Our weekend was ...

Filled with headaches for me, I spent most of Saturday in bed

Spent cuddling sad little girls, Ainsley woke up at midnight Friday night crying. I brought her to our bed and we watched some shows until we both fell asleep

The first time in a couple of weeks that I was able to attend church

Spent vacuuming approximately 1,000,000 times because ::NEWS FLASH:: kids are messy, at least ours are

Spent having lunch with my dad and step-mom on Sunday then hanging out at their house for a while. Abby had so much fun that she told me she didn't want to leave

Counting those darn calories. Yes, K and I are still at it. I'm finally getting used to it and having an easier time than expected with discipline with it

How was your weekend?

The fast and the furious

We've been invaded.

A stomach bug has hit our house.

It started with the smallest member of our family on Thursday.

She was down for the count.

Miserable.

Laying on mama, on the couch, at one point on the floor even.

Just laying there with the saddest look on her face that I have ever seen.

My poor baby.

I started feeling sick on Thursday, just some nausea.

Friday the nausea was worse with some indigestion.

Friday night I threw up and then slept for five hours.

I felt pretty miserable on Saturday but was able to cope and made it to the store to pick up some necessities.

K started feeling sick on Friday.

Was pretty nauseated on Saturday and spent all Saturday night and part of Sunday puking.

He is beyond miserable.

This cute girl perked up on Saturday morning, she finally started eating again this morning though.

Things are definitely not back to normal yet with her but getting there.

Today I am feeling almost 100%, still some residual tiredness and such.

This thing seems to come on strong and leave pretty quickly.

The older two girls have been spared so far, I just pray that continues.

So, a positive with this stomach bug?

I've lost almost 3 1/2 pounds, I'll call it a win although I loathe how it happened.

Bleh!

Please be praying for K, he has had this bug the worst.

Poor guy, if you would also please pray for his asthma {which acts up with stomach viruses} I would appreciate it.

Counting calories

I always said that I would never count calories.

The idea of limiting what I could eat sounded ridiculous.

{Still sounds ridiculous, truthfully}

That being said though, my metabolism since turning 30 and now 32 doesn't agree with the ridiculousness.

At the end of last year I got sick and then sick again and couldn't go to the gym.

After going to the dr. I noticed that my weight was up a bit.

Then the holidays hit and I consumed more than my fair share of the Christmas/birthday goodies.

I felt like I was getting back on track with going to the gym {not as often as I should have, but still going} when I decided to check my weight.

Wow, I was surprised at the weight gain.

Now I know that everyone has their own thoughts on weight, what one person thinks would be a great weight another person might have problems with.

For me personally I just wasn't feeling comfortable in my own skin and my clothes weren't fitting right.

Summer is right around the corner and I plan on living at the pool again, I also want to feel better and get my body to a healthy spot.

I've started watching B again and I know that I won't be hitting the gym as often.

That means that something else has/had to be done.

Clara and Jennifer told me about My Fitness Pal, it's a free app that tracks your calories consumed and your calories spent.

We decided to all do it and "friend" one another on there so we can help keep one another accountable.

We figured out how long it will be until pool season and what our goal weight is, the app figured out the rest for me.

 

When K got home I told him about the app and now he's using it too.

The app is great, I'm enjoying it as much as I can with facing the reality of what I'm eating and how not great it is for my body.

I have a weakness for crunchy, salty things. Yum!

I'm hoping to see some results, the ones other than my stomach complaining when I've reached my calorie limit.

Sadface.

So friends, I need some help, what are some great, low-calorie meals that you love?

I'm planning on going grocery shopping soon and need some more delicious foods, my salad today was a bit sad as I was shopping my fridge and out of some things.

P.S. My Fitness Pal has zero idea who I am, I'm just sharing something that I hope helps with my weight loss goals

Happenings ...

: these two in the car this morning talking and playing, it does wonders for my heart

: played a game of Yahtzee this afternoon with Adison

: went to the gym this morning and was reminded of how much I don't enjoy sweating

: made some weight loss/workout goals that actually seem attainable.

: reading more, it's something that I simply love to do

: thinking about homeschooling, Ainsley has stated that she doesn't want to go to school and that I can teach her from home. Oh she must have known that has been on my mind.

: working on my word of contentment, living it and keeping focused

: thinking about what goofy little weirdos K and I have for children and chuckling about who's DNA that's from. (Don't tell him I said so but I'm pretty sure it's more me than him)

: looking forward to church tomorrow evening

: wishing you all a goodnight and a happy weekend, xo

Throwing together dinner

I don't enjoy cooking, it's a means to fill my stomach.

