Family

A Successful Event

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 2 Comments

My time was horrid–but it was a father’s day run and my father and I crossed the finish line together.  Our time was 47:17 but I don’t really care much–as I didn’t train and I walk/jogged with my dad.  As he gets older, I begin to cherish these moments more and more as I know that I am so lucky to have a dad who is young–he’s 59 and these will be memories I carry with me for the rest of my life.  He’s a great man.  We did vow to train for next years event.

I broke out in hives this weekend and was hopped up on Benydral as well as recovering from being sick all week and not working out for the whole week.  I could have run more at the beginning but I let my dad set the pace and we had a great time together.

I’ll post some pics when I get them from my aunt who took them.

The Stuff In My Head

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 3 Comments

I am really out of practice these days interms of posting here and in terms of what to even write about.  I love my kids, but can only write about them so much.  I have been too busy these days to watch the news or keep up on what is going on in the world.  My life has been completely about my kids and me.  I have been working hard to make the most of our time together before I go back to work–in two weeks–and they start daycare.  It is effecting me much more than I thought it would. 

Don’t get me wrong I am so very excited about going back to work andmaking money so that we can actually afford to send Noah to the fancy private school–still sacrificing most things that we use to think were necessary–we are down to 20 tv channels and I love TV.  I am not excited about leaving my kids with someone else 4 days a week 7 hours a day.  While there is a lot about being at home all day with the kids that is hard for me, I am going to miss them so much.  For example, in the middle of this post Noah started to poop and I kept asking if he wanted to go on the potty and he didn’t, finally I convinced him and he went on the potty (for the 2nd time) and said “That wasn’t so bad.”  I will miss these moments.  There are so many small moments that I am going to miss and that totally sucks. 

But if I don’t get out and go back to work and flex my intellect I am going to go insane and will then miss a lot more moments of cuteness.  I am happy about the decision but that mom guilt is ever present and that totally sucks. I don’t want to feel guilty for going back to work but then I fell guilty that I don’t feel guilty.  What vicious cycle and it sucks that our society has conditioned us on so many levels that leaving our kids in someone else’s care is bad.  I know my kids will thrive and love the interaction of other kids–I have two of the most social kids in the world. 

I am happy to report that I have dropped my first 10lbs since starting back with my trainer and a nutrition program.  I have never felt better and am really happy that I am doing it in a very healthy way.  It’s been 6 weeks and while I would have liked it to be 12lbs for 2lbs a week of loss–but I am happy with that.  At this rate it will take me 60 weeks to lose the 100lbs I want to lose.  So, hopefully I can stick to it. 

We finally got around to planting flowers in honor of Noah and Zoë’s birthmothers.  We picked roses.  There are three rose bushes and a bird bath in the honor landscape–a rose bush for both birthmothers and a rose bush for me.  It’s a beautiful and I feel proud to have such a visible way of honoring them and one that will allow the kids to honor them and think about them.  The small pink roses are for Zoë’s birth mom and the yellowy/pink ones are for Noah’s.  Mine haven’t bloomed yet but will have big lavender blooms.  Now here are some pics of the kids from the past few days. 

Newsletters coming–I’m a total slacker.  Just found out that I earned a 100% on my big huge research proposal for my ed research class and netted a 99% in the class.  I am so happy and relieved.  Its my first 100% in grad school on a paper.  So frickin excited.

Tales From Blogger Slackerdom

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 3 Comments

I’m here and plan to be back more regularly now that school is almost over.  I am done as a student but still have about a week left as a teacher and am anxious to be finished and not at all excited about reading final essays. 

Life has been crazy, busy and lazy all at the same time.  I know that sounds a little contradictory to many of you, but trust me it is true.  Things here at Che Finley have been buzzing along.  The past few weekends have been hectic–New Orleans, Bill’s golf weekend, then we had my mom’s birthday, a wedding and mothers day this past weekend. 

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed at all I want to get done these few weeks I have off before I start my JOB on June 1.  In case you can’t feel my excitement–let me just say I. AM. VERY. VERY. VERY. EXCITED.  I can hardly stand it.  I am going to check out a daycare possibility for the kids that is close to Noah’s future school and is a place Zoë can continue at until she goes to school.  I am hoping it works out–as the price is right and that isn’t always a good thing.  I’ll report more on that later. 

I want to organize the office space and clean up a little so that the space is functional for me when I decide to work form home. 

SAD NEWS–Team Finley will not be able to attend Wannafest this year.  Sorry fellow Wannafesters–we are traveling so much this year that we just can’t afford the over $1200 in airfare for us to fly to Seattle.  We had been hoping to use miles but we’d need 200,000 miles and that just isn’t happening.  I am so sad, but we are so going next year.  This  year we have a trip nearly every month from March-September and we are strapped $$$$ at this point.  Add to that Noah’s exorbitantly expensive private school and we just can’t make it all work.  We will miss seeing all of you.  But I did read that Hayat and Kiya’s new house has guest quarters…

I have been working out and am feeling really good physically–a little sore because my trainer often busts my ass but he also reminds me that that is what I am paying him for.  He rocks. 

