we got the beat

i don't mean to get all richard simmons on you, but please, exercise feels so good! i ran today for the first time since my ankle incident. i think the best part about it was listening to my ipod. i really felt like i could run forever and sing and dance at the same time. although technically, how do you dance and run on a treadmill at the same time? the point is this...the power of music and the high from running is a serious thrill. and i am rolling my eyes as i write this because it sounds so dramatic and teenager, but it is like so true, girlfriend. also, the fat jiggling on my belly was a little reason to push forward.

i so enjoyed my time singing along with the go-go's, lynard skynard, the clueless soundtrack and so on. later ella asked if she could try out the ipod, so we hooked her up and she said, "i wike this song mom. you wike this song?" she was totally into it and also told me the music made her feel "happy again".

a friend and i worked on a cute little scrapbook album/book today. it was really fun and i mostly enjoyed just looking at the piles of cute paper that i have (but rarely use). ella and ellie had a great time playing. they were dressed up in gowns and were getting married to their handsome princes. my friend has two girls the same ages as my girls and their names are ashlan (same age as afton), and ellie (same age as ella). coincidence? i don't know. the girls just love playing together. it's nice to have a friend, isn't it? i have spent the last year or so distancing myself from most of my friends because of the depression/anxiety. it was just too much for me to handle. it was hard to be around anyone besides my family. anyway- now it's nice to want to have a few friends to do things with every once in a while. i am really grateful to the friends that let me have my time, but were always so loving and supportive. there are some wonderful people out there.

memory loss

today i played tennis for the first time since the ankle injury. it went very well. the best part was the commentary by a competitor. i used to think of her as "mean Jean", but then she called me at home to check on me a couple of days after the injury. she also hugged me goodbye as i sat on the court waiting for my friend to get her car to drive me home. so...i couldn't keep track of the score very well today and at one point i nonchalantly mentioned that i had a hard time remembering the score. Jean said "Yeah, I noticed". So a little later someone asked what the score was, Jean answered and i said "are you sure, Jean"? she was a little put out until i told her later that i was just teasing her. then she laughed. she is very competetive and i don't think some of the other ladies like her very well, but she is quickly becoming one of my favorite people.

ella and i took a trip to sam's "cwub" (ella talk) today to pick up toilet paper, bananas and contact solution. is this a great country or what? only in america...

afton has been logging on to the webkinz website each day and literally laughing with joy at each new game, prize, dog bed, newfound feature, etc, etc. i frequently hear, "mom look at this. isn't that the cutest thing?" "look at pink puppy's fluffy little bed, isn't that sweet?" "look mom, can you believe it? they can travel to each other's rooms to visit their friends!"

we've been registering a webkinz a day for the past week and i think we only have 50 or so left. today i reminded aftie that she had to practice her spelling words for her test tomorrow. she promptly answered, "i don't care". i said "yes you do". she said "oh yeah, i do. i want money to buy more webkinz". i guess we've missed the point about the importance of being a good speller.

ryan and i had a nice discussion over dinner tonite. this is a rarity because usually some little person is whining or yelling or saying "yuck-o". i remembered how much i like that guy.

by the way, wherever you are, i'm 99% sure it's warmer than it is in buffalo.

brrrrrr!

it is so cold today! we have the fire on full blast and it's still a little chilly. but we are playing the "glad" game (like pollyanna) and are feeling glad that the sun has been shining today.

today ryan spoke in the lockport ward. he thought it went well. the girls and i attended our own ward and arrived early, a huge accomplishment, and thus enjoyed a comfy, padded bench. usually we're late and have to sit on the hard chairs in the overflow area. afton gave the prayer and scripture today in senior primary. her scripture was a paragraph from the Proclamation on the Family...All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny.
as i think about this particular phrase from The Proclamation, it reminds me of the knowledge i have that God knows each of his children as individuals. because of experiences that i've had in my life, i truly believe this to be the case. we each have a destiny to fulfill and because we are God's children, he can and will help us through this life. i feel really blessed to know this and it makes my life much simpler and much less drama-filled. i hope that i can share this knowledge with someone else.
the last two weeks afton has prepared and presented our family home evening lessons. i was pleasantly surprised at her preparation and seriousness in undertaking this task. the first week she shared a lesson with us that included a part about Sherem lying to the Nephites and challenging Jacob. one sentence in the book of mormon reader that she shared said something like "Sherem wanted Jacob to show him a sign from God". Afton then commented, "he sure will get a sign"! and as you may remember, Sherem did receive a sign. he was struck down and after he called the people together to tell them he had lied and that they should believe in God, he died. Out of the mouths of babes.

