Flowers, Fuel, Froggy

I am trying to expand my photography skillz (as they are not so mad right now). Obviously, I lerve to take pictures of my sweet girlies. But I am trying to expand my subjects by taking pictures of things that are not my daughters. So everyone who reads here, gets to suffer! (mmmwhahahaha!)
Firstly, we'll start with the token flowers. These are from some sort of tree we have in the backyard. I dunno what it's called, but its purdy.



I also managed to snap a picture of my beloved Y (as it no long just any Y after helping me to kick my own a$$ back into shape...well....a better shape).



After the Y today, I totally scored filling my car tank with $3.94/gallon!!!! Can you believe it? I was so happy, I nearly peed myself. This price/gallon thing may becoming a wee bit obsessive.



Speaking of peeing yourself, Ava decided to take a break today from potty training. *sigh*
However, she did manage to work on her nurturing skills and loves to take care of her stuffed animals. The animal of the moment is Froggy. This means that we can not touch, look nor breath near her precious Froggy, unless she says so.
Well, today Ava asked for a snack not so long after I already gave her one. So, I curiously obliged her. I received a very enthusiastic "tanks Mom" and she scurried away chanting "Nothing"!!
Ah-ha!! She has learned this trick from her big sister. Whenever they are doing something a bit on the shady side, they just yell out "Nothing"!! (like its supposed to reassure me that they are doing nothing wrong). One day I will have to let them know what an admission of guilt sounds like...but that won't be well until after the teenaged years.
Anway, I turned the corner to find Froggy enjoying his snack...and without a bowl I might add (bowls for snacks are a must around here). Needless to say Froggy and I had some words and he promises to use one from now on.



Wee Ava then tells me she is going to finsh Froggy's snack because he finds it "yucky". I just smiled. Brilliant.

Rain, rain go away...

...and don't come back for awhile, or at least until I am fast asleep!
Today we did the usual pool and my beloved Y (where I now feel sorry for the handful of remaining Survivors trying to complete their challenges of death) and of course it started to rain just after lunch time. I am slowly learning this is a sure daily event during the summer time. The difference is when it rains, it's a torrential downpour. The kind where you white knuckle it while driving on the roads.
I hope to better capture the fierceness of the rain, but until then, you get the drift.



And the downpours must have gotten to Miss Ava because guess who used the Big Potty for pee pee today! YAY AVA!! She has also quickly learned that a pee on the potty will get her a gummy bear or two, so I think she purposely pees a couple drips every 30 minutes. She's clever like that (and I think her math skills might be superior to mine soon).
Holy Crap!....I mean....Holy Pee! We may actually be on our way to one less kid on diapers!

The Lizard Hunters

Now that Tom taught the girls how to catch lizards, they spent every possible waking, non-raining minute outside trying to catch some baby lizards (or babeeeeeee lee-zards in Ava-speak).
It was news to me to learn that Lizard hunting requires such particular gear; such as a butterfly net, a beach pail and a veiled tiara. I may take up lizard hunting so I too may enjoy the required costume.




Luckily for the lizards, the girls were not quite as quick as their father, The Lizard Whisperer. But one small piece of twig that resembled a lizard, did endure some intense inspection.

The Lee-zard Whisperer

Today, Tom and the girlies decided to go Lizard Hunting. Well, not really hunting since there are about 4 or 5 lizards running across our feet all the time. Tom was so stealthy, he managed to catch about 5 different baby lizards and hold them! That's pretty impressive because those baby lizards are especially hard to catch... let alone see, as they are so darned fast! I am thinking maybe we will start calling Tom "The Lizard Tamer".




The girls were totally thrilled by these little lizards too! Although as you can see, it took Miss Ava a couple minutes to decide that it was okay for a lizard to be that close to her.





Eventually, Ava warmed up and seemed especially smitten of her baby "Leeee-zards". I was a little nervous that maybe she would try to hold them, and squeeze them, and call them all George.
But alas, she was very gentle and no baby lizards were harmed in this Leeee-zard Hunt.

