I seriously need to make a grocery list and meal plans for the week, but the house is quiet and I’m going to blog instead. I’ll make the list later. Who needs sleep, right?!

As you may or may not know, I have been participating in a “Lose Big” program at a local gym. This week was the last week and while I did not actually lose big (I did lose a few pounds though, just not “big”!), it has been a lot of fun. The program consisted of twice weekly meetings, one being a lecture of sorts and the other being a circuit workout. In general I found the workouts to be much more useful than the lectures, but both were good. At the final lecture yesterday the trainer was reviewing what we had learned (or were supposed to have learned!) over the course of the six week program. At one point we were discussing obstacles and I raised my hand and said I have trouble balancing priorities. I know it’s important to take care of myself, but when that happens at the expense of too many other things, well then I loose focus. Not uncommon, I’m sure. The trainer mentioned that she also has two small kids (smaller than mine actually!) and fully understands, but “they know that if I don’t get to exercise every day then I am a cranky mommy!” That got me thinking… I want to exercise and lose weight so I can feel better about my body, but I’m finding that often when I DO exercise every day I become a cranky mommy. Why? Because exercise takes a lot of time. Time that otherwise would be spent cleaning the house, or being with the kids, or completing projects, or cooking, or grocery shopping, or or or… (or blogging, of course!)

I find that I ebb and flow in the “take care of me” department. I do prefer to weigh less, I do like to exercise, but after doing that for awhile I get frustrated with the messy house, cranky kids, and everything else that seems to slip through the cracks when I devote time to daily exercise. There just isn’t enough time in the day! So her comment made me think that perhaps exercise really ISN’T a priority in my life. Is that horrible to say?!?! I do need to exercise regularly, but perhaps not for so long and not every day. More importantly, I realized that I when I have a better handle on life I feel much, MUCH better, regardless of exercise. I also believe that when I am more in control of my surroundings I am better able to manage my food intake and therefore feel better all around… which often leads to more time to exercise. :) When my surroundings feel out of control then my eating quickly follows, which is counter-intuitive because often I think my eating is the one thing I SHOULD be able to control, but alas it spirals out of control along with everything else. Control issues, maybe… but that’s for another post!

It’s interesting thinking about, and trying to truly own, your priorities in life.

Lots more going on, but I’m out of time.  I’ll try to get to it soon.  Lots of Halloween prep, lunch today with Grandpa and Grandma, and more.  Life is busy.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

We took a last minute trip to Franklin this week while the kids had a few days off from school.  Everyone had a blast.

The kids have been having serious smart bursts lately. Eve has been doing a lot with letters and sounds, taking a real interest in learning them. Lex has been rediscovering games he hasn’t played in awhile and doing some great drawings. They amaze me daily!

Eve has been spending some serious time with the Word Whammer lately. She's really getting in to letters and sounds.

Sometimes she even lets Lex help.

Lex has been doing a ton of drawing on the Doodle Pro and white board lately. I wish he would draw on paper so I could save it, but probably it's better to save it as photo anyway. Here he drew a house on the top and a"Map of the Earth" on the bottom.

On Sunday the kids spent a ton of time in the living room, Lex playing games by himself and Eve doing puzzles. Alan was in there too, working on the computer. It was a quiet day.

Eve has been super into puzzles lately. She even does them over and over sometimes. She did this one four or five times before moving on to another one.

Lex laughed and laughed and LAUGHED at the silly sentences he made. Then he asked if he could take a picture :)

Eve picked out this weird craft thing from the craft store the other day. She kind of likes it, but Lex loves it. You dampen the little pieces and then press them together. Lex has been working on this structure for a few days now. He wants to build it to the ceiling.

My craft project. More on this later.