Two Birthday's, One Day

About 37 years ago my sister Allyson was born on my Dad's 30th birthday.

Two birthday's, one day.

January 30th.

To celebrate this year, it just so happens that nearly my whole family is able to make a little Disneyland trip out of it.

So excited.

Allyson is my sister that lives right by me.

When I was about 4 or 5 Allyson was babysitting me.

I must have been misbehaving because she told me she had something she really needed to tell me.

She took me into my parents room and sat me down on the bed. (I can still see it).

Then she told me, with a very serious look on her face, "You're adopted."

"No I'm not!" I protested.

Then she got up and started fishing through my dad's drawer and pulled out some paper--I couldn't read so it could have said anything. Then she points to the paper and says:

"See, right here is where Mom & Dad signed for you. Haven't you noticed that you don't look like any of us?"

My little 5 year old mind was reeling. It must be true, after all, she had the paperwork to prove it and come to think of it, I guess I didn't really look like anyone.

I was devastated.

I bawled.

When my parents got home I sobbed to them about being adopted. They assured me it was not true and Allyson got busted.

I'm happy to say that Allyson is much less jerky these days.

I love living by her.

We talk, play, kid swap, make dinner, go to the gym together and talk some more.

She gives me her strong opinion about everything and I love it because it's Allyson.

She's a great sister and I'm so glad she's my sister.

My Dad happens to be the best Dad this world has known.

He has always been at my softball games, swim meets, choir concerts, dance recitals, football games that I cheered at, etc.

He always made/makes time for me.

When we were kids he would come home from work (and he owned his own business so he could have stayed all night, but he didn't...he came home) and he would play 3 flies up with us in the front yard for hours.

I remember asking him once after high school if he thought I could marry a certain boy and he told me he didn't think any boy was good enough for me. So cute.

I am his baby girl after all. :)

I'm so grateful for these two wonderful people in my life.

Happy Birthday Allyson & Dad!

I Met Paul Blart

Have you ever lost your child in the store, mall, house, wherever?

On Saturday we lost Morgan at the mall.

She's on this independent kick where she will not hold hands and if she sees something of interest she'll just dart.

Owen and Morgan were playing in the toy store and Shane and I were 5 steps away talking to some lady about houses.

Next thing you know, I can't find Morgan.

There are emotions that accompany each minute your child is gone.

Minute 1--Bugged: "Where the heck did Morgan go?"

Minute 2--Frustrated: "Ugh, why can't I find Morgan?"

Minute 3--Worried: "Okay seriously, where did she go?"

Minute 4--Scared: "Oh my gosh, I can't find Morgan!"

Minute 5--Panic: "A dingo ate my baby!!!"

It's amazing how fast the emotion can change.

Luckily I was only somewhere between minute 2 & 3 when some lady came running towards me asking if I was looking for a little girl and that she was with "the cop".

I head down to the station (the mall station, that is) and sure enough, there's Morgan holding some lady's hand, rubbing her eyes.

I'm not too ruffled because, like I said, I was only somewhere between frustrated & worried.

She runs right too me and I say, "Morgan, you don't run off without Mommy."

Then Paul Blart, Mall Cop steps up to me.

"You're the mom?"

"Yes, I'm the mom."

"Where were you?"

"I was down there, the kids were in the toy store playing."

"Well she was all the way down here. What's your name?"

"My name?"

"Yeah."

"Dixie Dixon."

He looks at me skeptically and then says, "Okay."

Okay? Okay what?

What the heck was that?

Thank you Officer Blart for the thorough investigation of finding out my name.

Turns out, I already knew his.

Challenge #3 & #4

Oops. Forgot to post the challenge last week.

No fear, the ladies have been doing it anyway.

The challenge for last week, that is continuing this week is:

#3--Eat at least 5 fruits and vegetables a day. Try to eat them BEFORE each meal and inbetween.

The next challenge correlates and should make it easier to get in your 5-a-day. It is:

#4--eat ONLY fruits and vegetables between meals. (and no, fruit snacks do not count).

It is harder than you think.

Can you do it?

Respectable

Owen has a very sweet, funny and clever side of his personality that most people don't get the joy of seeing.

Generally people see the Owen that "has bees in his head" as Shane puts it.

He runs around all crazy, hitting, kicking, jumping--he's got so much energy he doesn't know what to do with it.

He's a 4 year old boy.

So it's always so interesting to note the opposite side of his personality that is very focused, maticulous, determined and kind.

He is about the most thorough teeth brusher I have ever met. He'll brush for about 5 minutes, making sure he gets every tooth. And then he has to show me, "Hey Mom, look at my teeth."

