Sunday, July 29, 2007

Attention to Details

Since the kids discovered the scale, we have noticed a few things.

-We went though 3/4 of a box of saltines in 24hrs. 60 calories =5 crackers.

-One ate an ENTIRE box of microwavable sausage links 700 calories
(500 from fat- no more buying those!)

-We went through TWO gallons of milk in 48hrs.

-We went through 2 bags of Chips in 48 hours. (They were on sale 2 for 5.00)

-I can feed my kids and I, for under $10 bucks at a Taco Bell. Now, with the Fresco Style Tacos, Healthier (minus any drinks). Not my husband though, his tacos are 2 bucks each!! He is the expensive one!

I put Zeb in charge of physical therapy for the boys. B. & R. had to do whatever Zeb (the endless ball of energy) loves to scooter around the block. B. & R. had to go around with him as many times as he wanted!! He was good after 3 times.

I showed the kids a neat website that helped them realize how activity and food work TOGETHER. They need to eat no more than 16oo calories if they are going to sit in front of a computer or game system all day. They can eat 2200 calories if they are more active.

It showed them how many calories are burned if you do different activities, such as, jump rope, running, biking, swimming, walking, playing a board game (which is only 68 calories per hr).

After one of the kids noticed some fruit pies that Dad picked up, we checked out the calories. OVER 350~! I told him according to the website if he was going to eat ONE he had to ride his bike for one hour before he could have one of those, in order to burn over 350 calories.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Where did the weekend go?

We drove up to get Brock from Camp on Saturday mostly uneventful. We would have gotten home sooner, but we had to stop for gas, food and potty breaks x 2.
After we got home we welcomed our newest nephew over. His Mom had to work and his Dad had something else to do so we baby proofed the home and let him play. Zeb was playing really well with him considering he was used to being the 'baby'. I had to laugh as Zeb got frustrated when G would pull apart the track. He fell asleep about an hour before his Dad said he would. I guess we wore him out.

Apparently Brock has gotten into some fertilizer but I don't know where. Man, did that kid grow this summer!! I bought him some jeans while he was at camp, I asked him to try them on yesterday and they were short. REALLY SHORT. They were one size larger than the size he was in last year. He is just about to MY height and he is only 12! He is going to pass Dad up soon! He was 14 and now he is a size 20~! Not because of the waist either. The store didn't have any size 20 so we had to go in to the Young mens department and get 29 x 30 pants for him. The waist is a little large, but since the jeans are all cotton I am hoping they will shrink a little in the wash.

Today we are gearingup to take the boys Rafting today. I think everyone is pretty excited about it. Brock was preparing to make 8 sandwiches (1 per hour for him and Reece) and bring 2 liters of water and bring something to keep him occupied. Well, I have to get the troops ready with a good breakfast.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Reece is my stresser. He called me from home while I was in Madison, because he was worried about a black 'thing' on his toe. ???? (Which was gone by the time I got back, of course)

So we were watching Shaq's Big Challenge the other day on TV and he asked if we had a scale.

He dug it out and stepped on it. He was over double of Zeb.

Now I have been trying to get him to stop eating out of boredom, or excess snacking. since school let out.

Well... He REALLY is now motivated to move it into gear. He has been watching the calories this week as he runs on my parents treadmill. Yesterday he burned 53 calories today was over 100~
Last night he did 10 push ups, but was lacking in the sit ups portion. But he is determined.

Is he EVER!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

YES!!!! He changed his clothes!!!!

Last year when I dropped Brock off at camp I picked him up in the exact same clothes. It is nice to know he actually changed them this year and he actually looks like he washed his hair!

Ok, I know it's probably the angle of the picture, or the swimming, but Yay!

Gee, Nice to see his spending money is going to the healthy drinks, like soda! NOT!

Sunday, July 15, 2007

The Banker

So, My husband and I were driving somewhere this weekend when we begin discussing our schedules for next week. We both have 2 different appointments in different locations.

I volunteered him to take Reece and Zeb to the Dentist with him, since they love Zeb and Reece can keep an eye on him while he is getting his teeth taken care of.

Apparently Reece was listening, he articulated as only Reece can... "I prefer CASH!".

