Time-Out for Mattie

Lately, since Mattie has been on the move, she loves this corner. She will crawl over, sit up and just sit there. Sometimes she sings, talks, and hits the wall. Today she crawled over and sat there quietly for at least 20 minutes. She was as happy as could be. I do believe she'd still be sitting there if I hadn't picked her up. She looks like she is putting herself in time-out. Too funny!

Special Exposure Wednesday

* Can't help but add a few words. "Bringing Mattie home 10 months ago" They grow up too fast!

The Not So Brilliant Award.......

goes to Me!!! This is pretty much how it played out this evening. I'm cooking dinner....MMmmmm....broccoli Cheese soup. My recipe from Weight Watchers. I knock over the pencil sharpener that happens to be on the counter. It breaks so I decide to super glue it back together while my soup is simmering. Of course, I had to get the glue all over my fingers and it is now driving me crazy......is that why they call it crazy glue? It doesn't stop there. I go back to making my soup. I begin adding in the rest of the ingredients. It calls for cornstarch. No problem. Got that. Finish the soup. We all sit down to eat. I'm thinking boy this soup taste sweet. Must be the onions because nothing else could be sweet. Then it hits me. It wasn't cornstarch.....it was powdered sugar! We all just started laughing. What a stupid mistake. And you ask.....How could that happen? Don't you know how to read? The cornstarch box got wet sometime back and so I put it in a ziploc bag. When I was making cookies over the holidays, I put powdered sugar in a ziploc bag to shake the pecan balls. The bag must have gotten thrown into the cabinet instead of getting tossed. I then grabbed the wrong bag and presto.......Sweetened Broccoli Cheese Soup. Needless to say, it was gross and got tossed. I accept my award with great pleasure!

This is Not a New Year's Resolution

I really dislike New Year's resolutions. It seems as though I just am setting myself up for failure. Every year it is almost always losing weight and exercising more. This is also the most common resolution for most of the women I know. Well...it seems like I always struggle with weight and each year I make the same resolution.

Well, two years ago, I decided NOT to make a resolution. Then a friend asked me to attend a Weight Watchers meeting with her. She wanted to try it, but didn't want to do it alone. I thought why not give it a try. This was not a New Year's resolution, but just being there for a friend. Well, I loved it! I lost every single week. By May, I had lost 32 pounds and was feeling great. It was the easiest weight loss, I had ever had. Weight Watchers works! Then.........I became pregnant! Surprise...Surprise! Here I go again. Every time I get pregnant, have the baby......I gain back the weight and hold on to it for about a year.

I can't use the "I just had a baby excuse anymore." I find myself really wanting to take off this weight. I felt so great dropping the pounds and I have so many spring clothes that I can't wear. I've decided I am NOT making a New Year's resolution but simply starting Weight Watchers again. The only difference is that I really can't afford to attend the meetings so I am going to do this on my own. I have the points calculator and my books. The hardest part I think is holding myself accountable to the weigh-ins. I'm thinking about letting hubby be my weigh-in person.

I do have a lot of friends who are going to do Weight Watchers too, on their own. And one, who will be attending meetings. Anybody doing WW or know of an online blog support group? I'm thinking the more the support the better. My goal is to share one recipe a week on my blog and any tips that work for me. Feel free to join the fun!

Look What I Can Do!!

This was Mommy and Daddy's Christmas present!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Catching Up with Christmas Day

I have SO been enjoying my days off. We had a really nice Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we went to the candlelight service at church. I can't think of a better way to spend my evening, with my family and friends, worshiping our creator. We then went in search of any restaurant that was open since we had not had dinner. We found a Chinese restaurant open and had a really nice meal together. That is the first time we have gone out on Christmas Eve for dinner, but I must say it was nice not having to clean up any dishes. When we got home, the girls opened their one gift they get every Christmas Eve.......Jammies. They set out the eggnog and cookies and daddy read them "Twas the Night before Christmas".....as he as always does every year.

The girls woke up bright and early Christmas Day! In our house you have to wait for everyone before opening any presents, but you can get your stocking. They didn't waste anytime getting into their stockings and anxiously awaited opening presents. Mattie opened a few and then was pooped. So we decided to just let the older girls take turns opening their presents. Santa left both the girls big boxes that had a note attached to open last. Well.....Santa was a sneaky fellow and had his elves wrap the gift inside a box, wrapped in another box, and in another box, and so on.......Caroline was completely surprised with a new Nintendo DS and Abby a cell phone. I think she was mostly surprised by the fact the it actually had service. Here are a couple pictures of them.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve already......where has the time gone? We have been quite busy cooking and wrapping presents. Yesterday, we baked four more loaves of zucchini bread and made gingerbread cookies. What was I thinking? We were in the kitchen all day. The gingerbread cookies were a lot of work and decorating them was an absolute mess.....BUT we had a great time so it was well worth it. After cleaning up that mess, Caroline and Daddy went around the neighborhood delivering the rest of the bread. Today, we are going to make Daddy special cookies that he can eat.....low sugar kind. The children are getting so excited and can't wait for the big day. I really just want to savor the moments. It seems to come and go too fast.

Oh and I am so excited! Mattie sat up from the belly position this morning!! She is doing so well. She was beaming from ear to ear. She has had a lot of floor time lately........since I've been so busy cooking. I guess it has payed off!

Hoping that everyone has a blessed Christmas!