September 27, 2010

Where have I been?

It has been almost a week since I last posted.  Where have I been? That is a good question. Where have I been? I have been keeping myself pretty busy.  Here is an idea of what my daily schedule looks like....

6-7 am. ~ workout
7-8 am  ~ get kids breakfast and get kids ready for school
8-9 am ~ get myself ready
8:45 am ~ take Keaton to school
9-11:30 am ~ clean the house and whatever needs to be done around the house.
                      ( on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Andrew has preschool and I watch Benson while he is in 
                        school)
11:40 ~ we pick up Keaton from school
12 noon ~ we have lunch, put Owen down for his nap and the other boys have quite time.
2 p,m. ~ playtime with friends. Usually the neighbors. We took down a link in the fence so they can run
              back and forth between houses.
4 pm. ~ think about dinner. Oh, I do not enjoy this part
5-6 pm. ~ dinner and all the fun clean up that comes with it
6-6:30 p.m. ~ bathe kids and put Owen to bed
7-8 p.m. ~ quite time with the boys
8 p.m. ~ boys in bed and the rest of the evening is doing whatever ( usually includes games with Eldon &
              Shelli, watching The Office, and other things.)
11 p.m.~ lights out for me. I should be going to bed either but that iswhen my mind shuts down.

So there you have it.  Most days are like this and some days are different but in general it is the same.
I have been trying hard to do better with this challenge that I have entered. A friend asked me what it requires and here you have it......

~ drink 48 oz. water daily
~ excersice for 45 minutes daily
~ 2 servings of fruit and vegetables
~ No sugar
~ No alcohol or soda
~ No unhealthy snacks (these are snacks you can find in a gas station)
~ No eating after 8 p,m.
~ write in journal/blog
~ 15 mintues of reading
~ personal goal ( I set new ones each week)

It has been quite easy and each week you can pick one that you want to skip out on.  Most of the time it is eating sugar. I will find time for sugar. Although going for almost 3 weeks with almost no sugar has been hard on my tummy. I can really feel it and it makes me feel like bluuuuhhhhh!  Last night after Lance and I helped John and Carrie unload their uhaul we came back home and Eldon and Shelli already had the Settler's of Catan board game set up and ready. So we broke a few rules last night. We ate after 8 pm, we had sugar and it was unhealthy food.  And boy did I feel it when I went to bed. I felt all that crappy food just sitting in my stomach. It was hard for me to fall asleep.  So I woke up this morning and worked it all off. I feel better.
I was telling Lance last night that I have not been losing weight like I did my first week doing this challenge. Maybe I am where I need to be and all I am doing now is toning my body. I can feel it and see it so something is working.
So there you have it. That is where I have been. I feel happy. I have more energy now than I have had in a long time. It is about time I get my life in order. It feels good.

September 22, 2010

The terrible two's?

I think the "terrible two" stage has hit our home earlier than expected.  Owen as of lately has been screaming, bitting, pulling hair, scratching and just miserable.  What happened to my cute, little loveable Owen?  Honestly, I dread waking up in the mornings because I know I have to deal with it.  Seems like there is no release either.  I don't blame anyone for not wanting to take him, because well, he is a hard boy to be around right now.  I don't recall having a toddler this hard before.  Here is what we are facing......
~ screaming when someone doesn't give him what he wants.  How does a 17 month old possibly know what he wants?
~ he is constantly scratching, pulling hair and just runing after kids and tormenting them.  I never thought I would say this but my son is a bully. HELP!
~ he also is not sleeping well.  Last night he was up 6 times and today's nap was only 1 hour.  We somehow have gotten off our routine and need to get back on.  Life is really crazy right now.  I am praying it will slow down here pretty fast.
Please tell me this is a stage that will pass.  I am crossing my fingers that teething has some part in all of this.  He is a very one track minded boy. When he doesn't get what he is after, watch out!

