A long time gone......

Indeed I have been quite absent from my blog. Life has a way of filling up my time and then my blog goes to the way side. I have a million things on the go and as of right now I am:

Currently enrolled in a Teacher Aid Program

Babysitting

Hot Chocolate making and possibly distributing to other companies

Loosing More weight (I am now down 42lbs)

Being a Mom

Being the YW President

Being a Wife

Being a Friend

Volunteering at Jackson's school

Chauffeuring kids to and fro

Zumba Classes

Wednesday Exercise class

So just a few things on the go......but I love my busy life. I have much to be thankful for and grateful for a body and mind that allows me to be active and busy and do the things I love to do.

Lila's new ink

Lila comes to me and say's..."I am so pretty!"

Lip Stick and Rouge

This is so Lila.

She get's into every thing, makes messes hourly and is sassy to boot!

We would not change her for the world!

My Little Cub Scout

Jackson started cubs this year and is LOVING it. He cried the one night they had to cancel it because his Akaila was sick. He entered his first Cub Car Ralley and did not too shabby, he did not place but he had some good races. We worked hard on getting his car just right, it had to be red and it had to be shiny with a shiny blue roof. Jackson is following in the footsteps of his Grandpa's, uncles and cousin's..all scouters, he even has started earning his badges and thanks to his Grandma Bartel and Uncle Dale he has earned a few more this summer.

There wer some amazing cub cars...the I-pod one is Jackson's buddy Reeds, which is the one one right behind Jackson's. Check out the bobsleigh one and the surfer!

No more diapers!

Well the time has come in my life where I do not have any children in diapers and if I can be honest...it is WONDERFUL!!!! Lila is finally poty trained and even though some days we go through like 6 pairs of panties and pants(only because she can't get them down fast enough) it is still better than changing diapers every day.

My baby day's are over until the grandchildren come along and all though some days I miss the newness of a brand new baby, I am so happy to be reaching this next phase....independance...or some thing like it any way. Lila will be 3 in a few weeks and most days I have to ask my self where the time went...was she not just a new born last week? And then she finds lip gloss and get's it all over her bedding and self and then I think it will be so nice when she is 5! I am sure all the ages have their ups and downs and I am trying desperately to deny that I will someday soon have teenagers to deal with. I love teenagers, but man they make you worry! I am the Young women's president and I LOVE my girls, but I loose sleep on a weekly basis thinking, worrying and praying for them, so I can only imagine what it will be like when my children are teenagers...I was a perfect teenager myself.....or at least in my dream world I was. I wonder what my Mother would say if you asked her that same question? ;0)

I am slowly loosing part of me and I am ok with it!

No gimmicks, no special diets, just me, watching what I eat, exercising and

taking control of my life....,

I am down 25lbs since January 2011

And it feels fantastic!

My fitness pal thing on the side says 1 lbs down, but that is because I only just started to use it. So if any of my dear friends/readers out there are trying to do the same, let me know about it! It is always so much more fun to share/commiserate with friends than by your self!

I dare you.......

Brothers...do they all dare each other to drink their pee?


And then does the younger one alway's take the bet and actually do it?


My brother better be happy he only had sisters who dressed him up in girl clothes!

Beans, Beans they are good for your heart....

Do you think I have enough beans? This is my very first pick of the season and there are still lots of beans left on the plants and the plants still have flowers on them. I used left over dried seeds from last year and apparently they grew very well! I flash froze these and maybe I will pickle and or can the others....I love adding to my food storage!

Check it out!!!

Hey,

At the right of this blog at the top is a link to Chunky Bling. Their jewellery is so cute and lots to choose from. You can even make your own, so click on the link and check them out!!!

xoxo
Amanda

Quite a pair

March 1, 2011 Kal fell 12ft off a ladder at work and broke 3 bones in his foot and dislocated his baby toe. He needed surgery and 4 rods were placed in his foot to help it heal. He was home for 3 months while he recuperated. He is now back to work and my life has gone back to normal, thank goodness..well until......I slipped and fell and dislocated my ankle. Yup, I did not know you could do that either, but you can and I did a great job of it. See in my opinion you might as well do something right the first time or not at all. Apparently Kal and I are very big believers in this.

Lila is Two!

