Multiple post day!

As many of you know my best friend Jenny is the co founder of Heroes for Children. Her organization helps families with children (ages 0-22) that are battling cancer. This organization is near and dear to my heart. They just finished their new video that shows some of what they do. If you have the time take a few minutes to watch the video, I think you'll love it! :)

The whole family

We went to a birthday party this weekend for Megan's boys.It was so much fun. She had it at a park and had all of the fun outdoor toys for the kids to play with. I didn't get any pics of Ben except for the last shot because he was busy playing in the bounce house type maze thingy the ENTIRE time. And poor Beck didn't make it in many photos either thanks to his super fast crawling abilities. But check out what we have:

She had the best face painter I have ever sen at a party. Hannah was first up and had a butterfly with flowers painted on. It looked so pretty!

Ella had fun playing with the big red ball!

Not my fave pic of me but love Hannah's face. :)

Brandon and Hannah flying a kite

Daddy fun time :)

And she snapped this shot for us right before we left. It's not very often that I get a shot with all of us in it so I had to post. :) And can you believe how big H is getting? She's almost up to my shoulder. When did that happen?

(i know i used everyone's names. too tired to edit it all out. please don't stalk my children. believe me you would return them if you took them, they move so slow it would drive you crazy! kthnxbai)

Guitar Pic Earrings

I don't know if anyone would be interested or not but my sweet 9 year old has been making and selling guitar pic earrings on Etsy. Check out her page and see what you think.

The Shred- Day 16

Okay I'm a day late in posting this. I really wanted to get to it earlier but life disagreed with me. :) But now with the big kids at their dad's house and the babies in bed, I have a quiet house all to myself.

So how are you guys doing? Is everyone still sticking in there? I have to admit we did miss this last Thursday and Sunday due to horrible allergy days. But I think we have gotten that under control now and are back on track. We are halfway through Stage 2. I still haven't seen any real weight loss but have definitely lost inches around my waist and legs. I'm seeing a lot of muscle tone in Nancy's arms as well. We decided we will post pics of before and after at the end of the 30 days. Halfway through the pics are really starting to show change. I LOVE it. :)

We are changing our diet up a bit to see if it makes any changes on our weight. Still sticking to the 1500 calories a day but doing the whole no eating after 8pm. We did that last night and woke up with flatter stomachs. Normally we wouldn't do the shred until about 9pm, and then we would eat dinner afterward. We stay up pretty late so we figured that this worked in our schedule. But we'll see if this change makes any difference.

And those of you who still haven't opened your dvd, get off your butt and get moving. If Minivan mom can find time to do it while working 80 hour weeks with 3 kids (2 of them in baseball) you can do it too! If you haven't bought it yet, I highly recommend it. 20 minutes a day is not a big commitment. Give it a try and you might like what you see! :)

Okay hear a baby still crying upstairs better go check some diapers!

Some long over due baby pics

Comments

I was going to post this in the comments section but then realized it was a novel and I should probably put it out here instead. Loving everyone's comments and all of my new blog friends. Keep up the good work! (and yes I know I'm addicted to !!!!! I try to lay off but I really am that excited about it all! )

Amy B- Way to go! Make sure your front knee does not bend past your toes when doing the lunges. That can cause some major knee trouble as well. Good luck and keep me posted. :)

Sam and Ben's mom- You are rocking it! I noticed stamina before anything else at first as well. Push ups are still one of my hardest things. My upper body strength sucks. Keep it up!

Tara- You are cracking me up! It so sounds like something I would do, drinking and working out!!! Glad to hear that you are feeling the same way about level 2.

Holly- Yea! You opened it, now get off your butt and get busy!! LOL! Don't make me go all Jillian on you!!! When you do the first day, come back and let me know how you feel. I know you can do it!

Pantuf (Stacy)- Don't you love telling people all about it? It really does rock. Keep up the hard work! And I'm really thinking its all the muscle we're building which is causing our love hate relationship with the scale. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!

Meredith- So happy you have joined us in this torture, oops I mean exercise. Your body will be so happy with you in the end. :)

Kelly MN- I am so sure I jinxed myself. Yesterday when we did the level 2 we were dying by the end. Go figure! I've been sticking to the easier on the joints versions on level 2 and it wasn't so bad on my knees yesterday. Even though I really wanted to use the knee excuse to just skip a day, we powered through and did it. I know if I stat skipping I won't finish.Someone told me the next dvd to try. When I find that I'll post about it as well. We have to keep our hard work going, right?

