Parker Foreman and the Seven Secret Treasures

Parker wanted an Indiana Jones party for his birthday so we did our best to thrill him and his friends. He loved it and I think his buddies did too. We only let him invite 5 friends which was super hard for him. He had a list about a mile long, but it just would have been too hard to do everything he wanted to do with that many kids. I made the invites which look complicated, but were actually very easy. Probably the easiest invitations I have ever made for one of my kid's parties AND I only had to make seven of them (Parker and Jack had to have one too.) The "field guides" were a little booklet that was 3in.x 4in. so they could put it in their pocket. I just took pictures of the artifacts then downloaded them and cut and pasted them on the computer and printed them out then stapled together the books. Remember that I am a scrapbooker so the only supply I actually purchased for making these was the textured paper for the cover, however, I could have easily used brown paper and then my cost would have been zero instead of $1.50. :-)








They were each given a burlap bag which my mom made and I stamped their names on them. (2 yard of burlap which was just under $4.00 total and tied with jute which is super cheap.) Then they had to head into the woods (Forbidden Forest) to find the 7 treasures and bring them back to the Foreman Museum. My dad and I hid the stuff in plain sight and then he and Travis took them on their hunt.




When they returned with the treasures, they sat down with their field guides to figure out the code that was written on each "artifact." (I bought all the artifacts on clearance at Hobby Lobby. Most of them were less than $2.00 but I think one of them was $4.00 and we bought it because it was just too perfect for our theme.) The last thing they found was a box which held the guide to the code (the good old number corresponding with a letter) which is even easy enough for a 4 year old to figure out. Each boy had to tell us what numbers were on his artifact and they pieced together the message which was "The treasure is hidden under the deck."





They quickly found it in a wooden crate that my dad made with scrap wood and carried it back up to open it. In it they found a golden skull (a cheap Halloween decoration that I covered in gold glitter and filled with gold foil paper and little Reeses peanut butter cups.) They were so excited, it might as well have been real gold.


Then it was time for cake and ice cream. Our fabulous cake-baking friend, Cindy Beck wowed us again with her creation. I bought the cake topper of e-bay and she did the rest. YUM!!!

Indiana Jones and his little brother.

I bought about 100 little plastic snakes (from the dollar store) and my mom spread them out all over our backyard. They had to go and find them. They had a hard time finding some of them which was really funny to watch and really fun for the boys. Then they brought them all back and we divided them somewhat evenly. (Jack wasn't about to put his snakes in with the others.)



When everything was over and done, our little Indiana Jones (and his little brother) had a fabulous time and I'm pretty sure all his little guests did too. Please remember that for Parker, the party itself is probably the biggest gift we could give him. He plans out a lot of the details and loves to act out the theme. This party took a lot of planning and creativity but not much money. I am cheap so I can always find a way to make it work on a budget.

Indianapolis Children's Museum

On Sunday, we went to the Children's Museum in Indy. WOW! It was just amazing. We could have spent an additional day there because we didn't get to do everything. We saw a planetarium movie about how the planets resemble the fictional Star Wars planets. We saw a Curious George play which Parker LOVED. He giggled the whole time. It was a very good performance and the perfect length of time for little kids. I think it is hard to go to children's museums with 2 (or more) kids because they move at different paces. And, what is extremely intersting to one child holds very little interest for the other. We had to split up most of the day because Parker wanted to linger and Jack is like the ball in a pinball machine. I think he could have stayed in the submarine all day though. We will definitely have to go back next year. They are getting a King Tut exhibit and Parker is fascinated by ancient Egypt. (He LOVES Discovery Channel.)

Indianapolis Zoo

Last Saturday we went to the Indy Zoo. It is much smaller than St. Louis' zoo, but still very enjoyable. They had a lot of really "good" animals--you know what I mean--elephants, rhinos, dolphins, polar bear, lions, etc. The highlight was the "Dolphin Dome", the dolphin show and the opportunity to pet sharks! I was expecting little baby sharks but these were about 4 feet long! They must feed them really well to keep them from biting someone's hand off. Anyway, we had a really nice day and absolutely perfect weather.

