Jumpin' Junction

We took the kids to Jumpin Junction today. They had a fun time sliding, bouncing, driving, and climbing! Great place for preschoolers!

FINISHED!!

Well, my 6 weeks are up!! I finished!! I am proud to say I did not miss one minute of my cardio these past 6 weeks. The dieting on the other hand is something I am going to have to continue to work on. I have decided that dieting in the winter when you are stuck in the house most of the time, makes it EXTREMELY difficult to not snack all day! I started off strong, only eating sweets on Saturdays, but ended eating whatever I wanted on Friday night through Sunday. I did loose a few pounds, so that was encouraging. I can definitely tell a difference in the way my clothes fit! I am going to continue doing my cardio 30 minutes a day, 5 times a week. I am going to continue to do some dieting, but will make a few changes from my original plan. One thing I want to implement is not eating anything after supper is over. (NO late night snacking!) For me, this is a good way to cut out unecessary calories. I am still trying to burn off some of my "fat pockets". If you have started a diet or excercise routine, let me encourage you to go ahead and FINISH! Even if you mess up along the way, get back on track and finish what you started! You will be so proud of yourself when you do!

It was good to be able to get out a little this weekend and get some fresh air and sunshine!

Here are a few pictures of the kids ready for church this morning, and playing outside on Saturday.

Closet Turned Office

This past Saturday we turned our very small closet under the stairs into a cozy home office. We have moved our "home office" a million times, trying to avoid certain two-year olds that like to tear all of the keys off of the laptop keyboard, and trying to keep it fairly accessible. We have had it in the bonus room above the garage (not accessible enough to be used), in our bedroom, in our guest room, and in the dining room (too accessible for wandering children). I recently had the idea to see if it would fit in this closet --that had a child-proof door handle -- and is in a very convenient location, right off the living area. I showed Rob my idea, and he came up with a plan to make it work.



The main problem with the closet, was that there was no outlet for the computer and printer. That was NO problemo for my husband the brand new electrician!! We added an outlet and custom built a desk to fit the small area, and viola! I am in here now typing away!! We still need to do some finishing touches like painting the desk area, but it is working out GREAT!!



(Did I mention that my husband is now a licensed Electrician, and we have started our own business ?? just checking;) you never know when you'll need a good electrician!)

Before

Making a spot for the outlet

It works Great!!

How'd she get in there?

Friday Night Just Needs to be Different!

I love to be able to look foward to something. When you find yourself in the same old boring routine, sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands and spice things up a little bit!

Now, some of you will not be able to relate to this post, but I'm sure some will. When you are a stay-at-home mom, (who is trying to be as frugal as possible AND has preschool age children) sometimes your weekend is not much to look foward to. It probably looks pretty much just like the rest of your week looked. That is when you have got to get a little creative and give yourself something new and different to look foward to on the weekends, and why not start with Friday night? Everyone has some type of creativity in them. When I feel a creative urge coming on me, I usually end up looking through recipe books or magazines for a new dish to try.

We have recently made Friday night family movie night. The kids are starting to really look foward to it. Since we do Redbox, they have figured out they can look online with me and watch previews, so that they can tell their daddy wich one they have picked out for him to get them. This is how Family movie night works - we let the kids stay up and watch their movie, then after they are in bed, Mommy and Daddy get to watch their " big people" movie. Everyone wins.

I also had come across a couple of really good-looking fondue recipies that I thought might be fun for Friday night's dinner. We made a yummy cheese fondue and had pepperoni bites, pretzels, and broccoli to dip in it. For dessert, we made a chocolate-peanut butter fondue that we dipped bananas, pretzels, and chocolate chip Teddy Bears in. It was DELICIOUS!!! (Yes, I have modified my original 6 week dieting plan if you were wondering:) Fondue-ing was a hit!! As you can tell from the pictures, we all thoroughly enjoyed it!

Wyatt before dessert

Wyatt after dessert

Anna Lea loving dessert

Layla enjoying dessert

Nothing fancy, but really fun!

Ready for movie night! Everyone has to have their "blankie". They watched Nanny McPhee Returns. It was a really cute movie, and kept their attention for the most part.

