It's Official : I'm in Plateau City!

Hi folks.  It's been over a week since I last posted as pointed out by my dear friend Erica.  (Hi E!!! This one's for you!)  She is a faithful reader of this blog of mine and finds no issues pointing out when I am a slacker.  I love her for it.

My blog isn't my top priority in life.  Therefore, I go several days or even a week or more without posting.  And then when I do, the post might lack photos.  Like today.

But I digress..... 

I'm still on my plateau of weight loss.  Which is better than gaining and it's actually pretty great considering how lax I have been with tracking my WW points lately.  Seriously I need to get back to tracking better.  I hope that'll happen after vacation.  Maybe even before vacation.  Although, I do plan to completely slack during my vacation.  I will still watch what I eat, but there will be definite times of naughtiness in that department.

Life with the fam is the same, with one major difference.  Steph and Ryan have closed on their house and they are officially home-owners!!!  Since Tuesday, there has been mucho cleaning, painting and house preparations going on.  We have been there the past two nights helping with whatever we can help with and they had their carpets cleaned last night.  The house already looks a ton different/better and I cannot wait for them to officially be moved in.  They are moving all of their stuff tomorrow!

I have been doing the Couch to 5k program for the past couple of weeks.  I'm on week 3 right now, tomorrow is my last day of week 3.  I am confident that I will continue this program whilst on vacation.  At least thats what I'm telling myself. 

We leave next week and I couldn't be more excited.  Camping with family, a short trip to St. Louis, then off to Ohio for some more family fun. 

Tim has broken his ankle.  He did it while umpiring.  Andrew is working like crazy, and Cooper is still cute.

I think that wraps up the family news - *hopefully* I'll be back more regularly with updates.  *hopefully*

Have a great day, friends!

Monkey Joe's for Max's 3rd Birthday

I love birthdays.  I love holidays.  I love celebrations.  Anything to spend time not at work and with those that I love is awesome to me.  So when Cooper’s friend Max invited him to Monkey Joe’s to celebrate his third birthday, we said yes without hesitation. 

Max’s mom, Jill, works with Tim and me.  Max and Cooper are roughly 4 months apart in age.  Max and Cooper go to the same babysitter (at least until August).  They are great buddies.  Max is super cute when he calls Cooper “Coopy” and Cooper is pretty darn cute when he tries to say Max.  He isn’t great with those x’s yet. 

Monday was the big day.  We were going to pick the boys up early and head to Monkey Joe’s for a bounce house playdate.  My, oh my, did those boys have fun!  I cannot wait to take them back there together again. 

Since Max is older, wiser, and more adventurous than Cooper, he taught Cooper how to be a bit more independent  on the bounce house slides – which was great for Tim and me, because we didn’t have to carry him up those stairs this time!  Score!

We stayed for about an hour and a half, just enough time to wear those little legs out!  I’ve got tons of pictures, so bear with me as I inundate you with them now….

The first bounce we call the "warm up zone" because it's for toddlers and it's filled with lots of fun animals.  dinosaurs, alligators, lobsters and other fun creatures.  They stayed in there about 2 minutes before moving on.

 Like I said, about 2 minutes...  Next was one that had two slides and some tunnels.  Tim and Jason (Max's dad) went in with the boys.  Cooper was pretty hesitant at first, but once he warmed up, it was all fun and games from there. 

Tim carried Cooper up the first slide.  After that, he did those stairs himself.  I wasn't about to fall carrying him this time, he's getting too big for that!!  Look at that Max, he's so patient waiting climbing those stairs so slowly so that Tim can get Cooper up there...

 They finally got up there!

Two seconds later they were down again!

Looks like Tim had just as much fun as Cooper to me.

Then it was my turn.  Please ignore my crazy eyes, I get this way when  excited. 

Cooper's first time down the slides all by himself.  He looks a tad bit scared.

We knew everything was okay when he got off that slide with this face.

There they go again.  Look at those little legs making those giant steps!

How cute is this guy?  He was a happy camper after his plunge downward!

They finally moved onto the next bounce house, this one looked like a pirate ship on the outside and had a treasure chest and sail column inside.  The slide though, looks like all the rest.  This one wasn't as tall, and they both seemed to enjoy it just as well.

Jill was the first adult to try this slide out.  I think she slid right into that sail column, and then the rest of us did too....

Tim's face right before he hit that column!

