a few more.

the momma duck left for a minute and so we snapped a few pictures of just the babies!!

they are so adorable!! 

I just want to pick one up and cuddle them. 

but i wont. 

they hatched!!

and they are so cute!!

rough day.

yesterday was a rough day. 

I had to go get an upper gi endoscopy. 

I was not all that nervous because I have had one done before. 

I was feeling pretty good when we showed up at the hospital. 

Garran sat with me through registration and then had to go out to the waiting room. 

I went and got my IV and was wheeled back to the room for my procedure. 

this time was a little different. 

there was not an official anesthesiologist, just a nurse and  drugs to make me sleepy and then I was out.

 the part that was not so great was the fact that i woke up half way through the procedure. 

i never opened my eyes. not because I didn't want to, but i was not really able to. 

I just remember coming to enough to realize that something was down my throat and I remember hearing the doctor and the nurse say to me that I just needed to calm down and try to breath through my nose. it seemed like forever that i was choking on that thing, but it must have only been a few minutes and then they must have given me some more drugs because the next time i woke up I was in the recovery room with a horrendous sore throat!

then we were headed home. 

i was so ready. 

i was feeling really groggy from the meds and just wanted to rest. 

however when we pulled up in the drive way i saw two boys messing with our duck nest. 

as soon as they saw us they took off running. 

i guess i have become more attached to this little nest than i had realized. 

I was so angry that they were messing with it. 

When I went over to check i noticed one of her eggs was missing. 

i was so mad at those little boys. 

i am sure they were just curious, but I am sure that egg is no more also. 

The mam duck came back and is back on her nest. i am sure she realizes one is missing. 

I should not get so attached, but I do. I can't help it. 

gum.

For some reason this child decided it would be a good idea to stick his gum in his armpit. 

WHY?? 

I do not know.

Sometimes I wonder why my children do a lot of the things that they do.

We decided to try and use peanut butter to get it off because it would not come off with a rag. 

Peanut butter did the trick. 

Go Figure. 

Guess we will see what happens tomorrow!

notes.

Cullan leaves us little notes all over the place to find.

This one made Garran laugh so much that he brought it to me. 

rolls.

I thought I would post this because it is disappearing so quickly. 

I love the little arm pit rolls. 

They are so sweet and remind me of when they were smaller and chubbier. 

Proud Momma!!

today we took the kids to the y to go swimming. they are getting better with each time that we go. 

Briea wowed us all today when she just hopped right up on the big diving board and jumped off. 

she was just following Kael's example i guess. 

Cullan was not found of the board at first. He likes to swim under water with his goggles and see what he can discover. 

finally at the end, right before we left he decided to go off the board and go down the slide, but I did not get a video. 

I am so proud of my kiddos. 

It always makes me happy to see them try new things and not be afraid to do something they have not done before!!

goggles.

our local YMCA has a family swim night each week. 

the kids have come to love it and can hardly wait for it. 

they are all little fishes. 

they all asked if they could get some goggles and so we found some cheap little goggles at Walmart. 

 Cullan ready to dive in!

Ayla... I mean could she get any cuter??

She is ready for the pool!!

fiesty.

today i had to stop at the grocery store.

as i was leaving i pulled up to the stop sign and this fella just blew right past me. ran the stop sign and all. I thought he was cute and meant business!!

Garran always jokes about how we will have scooter races when we get older. 

I could see this guy drag racing with some of his friends ;0)

jokes.

I don't know why but this really made me laugh. 

Thought I would share!!

um yes....more t-ball

Briea likes to take care of her brothers!

She likes to make sure they are well hydrated, and then steal some of their drinks for herself. 

 I know she is mine and that I am bias, but sometimes I am blown away by how beautiful she is. 

 After the game the kids got push pops and kool-aid.

Cullan is such a handsome kid.

 Kael is handsome as well and so full of personality.

 And Briea, She is just funny and sweet with a whole lot of sassy mixed in.

 I thought Kael had wondered off but then I turned around and saw this. 

He was sitting with a little girl from his team watching the stream and talking. 

They are getting better and better with each game. 

I love watching them play

Boom Shhhh.

so the boys have taken to beat boxing lately. 

in case you are wondering...yes i am loving every minute of it. 

i think it is hilarious. in a cute way, not in a making fun of my kids way.

they are so serious about it and even come up with moves to go along with it sometimes. 

they asked me to make a video of them doing their stuff!!! 

please enjoy!

Of course Briea could not be out done by her brothers, so she asked to join in. 

