Week 1

I've lost 3.3 lbs this week alone!  I'm so excited! It's always been sooo hard for me to lose any weight no matter what I try! But I determined to count calories and work out ALL WEEK and then evaluate the results, annnnnd I'd say it's working!!  Woohoo!

Here's what I'm doing....

1. Daily calorie goal is 1200-1400 daily, although trying to stay closer to 1200. I invited friends over for a food swap, and it helped me so much throughout my week.  We each bulk-prepared a healthy food for everyone to take home and have throughout the week. So each morning I started the day with one of Tanya's baked oatmeal muffins and one of Nikki's fruit cups. In the afternoon as a snack I'd have one of Stacy's energy bites (although those are dangerously good!) and as dessert I'd have one of the tiny cups of Nikki's fat-free fruit dip (I just liked it all by itself by the spoonful!) It helped so much to have something ready-to-grab!

2. Daily workout.  I hate working out but when I add my calories and it's already 800 or so by the afternoon, I know I need to burn some so I can eat a full dinner with the family. I've decided I can more easily eat low calorie breakfasts and lunches and snacks, but come dinner time I want to eat something a little more normal. I've upped my workouts from running 2 or 3 miles (usually around 300 calorie burn) to 4 miles (almost 500 calorie burn).  That makes a HUGE difference to my Net Calories (total calories for the day)! I'm also finding that working out in the afternoon is a good time of day. I really hate the getting-ready-twic-a-day thing, but if I want to workout, that's just the best time. By the end of day I'm simply out of motivation.

3. I'm trying to keep drinking water. It helps your tummy feel full and keeps you adequately hydrated. I know I still don't drink enough though. I also occasionally drink green tea with a meal. Usually breakfast in replace of my usual coffee.  Green tea is 0 calories (I sweeten it with a tiny bit of Truvia, also 0 calories) and increases metabolism.

5.5 more pounds to my initial goal and 9.5 pounds to my final goal. So that's me. What's your plan??

This week

This week I've reaaally been trying to watch my food/calorie intake.

I've worked out 4 or 5 days IN A ROW. That's HUGE for me! I HATE working out!

On Tuesday I had girlfriends over for a food swap. We each bulk prepared some small healthy snack or breakfast thing for everyone to take home and have throughout the week. Could be as simple as cups of fresh fruit, which I've thoroughly been enjoying each morning for breakfast, along with a baked oatmeal muffin and then fabulous little energy bites in the afternoon. Yumm. It was a fun way to support each other in our efforts to live healthier.

Speaking of that, I tried this green smoothie I found on Pinterest. It was surprisingly good! Even though it has spinach in it, it just tastes like pineapple-banana. In fact, that'll probably be my lunch again tomorrow. ALTHOUGH the kids are all home and they love it too and they'll steal it all from me! So perhaaaps I'll share. Ya know, since it IS healthy n all.

AND speaking of other green things, I've been busy dying rice green. If you attend our local MOPS group, you'll soon find out why on Tuesday! =) hehe

This week I've ALSO managed to get my butt out of bed early in the morning to do a few minutes of Bible reading before that first set of feet come down the stairs. I'm reading through Acts, because it's just one of those books I've never really read. So far I've learned several neat tidbits that can be applied to today life.

Tomorrow Eli is off school and I'm excited to just hang at home.

T - 1 week until I leave for CHICAGO for girl's weekend! Woohooooo!!!

Life is good.

Truth.

Truth: I love spending time with my kids.
I want to bond with my children
and for them to bond with each other.
Truth: I love learning with them.
I want them to like learning.
Truth: I am still the main influence over my kids.
I am still their #1 teacher.
Truth: I want them to know THE Truth.
And how it connects with daily life
and the world around us.

Even if they're in public school.

Truth: I am still the parent.
Truth: I have not released myself from my duties.
Truth: Faith and family values are still priority.
Always.

Even if they're in public school.

Birds.

Hundreds and hundreds of them. 

Specks of white.

 Together. 

In the field.

Eating seeds.

Or something.

 And then flying off.

Together.

 To the next place.

{Newborn Photography} Baby Zeke

Rebekah is a friend of mine from MOPS. Then the Missouri flooding caused separation for months and months, Missouri started their own new MOPS group, and we just don't cross paths much anymore. So when she asked me to do newborn photos, I was pretty excited for multiple reasons and I anxiously started watching the calendar as the due date got closer and closer!  So it happens, Ezekiel was born on Hannah's birthday, and now there's another Valentine baby out there!  =)

Zeke is a very good baby, sleeps well and is content. But come the day of pictures, even with extra warmth and heaters, he must not have liked being undressed because he would NOT sleep!!  There were a lot of things I just couldn't do with him because of that, but there was a lot I DID capture instead. I forgot how much I love newborn quirkiness! =) Awkward movements and strange faces, I love it all! And finally at the end he slept for a little bit and I could catch some sweet sleep pictures. =) What a beautiful family!!

These are my favorites from the day...

their wedding rings have blue in them so I tried to feature that. click on the pic to view larger. the rings itself were Rebekah's request (love that!) but since Zeke was awake and wiggly, we combined it with the heart hand pic we didn't get to earlier. Holding his feet still for the rings AND getting the heart in, bonus! =) Sometimes you just gotta improvise!

Still here

Hi friends. I am still here.  Been busy and when I'm not, I'm lazy as all get out and enjoying the break.

