Fat Ash

So this is the name my bro. in law Marc has been calling him. As you can see it is extremely fitting. The kid weighed almost 15 Lbs. at his 2 month visit. Ashton is our little chunky monkey. He is starting to get really animated and show his personality more. He is heading into what is personally my favorite stage during the first year. Anywhere from about 3 months until they start becoming mobile is my favorite time. We all know once they start moving it is all downhill, at least for my kids since they never sit still once they can move.

Ashton has been a very easy baby. We can take him just about anywhere as long as we don't forget him in the car. We love him lots and hopefully he won't have any traumatic repressed memories about being left in the car.

(if your mouth is hanging open as you wonder what in the world I am referring to, please read back a few posts for the explanation)

Summer memories

When I was growing up here in good ol' bako, summer usually meant lots of swimming, sleeping out on the trampoline, a month long visit to utah to visit family and that was pretty much it. My dad is in the grape business which means from about may until november he is unavailable for vacations. Our trips as a family were always worked around "The Season" as we refer to it. There was always one trip my dad was able to make during the summer and that was the annual visit to CLOVIS LAKES. It is now called wild water adventures but to me, my sister, brothers and parents it is Clovis lakes. Every summer we went there with at least 2 or 3 other families. The Elledges were there every year. The McCalebs were there pretty often from what I remember. I know the Nichols came a few times, and there were always a few other families that joined us every so often. We spent the whole day there, it is set up like a big park with lots of trees and a waterpark in the middle of it. We brought blankets, chairs, and more food than anyone could ever eat. Diane Elledge always brought a huge tub of red vines along with many other sweet treats to satisfy her, and everyone elses sweet tooth. There were usually long lines, and tons of people but as kids I don't ever remember caring. It hasn't changed much although they have added a few new rides to the park. One year we went Mandee rode down the newest ride called the black hole. I personally was scared to death to ride it. She went down this pitch black tube and came out with the nastiest scrape on her back. I have not ridden that ride since. Not that I needed a good excuse not to.

So this year for tanner's (my nephew) birthday my sister thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane and head back to what was our one day summer vacation with my entire family. So off we all went, minus my brothers to clovis lakes. Marc's ( my brother in law) family joined us as well. We all had a great time, no meltdowns from kids until the very end of the day when we were getting ready to leave, and lots of good food to snack on including a big tub of red vines for old times sake.

First Day of School.....a little late

So the first day of school went off without a hitch. The kids were excited, I was excited and everyone was up early and ready to go. Mackenzie was really wishing she was going to the big school but she will have to settle for preschool, which starts in a week.
Ethan was starting second grade. He was really ready to get back to school He was missing his school friends and was just bored with summer. I can't blame him on that one. We didn't do anything at all this summer since ashton was born right when school got out. We had lots of visitors but didn't go anywhere. We got to school and I thought Ethan might cry. He didn't have any of his friends in his class. So we went to the playground and there he found all of his friends. At that point he no longer needed me took off and said see you later. So he is back in his element with all his friends and with his oh so good behavior at school which he cannot seem to bring home with him.
Landon, he is just one funny kid. So independent and ready to what he wants when he wants. He loved the fact that he got to pick out a new shirt to wear to school. Of course he wanted to wear the pirate one. His backpack is almost as tall as he is, and since he is actually smiling in this picture you know he has to be excited. He walked right into his class, sat down informed me that he was fine and that I could go. I think he was expecting more out of kindergarten because he keeps telling me that all they do is go over rules. I told him give it a few days and they will get into learning other things. He has made new friends, and has been loving the fact he gets to ride the bus home. I haven't been able to get much out of him as to what he does during the day. Landon is not one to talk about much. He is very picky about what information he wants to give out and to whom he will give it to.
Then there is Mackenzie. Since she has to be like her "guys" as she calls her brothers she needed a picture with her backpack as well. She would only get dressed this day, she wouldn't let me touch her hair. I didn't feel like fighting her on it and I didn't have the time, so hence the sweet hair style she is sporting. The pictures below will tell you what mackenzie has been up to lately. Trouble.

