The Easter Bunny is God

So we didn't plan to "do" the whole Easter Bunny thing this year. Teagan never asked about the Bunny, we don't go to malls so she hasn't seen the giant Bunny, and no one has really brought it up.

We decided we would just have Easter baskets be a gift from Mom and Dad.

This morning, she asked. "Is the Easter Bunny coming to our house?"

Hm.

"No, honey. Mommy and Daddy will have baskets for you and Zach. The Easter Bunny will take care of the kids who have parents who can't afford to fill their baskets for them."

Sounded good to me!

"Oh! The Easter Bunny helps people?!"

"Yes, honey."

"Oh! Just like God! God helps people!"

"Yes, honey!"

"The Easter Bunny is GOD!!"

Hm.

Hadn't planned to take it there. But I understood her logic. And we were trying to get out the door to head to church for the big Easter Egg hung and Christian Carnival (all the preschool/Sunday School rooms have different crafts and games). So I let it go.

I'm not sure how many people at church learned from Teagan about the Easter Bunny's secret identity... hopefully he doesn't stop by our house and leave a paper bag of bunny turds on the front porch as retribution for blowing his cover.

REMINDER

Garret, you are excused from reading this post. No point preaching to the choir! Hello? Ya'll have been pretty great on voting for me so far. I had 18 "points" as of this morning. But I NEED MORE. You do know I'm going to SHARE my song with you, right? Heck, I could even play my regular voters up and bribe ole Code Daddy to put you guys in my song, too. Garret voted for me today. Where's the love of my other adoring fans? Hello? We've only got until Monday, people! And this is a HOLIDAY weekend so I know it will be DIFFICULT to jump online and go comment on his post of the day and drop my name... but you can do it! I have faith! So please don't bail on me now! Hop over and comment! If you are confused about where to go... I've provided oodles of link opportunities in this post. Thank you for your time, consideration, and COMMENTS.

If You Didn't Want Thai, You Could Have Just Said So!

Christy has been hugely busy and stressed with her production of "The Mousetrap" and we haven't seen her as often as my kids have gotten used to. Last night, she didn't have rehearsal so asked if we could all have dinner.

We decided to try out this little Thai place near my house that we had heard good things about. Jeff's never done Thai but it's close enough to Chinese that he should enjoy it. Teagan was very excited- to have "red chicken" (sweet and sour) and to use chopsticks (she's getting good with those things).

Zach. was. a. nightmare.

From the moment we went into the restaurant... We put him in his high chair, he wanted out. Take him out and hold him, he wants down. Put him down, he wants up.

We order an appetizer because we figure he's just really hungry. He eats an entire skewer of satay chicken. Wolfs it down like he's not been fed for days.

And then continues with the cries and screeches and demands. Nothing satisfies him, nothing calms him, nothing distracts him.

Food comes. Surely now he will sit and eat. No way. No interest in food. He had a skewer of chicken, afterall. So I wolf down a few bites and pick him up and take him outside.

This is a very small restaurant. I think there were a dozen tables. A group of 4 adults was to one side of us and a young couple sat in a booth across the small room. So he couldn't just get down and run around in our corner or anything.

So we go outside. And he's fine. Looking around. Smiling. Laughing at me. Soon he leans toward the restaurant. I ask if he wants to go back in and he says "yesssssh" in his adorable Zappy way.

We go in. And he turns into Demon-Zach again. So Jeff wolfs down a few bites and takes him outside. Walks him up and down the little strip mall. They come back in and Zach is proudly carrying a take out menu from the pizza place down the way.

And Demon-Zach is back. Crying, squealing. I'm feeling pity for the people around us. I'm too busy trying to enjoy (and not just inhale) some of my food, keep Zach calm and in control, letting Jeff get some food... I have no clue if anyone is giving us dirty looks or not. Doesn't matter, really.

I end up taking Zach out, once again, strapping him into the carseat, and going back inside to enjoy my dinner.

What? I could see the car through the window.

OK, fine. I'm kidding. I did strap him into his carseat. But he and I sat together in the car and listened to Raffi and chatted and such. He was much happier then.

Jeff and I, however, ended up BEYOND cranky. We were snipping at each other, confronting each other. It was bad. I had to run an errand after the kids went to bed and it was good for both of us to have that separation. We were much better when I got home (and we both apologized by phone right after I left).

