quick post w/o pictures

Okay so not much happened in February with our family so that is why no posts. I don't think I took a whole lot of pictures either but when I get the time to download a few I will post them and blog some more!
Hunter's best friend Emma moved away at the end of February. They shared going to and from the Delayed Development Kindergarten and the Regular Kindergarten so they definitely had a special bond. Michael says I'm probably more devastated than Hunter is about her moving which is probably true. Mainly because Hunter has a hard time making friends and she accepted Hunter for who he was even if he is a little different. I keep telling myself that someday they will reunite when the time is right!!
Samuel had some set backs with his potty training. We had a pizza party at our house with several of my MOMS Club friends and their husbands and kids way back in December. Since our guest bathroom is so cramped as it is I took Samuel's potty chair out since he was using the big toilet now. Of course this sent him into a what do I do now phase and he started pottying in his pants again!! Even though I brought the potty chair back ASAP. So finally after months of working with him and his refusals to go on the potty at all. I got really angry and screamed at him that if he didn't use the bathroom on the potty that he would get a spanking every time he pottied in his pants or pull ups!! Well that did it and after just a few accidents (no I didn't spank him, he was at least trying now) we are once again potty trained!! YEAH!! Lesson learned: don't take the potty chair out till the child is ready even if they aren't using it.
Gabriel has learned to pull himself up onto chairs and go up and down the stairs safely! Huge moment when, for the last time I will be able to leave things out on counters, tables and such places that baby can pull a chair up to (yes he is pulling chairs around the house already!!) and get into things like markers, chap stick, lotion, etc! And NO MORE baby gates around the house or toys down stairs (okay that last one is a dream but intentions are well meaning). It's nice not to have to lift guest children over the baby gate all the time, my boys are pros at hoisting themselves over it. And finally I was able to move ALL the toys upstairs so that all three boys could be together when they play even though all they seem to do is get everything out and play with none of it!!
I'm still sewing although the last couple of weeks I've taken a huge break! I guess I over did it a little. But hope still runs high that I will complete the many projects that I have started or have bought fabric for, it may not be till 2020 but hey I have a goal and intend to keep SEWING!!

Pretty New Bible!

review

Okay like always I haven't been so good about blogging but I just don't have the time!! So Sorry, but I have all of 3 followers so I guess no one really reads this stuff any who (hint hint, sign up as a follower).



I reciently received a brand new "Busy Mom's NIV Bible" from Zondervan for FREE!! Since it was free I need to write a review on it to share with my peeps!! I've never "reviewed" anything before so bare with me.



First off usually something that is free (especially samples) take FOREVER to ever get to me but this came in less than a week, I was floored how quickly I received this HUGE ($20 at Mardel's) freebie. Upon opening the box, just the colors of the soft and can't-keep-your-hands-off Italian leather are amazing! I've never owned an NIV version of the Bible, my parents have stressed the importance of the KJV so have always had that on hand and nothing else. It is a little easier to read than the KJV but I usually cross reference just because you never know how you may interpret one writing or the other. I Love the special busy mom's pages through out this bible, 1) they are made of different kind of paper so they are easy to locate thus saving serious time, 2) They have neat 1 minute thought starters, you know a busy mom doesn't have much time so it just gives you something to think about through out the day. 3) if you have more time on hand then there are 5 minute and 10 minute reflections and study's that you can look through and read that are related to the 1 minute thought starters. So say this morning I woke up before the boys and was able to read the 1 minute thought starter just before the baby woke up crying. In the car while wating for Pre-school to let out tomorrow I could squeeze in 5 minutes to read the reflection about the 1 minute thought starter that I read today and Friday while waiting for my baby to come out of surgery I can definitely fit in the 10 minute Bible study that ties all of these together!! Too busy to read the Bible now? I think NOT!!!

Thanks Zondervan for the new Bible, I've been telling all my friends about it and showing it off because it's so pretty too!!

Still crafting!!

I made this quilt for my friend in Colorado who had triplets this past spring...yep just now getting around to it!! But I personalized it by adding his name appliqued by the sea horse. 1 down 2 to go!!!










This is Samuel's nap mat for school. It's made out of fleece but could be cotton or flannel too, I just made a sleeve for a purchased school mat with a travel pillow encased in the top and an added blanket that's attached to the side! He loves this mat and the best part is it all rolls up in a nice package with a carrying handle that can all slide right off the plastic mat and into the washer!!
If you've got a preschooler needing a nap mat makeover let me know!!! This is one of those must have items.
I found a web sight that had a tutorial on french seams...never heard of such a thing!! So I tried it out making these cute pillow cases for the boys, it was AWESOME!! Not only did the pillow cases come out looking like store bought but It took less time to sew than it did to do all the cutting of the fabric!! Who knew the French knew so much. I think I'll be making some more of these sweet things as gifts!! Any takers?