we had a pretty good week. we had a lot of fun playing memory, hi-ho cherry-o, playing dress-up, tea-party, singing happy birthday in the bath and then unwrapping the present (a wet cloth placed over a cup containing little pet shops and polly pockets), reading Phoebe the Fashion Fairy, practing spelling words, coloring, stamping, cleaning aftie's room, making rice krispie treats, and having movie night.

ryan took a visiting colleague from tokyo to niagara falls on friday. he said it was so cold, it wasn't even fun to look at. they didn't want to go through the trouble of crossing the border to visit the canadian side, which i'm sorry to say, is 20x better than the american side of the falls. everything on the american side was closed, so they walked out, looked at the falls, walked back to the car and drove back to work. neat, huh? i'll bet we really wowed him.
it was fun for ryan to see him, kenji, because we had met him in paris a couple of years ago and thought he was so nice and interesting. kenji told ryan he had to come and visit tokyo. he also said next time we see him, he will take us for sushi and instruct us. so, my future plans include a trip to tokyo and a great sushi experience. my california roll expertise just isn't cutting it.

one more quick note, if you are interested at all in learning about yoga, you have to read this book...Yoga as Medicine, a yoga journal by Timothy McCall, MD. it is soooo interesting. yoga has been such a huge thing for me in overcoming my depression and anxiety. it talks about the benefits of yoga for other diseases such as diabetes, asthma, heart disease, chronic fatigue, arthritis, infertility, ms, obesity and on and on. it is fascinating to me. maybe you'll find it of some interest to you as well. namaste.

belly dancing

today i tried a new form of exercise...belly dancing! a friend said she thought of me when contemplating a try at belly dancing. so there we were, in her living room shaking our booty's. tonite my abs are sore, but i could definitely feel a burn in my arms and calves. it was a good workout and a lot of fun. we laughed and laughed as we tried to follow the video.

family update:

*ella has an ear infection in both ears, but hooray for doctors and amoxycillin!

*afton has reached a crossroads in her life - she held a cat tonite! (and liked it)

*i will now be saying "no cats" for the next 10 years

*we ate dinner at panera bread tonite- while waiting for our food, afton threw her coat and hit the nice man in black behind us! he was nice, but come on Aft!

*i am feeling thankful for prayers being answered

*ryan is getting tired of being a tattle-tale at high council meetings-the ward he's over doesn't quite get it

*i am enjoying american idol. it's good to have it back! i especially enjoyed the belly dancing dressed guy. yikes.

a day of rest

today was a good day. ryan attended the orchard park ward for his high council assignment and the girls and i went to our ward. after church aftie asked if her friend could come over to play and i thought, why not? so, they played for a few hours and had a great time. meanwhile, ry made cookies, ellie and i painted a wooden butterfly, i read the newspaper, ry took a nap, i made dinner, played strawberry shortcake/old maid card game with elle and then worked on a little project for kara's birthday. aftie's friends mom came to pick her up and we chatted for two hours. then her husband called and said, "i've left dinner in the oven and it may be a little overcooked, so whenever you're ready!" now the girls are in bed and it's nice and quiet.

this week's agenda includes the following:

library visit

tennis

yoga class

dinner with friends

laundry

hiring a dump truck to clear out the playroom and afton's room-seriously.

by the way, we have begun a family scripture study each evening-using the book of mormon reader-and there is a really nice feeling in our home. i am so thankful for prophets who encourage us and remind us to read our scriptures daily. i've finally gotten it.

