Confessions

Confession Time...I buy boxes of Tim Bits and eat the ones I like and feed the cast off ones to my kids. Terrible I know, okay maybe not terrible but definitely selfish.

Confession...I am pleasantly plumper then I want to be cause I pick food off my kids plate. (seriously the food they drop on the floor could feed a small country in Africa...so why waste perfectly good food that is still on the plate)

Confession...I often say yes with out realising what I have said yes to just to get a darling 4 year old out of my hair. I should really start paying more attention to what she is saying cause one day its going to come back to haunt me

Confession... I dance around like an idiot dancing to songs on play list.

Confession... I still think I am a great dancer even though the looks four kids are giving me tells me otherwise.

Confession...I often feel like I am living a life that isn't my own...hahahahaha oh right I have 4 kids, it isn't my own life

Confession... I love staying up far to late, Yet when I can drag myself out of bed I love the early morning

Confession...Smells Like Teen Spirit is playing on my play list

Confession...I prefer to eat fruit loops over any "adult" type cereal

Confession...I love living with the chaos of kids (most days)

Confession... I love having people over

Confession...I still think that if i wish hard enough and dream the dream that one day I will have the body I had in High School

Confession...I love being a mom, though some days it pushes me the the very edge of sanity

Confession...I have an awesome circle of friends...and I was lucky enough to have it grow after henfest 2010 (a blog post on this is coming soon)

Confession...I love to organize things and people to get stuff done

Confession...My 4 year old has suddenly become a big moral compass in my life especially when she decided that some had to be "nice first, mom" and went and talked to our neighbor.

Confession...I had the best night with Taylor tonight...I really took the time to stop and listen and play and have her help get stuff ready for tomorrow.

-Michelle

My kids...and Jace

Sophie, Luke, Taylor, Livie, and Jace (sitting on Taylor)




So its been awhile since I posted about my kids. Their personalities have been changing so much lately so I thought I would make lists about each one.

Taylor:
1. She loves being a big sister
2. She has become super independent
3. She talks about is going to school next year (this gives me mixed feelings)
4. She loves to play with her friends
5. She likes to pretend to be Laura from Little House on the Prairie
6. She tells us every day that Luke needs a brother
7. She has this weird love for all things ladybug
8. She wants to live at the zoo when she is old and make money having cows
9. She loves to watch movies about cow c-sections (i know she is odd)
10. She is already asking about camping and sleeping on the trampoline

Livie:
1. She should never be underestimated because she is small (she is very feisty)
2. She loves to eat, especially yogurt, toast, and cheese
3. She has the funniest laugh
4. She like to be the boss
5. She thinks its funny to hide in the TV stand and scare her siblings
6. She also thinks its funny to hide their favorite toys
7. She is super independent
8. She loves to try and put on her own shoes
9. She always pulls one arm out of her shirt and put it through the neck hole
10. She loves to spin in circles

Luke:
1. He has found a love for trains and tractors
2. He thinks its funny to throw his food off his tray then steal his sisters food and eat it while they cry.
3. He will do anything to escape the house and get out side
4. He climbs up on the stool next to the sink and eats the dish soap bubbles (so gross)
5. He hates bugs
6. He loves to cuddle and and give kisses
7. He can systematically empty the toys from the living room into my kitchen
8. He loves to jump on the trampoline
9. He loves the playground and climbing on all the equipment
10. He thinks its funny to sit on his sisters

Sophie:
1. She loves Corb Lund and loves to dance to him
2. She is my cuddliest child
3. She always has a book in her hand
4. She loves dolls
5. She loves to wear dresses
6. She is my peace keeper
7. She always tries to give hugs to everyone
8. She plays shy with most people
9. She loves Taylor
10. She loves to give kisses

Jace (my darling sweet nephew):

We love him tons and need to see him a bunch more!!!


-Michelle

Heather!

So this is Heather (aka Hatter)...Oh how we have missed her. Heather has left us to further her education, somehow she thought she could replace all of the kids that love her by taking a band class. LOL.

We love Heather, Taylor will tell you she is her best friend (but has decided its okay to share Hatter with Raygan), Livie, Luke and Sophie will say the miss the extra cuddles, and I will say that I miss all the extra help and her great personality.

