Mission Accomplished!

Yup, I got my last 4 scrapbook pages done and I'm complete with my July goal.  I was actually done a few days ago although we've been so busy with working on redoing/staining the deck that I haven't had any time to post the last few pages.  So, here goes:

Both Logan and Ellis have two "Christmas" pages.  The first page for each of them are really activities in December that lead up to Christmas and the second one is actually Christmas Day.

Logan's first page

Logan's second page

Ellis' first page

Ellis' second page 

For their 2nd birthday, I thought I'd do a 2 page layout but I was actually able to get everything on 1 page!

Ellis' birthday page 

Logan's birthday page

So, there you have it.  I'm pretty pleased with the pages I made and even more pleased to be caught up (with this project!).  I actually do have two more layouts that I could do for each one, but I don't have the pictures for it yet, which is why I didn't include them in this month's challenge.  

Next up, on the scrapbook front, I want to document our camping trip to The Pinery, then of course get caught up again on Project Life.  Let's see how much of this I can get done before, gasp, I go back to work in a few weeks.

Monthly Challenge - Update #2

Woo hoo, I'm staying on track!  Just wanted to share my most recent layouts that I've done.  I'm officially 10 days in and I have 8 of the 12 layouts complete.  All of the layouts below are two page layouts.  What I indicate as page 1 is the left side and page 2 is the right side.  Again, you can click any picture to see it a bit closer!

Ellis' first birthday - Page 1

Ellis' first birthday - Page 2

Logan's first birthday - Page 1 

Logan's first birthday - Page 2

Ellis - Port Crescent Camping Trip - Page 1

Ellis - Port Crescent Camping Trip - Page 2

Logan - Port Crescent Camping Trip - Page 1

Logan - Port Crescent Camping Trip - Page 2

As I work on these pages, I've realized how difficult it is to make two different layouts for each child so they don't have "cookie cutter" pages - which isn't easy.  I'm not 100% loving the last page I did (Logan's Page 2 of camping), but I was getting to the point where I just needed to finish it.  What's nice is that it isn't horribly difficult to add an embellishment later, or totally redo the page if I'm still not feeling it.  I realize that it's sometimes helpful to just walk away from it for a while and come back to it.  

Last up are pages for each one for Christmas 2012 as well as their 2nd birthday - and I still have about 10 days to finish them up!!

Monthly Challenge Update

I know I don't often update my monthly challenge progress, but I'm actually quite pleased at how easy this challenge is becoming, so I thought I'd share!  After 6 days since I started this scrapbooking challenge, I've fully completed 4 of 12 layouts, with the 5th one partially completed (hopefully to be completed tonight after the boys go to bed).  Here are the 4 I've done so far (remember, I admitted I was very behind!) and feel free to click on them to see a closer version of the page:

Ellis' "first" steps (when he really started walking more than crawling)

Logan's "first" steps

Ellis' first hair cut 

Logan's first hair cut

I have to admit that it really isn't too hard to focus enough to do one layout a night - although I think the next few that I do are going to be 2-page layouts (birthdays, Christmas, etc), so it might take a bit more time to complete.  It almost seems less "threatening" when I know I only have to do one layout at a time instead of working on multiple pages at a time.  Tonight I hope to finish a 2-page spread for Ellis' album for his first birthday.  Wish me luck!

Hello July (+11)

Okay, so I've been neglecting July's post for my monthly challenge - kind of on purpose, kind of not.  Last week was busy with getting ready for our camping trip, and with everything going on, I really had no idea what to challenge myself to do.  To be honest, I had so much fun just enjoying my free time in June that I couldn't think of anything more serious to do this month.

So, after a few extra days of thinking of things I'd like to accomplish this month, I finally figured it out...11 days later!  Although I've been pretty good this past month at getting caught up with my Project Life album for this year, I've fallen behind on the boy's individual albums.  For their albums, I've just been focusing on their milestones, holidays, trips, etc, but I haven't worked on them this entire year at all.  After reorganizing photos, I determined that I have about 6 layouts for each of them to complete, so it is my goal in the remaining 20 days this month, to get their albums up to date.  I don't want to rush through each layout just to get it done, but I want to be more focused during my free time after the boys go to bed to spend some time working on them.

Any of you creative people out there can feel free to send their creative juices this way.  This mama is going to need all the creativity I can get.

to enjoy

This is my challenge for June - to enjoy.  To enjoy what, you ask?  Anything I want!

