My Teenage Daughter

She thinks shes 12 and she's not even two.
It's a good thing she can't talk well b/c then there would be absolutely nothing holding her back!

Today I got a sneak peek into what riding in the car with twin teenagers will be like.  First of all, Elijah was asleep, but in this fictional world we'll say he had his ipod-of-the-future and headphones on (aka: dead to the world).  Evelyn was talking on the phone to her daddy, but for this fictional scenario we'll pretend it was her bff, not all that far off actually ;)  So here she sits, phone to her ear, feet up on the seat in front of her, aaaallll smiles and chatting daddy's ear off while she stares happily out the window.  She even gesticulated with her hands a little.  Here's what it kinda sounded like:

Evie: "Hashteesh (she says this a lot, we don't know what it means) Yaya (Elijah) Mama.
(pause)
"Hashteesh baba, kisha boosh Cheese!"
(pause as she listens)
"Hashteesh nana papa beep beep!"
(mommy honks horn)
"Uht oh!"
"Mama phone, hashteesh mama yaya."
(pause)
"No."
"Puppy, puuuuuuppppy. meow, woof, no."
(pause)
"Hashteesh Dada."
"Bye"
(looks at phone to turn it off and hands it to me)

Seriously, I hope I have painted enough of a mental image for you because the child was grinning from ear to ear.  There was not a doubt in her mind that she and her (bff) were having a long and involved conversation.  Probably solving world peace and all that :)

Oh My Word I Think He's Gifted

I'm hesitant to admit that my kids are the coolest kids out there.  I mean, they are, but in mommy-world it's just not cool to state it as fact.  Unless you put the words "to me they will always be..." before those sentences as a qualifier.  Such as: "to me they will always be the cutest kids in the world," or "to me they will always be perfect," even when you think it's really 100% true, no qualifier is needed...Along the same lines, it's also not that cool to say "my kid is advanced," or "my kid is smarter than your kid," don't ask me why, it's just a little frowned-upon...crazy.That said, I need to let you in on a little secret (all five of you that read this, hi mom, hi dad!)...shhh...I think Elijah might be gifted.  Particularly in the animal and color-identification lobes of the brain.  I'm telling you, that kid soaks. it. up.  It sounds most impressive to say that my child is 1 year old and knows all his colors, including shades like white, gray, pink, every animal he's ever laid eyes on whether in person or a book, and most of their sounds.  In reality he is nearly two and most other kids his age do have a color or two down and a lot of their animal sounds but seriously, he amazes me sometimes with his ability to retain and repeat information.For example, yesterday while he ate his Cheerios (Chee-ee-oos) and watched Praise Baby (Pays Baby) in bed with mommy he pointed to a yellow dot on the bedspread and said "yew-wo."  Then he pointed to the grey, I told him it was grey, and the same with the white.  This morning, again eating chee-ee-oos and watching Pays Baby, he spotted one teeny tiny letter amongst all the other, mainly primary-colored letters, and shouted "White!"  Um...seriously kid?  Most children your age would hardly even notice that non-color of a letter, let alone know what that color is called.  However he did it several other times today throughout the day when he encountered something white, in addition to the normal "boo one!"  "Geen one!" and yew-wo, wed, puhpul, pink, onch (orange) etc. that we are used to.
Lest you think I'm just being the proud mommy, I'd like to point out that throughout all of this Evelyn remains mostly mute unless it's to point out some color that invariably, is wrong, with the biggest, heart-wrenching smile on her face as she waits for the praise she is due.  Maybe this is why she doesn't know her colors...I don't have the heart to tell her she's wrong...I digress.  Evie right now is mainly preoccupied with finding new ways to steal food, rip out her hair pretties, push her brother, run from mommy, tear apart books, climb on the table, wind up in timeout, and make up for it all with the biggest, sweetest, fish-face kisses a mom could ask for.  I'm not concerned about her development as she is really pretty right-on with what she says and knows, but her "normalcy" only serves to point out her brother's slightly accelerated skills all the more.
At the end of all this, I will be the first to admit that I have no idea if this knowledge will serve him well in the future- at this rate he's destined to become a starving artist who travels the world to paint "doggies" and "kitties" and "piggies, la la la" in brilliant technicolor.  Maybe one day I'll be nice and teach him that in fact, a pig says "oink," a mouse says "squeak"(not cheese), and a horse says "neigh" (not haaa-ay).  Havin' fun in the Heights!  ~Krista

