Ghosts & Goblins

We had so much Halloweenness this year that I almost got Halloweened out...almost. We started out with a trunk-or-treat and Halloween carnival on Tuesday. Plus, Monkey got his first stitches after falling off a chair (I guess face-paint wasn't realistic enough for him.) Then we made Halloween cookies on Wednesday. Followed by another trunk-or-treat on Thursday. Scary movies (okay they were the Simpson Halloween episodes) on Friday. Pumpkin carving, Halloween lunch, and the actual trick-or-treating on Saturday.

Our family didn't do a theme this year. I know that all of you are so bummed out by this, or at least I know that I was. But, there's always next year.

Face Painting at the Halloween Carnival

Fishing with Ariel

Little Panda loved making cookies

Doesn't she look so cute - watch out Martha Stewart

Kookie Cookies

My son's first stitches - Mr. Tigger's handiwork

Pumpkin Carving (I don't have a picture of Monkey carving because he wouldn't touch the pumpkin guts because he didn't want to get dirty.)

Mr. Tigger working on his masterpiece

Pumpkins!

My cute kiddos

Panda loved Halloween

Especially the Candy!

The Closest Spot

I went to Walmart yesterday and began thinking about our fascination with getting the closest parking spot. We all do this. We have some weird compunction to get the closest spot available, even if we have to drive around for 5 minutes. Then, when we get the spot, we think we're the greatest thing since chocolate ice cream. Why is that?

Even though I've participated in this Closest Spot Craziness I still don't understand why we do it. Are we seriously winded if we have to park at the back of the parking lot? Do we save time by parking closer? Or is it just a matter of playground mentality?

I, for one, am going to stop trying to get the closest spot. It'll be hard, but I'll do my best.

Derailed

So, I've been a little derailed from my exercise program. It started with horrific pain in my mouth which led to a root canal a few days later (super fun let me tell you). Then Mr. Tigger brought home a lovely virus from the clinic. He got really sick and got little monkey sick as well. Less than a week later the little Panda and I followed suit. Needless to say Mr. Tigger and I haven't been working out.

Well, the sickness is leaving. I only cough and sneeze every once in a while and I can finally breathe using both nostrils. And I'm feeling well enough to exercise again. So, the question arises of what to do. Do I get discouraged and boot my exercise program to the curb? Do I get upset that I haven't stuck to my program religiously and completely start over? Or do I just pick up where I left off?

I used to get upset over not following a program exactly and always start over. Over the years I've changed my mind in this respect. I've decided that it's best to just forget my mistakes and keep going. You get more done that way. (P.S. This also works well when reading the scriptures. That way you don't have to read 1 Nephi a million times and never get to the rest of the scriptures.)

So, I've made some mistakes and missed some workouts, but I'm just going to forget about it. After all, tomorrow is another day with no mistakes in it.

How Do You Measure Up?

Before beginning any exercise program I like to take some measurements. Here is what I typically do:

• Weight on a scale
• Body Fat %
• BMI
• Measure stomach, butt, and right thigh in inches

Sometimes I go a little farther and do these things too:

• Take before-and-after pictures (it seems weird, but they actually really help you see visual results and you don't have to show them to anyone else if you don't want to)
• Measure left thigh, both biceps, hips, both calves
• Take statistics (how many push-ups/pull-ups/biceps curls you can do, etc.)

I know that this may seem a bit overboard, but you should at least always do my first list...and here's why. This January I was determined to lose the rest of my baby weight before my little Panda turned One. So I worked out really hard and ate healthy for the entire month.

At the end of the month I took new measurements and I had lost 1 pound. That's right, that is not a typo, I only lost 1 pound. Luckily I had my other measurements and could see that I had also lost 6% body fat and 1/2 inch to 2 inches around my belly, butt, and thigh. I had traded fat for muscle so my weight hadn't changed too much. If I hadn't taken the other measurements I would have been so excessively pissed off about that 1 pound.

So, the moral of the story is...take your measurements people!

Happy New Year!

Okay, so I know that it's not New Year's, but I've decided to pretend that it is. After talking to my sisters, my niece, and my mom over the past week I've decided that we need to have a new New Year's. We all said that we haven't been eating healthy food like we should, working out as much as we should, and we all wanted to get back on the wagon. So this morning I grabbed the reigns and started driving this wagon. Feel free to jump on in and ride with me.

This morning I did the P90X Chest & Back weight lifting routine and then the Ab Ripper routine with my husband. It hurt...a lot, but we've decided to keep going. (I'm sure Mr. Tigger will be able to lift up his arms in a few days or so.) For the next 3 months we are going to be treat-less, exercise-crazed, crazy people. I'll post my stats throughout so that everyone can see that I'm not sitting on my tush. I would post pictures, but that would violate my extreme sense of not showing my unclothed body to anyone for any reason whatsoever. I might show some before-and-after pics of my hubby (with his permission) so that you can motivate your hubbies if you so desire.

So if you have gotten into a summertime slump and needed a little nudge to start eating healthier and exercising more, here's your nudge. I'm sending extra nudges to my sisters, my niece, and my mom - start counting your points, go for a run, pick up a weight, and for the love of healthy bodies, put down that chocolate bar!

4 is Fabulous!

My little monkey turned 4 on Sunday. I can't believe he's already 4. When did that happen? Anyways, he had a great birthday. He got his coveted big boy bike and has been terrorizing the sidewalks ever since.

He also had a fun camping-themed birthday party. The kids got to roast hot dogs.

Eat outside on the grass.

Devour a chocolate, campground cake.

Open presents.

Make explorer vests. (These looked super cute, but they didn't last very long. Those kids tore those vests in no time.)

Pretend to be ferocious forest animals.

And were ready to head off with their homemade hobo sacks.

Overall the party was a lot of fun for the kids, and extremely tiring for Mr. Tigger and me. I'm glad that I have an entire year to recover.

Happy Birthday Little Monkey!

They Say It's Your Birthday!

One year goes by so fast, especially with a baby. Before you know it they're sticking their tongue out at you and calling you names...right now she calls me Mama.

Today was my little ferret's first birthday. She had a pretty laid back day just sitting around.

At night is when the fun started. And it started with a bear like this one.

At first my little girl decided to act like a girl and eat the bear all dainty-like (which is soooo not like her).

But she eventually got the hang of it.

And ended up having a great time.

I think she had a great birthday. Who doesn't like a birthday where they get a cake all to themselves.

On a side note, Mr. Tigger thinks that we should change ferret's blog name to panda. He made several rude comments about how my little girl is much more physically similar to a panda and such things. However, I still might be willing to change the name. What do you think?