Insomnia

So it's 3:50 AM. Amy woke up at 2:04, and David graciously went to get her and changed her diaper. Then she went back to the crib. The problem is, at 2 AM, I've just had a fabulous 4 hour nap, and now my brain won't shut down again. I've got several thoughts running around in there, and I just can't seem to settle into bed again. So I figure if I put down what I'm thinking about, then I'll be able to get back in bed and fall asleep until the alarm goes off at 6:20. So here it is:

Gina's Random Thoughts as of 3:53 AM, Monday
1. I'm cold.

2. I was asked to help plan December's Enrichment night, and it's coming up on Thursday. I've got to get it all coordinated, not to mention I'm the one giving the 15-minute devotional at the beginning. Oh, and, when I did the posters to "advertise" what's coming up, I put the wrong date on them, and didn't realize it until about 45 minutes ago. (Say hello to some serious time with my phone and the ward directory.)

3. I can't find my favorite Christmas CD ("Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas"), and it's driving me crazy. I've looked everywhere I can think of, and apparently, I don't have a very large brain because I still haven't found it.

4. I'm wondering what my power bill is going to be this month. We've been using our gas fireplace more lately, so I'm hoping we don't have to pay through the nose for electricity like last month. FYI, houses built in 1925 have exactly no insulation. I would do something about it, but we're renting.

5. One of my MySpace "friends" that is actually someone I know in real life and love deeply has (in my opinion) an inappropriate picture up on her profile. I want to say something, because it really bothers me, but I don't know how to approach this, since I don't want to offend or alienate her. But the picture paints her in a light that I don't think is really who she is, and I wish she would be true to herself.

6. I'm trying to think of a way to fit in some serious exercise without having to pack my kids over to the YMCA every day. I think dropping them off in the childcare center twice a week is plenty, and any more than that makes me feel selfish for making them go so that I can have some exercise time. I'm semi-seriously considering getting up at 5:30 AM and heading to the YMCA while David and the girls are still asleep, but I can't quite love the idea of hearing the radio-alarm go off that early in the morning--even though I love the music the radio station plays. Plus, we pay $55 a month to go to the YMCA, and I'm really not getting my money's worth.

7. I have towels that I washed on Saturday, but forgot to put them in the dryer. They've been sitting in the washing machine for 36 hours, and they are going to stink when I go out there in the morning. And, that means I wasted water and soap. (And why is this so important at 4:14 AM?)

I think that's it for now. I'm still cold, so I think I'll go crawl under the covers. Maybe I'll read for awhile. Ooh. I just yawned. This is progress. Thanks for reading, and please leave me a comment telling me it's all going to be okay.

Can't Think of a Catchy Way to Say "New Pictures!"

I don't have much to say, so I'll just let you get going on looking at the pictures. More soon!

General Contractor Lucy and her Gingerbread House

Here's a few from our 2nd annual ride on "The Santa Train" with Gramma P.

It was snowing, and we were freezing.

The Big Storm

We took a major beating early last week, when a storm from the coast of Japan hit our
own coast. We had winds that were close to hurricane force, and rain that came in sideways. Here are some pictures we took of the damage close to where we live. (This is just a small part of the damage...there is so much more we didn't see.)

This is a soccer field about 4 blocks from our house.

It doubles as a storm water retention basin in inclement weather.

Same field...check out the waves.

Who knew those painted lines on the road could actually be peeled up by the wind? The only thing holding this tree up is the traffic light pole you can't see in this picture.
This is not our house. I repeat...NOT our house.

No power. Enough said. This sign used to advertise the local community college.

We spoke to our high council representative who came to our ward today. He lives about 40 minutes from here. He was telling us that someone else he knows lost his entire 200 head of dairy cattle when the river crested and flooded the valley. All the cows drowned, and this man literally has to start over. We were indeed very lucky during this storm. We have a gas fireplace, a gas water heater, and enough food and fresh water to last for a few days. We weren't necessarily prepared for this, but we weren't suffering like many others have. All is well with us.

My Autumn Girls

First of all, I had to share my absolute favorite pictures of the girls from this fall.

Aren't they sweet?

Also, I finally had a chance to upload the pictures I took of the girls on Halloween. For Halloween, we took the girls over to the school where David teaches. Some of the students had put together something called "Haunted Hallways" for the kids aged through elementary school. Lucy had a lot of fun. She actually put her hand in covered boxes to feel what was labeled "brains" (jello), "severed fingers" (baby carrots), "guts" (oiled spaghetti), and "eyeballs" (peeled grapes). Touching this stuff without getting grossed out is a big deal for the girl who doesn't like to get her hands dirty. She also wanted to go through the haunted house, and was tickled when some of the scary characters were afraid of her. She's still talking about it!

