Graduation

Well, we knew this day would come, but we didn't think it would come so soon. Our youngest has graduated...from preschool that is. It was a pretty traumatic day for her. Even though we got the calander marking the last day of preschool and we talked about it, she was totally unprepared for preschool to end. While the kids were outside, the teacher talked about how much she would miss the kids and started tearing up. She said normally she doesn't cry until after all the kids have left, but Faith started crying in class and that got her started. They were talking about how they would have new teachers and noticed tears streaming down Faith's cheeks. Faith said she didn't want new teachers, she wanted to stay with them. AWWWWWW! I said that's nothing, she has been crying everyday since you sent the calander home. I am happy to report she is crying less. She still mentions her teachers daily, but we are trying to get her more excited for kindergarten. Seems to be working.

Birthday Chaos

My 2 youngest childrens birthday's are a week apart. So I got the brilliant idea to throw a double birthday party for them. We chose a local skating rink

that also has a bounce zone,
a jungle jim

and laser tag, because of course kids of all ages like these things. I figured, I would get this overwith at once, I wouldn't have to clean up and both my children would be happy. So after 10 8-9 year olds and 6 5 year olds showed up, the party began. It all started out innocent enough with everyone sitting down to eat pizza. The kids were good, happy, enjoying pizza and all was well with the world. After pizza we turned them loose. Now we had a few adults there, as well as older children to help keep track of all the kids, because I knew they would not stay together. But the mother in me, had to know where every child was and that there were no kids sneaking outside or into other peoples parties. So I spent the majority of the party, walking from area to area trying to keep track of all these kids. I think I got my 10,000 steps in for the day during those 3 hours. I helped smaller children go to the bathroom, locate lost shoes, pick up kids who fell on their skates until it was time for cake. YAY!!!


All in all, it was a good party. Kids left happy, with everything they came with, minus presents, there were no injuries, and noone was lost. My children got presents they loved and had a great time with all their friends, cousins and sibilings. Thanks to everyone that came.

JJ

A friend of mine has the cutest little boy. He was born with an Omphalocele. His liver was born on the outside of his body. He will be 3 in August and has been waiting to be a good size so that he can have his closure surgery. He finally has reached that, but now they are without insurance to pay for it. Please check out his blog, and if you can do anything to help, even and especially prayers, I know they would be grateful.
www.teamhelpjj.blogspot.com

Weight Update

I haven't gone and weighed in yet, but according to my home scale, I am have lost a grand total of 59 1/2 lbs. YAY!!!!
Weight Loss Tip- Exercise withing an hour of waking up. You burn more fat if you start of eating protien and exercising within that first hour.

America, The Beautiful

My oldest son had the opportunity to participate in a concert with 11 other schools from our state, at Symphony Hall. The final song that all the schools sang was America the Beautiful. There were at least 500 students, maybe closer to 750. There is only one school that you can see on stage, the rest are sitting in the first 20-30 rows in the audience. It brought tears to my eyes, to hear our children singing this song. During a time, when it seems our country is struggling, this song helps me to remember, how blessed we are to live in America. I am so grateful for the Freedoms we have here, and know that we have them because of the men and women that fought for our freedoms and died for them. Both my Grandfathers served in WW2, my father was in the Army, my husband in the Marines, and my youngest brother currently serves in the Navy. How grateful I am for men like them, that are willing to defend the freedoms that God intended this country to have. I only got half of the song, before my battery died, but I hope you can feel the love and reverence for our country that these children sang with.

OH MY!

This is what happens when you let dad dress the kids for school. I don't know if you can see it well in the picture, but the shirt is turquoise with stripes of hearts of different colors, the too short shorts are blue, with like a pink wash and flowers, and the shoes, are light blue, not turquoise. Her hair is in the same do it was the night before, just the back brushed and pulled back and some pink and purple flowers added. Isn't it lovely?

Weight Update

Well, I weighed in today. I have lost a total of 54 lbs in 12 weeks. My new jeans that I bought a month ago, are now fairly loose on me. I am so excited. When I started this diet I really didn't believe that I would even be able to lose this much. I still have quite a ways to go, and I know that the more I lose, the harder it is going to get. But my eating habits have changed so much, so I actually have hope that I can meet my goal. Maybe not by the time I want to, but I believe I will reach it.
I have come to realize that I don't eat when I am sad or happy, but when I am stressed out and tired. Working graveyards it is very easy to eat to stay awake, but now I make sure I stop eating by 4 am, which is about 4 hours before I go to bed. This has made a huge difference.