Random Updates!

I know I'm always slow with updating my blog, but I thought I'd be on here a lot sooner than this! You'd think I have at least a tiny snippet of time somewhere in my busy schedule to at least get on here once a month to keep this thing somewhat up-to-date. Sheesh - it has been almost two months already! I completely missed February altogether! Oh well - there are worse things that I could have to complain about, so I'll stop complaining! :)

So January and February have both come and gone and I'm trying to remember what all has happened...hmmm...I know there had to be something... Let's see... where did I leave off last? Oh - Jason's sisters were here for about a week after New Year's and then I had to drive them 5 hours back up to Dallas where they were flying out and then I had to turn around and drive 5 hours back to San Antonio the next afternoon.

Enjoying the rest of our visit with Aunt Danielle and Aunt Joanna

I've been consistent with reading my Bible everyday (one of the few New Year's Resolutions I'm actually sticking to)!! :)

I pulled my treadmill back into the house from the carport to revive my workout program - since it was way too cold to exercise outside and I was getting tired of doing exercise DVDs inside! I've only lost 2 lbs since my summer boot camp with Jason's cousins, so I'm a wee bit frustrated - but I'm trying to keep up with my exercising despite this frustrating plateau because I know it's good for me (and I shouldn't think of exercise as only a weight loss tool), so I'm trying not to get discouraged and quit it altogether! ;) This is the first time I've ever thought of exercise as more than just for weight loss (because I think I've been trying to lose weight for pretty much most of my life). If nothing else, I guess all this exercising and watching what I eat is at least keeping me from gaining weight...I suppose... ;) I'd still really like to lose 5 lbs, so I can get back to my pre-Caleb weight (a weight I was pretty happy with) before maybe getting pregnant again and starting the whole weight-gain thing AGAIN! ;) If I can avoid compounding any baby weight, it will be that much easier to lost weight afterward and I'll be much more pleased with those triple digits staring back at me on my scale!!! ;)

Our 1-1/2 year old iMac computer decided to die on us at an early age. A little too early if you ask me!!!! Rrrrrrr... We could have paid $400+ to fix it up, but it has always been somewhat of a lemon, so we didn't want to put the money into it - just so it could turn around and have another problem soon afterward. We ended up buying another newer version of the same thing. Ugh. More credit card debt. Blah!! Did I forget to mention that we lost the last 1-1/2 years worth of pictures and movies that we had stored on our old iMac? I was furious and heartbroken. :( Of course, I have everything saved on DVDs, but the quality isn't the same as the originals. Sniff sniff. :( That and it'll take days to upload all of those sub par quality DVDs to this new computer - time that I obviously don't have (because I still haven't had a chance to do it)!

Jason was up in Dallas for one month doing a Vascular Surgery rotation at a hospital up there. In the past, we've always gone with him to his out of town rotations (to Houston twice and Corpus Christi once). We'd just bring our home school stuff and stay the whole month. But now that Kristin was moved up to Level 4 in gymnastics, her coaches expect her and her teammates to make it to every practice. They learn so much in such a short period of time that she'd fall behind quickly if she were to miss even a couple of days!! That and the coaches would probably ask her to quit the team because they don't want their girls to fall behind because that would mean that they'd have to spend more time trying to catch her up and less time on the rest of the team. It all makes sense, but I hate being tied down to something!!! I like flexibility!! That's why I like home schooling so much!! They're all very serious about this competition stuff and I'm trying hard to keep up with all of the demands, but I'm definitely not like most of the other competition moms! It may be because I was never in something so competitive growing up. Looking back now, I wish I had been involved in something I really liked (other than only in 11th and 12th grade) - but I'm still happy that my Mom wasn't pushy or aggressive when it came to competing against others! Jason is definitely a competition Dad, but he isn't the one who has to take Kristin to gymnastics or deal with all of the drama! :) I'm so relieved that Kristin is enjoying Level 4 though - it makes it worth all the extra work I have to go through! She was very upset her first couple of weeks on the team because they are a lot more strict, they work them out a lot harder and the hours are longer. About a month ago, I almost decided to move her back to Pre-Team because she was upset that it was harder and she was sad to be away from us longer hours. She just didn't seem to be enjoying it like she had before. She was crying and whining each day we'd leave for practice. One day I was almost ready to make the switch (unbeknown to Kristin) and luckily that was the same day she ended up having a great practice and decided she loved it! She finally mastered a couple of things she was struggling with and she loved that she had finally figured it out! From then on, she has enjoyed every practice and now she practices constantly at home. She's crazy!! She has improved SO much in the last month! I can't believe it!! They learn so much more and at such a rapid pace compared to the pre-team she was on just a couple months ago!! Anyways - they're supposed to start competing in August and she is SO upset that we're moving away a month before in July! She even asked if we could drive back here for competitions!! Poor kid! We're looking into the local teams in California and Kristin's coaches are going to help us pick the best place for her to go to, so she can continue to get quality training, so she won't fall behind her TX teammates. They're more concerned about her training because they know we'll probably (most likely) be moving back here a year from July (when Jason finishes up his training in CA) and joining their team again.

