AcCoMpLiShMeNtS...

I am so proud of Matthew. We went to the pool today. We were only going to spend an hour there, but there were lots of the kids friends there and I didn't have the heart to pull them away from them. The twin boys from across the street were there and were going off the diving board. I know Matthew REALLY wanted to and he DID! FOUR TIMES!!! I knew it would be peer pressure that would get him to do this. We wanted to do what they were doing. I don't know if those reading this realize what a HUGE accomplishment this is. Matthew is afraid of heights. He is afraid of being out of control, and he is unsure of himself in deep water that he can not touch in. All of these things complicate his ability to go off the diving board. But I got in the water and was waiting for him. He was scared to DEATH. Each time seemed to set off his anxiety more and more. By the fourth time, he was grabbing his chest, spent about 10 minutes trying to get the nerve to drop off the board. People were gathering to watch him and giving him encouragement. From adults to kids, "You can do it, Matthew", "Nothing will happen, Matthew" and "GO MATTHEW" were the chants from people who know him. There are several teen girls that work summer play ground for all the kids and they just ADORE him. They all gathered and were telling him he could do it. He DID! He has wanted to do this for years and HE DID IT! I am just near tears because I know what this means for him....

NeW mOoN...

My sweet niece, Heather is here with us today. She is spending the night with a much anticipated sleep over. My children are ecstatic over it!!! She showed me the trailer to New Moon. I sooooooooooo cant wait. It looks reeeaaaaaalllly good.

Here it is if you want to see it: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi8782361/

ThE iNcReDiBLe ShRiNkiNg WoMaN...

isnt shrinking anymore. I am STILL at this blasted plateau. I cant get anywhere with this thing, despite my efforts. I am NOT giving up on this because:

I KNOW I can do this. For some reason I just need mix it up a bit more. Today I did an hour of butt busting yard work. I trimmed up all of our shrubbery and bushes. It was YICKY outside by 9 am but we did it anyway. Then we went swimming. We planned on staying for an hour, but it thundered about a half hour into it so they closed the pool. So, then I had to go out for a walk. I walked around the track four times = a mile and then my normal regular walk routine. I went to the church to water the flowers there on my way. Then I came home. I have to study for my test tonight which I DON'T want to do.

So, because I am WORTH it, I can do this. I just have to REMEMBER I am worth it and keep focused on what I have to do and what I want. Really, the weight loss is remarkable. I still sit at a 60 pound loss. Really I want to lose another 20 lbs. I am still planning and working toward that. Here are some things I saw on my walk today...

While walking at the track, I watched these huge white clouds building to the south east. This is part of the storm that went just to the east of us and got us kicked out of the pool.

After I left the track, I made my way toward the Church, but walked by the High School along the way. I looked up to the East and saw a pretty rainbow. I love rainbows. It is rare to see and they always inspire hope!

FuNnY fAcE...

Miss Madison is practicing her mad face. She is so funny. She is more lip than anything.

FaThErS'dAy...

Sometimes you get discouraged

Because I am so small

And I always leave my fingerprints

on furniture and walls.

But every day I'm growing-

I'll be grown up someday

And all those tiny handprints

Will surely fade away.

So here's a final handprint

Just so you can recall

Exactly how my fingers looked

When I was very small.

I helped the kids make salt dough hand prints for Father's Day. They really enjoyed doing it. Bethanie painted hers red, Matthew and Madison both chose metalic blue. I cant find my memory card that has the other pictures of them, so here is the one of Madison I DID have.

We made a really cute collage card for him. Now he can see how much the kids have grown over the years. We have one of Matthew when he was 16 months old that we made daddy way back when....my how time flies!

iNtRoDuCiNg...

Meet our newest member of the McCall family! Our new little nephew has been greatly anticipated! He came into the world early yesterday morning! Isn't he just beautiful! We have not been able to see him just yet, but pictured are his grandparents. Mom and dad are certainly delighted at his arrival, as we are too! Hopefully we will get to see this sweet bundle for ourselves in a few days! Welcome JUNU and congrats Randy and Christine!!!

sUrViVaL...

