top 3 tuesday

top 3 things about today (in no particular order):

-hiba officially has clothes to wear the on the first day of school. and the second. and after a few quick exchanges, she'll be set.
 

so grown up!!

-matt and ashley are officially coming to little rock. anyone want to furnish the house around the corner from us so they will rent it?

little rock is not ready for all this awesomeness!

-hiba is really warming up to/loving having ms. denise, a worker from the Arkansas Autism Partnership Waiver. denise will be working with hiba after school, which is a HUGE relief and answer to prayer, and it's great seeing hiba working and improving and getting all ready to kindergarten. 

weekend round-up: aunt rachel and easter

this weekend was packed, but in a good way. it started off with my sister, rachel, getting here thursday night. it was fun to see her! i took off friday afternoon from work to hang out, and we realized that she hasn't really ever seen any of little rock besides our house and the rugby field (not that those are bad places to see). so, friday afternoon, we took advantage of the break in the rain and relatively nice weather, and headed downtown.

we walked around the river market area, then hopped on the trolley for a little ride. 

the trolley is coming!!!!!!!!!

i like these two.

 we ended up at the peabody to watch the ducks - which is only around for a short amount of time, so it was fun to see it one last time.

 

saturday, it was colder, rainy, and jason rugby game was cancelled, so we headed back downtown. first stop was lunch at flying fish. matthias was a fan.

next, we headed to the museum of discovery. i think rachel and i had just as much fun as the kids did - if not more.

matthias listening to his heart beat

they loved the "roller coaster"

hiba was a little unsure about the bed of nails

matthias laid on it several times. i passed.

this pretty girl loved putting on a princess parade.

so much concentration!

sunday brought easter. since our church is pretty small these days, we decided to go as a group to st. michael's episcopal church. i really enjoyed it. hiba did not. although, i do have to say, both kids were amazingly well behaved in the service. hiba was just a little annoyed that they didn't do things right - they didn't say the Lord's prayer correctly and they didn't do communion right. but, she survived, although she has adamantly

told me she is not interested in going there next week.

after the service, we met back at our house for a brunch with our church. and lastly, ended with the obligatory easter egg hunt - despite the rain and massive puddles in our back yard.

searching high and low

matthias was so excited for every egg

so there you have it. hope everyone had a wonderful weekend as well!

weekend round-up

it seems like spring has decided to come to little rock, which was perfect timing for this weekend. this weekend was full of coming and going, and the way i look at it, there's not really and end in sight. this is just the reality of life for now.

but, it was a fun weekend, so i'm excited. and the weather was beautiful, which is always a plus.

this saturday, i officially became a soccer mom. well, that's probably not completely true because we don't have a mini-van, i didn't wear a visor, and i didn't take caprisun and orange slices - but the kids did start playing soccer.

so far, they don't have "games", as much as "practice". saturday was the first one, so i'm not sure how the whole season will work, but it was a fun start.

all dressed and ready to go!

matthias' group went first, so he was all decked out and ready to go when we left the house. and once we got there, the excitement faded. matthias is a funny boy. he is super funny and outgoing, but apparently not in a new group. so, the first two stations were spent in tears or on the verge of tears, with a lot of pouting and not a lot of participating.

warm-up went ok...

but, about halfway through, he got into it and enjoyed the end. maybe because the last two stations were a little more competitive and could have involved body-checking kids out of the way. either way, he enjoyed it by the end and has agreed to try again next week.

finally deciding to smile

hiba was up next. and she LOVED it. they basically did the same stations that matthias' group did, so she knew what to expect, and she did a great job waiting for her turn, following directions, and working hard.

soccer pose!

she was pretty awesome

rockin' the obstacle course

a little one-on-one action

team cheer!

starting this week, we are moving matthias to hiba's group, since he is huge, and will hopefully be more participatory with his sister there, and - as much as i loved being there for two hours - one hour is quite enough.

next up - rugby!


the little rock stormers are now 5-0, rocking their way through this season. the weather was perfect and the game was fun, even if the second half was a little boring since they were winning by so much. it's a rough life being a little rock fan.

this one is a ham.

