While we make no promises regarding completeness or creativity, there will at least be a series of updated pictures of the kids. And that's what you really want anyway, right?
The biggest new development has been Alayna's first day at school. She started voluntary pre-kindergarten this year and has really enjoyed her class.
Alayna goes to school at the Lutheran church a couple of miles away from the house. She gets to go to school with some of her friends from her play group but she is in a class with all new children. Since Alayna is a very shy little girl, it is hard for her to meet new friends. And if you believe that. . .
Alayna has her own hook on the wall where she hangs her lunch box on the wall. I'm sure that less hardy children, not born in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains also use the hook to hang things like coats and sweaters.
When we went to pick Alayna up from her first day, Stacy couldn't help behaving a little bit like a stalker and looking through the windows to see how Alayna was doing. Here's one of her the pictures that shows the other children sitting contentedly on the carpet while Alayna shows the teacher how to lead the class.
Alayna was lucky enough to have two first days of school this year. The day after school started, the state of Florida was paralyzed in shock by the gradual advance of hurricane/tropical storm Faye. Schools canceled classes while the storm slowly made it's way up the state dumping rain and blowing a little wind here and there. The storm didn't get to our area of the state until Thursday and Friday but the fear of Katrina-like damage prompted very aggressive response to the storm.
Our house stayed high and dry but the neighborhood across the street from ours was under flood waters for about 6 weeks. At one point the city hired large water tanker trucks to try and haul water down to the river but after a week of pumping with the water and the transportation costs rising, that effort was ended. We did lose our landline phone for a week and we lost the internet for 2 weeks.
Alayna didn't go back to school for a week and Stacy had to go through the whole first day of school thing again. Believe me it was harder on Stacy than on Alayna.
Cavell has spent the last few months growing and learning new tricks. He has always enjoyed opening kitchen cabinets and pulling things out onto the floor. But recently he discovered that he can clear a cabinet and then put himself inside the resulting space.
He definitely enjoys eating meals with the family and usually 'can't believe he ate the whole thing.' One of these days he will develop some level of patience that will help him not throw a tantrum from the moment he hears or smells food cooking until he gets to stuff his face with food. He's also learning to use utensils but I don't think he's trying very hard.
Cavell gets to explore his daredevil personality on a weekly basis when the play group goes to one of the local parks for a picnic. He is able to climb up the steps, run across the 'rope bridge' to the castle and slide down the slide. Apparently this activity will keep him occupied for most of the afternoon with short breaks to take in sustenance.
In addition to school and playdates, Alayna and Cavell are in constant motion around the house and neighborhood. Cavell follows Alayna around everywhere and just loves to be near her. Stacy does her best to keep up with them but looks forward to bed time every night when she can take a moment to breathe and relax.
We don't stay up much later than the kids these days. Stacy and I have purchased a membership at the YMCA and have gone to the gym 6 days a week religiously for the past two months. We are 6 weeks in to the 12 week Body for Life program. I wake up at 5:30am every morning to get my exercise done before work in the morning and Stacy takes Cavell with her while Alayna is in school in the morning. In addition to cardio and weight lifting we have changed our diet again and now eat 6 small meals each day.
I don't think we are ready to share pictures yet, we want to keep the dramatic results a secret for now, but I will leak a few interim statistics. I have lost 14lbs since starting this program for a total of almost 70lbs since I started steadily losing weight about 4 years ago. I have just barely started to change the hole I use in my belt. I weigh less now than when I returned home from my mission.
Stacy hasn't lost weight using this program, but she has lost 40lbs since she had Cavell and from using the elliptical trainer in the garage. She's lost quite a bit of fat and grown a lot of muscle. Stacy has gone from a size 10/12 to a size 4. Clothes are literally falling off of her even at size 4. But have no fear, she doesn't look like a scarecrow or a runway model, she is even more beautiful than ever. She needs a completely new wardrobe from head to toe at this point but we don't know where she will be in six more weeks. If anybody has any clothes they have grown out of, Stacy might be interested in taking them off your hands. She had a few lucky finds at the Goodwill store yesterday that will help her stay clothed for the next little while but I don't know how much longer she can get away with a knotted rope for a belt.
We have both had losses in our body fat percentage and we are finally within the 'healthy' range of the Body Mass Index. I have to be very conscious of my wedding band and Stacy has just stopped wearing hers. She chooses from a few different pinky rings and wears one of those on her ring finger for now but even those are starting to fall off. Stacy realized yesterday that she has become that girl in the gym that the other women get intimidated by. I on the other hand, don't come any where near having that problem.
The best part is that we are feeling good and healthy. The only negative is that we can't stay up late and watch movies after the kids go to bed. Way too sleepy.
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