They decided that they would beat box and she would sing.

This was AWESOME!!

I was trying so hard not to laugh. 

I mean they were just adorable!!

They boys working their magic....and Briea...Well you will just have to watch and see!

I love that my kids have so much personality. 

I love that I video tape them. 

I am going to love these for many years to come!!

Good News.

This was me about 30 minutes after leaving my meeting with the surgeon!!

Woo HOO!

He said I look good to go. 

They are going to submit everything to insurance and then we will set the date pretty much!

I have one more class to go before surgery. 

I am feeling good. 

I am down 20 pounds with just exercise and diet. 

My surgeon said on average people tend to go down about 100lbs. 

Some people more and some less. It just depends on how hard they work and if they stick to the diet. 

I am really excited about getting this done and getting a date set. 

Wish me luck!!

City

Garran and I had to go into the city today and so we left the kids at home with a sitter. 

I always like when Garran gets to come in with me. Even if we just walk around for a little while. It is nice to spend some time together.

I thought these buildings were kind of fun!

Next we went to China town. 

 This was me at the restaurant. It is just a little whole in the wall place, but it was nice to get a little snack. It was so hot outside, it felt nice to just sit somewhere that had AC!

 Here is Garran showing off his chop sticks. 

No there is nothing special about them. He just wanted them in the picture!

This was our view. 

Nice little view of one of the streets in China Town.

But sadly we had to head back and our afternoon was over. 

Good Bye City!!!

Until we meet again..

Father's Day

Only A Dad

by Edgar A. Guest

Only a dad with a tired face, Coming home from the daily race, Bringing little of gold or fame To show how well he has played the game; But glad in his heart that his own rejoice To see him come and to hear his voice. Only a dad with a brood of four, One of ten million men or more Plodding along in the daily strife, Bearing the whips and the scorns of life, With never a whimper of pain or hate, For the sake of those who at home await. Only a dad, neither rich nor proud, Merely one of the surging crowd, Toiling, striving from day to day, Facing whatever may come his way, Silent whenever the harsh condemn, And bearing it all for the love of them. Only a dad but he gives his all, To smooth the way for his children small, Doing with courage stern and grim The deeds that his father did for him. This is the line that for him I pen: Only a dad, but the best of men.

Happy Father's Day

To my amazing husband who does so much for us and asks for so little in return. 

Our children are lucky to have you as am I.

Love You.

Awkward

Tonight Briea and I were laying on my bed watching Sense and Sensibility. Briea had not been feeling well and so had stayed up later than the other kids. When Garran came in to go to bed, Briea rolled over and looked at me and said, "Well this is awkward!". I don't know where she comes up with this stuff but I just laughed and laughed. Then when I repeated what she said for Garran she told me "Mom, that was our sweetrick". Garran says that is brieas version of a secret, just with a little extra sweetness added on!

Oh I love moments like this. The funny things they say. They make feel so lucky to be there mom!

command.

the other day Garran and the kids were listening to some music. 

i guess a certain song came on and Briea yells at the boys....

"I COMMAND YOU TO DANCE!!'

dancing is pretty important in our house!

T-Ball Jig

Cullan developed a T-ball Jig!!

little mama

I am not sure if i have posted this or not, but we have a little mama duck that has made her nest right out side our front door. so far we have counted 6 eggs when she has gotten off the nest to go eat and do other things. we have been rather protective trying to keep neighborhood kids away....as well as our own. we like to watch her through our front window. I am so excited to see the little ducklings. we are thinking we have about 15 more days or so before they hatch. that is only a rough guess from research we have done on the Internet!!

I will keep everyone posted, (i don't know that anyone is interested besides us) but I am going to update it anyways!

Bass!

Sometimes when we are riding in the car, I put this children's cd on for the kids. One of the songs, "the Itsy bitsy spider" has quite a bit of bass. I always laugh because the same thing always seems to happen. First people pull up next to our van and look at me like "What in the world are you listening too with all that bass?". Then if the windows are down and they actually hear. I always laugh when they realize we are rocking out to "Itsy bitsy spider"!

portraits!!

since Garrans job has been a little off this summer, we were talking and thought it would be a good time for him to do portraits for people. he is always being asked about doing them, but honestly during the school year, he is just to busy.

so now that we have what seems to be some free time, he is open for business!!

I am waiting on some examples of portraits that he has done from people that we have given them to in the past. 

I do however have some stuff that is just out of his sketch book. 

Now remember these are just sketches. The finished project would look different. 

