A question I haven't been asked in a long time

So my boss asked me today if I had an eating disorder. Really? Seriously?
While I admit that I am very skinny and I've lost just a few pounds, not much, 1 or 2 pounds maybe. I do NOT have any eating disorder! Not that I know of... A tapeworm maybe, but no disorder. Although my sister says a tapeworm has a few great functions, keeps you skinny and makes a great family pet. My kids might have the same thing too though.
I haven't been asked that question in a long time, I was kind of taken aback by it.

I kindly shared with her my 3.5 keys for weight happiness. I will kindly share them with you too! what does the .5 stand for you ask? We will get to that in a little bit. Per my sister I will now be know as a Skinny Little Budda. I should write a book I have so much knowledge to share, along with my great gift of Smartassness!

1. stop eating when you get full! your stomach is supposed to only be the size of your fist, unless you are a cow and have 4 stomachs. Serving your plate at the next meal should remind you to put less on your plate because the rest of it just goes to your ass and thighs.

2. PUT DOWN THE JUNK FOOD AND DESSERT! That stuff too has no nutritional value and only applies itself to your ass. Therefor your butt ends up twice the size as the rest of your body. And trust me that is not attractive.

3. Take yourself for a walk! Better yet, take a run, hit the gym, surf... something but just get yourself moving!

3.5 Have a glass of wine or beer once in a while! good for your heart, bladder and if you're married, the bedroom.

And there dear followers are your 3.5 tips for weight happiness.
Up next--- parenting! Beer and wine(in moderation and after kids bedtimes) are god for that too!

My "Baby Austin" is 3 and not such a "Baby"

All people with kids don't blink! If you blink all of the sudden your kids grow up!

When did I blink? Wasn't it yesterday Austin was born? When did I get old enough to have a 6 year old AND a 3 year old?

When birthdays come around for my kids it's always so hard to believe they are another year older, mine not so much. I remember the day they were born and then all of those little moments that were great after that. I remember that first year and how hard it felt and the before you know it they are a year old. Then things start to get really interesting when the start walking and talking. You are trying to teach them manners and hopping that one day it will stick. You are trying to teach them right from wrong and worried about what people are thinking about you when thay throw themselves and the Wal-Mart floor having a total melt down. (not that my kids EVER did that!) You try so hard to be that good parent that you look around at others thinking they must have it easier than you.

And then they turn 3. Manners are sticking, fits are less, sharing is better, eating habits are better. Now my "Baby" isn't a baby anymore and he is 3 years old.

I remember so well when we found out we were having another baby. I remember when he was born and then taking Austin home from the hospital. Then I was the mother of two little kids, two boy little kids. I was potty training one kid and nursing another, I thought I was gonna lose my mind. This was hard, really hard. I remember hearing Austin cry and laughing because it sounded like the weirdest cry on earth. Then the colic came! God, help me! He had colic for 5 months and I was a human pacifier, I didn't care as long as it kept him happy and quiet. The year came and went, colic ended and then we had to go through the crying it out phase. I was that mom that didn't let him cry at night the first year and would still get up in the middle of the night with him. Austin didn't sleep through the night until we made him cry it out.

Well now Austin is 3. He has become such a great little boy. His speech is improving so much, his manners are good. I love how he tells you "Thank you Momma" for every little thing. He gives great hugs and even better kisses. He shares and now if you give him something he has to take one to his brother too. He eats well and has good table manners. And most of all the boys sleeps!
I am so proud to be the mother of such a great little boy, two great little boys. The great thing about having boys is that for now, I am the only girl in their world. (well except for the beloved Sussa, she's a close second)
I thank God for picking out this little boy just for me. I hope I make him proud in the way I raise him. I will always try to remember to enjoy all the little moments.

Labor Day Weekend Fun

Every year for Labor day my parents rent a cabin in Wimberly for a weekend. We usually go for a day to float the river and BBQ and some good fun with my family and some friends. The past few years I had worried so much about the kids and the water becuase in years past we had some rain and the water was high and the boys were smaller. This year with the kids bigger and far less water I wasn't too concerned. At least the drought was good for something huh? I had planned on taking floaties and a life jacket for the kids but we forgot those too...drats!
As it turned out there were lots of floating lounge chairs and stuff so the boys sat in one of those and ate snacks and had juice and we all had a great relaxing time on the river.
We had a great time seeing Sussa and Uncle Jon too. Austin is in love with "The Sussa"!
And Poppy just changes everyday, the girl get prettier every time I see her. Gotta love those gals!