SEVEN

PARKER IS TODAY!!!

Birthdays always make me melancholy. I can't believe Parker is 7! Where has the time gone? Isn't that the mantra of all parents!? It seems like just yesterday that a nurse brought me this adorable little baby boy with a hat on. I still remember the shock when I pulled that hat off and saw all that jet black hair! Happy Birthday buddy!

Indy

We are in Indy this weekend to do the touristy stuff--zoo, Children's Museum, etc. I will post later with pictures. I am very much enjoying this computer in our room. How very convenient!

The Class of 88 Rocks!!!

Heather, me, Carmin


Travis & me


Sherri & Bryan


Lynette & Heather


Jennifer & Shane


me, Laura, Sherri, Heather, Carmin & Amy


Sherri, Heather & Me


me & Travis

Our reunion went better than any of us could have hoped. The Beach House was the perfect location. The food was good and everything looked great. We had about 110 people there and every time I looked around everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. (I'm sure I will hear some mean stuff later, but I really don't care.) I swear that everyone--and I do mean everyone--looked great! It was so nice to see people I haven't seen in years. I tried to make it a point to talk to everyone that I knew on any level in high school. I'm sure I didn't succeed, but I did try. Of course, some people haven't changed a bit in appearance and some are quite different. I'm not sure exactly which category I fall into. I still can't get over what a great night it was! Travis had a great night too. I'm so glad that he's the kind of person who doesn't need me to stand there with him. He probably knew just as many people there as I did. Anyway, the moral of the story is--go to your class reunions! They are FUN!

Reunion Weekend!!!

Yippee!!! It's finally here! We had such a blast this weekend. I LOVE my friends and had such a great time with them. A HUGE thank you to my parents and Travis for watching the boys so I could go out and play. :-)
On Friday, Heather, Carmin, Sherri and I went to Monicals for dinner and then to Celebration where we stood on one street corner and never left it! Several classmates stopped by so we got caught up with a bunch of people which was nice. It was too stinkin' hot though. It's hard to look great when the humidity is 95%. I was like a wilted dandelion by 11:00 p.m. (when we got kicked out of Celebration because it was closed.) And yes, that is my Hannah Montana shirt which also doubles nicely as "Knight in Shining Armor" costume for a certain 6 year old.

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Saturday, we met at Harmony Falls Spa and my friends got pedicures. (They make me uncomfortable so I just came along to visit.) Heather, Sherri, Carm and I were sitting in this little pedi room and in walks Laura in her Mt.Zion Braves Cheerleader jacket. So funny. She had found a box of high school memories and brought it along for us to look at. She had tons of school wallet pictures and snapshots of everything from junior high on up. What a hoot to look at that stuff. Those poor ladies who were doing the pedis must have thought we would never shut up!






I will post more about the actual reunion later. I will say that it was AWESOME!

For the stylish baby girl

Oh my goodness, check THIS out! How funny and adorable!

Cucumbers, get your cucumbers!!!

If you are lucky enough to live on Fawn Ct./Whitetail Circle, these little entrepreneurs might have made a visit to your house. Last year Parker and Nash sold cucumbers door-to-door and they have been waiting all summer for the cucumbers to be ready to sell again. This year, they expanded their inventory to include green beans and pumpkin blossoms. My dad took them around the block and they made a total of $21.00. Pretty good, if you ask me! They split it 3 ways. Nash plans on buying a beach house, Jack wants a new Little People boat (he has a little tugboat, he wants a yacht) and Parker is undecided but leaning towards Legos (he has his eye on a set that is $120.00) Clearly, they need to sell a whole lot more cucumbers! The tomatoes are almost ready and they think those will be big sellers.


This is the kind of thing that happens around here all the time that just keeps me cracking up. Jack is a hoot lately. He puts the rubber gloves on and says he's a monkey. So true, so true. And yes, he is wearing a pull-up (actually it's a Dollar General nighttime pull-up which looks very much like an adult diaper) because I cannot keep him dry overnight. Even when I don't let him have a drink after 7:00. Even when I make him go potty right before he goes to bed. I just end up washing sheets, comforters and pillows. Sooooo, a pull-up is just plain logical. Speaking of Jack, he has just been so good lately. This is a very good thing because Parker has been pretty bad. I think he's bored which is manifesting itself in ridiculous, horrible behavior and a very sassy mouth.

