Photography Class

Last Sunday, I led my first photography class.  I should probably be in one myself, not leading one, but this was something even I could handle.  I'm sure I know more than my 4 year old son about taking a picture.  Here is what my student's photos typically look like-



Not so good.  He just randomly snaps photos, usually while still moving and never, ever gets a decent picture of anything.  He has had the camera for at least a year and it is always the same blurry mess.  Nanette blogged last week about taking her daughter on a nature walk/photography session and I thought that was such a great idea.  I also realized the reason Rex always takes bad pictures is probably because I have never really spent any time with him to teach him how to take a good one.  Hmm, bad mommy.  It was time to to fix that so we bundled up and grabbed his camera and headed out.  It took a few seconds for him to find his first subject



It was still a little blurry because he didn't stop long enough to snap the picture.  But we went over the basics and tried again.



Much better.  We headed to a nearby park- apparently I haven't learned my lesson about parks and photography sessions (we took some family photos at a park in CA and Wyatt was a hot mess the whole time because he just wanted to play on the playground and wanted nothing to do with getting a picture taken).  So Rex got this one picture and then it was time to play.



The playing didn't last too long though.  It had been raining earlier in the day so everything was wet and Rex jumped on the slide before I could stop him and this is what he looked like.



Oops.  He played around a little more but we had to head back home pretty quick since it was cold out and his pants were soaked.  He got one more picture on the way home and it was his best yet.



So thanks to Nanette for the inspiration because we had a great time on our little field trip/learning session!

The Belle of The Ball

Being a female registered voter with no party affiliation living in Iowa has certainly made me popular for the last month or two.  I can't even tell you how much mail I get, people knocking on the doors, emails, everything.  I have never registered with any party because I don't really feel like I agree with anyone enough.  Maybe someday I will, but this has worked for the last 17 years and I think I will keep it that way.  But that is enough about me and my views.  It is very interesting living in Iowa when it comes to politics, especially a presidential election.  With being a swing state and the first in the nation to caucus, politics are a big deal here.  We have had political ads on the tv for the last year and a half.  Let me tell you, that's a long time.  I heard on the news last night that the last ad is scheduled to run at 5:26 pm tonight.  It can't get here fast enough.  I do enjoy but I'm also ready for it to be over.  I like feeling like my vote actually matters.  When I lived in California, it always felt like voting was useless because you know all the electoral college votes would be for the democratic party.  It makes voting a lot more enjoyable when you feel like you are having a say in something.  I cast my vote early this morning on my way home from the gym.  It took about 25 minutes to get through there so not bad.  I won't tell who I voted for- not because I am ashamed or anything just because people get brave online and feel free to leave rude comments.  I hate talking politics with anyone, even my husband.  By the way, my degree is in Political Science so I do like the subject matter, I just don't want to talk about it with anyone.  Even grannies get crazy about their politics so I prefer to keep my mouth shut.



So get out there and vote everyone and no spitting!

The Art Studio Is Now Open

So I've already missed a day.  Oops.  That didn't take long.  I was even going to blog this morning and this evening to make up for it but that didn't happen either.  It seems it is always busy around here and sometimes it is just hard to find that 20-30 minutes to myself for blogging.  And sometimes when I can find the time, blogging isn't on my list of things I want to do with those precious few quiet moments.  But I'm back on track now and will try to finish up this NaBloPoMo without any more misses- but don't be surprised if I fall off the wagon again!

Yesterday we spent some time setting up an arts and crafts area in our basement, in the kids' play area.  I've been wanting to do this for some time but I had to take down the tent in order to do it.  The boys love to play with the tent and we will still use it, we just can't have it set up all the time now.  Rob started building a table for them to use then realized it would probably be a lot easier to just use a folding table we already had.  We also had 4 IKEA chairs, 2 of which Wyatt had already colored on, so we didn't need to spend any money on that either.  My favorite part is the light fixture above the table.  I got the clamp/shade part at a yard sale and we just had to get a light socket piece from Ace to make it into a pendant light.