So anyways!!! Jason was in Dallas for a month without us. That was the longest we've ever been apart since Jason went to basic training when we first got married - almost 13 years ago!!! I don't know if this counted though - we still saw each other on the weekends...but still! :)

Oh! With our tax return we paid off all of our credit card debt! Hooray! We even started a savings! I can't believe it! Now all we have to do is keep ourselves out of debt... :) I highly recommend getting out of debt - it's like losing weight! It's great! :) Of course we still have car loan debt - which I still consider debt, but I guess it's one of those debts you can't avoid - unless you have the patience and the means to wait until you can buy something with cash! I'd like to think we were going to keep the Highlander we have now, but it just isn't practical enough - especially if we have another baby. If that happens, we most definitely will not be able to keep the Highlander. NO WAY! Unless I decide not to ever bring a stroller with me or buy any groceries (or anything else for that matter)! I already have all three kiddos side by side in car seats in the middle row and if I pull up the third row my trunk goes from a normal size trunk to a trunk that's only 1 foot deep! That and the third row doesn't have anchor capability and I'm not going to install a car seat that isn't really installed properly!!

No more room for any other kids in this car!! Hey - this looks like some sort of ad for Sunshine Kids (Where's my money?!)! ;)

I bought the Flat Belly Diet book...pathetic sounding - I know. But I lost like 6 lbs the first week (mostly water I'm sure) and the menu options were yummy, so I highly recommend it!! :) Of course I was driving up to Dallas to meet Jason at Uncle Jim and Aunt Shelley's house on the weekends, so I sabotaged all of my hard work by eating too much of Uncle Jim's yummy food!!! Argh! I have no self control!!! ;) I have better control of my eating habits here at home because I try not to keep too many unhealthy tempting foods in the house. That and going to the gym is almost motivating because it's my one break during the day where the kids are taken care of and I don't have to think about anything (except exercising of course). :)

What else is there? Ah yes! I seized the opportunity to watch as many girlie movies as I could (while Jason was in Dallas) that I can never watch when Jason is here! :) I watched about one every other night or so after the kids were in bed. One of the movies was Julie and Julia (the movie based on the novel written by some woman who took on a self-inflicted challenge to try each and every one of Julia Child's recipes in her first cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking within one year's time and then she blogged each night about it). I thought it was going to be a bit lame, but all it ended up doing - is making me want to go to cooking school!!! Man I wish I had time to do that!! Maybe not the entire cooking school program, but I'd at least like to take some cooking classes at a cooking school! That would be so much fun! But since that will probably never happen as long as I have little kiddies in the house - I'm almost tempted to try something like the author did. Not with a French cookbook though...and not a specific cuisine either. I'd want some variation!! Whatever it might end up being, I'm considering taking on a similar feat... :) Why can't I think of anything creative like that on my own? I probably wouldn't blog about it like the author did, but I would like to try cooking every recipe in a good cookbook! I hate that I've only tried a handful (if not less) of recipes in each of the 20+ cookbooks I own! Who knows how many recipes I have just sitting there in my cabinet that we've never tried - but are probably so yummy??!! Does anyone else agree? ;) By the way - I skimmed over some of Julie's blog and I don't know that I would have enjoyed keeping up with her blog all that much - she said f-ing WAY too much! I like it better how she was portrayed by Amy Adams in the movie - much cuter and way more sweet-like. :)

