Photography Experiment

After Bible Study, Jason was playing with the camera and got this picture. I think it is really pretty.

Ready for Christmas

I am hosting Women's Bible Study at my house tonight. I have been working to get the house decorated for Christmas. It is nice to have it done!

Christmas Dresses

GranBob got the girls the most beautiful Christmas dresses. Here they are ready for church Sunday morning.

Black Friday

My parents and I woke up early and headed to the mall. We met Laura and GranBob at Dillards and did some shopping. Then to the Allen Outlet Mall and Target. I got the girls a few presents and Laura and I got to catch up on some sister time. We met everyone at Babe's for lunch and stuffed ourselves again. After lunch, Uncle Jackie and Aunt Kathy came to our house and we enjoyed spending time with them. We all ended up back at Laura's for leftovers at supper and no one ate very much (except Reagan, who always eats!) Back to normal life tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a really nice Thanksgiving. We went to Laura and Brad's house. My parents, GranBob, Uncle Jackie, and Aunt Kathy were all there. We had lots of yummy food and a good time to catch up with those we love. It is always a good time to look around and see how blessed we are. Of course, it was difficult because this is the first Thanksgiving without PaBill. We miss him terribly, but we know he is in heaven and that peace is something else to be thankful for.

We missed the Reeves side of the family this year. We are looking forward to seeing them at Christmas.

GranBob gave us all our Christmas money so we could shop and have "show and tell" at Christmas.

Rylee and Skylar telling GB "Thank You!"

Checking out the ads for our "Black Friday" plan of attack.

Look at my crazy sister in the background!

We took the kids to play after naps. We all needed the walk to burn off all we ate!

Pa Pa and Gran kept telling me Reagan should not be doing all this. They don't know now crazy she is and she plays on these things all the time. They settled down after watching her a bit.

Rylee has to do everything Skylar does.

Gran played a little, too!

Well, Iguess we all did!

Pa Pa tried to teach the girls how to swing and they were not getting it, so he decided to show them!

Reagan wanted more chocolate chip cake.

I'm worth it!

I am proud to say that today, I met my weight goal!!

Here is a picture taken on April 20th.

I joined Weight Watchers on April 21st.
These were taken today!

In April, I decided it was time to change my life. I am worth taking the time and making the effort to take care of myself. My husband and children deserved better than I was giving them. So, I joined Weight Watchers and began my journey. I have tried to lose weight before and I was not successful. This time, I decided I would not let one bad day, or several bad days ruin my efforts. If I had a bad day, I would start over the next day. That is how I did it, one day at a time.

Now, I have to maintain. In Weight Watchers, after you meet your weight goal, you go on maintenance. You have to maintain your weight for 6 consecutive weeks, then you are a Lifetime Member. At that point, you stop paying (Jason's favorite part!) and can go to meetings for free. You have to weigh in once a month to keep your Lifetime Membership. So, now I start trying to maintain for six weeks during the holidays. What timing! I think if I can maintain during this time, I will prove to myself that I have really made a life change.

I have to say a big "Thank You!" to Jason. He has been so supportive and has even tried many new foods. That is a huge thing for my "vanilla" guy!

Chocolate Chip Cake

Get thee behind me, Satan (aka Chocolate Chip Cake)!! I made the cake for our Thanksgiving Feast on Saturday night. We had about 1/3 of it left. Every time I walked by it, I could smell it and it was calling my name. I sent it to work with Jason today. I just could not stand it any longer. I've worked too hard to give it up now over a piece of cake!

Christmas Tree Lighting

We went to the church for the annual tree lighting tonight. The girls loved it. Rylee watched very quietly and enjoyed it very much. I think Reagan has music in her soul. She wiggled, danced, clapped, and raised her hands in the air. All this while in my lap. I felt bad for the lady in front of us because Reagan kept kicking her. When it was over, my friend Shanna said she thinks Reagan is going to be a dancer. I said as long as there is not a pole involved, that is fine with me! We then went to have supper at Chili's with our friends and had a great night. We have fun with one family because the wife's name is Reagan and their daughter is Riley. That is always confusing! We are blessed with so many friends.