LR wins 44-10!

saturday night, we went to a friends' birthday party, followed by church on sunday morning, lunch with church friends sunday afternoon, a quick run to the grocery store, and then friends over for dinner for lasagna, settlers of catan, and wine. a great way to wrap up a great weekend.

pizza to the rescue!

we had pizza for dinner last night. after picking up the kids from pre-school, which ended with me literally carrying matthias out to the car over my shoulder, kicking and screaming, in the pouring rain, i decided that we needed something fun. so instead of leftovers and pjb, which would have been much easier, i opted for make-your-own-pizza night.

and, in a rare turn of events, it was just as fun in real life as it was in my head. as i drove the kids home from school in the rain, knowing they had not been outside to play, knowing that they both left school more upset than happy, and knowing that i had just lost my temper, i knew we needed something positive. so i decided, then and there, that dinner would be fun and relaxed.

when i told them they got to each make their own pizzas, their faces lit up. frustration melted away. i then proceeded to bribe them with the reward of making their own dinner if they cleaned up their rooms nicely and cooperatively (if only that worked with jason.....). i have never seen them clean so quickly.

after i finished making the dough, i gave them the choices of toppings: pesto, spaghetti sauce, cheese, black olives, chicken, bacon, and bell peppers. they both wholeheartedly rejected the peppers and were super excited when they realized that their toppings didn't have to match.

"i get this whole pizza, just for me?!?"

matthias chose spaghetti sauce, cheese, chicken, and bacon. and by "chose" i mean ate the majority of what i had available and then dumped the rest in a pile and called it a pizza.

mmmmm, meat!

hiba decided to branch out wildly and try adding bacon to her usual black olive and cheese pizza. she kept asking me, "will it taste good?". i told her to try the bacon and see if she likes it. "well, yeah, i like it, but will it be good on the pizza?". she's a little leery of trying new things, even if said new thing has the potential to be delicious. and, in true hiba fashion, she did not mix the ingredients up. just in case she didn't like it.

the pizzas went in the oven, came out cooked, and we actually had a nice dinner. matthias mostly picked the cheese and meat off of his pizza, but he did eat one whole piece in order to get the bribe positive reinforcement of candy promised to him. hiba ate her olive half. she didn't even touch the bacon side. and i didn't really expect her to.

life has been a little crazy lately. this year has gotten off to a rough start and it's taken a while to get anywhere close to normal. and now that we are "back to normal", normal is filled with lots of activities, life pulling us different directions, tough decisions, lots of whining, too much yelling, not enough rest. not what "back to normal" looks like in my head.

so, yes, we had pizza for dinner last night. no, that's not super exciting or interesting. but. it was an evening filled with kind words, smiles, excitement, patience, and grace. which is greatly needed in this normal life of mine now days.

yesterday's numbers

*eyes that were red in our house when we all woke up in the morning: 2
*eyes that were pink, clearly turning red: 1
*cups of coffee drank by me alone: 4
*number of meetings rescheduled: 2
*google searches of "how to stop the spread of pink eye: 12
*number of slideshows of conjunctivitus looked at: 2 (it's like a train wreck - you can't look away)
*number of clorox wipes used to clean the kitchen: 17
*number of clorox wipes used to clean the doorknobs, light switches, etc: 5
*minutes of tv/playing games on our phones the kids had: 100
*minutes the of tv/playing games on our phones the kids usually have on weekdays: 20
*loads of laundry to wash towels and sheets: 3
*loads of laundry to wash any clothes that may or may not have touched my children: 3
*loads of laundry to wash hiba's doll clothes and blankets: 1
*loads of laundry folded and put away: 0
*minutes of exercise: 0
*minutes of sitting on the couch playing on my phone after the kids were in bed instead of exercising: 75
*tacos consumed by matthias: 4
*tacos consumed by jason: 3
*number of times holding matthias down violently and wrestling him, prying his eyes open to get drops in: 2
*number of days left that we get to do the above twice a day: 9
*number of margaritas i wanted: 12
*number of margaritas i had: 0
*number of donuts offered as a reward for getting eye drops even remotely calmly: 1
*number of donuts rejected outright: 1
*number of times i washed my hands yesterday: 57 (or somewhere around there)
 

i have come to the realization that "baby weight" is not an appropriate term for extra weight that i have, now that my youngest child is 3. which is unfortunate, because i really like excuses. but, nope - can't call it baby weight anymore. once it is more than was there after the baby was born in addition to being 3 years later, it's just called weight.

so, i've decided that something needs to be done. at one point in my life, i characterized myself as an athlete. in my mind, i am still that way. still active, still exercising, etc. but in reality, i like to watch tv and i LOVE potato chips. which, is ok, as long as it is coupled with something besides those two things. and lately, it just hasn't been.

so this week, i started using MyFitnessPal on my phone. and i may be slightly obsessed with it. which is a good thing i guess. i'm hoping that it will get me back into the habit of eating healthy things, eating less snacks, making my calories count, and not just eating for the sake of eating. and in the few short days, i've learned a few things.

