Photo of the Day: Day 2-Busy

Fun is where you make it

Jafra

Must learn to speak slower and with less of a jersey accent while in Raleigh.
Jafra=Jennifer in the south

Buster and Antie

Yesterday, I saw lex sitting at the edge of the driveway saying--- Antie, be good, be nice... Stay here Antie. I went outside and learned that the ants are "her friends." she then showed me her friend, Buster. "Buster and Antie, stop wrestling."

I love my strange, animal
Loving child, even of this grosses
Me out!

Photo a day challenge

July 1- self portrait
Fun girls weekend, before and after!

Let the games begin

Spirit Stick Winner

Each week during Alexa's Girls on the Run training, a girl is chosen to receive the "Spirit Stick" for doing something special. Lex received the spirit stick for running with me on vacation and for pacing me.  I should say she kicked my tush--the little energizer bunny!

Get your motor running....

MG has wanted a motorcycle for as long as I have know him.  He made it happen this year and of course he wanted me to be apart of it.  I couldn't just have "any helmet." 

I had criteria:

1.  I didn't want: flowers, skulls, anything too flashy and NO colors.

2.  It had to be black and NOT girly 

3.  It had to match my jacket.

Love the one MG picked out for me for Mother's day! 

We went on our first joint ride together and in my adrenaline junky factor, I LOVED it.  MG stopped after 10 minutes of driving to make sure I was okay. I was MORE than okay---I wanted to keep going which we did. 2 hours later through Western Loudoun.  I was so relaxed that I seriously could have fallen asleep! Now, I have lessons scheduled for myself!!

We won't be living here anymore! ha!

This morning, while I was still half asleep and bed,  Lex showed up in my room wearing khaki shorts and a little dressy shirt...this is how our conversation went.

Mommy:  Lex, you're wearing that today? Are you going to be comfortable? Don't you have that thing, you know that thing after school?

Lex: Maaaa, my outfit is fine.  What thing?

Mom:  You know, the thing? you have the thing....running, you know.

Lex: MAAAA, girls on the run???

Mom: YES! That!

Lex: MAAAAAA It's Thursday. Girls on the Run is Wednesday!!! Ma, you better not make that kinda mistake at work (and then she makes the slashing your throat motion) or WE WON"T BE LIVING HERE ANYMORE!!!

Lexo chillaxing in the cart at Costco...with a gigantic can of tuna!

Put your money on the counter

 

One night while waiting at the bar for dinner, I wanted lex to go ask the hostess if we could have a specific table.  Knowing that she wouldn't go on her own, I knew I would need to offer a bribe.

J: Lex, I'll let you get a Sprite at dinner if you go ask the nice hostess if we can have that table.

A: Nope.

J:  I'll give you $2 dollars....

A: Put your money on the counter (said like a card shark!)

I put my $2 dollars on the counter. Lex looked at the money, smiled and went over to the hostess and requested the table I wanted, came back to us, and put the money in her wallet.  

Alligators, Snakes, and Turtles Oh my!

 

This was a week of reptiles for the GRS family. Lex and watched this alligator (a five foot BABY) swimming in the lake. We left for 10 minutes to go to the park to play and he came out in the grass to sun himself (look in the background--I wish I had my zoom lens!)

Then, the next day after lunch, the three of us were walking on the  boardwalk bridge over the dunes when Michael jumped 10 feet in the air and a three foot black snake slithered across the boardwalk into the dunes.  I screamed so loudly and grabbed lex  IN FRONT OF ME, paralyzed with fear.  My snake phobia hasn't subsided at all! Poor Lexo had a bruise on her upper arm from me!

Finally, after our pictures on the beach, lex and I hung back to take a few of our own and again walking on the boardwalk, I spotted a teeny, tiny turtle.  He was SOOO Cute!!!  

 

On the Road again....

A couple of shots of our journey down to HHI for spring break. We've made a ritual to stop at On the Border and Lex loves the gigantic animals!  We also discovered this great diner (MG LOVES LOVES LOVES diners) in North Carolina.  After we stopped, I did a google and it's one of the top diners in the south! They had the BEST chicken tenders and ranch dressing! YUM YUM YUM

One of my goals!

 

I bought these super cute True Religion jeans in January and could barely get them up my thighs. Despite that, I had to buy them and made it a goal that I would fit into them before our spring break trip to Hilton Head.  Every week I tried them on and they inched closer and closer up.  The morning of our trip, I figured I'd try them on.....well, they fit! I wore them down in the car!

Martin Luther King

Lex and I were sitting on the bottom step of our stairs battling it out on Draw Something together, when all of a sudden she got very quiet and says: I feel bad for Martin Luther King.  I ask her why? She then tells me in such a somber little voice: well, Martin luther King was best friends with a white boy, and the white boy's dad said they couldn't be friends and Martin Luther didn't understand why and then he died.  Isn't that awful, Mommy?  

My child.  She has the biggest heart out of anyone I know. 

"When I make a deal, I don't break a deal"

Me: left brained (science, math, logic, facts). Lexo: right brained (singer, artist, imagination).  

Lex comes up with some of the best sayings and ways of getting her point across. 

Case in point:  This morning we she negotiated with me that if I let her wear her short shorts (despite the fact that it's 50 degrees out right now) she would wear her hair down.  I told her that I would be so upset if she came home from school and it was in a pony tail.  She replies matter of factly "when I make a deal, I don't break a deal."  Let's see if she keeps her deal with me today!

who can resist a row of naked mannequins!

Like mother like daughter...

Lex packed her own suitcase for HHI yesterday. Me, being me, went through what she packed.....Bathing suits-check.  Shorts-check.  7 pairs of undies-check.  SIX PAIRS OF PJs-check.  When I asked her why she packed so many jammies for a 7 day vacation she replied: Ma, you know I get sweaty. 

