Just Breathe

Every morning we listen to "Addison's Cd's" on our way to Miss Linda's. As soon as I get in the car, she starts asking for her songs. The Cd's consist of every children's song written since the beginning of time. I have all Cd's memorized and start singing the next song before it even begins. Whenever I am sick and tired of one or just need a change of pace I change them out.

This morning I was in the process of changing it and Addison began to make her whining noise. As she was beginning her cry, Jackson said, "Addison, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out."

At least he knows how to relieve stress, calm down and blow off steam!

We Need An Intervention

It is time for an intervention. Addison is addicted to Elmo. I'm not talking about a mild crush, this is a full-blown addiction. She wakes up talking about Elmo and goes to sleep talking about Elmo. When we walk in the house, the first thing she says is, "I want to watch Elmo."

About the time school started, I began recording Sesame Street for Addison to watch. At first, she could take it or leave it. She wasn't too interested in it. Over time, however, she began to watch more and more of it. Now she wants to watch it every moment she is awake. Well, not every moment, sometimes she requests Tinkerbell. But, Elmo ranks far above Tinkerbell.

There have been some positive things come out of all this Sesame Street time, though. She has learned many of her letters, how to count, all of her shapes and most importantly how to eat like Cookie Monster.

I don't know how we are going to handle this problem. Should I make her quit cold-turkey or wean her off slowly?

I guess there are worse things she could be addicted to. At least I don't have to wean her off a pacifier.

So Much To Be Thankful For

I guess you can tell from all the smiling faces that we had a fun Thanksgiving!

We left for Oklahoma on Tuesday evening. We arrived at my grandparents' house just before midnight. The kids fell asleep about 30 minutes from their house, so they were wired after they woke up. We stayed up for a while talking and laughing at the kids, then we called it a night.

On Wednesday, we made a big breakfast and went for a walk. My grandmother went with us and, let me just say, she kept a pretty good pace for an 80 year-old woman! We walked down to the creek and back. Addison walked the whole time, too. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed walking and talking. We have four-wheelers up there, but I like to get out and walk too. You can see so much more when you are walking than you can when you are riding. I want the boys to see the deer tracks, mushroom, flowers, bugs and any other fun thing we pass along the way. You can't do that from the seat of a four-wheeler.

Thursday, we decided to just have cereal for breakfast and eat Thanksgiving dinner for lunch! Drew and I had fun making all the side dishes. We spent about 3 hours cooking and everyone was stuffed in about 20 minutes. We didn't make a whole turkey this year. We just had a turkey breast. We also had ham. We don't get all fancy or anything up there. We just keep things simple. No one to impress up in the woods in Oklahoma! I didn't even matter that I forgot my entire make-up bag at home!

Friday, Drew, Bryson and I went on a hike across the creek. We always try to do this at least once while we are there. Jackson had a bad experience hiking last year, so he didn't go with us. He stayed back at the house with Addison and my grandparents. The water in the creek was so COLD and I have to mentally prepare myself to cross it. We only got wet up to our knees, but when it is that cold it is pretty painful. The creek is about 30-40 yards wide, so we were in the water for several minutes trying to cross. The water was rushing pretty fast and the rocks are slippery, so we had to go slowly or risk falling in.

On the other side of the creek is a steep incline that we climbed. Once at the top (maybe 100 yards up) we walked along the ridge to the waterfall. This is where we always go when we cross the creek. It has been fun to see it in each of the different seasons and how it has changed in the years we have been going. Bryson slipped and fell in at one point, so he was in a HORRIBLE mood for part of the trip. I was surprised to see two hunters up the creek, also. We have never seen any other people and I was a little scared when I heard men's voices. They did ask why we weren't wearing orange. I guess we should have thought about it being hunting season. Once Bryson fell in the water, though, we didn't need orange on. His crying and wailing announced our presence to all around! We hiked for about 2 hours that day. The weather was absolutely beautiful.