My Baby Lila is 2

Things about Lila:

~ She is our little Mother Hen

~ She is the messiest child I have ever had

~ She loves food with lots of flavour and spice

~ She can count to 10

~She is my biggest child

~ She loves church and nursery

~ She loves her dollies and play kitchen

~ She is a tough little cookie and yet loves to be girly too

~ She is the light in our home and we love to her to pieces

~ She has her brothers wrapped around her little finger

1 day old

My quickest labour, 45 mins, but she hurt the most!

On the day you were born I felt my heart grow a little bigger

On the day your were born I felt it swell

On the day you were born I heard the angels give a little giggle

And I knew that this world was a better place

Two years has gone by way too fast. I guess because Lila is our last child that things tend to go by faster, but man I can't help but feel like I need and emergency brake pulled to slow things down.

Apparently I do not know which way the #2 faces!


Lila just had to see what the candle tasted like....she was not impressed by its waxy flavour!

Pinata

We did a butterfly theme

The cake that Lila took a knife to and cut it up, thank goodness icing can cover an fix such disasters!

No big deal, it is just burnt chicken.

Guess who started to make chicken for dinner?

Guess who also wanted to take the kids swimming?

Guess who was running out of time and so thought they would just grab something to eat on the way?

Guess who left the chicken cooking on the stove?

Guess who got paged at the pool and told their house was on fire?

Guess who had their door kicked in?

Guess who has smoke damage, but luckily no fire in their new home?

Guess who had to have professional cleaners come to get rid of the smoke smell?

Guess who is getting a new door and possibly new cupboards?

Guess who is so grateful for fire insurance?

The best of intentions.......

So I have really wanted to blog but I have found great excuses not to. We have had an incredibly busy summer...make that year and I have just put my blog on the back burner...sorry.

I cannot start way at the beginning from where I left off as we will be here forever and a day so I will start with the most recent, we moved!

When we moved to Kamloops in 2008 and were looking for a house, the market was looking pretty grim and so we had only a few choices and with me being pregnant with Lila, I did not want a big reno project. We were lucky to find a 1 year old Townhouse duplex for a decent price and since we only had 30 days to find a place we took it, even though it was not our ideal. The yard was as big as a postage stamp, we were in a strata (never again!), we did not have a basement, nor a play room for the kids. It fulfilled our needs but it was not my favourite. Fast forward to May 2010. Kal and I slowly start talking about looking for a new house, we are not in a rush and just wanting to take it slowly. BTW I have a habit of wanting to move every 2-3 years, so I was trying not to move just for the sake of moving. We contacted a friend of ours who is a realtor and asked him to put us on his client listings and went from there. We were very specific as to where we wanted to be and how much we wanted to spend, so basically it was slim pickings, but that is ok as we were not in a rush. We put an offer on one house that was cute, had a big yard, but lots of work....it was declined because we still had to sell our home. No biggie, lets put our house on the market. Three weeks after our house was up for sale, we did not have one single phone call from any one interested in our house and our place was super cute! We scheduled an open house and hoped for the best. 1 person came through to look at it, and that one person happened to come by just by chance as she was looking at another unit on our street that day. But they say, (by the way, who are they?) it only takes one and she was our golden opportunity. She loved our place and asked our realtor if we might be interested in looking at her place...... ok, so not something that happens every day, but why not. We went to go see it the next Monday, not really sure what to expect and we were very pleasantly surprised, it was exactly what we had been looking for! The only downfalls, it was way above our price range and not in the area we had wanted to be (not that is in a bad area but just not in our current ward) but we LOVED it and after talking with our realtor came up with a plan. Since the owners were selling privately we were able to get them to drop their price and cover part of our realtor's commissions and then give us a great price on our home to boot! So we swapped houses! This does not happen every day and I feel so completely blessed! We made the offer in June and moved in on August 14th...so much for taking it slowly! We LOVE this house, we have a huge yard, a big wood cabin playhouse for the kids, a garden, 4 bedrooms, a basement every thing we could have asked for. It was a miracle, I do not believe in coincidences pure and simple this is a gift from my Heavenly Father. I do not know what we have done to be so blessed, but I am certainly not going to argue with the Lord!

