i need your opinion...

i have some good news... through eating better and adding (just a little) exercise back into my life i have managed to lose 15 pounds in 7 weeks. i have a long way to go but this is a pretty good start. seems i got lazy after baby number 3 and just kinda gave up. and unfortunately with the hubby being out of work for so long eating right was just kinda out of the budget. don't let anyone tell you it is cheaper to eat better. yea, vegetables don't cost very much over all, but you actually have to buy MORE of them because they have so few calories. mac and cheese costs less than 2 dollars and i can feed 5 people dinner... that doesn't make it good for me though.

so, why am i telling you this? well, i have set up a reward plan for myself. i am going to start my sleeves (well, not full sleves, just 3/4) and i am getting close to goal number one. i was going to start at 20 pounds and i am almost there. i am really quite excited, but i dont have anything drawn up yet. right now it is kind of just an idea that i have had in my head for a while. for anyone that knows me i have the 2 dragons on my arms already. here they are:


(and before anyone mentions it... i know i need to get some of the sun redone as there was a lot of orange shading in it and i think that is not a color i hold well. i will need to figure something out for that as well...)

as you can see, they are opposites and i want to keep up that theme on my arms. i also want to keep with the "fantasy" theme as well. so here is my idea. i would like to put cute & good fantasy stuff on one side and ugly (well, not too ugly) & bad stuff on the other side. you know like fairies and demons. problem is i don't know which side to use for what. i have a color scheme going already (warm/cool colors) but i don't know if i should use the cool colors for the bad or good side and vice versa. so i need your help and opinions... please let me know what you think i should do and why.

Happy Father's Day

i have been blessed in this life to have many father's in my life that have made my life special.

i will start with my own father. while i grew up away from him, he always made the time we had together special. i will always remember the times we went tubing down the river and that he would always take us to the organ pizza place even though i can only imagine that he tired of the food. i only wish i had more time to spend with him. it has been almost 6 years now since he passed away. i am comforted in that he was able to meet his grandson and take him to that same pizza place i loved so much as a child.

next up is my step-father. you has been in my life for as long as i can remember. you have watched me grow up into the woman that i am today. you ordered a limousine for a father-daughter dance i wanted to go to. you helped guide me through the throws of what will now be known as the high school experiment. you are there whenever i need you to be there or even just to talk about life. and last but not least, you take my children to the zoo when i need a moment to breathe. i appreciate that more than you know.

now for my husband, i know that you don't always feel like you are the best dad in the world and you have your moments of insecurity and doubts, but our children know that you are the best dad in the world to them. even though this thing with work has been difficult and we have had to make sacrifices to make it through, it has given them the opportunity to be home with you and learn from you and they know that you are great. we all love you more than you know.

for my oldest son's dad, you have never let our issues come between you and your son. he knows that you will always be there for him and to him, everything that you do is "awesome." i have never seen such adoration in a little boy's eyes, but when he talks about you i know how much he loves you. you are everything that he wants to be when he grows up and i hope that he is as great a father as you are to him.

for all of my friends that are fathers, i know that you are all wonderful men. you all do what you can to be part of your childrens' lives no matter what your situation and they will be better for it. i know it is important to have good role models while you are growing up and i am confident that you all fit very well into this category. if all the fathers in the world were as great as thee ones i know i think the world would be a better place. so to all of you, Happy Father's Day. each and every one of you deserve it.

Rockies Game

We got to go to the rockies game on Thursday... my company has season tickets and i won the drawing for this game. Honestly i think i may have been the only one in the running for this game as i work a weird schedule and i have thursdays off... so i went through all the thursday listings and signed up for the ones with the lowest number of people wanting to go. we managed to get there in time and the seats we had were great! here's our view of the game.
of course the first thing the kids wanted was lunch... so of course we got hot dogs! (well, M wanted a hot dog until we got to the counter... then she wanted nachos, but the rest of us had a hot dog.) After the hot dogs the kids lasted about 5 minutes before they wanted something else to eat... cotton candy seemed to be what they wanted now. here they are before the cotton candy... and here they are after... overall, i think they had a lot of fun, and they were so tired after the game that they both fell asleep in the car before we even got to Dave and Buster's for dinner.

Summer is off to a great start. the kids got to hang out last week and play since we had to take G to the airport on Tuesday to go visit his dad in HAWAII!!... lucky kid! here they are playing in the sun and having a good time...

(i don't think i was ever this comfortable in a bikini... i must be doing something right with her!)

and M had a HUGE cavity in one of her front teeth so they pulled them today... it certainly wasn't fun for her, but she got over it pretty quick and now she is all ready for a visit from the tooth fairy... i guess i should leave her something good since they had to be pulled and they didn't just fall out... no candy though! that is what got us here to begin with!