A Brother, A Buddy, and A Couple of Beds

Every year of my childhood (to include the first couple years of college) my parents would have us sit down and write out a Christmas wish list just before the Christmas season hit.  I'm sure that's fairly typical.  Anyway, from as young as I can remember, all the way up until my parents' divorce (I was in High School), a baby sister was ALWAYS at the very top of my list.  I understood the companionship and camaraderie that comes with having a sibling of the same gender. 

Even though I never got a sister (biologically), I can now enjoy watching the deep friendship that is growing within my boys.  They are seriously best buddies!  For the most part, they are really good at playing together.  Darren is pretty good at trying to include Joseph in what he's doing, and loves to walk around the house holding his hand.  Whenever I tell the boys we're going to go somewhere or do something, Darren nearly always asks:  "Joseph too?!"  When I say yes, Darren responds with "Hooray!"  and runs to tell Joseph what's going on.  When Joseph says his prayers, he has to repeat that he's thankful for Darren at least 3 times before he's satisfied.  No one else gets that kind of mention! 

I love watching my boys interact and play together!  Here's a pic of them riding on their fire engine together.

They both crawled into Darren's bed, and pretended to sleep.

Both are in the tent, though you can't see Joseph.  D must be a pretty lucky boy to have a Thomas tent over his bed! 

Joseph became quite proficient at climbing out of his crib, so on his 18 month birthday (Saturday), we converted his crib into a toddler bed. 

Climbing in over the rails is a trick he learned from his brother. 

Checking out his "new" bed.

The first night of Joseph's new freedom, it took them both over an hour to fall asleep.  They kept playing, laughing, giggling, singing, squealing, and having a good ol' time.  Eventually, they quieted down.  We checked on them a little while later, and when Matt and I walked into their room, this is how they had fallen asleep. 

I love how my boys are such great buddies.  I hope it sticks - forever!  There's nothing like a brother to be your best buddy! 

The Beginning

Today was the beginning.  The beginning of a new week, and the official beginning of a new lifestyle.  Matt and I have set some new goals to become healthier.  Just looking at me, it's quite obvious that I have a lot of weight to lose.  Matt is required to stay in shape because of his job, and also desires to lose a few inches.  So, we're going to try to do something about it.  Now, before I say anymore, in spite of feeling somewhat hypocritical because of my current "health" status, you need to know that I personally would not ever choose to use a fad diet.  I find that many of them neglect ESSENTIAL nutrients our bodies need, are just a "quick fix," or are just not sustainable for the long term, which seems counter productive to me.  When I lose weight, I want it to STAY off!  No yo-yo here. 

Anyway, the point is that we have found a program called Live the Life, (Thank you, Matt and Dixie) that uses common sense stuff, all food groups, follows the food pyramid pretty well, no strange supplements/pills, and the food is yummy.  And it's NORMAL, healthy food!  The secret is in the specific combination of foods, exercise, portion sizes, water consumption, and keeping your body working at a steady pace - meaning you should not be hungry, but also should not be too full.  The more I learn about this program, the more I like it.  It seems practical and makes a lot of sense to me. 

We've been testing the meal plans for the last 2-3 weeks (but not near as strictly as we will be doing it now), and have really liked it.  6 small meals everyday takes some getting used to, and a lot of preparation beforehand, but so far, it's been good!  I believe we can be successful!  So far, we've eaten things like fish tacos, mexican rice bowls (my personal favorite so far - it has brown rice, chicken, black beans, corn, salsa and fat free sour cream in it.  So good!), crackers, cucumbers, and carrots w/ cottage cheese as a dip, breakfast burritos, fruit and yogurt, sweet potatoes, etc.     

The program is designed so that you should lose between 1 and 3 pounds a week, a healthy rate. So, it may be a little while before I start looking noticably different.  Now, you may notice that I've mostly talked about the food.  That's because at this point, the exercises are kicking my butt, and so I'm not particularly loving them.  However, I know they are good for me, and I really need to do it.  I hope they get easier as I get more consistent.  So, if you see me or talk to me, PLEASE ask me about it to hold me accountable - just in case I start losing motivation!  Matt and I are excited to start this program/new lifestyle, and can't wait until we can see some results!  Regardless of what happens, I am confident that this is a healthy change for our family!  Bring on the healthyness! 

Maybe when I receive the desired results, I will post before/after pictures.  MAYBE!

Random Pictures

Okay, so I don't really have any stories this time, just a bunch of random pictures from the last month. 

I love this one!  They are such great buddies! 

My 3 boys - all reading their own books.

Nope, that's not an earring, just a bean.  This kid loves eating beans - and wearing them too!

This is what Darren does when you ask him to smile.  Although, he doesn't usually have food remnants in there.  Sorry if that's a bit gross.