All Business that kid.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Go,Go,Go!!


Auntie Sara did Awesome today at the Janesville Tri!
Zebbie finished the run with her.
Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Need a Gift Idea?

I want this shirt!
I am a huge Grey's Anatomy fan, and I found this on their website.
** Hint, Hint! Excellent Christmas gift!**

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Perfect Day for a Kite!


Thanks to a storm that ran through our neighborhood today, we had some debris that allowed the kids to make a kite. The wind was entertaining as it whiped some insulation they use on the outside of new construction basements through our backyard. We watched as it even had enough wind to lift it over the neighbors house!
Posted by Picasa

Reece and Mini Reece!

Monday morning was pretty boring, but R. and Z. found something to do! Complete with backpacks, Lego guns and Hats. (Although Reece's hat practically had to be squeezed into.) They even happened to have the same color clothes on.
Then the afternoon we managed escape the house for High Cliff with Reece's Friend J.

After we brought J home we went to Office Depot, where they had some school supplies on sale already. Reece panicked when he heard what we were buying. "Mom, How many days until school starts?" He asked.

I didn't know. I should get on the ball and count!
But Now I do! 52! Wooo Hooo.
Posted by Picasa

Monday, July 09, 2007

Huge Disappointing Day.

On Sunday morning I managed to get Duner to come for a run with me. It was hot outside. I wanted to run earlier in the morning but I knew Duner had to work til 2am so I didn't think he would be up to getting up too early.
It was hot, hazy and humid. We ran only 1 out of 3 miles, and that was torture. The Sun was blazing down on us. I realized about 1/4mi into it that I should have put on sunscreen.

Then we had to go to a birthday party for my Aunt. For some reason our A/C is not working in our car. We had to drive over an hour and a half to get to the party.In the heat. All the windows were down. We also had the sun roof open. Again I should have brought along Sunscreen I said as we drove away from the house. Of Course, I got a nice burn to show from it.

We missed getting into the movies at the Drive-in on Saturday night so We decided to try last night. I spent most of the time while Duner was at work watching the weather radar, since storms were rolling through the area. My adorable son Z, decided he wanted have a drink of water using a cap of a water bottle. Well, he managed to spill on himself so he lifted the lid up directly over my laptop. Before I could quickly close it, he managed to get some on the worst possible part. The keyboard. It froze up and shut down now. I can only hope that it can recover by itself, but I don't think the odds are good.

I have a feeling that was a VERY EXPENSIVE, cap of water. The kids must have known how made I truly was because in 2 seconds all 3 of them were hiding in their bedrooms, with the doors closed. I don't think I ever saw them run that fast.

We made it in with all five of us. Barely. It was starting as we pulled in. I brought along a lawn chair, pillows,blankets and the swim raft's we used the other day. I was glad I did. We all played musical chairs, all night long switching places. Ratatouille was a cute movie. Pirates was a disappointment. Way to long. Way too many twists and turns. I didn't like Spiderman 3 for the same reason. We finally drove out, after getting a jump for our car battery, at 2am. The movie was still playing, but I think it was close to the end. I know I wasn't the only one that thought the same, there was not a lot of cars left at that point.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Fun in the Sun

Today we hung around home until 1pm. With weather in the 90's, it was just too warm to NOT go swimming. Since we have a pass for High Cliff we headed out to the big lake. I brought my camera, but I never got to take any pictures!

There was a very nice breeze off the lake. One of the best parts of being at that beach is it's size. It is so HUGE that you don't feel like you are on top of anyone. The kids especially loved the big waves to play in, thanks to the breeze.

Zeb spent a large part of the time on a small raft. Once in a while the wind would take the end that Zeb was not on and flop on his head. It acted like a nice cover from the kids big water gun that they brought with them.

Brock and Reece took turns trying to drown Dad. I tried to teach Brock how to swim, like I do in Triathlons but it was too wavy today.

After an hour and a half, we decided it was time to air dry. We all forgot to bring towels, so we let the breeze and sun dry us off, then we headed home.

The kids don't know it yet but I think we will do the Drive In tonight. They are playing Ratatouille and Pirates of the Carribean. They kids are going to be so excited.

