It feels like Spring!

As my regular readers (parents and grandparents) might know, we've been trying to sell our house for going on 10 months now.  After the first few months it was pretty discouraging that we hardly had any showings and absolutely no bites.  

However, as time passes we grow more and more used to it.  I've pretty much given it over to God and when it happens it happens.

In the mean time we've decided to try and spruce things up a bit, particularly the front of our house.  Actually we started last spring, but haven't done much since.  Check out what we did last spring by clicking here.

So this weekend we headed to Lowe's and bought some big flower pots and some Azaleas.  

The kids had fun helping Daddy.

We put them on the sides of our eyesore/swing.

Our next plan of attack is to buy a cute little bench to put in the place of this big green monstrosity.  

We are making baby steps. 

I just hope we don't kill our new potted friends.

Do you see how filthy our bricks are near the ground??  

We have tried pressure washing and it didn't help at all.  

Any suggestions?

The weather has been sooo nice and spring like lately.  

This little guy is obsessed with playing outside.  Which I wouldn't mind, except for the fact that I have to follow him everywhere because he only wants to do things he's not big enough to do on his own.  

Oh and just for fun, didn't you know that dipping your goldfish in yogurt is totally delish!!

It is for this guy anyway!!

Car wash Yeah!

Brent had to work all day Saturday, so the kids and I were on our own!

He had planned on washing my car this weekend, so the kids and I decided to surprise him and wash the car ourselves.

The kids loved it! 

Jackson even got in on it!!

He was sooo cute washing with his hand.

Abigail just wanted to get the wet the whole time.

Austin was a good helper.

Yummy bubbles!!

Productive and Fun!!

weigh in ~ advice needed ~ cuteness

Third weigh in today and I lost 1.6 pounds!!

My new weight is 189.4!!!

I was a little worried that maybe I didn't lose anything, because I only exercised one time this week.  Thursday evening and went walking/jogging using my Couch to 5k app.  I really enjoy it, but it's hard to find the time.  Now that our weather is warming up a bit, I might be able to jog through the neighborhood more often. 

I thought I was going to die during the last few minutes of my  jog!!

I am so pumped to be in the 180's!!  I'm hoping since I'm blogging about it and putting it out there for the whole world to see that I won't mess up!!  I really don't ever want to be in the 190's again!

I just noticed how many exclamation points I've used so far.  I will try and scale back a bit.

On a completely different note, Jackson has been extremely defiant and hard headed lately.  On top of that he is not sleeping well.  I'm walking on egg shells around him lately.  He did have a virus early this week, but the only symptom was a fever and it was gone within 48 hours.  I guess it's just a phase.  A phase I'd rather skip!

His sleeping bad is nothing new lately.  For the past month he's been waking up at odd hours for no apparent reason, other than to make our lives miserable.  He is not usually grumpy, just awake.  Usually it's around 4 am and Brent or I would go get him and just put him in bed with us.  But 9 times out of 10 he wouldn't go back to sleep.  He would lay between us, drink his bottle, flip and turn back and forth, and talk and talk and talk.  

Finally, last night we decided that we would stop putting him in bed with us.  We would just let him cry it out, like we did when we stopped rocking him.  

Well this morning instead of 4 am, he woke up at 2:45.  So I stick to my guns and I let him cry it out.  I know there is nothing wrong with him and there's no reason he should be awake.  After 45 minutes I decide to go bring him a bottle and rock him a little.  

I can't sleep if I know he is up crying.  So I rock him about 10 minutes and he snoring.  As soon as I lay him down he wakes up and cries for another hour before he passes out.  

I'm not sure what to do.  I prayed constantly for the entire two hours I was up listening to him.  

Brent and I both work and have to get up early and we are just at the end of our rope.  All this just started in December.  Before that he slept great!!  We have regular bedtime routine every night.

Any advice is welcome!

Thank goodness he is soooo cute!!

He can slide down by himself now pretty well. 

Yummy fruit gummies in the dirt!!

I just let him eat them too!  

 A little dirt never hurt anybody!

Can you tell he's my third child?? 

After 3 you stop caring quite as much about stuff like that.

Seriously though I will take any advice from anyone who has been through this kind of thing before.  

Full weekend!!

We had a great long weekend!

It started out with a slow lazy Saturday morning. 

Yummy fruit smoothie for breakfast!!

Abigail and Jackson watching cartoons drinking their smoothies too!

Playing with magnet blocks!

Saturday was also Brent's 29th birthday! 

Silly faces!!

 Playing outside for the first time in weeks!!  

For Brent's birthday lunch we went to a local Mexican restaurant and it was yummy!!

Jackson was enjoy his first chips and cheese dip!!

 After birthday lunch we headed to my niece's first birthday party.  

Her actual birthday was the day before.

 It's hard to believe she's already 1!!

She had a Yo Gabba Gabba themed party!  

She and Jackson both love Yo Gabba Gabba.

Opening presents!!

When my brother and sister-in-law were decorating for the party they threw this in for Brent, since it was his actual birthday.  

She enjoyed her cake!!

So, that was all on Saturday!  I'm tired just typing about it.  