Here are some pictures from that night. I guess I should mention that until October 31st, Lucy was going to dress up as a witch. When we went to Wal-Mart to get a couple of things to round out her witch costume, she saw a Sleeping Beauty dress, and completely changed her plan.

Pumpkin Time!

Last Friday, we invited some of Lucy's cousins to go with us to the pumpkin patch. The kids loved the hayride (read: a trailer with hay bales pulled by a tractor), and they traipsed around the pumpkin vines looking for their perfect pumpkin.

Here are a few of the pictures from our adventure:

Lucy & Sarah

All the kids on the "Cool Bus"

Us

Last night, we carved our pumpkins, lit them up, and take a look at how awesome they turned out:

Vegas Vacation

Amy and Gina had a wonderful time visiting Gramma and Grampa K, Auntie D, Uncle B, and Cousin E in Las Vegas! She was an excellent flyer too. She slept almost the entire flight both ways. I'm sure the other people on the place were pleasantly surprised. It was a relaxing week, and Amy slept well, ate well, and was her charming little self the entire time we were there.

She also acquired several new words for her vocabulary, including "bye-bye". Every time she wanted to go out somewhere she would crawl over to her shoes and socks and bring them to anyone who would put them on her. She would get rather testy if they weren't put on right away. She also employed "bye-bye" when she would decide to head up the stairs after she was told no.

Anyway, here are some cute pictures of Amy with her Gramma and Grampa K:

Playing piano with GrammaPlaying computer with Grampa

I love dirty face pictures, so I had to include this one.

Fancy new hair-do

Gramma did it!

Hanging out with Grampa Amy is ready for her morning nap

ZUMBA!

A week after we moved here, I took the girls over to the YMCA to sign up for a membership. It's actually affordable around here ($55 a month for the whole family), and there are all kinds of classes and sports for kids and adults that come free with the membership. I love this because I can take the girls swimming during the day, or I can drop them off for 1.5 hours while I take a class, or I can leave them home and go by myself. This last option is the one I chose yesterday in order for me and a new friend to try out the "hottest new thing in exercise": ZUMBA! Basically, it's aerobics with salsa dancing mixed in.

So my friend and I show up at the YMCA, find the class, and take two spots in the back. The woman teaching the class is slim, with long brown hair pulled into a perfect ponytail, and wearing one of those cute exercise outfits that she, of course, looks fabulous in. I am wearing black pants, a grey T-shirt, my walking shoes, and about 50 pounds of excess baby weight in the shape of a spare tire around my hips. My hair has enough bobby pins in it to conduct electricity, but it has to be this way because it's too short to be in pulled back, and too long to leave down.

The music starts. It's a Gloria Estefan/techno remix and seems like it's going about 180 beats per minute. I made it through the first few songs...took some deep breaths to ease the pain in my side, and stuck with it the best I could. It's fun, but the trouble I'm having is that my body is unable to grapevine with the feet while shimmying with the shoulders and grooving the jazz hands in an alternating single-single-double pattern. It's too much for this fat mama who, some days, can't find two brain cells to rub together.

But no worries! There's MUCH more to ZUMBA than shoulder shimmying! There was an entire song dedicated to gyrating our rear ends (with accompanying hand movements, of course), and I want to share with you how awesome the teacher looked. If shaking your derriere could win you...I don't know...something, she would definitely get "Best in Show". But a glance at my own efforts was not so glamourous--I looked more like I was trying to apply turtle wax to a school bus with my butt cheeks.

At one point, the instructor had us "riding the pony", and not a full 8 beats later, we were spanking it. There are very few things funnier to me than the mirror reflection of 30 women between the ages of 25 and 60 while they spank their individual ponies. Through my laughter, I noticed something stylistically about the spanking: there are those that do a little hand-flip on the backswing, the ones who spank in double-time, and the rest of us who are half-heartedly spanking our ponies because we are thinking, "If my husband and children could see me, I'd never live this down." I have to say that until yesterday, I have never "spanked the pony" in my entire life, and I'm actually embarrased to report that I have done so. So if I decide to ever ZUMBA again, I am definitely NOT spanking my pony. It's just...wrong...on so many levels.

If I have learned one thing from this, it's that I now know why there are very few fat Latino people...all that shaking, shimmying, gyrating, and yes, spanking works off quite a few tamales.

Gina

A Little of Everything

I'm not sure whether I should start with the most recent events first, or back up to where I left off here. I think I'll back up. (Insert repeating beep here.)

Okay.

First on our list, AMY's FIRST BIRTHDAY!

