Here are three more pages I've done in the past few days. This puts my LO count at 118 for the year. The first one is a lift off of one of the neighbors at sb.com-Delaina Burns. The second is a lift from my fave 2 Peas artist April Yap and the last one was all me. I'm not too crazy about that one though. But there it is! lol

Yesterday I went to the gym with a goal in mind. To at least run the 18 minutes I'd ran the last two times I went to the gym, but I was really going to try to hang in there for an extra two minutes to make it 20. Well, I was able to add one more minute for a total of TWENTY ONE minutes of consecutive running! WOOHOO! I was SO happy!! My ankle was slightly hurting, but not too bad and I wasn't really struggling to breathe which makes me think I really could have pushed myself just a little bit more and maybe done 25? Even so, I'm super happy that I have reached my goal!! I think it came out to a little over a mile and a half that I ran non stop which is SUPER for me I think. Oh, and if that wasn't enough....I also lost another 1.2 pounds! So that makes a total of 17 pounds that I've lost since June! I am SOO close to reaching one of my weight goals...only 4 pounds to go and I will be there! After that, I will have 24 more pounds to lose to reach my ideal weight. It's SO close. I know I can do it. I WILL do it!! :) I've also been practicing my pushups. At class on Monday, Brother James was talking about how important it is for us a women to have more strength in our arms and he suggested we do at least 10 GOOD pushups in the a.m. and again at night. So that we can work up to doing "guy" pushups instead of girl ones. So yesterday and today, I did my pushups and I think I did them pretty good too. I'd really like to tone up my arms more so I'm going to keep doing that.

Hmm...not much else going on. We didn't have class today because Brother James had Open House at his daughter's school and I thought about going to the gym again, but my ankle is really hurting today. I guess I kind of over did it yesterday. But I'm sure I'll be fine by tomorrow so I'm definitely hitting the gym then and Friday...God willing :)

I think we are going to try to go to Lovecreek Orchards this Saturday. I didn't realize how few weekends we had left this month before Halloween. We can't go next weekend because that is our birthday. And the next one will be Halloween. So it has to be this weekend. I NEED my pumpkin patch pics! lol Speaking of birthdays, Chon and I will be turning 38! Yikes! Freaks me out!! It's only two years away from 40! I know that I surely don't look my age and I don't really 'feel' it either, but just the thought of 40 years of my life being behind me...well, that's just alot of time! Makes me realize how fast time goes by and how I should cherish every single moment of life that God blesses me with! I think we are just going to have a girls night out thing that Friday. Laura, my friend Maria, maybe Chon and I are going to see what we do. And on Saturday, Miguel and I are going to try to plan a little get away and spend the day together. At least, that was what I told him I wanted to do....don't know if it's still going to happen. I'll probably make myself a small cake....just to have one...but I promise I won't eat it all! LOL Oh, maybe I'll make myself a big brownie instead? We shall see :)
I think that's all for now. Later :)

Bad Blogger

Oh, I'm neglecting my poor little blog! Sometimes I just get so lazy to come update...lol...don't know why! Hmm...what's been going on? Well, still working out...at the gym and exercise class w/Laura. The last time I went to the gym after not having gone for about 3 weeks because of Mikey or I being sick, I weighed myself and I lost 3 more pounds which makes it a total of 16 lbs since June. That's good I guess. I'm mean, it's better than nothing, but I sure with it would come off faster! I feel like I'm busting my butt and it's just not happening fast enough. Everyone tells me though that it's better to take it off slowly to ensure you don't put it back on. Doesn't look like I'll reach my goal weight by the end of year, but then again...who knows! I still have 29 lbs to lose to get to where I want to be. I'm pretty confident that early next year..God willing, I will be there :) Oh and speaking of working out, the last two times I went to the gym, I was able to run/jog 18 consecutive minutes! I know! I was SO excited!! My goal, aside from keeping up at least the 18 mins, is to try to run an extra two mins to make it a total of 20 mins running non stop. I'd be REALLY happy with that!! Maybe this week?? Today was class and it was HARD! James had us doing sprints and that kicked my butt! I had a headache after..lol Tomorrow, I'll be going to the gym, class again on Wednesday and gym hopefully Thursday and Friday.