OK! Today is a new day. I practically missed out on yesterday, completely. I only remember bits and pieces.

I had two root canals on the lower left side, which is still a little achy. My jaw joints hurt from being propped up for so long. I had 4 fillings put in the top. They went ahead and did the ENTIRE mouth because they had a cancellation and had a free morning so my whole mouth was finished in one sitting. It took about 6 hours. But I didn't care. I felt NOTHING. I was very heavily medicated (sedated) and it lasted through the whole day and night. I still feel a little groggy, but I can at least function today. LOL! I also had my teeth cleaned. I have to go back next week some time to put the two crowns on in the lower left side where I had the root canals, but other than that, I have never seen my teeth look so PRETTY!!!! This is the last step on my self improvement tour that I wanted to do. Weight loss is something that is going to be progressive and take some time. My education will be completed by next May and now my teeth are done. I am so happy.

CoriAnn, thanks for calling me last night. I don't remember what we talked about much, just that Dorothy is trying to move around. After that, I hope you didn't tell me anything important that I needed to remember. If you did, email me OK? LOL!

Thanks to our parents who helped us through a difficult day, shuffling kids around is hard work, and involves a lot of patience on our parents. THANK YOU!!!!

HaPpY bIrThDaY!!!

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday Dear Dad!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!
(and many more!)

Today is a very special day! My dad is celebrating his birthday today! I wish you could know him as I do. He is such a good person, though he doesn't know it. He has progressed in life quite well, and has made quite the happy family!
I love you dad! I hope you have a great day!!! Sis

I mAdE a BiG dEciSiOn...

I doubt that it is too much of a secret that I am absolutely TERRIFIED of going to the dentist. I have avoided it at all cost for as long as I could. I am ashamed of how I have let my teeth go, and am not happy with how they look. So one day in the shower, without giving it much thought, I just up and decided to make the initial phone call, to go in, seek out the humiliating meeting where my mouth is closely examined, poked and prodded, x-rayed and gawked at. I did all that, and went in today to discuss the worst part of it all....the treatment plan. I have decided to get my entire lower set of teeth fixed up, cleaned up and treated properly. I will be going in on Thursday morning (I am already in the chair if you don't get this until morning) (June 18, 2009) and will be there for a whopping FOUR (yep you heard right) FOUR HOURS. I have two root canals and crowns to do and several other cavities. I cant believe I am going in to do this. I am scared spitless. I will be doing the sedation thingy so I am sure I wont really care much, but still.....just thinking about those needles in my tender gums, wishing I could cry and scream and jump out of that chair and run like no one has ever run before.....**GASP** Think I am having a little anxiety over this????? WISH ME LUCK!!!!!

ThE mOmMy FiLeS...

I have entered to win this book from Dr. Laura!!! It is called, "In Praise of Stay at Home Moms". I wanted to tell you about the link so you can go see this awesome give away!!! I would LOVE to win this book. I need all the help and encouragement I can get! Check it out and enter if you like! http://www.themommy-files.com/2009/06/dr-lauras-in-prase-of-stay-at-home-moms.html

SuMmEr TiMe FuN...

Bet you cant guess how WE spent the day today!!!

BrOtHeR...

Visit the BROTHER BLOG to see what Matthew is up to!

EcOnOmiCs 101...

This is my newest on-line class. I am scared to death with this one because there is some math in it, and I have NEVER had any sort of Algebra in my life...not even in High School...I know, huh? So, we will see just how it will affect my 4.0 GPA. LOL! I know I cant keep that 4.0 all the way through so I might as well get used to it now....Wish me luck!

BlOgGiNg..

A friend of mine showed me how to make picture collages instead of downloading them one at a time. It is a lot of fun to make them. Anyway, these are some things going on.

WeBeLoS...