After the party we took ALL 3 kids to spend the night at Brent's mom's house.  It was so nice to be totally kid free for an entire night.  Jackson usually doesn't stay the night, but now that he's older and sleeping pretty well, I'm hoping that will change soon.  

We didn't do much on Sunday and did even less on Monday.  

It was pretty nice.

Can't wait until our next 3 day weekend!!

Biggest Loser Weigh-in 2

Yay for weight loss!!!

So today was our first lose or gain weigh in for our Biggest Loser competition at work, and everyone did great!!

There are 17 participants in our competition and we lost a total of 50.4 pounds this week as a group!!

I lost 3 pounds this week, which I am totally thrilled about.  I was very strict with my calories with the help of MyFittnessPal app.  I didn't get a chance to really exercise this week, so imagine what I could have lost if I had.  

I was also very proud of myself for holding out and not weighing myself all week.  Honestly, I was scared of getting discouraged in the middle of the week so that helped me avoid the scale. 

So my new weight starting week two is 191 pounds!

I'm really hoping to get in the 180's this week and and say goodbye to the 190's forever.  I've been stuck in the 190's for almost a year now and just plain sick of them. 

I'm also hoping to get at least three workouts in this week.  

Here is a little inspiration for the week.  

Good advice!!

my baby thinks he's a big boy

Jackson is now 17 months old, but he thinks he's about 3 or 4 years old.  

This is his latest trick.  He can climb into the tall chairs at the bar. 

 Can you say accident waiting to happen???

He is so proud of himself though.  He is just like big brother.

 Jack Jack also thinks he should be riding Austin's big bike instead of his tricycle.  Which makes me a nervous wreck the whole time waiting for him to fall over.  All he can do is sit on it and rock back and forth until it moves.  He throws a major fit when you take him off.

He has started showing a little interest in TV.  I'm actually happy about this.  I don't want him watching television non stop, but it's a nice distraction every once in a while, when I'm trying to get something done.  

So far he likes watching Yo Gabba Gabba and The Backyardigans. 

It's hard to believe he is one month away from being 18 months!!  That's only six months away from being 2 years old.  

Honestly though I am ready for him to get a little older.  I'm not wishing away his babyhood, but once they get around 2-2.5 they get a little easier to communicate with and they understand so much more.  

My little goofball!!

Biggest Loser Week 1

It's that time of year again!

We all want to lose weight, eat healthy, get fit, and just feel better.

Last year I organized a biggest loser competition where I work.  We all paid 10 dollar to enter and a dollar each week that we gained weight.  Every Friday for about 8 weeks we did this.

I lost about 10 pounds last year, which I was happy with, but haven't lost a single pound since then. 

Today we start again.  

Losing weight is sooooo difficult for me.  I love food!

I always joke that I don't eat to live, I live to eat!

One of my goals for the year is to lose 20-30 pounds.  My plan of attack is to work out 3 or 4 times a week, using my Couch to 5K app and counting my calories using MyFittnesspal app.  I'm trying to be more realistic with my goals.  I always feel like I should be losing 2-3 pounds a week, but I'm going to be satisfied with 1 pound a week.  As long as the numbers are going down I will be happy.  

I'm going to do my best not to be obsessive about it.  I'm only going to weigh once a week.  

And for extra accountability, I'm going to keep y'all updated on my progress each week.

This weeks weight: 194 pounds

Yikes!!!

I'm not quite brave enough to post a picture of myself in biker shorts and sports bra like some bloggers.  It took a lot just to post my weight for the world to see.  

Posting pictures takes some serious guts, that I don't have.  

Have a good weekend and eat a piece of chocolate cake for me!!

Staying Positive in January

January is usually my least favorite month, but this year I'm trying to stay positive. 

So obviously, when I saw Asha's link up I had to join in!!

We've had some good things happen so far this January, so hopefully that will continue.

It's been a while since my last randomness post, so here ya go....

Here is Jack sporting his new, super cute, beaver hat.

Jackson and Daddy snuggling on the couch.  He is still so attached to his bottle.  It's going to be a battlefield around here when we decided to take away the bottle.  

I'm in no hurry!!

Austin is student of the month for his pre-k class this month.
This is hanging on the bulletin board outside his classroom.
He is so proud!

A miracle has occurred, Austin ate a vegetable.  

If you are new here you may not have read about how picky of an eater Austin is, but believe me when I say he is in category all his own.

Not only did he eat corn, he ate a whole entire helping of it!!

This just made me laugh!!

If you haven't checked out all the hilarious Ermahgerd pictures, you should definitely google it.

Family Photo Shoot

We have literally been planning this photo shoot for a year.  Last Christmas, we were sitting around and talking about how needed to take family pictures with my friend and co-worker who shoots pictures on the side. 

 

So we planned for when my two nieces would be in town and these are the results. 

 

Love them!!

 

 The whole gang!!

 Nana and Papa with their six grandbabies.

 

 

 Isn't this pose cool? 

Not your traditional group shot.

 

 

 My good looking crew!!

My brother and his four girls!!

 

 

 

 Kelsie and Grant, the newlyweds

 

 

The ones who started it all, my parents!

 

 

It's become sort of a family tradition for us to take jumping pictures. 



 

LOL!!!