Thoughts on the Gym

You know that person in your exercise class, the one who the instructor spends all their time "instructing"?  You know, she moves her microphone away from her mouth so no one else can hear (how considerate), while trying to get you to position your body just right, which really just makes you look like a bigger fool?  Well folks, today that was me.  I went to pilates this morning and I was officially the one who didn't know what she was doing.  I was officially the one in the class with the weakest core muscles.  I get to class at 5:30 am and see all the girls with their cute little work out tank tops, their cute little flat stomachs.  The only other people in the class besides me wearing a t-shirt were 2 men-and I'm pretty sure my t-shirt was baggier.  Is this really worth it?!  

Since school is starting this week, and Naomi is on a more normal sleep schedule I have recommitted myself to getting back into shape.  Which means that I have to get up at 5 am to go to the gym.  It really is the only time I can do it.  I have made my attempts since Naomi was born, but completely gave up during the move.  The thing is...IT IS SO HARD!!!  Exercise has never been hard for me.  But these last 3 years, basically since we moved to Tulsa, I have stru.ggled.  I did really good the last 6 months of my pregnancy with Naomi, but let's be honest, that didn't really involve pushing myself too hard.  Anyway, here is my dilemma.  Do I spend my hour in a class where I don't really sweat very much, but work really hard?  Do I drag my butt out of bed at 5 am for this?  This is why I have never done pilates before.  Workout to me means finishing with my face beet red and really sweaty armpits.  But pilates is really good for your core, and girlfriend needs some serious core strengthening.  It would only be one day a week.  I would love some input, or advice on how NOT to look like such an idiot at the gym...

Summer Fun

We took a trip to Silverwood Amusement Park a few weeks ago with my SIL Lori and her kids.  It was really fun, and really HOT!  Of course my camera died halfway through the day (am I really expected to remember to charge my battery ahead of time?!), and I didn't get lots of pictures that I wanted, but here are a few!

This was Naomi's view for most of the day.  She was a little angel the whole day, of course :)

We got the thumbs up from Grace :)

Maggie's hair looked really cute when we got there, but the sunscreen I put on her hair disintegrated the little hair ties, so she had crazy hair for the rest of the day!!

Maggie waved every time she passed us :)

Thumbs up again, from Mia and Grace

Elliot and Jack

Grace LOVED the bumper boats!

Maggie magically loses all her clothes every time she goes into the back yard,

it's a mystery...

Cute baby girl, 7 months old

Maggie is calling her "baby Omi" these days :)

I left Naomi on my bed one day and she just fell asleep, no fussing :)

little angel babe...

She is now rolling all over the place, so gone are the days of leaving her alone on my bed :(

Grace practicing her mad photog skills :)

Lost Teeth

Grace recently lost her first tooth.  She was so excited!  She was probably even more excited when she found her first loose tooth.  "I can't believe I'm 6 years old and have a loose tooth!!"  These milestones are coming fast and furious, I'm having a hard time keeping up...

July 7, 2009

1st lost tooth

August 19, 2009

2nd lost tooth

Grace tuckered out after a long day :)

Still sucking her thumb...*sigh*

Better Late Than Never, Right?!

Grace had crazy hair day/field day on the last day of school and it is one of only a couple times I was able to volunteer in her class last year. I realize that this is almost 2 1/2 months late, but I really wanted to post this for journaling purposes!!

Her hair was really crazy and really fun, she loved it!!

Field day was so fun, they had tons of activities planned for the kids.  I'm grateful that there are parents out there willing to spend so much time on stuff like this.  It was a great day!

Tug-of-war was a crowd fave!!

I can't believe how fast Grace's kindergarden year went by.  It makes me sad, time is flying by so fast, I feel like I missed so much.  I was feeling really sad that I hadn't made an effort to spend more time in her class volunteering.  It was just a really tough year for that, having a baby in the middle of the year and all.  But Grace had a great year, she had an amazing teacher and she can't wait to start 1st grade next week, YIKES!!  She really can't wait to eat lunch at school and play on the BIG KID playground, DOUBLE YIKES!!

Moving, Schmoving...

I'm finally getting around to posting some pics of our new house. We just got back from being in Pocatello for a week. We had so much fun and I have lots of pics to post from the trip. I'm feeling very unmotivated to get my house organized, I will need a couple of days to get over the post-vacation drag!!  So, I am wasting time on the computer, instead!!  Here are some before and afters...

