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Today I am posting three pictures only because I want my readers to see first hand what it is like having a toddler in the house. The first picture is of Ashton's dinner plate. One would think that a toddler would like chicken nuggets and fruit for dinner, but as you can see it is untouched. At first I acutally cared whether or not Ashton finished his dinner, but then I realized I can't worry about it. If he doesn't eat what we eat or he doesn't want it, then oh well, he doesn't get anything. If he doesn't eat his dinner, he gets no snacks, no gummies, no ice cream bites, no popcorn, nothing. If he is hungry enough, he will eat it. I know some of you may think this is harsh, but you can't force a toddler into doing something that he doesn't want to do. We did leave it on the table for a while thinking he would come back to it, but he didn't. He did eat well at breakfast and lunch, so I know he got enough food today. I know that Ashton really wants to play instead of eat. Who knows how he will eat tomorrow.

The next two pictures are the bedtime routine. Ashton would NOT sit still to get on his PJs. He took off running and here are two pictures of the little stinker in action. Trying to catch him and get on his PJs takes about 3-4 minutes. I know that doesn't seem like a long time, but sometimes we just don't have that to spare. So here's to a night in the life of our household.

Ashton is too stinking cute though..

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We have had a really mild winter this year. It almost scares me a little bit. I am determined to watch less T.V and have Ashton was less of it, so because we have had mild evenings, we have been going outside and playing. He loves playing outside.

For Christmas, Ashton received some sidewalk chalk and because our backyard is our drive way with an alley way, we have TONS of blacktop to draw on. Ashton kept telling me what he drew on the pavement…a monster….”A” Ashton, C “Claire”, “its blue”, “stars” etc. He puts meaning to everything that he draws even if it doesn’t look like something. He also knows some of his letters. I think that he is super smart, but I know that eventually, once he is in school that others will catch up to him and maybe he will slow down and learn all of these things now and then stop. Who knows, but right now I do know that Ashton is sponging up everything and is learning so much day by day.

This picture of is Ashton slashing the letters that I call out. I would say Ashton, show mommy the letter G. He would run over to it and slash it with the chalk. He is so proud of himself and I am so proud of him. The picture starts are 1/125, ISO 100 and F-Stop 2.2.

Monday is a rest day in the program, like I mentioned before. I have not eaten any Oreos, however, I have had cake and two mini sugar cookies over the last two days… But in my defense, I didn’t eat all of the icing on the piece of cake and the sugar cookies were mini. I have also been eating smoothies in the morning thanks to the recommendation of my sister-in-law for this small blender. I also have not bought the cafeteria food either and I am drinking waaay more water. I didn’t make it to the gym tonight and I wasn’t able to run outside because it was quite the crazy day at work. I got home late and I just didn’t make time. I am making time tomorrow even if I have to go to the gym at 9 like I did for the one week.

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I think that I missed a day again somewhere.. I did take a picture though. I’ll add it in the mix soon. So today I wanted to try out my camera outside with my family. I convinced my wonderful husband to take the kids to Silver Lake to take a few quick pictures. We were there all of 5 minutes, maybe less and Ashton fell in the mud and stepped in the FREEZING water. Needless to say, I only got a handful of pictures.

I’m going to set weekly goals for my self. As some of you may know, I officially registered for my first half marathon. I’m really looking forward to it, but I really had to get down to it and train. I think going week by week will be better so I can obtain short term goals and see success. So here are my goals for the week

1. STOP EATING OREOS!!!!

2. Only buy coffee out one time this week (tomorrow for me!)

3. Do not buy breakfast out, eat at home

4. Do not eat in the school cafeteria (nothing against the cafeteria food, it’s really good, I just need to make sure I am watching what I eat more than I used to)

5. Follow the Hal Higdon half marathon plan (I’m going to give my self one slip up day if I don’t have time to run)

My picture for the day is right before Ashton fell in the mud/water. Dan is showing him how to throw rocks into the lake. Like I said, Ashton just adores Dan and wants to do everything he does. Picture stats are 1/400, ISO 100, 4.0.

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Here is a picture of baby Claire.. I just can't get enough of her sweet face. Don't have much to say about the picture, and I don't have what the stats are..... I will get back to posting well thought out blog postings.

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Every couple of months a group of us girls get together and do a “themed” night. This particular night we did “casserole” night. We had a variety and everyone’s was delicious. I do not have picture stats for this picture and I should have gotten a picture of the casseroles when the foil was off. But at least I have a picture for that day.

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Today I officially registered for my first half marathon. (this post is 3 days late, so Thursday when this picture should have been posted is when I registered for the half marathon) I know a few people doing it so that is more motivation to begin training. I have taken a few days off from training from before (well more like 15 days ugh!), so I am going to officially officially start training on Monday. As you may have read from a previous post that Monday is a rest day, so I guess it will technically start on Tuesday. This time I am doing it, no if, ands, or buts, about it. I paid, I’m running!

For a while Claire was waking up two times in the middle of thenight to feed. She is back on the six hour stretch at night which makes me less tired during the day so hopefully I’ll be able to get to the gym once the kiddos go to bed.

This is a picture of Claire. She is getting so big. Picture stats 1/125. ISO 400 3.2 and external flash.

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Meet my friend Julie! Isn’t she absolutely beautiful? She is 20 week pregnant this week and looks wonderful. I am so excited for her because she isn’t going to find out what she is having. Nothing against people who find out ( I found out with my first one), but there is something just completely amazing about not knowing what you are having. The day the baby is born and the doctors say “it’s a boy or it’s a girl” is an amazing experience and one that I will never forget. But back to Julie, she is quite the trooper letting me photograph her journey through her pregnancy. I plan on taking some every 2 weeks so she can have a journal of pictures to document her pregnancy.

Even though we only photographed for 25 minutes, I feel as though I got some amazing shots.. I did have an amazing model too! Julie is just glowing and full of life. One picture does not do her justice, but I want her to see them first before I post more. Enjoy!

Picture stats: 1/250. F5.6 ISO 100