Nursing Home Visit

After church, we visited a nursing home. Jason and I are not the best when it comes to this ministry. We have memories of other nursing homes that are not so good. But, we know we need to teach our children about helping others. We had lunch with our class and then headed to the nursing home. Jason and I were shocked when we got there. This place was a palace compared the places we have been. The residents we visited were very sweet and kind. They appreciated the kids crafts and our visit. We joined them for their church service and the kids sang a few songs. It was a really good experience for the kids, and us, too. Rylee was so great. She had no problem knocking on doors and going in to visit with people she did not know. Reagan was sweet and entertained a little. They all thought they were so cute in their Sunday dresses. We are proud parents!

Sunday School Party

We had our Sunday School party tonight and it turned out great. We had over 90 people there. The food was great and it was fun to see all the families there. The kids painted pumpkin and Christmas tree ornaments. After church tomorrow, we are going to take them to a nursing home near the church.

Samaritan's Purse

Our church supports the Samaritan's Purse ministry headed up by Franklin Graham. We decided to do a box for a 2-4 year old girl. We took the girls and went to Walmart. We had explained to Rylee that this little girl might now have any other Christmas presents this year and we were going to help. She did great! We picked out a toothbrush, toothpaste, combs, rubber bands, colors, coloring book, slinky, bouncy ball, another book to read, and a cuddly Care Bear. We really enjoyed doing this as a family and hopefully Rylee will learn the importance of giving back. We have so much to be thankful for.

Busy Saturday

Well, I was right! Rylee and Reagan woke up at 7:15. I got up, fed them breakfast, did two loads of laundry, and baked a cake. I then decided it was time for Jason to get out of bed! We got ready and went to Chick-fil-a for lunch. Then, to IKEA. My least favorite store. However, that is where we got the bookshelf and bins. I needed an extra shelf and two more bins for Reagan's room. So, into IKEA I go, always frustrated that there is no way out of that place! They make you walk through the whole store to get the three things you need. We then went to Walmart. More about that later. After that, we went home and got the girls down for naps. I then went and got my flu shot. Home again, got six cans of cranberry sauce ready for our Thanksgiving feast with our Sunday School class. We went to the party. We had a nice time. Home again. Bath time and bed time. We then sat down to watch the Tech game. I could not stand it anymore, so I went to bed. What a day!

The Toy Clean Out

Jason had a video game night, so I decided to take advantage of some time alone to get some cleaning done. I put Rylee to bed in our bed. I put Reagan in her bed. After they both went to sleep, I moved Reagan into the Pack & Play in our room and went to work. We bought a book shelf for Rylee's room on Wednesday, put it together on Thursday, and I loaded it up Friday. I put books and added a few bins to put toys into. I put some of her pretty music boxes in the top shelves. I then worked in Reagan's room and put some bins in there for toys. She had some extra shelf space since I moved some of the books to Rylee's room. I then attacked both of their closets and got them organized. After all that work, I do feel much better. Jason got home about 1:00 AM and I put my weary head on my pillow at 1:27 AM. Morning will come too early, especially for a Saturday!

Doctor Visit

We are back home after Reagan's doctor visit. It turned out to be a very long wait. When Dr. Nail came in, he asked if we had been waiting a long time. I said, yes, we've been here a little while. He said they got the charts out of order and we were #48 and he was already on #52. Somehow we got skipped. He apologized multiple times. He is always very good about being on time, so I told him it was no big deal. We had a little Cheerio picnic while we waited. He thinks Reagan just has a cold. He said he has been swamped with kids with colds this week. He gave us a prescription for a steriod just in case it turned into croup over the weekend. Unfortunately, I know the croup cough all too well. So much for the Sunday School class Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night. I guess one of us will go and maybe take Rylee. I have to send food anyway, so one of us should get out of the house and enjoy it.

Reagan is sick, again

Please say a prayer for Reagan today. I think she has croup again. I will be calling the doctor's office when they open at nine. I just hope it is not like last time when we had to go to the ER. Hopefully she will be over it by Thanksgiving. We may be in for a week of "crazy Reagan" if they put her on steriods again. Love you all!

Rylee's Choir Concert

Rylee had her first choir concert at church on Wednesday night. We watched the concert and then went back to her room for a party. It was so cute!