Magoomba Monday #4

1) First of all, I would like to thank everyone for all the compliments on the kids professional pictures. I have to say that we are lucky to have gotten any shots at all because Jadyn was not being in the least bit cooperative. Thankfully, however, I have found a great photographer at our local Sears who knows how to get good pictures regardless and I was therefore very happy with the result. Also, I have to mention that the matching greens was just one of those fortunate coincidences as Jadyn's dress is from the Carter's Outlet (which I purchased first) and Jake's button down is from the Tony Hawk line at Kohl's (which I bought after realizing it was almost the exact same color as Jadyn's dress).

2) If you read my fairy tale blog post over the weekend, you know as of Wednesday last week Jadyn is pacifier free. While the nights continue to get better and better with each passing day, her naps have left something to be desired. I knew this was a very likely result of her losing the pacifier. Most days she has taken power naps while in the car or fallen asleep out of sheer exhaustion at an awkward time (like 5pm). I think with the proper amount of sleep at night, she could get away without a nap and although I would miss that break in the afternoon, I would be fine with her dropping the nap. However, if she continues to need it, I am not sure how to ensure she gets it. This will have to continue to be a work in progress and a stage I had not looked forward to as I remember the "in between period" with Jake occurring at about this same age. He dropped his nap at 3 1/2 but prior to that we endured late afternoon naps that interfered with a decent bedtime, exactly why I would rather Jadyn drop the nap then be up too late.

3) Jake had his first t-ball practice last week. His thumb is fine and did not bother him at all. For those who have not heard (and try not to laugh) but I am assistant coaching his team. There was a severe lack of volunteer participation and frankly I am pretty involved with the kids activities anyway and I did actually play softball for many, many years growing up. I just hope I have the patience. This league has been a little disorganized so far (we don't even have a game schedule and opening ceremonies are April 18th) but I know Jake will have a blast regardless so I am really looking forward to him being in a sport again. Soccer season was simply too short.

4) So far this spring we have already managed to complete four trails in Joshua Tree including Hidden Valley, Barker Dam, Mastodon Peak and just yesterday, 49 Palms Oasis. The best part about our hike yesterday is that Joe was finally able to accompany us AND we finally, after 5 years of living in the high desert, was able to hike the trail for which our street was named after. It was by far my favorite and the wildflowers continue to be in full force. I will be devoting an entire series of posts to the three trails I have yet to blog about but until then, I just had to share this group photo of our family at the Oasis:



5) I am back on the beach, that is the South Beach Diet. While I had not exactly gained any weight back, I started to feel my clothes getting tighter as I got further and further away from the principles of limiting sugar and processed white flour. The great news is that this time around, I have a partner in crime as Joe is joining me. We are half way through Phase 1 and I know that once we go on to phase 2 we will be able to adapt the diet as it was truly meant to be - a lifestyle change complete with meals where we throw all rules out the window and eat whatever our heart desires.

6) Jake is on spring break this week. While I originally planned all these crazy outings, the fact of the matter is that aside from taking Jake to school, our other activities are still going and I would rather take the week to enjoy our weather and take advantage of the additional down time. With Easter and birthdays right around the corner, not to mention twice a week baseball games, things will be busy enough before we know it.