Being Crafty

Well in addition to Hunter's birthday in January I had a niece and a nephew with birthdays later this month as well. I sent Evie the quilt that I had made, only because I wanted to keep it for my bed as it would have gone perfectly with my green walls but it wasn't big enough. Evie has a similar green in her room and since she was turning 14 I thought she could use a more grown up bed covering!!
Any who Brevan turned 7 and I had seen these at craft fairs and on line so I decided to make a little coloring tote for him. I had to practice first just to be sure the directions I got were legit!! But they weren't thank goodness I figured that out right away. The directions to make it were fine but they were only using 8 1/2" squares for the tote and most coloring books are 12" tall!! So I adjusted and made the crayon slots smaller since I was using colored pencils. I left a place for an eraser or pencil sharpener on B's tote because you always need to sharpen those things and need one handy! I also embroidered his name on it so no one could snatch it up!


A friend of mine saw my crafty crafts on my blog and asked if she could commission a few baby gifts for people she knew so by all means...I whipped up some diaper clutches and wipes containers!!

Hunter's 6th Birthday

Hunter kept thinking since it was his 6th birthday that his birthday was January 6th (instead of the 5th) I guess that makes sense to a child, but what happens after 30 or 31? AAAAHH




Both of the boys really enjoyed the birthday presents! It's really hard to shop for a kid who just celebrated Christmas 2 weeks before this!! And let's not even talk about parties, we've only had 1 big party and it was good but usually the weather is less than stellar and the timing is just so bad, maybe we should start celebrating 1/2 birthday's as someone suggested to us.
Thanks for the Camo nana and papa, I want to wear it every day but mama won't let me!!

Good bye 2009, Hello 2010

Well I have caught up on my blogging, with the exception of Hunter's 6th birthday which was just last week so I will get those pictures uploaded and blogged about ASAP! As for me today has been nothing but catching up and it feels SOOO good to mark just one more thing off my to do list! I hope you enjoyed 2009 as much as I did and I hope my uber blog fest hasn't made you feel overwhelmed!

Thanks for reading!!

Christina

And the WINNER IS......

12 weeks post biggest looser and just hours prior to my final weigh in!


Can you believe that I won that challenge and 75% of the money pot!

I ran my 5k just a week before this photo and the day after Michael and I went on our Mexico Anniversary trip with some sweet spending cash!

I would still like to lose about 10lbs and I'm still working out but my eating hasn't been so good with the holidays and all!! But I will get there hopefully before swim suit season! This challenge and the fact that I could lose weight and look decent in Mexico and make some money for our trip was just what I needed to push me to lose the weight! It's great to be back in my old clothes but it's even better that I can buy some clothes in a smaller size!! YEAH

Weight Loss

Well I hate to even share this on line but if it means it will encourage even one person to lose weight then so be it!!

I LOVE the show the biggest loser and after our return from 4th of July in Durango some ladies at the local YMCA started an Owasso biggest loser!

In these first two pictures I was 6 months post pregnancy and sick to death of seeing stars like Angelina Jolee, Jennifer Garner, JLo and what have you look AMAZING 6 weeks post pregnancy!! Each and everyone of my 3 pregnancies I gained 50 pounds because I give myself permission to eat what ever, when ever and how ever much I want!! But the shedding of those 50lbs does not happen with nursing for me and I only lose about 20 lbs. So this is not my biggest weight obviously I was 20lbs bigger pregnant. But not being pregnant by 6 month's and carry all that extra weight and to look longingly at my clothes that I STILL could not fit in 6 moths later I knew I had to do something!! So I took on the challenge of putting up $25 to win the biggest looser!! It was definitely a struggle every day, I recorded what I ate and adjusted my caloric intake between 1100 and 1500 calories a day with the help of a free web sight called www.sparkpeople.com! But when I do I will post it. That had to have been a 1/3 of what I was usually eating...no wonder the weight wasn't coming off even though I was working out! I also started training for my first 5k (which I was training for before I got pregnant and had to abandon) and after only 6 weeks I had lost 15 pounds.

6 Weeks post biggest looser!

More of the garden

The Cantelope was amazing but didn't produce much! You need alot of room for just one of those things!!

Okra





















Corn

More gardening

Here's some of our garden goodies!

This was all the corn we got!

Garden

Michael and I added a 2nd raised bed this past spring and decided to compete for best garden! But we had different things in our gardens so you really couldn't compair! His radishes and carrots did awesome along with the peppers later in the summer.













Radishes
My corn looked like it would do great but come harvest time we didn't get much, but the okra was amazing! We have never grown okra before since it needs really long, hot summers! Something Durango doesn't have.