Back to school...

It's that time of year again and I am not sure I am ready. I can tell you for sure that my wallet is not ready. We went school shopping today. When did my 7th grader start wearing a size 9 men's shoe? What?!

I have to say the most fun was with Cassie, our little shopping DIVA. She sparkles from head to toe and I have to say, much as I hate sequins, she is adorable. That kid cracks me up. We are now off to buy the rest of our school supplies. Lucky for us, I picked most of that up when it was on sale so it only cost me a slight fortune to equip our children for public school. They need all the help they can get.

Holy Crap!!

It's been like 6 months since my last post. What a giant slacker I am. I do have an excuse...ok, many excuses, but I won't waste your time. I promise I'll be better at posting. Unfortunately, not right now because I have a giant headache and my brain is fried. Maybe tomorrow...yeah right.

This is an awesome giveaway!!

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme


TodaysMama (link to: http://bit.ly/tmwishlist) and GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10 ) are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.


1. What is your holiday wish for your family?
My holiday wish is that we all make it to next year healthy, happy and we still like each other.

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition?
Our kids get up and come in to our room to "rouse" us from our slumber. Then they have to wait upstairs while dad goes downstairs to see if Santa came. He calls them down, we open presents and then enjoy an awesome breakfast of waffles and bacon.

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?
A trip to Tahiti or Bora Bora

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?
We do service for others, like shoveling walks and helping put up Christmas decorations. Somethimes we babysit while parents shop.

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?
Rummikub, gin rummy, mormon bridge, spoons

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?
We have an advent calendar countdown, a pajama parade, and we make the same food for Christmas Eve the family has been making for 40 years.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip?
On a Disney cruise somewhere warm.

8. Check out GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?

Wii Games, The xbox Kinect and new dsi's for the kids.

Just Thought I would share this awesome giveaway. Check out Today's Mama to get to play!!

House Hunters

Yes, we are house hunting. It sucks. For some people it is easy. For us it is a p.r.o.c.e.s.s.!!! We are difficult. I'm sure our realtor hates us, but we're paying him to hate us, right? Our house is not ready to sell, which makes frustrates the realtor even more. He doesn't understand that we are SLOW. It takes us forever to decide and by the time that we do, our house will be ready. Until then, we continue to look at a plethora of homes that may or may not spark our fancy.

We did look at a home on acreage that was styled like an English Farmhouse. We loved it. Huge problem though...1 finished bedroom. The potential for many, many more, but only one finished. Right. If we have to finish a home anyway, we are starting from the ground up and building what we want. We don't really want to do that, build. Seems like an awful lot of trouble. Todd was excited because of the acreage. He could have a really big dog and told me that I could raise chickens. Wow. Lucky me!! (If you can't tell, that is dripping with sarcasm.)

I'm thinking we should just suck it up and add on to this house. It would be fine. We love the neighborhood and are close to our friends and family. Who knows what will happen. Until it does though, pray for my realtor.

The longest 3 weeks of my life!!!

I know I said I would keep up weekly with my dieting progress, but things have been a little hairy around here. Luckily for me, the first (and hardest) 3 weeks of this diet are over. I am very excited to report that in a mere 3 weeks, I lost 20 lbs and 23 1/2 inches. The difference is amazing. Todd is a maniac!! In the same 3 weeks, he has lost a total of 36 lbs and 34 inches. This "diet" is fabulous and I know we both feel fantastic. What a difference without the caffeine addiction (hehehe) and the sugar highs and lows. I would highly recommend this to anyone. If you would like more info, please let me know. I will rave to you about it!!!

Week 1 is done!!

Week one of our diet is done and here are our results:

Ally lost 8 lbs and 7 inches
Todd lost 15 lbs and 15 inches

The guys always lose faster and better than the girls!! It 's been tough but with results like this, we are so not complaining!! On to Week 2!!

Are you Pregnant?

Now that I have your attention, NO I AM NOT!!! Todd and I just started a new diet called the HCG diet. Basically you take the pregnancy hormone HCG and it helps you lose weight. Amanda lost 40 lbs, Shawna lost 25 lbs. and Andrew lost 136 lbs. With these kind of results we decided it couldn't hurt to try so we jumped in feet first. Things are going well, in the first 2 days Todd lost 6 lbs and I lost 4 lbs.. Onward and downward...we'll keep you posted.