Just a typical day.

I want to play too.

JACE!!  He took my train!

Jace's Fat Lip Dedication

 Each year our church sets aside one evening to celebrate the babies born in the previous year.  The church dedicates to support you as a family and pledges to help raise your child in the church.  It's a wonderful, emotional evening and it makes you realize how truly blessed you are.  We were excited to go, family was coming to support us and everything was moving right along.

But an hour before said wonderful evening, my son gives himself a fat lip.

AHHHHHH!!!!

He was crawling on our floor and must have slipped and banged his face. He was so sad.

But we still made it to church...and got to enjoy the dedication.  Good thing we sent in pictures beforehand!

Closing prayer.  We are up there - promise.  We are behind the tall bald guy.

We go to a pretty big church so there are a lot of babies born each year.  This picture doesn't even show everyone up there!!

 Jace and Haylie - we promise to try our hardest to be the parents God intended us to be and to do everything we can to prepare you for your own walk with the Lord.  We love you, our church loves you, but most of all, God loves you.  Always and forever!!

WW:Update

I've been doing Weight Watchers for a month now.  Verdict? It's works!  Does it suck sometimes?  Yep. But only when faced with sweets or fried food or chips and queso!  I have lost a total of 10 pounds...which I'm super proud about.  It makes giving up that extra piece of cake or french fries with my meals worth it.  I still feel great and am not that sick of turkey sandwiches yet.  Ha!  (In all honesty, I choose to eat turkey sandwiches most days...because I know I like it and it's not a lot of points.)

I have found a few good recipes that have gotten a thumbs up from my family, ahem, hubby.  Haylie eats it because I'm not about to make her something else and she has the most disgusted look on her face while chewing.  If we smothered it in cheese she'd probably like it.  *sigh*

Cheeseburger Soup - 5 points.  This is a great comfort dish.  I found myself wanting more than the 1 cup serving.  This also took a lot more time than I had anticipated, but it still doesn't take a LOT of time.  The next time I make it, I'll be more prepared with what prep I need to do.

Lasagna Skillet - 7 points.  This was super easy.  I didn't have all the proper ingredients on hand and I improvised.  We didn't have any mushrooms (our fresh ones were NOT fresh and no canned ones) and I forgot to add the mozzarella...but even with those missing, I thought it was DELICIOUS.  Pair it with a salad and you can pretend you are at some great Italian restaurant.

Here is the website where I found these recipes and a bunch of others I plan on trying soon.

I also LOVE this one --> Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms - 4 points.  (Let me know if you can't get to this recipe since it's on the WW website.)  It's fairly easy and delicious.  Anything with sauteed mushrooms is good in my book!

I find that the weekends are the hardest since that's when we eat out or do things out of our normal schedule.  Good thing for those weekly extra points!  I also am finding out that I'd rather just go home for lunch instead of stopping by McD's so I can keep my points low.  This has been a big lifestyle change for me, but it's been a good one!  I didn't lose any weight this last week, but I'm okay with that.  It will just make me work harder this week!

Now, I'm going to go grab a banana before I get distracted by the ice cream in my freezer.

Weekend Update

Whew, it's been awhile since I've updated!  We've had lots going on and I feel like lots to blog about!  I'll try to pace myself though.

Last weekend, Justin's parents decided to come down!  We were excited to spend some time with them in Oklahoma.  We didn't really do much but caught up with each other, did a little fishing and hung out!  Jace is at a weird stage where he still really needs his naps so that kind of hindered us from doing anything too exciting.

Weekend in pictures...

 She LOVES her train set.  Plays with it morning, noon & night...even dressed as a princess.

Baby J and Grandma snuggles

Jace started feeling bad about noon on Saturday...you know he feels bad when he falls asleep on the floor.

Best $8 we've spent.  More trains for this Thomas-loving girl.

How can you tell a Papa loves his little granddaughter?  When he puts on fairy wings.

Another love of Miss Princess...puzzles.  And Grandma.  (Papa looks thrilled...)

Jace got his birthday present a little early!  a BALLCANO!!!

More snuggle time - watching Thomas of course.

The Missouri Tigers and Princess went fishing on Saturday.  She LOVED it...especially with her new Princess fishing pole. They took some other sweet pictures but we'll have to get those copies later.

We also got to enjoy breakfast with cousins at Cracker Barrel, a crazy game of Phase 10, learning all about weight watchers, hearing Haylie whistle (woohoo!) and being lazy.

We love weekends like this!

Day Trip

Last Saturday, my sister, mom & I invited ourselves up to my cousin Stephani's house.  It had been a loooooong time since we've seen her and it was an added bonus that my aunt and cousin Kim could come that day too!  So we girls loaded up the swagger wagon - bursting with kids - and headed up to Steph's.

We arrived to a beautiful brunch and had a tour of her new house.  We caught up on each other's lives since it had been so long since we've had more than a few minutes to chat.

Ever since I cut my hair about a month ago, Haylie has been asking for a cut.  So, since my aunt is a hairstylist, I figured if she were up to it, Haylie could get a trim.  I'm not quite ready for that big girl cut yet.



She did great and her hair looks a lot healthier!  Soon after, Stephani's kids got their old costumes out and the fashion show began...

 

Eli, Evie and the rest of the gang had such a fun time with all these clothes!  They were everywhere.

This kid took about a 3 hour nap while we were there.  As soon as he woke up, he crawled over to the ledge between rooms and just sat there.  I guess it didn't bother him!  But he got into the dress up action pretty fast.



