The best family in the world and a big decision...

So a bit to catch up on... Here is a picture of my flowers (look down at the previous post if you have no idea what they are from). Aren't they purdy? :) So not only do I have the best hubby in the world - who is continually sweet to me, especially during those not so fun times of the month where a woman is not usually on her best behavior - but I have the best kids too. We went to the grocery store this morning. Now this is not unusual - I go pretty much every Friday - but today Tyler came too as he's on Spring Break. And I spent $70 more than normal on what we bought... which would lead the reader to believe that I also spent more time than I usually do shopping for said items. Well, you would be right. My boys were *almost* perfect angels the whole time we were shopping. Then proceeded to come home and helped me bring in all the groceries. Then they unloaded the dishwasher for me! I'm not sure what I did to deserve such a great family, but somehow I hope I keep doing it. :)

So in other news. I stopped smoking. Again. I was going to wait until I'd been at this weight for awhile because I was nervous about gaining weight again, but I did it early (you'll see why in a minute). It's actually only my first completely smoke free day - but yesterday I just had 1 and the day before I only had 2 (usually I have 3-4 per day). So hopefully that will be the last one. I stocked up on gum today at the store... so hopefully that'll help.

And as far as the big decision goes... I'm thinking about being a surrogate mother again. Shawn and I have been talking about it for the past couple weeks, but there is a representative at a company called Alternative Conceptions who has been emailing me and calling me pretty consistently and it seems like they are needing surrogates pretty badly. So I have been asking some questions and doing some online research - mostly to see if there is a greater cancer risk for women who have gone through the process to be surrogates (so far I can only find evidence that there is no increased risk). I finally filled out the profile thing online so prospective parents can look me up. I'm still only about 80% sure that I will do it - I'd like to meet the potential parents first and make sure I feel a connection with them like I did the first time around.

Some of the people I've talked to about this already have had concerns with the toll that this will take on my marriage and my family, but I really feel like my marriage has never been stronger. Shawn and I have already talked to the boys about it and they have promised to be my big helpers and not jump on my belly if I have a baby in it. It's nothing new to them to have a baby in my belly that doesn't come home with us, so I think they will be able to handle it just fine. Emotionally, I've done it before and it was only a positive experience and I didn't have any feelings of regret or longing for the babies that I carried. So my only concerns really were the cancer risk and having to have another C-section. It looks like I'll likely have another C-section, but in a way I don't think that's going to be too bad.

So kinda big news today... but now you're in the loop. :) Welcome to my world... Oh, and I'll leave you with another pic. Clearly his jeans are way too short and "hole-y" but when he put his leg through the leghole the other day, it also went through the hole in his knee. We got a kick out of it, but he didn't see the humor in the situation. ;)

I have the best honey in the world! :)

So yesterday I had a pretty crappy day... A client yelled at me, my mom and I got into it a bit, and I just wasn't in a great mood. I was whining to Shawn on my way home from work and when he got home a little while later, he came in with a bouquet of pink, orange and white roses! :) Isn't that sweet? It's been awhile since I had flowers but it was perfect timing for sure. Of course, the boys were sad that THEY didn't get flowers from Dad too... They don't like it when we buy "I love you" cards or gifts for each other and don't include them (spoiled!?) so I told them they could each pick a flower to have, but it had to stay in the vase with mine. :) Thought I would fool them but they didn't buy that either.

Anyway... today we woke up with snow on the ground!! I knew it was coming - there had to be one more snow day mixed in with all the warm ones where we were wearing shorts and flip flops! Hopefully this will be it. It is, after all, spring.

I have more to share, potentially, but not enough time as we need to leave early today to deal with the snow. So I'll write more later.

Enjoy your day!

Where did it go?

I can not believe it's Monday already. Here we (for once) had nothing really planned this weekend and I turn around and it's gone!

