Clara and the Camera

Clarabelle let me take her picture the other day.  She was "in the mood" so to speak.  Feeling dramatic is really what it was all about.  But I happily grab my camera whenever I have a willing participant.  I had a new antique chair I wanted to play with.  It's all faded and chipped and beat up and is EXACTLY what I had envisioned.   Not necessarily with Clara...I was thinking two year old...but it was fun to see how it would shoot just the same!  And Clara had a new headband she wanted her picture made in. So off we went for a very impromptu shoot.  Here are some of that session!  I will add here that it was COLD!   Below 45 degrees...but Clara insisted she wanted to do this.  I could no longer feel my fingers to push the button on the camera by the time we finished these...but we did have fun!

Notice how she tipped her head to me so the headband would show?!

I love how sweet she looks in this one.  

Time for her hat!

Her inner movie star is starting to show!

Love this of her!

She's so seriously cute...I could just eat her up!

The movie star is back!  And I am LOVING this bridge!

Work it girl!

This one is my FAVORITE from the day!

 And there you have it!!!!  Impromptu photo shoot in the cold!  Hope you enjoyed seeing it as much as we enjoyed shooting it!

Insanity Update

Well,  I've been working my way through the Insanity workout with Chris since mid December.  I have gone 5 weeks and two days now without missing a single workout.  For any reason.  I'm guessing that the getting up at 5:30 a.m. has a lot to do with that.  It's not fun and I am NOT really an early, early morning person.  However....life just does not seem to get in your way so much at that hour.  Less excuses to not work out and all.  The phone does not ring, the kids are sleeping, nothing is open, no errands can be run at that hour.  And so...I have faithfully rolled out of bed in my sleepy fog each morning and taken on some fairly insane workouts.  Or at least...I thought I had.  I've been patting myself on the back because I finished the whole first half of the program.  And the "recovery" week.  I was all confident in myself and singing the "bring it" tune.  I was fired up and ready.

Then came week 6.  I have finished day one and day two of the six day workout.  Yesterday was insanely hard because it was time to retake the Fit Test to see my progress.  It's a 30 minute, crazy intense thing...8 exercises long where you are pushing and pushing for speed and repetition.  I want to throw up and cry every time I do it.  Yesterday it was time to do the third one.  I finished that and then had to move on to the first workout of the new week.  The first half of the program had all of the workouts right at 40 minutes or so...some a little less...some a minute or two more.  Nothing over 45 minutes.  It was tough...but short!  This week has all the workouts right at an hour.  OUCH!   And it definitely takes it up a notch.  Apparently the second half of this is where the body sculpting comes in.  My butt is so sore from yesterday's workout.  I was hurting by last night and went to bed with ibuprofen.  I was still sore this morning.  So imagine my dismay when Shaun T launched into squat after squat after squat.  And jump after jump, followed by more squats.  The only thing that seemed to break it up any at all were the push ups.  Excellent.  Pushups.  Crazy pushups.  Pushups like I have never done before.  Pushups standing practically on my head.  Pushups with one foot, then the other.  LONG sets of push ups.  Push ups with jumps back onto my feet, only to get down on the floor and do it again.  I wasn't sure what was worse by the end...the squats or the pushups.  Either way, there wasn't a muscle in my body that wasn't shaking violently by the time it was done.  Today was brutal.  I HATE Max Plyo.  I never want to do it again.  Hopefully I will change my mind before I HAVE to do it again next week.  Mercy!!!  The things I am willing to put myself through for an ugly gray t-shirt!!!  But seriously...I WANT that t-shirt.  Thus...I shall perservere!

In other news...Chris is across the country currently.  He left Friday to drive to California to pick up our RV which we had to leave out there last summer due to some wheel damage.  It's all fixed now...and we've traded it in on a new RV...and so we had to get it back to Texas.  He drove out, picked it up and is working his way back East.  He'll be spending the week working in Phoenix this week...so he gets a nice break from driving, then will tackle the last bit of the drive back home next weekend.  I cannot WAIT to get the new RV!!!  So excited!  It's awesome in every way!!!  Going to be SOOO great this summer!

I've had tons of work this past week.  Two more budoir sessions.  Can't get over how popular that is here in Dallas.  I have to admit that it has been a lot of fun.  Totally different than anything I have ever done.  The ladies have been so great!  I've had huge semi automatic weapons in my living room, and even a huge motorcycle!  THAT was a blast!  I also did some shopping and picked up a couple of AMAZING props for my littler ones and babies!  Found the best antique place EVER and am SO excited about my new treasures!  I have lots of babies due in the spring too, so I can't wait to play with them!

What else?  I'm working hard at my eating.  Trying to eat every 2 1/2 hours or so and keeping my protein levels high and carb levels lower.  I started a new blog....www.eatingtheedges.blogspot.com to chronicle the adventure.  I'm spending a LOT of time in the kitchen...which I am not fond of, but am hoping that it will grow on me.  This healthy lifestyle is a lot of work!  The Insanity program is my greatest inspiration right now.  No way I am going to do THOSE crazy hard workouts and not get the results because of what I put in my mouth.  No ma'am!  So it's go time with the tweaking of the food intake.  On the bright side, I've found a couple of recipes that I LOVE.  I'll be sharing those treasures over there at Life On the Edge!

