Is Exercise Really Worth It?

I pretty much took off all summer from the gym, and started exercising again last week. This morning I took a class called Body Pump, in which you spend 1 hour and 15 minutes lifting a dumbell over and over and over and over. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to get out of bed tomorrow morning. I also know that they say "No pain, no gain" but I just wish that after almost 2 years of running, lifting, crunching, squatting, and lunging, I had somthing to show for it. Basically what I want is to have the body of the instructor that has been yelling at me to lift, crunch and squat harder. Oh, well! I just keep going and making the other gym-goers feel better about themselves.

Happy September!

Okay, I will openly admit that it has been a LONG time since my last post. I'll just say it was a ridiculous summer, full of doctor's visits and lots of antibiotics. Joseph gave me a get well card "to get me better from the 'Ramonia' "  Now it's over and I am happily getting back to normal. Yeah!

Here are the lovely flowers that all of the children at church made me. They sure helped get me better!

I did read an unusually long list of books during this last few months, which was very fun, the most enjoyable being "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." As a stalwart Jane Austin fan, I put up quite a fight for the last year, absolutely refusing to read something that would make Miss Austin turn over in her grave (slight zombie reference), but the book was hysterically funny and every day I read passages to my husband and friends, as we all laughed together. If you loved "Pride and Prejudice", you're bound to get quite a kick (another pitiful reference) out of this book.

School has once again begun. Here are my 4 children on their 1st day. Our youngest, Ben is in preschool, Joseph is in 1st grade, Jenna 3rd grade and Emily is in 5th grade (I still can't believe it!)

Just for the record, Ben is not eating a corn dog for breakfast. It is a sausage and pancake on a stick (which is SO much more nutritious!)

Here is Jenna with her best friend Isabelle. They are in the same class, ride the bus together, go to Sunday School together, and already have plans to be college roommates and have a double wedding where they will marry the 2 most wonderful guys on the planet who will have to be brothers.

It has been a busy week for the Tooth Fairy at our house. On Tuesday, Emily and Jenna both lost a tooth, which was a fun coincidence. The Tooth Fairy came that night and they each got a dollar. Three days later, they each lost another tooth! It could have been another coincidence, or maybe they realized a very lucrative business venture. Either way, they each put a tooth under their pillow, but this time the Tooth Fairy didn't come. I told them she probably forgot, or thought they were trying to trick her. Luckily she came the next day, so all is well. For the past few days, Joseph has been aggressive wiggling his loose tooth to "get in on the action".