Sweet Mae

WARNING: there will be several Meli pictures to follow.

Our sweet baby girl is almost three. She has changed so much since we have moved to Oregon. Meli has personality in abundance. Like overflowing. She is constantly going until her head hits her pillow at night. Even if she is exhausted she is always in full-throttle. It is almost like being tired gives her more energy. She definitely tires me out! Colin does too ...but he has slowed down (a bit) as he has gotten older. Still very energetic, but he likes to have some time on his own now and then.

 

Meli is super funny. I am surprised by her sense of humor at such a young age. A very mischievous girl! Meli loves getting into small spaces, like the cabinet in the picture below. She would be great at hide-and-seek...if only she would not yell constantly for someone to find her. 

Her vocabulary is getting ridiculous. Colin has taught her so many new phrases. She is talking constantly, still with some jibber-jabber mixed in. Her new favorite phrases are: 

"Just a second" - she says this whenever we ask her to do something.

"One more time" - she has no idea this means only once more. She just keeps repeating it to go again. Usually when dad is flipping her over or something like that.

"Collie (Colin) come on follow me"

"I need be Spider-man"

"Mi-mi go in car to Mi-mi's school to play"

The kids are adjusting to all of the rain. Colin has asked a few times why it rains so much. Meli on the other hand loves the rain. She just loves water in general.

Poor Meli had her first ER visit a few weeks ago. My first for the kids. She had an ear infection and tummy issues. Even though neither one of us slept much, she was very chipper the next day  (picture above). I am so thankful for my mom who was such a lifesaver during the screaming fiasco. I love having RN's for parents.

Meli recently became interested in Colin's super hero costumes. She has been mimicking Colin when he pretends to be Hulk and Iron Man. The Spider-man outfit is Colin's old one that fits her perfectly. The Captain America outfit is a little big.

Meli loves being a princess. She dresses up as one almost every day. In the picture below she is helping me vacuum in her "mom" outfit. Not sure where she got her idea of mommy clothes! 

A Day at Wildlife Safari

This past week, the kids and I met up with Grammie at Wildlife Safari. Since it was an impromptu visit, we just walked the park area (it's free) rather than driving thru.

Thankfully the weather ended up nice. Rain had come a few times during the morning, but down south tends to have less rain and was actually pretty warm. The kids had a great time! Meli has improved so much at listening and not running off. 

We played at the little playground, looked at all of the animals in the walking area, and took the train around the park. A cougar was stalking Meli and got very upset once he realized he could not get to her. She was oblivious to it. I do not know how...the cat was making loud noises. Scared mama. Both loved the train! Meli kept saying "chugga chugga choo choo".

Afterwards, we took the kids to an old drive-in for ice cream. Meli had her first cone. She did not eat the cone, but loved the ice cream.

Meli trying to give Colin a kiss after he got hurt. It made him laugh and forget about his ouchie!

Errors Galore

For anyone who read my St Patrick's Day blog...I apologize for the numerous errors! I should not write before I have had my coffee and while on my phone. I should also stay clear of Meli who kept jumping on me! 

 I did fix the errors on the actual blog. Will asked me so nicely this morning if I read the blog before I sent it. I said no because Meli had made me hit "publish" before I had the chance. Then we laughed at my horrendous errors together. Embarrassed. 

Lucky Enough

"If you’re enough lucky to be Irish... You’re lucky enough!"

I hope everyone enjoyed their day of wearing green and celebrating everything Irish. Our day was a blast! 

The night before, we set a trap to catch a leprechaun! Colin was super excited. He really wanted to be taken to the end of the rainbow! We all worked together to plan out our trap. It was funny hearing some of Colin's ideas. We put chocolate chips in the bottom of the jar and left a mini cup of water. 

Unfortunately, we did not catch a leprechaun...but we had a note that Shamus O'Toole (the leprechaun) left us. He also left some chocolate gold coins for our effort. Being a prankster he turned the cup of water green and the water in our downstairs toilet as well! Colin thought that was so funny!

We all wore our green. Meli even had her fingernails and toenails painted green. Colin wanted everything he wore to be green (even his underwear). We really get into holidays here! This is the only time I buy the kids Lucky Charms, which they love! They had it with green milk. They love having green milk so we had some more with our  cookies after dinner.

Before and after dinner we listened to Irish music and had a dance party. We did Irish jigs and other dances. So. Much. Fun. 

"May you have the hindsight to know where you've been, the foresight to know where you are going, and the insight to know when you have gone too far."

The Hair Battle

Meli and I have been having a war with her hair. She only wants it down and I want to try ponytails and braids.she is still winning each battle, BUT I have gained some ground. Every morning we get her dressed for the day, brush her teeth and comb her hair. Now she does not fight me on doing her hair! She just takes it out after 20 minutes or so. I will prevail...one of these days!

