WINTER WORKOUT

I am probably in some of the worst shape of my life- just NOT FIT period. I got the bug to start working out again late last October, but started having a lot of hip and pelvic pain (I've self diagnosed this as having something "out of whack") so I saw a chiropractor a couple times and I've been laying off "hard workouts" for a while. The harsh winter hasn't helped me do low impact work-outs like just walking though either. One day in late January I took Wright out walking in the snow in the backpack carrier just for 20 minutes or so. He still wasn't feeling the best and wasn't easy to please in the house. He really enjoys being outside in the backpack so this kept him happy until he got too cold. AND with him on my back and me tromping through the deep snow I got some very enjoyable exercise-crisp fresh air, beautiful evening sky, and Wright babbling in my ear. That's a workout to look forward to in any season!

ART

I LOVE KIDS' DRAWINGS!!!!!!!!!! Journey has been expanding her abilities lately beyond plain "people". Here she was drawing on a card for a friend and started with Winnie the Pooh . She then decided to add Rabbit, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, a honey pot, the sun, and a smiling face!
If you look closely, I was impressed with some of the details. Pooh is on the far left and she put a red shirt on him. Rabbit is to his right, then Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore. All the characters are the same color as you see on the show and Tigger even has stripes and Eeyore even has a bow in his tail!!! I'm pretty sure she has already passed up my drawing abilities. Way to go Journey!

Happy Valentine's Day

We made homemade valentines for Journey's preschool classmates, teachers, and her grandparents. Boys got fish and girls got flowers all including a sucker as part of the valentine. You can only glimpse the flowers in this picture, but I was very happy with how they all turned out. Journey did a great job writing her friends' names and her own name on ALL of the valentines! Journey is a good little writer and seems to want to do more of it each day! As you can see behind Journey, we've been having a very "WINTERY" winter! Right after I took this picture and we walked to the car to go to preschool, Journey slipped on the ice, fell on her butt with valentines flying everywhere!! She took it in stride and giggled when I said we needed to tie a pillow on her bottom to protect it!! Valentine's Day was a bit swallowed by our birthday celebrations, but I don't care. I love my sweet kids and wonderful husband!!!!!!!!!!!

"BIRTHDAY-PALOOZA" Part 1

Wright is ONE! Wow. Wright and Jeff share the same birthday, February 13, and they were both born on Fridays-creepy. Delivering Wright last year on Jeff's birthday was pretty cool and seemed like a nice way to celebrate the day. This year Jeff was a little more protective of HIS birthday making sure he had a cake that HE LIKED too and reminding me a couple times that it was "his birthday too" all in good fun. As a twin, who has shared my birthday every year, I had little sympathy for any problems with sharing his birthday:) Wright was a little under the weather around his birthday, but there were high points. He definitely liked the balloons!! He had LOTS of family over to celebrate and with about 10 inches of snow on the ground some of our guests got some fun sledding in even with temps in the low 20s. We ate some yummy soups and salad and had even YUMMIER cake! Wright, like Journey at this age, does a very good puppy dog impression and uses it often (even for other animals) so when I saw a puppy dog cake, it seemed to fit.

"BIRTHDAY-PALOOZA" Part 2

Wright really could not have cared less about opening presents. . .but he sat (with sucker in hand) and let Journey and me open them for him. There was a bit of fussing and crying at times during our chaotic birthday fun, but all in all I'd say we had a crazy, but enjoyable time! Wright didn't dig into his cake right away. Later in the evening he discovered the cake and icing via a spatula and then there was no stopping him! When he finally gave the spatula up, Jeff took his whole chair to the bathroom for clean up!! A bath will almost ALWAYS perk Wright up! A nice way to end a fun day.

He's Baa-aack!

I'm very HAPPY to say Wright returned to "normal" very quickly after my last blog! YEAH!! He is now sporting 10 teeth (6 of which he has gotten in the last 5 weeks or so!) Now. . .maybe it's time for a haircut!!

If Baby Ain't Happy--- Ain't Nobody Happy!

I have other posts to put on like Valentine's and Wright's first birthday, but I'll post this one first so you'll understand the delay. . .We've been missing Wright the last couple weeks. Wright, our happy, energetic, rowdy, smiling, wonderful little explorer. Wright was replaced with a different baby a couple weeks ago when he first got a lengthy cold, followed by a little stomach bug, followed by some major teething. This replacement baby is NOT Wright. This replacement baby has me singing a very Shel Silverstein-esque tune of:

"Baby For Sale, Baby For Sale!"
"One fussy, whiny, hard-to-please Baby for sale!"
"One snotty, drooly, chokes and pukes on his own mucas Baby for sale!"
"One up-four-times-a-night, hip-riding, leg pulling, needs constant attention BABY FOR SALE!"