I've also done a little bit of scrapping and I reorganized my scrap area yet again! I loved how I had my two big tables pushed together at our old house, but I had never tried doing that here. I don't know why, but I thought it wouldn't fit or there wouldn't be enough room around the tables to walk around. So one day this past week, I had nothing to do so I decided to move some stuff around. Mikey helped me take everything off the shelves and move it to the kitchen island. And thankfully somewhere in the middle of it all, he ended up falling asleep on the couch so I was able to get more done with any interruptions. It looks great! And the kids love it too! I love that they can sit across from me at my table and do their own thing without getting to close to what I'm working on. It's also good for when Chon comes over to scrap because she is a known table hog! LOL So now she has a whole side all to herself! As a matter of fact, she came over on Saturday and we did a tiny bit of scrapping and it worked out just perfectly.
Well, here are pics of the pages I've done recently. This puts my page count at 115 for the year. I have one other page I need to take a picj of and upload, so I'll update when I do that. Good night :)

111

I managed to do this one page the other day. I really love it! I started out trying to "lift" a LO from one of my fave 2 Peas artists....April Yap, but ended up doing this which looks nothing like her page at all. Alot of times, I just need a starting off point to get some ideas flowing. I also really LOVE this pic of Mikey and Victoria. Although, I wish Mikey was looking at the camera, I still love it. Victoria is just so used to taking pics and posing...she's good at it :) I have another page that's been sitting on my table for a couple of days now. I haven't gotten the chance to get any scrapping done. Sadly, it seems that when I start going to the gym, I have less time to just sit and play with my paper :( Today after I got home fromt he gym, I started making dinner, then I had to help Lij with this project he had for school...making some kind of car that was going to be propelled w/balloons. When Miguel got home, he took over and I played Mickey Mouse bingo w/Mikey for miniature candy bars. On the way home from the gym, I thought it would be fun to stop at Walgreens and buy some Halloween candy bars and play Bingo with the kids for candy. Of course with Lij taking longer on his project, only Mikey and I played. It was still fun. Anyway, so now Mikey is asleep, but it's after 11 and I don't think I should stay up too late because then I'll hate waking up in the morning. Miguel is watching a movie, so I just might stay up until he goes to sleep. Tomorrow, I think Chon is picking my mom up so it will just be me and Mikey. Lij will go to his dad's afterschool for the weekend, so maybe I can get some scrapping done then. I don't think I have much to do in the way of "chores", so here's hoping. Anyway, that's all for now. Nighty night :)

Here are all my latest pages in no particular order :) This puts my LO count at 110 for the year. I think Chon is ahead of me by one...I need to catch up!! lol The first three I did yesterday. Chon and I had a little scrapping/shopping day. Didn't even really do much shopping. We went by Target, Hobby Lobby, Big Lots, Scrapbook Heaven and Tuesday Morning, but there wasn't much I wanted. Can you believe that?? I bought 5 sheets of paper and two sheets of stickers at half off @Hobby Lobby, a pack of MM Flea Market line cb and transparent clocks and the 8x8 pack of paper from that same line @Target, got some Lil' Davis Halloween cb letters and journal stickers, some Heidi Grace rubs, and a sheet of quote stickers @Big Lots, NOTHING at Scrapbook Heaven (that is always a disappointment but Chon always insists on going..lol), and a 8x8 pack of Pink Paislee Pop Fashion paper at Tuesday Morning. Okay, maybe I DID buy alot of stuff! LOL What I meant to say I guess then, is that I didn't spend alot of money on these things. The most expensive thing I got was the 8x8 paper pack at Target and that was $4.99. Everything else was less than that. The Pink Paislee pack was only $1.99!!! That is just AWESOME!! And all the Lil' Davis stuff and the other stickers...a dollar!! Can't beat that!! So I got those three pages done and we shopped,had lunch and just hung out...good times :)
Today, we were going to meet up w/Chon and Steve and the kids at Fiesta Texas...a very last minute thing. And when we get there, we are told the park is closed to the public because Valero is having their company picnic! BOOOOOO! So sad! Mikey had been asleep and woke up just as were driving up the parking booth and he was just SO excited! I felt so bad that we couldn't stay! :( :( We ended up meeting up at a park by Chon's house and the kids played for a bit. We did some shopping after and then did our grocery shopping, then came home. I picked up a book yesterday at Wal Mart called "The Shack". A friend recommended it and said it was really good. I started reading it today and so far, I like it. I'm sure I can finish it in a couple of days. I also picked up another book at the Family Christian Store called "Captivating". Don't know if I had mentioned that Miguel had gotten me a present while I was away at my retreat and one of the things in there was a small book with some verses and stuff from that book. I liked the smaller book, so decided to get the other to read as well. I love reading...so glad I started reading again...didn't realize how much I missed it! Oh, at Target today I also picked up the MM Spook Alley 12x12 and 8x8 packs...really like them! The larger pack has 6 of each sheet so I'm going to share that one w/Chon if she doesn't have it already. I also picked up two packs of these Colorbok Transparency Frames they had there for a dollar...SO cool! Can't wait to use those! That's about it. Tomorrow is church w/Laura and afterwards we are meeting up with Chon and our friend Maria for lunch...should be FUN! Last time we got together, we ended up staying at the restaurant for SIX hours! lol So much fun when we get together! Gotta remember my camera :)Until later :)