She likes the way they look and even says "pretty Mimi". She is just stubborn like her mama!

Year of Health & Fitness: Week 9

 

Excuse the face expression, shortie here is standing on her tiptoes

  Well, I have missed a few weeks. It has been very busy! I still managed to stick with my healthy eating (with the exception of my mom's birthday weekend) and working out. I was glad that when I missed my workouts this weekend (again due to birthday celebrating) I was a little irritable. Not that I enjoy feeling like that, but it showed that it is becoming a habit. I am really loving the kickboxing. The combination of that and the shredding seems to be doing a good job. I have lost 2 inches in my tummy and 1/2 inch in my thighs. Yay!!

 

Will is doing awesome! He looks so different. I am so proud of him. He has lost 20 lbs and has gained a lot of muscle. He is training for a 20k here soon. So proud!

 

Below I am wearing my new Lady Gorilla workout shirt! A couple of friends of mine created this clothing line to support strong women (whether muscle strong, mentally strong or just woman strong). This is an excerpt from their website, "Our Athletic/casual Apparel was Originally designed with the comfort and fashion of female athletes in mind. But Lady Gorilla wants to represent ALL women with an inner gorilla! Are you an athlete, a mother, a business woman, a cancer survivor or just someone who works hard? Be strong, be proud, be a Lady Gorilla! Men, show your support of the Lady Gorillas in your life with our men’s line." Here is the website, http://www.ladygorilla.com/. I love the tank! A great fit and very comfortable for working out.

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Grammie's Birthday Weekend

 

 

 

My mom celebrated a milestone birthday, we will not say which one...but it was a big one!  To make sure it was extra special we took all weekend to celebrate. On Friday, the kids and I made her dinner and cupcakes. Actually the whole family ended up helping me with the cupcakes, even Will. It has been a while since sugar has been in the house so everyone was a bit anxious! We founds some cool local gifts for her garden. Also, the kids used some wood scraps to make a sign that said, "Grammie's Garden" with a painted snake on it. Very cute.

 

Saturday, mom and I were going to go to Lincoln City to go to a lighthouse and to shop at the outlets. However, the weather was really bad on the coast that day and we got a late start. So we decided to go to closer outlets, Woodburn. We had a great time shopping. My mom has lost 15lbs, so she needed some new clothes. So proud of her. We have not had a girls' day in quite some time. It was great! I also have not been around to celebrate a birthday with her in close to 8 years, so this was perfect!

 

On her actual birthday (yesterday) we celebrated with family at my Aunt Pat's house. Great time with family.

 

Love you mom! Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday, Michael!!!

Happy birthday to my sweet brother-in-law, Michael! The kids wanted to send you a picture on your special day! We love you and hope you had a fantastic day!

Pretty, Pretty Princess

Playing with mama's princess jewelry

Meli is obsessed with princesses lately. All her new words seem to go with that theme. She says: princess, beautiful, purse, princess shoes, earrings, necklace and rings. She usually puts on her princess costume at least once a day and walks around saying "pretty princess". We even started singing a song together, "princess. princess Meli. Pretty princess Meli".

Being a mama

In the other two pictures she is being a mom. I am not sure how she thinks she looks like one. I promise I do not dress like that! I have a video of her telling me about it. I will try to post that soon. It is very funny.

Here she is a mama

Restaurant Bucket List

excuse my finger in the pic!

Will and I have decided we want to be more adventurous with our restaurants that we try. So, we are moving down a list of all the types of international cuisines. The restaurants will range from Portland down to Eugene (and possibly further south). This week we tried a Greek/Middle Eastern restaurant. It was very good! The restaurant was a small hole in the wall place called, Poppi's Anatolia. We started with dolmades (stuffed grape leaves) for an appetizer. I had a delicious plate of Egyptian Moussaka stew and Will had a very Greek flavored chicken dish with cauliflower and potatoes (small steps for him). Technically, I am very open to trying different foods (even meat - as long as I do not know what it is), but Will is working on being more adventurous. We ended the meal with baklava (one of my faves). This one was good, but I felt it was pretty different from the ones I had in Greece and at different Greek restaurants. It seemed a little more "Americanized".

 

Afterwards we tried a bar that was referred to as the "little Portland", but I totally forgot the name. That was an interesting place. It was the first time that I felt kind of old being somewhere, but people our age group showed up fairly quickly after we got there.



Last night we were able to have another date night. Since we were trying to be good on our diet and we were a bit tired from our busy Saturday (and staying out late),  we ate dinner at home and then went out for chips and salsa at a Mexican place...and beer. A few calories there, but we have not been drinking beer, so very much deserved!