I feel like I'm always going going going.  But, then again, what parent doesn't, right?  Well, now that summer is practically here, I want to make sure I soak up every moment I can.  I feel like I'm putting a lot on the back burner because of things I have to do.  Plus as another birthday passes I sit back and realize how time is just flying by.  I don't want to keep rushing through life moving at high speeds all the time, especially with two little ones.  So, make better use of my time, be intentional with the things I choose to do, and I should have no problem finding time to enjoy the things I want to do.  Seems easy, right?  Well, not quite, considering we still have 3 weeks of school, so I'm not quite in the clear with that yet.  Luckily things are simmering down, so I don't have as much work to do now as I did in past months.  It's amazing too, how fast time goes by once the boys are in bed - my "me" time.  I do a few things to prep for the next day and I turn around twice and it's time to go to bed, it seems.  Also, I have started tutoring someone on the side (and possibly have another person lined up to tutor over the summer), so I still have some things that I'm committed to.

So, to start small, I'm forcing myself to do at least 1 thing after the boys go to bed that I want to do, without feeling guilty about not doing something I should be doing instead.  Some of you may be wondering about my May challenge (which I may have purposely neglected to mention until now), of completing the Insanity workouts.  I did complete the first month of workouts.  I lost a few pounds and I have toned up just a bit in some trouble spots and have definitely gotten stronger.  I did have a debate with myself, however, with continuing with the second month of workouts, right now.  Sure, it seems obvious to continue, especially if I've seen some results, but now the workouts are longer - about 50-60 minutes instead of 30-40 minutes.  And, with the boys bedtime at 8pm and then running downstairs to workout for an hour, followed by a shower and prepping for the next day I literally have no ME time.  Yes, I guess working out is ME time, but not the sit down, relax, just chill ME time.  And I guess, thats what I really want right now.  I want to sit on the deck at night with a wine smoothie (or beer) in hand, or chill in front of the TV and catch up on a show I have recorded.  I want to catch up with friends I haven't talked to in a while, I want to catch up on my scrapbooking...  Sure, if I want to workout I will, but I don't want to do something because I'm going to feel guilty if I don't do it.  I want to enjoy every last second of this summer - slow down a little bit and just enjoy the small things.  I did battle this idea of "giving up" on something I started, but have finally come to grips with it because I'm not totally throwing away the idea of finishing it - I'm just going to finish it at a later time.

So, there you have it.  My goal is to enjoy something every day this month.  To do at least one thing that I want, not necessarily need to do, after the boys go to bed.  I will continue doing the Insanity workouts when I decide to, and hopefully pick them up more consistently once I'm out of school for the summer when I have fewer obligations.  Let's have a fun, enjoyable, more carefree start to the summer!

A new month - a new challenge

First, I'll recap April's challenge.  My goal was to be more active.  Out of the 30 days in the month, I wanted be active for at least 20 minutes on at least 15 days.  I started out strong - running, and taking Bella for walks often during my Spring Break, but as the weather got dreary for what seemed like forever and the end of my class got closer, I kind of slipped a little bit.  Luckily, I pulled it off at the end of the month and ended up exactly with 15 days of activity!  A mini part of April's challenge was also to not use the elevator at work, again, to stop with the laziness and be more active.  I was 99% successful with that, only using the elevator once....I kind of forgot and after I was on with some other teachers, didn't think I should make a big deal and get off to use the steps.  Oh well!  =)

For May's challenge, I wanted to kick up my activity a notch and my goal is to do the Insanity Challenge.  I saw infomercials about it and heard some people talking about it on Facebook and though I'd give it a try.  Like anything, if you put your mind to it and dedicate yourself to it, you will be successful right?  Plus, summer is right around the corner, and it would be nice to not feel so self conscious when showing more skin, right?  So, I officially started on Sunday and as of today, I've completed 5 days so far.  My goal with this is definitely to tone up a little bit - and hey, losing that last 5 lbs that I've never been able to drop and keep off after the boys arrived 2 years ago, wouldn't be a bad thing either.  Also, this program lasts 60 days, so this challenge will be for May and June.  I'm hoping once I get more into the swing of these workouts to really adjust my eating too.  I've been more diligent with not eating junk and eating mindlessly, but I'm just in a rut with healthy meals, especially dinners.  If anyone has any good ideas, I'm all ears!

Anyone else have any goals for getting fit for the summer?

Goodbye March, Hello April

We are into our 4th month of 2013 already!  What's sad is that I still catch myself writing 2012 every so often!

