Be healthy, feel good, and enjoy a freaking cookie!!

I have been having a difficult time lately finding a happy food balance in my life. One day I eat perfectly clean and work out and feel great and then the next I cave and eat whatever junk I can get my hands on and then am incredibly hard on myself. I then convince my eyes and my mind that because I ate poorly my stomach grew 3 inches and that I ultimately look gross (even though my clothes still fit.)

After texting back and forth with a friend I realized that I just need to stop this. It is not healthy, it is not fun, and it is really not making me a happy person. I am not someone who can give up all foods and eat clean 24/7. As I have established before, I really do love food. It is something that I grew up with by having my family in the restaurant business and it is a part of who I am. However, that doesn't mean I need to give up and not care about what I eat either, because well, I know it can be a downward spiral.

I do really well in the morning time. I wake up, work out (most days) and then make myself a green protein smoothie. The contents change from day to day as to what is in the smoothie but 6 out of 7 mornings this is what I do for breakfast. I am not a coffee drinker but I have really become obsessed with making the homemade version of Starbucks Iced Green Tea (unsweetened). It is a perfect amount of caffeine and cold and refreshing for these nice warm mornings we have had lately. Around 9:30/10:00am I am ready for a snack. When I have healthy options on hand, I easily go for them. A handful of almonds with some raisins mixed in, any flavor of a Larabar, or even carrots with hummus. If we do not have healthy snacks on hand, I pretty much eat whatever seems quickest. It does not fail that every day around 2:00 is when the cravings begin. I just want to eat anything and honestly everything that is sweet or junky in my house. I typically have my lunch either at 12:00pm with the kids or I will wait until 1:00 and eat once they are down for naps (sometimes its just nice to eat by myself without someone nabbing half of my meal). No matter what time I have my lunch though, the craving always hits around 2:00. I have never had an addiction to cigarettes or alcohol or anything of that sort but its almost like my body or brain releases something that tells me to go and eat unhealthy foods at the same time everyday and I cannot seem to stop the craving. I have tried drinking water or more tea to tell myself I am not hungry. I have tried to just resist the urge, but most days I just cave. As I have said before the whole "just eat one bite" or "moderation is key" that is all BS to my brain.

All playdates should begin with donuts, right?!

Most nights I cook. I'd say 5 out of the 7 nights, and I typically focus on making a healthy meal. Protein with veggies, salad and baked small red potatoes, spaghetti squash, some form of tacos with whatever protein we have on hand, etc. Josh is an adventurous eater as long as onions are not involved so we try to make fun new healthy foods quite often. This week I made a "skinny" version of fettuccine alfredo with spaghetti squash as our noodles and a sauce that does not contain a stick of butter and whole milk and it was surprisingly delicious!! However, when we decide to indulge we go out with a bang. The other night we ordered the Domino's box that came with a pizza, bread sticks and cinnamon sticks. Let's just say it was freaking awesome and we will leave the details behind how much we consumed out of that box to your imaginations =).

A few things we have really changed in our diets are first off cutting out cow's milk. The kids drink either almond milk or coconut milk and that is what we add to our smoothies as well. Occasionally we will use cow's milk if a recipe calls for it and I feel as if our alternatives will not be a good substitute. We have cut back on our consumption of cheese a lot. A sprinkle on a baked potato or a sprinkle on top of a taco is about all we really do. We always do whole wheat noodles,when we actually eat noodles and not spaghetti squash. At the beginning of the week we try and grill up a few packages of chicken to add to our meals, hard boil some eggs to eat for breakfast/snacks/salads, and my favorite is when we take a medley of vegetables, chop them up, put them on a baking sheet, cover them in a tiny bit of oil/salt/pepper/seasonings and grill them. Man oh man they take on the most amazing flavor and I can add them to eggs the next day for lunch or reheat in a skillet for dinner the next night as well.

Skinny Spaghetti Squash Alfredo! DELISH

I guess what I am getting at is that I need to get to a place of consistently being happy and not being so hard on myself when I do eat poorly (like this afternoon when I may or may not have eaten almost an entire sleeve of Halloween Oreo's), or to not fret if I don't make it to the gym daily. I just want to be healthy, feel good about myself, and enjoy a freaking cookie (or five) every once in a while!! I may not be at my lowest weight I have ever been but we will just say that it is because my muscles weigh an incredible amount =).

