a new me

I have made a goal to loose some weight and many many inches! I hope to follow through with this much better than my goal after C was born. I set a date for April/May to get to loose a dress size or 2. Having a 7 month old is making things a bit difficult but I am willing to try. Time crunch and nursing make it hard but I till do it!

Something I have found to make it a bit easier on myself is Dancing. Particularly a new dance game we picked up for our Wii, Just Dance is a fun way to work out and not realize it. I decided to start doing it for 1 hour a day (if time permits, and anyone with a baby knows how hard that can be at times). I plan on picking up more games since they have 3 of the teen/adult kind and 2 kid ones. We have the 1st teen/adult and just dance 2 kids. R and I have also discovered that its fun to do together so it may be a new way for us to work out together and have a "date" of sorts at the same time. According to an app on my phone an hour of doing it burns about 480 calories, so that combined with a diet R and I are planing on starting will hopefully work out!

I'm tired of feeling like I do about my body. Although I know most of what I need to change is inside and not the outside. I am planing on using these things as part of the new and improved me for this new year.

As for the inside, I'm planning on picking up some books to help myself heal from things that have gone on in the past. I won't go into details as to what they are, as they are mine to deal with. But know that I will be working on that as well.

I hope to change the way I feel about myself and the world around me. Join me on my journey to a new me, whether its just reading or doing something yourself. :)

updates on C

C is becoming quite an active little one :)

R and I agree that he's right in between A and G. He's a problem solver like A was but likes to do physical things like G did. He's not quite as strong in the areas as A and G were but he's his own person.

He was rolling to get every where but this last week has discovered a crawl of sorts, like a lazy army crawl. He's a big eater, green beans being the only food he doesn't like. He's our bet eater yet. He has found he can make the D sound and says "DaDaDa" all the time! He's a great sleeper and will fall asleep with almost no tears at night :) He loves his jumper and will try to jump if you hold him standing.

He loves playing with A and G and will look around for them with a worried face when he can't find them. He's always got a smile for daddy, and loves to sit on Daddy's lap or have Daddy feed him. He is also a very big flirt with all the girls he sees.

Its hard to believe he's 7 months old already time has flown by faster than ever before. Mom H wasn't kidding when she said time goes fast once you have more kids and one or more are in school. I'm trying to enjoy every moment because I know its not going to last forever.

I would post a picture of him if blogger would let me, but I cant so refer to facebook for any pictures of him.

Christmas 2011!

I don't know why blogger isn't letting me upload pictures :( I have so many fun pictures of Christmas... I'm going to load them on Facebook so just look for them there (I will get them up I just don't know when) :)

We started our Christmas the night before with watching the "Joy to the World" video that the Church sent out a few years ago. We wanted to make sure the kids remembered why we have Christmas. Then we sent them off to bed.

We ended up having to wake A up so that we could do Christmas presents before church. We opened presents and got lots of good fun stuff. A and G received mega blocks (I turned in pampers reward points for those), sand box toys, and other fun things from us. A also got barbie clothes and G a Buzz Lightyear pillow. I gave R more Lego Star Wars things and some Flamin' Hot Cheetos. He got a Star Wars Picture to hang in his office from friends A and M, Mom and Dad H gave him a Lego flashlight. my present from R is some really yummy smelling body butter ( white chocolate smell!), sugar scrub and some picture frames to put random family pictures in :) A and M gave me some pizza pans- that have been put to good use already, Mom and Dad H gave me an adorable cake tester! We also had family gifts of movies, games (THANK YOU M and M for the big box game you gave us! R seriously was jumping like a giddy school girl when he opened it up!). We got a nice electric griddle (with target gift cards) and a Blue ray player (swagbucks Amazon gift cards got us this almost for free!). I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but we got so much this year compared to most years I forget everything.

We had a yummy breakfast of "German waffles" - toaster waffles with chocolate pudding and whipped cream- and juice.

