A 'Girls' Birthday Party

Leanna decided this year she wanted to have a small girls only party for her birthday party this year.

I had so much fun planning it with her.
She was very detailed and specific on what she would like. I thought it was so funny to see how her little mind worked and what her 6 year old self decided all entailed a 'girls' party.

She wanted all of the girls to have matching pajamas. So as a birthday gift Josh and I purchased all of the little ones' pj pants. Leanna picked out a very cute light pink with different colored hearts all over it and the bottom cuff was a very dark pink. She decided that we would "make" the pj's shirts. She wanted their names on them and sparkling hearts. So I asked all the mommies to have the girls bring a plain dark pink shirt with them so we could make something special.

The pajama part turned out very cute...


Then she wanted to watch a princess movie... but not a normal princess movie. This proved to be a bit more challenging as what in the world is a princess movie without a princess? Problem was solved when we saw the advertisement for the new Veggie Tales movie... Sweetpea Beauty it was perfect! Not to long... not to princessy and with a sweet tagline and message behind it (A Girl after God's own heart)! With the movie she wanted some special snacks (her favorites of course) popcorn, m&m's, reese's pieces and licorice! Which we did.

Before we watched the movie. Leanna put a special box together for her friends. It had a pencil, a princess crown cookie cutter, some non-traditional princess stickers, some super bling and a princess and a prince wood coloring set (Michael's craft store project).


She then told all of her friends what she thought there special talent is... some were super friendly, some were smart, some were funny. It was a very sweet thing to do and she did it on her own. I was very proud.




And of course wherever there are large quantities of girls... there is large quantities of gabbin and grubbin!


All in all a super successful birthday party. To all the mommies that let their little ones come. Thanks. All of your girls who were there are very special to Leanna and to our family. We love and appreciate all of you. I think it is pretty awesome that Leanna has such a good group of girls that are her friends! I also think I have some really great mommy friends too!

A new scale!

These morning workouts are really making it easier for me to be consistent. That was always a major problem for me... consistency. The kids would need to nap, I would be in the middle of a project, dinner would be in the oven, Leanna would need to do homework and if I TRIED to go at night after Josh would get home I was too tired to leave my house or my husband to be honest (he works so many hours I don't get to see him a ton you know) and I would just not go and say, "I'll go tomorrow maybe Josh will get home earlier or the kids will be in a better mood", blah blah blah... excuses, excuses and more excuses.

So now we go after we take sissy (Leanna) to the bus stop. I am there by 8:30 we are back home by 10:00 (at the latest if I do a LOOONG workout) and Nolan is usually ready for his morning nap as soon as we walk in the door. It is great! Plus I feel better throughout the day.

So my good friend Ms. Beth has been going with me. Her oldest Cadence's bus comes at the exact same time as Leanna's so we meet up and we workout together. Which is nice to have someone to talk to, to encourage and well to encourage me as we push through. We will be attempting to go at least 4-5 times a week.

This morning however we get there and the scale was BROKEN! (DUN DUN DUUUHHHHNNN... what happened did Shay ever get her numbers? Does she know how much progress she has made??? Oh the suspense!)

So we went to Target and I bought a scale today! While this will not be a completely accurate weigh-in because I had eaten something and drank two bottles of water before weighing myself.

Well I will let the picture do the talking for me...


If you can't read that well let me tell you it says 265.6!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is 13.5 lbs so far! I am almost halfway to my short term goal!

Maybe that 30 pounds by my anniversary isn't impossible?

Oh and even better... Last week my best mile walk/run was 18:10. My goal this week was to shave 10-25 seconds off (I am trying to build endurance overall not kill myself just one time) and today my mile was 17:02!!! I am so excited! By Christmas time I would like to be consistently RUNNING a 12:00 mile. We shall see!

Oh and I am skipping the pictures of me this week because Josh isn't here to take them and well hopefully we will be able to see more results next week!!!

Momma to 3
*Shay B*

Project Shay Week 4?

I know I promised pictures but that will have to wait for Monday!

This is just a quick update...

Starting weight: 279

Weight as of Thursday (after my: two-week-had-to-figure-out-new-schedule-with-Leanna-starting-school break from the gym): 269!!!

