Life Lately!

Now that I am not doing carriedaway posts on instagram, I am not taking pictures every much- at  all! I will try to get better about it as the year goes on. 

Here's what's going on in our life right now...

What we are reading:

I am currently reading The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand.  I like it so far! I have really enjoyed the past few books I have read of hers.  Finding time to read has been a challenge lately, but I am really trying to turn off the TV and just read.  We have had lots of sleeping issues around here (#whatelseisnew) so I have been exhausted and when I sit down to read, I fall fast asleep. 

Cal and Andy are loving our nightly books.  Our current favorite is any book about Charlie by Ree Drummond.  He is the cutest dog and I think she is a great writer-- I thought that the first time I read one of her recipe posts.  She is funny! We haven't read all of her books, but I remain on the lookout for them at the library. 

Cal is a reading machine lately.  He totally TOOK OFF over Christmas break.  He is reading EVERYTHING now! I am going to the library about once a week to get him some books that he can read.  He loves reading to me every night at bed time.  I read a book to both boys and then curl up with just Cal so he can focus and read.

He is liking the Splat the Cat books....

And Berenstain Bears books...

What we are eating: 

As I type this, Andy and I are sharing some humus with carrots! Breakfast this week (thanks to weight loss plan...see below for update!) has been egg beaters.  Lunch has been mostly salads with lots of veggies and light dressing.  Dinner Monday night we had Club Chicken-- and it was a huge hit! Cal said it was the most amazing chicken he's ever had.  I used smaller chicken tenderloins instead of huge breasts (hehe).

Last night I made all the taco fixings and then let every decide if they wanted nachos, soft tacos or taco salad-- it's amazing how this was so easy and pleased everyone.  I will be doing this again...!

I need to get back on the meal planning train.  I have some good meals saved (somewhere....!) so I am hoping to get into those back posts and will start to share them, in case y'all need inspiration too.

And, drinking-wise... this sounds so bad-- but I am trying to go alcohol-free this week (cue the cracking up face).  I was drinking just about every day over break.  I just wanted to break myself of it.  So, while I did have half of a beer at the Panthers game (it spilled, which I took as a sign from above!) on Sunday, I have not had anything alcoholic this week.  We are having a date night Friday night, so I will enjoy a nice glass of wine then. 
I have been drinking hot tea like it's my job this week.   The weather has been freeeeezing and a hot tea just makes me sooooo happy.  I got a detox tea that I have been drinking every night-- not that I need detoxing (although the previous two paragraphs would make you think otherwise....), and it is really good.  Love winding down with it and above book!

 What we are watching:
Eddie is hooked on Home Land.  Claire Danes is SUCH a good actress! I can't watch it very much though.  It is intense and I get super hooked on it and then my heart races and my palms sweat and then I worry about Carrie Mathison.  I know.  So, I will watch it from afar while he watches, totally unfazed.
I am watching the Bachelor-- of course I am! I like Ben-- he is a little Peter Brady-esque, but I like it. 

"ohhhh good.... more girls coming!"

Thoughts after episode one:
-they are playing up the boy next door aspect.
-this boy with small town values will be eaten alive
-he's going to cry.  a lot. 
-girls that stood out: Lauren B (flight attendant, cute!), Lace (for not good reasons), Caila (cute personality- but she dumped her boyfriend when she saw Ben on tv? That ish is weird.), Olivia (news anchor, who immediately pointed out her dimple), and a bunch of weird weird girls.  And a set of twins. Who are already on my nerves. 
-the dentist chick (no clue name) is a FREAK. And I love it! Who shows up with a massive rose-like thing on her head? Oh yeah she did.
-Lace is getting drunk and is ready to attack. 
-and then the rose ceremony starts and she is even more ready to attack.  "Ben doesn't look at her enough."  uhhhh.... there's 26ish girls there, sis.  Slow your roll.  And, Ben: run. Run quickly. 
-it is going to be a good good season

What's making me happy:

I have some of the very best friends a girl could ever want-- and I am so so so lucky for them.  There is a group text and one day probably averages 250 texts.  They are funny and supportive and wonderful and absolutely perfect.  I say this not to brag, but to remind myself to not take them and our relationships for granted.  I am blessed to have their friendships and I pray they feel blessed by mine too- they make me want to be a better friend.

Better than therapy.  
(Sall, why aren't you in this pic?)

