Little white thing you stand on!

If you have seen the commercials for Wii Fit, this is it, just with a voice over!

But in all honesty, I REALLY LIKE IT. So here's the story. I desperately want to go to a NICE salon and get a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT hair style, and highlights. I want like above my neck short. But as we all know it cost more than I would normally want to pay..but I been "Super Cut"ting it for the past 4 years. So I made a deal with myself that after I lost 10 lbs I could go get a hair cut at a nice salon...where they massage you head during the shampoo...okay I'm off in dreamland. Back to the story. Well I have had a serious lack of motivation. But I realized that I could split screen the TV, so that I can watch the shows that I TiVo'ed and still workout. So in 11 day I've lost 5 lbs. I know that doesn't sound like a ton to most people, but I'm halfway to my goal of a wonderful head massage...Ahhhh.

Zombie Mom

We have quite a bit going on in the next couple months...Kyra starts new things, trying to prevent Kyle from climbing on top of the roof (he has reached the top of everything in the house, so that is the logical next step), Super Saturday for Enrichment, another Enrichment in September, vacations, a wedding, a family reunion of sorts and just everyday life. So all of it great things, that I'm super excited for....But I AM A PLANNER! Probably a planner to a fault. I think about every detail (and drive Karl crazy). So lately I've been going to bed at 10:00-10:30, but then I lie there thinking until 2 AM! I can't get my brain to shut off. And if I didn't have two munchkins it wouldm't be a big deal. But Kyra comes in to snuggle at about 4 AM (and I don't really sleep once she's in our bed). But luckly that magical gene, that allows you to function without any sleep (often expressed during college) has kicked in, and I am fine getting up in the morning. But then around 2 PM hits. And that magical gene disappers, and I'm tired and cranky, and very impatient with the kids. Short of drugs, I think I'm out of ideas. Do I go to bed at 8 and hope I only lie there until midnight? Do I stay up and do things around the house until I feel tired? Do I keep the kids up later, with the hope that they will sleep in more? Any suggestions?

Ballet

Kyra starts a little 3-4 year old ballet class on Friday. It only goes about 7 weeks, and they learn a little dance, and there is a performance at the end of the year. She is so excited. She wears her leotard, tutu and ballet shoes all day, every day. Here she is in her little outfit. I also learned how to make a different kind of bow...it supposed to look like a flower. I think it came out pretty well.

Activities in a bag!

Okay, I came across this idea! I'm constantly trying to think of little portable activities for my kids, that they can play with when we are waiting at the doctor, at church, at a resturant etc. Well I came across this concept called "Activities in a Bag". If you google it you will find A MILLION ideas! It's simply a little activity that will fit in a sandwich size ziploc. For example, a bucket of play dough, a plastic knife, and a cookie cutter. Another baggie could have a 5 different varieties of buttons, and the kids has to seperate them into piles, grouping the similar ones. So I thought it would be super fun if we did an "Activity in a Bag" Swap. So basically you will email me or leave me a comment stating how many "Activity Bags" you would be willing to put together (they could all be exactly the same). And then I would organize the swap to trade with another mom. For example, you could say "I will do five baggies", and then I would match you with 5 different moms, who you would then mail ONE Activity Bag to. But then you would then recieve 5 Activty Bags back, from 5 different moms!!! So if you want to participate let me know, and then I will get back to you, to get your address, and to give you the addresses to send your Activity Bag to. Then just wait for your HAPPY MAIL (your bags to arrive)! But, remember other mom's will be expecting your mail....so you can't wait until their child is in college to mail them their activity bag:)
P.S. I think the more people we get involved the funnier it will be, so feel free to pass this on to whoever you think might enjoy it!!! Also I won't be regulating what anyone is making, so hopefully you won't get 5 playdough baggies. If you need some ideas you can look at http://chasingcheerios.blogspot.com/2008/06/toddler-activity-bags.html

How fast are you???

Kinda fun!
77 words

Speed test

Amtrak?

We are looking into various transportation possibilities to Disneyland. I myself have little experience outside of driving in a car. We are looking into Amtrak, the passenger train. I have never been on a train before, and have no real experience. So here are the Pros and Cons for each situation, and if any of you have an opinion or have used Amtrak, it would be greatly appriciated!!!

Going by car:
Pros: We could leave whenever, after the kids had a good night sleep in their own beds. Will take about 8 1/2 hours.

Cons: Potty training Kyra (who has in incredibily small bladder, we would have to stop quite a bit.) Kyle isn't a huge fan of the car. Karl would be driving, which is fine, but wouldn't be able to help with the kids. I HATE DRIVING ON BUSY FREEWAYS! It totally freaks me out, which isn't the best when traveling through LA traffic. We would probably take the car into a professional for a complete go over, before we left, to make sure everything looked okay..so that will cost a little bit of money.

Going by Amtrak:
Pros: Karl wouldn't have to drive. Kids could walk around the whole time. Kids could look around at the train. Karl could help with the kids. Kyra could go potty whenever she needed too. Did I mention that the kids could walk around the whole time.