I am down ten pounds ladies and gentlemen! And while that may not seem like a lot to anyone else... and it doesn't look like a lot just yet either. It is phenomenal to me!

So a better update with what I have been doing and with an "official" weigh-in on Monday!

Momma to 3
*Shay B*

6 years ago today...

I gave birth to a screaming, red faced, blue eyed, wrinkly chubby little thing.

I don't think I can handle all the emotions from this birthday.

I didn't freak out at 5 like I thought I would. However, today for some reason 6 seems like such a BIG number. Maybe it is the whole school starting thing. Maybe it is her face, expressions, attitude, smile or just the fact that she is over 4ft tall. Maybe it is everything wrapped up into one.Whatever it is. She is big all of a sudden.

She doesn't just fold up into the side of me anymore. She is this gangly thing all arms and legs. She has these expressions that make me do a double take. She is a caring and kind and compassionate little person. Don't get me wrong she is also snotty, crazy, sassy and silly. Wrap it all up... you have this amazing little person.

Today started at 6:00 this morning. Leanna crawled into my bed. Whispering into my ear she says... "Momma", pause. "Momma", she said again. "What Leanna", I reply. "Momma it is my birthday today", she says still whispering. "Do you know I am six?", she says next. Tears welled in my eyes. Yep me... teary eyed over my little girl telling me she is 6. "Of course I know you are 6 silly girl", I whisper back to her. "Does that make you to big to snuggle with your momma and catch a few more sleeps with me?" I asked. "You gonna share the soft pillow with me momma?" She countered. My answer was to scoot-ch over and wrap her up in my arms. A great way to start the 6th year of my girl!

Today was a great day for my girl. She had a great birthday. A post tomorrow on that for now... some pictures of the birthday girl with some oldies thrown in...

This is on her first birthday.

She was a little over a year here.

Officially 6 years old...

and just because it makes me smile...

Kindergarten!!!!

Dear Leanna,

Today you started on a brand new and exciting adventure. Kindergarten!!! I am not sure how you are not still toddling around in diapers and playing with your megablocks, or your baby dolls.

Your eyes were shinning as we put your earrings in. As we were buckling your pretty flowered pink sandals you were telling me how you are a little nervous and, "is that okay mom...were you nervous on your first day?". You made major decisions like... what to eat for lunch and what to bring for snack time. We discussed how it is important to use kind words, listen to the teacher, remember to raise your hand and to smile.

We all walked to the bus stop this morning. Your brother gave you a hug and a pat on the back. We took all the mandatory first day of school pictures. I gave you a big hug and said, "I love you and I will see you when you step off the bus this afternoon." You smiled and waved and went onto the bus.

You will begin to make friends, learn things, deal with being left out or leaving someone else out (which I hope never happens but...), and the whole recess awesomeness. Learning will not only happen with momma anymore but with other teachers who will give you a piece of themselves with every picture drawn and letter written, or new gym class game played.

I love you Leanna. I am so proud to be your momma. I am proud of the young lady you are and are becoming. I pray for you to be a light to others and to be polite and kind. I pray that you love school. I pray that you have just enough of everything. (And maybe just enough extra too.) I pray that your perfectionism trait eases a little and that you cut yourself some slack. I pray that when you don't and the tears of frustration come that I can help and soothe away the bad days. I pray that we will celebrate the great ones too.

Congratulations my love on your first day. Good Luck my sweet first born.

Love,

Your proud momma

Project Lose a Small Person (aka Project Shay)

So tonight I went to the gym and weighed in.

However before I post numbers... I give you pictures...





Not much noticeable difference. I am a bigger and taller girl. It takes about 10-15 pounds before I will really even notice the difference much less someone else.

The numbers for this week are...

272.5!!!!

Which makes my loss for one week = 6.6 lbs!!!

This helps me in knowing at least it hasn't been for nothing!

Same bat time and same bat channel next week ladies and gentlemen. Join Shay on her adventure on losing a small person (aka 100 lbs!)