Today we spent the morning playing in the fire outside and sitting around talking. We finally made our way back inside and got ready to leave. We hate to go, but we will be back for Christmas. Bryson just cries his little eyes out every time we leave. It just breaks my heart. He loves it up there and loves all the attention he gets from my grandparents. I remember my sister and I crying the same way when we had to leave. I am so glad my grandparents are still around to spoil my kids with attention and affection. I am thankful that they get to experience some of the same things I did as a kid. I feel at home up there and want to enjoy it as much as I can while it is still available to us.

I took about 250 pictures this week. I will post most of them on Facebook.

She's Got Legs...

and she knows how to use them!

While Drew and I were "helping" Jackson with his turkey project, Addison was playing dress up or dress down in her room. She came out looking like this. She was also singing. She was a sight to behold! I just had to share!



This is Jackson's turkey project. He may or may not have had help from Drew and myself. I think his cowboy turkey turned out rather cute.

Blood Pressure

I began having trouble with my blood pressure when I was pregnant with Bryson. At least, that is when it was first diagnosed. I took blood pressure medication throughout all three pregnancies and some in between. High blood pressure and heart disease run on both sides of my family. I have always struggled with my weight. (Being raised on McDonald's, Taco Bell and good home cooking definitely had something to do with that.) I have always been fairly active, so I know that has helped. Almost a year ago I decided that since I was finished having kids I needed to focus more on my health. I began watching what I ate and tried to change up my work outs. I lost some and then just stalled. I tried to tell myself I would start losing again, but I never did. I tried to focus more on the health benefits of exercise instead of on the number on the scale. Some days it works and some days it doesn't. Today I got some concrete evidence that all my hard work is paying off. I give blood several times a year and they always check your blood pressure and cholesterol during their screening. My blood pressure today was 100/65! That is unheard of for me! I am usually around 130/high 70's. I will get to see in a week or so what my cholesterol is. I am going to TRY to focus on the fact that I feel so much better now than I did this time last year. I know what I am doing is working. It is hard when the number on the scale doesn't go down. I would like to see it go down so I could feel like getting up during the week at 4:15 to work out is worth it. I KNOW it is worth it, but I would still like to see a smaller number. Anyway, I won't talk about the number on the scale since I just said I was going to focus on how good I feel! This IS going to be hard! At least I KNOW the inside of my body is healthy. The outside may not be so great but the inside is BEAUTIFUL!

I Cannot Be Trusted

I have proven, once and for all, that I cannot be trusted. After Halloween I separated the "kid" candy from the chocolate "Mommy" candy. I told myself I could have one or two small pieces whenever I had a craving I couldn't ignore. That lasted about a day, maybe less. I decided that if I froze it I wouldn't be as likely to want it. I still wanted it. I wanted it even worse than when it wasn't frozen. I tried to tell myself that one or two pieces every once in a while wouldn't hurt anything. Once again, I was WRONG! One or two pieces turned into three or four pieces EVERY night. I couldn't stop myself. Well, I didn't really try very hard to stop myself. So, tonight, while Drew and the boys are gone, I did the UNTHINKABLE. I. Threw. Away. The. Candy. The WHOLE gallon bag. Gone. In the trash. I almost put it in the deep freezer in the garage, but I knew that wouldn't keep me out of it. So, there. I did it. It is out of my freezer and out of my house. (Technically, it is still in the garage, but I would have to be really sick to dig it out of the trash can. I do have standards.) Starting right now, not tomorrow right NOW, I am going to try to kick this sugar/chocolate habit for good. If you see me crying, just know it's all about the chocolate.

Poo Poo: A Conversation

Addison: Mommy, I poo poo.

Me: Addison, why did you poo poo?

Addison: I don't know.

Me: Where are you suppose to poo poo?

Addison (singing): Poo poo goes in the potty, not on your body.

Me: That's right, Addie. Poo poo goes in the potty. Why didn't you tell me you needed to poo poo?

Addison: I don't know.

Me: Why did you poo poo in your diaper?

Addison: I don't know why I did that. It just came out.

She will get it one day. She will get it one day.