He NEVER falls asleep playing.  This is a definite first!  He even stayed asleep when I picked him up to put him in his bed.  He was a very tired boy that day.

Matt turned 21 for the 10th time!  He requested Dunkin Donuts instead of cake.

Our super yummy Valentines dessert.  It's layered with fresh, sliced strawberries, vanilla pudding, heart shaped Jello jigglers, and whipped cream. 

Already trying to fill Daddy's shoes.  Those are some mighty big shoes to fill, too - figuratively and literally!

Barbara Manatee

"Barbara Manatee, you are the one for me.  Sent from up above, you are the one I love...."  Living in Florida, this Veggie Tales song runs through my head frequently.  Especially this time of year.  Lately, the temps have been really cold for here (40's and 50's), and all the locals have been freezing!  So have the manatees, which means they swim into the canals to try and stay warm.  Yesterday, we passed by a canal that had several people standing on the bank staring into the water.  We stopped, and the boys and I had the opportunity to see the sea creatures for the first time in real life!  I was amazed at how many there were all huddled up together!  We even got to see a mom and her baby swimming together.  It was a neat experience, and the boys seemed to like it, too. 

Picture quality isn't that great (I only had my cell phone with me), but here's a little taste of what we saw.

Here's Mom and baby!  Horrible pic, but you get the idea!

Largest Carrot

Some of you may know, once upon a time, a little over 8 years ago to be exact, Matt sent me on an undercover secret mission/scavenger hunt that lasted all day long (literally!) and ended with the most romantic evening of my life! It was INCREDIBLE!! He proposed at the very end of the evening, and well, with a very fun, unique story, the rest is history! Anyway, one of the things I had to do for the scavenger hunt part of it was go to the nearest grocery store (just a couple blocks from my house) and buy the LARGEST carrot I could find! I found a pretty large carrot that day, too. It was so thick, biting it was out of the question. It had to be gnawed -and that's exactly what we did with it... in a very crowded movie theatre! I'm sure we annoyed several people with our VERY crunchy carrot munching, but we were in love (not engaged yet) and didn't care. That carrot has remained the largest carrot I have ever seen.......... until TODAY!!

Today, I stopped at a little farmer's produce stand (I LOVE that I can do that in the middle of winter here!) looking for strawberries. They had some of the most beautiful strawberries I have ever seen, AND the largest carrots I have ever seen! Carrots weren't on the list today, but when I saw how big they were and how cheap they were, I just HAD to buy them so I could reminisce with Matt! He was super impressed, and Darren kept exclaiming over and over how amazing it was. I took pictures so you could see too!

Here's the infamous carrot with an average size baby carrot and one of those little bigger than average PERFECT strawberries I drooled over (doesn't it look scrumptious?!) for size comparison. Pretty huge carrot, I'd say!

I measured the carrot. It's a good 3" diameter at the top, 13" long, and weighs 1 lb. 4 oz. The best part is that I got 5 carrots of similar hugeness (is that a word?) for $2, and they're fresh and tasty! This carrot has officially replaced the engagement day carrot as the largest carrot I have ever seen!

Bedtime Wiggles

So, Matt has a new way to help Darren get his wiggles out just before bed..... Watch the short (less than 15 sec.) video clip to see. Toward the end, watch for Joseph's little foot - he steps on Matt's head just before climbing on him! What a great Dad! Good times!

"Cold" Sunday

Having spent the last 3 winters in interior Alaska, we got accustomed to the cold and the cold weather policy they had there for church. Temps -29 and warmer meant all 3 hours of church. Once the temperature reached -30 and colder, we had sacrament meeting only (the full first hour). So, you can imagine our surprise when we went to church here in Florida, but then were sent home right after the passing of the sacrament (no speakers) because of the "cold" weather and the furnace not working properly (only part of the building had heat). We were SHOCKED!!

For Florida, it's been pretty cold, 40's during the day, around 30 at night. Cool, but still warmer than what we've been accustomed to. Today, the inside of the church was just a bit cooler than room temperature, but I didn't think it was too bad. I wore a thin, lightweight skirt with no coat, and was not uncomfortable. No one else in my family wore a coat either, and were just fine, though many people around us not only brought coats, but kept them on! Our family has obviously not fully acclimated to Florida weather!

Anyway, because church was cancelled, we had a little extra time on our hands. So we spent it playing hide and seek, reading, looking at baby pictures (Darren learned about an umbilical cord today after asking if Daddy made Joseph's belly button), talking to some of our family, taking naps, tickling the boys, singing songs, etc. It was nice to spend some time together as a family, and I was lucky and even got a couple pictures of today's events.

Matt seroiusly got stuck down there "hiding" from the boys! It was pretty funny, and took a great deal of effort to pull him out! He was wedged in there so tight, moving the couch would have been the easier option!

Darren has to do everything his Daddy does, exactly how Daddy does it!