Tuckered Out

This is what running errands ALL day with Mom can do to two really good sports....
Camera 1
Camera 2
Camera 1
Camera 2

Dinosaur Land

This morning for our weekly playgroup, we all went to the Dinosaur exhibit they have at our downtown park. James absolutely loved it! And Isabel seemed to enjoy it too! She just cruised around in her stroller sucking down a bottle and taking it all in.



I thought it was really cool. It was shaded and really lush and every now and then you'd come up on a life-sized dinosaur lurking in the greenery. James would shout out "Look Mama! Another Dinosaur - let's go see it!" and then rush over to point and stare at it. Once Isabel and I would catch up to him, he'd talk to us about its teeth and feet and tail. He wanted to know everything about each one of them. It was really fun to see how excited he got over each Dino. He was even at one point pretending to be a stegosaurus. He told me he had big feet and a big tail and said "Boom, boom, boom!" :-)





I thought he'd tucker himself out eventually, but he had enough energy to walk through the botanical gardens at the end. They had this really pretty Japanese section with a bamboo forest and Koi and really cool water falls. It was a really great playdate!

"Bla Ma" Mia!

Isabel Jeanne is talking! She said her first words yesterday! And, I'm happy to report she went with "Ma Ma!" I hope this means she's going to be a Mama's girl. James went with "Da Da" first and now he and JL are like two little peas in a pod.

At first I thought it was a fluke. James and I were playing with her and all of a sudden she stuck out her tongue and said "Ma Ma." Ok, so maybe it sounds more like "Bla Ma" but it's words! Very different than her typical screeching and screaming and gooing and gaaing. James looked at me and said "Is'bel is talkin' Mamma!" And I'll be darned - she was!

This morning she has said it about a dozen more times. It's so cute. I tried to get a bit of it on video, but she got stage fright. :-)

Here's a couple of pictures of her. (I love the little onesie she has on today!) When James saw her he proudly said to me "Look Mamma! Is'bel's got fishes on her shirt!"

Oh, my aching.....everything!

So it's been almost a full week now since we joined the gym. I have to say, so far it's great! Although, I must admit - it's PAINFUL!

Monday night I did some fat burning to the tune of Hip Hop. It was awesome! It's basically 60 minutes of cardio where we just dance around (very fast) to music and learn some moves. Then we string them all together and let loose! It was so fun I hardly felt like I was working out.

By Tuesday I was feeling pumped and motivated. I was suppose to do an hour of strength training, but we had a playdate during the day and then JL had a biathlon that night so I skipped out. ;-)

Wednesday was Latin Fusion. Same concept as Hip Hop only to Latin music. For whatever reason, this one was tough! We learned stuff like the cha cha and the marange and some other stuff I was clueless about. I don't know if I'm just not coordinated enough or maybe I was more tired than I thought from Monday's workout. Either way I was feeling the burn after about 20 minutes. I felt like Elaine from Seinfeld most of the time...

Today I am just getting back from Core. It's 30 minutes of strength training (aka 30 minutes of ab. pain.) (aka 30 minutes of leg pain.) (aka 30 minutes of arm pain.) WOW! I am weak! Our instructor was saying that if you just do 30 minutes of core training every week, you will be stronger in every workout you do after just 4 weeks. Really? Ok, I believe you.

Excuse me now while I go collapse on the couch!

A change in the wind

I've got every window in the house open today! A front has blown in and the weather is fantastic! We're only looking to reach 85 today! But currently we're somewhere in the mid 70's!!

Days like today make me think of fall - specifically Thanksgiving time. With the sound of football flowing through the house and the smell of stuffing cooking on the stove. Ah. It's just nice to know that a change is coming and that it won't be hot and humid around here forever.

Although, I have found that James is a sun/heat/humidity lover just like his pop. He's been walking around the house today complaining that it's too cold. He even made me wrap him up in his blanket earlier this morning!


The verdict is out on Isabel. I'm not sure if she even notices that it's a tad chilly in the house today. She's just her normal self for the most part. However, she did take a super long morning nap. I have the window in her room open and it's cooler in there than it has been since she's been alive. I debated closing the window for her, but then decided to just draw the curtains. She slept perfectly! The breeze would blow her curtains every now and then but she just snoozed away.

