momma jane comes for a visit...

and we've been running around like crazy...

the kids and kai.. we took them to see a movie
 

ben and chara on coronado
 

the fam on coronado....
  

disclaimer..

i do not in anyway indorse ben's post about coke.. and how it's bad for you.. in fact i don't think it's right.. so.. read it.. but know that it gets two thumbs down from chara..

What happens to your body if you drink a Coke right now?

Have you ever wondered why Coke comes with a smile? It’s because it gets you high. They took the cocaine out almost a hundred years ago. You know why? It was redundant.

• In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
• 20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get it’s hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment)
• 40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dialate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
• 45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
• >60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
• >60 Minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
• >60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.

found via Core77

naked monday..

one of my patients today (who was OCD - which was it's own kind of fun) - decided he was going to be naked for like four hours today..
i would walk into this guys room.. and there he would be - sitting up in his chair.. totally normal - but buck naked.. i begged him to put clothes on.. and he informed me that he was on a tight schedule and could not be bothered to put his clothes on till after lunch.. good times..

schools out for christmas..

yesterday we finished up finals.. and then we had some wonderful bonding experiences....i love these girlies.. they got me through this semester.. and i thank god (and the baby jesus) for them....

nerissa and lizard
 
so happy to be done..
 
nerissa power and jack attack - the team mom
 
lizard busting us out of melobeast house.. the girl had to climb a fence..
  

the girls heading off for a walk..
 
pam shows mikey some love
 
keith and nerissa
 
after a long day of work we finally get the girls on their way to vegas..
  

could they be cuter?

here are my babies..


today.. i am done... finals are done.. this semester is done.. and i am happy..
i'll post pictures from the great time we had today.. but i figured that i should let my new babies take priority.. aren't they gorgeous?

also.. high five to ashlee who got both those babies out.. wow did she do good..

christmas come early..

congratulations to me... i am now the proud auntie of twins..
ashlee delivered two beautiful babies...
Sophia Grace was delivered at 6:09pm, weighing in at 5 lbs and 7 oz
and
Josiah David was delivered shortly after at 6:12pm, weighing 6 lbs 7 oz..

both babies and momma are doing well....

i will post pictures just as soon as i get some..

it's all happening..

this morning around 4am they took ashlee off all her meds.. the contractions started to get really rough around 11am... one of the biggest issues is that the boy baby has turned, and so we're not sure if the doctors will let ashlee deliver the girl, and then attempt to deliver the boy breach... or if they'll make her go in for a c-section..
also.. those babies will only be 35 weeks.. so we're not sure how their little lungs will do either.. so happy thoughts and prayers towards our friends ashlee, brian, and the babies.. stay tuned for more baby updates..

so close..

three finals down.. one to go.. as of thursday i am a free woman.. i can't wait..

Two holiday questions

Ok so i was listening to the radio and the DJ was doing thier yearly "i'm going to live up in a crane to get toys for kids" etc thing. So my first reaction was... "toy drive thats nice, i should get some toys for kids". Immediatly following that reaction was this thought. "toy drives are bad"

Horrible even. What toys do you buy for a toy drive? The cheap ones. Because you want to buy as much as you can for your dollar to give to the kids. So in fact what are you doing? Buying cheap crap, made by kids in another country to give to kids in this country. Now kids in this country may in fact be in need of toys, but how wrong is it to give them cheap toys at the expense of another child, probably in more need than the one here.

So my first question is... What gift/toy could you get/make that could be given to children for a toy drive.

second question is, i still have one of those Hickery farm saussage cracker things that everyone buys for gifts from last year that we haven't eaten yet. Is it still good?

and here is some free holiday advice. Don't buy crappy gifts.

birds and the bees...

out of no where today, deborah (my four year old niece) says to her mom:

deborah: 'mom, i know that when i was a baby i grew in your belly.. but how did i get there?'

sissy: 'uh... well.. mommy and daddy loved each other so much.. that we wanted a baby, and so we prayed for God to give us a very pretty one.. and then you grew in my tummy'

deborah: 'yeah mom, i know that.. but how did i get there?'

sissy: 'uhhh'

deborah: 'did God put me there?'

sissy: 'yes.. God did it.. he put you there'

deborah: 'but how? does God have hands?'

sissy: 'uh.. yes.. that's how it happened.. we asked God for a baby, and he used his hands and put you in my belly'...

