Gettin' My Groove On!

Tonight I went to the class Cardio Hip Hop at the gym I belong to. Besides making a complete fool of myself, it was a lot of fun and a really good work out. After the class the teacher asked if it was my first time--um, yeah, are you asking that because I am an amazing hip hop dancer or because I was off beat the whole time and looked like a white girl trying out some crazy moves? I'm glad I went though, I'm going to a wedding next weekend so I'll get a chance to try out my new moves! Just kidding! Actually I do an amazing (what I call) Bill Cosby/ old person dance. I'd be happy to teach it to you! Oh, and Jesse and I like to crank up the music and do interpretive dancing every once in a while. Let me tell you, that is quite a site to see.

Isabella randomly asked me tonight if she could give me a back rub. Of course, no need to ask! Lately she's been really into telling me how beautiful I am. She says, "you're the most beautifulest mommy I ever did have!" Then she says things like, "mommy, you're my favorite and Gabe is my favorite too, of course."

You might have noticed that Starbucks recently started selling instant coffee. Well, I've been pretty skeptical of this but desperate times call for desperate measures. I was in Columbus earlier this week and though I usually bring my own coffee I figured it would be a lot easier to bring these little packets of instant. When I got to my grandma's house she said, "you'll have to make a coffee run in the morning because I make really bad coffee." I said, "I know you make really bad coffee grandma, that's why I brought my own!" Much to my surprise, the instant coffee is quite delicious. So, if you love coffee and don't have time to make a pot, I definitely recommend Starbucks Via Ready Brew. I can only vouch for the Colombia being any good. Oh, and the iced Via is very good too (don't add sugar, it's already sweetened). There's my pitch for Starbucks. Sorry to everyone who hates Starbucks, but I used to be "one of those people" and let's just face it, they have good coffee.

On a more negative note. I was recently at the Gap--my favorite store by the way--and saw that they are selling STIRRUP PANTS. Seriously, this is a major problem and completely unacceptable. I have to admit, my favorite pants in elementary school were stirrup pants, but things change and that just is not cool. Gap, I thought you were better than that.

Here are some pictures I forgot to post yesterday:

Isabella's feet.

Isaac's feet.

Lazy Mutt.

A Bit of an Obsession...

What do I love, love, love to do...that's right, take pictures! While in Columbus this week, we visited the Franklin Park Conservatory. It was wonderful and I will definitely go back.

The problem with being obsessed with taking pictures is that I see life in pictures. I know, it sounds weird but it's true. I walk around snaping imaginary shots with my eyes and think about composition and color and framing. Same thing with writing. I go through my day writing a journal in my head--creating sentences and then re-creating them and then editing them some more. Then, at the end of the day I try to write everything down, although most days I have to keep it all stored in my head until everyone is cooperating long enough so that I can dump all of those sentences on my laptop.

Enjoy the pictures...

The motley Hampl crew.

We had to walk by a very loud bird in the tropical room.

Isaac slept most of the time in the stroller.

My favorite picture...

Stay tuned for more pictures from this week's trip to Columbus...

Visit with Julie and Gabe

I'm a bit behind on my blog and am getting a major back-log of pictures.We've been out of town, so here's to catching up...

Last week Walter's sister Julie and her son Gabe visited for a few days. Isabella had a blast playing with Gabe and of course bossing him around. By the way, Isabella's newest favorite phrase is, "of course". Now, not in the sense that she would say, "of course mommy" but more like after I bring her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich she says, "and a Dora show, of course." Yesterday in the car she said, "my teacher is at my library and of course Maya--sometimes Maya hits me and then I cry." Um, yeah, it's not like you never do anything to make Maya cry.

Anyway, we had a nice visit with Julie and did some fun things like going to the neighborhood kiddie pool, a pontoon boat ride and watching Veggie Tales. Which, they (including Sarah) have yet to convince me that Veggie Tales is worth watching. A not-so-fun thing we did: went out to eat with two toddlers and a baby. Live and learn, right.

All the kids got a chance to drive the boat!

Isabella wasn't very excited about it--she just wanted the sticker.

Isaac did very well and chewed on my thumb the entire trip.

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For Isabella's birthday I got these dry-erase activity cards and was very impressed when I saw her do this:

Yeah, I basically think she's a genius. And yes, I know every parent thinks that about their own child. On a more serious note, she is quite artistic so I wouldn't be surprised if she ends up as an artist of some sort. For her sake though, I do hope she is much better at math than I am. And for my own sake, that would save having to deal with a lot tears over the many years of math homework! I'm pretty sure my parent's used to have a book entitled Homework Without Tears--that never happened.

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I am really happy to wear my rings again...

I'm also very excited about my latest haircut--seriously, the best I've ever had. Due to a my friend Emily's recommendation, I had it cut at a place called Skullz--yeah, I know, I'm not really a person who would go to a place called Skullz. It was definitely an out-of-the-box experience for me, and I will definitely go back. By the way, men do the best hair cuts...