Trim Down Tuesday - hiking in WI

OK, now that the big vacation is over with, I plan to keep this blog going again. It's hard to believe that it's been a year since we miss the last family reunion to move into our house. It still doesn't feel like we've done much but looking back I realize we done a ton of work on the house. I don't know why it feels like we haven't gotten much done... I'm guessing it's because we still haven't painted so we have the bright obnoxious colors of the previous owner still on our banged up walls. I really hope that as soon as the weather cools down a bit we can get to painting all the rooms and will finally feel like our own home. My goal is to have the family room opened up in the fall so that we can start entertaining again.

Anyways, back to trimming down... one of my goals is to stay fit during this pregnancy and so I've been taking the kids for a 3 mile stroller ride almost daily. This summer has been soooo hot that I've had to go first thing in the morning before it got too hot and humid although, I'm still drenched by the time I get back. I must say though after this week in WI, I'm so thankful we spent the money on a Mountain Buggy instead of a BOB. I know the BOB is made more for running but my goodness the Mountain Buggy was totally built for the hiking we did on vacation. It did totally awesome in the terrain we were hiking in... definitely not the Illinois Prairie Path, lol.

Anyways, I thought I'd share some pics from some of the trails we were on. The one trail was soooo narrow that there were times I thought the stroller was going to flip sideways, not to mention to huge tree roots that would literally stop us abruptly. Oh, and the trees down over the trail so we literally had to take the kids out and get them over the trees and then get the stroller over them, lol. We had such a blast though... and the best part of that trail was this little side trail that lead to the beach. The lake was literally secluded other than one boat with a couple men fishing. I forgot to take a pic but at the boat landing we saw a sign that said "electric motors only" so that explains why the lake was so peaceful and why it felt like a little piece of heaven on earth. How could you not be totally amazed by God's creation after seeing something as gorgeous as that.

Trim Down Tuesday

Well, I'm no longer trying to trim down physically, but I wanted to share a little bit about some other trimming down I've done in my life. It all came about around the time of the ICHE convention. I was feeling really overwhelmed and stressed and I of course didn't go to the one person I really needed at the time to really show me how I should be living my life. It took a convention to make me realize that I needed to trim down. I'm talking about my time online and more importantly my time on parenting forums. While I enjoyed the friendships I made on TBW, CMF and MGR... I realized that parenting forums were keeping me from going to God for advice and guidance. This is a personal problem for me and nothing against any of the forums at all or anyone I've gotten to know and love from those forums. I guess I realized that for me personally when I was having a parenting issue instead of going to God and trusting him to help me with parenting I was going to these forums. I needed the eye opener that God is the one and only person I should be going to for advice. I decided to take a break from the parenting forums to see how things went. I found that I'm not so stressed and overwhelmed anymore. I found that since I'm not comparing my children to any other children that I'm trusting God more and more that my kids are doing what they're supposed to do and it's ok if they are "late" learners.

I went to a Preschool/Kindergarten workshop at the convention that was the biggest eye opener to all of this... just all the neurological reasonings to wait until your child is ready to learn to read and the connections that are so important that come from just playing outside just blew me away. Really, it all made our call to homeschool our kids even more evident. I was finally "free". I was finally listening to what God was trying to tell me. God was trying to tell me to just be dependent on what he has to say and not on what everyone else expects or what everyone else says your child is supposed to be doing right now. It confirmed for me everything I knew in my heart. I was finally putting my children on the altar and totally trusting God with them, which you would think would be a daily reminder to me considering their names... but no, sigh...

Does this mean I won't frequent the parenting forums anymore? I'm not sure yet. For now I suppose not... but maybe one day again. Maybe one day when I don't feel that it personally takes me away from trusting God with everything... maybe one day when I feel strong enough to share with others my findings... maybe one day. It does make me thankful for Facebook... at least I can keep up with the good friends I've made from those forums. That has been the nice part of my time away... feeling like I still have a means to keep in touch... it makes me not miss the parenting forums as much. Facebook has been a great means for me to pray for those who need prayer, weep with those who weep, laugh with those who laugh and mourn with those who mourn, etc...

I love my kiddos and am so thankful for God's wonderful gifts to me!