Yesterday, my guys went to Webelos camp. Matthew had had enough so they came home this evening, but they had a great time. I don't think they could have asked for a better weekend weather wise. It was supposed to rain all weekend but I doubt a drop even fell on them! It was a little chilly though, and they had the boys in the pool a few times. Brrrr!
Some of the activities they participated in was:
Swimming, rock climbing wall, BB guns, archery, naturalist type stuff, geology things, mess hall (hey, what do ya expect??) There were over 200 camping this weekend, so this camp ground was really busy. Sadly, this is Matthew's last year to camp because he has one year of Webelos left and wont be going on to Boy Scouts next year. They had a lot of fun but are both glad to be home.

HiGhEr LeArNiNg...

ARGGG!! I have been waiting since fRiDaY to hear back from my Western Civ I instructor. I am taking online classes. This instructor "didn't know who I was" so she was ignoring my emails. DUH!!! On the first test I took (which are all on the computer) I was marked off on a question that misgraded me. I had it right. It was like pulling teeth to convince her that I should have that POINT. She gave me the point eventually, realizing that I was right. On the second test, she reset the test because she didn't know who I was and asked me to take it again. I told her, NO PROBLEM because I printed out my test and could just retake it in a matter of minutes. So she wrote me back and said that I got a 50/50 on it, and I didn't have to re-take it after all. **STRESS** how frustrating. I still have two tests left to take at home and a chapter summary to take, then I have three proctored tests to take up at the college and then I am finished with it!!! YAY!

CaMeRa PhOnE fUn...

I found these silly templates on my camera phone yesterday.

FoR tHe BeAuTy Of ThE eArTh...

Here are some of my lily flowers. This picture is side ways. I tried to save it rotated, but the kids are pestering me so I didn't have time to switch it again to re-download them all.

These are the white ones (again, sideways)

These are the pink ones. Not sideways. All of these I got from Church last year for Mother's day and they must really like where I planted them because they are thriving.

Look at this little flower (or weed???) I found in my yard? She posed and said, "CHEESE".

BoOk GiVe AwAyS...

I love to collect books. A friend of mine shared this on her blog. I entered the drawings and hopefully I will win something! I never win anything, but this book looks wonderful!

Shauna from the new blog "Book Giveaways"
is having a great giveaway!

"KATIE BROWN CELEBRATES" is a must-have for anyone who ever gives--or has ever thought of giving--a party.
go over and enter she has 5 to giveaway! enter by june 11. winner will be announced June 12.

Me sTiNkEtH...

We have been out doing yard work. So far we have not killed off our grass that we planted. It actually looks very nice in the back for the first time in years. I LIKE being back there now. While talking with my mom on the phone this morning, I took some pictures of my long stem roses that are in bloom.

Me Stinketh....It is hot outside and I was sweating like a pig. I need to shower...

cLaSsEs...

Today I started my first online class. I plan on taking two more if possible before August classes start up. That way I could have up to 18 hours this semester (broken up in summer and fall).

The class I started is Western Civilization I. I really hate history, and try to avoid it at all cost, but this is SO FAR (I may recant this statement later) interesting. We will see.

BoB...

Today is the day I took Madison (and Bethanie) in to fix the hair style her sissy gave to her. It was not salvageable to keep her hair the day it was after Bethanie snipped off some of her lovely long locks. Grandma's & Grandpa's will surely be in mourning over this, but the good news is...

IT'LL GROW BACK!!!

The entire time Miss Madison was in the chair, she was whining, "I don't wanna get my hair cut, I don't want a cut". It was heart wrenching since there was NOTHING I could do to make her happy.

If you think it was such a traumatic experience, think again... As you can see, she survived the event. She is happy and I tell her all the time how pretty I think her hair is. It was HARD getting her to take a picture so I can show you how it looks. The back shot was MUCH easier. LOL!

See? It isn't so bad. It is a Bob and it isn't as bad as I thought. My little girls have never really had hair cuts, just trims, and this is the shortest I have seen either of my girls hair. It takes a lot to get used to!

Just remember Grammies & Grampies-IT WILL GROW BACK (unless Bethanie does it again, or if MADISON decides to try it herself....)

KaNsAs CiTy tRiP...

On Tuesday, we had to take the kids to Kansas City because one of our kids needed to do some tests at Children's Mercy Hospital. So we thought while we were there, we would treat the kids to Worlds Of Fun, a theme park near by.

