Spoiled!

Okay, I am spoiled, I tell you, SPOILED!

So, a while back one of my favorite blog commentors and blogging buddy Kami made a comment about how she loved my new blog design and how she wished she could do that for herself. Well, I offered to help her just to see if I could and well, 'cause I find stuff like that fun (before I was a mom, I was a software engineer). I think her blog turned out rather beautiful and she loved it so all was happy. And after this post she did about me, my ego was very happy and my head was swelling and I could not have asked for more! Well, that is when the spoiling started.... First, I got a Target gift card that I began referring to as "Kami Money" and I went shopping and went a little nuts on the 70% off clearance rack and got myself some new shirts! (This was very exciting because I NEVER buy myself new clothes and I really NEEDED some new shirts....after all, I have lost some weight!). Well, then LOOK at what I got in the mail today! Several canvas shopping bags and this beautiful bag made by Kami's friend Anna! I am so excited about these bags, I have been using my few canvas bags but never seem to have enough canvas bags with me for the shopping trip, but now I will! Turns out that my city may soon be going greener and outlawing all of those plastic bags! Oh and you can't really see it but I am wearing one of those new shirts I bought with my "Kami Money"! And, did I mention that she sent me some very yummy smelling bath soaps....and with all the trips to the gym I have made this week, I am in need of a nice long soak in the tub! (Speaking of the gym, I went to step aerobics again today!)

THANKS KAMI, you have no idea how much you have blessed me! This being spoiled is FUN... now to find someone else to commence the spoiling (hint, hint honey)!

Yeah for me!

So, I told you on Tuesday that I joined the gym. Well, I am very proud of myself because I have been two days in a row so far. On Wed I was brave and went to a step aerobics class. I'm sure I was comic relief for the women that are actually good at it. I still have to learn all of the terms and the steps to match them but hey, I worked up a good sweat for a solid hour! I was pretty proud that I went and I survived! Today I went and met with a personal trainer. David and I are still discussing the $$$ part of meeting with the trainer on a regular basis. I hope it works out.... I guess I better get busy marketing my new blog redesign business! Hopefully at this rate I will meet my mini goal of 15 more pounds by July!

Oh and I haven't been posting much cause I am trying to recover from our long Mother's Day weekend out of town while at the same time getting ready for James' first birthday party on Saturday! Hopefully things will be back to a slower pace next week.

Are you new here?

Hi people! I just wanted to take a minute to reintroduce myself to many of you and introduce myself for the first time to those of you who may be new visitors! Make sure to say hello in the comments as I love returning visits!

In my little corner of the bloggy world, I enjoy participating in Thursday Thirteen and my very own Tell All Tuesday after I weigh in on Tuesday mornings at Weight Watchers. This blog is all about my family and my daily joys and struggles, but mostly about my two darling children. Kirstyn is 4 and James will be 1 next week! I am trying to be more open about my journey to loosing 100 lbs so that I can get some encouragement (and I have found lots out there in the bloggy world)!

I love blog parties and meeting new bloggers. I am planning to really party this week as there are all kinds of parties going on right now! Well and I just have to admit that I am also partially motivated by all of the amazing giveaways! And speaking of contests.... click on this link and VOTE for Normal to Natalie in the picture contest and leave a comment because you could win a prize too!

Hope to see you at one or both of these parties!

Tell All Tuesday - Week 5

Well, I did not have the best weigh in today but I was expecting to be up some because my Crohns Disease always acts up some when we have been traveling. I did good with my eating so assuming I behave myself this week I will see it on the scale next week. I was up 0.8 today but like I said, that is okay. Today after Weight Watchers I went by and finally committed to joining Gold's Gym. I have been wanting to go back to the boot camp program that I did last year before I got too pregnant with James to keep up, but Gold's had a deal going that includes their childcare that turned out to be less per month than boot camp. Yeah and it will be so much more flexible! I have a friend from Weight Watchers that teaches one of the aerobics classes there so I am excited to try out her class! Okay, so keep encouraging me and I will be able to get to that 20 lb goal of mine by July!

