What the kids are up to...

I can't go too many days without posting some pictures of my kids : ) (although these aren't great quality)

These are from earlier this week when it was too cold to go out and jump, but yesterday they had gym and it should be nice enough to go out today - Yay! that means they (and mommy & daddy) will get some good sleep.

Getting practice -we're in full baby mode around here!

Looking for "clues" in the dryer. They each have pencils and Pocket Medicine spirals that they can write in -they sit down and discuss their "schedules", too funny.

I love this storage ottoman I got for my blankets, unfortunately it's usually filled with stuffed animals and acting as a treasure chest or boat.

P90X "guideline"

Okay, I won't blog about P90X everyday, I promise - but I gotta tell you a little secret my husband let me in on (he must have been testing me, I guess)...there's another, more flexible, way to prepare the meals other than the meal plan!!!
Which would have me making stuff like:
8 oz. Swordfish with 3 tbsp. mango-ginger sauce, Miso soup, Halibut, Gazpacho, Quinoa, Steak & Arugula Salad - forgive my ignorance but I don't even know what some of these are!! (and I don't even like seafood)

The other way is a guideline telling you how many fruits, vegetables, protein, carbs, dairy, etc. to have each day and it gives a list of "acceptable" examples like chicken, v-8, a banana, turkey bacon, whole wheat bagel, carrots, cottage cheese....ya know stuff easy to find & prepare!

What was he thinking??? I'm not a good cook and I might just have given up if I had to make Butternut Squash soup again like last night. Have you ever made that? Chopping it up is like cutting a brick!!!

And, I caught him cheating this morning!! I made him turkey sausage with egg whites on whole wheat english muffin (his only carb for the day :0 ) with 1 cup of v-8 and he snuck in orange juice!! He only gets 1 fruit and I put a banana in his lunch, I told him. Can't say I blame him but his response was "it's only a guideline", haha.

Little odd fact

Something about OK I found out about the hard way....
I had to get wine for last night's soup so I went to the wine store on the corner by Subway, which is how we ended up getting a sandwich, but anyway...I saw on the door it read "under 21 not permitted" and silly, reasonable me assumed it meant minors without an adult.
Nope, I walked in both kids in tow as usual and the lady said "oh, they can't come in here". I was like "really?" and then a man (owner/mgr?) explained it's a weird OK law.
"Um...okay" I say "well, I can't leave them out on the sidewalk." I bet they love people like me, haha but seriously they are 2 and 4 and it was about 30 degrees out.
So I told him what I needed & he got it for me and while we stood by the door.
Then as we were leaving I realized they never even checked my ID - so much for obeying the law, huh?

P90X dinner

Just a little update - the P90X workout made Bryce sick because it's so intense. So, really, is there any hope for me?? LOL.
Dinner was salmon (I bought lemon-dill seasoning & didn't use their recipe for it -too much work) with wild rice, asparagus (easy enough) and Red Pepper soup. Which was time consuming - not difficult, just lots to cut up. But get this...the recipe is for 12!! Bryce's serving? one cup!! So I've gotta find a way to preserve it because I'm not wasting an entire pot of it.
The kids and I split a sandwich from Subway :) and I baked Chocolate Chip Walnut cookies, heehee.
Bryce did the dishes...woohoo!
Oh, and the weights we were getting off Craig's List? The guy sold them to someone else! What a rat!

P90X

I cringe when I hear "P90X". Have you seen the infomercials? Get ripped in 90 days! It's all I've heard about from Bryce for months and he got it for Christmas plus the pull up bar & we have arrangements to pick up weights and a bench this weekend (good deal, craig's list). Does he need all this? Have you seen my husband? No, he's not in desperate need of a fitness plan.
I'm happy for him, I admire him, he's excited.
The catch??
Besides the fact he'll try to recruit me to join him as soon as the baby is born :0 ...It comes with a very precise meal plan. No more nice winter soups & stews, which I love cause the leftovers are good (hence, less cooking for a tired mom) but I will try to cook dinner according to his P90X plan. His compromise -which relieves me from preparing the specific breakfasts, snacks & lunches, haha.
He's doing his first video right now. I think I'll go lie in bed and watch :)

Downtown Ice Skating

OKC has a celebration called "Downtown in December" with lights, snow tubing, ice skating, and all kinds of holiday stuff. Last month it was just too cold to go but Saturday it warmed up to 68 degrees! (This was a welcome change since it was predicted to be 70 on Friday and stayed cloudy and 45!) So we headed downtown to take advantage of the beautiful afternoon & catch the weekend of the holiday celebration.

We always seem to start off with the kids rolling down their favorite hill... even though it had holiday decor all around.

Then we headed over to check out the snow tubing and decided the kids were not really old enough for that (it was pretty high) so we took pictures on the buffalo.

This one I was not going to post but...after spotting Ben in the background, Lindy & I had a good laugh so I thought you may too!

On the way to the ice skating rink (which was farther than I thought) we found a playground we didn't know about.

So we had to stop and play a bit...

And it was dark by the time we made it to the ice skating rink. It was the 1st time for both of the kids to skate and I hated it that I couldn't get on the ice with them :( and I found out Aunt Lindy had never ice skated before, so that left just Daddy to skate - well, I think he more or less carried them, haha. But they were both excited to skate!

They took turns - Ben went first.

Then Brin.

Then while watching them skate...

the wind picked up and the temp dropped about 30 degrees!

We only had jackets and were freezing!!! as you can tell from every one's faces.

Time to go!

but we were several blocks from our car and all the restaurants...Poor things were huddled together on the street corner saying "were freezing & starving!" I knew it would be colder Sunday, but I had no idea the cold front was coming so soon.

Looks like I've already blown my chances for the 2009 Mom of the year award - lol.

So, my kids also had their first cab ride : )

Then we ate at a nice, warm restaurant so the evening was saved.

Pretend Peaches

The kids were playing and I heard Brinley crying so I walked over to investigate...

Me: What's going on?
Brinley: Ben took my peaches.

Me: Did you take her peaches? Where are they?
Ben: They're in my pocket.

I look at his pockets bewildered.
Ben: They're pretend peaches!

Me: Oh! ....give Brinley back her peaches.

He does. She's happy as a lark until he grabs, yells "I got your peaches" and runs away. She starts crying again.

So, my apologies to all the people who bought my kids gifts at Christmas, they would rather play with their pretend peaches : )

Happy New Year !!

We are looking forward to 2009 and are excited about our upcoming family addition. New Year's resolutions, anyone?
I just have a couple of personal goals...I want to be a better mom - a calmer disciplinarian. I pray for the patience to take a deep breathe and dole out the punishments with resolve but without raising my voice (that's the challenge!)
I could say be a better wife - cook & clean more but who am I kidding? I'm about to have a baby so I'll work on being a more loving wife : )

So, no monumental leafs for me to turn over...I'm just hoping to survive 3 kids, lol.

What are your 2009 resolutions?