I got the big snip-snip!

I did it! I chopped off 2/3 of my hair! It feels so good to have all that weight off. I feel like stepping on the scale to see if I actually lost weight or if I just feel lighter! It could be the boot camp class I went to last night (I can barely walk today because of it). Anyway, I feel a little strange because every time I walk past a window or mirror or catch my reflection in something, I am a little startled because I don't really recognize myself yet. I really do like it, even though it looks a little more Katie Holmes-ish than I wanted. You can't really see the back in the pictures, but it's really short and I left it curly. So, basically, I look completely different front to back. From the back you'd never guess that the front is straight, and from the front, you'd never guess that the back is curly! It's nice because I did my hair last night and it still looked good when I woke up this morning! Just a little fluffing and off I went. And the most important thing is I didn't put my hair up for the first time in many, many moons.



In other news, Tori had her first taste of chocolate cake. Let me tell you all a little secret: I'm 27 years old and JUST began my love affair with chocolate cake. Up until now, I really wasn't a fan of the stuff. I'm not sure what changed, but I am basically obsessed with chocolate cake now. All I want to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is cake. Ben made a cake last week that basically sent my mouth on a trip to heaven and back. I left the last slice on the counter and Tori was sitting up there while I was busy doing something in there (don't worry, I kept a close eye on her) when I found her destroying the last piece of cake!!! She loved it, so I couldn't get mad. I guess my waist is a little happier without those calories too.

The weather is getting cooler and I actually had to turn on the heater today. It was so cold in my house that Tyler wouldn't take off his coat when we got home from preschool! So, I broke down and turned on the heater. The kids ran over to the "hot air blower" and sat on the vent. They took turns putting their bare feet on it while "ooh-ing" and "ahh-ing" it was really cute. They also felt the need to recite the pledge of allegiance while they were sitting there (random, I know). They both put their hands on their hearts and recited the whole thing! It looks like they actually learn something at school! It's hard to tell in the picture, but they are sitting on the vent. When the air turned off, they just hopped up and went back to the toy room. Life's simple pleasures....

My Life is Good

It seems like everyone is going through some major crisis right now. People's marriages are falling apart, kids are in treatment centers or running away from home, cheating husbands, financial catastrophes, depression/anxiety/self-loathing (take your pick), and a thousand other things. I don't want to name names, but three of my friends/relatives are having serious marital problems. I know two people who have children in treatment centers, one who has run away from home, one who has gone completely broke because of legal fees, and several people on antidepressants because they just can't handle themselves anymore. (note: sometimes I think antidepressants sound pretty dang good because we all have those days where we'd like a little help being happier. This is not a criticism for people on medication.) To keep this short and sweet, I just want to say that seeing all of these problems has made me realize that my life is pretty dang good right now. Don't worry, I have my own set of problems that you don't want to hear about. But I have a husband who loves me and he does everything in his power to make and keep me happy. He would rather live in California. But guess what! We live here! Why? Because that's where I want to live. He does everything I ask him to do and (almost) never complains. He's very low maintenance, supportive, a great father, and my best friend. I am a very lucky woman to have such a great husband. Imaluvu Benamin.

THIS is why I don't buy school pictures

Okay, the kids had picture day at preschool this week and I didn't buy any. I felt a little bad, but I took pictures of them just before they went to school and I reaffirmed my position that it would have been a waste of money to buy those pictures! I tried my darndest to get those two to smile nicely and look at the camera (at the same time) and this is the best I could do.

Don't get me wrong. I love Tyler's smile, but this isn't his real smile. His real smile is the sweetest thing I've ever seen. It lights up his whole face and he looks so happy, there couldn't possibly be any problems in his life. But this is his "posing face" and it's just not the same.

When you tell Nicole to look at the camera, she does a "posing face" too and she opens her eyes as wide as she can. Again, it's just not the same as her real smile which absolutely melts my heart.
I seriously doubt a school photographer could have gotten them to do any better.

