Today's Lunch

Here are the shots of Today's Lunch.

John has leftover Chicken, Corn and Cheese Quesadillas. Carrots and Cucumber with Ranch for dipping. Strawberries. Chips and Dip and a cookie.

 

Alan has Ham and Cheese shapes with his new favorite penguin picks. Carrots and Cucumber with Ranch for dipping. His favorite fruit, Strawberries. Chips and Dip and a cookie.

It's been a while

I have to admit for a while I forgot I even had this page :) But I have decided to try once again and keep track of my memories!

I think I am going to begin posting my Lunch Photo's on here instead of my facebook page each day. I also want to have a place to write the things that my family has done that make me smile, cry, giggle and pull my hair out.

So, let's get started!

Today was a Fun one. First I had an issue to deal with, with Alan. Yesterday he came home and excitedly told me that he now had a $1, while pulling said dollar out of his pocket. We get home from the bus stop and we question him on where this dollar came from....long story short of course it's not his, it was in a found envelope in class. So we went over what he did and what he should have done and then explained that he had to return the $1. So this morning I walk into school with him and take him to class so that he can tell his teacher what had happened. He cried Crocodile tears but gave the dollar back. He then cried more and wanted me to take him home saying he didn't want to go to school anymore :( This is my boy who LOVES school and is sad when the weekend comes HA! But when he got home we praised him on doing the right thing and he is now much happier and has learned a great lesson, Finders are not always Keepers!

Then we discovered that someone got a hold of my debit card number and had made a few charges. Thankfully nothing too bad and the bank has already cancelled my card. Just a slight inconvenience.

Now happy times. The Sister Missionaries stopped by and we had a great visit, even if the boys were a bit crazy. Are my kids the only ones who act like wild animals when the missionaries come over? I swear it's every time. Anyway, it was a nice visit with a great message.

Then while cooking dinner I got on a music kick and decided to download music from Disney Soundtracks. Yes, I am a 13 year old girl inside, I cannot deny it. I downloaded too many to mention but I downloaded 2 songs from Mary Poppins and John loved them. The first was Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, because Papa had said that word to John and he of course thought that it was hilarious. The Second was Chim Chim Cher-ee one of my faves. So now John and I have a date to watch Mary Poppins together, I can't wait!
Then after eating the boys decided to have a dance off with some of my new tunes. I really need to get a video of them doing this, pure joy I tell ya!

After dance fever was over it was bed time for Alan (a little late). We snuggled and sang and talked for a while in the moments that I find my greatest joy. Those few moments at bedtime when the rush is over and I am able to just enjoy who my children are. When I am able to listen to their joys, their sadness and just come to grow to love them even more. Those are the moments that get me through the crazy hair pulling moments of the day.
The end was similar with John and again it's more than I can explain. I have days where of course bedtime is rushed and I don't give them the attention they deserve and desire and I quickly regret it. But on nights like tonight when I am able to snuggle and listen to them, it reminds me of why I wanted to be a mother and what is truly important in this life. Our favorite bedtime activity is for them to tell me their favorite thing of the day and their least favorite thing. They then ask me the same question. We both have to be honest and the answers are always interesting. John's favorite was that I surprised them with Chips and Dip with our dinner tonight, his favorite(we had other things as well).  Something so simple, but it made it as his top thing for the day. Children, so pure and simple.

Well that is our day in a nutshell. I have a dog currently staring me down because he is ready for his bedtime walk, our favorite time of the day.

Here is today's lunch. And a shot of all the awesome lunch goodies I got in the mail today. The boys are very excited to see these items make an appearance in their lunches.

Lunch: Letter Soup, Chocolate Pudding, Cheddar Popcorn and Juice box.

 

 

 

 

 Alan wanted to look Handsome today so these are the clothes he picked to wear to school. He is pretty cute!

 

 

 Alan took this shot today of Dylan, the doggie mentioned above.

Whole 30

So anyone who has seen my in the last 30 days has had to hear about whole 30 from me :p
I am so happy to be done but SOOO glad that I did it.

How I feel:

Great! I lost 8 lbs during the 30 days. I KNOW I lost inches in my waist but sadly I didn't do before measurements. I feel a lost less emotional, I have more even energy (no afternoon sugar crash) and I feel more focused. I've been getting more accomplished each day and find myself just wanting to lay on the couch all evening.