Lazy....

I have seriously been so lazy about updating my blog! lol Don't know why...just haven't felt like it. I know there were things I wanted to talk about and since it's been a while, can't even remember anymore!
The retreat for one...was SO awesome! For a while there, I thought I was going to have to miss it because I'd been feeling sick and I just couldn't shake it! Not sure what it was/is...allergies, a cold...I'm STILL trying to get over it. The sneezing, coughing, headache...That morning of, I felt SUPER bad...lol, get it? Superbad? Anyway, I really just thought of calling Laura and telling her I wouldn't be going because I didn't want to start feeling worse over there and ruin it for everyone. But I decided to just pack up all my meds and pray for the best :) It rained a good part of the drive up there, but then stopped. This encampment place happened to be just down the road from Garner State Park. And it was so big and very nice...clean too...which everyone who knows me knows this is a BIG deal for me. Our rooms were nice and big and again like I said, VERY clean so I was really happy about that. We all got bottom bunks except for Laura who got the only full sized bed there. And we ended up spending all of our time all huddled on her bed laughing, talking, eating, crying, praying...ect, ect :) We got some time that first day to just walk around the place and Laura, Liz and I went down by the river and stuck our feet in there. And I also happened to get bitten by ants there too! :( I had to take my socks off because they were COVERED in ants and then threw them in the river because we wanted to see them "float" down it...LOL. Laura took some great pics down there. I have to save some to my computer and post them here. I took my camera, but didn't even get any good pics other than one of me and Laura! It was SO nice out there...so beautiful and quiet. It was nice to just be able to think clearly. It's not very often that I get the opportunity to be kid free and just "be"...to think my own thoughts, feel my own things. I know that all of you Moms can totally relate to this. I missed the kids, but boy, I needed that! We had alot of speakers those two days. Heard alot of testimonies. It was very inspiring, eye opening. Hearing alot of these stories and talking to alot of these women, I realized alot of things about my own life. And I made alot of decisions in my heart. I have to say that the most awesome part of the weekend was that I actually felt God's presence. I hadn't felt him in a LONG time and boy, was I needing that! I used to feel him alot when we first started going to church and I started reading the bible, but I feel like I had kind of started to "stray". That weekend brought me to my knees and brought me back to Him. I won't go into details about things that I experienced because it's very private to me, but I will say that I prayed for something that weekend and I honestly believe with my whole heart that He heard me. So many things seemed to just "fall into place" after I came home that Sunday. So many things that led up to that weekend made me see how this "series of events" took place to get me to where I am today. I know this might not make much sense to anyone reading this, but I know what I mean...lol..and really, I just want to document this here so that I don't forget the experience. So...it was a great weekend....lots of fun too...laughing like I hadn't laughed in AGES! Liz is one CRAZY girl! I really feel like I'm making new friends at this church...meeting so many new and different people. I really want to get involved here and do what I can to help where help is needed. I'm SO happy that because of my friend Laura, I have found a home in this church :)
Moving on...after I came home and was still trying to get rid of this "thing", Mikey ends up getting sick, running a fever. We took him to the doc (thank God Miguel was on vaca that whole week) and they tested him for flu and strep and both came back negative. Thank God! The ped said it must be something viral and told us to continue w/the Ibuprofen and watch him for the next few days making sure his cough didn't get worse and that he didn't run a fever for more than 3 days. Thankfully, his fever broke after two days, but he developed this horrible, phlegmy cough that was keeping him up at night. I was sleeping on the recliner in the livingroom w/him on my chest because he seemed to cough less this way. Tonight, I put him down in our bed and so far he's been asleep for about an hour and no coughing yet. I'm praying the worst is over. He's back to his active self, eating and drinking normally, so I'm hoping that is that.
Miguel's vaca was so very nice, but went by so very fast :( We didn't do much because like I said, Mikey was sick and I still wasn't feeling too well, I did get to move the kids beds....took the bunkbeds apart and put Mikey's in our room so he can sleep in it and Miguel and I can go back to sleeping in the SAME bed...NEXT to each other! lol That hasn't happened yet though because of the whole sleeping in the recliner thing. Hopefully when Mikey is better....crossing fingers! I'm glad we got to do that though and got that out of the way. The rest of the time, we just hung out here at home. It was really nice and I missed him terribly when he went back to work on Monday.
What else? Hmmm...can't think of anything else right now...it's late and I really should go to bed. I hate waking up early. And I should take advantage of this time that Mikey isn't coughing. Oh, got some scrapping done...three new pages to add to my total which now comes to 105. I'll upload those tomorrow. For now, I'm headed to bed. Night peeps :)