We hadn't planned on staying the night and we did anyway. All in all it was a great relaxing labor day weekend. Well until we got home and saw that Lady ate a bird for dinner. We now call her Lady Bird...fitting

this and that

Well I forgot how busy life gets when the school year starts. I feel like wo don't stop!
Andrew is so far, as of week 2, doing great! He really likes his new teacher, and he's come out of his shell more than he did last year.
Austin is sad though that his brother isn't there all day to play with and when Andrew does get home he just wants him to play trains. Austin is another train loving boy! At least we are getting our money's worth on all those trains we bought for Andrew. But should anyone want to just send us lots of batteries we would be much obliged. AA and C please? Austin's birthday is coming up and we decided to do a "Thomas the Train" party for him and redo his room. I guess it's time to take the baby stuff off the wall being as he's gonna be 3. Holy crap where did the time go?

In other news.... (CNN theme song playing in my head... or is that the 60 Minutes song? Oh well)

I walked 7 miles the other day. Went with our dog Lady and my friend Morgan(who's moving away, Thanks for that one dear friend). Lady has put on a few pounds since we got her, must be the 3 year old feeding her. Maybe I should teach her to eat salad. But I stayed home that day taking care of a grumpy kid and when Morgan called I jumped at the chance to get out of the house. Well from my house to the trail, to the end of the trail and back to my house makes 7 miles, so I'm told. I felt great that night, and even the next day but two days later, I think I have shin splints. I think I might stick to bike riding.

Well, i guess that's about it. Spending time with all sorts of family this weekend. Have a great long weekend everyone!

Almost ready for a new school year... not really

So in less than a week Andrew starts kindergarden... Yes, he's repeating it.
Last year he had just turned 5 before the school year started and while he was technically old enough to go to school he just wasn't ready. So giving him a chance to grow(in more ways than one)we are ready to do this again. Well, kinda...

I'm the mom who doesn't want to send her kid to school. I couldn't home school him but i just like spending time with him and when he's in school i don't get to see him on my lunch hour.
I love the school he goes to but I get sad knowing that he's away from me all day.
I also can't believe that A. I'm old enough to have a kid in school and B. My kid is old enough to be in school...wasn't he born yesterday? Now he's about 45 inches tall and growing by the minute. We figured out his height right before we went to Sea world, checking to make sure he was tall enough for some of the rides. We're not those weird parents that count every inch he grows... that would just be too much huh?

We are getting the last of his school supplies this week and I think once we get his backpack and lunch stuff together it's all gonna sink in for the whole family. Even Austin gets sad when Bubba is at school. But here's to a great school year! May we not lose our marbles this year!

Now THAT was a vacation!

Wow Oh Wow! We have come back from the best, most relaxing vacation. It was great!



We were able to get tickets to Sea World for 2 days so we packed up the kids and the car and got a pet/ house sitter and we took off for a great adventure! We left on tuesday, later then we had hoped but when is my family ever on time. But we did leave a clean house to come home to so it wasn't so bad. We got to SA and headed for Sussa's house. After a nice dinner with the family we headed back to Sussa's house to get ready for a packed day at Sea World on wednesday. We had every intention on staying until the place closed and we got there right when it opened. My dad(Pawpaw) went with us for the day too. The kids loved having him there and he was so much help too. We saw all the shows, which Austin is still telling us about how the Sea Lion hit the man's hinney and he fell to the water and splash, but NO Hit! He loved it! The boys were the right size to take them too, Andrew was tall enough to do everything but the big roller coaters and Austin could do all the family rides. And we rode and did everything! By the end of day one we covered every corner of the park but the water park, that we left for day two.

I was so impressed with how well behaved the boys were though. There wasn't one fit or tear. Austin waited patiently in the lines for the rides, they listened and watched the shows. They ate all their lunch with good table manners. I was so proud of them, and so proud they were my boys. We saw kids left and right having some meltdown and my kids just looked at them like they had two heads. Austin even took a nap while Pawpaw, Andrew and Paul rode a ride he wasn't big enough for, and I was happy to sit and rest for a bit too. We even got PawPaw to get on a splash ride/ coaster with Andrew and I. Pawpaw isn't too fond of stuff like that but Andrew wanted him to go on it with us. He had a ton of fun too!

