My Swing...

Two years ago, for our anniversary, Jason bought me a swing to hang from one of our many trees! Well, you wouldn't think it, but we really don't have any trees that have low enough branches to hang anything from. So after "looking up" in the trees for that "just right" branch, we found one...right in the front yard! 

We hung the swing on Sunday and both boys, especially Jack, can be found swinging in the front yard!!

The front of the swing has the sweetest message!!

 I absolutely LOVE my swing!!

It's the first thing I see when I come down our driveway.

It's just one of those little things that make you happy!

Really?

I have learned NOT to leave my phone behind in the car with the boys,while I run into a store.

 Oh Really...You too Jack!?

Can you still see the little photo bomber?

Nice.

A Little Lacrosse...

We have a new sport in our family this spring! Sam is playing Lacrosse and loving it!! He has had a few games and I am still learning the rules, but I must say, I am LOVING watching Sam play this new sport!!

Look! Look! 

The famous head tilt happens even in Lacrosse!!

Here Sam caught the ball and is now getting ready to "dribble" with it in his net. This involves rolling the stick back and forth very quickly while you run!

He is actually dribbling and moving here!

 He stop..He passes!

Here, Sam is getting prepared to run into the face off.

See the boys in the lower right corner? They are facing off. The same as a jump ball in basketball. Each player is trying to get the ball in their stick and head to the goal. Almost anything goes to get the ball, except for high sticking and slashing with your stick.

Every once in awhile, I will catch the one shot of Sam looking for me in the stands! It's one of my favorite pictures to catch him looking for me in the crowd!

Even though the look on his face may tell a different story, I no longer wave like a lunatic and yell, "SAM!!! SAM!!! Over her kiddo!!!" Nope. Not anymore. Now I just laugh really loud so he knows his number one fan is there!  But, unfortunately, he has talked to me about that, too.

Zombies Coming Soon!

The boys and I were at the mall and noticed that one of mine and Jason's favorite hamburger joints is going to open in the food court. I say mine and Jason's favorite place, because the boys WILL NOT have anything to do with Zombie Burger!

"Let's get a picture with the set up," suggested Jack.

Where the restaurant will be located is boarded up with wood planks, green paint splatters all over, Zombies Reported newspaper articles nailed up...it is great!!

If you didn't know this already, Sam is terrified of Zombies. What snakes do to me, is what zombies do to Sam.  He calls it his phobia! The only difference between our phobias is that mine is real and I can come across them in the yard.  Sam's phobia is not real, meaning, he is not going to come across them in the yard. 

Jack was insistent that Sam HAD to take photo,too.  So Sam put on his brave face (though you cannot see it) and we got a shot!

I asked him how he is every going to walk pass this place when it is open?  He told me matter of factly, "Look the other way and run past."  Just like I do when I come across snakes!!
 It's a good plan.

Don't Forget!!

Can you tell by my pink shawl what I did last week?

Don't forget to get yourself checked!

Just a friendly personal reminder, from a person who is hurting for blog material!!

A Life Question...

Sam and Jack have the same parents and, for the most part, have been raised in the same manner. My life question is, how can two kids come from the same background and parents and be SOOO extremely different!

Example: The difference between the boys' shoe cubbies.

 This is Jack's. He stands way back from his cubbie and kicks his shoes into the cubbie each afternoon after school. You can't see the black rubber marks on the back of the cubbie where the shoes hit every day, but trust me, they are there.

This is Sam's. He places his shoes into his cubbie together and matched. His new white shoes are not in the cubbie, due to the fact that they would get dirty and scratched. 

Jack is such a mini-Jason.

Sam is such a mini-Katie.

:)

It's the Little Things!

I get super excited when I see certain digital times on my phone! Take a "gander" at some of the times I have taken pictures of...because it made me happy! NO fair setting an alarm..it has to be by pure chance!

My birthday is March, 11 or 3-11!

 Number order!

Reverse number order!

Double "ones" in number order!

 Double "threes" in number order!

Do you have any "little" things that you make you happy?

My Exercise Continues...

Yep. Lucky me. I am still exercising. And yes, I wear yoga pants to work out in. Don't worry, I wear a LARGE t-shirt to cover up my butt. I don't want to be the gal in the red shirt!!

I have told my personal trainer that I really don't like to wear these pants, so I wear a large t-shirt to cover up my "areas." After I was talking to her about this, she had me do barbell dead lifts. (WHAT??) Below shows what a barbell dead lift looks like on a gal that is tan, has on make-up, washed her hair before working out and well, obviously works out.

Now, think of the opposite of this gal. And that would be me doing a dead lift...in my yoga pants (UGH!), big t-shirt, no make-up, hair not washed, but I HAVE brushed my teeth!

Did you catch I have a personal trainer? Two free sessions came with Jason signing up with the new gym. I participated in my two free sessions and decided, after much contemplation,  to sign up for a month of sessions. There was a special. 

I meet with her two-three times a week. She works me hard, which is what she is suppose to do. Isn't it strange, I pay someone to make my body hurt! We worked on my legs so much one day, it hurt to sit on the toilet! 

Anyway, I came across an article titled, "28 Apologies to Make to Your Trainer Right Now." I will share a few that I may have to apologize to my trainer for someday.

~I’m sorry for hiring you to help me lose 20 pounds before a vacation that’s just two weeks away, even though those results are humanly impossible.  

~I’m sorry for complaining that I didn’t have enough time to work out this week ... the same week I binge-watched “House of Cards” for 12 hours.

