Lego Christmas!

Well this year certainly was a lego Christmas, since Christmas day we've been building different lego sets that the boys got and having fun.  Tony also finished off the lego 'table' we put together downstairs.  From generic 600 piece (x2) sets to a LOTR castle, TMNT, Marvel, City, Chima, Monsters and of course SW we covered most of the basis in Lego this year.  Here are all the sets put together.  Thank you to everyone who contributed a set :)

Our Furry New Family Member

This Thanksgiving weekend we went to pick up our new puppy!!  We had been thinking about getting a puppy for a while and after I found this bread I just fell in love. 

Coton de Tulear - is a rare, ancient pure-breed dog.  They are not bred down to a small size, so they don't usually get the little dog attitude.  The Coton is a companion dog, Cotons are very intelligent, easy to toilet train, and uncommonly gentle and laid back.  I can not even begin to tell you how great he is with the boys.  He will follow us around and sit near our feet or crawl on laps when we sit.

They come in 3 colors - White, Black and White and Tri Color.  Frodo is a Tri-Color Coton with a coat of white, champagne and dusting of black hair.  They have hair not fur and it is super soft.  They are known for not shedding.  They are also a very calm dog and are known for seldom barking.  They are great with small children as well as other household pets.

A couple of my nephews came by this weekend to meet Frodo and he was great with them.

Of course getting a puppy is hard work.  I spent the first night laying on our hardwood floor outside of his crate.  Night two he spend about half the night in his crate and the other half laying just outside the crate door on his crate mat.  Finally last night he did wonderful in his crate and spent the whole night in there without whining except for potty breaks.  He got up 3 times last night to go potty but he didn't have any accidents in his crate.  We are all still getting use to remembering to take him outside frequently.  And today is gonna be his first day spending 4 hours in a crate for the morning while we work.  Yesterday he spent 2 hours in his crate while we were at church and did great.

He's an attention hog which while adorable can also be annoying.  We don't know why he whines sometimes which makes potty training tricky.  Sometimes he whines to go potty and sometimes its just because he misses being in our arms.

Here are some pictures I got of him this weekend.  The boys are so great with him (and he's great with the boys).

First trip to the Ocean!!

I decided to make a separate post since my last one was getting quite long!  After we left Magic Kingdom oh around 11pm, we headed back to my sister's house, where we'd stay the next 2 days.  We woke up that next day a little lagging but eventually we decided to head over to the ocean for a picnic lunch.  The boys have never been to an ocean so we were excited to see how they liked it. 
We weren't thinking it was warm enough so we didn't wear any bathing suits.  Bad idea, we got soaked! but had so much fun. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Dinner we hurried back to try and catch the sunset at the ocean.  My sister lives about 15-20 minutes away from this beach....  Pictures to come, haven't uploaded them yet.

 



 

Orlando in the Fall!

Yep our second trip down to Florida this year, this time much lower key.  We got a great deal on a 2 bedroom 2 bath resort place, i.e. timeshare trap.  We had to listen to a 90 minute 3 hour timeshare thing but I still think it was worth it.  We had lots of fun and made many memories.  We also got to see my little sister who moved down to the area June 2012.

We started off at the Timeshare and decided to spend our first 3 days just checking out the many different pools.  We got to 3 pools total (out of 6 I think) but we picked the best 3.  Lazy rivers, water cannons, water falls, and slides, it was so much fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we left the resort on check out day we headed to the Magic Kingdom.  Of course we couldn't go all the way down there without going to a park.  We debated between Disney vs Universal but Disney won since the kids are still pretty young.  We went on a day where Mickey had his "not so scary halloween" party so we decided to go all out and buy tickets for that party too.  That gave us access to the park from opening till midnight.  We had a great day and this trip my camera stayed attached to me the entire time.

 

Honestly I have so many pictures, but I'll try to limit it to just a few special memories.  The first thing we did when we got there was dance with Woody in the streets :)  Cullen loved it.

 

 

 

 

 

We went on some rides, saw some parades and just had a great time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had diner at the Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and friends!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner we changed into our costumes and got ready to PARTY!!  We were all Marvel Super Heroes -- Avengers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After getting some pictures in, we hit the trick or treat trails.  Boy do they give out LOTS of candy too, not just to the kids but we all go in on the action.  YUMM!

