New Car

Here is our new car! It's a 2006 Pontiac Vibe! It's so cute & drives really well! It's smaller than my Chevy Lumina & not as wide, but yet, it feels like you are sitting in a chair!

I matched the car, by wearing RED today! Karl usually does most of the driving, when we travel together as a family, but he might have to fight me to get into the drivers seat now! :)

Friends?!!

I wandered into the family room today & saw that Lily (the dog) had climbed onto the back of the couch & plopped down on the exact cushion that Shelby (the cat) usually lays on. Then, right before my eyes, Shelby came running down into the family room & climbed up right beside Lily. It was very odd, but cute to watch. Of course, I had to run & get the camera, to document this occassion. Dalton said "Look! They're friends!"

Date Night

Last night, Karl & I had date night. It's not something that we get to do very often & we had a great time. First, we went out for some italian food, at a local restaraunt. Then we went to see Music & Lyrics. It was a very cute romantic comedy. Drew Barrymore & Hugh Grant were so cute together! Not as cute as Karl & I, but close!

What was the last movie you saw or are planning on seeing?

Our family vacation

Not too much going on, so I thought that I would post some of my favorite pictures from our recent family vacation in Kauai this past February. It was a relaxing & beautiful 10 days for all of us!


This is a Hawaiin Monk Seal that happened to be on the North Shore, resting on Ke'e Beach. The boys were SO excited to get to see him! We even bought a book about a monk seal, named Hina & a couple of cute stuffed monk seals, to help remind them of their vacation.

The boys and I all got to go down the slide! Neither Dalton or Braden were very thrilled of the idea of playing on the sand, but they were VERY happy to check out this HUGE playground, called Kamalani Playground at Lydgate Park. All four of us had a blast.

Braden, Karl & Dalton pose in front of Wailua Falls (not able to be seen in this picture).

While we were gone, Indiana had 6 inches of snow and then a few days later, we had the Blizzard of 2007, where we had a record-breaking 17 inches of snow! We were very fortunate to have a very kind neighbor across the street from us, who plowed our drive way during both storms. Here is Karl, shoveling our sidewalk! It took a long time for all of that snow to melt. In fact, just the other day, we noticed that there was an area, along the side of the road, where the sun doesn't hit & there is a small patch of snow!

Sleeping Habits

We thought that it was strange, when we adopted Shelby that she didn't sleep with us at night. She would come up onto the bed & let us pet her for a few minutes each & then she would either sleep under the bed or sleep in the hallway, right outside our room. Here we are, in this huge king size bed, with soft sheets & a down comforter that is perfect for snuggling under & she doesn't want anything to do with it! So when Lily joined our family, we thought it was wiser to put away the dry-clean only down comforter & buy a cheap, machine-washable comforter, since little puppies often have accidents. The same day that I changed the comforter, was the same night that Shelby decided to come up & sleep with us all night long! I figured she just didn't like the down, which I would expect a cat to LOVE!

Lily likes the new comforter also! She's not picky, she will lie down just about anywhere. But her favorite place to snooze is on my lap or curled in, under my chin.




I am not sure how much Shelby likes Lily being in such close proximity to her! I mean, they are in a king sized bed after all. It's not like they have a TON of room. They are practically breathing the same air. Maybe Shelby is afraid that she will get doggie germs!

I guess they decided to take an afternoon
"catnap" together, after all! Aren't they cute, when Shelby isn't running around, terrorizing poor Lily?

Lily's Bath

One of Dalton's favorite books is called "Harry the Dirty Dog" by Gene Zion & illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham. Harry is a white dog with black spots & doesn't want to take his bath. So one day, he runs away & gets into all sorts of typical doggie trouble, such as digging in the garden. When he finally returns home, he is a black dog with white spots & his family doesn't even realize that it's him! It's great fun to read & I highly recommend it, if you have young children or are a child at heart! Anyways, I digress, as usual. :) Now, Lily wasn't as bad as dirty Harry, but she definitely wasn't a pure white dog anymore! So I gave her a bath tonight & I was highly amused at how she looked, soaking wet!


After her bath, she even let me play Amateur Dog Groomer & brush & blow dry her fur. I think she much preferred the blow dryer, to air drying & shivering the whole time, like she did the last time I bathed her! How cute is she?

The First Signs of Spring

Here are some sure signs that Spring is quickly approaching!

As we raked tons of leaves today, we discovered the crocus hiding underneath. It was such a surprise! Last week, the temperatures were freezing. In fact, even today, we still have snow leftover from the blizzard of 2007. Unfortunately, we missed this phenomenon, since we were vacationing in Kauai at the time.

Here are all of the sticks that we picked up in the yard the last 2 days. We got most of them bundled together, so that they can go out with our trash on Monday morning. They were quite the pain in the butt to pick up. My hands feel like the have taken a beating from them. But the yard is looking much better now.

Braden, who is younger than Dalton by 19 months, decided to be nice & pull his big brother around the yard. I was so surprised! I didn't think that he would be able to do it, but he did! He pulled him quite a long way! It was absolutely adorable!

