Project Bikini 2010 was proceeding well until I messed up my leg on my trip to St. Martin and surrounding Islands this May. I got in a bit of a scooter accident and had a bum leg for 6 weeks. This has resulted in me backtracking from all the results I had gained before the trip, but never fear friends, family, and random stranger that accidentally got sent to this page, I have not given up. Well I don’t expect to be in a bikini by the end of the year but if I can fit into some of my cute old skirts that will be good enough for me. I am back to my daily exercises assigned to me by my tormentor friend Jerry, which currently is 30 sit-ups, push-ups (girl-version), and squats a day (to be upped when I can do them without whining). I also exercise with some friends on Tuesday and Thursday after work.

In conclusion not as much progress on either endeavor as I would like but, as I constantly relearn throughout my life, apparently the world does not actually revolve around my schedule. Who knew?

We finished up our photo shoot by heading over to the splash park area to cool down.

~Christina

Once again here are some of my favorite recipes that I have found on the internets. The theme with this set (I’m doing themes now?!?) is simple, fast, and delish.

Ham and Cheese Turnovers I really like the simplicity of this recipe and how little time it takes. It actually feeds a lot of people or provides lunch for one person for a whole week. It is also very easy to play around with.

Malboro Man’s Second Favorite Sandwich I love how this is very easy and simple to make but yet tastes like restaurant quality. So far everyone I’ve made this for has loved it, and that includes some picky people like my mom and grandma.

Smothered Pork Chops The pork in this recipe stays so moist and I love the “gravy” with mashed potatoes too.

Mystery Rolls I love these rolls. They are so simple and quick to make and so so good. Beware this recipe is definitely for the Blue Cheese lovers out there as well as the butter lovers so it is in no way shape or form good for you, unless you count happiness.

How old is Elliott?

Wearing her Birthday outfit!

Playing in her new pool!

Eli and Evan playing in the pool.

Making her “I’m not so sure about this…” face.

Now she’s getting into it!

Eli attempts to drown Evan with splashes.

This picture captures Eli and Brody’s personalities perfectly!

Elliott had a cupcake cake from Federhofer’s Bakery that was DELISH! She also got her own matching cupcake to smash and enjoy. She thought that was pretty awesome!

Sharing cake with Uncle Dave.

Happy Birthday sweet baby! I love you so much and I can’t believe you are becoming a toddler already!

Elliott’s birthday was on Friday and Wes took a half day to help me get the house ready for her big birthday party. That evening we decided we should take her out to dinner somewhere special for her birthday. So off to Chuck E Cheese’s we went! Here’s a video of her with the big man.

Here is a video of Elliott playing peek-a-boo. You can tell she thinks this is pretty awesome.

Playtime with Natalie!

Randy keeping Elliott entertained at lunch.

Natalie and Megan at lunch.

We hiked down to the lake with the babies.

Watching Daddy swim.

Swimming with Daddy.

Natalie likes to study things very intensely. She is SOOO cute!

On Sunday we took the babies over to the state park beach.

Getting sleepy.

It was a great weekend and I hope we can meet up every summer!

In order to get Elliott prepared for her shining future, I went ahead and enrolled her for the infant swimming class at our local YMCA. I’m not sure what I was expecting from the class, but I definitely had visions of Nirvana’s Nevermind album cover art in my head. I had been told some stories by friends who had taken the class a decade ago that the final class involved dropping their infant in the deep end and having to watch them pop back up on their own. This seemed pretty hardcore to me, but you hear about infants swimming and all that so I figured, let’s give a try.

The reality of the class was a bit disappointing. I now realize it’s challenging to the point of impossible to try to teach babies aged six to eighteen months to do anything since they are not really able to follow instructions. We basically spent 7 weeks in the pool attempting to get Elliott to kick her legs and blow bubbles. In reality, she just wiggled around randomly and drank about a gallon of pool water. The majority of our class time was spent moving in a circle and singing songs like Ring Around the Rosie, but substituting the word “splashes” for “ashes.” There was no deep end dunking so I guess they’ve tamed down the class for this new generation. Wes did try to put Elliott’s face in the water once (without the instructor’s consent) and it resulted in a lot of angry screaming. I guess that’s a skill we’ll have to work on in the future. In the end, I’m glad we did it, because it got Elliott acclimated to the idea of going to the pool and having fun in the water. It’s also the first baby class we’ve done where Wes participated. He was one of the only dads who actually got in the water and I was really proud of him for wanting to be involved.
Here are some pictures from our final day of class.

Here are some pictures from about a month ago when Elliott was content to sit in one spot in the tub. I’m sure Wes longs for these good old days.