Charlie the key fiend

Charlie is a key fiend. He loves keys. He knows exactly whos keys belong to who and he can spot a pair of useless keys anywhere. He knows that keys open doors and has been known to shove random keys into random keyholes whether they fit or not. He also has a fondness for hiding keys. We keep our keys high on a key rack but Charlie has learned to drag the 10 pound bucket of dry milk over to the rack, climb on it and sort through the keys to find the exact ones he is looking for. Once he finds them he usually takes them to their respective owner but he has been known to hide them in very hard places, like under the cereal in the bottom of the cereal box. Then came today...

Coloring on the sidewalk and drawing "Hopscotches"

Blowing Bubbles

Poor puffy eye looks much better now...

Today began a little bit off skelter when Charlie woke up with his right eye swollen shut. He has had a lingering cold that we just haven't been able to kick for a while now. When Jack came home from school and saw Charlie's eye he felt sorry for him and said that daddy should use his oil drops to make him all better. We decided that was a good idea, so Adam went to give charlie a blessing. Charlie sat on my lap and before we knew it, Jack had laid both his hands on Charlie's head and was starting to pray. Adam and I had a teaching moment and took the opportunity to teach Jack about priesthood and how only worthy Daddy men could hold the priesthood. He asked, "How to you hold a priesthood?" Adam gave Charlie a Father's Blessing and then had to go back to school. I decided I would try and track down a doctor to check his eye out, "Pray first and then do all you can do...."

After spending all morning talking on the phone to Doctors in Greensboro, Eden and Martinsville, and being told that noone was taking on any new patients. (Especially crazy ones who called and wanted to be seen the same day). Our appointment was for 1:50 and like the responsible Mom that I am, (cough cough...) I started getting the kids into the car at 1:20 (it was only 3 minutes away). Charlie climbed in the car and as I was looking for my keys, HE LOCKED HIMSELF IN! I couldn't find my keys anywhere and was getting upset because we couldn't be late to the only Doctor who would see us... I instructed jack to teach charlie how to unlock the doors, and after searching through all the usual places, and all the cereal boxes and food storage bins, I finally found a spare key and was able to unlock the door. BUT, then the car wouldn't start! I called around and finally found Laura who was able to come and rescue us and take us to the doctor. Adam got out of school early to come help too. In the end the "Doctor" was a new grad PA and she just gave us a perscription for a nebulizer and told us to put warm rags on his eye, which we had been doing all along. I don't even know why we bother going to the doctor anyway...

It was an adventurous day and after 3 hours of waiting in the pharmacy, we had our nebulizer, our meds and were on our way. We had to go to the chips salsa place to celebrate. Then we came home and played sidewalk chalk and bubbles and everyone felt much better.

(postnote: We looked and looked for the keys as Adam stressed over what was wrong with my cars fuel pump, etc. Adam found them slid under the rug in the front room, and what do you know? The original key started the car on the first try... go figure... maybe I should find a safer place for those keys.

Dance Lessons

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Our first joint activity. Adam and I taught swing dancing and "The Waltz." It was very fun and the kids did really good with learning the steps and dancing with everyone so noone got left out. We only got to teach about half of the steps we had planned so we may do another one. We did accomplish our goal of getting the youth excited about dancing. They mentioned that they couldn't wait until the next stake dance so they could try their new moves. We tried to look "swingy" and Adam looked pretty sexy in his authentic 70's polyester suit... if I do say so myself.

weight lost and new calling gained

It's been one week since we started Isagenix and Adam and I have both lost 5 pounds. He lost 8 inches and I lost 15.5!!! Including 3 on my waist! We cheated a little because we went out on a date on our cleanse day and ended up going out to eat. But even so, if we keep it up we'll be 20 pounds lighter in a month. :) The best part is that after not running since my last triathlon last summer, I went running twice for an hour each and I felt good and had plenty of energy! I'm not going to turn this into a weight loss blog but I just thought you might be interested.

Other new info, I got a new calling. I am the new Young Womens President! I have 6 young women and called 2 counselors. We had our first young womens meeting and planned out some fun activities for the next 2 months. I've been in Primary a few times and Relief Society but this is my first time with young women since I was one. In some ways I don't feel that much older than them. After mutual everyone lbegan to eave and noone locked up the building. Someone said, "Oh yeah, that's your job..." It was a weird feeling, I felt like, "but I'm a kid, the adults are the ones who are responsible and lock the building up..." Like Laura says about her new social work job, "I'm not sure I'm big enough for this job." At least I have the promise that the Lord strengthens whom He calls.

Goals for a healthier ME!

So Virginia is a southern state. I guess I always thought of it as the midle state seeing as how Washington DC was supposed to be the middle and all that. But we are in southern virginia just a few miles from the border and down here they definately consider themselves Southern which means we enjoy all the joys and calories of home fried southern goodness. Creamed corn pudding, biscuits and gravy, fried chicken, fried fish, hush puppies- fried corn bread, butter buiscuits, etc. Yesterday a girl told me that everything she cooks uses butter and salt. They fry eggs in butter. I grew up on margarine and pam. (Now we know that margarine is actually worse than butter but that's a story for another time) All this available rich food combined with busy schedule and being on the road alot has translated into a 30 pound weight gain in just 5 months. I've decided I need a change.

I've never been able to diet really because I could never tell any differences in my weight or my energy level no matter what types or w=how much food I ate. I was an athlete (swimmer/runner) and worked out for 2-4 hours a day everyday so, like Michael Phelps I could eat whatever I wanted and developed a pretty big appetite. Unlike Michael Phelps, life caught up to me and babies and I have had a really hard time making myself exercise lately because I feel like I need to spend every spare minute with my boys. I tried doing P90X for a week or so and I liked it but exercise videos in your living room are a little boring and anti-social. Jack liked doing it with me sometimes but his idea of helping was laying on the ground so I had to jump over him or climbing on my back while I tried to do a chatarunga. Because telling people about your goals helps you to keep them I've set two new goals for myself.

1. I'm going to finish a 30-day cleanse with Isagenix I've already started and am feeling more energized. I got home from work yesterday and instead of crashing on the couch like usual, I cleaned my car and then cleaned the whole house!! Definately unusual for me lately. Some people from my church have done the program and lost a pound a day and kept it off, so I'm going to give it a try. I am usually a skeptic of these types of things but this one seems to have scientific research backing it up... We'll see how it goes and maybe I'll do a followup post at the end of the month. The best part is that Adam is going to do it with me :)

2. My second goal is to start training for anotrher triathlon. There's one in the area May 1 and Laura and a few church people are interested in joining me. I like triathlons because they give you a deadline. You must get to a certain fitness level by this date or you pass out on the course... :)

There you have it- I wrote my goals down in stone or cyberspace but I have heard that once something's on the internet- it's always somewhere... Wish me luck... Here's to a new healthier body!