The Mom Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMhuAtyFCrw


I am LOVING this!

Elf yourself....

Go check this out....

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/mcfteVBgndTPItLGmElH

i know, i know.....

It's been FOREVER. We have been so crazy but i will do better at getting back to regularly scheduled posts.

Betcha you were wondering...

Where the Wii Fit Challenge went?

I am still doing it and it rocks! I have not had the time to post to the blog everyday like I had hoped but all in all, it's been great. I have had such a great time with it. I can tell a difference in my clothes and that makes all the difference.

Finally got the boxing game unlocked for the second time. I LOVE that game.

Day 3 & 4

Just FYI I have been on the Wii Fit the last 2 days. I had a long post for yesterday that got deleted when I posted it.

I get home yesterday to find out that Aimee had deleted my Wii. So, I had to start all over. VERY frustrating.

Day 2

July 21 (Day 2)

I hit the gym today in addition to doing the Wii Fit. I logged 33 minutes on the Wii Fit and 55 at the gym working on cardio and strength.

• Yoga- Was able to unlock a new pose
• Cardio - Was able to unlock DELUXE Hula Hoop! It was harder because you had to do from right to left and then left to right. I can do right to left well but not left to right. I also did the step one there and it was fun. You have to get the hang of it but I liked it.
• Strength Training - I only did the plank and the lunge. The plank was hard and I was feeling it a couple of hours later in my back. I am not sure I did it right. The lunge was easy cause I can do that stuff well.

Still have to work on my balance. I am "unbalanced"...in case YOU needed to know that. It said that I had lost 3 pounds and almost 2 points on my BMI so that was good. My Wii Age was up from 41 to 42. I am not sure what the Wii age is really for but oh well.

Drank lots of water and worked out a lot so I am feeling pretty good tonight. I like it!

Wii Fit Experiment - Day 1

We got a Wii today...and a Wii Fit! I am excited about this Wii fit. We just happened to get it because honestly, they are hard to find (if you don't know that). I called and the guy at Game Stop said that they had 1. I told him my name and that we were going to drive 30 minutes to come get it and to not sell it.

We get there and get our stuff. While Darrell was purchasing the items, I played a little Guitar Hero which will be our second purchase I imagine. It was pretty cool.

After we get home, Darrell hooks this thing up and it's good to go. I pull out the Wii balance board which is this item here.

Wiki states that the Balance board is:

shaped like a household body scale, with a plain white top and light grey bottom. It uses four AA batteries as a power source, which can power the board for about 60 hours.[3] The board is wireless and contains multiple pressure sensors that are used to measure the user's center of balance—the location of the intersection between an imaginary line drawn vertically through the center of mass and the surface of the Balance Board—and body mass index.

You first start by calculating your basic stats...height, birthday, age and then it figures out your weight and BMI and gives you a "Wii Fitness Age" based on your current age, weight and athletic ability. My age was...........40! What is up with that? I am pretty fit even though I am overweight.

I finally was able to get started and the first thing I did was Yoga. This included Deep Breathing, Half -Moon, Warrior and Tree (which is the hardest for me since I dont' balance well). As you play more, you get to unlock more poses and things. I hula hooped, ran a short jog and did some balance stuff. I think I played for about 30 minutes before I had to go to church.

So, I decided I would put my progress on our family blog since we have SOOO many readers (that is scarcism at it's finest). We are going on a family vaction in 48 days so I want to make sure that I have lost around 10-15 pounds before the vacation to Walt Disney World.

What does this entail you ask?Here are my goals.

Goal: My goal is to see how much weight I can lose before our trip to WDW in 48 days.

Process: I will attempt to use Wii Fit every day for a minimum of 30 minutes at least 5 days a week. The maximum time I will spend on it in one day is 60 minutes. During this time I will try to do several different exercises. (The reason that I say at least 5 days is because I will have to fight Darrell and Aimee for Wii time.)

Eating Habits: I will be starting my weight watchers again tomorrow. I find that I am much more successful with actually losing weight if I eat well along with exercising.

Additional Exercise: I will still go to the gym like I normally do. OK, stop with the wisecracks I know I have not been lately but heck, why not start again?

Recording: I will try to update this with the games that I do but probally not the "specific" time because that is too much for me to keep up with.

