for Susan& Eric

Happy 10th Anniversary!!! Hope you have an awesome day!

an update

Sleeping in. Eating turkey sandwiches for breakfast. Staying in pj's until 9:00. Playing legos. Playing video games. Connor is enjoying his week. No big brother and sister around to bother him. Although it has yet to work, he does enjoy telling Harmony and Ethan " I don't have to, it's not a school night for me!"

Tomorrow we wrap up the first week of school. Connor has a "peek in" tomorrow, where he gets to go and find his mailbox, his seat and all that fun stuff. His teacher came and visited with him on Tuesday. She was such a sweet lady and I know Connor is going to have a blast being in her class. Of course, she won his affection when she mentioned that she has LEGOS to play with during free time! Connor knows 3 kids in his class already, one being our neighbor. I can't wait until he starts.

Ethan came home on the first day, with a pb cup, that a girl had given him. Always the ladies man, that one! I asked him if he met the other Ethan in his class. He said, " yeah but guess what? He has bags." I asked him what kind of bags and he replied " bags under his eyes Mom." So funny, the things that kids notice. His teacher is really sweet and I think Ethan is almost up to her shoulders! He is loving the independence of walking to and from school everyday.I was a little concerned about it, but just about every single child in the complex walks. There are 140 units here and you have to have at least 2 kids to live here. That's a lot of kids! Ethan is also excited because he has a pizza party on Friday!

Harmony came home yesterday and said "guess what Mom?! Mr. Kranz said we get to blow something up tomorrow!" I have never seen her so excited over a science project! She is having a great time and says that "Mr Kranz is very nice and verrrry funny." She likes walking too. She told me she likes it better in the morning when it is a little cooler. She has not been having fun waking up early but what are you gonna do? She has pe today,and I know she is a little concerned. But one of the girls in her class told her that the pe teacher is really nice. I think anything would be an improvement from her last one!

Yesterday, I got Ivan signed up for a drop in day care program. You call the day before and pay

$3 an hour. It will be so nice to drop him off so that I can go grocery shopping and other errands. He is also signed up for a "bug safari" play group. I go with him and it is 2 hrs. on M,W, F. Plus we are going to sign up for Mommy and Me swim lessons. So even Ivan is going to be busy!

I am now officially the spouse club president for our wardroom. I am looking forward to it. I think it will be fun. We are trying to get a scrapbook club going with that. So it should be fun.

Ben is busy,busy,busy! Between work, pt ( physical training 4x's a week) his calling as the ward clerk (gone every Tuesday evening and goes to church early and comes home later) we hardly see him! Luckily we have him on Saturdays!!

I think that is about it! Because of some "double booking" of the baptismal font, Harmony isn't going to be baptized this week. She is going to be doing it the evening of the 7th. She had her interview on Sunday and is very excited. Life is never dull!

help me out...

A while ago,I bought an "all about me" album. And I am just now getting around to putting it together. One of the pages, I am supposed to ask friends and family, to pick one word they would use to describe me. So if you could do me a favor and either leave a comment, or email me with your word, I would appreciate it. But you have to be nice ok?! :)Go easy on me! Thanks everybody!

back to school

Oh how I love Guam!! With it's beautiful beaches, swaying palm trees, amazing views...and it's power outtages!

I woke up at 5 this morning, so that I could exercise. I got up and noticed that a) Ivan't light was on and b) he was not in the room. So I went in to put my contacts in, before I went searching for my youngest child. I had one contact in, and one on my finger ( I think it is time to look into lasik) when the power went out.

Ben must have been somewhat awake, because when I told him what happened, he got out of bed. He is so sweet, and went and found a light so that I could put my contact in. Ben actually bought a set of tools that came with this light and he said, " I don't know what I will use this for" but it was a good deal on tools. Long story short...we were glad to have it.

By this time though, my darling daughter was awake and extremely anxious to get ready for school. However, we still had to find Ivan! He was asleep,or half way, on the couch. Crazy boy. So it was 5:30 with 2 kids awake. By 6, here comes a fully dressed Ethan, ready to head off to school. And I am praying for the power to come on, because I am tired of entertaining them without the tv, and am thinking it is going to be a long 2 hours until school.

