Pirates, Pancakes, and Pie...Oh My!

Our week started off fairly uneventful. In fact, I didn't even bust out the camera until late Tuesday afternoon, when we started making some homemade "fishy crackers." Except, I didn't bother making a mini-fish-shaped cutter (yes, there were instructions for that), but I chose to use my little fondant cutters...stars and flowers were good enough for us! We first cut out the shapes from our dough...

Then we patiently watched them bake in the oven...

And just like that, we had ourselves some cheese crackers!

Except, it wasn't "just like that!"...this was a very loooooong baking experience. It took us hours to cut out all 818 mini crackers. :0(

IF (and that is a big "IF"), we make these again, I hope the kids don't mind little square "fishy crackers", because I plan to cut the next batch out using just a pizza cutter! Wam...BAM...thank you MA'AM!

On Wednesday at MOPS, I had such a fun time with my ladies at our annual "Tea and Testimony" meeting...

Later that night, it was "Crazy Hat Night" at Awanas! Wyatt piled some Mickey Mouse ears, on top of a Santa's hat, on top of a cowboy hat!

And when it rained this week, the kids chanted for "Hot Chocolate!"...I'm cool with that! :0)

Friday was a rough day. Within an hour of waking up, I discovered that Beatrice had urinated in her toy box at some point during the night!

Motherhood: It's a dirty job, but's somebody's gotta do it! ;0)

And on that same morning, Wyatt asked me what my "goal weight" was...to which I gave an honest answer. His reply: That's still pretty high, but much better than the 700 pounds you used to weigh!

Thanks son.

Saturday started off MUCH more promising! Afterall, it's "Pancakes for Breakfast Saturday!". This week, I just added fresh strawberries to the batter...

They were SOOOO good! And spending hours at the gym watching Food Network gets you a fun strawberry garnish on your plate! :0)

But then things went a bit South. :0( We had been planning for WEEKS (!!!) to go to Boomers (formerly, "Family Fun Center") as a family on Saturday....but when we arrived, a company had bought out the park for the day, and they were closed to the general public. WAAAAAAAA! We were so bummed! So the "Groupon" I bought for the family 4 pack at Boomers didn't really net us a savings at all!...because "Plan B" took us to the mall for a showing of "The Pirates"...

...and browsing (NOT buying) at The Disney Store...

Our next available Saturday isn't until the end of June...Boomers better be open on that day!!! :0)

If you don't count the tantruming, that sassy mouth, and all the protesting (for multiple hours) from our almost-4-year-old, you might say that Sunday was the BEST day of our week! Beatrice looked especially beautiful in the morning...

Wyatt and I are the new Sunday School teachers in the 1-year-old class at church (1st service)...

And when you get to end the night/week with "Family Dinner"...

...just bein' boys...

...eatin' Grandpa's homemade strawberry pie...

...Who can remember what all the fighting was about!?!? (...I CAN!...but it's a WAY muted version!)

Family: Can't live without 'em!

Dear Jennifer Hudson (Week 17)

Dear Jennifer Hudson,

Oh how the mighty have fallen...hard. I did not have a good OR bad week on the scale...I had a HORRIBLE weigh-in today. I was up 7 pounds! :-0 For a normal person, that would equate to being up like 3 pounds, but for whatever reason, my body can gain weight rapidly...and can lose weight rapidly.

I was in a funk this week.

From the very beginning of the week I was EXHAUSTED!...I took 3 naps this week, and I NEVER nap! I was CRAZY HUNGRY every day, my forehead broke out with blemishes, I felt sick to my stomach a few days, AND I was such a cry baby over big things (a friend passed away), and over little things (blogs I had read, a silly weight loss poem, spilling my drink, etc.)

I was convinced I was pregnant.

Even though I knew it was less than 1% possible, lol.

But I took a test.

And of course it was negative.

I texted my sister the description of my issues, and she proceeded to tell me that I was crazy, lol, and that it sounds like all of this was just a result of me doing the Insanity workouts.

She's probably right.

I continued to do the Insanity workouts at the beginning of last week, but by Thursday I had thrown in the towel. Instead, I went and had frozen yogurt with my family, and that made me royally sick. :0(

I was good on my diet Tuesday, Wednesday, and most of Thursday...but most of Friday through Monday I was not. I played Bunco with friends on Saturday night, and I ate pizza, and lasagna, and garlic bread...and then I snacked on popcorn, and candy all night. I told myself that "tomorrow is a new day"...but I stumbled again on Sunday. On Sunday night, after "family dinner," I told myself that "tomorrow is a new day." But I stumbled again on Monday. (I DID manage to do an Insanity workout on Monday though.) I felt defeated. I was slipping into old patterns. Always telling myself "tomorrow is a new day"...but tomorrow was always the same as the day before. On Monday night, I did NOT want to go to my WW meeting in the morning! I weigh myself everyday, and so I knew that I had already gained a bunch of weight. I didn't need my WW leader to tell me that information. I had decided that I just wasn't going to go to the meeting.

