Life Lately

Grandma and Grandpa are back in Florida, so that means I need to get back to blogging to keep my only two faithful readers updated on our Marshall Madness. That saying has never been more true than it has been the last month or so. Madness. Mike had hernia repair surgery about a month ago. The recovery for this surgery is much more than we expected and he's been off work this whole time. That's been a hard thing for him, but we're surviving. Tenley has enjoyed having him walk her to school every day though. He can return to work on Monday and he'll be more than happy to do so I think!

So what have we been up to besides nursing daddy back to health? We've had a lot of fun at home! The weather for November has been BEAUTIFUL. 70s in November!? I'll take it. The girls have enjoyed playing in the leaves, taking walks, playing in the backyard.

Halloween weekend I decided we needed to do something different and fun so I made a movie theater night at home for them! They bought their tickets and snacks with their own money and could choose what they wanted.

They had a great time doing this and I'll be sure to do it again soon. Then for halloween we decided that this year we would skip the costumes and we would just stay home and hand out candy. Tenley had two minor breakdowns about not being able to trick or treat. But we thought that we would just see how it went and reevaluate next year. To our surprise- they loved it! They loved seeing all the costumes and having everyone come to them! I still had little bags of candy for them at the end of the night so they didn't feel like they missed out on that.

They both stood by the door anxiously awaiting the next round of kids to come! Aren't they cute in their rain boots?! Tenley got her 5 year pictures taken and we snuck little sister in there for a few of them to get some updated pictures! They turned out so cute! 

On a personal note- Mike and I have attended a wedding of our very good friend Corey. We're so happy for him and his new wife, and I was glad to have some adult time for an afternoon. Mike was just happy to not have to wear a tie to the wedding. ha!

In other news... I ran 6 miles just last weekend! It felt good to see how far my body could take me! Next week I'm hoping to do 7!

 Lindsey took an updated picture of me last week to show my progress and I very happy to see the results. The picture on the left is from a year ago around this time. Before I started trying to lose weight. The one on the right is from last week. This week hasn't been the most motivating, I've been super stressed, and I tend to be an emotional eater. But I know my triggers and I'm determined to stay on track! Even when I fall, I'm going to get back up!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Summer is almost over. Tenley will be starting school soon. This is her last year of preschool before she's off to the elementary school! I plan to savor each moment of this school year. Next year things get real.

 This past week Mike was gone in Pennsylvania for work. So this weekend we laid low around the house. We had a dance party in our pajamas as you can see from the picture below:

 We had a playdate one evening. We watched movies. We waited for daddy's return! And when he came through that door- these two were so excited!

 I made sure to send daddy pictures of the girls frequently. Of course they rarely could take any serious ones.

After being gone two weekends ago at a family wedding, it was nice to have some time with the girls this weekend. Speaking of that wedding- we had SO much fun. It was a great time for us to get away, relax, and be kid-less for an evening.

My hubby looked pretty handsome didn't he! I wanted to post this picture to document where I am in this weight loss journey. I'm down about 46 lbs. I've had some set backs along the way. I've made some mistakes, but what makes this different is that I'm still going. I'm not quitting. Don't let me :)

Life Lately.

I'll be honest. Life Lately has been busy. But as I was grabbing pictures for this post I realized how much fun we have had too!

Our neighbors and us started a kid swap night once a month. Last month we watched their boys so that they could have a date night, and this month the girls went to their house so we could have one. It's been so much fun for the kids and us! This month since it was our turn we went to the Channel Marker with some friends. It was a rainy/muggy day, but it turned into a really nice night on the lake. We love going there!

While we were there, I got this picture of the kids. Ashley always does super fun things with her kids. She's a pinterest mom.  And I'm jealous most of the time. Since the rain washed out their "drive in movie" in the back yard, they decided to make milkshakes. This is all four of them lined up drinking them.

They are making some great memories with these cute boys and we are so thankful to have them two doors down!

I'm grateful for our date night that weekend, because the next week things got BUSY. It was family camp week at Prairie Camp, so I worked out there every day/evening and I felt like our family was basically passing by each other in the evenings. The weekend that camp ended Mike and I said that the girls were such troopers that they deserved to do something fun. So Friday night we took them to the Splash pad. I don't have any pictures of that - mostly because while Tenley played in the water, Paisley clung to me. She is not a fan of it yet - which is ok - Tenley wasn't at that age either and this year she loved it. So I know we'll get there. Paisley is a bit more reserved around water in general than Tenley has been. Saturday night when I got off work, we headed to Mike's aunts house to swim. The girls love going there and on that night we were able to swim with Mike's cousins and their kids.

Tenley and Madison loved jumping off the side together! Tenley has really gotten a lot better in the pool this summer and is able to stay in the shallow end without floaties. She tends to get a little brave sometimes, so we have to watch her closely, but she has gotten good at knowing when she's tired or needs her floaties back on.

This cute little fishy took awhile to warm up to the pool. She is perfectly content sitting on the steps and playing there while watching the big kids jump around. That's ok. She'll be jumping in soon enough.

Speaking of that cute little girl - we did her first ponytail the other day! Oh my goodness was it cute.