One thing about having the power out, is that you can go outside and get back to school pictures. Snapped those and about that time the power was back on. Yeah! I got ready to go, fed them breakfast and we walked the kids up to school. Connor complained the whole way! The other two were fine though. I tried to tell him that the walk to the school was not as far as walking around legoland and he did that just fine!

The front of the school was packed, and each teacher had a sign, so the kids knew where to go. Harmony's teacher is a big guy, named Mr Kranz, who I have heard wonderful things about. He seemed really nice, and when we said that Harmony was shy...he told her not to worry, that he had been shy too. Ethan has Ms Gonzalez and she was very sweet. They are going to meet each other after school and walk home together. Then tomorrow they are on their own...well them and the dozens of kids that live here!

So today I am cleaning, organizing and possibly some scrapbooking. :) I love the first day back!

How do YOU get ready?

I was reading a scrapbooking magazine, and they had a challenge of trying to capture a different sort of " back to school pictures". Of course I will also be snapping the first day ones, but as I was looking around the kitchen yesterday, it made me think of some of the other ways, we have been getting ready...

** backpacks have been packed ( awhile ago!)

** new lunch bags with names and phone numbers in them

**fun lunch foods (the price for a school lunch here is almost $3!! Yikes. So the kids are brown bagging it this year)

** bags of paper towels, kleenex, soap etc. are waiting to go to teachers

**reading tests have been taken ( a requirement for new kids to the school)

**orientation has been attended

** today we are heading to the commissary ( yes the COMMISSARY) to look at class lists and find out who the kid's teachers will be

**back to school sleep schedule is in full force ( and the kids hate it!

School starts on Monday for Ethan and Harmony. I am not as worried about them starting McCool as I was about Ingleside. I think it is because half the school lives in our housing! Plus every one at church is in the same school. They will know tons of kids.

Connor starts on the 4th. During the week that he is home, the kindergarten teahers come and do a home visit. Plus he said he has plans to "drive Mommy crazy".

I am so glad the kid's "extended summer" is almost done. Time to get back to routines, schedules and learning!

If I can't see you...

then you can't see me. And I don't have to get my diaper changed. Too bad Mom isn't falling for it!

the Ivanator

It seems lately that Ivan is changing. Becoming his own little person. His own likes and dislikes and just really showing his personality. Here are just some cute little quirks of my 2.5 year old...

** he LOVES gum. Except thanks to his big brother Ethan and the movie Night at the Museum he calls it gum, gum. The only thing that keeps him quiet at the store is a pack of gum, gum. Small price to pay I suppose!

** he loves the Wonder Pets. This is a show on Nick Jr. But he hates the Backyardigans and cries whenever it comes on. Then if you don't change it fast enough for him, he screams.

**he loves his lil' pipsqueaks markers that Grandma Kennedy sent him. He has actually stayed in church the whole time the past 2 Sundays because of them

**he is the best behaved kid in nursery

** he likes to wrestle with Ethan, play with Harmony's toys, and love on Connor

**when we are out in a public place, he prefers Ben but when we are at home, he usually wants me

** he now loves to play with legos.

** he has discovered "choo-choos" and loves to play with Thomas

** when he moved to his toddler bed he gave us so much trouble. One gate he would just hop over. 2 gates, one on top of the other, he would just scale them, so it led us to tying his doorknob around a gate. Well that worked but we have been able to leave the gate off the past couple of nights. So I have a 2 year old who I find on the couch at 5 am and 6 am!

What a kid!!

oh what do you do...during the rainy season

It is hard to believe that Guam is in the middle of a draught! We are on water restrictions and everything. However, we are now in the midst of the rainy season. And when it rains, it pours. Once it is done, it is extremely humid outside. So because of all the rain, the kids aren't outside. They are bored. And driving me nuts!! How did they spend today? game boys and polly pockets! Ethan is playing video games upstairs and Ivan has joined in with the polly pockets!

how about...

a non-weight related post?! Yeah, sounds good to me too.

When did my little girl get so big? It feels like I just closed my eyes for a second, and instead of a little bald headed baby, I have this tall beautiful girl, getting phone calls! She grew up before my eyes.