 

It got dark fast and as we were walking to the Villian Mixer and Parade area I got this shot, and love it!

 

 

 

Then it was time for the Villain show and the Parade.  While I tried to take pictures of the Villian Show, Tony let me sit with the kids for the parade and he took some shots of the parade.  Gotta love the castle all lit up like that!

 

 

 

 

 

Isn't this how all kids get ready for a parade?? Sugar coma or just sick of using his hands...

 





 

My favorite shot from the parade, love the dancine ghosts/zombies or whatever they are!

 





 



 

 

 



Road Trip Boredom Bags | Trying to be Crafty Mama

As I was blog reading in the past month I came across a cute idea to make boredom bags when road tripping with your young children.  We're heading 'up north' this week and although my kids travel fine (as long as that movie is playing), I wanted to try something different.  I'd love to get away from them watching a movie the entire way up in the car.  Mostly for my own sake cause I get sick of hearing the same dialog on and on.

So I'm trying something different.  I made up these bags, each boy will get to open 1 for every hour we are in the car.  Our trip is only 4 hours long so I could easy make up 8 bags with stuff from around the house.  Each bag has an activity (or 2) and a treat.

Here they are all organized and ready to load in the car using my 31 Bag - Organizing Utility Tote.  I will put extra supplies in the side pockets.  I'll be using quite a few 31 bags for my upcoming trip, they make organizing a breeze.

 

 

First Hour: Tic Tacs, Crayola tongue dyeing taffy, notepad, new box of crayons and stickers. 
2nd Hour: Road Trip Bingo, Monsters 'mouth' sucker, and pipe cleaners. 
3rd Hour: Star Wars activity book, another crayola taffy, stickers, and DIY Cheerio necklaces. 
4th Hour, Pipe Cleaners again, dry erase board (new to them), stickers and another Crayola taffy. 

I don't expect these to keep them busy the entire time we are in the car, but perhaps we could *gasp* talk in between. 

My thoughts on the 24 Day Challenge

Well unfortunately my thoughts were just ho hum.  The challenge did get me to step back and evaluate what I was eating and clean up a few things.  Like really being strick on whites (white flour, white rice, white potatoes, and things like instand oatmeal, instant rice etc).  I also realized I can go without sweets if I choose to.  Giving up dairy was a huge struggle but even that I could do.

What I didn't like was all the pills and supplements.  I am just NOT a pill person.  I also didn't really get much benefit in the "Max" phase as I heard so many other people did.  Compared to the "cleanse" phase where I was feeling lighter and different and also seeing a change in my hips, waist and on the scale.

So all in all, I'd probably do the Cleanse Phase again, for only $30 I found it worth the money, the whole 24 day challenge (including the cleanse phase) was $190 (+ any added supplements you buy, like I bought the carb ease).  I don't think I'll be repeating this 'diet' I just do not like taking all those pills.  Eating healthier I hope to keep up with and perhaps repeating the cleanse every couple months would be good.

Day 16-21 | 24 day Challenge

Well today is day 21 and I'm still trucking along, I won't lie and say I miss carbs, chocolate, and dairy, I miss them terribly.  Although cutting carbs isn't necessarily part of this diet, I definitely changed the carbs I am eating.  I'm pretty much 100% rid of white carbs like white rice, white flour, white potatoes.  Its hard, I REALLY like white potatoes, but I can SEE a difference in my waist line, its visible.

Today was the last weigh in of my 'dietbet'.  and I'm happy to say I made it!!  It was super hard to lose more than 1lb / week, I had to lose a total of 6.2 lbs and total I lost 6.4 lbs.

 

For accountability we used a word of the day, first person awake this morning picked it.  I started the diet bet a week before I started Advocare though, so I still have 3 more advocare days before I can officially celebrate and eat something extra yummy.

 

So this week I went down from 151 - 148.6 which is 2.4 lbs, its awesome, I was really worried about making my mark this week but I stepped up exercising to get there.  Every night this week I did something, one night it was Turbo Fire, another night I did the elliptical, then one day I ran 1 mile (it was 96 deg outside I couldn't go further) then came home and did the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred.  Last night I swam some laps at the pool.

 

Anyway, I hope to stay on this trend and keep going down (although I would be fine if my progress was slower, I want to enjoy eating more lol).  My current weight goal is a healthy 140 lbs, but I am not expecting to be there anytime soon, maybe by thanksgiving?  we'll see.

