Fall: The Season of Volunteer Activities

Whew! What a busy week it has been! And it is only Wednesday. But all of my volunteer duties for the week are fulfilled, and thankfully, the rest of the week is clear. Time to catch up on the (mountain of) laundry.

Today, Will went to school. Can you guess what activity he thoroughly enjoyed?!?!?
Painting! And the proof is all over the shirt. The teacher apologized for the mess, but said that Will absolutely loves to paint; in fact, he spent about 15 minutes at the painting easel. But, really, it is no wonder because we don't paint at home. Ugh...I just can't deal with the mess. Painting and play-doh (aka gifts from the devil), that is why I send him to preschool! So please, let him paint until his heart is content at school.

A story to illustrate how siblings can just make stuff up to argue about. This afternoon we are driving to swim practice. The boys are in the back eating imaginary cupcakes. Gobble, gobble, gobble, yum, yum, yum. When all of a sudden an argument breaks out because Will is eating one of Jack's pretend cupcakes! Seriously?!?! Here's a thought: why don't you just bake more imaginary cupcakes?!?!

Well, I have been up since 5:30 AM and I am pooped. Off to bed...

JPEG of the Week

Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer
Give 'em Hell Alabama!

We Are Building an Ark

You would not believe the amount of rain we are getting. I believe this is our 8th straight day of rain. It is raining so hard that it sounds like the rain is roaring! Last night alone, we got 1 foot of total rainfall. Schools were closed today in 5 surrounding counties. It took Jack's carpool an hour and twenty minutes to get home from school; my neighbor had to go four different ways before she could get them home (2 routes had cars floating in the road and one was blocked by a fallen tree). One of my friends called to say that her basement is flooding. The water is waist high in the problem area of her backyard and the water is ankle deep in her basement. She was calling to recruit neighborhood men to come dig and try to re-route the water away from her door...because, of course, her husband is out of town this week! So far, our yard seems to be holding up. Over the years, Brent has worked to make sure that the backyard drains well. The french drains are overloaded, but the water does seem to be draining to the back of our yard...I haven't noticed any standing water yet (as best I can see from inside the house). Flash floods, trees down, closed interstates.....ugh, it is just a mess!

We spent the weekend inside and I think it just about killed Brent to not be able to cut the grass. On Saturday, we did venture out to a birthday party in between showers and it was a water slide party! Ha! The boys had a great time and it provided a nice distraction from dismantling the playroom.

Saturday night, the girls and I went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was delicious! I had the garlic noodles with shrimp and we all shared a slice of Red Velvet Cheesecake. Divine! The only problem was that I reeked of garlic the next day, but it was worth it.

This weekend was dedicated to doing what this family does best: laying around, watching football (Roll Tide!), eating nachos, and hanging out. I have got to get a video camera, because Will loves to lead us in Miami football cheers. It is hilarious to watch him cheer his version! And thanks go to Black Eyed Peas for providing rainy day entertainment; I Gotta Feeling is our family's new favorite song and these 2 boys can sing and dance like nobody's business!

JPEG(s) of the Week

There is a heron that is a frequent visitor of our neighborhood lake. A couple of weeks ago, we looked out our window and found the heron surveying our street from the chimney of our neighbor's house across the street!

Another Recipe

I am always looking for new ways to 'dress up' the vegetable side dishes for the family; just a little something different from the tired ol' usual vegetable. This green bean recipe was one I found on a Publix Apron's Simple Meal card. It meets all of my requirements for a recipe: simple ingredients, quick & easy, and tasty.

Sesame Green Beans
serves 4

• 12 oz fresh green beans (rinsed)
• 1 cup pre-sliced baby portabella mushrooms (rinsed)
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• 1/2 tsp seasoned salt

Place green beans and mushrooms in microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave on HIGH 8-10 minutes or until beans reach desired tenderness (it took my microwave 15 min). Stir in remaining ingredients; cover and set aside for 2 minutes. Serve.

I served the green beans with sweet and sour chicken and we all enjoyed them (well, everyone but Will who refused to try them, but that is just par for the course with him).

A Good Day

Today has been a fun day. Thursdays are wonderful in general because it is the day that the maids come! I love coming home to a clean (and clean smelling) house! While the ladies were here cleaning, Will and I went to the gym and the grocery store. Will has a Spiderman lunch bag and he absolutely loves it. Some days he insists that I "pack" his lunch in the Spiderman bag before he will eat. This morning he had to take his snack to the gym in the lunch bag. It is so cute to see him tote that thing in like a big boy =).

