In addition to P90X, upright rows with August are always a good workout.

I bought this outfit for Brooklyn last year and she had few opportunities to wear it. But I pulled it out the other day just for fun. She just BARELY fit into it lengthwise, and watching her try to run was the funniest thing I'd ever seen. Sort of a scoochie shuffle. It killed me.

This weekend, my sister Rachel (and my brother Jeremiah) came into town for a visit. It had been way too long since I'd seen them both! Rache also brought a friend, Julia, down with her. So when I found out that Twilight was playing at the dollar movie, I called her up and said, wanna go with? She and Julia were game.

First, though, she burst out laughing that I even KNEW what Twilight was, much less had read the whole series in about a week. Yeah, yeah...laugh. She had actually read the first book herself. So the three of us (plus August) went to the Saturday matinee showing.

I confess I entered the cinema with low expectations. Movies are never as good as the books. And I had heard so much hype that it was BOUND to disappoint. Plus, one of my pet peeves is when the book covers depict pictures of the movie actors, thereby ruining the formation of the characters' faces by your imagination. And the copy of Twilight I had been loaned had the pictures of the actors on the cover, so I had issues with that from the start. First of all, Edward was depicted over and over as "beautiful"...otherwordly beautiful. Hm. I personally don't find Robert Pattinson all that beautiful. He did grow on me as the movie went along because he does seem rather Edwardish. But still. I had a different "beautiful" in my mind after reading all the books. Don't get me wrong, girls, he's no uggo. But...he wasn't the Edward in my mind. And Jasper...seriously, was his face made out of play-do? Alice was right on from my perspective as was Emmett. Carlisle and Esme, not so much. But you pay a buck and you can't expect TOO much!!!!!

All in all, casting differences aside, I really did enjoy the movie! I expected the soundtrack to contain way more Muse than it did, but it was a fantastic soundtrack nonetheless. Wow. And since I was perhaps the last woman on the face of America to SEE the movie, I found bits and pieces of the movie laugh out loud funny. And to my amusement (and that of my sister, Rachel), I was THE ONLY PERSON in the theatre laughing. Seriously, did no one else see the humor? Julia's theory was that everyone there had seen it multiple times...it was her third time. Could be. I did wonder though if I just have a weirder sense of humor than some.

But I was very satisfied with my (mostly) girl date and look forward to the next ones. Thanks for humoring me, Rachel and Julia!!!

On Wednesday, my little Brooklyn turned 3! I find it so hard to believe that 3 years have already passed. What joy my little girl has brought into our lives. Her hugs, kisses, smiles, mischievousness, sweet nature, zest for life, astounding vocabulary, cuddleability, unique style, short haircut and personality all make her absolutely indispensable to me and Kyle and August. In short, she's all I could ask for in a daughter.

To celebrate her birthday, we had birthday cake at DD & Randad's after our usual Wednesday night Bible study, and then today, her two best buddies, Lake and Hollis, came over with their mommies and little brothers. They decorated princess crowns, ate lunch and decorated their own desserts - sugar cookies in the shapes of high heels and crowns. It was a success as measured by the speediness with which she fell asleep for her nap. :) She was worn out. And she woke up in a good mood, talking about how much fun she had with her buddies.

At dinner, I asked Kyle how his day was. Well, Brooklyn had her head down, concentrating on her vegetable soup, so she didn't know to whom this question was directed and just assumed I was asking her! She replied with feeling, "It was a VERY good day!!!"

Brooklyn was supposed to be sleeping, but kept sneaking her library books and hiding them under the covers. I guess she's not so different from me. I well remember hiding library books under my desk in elementary school, reading about horses when I should have been learning about math. Probably explains why math is not my BEST subject to this day. I used to get in trouble all the time when my teachers caught me. It was always worth a few checks on the board to lose myself in a good book.

