Happiness is...

A little boy's voice yelling from an upstairs bedroom. "Mommy! C'mere, mommy!" Even at 6:45 in the morning.

A precious little girl that is trying her hardest to stand up on her own.

Two kids that are growing beautifully and learning more every day.

Two kids whose blankie love rivals Linus's.

Dreaming up a new plan for the outside of your house.

 

(I want to find some sort of planter for up next to the door too..)

And the ultimate happiness?

Stepping on the scale and realizing you are only 12 pounds from your weight loss goal. Holy crap.

Please pay no attention to my lack of pedicure and flip flop tan lines.

Life is good today.

Getting back on track.

It's official. I fell back into a funk in the past few weeks.

I stopped dieting. Ugh, I hate myself for it, but I was so burnt out from months of counting every single thing I ate and decided to go crazy. There really is no excuse for it, because I was doing so well. I know it's because I stopped using Weight Watchers and no longer have to be held accountable for what I'm shoveling into my mouth. There have been days that I decided to drink regular Coke instead of Diet, which undoubtedly will help me gain back 10 pounds, easy.

And exercise? Psh, what's that? We all know that I had been giving the C25k program a shot in the beginning of the summer, but shin splints ended that adventure. Josh's stepdad gave me some pointers to avoid the shin splints, so I am planning on getting my butt in gear and going out for morning runs 3 times a week. I am kicking myself for being so close to my goal and giving up. Because let's face it, taking a break is essentially giving up.

What brings me to this conclusion? Well, for starters, I want to revamp my wardrobe. I am a jeans and tshirt kind of girl, but there are times that I feel like throwing on a pretty dress and feeling good about myself. And have you seen Ashley at The Stauffer Shenanigans? She looks amazing, and she hasn't given up! She is my motivation.

If you read this and you have some inspiration to help motivate my lazy self, lay it on me. I am 15 pounds away from my goal and I KNOW I can do it.

It's August!

Ahh, August. One month closer to my favorite season, fall. I can't be happy living in Michigan. I hate the snow and driving in the winter, but also loathe the humidity and heat of the summer. So when fall and spring roll around, I am a happy camper. Anyway..

This fall holds some excitement for our house. I have finally decided to go to college (emphasis on finally), and will be starting my classes in the first week of September. I have decided to work toward a degree in accounting, starting off with 2 years at a community college before transferring to a university. Lord help me. I haven't gone to school in 5 years, when I attended one semester at a community college in California. The pessimistic side of me worries that I will do an awful job. Like high school all over again. Who had time to study or do homework? Life at 16 consisted of chasing after boys and hanging out with friends. School work took the backseat to everything else in life.

Now, I'm 25, and I have a high school education. Not good enough. I have enjoyed my time at home with the kids, but they won't stay young forever. One day, they'll go to school, and I won't want to sit around here anymore. So going to school to get an education that will lead me to a job is what is best for us. Not only will I get some adult conversation/interaction every day, but we will have extra money. That sounds amazing. I look forward to getting out and actually doing something with my life.

Also coming this fall, a little boy will turn 3. Say what?! 3? I think I need a drink.

Big Trucks!

Yesterday, our local library invited kids and their parents to come down and learn about safety. Like what to do if there is a down power line, or where not to play when the snow plows are on the roads. We watched a quick video about how to be safe outside, got a super cool (not so) hard hat, and went outside to look at some big trucks. Luckily, the sun wasn't out yet, so it wasn't too terribly hot.

But before we went outside, Cameron let me take a couple of pictures of him with the road signs. He looks thrilled, doesn't he?

 After I was done torturing him inside, we got to go out to the parking lot to check out the trucks. Little boy was in heaven. He didn't know which one to stare at first, or which one he wanted to sit in. There were a lot of people there, and the temperature had started creeping up, so we compromised on looking at the fire truck and sitting in a front loader. He absolutely loves fire trucks and was in awe of the one they had on display there. It was too bad they didn't let the kids sit inside of it, because he would have been a happy boy.

Hannah's 1st year

This post is going to be quite picture heavy, so get ready for a cuteness overload!

 It's so fun to see how she's grown over the past year. She has gotten so much bigger, but hasn't grown much more hair. ;)

She had her 1-year check up yesterday, and she is still growing beautifully. My big girl has always maintained her spot in the 95th percentile, and this visit proved she is still there. She didn't get any taller in the 3 months since her last visit. The nurse re-measured her 3 times to be sure. According to her data, Hannah actually shrunk half an inch since last time. The pediatrician said that their way of measuring babies is not very accurate since different people measure her every time, and that the person who measured her last time must have gotten her to stretch out a little more than necessary. Anyway, here are the graphs to show how she has grown in her first year. She's a big girl!

 And just for comparison, at his 1 year check up, Cameron weighed just under 21 pounds and was 30.5 inches long.

Hannah turned 1.

Hannah celebrated her very first birthday on Friday. It was a bittersweet day for me, though. She is our last baby, so it was kind of sad to see her turn 1, but it is also great because she's turning into a fun little girl.

We took both the kids out for dinner for her birthday on Friday night, and it was a short-lived event. The kids were both battling a mild stomach bug and weren't hungry, so they weren't exactly excited to sit and watch us eat. Oh well. Here's Hannah enjoying a yeast roll at Texas Roadhouse.

Saturday was a pretty low-key day. We relaxed for most of the day. My mom wanted to get Hannah a Cozy Coupe for her birthday, so we went to the store to pick that up, and while the kids took their afternoon nap, Josh put it together for her. It is amazing how different those things are now. Cameron's (from a garage sale) looks like a beater compared to hers.

 (sorry the pictures are so crappy. it was hot and we were in the shade. these are from my cell phone)

And yesterday (Sunday), we headed to Josh's mom's house for Hannah's birthday party. She is a beloved little girl. She was spoiled by her grand (& great grand) parents. She has a great start to her fall wardrobe and a super cute dollhouse to play with. (Although Cameron thinks it's his). She had a huge lunch, complete with 1.5 hot dogs and a ton of fruit. That girl loves her fruit. And she ate quite a bit of a cupcake, which is a big deal for her. She doesn't like a ton of sweets.

 And she was still so hungry, she tried to eat a Lego man. ;)

 
 Anyway, while Hannah was eating her cupcake, Cameron sat down just long enough to eat the frosting off his. He couldn't be away from Hannah's new dollhouse very long, heaven forbid she tried to play with it!

Pictures from our vacation.

This is the sky in Chicago before we took off to Scottsdale.

Hannah's new sun hat. 

Cameron and his daddy took a hike in the mountains.

And took a much needed water break afterward.

We had a small birthday celebration for Hannah. I love her smile.

We took a family picture. (LOL at Josh. He should have left his sunglasses on)

And finally, we said goodbye.