Pulse Check

I know that my absence is making my Granny nervous, if not upset, that I have not posted any new pictures of the boys in the last few weeks.  I am so sorry.  I cannot believe how little time I have had in a day in the last few weeks.  I don't even sit at the computer and just not get to blogging...I just don't get to the computer.  We are good and growing, loud and crazy, cute and cuddly.  Spring Break, then unpacking and resuming life post Spring Break (a feat in and of itself), preparing and giving an Easter Party for the neighbor chicks in my house (cleaning the house was the feat), and now preparing for my family to arrive for a fabulous Easter celebration, littered with multiple doctor's appointments, meetings, T-ball and soccer games, speech therapy and occupational therapy...Oh! and the big whammie has truly been switching computers.  You would think that would be a snap...no, no, no, no.  All my pictures are on the other "old" computer and my camera software is too old for my new computer, so I am not sure how I will download new pictures yet. My blogging inspiration always comes from pictures... Somehow I am just not in the groove yet.  But I will be Granny!  If not for anyone else, but you.  Don't give up on me! I do have a pulse...

We are Learning!

The other day, I told JBS and JLS to come downstairs for dinner.  I heard JLS mumble something that sounded like, "We are learning about Gawwwd, Mom!"  I am not always sure what I hear is really what JLS is trying to say.  However, immediately JBS said, "Yah, Mom.  We are learning about Jesus Christ."  I started cracking up.  Not God, or Jesus, but "Jesus Christ."

With this, I walked upstairs and sure enough they were learning about Jesus Christ.  :)  They had their felt board out and they both were putting together various scenese from the Bible...the Nativity, Zaccheus, Jonah and the Whale, and my favorite, Noah's Ark.  JBS was, of course, instructing JLS and telling him every Bible Story in full detail.  It was so cute. 

Thrilled that the boys are teaching each other about Gawd and/or Jesus Christ.  Makes a Momma proud.

American Idol

American Idol is big in our house.  We look forward to it the same way my sister and I looked forward to Monday Night Football with my dad growing up...with popcorn and Tang!  It's a big event!  I was trying to catch up from what I missed last week last night via DVR when JBS asked me if American Idol was just for fun.  I told him that it is definitely for fun, but that those people can really sing and would love to make singing their job.  Sweet JBS asked if I was going to go to American Idol.  I just laughed and said, "No, honey, I can't sing like that.  Those people have really good voices."  And he said, "You can sing, Mommy!  You can sing good."  Then he sweetly and confidently said, "Why don't you sing Sweet Adoration?"

He absolutely melts my heart.  Not only because he told me I can sing (when we all know I can't), but because he thinks I can rock the American Idol world with Sweet Adoration, his favorite song.

Grammy-Granny Visit

My mom and Granny came to visit two weeks ago, as my Granny hadn't met WHS, yet.  Considering she is his namesake, we had to get them to meet ASAP!  We were so excited that Granny and Grammy were coming!  Granny is very deep in to our family ancestery, which I love.  She knows everyone in the world that isn't living :)  And a few more

that are still with us, too.  William is a name I liked from the beginning, but we needed a good middle name with such a "regular" first name.  And we needed a family name, as both Toot #1 and #2 are named after my dad and Babe, respectively.  I had always suggested either "Lyle" or "Hines."  I loved them both and they were unique enough to pair with a "William."  Not coincidentally, Granny's dad's name was Lyle Hines.  I loved both names, but what I didn't know was that his full name was Lyle William Hines!  While the "William" wasn't planned as a family name at first, it grew in to one and was topped off with "Hines" after my Granny...and her father.  So, Toot #3 has a great history to him name, as with the rest of our family.  For the record, I was named after a great-great, Sarah Penelope.  Before my mom decided not to give me a middle name (thank the Lord), I was going to be Penelope Doll.  Seriously?  Penelope was enough to handle, let alone, "Dolly!"

My Keepers

Today, the boys and I were on our way to tennis.  We were running a touch late so when I saw that the stoplight was yellow, I sped up to make it through the intersection.  Here in The Woodlands, if you go through a light, cameras take a picture of your license plate and send you a ticket in the mail.  Immediately JBS said, "Mommy! You were speeding through that light!"  I, of course, told him that I was going under the speed limit and sped up to get through the light, but certainly did not speed. :)  To which JLS, the king of all toots said, "Mommy, it wuz owange, then it was wed and you went frue it and you going to jail."

I am so glad I have my keepers.  They have already locked me up and thrown the key away!

Diet Complete

We have had house guests for the last eight days, which we loved, but my freetime has been limited.  To catch you up, I completed my diet two Friday nights ago.  I really was to finish on Saturday morning, but what's a few hours, especially when I had far exceeded the necessary days in the diet.  I took JBS to a birthday party and eyed the Baskin Robbins across the street as my first indulgence... a mint chocolate chip milkshake.  It was divine.

In total, I lost 24 pounds from beginning to end and have gained about 5 back since eating "real" food again.  I think that I should have continued the diet a little longer, but I was so ready for a break.  I still have one symptom that did not completely disappear.  I want to do the 30 day again just to ensure that I am healed through and through.  However, I am going home for Spring Break and there is no way I can be in a house with my mom's food and make it.  So, I am going to do a two-day prep and detox in the next week and maybe again before Easter.  Then, post Easter brunch, I am going to give it another shot for 30 days.  I know for a fact it won't be nearly as grueling at the first time and I know I can only feel better with more chance of healing.  Most of the things I had in my mind as "dream food" I have eaten and nothing has measured up as worth the pain of eating it again.  I am completely surprised that I have little desire for many of those things.  Sweets are definitely sweeter.  My problem was that Girl Scout cookies arrived the week I was finished with the diet.  They are always good, no matter what!

So the real story to tell is this.  My mom called and asked if she could send my boys her Valentine Cookies...which I love.  She was being nice and making sure it wouldn't put me at risk for blowing the diet.  I told her to send them on and I would be good.  When they arrived, they smelled like Heaven.  I put a couple in a baggie and froze them knowing I was a week away from completion.  Babe soon came in the kitchen and saw my look of fear as my hungry eyes fixated on the Valentine Cookies.  I was justifying the length of my diet and really getting ready to bail.  He could tell I was about to fall off the yeast-free wagon.  At that moment, he pulled out all stops and told me that if I could make it the last week of the diet that he would buy the bookcase I wanted at Laurie's as a reward for sticking to my diet for 45 days.  He didn't have to say it twice.  I was up for the challenge and the cookies were no longer a cause for kicking the bucket.

Furniture motivates me and Laurie's definitely motivates me.  So, that Friday, when I knew I had made it, I raced to Laurie's to buy the hutch.  I thought I was going to have to order it (which take 3 months from Mexico), but to my surprise, it was in stock and delivery was available for Saturday!  My day was made, the diet was a success, my mom and granny were headed to town.  Life was good.  Here is my new hutch in the living room....I LOVE IT!  And, yes, I could tell the Spanish-speaking delivery men were laughing at me thinking there was NO WAY it was going to fit in my living room.  At the store, it measured 8'7" high....to my 9 ft ceilings! :)  Better than built-ins, right?  So, I can take it with me when we move...And it did fit...