Family Pics and, oh yeah, Weight Watchers isn't going so well so you won't see any pictures of me for a while

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm not sure how to put a link in here, nor am I sure of how to refer to previous posts when I mention them in a new one. I still have to work on those two things, but I'm pretty sure I can post some pictures of the kiddos that I blog about. So, here they are:

It's not the best picture, but I actually couldn't figure out how to upload a picture to my blog (at least not easily), so I am going to bed and will try to figure out all (adding a link, referring to previous posts and pictures) when I am not so tired!

On another note~Weight Watchers is not going so well. It's not that the program doesn't work, it's that I am not applying myself and keep making excuses for why I'm not following the program. One result of my inability to lose weight is that I allow VERY FEW pictures to be taken of me. I do have a few, but not many since the twins were born. I'm off to start again tomorrow and am hoping for stronger will power!

Another Great Family Vacation!

We did it again! We had another great family vacation this summer! We spent this week at the beach (at my parents cottage in Humarock~so it was free too~how can it get much better). We had PERFECT weather!

It was such a relaxing vacation. We hung at the beach during the day, went out to eat a couple of nights, walked to the store for ice cream one night and walked to the donut shop one morning. The kids just loved it all~as simple as it was.

The ocean was kicked up a bit the first couple of days be cause of Danielle, but surprisingly calmed by mid week and later even though Hurricane Earl was following close behind. The kids still went in the water with the undertow and high waves. One of us just was sure to be in the water with them and hold the little ones. One day the waves were calm and the water warm (surprising for this part of the Atlantic Ocean)and the hubby and I were in the water all day with the kids. At one point, Patrick, Sean and Caroline were in with us while the twins sat on the beach and played. It was just perfect! The beach is wide open and, with very few exceptions, only neighbors around. That means very few other people around at all. We could see the twins from the water and had neighbors looking on them as well as us in the water. It's just such a great place. As with our trip to Storyland, it was so much easier this year with the twins!

We haven't stayed at the cottage for a week in such a long time and I am so glad we did~and the kids most definitely are too. Looking forward to it again next year!

Cupcakes, Cupcakes and More Delicious Cupcakes!

I was in Plymouth Harbor tonight with a friend and co-worker skoping out houses for a client. As we were driving around the Harbor, whenever we would come down the main road along the water, she would point out Cupcake Charlie's and tell me how delicious the cupcakes are (I wish I could figure out how to insert a link because the pictures actually look as good as the cupcakes themselves). She raved about the frosting, about the filling inside them and the cupcakes themselves. After about the10th drive by, and near the end of our search, I asked her if we should go. Well...more like asked if we could go. I have to admit~she had me curious.

Now, even though I am doing Weight Watchers, I caved the minute I walked in. I could see what she was talking about. They had cupcake flavors I had never heard of, some with filling, some not~but all beautiful to the eye and hard to resist. The frosting was the most delicious, creamy, not too sweet buttercream frosting I had ever tasted. I ordered a Lemon Drop for myself and got 1/2 dozen to bring home to my hubby and brood. I oohed an aaahed with every bite and the others did the same. Only one flavor was not a HUGE hit, but it still got eaten.

If you're ever in the MA area or are from MA~I suggest a trip to Cupcake Charlie's! Maybe some day I'll figure out how to attach a link to this thing so you can see for yourself!

Off to dream about more cupcakes! I can't wait to head back!

Baby Weight

As the two of you who read my blog now, I have five kids and the last two are twins. They are three. For the past three years I have said when discussing weight that I have not lost my baby weight. I'm not sure this is entirely true at this point. After three years, when the babies are no longer babies, does it truly count as baby weight? I have to stop fooling myself and admit that it is not in fact babyweight, but I don't take care of myself, I eat poorly and don't exercise weight. When it comes right down to it~I'm fat. My kids even tell me I'm fat. In fairness to them, they hear it from me all the time, so they are not truly being mean. They are actually concerned. They ask me not to eat certain foods that they know are unhealthy~Mountain Dew for instance (yes, at 41 years of age I am addicted to Mountain Dew). It needs to stop. I know it needs to stop. It's a clutch. I need the caffeine (I don't drink coffee), I like the taste and when the kids were younger it was my excuse to get out of the house~to buy a Mountain Dew. I would actually load all of them up into the car and go to the Dunkin Donuts drive through and buy just a Mountain Dew.

I have promised for three years that I will stop. I know I would probably drop 10 of the 35 lbs. I need to lose alone by just not drinking it. It's a matter of mind over matter. Of having will power. I am weak.

I got a wake up call this past weekend while getting a pedicure. I was sitting at the salon with my feet up on the foot rest and my stomach bunched up as a result. The girl doing my pedicure gave me a big smile and asked "are you pregnant"? I tried to laugh it off and told her that I've been lazy losing my "baby weight". Poor thing back tracked and tried to explain why she asked. Fact is, she asked because I looked it sitting there all bunched up. There's no place for the fat to go when I sit.

I'm starting tomorrow. For those who may be interested, I will post progress reports. I plan on doing Weight Watchers, which I have found in the past when losing small amounts of weight after my other children were born, was the best way to lose it. It just makes sense. Eat ALMOST anything you want (Mountain Dew excluded) in reasonable portions. It makes you think about what you're putting in your mouth in the realm of the real world.

I'll see how it goes...

