LIFE...

...if only it were just as easy as swapping cards and placing blue and/or pink pegs in a car... or as easy as a picture on the beach makes it seem...

Christmas, New Years and Easter for that matter have all come and gone since my last post on {Christmas Eve, Eve}, but now I am back on to blogging... well, hopefully for now at least!
I would love to say this would be a short little 'catch up session, but you and I know better... but I will try and be as short and sweet as possible so I do not jump in head first and knock myself out, ruining all chances of me not coming back and blogging for a while... again... and more importantly run off those few that have actually stuck around having faith in me returning! THANK YOU TO THOSE WONDERFUL BELIEVERS!!
So, here goes a snapshot of what we have had going on...
(listed only in the order I pull them out from the deep, dark, dusty, corners of my mind)
*Chayse has several food "sensitivities" which is causing her terribly itchy eczema (this in an of itself is an entire post- for possibly another day...)

                 ~ she reacts more so from eggs and milk, and especially from peanuts
                 ~ she is also pretty allergic to gary... the diabetic cat that won't seem to parish anytime soon

*I want to just kick him to the curb, but to appeal my husband, and the girls seem to obsess over him too- i'll just settle for keeping the cat and replacing all the carpet with hard wood floors and having a maid come and clean frequently to remove all cat hair and dander...
this is what he leaves behind during the months he is shedding badly...

UGH!! it haunts me...
I can graciously and willingly bring him by someone's house if anyone needs any motivation to clean their home!!
Basically... one day, when I stop stressing about her allergies, I will thank Chaysie for her eczema in helping persuade Ryan to get a housekeeper, and getting rid of our awful carpet! although... this has been since February, and nothing has been done yet, so... basically... we shall see if we get rid of anything other than disgusting floating cat hair I guess...?
Moving right along-
* Ryan has started working for a Utility company- a random change from banking, I know!
* He also managed to hold the fort down while I enjoyed a wonderful -and well needed- gals trip with crazy cath (my mom) and babugs (the sis)

* Maybe Ryan handled my absence so well knowing we were headed to the beach once I got back home...

-on a side note... I'm obsessed with this photo! I love it! oh, and the one with me in the middle of them (shown at top of post)

*And I have to mention Easter since it too has already come and gone...

aren't their Easter outfits beautiful!?
And no, your eyes are not playing tricks on you, the things you think are sticking out of Chayse's Easter basket, are actually things she is wearing... yes, those are balls sticking out of her head, wings on her back, pajamas (inside out) and minnie mouse high heals...
But I will say, she pulls it off very well!

*And Sloan is quite the negotiator- she seems to get her way more frequently than not- so when it comes to the outfits she picks out... I just let her do her thing.  She has gotten so big and I feel she has grown so much in the past couple months... and I could not possibly do her justice in a couple sentences, or even a blog post, but I will definitely try in a post dedicated to her soon...
Most recently she had her end of the school program...

and has since confirmed she is obsessed with singing, dancing, and doing whatever it takes to try and entertain anyone who will listen, watch or give her any sort of attention... (which she is sooo deprived of!!)
 ~please note the sarcastic tone~

*Chayse has become such a big girl now, and is sleeping in her "big girl bed"...

or at least, she starts off there- and ends up somewhere else at times...

although, for the past 2 nights, she has decided to forgo the idea altogether and sleep with Sloanie... which I can not get enough of... they are soo adorable!

~Sorry for the quality of some of these- they have come from my phone~

Nonetheless, Chayse too, will have to have her own post as well, as I have so much to say about both of those precious little things!

*And as for me...
I have...
~ been accepted into graduate school (WHAT AM I THINKING!?)
~ dug up 1/4 of our yard to plant a ridiculously large garden... again, (WHAT AM I THINKING?!)

(please take note... Crazy Cath actually has a roto-tiller and was super excited about hauling it over to prepare my new over-sized garden!)