After breakfast we got dressed and went to church. instead of 3 hours of church we just has sacrament meeting. There was a wonderful program telling the Christmas story, an amazing choir, and Sister H signing Silent Night.At the end of the program I was able to go up and sign with other choir and sign class members, Sister H and the interpreters all 3 verses of Silent Night. I had to stop singing shortly after beginning due to starting to cry.

We came home and opened up stockings (candy puzzles a toy car -G and nail polish -A) changed clothes and started preparing lunch. We did an easy meal this year with all finger foods and cold stuff so we could play with the kids more. We decided to do a hot meal every 2 years so I can still make yummy hot food too and R can have cold meals the other years --- this depends on R's work schedule too though as this is the 1st time he's had Christmas off in 3 years.

Grandma F came over to spend the day with us and we had fun as usual. I am so glad she lives nearby. It would really stink if we didn't have at least some extended family come.

It was a wonderful day. Remembering our Savior and his birth. good time with family, good food and lots of presents.

With doing Swagbucks and buying extra boxes of diapers and such at target I had gift cards that made some big ticket items possible this year. If you haven't looked into those yet, I suggest looking into it now so you can have some for next Christmas! Granted not all of you readers have babies to do the diaper rewards but swagbucks will work for anyone. Let me know if you want information on it. ---I'm not trying to do a plug for them, I'm just trying to help save $ if you need or want to :)

New Christmas traditions

This year we started some new traditions with the Christmas season too! Lots of new traditions started this year, I didn't realize how many until I'm writing these posts.

We started out with a FHE of making treats and going caroling to the kids in R and I's primary class, the sister's I visit teach, and also some families in the ward that we have become friends with. I was able to sign (all be it badly) "Silent Night" to Brother and Sister H. Sister H has been teaching sign language in her home for a while now and I have been going for over a year. Everywhere else we sang "We Wish you a Merry Christmas". Although there were quite a few houses that we ended up just leaving the plate of goodies since they weren't home.

For another FHE we made a manger scene and cut up yellow and orange paper for the family to add to baby Jesus bed when we did service for one another. We went looking at Christmas lights one night for FHE and drank hot cocoa afterwards.

We went up to Flagstaff AZ a few days before Christmas as well. It was the 2nd time A had ever been in snow and the 1st for G. The kids were so excited, almost to a point here I think more excited for snow than Christmas. We were hoping to build a snowman but the snow they had gotten the day before was icy snow and made it impossible to do much of anything but sled. Thankfully there was a kind man and his daughters that let the A and G go down the hill a few times on their sleds. I think we are going to have to buy some before we go up next year (if we're able to go). After playing in the snow for a while we went to our hotel room to warm up and rest a bit. R and I were trying to figure out other tings to do since we couldn't do much in the snow, and decided to go see the newest Muppet's movie that was in theaters still. The kids loved it did really well despite it being late and a log eventful day. After the movie we went back to the hotel and the kids got to open their Christmas pajamas even though it was a day early. After a late night (11:30 when we finally gave up getting the kids to fall asleep with a movie) an early morning, and a yummy continental breakfast we loaded the van and headed home. It was a short trip but lots of fun.

Thanksgiving fun

For Thanksgiving this year we had a few new things to do.

A had a Thanksgiving dinner at school that parents and siblings were able to attend, the kids had made Indian head dresses and necklaces and were eating when we arrived. They had closed the gate to the school and we were able to eat on part of the road that goes around the school, picnic style. A ate most of her food and got up to play tag with her friends and classmates. G thought it looked like fun and ended up eating hardly anything. It was fun to go and see A interacting with kids in a way I don't get to see normally.

I have become a addict with a blog I discovered earlier in the year. Our Best Bites is the title just google it, if you like good food and good stories like me, you are more than likely to become an addict too :)

Well this blog had a recipe for making turkey that I thought I'd try out. I didn't brine the turkey like they said to do, nor did I have any fresh herbs on hand, but I did use the dried kind. That was one of the best turkeys I have ever had. I will most definitely be using the recipe again in the future (but be more prepared with the brine and fresh herbs).