One Day I Will Remember These Times and Laugh (But We're Not There Yet)

Anna Lea, is our beautiful middle child. Her name has been passed down from her great grandmother Diana, to her grandmother (my mom) Jamaelea, to me, Rebekah Lea. She is built a little differently than our other two children. She is tall for her age, is very slender with petite features, and has the tiniest buns you ever saw. She has no fear of strangers, and is fascinated with animals. She could melt your heart with one smile. Right now she is 2 and 1/2 years old. I know I will forget some of the things that she does one day, and want to be able to remember a few. Right now these memories do not make me laugh, but hopefully one day they will:)

When I go to bed at night, most of my energy throughout the day has been spent on Anna Lea. She will get her mind set on something, and will scream and pitch the biggest fit if she cannot see her plan through. She is FULL of energy. Some of her daily activities include: eating Cheez-its in the dryer, hiding underneath her bed or in the closet at nap time, pouring all of my fake apples down the central heat vent, waking up her brother from his nap by pouring a whole bag of cheese puffs in his baby bed, pulling all of her clothes and everyone else's clothes out of the closet into one big pile, poking holes into the living room wall using one of Rob's tools, tearing down our beautiful black and white wallpaper in the dining room, taking off her dirty diaper during nap time and smearing poop LITERALLY all over her playroom and all of the toys in the playroom, getting into the Vaseline and smearing it all over the changing table and in the carpet too, of course, I could continue, but for sake of time will stop.

I know God must have a very special plan for Anna Lea's life. I am excited to see what it is!

Hang in There!

I must admit it has been a whole lot easier using the treadmill this week. Last week the only thought I was able to have was "I am about to pass out!". This week it has been considerably easier to make it the whole 30 minutes. I have been doing fairly well on my new diet also. I don't know if it's the snow or what, but I have had a huge appetite this week so it has been very hard! I know that there is an Edward's Cookies and Creme Pie in our freezer, and every time I open the freezer door, there it is just begging me to eat some of it. But, I have NOT!!! I am waiting until Saturday, the one day week I'm allowed to have sweets, before I devour a piece.

I always thought that I hated all types of fish, and I hated that because I know it is SO good for you. But, I have recently discovered that I do like Tilapia. I have been buying it in the freezer section at our grocery store. It is also extremely quick and easy to prepare. Just run cold water over it to thaw it. Spray a broiling pan with non-stick spray. Sprinkle blackening spices on both sides, and broil for 5 minutes on the first side. Turn your fish over, and broil for 4 more minutes on the other side. Make sure you use your top oven rack and that you have it pretty close to the top. It is DELICIOUS!! Serve it with rice, steamed broccoli, or any other of your favorite veggies. My whole family loves it, and it is a GREAT meal that I can feel good about serving them! If you have any easy healthy meal ideas, I would love to hear them!

The Perfect Snow Day!!

looking out our front door

Today we woke up to the perfect snow day!! During the night it had snowed about 8 inches!!! The kids (and moma and daddy) were very excited to get out and play in it!! The last snow that Rob and I remember was what we refer to as the "Blizzard of 93". We were 11 years old. I lived in Campbellsville, Ky at the time. I remember I had slept downstairs with my sister Hannah and we both woke up to about a foot of snow with several inches of ice on top of it. The heavy ice had knocked out all of the power. We had a kerosene heater that we were able to use to stay warm. I remember it as a fun adventure!

Rob lived in Athens, TN at the time. His memories include waking up to lots of snow as well. He remembers playing in the snow, then his whole family went over to Gram and Poppy's (his grandparents) house to stay for several days until their power was turned back on.

Here is how we enjoyed our day. First we put on all of our layers of clothing.

Anna Lea, Myself, and Wyatt

Almost ready

Rob and Layla sledding down the hill in front of our house

Anna Lea

Wyatt
We had all been outside about 10 minutes, and Wyatt and Anna Lea decided they had already had enough.

After playing in the snow for a while, we of course, had to come in and have hot chocolate.

We all thoroughly enjoyed our beautiful day of snow, and it looks like we will continue to enjoy it a for a few more days.