No Junk Food Challenge Update

Well, I'm 1 week in to my 21 day no junk food challenge and so far, sorta good. HA! I have had nothing but water to drink for a solid week now. No soda, no juice, no tea, no koolaid, nothing. Just water. I'm getting bored with it. There have been so many days this week that I've wanted to run in and chug a soda. It's my downfall. I love it. Dr. Pepper may be the greatest drink ever invented as far as I'm concerned. But, I have been wanting to drink more water and less soda and I think doing this challenge will get my body used to doing without it so that when I do have one, it's more of a treat. The first 3 days were really hard. The caffeine headaches weren't too bad, but I just missed having that fizz with my lunch every day.

I've been eating great until last night. I broke down and had a Skinny Cow for dessert after dinner. I figure if I had to eat something sweet, the Skinny Cow was my best bet. At 1.5 grams of fat and 130 calories, it wasn't too bad of a choice. Other than that, if I want something sweet, I've been eating fat free vanilla yogurt with a little low fat granola mixed in for some crunch. I haven't had a bite of fried food, fast food, etc. in a week. Getting tired of salads and turkey sandwiches for lunch, but I'm really trying to complete my challenge and see how I feel at the end of it. I know what I'm eating is so much healthier for me. Lots more fruits and veggies and lots of lean meat - I'm sure my body is thanking me. My mind is coming around - there are days where my mind almost takes over and I dive in to a Big Mac! HAHA!

Exercising has been going well, too. Haven't done it every day this week, just 4 days. I've done a mixture of resistance and running. I'm running my next 5k on March 31st, so I have to keep going on my treadmill to be ready to go in March! I'm super excited about this 5k!! More details on that later - it's one that if you live in this area, you won't want to miss!

So, the biggest news on this whole update is that I lost 3 lbs. this week! WOO HOO!! Felt good seeing that this morning - I guess this whole "eating right and exercising" stuff does work after all! Here's to another week of making good choices! I hope I can keep it up!

Oh and WOO PiG SOOIE! Way to go Razorbacks on the big 2012 Cotton Bowl Win! Lots of excited people down in Hog Country! :)

Goals for 2012

Every year I make a resolution or two - some I follow through with, some I fail at within days. Last year, my goal was to run 2-3 5k races to get back into shape after having Mabrie. I started running again in the spring (she was about 5-6 months old) and ran a 5k in April, May and then another in November. It feels so good to set a goal and follow through with it.

This year, I am going to really try to lose those last 10 lbs. that are still hanging on for dear life. Even though I run, I don't eat as well as I should, I drink WAY too much soda and I feel like I'm kind of sabotaging my workouts. So, starting yesterday, I went cold turkey on soda and junk food. Now, I can't say that I'll go a whole year without my beloved Dr. Pepper or a bite of something sweet and yummy. I'm not that crazy! My goal for the no junk food/soda is 21 days. I'm trying to go a full 3 weeks (and maybe all of January) eating as healthy as possible. I want to give my body a jump start and I think this is the way to do it. I am also going to try and workout at least 4 days a week. More if possible. I want to live a healthy life and be an example to my girls. By no means do I think I'm overweight - I just want to be as healthy and fit as possible and I want my kids to desire to be healthy as well. I'll update through the month to try and keep myself accountable - if I have to write it down and share with my blog buddies, then I'm more apt to stick with it. I do miss my DP though. And my peanut M&M's are in the kitchen taunting me every time I walk by. Torture, I tell you. Torture.

The next goal for this year is WAY more important than the first one I listed. It's dealing with my spiritual life. I want to pray more. I want to pray for my husband, my girls, my family, friends, the sweet kids in Haiti, our missionaries that are getting ready to leave the US and move their family to Haiti to serve in the orphanage, and so much more. Not just quick, little prayers (and those are ok, we should pray continuously) but spend real time praying over all these things. In order to do this, I'm going to have to let go of some of the things that take up so much of my time - things that don't matter. I need to spend less time on the computer, on my phone messing around and more time in God's Word and praying for people. Big goal - important goal!

My last goal for 2012 is to get organized. We don't have a ton of space in this house anymore - the people outnumber the bedrooms! HA! That is totally fine and I'm not complaining - I'm thankful for our home and I love the memories we have here. It's a happy home. But, it could be a more organized home and I plan to get on top of that. Room by room, closet by closet. It'll take time and persistence, but I think I can do it.

Have you made any resolutions or set any goals for this year? Share away....

Christmas Eve Traditions

I love Christmas Eve! We have several traditions that we love to do with our girls. Since we don't live near family and usually we are with them until after Christmas, we spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day with our girls, enjoying this time with just them. We always go out to dinner, then head to our Christmas Eve service at church and then come back home and they open their Christmas PJ's. It's so much fun and a tradition I hope we continue for years and years to come!