Harmony had a short meeting with our primary president about her upcoming baptism. I just can't believe that she is ready. I am not sure if I am! We were figuring out the program and I told her there was no way I was going to speak at her baptism, because I would cry through the whole thing! I get teary eyed jus thinking about it!

One of the cool things about Guam, is that the font is outside. So I can take pictures!! Half of me wants to be behind the camera catching everything, and the other half wants to just take it all in and be a part of the moment. Just trying to take it all in. They grow up so fast!

new blog

I started a weight loss blog. That way, if you aren't interested in my weight loss struggles, you don't have to read it. But if you want to it is called

http://wwwresultsnottypical-marie.blogspot.com/

hating myself

First of all, no I am not changing the whole theme of my blog to a weight loss one. It is just something that is really a huge part of my life right now.

Today I woke up, and my scale said I was up by 2 lbs. I almost FREAKED as I have been doing what I am supposed too. It is " that time of the month" but still....So I just decided to ignore it. Weight fluctuates right?

I excercised this morning, for the first time in a while. And I stayed on point all day...until around 5. Harmony had birthday money burning a hole in her pocket. Plus Ben is going to be gone until around 7 and had no dinner. So after taking Harmony we stopped and got Dominos. And I chowed down.

So now I am mad at myself.I messed up. I feel lousy about it. Why did I let the scale determine what kind of day I would have? Why did I eat pizza, when I had planned to make myself a nice healthy fajita? Why did I get my "red light" food, when I hadn't eaten for awhile.? I know this is a process. I know I will have ups and downs. It is not over.

How do I get re-motivated? I don't want to gain, I want to keep up my losing streak. What should I do?!

f.f.f.

Sweeeeeeeeeeeet!!! I did it. I broke the one lb. mark! I weighed in with a 2 lb. weight loss this week. I am ecstatic. OK, for absolutely no exercise, I have now lost 8 lbs. in a month. It sounds like it is taking a long time, but guess what people? I am thrilled! My whole Hannah-Montana-birthday-cake-fiasco did NOT do me in. So happy. So happy. My fridge looks totally empty, and I am not going grocery shopping until tomorrow. But I have to do errands, and as the kids are not in school yet...well that leaves me with taking them to the store. But it is worth it to have some healthy foods in the house.

School starts a week from Monday. So it is time for schedules! I love schedules. I love telling the kids, " no you can't stay up until 10 to watch a movie because it is a SCHOOL NIGHT! I need to get onto a better schedule.

Now that I am not staying up until midnight reading Harry Potter, I can actually get up earlier. Amazing concept I know! I truly miss exercise. I love running. I love the feel of your chest heaving after you have pushed yourself. My poor little treadmill is sitting in the corner, so lonely. Next week I am back. I want to get back into shape.

Random blatherings. Sorry. I am just sooo happy for my weight loss!

model in training

I had mentioned that I took some cute photos of Harmony, but blogger was not working very well. So I didn't actually post them. So here they are. She is so cute because she comes up with all her own poses! And do you not love all of those missing teeth?

whew!

**25 days

**thousands of pages

**7 books

**many, many comments like, " when you are all done, are you going to be our Mom again?" and " finally I will get my wife back","Mommy, I think you are obsessed!"

I am finally done.I have finished the Harry Potter series. Like I have said before, I was never really interested in these books, and once I started them, I honestly couldn't put them down. Yesterday afternoon, I finished the 6th. I knew that I couldn't resist just finishing. So I went out and bought the last one and finished it this evening. If you are like me,and resisted reading them, they are very good. You should give them a shot!

f.f.f. (sunday edition)

Ok I weighed in on Friday, and was happy that I had a loss. I was nice and on track and everything was well and good. Saturday morning, I was hurrying around to get everything ready for Harmony's birthday and didn't eat any breakfast. Then at lunch, we were so busy helping kids make pizza's that I didn't eat any lunch. By the time that everyone had gone, I was looking at a half of a Hannah Montana cake. So I had a little smidege off of the corner. We had a hail and farewell that night, and so I indulged in the very yummy thai food.I came home and because frankly,I hadn't eaten very much that day, I was hungry. So I had a few licks of frosting and then...yeah another piece. I went to bed so that I didn't eat any more. I woke up and there was still cake. So I had a few more licks and then yes ANOTHER stinkin' piece of cake. And after I ate it, I threw the whole rest of the cake away. Just dumped it. I wrestled with the fact that I threw a $23 cake away. Ok technically half of it, so a $13 cake but still...I hate wasting money. You might think that after that whole cake fiasco that I would have stayed on points and tried to be good but I have really struggled today. really struggled. It feels like once the flood gates were open...I just couldn't get back on track.