I have been without my car for the past 2-3 days and it has been a struggle for me to get where I need to be.  Lance has had to use my car because his brother Eldon has had to use his truck for work.  So this morning my mom came and got us at 8:30 a.m. before I had to take Keaton to school at 9:15 p.m. and then I had to stop by and get our corn so we could freeze it.  Which by the way was much easier than I thought. We bagged almost 20 bags of corn, between my sister and I. It will be great to have in the freezer.
So I dropped Keaton off at 9 a.m.. Owen and I watched with Keaton as all the crazy kids ran around the playground. Keaton does not like to play on the equipment in the mornings. I am not sure why but he will just sit and watch with me until the bell rings.  Then we went and got 9 dozen ears of corn.  My sister Rachel and I met up at my mom's house to cut and bag the corn. It didn't take too long either.  I was glad that it didn't take up my whole day.
Now it is 8:19 p.m.  Two of my three children are already asleep. Owen had to cry himself to sleep because he would not got down.  Keaton goes right down once his head hits his pillow and Andrew has already been down 3 times telling me that he does not want to go to bed. I am sitting here very frustrated and very mad.  Mad at myself for being a hard mom.  I am mad at myself because I didn't get my excerise in today.  I am mad at myself because I have been off rountine.
This challenge has been going ok.  I find myself alittle behind of motivation. I need to find it again.  I need to get back on track and I need to just slow down.
So here's to a better night hopefully. Wish us luck!

September 17, 2010

Weight Loss

I don't mean to boost about myself but this morning after my workout I weighed myself and I have lost alittle over 5 lbs. since I started this challenge last week.  Not bad at all for beginners. At this rate I will lose the 15 lbs I need to be at my ideal weight.  I am trying to cut back more on portion size and that seems to be helping me out quite abit.
I feel good. I have been getting a lot of compliments about my new slim me.  I shouldn't say slim, I am almost there.  I am over the Activity Day girls ages 8-9 yr. olds and this last Wednseday we had a mother/daughter date activity.  I had one mom come up to me and ask me if I was feeling ok.  I was alittle puzzled by what she might have meant by that, but I told her I was feeling fine and was wondering if I looked sick. She told me that on Sunday she noticed me when I was walking Owen out of sacrament meeting that I was looking skinnier. She was wondering what I had been doing to look more slim. So I told her and now she is starting to do it. It really is a great way to inforce good eating habits and daily rountine as far as working out and getting my spirit self improved too.

Things are going well.  We are still plugging along here in the Snyder Hotel.  We are all here and happy.  Actually John and Carrie found a place to rent and are moving out this weekend.  We will miss them a lot, but we know that it is time for them to have their own place and space.  I will miss holding Brantly whenever I want.  He will just have to come and visit us a lot.  We wish them the best.  They will not be far from us.  They are just moving into Boise.
This morning we did a Costco run.  While Keaton was in school, Shelli and I loaded up the kids and went for a trip.   Is it possible to go shopping there and come out under $100 dollars? It is so easy to spend at least that much on hardly anything.  We still had a fun time.  We let the kids eat Pizza and smoothies and then we went to go and pick up Keaton.  Lance, Andrew and I went down to the school to pick him up and then we went to the park across the street with our other friends for lunch and play time.  We had a nice time.
Now Owen is still asleep and all my boys are outside helping their uncles load up buckets of paint.  I have a few free minutes of spare time so I am here writing it all down before I forget.
Tonight the dads have a baseball game and we are going to go and cheer them on. I have cinnamon rolls baking and life is good right now.
That is our update for this week. Not much to report on but we are still alive and doing well.

September 12, 2010

One tired Sunday

It's been a week since we started this challenge and I have only had one day with sugar.  I thought I would be having these serious sugar withdrawls but honestly, it has not been that hard.  So this evening Shelli (my sister-in-law living with us) decided to make today her sugar day and she made some cookies.  While they sat down to play Settlers of Catan, Lance and I ran to the workshop to grab a few things for work tomorrow. I took a cookie for the road. Yes, I snook one for the ride.  After I ate it, I felt icky inside.  I wasn't craving more. I wasn't wanting to eat anymore sugar.  Is that what the body does after you detox yourself of it?  I am loving the fact that I don't depend on sugar anymore.
My kids are my next priority.  They have been a little harder because all they do is run next door to the Chesley's house and they get all the candy they want. This is going to be tricker than I thought.
I am going to weigh myself at the beginning of each week to see how much weight, if any, that I have lost for that past week.  I stepped on the scale not thinking I had lost any, but to my surprise the scale told me I had lost 2.8 lbs.  I couldn't believe it.  I was happy!  Now I just got to stick with it and at this rate I can lose almost  11 lbs each month.  Wish me luck!
Sundays are one of my most hectic days feels like.  I am running like crazy in the morning trying to get myself and my children dressed and all of us out the door by 10 so we can make it to church on time.  Most of our time in sacrament is spent helping our children be reverant or finding them something to do so they are disruptive.  Owen has been pretty challenging lately.  He is at that stage where sitting in not an option.  I wish it would come easier for him but he loves to be on the go.  He has a wail that is extremely loud to.  He and Andrew both inherited a loud set of pipes.  Lance and I take turns taking him out so each other can sit in on some parts of the lessons.  We have attempted to take him to Nursery but every time we leave, they just bring him right back to us because they don't like the crying.  I am sorry but that is your job! Help my child love nursery. If he/she cries everytime and they take them to their parents, then the child never learns.  It is a hard job but someone has to help them out.  Even though he is not in nursery yet, he only has about a month before he goes in.  Then when we get home it starts to settle down. Naptime! I love naptime! I only wish I could have one too.  So while Owen is down for his nap I usually start getting dinner ready.
This is how it went today.....
coming home from church, getting all the kids some lunch, trying to get the roast in the oven on-time so we can eat at a decent hour,  try to keep my house clean,  sitting in on conversations here and there, getting Owen up from nap (only about an hour and a half), keep cooking dinner, welcome family to our home for a meal that is not quite ready yet, entertain my children, play with them, read to them, bathe them, put Owen to bed, get kids out of tub, go down staris and read some more. The list goes on and on but that would only bore you.
So it is really late and it is time for this mom to go to bed. Good night!

