My Own Little Pigpen

Yes that is Davey rubbing dirt into his hair. All the coolest kids are wearing dirt this summer.

Check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Momspective, and Wordless Wednesday for more wordless photos. Be sure to head over to see what all the other cool kids are wearing at Heathen Family Revival.

Kite Flying and Word Fun

Caitlin's joy makes my heart happy.

Be sure to go Leigh vs Laundry to see more photos that are bound to make you happy.

We totally forgot about our date night this week till Monday at 8pm. The weekends are getting so busy that is it hard to remember. I looked through the Simply Modern Mom's date archives for ideas. So I was looking for something that required no planning. Luckily I found the First Word Game. The idea is to say a word and then your partner says the first word that comes into their mind. It was a fun activity. We learned a couple things about ourselves.
1. We watch too much tv.
2. We are perverts.
3. Seriously we watch too much tv. When the word was "modern", we both thought of Modern Family, one of our favorite tv shows.
4. I am a bigger pervert than Dave. Often thinking of a dirty word to go with the first word.

We definitely laughed playing this game. It was a great date to have when you totally forget to plan. We topped the night off with ice cream sundaes. I made mine low fat to not ruin my healthy eating.

This is date 18 out of 52 for us. Go to Simply Modern Mom to join in on the fun.

The Song About Two Suns

"I was looking at the sun. The sun has no light. There is another sun behind the first sun. People don't know about the other sun."

Dave: Caitlin, what are you singing about?

Caitlin: There are two suns. The first sun doesn't have any light. But the second sun lights up the first sun.

Dave: Ummm...How do you know there are two suns?

Caitlin: How do you know there are not two suns? Have you looked behind the sun?

Dave: Good point.

Scary how her 5 year old brain works.

i heart faces-pets

This week's theme at i heart faces is pets. This lovely dog is not my pet but I love the photo capturing him sleeping in the sun.

Be sure to go to i heart faces to check out all the other beautiful pets.

Trying to Focus on What I Can Do

I skipped writing last week's Fitness Friday. It wasn't because I was off track. I've been doing great with the workouts and ok with the diet. Here is a quick breakdown of the last two weeks:

2 nights of running class
3 days of elliptical machine (50-55 minutes each)
3 days of 30 day shred and 20 minutes of elliptical machine
2 days jogging(40-45 minutes each)

Despite tracking calories, I haven't lost any weight. In fact I've gained 1.5 lbs. I'm not sure what to do. I'm thinking of seeing a nutritionist to help with my diet. I will investigate that this week.

I alternate between being accepting the way I look and wanting to lose weight. I know I am overweight but I'm also fit. I can run a 9 minute mile (probably faster if I pushed a little harder.) I can run 5 miles. I can complete the 30 Day Shred without stopping. If you haven't done that workout, it really is an accomplishment. I lift weights. I am strong. My body birthed 2 gorgeous kids and provided for them with breastfeeding. I try to focus on the positive things my body can do. Still I can't help but think about looking better when I'm thinner, being faster, and healthier too.

With the Dinosaurs

We took the kids to a local museum to see the dinosaur skeletons. We took this shot the life sized dinosaur on the way in. We had a good time but decided to wait to take Davey back. He has a hard time not touching all the glass.
Join the year long challenge of getting yourself in the photo at Forever in Blue Jeans. You won't regret it. This is 20/52 for me.

Roar!

Check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Momspective, and Wordless Wednesday for more wordless photos.

Enjoying Summer

We have started to check off activities from our summer list. Here are some of the fun things we have checked off so far.

We took the kids to see Toy Story 3 this weekend. It was Davey's first time seeing a movie in the theater. They both loved it. I loved it too.

We went to a the Irish festival. We had fun watching the step dancers and sliding down the inflatables. Davey did his best Linus impression.

We have been to the beach.

Checking off activities on our list makes me happy. Be sure to go Leigh vs Laundry to see more photos that are bound to make you happy.

We had our relaxing outside date this week. Dave set up our Adirondack chairs and citronella candles. We brought the kids monitor with us after they were asleep. We enjoyed the cool night air and chatted about various things.

Our citronella candles didn't work too well so we retreated to the house to escape the bloodsuckers. Then we watched the first episode of True Blood. We got it from Netflicks. I enjoyed watching the show about those bloodsuckers much more than the mosquitoes. I can't wait till the next disc comes in the mail. This was a simple and fun summer date.

This is date 17 out of 52 for us. Go to Simply Modern Mom to join in on the fun.