I hope everyone is having a great short work week this week. I can't believe it is already Thursday and almost the weekend again!!!!!! Josh and I are going to our very first Sporting KC game in a suite with free food and drinks! AW-Freaking-SOME!  If anyone has any super delicious recipes you'd like to share, please do so! I am always on the lookout for new ideas! =) Happy Thursday all!

Preschool (mama) blues

Left: First day MDO 2012 Right: First day Preschool 2013

 

Harp went off to her first day of preschool today! It was a bit hectic in the morning trying to gather her things and get her all ready to get out the door to be on time at 9:00am. We had about a 30 minute debacle about what shoes to wear due to a blister on the back of her foot. Things just can't go smoothly or else it wouldn't be me we are talking about here. Finally after we tried on all her shoes, we settled on the pair that works worst with the playground mulch but best for her blister...sandals.  Thank goodness she just went until 11:30 today because if I were to pack a lunch we probably would not have ever made it there.

J was awesome enough to tell his work he would be in a little later so he could come along to drop her off (best daddy EVER!). We got to the school and were walking in & I tried to grab H's hand to hold and got rejected. *insert the beginning of my eyes welling up*. I then put her gigantic required backpack on her and watched her walk towards school all on her own. *tears were forming* Not needing my hand, not needing my guidance, just her and her backpack and a morning of parentless time.  

We arrived at her classroom and she walked right in with zero hesitation, grabbed the laminated apple with her name on it, stuck it to the velcro board, found her seat, hung up her backpack and was ready to start her school day. I was so sad and so proud all in one moment. My little girl who does not like change was ready to take on an adventure without me. It hurts a little to know that I am needed less than before. It hurts a little to spend that time away from her. However, it fills up my heart knowing how much fun she is having making friends and learning how to be independent.

One of the biggest attributes I want for her is to be an independent person. I want her to be confident and feel beautiful inside and out and to love others as much as she loves herself. I want her to be kind and accepting of all people and to speak her voice when necessary. Most of all I want her to be confident in her decisions and to know she is loved more than she will ever be able to imagine. My tears today were not only because of sadness but mostly for the happiness of knowing the person she is growing to be. 

To fill the void of not having Harper around I went and had my eyebrows waxed (instant facelift!!) and bought myself the cuuuuuutest ankle boots from good ol' Target! Seriously fall weather, HURRY UP! My leggings, jeggings, ankle boots, and oversized sweaters are practically calling my name each time I go in my closet to put on a stupid pair of shorts and tank top (I hate you shorts, I really do). After the retail therapy, we picked up Harp at 11:30. She told us all about her day of playing on the playground, coloring a horse, and meeting new kids. She had a really fun day and that makes all my sadness about being away from my bestie worth it.  I'm so proud of her and cant wait to see what all she learns this year!

Now if it will only be that easy when I start Paxton in Mothers Day Out in a few weeks. Buckets of tears will be shed my friends, he will not be okay with it. To be continued......

Harper's walk down the green mile

I don't know what has happened around here but this week is not my favorite AT ALL! It started off with a bang on Sunday with it being Harp's 3rd birthday. We had fun, we ate donuts, gave her a new bicycle, took her to a movie, played outside, and capped off the night with strawberry shortcake. Man oh man that joyfulness not continue on to the dreaded Monday and yet again this terrible Tuesday.

This morning, Harper had her 3 year checkup. Out of all the doctor appointments she has had in the span of her life, this was to be the easiest. No shots, just a simple checkup. As the infamous Doc McStuffins sings "check your ears, check your eyes, find out how much you've grown, its time for your checkup!!" Harper is one who tends to like to be prepared for things. Therefore I started talking to her yesterday about how we had to go see the doctor for her big 3 year old checkup. She was kind of weird about it & kept saying she didn't want to go. (umm hello Doc McStuffins, you're supposed to help me out with this shiz) This morning I got her up, got her dressed, fed her breakfast, got everyone else together, including myself! Whaaat? I actually had non gym clothes on, makeup done, & hair curled?! Go me!!!

