All I want for Christhmas . . . .

Alexandria holds on to her teeth for as long as possible. This one was just hanging and Alexandria and I are both to wimpy to pull it out so we called Grandma. Thank goodness for Grandma, huh?

Nice Picture of Papi

This is just a great picture of our "cool Papi" on Friday after he hit a homerun. It was posted on the league's website. You can check out the website here.

Fitness Friday - High Reps v. Low Reps

Whitney this post is for you! If you spend anytime in the gym at all you'll hear that women should do lots of reps and low weights so they get nice and defined and not bulky while men should do lower reps and higher weights in order to gain mass. Unfortunately, this may not be entirely true. Because the two different methods use different muscle fibers you actually need to do both if you are to truly see gains in strength, tone and definition.

First of all lets define low reps, anywhere from 6-8 repitions per set. High reps would be 10-15 repititions per set. Doing more reps at a lower weight is going to work the slow twitch muscle fibers which help with endurance. These are the fibers that will be primarily used after the 12th rep or so.

Heavier weights and lower reps are going to work your fast twitch muscle fibers which give you power in quick bursts. Sprinters usually have an excess of high twitch muscle fibers. Usually, these muscle fibers are recruited during the first 6 reps.

The trick is to fatigue your muscles whether that takes 6 or 15 reps it doesn't much matter.

How do you know how much weight to use? Well, find out your "one rep max". That is the amount of weight you can lift correctly one time. Then use 70-85% of that weight and do 6-8 reps. So for example, your one rep max for bench press is 100lbs. You would use 70 - 85 lbs and do 6-8 repititions for at least 3 sets. It should be VERY difficult to lift the weight on your last set. Write your program and stick to it for a few weeks then change it up. Refigure your one rep max because you've probably increased your strength and use 60-75% of your one rep max and do 12-15 reps. Using this method will keep your muscles working efficiently. That's when you'll see the biggest benefit both in strength gain and tone of the muscle.

Or if that's too detailed and you just want to get in the gym, workout, and get done then just think like a guy. You know the ones that try to lift a lot of weight to impress everyone around them. Because the fact is that if you are using dinky weights to do any exercise and you're not fatiguing your muscles you are going to see very little results. And girls, don't worry about getting big. Our testosterone levels aren't high enough to bulk us up without really working at it. So pick up the heaviest set of weights that you can do maintaining correct form for that particular exercise and go for it. Don't be shy!

I love weight training. I don't have time to write myself a program or calculate it all out so I usually just pick a nice size weight and lift. That's just what works best for me. Most important, is to just have fun and do what works best for you.

Maybe it will be better than I thought . . .

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All Star Game Weekend - Tijuana

We just got home from Tijuana for the All Star Game. I should be putting everything away and start washing so we can get ready to leave again but instead I'm here blogging about our adventures. And I think the Guarana drink I had so I wouldn't fall asleep while driving must still be working because it's 3am and I'm still wide awake.

We are so proud of Papi. He has done awesome in his career. This is his 2nd year in the All Star Game in the LMB (Mexican Baseball League). I think about how his life started and how far he's come and it's inspiring. He's like a superstar in Mexico. People know him everywhere we go. We've been followed by papparazzi. He gets stopped for autographs. He's doing AWESOME. He is usually among the leaders in the league for average, hits, stolen bases, etc. Oops, sorry, does it sound like I'm bragging? Okay, yes I'm bragging. My husband is cool! :) Love you!!!!!


The weekend in Tijuana for the 2008 LMB All Star Game began with a formal dinner on Friday, other festivities on Saturday and the Game was Sunday. The kids (and Dionys) got to have their first limo ride on the way to the dinner on Friday. AJ and DJ liked the "white car" and Alexandria liked the little places for the ice and the drinks.

























The party/dinner was fun. We were, of course, the only people there with our kids and we had all four of them with us. We actually sat down at a table and the servers came to tell us that they had saved us a table because they knew there would be a "big group" with Dionys. We had to take the kids though just so they could see how cool their dad is. We wouldn't want them to miss it. And as Dionys said, "You know everyone else is wishing they had their families with them." The kiddos did very well and sat through the 2 hour award ceremony just fine. Plus they had fun dancing with Papi and getting their picture taken by all the press and news people.

