Day 15 | 24 Day Challenge

Well its Day 15, and weigh in Friday.  Kinda bummed because I lost ZERO pounds, but I do have to look back at the week and honestly I slacked a little on my exercise.  Although I ran on travel that's the only time I ran, today I did a pretty slow walk (2.5 miles) because I talked to coworkers during the walk.

I also did okay but not excellent on my food choices while on travel.  Although I had no fried food, and I also had salads without dressings.  I also got a Cheese Board one night with 4 scrumptious cheeses on it, that I almost polished off by myself.

I'm totally going to step it up because I still have 2.2 lbs to lose for my Diet Bet which ends next Friday.  I can do it!!!

As promised here is an image of all the supplements for the "max" phase of the 24 day challenge.  These are the basic ones plus 1 add-on, the Carb-Ease.  I put the "spark" in for the picture but I almost never take it.

Days 11-14 | 24 Day Challenge

Still here trucking along.  The 2nd part of the 24 day challenge is the "Max" phase, this is where I should see more weight loss.   It really isn't much of a change from the first phase as far as foods.  I still eat 5 meals such as:

Breakfast (Meal Replacement Shake)
Morning Snack - Fruit / Healthy Fat
Lunch - Healthy Grain, 5 oz Protein/Meat, Green Veggies
Afternoon Snack - Fruit / Healthy Fat
Dinner - Healthy Grain, 5 oz Protein/Meat, Green Veggies

Plus a variety of supplements, this is where it changes.  The 24 day challenge is kind of cool how they package the supplements, but during the 2nd part there are a lot of them.  You have 4 baggies.  1 - 30 minutes before breakfast, 1 - 30 minutes before lunch, and 2 packages to take with lunch.  Then there is also the evening 2 pills and the Carb Ease pills that I take once a day usually.  Each baggie has pill counts ranging from 1-5 pills.  I will try to remember to take a picture tomorrow.

To be honest I have not actually looked at ingredients of the pills or researched what they actually are.  I know shame on me, I should know what I'm putting in my body but I got so many good recs that I just didn't care to take the time.  Depending on what kind of progress I make during this challenge I will probably do some more research and see if I can find supplements that match the Advocare ones for cheaper.  We'll see though.

So days 11-13 I was actually on travel for work.  It was a lot harder to stay with my diet (not necessarily the right foods, but the right schedule).  the first day I spent all of the morning in the airport, on the plane, driving to my destination (1 hour once I got there).  Here are some things I did to try and be more successful while in route and on my trip:

Pack an EMPTY aluminum water bottle for the airport.  You can bring an empty bottle past security with your carry ons, you CAN NOT bring a full bottle, even a sealed water bottle.  Once you pass security you can fill up your bottle at any of the restaurants.  Ask with a smile!

Pack fruits like Apples / Bananas / Peaches and Snacks like Raw Almonds.  Snacks for the plane so you aren't tempted to eat the free salted peanuts or cookies.

At your hotel, snag fruit from your morning continental breakfast for daytime snacks.  They are free, take advantage.  It was SUPER hard for me to pass up the HOT continental breakfast our hotel offered but I did and just had my Meal Replacement Shake, luckily the Advocare Chocolate Shakes are DELICIOUS!

Day 7-10 | 24 day Challenge

Well we had a long weekend and I forgot to post, but as a quick wrap up I've done quite well.  I did 'cheat' a little bit here and there, had a little chocolate day 7 or 8, can't remember, and I also had a cheese.   Other than that doing pretty well.  I did an official weekly weigh in on Friday (day 9 of the cleanse, day 14 of the dietbet) and also took my measurements, noteworthy was I went down 2.6 lbs over the course of the week (friday to friday), and my hips lost 1.5 inches, also lost 0.5 inches on my waist.

Today is the last day of the cleanse portion and tomorrow I move into the rest of the 24 day challenge the "max" portion.  I hear this is where you really lose the weight so I'm pretty excited about that!  To lose 2.6 lbs on just the cleanse portion, it would be awesome if I could lose 5 or so pounds over the course of the next 14 days.  For my dietbet, I'm right where I should be at 2.5% body weight loss, I really only have 2 or so more pounds to lose in the next 2 weeks.

