Beautiful Day at the Park

We love the park! Yesterday I took Jon to the park. Today was so beautiful that I took Adam and Jon to the park for a lunch date with their cousin, Abi. Rachel brought Abi to the park and we had lunch. It was so fun..


I just downloaded some pictures from my cell phone. The pictures below are from the night that we picked up Eric from Parent/Teacher Conferences. I love the picture of the three boys at the wipe board, as well as the picture of Jon having a kiddie sized Frosty in the large desk. Braden was very proud of his long division problem. He's decided that long division is COOL! I had to add the picture at the bottom of Eric and Braden (at Eric's school) when Braden was Jon's age.

Wednesday News

Hello. I have been the school for 2 hours trying to "tidy up" the last of the yearbook portraits, which means I've been running around trying to take pictures of the missing in action. Unfortunately, most of these people don't want their pictures taken, and I have the sneaking suspicion that they have been hiding from me. :)

Besides that, Eric and I weighed in this morning, and after a difficult 2 weeks, we have progress to announce. I am down a pound and so is Eric. Hurray! I have weeded out my closet and taken everything that was too big to the DI. I was given clothes in my "new" size by a family in my ward. The mother passed away and they offered to let me have her things, for which I was grateful since I have every intention to lose more weight and I didn't want to buy new things yet. So I have new clothes in a new size and that makes every morning just a little bit better. :)

The other part is that the snow is almost completely gone. Just the small piles that are shadows of the mountains of snow they once were.

Have a great day!

uh... change that

OK.. change the rain to hail.. and a lot of it.

More Moisture

The good news is that I can finally see most of the grass in my yard. We still have a pile of snow near the driveway, but everything else melted during the lovely spring weather we've had the last couple of days. It was about 55 degrees on our walk home from church, but right now it is raining. I don't mind the rain, at least it's not snow. :)

Braden says that there are a couple of muddy spots in the yard. I would have to say that there are probably more than a couple.

Braden would like to contribute something.

It is very hard to walk in the muddy spots because it's very muddy and the mud sticks to your shoes. I have trouble walking in the muddy spots to get into the white car to go to Scouts.

The other bit of news is that we went to the mall yesterday. We stopped at the shoe store so that Eric could get a new pair of dress shoes to replace the doggie chew toys that he had been wearing. The store was having a sale. So I had the salesperson measure the kids feet. That led to Braden, Emma, and Adam all getting new shoes. I couldn't believe it. I just measured Braden's feet and gave him new shoes just a couple of weeks ago. He's gone from a 3 to 4 in less than a month. *SIGH* So all of the shoes that I have put away for the future fit now. To quote Charlie Brown, "ARGH"

Please tell my children to stop growing. It's hard on the budget.

Braden just snorted. He doesn't like that idea.

Braden's Success

I was so proud of my son Braden today. He's really struggled with a couple of his classmates who have been teasing him. So, with a little encouragement from Mom, he faced the kids, told them that he didn't like being teased, and asked them to leave him alone. Of course, his teacher was there, but I was so proud of him. It's a tough thing to stand up to people who are being emotionally abusive, especially when you are nine.

Yes, even more snow

The rain I had hoped for descended upon us in the form of 6 more inches of snow. *sigh* Several schools north of us couldn't even get their students home yesterday afternoon and evening, so the teachers and children had a sleep over at the schools. I have to think that I wouldn't allow my children to do that. If I couldn't drive there, I would brace myself up and walk. I think that the children would handle a long snowy walk better than being abandoned over night at the school. Of course, it helps that our school is only 1/2 a mile away. Our school district has never had a snow day during the 12 years Eric has taught. They closed the school to students once when the water main at his school broke, but teachers were required to come in for a half day. They were told to "hold it" since all of the water was turned off. *sigh*

Have a great Valentine's Day!

The Sun is Shining!

After a very long winter, the sun is shining today. The snow is melting. My tulips and daffodils are starting to push up from the ground. Unfortunately, there is supposed to be another storm this afternoon. I'm hoping for rain, but I think we will be getting more snow.

Eric is getting over a cold, but I think I'm picking it up. I feel really tired and sluggish today. I'm trying to be enthusiastic, but it's a struggle. Eric and I weighed in this morning. We both lost 3 pounds last week. I'm at a loss of twelve pounds and Eric is 10 pounds down. The most exciting news is that I am wearing a pair of pants that I couldn't even get buttoned a month ago. Yes, the button wouldn't even come near the buttonhole. I was on cloud 9 this morning. These pants are 4 sizes smaller than the others. Hurray! The only problem now is that I won't have any clothes that fit, but I don't want to buy any more because I fully intend to lose more weight. ;)

Adam wants me to let him type his name.. So here we go:

aaaaaaadaam

Just a Wednesday.

Just wanted to post weight loss updates. Eric is down 2 and I have moved past a small plateau to lose another 2 pounds. So far I've lost 9 and Eric's lost 7. Woo-Hoo! My own personal goal is to lose one pound a week for a year. It's been 5 weeks so far. I've discovered that the cravings for sweets are so much more controllable now. Now I'm working on the snacking cravings. In the past, when I would read, I would look up and have a big snack. *sigh* I wouldn't even remember getting it. Yes, I know ... not a good thing. So sometimes, that urge to snack just hits me and I work on fighting it off. Another thing that has helped me was reading the Church's guide to addictive behaviors. They created a 12 step program for addictions. It was really interesting to read it and apply parts of it in my own life.

I think, in spite of the above, that the hardest part is the discouragement. Sometimes I look at myself in the mirror and the adversary whispers in my ear that my goal is impossible, that I will never be able to lose all of this extra weight. I am so thankful for the love and support of my friends and family, especially Eric who is taking this journey with me. I'm so grateful for a Savior who understands.

When I emailed Eric earlier, I mentioned that I was really needing a grown-up person to talk to today, so anyone who reads this post gets to hear all of my thoughts and feelings. Thanks :)

Even more snow

We have another 4 inches of snow this morning. I'm starting to feel like the avalanche trapped girls in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers." We are to expect another storm on Saturday sometime.

Besides that I went to Wal-Mart this morning and discovered all the clearance racks. This is the best time of year for shopping. Most stores are trying to get rid of all their old inventory. So I bought 3 shirts (Braden and Adam), one pair of pants (Emma), and a matching sweat shirt and pants (Jon) for $14.50. I love bargains.