Day 2

Breakfast: Cheerios and half banana
Snack: Grapes and carrots (had to resist cookie)
Lunch: Leftovers from dinner
Snack: Cheese and crackers
Dinner Spaghetti with salad
Dessert: Chocolate Chip cookie and handful of caramel corn. I realized that I don't always have dessert at home, but when I am with friends....I eat. Some people are social drinkers. I am a social eater I guess.

Day 1

Here it goes folks~
Breakfast-Oatmeal with raisins and 1 tsp pumpkin butter.
Lunch-Bagel Turkey Sandwich with 4 kettles chips and 6 oz OJ.
Snack-1/4 sugar cookie and 3/4 cup fresh pineapple
Dinner-Pineapple Chicken/Rice/1 raw carrot
Dessert---I tried to resist, but my friend Adrienne lured me with her Heath ice cream. I only had a tiny scoop. Promise :). It was good though.
The End

Food Journal

So as normal, I gained my nice 5 pounds over the holidays. Nothing new here folks... it always happens. The problem is, I have gained a couple of more pounds in the last week on top of the Christmas weight, and I have no idea how. I haven't been eating too bad, and in fact, I had a stomach bug for a couple of days where I hardly ate anything at all. If any of you remember the "before" picture that I posted last year, I am sad to say that I look the same if not a few pounds heavier (although I did get in much better shape than I was in the picture).
I still feel fine about how I look overall, but since I have a tendency to eat like a lumberjack in the first place, I think that now would be a good time to get my eating under control. I have tried to keep food journals in the past, and when I was consistent.. it really helped...but the consistency thing was hard for me. So my dear friends... I ask for your help. I will be posting what I eat (I mean everything) on my blog for the next few days to help me get in the habit of keeping a food journal. I realize that you could all care less about what I eat, but it will be a good way to hold me accountable and think about what I eat since I have to write it down. I think that once I get in the habit of writing things down, I will be good to go, so help a lady out will you? If anyone wants to participate with me... we could all help each other out, and maybe it would be good to hear about healthy meals/snacks that other people eat on a daily basis.

Gender Roles

This picture cracks me up. Not only is Gabe dressed up in full diva attire, but he has colored all over his face (and legs) with marker. So speaking of Gabe being dressed up in diva attire, Gabe really loves to dress up. I attribute it to the fact that he has an older sister who loves teaching him the ways of girliness. I do not worry. Chris doesn't for the most part either, but I think he wishes that I would encourage more "manliness" with Gabe. I don't discourage manliness at all... in fact, anyone who knows Gabe probably has a vision in your head of a little guy who never walks.... only runs and jumps everywhere. He loves to wrestle and growl, which I suppose could both be classified as "manly" things :). He just loves being like Sofia too.
I know that parents play an intricate role in helping kids identify with a gender identity and role. You often hear dads telling boys to stop a behavior, because that is what girls do. You probably don't hear parents as often telling girls not to act like boys, though.
For those of you who have older girls and then boys, do you or your husband discourage "girl" behavior at young ages? I think that gender is essential and that Gabe will be shown the ways of manliess or whatever, but 2 seems like a young age to be pushing it too hard to me. I think that as parents, we sometimes push weird issues/cultural prejudices/ onto our kids, and they pick up on it. We make things that are innocent and sweet into more than they are sometimes. I know that Gabe will grow up to be a great man someday, but at least for a little while longer, I will let him enjoy the innocence of a crown and tutu.

This is how we roll

Here are some things that we have been doing recently instead of blogging :).
My sister Kris just welcomed her new baby Relia (my Grandma's name) Lily into the world last Friday, so we headed down to get a baby fix. She is absolutely precious!!

Gabe was in a bad mood when we got there as he had just woken up, but I was very surprised how long it took him to warm up to the idea of my sister having a baby. He clung to me and whined/cried for a good 1/2 hour and wanted nothing to do with the baby. As you can see, he eventually warmed up.

Sofia was ready to hold Relia from the get go. She looooves babies. If you are around us with a baby, Sofia will immediately ask to hold the baby.


I have had a bit of an obsession with making things out of felt lately. Felt hair clips, little animals for the kids to play with, and now I am on to headbands. For those of you who know me, I am not crafty.... so I am excited to have found something easy enough that I can do :)!