He can work from a picture if he needs to. 

Price would depend on size and what medium you want it done in. Example if you wanted it painted or drawn..etc. 

If you are interested  you can email me or comment here. 

My email is garransgirl@gmail.com

feeling better!

I think I was just having a down week last week. I had not lost any weight that week and was just feeling bummed. However I feel a renewed sense of things will work out and I will continue to make progress. I know things are not moving as fast as I would like. I also know that it is at this point that I get frusterated because the weight seems to stall and not come off. 

That is exactly why I am having this surgery. 

It is just like the surgeon said. It is leveling the playing field. 

With some of my health issues he said to imagine it was like I was at a race but starting 20 yards back behind everyone with a backpack of extra weights on. He said that the surgery was just a tool to level the playing field and get me up to the starting line with everyone else. 

it made so much since to me since I have felt that way many times in my life, especially when I have been trying to lose weight in the past. I have watched it just melt off others, and mine just barely drop little by little. Even when I was being supervised. It is so frustrating and emotional to feel like a failure at something you want so badly. 

then i would stop because I would kind of feel like....what is the point? it was a vicious cycle. 

I am so ready to make this change and have this surgery. 

I really think it will change my life for the better!!

one more.

for those of you that read the hunger games, i actually had this thought.

i knew if it was me. I would not make it long at all!!

a laugh!

even though i am not exercising so that i can eat cupcakes, this still made me laugh!!

i guess you have to find motivation where you can!!

moments!

sometimes i really think that humorous moments find me.

i really don't go seeking them out. 

sometimes it might just be that I find things humorous that others might not. 

but here are two examples. 

example 1:

garran and i have been going to the ymca in the mornings to work out. usually two days a week we go and swim laps in the pool since we both really enjoy swimming. 

for some reason, i am guessing it is just the time of day, we always seem to get the same lifeguard.

oh my word!!

she stands right over our two lanes. 

she does not hoover over anyone else. just us.

and she doesn't just stand there, she sings....at the top of her lungs!

she always has the radio on the pool deck tuned into christian rock.

(let me just go ahead and say...not my favorite)

so here Garran and I are trying to swim laps and every time we come up for air, here is "american idol" (that is what we affectionately call her) standing right at the end of our lane singing at the top of her lungs, some Christian rock song and dancing!! 

we always wonder how we get so lucky, but we still have not come up with a good answer to that question!

example 2:

my doctor had ordered some tests for me, one that included a chest x-ray.

pretty normal experience. 

well not for me.

i go into the room to have my x rays done and she puts me into the first position. as I am standing their i hear her giggling behind the wall. i am wondering if my heart and ribs are all that amusing. is their something in these shots i should be worried about? instead she continues to giggle and says, "sorry, technical difficulties!!". i thought ok. so we redid some of the shots and then did a few more. When she was all done she came out from behind the wall and just kind of stood there. We enjoyed an awkward silence before she says to me, "So, is there anything else I can do for you?". I thought to myself....hmm I don't know, I don't thinks so. Are you handing out free x-rays? I mean I guess we could x-ray my foot or something? But I just said no and she walked me back to the dressing room. She told me that she would wait while I changed so that she could show me how to exit and not get lost. So i proceeded to get dressed and when I opened the curtain, their she was. Awkwardly close! Again we enjoyed an awkward silence before I said, "shall we go?'. 

She showed me the exit and then was gone in a flash!

I have to admit it was the most enjoyable x-ray i have an in a while!

last day.

i decided to compare pictures from the first and last day of school. 

Cullan and Mrs. B on the first day of Kindergarten.

 Cullan and Mrs. B on the last day of school.

(a friend of mine pointed out that in the first picture his smile looks a little forced and unsure, but in the bottom you can see that he just loves her and is so comfortable with her!)

she was a great kindergarten teacher and i really hope kael gets her this next school year as well!

And of course the K-man!! 

this was his first day of preschool! 

he was so excited and nervous. 

it was so cute. 

 and here he was on the last day of preschool!

they had a party at a park in town and the kids got to do bubbles, sidewalk chalk, all sorts of fun things and eat ice cream as well!! 

 I was pretty happy with Kael's teacher as well. 

We just got word that Briea got into the same program that Kael was in this year and so I will have three kids in school next year. 

Two going full day, and one 1/2 day. 

I can not believe i have a 1st grader and a Kindergartner. 