Trim Down Tuesday

Well, I'm back down to where I was 2 weeks ago... but I've been super super sick so I haven't been running at all. I think I'll have to start over on the c25k by the time this wicked cold goes away. I'm a little bummed because I wanted to really do this and be running a 5k in the 9 weeks, but it looks like my body is forcing me to take a break. I'm an emotional eater though so being bummed about being sick and not being able to run means I've been eating terribly. I'm determined to get back on the healthy food wagon again though. We're looking into local farmer's markets and trying to find some good organic local farmers for our produce this summer and then hopefully by next year we'll be able to start our own garden and grow our own produce. I'm so excited, I really can't wait. I'm finding that I'm not eating enough veggies and really trying to make myself add those things back into my diet, especially this summer as they become in-season. One of my favorite meals for summer is grilled meat on a fresh salad. Speaking of salads, we were all sick so we watched PBS all day Saturday and they make some really yummy foods on those shows. I've feeling motivated to cook more and not just buy the boxed/processed stuff. I'm realizing that we need to be better about what we're putting into our bodies. It's no wonder we've been sick and have no energy, sigh.... OK, enough of me being so emoish, lol. Let's hope next week is a better week and we're feeling healthy again.

Trim Down Tuesday and Melissa's New Releases

Well, I'm not going to be sharing pics this week since I was so busy taking advantage of the contests, giveaways and great deals this weekend and totally forgot. I did weigh myself on Sunday and gained a couple pounds. I wasn't feeling well on Sunday so I didn't run my 3rd day of the c25k so I'm going to be starting week 2 over again this week.

I wanted to share with you Melissa's new releases this week too... she wasn't able to get us the links to the kits before the store went live on Saturday (Friday Night) but was able to get them on Sunday and played with them last night and this morning. They are a collab with Amanda Rockwell and there are 4 of them. FUN FUN FUN!

Credits:
Rumba by Melissa Bennett and Amanda Rockwell
Free Spirit Alpha by CD Muckosky
font:Arial

Credits:
Whimsy by Melissa Bennett and Amanda Rockwell
template by Cindy Schneider from LE Take Flight collab

Credits:
Jelly Roll by Melissa Bennett and Amanda Rockwell
DJB Tweenybopper by Darcy Baldwin
BOM template by Crystal Livesay

Credits:
Fandango by Melissa Bennett and Amanda Rockwell
DJB Heather G (my custom print) by Darcy Baldwin
CK Hopscotch
Paper Stackers: Horizontal by Jaclyn Bernardo (Facebook Freebie)

Trim Down Tuesday

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I'm on my new computer... not everything is set up yet, but WOW, I'm lovin' how fast it is! Anyways, I finished up Week 1 of c25k (couch to 5k) and am thinking about repeating week 1 because I'm sooooo out of shape and still sore from Sunday's run. Although, I know that pushing myself a little bit is good too, but I'm thinking it might be too much and I don't want to injure my hip again. It's been a stressful start to the week and I'm completely stress eating, UGH! I really need to do better with distracting myself from eating when stressed... I also really need someone to just tell me what workshops to register for the ICHE (Illinois Christian Home Educators) convention. Even the "beginner" options are too many and I have to narrow down to about half the workshops... and of course because I procrastinated, I have to have it done by the end of the week for the early bird pricing. Oh, and I need to find a babysitter, lol... I totally should have been on top of this.

Anyways, I'm proud of myself for making it through week 1 of c25k and can already tell I'm getting stronger and can't wait for the day to come when I HAVE to go for a run every couple days because I enjoy it so much and not because I'm trying to get through a program, lol. I lost 3lbs last week although, I know it's all water weight since I've been eating less carbs again. Can't wait to see what next week brings.

Off to download iTunes so I can get Week 2's podcast on my shuffle... Have a great week!

Trim Down Tuesday... I'm motivated by cheerleaders... so come cheer me on, pretty please!

It's BACK! I'm participating in a Skinny Jeans Experiment and trying to fit back into my jeans after a really rough winter. So I decided the accountability of posting my pics every week on the blog and my progress will help keep me going. My main goal is to start and complete the C25k program and at least go for a walk or do some form of exercise on my off days. I'm starting the running program today and doing it on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays. This will give me one day of the week that I can go out by myself instead of pushing a jogging stroller with the kids. I can't wait because one of my goals this year was to run a 10K in 2010 and it's not looking so hopeful that I'll be doing it at the rate I've been going at it. Anyways, unlike last time where I got bored and skipped ahead in the program which ended up hurting my hips, I plan to stick to it even if it's boring for the first few weeks. I'm determined not to get injured this time. I also need to look for some 5K races to sign up and keep me motivated to complete this. I forgot how much I NEED to run and am hoping it will help to get me out of my funk. Ok, so I got a fresh new battery for my scale and did my first weigh-in... will you cheer me on?
excuse the butt wedgie and the pantylines, lol but I wanted to put on my skinny jeans to see myself eventually fit into them... and really... I'm hoping by the end of this experiment that they'll be saggy and I'll have to buy a new pair of skinny jeans :)