I have decided the best way to describe Heather is in a series of Lists...so here we go.

Reasons we miss Heather:

1. Taylor misses her truck
2. I miss having another adult to talk to during the day
3. Triplets miss all the extra cuddles
4. No more preschool
5. Yummy cookie monster cookies
6. All the extra help (seriously she is amazing)

Reasons Heather May not miss us:

1. Cleaning up Sophies mess (heather will know what this means)
2. The 4 hours it takes to clean out the high chairs and sweep the floor
3. Taylor deciding to be mad at her for the day
4. 4 needy kids and a strange mom
5. Her days are no longer filled with changing diapers and wiping faces

Funniest things found on Heathers I Pod (Must admit I love the variation):

1. Linda Ronstadt (need I say more)
2. The Moffets (thanks for the flash back)
3. Cat in the Car
4. Bill Cosby
5. The last Saskatchewan Pirate
6. Humgumbagumagba (No I am not making it up this is a song title of a song on her I Pod)

Why we love Heather:

1. She love our kids
2. She is so funny
3. Very understanding
4. Helps me regain my sanity
5. Is willing to play the camera game
6. can watch Mary Poppins and Pete's Dragon with Taylor and not fall asleep
7. She is so patient with all of us
8. Her truck - Taylor loves Heathers truck(even though it almost ran me over without a driver being in it)
9. She takes teasing really well
10. She understands me and my oddities which makes me feel all the more at ease

Heather we miss you and hope that you are enjoying school. Taylor has already written you a four page letter so be prepared for a fat envelope coming soon. Thanks for all your help, and know that Taylor is already counting the days till you come back.

Finally

So after 3 weeks of kids being sick we have finally gotten over it!!! YAY. Also I am happy to report I was able to give my talk on sunday with out passing out and only a few more tears then should have been appropriate.

5 minutes

this is what my living room looks like in 5 minutes of unsupervised play.

Hacking

My poor kids are now going onto week 2 of being sick. We have had pink eye, double ear infections, noses that run consistently, super hacky coughs and croaky voices. Throw in teething and fevers just for fun and it pretty much sums up our house. I am so ready for what has infected this house to get and and leave.

My 1st 'MooN'light Run!

Last Saturday I participated in my 1st moonlight run...well I may have just taken the name of the run a tad bit seriously. No word of a lie 300 people saw more of my back end then anyone should see.

Any one who knows me was not surprised to find out such an odd and embarrassing moment would happen to me...for my life has been full of odd and embarrassing moments.

Lets start this odd and embarrassing story from the beginning...

1. Daring someone to wear BRIGHT YELLOW pants during the run often results in you to wearing BRIGHT YELLOW pants.

2. Dressing in the van...well I am not 12 anymore and I have 5 car seats in said van...enough said!

3. Wearing glow sticks attached to toque makes the yellow pants you are wearing that much more noticeable.

4. Love Dancing around to my music waiting for run to start

5. Getting caught up in music which leads to forgetting to tighten up BRIGHT YELLOW pants leads to odd and embarrassing moments

6. Playing human frogger fun idea...not a fun idea with pants around knees

7. Getting pointed and laughed at as an adult a tad bit funnier then when younger

8. Beating dumb college kids that pointed and laughed at poor girl with BRIGHT YELLOW pants around her knees up the hill very satisfying!

If the list did not make my awkward experience apparent I'll break it down for you. If you want the back story about the yellow pants then that is a whole other post. Which you will get at a later date.

I am nervously waiting to start my 1st run not tied to a triathlon, having a great time dancing around to make music, making random conversations at a loud volume to be heard over all of our music and trying not to think about how bad i have to pee (dang nerves), and if I was really going to run up the huge hill and before i know it the signal to start running goes.

