Here are a few of the pictures from our adventure:
Lucy & Sarah
All the kids on the "Cool Bus"
Us
Last night, we carved our pumpkins, lit them up, and take a look at how awesome they turned out:
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Pumpkin Time!
Last Friday, we invited some of Lucy's cousins to go with us to the pumpkin patch. The kids loved the hayride (read: a trailer with hay bales pulled by a tractor), and they traipsed around the pumpkin vines looking for their perfect pumpkin.
Vegas Vacation
Amy and Gina had a wonderful time visiting Gramma and Grampa K, Auntie D, Uncle B, and Cousin E in Las Vegas! She was an excellent flyer too. She slept almost the entire flight both ways. I'm sure the other people on the place were pleasantly surprised. It was a relaxing week, and Amy slept well, ate well, and was her charming little self the entire time we were there.
She also acquired several new words for her vocabulary, including "bye-bye". Every time she wanted to go out somewhere she would crawl over to her shoes and socks and bring them to anyone who would put them on her. She would get rather testy if they weren't put on right away. She also employed "bye-bye" when she would decide to head up the stairs after she was told no.
Anyway, here are some cute pictures of Amy with her Gramma and Grampa K:
She also acquired several new words for her vocabulary, including "bye-bye". Every time she wanted to go out somewhere she would crawl over to her shoes and socks and bring them to anyone who would put them on her. She would get rather testy if they weren't put on right away. She also employed "bye-bye" when she would decide to head up the stairs after she was told no.
Anyway, here are some cute pictures of Amy with her Gramma and Grampa K:
Playing piano with Gramma
Playing computer with Grampa
Playing computer with GrampaI love dirty face pictures, so I had to include this one.
Fancy new hair-do
Gramma did it!
Hanging out with Grampa
Amy is ready for her morning nap
Amy is ready for her morning napThursday, October 11, 2007
ZUMBA!
A week after we moved here, I took the girls over to the YMCA to sign up for a membership. It's actually affordable around here ($55 a month for the whole family), and there are all kinds of classes and sports for kids and adults that come free with the membership. I love this because I can take the girls swimming during the day, or I can drop them off for 1.5 hours while I take a class, or I can leave them home and go by myself. This last option is the one I chose yesterday in order for me and a new friend to try out the "hottest new thing in exercise": ZUMBA! Basically, it's aerobics with salsa dancing mixed in.
So my friend and I show up at the YMCA, find the class, and take two spots in the back. The woman teaching the class is slim, with long brown hair pulled into a perfect ponytail, and wearing one of those cute exercise outfits that she, of course, looks fabulous in. I am wearing black pants, a grey T-shirt, my walking shoes, and about 50 pounds of excess baby weight in the shape of a spare tire around my hips. My hair has enough bobby pins in it to conduct electricity, but it has to be this way because it's too short to be in pulled back, and too long to leave down.
The music starts. It's a Gloria Estefan/techno remix and seems like it's going about 180 beats per minute. I made it through the first few songs...took some deep breaths to ease the pain in my side, and stuck with it the best I could. It's fun, but the trouble I'm having is that my body is unable to grapevine with the feet while shimmying with the shoulders and grooving the jazz hands in an alternating single-single-double pattern. It's too much for this fat mama who, some days, can't find two brain cells to rub together.
But no worries! There's MUCH more to ZUMBA than shoulder shimmying! There was an entire song dedicated to gyrating our rear ends (with accompanying hand movements, of course), and I want to share with you how awesome the teacher looked. If shaking your derriere could win you...I don't know...something, she would definitely get "Best in Show". But a glance at my own efforts was not so glamourous--I looked more like I was trying to apply turtle wax to a school bus with my butt cheeks.
At one point, the instructor had us "riding the pony", and not a full 8 beats later, we were spanking it. There are very few things funnier to me than the mirror reflection of 30 women between the ages of 25 and 60 while they spank their individual ponies. Through my laughter, I noticed something stylistically about the spanking: there are those that do a little hand-flip on the backswing, the ones who spank in double-time, and the rest of us who are half-heartedly spanking our ponies because we are thinking, "If my husband and children could see me, I'd never live this down." I have to say that until yesterday, I have never "spanked the pony" in my entire life, and I'm actually embarrased to report that I have done so. So if I decide to ever ZUMBA again, I am definitely NOT spanking my pony. It's just...wrong...on so many levels.
If I have learned one thing from this, it's that I now know why there are very few fat Latino people...all that shaking, shimmying, gyrating, and yes, spanking works off quite a few tamales.
