11 years on 11-11-11

Friday my husband and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. Let me start off by saying that in the past we haven't had big celebrations/gifts/surprises for anniversaries/birthdays/holidays but I let hubby know that this year it was important for many reasons for us to do something special. I let him plan the weekend and make it a surprise (even though I hate surprises) because that made him happy. My only stipulation was that we go away but not too far just in case we were needed at home for the kids. (His Mom was kind enough to stay with them.)

To start the adventure, he said we needed to leave by 4 on Thursday afternoon. I got home from work a little after 3, we packed the car, and we were off. I was so excited just to be getting away that I really didn't care if we just went to a hotel. I knew we were headed north but didn't pay attention to our surroundings because I read the whole way. After a little more than an hour we pulled up to the Fireside Theater. Something I have always wanted to do. I was very surprised and happy with this first stop.

So the food was awesome. It was a buffet, but not a Hometown buffet. A fancy buffet. There was a sweet potato dish that was to die for, fish, some chicken dishes, meatballs, enchiladas, and carved meat. So nummy. Dessert was a fancy "Santa's Chimney" with dark and white chocolate.

Mr. got way too stuffed at dinner and was slightly uncomfortable for the beginning of the show, but I think he decided it was worth it. The show was amazing. It was their Christmas Revue- songs from movies, carols, hymns, comedy, and kids. It is a very small theater so all the seats were great and we just loved it.

After the show was more driving. When we pulled into the parking lot we were at the Hilton Garden Inn right next to the Milwaukee airport. I was very nervous for a minute that he got carried away and we were getting on an airplane the next morning. But no, it was just the convenient hotel for the rest of our trip.

Next morning we got up and drove around for a bit. We ended up at the mall walking around for a while, then the movie theater for Tower Heist. Cute movie. I enjoy Ben Stiller.

We had skipped lunch so then continued on to dinner: Outback (of course, some people might say) and then the next surprise. We drove to downtown Milwaukee and walked to a small theater. I was oblivious until he had me take a picture of the sign right...now.

Oh wow! I love Paul Simon! The opening act was the Punch Brothers, who were also really enjoyable. We had very upper level seats, but it didn't matter. The music was great and the drunk people were quite amusing.

Ok, on to Saturday. In the morning I was actually given a choice: "Do you want to go to the Milwaukee Public Museum or no? They have a Cleopatra exibit." Sure I do. I like things like that. (Have you noticed that we do a lot of things like we are old people? I swear everywhere we went this weekend most of the people around us were 50 years older than us.) So that was our afternoon. Then dinner at the food court at the mall and another drive downtown.

This time we parked at a different theater. I was warned ahead of time that we would be laughing a LOT, so wasn't too surprised that we would be seeing a comedian. I hadn't heard of John Pinette, but was informed that I would enjoy him. What did surprise me was being shown 2nd row seats! So close.

Anyway, he was funny. So funny that my mouth hurt and I was having coughing attacks from laughing so hard. That hadn't happened in a long time. Definitely you should check him out if you get a chance.

Sunday morning. Time to go home. I had a wonderful weekend but I was ready to get back to my home and kids. My last surprise was on the drive home. He gave me a lovely card with tickets to the upcoming Brad Paisley concert inside. Floor seats. Yippee! Perfect end to a perfect anniversary.

Report Card Day!

I love report card day. I always look forward to feedback from the boys' teachers on how they are doing, and am proud of them no matter what. This report card made us a little nervous because Joey started the gifted program this year and the teacher let us know that we should not expect straight A's. She stressed that the kids are being tested on 5th and 6th grade materials (they are in 4th) and as long as they are mostly getting A's and B's we should be happy. Well, Joey is getting A's and B's! 3 A's- math, spelling and social studies; and 3 B's- reading, English and science.
Ben is not getting letter grades yet, but he also has an awesome report card: S+ in reading and math, E in spelling, and S in English. His conduct is S-, but I am proud of how far he has come and how much better he is doing from even last year.
Good thing I made pumpkin muffins before they got home from school today, because they sure deserved a treat!