This year, we went to Red Lobster and had a yummy meal. It's probably Macie's favorite place to eat - and one of my favorites, too! Our church service was really nice (although I spent about 1/2 of it out in the hallway with a loud 1 year old - HA! It was like a mini-nursery out in the hall, too, lots of restless babies!). Afterwards, we came home, let the girls open their PJ's and read the Christmas story with the older two. We want our girls to remember that while the gifts, dinner out, visiting with family and friends and all the excitement of this night is fun, the most important part of the whole season is Jesus! Without Him, there'd be no reason to celebrate. We are so thankful that He came here to us, as a baby, but even more thankful that that same baby lived a perfect life and died a painful death on the cross for our sins. Because of that, we get to spend eternity with him in Heaven someday! So thankful for a Saviour that loves us so much! I pray that you, too, know how much He loves you and that you have asked him to be your personal savior! There's no greater gift!!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Closet Hoarder

If you know me well, you know a couple of things.

1. I am an anti-hoarder - like, it's so bad that my kids know that I throw EVERYTHING away so they have a box that they have to keep things in that they don't want to end up in the trash can. They come home from school with something, I look at it and in the trash it goes. (I know - Mother of the Year).

2. While I like things clean, I am not very organized. I want to be, I love the look of organized homes, pantries, cabinets, etc., but I just lack something that organized people have.

So, last night, I'm texting my friend Holly (we kind of have this habit of night time texting - and it's always random and hilarious. I joke with her that she's my late-night rapid fire texting buddy). Anyway, I'm texting Holly, and somehow we get on the subject of houses/cleaning/organizing/weird OCD traits, and during our text convo, I tell her that my house is ALWAYS picked up before bed. Things are put away, dishes are done, toys picked up, bedrooms cleaned. I can't stand to wake up to a mess. Then I proceed to tell her that while I do all of that, she should see my closet/pantry. It's awful. Unorganized. Hideous. Picture the most beautiful closet you've ever seen. Now, picture the exact opposite of that. That's my closet. We laughed (via lots of LOL's) and sent each other a few pictures of weird things in our home and then we said goodnight. Yes, this is really what we do.

Fast forward to this afternoon. I got thinking about our texts and went in my closet to take a real good look. I was disturbed. My base boards in there - never and I mean in almost 7 years - been dusted. Piles of junk. Shoes EVERYWHERE. Boxes, that I thought I needed to save, still in there about 5 years later. A high school duffle bag that I used when I cheered (with my name on it) - yep, still up there. It was embarrassing. Something had to be done. Immediately. So, I go to the kitchen, grab a bunch of trash bags, and I went to town. I whipped out my vacuum and all the fancy tools that people normally don't use and I cleaned every nook and cranny in that place. It still wouldn't make the pages of a magazine, but it's better. I don't fear the Hoarders TV show and a group of friends showing up at my front door for an intervention anymore. I walk in there and feel so happy. I filled our giant trash can today with just stuff from the closet. I was on a mission. Landfills don't scare me. I'm filling the land with a bunch of old junk and I like it.

I expect Green Peace at my door soon. I may need an intervention after all.

Before

And AFTER

Real Life at the Cash House

So, I could write a post on something precious that my girls did or said that made me feel like I was the mother of the year, doing everything right all the time. But, it's real life here. And sometimes it's just funny (and a little gross). So, here's the conversation I overheard last night between Macie and Mike after he had already tucked them in bed for the night.

Macie: "Daddy, Maddie keeps tooting and it really reeks!"
Mike: "Well, Macie, what do you want me to do?"
Macie: "I'm just worried that if she keeps tooting that she's gonna poop in the bed!"
Mike: "Macie, she's not gonna poop in the bed, but if you are that worried about it, go get in your own bed."

Around 10 p.m., I went in to check on them before I went to bed and Macie had moved to the top bunk. She wasn't taking any chances.

Just keeping it real. Toots, poop and all. It's how we roll. :)

Staying Busy at Christmastime

Every year I'm surprised at just how busy we are between Thanksgiving and Christmas and how fast that month flies by! We have had a lot going on: We traveled the week of Thanksgiving to visit Mike's family, put up our Christmas tree, had our SS class Christmas party, visited with friends, had sleepovers, birthday parties, church programs, a Christmas parade, MOPS and so much more and it's only the 2nd week of December! WHEW! But, even with all of that, I wouldn't change a thing! We are so blessed to have family that we can go visit and great friends here that we love spending time with. At some point, I'll finish my Christmas shopping. This week, I'm determined to make it happen. :)

Here's a bit of our life this past month in picture form!

Thanksgiving with Mike's family

Putting up the tree

SS Class Christmas Party (Minus all the husbands)

Fun with friends!!

I don't have pictures of some of the other things we've been doing, but I have to say, we've had a wonderful holiday season so far. Looking forward to the next couple of weeks and praying that all of you have a blessed Christmas!

My thoughts for today

So, Albert Pujols is leaving the Cardinals for another team and a lot of money. And people are MAD. Here's what has me fired up:

This is a baby that Mike held and loved on during his mission trip to Haiti in October. This child was going to be thrown away - YES, in a trash can, by his mother. He was starving, can't walk and needs someone to just love him.

And we are mad about baseball.

Perspective, people.