terminology!!!

earlier today the kids were listening to music and dancing in the living room

Gungam Style came on and Connor says to me
"sometime his Korea speak sounds like naughty words"

Korea speak!!!
yeah, sorry, I can't stop laughing

playing in the tub

I missed the first couple of minutes when he just couldn't stop laughing

Kellan loves the water almost as much as Ronan.

maybe he'll be a diver like his grandpa
but I still haven't let him try putting his face in the water.  not until he's old enough to hold his breath.  he'll figure it out soon enough

it was a birthday!

Connor turned 9!
can you believe it?!  I hardly can.

some days he looks so big, other days he still looks like he should be 3 years old. the time is just flying by

I had tried to get a picture of  Connor for his birthday picture, but Kellan wanted to get in on it.

 Kellan loves to steal the show.
but it's okay.  everyone loves him so much that they don't mind when he does.

I'm sure that it won't last much longer, though.

Connor was just beside himself waiting for people to hurry up so we could have cake.
while we were in the living room talking, he was in the kitchen putting the candles on the cake (in the shape of a 9)

yep... that is the same frosting. I didn't get pictures up last year of his birthday, but he did have the same frosting.
I think that makes at least 7 birthday cakes in a row now.  Maybe more, I'm not completely sure.


Grandma and grandpa brought him a remote controlled 4 wheeler.  and there is Kellan back to stealing the show.
he chased that thing back and forth across the floor and did eventually catch it.
but he was so sad the whole time. he just doesn't understand yet that not everything is his.


Ronan was the one buzzing with excitement over giving Connor his present from mom and dad.
I almost didn't get a picture of him getting it open.
don't trust the picture of Connor here... he really was very happy and excited to get a DS game.

it was nice of Connor to let Ronan climb over his shoulder to watch him play.
Ronan is practically sitting in his lap!

it was a pretty fun birthday and they went to sleep playing the game late into the night.  I think I probably fell asleep before these two.

a new year. time to be resolute!

I have been thinking of some personal plans for myself for this new year.  plans that I want to continue throughout the rest of my life (may it be really really long)

in 2012 I was pregnant with Kellan.  also diagnosed with gestational diabetes - though after carefully monitoring my blood sugars for 5 months there is some serious debate as to whether I was diabetic at all!  I kind of feel like that was just a ploy by the clinic to make more money off of me....
anyway, what does this have to do with my 2014 resolutions?  well you see, I lost a lot of weight while pregnant with him.  I felt great about that alone... after he was born and my weight had a few weeks to level off, I had lost 60 pounds.
I was determined to have as healthy of a pregnancy as I could and so we went for walks down to the bridge at least 3 times a week.  not long walks but they were more than I had been doing.
I ate healthier foods when I could stomach any.
I cut pop out of my life - only with the occasional pop when we were grocery shopping and I didn't want to buy a drink of water.  and by occasional I mean really rare.
after my diabetes tests I limited my carbohydrates but it was more like portion control instead of cutting anything else out of my diet.  I was just more aware of how much I was eating or how much I was allowed to eat.  and most of the time I didn't even eat my full day's allowed carbs and I wasn't starving by a long shot.  I actually was full most of the time.

after Kellan was born, I had a lot of emotional crap going on because of my completely useless breasts that wouldn't just do what they were supposed to and make food for my baby.  I do admit that after 4 months of that struggle I threw caution to the wind and just pigged out on any and every comfort food I could get my piggy hands on.  I gained all those esteem boosting 60 pounds back.  no more esteem boost.
it also didn't help that nature was against me.  we had the coldest and longest spring we have ever ever had.  snow in May for crying out loud!  drissle-y cold rain on a daily basis well into June. then we had monster hatchings of mosquitoes after that and there was no way I was going to take my baby out in that plague of insects for a walk to the bridge.  we did go for a few walks down there, but it wasn't anything like 3 a week... it was more like 3 a month.

I don't have a baby growing in me to help speed along metabolism, but everything else is sound.
more exercise, healthier eating, no pop.  I'm never going to be a bombshell like I was when I was in my 20s, but I'm not going to look like this evil gingerbread dwelling hag anymore.