The Shred

Today I started "The Shred"--Jillian Michaels workout video. Yes, Jillian Michaels of Biggest Loser fame. It is an intense 20 minute workout consisting of alternating intervals of cardio, abs and strength exercises. And boy, was I shaky afterwards. And now, 15 hours after completing the workout, I am SORE! I also bought Bob's Yoga video, which I am going to try tomorrow.

But I am determined to do it for (at least!) 30 days. I am working out for the first time since, well, before I got pregnant. And since I quit breastfeeding 5 months ago, my weight has crawled back up to, well, let's just say it's a little higher than I would like it to be). My favorite jeans are just too stinkin' tight and I've decided I can't use the excuse that "I had twins" for my poochy belly forever. So, we'll see if "The Shred" helps. I would love to tone up and see my flat belly again (Don't really know if that is possible but, hey! I am going to try!!)

Stayed tuned for descriptions of my agony, I mean, of my success! :/

What happened to "3"?

Counting to three is a common occurrence in our house. Sometimes we count to warn the boys that they need to obey NOW, and sometime we count before we play "tickle the belly!" or "throw the baby in the air!" Before we get to "three" the boys are usually squealing "YEA!" in anticipation.

So now, the boys have learned to count. When we say one, Micah especially, will pipe up, "two?" It is super cute. Unfortunately, when you are laughing at the cuteness, it is hard to keep up the counting in a discipline situation. :)

We are trying to get the boys to say "three." Here is how our conversation went:

Mom and Dad: One!

Micah and Benji: Two!

Mom and Dad: What comes after two?

Micah and Benji: YEA!! 

Benjamin-isms

Benji is the sweetest little boy. Here are some adorable things he does that I don't want to forget:

Whenever Benji looks in a mirror, I ask him "Who is that?"

His response? "Brother!" 

So precious! 

He has recently fallen in love with a small elephant figurine. It really isn't a toy--it was brought back from Thailand by our friend Anna. But he loves it and calls it "Eddie!" Eddie has his own plate at dinner. Eddie gets to swim in syrup at breakfast. Eddie goes "ni-night!" Eddie rides with Benji in the car. Eddie is loved. 

Benji LOVES to wrestle! He is a beast! I call him my "little scrappy ram!" He loves to head-butt things, and people. When he is in a wresting mood, nothing phases him, or hurts him. He often tries to wrestle with Micah but Micah gets "hurt" easily (read: annoyed). We have to call Benji off his brother frequently. But other things are fun to wrestle with--Daddy, Goldie, Mommy, the stuffed Elmo chair. Seriously, this kid has some rockin' moves! 

My new 'do!

I finally got my hair cut! I have been growing it out for over a year (last haircut was July 2008!) I have always wanted to donate my hair so last year, I decided to go for it! I chose "Pantene's Beautiful Lengths" to donate my hair. It is like "Locks of Love." Enjoy the pics! I LOVE my new haircut and I think it will be really easy to maintain!

Before- SO LONG

10 inches!!!

I got BANGS!!! (that is for you Kalina!)

I love it!

Passport Adventure- Day 2

Whew....yesterday was LOOOONNNNGGGG. It just seemed to stretch out forever.

We all took our time getting up yesterday morning. The hotel had a nice breakfast and I think the Jr. High boys took advantage of it at least 3 times (their first breakfast was at 6am!). None of us figured out how to work the curtains in our room to block the sun, so Ra was blazing in before 6am. Needless to say, we were all early risers. 

We hung out at the hotel until 11am, then checked out, loaded up and headed over to "The Mall" (that is what they call their mall in Frackville). And we hung out at the Mall for their entire business day. Yes, operating hours for Sunday were 11am-5pm. We are real winners. RABC Mall rats! 

We all got lunch and then hit the movie theatre! It was very nice! Half went to see Harry Potter 6 (including me!) and half went to G-Force (FBI guinea pig movie). When we got out of the movie at 3pm, we had high hopes that the van would be fixed (that was the forecast yesterday) and we would be on the road to camp. Sadly, no dice. The guy had gotten the wrong part and had to drive 45 min one way to try and get the right part, drive back, and then start at 3 hour install. This news was a definite LOW point of the day. 

So the cards came out and we played Nertz for the next 2 hours in The Mall until it closed at 5pm. Then the real adventure began--Limbo.

