Are those ear plugs? (Abigail update)

Ok, so this post is a sort of update on what my oldest has been up to lately.  She is 7 almost 8 years old and often times she seems to fly under the radar because she doesn't need me quite as much as the boys do.  I do feel guilty sometimes, like I've totally ignored her all day because Jackson takes about every ounce of energy I have.

Austin, my 5 year old doesn't get as much attention as Jack either, but Austin is more of a loner type.  He doesn't need or crave a whole lot of interaction from others.  Wow, I don't want to make him sound like a hermit or socially awkward or anything because he's not.  It's just that he can entertain himself more easily than Abigail or Jack can.

Anyway, so here is a little update on what my funny girl has been up to lately.

Back in May she had her dance recital.  She did such a great job.  She took Ballet and Tap this year.

For the entire month of June she went to Art Camp 5 days a week from 8:30-11:30.  She loved it, but it wasn't super easy getting myself and three kids up every morning during the summer to bring her and pick her up from camp every day, but it was worth it.  They had their Art Show yesterday.

She did a lot more pieces, but I didn't take a picture of them all.

The of art camp was South of the Border.

They had these funny little mustaches for people to have. 

 Abigail and Austin were cracking up at themselves.  

One of the things Abigail and I have been talking about a lot lately is being healthy.  Let me just preface this next topic by pointing out that in no way am I putting Abigail on a diet, it's all about being more healthy.  

One undesirable trait that I passed down to my daughter is the love of food.  My girl loves to eat.  She loves all types of food and would eat every hour if she could.  

In the past year her body has changed a little.  She has gotten thicker and has a little bit of a pouchie belly.  She has already voiced to me her concerns, and told me she thinks she's fat.  It breaks my heart!!

I really hoped to not have to deal with this until like teenager time, but here it is.  I do my best to encourage her and tell her she is not fat, but maybe we could be healthier and exercise more as a family.  We've made some new rules around the house about asking before getting snacks and playing outside more.  

I've also been encouraging her to stop eating when she feels full and that she doesn't have to eat every bite off her plate.  

She is also short for her age, which doesn't help. There is so much pressure out there for young girls to look a certain way, even at 8 years old.  Body complexes and eating disorders are on the list of a mothers worst nightmare.  

What I don't want to do is act like I'm in denial that she is a tad bit overweight for her age and if not dealt with properly can turn in to a lot overweight really quickly and there are so many health risks for obese children.  

It's a fine line trying to encourage Abigail to eat healthy and exercise without making her feel like there is something wrong with her.  I hate that she is having to go through this already at such a young age.  I just pray that God will help me to say and do the right things to help her.  

Let's end this post with a laugh shall we?

The kids and I were watching TV the other day when a Tampax commercial came on.  It had a lady swimmer on the commercial.  Towards the end of the commercial Abigail turns to me and asks:

"Are those ear plugs or something?"

Hahaha

Luckily I was quickly distracted by Jackson and couldn't really answer her and she didn't ask again.  

It won't be long until Abigail and I need to have some serious talks about some serious things and I'm not super excited about it.  She will be 8 years old in September and starts 3rd grade this year.  I was sort of thinking that maybe next summer would be the time for "the talk".  I don't want her to learn from kids at school and the kids at school know WAY TOO MUCH, WAY TOO YOUNG!!  

Anyway, what do y'all think?  

When did you give your kids the talk /or when do you plan on giving your kids the talk?

Austin's M&M, Jackson's sick, and closing update

Funny quick story..

Austin came into my room last night and told me he had an M&M with a peanut on the inside and he liked it.  He normally doesn't like anything with nuts.

 I told him that was awesome and asked him when he had a peanut M&M.  He said he found it under the TV and wanted to know if we had any more???

 LOL I have no idea when the last time we had peanut M&M's in the house.  He didn't get sick or anything so it must not have been too old.

Well, I love that kid.  Thank goodness for my two silly, happy fun big kids that make me laugh.  Jackson lately has been no fun at all.  He's been running fever for a few days now and started screaming about anything that makes him mad.  He's got this cross between a scream and a yell that just makes me want to pull my hair out.  I'm thinking another doctor visit might be in our future.  I seriously just want to fast forward to when Jackson is 4 years old.  I'm so over this baby/toddler age.

Oh last but not least we found out our closing date has been moved back from June 28 to July 19.  Geeze louise!!  Oh well, what can you do?  These things happen.  We now have to live in a half empty house for almost another month, but we'll survive.

Sorry no pictures, maybe next time I'll have a picture of my bald spot from pulling my hair out!!!

what's been going on????

a lot actually!!!

-We are under contract and are supposed to close on our house Friday, but it's looking to be pushed back so we'll see.  I'm beyond ready for us to be out of this house.  Even though that requires us moving in with my parents for a little while, yikes!!  

