A really good day.

Today started out with the potential to REALLY suck.

Aiden woke me up at 5:50AM, I bribed him with cartoons and fell back asleep on the couch. I woke up an hour later with a RAGING headache. Fell back to sleep after chugging some Advil. Woke up an hour later to find that my headache had not gone away, but spread to my WHOLE body.

Four hours later it slowly faded away. And funny enough that's when my day started to get BETTER.

I had a good hair day, wore my new shirt, both small children stayed clean (for awhile), it was like I had found a 4 leaf clover.

We visited Papa @ work. Went to the Mall. We (and 10 strangers) watched Aiden rock out @ American Eagle.  We had a Papa sponsored toy purchase at the Disney Store. Emily took FOREVER. Aiden picked his toy out in under 5 minutes and would not even think of anything else.  Emily was there long enough for us to need a bathroom break. Then we had to go back. FINALLY she decided on the Doll that is just a head and you do it's hair and it looks like a MERMAID.

Nicole and Sabrina managed to both find outfits that were on SALE. This alone is worth GOOD DAY STATUS. 

Dinner at the mall always makes my children happy. Chicken and Rice at the Food Court. I was not blowing 10 days of the Shred by eating pizza, so I had a flat bread sandwich.

The last few days I've been REALLY tired and REALLY grumpy about the lack of sleep, and it made me appreciate today as a REALLY good day.

They were so freaking EXCITED about their purchases they wanted to open them right there. They showed everyone that walked by. We spent 10 minutes on this bench just LOOKING at them thru the box. I can't even tell you how weirdly happy they were. These are children that get a surprise going to the mailbox, they are not deprived of ANYTHING.  They kill me.

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Day 11 @ Level 2 was way better than day 10.

I figured out a few more moves then yesterday and I was sweating like a hoglet by the end. I'm hoping that tomorrow I'll be able to really keep pace. 

Day 10.. 1/3rd of the way there.

I'm tired. But don't tell my mother, she is tired of hearing it.

Today was in the 90's with the humidity at 1000%..

We kept the house cool and had a very mellow day with lots of books and naps.

I tried to nap, but for some reason when I CAN sleep, I can't FALL asleep.

Emily's soccer team held a meet and greet tonight.

She was just beside herself WITH GLEE, she knew 2 people on the team and the shirts are orange and she thinks her team is going to be the best, the end.

The team was taking turns kicking a few balls around  but it wasn't a formal practice. Emily and another boy ran right into each other. Everyone cringed. It was a hard hit for both of them.

She got up and patted the boy and limped over to the ball. I was VERY impressed.

99% of the time she is bathed in pink satin and wearing plastic princess shoes, declaring that she be saved by her handsome prince.  I think I underestimated how tough she really is.

Also I think that living with Aiden, she has no choice. I can't wait to watch her play.

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Day 10 (in theory) is the day you move to Level 2 of the 30 Day Shred.

I'm just going to put it out there.. I am uncoordinated. You go left, I go right..

It has taken me forever to learn the correct moves to Level 1. 

I "attempted" level 2 tonight and spent a lot of time trying to mimic movements rather than working out for real. I was tired from trying to keep up, rather than

I hope tomorrow will be easier.

The Dog misses you.

THE Husband & Sadie the DOG, originally uploaded by Michelle.Dan.

The boy child misses you.

The girl child misses you.

The "young lady" child misses you.

The love of your life misses you.

It's about 20 minutes till Monday. I should be asleep.

You left yesterday.

You won't be home till tomorrow.

It's just not the same around here without you.

Hurry Home.

PS: I do not think the CAT misses you. She seems a little pleased your not here actually. (can't win em' all)..
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Day 9 of the Shred is complete.
It was going to be a very boring workout.

Then Aiden decided to give it a try. I highly recommend him as a personal trainer. He spent the entire time telling ME what a good job I was doing, how I was so strong and that he loves to ECKERIZE with his Mama.

I may let him stay up late again tomorrow, just to cheer me along.

My own little slice of Gotham..

He is funny.

He is lovable.

He is "intense"

He is crazy.

 He is all mine..

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Day 8 of the 30 Shred has been completed.

I'm exhausted, it's going to be a long lonely week for me.

My sweetie is gone till Tuesday.

I miss him. & I'm more than a little frightened that he has left me alone with the "Joker".

A new WHAT?

So, once upon a time there was a Handsome Husband whose burning desire in life was to repave the driveway..

He had visons of the children riding bikes, roller skating and skateboarding on the newly paved asphalt.

Arguments could be made regarding the advantage of paving vs. the gravel/ stone that was our current driveway. Flooding of the front lawn would become a thing of the past as well as the winter snow removal would be SO much easier.

Two years ago a paving company quoted the job at $5,000. Then last year a different company quoted $3500. On Wednesday, the Handsome Husband noticed that this company was paving the driveway down the street. He flagged down the owner, and asked him to stop by. Owner came over, gave him an offer of $1500 and as Husband was still talking, they started to grate down the driveway.. AND the kicker was that my sister Danielle was here and offered a down payment in cash.

