Remember This?

Our favorite family Christmas present?

It only sat in my living room for 2.5 months.

It became a big huge coloring book for the kids.

They would jump on the box and say "I'm jumping on the trampoline!"

(sad, I know)

Well, now it is this!!

Last weekend we had some downright glorious weather.

We only had a little grumbling from dad when the suggestion was made...

2 hours later...

After some help from the kids...

Viola!

(Yes, Elliot did wear his pj's all day)

Seriously, whoever invented the trampoline is a gosh darn genius!!

I'm thinking Nobel Peace Prize,

talk about creating peace.

Al Gore and Prez Obama have nothin' on the trampoline-inventor guy,

but, well...oh never mind,

I'm trying to keep my blog non-political ;)

My kids haven't slept this well all winter...

Toothless Wonder

Grace lost her other top front tooth this week. I think it is so darn cute how she talks now, I can't help but smile when I listen to her. This video isn't as good as real life, but it's pretty adorable anyway!

Look Who's....

POTTY TRAINED!!!

Maggie up to no good in her big girl unders!!

So, I was a bit reluctant to jump into the potty training again. Elliot has only been potty trained for about 8 months, and we all know what a nightmare that was. But Maggie is going to be 3 in a month, so I figured it was time. I don't know if it is karma or what, but Maggie has been a cute little piece-of-cake to potty train! One thing I learned from Elliot is that it does no one any good to potty train the mom. It can't be forced and no matter how many times you take them to the bathroom every hour on the dot, it won't do any good if they aren't ready. So one week ago today I got out her potty and explained to her that she wasn't going to wear diapers anymore. I talked to her about going on the potty, showed her the stickers she would get to put on her sticker chart every time she went, and showed the the candy she would get every time she went. What can I say, the girl is motivated my the sweets. Like mother like daughter, I guess! Then I left her alone.

Naked.

That's right. She has run around naked for most of the week. She loves her little potty and at first sat on it while she watched TV, in her birthday suit. She was so surprised and excited the first time potty came out of her and into her potty. She would carry her potty with her wherever she went. Now it has gotten to the point where she will just run over to her potty and go when she needs to. I'm not constantly asking her if she needs to go, I refuse to do that again. I just let her figure it out on her own. The only accidents she has had have been when she was wearing a pull up (if we had to go somewhere), which just reiterates my whole notion that pull ups are just more expensive diapers. She wears them at night, but has been waking up dry most mornings. I'm beyond thrilled about how easy this has been, and Maggie so so proud of herself for what a big girl she is!!

3 down, 1 to go!!

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

(That is March, right?)

It is sunny and warm today. It's supposed to get up to 60 degrees! I know it isn't officially spring yet, but it's coming, I feel it in my bones.

It makes me happy, I love spring!

Now go and be HAPPY!

On the rizzle, fo' shizzle...

(Interpretation for the parentals: On the real, for sure)

See, I'm young, I'm hip...unless of course it isn't cool to talk like that anymore, probably not. Oh well, I'm being real, right? I'm really not that cool.

So, I hurt my leg. It was about 3.5 weeks ago. I did it in a weight lifting class I do for some cross training. Pretty sure I strained my groin muscle. I don't think it was pulled because I didn't hear a "pop", it just started hurting really bad when I went to run the next day. Well, being the elite athlete I was attempting to become, I pushed through the pain.

For a week.

I ran 9 miles the following Saturday.

Bad idea.

When it finally got through my thick skull that this wasn't going to just miraculously go away I decided to take a few days off. After a few days it wasn't any better. I got new shoes from a running specialty store and found out that my left leg pronates in. This is the leg I am having problems with. I got some shoes to correct that. I then talked to my dad, who knows everything, about it. His excellent medical advice was to take ibuprofen every 8 hours, heat it up before exercise and ice it after. I continued working out on the eliptical machine because that doesn't hurt it at all. I was very diligent with the meds, heat, and ice. My leg was feeling so much better after a week that I decided to try running last Saturday. I was just going to pick up where I was supposed to be that week. 7 miles. Easy, right?

Wrong.

My leg immediately started hurting again. But I didn't stop. I thought that it just needed to warm up. Will I never learn?? I ran the full 7 miles. Boy golly did my leg hurt the next day.

So then the doubt started creeping into my fragile confidence. Was I crazy to think that I could push myself like this? A marathon? Really?! I'm no athlete, by any stretch. The minute it starts getting too tough, can my body really not handle it? Maybe I should just shoot for the half marathon in May, and try another marathon later in the year. I discussed this on and online board for runners. I got a lot of support, a lot of advice. I was reminded that people often get injured and have to take time off. You just have to adjust your training schedule and press on. So that is what I am going to do. I have been continuing with the eliptical machine this week and my leg feels okay. I'm hoping it will be well enough to run next week. We shall see. But I will press on! Windermere Marathon 2010, here I come!

Prepare yourself, every needful thing...

"We become self-reliant," explains Julie Beck, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint's organization for women, "through obtaining sufficient knowledge, education, and literacy; by managing money and resources wisely, being spiritually strong, preparing for emergencies and eventualities; and by having physical health and social and emotional well-being."

Well, gosh darnit, we sure are trying. The leaders of my church council us to try and build up a years supply of food, in case of emergency. Be prepared, that says it all. My mom has been on the food storage bandwagon for a long time, and she has helped us to catch the spirit. We have a long way to go, but we are slowly getting there. For family home evening a couple of weeks ago, after Ray scored a bunch of big white storage buckets for FREE, we washed the buckets and filled them up with some of the food we have for our food storage.

The kids sure had fun helping!

Dad did most of the heavy lifting ;)

We even have this nifty little room in our basement where we can keep all of our food storage.

I just had to show everyone my HUGE score. Long story short, Albertsons was having a sale on Quaker products, add to that these awesome coupons I stumbled upon at Winco (I only took 20, okay?!), and I ended up getting all of this oatmeal, cereal, and granola bars (about 80 boxes of those) for about 32 cents each!!! Woo Hoo!!

My dear sweet husband said "I really need to get a gun to protect our food supply now that you are going to put that picture on the internet!"

**giggle** He and Glenn Beck, they're tight!

Weekend Love

The kids had another 4 day weekend (the second in a month, c'mon!!) and the weather was so nice! We went over to Lake Coeur d'Alene to walk around. It was so beautiful.

I can't wait to see this in the summer when the trees are all in bloom. But there is something so beautiful about those intertwined, leafless branches, don't you think?

PARK!! Run for it!

Monkeybar love...

We were following the Moose Trail...the kids were so excited to find the moose!

On Sunday we had our annual Valentine's cookie decorating party. Maggie and Naomi were a little sick, so we stayed home from church. Maggie helped me make the cookies (she washed her hands, promise ;) ).

Oh man, this cookie recipe was soooo good! I also made this frosting...YUM!

I got the new "neon" food coloring. Not sure if I like it, I think I'm more of a traditional color kind of girl.

Naomi sure did enjoy it! Poor Maggie was asleep during the decorating but she very much enjoyed the finished product when she woke up! That's all that really matters, right!?

Sugary yummy goodness!!

As for the rest of our 4 day weekend, well, we made the kids help clean the house. It can't be all fun and games, right?!