Friday, February 23, 2007

calm in the midst of the madness that is life...

I love these kinds of days. I have nothing booked for today. No skiing, swimming, skating, meeting, classes, NOTHING! My mom and dad are safely home after a week visiting and my husband is busy working in the basement. LOVING today! The kids have their cousin over and they are happily basking in the glow of the computer. (what is it about computers and kids anyway?!) - just so you don't think I'm a totally neglagant parent, they have been outside and are also playing dress-up- and I have a minute to write.
Oops spoke too soon. Tiny girl first peed in her pants and now is hungry.....

Here are some great pictures from Sunday. It was gray and drizzly at home but we decided to head to Crescent beach for a walk. It was windy and cool but the sun was shining and the kids had a blast!
Here's my crew with their dad:
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Look at the shell...
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Playfighting on the beach...
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Gramma time!
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I need to mention one more time how totally thankful I am that God brought us to Langley. I love it here! Even with the windstorms and power outages.

Oh and one last thought. We have started going to a church (finally) and love it! It's good to be in community. Anyway, we had kind of an ice breaker question that I've been mulling over for a few days now. I'll leave you with it:

"What would you do differently if you knew you only had five years to live?"

Kisses...








Thursday, February 15, 2007

Busy but having fun...

Sorry for the cyber-silence. We have been BUSY. But who isn't right?! Not a good excuse!

GOOD NEWS!!!

I lost weight. Weigh in is Monday night and I'm down 3.4lbs. I am starting to feel fantastic, even did the "mill" a couple of times this week AND managed to not eat as much Valentine goodness as I normally would have. I did fall off the wagon a couple of time BUT not the same crash and burn the pre-ww me would have done.
My hubby, who generally sucks at the whole special day thing, redeemed himself nicely with a sweet pair of lululemon yoga pants. I now NEED a hoodie!! YAY hubby! Who knew yoga pants could cost so much $$$. YIKES!

Oh and some proud parent news!!!
Maddy, my 5 year old, is officially a skier now. She took lessons all last year too but spent almost all her time laying on the hill letting her instructor cart her around. Imagine my delight when I saw her and her little class heading of to the ski lift! She got it! YAY!
Here she is on a beautiful day at Mount Baker, WA, USA.
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and again
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I almost cried when I saw her go off with her brothers and cousins up the hill. They are all getting to be so grown up! How does this happen so fast?!

Oh and the baby (she's 3 so not technically a baby) is officially potty trained! Very exciting for me and for her. She is "big" now and needs to do everything and I mean everything herself. VERY time consuming for me but she is a happy little camper! She came out of her room the other day and announced that she "made her bed, mommy!" She went from baby to kid in like two days....crazy!

I am avoiding bathroom cleaning, lunch making and tons and tons of laundry right now.
How is everyone one else dealing with the dreary days of February? I'm getting used to the Westcoast drizzle rather than the Calgary freezing wind but I do miss the sunshine. Leave comments, questions...love to hear about others weight loss victories or challenges....

Okay, now I really do have to feed the kids. Cheers...

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Saturday rambles...

Ahh...Sweet beautiful sunshine.
We've had days and days of drizzle and then...beautiful glorious sunshine. I shooed the kids outside and set to work on cleaning the house. I know, don't I do the best things on the weekend?! My life rocks!
I pretty much only made it through the girl's room. They have such a pretty girly room. I love it! But most of the time it looks like a pretty girly bomb exploded OR more specifically a girly Plamobil bomb - yikes. Not today though so hurry over!

I'd better post this as it's been sitting in a draft all day.
I packed in the cleaning and headed outside with everyone. We climbed a tree. What fun! I don't do that enough.

Nighty night....

Friday, February 9, 2007

Life, sleeping, eating, kids and other comments....