We have two bulletin boards to hang on the wall above the table and I bought an oil drip pan from Wal-Mart to use with magnets (inspired by this pin- and yes, it did only cost $12 and it is huge) that will also have to be hung somewhere.  The set-up didn't cost us much but I have spent some money on supplies.  We had an okay stash of art and craft supplies but now we are getting to look like a mini-Michaels.  With all the new and old supplies, it was time to get it all organized.  I cleared out a shelf in their toy closet and designated that space for art supplies only.



With that shelf so nicely organized, now it makes me want to clean up the others!  Another day, I suppose.  Rex is really loving the new space and couldn't wait to use the new stuff.  Glue stick? Check.  Feather? Check.  Wood sticks? Check.  Markers and paper?  Check.  And that is how a 4 year old comes up with this.



Not real sure what is going on there other than an overload of new things and the burning desire to use it all.  That took place in the afternoon and so after dinner we tried again and had a little more success with our turkey project.



And today they both colored, play-dohed, and I was even brave enough with Rex to try a little painting while Wyatt was taking his nap.



It is so nice to have a designated area to do this kind of stuff in and have all the supplies lined up and ready to go.  Yay for basements!!

Let's Try It Again

Back in 2005-2006, I very successfully followed the Weight Watchers program (on my own) and lost about 65 pounds.  I didn't have a scale for about the first two weeks, so I'm not exactly sure how much it was but somewhere around that number.  I did fine with my weight all the way until after Wyatt was born and wow, has it been a struggle since.  I don't have as much to lose as I did before but I still would like to get back to where I was pre-babies.  There was a brief period of time when Wyatt was about 2 or 3 months old that I tried the full Weight Watchers experience and though I was successful, I ended up quitting.  Between trying to get along with a newborn, a 2 year old and going through our DIY family room remodel, working hard on a diet and trying to find time for exercising was just more than I could handle.

A little after Wyatt's 1st birthday, life calmed down enough to try the dieting and exercising thing again.  I tried all kinds of things- Weight Watchers' online version, bootcamp workouts, personal training and even counting calories using just a little spreadsheet I made up myself.  While doing a little reflective thinking over the last few weeks about all my weight loss attempts, I came to realize a couple of things.  First, my exercise routine is fine.  I like to go to the gym and sweat it out so I don't need to spend extra money on a trainer or bootcamp classes.  Secondly, I realized that the diet part was where I struggled and that nothing worked for me as well as the Weight Watchers did two years ago and way back in the day when I did it for the first time. So this past Thursday, also known as payday, I signed up again and went to my first meeting this morning.  The plan has changed a bit since the last time I tried it which I think will be much better at getting me to eat healthier.  I don't really want to share what my goal is but when I am done, I will be happy to announce how much I have lost.

I am not sure if I would have shared all this if I wasn't trying to blog every day- it was the only thing that came to mind about what is going on with me right now.  Maybe the accountability of putting it out there will help me to do well.  So here's to the new PointsPlus program and hoping I do as well this time as I did 7 years ago!

Date Night

When you live very far away from grandparents, aunts and uncles, and basically all your family, finding time to get away from the kids can be really challenging.  And even when you finally find a babysitter you like, it is expensive so you can't afford to be going out all the time and leaving the kids with a sitter.  So Rob and I really, really, really appreciate getting out and enjoy ourselves when we get a chance to have a date night like we did last night.

Someone offered us two tickets to a women's college basketball game.  The seats were outstanding and we've been before and have a good time so we were happy to have the tickets and see the girls play some hoops.

It was pretty fun to hear all the conversations amongst the coaching staff and hear what was going on during the time outs.  We may not get seats that are this great again, but we would definitely go again.  I'm also hoping we can make it to a men's basketball game this year too because I love the college basketball.

We also went out to dinner first at a new restaurant in town and were simultaneously impressed and not impressed.  Some of the food was great and some of it was not so much.  And anyone who knows me, knows that I HATE eggs.  Loathe, despise, gag-at-the-sight-of, can't-even-stand-the-smell-of those nasty chicken placentas.  I rejoined Weight Watchers just yesterday morning and had to have a salad for dinner.  Every single salad at that place comes with eggs on it.  I made it clear (without being a jerk) that I really hate eggs and please make sure none are on my grilled chicken salad (the "Which Came First?" salad).  My salad also had a little jack cheese (white) on it so it made it hard to tell if there were eggs in my salad or it was just some of the cheese.  Of course, I ended up eating a little piece of egg and then finding more in there.  I don't think anyone put it in there, I think some probably just snuck over into another container where they put the salads together.  It was so disgusting.  So my dinner was over at that point.  I drowned any remaining egg taste with ice cream at the basketball game- ice cream 1, Shelby's willpower 0.  To wrap up this long story about the dinner, I would go back but I would never, ever order a salad from there again.  Which is a bummer because what I did have of the salad was really good.

