Dump Truck

Xander has recently developed a fondness for pushing this dump truck all around the house. It is so cute to see him getting more interested in toys.

Toyota Yaris

About a month ago Daniel and L were reading the paper when she became enamored with a photo of the 2009 Toyota Yaris. She kept telling him over and over that she wanted to buy that car. It was so funny, I took a video. What can I say, she has cheap taste.

Untitled from Erika on Vimeo.

Squirrels are of the devil

I have a new found hatred for squirrels. I always thought they were cute and harmless...before this year. There are 2-3 squirrels systematically stripping my tomato plants of every last tomato. They don't even run away when I chase them, yelling and clapping like a crazy person. I've sprayed them with water guns. I've sprinkled coffee grounds and cayenne pepper all over the place. And I've now resigned myself to watching them walk away with as many tomatoes as they can carry each day. Daniel wants to kill them, but I just don't have squirrel murder in me. I figure more squirrels will just come to take their place. I give up. All of those beautiful tomatoes grown for nothing.

Man Crafts

I insist that anything involving a glue gun falls under the category of "crafts". So, when I noticed Daniel at one of his favorite hobbies, messing with electronics, (I don't have any idea what actually goes on here)...I asked if he was having fun doing man crafts. He did not enjoy having the label crafts attached to whatever this nonsense was. But honestly, what else would you call something involving a soldering iron and a glue gun? A man craft...that's what you'd call it. Am I right?

Father's Day

Still struggling to find the time to blog this summer. Here is a photo from Father's Day.

Stairs

I took this video of X while he was learning to get down the stairs about 6 weeks ago. I never got it uploaded until today. :)

Untitled from Erika on Vimeo.

Baptism Pictures

Long time, no see. The kids finished school 10 days ago, and I've been scarce since. They did an art camp last week, which was fun. I don't know that is was worth the cost, or as impressive as I'd hoped, but they enjoyed it nonetheless. My MIL is in town this week. She arrived Friday night to be here for Bella's baptism, which went well. I know I've missed a lot of blogging recently, but the thought of trying to catch up makes me want to quit all together. So, I will just start fresh from here, with a couple of pictures from after the baptismal service. My camera battery died, so I only have a few pictures. I'm going to do a little photo shoot of her in her dress sometime this week, then I'll post a solo shot of her. TTFN.

Hiatus

You may have noticed I've been scarce lately. My life has been insanely busy recently. I will be back soon...I hope.

School Awards Day (aka the post where I exercise my rights to brag about my kids)

My big girls had school awards day last Tuesday. J's kindergarten awards were pretty standard. They do some songs, get a diploma, a few awards, and have a slideshow. It was cute. I thought I was going to make it through without a problem. It was looking good on me not crying until the slideshow. I'm a sucker for a montage. So...I'm 0 for 2. I have 2 more chances to not cry at kindergarten awards.
Here she is with her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. E. Mrs. E gave her a "Way to Go" award, for always being a good listener and following directions. Her good behavior in kindergarten was legendary this year. Seriously, several mom's have come up to me and asked how I get her to behave so well, and listen so well. My answer, she was kind of born that way. She also got a reading award, and a kindergarten diploma.
This is her and her best girlfriend from her class singing during the "show" portion of the awards. They are always so sweet together.
B has reached the grade level where awards are achievement based, and her grades are given in percentages. She got straight A's all year, and we are very proud of her accomplishments. The subject area excellence awards are given for year end averages of 95% and above. There were 2 subjects that her year end average was 94% (social studies and language, just missed the cut off). The awards she received were: Math Excellence, Science Excellence, Reading Excellence, Texas Readers Club, Citizenship, and Honor Roll. I know I'm her mom and everything, so I'm biased...but seriously...I think she's awesome. She is intelligent, kind, and beautiful. I think I've hit the kid jackpot with these 4. Look out world, here she comes.

School's Out For Summer!

School is officially out for summer as of 10:45am today. I still need to post pictures from end of school awards. Today we will be celebrating summer. Since, as I have mentioned before, we lack a backyard pool (sigh), I filled up the little pool and a bunch of water balloons. I'm about to start preparing lunch for them to eat outside on the picnic table, and I may break out the snow cone machine. We will be heading out to dinner later (big kids choice) to celebrate the successful completion of another school year. I can't believe they will be in 1st and 3rd grade soon. The time is disappearing before my eyes. L is thrilled to have them home for the summer.

30 day shred wrap-up

I have officially completed the Jillian Michaels - 30 Day Shred, or as I like to call it...the 30 day DREAD. I absolutely hated it, every single time. But I did it, and I am back with a before and after photo of my "trouble area", also known as "I gave birth to 4 children via c-section in the last 8 years and my stomach looks awful". As you can see below, the evidence of baby belly is not completely gone, but I have experienced a significant improvement for a 30 day time period. I do not think that I ever want to see that DVD again though. Do you think I should do a giveaway?

On the down side: I did not lose a single pound, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it if you just have a few pounds to lose. I gained so much muscle that the actual fat loss did not register on the scale, and I'd still like to lose 3 pounds and recapture my favorite weight...105 lbs.

On the up side: I lost a few inches in the middle...which was the main reason I did this in the first place. I also feel good about the fact that I can now do push ups, my back problems have improved significantly with my increased strength, I have visible calf muscles (didn't even know my stick skinny calves were capable of that), and biceps, etc. It is certainly a short and very effective workout, if you can do it and maintain your will to live.


BEFORE:
Weight: 108 lbs
Waist: 27.5 in
Love handles: 31.5in

AFTER:
Weight: 108 lbs
Waist: 26.5 in
Love handles: 29.5 in

My summer workout plan involves riding my bike a lot while dragging a trailer full of 2 kids, and finding another dvd to do a few times per week that will be less miserable and focus mainly on my continuing effort to regain an awesomely flat stomach. Feel free to toss out suggestions. :)