I've got an addiction...

...it's the white stuff. I love it too much! Sugar is my love and my enemy. I LOVE LOVE LOVE sweets! The problem is, they don't LOVE LOVE LOVE me back, unless you count cellulite as a show of affection of course. Well, their little show of affection is not so cute on the beach and beyond the cosmetics, though, it's just not good for me. I know that the short burst of energy I get from it won't last long and I end up crashing soon after and then begin to search for more. It's a vicious cycle...are you picturing Big Fat Bastard from Austin Powers right now, 'cuz I am! Anyways, my other addiction is sugars mortal enemy: fake sugar! I always have it in the form of diet sodas. I don't normally buy it for myself or order it, but while I work, the kid I tutor always has a stream of soda going in and he brings me one too. Great, now I have two bad addictions. Hi, my name is Rachel and I am a sugar and fake sugar addict! Anyways, I think I have to break this cycle. What am I going to do when I hit my 3 o'clock lull? Not sure yet. I'm going to try and knock both of these nasties out of my diet in the week. Wish me luck and feel free to send me tips on how you avoid sugar!

Easter!

Did anyone else feel like Easter flew by? I finally got things moving around here on Thursday. I got an egg dying kit and Shelby and my mom came by to help out. B wasn't feeling too good, so we were in jammies most of the day.
Micah was totally into it and this was our final product!
Sunday morning the kids woke up to see that the Easter Bunny had swung by to drop off some goodies. Yay! Of course, Micah noticed the Hot Wheels in his basket immediately.
I think she was happy to get sidewalk chalk. What do you think?
The Easter Bunny doesn't like to give my kids a ton of sugar, so graham crackers it is!
Yay for eggs!
This was the aftermath. An over sugared girl in her new bathing suit with chocolate dripping out of her mouth. If only I looked that cute with chocolate hanging out of my mouth and in my bathing suit!
Dressed and ready for church.
Her new signature pose.
My two together.
That wasn't the end of the day. Aftter church we headed to my parents house to have an Easter dinner and do a couple of egg hunts. The kids got to hunt and then the adults got to do a hunt for money. That is my favorite tradition! All in all, the food was good, the company was better and the holiday was a success! Happy Easter everyone!

Random Thoughts

1. When did Easter creep up on us? I get so used to seeing the next holiday's decor show up in the stores before the first is over that I don't even worry about it. I know that I have time. You know what I am talking about. When you walk into Target the week of Halloween and the Christmas section is already being set up. It makes you want to panic a little, but then you realize that they are WAY ahead of schedule. I did this with Easter since I was seeing the Easter Bunny booth being set up at the mall before V-day. Now we are only a couple days away and I think the Trotter's Easter Bunny is going to have to go into overdrive tonight!

2. B is sick. Bummer, hope she isn't sick for Easter. How weird would it be to miss church and Easter Egg hunting on Easter? I think we will have to get her well before then!

3. I have a Hello Kitty party to put on for Brooklyn. I was all over it at first, but then I realized I had time. I have a lot of ideas in my head. I think we all know the fun is in the details, so I want to have some fun details. However, I don't want to stress over the party, so we will see the day of if I cut some out for the sake of my sanity. I can't do it all, but I can do a lot! By the way, I was hoping to have some little Hello Kitty cupcake flags and tags for the party. I found some on Etsy, but I was wondering if I can make it. Does anyone know how to do graphic design?

4. I have useless ESP. I will either have dreams of things that will happen or a random thought that pops into my head that ends up showing up in my day. Only once or twice has it had any real meaning, otherwise, it is totally useless. For example, I will have a dream about the conversation that we might have at breakfast. "Can you pass the peas?" "Sorry, they are all gone." That simple and stupid. This morning I woke up with the song "It's Raining Men" in my head. Haven't heard it in a looooong time, but it was in my head. Lo and behold, Cookie Monster started singing it on Sesame Street. Of course it was raining cookies in his version, but you get my drift. If only I could predict earthquakes or the lottery!

