Pumpkin...oh how I love thee!

I know I have mentioned several times that Luke LOVES pumpkins...well, this is proof. Does anyone else out there sleep with their pumpkin for the whole month of October? Luke has since replaced the pumpkin in the photo with one he found at a local pumpkin patch. The new one is square shaped and he swears he found 'Spookley'. If you don't know who 'Spookley' is, you have to check out the book at the library. It is a great story.

I also have to share a story about something that happened the other day. While standing in an aisle at Target, I noticed the woman next to me had purple, punk styled hair. She was also wearing chains and skulls everywhere and had piercings and etc. I don't think she was dressing up for Halloween due to the piercings and tattoes. I tried to block Luke from seeing her because I knew he would think she was dressed up for Halloween. Well, I could see the exact moment he noticed her because his whole face lit up and he ran to her side with a smile from ear to ear. He was only 1 foot away from her and yelled out (while pointing), "Mommy, look at her!!! SHE IS ALL READY FOR HALLOWEEN!!!" The woman did NOT think this was funny. I tried so hard not to burst out laughing. My face turned red and I tried to pull him away from her. He was so excited that he had found someone who loved Halloween as much as he does.

Hooray for Me!

This past year I have been working on something very difficult...LOSING WEIGHT! I have always struggled with my weight, but I think this last YEAR (yes, one whole YEAR!) was the hardest battle I have ever had with it. Maybe it is because I am older now and have had 2 children & struggle with some personal issues??!! I don't know. But I do know that I can be proud of one thing...I NEVER gave up. One year ago at the beginning of October, I signed up with Weight Watchers and I promised myself that I would never give up. Well, to celebrate my one year mark, I wanted to tell the world that I have lost 25 pounds! Some people could probably lose that same amount in 6 months, but I have never been one to take a shortcut:) I am so delighted to say I kept my promise to myself and it feels so incredibly wonderful! I absolutely love Weight Watchers and I can't say enough about the program. I had a lot of ups and downs and sometimes I thought it was impossible for me to lose weight. I still have about 10 more pounds to lose, but I had to take a moment to reflect on this past year and celebrate in a non-food way!!! The photo above was taken by Luke a few months ago when I won an award at WW. I have since lost a few more pounds. I am so excited and feel so good! I can honestly say...I worked my tail off:)

Look what I've been up to!

These past two months have been so stressful...actually this whole year has been pretty stressful. I will spare you the details:) No one wants to blog about their problems, so I have decided to focus on some of the good things I have done in my spare time. It's always fun to try something new. I need to do this more often.Look what I did!!! I have NEVER canned anything until now! Ben's wonderful Grandma Fern has a 'secret' jam recipe that is almost as wonderful as she is. She gave me the recipe a year ago and I finally got enough nerve to give it a try. I had to give her a few calls to make sure I was doing it right, but all in all, I think I did a great job! It was fun to do too. I made 3 batches of jam: 2 raspberry and 1 strawberry. I feel so domestic!

This is our new clock. I made it!!! Our church had a Super Saturday crafts event and I signed up to make this. I, of course, was the last one to finish. For anyone who knows me, also knows that is the story of my life. Now I can't wait to hang it up and actually use it!

Encore Presentation: "Together Forever"

Ben sings this song to Luke every night. It originates from a Winnie the Pooh movie. It is so sweet to hear them sing it together. Luke LOVES this song. I filmed it from my camera the same day I filmed the Jingle Bells one. I have tried to film him singing with our video camera before, but he wouldn't do it. I think using a regular camera tricked him because he thought I was only taking photos!-hence the big 'CHEESE' at the end.

I haven't been tagged for a long time!

My friend Torrey sent this to me. I haven’t done a tag for a long time, so I’m doing it! If I mentioned your name below, only do the tag if you have the time and want to:)


4 TV Shows I watch:
1) Lost (where is it?)
2)Heros
3)Prison Break (only on DVD’s)
4)Oprah (only on DVR-I erase the celebrity ones-I don’t really care about their ritzy, unrealistic lives)


4 Favorite Restaurants
1) MacCool’s Irish Pub (very original & tasty food)
2)Boston’s Pizza (Gourmet Pizzas!)
3)Olive Garden
4)Corbin’s (the best halibut & cheesecake ever)


4 Things that Happened Yesterday:
1) I went to work for 4 hours.
2)I followed my Weight Watchers goal VERY WELL.
3)I took the kids to the library for a Halloween Storytelling event.
4)I went for a walk with the kids.

4 Things I'm Looking Forward to:
1)Trick or Treating with my kids.
2)Seeing my sister’s newborn baby (who hasn’t arrived yet).
3)pay day (things are SOOOOO tight right now)
4)reaching my lifetime goal at Weight Watchers

4 Things on MY Wish List
1) new curtains & blinds
2) a new place to live
3) a trip to Ireland
4) painting lessons


4 Little Known Facts about me
1) I have kept a journal since I was 8 years old.
2) I cried when I witnessed a dog adoption (the dog was so dang happy!)
3) I sang (with a group) the song “Love Shack” in a Lesbian Karaoke bar in Vegas. (NO, I was not drinking and we didn't know it was a lesbian bar)
4) I love yams & sweet potatoes.


4 people I tag (if they want to do it)
Becca
Danielle S.
Melissa B.
Jenny
Caitlyn (I know, I added a 5th one)

Jingle Bells Already?

Well, it snowed today...a lot! I can't believe we got soooo much snow for the first snow of the year. What happened to Halloween? What happened to my beautiful green grass that I just cut 2 days ago? I was NOT thrilled about this...but someone else I know loved every minute of it. Luke had a sudden case of ADHD and went outside 4 times throughout the day. He just could not get enough of it! Luke outgrew his boots from last year, so Daddy had to quickly improvise with these fashionable Target bags.

Ashlynn took one look out the window this morning and said,

"Oh No!... Nose SCARE Me!!!" We tried to get her to say 'SNOW' a few times but she insisted it was pronounced 'NOSE'. She had NO desire to go outside. Ben tried to get her to stand on the front porch and she did it. Within a few seconds of standing there, a clump of snow fell off the leaves and landed on her head. This was very traumatizing for her and she let the whole neighborhood hear about it. I didn't take any photos of her.

A few days ago, I was checking my camera to see what features still worked after Luke broke it. The video still works. So, here is Luke's version of Jingle Bells. Maybe he had a hunch that snow was on it's way! He has a strange look on his face because he is trying to smile and sing at the same time during the entire clip.