Party in the bath!



bird on left is yelling at other two



Living in Shamong is like living in National Geographic South Jersey style. Yesterday am we had two very large deer in the back yard and at least twice a week we see turkeys and turkey vultures around the neighborhood. Daily we see lots of squirrels and birds in the back yard. Having the kitchen nook picture window is awesome. The kids and I eat breakfast and watch the animals play outback. We have been here for two months tomorrow and the kids are still in awe over the lil birds and squirrels-not to mention the bugs they look at with their magnifing glasses!

two down in the water



I am almost out of bird seed and have to get more, but that does not stop the birds from trying to eat what is left in the tube feeder. I do change the bird bath water daily or every other day and the birds have been digging it now that it is warming up. They are so cute when they go in there and splash around. Some drink from there, but mostly they just splash around. Kids LOVE it! I have not tried to take pictures from outside yet because I do not want to scare them away...so these pictures are from the kitchen.

One of these days I need to go take their pictures out by the horse farms now that all the trees are in bloom. This weekend is looking to be perfect weather wise-so maybe it's time I take Riley's 3 yr shots! I am just a month behind-not too bad.

Devin has scheduled to have his first tball game tomorrow. It is now going to be "skills stations" not sure why or what that really means, but he does not care since he got his first official uniform and it's the Phillies. Frank of course does not like that :) but Devin is digging having a jersey, hat and socks to go with his pants that he got two weeks ago. It is so cute to see him all in uniform and the look on his face is priceless. He is so amped up to play this season. Tball is super boring and frustrating to watch, but since he loves it nothing else matters.

I am not a dog person, never have been and probably never will be. Yes, I have two of them and yes I love them. They are part of our family. That said, once they pass in years to come-I do not want to have anymore. I want to be able to sleep without a little furry creature curled up next to me. Maybe if they were bigger they would sleep on the floor? but these little 8-9lb things sleep on the bed on top of the covers, under the covers, at my pillow, against my back etc. I just want to have Frank and I in bed-ALONE. Anyone know how to get dogs out of the bed? I am glad the kids are growing up with dogs. It teaches them compassion for animals, respondsibility for taking care of something other than themselves and of course the fact they are not scaredy cats when it comes to meeting stranger dogs. They know to always ask the owner if they can pet their dog....but they do not freak out and scream/cry when another dog comes close to them which I like. As I type this I have Cera against my leg with my left arm resting on her belly-the closer she is the better for her liking. I have Riley on the other side of me snuggling and watching cartoons. I am locked in by little bodies and it is nice.
Time to jump in the shower and head off to lax practice with the kids. This should be interesting bringing the kids iwth me but they are both so excited to meet the team. :)

Easter! No bunny meeting this year :(

the trails started at their doors

The kids were VERY excited about Easter this year. They are at such a great age and understand and look forward to special days. Devin told me on Saturday that he needs to wake up super early so he can catch the bunny before he leaves our house. I let him know that the bunny has super powers and is so fast no one can ever catch him so he needs to sleep until normal time. I woke up early by habit and went outside and hid the eggs. We had about 100 eggs all over the backyard. Last year I could not find our plastic eggs so I went out and bought more. This year I had those and the original ones so we filled and hid them all. 



waking her up!



talk about bed head!



Devin woke up earlier than Riley so I told him he needs to stay in our room while I take the dogs out and if Riley is not awake when I come back up he can wake her up. (it was about 7:15am) He agreed and Riley thankfully is a morning person so she perked right up when he and the dogs charged in her room. They set out on their trails that the bunny left for them down the stairs and to their hidden gifts. Their baskets were in the family room on the hearth waiting for them after they found their gifts. After seeing those they couldnt' wait to go look for eggs out back. Riley couldn't find her other flip flop and god forbid she miss out on anything so she wore two different shoes. Devin had to wear his cleats b.c they make him run super fast. :)



After a few squalls out back going for hte same eggs they found them all and came inside to play. Riley was all about opening them up and eating the jelly beans or m &ms inside. There was one piece of candy per egg or some change for their piggy banks. I know they are both competitive, but man did they get into this and feisty. Its not like they only had 20 eggs to find. We definitely had plenty-geez...

We drove down to the shore to go to The Seaview Marriott (now Seaview resort and spa) for brunch. We went to the JW in Summerlin last year and really dug it so we wanted to keep with our formal and traditional Easter brunch out. We got compliments all morning with how cute hte kids were in their Easter best and how well behaved they were especially in the atmosphere we were in. Our table was along the window and had full view of the ocean course and the bay. Sigh I LOVE having the water so close. Did I ever say how much I missed that? The bunny was scheduled to visit the Marriott for breakfast but he did not. I was kinda bummed about this since we do not visit the kind at the mall....oh well. Next  year.

