The countdown is on!

Oh who am I kidding? The countdown has been on for a while. The only difference is the number is getting a whole lot smaller! What the heck am I talking about you ask? We are going to Europe in 36 days!!!!

Can you tell that I am excited? We are heading to Munich, bumming around for 2 days and then it's off to the apartment that we have rented in Keszthely, that's a town on Lake Balaton in Hungary. We have that for a week and that little town is probably in the top 3 of my favorite places on earth. We spend the days on the beach, going around to other towns around the lake, going to the markets and looking through churches and castles. It is so wonderful there!

Next we head to Budapest for just 4 days. We have some relatives to visit, some sights to see, some shopping to do. I love it there too. It's a bit busier than being at the lake, but it's an amazing city.

We then go back to Munich and fly to Barcelona! I have never been to Spain before, but I think it will be amazing. We have rented an apartment there as well, and I have done some research as to what to see and avoid. We will go to the beach of course, look at more churches (I LOVE churches in Europe, they are amazing!), see some sights, eat some food, and do more shopping. It's my kind of vacation!

I am sure that this trip is one of the reason's that I am so chipper lately. We are at the point where I can finish the planning and booking, and I get to start my lists of what to pack! I love packing for vacation - I know it seems weird, but I will pack mentally for weeks before a trip. It's fun to me.

While transferring the data from our pc to our new iMac, we lost our travel folder, so I have to make sure that I can remember everything that I didn't print off. I should be mad, but somehow it makes planning more fun now that I have a bit of a challenge. I'm just thankful that I had printed off the plane tickets!!

A side note to Mother's day

Apparently wonders will never cease - My husband actually went out and looked at e-readers for me. He didn't buy one, but he looked. He has decided that they are only good to read books. Well no Sh*t! I had to laugh at him for that. But he did decide that a tablet might be a better choice. An ipad or a blackberry tablet. So at this point, I am not going to argue with him. I am simply amazed that he took my hints and looked at what I wanted!



Now lets see if I really get a tablet of some kind.

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm not going to say that I love Mother's day, I think it's just one more of those commercialized days that like to make you feel guilty. I mean, if you don't let your Mom know that you love her all the time, then what is one day going to do? That being said, I did send my Mom flowers as a nice gesture. I don't have the best relationship with her and I don't think that will ever get any better, but what can you do?

On the other hand, I have a great relationship with my own kids. I think I grew up wanting something more from my Mother and I vowed to make sure that my kids had what I didn't. I make sure that my kids know that I am here for them no matter what, I make sure they know that I love them and that they can trust me with their thoughts and feelings. I have been told by many people, including the kids teachers, that my kids and I seem to have a really close relationship. If they can see that, then I am doing my job.

I am very active at the kids school, mostly because I care about their education and what is going on at the school, but also because the people that go to their school see me too. They know who I am, and I know what's going on with my kids friends and the other people around them. Most kids in my kids grades love me, they know that I will help them if they need it and they know that I care about them too. I have a BFF in my daughter's grade, he thinks I am awesome! He's one of those kids that you can see he wants that attention, so I gave it to him. He always tells my daughter to say hi to me from him when he doesn't see me, and when he does see me, we chat a bit, high 5 and fist bump. He is a 12 year old boy after all. It makes me feel good knowing that he knows I care.

My kids go through their day knowing that I will be there after school, they know how important they are to me. They know they can open up to me about their problems and tell me what they honestly think about things. They aren't perfect kids, but they are wonderful and I just love them so much.

One day they are going to grow up and leave me, and I want to make sure that I do my best for them now, so they can go out into the world as healthy, well rounded, successful people. I always tell my son that I am the most important woman in the world to him, that is until he finds his future wife, and then she is the most important. She has to be. I want them to leave me and find their own lives. I will always be here waiting for when they need me, but I know that I will have to step back from them one day. Until then, I will hold them as close as I can, I will steal as many kisses as I can, and I will make sure they know that I love them. That is what a Mother needs to do for her kids.

