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!

uncertainty

I feel a little lost at the moment.  We are in a state of transition.  Things are a little uncertain, so I have trouble concentrating long enough to put together a blog post.  

I'm still here.

If you are the praying sort please send out a quick prayer for me and my family as we try and figure out where these transitions will lead us.  

We are selling our house, packing, trying to figure out where we will live, hopefully not be homeless in 45 days, and I quit my job.  

Lots of changes.

I'm trying to stay positive and not freak out about all the uncertainty.  I'm the plan it all out sort of girl, so this is a test for me.  It helps to know that God knows and has everything planned out for us, but it's easy to forget.  

On a side note, I'm slightly obsessed with this new app called a beautiful mess.  I'm pretty sure my facebook and instagram friends are tired of me filling up their news feed.

As you can tell from the pictures, our summer is starting off really nice.  The kids are being really good and it's not super hot outside ye,t so we've been playing outside and barbecuing a lot.  

I heart summer!

(even uncertain ones)

a lot has happened in 10 days

I just realized I've been absent from blog-land for 10 days.  So much has happened since I last posted, so here goes my attempt to get you caught up.

-Jackson started running fever last weekend.  Then diarrhea hit and then total and utter grumpiness stuck around until Friday.  It was not a fun week for him or us.  One reason for my absence this week.

-My sister, Kelsie and her husband graduated from College.

-I've been a little obsessed with this new app called A Beautiful Mess.  It has all sorts of fun ways to edit your phone pictures.  Below are some that I took while waiting for Kelsie's graduation to begin.

-Abigail and Austin had their awards days this week.

Austin got the Einstein Award for academic achievement.  

Abigail got awards for Banner Roll(straight A's) all year, she read 75 books, and had the most growth in reading Success Maker (computer program).  She grew from a 2.4 reading level to a 4.5 reading level.  

So proud of my smart babies.

Abigail and her teacher Mrs. Reed

Last day of 2nd Grade

-I am officially unemployed.  I walked out of school yesterday for the last time as a teacher.  It was scary, but exciting to think about what God has in store for my family.  I don't think it will feel really real until August, when everyone goes back to school but me.

-Softball and t-ball are over, thank goodness.  I love watching them play, but it's so time consuming.  We had games three or four nights a week.

Jack was not super easy during the evenings at the ball field, but we survived.

-Our house went under contract on Thursday.  We have 45 days to find a place to live before we are homeless.  This is another scary, yet exciting life change we are heading into.  A lot of praying for peace and faith happening in this house right now.  I know God's got this, but it's a little scary not being able to plan things out exactly how I think they ought to be.

-I started Insanity today.  My plan is to get up every morning at 6:30 to workout before the kids wake up.  I guess Jack knew my plan because he decided to wake up at 5:30 and get in bed with us, which he never does.  He went back to sleep though, but I couldn't, so I got up at 6:00 instead.  I've been running using my couch to 5k app and I'm almost finished.  I can run 28 minutes straight without stopping, which is about 2.5 miles for me.  I don't run super fast, but I'm proud of my progress.  I want to keep running a couple days a week even while doing Insanity.

Summer has officially begun and I hope yours is filled with fun and relaxation.  

I'm not sure ours will be, because of a certain little boys heading into his terrible twos, but I'm looking forward to it anyway.