Up in the Gym, Workin' on my Fitness

So, I know I haven't uttered a word about the working out since my first post about it. Not to worry, I haven't quit, I guess I just didn't know what to write about. I mean, I'm in the gym for almost 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. I'm sweating, I'm grunting, I'm red-faced and workin' HARD and get this...I'm not losing weight. 

I weighed myself on the Wii Fit about a week before starting working out, so I know about what my starting point was. Last week, after 4 weeks of working out I got back on the Wii Fit board and it said I GAINED 2 POUNDS! C'mon!!! I was a little discouraged, but I shook it off. It's only been a month after all and I'm building muscle too.

This week? I'm feeling pretty good. My body is definitely changing even if the scale is not showing it. I've got more energy, my clothes starting to fit a little better and I can do more crunches than I've ever been able to do before. This week my neighbor commented that my face was looking thinner. My trainer just today told me my hips were looking smaller....and that "baby pooch" flab area that never seems to go away? It's definitely smaller. So...the weight loss will come, I'm sure, I just gotta be patient. My body is just readjusting itself.

As for those spandex tops I mentioned before? They're getting better. I can at least look at myself in the mirror now and feel better about myself than I did a month ago.

Wet 'n Wild

We pass Wet 'n Wild everyday on the way to and from school, so of course the kids have been asking since the first day of school when we can go. From the road you can only see two very steep waterslides and from some online reviews I had read that there wasn't a whole lot to do in the park, but since we have 3 young kids and the weather has been gradually getting hotter we decided to go check it out on Saturday. 

We were very pleasantly surprised!

For $25 US per person we got entrance to the park and all inclusive food and beverage all day long. You could rent towels, lockers and rafts for the lazy river for an additional fee. The food was decent: I had a chicken caesar salad and fries, Patrick had a hot dog, pizza and nachos. Ella and Kaley got chicken nuggets and a ham and macaroni dish and Jackson had a hot dog and pizza. There was also a salad bar and a couple hot dishes at the place we stopped to eat. There were a couple different places to eat, but we only ended up eating the one time. There were plenty of bars set up around as well, so we were never without a soda (or beer or frozen drink).

There were only 4 major slides, but that was okay for our family; our kids weren't even tall enough for all of them. We started out at the toilet bowl. Ella, Jackson, me and Patrick all took a couple turns on the bowl. 

There was a covered toilet bowl and a non-covered one. The kids wouldn't go on the covered one, but I caught a great photo of Patrick as he was falling out of it.

There was also entertainment a various intervals throughout the day. Ella and Jackson participated in the balloon toss.

Next up was the Twister. Kaley was not tall enough to go by herself, but Jackson and Ella dared to go!

Yeah baby!

We did it man!
The kids spent a good amount of time in the water playground. I liked the fact that there were so many lifeguards throughout the park.

We rented a few tubes for the lazy river, but only ended up going around 2 times.

Ella and Patrick enjoyed the wave pool. Jackson and Kaley weren't interested.

After a sun and fun-filled day a little ice cream is the perfect treat.
We really enjoyed our day at Wet 'n Wild even thought we all got good and sunburned. I thought it was a good value since you got all the food included. If our kids were older I could understand they might get bored easily with so few rides, but for us it was great day. We'll definitely be back when it warms up even more. And this time we'll be armed with sunscreen.

False advertising

Who put my baby's face on the back of a van?

Ella spotted the van on the road and said "Hey, look, Kaley is on the back of a van!" and then I had to race to keep up with it (and take some photographic evidence of course) Even Kaley asked "Is that really me on that van?"

There is a very good resemblance, but definitely not my baby-she's way cuter of course!

Smuggled goods

I like to bake cookies and other assorted treats at least once a week. I actually think I like the making and baking better than the eating, but that's beside the point. Since moving to Mexico it has been a little more of a challenge to make our favorite treat recipes though since I cannot find a lot of the key ingredients needed to make them.

Of course there are some ingredients they DO have, but they are just not the same. Like brown sugar, a key ingredient in any cookie recipe. I looked high and low for brown sugar around here. In Mexico the brown sugar is more like raw sugar. It doesn't pack nicely into your measuring cups and it has a much stronger sugar smell. I have bought it, but I haven't tried baking with it yet. So...what is this cookie loving family to do? Smuggle in the brown sugar from the states of course.

