One of the Many Reasons Jude Loves Asher

A Little (Too Much) About Me

So I went to a Latin Fusion class at the gym last night. It was so much fun! Kris calls me a gym rat now. If I had a tan and muscles, and maybe overly processed hair, I might agree with him. But the class was awesome! I love classes that make you forget you are working out. When I am on the treadmill, my thoughts are consumed with the fact that I am voluntarily torturing myself. But when I am grooving to a Latin beat, time passes much more quickly.

Ever heard the saying, "Nine months on, nine months off," regarding post-partum weightloss? Well I took my full nine months--even though I was pregnant 41 weeks, which is more like 10 months, but whatever--but I am happy to say I am back, baby! All my clothes with the exception of one pair of pants from Anthropoligie, a store, I am convinced, is off on it's sizing anyway, fit. It is so nice to have options again. I feel so much better and healthier! I still have more to go because I would like a nice little buffer zone for the next pregnancy, but I am pleased with my progress thus far.

However, I have been pregnant or losing pregnancy weight for the better part of the last 3.5 years. So most of my clothes are from circa 2005. Thanks to one of my two shopping policies, namely "Always buy classics" I don't feel too outdated, but it would be nice to get a few new things. (Incidentally, my other policy is "Never pay full price for retail.") So what are some key pieces that I could add to my wardrobe that will update me? I need help from any cool, well-dressed people that read this.

I cleaned the baseboards in my bathroom yesterday. Seriously. Along with the rest of my bathroom. So now my closet is nice and organized and my bathroom is sparkling.

Jude is fussing right now because he is laboring under the delusion that he does not need a morning nap. He is quite wrong.

I am making whole wheat pasta salad with feta and toasted walnuts for dinner tonight. My sweet carnivore of a husband will be running sound tonight so I get to make a meatless dish and call it dinner. I think I'm a "flexitarian." I like meat and while I would rather not meditate on the process involved in getting it to HEB, I think I could be happy with way less of it. Not so with Mr. Rives. It is not a meal unless meat is involved. I can respect that.

I must stop here because I have a mom's bible study today. Please don't forget to leave any wardrobe suggestions you have for me in the comments. kthanksbye. (totally stole that from you, J-Thib.)

You Pick the Caption #2

A: The Rives Brothers Rehearse

B: One in a Sleeveless Shirt and One in a Diaper...Classy

C: Jude Thinks Sharing is for the Birds (click the pic to enlarge--Jude is m.a.d.)

Again, your call.

Who Sleeps Like This?

Old Words. New Tunes. Timeless Truth.

Rediscover the richness of hymns! There is such a depth and passion in older hymns that modern choruses rarely match. Listen to these songs and be encouraged by the God-centeredness of them.

Let me know what you think!

A Non-Sequitur Post For You

--I really--seriously, really--need to organize my closet. It's bad. Seriously.

--Jude sneezed at HEB today and a lady offered me a tissue...from her pocket. I kid you not. She assured me it was clean as she held it out for me to take. I took it so as not to hurt her feelings but did not use it. I used his shirt instead.

--I have been sewing a jon-jon for about 5 months now at our weekly sewing lesson with a lady from church. It started out for Asher and then I took so long, it then became Jude's. But I jacked it up so badly last night that I decided I am done with it. I refuse to rip one more seam out of that darn outfit. I need shorter, instant-gratification type projects.

--Asher is offically in the "I do it by self" phase. That has its pros and cons for sure.

that's all I got. more bluebonnet pics are coming--with the whole fam in them. please don't abandon my blog due to crappy posts like this.

Bluebonnet Pictures

In which the Rives Brothers never look at my camera at the same time, barely smile, and Jude eats some grass.






Thankfully, Uncle Sean was also snapping pictures and he got some really cute ones so I will post those once I get them.

This was our first year to do this. I feel so badly that Asher is 2 years old and has never taken the obligatory bluebonnet picture. So un-Texan like. But I plan on keeping up this tradition, especially since Uncle Sean and Aunt Mindy (along with some friends, including one Mr. Scott Dayton who said he would like a shout-out on the blog) take the yearly pilgrimage to Brenham, famous for it's bluebonnet fields. We will tag along with them for many years to come, Lord willing.

Rives Boys+Wimberly Girls=Good Times

A few days ago, we had the pleasure of Saige and Meadow's company while their mom went to a friend's birthday lunch. It is so interesting to watch them interact and to see who ends up playing together. This time, Saige and Jude paired up for a rousing game of "Stick the Fish in Jude's Mouth." If you've never played, the pictures below will help you out.









Meadow wasn't too sure about that game so she just watched.


I had to post this picture to point out the fact that Winnie the Pooh has never once been held like that in his life. Complementarianism is a beautiful thing.



I had to get a few of Asher and Saige because they are just too cute when they get together.







See what I mean! Good times!

You Choose the Title

A: "Walking with My Daddy"

B: "Bridge Over Peaceful Water"

C: "On Our Way To Get the Poop Off My Hands"

Your call.

ps--I feel the need to document the fact that Jude is now a crawler as of this week and a clapper as of today (I love it when they start clapping!) He turned 8 months a few days ago so he has far surpassed his brother's crawling age of 10.5 months.

Jude is now a much more contented individual who has eaten tissue and a coupon today thanks to his newfound mobility.

Yesterday, Asher saw this guy eating the letter of the day, which was "A," after Prairie Dawn specifically asked him not to.

Asher looked at me and said, "He needs to calm down."