I'll tell ya another person (besides myself) who is extremely thrilled with this weather....FERGUS!


He's been running around all morning in approval. JL and I spent some time brushing out what was left of his thick coat yesterday, so he's all shiny and fuzzy today. I thought James had pretty much staked his claim on Fergus, but he might be in for a fight. Isabel has discovered the dog and can't get enough of him either!

Isabel: 7 Months!

Little Izzy Jeanne turns 7 months old today! It's so hard to believe! She's turning into such a little girl!



Yesterday was her 6 month check up (yes, we had scheduling problems so it's a month late). Here's her stats: 28 inches long (95%) 14 lbs (10%). She's pretty much tracking just like her older brother. Tall and lean.

She's also turned over a new leaf this past week it seems. She's starting to get a bit more independence and confidence which is fantastic! I dont' have to hold her all day every day now. She'll actually lay on the floor and play by herself for a bit now. And not only that, but she is communicating better with me. I don't just get the scream at the top of her lungs routine anymore. She's got different sounds for different things and RARELY do I hear the yelling anymore. It always amazes me what a week can bring. They really do change in the blink of an eye!

New 'do

Still lovin' the new stylist! I decided I'm gonna give layers a break for a while. I wanted her to cut it to my shorteset layer, but I was about an inch shy, so I had her blunt cut it across the bottom. Then she just touched up my bangs/what was left of my layers and this is the result:

I'm pleased with it! A change is always wonderful!

It could take a Lifetime

So I've been trying to talk JL into joining Lifetime Fitness now for about a week. I toured the center last week and absolutely was hooked. It's all top of the line and they have like 7 swimming pools and TONS of workout equipment. Not to mention the aerobic classes (Hip Hop/Latin Fusion) just to name two that I'm totally interested in. Well finally on Thursday we agreed we'd join and give it a try.

I'm really drawn by 3 things. 1) I can go during the day to get myself out of the house and have a "break" 2) It's a healthy activity for me that only serves to do me good and 3) They provide child care so not only do I get a break - but the kids (mostly James) get some play time out and about and I don't have to be there! It's a win-win-win!

So yesterday was my first day. As part of the membership you get a free consultation with one of their personal trainers. I was totally nervous - I mean, the last thing I want is someone pinching at my fat - but it was actually pretty cool. We talked about my goals and what I need to do to reach them. Basically: 1 hour per day 5 days a week. 3 of those in cardio and 2 of those in strength training. Really? Sheesh! My original thought was I'd just go over 3 times a week and do whatever I felt like doing, but I'm going to give it a try. As long as I get fit and feel more healthy, I'm happy.

Pre-preschool: Take 2

This past Wednesday was week 2 of our pre-preschool. This time I hosted it at my house. The topic was Wild Animals and our object lesson was learning how to wash our hands. It was great! I showed the kids pictures books about Yellowstone. (James LOVES looking at all the animals and can name nearly all of them. He often will just go and pull this book off the shelf and sit and flip through it by himself!) Then we made ourselves into big mountains and talked about how all the animals we were seeing lived in mountains. Then we read the Jungle Book and colored a picture of an elephant.

After that the kids played for a little bit while I got the snack out. We practiced our hand washing before snack and they both did really good. James mostly views hand washing as a chance to splash in water and make a mess, but Rose was super cute. She just rubbed her hands under the water like a little lady!

Once snack was over we broke out the water colors and painted a picture of a beaver that we later made into a puppet. James absolutely loves to paint! And the two of them just look adorable in their little smocks...



I think the kids really enjoyed themselves. Izzy was an angel through it too. I think she enjoys watching the big kids play around and I know she enjoyed the stories.


(Look for pictures of James' art work to be posted soon....)

Swim Hat

Saturday we took the kids for a bike ride in the morning. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the two of them sitting in the trailer together. And I don't just mean from this trip - I mean at all! This is entirely because once you strap Isabel is the trailer, you better be ready to punch it! She's only so-so on walks/bike rides but the faster you can go and the less time you spend standing around the better your chances she'll enjoy it (aka not scream her head off.) But trust me when I say - it's too cute to see the both of them sitting there waiting to be pulled around.

