Kinda Like Lent, Or, 7 Pounds

Well, my family and I just ended our 6-week health challenge.  It was a really great experience. And now I'm going to write ALL about it!

We started January 2, and ended February 12. The different categories of the challenge were: getting 7 hours of sleep every night, eat three servings of fruit and three of veggies every day, no eating after 8 p.m., drink 64 oz. of water every day, exercising, and no sugar. Each part was worth 5 points, except for no sugar, which was worth 10 points.

7 hours of sleep every night. This one is easy for me.  I actually think that I need more like 8 - 8 1/2 hours of sleep. For a while a couple of years ago I was trying to go with about 6 1/2, and I couldn't keep my eyes open by the end of the day. My kids get their own breakfast usually, so when they do and I don't have to set an alarm to get up (like in the summer), I usually wake up at about 8 or 8:30 when going to bed at 11:30. During the challenge, I had one day that I didn't get the 7 hours, and it's because I was out way too late with a couple of my girlfriends, and then we had to get up early the next morning. So I got 6 1/2 that day.

I felt like, during the challenge, that I had really weird dreams the whole time.  Well, I have weird dreams a lot, but it seemed to be more than usual. Maybe I was getting more REM sleep time or something. So yeah, this part of the challenge was not so challenging for me.

Eat 3 servings of fruit every day. This part of the health challenge wasn't all that hard for me, either. The very first day for breakfast, I ate some oatmeal with peaches chopped up on top. It was really yummy! Before the challenge I would have had the oatmeal but no peaches, or no breakfast at all. I also had Life cereal with a banana cut up on top (before would have been Life cereal with a load of sugar on top). I would usually have one of my fruit servings in the morning, one at lunch, and one at dinner.

My sister Kar introduced us to a super easy smoothie recipe. It's 3 cups frozen fruit, 1 cup milk (or water or juice, but we always did milk), 1/2 cup yogurt (we did vanilla), and 1/2 cup sugar. We tried this with different mixes, but my favorites were strawberry/banana, and one that had raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries. YUM! It was an easy way to get all your servings in one fell swoop. (A serving size of fruit is generally 1/2 cup, so when we made this Pete and I would have half a smoothie each and get our servings in.)

I realized that I really enjoy having fruit for breakfast in whatever form, so I plan on continuing with that. I also liked having a variety of fruits so it wasn't just an apple every day or something.

Eat 3 servings of vegetables every day. This part was...surprisingly fun. Exciting, even. It was almost like rediscovering all the veggies that I liked, but just didn't take the time to buy or eat on a regular basis. Like broccoli, and green peppers, and cucumbers. We made Veggie Pizza at least 3 or 4 times during our challenge, which is SOOOO good. I also cut up veggies and stuck them in little baggies of one serving in each. That way we could grab a bag that was ready to go and know that it was a serving. Very handy. Though celery doesn't last very long that way.

Another thing that got introduced to me by my sister Lex was individual salads. They're called Ready Pac Bistro Salad. They are a salad that has all the cool, yummy stuff you'd want. For example, the Santa Fe one has little chicken bits, tortilla chips, shredded cheese, roasted corn, and a dressing that's like Thousand Island.  Oooh, yum!

The hardest part of getting my three veggies in was sitting down to a huge plate of veggies at lunch. I would try to get two servings in at that time. I kind of have TMJD, where my jaw will lock up sometimes to where I can't open my mouth, and I have to pop my jaw open, and then it continues to lock and pop while I'm eating. Like 80s robot dancing, but in a way nerdier, crappier, non-productive way. It's SUPER fun. I've noticed it comes on when I'm chewing hard things like carrots, or dense things like steak. (And forget about gum.) So during a lunch of carrots, apples, and celery, my jaw would be hurting and I'd be frustrated. I guess the lesson with that is to chop up my food into smaller bites, like diced celery instead or something. But I do love having a veggie-oriented lunch, which I plan on continuing now that our challenge is over.

And to get my last serving in of the day, I usually ended up cooking something with veggies in it. Most of my dinner meals are like that, so that was a no-brainer.

