What a good day!!!

Other than the fact that the girls woke me up at 6:20am this morning - this is going to be a good day... I can just feel it. I weighed in this morning and I'm down 23 lbs (I know I can't believe it either), it's another BEAUTIFUL day, my house is clean, I'm drinking coffee and a good brisk walk to the park with the girls is calling my name.... I love days like this. I couldn't ask for better - well maybe if the girls didn't have this nagging cold (it just keeps getting passed back and forth)....

Anyway - I hope you all enjoy this beautiful day as well!!! Get outside and enjoy the weather - it's not going to last long - we are in Oregon after all.....

He was injured....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-8Ihsccknw

Again?


Another College shooting?
My heart breaks for the families and friends of the 5 students who lost their lives yesterday at the shooting at NIU. My heart also breaks for the family and friends of the shooter - who took his life as well without leaving any reason as to why he did it. His dad came out of his house to tell the reporters to leave him alone that this was a very hard time for him - he apparently threw his arms up in the air and wept - I can't even imagine how he must feel....
This kind of thing scares me so much. I remember the Columbine shooting - I was still going to highschool at the time and was SURE that our school was next - the first week back to school after that shooting I remember feeling so unsure about everything and everyone. Now school shootings are becoming a somewhat normal thing. There have been so many I can't even remember them all. It makes me want to homeschool and shelter my girls from any possible dnager (of course I know I can't). I just don't understand why these things happen.

-18

Yep that would be 18lbs down!!! That is all - have a good day!!!!! I know I will.

No Nap!!!

So today Molly decided she did not want a nap - I let her lay up there for about an hour before deciding to bring her downstairs (to avoid her waking up Charlotte). Now she is sitting watching Cinderella eating a snack and is going to play with playdough for the first time....

May I ask you other moms out there - at what age did your kids stop taking a daily nap? Isn't she a little young? I don't think she is DONE taking naps - but she is obviously NOT tired right now..... am I closing in on the no more nap zone??? I don't think I'm ready for that yet.....

Yippie!!!

15 lbs to date! As of this morning I am down 15 lbs and Jon is down 16. I am so proud of us!

Together we have lost a toddler - pretty disgusting huh?

Speaking of toddlers - Molly is hiding underneath a blanket singing and Charlotte is trying to vacuum the stool - both in just their panties and diaper - man I love them! :)

That is all for now! Love you all!

Pathetic Night....


So tonight is one of those nights that I would call pathetic. I am sitting at home alone, well that's not fully true - the girls are upstairs sleeping, but mostly I'm home alone. Jon is at James' show tonight and I'm home with the babes. Normally I wouldn't have any problem with it - however tonight I have a really bad headache, nothing is on tv, I'm not into a good book, and I have eaten all my calories for today - so no snacking.... So I'm online trying desperately to fill my time and watching American Gladiators.... that's a whole 'nother post.... I will probably end up going to bed very soon. Jon just called and said that the first band hasn't even come on yet and it's 10pm - James doesn't play until third - Jon wont be home until well after 1am - I am not staying up for him - there is no way.

Hey but on a very exciting note - I'm down 12 lbs and I haven't missed one day of working out - Wednesday will be 4 weeks! I'm proud!

Well that's all for tonight.

I'm pretty much positive I'm going to bed now.

Duh!

So yesterday morning around 5am - Jon was getting ready to leave for work and we had heard the girls stering a bit but knew that they would go back to sleep. I needed to sneeze and really didn't want to do it because I was afraid it might wake the girls more... so I held it back and by doing so when I did sneeze I jerked my head so bad that I ended up hurting my neck badly. I had a doctors appointment for something else that day and while I was there I asked the doctor to look at my neck - she ended up prescribing some muscle relaxers. They don't work as well as I would like - really they just make me tired... oh well I'm sure my neck will heal with time - I'm such a moron!!! I wish I could have had a cooler story behind it - but no... just sneezing!! Man I'm getting old! :)

I have to give myself a slap on the back though (if it didn't kill my neck to do so) I still managed to do my workout last night without injuring my neck any further. I was freaking out that my stupid neck injury was going to possibly put a damper on my workout routine - but it didn't - I sucked it up and worked out anyway - drugged and everything! :)

It's been 2 weeks and 3 days so far and I havne't missed a single day of working out - some days I've done it twice a day. As of Wednesday morning I was down a total of 7 lbs and this morning I was down 2 more!! My doctor is thrilled with my progress and I have to admit - so am I!

