Happily Ever After...

Yesterday Chris and I hit our 14th year of wedded bliss. yea.
Baylie, in awe of our 'oldness', said "but I am only 11 and you've been married 14" "Uh huh" I replied, thinking what's your point? "Well, why'd you wait so long to have me?" See...parents can never do anything right.

wHaT a CuTe fAcE!!

Kindergarten Central Market Trip

cheese samples

The live lobster & crabs.

Watching how to make sushi.

Tasting a sample of the delicious pizza!

Mrs Turnage's Kindergarten class
Samples of the chocolate peanut butter gelato!

Nolan and Kaven hold the peace sign everytime!

Suessical the Musical

Kevan, Nolan & Matthew- Kindergarten

Mrs. Rennhack & Mrs. Scott

John Jackson, Ben, John Luke, and Nathan Goode

3rd grade

Ben, John Luke, & Nathan

Westlake Academy went on a field trip to see Suessical the Musical. (Baylie was not in any photos...she had all 4 wisdom teeth pulled! She refused to let me take any photos when her face was SWOLLEN and both cheeks badly bruised, poor Bayz.)

Scouts @ CPK

Nolan got lucky and got to make a pizza too!

The scouts went to California Pizza Kitchen today. Toured the restaurant, learned all there is to know about working at a pizza joint, and made and tasted their creations. It is fun to be a Bear Scout! (and delicious!)

Eggs Under Pressure

Baylie and 2 friends, Emma Kappahan and Micayla Lynch, entered the science fair and won 3rd place for the school. They went to the Fort Worth regional science fair this week. Because they are in 6th grade, they were ineligible to go to state. Technically, the science fair is for 8th-12th grades. It was a big honor to win due to their ages and who they were competing with.

Her research project, eggs under pressure, was about the strength of arches. I think they went through at least 10 dozen eggs.

Muffy has ESCAPED!

Baylie's Chilean Rose-Haired tarantula has escaped the comfort of it's cricket filled cage. We have searched for 2 hours with flashlights searching the dark crevasses and under beds...no avail. We will all be getting the willies in the middle of the night thinking a furry spider is crawling in our bed!! Arghhhh.

A Valentine Orchid For Me?

Okay, I thought I might as well take a picture while it lasts...Chris got me a potted Orchid for Valentine's Day. I kill everything that grows. We will see how long it lives.

happy valentine's day

Happy Valentine's Day!! During the school assembly, Ben was chosen to be in the dance contest...he was not shy.
Ms. Schneider's 3rd grade played Valentine Bingo with conversation hearts.
Kindergarten decorated heart cookies and ate lots of sugared Valentines! (Hollie, Kevan, & Nolan)

Nolan with his Valentine's Day box.

Ben put a red heart sticker on his forehead.... the rest of the day the permanent ink did not come off...cute.

Ms. Schneider and the 3rd grade class. Ben is in the front with the boy, Aidan, laying on top of him and the girl above, Gracie with her hand on his head. (the one with the red ink on his forehead)

A valentine for my mom-flap

I promise to commit myself to you fully. We all know it's not easy to do that but I also know that I must. There have been times in the past when I have not done all I said I would do. There have been days when frankly I just forgot about you. Or didn't want to face you. But that's behind me now. I promise to give you the time and attention you need. I promise to take you—us—seriously, and to value and make the most of the time we spend together. Today, tomorrow, and every day.
Except weekends. I mean, everyone needs a little time off.
You see when I committed myself to busting that mom-flap—the extra chunk of flubber round the midsection brought about by having babies—I specified only 5 minutes, 5 days a week.
Five minutes! You'd think I could have managed that. But I confess that I've had my weak moments of falling off the ab workout wagon. Some lasted whole weeks. Okay, I was sick. Okay, I was traveling...but yes, we all know that, okay, I am also just making excuses for poor motivation. Because even 5 minutes 5 times a week is really hard on weak tummy muscles. Five minutes is like a triathlon for the tummy of a tired and lazy mom.
I will admit I started with enthusiasm on my mission to banish the absolutely flabulous tire around my waist, my flabdominals. Like many a mom, I had grown tired of the spongy skin roll spilling over my jeans, and I was motivated to do something about it. I cannot quit in disgust after the first week of bicycle crunches and retire, crushed, to the couch with a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. I cannot stay somewhere in between—in the squishy middle of things. I've been on and off over this tummy torturing and I can banish that belly-jiggle. Since I renewed my vows today, I haven't missed a day of mom-flap-murdering and I'll tell you it feels so good. Actually, it feels very bad—exercise always does—but I can say for sure that even a sporadic few weeks of 5-minute tummy tweakouts has improved my overall ab vibe. I may not possess any visible core strength, but somewhere in there, deep beneath the wibbly layers I feel...something. And that's a heck of a lot better than nothing.
So I vow again to you, the boppy-like layer of midriff squishiness I gained post-baby, that I will workout, just 5 minutes, 5 times a week. Together, we can grow stronger every day!
P.S. Thank you Chris for ordering the "ab-ripper" video for me via ebay...preciate it.