Saturday it rained so we didn't get to go outside, but our grass desperately needs the rain so I'm not complaining. We did manage to go walk around the mall and while we were there, we picked up a new toy. Shawn and I both had iPods before. Mine was a mini that I bought from my boss for $50. The battery on it is so crappy that I can't even walk 2 miles without it dying out on me. And my iPod had a lot to do with me being good and keeping to my exercise routine, so I couldn't be having that. Shawn's was in good shape - he had a nano also but only 2 gigs. The one we bought was 8 gigs and we can share it, so I think that'll work out well. Plus it is from the (PRODUCT) red line so $10 of it went to help AIDS in Africa.

The rest of the day we mostly just hung out around the house, playing video games, reading books, etc. Shawn and the boys have been watching a series of Miyazaki films, so they got in a couple over the weekend.

Sunday we gave the boys the option to go to Church or swimming. They chose (to my surprise) to go swimming. They've been wanting to go back to Church for awhile but something keeps coming up so we just haven't gone. So swimming was fun - Gavin worked up enough nerve to go on the big slide again and he really loved it this time. Last time he was a little too nervous to really enjoy it. I got some laps in and the boys practiced blowing in the water with goggles on but didn't make a lot of progress. I'd really like at least Tyler to know how to swim. He took lessons a year and a half or so ago in Castle Rock but didn't really do too well - he was pretty nervous about the whole thing. I might look into getting him some lessons this summer when he's not in school.

We did go to that BBQ that the haters had planned. I really do sympathize with their plight and it's really my plight too. Shawn's still 50/50 on the whole issue, but I'm pretty sure I do not want a Nascar track in my neighborhood. I wouldn't mind one on the other side of the airport, but I don't want to have to pay for it. If we, as a community, are going to be doling out millions of dollars for something, I'd rather it be something like schools or roads or something we all need. Plus, we had a track in my hometown. And frankly, that side of town wasn't the prettiest. I don't want that to happen to my new house! Several of the politicians that are looking to get elected (on a local level) were there - and bought the burgers from what I'm told - so it was nice to meet them and put a face to a name. We didn't feel like we'd accomplished much when we got home though... I didn't learn anything new. So other than free food, it might have been a waste of time. Oh well. Again, we had nothing better to do!

There are two community events this week that I'd like to be involved with. I can not attend both as they are at the same time. One is a Neighborhood Watch committee in light of the recent attempted child abductions, which I think is really important and would like to participate in. The other is a curbside recycling program. Which is also important and would save me time and energy from dragging my recycling to a recycling center 10 miles away *grumble*. I think I'll do the recycling one and then swap stories with a neighbor later.

So I guess that's enough of a weekend update... Have a great week! :)

Spring Cleaning and McD's nasty little secret...

So today, while waiting on the contractors that our home builder hired to fix things that are still under warranty for just a few more days, I decided to clean the house. It's almost our one year anniversary here - we closed April 11th last year - and like the post right below this one announced, it is spring after all. So it seemed appropriate. Not only did I do the regular - cleaning bathrooms, the kitchen, dusting and vacuuming - I broke out the old mop and bucket (usually I take the easy way out and Swiffer the floors). And then, just when I thought things couldn't get any cleaner, I took the same bucket (with new clean water) and a sponge and wiped all the grime off the walls too! It didn't do too much good because most of the marks won't come off, but it helped a bit. Of course, it also left little pieces of pink sponge on the wall and baseboards. Oops. Should have done that before vacuuming. So now the windows are open, there is a nice spring breeze coming in and I can still smell a little bit of the Murphy's soap too. Now what to do with the rest of the weekend?? :) For once in our lives we have NO plans after dinner tonight.

Well that's not entirely true - we have a movie on its way from Netflix which will hopefully be here today. But other than that, nothing. And it's supposed to rain today and tomorrow but so far it has not started. Wonder what that's going to do to the concrete they are pouring in my driveway as we speak? Hmmm...

Perhaps we'll find something fun to entertain us... There is supposed to be a cookout on Sunday for all the people protesting the Nascar track that is possibly going in practically in our backyard. So we can go hang out with the haters. :) (our town has been in the news a lot lately, huh?)

