My life lately:
Well, I'm walking more. That's good. I'm also going to buy a jumprope - Thanks, Personal Trainer Kelly. Now I've got to work on cutting out the three dessert/night thing...
Anyway, it's been a busy week! I probably say that a lot, but it's actually true. I'm just crazy these days.

Over the weekend we got a lot of work done in the yard. We have a 30 year-old house. This means our lawn and landscaping (if you could call it that) is also 30 years-old. We're pretty sure none of it has been tended at all in the last 30 years, either. When the seller listed the house she planted winter rye grass (which works great when you first plant it but dies quickly) to make the lawn look nice and then dumped approximately 400 tons of red-wood mulch on top of the shrubs that she razed. So this spring we've been discovering a lot of stumps and a very patchy, weedy lawn. And removing the mulch has proved to be quite a task as well. So far I've personally filled 4 lawn bags with it and there's a lot to go. Oh well. Baby steps, right? One day we'll have our landscaping looking good again.

Saturday was also the day that we finally hung the blinds and curtains in Sophie's room! Yay! My friend Stephanie is going to come help me shorten the blinds and then I'll take a picture. It looks REALLY good, though!

And to top it off we got a visit from my SIL Christy on Saturday. She was having a weekend to herself and attending her MOMS Club conference, and all of that brought her to Dallas. We had fun chilling out, eating and remembering funny Scott stories. She got to meet Sophie for the first time, too, and that was a blast! When we were sitting down to eat dinner Cameron said the prayer and he included Christy by saying, "And we're thankful for Zach's Sara." I guess if Gaby has a Sara, then Zach must have one, too. Awesome insight, Cam.

Sunday was your usual day (see the Easter post) and that evening my brother, Jerry, called to say that he would be in town for a few days for business. Cameron was thrilled to have a real, live Gaby connection in the house and I started dreaming of projects I could ask him to do. In the end we spent our time eating, watching Napoleon Dynamite, watching various clips of the Flight of the Conchords (thanks Jen and Bri - we're all hooked now), Jerry changed the lightbulbs in my kitchen (we spent a full month or more in darkness because I was convinced the wiring was bad...I should have just changed the lightbulbs. Cool, Anna), and the guys played basketball. After a few days of witnessing the sheer insanity that is the Rawlins House, Jerry said, "Well, Anna, I have real respect for what you're doing here." In other words, "you people are nuts, I'm ready to go home."

Today we got to babysit Ashley and Kailey while the international movers pack up their belongings in preparation for their move to China. It was a lot of fun to have them play one last time. We are going to MISS the Breinholts. I know China is pretty excited that they get to keep them for awhile, but the rest of us are pretty bummed. C3 ward just won't be the same...Can you tell that Cameron is a fan? Anyway, we played, we ate, we played some more, we ate some more. A good day overall.
Speaking of eating, let me just tell you that my daughter LOVES to eat. She's one of those kids who starts to get fidgety about 90 minutes after her last meal. By 1 hour and 47 minutes she has reached epic levels of starvation and lets you know. She starts with the fidgeting which quickly becomes grunting and back-arching. Then she starts to gnaw on her fist. Next thing you know she is attempting to devour entire stuffed animals or burp cloths. If you happen to be holding her this is the time she starts diving for flesh - any flesh will do. If her lips make contact with it she goes into suction cup action which results in a very high-school-looking hickey. Finally, when she can stand the pain of deprivation no longer she gives in to a full-body scream that would cause the neighbors to assume I'm abusing her. The whole thing is rather dramatic, really. But what I just can't get a handle on is WHY she thinks she's so hungry. Has she SEEN herself lately? The girl is in the 95th percentile for weight! What? That's not good enough?! Is she really such an over-achiever that she has to beat the other 5% of kids who are fatter than her? Is this what people call "eating to win?"
ANYWAY, at least she's cute (which is really the only reason I give in to the theatrics at all).

In Cameron and Miles news, I have to share: I bought them play swords. Yes, I know. I've given many lengthy speeches on how I would never let my kids play with guns, etc. But under the tutelage of Deb I've come to accept the fact that, with boys, it's "all about the weapons." HOW MANY TIMES have I seen them make weapons out of sticks and lego's? And they are at least 10 times more dangerous than the ones you can purchase at your local Walmart. So on my last trip to the Dollar Tree the boys spotted some foam swords that make clanging metal sounds and I hesitated for about 2 seconds before saying, "Sure, why not." They've never been happier.