(I promise it's starting to look much better now that everything is sprouting)

Anyway... back to the basics:
I'm also...
~ driving myself crazy with chayse's allergies (not her fault that I am completely obsessing with them!) Can you tell, since I have already mentioned them.
~ landscaping for our mountainous yard to{FINALLY}become FLAT in just a couple weeks!!! (there will hopefully be a post on this entire process...and the before's and after's...)
~ trying to figure out a way to get our house to miraculously become clean and organized
~ daydreaming of the time I will find time to ever blog again (I don't know yet if this post is just my wishful thinking... or if I will hopefully get some pictures loaded on here, and be able to post it!) hopefully the latter of the two will happen, and you will be reading this thinking, "she takes after her mom, and her name should be crazy cam" But that's OK... I get that A LOT!
~ going crazy and obsessive about pinning on Pinterest (this one is actually the time killer and could actually become very DAN-GER-OUS!) It's a must for everyone and anyone who frequently looks for ideas on the internet...
~ and, as if my mind is not overwhelmed enough just from these few things I've listed... we have a huge event within just days that I feel as if I am definitely going to be letting down one pumped up little girl....
SLOANIE'S 4TH BIRTHDAY IS EXACTLY ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!!!??? AND I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING PLANNED!!! (it would probably not be a very big deal if I had just told her we were going to just do something small... but no... of course I told her we would have a party, and she keeps reminding me of this every day!!) - stay tuned for how that pans out!

As for the rest of the crew... everything is pretty much the same ole same... except of course, I could not have an update without...




wait for it....





here's a hint....

you guessed it!

...I could not have an update without Jim being involved in the post!

Besides being the number one fan of CBA Pharma, Jim has also lost 40 pounds!

He had some messed up leg issue {I'll spare you the details...}and was hospitalized to also find out his diabetes was out of control, and pinched a nerve somewhere during all the chaos.
Well, after being in pain and scared that he would never see the day CBT-1 hit big, he decided to finally eat healthy...
Here's Jim before his weight loss...

And here's Jim after realizing he needs to stay alive to see his CBT-1 shares split...(or maybe not wanting to give himself insulin shots... I think it's a combo of both!)

*OK- so... I need to add a footnote-  well, maybe three...

~Number 1- Jim originally lost 40 pounds, and has since told me he has gained 3 pounds back... which in Jimmy-bo terms means about 10+/- pounds...

~Number 2- Clearly... I don't have a current picture of him with his actual weight loss

~And Number 3- I think I would have saved a lot of time had I run over to his house, made him cover up over his tightie whities, get him out of his recliner, listen to him clear his throat a few times, suck in for dramatic effect and pose for a picture instead of try and make a fake ocean under his arms and neck and create a pole behind his back!

...well, on second thought- yes I would have saved time, but... I think figuring out how to make him look thinner was much easier than accomplishing all of the above with Jim!!

Since this was suppose to be short and sweet we will end the post here...Jim's a great topic to end on!

check back soon... I will definitely be back this time!!

Back to Life and Back to Reality

Well, we are officially back in the swing of things after our amazing visit to Portofino. 

(Scroll through the photo gallery on portofino's website of activities to see the other Atkins clan on the trampoline!)  

I have made it back to work, the girlies have started back at school, and Ryan has started his new job! So far, so good... Sloan was a little skeptical at first (only because she was exhausted) and Chayse is now walking right into her daycare to play with her friends she missed! (I was afraid we would relapse being out of our routine... but she continues to do great every morning!) As far as Ryan, I'm excited to see how he likes his knew job, and see how the rest of his week unfolds! So far his first day went well!!

Now that I have touched on reality, I am going to reminisce on our vacation... BEWARE... grab some coffee, sit back, and prepare to wonder how in the world I managed to find the time to write such an incredibly long post!!

anyway, i'll start by pretending as if we are still living the life of watching the sunrise every morning,

along with the life of walking the white beaches,

enjoying the pool,

soaking up the sun... (and downing a Fanta...hhmm...),

watching dolphins from the boat rides,

chillin and not having a care in the world,

and most importantly playing with the girlies and enjoying the fam we were able to be around! 

(and oh yeah, we had a great time wondering if the crazy guy on the floor below us was going to come up and complain again about the "pitter patter" he could hear from us in his condo...hhhmmm.... there's always someone trying to ruin a good time! - better luck next time my friend!)

As for the rest of our wonderful getaway...
we went to the zoo, where Ryan's dad, Jim (aka Pa-pa) made some new friends...