On Sunday after church we had a special surprise for Tenley! (Due to the heat, we decided that Paisley should go with grandma and grandpa for the day- so she had a special day too!) She got to be in the Elkhart County 4H Parade! This is a huge parade, and we knew she would love being a part of it. Pam Shaw called and asked if she would ride on the Apple Festival Float and invite some friends too. So Ella and Jayda joined us and the girls had so much fun sitting with the Queen/Princesses of the Apple Festival!

These girls may be Future Apple Blossoms!  Me? A pageant mom?! haha! Tenley wasn't the only one who enjoyed the parade. Mike, Kayla and I were also in it. We walked beside the float throwing out candy. We had so much fun! It was about a 3.2 mile parade, so we got a good work out in too on a very hot day!

The parade kicked off the fair, so we have taken full advantage of enjoying it this week! Mike and I even got to enjoy some time at the fair alone on Tuesday night! Some very sweet friends gave us track seats for the Cole Swindell concert.

We had a great time and new more of his songs than what we realized! We haven't been to a concert in a long time, so it was really nice to enjoy that together. Last night we took the girls with us to the fair. They loved looking at the animals, the ice cream and the rides! We spent the evening with the Whickcar family and the kids had a blast!

Paisley wasn't a fan of this big slide. Mike enjoyed it though!

One of the random things that the girls have really enjoyed doing lately is going with me to the gym. I go to spinning class on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and during that time they have child care available. The girls have LOVED going with me and playing in there. I love that they are entertained, but also that they get to see me working out too and they will grow up knowing that my health is now a priority in my life. On Tuesday morning I decided we all needed to get out of the house for a bit (after lots of fighting between the girls) so I went to the gym early that day and I caught this picture while I was lifting.

They were great motivators as I could hear Tenley yelling through the window "Go Mommy! Go Mommy!" haha. It almost made me cry. What special times these are! The days are long but these moments will pass quickly. I'm thankful for all them!

Friday Favorites

It's time for Friday favorites! We haven't had a super busy week but I of course have some favorite moments!

Have you all heard of plopping!?  It's a completely terrible name for a trick to help curly haired girls wash their hair at night and wake to beautiful soft curls! I was the biggest skeptic I tell ya. But I tried it the other night and followed the directions. OH MY GOODNESS. I was amazed when I woke up to curls that looked like I just did my hair! This might just turn me into a night showerer! :) Here's the directions:

Tenley tried to ride her bike without training wheels this week! We're not quite ready for it yet, her fear definitely got the best of her. But she tried!! I'm not sure when she got so big.

Mike and I got to dress up last weekend and head to a friend's wedding. It's rare anymore that we get to BOTH dress up at the same time and go out somewhere. Since losing some weight, I was actually looking forward to dressing up too.

Here's my favorite picture from the week! They are starting to play well together more often and it's great to watch these moments happen!!

Friday Favorites

It's been a busy week filled with lots of Marshall Madness! I'm going to list some of my favorite moments from the week - my Friday Favorites!

We celebrated Mother's Day last Sunday with a trip to the zoo! It was a rainy day, but it cleared off in the afternoon so we decided to chance it. We grabbed Chipotle (it's Mother's Day..of course I wanted my favorite!) and headed to the zoo in South Bend. It's a small zoo, but the girls loved it regardless. We had a great time checking out the animals and learning new things about them!

 Tenley loved the map of all things. She stood in front of the big map forever looking at everything. Paisley loved the camel and the monkeys and said hi to everything!

Last weekend Paisley and I headed out to Lowe's to finish Tenley's teacher appreciation gifts. Paisley does so well one on one with us and I think she soaks up all of the attention. I always try and make a point of doing something with just her once in awhile because I know she's never got to experience being an only child like Tenley did! 

Paisley helped me pick out the flower pots and flowers for Tenley's teachers. We had a great time together!

When we got home Paisley took a nap and Tenley got her boots on and got ready to help me plant the flowers! She was SUPER excited to do this - but I think she mostly just wanted to play in the dirt!

Tenley's teacher gifts turned out great! She loved helping with them too.

I think this is my favorite picture from the week. These girls are so fun to watch their relationship grow. We have our days where fighting seems to be the norm, but we also have really loving moments that totally outweigh the bad.

Yesterday, Tenley had her last day of pre-school! She has had such a great year at school. She has learned so much and loves it. She already can't wait to go back next year. Next year she'll be going every day! She will learn so much.

 Look how much she has grown since the first day of school!  Mike and I both commented how much slimmer her face looks. She has lost some of that baby/toddler look!  (Insert tears here..) As sad as it makes me that she's growing up, I also have really enjoyed this age. Ohh trust me- you've heard me complain about this sassy, stubborn, independent girl. But she's also so compassionate and watching her turn into her own little lady has been so rewarding.

 Last night was her pre-school program. She didn't have a graduation since she'll be going back next year. But they did get to perform a few songs together. She was looking forward to this a lot. She posted for me before the program in her cute outfit.

 She did a great job performing with her classmates for all the parents and grandparents.

I can't thank her teachers enough for what an amazing year she had! She loved all of them and is looking forward to September!

One last picture for Friday favorites! Mike sent me this picture the other day when he took Paisley to the hardware store with him.

Paisley checked over his purchases to make sure everything came out right! Funny girl!  Always wanting to help!