"No Thanks, I'm Rich"

On our way to Cracker Barrel last night my Mom starts to tell me about my Dad earlier that day. They had gone together to Home Depot and as they walked through the door a worker asks my Dad if he would like to enter to win a $100 Home Depot Gift Card. My Dad breezes past him and tells the man, "No thanks, I'm rich." I about busted a guy when my Mom told me this, my Dad is getting quite cantankerous in his old age! Dad was sitting in the back seat and we got to talking about his "I'm rich" comment. My Dad, ever the comedian, goes on to say: "I have a better chance of falling getting out of this van and breaking my leg then I do to win a gift card." Touche Dad, Touche!

Insert Little Girl Screech Here...

I'm so happy I found a dress that I LOVE! 

Exhibit A:



It's as if that dress were made for me! To pair with it I found a super fun ring:

Exhibit B:



To round it out, I found some adorable shoes! They're a wedge, they're a sling, they're a peep toe! What more could you ask for!

Exhibit C:



What was the cherry on top of this perfect shopping day? Finally finding Hannah the "Merry Go Round" that she has been asking about every day since summer began!

Exhibit D:

Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night...

I really just can't wait for the work day to be over when my 2 besties, 2 babies and I head to the mall for some shopping! Lets face it, shopping is just so much fun especially when in good company.

I had been hoping all week I would see a coupon and sure enough I got one yesterday for the exact store I am planning on buying a dress from, for 40% off! Clearly this is a sign from God that I should buy a dress :-D 

I don't have any good dresses to go to for special events. I recently went through my closet and tried on a few things. With my friend there to give me a yay or nay the overall response was that it looked liked someone who had lost thirty pounds...nice. It's never a bad thing when your clothes are too big!  So I will be perusing the mall looking for the perfect go to dress for special occasions and more importantly to wear to my cousin's wedding next Saturday.

Choices I like thus far:

Are We Sixteen Again?

This morning I feel like the girl trying to hide the hickie on her neck from her parents. Only now I'm 25 and my parents are in the form of  my boss.

My husband, ever the comedian, said to me late last night around midnight. "You might want to put some cover up on your neck." To which I replied "What, I don't have cover up." Which may or may not have been followed with a long rant about how I work in an office and I'm a professional and I can't very well have hickies on my neck, ahem. So this morning all I can think about is how for the remainder of the week I'll be walking around feeling like a Jezebel with this gross thing glaring off my neck, nice.

Did I mention I had planned to renew my driver's license today? That won't be happening now.

On the Up Swing

I'm feeling much better about my fitness and meal plan, I am so thankful to have friends there to lift me up when I am falling down. I'm back on track and have lost the couple of pounds I gained back and lost a few old pounds too! I'm at a total of 35 lost. I don't see my trainer until the 31st for a weigh in and I'm hoping by then I'll have reached the 40 lb mark! That would just be so awesome, needless to say I need to stay on my game and not falter.

I had the weirdest dream on Saturday Night/Sunday Morning, for the life of me I don't remember what it was about but it left me with the feeling of renewed faith in the Lord. It was the most wonderful feeling. Lately I have not been taking Hannah to church. We would go together and everything was fine and then just like that she didn't want to go and for three weeks in a row I would drive to church and she would have such a fit that I would just end up going home. This weekend she was adamant about going with me, I thought it strange but explained to her what to expect.  On our way there I said a little prayer that we made it to church safely through the rain and that Hannah would be okay at church and not have a tantrum. We pulled in the parking lot and as soon as I shut off the car she started crying. I thought oh boy here we go again. In my calmest voice I said to her, Hannah we made it all the way here, let's at least try to make it in for church. She shockingly complied and we signed in for nursery and everything. Just as we headed towards the nursery hallway she started crying and yelling she didn't want to go. I calmly told her she could sit with Mommy but that she need to keep quiet the entire time. Much to my surprise, SHE DID IT! She made it the entire hour and a half long service sitting right by my side with no incidents. I couldn't believe my eyes!!! What an answered prayer this has been, I have really been struggling with what is the right decision for Hannah and church. Now I know, she can and did sit through the church service.  I asked her if she wanted to come with Mommy next week and she said she did and was even excited! I'm so happy and I just know this was an answered prayer.

Summer of FUN!

Through all of the challenges and stresses life feels like it has  brought this year I can't help but look back and think about all the fun that's really been going on!

Hanging out at home:



Taking a trip to Sesame Place:



A fun-filled weekend with my Girl's:



A trip to the Children's Museum:



A new hair-do:



A trip to Fort Delaware/Pea Patch Island:



A beach weekend with my awesome-o friends:



Carter learned to crawl!:



And sit up:



We added new members to our family:



Took a trip to the Philadelphia Zoo:





Made a new friend and had a blast in Lancaster, PA:

http://www.kailaregina.com/2010/08/oh-snap-son.html

AND Took a family trip to the beach:





This has been a truly blessed year that God has allowed us to enjoy as a family of 4! I am so thankful for my awesome family and beautiful friends who I  have made even more memories with!

Challenges and Staying the Course

I am finding it challenging this month to stay the course with my meal plan and fitness. Dealing with my relationship with food is so hard, that urge to make unhealthy decisions is SO hard and SO frustrating. I often feel like I should just give in because that would be so much easier. The constant struggle it plays with your mind must be similar to how an alcoholic or drug addict must feel. Stress just makes it that much worse, food is my coping method. Life gets a little rocky-eat a cupcake. For in that instance your troubles wash away and you don't have a care. Your cupcake is gone and all your problems are still there, so you eat and eat. Nothing gets accomplished this way.

I know that I should trust in the Lord with things like this and adhere to what the Bible tells you. You should not be gluttonous, you should not worry, you should trust in the Lord. While this is all well and good it is much easier said then done. I do find it much more helpful to accomplish my weight loss goals when I read the Bible daily and attend Church on Sunday. It's comforting and you really need that time to re group and rejoice in the Lord. Whenever I miss a service or don't touch the Bible for the day I can really see the difference.

If I could be more disciplined with these areas in my life, life would be much easier! I just don't know what road to take to get there.

He Was Listening (or Reading)

Introducing the newest members to our family:

Ham and Cheese!



Not a Chinchilla but adorable and entertaining none the less!

Chinchilla

For the past few months I have really, really, really wanted a Chinchilla. I had the opportunity to play with one awhile back and it was seriously the funnest little animal ever. Hannie even enjoyed playing with him and I just can't get out of my head how I want one!

Then lies the problem, Tom does not want anymore animals so he will not even compromise or allow anything to join our family. It's of course really ticking me off, I hated when I was a kid and my Dad would not let me have animals and now the same thing is happening again. I just can't understand why? I'm the one taking care of it and it's not going to be bothering him. Just to have the answer of can we have a Chinchilla and he says "No"  just doesn't seem fair.

As a kid my Mom would always just get us animals eventually if we were persistent and did our homework on the animal. I have done my homework once again and decided even more that I really want a Chinchilla. I even found a rescue not too far away that recently came upon tons of them! Clearly this is destiny!

Hopefully Tom will change his mind, I really don't see any harm in having one.