Tammy- Can you say sweating vats of sweat?!?!? We sweat more during this 25 minutes than doing anything else!! It is craziness. I'm ready for the weather to get better so that we can just jump in a pool as soon as we are done!

Peggy- I felt the same way at first. Not so sore, and then half way through it hit me. It just sorta sneaks up on you right? I'm using 3lb weights. Nancy is doing the 5lb and says she wants to do the 3lbs instead. Worrying about arms bulking up. And I totally hear you on the diet and exercise together. I suck at doing them both. That's why I'm doing the whole calorie count thing. I'm still eating some sweets but making sure they fit into my calories per day. That way I don't feel deprived but am able to moderate all the yummy things I love to eat. Because as soon as I tell myself what I can't have, its exactly what I go for. Keep it up! Just focus on the exercising for now and work your way up to "dieting". You may find you like the results enough that you don't have to work as hard on the dieting.

Sara L- Did you start? Let me know how you are doing!Still not sure about the photos but I may post them soon.

Jamie J- I love hearing your comments. Congrats on your baby! I think this will be a great way to put the control back into your own hands. Keep up the good work and positive thinking!!!

Amanda- You are doing exactly what I was doing. Elliptical 4-5 days a week. I have to say Jillian has something working in all of her theories!! Did you look for it in the exercise section and not just the video section? That is where I had more luck finding it. Let me know when you get it and get started!

amanda- Go get it!!! I really think you'll love it. And just keep telling your self I have 20 minutes a day to do this, right? Thats what motivates me!!!

Susan's 365- You are doing a fabulous job! Doing the shred and couch to 5k, that takes some serious dedication and I think you are going to be so happy with your results. Keep it up and keep us updated!

Amy B- Do it! You'll be so happy you started it when swimsuit season comes and you don't have to stress about it!

Mommy Mo- Keep it up girlfriend! You are rocking it!Love the motivation.

Anonymous- YEA!! So glad you started it. We totally should do a shred blog for the dfw area! I'll have to look into that. :)

Carolein- So how is it going? Did you start on Monday? Let me know how you are feeling! I can't wait to hear. :) Good Luck!!

Missy- Embrace the fear and let it motivate you. I just keep imagining Jillian showing up if I slack off. That enough to keep me going! LOL! You can do it!!

Debbie- Let me know how you like it. I am so excited you ordered it. You will rock it!!!

Day 12 Shred

First off, I am so proud and excited of all of you guys that are doing the Shred with us!!! That makes me so happy. And it motivates me to keep going even stronger.

We just started Phase 2 on Saturday. We are doing the shred in 10 day increments. So 10 days for the first level, 10 for the 2nd and 10 for the 3rd. And I think we have decided that Sunday's are our day of rest, the last two Sunday's both Nancy and I have been too tired to do it. So why not just make it a rule and stick to it, right? LOL!

I'm not sure about you guys but for those of you that have started phase two, does it seem easier than phase 1? It may be that we just rocked out phase one and worked our way up to phase 2 so that it isn't as hard as we expected. We keep looking at all the moves, trying to make sure that we are not missing anything and doing them correctly and so far it seems like we are. Now phase 2 seems to be a little harder on the knees. Are any of you doing any extra stretching before you start to help your legs out? I think we may start doing that.

I have had reconstructive knee surgery so I do have to be careful of certain moves and I do do the easier version of a few on the 2nd phase. But my big problem right now is that my good knee has started to hurt as well. So I am trying to figure out the best way to go about all of this. It may just be my shoes though. I have been doing all of this in running shoes that are a couple of years old. I think I may need to pick up some new cross trainers to help out with the support I need.

I think someone commented about the scale not being their friend right now. Personally the scale hates me. My weight has not changed for the last month. I just keep bouncing around the same 3lbs over and over again. I am so FRUSTRATED!!! I can see the changes happening in the mirror but according to the scale and the Wii Fit I have not improved at all. I seriously want to pull my hair out. We took pictures again and I could see a slight difference in the images, and my clothes are still fitting a lot better. But the scale is my nemesis!!! I know I shouldn't worry about it because muscle does weigh more than fat but its still disheartening. I am at the point where I just want to say screw it with the 1500 calories and just eat whatever I want.