Cons: We have to leave Tucson at 11 at night. It would take 1 1/2 hours longer. $50 more than the cost of gas. We would each have our own chair, but no beds. So the kids would have to sleep in our laps on the way there, but we wouldn't be going to Disneyland until the next day, so we could go to bed at 8 with the kids, and not be incredibily tired for Disneyland (On the way home we leave at like 9 in the morning, so its not a huge deal)

So those are really the 2 options. Does anyone have any thoughts on my limitied transportation knowledge? THANKS!

Cars drive fast!

Kyle really is all boy. He likes trains, planes, and automobiles. I was flipping channels tonight, with Kyle on my lap, and flipped to "2 Fast 2 Furious". The movie has something to do with cars. Kyle was GLUED to the TV. We kept rewinding the car chases, and he did his little dance for about 20 minutes!

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Random Happenings

So what do you get when you have a VERY fair skinned daughter, who refused to wear a hat, and a Mommy who forgot to put sunscreen on her and thought we were only going to be outside for 1/2 hour, not 2??? A very ouchy little girl! She has gotten sunburned slightly in the past, but this definitely is the worst. So of course I feel horrible...and BATHED her in sun screen before going out today.
We went to the Botanical Gardens for the Dinosaur days. The dinosaur days themselves weren't exactly specatacular, but the kids, and their friends seemed to have a good time. Here is Kyle getting ready for the safari expedition.
A dinosaur lurking in the background!!!Kyra, Bailey and Laura looking for worms!After we got done at the Botanical Gardens we went to Old McDonalds (Kyra's name for it...she always pauses for a moment when we sing the song and it gets to the part about chickens or cows) for lunch. And drum roll please.....SHE ACTUALLY WENT DOWN THE SLIDE IN THE KID PLAY AREA!!! Whooo hooo. Kyra has always been terrified..I mean terrified of them before. She almost throws up, and breaks out in cold sweats. But she did it today. I had to go through it with her twice, before she would do it, but its a success!

Now for the random part. We have 2 dogs. Buster and Lily, litter mates from the pound. Lily is our lover. She just wants love all the time. She isn't the brightest. I always tell the story about how we saw a TV program where you can tell your dogs intelligence by putting them under a blanket and seeing how long it takes for them to find their way out. Average is like 5 seconds or something. We did it on Buster and it took her about 5 seconds. Lily fell asleep under the blanket. Buster just loves to play all the time and be silly. I came home this afternoon and found Buster's new sleeping spot. The kids sandbox. Now I can understand if it was on the floor, but this is about 2 feet off the ground!

Finally, one sign that the monsoon season is in full swing is the millions of frogs you can see if you walk outside in the afternoon. Here is a little guy that I was able to catch. We eventually convinced Kyra that we had to let him go, but it took a while since she was convinced he was her prince!

Beautiful Day at the Park!

Catching Up

So I have been a blogging slacker lately. Between family visiting, trying to get Super Saturday going, and simply having 2 kiddos life has been a little hectic lately. But once you get behind on blogging, trying to catch up is so hard! So just a simple little post (so I can feel like I'm not as behind), with some pics of the kiddos and family updates!
Kyra starts preschool in less than a month. She is SOOO excited. She is our little comedian, with a imagination that is unreal. She has an imaginary, pet, baby unicorn. Grandma made her a little baby unicorn while she was here, assuming it would take imaginary baby unicorns place. Instead, they are best friends! She will put a leash on our dogs, and take them to an imaginary pet parade, and can whip up a fairy tale story in seconds. She still loves knock knock jokes. Her favorite at this moment is "Knock Knock", "Who's There?", "Cow", "Cow Who", "Cows don't go who, they go moo!" She knows all of her ABC'S, and their sounds, and can spell her name!
Kyle is 15 months old. He is a bundle of energy! He can say "dada, mama, dog, baba, more, bye bye, car, fish, please, ball, and drink". He knows the sound that a dog, cat, duck, elephant, and sheep make, and can point to his ears, nose, and fingers. He is our little climber. Kyra still doesn't really climb, but we have already found Kyle on our island, on the table, on our bed, on the dresser and even on top of the toleit tank! He has the funniest little laugh/sound he makes when he is excited. Its like an old man who is trying breathe. I know that sounds weird! I will have to try and get a video of it.
Everything else is just chugging along. The moonsoons have started, so our temperature has dropped alot! In about 7 weeks we will head out to Disneyland, then be home for 1 day, then Karl goes to Chicago for 10 days, then back for a couple days, then goes to Dallas for 4 days. Then its Kyra's birthday, then we are all home for a couple weeks, and then go to San Diego, meeting up with my sisters family, and then going to Yuma (ugh) for my uncles wedding! We are really excited! It should be alot of fun, but a lot of going, going, going!
Here are a couple pics of the kids, taken at a local water park. Thanks for the idea Sharla! P.S. Does anyone know of a decent/mot to expensive of a hotel to stay at in San Diego. The first time we went we were minutes away from SeaWorld, but the neighborhood was questionable. The second time, it was perfectly fine hotel, but we had to drive 30 minutes to Sea World. Any suggestions?