In His Head

Zack came to the breakfast table this morning a bit earlier than Nathan, and asked if he could pray and start eating. I said sure and he said, "Okay, I'll pray in my head." During breakfast, once we were all eating together at the table, Zack thoughtfully said, "When we pray in our heads, the words travel down our bodies and to our hearts where Jesus can read them."

Old Pants, Big Pants

I've never really been that conscious about my size... It's never really been that big of a deal for me to be fatter than I was when I got married. It doesn't bother Pete in the least, so in turn I'm not really that bothered by the whole weight issue. Last fall, one of my friends (who is also a bit on the bigger side like me) asked me if I wanted to be her workout partner. Not really with the idea of losing weight in mind so much as just getting a bit healthier and seeing where that took us. In the first few months I really didn't notice any changes and I figured that if I was already doing the exercise thing, maybe I should take it a little more seriously and try to make some type of difference. So I did. Starting just after Christmas I re-started my metabolism; ate breakfast every morning so that my body knew that it could get rid of everything in my stomach overnight. Then I started making sure that, along with my 3 times a week workout with my friend, I got a solid and consistent period of physical activity for about an hour every day. Nothing big, just stuff like walking, biking, running after Nathan as he drives the Power Wheels around the neighborhood. And it worked. Since Christmas I've gone down three dress sizes. Three! I've underestimated the expense of weight loss - it requires a new wardrobe! But at least I'm not paying some diet clinic or taking aerobics classes, so I'm okay with that. :) I'm happy with how it's turned out - I never wanted to do the whole diet thing because I knew I just needed to have consistent eating habits and spend more time on my feet... That and I like food too much (especially now that I don't have celiac!). So now I have a healthier body... And a drawer of pants that are WAY too big.

Zack & Mario... And about 30 other people!

We had a blast this weekend here at our house to celebrate Zack's 6th birthday. We had an awesome time with everyone, and as squishy (and chaotic) as it was, Zack LOVED having everyone there with him.

K, my niece Soleil is just about the cutest thing in the entire universe. I can barely handle the cuteness. :)

For those of you who have never seen a tired Nathan before, here he is cuddling with our friend Mike, and he's absolutely pooped.

Wow Bethany, this game is HARD, isn't it?

More Dorky Cupcakes

I made these for my cousin Dale's birthday, and they turned out so cute.

Still Roaming The Earth

Nathan has always been a big fan of dinosaurs. It's one of the things that he spends a lot of time thinking and talking and reading about. He's not really much for TV, but he sits and stares very intently at the TV when watching the only show he cares about - Dinosaur Train. It's a show on PBS on weekday mornings, and it's about a computer animated family of Pteranodons (ter-AN-oh-dons) that take a train to different places and times to learn more about different species of dinosaurs. Nathan thinks this is amazing, and often asks if all the dinosaurs really died because he's pretty sure some of them MUST still be alive and roaming the earth somewhere. Last month Nathan was SO SURE that a set of three footprints in a cluster in the snow was a T-Rex footprint; he stared at it with awed wonder for a really long time. It was adorable. And last week when we were walking Zack into school in the morning, Nathan saw a piece of wood in the gutter by the parking lot and was absolutely certain that it was a dinosaur bone. I sometimes wonder to myself what it would be like if adults still looked at the world with the same amount of excitement that kids do. I think we would have better imaginations.

Things I'm Not Supposed To Hear

Now that Zack is getting a bit older, he's in the "I'm the big brother so do what I say" phase right now. He often tells Nathan to do things for him, but only when I'm out of earshot. Last week the boys were playing at my mom's and while mom and I were upstairs making lunch, I heard Zack in the basement say, "Nathan, if you don't get me a kleenex, I'm going to punch you in the eye." Needless to say, Zack was called upstairs immediately and right away made sure to let me know that he "wasn't gonna really hit him." Hmmmm...

Yesterday, the boys were playing with Lego (surprise!) and I was cooking supper. I leaned around the corner to see Zack poised to whack Nathan on the back of the head. I asked, "Zack, are you going to hit Nathan?" Zack quickly answered, "No mommy, Nathan's hands are busy, so I'm going to give him a high five on his head." Again I say, hmmmmm...