Anyway - I think I'm going to go lay down while the girls are napping and get a little shut eye!

I'm Back!!!

I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything knew.

So what's new you ask? Well let's see.... We had an amazing Christmas. The girls got so many gifts we had to actually move our furniture around just to accomodate. The day after Christmas was probably even better than the day of. The girls walked down stairs and literally walked from toy to toy to toy beaming with excitement - it was so classic. New Years Eve was nice. We started the evening over at Angela and Zack's party at the "Money Pit". We only stayed for about an hour and then headed home (we didn't have a sitter). We went over to our neighbors house and hung for about another hour when Jon decided to take the girls home and put them to bed - he let me stay. My neighbor and I ended up sitting and talking for a while and got a bit drunk off of wine - it was fun. I continued going back and forth between Jon and my neighbors and Jon finished off the night over there with all of us - it was fun.
Jon and I made a New Years resolution to finally kick our butts and lose this weight. We are so tired of constantly complaining and doing nothing. For Christmas Jon bought me "The Firm" work out videos and step stools. I havne't missed a day yet - it is just shy of an hour work out - very intense and very awesome. I have found my passion! I love to work out! I actually look forward to working out - how crazy is that! I feel like I've been missing out this whole time. We are eating well again too - I just feel happy and put together (you know what I mean?).

Anyway - life is good in the Powell house.

I will try to post more often and respond to all your posts too.

House Hunting on Pause

Well it looks like we will be staying in this house a little longer. For any of you that didn't know - we made an offer on a house out in North Plains last week - and after an entire week of still hearing nothing "official" back we decided that we just didn't want to deal with these people. It made us nervous the way they were handling everthing or lack of handling everthing... Jon and I are in no rush to move - when we find the right house we will know and we will move then... until then we are happy in our little home for now.

I'm kind of relieved that we are going through the process right now - it's nice to focus just on Christmas and this time of year. I love Christmas but ever since we started looking into another house we kind of put Christmas on hold - we almost didn't get a tree - thank goodness we decided to get one anyway.... once the house thing was put on hold - our Christmas spirits are back!!!

Well it's late and I need to go to bed - we have a long day/days ahead of us!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!!!

Done!

I know you are all going to shoot bullets at me or atleast spit in my general direction - but I still have to tell you.... I'm done with Christmas shopping - - nenernenernener... other than just a few finishing touches - I'm done. I can't really believe it either. Jon and I had been saving money out of each check to put toward Christmas over the past year because we just hated feeling so tight last year. We cashed it out about 3 weeks ago and since then I've been in a shopping frenzie - literally. I basically have spent money every single day for the past 3 weeks. It's been fun. I feel so free to actually enjoy this Christmas season. I don't have to worry about rushing around with all the crazys trying to find that one last specific item that might be sold out or in that fat ladies hands and she wont give it up even though it's a barbie doll and she doesn't have any kids to buy for - she just wants it for her collection... you know exactly who I'm talking about - they are out there - at every store - some are men, some are women - but they almost always are fat and absolutely obnoxious..... Anyway, so once again to rub it in your face... I'm done!!! :) I will however offer to watch your chillins for a couple hours if you need to get out there and find some "santa gifts"!

Well now that I've made myself a target - I will go.

Dentist Visit....

So yesterday Jon and I both had dentist appointments. His was at 2pm and mine was at 3pm. The girls and I met Jon there to do the trade off while I had my teeth cleaned. Jon had just had 2 cavities filled and was a bit numb - he kissed me and I think only half of his mouth actually worked - it was pretty funny.