We get to the doctor & things were fine at the beginning. The kids were running around playing in the Wizard of Oz themed waiting room and being silly as usual. The nurse then calls us back and we stop to weigh Harp and take her height as well (95th percentile!!!). Then we basically walked down the green mile. We got in the room and the nurse asked me to set Harp on the table so she could take her blood pressure. We have practiced taking each others blood pressure all the freaking time with the official Doc McStuffins doctor bag kit (she may or may not love her). Harper stood in the doorway & refused to walk over to the table to sit down. I then proceeded to walk up to her to pick her up and she stepped back and stiffened up to make it more difficult for me to grab her.  I then gave her 2 options. *insert mommy's stern/nice voice to be appropriate in public* 1. she can walk over there like a big girl or 2. I will pick her up and hold her while the nice nurse takes her blood pressure. She didn't budge. I proceeded to pick her up and bring her towards the nurse. This is when shit hit the fan. The nurse took Harp's arm to wrap the band around it and Harper opened her mouth and out came the loudest, most blood curdling scream I have ever heard come out of her. I stood there in shock. Surely that didn't just happen, right? My child would NEVER act this way in public. Maybe she was switched with another angry bad child on our walk to the office...right? Please tell me right!!! The nurse gave up because obviously her blood pressure would have been off the charts due to her working herself up so much.

If only I could tell you that was the end of the most traumatizing doctors visit of our lives. Then our doctor walks in. Who, mind you, has been our doctor since she was 18 months old. We've seen her a million times for both kids, been to that office a ton, nothing new, nothing changed. I was holding Harp as she checked her eyes, ears, fingers, toes, & listened to her breathing. This all went just fine until we needed to have her lay down on the table to check her stomach and look in her mouth to see her throat. I had to hold her top half down while the Dr. attempted to tame the kicking while trying to continue on the exam. Yes, I said kicking. She was flailing her feet & kicking to try and get up. OH MY GOD! Not only that but during this time she continued to bloody murder scream for TWO ENTIRE MINUTES. I was at a complete loss. Why in the world is this happening?!? Any other moms out there, please give me the peace of mind that it's not just me that this has happened to.

If you're curious how I handled the situation in discipline form I first off calmed her down and then made her go up to and apologize to the doctor and the nurse. We were planning on going to Deanna Rose with a friend for a play date and nixed that (unfortunately this was a punishment for Paxton and I as well), and last, she gets no TV time for the day. Maybe it's just this week but I am a little extra emotional and this situation has made me really annoyed/embarrased/angry/flabbergasted/and in need for an early morning mimosa. If only I had the supplies for the said mimosa. I do believe there is a Bud Light Lime in the refrigerator. I'll wait 4 more minutes until noon so it's socially acceptable =).

I hope this isn't the trend of what having a 3 year old is like. If so, she may go hang out at her Mimi's for a while. Haha just kidding, well....kind of kidding.

I hope you all are having a better Tuesday than we are around here. I am counting down the minutes until nap time so I can unwind and revamp myself with a better attitude for the afternoon.  Yay parenting!!

Spread the word and take advantage of photo session specials!!

 

This week is Harper's Birth-week!!! In honor of Harper turning 3, I'll be giving away 3 photo session specials for all you lovelies! 

So here's the deal:

*Step one- To participate, you must be a fan of my Facebook page facebook.com/brendapluidphotography  

*Step two- To check out some more of my work and get creative ideas for your session, go to my website brendapluid.com I recently debuted my website and am so in love with it!

Special #1- For those in KANSAS

If you share my status on Facebook, I will put your name into a good ol' fishbowl (or maybe just a mixing bowl since I am not too keen on owning a fish) and one lucky share-r (not a word, I'm aware) will win a FREE session. This will include one 30 minute session with you and your immediate family (or dogs or whatever you consider your immediate family, just no fish, snakes or hamsters please, yuck!) along with 10-15 edited high-resolution images with a copyright release so you can go print as many beautiful pictures of of you and your gorgeous family as you'd like!! If you shared my status, just go to my page and write me a post saying you shared! Easy as that!!!

Special #2 - For those in OKLAHOMA

Crazily enough, your deal is the same as the one above ^^^.  If you shared my status, just go to my page and write me a post saying you shared! Easy as that!!!

(p.s. I am looking to be in town mid-September and am working on the dates to set up session plans)

Special #3- FOR ALL

If you share this blog status on FB and a friend of yours decides to book a session with me, both you AND your friend will receive $50 towards a full session, or $25 towards a mini session, your choosing!

