Slow connection

The Internets here at work is working at a snail's pace. I don't understand. Is Gustav messing with our heads already?!?! I am praying HARD Gustav will spontaneously combust or something so no one has to worry about it, especially over the holiday weekend. My parents are coming down this weekend and I was really looking forward to it, but it seems they will be helping us get ready to hunker down. That sucks.

I have a strange cough. A friend suggested it might be kennel cough, not sure how to take that! She works at a vet office so I am going to chalk it up to taking too many stool samples from cats and dogs. Some kind of worm may have invaded her brain. Anyway, my cough is making my voice go away. This is not good when I need to regularly shout at the monkeys.

Soccer practice on Monday went really well. I am getting a hang of this assistant coaching and big monkey is really enjoying it all. He did chase one dragonfly into another team's practice area and was showing everyone his forward rolls and headstands, but also really impressed the other coaches with his skills. Little monkey had fun too, he was sure to stay out of the way of the big kids kicking the ball into the net this time. Our next meeting is our fist game on the 6th. It is going to be fun and interesting!

Semi lazy weekend

Fay sucks. So much for my lazy weekend. It did not rain here until Sunday and barely. So, I had to go hiking with the monkeys and husband yesterday. Don't get me wrong, I love going places with the family, and I do love going hiking and watching the boys discover new things outdoors. I just REALLY WANTED to be LAZY for once!!! Just stay home in my pajamas and go from bed to couch to bed. No such luck.

I have to admit I was a bit lazy Saturday. After running 5 miles that morning and then dragging the monkeys to soccer picture day (big monkey had the best cheese on the team), I came home and pretended it was a rainy day and laid on the couch with the boys. We all took a nice little nap. The most rain we got was just above a misting.

I was a little spoiled Sunday evening. My husband made dinner and bathed the boys. Am I dying and nobody has thought to mention it to me?

It started pouring here around midnight and I got drenched trying to get to the van, figures.

Bring on the rain..

Well here it is Friday and I am at work. Trying to make up for some time missed going to the dentist earlier in the week. I am leaving soon, so not too bad. I am going to go to Super Target after work and stock up on some snack foods. Apparently Fay is going to be visiting us this weekend and will drop about 15 inches of rain on us. Not really a big deal to me, except the monkeys will be going stir crazy by Sunday afternoon. I will have to let them melt their brains with movies and ice cream... I am sure to join in on the fun. And NAPPING. I really would like to nap some this weekend. There is nothing better than napping snuggled up to the monkeys with rain falling on our tin roof.

We will be stuck in the house (sort of) since our street floods like crazy due to insufficient drainage areas. But don't worry, our house has a very tall crawl space so chances of flooding are incredibly slim, and we park about a foot up from the road.

So thank you Fay, for being a rain-dropping-nap-inducing-weekend-visitor and not a horrid hurricane. Sorry to those of you in Florida who have had to go to work in that crap or who have houses underwater now, you are in our prayers.

Signature

Okay, I am testing a new signature for the end of my posts and I hope I followed the instructions correctly. I got the "how to" from Sasha, she is so smart! Tell me what you think.

Clean pearly whites

The monkeys and I have had dentist appointments the past couple of days. I love getting my teeth cleaned. Well, not the process but the after effect. My teeth are so smooth and lovely and not hairy like they get a few weeks before my 6 month cleaning is due. I have a wonderful hygienist who is kind during her lectures of not flossing enough. I can't help it, I HATE flossing. I finally found a floss that is thin enough to easily fit between my teeth (I have incredibly close contact points) so I have been flossing more, but I would not say I was a regular flosser. But I am a great brusher and had not a rotten tooth in the bunch.

The monkeys had their appointment this morning. They are only 2 and 3 but I have been taking them to the dentist since big monkey was 18 months and little monkey was about 15 months. They hate it. They are on their 3rd dentist. We love her. This was her second time seeing the boys and they went to the back by themselves and I only heard big monkey screaming once. Apparently this was when they went after him with the cleaning tool. So they simply brushed his teeth really well and then did the fluoride treatment on him. Did I mention that I love this dentist? She is totally worth the extra money I have to pay because she is not on our "provider" list. I wish she could do my teeth too. So patient and she totally knows how to adjust to each child depending on their personality. Little monkey needs kind words and physical assurance, big monkey needs stern talking and bribery. They even keep their gloves off for big monkey since he has a horrid glove phobia. So nice. Their teeth were cavity free. Turns out little monkey has a slightly crooked bite and will have this corrected around age 7 (I had the same thing but totally blamed my husband when talking to the dentist). We have to watch big monkey's mouth formation because of his long lost bobby (pacifier) causing some movement in the short 3 years he used it.

Here are a couple of pictures of the monkeys doing their best cheese to show their clean, sparkly teeth off.




By the way, soccer practice Monday night went so well. I thought it was going to be hell since big monkey was a big poop head all day for the nanny. Both monkeys were good and had fun. I was even proud of myself, I had a great time running around with all of the kids. There are some vicious little boys on our team though.

