The Graduate

Last week Carly had her preschool graduation. We are so lucky to have found Miss Marla. She puts on a great little program.

This is all the kids reciting the pledge of allegiance.

The kids preformed several other songs and poems, and for each one they had a different prop to put on. they were so darn cute and they knew it.

This is Miss Marla and the class of 2009. Carly actually has another year of preschool.

Marla asked all the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up and to my horror Carly's answer was, Hanna Tanna. No more Disney channel at our house.

We really are so lucky to have found Miss Marla. She was also Brianna's teacher and we love her so much. She truly loves everyone of the kids she teaches. She seems to have endless patience and I know she loves what she does.
Thanks Marla! We can't wait to come back next year.

Lunch date

Once you have kids it often gets pretty hard to get any alone time with your honey, and Jon and I aren't always very good about getting date nights in. This year, kind of by accident, we started going on a weekly lunch date. Jon works really close to our house and has always come home for lunch, which is something we all love. Carly's Preschool starts at 12:30 so this year, at least once a week, we drop Carly a school and then we go out to lunch. We don't go anywhere fancy. Our favorite place is Taco Time, but it is so nice to eat a meal with out ever having to tell anyone to sit down or beg them to just eat one bite. Sadly today is the last day of preschool so it's also our last lunch date. We'll have to find another time to sneak away.

Broken

Last Friday Brianna had a run in with another kid's head on the playground. The school called and told me that she had bleed on her clothes and needed a change. When I got there her nose was still bleeding and I she looked pretty banged up. I decided to take her to the insta-care because her nose looked crooked. Sure enough it was broken. We had to wait for the swelling to go down, and we saw the doctor yesterday. He thought that it needed to be put back in place. So we went in this morning.

When I asked her if she was nervous she said she would be Brave and she was. She played her DS while we waited to go in.

This is when they brought her back in. She was a little loopy.

Popsicles make everything better.

They put the heart rate monitor on her toe and she asked us about 5 times what it was for.

She thought is was fun to ride in the wheelchair out to the car.

So far she is feeling fine and not in any pain.

We'll see how it goes from here.

Bompy

A year ago today I lost one of the greatest men I have known.
Growing up my Bomp was always there for me making sure I had the lessons I needed and always being such a great example to me. I spent almost every weekend with him and my grandma. He was always helping others and would often bring me with him when he delivered food boxes to the elderly and so many of the other things he did.

He loved my girls, and they loved him. Brianna called him My Bompy when she was little. We spent many afternoons at Liberty Park where he would tell us about the trees or stories from when he and my Grandma were raising their family.

Bomp, Bri and my Mom at Liberty Park.

Bomp and Atticus ( he called him Butch)

When Carly was a baby Bomp fell and broke his arm. He needed help , so I would drive up town several times a week to make sure he got lunch and was okay. This became a habit and we spent many afternoons over the next few years having lunch with Bomp. I'm so grateful for the time I had with him and I hope that my girls will have some memory of him. Sometimes when Carly is having a rough day and I ask her what is wrong she will tell me that she is sad about Bompy, and Brianna told us soon after he died that we should think about him ever Sunday, and we have done this, often telling Bompy stories during dinner.

The last time I saw my Bomp was on Mothers day. As we were saying goodbye he told me that I needed to see a doctor and get my weight under control. Bompy was always very concerned about my health and how my weight was affecting it and I didn't always appreciate his concern. He had lived with diabetes most of his life and taught classes at the Senior center on how to manage it. The day after Mother's day as he walked home from the Senior center, he had a massive stroke. I rushed to the hospital as did the rest of my family to be by his side. He was in a coma and could not speak but I was able to tell him how much I loved him and promised him I would do as he asked.

Soon after his passing I began the very long journey of losing weight. It has been very slow going but as of today I have lost 45 lbs. People keep asking how I'm doing it and the answer is the same boring answer. I've cut my portion sizes, cut down on sweets and I don't eat in the evenings. I also have started exercising. I've never had a problem with my appearance and in many ways my extra weight was a shield. I could tell a lot about people by how they treated me. I never thought that I was an emotional eater but food was my reward. If I had a bad day I would reward myself with chocolate. I also ate when I was bored, so I have taken up sudoku and I often quilt in the evenings to keep my mind of wanting to eat. But the most important thing is that I was just ready.