And just as always I tear up everytime I see the Shamu show. This time it was extra special because my kids were able to experience something that I love so much. I still haven't givin up yet on my dream of being a killer whale trainer just yet, maybe when I hit 40 if I haven't done it yet I might start to let the dream go but not yet. Well I looked over at PawPaw and he had a few tears too. He was thinking the same thing I was about seeing the boys experience my passion.

*side note- Grandma Crouch's birthday was monday and she had been gone for two years that day too. Making memories like this are hitting us a little harder this time of year.*



Well day one came to a succeful, tireing close and we headed back to Sussa's house for showers. She was so kind and had a great dinner ready for all of us when we got there. After dinner we crashed out early, the day so great and we were so tired. Had to get ready for day two!



For day two we mostly just hit up the waterpark. Again the kids were so well behaved and had a blast. Austin loved the wave pool, he swam like a champ! Andrew wanted to ride every slide he could, he was a little scared on the first one but he went down it and by the time he reached the bottom he was looking for his next ride. We played till we couldn't play anymore. We had a nsack and then got changed to go home. Poor Austin was so tired he fell asleep in the wagon sitting straight up. Andrew was so nice and got out to walk so we could lay Austin down. Poor kid, we wore him out. Taking our wagon was a great idea by the way. Far better than taking a stroller, both kids could ride in it and if one wanted to walk we put our bag in there. It was also so much easier to pull around instead of pushing even the strollers you could rent.



It was sad to say goodbye to Sussa and Uncle Jon(with no hair) and Baby Poppy. They let us come and invade their home for a few days and they were so nice and helpful. We have so much fun with them. Sussa and I are so glad that our hubby's get along, we figure that they get together to complain on how we gang up on the both of them. Remember if you make one twin mad you will have the other coming out to get you too. And our poor kids have two mothers to deal with. Ah, the joys of having a twin for your relative.

We didn't get home until late that night but we came home to a nice clean house and happy animals.

Thanks to Joni for taking such great care of all our pets. And to the in-laws who came over during their paper route to let the dogs out to pee.

And most of all, Thnaks to Sussa and Uncle Jon(with no hair) for letting us stay at ur place.

Now THAT was a vacation!

Persicution of the skinny people

For all my life I have been skinny, that's just the way I was built. I graduated high school weighing in at 75lbs and 5 feet 6 inches tall. Yes I know I was a stick, but I was an athletic stick. I played tennis since 8th grade, and while I wasn't the best at it and even hated it at times it kept me in shape and with a great tan I might add. I was made fun of without mercy by the girls that were the "normal size" and the boys that liked them. I always thought then that just wait until thay have had kids and are twice their size from high school. I looked forward to my high school reunion and always thought I would have a few kids by then and still be thin, and hopefully bigger boobs. (can't win them all though)

Well now andI am just about staring age 28 right smack in the face. I have two kids, and the reunion will be here in a year. But you know I must have been looking in the future for a while because... I'm still skinny!
I must admit that I still do a little working out, we ride bikes every night and it's great excercise for all of us. Except Austin, he just rides. It has become a nightly ritual to ride bikes, Andrew looks forward to it all day. We usually ride about 7:30 or 8pm because it's so dang hot during the day. We ride for a good hour too, that's how long Andrew likes to ride before he decides he's done. Now I look forward to it too.
I also don't eat alot of sweets, I just don't care for them. I like a meal, a big, well rounded meal.
I would rather take up the room in my tummy with good food than junk food. And remember your stomach is about the size of your fist.
Any way, I think that I just give a small attempt at staying healthy. I eat what I want and quit when I'm full, bike riding and running after two little boys and some good genes from my dad's side of the family and this is the size I am. I always thought though that once you got out of school people would stop making fun of me. I thought that people in the "real world" know that just like thin people can't make fun of heavy people that the heavier people wouldn't make fun of me. SO NOT THE CASE!
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining about my size. I like the size I am. I'd like a new wordrobe to fit it but I like the size I am. And I'm just like everyone else in that when I do put on the extra few pounds I don't always like were it goes. If i get on my pasta kick I know for sure my pants are gonna be tight the next few weeks till my fad had ended.

But I would not make fun of over weight people! I might tell you to put the 3rd cookie you are about to eat down but I wouldn't call you fat or make fun of you for something that would be a sore spot. Why do people think it's okay to make fun of skinny people? Like we don't have image issues too? In the end I say it's just not okay to make fun of anyone! Fat or skinny, short or tall!
So don't make fun!