-you know how people tell you that when you are hungry that you can just drink a glass of water and most of the time that will help, especially if it is just during the day, not at a meal time? yeah. that is a lie. it just makes me realize that water is not nearly as tasty as chips.

-i have never wanted junk food more in my entire life than in the last three days. i can smell french fries from a mile away. and no matter what i tell myself, bell peppers just don't taste quite as good.

-one hershey's kiss has 22 calories. which means 15 hershey's kisses have 330 calories. walking from my desk to heather's desk, where the kisses are, 15 times a day does not burn 330 calories. this adds up quite quickly.


-i will skip snacks all morning so that i can have ranch dressing on my salads. and i will never be convinced that any sort of lighter, vinaigrette type salad dressing is "just as good, but in a different way".

-drinks, other than water, have a lot of calories. some are good, like juice for breakfast, but mostly they just take up the calories at a really fast rate. i mean, i knew this, but it's alarming to actually have to put it on my phone and watch the calories shoot up.

-i am much less likely to sit on the couch all evening and watch tv if i can't snack and drink a beer. for the first time in a long time, clothes have been promptly hung up, the dishwasher has been emptied and refilled each day, and we have had homemade dinner at home, each day. granted, "each day" is four days, but it's a start.

-i spend a lot of money on fast food. it's disgusting. that is going to stop.

-it is possible to figure out how much extra exercise i need to do in a given day in order to have a dr. pepper with lunch. i may have done this. only once though. so far.

hopefully this motivation will last, and i'll start being more healthy. obviously, i want to lose some weight, but mostly i want to get back into the good habits of eating good food, not just eating because i am bored, being more active, and being more organized in life. so far it's working - 4 days down, a lifetime to go. 

this and that

hiba is learning to read. jason is such a good teacher to her. he is super patient and she gets so excited when she figures out new words. she gets pretty focused, as you can see.

we went to a princess birthday party a few weekends ago. hiba absolute loved it. well, maybe that is not entirely true. we did have a mini-meltdown when playing on the swing set was not part of the outdoor agenda, followed by a little bit of stress due to the idea of having tea, even if it is not real tea, because real tea is hot and she doesn't like hot things, and if it is not real tea, she doesn't want it because it is a tea party, but she doesn't like tea. so she had some water.
all in all, a fun party, hiba loved dressing up, and had a fun time.

while hiba and i were at the party, jason took thing 2 to get a haircut. his first haircut, in fact. after seeing the before and after pictures, i am thinking we should have done this awhile ago.

here's mr. crazy hair....

and here's the finished product! he is so stinkin' cute!!

jason and i enjoyed a night out at the annual rugby banquet. it's so fun to see everyone dressed up and acting semi-classy.

and jason won the team m.v.p. my husband is awesome.

we decorated the tree with the kiddos - matthias and hiba did their best to remember exactly which ornaments they each put on, which is now followed up with a detailed conversation about it each morning. "who put the angel on? who put the snowman on? who did the music? noooooooo, I did it.". i don't particularly remember which ones i put, and definitely don't remember which ones anyone else hung up, so it usually ends with matthias huffing exasperatingly at my lack of memory skills. it's a fun way to start each day.

one of the kids' favorite activities is "play sleeping". which is especially fun when they start this game at 9 a.m. on saturday mornings because they are tired, since they chose to wake up at 5:30 a.m. instead of "real sleeping".

hiba loves drawing. i'm not sure what the picture is, but she is super cute, so there ya go.

jason's youngest brother, tom, recently came back home after some time away. i made fish tacos, a huge amount of guacamole (which ended up not being too much, thanks to my guacamole eating skills), and we ate, hung out, and played settlers. it was fun to see him and great to have him back home.

jason and his "little" brothers.

and i leave you with this. gangsta hiba.