Thank goodness for portable DVD players.

We are back! Had a great whirlwind of a time in Hotlanta. Our start to the trip was a bit rough though. Little monkey peed all over his shirt while trying to do a last minute potty break so we had to change clothes right off. I got into the car and started the DVD system up only it did not work!! Our Target was not going to be open for at least a couple of hours so we had to drive 2 1/2 hours (to the first Target on the way) with no entertainment. They did pretty well though. I will tell you I do not know how our parents traveled without those nifty portable DVD players!!
Both monkeys were so excited and started squealing when we got close to my parents' house. It was very cute. They were spoiled the entire time and I let it happen. It will take a week to get them back to normal.

I went walking with my mom and her fellow breast cancer walkers. It was a nice 6 mile walk. It is always interesting to hear what a bunch of 50 something women are talking about. Sometimes it can get quite embarrassing to me, they hold nothing back. I will have to say that even though I run often and 6 miles walking barely made me break a sweat, I am still sore today in places I have not been sore for a long time. It makes me nervous for the actual 30 mile walk.

The monkeys and I loaded up on clothes. My monkeys have got a TON of clothes and I love it!! Mostly thanks to my mom and dad. I got some great clothes too. My mom has a bad habit of buying without trying on and sometimes I luck out and it fits me. So since she hates taking things back, I hit the jackpot!

Here are a couple of pictures of the monkeys doing things I would never let them do at home..



Just look at the popcorn on the floor! Do you know how hard it was not to vacuum the entire place?!?!


My parents are talking about coming to visit in a couple of weeks. That would be great considering we miss them already. Little monkey cried off and on for his Granddad and Gigi the entire ride home.

ATL

Here I come mom and dad... two monkeys in tow and ideas of sleeping in while someone else keeps the monkeys happy!!
Have I mentioned that I love my mom and dad?!!?!

I am so ready to go, mentally anyway. I have my packing and to do lists ready. Going to grab a pizza on the way home and then turn a movie on for the monkeys and get my stuff packed up and loaded while they sit melting their brains!

I may turn a movie on for myself and relax with a glass of wine after the monkeys are in bed.

Tomorrow will be the drive and then hand off! The monkeys are really pretty good with the drive. We have the portable dvd with two screens so as long as I have snacks, drinks, and movies we are good to go!!

I probably won't post again until Monday since I will be busy resting up and shopping with my mom, so have a great weekend all!!

Close to my heart

Just have to get a bit serious on you all now. I wanted to let you in on a wonderful event I am going to be a part of in September. This two day walk for breast cancer raises so much money and awareness to a disease that sneaks into lives of people near and dear to us, or even our own lives. My Granny is a survivor, as well as the mother of my good friend from graduate school. Most recently, my great aunt has been diagnosed, and we pray everyday she will be one of the many survivors. But truth be told, there are MANY MANY women who did not get the chance to be labeled "survivor" and many of us that will be inflicted with this terrible disease. And this is why I walk. I know that every penny earned will be used to help research a cure, raise awareness, and educate people on early diagnosis. I will be walking with my mom and her friends who have been participating in this event for several years. It is a privilege to walk beside them.

So I am asking for your support, and I don't mean you have to donate. Prayers, positive thoughts, good walking weather vibes would all be appreciated. If anyone wants to add a name in the comments section of someone I can walk for, please do. I will carry a list with me while I walk.

Click on the link above and check it out. It may be something you want to participate in if you are in the area. I know they could use more volunteers. You can also check out my walking page.

The secret

This stuff was amazing, even before I REALLY tested it yesterday. I did my regular sweating my ass off between the car and office, car and store, etc. Then did my regular sweating in this oven I call my office, I ran 3 miles (sponge bath at the office), ran home, got dinner made (while sweating), and chased big monkey all over the soccer field... AND STILL smelled lovely (my underarms anyway!)!
Amazing, all with just the one application.

Put me in coach...

Dear Coach SoccerMom:

I was not lying when I told you my son was mature for a 3 (nearly 4) year old boy. I know it may not have looked that way during our first practice last night when he was standing in the middle of the circle instead of the outside, taking a "rest" with his head on his ball while you were doing drills, refusing to use any other ball than his own, joining another "pun" team that was practicing next to us, and trying to skip turns in line. I know he cried quite a bit after he and the biggest boy on the team (double big monkey's size) collided during the running race, but he did finish the race (with mommy in tow) even with the tears running down his cheeks.

I hope this does not jade your view on whether I can be an unbiased assistant coach, because I can. I know he is the smallest, slowest, and the child who chases butterflies free spirit of the group. There are a couple of amazing players on this team mostly made up of 5/6 year olds (whose parents must stand in the back yard pouring rain with an umbrella making their kids dribble the ball back and forth for hours). I will probably spend most of my time chasing my child and trying to convince him to participate correctly, but that is why you have me and you lucked out and have another assistant coach who takes the game too seriously is very enthusiastic about the game. Give me a couple of weeks to warm up to you (I am a shy one at first) and the idea of having several parents just stand around watching instead of joining in and I can make a great assistant coach/helper/3 year old chaser, promise.