During one of our visits to Dallas, I finally had my engagement ring/wedding ring dipped in white gold!!! I've never been a fan of yellow gold...EVER! I always thought that I'd like yellow gold one day when I grew up, but it hasn't happened yet - so I'm assuming it never will! I've had my wedding rings all these years and I would never trade them in for some new sparkly replacements in white gold or platinum, but I've always been disappointed with the fact that I'd be stuck with yellow gold forever (because I always want to wear the bands we had when we got married)! Then recently it was brought to my attention - that I could just have my own rings dipped in white gold and after months of debating it with Jason I finally did it!! They look so much better in white gold! Now I don't feel weird about mixing silver earrings and other rings with my yellow gold wedding bands - because they aren't yellow anymore! Hooray! The only disappointing part about this whole thing - is that my college ring was in yellow gold (to match my then yellow gold wedding rings) and they can't dip it because of all of the detailing. Man! So now I don't wear it! It's the only other jewelry (besides my wedding rings) that I've worn consistently over the years and now it just sits in my jewelry box. I guess I can order a silver ring one of these days, but school rings are sort of expensive! I don't have spare cash to replace a school ring! At least not right now I don't. Oh well. It's not that big of a deal. Now all I have left to do is convince Jason to dip his ring too...he doesn't want to because he doesn't think that's a very Italian thing to do. He said it has to match the big gold chain he's going to buy for himself one day. Yikes! It's at that point when I remind him that he's only 1/4 Italian... and even more happily remind him that he's also 1/4 Polish - a fact he always like to deny. ;)

I've been de-junking my house now for the last 2-1/2 months!!! Ever since we found out we'd be moving for sure in July, I've been on some crazy clutter-ridding rampage!! I don't know what it is about cleaning everything out and getting rid of junk before you move out of an old house and into a new one, but I love it!! It's cleansing...I guess... I'm trying not to get ahead of myself and I'm trying to live in the now and enjoy the rest of our time here, but I can't seem to control myself!! :)

Jason finished up his rotation in Dallas just in time for Valentines Day, so we got a babysitter and went out to some new British grill and pub together. The food was fabulous and it was so fun and relaxing to spend some time alone with Jason! We really need to get out more often... :) Jason also got me and the girls each a stuffed animal, some roses and candy and he took us to get our nails done. He says boys aren't supposed to get anything on Valentines Day, so he wouldn't let us get anything for him. Silly boy. Kristin filled out her annual V-Day cards that she happily mailed out and then we made Valentine cupcakes and cards for her teammates at gymnastics. The other moms had no idea why I went to the trouble of bringing in anything - but since Kristin is home-schooled, she wants to participate in some kind of V-Day party somehow (even if it means getting nothing in return)! Next year - I'm going to have to get involved with a home school co-op, so we can get together with other home-school moms and kids, so we can celebrate holiday parties school-style so Kristin doesn't feel left out! Later that night Kristin and I made a giant heart-shaped cookie...I had just finished frosting it when I caught Jason trying to sneak some bites when he thought no one was looking!! ;)

Kristin and Katie with all their Valentines booty
Jason sneaking a bite of our giant V-Day cookie
The girls showing off their new favorite outfits... Man are they girlie girls or what?!!! ;)

