ANOTHER COSMIC ZUMBA-MY MOST FAVORITIST WORKOUT EVA

My friends, Kara and Jamie, joined me this time.

I caved to the peer pressure and bought a skirt. "Everyone else is doing it!"

Weird eyes but I'm showing off my fast as lightning four leafed clover. Yes, I'm totally pinching back the fat on my arm.

It actually just smeared when I rubbed up against Hocutt's arm.

HAIRCUTS, LIVESTOCK, AND A PRISSY POT

One day last week, we took all the kids for hair cuts. This was Mary's first.

She did excellent. Not much bothers that girl.

This month for dress up days at school, it was all about a farm. The kids were to dress up as farmers or farm animals. Of course, Brett Paul took charge. All I got to do was take some pictures. He's so creative. That's a Minnie Mouse hat under there. He also took that roll of cotton looking stuff and glued to a white shirt and added a sweet little collar with cotton balls to make it girly.

Fabulous job, Brett Paul!

Farm Day #1 My little farmer and his sheep. I just love her little hooves. heehee

Farm Day #2. My three little farmers. Mary has a pink bandana in her back pocket. Too bad you can't see it. I'm sure it fell out as soon as she got to school anyway. And no, little ones don't have to participate but like I've said before, Mag doesn't want MB left out. Mag said she wanted to change animals for Day #2. We talked her into being a lamb instead. ;) Should have known that wouldn't fly. Brett was at Walmart at 8 am because she decided she wanted to be a farmer. Duh, Mac and Mary were. Since she only wears dresses and skirts and has for some time now, she owns no jeans.

Recital costumes are in! Mag wasn't happy that it wasn't a skirt but I think she's okay with it now.

I told Brett that he needed to catch one of her rehearsals soon. She said, "Yes, you do. I am very, very, very good. I... am... a... Supersta."

The hola hoop is her stage.

I may not can cook but I can make a mean salad. This is Barefoot Contessa's guacamole salad. Funny Maggie story. Brett grilled hamburgers the other night. Mag said, "Thank you mom and dad for the dinner and letting us eat outside." I said, "Mag, I didn't make dinner." She replied, "I know but you chopped the onion."

Friday, Brett and I took Mac to see an food therapist. Thank you Lisa and Jakers for letting Mag hang with you guys and thank you, Laurie, for tackling watching two one year olds. Laurie's son, Luke, is a month younger than MB. We took Mac because the child just will not eat anything besides "Brown, Round, & Crunchy" things. Ex) cookies, crackers, chips. With the exception of oatmeal and half a taco burger. We only got that far because Mag sat for 30 minutes promising him a high five and fist bump after every bite. Have I mentioned that she is the best big sister I have ever seen? So, we walk in the office, Mac looks at the lady and says, "I wike a W!" Yes, "wike." Too sweet. Well, she said that it's a sensory thing because he also hates for his hands to be dirty. He may really believe that he can't eat other kinds of food. So, we're to try making his foods fun and easier for him.

Brett is such a good daddy. Nice try but didn't work.

Friday night, Mag and I had a girls night. I took her to her first gymnastics meet. AL vs LSU. On the way, she discussed marriage. She said that Mac would grow up and get married and so would Mary. I asked where she would be and in a very "duh" tone said, "Wherever Jake is." She's ready to get married now, btw. Why? She's ready for a big wedding. Oh, that pizza right there, 8 bucks. Ridiculous. But, I wanted her to get the whole experience. She was a little overwhelmed at first. Sat still, observing. I was amazed at how many people I saw that I know. We were seated one row in front of The Brown's and Williams' from church and three rows in front of Brett's cousin, Tanya, and her hubby, Anthony. Lt. Fuzz, as my dad calls him. No clue why.

After she got the feel for the place, she danced none stop. I don't just mean when they cranked the music up but the whole time. Even when it was turned down low during an event. I got her down from dancing in her chair at one point. When "Poker Face" came on she wanted me to tell the stranger seated next to us that that was her favorite song. BTW, I hate typing "that that." Then she asked if I remembered going down the lazy river at AL Adventure because that's the song that was playing at that time. That was two years ago people! Memory like an elephant. We had a ball together. That girl is so much fun.

Stopped to pose for me.

Buying all white socks is not the best idea when your kids don't wear the exact same size but really, really close.

Mary just loves running in our room and digging very important papers out of our desk.

See.

