Kudos to David!

First - Happy Valentines Day! I'm a day behind, but when I got home last night I was battling flu-like symptoms so doing a post wasn't on my list of things to accomplish before I made my way to the recliner with my big, red fluffy blanket!


Second - I just have to say what an AWESOME husband I have!!! He left for work very early yesterday morning and when the kids and I came downstairs, to my complete surprise, we found gifts for all of us! I had no idea he had gone and bought stuff for them (I had done the same, but he knew about it) and not only did it include the standard candy and toy, but it also included flowers for Alyssa & McKenna....AND....this is the best part....a card for each of them with the nicest handwritten note to each of them from their daddy! Needless to say, I cried as I read the cards and they were looking at me like I was a fool :-) ha ha




The girls with their bouquets from daddy!








Brennan with his power rangers gift from Daddy!





To summarize, he told each of them how special they were to him, how proud he was to be their daddy and how much he loved them. It was simply awesome. I've always known he's an amazing father (and hubby), but yesterday just touched my heart.

I got red roses, a beautiful letter and card and a new pair of running shoes which I desperately
wanted and needed! THANKS HONEY - you're the best!








My beautiful roses!






How was your Valentine's Day?!

Weekend and weight loss...

if you want to call it a loss. I weighed in today - and posted a whopping .8 loss. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy or encouraged by that number. I'm now at a total of 6 pounds lost, which is good, but I'm really working hard and it doesn't seem to making much difference.

This weekend was the first official sleepover for the kids. It started with us watching Jayci overnight since Kerry was on a cruise, but it turned into Jayci, Megan, Alexis and Trevor. Unfortunately, Megan ended up sick so we ended up with 6 kids Friday night including our own. We had pizza, ice cream sundaes, and popcorn while the kids enjoyed a movie (Snow Buddies), playing the Wii (over and over!) and playing in the basement. Everyone went to bed as told, slept through the night and got along...for the most part. All in all it was a huge success and we weren't left thinking "we'd never do it again"! The kids had a blast and it made them happy lil campers. Here are some pics from that night.

As for the rest of the weekend - well it was somewhat less exciting. We went freezer shopping....I know, I know .... you're all jealous!!! We did laundry (it's getting better isn't it?), we went to BJ's to scout prices so we could decide whether we wanted a membership (the jury is still out on that one) and finally, we relaxed!

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Such a SLOW process...

That's how losing weight feels to me. I know they say it's healthy to lose it slow - it will stay off if you lose it slow - but I want to lose it FAST!!! I went for my weekly weigh-in this afternoon and low and behold, I'm down another 1.5 pounds for a total of 5.2 lost. I'm happy with that - I'll always wish it was more - but it's better than gaining! Weighing in on Monday's definitely keeps you "honest" through the weekend ... EVEN on Superbowl Sunday :-) No beer, no chips with Helluva good dip, no nachos - none of that fun stuff. But it paid off and it gave me the motivation to continue yet another week. Stay tuned for the next weigh-in...

My First Meme

Karen tagged me for a meme yesterday so here goes!

How does it work?
Post two wish lists: 5 material wishes and 5 spiritual or more meaningful wishes. Invite five other bloggers to play along.

5 Material Wishes
1. A 2008 Toyota Sequoia Limited - fully loaded
2. A personal trainer for a year
3. $50,000 to decorate my house, make upgrades, etc.
4. Swimming pool
5. Professional landscaping for our yard (I stole your idea Karen!)

5 Meaningful Wishes
1. Find a way to be more patient with my kids and slow down to enjoy them at every stage of their growth
2. To show my husband more how much I appreciate and love him instead of assuming he knows it
3. Stop caring so much about how I look physically and be more concerned with how I feel on the inside - be more concerned about my health
4. For my kids to be safe as they grow up and not experience pain (I know - not so easy to achieve huh?)
5. Take more time to reach out to my grandma who moved to FL and used to be one of my closest friends.

Ok, now I'm supposed to tag 5 other bloggers, but the problem is, the ones I "know" have already been tagged....so this post will end here :-)

3 down...

and too many more to go! But hey, I weighed in today and lost 3 lbs. over the past week so I'm excited and re-energized to keep it up for another week at least. Yay! The first week was horrible so this was much better. Another update in a week - at least on this subject.

Heaven in a bottle!

To me, that's what this orange bottle of Reese's peanut butter sauce is - heaven in a bottle :-) Worst part is, I can't even eat it right now since I'm in the middle of my weight loss challenge. Wasn't it sweet of my husband to bring this home today?!! Actually, he brought all of this home as a treat for the kids and their friend Taylor who is over visiting today - it was ice cream sundae day. YUMMMM! I'm going to resist ... for now ... but one day real soon I will indulge in a bit of that "heaven in a bottle". Here's one of the delightful sundaes that the kids made...makes you hungry doesn't it?!!!

Friday night David's mom had the kids overnight and we didn't have any plans - very hard to believe when it comes to us. We're both so focused on losing weight that eating out wasn't an option so we had a big night out Friday - at Safeway! Then we watched "Suburban Girl" - I don't recommend it - and relaxed. It was actually quite nice.

Below are some recent pics of the kids that I really liked...thought I'd share. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Just say something...

That's the message I got from Karen today - just put something, anything on your blog so it doesn't end with the day Redskins Sean Taylor died.

So that's what I'm doing - just for her!

It's been almost 2 months since I last posted and I can't promise that I'll do it with much more regularity than I have to date....it's not that I don't have things to post about...it's just not always so convenient. When I am in the office, it's rare that I am at my desk (meetings most of the time). When I'm home, uploading pics takes way too long for my impatient self ... and a post without pics seems so boring to me :-)

The family is doing great - hard to believe it's 2008 already and my girls are going to be SEVEN YEARS OLD next month. How in the world is that possible? It's gone by so fast. I was looking at old pics earlier today reliving moments from when they just born - boy that was fun!

The family on Cmas day

As for me, well I'm trying really hard to lose weight this year once and for all. Since November I've been doing Herbalife - basically it's a shake for 2 meals a day and then a normal meal - ultimately focusing on getting lots of protein. So far - not so good. I joined a weight loss challenge with my hubby - first week he lost 4.5, my mom lost 2.7 and I lost....you ready for this....a whopping .7 - WHAT?!!!! .7 - that's just ridiculous. I haven't given up - yet. This week I am trying to cut calories even more, eat more fruits/veggies and workout more. So far, so good. I weigh-in again on Monday and will let you know how it goes (hopefully).

So there you go Karen - a fresh post. Enjoy!