But we have decided to give it one last chance. We are adding in some more cardio every day to see if that helps boost the metabolism into dropping more weight. I'll let you know if it works or not. I have decided that I am not willing to post any pictures until the end, I promise I will put the whole series up. Unless of course one day I just look fabulous and have to show everyone before the end! ;)

And for those of you who still haven't opened your dvd, DO IT NOW! Opening it is one step closer to actually doing it. Baby steps people!!!

Paid?

So how do you think I would go about getting Jillian Michael's to pay me for talking about her dvd? LOL. I really don't have any affiliation with her at all but wouldn't it be awesome if I did get paid to work out? That would seriously rock!!!

Okay, so if any of you are interested in counting calories, (I know that's totally old school these days, but I'm just not good at sticking to restrictive diets. I would rather eat what I want and just make sure it falls into my calorie count for the day.) I have a great website that's easy and free to use. I've been using my calorie counter.com. Its really easy to put what you eat in. It will track your weight and measurements as well. Its really helped me keep track of it all. And I have been totally writing everything down that I eat, like down to the jelly bean. If you can't find the food on there that you ate, you can usually google it and find the calories online. I found the most reliable sources were from the actual company websites, but they don't always have the food facts.

We did take some before pictures last week. I think we did it on day 3 of the Shred. We totally forgot to do it before. I really wish we would have done measurements as well, but we forgot. I think we are going to try and take pictures once a week. So today will be the second set of pictures. Now I don't know if we will ever post any of the before pics but we might at the end just to show the progress. Because you know its just not fun to look at yourself in shorts and a sports bra with a muffin top. ;)

Quick Question

what is your favorite wedding gift to buy someone for under $50 when you don't like anything they have on their registry?

eta: Love all of the ideas! This will definitely help. And I think someone said to get something off their registry even though I didn't like what they have. I should of clarified that, they registered for great stuff but for $50 the only thing we could get would be ONE bowl from their china set. And I just wanted to get something a little more meaningful. It just seems lame to get one bowl. Know what I mean? But I seriously LOVE all of the other ideas. Thanks!!!

Shred Day 8

Okay so we missed shredding on Easter Sunday but we got back on the horse on Monday. I can tell you it sucked and we thought we were going to die, but we did it.

I put on some pants today fresh from the dryer. The last couple of months when I put these pants on I get a nice little muffin top. And today... no muffin top. It is amazing.

I mean, seriously people, 7 days and my pants are a lot looser. Its crazy. I can see more muscle tone in both Nancy and I. I can wear my old tight t shirts and not feel like a fat cow.

I really thought the work outs would start to feel easier but they really haven't so far. We can do the exercises better and our endurance is higher but we still have to work at it. And we are covered in sweat when we finish.

Before this, I had been working out 4-5 days a week and had lowered my calories to 1500 a day, and I was seeing almost no change. It was really frustrating!!! Now the weight hasn't changed much on the scale, but I can see the changes in my body. Which in the end means more to me. I can be a scale addict, so seeing the change makes it easier for me to avoid the scale.

Now I am still too chicken to get back on the Wii Fit. I just don't want it yelling at me! But I think I will get back on it at the end of the first 10 days, just to see if my BMI has changed.

Oh and someone asked what size weights I use- I'm using the 3lb. And for all of those of you out there that are joining me in this challenge ( YOU ROCK!!!), I heard from Beth that the second level does a lot more with the arms so don't skimp on your arm exercises.

Let me know how you guys are all doing. I can't wait to hear. You guys help keep me motivated!!!

Hey YOU- yeah I'm talking to YOU- did you ever take the dvd out of the plastic wrapping? You know you actually have to play the dvd to get it to start working, right? Yeah yeah yeah, I hear that you're busy, but you do have time to set 20 minutes aside to do a few measly exercises. So get off you butt and get busy. You want to look good right? You can do it!

(unless your name is minivan mom- girl you don't have time to do anything including breathing, i will have the riney ritas ready and waiting for your may trip. miss you!!!)

Easter fun

We had a very fun and busy Easter weekend!We are on day 7 of the shred. It seriously kicks our asses but we are both staring to see some real results. We have only missed one day, which was Easter Sunday and we both just collapsed. Here are a few pics of the kids.