Riley and I went over to Aunt Bettys for dinner and Frank stayed behind with sick Devin. All in all it was a great day minus the fact Devin somehow got a virus and is STILL running a fever. Last night it went up to 103.5 even with Tylenol in his system. He is still in bed now at 9:45 being restless and falling asleep and waking back up. His temp is now down to 101.0 but still too high for him to want to get out of bed. He is staying hydrated which is great and peeing a lot. He does not want to eat but the nurse at his ped said that was fine. We had to cancel another playdate today and I have lots to do tomorrow so hopefully his little body can kick whatever it is he is fighting by then. Riley is fine and crazy.

Is it bedtime yet?

7:15 get up with Riley and let the dogs out.
7:30 Devin wakes up still not feeling well-(see below) and he lays on the floor in the "art room"
8:00 throw in laundry
8:05 open Dev's Playdough dentist set
8:06 play referee and make him share it with Riley
8:06.35 tell Riley not to hit Devin with her polly pocket and remind him again to share
8:10 Open Riley's Strawberry shortcake berry cafe to help distract her
8:11 remind Riley to share with Devin and get off her dolls (she was laying on the so he could not reach them)
8:12 get more 3 in SSC dolls from playroom
8:15 suggest they play apart from one another
8:17 jump in the shower
8:20 Devin charges in bathroom with Riley barrel in behind screaming "Devin is killing Lemon Merangue!" Devin shows me he has Lemon's head in the mouth of his toy snake as he laughs and snickers
8:30ish Riley dumps out her Easter basket my mother made for her and plastic grass is everywhere
8:31 Devin does the same and they are now having a grass fight
8:32 try and drink my cold coffee that I already tried to finish three times now
8:45 change laundry over
8:50 put movie on for them so I can clean up
9:00 tell Riley to just sit and watch movie and stop jumping around Devin who is now miserable
9:45 log on to library site to register them for class to join a friend
9:46 realize I cannot find the cards-frantic to look for htem
9:55 finally find the cards after looking in car, wallet, purse, kids cash register, play room, art room and mail sorter-where were they? in address book....no idea why
9:56 officially dump out cold coffee that I never got to finish
10 register them
10:02 take dogs out to pee
10:05 change laundry over and Devin is crying-check on him in the other room
10:06 take him up stairs-put thermometer in his mouth and measure out Motrin
10:06.30 hear Riley yelling from outside through window in bathroom-shes outside...alone....again! Open window and yell to come inside-she said "no Woo Woo has to go potty."
10:07 give Devin Motrin-temp is 102.4 put him in bed
10:08 Me "Riley we just let Woody out" Riley, "well he had to go again" UGH UGH UGH
10:09 finish hanging up wet clothes that I left on the floor when I ran to see what Devin needed.
10:10 Riley is now feeding the dogs jelly beans and m&ms from the Easter eggs.
10:12 clean up Woody's vomit
10:15 sort and empty all eggs and put them away. Is it summer yet? Can I just fence in this backyard and put all kids/dogs outback to play?!
This is all by 10:15. I ate lunch at 11 because I had not yet eaten today (unless you count the half of a cashew cookie from brunch yesterday.) Devin is asleep and Riley is making messes faster than I can clean up. I am on load 4 and still have 2/3 left. Come on 7pm!


distaster of the art room post grass fight!

Devin is sick. He started to complain yesterday on the way to brunch that his belly hurt. I chalked it up to the fact he had not yet eaten and was probably hungry. He whined that his belly was upset mid meal and again we just told him to eat more. He seemed fine after he ate 3 slices of bacon, a bagel then cereal bar and granola bar over the course of the hour and a half. He said he was tired on the way home and again we figure because it was after 1 that he was just ready to lay down for a nap. Well he did and he slept until 5pm when I went to wake him to go to my aunts for dinner. He had thrown up in bed and had a fever. He really wanted to go and since he and Riley were the only kids-I did not mind to bring him and just have him stay with me. He then threw up again in the car and that was it. He was staying home. We put him in the "art room" bc the carpet in there is old and we didn't mind if he threw up in there. He threw up again while laying down and watching a movie and was in bed by 7:15. He woke up at 3am and peed and threw up again and I gave him more Motrin. He seemed better this am and was not warm. He ate a cereal bar and had some water but went downhill from there. We had a dentist appt and playdate today scheduled....boo. Hopefully he will bounce back soon. I am exhausted!