So we did have to move wards, it was sad but I know that there is a bigger picture going on and someday I might see the whole thing, but for now I am content with my glimpse of heaven.

MISSING!!!!

Not really MISSING but rather so busy that I have had a hard time remembering one moment from the next. I will however explain sometime soon as I need to catch you all up on:

The Father Daughter Ball
Camping
Relay For Life
Selling/Buying Houses
Lake Chelan
Youth Temple Trip
Girls Camp
Family Camp
Moving

Until then my friends remember that I have not forgotten you and I shall return and give you a full report!

xoxo
Amanda

Going the extra mile.......

My life's dream has always been to be a mother with lots of children. When I was younger you often found me hanging out with the adults rather than playing with the kids as the babies were always with the adults and I LOVED to be with the babies. I am sure that my hanging around was completely annoying to the adults, but they were always kind and let me play and take care of their wee little ones. As I became a tween I started babysitting and I loved it! I mostly babysat for my Aunts when I first started, but I quickly found my entrepreneurial spirit and started putting flyer's into my neighbours mailboxes introducing my services as the
responsible neighbourhood babysitter. I did take a baby sitting course, but mostly being a babysitter came naturally to me. As I got older I babysat more and more...I actually had very few free weekends as I was a babysitting machine and I loved it. I loved the kids, I loved the parents and I loved the money! I took babysitting very seriously and perfected my job, no one told me to, I just did the very best I could. One of the things that always seemed "part of the job" was to leave the house cleaner when I left than when I got there. Dishes were always done, even if I did not dirty them and toys were picked up and put away. Yes, this often cut into my TV watching once kids had gone to bed, but the house was tidy. If a house was always a disaster whenever I came, I would just do the best I could, but I always cleaned up any messes I and the children would make. Now I always thought that this is what every babysitter did...so if you babysat please let me know if I am wrong about this.

Fast forward 20 years...I am now a Mother of 3 who has a need for a babysitter occasionally. We have had a quite a few sitters over the years and we definitely have our favourites. But one common trend that I have found is that very few of the sitters we have had, clean up after the children or themselves. I do not expect my house to be super clean especially since it is rarely sort of clean when I leave for the night or day. But just a common courtesy of just stacking the dishes, cleaning up toys, cleaning up major messes that the children make...might be nice. Now before I go on..I have a couple of sitters that we use often and I never have these issues when they baby sit..they are wonderful and my kids adore them. But occasionally my mighty reliable sitters are busy and I will call someone else and then we have a problem.

Am I expecting too much? Do I need to be specific and tell them what I expect? Is going the extra mile a thing of the past? All I know is that my daughter and son's will all know what it means to go the extra mile in any job and to give 110% rather than just what is simply required.
It makes me sad that people are so willing to just be mediocre and not go above and beyond as it is amazing to see what we can accomplish if we just give a little extra. So here is some advice from me... to girls who are starting to babysit...go the extra mile, take the time to tidy up even if you did not make the mess, get the kids involved and you will not only feel good, but so will the Mother of the children you babysat and you will get called back again. And to my mighty reliable sitters, thank you for going above and beyond and taking such good care of my little ones, I love you!!!!!

32..yes it is true!

Today is my birthday. I am now officially 32....when the heck did that happen? I could swear that last week I was 17. I am actually ok with being 32, it is a great age if you ask me. Last night my girlfriends took me out for a sort of surprise dinner and movie. I love these ladies. We had a great time laughing and just being good friends that give each other a hard time and yet always know that we mean so much to one another. As I get older I discover more and more about my self and see how far I have come and how far I have to go. Here are 32 things about me that you may or may not know:

1. I love to clean toilets but hate to fold and put away laundry.
2. I love Cotton Candy...ate a whole bag myself at a movie with my kids (I shared a little bit)
3. I sing all the time...I am sure I can be totally annoying...but tough I will sing anyway.
4. I do not get offended easy, but I do tend to get my feelings hurt...though I try to let it go quickly. No use to hanging onto bad feelings.
5. I love to keep in contact with people and I have a good memory for people and their names and run into random people I know in random places.
6. I do not believe in coincidences...every thing happens for a reason or a greater purpose.
7. I feel a big responsibility to help take care of all my family members.
8. Sometimes I wish I could say exactly what I think, but I am glad that most times I do not as it is usually not very nice and would not help the situation.
9. I HATE confrontation.
10. I have learned to not care so much about how clean my house is when friends come to visit...they come to see me not my house.
11. I have discovered that forgiveness is healing
12. I believe that kindness can help any situation
13. I am terrified to raise teenagers
14. I am great at finding deals, shopping on a tight budget and I love the "high" from saving money when I shop.
15. I love little children
16. I do my best brainstorming while I am in the shower, some of my greatest ideas came about because of my needing to be clean.
17. I love that my house tends to be the gathering place for my friends and their children.
18. "The More the Merrier" is what I live by.
19. "Equal Opportunity Kitchen" is also what I live by...unless it comes to cooking, then you better just let me do it...you can eat it when I am done...I am working on this one.
20. I love to plan events..love, love, love it!!!!
21. I swore I would not yell at my kids before I had kids...yup that did not last long.....but I am working on it.
22. I love to people watch. It is amazing what you can learn when you just observe the people around you.
23. I am just slightly addicted to checking my emails, facebook and blog...ok really addicted.
24. I am terrified of ghosts and yet intrigued all at the same time.
25. It is not a good thing for me to be idle...I need to be busy...this drives my husband crazy!
26. 16 years ago was my 16th birthday...it was awful.
27. I do not get B.O. but I have to wear deodorant or I get a rash...sorry if that was TMI, but it is true.
28. Easter is my very favourite time of year...so many good memories. I get so excited when all the Easter candy comes out...seriously like a little child.
29. I have learned that your "gut" feeling is always right.
30. I am a caregiver...I feel the need to take care of everyone all the time.
31. I am FAR from being a perfect Mom, but to my kids I am the perfect mom.
32. I am totally in crazy love with my husband.

Why Easter?

He is why I celebrate Easter.

Watch this video

Oh so very cute and a great giveaway to boot!

My friend Rhonda has come up with a super cute pattern for an apron and she has not only posted the directions and pattern on her blog, but she is also going to giveaway one to those who post on her blog. So go right now and post on her blog and you may enter to win her super cute apron......or don't and then you will increase my chances of winning :0)

There Are Two Sides To Every Story......

June 9, 1999

A date that forever changed my life.

After an awards banquet for my brother, my mom, sister Kelly and sister Joelene were involved in a devastating car accident.

A young man had fallen asleep and crossed the median and hit their car head on.

Mom and Joelene were pretty bruised and sore.

Kelly was seriously hurt and she died the next morning in the hospital.

When we talk about that time in our lives we talk about how we felt and how it has effected our family. We talk about where we were when we received that terrible phone call and how we reacted. We talk about life since she passed and all the things that she has missed. We talk about her funeral and how that annoying guy got up and spoke forever about nothing during what was supposed to be a time for her friends to share memories of her. We talk about how much we miss her and how much she meant to us.

But we do not talk about the young man who fell asleep. Sure we have casually mentioned him, but we have never really focused on him.

I can only speak for my self in this situation as I have not really asked others what they think. And I am not on a soap box saying how we all should be as every one handles things differently, not right, not wrong, just their way.

The morning of the phone call I had about 30 seconds of anger towards whoever hit their car, but anger turned quickly into forgiveness and into a prayer for that individual. I prayed that they were OK physically and I prayed that they would be able to forgive themselves and that they could move on with their life.

The rest of that day and the coming days were focused on the passing of my sister, her funeral and where to go from there.

But I continued to wonder about the young man.

What was his part of the story?

I wondered who he was, how he was feeling, was he sorry, was he able to forgive himself? Why was he on the road that night?

I knew a few things like his name and where he was from and how old he was, but that was about it.

Until last week I had so many questions and no answers.

But I found him and contacted him by email.

Oh, I was so nervous.

What would he think? How would he react?

But I felt compelled to let him know that I had forgiven him so long ago and that I only wished good things for him. I wanted him to know that I thought about him often and hoped that he was happy and that he had allowed himself to move on with his life.

The words of his email back to me brought tears to my eyes. The peace that came from his email made my heart heal. His honesty and sincerity was overwhelming.

He answered questions that I did not even know I had or wanted to know.

He shared with me how he felt that night and why he was driving that night.