Oh, and speaking of news... This article was news to me. Shawn forwarded it to me this morning. Take a minute to read it - especially if you, like us, have any small children who love the golden arches. Ok, so if you didn't read the article - here's the cliffs notes. Among other not so good things like hydrogenated oils (which if you know me at all, you know we already eliminate those), it turns out there is a nasty ingredient in Chicken McNuggets called TBHQ. Which according to the author of the article is lighter fluid? I need to do some more research but before doing that I did take a peek at some of the ingredients in things we had in our freezer like our Tyson chicken nuggets (no hydrogenated oils OR TBHQ - hooray!) and our Vancamps fish sticks (no hydrogenated oils but does have TBHQ). So I guess I'm switching to Ian's. Probably should cut out Tyson too as they are a Conagra company... as Shawn just reminded me (I'm multi-tasking... IM'ing with him while typing this for you to read).. which doesn't have a reputation for being "good for you". Anyway, if I come up with something concrete about this TBHQ thing, I'll let you know. In the mean time, I've informed the boys that fast food places are bad... at least the fried food variety. We'll stick with Quiznos, Baja Fresh and Panera for now until we learn any different.

Stepping down from my soapbox now... Enjoy your weekend!

Spring has Sprung!

A quick update on the attempted child abductions... Like Ria mentioned in a comment on my previous post, there was a third attempt this week. It wasn't reported until after the other two but happened over the weekend. I'm not sure if this is causing some type of hysteria up here but people seem to be really on edge. The three incidents don't seem to be related - the only thing they have in common is that the "suspects" are all Hispanic men in their 20-30's. So who knows. We are definitely being more careful but I'm trying not to worry too much about it. It's strange to pull up to T's school and see several police cars (who are not there to make sure parents *ahem* don't park at the yellow curb for five minutes) and news crews. It's just strange.

On a lighter note, I am loving the gorgeous weather we're having lately! My skin is getting some much needed sun and the Vitamin D is definitely a mood up lifter. Even the boys are excited each day about the new things they are discovering - buds on the trees, green grass poking through the dead yellow grass, etc. Gavin came running in the house this morning yelling "Spring is here! Spring is here!" which was just too cute for words.

We are really into American Idol (yes, most of you know I'm a reality TV junkie) - and last night's episode was fantastic! My favorite is definitely LaKisha but I was blown away at Jordin's performance. We haven't watched the results show yet tonight (love TIVO!) but I am crossing my fingers that Sanjaya is gone this week... I liked him at first because his voice is unique but I do not think he belongs in this competition at all.

So my frustrated husband announced to me tonight that if Guiliani wins next year's presidential election, we are moving abroad. Now I don't think you want that anymore than I do, so let's all get behind my man Obama! :) Intervention, anyone?

Not so safe afterall...

So it turns out that a couple of children were *almost* abducted this weekend in our neighborhood. One was at TYLER'S SCHOOL!!!! on Friday afternoon (after he had left). An 8 year old boy was playing alone and he saw a car that looked like a relative's, but wasn't, and the man tried to get the boy to go with him. Thankfully he ran away. Then over the weekend a 9 year old girl was riding her bike and fell off and a man stopped to help her and then asked if she wanted to pet his dog. She ran away too. Oh My God. I can not believe these things are happening in my neighborhood. We live in the middle of nowhere! Why would someone drive all the way up here to abduct a child? Unless they lived here... So I looked on the Registry of Sex Offenders to see if there are any nearby and sure enough, two live within 2 miles of my house.

So now I'm feeling like a very bad mother because I felt safe and let my kids play outside in the front yard (they know never to go in the street or even down the sidewalk unless I'm outside with them) while I'm cooking dinner or changing my clothes after work. We had a big long discussion about going with strangers or helping strangers look for a dog or a ball. I think Tyler gets it but Gavin is way too young to understand. He just went off on a tangent about other things we can do to be a good boy. ;)

I have no idea how possible or likely it is that they will find the person(s) who did this - it doesn't actually sound like it's the same person because two different vehicles were driven. Of course, I'm sure a sex offender could have two vehicles. I hope it is the same person... Although now that it was on the news and internet and everything, perhaps they know they're being watched for and won't strike again - at least not in this area. But thinking things like that is what made me feel all safe in the first place.

