Kinlee Joyce

OH Kinlee-Where do I start with you? You are one fireball two year old. You love the word no and Love to use it! You are darling and super sweet.... when you want to be. You love the color purple and really wont wear any other color.  (What is it with my children that are so obsessed with colors?) One of my favorite things right now is the way you say your "L's". You pronounce it like a 'Y'. "Mamma, can I sit on your Yap" "Yook over dare" "I sure do yike purple" "I Yove you"! So cute! Another favorite phrase is "One mo time"! You love Hansen and are so sweet to him. I am excited for him to get a little older so you can be real buddies! You are so quick to give him his binky if needed and super concerned if he is upset. You did not like it today when he had to get shots. You just kept saying "Oh Man, Hansen got an boo boo!"

I had a friend of mine take some pictures of you at the park the other day. You were a pretty good sport about it! You are so fun... for the most part and keep your tandrums to a minimum. I love that you are my little tag-a-long friend and we can laugh with each other. Today we snuggled up together in my bed and took a nap. You were darling when we woke up. You just kept saying "Mamma, I kiss you!"

You love dora more than I think any other child ever has. You got a dora house for Christmas and think it pretty much rocks. The funny thing about having older girls is the things that you pick up on. Like I caught you singing "Shaking my booty now, shaking my booty now, twist and shout" Quite hilarious!

We love you so very much and couldn't be happier to have you in our family. You are darling!

(these pictures are from my phone so not the best quality)

Emery Kate

Emery is such a sweet girl. She is super sensitive and loving towards others. Emery is the perfect middle child and really wants everyone around her to be happy, and tries to help if things aren't that way. Emery is also in the suzuki program at her school and taking lessons from Mr Pugh, although she is learning to play the cello. It is so fun to see her learn this instrument. The Suzuki program is parent-teacher taught so I go to all of the girls lessons. Emery has lessons on Monday and Thursday for about 20-30 minutes and then a group lesson I do not go to on Thursdays after school. Emery is one of only 4 in the whole school to be learning cello. The first year is all about learning how to play Twinkle Twinkle little Star and then they go from there. Mr Pugh was quite impressed with how she has pretty much taught herself how to play it. She was pretty proud of herself. Emery is in Kindergarten and her teacher, Mrs Stroman, is also incredible. Mrs Stroman has been a 1st grade teacher for 15 years and just moved to K. It is nice to know that she is really getting the students ready for 1st grade. Emery is the teachers pet, and knows it! She is the oldest in her class so she gets to help other kids. Mrs Stroman continues to tell me how responsible she is. She is reading pretty well, and I feel confident that she will be reading completely on her own by the summer.  Emery makes friends really easily. Emery is also taking a gymnastics class once a week and loving it. Emery also loves Hansen. She can get him to talk and smile more than anyone else can. You still look up to Ava so much, but are finding out things on your own. Your favorite color is still pink Pink PINK! To say you are picky about your clothes is a complete understatement and I would say that is really the only thing we disagree on.

Emery- we love you so very much. We love your sweet disposition and how sensitive you are. I love how you are so willing to help others and to reach out to them. You love Ava so much and you girls are still the best of friends. I hope that continues for the rest of your lives. Kinlee looks up to you like you look up to Ava. It is such a sweet pattern. I love how your eyes tell everything about you. One look into those big beautiful blues and I can see every emotion! You are amazing and I am so happy to have you in our family! Love you tons Mimigins! (Also take more pictures of Emery with phone!)

Ava Jayne

I just realized I haven't been documenting things going on in our everyday lives. And I don't feel like I have been very grateful for the blessings that I have. So I'm going to do a quick little update on all of the girls.

Ava is is second grade and thriving. Her teacher, Mrs Vasquez, is amazing! You can really tell she teaches for the love of teaching and not for the money. Ava is learning the violin. This is her second year and is really loving it. She is getting really good too. I think she is up to 11 songs and working on more. Her teacher, Mr Pugh, is quite possibly the most patient man. Ever. Its quite amazing really to watch him interact with each child differently and pick up on their learning habits and personalities. Ava loves to read and is happy to sit down in a quite spot with a book. Right now she is really into some Fairy books. Ava loves LOVES Hansen and is so good with him. She wants to hold him all of the time. She thinks she is the stuff too cause I let her walk around and hold him. WHOA! Hansen loves her and usually calms down when she is holding him. She is still really into orange but is starting to branch out. She also likes yellow, red and black. As you all know, Ava was a bit of a difficult baby and toddler; but she is pretty darn easy now. (I didn't think I would be able to say that, at least for a very long time!) She is starting to really figure out what she likes and can carry on some really fun conversations. We talked to her about being baptized this summer and she is working on being prepared for that.

Ava Jayne- we love you so much. You are so much fun and honestly the best biggest sister ever. You love your sisters and brother so much. Your smile still lights up the room. You have a heart of gold and really love to please. You are becoming such a beautiful little lady. I am thrilled to be your mother and elated to have you mine! I love you Ava-lady! (mental note-take more pictures of Ava with phone! And maybe ones where her hair is fixed!!)

My sweet little boy

is 2 months old. How can that happen? On Wednesday he turned 2 months. Craziness how fast it goes by once they are on the outside. Inside? Two months felt like an eternity! I took him to the dr today. He is 30% weight (11.5 pounds). 50% head. 50% length(23 inches)

He is such a delight to have in our home. He has the sweetest smile ever and the biggest dimples. I have figured out that chocolate makes him turn into dinosaur boy so that is kind of sad. Although, probably helping in the weight loss department. I have found its easier to say "No thanks, it makes my baby upset" rather than saying "No thanks, I don't want to stay fat!"

Last week

I am a week behind on blogging my progress but last Saturday I weighed in at 173.8. I am hoping to hit the 10 pound loss this weekend. I will probably weigh myself tomorrow and Sunday. I will have to say that I am pretty proud of myself. Last night we went out to eat with a couple of people from Josh's work. We went to a burger place and I got a salad with salmon and a lemon vinaigrette. It was quite tasty and I walked away full. I did have a few fries and a couple of onion rings but I was happy with that. Go me! I'm doing this!!

Slow and steady wins the race

This week I am down to 174.2. Not that much weight off, but it is a negative number. I need to loose another 11 pounds to be down 10%. I just need to keep telling myself slow and steady. Or just keep swimming. Or I can do this!

Well, I'm doing this....

So I've been debating putting this on the blog because lets face it, its kinda VERY embarrassing. Anyone that knows me, knows that I don't really love my body. I am thankful that it works, but I wish it looked so much better. I am tired of looking in the mirror and not loving much less liking what I see. Its very sad to me really. SOOOOO. I'm doing this. I'm making it public. And gah! I can't believe I am putting this on the WWW. I am going to post my weight and then date and then log and post every week my progression. (hopeful progression). Basically I'm going to need some encouragement. If you don't normally comment, I'm asking you to please comment IF its positive!

SO here goes....

Saturday December 28- Grand total weigh in of 182.
Sunday January 6- 176.2




I bought the book The Skinny Rules By Bob Harper. I'm following it pretty closely and really trying to make a change in me rather than just diet. Or loose weight. I am also vowing to do some kind of physical activity 5 days a week. Something where at least I'm getting my heart rate up. I have a gym membership and am going to start going now that Hansen is 6 weeks old.  I also signed up for an awesome 5K in April. I'm doing it with my sister Erricka, sister in law Erika and some of my very best friends! I'm ready to do this! Thanks for your help and support!