FIVE Friends

Since this is the 5th Annual MommyFest they are having a contest where you are supposed to post a picture of 5. It can be anything but I immediately thought of this picture of the playgroup friends. My daughter is in the middle. Trinity and Cooper to her right and left have been in this playgroup with Kirstyn since they were so tiny all they did was lay in the floor and gaze at each other. Mabrie to the far left joined when she was pretty little but she is a year younger than the three in the middle. Ben to the right with the serious superhero face is our newest playgroup friend.

Yes we are [friends] and I do like to pass the day with you in serious and inconsequential chatter. I wouldn't mind washing up beside you, dusting beside you, reading the back half of the paper while you read the front. We are friends and I would miss you, do miss you and think of you very often. I don't want to lose this happy space where I have found someone who is smart and easy and doesn't bother to check her diary when we arrange to meet. ~Jeanette Winterson, Written on the Body, 1992

Look what I found...

This is what I am going to be doing next week...

Wanna join me? Go to mommyfest.com to join the party!

What is Mother's Day to Me!

I mentioned earlier that we were having a big get-together this weekend at my mom's house. Well, I thought I would tell you more about my family's mother's day traditions. Mother's Day is decoration Sunday at the cemetery where my great grandparents and much of their family is buried. Every year on Mother's Day Sunday, my family would load up and drive around 45 minutes to the cemetery to put flowers on the graves. This is where I would be reminded that I was named after my great grandmother Estella. I would always pick a pretty flower to put on her grave. Then we would all go back to my great aunt's house for a HUGE lunch feast! Anyway, this year we are expecting around 15 family members to drive around 8 hours from their home in Tennessee for the tradition so we are having them all over to my mom's on Saturday to be able to spend more time together. I thought I would get my mom to scan and email me some pictures of me at decoration as a little girl but that would require 'scanner' training over the phone and it would also require my mom to take a break from her preparations for the weekend. Maybe next week I will do a post of 'then' and 'now'! The other thing that excites me about this weekend is the chance to take another 4 generation picture with my grandmother, mom, Kirstyn and I. We took one right after Kirstyn was born and I haven't even thought about taking another one until I went on a mission to find a picture for this post!

The mom's over at Mommies United are having a little contest in honor of Mother's Day. Well, I tried to think of something clever to present but I have almost run out of time and still don't have a great idea, so I thought I would show you this picture I took of Kirstyn and James not too long after we brought him home from the hospital! The look on Kirstyn's face says how I feel much of the time....."UH OH, NOW WHAT!" Well, that is much of what motherhood means to me. I look to my heavenly father with the same look of desperation for some help from above when faced with a challenge from my children. What do you do when presented with a new challenge?

"Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray." Psalm 5:2.

Happy Mother's Day!
Love,

Tell All Tuesday - Week 4

Well, I had another good weigh in today. To be honest I wasn't expecting a whole lot since I had such a big loss last week! I stuck to the program all week and even did some exercise (not enough yet, but I am getting there...). Anyway, I lost 0.8 this week!



Sorry I have been low on the posting. We had a very busy weekend and I have a busy week planned... We are trying to get ready to go out of town for mother's day weekend, I have to write my MOPS newsletter and get it run off, and I have to finish getting my items together for our MOPS Steering Team garage sale!

Oh and one more thing... Pray that I hold onto my resolve to meet my goal of 20 lbs lost by July! I have 15.2 left to go! This weekend will be hard for me but my mom has promised to help me out as much as she can! We are having a big family reunion at my mom's on Saturday and then another get together at my great Aunt's on Sunday. Mom is fixing hot dogs and chopped beef sandwiches for lunch (she is getting me some fat free hot dogs and whole wheat buns!). Then we are having a big cat fish fry for dinner (she said she would let me bake some and we are going to put some veggies and corn on the grill)! Now, if I can just control myself around all of the yummy homemade desserts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday Thirteen - 10th Edition

13 Things that I am Thankful for (in no particular order)...

1. James is walking! I am thankful for this because it means he will spend less time looking at the floor and ground for things to put into his mouth! Here is a video for you to enjoy! I just had to post this video of my fat naked baby walking because my friend Tracy posted very cute pictures of her adorable rolly-polly baby Jackson in the bathtub and then my other friend Elaine posted video of her little G walking too!




