Thursday, March 26, 2009

Orange is the new Yellow

Tayson promoted from a yellow belt to an orange belt last night! He rocked as he showed us all how well he knew his stuff! This is a pic of him and his teacher, Mr. Smith.
This is a video of Tayson's yellow belt form. He's the little guy front and center. Make sure to watch his face at the very end! What a cute smile! "I did it!" ( p.s. Just pause my play list so you can hear the video.)


This is a video of Tayson's actual promotion from yellow to orange! Way to go buddy! We're so proud of you! Check out that mean "chicken kick" right before he gets his new belt! Awesome!!!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Cold, Hard, Truth

Things No One Told Me Before I Had Children

You will have to sweep your kitchen floor 3-4 times a day if you ever want a clean kitchen floor.

Kids don't thank you for clean bums, clean clothes, yummy food, or regular sleeping schedules.

You will spend more time cleaning dried cereal or yogurt off your kitchen walls and floor, than you will ever spend actually eating cereal or yogurt.

Having children will make you fat.

All children are actually deaf.

A grouchy 5-year-old is worse than a roommate with PMS.

One small child with one small sharpie in one small minute can do more damage than you would ever think possible.

Kids are born obnoxious, insanely nerdy, and disgusting. You have to spend practically every waking moment trying to correct this.

You will repeat yourself until the sound of your own voice makes your head want to explode. And not even for things you should have to say.

You will say things you never ever in a million years thought you'd say or even considered as words people uttered. Or thought. Like, "Because sticking your finger in there makes your hand smell, and it's disgusting" or "Get out of the queso!" or "I can't wipe if you are going to dance around like that" or "No, it is not Sarah's fault that you just pooped all over my bathroom."

Your respect for single mothers who are making it work will be born and multiply a hundred times over.

You will actually get maxed out and THEN some on physical contact.

Bathing regularly will be a luxury.

Your drinks will perpetually have floaties if you don't put them out of reach of your children.

There is no such thing as "out of reach of your children".

The delusion of being in charge is real, and gets shattered often.

Nothing you do stays done.

You will hit your emotional and mental wall, even if nothing else in life has made you do that.

There is no such thing as adult conversation when kids are awake.

You will spend the first 15 minutes of your peace and quiet and alone time with your husband---talking about the children.

Toilets, vacuums, outlets, cell phones, car keys, and drawers hold more appeal than any toy for any amount of money that your child has.

Poop and snot become significantly less disgusting. But still disgusting.

You will always feel like you aren't doing good enough, even if you spent the first 25 years of your life feeling like you are the best thing that ever happened to the word "average".

Your children learning hard lessons will feel more painful for you than them.

There are no words to describe the emotion you will feel when it comes to protecting your child.

Your tolerance for Disney movies expands exponentially. The equations breaks down to something like this FORMALLY SUPER ANNOYING + PEACE AND QUIET=BEST MOVIE EVER AND YOU WANT TO KISS Ol' WALT.

You will actually get stupider. See?

When it is time to prepare dinner, your children will have a completely urgent and irrepressible need to be held. Or to write on walls.

"Children should be seen and not heard" won't seem so rude anymore.

The sound of your child's laughter will always be the most wonderful sound you hear in a day.

Seeing your husband's eyes or manner of speaking in your child will always make your heart melt.

Watching your children explore and learn and grow will bring you pure joy.

"Mom, I love you" makes SO much worthwhile.

You will never get tired of your children's speech impediment.

You will lose all sense of social appropriateness and talk about things that are only interesting to you, really think your child is the cutest child ever born, and be unable to talk about anything intelligent.

You will cherish the little things because you know you should and you know you'll be glad you did.

You will screw up royally. A lot.

You won't feel it day to day, and it will be hard, and feel unrewarding, but in the end, when you have done your best, you will see that it was enough.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Overfilled


My Cup Runneth Over!



Tehachapi, CA

For Shaun's Spring Break we decided to head to Tehachapi, CA and check out where we MAY be living in the near future. We spent three nights there. It is SO gorgeous there! It is a tiny town up in the mountains that has so much personality. Here is a picture of the beautiful view out the car window while driving.Here are the windmills that Tehachapi is known for.



















This is the "Tehachapi Loop". It is a train track that makes a loop to climb up a steep mountain. Shaun and I took a drive up the side of the mountain, on a long, narrow, winding road to see it. It was so pretty, even if it was a little scary!




Shaun and I spent a night in Vegas on the way home. We were sick, running fevers and feeling awful, but had fun anyway. This is us at The Rainforest Cafe in the MGM. It is my very favorite place to eat while in Vegas.





Check out the fish we got to sit next to! Very fun!

We had a good break, but missed our kids like crazy! I hated leaving them for so long, even if it was nice and relaxing!