313 Blame It On The Time Change!

I don't know why, but EVERYONE I have talked to is having the same problem. We are all in a pissy mood, or the ones we love are in bad moods. We are snapping over the smallest things. It has to be the time change. We feel like there isn't enough time in the day when it is pitch black by 6pm. The stress levels rise! Its not as though we felt there was enough time in the day to start with, and now it is so much worse. And the kids ... ACK!! Tempers are at the boiling point and something has got to give!! Please tell me that I am not the only one seeing this??

It hasn't helped around here that we all have strep ... AGAIN! Katie missed almost an entire week of school last week. Not to mention what the antibiotics are doing to Connor's poor tushy.

The only thing that is keeping me sane this week is escaping to the track for an hour while Connor takes his nap. No one freak out and call child services! Chip is in the house the entire time, and while he may not provide the level of care to which my kids have become accustomed he can certainly sit on his butt and be an adult(ish type person). WHAT?! I told you I was in a pissy mood!! Okay, so now that is all settled here is what I really wanted to say ... I am ENJOYING working out. I am loving being able to get out in the sun and fresh air. I can't wait for my escape from these walls! Maybe that will be the true motivating factor to me working out. MY SANITY!! Lose the FAT, Keep the SANITY! And I have been doing pretty good. I missed Tuesday (as far as I can remember, but my memory sucks so I might have been out there) and I missed today, but other than that I have been hitting the track. I was all dressed and ready to go today when Katie asked me to stay inside. I can't turn down my girl, right?? We had to do some make-up work for school anyway, but I would have really loved to ESCAPE!!! Katie did come through for me though. I had decided to do some sit-ups and push ups, but when she walked into the room asking what I was doing I thought I would get her involved. Great idea, right?! WRONG!! Now Katie is the Leg Press Nazi! Oh sure, first it started out with 20 ... and she left. But she came back three minutes later and made me do 30 ... and then she wanted me to do 40! I am going to have some strong thighs! Or I would if the poor bugger would put on some weight.

Just as an update ... I have lost 11 pounds. Okay ... FINE!! So that is mainly because I moved the scale away from the wall. I will take it though! I am already 11 pounds closer to my goal of ... yeah, I ain't telling you my goal. My goal is not a number anyway. My goal is a fit body and SANITY. And, when I reach that goal I will post before and after pics ... and I will even tell you how much I weighed.

(you can keep up with our motivation Twitter group by checking out our blog here ---> The Biggest Twatter) If you are trying to get back into working out, or if you are so incredibly in shape that you can offer advise, join us on Twitter or stop in the blog and say hello!!

In Other News: It has only taken seven and a half years, but Bart will FINALLY let Katie pet him without entirely freaking out. As you can see, he still does not enjoy it.

312 It Ain't Baby Fat, Baby

A couple of weeks ago Connor turned two. It was a very sad day for me. My baby is growing up. He is becoming more independent. He is starting to tell us NO on a regular basis. He has even started making moves toward potty training. These are not the reasons that made me the most sad. That reason was this ...

I CAN NO LONGER USE THE "I JUST HAD A BABY" EXCUSE

That chapter of my life is probably closed. I can't point at my little man and blame him for my extra cushioning. At some point it became my fault that I had not dropped the weight when he was born. To be honest, I do blame the fact he was born in early October. I had to eat my way through Halloween, Thanksgiving and Chistmas right after he was born. Fun-size candy bars and Chex Mix sapped my will to resist. And it really wasn't so bad until I was looking through old pics that were posted on facebook... GASP! What in the heck did I do to myself??!! I used to be an athlete! Oh the shame .. almost made me grab an ice cream sandwich, but instead I decided that it is time to hit the track behind the house. I did great ... for a few days. And then ... And then the track looked like this, for almost a week. I really miss that 18 year old body, but not enough to go slogging through that huge puddle.

And then it cleared up, and Monday was GLORIOUS! I went to lunch with Katie and then Connor and I walked/jogged the track. Connor wishes I ran more, but he made it through unscathed. He even fell asleep in the stroller, so I decided to head in. How gorgeous is this? This is the branch that hangs over the path that I almost smack my head on every lap.