This young man was trying to better his life by getting an education.

He was working during the day and going to school at night. He had been very poor his whole life and his life choices were not great, he was trying to change that.

He was heading home after class that night when he fell asleep.

He told me that once he came to, how hard he tired to turn the wheel of his car in hope of avoiding the on coming car.

He told me how after the crash he hoped and prayed no one was hurt.

He told me of how he tried to go and help my family, but that some one restrained him and how helpless he felt.

He told me of his life since then and how sorry he was for what had happened.

He told me of how grateful he was for my forgiveness, but that he could and never would forget what happened.

He told me how the thought of Kelly brings him strength to go on when life gets hard.

He told me how he tries to live each day the best he can so that he can honour her memory.

Life has never been easy for this young man and my heart goes out to him.

How grateful I am that I found this young man and how thankful I am that he was willing to be open and honest and talk with me.

I hope that I have been able to bring him some peace in knowing that I wish him all the best and that I hold no anger or malice towards him.

I hope he can find his smile again and joy in his life.

Forgiveness is healing.

Our lives are forever linked by this tragic event 11 years ago, but I hope to one day meet him, give him a hug and say hello friend.

My Sister Joelene

It is spring break and I am in Seattle at my Mom's. I offered to watch my older sister so my my Mom and her husband Scott, could take a little vacation for a few days to Palm Springs to visit my Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Brian. My sister Joelene is about 1.5 years older than I am. She was born with optic nerve hypoplasia, which means she cannot see and she is also mentally disabled. I am not sure if I could totally express my love for this sister of mine and have you understand how deeply I feel about her. From a very young age I have helped my parents take care of my sister and they say you love those you serve, well I can testify to that. Because Joelene is the oldest, but clearly not able to do most things for her self I am technically the oldest and have found it challenging though extremely humbling to fill that roll in my family. Joelene is categorized as high needs, an example: She needs to be bathed, taken to the bathroom and cleaned up after. Her teeth need to be brushed, hair done, she has to be dressed, and be fed. She has epilepsy and some times wets the bed. My mom has been her full time care giver her whole life, Joelene in essence is a 33 year old baby. My mom has done all these things for Joelene for 33 years with very few breaks. I wish I could do more to help, living 6 hours away and having 3 children of my own makes my life busy and not as flexible as I would like, but I am always happy and willing to do what I can. Growing up with this sister of mine has been a blessing all around. I do remember sometimes when I was younger being a little embarrassed when we were out in public with Jo and she would make a funny noise or cry (she is NOT a pretty crier by any means) but the embarrassment never lasted long, as my main concern was for her. As we got older I would make funny noises with her just to make her happy and I did not care on bit what others may think. I often have wondered why our family was chosen to have Joelene? Why we would be entrusted with one of Heavenly Fathers most righteous children? I believe that those people with mental disabilities were so valiant in the pre-mortal life, that Heavenly Father needed to protect them from the evil they would face on this earth. Satan cannot tempt them, he has no vice over them. These individuals, though to us seem imperfect in body and mind, are actually perfect in spirit. Their mission in this life is to gain a body and the test is for us around them. How do we treat them? Are we kind, accepting, and compassionate? How wonderful it is to be with a perfect person and especially to be the sister of a perfectly perfect person! I only pray that I can love and care for her in a way that will be pleasing to my Father in Heaven. I am grateful to my Mom for all the work she does for Joelene, I know it is a big job and no one does it better than her. She deserves a big huge medal in my opinion and if I can help to lesson her load even just a little I will do it. Joelene is a precious gift to our family and so is my Mom!

A gift of love.....

