New Look?

I keep thinking that I need to change up my blog.  I mean as far as looks, layout, etc.  I'm not very creative in this area.  I'm not a decorative person.  I don't envision such things.  Have you seen my house?  Yeah, it's pretty plain & boring, basic I guess one might say.  I'm totally ok with it cause it's who I am.  Speaking of that though, I've had a blog post in mind that I want to title "Who I Am".  It's kind of deep & (hopefully) thought provoking.  It's rattling around in my head.  I just need to put my thoughts into words.  I really need an app where I can speak & it puts my verbal words into written words.  I'm sure they have that, it just probably costs a lot of money.  But I would need something that I can take on the go.  I do a lot, I mean A LOT, of thinking and even talking out loud to myself when I run.  It's 5 a.m. and it's dark and not much traffic, automobile or human wise.  Just me & the road quite often.  Or that appears, I'm sure there is more than what meets the eye, but I'm not aware of it.  I'm pounding out my miles and thinking or praying.  Usually out loud.  So if you ever see or pass me (it's possible, that you have a once in a life time moment and you are actually up & out of bed at that hour, hahahaha, ok I'm teasing) you'll know why I appear to be mumbling, laughing (when something strikes me funny, I totally laugh out loud mid run) or speaking to someone as if they were right there.

You might be wondering....what is she getting at?  I know, I take the long scenic route to get to my point and often stop along the way to smell the roses, which have nothing to do with my original point.  But it's all important and makes sense to ME!  There is a theory to my madness.

Ok, so new look?  eh?  Got any ideas?  Suggestions?  Good websites, templates?  I do realize I need new family pictures.  I did get some over Christmas, but then I'd have Christmas pictures up & ummmm, it's mid March.  So I'd right away feel they are out of context.

I am apparently in the mood to chat today!  I have that feeling that I could keep you here all day!  So I'll stop here.  I need to get working on the kid's rooms upstairs.  Time to clear things out.  Simplify.  I don't like to keep stuff just for the sake of keeping stuff.  It has to at least have deep sentimental value.  Cause if you saw some of my stuff, you might wonder....why DOES she still have that last piece of gum that she chewed while having her braces on?!?!?  (Yes, I really do.  It's in a box somewhere).  Plastic toys & stuffed animals have nothing compaired to that piece of gum!  Ok, ok, I'm going.  I really was serious about the blog ideas.  Help me out, please : )

End of the Season

Angel finished out her first year on the Gadets.  To say that she loved being on the team is a major understatement.  She lived & breathed her dancing with the Gadets all year.  It showed in her performances & we often hear many compliments on her ability to dance.

The Gadets is a varsity team that performs at all the regular season football & basketball (boys & girls) games.  This made it possible for Angel to receive her varsity letter at the end of the season.  Most other sports require freshman to compete on the freshman team.  Then as a sophomore be on the sophomore or JV squad.  Only as an upper classman (junior or senior) is it possible to be on the varsity team.  There are, of course, exceptions to this rule.  In general, this is how it's run.  Angel picked the right sport to immerse herself in though as she was able to forgo all of that.

There is no guarantee that Angel will make the squad next year.  Every year all the girls must tryout & be picked for the squad.  Angel made it clear that she intends to tryout & make the squad each year.  Considering her talent & enthusiasm for the sport this should not be hard for her to accomplish.  It has been a great year.  As parents we certainly faced some ups & downs of her being on the team.  It's been worth it & we can see where it has been a good thing for Angel.

Here are a few videos from her basketball performances:


A favorite, mostly because of the song : )


LOVED the kick routine:



I was able to capture all but one of her routines on video.  They are all uploaded on youtube.  You can find them under our account, petefamzoo.

Talent Coffee House

Every year the high school puts on a little talent show.  I don't know about years past, but this year the atmosphere was laid back & informal.  Which went with the theme of it being a Coffee House.  Angel likes to seize any opportunity to be involved in these types of events.  So it seemed natural that she, along with 2 of her girlfriends, participated with an act of their own.  The 3 girls created a dance routine to one of their favorite songs and performed at the talent show.

