random thoughts...

So, I posted on Fb I want more daycare space or open a center... not really! I LOVE the space I have and can offer preschool setting with a home environment as well. I really love our house, it is a work in progress but it is 30+ years old so it should be. I could one more room... having 7 people in a 4 bedroom house (plus 8 extra during the day) can get a little tight at times. I think that is why I can not stand clutter. I might not keep the cleanest of houses, though I try, I can not stand to have the clutter.

I am on day 5 of working out at Jazz class and riding my bike during nap time. I am also rereading Breaking Dawn (while on the bike-anything to pass the time), I forgot how much I love that book! Off topic... working out... I am doing it! I will have my first official weigh in tomorrow. I have been writing down my morning weight along with foods that I eat and what workout I have done. Yike... I can see why I was gaining! Geez!

Daycare was a busy week... we had a very fun theme and it took a lot of our time. However it was pretty rainy and wet so we didn't get a lot of outside time so I guess it worked out just fine.

I am in search of new recipes that are fast (or something I can put together earlier in the day) and healthy. We are on week 2 of not eating out. On days we are on the go, I have thrown dinners in plastic containers and we still eat in the car, no different from getting a happy meal and eating in the car... a little cheaper and figure friendly! BUT... if you email me, post a comment or facebook me a favorite recipe, their might be a THANK YOU gift for helping me out!

Last night was a fun night at Awana's. Gaby is so close to earning her club shirt, Kadyn earned her Sparks book, and Mia loves saying, "I'm a puggle". Kenni did awesome in the nursery as well...(so happy I have a friend in there to watch her in there). The 3-5 year olds are so excited to come and that really does rub off on me. Wednesdays are just a blur because of the pace, but totally worth it. Did I mention I also get to be the cubbie bear puppet??? I have many talents these days!

When we got home, I watched Big Brother Season finale. Dustin joined me half way through. I love having a laid back night when the kids are sleeping and it is just us for a few minutes. He still makes me laugh so hard I can't breathe, he continues to eat my popcorn and steal all the salt at the bottom of the bowl, he is just my mac to my cheese. I love nights like this when I can connect with my hubs!

I am trying (still haven't done much) to learn more about my camera. Just needing to make the time. So maybe when Kendal is 12, I will know how to use it!

I am scrapbooking on the 25th... I can not wait. I am signed up and now I just need to get ready to go! I am hoping to update Mia's album and start Kendal's.

Does anyone ever get caught up on laundry??? Man, even working out of my house I never am caught up. Maybe it is because I like blogging and FB too much! Hummm. During the summer I stayed more on top of it because D was wearing shorts and tee shirts. Now, he has to dress up (during the school year) and then comes home and changes. Two times the laundry! It could be worse, I am just ever caught up. I do have a laundry schedule so I am doing a little every couple of days so it doesn't seem so bad.

I am trying to schedule the carpet people to come out and clean again...it's always a nice treat for me. Deep down I am hoping we can save Christmas money and tax return (please hope we get one) and put new carpet in. The wear and tear on this carpet is just crazy. I want to get a higher quality and darker color so you can not see EVERYTHING! Off white carpet is just not nice! Shouldn't even be a choice to buy.

Nap is about over... because I hate posting without pictures... this is what I was doing during nap time. Kenni decided she didn't want an afternoon nap so we played and goofed around! I won't have these moments forever so I better take em' as I can!!!

Have a wonderful soon to be Friday!!! Thanks for checking in! Don't forget those recipes!

Wrapping up Brown Bear ....

The Peanut Gallery... we are wrapping up Brown Bear week. We acted out each page of the book and read through it as a group. Here is our group of children that the teacher sees at the end of the story.

This week we started talking about the color green. Yesterday everyone was dressed in green or had some type of green on.

Each animal we have decorated in different ways. We have painted, used sponges, bingo dopers, crayons and tissue paper to make different textures and effects.

Painting our green frogs...

Working on out frogs, horses, cats and dogs!!!

We love Brown Bear around here!

Day 2: Red bird and yellow duck...

Working hard on our red birds...
We colored them...well, red then added furthers to their tails.

We also sponged painted our ducks yellow...

Our Brown Bear display is shaping up very nicely...

For music and Movement time we worked on being caterpillars in a cocoon. We had our bodies tight in a ball and stay in one spot. Then we became butterflies and we danced, skipped, and moved our wings (our streamers).

