Family Musings

The summer months bring out the fountain beverage fiend in me! I can hardly make it on a car trip greater than 45 minutes without wanting to stop for a super cold fountain beverage. Typically, I am not picky about where the drink comes from. I just want it cold. Ice cold. I was getting gas recently and saw that Race Trac was going to sell a reusable cup for $6.99 that came with free refills all summer! (Until September 6th) And Race Trak has crushed ice. Jackpot! Then... to make the deal even cooler, Mom Select  gave me a $10 giftcard to buy my own cup for review. And they also asked me to giveaway a $10 Race Trak giftcard. Now I can shared my crushed ice love. I shouldn't have all the free refills... though I've probably refilled my cup 20 times in the last 14 days! The refill process is super quick so long as the line isn't long. And even then, I've had the cashiers ring me up on someone else's order just to move me along. So, if you like Race Trak, ice cold...

When my brother announced he was moving his family to TN, the women in our family immediately knew we needed to get some family photos taken. Fortunately, I'd recently reconnected with a friend from high school who is a photographer, Abby Blom, and this is some of what we ended up with. Thanks Abby!

Mary has been enjoying herself this week at VBS as well, though she wasn't really interested in getting her picture taken. :)

For Father's Day, I sent Bruce on a 3-day motorcycle trip. Yep. That's right. I'm a good wife. :) And then, while he was gone, I set up an office for him. A private space where he could work on his lesson plans and Bible studies with minimal interruption. Yep. That's right. I'm a great wife. :) Before my head gets too big though, I will say it isn't anything fancy. We don't have a lot of room to work with here so he gets half of our guest room. But it is his. And he can keep his mess stuff behind a closed door. So, while I was busy clearing out what had become a major storage space, this is what Bruce was up to.

Yesterday was Charlotte's first day of VBS ever. I mean real VBS. With teachers and stories and crafts and recreation time and music time. It was so exciting for me and for her too. She even memorized her first verse for the week and remembers it this morning - I am wonderfully made. Psalm 139.14 In front of the building, ready to go in! Settled into her classroom, playing with ponies. The theme this week is Saddle Ridge Ranch. *VBS is Vacation Bible School. Christian churches plan activities for elementary aged kids to enjoy, typically over the course of 3-5 days. Children are divided by grade/age and learn about Jesus from their teachers through stories, games, and songs.

I left teaching the year before one of the coolest things to come to my school ever happened. Fortunately, I was able to live vicariously through my husband when he had a SMART Board installed in his classroom. When MomCentral contacted me about the Smart Love of Learning tour, I decided to share it with you (because I know some of you are teachers, will be teachers, or were teachers) because it was a product I knew I could get behind. Or next to. Or in front of. Because really, you can stand anywhere in your room to use a SmartBoard! But, since I've never actually used one, I asked my wonderful husband to tell you what he liked about it. And before you read this, trust me when I tell you that he gives VERY FEW things a glowing review. :) Teachers in my school district are strongly encouraged to integrate technology in their teaching. Our annual evaluations even include a section just for our use of technology. So, it was a great blessing when my classroom was one of the first e...

Recently, I decided to turn my blog into a Do Follow blog. I thought it would be a nice gesture towards those who faithfully comment. Now, I'd like to extend that favor to the rest of mommy blogdom. So, if you are a mom who blogs and has removed the no-follow tags from your blog, please leave a comment below so I can add you to my master Do Follow Mommy Blog List. Family Musings Work at Home Mom Revolution Freebie Spot Mommy Rubz Belly Baby Babble Lots of Fun Times Three JoniRae You could be next... If you want to help spread the do follow love, please consider adding a link to this list on your own blog. <br> <br/><a href="</span><strong><code>http://www.familymusings.com/2010/06/do-follow-mommy-blogs.html</code></strong><span class="postbody">">Do Follow List<br/> It will look like this - Do Follow List

Nearly four and a half years ago, I experienced the most successful weight loss of my adult life - nearly 60 pounds while a member of Weight Watchers. Now, I find myself 7 pounds heavier than I was at the beginning of that journey with two little girls who have a lot to learn from me. I want to have more energy for chasing them around the play ground. I want them to learn to love their fruits and veggies. I want my husband to think he has the hottest wife in the room. I can do or be all of these things. This year, 2010, God has been working on me and my relationship to food. He has put some amazing women back in my path (Kelly and Babs, I'm talking about you!) to show me what is really happening in the love triangle between the plate, my mouth, and my heart. I know that food is meant to nourish my body, not my soul. That is God's job. With God leading the way (most days), I am once again following the Weight Watchers program (I've lost 6.6 pounds so far) and have ta...

