I'm back!!!

So Disneyland was great and the boys had such a blast going on rides and seeing all their favorite characters. I was a little tired midweek but overall a blast. The highlights were: seeing Buzz Lightyear, seeing the boys reactions to Pirates of the Caribbean, fast passes for rides, and the swimming pools at the HoJo Plaza. There were three firsts for me: first on roller coasters (loved it), first seeing anything in 3-D, and I bought not one but two souvenir T-shirts for myself at inflated prices.

...3...2...1...Disneyland

My household is in a frenzy with all the bubbling excitement of Disneyland. I am one part excited, two parts anxious, and one part tired. I just want the vacation to start. I am kind of scared that I might get out of control on my eating since I won't be in my own kitchen. I just have to rely on the WW points booklet and PORTION SIZE. Why am I such a dingbat at this issue?

In other dingbat news:
Last night, I had an awesome workout. I went to the gym, ran for 0.5 mile. Next, strength trained all my body parts for 35 minutes. My legs and arms were screaming for mercy but I didn't stop there. I was going to jump on the treadmill to run 3 miles just to get some more cardio in, but couldn't bring myself to get on the treadmill. I knew that if I got on that machine, I would be able to hit stop at any moment.

So, I packed up my stuff and place them in my car...and I went for a run outside. I kept going and going. I figured I jogged close to three miles. Today, I drove the route and it was 5 miles!!! No wonder I am sore and crabby today. UUUGGGHHH. Maybe it's time to shell out for a pedometer.

"Mom, I made a book of our family. That's Koo, me, you, and dad. I draw your faces with your favorite color. Do you love it?" -S.E.

Self portrait of S.E. He said he put a smile because he is very happy to have his family. I swear that kid pulls on all my heartstrings. He is so loving. I can't get enough of his round face. How lucky I feel that God trusted me to have such a treasure like him.

Roll with it baby

Being 128 lbs. doesn't look like what I had envision this weight to look like. I thought my thigh rolls and my tummy rolls would shape up and go away. Nope. I am just a smaller size of my same fat self. I wasn't ready for this. I am trying to come to terms with the knowledge that my body will not ever be bikini ready.

On the bright side, my arms and legs are shaping up nicely. I feel that there's a slight definition to my arms and I'm so grateful my legs have carried me this far. In addition, by buttocks are firming up. So perhaps I will never be able to do a Valerie Bertinelli bikini reveal but with two little boys always tugging at me...would it be wise?!

The circus came to town

Seriously, the circus came to a neighboring town so the boys and I went. As far as traffic, weather, and crowd-it was great. The boys were mesmerized but they kept looking for the very, very tall man and clowns. Both were missing but here's a couple of pictures of some of the events.

Koo's career in Public Works

I swear Koo is training for a job with the Sanitation division of Public Works. He can't pass a drain, pile of debris, insects,or wadded gum without stopping to investigate. By investigate I mean, pick it up and play with it or stomp on it with his size 9 shoes. If I would let him, he would have a sculpted Transformer made out of old gum from the streets. EEEWWWWW. Totally gross. S.E. just scrunches his face up in disgust because he thinks what Koo is doing is so wrong. I agree.

Why can't he have this much gusto with picking up his toys and putting them away. One the bright side, as a daughter of an immigrant, it's never too early to start job training.

Disneyland

We are going to Disneyland. Like my children, I have never been there. My lovely husband has been many times growing up. His parents loved it so much it was in their yearly plan-and still is. So, this year having saved and saved to get rid of all our debts (we have been debt-free except the house for 7 months now). So,we paid for our trip and are leaving in eight days.

To relieve some of my anxiety associated with not being ready, I have packed the boys' and my luggage last night. I wanted to be ready but mostly I wanted to do a test run to make sure everything would fit. This is our first trip flying, where we have limited space for our stuff. I also didn't want our bags to be so heavy that it would be impossible to push it along with keeping track of our kids.

