Ben
I can't believe that it's August and I have to get ready for back-to-school supplies! Ben is going to be in 4th grade this year; it's crazy how fast time is flying by! His favorite thing to do right now is to go to Kings Island-he asks us to go EVERY day. He rode the newest ride, Windseeker, the first day it opened and loved it! Seriously, I have no idea where this kid gets his guts from!
He went to the pediatrician last week for his check up and everything is looking good. He is 52.5" tall (up 2 1/2" this year) and 70lbs (up 14lbs in 6 months!). Ben has always been in the 50th percentile for height and weight, but has all of a sudden jumped up to the 68th percentile! The doctor said his weight is OK, but he doesn't want to see him gain another 14lbs in 6 months. I was thinking about what has changed in the past 6 months, and I got my answer: the Wii!!! He spends most of his time indoors playing now. It isn't helping that it's been an incredibly hot Summer in Ohio, and the last thing anybody wants to do is run around outside when it's still 86 degrees at 9:00pm!
The other issue is that last Summer, he was always going places with my Dad, or going fishing with Mark's Dad. This Summer, my Dad is back to work and no one else is able to watch him, so he is being shuffled from place to place every day. It's been hard on him to have no consistency or routine. Luckily, we only have a few more weeks 'til he's back at school! Until then, Mark and I are going to make sure he does something active every night!
Lauren
LJ has been a lot of fun lately. She has a bunch of bathing suits from her cousin, Olivia, and runs around in them constantly. She is a total water-lover; wants to play on the slip-n-slide (aka "slipping slide"), go to a pool, or go to Kings Island's water park EVERY day (noticing a trend here?). Last weekend we spent Sunday afternoon and evening at Kings Island, and for the first time, she measured tall enough to ride her first roller coaster, Woodstock Express (The Beastie for all you old-schoolers). We sat in the front car and she LOVED it! She doesn't seem as daring as Ben yet, but who knows? Mark
Mark has been spending most of the summer in the garage. He bought a 1990 Nissan 300ZX earlier this year, and has been doing everything from putting on new brakes to body work. Every night, I venture out into the garage around midnight to find him looking like "Cooter" from The Dukes of Hazzard, dodging junebugs and moths. He is loving every minute of it, I don't get it...
Besides his car, he is getting very excited for his Hollywood Debut in Ides of March, coming out October 7, 2011. Last week, the trailer and poster were released which got us all buzzing again! Here's the link: http://www.slashfilm.com/the-ides-march-trailer-poster Mark's hand is at the end, putting an ear piece in Ryan Gossling's ear! This is so cool! There are a ton of Cincinnati shots in the film-I noticed a big Bengals banner in the background of one of the shots and got all excited! I am so proud of Mark and so excited for October!
And then there's Maude...
(Sorry, I have NO recent pictures of me to post!) I'm still working on the weight loss. This has been a very frustrating year for me, though. To date, I am 4lbs heaver than I was at the end of the weight loss challenge in November. I have continued working out and watching my food intake (though I haven't been an angel), but I have just gotten stuck! I recently started doing a "boot camp" workout routine with my friend/co-worker/workout partner, Casey. I was once again encouraged by my cousin-in-law, Trish to try something different. We also joined Weight Watchers and have begun counting points to ensure that we stay on the right track. Things seem to be looking up; I lost 5lbs this past week, so hopefully that trend will continue!
Well, I'll talk to ya' soon!
