Typical Saturday Morning

Could they be any cuter???

Spring Has Sprung

Ok, spring hasn't exactly made an appearance yet, but for the past two days there has been sunshine. Wonderful, glorious sunshine- a very welcome friend. I have all of the blinds pulled up, and even though it's only 18 degrees outside, if squint my eyes and look at the light pouring in, it's almost as though spring really has sprung!

I've been making lots of progress on all the things I've been working on. I've tried my very best to organize- the closets and the basement are both finished. For me, that's a big deal! I've also been working on the kid's rooms. I painted Ezekiel's room a lovely shade of blue. His room is small, so it's a very light color, but it almost has a gray tint to it, which still gives it some depth. Nathan is painting him some elephant pictures and I'm going to make curtains. It should be all finished by this weekend. I'll put up pictures soon!

The biggest progress I've made is on myself. I've been working out every day. There's a channel called "exercise tv" on our digital cable, so it makes it very easy for me to do a workout video every day. I've been doing the Jillian Michaels "30 Day Shred", as well as doing yoga and pilates. I've always drank a lot of water, but I'm drinking even more now. I've been also been eating low fat, high protein foods. And eating lots of fruits and veggies. I've lost about 4 lbs, but the main thing I wanted to do was get toned, and I can definitely see a difference. Now if only I wasn't butt white!

If it's Good, Why Change it?

Every day I ask the kids what they want for lunch. And every day it's the same thing- peanut butter and jelly, bananas and crackers. Sometimes we mix things up a little and have peanut butter and honey.






The always funny "silly face".














Gabs has gotten into the habit of letting her tongue slip out when she's concentrating. Evidently Dora was pretty intense today.













Yummy!












Dance!

















Princess Gabs.






















This morning the girls found a ladybug- they love ladybugs, but they're always too scared to touch them. It was pretty exciting though!

Pictures

I really, really do have awesome blog ideas in my head... I just can't find the time to actually sit down and write something! So.... in my effort to keep this blog up to date, here's some pictures of the past couple of weeks.



We recently got digital cable, but the box thing that came with it sat on top of our tv and looked awful. Since Nathan and I both have the mindset "why buy something when you can just make it?", he built a little wooden box for the tv to sit on, conveniently concealing the digital cable box. We also put up floating shelves, which I absolutely love. Right now the only real decoration we have is the plant. I'm trying to find just the right things to put on them!












This was taken a few weeks ago when Zekey and I went to Kansas City. This was in the Detroit airport. There was a big snow storm and we were at the airport for several hours. He had the stomach flu the day before, but he was still a great traveling buddy!
















Every time I take a picture, the kids want to do something "silly". Extremely silly. Aylah always does something with her hands during a silly picture. Doesn't it look good?! :)













Every Saturday morning, we have a "special breakfast". This morning was especially special because Daddy made his famous pancakes. This is Gabs helping. Notice the stunning haircut she gave herself!












They were nice enough to indulge me in a serious, smiley picture. This is Malachi and Aylah having an after school snack and coloring.

Life Is Just So Daily

I have to admit, the cold weather has really gotten to me. I get really bummed out after Christmas every year. January is such a long month, and there aren't any fun holidays to look forward to. So here it is the beginning of February, and I am absolutely dying for warm weather. It's hard to remember what grass looks like!

I've definitely let the mundane winter days get to me. I think the kids and I have being feeling the effects of cabin fever! But in the past week or so, I've decided to stop being pitiful and do something to liven up these boring winter days.

The first thing I've been doing is attempting to organize things. It really is a struggle for me. My idea of organizing is redistributing things. I'll clean out the closet, but everything just gets moved around to different places- organized closet, but a wreck everywhere else. So I've been trying to actually organize. I'm throwing things away and only keeping what we need. Which is against my nature being the pack rat that I am!

The next thing I'm doing is redecorating the kid's rooms. Since we have such a small house and so many kids, everyone has shared the bedrooms at some point. So Ezekiel's room is still girly from when Gabs was in it, and the girl's room isn't really decorated at all, since I wanted to keep it neutral when our house was on the market. I've already found lots of fun ideas to make things to decorate their rooms and the kids and I will be taking a trip to the craft store in the next couple of days!

The last thing I'm doing is seriously getting in shape for the summer. I love, love, love the summer time. I love swimming and doing things outside. But (almost) every summer for the past few years I've been pregnant. And in case you were wondering, pregnant Sandra does not enjoy swimming and doing things outside. But this summer is going to be great. I've been working out every day and I've been drinking an insane amount of water and I've found all kinds of super healthy recipes. I'm going to periodically update my progress- I can already tell a difference after a couple of weeks of hardcore exercise and eating healthy. I can't wait for the summer!

And since no blog is complete without a picture of the kiddos.... here they are at our very own Super Bowl party.

Remember Me?

can't believe I haven't written a blog in so long. I've thought about it, but every time I sat down to actually write something, I just couldn't. I'm blaming Winter. I hate this time of year. It's cold and boring and I think it puts me in a bad mood. I am anxiously awaiting warmer weather.

We had a wonderful holiday season, and despite the boring, cold, snowy weather, we really have done some fun things. Here's a recap of the past several weeks. And I really will be updating this more often. Winter and all!