We bought a stake & tie out today for Lily, so that she can join us when we go outside to do yardwork or to play. We also bought her some outside doggie toys, because I didn't want her bringing toys in & out. Ewwww. Anyways, she seemed to think that it was great to be outside with us & not be on a leash. And now, she doesn't have any sticks to get tangled on, since they are all picked up!

Here is Karl, working in the yard. Doesn't he look cute? I love the look, with the gloves sticking out of his back jeans pocket!

And last, but certainly not least: Daylight savings begins tonight! I am so excited about this, because hopefully, Dalton will sleep in. Normally, Dalton wakes up & then immediately wakes Braden up (we discovered on a weekend that Dalton wasn't here that Braden slept for an additional hour or two, without his little alarm clock!) Then Braden is cranky & starts fighting with Dalton. Then Dalton starts fighting with him. (I am not talking about fighting-fighting, just arguing over who gets which toy ect). It's so not pleasant, waking up to 2 screaming boys! Anyways, I digress: Don't forget to "Spring Forward"!

I feel a cold coming on...

I think I am getting the kids' cold. I am supposed to go to the gym tomorrow, but we will see how I am feeling. If my body tells me it's time to rest, then it's time to rest.

On the plus side, both Dalton & Braden are feeling better. :)

New car?

Karl & I have been discussing maybe getting a new minivan. But then after seeing what kind of mileage they got & after watching the gas prices skyrocket here, we decided that that probably wouldn't be such a great idea. But now we are thinking about a car, either the same size as the Chevy Lumina or maybe even a little smaller & more economical. Plus, the chevy has some sort of transmission problem. It just doesn't shift very smoothly. And all of the fluids were changed at the beginning of winter, so it's not that.

So we did some searching online & found the 2007 Honda Civic Sedan Ex with manual transmission. I think we would be interested in at least going to a car lot & looking, but we don't want to be hounded by a salesman.

Hopefully, there will be some good deals, with tax time fast approaching.

The kids are sick today

It's so hard when your kids are sick. There really isn't much that you can do for them & it's frusterating. Both Dalton & Braden were sick today, but Braden was definately feeling worse. He cried all through dinner. Then, he finally quit.

Here he is, smiling, after finally letting me get him changed for bed.

In other news: Dalton finally tried my meatloaf. First, he ate all of his macaroni. Then he asked for more. I told him he couldn't have anymore until he ate his applesauce & tried one bite of meatloaf. He said "Okay." I was SO shocked! He didn't fight me on it! Dalton then took a few bites of applesauce. Then he took a bite of meatloaf and said "Mmmm. Can I finish this?" Gee... let me think about this. Um, no. I want you to act like I just served you worms, like you normally do. Then he even asked for more.

So even though, they were fighting off colds today, all in all, it seemed like a good day. Karl & I even got to go to the gym today. We had to go separately, since we can't take sick kids to the gym daycare.

It's Raining Cats & Dogs!

Okay, it's not REALLY raining cats & dogs. It's not even raining at all. It's a little on the chilly side today, but Spring is just around the corner. The weather forecast is predicting temperatures in the 50s next week! All I can say is, "Thank God!"

Anyways, I digress. Don't worry. You will get used to this happening. I tend to get sidetracked really easily. Then I always ask my husband, "What was I talking about?" And he always tells me, if he remembers himself. I guess the Blonde Moments are contagious!

So at the end of last year, we adopted Shelby from our local humane society. She is a beautiful & sweet 2 year old cat. She is very laid back & extremely good with my 2 toddler boys, who can be a little rowdy & rambunctious at times.

Then, a week and a half ago, we bought a puppy. Normally, I am against purchasing a dog, when there are so many in shelters all across America. But I wanted a smaller dog or puppy. And unfortunately, they seemed to have all larger dogs or cute puppies that were going to grow into large dogs. The local shelter did have one small dog, but it specified on the website "No small children". Well, with 2 toddlers, that little pup just wasn't going to work out for us. So one Friday evening, we went to the mall to go to the pet store. And I fell in love with a little West Highland White Terrier. We named her Lily (as in Lily of the Valley, because she is small & sweet--just like the flower). She is very sweet. Karl suggested naming her "Kitty Toy", which I actually LOVED but I didn't want to confuse the cat, by calling the dog "Kitty".

So now Shelby & Lily have become fast friends & playmates. But they both know that Shelby could take her, if she chose!

I might be the only human girl in the family, but it's kinda nice to add a little more estrogen to the household!

If you are interested in adopting an animal, please visit your local shelter or visit www.hsus.org or www.petfinder.com to find a shelter near you.

Welcome to my Blog!

So I decided to get into blogging, one day a couple of months ago to help keep me accountable on my journey to a healthier lifestyle. And since I have found blogging to be so much fun, I decided to create this blog, to keep track of our family's daily activities.

I hope you enjoy! I know I will!