This Mother's day I got creations from my kids, they are playing happily together and I am doing laundry and sitting on the computer. Later today I get my mother's day gift from my husband, new shoes. Now don't get too excited for me, they will be new running shoes. But what else could I possibly want? I have a great husband, two loving and adorable kids and a wonderful life. Mother's day is just one day, one day that I don't have to cook my own supper, but still just a day. I am doing exactly what I want to be doing. I hope you all are too!

Aveeno Products

I've noticed lately that I have been replacing all my beauty products that I've finished, with Aveeno products. It wasn't intentional, but when I was out looking to replace things, I always gravitated to the Aveeno products. I have used them before, that along with the price, and the smell of them have made me purchase more of them.

For example, I needed a new face scrub, well Aveeno just came out with a new one, so I bought it. It is lovely. Then I ran out of facial moisturizer, and I usually buy Aveeno anyway, so I bought more. I love the fact that they have a few different types, I have one that has 15 SPF for regular days and 30 SPF for the days that I know that I am going to be in the sun. I always wear sunscreen on my face because I look weird with a really tan face, and I want to avoid getting any more "age spots".

I also bought a tinted moisturizer as I don't really like foundation but I need a little bit of extra help on bad zitty days. I've found that I wear that one every day as it looks really nice on. It brightens my whole face up and gives me that extra coverage that I need. It has SPF 30 as well, but I also wear my other moisturizer underneath as I have really dry skin. If you buy this product just beware that you much treat it like foundation. Meaning you have to blend at the jaw line and make sure you get any extra out of your eyebrows. I went around all day one day last week with a bunch clumped up in my eyebrows. Either no one noticed, or they just thought I was crazy and didn't say anything! I think the tinted moisturizer is my new favorite Aveeno product.

Looking around the house, I've noticed that I've bought the Aveeno eczema cream for my kids and a few other products that I hadn't noticed. I find that the Aveeno products work really well, but they are also not very expensive. They aren't dirt cheap, but they work so well that I am willing to spend $20 on them. I don't think that's too much to pay for something that I love. They also aren't really small containers so they last for quite some time. I always buy his brand at Walmart, you just can't beat their prices, so why pay more somewhere else.

I love to hear about how other people rate products because I hate to waste my money. So take it from me, Aveeno products are awesome, as long as you like the smell of them, I can pretty much guarantee that you'll love them!

Boot Camp!

I have done boot camp twice this week, Monday and Wednesday night. Tuesday my abs hurt, last night, my whole body hurt with the exception of only my elbows!

I wasn't sure what to expect, but when I showed up Monday night, there was about 50 people there! I didn't think it would be such a big class. To be honest, I thought it would be hard with that many people, but it really wasn't. We did a warm up, then we did 6 exercises for 1 1/2 minutes each, with not much break in between. After the 6 exercises, we had a 2 minute break. Then we did the same thing again. After that was a cool down and a bit of stretching. It was a bit less than an hour as it was the first class and there was paperwork to be done. Last night we did warm up - jogging - and then right into exercises. We did a new 6 exercises, then the 2 minute break and the 6 exercises again. These were all done for just one minute. After that, we did 4 new exercises, for one minute each then a minute break in between. Then we did the 4 again and then cool down and stretching.

The thing I love about boot camp is that I am not the least fit out there - I am not the most fit either, but I think that no one is really watching me anyway. I also love that each exercise in only a minute to a minute and half. I can do anything for that long. They also do that as they expect you to go as hard as you can for that short time.

Our boot camp is outdoors, which I love. The trainer, Katy, is really sweet, but tough. She really does a great job of showing how each exercise is done and comes around to help those who are doing it wrong.

I have been a bit of a crazy person this week with boot camp and all the other stuff I have been doing. I ran on Monday as well as boot camp, ran and did weights and then ran again at night on Tuesday and then just boot camp last night. Today I am going to run just tonight. I have lost 2 pounds already, I have been eating really well, but I snuck in ice cream last night as a treat for being so awesome. Being this awesome screams for ice cream!