Day 1 (July 20)

• Yoga - Man this was hard. I have horrible posture and I found that a lot of the poses were hard to do but I dont' think I did that badly. I already feel sore 2 hours from now.
• Balance - I was HORRIBLE on this one. I could hardly to it at all. I have NO balance and did not need a wii to tell me that. I will continue to work on it though.

• Cardio - I liked this one. It had a hula hoop game which is shown below. Basically you hula hooped and the more hoops you caught, the better your score was. My first score was 129 and the second time was 173! It was fun but I am sure I looked stupid. There was also a soccer game that I did but it was pretty hard. OH, you can also run on the Wii Fit and I did a short 5 minute run.

I looked over the Strength Training but did not have time to do it. I will look at it tomorrow I suppose. I guess I will try to get up before work and do some of this stuff since I am sure that Darrell will want to play football all the time on it.

Family time....

I think this is one of my most favorite pictures of the weekend...Isn't that just the most precious thing ever????


Aimee is like "sit here Lexie bug". She looks like a little dolly.

And I just LOVE this picture...Everyone always kisses on the baby.

We had a great time with my sister this weekend. We took lots of pics and videos. It never ceases to amaze me what a great time I have with my sister. We laughed so much that I gave myself a headache.

NKOTB

Now, when I was a teenager, I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED NKOTB who were then known as New Kids On The Block. They are no longer kids but man, they are still pretty hot. This is the article that was on MSNBC.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24583744/

Now, is it crazy to say that I um, want to go to one of their concerts? Would it be crazy to say that there are about 4 others that want to go with me to said concert? PITIFUL...but I so want to go. For now I will just hang out listening to their new song that I bought on itunes and be a nerd.

Random #1

Just because I am bored:

• I got my hair cut off this weekend
• It's shorter than normal
• I love it
• My child wants to go swimming tonight
• Her daddy told her she could
• Mommy also has to go
• I don't like swimming
• I do like my new swim suit though
• I started my diet again today
• So, don't give me sugar cause I can't eat it
• I am ready to go to bed
• It's still early
• I have too cook tonight

What a helper!

Aimee is such a good helper. She helped us in the flowerbed a couple of weeks ago. I am just now getting this updated.

Summer is goign well. She is doing so well here at the house with her sitter. She LOVES Shelby, her sitter.

Anyway, that is all for now.

Summer has begun....

I have been so lame in updating this. Does it help to say that we are just so busy???

School is out!!! Our baby is now in first grade. Does that make her still a baby or a big girl now? She will always be my baby. She was picking on her Daddy the other day and I just started laughing cause she said "it's ok Daddy, I was just aggrivating you". We got the biggest chuckle out of it.

We are waiting to get some test results on her back from a school that we took her to. Aimee has always been a very high maint child. We had struggled for a while on if we wanted to get a psychological on her to see what we are dealing with. We finally did and let's just say....she is smart. Her IQ is around 127-151 depending on the test. Her teacher recommended that she needs to be in the GT program so we are persuing that. Actually her testing for that starts next week. So, we are really working on how we need to parent her. We don't want to quench her spirit but we do want to make sure that she is behaving the way that God desires her to.

We have a teenage girl that is going to keep her over the summer. We had put her in a local day care but they put her in a 4 year old class for some reason. Anyway, we decided that was not going to work for us or her. This is a much better fit for our family.

As far as D, he is normally at the ball park! He is umping and enjoying it so much. He was unable to do this in Tyler as it is considered a "part time job" and he was unable to have one there per the pastor of the church. He is really good at it. Matter of fact, we do a youth/adult softball game 1 time a month during the summer and he called a strike on me....ME! His wife, the love of his life. Can't ever say he is not fair.

For me, work keeps me busy. I do enjoy my job and getting to play with the children and feel like I have made a difference in their lives. It's time consuming but I love it.

We are telling a group of students good bye this fall. I have never been as sad to see a group graduate as I am with this group. I love these students and this group has just loved all over us and showed us what student ministry is. I am going to miss my girls.....

My baby is growing UP

We have 1 week of school left. I am so sad to think that the first year went by so quickly. It's neat to see how my baby has grown and how much she has learned.