My little brother turned 28 yesterday..Tyler Joseph Smith was born February 22, 1982. I was almost 4. He was my Mom's easiest labour, actually he never gave her one single labour pain and she did not have to go through a c-section because as you may have guessed Tyler was adopted. His birth mother was all of 17 when she had him. How grateful I am to her for her strength and love, she loved Tyler enough to give him a life that she at the time could not give him her self. I have never considered Tyler any thing but my full blood related brother and never will think of him as any thing else, ever. We are the only Blondie's in our family and he and I look more alike than my full blooded sisters...go figure! Tyler has a awesome sense of humour and can keep you laughing for hours until you ache all over, but a good ache. He is good at every thing he does...seriously good. He taught himself how to ride his two wheel bike at 3, he wreaks of coordination, good looks and charisma. He is an amazing photographer, artist and athlete. He actually does have some rather annoying habits though...like chewing the remote control and pencils. The boy cannot sit for more than 2 seconds with out moving, he tries all sorts of things that are bound to kill him or at least maim him for life, and he can get my boys wound up tighter than a drum in less than 5 minutes and you know what......I would not change a single thing about him. I mothered him to death when we were kids and Kelly and I totally babied him beyond belief..(OK , so I still do, and she would too if she were still around) but he is my little brother and I love him.
I have a special place in my heart for Tyler's birth mother. I did not fully realize the gift that she gave us 28 years ago until I watched my sister make the same decision to place her baby boy, and then completely realize once I had my own children. My sister Kelly gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on September 3, 1998, she was 19 and not married. She named him Ryan Joseph and for 3 days that is what our family called him until his Mom and Dad came to pick him up and gave him the name Kellen Seth Hansen. I remember the day my sister told us she was pregnant..hard words to hear when you yourself are dealing with infertility. I remember crying and saying "Oh I am going to be and aunt before I am a mother" and that was hard to deal with at first. After my initial selfishness I realized that this was not about me, but my sister. We all rallied around her and did what we could to give her our full support. She in the end decided to place her baby up for adoption, probably the hardest thing she ever had to do, I can only imagine how difficult. I was there the day she placed her baby into his Mothers arms...it was bitter sweet, we knew this is what she wanted and needed to do and it was only from the love, strength, and peace from our Heavenly Father that she was able to give him to his family. As I watched my dear sister place her baby in his parents arms I wept, we all did. Tears of sadness, tears of heartache but also tears of joy and happiness filled our eyes and ran down our faces. Right then and there I knew for the first time the magnitude of what my brothers birth mother had done for our family. I knew what heartache she and her family faced with her decision, I also knew how much love she had for her son, love so pure that her own wants and desires were put aside for him. How I admire my brother's birth mother and my sister for their strength and love. My sister died 9 months after Kellen was born, I am sad that Kellen will not get the chance to meet Kelly again in this life, but I am grateful to be part of his life and that I can share things about Kelly with him so that he too may understand what a wonderful woman she was. I am so grateful that Tyler has had the opportunity to know and spend time with his birth mother, as she is a great woman. I am forever grateful for the tender mercies from our Heavenly Father to understand his will and to be able to understand the tremendous gift that one girl can make to a family.

AND THE WINNER IS............

GINA DILLON!!!!!!

Congratulations!

You have just won a package of my Sugar Shack Gourmet Hot Chocolate a value of $15!!!!!

Enjoy!

xoxoxoxoxox

Proud to be CANADIAN!!!

I AM CANADIAN

and

I AM A MOM

and

I AM BEING FEATURED FEBRUARY 16, 2010 ON THIS BLOG:

http://www.littletotsbigideas.blogspot.com/

because

I AM CANADIAN

and

I AM A MOM

CHECK IT OUT!!!!!!

Little Black Hair Why Do You Grow?

I have this little black hair,

That grows on the tip of my nose.

I pluck it out all the time,

But it just simply still grows.

When I am old and no longer care

Please still pluck out that little black hair.

UGHHHHHHHHH!

I HATE when, because of other peoples lack of planning and preparation

it makes a situation look like you were the one who failed to plan and prepare!

I hate, hate, hate it!

I also strongly dislike when people have rotten attitudes in the above mentioned situation

and make the whole issue that much worse!

UGHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I am being featured!!!!!

Little Tots and Big Ideas creator, Tina, contacted me about a week ago (check out the link on my side bar) in regards to doing a feature on me as a Canadian mom.

Tina is going to feature a different mom

from a different country every Tuesday in February.

I am going to be featured on February 16, 2009!!

I am so excited and I feel quite honored that I was picked.

Seriously, thousands of women blog in Canada and I was picked...how cool is that!

So please, please, take the time to check this blog out. I am really enjoying all her post's and she has a really cool giveaway this month!

Speaking of Giveaways

Leave me a comment and I will draw a name on February 16 and the winner will receive a package of my Sugar Shack Gourmet Hot Chocolate, a value of $15!