Enjoy : )



It can be a little hard to tell with the lighting of the video. Angel starts out front first, then Kathryn & then Mady

Hmmmmm????

Go ahead & start laughing.  I'll give you a head start.  Sometimes we just have to laugh at ourselves.  BUT....I had a great idea of something that I could blog about.  It was a good one.  No, a really great one!  Now, I can't remember what it was!!!  I'll have to ask my friend Joyce because whatever it was, it struck me today during our Mom2Mom meeting.  I remember turning to my friend and saying something to her about it.  I don't know.  Is my mind really starting to go?  I hope not.  I mean, come on, I'm only 34.  I'm notorious for remembering the most amazing details.  Like today I recalled that the last saturday in April in 1994 it snowed.  Yes, I remember that day quite clearly.  So I can remember that, but I can't remember a "great" blog idea from 10 hours ago.  I'm hoping it will come to me.  Because it was great : )

Well, since I have you here I will update you on (baby) Carmen.  She continued to be sick for  most of the week.  On Thursday morning I got my hopes up since she had slept for a solid 4 hours and awoke with a smile & asked for  breakfast right away.  That only lasted for about a hour and then things went back down hill from there.  Thursday was the last little push to the end.  When we woke up this morning (friday) I realized she had slept that whole night through without waking.  The first time all week.  It all went uphill from there.  She had color back in her face, she was smiling & chatty.  She did not cling to me.  Just like that, she is better.  In hindsight, she had the same thing Angel had a few weeks ago.  I didn't blog about her sickness cause she's 15 and handled it so much better.  Although when she was sick it hit her so hard & bad we thought she had mono.  Carmen had all the same symptoms.  They just came out differently from a 15 year old perspective vs. a 3 year old perspective.  Either way, I'm just glad it's over!!

Big Brother

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but I added something to my blog.

If you look over to the side there is a little feed box that tells me whenever someone visits my blog.  That's right.  Big Brother kicking in to track the who, what, where, when,  WHY!  Ok, maybe not all of that.  Really just the where on a basic level and when.  If you are signed in I also know the who.

This came about because I have struggled with feeling  frustrated from time to time about the whole blogging thing.  If you don't know me well, then you may not realize that I struggle a lot with low self esteem.  Yes, I know, the "queen mother of all who has it together because she has 6 kids and appears that she can do it all" struggles.  So when I think or feel like no one is even bothering to read my blog then I get frustrated, sad, lonely, unloved.  I'm always surprised though when people chime in & tell me "oh I've been reading your blog".  I'm like really?  I never knew.  People can be lacking on the comments.  Which, I understand, I can be the same way.  I've been known to read someones blog for MONTHS and never say a word.  Some might call this stalking.  I will neither deny or confirm this idea.  Anyway.....

So I've struggled with the whole why am I even blogging when no one ever appears to be reading this.  I had been deciding to suck it up and put on my big girl panties about the whole subject.  Then recently I came across a blog that had this tracker on it.  Just a few days later I saw another friend blog about getting feed back & people leaving comments.  I resonated with what she was saying so I decided to add the little tracker.  That way if someone didn't leave a comment I know they have been here.  So if you're stalking me....I WILL KNOW : )   Just kidding.  Sort of.

If you are not signed in I won't know exactly who you are.  However if it shows me that someone from Lake in the Hills was here I have a pretty good idea that Aunt June stopped by to see & read up on the zoo.  At first I was baffled when I saw that someone from Brazil was reading, but then realized it was probably my friend Kari.  That freak out was short lived.  I am wondering though, who from Arizona keeps reading.  Just wondering.  I know the point is not to pinpoint each & every person.  But I do like knowing.  I'm just nosey like that.  Unless I start to notice any freaky stalking like activity I'll just let it be and check it each time I log on.  Y'all can keep stalking, as long as it's in a good way.