A Mother's Day Prayer for You on Mother's Day

…For the married women who desire to have children and cannot. Also, for the single women who desire children yet are getting weary waiting on a spouse. God understands your situation and we care. “In the name of Jesus, we ask that the Holy Spirit will comfort your heart and give you peace and that our Father God would grant you your petition. Amen.” (1 Samuel 1:2-17)

For the single mom. God understands your challenge and we care. “In the name of Jesus, we ask that the grace of God will sustain you, the wisdom of God lead you, the love of God encompass you, and the provisions of God overtake you. Amen.” (Philipians 4:13)

For the moms with a child who has chosen a destructive lifestyle and is in a physical or spiritual prison. God understands your concern and we care. “In the name of Jesus, we ask that the Holy Spirit would convict them of sin. We ask for the perfect laborers to cross their path. We thank God for their salvation, deliverance and restoration. Amen.” (Proverbs 11:21)

For all the moms who experience grief on Mothers Day because of miscarriage, stillbirth, abortion, or a childs death outside the womb.

For all those men and women who experience grief on Mothers Day because of the loss of their mom. God understands and we care. “In the name of Jesus we ask that the Holy Spirit will comfort your hearts and give you peace. Jesus bore your grief so you don’t have to. Jesus we thank you for removing the grief and healing the heart. Amen” (Isaiah 53:4)

In the name of Jesus we pray for all of our mothers on Mothers Day. May God our Father bless you and strengthen you and encourage you. May your eyes be opened that you and others may see that your price is far above rubies and may your children rise up and call you blessed. (Proverbs 31:10-31)”

Tooth Fairy

Aimee lost a tooth yesterday at Ryan's. We put it under the pillow and guess what?

MOMMA forgot! I felt HORRIBLE but I just plain forgot.

So, I told her that the tooth fairy doesn't work on Sunday's because it's a day of rest. I mean, what else could I say? I don't want to spoil it for her at this age. And technically, the tooth fairy (which is ME) doesn't work on Sundays! So, no lies there.

I did call my friend who works at the dentist office and told her about the situation. Aimee has to go get her teeth cleaned today so she is going to stick to the story if it is mentioned.

So FYI, OUR tooth fairy does not work on Sundays! Other days, she does.....I have GOT to remember that tooth tonight!

She won!

Our sweet little Aimee came home today with a gift certificate for $10. It appears that she has won 3rd place in the school art show. All the K-4th classes had 2 kids that were picked to submit their drawings. In the K dept, she won!

Way to go AIMEE!!!

ABC's

A - Age you got your first kiss: 16

B - Band listening to right now: Well does "Wicked: The Broadway Musical" count?

C - Crush: Darrell!

D - Dad's name: Can't put that. My dad does not like everyone to know his name. What if someone googled him?

E - Easiest person to talk to: Several, Carol, DeAnna, Nancy (of course this goes without saying that D is always number one)

F - Favorite bands at the moment: Taylor Swift

G - Gummy worms or gummy bears?: Sour patch Watermelon thingies

H - Hometown: West Monroe, LA

I - Instruments: Piano and flute

J- Junior High: West Monroe junior high

K - Kids: One....

L - Longest car ride ever: Orlando, FL

M - Mom's name: See Dad's comment

O- One wish: to go to bed

P - Phobia[s]: non really

Q - Quote: "I can do all things thorough Christ who strengthen's me"

R - Reason to smile: grace

S - Song you sang last: Popular (off Wicked)

T - Time you woke up [today]: 4:30

U - Unknown fact about me: I am hyper...most people don't know that....LOL!

V - Vegetable you hate: cauliflower

W - Worst habit(s): people who pick their nose and don't wipe their hands

X - X-rays you've had: oh man, way to many to count

Y - Yummy food: anything mexican food in general

Z - Zodiac sign: Capricorn I think.

Letter/Sound Relationships

These are the directions:

Print the letter that represents the beginning sound for each picture.

There is a picture and they YOU write what the first sound is. Aimee wrote the word also (according to how she heard it).

Fish - fish
Ball - bol
Dro - dro
Watch - woch
Bear - ber
Kite - kit
Crayon - caron
Duck - duce
Vase -vas
Lips - lips
Acorn-acorn
Turtle - turtle
Wig - wig
Hat- hat
Peanut - penat
Star - sor
Mouse - mas
Pear- per
Umbrella - umbrella (she HAD to have help with this!)
Gate - gat

I love the work she is doing. The last sentence she wrote was this.

"I lic (like) my bune, mom, dad".

Oh, I just love this little girl!

Bunnies do not like baths...

We took Oreo outside yesterday. She really enjoyed going outside. She didn't know at first what outside was but then when she found out, she loved it.

