Chubby Diary: November 2011

Competition- Week 3

There are 2 parts to this blog post...

Part 1- Everything before 5pm on Thanksgiving Day.

Part 2- Everything after 5pm on Thanksgiving Day.

In Part 1, I was on FIRE! (Metaphorically speaking, of course!) I was an animal at the gym, my eating was on-point...I was hardcore...The Zone had continued! :0)

All week I had mentally prepared myself for Thanksgiving. I was going to eat absolutely everything that I REALLY wanted...and not bother eating anything that I could care less about. The only condition, was that I was only going to take a very small amount of the things I wanted to try...I'm talking like a 2 or 3 bite portion. And that worked for me. I was able to easily resist the appetizers (Sees Candy & my husbands "famous" cheeseball)...while those things are known to be huge hits for my taste buds, I told myself, you know what those taste like, you have had them MANY times, you are fine to not ingest those calories. While my guests were eating appetizers, I was still doing a bit of cooking, and so that also made it easier to stay away.

And then it came time to eat dinner. I was so proud of myself...I did what I set out to do! Here is my plate...

I had some turkey, some of my sister Anna's heavily sugared homemade cinnamon applesauce, some of our traditional stuffing, some mashed potatoes (with cream cheese mixed in...YUM!), some roasted sweet potatoes with chopped bacon, and some salad (with no dressing). And it may not seem like much, but after eating healthy all week, this amount of food, with all of these delicious flavors, was 100% satisfying after my plate was cleared.

But after I was finished eating, and others were continuing to eat, there was MUCH conversation and hoopla about the amazing croissants that my mom had ordered from this gourmet bakery. You can see these massive creations in the center of the table below...

My brother-in-law Desmon pulled me off a piece of his croissant for me to try. I resisted. He then dipped the piece in gravy, and said I HAD to try it. I GREATLY resisted. But then after a few minutes of continuing to converse about random things outwardly...and continually to converse about the croissant inwardly...I gave in. :0( I ripped off a piece of a fresh croissant, and just like Eve biting in to the fruit, I was DOOMED! It was SO delicious. After a few minutes (OK, maybe it was a few seconds, LOL) I proceeded to eat the ENTIRE croissant! :-0

And since I had blown it on the croissant, I didn't do the smart thing and stop...cut my losses. Instead, I went back to the appetizer table, and had a few pieces of Sees candy.

And since I had done all of that...at some point I ditched my glass of water, and had a glass of champagne...Cheers!

And then of course, when dessert was served, I proceeded to have a little bit of that. And in truth, it was just a little...my stomach wasn't used to everything I had just put in to it, and therefore I was truly FULL!

I had planned to be "good" when I woke up on Friday morning, but I was so busy in the morning that I didn't have time to eat breakfast, and so when I went to my mom 's house to finish cleaning up the last bit of our event, I laid eyes on another croissant...and ate it! :-0

And then we went to the movies...ate more.

And then we decorated our house for Christmas...ate more.

And then I was home all weekend with sick kids, and I didn't feel so hot either...ate more.

So after all is said and done, I erased SO much work/effort/results that I had accomplished these last few weeks, and now I am at a total loss (for the competition) of 3.5 pounds. :0(

Will I ever learn!?

We Took the Week Off

In preparation of the Thanksgiving holiday, I decided to take the week off from school. All three of us enjoyed the break! However, I'm toying with the idea of not taking any time off in December. Christmas falls on a weekend, and since I am not responsible for hosting anything in December, I'm thinking about working right through it. I figure that will bring us to our Summer break all the more sooner! :0) But we shall see. ;0)

Anyway, even without school we were busy bees prepping for our Thanksgiving feast that my little family was hosting.

Beatrice helped crush crackers for the stuffing...

And Wyatt was passionate about making a dessert for Thanksgiving. He did these 95% on his own. He's got talent like his mama. :0)

Unfortunately, we had to make a few more trips than usual to the grocery store (when did we run out of THIS ingredient!? Oh I forgot to buy THIS! The recipe said HOW MUCH butter!? :-0...)

We had a playdate with friends we haven't seen in almost a year...Nicole and her crew! :0)

The girls made "pies" on the benches...

And the boys attempted to play football...

Hmmm, come to think of it, "Pies and football"?...how very "Thanksgiving" of them! :0)

On the day before Thanksgiving, we had a festive lunch. While watching a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving last week with the kids, I was inspired to duplicate the funny lunch the characters enjoyed (well, some didn't enjoy it...but you would have to see the show to know more about that, lol)...