Here are some FABULOUS recipes you have to try. The first two are family favorites, and the last one is one that I discovered during this challenge:

VEGETABLE DIP

1 cup mayonnaise

8 oz. sour cream

1 Tbl. minced onion

1 tsp. dill weed

1 1/2 tsp. Bon Appetit spice (Shillings or McCormack)

Mix all ingredients together and serve with vegetables. This gets better if it sits in the fridge for a few hours.

VEGETABLE PIZZA

Thaw and flatten 1 loaf of frozen Rhoades bread on a cookie sheet.  Cook at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Mix together and spread on top:

½ cup mayonnaise

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 tsp. dry Hidden Valley Ranch dressing

1 Tbl. liquid Hidden Valley Ranch dressing

Then add on top:

1 cup grated carrots

1 ½ cups cut up broccoli

1 ½ cups cut up cauliflower

Sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese on top.

CHEESEY VEGETABLES
24 oz. bag frozen California blend vegetables
1 stick margarine, melted
10 oz. Velveeta cheese, melted
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

Cook veggies according to package directions. Mix half of margarine with cheese and half with crackers. Add cheese mixture to veggies. Place cheese and veggies mix in 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Top with crushed cracker mixture. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

California blend veggies is a broccoli, cauliflower, carrot mix of some sort. I tried this with a carrot, corn, green bean veggie mix. I LOVED it.

No eating after 8 p.m. I'm not sure when the bad habit of eating snacks after 8 started for me, but rest assured it was a habit I needed to break. Because it's not like I was snacking on veggies. So the first night at about 7:30 p.m., I was still hungry, so I snarfed down some cheese really fast before 8. After that day, though, I was totally fine not eating after 8. Here and there I would get cravings for things, but I wasn't hungry, and there's a huge difference.

That's one of the really cool things about this challenge, is it makes you extremely aware of what you're putting into your mouth, and when. For instance, now that our challenge is over, Pete bought some Twizzlers Bites, and we were watching Downton Abbey (which is AMAZING: if you haven't seen it then WATCH IT RIGHT THIS SECOND FROM THE BEGINNING). I popped a couple of them into my mouth.  Then about 10 seconds later, I threw a few more into my mouth. And again. And again. I physically had to move them to stop eating them.

So now that our challenge is over, I need to continue to be aware of what I'm eating and when.

Drink 64 ounces of water every day. I didn't struggle with getting the water into me. I hated the aftermath of it though. I seriously had to use the bathroom every 2 hours, and would get up at least once a night to pee. UGH!  I hated that part of this. Drinking the water: good. Going through 500 rolls of toilet paper: bad.

To prevent the multiple bathroom trips at night, I would try to get as much water into me in the morning as I could. I would fill a 20-ounce water bottle, add some Propel or Crystal Light flavoring to it, drink it down halfway, then fill it to the top and drink it down all the way.  That way I figured I got 30 oz. in in the morning. Then I'd have 20 ounces at lunch and 20 at dinner.

Since I'm such a Coke lover, I thought I'd be going through withdrawals or something during the challenge. Before the challenge, I would have a glass (14 oz.) of Coke at lunch time. So roughly a can a day, which to me doesn't seem like all that much. Not good for me, but not necessarily bad for me, either. It was mostly my little indulgence, a way of pampering myself. But surprisingly, I didn't crave Coke at all the whole time. Okay, that's not true. The only time I craved Coke was when we went out to eat like at Chilis or Wendys. That's when I didn't want to drink water.

So I decided that now I'm not going to buy pop for myself to have at home. But if we go out to eat, I'm not going to stop myself from getting a Coke.

And yesterday, I had been so sick of peeing so much, that I went the other extreme and didn't have hardly anything to drink the whole day. And right before dinner, I felt kind of sick to my stomach. Maybe my bladder was cramping up or something, like FEED ME, SEYMOUR! So even though I might cut back slightly on the 64 ounces, I still need to keep hydrated. Also, I need to get more milk into my diet, so maybe I'll substitute that for my water at dinner.

Exercise. These last two categories (exercise and no sugar) were the hardest for me. The original challenge had 5 points for each 1/2 hour of exercise, up to 10 points a day (so an hour of exercise, for all you mathematically-challenged people). We changed ours to be 1 1/2 hours a day (so up to 15 points a day). This was the main category where I lacked in full points. (I got perfect points the whole challenge in fruits, veggies, no food after 8, and water. I missed the one night in sleep, and one day at the very end in no sugar.) I always got the first half hour of exercise in, and usually the hour, but getting that last 30 minutes was a bit of a struggle for me. I did it more times than not, but it was hard.