We had checked out of the hotel, The Mall was closed, the van may or may not get done tonight for us to drive up to MA so....we literally had no place to go. All were hungry so we began the search for an open semi-healthy restaurant. We were all sick of fast food (and The Mall). 

So we drove to the friendly neighboring town of Pottsville, founded by Mr. Potts in 1809. He even had a white marble statue up on the mountain (either that or it was Mr Frack...). Well, Pottsville turned out to be not so friendly. Not only did they boast of their own castle prison right smack in the middle of town, but the food joints all decided to close at 2pm on Sunday. 

Thankfully, a Pizza Hut was open!!!! Overjoyed, all 18 poured out of the 12 passenger van (insert circus music here) and stimulated the economy of Pottsville PA with our pizza purchasing. Since we had nowhere to go, we stayed a Pizza Hut for a good while. Our good waitress even provided coloring materials which most took full advantage of. 

The dreaded call came: the van would not be ready tonight. Back to good ol' Frackville. (I think when we get back to the Burg, we are going to make t-shirts that state "I survived the Frackville experience" or something of that sort. The kids have a new found appreciation for "all" there is to do in Lynchburg). We checked in to the Holiday Inn again and settled in for the night. Some of the kids were pretty sad to be stuck here again. There were some tears. 

But, the night was redeemed when at 9:30, the mechanic called and said the van was done and would be ready to be picked up at 8:30! SO......we are on our way this morning! Send up a prayer! We are headed to Passport this morning. Hopefully, we will get there before dinner tonight. It is about a 7 hour drive. 

Goodbye Frackville. Goodbye Pottsville. It's been real....um...real long and boring. But.....memorable. :) 

To be continued...

Passport Adventure- Day 1

Aaron and I left bright and early to take the youth group to Passport Camp in MA today. We have 14 kids going and 4 chaperones. I have been really excited about going, but nervous to leave the boys. My MIL is staying with the boys for the week. We said good bye to the boys last night and left before they got up. I was ok until we got into the car. Then I started tearing up. And I fought back tears 4 or 5 times until we actually left. This is the longest I have ever been away from my babies! I talked to them twice today though and Rhonda assured me that they have all had a very fun day. Lots of laughing and no tears!

We had a great trip until around 3:45pm. We are driving two vans, Aaron and I with the high schoolers in one 12 passenger van and the middle schoolers and the other two chaperones in the other 15 passenger van, which was pulling a trailer. We were following the van with the trailer. All of a sudden they pulled off to the side of the freeway. We followed suit. It turns out that a belt had come loose from the engine and tons of fluid gushed out of the van. Needless to say, we were stuck. On the side of the road. In the middle of nowhere in PA. For two hours. 

But the kids did great! All of them had great attitudes. Some of them decided to use the bathroom up the hill and in the brush. They found a patch of wild blueberries and picked a huge cup full. Others played cards and just hung out. Aaron called 411 for road side assistance. We couldn't get a rental van. So, we had the van towed, the trailer with the luggage picked up by an SUV from the towing company (five kids also piled into the SUV). The rest of the kids piled into the other van. And I and Hannah Owen (an 8th grade girl) got to ride in the back of the state troopers car (He showed up after about and hour an a half and "guarded" us against oncoming traffic). Everyone was so nice. And the repair guy (who came out earlier to look at the van) agreed to work on the van tomorrow (Sunday!) so we can get to camp. 

The next adventure was to find a hotel. Like I said, we were in the middle of nowhere--actually we are in Fracksville PA. Yes, Fracksville. The state trooper drove us a Holiday Inn and our trailer was dropped off there too. We were supposed to spend the night in CT (where we had reservations at $74 per night). Well, we did not get such a good deal in Fracksville but we got the price cut down from $174 per room to $126. 

After getting all the kids settled in their rooms, we decided to head up the hill and around the corner to the mall (yes, they have a "mall" in Fracksville) to eat at the food court. All 18 of us pilled into the 12 passenger van as rain came pouring down. The pouring turned into a sideways downpour with hail!!! It was crazy! There were rivers flowing across the road! We drove right up to the mall entrance, onto the sidewalk and ran screaming into the mall. 