No, he's not really for sale-but does anyone want to BABYSIT???? Wright-please come back, we miss you!

Playing with Cousins

Being from a large family, I have lots of nieces and nephews. Journey is my mom and dad's 17th grandchild and Wright is their 19th. We are in a rare situation in that everyone lives within an hour of each other so the kids all get to play with each other often. Every Sunday evening it is a standing date for everyone to go to my mom and dad's for supper unless it is a birthday weekend then we all go to the birthday kid's house for supper. Two of the cousins Journey and Wright see a lot are in these pictures. Bradley and Breanne are my oldest sister, Gina's kids. Bradley is 11 and Breanne is 6. Pretty much since we moved back to Missouri we have gotten together with Gina's family once a week to play, eat, and watch TV (American Idol and WipeOut). In these pics the kids are playing at our house. Wright actually will take chalk and write lines on the chalkboard, but that is pretty short lived and he then eats the chalk and pukes. :) Bradley is trying to fence Wright in with couch cushions in their picture, but found out fencing Wright in is just about IMPOSSIBLE-but he had fun trying and Wright certainly had fun getting out! Our decision to move from Jonesboro back to Moberly was hard, but I am so glad to be close to family while our kids are young!

Everyday Play

Seems like the days fly by. We are doing well and have so much to be thankful for. The kids are healthy and a lot of fun. Jeff is home more right now with the winter weather keeping him from being able to do as much outside (so he's begun our breakfast nook-YEAH!!) I really am a very lucky person and I try to remember all my wonderful blessings every day!!! Here are a few pictures from our everyday play. Journey and Wright play well together with Wright wanting to do EVERYTHING that Journey is doing. The picture of the two of them in Wright's crib is a daily occurrence. When Wright wakes up in the morning or from a nap-Journey is usually the first one in his room to greet him!! In that picture you see him practicing his newly acquired "skill" of playing peek-a-boo! He just started a couple days ago and is hilarious. He has all the energy and idea down, but lacks the ability to actually cover his eyes yet. He usually puts one or both hands on top or back of his head and throws them off with a whoop. We of course act very excited and surprised. He sometimes will get one hand over an eye-but it's an accident when it happens!!

Girls' Night

The Monday night after Christmas was a girls' night at our house. I started "Girls' Night" quite a few years ago with my 3 oldest nieces with the idea that the other nieces would join when they were school age. We have always had it over the Christmas holiday and only missed a couple times. The time we spend together has taken many different forms. We have been bowling, on a scavenger hunt, and volunteered to distribute food for a local charity. We did not have our Girls' Night last year due to my mom's health issues, but the 3 oldest approached me at Christmas with the idea of having a sleepover with all the nieces at my house. I said SURE! Journey is one of 8 girl cousins on my side of the family. Kelsie is 14 and her sister, Haylie, is 11. Paige just turned 12 and her sister, Lilly, is 5. Victoria is 6 and her sister, Kylleen, is 3. Breanne is 6. When I was pregnant with Wright and we didn't know if our baby would be a boy or girl, my mom said she hoped for a girl so Journey would have a sister. Journey was constantly playing with these girls then and I would often here them playing "sister". I told Mom I thought Journey already had some pretty good "sisters"!

I think everyone had a nice time playing and visiting with each other. The night and next morning included: paints and crafts, Bendaroos, musical pillows, dress-up, puzzles, pizza, brownies, Taylor Swift music, Camp Rock and a Bratz video, Monkey Bread for breakfast, finger and toe nail painting, and a puppy scavenger hunt! Of course NO ONE got "enough" sleep, but that's part of it-right!

Oh yeah and don't worry about Wright. He was right in the middle of everything with lots of very happy babysitters to dote on him. He was hilarious after his bath. I took him, wrapped in his towel, out to the living room where all the girls were. They immediately surrounded him, giggling about his wet hair laying down instead of sticking up. He liked their attention GREATLY and thought he was pretty big stuff. He began to show off by forcing some loud laughs back at them, which then brought on a gigantic episode of laughing and giggling from everyone-even ME! I'm guessing Wright may want to be around for one more girls' night, maybe 2 and then he'll want to be outta here!!!