I realize. . .

I am a TOTAL blog slacker!!!!! It has been far too long since my last blog post. We have such an amazing summer, spending so much time as a family with Russ being home a little more. Pepper did not go to Mother's Morning Out this summer, so having both girls home all day, every day, has forced us to keep busy with friends and activities. I also did that awesome CrossFit boot camp 3 days a week. Seriously, we have just been busy. I do realize that is not much of an excuse.

I have been in the weirdest of funks off and on this summer too. Russ has been home more, took some vacation, but has been preparing for the deployment the whole time. He actually just got home today from a 3 week annual training away from us. It is just too much to bear at times thinking about the year long deployment that will be on us in such a short time now. We have done it before, hope we won't do it again and will make it through this one for sure, but some days I just feel funky (or crunky as a very good friend of mine would say)!!!!!

School starts this week. Pepper will be going to 3 year old PreK every day this year, soooo excited for her new adventure! Vesper will be going to Mother's Day Out 2 days a week, which will give me a few hours each week with no children. This will be a first for me in over a year. So hoping for some quiet to stay out of funk and get this blog back to normal. Thank you to all the peeps that are still here and reading, hope there is at least one of you out there in blog world. Hoping to get caught up on my fav blog reading too!!!! Loves

I promise to post on Vesper's first birthday party soon. Here is a family pic from the party

Russ has been learning some new songs for the girls, they LOVE to sing with him

one of my favorite times in this world, watching my girls chase each other around in the country

This will be an awesome post coming up soon! Can anyone guess what very cool happy T and Papa got for Pepper?!

the girls at a very cool Alice in Wonderland themed birthday party

this is what happens when I try to get a picture of the two girls together, THEY RUN AWAY

just a very cute one of Vesper, in her brownie-goose

Anyone else up for it?!

You guys have heard me griping and going on about CrossFit, well this is the last week, sooo sad. I really am addicted!!!!! I will be getting my bodyfat done at the end of the week, to share the exact change. I am hoping for a big change! I will be taking a 3 week break and then starting another CrossFit bootcamp at the beginning of August. For this next session we can bring a friend. Anyone want to join me!!!!!! PLEASE!!! There is a 6 week and 9 week session, both starting in August. Please leave a comment or email if interested, and I will get you the info. I would LOVE to do this with more friends!!!!! Stay tuned for my results after the first 6 week bootcamp

Baby Vesper

Sitting here listening to The Black Crowes station on Pandora (Led Zeppelin at the moment) and needing to write Vesper's 1st birthday post. This is sooooo hard!!!!!! Our baby is 1 tomorrow, WTH???!!!!! Where did the year go? Why is she growing up so fast? How we love this little, petite bundle of happiness and joy. She is just so content, mellow, happy, chill, lovey. I am going to try not to compare her to Pepper a lot in the post but when you only have one child, then the second comes along, you just tend to compare and expect the second to be a lot like the first. Well, Vesper is NOT Pepper and thank goodness. We can only handle one Peppercorn round this joint!

Vesper is talking and will mimic just about any sound or word we say. She LOVES to dance and when I say, she loves to dance, I mean it! That girl will get jiggy wit it on cue, music or not. Her best move has got to be her head nod, much like A Night at the Roxbury, LOVE!!!!!! She has taken as many as 7 0r 8 steps all by herself at one time. She is so tiny and petite and is just preciousness. She weighs about 19 pounds and doesn't have an ounce of chunk on her. She has a lot of curls in the back and not much on top, very Dr. Phil. She has piercing blue eyes, even bluer than Pepper and very white hair on top. She likes to play next to the big girls and really doesn't put everything directly in her mouth like most babies. She eats real food usually with baby food every now and again to fill er up. She still drinks formula (doc said keep her on it til 1, guess because she is so small) but no more bottles, drinks everything out of sippy cups. She LOVES to sneak drinks of Pepper's big girl cups too. She takes a paci when sleeping and in car. She is just a typical, happy baby on the verge on toddler hood.

We could not be more thrilled with our little girls. Vesper has been such a joy to this family and especially Russ. He missed all this "baby" fun with Pepper, learning to crawl, walk, eat food, talk, dance, play. Russ has thoroughly enjoyed watching Vesper go from a blob to an almost kid. Pepper has good and bad days and moments with her. I know she loves Vesper but just hard not having all the attention any more but she does good most days. Vesper adores Pepper like no other, it is awesome to watch Vesper light up at her sister, hope that lasts forever!!!!!

Happy Birthday Vessyboo, we love you!!!!!!!!!

BFF

Pepper has a sweet, sweet friend named Jude. He is my friends Rachel and Seth's little boy, and he is precious. We took Jude to the Natural Science Museum last week for the morning and here are some pics of sweet three year old friends.

Look at sweet baby Vesper, watch out her 1st birthday post is coming up far too soon!!!

is Jude not the cutest little boy you have ever seen?!

Pepper loves her some Jude

Don't forget to go check out Rachel's new blog, Little Sparrow, I have done a guest post on homemade laundry detergent

For all you "green" mamas out there

My friend Rachel has started a new blog, Little Sparrow, a mother's guide to living green. I couldn't be more excited!!!! We have really been on this eco kick lately and love to talk about composting, cloth diapering, recycling, anything "green." Check it out, follow, check often, comment, ask questions!!!!! I think she will be using my composting story soon, so check that out too

CrossFit is the devil

This CrossFit boot camp I have been doing with friends is much more than we ever expected!!!!! It is literally the hardest thing we have ever done. You go in there thinking you are in decent shape, having ran a few half marathons, not completely lost in a gym, HA HA HA. This isn't even in the same league. We have been spending an hour 3 times a week at 12 noon in an unairconditioned warehouse pushing ourselves physically further than we ever thought we could. It is amazing and feels like hell during it but after what a sense of accomplishment we feel. We do head straight to Chick-fil-a after also, LOL! We did get our body fat done and will share all the before and afters when we are finished with the boot camp. I am hoping for some amazing results, like Heidi Klum style results but those chicken sandwiches might prevent. Stay tuned for another update. Sorry I haven't explained more but it is just really something you have to experience to understand!

I just might yak. . .

tomorrow during our first day at CrossFit!!!!!! Rachel, Aubrey and I are starting a 6 week session of CrossFit. We are all determined to give this a real shot! I have heard great things about it and the videos I have found online are amazing. If anything is gonna flatten this tummy, CrossFit will do it. Having 2 really great girl friends to go along with is super comforting. If we all puke together, maybe none of us will be mortified, LOL! Will try to post after tomorrow and will most definitely keep you all updated with our progress. Hoping to be bikini ready by the end of summer. Good thing our summer here in the dirty south lasts til Thanksgiving!!!!!!