I am doing great, start running, feeling like I am in a pack of stampeding cattle and waiting for the crowed to thin a bit. I get to the top of the hill and start heading down, when all of a sudden I feel BRIGHT YELLOW pants sliding down. I tug at them to pull them up, and being grateful for my running shorts that I have underneath. I keep on running not missing a beat, pants start to slide again, tug them up again. I start thinking okay when i get to the bottom and we are not all so bunched up I will stop and pull up and cinch up my pants and continue with the run.
When all of a sudden my BRIGHT YELLOW pants are around my knees. Oh freaking Crap, so trying to to trip and stumble I lean slightly forward to grab my BRIGHT YELLOW pants and as I lean over my running shorts slight further off my butt. So be the graceful person I am (not), I am holding the back of my jacket down and running shorts up with one hand and my BRIGHT YELLOW pants up with the other and proceed to try and get over to the side where I can stop and get everything fixed. Then the game of human frogger comes into play as i try to dodge hundreds of runners and not get ran over...while playing human frogger I got pointed at and laughed at my some big dumb college boys ( i know I sound so immature). Get everything fixed and start running again. Had a great moment when passed big dumb college boys on hill.

Moral of the story...even though wearing running shorts up where they belong prior to running may be uncomfortable and not doing up pants tight for same reason...leads to a very odd and embarrassing moment.

-M

Massage

Yay for me I went and indulged myslef with and hour long massage today. It felt so good. But you know me my mind doesn't ever take a break so I was formulating thoughts which then turned into lists and so here we go another blog that is mostly made up of a list.

1. Does anyone else feel the need to very quickly get undressed and get under the blankets cause you stress out about how soon the lady is comming back?? I do!

2. I am not so fond of massage therpaist that try and have a conversation for the whole duration of the massage...I am trying to relax not make awkward conversation

3. Warm Oil Good---Cold oil me jump 3 inches off table

4. When they ask you to roll over onto your back there is no gracefull way of doing it so you end up with spastic movemets making it all the more awkward

5. When falling asleep on the massage table don't dream about falling cause the jerking action that follows that dream makes the massage therapist jump 3 inches off the ground

6. I love the ring around the face and crazy hair look after massage

7. have you ever noticed that people do not always look oh so pretty leaving the spa...they look relaxed but not oh so pretty

8. 1 hour of selfish time should be perscribed once a month to all women

Well that is that and I am off to bed.

-M

Love this Girl

enough said!

What was I thinking??

So people who know me well will be shocked by the following news.

I AM GIVING A TALK IN CHURCH

this takes me so far out of my comfort zone that my stomach hurts already and I still have almost 3 weeks until I talk.

In high school I told my bishop after almost passing out while giving my talk that I would never speak in church again until my brother went on a mission. So unless I missed the memo that my brother was going on a mission...or that my old bishop never attached the memo about me not speaking in church again, I am giving a talk.
And in true Michelle Blogging Form here is my Top 10 reasons why talking in church stresses me out. (this is for you erin)

1. I shake like a leaf and almost get sick when i have to pray in Sacrament
2. I seriously like to get to church early to sit in the back
3. I don't like a lot of people looking at me
4. I almost pass out when i have to look at everyone else
5. I will have hives from the stress of it the morining of.
6. Seriously we are never to church on time (maybe this is a ploy to get us there on time.)
7. I cry
8. I have this huge fear of passing out while people are looking at me.
9. I tend to make awkward jokes thinking its hiding my fear when really its not
10. I invision having to give said talk with Sophie on my hip
11. The topic "Leaning on the Savior" is definatly a topic that will make me cry
12 i don't do well sharing personal experiences with others around me...its hard to do so even with the ones I love let alone the whole ward
13. lets go back to the fact I cry
14. I have this huge fear that i will get done giving my talk and realise that i have a button on my shirt undone, or a big lovely sticky kids hand print on me
15. I will not be able to eat for the next 3 weeks cause i will be worried about throwing it up while giving a talk
16. I really don't like being the center of attention (which has been a huge struggle seeing as I am a mom of triplets and we kinda stick out).

Okay so my list is longer then 10 items and the sad thing is I could keep going. I am sure I will make it through it. If you are from our ward and are reading this post maybe you can all wear blindfolds that day so that its less people looking at me...better yet I should where the blindfold, but that would lead to whole bunch of other complications cause I don't read brail and I can't memorize a whole talk any more....