So we started our day off with a nice, long ride. And I have to say - Isabel did really good! She only cried for like 2 seconds when we put her back in to go home. I expected MUCH worse. And James, naturally, had a blast. He is always begging for a bike ride.

After that we headed out to Ski Shores for some burgers and some boat watching. I absolutely LOVE that place. Best burger I've had out here. And their fries are awesome!

Later that afternoon, James requested a trip to "the big pool" for some swimming. So we strapped them in the bike trailer and headed to the pool. Again, no pictures (see above excuse.) But I did get a few of James wearing "Mamma's swim hat" as he likes to call it...



Later that night, somewhere around 9pm when JL and I finally got hungry again post-burger, we turned to Yaghi's! I love their pizza! I'm not a huge brancher-outter, but some friends of ours had recommended their pepperoni rolls so we decided to skip the pizza this time and give the rolls a try. DELISH! We also tried a stromboli. MAJOR DELISH! I have a new favorite food!


Pepperoni Rolls

Stromboli


Note: I took some major making fun of when I was taking pictures for my blog of our dinner! :-)

Pre-Preschool

Ah September. The leaves turn, the weather cools down, school starts, and holidays rapidly approach. Ok, so at least the last 2 are true for where I am. But even with the temps still in the 90's and green trees surrounding me, I feel like it is fall! The school buses are once again driving throug the neighborhood and while I enjoy the sight of them, I am thankful that my little kiddo's are too young to leave me! :-)

With that in mind, I was really excited when my friend Stephanie proposed a pre-preschool idea for Rose and James. The kids get introduced to a few basic concepts, but they learn at home from us. It's our weekly playdate meets preschool.

How it works: preschool is once a week (on Wednesdays) from 9:30am to Noon. We have pre-selected themes that we alternate teaching. The kids get playtime, storytime, craft time, snack time, and more playtime. It's a really fun, flexible way for the kids to play together but learn something at the same time. (Plus as a bonus, it gives the non-teaching Mom 2.5 hours to run errands or do whatever w/out a 2 yr old present!!)

Last week was our first class and it was at Stephanie's house. The topic was "First day of School/Apples." James was SO excited. He talked about it for the two days before Wednesday rolled around. We had gone "school shopping" the Friday before for a backpack and a little mat for him to sit on during circle time. He, of course, chose a SpiderMan backpack that came with a cute little water bottle. He was so excited because it was "just like Daddy's water bottle." He took great care in filling his backpack with his McQueen cars and his Lion King book. Then he pretendedd to walk to preschool and sit down. It was hilarious!

Here's a few pictures of him on his first day of pre-preschool:

He's so excited! He just took off and charged up to the front door!

Rose and James sitting on their mats listening at the beginning of circle time.

Putting the days on the calendar.
One of the things we do each time is talk about the seasons and what the weather is like outside and what day of the month it is. I think it's great! James has been way into numbers lately and he always likes to talk about the clouds and the wind.

I only stayed for the first 15 minutes to make sure James was going to be a good boy and stay on his mat and listen to Stephanie. As usual, he was like 'get lost Mom.' Sigh. He's so independent!

When I picked him up 2 hrs later, he was happy and so proud to show me what he had made. I love it when he does something new and then rushes right over to show me/tell me all about it. I just can't help but feel proud - even though he's so little and most of his projects consist of A crayon mark on one tiny piece of paper. But these were impressive masterpieces! A painting he had created entirely by using apples (well ok - he may have also used his hands a tad)and a popcorn tree. Lucky for me some of the popcorn escaped his tummy and actually made it onto the paper.

Random Pictures

Just a few of the kids at the end of last month:

Isabel sat up by herself for the first time!

James playing with his new love (dinosaurs) and growing some bug capsules.

What I won't do to have TWO free hands while making dinner...

Entourage

08 Season Ends

Our last two Express games of the season were the last week in August. We went Monday (and enjoyed Dollar Dogs) and Friday. Both kids had a great time.

James divides his time between watching the game, going down the slide at the play area, watching the game, eating ice cream, followed by more watching of the game. Isabel pretty much enjoys trying to chew on anything she can reach out and grab, playing peek-a-boo with the people behind us, and sleeping.



Hopefully James can survive the off season. Thank goodness for Football!!!