I am a little nervous for Disneyland and have concerns but I'm going to try to look at it through my kids' eyes and just enjoy.

I hope this trip is not going to be a remake of National Lampoon's Vacation with Chevy Chase...

Elephant Ears

Do those two words conjure up diet sabotage?! This is how much I love my lovely husband. We were talking last night with our friends about how much we love elephant ears at fairs. Don't we all?! I have never been able to enter a fair and pass up one. Well the circus is coming to town on Tuesday (literally) and I'm bringing my own traveling circus crew out to see if they got anything on mine. Well, somehow we couldn't get off the subject of elephant ears and how I could bring one home to my lovely when I mentioned that I can make them from scratch at home.

Stop the music. I don't think my lovely knew I could do this. His big blues started and he gave me the look. The please-make-it-PLEASE... look. Since it was his birthday I said of course.

To not railroad my quest for skinny me, I exercised my heart out at the gym this morning and when I got home, promptly made him elephant ears and maple frosting (from scratch too). They were delicious...oops, how would I know right? Well, I had to have one of course.
I sent most to our neighbors (sorry) though. I don't feel badly because I still had a lot of my flex points left unlike last week's apple pie nosedive. I really like the Weight Watchers program.

Now, that confessional is over...on with the program.

Lovely's birthday

Dear lovely husband,
Happy birthday to the man of my dreams. I am forever grateful that you were born and found me. You are my Prince Charming and then some. Thank you for the two little spunky kids and for making me feel like I am cooler than I have ever been. I can't wait to spend all your birthdays with you.

Weight Watchers Roadkill

I ate over all my daily points as well as my flex points and kept on eating. It was horrible. I was tired and grumpy for no reason whatsoever. It stinks when old behaviors sneak up on you and you are left with a full belly and feelings of failure and regret.

I literally had to get away from the kitchen so I went down to my basement where my sewing machine and made a bag for Koo's "teacher" at the library. While I was down there sewing away, my training partner called and she wanted to go for a run. How awesome is that when I was loathing myself to be picked up like that? We ended up going for a 4 mile run and got a pep talk which has helped me get back on track today. That's why I love this program. You fall, cry about it, then get right back up because all the support is there if you look for it.

Is that you mom?

I have this thought that my kids won't be able to identify my face. This is partly their fault because I am bent over most of the day picking up toys, food crumbs, spilled milk, tying shoes, etc., etc., etc. Right now, I'm sure they are only able to find me in a large crowd by my rear end.

Today, BOTH boys went to summer camp for 2 1/2 hours for the first time. Both kids. That means me not having to hurry, snap on a seatbelt, or be distracted as I went on my errands to Walmart and grocery store. It was nice. Very nice. I could get used to this. Yes I am spoiled. But it was really too quiet when I came home and I missed them. My thoughts kept drifting to how they are doing. Mostly, I hoped Koo was listening to the teachers.

mow, mow, mowing the lawn...

I've been mowing the lawn this year to help my lovely do other projects around the house. So I started mowing the lawn once a week. My love would fill the mower with gas and off I'd go. I don't like doing any yard work but I don't mind mowing because it's exercise. I'm not very good at it because I can't mowing in any cool designs or get all the grass along the edges or hills because I could barely hold on to the heavy, loud machine.

Well, my lovely has been setting the mower higher each week to keep the grass a little longer in order to protect from the hot sun the next few months. So, I've been mowed twice in one week. Hey, I didn't sign up for this. I think he's pulling my leg. I don't remember him mowing this frequently.

Another thing about mowing the lawn, the male neighbors come by and razz my lovely about how he got me to mow the lawn and how they can get their wives to do it. Now, I'm making enemies?! I don't know about this exercise aspect of it because it's only 2 activity pts. for WW.

Oh well, if it helps my lovely and I get exercise, I'll continue to mow.

And to the dog that keeps making my lawn his personal toilet, I am on to you-I know what your duty looks like and I will find you.