50 Pounds in 22 Weeks!!!!

Yep I am officially down 50 pounds as of tonight!!! I feel great and although I still have another 35 pounds until I reach my goal I am starting to be more comfortable in my loose skin!

Thought I would share!!!

TTYL

E

Fantasy Football Anyone??

Ok...how sad is it that I am *slightly* ahem...obsessed with Fantasy Football???

Sean came home one day and said those dorks at work are doing a fantasy football pool...and my eyes lit up and I said "WHEN IS THE DEADLINE???". He said the deadline was in one hour and I quickly called Joel. Thankfully he was very accomidating to my "need" to beat middle aged engineers at something!

So...just so you know my picks have ranked me 4th of 31 so far.

And because I love watching football on Sundays or Monday nights this is a great thing for me! It is just making it even more interesting to yell at the tv!

I can't guarantee that I will win the entire tournament but it is pretty fun trying!

Has anyone else done this before???

TTYL

E

Some questions for the 30 mile challenge group.

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Which nights are best for you?

Thursday October 4th
Friday October 5th
Saturday October 6th
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Olive Garden
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Oh no!!! I just overheard...

Do you remember when I had most of you over for a "meet Kendell" night at our house? Well...as you can recall we heard the neighbor through the window and most of you thought it was a man, but it wasn't! My female neighbor has a very growly voice from many years of drinking/smoking etc.

Well...I just overheard Kiara say "you sound like you have a frog in your throat!!!!" OH NO!!!!

The neighbor quickly brushed off her comment by saying "yeah, I was working hard last night and have a bit of a frog".

All I was thinking was...THAT IS HILARIOUS and I probably need to have yet another chat with my kiddos about being polite.

Kids will say the darnest things!

If I would have only known.

Today I was slapped in the face with a little info I wish I would have known earlier.

This afternoon after school I took Kellyn to the dentist because she had an abcess. If you have never seen an abcess...trust me...gross!!! It is an infection in the tooth that can cause a puss filled pocket like a big pimple in your gums. It wasn't bothering her but she noticed the bump a few days ago and asked me what it was. I knew right away what it was and very promptly made an appointment for her to go to Dr.Emmons.

To make a long story shorter...Dr.Emmons had to refer us to an oral surgeon so that the tooth could be removed(its a back molar). Thankfully I knew of two fantastic surgeons that my mom works for, and she was seen by one of them this evening.

While in the office the surgeon said "this problem falls on the parents". WOW!!!!! I have never been told that something I did effected my childrens health... So quickly I asked "what was it???, what did I do that wasn't good enough to keep her teeth in good health??"

He quickly assured me that this DID not occur from the usual suspect...not brushing enough. This comes from her diet. He wondered if she was drinking juice late at night or pop. Both of which she would have so RARELY that we know that wasn't the problem(I mean rarely...once every three months???). We don't buy juice and the occasional 12 pack of pop that we would buy for the kiddos would be for a special occasion.

The next question floored me... "did they get bottles of milk in bed when they were toddlers?"

OH MY GOODNESS!!!! YES THEY DID. In fact...all of my kids have gone to bed with a bottle of milk from when they were weaned from breastmik until they moved to a big girl bed. It was just something that was part of our routine. Apparently because it was milk I thought it would be ok for their teeth but milk has lots of sugar that attaches itself to plaque and creates issues.

In fact...my mom told me that they have seen children in office who have swollen mouths because of the cavaties caused by milk. It has a fancy scientific name that I have forgotten but the imprint in my mind I have certainly not forgotten!

So...Kierstin is right now crying in her bed because her bottle of water is just not doing it! DARN IT!!! I wish I knew this sooner than I did....so that I wouldn't have started this with her.

At least I can "save" Kendell.

So...here's your friendly warning..this is going to cost us more than we want it to when we are trying to buy another vehicle!

Guess What?????!!!!!??????

Today I dropped below my pre-pregnancy weight with Kendell!!!! SWEET!!!!! Over 20 pounds on just weight watchers! On Core and LOVING IT!

God's Plan Was Better.

Today marks the one year anniversary of the day that I found out that I was pregnant with Kendell. I was way more emotional than normal and just to "be safe" I had Sean run out and get a pregnancy test. This was not a strange occurance for Sean as he was quite used to me freaking out about thinking I might be pregnant and this certainly wasn't the first time that he "ran" out to get me a pregnancy test. In fact if I had known just how many pregnancy tests I would have bought over the years I probably would have stocked up on the dollar tree tests a LONG time ago ;)

So he brought home the tests and within seconds of me "performing the deed" the second line showed and I looked up at him waiting for the news with the most shocked and nervous face he has ever seen on me.(that was a total run on!)

Right away I burst into tears and Sean started pacing and blowing air out of his mouth with such force that I thought he was going to hyperventalate! He was just as shocked as I was considering I hadn't had a period yet and was still nursing Kierstin. We were even using protection.

He held me as I sobbed for what seemed like an eternity and I begged him to tell me that "everything was going to be ok". He said it was of course because God is in control. You see...Sean had just been put on disability and was still in a cast when we found out. He was uncertain of his future at his company or of his future as a tower climber in general. We were scared and were living in a tin can that we had already grown out of.

But...Sean was right. We weren't in control. Because I was pregnant we found a fantastic place to move into within our price range and owned by Christians. We have never been late on rent in the many months that we have lived here. God has supplied for our family. He also kept our beeter of a van running just as long as we needed it to. A van that I swear was held together by duck tape and bubble gum by the end!

And in April of this year I gave birth to our fifth daughter whom you all know. Kendell Seana. She has by far been my easiest baby. And I wonder if it is because I am just gaining in patience, knowledge and maturity or if her personality will just stay as laid back as it has been. She is smart as a whip and I know will try her hardest to "catch up" with Kierstin. She already is!