Gina
So my friend and I show up at the YMCA, find the class, and take two spots in the back. The woman teaching the class is slim, with long brown hair pulled into a perfect ponytail, and wearing one of those cute exercise outfits that she, of course, looks fabulous in. I am wearing black pants, a grey T-shirt, my walking shoes, and about 50 pounds of excess baby weight in the shape of a spare tire around my hips. My hair has enough bobby pins in it to conduct electricity, but it has to be this way because it's too short to be in pulled back, and too long to leave down.
The music starts. It's a Gloria Estefan/techno remix and seems like it's going about 180 beats per minute. I made it through the first few songs...took some deep breaths to ease the pain in my side, and stuck with it the best I could. It's fun, but the trouble I'm having is that my body is unable to grapevine with the feet while shimmying with the shoulders and grooving the jazz hands in an alternating single-single-double pattern. It's too much for this fat mama who, some days, can't find two brain cells to rub together.
But no worries! There's MUCH more to ZUMBA than shoulder shimmying! There was an entire song dedicated to gyrating our rear ends (with accompanying hand movements, of course), and I want to share with you how awesome the teacher looked. If shaking your derriere could win you...I don't know...something, she would definitely get "Best in Show". But a glance at my own efforts was not so glamourous--I looked more like I was trying to apply turtle wax to a school bus with my butt cheeks.
At one point, the instructor had us "riding the pony", and not a full 8 beats later, we were spanking it. There are very few things funnier to me than the mirror reflection of 30 women between the ages of 25 and 60 while they spank their individual ponies. Through my laughter, I noticed something stylistically about the spanking: there are those that do a little hand-flip on the backswing, the ones who spank in double-time, and the rest of us who are half-heartedly spanking our ponies because we are thinking, "If my husband and children could see me, I'd never live this down." I have to say that until yesterday, I have never "spanked the pony" in my entire life, and I'm actually embarrased to report that I have done so. So if I decide to ever ZUMBA again, I am definitely NOT spanking my pony. It's just...wrong...on so many levels.
If I have learned one thing from this, it's that I now know why there are very few fat Latino people...all that shaking, shimmying, gyrating, and yes, spanking works off quite a few tamales.
Gina
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
A Little of Everything
I'm not sure whether I should start with the most recent events first, or back up to where I left off here. I think I'll back up. (Insert repeating beep here.)
Okay.
First on our list, AMY's FIRST BIRTHDAY!
We invited David's mom and dad over, and just had a nice dinner that wasn't too overstimulating for little Amy who was in the middle of a very yucky cold. For dessert, we had pudding pie (1 banana cream, and 1 coconut cream to be exact), and Amy enjoyed her little slice of birthday pie:
Okay.
First on our list, AMY's FIRST BIRTHDAY!
We invited David's mom and dad over, and just had a nice dinner that wasn't too overstimulating for little Amy who was in the middle of a very yucky cold. For dessert, we had pudding pie (1 banana cream, and 1 coconut cream to be exact), and Amy enjoyed her little slice of birthday pie:
After this, she got to do one of her most favorite things--take a bath with Lucy! Not a tremendously exciting celebration for her first year, but I think it was perfect for her.
The other fun thing about Amy's birthday was the Move To The Big Girl Carseat. We first unceremoniously washed the seat cover and belts, and then tried not to swear as we figured out how to put the belts and buckles back in the seat. Lucy got a brand new backless booster seat, and although she isn't 4 yet, she certainly is tall enough to sit in it and not be choked by the seatbelt. So it was a red letter day for both our girls.
Lucy in her new seat:
Amy in her new-to-her seat:
And yesterday (10/2), Amy had her 1 year Well Child Exam. She passed with flying colors. At 29.75 inches long, she is in the 66th percentile. But at only 19 lbs. 4 oz., she is in the 17th percentile for weight. The doctor said this is nothing to worry about, but she should still ride backwards in the car. However, at $80 for a convertible carseat that will only be needed for another 2 weeks or so, I think I'll just slip her a few more ounces of whole milk every day, and add a little red meat to her diet. Not only that, but she was weighed with no clothes. I figure that clothing adds at least 1 pound. She never rides naked in the car. Therefore, I'm keeping her in the forward-facing seat. Bad parenting, or practicality? You make the call. (Just not to CPS.)
Here are two pictures of Lucy that will make you smile (or inwardly shudder):
Finally, a little message from Lucy:
kiiuyyyyyhoh589uuuuuuuuyu7uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu9ou77uuujkyt9iy775 884g000000067076uuuuuuuuuu 5555555555hhhhhhhhhhx56666y6y606hnhn6n6nnny66666ny0y67677 77777787yk966i9060uk76u9i760 9u=0]07==-78]uy[uj;i;ykiokmkuiokk;.
Come and visit again soon!
Gina
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