September 11, 2010

Cousin Crush

Now that Eldon and Shelli are staying with us, Owen had found his most favorite friend, Chiara.  They are about 2 months apart and just love each other.  Other than the fact that Chiara runs every time she sees Owen coming, they can play pretty well together.  So Eldon and I call it the cousin crush.  It is so fun to see them play together and give hugs and kisses.  Chiara is so loveable.  I wish Owen were that way.  He is starting to get there.  If we ever have a girl of our own someday, heaven help  her.  So here's to cousin crushes......


September 9, 2010

Day 4

Ok, so there are readers out there.  Thanks so much for adding your comments and letting me know this might be worth it.  So we will keep with it.  This is day 4 of our challenge and things are going well.  I am still craving the sugar but it is starting to get better.  I am working out 45 minutes each day and it is making so much difference.  I can actually go to bed without my back killing me.  I am not sure when my back started to go out.  I think it must have started with the epidurals they started giving me when I started having kids 6 years ago.  Wow, has it been that long?
Part of this challenge is writing every day and no I have not done that due to the fact that our internet is getting put in tomorrow, horray for that, and by the way Lance, thanks for doing that.  I have missed my computer.   He has been a sport letting me use his late at night when he is done with work.  I used to be good at keeping a journal.  The best I have ever done was my mission.  Within 18 months, I filled up 4 journals just full of amazing, crazy and dumb stuff.  I still love going back and re-reading some of that stuff.
It is getting late and I am wide awake.  Everyone in the house is sleeping and Lance just ran to the store to grab a few things.  I should have gone but I just got out of the shower and was in my pajamas so I decided to stay. 
I think Fall has hit Boise early this year.  The weather is funky around here.  We are in sweaters and pulling out our fall clothing.  Kind of fun.
So long for now.  Tomorrow is our sugar day so that is exciting.  With this challenge you get one free option to skip or splurge on. We chose sugar so tomorrow we are going to bake lots. Wish us luck!