With another month ending, it's time to look back at the challenge I made for myself for March - to limit the unnecessary spending.  This included no eating out, no stops at a drive-thru for a pop, no random purchases at Target, etc.  And the end result?!?  I did pretty good - not perfect though.  I did have a little lapse one Friday at work and went out to get something to eat.  And, just this past week, Troy and I got takeout for dinner.  But no extra, unnecessary purchases elsewhere.  2 "mess-ups" in the month isn't too bad I suppose.  As Troy says, though, we could have spent a lot more if we would have went out to eat once a week or more like we did in the past, compared to the two times all month that we did.  So, we did save money in the long run.

As far as the month of April goes, I think I'm going to focus on a fitness goal.  I have already challenged myself to no pop and no candy (my two weaknesses), in order to eliminate extra calories going in my body, but considering my main goal for my body is to tone up, that doesn't happen by just eating less.  I have to get moving more.  So, this month's challenge is to move more.  This includes not taking the elevator at work (my classroom is on the 4th floor) and being active for 20 minutes or more, 15 or more days of the month.  I am still taking a class and I am still working full-time, so I can't guarantee activity every day (yet!), but hopefully I can get some sort of activity for half the days of the month.  This might include taking Bella for a walk/run, doing the pilates video I have, getting on the treadmill (my goal next month is going to include running, so I might as well get a start on that now) - anything that keeps me moving for 20 minutes or more.  I think that having Spring Break this week puts me at a slight advantage because I'm not working, so hopefully this extra time will get me in the routine of it all and make it easier next week when I am working again.  

Anyone interested in having a virtual workout buddy?  I know that timing of working out and where we all live put us at a disadvantage to actually working out together, I'm always better when I have accountability and someone asking how I'm doing - it helps me stay on track better.  If anyone else is in a slump right now and needs some motivation, let me know - maybe we can help each other out!

Happy April everyone!

Monthly Challenge - March

This month's challenge is going to revolve around money - not spending it.  I thought about this after we got our taxes done a few weekends ago.  Our accountant asked us how much we were putting away each paycheck and unfortunately we couldn't really respond with a specific amount of money.  Since Troy's paycheck varies, it all depends on how much "extra" he made that month.  We have money set aside in a savings account, in case we had to pay more in taxes for last year, but we were hoping to do some things with that money this summer if we didn't have to pay much/any in taxes.

This got me to thinking about our spending habits.  Too frequently, do we just run out to get a few things at the store and end up with more than we intended.  A "quick" run to Target for diapers, ends up turning into a much larger total than just diapers.  On the weekends, all it takes is a question of "whats for lunch?" and one of us mentions Jimmy Johns and off we go to get it.  It's quite easy just picking up something for dinner on Tuesday's when I have class and go right from work to class until 10pm.  We definitely aren't pinching pennies by any means, but I think about how much more we could save, or what other meaningful things we could spend our money on than food.

So, my (our) challenge this month is to not spend money on anything we don't need: no eating out, no random snacks/drinks at gas stations or drive thru's, no shopping for new clothes, etc.  Now granted I realize that we do need to eat, but we don't need to eat out when we just went grocery shopping and have plenty of food in the house (or perhaps we need to do a better job shopping so we aren't tempted to go out as often).  It isn't too difficult to just pack myself a little something extra for dinner on the nights I have class.  A few weeks ago I stocked up on diapers at Target during a sale they had, so I have no need to go to Target this month at all - which will help on spending any extra money there.  I talked this challenge over with Troy because me not eating out means no eating out for him too (for the most part), and he was up for the challenge too.  And sure, I'd love some new spring clothes, but its not quite warm enough yet for a major overhaul of winter clothes, so that shopping can wait.  The only "extras" I'm allowing are for the boy's birthday/party at the end of the month and a haircut for myself - it's been just over 5 months since I've gotten a cut - I think I'm due for one!  So let's see if we can minimize all this extra spending and do a better job with saving!

Another month down

So far, I'm shocked at how fast 2013 is flying by.  Anyone else feel that way?

Now that February is over, I sit here assessing my February goal - to stay off social media, blogs, games on my iPad and phone, etc. after 8:30pm.  My reasoning was to utilize my time doing other, more important, things that I always complained of having not enough time for.

And to be quite honest, I didn't do so well.  I'm actually quite shocked at how easy it was to "forget" about the goal I made for myself.  The first weekend, Superbowl Sunday in fact, during halftime, I picked up my phone and was browsing different things for a few minutes before realizing I shouldn't even be on it.  Last month, I craved candy and pop but since I didn't have any in the house, as much as I wanted it, it wasn't within reach, therefore a little easier to not have.  This time around, my phone didn't just leave at 8:30, and usually it wasn't too far away from me, making it harder to not use.  Also, if I lost track of time, I sometimes didn't realize it was after 8:30 and picked up my phone like it wasn't a big deal.