Then, I decided to give her a bath. I realized that bunnies do not like baths....Here are some pictures for you.
It's like she is thinking.....this is SOOO embarassing.
or "Do I look amused wrapped up in a towel?".

And when I put her down, off she ran....or rather hopped.

Our own personal Easter bunny picture!

Happy Birthday Aimee

Oreo - our new rabbit!

Uncle Darrell and Sissy! Renee and DeAnna - this is one of my closest friends from work!

Carol and Sissy! Aunt Nea and Sissy!

Today our baby turned 6! I can't believe she is that old. That she is now a big girl with her own thoughts and opinions. That she is able to read. That she is able to go to the bathroom on her own, fix her breakfast and play on her computer. She got 2 big presents today. Her first pet "Oreo". He is a mini flop rabbit. Darrell asked her if she was excited and she said "Daddy, I am so excited that I don't even have words". So sweet! The second gift was a big girl bike. Of course, Cinderella and the princesses.

Snow day part 2

Here are MORE snow pictures. We have had such a fun time with this snow. We had several snow ball fights and were just covered in snow. Enjoy the pictures.

Snow Day

Aimee jus hanging out in the snow waiting for Momma to get home to play!

Haha Renee, I am so going to get you with this snowball!

Darrell and Aimee built a snowman. I know, it's a little pitiful. It's an apple slice for a mouth, a string cheese stick for a nose and Hershey kisses for eyes. Hey, it's an ORIGINAL Dean snowman!

Snowball fight! This was the funnest part of the whole day. Getting to run around in the yard playing with the snow!

It's SNOWING here! We never get snow in Southeast Arkansas. Growing up in Northeast LA, I can only remember snow 2 times in WM. It's quite a downpour here.

It's also Aimee's birthday party weekend! Whoot-hoot! She was so excited about the snow and said "this is the best day of my life". Man, we need to take the child to Colorado or someplace that has lots of snow. lol!



Anyway, enjoy the pics!

Just killing time....

It's late tonight but I wanted to update a moment. This is our family in our Razorback attire! GO HOGS!!!

What a Bittersweet time....

Aimee will be 6 in a few weeks. I approach this day with excitement and sadness. It's so amazing to see the baby that I carried in my womb for 9 months, become such a grown up little girl...or should I say "big girl". She is just the delight of my life. I look at this child and I can't imagine loving someone as much as I love her. Do I get annoyed with her at times? YES. But then at night, when I tuck her in I get "one more kiss mommy", "one more hug mommy", "I love you the mostest mommy". There were days that I thought that I would never be called a mommy and now, I get to hear it every day.

We are having her 6th bday party this weekend. Our house is going to be crammed with family so we decided to have an extended family birthday party at the church after her "friends" birthday party. She wants for dinner.....KFC! We NEVER eat fried chicken but she wants chicken and macaroni and cheese. Oh, and more cake.

She wants a bike for her birthday. I am not 100% sure where she is going to ride it but she wants one. She outgrew her other one so we probably will get her one. Man, a party and a bike is expensive. She's worth it though.

Family wise, things are going well for Darrell and I. We are working on a good working family schedule where we can work out on opposite days or only have to cook on the days that we don't work out. There just don't seem to be enough days in the week. I am OK though with him helping out with cooking.

Umpiring is about to start so he will be at the ball park during the weekends. Guess I will have to run the road to Shreveport! Carol, I am coming to see Lexie all the time. Aimee is playing tee ball with her friends Lexi. I work with Lexi's mother (DeAnna) and so the girls have gotten to be good friends as DeAnna and I have gotten to be friends. I am thankful for DeAnna. She is just someone who is just like me and gets along with my family so well. Helps to have a "non-ministry" friend that I can talk to.

Anyway, not much else to say. I will have birthday party pictures later on.

I'm so tired.....

This has been a long emotionally draining working week. I am glad it's Friday. I don't think that we have that much going on this weekend but Darrell is taking me tomorrow to the movies. I am so glad! We never go to the movies. I wish we were going to Disneyworld or on a cruise but man, I'll settle for the movies!

I had more to say but now I don't remember what it is. I can post some pictures though instead. This is where I wish I was!

Just a whiney post....

I did a "prelim" weigh in today because my first official day is not until tomorrow. It looks that I kinda stayed the same. That is a bummer because I have been taking my Alli faithfully. My clothes fit MUCH different so I know that I am losing but it's still depressing to not see that number not move down. I know though that I can do this and I am determined to get back down to what I was before my surgery.