September 7, 2010

Keeping up

I have been horrible about keeping up on this blog.  Sometimes I wonder if it is even worth it.  Does anyone read this?  I am doing an experiment.  If you read this, then just make one small comment so I can see how many people actually read. 
I am trying to be better at journaling but so far it is not working very well.  I have been making personal notes to myself in books, on notecards or mentally and that doesn't help me too much when I need to go back and review what I am been doing so I can become better.  I use to be good at it.  It all started on my mission.  I didn't want to forget anything so I filled up 4 journals completely full of all the things I did and everything I felt.  People wo impacted me, strange customs that just blew me away and all the crazy food I tried.  I love going back and reading some of those entries.  It feels like if I just read those entries, sit back and close my eyes, I can remember everything.  Pictures have that same effect on me too.
Anyways, with this challenge that I am doing, one of the things they suggest is taking time to write in a journal or blog everyday and record whatever it is I feel that day.  So here is my attempt. Ready?
We started another week of school with Keaton.  This time Lance is taking him to see if it just me he cries for or if he can actually do better if I am not there.  I am happy to report that he ddin't cry this morning.  At least that is what Lance tells me.  When I picked Keaton up today I congratulated him on not crying and this is what he said to me, "Well I had a little bit of cry but I kept it inside."  How sweet of him.  I think he wanted to be a big boy for dad, I am not sure.  I hope that he can keep it up.  He is alittle shy and tends to sit back and watch as the kids play on the playground before school.  His teacher says he always stopes when the class starts.  So that is good.  He is loving it and doing well.  He is so worn out though when we pick him up.  He usually has some quite time when we get home.
Andrew started preschool today.  He was so excited.  He had backpack and all on this morning, ready before any of us.  There are only 4 little kids in his class but he had a blast and his teacher said he did great.  I am excited for him to have his own friends and have experiences on his own.  He has been hiding behind Keaton for so long that this will be a good adventure for him.  He was also worn out too.  In exchange for his free schooling, I babysit Emily's little guy Benson who is almost 2.  He did great.  Owen loved having a little buddy to play around with.  We went for a bike ride, yes, I put them in the bike trailer,  played playdough, had snacks, read books, sang songs and just had a fun time.  I was worn out too.  I think this will work.
Owen is still pretty clingy to me.  Most days it just drives me insane.  One of my personal goals for him is to spend more quatlity time to see if I am just not paying that much attention to him.  He is walking around like crazy.  Running almost.  The cute thing he does now is rolls his tounge back and forth over his teeth and mumbles.  It means he wants a lawn mower ride or go on the swings.  You should see him do it.  It is quite funny.  I will try to get it on video and post it.  Classic.  He has the sweetest little smile too.  He is starting to test me.  How do kids that young know how to do that?
As for me, well we are plugging right along.  We still continue to house 11 people.  Yes, there are 11 people living in my home right now.  At times it is alittle crazy but we are having fun too.  My little neice Chiara is alittle scared at times but it is only because my boys are running around, screaming all the time.  She is just not used to a noisy house.  But she is slowly adapting and it is fun to watch them all play together.
We have a system figured out here.  Certain families cook on certain nights.  Everyone is assigned a night to do dinner and dishes and any kind of clean up that needs to be done.  It has worked out quite nicely.  Shelli, Carrie and I are also doing the Best You Challenge together so it is really helpful motivating each other.  I am looking for a lifestyle change.  I am waking up feeling tired, sluggish and just not happy.  I need to find balance and I hope that this routine will help me get there.  Working out has never been my thing but it is starting to feel good and it will be nice to have my body back.  After having 4 children in 5 years it takes a toll on your body and I want that control back.   It will be long road and not an easy one by all means but I am going to get there.  There are going to be some major sugar withdrawls around here but bring it on!  My kids need to cut back too and it will do us all a world of good.
So this is how I will keep track of my journey.  I also keep a typed up journal that works really well for me too. 
Sorry there are no pictures to show for any of this.  They will come soon enough but for now, good night!

September 5, 2010

The Best You!

Have you heard about it?  My cousin in law, I guess you could say pointed it out to us.  It is a wellness challenge that I have taken on, and it starts tomorrow.  It lasts for about 12 weeks and it is a routine of healthy living.  If you are interested in it check it out at http://www.youcanbethebestyou.blogspot.com/ .  It is a great program.  I have never done anything like this before and it is going to be good for me.  My sister's-in-law Carrie and Shelli are joining too.  It will be good so we can motivate each other and also our meal planning will work out just right.
I have never been one to go on a wellness challenge like this but lately I have felt a need for change and it has to start with me.  Every morning I wake up kind of grumpy not ready to face another day of doing laundry, cleaning, cooking and well if you are a stay at home mom you get the picture.  So something's got to give and it is going to start tomorrow. Wish me luck because I am going to need it.  I need to feel good. I need to feel alive and alert.  I have been feeling so sluggish and so tired. I am really getting sick of it.
Part of the challenge is writing in my journal/blog every day so you are going to hear about this every day.  I can't wait! It is time for me.  It is time to get off the backseat and take charge.  I am ready to live.

Personal Goal for the weekSpend 20 minutes of one on one time with each of my children.

3 months

I am an aunt to some of the cutest beings on earth.  I love being an aunt and the best part is having them live with us for awhie.  Yesterday John and Carrie went to the temple and I got to watch sweet Branlty. Can I just tell you how sweet this little guy is?  I get to rock this little guy to bed sometimes and it is just so sweet to hold him. His character and personality are starting to show and it is so gosh darn fun!  Here is what we did while mom and dad were away........


I could just squeeze those cheeks all day long.  Thanks for a fun afternoon Brantly!