Noah is officially in a big boy bed.  His twin bed came yesterday–he picked it out and it was the tallest one–he loves mommy and daddy’s big bed and wanted one of his own.  So, we’ll see how that is goes.  He loves the bed but last night we had some thunder and it woke him up and he ended up in our room again.  We’ll keep working on that. 

I am looking for any sage wisdom for getting my little man to poop on the potty.  We have the peeing thing down 99.9% of the time but we are at a big old O for pooping.  It’s frustrating.  I have until aug 27th for him to be 100% potty trained and I fear the time is going to go too fast.  So any tips/tricks would be great. 

Zoë is a pistol and is getting more ornery every day.  But she is so cute that it’s often okay.

Sorry for the randomness but Slackerdom provides only that.

Making Lemonade…Damnit

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 3 Comments

I thought today would never come.  I thought today would never end. 

It started out awesome–went to the gym, worked out.  It went along fine, had a great morning with my mom’s group.  On the way home something happened.  One of those things that makes you evaluate your life and grab your kids and hold onto them until they scream for you to let them go.  My car broke down–that’s not the life altering part.  I called hubby to come pick us up while we waited for AAA. 

That phone call changed my life…a friend of my husbands and a man who had become a friend of mine, lost their oldest son in a house fire over the weekend.  He was 17 and getting ready to graduate from high school.  He had his whole life ahead of him.  And just like that he doesn’t.  He was an amazing young man and touched the lives of many people.  I am grieving and at a loss of words.  I shed tears for the family and wish we were closer to them.  But, we are as close as we can be in our hearts and thoughts.  We love you Jeff, Kristen, Henry and you too Michael–rest in peace.

Going to new orleans tomorrow–back to posting on Monday

8 Days In Orlando: The List

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 3 Comments

There is so much to say about our trip to Orlando, that a prose entry would be way too long and I would get way off topic–much like a freshman writing their first paper.  So, to ensure that you don’t go blind reading about my family vacation (or want to poke you eyes out–which would also cause blindness) I am posting a list. 

Travel in general:  My kids are totally awesome travellers.  Noah is a pro at it–this trip marked his 7th trip flying somewhere.  Zoë is also pretty good at it.  She’s at the age where sitting still for a couple hours isn’t her favorite thing to do–but she’s also a trooper–this was her 3rd trip flying somewhere.  Never thought I would travel so much with kids. 

Sleeping:  The kids did well sleeping in the hotel.  So much better than our trip to St. Maarten.  Zoë slept in her crib and slept well.  Noah slept in our bed at the first hotel and then in his SpongeBob room at the Nick hotel.  They napped somedays and not other, but never complained and didn’t get very crabby.  I feel very lucky.

Waiting in Ride Lines: Again they are champs.  We didn’t ride many rides as the kids are pretty small.  We did ride Pirates of the Carribbean, The Boat to Tom Sawyer Island, and Climb the Smith-Family Robinson treehouse as a family and the Merry-go-round but then Noah and Bill did the Teacups and the “race” cars at Disney and then at the Animal Kingdom Noah and Bill rode a Dino ride at Dinoland and we did the Safari.  Most of the line times were just over 30 minutes and Noah never complained one time.  He was just happy to be there.  It was great an quite an experience.  We spent just over 6 hours at each park–the kids rocked it. 

Meeting the Characters:  More lines–most of these were short and we were very lucky to only have to wait 20 minutes to meet Mickey and Minnie.  We met, Jiminy Cricket (Noah still thinks he’s a turtle wearing a hat), Rafaki (baboon from Lion King), Baluoo and King Louie (jungle book), Dora, SpongeBob, Blue, Little Bill, Squidward, and a Bear at Seaworld.  He loved every minute of it. Zoë on the other hand liked to look at the characters from afar but if they got too close she’d get a little scared–but she loved seeing them from a distance.

Doing New things:  Noah tried a lot of new things–for Zoë everything was new.  Noah fed the dolphins and touch them.  He fed the stingrays and touched them (at seaworld).  It was great and awesome and he was so excited about it.  Zoë loved the playgrounds at the hotels and spent what seemed like hours going up and down the slides–up and down and up and down.  She laughed and smiled the whole time.  I love being a mom.  both of them rode the train in Downtown Disney for the first time (Noah by himself a few times. 

Some other random highlights–room service.  The nick hotel might not offer the plushest accomodations–beds a little hard-rooms a little small and sparse, but their food from room service was so good and it was nice to be able to hang out in the room at night and eat and relax. 

On the plane ride home we had to switch planes in Atlanta.  We were all really really tired and Noah was sitting in his seat.  The descent was a little bumpy and he looked at me “mommy my tummy hurts.”  So, I pick him up to hold him.  Not 30 seconds later he pukes all over me–and it’s wasn’t  a small amount–3 times.  I felt so sorry for the people behind us as some of it escaped over my shoulder through the seats.  Noah then looks at me “Oh mommy, I so sorry.  I spit all over you.”  I had to smile, it was so sweet that he apologized.  He really is such a polite little boy.  I sat there on the plane in row 28 covered in puke until the plane landed and everyone was off.  Luckily I had a shirt in one of our carryons.  All in all it was quite eventful and awesome.  To date this was one of the best vacations I have every had.  Thanks hubby and kids.