Friday fun day...

Oh wait... it isn't Friday!

But we are enjoying a relaxing...

day anyway...

playing with our friends...

and playing with our favorite toys and books.

Normally Friday is our "free day". Free from structure, routine, and lessons. It is a free play day. We also watch a movie, have a fun extra snack, and just enjoy the laid back day. As you are probably aware, today is not Friday. However... snot, coughs, watery eyes, and short tempers have entered daycare. I have no idea why this could be happening, maybe because we have winter one day and spring the next... I dunno! Pair that with my headache and it makes for a perfect Friday Fun Day!

had to share

My shells for today's lunch... major bummer! Don't worry, we still all ate- just had to use taco ones instead of these cute, flat round ones, which are easier for my little people to eat! Not a single one was usable. We still had some awesome chicken tacos for lunch though!

Another awesome recipe... turkey noodle casserole. I will scan the recipe in soon- this reminded me a lot of chicken alfredo at Olive Garden- but totally under 350 calories, and the serving size was huge. A+ recipe to be made again!

I don't want to be fat anymore...

Tonight at the gym I came the closest I have ever been to a panic attack. I am "training" for a 5k that is coming up in a month, I am signed up to run a 2 mile course next week, and I am 5 lbs away from being under 200lbs. Can you say overwhelmed? While running, I had a lot of time to think.

I don't want to be fat anymore.

I have lived all of my life overweight- it has always been a great life- but an unhealthy one. I was happy being over weight. It wasn't until I started to loose weight that I noticed that maybe I should have cared more when I was a size 24.

Meal planning, food tracking, and working out is my life. Even when I hit my "goal" weight, it will still be my life. I owe that to my husband and my peanuts. It is unfair to them to be a bad role model.

I don't want to be fat anymore.

At what point will I look at myself and say, "wow, I am not fat"? I see that my body is changing, I see that I shop for smaller clothing, and I like how I am looking however I still have so far to go. At what point do I give myself credit for losing 68 pounds in over a year... ( taking some time off in between to have Kendal)

I don't want to be fat anymore.

I like having this challenge... of running a 5k, working out, having a balanced life of God, family, friends, and me time. It works for me. I thrive on it. But, I don't want to be fat any more.

So, as overwhelmed as I am right now in my weight loss journey... I am pushing myself and hopefully motivating others too! I don't open my life up to brag or seek praise for my progress, I open up to share how important it is to live a healthy and happy life. If I can make time to eat, track, workout, hold a job, have a social life, be a mom of 4, and a wife for 11 years of marriage- You... can... too! You have to overcome the mental battle before overcoming physical ones.

We talked about some K words today...

We also talked about hibernation. Today we put some bears into hibernate while our weather is still cold. Everyday this week, we'll check the weather to see if it is warm enough for the bears to come out.

We also reviewed our colors. We listened to some music and when I paused it, I called out a color. We had to stand our touch something that was that color.

Then it was dancing time... C doing the robot!

K2 loves the streamers and loud music.

Mia twirling around and around!

basement mess

Just when our basement/family room was looking nice, clean, and almost functioning ...
This last week Dustin started on making Gaby's space a room. Walls and everything.


Until it is finished, my nice family room looks like this... Ahhh!

But, with every house project, this too shall pass and Gaby will have her own private space to call her own! It'll will be worth it!

Until then, I have a huge basement mess!

Back from spring break...

A was our helper today. We are talking about the Letter K and bears. Our stories of the week are both too cute and feature loving little fussy bears!

Our first introduction to letter K... stamping K onto our kites.

then coloring and decorating them...

Our two K's holding up their kites.

Washburn Art Lab

Friday morning Dustin and I took the girls to the WU art lab. This was our first time there. It was awesome(and free).

They had several rooms filled with art supplies, dramatic play, and educational toys.
The art lab had something for every age. I was in kid heaven!

Gaby showing off her mosaic magnet art

Mia and her rock art

Kadyn coloring with chalk

Kendal and Dustin making faces

Joining in on the fun

One of my favorite pictures of Mia and I...

At the mall

I had some errands to run at the mall, the weather was turning cold and we couldn't do much outside anyway. After we run my errands, I promised the girls a train ride. While we waited we played at the play area and rode this musical carousal.

Train time...

Everyone was pretty excited for the ride around the mall...

The train wasn't full at all so the older peanuts rode together and the younger two rode with me.

After our ride was over, Dustin met us at the food court for lunch... the girls begged him to go up and down the escalator. My kids are crazy and could do this for hours.

Another fun day of Spring break!

making new friends

Walking around at Washburn University

We made some new friends

They looked kinda silly

But we didn't mind

new do's

Finally got the older peanuts in for trims... both girls wanted to keep their hair long!
Gaby now has some awesome face shaping layers in her long thick hair and it was thinned out- so much better!

My 2 beauties..

Kadyn loves to get her hair trimmed because our gal always braids her hair, something I have no clue on how to do! Such a girlie girl...

Hockey time...

Hockey Time...
One of my daycare parents invited us to a family night that their job was hosting! We had cheap tickets, 1.00 hotdogs, and free parking. We had a blast. We had to move once so Mia had moving room and away from the air blowing horn people.

Our family shot... My inlaws came too....

Mia was very excited to attend her first hockey game. She was up way past her bedtime but still did a great job of watching the game.

Kendal had a fun time too! She loved the hotdogs and ate an entire on herself. She was a good girl as well, I was extremely pleased at how well the little peanuts did at the sporting event.

Go Roadrunners.... Good luck at the playoff's!

Trip to the zoo...

I must say, the zoo is so not my favorite place to go. It ranks right up there with the circus! However, it was a nice morning and the peanuts did absolutely wonderful- we didn't even loose Mia which is a total bonus!

Mia and Kendal have been before but this was the first time Mia truly experienced the zoo- seeing how excited she was almost made me like the zoo; I said almost!

Here we are- ready to go in! This picture cracks me up- can you tell which child has had 3 years of dance???

This is normally Dustin's job! The tropical rain forest...blah! It makes me want to puke. I asked the kids if we could skip it if dad promised to bring them back and they still said no. So, I put on my big girl panties and went through the rain forest.
The older kids spotted everything- Mia spent most of the time yelling, "the birds will eat me". Which kinda made the trip through the rain forest worth it. She loved seeing the flamingos and the turtles.

Mia, Kadyn, and Gaby feed the animals. Let me rephrase that. Mia and Kadyn threw food at the animals while Gaby actually fed them. One goat came up to Kendal's stroller and licked her leg- Kenni freaked out, I laughed!

Watching the elephants. Kenni did a great job during the ride through the zoo- she actually got mad when I took her out of the stroller for the picture! Mia was fascinated at the elephants and their poop- Go Mia! Like I said, to see things her way was a fun time!

More Spring break activities to come...