That's about all that's up around here.  I'll have some pics of Clara in another post for ya!  I'm off for now!  Thanks for stopping in!

Never a Dull Moment

This is the bottle of pain pills.  Pain pills, you say?    For who?  Why would you need pain pills?

For the hook.  The hook?  Yes.  The fishing hook that was just surgically removed from someone's MOUTH.

"Who would eat a fishing hook?" you  might ask.  It's a logical question.  Who WOULD eat a fishing hook in our house?  Would you like to take a wild guess?

Yep!  COOPER tried to eat a fishing hook!

Not at all sure why he decided to take on the hook as his evening snack.  But what I DO know is that when he attempted such a foolish thing, he ended up with a fishing hook going THROUGH his tongue and through his lip.  NICE!!!!!   Luckily, he chose the opportune time right when Chris was walking in the door from work.  I was afraid he might decide to dehook him himself...but after a quick glance he decided it was well worth the emergency vet fee to have someone do it for us.  And so, we whisked him away where the vet was waiting for us.  They quickly took him back to be evaluated.  Then promptly came back to let us know that they'd have to put him under to remove it.  And so...Coopy had a little impromptu surgery last night.  Knocked him out.  Cut hook in half and removed it.  Then brought him back around.  We were back home within 2 hours!  The kids were very relieved that he was okay and home safe.  Cooper wanted nothing to do with Chris and I....especially ME last night.  I think he was mad at us for the whole vet thing.  Go figure!  Stay away from the hooks next time!!!  This morning, he seems his bright bouncy self.  He seems to have learned his lesson.  He's being gentle with his mouth...choosing soft things to chew on....

                                                   

Like his old favorite....socks!

I'm thinking he's learned an important lesson about not putting things in his mouth that aren't food or mommy approved.  I hate that it happened this way.   But am so glad he DID learn and will never put anything in his mouth again but food or doggie toys.

Then again....that's wishful thinking isn't it?  Sigh....What ever are we going to do with him???!!!!

Catching Up!

I admit it.  I've been a slacker.  I realized today...AGAIN, that I have not posted any of our Christmas photos.  I've thought of it.  A time or two.   Okay...more than a time or two.  But my thinking about it has NOT been followed up by my DOING it.  Until today!  And so...without further ado....Christmas 2011 in pictures!

Christmas Eve was a low key and quiet event for us this year.  Much more so than usual.  Pee Paw was in the hospital after some colon surgery and so he and Gigi were not here to celebrate with us.  We went to Christmas Ever services, which were stunningly beautiful, as always.  I LOVE the service our church does for Christmas Eve.  Then we came home and fixed a nice dinner.  I had actually left it cooking while we were gone, so it was ready as soon as we got home.  After we enjoyed a nice, quiet Christmas dinner, we proceeded to the much anticipated opening of the family gifts!

Clara was SO excited to see what treasures her boxes held for her.  

In true form, Ben was acting like a total goofball.  This is his excited look!

The puppies were excited because the kids were excited.  So fighting over a sock, seemed the logical thing to do, right?

And wrestle...you need to wrestle when you are excited!

Clara loved finding CASH in her first card!

Yes!  Money makes us VERY happy!!!!

Max is too cool to jump up and down with excitement nowadays,  but a little cash in hand seems to bring big smiles!

For Ben too!!!!

Ahhh....checks and cash.  The love language of the American Teenager!  Thank you Mimi and Pee Paw Dave!

I think this fuzzy blue bathrobe my sister gave Clara is one of her very favorite gifts!  She was ecstatic!!!!

And this is one of Ben's favorite gifts.  He's a Texas boy for sure and has developed quite a love for the orange stuff here in Longhorn Country!

It was an American Girl Extravaganza for Clara!  She got a gift card,  a new outfit, eyeglasses for her doll AND a set of braces and head gear for her teeth!  She was overjoyed!!!!

And then it was Christmas morning!  We got to sleep in all the way until 5:57 a.m. this year.  That's as long as they could wait...so they told us.  And so...we dragged our weary selves up out of that bed and into the living room to see what treasures and treats Santa might have left behind for them.  

This is Clara walking into the room and seeing what's under the tree from Santa.  Clearly, it exceeded her expectations!

This new, shiny beach cruiser bike had her name on it!   

And Ben got a shiny new tackle box fully stocked with all kinds of the latest and greatest fishing lures guaranteed to bring in the BIG one!  

Max was surprised and excited to find arrows under the tree for him!

Along with a new bow!  

There was Snow Leopard to upgrade the computer for Max

And UT headphones for the Texas boy!

A new scooter for Clara!

The Texas Driving Handbook for Max.  Oh dear.  Help me, Rhonda!

And a book about programming Java.  Oh, the crazy things my children dream of!

All in all, it was a wonderful morning of fun and surprises., ribbons and bows.  Really, BIG bows!

We're looking forward to a SUPER new year in 2012!

Merry Christmas, ya'll!!!!!