Jimmy and "Goat"! These goats were all over Jim the second he sat down.  I missed the picture where they were both right behind his head, so instead I was able to capture this one of their CBT meeting they were having...

Afterwards we fed the animals, where Sloan realized they would go straight for the cup instead of her hand holding only a few pellet's...

my favorite were the giraffes!!

Although for some reason, I think that giraffe was a little more interested in something (or someone) else...!


This one on the other hand was absolutely disgusting! I realized I am not a fan of bats.


this thing was at least a foot long- and he's hanging upside down. Can you see his wing with his long fingerlike things... yuuuughh...!!


And of course, we had to stay and watch the chimps for a while, really because they were in the shade... and it was extremely hot out that day- Jim had given up on us long ago, and was waiting for us in a cool spot he found.

And yes, Sloan is wrapping her foot in Kleenex... Some ants bit her foot, so of course, it HAD to be propped up and nursed on all day long!

We had such a great time at the zoo, although we Jim could have saved some money if we had just gone to Wal-Mart and ridden on the rides! That was the most exciting part of the day!!

After seeing the land animals, we thought we may as well see the marine life too! So we went on a dolphin tour...

ok- really!? I can't just leave it at that! This was absolutely amazing!! We went on a dolphin tour and after they came up to the boat, the captain reved up the engine and was able to get them to follow us! They followed us for a good 15 minutes- and kept up with us, swimming and jumping the entire time! There were two on the back right side, and three on the back left side of the boat.  Unbeliveable!

Look how close they were to the boat!! They were loving it in the boat's wake!  ( I don't know who was loving it more... them or me!?) Chayse the entire time kept pointing and saying in a shrill of excitement, "quack, quack"! She is absolutely precious!

 But of course, she's so smart to connect a dolphin to a duck... they are both water lovers! right.......

On the boat ride the girls became captain for a while...

and of course I had to take advantage of the opportunity of Pa-pa giving Ryan the camera and guilting him into taking a picture! Ryan with a camera is few and far between... or having anything to do with one- I don't know why he's burned out on my picture taking!?

HOW ABOUT AN INTERMISSION!! I NEED A BREAK MYSELF!
I'm sure you need a refill on your coffee by now!!

Now then- to continue with this neverending post, I'll keep going with my favorite beach-times...
Another highight of the vacation was taking Chayse to the beach early in the morning when no one else was awake. (although, we could have been as loud as we wanted, and nothing would have awaken Jimbo in his whitey-tightey, deep snoring, knee-over-the pillow, couch-sprawled slumber...and this is happening in the family room of course!) - I definately have a picture, but don't worry- I'm trying to gain more followers!!

Chayse was loving the water rushing over her feet...

and of course we had to set her fishes free in the ocean! ('just go... go willie go!')- that one's for you uncle "cha-ce"!

and then the next morning Sloanie woke up to go with us! She was a little distraught the day before, when she found out we went without her (while she was asleep)!

The entire trip was amazing! From the time Sloan saw the first sign of the ocean and said, "OH MY GOODNESS! THAT IS BEAUTIFUL!" to the last day on our trip of releasing our captured seashells- although that one is still a touchy subject for me...


All in all Ryan and I were actually able to relax a little (I was even able to read a book!!) A first in about 3 years- I wonder why...!? All with the help of my loving, helpful and wonderful in-laws! (you don't hear that too often!) Thanks so much for all your help Gigi and Papa!!  If it were not for Gigi, my girls would have fallen over board while I continued snapping away at dolphins, our clothes would have never been washed, and our bellies would have never been fed!  Thank you so much!!

WOW! OK- so this post has officially worn me out... I think I need another vacation after all the work I put into this one!  i don't know if i can do another novel like today! (let's hope not at least!!)

FINALLY...

 I'll leave you with this...

the #1 lesson I learned on the trip...

before you see these feet headed towards you- make a decision:

1- hang around and decipher what he's talking about

2- get him to stop wearing you out by agreeing to risk your 2nd mortgage to become a millionaire (in 13 days... 13 months... 13 years...???)

or

3- figure out a good way to change the subject and then... high tail it outta there!!

Jimmy-Bo... you're the best, and I'll love you no matter what!