God gave her to us, and that is a blessing. We can't imagine life without her and wouldn't take back the struggle this last year has been. It has grown and stretched us even furthur and it is easy to see God in the midst of it. Still in control and still holding his promises true.

So...

I blew past 15lbs today!!! SWEET!!! I got a new gold sticker!

A big realization and a great first day!

Well as expected today was the twins first day of first grade! And they were so excited about how it went they didn't stop talking all the way home on our walk!

I had a huge realization today when I was thinking about how twins are naturally compared. I was thinking about how when one twin seems to get a concept faster than the other they are sometimes labelled with "better" when perhaps the other is just taking a bit longer or taking a different path to the same ending. And when I was thinking about this I came to another conclusion...when twins are in seperate classes their teachers are compared.

Ok...so....today was the first day and I just got a better "Vibe" from one of the teachers than the other. This made me nervous...because really...we are entrusting our tiny little children into the hands of people that we don't know. I think I remember doing this last year and thinking "uh oh...Kellyn's going to walk all over her" and as it turns out...I would request Kellyn's teacher for Kyla because she was SO GREAT! So...my conclusion is...so far...don't judge just yet! I could spend all day worrying about the day that my kids are having although I know that GOD is in control and he is watching them when my eyes are on the baby team and Kyla.

Enough said. It was kinda a rough day. I just don't do well with change!

Clorox Wipes and Online Lunch Money!!!!

What is this world coming to????

I think it is so interesting how much school has changed since I was attending! Ok ok...I am 10 years out of high school this coming spring so HOW could I expect things to stay the same? The year was 1985 when I started kindergarten when I was 4....ummm...now I feel old!!! That is 22 years ago!!! WOW!

The changes that I am really referring to are...

-school supply lists now include things such as dry erase markers, clorox wipes, ziploc bags, shoe boxes and of course the regular things...like FOUR glue sticks per child and FOUR boxes of eight crayons per child! Ummmm...this is where having twins first is frustrating. You just don't get "eased" into these types of things!

-dress codes for elementary school students. Since when does it have to be printed that elementary students need to be covered from the "shoulder to mid thigh" YIKES!!!!

-online payment of lunch money! This one I LOVE!!!! There is actually a website for our district so I don't have to send lunch money and *hope* that it gets to the right place.

-three choices of lunch food entrees. The girls LOVE this one too! They get to choose what they would like and you always get the choice of a "pb&j uncrustable and trix yogurt". There is still the usual "tuesday pizza day" and other choices that I would have seen when I was in school but I just love the fact that they are trying to give choices and that the choices are healthy options.

Another thing that I realized last year is that the amount of volunteer parents has increased since I was in school. In Kiara's class last year they had a parent volunteer EVERY DAY! That was so great! Not only was it great to get the opportunity to be in the classroom but to know that there were two sets of eyes and ears was more reassuring when I worried about teacher/student time.

This year kellyn has 16 students in her class and kiara has 17. THAT IS AWESOME!!!! I am so glad! I am not sure that the other students in the district are that lucky but for the moment...those are the numbers!

So they start tomorrow. I am excited for them to begin structured learning again. We did LOTS of learning this summer but I always worry that I am just not enough.

So far...its a blessing!

If I was being honest with all of you I would have to tell you that I was scared of September 1st. I came up with the 30 mile challenge while looking at my calendar for September and thinking "30 miles in 30 days" and wondering if people would think that was just another one of "Erin's Crazy Ideas!". And honestly...I have had MANY! I would be the first to admit it.

So...as the day came closer and closer I honestly doubted whether or not I could do the 30 miles much less encourage others to do it along side of me, and I am SO BLESSED to be doing this. I have found out that not only are there people who are doing the challenge(16 to be exact) but those people have encouraged me to push myself furthur than I have been pushed.

I did great today! I walked this morning with Beth, Hollie and Alicia and was blessed to have been asked to participate in the walk. I wasn't however blessed by the mosquitos!!! And I had to cut the park time short because the baby is still too young for bug repellent.

I also walked this evening with my favorite sister in law! How encouraging it was to hear that she would join me for a jaunt around her neighborhood when I called to ask, especially when she is getting ready to back to school and teach on Tuesday! It was a great walk filled with great conversation and great sweat!!! Who would have thought that I would be so blessed!!!

I also ate SO well today! I switched to the CORE plan with Weight Watchers because I was beginning to worry that I was stressed out too much with the "points". I was eating too far under my points for the day and feeling starved when I should have been eating...so I switched.

In a nutshell when you join weight watchers you pick from two eating plans.

The most popular is FLEX where you figure out your DAILY POINTS TARGET for the day based on a survey that you complete. You can eat whatever you want as long as you don't go over your daily points. You also get 35 points per week to be used as overflow and earn activity points.

The other plan is CORE. There is a core food list(basically if God made it or it is fat free you can eat it)and you can eat as much food on the core list as it takes for you to feel satisfied. You still get your 35 points per week but those are used for anything that isn't on the core list. i.e. ice cream isn't on the core list so you would count those points and take them from your 35 for the week. You can still earn activity points and eat those if you choose.

OK...wow that was alot of info! So...because I was feeling like I was starving thinking about my points(I was thinking..."If I don't eat those 10 points then I will lose extra weight"), I switched to CORE which is all about eating healthy foods and listening to your body saying "I'm full". This is a good plan for me because I enjoy eating fruits, vegetables and lean meats anyways! It is probably a bit more expensive of a plan though...so we will see what happens.

So was it a good day for you? Sorry to be "braggy" but this was a small victory for me today. You have all blessed me!!!! THANKS SO MUCH!!! I MEAN IT!!!!