Playing catch up...

So, here I am again...behind on my blogging. Mostly, we've just been sick, sick, sick! I was really hoping that this would be the year that we made it through the cold season with little to no sickness, but I guess there's always next year, right?

Oh well, so here's some of the things that's been keeping me too busy to blog...

While Cooper and I were waiting to see the Dr. at Care Now, we were looking through a Family Fun magazine. Cooper saw this fun food craft and wanted to make it, so when we stopped at the pharmacy to get his medicine for his strep throat, we bought all the goods to make these banana snow men. Carter got to make one too...I think Conner was still taking a nap so he missed out. Take a look at our cute little snowmen!

We had a 'snow day', which in Texas means and 'ice' day! Cooper was thrilled to have a break from school, until we informed him that he will have to make it up later. All that mattered today was having fun in the ice. Day had the idea to send them down the driveway in the recycle bin. Cooper thought it was awesome, but Conner and Carter...not so much. I'll try and add the video but for now, here are the pictures of our icy fun!

Cooper had a birthday! He's now a big 6 year old! We had lots of fun at his party at ASI and his friends had lots of fun too. He's growing up so fast! Here are some shots of his party fun...

Finally, last Sunday we had our second annual Super Service Sunday project. This year we brought lunch to a local fire department. The boys came with us and got to check out the fire truck. It was great to say thank you to these guys who do so much for our community.

Go Me!

It's not very often that I even blog about myself in general, but I have come to a large (or smaller) milestone (depending on how you look at it) and am very proud of what I've been able to accomplish! After having three kids in four years my body was not in the best of shape...unless you count round as a shape:) But to be honest, I've struggled with my weight my entire life and tried to blame it on a number of things; being 'big boned', it just runs in my family, I'll start tomorrow,... you name it, I had an excuse! And now, looking back I am truly not positive what finally clicked in my mind that finally got me on the right track. Honestly, I can see it has been a combination of several different influences from several different people and circumstances.

My first step was really back in college when some friends of mine invited me to come to Weight Watchers with them. At that time I was at my highest weight of 183 and was able to lose almost 30 lbs. That was about 6 months before I got pregnant with Cooper. From that point on, my body was nothing more than a baby making machine and with each child we added, I was put lower and lower on my own priority list. It wasn't long before I was just about right back where I started.

About two years ago, not long after I had Carter, a few of my playgroup friends and I joined Weight Watchers again. I had such great success the first time, I knew that I could do it again. I started at 181 this time around and lost about 20 lbs. Not long after that, my friend Kristin and I joined 24 hr. fitness. She and I would meet at 5:45 as many mornings as we could and work out together. I have to say that this was the biggest turning point in my reaching my weight loss goals. I always thought of exercise as something I would do once I got most of my weight off. I assumed that I would hate it, and that it wouldn't really produce any results. Ultimately, I think I was afraid that I wouldn't lose the pounds that I was looking for. And to be honest, I was right, but what I was wrong about was how much better it made me feel and that I didn't hate it. I didn't LOVE it, but I didn't hate it. The pounds didn't come off right away, but my body was different and the inches came off slowly but surely.

Most of all I owe my success to my husband, my motivator, my encourager, my friend. He has loved me at my biggest and everything in between. He started running in a few 5K's and finally convinced me to do the Cowtown back in 2007. I walked the whole way with a friend, but enjoyed the atmosphere and realized that being healthy might actually be fun! We've done a handful of 5K's since then and I've realized that running makes the weight come off much faster, and I'm all about that! My competitive nature has taken over and I'm always trying to beat my time and am now considering doing the 10K at the Cowtown this year. My last 5K was the "Jiggle But Run" at River Legacy Park. The best part was that I did it with my playgroup moms. We've all been working on getting our bodies back in shape and I was so glad that we all did this together. It was so fun and I had my best run yet at 34.14. I'm so glad I have my girls to keep me motivated too! Here are some pictures from that run...

