100

Happy 100th post to me!
I have hit the big blogging milestone and today, with this post I am officially a member of the 100 posts club! (Actually, I just made that up. There is no 100 posts club, though maybe I should make one...) I have been blogging for 10 1/2 months, so that would average out to about one posting ever about 3 days. Though most of you know that it's really like two or three days with lots of posts and then nothing for a week or so. Ah well. I decided when I started blogging that I was NOT going to make it another of the things that I have to do. This blog is just for me. For me to decide when and what to post. And I think that because of that, I have really liked blogging. It is a cross between journaling and scrapbooking. I haven't gone too deep into it being a real journal because that would be WAY too embarrassing! When I die, I hope that any journals that are left around are quickly burned! Anyway, I digress...

For my 100th post I am making public my little goal. I have been inspired by my friend Cristy who lost something like 80 pounds before her last baby, by Julie who went public with her goal of getting in shape and mostly by my back which quite painfully lets me know when I have crossed the line. I started about a month and a half ago with the goal of loosing about 17 pounds. Every week I weigh myself and so far I have lost 4 pounds and then gained back 1. I want to loose the weight in a healthy way and one that I can sustain. Because really, life with out dessert really isn't much of a life. So, to do this and still be able to eat with my family I am trying to be more conscious of what and how I eat. No more late night eating, a snack is okay, but constant snacking isn't. I don't keep as much junk around and my most recent lesson learned is if I make a treat, that's great, I just have to give most of it away. (That one pound gain is from keeping a texas sheet cake on my counter for 4 days. I have pretty good will power for 1, maybe two days, but by day four it's all used up...) I am trying to cook smarter too. Using whole wheat flour and substituting applesauce for half the oil or butter in baking. Tuesday I made a really yummy turkey chili. It's everything I usually do, except I used ground turkey instead of ground beef. I have been getting turkey meatballs for spaghetti and they are really good also. As most of you know, I don't drink coffee, but I usually had a big glass of instant breakfast or ovaltine in the morning. Alas, I have broken the habit and am now trying not to drink my calories. It's milk or water (Though I do like those flavor mixes you can add to water. I figure I can spare the 5 calories, especially when I am better at getting enough water that way.) My other big goal to go along with the weight loss goal is that I am going to run a 5k in either the end of April or the beginning of May. There are ones almost every weekend with in an hour of me and I just need to figure out which one isn't on Sunday and doesn't interfere with everyone's schedule. I figure as long as I finish in under an hour I will feel good. I can walk it in an hour and have been doing a routine of running / walking on the treadmill and finish 3 miles in under 45 minutes. Now, I just need to actually run outside. That's a bit scarier than in the cardio theatre in the gym where it's dark and everyone is paying attention to the movie...

So, happy 100th to me! Here's to 100 more and 17 less!

Japan

Oh boy! I am on a roll! Two posts in a row is pretty good, especially for one day.

At Olive's preschool this week they are doing "international week." It's cute, and really simple (tomorrow we are going to Pizza Hut for "Italy.") Jonathon came in today to talk about Japan. He read them a story and showed them a picture, some money and let them try on a hopi. It was way too small, but we couldn't find the other one. Olive has been looking forward to today for over a week. She kept asking me when the 10th was. When he finaly got there Olive was all smiles.

Hope that you enjoy some of the day's pictures!

Chocolate Strawberries!

I (heart) Almond bark! Today at the store the strawberries were $1.50 and they were perfect for making a little treat. Almond bark, although not in the same class as real chocolate, it is a fun and yummy thing to dip strawberries in. (or pretzels, or bananas or....)

Look Mom!

"Look Mom! I wrote my name!"

glorious spring!

If I were the type of girl to sit and write sonnets, today I'm sure would have inspired a few. I love seasons. I'm not sure I could live in a place that had the same weather, month after month. Actually, I did, come to think of it, I don't think I would like to do it permanently. I love that just as I am about to get really sick of one type of weather, it changes! That's how I feel today. I'm pretty done with the cold. So, when Mother Nature decided to give us a sneak peek of spring today I am singing her praise!

Here's how we spent the time after church...

Aspen and Cedar getting the ball that rolled into the thorns.

Jonathon throwing the ball to Cedar.

"Did you see that?! That was so cool!"

Swinging high!

I love to swing!

Shocking!

This is a favorite came that my kids play with each other and Jonathon. I am happy to be inside and hear the fun, but "No thanks" to joining in. The game is played on cold, dry evenings on the trampoline. To play you jump and roll around trying to gather as much static on your body as you can and then touching someone else, or touching the metal pole and watching the electricity arc. If you enlarge the pictures (I know I should really learn to lighten them) you can see their hair sticking straight up. It is really rather impressive, though I still don't want to play.

The last game

Today was Cedar's last basketball game. It has been so fun watching him. The first game was better than any comedy show. The ball would come toward the kids and they would all back up and look like they would get hurt or in trouble if they touched the ball. Now, after two months of playing they finally started to "get" it. They run after the ball, try to catch it and even make a few baskets. Here are a few photo's from today.

p.s.
I know I haven't posted for a while, if you didn't see yesterday's bubble bath post, keep reading.