For the exercise, I did a lot of yoga, walking, and Dance Central. My parents have the Dance Central on the X Box, and it has a fitness section and you can choose the length and intensity of your workout. It was really fun, and I would get super sweaty doing it.

I would go walking with my mom; we mall walk. That's also way fun, because I get to chat with my mom as I push Ivy in a stroller. There are a lot of cute elderly people that are there. One guy that salutes us as he walks by told us that walking next to the walls for 1 lap is 6/10 of a mile. Since my mom and I do 5 laps, that's about 3 miles (we cut corners a little because of the stroller).

Pete and I would do the yoga, which I LOVE. It is so relaxing! I noticed that I got a lot stronger and more flexible after doing it for so many weeks.  At the beginning when I would bend from the waist and touch the floor, I could grab my ankles and that's as far as I could go. At the end, I had my palms flat on the floor.

So now that the challenge is over, will I still get 1 1/2 hours of exercise in? Maybe on some of the days. But I most definitely want to do something each day. Before I would make up the excuse of not having the time, but now I know I can find the time to exercise, even for a half hour.

No sugar. Okay. This is where my "Lent" reference comes in. One part of Lent is giving up something -like a luxury or indulgence of yours- for the 40-day span. In our challenge, we had decided that "no sugar" meant no candy, no chocolate, and no pop, including diet. I already explained the pop part. But that was only part of it.

The other part I had to give up was my weakness: chocolate.

The night before the challenge started, I cleared our house of chocolate...by consuming it.  That's right. That means I ate, like, 12 snack-sized Kit Kats so that they wouldn't be around to tempt me. The first few days were fine.  And then the cravings kicked in.

Now normally, when I would have a chocolate craving, I would have grabbed some chocolate without thinking twice. When there was none to be had during the challenge, and 10 points at stake, I would just have to ignore that craving.  And usually, about 20 minutes later, I wouldn't crave it any more.

There were some days, though, that it was all I could do to stop from jumping in my car and driving down to Sarah's Candy Cottage and devouring a whole pound of fudge. Seriously.

Yes, I missed one day and had a piece of chocolate cake. On day 41. Pete and I went down to Logan, Utah, for a basketball game, and we had dinner at Olive Garden. And the coaster had the picture of the cake on it. It was STARING at me. And Pete was the devil, being all, "Just get it. Just eat it. And get a cherry Coke, too." And you know what?  I figured that I had been great the entire time with NOT giving in, that one time would be fine. And oh, it tasted sooooo good. Which part of me was all, "I should stay strong. I've made it this far, what's another 2 days? Don't give in." But the other part of me was all, "CHOCOLATE CAKE!!!!!" It was totally one of those angel and devil on the shoulders moments for me.

The one thing I noticed about my cravings, though, is that it was always for the really rich, thick, amazing chocolate. Kit Kat or Snickers? Nope. Mississippi Mud Bars and fudge? Absolutely.

So, now that this is over, when I have chocolate, I'm not going to eat the whatever, filler chocolate.  If I'm going to have chocolate, I'm going to go for the big guns. Which means I'll have to make a specialty trip, or bake it, which means I'll have it less often.

Overall. I noticed that I ate more food, especially during breakfast and lunch, but I'm sure I was consuming fewer calories. Before I would crash in the early afternoon, and while doing this challenge I would still get tired then, but not the full-on crash. But I did fall asleep almost instantly at night the whole time too.

I ended up losing 7 pounds, which surprised me. I didn't set out trying to lose any weight, but it happened anyway.

I won the challenge, which means I get 60% of the kitty. (Pete came in second, and my sister Lex was 3rd.) Maybe I'll use my money to buy some new jeans for myself that fit me-mine are loose now, especially in the waist, which seriously rocks.

I think the rest of my family saw some changes, too, with weight loss or how they felt.

I'm glad that I did this challenge, because it changed me for the better. And even though I plan on slightly modifying it for "real" life, for the most part I'm going to keep on keeping on.

Love-Love

During the school year, Brock brought home a paper.  He had to draw an activity of something that he and his family do during the summer.  I thought he'd draw he and his siblings playing on the swing set, or riding bikes, or swimming. 