Hotter than Hades

Yet another sunshiney day here in Florida. I say sunshiney, but it's more like the hair frizziest, sweatiest heat ever. Florida. Is. Hot. I never thought I'd see the day when I wanted an overcast day vs. the constant beating sun. (you may need to remind me of this once Septemeber rolls in and we have monsoon season).
We enjoyed some fun by the pool. Lots of swimming, even more poolside jumping. Bryn has gotten very creative in her jumps. A big pool rule is no diving, so Bryn does everything but.





Of course whatever Bryn does, Ava feels she needs to try as well. Although she prefers to jump into the pool with her "lifety saver".




After a nice afternoon siesta, Bryn decided to strum away on her new guitar...actually its her Dad's new guitar and came as quite the surprise when it arrived via USP at my door. Tom insists that he got it for the girls. His plan almost worked because Bryn can actually strum a few notes (and it macthes my bedding, so it's not all bad). That, and the fact that I made Tom promise to play Hendrix's "Hey Joe" for me once and awhile, as I love me a good Hendrix song.

Do Not Feed the Alligators

Remember yesterday and the $3.99 gas thing? Well, I must have the Fuel Gods on my side for once as I actually got to fill up with $3.97/gallon! That's what I call a good start to the day! Well...at least until 9:30 a.m. when Tom called to let me know that gas was just $3.78/gallon about an hour north of us. Figures. They don't call me "Murphy" for nothing!

Anywho, we went to my beloved Flagler YMCA. The best people, the best staff, the best atmosphere. (and no, I am not being paid to say those things although I'd be happy to accept a free month for spreading the love!) Seriously, I love this place. Probably because it helps me work off all those M&Ms I seem to accumulate during the day. Wait...let me re-word that...it lets me work off all those M&Ms in cool air conditioning (a must down here).

Today, I enjoyed the WORLD FAMOUS CARDIO INTERVAL (sorry about the shouting, but apparently there is so much respect for this class, you need to shout its name out loud. And I respect the C.I. It kicks my sorry a$$). If you are ever in the Flagler Y area, I highly recommend it!
While I workout, the girls go to play in the Kidzone. They love this place too! Ava has even started to share her almost world famous animal impressions with the staff there (which so far has kind of been a dirty little family secret). One day she'll be a jellyfish, one day a spider and some days she's a starfish! Most of Ava's impressions are pretty similar, there's some funny grunting and wiggling, but I must admit, that her starfish impression is spot on!


One our way home from the Y, I stopped to take a picture of perhaps one of the funniest signs ever made. I had no idea it was illegal to feed the alligators in Florida (you hear the sarcasm?) I am wondering if there are actually people who think it's a good idea?
I have yet to spot a man eating alligator along the roadside ponds, but I am always on the lookout and ready to snap a picture with my camera phone.

$3.99 baby!

Holy cow! I could not believe it. On the way to the gym this morning, I passed a few gas stations that had gas for less than $4/gallon! I was so excited by this, that I pulled out my camera to take a picture as I know this one will be hard to believe!

Of course, in all my blonde excitment, I didn't think to top off my tank. Arg. So of course, we all know that tomorrow morning, when I think to re-feul, gas will be back up to and arm and a leg. (and I hate spending money on gas, as I have more important things to buy...like shoes).

Did I mention that Yoda I live with?

Yoda = Ava.
My almost 2.5 year old is a chatterbox. The thing that cracks me up is she sounds like a cross between Yoda and Forrest Gump. For example, when I ask her, "Ava, what would you like to do today?" She answers with "I want go to pooooool to swimmiiiiing!"
I have to listen to her everyday, so I am pretty fluent in "Ava". I can put almost any pronoun anywhere in a sentence and it still makes sense to me. However, Ava's poor father may have to take a course soon to understand her drawn out rants.
One of my other favorite Ava-isms is she adds "s" on most of her words. I don't know there is any particular reason for it, other than making everything more difficult than she has to (but I like her flare for creative phonetics).
An argument I get to endure everyday (complete with flailing noodle appendenges)- "I go not takes a naps". Although it sounds more like this- "I GOOOOES NOOOOOOOT TAKES A NAAAAAAAPSSSSSSS"!! Yeah, good times.