Will is at such a cute stage now. Recently, he has started asking questions followed by "yes or no?" Such as "Mama, are we going to the grocery store? Yes or No?" He'll wait for me to answer "Yes" and then he'll say, "Okay, Mama!" Even if I answer no to his question, he'll just as enthusiastically answer, "Okay, Mama!"

Jack continues to love kindergarten; he loves everything about it. Brent asked Jack the other day if he had a girlfriend. Jack replied, "I have three...and they are all a handful!" Oh, just you wait, baby!

The boys played well together this afternoon. Jack learned about Jonah and the Whale at school today, so he came home and got out his preschool picture Bible to teach Will about Jonah. Fortunately, Will was a cooperative student. Yesterday, Will was learning Spanish!

I was putting Jack and Will to bed tonight and they were both laying in Jack's bed hugging and loving on each other. Jack looked up at me and said, "Mom, don't you want to take our picture!" Seems they have gotten used to the one woman paparazzi documenting their every move!

New pictures will be coming soon!

The Biggest Loser

I am so excited about the new season of Biggest Loser starting tonight. Season 8 is about second chances, and Dan from the Orange Team on Season 7 will be back to finish his journey. Last season, Dan was the heaviest contestant in Biggest Loser history weighing 454 pounds at the age of 19. His team was voted off, but Dan continued to work hard and has 142 lost pounds. I really liked Dan last season so I look forward to cheering him on again.

The Biggest Loser is so much more than a weight loss show. It is really about discovering what is holding you back from where you want to be in your life, pushing yourself to make changes, and ultimately challenging yourself to go beyond what you once thought was possible. It is about becoming a stronger person physically, mentally, and emotionally.

This is the way I like to play along with the Biggest Loser:

1) establish some goals for myself to work on along with the contestants.
This season (from Sept to Dec) my goals are

• drink 67 oz of water (four 16.9oz water bottles) a day. I have slacked off on my water consumption this summer, and need to correct this.
• continue with the healthy eating habits, but pay closer attention to portion sizes.
  
• work hard at cardio 4 days/week. I need to challenge myself in this area. I don't like for cardio to be hard (and really, who does?), so when I get comfortable in a cardio routine I don't push myself because I am comfortable. My goal is to work hard enough so that while I am doing the exercise, I don't like it, but after I am done, I am proud of myself for pushing through it. Does that make sense?
• continue to work at the current intensity level in my Power class. Although at the end of October, I need to increase my weight amount for triceps, biceps, and shoulders.
• run a 5K in December
  
• to lose 6 pounds which breaks down to 2 lbs/month. Should be doable.

2) watch the show each week. During the commercial breaks, I do little mini-workouts such as crunches, push-ups, tricep dips, squats, etc. I like to think that I am doing my own "last chance workout". ha ha

3) Wednesday morning I have my own weigh in, just to see how I have done that week.


I heart Biggest Loser! If you haven't watched Biggest Loser, you are missing out. If you want to play along with me, then set some 3 month goals for yourself. I would encourage you to set "baby step" goals. It could be increasing your water consumption, cutting out cokes from your diet, getting up before work to do a workout DVD, or walking 10 more minutes than you have been doing. Set yourself up to have some certain successes because you will be encouraged and will be motivated to continue. And then you should have one challenging goal to work hard for. Remember nothing changes if nothing changes.

If you don't want to "play" the Biggest Loser, that's okay, too. Just watch and pick out who your favorite contestants are and who you just don't like, then come back tomorrow and let's talk about it in the comments section. It'll be fun!!

What have you done today to make yourself proud?

JPEG of the Week

Butterfly Bush

More of Brent's handiwork...this is one of my favorite flowers! I love the delicate, butterfly-like blooms.

First Day of Preschool

On Wednesday, Will officially started preschool (last year he was in the MMO program). Will LOVES school! We like to cheer "School Day!" as we are getting dressed to go. All the way to school, he was talking about what he was going to cook in the classroom kitchen. His other favorite part about school is the playground.

When we got to his classroom, his two sweet teachers were waiting at the door to enthusiastically greet him by name. The first thing he does upon arrival is check-in. At a table is a mailbox and all around the mailbox are envelopes with the children's picture and name on them. Will has to find his envelope and put it in the mailbox (working on name recognition). Then he goes to the sink to wash his hands. After washing his hands, Will headed straight to the kitchen! No time for a goodbye for Mommy...too much fun stuff to do!

When I picked him up, he came running to me with a big smile and a big hug! He said he had a great time. So then I started asking him about his day. Did your teacher read you a story? No. Did you do art? No. (Despite remnants of red paint on his hands) Did you eat snack? No. Did you go out on the playground? No. Did you get to swing? YES! (Interesting, considering that he didn't go to the playground) Clearly, he is not going to be sharing many details about his day. His teacher did leave a note in his book bag that said "Will had a great day and loved painting at the easel."