On Saturday Dionys had to be in a parade in the morning and sign autographs. The rest of us slept in, then got ready and went to Sea World again. I figured since we have the passes we might as well use them. The kids loved it as much this time as they did the first time. We tried to do different things this time and we still haven't seen or done it all yet. They just opened up a new area for the kids, Sesame Street Bay of Play. So we did spend quite a bit of time there. But I think the highlight for them this time was the "ride over the ocean".


















It was freezing cold and I forgot a jacket for Isabel so we had to buy her something while we were there and she loved it! As soon as we put it on her and she saw what was on it she started saying, "Mu, Mu". That's Isabel for Shamu.

Sunday was the big game. Dionys started and did great. You can read the recap here. Sorry, it's in Spanish. They were winning until they pulled out their starters. His team ended up losing but he played well and that's all we care about.























As you can see the kiddos really do think their Papi is "cool" and want to be just like him. Thanks Papi for a fun weekend. I hope we didn't wear you out too much. ;) Love you!!

Nature vs. Nurture

In my development classes at ASU we always discussed nature vs. nurture. I know my twins aren't identical but they are raised the same for the most part and here's one of the MANY differences between them. Sorry, no pics with this post. That would be gross because AJ and DJ both had accidents today. AJ ran to the bathroom to do his business and apparently didn't quite make it to sitting on the potty before it plopped on to the floor. Thank goodness he already had his pants down though. He comes into the kitchen crying and screaming to me while I'm on the phone. I can't understand a word he's saying but I get the picture since he still doesn't have his pants pulled up. I walk into the bathroom and there next to the toilet is a huge brown blob. He's crying because he wants to make sure it gets cleaned up, although not by him, by me. So I clean it up. He's so tenderhearted so I tell him it's okay he'll do better next time, give him a hug and after he finds his blanket to snuggle with he's all better. A few hours later it's DJ's turn. (Not sure what they've been eating.) But he goes in the underwear. No problem for DJ he just takes off the underwear and puts it somewhere where he thinks I won't see it. Then he lifts up the toilet seat (both sections) and climbs on to the bare toilet to finish his business. Then he notices, oh no it's smeared all over the toilet. So he puts the seat down (the part you normally sit on) and calls for me to come wipe him. Hoping that I get in and get out and don't notice the poop smeared all over he even gets me some toilet paper so it'll be a quick cleaning and I won't have to look anywhere. DJ!!!!!!! You see, AJ actually feels bad about it but DJ just tries to get away with it. Seriously, it's definately not the nurture!

School's Out!

Well I made it through Kindergarten. Alexandria did all the work but it was hard for me to have my first child in school. Thank goodness we found a half day Kindergarten I hope it's still around when the boys get there too. I think we would seriously consider no Kindergarten if they had to be gone all day. Alexandria did awesome and we are very proud of her. She learned all her letters and numbers. She can add, subtract, count to 100 by 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s and coolest of all, she's READING!! She finished the school year having read 130 books. She got a special medal and ribbon from her teacher for doing such a great job. Congratulations Alexandria!!!!!!

The Kindergarteners also had a fun end of the year concert and that was it. They sang lots of fun songs and Alexandria, you did great (standing on your toes so I could see you) and "I think you're wonderful"!

So I guess it's goodbye Kindergarten and hello 1st grade. I know Alexandria's ready, I just hope that I can make it through next year too.

Maybe we need a few more FHEs

Alexandria: Looking at a picture of a hand. "They took a picture of my hand when I was in Heaven."

Me: "That would have been pretty hard to do since you didn't have your body until you came to earth."

Alexandria: "Did I just have my head?"

I'm pretty embarrased about this because it's an obvious proof of my lacking in the parenting area, but it was too funny not to post.

How about the weather?

Loving today, LOVING IT!!!!! I went outside while the kids were napping and sat out in the swing on our patio just enjoying the cold and the rain since I know it will be awhile before we'll see this again. Even the boys wanted to wear their coats and drive their mo-mos in the rain. Here they are enjoying the rain as much as I did. Hard to believe that it was 110 on Tuesday and today my car said 60 (not sure what the official temperature was). Not your typical Arizona May weather but like I said LOVING IT! It felt so much like winter that DJ even suggested that we have Christmas tonight. Sounds fun to me. ;)

As Promised :)

This is a really cute ballet. In the original Sleeping Beauty ballet the King and Queen invited all the fairy tale characters to the celebration. So here's Alexandria in Goldilocks and the Bears. Goldilocks is trying to get them to dance and bow and the little playful bears won't do it.