FAF: Starting Over for 2013 Week 1

So a couple things:

I don't normally do two posts in a day...cause I seem to be lucky these days if I do two in a week...and FAF is back!

I planned to completely start over in January, but then I saw Angie was hosting FAF over on her blog Health NOT to Health Nut and I decided...ya know what...I'll start now.

 

I'll wait until next week to put in the numbers. Not that they'll change much, but I know Christmas is not going be good in the food department (correction, it will probably be awesome and wonderful...and my scale will really be the only one complaining). Anyway, for the sake of staying happy, I'm ignoring the scale till next Friday.

 

I started slacking at some point this summer...and while I've tried to get back on track several times, I have REALLY struggled with it. My eating habits have gotten terrible and up until recently my work outs were almost non-existant. It's been getting more and more depressing.

 

Then a couple weeks ago one of the girls that links up on The Mom Creative's Project Life Tuesday directed me to Elise over at Enjoy It. She decided to run a mile a day. Everyday, from Thanksgiving until New Years. She (and lots of others) document their progress on instagram. If you want to read more go HERE.

It was well past Thanksgiving and I KNEW I wasn't in the shape I needed to be to RUN a mile day, so, I decided to do it my own way. I hit restart on C25K. Some days I walk, others I run, somedays I go 1.5 miles, others 3.5. Here are my first nine days:

I traveled 19.32 miles in 9 days. My goal is to continue this until my birthday...actually it would be ideal to continue it for 2013...but little goals. My birthday is in March...so I figure I can do it.

 

I'm linking up with Angie.

 

Come join us, or cheer us on!!

Have a happy and healthy week.

Christmas Lights as Seen by Munch

The other day we jumped in the car and went to see some Christmas lights a few blocks from our house. I took quite a few pictures, but instead of sharing mine, I figured I would share Munch's. (edited by Mama.)

This last one is by me, but it's important that the photographer get into at least one picture!

Project Life: Week 18

Not as caught up as I would like, but it's December and I'm enjoying that. Slowly working on my album...Just showing off one week today.

Week 18:

 

Page 1:

 Not a ton went on this week. I declared May the Month of Me...and then shut down most activity for the week. We did make some awesome stuffed shells that I made a recipe card, I went through my sneakers (is four pairs of running shoes too much?), caterpillars invaded my garden AND one of my best girls came into town so we got a group together for drinks. Probably too many drinks, but we all had a blast. Really miss her.

 

Page 2:

When I realized that week 1 completely fit on one page, I kinda panicked, because that did not fit with my plan...and once I actually make a plan I don't react well if I have to change it...so yeah...usually I try not to make plans. ANYWAY...I found a notebook that I had written a few random May notes in. Munch was very concerned with getting big. He wanted to get BIGGER so he could play football and win a trophy. He also wanted to get SO big...so his little brother couldn't catch up. Nox started saying  "TOO!" instead of "I love you, too." He also was saying "Up, HIGH!" when he wanted to be picked up.  

 

Hoping I can get more caught up this week. I was on a roll for a while...just need to get there again.

 

I will be linking up with The Mom Creative.



Project Life: Week 17

Got completely sidetracked last week and didn't get a post up, but I'm slightly more organized this week! I decided to post week 17 all on it's own. It's the week my little sister got married, so a pretty big week!

week 17:

 

page one:

 Pretty relaxed beginning of the week. Hung out with the kiddos and then on Thursday my mother had family and a couple close friends over for a pre-wedding dinner and some gift opening. It was such a nice and intimate evening.

 

second side with inserts



I used the tall envelope pages from Becky Higgins for the wedding invitation, programs, menu and all the other memorabilia I collected at the wedding. LOVE these envelopes...seriously ingenious.

 

insert:

 It's driving me a little nuts that I can't get these to sit in the correct order in this post, but whatever. On the right is the rehearsal and dinner. On the left are photos of us getting ready...most of which I hijacked from various friends of my sister since I didn't take my camera with me to get ready.

 

page two:

Eventually, I plan on making myself a photo book of the actual wedding, so I decided against having several inserts. It was SO hard to choosing which pictures to use. Then I went with CVS for the photos and they turned out so dark...so yeah...I may reprint with Shutterfly. Maybe not...we'll see, I guess.

 

I have several weeks of photos finished that just need to be journaled, then I need to tackle the rest of our family vacation. Which will also be in a book, but I'm still struggling with. How do you handle big events and vacations in Project Life?

 

I'm linking up with Project Life Tuesday over at The Mom Creative.  



List of Lights to See in the Suburbs of Dallas

One of our favorite holiday activities is to jump in the car and drive around looking at Christmas lights. Mostly, it's just around our neighborhood with no location in mind, but really there are so many places to go see lights here in the Dallas area.


With the exception of 4 and 5 other photos were taken from the sites.

1. Christmas in the Square, Frisco, TX. Choreographed Christmas Lights and Music. Runs November 23 - January 6. On December 15th they have a Christmas Event with Santa, Train Rides and lots of other fun things to do. Check out the flyer HERE.

2. Christmas Tour of Lights, Farmers Branch, TX. A driving tour of lights set up to run December 1st - New Years Eve.

3. Deerfield HOA Plano, TX. The whole neighborhood gets in on the action. Apparently, it's quite the sight to see.

4. Hebron Pkwy & High Sierra Dr. in Carrollton, Texas. The owners of the house go all out for Christmas. They take toy donations and if you are lucky you may even catch Santa checking things out.