I could duck, or snap it off, or any multitude of things, but I just leave it there, dangling into the path. Oh well, makes it a bit easier to count laps, as long as you don't poke out an eye.

I did take a before pic, just in case I ever need it. But really, the only before pic that matters is this one ... Ahhh, high school. How I wish I had realized back then how hot I was ... I thought I was fat. And now I scoff at that idea. One day I hope to be as fat as I was in this pic!

So, feel free to ask how the workouts are going ... it may prod me in the right direction. Right now I am realizing that I definitely do not have those 18 year old knees ... OUCH!

Now to adopt a new mantra ... (an oldie but a goodie) No Pain, No Gain!

Wish me luck (I NEED IT)!

We are trying to get together a little motivational group on Twitter. If you are needing a little push, please find me on there @cjaxon . If you are trying to sell something, no thanks. We are wanting to get healthy the old fashioned way, with sweat and determination.

311 Halloween

The boys at Gold Strike decided to theme it up this Halloween, so they dressed as characters from Blazing Saddles. Chip was Gov. Le Petomane, and we did a bit of scrambling to get his outfit together. Chip actually found the jacket himself for $4 at the thrift store (I am pretty proud of that), but I had to come up with a way to get the GOV on the back, and the jacket had to be altered. And, of course, the boxers had to be sewn closed ;) Jeff is Gabby Johnson. I love that he made his vest out of the lining of a women's jacket he found at the thrift store. Now THAT is ingenuity!! Like Chip's sock garters?Those are some stylin' sheet clips. And the black socks just really set off those Irish white legs.
And my Punk Fairy! This outfit is so very Katie! She has a style that is all her own, and an impish personality to pull it off. And my Viking Warrior. Ready to pillage and plunder! (I know, there are more pics of Connor, but only because he was home while Katie went to Trunk-or-Treat with her girlfriends)And the actual Trick-orTreating... Kaitlyn's Dad hooks up the trailer and gets some bales of hay and we are off! Mommy gets a workout climbing in and out, and the kids get to ride between houses. Perfect arrangement ... well, except for that "dark" thing that makes it so hard to get a decent picture. Katie was excited about taking her brother to the doors, until we were there and she realized that he was slowing her down. She did take him to his first door (you can barely see his little fur spats) Miss Stacy has a bunch of dogs, and Connor would have been perfectly happy to have gone inside to play.My fairy needed to fly!! Connor caught on pretty quickly though, and he became a master of dragging his heavy bag of candy to the door. He refused to let me help him most of the time, and although he didn't say "trick or Treat!" he could certainly open up his little bag and grin! He even charmed Elvis out of a stuffed little elephant.

It was another successful Halloween night. We are overflowing with candy, and hopefully we can dole it out slowly. Connor has already had to have it taken away.

And, the girls have picked out their costumes for next year ... VAMPIRES! I think I can get into dressing up for that one :) ... now where did I put my Elvira costume???

310 SOOC (oops) Sunday

When Mom was out in September she bought a gorgeous begonia, and we decided to propogate a sprig or two just so Katie could watch. I think it is PAST time to transfer this little beauty to some dirt.
SOOC (straight out of Camera) Saturday (or thankfully Sunday) is hosted by Melody at Slurping Life. Melody is currently in the grips of family matters. Struggling to find the strength to deal with recent news. One of her sons was released from his doctor, not because he was "better" but because they felt they could no longer help. If you have any history in dealing with bipolar disorder or any mental disorders and wish to offer her words of encouragement I hope you will stop by her blog. I know she would appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

309 Macro Monday

I have been on a blog low lately. I just can't seem to get myself to the computer with enough time to say anything. I hadn't even looked for a pic for Love Thursday in weeks. I didn't even pull out a SOOC Saturday! How can I be too lazy to NOT edit a picture?? Well, I am feeling it again. I am feeling the need to take pictures, and to look for love. I snuck out onto the track behind my house on Friday after lunch with Katie. The fresh air must have done me a little bit of good, so I headed back out on Saturday. While I was stretching I looked at the track right in front of me, and the heart shapes were jumping out at me. I had my phone there for the tunes, but I clicked a pic off. I will share it on Thursday of course :) But, it is not Thursday yet, so I decided to give Macro Monday a shot. And not only because I had whipped out the macro yesterday. When we ran into Schnuck's we noticed that their long stem roses were a dollar each, and they had several varieties. I am a sucker for a certain little 7 year old, especially when she is asking for something so beautiful. Sure, it isn't even something truly for her ... even better! I was snapping a few shots of them when I got pulled into the whirl of their center. I was so drawn to the center of this rose. Maybe you can see why ... maybe not.
Check out the other Macro Mondays at Lisa's Chaos, she has some amazing pics of a caterpillar up right now!