I sort of equate this to someone driving by my house and although they don't have time to stop & visit they honk and give a wave of the hand.  When I check in I give my little wave back and say "heyyyyy".  It's the little things that make me feel loved.  I'm not hard to please.  I do still like comments or conversation on my posts.  Talk away.  Really.  If you know me you know how much I enjoy talk : )

Day 2

Baby Carmen is still not feeling good.  It was quite a restless night for her & us.  She's miserable, plain & simple.  Yet we still dont' know what is wrong.  I did take her to the dr. yesterday.  He found nothing.  He hinted that it could be the flu.  There any many to pick from so pick one any one.  Even then most of the time the flu is viral so there is nothing we can do but wait it out.

I called dr. this morning since she wasn't better.  If anything she is a tad worse.  He wants blood work done.  Fun.  No really.  FUUUUUUN!  Ok, I keep trying to tell myself that, but honestly THAT SUCKS!  (I know, real mature there Mom).  Carmen was not blessed with my veins cause hers are paper thin & practically invisible.  Every time we have needed a blood draw on her it is quite torturous.  Even the one time when we were in the pediatric unit the nurses had a horrible time getting the needle in.

So, yeah, not looking forward to this.  And I'm stalling on getting her over to the lab.  (Thanks for being there for me you guys to help with that).  Although she is sleeping right now.  In addition to her extremely restless night, when she woke up she essentially screamed & cried for a few hours.  Nothing would calm her down, not even mama.  I finally convinced her to take some ibuprofen and I might have given her a smidge more than the recommended dose.  It finally knocked her out.  I used that time to eat breakfast & shower for the day.  Muchly needed since I did get up & go workout early this morning.

Her ears must have been burning cause she just woke up & is fussin' again.  Since she wants my arms for her lovin' & typing with one hand is not cutting it.  I'll log off.  Until later....

productive vs. unproductive

(Baby) Carmen does not feel good.  I'd say she is sick, yet she has no fever or any other common sick like symptoms.  I knew the moment I saw her this morning that she did not feel good.  She is pale and not up to doing much.  Clingy is the main mood today.  Whiney is in tough competition for that top honor.  Combine those two together and it became quite clean that the only thing I would be doing today is holding, cuddling & comforting my baby girl.  In a nutshell I've been forced to have a very unproductive day. 

She did eventually fall asleep in my arms mid morning (thank you Tylenol) and I managed to transfer her to my bed for a good nap.  Knowing that this opportunity would only last as long as she slept I lept into action and got a quick basic cleaning of the main level done.  Laundry got sorted.  And, of course, I allowed myself a few minutes to "waste" on facebook.  Sometimes, I think, when I know how little & how crucial my time is I tend to get more done than usual.

Once she was up I was back to rocking & cuddling.  I did multi task a little & managed to squeeze in a phone call to my boss to replace our meeting that was scheduled for today.  And I'm multitasking now.  I've gone from holding her in one arm while typing with the other, typing with both hands as she sits next to me, to sitting here staring at the screen because both arms are surrounding her.  She has given me a few other breaks where she is content for whatever reason so I scurry off and switch the laundry over or answer an email, etc., etc.  For it being an unproductive day I've managed to get plenty done.

Many, I'm sure, would beg to differ though.  For the value & productivity of a mother does not depend on what she accomplishes in her daily life, but what she does in the life of her child(ren).  Almost anyone who reads my blog will probably shout "Amen Sister!"  This may seem like common sense to us, but it needs to be said often.  It's far too easy to lose sight of that, myself included.  So today, I am glad for Carmen's demanding whining & constant need for attention. It helped me to slow down and grab some insight to our otherwise choatic life.  In hindsight, I'd say I had a rather producitve day.  But not in the way one might think.  Supper will likely be late (I did manage to get the chicken set out, but have done nothing with it) & the laundry won't get done (not today anyway), but I was there for Carmen.  Just being a mommy with lots of love & attention.

Someone posted this poem for me.  I have a similar one posted in my home.  I thought I would include it to go along with my thoughts for today.  Enjoy : )



Babies Don’t Keep
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.
The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.