What's in Your Ears?

I am on a semi-constant search for good workout music.  I need something that will pump me up while at the same time uplift me.  It seems to be an uphill battle sometimes.  I'll hear a song and think, "Hey, that's a good one!  And it's clean!"  Then in the middle of my workout, I'll think "Eeep!" and hurry to change the song.  I have some songs on there that have a good beat, and others that are more for cool down or while lifting weights or something.  The trouble is, there are more slow songs than anything else.  So I'm completely looking for suggestions.  And do me a favor, if there's anything really objectionable to any of these songs, please let me know because apparently I don't always hear it.

 

Here are the songs I have on my playlist right now (and yes, I do have a music crush on Stevie Wonder - it began with the Cosby Show) Some of them are linked, so just click if you want to hear the song.:

 

Let It Go - Frozen

Happy - cover by Walk off the Earth featuring Parachute

Somebody That I Used to Know - cover by Walk off the Earth

Gang of Rhythm - Walk off the Earth

Let's Stay Together - Delvin Choice

Gold Dust Woman - Kat Perkins

Love is an Open Door - Frozen

In Summer - Frozen

Rocky Theme Song

Eye of the Tiger - Survivor

Open Arms - Journey

Come on Feel the Noise - Quiet Riot

We're Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister

Say Something - Christina Aguilera

Signed, Sealed, Delivered - Delvin Choice & Josh Kaufman

I Just Called to Say I Love You - Stevie Wonder

For Once in My Life - Stevie Wonder

Tell Me Something Good - T.J. Wilkins

Superstition - Stevie Wonder

Love Somebody - Maroon 5

She Will Be Loved  - Maroon 5

This Love - Maroon 5

Punk Rocker - Sandi Thom

Walking on Sunshine - Katrina & The Waves

Man in the Mirror - Michael Jackson

Bad Romance - Lady Gaga

Every Little Thing She Does is Magic - The Police

Sweet Child of Mine - Guns N Roses

Paradise City - Guns N Roses

Somebody to Love - Queen

Another One Bites the Dust - Queen

Crazy in Love - Beyoncé

All the Single Ladies - Beyoncé

Walking on Air - Katy Perry

Let The Groove Get in There - Justin Timberlake

Gonna Get Over You - Sara Bareilles

Radioactive - Imagine Dragons

My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark - Fall Out Boy

Now - Paramore

Rolling in the Deep - Adele

These Arms of Mine - Otis Redding

Just Give Me a Reason - Pink

Balada - Dyland & Lenny

Que Vida la Vida - Wisin

Waka Waka - Shakira

 

Because they crack me up.

 

 My kids are always saying something that makes me laugh. 

 

1.  Lately if Andrew wants us to stop singing or something, he says we're squishing his head.  "Can you stop saying that, Emmie?  You're squishin' my head."

2.  Emmie looked outside the other day and said it was "windy to-gain."  A combination of today and again.

Someone gave us this baby thingie, and Emily LOVES it.  She always begs to be put in it, and looks so ridiculous, but has a great time so I don't care.  :)

 

3.  When the girl gets mad lately, she will point her teeny finger at people and say angrily, "Don't make soup!"

Cute.

 

4.  When she wants attention, she will often tell me that one of the boys is "fighting her."  "Mommy, Ande-rew fightin' me."

5.  Andrew got hurt the other day and said, "I'm okay.  I'll live."

Andrew picked out his outfit that day.  A pj shirt with a shirt put on backwards, underwear, and my slippers.  Then he helped by sweeping the floor.  I'll take it.

6.  Andrew - "I don't like puppies.  I'm not going to change my mind about puppies.  I just like kitties."

 

The back view, and our little blur baby.

 

7.  Andrew and I were reading a book about cats and I read that on this certain cat, there were about 130,000 hairs per square inch.  Andrew said, "Woah.  Hey!  That's kind of like you!  You're that much!"  So I asked if he thought I was 130,000 years old, and he said yes.  There are days when I feel like maybe that's true.

 

8.  Andrew told us tonight that his friends Nellie and Evelyn are his favorite girls.  Pretty cute.

 

Eating cheerios, fistfuls at a time.

