I failed....

So with all the snow days the kids have had I fell to far behind to catch up..

In brighter news I got invisalign and that is keeping me honest in what I eat on a daily basis. In order to eat I have to take them out and in order to put them back in I have to brush my teeth and the invisalign and have to wear them the recommended amount of 22 hours a day. So that gives me 2 hours for meals.

I have made a couple cheesecakes. They have been the same flavor but the topping has been different. This time I actually get to eat it! I am excited to do this new topping.

Well I hope all of your endeavors are going as planned!

Day 7

So I thought I posted yesterday but it appears that I didn't...

Yesterdays challenge was 35 sit ups, 18 leg lifts, 18 crunches, and 25 second plank.

Not much happened yesterday.

Today the challenge was 40 situps, 20 leg lifts, 20 crunches, and a 30 second plank. I had help with all three this morning as Shiloh decided he needed to sit on my back as I was doing the plank... Made it not so fun. Then with the leg lifts, he decided to lay on my stomach.. ha ha ha I think it should count as double when you have an almost 2 year old laying and sitting on you.

School today has been cancelled due to cold weather. it is -1 right now. I know that when we lived in Belgrade they had school no matter the cold, never had a snow day since I lived there and especially not cancelled due to cold weather.

I am trying to get the house ready for the inspection tomorrow with the renters followed by the inspection for pest control on Thursday. On top of having all 3 kids home I am under the weather today. I believe it will make for an interesting one, in the least!

Josh said that he was going to start bottling his beer tomorrow. Will see how he likes this part of the beer making process. So far he says that he is enjoying it and has already asked me to buy his next kind so that he can start brewing his new one in 2 weeks or so.

Well I gotta go. Hope you all have a great day!!

Day 4

Today I waited until after church, after lunch...right afterlunch...

Today was 30 situps, 12 crunches, 12 leg lifts an a 20 second plank. The sit ups are still what is killing me. So far no weight is lost but hopeing here soon some thing will be noticable.

I hope all of you that have made resolutions are still staying with them. Best of luck to you all.

Rest Day

Well today is a rest day on the 30 day challenge.

I made Banana Nut Muffins for breakfast from scratch...They are pretty good.

As it so happens that I am forming an allergy to either nuts (pecans) or pineapples, not sure which one but am not happy about it.  My tongue and the roof of my mouth gets all tender and itchy. Will be doing some experiments on my own, when Josh is here of course, in case something goes really wrong. Obviously I will be careful and only take small amounts and then go from there. Honestly I think it is the acid in the pineapples as it happened with 2 dishes both of which had pineapples and only one had pecans.

Nothing else going on here. After Shiloh takes his nap we will be going to investigate a new mall close to our house.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Day 3

Well the sit-ups still prove to be the hardest part. Today the count was 25 sit-ups, 10 crunches, 10 leg lifts and a 15 second plank. Shiloh was awake when I did them all this morning but he was playing with the dog so he only helped by laughing on the leg lifts and counting 1 2, 1 2.. ha ha ha ha.. Tomorrow is a rest day. By looking at the sheet I believe every 3 days is a rest day.

Yesterday it started snowing around 3 or 4 in the afternoon and by 8PM it was already about 2 inches. This morning it is still about 2 inches now just windy. I have to take the kids to get groceries today and am hoping that a lot of the people that live here are too intimidated by it so that barely anyone will be on the roads when we venture out. If we weren't still on Christmas break from school, school would have been cancelled due to road conditions.

The kids and I went in to DC yesterday to have lunch with Josh and ended up staying a little while longer. We went ahead and went to a couple new stores the girls have never been to and we purchased Jilley and Gabby their birthday presents. I think they will like them.

Josh is getting excited because this week (here soon at least) he gets to start bottling his beer he made last week. So YAY for Josh. It makes quite a lot of beer (50 bottles I think) so he is going to take a couple to some of the neighbors that donated bottles. Then he wants to start a new batch almost right away as to have 2 different kinds of beer in the house...

Well I should be going as Shiloh is getting restless and Ryen has already woken up. Piper is still sleeping and hopefully her sleeping in results in a better day today than yesterday.

Hope all is well with you all!

Day 2

Well day 2 of the 30 day thing was 20 sit-ups, 8 crunches, 8 leg lifts, and a 12 second plank.

This morning I did it while Shiloh was awake as opposed to him being at nap time like yesterday. Big Mistake. He wanted to climb on me while I was doing the sit ups and crunches. Then when I was doing the leg lifts he was trying to help. Then apparently I was a horse for the plank, which made the 12 seconds not come fast enough. Ha ha ha..

Today I am taking all 3 kids into DC to have lunch with Josh. It should be interesting. I have done it with just Shiloh and I but not yet with me being the only parent and 3 kids. Hopefully both girls had enough sleep with their sleepovers last night...

Well off to meet the day face on.

Hope you all are having a good day!!

Day 1

I hope everyone is so far having a good year...heehee the few hours into it we are.