5. Money and budgets suck. Just when you think you are getting to where things are easy, something always pops up. The car has trouble, the kids break something (love them anyways), etc. I am glad Chad and I are on top of budgeting. We never spend more than we make and have no debt, not even a car loan, but I am looking forward to a day when I can be less vigilant in taking our budget into consideration. Maybe one day I will be able to shop without having a budget!

6. My kids are growing up! Micah is almost done with his first year of school, he no longer needs a car seat and he is old enough to help me with chores and cooking dinner. Brooklyn is in a big girl bed, we are working on potty training and she is getting to be more independent and less shy (yay!). I have to admit I have felt a little baby hungry. Right now, we just can't. Our tiny place and budget dictate that decision. I think it will be a while before this family sees another baby and by then, who know if we will want to go back to diapers and napping schedules and sleepless nights? I can enjoy my nephews and my friends babies and get my fix that way!

7. Have you ever tried Piloxing? Awesome! Bootcamp is over for me and it is just to pricey for me to keep up with, so I am working out on my own. I have been using Cox Freezone to do exercise videos. They have Piloxing (Pilates and Boxing) and it gets you sweating like crazy. I recommend it. I think Yoga is on deck for tonight.

Burned

Here is what we have been up to lately. First off, we are working on potty training. Not super successful, but working on it! B tends to sit on the potty for hours and watch TV, so I don't know that she is actually comprehending that she is going or if it is just kind of falling out like it would be in a diaper. It's a start...when is the end?Brooklyn is also really into picnics lately, so we will have impromptu picnics in the front yard with a blanket and applesauce. It's a thrill for her and super easy for me!
Saturday we went to the beach as a family. The weather was just too nice and I have two kids that love the beach! We got the best parking spot on a fluke and headed down to Thousand Steps (still feeling it). Brooklyn and Micah were so excited to finally use the chairs that grandma got them.
Micah hauled water up the beach all day.
Chad catching some rays...too many of them. Actually, he is anti-sunscreen, even though he saw me and the kids lathering up before hand, he didn't want any. He said when he lived in HI, he naver put sunscreen on and never burned. Looks like times have changed because she got burned so bad, he swelled and hasn't been able to sleep well since. Whoops!
Micah running up with more water. Always on the move.
Look what I have!
Chad and his girl.
More sand fun.
Playing playing playing
Don't forget snacks!
Who would have thought you could have so much fun with a water bottle?
That's all for now! See you next time and yes, I know I haven't gotten around to a giveaway. I think I am going to have to make something. Catch you later!

Totally Embarrassing!

Who's up for a laugh at my expense? I am! Here is a few things that have happened to me just in the last week.

I went to a wedding Saturday night. Near the end of the evening, Micah ran up to me and told me he needed to go to the bathroom. It was urgent, so I followed behind him while telling him which direction to go. Once we got to the door he ran right in and I followed behind. I stood near the door and saw a man in the stall with his little daughter on the potty. I thought 'Man that guy is pretty bold to be coming into the women's bathroom', but I knew him, so I didn't think much of it. Then I look over to Micah who is standing at the urinal. That is when I took a double take. He is at a urinal. Oh crap! "Am I in the men's room!?!" The guy starts to laugh and was said something like "Yeah, I was wondering what you were doing in here." I am so lame sometimes. Later I ran into the guy again as I was talking to his mom and he said, "She tried to look at my weenie!" It's a good thing I know him, otherwise I think I would have crawled under a rock!

This week, Micah is student of the week. Basically, he makes a poster about himself and is the main helper in the classroom for the week and gets to bring treats for the class at the end of the week. Anyways, he asked me to come in on Monday and I was there as they started to go over the poster. His teacher asked what his favorite food was. Hot dogs! Micah supplemented this information with, "They are just like weenies. You cook them and put it inside a bun with ketchup." Ahh, did he really just say that? Of course the kids caught on right away and the teacher was pretty quick to brush it off and move on. So on we went through the poster. More favorite things, what he wants to be when he grows up, etc. We are about half way through when Micah says, "Wait a second, I need to show you all a new dance move I have." Cut to Micah who is now undulating in the front of the class for no apparent reason other than the fact that he felt the need to educate his friends on the latest dance moves. He cracks me up! Don't know whether I should be proud of him for not caring what others think or be worried that he doesn't care enough. Oh well, he is young and life is easy now.

