Swimming lessons and Spring??

So I have decided that maybe I should be sent to an institution for a while... what crazy person puts all 6 kids into swimming lessons AT THE SAME TIME!!??!! I have decided that person is me. It started out that Cloe was on a different day but there were not enough people in her class so they moved her over :( so hers are on the same day as the boys. On the first day I took 7 ..nope not just the 6, but 7 kids with me to the pool on my OWN!! Yah... that was an adventure. My sister worked a strange shift that day so I still had my niece Jordan with me so we had to find her swim suit because I wasn't going to bring her just to have her sit on the side and watch the other have fun, but that also meant Claudia, who class is in the morning, was coming along too. Mike works mondays so I was on my own. I thought I was going to go insane as I managed to get the kids out of the house on time and to the pool, unloaded and walking nicely up to the doors and when we got to the front desk with the perfect amount of time left to get the kids changed I found out that I WAS AT THE WRONG POOL!! Yep I went to the pool I registered them at but guess what, there are 2 pools in town, but only 1 does swimming lessons. So I had to load all the kids back up and drive them across town to the other pool unload them and get them signed in and changed for lessons. Matt and Tom were 15 minutes late for their very first lesson. At least that meant that Ben, Josh and Sam were on time for theirs because they start 30 minutes later. We all relaxed after that and had fun. We stayed for an extra half hour after that just to have some fun after the chaos. It was good. The kids all got out when I said it was time to go, we changed and headed home to find that I forgot to put the slow cooker so we didn't have any supper ready. Does anyone want to know how hungry 7 kids are after 2 hours of swimming and a bunch of chaos before hand? Yep the snacks they had before we left didn't stay with them for long and they were cranky. Thank heavens for peanut butter sandwiches and milk. Well we survived that day, and that next Wednesday we managed to get there on time and have a fun day. We had Some fun this week too and I am loving watching the kids grow with their confidence with swimming. It was funny though because my boys don't float... they try but they just seem to sink slower LOL! I have some photos I took that I will share at the end.

The hardest thing about swimming lessons though is that Spring came and Spring went. The first day of Spring was like a miracle where we went from having TONS of snow piled everywhere to it melting with puddles and even some plants growing where the snow and completely gone. To during this past week having SNOW AGAIN!!! Yep.. Snow in Spring. I am seriously questioning if we really are having Global warming or if the world governments played some cruel joke on everyone for these past years. Really! Either that or we are converting to the land of Narnia where the White Witch is taking over and we will never see Spring, or Summer ever again!! That is the theory the kids have anyway. So if we can figure out who this White Witch is and Kill her or find a great big Lion to do it then maybe we will FINALLY actually have SPRING!!! I am so tired of the kids crying when they wake up because there is MORE snow.

On the side note I need a bragging moment as a Mom. I know we are not suppose to brag but really I have given birth to 6 wonderful kids and I think I earned that right when I get the chance. So Ben I think has turned out to be a really amazing person. First of all he has been for a year and half (since December 2007) been getting up 6 days a week (Yep even Saturday) to deliver papers in the morning because he wants to earn his own money because he knows we don't have enough to buy him everything he wants. So he has saved up and bought himself an electric scooter, Over $500 towards a laptop (the rest given to him by his Grandma for Christmas), not to meantion that he has paid for movies, food and ski trips that he has wanted. He is currently working towards a new bike since his was stolen a year ago. But that isn't what has me the most impressed, it is his willingness and wanting to help us out. The couple of times we haven't had enough food to make lunches for the kids he has paid for subway lunches. What kid does that? His lastest is that after he has his new bike he ants to help save up for a new vehicle for the family.. "We need one that fits us all that won't break easy Mom" is all he says and then walks away. I don't remember wanting to help out my family like that as a kid. I don't know what I have done to deserve him but I am glad he is mine. His latest accomplishment is beating out all of the kids in his grade during the battle of the books for a lunch at Earls tomorrow, as well as going up against 2 grade 7 students in the Challenge section of the battle. He won the chance to bring a friend to the same lunch. He is also an A student and is working towards getting an trophy at the end of the year to celebrate that. I am one lucky Mom and thank Heavenly Father everyday for my blessing of Having Ben as my oldest son.