~I'm sorry for falling off the treadmill this morning because I went out until 4 a.m. the night before our session and showed up still drunk. (this one made me laugh...I am 99.9% sure I won't have to apologize for this one...I can't stay up until 4:00am!)

~I’m sorry I was running late this morning and didn’t have time to brush my teeth … or apply deodorant. Try not to inhale too deeply when correcting my form.

~ I’m sorry my early morning gas levels too accurately reflected the amount of greasy cheat meals I had over the weekend. 

(I soooo hope this doesn't happen when I push myself!!)

~I'm sorry I asked you deeply personal questions about your life just to get you talking so I could take a water break. 

(oh geez. I could actually apologize for this one, but I explained to her  that I will talk a lot so time goes faster. That's ok isn't it?)

~I’m sorry I forgot my sports bra. Can we skip cardio today? 

(Hmmm...I could use this excuse!)

 

Have a good weekend!

I am going to go to take some ibuprofen, rub icy-hot all over myself and maybe sit in a tub of Epson Salts. Wow! Good times.

 

Family Game Night!

The boys love to play games and Jack got a new one called Telestrations. It is sooo much fun to play and I would highly recommend it for your family!

 

 

Each player gets a dry-erase sketch pad. A word is picked from a card by the roll of a die. Everyone draws a picture of their word then passes their sketch pad to the next person. That person looks at the picture that was drawn  and writes a guess of the word/phrase in the pictue. Pass again. That person then draws what the previous person wrote down. The last person guesses the word one final time. Work a bit like this illustration...

 We loved playing and got loads of laughs especially at this one from Jack.  This is the final sketch that came to Jack.

 The original word was "window pane." Easy enough.

Jack looked closely and wrote down his guess after much thought: Stalker.

I laughed so hard!! 

We soon discovered that adding "details" to drawings wasn't always helpful.

The Book of Unknown Americans

Have been trying to catch up on my huge stack of books beside my bed that are waiting to be read! The last two I read are a bit shorter, but that makes me feel as if I am a reading machine!

The first book is The Book of Unknown Americans.

 

From Amazon:

Arturo and Alma Rivera have lived their whole lives in Mexico. One day, their beautiful fifteen-year-old daughter, Maribel, sustains a terrible injury, one that casts doubt on whether she’ll ever be the same. And so, leaving all they have behind, the Riveras come to America with a single dream: that in this country of great opportunity and resources, Maribel can get better.

 The book opens with the Rivera family being dropped off at their new apartment. They have very few belongings and can't speak a bit of English. The first thing they would like to do is go to the grocery store, but they have no idea where a grocery store could possibly be and can't even ask due to not being able to speak English.  It breaks your heart and reminds you that this is probably an every day occurrence for many families that have come to the United States seeking better lives for themselves and for their families.

When Mayor Toro, whose family is from Panama, sees Maribel in a Dollar Tree store, it is love at first sight. It’s also the beginning of a friendship between the Rivera and Toro families, whose web of guilt and love and responsibility is at this novel’s core.

Mayor is a boy that has been picked on and bullied because he isn't from America and he can't play sports like his older brother. He falls for Maribel even after realizing she has a brain injury and goes to a "different" school. It is such a wonderful, simple, first love story of two "outcasts" that accept each other for who they are.







Woven into their stories are the testimonials of men and women who have come to the United States from all over Latin America. Their journeys and their voices will inspire you, surprise you, and break your heart. 

The families live in an apartment complex that has many other immigrants from other Latin countries. Those stories are told between the chapters of the main story of the Riveras and the Toros. 


This book was such an eye opener on how and why people immigrate to the United States and the adapting is not an easy road. The culture shock is heart breaking at times, but the support for  each other in the community is heart warming. It is just another reminder, that everyone has a story that may not be apparent from just looking at them. 

My Little Fishermen...

Over spring break, the boys had the opportunity to do a little fishing! Sam has fished before, but that was years ago. This was an entirely new experience for Jack and he loved every minute!

 Right away, Sam got a bite. I am proud to say that he put the worm on his hook, after digging through the cup to find the perfect worm. He did need a little help from his friend to get the hook out of the fish, due to it being hooked in the fish's eye. GROSS!!

Jack wasn't far behind with his catch! 

He was super proud of himself! 

 The day was perfect and both boys enjoyed every minute of it!

 Love this picture of Jack, he looks like a little Tom Sawyer with his jeans all rolled up.

Later, Jack asked if fishing was a sport. Absolutely I told him. He then asked, "So when people ask what sports I play and I can say baseball and fishing?" Sure, why not.

Backyard TeePee

Only at our house would a visit turn into a teepee building afternoon!

After Jack got home from school, he said he was going to go upstairs and play his video game. I told him to look outside and think of what he could do out there...it was such a wonderful day to be wasted playing vids!

 I suggested he collect some sticks and build a little house on the patio.  I then had to go  pick up Sam from school and my mom, who had stopped by, said she would  hang out with Jack while I was gone. 

When I came back, my mom is outside with torn sheets and tying sticks together for Jack. I shared with them that when I suggested making a house, I really wasn't thinking of  "making a house!"

Good thing my mom is tall and that I had an old sheet in the garage!

My mom turned out to be a pretty darn good teepee builder! She cut the edges of the sheet to wrap around the sticks...I am still trying to figure out how she did that!

As Jack stated, a perfect little outdoor activity!

 When I tucked Jack into bed last night he said he really had fun playing outside and building his teepee and then said out loud,  

"I wonder what else can you do outside like that?"  

 That just proved to me that Jack needs to get outside more!