I'm leaving for a work trip tomorrow, it will be a little tougher sticking to eating healthy while on the road but I think I can do it.  But it does mean I won't be blogging day 11-14.  I'll try to catch back up when I'm back in town.

Day 6 | 24 Day Challenge

Woke up 5:45 showered and took my morning pills at 6:15.

6:45 - Meal Replacement Shake

9:30 - Apple with PB

OH and I made this crunchy snack for my desk a few evenings ago that I forgot to post about.  Chickpeas roasted in the oven for about 30 minutes with garlic and seasonings on it.  they are a little dry but sastify the crunchy snacky cravings here and there.  I'm keeping at my desk to crunch on throughout the day as needed.

10:30 - Brisk 2.5 mile walk at a 15:30 min/mile pace.

11:30 - Lunch:  Salad Greens with Carrots, Cucumber and Shredded chicken (no dressing no cheese) + Quinoa

2:00 - Snack - hard boiled egg and Peach

Day 5 | 24 Day Challenge

I'm so proud to make it another day.  I'm also kinda grumpy.

5:45: Woke up and Showered.
6:15: Took morning pills
6:50: Meal Replacement Shake
9:30: Apple (I was in a meeting or else I'd have eaten PB with it)
12:30:  Salad from Lenny's - no cheese, no dressing.
2:30:  Peach and Egg
5:30:  Today is TBall day so I quickly rushed home to make something for the kids and avoid getting drive thru.  Ended up making some Whole Wheat Pancakes.  So I had 2 myself and 'cheated' a bit, but still not bad.  Used half of the called for sugar, and yes there was dairy involved.  I topped mine with some organic homemade (by my boss) real maple syrup so at least the 'sweet' was a healthier one.
Finished all my pills and stuff for the day and had a lot of water throughout.

Didn't have time to exercise at work today, had a 4 hour morning meeting and lots of work to catch up on in the afternoon.  Will make up for it hopefully though!

Day 4 | 24 Day Challenge

One great thing about this challenge, is it really encourages me to pack my lunch at night.  Here's what was packed for today (not pictured is my healthy carb, Quinoa, I've never tried it before and not sure I'm gonna like it).

5:50:  Probiotic Restore --- YEAH for a reprieve from the Fiber Drink, I don't have to endure that until Day 7.

6:45:  Meal Replacement Shake

9:15:  Morning Snack - I had frozen Grapes at work so I'm eating those and maybe 1 egg.

10:30:  Exercise:  Couch to 5K - Week 5 day 1:  Completed 2.5 miles in 33 minutes with fastest pace at 10:30 min/mil

11:00:  Spark Drink

11:30:  Lunch - Salad (no dressing) with Carrots and Cucumbers topped with shredded chicken + 1/2 cup of Quinoa and roasted almonds.

2:30:  Snack - Apple and PB

So here's where it gets a little rough, I had planned a dinner of shredded chicken with taco seasoning in the crock pot so I could have a little something different.  Have lots of green veggies and brown rice, the kids could make it into a taco or something.  Well I got home and it was burned to a crisp.  apparently I didn't put enough water in the crockpot.  UGH!

So at 6pm I finally ate some Quinoa, Steamed Green Beans, and an Egg.  I don't think I hate enough food, but I was upset, we didn't even have any beans that I could have quickly made up or anything and all our other meat was frozen.  Worst part is I had to order pizza for the rest of the family.  Day 4 is rough cause you just start getting mad that you can't eat what you want to eat.  All I really wanted was a slice of cheese and a piece of chocolate.

I had the rest of my pills and stuff and made it through the night.

Day 3 | 24 Day Challenge

Woke up pretty tired this morning, but didn't go to bed until after Midnight, which is pretty late for me.  Did the whole, 'you get up', no 'you get up' dance with Tony and mercifully he got up with the kids when the 'just go in the livingroom' line didn't work anymore.  SO I officially got up at 8am, even though my kids and my bladder wanted me to get up before then.

I did an unofficial weigh in first thing this morning, totally unofficial and I'll try not to get my hopes up, but I'm down to 150.8 (from 153.6 on Friday) so an almost 3 lb loss from the first 2 days of the cleanse. I really need to try and resist the urge to get on the scale until Fridays.