Despite my failed goal, I would say I have been much better with not staying on my phone or iPad long during those times I shouldn't have even been on it.  I didn't lay in bed catching up with my "Words with Friends" and other such games on my phone.  I didn't aimlessly read blogs as time ticked away.  So, it wasn't a complete loss.  I did catch up with most of my scrapbooking that I wanted to get done and I did get on the treadmill a few times (more at the beginning of the month when my motivation was higher).

I'll be back in a day or so to talk about March's challenge...  Stay tuned!

February's Challenge

I didn't realize how hard would be to think of a challenge to do this month - something that wasn't going to be simple to do, but not something impossible to do either.  So, I thought about what hasn't been going quite right lately and I came up with this - Stay off all electronic devices (iPhone and iPad mainly) after 8:30 pm every night.

My reasoning?  Where does the time go after the boys go to bed at 7:30 and when I go to bed, usually around 10:30ish?  I feel like I never have any time to do things, but in reality, that is 3 solid hours to do stuff.  What do I usually catch myself doing?  Catching up on Facebook, Instragram, message boards and blogs I read, playing "Words with Friends", "Scramble with Friends", "Bejeweled" - you name it - any app on my phone and iPad suck up my time after they go to bed.  So, how to I make time to do the things that I really want to do?  Take away what is sucking up my time.  I will allow myself to check emails if necessary or respond to a text message as that is a quick thing to do, but no mindless game playing/social media to take up my time.  There are plenty of other hours in the day to do that.

So, last night, when the boys went to bed, I honestly wondered what I was going to do.  I already did my math homework for the week, I didn't bring home any school work, I didn't have a book I was currently reading because I "haven't had time" to keep up with one, and I already watched all of my shows that were DVR'd during the week, earlier in the week.  So, I thought about things I always said I wanted to do "when I had time" - start running again, catch up with my Project Life album, find a new book to read, etc.  What did I end up doing?  I rearranged some of the toys in the basement to set up the treadmill and went for a 15 minute run (long enough for the first time running in literally 5-6 months), finished a week of my Project Life album, and then Troy found me a book in his collection that I might be interested in, and started that.  After all that, it was only 10pm!! I know it doesn't sound very exciting for a Friday night, but there was nothing exciting on TV, no movie that I wanted to watch and Troy was reading a new book he had.  No excuses to do these things more often - have time for me and the things I always try to get to, but usually fail to do.  We'll see how long the motivation lasts.  And hey, even if I'm not productive every night after they go to bed, I can't blame it on checking everyone's status for the n-th time that day and playing just one more game on my phone.

I made it!

It's finally the end of January and the end of my first monthly challenge of the year.  My goal was to go a whole month without pop or candy, two of my biggest weaknesses.  I am happy to announce that I made it successfully, with both of them.

Although at the beginning of the month I found myself reaching for other sweet foods (cookies, etc) to replace my lack of candy, I'd say I did better towards the end of the month where that need to reach for something sweet diminished.  That does not mean, however, that I'm not craving candy like a mad woman.  I did a lot better with drinking more water, but then also switched to flavored water, which I'm not sure is any better than the sugar (or fake sugar) in pop (or diet pop).

I think what I did get out of the whole challenge this month was that I need to be more mindful of the mindless eating and drinking I do.  It was very easy to grab a handful of candy, only to go back and grab another handful a couple minutes later after not realizing how fast I ate the first handful.  Usually that grazing happened as I watched tv, read, or any other activity.  I'm not so quick to just grab other types of food to eat mindlessly on the couch, so this really helped me learn that I don't need those foods for that reason.  Also it wasn't a surprise to see me walk into work with a large $1 pop from McDonalds every so often, only to realize at the end of the day that I only drank that, and no water.  This helped me better track my water intake and realize how much or how little I was really drinking every day.

Is this something I plan to continue?  Hate to say it, but probably not.  I'm not going to lie, I have a 2-liter of Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi waiting for me and I won't be surprised if the candy that has been sitting in my desk drawer at work will finally be eaten tomorrow...BUT I do plan to be much more conscientious of the amount of candy and pop I consume from here on out.  And, if I notice that I'm consuming too much of either again, maybe I'll put limits on myself instead of just eating/drinking it whenever I want.

I'm still here!

I know, I know, I've been horrible at updating the blog.  After a 2+ week unplanned hiatus, I'm back.

To be honest, the main reason for my lack of blogging is a lack of anything to blog about.  I'm back to work after a very nice 2 week Christmas/New Years break, and also back in class for another semester.