It's just never been enjoyable, thank goodness K enjoys cooking.

Tonight I had a meeting to attend and since K worked all day I decided to throw together some food.

I bought some quinoa at Trader Joe's a while back, but not being much of a cook it intimidated me with it's newness.

Tonight I decided to tackle it, knowing it cooked quicker than rice and I wanted to cook the grilled chicken breasts I bought last week.

(Side note: I detest cooking chicken. I have a fear that I will undercook it and everyone will get sick. Already cooked AND grilled frozen chicken breasts = perfection for me)

So, I cooked the quinoa with chicken stock since it is said to enhance the flavor, it smelled delish.

Then, I tossed the chicken in a skillet, warmed it up, then added rinsed black beans and corn. To add some extra flavor I tossed in some taco seasoning and garlic.

The smells were out of this world mouth-watering!

I tossed mine in a bowl, added some shredded cheese and inhaled.
K decided to add his to some tortillas with some salsa and lettuce.

It was good, stomachs were filled and all is good.

Back at it

Today was a bit like getting tossed into the deep end.

The alarm seemed to go off entirely too early.

The children though, ah, the children, they rallied and got ready in a quick, easy and tidy manner.

Praise the Lord.

Adison started back at school today.

I started watching baby B again, although she is not such a baby anymore.

We are officially back at it.

It was nice to get back to our schedule.

The routine that we are oh so used to.

The break was nice, but it was just that, a break.

Tomorrow I start my school meetings back up again and just like that, we're off!

Last night while eating dinner I confessed to K that I was already starting to feel a bit overwhelmed at all that is on the docket.

There seems to be a lot but I know that I need to take it one day, one hour, one minute, one second at a time and it will all get accomplished.

I then looked over at one of my favorite verses:

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1

In my mind this means: I am doing what I am meant to be doing, I will make it through x, y & z because I am meant to get them done. It will all work out just as it is meant to .

That folks, helps me with perspective.

When everything starts to feel a bit overwhelming just know that it will all be okay.

xo, D

Dialing it in

This picture is Zoe!

It's from when we first got her, she's so tiny!

I don't have anything interesting to say.

Knowing that next week starts our regular schedule and it starts back up with a bang we took it easy today.

I went from one pair of pajamas to bathing to putting on another pair of pajamas.

No makeup, nada.

Lazy.

I'm looking forward to a mostly lazy weekend too, except for working at church tomorrow night and maybe getting Abby's new big girl bed {that's a whole post in and of itself} I'm hoping to lounge.

I hope you have a great weekend, lovelies!

This cat

This cat ...

is tiny, she only weighs three pounds

has little to no body fat and is freezing during the winter

lives on my lap during the winter

sleeps under the covers when it's cold

if she can't sit on my lap or K's she will build herself a little nest in the clean towels {not okay}

if neither one of us want her on our lap she gives us the stink eye

was a stray, we found her in our backyard. Due to less than stellar prenatal conditions and probably some inbreeding she has some issues. Kitty is a puker, daily sometimes multiple times a day

 cannot stand one of our other cats even though they have lived together for almost 7 years

is the most talkative cat

is very affectionate IF she likes you

Adison picked out her name, Zoe

is currently sitting on my legs as I type this.

Thoughts thus far on the New Year

Okay, 2013, you're new and while I find that exciting with possibilities endless possibilities, a blank slate is also a bit intimidating.

My thoughts thus far, seeing as we are on day two of this year, it should be a pretty easy task.

1. I've got to get back to the gym. I'm starting to feel the effects of holiday treats + not going to the gym as regularly. It's been hard though, between us being sick and everyone and their mom being sick {which = me avoiding going places where my kids could pick up puke bugs because, hello, we had a lot of plans} sticking close to home is the best option in my mind.

2. I've gotten lax with blogging and need to get back on the "a blog a day every week day" bandwagon. I need the consistency, I need the expectation {even when it's my own} that a post needs to be up. Seeing as my scrapbooking flew out the front door when numero dos was born this is my memory keeper. This is where I document all of the happenings in our little abode. 

3. My word for the year is contentment. I want to be completely active with working on this one with every aspect of my life. 

4. I want to relish having Ainsley home with me. Homegirl will be heading of to kindergarten {sniff sniff} this August and I'm not ready.It will be interesting having two kiddos in school, it's a new chapter for us. 

5. Check out these videos, these guys are amazing!

Have a great day lovelies, I'm off to take down Christmas decorations and am having a girls get together with the ladies from our small group tonight, woo hoo!