308 Shadow Oaks Fall Festival

On Friday the 16th, Shadow Oaks Elementary held their yearly Fall Festival. Katie was excited that her Mimi and PopPop would be in town to go with us (especially since PopPop took her to her first Fall Festival when I was still recovering from Connor being born). She almost ruined it by throwing a fit before we even loaded up the van. I told her that we would buy a certain amount of tickets and when those were gone then we would be done ... and she flipped. Turns out she had nothing to worry about. We bought $20 worth of tickets and toward the end she was sharing them with a buddy and we still barely finished them all.
One of our first stops was to Mrs. Hite's room. This was Katie's First Grade teacher, and she absolutely loves her!! The object of this game was simple, you flipped over one leaf and there would be a number 1, 2, or 3. Katie flipped over a three! She was so excited because she won a pencil (she has a thing for pencils, you wouldn't understand). The funniest thing though, Kaitlyn and her family were walking around with us. Kaitlyn reached over and flipped the very same leaf ... she knew it was a winner. Sneaky little thing :)

This was also Katie's weekend with Shadow, her Second Grade classes chameleon. Each student gets to take Shadow home for one weekend, and you are supposed to take Shadow along with you everywhere. I am sure Shadow had a blast, even though he ended up spending most of his time with Connor.

My favorite thing was "Make A Bracelet". At least you walked out of the room with a bracelet! Yup, that is my girl, staring off into space. *SIGH* This was Katie's favorite game from the year before.Jaclyn, Katie, and (I wanna say Brianna) Cute as can be, aren't they?! Katie and Abbey getting ready to go into the Haunted House. Katie had already been through once with Mimi so she was an old pro. Abbey had tried to go before and decided to turn back. I took both girls through the first time, and then they went through another time with another friend Shelby. I am so glad to know that our girls have a little bit of adventure! (but not too much) When we went outside to go to the Haunted House we sent PopPop off in search of Funnel Cake. After multiple trips through the Haunted House we headed back in to find him. He had finally acquired his very own funnel cake, and then he went off in search of us. He ended up outside the Cake Walk room .... ...Where he beat out four little girls dfor a six-pack of cupcakes. Poor little things. Connor did not mind that PopPop crushed the hopes of little girls for these cupcakes, they still tasted yummy to him!! And FINALLY, after two hours and $20.00 in tickets, we headed home. Katie barely even pouted! We grabbed some Chick-fil-A sandwiches and nuggets on the way out, and we hightailed it home. Another successful Festival extraction!

307 - Grovin'

It has been a while, but I wanted to put up the pics from our Saturday in the Grove. Every football season we try to get as many of the old crew together, mostly people that were either in Phi Psi or that hung out at the house with us. It is also the perfect excuse to get together with my best girls. (even if Katie asked me if Andrea was still in college because she looks so young)And our kids get to play together while we talk about the day when they will be students at Ole Miss. They are young and we can decide their futures for now. Luckily the Crawford's are ALWAYS prepared. This time they brought this ladder game which was a huge hit. And considering that we picked the Ole Miss/Alabama to attend there was a lot of time to kill since individual tickets were hard to find.And what trip would be complete without a trip to The Union to visit the bookstore. This pic was taken this year ... This picture was taken in 2007. Where did our wee munchkins go??Toward the end, the kids were getting restless so I let them take turns taking pictures. I think Riley took this one for us.And Molly took this pic.Even Chloe got in on the fun. Chloe loved to take pics!!Another Riley shot

The kids went back and forth from the tree where they could climb, to the chairs where they could draw. They got along surprisingly well. It is a good thing they were happy drawing because the Grove was a huge mudpie.

We can't wait to see everyone again. We will make a trip down NOLA way soon!!