Weight update:
Trying not to focus on this too much... but I want to hold myself accountable.  I weighed in on Saturday, before heading to Charlotte.  I entered my weight into the WeightDrop app and then didn't weigh in on Sunday because we were at a hotel. Monday, I was down 1.5, Tuesday, I was down 1.0 and today I was down .5, for three pounds total (today is Wednesday).  I had a big lunch today and kind of a heavy dinner (and quite a bit of m&ms....ugh....), so I am seriously dreading weigh in tomorrow, but I am making myself do it.  Ideally, I would like to lose 5 the first week- that would totally motivate me to keep going.  Plus, I know a lot of the weight I put on is water weight that would come off with not eating all the crap that goes around during the holidays.  I did popup on Monday, nothing on Tuesday (ugh) and popup tone on Wednesday.  Hoping to walk tomorrow (Thursday) and then I will do popup on Friday and Saturday. It is hard to workout on the days I teach preschool. Got to figure that out.   I will post again next Wednesday! Oh, and my starting weight was even higher than I realized, so my goal is 13 pounds.  Not just the original ten.  If I am being honest on here.  And I am trying to be. 

That's a look at life up in here.  Back to a routine... good for all of us, I think!

 

2016: BRING IT!

2016 is here! We had a SUPER fun New Years Eve.  Some friends of ours host a huge party every year and it is one of my favorite parties ever.  A chance to get dressed up, drink champagne and dance like crazy with your friends-- I mean, how fun is that?!

There was a photo booth there-- what more could you ever want?!?! I visited the booth numerous times... like, the next day I checked my clutch and had about 20 of these print offs.  I can't even imagine how annoyed the guy was who ran the booth.  So sorry, sir.....

As always, a new year  makes me reflect and think about resolutions and blah blah blah.  Truly, I don't agree with a resolution... I am much more of a GOAL setter.  I think it is a bit silly to wait until January 1 to start cleaning/shopping/dieting/running/whatever-ing.  You can start doing something any day of the year!

I have made a few goals for myself, just to keep me on track. 
In my little desk planner, I have a running list of house things to do: clean out attic, organize Andy's closet, clean my closet, etc... knowing that that list will continue to grow throughout the year (if I clean out Andy's closet in January, it will need it again in March...obviously...).

The Bloggess wrote about the #oneword2016 challenge, where you pick a single word for the new year…one word that makes you focus on your main goal for the year (these are her words). As soon as I read this, I decided my word would be KINDNESS.  I want to use kindness every day, in every interaction with people, children and Eddie included.  I want to think with kindness when I reply to people, I want to use kindness in my heart and in my words every day.  I have written the word in several places and I am sticking it around the house as a reminder to me. 
What would your #oneword2016 be? Kinda a neat thought, as opposed to a resolution.

And finally, and I know many will think this is crazy...I have got to get my weight back under control.  I have eaten WAY too much (and drinking....a LOT).  I work out a ton, but I am not eating what I should be eating.  At all.  My goal is to lose 10ish pounds by March, when we go to Mexico.  It isn't going to be easy.  At all.  A long time ago, I hit my all time high weight (which spurred me to go to weight watchers and lose a bunch), and I am at that number, plus a pound now.  It's okay-- I can do it. 

I am not going to post my weight-- wish I had the confidence to do that... but I do not! But, I will be using this blog to hold me accountable.  I am also using the Weight Drop app-- basically just entering my weight each morning (I am back to weighing in each day).  I have only used it twice, but it was very satisfying to see the little graph go DOWN. 

As of now, I am not going to weight watchers-- but I am using a lot of the food choices that I learned when I did it before.  This morning I had egg beaters, I had a spinach salad with grilled chicken for lunch with loads of veggies, some cottage cheese for snack and baked chicken with a salad for dinner.  I also had a small handful of m&ms, if I am being honest.... hehe.  I was really good when we went to Charlotte- really paying attention to what I ate, and I was down a pound and a half when I got home.  It is a start!

SO- here's hoping I am posting that I have reached my goal! It won't over consume this blog... don't worry.  Any one else on the diet train?

Alright... that's about it.  Oh, I am also contemplating doing a bachelor post on here.  Not sure if anyone even watches that show any more... I mean, I DO, but do y'all??


 

Pounding Panthers!

We are all about memory making over here. So when Eddie got us tickets to the Panthers game this past weekend, we jumped all over it! Bruce Carter (former Tarheel player, current Tampa Bay player and boys "uncle") got us reallllly good seats and we had the best time!
We decided to make a weekend out of it, instead of just a day.  We left after popup Saturday morning and headed to Charlotte for lots of fun and laughing together. Surprisingly, even though we were at the end of our winter break with a whole lot of togetherness, we weren't sick of each other on this trip. 