Despite the problems with dinner, we both had a great time just spending time with each other and having a little peace and quiet for a few hours.  Can't wait for the next date night- hopefully to see Skyfall or the last of the Twilight movies!

NaBloPoMo

I'm such a bad blogger, that I'm not even sure what "NaBloPoMo" stands for.  I think maybe National Blog Posting Month?  Anyhow, the goal of it I do know and that is to blog every day for a month.  Now since I have been such a terrible blogger for 2012, I'm going to challenge myself to do this.  I tried before and failed.  But any increase in blogging productivity would be good and hopefully I can do this for the entire month of November.  Challenge Accepted.

Last night was Halloween and we were so ready.  Rex has been talking since November 1st 2011 about how he wanted to be Handy Manny.  We got him all dressed up and he looked awesome.



The t-shirt wasn't quite right but I had a hard time figuring out how to get the two-tone green shirt like Manny wears since it isn't for sale anywhere.  I finally had some ideas yesterday with using fabric paint but by then it was too late.  I'm still very happy with how it all turned out though.  AND everybody knew who he was supposed to be so that made me feel good.  Wyatt was a whole different story.  He dressed up as.... a crabby 2 year old who wouldn't wear a costume but still wanted candy.



He loves all thing "fiderfiders" (firefighters for those of you who don't speak Wyatt) so I got him a firefighter costume for Halloween, thinking he would be totally excited for it.  It turned out, I couldn't get him near the thing.  I tried all day.  Rex tried.  Rob tried.  He wouldn't listen to any of us.  Rob and Rex left to go trick-or-treating and then the real meltdown started.  He had his blue pumpkin bucket and he wanted to go out with his brother and get candy.  Thankfully, I had the skeleton hoodie that I coaxed him into so he was a little Halloween-ish even if he wasn't wearing a full-on costume.  I called Rob on the phone and he stopped back by to pick up Wyatt and then took both the boys out.  My husband is awesome- it couldn't have been easy managing those two.

We had lots of trick-or-treaters stop by.  It is amazing to me how many of the kids, mostly the older ones, don't even say trick-or-treat.  Or thank you.  Or anything at all.  Just ring my doorbell, wait for the candy and then take off.  It is a little bit irritating.  The little kids are pretty good at it because they have their parents there coaching them and even if they didn't get it all right, who cares?  They are little kids and are trying to figure it all out still.  Eh.  I do love Halloween and seeing everyone get dressed up because the kids are just so darn cute.  The first one we had last night was a little Captain America.  How does that not make you smile?

I guess that's it for today.  Until tomorrow...

Our First Big Family Vacation Recap

About two weeks ago, our entire family of four boarded a plane and flew out to California for a 10 day vacation.  I was pretty nervous about taking Wyatt on a plane and I am happy to report that he did super good on each of our four flights.  Rex did good too though I wasn't so worried about him since he is 4 and a little easier to keep busy and entertained.  We landed in Fresno on Saturday (Oct. 13th) night and promptly headed to the nearest In-N-Out Burger for some dinner.  Words can not even describe how delicious and wonderful it tasted to me.  The next day we spent some time with Rob's family.





We had German sausage and visited and played games and had a great time.  The next day we were due to head over to Morro Bay for a couple days at the coast but Wyatt woke up sick.  Everyone else headed over there in the morning and Wyatt was well enough by the afternoon that we finally headed over there too.  We got there in time to enjoy a little time at the beach and all have dinner together at Lolo's.







As Gramps told the waitress, it was the first time he had gotten to go out to dinner with all four of his grandkids so that was a pretty special dinner for all of us.  AND I finally got the horchata I have been longing for so that was awesome too.  (Side note- I came back with 15 packets of horchata mix in my suitcase.  Oh yeah.)  We spent the rest of the time fishing off the pier (no luck), eating, shopping and playing at the park.  Since Wyatt hated the beach and the park (he hates to be dirty and couldn't deal with all the sand sticking to him), it was kind of tough to find things to do for him but I had a great time and I think Rob and Rex did too.

