Monday, October 27, 2008

Menu Planning Monday, weight loss, silly pictures

Hi, I'm starting Menu Planning Monday, to try to get organized at the beginning of the week so we can save money on our meals. My goal is to only spend $50.00 each week on groceries and eat out only 1 night a week. This week we only want to spend $30.00 because we went over on our budget last week....partly due to our football part which was cancelled! :(


Here is our Menu for this week:


Monday - spaghetti with whole wheat pasta, salad, green beans, bread


Tuesday - Chicken Macaroni grill mix, broccoli, bread, pumpkin pie


Wednesday - leftovers


Thursday - Orange Chicken, fried rice, veggies in the mix


Friday-Chicken pot pie with biscuits, baked apples


Sat - Eat out


Sunday - breakfast for dinner (my favorite)




Weight Loss Update: I made goal last week! I have been doing weight watchers for 10 months and have lost 38.6 pounds! I started at 184, now I'm 145....and went from a size 16 to a size 8! I still want to lose 10 more pounds, but since I'm within a healthy weight for my height, 5 more weeks and weight watchers will be free! Yea! I think it has been worth every penny. I have been on a diet my whole life and this is the first time that I have actually done it!




Here are some silly pictures of the girls. I was walking by the playroom and noticed Gracie sitting in there watching TV....wearing my red stilettos! I also caught Emma in the dishwasher...her favorite places to play are in the toilet, the dishwasher, the pantry, and the refrigerator. She has a huge playroom with tons of toys and she loves to be in the dishwasher! Crazy!


Sunday, October 26, 2008

6 months in North Carolina....

Can you believe we have lived here six months? The time has gone by soooo fast! We love it here, have made great friends, have an incredible church, and love our new house. It is still hard being away from family and friends in Oklahoma and I'm sure it won't get any better. I am excited about moving home during Steven's deployment.



I love this family picture. We went to the pumpkin patch at Mike's Farm with our Sunday school class, there was about 50 of us! They have the best home cooking, not weight watcher friendly, all you can eat family style. The best part was the macaroni and cheese, the best we had ever eaten, so when all of you come visit us, we will definitely have to take you there! Gracie loves seeing the "punkins"! We left Mike's Farm and drove to Virginia beach to stay with our friends Adam and Natina Gardner. We had a great time shopping at the outlets and hanging out with old friends. Steven even got to go deep sea fishing!



The following week our church had a Fall Festival with free food and games. The outdoor activities were cancelled because of nasty weather, but Gracie had a great time playing the games and decorating her "punkin".

Gracie and Daddy painting her pumpkin.


Gracie loves her little pumpkin which she always refers to as "Mama". Thanks a-lot Gracie!

Emma did really good, she was so happy just hanging out in her stroller. What a cutie!


Here are some sweet pictures of the girls. Emma loves to sit in Gracie's lap. Isn't the chair super cute?! Steven reupholstered this chair, I'm so impressed. We bought it for $5.00 at a garage sale, and he completely took it apart and researched how to upholster it. Doesn't it look fantastic? Gracie loves it!











Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Last Few Weeks...

Gracie and Emma: Best Friends




It has been a crazy last few weeks! Sorry, I haven't posted more.....The weather is getting so nice here, it is really cool in the mornings and evenings and warms up during the day! We have still been going to the park tues, wed, and friday and the girls love it. I put Emma in the swing for the first time last week, and she loved it...laughed the whole time! I'll try to remember to take pictures! :)


We have had a lot of fun, Gracie loves to "cook" with Mama, especially baking, because I let her pour all the ingredients in...We have been baking a lot lately, which isn't too good on my diet, but I have been trying to tweak recipes to make it more healthy.


Last Friday, we hosted a play date, and we had so much fun with all of our friends. There were kids everywhere, and Gracie did pretty good sharing her toys. All the kids had a great time, but were completely worn out by the end of the afternoon. Last Saturday we went to a "pig pickin" (North Carolina term), and we had some good barbecue. Our new pastor, Jason Brinker, was voted in last Sunday, and on Saturday we had a barbecue to meet him. It was super fun, and it included two Sunday school classes...the young marrieds and the old folks! They were all extremely nice and friendly, and this sweet older couple held Emma for 45 minutes while we ate and helped Gracie with her food! We are so excited about our new pastor, he is very charismatic, has a vision for the church, and will promote change in order to grow. He even preached in jeans....which I thought would be pretty scandalous for FBC!


Here are some pics from the last few weeks: Sweet Emma waking up from her nap



Emma loves to look at the window....she will constantly crawl across the room to peek out the window, and she stands there for a long time just watching. She's our little cat.





Gracie being silly. She has such an imagination...and loves to play pretend. Her favorite things this week are being a duck, bee, and butterfly.




Sweet Emma Claire lookin soooo cute! She absolutely loves her big sister!






Everybody has been asking for a picture of me, so here it is....I've lost 37.6 since joining weight watchers in December, and about 50 pounds from my highest pregnancy weight. I've gone from a size 16 to a size 8, the only down side is I need all new winter clothes!