Stuff We Do Wed-Sat

Wednesday: Twice a month, one of the ladies in our ward takes a turn hosting Playgroup  in the middle of the day.  Its a great chance for me to talk to other human adults, and for Scarlett to learn how to share toys and germs.
If we aren't getting ready for that,  Scarlett and I lounge about and I usually give her a chance to take a nice, long morning nap around 10:30 before going anywhere.

 She really likes the one shoulder look.  This happens a lot, even though Brian is trying to teach her about modesty through the gentle, weird direction of his brother Jeffery.

When she's up, we go grocery shopping.  Last Wednesday we decided to go to the Central Discount.  Its sort of like Carl's in Ogden, but less ghetto.  It's in Amish country where they sell expired or damaged packaged goods.  The 20 minute drive goes through beautiful farmland and  cornfields; I love it. We bought cereal for 90 cents a box and  Halloween candy from last year.   We like to keep it classy. 

When we got home I attempted to photograph Scarlett in her fall attire in fall surroundings.  Somehow I failed to remember she really likes to eat leaves.  Oh well, her bow looks cute. It took my 10 minutes to re-tie.
Brian gets home late (around 6ish) from an Ethics Class so Scarlett and I usually prepare something scrumptious for dinner. The other day we made this

 with this.

 Thank you Pinterest. Their own my Yummo board if you'd like to try.

Thursday: Depending on Scarlett's sleeping patterns, we sometimes head to "Books with Babies" at the Coralville library at 11:15.  I like it because I learn all kinds of jingles and games to make Scarlett laugh, and I meet a lot of other parents in the community and we compare children.  Not in a malicious way, just in a developmental, size, behavioral, teething age sort of way.  Its very enlightening.

My sister, Sarah asked me if Scarlett sits up on her own now.  I dumbly said, "I dunno."  She had never stayed in one spot long enough for me to tell if her sitting up was just a fluke. Alas, last Thursday she sat balanced and unassisted for the first 20 minutes of class. Solid.

Friday: Scarlett and I wake up after dad has gone, and get ready to go downtown.  Brian gets out of class at around 3:00, so we often wait for him on campus (in Iowa City, campus=downtown). We usually go to the gym first around noon. We get our exercise on- Zumba, Yoga, or Spinning- and then jump in the pool. 

 

When I don't feel like putting her swimsuit on, just to take it off in a few minutes, she swims in her unisex swim-diaper, AKA boys' speedo. I usually don't correct strangers who say, "He's so cute."  It makes them more embarrassed than I care about revealing her true gender. Babies don't have facial hair or shapely curves, you couldn't have known.  Its fine.  Really.
  Friday night we start our weekend.  Once a month the Institute holds a Marrieds Dinner Social and Fireside.  Sometimes we hang out with Brian's fellow PhD students. They call Scarlett a few affectionate names such as Lebron, Babby, Simba, and Scar.  Last Friday they decided it was movie night at our house and brought us A TON of food and played Super Smash. They are cute.
Saturday: We go places. Amish country for cheese curds.

 Super cool Cyclo-cross races.

  Downtown to see the masses for football games.  Every home game, the institute throws a student breakfast. And we usually hit the Farmer's Market for some yummy fresh produce.

And hopefully the Nauvoo temple next week.

And that is what the average week looks like for the Green family.  Now you know.

Stuff We Do Sun-Tues

Every Dang Day:  Scarlett and I sleep in 'til about 9:30. Brian leaves for school at around 9 on weekdays.  We eat breakfast, cuddle, talk, get dressed, and then do our thang til Brian gets home between 4 and 6 PM.  When I'm a good wife I have dinner ready.  Scarlett eats her dinner of Whole Grain Baby Cereal, immediately followed by a bath.

 You can see why.

Sunday:      Get this cutie all ready for church so dad can take pictures of her while mom gets ready.

 And let her take pictures of herself too, apparently.

Church 11:00-2:00. Best time ever. This picture is a little treasure we found up on lds.org from our first ward as a married couple.  Love Brian's beach waves.

Come home, snuggle, nap, eat, and Skype family.  Sunday is my favorite day.

Monday: Do the laundry, run the dishwasher, clean the house, run errands. Ya know, stupid Monday stuff.

 This makes Scarlett impatient.  This girl thrives on attention.

So nap time is nice for Mondays.

 This is when I usually get in a nice baby jogger 5k in or go bike at the gym behind my house. U-Ber convenient.

 Oddly, she likes to watch me exercise more than do housework. Similar interests, I guess.

       When Brian gets home we do a makeshift FHE.  Sometimes that means a super cute lesson from the Nursery Manual. Sometimes that means we make cookies.  Sometimes that means we watch The Voice and make fun of Christina Aguilara.