No I am not giving up. I just need to get back in gear. I am going to start my day with a workout, drink tons of water, head to the store and get fresh produce and a little this and that so I have nice healthy things to eat. No more eating crap! I am back on track!

Happy 8th Birthday!

Whew! We celebrated Harmony's birthday today ( again)! Out here, there is no Chuck E Cheese, no Friendly's etc. so you are basically stuck with a couple of choices. A) the beach or B) your house. So we just decided on a quick and simple birthday party at home. She wanted to have Hello Kitty...except for the cake! Once she saw the Hannah Montana cake she wanted that instead. We did make your own pizzas and watched Firehouse Dog. All the kids that she invited were able to come and she got all sorts of fun stuff. I think she really had a lot of fun. I wanted to get some 8 year old pictures of her and so she came outside and I got some cute ones.

I think she had a good time!!!

f.f.f.

Slow and steady wins the race right? RIGHT?! I hope so, because yet again I only logged a 1 lb. loss. That is all. But at least it was a loss. I know there were things that I could have done better. I know there were things that I did that were really good. Slow and steady. If I lost a lb. a week until Seabee Ball, I would have lost 40 something pounds. That would make dress shopping much more fun! :)

Seabee ball is very far off, and so I am just trying to keep my focus on the now.Making good choices. Sticking with the small goals. My first goal was to lose 5, and I did that. So now, I am going for 10. And then 15 and so on and so forth.

My Mom wanted to send me a care pkg. and include some " dieting goodies", which made me laugh because she called it "an oxymoron if she ever heard one" but there are little things that are low point and help me stay on plan...that unfortunatley can not be found out here. So I am going to post some ideas here, so she has them, but also if people are looking for a snack that ( even if you aren't on WW) is low in points here is my list....

** 94% fat free kettle corn ( the jolly time is my personal fav! Thanks Susan!)
**fruit punch crystal light ( although the Wal Mart brand is just as good)
** Miss Meringues ( choc. chip mint is my fav)
**WW brand berries and cream muffins
**WW brand carmel and choc. cakes ( haven't tried yet but want too)
**100 calorie pack Hostess cakes
**Soy Crisps
**No Pudge brownie mix
**100 cal packs Nutterbutters
**Campbells Soup at Hand ( they have some here they just don't restock very often)

That is all I can think of today. Anyway, here is to another on point week and hopefully..at least...another 1 lb. loss next week! :)

8th anniversary

Technically, for us, today is the 9th of Aug. Which means that it is my 8th anniversary. You might be thinking what, she just celebrated her anniversary last month. Which yes, is true. But this is a different anniversary. It has been 8 years since I was given the title of "Mom."

It was Dec.22. It was a cold morning. I had lots to do because we were celebrating my Dad's birthday that night. But that was the day when I said, " I'm late and I am going to take a pregnancy test." 2 lines. 2 pink lines = pregnant. I was excited.

I am not one of those people who love being pregnant. I hated morning sickness, and being uncomfortable. I hated having swollen feet and having a hard time staying up until after 9. If I could have skipped the whole pregnancy part I would have!!

I had a few scares. The doctors thought I might have gestational diabetes. My sister, had just had a baby 2.5 months early, and had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Only to still have it after the baby was born. I had pregnancy induced high blood pressure. I had to be on bed rest and eat a low sodium diet. Which I hated.

I remember going in for an appt. and I was dialated to a 1. My doctor told me not to get my hopes up though because it could still take a couple of weeks. But I was still on bed rest and to take it easy. That was a Thursday. On Sat. I went shopping with my in-laws and walked all over Costco. By the time we got back, I was tired. And in pain. Sunday my Mom came. She wanted to wait until my dr. appt. the next day before she decided if she would go to Utah or not.