Depending on the volume, entries will be accepted until this Sunday, August 18th (Harp's birthday)!! If you are interested in my pricing on sessions, feel free to email me to brendapluidphotography@gmail.com and I will gladly send you my investment sheet. The weather has been so lovely here and I am hoping for a long, beautiful, and colorful fall, so now is a great time to think ahead and start booking your family/maternity/newborn/senior sessions.

Out of space, school, and saying no.

Its a lovely rainy dark & thunderstorm-y Monday morning. Fortunately the rain began after I was up and at the gym teaching for the 5am class or I wouldn't have been able to pry myself out of the bed. I have been behind on blogging lately. Partially because I have ran out of space on my computer to upload pictures and what is a blog post without a few pictures of my adorable littles? I was crazily deleting things yesterday and emptying the trash and whatever else I could conjure up to provide me enough space to upload 183 RAW images, apparently I need more RAM & memory space on my lovely iMac. Oh iMac, how I love thee! Don't quit on me now. We've had a great thing going and I don't do well with change, my love. My other reasoning for my lack of blogging is partially because I simply wasn't inspired to write anything. A forced post is a bad post in my opinion.

Today marks the first day of school for most kids here in KC! I finally received the letters from Harpers *gasp* preschool/church notifying me her orientation date, teacher, and actual first day of class. Holy smokes the girl needs an actual big girl backpack for school! No more cute tote bag to hold her blankets & Deedee the dino and pirate the other dinosaur (apparently we have a dinosaur thing trend.) It is on to a real backpack that will look too big on her tiny back which will include not one, but two, two pocket folders for her to bring home her work in. It so so exciting and scary and sad and fun and crazy to think about it all. She is going to be gone all day Tuesdays from 9:00-2:30 AND Thursday mornings from 9:00-11:30. Half of my heart is so excited. She grew so much last year while attending Mothers Day Out and loved her teachers, which is big time for the girl who doesn't trust many, and was so excited to show me her art work (when she chose to participate) when I would go to pick her up. The other half of me is sad. It's the beginning of her days that will increasingly be away from me. First 1.5 days of preschool, then 5 half days when she moves on to kindergarten (Kansas City does half day kindergarten unless you pay for a full day...whaaaaaat?), then its full blown real big kid school. *sigh*  Oh and did I mention she will be turning 3 on Sunday? My oh my oh my. I will tell you though that so far each stage and age gets better and better.

We took the kids out to the plaza and we had Harper throw a penny in the fountain and make her birthday wish. This was a tradition that my brother and I always did as a kid.

We also received Paxton's letter for his Mothers Day Out teachers. He is lucky enough to be in the same class with the same teachers that Harper had last year. That in itself is going to make it a smidge easier on me since I am familiar with them and the room that he is in & like I said, Mrs. Shannon & Nancy won over Harper so it will be a cake walk for them to win over Paxton. I had a really hard time when I first started taking Harper but I oddly feel as if it is going to be more difficult for Paxton. He has become much more attached to his me lately *insert smug secret smile* and I am sad to think about dropping him off and then him thinking "uhhhhh when is mama coming back? mama where are you going? waaaaaait mamaaaaaaaa!" Maybe it will go differently in his head. All I can think about is him going through the entire 6 hours waiting for me. Maybe I am overthinking it, I tend to do that, but I just hope it goes well. I am also super curious to see how he does taking naps on a cot instead of being confined to a crib. Now that will be interesting. The kid is a maniac and the crib is a fabulous way to jail him in to sleep, we shall see how that goes! =).

You are witnessing the next Kevin Durant =).

How these littles have changed me as a person is amazing. I will admit though that I am finally starting to become a tiny bit less uptight. I realized that with both of the kids, the year after I had them I was crazy. Crazy about their schedules, crazy about their sleeping, crazy about their foods and milk and play time, crazy about my house looking perfect and dinner on the table for when Josh got home and whatever you could be crazy about. I blame it on the hormones =). I feel like we are finally in a good place where we can be more flexible and maybe, even maybe a tad spontaneous (yup, I said it!)  I really put a ton of pressure to be the perfect housewife and mom. I still want to be that way but I will admit I am less hard on myself. Not everything can be perfect and it is okay to ask for help. With my New Years resolution last year it was to say no to things I didn't want to do as well as speak up and do things for myself. This resolution has literally changed me wholly. I am so much happier, I am communicating with Josh better, I am more fun with my children, and I feel less guilty saying no to things. It's amazing!