Yesterday we took a little trip to Springfield to visit the party store for Parker's birthday party. They have a great costume section and I wanted to get him an Indiana Jones hat. Unfortunately, I couldn't look at the costume section because both Parker and Jack got completely freaked out at the scary masks. I don't get it. It's broad daylight and I'm right there with them. Parker had such a tight grip on my arm that it actually hurt. This brought back memories of a trip to the Ozarks that we made when I was about 10 and we went to Meramac Caverns. It is this big cave where they do tours. Tracy and I both HATED it and cried and clung to our parents during the whole tour. I remember my parents talking about how hard we were squeezing their hand/arm. In our defense, that was a cave which might as well be the gateway to hell as far as I'm concerned and Parker and Jack were in a well-lit mini-mall store. Very different. Anyway, we also went to a brand-spanking new Walmart. (This was not the plan, but we needed to go to Walmart and it might as well be a new fancy one, right?) It is so pretty from the outside. They even have these 2 large sets of columns standing in a slight curve with quotes from Abraham Lincoln. Both of which are favorites of mine, "Most people are about as happy as they want to be." And, "I don't think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday." When we were walking in, I overheard this woman telling her husband, "It doesn't matter what they do, all Walmarts are still the same." At the time, I thought she was being really catty. I mean, it's Walmart after all, what exactly were you expecting? Well, when we left, I think I knew exactly what she meant. They must have had 40 lanes, and only 3 of them were open and 2 of those were self-service (which is a whole other blog entry). It doesn't matter how lovely your store is from the outside or even the inside if you have to wait 20 minutes to pay for your purchases. I hate that.

On a happy note, it was weigh in Wednesday and I lost another 1.6 which brings me to a total of 31.6 lbs. 10 more to go to my goal. Well, as I've said before my goal is negotiable. At least 5 more to go though. Whoo-hoo!!

Reunion Countdown......5 days

I took this picture of myself with the boys to e-mail to a friend who will not be able to make it to the reunion this weekend. I have very, very few photos of myself with my kids. I suppose most photo-taking mothers have the problem!

This picture just cracks me up because this is pretty much what is it is like when we visit Tracy. All the kids vying for Mamaw's attention. I think she wouldn't have it any other way!


I am so excited about the reunion this weekend!!! I'm just really looking forward to seeing people that I haven't seen in a long time. I know not everyone gets into reunions but I LOVED high school and one evening of reliving those simple, shiny moments sounds great to me. I always get a laugh out of the fact that while you are in high school, everything seems so important and dramatic. However, after high school (and college) you realize just how simple school really is compared to real life.

lazy blogger alert

Pictures from the 4th of July. Jack was so determined to include that silly snake!




-We just got back from St.Louis after a 4 day stay. Love it there but it's good to be home. We accomplished our mission--school shoes for both boys and a backpack for Parker. As well as highlights for me (my hair stylist is on bed rest so I went to Tracy's)
- Stella is very entertaining. Jacob is as sweet as can be unless you put him in a stroller at the mall.
- Jack manages to find trouble no matter where he is.
- I finally managed to officially get to my 30 pound weight loss. I have 6 more pounds to my reunion goal and 11 more to my "real" goal. I'm not going to make the reunion goal but I'm o.k. with that because I'm pretty close.
- I should go do some laundry.

Love this!