I only had one cavity - I was pretty surprised - it has been over 3 years since I had gone to the dentist. My cavitiy is in one of my wisdom teeth. You see - my wisdom teeth came in perfectly straight and I had a lot of room for them - however it's hard to clean them - and I am religious about cleaning my teeth - twice a day I brush, floss and gargle mouth wash - but I can't really reach back there to floss and the toothbrush it self barely fits... so after discussing my "issues" with the dentist he has reccomended that I just get them removed. So I am meeting with the oral surgeon tomorrow afternoon to discuss when they will be removed.... Am I strange to kind of want this? I've never been put to sleep and that fascinates me and everyone I know has had their wisdome teeth pulled - I'm one of those rare few that haven't gone through it - I'm kind of strangely excited. I know I'm weird.

The Awakeners

Oh my goodness. I've never finished a book so quickly. I started reading this book last Monday and finished it last night a little after nine. It was hard to put the book down. What an amazing story. If you haven't read the book yet - I strongly encourage it. I don't usually get into fantasy novels - but this book has changed my opinion.

Thank you mom for letting me borrow the book!

Now I need a new book - suggestions anyone?

5 birthdays, a baby shower and a Wedding.

Sounds like a movie title doesn't it? Nope - just my next 2 weeks wrapped up into a sentence.... We have 2 birthday parties and a baby shower this Saturday. Sunday we have a birthday party and are missing one birthday that happens to be at the same time as Lauren's (obviosly we will be going to Lauren's). Next Saturday we have a birthday party in the morning and a wedding in the afternoon.... I feel like I need to take a deep breath before it all starts.

On a related but seperate note - Sarah and I went to Target today and were able to get all 5 birthday gifts. I walked away very satisfied and happy with every gift I bought. We were also able to even get a couple of Christmas gifts while we were there. I couldn't believe how good my girls did - you all know how horrible they are when we go anywhere - but today they actually did really good. I actually felt a little relieved when I got into the car to go home - normally by the time we are leaving - both girls are crying - I am near tears and wishing I had never left the house - which I know is just not a possibility - most days I just end up not going anywhere because I dred leaving the house - I know they are going to be awful - but today made me see what my future might hold.... I hope I hope I hope!

Anyway - wish me and my family luck in the next 2 weeks. :)

Okay so we finally got some of the pictures - however they kind of suck. There are only a few that actually turned out. I sent some of you these over e-mail but here they are in case I didn't send them to you....

Bummer huh? Oh well - we are still learning with this camera.... I hope we figure it out before the next big event.

Halloween Pictures to Come Soon

I know it's been already over a week.... Heres the deal - we have uploaded the pictures and videos onto our computer - however at this point we need to make the videos so you all can see them too - not sure how to yet - we're working on it. The pictures are very very blurry. The new video camera doesn't take good stills - bummer. So we will pick through the lot and hopefully within the next couple of days we will have some up and available for you to look at them.... the videos aren't great either - the lighting wasn't really good for capturing the moment - so they are kind of dark - but it's still funny to watch and see all the costumes again - I think my favorite part (other than the continual capturing of Stephan going down the stairs - Jon wanted him to fall badly) is the morning after - we all look... well hung over! :)

I think the best news though (for me atleast) is that all the other videos are great - we have really gotten some cute stuff of our kids and Sarah's kids - the funniest is of the 4 of them playing in my living room - Hayden and Lauren were break dancing and then Charlotte started to copy them - I was laughing so hard that night and again when we watched it - there were tears... good stuff! :)

Anyway - we will try our damndest to get them out asap! Sorry for the wait.

Love you all,

Em

No Anal Leakage - but many more.....