5. Carrollton Garden Railroad Display. This family is kind enough to open up their backyard to the community and share their amazing holiday display. All they ask in return is food donations that help out the Metrocrest Food Bank.

 

I cannot wait to check these out! If you are in the area I would love more suggestions!

Project Life: Weeks 15 and 16

Late post tonight, but I'm getting it in! Gonna make it quick so I can go to bed. :o)

 

Week 15:

 

Page 1:



 This week Nox told me "I Love You" for the first time. Munch took FOREVER to say "I love you", even longer to say it to me. So I was really excited when Nox told me first :o)

 

Page 2:

Nox got his suit for my sisters wedding in and was so proud of it. He really looked adorable. I finished the ring bearer pillow and a large stack of tissue holders for the wedding. I really loved how the pillow turned out.

Week 16:

 

Week 16 Page 1:

 Pretty routine stuff, took a walk, goofed off at home and the dollar store. Love the last picture. We were being really silly together before I left for the weekend and I'm so happy I got this shot of the boys.

Week 16 insert:

 My little sister's bachelorette. It was just the bridal party the first night and next morning/afternoon. We really had a great time together.

 

Week 16 Page 2:

More bachelorette party. 2nd night with all the girls. I included the invite and some little purple flowers that we scattered around the room. I had fun, but was so happy to get back home to my boys for a snuggle and a long nap.

 

I will be linking up with The Mom Creative

 



It's Looking a Little Like Christmas

The tree is up and ready to decorate and the boxes have been dug out so we can prepare for Christmas.
A couple weeks ago my wonderful sister took some amazing family photos of us. She wrote about it over on her blog Lavender + Pink. She's not a professional, but I just love how well she captured our family.
We got the edited pictures back just in time for me to get these terrific cards from Shutterfly.

 

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

I cannot wait to get them back and send them out.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and is enjoying a nice start to the holiday season.   

Melissa and Doug: WINNER

And the lucky winner of the Melissa and Doug giveaway is:

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats Julie! Check your email!

Project Life Weeks 13 and 14

I thought I was taking these pictures at a great time...in a great place. Not so much, the pictures are a little darker than I would like, but I'm making do.

 

Week 13:

 

 Page 1:

 I love the sharing yogurt pictures in the top corner...they aren't anything amazing to look at, but it was SUCH a sweet moment between the boys. Gotta love it when they share. This week my hubby cooked Agave Mashed Sweet Potatoes. They were really yummy so I went ahead and made a recipe card. I need to get a photo album to put my recipe card duplicates that I made to keep in the kitchen.

 

Page 2:

 The Texas Bluebonnets were in full bloom this week so we had to go take pictures. I got some really great pictures, but I think I finally learned, that instead of making the kids pose for each picture I should just go with it...a whole lot less stressful.

 

Week 14 with an insert:

Page 1:

 This week there were a bunch of tornadoes that touched down in our area, including one that hit a few blocks away. Thankfully, our home was untouched. I did include some pictures that my husbands coworker shared.

 

insert:

 This was our very first egg decorating. Munch LOVED it. Lennox pitched a fit and ended up in bed early.

 

Page 2:

Easter Sunday. It was such a nice, lovely day. The boys got TWO baskets and loved hunting for eggs.

 

I thought I would also share a freebie I found this morning. Vioscrap created a A4 size album and generously shared the templates for it.

I used a couple today getting more pages ready and they crop really nicely to 4x6.

 

I'm linking up with The Mom Creative. Go check out everyone's awesome pages!



  Just a quick reminder to enter my fantastic Melissa and Doug Giveaway. It's running till end of day Friday. AND........... Have an AMAZING Thanksgiving!!

Thankful Tree

I've seen the idea of a Thankful Tree around a lot this month and I really loved the idea, so I went with it. Plus, it's a great excuse to leave my Halloween tree up...now it can transition from Halloween, to Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Yay! I love having it up.

I had a Groupon for Vistaprint last month and had a few extra dollars to spend, so I decided to make these.

 They are personalized business cards and start at 5.99 for 25. I ordered 50 and have been writing little notes on what I'm thankful for every day.

 

I used clothes pins to attach them to my tree. (Which Nox LOVES pulling down, so I may have to rethink that next year.)

 

Munch helped by adding some finishing touches.

He's been collecting leaves lately and we finally decided to do some leaf rubbings, nothing special just lined paper, crayons and cut out and placed on the tree.

 

Then, Munch has been bugging me to let him use scissors...and I FINALLY let him. He drew some fantastic leaves on blue and orange construction paper and he helped me cut them out to make ornaments.

 

We LOVE our tree and Munch is really proud of himself for helping me SO much with it. 

 

I'm linking this post up with:

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

My sweet wonderful boys.
I am thankful for two healthy pregnancies, complication free births and two healthy, beautiful babies.

I am thankful, that while they don't always get along, they ALWAYS love each other.














I love the way they can make me laugh.
















I love the out of the blue cuddles and "I Love Yous"

I am so thankful that my eldest considers me one of his best friends.


I am thankful that having this guy in my life, flipped a switch.  Because of him I decided I had to start being healthy and lose all the weight I had gained in my twenties. 80 pounds worth. He is my hero.

They both are.