Saturday, June 13, 2015

I'm still here...

I know it doesn't seem like it. Who knew three months could fly by and get lost? LOST I tell you. :/



Finishing up the tax thing and some new responsibilities at my other all-year job, coupled with already poor time management skills...well, obviously that results in a lack of blog updates. I sowwy.

Since I saw you last, spring has come and gone. Doesn't hang around long in GA, as we tend to get springsummer, with a quick summersummer follow up. After I wrapped up things at the tax office, we made our annual pilgrimage to Florida with the B's and the H's. It was an excellent time, as always, but there was a little something different about this trip. What was it?

I was 70 pounds lighter than a year ago and I ran my very first 5K with Tracy and Jen!!!!!!! I was so proud of myself, and all of us, for what we have accomplished to get to that point. My guys were there to send me off with hugs and support (they knew I would finish, even if I didn't know that), and they were there when I crossed the finish. The fact that we ran it in Fl, the place where this whole journey began for me a year ago, made it all the more sweeter.


Before the race. Tracy had these awesome shirts made for us! :)

During the race. Yes, I realize I look like I'm dying. But I didn't, so yaaaaay. ;)
After we all finished!!!!! :D

Speaking of the whole getting healthy journey...

Going against every part of my brain that wanted to so NOT post this picture, when we returned from vacay, I shared my before and after photo on the friendface. When I took the "before" photo, I honestly never expected that I would make the progress that I made. So, I honestly never expected to show it to anyone. On one hand, I hate looking at it. On the other hand, I love seeing how far I've come. And lemme say...my spirit animal is a sloth and I think doughnuts should be a food group at the top of the food pyramid...so if I can do this, anyone can. :D

I forgot to save my old shorts, but that is the same shirt. 

Hmmm. What else?

Just yesterday I picked the boys up from their first ever 4-H summer camp. Spent a week at Tybee, lucky little boogers. While Bailey has done a scout camp thing once before, Braeden has never been away for so long. But when I picked them up, they said they had an ah-MAY-zing time, and it was the best week of their life. Haha. It's been 24 hours and Braeden is still singing camp songs. He wants to make sure that I know every word to every song he learned.

Every. Song.

There really wasn't a way for them to take pictures, but their wonderful 4-H coordinator sent me these two:

Bailey "singing" to snails...if you hum, it somehow mimics waves/water and makes the snails come out of their shells.
Braeden and his "marsh mud facial". 

Those that have hung out here a while know that we homeschool year-round, and that is still working for us. Right now we are in our "school-lite" mode for summer. Even though we follow a much lighter summer learning schedule (much lighter), Braeden is working hard at finishing up his 5th grade homeschool program, while Bailey is just about done with his 10th grade courses.

Whoa. That was hard to type. Where in the heck has the time gone?! I remember when Bailey was a wee lad and Braeden was a smushy little dude. What? They were! See? ;)

The day we took Braeden home from the hospital. He was a day old, Bailey had turned 5 three days prior...

I guess that's it. We took the boys to see Jurassic World today (it was okay, yay Chris Pratt, lol) and we are unplugging for a little while to head outside, cook on the fire, and play some card games without the distraction of our gadgets. Shocking, yes?

Until next time...

Monday, March 2, 2015

Oh, Spring. Where are you?

It's March. That means I'm looking for spring. Really looking. Searching desperately. :/

I like the cold. At least for the most part. I don't mind snow (as long as it doesn't affect power and there is no ice!). I love bundling up with blankets and hoodies.

But I'm really missing the sunshine right about now. I don't see much sunshine (or anything else) from my desk at the tax office. The tax thing is slowing down, but it's not over. I  need it to be over. I'm also missing my outside walks/jogs. I am ridiculously grateful for my treadmill because it's helped me keep my momentum, but I am soooooo bored with it, lol. I want to see the trees. And the cows. And the donkeys. And the chickens. :)

So what's been up with us? School has been going along. I won't say swimmingly or anything, but well enough. Both of the boys have struggled with some of their courses. But I think that's a good thing honestly. They have basically sailed along all these years and it's good for them to come across lessons/activities that they have to retake, or really focus/concentrate on. They did have an opportunity to break up the online learning last month. February was #FreebieFebruary, so the interwebs were awash with free educational resources. I found some free printable science worksheets, some free United States printables and a crap-ton of other free worksheets/crosswords. Free is always good.  :D

As for what else we've been up to, I'll show you...

We replaced our kitchen island. Sorry about the background mess.



We had what could have been some beautiful snow, but instead was messy/nasty/power outage causing ice. Bleh.


I got new glasses! Not incredibly noteworthy, but I went with a style that is really out of my norm. Love them so far.


The boys I tried Korean BBQ for the first time. Not only was it a great time with friends, it was really good noms.


Braeden has his first 4-H Cloverleaf DPA competition at Rock Eagle. Bailey was there as a teen leader...they both had a really good time!

Our group, having some fun together.

The rock eagle. 

Working on his project. Healthy and fun fruit kabobs!

Displaying for the judges and tasters.
So how did he do? My baby won 2nd place! I was so proud of him, but more importantly, he was SO proud himself!

Well. That's about it for now. This month, Bailey has his Senior 4-H DPA, he's in a play with his drama class and hopefully, we'll see some of that spring I've been looking for. ;) 

Until next time...

Sunday, February 1, 2015

February. What the what?!

I lost January. Lost it. Completely. My calendar is telling me it's February, so one can naturally assume that January happened. But I don't know when. Ugh.

Tax time is in full swing right now. Why am I still torturing myself with tax time? Cause I'm a sucker. Plain and simple. Every April, I'm all badass and "I'm not doing this again!" Then every November, "sure, I'll do it again." :/

Boys are doing well. Really staying on top of their school stuffs while I'm at work. The last couple of weeks, Bailey has really realized how different homeschooling high school is compared to years past. I know he's in 10th grade, and he was in high school last year, but the courses this year are just more involved, more thorough and more time consuming. He's spending more and more time working through it all. But he's handling it like a trooper.

Braeden is also struggling with the 5th grade curriculum stuff lately. Not of all it. Mostly with the science. Weird, right? You just knew I was going to say he's having a hard time with math, didn't you? Lol. He's handling it okay most of the time, but we have definitely had to have the whole "if you think it's easier in public school and you wanna try that, just let me know" speech. He never does tell me he wants to give that a whirl. Shocker.

Not really anything else to report. Like I said...tax time brain fog. Oh! Our Moose had his first heartworm treatment injection on Dec 31, and did just fine with that. He had second and third (and hopefully final) injections this past week. With the exception of him being more sleepy, and the constant drinking/urinating thing (prednisone side effect), I don't know that we would know he's been going through this whole thing. :)

In my lap, with one of our other doggies, Lola. 

Making himself comfy ON Braeden, lol.
While I wish I had a huge fitness update to share, I don't really. It's been a struggle to have extra exercise time before or after being at the tax office. I am getting in some treadmill time a few days a week and I am doing a really good job at keeping up with my calorie intake, so that's something. I did have a ridiculously happy moment when I had to buy some new pants for the office. This time last year, I was wearing 18s and 20s. Two weeks ago I bought 12s. TWELVES!!!!!!!!!! I haven't been in a 12 since before Bailey came to be. :D

I'm such a goober. Even though I was buying these pants, and I was taking them home, and I had every intention of wearing them in public, I *still* took a photo of the 12s on me in the dressing room as proof. Heh. Goober. :)
That's about it for now. I hope everyone's 2015 has started off splendidly! Until next time...