While Daddy's Away...

The week before we headed to Arizona, Brad was out of town for a few days.  That meant lots of fun and entertainment was necessary for the kids - and myself!  We always miss him when he has to travel!

That Monday morning, Katie had her gymnastics class.  Afterwards, she went home with her friend from school (who is also in her gymnastics class) to play.  Her mom texted me this picture of the girls playing dress up - I can't help but giggle everytime I look at it!  These girls will have been in the same class all throughout Mother's Day Out and preschool...and they will go to the same elementary school...and we go to the same church!  I love that Katie will have a friend she will have known for so long!

The Tuesday of that week, we headed to The Factory to look around, shop, and eat with Cee Cee and Will!  We got there a few minutes early, so I attempted some pictures of the kids.  Ha. 

Uncle Will let Katie help drive his wheelchair!  Now THAT is scary! :) My mom made sure it was in the lowest speed possible, but we definitely kept reminding her to keep moving so she didn't run over her own toes.  That really hurts!

We let Jack out of the stroller before lunch so he could romp around.  He was all over the place!  And out in the main area there were some tables of sweet older ladies playing cards.  They thought Jack was just the cutest thing ever!

Katie has been SUCH a sweet big sister lately.  And seeing Jack light up when she is around makes me the happiest momma around.

Katie thought the big rocking chair was pretty fun!

And they both survived sitting in it together!

On Wednesday of that week, we went out on our morning walk as usual.  Katie usually likes to stay in her jammies for the walk :)

And we went to lunch with Tanja!  It was so nice outside that we opted to sit out on the patio!

After Jack's nap, we went over to Katie's friend Annalane's house to visit and play for a little while.  These girls had such a fun time together!

And the little brothers got to play too - Cal is about 6 months older than Jack.  Naturally, Jack was eyeballing Cal's snack since he had already finished his!

After we left there, we came home and ate pizza with the neighbors and let Stella, Katie, Hank, and Jack all play out in their backyard!  The weather could not have been more fantastic - in fact, it started to get a little chilly (who knew, it could get chilly in August!) as the sun started to go down!  Brad got home not too long after the kids went down to bed.  We survived another business trip - and had a fun time too!

Working On the Bucket List: Go to McKay's

In an effort to mark off a few more items from our summer bucket list, I thought it would be fun to go to McKay's Used Bookstore.  Not to mention the fact that my "McKay's Bag" was overflowing from cleaning out.  So this morning I told Katie what we would be doing and she was SO excited.  At first I thought I would give her $4 to spend on books she found, but then I decided she really needed the full experience.  I told her how McKay's "works" - you take items you don't read/want anymore and they buy them and give you store credit ("special money that only works at that store") to use on new books to buy and take home.  She was SO excited!  She picked out about 8 books that she didn't want (an honestly, she had never touched any of them, so clearly she understood!) and we headed out!

She used her special bag from the end of school last year to carry her books inside.

I told her to load her books into one of the white baskets.  When I turned around, she was sitting on the floor reading them.  She did end up having second thoughts on one of the books :) So we brought it back home with us.

After we gave them our white baskets, we went to search for new books!

When we saw our numbers on the screen, we went to see how much money she had to spend on new books!  She was so excited.  And she ended up having $3.22 to spend. 

We took some time going through the books she had picked out and narrowing it down to stay within her budget/store credit.  She did a great job and did not complain about not being able to get some of the "more expensive" books!

And then it was time for her favorite part - she got to go up and pay all by herself!  She put her books up on the counter and then handed her credit to the cashier to be scanned.

And she still has 17 cents for next time!  

And I stayed within my budget too :) I usually go intending not to buy a single thing (because I have cleaned out and am trying to get stuff out of the house that we don't need/use), but I always end up finding neat kids' books or movies or something.  Today I got 3 Tae Bo DVDs, some kids books, and a few pleasure reading books for me!  And I had $89 store credit and have $21 for next time!  Oh, and I found two big rocks for the kids to paint (another bucket list line item) in the grass near where I parked!  I call that a successful mission!

Football Is In The Air

Almost two weeks ago (oops - that's what happens when I go out of town!), we headed to an All SEC Tailgate for some fun with friends!  It is a fundraiser for Vanderbilt Children's Hospital...and the ticket included two drinks and samplings of BBQ from different local restaurants.  And they had a DJ - my favorite part was when he featured music form the 90's.  Hello LFO, N*Sync, and Backstreet Boys.

Of course we had to take some pictures!  Here is a picture of me and Tanja :)

And Tanja and Nick!

And Brad and myself!

And our crew.

We had such a fun time!  It was relaxing.  The weather could not have been more perfect.  And of course it helped get us pumped for football season's return!

I can't wait to ring in the first weekend of football season with a bunch of friends this weekend!  

WAR EAGLE!!!

Mission Get Fit: My Year In Review

Let's face it...getting in shape, losing a few pounds, fitting in those pair of jeans....those are quite frequent goals of a lot of people.  Especially after having a baby - every woman wants to get back into pre-baby shape as soon as possible!  After Jack was born, that was my exact goal.  I wanted to lose about 25 pounds and get in shape.  Never did I think I would be able to accomplish what I have!  Now, don't get me wrong.  I am definitely still a work in progress.  But now...now, I actually enjoy working out!  When I push the kids in the jog stroller, they will play with each other and we work on counting and work on directions and all kinds of fun things (in between me huffing and puffing up the humongous hills in our neighborhood)!  And I have started enjoying running.  Me.  Enjoying running.  Who knew?!  I have done one 5K and am signed up to do another in October.  And my favorite is now Tae Bo!  I love the fast pace and fun music and the fact that each class is different - you don't get stuck in a rut!  You have to pay attention because you never know what move is next!  So, there is the exercise component.