2. Kirstyn's love of music! I joke all of the time that living with Kirstyn is like living in a musical! She is always making up a song about what she is doing and half the time she is playing her harmonica or another instrument at the same time. She loves to sit at the piano and play notes and sing along. Look at what I found tonight on the piano when I was cleaning up around the house after the kids were in bed! Kirstyn's first song! I am so impressed....



3. My husband that is willing to work all. of. the. time. in order for me to stay home with our children! If you live in Texas...call him for a quote!
   
4. Technology! I love my laptop, cell phone with bluetooth, and the television! :-)


5. My new business (if you can call it that...)! Check out the blogs I have redesigned for Kami and Stacie! Shameless plug alert: Email me if you are interested!


6. TOYS! I am thankful that my children have toys to play with...now if I could just figure out how to keep them a little more organized!


7. My Playgroup! (do you like how I called it My Playgroup...yeah, yeah, we let the kids come to play together but the real reason we have playgroup is so that the mommies can have adult conversations and talk about what we have read on each other's blogs all week! Too funny, I know! Have you met my playgroup? Elaine, Tracy, Jenn, Michelle, Claudia, and Jennifer. We haven't sucked Claudia and Jennifer into the blogging world yet...but we will!


8. The ability to keep learning! Ignorance is not bliss... Today thanks to some blogs I have been reading, I decided to start tossing plastics that we often eat off of and drink from! If you want more information, read this post on 4 Little Men.


9. Modern appliances! I 'heart' my dishwasher, oven, microwave, washing machine, and dryer!


10. My family! My parents are willing to drop anything anytime to drive the 4 hours to come see us! My mom will take off work and make the trip if I really need her...like if I am sick or need a babysitter and can't find one...you name it, she and my dad will take any excuse to come love on my kids!


11. My church! LABC is where David and I met and have been attending church for over 10 years now! We are about to celebrate our pastor's 35th anniversary with our church...a rare occurrence in most churches!


12. Blog contests! I just learned that I won a covered composition book from Ornery's Wife!


13. The best blogging buddies in the world! Thanks for all of the kind comments and encouragement! And thank you blogger for allowing me to embed comments in my posts!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Tell All Tuesday - Week 3

I HAD A GREAT WEIGH-IN TODAY! I am so excited to report that my hard work is really paying off! Today at WW, I had a loss of 4.6 lbs! That leaves me with 16 more to go to reach my 20 lb goal before vacation! That actually feels more attainable!

First Sleep-over!

Well, this was a first for the Dickey family. We had a child over to sleep in our house and he is not a family member.... AND.... It went GREAT! Kirstyn was so excited to be the official "babysitter" for the youngest Diaz boy...Carter. Carter is 7 months older than James and is just. as. busy. (see "James Norley...NO SIR!"). I just have to say that I am in the best playgroup in the world! Michelle was able to go on this business trip with her husband Day because our playgroup Mommies rallied and took on her boys that we all love very much! Jenn took on Conner (although after reading her post...she may not volunteer again for a while!) and Cooper spent the night at Tracy's. Anyway, all that to say that we had a great day yesterday, a great night last night, and we actually made it to church ON TIME this morning with our two kids and one extra! Here are some pictures from our time with Mr. Carter.

Yesterday was a beautiful day and Kirstyn has been asking to go to the zoo so we put on our brave parent hats and ventured off to the zoo with all three kids. Oh and our neighbor Kristin called me when we were on our way over there to see what we were doing and when I told her we were off to the zoo she decided to go ahead and bring Hannah to meet us there. Kirstyn was very excited to get to see her friend Hannah! Carter was too funny. Every time he spotted an animal he would point and scream. He was always checking to see if James was seeing what he was seeing!