Momma to 3
*Shay B*

*Long Week 1* Check In:

So ladies and gents I have made it to the gym twice so far this week if I make it tomorrow I will have done the three times a week for this week. According to the scale last night at the gym I am down 3 pounds. The pictures in this post have NOTHING to do with anything I may be writing... I just need to smile them...

As far as schedule and routine go? Mornings have been rough. The afternoons are going well. They say to change things in baby steps. Well baby steps we are doing.

I have a migraine from the caffeine withdrawal. I miss my daily Dr. Pepper. I really miss my coffee. Also I am pretty sure that my favorite (I have like coupons for 5 free ones) frappe drink at McD's I don't think I can get decaf... ughhh...

We have been surviving off of cereal, fruits and vegetables. Cooking isn't an option. My house God bless it. It is a good little home for us... but our air conditioner is working as hard as it possibly can and I am not going to do one single thing to battle against so cooking... not an option. Laundry is getting done at night so that the dryer isn't negating all of my air conditioners hard work.

The rest of this week I have to be more disciplined in getting up and moving by no later that 7:00 am. I am always awake but I am kinda slow and sluggish in my motivational.

Just checkin in... How is every one else's week going?
Momma to 3
*Shay B*

Gooooo CARDS!!!

Josh and I took the babies to their first ever baseball game!

Thanks to Hussman who gave St. Joseph's Institute for the Deaf the tickets for all of us. Miss Cathy, our speech therapist, was there with her family, some of the nuns, volunteers and a ton of other families. It was pretty awesome of them.

The funny thing of that is that Josh used to drive for Cooper Bussman which is a branch off or something of Hussman it was a pretty cool small world thing.

On to the game. The small people sat through 8.5 innings of baseball with a great attitude. It was an amazing day.

While we were walking to the stadium (which was a pretty decent hoofin' we asked them to do) we had the whole conversation that the game and the snacks we brought were our special treat and that asking for anything would result in a no answer and a sad mommy and daddy because we should be thankful/grateful for what we are being able to do today and not what we want... and they both were okay with this no questions, squabbles or anything!

Lo and behold we walk into the stadium and it was Build a Bear day! They got the cutest little bears... I present you with O. Smith the triplets...


The kids were SOOOO excited! Leanna actually asked me if she could have it before she took it from the lady it was really cute!



The game was awesome. The kids clapped, cheered, screamed CHARGE with the best of them. They showed interest in the game. Asked questions. For this baseball lovin' mama it was a proud proud day for me! Josh and Nolan hung out. The kids got to sit with Daddy or Mommy, it was seriously a wonderful outing! Thankfully it wasn't to hot either.

Some more pictures of our fun filled family day...







So thankful for an amazing and fun filled family day!
This post is linked up to Gratituesday over at Heavenly Homemakers!

Momma to 3
*Shay B*

Project Shay!!!

So I have been working on training the kids, doing bible studies, VBS, MOPS and a new schedule and routine for our household...

Today begins Project Shay.

I have a goal.

It is a hefty (pun intended) goal!

I want to lose 30 pounds by my anniversary. I am going to the gym 3 nights a week. Josh and I talked about it and I have decided I need to do this for me. I have to be dedicated cause it will be easy to say no I don't want to or use a rough day as an excuse but I am tired of not being able to find clothes to fit me at the store. I am tired of my closet having three items that fit me because I refuse to buy anymore to fit me "for now" and then feeling badly when I go out in public.

So it starts today at 9:00 three nights a week and stretching during rest time 5 days a week. After 3 weeks of consistency I am rewarding myself with a new DVD player for the living room to workout the other 2 days a week! With a yoga DVD or something during rest time!

The diet part isn't hard. For me it has been the exercise and the snacking after 8:00 because Josh likes to eat after he cools down. No More! It will be hard but it will be worth it!

And for accountability reasons I am posting these completely embarrassing pictures of my overly large self. I will post pictures every Monday. Josh has offered to take them.

So here is me today...
say by bye bye to the puffy face and double chin!

Adios to the 5 month pregnant looking belly!

Those hips are officially out of control! Time to reign them back in!


Edited to Add: The scale at the gym (where I will weigh every Monday night) stated I was 279.1... Oh my goodness that is a scary number!

See you again in 7 days!

Momma to 3
*Shay B*