Tuesday: Board the bus as soon as we're packed and ready for the gym downtown.  We have a Free CamBus spot right next to our apt since we live in Campus Housing.  It is AWESOME. 

 We usually get to the CRWC around 11:30 which gives me time to warm up a little or take pictures of the beautiful 4 story gym for this very blog post.

Sometimes there are collegiate divers on Tuesdays and we applaud them secretly from our high window on the 3rd floor.

 The climbing wall freaks me out.

Sooo many cardio machines.

At noon, we head over to Activity Room 3 for Mat Pilates.  Scarlett really blossoms there, probably because she gets so much attention.  Everyone in the class coos at her and compliments me on her behavior/clothing, and our instructor Emily tells me its great having her.  Soooo...we keep coming.  Plus I'm getting super strong.

 

 After class, we usually head downstairs to the leisure pool and swim until it closes at 1:30.  Scarlett is pretty fearless in the water.  I am proud.  

Then we hop back on the bus and take a much deserved nap at home. Scar often falls asleep on the bus.

Tuesday evening is volleyball night.  I play in a city league with some ladies in my stake,  they are so fun!  We have never won yet, but we're getting a lot better with practice.  I'd say I'm a pretty happy loser. Don't know if that's a good thing.

***

In efforts to make you stay awake while reading my blog, I will continue my incredibly exciting Stuff-we-do week in my next post...

The Water "Diet"

Hello.  Today I am feeling accomplished because I just cleaned my kitchen, vacuumed my house, and drank 4 tall glasses of water.   For me, getting caught up on housework is like finishing a busy, but smooth shift in the lab or doing well on a test I was ready for.  It gives me a sense of skill and purpose. I'm not saying I love to clean, but it brings me a very ooh la la satisfaction to hang about in a tidy house.

Scarlett helping me fold (and eat) the laundry

Pants on her head. She is so smart.

I also want to brag about my bravery for vacuuming up a huge dead spider Brian fearfully killed last night. Its curled, hairy legs gave me the heebie-jeebies. To me, dead spiders are just as creepy as live spiders are. I'm afraid of killing them- what if their guts splurge out unto your hand or your shoe or your face?!? OR worse, if they have hundreds of tiny spider babies ready to flee the death scene?!  Ughh......it makes me shutter to (re)picture the latter. I must confess that there is a smashed spider on our old apt ceiling that I never had the courage to wipe off.  It was just one of those little opaque ones, but still....sorry Blake and Zoey.  I pray it will never loose its stickiness and fall down as dust onto your heads.

Anyways, the subject of this post was not intended to tell you about how much I love vacuuming or about Brian's cute healthy dose of arachnophobia, although both are true as blue. I wanted to talk about my drinking 4 tall glasses of water, and I am just getting started, baby.

Water

Brian loves to chug it. I love to swim in it. Scarlett likes to kick it and splash it around and suck it up until she chokes on it for longer than is necessary.  I think she thinks she is cute when she coughs.  I also think she is right.

 Point is, I don't drink enough. I believe the suggested amount for an adult to drink is 8 eight-oz glasses per day. 64 oz total.  Not 100% sure, but I Googled it. So, as of Oct. 9th, I have dedicated a new goal to drink at least 64 oz. a day.  IN THE NAME OF HEALTH.  Plus, I have been genetically blessed with high cholesterol and a love of all things eaten so it may help me balance my diet quite nicely. Ya know, like drink more water and eat less crap.

Scarlett enjoying her healthy baby cereal. Little nutritionist.

I figured this would be a good time in my life to really develop some good eating/drinking habits. I am
the head homemaker and nutrition provider in this little home away from home.  And I want me and mine to be healthy. I love to exercise, and I always have, but the word "diet" makes me depressed.  My diet is basically eat all the good stuff for you and then you can eat the not so good stuff. Win-win-win. However I have done some silly things like:DON'T eat after 7:00 PM and DON'T eat desserts unless its Sunday. It didn't really work. Let me tell you, those things led to some glorious guilt eating, all that emphasis on what I wasn't supposed to do and made those bad habits all the more tempting.

Scarlett and I waiting for Pilates at the Gym. She has a very strong core.

So I decided to start here, by DOing something: drinking more water every day. Brian has already turned it into a competition, which His Mighty Thirstiness will definitely win, but I'mma try to hit my goal of 8 glasses a day.  I'm already feeling pretty good after a day and a half. More thirsty, in fact. I have had some incredible urges to urinate at inconvenient times, but nothing I haven't handled before.  I mean, I was pregnant once.

So if you'd care to join our competition, let me know.  It'll give me more people to beat because my spouse is unbeatable, unless we're competing in a spider kissing competition.






























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