Today is one of those days. Showered and got back into comfy clothes. Eli's off school today, so we're staying in. Trying to save gas, no place to go, so I let the kids wear shorts. Why not? 

I started a new project. Found an old desk FREE on the sidewalk, so I rearranged the back of our car and threw it in. Brought it home and am now currently working on turning it into a nightstand for our bedroom. It's fun to have my own project. To get out the tools and work 'em myself and prove to myself I do know a thing or two!  Can't wait to see how it turns out and hoping to win the approval of Kevin who was skeptical of my project idea!

I did a newborn photoshoot last weekend and am done finishing up the last of the pictures. Will post some of them here soon for you to see!  =)  It's been since Fall since I've done any photoshoots. I was so nervous. I'm still trying to do decide what exactly I want to do with photography, or IF I want to do anything at all! 

In a couple weeks I'll be headed to Chicago for a girls weekend with my college friends! I'll trek across Iowa, pick up three friends there, and we'll continue on to the city! SO EXCITED!!!  Then the week after that is my birthday and I get to celebrate with my friends here, as well as my own family.  So many great things coming up!

I have an idea for Kevin's family, and the more I think about it, the more excited I get.  It's pretty expensive, but it could be wonderful. It's a secret though, so I'll leave it at that.  =)

Life has been pretty great lately. For the most part. I'm finally feeling more settled here, forming a regular circle of friends, finding more ways to help at church and serve family and local friends in their individual needs. Continuing to grow new friendships, particularly with other COUPLES, and trying to utilize the most of the times when the kids are gone somewhere (ie AWANA, or school). Week by week the calendar has been filling up, and that's fun to me. The house may be a wreck at times, but at least I'm happy, we're happy. 

Alright, better sign off now but wanted to say hello!!  Have a great weekend!

Overthinking it!!

Valentine's Day is coming up. While I don't go crazy about what to do for my husband this single DAY of the year (we have no plans or gifts or cards whatsoever), I do hope to make it a little something special for the kids. Using some ideas from Pinterest I want to...

make heart shaped muffins or pancakes for breakfast (it's also Hannah's birthday)

fill out one of these for each of the kids:

maybe have these for lunch:

hot dogs + spaghetti noodle + cheese

And that's about it. Now, this is where the trouble begins, both {big} kids have Valentines parties at school. Hannah and I {and Eli} have already made her valentines box, decoupaging scraps of construction paper to a shoe box. It now looks like pink and purple and white camouflage and was actually really fun (and EASY) for kids to do (we are DEFINITELY gonna do more crafts like that!!). But now I'm STILL debating on what to do for their Valentines!  

Last year Eli hand painted his own. He was the only one in his preschool class to bring handmade cards. This year I looked at store bought cards, but almost ALL of them say ridiculous things like "You're Mine" "Be Mine" "We'll be friends forever" or they were too princessy with messages about fairy tales OR they were animated skull and crossbones!!!  I'm sorry, but these are just KIDS. They DON'T have a lover. They WON'T be friends forever probably. Life isn't a fairytale. And I probably will never approve images of skulls and crossbones!  I don't want to be crude, but I do like to stay in reality and these messages start young.

I'm looking for something that simply says "Happy Valentine's Day" or "So glad you're my friend" or "You're the best!" Really. Why can't it be that simple?

I don't really want to spend forever MAKING something, but do I want to use up all the printer ink using printable cards with more appropriate messages?? Or am I totally overthinking this and should just get generic cards, knowing the kids don't actually care about the cards or take them personally???

Days like this

make me feel so grateful

that I get to stay at home 

with my little ones.

And some days

we don't get a thing done

like at all.

We spend our day

reading

and playing

and reading some more

and making messes 

and maybe even leaving it there
and staying in jammies
all day

and making silly faces

and taking pictures of them

and then editing them

and then collaging them

and then blogging them

and snuggling

but just for a minute

and then naptime.

because some days

you just gotta slow down

and enjoy.

The view from here. 2.6.12

It's such a beautiful morning today! Everything is sparkly white, the sun is shining, and there's no wind. It's COLD still but it's beautiful. So I snapped a few cell phone pics while I was out taking Eli down to the bus stop this morning.

Carter's been walking great today! Walking more than crawling and that's HUGE for him since he fractured his leg!  He goes in spurts though. He may walk great today and then go back to completely crawling for the next two days. He's getting there though, and that's exciting to me!

Today I've been busting through my cleaning schedule, and it feels awesome! Here I created a new cleaning schedule at the beginning of the week and then had the busiest week EVER and completely couldn't stick to it at all.  But having the check-lists is helping me tremendously and keeps my focus instead of feeling overwhelmed at the whole house! Next week it'll hopefully be more manageable as I do some every day instead of all in one day as I feel I am doing today! As for the chart itself, I'll post more about it soon!

We have had a FABULOUS winter here thus far, but tomorrow we may actually be getting dumped with some snow. It's okay though. I truly cannot complain.

Unless it's still bad Sunday, in which I'll complain because that's when we're scheduled to have Hannah and Carter's birthday party! And we want our families to get here, thankyouverymuch!

Playing guitar at church and for the first time leading a song. Quite nervous about it!  When I watch other people play guitar, then I makes me suddenly feel like I don't even know how to play it at all. Which is not entirely true, but it's how I feel anyway.

AND... I'm off to go make puppy chow for girls night tonight! Then back to scraping food off the dining room floor!

Have a great week, ya'lls!!!