I joined WW online nearly three weeks ago, and I have been so pleased with the results. I didn't know it, but Annie had joined about the same time-- She has posted about it a time or two, and we have emailed a little behind the blogging scene. I have decided that it is definitely the way to go for me. I lost 2lbs. the first week and 1.5lbs the second week. I've yet to weigh for the third week, as my weigh-in day is tomorrow, but I am expecting about the same results. I really want to drop 10-12 lbs, so this seems to be the way for me to do it. I'm excited about it. If you are in need of a little weight loss, you might want to check out WW's online version. They have a free one week trial right now--so you have nothing to lose--except a pound or two or three.

Labels: Food, Just Me

It was so nice on Monday to have my aunt and uncle from Missouri here to visit. They got here around 11 am, and stayed the night with us. They were on their way to Florida to visit with my dad and stepmother. I think they really enjoyed watching our younger two play. My uncle said, "Kids just don't play like that anymore." The twins got an inexpensive (relatively speaking) video camera for Christmas, and have had more fun recording all their many escapades outside. On Monday, they were videoing our neighbor boy going down several of the hills in our area (not on roads) in a wagon (that's as close to sledding as southern children get). It looked a little dangerous to me, but, hey, it wasn't my kids in the wagon (kidding). Actually, A. and M. did go down a few times, but I made them wear a helmet. Anyway, the kids had a great time showing their great-aunt and uncle all the videos they had made that day. I made Pioneer Woman's Lasagna and a yummy apple pie. I know the pie was a hit, but I'm sure my aunt didn't care for the lasagna! I was sitting there thinking, "Yum, this is so good." (I'm on Weight Watchers, so I hadn't eaten like that in 2 weeks!) And she was barely eating it. I hate that I didn't make something she enjoyed--I know she liked my pie though! :) Now, onto another subject: K. is having a rough time with her knees right now. She has actually been pretty stressed out about the whole thing. She will be having an MRI today to try to determine what is going on. I don't think I've ever written about it before, but she has been having knee pain for nearly 3 years. We have been to the doctor, and been to the doctor, AND BEEN TO THE DOCTOR, only to hear that it's patellar tendinitis, or she just grew too fast, etc. She's been through physical therapy a couple times as well. Anyway, her knees have really acted up lately--I think because of basketball practice, so we decided to quit letting the doctor on base blow us off, and told them we wanted to see a specialist in town. They agreed, and the civilian doctor thinks she has something called Osgood-Schlatter disease--which is what I thought it was 2 years ago. Anyway, the MRI should determine what is going on, and we will see the doctor on the 29th to hear the results. I'm just praying for answers. If it is Osgood-Schlatter's--which is not serious, there is no cure--she has to outgrow it--usually by the age of 18, but there are some things she can do to ease the pain. Needless to say, we are all anxiously awaiting the 29th of January. She's most worried about not being able to play basketball again. That's the irony of Osgood-Schlatter disease--it most often strikes the most active children--and they sometimes have to stop being so active--until the 'disease' resolves. Your prayers are coveted!

Labels: Family, Kids

They both really worked hard--and I put in a little time myself helping them get all the stuff together, and supplying an idea or two. I was never so glad to see a project finished, but we are pleased with the end results.

Yesterday, on the way home from school, M. announced that she had made a 100 on her diorama. I looked at A. through the rear view mirror, and he looked so sad. He said, "I got a 72." I immediately slammed on my brakes, and very indignantly said "What?" That's crazy!" Oh, how the kids laughed. He got a 100 too--he just thought it would be funny to make me sweat a little! The brat.

Labels: Kids

After a few moments, when the fire was going really good, I said, "Do you smell smoke?" The kids said they didn't so I thought it must be my imagination. I didn't see any so I blew it off. A few minutes later, though, found A. doing this: Yes, he would be fanning the smoke alarm because the NOISE--it was killing our ear drums. We had forgotten to open the damper so the room was slowly filling with smoke. We sat for the next 20 minutes shivering with the windows and doors open to get all the smoke out. I also had a nice thin layer of ash on my furniture. We really had a good laugh about it though, and had to call daddy to tell him what had happened. His first fire was definitely memorable.