Short and sweet....

I know it's been a week since I last posted and there's alot I want to write about. Maybe not stuff you want to read about...lol..but stuff I want to document for my own benefit. If you like reading it, that's an added bonus! :) But Miguel is on vaca this week, Mikey AND I are still trying to get over whatever the heck we have (allergies, cold..who the heck knows). He's running a fever right now :( so prayers are greatly appreciated...I HATE when the kids have fevers :( Really quickly, my women's retreat was AMAZING to say the least. So much I want to say about that, but it will have to wait until later. DESPERATELY want to do some scrapping, but sadly....none of that has happened. Maybe this week? We shall see. Lots of things I want to get done while Miguel is on vaca. Things we NEED to get done. So....I will update as soon as I get the chance...night peeps :)

Exercise Update....

Just an update on my working out. Yesterday there was no class for the holiday so I took Laura with me to the gym. Laura did great for never having gone to a gym before...yes, NEVER! lol I started off on the treadmill and I was able to run ELEVEN minutes non stop! I know!! ELEVEN minutes! I was so excited! It was almost a full mile!! Back before "my injury" lol...I was able to run anywhere from 13 to 16 minutes non stop. So I'm not far from that!! YAY!! However, after doing so well on the treadmill, I did not do so well on the Elliptical! By then I was POOPED! I didn't do my usual 2miles/25 mins. I was barely able to do a little over one mile in 10 mins! Running really kicks my butt!! Today I started with the Elliptical and did my 25 mins/2 miles, so I didn't do as well on my running. I did run 4 mins two seperate times and did some other random 2 mins runs. I did 35 mins/2miles. Tomorow is class with Laura and then gym again on Thursday. This weekend (Friday and Saturday) is our church retreat. I don't really know what to expect since all I know of these "retreats" is the VERY little Miguel has told me about his ACTS retreats. But I already know, and just by seeing how different South San is from St. Philip's, that it will be NOTHING like his retreats. Which is good...very good. I'm excited about it...to see what it's all about and to be totally honest, to get some AWAY time..some ME time. TWO whole days without the kids! I can't even remember the last time that happened. Oh yeah....NEVER! That was probably before I even had kids! Don't get me wrong, I LOOOOVE my kids, but us moms know how hard it is to get any kind of privacy, quiet time, ect, ect...so this retreat is a welcome change :) I'm taking my camera so I'll be sure to get some pics of course! I MUST, MUST, MUST scrapbook this experience! :) Okay, I'm pooped and not feeling very well. My throat hurts a bit. I just hope I don't end up getting sick or anything. Don't want to miss the retreat or feel miserable while I'm there! Oh, I believe I have one LO to post...don't think I uploaded it yet. Add another to my LO count :) Night peeps :)

It's coming....