Its Tricky!

So my son, Davey, has a new phrase. It is "Its tricky." If you ask him to do something that he deems too complicated his response is "Its tricky." Here are some examples of how he uses the phase:

Me: Davey you need to use the potty to poop.

Davey: Its tricky

Me: Davey, pick up your crayons please.

Davey: Its tricky.

When he uses the phrase, all I can think of is this Run DMC song.

Beautiful Beach Day

Anyone know what kind of bird this is?

Go to Skywatch Friday to see skies from all around the world.

Fun at the Beach

My daughter, Caitlin, graduated from preschool last Friday. We went to the beach after to celebrate. The weather started out cool and cloudy but the sun broke through before the day was over. It was truly a great day. We built sandcastles, rode bikes, and went for a walk. The kids behaved well to boot. I hope we have a lot more days like this.
Join the year long challenge of getting yourself in the photo at Forever in Blue Jeans. You won't regret it. This is 19/52 for me.

Tired Tinkerbell

The kids dressed up to watch Tinkerbell. Davey insisted on being Tink.

Unfortunately he didn't make it through the whole flick.

Check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Momspective, and Wordless Wednesday for more wordless photos. Be sure to head over to see what all the other cool kids are wearing at Heathen Family Revival.

Butterflies, Dinner, and a Movie

We went to a butterfly release this weekend. It was not sunny so the butterflies hung around longer, which was nice.

Be sure to go Leigh vs Laundry to see more photos that are bound to make you happy.

I realized that Dave and I had not been out of the house for a date since mid April. I asked my parents to babysit and expected to book them in a couple of weeks. I was pleasantly surprised that they could babysit this Saturday. They get extra points for babysitting while Davey is potty training.

We went out to eat at a steak restaurant that a friend recommended. We always seem to go to the same places. It is nice to branch out a little. The food was delicious. It is always nice to go out to a restaurant without having to chase children or referee. We were able to have nice conversations without being interrupted or having to censor topics. It was wonderful.

We also went to see the movie Get Him to the Greek. It was really funny. If you like Russell Brand's wacky sense of humor, you'll like this movie. If you offend easily, then you probably should skip this flick.

This is date 16 out of 52 for us. Go to Simply Modern Mom to join in on the fun.

i heart faces-babies

This week's theme at i heart faces is babies. It is so hard to pick just one photo. Here is one of my favorites of Davey.

Be sure to go to i heart faces to check out all the other beautiful faces.

Stuff is Actually Growing!

I am not known for my green thumb. But stuff is actually growing. Probably due to the fact Dave is primarily responsible for the garden.

Here is our small garden patch. And that is Maximus making his plan on how to steal the most tomatoes when they ripen.

Peas

We already have a couple little green tomatoes. I'm so excited.

If you want to see some amazing gardens, go to Feet Off the Table for Monday Garden Club.

Keeping Track

I've had a pretty active week so far. Here's what I did:

Saturday-off
Sunday-Worked gymnastics birthday parties for 9 hours. Lots of spotting, running, moving, cleaning, etc.
Monday-Level 3 of the 30 Day Shred and 25 minutes of doing the step. It has been a while since I shredded. I was a little sore the next day, but in a good way. Not the I'm-so-sore-I-can-barely-walk-way like when I first started the Shred.
Tuesday-jogged 42 minutes
Wednesday-Jogged 46 minutes
Thursday-Missed my workout in order to take the kids to a local museum with dinosaurs. It is free on Thursdays. Sometimes you have to miss workouts to do fun stuff with your kids.

Caitlin is graduating from preschool today. We are going out to celebrate after wards. I'm hoping to get a run in later but it is kind of iffy.

I actually tracked my calories this week. Can you believe it? Amazing I know. I'm using Sparkpeople.com. It is convenient way to look up calories in food and keep totals. And it is working too. I lost 2 lbs. this week. Now I just need to keep this up.

How was your fitness this week?

Blue Sky, Blue Steeple

Go to Skywatch Friday to see skies from all around the world.

Cartwheels, Cartwheels, and More Cartwheels!

This week it is all about cartwheels. My daughter asked me to show her how to do one. She snapped a photo of me too. Then Davey wanted to do one. And Caitlin couldn't be left out. So here are photos of us all doing cartwheels.

Join the year long challenge of getting yourself in the photo at Forever in Blue Jeans. You won't regret it. This is 18/52 for me.

Doing Something Right

Somethings I wonder if I'm doing a good job as a parent. After swimming in the kiddie pool and having Popsicles, Caitlin told me she had the "bestest day ever." I guess I'm doing something right.

