This is it...

My very last post of 2008. Wow, what a year this has been. We changed jobs which means we also changed churches. That was huge. I am still adjusting to the move. Dave is now a band director ..again. Our kids seemed to get BIG this year. They are in grades K,2,and 3. Time passes so fast! So many lessons learned in 2008. All were good to learn, even though some were very hard to learn. Every year I set some personal goals for the new year. Doesn't everyone. This year I hope to accomplish them! Some are more important than others. Getting healthy is always at the top of my list. This year it is really important that I do it. Spending more time in the Word and prayer. Those are just two at the top of the list. Oh, one more that I can share is I want to be more laid back. I tend to be a bit high strung sometimes:) May we all meet our goals this year! I hope you all have a great 2009.

Twas the night before Christmas Eve

For the past few years our kids have spent the night with Lori and Giny the night before Christmas Eve. This gives us a good night to help Santa get things ready for Christmas. Dave is reliving his childhood tonight with some of the gifts for the kids. It has been hilarious....if only my video camera was working. This would have been great youtube material. He was singing karaoke while playing a mini drumset. I guess you had to be here! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Making Memories

A few years ago I started getting my nieces and letting them build gingerbread houses with Abby and Erin. This year it grew to be all the girls plus Samuel and Andrew. I must say the boys did an excellent job for their first year. Samuel built a garage on his house. He is a lot like his grandaddy. Andrew surprised us tonight. I did not think he would be interested in building a house but he was. He sat there for an hour and 15 minutes working diligently on his masterpiece. The girls love this tradition. I think I enjoy it as much or more than they do. Their houses get better every year. As they were working on them tonight, I was looking at Chloe and Abby and thinking that Chloe will be 10 soon. I wonder how long this will be something they look forward to. I hope it will be a tradition that lasts for years to come. I'm 34 and I still enjoy building a gingerbread house.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Busy Weekend in Pictures

Starting Thursday we had a very busy few days. Thursday was our last day of co-op and Friday was our end of the year party with our homeschool group. Dave and the band played a special concert at Life Way bookstore on Friday also. Saturday was Abby's Christmas piano recital at the (JSU)president's house. It was beautiful and she did great. Saturday night Dave was in Jordan's wedding. It was a perfect ceremony and the reception was really fun. The kids danced, danced, danced! Sunday we worshipped with our church family and that afternoon our homeschool choir performed their Christmas songs and hymns. They are a talented group of kiddos. So that wraps up our weekend, hope you enjoyed the pictures!

My Weekly Meal Plan

After my meeting with the nutritionist on Tuesday I decided to make out a detailed meal plan for each week. I already kinda did this but not using the food guide pyramid! So for those of you who are interested, this is my plan for this week. I figure after several weeks I will have so many planned I can rotate them and change new recipes in and out without having to do a two hour planning session every week. But I love doing this....planning meals that is. So here are my 3 meals for 6 days.





Day 1
bagel
apple
coffee
milk

pb&j sandwich
yogurt

Baked Chicken
Broccoli
baked potato
whole wheat roll


Day2
yogurt
cheese toast
coffee
juice

turkey sand
w/lettuce
baked chips
apple

Lima Beans
pasta salad
cornbread
corn
peaches

Day 3
cereal/milk
coffee

healthy choice soup
crackers
apple
yogurt

Pork Tenderloin
green beans
corn
whole wheat rolls



Day 4
bagel/cr. cheese
banana
coffee

turkey sand
w/lettuce
baked chips
apple

Spaghetti
Salad
fruit?


Day5
yogurt
toast w/jelly
banana

Salad
apple
crackers

Hamburger Steak
pinto beans
pasta salad


Day 6
cereal/milk
coffee

Healthy choice soup
Crackers

Roast
Baked potato
Broccoli
Carrots
rolls

Its not perfect but I am trying to stick within the guidelines of the pyramid. I need to add a fruit or dairy here or there.....here are the number of servings I should have each day.

Milk group-3 servings

vegetable group- 3-5 servings

fruit group- 2 servings

meat group- 2 servings

bread group- 6 servings

The good news is that with a balanced diet and exercise (and little medicine for 6 months) I can turn this around! I'll keep you posted on my progress.

News of the Week

This week I got some news that wasn't so pleasant. Let me give some back information. I have not been feeling great for some time now. I have had somewhat high blood pressure, slightly high cholesterol.....things I thought only happen to really old people, not me. So my doctor did some tests, one of which was a fasting glucose screening. Well they called with the results on Friday and told me I have pre-diabetes. From what I can understand, this can be treated with diet and exercise. I have to take a class with a dietitian this week. I love to cook(and eat) so this is gonna be hard for me. I especially love to make desserts. It seems all the things I really love to eat are not good for me to eat. I have a family history of diabetes so I really have to take this seriously. I know things could be much worse....this at least is something that I can work on to reverse. So please pray for me to make good choices. I'll update you on what I learn in my class.....

Cooking and Dancing!

There's nothing like a little Thanksgiving cooking followed by some dancing......We had a great Thanksgiving. Wednesday we went to Mama's and cooked for Thursday. We made cakes, peanut butter balls, casseroles, and dressing. After dinner Thursday night what could have been better than some dancing. Lori and the kids danced and we laughed and watched them. Tracy joined in at the end.....my kids definitly get thier dancing ability from Dave and my sisters, cause I can't dance....not well anyway! It was fun and who knows, it could be our new Thanksgiving tradition....Dancing after Dinner!