About my resolution....day 1 of the 30 day challenge was... 15 situps, 5 crunches, 5 leg lifts and a 10 second plank. Man I  knew I was out of shape and didn't think it would be hard but the situps were the worst.

I know that it is going to just get harder so here is hoping that I will be able to follow it through the entire month.

 Another thing we are doing is the 52 week savings plan. at the end of each week you put in to savings some money. Week 1 you put in $1, week 2 is $2, etc...then at the end of week 52 you have about $1200 for Christmas or whatever you want to spend it on...

Well I am off. Hope everyone stayed safe and has a good rest of the day!

The end of the year!

Well tonight we say "Goodbye" to another year. 2013 was a fairly good year...

We gained a big move, new job, new friends and new life experiences.

We lost a loved puppy, close contact with close friends and are still trying to sell our house.

Here is to the new year! BRING IT ON 2014!!

Dear Friend

Skeeter

We have lost a dear friend in our house this week. She got out early yesterday morning when I let them out to go pee. I saw her across the street so I got the car (Cause she always came to the car) and started after her. She saw me coming out of the house and took off. She wanted to run around. I then couldn't find her. I got back to the house it was almost 8am at this point. I told Josh if she doesn't come home by 10 I will take my bike out and go around the subdivision and trail systems to try to find her. I chose 10 cause she usually came back around the 2 hour mark.

10 came around so I took my bike out in the pouring rain and searched 6 miles around the subdivision and the trail system we have. I came back soaked to the bone with no luck of finding her. I made the kids lunch while watching out the kitchen window, still no Skeeter. Josh went out again around 1 with no luck.

  Finally at 2 we got a phone call. "Hi, I found your dog" at this I was so excited then he said..."Hold on, I think she got hit by a car and it isn't looking good." At this point I had to hand the phone to Josh. The nice gentleman took her to the nearest pet hospital that he knew of. When we were a block away the vet called us saying that she had Skeeter, then proceeded to say that she had already passed before they arrived.

Piper understands but Ryen and Shiloh still are clueless. Ryen is just going about day to day things with really no mention or feelings being showed about it. Yesterday afternoon Piper was showing emotions. Obviously Shiloh isn't 2 yet and doesn't know anything. He still calls Skeeter (specially when he is talking to Kunami).

This Christmas is definately missing one very loved puppy.

Everything!

Well It has been a long time since I have written... A LONG TIME!!!

I don't remember where I left off at all.

The adoption was finalized December 14, 2012.
         The girls now go by Piper (Julia) and Ryen (Vicki). It is so nice to finally be done with all the court visits, social worker visits and all that sort. Ryen turned 7 and Piper turned 8. Man are they getting old. But they are getting wise.

Shiloh turned 1.
         His cake turned out good. He got messy and had tons of fun! We had the McClaflins over as well which made it even more fun!! He has been walking forever (since 9 months) and continues to learn super fast each day. He has about 50+ words, runs, hums, dances and just does what kids do. He is almost 2 and surprising us all the time with things he learns. He is trying to count, only gets to 2 and then says GO but getting there.

I had my 10 year reunion.
         Not everyone went but it was good seeing those that went. It was just good to connect with them again. Can't wait for our 20.

Josh got a new job.
         He was working with Oracle but got head hunted to work for GDIT. General Dynamics. We weren't sure we were going to make the move but they made an offer we couldn't refuse. So we made the move across the country.

We moved to Virginia.
         Which means the girls made new friends, and started a new school. We are still trying to meet our neighbors... they don't come out much. Seeing that it is cold here....when I say cold it is no where NEAR as cold as we are used to. I am still wearing shorts and flip flops all the time. We miss all of our friends over there as well as all of our get-to-gethers with people.

I had to change the title of our blog from News from Montana to News from Us, as we no longer live in Montana... Might choose to make it News from Virginia. We never know. ha ha ha

Went to D.C. a few times.
         Not only the monuments but we have been to the National Zoo a couple times, went to the Aquarium (which is now closed) and have been to some of the Smithsonian. We only had time to go through about 1/2 to 3/4 of it. IT IS BIG!!!

Grandparents (Joshs') came to visit.
          Grandpa Glenn and Grandma Mary came over from Maine when they were visiting other family members and just made us a stop on their way home to Missouri. They were here for about 4-5 days. It was nice to have family over. We plan on making a few trips through out the summer to see family in Washington, Montana and Missouri. That is the plan but it isn't a promise. It all depends on what Josh can get off from work.

Thanksgiving was just us, and Christmas will just be us this year. We are looking forward to starting some new traditions but bummed that we can't spend it with family like we have done the past 8 years.

Well throughout this whole post I now know why I haven't been posting while kids are home from school or awake. Because I have been interupted about 100 times (not exaggerating!!) about non-sense. But I have new things to come and will try my best to keep updated.

This January (Jan. 1) I plan on trying to start the 30 workout challenge that involves planks, sit ups, crunches, and leg lifts. I will try to keep updated on the progress. But yet again I will only be able to do so when 3 kids are in bed or while 2 are at school and 1 is at nap. See you all later! Good to try New Years Resolutions each year!