This week

Pretty boring and uneventful week so far. I got peed on twice today, that's pretty awesome. Tyler's teacher looked at me like I was a monster today when I told her I wasn't going to buy any of the school pictures (today was picture day) because they are too expensive. Besides, every picture of Tyler looks exactly the same. So, I wasn't about to spend $80 on mediocre pictures, because, undoubtedly, they wouldn't turn out very well. Also, I got to sleep through the night! That was pretty fantabulous. Tori's crying (big surprise, I know) and Tyler and Nicole are playing princesses. My poor soon-to-be-gay son. (not that there's anything wrong with that)
Anyway, I took some cute pictures of Tyler and Nicole climbing the tree in our front yard. I thought they were so cute up there. Way better than some dumb preschool pictures.




Also, Tori has finally mastered the "stand on Daddy's hand" trick. It's sort of a must in this family. I think at least 1/3 of my baby pictures are of me on my dad's hands. It used to freak me out a little, but I'm over it. I guess that's to be expected since this is my third baby.

My Favorite Toy

My hilarious little brother (Ryan) got Tyler a toy gun for Christmas. I must say, I was not thrilled about the whole "gun as toy" thing, but it's really quite funny.

Yes, it actually CHUCKS NUNS! You load them in the gun and pull the trigger. Wham! They fly across the room. I'm sad we lost the nuns. The look on their faces is priceless.

Nicole is 3

Nicole turned 3 on Sunday and wanted a Cinderella birthday party. I did the family birthday party thing one more time because I know I won't be able to get away with it next year. We had a good time and Nicole loved her princess cake. I know, the frosting is horrible, but I had to do it one handed while holding a very wiggly baby.

I can't believe she's so big! It seems like such a huge gap between Nicole and Tori (probably because it's so much longer than the gap between Tyler and Nicole -- 17 months vs. 2 1/2 years). Here's a couple of my favorite pictures of Nicole from the last few years: (actually, there are too many favorites, so I just randomly picked a few pictures from the last 3 years)

I Have To Vent

WARNING - The following may contain some bitter remarks!!!

ANOTHER WARNING - Don't worry, this will likely be the one and only time I will ever discuss anything remotely political on our blog. I'm just feeling especially frisky today.

For those of you who didn't know (i.e. care), when it comes to politics I am what some people would call an "Independent" (No, I don't know what "" means) (That's a Friends joke that probably only Kristi will laugh at) So don't worry, I plan to rant against both candidates a little bit.

CNN is reporting that John McCain has decided it would be best if he and Barack Obama should stop campaining, forgo their Friday debate, and, get this, GO BACK TO WORK to help figure out how to fix the mess the financial district is in. For what it's worth, Obama says that is a (mostly) dumb idea and they should still hold their debate instead (obviously i may have paraphrased that a little). He then said he would go back to D.C. if he could help.

So here's my problem with all of this. These people are elected officials, yeah? They are getting paid a Senator's salary, right? So why the bloody (heck) aren't they doing their jobs? Just because they want to be President means that they don't have to perform the duties they were elected to do?! For the last year they get to collect their hard-earned (can you actually see the sarcasm dripping off those words?) paycheck for doing nothing related to Senatorial work? The country is having problems, everyone seems to hate/blame the current president for the economic problems we are experiencing, investment firms are dropping like flies after Kristi the crazy mad fly hunter destroys them with a rolled up copy of the Ensign, the stock market can't decide what it should do, people are panicking and making cash runs on their banks which can ONLY exacerbate the problem(s), and then and only then does the thought creep into someone's mind "Hey, maybe we should actually go to Washington, and you know, do something." If they want to not perform their duties, then fine. Step down as Senator, stop collecting the checks, and stump away for the presidency. Otherwise, get your sorry arses back to work instead of merely talking about it! Both of them preach change, but apparently change can only happen possibly, maybe, potentially, later on in the future. Change certainly couldn't happen now or anything....

On a lighter note, this Demotivator.com picture makes me laugh every time I see it.