The boys have been doing awesome.  Sometimes they just totally crack me up at the things they do.  I was changing Logan's diaper the other day before bed but I was in the basement, so instead of putting his pants back on, I just kept them off since I'd put his pajamas on him once we went upstairs.  Well, Ellis thought it was hilarious to go up to Logan, tap him on the diaper and run away - like he was playing tag with him - and Logan thought it was funny too.

Another night, we put the boys to bed in fleece pants and a thermal shirt instead of their normal all-in-one footed pajamas and when I went to wake them up in the morning, this is what I found:

It's crazy to know he did this in the middle of the night considering when I checked on them before bed at 10:30, he was fully clothed (and by the way, the diaper is around his knees and his pants are in the opposite corner of the crib).  So needless to say, before we left for the day, a load of laundry went in the washer.

Last week we enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather and even went on a wagon ride.  The boys just love their wagon.

Other pictures to share:

Ellis loves helping me with the laundry.

Apparently climbing on a stack of pillows and rolling off is a fun new game too.

Logan drawing on their new MagnaDoodle Easel that they got from Uncle Sky for Christmas.

And Ellis loves it too!

The boys aren't much into coloring with crayons, but recently I had out some of my colored pencils that I used for card making and they just went to town scribbling with them.  I feel like when they tried using crayons, they didn't see as much color on the paper and lost interest, where as colored pencils need little pressure to get more color to show up.  So, last weekend we did quite a bit of "coloring" too.

 

Like I said, nothing much going on - unfortunately not many pictures being taken, so I will try to do better in the coming weeks and post a little more frequently.  

In slightly unrelated news, I want to congratulate one of my close friends (you know who you are!) who got to bring her little boy home from the NICU earlier this week.  He's a strong little boy and grew fairly quickly for how early he was.  I can't wait to see the cutie pie in person and hear all about your adventures as a family of 4.  It also looks like this is the year of boys being born!  3 of my friends are pregnant and due within a month of each other and 2 of them so far appear to be having boys (1 of them isn't 100% certain due to having an early ultrasound) and 1 finds out next week.  Gosh, can you imagine the extreme fun we will be having in a few years when the boys all hang out to play?!?!?  I can hardly wait!!

And in case you were wondering how I've been doing with my January Challenges, I'm doing well with both of them.  I haven't had any pop nor have I had any candy.  The pop part was much harder at the beginning, but lately the desire to have candy has been entering my head more often (especially with an open bag of candy in my drawer at school).  I text Troy one day saying it was killing me not to eat the candy in my drawer, secretly thinking he might say "then just go ahead and have one", but nope.  His response was "it will eat away at your conscious if you have one - you'll be mad at yourself". Yeah, he's right.  Plus, anyone who knows me, knows I wouldn't have had just one!  =)  It's been hard, but I'm over half the month through it, so I think it will be smooth sailing from now until the 31st!

So, that's it for us.  It's time for me to go pack up to scrapbook tomorrow.  Have a great weekend and stay warm!

Monthly Challenge - January

As I mentioned in my last post, I am not creating "resolutions" for myself this year, but instead monthly challenges.  Things that will help me be a better person.  Since it takes a few weeks to make something routine, I think that a month is long enough to make a change that could better myself.  I'm not saying I will stop the challenge right away when the month is over, but hopefully I can create new habits by committing to something for a month.  And the reason I've decided to mention it on here is to inform those friends and family that I see often what I'm doing so that I don't get funny looks when I mention it in passing.

This month, I have 2 food/drink related challenges.  This month, my challenge is to have NO pop or candy.  For anyone who even somewhat knows me, this is going to be hard (especially because I have some candy in my desk drawer at work that I forgot to bring home with me before Christmas).  I usually have my morning "coffee" (which is really pop in a coffee mug - but for some reason I get fewer weird looks than if I just had a can or bottle of pop at 7am!), and usually some other pop for dinner, with water in between.  Or a huge ass $1 pop from McDonald's which lasts me the whole work day.  Lately though, the water has been very minimal, which isn't good.  I go in spurts with candy, but again, lately, I grab a handful here, or handful there, and before I know it - the entire bag of whatever it was is gone.  Pam and I are known for making a candy run during our break at work to keep in our desk for the times we have a sweet tooth every once in a while.  Sorry Pam, no gas station runs this month!!

So, we'll see how this goes.  I'm not going to lie.  It's only Day 2 and I'm totally craving some candy and I do have a slight headache (maybe caffeine withdrawl?!?), but I also think it has to do with the fact of being home during the day and not being completely busy with things to do.  It's all about making better food and drink choices, though right?  Hopefully this will help!

Anyone else have any sort of resolution they are working on this year?