I've got boot camp twice a week for the next 5 weeks and I am going to love every minute of it. It really makes me motivated to do more. I know, how weird is that? I felt like running after Monday nights session, I just felt so energized. My boot camp is out of World Health, but I have seen tons of other boot camps being offered. If you have ever been inclined to do one, I would highly suggest it. It is a lot of fun - I mean it! Take this from the former non exerciser turned gym rat! Everyone complains and jokes the entire time, it's good for everyone no matter what your fitness level, and really, what have you got to lose? My only advice, get one that doesn't cost an arm and a leg just in case you hate it!(which you won't, but still) Mine only cost $40 as I mentioned last post, and it will be worth every last penny!

I love a good deal!

I have been buying a lot of things from Groupon and Daily deals lately. It's not like I am buying them just because they are there, I buy the things that I know I will use or I needed anyway. Like a massage. I still have to book that one. I just bought a Boot Camp deal with World Health fitness from Groupon. I know, what the heck was I thinking? But I made myself a deal, anything that came up on Groupon or daily deals that had to do with fitness of any kind, or new active things that I'd like to try, I buy them.

This boot camp deal ended up costing me $40, it was $50 down from the over $200 it normally is. Somewhere along the way, someone bought a deal because I suggested it and that gave me $10 off my next Groupon deal. What a steal! I start boot camp on Monday - and I am actually looking forward to it. It will be something new, and someone else will tell me what to do. I have already been gearing up for outdoor soccer, but this might just give me another kick in the pants that I need. And really, for $40, it's a wicked deal. It's twice a week for 6 weeks, and it's something I have never tried before. I'm still waiting for a yoga deal, I missed the last one.

I have just been informed of onespout.com, it's a site, that when you sign up, it takes all the daily deals and sends them to you in one email. I haven't looked at it yet, but once I do, I'm sure I will have something to say about that.

I just think that these "daily deals" are a great idea. They get you to try new things, new places and you get a discount doing it. How could you go wrong? On the other hand, some people might go too far and buy everything and spend all their money, so I guess it's just one more thing you have to be responsible about. So far I have bought a massage, which I haven't gotten yet due to my stupid schedule, eye glasses, again which I haven't gotten to yet. Piano lessons for the kids, they both went, and the one that I thought would love them didn't, and the one that I thought would be indifferent loved them! That was an awesome deal because now I know my daughter would really do well at piano lessons. I've also bought discounts for a bookstore and of course, the boot camp. I will keep buying things that make sense to try and I look forward to these deals to see what new things I can do. If you don't already do these deals, check them out!

Mother's day

I have just read an article on Mother's day in Real Simple (a magazine) by author Jacquelyn Mitchard. She had the best idea for Mother's day. She had a book, well at this point, many books, and she had her children write or draw in them every Mother's day. I thought this was just the best idea! The kids always do stuff like that in school and they just seem to end up in a box for keeping. I can't get rid of stuff like that.

So the simple solution is to put what they feel about me, or what they want to say or draw into a nice book. I've given my kids the book and their instructions, now I just have to wait patiently for Mother's day to see what they had to say. I hope that they can continue this for a few years so I can have it forever. I hate the fact that they are growing up so quickly and at least this way I can keep a little bit of them little in this book.

I have kept a journal for each of my kids since the day that I found out I was pregnant. I used to write about what they did, what they learned, new things they did as they grew. I still write in them, mostly about funny things they say, creative things they have done, achievements and just sweet things about them. They are kept in the coffee table, but the kids don't read them. I have told them they are not allowed, but also, they can't read my handwriting! They aren't a secret by any means, but I have told them that they will get these journals when they are older. That way they can always see the cool things they did, and just how much I love them. I read them from time to time, I just flip to a page and read what I have written. It makes me so happy to hear about when they were littler, and sometimes it makes me cry to read the sweet things they have done.

I don't really need anything for Mother's day, but the kids always feel like they have to give me something. Now they can give me exactly what I want. My husband can get me stuff that comes from a store. Specifically an e reader....hint..honey..if you're reading this!