We had our homemade potatoes, homemade stuffing (complete with the giblets), homemade cranberry sauce, fruit salad, broccoli salad, rolls (left over from pie night -thank you for leaving them C, they were awesome). Such yummy food!

We also had Grandma F come over for dinner. Its always fun to get with her and hear about projects she has going on. I want to be a Grandma like her when I get to that point in life. She keeps busy and is always happy!

Since we had pie night the night before there was pie left over but not nearly as much as there usually is, less to feel like we had to eat.

I think next year I will get A included in our cooking. I have many fond memories in the kitchen with my mom and dad getting our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals ready. I can't wait to start making those kind of memories with her!

pie pie pie!

This year we started a new tradition in our family. My Relief Society president was talking about it one day and I loved the idea so we decided to start it in our family too.

The night before Thanksgiving we get together with family and friends and have PIE NIGHT! We eat some yummy soup (I tried a new recipe called black bean fajita, super yummy!), and after we have eaten dinner we eat pie. I ended up making more than I originally had planned but it was worth it. I made 2 pumpkin, a buttermilk, a dutch apple, a lemon meringue, a pistachio cream, and a cherry. Friend M brought a black forest cheesecake, and C (R's sister) brought a banana cream pie. All the kids loved it our niece R ended up getting a slice of everything.

We put the little kids down for bed and the older kids got to watch movies, and the adults all played a few rounds of a fun game called Apples to Apples.

We, or at least I know I ended up eating way too much of yummy pie, soup, and vegetables. But it was a fun new tradition that we plan on doing every year now.

halloween

This Halloween party at the church we wore the same costumes from last year, Alice in Wonderland themed. We made C in to a card (the Ace of hearts!) to go with Mommy's costume since I was holding him most of the night. And we remembered the Cat this time too! Unfortunately we forgot to get pictures AGAIN so no pics of the whole family. We did get some of the kids together but since blogger is not uploading pictures your not going to see them :(

This year we all helped to make a jack-o-lantern (the kids just helped with the guts, and A didn't do much because it was "icky". For Halloween decorations I made some fun little lantern things out of jars, tissue paper, and mod podge. We had different sized pumpkins, ghosts, a Frankenstein, and R made a storm trooper! A good use for all those old pickle jars.

A was able to wear her costume to school on Halloween day (as long as she wore her tie up shoes still). She had a blast wearing it and showing her friends her costume. She got to do some fun math activities with different candy and was able to eat them when she got home.

Halloween dinner was fun, we had a themed meal of mummy dogs (hot dogs cut in 1/2 and wrapped in cut is crescent rolls), 6 layer bean dip with a spider web of sour cream piped on top, a potion (lemonade died black and dry ice), and some other yummy themed food that I cant for the life of me remember. Goes to show I really need to blog about this stuff as it happens so I don't forget!

We took the kids around trick-or-treating around our block and the round about north of us and called it good. The kids got a bunch of candy and they got to have fun. G had insisted he HAD to wear the Spiderman costume he had received from a friend of mine (when her son had out grown it), and A was in her Alice costume. While we were out it was quite funny to see how popular Spiderman is with little boys, there were 3 including G in a row to hit one house, the lady that lived there almost turned G away because she thought he had just been there. Rand I were talking that night about how this was G's first real experience trick-or-treating since he was too young 2 years ago and the last year was on a Sunday so the kids didn't go out. I've got to say I think G enjoyed it more than anyone else too!

After getting kids to bed we (R and I, and our Friends M and A) watched Hocus Pocus and we gave out candy. We were good and put a vegetable tray next to the candy so if we wanted to snack on anything we would be reminded to eat healthy instead of junk... although I think we all ended up taking a few pieces of candy for ourselves :)

All in all it was a fun Halloween season, we made memories and started some new traditions.