Looking back...and getting started!

I am week one of my weight loss journey. I have been on this road before and know what it takes to get the results that I want to see. Last week I had a pity party and decided the time was not right for me to workout and work on my weight.

Then, I had a long hard talk with myself. I said, "Self... you stress over your weight daily, you are not happy with how things are fitting, you love to work out when you make the time for it, and you love the people and support you get while on this journey".

Myself and I decided it is time. No longer will busy night and schedule be my excuse for not working out. No longer will I get fast food because we are on the run, this will be a planned treat. And, no longer will I allow myself to use food as my comfort during hectic or stressful times.

After Mia was born (Aug. 2008), I lost 30 pounds, just from having her. That was motivating. I bought jeans 2 sizes smaller and liked how I felt. Slowly, the weight was coming back on. A daycare parent told me about Jazzercise. That was my answer to working out. There was a center close by and they offered tons of classes. I went 6-7x a week. I.....LOST.....WEIGHT! And, I loved it. Not only was Jazz class a fun way to lose the weight, but I met lots people and it was a way to relive stress in a positive way.

This was taken April 2009...
Being a smaller size was not about looking better, (which I thought I did, because I posed all the time) it was about being a better mother to my kids, a more active wife to my husband (not just in the bed, peeps get your head out of the gutter), and being more healthy for me.

The weight loss continued to for 6 more months... I was 7 pounds shy of making a huge goal of mine.

This was taken Mother's Day 2009- One of my favorite pictures and I was at my lightest weight.

The summer months started and the weight stopped coming off even though I was doing nothing different. I thought I was done for a while and just needed to maintain. Well, a month later, I found out I was 10 weeks pregnant with Kendal. As a lot of people know, she was so not planned. One of the hardest things was to watch all the hard work of losing weight reverse itself. I tried to stay active, but I slowly stopped working out because I was tired all the time or sick to my stomach. I let my healthy choices go out the window as the cravings and greasy food came back into the picture.

9 months preggers with Kendal...

Even after Kendal was born, I only had gained 20 pounds. I was nursing and thought, "I can eat what I want, it'll burn off". Nope, not the case with me. When Kendal was 6 mo. old, I was up 40 pounds. Things are not fitting, my face is fuller, and I hate the way I look at this weight. I have never cared too much about my appearence until I saw how much I liked having the smaller waist line. I have a fear that I will be that 275pound adult and not have the will power to get the weight off. This really scares me!

So... here I am. Ready to start the journey again, ready to take on the hard work, ready to motivate and be motivated, and ready to change my life...again! I know I can do it. The benefits are there, the support from Dustin is there, and most of all my will power is there. So... here I am.

Sept. 2010
I will continue to blog some updates... can't wait!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear...

is our theme for the week...

I am pretty excited as it is one of my all time favorite books.

Our course, our book of the week is, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see?" By Eric Carle.

Today we made our brown bear. We decorated him and gave him fur by using brown tissue paper squares. We were supposed to finger paint with chocolate pudding but I forgot to buy it...Oops!

Our finished bears... so cute!

Our daycare room... I added a weather frog and color/shape area to keep on display. Each shape and color we are working on for 2 weeks. I hope the slower pace will help them to learn the concept better! I really love the learning space here...

Keep checking back to see what else Brown Bear will see...

Friday's Favorite Pictures...

Outside, roasting some mellows for our Smore's....

I love Gaby's expression... she loved helping Dustin throw sticks into the fire.

Mia making her own Smore... that's my girl, wait for no one when food is involved.

Love the hubbs expression... I just love the hubbs!

Have a Fabulous Friday!

firemen day...

Today we talked about Firemen and their very important job they have in the community.
Today we made a fire art project using paint and plastic wrap.

We also reviewed our shapes and color red as we made a shape fire engine.

Our music and movement has us playing with bean bags again... We did the bean bag boogie II. They had to stay on a colored spot, which helps with space issues and they had to listen to the directions on the song. Lots of good lessons being worked on here...

We finished up our morning by baking cookies... 9 dozen cookies. This is our community project for our daycare. We will pass plates and baggies of cookies to teachers, mail carrier, firemen, and police officers we know. After nap, we are making cards to go with our goodies.