Forget what Peppermint Patty says, my kids wished they had this kind of lunch EVERYDAY! :0)

And one of the most exciting things to happen in our home this week, was that both littles got their first professional haircuts! I have been giving Wyatt a buzz cut since the time he had too much hair on his head, and that has always been our favorite-money-saving-haircut, LOL! But I'm not sure what came over me. With the holiday approaching, I decided to take the plunge, and get their hair cut! :0)

Even though I had made the appointment 2 weeks in advance, the only time our hairdresser could get us in before the holiday was at 8pm on Wednesday night. I jokingly said, "I'll take the appointment, but my kids might fall asleep in the chair!"

Bea was up first! Here is her before picture...

Then the hair dresser put Bea's hair in a ponytail, and started cutting...

This whole hair-cutting-thing was MY idea, and I was genuinely excited for Bea's new do...so I was shocked by my reaction when the hair dresser handed me Bea's amputated pony tail. I'm not sure if it was because of the perfect curl at the bottom, or if it was just because it was such a drastic change, or???...but once I held that pony tail in my hand, I started crying.

I pulled myself together though.

And I wasn't wrong about my kids, LOL. One minute Bea was awake...

And the next minute, she was OUT!...

Rick was especially fond of that part of the story, as we have pictures of him sleeping during his first haircut when he was a toddler. :0)

Wyatt was up next. Before...

After...

It wasn't as drastic of a change as his sister's hair cut, but we sure thought he looked handsome! :0)

The day after Thanksgiving, my sisters and I continued our tradition of taking all of the kids to the movies.

This year, we saw Arthur Christmas...

After we said goodbye to our family, and went our separate ways, Rick, the kids and I then went home to decorate the house for Christmas. Wyatt got to put the first ornament on the tree...

And then it was Bea's turn...

I kept unwrapping ornaments...and they kept hanging them...on the same branch!

It all got worked out though. :0)

One of our nativity scenes...this one is my personal favorite...it is the one that my mom displayed every Christmas when I was growing up. :0)

And we decorated our balcony too!

I wish that was the end of the story...but unfortunately our little "Beatle" got sick in her bed on Friday night. :0( Luckily, it was just the one time, but I didn't know that to be the case at the time, and so I held her in my arms all night, and we camped out on the couch with a bowl close by. ;0) Even though I was 100% EXHAUSTED, those were some sweet hours that we spent together alone...sometimes sleeping...sometimes watching TV...sometimes chit-chatting...sometimes sleeping some more.

I just wished I hadn't felt sick the following day. :0(

The plus side...I had a beautifully decorated environment to gaze upon while we were at home ALL weekend!

Gobble Til You Wobble

Thanksgiving is arguably my favorite holiday. However...I THINK you might catch me saying that about Easter and Christmas as well, LOL!

Thanksgiving is the holiday that I get to host every year. Rick and I have been married for almost 10 years, and this was our 9th year of hosting Thanksgiving for my family. For the first 7 years, we held the dinner at our little home. But in the last few years, our ever-expanding family has needed a bigger environment to comfortably feast at. The past 2 years, my mom has graciously let me host our festivities in her home. :0)

Usually, our Thanksgiving is spent with just my immediate family. But this year, we had quite a few new guests at out dinner tables...

My brother invited his girlfriend...

Jenni & Desmon invited Desmon's sister and her beautiful toddler-ette to join us...however, unfortunately I did not get their photo. :0(

We invited our cousin Jay, who recently moved to L.A. from N.Y.C. this year (he is pictured here with my stepmom Michelle)...

And finally, we had invited our prior youth pastors/surrogate family/great friends, Myke (who is pictured here giving his "What I am Thankful For" speech in the form of a hilarious poem he wrote, and with the use of a slide show on his iPad...very 2011!)...

And his LOVELY wife Pam (who gave me a hostess gift...she knows how to get invited back, LOL!)...

A month before Thanksgiving, I had sat down and planned out the menu...but that was all I was motivated to organize at the time. However, in the week before Thanksgiving, I had been watching Food Network programs at the gym, and catching the occasional holiday decorating segment on the Today Show in the morning. I began to get excited about how to Eliza-fy our event...my mind was reeling. :0)

The first thing I worked on, was place card decorations. I started with some gourds, and then I brainstormed on what to do with them. I decided to draw 1 leaf with each person's name on it, and then I drew a 2nd leaf which stated why I was thankful for that person...

And since I had a little extra time on my hands this week, I also made some turkey sugar cookies that I personalized for the children, and our special guests...