September 25,1999

nothing makes you feel quite as old as baking a cake for your 13 year old niece. it seems like just yesterday i meet her and she was only 2 months old. Skip and I used to be much closer with Mariah but as with all things in life that has changed some. Since we started our own family we are generally spending more time with our kids but that doesn't change the fact that we feel like Mariah is kinda ours as well. We will always be there for her no matter what she thinks. now that the teenage years are officially here i'm sure along with that will come an attitude even she doesn't know she'll have quite yet. but once again that won't change how much we love her. we are prepared for her to have her moments where she hates us and we are prepared (well, as much as we can be) to be hated b/c in the end we know it will be for her own good whatever the instance is.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
to our teenage girl.

first step bake 2 huge cookies

second step dr some icing to make it super

while you are assembling it reward your helper :)

stack them and make a huge looking sandwich

then add the finishing touch of making yourself feel old

he's gonna be bigger

I am predicting that some time next year xavier will surpass serenity in either height or weight. heck maybe even both. they went to the dr today for some yuck they've been dealing with for a little over a week now and Serenity weighed in at 39.8lbs and Xavier was 36.6lbs. keeping in mind that he is 22 months younger than her but he is my little beast :)

no room in my bed

so i guess it was crazy to think that the kids could just be thrown into a room together and that would keep them out of our bed. Xavier joined us before skip and i even went to sleep and Serenity was added to the party around 230. she was coughing like crazy so i gave her some cough medicine so she could get some sleep but me on the other hand, i've been up since. at this point since i'm sitting here making up grocery lists and ordering coupons i'm thinking of going and starting a pot of coffee. maybe xavier will be awesome and let me nap later.

on a completely different note i'm super excited for my fisher price playdate party this weekend. We have already assembled the kitchen and the kids have been cooking on it like crazy. I can't wait to actually let them have all the accesories and open the other 2 toys. There have been a few other parties i have applied to but not been chosen for. One of them being a halloween party. i have figured though that even though i didn't get picked for it we are gonna have one anyway. Serenity & I spent some time on pinterest yesterday looking up games and fun food.

well, i guess that pot of coffee isn't going to make itself.

fire station

she got to be the line leader all day :)

 Serenity had her very first field trip and mommy forgot to take her camera. what was wrong with me. She had a great time learning some new things at the fire station though and since then I've been trying to come up with a way for her to remember her address. finally today it hit me, she loves to sing so we made the whole 911  conversation a song. I hope and pray that if for any reason my daughter ever has to call 911 the operator doesn't mind her address being a little sing songy. LOL

checking out a fire truck

she thought it was awesome to ride the school bus :)

finally getting water

We've been without a decent amount of running water for about 2 weeks now. finally in the morning they will start digging and hopefully they will find water fast and get the new well done. It's crazy the little things you really take advantage of with the use of water every day. the simplest thing of rinsing off a dish. or the fact that we have gotten so used to loading everything in the dishwasher but instead over the past 2 weeks we've had to use gallons of water that we've gotten from other people's homes and then boiled them on the stove just to wash dishes. We've had to shower at others homes. we've had to use other people's washers. it's really been a pain, but we are so thankful for these friends/family for helping us out.

thankful thursday 9/13

1. I'm thankful for family and friends that are allowing us to shower at their homes while we wait on a new well to be dug
2. I'm thankful for pinterest.without it I wouldn't be able to find things to do at our halloween party
3. love selling things we don't need anymore and making some extra cash 
4. lazy days, i love lazy days where no one cares that you were lazy
5. friends removing their heads from their behinds :)

the shred-house parties-school

I've been slacking with my 30 day shred. not because i'm to lazy to do it. ok, some days i just feel to lazy to do it. but mainly it has to do with our water issue. We are in need of a new well and without a well with plenty of water i just can't stand the thought of working out then not being able to jump right into the shower. i know it's a horrible excuse but if i have to wait to go to someone's house to shower i kinda want to wait to do my workout but then i end up in a rush to get the kids some where to shower that it's been getting thrown to the side.  besides that though i can tell a difference from the first day i did it and now. there are still some things that i am completely out of shape with but others i am getting better at. 

there is a website that i love and it let's you host these house parties. you apply for different styles of parties and then if you get picked you get to review whatever the awesome product is. I've been chosen to do a fisher price party and got all my awesome goodies the other day. these items are for the kids to play with and then the best part, wait for it......... we get to keep them!!!! how cool is that? i'll tell you how cool. it's super freakin' cool :) then they also sent some great things to send home in goody bags for my guests.

Serenity has her first field trip next week and i'm so excited. I'll be going with her.  i'm so excited that she is really enjoying school. it's still a daily struggle to get her out of the bed, but once she's up and dressed and ready to walk out the door she's super excited to go to school and play and see her friends. here are her first ever school pictures. of course i'm a little biased but i think she is even more adorable than ever. The school year is going great so far for both Serenity and Skip. And Xavier and I are managing pretty well by ourselves as well.

bedroom changes

the kids will start sharing a room next week. we got them some bunk beds and they are super excited.Serenity talks constantly about how excited she is to have the top bunk :)
this is the awesome set we found for super cheap on craigslist 

and with new beds comes new bedding. Serenity's set and Xavier's set. they are excited but i think mommy and daddy are even more excited than they are :)

first the weight, now this.......

Measurements on September 7,2012

Hips: 49" Waist: 37"
Around Belly Button 43"
Bust: 41.5"
Under Bust: 35"
Thighs: 25"
Arms: 14"
Calves: 15"
Neck: 13.5"

flash back friday

so apparently sometime in the evening we thought it would be a grand idea to try and put my foot back behind my head. i guess i couldn't quite get it done myself so my brother had to help me out. 

circa march 2005

thankful thursday

1. Coffee, oh i'm so thankful for coffee. not much more to say than that. oh, except for sugar and milk too :)
   
2. Clearance racks. people get so much more at gift time when i find stuff on clearance :)
   
3. lemon juice. i'm trying to drink more water. (like 99oz a day) and i get sick of the taste so adding a little bit of lemon juice makes it more tolerable.
   
4. my new job. it's nice to be able to help out a friend and make some money to help us get closer to being out of debt.

30 day shred

 So i've had friends in the past do this workout. I have friends currently doing this workout. And i myself have been avoiding this workout. I make up all kinds of excuses as to why i can't start but today after stepping on the scale and deciding to publicly put my weight out there once again that i will start it and i will start it today. The lowest weight i got to last year was 163 and as you can see i have put a lot of that back on. I'm still far from putting back all of my weight back on but still 35lbs is way to much. so here i go. September 5,2012 a new starting weight of 198lbs and 37% body fat. oh and please excuse my dirty scale.

fall is here

halloween will be here before we know it. we talked a bit about costumes today. nothing set in stone yet. i was throwing around the idea with the kids of doing another family costume idea but not sure if we'll do it or not. guess we'll have to just keep talking it over until the end of the month and then get more into gear as to what everyone will be.
I've applied for another houseparty. I love them, if you haven't ever heard of them check it out. basically, you apply for different types of parties to host. if you get picked they send you all kinds of free goodies to test and try out :)
I have applied for a larger than life halloween party and fingers crossed we get it. We haven't had a halloween party since Serenity's was a baby and i'd love to do nothing more than have family and friends over in their cute costumes, make some s'mores over a bon fire, and just hang out. If we don't get the house party we just may have to do our own halloween party anyways b/c i've talked it up so much.

funk

just one of those days where i'm in a funk and can't get motivated.
what to do to get out of it? suggestions??