January 1, POTD

So today is the first day of 2010. It sounds so weird to say, you know? Twenty-Ten, Two thousand-ten. Humm. I have expectations for myself in 2010. I vow to be better at blogging. Now that facebook has come around blogging has lost the appeal. But I would like to continue my POTD. When I look back over the past two years of POTD, I see how much I have grown and learned. So I see the benefit of continuing to post. However, being this first day of the year and I haven't picked up anything other then my head and the computer for the last 10 hours. I have had a migraine all day and I can't even say I have New years Eve to blame for it. So please forgive me, and lets move on. I'll post two tomorrow.

Destin

We had such an amazing trip. We staid in a wonderful condo right on the beach. It was my first time in Destin and I had done alot of research on places to stay. But it was so different actually being down there and seeing it all. It we decide to go back, I already have a folder started! LOl

Wow what a trip we had!

3 Weeks

Can i just tell you how much we love these kittens! They all have different personalities and are so fun. Mama is doing the best job. Can you imagine, 5 babies at once!!! At least it's only for 6 weeks. The girls decided to do the 3 week photo shoot today. Lauren shot the photos while Grayson and Lindsey reigned them in. She didn't do that bad. I set the camera on auto though. but her composition was fairly decent on most of them. I thought this shot was cute of "bugsy". She's the one we will probably keep. such a love.

They all gained at least 2 ounces with Hampsty gaining the most at 3.5 ounces. pretty good.

Here's theodore. He reminds me of my childhood cat, Graysilk.

the girls were trying to get all the cats together. Pumpkin wouldn't cooperate at all. And Lilly wasn't too thrilled either. Poor babies.

2 weeks old

The kittens are two weeks old now. Everyone but Alvin has their eyes open. Today we put them on a blanket and let them crawl around and explore. They are still pretty wobbly, but getting stronger. In one week, they all gained at least an ounce, pretty good when you weigh 1/2 pound!

Which one of these doesn't belong?

One of my friends had 9 baby bunnies born the day before our kittens. She brought them over today for us to see. We had a blast getting all the babies together.

We had put all the bunnies in the kitten box and then Mama jumped in. She just looked around and laid down. She definitely knew they were different, but she actually licked a few. She didn't seem to care one bit.

Kittens!

today was the day we have been looking forward to for so long!!! Little Lilly had her babies!! Here she was 2 weeks ago. I wish I had taken some recently. She was so wide!

Lilly was VERy affectionate this morning and I had a feeling something was up. About 7:20, she started having contractions. Thankfully today is field day at school, so we were cool with being late. Lauren was so concerned and loving to her.

Here's the first one! Lindsey named it Alvin.

Wow, Alvin, Simon and Theadore. We just thought that was it!

Here's baby 4, named Bugsy!

And baby 5! Yet to be named.

Pumpkin (step dad) meeting them for the first time.

Happy Momma!

Where has this year gone?

So I did the workout every DAY last week!!! Can I get a "Good job!" I'm pretty impressed with myself. I'm actually starting to feel not so weak and I'm able to get through those jumping jacks much easier now. I might move to level 2 by the end of this week. So Mother's Day was yesterday. It's so hard for me to even think of it as a special day. I think only people who have lost their Mom's understand. I dont think of myself as a Mother. I think of myself as a motherless daughter.

I think that the months of April and May are by far busier then the holidays. There is just not enough time in the day! Practices, games, TAKS tests, tutors, homework, Spring photos, not to mention the regular stuff like laundry and cleaning. I do like to be busy though. It's nice to HAVE something to do, rather then HAVE to do it. And that's really how we feel about it. The kids love playing sports and never complain about practices or games. We are blessed with that. Also, of course we've had rain outs and swine flu cancellations, it's kinda nice to have an unexpected day at home.