My turn!  Oh, and Cooper went with me too!  We held hands as we went down. :)

Back to the warm up zone for a little break!  And time to tackle some animals. 

Moving right along to yet another...  Look at that happy face.

On this one, they "fought" each other with these posts.  They did a lot of falling all over one another.

Then, it was time to get ready to go.  Someone was showing how much fun they had.... And someone was not too happy it was time to go home.  Can you tell which is which?  HMMMMMM.....

One last thing before we left.  Max's present!  We got him a bubble bucket and a huge thing of bubbles.  If you've got a small child and they like bubbles, I highly recommend these bubble buckets.  They don't let the bubbles spill if the bucket is tipped over.  The only way I've gotten them tll is by turning the bucket completely over for 30+ seconds.  Whoever created this thing was a genius!

Woah, I told you I had a lot of pictures!  If you made it this far, you deserve a medal!

Happy Hump Day Everyone!!

Weekend Review

Happy Tuesday folks!  I’m wrapping up our weekend today, because it was such a good one, it took me a day to recover and get back to the blogging world.

Friday night we didn’t do a whole lot, which was nice.  Played with Cooper and hung around with Andrew some. 

Saturday morning we slept in a bit, then Cooper and I got ready to head south to visit with family.  The little man and me were going to a picnic with Dad, his ladyfriend Gwen and dad’s side of the family and Gwen’s family.  We got to see my grandpa and my Kieran (my step-grandma who is the only grandma I’ve ever known on my dad’s side of the family).  They are a hoot and I just treasure time with them.   It was a lot of fun.  Cooper and Layne played a lot – those boys are just too cute together.  We had lots of good food, fun and chasing after two little boys.  Here are several pictures.



Look at those cheeks,  he was pretty hot!




Layne loves his sunglasses!





My pretty niece, Larissa.




Cute Boys!





My Dad helping to balance out the teeter totter.



After the picnic, I took Layne, Larissa and Cooper to my Mom’s house.  We were all spending the night there – the kids had a great time playing together as usual.  They were really sweaty by the end of the night, so Layne and Cooper got in the bathtub together.  Nana always spoils them rotten.

Now these next couple of pictures crack me up.  Larissa and Layne sleep in the same bed while at Nana's and check them out.....  Notice anything???

My first question is.... Where Larissa?  Then.... why is Layne laying against the wall like that???  Well, we'll never know, but when we had decided to head to bed a couple of hours after the kids, we were checking in on these two and this is what we found.  I took the pictures with my phone, so they are crappy iphone flash quality, but goodness, these silly kids.

Sunday morning was Week 1: Day 3 of my couch to 5k.  I tried doing it on my mom’s treadmill, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t make it work well, so I hit the pavement.  The gravel pavement out in the boonies….  Did I mention the HILLY gravel pavement???  No, well it was, hilly.  But…. I made it, I survived and I was darn proud of myself.

After that, I was texting back and forth with Tim, so Cooper and I decided to send him a picture of us.  I curled my hair with my mom's skinny flat iron.  I got the idea from Mama Laughlin and had wanted to try it, but not spend the money on a smaller flat iron until I knew I would like it.....  Well, now I have something else to go buy, cause I loved it!

Sunday was my brother’s birthday, so we had a luncheon to celebrate.  My SIL’s birthday is the 24^th, so we celebrated her birthday too.  They shared one cake though, because they are both doing weight watchers and really wanted to not over-indulge.  We had a lot of fun.  Eating, kids playing, and then Craig and Shawn got their remote controlled trucks out.  It was pretty cool to see how much these trucks can handle; they were flipping them and crashing them like crazy.  They go superfast too.  Made me want one, lol…..  My grandma made it over for cake and ice cream too.  It was so good to see her.  I just love my grandparents so much.  I am so lucky to have them.

Here are more pictures of playing on Sunday, the birthdays and some poses... 

Me, Grandma and Mom

Craig with his car remote.

Shawn, Mom and Coop

Hope you enjoyed my weekend photos.  It was a good one, that is until I had to return home to laundry, cleaning and the dreaded work on Monday.... UGH.

It's almost humpday!  Yippie!! 

Progress Report: 2012 Goals

I posted at the beginning of the year about having goals for this year.  And since it’s nearly the 6^th month of the year, I want to do a check in on these goals.  So here goes….