... but i don't think deborah was buying it.. she's a pretty smart 4 year old.. i'm pretty sure the question will come up again..

update..

for those of you keeping up with brain and ashlee cowell.. here is the update..
ashlee is still holding on to those babies.. she is at 34 weeks, and she is 6 cm dilated.. the doctors are still using medication to stop the contractions.. however.. on tuesday (if she hasn't already had the babies) they will take her off the meds.. and she will probably deliver that day...
meanwhile.. she had an ultra sound today.. and it turns out that those babies are pretty big for their age.. one is 6 lbs 10 oz, and the other is 6 lbs 6 oz... so ashlee has like 13 lbs of babies inside her...
that's all for now..
i'll keep updating when i know more..

playing hooky

i know.. i know.. i should be studying.. but..
heath and rhianon had never been to disneyland.. and they leave soon for a three year stint in guam.. and this was the last time.. with our busy schedules - that we could all get together.. so we all got together.. and went to disneyland... and had much fun..

the happiest day on earth...

splash mountain.. they have no idea they are about to be very wet...
 
the gang at 'it's a bugs life'
 
the crazy boys..
  

the crew at california adventure
 

heath and chara.. the only two brave enough to take on the tea cups..
 

let it snow... snow in the OC
  

Happy Ninja Day everyone

you say it's your birthday..

mister matt evans had a birthday last week.. and we all headed over to the evans household for some birthday fun.. it was a blast.. as you can see below..

me and some very sexy girls..
 

chara and her buddy jess.. true love
 

more of my sexy girls
 

always a cute couple.. heath and rhianon
  

apparently the party was too much for ben.. he passed out..
  

end of days...

yesterday we finished our 12 hour clinical days for this semester.. thank the good Lord.. only four more classes left this semester..

nerissa power and the ger-bear
 
our beautiful and talanted clinical group
 
our great instructor and our great TA... the ger-bear and murse mike
 
 

burrrr...

i just heard on the radio that a 'frost warning' was issued for san diego.. it is damn cold outside..

almost there..

two finals down.. two more to go..
the last two are the most nasty.... but.. it doesn't matter.. i'm this close to the end of this evil semester..

back to life.. back to reality

after five blissful days off i go back to school tomorrow... only three more weeks..

turkeys and such...

what a great day.. heath and rhianon came over.. and helped cook the most wonderful thanksgiving dinner... we had two turkeys - one deep fried thanks to heath.. and one that ben bbq'd.. everything was wonderful and delicious.. (i think by the time the turkeys were done we were all so hungry.. that i don't even think we took one picture of either turkey)
my sister and her husband and the kiddies came over.. and we went to the park, and drew chalk on the floor.. and had a great time..
my older brother and his girlfriend made it over later.. and we played a crazy game of poker.. in which i did not win... so really it wasn't all that great..

either way.. it was an incredible day with family and friends.. which i am so thankful for.. and in trying to recover... i slept in till noon today.. God bless the four day weekend..

thanksgiving maddness

 
 
 
  

thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat..

 
 
 
  

update..

ashlee is doing fine.. she was 4 cm dilated.. and having 9 contractions an hour.. but those crazy doctors managed to stop those contractions.. so no babies for the cowell family this thanksgiving.. those babies stay right where they should be.. in their mommy's belly... so far so good.. stayed tuned..

lets get it started..

and the preparations begin... heath and rhianon came over tonight.. and we 'injected' a turkey with some kind of hickory turkey goodness.. tomorrow we will be ready for turkey day..

...meanwhile - in arizona.. ashlee and brian are at the hospital.. where those babies are trying as hard as they can to get out.. only they are about two months early.. so the doctors are trying hard as they can to keep those babies in.. she is in the hospital now, in labor and delivery.. we might be getting babies for thanksgiving.. we dont know.. for right now she is stable.. and they've stopped/slowed the contractions.. i'll keep y'all posted..

freedom - i wont let you down

the last six weeks have been a personal hell for me.. school has been very consuming.. this week.. i have finished my wednesdays clinicals, finished the last of my papers due, and took the last test in one of my classes.. i just have to get through a 12 hour class tomorrow, and a 3 hour lecture on tuesday.. and i get to have my self a whole week off.. God bless thanksgiving..

straight from the mother ship

after looking it up on google i found that it’s a potato bug.. not an alien.. yuck.. i don’t’ care what it is.. it freaked me out..

