Welcome to Hogwarts

To say that the girls LOVE Harry Potter is an understatement.......naturally, they requested a Harry Potter Birthday Party!  (Yes this is from March....I am that far behind)

So......Welcome to Hogwarts.

We still have remnants of the floating candles in our dining room.

 Okay....so my baking skills are improving.....the cake tasted good...but my stacking skills are lacking :)

I made a map with invisible ink for all the kids.....this showed them to their bag of coins to buy a robe, wand and candy from Honeydukes Sweet Shop

 

We also had potion class.  We had lots of fun ingredients including phoenix tears and ogre boogers.  At the end, we mixed everything together and made a nice little mess ;)

We also made yummy smoothies and magic color changing soda to drink (dried food coloring in the bottom of the cups) 

I cannot believe they are 7!  Time really does fly......some days that is a relief...but mostly it's disappointing. 

My little jelly beans are not so little any more. 

Weekend in San Antonio

 Addison loves to swim!!!  She is extremely brave.....that's why I had to jump in with my clothes still on :)

Yep....posted a pic of me in a bathing suit....nuts!  Okay so Mom and I forgot our suits...so we ran to Target and picked up a couple.  Well.....we definitely should have tried them on.  I will not share details but I will say that I laughed so hard I started crying!  I don't think I have ever done that.

Addi preferred her sisters help over mine :)

 Thanks to Gee's Easter baskets, we had lots of fun things to do....the giant bubbles were a favorite at the field.

 Miss Grace all ready for the game.

 Batter Up!

 She did so awesome during her game! 

 She scored a run!!

 The best one we were able to get all weekend!

 Faith had karate practice.  We mysteriously were given the wrong time (she sarcastically states)....so Faith was in a class with older kids.....see the difference?

 Rule #1 if you are being attacked.....Smile!

 This was so fun to watched.  She did great!!

 I think her job was to make sure no one was smiling.  Glad they had her sit out on this exercise :)



Little Ladybug

She is 3! Can you believe it?

She was determined to have a ladybug birthday party........

Cristie and Aunt Janet "GaGa" made these absolutely adorable marshmallow pops and ladybug pretzels!!!

I set up a photo booth with homemade props.....the bigger kids didn't think this was cool :) I loved it!!!

Can you spot the mustache?

It wouldn't be much of a ladybug party if we didn't have live ladybugs...now would it?

I ordered them from a nursery in California.....we experienced the "Great Ladybug Escape of 2012" on the way home with them....hahahaha (the minimum order was 1500!!!)

The Big D

***Update*** 2 meals down!!! Not too bad ;)

The time has come........

I flipped my head over to dry my hair this morning and there it was...............fat............hanging right over my jeans! I was reminded of the pizza I devoured that night...and the Halloween candy....and cookies I made for small group. ***Sigh***

I am not concerned about the number on the scale, not at all actually. But I don't like the fact that my clothes are tight and I avoid an entire section of cute clothes in my closet.

So I am doing it! The big D.....

I know it is probably best to "eat right and exercise". I would get a big fat F if that was my plan.....so I am going to try out some popular diets. Let's see which works the best :)

All this fun will start Monday...***forced grin*** So I will weigh and measure and see how it goes!

First up is the 3 day diet.

The 3 Day Diet meal plan:

Day 1

Breakfast

Black coffee or tea, with 1-2 packets Sweet & Low or Equal

1/2 grapefruit or juice

1 piece toast with 1 tablespoon peanut butter

Lunch

1/2 cup tuna

1 piece toast

Black coffee or tea, with 1-2 packets Sweet & Low or Equal

Dinner

3 ounces any lean meat or chicken

1 cup green beans

1 cup carrots

1 apple

1 cup regular vanilla ice cream

Day 2

Breakfast

Black coffee or tea, with 1-2 packets Sweet & Low or Equal

1 egg

1/2 banana

1 piece toast

Lunch

1 cup cottage cheese or tuna

8 regular saltine crackers

Dinner

2 beef franks

1 cup broccoli or cabbage

1/2 cup carrots

1/2 banana

1/2 cup regular vanilla ice cream

Day 3

Breakfast

Black coffee or tea, with 1-2 packets Sweet & Low or Equal

5 regular saltine crackers

1 ounce cheddar cheese

1 apple

Lunch

Black coffee or tea, with 1-2 packets Sweet & Low or Equal

1 boiled egg

1 piece toast

Dinner

1 cup tuna

1 cup carrots

1 cup cauliflower

1 cup melon

1/2 cup regular vanilla ice cream

In addition to its strict daily food prescription, dieters drink 4 cups of water or noncaloric drinks daily.

What A Weekend!

If I told you work was consuming every ounce of my being right now.....that would be an understatement. Sometimes we go through periods of joy and progress...when it seems like everything is going right. That is not one of these times. If something can go wrong, multiply that by three and that's what we are going through. (With smiles on our faces of course)

Honestly, it is so crazy right now the tears have turned into a crazed giggle :)

Jeremy's birthday was last Thursday. He was out of town, so I planned a surprise party for Saturday. He got home Sunday morning at 3am. Nice.... so that was cancelled. We had planned on taking the girls to the Grapevine Halloween festivities on Saturday night as well. I got the three pretties all costumed up and headed out. It is really hard keeping up with a cat and peacock while carrying a monster! To be frank, I was really disappointed. I had envisioned a group of us going together after the party....and it was just me. The night actually turned out wonderful.....we were a little cold, so we ended up going to Chic Fil A and then to Target. We bought candy and swords....went home and had a sword fight. What more could you ask for?

Grace

Faith

Addi

I read a quote the other day (probably on facebook....because lets face it, that's the only reading I do these days) that really made me think.

What if you woke up tomorrow with only the things you thanked God for today.

Wow! I would not have much left.....and I would be missing the things I am most thankful for!

I need to focus on my blessings! God has put me in this difficult situation for a reason. It is difficult for me to see it, but I want to try to follow the path that has been set for me with a joyful heart. So here is the start of my journey towards a thankful life......

Jeremy and I did not start our relationship in church....or with God for that matter. But our path came to a dead end....and right in front of us was God.

We bought our home (which to some was a crazy move). So we had this home that had been in foreclosure, we had months of plans for it and we still had our other house, which I don't think we even had listed yet. On top of this stress, our marriage was shaky at best. The truth about marriage is that it is HARD! The truth about blending families is that it is even HARDER! However, this single decision to buy this house changed our family and relationship.

Our new neighbors mentioned their church in passing. A very small church going through changes, First Baptist Church of Bedford. One Sunday we decided to give it a try........you know it's a fit when for the first month I cried every Sunday and Jeremy left saying "I think this sermon was specifically for me". Not only did this house (ok really God) give us awesome neighbors but it lead us to our church. Our neighbors also invited us to a small group bible study they were starting at their home. Life changer! We now have a group of friends that we absolutely love! We are so very blessed! We have since joined the church (if you know me...this is a gigantic step....moving away from my Dad's church!) and have recently started hosting the small group at our home. Somehow they also talked me into leading the study on Revelation....really no pressure God....no really I won't stress out about it. hahaha

Okay Brook, do you have a point? Why yes I do.....

I am so thankful God has a plan for my life. I can't do this on my own. I am so thankful for my awesome neighbors and my wonderful church family and small group friends. I am so thankful for a preacher that is a walking example for my husband. I am so thankful that God can forgive me for my semi stubborn attitude....okay over the top stubborn attitude.

It's amazing to me that a simple conversation with a neighbor can change your life!