Joker

Brynn's new favorite joke:

"Why do pilgrims pants always fall down?"
"Because their buckles are on their hats!"

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Friday weigh in

I wasn't going to weigh myself this morning, but I decided I need to be honest about my weight loss and weight gains.

This has been a tough week for me on many levels. I have also been extremely busy. So I didn't get to the gym at all this week. Add in Thanksgiving eating, and a weight gain is sure to happen.

I did gain this week, but not as bad as I thought I would. I only gained 0.4 pounds. I plan on making next week better.

My little Alec (and the terrible 4's)

Sometimes your kids go through hard stages. We are experiencing that with Alec right now. I also find it helps when going through frustrations with your kids to remember the good things:

Alec loves to cook with me. My other kids never showed an interest in it like he has. Every day he asks what we can make. Last week at preschool they made these bakers hats. He now has to wear it every time we cook together. How cute is that!
Alec and I have an inside joke. Whenever I give him a kiss, he quickly wipes it off and laughs his head off. I tell him he is not supposed to wipe off "Mommy kisses," and this just makes him laugh more. Lately he has been pretending not to wipe it off and then will go in the next room and wipe it off, and laughs when I tell him he is being sneaky.

Finally!

After working on it for a couple of weeks I have finally updated my photo blog www.sarahsfotogallery.blogspot.com

Friday Weigh In

This week I lost 1.2 pounds. That is a total of 20.4 pounds lost.

Continuing my never ending journey

I have started exercising again. I have been going to the gym for 2 1/2 hours every day. I have been walking, biking, and strength training.

While I really want to continue to lose weight, right now my focus is a little different. Apparently after a miscarriage you can experience post-pardom depression. I didn't know this. Now I do, and it is hitting fairly hard. I have had this after each of my children, so I do know what to expect. I don't want to go back on medication, so I am trying to exercise to help me feel better.

I do hope results will be positive, and I would also like some more of the weight to come off. I am thinking of still posting my loss each Friday. This helps keep me motivated if I know others out there are watching.

I got on the scale today and I am exactly the same weight that I was in October when our biggest loser competition ended. This makes me happy that I can start from here and don't have to backtrack any. So from now on I am going to continue to post my Friday weigh ins. Hopefully this can help me to stay motivated to reach my goals.

Tagged

In light of anything better to post, and because I don't want my sister-in-law Kim to have all the fun, I am finally posting a tag I got from my friend Josie.

Tell 7 of my many quirks:

1. I don't like Christmas. Yeah I have been called many times a scrooge for this, but come on people everyone has a holiday they don't enjoy that much, mine just happens to be Christmas. I have been told since I was a girl that someday I will find the joy and enjoy Christmas, and I just don't. While not everything about Christmas is bad, it is just too much work for 20 minutes of enjoyment. I would rather do Halloween and Thanksgiving any day over Christmas.

2. I can't stand dirty kids. It literally drives me crazy when kids have dirty fingernails or hands or clothes. I am a little OCD about it, and my kids have stopped asking me why when I ask them to wash up a few hundred times a day. They also need to always have clean clothes on that fit and are cute and their hair must be combed at all hours. I have tried to lighten up on this, but it is almost impossible for me.

3. I have major anxiety about the phone, and swear who ever invented e-mail invented it for me. I hate calling people, even people I know and am comfortable talking to. I never know what to say, or how to end a call, or if I am disturbing them, or if we can yell over my kids in the background, or if I can somehow politely get off the phone after hours of talking and I know they don't want to stop. Honestly I think it over was too much and it just makes me anxious. This is why my cell phone is only $7 a month. I don't ever use it! I would rather e-mail any day!

4. Speaking of cell phones...they drive me crazy! Honestly people who do you need to talk to 24 hours of the day? Get off your cell phone and read a book at the doctor's office, or learn to drive! I really don't want to hear how much you love your girlfriend while waiting for the dentist, or how so-and-so offended you while I am in the cereal isle. I am not totally against cell phones, I have one. But it is only for emergencies such as checking on my baby sitter, or letting someone know I am running late. I hardly ever talk more then 5 minutes on the thing.

5. I love going on vacation, and I don't do it often enough. If I could I would go somewhere away from home every month. Being away from the day-to-day makes me happy. I really wish I could afford a summer home or cabin or something and just go there every once in a while. I love the planning and the being away from the normal. However, I hate the coming home and unpacking part.

6. I love winter. However, no one believes me and tries to talk me out of this thought, or tell me how irrational this is. I honestly have never met anyone who also likes winter. I like being cold over being hot any day! (I really hate being hot, it makes me so grumpy). I like snuggling up in blankets, drinking hot beverages, and not having many places to be. We all slow down a little in the winter, and I like that. I also like not having to worry about my yard and gardening, or my kids being outside and getting dirty (:

7. I love breakfast. I swear if I could eat breakfast food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I would. My husband is not a big fan of breakfast, so we only make breakfast for dinner when he is out of town. Most days I eat scrambled eggs or cereal for lunch. One of my many favorite things to do is go out to breakfast. Though with kids, and a husband who doesn't enjoy it, I usually only get this pleasure for Mother's Day every year.

I have many more quirks...trust me! But these are some of the ones I feel comfortable writing about (:
Kim if you haven't been tagged with this one yet, then I tag you! (and anyone else who wants to be)

Under-age Voting

Alec just asked me if he could vote. I told him you can't vote until you are 18. He started sobbing is right now crying in his room saying, "I want to vote!" I am pretty sure he doesn't even know what voting is. Huh. (Have I ever mentioned before how dramatic my kids are?)

Big Bites

Alec is our picky non-eater at our house. After years of trying and bribing and other stuff (yeah sometimes I threaten no cookies) we have finally gotten him to eat at least a few bites of everything on his plate.
One of the ways we were able to pull this off was playing to his strengths. Alec has some OCD in him. He likes to count things and put numbers on things. So in order to get him to eat we always tell him a number of bites he has to take. He hardly ever eats anything (besides candy and cookies) without asking us how many bites he has to take. And usually what ever amount we say he will do it.
Well he doesn't love potatoes. We had mashed potatoes the other day. He asked how many bites he had to take. I told him 5 BIG bites. A couple of seconds later I look over at him and he has a tiny piece of potato on his fork and his mouth is open as wide as it can go.

Mom: "Alec a big bite means a lot of potatoes, not opening your mouth to take a big bite."
Alec: "Mom that is what a big bite is!"

He was not happy with me when I showed him how much potatoes actually need to be on your fork to make a big bite. It was a funny moment though!