Dancing Baby

We were carving pumpkins for Halloween and Tommy was "helping": he'd reach in with is scoop, swish it around, and bang it in the garbage. Daddy was cleaning out the junk drawer, (I know, random, but he was looking for the carving tools.) and he found an old CD from Kriss Kross. Remember them? No? Well, you shouldn't. But they had a fun dancey beat, al least Tommy thinks so. Check it out:

Sick :(

Yucky. I am so glad I rarely get sick anymore. I have the cold and it came on so suddenly last night. I worked out fine at about 4, took the boys and Grandma for dinner, and by bedtime felt some sniffles. When I laid down, though, my nose just started dripping. I fell asleep, but woke up later with super dry cotton mouth because I couldn't breathe through my nose. Today my nose is still dripping and now I have a {small} fever. Except I haven't run a fever in ??? years??? and it feels really yucky. Plus the boys are wound UP! And Grandma left after staying for two days, but Daddy will just be getting home in the next few from his work trip to Tampa. I just want to go to bed.
But...Halloween weekend! I love Halloween! We need to get pumpkins and carve them, then find some Trunk or Treats, trick or treat, etc. etc. Ugh. Was this whiny enough for you????
So I am going to put my warm jammies on since I am freezing and let the big boys put on a movie and hope the little one can be contained for a while. See you in the AM feeling better {fingers crossed}

Halloween Costumes

We are getting all geared up for Trick or Treating. Joey and Ben decided way back in the spring that they would like to create their own costumes and ask Nana to sew them. After some drawing and shopping and compromising, these are what they came up with. (Thank-you Nana for doing this for us.) Ben is a Ninja. He thinks he might need some nunchucks. I think not.

Joey is "Skull Man" (his name). He is quite proud of it.

Now the baby. We have a monkey costume that was handed down:

Or a vampire that both of his brothers wore:

And Grandma got a Thomas costume:I'm pretty set on him wearing the vampire costume, but the others are pretty cute too....

And here's mine:

Velma, same as last year (different clothes). Pay no mind to the dirty mirror. SOMEbody likes to admire himself and touch all over it.

My First Run

Whoops! I let a few days go by without a post....
I wanted to post about my run on Saturday so I will start there. I am signed up for a 5k this coming Sunday and since I never run I thought I might give it a try (a few friends are walking it so I am not too worried about having to run). I took the 2 older boys and their bikes with me to the bike path, did a little stretch and hit the trail. And ran. Immediately realized that my capris are too big. I had to run while hiking them up every few steps. Joey said "You should have done a practice at home to make sure." Well. Other than that the first mile was easy peasy. The next half mile was slightly more difficult, but I was at a 10 minute mile pace and thought 3 miles was very doable. So at 1.5 miles we turned around to head back. And then my bladder started talking to me. Not very nicely. No bathrooms at any point on this path. So the last mile involved some brisk walking in order to keep my pants at least somewhat dry for the drive home. Got back to the car in 34 minutes. Not bad for a first run. Straight back home and into the potty!
Sunday my shins and calves were pretty sore and by Monday they were really sore. According to my HRM I burned similar calories to my workouts at home and I find them way more enjoyable (plus the bathroom is nearby), so I still don't think I'll ever be a runner. But I am glad I tried it and still looking forward to the race- if nothing else I get to visit with some old friends.

Not much other news at the moment. I want to try to post pictures of all of our costumes in the next day or so. Tommy has several options so maybe we can have a vote for which one he should wear on Halloween.

A Picture Update

Isn't he the cutest baby ever? Just this week he has started talking and communicating sooo much. He asks for an app-o when he wants a snack, shoos or molk when he is thirsty. For a long time he has called all animals Sasha (our dog's name), but now he learned Grandma's dog's name and animals are boo-boo or Sasha. He loves balls and points them out wherever he sees them. And whenever something is missing (sometimes because he hid it), he says "(where)Is it?" then when we ask him where it is, he says "don't know" and shrugs.

A picture of the boys with Uncle Joe during his visit. They loved hanging out with him for the week.

Just a cool pic of Ben. Something about the lighting (and his eyes) appeals to me.