Labels: Kids

We live on a one acre lot that is mostly wooded. We just love it here, but all those trees do produce a lot of twigs, branches, and pine cones that fall to the ground with regularity--and the leaves?--let's just not talk about the vast quantities of leaves B deals with every year. Because of this debris, the twins have to pick up a garbage can full of twigs, etc., on a regular basis. They really hate this job, but recently found a clever way around it--at least, they were hoping. Before B left one day, he told A and M that since it had been a good while, they needed to pick up two cans of sticks that day. They were extremely bummed because they had plans to play the day away. One of them, I'm not sure who--I could guess though, came up with what they thought was a wonderful plan--a way to get off easy. The picture below tells it all: B laughed when he saw the two cans of sticks waiting for him on the kitchen counter--but A and M, the poor overworked children, still had to go out and do what they knew he meant! Poor babies.

Labels: Kids

The new year has been a good one for us so far. B. started school on the 7th. I can see that this is pretty much going to dictate our entire year. B. has studied for hours everyday this week. He has been getting home around five or six, heading straight to the computer, and working there for 5 or 6 hours. It hasn't been bad for the rest of us--he's been home, and that's always nice. I don't think the noise of the house is bothering him, so it seems to be working. He has taken a couple breaks for racquetball, and lunch with a friend. He's been listening to the Read-Aloud that K. is doing a little at a time for the family--huge Peter Pan family here. She is reading "Peter and the Secret of Rundoon" -- which is the third in a series about the life of Peter Pan before the actual story of Peter Pan. Does that make sense? K. has read all three of the nearly 500 page books aloud to us over the past year or year and a half. I have to admit, though, that I rarely listen--it's just not my thing. It's something the kids are really enjoying with their daddy. Though I do get quite cracked up with the constant, "Daddy, are you awake? What did I just say? Daddy, keep your eyes open!" Anyway, I know that B. is stressed by the sheer amount of the work he has to do for 3 classes. I am praying that he will not be overwhelmed, and that all will fall into a good rhythm for him. The kids are back in school. The twins have an ocean diorama project due in a week that I am truly dreading. I hope we can get those put together Sunday. I have to go buy "oceany" things today. They had quite a fright yesterday as tornadoes were everywhere in our area yesterday. They had to sit in the hall for an hour or more while the storms passed. I hated being away from them. I am not scared of these storms anymore, but I know the kids still are bothered by them. I have a healthy respect for them, but I don't panic when the sirens go off anymore--it happens too often around here for that. I went and picked them up a few minutes early--as there was a little break in the storms. A school several miles away was struck, and the little community will be recovering for awhile. We have a lot of friends that were affected by this, but thankfully everyone is OK. You might have seen the picture of the school bus on top of the school! -- That's crazy. Actually, what is really crazy is that the wind hardly blew at our house, and the rain wasn't that torrential either. We are leaving this afternoon for our third JBQ/TBQ match of the year. We always look forward to our little trip--for the quizzing--and the shopping. The younger ones will be seeing the new Veggie Tales movie this weekend. That is sure to be fun. I joined Weight Watchers online this week--for their free one week trial. I don't know if I will continue or not. We'll just have to wait and see how that one goes...

Labels: Family, Kids

I first read about the website, Pandora, over at Leah Belle's. I have had a bunch of fun today creating a bunch of my "own" radio stations. I have 4 at the moment. One is in the style of Elvis--(I know you would be interested in that, Sonya), another in the style of the Gaither Vocal Band, one like Chris Tomlin, and another like Third Day. If you haven't heard of Pandora--go on over and check it out. I think you will be glad you did.

Labels: Blogging Info.