Well from great bragging to shameful admitance... I have finally made it back to get weighed in this week. I had many excuses not to including the new swimming lessons with Cloe that were not orginally planned to be in the way. So I snuck in one and I think I should of skipped it.. yep I am up but only by 1.4 pounds over 3 weeks. What has me upset about is the fact that I am basically swimming for 3 HOURS twice a week for 2 weeks now and I still went up. My mother seems to think that maybe it is because I and getting close to that wonderful time that all an look forward to every month. I am worried that all the extra excersize has kicked in that stupid gene that has got me to this point. I am thinking of talking to my doctor about it and see if there is more we can do without surgery to get my body to accept that it will not starve to death because I am working harder. Mom wants me to wait until after I have had that time.. I just am so tired of feeling tired because I am carrying around so much extra weight. Well we will see what happens.

Well now for pictures and then off to bed. I will start with swimming then move onto my my almost spring pics. Have a good one.

Matt and Tom waiting for class to begin..


Kicking fun


Matt tries the front float


Sam Ben and Josh waiting for class to begin


Sam actually enjoying lessons


Ben and the teacher discusing how he and Josh both sink


Claudia having fun learning her front float.. Hi Daddy


Modeling her cute swim suit


The day before the first day of spring....


The first day of spring


April 2nd :(



**side note... just as I went to publish this post my internet went down so this is a few days later and I have adjusted the date on the last picture a it was taken the day I wrote this. I will be offline for a couple of weeks as I pay my other bills first before bringing my self back on line. I dream of one day when we no longer have to struggle.. until then we do what we have to.
Dyanne****

Twittering and Spring Break

So I LOVE watching Ellen when I have a chance and last week she Had P Diddy on who introduced her to Twittering which made me think Hmmm, so I joined just for fun. Well It is a blast having that kinda personal posts coming from some of my favorite stars coming to me. I Showed Tami it today and she found people I haven't had the chance to look up yet and so there are a few more I am foloowing now because of her. The fun thing was when some of these too cool stars started following me back!! It almost seems surreal! More like being able to have a moment in your dreams when you need that break from reality to get back on track. And I have to admit being followed by Britney Spears and getting tweeted By Leonardo DiCaprio himself makes me feel a little giddy inside. It was nice on a Spring Break Day with NO SPRING! The kids had fun playing in the snow though and we will be going swimming tomorrow for a feel like Spring day... if the pool is fixed by then. I did get a few nice pictures today and will share them. Claudia had a blast playing outside with her brothers but refused to keep her mittins on and didn't seem to care that the snow was cold. Tommy wanted to see how strong he was and pulled both Claudia and Ben in the sled. Sam went inside after 5 minutes because he got snow in his boots. He doesn't like the cold. Josh got bored after a while because no one wanted to have a snow ball fight with him and all the snow was too packed from the months of being here to make a good snowman.. even with a fresh fall last night. And Matthew my quiet little guy enjoyed a corner of the yard all to himself while buried a stick. it was a fun day over all. Now if I can just get a hint of Spring returning I would be really happy.

Well tomorrow I find out that I am still not doing that well on this plan of mine. I just seem to have lost the momentum I had going. I need to get that drive back. Maybe chatting it up with Leo might help give me some motivation. Maybe some sleep too. It seems like it has been forever even with the little blue pills my doctor gave me. They can't help if the kids can't sleep because they don't feel good. Right now we are fighting off Pink eye as the result of them having their colds and flu for so long. There is a light.. it will end and I will sleep again and I won't feel so tired. Until then I need to find my extra will to fight and keep this going.