Hitting the road!

We checked into the hotel Saturday around 4:30 and I showed Andy some train tracks right next to our hotel.  Right when he went to look, a train came out.  Y'all.  I seriously thought the kid was going to wet his pants he was so excited.  He has seen trains before-- he isn't even train-obsessed like many kids. But this level of excitement was off the charts.  Can't even explain it!

He stood at the window, watching and waiting and then screaming like a fool every time a train popped out.  It was awesome-- and totally made the trip worth it! ha!

After checking in and getting settled, we headed out to a restaurant, Cabo Fish Taco, for some dinner.  It was soooooo good! It is in kind of an artsy area and while we were waiting, we popped into a store across the way-- Mr. Ham was posing in the dressing room. Cracking us up.    

I wasn't going to drink...but they had a skinny margartia that I figured I probably should try it.  And it was good.  

Nug was thrilled with the guac....YUM. 

They had on the Arkansas bowl game and I caught Cal in the middle of doing the Pig Sooey call- hahaha It was fun watching the game together and cheering on the hogs and poppy. 

The second touchdown we saw, I caught Andy in mid-cheer- hahaa

We headed back to the hotel and these revolving doors provided loads of entertainment for these two...

 And then some naked football playing took place. He was kicking the ball into the trash can as hard as he could and then falling over from laughing. 

I got the kids in bed (Eddie had a meeting) and settled in to read my book...and then I realized I LEFT MY BOOK IN THE CAR! I quick texted Eddie and he offered to bring it to the elevators, if I could just run down-- so I hopped in the elevator in my jammies and a fleece vest and cruised down.  Looking HAWT, y'all.  

Okay, these next few pictures are obnoxiously cute.  The boys were SO excited, they had a hard time falling asleep, but then they finally did.  I looked over and they were like this, so I took a picture-- they were holding hands...

And then I looked and Cal was holding Andy's arm. 

And, many of you know Andy has a serious problem with twirling his hair-- it's a serious problem....ugh-- so when I looked over and he was twirling Cal's hair, I about died! I sent this picture to the fam and Tricia replied that Cal was going to wake up with a bald spot (Andy has a BAD one....)

Then, we all started to doze off and Cal said something in his sleep.  I looked over and saw this.... and I about died.  

 They stayed this way for a while.  The TCU game was getting crazy good so we stayed up to watch the end and they were grabbing hold of each other still...

 And finally, Cal flailed around and Andy rolled over....but kept an arm on him.

The sweetest boys.  I didn't sleep much that night because two adults in full beds doesn't work for me.  Momma needs a queen sized bed, please! hahahaha

The boys were up and rearing to go Sunday morning.  We first checked out the pool... they had SO much fun swimming.  When they were swimming (inside) and a train went by, I thought Andy might lose it.  He was BEYOND excited-- too funny.

After pool time, we walked around a bit and had a delicious lunch.  We finished up there and went to meet Bruce--- these boys adore him and were so excited to get to talk to him.  

I wish I got a picture of the hugs they gave him when we first got there.  They both rested their heads on his shoulder all cuddled up.  Such a sweet man.  

Walking back to the hotel....

We had a little bit of chill time and then it was time to get ready for the game! We didn't want to wear too much panthers gear so not to be disrespectful to Bruce, so we wore black to be safe!

I packed gloves and hats and coats because temps were supposed to be dropping later....and they did!

Walking into the stadium, Andy asked me to take a picture of him "in front of the logo! Can you see the logo, mommy??" (you can't even see HIM in this picture!)

We got in our seats and got to watch warm ups-- they boys were beyond excited. 

They each got a program and sat and read all the rosters. 

Ready for game time!

He was taking it all in... asking lots of questions, but not scared, like he usually is.  He truly loved it.  

Of course Cal loved it all too and spent most of the time calling the plays after they happened, two beats ahead of the stadium announcer.  It was too funny. 

Doing his panther ROAR that they do after each first down. 

Those temps did drop and we were thankful for hats and gloves and warm coats!

Dancing-- of course!

We stayed until the end of the game (8:30ish) and then we sat in traffic. And then we sat in more traffic.  And then we didn't move.  All we would see was red lights.)

Soon, both boys were asleep....and we thought we were golden.  

But then Andy woke up screaming and Cal couldn't get comfortable...so I climbed in the back seat and sat on the floor, holding Andy and serving as a pillow for Cal. 

But it was worth it all for that weekend-- we had so much fun together as a family!

It was ROUGH getting everyone ready and out the door this morning though... phew! Back to life!!!