Christmas Time is Here

We LOVE Christmas around here! I started putting up the Christmas decorations the day after Halloween and the cutest thing happened. Olivia was helping me put up the tree in the dining room and Grayson woke up from his nap. When she saw him she said with such excitement "Grayson, Santa is coming tonight!" It was so sweet and so funny but through my laughter I had to explain to her the Christmas was still 2 months away. I told her that her Mommy was just crazy and loves the holidays so much that we just start a little earlier than everyone else.

My hubby, AKA Clark Griswald is at it again and put up the house decorations the same weekend. He has added to them each weekend and they are finally complete. This year there is a neighborhood decorating contest so this has made his desire to decorate go from "we love the outdoor Christmas lights" to.."no those neighbors didn't try to out-do me, I'm going back to home depot!"

The day after thanksgiving we went back to to the tree farm as always to pick out our real tree. The kids had a blast and we have the prettiest tree ever!

Olivia was so cute at the tree farm. She picked out a tree that was about a foot tall and said "I choose this baby tree." Grayson would have been just fine if we would have just rode the tractor and went home.

Halloween 2010

Olivia is really into Tinkerbell this year so there was no convincing her to be anything but Tinkerbell for Halloween. Since I like to coordinate them and Grayson is not arguing with me yet, I decided to let him be her Peter Pan. They were adorable! We had a lot of fun going to the fall festival in town and trick or treating with friends!

I also got to go with Olivia on her field trip to the pumpkin patch and that was so much fun. They got a go through the maze, do games, and crafts and pick out a pumpkin. On Friday I helped with her party at school and that was a so entertaining seeing her interact with her friends and teachers at school I am so thankful to be in such a good school system and her teachers are absolutely wonderful!

First Trip To DC

Dado and Nonna moved to Washington, DC about a year ago and we finally made it for a trip! It just so happened that I needed training for work that was in Fredericksburg, VA, only about an hour away from Dad and Susie's apartment. Back in the spring, we came up with the plan that Dado and Nonna could watch the kids while I was in training for 3 days and then Michael could fly over and join us to sight see in D.C. for a week. Then, the plan got even better when Aunt Sissy and Uncle Jesse decided to join us and I got to spend time with the sweetest niece in the world!

While we were there we did A TON including:

Dado and Nonna took the kids to the National Zoo

The boys went to a Redskins game

We did all the monuments..Washington, Lincoln Memorials, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Wall

Spent a day at Arlington Cemetery

Went to a Nationals Game

White House

National History Museum

American History Museum

Ate cupcakes from DC Cupcakes, totally over priced but WAYYYY good!

Ate lunch at Mt. Vernon

And of course, lots of shopping at markets and the Potomac Mills shopping mall.

We had this really cool apartment to stay in was in the same building as Dad and Susie's apartment so we didn't have to stay in a hotel. It was very nice and homey and we got lots of quality family time in. This trip was a very busy one but we created priceless memories. The funniest thing that happened was Olivia busted out with her "flag of America" song on the way to the Lincoln memorial. We had never heard this song before but she had heard it at school and I guess all of the American History prompted her to sing it! She also said the pledge of allegiance.

We also had 3 strollers which was pretty funny considering we rode the subway pretty much everywhere we went. We were definitely a caravan of strollers and children all over DC!

Choo Choo, Grayson's turning 2!

Grayson doesn't really watch much TV but one show that will hold his attention is Thomas the Train so it was easy to decide on a theme for his party this year. His big present from Mom and Dad was train table which he absolutely LOVES. We had a great party complete with a "jump jump" in the back yard for a full 8 hours. He had so much fun with the inflatable that we couldn't get him to come in a open his presents so Olivia opened them for him!

Things we love about our sweet 2 year old:

He is rough and tumble.

He speaks really well for his age

He is already darn good at hitting a baseball or golf ball, those are just good genes!

He is HILARIOUS!!! 2 is my favorite age I've decided

He has no idea that playing dress up or barbies is not a "boy" thing so he just does whatever his big sister tells him. It is so cute!