Ugh.

Our weekend with Grandma & cousin Isaac in pictures...

We had lots of fun with Grandma and Isaac this loooong weekend. They arrived Wednesday night and we have been going non-stop since then. Thursday we took them to our favorite downtown restaurant...Then on to... the Downtown Aquarium. We saw lots of cool stuff there!

And just one more from the Aquarium...
While Tyler was at school, Isaac and Gavin tooled around town (er... the neighborhood) in the Escalade.
We did a lot on Friday. We killed time in the morning by going to Target while Tyler was at school. Then it was on to the Colorado Railroad Museum where we saw lots of trains...

... And Gavin worked on the railroad...

... Tyler drove a train...

... and we heard loud noises...

Next we went to play at a giant sandbox at the Flatiron Crossing Mall (our favorite - we haven't been there since last fall!). Next was dinner at Mimi's Cafe. And finally, the much anticipated Disney on Ice presentation of Monter's Inc!

Saturday was St. Patrick's Day, so we decided to go to a parade to celebrate. But not before donning our green shirts and drawing shamrocks on our cheeks!

After the parade, we ate lunch at the Wynkoop Brewery...
... which as always was quite yummy!

We then went to the Rocky Mountain Wildlife refuge to do some hiking...

... but we still weren't worn out yet...
... so we decided to go get some ice cream on the way home.

Shawn and I got to go on a date that night... We went to see a movie (this is really spoiling us! we haven't seen so many movies in such a short amount of time since before Tyler was born!) and then went to a bar to get a drink (chocolate cherry martini for me! yummy!) before heading home after a very long day!

Mom and Isaac left this morning and we've been playing catchup around the house ever since... Paying bills, doing laundry, and most importantly uploading the 150 pictures we took over the last three days! Who knew there was so much fun to be had in Denver? :)

Hope you had a great weekend!

I am such a copy cat!

So not much going on so far this week... Just work, and enjoying the freaking beautiful 70ish degree weather we're having! We've been to the park every day this week so far... Tomorrow my mom and nephew are coming and I'm really looking forward to that!

We did find out what's going on with my brother - he has Lupus Anticoagulant (not to be confused with the Lupus that typically strikes females). Basically from what I understand, which may not be much, his blood clots too much which is why he had a stroke. He will have to take blood thinners to keep his blood from clotting but hopefully that will be the extent of his medication. Of course a healthy diet will help too. So hopefully they can get him all straightened out.

So what about me being a copy cat you ask? Well for some reason, everything Ria does I have to do too and since there isn't much to talk about today I thought I'd give you a fun test to see how well you know me... if at all. :) I did a horrible job on Ria's, making me not as good a friend as I thought. But in my defense, she made hers hard! Anyway... here's mine:

Create your own Friend Quiz here

A big birthday weekend!

So we pretty much celebrated all weekend for Shawn's 32nd bday. :) It was a great, long weekend, though and I think fun was had by all.

Friday, as promised, we did check out the pool in Brighton. It really was a lot of fun and the water slide wasn't so big that we couldn't take the boys down on our laps, like the one at our pool (which is only open in the summer). Gavin was petrified, however, and Tyler loved it! We definitely wore ourselves out and then grabbed a Papa Murphy's pizza to take to Shawn's parents' house for dinner. As always, it was yummy! The movie that I told you we were going to see was actually MUCH better than I expected, so that was a nice surprise. It was a little on the gory side but if you don't mind a head or two getting cut off, then you will probably enjoy it! We finished the night off with Ria and her hubby and ended up hanging out until after 3am. Oops! It is always fun hanging out with them though... :)