We headed back to Visalia and that was when Rob pretty much disappeared for the next 4 days.  He was racing at the Trophy Cup race in Tulare and we barely saw him.  We did visit him at the race car shop one day which the boys were loving.  I took the boys all over the place, visiting friends and family and seeing all kinds of things.  I was even lucky enough that Nanette and her daughter were in Visalia for a few days so we got to spend some time with them too.











One highlight of the trip for me was a little reunion of sorts that we had with my city of Fresno co-workers.  I miss everyone from there so much and miss working in planning and it was great to talk to them and catch up and see everyone's kids- we have all been busy!  We all took a picture together too and hopefully it won't be so long before those guys again.  Thanks again to Dawn and Rod for hosting and getting us all together!



We spent the last couple of days back in Fresno with Rob's family and Grandpa Rusty drove down to Fresno to see us too.







It was a long trip and after 10 days, we were ready to head home this past Tuesday.  The flights out there had gone so well but the flights home were not so good.  Everything was fine when we left Fresno until our descent into Denver.  It was probably the most turbulence I have ever experienced and it made me feel pretty queasy.  I knew Rex couldn't be doing well if I wasn't and sure enough, he lost it.  And lost it again.  And a few more times before we got off that plane.  Even Wyatt was fighting it back and telling me "Mommy, it hurts."  Oh, my poor babies.  When we got off the plane, Rob told us that all 3 of us looked awful.  Our next flight ended up being delayed for over 2 hours which was kind of a blessing because the boys got to rest and nap a little before having to get on a plane again.  Rex continued to be sick in the airport and once or twice on the flight from Denver to Des Moines but we made it finally and were very happy to see our own house again.  We had such a great time seeing friends and family and going to the beach and eating our way through the Central Valley.  Thanks to everyone who came to see us and invited us to their home and took care of us while we were there!

First (sort of) Day of Preschool

Rex had his first day of preschool today- sort of.  It was what they call their "Glimpses" day and was more of an orientation day.  We did the whole photo shoot though.

First at home-



Then at school-



You may notice his hand is a little blurry in that photo because he was so excited to get inside and was waving at me to hurry up.  Did I mention he was excited??  Rob stayed home to watch Wyatt so that I could go with Rex (parent attendance required- not just being a total mama bear).  We were there for about 45 minutes and did a little scavenger hunt around the classroom and the school so that he could learn where the bathrooms are, where his backpack goes, where the playground and gym is and things like that.  I followed him around like mommy paparazzi.











He goes to school 4 mornings a week for 3 hours a day- a nice little introduction to school, schedules and the like.  Things we don't have in our daily routine so far.  It is pretty exciting for me too although I am having a hard time with it too (just a little bit).  It is really tough to drop him off somewhere and trust other people with my child.  He's been at home with me nearly every single day of the 4+ years since he was born.  I can't believe it is time for this already!  I know he is going to have a great time making lots of new friends and learning new things.  And I am looking forward to having more one-on-one time with Wyatt and being able to go grocery shopping with just one child again.  So even though I am struggling with it a bit, I think it will be a great thing for all of us.  His first real, full day is on Thursday so I can't wait to see how that goes!

Time for a Vacation

Rob has been out to California twice this year already which has made me a little homesick.  I think Wyatt is getting better at traveling (especially now with the portable DVD players) so... we're coming to California! Yay!!  We will be out there for a little over a week in October.  I don't have the trip planned much at all yet- I'm still trying to decide on the car seat vs. CARES harness for Wyatt on the airplane. (His own car seat weighs a ton, yet it is familiar to him and may, therefore, be a better option.  But we can borrow a car seat when we get to CA and the harness is sooo much easier than dealing with getting the car seat on and off the planes.)  See the picture Rob took while he was out there a few weeks ago?  How could I not get on the next flight possible??