The kids LOVE staying in hotels. Kansas City is only about 4 hours away from here, but that makes a really REALLY long trip for three young children, especially for one that gets car sick. So we stayed over night. We swam in the hotel swimming pool for a while, which was a lot of fun for the kids. It was cool outside so we adults thought it was very chilly.

We had been planning on this trip for a week or so, plotting and planning and the kids didn't know about Worlds of Fun until we pulled in to the parking lot. We bought the kids new ball caps because they needed to wear them at the fun park to prevent being burned. Here is Bethanie modeling hers at the hotel...

This ride is a white water rafting ride called The Fury of the Nile. This is the before...

And this is the after, we are all wet from the water fall we had to go under. I got the brunt of the water because we hit a big wave on my side of the raft and it all went down my shirt, bra and backside. It felt nice, but the water stunk!

Bethanie and Madison loved this ride. I had to take them one at a time because Jeff had to stay with Matthew.

Here are the old fashioned cars that is there. You actually drive them by pressing the gas pedal and steering them. You cant go off the trail because of the guide in the middle of the road. The video below is of Bethanie driving with me and Madison in the back seat.

Here is Jeff and his dad (on the right with his back to us). I don't know what this line is on the picture. Weird. Maybe Jeff broke the camera. J/K!!!

Here is a close up of Bethanie driving. It was so funny how she reacted to this responsibility!

I loved this picture because I am actually in one with Matthew-and he is SMILING!

Not to mention, he actually rode a ride. This one went up in the air and around in a circle three times backward, then it stopped and went the other way. Matthew is not one for rides, but he liked this one.

Bethanie and Madison in Camp Snoopy. They LOVE swinging and I didn't think we would get Madison OFF the swings. She had so much fun and so did Bethie!

Race Car ride

Boat ride (in case you couldn't tell)

We spent a bulk of our time at Camp Snoopy. We saw Linus and Snoopy and Charlie Brown. Madison did NOT want to be near them at all. She called Snoopy "Doggie" and he tried to get near her but she would not have it.

Matthew is a lot like Linus. They both have a favorite blanket and are both rather intelligent for their ages. LOL!

Bethanie Big Girl! She had so much fun. The girls really needed to get out and do some fun things. It is a big source of stress for Matthew, but I know he did have a good time.

Our first ride of the day, I took Bethanie on a roller coaster that sort of was like tea cups but it was called Spinning Dragons. It was high up and it was on a metal rail and you spun around in a car and it twirled and whirled around curly tracks. It was her first REAL ride. I have to say it was SCARY, especially for her. She cried after we stopped and I had to carry her off of it while she sobbed. It was so funny. LOL! She had more fun on it than she thinks (after the fact).

When we were leaving, I decided that I would go on a roller coaster that I always wanted to go on. I have never been on one that your feet hang down. This one was called the Patriot. No one else would go with me, so I went on it alone. Standing in line waiting, I really didn't feel scared, or nervous. No second thoughts or anything. It was so strange. I realized I have really come a long way in my life when even thrill rides cant get a reaction out of me! It was a lot of fun though, and I squealed a bit here and there (when my head was above my feet several loopy loops in a row). But other then that, I wasn't scared.





Here is "Driving Miss Bethanie"

ThUnDeR sToRmS...

The girlies were unable to go to sleep tonight because of a thunderstorm. Daddy told them to crawl into Madison's toddler bed together, that way they wouldnt get so scared. So they did and after giggling for a while, this is what I find. My flash was really bright, I cant believe they didnt wake up from it! Matthew is still in his room awake. He is exhausted and giggly too.

wEiGhT wAtChErS...

I am still doing WW. Sadly, I am plateaued at 60 lbs. I am really frustrated because I cant get it to move more than a pound or so here or there. But, I am still working at it. Yesterday I went out for a steamy 3 mile walk. Also, I have been working out in the yard. I can tell I am using my muscles more (OUCHIE) and if I am not losing the weight, I am at least strengthening my muscles and possibly toning.