Spring Kinder Portraits

And to compare, here is Claire's Fall Kindergarten picture.

The Pool!

Is it wrong to love a baby in a two piece? It's too cute! 

Miles Moments

I finally captured Miles saying one of his go-to phrases - you ask him to do something, and he says, "Of course yes!" and he says it really quickly, like it's almost one word. I was having him make his ABCs out of Cheetos, which is as fun as it sounds, and I asked him to do an L and he says, "Of course yes!" and then eats his letters.


Miles was watching a video of old school cartoons and one program is like a Scooby Doo knock off, with four kids, a dog and a lot of meddling. But there is also a ghost that helps them solve the mysteries. I asked Miles if he was scared of the ghost and he said, "No, he's not scary, he's a nice ghost - like the Holy Ghost."

He told me the other day that a block of legos he had made was his "letter texter" - it took me a second to figure it out, but he had made a phone to send text messages.

The other day I noticed that there was a small dent in the wall right above where our ottoman (that also has storage compartments) sits against the wall. Miles had been messing around with the compartment lids for days and I knew he had somehow dented the wall so I got after him for it. When my dad was in town, Miles told him, "See that hole in the wall? My mom thinks I did it, but it was really some birds." Hmm, really, how would birds do that? "With their beaks, and their wings - they are Angry Birds." Oh Miles.

Penelope's One Year Photos

I dare you to pick a favorite picture - I couldn't narrow them down. We went to one of our favorite local parks and despite my best efforts to pick up balloons and recreate some of the cutest poses I've seen online, the wind wouldn't cooperate. We got just a few pictures before the balloons literally blew into some nearby cacti and popped. C'est la vie.

This rocking chair belongs to Penelope's Mema Hiller - she used it when she was a little girl and you can still see "South Dakota" printed on the bottom. 

I have early photos of each of the kids with a favorite book - Claire Bear used the Very Hungry Caterpillar, Miles had Guess How Much I Love You, and now a classic Winnie the Pooh for Penelope.

Happy Birthday Sweet P!

Miss Penelope Jane is one year old! This girl has us all wrapped around her finger. She has the cutest toothy smile with a scrunchy nose, the best curly bouncy hair, and is so ticklish that you can't help but make her laugh every time you hold her.

We had a birthday/Mother's Day party on Sunday - I guess she will have to share the holiday every few years, but I said a first birthday trumps Mother's Day so we decorated with pink and more pink. And of course, Penelope needed a little princess crown to top off the whole look.

We took a ton of pictures of the cake eating, so be prepared to be overloaded. But I can't choose my favorites, as usual. When Claire and Miles turned one, they were less than thrilled about their cake. We practically had to smash their hands into it and force feed them. Not so with Miss P. She touched the cake a few times, and then went in face first - no hands required! She ended up eating quite a bit of the quarter of the three-layer cake I made - cake decorating is not one of my strongest skills, that's for sure, but they usually taste pretty good.

Happy Birthday Penelope!  

Miss Independent

Claire's school has a set of five or six values and they recognize one child per class for each one with an Exceptional Citizen Award. I am not at all surprised that Claire received the Independence award. Great job Claire Bear! 

New Motto and Month 4 Results

After more than three months without treats, I decided that I couldn't ban sugar forever. The way I saw it, I better let sweets back into my life in moderation so I can be "normal" with my dessert consumption and not turn my kids into those weird "no sugar" kids. We all had that friend growing up who only got carob and applesauce cookies and then they went crazy whenever they had real treats.

So I made some sugar cookies with that delicious cream cheese strawberry frosting that I made for Betty's birthday (something I had been craving so I thought it would be worth it). I just ate a few cookies that day, and felt pretty dang good about my self-control. But, I had let the monster back in. And then I went a little crazy. Combine that sugar monster with a general feeling of contentment at having lost more than 30 lbs, fitting into old clothes and getting a few people to notice I was thinner, and I just wasn't trying as hard. Too bad I have 40 lbs to lose still - not the time to give up. It's gonna take some time and I need to jump start that motivation again. 

I think it is easier for me to cut out instead of cut down at this point. I pretty much stayed the same weight for the past four weeks, gaining and losing the same pound each weekly weigh in. We like to call this "maintaining" in Weight Watchers. I can't call it a plateau because I wasn't doing my best to lose. And though I was eating way too much in my "I'm going to start tomorrow so I better make today worth it" phase, I could tell my body was not happy.

WW will tell you that you can eat anything you want, in moderation, but I just don't think I'm ready for all that decision making power. It's easier for me to just say no.  

Soooo, the last four weeks of weight loss = 0 lbs. Bit of a downer, but I have re-committed and rejoined Weight Watchers (for the fifth time) as of Saturday. And this was the handout they gave us - appropriate, don't you think?

Swings!

On Penelope's first time on the swings, she had a bit of a death grip on the sides, but she seemed to enjoy swinging after awhile. Until the kids swarmed her and started pushing her too fast.