insults & injurys

i was thinking of that saying, "adding insult to injury" or something like that. this is a good way to describe my tennis experience yesterday. there were insults and then there was THE INJURY. (i just rolled my ankle, but i do try to get all the mileage out of an injury that i possibly can.) not 20 seconds after i came crashing to the ground, i was swarmed by 14 women, each with a few words of motherly advice...including something about physical therapy. then i almost fainted, which caused more motherly concern. i was really glad my friend, kari was playing, and she really went the extra mile. she got ella from the playroom, fetched the carseat, drove me home, set me up on the couch with the phone, remote, 4 ibuprofen and a glass of water. she then took ella home with her to play. thank you so much kari! today i am feeling much better and am also feeling quite grown up. normally, i would milk every last drop out of this incident, but i am proud to say that i didn't even ask ry to come home from work. i told him how happy i was with myself and he did admit he was surprised i didn't have him come home.

as for the rest of this little family...

ella has been calling everybody a goo-goo head

afton is missing both front teeth (i'll post a photo later)

we have no snow on the ground (a little weird)

ella loves playing games (memory, hi-ho cherry-o)

afton is entering an art contest

ella and afton were sharing knock-knock jokes tonite...

afton: knock-knock

me: who's there?

afton: hat

me: hat who?

afton: hat on my head that is a hawaiian hat!

i laughed, but i'll be honest, i didn't really get it

ella: knock-knock

me: who's there?

ella: orange

me: orange who?

ella: (a little smile, then...) orange suitcase!

we were reading a book called Cowboy & Octopus. octopus tries to tell cowboy a knock-knock joke about lettuce. cowboy didn't get it, cause lettuce can't knock on a door. that sent afton into fits of laughter! 1st grade humor is the best!

Desperate

this is an admittance of guilt. i watch desperate housewives and frankly, i enjoy it. so, pick up your jaw and close your mouth. there are certain parts that i change the channel for, but overall it makes me laugh and frankly Bree has some pretty good housekeeping tips. tonite Ry and I were watching and they spoke about believing in prayer and doing nice things for others. i almost called my mom to tell her to watch tonite! now that is something she could appreciate.
i've also thought it may be a case of Satan and his naughtiness-i'll slip in a little something about prayer and then this show won't seem so wrong.

yesterday we painted. ryan took care of the ceilings in the entry way and the family room. i took the moldings. there was a lot of blue tape involved. (get it?)
CORRECTION (tuesday jan 8th): of course you didn't get it...i realized later that the saying is actually red tape. ryan got a good laugh out of this!

this week we are looking forward to warm weather (supposed to be in the 50's) a 3 year old bowling/birthday party, another $1 spelling test, basketball for ry, a trip to the library, laundry, dinner for the missionaries, and lots of miles posted on the treadmill. it doesn't get better than this, folks!

sleepy time

besides the obvious reasons, bedtime is one of my favorite times of the day. it's a great time to spend quiet time with the girls. ryan and i switch off reading to the girls before bed. with afton, we usually read Junie B Jones or some other chapter book. it's so fun to hear her reaction to something funny that happens in the book. i love to share those funny, laughing times with her.

with ella, we still read little books and sing to her. she LOVES twinkle twinkle little star and i am a child of God. tonite i sang/read from a beautiful little book i picked up a year or so ago. i love it. the illustrations are so sweet and make you want to drift off to sleep just looking at them. i sang brahm's lullaby to her (with the real words; i usually make them up as i go) and she kept saying "one more time, mom" until she fell asleep.

i thought i might be mother of the year last night as ella woke up and i got her into the bathroom before she threw up. usually i panic, for some reason can't move, and the girls end up throwing up all over me and the bed. so, i felt quite successful. but i really knew she wasn't feeling well today when she actually laid down and took a nap for 3 hours. that never, ever happens...unless she's not feeling well. she does seem better tonite.