I'll tell you what!!!! It's February 7th and it was 71 degrees outside!!!!!! ABSURD! It was so balmy, we had a picnic in our backyard with our friends, Julia, Drew, Lake and Noah! And were all wearing short sleeves...sigh. We even spotted a few mosquitos. That is NOT a good sign. If we don't get some seriously cold temperatures, we'll be housebound due to bugs as soon as summer officially arrives. Which, at the rate it's going, may be next week. Grr. Global warming stinks.

The bright spot, other than the sun overhead, was how much fun it was to be with our friends! (Notice Bailey, our Golden, hanging around hoping for crusts).

August gets the biggest kick out of his big sister. She pops up from underneath his seat and he squeals with laughter. When she gets to giggling along with him, it's contagious. Pretty soon, Kyle and I are giggling too. I LOVE those moments.

August has been waking up lots in the nights lately...I think his rash gets itchy. And when he's awake, so am I. So this morning, when August woke up early, I handed him off to Kyle and burrowed deeper under the covers. I desperately needed a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. And my blessed husband gave them to me. AND made coffee and cinnamon rolls while I was sleeping. Man, do I love that guy. His helpers kept him entertained.

This is more a sidenote than anything, but I've noticed I so enjoy blogging with background music. Right now, I'm jamming to the latest Killers CD. Awesome stuff.

Usually, Brooklyn is really good about taking her naps. But every now and then something comes over her and she just fights me on it, despite her obvious exhaustion. A few days ago, she was so mad at me because I removed all the library books from her room. Why did I do such an awful thing? Because she was sneaking them into her bed and wasn't going to sleep! Perfectly logical, I feel. Not so much from her point of view. She proceeded to wail and cry loudly for a good hour and a half. And I am not even exaggerating. This child has a will of iron. Wonder where that comes from...

So the wills clashed and she lost. When I finally noticed a change in my environment....namely the absence of wailing, I tiptoed into her bedroom as quietly as I could. Drat these squeaky hardwood floors. This is the sight that met my amused eyes. And she always insists on stripping down for her naps. I quietly draped a blanket over her and left her to sleep. A few hours later, she awoke happy and perky as though nothing had happened. Although she did tell me later, almost casually, that she screamed for a long time in her bed. I said, "yeah, you did. But don't you feel better for sleeping?" She said she did.

My friend Liz, from Mabel's House, just told me that she might be the last person on earth to get into the TV show, Lost. Well, I'm always that way, too. Except in this case, I'm not into Lost. I'm just beginning to read Twilight. I was that way with the Harry Potter books. In that instance, I held out because the whole wizard thing...it seemed evil to me.

Until I actually read one. Then I was hooked. Completely and utterly. I lost myself in that make- believe world of good and evil, of friendship and loyalty, of right and wrong. I want to GO to Hogwarts. Living in a castle like that for a school is pretty much my dream come true!! So, I sighed and kept on reading, book after book.

This past Tuesday, my favorite childcare worker at our gym, Ms. Sonja, started telling me about how much she loved the Twilight series. She offered to loan me her copies if I wanted them. Sure, why not? I love to read! So, I picked them up from her at the gym last night (she gave me books, I gave her some cream cheese brownies...) and started reading. I'm only a few pages in yet, but it definitely has me interested.

What makes this all so bizarre is that I'm equally into John Adams and Princesses (the one about King George III's daughters). I'm wondering if it's possible to give yourself brain damage by simultaneously reading about the life of one of America's founding fathers and a vampire love story. Could the two be MORE different? It might make for some crazy dreams...we'll have to see.

We have officially completed our 90 days of P90X, but have decided that we're having too much fun to stop! We're starting round 2. I was checking online at Beachbody.com and apparently, that's pretty common. So, we're chilling for a week or so and then hopping right back into it. We have definitely seen results and are looking forward to even better results. I tried to see what other people were doing on the Beachbody message boards, but got so overwhelmed with how much was out there that I gave up. Maybe later. Anyway, here are our before and after pictures. We have yet to actually measure ourselves to see the difference in actual numbers, but we both feel better, look better...our clothes are getting baggy and we're happy! And we still have a life! Haven't stopped doing any of our normal things...although working out has always been one of our "normal" things.