Evening Routine

During our time in St. George, we've enjoyed cruising in Gma Linda and Gpa Pat's golf cart. So much so that over the past several weeks, it has become part of our nightly routine. Bedtime (more so, staying-in-bedtime) is difficult for Coop. Mostly, difficult for me. I dread the bedtime battle.

At first, the evening golf cart ride was used as a bribe. A special reward if Coop promised to go to bed without a fight. It worked! After awhile, I realized it was an awesome way for all 3 of us to unwind from the craziness of our day. The boys are surprisingly calm, evenings are my favorite time in the desert and golf carts are COOL. Plain and simple.

Once dinner time approaches, the chaos beings. The golf cart ride starts the calming process (even for me). Our evening plays out a little like this:
Dinner Scramble, Eating Scramble, Bath Scramble, Golf Cart Ride, Story Time and Bed. Slowly, the going to sleep battle has disappeared (knock on wood). What was once a half an hour plus of putting Coop back to bed (over and over...) is now spent enjoying our time together watching the sunset. No more battles. Quite frankly, I was finished trying to battle. I lost all sense of battle in me. I hated ending my day with Cooper arguing about going to bed. Something had to change. Who knew the golf cart would be such a savior?

Here are a few pics from the other night. Excuse the poor quality. It's hard to juggle 2 boys, drive and take amazing photos. Something has to give.

The photos show how different the sky was that evening. There was a gorgeous lightning storm and we literally saw a wildfire start up before our eyes. Bonus!

Beginning our drive. Beautiful Sunset begins.

A storm's a brewin'.........

Horrible shot of wildfire in the distance.

This golf cart ride was a little longer than normal. But well worth staying up for. Of all the amazing memories we've shared during our St. George Adventure, our golf cart rides have become some of my favorites. I'm going to miss them and I think the boys will too.

Corn and Cars

Yesterday, the boys and I went to the 21st Annual Corn Festival in Enterprise, Utah! About an hour drive from St. George. It was corntastic! Corneriffic! Corntabulous! Cornamazing!

We are becoming pros at your typical carny-type venues. (In this case, corny-type). You know, the typical: bouncy houses and bouncy slides, carny rides, carny food and craft vendors. But this festival was all about corn. It was low key and had a small town feel. It was a great way to spend the day. We had some yummy carny food that include corn (duh). We also managed (well, Coop did) to do a lot of bouncing. I've decided I have waaaaaay too many pictures of Coop in a bouncy house from this summer. Not to self: once you've seen a pic of your kid in a bouncy house, you've seen 'em all. Must refrain from taking more bouncy house pics of Coop. I'll hold off until Cruz hits his bouncy house prime.

What else do you think of when you think of corn?????? Cars, of course!!!! For some reason, corn festival goers also like showing off their cars. Coop was very pleased with all the cars to check out. I couldn't tell you the difference between an old Ford or Chevy but I really liked all the purdy colored paint jobs.





Edited to add: (TMI warning but what on this blog really isn't full of TMI........) Such is my life. Talk about timing. Right in the middle of composing this post, Cruz had an amazing diaper blow out. The type that required me to stop all activities (especially BLOGGING) and focus on the issue at hand. Let's just say that Cruz enjoyed the corn festival immensely! He just had a bath and is now squeaky clean. Sorry to take you there. I warned you. Cruz is going to love me for some day for documenting his corn festival aftermath.

Kitchen Destruction

Construction Workers

Most people would NOT be happy to have a construction site directly across the street from them. AND directly across from the bedroom we sleep in. But not my boys! They hit the construction site jackpot as far as they're concerned. A front row view beginning at 7:30am sharp! Cooper is in heaven.

"Mommy, are my construction workers here yet?"......"Mommy, can I say hi to my construction workers?"........"Mommy, where did the tractor go"......."Mommy, what does that big thing do?"........"Mommy, what are my construction workers eating?"......... "Can I have a lunch box too?"...."Where's my construction hat?".........."Mommy, are my construction workers going to be here when I get back from school?"............"HI, construction workers!!!!!!!!"