As good as that looks, I really miss all my family and friends and can't wait to see everyone.  We have plans to go to the beach and Rob will go racing but that's about all we know at this point.  Rex is totally excited to go to the beach and build a sandcastle.  He's already made it a point to tell me we have to go buy him a bucket and shovel and bring it with us.  So cute.  Speaking of so cute, check these two out.

We celebrated Rob's birthday last Friday.  He wanted to cook at home so we had a nice steak dinner with baked potatoes and salad and wine.  And instead of cake, he said he would rather have pie so that's what we did.  I have a deal set up with a massage therapist where I wash her sheets in exchange for free massages so I let Rob have my latest one for his birthday.  My battery charger for my camera had been MIA for quite a while so I didn't get any pictures of that day.  He also went to the Knoxville Nationals the next night after his birthday so I think it was a pretty good birthday weekend.

Wyatt has surprised us lately by singing all of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and most of the ABC's (he starts at h or i then goes to the end).  I didn't realize he knew either until he just busted them out the other day.  I tried to get him to sing it on camera but once the camera was rolling, he just wanted to play with it.  Here is what I got of the alphabet-

We were going to try and make it to the Iowa State Fair- I mean, we've been here 5 years now and still haven't been.  We have had small children/babies just about every year though so I guess we have a good excuse.  And now it's not looking good for this year either.  We don't really want to go this weekend because the weather is perfect and there will be a million people there.  Rob couldn't take any time off this week to go so it looks like we will miss it again.  We will have to plan ahead a little better next year so we make sure we get there.

A Sickly July

At least one person has been sick in our house for almost the entire month of July.  Not being dramatic at all here, folks.  These are the facts.  It all started with Rex's 4 year old check-up on July 2nd.  He had a reaction to the shot and had a fever for a day or so then a few days after that, came down with (what I think was) a cold.  He passed it on to Wyatt after a couple days then it got to me.  The boys were sick, but didn't seem all that bad so I didn't take them back to the doctor's office (which was where we picked all this crud up in the first place). When it got to me, I felt awful and went to the doctor to discover I had bronchitis, an ear infection, fever and a sore throat.  The boys were feeling better when I was sick but then I guess I passed it back to them and Rex had a double ear infection and Wyatt had croup.  We were at the doctor's office four times in 9 days between the three of us.  Thank goodness for insurance because between the office visits and all the antibiotics, it has been an expensive month.  And what's up with Wyatt getting croup- I thought that was an old-timey, 1800s disease?!  Crazy.  So the three of us are still coughing but much better and hopefully the cycle ends here.  Rob dodged it all for a long time but it seems he has a cold now.  Everyone stay away from Daddy.

I have more good reasons for being a bad blogger this past month.  My father was here for a visit a week or two ago and the boys had a lot of fun with Grandpa Rusty.

We all had a good visit with Grandpa Rusty.  Unfortunately, the day he got here was the day I started getting sick so that part was a bummer.  Rob had to take on the role of Chief Hostess and he did a great job.  I felt terrible for a couple days there and the medicine made me incredibly sleepy so I was just out of it for a while there.  Between my sickness and the awful heat we've had, we didn't get a chance to get out and do much but I think everyone had a good time despite the circumstances.  He and Rob got in a round of golf and the boys and I took him to the aquatic center twice so we did get some fun stuff in there too.

Before my dad got here, Rob was spending every second he had on our trucker bath.  Let's review again how bad it used to be.

How it looked when we bought the house (love the wood toilet seat- yuck!)-


After our first mini-makeover a few years ago (better, but still not great)-


And now, the beautiful bathroom-

It is still not totally finished but pretty close.  We need a curtain or blinds for the window, a rug, cover up the water hook-ups and put the vent cover on.  I also have a special little project for the interior of the cabinets that I will share as soon as I get to it.  I am so thrilled with the way it came out.  Eventually we will add a shower where the pedestal sink is right now and the sink will be over right next to the wall and doorway (where the shoe tray is right now).  I think I would like some kind of cabinet to go in the sink's eventual location for now but I'm not quite decided on that yet.  It would be nice to have more storage for cleaning and bathroom supplies.  Everything was replaced except the wall cabinets, mirror and light fixtures.  It is so nice in there and I love that I have another bathroom to use now- because I wouldn't even go in there before.  Yeah, it was bad.  But not anymore!