Nope.  He drew a picture of him and me playing tennis.

Have we ever played tennis?  No.  Does he even know what tennis is?  Apparently, because he had drawn us with rackets and a net and everything.

And can I find this work of art?  No.  I've looked through my stacks (and stacks and stacks) of drawings, and I can't find it for the life of me.  I'm way bummed, because Brock is a super artist.

So, I took the kids out in the morning before it got too hot, and we played tennis.  We don't have tennis rackets, but we have two racquetball rackets.  And I bought some tennis balls.

We took turns "hitting" the ball, a.k.a. swinging our rackets in the air as the ball flies by.

And we played chase.  I was trying to get Troy on one side of the net, and Ivy on the other.  They just ran around and around the net, giggling with glee.

We also did a lot of running after the ball.  I would hit the ball over the net, and my kids would miss, and then chase the ball down.

Then I would stand on one side while my kids attempted to hit the ball to me.  After 10 or so tries of them hitting the ball into the net, and by the net, and around the net, I would take my turn and hit it back.

At one point I had Jakob take pictures with the camera.  I think they were having more fun taking pictures than they were playing tennis.

Another time I served the ball to Brock.  The ball bounced on the ground, then came up and hit him square in the eye.  I started laughing, even though it really wasn't that funny.  Okay, it was funny, and I'll be the first to admit I'm a bad mom for laughing at my kid's pain.

We didn't play for very long.  And even though it wasn't productive in a rally, keep score kind of way, it was still fun.  I'm glad Brock suggested it.

The Gym

I signed my boys up for a gym class for the year.  Jakob had done a hip hop class last year, and really enjoyed it, but wanted to try something new.  And I thought it would be a good thing for all my boys to do together.

It's a tumbling class.  They've all been doing great in it.  It's so funny to watch their different personalities come out while they're doing the class.

(I haven't been able to get very good pictures-because they're so far away, and it's so big and not super bright in there, they all come out blurry.  So, there's a good butt picture for you.  I'm actually kind of surprised at how flexible they all look right there.)

Jakob has been spastic.  He's gotten really good at front rolls and back rolls.  He loves doing the different tricks on the long trampoline they have.

Brock has been exact.  He'll observe the teacher closely and try to do it exactly right the very first time. 

Troy has been important.  Even though he's the smallest kid in the class, you'd think he was the biggest.  He's just so happy to be there.

They just got a new teacher-I think their other one went off to college or something.  The new teacher has them grab onto a large rope at the end of their lesson, and swing out over a pit full of large foam cubes.  Then they let go and fall in.  It's the best thing since sliced bread.  It's very Tarzan.

They have a parent section, that's up above the floors.  One side has video cameras that play on some TVs, and the other side you can look down and watch.  I like watching some of the other classes.  There are some little girls that are amazing gymnasts.  It's like watching the Olympics every week.

One lady comes and cross stitches the whole time.  I asked her about it, and she said her daughter comes twice a week for 4 hours each time.  She was all, "I guess I could be at home cleaning my house, but if she's doing something she loves for 8 hours a week, why can't I?"

I guess I could cross stitch as well, but instead I take my logic puzzles book.  Which, for me, is still very zen.  Ivy comes along as well, and I try to bring crayons or toys for her to play with.  For a while she kept trying to steal a little boy's food and toys.  When I forget toys we munch on TicTacs.  Have you tried the green apple ones?  They're yummy, although they don't necessarily give you fresh breath.

There's also a Russian guy that teaches there.  At first I couldn't really hear his accent.  And I was like, dude, I wonder what he says to people when they ask what he does for a living.  "I yell at little girls."  He doesn't mean yell all of the time, but you have to yell to be heard in there-it's very tall and open in there.

The boys' gym class starts right when I would be preparing dinner, and ends too late for me to whip up something afterwards.  So I decided to make that night my crock pot night.  My friend Arin lent me a crock pot recipe book, and I photocopied a whole bunch of 'em.  I've really liked all of them.  And I LOVE being able to just dump everything in either in the morning or early afternoon, and it's ready to go when we get home that night.  If only every meal could be so easy.  (Well, I guess it could be, if we had crock pot stuff every night.)

