Children's Museum

Kim and I made it to the Children's Museum... which was an adventure and tons of fun for Zoe... and perhaps not so much for Jude. Before we left, Zoe and I stopped to feed the ducks. I tried adding a photobucket slide show in this post, but it's not working, of course... so I had to do it directly from photobucket... argg!

Anyway, highlights of the trip:

• The giant tunnel that Zoe crawled through, but not so much Jude
• The drums... where Jude's hand became something to also pound on
• Watching Zoe use some weird contraption with wheels
• Having nothing for Jude to do.... except the ONE crawling room where he sat in a corner:(
• Seeing Josh!... and Cheryl and Tom
• The noodles!!
• Painting the goopy house
• And getting Kim's money back... uhhh, yes we did take him out of the stroller

The First Week....

of summer was glorious! Perhaps due to the fact that I really had nowhere to go, no schedule to keep, and no alarm clock to hit at 5:45 in the morning. Showering was optional... just kidding... kind of. The pool washes off most of those germs, right?

A Recap of Saturday (I would do more than Saturday, but then I'd have to add more pictures and it will totally screw up the formatting... Darn You BLOGGER!!!):

Josh and Zach came over for a visit while Cheryl and Tom went to a wedding. Zoe and the boys play so well together, that it went great! We did some sand play, inside play, watched a little sponge bob, ate some lunch..... where the kids at some blueberries, apparently a coveted fruit. I gave all of them the same amount, Josh scarfed his down, and then inquired why Zoe had more than him. LOL...

After lunch I put Zach down for a nap... wasn't sure if this was going to work. I know that really likes to sleep in his stroller, but I wasn't sure how to go about walking him around in that when it was 100+ degrees outside. I laid him down, and he wasn't so happy about that at first... but then I laid next to his port a crib on my bed and he was out in 5 seconds.

While he slept, I took Josh and Zoe to the germ infested McDonald's and enjoyed an iced coffee while they played. Then they had ice cream and after a while, Josh told Zoe it was time to go... and she listened. Hmm... this is not usually the case when we tell her it's time to go. It goes more along the lines of counting, bribing and asking strange unknown children to drag her down. When we got home we found Zach sleeping on the couch. Jonathan said he woke up after we left and when he put him on the couch to watch a little TV, he fell asleep again.... this poor kid slept until 6pm! He would not wake up, no matter how hard we tried. Zoe and Josh swam when we got home, and Grandma Collard showed up to hang out... and hold Zach who kept on sleeping.

We opted for pizza for dinner, and I made the mistake of ordering whole wheat crust from Papa John's. Ick! Anyway, blah blah blah... we made it to bath time, where all three used the same water... I know, yeah mom! But they had fun!

The first day...

.... of Summer Break was such:

9:45 - Space Chimps Movie

11:30 - Lunch with Grandma

12:30 - Wal-Mart trip with a new book

1:30 - Rest time

4:00 - Swim

5:00 - Dinner, at which Zoe asks... "So, what are we going to do today?"

Gym Update

No, I did not join. I know, I know.... I had so many great reasons to.... my body is screaming for it, my friends go there, Zoe would love the pool, Hayden... not so sure, I could be one of the "cool kids"....

Yet, alas, I could not bring myself to do it and see me end up the same way as last year. I do not see myself using it during the school year because I love my time at home with my family.... I don't want to pay $85 for some mysterious administration fee plus monthly payments. So, I bought Wii Active. I thought why not buy it and give it a chance - it's less than the administration fee. It has a 30 day challenge, where unlike the Wii Fit, it picks different exercises for you for a 25 min. period, levels the intensity from easy to hard, updates you on calories burned, and you can or cannot use the board. I have found it super enjoyable... 2 for 2 so far.... Tomorrow is a rest day, so Thursday is waiting for me....

Gym?

Again... I'm contemplating joining Lifetime.... because it's summertime and my body still thinks it's winter... in Alaska....and can be covered up by bulky, ginormous clothing to cover up any such rolls or muffin tops, plus minimize any exposure of the skin to sun....because my mom, who is in her 50's, works out every day... sometimes twice, and has osteoporosis, along with the rest of the women on her side, and exercise/strength training helps it, and looks way better than me....because everybody's doing it...

I did this last year... with minimal success, and dropped out. What a loser.

I'll perhaps, maybe, possibly give it a try again this time...

Go Green!

A while ago a co-worker sent out this powerpoint slide show, which I'm sure many of you have seen: http://lee.ifas.ufl.edu/FYN/FYNPubs/TheDangersofPlasticBags.pdf

For some reason, it really hit home and I was determined to do my part and use the reusable bags. For the last few months I have been faithful in using them! I go to my favorite Wal-Mart ... my rule is go early Saturday morning, hat on, unbrushed teeth. Otherwise I would totally stand out. The bags are now only $.50. What a deal.

I also am completely freaked out by landfills... not sure why.... but it makes me wonder will we ever run of room? And was Wall-E really that far off? Luckily, Goodyear has recycling so we throw away a lot less... I just need to get Jonathan on the bandwagon. Apparently 5 feet more to walk is reeeaaalllly far away.

My new goal is to bring recycling to my classroom. Another teacher there carts a large tub back an forth to school once a week to empty out her own classroom's recyclables. I'm going to recruit a parent next year to help our classroom Go Green!

Are you doing your part?

Mom

A special thanks to my mom, who has shown me what it is to be selfless and amazing. I find that the longer I am a mom, the more I do more things like her. I'm turning into my mom... which is a good thing. :) You are my hero, Mom.

And I am definitely blessed to have my two angels. What a great Mother's Day.

The countdown continues

The countdown begins... to summer, to stay at home momhood, to vacation and swimming and fun with the kids. There are 9.5 days left of school.

I relish the summers when I can pretend staying home with the the kids (mostly Zoe since Hayden's with his mom every other week) is my full time job. And just when I start to believe it, the summer comes to an abrupt halt and I stand around wondering where the time went... and why didn't I get that room painted, and how come my skin is still painfully white, and why didn't we go to more places, see more things, do more activities, and why in the world did I not excercise enough.... and why does school have to start now!!???

I can't wait.... to.... wake up to sunlight and not my alarm clock, to make coffee in the mornings and actually drink it while it's still hot (and not have to heat it up in the micro at school, but only somtimes because we have a mini micro which not all my mugs fit into... ugg!), stay at home and do nothing, or travel and run "errands" during the week, visit free places with my culture pass, swim and hopefully teach Zoe to swim, hang with friends, try not to spend money, see Texas?, visit my wii fit trainer - who will undoubtedly scold me -, and to of course spend time with my family.

What will you do this summer?

Laughter

We drove home today with all windows down, Mexcian music blaring from the truck, and huge smiles across our face....while in the back the kids squirmed around like crazy from laughter and dancing. We had looks from people, wondering what I wonder when I hear loud music... "Do you really need to share it?" We did... yes. It was hilarious.