  

All she wants to do is dance...

Chara and I went up to a wedding way up in Newhall this past weekend. Quite simply it was the best wedding ever. It was Darrius and Shannon's wedding, a couple of friends from my work. It was held at Shannon's uncle's house which was amazing. It was the kind of house that is so big and so nice that youy have to name it. The actually wedding was nice and short and i didn't even get a chance to do the crossword puzzle they put in the back of the little thing they hand you that shows all the stuff happening in the wedding.

anyway, the wedding was beautiful, the reception was great. We were at the best table; Table 13 and we brought the fun. After 3 tequila, 2 kamikaze and 1 screwdriver for me and a whole lot of wine for chara we were dancing with the stars on the dance floor. Now if you know Chara she would say she's not a dancer, but apparently she is quite the dancer she just needs a little wine to bring it out of her.

Now Chara will be mad at me for posting this as she told me not too, but its such a great picture of her, and we had the best time dancing, so i'm going to take the risk.

Ben...

You take the good, you take the bad

today was black tuesday - test day.. let's just say i don't want to talk about it..

one good thing about today - voting day.. yes.. that's right.. today we vote for things.. which only makes me very happy because after today the five a day political calls to my house will stop.. seriously.. no more calls from arnold schwarzenegger and barbra boxer.. those two are so needy..

orange day...

today i was talking to my niece (who is 4) - and i asked her what she was doing today.. she told me today was 'orange day'.. and i asked her 'what'? (because the words 'orange day' didn't register with me)- and she said to me 'kai.. it's orange day did you forget?'... and i told her that i did indeed forget.. when my sister got on the phone i asked her 'what is orange day'.. and my sister informed me that at my niece's school they are not aloud to celebrate halloween.. instead they celebrate something they call 'orange day'..
and the brainwashing begins..

and very hapy birthday to Chara

today is the day

and what a day it is...

a big special happy birthday fun day to the birthday girl

just a note

dear santa ana winds -
please go away.. no one wants you here...
you suck..
chara

reason #347 as to why we are not having kids

Chara's sister calls my cell phone

Reanna: Hey ben?
Me: Hey Reanna
Reanna: Um... how do you get superglue off your skin?
Deborah in the background: I can't move my arms!!!
Me: um... let me Google it (and then rush out and get a vasectomy)

apparently Isaiah got into the super glue and glued his sisters back. The good news is he didn't glue his sisters back to anything else. Thank god for fingernail polish remover.

Ben...

take it easy..

third test done in one week.. and now i can take a deep breath and relax.. i've got two weeks to finish two 15 page papers.. and then more tests after that.. but for now.. i will relax.. i just have to get through my 15 hour day tomorrow... tomorrow is three patient friday.. wish me luck..

Paging Dr. Strong... Dr. Strong to room 281

that's right.. at work today i had a 'combative'
patient.. who managed to get out of a poesy belt, and
restraints... i got kicked.. it took three security
guards, two nurses, and me to get her back in bed.. we
put her in a poesy belt.. and restraints at the same
time.. and ten minutes later - freaking houdini was
out of both.. and trying to walk around.. this time
she wouldn't let us put her back in bed - and we had a
call a dr. strong.. When a "dr. strong" is paged it
means any and every strong male anywhere must drop
what they are doing and immediately run to the room
in question to help handle the situtation.

awesome.. it took like six guys,
and two nurses to get her back to bed and put 'four'
point restraints on this women.. the greatest part of
the story is that this women is 80 years old.. yep..
your friend Chara got her ass kicked by an 80 year old

two down, one to go...

sorry for the lack of posts.. but..
i've had two giant tests this week.. and another one next thursday.. one more week.. and i can breath again..

great big shout out..

to my girls..
friday night val and rhiannon picked me up and we met up with jess, cheryl, brooke, stephanie out in palm springs - where we all enjoyed 'girls weekend 2006'. We had a great time.. and some much needed fun.. thanks so much to jessica evans who is a beautiful genius and planned the whole thing.. thank you girls for all the fun, the pictures (especially the ones on my phone), the cuddling (three beds, one couch seven girls = plenty of cuddle time), the dancing, the food, the drinks, the magazines, the chit chat, the stories, the shopping, the pool, the giggling, and all the love - there was much love.. i had the best time and i can't wait to do it again next year..

two cuties
 
arent we fabulous
 
my girls