Here are a few of my favorite recipes that we've tried thus far:

HEARTY HODGEPODGE (a.k.a. Minestrone Soup)
1 1/2 pounds ground beef, cooked
2 cans (10 3/4 ounces each) condensed minestrone soup
1 21-ounce can pork and beans in tomato sauce
1 12-ounce can tomato juice
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup water
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. dried oregano, crushed
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced (I just used a little bit of minced garlic)
Dump it all in a crock pot.  Cook for 7-8 hours on low or 3 1/2-4 hours on high.

COUNTRY STYLE PEACH RIBS
3 pounds country-style ribs
1 medium onion, sliced
1 18-ounce jar peach or apricot preserves
1/2 cup orange juice or water
2 Tbl. bottled teriyaki sauce (I think I used soy sauce)
3 cloves garlic, minced (used minced garlic again)
Put the onion on the bottom, put the ribs on top.  Mix the other ingredients in a bowl, and pour all but 1 cup on top of meat in crock pot.  Put the remaining in the fridge.  Cook for 8-10 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high.  Heat up the sauce that's been in the fridge, and pour over the ribs before serving.
(I used the leftovers and made a sandwich for myself with green peppers and Swiss cheese the next day. YUM!)

ITALIAN BUFFET DINNER
2 1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck
1 medium onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large red sweet pepper, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
1 14-ounce jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried oregano, crushed
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 1/2 cups hot cooked spaghetti or mashed potatoes
grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
Cut meat into 1-inch pieces.  Dump everything in the crock pot except spaghetti or potatoes.  Cook for 9-10 hours on low, or 4 1/2-5 hours on high.  Serve over spaghetti noodles, or with mashed potatoes.

So there you have it.  My time at the gym.

Photographic Evidence

Hey, look what I got!


So now I can take a lot more pictures like this:

And like this:

We've been having an awesome, way too short summer. I can't believe school starts in a little over a week! Yikes!

But, it's been fun. The boys did swim lessons. Jakob swam like a spaz, like he always has.

Brock, taking it so seriously. He improved a ton-he would actually put his face in the water by the end of lessons.

And Troy, who always managed to find me up above the swimming pool, and smiled his huge grin at me the whole time.

We took the kids to a drive-in movie, too. Pigging out is the best!

Idaho summer nights can't be beat! We have too few left...

"Gay" Aerobics and Other Random Life Events

Random 1:
Yesterday I:
-washed 6 loads of laundry and folded 9 loads
-unmade, then made 4 twin beds and a king bed
-patched a hole on my jacket, and darned some socks
-went to part of mutual
-vacuumed my whole house
-loaded and unloaded my dishwasher, twice
-did a little sudoku
-took out two huge bags of garbage
-cleaned up two dead mice in my garage
-along with the usual (breakfast, lunch, dinner, dirty diapers, fixing hair, fixing lunches, helping with homework, etc.)

I just wanted to document how I pretty much rocked yesterday, so I know that I actually can have the energy and time to get a whole lot done.

However, I did not exercise, because my back was killing me. I think from making the beds. Oh, and from P90X.

Random 2:
One day, Pete came home from work and said, "We should start doing some gay aerobics", and did a little disco-esque move. And I thought, Richard Simmons? But he meant just some sort of aerobic exercise. So we got a copy of P90X, and have been working out ever since. It's a lot of yoga, with some weights, and a whole lot of push ups. Each day of the week is a different workout, and it gets jumbled up after three weeks. I could barely do parts of the ab ripper one, we only did about half of the 90-minute yoga night, and my "weights" for the arm day were little tomato sauce cans. (Hey, when you haven't worked out in who knows how long, you gotta start out slow.) And even though my back was killing me last night, it's been good. It's only been a week, and I feel like I'm sleeping better, and I have a bit more energy, which is probably why I could do so much yesterday (though today, not so much).

Random 3:
The other day I decided that I need to take more pictures of my kids. The spur of the moment ones are the ones that seem to really capture my kids' personalities.

I love this picture of Brock and Jakob. My kids were all taking turns telling "secrets" (mostly just whispered nonsense words) at dinnertime, into each other's ears, and into mine.


I also love this picture of Ivy and Troy. Taken the same "secrets" night. Blue eye heaven.