It was a HUGE discount. All the equipment was already there. There were 5 guys, 3 HUGE pieces of equipment. It took about 45 minutes.

It looks SO NICE. We have admired it from afar for the last 2 days. No prints or tiretracks wanted.

Tonight we christened it..

 He is REALLY good at this. It makes me nervous, because when he goes down and he WILL, it's gonna be a bad one.

She is riding HIS spiderman bike with HIS spiderman helmet, but HER ruby slippers.

She is JUST Like Dorothy. There's no place like home.

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Notes to Remember:

Garron and Camilla came to visit, we had BBQ with Papa and Granny.Aiden has lodged himself up Garron's right nostril. "He just wuves Gawin."

Day 7 of the 30 Day Shred has yet to occur, but I'm about to sign off the INTERNET and lace up my sneakers. I'll let you know tomorrow how it works out. * I may or may not have consumed 2 glasses of wine. 

Day 6.. Already?

You all are on the edge of your seat, breathlessly waiting for the pictures that I promised of the new driveway, I know.

I am ashamed to report that instead of lovingly photographing the new addition to our family, I was lounging at the salon having my hair highlighted and lowlight and getting altogether beautified.

Tomorrow there will be many pictures.

Garron is coming home for the first time since Christmas.. Camilla is coming with him and I HOPE he warned her. We are loud family. And we take a lot of pictures, and we post them on that INTERWEB thingy.

Kurtis is in Bootcamp and was able to call us on Sat. I cried like a baby, but he said it was ok, he missed us too. MUST WRITE MORE LETTERS. I have a few saved, the poor boy is going to get a novel when I FINALLY mail it out.

It's Day 6 of the Shred. Day 6 of Posting. If I had to grade myself, I'm doing better at the Shred, than posting. I'm lacking content, but I'm also so tired from Shredding, it could be why I'm having a hard time with WORDS!

As always, I will try harder tomorrow..

Princess in the OUTFIELD

Princess in the outfield, originally uploaded by Michelle.Dan.

She is her own little creature.

She will play baseball.

She will play outfield when it is not her turn to bat.

She will be bored.

But.

SHE WILL wear her princess nightgown and green frog boots.

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Day 5 of the 30 Day Shred and I'm still trucking along. It's 11:29 and I have managed to Shred and update this site 5 days in a row.

Big News upcoming for tomorrow's post.

We get to discuss the new addition to our family....

OUR NEWLY PAVED DRIVEWAY!

Of course there will be pictures!

Broken Road

Broken Road, originally uploaded by Michelle.Dan.

"God blessed the broken road, That led me straight to you"

For some reason every time I look at this picture, those lyrics jump right into my head. It's the only part of the song I know and I'm not even a real country music fan.

The boy loves to ride his bike and needs to burn off excess energy.
We live on a semi-secluded road and it is .5 miles to the stop sign and back. It's good quality time for both of us.

It's day 4 of the 30 Day shred and I must say I'm feeling good.

Tired, but good..

Dear Internet..

Dear Internet,

Tonight's LAME post is brought to you by a 3 car pile up on Rt. 93 North.

We spend the day visiting our lovely cousins in Brockton MA and on the way home we sat in an hour of traffic. I HOPE no one was hurt, but by the looks of the two vehicles, that would be a miracle.

I am on my own tonight, Dan is at work, Nicole is at Sabrina's and I still have to do the SHRED & the best kick in the ass part of the evening is: Emily has the hiccups and for some reason it's making her have SVT episodes.

It's 10:30PM and yet I feel that I am in for a VERY LONG NIGHT.

Love,

Me

The over TEN crowd.

 

 
My favorite people in the world over the age of 10...

Nicole is working on getting her backhand spring again. She had it, but hasn't tried it since she broke her hand. It's all healed and we have the x-rays showing the 3 tiny screws that will forever be part of the family.

Her goal this season is the Varsity Cheer Team. Not many freshmen make it, but she is going to give it a try. They have an open gym with lots of foam mats and she is taking classes, so I'm hoping for NO BROKEN BONES this season.

Next week she begins a 2 week summer program for incoming freshman called "Pushing your Limits". It allows them to get familar with the school and they receive credit twords graduation.

It means that for the most part my LAZY summer is almost over.

It's crazy to think that she is about to start HIGH SCHOOL.

As I post this :she is singing at the top of her lungs with her BFF Sabrina, doing hand stands in the hallway. There is most likely going to be a hole in the wall before they knock it off...

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PS.

Day 2 of the 30 Day Shred. & Danielle, Casey and I took all the dogs on a 4 mile walk today.

After dinner we did another 1/2 mile, but it was mellow. Aiden rode his bike and Emily tried to run/whine/walk.