Ava is also very clever with naming her animals. Her frog is aptly named "Froggy", her dolplin is named "Dolphiny" and even herr lizard is, you guessed it,"Lizardy".

Ava-y, yous smiles put my face on and I admires yours mad naming skillz (my little popsicle-face)!

Fed to the sharks

Nevermind. Team A was tragically voted off Flagler Island by a mere 2 points. Some of us got together on Saturday night evening and bitched discussed just how on earth this possibly happened.
Alas, now I can get on with my life and return to training without points or having to endure any more "Don't Die" challenges!
(neener neener to the remaining surviviors)!!

Surviving

I am "surviving" my Survivor challenge at the Y. This week the remaining players were divided into 3 tribes. I was among the Bosu Tribe or Team A, but I like to think of us as "The A Team".
So not only do I have the pressure of doing well on my challenges, but now I can let a team of 9 other players down. Nine other players that could probably kick my A$$ I might add.
The challenges are getting tougher too. This week we had a lovely little challenge called "Suicide Cones". The name pretty much sums it up. We run back and forth between a cone and the walls of the studio...I am now wondering if the point was to run into a wall as I almost did, but then they would've called it comicozi cones, right?
Anywho, we run like mad for 60 seconds. No problem, I thought, who can't do that for 60 seconds? Well, apparently me. By the last 10 seconds I was ready to drop from fatigue and was pretty sure my legs were about to fall off. Crap.
Well, at least I got a few points for my team. (and I won't even talk about the Cup Stack challenge...arg)
Tomorrow they will post which team gets voted off and who makes the next round of challenges. And, although I really want to continue on, I am worried the next challange will be something like "The Don't Die" challenge.
But, you can bet your bippy, that I will be there first thing in the morning to see if I will be able to survive another week.

Crackberry

Are you a Blackberry widow? I am. Ever since my husband received his "Crackberry" for work, not a day goes by that he spends more time with that evil device than with us.
There is an endless stream of phone calls, emails and text messages. All of which apparently need immediate replies as no one can in this world can wait 20 minutes for a return call anymore.
Ironically, it's time for me to renew my cell phone and when T asked me if I wanted a cute Blackberry Pearl with all the bells and whistles, without missing a beat I said "NO WAY"! I'll stick to my phone that does nothing but let me talk on it (and therefore giving me more freedom). Yessiree- no Crackberry for me.

Vote for Me and I will cut Taxes!!

Well, not really, but it sounded good. I have entered the 2008 Designer Chick Contest at Girl Indie. There are some super cool opportunities and I thought, "what the heck". This is my very first contest, so I am just hoping for a few votes to avoid complete and utter humiliation.
Of course, you will be able to recognize our super adorable entry (psst, it's #6 - the meticuously handcrafted Felt Butterfly).
Designer Contest Vote HERE!

Thanks all! I appreciate the support and if you see something else cuter, I get dibs on your vote!
I am totally cheating by just re-posting my Bowtique Blog here, but hey, I need all the help I can get!

Survival of the Fittest

I joined the local YMCA a few months ago to help lose those last few pounds of baby weight (yeah, I know, my baby is 2.5). They just started a fun challenge called "Survivor", so I thought, what better way to help jump start a fitness routine? It started out innocently enough, being rewarded with points for working out and doing various challenges. Each week, the members with the lowest points are voted "off" Flagler Island. When I first started this challenge, my only goal was to not get voted off the first week.
Well, we have just started week 5 and Survivor has taken over my life. I almost have an anxiety attack if I can not get to the gym to work out and get some points for the week. Eat. Sleep. Earn points. Rinse and repeat.
I didn't think I would be playing so far into the challenge, but now that I am still among the survivors, I am prepared to vote my own mother off, if I have to.