He's a Momma's boy.

First Day Of School

Olivia is starting the Public School Pre-K program this year. She is also doing enrichment at the same Pre-school Grayson will be attending to days per week. She will be in school 3 half days and 2 full days and Grayson will be in 2 full days. Olivia was so looking forwarding to starting school but Grayson was having a hard time being away from Mom. Grayson had a really hard time when I took him to school. He cried so hard and really wanted me to put him back in the car. I cried for at least 2 hours after dropping him off. I called Michael and asked him if preschool was really necessary and seriously contemplated going back to get him. He's doing much better now but still cries when I drop him off.

Vacation with Friends

This year we took the first annual Bippeed vacation. We have gotten to know the Reeds through church and have had a blast working with them on the Stone Canyon Church plant. They are truly a blessing to our family and I know they will be lifelong friends. It's also great that our kids are all stairstepped in age so they play (and fight) really well together.

We went to the Lake of The Ozarks in Missouri and rented a condo for a few days. While there we went fishing (Brady was not a fan of the live worms!), the boys played golf while the girls had a spa day, we laid by the pool and shopped at the outlet malls. We took a babysitter (Haley's the best!) so that we could have some outings without the kids. We had great evenings out on the back deck listening the lake and just talking about life. We had a wonderful date night with just the adults at nice restuarant that overlooked the lake. We hope to do this every summer!

She's FOUR!

Ok, I'm going to skip over the sobbing about my children growing up so fast and just gush about all the goodness there is about them!

Olivia was sooo excited about her birthday this year. I gave her several choices on where she could have her birthday party and she chose the neighborhood pool. She was so excited and talked about it for weeks and weeks leading up to it. She was really wanted goggles and a swim-to-me puppy and she was happy to receive both. They both love the pool as you have seen in my previous posts and we try to go as much as possible during the summer.

Things I love about Olivia being 4:

She models her dress up clothes daily, literally changes 20 times a day sometimes.

She knows it all..She's 4 going on 16

She is a Daddy's girl all the way, I don't think that will ever change!

She is such a momma, she "mommas" everyone and everything, including her little brother.

Major Changes!

The Situation

I have worked out on an on and off, good for 2 weeks, not so good for a month then good for 2 days type situation since Olivia was about a year old. While pregnant with Grayson I did pretty good about not over eating and did my pregnancy workout videos pretty consistently. It only took me about 6 months or so to get my pregnancy weight off after having Grayson, but I still had those last 10-15 pounds hanging around from college!

On January 1st of this year I started doing Jillian Michael's 30 day shred video. I worked out 6 days a week for 3 months straight. I really started to tone up but had not lost 1 pound. I told myself, it's probably just all this muscle I'm gaining...

Then, when Michael and I were on our weekend getaway in March we watched a seminar on TV given by Jillian Michaels. She was teaching about processed foods and most of the food we eat is so far away from it's natural state that our body doesn't really know what to do with it so it slows down our metabolism. The same goes for additives, preservatives and pesticides.

Now let me back up.. we already ate pretty healthy anyway. I outlawed white bread and white pasta when Olivia was an infant. I rarely fried anything and thought we did pretty good. I told Michael, let's try to eat this way for a month and see how we feel. So we did. And let me tell you, we are NEVER going back!

The Plan

At least 80% of the time we eat only lean, unprocessed meat with fresh veggies and fruits on the side. We eat lots of fish such as Tiliapia, shrimp and salmon. ABSOLUTELY NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP will be found in my pantry. If you want to know why, just a do a little research. The same goes for added hormones to meat. We avoid preservatives as much as possible, they just aren't natural. We've had our first garden this year which has produced tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, bell peppers, cantalopes and now okra. We hope to do an even bigger garden next year. I eat whenever I'm hungry but instead of snacking on a bag of chips, I eat a bowl of sliced cumbers or fresh strawberries instead.