-A FEW SIMPLE RULES
Our house has been baby-proofed for over 4 years straight now. We have doorknob covers, outlet covers, padding on the fireplace (when you take the corner piece off, it makes a perfect "L", just ask Mac), have all furniture arranged where a little head is least likely to get bonked, never leave small objects around (poor Mag even has all the little princess' shoes put away). The kitchen, living room, and kids' bedrooms are as close to being perfectly child-proofed as they're gonna get. We are so used to it now that when I go to someone else's home, I feel like a bird out of a cage. It's a strange feeling, kinda unsafe yet kinda liberating. Anyway, there are a few things that you can't "lock" so remember these if you ever visit. We've learned them the hard way.
1)Mac and Mary are not allowed in the laundry room. Way too many things to make messes in there including their favorite, putting Jackson's food in his water.
2)Mary must not walk in the kitchen in sock feet.
3)Don't leave Mac and Mary alone together. Maggie is our watchful eye when we can't be. Maggie lets Mac ride on her back. Now, Mac pushes Mary down, saddles up, and says, "Giddy up, Mary!" Not good.
4)Always close our bedroom door if Chucky is in there. Refer here for reason.
5)Never leave Mary alone in our bedroom. See photo from above.
6)Always watch where Mac lays the end piece of his breakfast bar. And he will lay the end piece somewhere. By locating this piece, you avoid Mary finding it, choking, and puking everywhere.
7)NEVER let them in the bathroom while Maggie is brushing her teeth or doing anything else for that matter. This is why.
These are just a few that come to find at this moment. If you want to come over sometime, be on your toes. Have fun and relax but...be on your toes.

TRACKER TROUBLE

So, I found out that my tracker (the thing that tells you how many views you have on your blog) was not calculating correctly. It was only counting "visitors" instead of "pageviews." Apparently, there is a lot of mumbo jumbo to go through to reach "visitor" status. Something about cookies and such. So, I thought I'd just install a counter from another site. I found a super cute musical tracker (the one on the top,right). I loved it! However, I believe it's counting too quickly! Geez, are any of these silly things accurate? Not that they mean a hill of beans, they're just fun little blogger tools for us little bloggers.

GOING TO WORK TO GET SOME REST

-MAGS FIRST SPEND THE NIGHT PARTY

My good friend, Jamie, called and asked if Mag and I could come to her daughter's spend the night party. Mag just loves Claire. After all, she is the best colorer. Mag would be the youngest guest but Claire's sister Laura is three so Jamie thought they could play together, plus, Jamie and I could hang out. Joey was out of town and Jamie was alone with 7 other squealy girls. And you must be crazy if you think I'd send my 4 year old to her first slumber party alone! In case you've forgotten, little girls can be ruthless. Everyone was really sweet to Magpie though. She kinda just stood back and watched when girly arguing would occur, taking it all in. She tried to sleep in her little sleeping bag with the big girls but said they wouldn't be quiet so she curled up in bed with me. I totally didn't mind that a bit. Those monkeys stayed up until 1 am and were back up at 8. I was exhausted. And, FYI, for weeks, Mary Brooke has been getting up 2-3 times a night. Not this night. Brett said she didn't make a peep all night! He must have drugged her. So, Mag's first sleepover was a total sucess as she had an absolute ball and was SUPER excited!

Watching a riveting Barbie movie.

Mag with the birthday girl. In a house with three girls, there is makeup everywhere.

Elaina, Claire, Mag, and Laura

Those extra legs belong to an American doll.

The cute desserts we painted.

We survived!

Oh, the hugs that took place when we got home. You would think they'd been separated for weeks. It was sweet that when we were going to sleep the night before, Mag teared up because "I miss my Mac."

I love that he's standing on her foot.

"Thanks a lot for the gum, Mrs. Jamie." :(

"Play it up harder, Magpie."












-COSMIC ZUMBA

Heard of cosmic zumba? Heard of plain zumba? Well, it has got to be the most awesome way to excerise for anyone that loves to dance. And I love to dance! It's fab! It is a mixture of all different styles but all really fast and high energy. Not sure if this is true but I've been told that you burn about 1,000 calories per hour. Let's pretend that we know that to be a fact. Well, cosmic zumba is three hours! If I'm not mistaken, 3 x 1,000 = 3,000! Who cares though? It's so much fun and a tremendous workout. At cosmic zumba, you throw a little flair into it. You dress funkily, wear body paint, there's a disco ball, etc. They have really cute jingly skirts that sound neat when you shake your hips but they're $15 bucks so, thus far, I've passed. The first time I attended, Shannon and I (Shannon was our dance captain in high school) just wore regular clothes. This time, Hayden and I decided to get the whole cosmic effect. Effect? Affect? Effect. We were very proud of ourselves. We made it the entire 3 hours. It was easier for me this time since Brett and I have been excersing. Still, we were exhausted. It was even hard getting out of the car when I got home. It was nearly 11 pm and I still had church clothes to lay out and such. I took two tylenol & a shower, ate a pb&j (that Brett had waiting on me after my shower), downed a bottle of Gatorade, and begged Brett for a leg massage. Seriously, it's killer.