But after waking up on a "new day", I decided that I WAS going to go the meeting. I was going to have to eat a huge helping of humble pie, but I needed to brake my cycle of old habits. I needed to get back on the program, and the only way to do that was to GO TO THE PROGRAM!

I am so glad I did.

It was nice to be surrounded by people who know exactly what I am going through, because they are going through the same thing, at the same time I am.

After my WW leader had weighed me in, and after I had expressed dissapointment in myself, she looked at me and said..."Elizabeth, you are not perfect...so why do you think you are going to be "perfect" at weight loss?"

Got it.

And God is super cool. Any time I have been given a WW award in the past, it has always been a result of something I have achieved on the scale...losing 5 pounds, losing 10 pounds, reaching my 10% goal, losing 25 pounds, etc. But this week...even though I gained weight...I was still given an award. I was given my "16 week" clapping hands charm...



It couldn't have come at a better time in my journey. The week I desperately did NOT want to go to a meeting, I was rewarded for just that...going to a meeting...for 16 weeks. (Technically I've been doing WW for 17 weeks, but because I didn't weigh-in a couple of weeks ago when I went to L.A. they only have record of me being a part of the group for 16 weeks.)

Even though I hadn't shared my struggles with anyone other than my sister, I had received a super duper encouraging card in the mail on Saturday, and my mom left me a great motivational voicemail on Sunday. The words those 2 ladies shared with me have continued to keep ringing in my ears. I want to be what they say I am.

Today IS the new day.

My WW leader read the following poem today...

Food can fill our stomachs.
It cannot fill our souls.

Food can nourish our bodies.
It cannot nourish our hearts and minds.

Food can make our taste buds happy.
It cannot make us happy.

Food can give momentary pleasure.
It cannot give lasting pleasure.

Food can distract us from our pain.
It cannot take away our pain.

-Author unknown

And in our WW "Weekly", an article was written that said, "I believe that I can do it. Whether I say I can, or I can't, I'm right. So I have to believe that I can."

Your humbled fan,
Elizabeth

First week of "Summer"

Our first week of Summer Break was wonderful! We had a little "R & R" on some days, and on other days we experienced very "summery" adventures....like...

...Frozen yogurt!...at Yogurt Mill!...



...and we spent a day at the beach!...







...climbing on rocks...







...having mud fights...





I love Wyatt's expression!...



...and Bea's too!...



There were sand angels to be made...





...castles to be built...



...and tackle football to be played...



It was such a fun afternoon with friends! :0)



This week, we went to the park with our MOPS friends, and on another day we had our own private picnic at our community park...



We were busy in the kitchen too. In my healthy-food-awakening-of-2012 I am constantly trying to find new, healthy un-processed snacks for the kids (raw fruits and veggies have been great...but we like to mix things up from time to time)...and a friend passed me the recipe for "Honey Milk Balls". There are only 4 ingredients...Peanut butter, Oatmeal, Honey, and Milk Powder. We had fun mixing...





...and rolling!...







And that's all of the work involved! I'm not a super-duper fan of honey, but these balls are strangely addictive! They taste like a peanut butter and honey sandwhich (which I love!) wrapped up in an oatmeal cookie dough! And becuase we buy peanut butter that doesn't have sugar in it, the only sweetness in the ball is from the honey. Not too shabby. :0) The kids loved them!...in fact, Beatrice couldn't keep her mouth off of them! I had to do some quality-control during the rolling process, and well, the mini-pile of balls in the corner were the ones that Bea had previously licked!



But that wasn't the only thing coming out of our kitchen this week. We had an oatmeal chef visit during breakfast hours every day...



...and banana walnut pancakes!...





And after giving away and/or selling off half of my homemade laundry detergent that I made 4 months ago, it was time to replenish our stock!





10 gallons of laundry detergent that only cost me 97 cents equals perfection! :0)

This weekend, I got to play "Bunco" with friends on Saturday night, which meant the littles got to have a sleepover at Grandpa and Grandma Piton's house! Based on all of the pictures my stepmom posted on Facebook, it looks like the kids had a BLAST, and were spoiled rotten...with LOVE!











And that's not even pictures of them at the park...or painting their bird houses! That was a BUSY 24 hours!!!

Our week ended with me picking up the kids from my Dad's house, where we gathered for our weekly "Family Dinner." But this wasn't just any "family dinner night"...oh no, Wyatt and "The Great Grand-pahski" performed a magic trick that they had been working on during the sleepover!





After the magic show, and some dinner, and too much laughing, we were all pooped!...well, not exactly pooped...but there was some "pull-my-finger" involved!...



You know you had a GOOD week when your drive home consists of...



I wonder what our 2nd week of Summer Break will consist of!?