When my mom visited in November I made a list of grocery items I needed her to bring. Had customs checked her bags I'm not sure if I would have gotten any of it, but they didn't so I did. I asked for fruit snacks for the kids, lipton onion soup mix, bags of mini marshmallows, Nestle butterscotch chips and of course, brown sugar. 

Other ingredients I've had a hard time finding? Jell-O pudding, cool whip, graham crackers, almond bark for chocolate dipping, sweetened shredded coconut, caramels, canned pumpkin, and Chex cereal.

The good news is that we have had a lot of visitors, so we've had some fresh supplies every month or so. Plus we took an unexpected trip back to the States in December so I loaded up then too since we could bring a total of 10 suitcases baby!

Anyway, I was making Patrick's favorite cookie the other day since I had {{all}} the ingredients on hand. Can you spot the smuggled goods?

His favorite cookies are called Ranger Cookies. We first had them in college from my roommate Sara. I'm not sure if this is the same recipe as hers, but I thought I'd share it.

Ranger Cookies

1/2 C. butter (softened)

1/2 C. sugar

1/2 C. brown sugar

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/4 C. flour

1 C. Rice Krispies

1 C. rolled oats

1 1/3 C. sweetened shredded coconut

Beat together butter, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder and baking soda til combined. Add in egg and vanilla. Stir in flour. Stir in cereal, oats and coconut.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake at 375 about 8-10 minutes or till egdes are golden.

Puppy on Board

Maho is a frequent rider in the car on the way to school in the mornings. She is getting to be a much better rider except that she has to sniff EVERYTHING in the car and she is always finding lots of goodies left by the kids in the car to tempt her.

For example, the other day Kaley brought 2 Polly Pockets in the car to play with on the car ride. She forgot to take them in that afternoon after school. The next morning Maho went with us in the car and when we picked up the kids after school Kaley found 2 Polly Pockets with multiple puncture wounds all over their bodies and no legs. It's dangerous to be a toy in this house right now.

After making her rounds in the car Maho generally likes to sit in 1 of 2 places, neither of which will fit her for very much longer. Her best place to be is right on my lap, but seeing as how I am very short and therefore have to pull the seat like right up to the steering wheel, that makes no room for puppy. She still tries though. It does make for a more adventurous car ride. Me swerving all over the road because I am trying to maneuver the steering wheel around a dog's body while she is trying to rest her head on my arm (that is trying to steer!)

Anyway, her second favorite spot is the console between the front seats. She can still be right next to me, she gets a view of all the things we pass by and she gets the air conditioner right in her face. 

The queen on her throne:

She better enjoy it while it lasts. She'll be too big before long to fit there comfortably.

Michael Jackson

Scene: Yesterday in the car on the way home from school

Ella: Mom, in dance class today we saw a scary movie with Michael Jackson in it.

Me: You have dance class?

Ella: (exasperated) Yes. Mom, you know that movie where Michael Jackson sings that one song?

Me: What kind of dances do you do at the dance class (Seriously, I didn't know they had a dance class at school)

Ella: We do all different dances, but we watch a lot of movies too. Mom, you know that movie with Michael Jackson and he sings that song?

Me: No, Ella I don't know what movie you are talking about. Maybe if you sing the song or say the words to the song I might know what you're talking about.

Ella: (tries humming to herself) Mom I can't! YOU KNOW THAT SONG THAT HAS 'MOONLIGHT?' that MICHAEL JACKSON sings?

Me: (racking my brain for a Michael Jackson song with 'moonlight') Ella I don't know what movie you are talking about.

::Ah-ha moment::

Me: You mean "Thriller?"

Ella: Yes! That movie. We watched it in dance class today and it had Michael Jackson and his girlfriend and they were watching a movie and then the girl didn't want to watch the movie anymore, so Michael Jackson and his girlfriend left and they were walking in the graveyard and then these scary dead zombies came out and then Michael Jackson got this light in his eyes and then Michael Jackson's girlfriend ran away and then all the zombies were doing Michael Jackson's dance and then it showed Michael Jackson's girlfriend in her house and Michael Jackson reached out to touch her and she opened her eyes and she realized it was all just a dream.