We found this nice little picnic of boysenberry jam in a silicone cupcake liner. Not sure exactly what time she did this at but we found it at about 6:30 in the morning. One of us forgot to lock the fridge before we went to bed.
Good thing she's cute.

Bikini Body

No, I do not have one of these bodies. Although I wish I did, but it is probably good that I don't since I would be tempted to wander around the pool in a bikini just because I could pull it off. Anyway, onto my whining........
What happens to your body when you turn 30? I mean does something in it just say "Well we have done our work for the time we had to and now we can quit." I am completely stumped as to how to get this baby weight off. After I had Mackenzie I lost all my weight and then some and was able to keep it off until I got pregnant with Ashton. I find for me it is easier to maintain my weight. Although I have never had to work extremely hard to get weight off, I do sort of watch what I eat, and if I am going to have dessert, then I will skip dinner. Not the healthiest diet but it has never failed me before. Moving on though.......
I have been racking my brain as to what I am doing wrong. I have been logging all my food in an online food journal which tracks my daily intakes of calories, carbs, sugars, etc. I have been working out daily (minus Sundays) going at least 4 miles on the elliptical and then doing sit-ups, squats, leg lifts, etc.
To date I have lost exactly ZERO pounds. My whole body hurts still ( I am guessing I was really out of shape), I have seriously cut back on my beloved sweets (for those that know me, I have a very large sweet tooth) all for nothing.
If you are thinking I don't think she needs to lose weight, I just have to say you have not seen me naked. It is not pretty. Also I am tired of not being able to fit into my clothes. I am refusing to buy new clothes that fit, I did break down and buy some shorts so I could stop wearing cut off sweat pants and gauchos.
Anyway, I am pretty sure most of you have had to lose baby weight. Any advice, ideas? My metabolism has apparently decided to retire at the most inconvenient time.

P.S. for the family that is waiting for pictures and a update on how school went, I will be posting for you soon. Just had to get the complaining out of my system.

TOOOOOOMORROW

TOMORROW

i luv ya

TOMORROW

you're only a day away

(for those who don't start school tomorrow, I will continue my countdown to sanity for you)

I spoke too soon!

So my peace lasted about 5 mins. Yesterday took the kids to pump it up and then to mcdonalds. They were worn out so we came home and mackenzie proceeded to have a meltdown so I put her in bed, landon was half asleep on the couch watching some cartoons, so i figured why bother him I'll just let him sleep there. Got ashton and thought I will go feed him in my room and watch some olympics. checked on mackenzie who was still and bed and not making any sounds, assumed she was asleep. About 30 mins. later Landon comes into my room and says, someone put something in the microwave and it is smoking all over the place. I run into the kitchen which is now full of smoke. I get the windows open and some box fans going and smoke starts to clear. Yeah the microwave is still smoking. I am afraid it is going to blow up on me. Come to find out that someone (landon) climbed on top of the fridge to unlock the pantry, climbed up to the top of the pantry to get some popcorn, climbed up another counter to get to some scissors to cut the plastic off the popcorn and then put it in the microwave for who knows how long. Now the next day I am sitting in a still stinky house( nothing smells worse than burnt popcorn), thinking of ways I can get rid of the smell, and getting ready to go install my new pantry doorknob complete with a lock that needs a key to open.

Sweet Peace!

On Sun. my mom and sister and her kids were all getting ready to leave for Utah. As I am leaving church my mom says, if lindsay wants to come back before Mon. maybe I'll take Ethan with us. WHAT!!! So lindsay said she did want to come back before Mon. so Ethan has been gone since Sun. with them. Why is it that when you take just one kids out of the mix things seem to be so much calmer. I mean we have still had our share of meltdowns and fighting, but one less kids to fight with makes for less noise. Although I will say I am slightly stressed about how Ethan is behaving. I keep waking up in the morning wondering if he has already been awake for a few hours and has woken everyone else up. To call Ethan an early riser is an understatement. So here is to a calmer week (now i have no excuse to forget children in the car) and to my mom and sister for actually taking ethan with them. Hopefully they bring him home in their car. Apparently on the ride up ethan made up songs and sang them the entire car ride. NOTE TO SELF: make sure to pick up ear plugs before our drive to texas at christmas!