Last but not least, we have a quick tid bit from today. I was riding up the elevator at the mall with the kids. I was on the phone and there was one other couple and their baby with us. While I was talking I hear Micah ask the guy with us, "Does it smell like beef and cheese in here?" I was actually really grateful I was on the phone because I didn't know what to do or say, so I went on with my phone conversation and hoped that those people didn't feel self conscious about their odors as they left. Micah just really likes the movie Elf. Sorry elevator buddies!

Vegas!

On Tuesday we hit the road for Vegas. We got there in the late afternoon and checked into our awesome hotel room at Mandalay Bay. Chad got a sweet deal and when I think of sweet deals I usually think cheesy. I was wrong! The place was huge and this was our view:

This was our view at night. I don't think it could have been better!
Anyways, after checking in, Ghee and Papa came to meet us. We hoped on the tram and headed for the strip.
Where did we land? The Coca Cola Factory of course! Where else would we take the kids? Anyways, we ordered the Tastes from Around the World (16 flavors of Coke products sold around the word) and the variety of coke floats (8 flavors of Coke products with a scoop of ice cream.
Yum! When I finally sat down, they were half way through the floats. I made everyone taste the Beverly. That stuff is terrible. Seriously, I don't know how you enjoy that!
Micah simply loves the fact that I freely let him drink sodas. He loved every last drop!
Brooklyn loves Coke!
Then we headed to the M&M Factory. I know, we don't stray much from what we know.
The kids loved choosing their overpriced goodies.
Micah found the NASCAR car. I had to retrain him from jumping in and taking off in it. Don't take your eyes off that kid for a second!
Brooklyn found a boyfriend...
...and sealed the deal with a kiss!
Candy yet again.
Then the kids jumped in the car with Ghee and Papa and off the went to spend the next couple of days up in Utah leaving us free to do what we want. We started out with a dinner out.
Then we did a lot of relaxing.
We did some shopping and more eating. The food was great (pricey too...what happened to the cheap buffets). We were so mellow. I have to admit it took me a while to relax. I have been so high strung lately. This time away gave me the time to really think. Usually I get thinking and I feel overwhelmed or stressed and then the kids interrupt me and keep me too busy to lead to any conclusion. This time I got to think through it all and I got to look at my life from the outside looking in. I feel so relaxed now! I needed this so bad. Yay for vacations and some time away from the kids. I have to admit though after just a few days, I missed them so much! I was so glad to see them again.
Ghee and Papa took great care of our babies. They were spoiled rotten and came back happy, healthy and with a whole lot more toys and clothes! Thanks for giving us a break Ghee and Papa. P.S. After this picture, I trimmed Micah's shaggy hair. I'm ready to shave that mess off!

A Quick Trip

My friend Al and I took the kids and headed to the snow for a quick trip. We packed up Sunday afternoon and away we went!
We got up to Big Bear with just enough time to make dinner and get into pj's.
The plan was to make s'mores, but all we were able to do was light a pine cone. We suck at making a fire.
We decided that s'mores would be just as tasty if we made them in the microwave.
Monday morning. We were bundled up and ready for the snow!
Micah loved the snow. It was their first time experiencing it.
We were excited to go to go up the hill and tube.
Yay! Brooklyn LOVED it! She was cracking up.
Micah and I had a ton of fun too!
Since we had to take turns, B spent most of the time sitting in the tubes. She looked like a Care Bear.
I had to add this photo because Logan's pout is so cute. He was upset that it wasn't his turn. As were the rest of them.
Thanks Al for bringing us along for the trip!