SHORT but SWEET

Okay-this is NOT me. It just made me laugh. Have you ever seen the movie Shallow Hal? To make a long story short, Hal falls in love with a "start weight" looking girl. He doesn't see her that way because he's been put under a kind of spell. He sees her as more of a "goal weight" girl. That's my husband. Randy sees me as someone that I don't see in the mirror or in my freakin' tight pants. I guess that's good though. He loves me for who I am and not for who I'm trying to be. Anyway, he was right. This is rare in my eyes. -Joking- I had been complaining for a while about not seeing a change in the scale. He told me to measure and not weight myself. I thought he just wanted to measure me so I would take all of my clothes off. Well, I think that is part of it, but I do know that it is a good way to see if I'm making any progress. After 2 weeks, I had my measurements taken again. I have lost 2.25 inches! Yay for me!! My muffin will have a little less top on it! :)

Blah, Blah, Blahs

I can tell now that this post is going to be a lot about nothing. I've got the blahs. I'm in a funk. I was trying to think about why I'm feeling so down, but I can't come up with anything good. It's true that my kids are healthy(even though Riley puked yesterday), my marriage is great, I have money in the bank, and a roof over my head. What do I have to be ill about?

I'm thinking that this baby weight is affecting my whole attitude. I'm aggravated because it is just hanging around. It won't go anywhere. I told Ran that my body should be studied by scientists because I'm the only human that can get up at 4:15 am to work out and eat right, but that scale is on the same dang number as a month ago! UGH!! My friend, who will remain nameless, ate ice cream for supper twice in one week and still lost 2 lbs. Then she had the nerve to show up to work in a cute little skirt the next day. Heifer-I hate her!

That leads me to another topic I hate . *MY CLOTHES* I refuse to buy any work clothes until I see some results. When I look like crap, I feel like crap. Today at work, I wore some athletic-looking pants and a BHS school shirt. Then I have to listen to one of the coaches ask me, "Is it casual Tuesday, Henfling?" Whatever-

Ran told me not to weigh anymore, but to measure myself. He swears I'm losing inches. He measured me with a tape measure. I know, I'm brave, right? I actually let him write the numbers down on a piece of paper. I tried not to look. Anyway, I'm supposed to get measured again on 3-20. That will be 2 weeks since the initial measurements were taken. I'll probably be on suicide watch if there is no difference!

Is is okay to pray to lose weight? Dear God...

No Pink in Sight!!

Jackson on the bumper cars...








Opening gifts...

Boys being boys!

When asked what he wanted to do for his birthday, Jackson thought hard about it. He finally decided on Incredible Pizza. That's what we did. Jackson invited 5 boys and he let Riley and Knox come too:) We ate and opened gifts. It is hilarious to see how boys act when they get together. They are loud, wild, and gross. They could be themselves with NO girls around. After they ate, they partied like only boys can--on video games! I did manage to round everyone up for a round of bumper cars. So, thanks to the parents who came and helped their kids play, thanks to my mom for sitting with Knox(Love Ya Nan), and thanks to Campbell, Brooks, Brandon, Nick, and Aiden for making Jack's party so great!

Son #1--Jackson Paul

**I wrote this on February 17. I just never had the time to post it until today. Pretend it is February again!

I can't believe it. Am I old enough to have an eight year old? Today, my baby, turned 8 years old. He was so excited this morning when he got up for school. What I've realized is that it is not just a special day for him, but it is a special day for me and Randy too. It makes me think about the day he was born. It was on a Sunday and I had been pushing for two hours. In my head I was thinking--"I can't do this much longer!" I didn't want to be that girl. You know, the one you see on TV screaming and giving up. So, I kept going. What choice did I have? At 6:12 am, I had my Jackson.

Jackson was named after my Mima. The maiden name of my mom's mom was Jackson. I just liked the name and at the time, I knew no one by that name. His middle name is Paul. That's Randy and his dad's middle name. It just fits him.

He was always a serious baby. He would look at people as if they were crazy for talking "baby talk" to him. He is a very mature 8 year old. Don't get me wrong--he's loads of fun, but things have to be a certain way with him (maybe it's a first born thing). He's too smart for his own good. I know everyone thinks their child is a genius, but he really soaks up everything he hears and reads. He is a funny, little kid. He already gets sarcasm. He can dish it out too! Sometimes, we butt heads about something and I can see my mom shaking her head. He is a mini-Liz.

His attitude and his hair he got from me. Ever since he was 2, he has been known for his curly hair. He really didn't have much hair until right before he turned 2. He has plenty of it now!(My dad always wants him to gather his hair up after a haircut and save it for him.) Now, from his dad-he gets his ability to be liked by everyone. People just gravitate to him.

I know I'm rambling a bit, but I could just go on and on about him. What I really want to say is...

Happy Birthday Jackson! We all love you!

-Mom, Dad, Riley and Knox

Goin' Mama!

You've heard of "going postal," right? Well, if you are a new mother or an experienced mother, you can probably relate to me "GOIN' MAMA." It all started with my precious Jackson. He said he was sick and didn't want to go to school. He did have an upset stomach, so I made the executive decision to let him stay home. He was totally fine by that afternoon. I let his friend come over and play with him and eat supper with us. As soon as I walked the friend home, Jackson miraculously becomes sick again. Randy and I were frustrated. It is stressful to take off work. (Especially now that I had to use all of my sick days for my maternity leave.) Anyway, I think Randy had some daddy's intuition. He just asked Jack if there was something going on at school. Jackson started crying and confessed that an older and MUCH bigger kid at school was making comments to him in the hall.