It's been interesting watching Lindsey in softball. She started off ready to go, working hard. Then about two weeks in, she realized she wasn't doing much. Kinda the same as sitting on the sidelines like last year. Except last year, she could read a book. Then last week something clicked in her. And she's really starting to enjoy herself. She's the ultimate cheerleader on the field of course and always ready while in the dugout to bust out something. She's perfect for that. But she's also learning to pay attention and be a part of conversations that Dad and lauren have. Dad got her to try pitching and she loved it. Who knows what will happen with that. But for now, she's good. She's happy.

As for me. I'm back on the wagon again. I'm doing the Live strong challenge. It's great and tracks what you are eating and how you are exercising. That really helps to keep me on track. Plus I have started the 30 Day shred with Julian Michaels. Oooh fun. Not. yeah, 20 minutes of awful. But 20 minutes is not much, I can handle that. I don't have to get up too early and it's quick. Plus the added bonus. I've found that when I have on tennis shoes, I do more. Seriously, think about it. When you have shoes on that you can easily kick off, you do, you sit down and, kick your shoes off. But when you have tennis shoes on, it's not so appealing to curl your feet up and relax on the couch. So this morning I cleaned out the garage and ran all my errands. I vowed not to sit down until I had gotten through my list. And I did. So for today, I'm doing GREAT. I'm kinda proud of myself! Now about tomorrow...

Fires

About 2:00 this afternoon I started smelling smoke. I went outside and the whole sky way brown and I could see flames and black smoke. Pretty scary. It turns out it had started on the road to the kids school about 3 miles West from me. Burned all the way to my neighborhood. Two houses have been damaged, i don't know how bad yet. They say as of now they have it contained. But these winds are awful and there are ashes flying everywhere. This first picture is from my front porch looking West. The sky is completely filled with smoke and you can see on the tree line white smoke. this is across the street you can see the valley just beyond our neighbors house. It's completely filled with smoke.

We have been very lucky and safe. Hopefully these will stay contained. But there are many other fires around here and surrounding areas burning.

softball

I only thought we had busy weekends before. Welcome to the world of select softball games. Our weekend started inicent enough. Logan had a game (at home) Friday night. He did great, made several outs and 2 good hits. Then Saturday came. I have to admit, I never thought that I would be a fanatical "ball Mom". Satuday, we had 6 games, in 3 different cities. I drove 242 miles total and we did 5 changes of clothes in the car. It was quite a day. Lauren's playing for a select team called Weatherford Thunder. They were playing a tournament in Mansfield. We had games at 9 and 10. Each was an hour long. Gary staid in Weatherford with Logan and Lindsey to go to opening ceremonies. At 11:15, I jumped in the car from Mansfield and drove to Azle after a quick change at Mcdonalds (and some lunch) we played our Weatherford LL game. Gary coaches this team and Lindsey plays also. They are the Heat. Lauren pitched this game. I have never seen pitch this well ever. She has improved so much. She had several strike outs and fielded a couple to throw them out on first. It was so exciting to watch.

Then Logan and I had to jump in the car and go back to Weatherford for his game. Gary went back to Mansfield with Lauren for the 4:30 game. Then we had a break until 7:00. Gary had a fishing tournament today, so I had to go back this morning on my own. Lauren pitched again and did well. But she was up against 30 mph winds and it was tough. Overall, we lost, but gained some very valuable experience and Lauren had fun. Next weekend is Easter then we start tournaments again weekend after that!

Lindsey

Lindsey got her first report card with straight A's!!! I cannot tell you how proud we are of her! She worked so hard. She would come home from school saying how she listened really hard today and felt that she "got it". I had told her that if she got straight a's, I would take her for a full pedicure. So yesterday was the day. She was so thrilled and just loved it!

Oh my goodness Where has this year gone?

Okay after last year from blogging every day, to barely blogging, I don't know what's going on. This year is just flying! It's almost April, just no way. So quick update I guess.
For spring break we went to Ruidoso with Stephen and Tiffany, Vickie and Tiffany's parents. Not much snow, but the kids had a ball. One slight incident with my knee, but I'm all better now. It's amazing how the kids are taking to skiing. I would love to be able to take us all to Colorado for a week. Maybe one day!