-Michelle

My Waiting Room List

Okay generally I go to appointments expecting to wait at least a reasonable amount of time to be seen. I come prepared with snacks, books, toys ect. But today was so out of control. The whole time there I was making lists...What I would rather be doing, my guesses as to why we are still waiting and general observations of people in the waiting room. So here we go you get 3 lists today.

10 things I would rather be doing:

1. keeping my toddler contained at home
2. putting said toddler for a nap
3. cleaning my toilets
4. cleaning someone Else's toilets
5. doing laundry
6. flossing my teeth
7. Sitting in the dentist chair
8. sitting with a full bladder waiting for and ultra sound
9. Sleeping
10. Waiting for any other dr. that seems to have staff that gets the filing system.

10 Guesses to why we are still waiting

1. Some how even though they checked us in our appointment isn't really until the next day and they just think its funny to see how long i will wait for
2. The dr. got abducted by aliens between exam room 1 and 2
3. The secretary just randomly puts files in the waiting to be seen slot
4. The nurses are pulling files from both sides never seeming to get to the 2 files in the middle
5. Said secretary and nurses don't seem to catch on that there is one mom that has been waiting for 2 hours and one for an hour and a half
6. Some how my clock keeps moving and no one elses does
7 Other patients have bribed staff to get in as soon as they walk in the door
8. I am having an outer body experience and decided that sitting in the waiting room would be a great place to have said experience
9. i am being punished---for what i never got that far
10. Maybe i need to learn a lesson in patience ( seriously lesson learned i am the mom of 4 kids 4 and under)

10 General observations

1. People look shocked when they get called in as soon as the get seated, they are expecting a wait that never came (your welcome another mom and I did all the waiting for everyone)
2. I saw a man and wife with the same haircut...right out of the 80's someone forgot to tell them that mullets are not cool
3. First time parents come way over prepared...you will never use a overnight sized diaper bags worth of stuff for one appointment
4. Its a rip off to pay for parking
5. they at least have good books to read in the waiting room
6. there is never enough seats
7. there were 14 cheerios left on the floor by others and Luke found them all
8. I waited 8 times longer then the dr. saw us for
9. luke is the size of most 1 year olds in the office
10. I really hate waiting

YAY for the SuN!

I am loving spring...It is so nice to wake up and the sun is shining and there isn't the great need to run really fast into my clostet to find the warmest clothes I can find and put them on. The kids are loving it too. Yeasterday afternoon the 3 monkeys played out side on the deck and came and went from the living room to the deck...they love watching the kids at the school play on the school grounds. Taylor is excited to get to pull out the side walk chalk and her bike again.
-M

Dear Nosey Neighbour

Dear Nosey Neighbour,

Your constant need to watch our every move is getting old, not to mention creepy. I have come to the conclusion that you must lead very boring lives and have no social life if our every coming and going is of such great interest to you.

Half empty beer cans that coincidental match the numerous beer cans in your yard some how seem to jump the fence and get into our yard. I don't need my 4 year old and my 21 month olds exposed to the taste, but thanks for sharing.

We did not bring skunks to the neighbour hood...its called we live 2 blocks from the edge of town...maybe its you dog food that attracted them or the dead animal smell on the back of your truck.

You don't own the street. Your van is always parked so it doesn't affect your drive way but look over it blocks our ability to pull in straight and makes it almost impossible to park 3 cars across like we should be able to with out some crafty driving. P.S. you don't own the road its public property, if your "spot" isn't available to your liking do what the rest of the world does park somewhere else for the night.

Do you have the by law officer on speed dial...if so do they know you by name now or just by the witchy tone in your voice.

Funny thing when you are going to bad mouth me...don't act so shocked that i heard your...your windows where open and face into mine.

Maybe instead of being so interested in my life try paying attention to what you teenage daughter is up to.

-M

so i only wish i had the guts to send this to them, but i won't but it sure nice to blog my letter

a new 10 list...10 things that have happend lately

It has been a while since I blogged about the randomness in my life so once again here is a 10 list.