Okay so this post is waaaaaaay long enough by now. I hope you have a great Monday and remember to do something for yourself to make you happy! =)

I hate bath time, my little income, and an update on the crazies.

To start this off on a side note (because I why not?) do any of you other parents hate bath time as much as I do? I see alllllllll these posts about how much you all love doing bath time with your kids at night? Me? No thank you! Water ends up everywhere (including on me) because splashing is so much fun to them. Harper cries every time I wash her hair. She hates the water running on her face/ears when washing out the shampoo. Paxton won't sit still long enough to scrub down his grimey self and every time I say it's time to get out they whine and cry. Not my idea of fun!!! However, adding bubbles to our bath has helped out a little, not sure why? Maybe because it distracts them long enough for me to scrub them clean? However, the pool counts as a bath, right??? That's been my motto this summer! Ok I am done complaining, on to the happy stuff!

I received my first official paycheck today since I started teaching classes at my gym. Was it a big paycheck? No. Was it even like one tenth of what my old paychecks used to be? No, not really. Was it something I worked for and earned myself? Absolutely! My mom asked me this morning if all the waking up crazy early three days a week was worth the paycheck. I told her yes. Although it is about contributing a small paycheck for my own self worth and pride, it's become more. I enjoy seeing the same faces in the morning and getting in uninterrupted adult conversations. I loved going to assessment day last weekend and seeing people's reactions as they stepped on the scale and saw their weight dropping since their previous weigh in. I really love being the motivator and the person to push people harder than they think they can go. I have so much to learn and hopefully a long time to continue to get experience under my belt, but so far I really like working at a gym. =) Plus it forces me to get in at least 5 good workouts a week. Aaaaaand it may give me the excuse to eat a little more which makes this fat girl at heart hap hap happy!

 Cooking up pure deliciousness in her kitchen in the skirt she won't take off.

One of my favorite parts of Harper's room. The dream catcher her great great aunt and uncle got her and a beautiful photo and poem my grandma made for me. Paxton has a dream catcher hanging above his bed from them as well. Gotta bring in a little piece of our Cherokee to the house!

There have been so many fun changes going on with the kids. In less than a month Harper is going to be three! I am so so so so so excited for her birthday! We are going to be home on her actual birthday and Josh and I are already trying to think of what we want to do for her. I am not someone that puts a big emphasis on these crazy ornate parties that would just stress me out (at least not yet) or buying her a million gifts (because let's be honest our families will buy her ten thousand new things. However, I am not complaining!!)  Instead, I like to think of a fun experience we can do to help her remember something special about her day. Last year we took her to her first Royals game. She fell in love! The food, the fun, the excitement she sees when Josh is reverting back to his childhood, it was just the best time ever! I haven't decided what exactly we are going to do this year but I have a few ideas brewing. She is so fun and girlie right now I am literally soaking up every moment of it. She has been wearing a skirt/tutu for a week straight, she carries around her lip gloss 24/7, wants her nails painted all the time and loves to put on (pretend) makeup. Don't let her exterior fool you too much, she still loves playing in the dirt and getting messy or playing T-ball in the backyard. I cannot really explain how love works with your children but I can tell you that for me, I love both my children so much more as I get to know them better and see their personality blooming and growing into the person they are going to be. Harper is so kind and loving, especially towards the animals. She will just randomly come up to me, put her hand on my arm and say "mama, I love you." You might as well mop me up right there because I just ooze with love for her. She is insanely smart. I really do think so, I am sure its not just me being biased =). She has the most amazing golden curly hair and gorgeous eyes that are green some days and blue others. She's just beautiful inside and out!

I promise, he does have hair!

Pax playing in Harper's room. Isn't her colorful wall hanging amazing? My mom is so talented!

Big boy Paxton is ever changing as well. He is officially a non-pacifier using kid. He was only using it for nap time and bedtime but the other day he found an old broken paci that I had in the drawer in his room and I decided to run with it. He did so much better than I expected and it has absolutely been harder on me than on him. He occasionally brings it to me and says "uh oh" since its broken. Other than that, it really has not affected him. I'm thankful for that, but at the same time it's a tad heartbreaking. It was the last little thing that made him a baby.  No more baby boy around here. He is really starting to talk and test out words lately (which I will admit is reassuring me because I was getting a little worried since Harp started speaking so early). He feeds himself and hasn't used a highchair in months. He is going up and down the stairs completely like an adult. No sliding on his belly or scooting on his bottom, this kid is literally walking up and down the stairs at 18 months. It's insane! His newest favorite discovery is jumping. He jumps and hops everywhere because he thinks it's hilarious, which it is of course! I kid you not, he has the best laugh I have ever heard in my entire life. It's infectious and beautiful and I cannot get enough of it. He is literally OBSESSED with Josh. All day everyday he say "daaaaaada". It does make me a smidge jealous but at the same time it makes my heart happy. Plus, I have Harper on the mama is the coolest trend right now so we are even!