I better take a nap, it is going to be a late one.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

FIRE!

From where this picture was taken you are facing our house. In fact, just out our front door you can see their beautiful backyard.

This is a friend of Reece's. His mom works at the local Y, I actually met her there before our kids met. They have a brook that runs through their yard and the boys LOVE to catch frogs, toads and minnows in it.

I don't know if anyone was home but I did see their van in the driveway tonight, so I think they were fine. We didn't know about it until the fire department was blocking off the road.
We took the dogs for a ride today in a local wildlife area. They were happy. We didn't stay there long, it was hot and open so we took them to a pond near our house. We had a empty Mountain Dew bottle and tossed that in the water and let them chase after it. They were fighting over the bottle as they came in each time. After the first few times they started swimming out into the pond even before Duner would throw the bottle. After that, we gave the a good wash job and put them in the kennel and never heard from them after that. They were beat!

It was a Lucky day!

That is what Reece thought yesterday. He got to see a parade where they throw Lots of Candy, got to see Jake, a friend he hadn't seen in a long time, got a brand new bike from the parade raffle, got to light off fireworks, got to have a fire, and got to make S'mores. Life was SOOOO Good for him yesterday.

On the other hand life was not so good for a dog that we had wandering our neighborhood. Some new neighbors moved in over Memorial Day weekend. They have 2 dogs and a cat that they let roam the neighborhood. We have a neighbor that doesn't like dogs at all. It is a very nice dog, but it has NO fear of the road and likes to wander pretty far. Many times it has been in the road and we have had to slow down for it. Tonight about 7:40, some local kids brought it over to our house, thinking it was ours. We tried to get it to go home but it followed the boys again to the neighbors house. With it being the night of never ending fireworks, and us living near two fast country roads, I called the animal control to pick him up. Our neighbors were not home. They left their garage door halfway open, and the animals not chained up.

This is a common occurance for our new neighbor and I brought the dog back once before and they guy just looked at me. They don't seem to care.

They also haven't finished moving their stuff from their garage to their house, it seems to be spilling into the driveway now. We just had some very nice rains and they left their kitchen chairs in the driveway along with some other stuff.

I am trying to be a nice neighbor, but we had a dog that got VERY SPOOKED, when it came to fireworks, and I would hate for that black dog to get hit because it ran out in front of a car.

Monday, July 02, 2007

Never ending technology

It was a nice surprise yesterday when Reece's friend H, helped us clean up after getting back from the cabin. That kid can clean! He vacuumed. He moved shoes, plants, rugs, chairs and ANYTHING that was on the floor. He picked up the tiny legos, and asked for something to get some stuck on food off the floor!! He continuely scraped the floor when there was some food stuck to it. He put my kids to SHAME! I now know they can do better! Later, when H. was done vacuuming , I heard Reece say to him "Lets not go upstairs because she'll make us do something else."

This morning I had Brock work on the bathroom, while Reece worked on making beds, moving boxes, and bringing in the garbage and recycling bins. Then after the cleaning was done, they were allowed to play online for a while.

They have the newest technology. They love this website called Ruinscape. They are able to communicate with friends, like H. while he is at home. So if H. can't come over or Reece can't go visit him they can still play online. It's funny because they have to type to talk. It's nice that we have the computer right in the living room so we can check on them anytime.

Since our kids have it so nice I think I will be a little more rough on them when it comes to cleaning and helping out around here.

Sunday, July 01, 2007

My, What a tornado can do!



These are pictures from Lakewood, where the tornado came through. It is really hard to see just how bad it is unless you visit it.

On the left you have the fire department. In front of their building the flag pole was bent, not broken, over. You can't see it really well, but I marked it on the picture.




This picture was taken directly across from the Fire Station. I just think this is so neat. The front deck acted like a catch all for the tornado.














This was a common site on Hwy 32/64 in Lakewood. Many trees broken. Two roads are still closed due to the damage.













On the left is what it is supossed to look like on the right is from the tornado.














This is the debris that had to be moved off Hwy 64 in order for it to be usable. It probably used to look like the dark trees in the back of the picture.