1. Gary and I are going away this weekend...the first time we have gone anywhere by our selves since Taylor was born

2. Jessa and Jaime may never want to watch our kids again after this weekend

3. Heather Rocks

4. I still hate barf..this was reinforced by 3 21month olds who did this for 3 days and don't understand the to barf on the carpet...couch...chair...or siblings rule. So mom followed them around with the carpet cleaner and many baths

5. Livie loves to look at her self in puddles

6. Livie hates falling in said puddles when she has bent over to far to see herself

7. I am often Hangry (yup you read it right)

8. Luke may have to have surgery (poor boy)

9. Sophie may need glasses

10. My life is still crazy but a ton of fun

Weight loss up date!

So yeasterday was weigh in and though i wish i had lost more weight, i was still happy with the results. So far I have lost 6 pounds and 2 inches from my waist and my hips and 1 inch off each arm and leg. It did how ever inspire me to push even harder and that is exactly what I did this morning at my workout and my abs and legs are hating me right now.

Stressed

Yup so this pretty much sums up how things are here. I feel like I am treading water and it never gets easier though on the bright side it doesn't seem to get any harder either. I just wish that I knew what to do to make things easier.

Yikes!

I fear the terrible twos have hit this house early....not so sure how its going to turn out but I am sure there are going to be great stories to go along with it.

Weight Loss Challenge

So i am in a weight loss challenge with 4 other friends and I am really enjoying it, I am feeling better, less cranky and have more energy. That being said I am still struggling with it as well so I have decided to take the big step of telling the blogging world what my start weight was so that then Its out there and I will look at it all the time and want it to change so bad that it motivates me to work harder. So here it is 204. I am gringing that i just put that out there...but it is a starting point and I am a work in progress.
-M

I'm not Josie Grossie any more!

Last night I watched Never Been Kissed. Not a favorite movie but still a good one that I like to watch every now and then. Apparently I was in thoughtful mood though cause in true Michelle fashion I started to think about the statement "I'm not Josie Grossie any more!".

I was never popular in high school and never really felt like I fit in with any "group" at school. I remember feeling super awkward when talking to the "cute" boy or the "popular" girls, you know all those things that teenagers deal with. I don't ever remember totally hating high school I had things that I enjoyed, and a handful of good friends. What else could I ask for.

That being said I remember having the "I am not Josie Grossie any more!" moment in college. Where I realised what everyone else thought of me and the things I thought about myself, didn't matter any more, no one knew me (including my roommates), no one knew my past, my family whether I was popular or not in high school, Once I realised that none of that mattered any more and that i was no longer Josie Grossie, I loved college, people got to know what I would call the "real" me, the me that no one knew in high school cause we had all gone to school together for so long that you kind of get stuck in a mold of being one kind of person and never really allowed the option to move out of that mold. I found out that I am funny/witty (or at least I think that I am), I am smarter than I thought, I enjoy going out with friends, and not worrying about what people may think, that I am fine living so far from home.

As time has kept moving on I have realised that lately I have been going through another Josie Grossie moment. I feel like I have been stuck in this rut of being a frumpy house wife, seems like i always have a dirty shirt on (can you blame me though), i feel out of place in large gatherings, and find my self with drawing, and not being super social. Well I am here to to tell you "I am not Josie Grossie any more!"

I have started a total "re-purposing" myself year. I joined a total weight loss challenge, I am a big fan of "fly lady" and find that this is helping me get my house and life more organized. I am trying not to focus on the things I don't like about myself and trying to make changes in my life that better me as a person. I am taking more time for my self (even if that means i get up and go to the gym at 5 am just to ensure i get there ...thanx Danielle for making it fun), and I am making myself do things that sometimes take me out of my comfort zone all in pursuit of better me as a person, mother, wife, friend ect.

I am trying everyday to find Joy in my Journey and sometimes I remind myself of that on an hourly basis, but I am finding that I am loving my life more and more and I am finding out things once again about myself that I never knew before. I know that as things change in my life there will be times I will need to remind myself that "I'm not Josie Grossie any more", but when that day comes I will adjust and embrace what needs to be embraced at that time.

So for know I will confidently say " I AM NOT JOSIE GROSSIE ANY MORE!"