The time is just going so fast. 

won't you be my neighbor!

today was our neighbors birthday. she just happens to be an elderly woman who has really come to love our kids. they call her grandma at her request and go over to visit her often. 

today i was at the store and decided to pick up some flowers. I divided them up and had each of the kids take some over to her. she was really surprised and gave each of them a hug. One thing that I really one to teach my kids is that it never hurts to be thoughtful and do kind things for others. I am not always the best at it, but you don't see a whole lot of people being super neighborly or just doing nice things for others anymore. hopefully my kids will want to do nice things for others as they get older. 

I'll keep my fingers crossed! ;0)

alike.

sometimes these two are so much alike it is unreal. 

go figure the oldest and youngest, but they are. 

two peas in a pod!

more t-ball.

There are probably going to be a lot of t-ball posts until t-ball season is over. 

i can't help it.

I just love watching them out there playing baseball!

sara's birthday

Briea had just gotten in trouble before we started, hence her pitiful face.

baking.

so we were having a surprise baby shower/farewell party last night. 

it was not really a party. 

it was just myself and 3 other girls that get together on a regular basis. 

we thought it would be fun to just have a little get together.

i said I would bring the desserts. 

i saw this chocolate oreo cake on pinterest and decided i would try it. 

for once it came out beautiful. 

just like the picture. 

i had just finished icing it when I handed it to garran. 

i literally said, "don't drop it" when I turned around and heard SPLAT!

this is what was left of my cake!

 poor garran's eyes were the size of silver dollars. 

all he could say was that he was so sorry and that he didn't know what happened. 

all i could do was laugh. 

i just could not help myself. 

i was laughing so hard i was crying. 

i know garran thought i would be mad, but i wasn't. 

things happen. 

oh my ribs hurt all night from laughing so hard when that cake hit the floor. 

luckily i had a back up plan. 

i had also seen these on pinterest. 

french toast cupcakes, maple frosting, with bacon pieces on top.

 these were my finished project. 

they were so yummy. 

Garran and I were both hesitant at first. 

I was not sure about the combination.

However if you like salty and sweet together....this is the treat for you.

i proved to garran i was not mad at him by letting him sample some!!

I don't have a picture proving how yummy they were, but he really liked them a lot.

they are rich, so one is really enough. 

not that any of you eat more than one cupcake at a time!! ;0)

robber!

stealing folks hearts since 2010!

tender heart

this was my sweet kael the other day when I picked him up from pre school. 

he was litteraly in tears over the end of the school year. 

for preschool, kids are just bunched in groups from all different school zones. 

so who you are in preschool with does not mean you will be in kindergarten with any of them.

kael was so sad that he would not be seeing any of his friends after this year. 

He has made some really good friends that we will try and keep up with over the summer, but I know it will not be the same as seeing them everyday. 

 this is Kael's little friend Sydney. they were smitten with each other all year. 

Sydney's grandmother stopped me one day and said that Sydney came home all upset and they had the following conversation.

Sydney: grandma, kael is playing with other girls today.

grandma: that is ok if he plays with other kids.

Sydney: no grandma. I HAVE TO GET HIM BACK!

i just laughed!! 

to bad they will not be at the same school next year. 

Amazing Article. Please take the time to Read!!

The Weed: Club Unicorn: In which I come out of the closet on...: 

Hi guys. Lolly and I are sitting by a pool in the blazing sun, tanning our Seattle-white skin. We are having the time of our l...

feeling blah.

stalled.

losing ground.

NOT LOSING WEIGHT!

giving into cravings.

i know they all effect each other. 

I know. 

but it is so frustrating. 

i just want to lose weight. 

i just want to exercise and see results. 

i just want to have my surgery and start seeing results.

End of Year Gifts!!

I have been trying to come up with something fun for the teachers end of year gifts. 

I started to just pick a few things up here and there. 

All of these were under $10.00.

For Kael's teachers I did these. 

I found these jars at Walmart for like a dollar or two. 

Then I filled them with a little sunscreen, a cute cup and straw with crystal light packets in it.

 Then I threw some salt water taffy for color. 

We also put a card in saying thank you for such a fun school year. 

 Then for Cullan's teacher, I found this bag for a $1.50. 

I took a red and blue sharpie and made it look like notebook paper. 

Then I had Cullan write his teacher a note thanking her for a fun year. 

 Inside the bag, I found a beach towel on clearance. I added some trail mix, a cute cup with crystal light packets and some sunscreen.

Mrs. B has been so awesome!!

We just love her. 

Cullan will really miss her next year. 

I am excited to see my kiddos move on to new things, but I appreciate all the hard work their teachers have put in this year.