and last but certainly not least...a happy birthday wish to my mom! my gift to her is a little recipe organization/overhaul. she has a lot of newspaper clippings and very little organization. so, we are going to give her a recipe binder to be proud of! one of the funniest things about my mom is...she has used several recipes i have given her for her catering engagements. apparently some of them have been big hits with the crowd, and when anyone asks if they can have the recipe she says, "well, these are from my daughter who lives in New York (that sounds fancier than Buffalo) and i really don't want to give out recipes that we are using for our business." however, i know when she doesn't really like a recipe i've shared because she tells me that she gave it out to someone who asked for it! happy birthday mom! and thanks to megan for showing her how to read this!!!

music

i forgot how much i love to listen to music. ryan got me all fixed up with my new ipod. i now have a playlist just for running. okay, i know everyone already knows how to create a playlist, but i don't care...just because i'm about 10 years behind. i am excited and i think my running time will go by much more enjoyably. besides i got to go through all of my cd's and pick out my favorite music to get me moving.

today was afton's first day back to school after the winter break. ryan said goodbye at 8 this morning. i looked at the clock and suddenly alert, asked ryan if aftie was awake. "No, does she have school today?" "YES!" Needless to say, Aft was a little late to school, only 40 minutes. Then, I was late to tennis, but not by much. Besides I was playing with the slow group today and got absolutely no exercise. I didn't even break a sweat. Some of the ladies are more fun/competitive/skilled to play with, others aren't. I'm no superstar, but at least I try to reach or move or make an effort to return the ball. I always have fun, but it really is more fun to play with folks at the same level.

Ella was so mad at me this morning because I wouldn't let her go back to the car to put her sunglasses in it. She just stood at the door of the tennis club screaming. Boots (the daycare lady) was standing just inside trying to console her, as I stood with Ella just outside trying to talk some sense into her. Finally I took the glasses and put them in my bag, then pushed her gently through the open door. She was mad! When I came to pick her up, she was happy as can be. She and Boots had been playing a little piano and singing. All's well that ends well, I suppose.

I just finished reading the Bob Dole Memoir, A Soldier's story. I gave it to my dad for Christmas. He read it while they were here and left it for me to read. I finished it last night and I loved it. He made so many good points throughout about being an all around good person. He mentioned that his aunt had given him a quarter for each correct spelling test he had, and how that made him be a great speller even to this day. I decided to give Afton a dime for each correctly spelled word on her spelling tests each week. She thought that would be a great idea as she is always saving up for something.

Here's a funny thing I read in the Amherst Bee (the little community newspaper) in the Police Blotter...A welfare check was requested on Island Park on Main Street for a middle aged man that was on the ground moaning. He was practicing yoga.

Also...Police were called to a dispute on Creekside Drive where a 15-year-old girl was out of control. The mother controlled the situation by sitting on the daughter.

BINGO!

It's 2008. I remember when that year seemed like something from the Jetsons. I was pretty sure we'd be living in space by this year. Funny, we're still driving on roads and I don't have a robot cleaning my house. Bummer.
We had a great New Year's Eve by celebrating with some friends. The girls stayed up past midnight, which I was really surprised about. I thought for sure they would fall asleep watching movies. Ryan really outdid himself with a lively game of BINGO complete with prizes. This is a Hulse family tradition started by Grandpa Ariel Hulse years ago. It is the most fun! When we play with Ryan's parents there is always money hidden on a can of Pringles or inside the lid of a peanut container. One year I won the $100 bill! Ryan hid a few dollars in our prizes and seriously it was just as exciting to find a dollar. Ryan chose the perfect prizes for the girls-lip gloss rings, fuzzy pens, tiny notebooks, spinning ribbons, etc. They loved it!
We also played the TV version of Scene It. Megan sent it to us for Christmas and I felt so smart playing it. I knew almost every answer. Thus, my true talent is revealed...watching television and answering tv trivia.
Today we slept in and then headed to the furniture store to order some new furniture and then over to IHOP for a late, late breakfast. I had the carrot cake pancakes and they were delicious. I don't usually enjoy eating at this locale, but I was really into those pancakes. We then headed home to lay around, which we did successfully.
We wish happiness for you in the coming year. We hope to see all of our friends and family sometime this year. I really hope we will see more peace and happiness throughout the world and that I'll be able to personally contribute to this in some way.