Zach's just a boy who needs to be at home. We need to save the eating out for weekends. After being at Lisa's all day, he wants to be in his space at the end of the day. Teagan was always content to just be with us. We could take her anywhere and do anything. As long as she was with Mommy and Daddy, all was good. We rarely had issues taking her to restaurants. But Zach has different needs and deserves to be heard, too.

I guess next time we'll do take out.

Today's Workout is Brought to You By...

The letter OUCH!

Today's workout was T O U G H. But really good. And the cool thing? This can totally be done at home. No weights, no equipment. Just a lot of self motivation. We did this in 30 minutes so you could easily do this while watching your favorite sitcom. And if you prefer hour long shows or are just way healthier than me... double everything and make it last an hour!

And for any Indy readers, our Boot Camp is a special class designed by the personal trainer who owns the gym we belong to. You can check out their website.

Here's a list of the torture. When our trainer, Brad, sent the e-mail listing everything we had done, I was pretty floored! I can't believe I did ALL of this!!! Yay for me and Christy!!

Run in Place 200 (steps) Jumping Jacks 40 Run in Place 200 Windmill 40 (legs spread, reach up high and then cross and down towards your foot, back reaching up high and cross down to the other foot) Run in Place 200 25 Y Squats (legs spread, arms straight up) Run in Place 100 10 Push Ups Run in Place 100 10 Push Ups Run in Place 100 10 Push Ups Run in Place 200 15 Crunches

Run in Place 200 15 Crunches

Run in Place 200 15 Crunches

Run in Place 100 30 Toe Raises (stand up on tiptoe, back to flat foot, repeat) Run in Place 100 30 Toe Raises Run in Place 200 20 Scissors (lie on back, lift legs slightly off ground, criss cross legs, first right goes up, then bring right down as left goes up. Legs stay off the ground.) Run in Place 200 20 Scissors

Shower

Groan

Moan

Ache

To Be or Not To Be?

First, let's get the business of the day out of the way. Please head over to Code Daddy's blog, name drop for me in the comments, and enjoy some pics of his seriously adorable daughter! You can only comment on today's post today... and I don't know if non-bloggers can comment? *** Last night, Teagan and I had the privilege of working together as greeters of the audience for a preview audience (final dress rehearsal) of my old stomping ground's newest production: The Belfry present Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap." I was there Tues evening and actually got to stay and enjoy the show as well. It's really great. Any Indy readers of my blog should make a serious effort to check it out. It will have you on the edge of your seat. The final scene alone is worth the price of admission! It's not a play for little kids- the whole murder mystery thing, you know- so I hadn't intended for Teagan to see it. Especially after seeing it myself Tuesday evening and seeing adults smoking cigarettes (fake), pipes (unlit), cigars (unlit), a character refers to another as a bitch, a woman gets murdered (in the dark but there are choking noises and then she falls down), someone has a gun they wave around, someone gets attacked (hands on the person's face and throat in full stage light). Nothing terribly difficult for an adult to watch but very hard to explain to a 4 year old, you know? So my intention was for Teagan to get a tour of the backstage area, meet some actors, see the stage and set. And then we'd hang out in the lobby, greet the preview audience, and head home when the show started. Aunt Christy is directing the show so we had someone on the inside who could show her the ropes. She loved it. And wanted to watch the play. I knew that the first scene was safe. At most, it would prove to be boring to her. Grown ups talking and walking around. So we stayed. First scene is 30 minutes long. And she did awesome. We sat in the third row, right up at the stage. She whispered a few questions to me during the show but stayed in her seat, made sure to whisper quietly when she did have questions, and she actually paid attention to what was going on. She asked me what a sign said. Legit question. She asked where the onstage doors went. Legit question- she had seen the backstage area, walked through the doors, walked on the set but then the play starts and the actors are walking through these doors to "the kitchen" or "the drawing room" so I get her confusion and curiosity. She asked if we would get to see the bedrooms. Legit question and a sign she was paying attention. The show is about guests arriving at a guest house and there are a couple of conversations about bedrooms- The Rose Room, The Blue Room, The Oak Room, etc. She asked if I wanted to share her gum. Not a legit question. But kind of her to think of me. At the end of the scene, the lights go out and the curtain closes briefly. We used that as our opportunity to duck out and head home. She had oodles of questions in the car. And we sang along with a Veggie Tales CD. About halfway home, I look in the rear view mirror and her sweet little face is all crumpled up, trying not to cry. "T? What's wrong baby?" That simple questions opened the floodgates. She begins to sob. Tears are pouring down her cheeks and she is genuinely sad and seemingly heartbroken as she says: "I think I'm big enough now that I like scary stuff! I want to go back and see the play! I want to go back to the theatre! I want to see the scary stuff! Why does Aunt Christy like scary stuff? I want to see it!" After some research, I think I have a nice little community theatre schedule planned out. We will go see "Beauty and the Beast" in May, "Hello, Dolly!" in June, and "Seussical!" in July. And I am kicking myself for not taking her to see a local dinner theatre's production of "Cats" over the past few months (the cats get very intimate with the audience, I've heard it's a really cool experience). Promises of taking her to see these shows has calmed the tears, sobs, sadness. For now. Do you see what happened? That, my friends, was the theatre bug biting once again. I believe we have a future thespian in our midst.

