The first change I’m attempting to to cut out drinking soda pop. This might seem like a no-brainer for someone trying to lose weight, but you obviously don’t know how big a part of my life Diet Coke is (and has been). You’d think I’d be okay drinking diet soda, but it looks like it’s just as bad as the sweet, sweet high-fructose corn syrup stuff. Figures.

So I’m going from, I don’t know, five or six cans of Diet Coke (a day) to nothing. Last week I weaned myself down to two cans. This week I’m going to try for one. We’ll see how that goes, but I think I’ll be reaping the rewards in no time.

My main reason behind this is to change my mindset.

Like everyone else, I’d really like to shed some pounds and get in better shape. In need to start somewhere, and I figured now would be a good as time as ever.

So instead of looking to making some grand sweeping changes and new year’s resolutions that wouldn’t survive the month of January, I figured I’d give this a try. If I can lose some weight during the most calorically dense time of the year, I can lose it whenever I want.

So as it stands, at the halfway point, I’m down one pound from when I weighed myself on November 24th. At my current weight, that probably falls in the realm of measurement error, but I’ll take it.

Hopefully this will be taste of things to come.

Ethan also turned six months at the end of January. He is getting around the house with ease doing the army crawl and is starting to get the hang of real crawling. He is as cute as ever. We finally had to give him his first haircut. It was scary but looks way better than the long, wispy look he had going.

Mason is starting to understand birthdays and answers with the correct age and date when you ask him about it.

As always, there are more frequent updates on Greta’s website. Feel free to check it out!

Thanksgiving was spent with both sides of the family. The kids love seeing cousins and all the extra attention. We are planning on staying home for Christmas so it was nice to check in with everyone. We are inviting any- and everyone to Columbus, though!

Check gisforgreta.com in the next few days for updated Ethan pictures. He turned four months old today!

We are having a great summer! The kids are doing lots of fun things: taking care of the garden, playing in the sprinkler, and having a good time with friends/family. The highlight would have to be our trips to the Ohio State Fair. Corinne really loved the rides this year. Mason mostly threw sawdust at the animals, but he made sure to get his share of the milkshake from the dairy barn! The kids have had special trips to both grandparents’ homes without Mom or Dad. Everyone had a good time (despite the early wake up calls by the kids). We also went to Geauga Lake with Papa Bill and Grandma Ann. Abuelita and Papa Tom came later to see the kids play in the water. It was a good time for all!

Here are some pictures of our good times. Click on the picture and it will take you to Flickr to show the whole set of pictures.

If anyone was wondering what Tony’s favorite thing from the State fair, it would easily be “Chicken-on-a-stick”!

According to research, attractive parents are 26% more likely to have a daughter than a son as their first child.

I’m certainly not one to argue with science!

Mason turned one on March 18th.  As seen by the pictures already posted, he had a tractor/farm themed party.  He most certainly did not disappoint when it came to tearing into his cake.  It was fun for the family to see him after such a long time since our previous visit.  He is walking everywhere and loves to jibber-jabber.

Easter was really fun this year for Corinne.  Tony and I took the kids to an Easter Egg Hunt given by the city.  There were eggs all over the ground.  When the siren rang, Corinne entered the circle daintily and was just looking over the eggs.  I had the camera rolling and had expected her to go crazy over the candy-filled eggs!  When I told her she could pick them up and put them in her pail, she said she only wanted the pink ones!  Ha!  Later we hid the eggs in the yard and decorated some hard-boiled eggs.  Tony’s parents came down to spend the day with us.  It was a nice holiday together.

Yesterday we worked in the yard.  I tore out a bush that was on its last leg and trimmed the others back.  Then we spread ten bags of mulch across the front beds while the kids sat on a blanket and ate frozen pops.  We’ll get to the backyard eventually.  We are still in the planning stages for a new flower bed with a stone wall and a garden back there.

Summer is on the way!  The kids have been enjoying playing at the park and being outside.  We just renewed our zoo membership so we are ready to roll!  Hope you are all having nice weather in your corner of the world!

The rest of the week was heavenly by comparison.  I took Corinne to see her first movie in the theater.  ‘Chicken Little’ was playing at the dollar theater.  Her nap was longer than usual so the movie had already started when we got there.  I guess I am desensitized to the whole theater experience (darkness, loud volume, huge screen, etc) because while I was walking to our seats, Corinne froze in place.  Her eyes were huge!  I had to physically pick her up and carry her to her seat.  She wasn’t heavy enough for the seat to unfold so her feet were pointing at the ceiling.  Glued to the screen, she asked me where we were and what was happening.  She eventually loosened up and enjoyed herself.  That is until someone came in and tried to sit in front of her.  Corinne screamed, “NOOOO!”  The lady jumped out of her skin but graciously moved down a few seats.  Overall, I think Corinne enjoyed it.  She is already asking when we can go again.

Saturday was Mason’s first birthday!  Bizarre!  It just doesn’t seem like a year could have possibly elapsed.  The little guy is cute as ever.  He is trying his hardest to walk and babbles nonstop.  His latest thing is to pick up the phone and pretend to talk to people.  Stephanie was down for the day and played with the kids.  It was great to have a member of the family here on his special day.  The party will actually be this weekend.  We chose tractors as a theme.  I’m really hoping he digs into the cake.  Knowing Mason, he won’t disappoint!

First we have what I like to call “Bill and Tony’s Excellent Tree Adventure.” We took down the big tree from the side of the house and it was quite an undertaking. Here’s the procession of events:

Corinne was very patriotic at the Dublin Fourth of July Parade:

Here’s Mason’s four month shots

Corinne posing with Mason