Anyway,

8:00 - Fiber, AH the worst part of the cleanse no doubt.  Today I tried it with a couple TBSPs of Apple Sauce, you know the organic, no sugar added, just plain Apple Sauce, Sauce.  I think that has been the best way to take the Fiber so far.  Its still gross, but my stomach didn't turn over as much.

8:30 - Meal Replacement Shake (MRS).  I feel like I should add, I didn't buy extra of the Advocare MRS, I didn't realize the program only came with 14 for the 2nd half of the challenge, so I just went and got some of the Meijer Brand Slim Fast Shakes.  They are dairy based which isn't great for the cleanse, but o'well.  They work and I know they are taste.  We'll see if it sabotages my challenge or not, so far I don't think they are doing anything negative.

11:00 - Morning Snack - Banana + 2 TBSP of Peanut Butter

1:00 - Lunch at my parents house.  this is a hard one for me but I was good, no gravy, no bread, no dressing, no dessert:  Roast Beef + Roasted Carrots, Onion, and Potatoes + Side Salad and Corn.

3:00 - I was feeling like I needed a little pick me up, so I had a Spark.

I totally forgot to do my afternoon snack, Sunday's are lazy days and for me that also means I forget to eat.

6:00 - Took my Omega Plex, Dry Salad with Chicken, Cucumber and Carrot + a Side of Steamed Asparagus.

I'm feeling pretty good today but I had a dull headache most of the afternoon.  I think the no sugar thing is starting to get to me.  I'm a little fearful of tomorrow cause I hear day 4 can really get to you but we'll see.

Day 2 | 24 Day Challenge

I slept pretty good last night, even though I didn't get to bed till pretty late because of the kids.  Before bed I took the recommended pills for the cleanse.

I woke up at 6:30 and choked down the fiber 'drink'.  This morning I dumped the pouch into a little bowl and added a bit of water then ate it with a spoon.  It was still pretty gross but because its not water soluble (the citrus) it just turns int a paste.  Anyway it was easier to eat because it was a lot less than a full glass of the stuff.

7:30 - Meal Replacement Shake

10:00 - Banana + 1/4 cup of Almonds (meant to eat this sooner but I completely forgot cause I really wasn't hungry.

11:30 - Spark Drink (Mandarin Orange) - this tastes like Orange Juice.

12:00 - Lunch:  Fresh Picked Romaine Lettuce and a Radish from the garden + a couple carrots and topped with 5oz of shredded chicken.  This was pretty good even without the dressing.  Fresh lettuce and Radishes taste way better than store bought.
--- I decided to skip my lunch carb because we're going out to dinner for my birthday tonight.  I'm gonna try super hard to make good eating choices.

3:00 - Snack of Apple + 2 tbsp Peanut Butter - good and satisfying :)

5:30 - I took my CarbEase Pills in anticipating of a dinner out at PF Changs

6:00 - Dinner out for my birthday, went to PF Changs one of my favorite places.  Started with Lettuce Wraps (gluten free version), I had 2 lettuce wraps not too much filling and a splash of soy sauce.  For my meal I ordered Ginger Chicken with Broccoli and Brown Rice.  I tried to fill up on the broccoli and drain as much of the sauce away that I could.  It was delicious, I ate half of my plate and was satisified.  I also took my Omegaplex pills.  I only drank water with dinner and probably had about 6 glasses.  I skipped dessert even though everyone around me had some, and I even skipped the fortune cookie.  Feeling pretty proud of my self-control.

After dinner we all went to the Movies to see World War Z.  Good movie if you like zombie flicks.  I skipped Popcorn and wasn't even tempted when I had to hold Tony's large bag for him while he ran to the bathroom.  I had so much water at dinner that I was completely and utterly full.

Before bed I took the recommended pills that I can't remember the name of.

Day 1 | 24 Day Challenge

A week ago I started a challenge with some friends.  We made 'bets' with ourselves and accountability with each other and put a little money on the table.  The Goal:  Lose 4% body weight/fat in 28 days.  The Bet:  $20.  We all put $20 into a pot, if you lost your goal you got your money back, if you didn't  you didn't get your money back, and everyone who did meet the goal got an equal portion of your bet.  We each took pictures of ourselves on the scale on day one.

My scale said 155 lbs.  Kinda upsetting seeing as I was at 148 a couple months ago back when I was running consistantly and really working towards weight loss goals.  But this is what I need, a kick in the butt.