I have been making more of an effort to get the kids outside this winter. Last week we fell in love with Jackson Frazier Wetlands by our house. It is a great walk for the kids, and we are working on toughening Sofia up as she has a rep for whining on walks :). Oh, and I'm really not sure why Gabe scowls in almost every picture. I assure you that he really is a quite happy kid :).
Life is great right now, and I am feeling pretty busy, but good busy. Gabe continues to make us laugh with almost everything he says lately, and Sofia is always amazing us with her insightful comments. More posts to come.

My Love Affair With Shoes

I think that I've mentioned this before, but oh how I love shoes. I own waaay too many shoes. I think that many women who have had kids can relate. No matter how much my pant size changes (and it has been known to vary many sizes with the whole pregnancy... post baby fatness etc....), my foot always remains a constant size 9.
If any of you are in desperate need of shoes...please, come shopping in my closet and I would gladly part with a couple of pairs. Oh... there is only one catch. I kind of have a thing for grandma shoes. You see folks, here in Oregon, yes... I'm sure that there are still people prancing around in their Jimmy Choos, but it seems like the majority of people are into comfort shoes. Crocs, Keens, Born, Earth Shoes, Danskos.... these are part of the shoe language that I speak. In case you think that all of my shoes are dorky sporty shoes, alas, did you know that Clark has a line called indigo that has high heels? And yes, they are funky and still comfy (and Heather usually supplies me with these). I know I may be too young to have fallen into the Grandma shoe trap, but I just can't help it. I think that my shoes are adorable too... so they are more like cool Grandma shoes.
So, my question for you... if you live in Oregon, do you wear comfort/sporty shoes... or cool people shoes like the rest of the country? Have you ever made fun of all of the comfort shoes you have seen Oregonians wear? And if you live in a place where people around you are way into appearances/boob jobs... I recommend that you consider relocating to a place where dressing comfortable is the norm :).

My Weird Theory

I think that I am pretty friendly gal. I make friends pretty easily, and I love chatting with and getting to know people from all walks of life. I think that I get along with 95% of the population, and I don't usually encounter drama with other woman folk. It's just not my style. I really really hate drama.
So, I mentioned before that 95% of the population I can get along with just fine, but every once in a while, I meet someone who I can just tell I completely rub them the wrong way. I see eye rolls when I make my light hearted cheesy jokes. I can see eye rolls when I act like a spaz or when I'm..... basically just being myself.
The other day as I was contemplating a few people I have met who I felt like are/were completely bugged by me... I noticed a pattern. This may sound like a crazy theory, but here it is folks. I've noticed that the people who tend to not especially enjoy my company tend to have a common denominator: people who are really good at math. You know, like engineers....... and all of those other professions that require awesome math skills. When I realized this, I wondered... why? This is what I came up with. People who are really good at math tend to like equations. They like predictability and the power to figure the equation out and for things to make sense. I am not a predictable equation. I change the subject mid-sentence, I might bust out into song spontaneously, I am unorganized, and I don't make sense like an equation does. These people like things to be logical... which I am not always. I do realize that my theory can be proven wrong. I am sure that I can get along with many people who excel in math, and that on the flip side, there may be some English majors who find me quite annoying too.
What is the point of all this nonsense you may ask? I have noticed lately that I care way too much about what people think about me. Not enough to be something I'm not obviously, but I always feel baffled when I feel like I am very friendly and nice to someone, and I get rudeness in response. The truth is, that all of us will encounter people who rub us the wrong way... it's just human nature. There will always be some people that no matter how nice I am (or maybe because I'm nice to them) to them... for whatever reason.... we won't mesh. People have things going on in their lives and issues and insecurities that shape how they act. I can not be super sophisticated or articulate, or whatever. I am me. I am not perfect, but I have good intentions and l should feel good about the fact that I am able to get along with many kinds of people. Do any of you struggle with this? I am hoping that as I grow and mature and gain some wisdom, that I won't be so affected and care about how other people see me. I need to continue to receive inspiration on how I live my life and always try to be better, and love life and that is all I can do. It does not matter in the end what everyone thought about me, but what kind of person I am. Well, thanks for listening friends. This is just something that I have been thinking about lately. Any words from the wise? Not that I care what you think :).