Random 4:
I'm getting the urge to paint rooms again. I don't know why I get motivated to do inside improvements when I should be feeling the need to work on outside stuff. Though it's still been too nasty and cold and freaking windy to do anything outside, anyway, so maybe it's just fine that I want to do inside stuff.

Anyway, I'm hoping to paint Ivy's room, this weekend. Stay tuned for that! (And I promise I'll be faster at posting. I've been sucking it up lately.)

I also want to paint my downstairs family room, though that's going to be quite the undertaking. I'm hoping for maybe next weekend...ish. (Hey, if anyone out there reading this likes to paint, and you aren't a crazy stalker, feel free to come help me.) And other future projects: making new bedspreads for my three boys, and painting their rooms, too.

Random 5:
I checked out community classes for learning guitar. Turns out they don't teach beginner guitar in the summer. Grrr. So hopefully this fall...

Random 6:
Just spent oodles of money on our minivan on Monday. One of the break pads was totally worn away. And we needed new tires. I really hate spending money on things like that, even though it's inevitable.

Random 7:
I'm starting Brock and Troy on chores-cleaning up toys (which they already do) and helping me dust and windex. They were REALLY gung-ho about it. And Important Kid #2 (Ivy) had to help as well. She cried and cried until she got a rag, and absolutely fell apart when we were all done dusting. Yesterday she was pointing and kept saying "bill! bill!", and I thought she was looking at something outside. Finally she got down from the chair, pulled out a washcloth from the drawer, went back to the table, and starting wiping up the spill that was there that I hadn't seen. Such a little cleaner. Are all girls like that? Because my boys sure as heck wouldn't have cleaned up a spill-they would have spread it around and made the mess bigger.

Random 8:
Memo is getting declawed tomorrow morning. The stinking cat sunk her claws into our new couch. She'll probably hate us for a while, but I'd rather have that than clawed up furniture. (We've tried the claw stand thingies. She doesn't care about those a smidge.)

Well, I'm off to do some more "gay" aerobics with my hubby. I think it's legs and back tonight. Hoo, boy.

Swimming with Pikes

Jakob and Brock took swimming lessons the last two weeks. Their class was called "pike"; it's the very super beginners level, and as they haven't ever had lessons before, I figured that's where they should start.


They loved it, and they did great! Here's Brock with his teacher doing a back float:


Although, this is what Brock's lessons looked like most of the time (clinging onto the teacher for dear life):

He's just very unsure in the water, but by the end of the lessons he was doing a lot better.

And here's Jakob, my little fish:


Here's his back float:

His only problem was wanting to swim too much; when they were supposed to sit on the edge and wait their turn he would be wiggling around and splashing with the other kids. But near the end he got a lot better about that, too.

Well, Jakob passed onto the next level, but Brock didn't. I debated signing them up again this week, but another two weeks of sitting in the super hot, super humid upstairs room with my other two little wiggly kids didn't exactly appeal to me. Though I may sign them up this winter. Maybe the upstairs room won't be as hot or humid then. Because really, the swim lessons for my kids should be all about my comfort, right?

Things I Haven't Done in a While. Or Ever, for That Matter. And, Why I Should be Famous.

Blogged. (Which is obvious.) As my excuse, I've been reading Harry Potter books. I've also been doing really exciting, bloggable stuff, like laundry, and scrubbing bathrooms. Yes, I live a life of constant entertainment. I'm surprised the paparazzi hasn't found me by now.

I let my two-year-old play with sparklers.

Look at that sweet little face.

And then, while we were trying to see the fireworks by the river from my front porch, I pulled a super great parenting moment and wasn't paying attention, and he grabbed the sparkler and burned his hand. The best part: as we were running him inside to get his finger under some cold water, an ember or something landed in his hair, and singed his hair off, and blistered his head. He'll have a sweet bald spot the size of a quarter for quite some time.

Sigh.

My kids are spazzy. Oh wait, that's a constant.

Jake, doing some kind of karate move.

Brock with his aunt Lex.

We went to the 4th of July parade. I go every year, yet it's really not my favorite thing to do. But the kids got candy, so who am I to complain?

Me, my boys, and Dylan.

I ran in a 5K. My first, and most likely my last. I'm a super wuss, and so out of shape. I didn't even run the whole time, either. My macho dad pushed my gimpy sister in a stroller thingy the whole way, too, and he was still outrunning me. On Sunday I swore that my legs were going to suddenly detach from my body, they hurt so bad. Good times.