Newspaper

Check out this link to a way cool hut made out of newspaper! I challenge Jeff to do this with Teagan sometime... and would love to hear of any other crafty types in the blogosphere to do the same! Heck, I could maybe even do this one myself. Maybe. At least the rolling part. And did you know there are oodles of other cool things you can do with newspaper? At the very least, I hope you recycle it. But check this out: I found this list on Real Simple.com 1. Deodorize food containers. Stuff a balled-up piece of newspaper into a lunch box or thermos, seal it, and let sit overnight. 2. Ripen tomatoes. Wrap them individually and leave them out at room temperature. 3. Pack delicate items. Wrap frames and figurines with several pieces of newspaper, then crumple the remaining sections to fill extra space in the box. 4. Wipe away tough streaks on glass. Use newspaper with cleaning fluid to clean mirrors and windows. 5. Preserve antique glass. Some older frames have finishes on the glass that can be damaged by cleaning solutions. Remove smudges by rubbing with newspaper dipped in a solution of one part white vinegar and one part warm water. Let air-dry. 6. Dry shoes. Place crumpled paper in them overnight. 7. Wrap gifts. Use the comics to wrap a child’s birthday gift, or try the wedding announcements for an engagement gift. 8. Create a home for slushy snow boots. During the winter, keep a pile of newspaper near the entryway. When your little snowmen and -women come home, they can toss their winter wear onto the newspaper instead of creating puddles on the floor. 9. Prepare a garden. In the fall, mow a patch of lawn to make room for a dedicated bed. Cover it with four layers of newspaper, then a four-inch layer of shredded leaves or bark mulch. Hose it down. Come spring, the compost blanket will have smothered the grass roots, and the bed will be primed for planting. 10. Keep the refrigerator vegetable drawer dry and free of smells. Line the bottom with newspaper. Do you still get a newspaper? What do you do with it at the end of the day? And go share your thoughts on inappropriate giggles over at CodeDaddy's place today... and totally drop my name. Please. Purty please. Together, we can DOMINATE. I mean... uh... please?

I'm Here to Pump *Clap* You Up!

Today was a new beginning. I went to the gym and paid someone to kick my flabby ass. We did a very nice warm up- lap the gym on tip toes, then on heels, then with a high kick, then bending to touch toes each step. Then a mini-circuit of dumbbell punches and high step ups with weights. 30 seconds each time and 3 rotations. Then a cardio circuit- 3 mins on the treadmill (I actually ran for 2 mins, 20 seconds), 3 mins on the bike (supposed to go on level 7 but I went most of it on level 12 and about 20 second on level 9), and 3 minutes on the rowing machine (no brags here- it sucked but I kept at it). Then another floor circuit. 45 seconds of air squats, 45 seconds on push up to side plank, 45 seconds of bike crunches. Then repeat those 3 steps but at 30 second intervals. One last time at 15(ish) intervals. Then crawl to the locker room and huddle in the shower while your body hates on you and screams at you. What a way to spend my lunch "break." You know what would really make me feel better? If someone wrote, sang, and recorded a song about me...