Sincerely loving soccer,
Assistant Coach Shanna

Say a little prayer for me..

We are leaving in a couple of hours to visit my in laws. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I know this too will pass and make me stronger. I have to spend the night. They have no less than 50 clocks that chime on the hour, half hour, etc. It keeps me up all night. I don't have the drugs some of you do, I need some. Fed ex?!?!?

On a better note. This morning it was VERY low humidity and around 70 degrees. Very weird for gulf coast weather in August. I had the best run despite my running buddy bailing due to a migraine. I wanted to go forever and maybe run away, but alas reality slapped me in the face and I came home before the husband had to leave for work.

I got big monkey his soccer shorts today, they actually had his size and some in little monkey's size. They are too cute. I can't wait to take a picture of big monkey in his uniform. Practice starts Monday evening.

Complete Overhaul

Yes, I need a complete overhaul. Upon further inspection of myself in my personal (lucky me) office bathroom mirror, I have decided I need some help and I need to turn on the overhead lights when dressing at 5 am.

My pants are WAY too big. I know, I should be happy I have lost a bunch of weight running, but I look really frumpy from the middle down. They are big enough for me to only have to undo the top button (not the other two or the zipper) to pull them down to pee. Not good. I contemplated going to Target to buy another pair of bottoms, but instead I went to CVS - more on that in a minute.

My toes need some polish, desperately. I took the polish off first thing Tuesday morning, at work. I had a rough time of it considering I was out of cotton swabs, the previous color was red with sparkles, and I spilled a 1/4 of the bottle on my desk, self, chair, carpet. So I did not get to the repainting of the toes. I do not like toes that are not painted. I do not like toes, but unpainted ones really gross me out - unless they are the monkeys' toes or baby toes.

So I went to CVS during my "break". I bought some flaming hot cheetos to help with my too big pants issue. All is well when you have an orange tongue on fire.

Lord, help me.

My neighbors have a cat they call Jesus. I think he is the daddy to the below mentioned kittens. I posted a bulletin on myspace about the kittens. I also asked my neighbors (they have myspace pages) if they had fixed Jesus yet.

Yes, I did. I asked if Jesus was fixed in a bulletin to 8 total my multitude of myspace friends.

So I had to go back and re post explaining that the cat's name was indeed Jesus, but my family calls him Hey-Zeus. The monkeys call him Zeus. We are not going to risk having to explain this to their teachers when they start Catholic school next year! I can just hear big monkey telling a friend that Jesus peed all over his umbrella on the front porch.

They come with an accent

These cute kittens, sorry about the pictures but it is really hard to take pictures of animals with the monkeys running around, ended up in my backyard. There are SEVEN of them!! Yes, SEVEN!! I am pretty sure they were born under our "barn" deck and we just recently noticed them. Obviously it has been too flipping hot to go out much in the afternoon. They are very cute and in desperate need of a home. I can work out a delivery option and will include a nice bottle of wine as bribery a reward.

I cannot have 7 outside cats. I was just thinking I would not get any other cats after the two I have go to kitty heaven. Oliver has decided to start pssting in the newspaper recycle box. Cat psst makes me vomit. He is treading thin ice.

I am pretty sure they are the spawn of my neighbor's kitty (they call him Jesus and I have been trying to avoid that conversation with the monkeys). I should really drop them in a box at their front door. I may, if people don't just fall in love and need to have them!!

Miss my mommy

I miss my parents. It has been WAAAYYY too long since I have seen them. What brings this up? Other than my hormonal issues this week, my little monkey brought it up. He saw a redhead at church yesterday and thought it was his Gigi. He was convinced and I could not tell him otherwise until she finally turned toward us and then he hid. Then he told me "I sad at you mommy! Me go to my Gigi howse daday!" I tried explaining that we would go see Granddad and Gigi in two weeks (we plan on going up there on the 15th), but he got really excited and thought I meant right then.
So, I miss my mom and dad!! Not that I don't talk to them nearly everyday, but it is not the same. I love watching them with my monkeys. There is so much love there and the monkeys absolutely adore them. There is something amazing about watching your parents being grandparents. I think it makes you appreciate their skills at parenting, cause God knows I could not see past my ridiculous teenage self to see it then!
So I will call my mom today after work, of course I will have emailed several times by then, and tell her how much she is missed (and dad too). Then I will commence fully into list preparation for our trip in 11 days!

Stiff body, unstiffen

Got up at 5 ish (am that is). I am trying to wake up so I can get a good run in this morning. I have got to try to hydrate, my hands and feet are swollen from the high humidity. Such a quiet house, especially after a full house yesterday. My new dining room table and chairs are in. They are even better in person!! I LOVE THEM!! Now I have to figure out how to make sure the family does not ruin them. Any suggestions? (we are a sit down at the table to eat together type of family - I had thought about sitting on the floor from now on!! HA HA)

Gotta go, I have to give my running buddy a wake up call!