In more important news - Caleb turned one on February 19th and started walking a couple of days afterward!! True to Capra form (at least our Capras), he started walking just after turning one like both of his big sisters. Lazy little kiddos!! ;) Caleb has also just been given the okay by his Urologist to go ahead with his circumcision!!! I hate being nervous about stuff and this is one of those things. Argh! I'm not nervous about the surgery part, just the being put to sleep part. Maybe because Jason is an Anesthesiologist and I've heard about some of the bad things that can go wrong with Anesthesia. I always used to think it was the surgery that had all of the complications, but for the most part it's usually the anesthesia that can go wrong. That and Caleb is still so young. I wish he could have been circumcised right after birth, but his scrotum ran too high up the shaft and they didn't want to cut into his scrotum accidentally, so they encouraged us to wait until he was older to do it (and when you wait until later, you have to put the kid to sleep). I know God's Word says not to worry - it's more of a command really, so I just keep continuing to pray about it and I'm comforted in knowing God is in control of the whole thing and I can't accomplish anything by worrying about it. So that's scheduled for March 12th, so please keep my little guy in prayer! :)

Celebrating Caleb's 1st Birthday (big load of clothes from Grandma Christie and Grandpa Neil, little load of clothes from Mommy and Daddy and a My Pal Scout toy from Grandma and Grandpa Capra)!

Day 4 of Caleb's new found skill

I've perfected the most perfectly perfect schedule that I'm really excited about starting! I should be able to fit in every possible thing that I want the kids and I to accomplish in a 24 hour period to include me waking up an hour and a half before the kids wake up (instead of me using them as an alarm clock)! I do realize this means I have to go to bed much earlier than I'm accustomed to, but I think I can do it - especially if it means I can cut away some time in my schedule to do things I'd really like to be doing (like quilting, learning a new language - which has changed to Italian by the way and reading for fun)! :) I have additional pages with ideas of things to do in our/my free time and also ideas for things to do on the weekends for fun. Hopefully we can somehow align our schedules with Daddy's schedule, so it can work!


Hmm...what else? Kristin and I have about 9-1/2 weeks left of school!! Hooray! Summer here we come!!! ;) I'm amazed that we're already this far into the curriculum! Time has been flying by!

Speaking of Kristin, she lost her first tooth a couple of weeks ago!! She didn't even notice that she had two loose teeth - I noticed it before she did! Have I got it together or what?! ;) Her two bottom teeth looked like they had started to move away from from the rest of her teeth and I noticed it while she was talking to me one day. Then I tugged on them a little and felt that both of them were loose! Ew! I hate loose teeth! Blah!! I immediately tried hiding my disgust as I told her (as excitedly as I could muster) that she had two loose teeth! She was excited about it...until Daddy came home and she told him about it. He of course starts testing it out himself to see if they're ready to come out (and I'm thinking - "I thought it took days for a tooth to be ready... Doesn't it have to get to that really yucky stage where it looks like it's about to fall out at any moment?"). I tried to mention it to Jason without freaking Kristin out and undermining Jason's fatherly leadership. I was able to hold him off...for one day. Ha! The next night after Jason arrives home from work (within 1 minute of coming through the door), he immediately needs to check her tooth (it was as if he had been thinking about it all day or something). I knew he meant business when he asked for a paper towel and I could NOT believe him when he said her tooth was ready to be pulled!!! I kept picturing him ripping the poor kid's tooth out and leaving half a root stuck in her gums!! With Kristin whimpering in one ear, he pulled out her tooth within 30 seconds! Surprisingly there wasn't any leftover root for me to nag him about ("I told you it wasn't ready!") and we immediately spotted the ginormous tooth coming in behind it! Eek! How big are these kid's teeth going to end up being!!!!! I don't know if this girl is going to have any room with the teeth she has coming!!! Braces...here we come!

Kristin's big bloody gap...Ew... ;)

On that happy note, I'm going to end this monstrosity for now and get started on the arduous task of uploading pictures. I'm going to try and make them into collages first, so I don't take up as much room (like I normally do). Yeah - that's me...always thinking about my readers before myself. ;)