On Monday, Ben went to school and my Mom and I went to the doctor. The doctor was shocked when I was dialated to a 5. She said I needed to get to the hospital immediatley. I almost cried because I wanted Ben there. She gave me 1 hour. I drove around Eugene and finally found him. He was shocked but jumped in the car.

After 10 hours of sitting in the hospital ( only 2 of them actually spent in labor)Harmony was born. And I couldn't have been happier.

Being a first time Mom, I thought I could handle everything. I didn't need help. I was anxious to leave the hospital and take care of her. My sister in law, was getting married that Saturday and we went. I am ashamed to admit this, but the first night while we were there, everyone wanted to hold her. She was passed around and I barely got to hold her. I felt like a little kid who wanted their toy back. " No she's mine!" I wanted to prove I could take care of her. I wanted to change her diapers and feed her and burp her and rock her. I hated having to share MY baby. ( ok I was only 20 when I had her..I was just a kid!)

So as I look back on my 8 years, I can honestly say that I have grown and matured. And learned a lot. With Ivan, when someone offered to feed him, he was in their hands before the sentence was finished! Because of Harmony, one of my dreams came true. To be a Mom. I hope she has learned from me, as much as I have learned from her! Life just keeps getting better. I love being a Mom. And I ecspecially love being Harmony's Mom. Love you cutie!

playing at sunset

The other night, while Ben was putting the bed together, we let the kids play at the park, until it was dark!! They could not believe how long we let them play. Anyway, this is one of the pictures I got....love living on an island!

marble jars

I was getting fed up with the way things were running in my house. You know, I am picking up bedrooms, while the kids are playing video games. Dirty clothes everywhere...except the laundry baskets. Little things, but on a whole it makes it very frustrating. I decided that I wanted to come up with a reward system for the kids. They have these papers called their "do it charts" and for everything that they get checked off, they get a marble. One marble equals either .25 at the store or 15 min. of video game time. Each chore chart has about 10 things. However, they get 2 taken away any time they fight. Both kids, no matter " who started it", get 2 marbles taken away. You do get a marble if you are nice. So there are incentives to be good. The kids had a good time decorating their jar and earning marbles. The first day worked so well, because they wanted to earn marbles and then if they fought, they would quickly apologize so that they wouldn't get them taken away. The only problem is that I need to be consistent about checking their sheets, awarding the marbles etc. We will see how it goes!

ahoy!

A couple of weeks ago, we went to a tent sale at the exchange and found this adorable little pirate ship bed!! It is so cute, and came with a foot stool, a little bedside table and the background. Some pirate stuff right now is not very kid friendly, but this is. I took the kids to play at the park, while Ben put it together. When it was done I asked Ivan if he wanted to see his pirate bed and he said, " no, no 'ets" Apparently he can't pronounce pirates. He likes it now and it is so cute. Plus the whole thing was only $60!!!

Mamas boy

Ethan has been accused, more than once, of being a mama's boy. One time we were walking into the store and Ethan wanted to walk with me and hold my hand. Ben kind of muttered, " he is such a Mamas boy". Ethan heard it and said, " I like being a mama's boy!" I told him that I had heard a quote one time, and it was " I am not a Mama's boy, but boy do I love my mama!" he grinned at that.

So we are sitting here watching Pinky Dinky Do, when he asks me if he can interview me. I told him ok and answered my fav. color, number, animal etc. Then he asked,

" Ok well what do you want to be when you grow up?"

Cute boy. I asked him if I could be a Mom but he said no. Oh well, what are you going to do?

f.f.f.

Down another pound this week. Yeah! I was hoping for more but...frankly I didn't deserve it. I ate little bites here and there ( that I didn't count any points for!) and didn't track very well. I ate late at night, which isn't a big deal, unless you have a mass amount of points at the end of the day, and a lot of times I did. Drank all my water, but I didn't get all of my fruits and vegi's in.

Happy for the weight loss, but I am going to work much harder this week. We have been so bad about getting up at a decent time, which is going to have to come to a halt as school starts in 24 days!!!!! because of this, I have not been exercising, but sleeping in! So this week I am going to track ALL points eaten, and do some exercise. 3 days a week, 30 min. to start out with. I want to get another big loss. But if I don't....I am happy. I am making progress. Even if it takes me a lb a week for a year, I will be happy. That is the point after all right? To just be happy with the journey!