Parade Part 2..

Ryan was so excited to go to his first parade! He made a candy catching friend immediately!

Lily wasn't a fan of  the loud noises at all.

Ryan loved these!

This looked like something Pete would make

Proof that boys never really grow up!

Can't wait till next year cause that BBQ sandwhich was that yummy.oh and Ryan had a blast.

Carnival and Parade Part 1...

We got to take the little people to the carnival and parade last weekend. Pete and I also got to eat the best BBQ brisket sandwich, and yes I was down 1.8 at weigh-in.. If I dont write my food down I have to give my friend Suzanne a dollar for everyday. This has been awesome in helping me focus on my goals. Just the kick in the butt I needed!!!

Ryan and Lily loved the carnival. We were excited that Lily wanted to ride the carnival rides this year. I have great childhood memories of riding carnival and fair rides with my sister. It's defianetly a special treat and we are teaching Ryan to use his tickets wisely but he is still a work in progess when its time to go home.

Here's some more carnival pictures...

...fun family time!!

Fly soup anyone?

So we are more settled in Perry now. Granted, I have to organize my craft closet but overall feeling settled. So I have been in dinner rut. I decided to go through all recipe books and write down recipes that looked like it would fairly simple and yummy to eat! 

I love cookbooks. Especially ones with pictures. But I haven't really ever went read them with the intent of making meal plans.

I also love a new notebook. I came across this one one clearance at Walmart for 50 cents. Its my dedicated meal idea  notebook now and I put what book and page number the recipe can be found in.

Then in my other notebook I am writing down my weekly meal plans so that I can remember what was made - I can write down what the family thought about it. (OK so Lily doesn't count because she is so picky,LOL) Also want to keep track so that I don't repeat a recipe over and over wear it out too much.

I got this menu board at a garage sale a few years ago. I try to keep some flexibility during the week because sometimes things come up and change the afternoon or evening plans so I have some fast quick meals (sandwiches, fish sticks) that can easily be substituted if it's needed like this week when we ended up taking wheat to the co-op to get cleaned for planting so Tuesday nights meal ended up being at Braums. Ryan requested baked ham, corn and grapes for his birthday dinner on Wednesday. I was really excited to try baked potato soup on Thursday. Its my sister in law Lori's recipe and it smelled awesome cooking and tasted even better! Well that was until Pete got to the bottom of the bowl and found a cooked fly. He was not happy. Bless his heart, he has survived alot of my cooking experiments over the years. So when I walked in the kitchen I wasn't really surprised to see he had rewritten my menu plan for TThursday and Friday. Since I threw out the leftover soup we are having BBQ pork chops not fried possum as Pete seems to have requested!  I do print off recipes off the Internet and cut them out of magazines but its nice have other resources and not be dependent on the Internet all the time.

suddenly September...

I have been wondering where August went and then I realized we moved from Kansas to Oklahoma so thats where the mental gap went (moving with little people will make u loose your mind here and there). But I don't miss August it was 105 way too much. Lily is 2 1/2 now and is reminding me some of Ryan at that age. She lines her toys and foods up in row. Not as much as Ryan but some.

We have got to be outside alot the last few evenings and relax.

Ryan loves taking pictures and being in them alot now. He ran the battery down on Pete's phone taking pictures.

This is the "Look" Lily has her on her face most of the time.

A moment where they are getting along and relaxing!

Yummy cooking, blogs and some sand fun too.

We have been moving so I haven't been able to blog at all! I have also missed reading all the neat blogs that I follow. I didn't realize how neat the blog world  was until I moved to Kansas and everyone at church seemed to have one. I have learned so much from reading thiers and ones they follow!

Here's some for meal planning-
 http://www.marcandsarah.blogspot.com/- she puts her weekly meal plan on here with links to recipes
http://www.breezyacresblog.com/2011/08/cappuccino-crinkles.html- neat recipes and inspiring adoption journey and birth stories of preemie babies.

\http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ - lots and lots of crockpot recipes!!
http://collinandandrea.blogspot.com/2011/08/iced-coffee.html- this my friend Andrea's blog- I feel like she is the queen of finding yummy recipes to try online. She inspired me to be more creative in the kitchen! If you know me well then you know I am new at really enjoying cooking!

I have lots more but will save them for another day :)



                                                               The kids have been hanging out with Grandma Freda.
                                                                Ryan really loves to cook with her!

Lily just likes to eat the icing.

                                                Ryan and Pete made a sand mote.
                                                They filled it up water and let it explode and then start all over agian.
                                                 Pete used to do this with his brothers when they were young.

Ryan started school this morning. He goes in the morning Pre-K class.

Lily just wanted in the picture.

                                                 Ryan is totally giving me the " quit taking pics look"

Working out with Ryan.

Ryan joined Jessica and I during our excerise dvd. It was quite entertaining. He found his own ball.

He used lincoln logs as his weights. Even had a "heavy" and "light" weight.

This is Ryan and Jessica, Jess was a good sport letting me take a pic.

We were trying to not crack up while we worked out. He stopped in the middle of some excerises to eat mac and cheese.

Thanks,Jessica for being a good sport and working out with a 4.5 yr old.

Often during the workout he would say "This is harder than I thought"

"whew, I am kinda tired" It cracked me up to look over and see his version of the excerises.

(yes, I did workout-took the pics after) Got the excerise ball at walmart!

Here's the dvds we found that are great workouts for your core. I got them off of Amazon.com.

Working out..

I have learned alot about myself since joining Weight Watchers last December.
              1. That I struggle with emotional eating more that what I realize
              2. I am a social exceriser
              3. I like yummy healthy food alot
              4. I can and do like to cook most days!

                                                      This was right before I joined

                                                    Almost 6 mths later
                                      ( I was out in the field no makeup so dont look too close)

                           I have been blessed with a workout buddy this last week too! We have big goals and she is a morning person that motivates me too! I am working on toning. The gym here doesnt have childcare hours during the classes so I had to come up with another plan and was blessed that Jessica Alexander needed a buddy too so we started our 6am workouts!!
                                            
                                                                  

                                                                              This is actually a great workout, its older but has some great excerises. I ordered it off Amazon. I used to the tape version with my mom and sister.

And we are going to add these into our rotation -