watch the rafters come down the American River and see if they'd make it out of Satan's Cesspool. Or watch our idiot friends jump off the bridge. There was no way I'd ever do that! But it had been a long time since I'd actually played tourist in my own hometown.
It was a much better idea to go to Coloma than it ever would have been to see some silly flowers. Why didn't I think about it before? Jake absolutely loved it. We were lucky enough to be there on a day when they had people working the park in period (1850's) attire and were able to answer questions about being pioneers and miners. The first place we stopped was Brekart's store where I paid 7 dollars for Jake to pan for gold. Seriously, we could have spent the entire day doing just this. He, lover of all treasures, was fascinated and completely entertained.


After about 45 minutes of this we finally convinced him to go look at something else! We walked through all the buildings, went to the small museum, walked along the gold discovery trail, and took lots and lots of pictures. Funny, I guess since I'd been there so many times, I didn't take any pictures of the actual things that were there, like the mill or the Chinese house or the miners cabin. Just pictures of us! LOL! And the kids were seriously posing that day. Megan is all about being a Fashonista and Jake is all about being a rock star or Elvis, or something. They are quite funny these days.
Any how...we had a great day and spent the rest of the weekend with my dad. It was so nice to actually do something on spring break besides just sit at home and wait for the week to be over.
Only 6 more weeks of school though! I can't believe it. Yet I'm glad for it. This year has been rough and i can't wait for a new start for Jake. Hoping we get a great teacher for 2nd grade.

Wednesday. 10

1. I took this picture today. I kind of love it. It's a little on the green side, but i don't care. He's cute. I'm still mad at my camera. It just doesn't focus like it used to :(
2. So far spring break has been pretty awesome. Monday morning I wasn't thinking that way. By 10am the kids weren't talking to each other and Jake wasn't talking to me. But it was all quickly resolved. (a few bribes and a threat took care of it. I'm not ashamed)
3. I am more than half way there on my weight loss goal. I can't believe the difference I can see and feel. And really in such a short period of time. I've lost weight before, but I've never really put my whole self into it like I am now. It's why I haven't been blogging, it's why I really, really need a maid, but it's also why I can fit into my old jeans.
4. Easter was really boring. It was cold and rainy. We didn't even hide eggs. And it was just the 4 of us for the day. But boring or not, it was still awesome to just be together. Thankful for that.
5. Sometimes I'm completely amazed by my kids. In a good way. We were talking about the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Jake wanted to know why the people wanted to kill Jesus and why did he have to die? If He is God, couldn't He have stopped it? Then without Pete or I saying another word he says "He died so we could live". Exactly.
6. Today is my mom's birthday. Happy birthday mom! I have a TON of people on my birthday list this month. I must really like Aries and Torus'.
7. Been watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. Love that show. Love what he's trying to do. It's funny...When I worked in child care, we were on the government food program. We actually made and served (and ate) some of the exact foods he was preparing in the school in the first episode. We LOVED potato pearls! LOL! But yeah, gross. I still can't get over how a veggie full chow mein and and chicken is not 'ok' according to the government standards but a lousy fried chicken sandwich and french fries is. Does that seem ass backwards to anyone else?? They have to know that they look like idiots for arguing with him on that point, right?
8. My house is messy right now. Not dirty, just messy. It's buggin me. Major overhaul tomorrow. Much cleaning to be done.
9. Looking forward to Friday. Going to see my dad and take the kids to Daffodil Hill. It's just a popular local place to go in spring where they *obviously* have tons of daffodils :) Hopefully we'll get some good pics.
10. TEN! I don't even know what to say for this one. hm......