What I learned:

I have control over what I shove in my mouth

I will survive if I don't give into a craving

I Love Broccoli especially with scrambled eggs

Avocado is really good on Burgers

Who needs a bun burgers and hotdogs are great without them

Cauliflower makes a yummy rice and mashed potato substitute

I DON'T really miss soda

I can cook 3 meals a day and not hate my kitchen :)

Was it Hard?

The First week was Bad, really Bad for me. I had headaches most days and was super tired, like falling asleep at 9 tired. My runs suffered most of the time (I was about a Minute per mile slower). BUT by the second week I started to feel better, started to look forward to eating my meals and loving what I was eating. Now it feels pretty natural. Yes I would still love to shove a piece of candy in or grab some chips for a snack, but I know I can find something better and just as tasty to hold me over.

What's Next?

Well Evan and I have decided to pretty much continue eating this way so we will remain Paleo/Primal. Being Primal just means that we will add in Dairy in small quantities. We are also going to add back in regular potatoes, again in moderation (no homefries with every meal). Plus we will allow ourselves Up to 3 Cheat MEALS a week (Yay for date night returning)!

Okay below are my progress pictures from over the last 18 months. January 2012 is when I finally decided to be in control again. I did P90X at the beginning of 2012. Then around April I started counting calories with MyFitnessPal (which I love and occasionally miss). I also started running again at least 3 days a week. At the end of 2012/start of 2013 I took a break from workout and calories and sadly gained 9 lbs. When a friend of mind mentioned Whole 30 and I told Evan about it, we decided to go for it. We also have been doing P90X together as well (only 3 more weeks to go on it), plus I run on Tuesday nights.

These pictures are weird to for me to post, I don't usually plaster bikini pictures of myself for the world to see but here goes. There are 3 of each view 1 - Jan 2012, 2 - July 2012, 3 - May 2013

More School Stuff

Here are a few more pictures of school time fun with Alan. This week John is out of school so I have to get some shots of him on here too :)

Pictures are from our Letter F work and Valentines Week. When we did the letter E a few weeks ago he refused to let me take pictures HAHA. Also excuse the dirty table I kept forgetting to wash off the paint marks, I promise it is clean now!

Preschool

Time is going by so fast....I can't believe that next school year Alan will be old enough for PreK. I'm still not fully convinced HE is ready and so we are working hard at learning all that I have been slacking on. Poor second child! He is keeping me on my toes though :) We are focusing on a letter of the week with a few Holiday Themes thrown in. Last week was the Letter D and he seemed to have a lot of fun, I think he is finally getting the hang of this "Schooling" thing.

We had a few other printables that went along with this one, it's from 1plus1plus1equals1

this duck is from one of our favorite site LearnCreateLove

These Two Dino Activities are from our Other Favorite site Confessions of a Homeschooler

LearnCreateLove again :)

Pinterest Color Sorting Activity, He LOVED it :)

And of Course one for fun. He was dying to make a silly face.

Family Day

Last week we had a family day and headed to the Aviation Museum. We had a blast. The boys were amazed at all of the different planes and Evan had a great being able to answer all of their questions. My camera battery died so I was only able to get 2 pictures :( I took more on my phone but they weren't very good. Here are the 2 I did get.

Happy New Year, a little late.

Okay well for December I kind of fell off the posting wagon. It was a busy month for us. Between being sick off and on, getting ready for Christmas and other obligations it was not stop mental craziness for me. So now we are back to our regular schedule :)

Over all Christmas was good. I was super sick but the kids were happy and that's all that mattered. I was a horrible mom though a literally took 2 cell phone craptastic pictures of the entire day. Mommy Award I know. John's santa present was an Imaginext Castle that he LOVES and Alan got the Imaginext Batcave. They have been great toys and I love that both boys can play with them together. They also got spoiled from grandparents, aunts and everyone else. Thank you everyone!!

New Years was much better. We were all feeling better and headed down to Florida. We always love our time with family and this was a great trip. We spent New Years Eve at my in laws and my Sister in law and Brother in Law came over with their kids. It was a fun night with lots of yummy food. Alan went to bed around 10 and John so tried to make it until midnight but crashed on the sofa around 11:30.

On January 1st, Evan and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary, cannot believe that we have been married that long! My mom kept the boys overnight and we had a great day out together. We went to lunch, the movies, bowling and dinner :)

Anyway I thought I would update. I promise next time I will include pictures!!