How cute is Maggie?!  Ray and I ripped out all the carpet/pad ourselves.  All I have to say is, YUCK!! (most of it is still sitting out in our garage, **sigh**).  You can see in this pic how we sanded/painted the rail.

See all this wood trim...ALL of it, painted.  It was torture, seriously...

Here are some of the lovely, dusty, moldy, yucky curtains they left for us!!

How 'bout that orange carpet?!

Ray working hard!!

The backyard, love it!!

The (semi) finished product.  Yes, my child is standing inches from the TV, don't judge me...

So much better!!

We did all the painting ourselves!!

The girls room

Elliot's room, he is sharing with Naomi until Maggie stops taking naps (Maggie and Naomi sleep at the same time in the afternoon)

Elliot fell asleep on my back while we were looking at my sister Abby's blog.  This was after a long day of moving, poor little guy was tuckered out!

Now we just have to replace all the lighting, get/paint new doors, update the bathrooms/kitchen...the list never ends!  But we really do love our house and I am so glad that we are finally moved in (sort of :))

I swear I'm not being lazy...

So a few people in my family have been asking me to post pictures of our house, and I will as soon as I can find my USB cord....that is in a box...somewhere in the basement....probably with my overdue library books I can't find.  

Wow, this has been our hardest move by far.  That's all the complaining I will do, but dang, it has been tough!!  But I really love my new house, the painting looks great (so does the new carpet), so even though it was SOOOO much work, I am so glad we did it.  We just turned over the keys to our rental yesterday (and I got my whole, entire, refundable-part, of my deposit back, thankyouverymuch).  So now, the unpacking/organizing begins.  But there is no deadline to reach, which is a good thing and a bad thing.  Again, I'm pretty busy chasing my kids around (especially the drama QUEEN, Maggie), so it might take a while.  We went to Silverwood today (a big amusement park in N. Idaho) with my SIL Lori and her kids, who are all here from Cleveland.  If I was feeling sorry for myself being so busy, I got over it really quick when I heard about her flight to Spokane from Cleveland.  Total Nightmare is the best way to describe it.  Anyway, it was really fun, and HOT.  I am leaving to drive to Pocatello on Saturday for a week, school starts on the 27th, so who knows when it will get done!!

Anyway, I'm sure the USB cord will turn up, and as soon as it does I will get on those pictures!

CRA.ZY

I have been neglecting my blog for the last few weeks because it is total chaos at my house right now.  Here is a quick update:

*We closed on our house on Friday and since then Ray and I have been staying up very late, babysitter gets to our house at around 8pm, to paint, rip out carpet, try to do some updates before we move in at the end of the month.  Carpet will be installed next week, so we have to get the painting done.  The problem is the trim.  We are painting it, ALL of it.  It is taking WAYYY longer than I thought it would.  And I am very tired.  Kids still getting up at 6.  

*I am feeling generally overwhelmed by the whole situation and it is sort of causing me to shut down in every other area.  I feel like I was stretched pretty thin as it is, but this has just put me over the edge.  I HATE MOVING!!!  I will be so relieved when it is all over in 2 weeks.  And I know it will be worth it, the house will look so much better.  

*Swimming lessons, every day.  Need I say more?

*I have decided to take the hard line with my kids and eating.  My 3 oldest RARELY eat dinner.  They know that if they don't eat dinner they go to bed hungry.  I think they have just gotten used to eating 2 meals a day.  Soooo, I have started giving them their uneaten dinner for breakfast, and if they don't eat it for breakfast they get it at lunch.  It has worked like magic with Grace and Maggie, but Elliot went almost 2 days eating only milk, 2 gogurts, and a piece of celery with peanut butter.  I finally caved and got pizza for dinner on the second day (last night) because I knew that was a dinner he would eat. I know that if I don't stick to it it will just get worse, but it is hard.  He woke up crying because his stomach hurt, *sniff*, I wanted to cry, but I still fed him his dinner for breakfast.  My resolved definitely wavered.  Will I ever get him to eat?  We shall see...

I have some before pics of the house.  I will try to post them soon.  Now, I'm off to paint all night!

Update: It is 12:20 AM and I have decided that painting trim is worse than Chinese water torture!!