{1}  Lose Weight & Get Healthy.  – The day I wrote that this was a goal for 2012, I had no idea what that would entail for me.  I knew I was starting Weight Watchers.  I knew I wanted to start exercising again.  But, I had no idea what that really meant at the time.  Now, I do.  I’ve lost 33.9 pounds since January 1, 2012.  I exercise at least 5 days per week, a lot of weeks I exercise 6 days.  I mostly just walk, around 4mph and I do it normally for an hour, but sometimes I do the elliptical and sometimes I bicycle and sometimes I jog.  I really miss days when I don’t exercise.  But I know my body needs rest, so I take some breaks.  Today, I will probably not exercise at all.  My foot is still hurting.  Same pain from before.  I’ve had 3 cortisone injections which didn’t work, and so now I’m having the nerve in my foot deadened.  This procedure is done with an alcohol based solution and I have injections done weekly for 7 weeks (to start) to deadened the nerve and stop my pain.  This week is week 2, injection #2 today.  So back to the goal.  I’m losing weight and I’m getting healthier.  I’m doing pretty good with this goal.

{2} Get Pregnant. – While this goal was not a goal just for 2012, it is still a goal.  I am still not pregnant, but I know this will come on God’s schedule, and his schedule is much better than mine.

{3} Get more involved in our church.  – I’ve done great with this goal so far too.  I’ve started working at the children’s welcome desk one Sunday per month.  This was a year commitment and I’m glad I signed up.  I still plan to get us into a membership class – hopefully the one that’s in July or August. 

{4} Read the Bible from cover to cover in 2012.  – Kiss this goal goodbye for another year.  I stopped reading daily back in late January.  Something came up one night while I was reading and I never finished.  Then I didn’t get back to it like I should have.  This is still something that I plan to do, just probably not in 2012.

I’m going to add one more in for 2012.

{5} Run a 5k race. – I have never done a race competitely – I’ve only done the Race for the Cure type races, and even though I won’t care about how well I do compared to others, I want to do one of these races.  I’m pretty sure I’ve talked Tim into doing one with me, and I’ve got my eye on this one.  I have a few more days to sign up for the early bird special and I plan on doing this.  I started the couch to 5k program last night, and I thought it was definitely do-able.  Since I’ve been walking and hour nearly every day, these 30 min couch to 5k days aren’t too bad.  The first time I did day 1 – back in 2011 – I thought I was going to die, and last night, I could have done a complete repeat of day 1 after I finished.  I feel good about that.

How are your 2012 goals/resolutions going?  I’d love to know if I’m the only one with 50% at this point in the year, lol.

Have a nice weekend folks!

Blessings & Things

Well ya'll, I really wanted to post yesterday as a WILW - but I got preoccupied and so today, I'm going to share with you things I'm loving this week, and a couple of people that I am so fortunate to have in my life. 

First the things.

This rose.  Stephanie got this for me for mother's day.  It's huge and gorgeous.  Please ignore the mess you see surrounding the rose, just focus on it's beauty.

This awesome food processor.  Oh goodness, if I had known how awesome food processors were, I would never have waited this long to have purchased one.  Whatever was I thinking when I thought I needed a blender?  No way, this thing can do everything a blender can do and MORE.  In lust with this thing girls, it's super cool and if I could take it with me everywhere, I just might.....  Again, please ignore the mess and focus on the food processor, thank ya!

Hummus.  Wow, what have I been missing all my life?!?!  This is my latest food addiction.  Roasted redpepper hummus.  I bought the kind below, then I made my own this week, both equally amazing.  Its delicious with carrots, crackers, chips, and just by the spoonful.  Yummo folks....

Now onto some really important folks who have been huge blessings in my life..... My best girlfriend Erica.  This lady is amazing and she is ALWAYS there for me whenever I need her.  She's funny, a weird music lover (we have completely opposite likes in music), fun, crazy girl who can cheer me up anytime I'm feeling blue.  Oh, and she's a great auntie to my Cooper.  She even lets the boy play her guitar.

Then there's this lady.  My Stephanie.  She's become so special to me in these 4 years that I've known her.  I love her like my own daughter and I am so proud of her.  She is a wonderful daughter, sister and friend.  She's such a good person and most importantly, she loves the Lord.  Soon Steph will be moving (about 30 min away) and I know we won't see her as much, and this saddens me, but I know the times we will see her will be more appreciated.  She's going to be a great mommy and I cannot wait to see her in that role come July! :) 



I'm blessed by these people, and I love these things.... I am thankful this Thursday..... How about you?