He is a natural born host and will introduce people all the time..."Mom, this is Lindy. Lindy, this is my mom." (He has done this for as long as I can remember). He holds his hand out to indicate the person he is introducing at the time too. It's quite proper.

If you come over, he'll probably offer you something to drink too. (I am awful at remembering things like that, so I know he just came this way.)

He can't stand having his clothes turned inside out, so when he takes his shirt off he carefully snakes his arms through the sleeves and then pulls the shirt over his head from the collar. If I try to help him undress really quickly he will FREAK out if I'm doing it in such a way that will turn the shirt inside out. (yeah, I think we need to watch that OCD a little).

So yesterday, Owen was sitting on the ground, meticulously turning his pajama bottoms right side out because one of the legs got pulled through.

Shane and I were just talking over him about what he was doing and Shane said, "Owen just fascinates me. There are these parts of his personality that are just so...." he paused trying to come up with the right word, and then from the ground below we hear Owen pipe in...

"Respectable?" (actually it sounded more like "ba-speck-able", but we knew what he was saying).

We just looked at each other like, "What the?" Where did he even come up with that word?

It was hilarious, but as I've thought about it, Yes.

Owen has parts of his personality that are just so respectable.

Nigh Unto Bursting

How do you know when you've outgrown your 2 bedroom apartment?





When your kids dresser/room looks like this:



And your kids closet looks like this:

And your closet looks like this:

And your dresser looks like this:

And your only utility closet looks like this:

I can feel it closing in on me. No room anywhere!

Is it because I know we're moving soon?

Is it because we've gotten more stuff?

Is it because the kids are getting bigger?

I don't know what it is, but claustrophobia is starting to kick in....

I need more space.

Soon.

Freckles

I've had freckles my whole life.

I have hated my freckles my whole life.

As a kid I would complain to my mom, "Why did you have to give me freckles!!!"

She would tell me that she was sorry and that she hated them even more. In fact, she tried to sandpaper hers off when she was a kid.

I was never that crazy, but I was always so envious of non-freckle faces.

So now I'm wondering how this can be....I have Owen, who has freckles, and I LOVE them!

I think they are so incredibly cute on him I can hardly stand it.

Those 2 big freckles close to his ear showed up very early on and at first I was nervous about him getting freckles, but now they are just part of Owen and I'd miss them if they were gone.

Owen always asks me to count his freckles.

I did a quick count this morning and told him he has 87.

That got him very excited and he said, "I LOVE my freckles!"

Freckles.

What the heck?

Work Out Mixer-Roo

I've had a few requests for workout song ideas.

As I put this list together I realized it's sort of personal.

But since when has that stopped me? :)

Anyway, what motivates me might not motivate you, but I tried to include songs from my mix that have motivating beats and/or words.

However, there are also some that just have personal meaning to me...but I wasn't quite sure which was which. So you'll have to figure that out.

I've also tried to seperate them out into little categories...the last category is more "hard" music...don't judge me. :)

It really gets my blood pumping when I run.

Without further ado, I introduce you to....

The List:

****Universally Good Songs/Beats(I think)****

The Middle (great words)—Jimmy Eat World
Bleed American--Jimmy Eat World
Sweetness—Jimmy Eat World
Don’t Feel Like Dancin’—Scissor Sisters
All Star—Smash Mouth
Crazy—Gnarls Barkley
Sexy Back--Justin Timberlake (edited)
Eye of the Tiger—Survivor (of course!)
Just A Girl--No Doubt
Gone Daddy Gone--Gnarls Barkley

I'm A Believer--Smash Mouth

There She Goes--The La's

You Were Always the One--The Cribs

****Good Songs--Not Necessarily Good Beats****
Hey There Delilah--Plain White T's

Beautiful Day (U2)
I’m Yours—Jason Mraz
New Soul—Yael Naim
Viva la Vida—Cold Play
Beautiful—Christina Aguilara
Bleeding Love—Leona Lewis
Bubbly—Colbie Caillat
Don’t Panic—Cold Play
It’s All Been Done (Barenaked Ladies)
Just To See You Smile—Tim McGraw
Pinch Me—Barenaked Ladies
Think I’m in Love—Beck
You’re Beautiful—James Blunt
You’re Body Is a Wonderland—John Mayer

***Musical's...I only have Hairspray, but there are TONS that could work***
Without Love—Hairspray
Ladies Choice--Hairspray
Run and Tell That—Hairspray
You Can’t Stop the Beat--Hairspray

High School Musical has a lot of good songs

***"Harder" Music***
American Idiot—Green Day (edited)
Since U Been Gone—Kelly Clarkson
Dance Dance—Fallout Boy
The Sharpest Lives—My Chemical Romance
This Is How I Disappear—MCR

I'm Not Okay (edited)...one of my favorite running songs
Time Is Running Out—Muse
Hysteria—Muse
Starlight—Muse
Rockin’ the Suburbs (edited)
Butterflies & Hurricanes—Muse (words)
Mr. Brightside—The Killers
Somebody Told Me—The Killers
Thanks for the Memories—Fall Out Boy
Me & You—Fall Out Boy

That's not all of my workout mix, but it's all that I felt like sharing.

