Taking Control

I'll admit it here, I am a little bit of a control freak.  Just ask my husband.  If he could, he would probably tell you that I'm can be bossy and that I like most things done my way, (because it's the best way, of course, lol) and when its not done "right", I can be mean.  I know, this probably sounds stupid, but it's how I work.  It frustrates me to no end when I realize things are out of my control and I could not stop them or fix them myself.  Especially when they are things that have a long lasting effect.  Miscarriage, epilepsy, DVT are some of the things that have scarred me for life that I will never be able to put completely behind me and certainly will always be there.  I didn't cause them and now I don't have any control on how they will continue to impact my life, as long or short as it will be.  BUT, even though I hate this sometimes helpless feeling, I try as hard as I can to remember that there are lots and lots of things that I can take control of.  So, overall health is going to be a focus of mine.  I have physicals/check-ups/cleanings, any appointment you can think of, all scheduled in.  I never knew how far out these doctors are booked!  Any questions or concerns I have are getting written down.  I want the cleanest bill of health that I can have. I want to catch anything that can be caught before it turns into something big.  I want to feel energized, healthy and young!

So, I'm trying to eat better (I write this while dreaming of the Cherry Garcia in my freezer right now!) and to exercise more then just chasing after my kids all day long.  I lost a lot of weight with my surgeries I've had this year, (easiest New Years Resolution I've ever completed!), so I have no idea if I am where I should be for my weight, but regardless, I need to build up my muscle tone!!  I'm just a jiggly mess! We have a new gym membership and just bought new bikes and one of those little trailers for the kids.  They LOVE it and it makes for some good family fun. I'm going to try and be up and going, working my brain and body and not be lazy.  I'm going to try (really hard!!!) to get my sleep at night, and wake up feeling energized.  I have my vitamins bought, my recipes picked out and my motivation tugging at my legs all day long. :)

So it's a start. I know, a lot of health issues come and go as they please, but why not try and be proactive, right?  If I don't begin by getting myself healthy, how can I then take control of other things in my life? I want to make myself excel at the things I love and I need to be in tip-top shape for that kind of a challenge!  God, wish me luck!

Kenney-Light Annual Vacay

The Kenney's.  Our besties!  Have always been, and always will be. A few weeks back we had our annual vacation together.  We have yet to travel anywhere out of state or stay longer then a weekend with the kids!  But what do you expect?  Four adults chasing after two preschoolers and two toddlers isn't always the easiest thing ever!  But we had a great time, and if I remember right (which I'm probably not!) we didn't have to many melt downs (right Steph?) Who knows, its like child birth: if you remember the crapy parts, you'd never do it again!

So this year we went to Barnstable, MA on Cape Cod. The house we stayed at belonged to Mark's Aunt Dorrie.  It's in an adorable neighborhood and only one house from the beach.  So it was a no-brainer to take her up on the offer!  We got down on Friday, unpacked and claimed the rooms: kids up stairs with their siblings, parents down stairs (with their spouses, lol).  Then we got in our bathing suits and ran down to the water and swam for the afternoon.  Well, the big kids and dad's swam for the afternoon.  The babies were running on fumes, so Steph and I were out sooner.  We had our dinner, put the kids to bed, and then hung out in our pajamas outside.  We talked and laughed and made fun of each other, like we always do, but with no kids pulling at our legs and being stupid. A make shift date night, with out going out on a date.

The next day, we decided we needed to get the kids to take naps at their normal nap time so we brought them to the Zooquarium, the next town over.  They had fun and it only took the perfect amount of time to get through everything and still be back in time to pick up lunch at the crab shack.  After naps, we went to the beach and this time we all stayed in for a long time!  Ashlyn and Cameron are getting sooooo confidant in the water, its adorable!  They love being thrown up in the air and dunking and just being silly.  Its so cute to watch! Bryce and Avery liked being in the water and splashed around, as long as they were being held by their moms.  Only mom.

After, we had a repeat of the night before, except we got the kids in their jammies and got ice cream. We went down to the beach and watched the sunset for about a minute, then the kids were bored and ready! Can you blame them? What good is the beach to a kid if you can't go swimming? But even with the stress of a mini vacation and knowing that you have to go back to your regular routine the next day, it was, and always is, well worth it!  It's hard to find time to hang out with your friends, especially during the summer, so to plan ahead and make it a special time with the Kenney's is always necessary! We'll keep it up as long as we can!

We left the next day and Mark and I brought the kids to my parents cottage for the rest of the day. It was fun, as always:  

Instagram Overload

I love me some Instargram pictures!  I love being able to take pictures with my iPhone since it's always with me, and Instagram make them look so pretty!  I usually use the Earlybird filter.  Love them.  So here are some randoms from the past few weeks:

The photo's are small, so you didn't have to scroll down for 20 minutes, but aren't they cute? Just everyday cuteness. Sigh.. :)

4th of July: Celebrate!

On Wednesday!  Being in the middle of the week always makes it weird, but we made it work!  Of course, we went down to Cape Cod :)  But to accommodate Marks work and going into Boston for the night, we went down on Saturday until Sunday night, then went down again on Tuesday until Thursday.  What a way to break up a holiday, huh? Oh well, we still had fun. 

The first time down, we spent the day on the beach, went out for ice cream, then walked over to a playground to play and watch the sunset.  Cam always seems to find new "best friends" when he's at playgrounds that he'll talk about for the next week.  He's differently not a shy boy and will run up to any kid and ask them their name and how old they are.  It's kinda cute! 

Pictures? Oh of course:

Lounging around with Papa

Hanging in the river

 Waking up!  Bed head!

The second time down, my cousin Danielle and her boyfriend Connor were down, too.  And let me just say, Cameron is in love with this kid!  He wouldn't leave his side, until Ryan got there that is!  The first night down, my brother, Kevin, had a bunch of his friends down and they lit off fireworks from the beach.  It has become a sort of tradition for the neighborhood.  My dad and another family buy the fireworks and everyone else in the association come down to watch them being lit off.  They do a really good job.  This year, for the first time, Cameron loved them!  In the past, he has been scared of them, but this year he was super excited to watch them.  I swear it was because Connor was there and Cam had to be a tough guy in front of him!  Avery slept through them!  On the beach, 100 feet from the noise.  Silly girl.

The next day, Tina, Mike and Ryan came down and we spent the day at the beach, well until Avery threw up. On the beach!  Oops.  She ended up with a double ear infection, but that's a boring story that we don't need to get into!  She was fine after that, so we hung around, had dinner, played, and had a family ice cream party at the dock.  We were planing to going to our friends beach to see their fireworks that night, but the kids fell asleep the second they got in the car, so we decided to just pack up and go home that night.  Mark had to work in the morning anyway, so it made sense.  

 Awful lighting, but you get it

 Besties from birth!

 Danielle and Connor 

 Teaching his little sister to color

 Curlies!

 Vroom

 He's so BA!!

 He loves his Dani!

 Angle kisses :)

 Happy after ice cream!

 With Connor

So that was our Fourth of July!  The whole week of celebrating!  Maybe next year we'll get to a parade or an actual town celebration, but at the kids ages, they have more fun just hanging out at the beach and the house. Until next year!!  

FYI: spell check isn't work today, sorry if my words aren't spelt right!!