Take a Chance on Me

March 29, 2013

Spring Slimdown Challenge Week 8

So this morning I was down 2 inches, and up .2 lbs. I'm not worried about the gain though...last weigh-in I was really dehydrated after a day of the stomach flu...so my loss for the past 2 weeks is still 5.8 lbs. I am happy with that. I earned all 89 points this week. Last week I tried a few new workouts I found on Youtube (including Ab Ripper X...I don't know how you do it LauriAnn, that was tough).

This week's group challenge is to replace one meal a day with a protein shake/smoothie. If any of you have a great smoothie recipe pass it along please! My personal goal is to not let any "treats" I have exceed 150 calories.

2 more weeks to go in this challenge, currently I'm in second place according to points, it will all come down to the percentage of inches and lbs. lost. Only 3 more lbs. to hit my goal of losing 20 lbs. in 10 weeks!

March 28, 2013

Noodle Nose

Little Caden keeps us on our toes. He is smart and funny...he is stubborn and defiant...he is 2!

I can't get enough of him begging for the "Chipmunk song and then singing "everyday I'm shufflin" like in this video below:

The little things he says crack me up. The other day we had a plumber here that cut a giant hole in the wall, Caden was pretty interested in how he was doing it. After he finished Caden said to him, "that was easy peasy squeezy lemonade." The plumber about choked he was laughing so hard.

I also love when he says, "tic tac toe, ready to go." (I have no idea where that one came from).

The other day at lunch he stuck a Ramen noodle up his nose. He told Clark about it later, sure enough, there was a noodle stuck in his nose. Clark pulled out his forceps to get it out and Caden asked, "those is for pulling noodles out of noses?" Yes, Caden, exactly what they are for.

While I typed this blog post he made a nice mess with the toilet water! Did I mention he is 2? Good thing he's cute.

March 26, 2013

The Big 5!

The last 3 days we celebrated our little Ethan buddy turning 5 years old! We love Ethan and I hope his festive day(s) made him feel special.
Saturday night we had birthday dinner at Panda (the birthday boy's choice).

All the boys wearing Daddy's hats.

On Sunday morning he woke up and all I could hear from the living room was gasping when he discovered the pirate decorations. He was so excited to remember it was his birthday. Sunday we went to church, in the car on the way home he said, "it was the best birthday ever," because all of the kids in primary sang to him and because the bishop gave him a giant chocolate bar. We came home and he got to open his presents from Grammy and Grandpa.

A little Facetime action with Uncle James and Grammy.

That night some friends came to help celebrate with cake, ice cream, and presents.

The ship part of the cake had a hard time staying together, I'm just glad we made it to the candles before a major ship wreck occurred.

The littlest brother tried so hard to stay awake.

The next morning the little preschool aged pirates came over for a parrrrrrrrrrrty! It was originally supposed to be Friday, but we had to postpone a few days to recover from the stomach flu.

Ethan had so much fun making and delivering the invites a few weeks ago.

Pirate beach balls to color while we waited for all of the little mateys to arrive.

Shiver me timbers! All decked out! These were some fierce little pirates!

We swabbed the deck, we pinned treasure boxes on a map, we did a pirate boot camp obstacle course, we walked the plank, and had a sea monster attack, and of course had a treasure hunt (the momma pirate needed a serious nap afterwards).

Swimming through the underwater tunnel.

Finding an island to stand on.

Only one island left!!!

More presents!

Those pirates have a great sense of humor...they thought this center piece hat was the funniest part of the whole day!

The best part about preschool pirates is that they don't care that the cake was already half eaten...just give them cake!

Very fun celebrations to celebrate our favorite Captain! Yo ho!

March 22, 2013

Spring Slimdown Challenge Week 7

So thanks to a wonderful bout of food poisoning/or flu bug yesterday I was down 6 lbs. and 5 inches today! Too bad today's weigh-in wasn't the last day of the challenge. So I really have no idea how much I really lost this week doing the no-sugar diet. The first day of no sugar was the hardest, then it got easier to pass up sweets. Giving up bread though was hard the whole week.
I earned 88/89 points...yesterday there was no way I could drink 64 oz. of water.

Yesterday I felt like I had been hit by a bus! My baby felt like he weighed 50 lbs. Just doing the simple things to take care of my family seemed so difficult. It made me stop and think about how I take my healthy body for granted each day. I am so thankful that I'm healthy and strong enough (getting stronger) to do what I love to do, even if my body (currently) has a few more pounds on it than I would like.

So instead of focusing on the end result I am choosing to be happy with who I am today, and happy that I am making the changes necessary to make my body more healthy. That's what this challenge is all about!

This week's group challenge is to try 2 new workouts that I have never done before. Any suggestions?

March 19, 2013

4 Month Old Quinn

How has it been 4 months? We love our little, growing Quinn. Yesterday at his 4 month doctor's appointment he weighed 15 lbs. 8 oz. (61%) and was 26 inches tall (85%). I am thoroughly enjoying this little "Boo-yah Baby," (not sure where this nickname came from...my kids end up with some doozies, luckily they don't all stick forever).

This is his new favorite toy (thanks to my Aunts Leslie and Lori), he loves to chew on it.

I can't imagine a more smiley, mellow little guy. I love that when he makes eye contact with someone he grins. I love his little laugh/squawk! The only thing that upsets him are his baths.

I love waking up to this mug every morning. He is now starting out sleeping in his own bed but ends up next to me in the middle of the night.

The biggest difference this month is how much he is noticing his brothers! He loves to see what they are doing. Ethan is really sweet with him, and can get the best smiles out of him.

I took this picture while I was vacuuming, Ethan was holding Quinn's hand so he wouldn't be scared of the loud vacuum.

Both boys were cracking up while Caden held Quinn, and I held Caden.

I love Quinn's many facial expressions.

This is the one where he looks way older than he is...so not amused by his mom's crazy antics!

Are you kidding me mom? I was making bows for a friend and needed to see how big it would look on her head.

Just blowing bubbles, waiting for the doctor.

I love this little video, it shows how excited we are for every little milestone around here. Quinn would roll from his tummy to his back just to get the boys' reaction...he must love the cheering crowd already.
So grateful for my happy baby boy!