Here are the reasons why I might not have lost this week:

1. Last week was water weight and I always lose a ton of water.

2. My sodium might have been higher this week. I still eat a lot of lean cusiene's and they have a lot of sodium.

3. I ate chocolate. When we go to my in laws, I eat chocolate. I honestly do not understand how they can keep chocolate around and not eat it like crazy but they have amazing will power. I don't. So, no chocolate this week......going to be hard since it's Mini Egg time!

4. Not eating enough calories or fat. I have been sick this week and did not eawt enough calories. It's a fine line between eating enough to lose and not send your body into starvation mode OR eating too much.

5. Not enough exercise. It's a given fact that if I am not working out at the gym, I am not going to lose. I went this week but we had a funeral over the weekend and then I got sick again so I have had to do lower cardio/weights on different days rather than both on the same day.

So, committment for this week, 1 day early:

1. Limit myself to 1 diet soda per day. (Still trying to wean off).
2. No chocolate.
3. Journal - I have got to get better at this.
4. Eat fruit with every meal or between meals.


Other than that, I'm tired. I want to go back to bed.

Just a little update

Well, we are not doing much around here. Darrell just told me that we are getting a new chinese resturant in our shopping center. I don't know why it's something that he is telling me because I can't eat it....want to know why???? (I'm gonna tell you anyway!).

I have been taking the Alli pill. Whoo-hoo. It really works. I am already down 4 pounds and it's only been one week. Can we say that is A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

My MIL is about to have knee surgery. I am hoping this will give her some relief.

We could use a vacation. I am tired. Physically, I feel better than I had iin a long time but I could just use a vacation. Darrell wants Eggs Benedict that he can only get on a cruise ship (cause I can't make it).

Ok, enough rambling...I'm off to bed.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

A little early! We went today to the Dollar Store to get stuff for Aimee's class. I should have gotten it last week as there was nothing left except pencils (which we purchased). Pencils, pencils and more pencils. I think this is the standard class accessory as we have TONS in our cabinet.

Let's see, saw the CPA this weekend...we don't have to pay. That's always nice. Saw my dad and went to the Biedenharn gardens with him and my step mother. Aimee made a flower pot that was a kids activity and then we bough nickle cokes. That is so cool, bottled cokes for a nickle. They so lose money on that.

We saw Carol and Lexie last weekend. Here are some pictures of Aimee with her new cousin. When she saw her, Lexie was laying on the floor and she started stroking her head. Lexie just looked and looked at her. She is so sweet. I miss her.

Anyway, gotta get to church!

MLK

I know that I am so sorry about blogging...I try to update but I just don't have much to say. I guess I am boring.

Let's see what is going on. Work is crazy. I have to go to a training that every employee has to have. School is going well for Aimee. She made AB honor roll.

OH. I do have something. My husband had a 3 wheeler accident. Some teenage boys were shooting on our family property while we were up there for the weekend. He was trying to get away and hit a bump and went flying. The officer said that the boys said that they were shooting at the ground but I think that they were trying to be funny and shot beside him. All in all, it scared him (and with good reason). When you hear a bullet go past your ears, you take off on what you have available.

I don't have anything else to say I suppose. Hope everyone is doing well!

Our Baby is HERE!

Right after Lexie was first born! She is so beautiful.

I have to say that so far, this is one of my most favorite pictures of Lexie. She is just so small in this and is so cute on Daddy's pillow.
I love the headband. I used to put Aimee in these.

So, as you can tell, Natalee Alexis was born. We call her Lexie. I have to say that as an aunt, I am in love. I have always wondered how someone could love another child like their own and now I know. I love Aimee so much but my heart also overflows with love for Lexie. Carol lives about 2 hours from me so it's not to far but I am upset that we don't live closer (although Carol and Ryan are probally glad that we don't or I would be over there all the time). Carol and Ryan are such good parents and Lexie is such a good baby. She is a good sleeper and nurser. She is such a precious baby. OK, Aunt Nea will stop gushing about her.

We are in the Delivery room!

My sister Carol is going to have her baby today. Right now she is about 6-7 cen dilated and Lexie is getting ready. Carol is sleeping and has had her epidural. Please pray for her safety and Lexie today if you see this blog!

Love,
Renee