Weight Watchers and more...

Ok... kickboxing is awesome... I joined a local class for 6 weeks and I am on my third class and I think I am still recovering from my first class on Saturday and it is Tuesday! I really hope this class is going to kick up my weight loss goals... I am down 18.4 pounds since September... I am really hoping that I hit the 20 pound star this week when I weigh in on Thursday. Overall I am down 44.4. The baby weight is gone and now on the battle really begins. I have a personal goal of losing 105 pounds by my 28th birthday... so I have til near the end of October to make that happen... I have to consistently lose 1.5 pounds a week... yikes. There are going to be weeks when I lose .2 (like last week) and weeks when I lose 3.4 (two weeks before that)...

I am learning to cook too and buy good snacks. There are some amazing snacks out there now that actually taste good - Fiber One makes these awesome chocolate granola bars that are only 2 pts. and have 9 grams of fiber! But the best part is that they are YUMMY! A perfect breakfast! Another yummy snack is the 100 calorie pack Hostess cupcakes (chocolate chocolate ROCK) and you get three mini cupcakes for 1 point! And my newest discover is the Hershey's Reeses Pieces 100 calorie packs- 2 pts for peanut butter heaven!

Well enough about weight loss and lifestyle changes...

Little Emma boo has two teeth and has decided that she prefers to be awake from about 2a.m. -4a.m. every night... I don't know why... she is teething and maybe the top teeth are more painful but oh i don't know if i can do this no sleeping thing forever... We took her to the doctor thinking maybe an ear infection was to blame and sure enough - she's as healthy as can be... I am relieved but I would have loved the quick fix of amoxicillian too! Last night wasn't as bad as the weekend and we managed not to feed her like we had been - the doc said we would train her to be hungry in the night if we kept feeding her... I think I baby her more than I did Anna - mostly because I know she is my last baby and even more so because I don't want her to wake her older sister! None the less, I love my babies and am thankful that they are healthy and happy.

It is just 4 weeks from Saturday til our cruise... leaving my munchkins for 7 days is going to be tough but the time away with just Adam is going to be so fantastic... my passport arrived, we set up our snorkeling trip in Cancun and now we can try to kick up the weight loss in anticipation of the trip. The one thing I want to do on this trip is NOT GAIN WEIGHT... for those of you that have cruised before... there is a lot of food options and generally just a lot of food- I want to work out while we are on the cruise and try to stay in the game...

Work is still work... always looking for the next challenge... We got our countertops in the kitchen and have just a few finishing touches before we have a Superbowl party this Sunday.

Well here is the finished counters and new paint color... it is a very soothing green... It took some time to adjust too but I love it now.

Ahh photos...

SO guess what I did yesterday? My friend and I went to the Minneapolis wedding fair... crazy you say - well it was so fun! We got there about 2 and stayed 3 hours - tasted cakes, admired centerpieces and watched a wedding fashion show... the irony here is that we are both already married! We just love weddings... I swear if I had more time and a chunk of start up money, I would open a wedding planning business. Coordinating and organizing are some of my favorite things to do and I am the ultimate girly girl so wedding stuff is my cup of tea! I even took some ideas of my own for parties. There was a catering table that had cored pineapples stacked on top of one another probably on some type of pole and then it had strawberries on sticks stuck into the side of the pineapple all around... it was such a cool centerpiece idea or just a great way to serve fruit at a party! And my step mom got me the coolest pineapple corer tool ever! You can get something like it at Bed, Bath and Beyond! It is a marvel really!

Ok so aside from my wedding planning concept, things are keeping us busy at home. We are remodeling once again... I know I do this a lot but it is so fun...perhaps home decorating is another job concept...Anyway we are getting granite countertops in the kitchen and repainting... I do love remodeling projects! And I just redid Emma's nursery in bright green and pink! I love it! I will even post a pic or two of my redecorating! I can't get enough of HGTV! And all the do-it yourself projects are so appealing although we hire a lot of it out because neither Adam or I are the handiest nor do we have the tools! But I must say that my husband really impressed me last night when he unhooked our sink, took it out of the counter and proceeded to take the counters off himself - what a handyman I have! I was totally impressed by my man!

Aside from repainting and remodeling, my dear friend Shanna is coming this Friday for a visit! I can't wait! Hopefully we can scrapbook while she is here and just have some good ol' girl time! It is going to be a great weekend despite the negative temperatures we are getting right now... we are going to have a blast!

On the final note, I lost the baby weight! Last week at weight watchers I lost 3.4 pounds in one week! I was beside myself! I am down 17.2 since September and overall 42.6 since I had Emma on July 10. Adam and I are going on a cruise (no kids) on March 2 and I hope to lose another 13 pounds by then... it is going to be a battle but I signed up for kickboxing through a community ed program with a friend and it is 4 nights a week! yikes! but i am excited - I am learning though that nothing tastes as good as skinny (healthy) feels!

Oh yeah one more thing - check out my diaper cake! It is my latest baby shower gift! I take diapers roll them up, hold with a rubber band and stack like a wedding cake! I add little goodies to the cake and some ribbon! It is a popular baby shower item I must say and they are really fun to make and practical because the diapers are for the baby to be! I have been using size 3 diapers because i don't have to use so many since they are bigger... alrighty I will stop writing and start showing the pics!









Anna's favorite ride at the Mall of America - a lifesaver in the winter!


Dress up time!


Smiley during bath time!


Anna on the carousel at Pier 39 in San Francisco, CA


i think emma looks a character from Wizard of Oz!

New year...

Hello all... I am making my way back to blogger world slowly but surely... my poor little kiddos came down with the flu. Anna on Friday night and Emma today... neither of my girls had ever thrown up and let me tell you, it is so awful. I am sure that most of you reading this have cleaned up a puke or two... but man it is just plain awful. Anna said she doesn't want to eat chicken nuggets anymore. That is what she threw up...

Other news in our lives... we went to San Francisco for Christmas and boy what an experience it was traveling with two little ones on a four hour flight. I actually don't recommend it. I would recommend a layover so the kids can stretch even though it would make the trip longer. Otherwise the trip was nice. We went downtown, Anna pee'd her pants so we couldn't ride the trolley... we ate at In N Out, swam in the indoor pool and got to spend lots of time with family.

Well the laptop is about to run out of power so I better go... take care all...