Saturday Shawn's parents still had the boys so we took the opportunity to sleep in for a bit (though not long enough to make up for the long night before!) and then headed to the mall to walk around and pick up a couple things we needed. It was so nice to be able to shop without the kids and be able to have a conversation at the same time - I love my kids but sometimes you don't realize the little things that you miss while being graced with their presence! It was good to spend time with him and reconnect... We ended that day with a birthday party at his parents' house for Kaylee (my niece - Shawn's sister's firstborn, who just turned 1!!) and Shawn. Both of the birthday kids had their own teddy bear cake, lovingly made by my mother-in-law, and it was a blast watching them eat it. Shawn had to show Kaylee the ropes so he dug his face in it just like any one year old should... Which of course the boys found hilarious because, let's face it, how many times in your life will you see your dad go head first into a birthday cake? So they had to join in. My mother-in-law got some pics but silly me forgot my camera so I'll have to share those at a later point... Anyway, it was a good party. :)

Sunday we went to Target to get a birthday present for Tyler's friend Morgan, whose birthday party we attended in the afternoon. It was a Harry Potter party, and my friend Tiffany did a very good job finding creative Harry Potterish things for the kids to do. It was brilliant really, and I am continually jealous of my creative friends! ;) The kids loved it though - it was truly a hit. After we got home I finally got around to putting all my size 12's and L's on eBay as they no longer fit me... They're from last summer and there is enough for a whole wardrobe there but I've been too lazy to list it all. Hopefully we'll get enough back to replace what no longer fit. We ended the night with the movie that we were going to watch the other night and for some reason didn't get around to it *ahem* and o.m.g. was it fantastic!! It had a very HOT cast of characters and I quite enjoyed getting to spend 2.5 hours with Mark & Leo, but the movie was great for other reasons too. I'm sure we're the last people in the known world to watch it, but if you haven't yet, go! Hurry! Do it now! :)

I probably will write again after the weekend as my mom and nephew are going to be coming for a visit this week and we'll likely be busy with them. As usual, I'll fill you in later on the goings on. We're excited for company though!

Happy Birthday Shawn! :)

Well today my husband turns 32! He is celebrating all today and tomorrow... We're having a family day today - going to the pool at the Brighton Rec Center (they have an indoor pool with a water slide! sweet!), followed by a relaxing day at home until we go to his parents' house tonight. We'll leave the boys there and Shawn has picked out a movie to watch before we go hang out with some friends for the evening. Should be fun. :) Tomorrow we're celebrating his birthday and his neice's birthday. If you want to send him an email to tell him happy bday, it's fishboy1975@gmail.com

Have a great day!

Finally...

... Tyler's tooth came out today! It took a little coercion as it was holding on for dear life, but after being loose for about 3 months, we finally got Tyler's tooth to come out. He is so incredibly excited about the tooth fairy coming tonight to give him a dollar. We had to have a conversation about how the tooth fairy brings different amounts of money to different kids (apparently at T's school, the going rate is $2/tooth! sheesh!). I told him at our house she only brings $1 for little teeth and $2 for molars. It's amazing what you can get a kid to believe... hee hee. Sure does make you feel powerful. Anyway, he had fun using a straw to drink his milk by inserting it into his new hole. You can not see very much of the big boy tooth underneath but hopefully it'll start to poke through soon. The other bottom tooth is loose also, but probably will be awhile before it comes out.

In other news... Gavin got a haircut. He loves to rub his "soft" head. Tyler wanted his that short too but we convinced him to wait until summer. He looks better with a little hair on his head.

That's about all for now. We'll just keep this short and sweet. For once. :) Have a great week!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Suess and other tales...

Well as usual, it was another whirlwind of events here in the York household. On Friday, Dr. Suess's birthday, the boys and I went to celebrate at the Brighton Rec Center (about a 25 min drive from our house). They had a cool little event with people reading books aloud to the kids, face painting and also a free book for the them! Woohoo! The boys had a good time and as you can see, enjoyed reading their new I Spy books. That night we took the easy way out with Kid Cuisine's (their favorite) and Shawn and I played some more Scrabble while they watched a movie. We finished off the night with a movie of our own, which was better than I had expected it to be and put another perspective on 9/11 as it was shot from inside the towers, instead of on the outside that we, along with most of the world, experienced.