All four of us chaperones had a nice dinner at a Chinese buffet while the kids walked around and did a little shopping. The plan tomorrow is to just hang out in the morning while the van is getting fixed and maybe see a movie at the mall to pass some time (Harry Potter 6 is playing!). Prayers for getting on the road again by 3pm! Only 6 more hours to get to camp!

Right now I am relaxing in the hotel room. Mmmm....missing my sweet babies though. 

To be continued....hopefully with less adventures but with the same sense of fun and good attitudes! 

Super easy summer dress!!

I was looking online yesterday for easy sewing projects and I came across this idea. This dress is from the Thread Bangers (freakin' awesome name and even funkier website!!). Here is the video I got the idea from- Dress Video 

After watching the video, I thought, "I can do that!" So, I went to Joann's after Aaron got home from work, bought some material and elastic thread and got to work as soon as we put the boys down to bed. I worked on it for about 2 1/2 hours last night and about 2 hours (all together) today. I love it! I wore it all morning and then decided it was too long and shortened it after I put the boys down for their nap. 

Here is the finished result. It is so nice for hot summer days. And I think it is still pretty modest, considering the halter neck. (I did vary from the dress video on the halter design) So, if you are looking for a smokin' hot, easy summer dress to make, here it is! It was SOO easy! No kidding! Please excuse my lame attempts at taking pictures of myself! But enjoy the pictures! :) And check out Thread Bangers! :) 

I made an apron!

I made an apron! After admiring some aprons that I saw on etsy.com, I decided to try to make one myself. I love the material and I think it turned out pretty cute. I wanted to have a sweetheart neckline but it didn't work out. I made the bodice way to big at first and had to alter it after I sewed it, taking out the sweetheart curves. The bodice could fit better but I think the apron will do it's job. Not too bad for an afternoon project with no pattern!! 

Love this fabric!!!!
Not such a nice pic of me, but you get a good look at the apron on

Finished product!

Micah-isms

Micah has is own quirky personality! Here are some of the adorable things he has been doing lately to let his little personality shine:

Loves to where shoes- all the time! He will come up to me and say "Shoes? Shoes?" (Not to confused with "juice" or any other word that Mommy tries to guess...) He wants to wear shoes as soon as he gets up in the morning, when he gets up from his nap, and asks to wear them to bed at night. And not just any shoes. He has to wear one puppy shoe and one turtle shoe. He is very adamant on this point. I lost one of the turtle shoes a long time ago. Then I lost of of the puppy shoes. So, for a while there was no choice but to wear both. But, I found the other puppy shoe a few days ago and put them both on Micah and put the turtle on on Benji. Well, Micah would not have it! He fussed and whinned and pointed and "pleased" until I asked him, "Do you want the turtle?" to which he replied with an enthusiastic "YEAH!" So I switched the shoes and he was a happy camper. 

He has also gotten opinionated about what he wears. His current favorite thing to wear is short-alls. Too cute! 

Bed Skirt

On Thursday I was feeling crafty and decided to make a bed skirt for Aaron and my bed. We have never had one in the 3 years we have been married and I have wanted one for a while. I've looked at some online and in the stores but they are expensive! So, after perusing some craft sites and sewers blogs, I decided to make one myself.

I bought some white sheets from Burlington Coat Factory (Queen set for $15!!!) I measured the depth, length, and width of the bed. The depth was 17'' so I cut an 18'' strip on the long ends of the sheet. Then I cut 18'' on each of the short sides and sewed them together so they would be long enough for the short end of the bed. Since I used the edge of the sheet for the bottom of the bedskirt, there was no hemming involved! YEA! I pinned the strips on the bed and marked where I wanted box pleats. Then I sewed the pleats (one in the middle of each strip and one at each corner) and sewed all the strips together. Then I took the mattress off the bed and safety pinned it too the box spring. Yes, safety pinned it! I saw that on one of the websites I looked at before I made it. Yeah, it was a little lazy but now one can tell since all the ends are tucked under once the mattress is back on. And it looks great! I feel like we are finally getting a "grown-up" bedroom. Still needs a little work, decorations, new dresser etc....but the bed skirt is a start! Enjoy the photos!

NOTE: the only down side to pinning the skirt on instead of sewing a huge square of material to each piece of the skirt is that the skirt is not really machine washable since I didn't finished the edged. I guess if I wanted to wash it, I could zig-zag all the edge before I threw it in the watch, then iron and pin back on.