I was very pleased that he was able to recognize the out-of-control behavior and identify the solution. That's a little thing I like to call progress.

A Woman of My Word

I said I'd post, but I made no promises regarding content. I will of course rely on a few pictures of my little guys to get me started.

Incidentally, doesn't Jude look so much like Asher in this picture? For so long, they barely looked related, but the older Jude gets, the more resemblance I see. I've upgraded their look-alike status from "not related at all" to "maybe distant cousins."



We all went to the park together when Kris was on spring break. We had lots of fun.



Until we realized that Asher had dog poop on his hands and that is was also on the stroller. We had to leave to go sanitize but it sure was fun while it lasted.

Thankfully, we know how to make our own fun right here at home.



Who needs a park when you have a big brother and a Little Tykes shopping cart?

Ok, on to the next charming anecdote...so I was at HEB last night (best grocery store ever for those of you unfamiliar) and I was attempting to avail myself to the "5 for $10" sale on HEB brand soft drinks (we have become fans of Diet Dr. B--thank you economic down-turn.)

However, it probably goes without saying that Sunday evening isn't the best time to go to the grocery store if you are hoping for well-stocked shelves and lots of variety. So the only HEB brand drinks left were at the very top shelf and my choices were diet root beer, diet red soda (Big Red's frugal counterpart) and diet orange soda. None of those would be my first choice but the diet root beer would work.

So I decide, because I have been working out and am incredibly buff now that I can stand on the bottom shelf and lift a stack of 3 cases of cokes (the all-encompassing term you use for carbonated beverages if you are a true Texan)in order to get my fridge pack of d.r.b.

As it turns out, sadly, I am not that buff. The cases come crashing down and they explode all over Aisle 1. It goes everywhere, including all over my feet and legs. It was pretty spectacular, I must say.

And because I am a good citizen (and because I was fairly certain that I was on camera somewhere,) I found an employee and alerted them. The lady was very sweet and thanked me for telling her. I asked her if I could help clean it up and she said that someone was already on their way with a mop so just to continue shopping.

So I moved on (with red, sticky feet I might add) and as I am perusing the breads, I hear, "Clean up on Aisle one!" Yep, that would be my mess.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. It's hard to top exploding cans.

Baby Steps

Ok, I've taken care of the depressing background. (thanks, Ashley, for the tip!)

Now I just need to post something fascinating.

Gonna need some more time on that one.

So let's say Monday is my official comeback day.

Mark your calendars.

I'm Better Now...

...but I still don't want to blog. I think it's the black layout--too depressing. I need to change that. Anybody wanna do a blog makeover for me?

It's My Turn To Be Sick Now

I'll be back once the antibiotics do their thing.

It's Never Too Late For Cake

One month after Asher turned 2, we were finally able to sing "Happy Birthday" to him and let him blow out his candle and eat some cake.



He has come a long way in his cake-eating abilities!

Is There No End To The Man's Talent?

I offer these pictures to you as proof that there is not! Add "fruit-sculpturist" to the list of things that Kris Rives is good at!



We had a shower for Kathy last weekend and, as usual, I decide to do something that would require more skill and patience than I currently possess. So, as usual, Kris offered to step in and make it happen. We make a great team.



He even hand-crafted the wheels for the canteloupe carriage when the way that the instructions said to do it did not work out. I'm telling you, if this whole music/sound/p.e. teacher thing dries up, he could have a bright future at Edible Arrangements.

This is me doing my, "Whatever-You-think-you're-all-awesome-with-your-melon-baller-skills-Don't-forget-I'm-the-one-that-came-up-with-this-idea" face.



Oh, I'm only kidding. I'm glad one of us has a marketable skill to fall back on.

Here is the finished product at the shower. He really did do a good job--I just have to make snarky comments because that's just what I do.



And don't think for a second that the fruit fairy came and arranged those grapes and strawberries on that platter. That was all me, baby.

Apparently This Is Haiku Week

A Heavy Hitter?

Um...thank you, Littlefields?

You callin' me fat?

Obviously I'm Hurting For Material Here

Another haiku.

I may need to publish an anthology of all my work soon.

My Asher is sick

This can only mean one thing

Way too much T.V.

Tuesday Evening Haiku Break

Chicken for dinner.
I tried it; it was spoiled.

Gross. New plan: take-out.

No More Birthday Parties. Ever.

We had our "make-up" family birthday party for Asher yesterday after church. Since he and Jude were sick with a stomach bug during birthday weekend, we had to postpone the festivites.

At church that morning, Mamoo, Poppy, Uncle Micah, Uncle Marc, Aunt Sue, Jaxson, and Emily (or Emie-o as Asher calls her) were there for Jude's baptism and then the rest of the fam met up with us at our house for burgers and cake. Lots of fun. Good time had by all. No vomit.

Then last night around 9, Kris went in to check on Asher and his breathing was very raspy and labored. We got him up and sat with him in front of a warm shower so he could breathe in the steam. Kris called the pedi's office and the nurse on call said it sounded like croup. Kris was up with him for a while then I took my shift. He started running fever around midnight so I gave him some tylenol and he finally went to sleep and slept all night. He and Jude both woke up around 7.

Thankfully, Asher is breathing better but he is still contagious. He also still has the barking cough. Jude hasn't shown any symptoms yet (more thankfulness)and I am trying my best to keep them apart, but they live in the same house and breathe the same air so I'm doing what I can, but I realize I can only do so much.

Which leads me to the logical conclusion that birthday parties make my kids sick so we will never have another one ever again.