10 on 10

Today's 10 on 10 is kind of extra special because...

It's 10/10/10!!!! And I had to take 10 pictures in 10 hours today! Hooray! (I'm such a dork)

Here's my 10 on 10:

Girl Scouts

Elisabeth joined Girl Scouts this year.

She showed interest in it when one of her friends was in it and the friend's mom was the leader. But, because of other activities she was in, we had to wait.

This year, Elisabeth asked super early to join.

I, myself, was never apart of Girl Scouts growing up. However, when I talked to one of the leaders about what they do (camping, crafts, community service stuff), I knew Elisabeth would adore being a Girl Scout.

This past Monday, Elisabeth and the other girls in her troop were initiated in as Brownies. There's a title for different grades (Daisies, Brownies, Juniors, etc.) and 2nd-3rd graders are Brownies. Parents were invited to the ceremony.

There was a ginormous mirror on the floor in their meeting room.

The girls started all outside and knocked loudly on the door. Their leader asked what they wanted and they all replied that they wanted to become Brownies. Then, the girls filed in one at a time to where the "magic pond" (aka: the huge mirror) was.

Each girl had to spin around while the leader said, "Twist me and turn me and show me the elf. I looked in the mirror and saw...." and the girls would then lean over the "magic pond" stare in and say, "Myself!".


Then the girls were given a pin for their sash that was put on upside down. Each girl must do 3 good deeds that their parents ask them to do. Only after 3 good deeds can they turn the pin right side up.
It was a super sweet ceremony.
Then they asked all the parents and siblings to join them for their friendship circle. Do you see that little boy with the sweet face holding hands with his big sister? I totally want to squish him with hugs and cuddles. He is soooooo sweet.


I love when Julia smiles so big her eyes disappear.
Evan was able to attend the end of the meeting. Elisabeth announced to the entire room that Evan was in the Air Force. She loves to state the obvious. ;)
She earned her first badge--the Try-It badge. They had to try new things (food, activities, etc.) in order to earn it. She was very proud.
Julia appreciated the brownies that were served.
In the spring there will be a big camping trip and moms are invited to attend. Elisabeth wants me to go, so I will be attending.

Oh, and if you need cookies, you know who to call.

Scattered.

I feel scattered today.

Part of it might be that I haven't gotten to my second cup of coffee yet (and lord knows I need at least two).

Maybe it's because today's after school schedule is all askew and I have two different places to be at the same time so I've had to recruit my friends to help me either watch the girls or pick them up. That always makes me feel flustered.

Perhaps it's the fact that I have unfinished projects that I want to be working on but haven't found a slot of time to work on them yet.

Whatever the reasons, I am not anchored today and I don't like it.

So, I shall be using you as my sounding board today. Aren't you the lucky one?

1. My forever battle with my weight has come to a head recently. After gaining 20 lbs. in a little over a month this summer, not being able to fit into my pants, and a severe blow to my self esteem, I went to see my doctor. Thank heavens that I have a doctor on base who is flipping fantastic. We talked for a long time about my weight, how I'm not happy, how it jumped without me seeming to have changed much of my routine. He talked with me for half an hour. Then he helped me make a plan. I had some blood work done to check all my inward workings (cholesterol, thyroid, blood count, sugar levels, the whole sha-bang). Then he made me an appointment with a nutritionist (which is in 2 weeks) and gave me a game plan for my exercise. He also wants to see me in 2 months so we can see how I'm doing and where we need to go from there.

I don't know why I thought it would be any different, but I was so relieved to be taken seriously. My self image has taken such a hit with this whole weight thing, I guess I expected him to say, "Quit eating so much, chubs." But, he didn't. He said he wanted me to be healthy and at my body's correct weight as much as I do. He said that I was still very young and that he was glad I came to see him at 29 and not 39 with these concerns. He reminded me that having children can really effect a woman's body in ways that she doesn't know how to adjust too and that eating and exercise habits that I'd done before to lose weight before the kids might not work with this new "post baby" body.

