Recent Happenings!

I had pictures of a few random things on my camera, so I thought I would share! This first picture is us at Cold Stone. I don't normally take pictures just because we went out for ice cream, but this was for a purpose. These three beautiful girls had the best parent teacher conferences that day!! The best we have ever had in fact! Their teachers had nothing but great things to say about their grades and their behavior in class. It was a proud day for their mom, so we had to celebrate!! Here is sweet Jace enjoying the fruits of his sisters' labor!! HOPEFULLY we will have good parent teacher conferences with him someday. He is so wild that I question it for sure!! Look at that face-doesn't it just scream trouble!?!

Yesterday was the 4th grade "Wax Museum" for Hallie. The kids had to do a report on a famous person from Utah. Then they had to dress up as their person and pretend to be them. Parents came to the gym and pushed a button on the desk. After the button was pushed Hallie stood up and gave her memorized speech. She chose to do a report on Marie Osmond (along with a ton of other girls). She did a great job and looked cute too!

Here is my silly 6th grader who decided to wear a poodle skirt to school today-just because. It is a short day before spring break, and she and Abbey (who lives a couple houses away) got the crazy idea. I hope they aren't mocked. I had a hard time not laughing myself! We woke up to snow, so she did take some jeans for recess and stuff. I hope it is fun and all she hoped it would be! So funny. (This picture does give you an idea of how much of a stick she is-she told me she weighs less than everyone in her class-even people shorter than her. Hopefully she can keep her great metabolism forever!)

Tricia's Talk Show

Yesterday after school, Hallie got out the Karaoke machine. She was upstairs playing with the kids and doing "Hallie's Talk Show." So I decided that for Family Home Evening I would take over and have "Tricia's Talk Show." It turned into some impromptu fun for us all. We finished reading the Book of Mormon (just the version with pictures-we have too many squirmers to get very far with the real one) Then, I used the microphone to interview the kids one at a time. Just asking basic questions like; favorite color and our standard dinner question of "what is the best and worst part of your day". The kids loved having their turn for the interview.

Then, I had them gather around the Karaoke machine with their bean bags. After that, we started reading book number one of Harry Potter. It actually worked out really nice to have them lay down and relax while I read out loud with the microphone. The microphone helped me to be able to read longer because I wasn't having to yell over Jace and all his squirming. It turned out to be a fun idea and one that I am sure we will do again in the future!

Good times for the Toponce Family!

Desperate Housewife!

Ok, here's the deal. I want to move. I am ready to build a new house. It might seem like I haven't lived here very long, but it has almost been 5 years. Twice as long as I have lived anywhere else. I like moving and having things seem new. Well, I don't think we could sell our house for enough money to be worth it (I am looking seriously into it though). So my alternative is to try and make my house seem new again. I am going to do a home improvement project. I am going to go room by room and from closet to closet trying to organize, clean, touch up paint, freshen the decorations and that type of thing. I am posting it here to make myself accountable and to give me extra motivation. I want to love my house again, and I think it is going to take a lot of work to get me there. I will post pictures of my completed work. I probably won't do before pictures, because I don't want you to see how bad I have let some places get!

At the same time I am trying to be a better mom and homemaker. I love staying home with my kids, but I have been letting a few things slide and I want to get back to being the good mom I know I can be. I am going to make more dinners at home, try new recipes, be better organized after school to help my kids with homework . I also want us to get outside more and enjoy the nice spring weather that I am willing our way!

Yes, I know it looks like a daunting task. I am a little afraid. It needs to happen though. I want to be a good mom and a not so desperate housewife. I am hoping a little organizing, planning and sprucing up will help me to love where I am in my life and help me better enjoy each day with my quickly growing family!! Wish me luck!!!!

What I am thinking about today.

Ok, here's what is on my mind. Why can't we live in a Rubenesque society where being pleasantly plump is considered attractive. When the idea of a well fed woman showed signs of prosperity and beauty. Why oh why?

Instead we live in a society where the thinner you are the better. Have you seen Kelly Rippa lately? Or the ladies on Desperate Housewives that get skinnier and skinnier. They even weigh less than they did ten or fifteen years ago when they were on other shows! It is ridiculous.

Being that we do live where skinny is better, I have decided to try to trim down. After having 4 kids, a crazy thyroid, and an obsessive love of sugar and all things tasty, it is not easy. So what do I do? Something really stupid. I blame this on my "friend" Mindy who introduced me to this torture.

I have taken drastic measures in an effort to jump start some weight loss. I am doing the HCG diet. Drops under the tongue. Only 500 calories. Very few choices in food. You know it is bad when your portion of Melba toast is your favorite part of the day. Or when you think a hot dog smells fabulous. Anyway I have been doing the diet for 2 weeks now and I have a few days to go. I have to admit that it has worked (ok thanks, Mindy). I have not been hungry. I have lost weight. I do think I can finish these last few days. I have not cheated even once.

That being said; I can't say it has been easy. It has been very difficult. I love food. I look forward to having good things to eat. It generally makes my day. I have really mourned the loss of my good friend food. "It is for the greater good" I keep telling myself, but is it really? I have questioned it every day. Shane had to convince me to keep going everyday of the first week. I have no will power. But again, I haven't cheated once.

A couple other issues that have surfaced during this diet are as follows:
My sweet, handsome, and ever thin husband is just not normal. He doesn't think about food. He will eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich everyday and be happy. He loves to exercise. He is obsessed with going to the gym and it is the highlight of his day. He doesn't understand my struggle in the least. We drove by Cheesecake Factory the other day and I said, "Isn't it sad that we can't get a piece of cheesecake to take home for a treat later?" He looked at me like I was losing my mind and said, "that would never even occur to me." What? How could it not? Obviously we don't live in the same world.

Also everyone I have ever enjoyed spending time with has called me to go to dinner or lunch. Everyone from the usual dinner friends, to long lost friends, to relatives. Everyone. It is killing me. It is my social life, my chance to escape from the children that made me a chubber in the first place, my chance for adult conversation and laughter. A true joy to my days. Shane got his best laugh through all this the day I said, "We are much to popular for this diet." Or maybe it was the day I said that "dieting doesn't fit my lifestyle." Either way. Both are so true.

The real kicker is that I have lost 12 lbs so far and you can't tell. I don't fit into a different size, especially not those jeans tucked in the closet for "some day when they (magically) fit again." No one would look at me and think I have made an ounce of effort. But I guess I know. I guess I can keep plugging along to a thinner, cuter version of myself.

Maybe I need to reevaluate my hate of all things exercise. Maybe now I will try again to go to a gym, exercise class, or become a runner. Maybe then I can enjoy my nights out with friends, or a sleeve of girl scout cookies and still feel slightly attractive to my husband of almost 15 years. At least I made a little effort in the right direction right? And maybe, just maybe, if I am lucky enough, a muffin top, chubby arms, and monster thighs will be what is considered attractive at some point in my life. Until then. . . . . treadmill, will you be my new friend?