Growing Up & Growing Old

I've been doing a lot of thinking about this lately. Although Audrey did dance with Caroline this past year, Brendan would bum around with me and I kind of felt with him not doing an activity that they were still little. Audrey was just following along because of Caroline.

I've always felt like there's so much ahead of us. I always new with each child there would be another to follow. I've kept clothes, extra diapers, bottles, sippy cups, bibs, binkys and all the other toys and necessitites that come with having babies and little ones. I'm now in a place where I no longer need any of it once the twins outgrow it~and outgrow it they do! So fast that I'm dizzy. With the excitement of the milestones they are making comes sadness. I'm sad to not be having any other children, although I also don't want to have any more children. I have all that I can handle. Yet everytime I see a baby I long for another. I think because it's kept me young. Now we have no where to go but for the kids to grow up and us to grow old. The twins are three and potty trained. It went by so fast. Although Audrey did dance with Caroline this past year, Brendan would bum around with me and kind of felt with him not doing an activity that they were still little. Audrey was just following along because of Caroline. I decided to sign Brendan and Audrey up for "nymnastics" (as Audrey calls it) and they took their own little class together. The first day I cried (out of sight of the other mothers of course). I cried because this means they are more independent and no longer babies. In a couple of months I will actually have that coveted "time to myself" when they go to preschool. I'm not actually sure I want this time.

Then I look at the others. Patrick is 9. I can remember when I brought him to the same gymnastics class 6+ years ago. Sean would run around the viewing area and I would be stressed trying to settle him and keep him away from the stairs. Where has that time gone? I long for that stress again. It was so much less than I am dealing with now. I never thought he would be 9 and Sean would be 7 and I would have three more. I feel as though I have not done enough with him and Sean since the others have come along. I feel that I haven't played with any of them enough and I'm losing my chance. If these first 9 years have gone this fast, I'm going to look back in no time at the next 9 years when they are starting to move on. My heart breaks at the thought. I feel like 9 years has gone by and all I've done is worry that I can't get anything done around the house, yell because of it and not spend enough time playing and just being a fun mom.

With all the growing up going on around the house, and although I feel I don't spend enough time with the kids, I ignore my parents as well.

Tonight I was unable to reach them at any phone~Milton, Humarock or their cell. After calling my brothers, who had also not spoken to them in several days, I decided to take a ride to Humarock to see if they were there. They were and they were fine~but they're not perfectly fine. After telling them why I was there and having them call my brothers to let them know they were ok, I chatted for a bit. A very important piece of info. to all of this is that my father LOVES Humarock. It is his soul. We have gone there since I was born~they purchased the cottage 6 months before I was born. He LOVES the beach and he LOVES the water. They informed me that they had been there all week. I asked my father if he had been to the beach and in the water at all. His response shocked me..."it's not the same anymore". When I asked him what he meant, although deep down I knew what he meant, he said that his breathing is so bad that he's unable to get there. He has emphysema. The house is only 4 houses away. That's how bad his breathing is. He can't walk the short distance to enjoy what he loves most. It was shocking and heartbreaking. My father has NEVER admitted he couldn't do something because of his health, especially something he LOVES so much. It must be killing him to be down there and not be able to get to the beach. His only reason for going anymore is to see the kids enjoy it now. That was so apparent. He mentioned that they were hoping I would have been down one day with the kids. Typically I am but have been busy running the kids back and forth to camps and with work (which I'm hating by the way, but that's a story for another day) was unable to make it down the past two weeks.

I feel that life is moving so fast and that even I cannot think of myself as young anymore. I'm not. I don't have little kids really. I'm going to be one of the older moms at preschool next year. I'm going to be the one with my youngest at the school and I don't like where I will be in the order of moms. OLD. I'm going to be the one with the older, wiser, fresher preschoolers because of their older siblings. The ones the first time moms won't want their kids playing with because they'll think they are so misbehaved and fresh. Maybe they are a little~but because they are older than the average 3 year old.

I wish I could stop my kids from growing up and I wish I could stop my parents (and me) from growing old. Time is too short and too precious.

QOTD

Caroline: "Mom, can you go out and sell a lot of houses because I really want a pool?"
Me: "I'm on that!"

An Example of How I Know My Kids Love Storyland MORE than Disneyworld

We have taken the kids to Storyland, starting when Patrick was not yet two, 5 times. We skipped last year because we took them to Disneyworld in April. All last summer I was asked were we going to Storyland, why weren't we going to Storyland, would we go to Storyland next summer (meaning this year).

Now in all fairness, I cannot say that they DIDN'T like Disneyworld. While we were there they had the time of their lives, but for some reason (as I mentioned in a previous post) Storyland seems to have more staying power in their minds.

Example No. 1~This year (a year after we had taken the kids to Disney and TWO YEARS after our last trip to Storyland) my 7 year old son had to write a report about his favorite memory. My husband and I were helping him with suggestions...your first trip to a Bruins game~no, your first Red Sox game~no, when we stay at Humarock and walk to the donut store when it's quiet in the morning and walk back on the beach (this has previously been a favorite memory)~no, DISNEY!!!~no. He wanted to write about Storyland and our visit to Diana's Bath's, as I mentioned, two years prior to this report. We were shocked! But we just took you ALL THE WAY to DISNEY last year???? Nope~didn't cut it for this kid. He wrote a report about Storyland, his favorite ride and our visit to Diana's Baths.

Example No. 2~my older son asked continuously, all year after NOT going to Storyland last year, if we would be going this year???

Between the two of them how could I disappoint?