I loved Charlotte. I wanted to set a good example for her. But really, can an infant really understand what the Little Debbie wrappers represent? Nah! I thought to myself, I'll wait until she is a little older than I'll buckle down and get my weight under control. And I did, sorta. When we moved to Lakeland I re-joined Weight Watchers and also purchased a gym membership. I made a friend to go with me. I even took four personal training sessions. But I just couldn't make it stick. I made marginal progress and eventually convinced Bruce it was time to try for another baby. My minor weight loss success was enough to convince him I meant business. I did mean business. I really wanted to be healthier. My second pregnancy was going to be more natural and a midwife was involved. I managed to keep my weight gain at a healthy level, though it was on the high side of the scale this time. Once Mary was born in the fall of 2009, I repeated the same cycle of sleeplessness. There w...

 Pregnancy is an exciting time! You get to feel a new life growing in your tummy. Dreams of the future take over your brain. And you can gain weight with no one caring! Woo hoo! Okay, not really. At least for that last part. People do care if you gain weight when you are pregnant. Your OB cares. Your husband cares. Your clothing budget cares. A few weeks after finding out that we were pregnant with Charlotte, my family went on a 7 day cruise to celebrate the 20th anniversary of my parents. I was no longer counting Weight Watcher points and ate whatever I pleased, secure in the knowledge that it was now okay to gain weight, how else would I begin to look pregnant?! What logic! I knew better in my head, but just could not get my mouth and hand to listen. The first couple of months of my pregnancy, I felt like the Weight Watcher run had been pulled out from underneath me. Due to a lack of research, Weight Watchers does not allow you to remain on the program if you are pregnant. ...

This is turning into weight loss week... hope you don't mind. Here are some pictures of what I looked like in 2006, shortly before I became pregnant with Charlotte. I am posting them to remind me of my prior success. Weight Watchers has a fancy name for this, Recall, or something. They teach that in order to stay the course, we should remind ourselves of when we've been successful in the past. This will motivate us. I just have to add that the outfit in the second picture came from Ann Taylor. That really is my style and my whole wardrobe would come from Ann Taylor if a) my budget allowed it and b) my body could wear her clothes. --------------- For more Wordless Wednesdays, visit 5 Minutes for Mom At Home with Auntie E Experimental Mommy From Val's Kitchen Go Graham Go! Happily Blended Here and There Live and Love...Out Loud Look What Mom Found The Mommy-Files Momspective Mom Knows It All What's That Smell? Wordless Wednesday 7 Clown Circus - Wordful Wednesday

I don't think I ever really intended to use my blog as a place to seek weight loss motivation, but ultimately, what I need is accountability. And I have some great readers that I know will encourage me and follow up with me as I am trying to lose weight in 2010. A little more about my weight loss in 2006... I was very successful on Weight Watchers because of the weekly accountability and encouragement it provided. My leader was AWESOME and REAL and we still keep in touch until this day. Through Weight Watchers, I lost nearly 60 pounds in 11 months. That was about 5.5 pounds per month, which is a very healthy rate of weight loss. My exercise routine consisted of daily walking Monday - Friday plus several sessions with a personal trainer. My trainer pushed me harder than I would have pushed myself and wouldn't let me get away with saying no to something. I sweat like a pig when we worked out together and wouldn't trade that experience for anything. It was money well spe...

This is a repost of something I wrote in 2006 when I began the first successful weight loss program of my adult life. I thought it was valuable to take a look back now that I am in a similar mental place with my current weight loss. I'll be following up over the next week or so about what has been happening since then. Losing weight is hard. Being fat is hard. Now, pick your hard. I pick losing weight. I have had weight issues since about sixth grade when my family moved to a new town right at the beginning of summer. I did not know anyone in town and spent most of the summer eating to stave off the boredom that came with my loneliness. That began a pattern in my life of turning to food to solve all sorts of emotional issues. I was rewarded for good deeds with food treats, anything from a simple desert to a special meal out at a restaurant. I was told to cheer up and have a cookie; it would make me feel better. (Note: I'm not complaining about my parents. Hi...