All of the kids had a great time playing in the Children's play barn. Kirstyn and Hannah took off to go down the big slide over and over while the boys made tracks to push buttons! See, the buttons on these animals when pushed make very loud animal sounds which made them laugh. It was too cute and I was shocked how long they stayed in this one area and played!

Here is a picture of Carter experiencing a view he has not seen before. He was so funny. He had a death grip on David's hair but when I asked him if he wanted down, he would tell me NO. Oh and in a very exciting moment for us all, the white tiger was out for us to see. This picture of Kirstyn is of her taking a picture. She wanted to take her camera to the zoo so that she could take pictures of the animals to put on our blog for her friends that didn't get to go to the zoo to see! What a thoughtful little girl! We might work on a post later after we download her camera and see what she got!

Thursday Thirteen - 9th Edition

13 Reasons Why James thinks his name is "James Norley - NO SIR!"

I decided to post this 'theme' for my T13 because my little baby is officially 11 months old today! I have really had a blast getting to know this busy little boy...I just can't believe that it is already time for me to plan his First Birthday Party!

1. Everything goes in his mouth!
2. He loves the taste of dirt...(see #1).
3. Cat food is an okay snack...(again, back to #1)
4. Vanilla candles smell so good they are worth a taste...(#1 again!)
5. Drawers are fun to empty!
6. The dishwasher being opened makes him squeal with delight thinking of how fast he can throw the clean dishes to the floor! (I may have found his soul mate in the bloggy world!)
7. He is practicing his acrobatic skills while climbing things and then launching himself back to the floor!
8. When he is finished eating he likes to THROW his food off of his tray!
9. A good solid 'head butt' is his way to say I love you!
10. Mommy's laptop...need I say more. (He has company for this one too...Little G does the same thing!)
11. In honor of earth day he learned to flush the potty while I was putting on my makeup...FLUSH - Clapping for himself - FLUSH - Clapping for himself - FLUSH! ugh. There goes all those days of turning off the water while I brush my teeth!
12. He is our official trash inspector. He loves to empty the trash can into the kitchen floor one item at a time. Maybe he is checking for missed recyclables! (Maybe I have taught him to love our earth that God made us....)
13. And finally, he works very hard to get behind the entertainment center to turn off the surge protector that no one else can reach! (again, conserving power???)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

New Found Skills?

Well, I have to say that I have been a very busy girl. See in my last life (the one that is fuzzy because it is the one I had before kids) I was a Software Engineer and actually worked on elements of the cockpit of the V22 Osprey and until last week I had not done anything to do with code since going on bed rest when I was pregnant with Kirstyn, but for some reason I got it in my head that I was going to learn HTML and redesign my blog. I did (well, I learned how to hack HTML). I'm still not sure I like my new design, but my husband says it fits my personality so I will probably keep it at least for now. Next, I got it in my head that it would be fun to work with a 'client' on a blog redesign just to see how that would work out. Well, take a look at my blogging buddy Kami's new blog and let me know what you think! I had a blast working on her blog and working with her and am feeling extra brave and thinking it might be fun to make a little fun money and do a few more blog redesigns. Anyone interested??? I may decide to start a full blown work at home business... but for now I will just start building my portfolio and making a little money to buy myself some smaller clothes as I continue on my weight loss adventure!

Tell All Tuesday - Week 2

Okay, well I have to tell you this story about Kirstyn so that you will understand how I feel today! Yesterday afternoon we were all playing outside when I told her that I needed to take James inside for a minute to change his diaper. She had been drawing with her chalk on our wooden fence off and on all afternoon. Well, when I came back outside she was sitting in her fort pouting and this picture was on the fence (as you can see there is a 'J' on the left beside the cute face with the spiked up hair and then an unfinished picture that is pink with pretty eye lashes...that is the way Kirstyn usually draws her self portraits...apparently I went inside with James about the time she was getting started on herself so she got mad and put a big X through brother and quit). When I asked her what was wrong, she told me "I prayed for a baby sister...but I got James....hum". I think it was a short lived wave of jealousy as she was remembering how we used to play outside by ourselves. She is normally a fabulous big sister, very loving to James and very willing to help me out with him. He is a very good natured and happy baby and she really doesn't realize how easy she has it with him.... All it took was to remind her that she is daddy's only princess and she snapped out of it.