We invited David's mom and dad over, and just had a nice dinner that wasn't too overstimulating for little Amy who was in the middle of a very yucky cold. For dessert, we had pudding pie (1 banana cream, and 1 coconut cream to be exact), and Amy enjoyed her little slice of birthday pie:

After this, she got to do one of her most favorite things--take a bath with Lucy! Not a tremendously exciting celebration for her first year, but I think it was perfect for her.

The other fun thing about Amy's birthday was the Move To The Big Girl Carseat. We first unceremoniously washed the seat cover and belts, and then tried not to swear as we figured out how to put the belts and buckles back in the seat. Lucy got a brand new backless booster seat, and although she isn't 4 yet, she certainly is tall enough to sit in it and not be choked by the seatbelt. So it was a red letter day for both our girls.

Lucy in her new seat:

Amy in her new-to-her seat:

And yesterday (10/2), Amy had her 1 year Well Child Exam. She passed with flying colors. At 29.75 inches long, she is in the 66th percentile. But at only 19 lbs. 4 oz., she is in the 17th percentile for weight. The doctor said this is nothing to worry about, but she should still ride backwards in the car. However, at $80 for a convertible carseat that will only be needed for another 2 weeks or so, I think I'll just slip her a few more ounces of whole milk every day, and add a little red meat to her diet. Not only that, but she was weighed with no clothes. I figure that clothing adds at least 1 pound. She never rides naked in the car. Therefore, I'm keeping her in the forward-facing seat. Bad parenting, or practicality? You make the call. (Just not to CPS.)

Here are two pictures of Lucy that will make you smile (or inwardly shudder):

Finally, a little message from Lucy:

kiiuyyyyyhoh589uuuuuuuuyu7uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu9ou77uuujkyt9iy775 884g000000067076uuuuuuuuuu 5555555555hhhhhhhhhhx56666y6y606hnhn6n6nnny66666ny0y67677 77777787yk966i9060uk76u9i760 9u=0]07==-78]uy[uj;i;ykiokmkuiokk;.

Come and visit again soon!

Gina

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!

Gina drove the Budget truck for the move.

Here's the scary awesome parking job

we achieved when we returned the truck.

We cut it a little close!

Our first trip to the ocean...

What a big girl!

Sampling the sand. Heading out to catch some waves.

What's New

Well, it's been just about forever since the last update. We've had a lot happen over the last 6 weeks. David got a teaching position in Montesano, and we moved to a new house. Life has been hectic, to say the least, and trying to get things put away when there are 2 children in the house is next to impossible. I find I do my most productive work at 9 PM, after the girls are fast asleep, and I'm ready to fall into bed myself.

We love our new town, though, and relish the fact that there are more choices for shopping than just Wal-Mart. (No slam on Wal-Mart, it's just slightly limiting in terms of comparison shopping.)

We enjoy living closer to family and get to see them more often.

We love our house. It's no mansion, but we have room to move. We have a dishwasher! We have a play room! We have 3 bedrooms! We have a little yard! And a garage! We live close to the YMCA, and the girls can go swimming all winter! We live less than 30 minutes from the ocean! There are so many good things about our new home and new city.

That being said, we miss our old town, our friends, our ward. We had such a wonderful two years in Ephrata, and we will miss living there. Lucy misses ballet, and Maggie, Abby, and Isabel. Amy misses getting to be barefoot all the time. David misses having a 3 minute commute. I miss my friends, and I especially miss the ward. Things are, well...different here.

In other news, David was called to the Elders Quorom presidency, so he'll be a busy guy before too long. I am without a calling as of yet, but I'm helping to plan Super Saturday (a day of crafts and good food for the women), and it's going to be really fun. I've never helped with the Enrichment activities, so this is exciting for me.

I'm sorry to say that I have not uploaded any pictures from the camera to the computer since we moved, so everyone will have to be content with just reading about what's new. When the girls are down for naps today, I will get the pictures from the camera, and I'll do a post of just pictures.

More to come!

Lucy Visits the Dentist

Lucy went to the dentist for the first time this afternoon. She sat still for the polishing, but she chatted with the hygenist through the scraping part, which made it difficult to get that done in a hurry. She thought that posters on the ceiling was very funny, and now wants some posters on her ceiling at home. Her only disappointment was that her mouth wasn't big enough to fit the flims they use for the x-rays. She really wanted to see pictures of her teeth.

Anyway, here's a few pictures of the Big Cleaning.

In the chair!

"I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille..."
The "tickling toothbrush"

Lucy says, "Mirror toothbrushes are silly!"

The flouride treatment, root beer flavored, apparently.

Check out those pearly whites!