Me: Yeah, I know that one.

Ella: I just can't believe that such a good song would have such a scary movie.

Conversation over.

So, in review. 

1. so-called dance class is short on dance, but watches plenty of American videos. Nice to know.

2. Ella must have said "Michael Jackson" about 80 times in the course of the conversation and I didn't even know she knew who he was.

Someone's Been Into my Camera

You just can't leave your camera unattended these days. You never know what will end up on there!

Seasons of Love

Valentine's Day is tomorrow. Just in case all the red, pink, hearts, balloons and candy spilling out in all the store aisles didn't tip you off. I have a couple ideas up my sleeve for Patrick and the kids, but I'm still working them. We did however finish homemade Valentines for Ella's class party. Strangely, neither Jackson or Kaley's classes were having a party. Kaley did make some valentines to pass out though cause what we did for Ella was so cute.

I found this valentine idea out there on the internet. Booted up the old InDesign program and designed up a flower pattern and leaf pattern, printed them out and we were good to go. I already had the candy left over from Halloween. Don't worry, it's been stored in a cool, dry place!

I also found a couple neat Valentine's Day hairdos that I showed Ella and she was very excited to try it out. 

Behold, the double heart.

And a couple wimpy hearts for Kaley. Shh...just tell her yes they do look like hearts. She can't wait for long, long hair but I'm not sure that will ever happen. 4 1/2 years and this is all she's got.

Have a great Valentine's Day and eat a couple pieces of chocolate just for me!

Star of the Week

Ella is "Star of the Week" for her Spanish classes this week. Not to be confused with "Star of the Week" in the English classes, as she's already had her week for that. She needed a photo for her poster, so we decided to have a little photo shoot.

And then I had a little fun in Photoshop. I only wanted her eyes, dress and lips to stand out and I think I achieved that although I think the eyes may need a little more brightening up.

What's that you say? You want to see the other photos I decided not to use?

I know her hair is not looking it's best, but at least this is a true representation of Ella. Her hair never really looks it's best since she doesn't like combing it!

Shine bright my little Star of the Week! Or since it is Spanish class, 'Mi pequeña Estrella de la Semana'

This....is American Idol!

It is at this time of year that I am glad we decided to go ahead and get Dish network so we could have American tv programming.

American Idol and Dancing with the Stars are both gearing up for their 8th seasons and I'm excited for Tuesday and Wednesday nights! 

I am glad that the audition episodes for American Idol are over though. Although it seems like this year they featured more of the better singers and way fewer of the people just out there trying to get on tv (and otherwise horrible singers). There seems to be some good talent this year and since I am a supernerd and read spoiler sites to find out all the latest spoiler news I already know who will be making the top 36 semi-final round. 

That's right. This year there are not 12 guys and 12 girls vying to make the big stage, there will be 36. They will do the format kind of like in the early days of Idol and instead of people getting kicked off each week the top male and female, plus the next highest vote getter will advance (3 rounds of 6 men and 6 women) and then the judges will round out the top 12 with 3 of their own "wildcard" choices.

I'll reserve my right to change my favorites, but right now, of the people I've seen (listened to) I like Danny Gokey, the music teacher from Milwaukee who lost his wife a month before the auditions. I like his voice, it reminds me of Elliott Yamin from season 5. There are a lot of promising voices though and AI hasn't shown them all, so like I said, I reserve my right to change my favorite.

Like Seacrest. I'm out.

It's okay, you can say it. I'm a super-big dork. I know.

And I'm okay with that.

Who will you be cheering for?

'Cause We're Groovy Like That

Just look at these groovy little babies we're chowing down on tonight. Aw ya, rainbow cake baby.

Like, whoa dude. They're killer.

I can't take credit for the tie-dyelicious idea though. I got it from here. So easy. So fun. So delicious. And so (almost) good for you.

Peace out. Let the love flow man.

p.s. Since we're talking about cake here I thought I'd share a funny blog with everyone about cakes. It's called Cake Wrecks. Check it out. I laughed out loud at some of the commentary.

¡Vamos Equipo Rojo!