So finally I went to the doctor about the whole Insomnia bull crap. She thinks I'm anxious/depressed and restless. So I've been put on this stuff for all three - I am supposed to take one to two pills a night before bed - if after a couple weeks I'm not noticing a change she wants to put me on Prozac... yikes - Prozac - that kind of freaks me out a bit. The side effects to this one drug are hilarious - I read them to Jon and after reading the "novel" to him he said "yeah but you'll sleep better". Let me list a few of them.... excess sweating, nausea, weakness, weight gain, increased appetite especially for sweets, eye pain, hair loss, twitching of the face or tongue, uncontrolled movements of the arms and legs, difficulty speaking or swallowing, unusual bleeding or bruising, seizures.... the list goes on and just continues to worsen.... basically I get to become a possible nutcase twitching and what not but I might be able to get a night of sleep.... The doctor assured me that MOST people do not experience any of the side effects at all - but that there are a few that do.... am I one of the few that do or am I gonna be lumped into the MOST catagory.... I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Last night I took the pill - I started with just one and I still had a bit of trouble getting to sleep - I took it at 9:30pm and I didn't fall asleep until after midnight.... I also woke up about 10 times - thanks to the girls - they just didn't want to sleep last night. So we'll try it again tonight and see how it does....

Ever felt like punting a two year old?



I made the mistake of taking two whiny kids to Target and expected it to be a somewhat decent experience... HA! I've never experienced such awfulness (new word). The entire trip consisted of one or both of my girls crying or whining over something. It was rediculous. I am upstairs right now calming down after dinner because it's just been ONE OF THOSE DAYS.... It all started with an early wake up - both girls crying and really not ready to be up - then they continued to whine until after lunch when I laid them down for a nap. Charlotte took a pathetic excuse for a nap and woke up crying and whining until Molly woke up crying and whining. Then I made the huge mistake of taking them to Target with Sarah and her 3 kids.... can you say duh? Guess what they did there? Oh you guessed right - whined.... cried.... yelled.... cried some more..... I was so anxious by the time I left that I nearly broke into tears when I got in the car.... Luckily Jon was home when I got home and took the girls upstairs while I made a quick dinner (soft tacos). We ate dinner and Jon sent me away - he said - "go upstairs and relax- take the laptop and your book and go" - he wouldn't even let me help him with giving them a bath. Angela called me just as I sat down - with some irritating news - not on her behalf but just more DRAMA from a psycho lady we used to go to church with (you all know who I'm talking about). I don't even want to go into it - just basically more crap from a lady full of crap..... So now I am blogging.... I plan on reading a book for a little while and then going back down to deal with the babes. Thank God I have such a great husband! :)

I just hope tomorrow is a little less awful..... I just need a good night sleep.

Jealousy sucks!


So one of my old neighbors (Rachel and Brennan) just announced that they are pregnant and due mid April - I would have been a few weeks behind them.... is it bad of me to be jealous and a little bitter about their good news? It's funny because every day that goes by since I lost the baby I've kind of gotten more and more into the mind set of waiting for a while before we have another - but hearing their news just made me sad, jealous, bitter and of course a bit envious.... I guess I will probably have emotions like this for a while. I'm not angry with them for being pregnant of course - just angry that I'm not I guess....

Anyway - that was my little rant for today.

Recipe Swap

Okay - recently I sent an e-mail to swap some of your favorite recipes.... I want to do it on here too - give me your favorite, easy, non expensive, not hard to find ingredients for either dinner, appetizers or desserts!!!
I need some new ideas - do you?


Here is mine:
Onion Onion Chicken (delicious in your mouth)
2 chicken breasts
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 can chicken broth
garlic salt to taste
1 onion (sliced to sautee)
1/2 stick of butter (or oil)
1/2 can French Friend Onions
1 cup uncooked rice (2 cups water)
1 can of corn

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken breasts in pan, dump cream of mushroom soup and chicken broth over the top and sprinkle garlic to your liking. Bake for 1 hour. Meanwhile (about 20 minutes before chicken is done) sautee onions in butter or oil over medium heat and make rice. Start corn about 10 minutes before chicken is done. Also 10 minutes before chicken is done dump french friend onions over top and continue baking. Serves 2 big meals. Most delicious when each bite has a little (or a lot) of everything on it. I guarantee you you will like it - well maybe not you veggies out there - but you can probably use a Portabela (spelling?) mushroom in place of chicken.

Enjoy!

Now get to posting your delicious goodnesses!
1 can of corn