Now what will it take for me to snap out of it? Today when I went to Weight Watchers I felt like throwing the same fit. I wanted to take my book and put a big X right through my weigh in results! This week I logged every tiny morsel that went into my mouth and I had 18 flex points left over for the week. I also got in tons of activity...just look at my posts this week. We picked strawberries, worked in the yard and planted a garden, went to Pump It Up and climbed massive slides and on and on. We were a very active family this week...something I really want to continue rather than spending too much time in front of the TV. I also stuck to my commitment to only have 2 diet sodas per day! So, why is it that when I weighed in this morning I was brought to tears because I GAINED 2 pounds! Well that now puts me 20.6 lbs away from my 20 lb weight loss goal! Ugh. I am, however, very proud of the choices I have made since that weigh-in. First, I stayed for the meeting even though I didn't want to. Second, I drove right past Sonic and didn't stop to get a 44oz DDP or worse an Ice Cream. Third, when we got home, James was sound asleep in his car seat...I could have come inside and baked a cake or some brownies and sat down on my butt to blog and watch TV while he slept, but instead I got out the shrub trimmer and trimmed all of the shrubs along our walkway. Then I swept the walkway and bagged the clippings. Then, I mixed up some weed spray and used the hand sprayer to do my entire yard! Yes, I worked my tail off outside for a solid two hours! Fourth, when we came in the house I drank a ton of water and fixed a healthy lunch for myself and James and I am still not baking anything! Next week better be better...
*** I could really use some 'comment love' right now! ***

Pretty Flowers

I am using this cute picture of James to show off my pretty flowers in the background! The hail storm we had last week only destroyed a few of my irises.... I am thankful too, because this week they are really starting to bloom like crazy! One thing I am proud of is that the irises in my backyard were transplanted from my grandmother's house and they were originally her mother's and my grandpa's mother's. We also have some 'brown' ones that haven't bloomed yet that I transplanted from David's great aunt's house and they were originally her mother's. Pretty cool that I have flowers that are descended from our great grandmothers!

Pump It Up

Yesterday we went to a friends' birthday party at Pump It Up. James squealed with excitement when he saw the colorful slides. I was sure that he would only want to do it once...boy was I wrong. David and I took turns climbing these monster slides with him so that he could slide over and over! What a workout!!! Kirstyn was Miss Independent and took off with the big kids and played hard. (The party was for Mackenzee that was turning 7...all of her other guests were her friends from school...Kirstyn is only 4 and was the same size as the other kids and she held her own!) This is a video of James' first slide!

Kirstyn ran for two solid hours and giggled and squealed and screamed and had a blast!

Gardening is FUN!

Okay, so I have a lot of fond memories of gardening on the farm every spring and fall so I attempt every spring to have this same 'fun' with my family. Today we spent the day in the yard working on preparing our soil and planting our garden. We planted okra, tomatoes, bell peppers, basil, cilantro, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, and green beans. Kirstyn had fun playing with the earth worms we found and she enjoyed putting the first 3 seeds in the ground and covering them up and then she was done. Yep, so much for family fun.... David had the same pained look on his face that said "are we done yet" every time he looked at me...but no...we were having FUN! (Just to be clear...David never said anything negative, he just kept working and pretending to have fun being a little country with me right here in the big city!) I am happy knowing that Kirstyn will start getting excited when the plants start to sprout and she will very happily harvest and eat our beautiful organic foods. She is already excited about the blackberry bushes that are growing like crazy and she is constantly eating raw asparagus out of our asparagus bed. Oh and Kirstyn's favorite part of planting the garden is the watering part. We turned on the sprinkler and she stripped and had a blast playing in the water. James wanted very little to do with the cold water but had a blast watching his sister run around squeeling and splashing! I just hope that we are making fond memories that are at the same time teaching my children a work ethic.....