Davey wore his shades like this for a good 10 minutes.

It was a good day!

Check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Momspective, and Wordless Wednesday for more wordless photos. Be sure to head over to see what all the other cool kids are wearing at Heathen Family Revival.

Date Night Questions and Tomato Happiness

We were suppose to go outside to enjoy the cool spring air but mother nature had other plans.We had tremendous thunder storms so we had to postpone that idea for date night. A good thing to have is a backup plan for outdoor activities.

We love the If (Questions for the Game of Life) book. We have read all the questions in the book already so I hopped on the computer and searched for similar conversation starting questions. I copied and pasted a bunch from different websites. Some questions were fun like, "If you had to be trapped in a TV show for a month, which show would you pick?" I picked Friends and David picked Seinfeld. Both are our favorite shows. We discovered we both would be willing to eat a bowl of live crickets for $40,000. We also hope we could drink some booze before hand to make it easier. I was surprised by Dave's answer on what he likes to see me dressed in. I was expecting lingerie but he said he loves my jean capri pants and a specific green T shirt that I own. Who knew he was playing such close attention to my clothes. The last question neither of us understood but got a good laugh out of it. Do you understand this question "Why is it that your greatest hobby is to fight with me and scold me?" That question was taken from an English as a second language website. Maybe the question didn't translate correctly.

This was a fun date that took very little time to plan. We had a lot of interesting and fun conversation. Hopefully we will get our outdoor date soon.

This is date 15 out of 52 for us. Go to Simply Modern Mom to join in on the fun.

I'm excited to see the first tomatoes of this season. I also love the smell of tomato plants.

Be sure to go Leigh vs Laundry to see more photos that are bound to make you happy.

i heart faces-play

This week's theme at i heart faces is play. My kids seems to be living in these capes lately. They have so much fun in them.

Be sure to go to i heart faces to check out all the other beautiful faces.

Summer Fun List

I guess the light blue marker wasn't a good choice since it doesn't scan well. If you click the image, you can read the light colors.

Anyway, we have made our summer fun list for this summer. I did it last year and Caitlin loved knowing their were fun things to do everyday. She also loved checking off items on the list. They are mostly simple pleasures of summer like running through sprinklers and getting ice cream from the truck. We are planning another trip to Sesame Place. We are also taking both kids to see Toy Story 3 in the theater. It will be Davey's first time going to the theater. He loved the first two movies so much I think he will actually sit still. *Fingers crossed* We are also going to try camping. I'm not crazy so we are trying it in the backyard. If the kids sleep through the night in the tent, we will attempt going somewhere. *Fingers crossed again*

So what are your summer plans?

You can also see 2011's summer fun list here and 2012's list too.

Slug Like Week

I'm not sure what happened at the end of the month. I kinda became a slug. I didn't really work out Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. I did lots of cleaning on Saturday and Sunday but not really a workout. And Monday well I really was slug like relaxing at the parade and picnic. Tuesday I did better by jogging 40 minutes. I was still red when I went to work from my jog. Everyone thought I had sunburn. Wednesday I celebrated National Running Day by going to my running class. We did our warm up and drills, then worked on pacing. We were suppose to do the first 7 minutes slowly, the next 7 moderately, and the last 7 fast. The only problem is I only have 2 speeds: really slow and slightly faster. So my last 14 minutes were really the same pace. I don't have enough endurance or speed yet but I'm working on it. Thursday I mowed the lawn for an hour. I would have rather jogged but the lawn needed mowing. Maybe I should pave over the yard. I plan on jogging with Davey in the stroller today. Hopefully this week I can be a little more balanced in my workouts by doing some weights and jogging.

Patriot Family Gear

I brought everyone red, white, and blue outfits to wear on Memorial Day to celebrate. I had a friend take a family photo for me. Thanks K! I've missed the last couple of weeks because I haven't had any photos of me. I have to remember to have Dave take some photos of me too.

Join the year long challenge of getting yourself in the photo at Forever in Blue Jeans. You won't regret it. This is 17/52 for me.

Happy 5th Birthday Caitlin!

Cait turns 5 years old this weekend.

It seems like yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital.

Now she is bursting with personality.

She is sometimes a superhero and

....always a dancer.

Caitlin loves to explore.

Sometimes she is really serious but

... almost always willing to pose for a photo.

Happy 5th birthday to my wonderful daughter.

Check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Momspective, and Wordless Wednesday for more wordless photos.