 

9.  Charlie snuck outside today while we were playing at a friend's house and when I found him, he was standing in a mud puddle, splashing sticks into the water with the most excited look on his face.  I called out to him and he panicked, thinking that I would make him stop.  That made him stumble forward and fall face forward in the puddle.  Then he started yelling at me.  I think maybe you had to be there, but it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

 

10.  I told Andrew it was rest time, and he told me that was not a "correct right idea."  Oh.

 

11.  I was making sausages for dinner the other night and Andrew came in and told me "those sausages grabbed my nose!"  Apparently he thought they smelled good.  :)

 

12.  Emily had her finger in her nose the other day and I told her to take it out.  "Mom!  I have to get this nut out of my nose!"  Andrew just about fell over laughing.  I explained that we could just blow her nose, and that that wasn't a nut.

 

Daddy time.  Not pictured is Charlie who was grabbing the other leg seconds before.

 

Easter!

 Easter was super fun!  We were able to go to Salem to visit with all the grandparents and all my sisters and their families.  We had 7 kids 4 and under and a 12 year old, so it was a bit crazy, but we had a good time.

Easter egg hunt!

 

The kids loved their baskets.  Charlie was mostly excited about the banana that was in his.

 

Andrew was happy with the "100 candies" that the Easter bunny brought.

 

It was a very bright, warm day.  Emmie looks like a sweet little doll in this picture.

 

And a rare picture of the whole family together.

Which Came First?

The Chicken?  Or the egg?

 

We found out the answer!  It's the chicken of course!

On Thursday, the kids were looking out the sliding glass door and were super excited.  Then I saw the chicken.  Apparently she just wanted to come for a visit.  The kids were super excited.  She even laid an egg in our backyard.  Her owners were happy to find her, though.

 

It particularly cracked Andrew up that it flew up and stood on our chairs.  When I asked why he thought the chicken had come by, he said, "Just to see our beautiful pictures."  Probably so.  Our sidewalk chalk pictures are pretty gorgeous.

 

 

Then tonight we decided to dye Easter eggs.  The kids were pretty excited about it.  (Please ignore the mess in the background.  Mike was gone at a conference for a couple days and the kids and I have been sick- fevers, ear infections, upper respiratory infections, headaches, general yuckiness.) 

 

They really had a great time, but apparently it's impossible to get any pictures of them smiling.

 

Andrew is really good at smiling for the camera when I ask him to, but they aren't always the most natural smiles.  And he doesn't always look at the actual camera.

I took the one of Andrew, then took one of Mike, who posed like our favorite 4 year old.  And when we looked at the pictures, we laughed like crazy.

It's My Blog and I'll Brag If I Want To.

I'm sure people get sick of me bragging on my kids, but I can't help it.  They are so dang cute and creative. 

 

Although I didn't seem to get any pictures of her actually smiling, she was having a great time.  She got a stuffed bird animal and was making it fly while having the bird say things like, "I'm flying!  Wow!  Look at me!  I'm as high as a kite.  Thanks!"  Then apparently the bird needed to be rescued, and Emmie was there to save the day.

This little gal knows her stuff.  She finds shapes around the house, as well as pointing out numbers and letters wherever she goes.  She loves to play pretend, and can be counted on to be any number of animals at any point of the day.  There's something super cute about having your little girl in the tub, hair all soaped up on top of her head, pretending to swim and making weird noises, saying, "Mommy, I just TWYIN' to be a whale wight now."

 Andrew has been blowing us away with the creativity he has been showing with his drawing.  As little as 8 months ago or so, all he was drawing were scribbles or "pipes" which were lines.

Instructions for making a sock puppet.

 

Bugs crawling toward a chocolate chip cookie, saying Mmmm!  He drew the cookie, asked me to make the ants, then came back to me a few minutes later with the rest.  SO cute.  He informed me that bugs like things that are sweet and crunchy.

 

It's backwards, but he wrote "Hi you" by himself, then asked how to spell I Love You.  It was a message for Mike, I believe.

 

Sorry these are sideways.  These are different robots.  And they are so cute, and each is unique.

 

This is some sort of maze/aquarium for tadpoles.

 

A pickle

 

Fish and tadpoles with numbers for their fins.

 

A truck.  He made several of these and today asked me to help make a book of them.  The top left corner has a checkmark.  When we do school, he gets either a checkmark or a smiley face when he's done.  When he finishes a drawing, he often gives himself a checkmark and says, "Wow, that is great!"

 

Fish swimming up to his fish bowl.