My sisters, mom, and I got a pedicure. I should seriously do this once a month (I've only gotten a pedi maybe three times). They have seat massagers that massage your back while you're getting your feet pampered. Love it.

Kar and me, feeling the massage love.

I ate a Tootsie roll.

A Tootsie with my cute tootsies! I'm so clever.

Went to the zoo, with my cute sister Beej and her hubby Spencer (they visited this last week from New York).

Uncle Spencer with Troy boy.

My kids were being little lazy butts at the zoo, so they rode on Lexi's lap with her healing knee while my mom pushed them all.

Brock, who wouldn't smile for a picture with his new favorite aunt Beej until her back was turned.

Brock and Brianna.

Trying some new little hair ideas with Ivy's hair. She's a constant mover, so it's pretty hard. But we're trying.

The 'do.

Ivy from the front. The hairdo looked great from the back, but made her look bald from the front. Oh well-live and learn.

I also went to a drive-in movie, went up for an evening of girls' camp, and swam at Heise Hot Springs. But you would know all that if the paparazzi were following me.

Here's to new experiences, and fun summer things that I don't get to do very often!

And a slide show for those that want to steal pics:

Murphy's Law

My sister decided to instigate a "Biggest Loser" contest in our family. She recorded our current weights, and our goal weight. After a few months (I think we're ending at the end of May) we'll record our weight then, and for every pound we don't make it we put a dollar into the pot.

So. I'm not really at the point where I want to lose weight, but I DO need to exercise, and badly. Sure, I go up and down the stairs multiple times a day. I'm constantly lifting my children, and getting up and down off the floor. Once a week I push a heavy cart of children and/or groceries around a store for an hour. But it's still not a condensed, get-your-heart rate-going kind of regimen.

The last time I went skiing with my family I made it about a run and a half, and then I was kaput. It was embarrassing, to say the least. So instead of poundage, I decided to make my goal to exercise three times a week for a half hour each time. And I thought it would be simple-I'd get up before the kids, exercise for half and hour to TaeBo or with Dance Dance Revolution, and then get all showered and breakfasted before my busybodies are up and at 'em.

This is where Murphy's Law comes in to play. Every time I try to get up before the kids, they end up waking up early. They're usually 8:30ish kind of kids. So when my alarm goes off at 7:15, inevitably at least one of my kids gets up about then, too. What's up with that? I've only half-succeeded just once: I started the TaeBo tape, and about 30 seconds later Jakob wandered out of his room. As I attempted to force my limbs into movements they haven't done in ages, Jakob took one questioned look at me, and said, "Uh, Mom? What are you doing?" I replied, "Working out. Do you want to join me?" He said, "No. It's stupid." Although later in the tape when they were doing side kicks Jakob said it was "cool". And this morning when my alarm went off, I hit it, and immediately Troy started scream-crying, so I pulled him into my bed to calm him down (mostly so he didn't wake up his sister), and he and I fell back asleep. (It actually kind of rocked, because all my children slept until 9:15. It was like a reverse Murphy's Law.)

I guess I could work out after the kids are in bed. If I make Pete go in the other room. I have a hard time exercising in front of people, because I'm so uncoordinated. I'm the person in the step aerobics class running into the others, and missing my step, and standing there for a while with a bewildered look on my face because I can't figure out the sequence of moves.

So until I get some kind of miracle wherein my children stay asleep until they're supposed to get up (Benadryl?), maybe I should count that extra hour I'm awake as a half hour of exercise, eh?

Bee All, End All

Well, we made it! The Busy Bees had their last game today. It was fun, but I'm glad it's over. The kids all did really well throughout the season. Next year, I'm totally finding someone else to coach, then Arin and I can just hang out and cheer from the sidelines. Arin did a phenomenal job, I must say!

Today I managed to remember my camera. I got a few shots of the kids running to first base.

Gavin:


Ila:


Jakob hitting:


Jakob:


Kaylan:


Dylan:


Who's on First:



I Don't Know is on 3rd:



Today is the Catcher (I may be the only 28-year-old that knows a bit of that comedy routine):


So fun, so HOT, and so over! Hallelujah!