It happened on a quiet Saturday afternoon in an ironic fashion (as these things always seem to do) in that we were just discussing how long the object had been around.

It began it’s life on November 1, 2008.  Audi gave it the breath of life a few hours before Josie’s party was to start that afternoon.  Just a standard pearlized white balloon bought at Walmart.  The cheapest set they had, after all, they were only balloons and were meant to be enjoyed and destroyed by the young guests that day only.  But no, not this balloon.  It took on a life of it’s own - determinded to leave it’s mark in our lives.

It hung around for a few weeks with some of it’s brothers and sisters.  But soon, it was alone.  However, the holidays were coming shortly.  Another chance to celebrate.  Thanksgiving came and so did Cory.  That night a friend joined us for some Euchre.  We were all sitting around the table:  Audi and I, AJ and Brittany, Cory, and Jared.  AJ casually looked up and said, “Hey, there’s a ballon up in the corner.”  It was written on, rubbed with static, and hidden in the alcove earlier that day.  (I saw it all go down because Cory asked me for a marker.)  AJ got up from his seat, grabbed it, and read it’s message out loud: “You smell.  Love, Cory”.  Of all the people to find that balloon, it was perfect that it was AJ.  We laughed hysterically.  Christmas came and went.  New Years came and went.  Valentines Day came and the “You smell” balloon was still wandering around the house.  Then, on that fateful afternoon of February 14th, 2009, the infamous pearlized white balloon went *pop*.  It said goodbye gracefully fulfilling it’s purpose by being enjoyed by a four year old.  It was fifteen weeks old and will be missed.

This Wednesday Jayden picked out a movie.  He wanted to do one of my yoga videos.  Okay, that’s cool.  I’m up for that.  So we got out the mat and took off our shoes and socks and popped it in.  It was awesome!  It’s a great video - only 20 minutes, but full of moves that challange and strenghten.  Why didn’t I already know this?  Let’s start at the beginning.  

Well, you see, I had wanted these videos for over two years.  It’s a boxed set of 5 videos - 2o minutes each that focus on certain areas of fitness.  They are taught by a favorite instructor of mine, Sara Ivanhoe.  I already had one of her videos, but at 50 minutes long, I could never find time in the day to do it.  I found this set online at Amazon and left it in my cart for over two years.  Amazing, huh?  Anyway, right after we moved to Sidney, I was asked to join an online community and as incentive for my feedback, I receive $10 Gift Certificates to Amazon.com every month.  Six months later I had enough gift certificates to buy the DVD set and a yoga mat.  Sweet!  I got them in the mail the same day, did one video twice that week and haven’t opened one since.  I found myself not doing it because even 20 minutes seemed like a long time with two kids hanging on me.  I’m in Downward Dog and Josie is crawling under me.  I’m trying to focus on my breathing and Jayden is screaming because Josie is on his mat.  Not the calming bliss I had in mind.

The last two days we’ve done a different video, and it hasn’t been that bad.  Jayden has been really into it.  He likes that he can do what she’s doing on the screen and likes doing it with Mommy.  Josie still tries to play airplane when I’m tring to stay in Boat Pose, but it’s not that big of deal, and I’m still strengthening my stomack muscles with her hanging on my legs.

So Jayden has become my new personal trainer.  At 3 o’clock he picks out a new video and when we’re done we put a sticker on the exercise sticker chart.  Hey, whatever works, right?