Push Yourself

I don't know if I have mentioned my love for excercise or not but I truly do LOVE it. There are a few basic reasons...makes me feel better, makes me stronger...but I also want to set a good example for my kids.

I love the biggest loser, I do, but the contestants make me a little sick sometimes. When I started watching the show I just couldn't believe how these people had given up on themselves and their families by allowing such poor behaviors to take over their lives. How does an 18 year old boy get up to 390 lbs. and then I looked to his father who weighed in at 430 lbs. WHAT?!?!?!

I have already stated my views on Ron but I can not believe how he failed his kids.

Since I have mommy guilt over leaving my kids in a childcare facility while I work out I have daily dates with my best friends Bob and Jillian. I usually do one workout during naptime and another once the kids are in bed. This allows me not to feel guilty about the time I am spending on myself. The biggest loser DVD's are great. I think I own them all and I rotate them so I don't get bored. I also rotate in Jillian's 30 day shred (which totally kick my hiney!) and I am proud to say that I feel awesome. I am also showing my kids that to be healthy you need to push yourself. Push the boundaries that you set up for yourself and believe that you CAN DO IT as long as you are willing to work hard.

I couldn't leave a post with out a pic of my motivation...

The Loser

Ok, so I never thought that I would actually get around to writing a post on my favorite show- The Biggest Loser. I have been watching since the first week and it amazes me how far these people have come. Mt sis in law and I honestly text throughout the entire show. This week was no different and the ending made me a little angry but now for the reason one might think.

I have always loved Tara. Since Day 1 she was my pick and I decided that I would root for her.

BUT as much as I like Tara and have been following her, Mike has won me over.

Love that kid and all he has worked for.

Can not wait until next week since it is their last week there.

Busy, Busy

It has been non stop going since the New Jersey invasion happened on Thursday afternoon. My in-laws are planning on buying a home within 5 miles of us so the last few days we have been visiting houses and I think they have finally narrowed it down to 2. We have also been doing "Easter" things: cooking, Easter eggs, egg hunts, and let us not forget shopping. It has been a lot of fun but I am so tired.

We watched a movie together last night (minus the kids) and it was pretty good. We watched Slumdog Millionaire and it was really hard for me to watch and not know that those kids actually live that way.

Today we went to the Easter Eggstravenganza at church this morning and the kids had so much fun riding horses, trains, and bouncing. Tonight we are going to see Hannah Montana the movie and Ashley is really excited. We are making it a girls night- ha! Well, almost time for me to go get my hair done (AHHHHHHHHHH! alone time for the mommy).

Wordless Wednesday (almost)

BLESSED

Wiping our tears

I have been reading some blogs that I frequent today and my heart is heavy. There are so many families that are hurting and going through change. I just finished reading Angie's blog about today and I was having a hard time keeping it together. I began to cry and Ashley wanted to know what was wrong. I told her about Audrey and Angie and I continued to let the tears fall for them when Ashley went running to the kitchen and came back with a tissue. She then proceeded to wipe the tears from my face and kiss both of my cheeks. Which to be honest made me cry a little harder. I just kept thinking that I wonder if that is how God feels when I am wiping the tears from my kids eyes. Is he proud of me? Because in the moment that Ashley wiped my tears I was so proud of her. I was proud that she was showing compassion for me in a situation that she knew nothing about. I was just proud of the little lady that she is becoming in front of my eyes daily. She has so many talents that the Lord has blessed her with but I really think that the one that I am going to be proudest of is her compassion to help others.

Please say a prayer for Angie and her girls today. Here is a pic of my girl who has made me a proud momma today.

Day Two has Begun

With a little photo of my world!

Day One of Spring Break

I really think that I am going to be losing my mind this week. It is not that I don't love my kids but I am not a good plannner. I am not the best at organizing and planning activities. We are kind of a fly by the seat of your pants type of family and that is how it has always been. We have family visiting this week and they are house hunting so any long distance trips were definitely going to be out for us. Under normal circumstances we would probably have made a trip to Disney (our family favorite) and that would have been great for everyone. However, since Dave is working and we have family members coming in on different days an Disney was out.

The weather is also not being too cooperative with us either. We have 80-90% rain chances everyday this week too. So...beach is out too. That leaves me here, in the house, with a little girl used to having one activity after the next in kindergarten with no activities . Today we-COLORED. Actually, I colored and Ashley played on the computer (backwards I know but we aren't traditional people).

Ryan has been doing wonderful with going on the potty which I thought was going to drive me crazy the last 2 week but still relatively sane so maybe this week won't push me over the edge either.

What kind of activities do you do with your kids on rainy days, extended breaks, or just the weekends? I can use all the help I can get.

Not so Lazy Days

I love when we can have a lazy day around here. Although I don't think the term really applies to the whole day when you have kids. I seem to feel guilty a lot of the time when I allow myself to be truly lazy during the hours of 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. but today I don't think I really had a choice. We got up and went to church which was sooooo good. I absolutely love Sundays now (or Saturday nights-when Dave works on Sundays) because I truly enjoy going to church and diving into the Bible. I enjoy worshiping with others who truly want to be there too. Today was no exception. Pastor Tim spoke about the "stuff" that we fall in love with and put too much emphasis on which blocks our relationships with others and our ministry in pointing to Christ. Once again I left challenged to evaluate myself and try to make changes in the way that I think and the "stuff" that I want. Then, Pastor Tim talked a little about tithing which went ok and then the rappers came out. Honestly I will NEVER forget them rapping about tithing but the part that was so funny to me was that one of the "rappers" was Ashley's friend W's dad. The next time I see him at school I think I probably will bust out laughing and hopefully he will understand because I might be laughing too hard to explain it to him. As soon as they post it on the website I will be putting a link here because it is honestly the funniest thing I have seen in a long time.