I'm all packed too, but not with 6 pairs of jammies :)  I've got Vineyard Vines, Lilly Pulitzer, Ralph Lauren, Salty Dog, and my Sperry's all ready for uber preppy, HHI.  We're all dying to leave now!!!

"I need a Vacation"

Lexo and I ran to the store to buy a bathing suit and flips for her....Of course we had to try on a winter hat and pose.....

I guess when you're in front of a camera since in utero, posing comes very natural.

Yes we have become "those people"

Sunday, MG and I ran into Walmart to look for planters for the front porch, when lo and behold, what was sitting on the shelf in the garden center? BULLDOG!!! I knew I had to have him!  Dubin (Hailey's name if she was a boy bully and MG's mom's last name) is sitting proudly in our front flower bed, all 50 lbs of him!

Draw something!

Lex, MG and I are addicted to the app Draw Something.  The most fascinating thing for me, I seeing how differently Lex interprets and draws the words.  When you get to guess a word, you get to see how the person starts the drawing and it's usually completely opposite of what I would do.  

Bad junk in her trunk

 Lex and I were standing on line at Giant the other day when she exclaims: Ma, that's some BAD JUNK IN THE TRUNK! I busted out laughing when I looked at the celebrity celulite pictures on the magazine. Lex smacks my tush and goes "Good thing you've been going to the gym, your junk in your trunk looks good."  I love this kid.

The cure for everything

I've been wearing my bracelet that's stamped with the following quote:  The cure for everything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea. It's become my mantra for 2012 and it's inspired me for the past 10 weeks of changing my lifestyle.  Today, in spin, I really focused on how far I've come since Jan 1st and I am proud of myself.  

I love how I feel when I'm working out consistently: my confidence is up, my anxiety is down, I'm more productive, more relaxed, more emotionally pliable and seeing my muscles come in again doesn't hurt things either.  For me, it's more than what the scale says, (I'm down 11 lbs) but more about the mental adjustment overall.  I LOVE working out again.  Don't get me wrong, I've been a gym/lifting person since Ms. Benne's forced weight room workouts in track, but I definitely have my gym mojo back in full force and I think it's showing. I've had at least three trainers stop and talk or tease me about being intense or lifting heavy and it feels good.  


I wanted to get this feeling down so if I get in a rut or I get "too busy" to make a workout and that becomes a pattern (i.e. my entire M.O. for 2011), I can look pack at this post and remember how good it feels to be in shape.   

this has been the background on my phone since Jan 1, 2012

Mrs. Puffnstuff

MG's picture to me

Hailey at 2 am...so swollen

MG sends me a text on Thursday night while I'm at the gym: Puppy's face is swollen. He calls the emergency vet and they tell him to give her 50 mg of Benadryl, while I'm racing home to see what's up with our baby.  That night, I sleep with her on the couch because she was so restless and was panting so hard.  I was having flashbacks of infant lexo screaming during her first week of life.  At 2 am Hails is getting puffier....and I know that a visit to the vet is going to happen....

Hail's at the vet, sitting on the scale

Hailey spends the day at the vet, getting IV steriods, some more benadryl and LOTS of attention.  When I pick her up, her swelling has gone done remarkably. I told the tech that I slept with her the night before because I was soooo paranoid that her swelling would affect her breathing and the tech replies:  You're a neurotic one, aren't you?  I would be too with a gorgeous puppy like that.   It was so sweet. Of course, Hailey was EATING up all the attention and treats she gets, plus she was loopy from being on so much benadryl.  She picked out a new toy and we headed home.... Where she immediately lounged on the kitchen floor.  A couple of minutes later I hear snoring and this is what I see: tongue hanging out, her foot on her new toy, and a passed out bulldog!!!! I think she was so happy to be home.

Whew...home

need to catch up on my missing sleep from the night before!

This morning she's almost back to her normal self apart from the 3 bites on her face. It looks like miss trouble maker had a run in with a bee or some other sort of stinging insect that caused her to have a reaction...

A Case of the Missing Soft

Alexa LOVES to clean. She can spend hours organizing her room, putting things away, moving things around, and be completely content.  The problem that we seem to encounter is that once she is finished organizing,she enevitably does such a good job organizing and putting things away, that something is bound to be forgotten where she put it (i.e. Ms. Magoo loses a lot of things this way).

Case in point. Today was the annual 3rd grade Animal Fair at Sanders. The kids have been working on their projects for the past two months. Lex was fortunate enough to be able to report on the polar bear, her FAVORITEST animal in the entire world.  Last night, at approximately 8:30 pm, she remembers that she can bring Soft, her polar bear into school for animal fair.

Soft riding in Alexa's backpack on her bike

At approximately 8:45, we discover that Soft is MISSING! Alexa's tearing apart her room, going through bins, searching through drawers, her closet, the guest room, behind her chair. NO SOFT!!! It's now about 9:15, she's in full blown freak out mode, I'm in full blown freak out mode tearing apart the guest room, texting my mom, her dad, looking under mine and Michael's bed.  Lex even convinces MG to go into the basement with her (basements are scary to go alone after dark) with her to check there. No luck.

WHERE THE F IS SOFT?!?!  (background: I bought Soft on a business trip at Paper Source about three years ago and Lex LOVES him.) We finally convince her to go to bed and that we will see what we can do.

So this morning, she decides to bring Beary (brown bear) to Animal Fair because Beary has a cream belly and polar bears really do have black skin under their white fur. 

While I'm  hanging out with Lex at animal fair, my mom sends this text to me:

Text from GG

YAY!! GG saves the day! Soft was in the bottom of one of her drawstring bags,  hanging off the back of lex's bed.  WHEW!!!