Oh before I get off I had the most interesting experience yesterday... I went to my first ever Jury duty selection process. It was really interesting how things are really done rather than what you see on TV. There is not people being questioned a million times over or anything like that. The lawyers look at a sheet of names, our names, that includes our occupations on it and decided from that. You may be asked what your occupation is if they don't have it but that is it. You also have a chance to ask to talk to the judge to give reasons as to why you can't be apart of the Jury and he will tell you if he accepts that or not. There were some really bad excuses and some good. There was even one that was a little different... A guy was getting married during the trial time. The judge laughed at that one and let him off.

Well I will post pictures now and then off to bed. Good night all.

Birthdays and more birthdays...

So yesterday we celebrated my sister Tami's birthday. She will forever be 29 only because like 3 days before her 30th birthday we started getting phone calls about her being murdered near Canmore. It turned out to be another Tamara Kobylka but so weird! So are running joke is that she died before she could turn 30. She is 31 yesterday. So we had a mini party and of course there must be cake. I Love cake along with the rest of the world, but it all stays here because I have so many kids. The kids love it, My sweet tooth loves it, my body does not. Oh well, good thing I will be doing extra swimming this next week as the kids are off for spring break. The extra danger is that we are finally celebrating Claudia's birthday today!! Okay so we are almost a month late (good thing she doesn't know that) but we were waiting for my cousin Jennifer to come and she was just never able to make it. When she does get here we might have a mini one just for her. Anyways that means my Lovely Mother will be bringing over MORE cake today!!! Yes We will have not only the carrot cake from last night in the house but some Chocolate as well!!! I AM DOOMED!!! Now I am not that bad for eating the sweet stuff all the time, I love my fruits and veggies more, but I just haven't had the money to buy as many of those as I would like so when I want a snack and all the cake is the only quick thing in the fridge, it makes it so hard to say no. I think I am going to put a Giant Arrow on the fridge pointing to the water cooler that says "I CAN DO IT!" So that I grab a drink of water instead of a piece of cake. Good thing is I have 6 little monsters running through the house that I can feed it too and get it gone quick. Maybe I will put it in the freezer and save it all for Josh`s birthday on the 29th and save the cost of buying a cake or having yet another one come into the house. Think my 10 year old will let me get away with that?? (probably not) I will work hard to stay away and get back on track since the last week I was just grabbing without writing down because we were still trying to get the darn flu out of the house. It was great to have a couple of nice days to clear out the old air in the house. It seems to of helped, but I was still up 1.2 pounds on wednesday. I plan to have that plus some gone this coming up wednesday when I weigh in. In the mean time here are a few pics from the little gathering last night.


Cloe and Grandma Mathes


Claudia Dog piles Ben while still holding her drink.



Claudia had not one...
But both the missonaries wrapped around her finger in minutes and giving her everything she wanted.. including their cake :)

Day 65... And this is the last counting day...

Okay it is not my last day of counting my food but my last day of counting the days I have have been doing this because it is too hard to remember when I am not able to get on for a while what day I am at. So when I post next it will just be a title. Plus like I said in my last one I think I will start posting about other things than my struggles with weight. It is an important part of my life and my goal to get healthy but I think talking about other things is going to help with that too. So that will also make it so I can post at anytime during the day if I happen to get free time (which really doesn't come often with 6 kids, but I do have 4 that go to school, and if I can get Cloe and Tommy to nap at the same time then I get a few minutes). I actually have a few minutes right now because Mike took the two little ones to their Strong Start class at the school. Poor Tommy was really missing it and this morning when I was making the other kids lunches he made up his own snack including a bag of broccoli (he always hears me telling the kids that they have to have veggies in their lunch LOL). He doesn't need a snack, they make one there but he wanted to go and so he made it up. I had a quick doctors appointment this morning to check up on how my little blue pills were helping with my headaches and sleep, plus Joshie has a sore ear after his week of fevers and such (he is fine, thank goodness), so poor Tommy had to wait to go until I came back. He seemed so sad when I took the other kids to school without him. He went and sat in the car as soon as I came back waiting for Mike to get little Claudia ready to go with her coat and boots. She was so happy to be going again too. I love how she nods and shakes her head when she is asked a question. So when I was getting her coat on she was nodding her the whole time because she was so excited to go! She is sooo cute! I am soo in love with all my kids and how they amaze me everyday. Well I am going to take a small nap while I have some quiet time. I have a dentist appointment this afternoon that I think I mat have booked too late because the tooth I am getting taken care of has become sore and swollen over the weekend and I am afraid that they will not be able to fix it today because it is in such bad shape now. Ugh... wish me luck.