I know Chon will get that! lol My scrappy mojo is slowly creeping back I think! Thank Goodness! I was able to do two pages today that I really LOVED! For one I used a sketch off of a site called Little Shop of Sketches. And the other was a lift off of one of my fave artists on 2 Peas-April Yap. I really wanted to get another done, but I didn't have time before Lij got home and then I left for exercise class with Laura. This puts my LO count at 101! :) And speaking of class, today Brother James let us use the belts and resistance bands for regular class and it was HARD! REALLY! Laura and I "had" planned to stay for the second class which was the new one he was starting w/the resistance bands, but by the time our first class was over, we were both POOPED! Pooped I say! lol But we did stay to watch. And while we were sitting there, Laura says "that doesn't look too hard" and I'm like "yeah, because we are sitting HERE and not out there doing it!" LOL We did weigh in today since we had missed last week and Monday and I FINALLY lost...1.2 pounds! It's SOMETHING and I will take it! That makes a total of 13.2 pounds in about 2 1/2 months. I had plateaud on my weight loss and I know it's mostly because I'm not watching what I eat as closely as I was when I first started doing this. I'm maintaining, but I wasn't seeing any drop in pounds until today. I know that I have to really stick to it again because I'm so close to where I want to be. And I want to really reach my goal weight by the end of the year. I know that it's possible, but I really have to stay commited to it. Other than that, not much else going on here. It's time to get to bed. Still not used to getting up at 6:30, so goodnight peeps! :)

99

I did some scrapping today and yesterday. Still not "feeling" it, but alot happier with my pages. I think I've been focusing my spare time on working out so my hobby is kind of falling to the wayside :( Speaking of working out, I hit the gym today and I was able to run 7 minutes consecutively on the treadmill today!! WOOOHOO!! I was so happy about that! My ankle only hurt me a little. I ran a total of 15 minutes walked 25. I was pooped by the time I got on the Elliptical though and I was only able to do 15 mins/1 mile. I just couldn't get myself to keep going! I usually do the Elliptical first and treamill after, but today I decided to switch it up for the very reason of trying to run more minutes. And I did, but like I said, it kicked my butt! But I was happy. And for my big accomplishment, lol...I treated myself to some scrappy stuff! :) I walked across the street from the gym to Hobby Lobby and bought myself a few sheets of paper. Paper Studio now has some manilla colored ledger paper and manilla colored lined paper. I also picked up a few random sheets: some MME Penny Lane and Breaking Free and some other Paper Studio papers with some cool stars on it. I also picked up an Anna Griffin tag pad and I used a coupon to get a Paper Studio star punch. Very happy with my new goodies :) Here's a few pages I've done recently. This puts my LO count at 99 for the year :)

Happy Birthday .....

I can't believe that it's been 11 years since Elijah was born! It seems like only yesterday that he was just a little boy. I can't even remember what those days were like...they seem SO long ago! And yet at the same time...like it was just yesterday...if that makes any sense at all. Lij was such a good baby. So quiet and easy going. He would sit for hours and hours and just play quietly or draw or read books. I never had to worry that he was getting into something he shouldn't. I loved to sit with him and read or draw or do crafty things (he still loves to do that). Now, he's so grown up. His voice is changing..yikes...he's into music (Michael Jackson), girls (not ready for that), he's so smart and creative. He loves to learn and draw. He's such a sensitive soul...very kind and generous (although not always so with his brother)! I am truly blessed and very proud that this young man is my son :)

Today, Mikey and I made him a cupcake cake. It was actually Mikey's idea. He saw the picture on the back of the cake mix box and asked if we could make it. Luckily, we still had some cupcake liners so we decided to give it a try! I think it came out pretty good! Lij LOVED it! He said it was the best cake I'd ever made! LOVE him for thinking so! We aren't doing anything "big" today...just having cake and icecream after dinner which will be Domino's pizza per Lij's request :) On Saturday, we will have Chon and the kids over and Miguel is getting him an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. We'll order pizza that day too and Lij wanted to rent a movie to watch at home. Nothing big, just us hanging out together which is what I like. I'm so thankful that Elijah is just like that and satisfied with whatever he has. Anyway, here's a couple more pics we took of Lij blowing out his candles :)