Saturday was a normal day of cleaning house and doing laundry.... fun fun. After lunch we went to Kohl's to pick up some stuff like new pillows and a bathing suit for me (my old ones no longer fit!). Gotta love Kohl's for sales and 15% off coupons!

Saturday night we all headed to Ria's house... The boys had fun playing with Ria's and Shawna's girls while the guys played some poker. While they were doing that, the girls and I went to Dazzle for dinner (which ended up being drinks and appetizers - very yummy!) and were serenaded by a local jazz band. Unfortunately, we got in trouble for talking too much during the show (oops!) and were not quite asked to leave, but we took it upon ourselves to relieve everyone of our rowdiness and headed on to the Funky Buddha. You might recall a couple weeks ago we attempted to go there, and finally we succeeded in getting to check the place out. We had a blast, even though it was early and not too crowded, dancing and just acting silly as usual.

Despite trying to combat another hangover *ahem* by drinking three glasses of water, I still woke up this morning with a headache. I have got to stop doing that! But was joined by my two favorite little men, who gave me kisses to make it feel better. Shawn and I dropped the boys off at his parents' house so we could go to church and then to a local Coloradoans for Obama meet up. It was really cool to see people pumped up and excited for Obama and to hear their stories about falling in love with him. We had a good time and are looking forward to getting involved in campaigning.

Tonight Shawn and I are going to watch another movie (love Netflix!), but not before giving the boys another much needed haircut. They're begging to shave their heads like Daddy but I don't think it's quite warm enough for that yet. But who knows, I may mess it up bad enough that that is what we end up with!

Hope life is good in your neck of the woods... We have a big week coming up. Shawn's birthday is on Friday and we have another busy weekend planned.

Not quite famous...

So today I was on TV. Well I should rephrase that... Ria, her friend Lani, and I were on TV. I haven't seen it yet, but my mother-in-law told me I was, so we tivo'd the news and hopefully will see it a little later. Ria goes to school at Metro and when she found out that John Edwards was coming for a quick visit, she invited me to tag along. I, of course, jumped at the chance... though my loyalty still probably lies with Barack Obama, I do like Senator Edwards quite a bit. He is a great speaker and it is SO refreshing to hear someone in a leadership position speaking in an intelligent manner. He has a lot of great ideas and I think he's going to go far in the campaign and I do think he'd do a great job if he were elected. I'd definitely love to see an Obama/Edwards ticket, but that might be wishful thinking. Anyway, while we were sitting in the bleachers listening, we were apparently being taped by the news... which, believe it or not, is my first TV appearance. And until I make it on Big Brother one day, will probably be my last. :)

In other news... Percie survived her surgery and seems to be recuperating pretty well. Our other cat, Aphrodite, decided that I brought home the wrong cat that day and flipped out a little bit thinking there was a fungus among us... But they seem to be getting along better now.

Work was busy this week but we ended February on a decent note and started March off a lot better, which was nice.

We have a big fun filled weekend planned, but I'll fill you in on that at a later date. :)

Oh! And I was domestic today! My neighbor, Amy (the Indiana ones), passed along some dough this week. And not just any dough but dough to make Amish Friendship Bread. I'd never heard of it before, but when she offered it to me, I thought it would be fun to try. If you click on the link you can see why it's kinda neat... but oh my god, it tastes incredibly good! I think it's probably the best thing I've ever baked! Which isn't saying that much - those Nestle Toll house cookies aren't too difficult (though I do enhance the recipe with oatmeal and more healthy ingredients). :)

Guess that's about it for now... I kept thinking of things to tell you guys earlier in the week but they have somehow escaped me. Oops.

Oh well... have a great weekend!