Oh, H-no!! I'll tell you what those comments were, but first I want to explain something. Jackson has always been a very logical kind of kid. He is very laid back and non-threatening. I remember taking him to the park when he was little. I would say, "Jackson, jump off of that step," or "run across that bridge." He was never reckless and would explain to me that if he jumped off of the step he could break his neck. I'm serious. He said that. Also, he hasn't learned to be mean yet. He doesn't know about calling people names to hurt them.

Please remember that he is only in the 2nd grade and the comments I am about to reveal to you were hurtful and serious--to him. Okay, are you ready?..........The boy called him a baby several times and in front of Jackson's friends he told him he looked like a JONAS BROTHER!! This was traumatizing to Jack. I can kind of deal with the little name calling, but when Jackson showed me the look that the kid gives him in the hall--Well, that was it. I'm not going to let anyone intimidate him! My baby boy is not going to school and be worried about this kid making fun of him for being EXTREMELY cute.

Before I went totally "mama" on someone, I called my own mama. She always makes me settle down and think things through. I got the number to the boy's mother and talked to her. I just kept thinking, if she says one crazy thing to me, I'm gonna blow up on her. She didn't. She has obviously had this call before. We talked and I explained myself. Blah, blah, blah...she talked to him and it's all good now.

Whew, that was a close one. I'm going to have to get myself in check before the next incident. I mean, I have 3 boys. It's bound to happen! :)

What My Crew Is Up To

My boys are all different. They look totally different from one another. They each have their own distinct personality. They are also each interested in different things. I thought that I would just write some things about what each boy is in to these days and some funny things they say. When I'm 80, I want to remember my little fellas.

*Thanks Keri for a great idea.

• Jackson is (hopefully) at the end of his Stars Wars kick.

• Jackson and Riley will be starting spring soccer soon.

• Riley is very tender-hearted. You can raise your voice and he tears up. He says his "eyes are sweating."

• No matter what Knox is doing, as soon as he hears Randy's keys in the front door he is looking for him. He's a daddy's boy!

• Jackson still makes Riley use hand sanitizer before touching Knox when they get out of school.

• Jackson thinks Germany is cool because Henfling is German. He rooted for them in the Olympics.

• Knox thinks the lady on the cooking channel is talking to him. He gets embarrassed and smiles at her.

• Randy is dying for the boys to ride bikes. They are SO not interested right now. He bought them some anyway!

• Knox looks just like Randy when he sleeps. He always has his mouth open:O

• Riley has an amazing memory. He can repeat something word for word, especially movie dialogue.

• My boys have a Big Papa and a Little Papa.

• Still having trouble with saying his l's, Riley says he wants to watch "A Bug's Wife."

• Jackson said, " Mom, nobody better mess with Riley. I've got his back." (I love that!)

• Riley wants everybody to notice Knox. When we go into his school or a store, he says really loudly, "OH LOOK, IT'S BABY KNOX. OOOOOH, HE'S SO PRECIOUS!"

• Knox always has to wear a bib. He never stops drooling.

• Randy is a "hands on" dad. He's a big guy, but he loves his bubbas. He gives all of the boys a bath and he feeds Knox his cereal at night.

• Jackson can tell you any thing about any animal. His favorite channel is Animal Planet.

• Riley loves food. He relates everything to food. We were talking about something and Riley said, "He'll be in the gravyyard."

• Knox is the only one of the boys that slept in a crib.

• The big boys eat like teenagers. They love HOT wings and Jack has to order steak and baked potato at restaurants. (We are now taking donations for our food bill.)

I could add a million more things to this list. I'm sure I'll do another one because my boys are always changin'!

I've lost the GOODS!

It's official. I'm old. I've lost the goods. You know, that certain something that people see that, for instance, can get you OUT OF A TICKET!! This morning, I was driving to work and I noticed that a cop was tailing me. All of a sudden, his lights came on and I had to pull over. Wait. Let me back up the story a little. Saturday, I was at the gym. A former student, with new boobs, wanted me to help her with a machine. I was advising her not to put so much weight on it. I said aloud, "You just won't listen." Then, a jacka** interupts and says, "Is she your daughter?" What, this girl is 19 freakin' years old. Does it look like she could be my daughter? That made me crazy. I walked away and went back to trying to get my 20 lbs. off.

Okay, fast forward to this morning. I'm on the side of the road with 3 kids in the car. Let me just mention that I have not had a ticket since I was 17. I have been stopped no less than 20 times, but I ALWAYS get out of them. Randy has had his share and has told me on several occassions that is not right that I get out of tickets because I'm a girl. I told him to be nice to the cops and maybe he could get out of one. I don't even get nervous when I get pulled over. It's almost like I assume I'm not going to get one. Once, I even begged a cop to not give my sis-in-law a ticket. (You're welcome Lindsey!) I don't do anything wrong to get out of trouble, but what's wrong with giggling and batting my eyelashes?

To make a long(er) story short, I got a ticket. 44 in a 30...Ouch! My kids were laughing and couldn't wait to call Ran. Jackson informed me that I shouldn't talk bad about the cop because it was my fault. When I asked him why he would take that cop's side over mine, he said, "Mom, I was born in the year of the horse and I'm cheerful. Riley was born in the year of the dog and he's smart." (He's been studying the Chinese New Year.)

This hurts. I got accused of being a mother and I got a speeding ticket in a matter of 2 days. Where's the wrinkle cream...

BTW-Just had my b'day and turned 32. I don't want to talk about it!