Photo Shoot

A couple of week ago I decided I wanted to get the boys' photos taken. I've been wanting a professional to do the job as it is something we have never done before. I regret not doing this sooner. I really wish we would've had some shots done like these when the boys were itty bitty and beyond. I decided it wasn't too late to start now. Especially to mark Cruz's 1st Birthday (there I go again mentioning The Birthday).

I knew I wanted to do something outside and happened to spot an ad on craigslist. After checking out the photographer's ad, I looked at her website and decided she was perfect!

She was beyond amazing and so cute with the boys. I (we) warmed up to her immediately.

BUT...................Once again, the timing wasn't so great. Cruz was coming down with a cold (unbeknownst to me). This would be the same cold that carried on into the birthday celebration with Mark 4 days later. It was as if the cold decided to kick in once the lens cap came off. My happy-usually-hams-it-up-for-the-camera baby wasn't feeling the photo shoot love. We worked and worked at getting him to smile and it just wasn't happening much. By the time we got home poor Cruz had a 101 temperature. Poor little guy.

Nonetheless, Chelsy did an awesome job and managed to capture some great shots. She is amazing in my eyes. Cooper thought she was very pretty too :). He told me on the way home that Chelsy was pretty like a mermaid :).

This is the only shot we managed to get with the boys together. Much like when I try to do it myself, they never seem to cooperate. I actually kind of like this one though. It shows their personalities and the reality of trying to get 2 little boys to cooperate for a photo op.

Mutt and Jeff

(I'm loving this shot more and more.....)

-----------------------------

I've decided July 2011 will be forever known to me as The Snotty Month. Forget Christmas in July. It's Colds in July. Thanks to preschool, our boys are boosting their immune systems quite well.

Photo Shoot Cruz

Photo Shoot Coop

A few of Coop's shots:

Fair

The boys and I went to the Washington County fair and partook in a little petting zoo petting, lasso practicing, fair food eating, bouncy castle bouncing, bubble machine watching, stilt walking, bucket playing, hula hooping, face painting, watermelon seed spitting, ice cream licking, auto boat riding, tractor admiring and people watching. Fairs are fun!

Giving Birth 5K

Can you hear that faint sound?........................................



Listen closely...................


It's sort of a "tooting" type sound......................




It's ME TOOTING my own horn!

Yes, most of this blog is truly a brag blog. Who doesn't love bragging about their kids?! (Just being honest here). This brag post really does have a point beyond me just bragging about myself. I promise.

Last April, when we returned to St. George after sell-prepping our house in TN and spending a couple of weeks with mark in CO, I decided enough was enough. Not only did I need to lose the rest of my baby weight but I needed something for ME and my sanity. I needed to find some me time besides going to the grocery store by myself. I decided running was my answer. It was a great way to clear my head, blow off some steam and spend some time ALONE.

I decided to give couch-to-5k a try. It's a running program for novice runners. It had been forever since I ran as a work out (mainly because I never have time) and I seem to work well when I have a plan and a goal to work towards. I decided to invest in a jogging stroller so that I could run with the boys as well. The stroller has been perfect and beyond anything I could have imagined but truth be told, I'd rather run withOUT the boys. Hence the ME time. Luckily, my parents have been willing to watch the boys so I could run in peace and I'm so grateful for that. Thanks Mom and Dad!

I had no idea running would be so therapeutic. Do I think I'll become a Marathon runner? Probably not. Mostly because I don't have the time or energy. If I can sneak away for 45 minutes to an hour, I'm so happy. And when Mama is happy, EVERYONE is happy(er).

I wanted to make sure I didn't hurt myself or break a hip.....as many old people do:).... so I went to the local running store and got fitted for proper running shoes. They examined my stride and hooked me up with the perfect pair. They really are like running on pillows.

I didn't have any intentions of running in a race necessarily but about a month ago, I saw a flyer for a 5k/15 Mile Trail run. Obviously, I was leaning towards the 5k (not 15 Miles as that would just be crazy). What caught my eye was that it was on Cruz's birthday. How symbolic. I could dedicate my run to Cruz and prove to myself that I can also do something for myself without feeling guilty. So there you have it, I signed myself up and the rest is history.