Tonight, I told him that tomorrow is School Day and Will said that he is going to cook dinner in the kitchen. Looks like he has adjusted to his new class just fine. And that makes me a happy mama!

Wild Animal Safari

On Tuesday, Mom and I took the boys (Jack, Will, C and B) on a surprise adventure to the Wild Animal Safari. It was a fun, interactive, up close and personal encounter with wild animals.

There are two parts to the safari: 1) the driving tour where you have the opportunity to feed the wild (read: domesticated) animals and 2) the walking tour where you see the wild (read: bite your head off) animals in a zoo type setting.

We started the morning off with feeding the animals. Our best decision of the day (besides buying each child their own bag of animal food) was to rent the Safari's zebra van.
Aren't our little homies cute? The zebra van is in serious need of a visit from Xzibit of Pimp My Ride; the burglar bars on the back windows are extremely important and I would also suggest that zebra van #11 could use an operational driver side window. Why?

Because the animals are not shy!

I wasn't expecting this level of friendliness, and here I am trying to drive away while simultaneously crawling into the passenger side seat (which, by the way, did have a functioning window that was closed!)

See what I mean? I was slobbered on, but managed to escape being kissed!


They have the whole "feed the animals" gig down pat and are wondering when the humans will get with the program and give us our food.


Now that is a tongue! Just after I took this pic, Jack put a feed pellet (I just made that up...I have no idea what you call their food) in the bull's mouth. I just couldn't get past the tongue!

In case you are wondering, the children weren't traumatized in the least. They loved the animals!
They were talking to them, giving the animals names, apologizing to the animals when we ran out of food, etc. Just having a grand time!

My new BFF. Ya see him givin' me the eye?!?!

After we finished feeding the wild animals, we had to make a quick stop at the snack bar to feed our own herd before heading on the walking tour. I won't bore you with pics of all the animals that we saw, except one....

LIGERS!!

That's for all of you Napoleon Dynamite fans =). Gawwwwww.....

Ok, just 2 more animals.

We had a great time; in fact, Jack wants to go back again this weekend!

Hello, My Name Is...

I feel like I need to introduce myself, since I have been MIA for so long. Thanks to those of you who haven't forgotten about us and faithfully check in. My only excuse is this kindergarten thing has rocked my world! I hate to harp on it, but I am up earlier than really should be allowed. So by the end of the day (when I have time to blog), I am just beat! But the good news is that it is amazing how much I can get done before 9 am these days. Back in the pre-kindergarten days, 9 am was just-getting-started time. Now, by 9 am I have driven carpool, unloaded the dishwasher, done a load of laundry and am headed back out the door to the gym or grocery store. The whole new schedule, new school thing has taken me awhile to get used to, but now I feel like I am getting comfortable with the new routine.

Just in time for preschool to start tomorrow =). And the good news on the preschool front is that Will got upgraded from the TTh 2s to the MWF 2s! Who out there is doing the happy dance with me?!?!? Will is just as excited; in fact, he would go 5 days a week if they let him. So how will I be spending my first free morning in more than 12 weeks? (Which is really only a guess on my part...I haven't kept track of exactly how long it has been...well, not precisely.) I will be volunteering at Jack's school! Right after I hit the Starbuck's drive thru. Because, have I mentioned? Pumpkin Spice is back! Pumpkin Spice latte, fraps and the best....the pumpkin cream cheese muffins!! Oh I am a happy girl =).

We had a fun Labor Day weekend. Brent was at the lake for a guys weekend and the boys and I enjoyed a visit from my parents. We were beyond excited about the start of college football this weekend. The years of Brent's football brainwashing have paid great dividends this season; not only can Jack tell you his favorite teams (favorite-Miami Hurricanes, second favorite-Alabama Crimson Tide), he can also tell you the teams that he hates (Florida and Florida State). Yesterday, we went to the neighborhood pool party and I took a black eyed pea salsa that was really good. I'll share the recipe later this week when I have the energy to get up off the bed and walk to the kitchen to get it. Why yes, I am just that pathetic!

Today, the boys and I met Mom and cousins C & B for a wild animal safari adventure! We all had a great time. I'll download the pics and share all about the adventure tomorrow. So please check back soon!

And because what is a post without a picture.....

Jack enjoying eating dinner with his chopsticks

And not to be out done.....

Will wanted to show off his spoon skillz.
You just can't deny talent, people!