Day 61 and I am tired.... but can't sleep

So I have not had any time to myself lately. Things have been so crazy busy around here that I am surprised that I have even survived it let alone had moments to even think about posting. I am kinda cheating on this post as it is. I should be sleeping since I have gone through a few days of sick kids and no sleep but it is getting back to the point that unless I sleep right away when I am tired I am awake. So the kids are finally sleeping after these past few nights and I AM NOT!!! Ugh!! Oh well. I thought I will give a quick update and then take another try again. So I have not been able to track my food for a while and I missed the weigh in the other week so when I went to the meeting on wednesday I was prepared for "you have gained 10 pounds!" speach.. especially since I took a lot of my stress out in the form of Cadbury Cream Eggs, My easter weakness. I wasn't the best choice of destressers but I guess I haven't really made a plan for what I would do when all my other plans weren't available to me. I couldn't go walking as I didn't have the time. I only managed to go swimming once with the kids and then sickness hit. and my only exercise ball was popped after the kids used it in a great battle game. I never made it on the Wii as I didn't have time and so on... So the 2 minutes to run into the store when getting gas and such was easy and convenient. Plus really they are soooo good. Well like I said, I was prepared for the worst, expected it and instead I lost another 2.4pounds!!! really wear did it go? I wasn't trying, far from it?? was their scales off? I couldn't believe it so then I thought back and even though I wasn't doing my planned exercise, between everything I did have to do I was moving more than ever. I didn't have that much time to sit down. And I am sure that if I had been keeping track of my food points better as well I would of been even more down. So my total weight loss to date is 16.3 pounds and that gets me past my 5% body weight goal!!! I am down to 303.2 pounds and think that I am really going to buckle down for the rest of this week so that I have a good weight loss next week and I can say that I am no longer in the 300 club. I think I will start with cleaning out my current junk collecting room. Okay not really junk but since my sister moved in 8+ months ago for her "short stay" my computer room was the storage place for everything. Well over time as we have needed those things and the kids have gone looking for stuff all the boxes have been dumped out and broken and it is one big MESS!! So I will spend this weekend, not only taking the time to swim but getting the room Cleaned all up and reboxed or chucked as needed so that when my Aunt and Cousin show up on Monday night I can offer them a room to sleep in. And my biggest reason is that my sister is finally moving back out at the end of the month so I will have all my storage places back and I want to set up my space as soon as I can at that point so I can get my self back on track with the goals I have set. Oh speaking of those goals I have some news on my Art classes, I recieved my first lesson back in the mail and my mark on it was A-!! I was so excited. I didn't think it was going to be that good because I am so hard on myself. So I learned more than I can do it but that I really need to be nicer to me. I have also decided that I might start up a small photography business on the side. My mother gave me a really great camera for my birthday and I want to do something with it. I have taken a few practice shots wit it as I learn the lights and dials and hope that with my creative eye in photoshop and art and myok skills with photos that I might be able to start having more fun while helping to support my family. I will share a few pictures at the end of the post. Now if I could only defeat my spelling and grammer issues I might be able to write all those childrens stories I have roaming around in my head too.