Body By Vi

I recently acted on a whim and signed up for the 90-day challenge from Body By Vi (Visalus).  Yes, it's one of those "fad" diets and will probably be obsolete in 2 years but hey, I lost weight on the Atkins diet about 12 years ago and there are very few people who do that now-adays so I guess a loss in popularity doesn't always mean something doesn't work.  In addition I actually know personally several people who have assured me this is not a sheme to get my money- it worked for them!
Anyways, I've kept it kinda quiet, partly because anytime I've mentioned it to someone there is a little bit of scoffing, but also because over the years I've discovered that with dieting it's best to have a small support group and just let everyone else notice once there is something to take note of.  However, since my blog is read by about 8 people that I know and love I figured I could write about it a little bit on here.
My goals are simple- lose weight, get healthier, make meals easier.  I've been proud of myself for how much I've worked out in the last year, but I'm hoping this is just the boost I need to actually make those pounds come off.
So far, I'm really enjoying it.  The shake mix itself when you just add it to milk is tasty- it tastes a lot like sweet pancake batter or cake mix, it is called "sweet cream."  But the best thing about it is that you can mix it with just about anything to get all kinds of flavors.  The company includes flavored mix-ins that pull double-duty with immunity boost, metabolism boost, etc, but I haven't needed those yet as I've been having fun just using various fruit combinations!
I honestly haven't made one yet that I haven't enjoyed, but some of my favorites have been frozen raspberries and powdered bakers chocolate, peanut butter and chocolate powder with banana, and applesauce with cinnamon, nutmeg, and a little uncooked oatmeal for bulk (tastes like apple pie!).  Another great thing is that you don't need to add much of these flavors to each shake.  For the peanut/chocolate/banana one I added less than a teaspoon of peanut butter (keeps down the extra calories), even less cocoa powder, and half a banana.  It was so tasty!
The shake mix itself is packed with about a million vitamins, metabolism boosters, minerals, omega-3's, protein, and all kinds of healthy stuff.  They also post lots of recipes on their website for new flavors, I want to try the Chai flavored recipe I read about and there are even some that include spinach!  I make two shakes a day to replace two meals, usually breakfast and lunch, have some light and healthy snacks if I need them, and eat one "sensible" meal.
All of this said, I like it so far, I find I'm so busy during the day and this is so quick and easy I don't even miss "regular" food.  It is a little harder for me to do just a shake for dinner, but it's not out of the question to pair the shake with a salad or veggies, or if I've been "good" all day and not snacked I might throw in something like with a bit more bulk.  I've found that it's easy to forgo snacks when I'm spending money on this plan and putting a lot of effort into it (I mean the shakes are good and all but if I'm going to replace too meals a day with a liquid diet then I'm not going to mess it up with snacks!).  I also really like that there is no calorie or points-counting to worry about.  I did Weight Watchers before and I cannot imagine trying to keep up with that while chasing around E2.  I might add a program called "my fitness pal" just to keep track of what regular food I'm eating but we'll see.  Portion control comes naturally because my appetite is already shrinking and the scale this morning showed a loss of 3lbs (I'm not overly excited as our bodies can fluctuate naturally throughout the day, but at least it's not a gain!;) since I started on Friday.
I'll try to keep this updated as I go, and hopefully you'll be able to see for yourself soon that this is working!
~Krista

Locker Room

I got a littler reminder of what it is to be a pre-teen (tween, as they are called these days) at the gym today.  There was a school having their 4th Grade end-of-year party there so of course the locker room was a popular location for the girls to giggle and hang out.  After my workout I had to shower, and since the showers at my gym are not made to bring your change of clothes into I always dress in the main locker room. 
Normally this is not an issue, but the moment I saw 10 4th graders milling around I knew this would be awkward- not for me, for them.  So I tried to dress as quickly as possible.  Midway through getting dressed I needed to remove the towel from around me and put it on my head so I could put on my bra.  I was alone in my "section" of the locker room but a group of girls was just on the other side of the bank of lockers from me.  It was at this moment that one of the girls went to leave and, apparently, saw me sans bra and towel as she popped back to her group and I heard a sudden hush as one girl (not discreetly enough for her friends' taste) asked "don't go over where?"  There was much "shushing" and another girl who had also missed the directive to "not go in that area where that lady is naked" asked the same question.  Meanwhile a little blonde girl pretended to nonchalantly wander into "my" section, see that I now had my bra on, and sidle back over to her friends while yet another girl answered loudly: "you know, where Michael is, don't go where Michael is."  (This must have been the quickest she could think as their conversation 30 seconds earlier had revolved around going to find Michael and see if he wanted to hang out with one of the girls).  There was much giggling and more repeating of "don't go where Michael is" before they finally left the room.
Anyways, that was fun, and even though it's been quite awhile since I was a "tween," I was surprised by how vividly I remembered being shell-shocked by, and feeling oh-so-awkward around the women who dared to be completely naked in the locker room!  Now I'm one of those women...how times have changed.

He DOES Exist!

Evelyn would like you all to know that she FOUND bigfoot.

Cousin Love

 This first picture is just cute of Evie...I can't help it.  And i know, I know, the little piece of fabric hanging off the binky isn't that cute but it makes it into a lovey and easy to find so...
speaking of which where is that thing...?

 This is the real story- Elijah loves Sydney.  He thought tackling her over and over and over and over was about the coolest thing ever.  I've never heard so much giggling from that kid!

 Those are Elijah's little pudgy hands holding onto Sydney from behind.  He wasn't letting go for anything!

Yup, I think he's got a crush.  Sorry bud, but we live in Michigan, not the back woods of Tennessee...

The Twister and The Rod

I just love this comic of various "techniques" kids use to avoid being strapped into their carseats AGAIN...
Elijah is definitely "The Twister" and Evelyn has totally perfected "The Rod." I am usually exhausted by the time everyone is in the car.

I must say though, I totally empathize with the Noodler as that is a tactic both kids use in other situations- like when mama says it's time to go home from the park and they are not quite ready.