 

A guy with food, standing on a table.  See the wood grain?  I'm telling you, he's pretty detailed!

So yeah, my kids are basically smart, creative, beautiful, wonderful.  I'm bragging, but you're reading it, so you might just have to agree with me.  :)

Never a Dull Moment

Life with little Charlie Boy is never boring.  He's hilarious and sweet, and on top of all these great qualities, he's a seriously active and climbing little man.  He gets on top of everything. 

 

Plus he's one cool cat.

 

 

Confessions

I have a few confessions to make.

 

1.  I believe I may be a cyborg.  You know all those motion detector lights and faucets and water fountains and soap dispensers and everything else in this world?  They completely don't acknowledge my existence.  I remember going into a bathroom once and trying to get the lights to turn on.  Just me walking in there did nothing.  Waving my arms around like a lunatic left me standing in the dark.  Jumping up and down and running around in circles made me look like quite the fool....especially when someone else walked in, and the lights immediately came on.  I mean....seriously?  The one thing that notices me?  Motion detecting toilets.  But they always seem to flush the moment I sit down.

 

2.  I have a nervous twitch.  Or a tic.  Or a speech impediment.  I really don't know what it is.  I don't know when it's going to happen.  I know it happens more when I'm tired, sick, stressed, or nervous.  But it also happens when I'm rested, well, calm, and collected.  It happens in front of large groups, small groups, or just when I'm talking to Mike.  I don't really know how to describe it, except that it makes my mouth jerk to the right and I can't get out the word I want to.  I try again and my mouth won't just calm down and let me say what I want to say.  And I panic.  I rarely volunteer to read in public, because I know it could happen anytime.  It isn't something that people really know about me, because I've gotten better about hiding it and because it doesn't happen all the time.  It's something that I really hate, but I've come to be so grateful that I don't have a serious stammer or stutter. 

 

3.  I can't stand the feel of cotton.  Because...yuck.  Seriously, it makes my toes curl up and my teeth hurt.

 

4.  It's only a matter of time before I seriously embarrass myself.  Am I the only one who forgets themselves when they're at the gym?  Listening to my music, working out....there have been quite a few times when I have almost busting into song out loud or started shaking my funky groove.  Am I alone in this?

 

That is all.  I will let you know if there are more things in the future that I need to get off my chest.  :)

And a picture Mike took of me making dinner.  Because blog posts without pictures are boring.

A Nice Addition to the Family

No.  Not another baby.  But yeah, I know I had you thinking that for a sec.

There are actually two additions.  One was a baby swing for Charlie.  He kept wanting to swing on the big swings, or getting knocked to the ground because he was getting too close.  He loves his swing!  Andrew and Emmie have been very sweet trying to push him in it.

And can we all weep just a little for me, because LOOK at how big my baby has gotten.  He has grown up so fast!

 

We had some friends come over the other day, and they brought the best gift imaginable to a little Andrew we know.  TADPOLES!  They have grown so much this week, and it's fun to see them swim around.  I'm always convinced we're going to kill them, but they're hardy little suckers, and are super easy to take care of.  Thanks, Kamerer kids!

 

Resolution Check-in (March)

1.  Lose 50 lbs   Down 4 pounds this month.  That's only 8 for the year, but it's a pretty good start.  Plus I went down a pants size, so that was pretty much awesome.  Weight is weird.  Some of the shirts that fit me back before Thanksgiving and Christmas (when I was 5 pounds lighter than now) are too big now.  That's weird. Also, yay.

 A picture Mike took of my getting ready for church

A picture I took of myself wearing my new size pants

 

2.  Read 50 books Maybe I need to start enjoying books on tape or something (books on tape?  I'm pretty sure if anyone under the age of 25 heard me say that, they would think I was very old.  I guess they're called audio books.  :) )  because I have only read 6 this year.  I LOVE reading at night in bed, but the problem is no matter what time I start, within 5 minutes, I'm asleep.  And this can be a little dangerous as last night I dropped the book on my head when I was nodding off.  :)

3.  Read the scriptures more this year.  It's going well, and I only missed 2 days I think.

4.  Spend time/Read to kids each day.  Andrew said to me the other day, "I like just spending time with you, Mom."  And the feeling is mutual.  The kids are so dang funny, and although it's nice to get time to myself sometimes, I really love spending quality time with them.

 

March= On the right track!