I'm so glad Hayden got to go with me! We have so much fun together. I think we need to come up with some new hand gestures though.

Gotta show off the socks. They are actually Harrison's soccer socks.

My friend, Shannon and her sis, Tiffany, were breakin' it down with us. As you can see, Hayden and I sweated off our body paint. Well, a smidge got on my boob. Hayden also painted my upper back. Not the best idea. After one small turn of the head, my pigtails were yellow.

-SUNDAY

Here is Brett being Goliath and Emma being David during SS. Thanks for letting me swipe your pic, MK.

And lastly, this may not look like a big deal to you but this child doesn't eat. Seriously, He. Doesn't. Eat. He lives on oatmeal and breakfast bars. So, when he actually picked up his soft taco and took several bites without us begging...you could only imagine our excitement.

WHATEVS FROM THIS AND LAST WEEK

Here are a few random pics from the past week or so. And a few random thoughts as well. This morning, it was craziness as usual in our house. So many little people running around and just full of activity. Brett walked in the bathroom, kissed me, and said, "I know our life it just nuts but I am so glad I am married to you and I just love those three little rugrats in there." I'm so blessed that he makes a point to say things such as that on a daily basis. Moving on. A few minutes later, Brett walked in the living room and asked Mac where his bar was. (Mac was walking around eating his normal breakfast, a breakfast bar) Mac said, "I dunno, Daddy! I dunno!" Just then, Mary walked in a puked everywhere. Found the bar!

Bottomfeeders is one of my favorite places to eat. The owners also have a limo service. They had the brilliant idea of providing free limo rides on Tuesday nights. So, Brett and I took Magpie on a date. No babies. Dinner and her first limo ride. It was really cool. Brett cracked me up because he sat there about to vomit from motion sickness. Weirdo. Mag and I loved it though.

She looks so tiny in there.


"Laid back. With my mind on my money and my money on my mind." What song is that? Really, I can't remember.






I haven't had my nails done by someone other than myself since Mac was born I do believe. I decided to treat myself and tried the new Shellac (sp?). It rocks! I didn't do the full manicure (that doesn't mean that I didn't get all 10 nails done) so it was cheaper. It's been a week and still looks fab!




This pic should have actually gone further down but I don't feel like changing it. Mag is all ready to go the "The Chinese New Year." Apparently, it's a happenin' place that her bf, Jake, told her about. She said that someone told her in SS that she and Jake were too little to be boyfriend and girlfriend. "That just made me so mad when they said that!"
Everyone is straight out of the tub and all ready for school.

I just love that squishy little bug.

No, I did not have a fling with Gene Simmons.

Brett and I have really been trying to eat better. We've done pretty well. This night, we were laying in bed starving, just reminiscing about Taco Casa and such. He was about to head out to get some but I talked him out of it. Instead, we ordered a pizza 'cause that's much healthier, ya know. Well, minutes after we ordered, a huge storm appeared. We felt terrible about getting a poor delivery person out in that mess. Of course, the wind woke/awakened Mac. The boys are watching the storm & waiting for the pizza. BTW, it was midnight by this point. It was actually quite nice. Brett and I ate at the kitchen table by nothing but the glow of a small lamp and the oven light while Mac walked around and serenaded us with the ABC song. And there was much chatter about W. Brett and I sat for nearly and hour and a half, just talking while Mac watched SuperWhy and the cars on the local weather channel.

We caved. The next day we had Taco Casa. We made it 26 days. I told Brett to give me an excited face and this is what I got. I have to say though, oh my, that food was delish! Even better than I remember. Mag didn't make it 26 days. A few days before, I asked her what she wanted for supper and she got really loud and said, "Please! May I please have Taco Casa!" I was telling my friend, Megan, about that at dance class. Mac heard me and said, "I want Taco Casa and, and, I want a W!"

Here is my St. Patrick's Day mantel decor. If I didn't have it, I got it from the Dollar Tree. All but that whispy green thing. That came from Hobby Lobby. There are also white flowers with a green tint in the fire place. I just typed that "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" myself. And that's true, I am part Irish. I did this decor right after V'day but haven't gotten around to the posting.