So there it is. My dirty little secret. I am addicted to this Survivor challenge and I don't even know what we are playing for. Although I can not complain with the new set of calves I seem to have developed.

Singing in the rain

We play in puddles. A lot. It always rains here in the afternoon, which leaves me with an hour or two after dinner which I have to expend the extra energy from these 2 girlies (especially after being cooped up by the sub-tropical downpours all afternoon). We often go playing outside in puddle (as long as the lightening isn't too fatal). By "we" I mean Bryn and Ava. "We" get horribly wet and dirty...but it usually makes for a good photo opt and "we" go directly to the bath tub afterwards.
As we splash in the puddles, Ava stops to pick up every single worm- dead or alive. (that's a trait she did not inherit from me- I think worms have cooties, yuck)! She usually says something like "awwww..it's a baby worm. He's too dead" and moves him into the grass.


Bryn runs or skips the whole time. In fact, I don't think I have ever seen the girl walk. She gallops in her pink boots and sings while twirling around with her umbrella. (I wouldn't want it any other way).

By the end of our hour long walk (which should only take 20 minutes as we don't go very far), those girls are ready to drop. That makes it a successful day as a Mom. When your kids have fallen asleep before you tuck them into bed.

Like A Mermaid

Bryn is almost 4.5 years old now and she swims like a fish....I mean, a mermaid(she will appreciate the mermaid reference). Since my husband bought her this cute pink snorkel set, all the girl does is swim around the pool looking for things to pick up from the bottom. In fact, her swimming has improved so much, that I think the Red Cross should use a snorkel for swim training. Sometimes I even have to be sure she's actually alive with the terrifying length of time she can just float (with the snorkel) in the water.




Now Miss Ava on the other hand, thinks she can swim. She will plunge her little 2 year old self into the pool trusting that I will be there to catch her and keep her from drowning. Ava's method is a little less orthodox as she truly believes that she is just swimming underwater and not in fact mere seconds away from drowning. (I should also mention at this time that I think the stress of taking 2 small kids to a pool has taken about 5 years of my life).

The So Called Lazy Days of Summer

They say that summer is a time for some R&R. As a Stay at Home Mom, I find that we do anything but stay at home. Our days are full of a whole lot of nothing. I say "nothing" because it's not like we really have to do anything. Rather, we spend our time running from the air conditioned gym in the morning to the pool or to the ocean. This is one of the things I love the most about Florida. We can hop into our car and drive to the ocean. Where we find things like this:

And Bryn and Ava get to do things like this:

Of course, after a fun-filled hour or two at the beach (where it is hotter than Hades, I might add), I spend the next 2 days getting sand out if places where it does not belong. And my car always shows traces of sand hidden in the crevices, or the odd fishy smelling sea shell here and there.

But, I don't mind. Florida is darned hot. It's so hot and humid in the summer that we have to be indoors where its air conditioned or up to our ears in water to keep from withering up and dying. Seriously. I do not know how people lived (or even do live) here in the dog days without air conditioning. I turn ours on as soon as the heat hits about 70 degrees.

Yep, I enjoy the Florida style summertime, but life with 2 youngins' is anything but lazy!

Don't Get Yourself In A Fizz

I hear this from my dear husband all the time- "Don't get yourself in a fizz".
And although I am not sure what a "fizz" really is. I am pretty sure it is something like a "dither" or a "tizzy"; and those who know me well, know that I am always in one of those!

So, Hello internet! I thought perhaps it was time to join the big blogging world with chronicles of my life as the matriarch to the Mighty Bennett clan. I think it may also prove to be cheaper than therapy for me!

For those reading, don't expect too much. I am not a wordsmith (don't even try to figure out my unique use of grammar), nor do I have anything more exciting than trying to get gum out of hair happening in my daily life. But I may have an amusing anecdote once and awhile and I have a semi-entertaining suburban life with some larger than life kidlets.

Yep. My name is Jill and I am always in a fizz.