Bye, Bye HVS!

Today is Brandon's last day at High Voltage. He will now be working for Twisted Pixel Games! He will still be a Concept Artist, but at a company he likes way better. Well, what does that mean? Yes, we will be moving. We are going to be moving to Austin, Texas! We won't be moving until March so he will be working from home until then, with trips to Texas about every two months, give or take a couple weeks depending on crunch times and what not. He will go for a week when he goes, so that will be another change and difficult at times (mainly for me) but its only until we move.

I am actually REALLY exited about moving there! I've been doing a lot of research (naturally) and have been impressed with the findings. One of the towns I am looking at houses in is called, Cedar Park, it was named a top 10 place to raise a family. There is great organic farmers markets, all sorts of natural rivers to swim in, exceptional schools, awesome botanical gardens, water parks, and the housing is WAY cheaper than Chicago.

Anyways, Twisted Pixels latest game release is called The Maw, which is a downloadable game for the Xbox. Its funny, the last few days Rowen and Corbin (Rowen in particular) have been very into play The Maw. They wake up in the morning asking to the play "The Maw game" and when Brandon gets home. Rowen is actually getting the hang of how to play a game. He does really well! Corbin likes to push all the buttons, he doesn't really understand how it works, but loves to see it.



Twisted Pixels next game to be released is called Splosion Man. It was nominated by IGN for FIVE "Best of E3" awards:

*Best Overall Platforming Game
*Best Overall Downloadable Game
*Best Xbox 360 Platforming Game
*Best Xbox 360 Downloadable Game
*Best Xbox 360 Artistic Design

It won Best Xbox 360 Platforming Game! E3 is a HUGE gamers convention if you aren't up on your gamer info. The game consists of you play as an experiment breaking free from the people who created you. Your only power is the ability to explode. And you'll use this to launch yourself around numerous levels, solving platforming puzzles along the way. There are even some stages built specifically for four-players coop platforming.

You can watch the trailer for it here. Pretty awesome, huh??? :)

Oh the lovely Female body...

So, today I scheduled my Endometrial Ablation for next week. This is needed for my horrid of a menstrual cycle that I get. We are also 99% sure (with my symptoms and family history) that I have Endometriosis as well but I'm not willing to have surgery to find out for sure. After having 3 C-sections in 3 years I was ready to not have my stomach cut into, yet again. But hopefully having this done will also help with that problem. It won't help with the fibroid cysts I've been getting too, but that's for a later time to deal with unless it becomes a bigger issue. Sorry Lily, I hope I don't pass this down to you baby girl.

I will being having one of the six ways to do this which is called, Cryo-ablation. It is the better sounding one of them, though still not very fun. The Doctor will be using a probe at sub-zero temperatures to destroy the lining of my uterus- weeeeee. But it is the least invasive option for some relief. It won't mess with my hormones (though it can reduce PMS symptoms as the whole purpose is to reduce or possibly eliminate my period) and their is no need to remove my uterus...yet. I don't like leaving the house when its "that time". But I am hoping that this will help.

The procedure should take only about 20-30 minutes. But I need to be at the office an hour before hand to get some nice Valium, painkillers and to drink a ton of water since I need to have a very full bladder during the procedure. I think that is going to be the hard part.

Update (6/13/09)-
Well it has been 4 days since having it done and it was a quick and easy recovery. I had what I can describe as mild contractions and being very lightheaded for a few hours after. I still have a couple weeks of stuff I have to deal with but not bad ( I won't go into detail). The actual procedure wasn't all that bad actually. It was after that was the worst! I was given Valium, to relax me, and Norco for pain. The Valium didn't kick in before they started, thankfully. My body does not like medicine and the Valium hit me hard after I got up. My blood pressure drop very low (was around 52/30 something's) then I got extremely nauseous. I was given anti-nauseous pills and that helped. So now I wait and hope that it will help my cycles.

Kumon Method

I recently discovered these really neat learning workbooks for the boys and eventually Lily. I wanted more activities to with them and it is also good for those spongy (of course this is a good thing, they are at the height of learning) brains they have going on now.

The books are called the Kumon Workbooks. It introduces learning concepts in an incremental, step-by-step approach, allowing children to master new skills easily and without anxiety or frustration. As a result, children gain confidence in their abilities and are motivated to learn on their own.

Rowen doing some of the Tracing book.

Corbin working in the Tracing book and a Paste book. He really likes the Paste book.

They have a lot of fun doing them and they get so proud of themselves when they finish. I love seeing them have that confidence. I also got them ones on learning to cut paper. These will help them with their dexterity and hand control as well.

First water fun of the year

We had a nice warm day yesterday, sunny and in the 80's, so we had some fun in the sprinkler! These next 3 pictures are hilarious, look at that brotherly love.

Lily liked it for a couple minutes, then decided she liked sliding better. I think she will like a pool better once we get a new one. The one from last year was not salvageable.

Corbin and Lily share such a cute hug. Lily was in a very hugging mood this day.

Eureka...Sunflower seed butter!

I was so happy to hear that there is Sunflower seed butter! With Rowen being allergic to peanuts (and other legumes) this will be a great replacement. Corbin and Lily don't have nut products either so this will be good for them too. They usually have cream cheese and jelly sandwiches but I'm getting sick of them eating it all the time.

Plus Sunflower seeds are very healthy. It will supply them with protein, along with, healthy fats, fiber, magnesium, vitamin E, betaine (protects against cardiovascular disease), phytochemicals and choline.

We are wanting to try them with almonds as well. I really want them to have some seeds and nuts in their diets. Then they can have almond butter sandwiches. I want to try them with fish too, probably just Salmon and maybe Tilapia. I want them to have a good source of DHA and another form of protein as well (we rarely eat red meat and occasionally have turkey or chicken). I'm pretty sure that Lily and Corbin will be fine with fish, allergy wise. They have a yogurt that has fish oils in it and they do fine. I won't be giving them shellfish anytime soon though as that was a positive on Rowen's blood test. We will be having him tested again soon before he starts preschool so we can can have an updated look at his allergies. And we will need to have an Epi Pen for him to have at school.

Veggie Rocket Popsicles

You won't find these in your grocery store! I got some awesome BPA-free Popsicle molds in Rockets and Shooting Stars. They are super sturdy and you can take one out at a time. It wasn't super hot out but I had the stuff to make some, so I made a refreshing and healthy blend of organic banana, pineapple and spinach Popsicles. Once blended it was a great green color. I'm looking foraward to seeing what kind of yummy confections I can make up and possibly even do some layering action and make rainbow ones!

Lily loved it and was quite mad when it was gone, but little does she know its not her last.

The boys ate them at an incredible speed and wanted more. If only they knew how good it was for them.

Wicket Fisticuffs

We had the pleasure of playing with a SUPER cute puppy named Wicket! Friends of ours, Tony and Coty, came over for some nice hanging out time and BBQing yesterday and brought their Shih tzu. She is very well behaved and was really good with the kids. It took them a bit to warm up to her running around, more so for Corbin and Lily, but once Wicket was also calmed down from the excitement of new people everyone was relaxed. Lily never liked the dog coming near her, it was pretty funny to watch her freak out (mean, maybe, but she was fine).

Rowen was mackin' on Coty. He is such a lovey-dovey kid in general and really sweet.