If any of you have good workout songs that aren't on the list and you're willing to share please let me know.

I'm always looking to change it up.

Word.

Short Sales

Did you know it is right near impossible to buy a home from a person these day?

Nearly every home we have looked at has been a bank owned property or a short sale...and these are nice houses we are talking about here!

The problem is there is a lot of uncertainty and arbitrary decison making going on when you put in an offer on a short sale home.

The bonus is, you could possibly get a $325K home for $225K.

Wouldn't that be lovely?

We put in an offer on a short sale on Saturday.

I'd tell you where, but I don't want anyone to snake it.

Shane and I both have "that feeling" about this neighborhood.

We've looked at 8-10 other neighborhoods and we keep getting pulled back to this one.

So now, as is true with all short sale processes...we wait.

Shane and I considered creating a portfolio for the seller and the bank filled with pictures and stories of why our family would be good for this home.

Or maybe we could make them a cake. Afterall, the decision is somewhat arbitrary...perhaps they could be swayed.

Oh Mr. Short Sale, please pick us.

Pretty Please?

It's Time

It's time for the kids to go to bed without coming out 20 times.

Every night.

It's time to be able to shower without 3 kids staring at me.

Every day.

It's time to be able to talk to Shane without the kids yelling at us from their room because they can hear us.

Every night.

It's time to have a bathroom more than 3 feet away from my kids' bedroom door so I don't have to be so stealthy when I go to the gym.

Every morning.

It's time to buy a house.

We are officially house hunting... and I hate it.

I'm really going to miss my simple life but,

It is definitely time.

Challenge #2

Oops. I should have posted this yesterday.

Challenge #2 is: No eating after 7pm. Nothing at all. You can drink water.

Are you thinking, "I could totally do that if I wanted to. But it's dumb."

Yeah, you can't do it....but my ladies can.

And they will.

Kung Fu Panda....I hate you

I have officially banned Kung Fu Panda from our home.

It's a tragedy really because Jack Black is truly hilarious, but while there may be no cost for awesomeness or attractiveness, there is a high price for jerkyness and mean-ness.

At least at our house.

The first problem started when everyone fought over who they were in the movie.

"I'm the tiger." cried Livy.

"I'm the snake." piped Morgan

"I'm the Panda." stated Owen.

"No, I want to be the snake." Livy decides.

"NO, I'M THE SNAKE!" yells Morgan.

"No, Morgan...I decided I want to be the snake."

"NOOOOOOOO!"

"Can't you both be the snake?" I try for some peace.

"No." Livy snaps, as if I just suggested the most ridiculous thing ever.

Then it really starts.

Owen starts jumping around, trying his "kung fu" moves. Trying to kick his leg in the air, using the pillows to throw up and try to hit them mid air with split kicks.

Next thing I know he is doing kung fu off the couch onto Livy on the floor.

Livy begins to cry her brains out, mixed with a lot of screeching about how mean Owen is.

I tell Owen no more kung fu.

He runs to the toy box and gets out his hulk hands (you know, the ones you've seen at Walmart 100 times and just kept on walking because you knew they wouldn't be a good idea. I didn't buy them, let's just say that).

So he starts taking everyone out with his hulk hands.

Including me.

Not a good idea.

He keeps saying, "Mommy, fight me. I wanna fight you." and I'm in the middle of doing something and he keeps hitting me in the head and back and I know if I react angrily he will LOVE that because he WANTS me to fight him. But how do I not get mad when he's hitting me...repeatedly?

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

I take the hulk hands away.

Next thing I know Livy is screaming her head off....again.

This time Owen has his dagger and is coming right at her with it.

Of course it's just a little plastic dagger (again, not something I got for him), but you would have thought by the way Livy was screaming he was a masked man with a chainsaw coming at her.

I take the dagger away.

Then Owen found his sword and tried again.

Seriously, this kid is a slow learner.

Here's a picture of the contraband.

Here's a picture of the price you pay.

It was a rough day.

Fitness Tip #4--Know Before You Go

So you're all geared up to workout, you get to the gym, you look at all the equipment and then you realize, "I have no idea what I'm doing." It may not even be that you don't know how to use the equipment, you just haven't figured out what you're doing.

