Happy 4th Birthday Brendan

We had Brendan's 4th birthday party at Jump-N-Fun & it was so much fun! Brendan had 15 friends come to his party and many, many adults. We had cake, pizza and a special surprise visit from Spiderman! That was probably the best thing about this party from the eyes of Brendan. Spiderman came and jumped in the bouncehouses & slides with the kids, but he had to go rescue someone just as we were getting started with pizza & cake. Here are some pictures to recapture our special day. I love you, Brendan!

The NACA Journey Officially Begins!

We attended our first intake meeting on November 3, 2008! This is such an exciting time in our life and we could not be happier to share it with our friends and family. Thank you all for being so supportive. We have a few steps to complete before we will be ready to purchase our home, but we hope to be done around February 2009! That is only 3 months away!! Whoo hoo! I will keep you posted as our journey continues and of course when we are done with the program and have purchased our home, everyone is welcome for a party! I can not wait to have you all over to OUR new home! :-)

Pumpkin Patch 2008

There is something special about watching the kids in the pumpkin patch. Who knew that a big orange gourd could be so much fun? Although it seems we are a bit late getting a pumpkin this year, we still had lots of fun at the Covenant United Methodist Church Pumpkin Patch. They had many to choose from and we love the idea of supporting a local church through the purchase of a pumpkin. We will be carving this good ole guy this afternoon when Daddy comes home from work.

Halloween Portrait Session 2008

The boys had sooo much fun taking these pictures! We went to Portrait Innovations (as usual!) and had them made. I can't wait to see how much fun the have on Halloween this year! Are they not the cutest pirates you have ever seen?

Kaleb's 2nd Birthday Party

When Kaleb found out it was time for his birthday party, he was so excited! All week long he talked about his birthday "potty" (for party) and his cake. We had beautiful weater all week long and the day before Kaleb's party, the weather drops to the low 60's. Lovely. Knowing that he was very excited about his party, we decided to go ahead. Afterall, the kids could wear coats and long sleeves-right?

The morning started out great! Everyone was up and ready when we were supposed to leave and Ashley and I drove out to Summerfield to blow up balloons (for free) at the real estate office she works at. Donald followed behind us. We blew up about 30 large balloons. When we came out, we saw that Donald had left, so we had to figure out how to get 2 people, 30 large baloons and the cooler into her 2-door Honda Civic. Funny. We had no choice, so we did eventually figure it out. I was covered in balloons and we laughed about how I had a built in air bag in the event of a car crash. I called Donald and we met back up to transfer these balloons to our car. Off to the park. Everything went great and we had a blast at the party. We grilled out hot dogs and Aunt Lindsey made a very cool clown cake for our little birthday boy! Kaleb had so much fun with his family and friends. We made chocolate covered apples with sprinkles, oreo crumbles and M&M's. We hired a clown, but Yippee Spoon was sick so Sweet Tart filled in for her. She was wonderful. The kids got balloon animals and face painting done. They all seemed to enjoy the party.

Happy 2nd Birthday Kaleb

Gem Panning

On October 12th, we went gem panning at Castle McCulloch with the Millard family. We all had such a great time! The weather was beautiful and it was the perfect day to get out and do some activities outside.

After learning of the different prices of buckets we could choose from, we chose to do one $10 gem bucket and one $10 fossil bucket. We started with the gem bucket and I was amazed at what came out of there for $10!! Huge chunks of amethyst, pirates gold, aquamarine, rose quartz, crystal quartz, citrine, etc. Beautiful! Although Brendan is stoked about finding a shark's tooth, the fossil bucket was less appealing. A cool experience, but we would definitely stick to the gems in the future!

Weigh-In Results 9/26/08

So, the past few days I have been a bit um....slack. I will even use the word bit very, very lightly. It's been a rough few days and there really is no excuse for it. So, I went off my diet and ate like a crazy person that has been dieting for a while. I'm talking double cheeseburgers, mac and cheese, cake, taco dip, yeah...I could go on and on. Well, that is all in the past...I hit a new low today for this cycle of my diet. I have now dropped a total of 17.4 pounds and lost 16.25 inches!!! Yes, inches! I lost a freaking inch in one arm.....wow. That was exactly what I needed to see to remind me of why I am doing this. Afterall, it is the inches that I am most concerned with anyways. So, here is to a fresh start and a new low!!! It is just going to get better from here.......cause CRUISE FOOD TASTES BETTER AND BEING SKINNY WILL FEEL SO MUCH BETTER THAN ANY KIND OF FOOD WILL EVER TASTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CIW Completion!

I have made my way through the CIW program! It all began April 15th, 2008 and we just finished last night, September 18, 2008. I do have another exam to pass, but can consider myself CIW certified! Although I learned massive amounts of information and obtained design and technical skills through the class, there is still so much more for me to learn. I will be enrolling for more classes very soon. Thanks to everyone that supported me throughout the program.

Kaleb's 2nd Birthday Party Is Coming Up!

This year has flown by so quickly. I can not believe that it's time to start planning birthday parties...again! Kaleb's invitation is finished and here it is for you all to see! We are doing a clown party for him and Yippee Spoon's Clown Service is going to provide entertainment with face painting and balloon animals. This is sure to be a great party! Click on the image to the left to go to see it larger.

Natural Air Freshener!

I just found an amazing way to make your house smell fabulous...easily and cheap! Take a pot of water and add ground cinnamon or cinnamon sticks if you have them. Do NOT boil--just let it simmer. The entire house will smell so good in no time at all. I can only imagine if we did this everyday. It's a perfect scent--just in time for the fall season. Just don't forget about it, or it will smell worse than it did when you started and you'll be purchasing a new pot!! Let me know how you like the results!!

Weigh In Results 9/12/08

Even after a week at the beach, I am pleased to announce that I have now lost a total of 16.3 pounds! Yippee! Although I often feel like it is coming off so slowly...I remind myself of what one pound of fat looks like. Here, have a peak.

Yes, this is what ONE pound of human fat looks like inside of our body. Knowing that I have lost 16 of these reminds me how grateful I am to even be losing the pounds. I can't wait to report again next week. Maybe soon I will make my first goal of 20 pounds!

Myrtle Beach September 8, 2008

Today is the day that Brendan and I have been waiting all summer for! We are taking a helicopter tour of North Myrtle Beach! To start the day off right, we went our for breakfast at a place called Friendly's. With so many choices, I vote them for the best menu around. After breakfast we drove to the helicopter terminal and prepared for our flight. At first, I was a little scared. However, it was so beautiful and the best thing I have ever done at the beach. Brendan was allowed to sit in the front seat next to the pilot and had the best seat in the helicopter. He was so darn cute and enjoyed every minute of the ride. Kaleb was a little skittish and was unsure of what we were doing.

After the helicopter tour, we went to Barefoot Landing and shopped for a bit. Of course, Donald had to visit The Christmas Mouse and found several things that he liked. I am glad Christmas makes him so happy! After a good nap, we went out for an early dinner to a local seafood buffet. The boys got to try new foods and since I was on lean and green, I ate peel & eat shrimp until I could pop! After asking Brendan and Kaleb what they wanted to do after dinner, it was agreed upon that we would go back to the hotel and swim some more---surprise, right? . More sand, swimming, waves and kite flying!