M.I.L.F

So after having kids you wonder where your old body went....where are your perky boobs? Your flat stomach? Your tight ass? Seriously, I had a firm bubble butt until kids-now umm well not the same. Will I ever get them back again?  Answer is-yes, if you work for it...kind of. My genetics is the super awesome kind that lends to shimmery silver stretch marks and spider veins no matter how much weight I loose, but I would take that any day knowing that my kids were the ones that did that to my body. I start to wonder that if I was not over weight (I was) when I got pregnant with Devin that maybe I would not have gotten stretch  marks? I did not see my first one until 32 weeks and then F they were showing up left and right almost daily. Almost like my body just reached its point of ultimate expansion-for real! I was not allowed to work out from 28weeks until I had him at 34 weeks since I was high risk which helped with weight gain. I lost all that baby weight then an additional 10 lbs before I got pregnant with Riley.  Again being advised from the beginning this time not to work out at all since I was deemed super high risk I gained 33 lbs. Then lost all that baby weight and an additional 20. So the final result, thinned body with baggy zebra striped belly.  BOO! Its not enough to get a tummy tuck, believe me I asked....but its enough to drive me insane.

This is where MILF comes into play. Shouldn't every mom want to be considered one? I know I do. I have been slacking a bit with the working out since I do not have a gym membership and I am so tired when Frank gets home that forget working out in the pm. I will start in the am now that it is finally starting to be above 40 before he goes to work. I run with my girls for practice and do core strength stuff with them. I have this tough mudder coming in May and I am definitely not as prepared for this as I was for the half marathon back in December. I will be fine since I am still in shape I just need keep working out with my lax girls on a daily basis. Diet is something crazy like 75-80% of your success with losing and keeping weight down. I need to focus more on that....I do pretty well but not the best I can. Focus Shannon!

In Vegas all of my girlfriends worked out. Most of them were runners, all of them were active. We all had babies at different times so we were on different schedules but all of them were in the same mind set as me-get healthy and back into shape. It was nice to get tips from them and motivation as well...all of them served as inspiration to me because they all were busy moms doing mom stuff, some worked, and all worked out and still had time to meet up for a drink out at night or coffee out on the patio.  One of my friends is a personal trainer-she is a total MILF. She is also totally for real. She has 4, yes four kids now and looks awesome. She works her ass off and eats clean but is still a mom (of 4!) with lots of mom things to do all in addition to working with clients and being a wife.  Here are two pictures of her to see that she is normal- at just over 8 mo pregnant and 9 mo post baby...so yes-it is totally possible to be a hottie post baby. My other friend posts lil interval workouts that are great for moms with little time or no gym access. It shows that you can workout anywhere if you just dedicate 30 min to doing so and that mom gained something crazy like 60 lbs with her first pregnancy and looks awesome today after two!

Everyone is different and everyone's bodies react different to change. I will always have broad shoulders, wider hips and thick legs. My doctor confirmed the fact that I will never be a tiny size since I am "not built that way" as he says and he advised to not kill myself trying. At least I am not setting myself up for failure going in-knowing the truth with what I can attain body wise. I know that I can trim down here and there and tighten up. Discipline and dedication is what I need and truth be told-I am lacking both a little right now. If I look at pictures of me 6 years ago I am way better off now than I was then but not the best I can be. I am smaller than I was senior yr in high school, just a completely different composition.  I was not able to swim for the most of last year because of my surgery but this summer I am actually excited to be able to play with the kids in the water and not sit by the wayside. I have some work to do and am looking forward to doing it. Frank and I are the healthiest and in the best shape that we have been in years. It helps to have the other person be in the same boat as you to keep you on track. If only I did not love everything bagels so much and umm red wine :) At least I could cut out sweets completely since I really do not care for them...but man alive I love carbs. I do not eat a lot of them, but I would be way to cranky if I cut them out completely.  Spring is almost here and that means summer is around the corner. No more time to be complacent and its get up and go time. Wanna go for a bike ride? I do, lets meet up!

Kids note-Devin's kindergarten screening went well. The teacher came out and said he went through all the skill tests with flying colors but is "quite the talker." Eek I know. I laughed and said yes he is and she said well it is better than being shy. She did say that she had to ask him to stop talking a few times so she could continue to ask him questions. The one thing he needs to work on is "ability to listen and repeat information." She said he was so excited to talk about stuff that he would get side tracked when he was asked to repeat stories and what not. Listen here Teach-I know, he talks NONSTOP all day long. The kid cannot help himself. He has to make noise at all times. I asked him Sunday while driving in the car if we could have a quiet minute of no talking and he lasted 15 seconds until he started to make popping sounds with his lips. He was correct that he was not talking... :) Long story short, she said he is ready for kindergarten and is not worried at all about his young age. 

Healthy eating-we try our "best"

I was never one for fast food or highly processed for for the kids. I still am not. The kids know they are not allowed to eat fast food and it is a treat to go out to dinner and get chicken tenders and french fries. I do order them fruit salad when available or steam veggies for my rabbit child Riley.