This is a recipe for failure. You're much less likely to work out hard or long because you can convince yourself, after not much time, that you've done enough.

One of the best ways to work past this is to plan your workouts before you go to the gym. Plan them 1 day in advance (good), 1 week in advance (better), 1 month in advance (best). That way you know exactly what you will be doing.

And don't just plan it "in your head"....write it down.

But I don't even know how to plan a workout...I can hear you all thinking that. Just come up with some ideas of things you've done before, things you've seen other people do, things you did in high school....if you've still got nothin' Google "free workout routines" or something like that and I'm sure you will get a million results full of plenty ideas. Just start.

Or if you want to just be really simple and say "I'm going to ride the bike" or "I'm going to walk/run on the treadmill" that's a fine place to start too. But let me show you how to plan before you go.

Your Plans Before You Get to the Gym:

Not so good--I'm going to ride the bike at the gym today.

Good--I'm going to ride the bike for 40 minutes at the gym today

Great--I'm going to ride the bike for 40 minutes, doing intervals of 4 minutes fast, 2 minutes slow

Excellent--I'm going to bike 40 minutes, 4 min fast intervals, 2 mins slow and I'm going to keep my RPM's on my fast intervals above 95.

Again, it goes back to specificity. The more concrete your goal is, the more likely you are to attain it.

If you have no idea how fast you can go or how far you can go, start paying attention to that and then you can plan your workouts better each time.

Remember, know BEFORE you go.

The Answer

I know, I know...you could hardly sleep all night you were just dying to know what it's a picture of. :)

There were some pretty good guesses. It was fascinating to try and see what you were all seeing.



Props go to Lea's 4 year old and Vanessa for guessing a turtle, although I'm not sure if they were seeing the turtle correctly.



Also props to Jenalee for seeing an icecream cone.



The person that was closest in her overall guess, however, was Jenna on her 2nd guess where she said:

oh, oh, wait, I am cheating and taking a second one. A duck and some other bird/animal sharing an ice cream cone. There, final answer.


The direct explanation from Livy was:

"A turtle and a bear sharing an icecream cone."

That is the turtles head on the left with his tongue licking the icecream. And the bear, well, I'll admit I'm a little disappointed in her artistic rendering of it. She is usually a lot better...she must have been rushed.

Give Me Your Best Guess.

One of my favorite things to do is go through Livy's school folder when she gets home.

She always draws pictures on the back of her work.

The pictures are often of me with the words "I love mom". Those are my favorite.

She also draws a lot of princesses and dogs. We get the occasional Christmas tree or other seasonal items as well.

That's why when I pulled out this picture yesterday I was baffled.

I tried to figure it out for a second, but I wasn't seeing it. So I asked and Livy told me very matter-of-factly what it was.

What do you think it is?

Are You Up?

So the triathlon training for my girls has officially begun. They are doing awesome.

I have also incorporated a weekly challenge and decided I shall post that weekly challenge on here so if any of you feel so inclined you can jump on the wagon.

Challenge for week #1: No soda...for at least a week, but preferably for the entire training period.

We have a couple addicts in the group...they are going to do it.

Can you do it?

My Karma List

Okay, so when I was in 4th grade I wasn't the nicest person.

Well...I was mean.

There is an infamous story from those days, and it goes a little something like this:

I was at an assembly and the 1st graders were sitting in front of us high and mighty 4th graders.

Everyone knows that at assemblies you had better sit on your bottom...definitely not your knees.

So this teensy little blonde 1st grader with whispy long hair and a black leather jacket was sitting ON HER KNEES in front of me. (please note I can clearly remember thinking also that since she was wearing a black leather jacket, she was most certainly not Mormon...an obvious conclusion).

I told her repeatedly that she had best sit on her buns.

She ignored me! (in retrospect I wonder if she maybe didn't even hear me...but I choose to believe she ignored me.)

So I think I insulted her...told her she was dumb or ugly or something.

Then she says to me, "Well my mom says I'm the most beautiful girl in the whole world."

And then I, without missing a beat, said, "Yeah, well your mom lies."

Seriously, when I think about that now I feel so awful. And I think if I were that little girls mom I would find my 4th grade self and punch me in the face. What a jerk!

So I'm wondering how to make all right in the world. I don't even know who that girl was?

My conclusion has been this: When I volunteer in Livy's class I try to be extra nice to the underlings...the ones the other kids don't seem to play with so naturally. I tell them they look really pretty or how impressed I am with their work.

Maybe I can help them build enough confidence in themselves so they aren't hurt by jerky 4th graders.

Maybe.