Monday I placed an order for the 24 day challenge from Advocare, I've heard so many people have success with the program and I knew I needed to get my eating under control again.  I also wanted to do a cleanse for a while and the program starts off with a 10 day cleanse.  So I ordered it.  Really wanting to utilize it during the Bet we had going on.

The Advocare products came in the mail yesterday so I immediately went out grocery shopping for the foods I'd need to stay on track... lots of veggies, fruits, and some good grains and proteins.

This morning - 1 week into the 'bet' - my scale said 153.6.  A 1% loss already and I'm on track!  I also took my measurements and hopefully I'll remember to take a picture tonight.  Started the Advocare this morning and here are my thoughts, in real time, as I go through it.  I'll update throughout the day.

5:45 - Fiber Drink + Spark Drink:  I decided to mix them since I've heard the Fiber drink isn't very tastey, and oh my they were right, I had to fight off the feeling of puking for the next 2 hours.  I drank 4 glasses of water before I arrived at work.  I'll be trying new ways of taking that fiber drink over the next couple days.  1 down - 5 more to go (the drink is for days 1-3 and days 7-10).

6:45 - I had a Meal Replacement Shake.  I typically drink the MRSs on my way into work anyway so this was no change to my normal routine and easy to do.  I'm still fighting down the puking sensation though.  Talking to friends I think it might have been the Spark drink, I'm not use to caffiene in the morning since I'm not a coffee drinker.

9:30 - Morning Snack - Apple.  Wasn't very hungry yet but I ate it per recommendation anyway probably to keep energy levels up I guess.

10:00 - Brisk 2.5 mile walk.  Didn't want to run today and deplete energy stores since todays the first day and its recommended to do only Veggies and Fruits for a good cleanse kick off.  Walked at a 15 min/mile pace, got sweaty.

11:45 - Lunch - 2 eggs (decided to have some protein, but trying to avoid carbs today), Bunch of Lettuce, A cup of Broccoli steamed, 1/2 cup of Carrots.  This plan says you can add in as much green veggies as you want so I did eat a little over the recommended veggie.  But I didn't have a complex carb and I ate a lot less protein than recommended for a normal day (this because its day 1 of cleanse).  Still feeling a little jittery from the Spark.  Didn't take the 2nd optional one.

2:30 - Afternoon Snack - Peach and Peanut Butter.  So maybe I should have saved my apple for this afternoon, would have gone better with the PB, o'well, I digress.  I wasn't super hungry but the afternoon lull from lunch to dinner is the worst.  AND I've had to pee a lot (had 9 glasses of water already today) and had to walk by the 'snack' table at work numerous times, so I decided to have the full 'recommended' snack including the 'healthy fat / PB'.  But then when I finished I kinda didn't want to eat all the PB.  o'well.  I most concerned about dinner and the rest of my evening.

5:30 - Dinner - Salad i.e. iceberg lettuce + cranberries, no dressing, a few pieces of mangled chicken on top.  Took the boys to Java Jungle, I ordered a salad, no dressing, and cheese on the side.  it was feta I just didn't know how strong I could be, so I used half the cheese.  I thought it would have grilled chicken on top, nope breaded/fried chicken it was, so I peeled away all the breading part and had that on top of my salad.  It was ok.

Getting home I realize just how strong/weak I am.  The boys had potato chips with their dinner, I was jealous but didn't even try to sneak one.  Then as I get home and put my lunch bag away I see the bag of York Peppermint Patties, I love those things..  but I didn't eat one.  Evenings are hard but its only the first day so I'm trying to do my best.

I realize that today I was able to do ok because I was at work all day, tomorrow is going to be super hard, being at home with all the temptation.  Hopefully I make good choices.

Oh and my total water consumption is near 100 oz so far, and I still have to take some pills tonight...

Fun in the Sun | May Springtime

Once the sun started shining more and the snow FINALLY went away my boys immediately gravitated to outdoor activities.  One evening Tony grabbed the baseball T from the basement and brought it outside.  It was fun for a little bit but we eventually broke that one, we had so much fun with it though that we had to run out to target to get a sturdier kind.  Here's a couple shots before it bit the dust.

 

We spent one evening at our friends house for dinner, and played outside there.  As I was taking pictures of their sweet 10 month old my boys kept jumping in front of the camera acting silly as usual.