The race was in Pine Valley which is in the Mountains about 40 miles from where my parents live. It was much higher in elevation then what I'm used to but that also meant much cooler. Plus I liked the idea of doing a trail run in the hills rather than hitting the pavement in the city.

As much as I would have enjoyed bringing a cheering squad with me, I decided it was too early to drag the boys out of bed. Gpa Pat and Gma Linda were nice enough to watch the boys and I went by myself.

It ended up being perfect. Being the sappy sentimental person that I am, I took the date of my first race very symbolically. Exactly 1 year prior (and almost the same time), I was pushing myself to the limits and breathing heavily for a very different reason. Back then it felt more like a marathon and this year, a stroll through the hills (a piece of cake compared to child birth). It was pretty hilly but I kept thinking about Cruz and all that we have accomplished together in the past year. I dedicated the race to him.

My goal was to finish without walking and not come in last. Surprisingly, I took 2nd place in my age (old lady) division and brought home a medal. Cooper was very excited about the medal and wanted to try it on immediately.

Thanks Cruz (Cooper too) for giving me the inspiration to run and for making me realize that wanting a little ME time isn't selfish. It really is good for the soul (and for the sons).

Before race shot.

Beautiful race view.

Afer race shot.

Notice how I'm all smiles and the boys aren't all that impressed.

Coop and the medal. Who knew it would be such a hit?

Cruz with the (our) medal.

This is what he truly thought of it.

Okay, carry on now. I'm finished tooting.

---------------------------------------

Side note: After the race, I was standing next to the cutest little pregnant girl. The type that looked like she swallowed a watermelon (not a jabba the hut type pregnant person like I was). I told her I could tell it was safe for me to ask how far along she was as I know that can be a very dangerous question to ask someone. She told me 5 1/2 months. I hadn't noticed her in the race at all. I said how impressive that was and asked if it was her 1st race while pregnant. She answered (in a very sweet and non bragging way) "it is with this pregnancy but with 2 of my previous pregnancies, I ran marathons". Wow, that is 26.2 miles! No wonder I didn't notice her in the race. She was obviously way ahead of me. We then stood together chit chatting about kids and stuff because she was alone at the race as well.

Once the medal ceremony began, who wins the 25-29 Womens age group medal but my sweet little friend that swallowed a watermelon. Way to go Mama!

Baby Mine (Ours)

Yay! A photo montage for Cruz!
The homage to the 1st birthday continues :)

Cruz turns 1 Movie from A Mendonca on Vimeo.

Evolution of a Chair

Dear Chair,

You are so much more than a simple little bean bag chair that I rescued from the Goodwill. I cleaned you up and gave you a home and in return, you cradled our little guy's bum from month to month and helped a Mommy get all nostalgic over the growth of her baby boy.

You will always have a very special place in my heart.

Love,

Cruz's Mommy

PS. Do you think you could find it in you heart to make a cameo appearance every once in awhile? Perhaps we could convince Cruz to pose for his high school graduation pictures with you? How about wedding photos? How far do you book out? I may have a little problem letting go...........

Cake Redux (for Daddy)

We couldn't let Daddy go without seeing Cruz eat his cake. Trust me, there were plenty of cake eating pictures taken. Can a baby eating cake be any cuter? Two of my favorite things; cake and babies. It doesn't get better than that. Have you noticed I keep referring to Cruz as a baby? I'm still holding strong..........................

Don't worry, I didn't' make Cruz eat week old cake. I also didn't want to freeze the one we bought. It just didn't seem right to give Cruz stale, frozen cake. A cup cake was perfect and much appreciated as you can see.

Videos too:

Cake from A Mendonca on Vimeo.

Untitled from A Mendonca on Vimeo.

Birthday Party Redux

In case you were wondering (since I kind of left you hanging) about whether or not Cruz ever recovered from his cold. He did. His cold lasted a couple of days and he is now back to his happy go lucky self. I will say that he has had a lot of colds this summer! Oy, our boys are definitely building their immune systems thanks to Coop going to preschool and bringing home everything that comes with going to preschool.

We couldn't let Cruz's birthday (the actual day) come and go without some celebrating. Especially since our first attempt wasn't much fun for him. We decided to have a pool party in the backyard and eat cake. We couldn't forget the cake!