The Results

I dropped 15lbs in 6 weeks. Still kept my work out routine. In May, I decided I had been doing cardio for a while so I thought I'd try my hand at running and see how far I could go. I used to LOATHE running and running a 5K has always been on my bucket list. I just wanted to accomplish this because I knew it would be challenging for me. The first time I ran in May I was able to run almost 2 miles with only stopping for a few short breaks. I decided to sign up for a 5k and trained 3 days a week. 2 days before my race I got sick with a cold but decided I was going to try it anyway. My goal was to finish in 34 minutes and I finished in 32! I learned a huge lesson, no more running 5Ks in the Oklahoma summer. It was wayyy to hot and I was sick to my stomach most of the day. I feel great and now actually enjoy getting up at 5:00 AM to run. Weird!

Michael, the meat and potatoes and anything fried type-of-guy, has done great and hasn't complained about missing his comfort food too much. We try and keep the menu fresh and exciting (can be challenging) so that we don't get bored with our food. I say that we do this 80% of the time because sometimes, you just have to grab chick-fil-a for dinner because we only have 15 minutes and I'm not a miracle worker. We also want to indulge in birthday cake or party food when presented to us.

With all that said, I think we've made a change that is here to stay. I love feeling great about what my family is putting into their bodies and feel good setting an example of an active lifestyle for my kids. I'm contemplating a 10K this fall but not making any commitments just yet.

This is my great friend Liz. I asked her to run with me a week before the race. She did amazing for only running a few times before the race. I may have quit without her! And that's us promoting our new Campus at our church. More to come about this later...BIG THINGS ARE HAPPENING!

Halfway through summer...

Pool Time!

Baltz Family Reunion

Early Birthday Parties!

Blue Bell Tour

Love, Love, Love this little girl!

4th of July

Whew! What a busy summer it has been so far. Michael has been busy playing softball and studying for the CPA and we have stayed busy with our work schedules, the kids activities and our vegetable garden. Our first veggie garden has produced tomatoes, LOTs of cucumbers and Zucchinni, bell peppers. We now have one tiny little cantlope appearing and the okra should be sprouting up soon. Our first garden has been pretty successful but we've learned a lot and plan to do an much better job next year.

My Sister, Jesse and Adeline came into Tulsa a couple of weeks ago so that we could all head to the Baltz Family Reunion together in Branson. Since Jesse had a mission trip in New Orleans the week following the reunion, my sister and Adeline decided to stay with us that week and then fly back to Seattle in time for Jesse to get home. Our mom also paid us a visit.

My neice has grown so much since I last saw her when she was 2 weeks old! She laughs and smiles and loves to play and look around. I'm convinced she's going to be like her cousin Olivia, she has to be "IN THE KNOW" at all times. She is happiest when she's sitting in someone's lap looking around or playing on the floor or riding right on the front of her mommy in the Bjorn. Olivia and Grayson love to talk to her and play with her. Grayson doesn't quite understand the term "be gentle" and we had a few mishaps including him rolling over her head with an empty suitcase, a little tough poking her in the face while saying "baby, baby" and even a little acting out and swatting her bouncy seat when we told him not to touch. All this "constant checking to make sure Grayson isn't hurting the baby" confirmed one thing for me...I am not ready for a third child!

It was a great visit with the Baltz family in Branson. We always look forward to these reunions and catching up with our extended family. Dado and Nonna met us there as well. It was great to see Dad spend time with all 3 of the kids. We ate LOTS of good food the whole time and had a mini early birthday party for Olivia in the hotel room. Our visits just always seem to fly by.

Once back in Owasso we had a pretty low key week. I had to work some but we still managed to make it to the pool a couple of times, tour the blue bell creamery in BA and of course a little shopping. Sis had yet to put a bow on Miss Addie's head so I was able to take care of that!

Mom left on Saturday and I dropped Addie and Sis off at the airport early Sunday morning on the 4th. We had time to get home, make it to church and then head off to a party with Michael's family's. All in all we have a had a great summer so far. This week we are headed off to the Lake of the Ozarks with some of our dear friends. Once we return we will have one week to prepare for Olivia's 4th birthday party! Big sigh.................