A rare family pic. Of course we can't all be facing the camera, but still pretty good :)

I would also like to mention that I am one.point.five. pounds from my goal weight!!!!!!! So excited and proud of myself for coming this far and I have no intention of stopping now. From here I am just going to aim for 5 pounds at a time.

Snippets

Some things you maybe don't already know:
*Tommy is 18 months old (almost 19!) and has yet to sleep through the night.
*Joey finished 3 books today. 3! (He tends to read several books at a time.
*Ben is a night owl and prefers to sleep in in the morning, but he has been surprisingly agreeable about getting up on time for school this year.
*We had a houseguest this week (left today). We enjoyed having him but I am happy to be sitting here in my jammies right now.
*I signed up for a 5k. I'm thinking I want to try to run it?!?!? I just feel like this is the next step for me in my fitness quest.
*I love my job. Love it. Love 3 year olds. Do not love the "outside the classroom" stuff and nonsense.
*My bathroom is rarely clean. Know why? 4 boys. Boys are messy. Boys are sloppy pee-ers.
*My laundry is always done. Know why? Not sure actually. Just something I can easily control I guess.
*My toenails are bright blue today.
*I really like the new show Pan-Am, especially Cristina Ricci.

Ok, running out of steam. Thanks for visiting. Come back soon.

Shopping!

I got paid yesterday for the first time since May, so I kinda felt like there was some $ burning a hole in my pocket. Plus I've had to buy a lot lately, but it has been all "need". So today I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond- got 2 new pillows: the side sleeper pro and the cloud pillow (hoping for better sleep), a new Yankee candle in Pumpkin Spice (25% off), and a full length mirror (the only mirror in the house was the vanity in the bathroom. Moved on to Target, my fave. Got a new jacket, a dress, jammies, workout clothes, costume for Halloween, and socks (I think that was it). My problem right now is that everything that I try on looks good to me and I want to buy it. I've never been able to go in a dressing room and really love how something looks on me before. So I spent a little more than I intended but it felt pretty good, and I will try to control myself for a while now until I get down another size. :)

Back to Blogging (again)

I just sat and read all of my posts from the last 3 years and am so sad that I didn't keep up with my blog since Tommy was born. There are so many stories on here that I barely remember about Joey and Ben but they are here forever to look back on....
So I want to recommit to blogging again. Stories about the boys, my fitness news, and so on and so forth.
Today I will list Tommy's words that he has so far:
Da-Da
Ma-Ma
cheese
sticker
shoe
Joe-Joe (and Ben but they sound the same)
Sasha
Tom-Tom
Mine
Where it is?
I don't know (this one is new)
poo-poo
teeth
no-no (while pointing to his nose)
eye
ca-ca (icky)
fishies
Love you
night night
juice
cracker

That's all I can think of for right now. Until tomorrow (or maybe the next day)

My Turbo FIre/CHalean Extreme Results

I began my weight loss journey on January 1st of this year after deciding that I had no excuse to get fat again. Tommy was born last March and all of my pregnancy weight had come off with nursing, but as soon as I stopped in December (plus those pesky Holidays) I put on 10 pounds. I knew that if I could stay committed I could get to a point of enjoying workouts. I also knew what it felt like to be close to a healthy weight and in shape. I had done this 11 years ago shortly before my wedding.
So I started small- Wii workouts 4 to 5 days a week. Smaller portions and less eating out. By May 1st I had lost 12 pounds (not nearly what I had hoped), and was ready to start Turbo Fire and Chalean Extreme. I was committing to a 20 week schedule of working out 6 days a weeks for 45 minutes to an hour and a half each day. 3 days of high intensity cardio and 3 days of strength training. I enjoyed the workouts from the beginning, though some days were harder than others to get going. By the end of June I had lost 10 more pounds and was starting to feel more confident and comfortable. In the beginning of August I hit my original goal of 160- 30 pounds lost. More and more people were noticing and commenting on my results.
Now it is September 18th and I have reached the end of my 20 week schedule. I missed a couple workouts when we went on vacation and had to adjust my schedule for other priorities on occasion, but I have completed the program. My results since May 1st:
Weight: 178 to 155 23 pounds
Pant size: 14 to 8!!!!!!
Shirt size: L to M
Bra size: 38c to 36b

......and pics: