My love-hate relationship with summer

Don't get me wrong; I love summer. No hating involved. It's the summer vacation part of summer that I have serious doubts about, and this summer vacation has been worse than usual because my kids got out of school in mid-May. And they don't go back until the end of August. That makes for a LONG break from school.

I love summer vacation because my kids are home from school, which is exactly the reason why I hate summer vacation. And maybe I'm just not a resourceful, patient mom (okay, so I'm NOT patient, that's a given) but even though they do chores every day, they don't do enough to cancel out the negative effects of their activities on a home. For example: Parker sweeps the kitchen floor on a given day. Great! Then 4 sets of feet going in and out, eating lunch, doing crafts, etc. return the kitchen floor to it's natural "decorated" state within approximately the same amount of time it took him to sweep.

So, to avoid the above scenario, I try to get out and go places to entertain the troops. But that also causes stress because I'm not at home to do all the other chores and to-dos I have. Laundry doesn't get done. Bills don't get paid. Blogs don't get updated.

Now, I'm sure few of you have these problems, and I'm still learning to more efficiently utilize child labor, but this is the stuff of my life right now. And, I'll admit that I'm not getting up as early as I do during the school year, so I'm losing time from the get-go. Yes, I will claim most of the responsibility for my inability to negotiate this trial.

There are definitely some good things about summer vacation, like being able to sleep in, as noted above, and being able to go to family reunions at Bear Lake. I can only hope there will only be love for summer vacation in Garden City.

I [heart] my nike + ipod

I'm not a gadget person. I don't necessarily need all the latest gear to make my life easier. Besides, if I had all that stuff then I'd have to find a place to put it!

But my husband, being a guy, likes gadgets. He had talked to me about the Nike + iPod and I just didn't appreciate it. Besides, I didn't have Nike shoes, so why bother?

Trevor is a good internet researcher and he found out that you don't have to have the shoes to use the Nike + and he got it for me for Mother's Day, as he stated in his previous post. That's after he got me an iPod Nano for HIS birthday. I thought I was in heaven with the music, but it gets better! Who knew?

He macgyvered the sensor to attach securely to my shoe, as in the above pic, using 2 rubber bands and some Velcro. I put the iPod in an armband with the receiver in it, and I've got my own little cheering section, of sorts. Before my run I choose a goal, such as distance, time or calories. Then as I'm running a woman's voice (you can choose a man's voice, too) comes on at certain increments and says, "You've completed 1 mile (or 100 calories, or 10 minutes)." Then it counts down after the halfway point and congratulates me when I reach my goal. At any time during my run I can push the middle iPod button and hear my time, distance, calories burned, and pace. It's been a great motivator for me and I thank my husband for his persistence!

This is a Blogjacking. I just want to say that my wife is HOT! It has been a while since she has posted anything so I thought I would do it for her. She is amazing. I got her an ipod for my birthday and a nike+ to go with her ipod for mother’s day. It is a little electronic device that you put on your shoe and it sends her running information to her ipod. She took it out for an 8 miler her first weekend and ran a 10k a couple of days ago. When she comes in she is not even winded but man she looks good when she glistens. I know she will hate me for this blog attack but hey if she wants to fix it she will have to post her own blog. This is a picture from our trip to southern Utah a couple of weeks ago.

Peace out.

the group I want to be in

This is the conversation that ensued when I asked Simon what he wanted for lunch today:

Simon: "A hard-boiled egg, toast, and Cheetos."

Mom: "You can have that if you have applesauce to go with it. Then you'll have food from more of the food groups. Applesauce from the fruit group, toast from the grain group, an egg from the meat group, and Cheetos, well, Cheetos don't really have a group."

Simon: "They're from the crunchy group!"

Fun with Funfoam

Ole'.

Eli Oscar Wood

As I've been tagged by my sister, I'm spotlighting my Eli with 7 random facts about him.



1. Trevor's mother moved in with us when Eli was only a few months old, and he is her little friend. He loves her and she loves him.

2. Eli loves popcorn. When he was barely two, he aspirated a piece and got it lodged in his lung. We had to go to Primary Children's Hospital and have it surgically removed. You'd think I'd be more cautious about it after that, and I've tried, but he loves it so much he'll often ask for it for breakfast. I, being the good mommy that I am, give in most days and let him have it as long as he drinks some milk to wash it down. It's like having a bowl of cereal, right? The second picture was taken one such morning.

3. Eli speaks in full sentences and isn't afraid to pronounce anything, but like any two-year-old, has his own way of talking. Here are a few examples of his pronunciation:

Autumn: AH-m

Parker: DED-oh

Simon: BY-dine

Popcorn: PA-ohn

Shoes: DOO-don

4. Eli is, by far, my happiest and sweetest child (assuming, of course, that he's well-rested). He's always in a good mood, and even when he's tired he often gets punchy instead of ornery. When he can't have something he wants I'll tell him something like, "You can have it tomorrow." Most times his response is, "Otay."

5. Autumn and Eli look a lot alike. If she weren't wearing pink in most of her baby pictures, you might not be able to tell the difference between the two.

6. He hates getting his diaper changed and has no desire (at this point, but there's always hope for tomorrow) to try potty training. We're praying he doesn't follow in his two older brothers' footsteps and wait until 4 years old to be ready.

7. He loves "vroom-vrooms," "choo-choos," piggy-back rides, and coloring on my walls and furniture.

the dreaded plateau

Yes, it's true. I've hit it and it's no fun. I haven't lost any real weight since the beginning of the month. I started out the month at 138.4 and today I'm at 137.8, but I've been fluctuating a lot this whole time. So how does one break out of a plateau?

I've heard lots of different advice, like lowering your calories, raising your calories, changing up your workout routine, changing what you eat, etc. I haven't purposely tried any of those, but I'm afraid to raise my calories in fear of gaining weight, and I'm not sure I can lower my calorie intake--I barely have enough control as it is. So what I can reasonably do is change my workout routine. I really enjoy running and don't even mind getting up early to do it. I even look forward to it. I got a Billy Blanks kickboxing DVD and have done it once. Although it was great, I missed my treadmill. I do plan to start running outside this summer when my kids are out of school and the weather's warm, but I won't be able to do that until mid-May.

I guess I'll give Mr. Blanks another try tomorrow and see how I like it.

Anyone have any more advice? I'd love to hear anything you have to say! In the meantime, I'm going to do some internet research on the subject.

Previous weight: 138.4
Current weight: 137.8

Tentative pounds to go: 10.8