So, I've stepped up the exercising. The goal is 5-6 days a week of an hour of exercise with both cardio and weight lifting. Last week, I only got to about 3 days, but this week, I'm feeling it. It's going to take a while to make it a habit, but that's what I'm aiming for--making it a habit. It does help that Julia's been very excited about going to the Y's child care. She loves that place.

2. As much as I'm trying not to be, I am most frustrated with this potty training thing. Not near as frustrated as I was with Elisabeth when she was learning, but it's just such a tedious process. And there are the moms out there who are all "Well, my Gracie was trained in one weekend." Hooray for you, you bragger. I don't believe those moms, by the way. I don't believe for one fraction of a second that their child magically went from peeing in diapers all day long to peeing in a toilet perfectly in a matter of two days. They are either lying or not saying how often their child has accidents.

Anyway, Julia's doing ok with it. If we put her in cloth underwear, she's pretty good about telling us when she needs to go (with only a little bit of an accident in her pants). But, she's by no means potty trained. And, I guess I just don't want to spend my entire day in my house in the bathroom with her. Selfish? Yeah, probably. But, she's going to have to learn to go to the bathrooms out in public too, so that's what we do. She gets put in a pull-up (aka: froggy underwear, because I buy the generic Kroger pull-ups because I refuse to buy her Disney Princess pull-ups, but that's another post) and off we go.

Just tell me that she'll be potty trained by kindergarten. That's all I care about, really.

3. I've been thinking more about what I want to be when I grow up. I've been thinking about teaching again. Sometimes I really miss and other times I think...eh. I definitely want to finish my master's and I still toy with the idea of finishing it in special ed like I started before I was pregnant with Julia. But then...then I I get to thinking...maybe I want something different. Maybe a different field. Maybe a different career. I'm still piecing this together though.

Well, thanks for helping me cement at least a few of my thoughts today. But, I must go now because today is story day at the library. And then, I need to exercise, you know.

Virtual Coffee

Hello! It's Tuesday again. Time for a coffee date with you.

If you were really here at my house for coffee...I would first apologize for not having my normal Starbucks Guatemala Antigua. Or their Anniversary Blend. I adore both of those, but just have my bag from the Sunflower Farmers Market. No worries, I'm sure next week I'll have the good stuff again. :)

I would tell you that I'm kind of boring today. Not too much is going on and I'm totally okay with it. We've just been hanging out at home and doing our normal routine. It's been lovely. I think I forget to appreciate the everyday humdrum. I'm trying to get better about it.

If you were really having coffee with me...I'd tell you how much Julia is super starting look like Elisabeth. Here's a picture of Julia yesterday:

This is Elisabeth from 2005:
See?!?! It's uncanny! I love dressing Julia in the clothes I used to love dressing Elisabeth in.

After our second cup of coffee...I'd tell you that it's tailgating season, which I'm sure you are aware of. But, we tailgate for the Air Force Academy games. I love it. The Academy is right at the base of the mountains and the view is gorgeous. Evan's office and other JAG offices from the bases near by all come together and serve food and beer. The girls love going too. Elisabeth spends the entire time climbing this tree and playing with the other officers' kids.

Julia likes to dig in the dirt. On her belly. Right in the middle of where everyone is standing.

I would ask what your plans were for the weekend. Of course, you would say that you and yours will be trying to soak in as much of this gorgeous fall weather as you all can before snow sneaks up on us here. I'd totally agree. I think we'll be heading out to Bear Creek Nature Center this weekend. I've been there before with Rachel and all the kids, but I want to take Evan to see it too.

As you were leaving our coffee date to go about your day...I'd point out the gorgeous clouds.

And the signs of fall.

I'd wish you a great day. I'd encourage you to head on over and check out Amy at Lucky Number 13 and all the other coffee dates. I'll see you next week!

Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center

Last week, I told you that when my parents were visiting, we went to a wolf conservation center.

I have also mentioned before that Elisabeth's favorite animal are wolves and that she is kind of in love with them.

Well, my dear friend Kim found this place online and told me about it. The Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center is a place that has 17 wolves, 2 coyotes and 4 foxes under their care. I definitely wanted to take Elisabeth to this place because not only would she get to see wolves but she'd get to ask questions to the tour guide about her beloved animal.

Elisabeth loves to ask tour guides questions.

So, I scheduled our visit and we drove one hour to Divide, CO. As soon as we got out of the car, we could hear the wolves howling to each other. Elisabeth, as Evan put it, was delirious with excitement. She could barely walk because she was trying to jump/run/twirl all while saying, "I can hear them! Can you hear them?!"

The people at the center were so friendly. Our tour guide's name was Deborah and she was patient and encouraging with all of Elisabeth's questions (and all the other people on the tour as well).

They have 4 swift foxes and we met them first. This little female fox is the boss of that group.

This is her big brother. She stole at least 3 treats from him that Deborah was passing out. Look, he seems so dejected.

Julia was excited to see the wolves too, but she soon demanded to be let out so she could dig in the dirt. I'm not kidding.
The female coyote. Her brother was too shy to come out to visit us from his spot at the top of their hill.

What I loved the most about the whole tour was watching the tour guide, Deborah, interact with the wolves. The wolves bounded up to the gate as soon as they saw her coming. She knew them all and would describe how they'd come to the center and their personalities. A lot of them were brother and sister or maybe parent and child. She obviously loved the wolves and was passionate about protecting them.

I liked this guy. He was only 1.5 years old and he was HUGE! One of the other wolves in the center had been born with a bone disease and was given growth supplements in his meal to help him grow and to help his bone density. Well, this guy here, would sneak bites of food from the sick wolf. Needless to say, he's kind of body builder now. And, he has a new roommate who doesn't take supplements.


They had two pure white wolves that were sisters. Oh my goodness, they were beautiful.
My favorite part was the end of the tour. We stood in the middle of the sanctuary and tour guide Deborah told us that we were going to howl to get the wolves to howl back. She said if we could get the female coyote going, she'd get the wolves going with her yips. So, we started by howling in a high pitch and then howling in a low pitch. Then, we waited. A few seconds later, the coyote started yipping. Soon, a couple of wolves started howling. Before we knew it, all the wolves were going. You could hear the differences in their tones--some being higher and some being low. It was beautiful. It brought tears to my eyes.
(My camera died after the above picture of Ebeth. So, I used my mom's. Please ignore the date at the bottom of the pictures. We did not time travel to the future, I promise.)

After the howling, we went to visit the pups. 3 of them lived together--a brother and sister and then another male.
Tour guide Deborah told us that, for $35, Elisabeth could get her picture taken with a wolf. How could we say no?
Elisabeth chose the youngest wolf, a pure black 5 month old named Na'vi. Yep, this guy is only 5 months old. He is going to be ginormous.
Elisabeth was excited but timid. She's that way around dogs too. I blame the fact that she wsa scratched in the face by a dog when she was just 1 as the reason for her timidness.
We all got to pet Na'vi (except for Julia and my dad who were not interested).
I ended up sitting with Elisabeth to help her relax. Na'vi was so friendly. He kept trying to lick us and would try to lay his head on Elisabeth. I think he felt she was a baby and he needed to show her he was the older one.

He was amazingly softer than I thought he would be. The lady who was taking the pictures for the actual pictures we'd purchase (which I still have yet to down load to our main computer) got a few really good shots of Elisabeth and Na'vi together.
The whole trip was amazing. On the car ride home, Elisabeth kept looking at her hand and saying, "I can still feel his fur on my hand."

Her face when she touched the wolf for the first time is a memory that I will keep forever.