Today's Weigh In

Look at that, 2 more pounds gone! My exercise wasn't as consistant this last week. I did do well with my eating though and I'm ending the day NOT feeling hungry. I don't have quite all the soda taken out, but I did only drink it away from home, which was one dinner out and I had a cup at our book club meeting. I had some headaches, I think due to so much less caffeine, but that is working through as well I think. So I'm thinking if I can get my exercise back on track it should be a good week :) Thanks for helping me to be accountable!

Be blessed!

Sowing Servant Hearts - Chore Training

Sowing Servant Hearts - Chore Training

Four Pounds LOST!

Figured out how to update the weight loss ticker. Did you see that number move? FOUR pounds lost! Wooohoooo am I excited!

Be blessed!

He's home :)

Paul had to go to California for 4 days. It was a trip sprung on him last minute..anyways they were meeting to plan out their Annual Training for June. I really missed him this time around. It was hard to stay motivated around here. I always miss him, but it just seemed worse this time. Not sure why. Thursday and Friday we did school. We normally don't school on Friday, but Paul had taken Wednesday off, so we just did some minimum work that morning and then spent the day with him. So since he was gone on Friday, we took the opportunity to catch up. Worked pretty well, and the kids were okay with it. I thought they might protest, but I told them that this week would already be short because of co-op.

Abby had her last match for Bible Quiz on Saturday. She did so well! She was determined to place in the top 10 for an individual ribbon. She worked really hard at her memorization(to the point I had to have her put it away a couple of times because she was getting frustrated). She ended up in 9th place! She quizzes on a "B" team and they combined them with "A" teams because there weren't enough teams in either category. So she was quizzing against the best! Next year she will quiz with Teen Bible Quiz. She's nervous about it being harder, but I think she can do it!

Abby also starts guitar lessons again this afternoon. She is quite excited. This was one of her Christmas presents. She took a few lessons when she was about 8. She enjoyed the music but the teacher and class set up really didn't work for her. She needed more one on one teaching and we just didn't have the money to fund those type of lessons. I've been looking for awhile for something affordable and finally came across a teacher who was looking to fill some daytime lesson spots and offered them to homeschoolers for a discount. He comes with high recommendations from quite a few people in our support group.

Jacob has been reading(he got so many books for Christmas!) and working on some models. He's trying to finish one up so he can start building his engine. He's hoping the weather will hold okay for awhile as he wants to get in a bike ride with his dad on Friday. Abby and I are going to go to homeschool swim at the Y, Jacob wanted to do something with dad and picked a bike ride. I think he's been missing his bike with all the cold weather, snow, etc.

Well, I need to get off for now and get some other things done. I did my weigh in and now have to go figure out how to move my ticker at the top :) You'll have to watch it to know what my number was :)

Be blessed!

Hamburger Soup

Tried a new soup recipe today. Jacob helped me put it all together, I would not be surprised if he ended up being a cook. He really likes to be in the kitchen! Soup was so yummy, even Jacob, my non soup eating kid, liked it so much he had a second bowl! SCORE! Heehee!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

1 pound extra lean ground beef(or use ground turkey)
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. seasoned salt
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
3 cups hot water
8 ounce can tomato sauce
1 TBSP. low sodium soy sauce
1 cup carrots, sliced
1 cup celery, sliced
1 cup macaroni, cooked
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Brown ground beef. Combine all ingredients except macaroni and Parmesan cheese in slow cooker. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Turn to high. Add macaroni and Parmesan cheese. Cook for another 15-20 minutes. Makes 6 servings.

New Endeavor

So I've never been a fan of New Year's Resolutions. This year though, I've been looking through some recent pictures and realizing that my waistbands are beginning to feel a bit tight. I went through a huge weight gain a few years back due to some medical issues. Weight up until then, was never a challenge for me, I've never been considered too thin, but I was never overweight either. So, I decided that this year I was going to concentrate on upping my activity level and watching what I eat. Not necessarily how much I eat, but what is going in. Mainly, I want it to be healthy. The first order of business is cutting out the soda, this I think will be the hardest. Anyways, I've added a ticker to the top of the blog and hope to see it move each week. I figured if I say something, I'll be held accountable!

Be blessed!

Hello Again

Sure wish I could think up creative titles for my posts.

Thought I would post a little something. I know I have family members who like to peek inside our lives :)

I won't try and catch up everything, don't think I could remember anyways!

Jacob celebrated his 14th birthday on the 6th. I cannot believe that it's been 14 years since I became a mom. Wow! It is flying by so quickly, and though I'm excited to see him grow up and mature, I also miss my little boy. This past year seems to have been the quickest yet, and it's also a year where he changed physically(he's shaving now!) and mentally. He is getting quicker at catching on to new things, school is actually coming pretty easy to him at the moment, and he is coming more out of his quiet shell. He's still my quiet kid, but he's getting comfortable in his surroundings and being a bit more social. To celebrate we had a get together with his cousins while we were in Twin for Thanksgiving, went bowling and then had pizza and birthday cake. On his actual birthday, we went for pizza(yes, his choice!) after church, home for some presents, and then went and saw Disney's A Christmas Carol at the theatre. When we left the movie it was snowing. Perfect end to the day! We also got him a cell phone. He often will stay home when Abby has an activity he's not interested in, or goes to a friend's house, or on a youth outing, and we just felt it was time for him to have one. He sure was excited when we went to pick it out. He doesn't have internet or texting, but he's excited none the less. LOL

Abby has had quite a few activities going on. She's had some Bible Quiz matches, attended a couple of birthday parties, we went out for a nice dinner and saw the play "Annie" with our girls book club friends. She's keeping busy with school, she's doing pretty well, getting into some pre-Algebra things in math that kind of threw her for a little while, but we slowed down and stayed until she got it and she's finally moved on to the next section. She's been reading anything and everything and I'm having a hard time keeping up with having good books for her to read. She's really excited we found some affordable guitar lessons and will start next month. She took some a few years ago, and the teacher/class format just didn't work for us, she's been wanting to continue forever!

Paul has been working hard. Two of their units got their orders for Afghanistan this past week, so far his unit doesn't. They shouldn't before 2011, but the commander is working them hard to have them ready earlier. This past Saturday they had Family Day, and we were able to attend that for a little while.

And me? I still keep busy at home. Preparing lessons takes a good chunk of my time, I'm having to relearn quite a bit myself :) Trying to be a bit more involved at church. I got to attend a military spouses dinner, that our church put on last night, that was fun and it was great to get to know some of the other spouses. There isn't a huge military presence here, being it's just a reserve base, but there are quite a few reserve families at church. For the first time, I was the oldest with the most years in........(married to Paul for 16 of his 22 years in the service).

The weather has become bone chilling cold. The night time temps have been single digits or below zero. The last few days haven't made it out of the teens. Brrrr......we had a little bit of snow as well.

The house is decorated for Christmas. Almost done with gifts. Will start some baking soon :)

Not much else to share, so I will end for now.

Be Blessed!