License Plates

As you may know, we have for many years given each child a turn at being on the license plates of both my truck and Tara's van. Way back before we were married, Tara had MY TARA and then 6-24-95 (our wedding date).

After Cal was born, I had CAL'S DAD and she had 4-18-96. We used to get a lot of honks and waves from strangers on the way to and from Oriole Park when we were in the truck with that plate.

For Bailey, I had 8-07-97 and Tara had BAILY SU (seven letters is the max allowed).

Up until recently, the van had SYD BEAN (based on her nicknames, Syd Bean and Beaners), and I had SYD'S DAD.

Now, the van has AJ'S TURN and finally today, we changed the truck to AJ ATLST (AJ at last).

Over the years we have saved all the old plates. In the old house we used to have them all mounted on the wall in the garage. One day soon we hope to get them all up on the wall here, too.

Today's Mail

This postcard came in today's mail.
These people sure are speedy.

(If the text is orange, it's me -- even if it says "Posted by Tara.")

No More Excuses

Yep, time is up for me. I've decided that publicly beginning my diet here in this blog can only humiliate me into trying harder. I've been slowly putting on weight each year. Currently, I weigh more than I ever have with the exception of being pregnant or having just had a baby. This is my lovely "before" shot that Mark took tonight. (Because I do still retain an ounce of pride, I opted to reject the many other fat photos that Mark took, along with his original post containing the lyrics to the country classic, One Hot Mama.)

Today, I went to Weight Watchers®. They suggest I set my first goal to lose 10% of my weight. If I reach that, I will set a new goal. Tomorrow will be the first day toward losing 14lbs!

Soccer for Bailey

Tuesday means soccer practice for Bailey. Sydney will play soccer this fall, too, but her soccer hasn't started yet. Bailey is lucky to have the same coach for the second season. She feels slightly unlucky about her August birthday - it means that most of her former teammates/classmates were able to move up to U12 without her. Overall, though, she's just happy to be out there kicking the ball around. First game: September 8th.

Meanwhile, Sydney and AJ try their best to keep themselves occupied while we wait for Bailey to finish.

Youth Triathlon

After deliberating much too long, We've decided to jump into the world of blogging. Mark and I will both use this space to share thoughts and pictures from our family life.

I begin each day checking in here and here, and these spectacular daily logs have inspired me. If I find that I can keep up, I may even attempt the Project 365 challenge!

Today seemed like as good a day as any - 3 out of 4 kids participated in a youth triathlon. At 8am, Bailey and Sydney swam 100 meters, biked 2 miles and ran 1/2 a mile. Because Calvin is now in the 11-and-up bracket, he did twice that! They all finished smoothly with no injuries, and Bailey even placed first among the six 10-year-old girls who competed. I'd like to say that AJ cheered them all on, but I'm not even sure where she was the whole time. I suspect she was near the food table.