This morning Ella participated in her school's Mini-Olympics. The purpose of the Mini-Olympics (according to the flyer the school sent home) is: "to teach that sport is an entertaining and healthy activity and participating in our school community is more important than winning."

The way it worked was that each class (1st-6th grade) was divided into 3 colors. Each class participated in the 6 events as a class, but the scores of each color in each grade were added together to find a winning team at the end of the day.

Ella was on Equipo (team) Rojo (red). First up was the beanbag shotput, but I didn't get a photo of that. I think her team got the highest score for that one though. There were lots of chants of Ro-jo! Ro-jo! and A-zu-les! A-zu-les! and Blan-co! Blan-co!

Next up was the hoop shoot. Ella had only 2 boys on her class team and no one made a basket except one boy. The basket was standard size, so it was hard for the 1st grade!

After the hoop shoot was a hurdles relay. It was pretty funny and lots of kids knocked down the hurdles. Ella looks like a pro - and she didn't knock any hurdles over!

After hurdles was a sack race and a 50 yard dash and then came the tire roll. She did fairly well at the tire roll. At least she stayed in her lane, which was hard for some of the other kids!

At the closing ceremony the red team came in second, but everyone got medals, so that made it all about fun, not winning. 

As they were handing out medals and taking team photos they were playing "We Are the Champions" over the loudspeaker.

It was a pretty fun morning and it was nice to see Ella compete in something athletic since she is normally not too into that.

¡Viva Equipo Rojo!

Bits and Blahs

I haven't blogged in a week. I have had plenty of ideas to write about, but nothing really substantial, so I think I will just do a Friday round-up of some of my random thoughts this week.

Crazy House

Lest any of you think differently, I don't, in fact have it all together.

Many times people say to me, "I don't know how you do it with 3 kids." What they don't know is that I'm not "doing" anything. Our house is crazy and unorganized. I yell a lot. The kids forget homework assignments, there is nothing in the cupboard for lunches except craisins and cheetos, the dog poops in the house right before we are leaving (late) for school, one kid looks like Valentines Day in a pink shirt and red shorts, one looks like Christmas in her sister's Christmas dress and one wore the same outfit he has worn every Friday for the past month, no one has brushed their teeth or hair...and that was just this morning.

I guess we just need to get into a routine...

Visitors

We have had a constant stream of visitors since December 23. (Actually we had my mom and Dad at the end of November, so I'll count them in there too). For Christmas we had Patrick's brother and sister for a week. Then we had about a week with no one, then on January 4th my brother and his girlfriend came and stayed 10 days. Then another week off and our friends from Oklahoma came for a few days. They just left on Wednesday and next Friday (13th) Patrick's dad will be flying in. I'm not complaining about visitors, I love having visitors. I love being with family since everyone we know is so far away. Plus, it's nice to be around English-speaking people and show them around and do all the fun Cancun stuff.

But...

It will be nice to get back to a routine that is accountable to no one but myself. Like taking a nap in the middle of the day or grocery shopping at 3 different places without worrying that I am dragging people all over town on a boring household excursion.

Happy Birthday to Me

I turned 31 this week. Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. It was a pretty uneventful day, but we did go out for a nice dinner with friends without the kids. And when I told my trainer it was my birthday she stretched me out extra long and gave my muscles a massage. Oh, and I got diamond earrings. They are real purty.

I'm not stressing out over being 31, but as my friend Sara reminded me, it's been 10 years since I celebrated my 21st birthday. 10 years people. And that is when I started feeling a little old.

New tutor

Ella started working with a new Spanish tutor this week. Her old tutor got a job outside of the house and didn't have time to tutor anymore. Which is also too bad for me since she was tutoring me in the daytime.

Anyway, the new tutor is a high school girl. Ella loves this fact. It is now cool to go to the tutor. Yesterday they finished up homework early so they made brownies. Reading the directions in Spanish of course. How did she know the way to my baby's heart was through brownie mix??

The verdict from the tutor after the first week? Ella is very good at pronunciation and very smart. They think she'll be speaking Spanish in no time.

Maybe with the new attitude towards the tutor (and therefore Spanish) she will!

Kind of a boring post I realize, and sadly no photos. I'll do better next time!