Here we are before the race...looking nice and energized!

And I'm off!

"Go Mommy!"




Here we are after the race...still look pretty good I'd say!

My initial goal weight was 140 and I felt like I would never get there, but after a year of hard work I've finally gotten there and even surpassed it by almost 5 pounds!! I haven't weighed in the 130's since junior high, and I'm sure I'm taller now then I was then...so I look even better now. I sometimes don't recognize myself in pictures or even in the mirror. This is the first time in my life that I am comfortable in my body, and most of all I am hopeful that I can erase some of the health problems that have been so common in my family. Like heart disease, diabetes, etc.

So, I had to add some before and after pictures...

The first one is from spring of 07' at a marriage conf. that our Sunday school class went to. This was about 6 months after I'd had Carter...yet I still look pregnant! That was not what I saw when I looked in the mirror. I didn't realize I'd gotten so overweight!

The other pictures is the same picture from the anniversary post, but side by side you can really see the difference in both of us! Day has lost nearly 45 pounds alongside me! I'm so proud of us!

Nine years and counting...

It seems crazy to think that Day and I have been together almost a decade! Wow, that makes it sound REALLY long! The truth is, it has seemed like minutes! As I look back on our wedding day, I can still recall the overwhelming sense of peace that overcame me throughout the whole day. I had no doubt that God had brought us together and that His hand would remain on our marriage so long as we put Him first. Don't get me wrong, this has been a journey of hard work and unwavering commitment to making our marriage the best it can be. There have been days that we've both wondered who this person was that we're sharing a roof with, but mostly we have an absolute blast together.

Honey, as we celebrate our marriage today, I want to thank you for making me a better wife, mother and woman! Thank you for always making sure that my every need is met, for never letting things go un-done at home, for being an amazing father to our boys, for making me feel like the only woman on the face of the earth. Not only that, but making me feel like I make all your dreams come true as well. You are my best friend, my rock when my world feels wobbly, my source of laughter and strength. I love you more each day and can't wait to see what God has in store for us in the years ahead!

Love ya honey!

Here's a look at us on our wedding day (I couldn't find one of just us close up, but you can click on it to make it bigger) and from this weekend when he took me to see Celine! We had a wonderful evening away and it meant so much to me that he'd worked so hard to plan this special surprise. Next year....Hawaii here we come!

The Trains at North Park

On Friday we took the boys along with Mimi and our good friends the Smith's (Zack, Julia & Mac) to see the Trains at North Park Mall. I knew that Conner would love it since he's always loved all kinds of trains, but I was truly surprised at how much Cooper and Carter enjoyed it. It's not that big of a place, but it still took us about 20-25 mins to walk through, since they were taking time to look at every last thing in each little 'town'. There was Mt. Rushmore, Downtown Dallas, a snow village, and Indian village, the White House, a circus and carnival and I'm sure others that I forgot. Oh...Thomas and Percy the trains. I would recommend it to anyone who's looking for a holiday tradition to do with their family! There are also other things to do in the mall, like a Scrooge show and a puppet show, but since we went after Christmas, those were not opened any more. We'll just have to be sure and go before Christmas next year. Here are some pictures of their faces as they enjoyed the trains.

"WOW!"

Our first trip to Mt. Rushmore

"CHOO CHOO's!"

Conner was in train heaven!


Carter spotted some candy!



He also spotted a familiar face...Thomas the Train!

Mimi and Conner in NYC!

Mommy and Cooper in NYC!

A group shot!

Our Trip to the Dallas Science Place Museum

Today we went to the Dallas Museum on Natural Science or The Science Place with a friend of mine that I use to teach with and her boys, along with a friend of hers and her kids. I had never been to this museum but heard it was really great, and it really was. There were lots of hands on stuff for the kids to do and the whole bottom floor is for younger kids and they had a blast! I highly recommend it to anyone with kids of any age. You get a pretty good idea of the vastness from our pictures. I used a slide show since there were so many great pictures to share.