All in all, it was a GREAT day.  It was so wonderful to see my cousins and aunt and spend a whole day catching up.  The kids had fun too!  We need to make that a more regular get together.  We might even include the husbands next time.

On the Move

This kid is on the move.  I just looked through a bunch of pictures we took of him crawling and this was his face in most of them:

Terror?  Frustration?  Who knows with that kid.  He started off slowly and is working on gaining momentum with his crawling skills.  We love to see him move from room to room and explore.  He pops his face around corners and has a look on it that says - look where I am now!  I've already busted him for getting into the cat food (twice) and the cat liter box...*gag*.  I have forgotten too quickly that I have to watch everything now.

He loves being mobile - and you can tell.  His attitude, for the most part, is happy because life is so much better for him!  He loves going after everything Haylie has and it is driving her CRAZY!  She is learning how to be a big sister, whether she likes it or not!

Don't worry though.  She has plenty to do...like styling her own hair.

 I literally did not help with one of those barrettes.

WW:Week 1

Week one of participating in Weight Watchers has come and gone.  I'm excited to say...I lost 5 lbs!  That's really exciting and helped my motivation go up at least a notch or two.  I was able to go walk/run at least 3 times since Justin was home on break. This week so far has proven more difficult to get that in...along with not feeling great.  So, I'll jump back on the workout wagon next week when the kids go back to school.

I was intimidated to go grocery shopping, thinking my bill was going to triple (since, you know, I'm buying healthy food now) but it was less than anticipated ANNND I was still able to get lots of items at ALDI (which is a must!)  I made some delicious muffins that were an easy breakfast and had awesome, filling sandwiches for lunch (turkey+cucumber+pesto=love).  I was full from both of those that I didn't need snacks in between! I've even been able to eat dessert, as long as I kept my portions in control.

Dinners I have kept pretty easy so far.  Turkey burgers, steaks & sweet mashed potatoes, grilled chicken & lots of fruits and veggies.  This week I'm venturing out in the recipe world for more put together casseroles and main dishes.  Last night I tried this and almost burned them.  They were still okay...but I don't know that I'd want to use high points on a small portion like I did.

Week one was a success!

11 months and counting...

1.2.13

Happy 11 months, Jace!  (Only a day late, I'm getting better!)

In one short month, I will no longer technically have a baby! The thought just struck me that I better get on planning his birthday party...this time last year I was having a baby shower and thinking I would have him at any minute - joke was certainly on me when I finally chose to be induced a month later.

My sweet Jace is now enjoying being mobile by backwards pushing and getting into everything.  He is on the verge (how many weeks have we said this?!) of crawling and is finally putting some of the motions together.  It helps we mostly have wood floors because he literally can slide everywhere. **Update - Jace crawled for the first time last night at church!!** 

No real verbal words yet, but he has a way of yelling to let you know what his wishes are.  It usually involves food.

This past month for him has included a lot of sickness - and I'm hoping that we will have a more healthy upcoming month and year.  He constantly has a runny nose and cough but we just wipe snot, sanitize and keep going.  We got to celebrate with him his first Christmas, which was fun but he didn't know it was a holiday so we just tried to keep him on his schedule as best we could.

And the countdown to 1 begins...

Resolutions

It's one thing to know you need to lose weight, it's another to put it on the interweb for all to read.  Either way, last Thursday I started Weight Watchers. The best response I got so far was, "Like you need that!" (Thanks Aunt Amy.)  Truth is, I am so tired of none of my clothes fitting, eating foods that just made me more tired, and just generally not feeling comfortable in my skin.  Instead of waiting for the New Year, I decided just to jump right in.  I know myself and if I wasn't going to start that day, then I wasn't going to start at all.  I had to go grocery shopping that night because I didn't have much to eat that wouldn't exceed my points!  (That will give you an idea of all the junk in our house.)

And so far...I love it!! I really do enjoy finding these new foods that make me feel fuller, longer.  I love having more energy and I love knowing that if I want to go use my treadmill, my husband will watch the kids for me.  It's also wonderful to know what I'm eating won't add more inches and I'm also learning that maybe I might like some things I turned my nose up at before.  But let's not talk about that.

Anyway, I'm hopeful I will make some progress.  I only fell off the wagon one night and that was New Years Eve...but seriously...who can resist a table full of Chinese food?!  (And I counted all my points.)

So, I guess my only resolution (that started early) is to get more healthy...and that's it.  Oh and doing something in the Oklahoma City Marathon this year - 5K, relay, half...I'm not quite sure which.  Now, that's it.

Justin said his resolution is spending more time with the family - which I love!

Keep us accountable, friends.  We will need it!

Last Week of 2012

More adventures I can't resist sharing.

SNOW!!

             

Playing with cousins - these girls ran circles all night!! They were literally a blur...



and realizing you can see yourself in ornaments!

Mommy & Jacers cuddle time

Trying to get a picture of all his teeth... Attempts 1, 2 & 3

The best we got :)

And learning how to do home repairs.

We have been quite busy as most are over the holidays.  Lots of time spent with family over the last week or so.  Last night we rung in the new year with our good friends, the Clarks, playing a 4 hour game (I don't think I'm exaggerating too much) of Settlers of Catan and eating ourselves silly in Chinese food!  It was a nice, relaxing evening.

2013 promises new changes and goals.  Maybe we should make some. 

Happy New Year!!