-M

Family Fun Night

Taylor got to pick what we were doing for our family fun activity today. What did she choose?well after all the options given to her (skating, park, walk, going to the city to the zoo ect.) she told me she wanted to go to the car wash as a family. Yup that's right after all the options presented to her she choose that...oh lets not forget we had to get Slurpee's and drink them while at the car wash.

Gary was at work today so after the triplets woke up from there nap I loaded the kids up and headed for the car wash. We ended up waiting in line for 45 minutes to get into the car wash, thank goodness for the DVD player in my van and an episode of Little House on the Prairie, or we may have had a major melt down. We finally get into the car wash and Taylor was so excited laughing giggling ect. But when the water got to the back of the van we had a fantastic display of 3 melting down 18 mos. olds. Sophie was so scared she was doing her crying that she does when she is in the swing at the park and was starting to turn purple from being so scared (so not joking she does it on the swings to and it looks like she is having a fit of some sort). Poor Luke had the most shocked and scared look on his face and his bottom lip started to tremble then he let out the saddest cry i have ever heard. Livie was in the middle of the two of them and she was holding each of there hands and her whole body was shaking and she had tears rolling down her cheek. It was the longest 3.5 minutes of there poor little lives I am sure. It was more traumatizing then getting there shots.

So as much fun as family fun activity was meant to be only Taylor had a good time...next week mom gets to pick.
-M

Snow where are you

Its only the middle on January and it already feels like spring and I am kind of missing the snow. Now before you all think that I have taken a leave of my senses let me explain. We didn't really get very much snow until right before Christmas and it was super cold and I was super busy getting ready for christmas. Now that I have recovered from Christmas and I am gearing up to enjoy sledding and skating, snow angels and snowmen, the snow is disappering. I am so hoping that we get a little bit more winter before its spring.

The Hockey Game

Tonight Gary and I were lucky enough to get to go to the Flames game (thanks Johnson Family), this was a BRAND new experience for me. I had never been to an NHL game before and to be honest it was the first hockey game I had been to since college that involved a very long ride to Vegerville on bad roads.
For those of you who read my blog regularly I am big on lists to get my opinions and thoughts across so staying true to form here is my break down of the night

1. I hate C-trains and as I am getting on the only thing I can think of is the line from All about Steve Where she says she suffers from "acute benign vertigo" as she is getting on the bus...that and how many people have touched the rails (gross I may just need to take a blogging break to sanitize my hands again)

2. Should have dressed a tad bit warmer...slightly chilly in the arena

3. It was armed forces appreciation night so that was really cool

4. Why is all the fighting done in the first period then really no fighting after that. Seriously the first fight was 30 seconds into the game.

5. Love the smell of beer and stale cigarette smoke...NOT

6. for some reason the camera at the end of the arena that follows the puck was very amusing to me

7. Those poor girls that in short shorts shoveling snow in front of the nets pretty sad they get almost as many cheers as the players (just putting it out there)

8. I wonder if the players and the refs ever get frustrated by having to wait for some of the extra audience participation stuff to be done before continuing with the game

9. Thought the whole experience was really cool/

10. Why do teams no longer shake hands at the end of the game...what ever happened to sportsmanship

11. why did one night bring on so many questions

12. the Good Ole Hockey game songs still makes me giggle LOVE the song...had forgotten all about it.

13. Did I mention I hat c-trains...getting that close and intimate with strangers kinda creeps me out

14. Food at hockey games smells wonderful...to bad none of it is in my diet right now

15. It was a date night out with my Husband.

-M-

Wow are they really that old???

Tommorow will be the Triplets first day of Nursery. It is a huge sense of relief but a very sad moment for me. They can't be that old yet. And poor Livie seriously still wears 6-9 months size clothes she is going to look sooooo tiny in there.

Weight Loss Challenge

So apparently I am a sucker for punishement. I am taking part in the Target Fittness Weight Loss Challenge. I am on a team of 5 fun girls and we are determined to get in shape...and really winning wouldn't be so bad. But here is the kicker I am commited my self to being up and at the Gym every morning at 5am....what the crap was I thinking. I am an ultimate night owl and not the greatest morning person...but I will be doing it, and trying to put a smile on my face while being there dreaming dreams of my nice warm and cozy bed. Wish me luck