Nancy's Boyfriend came to visit this weekend and we had a lot of fun showing his around town. what a cute couple!!!

Enjoyed a little Joe T. Garcias margaritas

and of course we dyed some Easter eggs. We couldn't find any tablets to dye them this year and ended up using some food coloring I had on hand. And it dyed the eggs better than I have ever seen before. We also drew on the eggs with white crayon and got some neat designs from it.

Day 3 Shred

Okay so after day one we were a bit sore. After day 2 we were really feeling it. So then on day 3 we were trying to avoid it.

But we sucked it up and did some yoga beforehand to stretch out really well. And amazingly enough everything was already a little easier. We didn't get tired until the second set of each exercise this time.

It was pretty amazing. And at the end today we weren't so tried that we couldn't move. It was nice. We are already noticing our tummies are getting a bit flatter and our legs are toning up.

It is definitely hard work and you sweat a gallon but for 20 minutes I can do just about anything. How are you doing with it? Have you gotten the dvd yet? Why not just give it a try, who knows you may actually be ready for swim suit season ahead of time this year. :) We sure will be!

30 day shred

ETA: I totally forgot to give mad props to Beth for inspiring me to do this. When I typed it last night my brain was tired and not thinking straight. Love ya Beth!!!


just started jillian michael's 30 day shred today. its 20 minutes a day every day for 30 days.

can i tell you it was the longest 20 minutes of my life. and now my arms are so sore that i can barely type.

but i have heard really good things about it, so nancy and i are up for the challenge. we plan on taking before pics tomorrow to compare to after we are done.

we are trying to stick to a 1500 calorie a day diet. neither one of us is good at sticking to a food specific diet. and we want the weight loss to stick, so we are doing it slowly but surely.

so far since march 11th i have lost 4 lbs (on my 1500 calorie diet with exercise 4 times a week). my goal is to lose 20lbs total. it would put me back at my pre pregnancy weight. now that i have finished nursing i can really focus on all of this.

Play date!

Today one of my blogger friend's, Kelly, came into town and we got to have a play date! Now we have never actually met before, but from all of our past correspondence I knew we would be fast friends. :) She found me through Jenny's site, like a lot of you that read here as well!

And it was even greater when she, her friend Austin, and one of her twins McKenna came and no one was an ax murderer. Kelly has 4 kids as well, but she has 4 under the age of 5. This woman is a saint!!! LOL. Her b/g twins are just a few weeks younger than ours and are about the same size difference as ours as well. McKenna was the cutest little thing ever! Love her!!! :)

So lucky for us, Kelly and McKenna got to come to Texas to have a girl's weekend. I am so glad they came to visit. I would love to post the picture we took of all of us together, but my hubby forgot to focus. This new lens is a little tricky for him at the moment. (j/k honey!)But here are the shots I did get in. I would of gotten more but was too busy yapping.

New Lens!

We went today and sent my lens into Nikon to get fixed. Still so excited about this! But since I won't get it back for a little while yet and I need to take pictures of my kiddos we went ahead and bought the 50mm lens while we were there. LOVING IT!

Beck was not interested in the camera today at all, but the duck was another story

Now I did have a little trouble with the focusing.
The 50mm and the D40 aren't compatible with auto focus, so you have to manually focus.
So I ended up with some not quite in focus but still loved the images. So please excuse the focus on a few of these below. :)

My serious man

Loving the tongue and the sprout on top of her head

And the drool is cracking us up here

We would like you all to meet our new room mate for the next few months, Nancy.
My sister has been looking for a job for a while and needed a place to crash while she looked. We are so excited to have her here! She is a great help and I love having someone around in the evenings to talk to. So if anyone knows of any jobs available in the Dallas, San Antonio or Austin area please let us know. Any type of administrative, art, or organizing type of jobs.

So Happy!

I went to the camera store yesterday to see if they had the lens I wanted in stock. While there the lady asked if we had bought a warranty on it. Since Brandon had bought this while I was in the hospital, right after we had the babies, I had no idea. I had them check, and guess what? He got a 2 year warranty on the lens!!!! We never get the warranty, but I'm guessing since he was buying the lens after having the previous one fall on the floor, he changed his mind. And I am so glad he did! WE will be able to get the lens fixed or replaced for free! I am so excited. My hubby ROCKS!