It my not look like I have lost that much weight but I sure can tell. My feet no longer hurt and my heartburn is almost gone. Every time I pick up Carly and think how heavy she is getting I realize the she weights less than the amount of weight I have currently lost. I have so much more energy. This past weekend I participated in my first 5K. I did the Race for the Cure and although breast cancer is a very important cause that has affected many people I know and love including my Grandma Faye who recently passed away and my good friend Jill Puriton, I ran this weekend for my Bompy. I know he would be proud of me for all I have done this past year, because I can feel him near me and know he is helping me along. I still have aways to go and know my weight is something I will have to battle with for the rest of my life, but I know it is a battle worth winning. So I will keep it up, for my Bomp, and for my sweet family.

Birthday Round-up

For Brianna's 7 th Birthday party she wanted (big surprise) A horse party.
So we asked the people at the stable she rides at if they would do a party for us.

Each of the kid got a turn to ride on a horse.

Miss Carly on Taffy.

They took a picture of each of the kids on the horse and then we painted horses and horse shoes to put on a frame for their picture.

We opened presents. (She is one spoiled girl)

And ate cupcakes. I went the easy route and did cupcakes with a little plastic horse on each.

The wind was blowing so we didn't get to blow out candles.

Yummy Cupcakes! I think everyone had a great time. If anyone else has any horse crazy kids you should think about having their party at The Stable Place. They were really great.

Happy Birthday my Beautiful Brianna Banana

My sweet Brianna is celebrating her 7th birthday today.

We waited so long for our sweet baby girl. It took us almost to long years to get pregnant with her and my pregnancy was pretty rough and I was on bed rest for the last 2 months of it. Brianna was born 3 weeks early but was perfectly healthy and happy. I think she was born smiling.



Everyone agreed that she was the most beautiful baby they had ever seen.

She has always been such a happy kid. This is her favorite picture of herself.

She has always been photogenic, and I still get stopped and told what a beautiful girl she is all the time.



I learn so much everyday from Brianna, She has such a great attitude about life. Everyone is a potential friend, and she has such a kind heart.

I'm amazed everyday that this beautiful, smart and kind girl is my daughter.

I've said before that Brianna is my tomboy princess. For about 2 years she would only wear dresses, yet she most of her friends were boys and she was never afraid to get dirty or play hard. She has always had a love for animals and a very inquisitive mind. She is so creative. She is always drawing or wanting to make something. And she has the kindest heart.

I'm so very proud to be her mom.
Happy Birthday my sweet girl!

Oh Baby!

This is Time and if you can't tell, there is a baby in her big belly. Now I am not really an animal person. I don't really love how they get in my space and make me feel dirty. Having Bri in horse lessons has not really helped me become any more comfortable with them. That is until I met Time. There is something about a soon to-be-mom, even a soon-to-be-horse mom, that that just makes you want to tell them that everything is going to be alright.

Well last night Time finally had her sweet baby boy!

We rushed over as soon as we found out and Brianna was lucky enough to get to pet it.

He will be named Tempo, which is Time in Spanish.

Mommy didn't seem to mind the 3 little girls who wanted to pet her baby.

I think Brianna could have sat and watched those horses all day.

Mama and her baby

Carly even got in on the action.

It was so amazing to see Brianna with this little baby.

Dance, Dance, Dance

We had a very busy weekend. Brianna had her Spring Dance recital.

The theme of the show was American Bandstand.

Brianna's class danced to Jambalaya. They used tambourines and it was very cute.

I has to help out getting the kids on and off stage. This is taken from the wings while Brianna is on stage for the finale

Brianna and her cousin Alexa.

Party, Party, Party

Several years ago my Mother in law got me a book that had all kinds of fun cakes in it. Not I'm not really a cake maker but my girls have so much fun looking through the book and deciding which cake they want that I'm a sucker and make them for them.

This is supposed to be a box of crayons just in case you can't tell.

We had so much fun having all our family and friends over to celebrate Carly's birthday with us.

Carly is very spoiled.

Carly and Biranna's birthdays are just a few days apart and for the past few years we have just had one party for both of them, so this year we decided they should each have their own.

When I asked Carly what she wanted for her birthday party she said she wanted a slide and balloons. SO Carly got her slide. There was also a bounce thing on the other side. We had kids at our house all day jumping and sliding.

It started to rain later that evening but I think the kids had more fun in the rain. They were all soaked. hopefully their parents weren't too mad when they got their kids home. They really had a blast, especially Carly and I know she had a great birthday.