Watch this video all the way through. If you don't end up with a huge grin on your face, you are made of stone. :-) A perfect of example of the fact that people are just people no matter where they are in the world. Love it!
COOL VIDEO

Random Thoughts

- We went to a very fun wedding yesterday. I wore my "reunion" dress and LOVED it and got lots of compliments. My shoes killed my feet by the end of the evening (1:00 a.m.) but I felt good about how I looked. Why am I telling you this? Because I wasn't feeling at all good about how I looked 4 months ago.
- I didn't drink last night because I will not drink my WW points. And I still managed to have tons of fun. No surprise to me!
- I made a mental note last night to always wear age-appropriate attire and don't wear a short, flowy dress if you don't want everyone to see your undies. If you don't mind everyone seeing your undies, definitely wear a short, flowy dress.
- We seem to know quite a few extremely wealthy people and I have noticed that they are always less "showy" than the moderately wealthy people I know. Why is that? Maybe the truly rich just don't have anything to prove so they aren't trying to make sure everyone knows they have money? Maybe they are so nice to us because they feel sorry for us? Hmmmmmmmmm...........???????????????
- If we have any more of these huge torential downpours of 3 inches of rain in an hour, I am just going to buy a houseboat. This is nuts. Even in a light rain, my garage get's wet. You can just imagine what happens when it pours.
- Connor Company (Travis' work) is moving it's office/warehouse out of the ghetto to a brand new building. Thank goodness. It scared me that he was working in that neck of the woods.
- What is your opinion about year-round school? Of course, it isn't called "year-round", it's called a "balanced" school year. Basically the school year starts at the beginning of August, there is a 2 week "intercession" in October, a 3 week break at Christmas and then another 2 week spring "intercession" and the school year ends at the end of May or the first week of June. I'm not sure where I stand on this yet.
- I did not make my 30 pound goal at WW last week. In fact, I gained .4 lbs. This has me concerned because I followed my usual routine and did not overindulge. However, I did eat dinner after 7:00 p.m. every night for four straight days. That is not good for weight loss. I have had to kick it up a notch this week so I can get back where I should be. I know that that tiny gain doesn't sound like much, but I am in the home stretch and I cannnot afford any gain at all. The reunion is just a few weeks away!
- I put myself through hell today and went to Walmart on a weekend. Under normal conditions, this is something I would never do, but that's just how it worked out. It was waaaaay to crowded for my taste and it took me twice as long as it normally would have to get done. Fortunately, the boys stayed home with Travis, so that was a small blessing at least.

Just saying...

- Where is the summer going!? I can't believe it is July already. I feel like we really wasted our June. We didn't do anything really summery and fun. However, today I suggested going to the Aquatic Center in Shelbyville and got shot down by Parker. What kind of kid doesn't want to go to the pool?????
- I started working on Parker's birthday party today and I am sooo excited about it. I love planning parties for my kids. ESPECIALLY how to get the most bang for my buck!
- I have a sparkly new shirt and both the boys call me Hannah Montana when I wear it. Poor Miley Cyrus. She would be crushed to know that there are 2 little boys out there that think that their 38 year old mom looks like her. And yes, I'm more than a little concerned that I have a shirt that a 15 year old tv star would wear.
- My friends and I were planning a 40th birthday celebration "girl getaway" but we decided that 38 is a pretty good reason to celebrate too so we will be getting away this fall. I love you guys and I can't wait to see you in ONE month at our reunion.
-REUNION IN ONE MONTH!!! I do not believe that it is possible to meet my weight goal, but I am pretty close which is good. It's a heckuva lot better than where I was 14 weeks ago!
-I have a fabulous dress and an appointment to get my hair highlighted but I still need some shoes. Gotta sell some more crafties though before I can buy them.
-I wish I had some before and after photos of my weight loss journey, but I avoided the camera like crazy before so I haven't been able to find any. Darn.
-I know I talk about weight a lot these days but that's because it has become a big deal for me. I didn't know how bad I felt until I started feeling so good. I mean physically and mentally.
- Now that I have taken some control over my weight, my house is next on my list. I'm sick of the clutter and disorganization. I'm sure Travis is too.
- I got on the scale this morning and then I did the happy dance. I have unofficially lost 30 pounds. I hope to make that official next week at WW. Between 5 and 11 to go!!! I think I can, I think I can........
-I should mention that Parker's golf lesson was canceled this morning so we went to Cracker Barrel instead. I didn't do too bad, but I'm sure I'm going to have to work out extra later!
-HAVE A HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Up on my soapbox

I love sleeping baby pictures. He still looks so little and innocent when he sleeps.
Then there is that grouchy boy look we see quite often.
I love this picture for some reason even though he's doing something weird with his mouth.
Birds of a feather.....
A summer rite of passage--catching lightening bugs. Or fireflies. Whatever.