-We have also been looking at houses and think we might have found one.  It's in our price range, in a great neighborhood, nice shaded and fenced in back yard, three bedrooms and 1.5 baths.  The half bath is one of down falls, but we knew we would have to sacrifice some things when down sizing.  The house is also 61 years old which would require a lot of updating, but Brent and I are actually pretty excited about that.  We don't mind projects.  I've been watching the DIY network a lot ever since looking at the house.  I'm already scheming and planning projects in my mind.  It would make for some fun blog posts too.

-Everything is still very much up in the air and uncertain, which can be quite stressful to a person with my type of personality.  

-In the midst of all this chaos, we went on a mini-vacation this weekend.  We stayed at a local camp grounds called Yogi Bears Jellystone Park.  It was a fun weekend.  They had tons of kid oriented activities.  We were exhausted when we left, but it was a good kind of exhausted.  

*****Warning Picture Overload Ahead*****

Well hopefully in my next post I will have a few less uncertainties and more direction on where and when we will be moving!!

weight loss update

It's been a while, but here's the skinny of me trying to become skinny.

The last time I mentioned my weight on my blog was back in April and I was 184.  I pretty much stuck there throughout the month of May.

Two weeks ago I started Insanity and I was weighing 185.  I am now back down to 182.

So in case your math is bad that's 3 pounds. 

I also lost 2.5 inches.  

 It's been tough getting up early, like 5:30!!!! but it's the only time I can.  I have to take Abigail to art camp in the mornings at 7:45, so I like to be able to do my workout, which lasts anywhere from 40 minutes to 1 hour, cool down, and shower before we leave.  Not to mention I have to get everybody dressed and out the door. I know myself well enough to know that if I don't get my workout done first thing in the morning then I wont every get it done.  

My motivation was recently renewed while trying on clothes and realizing I was down a size!!!!  I love that feeling.  

Who doesn't love that??!!

super easy, delicious, few ingredient type recipes

In an effort to cook more and save money because I'm unemployed now, I've turned to my trusty old Pinterest for some new easy recipes.  I've tried two so far and really enjoyed them both.

This first one was sooo easy and tasted really yummy!  

You can click on the link below or follow my easy instructions.

Taco Bake 

Brown your ground meat as usual and then add your packet of taco seasoning and however much water it indicates on the packet.  Prepare as usual. 

When that's ready you add a half a cup of salsa con queso, which is cheese dip by the way.  I didn't know that. Thank goodness the link has pictures.

Then you put a tortilla at the bottom of your pan, add a third of your meat mixture, then sprinkle cheese on top of that.  Continue with the layers until you've got three tortillas. 

Pop that baby in the oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes.  

It should come out looking like this and be wonderfully delicious.  It didn't last long in our house.

Next time we are going to add some corn in it somewhere.  We are all about adding corn to our Mexican dishes, oooh the fiesta corn would be perfect.  

The other pinterest recipe I tried recently was for slow cooker cheesy chicken and rice.  I'm all about the pins that have pictures of the ingredients and have very few ingredients.  I didn't take any pictures of myself cooking this one, so you can find that recipe by clicking here.

I never realized how yummy the Zatarain's Yellow Rice was!!  I could eat that all by itself, or maybe I did?

So if your looking for super easy, delicious, few ingredient type recipes, you should give these two a try.  

I would love to know some of y'alls super easy, delicious, few ingredient type of recipes as well.  

continuing on

Our lives are still pretty much in upheaval right now, but we are so busy that I haven't had much time to dwell on it.  I've had fleeting thoughts that maybe I just don't have the time or energy to put into my blog anymore.  Maybe I should call it quits.  But then I get the urge to write again, so here I am.

Abigail started art camp this week, which starts at 8:30 every morning and lasts until 11:30.  It runs for almost the whole month of June, so no sleeping in for us.  Not that I would be sleeping in anyway since I've started Insanity the early morning is the best time for me to workout.

We also have VBS at our church this week.  I'm teaching Kindergarten and I'm LOVING IT!   They are all so sweet and excited to be there.  I love that!  Our VBS verse is one of my all time favorites, 2 Timothy 1:7.

LOVE IT!  

Abigail held the Bible the first night during the pledge to the Bible.

Then Austin got to hold it the second night.  He was so proud of himself!

Abigail had her dance recital last weekend.  I've got more, better quality photos, but they are still on my camera.  Isn't that usually how it goes?

She danced so beautifully.  She really loves dance.  I think it might be her thing!

I've packed a total of 4 boxes so far.  I just can't get into the whole packing thing.  I know I'll probably be scrambling here come the end of June, but that's ok.  I pack well under pressure.

My little helper could be another reason I haven't packed very much yet.

Well that's all for now!  I've got a few ideas for future posts, so hopefully I won't lose my motivation to blog between now and tomorrow.  

See ya later alligator!