The Browny Bunch

My sister-in-law, Christy, scanned some more photos for me and I can't help sharing.

I actually looked a little harder through our photo files and found this picture from when Sarah was about 6 weeks old. She is being held by her Great-Great Grandma. Sometimes I think that maybe I should have given Sarah the middle name of Grace, after her GG Grandma. I have very fond memories of Grandma Bird. She was an amazing lady. She would have turned 100 years old this past April. If you're interested, some extended family members are putting together a blog in her honor. You can check it out at http://grandmabird100.blogspot.com/.My sister-in-law scanned some old pictures and emailed them to me today. "Thanks Jill!! This first one is our first "family photo". Sarah is 6 months old. Yeah, Brad and I have changed a lot. Probably Brad more than me though! But look at Sarah's cute curls... and her dimples... and her eyes! Oh, I was so in love with that little monkey! (I still am!) This one is when Sarah was 9 months old. This is the chubbiest she ever was. She started walking that month and slimmed down pretty quickly. I loved that little hat she's wearing, but always regretted it being on in the picture because I loved her hair so much - and you can't see it with the hat on! C'est la vie!

Well, my baby girl is now 10 years old!! I can hardly believe it! I would love to post a baby picture of her, but we don't have a scanner yet. Maybe someday...

Anyways, her birthday was on Thursday. Her friend party was on Friday. On Saturday I took her to get her hair cut and her ears pierced. Three days of birthday fun!!

She got several Webkins, which she was hoping for. (Webkins are a kind of virtual pet that you can play with on the internet. The stuffed animal comes with a code so that you can then get your virtual one online.) This picture is of the two that she received from her siblings. But she got four more at her party!! She's well on her way in the world of Webkins!
Sarah also got a new dress, a book, some birthday money, and lots of cards and well wishes. Her favorite gift of all is her iShuffle. It's red. It has her name on it. It holds lots and lots of music. She is in music-lovin' heaven! Thanks Grandma Curtis!!

So, my time on my recumbant bicycle has waned over the last few weeks. (Although I did get some time clocked today.) I have, however, been consistant with doing my "buns and thighs Winsor Pilates" DVD. It is definitely helping with my hips. A lot of you know that I have problems with pain in my hips. On the days when I've done my pilates, my hips hurt a lot less than normal. It makes me think that perhaps I have allowed myself to get so completely out of shape that my body just hasn't been able to hold itself together! If only I could say it was helping more with my buns and thighs, but there aren't any visible results yet. I wish I had it in me to take before and after pictures (not to post - I wouldn't torture any of you - but to help me see my results), but I just can't do it. I think the real measure of all this exercise will be both in how I feel on a daily basis and how comfortable I feel in a swimsuit come summer time.

I've also started up the 200 sit-ups in 6 weeks program that is being sponsored by the shipyard. The plan is to work your way up to doing 200 sit-ups (crunches for me) by doing their recommended number 3 days a week. My plan is to repeat each day, so I'll be doing them 6 days a week. I missed yesterday, but otherwise I've stayed on track. I think my form is terrible, but I'm hoping it will improve.

I've got a tummy pilates DVD too, but when I tried to do a few of the movements last week it was shockingly obvious that I need to do some major toning to even attempt what they want me to do. Oh well! Baby steps... baby steps...

While my mom was here, she found some jacks at the store and she taught Sarah how to play. My mom said that she used to play quite a bit when she was younger "back in the olden days." She is really good at it! This is not the best picture, since you can't even see the jacks, but it was the best one that I took. Sarah loves one on one time with her grandma!!
While Brad's dad was here, he and Kyle did what Grandpa does best.... snooze on the couch! It was so cute!

Last Monday Sarah made cookies for all of us. It was her first time and they turned out delicious!! It was hard to stop eating them so that we would have room for dinner! Good job, Sarah!

Last Monday my mom and I took the kids to the "Swirly Whirly Park" for lunch and some play time. We had a great picnic provided by Wendy's. (Mmmmm...double cheeseburger!) It was a little bit chilly, but there wasn't any rain and we were grateful for that. After lunch, my mom and Sarah went on a walk while the kids took to the playground.I just love Aaron's squishy baby cheeks!!!

I was feeling a little disappointed that I didn't get a shot of all the kids together. Until I realized that Aaron is in the background of this one! (And most of my mom too!) Good times! :)

I took some pictures of Aaron's lip 24 hours after the first ones to show how the healing process was going. The swelling really went down a lot in just one day! Two days later, he only had a small scab on his lip. That first night we were worried that it was hurting him while he was trying to sleep (because he woke up twice crying) and so we put some Orajel on the inside and outside of his lip. I don't know if that really helped or not, but he didn't wake up crying after that.

I'm a bit behind here, but on April 1st, Kyle read his first word all by himself!! He's been very interested in letters and sounding things out for a while now. But I think he has done it at an even younger age than Sarah! (He'll be 4 in May.)

We got home from our friend's birthday party and Kyle was preparing to eat some of his pinata candy. I heard him sounding out, "duh, duh, aw, aw, daw, t, d..aw..t, d..aw..t..sss... dots!" I was so proud!! I cheered him on and gave him big hugs. Now, if we can just work on his writing skills...