 Hope everyone is having a great week! It's already Wednesday! Yaaaaaaaaaaay!

Lately.

We have been having so much fun lately I have been super slacking on my blogging and even more so taking actual photos beyond my iPhone! I looooooooove sunny summer time. Especially here in KC where the temperatures are proving to be much kinder to us than when we were in Oklahoma!

So what have we been up to lately? First off, we were super excited that our friends, The Pikes, came up to visit the weekend of the 4th. We tend to always make the efforts to be together around the 4th of July and on occasion we do a pre Thanksgiving with them as well! Anywho, they came up along with their crazy cute three girls to spend a few nights with us. We bought a blow up pool for the back yard, bought lots of beer, prepped food for a cookout and brought out all kid toys imaginable. Needless to say Harper was in heaven the entire weekend having little girls around to play with! The 4th was awesome (minus me having to wake up at 4:15 on the 5th to teach two back to back classes at the gym). However, the 5th may have been my favorite day of their visit. Kristen and I snuck away from the kids while the boys watched all 5 of them for a girls morning. We drove down to the plaza and spent a good amount of time at H&M, drank iced green teas, shot on over to Trader Joes to stock up on wine and good snacks, and ended our morning with picking up Chipotle (mmmmmmmmm!). The boys went out that afternoon to ride go karts and then the adults and the bigger kids all went to the Royals game that night. Josh's mom and Anthony rode up to see us that weekend too so they stayed with Paxton and Savannah while the big kids were taken on a special night of baseball and fireworks. It was awesome! 

Last weekend Josh and I celebrated our 5th anniversary! We decided on doing very small gifts for each other and then to go out for a nice dinner. It possibly may have been my favorite anniversary thus far. Typically we plan a trip but this year we are considering going somewhere later in the year so we stayed home. We woke up and took the kids to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast (I know, I know, not  fancy or healthy but the play place in there is awesome!). Afterwords, we ran some errands and when the kids went down for a nap I went to go get a mani/pedi! OMG it was amazing. An entire almost 2 hours by myself getting a little pampering. Then we went home and got all dressed up (which I failed to get a good pic of us looking all fancy) and called a cab to take us out to eat at 801 Chophouse in the Power and Light District. The food was amazing, although I ate waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much. I cannot emphasize how miserable I was after the meal. Like beyond miserable. Lets put it this way....I may or may not have eaten some sourdough bread, bacon wrapped scallops, half of a filet, lobster mac n cheese, broiled and breaded portabello mushrooms AND key lime pie. Besides my (over)eating issues it was by far one of my favorite dates I have ever been on with Josh. We had such beautiful conversation about our life, our kids, our love and our future. It was real and honest and heartfelt and I may or may not have shed a few happy tears. We even kept our iPhones out of sight for the whole thing. Perfection. It was simply one of those nights that will go down in the books. One of those unforgettable nights filled with special moments and words exchanged. I love him. He is so wonderful and I am very thankful that we found each other.

Beyond that we have been pretty low key and not doing a whole lot beyond the house and hanging out as a family. After teaching 5 fitness classes 3 days a week and waking up at 4:00am in the morning I am quite spent by the end of the day. Josh has been working long days as well and then coming home to continue his work so he too is pretty exhausted in the evenings. We are also doing a really good job of cutting back on eating outside of the house and cooking healthy meals every night at home. I have found that if I plan out the meals for the week it makes things much easier. Plus I am always looking for fun new recipes because I'll be damned if I am going to only eat grilled chicken and veggies to be healthy. Blehhhh.

Any who, I think I am finished with my ramblings. Can you believe I wrote an entire post and didn't really mention the kids?! Weird. I'll have to dedicate a blog post to each one of them soon because I know you are all dying to know the craziness they are up to. =)

 Sweet, clean Harp vs. ornery dirt covered Pax. Tride and true boy vs. girl around here!