I have now lost 27 pounds and have either 9 lbs. or 14 lbs. to go depending on where I ultimately set my goal. We shall see. A lot of people have been asking me what I'm doing and if it's hard. Well, here are some thoughts (keeping in mind that I am definitely not an expert!!!)
- Weight Watchers works if you go to the meetings every week and STAY. I don't know why it works, but it does.
- Excercise--and not just going for a walk. Serious, sweaty, heavy-breathing excercise. I'm sure walking works great, but I've got a timeline and I don't think walking is going to get me there in that amount of time.
- Indulge yourself by eating something you love once a week. I let myself eat one meal without worrying about points once each week. This week it was a cheeseburger and fries from Culver's. Last week it was Mexican food. The week before it was a doughnut. If I indulge more than once a week, I work out twice as hard for 2 days.
- Buy high fiber, low fat, low sugar foods. There are so many yummy choices out there that I don't feel deprived at all. Example: This morning I had a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit WW style: WW english muffin, 1 pc. turkey bacon, egg beater, WW cheese. Delicious and only 3 points. At McDonalds, it would be 9 or 11 points and doesn't taste that much different.
-I switched to Diet soda which darn near killed me but now, 3 months later, doesn't bother me a bit. I swore I would never do this. It just doesn't taste the same BUT I refuse to drink my points. I think one of the tricks to switching successfully is to never, never go back to the real stuff. Then you don't know what you are missing.
-I have lots of support from my parents, my sister and my friends.
-Hearing people tell you how good you look is very addictive and inspiring. It means soooooo much to me when people notice that I am trying.
-If I can do it, anyone can. Honestly. I do not have much will power but I haven't needed will power--the system just works!
-It wasn't easy at first but now it is. Sometimes it's easier than others.
-This is a WW theme--healthy eating starts at the grocery store. If you don't buy it and bring it into your home--you can't eat it. Soooo, sooooo true.
-Your kids will eat healthy options if that's all they have.
- So will you.
- A healthy option doesn't just mean carrot sticks. It can be a lower cal, lower sugar version of something like ice cream.
- I do have a timeline and I think that is helping me. I don't have time to mess up.
- I read somewhere that if you do mess up (which we all do at some point) don't wait until "tomorrow" to get back on track, do it with your next bite. Which means, don't take the next bite of "bad" food.
- Be prepared. It's much easier to stay on track if you have the right things to eat. I carry Fiber One bars (OMG they are soooo good) with me so that if I get a hankering for something, I eat that. Otherwise I will end up in the Culver's drive through ordering a double scoop turtle sundae. Seriously.
- Fast food and restaurants are the enemy. Of course they have good options, but it is hard to always make the good choices when you have so many wonderful bad choices in front of you. Unfortunately, eating at home most of the time is more figure friendly for MOST of us.
O.K., it's time to get off my soap box and work out.
By the way, I owe 99% of my weight loss success to my friend Dawn because she is the one who asked me if I wanted to go to Weight Watchers. Without her, I wouldn't have joined and I wouldn't be preaching here today. I can't thank you enough, Dawn!!!

Quicky

Shouldn't summer be relaxing? It sure doesn't seem that way. I feel like all we do is run from one activity to the next.
I did NOT make my WW goal of 25 lbs. lost last week so I'm hoping I will get it this week. I was .3 pounds away last week. Talk about frustrating. I see the light at the end of the tunnel now though. I have been using our eliptical machine 6 days a week since I started WW 3 months ago and I decided I need to try something different. So, I found a workout on "On Demand". Holy cow--it just about killed me. I felt like I was going to throw up when I was done and my legs still ache. I know that's a good thing but I can't make myself do it again. I like my little eliptical!
I know this is a lame post, but I've got a million things to do today, so I'm off!