In my defense I did warn you this was a rambling, stream of conscientiousness kind of a blog for me. I noticed that some other bloggers were playing this game. Tag. And the blogger writes for 5 minutes without editing. I was thinking "What?! Isn't that just how everyone does it? How is that a game?! Lol." Obviously there is more forethought involved in other people's writing. I, however, am always playing the "tag" game. That will also account for the numerous spelling and punctuation errors. Feel free to point them out as I'm more than happy to learn as I go:)

First I wanted to answer the many "What Weight Watchers?! Are you crazy?" Comments in my comment section. Just so you know, yes I am crazy, that's just a given from this point on okay?!

Just and aside but, does anyone ever really see themselves as they really are? AND would I post a picture that made me look fat and awful?! NO! I chose the nicest one I could find, taken 5 - 10 lbs ago in the summer.

But I do realize I'm not traditional WW material. My goal is to lose 15lbs and get back some of the control over my eating and food choices that has been eroded over the years of eating leftovers off the kids plates and sitting in my car stuffing some fast food concoction into my giant maw. I also love to bake. Not a problem except that I love to bake big gooey yummy cakes. Also not a problem, except that my fav thing in the whole world is to eat gooey yummy cakes. Are you seeing the issue?
I am loving WW! I feel back in the driver's seat and am feeling healthier etc. Have any of you tried it? Thoughts? comments? I love to hear what other people do. I love the point counting thing. Gives me something to do while not eating. And I love that I can eat everything I usually do but in more realistic amounts. I find I'm making way better food choices.

Anyone have a great lower fat recipe for me? I am making roast duck tonight. (no I'm not a gourmet cook. I have a friend that raises duck.)

I am having so much trouble getting out of bed in the morning. What is up with that?! I just want to turn over and sleep for another 30 minutes every day. My girls, of course, will hear none of that so they hound me like the snooze buttons that they are until I drag my sorry butt out of bed. As I look out into dreary, drizzly mist that is a Vancouver area winter, I think, "maybe I have S.A.D?"
Deep in side I have this sneaking suspicion that I'm actually just a tiny bit lazy. If I don't have a reason (other than 400 loads of laundry, breakfast dishes or vacuuming) than I just don't want to get up.


How do all you wonderful homemakers (working or not) do it? Do you leap out of bed in the morning, thinking "Ah, another day to make my home even more beautiful and inviting than the day before".
Because, I get up, drag my butt to the coffee maker, while stepping on or over toys and clothes and think "Ug, what tedious, meaningless task can I do today?" "and why bother? As a Christian wife and mother, I realize that I am doing this all for the glory of God but YIKES how to inform my body of that joy!

Some days are better than others in that department but I seem to be missing the orderly gene that my mom carries in her make-up.

Thanks for those of you who commented. I love feedback! Oh and check out Tracy's blog (NewHomestead one). I added the link to my favs. She actually has something useful and insightful to say AND I know she's not playing TAG.

kisses.....

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Hello from the crazy house!

So many of my friends find blogging cathartic that I thought, "I must try this". I am desperately in need of finding my own voice these days.

I'm a 34 year old stay at home mom to 4 beautiful, healthy, energetic and very messy children. I love them dearly even on those days when I hide in the bathroom just to get a moment alone. I had so many ideas of myself as a mother. None of them included me yelling or crying on the phone to my husband in the middle of an endless day. Yikes, should I reveal this about myself the first time you "meet" me. Maybe not! I home school too. Did I mention that? It's wonderful and terrible all at the same time, much like parenting.
I love watching their eyes light up with new knowledge or watching my eleven year old son take his 3 year old sister by the hand and show her how to do something. I love that we can go to the ski hill all day every Tuesday. I hate feeling like I'm failing them, that they may not get to adulthood with all the skills and knowledge that they should have. What if I forget something? Or I don't know something? This is one of the reasons I love my super logical husband, who says things like. Ask the kids to help you! or you've never seen a 10 year old wearing diapers. He is wonderful and my rock!

Oh and I ramble, hence the title of my blog. I think maybe I've found my forum. The more rambling the better it seems and most likely noone will even read it so it's just for me:)

Well off to make Valentines cookies and candy with my 5 year old that I'm going to try not to eat. I'm on Weight Watchers week 1. (yes it had come to that!)

Leave a comment if you do come by:)