And I won a giveaway on this blog:

http://www.cheekytees.blogspot.com/

Check it out!

It is all how you look at it

Is it a

Learning dissability

OR

Learning a different way?

This is what I am facing with my sweet Jackson.

I think he just learns a different way.

Now to find out what that way is.

This is kicking my butt

I started an exercise group at the church. I really did this for me, I know how absolutely selfish of me! But I am needing to be a little selfish right now. In between Jackson and Walker I lost about 30 lbs and it felt so good. I kept it off for a couple years, but after I had Walker I put a little back on and then I got pregnant with Lila before I could take it off. After I gave birth to Lila I put all the rest of the 30 lbs on. Now I do not gain weight when I am pregnant, I actually loose it. I weigh less the day I give birth than the day I got pregnant. It is when I am nursing and after that that I put on the weight. Very frustrating for me, but it is all my fault. So I have decided that no more of that crap and I am going to loose the weight and not just the 30lbs, but 60lbs. Yes that is my goal and so far I only have 54 more pounds to go...well wait let me just check....OK so maybe I am retaining a little water and so I have 55 pounds to go, what ever. With trying to stay frugal and live with in my means, joining a gym is really not on my high priority lists and so I started taking my work out DVD to the church gym and invited any one who was interested to join me.

Two reasons for this
1. If I am accountable to others then I will have to show up
2. It is way more fun to work out with friends

So every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I get my butt to the church and work out.

I am totally enjoying it but it is kicking my butt and I hurt every where!

My very best friend of all time quoted this to me saying

"It is hard to loose weight but it is also hard to be fat....which would you rather be or do?"

I want to loose weight so here I am doing what needs to be done and be a healthy happier me!

Dirty Little Habit

My little Lila

Is a sweet as she can be

But she has a dirty little habit

And boy is it nasty

Every night she has a bath so warm and so nice

But watch out for the poop is my advice!

In Seventh Heaven!

Jackson turned 7 on January 3 and he was so excited to be 7! He shares his birthday with my Mom, his Grandma Newton and thinks that that is so cool! I am so proud of my Jackson, he has some struggles ahead of him with school, but he tries so hard and want to do his best. he is so loving and thoughtful, and true treasure in our home!

Here are some things about our Jackman!

His favourite colour is Red

His favourite food is plain noodles with just butter

He loves, loves vegetables

He loves grade one

He adores his teacher, Mrs.Black -Haughton

His favourite toys of the moment, Bakugon's, Transformers and Lego

He is a wonderful big brother

He is a very kind, caring, and compassionate little boy

He is very honest

He loves to wear his suit to church

He is learning how to read

He loves his Dad!

He loves to climb trees and any thing else

The girls love him

He is about to loose his top two front teeth

He loves sports but in to competitive in any way when he plays them...even though he thinks he is

He walks to and from school all by him self every day

He makes us proud every day!

Great to be 3!

My little Walker turned 3 on December 30!

We had a little family party at McDonald's on his actual birthday and then a couple days later we had a friend party at home.

Here are a few things about Walker:

~ Walker is now completely potty trained, even at night

~ He some times waits to long to go pee and will go through like 4 pairs of pants every day..

we are working on that!

~ His best friends are his brother Jackson and sister Lila, then it is his friend Jaelyn

~ Walker wants to do every thing that Jackson does..EVERY THING!

~ He has to give you and hug and kiss before bed or before you leave

~ He loves hot chocolate and milk

~ His nick name still is "Squawker" and will be forever and he still lives up to the name,

by far our loudest child!

~ Has the sweetest smile in the world, but do not let it fool you...as he is usually up to no good!

~ Loves his little sister and they are great buddies...and accomplices.

~ Chicken is one of his favourite foods

~ Will copy what ever Jackson says

~ Is a huge fan of making messes

~ Is now a Sunbeam at church

~ Plays with his hair when he gets tired

~ Walkers very favourite colour is GREEN! He even asked for a green birthday cake

and that is what he got, inside and out!

We are so very grateful for our Walker......some people say we should have called him Runner, Jumper, Climber, he is indeed all of these things and keeps us on our toes!

We love him and his wonderful smile!