Devin is a super picky eater. Always has been. Even from 6 mo on when I introduced veggies to him. Gag and spit it up for every new one. He did like sweet potatoes for the most part, but forget peas, green beans or carrots. He devoured fruits when introduced then at 12 mo with the introduction of eggs and cows milk his body rejected those both. No adding butter/cheese to veggies for him which left only straight up steamed or oven roasted. Needless to say he is not a fan still. He has to try them every night and has to eat the ones I know he will tolerate. He still gags and sometimes vomits (BC of his own psyche) when he does not like the texture. It is frustrating and at least Riley eats EVERYTHING. I mean we went to lunch the other day and she polished off her entire serving of broccoli and side of apple sauce before eating her chicken tenders. What 3 year old does that?

I only give the kids v8 Fusion for juice since it is a full serving of fruits and veggies in a cup. Now I know it is not a substitute for hte real deal, but at least I know "juice wise" it is one of the top choices. We did try Kagome for a while as well as the Naked machine blends but they are too thick for sippy cups. At least I know via juice they are getting some kind of nutrients in them. We also freshly squeeze OJ over the weekend and they love that...who doesn't? I also made fresh fruit smoothies last summer almost daily in Vegas. They drank those up. I made them in the blender with ice and a touch of their V8 fusion to thin it out with no dairy since Devin is still allergic.

We now have a whole new option....The Jack LaLaine power juicer thanks to Mom and Dad Skinner. We broke that out this morning. The kids picked their ingredients. Riley chose pineapple, strawberries, carrots, green grapes, apple and kiwi. Devin chose strawberry, apple, carrots, green and red grapes and pineapple. They loved it. Smoothies they actually consume the pulp, but this way I can get fresh veggies in their juice when with a blender that was too difficult. I will have to buy some more leafy green veggies for them and keep up our fruit stock for this juicer. Horray for one more option and they love being able to help and see the results immediately.

I am not a mom who never gives them treats...they definitely get their fair share of whole grained fresh chicken nuggets and pizza...I just try and make sure they have lots of veggies and new things often. They also get fruit snacks for special occasions and garden veggie "chips" for a treat snack after they ate their fruit or lunch etc. They were raised on all organics before turning one and I tried to keep that up as long as possible but with Devin's allergies and the pure cost of food for a family of 4 to eat all organic I now choose what is and isn't bought organic. Devin still cannot have eggs and dairy items in certain forms so that is still a challenge but it is leaps and bounds better than it was in the past.

I monitor what they eat and do the best I can. I know I could not allow the occasional fruit snacks etc, but they are kids and in my mind it's ok now and then. We still have a jar full of Halloween candy the haven't eaten yet since they are not allowed to have candy for no reason. I had to dump their Easter candy at Halloween this past fall and at Easter this weekend will probably dump their Halloween candy. Its totally stale anyway so I should do it now-I just forget and then remember and then forget again. They still think 2-3 m & ms is a treat. :) I guess this thinking is also backed by my own thinking if you don't feed them crap, they cannot get fat and in turn you as a parent are not contributing to the astounding population amount of fat/obese kids. They can do what they want as adults, but I will try and make sure htey have a healthy and great start...

Kindergarten...full day now-

I got a letter on Friday saying that Devin's kindergarten will now be full day no option of half day. I kind of have a problem with this. In my opinion there should be a half day option. I get it, half dayers have to cram in a full days load in 2.5 hours when full dayers have a longer day but can relax more and take their time with getting the learning in... I just think 6 hours of school is a little much for a 5 year old. Granted I could have kept him home one more year until he turned 6 (since he will be one of the youngest in the class) but he would be bored out of his mind if he went to preschool for another year. He is a type A learner and VERY into learning about anything and everything. That said-full day? Pick up at 8:45 and bells run at 3? for a just turned 5 year old? Eek! I know it is a dream for working parents because that means they do not have to pay as much to have the school watch their kids in safe key before they can get there...but I stay home...why can't they just do 4 hours? A half day is 2.5 and full is 6 so why can't they meet in the middle and do 4? UGH.

Devin goes to his screening today. This is to see where he stands academically and socially so they can shuffle the incoming kindergartners into appropriate classes so the more academically advanced kids can all be together and so on. I think this is a great idea so the kids that are ahead do not have to wait and the kids that need time can be with other kids that are on their same page. There are four kindergarten classes and (from what I was told) there will be an average of 15-18 kids in each class. I have no idea if that is the right number but it sounds WAY better than Las Vegas' 25-30 kids in each class. 

I still have to figure out what to do with Riley this fall....run a lil preschool here at the house part time? or put her in a tues/thurs 3 year old program? I have two more months until I need to get her signed up so I guess I will do a lil more research about schools around here. She is not the same type of student Dev was so I do not need the fast paced, rigorous learning that I had him in. She is a lil more free spirited and definitely not into perfection like Devin is. She has to have things 'just so' but Devin is anal when it comes to organization, math and writing. Riley is my free form learner when Devin is the cookie cutter type.

I definitely want to get her into dance or tumbling this fall since she loved it so much in Las Vegas. Any recs?