Oh wait- I forgot completely about the seafood fest we went to last night. Dave and Eric have been roommates at work for the last 6 years and last night was the first time our families have gotten together. So, I had NO idea that this seafood festival was such a big event but apparently there was a free concert so every hick in the county was there and I would say that 90% of them were drunk too. It made for interesting people watching and Ryan and Ashley loved dancing. The seafood itself wasn't all that good but it was nice to be with some new friends and to spend a nice evening together too. I think that we have done more in the last 3 days than we did in the whole month of March combined and it is just the beginning of Spring Break.

I hope that I have enough energy to make it through the week.

LBK Open House

A couple of months ago Dave came up with the idea that to raise community support for their department that they should have an open house. He also volunteered to organize everything which was a hefty task. Today the kids got up and drove the 45 minutes to the fire station. The

kids were super excited to be able and go see daddy at work.

Once we arrived the kids got busy with the activities...

Ryan shooting the hose

Ashley shooting the hose

After taking turns shooting the hose about 10 times each (thanks Jay!) we went in and mingled with some of the other families. Ryan ate 3 hot dogs (YUCK!!!) but he loves them.

Then the firefighters did a little demonstration using the jaws of life. They cut up a car (which they were extremely excited to do) but that scared Ashley almost to tears.

After the car cutting the kids were ready to finally go home. So we decided that we would head out to try to avoid the major beach traffic. We took a few family shots to commemorate the day and home was calling my name.

I guess it wasn't as bad as I had feared. I am extremely proud of my husband for all of the hard work that he put in to this event. I heard whisperings about an annual event so I guess we will wait and see if we will be doing this again next year.

T.G.I.F.

Today is the last day before Ashley is off for Spring Break. Although she has been in preschool before this is the first year that Spring Break has official meaning to us. While in preschool I wouldn't really even think twice if we wanted to go out of town and she was in school. Since we were paying for her to be there I would let her miss. Kindergarten is a whole new ball game. You can only miss a certain amount of days, and what if she happens to get sick? But we are lucky that we have family coming in to town so there will be a lot of activities planned for next week.



Today I met my friend Shannon for breakfast. She has 3 boys ages 4,3, and 1. Her middle son is Ryan's age and they had so much fun playing dinosaurs and "building castles" with jelly packets. It was nice to be able to sit and chat with a good friend and not worry about the boys because they were chatting away too. Ryan kept calling Caleb- "that boy", it was so cute. Of course Lexi just sat in her car seat, ate her apples and was an absolute angel.



When we were paying, the lady in front of me looked familiar but I couldn't place her...and then I did. She had been Lexi's nurse(one of the many) in the NICU. Now, we were not liked in the NICU and I am not proud of that but the communication between us and the doctors wasn't there and I am still not thrilled with them 4 months later. However, the nurses who took care of Lexi were great. So it was nice to see her but I am so glad we never have to go back. It also just made me start thinking of that week (not my best week) and I thought I would post a pic of our experience there and of now-Enjoy!!

One Day Old

4 months old

GOD IS GREAT!!!

Sweet Alexis

Although no one really calls her Alexis but me Lexi is HUGE!!! I know people are looking at her and saying Wow how old is she a week- NOPE she is 4 months and 2 weeks old- jokes on you! She weighed in at her 4 month check up at 11 lbs. 7 oz. This is a normal weight for a baby that is one month old maybe 2 but for goodness sakes 4 1/2 months she is still tiny to others. Now to me she is gigantic. I look back at her baby pics and can not believe how much she has grown. She was 5 lbs. 10 oz. in the last 4 months she has gained 6 lbs-WOW. She is the sweetest baby that I have had so far. Her favorite things to do presently are coo at me and wait for me to coo back. Then she smiles her beautiful smile and I am lost. She is such a true blessing to me, one which I know that I do not deserve but she is ALL MINE!!!

A Long Day

It seems as though my time during the day flies. If I am not dressing, feeding, or driving one of the kids somewhere, I am on my cell phone talking to Dave, Becky, Lynda, or my mom. I really need a couple more hours in my day and I refuse to wake up any earlier than I have to in order to get more done.

Dave is organizing an Open House at the firehouse this weekend and somehow until yesterday the fact that I needed to attend did not sink in. It may be because my brain is overloaded and turning to mush but I have to drive the 45 minutes or so on a Saturday to a town that is located on the beach-ugh! Just thinking of the traffic and parking is already making me a little dizzy. I am super proud of him for organizing this event and I hope that it all helps the community recognize what a great job the firefighter/paramedics to but all I can see right now is me, 3 kids, a lot of strangers, and a husband who will be overly stressed about having everything be perfect.

Also starting this Sunday we have our family coming to visit one after another. I am very excited to be able to spend some time with them but they are a little OCD with the cleaning and I am so not. So, when I think something is clean (and it is by normal standards), I have to clean it again so that it is up to their standards. I don't really know if I am up to the challenge this week but I don't think I have a choice.

And I can not leave a post without a picture so...