There is also the food/calorie component!  I started using MyFitnessPal last summer and now I love it!  As of yesterday, August 26, I have logged in to the app for a year straight...365 days without missing ONE!!  

You sign up and select all your info (gender, height, current weight, goal weight, typical activity level, how many pounds you want to lose a week, etc) and it tells you how many calories to eat each day!  And because it has already calculated all of that, any exercise you do just means more calories you can eat (which is great on days I want to splurge)!  You can scan items and it pulls up the calorie info.  Or you can search for items and more times than not it is already listed in the app!  Pretty amazing. And oh so helpful.

So, I mentioned my goal was to get back to pre-baby shape.  These are some of my "before" pictures from around this time last year...

...I know I had just had a baby, but sheesh!  It definitely helps me see how far I have come!  Once I hit various benchmarks, I came up with a new goal.  My goal is now to be my wedding weight by my 30th birthday.  Right now, I am 3 pounds away from that goal and have about 2.5 months to go!  I have currently lost 49.4 pounds!  Wow.  That is a lot.

And here are a few "after" pictures...

I never thought I would be wearing a 2 piece bathing suit again!  And it makes shopping so much more fun :) Another upside to me working on getting in shape?  Brad jumped on board too!  He uses MyFitnessPal also, so it helps hold me accountable.  And it has helped him too - he has lost 28.6 pounds!!

I am so glad we can set good, healthy examples for our children.  I want to be healthy.  That is the bottom line.  I like when I can tell my clothes are loose (my bank account, however, does not - I am having to buy all new clothes!).  I like when I can tell I get full so much more easily.  And of course it makes me feel like the hard work has payed off when others can tell how I have changed.

So for now, I am proud.  And I am most definitely healthier.  It is amazing the difference a year can make.  I will report back around my 30th birthday to see what additional progress I make!

Consignment Finds: Part One

It's that time of year again ... CONSIGNMENT SEASON!! I am consigning at two local sales (one ready happened and one is coming up in a few weeks). One upside to consigning is clearing a bunch of the too-small-things out. Another is getting to shop early! At this one coming up, I'm also going to volunteer - so I will get to shop before consignors and I don't have to pay the registration fee!

At the sale that has already happened, I made $270!! Not too shabby! And I did spend most of that at the presale, but I did still make money :)

These are the 4 pairs of shoes I got ... 2 for both kiddos! And the sale is "boutique brand only"...so I was excited! Skechers, New Balance, Stride Rite, and Puddle Jumpers!

And these are all the clothing items! Matilda Jane, Gymboree, Gap, Mini Boden, football season goods for Jack, Polo, a $5 jacket for Jack...and other great things!!

The kids are pretty well-stocked for this fall/winter. At the presale shopping at the next sale, I think toys for Christmas gifts will be my main focus :) There's not much better than a good deal! 

What's been your favorite find from a consignment sale?? 

It Can Only Mean One Thing...

....yep, we are headed out again!  The kids and I are leaving this morning to go to Phoenix!  Brad will be flying solo this week - and hopefully getting some things done around the house :)  Wish me luck!  Two kids on a plane for that long = scary!  Thank goodness we are flying with my dad.  Watch out, Arizona!  Here we come!!

Another Stitch Fix!

I loved my first "fix" so much, that I scheduled another one!  It came on Wednesday and I was so excited!  The FedEx man knocking on the door was music to my ears.  I immediately opened the box and loved what I saw at first glance!

I waited until Brad came home that evening to get real pictures (as opposed to self portraits in the mirror or trying to get Katie to take a picture).  I also decided taking a shower before trying the cute things on was a good idea since I had walked 4 miles earlier in the day :) So please excuse the wet hair, lack of makeup, dog toys, etc! 

First up, the black cowl neck top.  I loved the style.  And the shirt itself was SO comfy and soft.  But I felt like it was too big.  On the styling notes, it suggested tucking into a pencil skirt (which I wouldn't do), but that told me it wasn't supposed to be this loose.  If had been slightly more fitted, I would have kept it!

Next up was the wrap dress.  I loved the zigzag pattern and I think it fit just right.  But I don't really care for wrap dresses.  I feel like the top gets stretched out over time and then my bra would show, which is not okay.  If it had been a regular dress with a sash that tied in the back or something like that, I would have kept it!

And the maxi dress.  It was the perfect length, which is hard to achieve considering I am short :)  But it clearly was too big.  And I felt like even putting a thick brown belt with it to accentuate my waist would have looked funny - I could just see all the fabric bunching and not being cute.  So I sent it back.

Now for the items I kept!  First was the polka dot sleeveless sheer top.  I love it!  First, it is a dot pattern.  And I like the collar on it.  And the peachy color is perfect for summer!  I think it'd be cute with a cute sweater or cardigan too.  Love!

And this dress.  If it were any smaller it would not fit.  But, it did!   I don't have anything that is this style/cut, so it will take some getting used to.  And in this picture it looks just right, but it is a little shorter than I am used to!  But I think pairing with jeggings and cowboy boots will be oh so darling.

Here is a closeup of the pattern.  Isn't it fun?  And it will be perfect to wear for Football Saturdays - War Eagle!!

And I went ahead and tried it on with jeggings.  I like it!

I absolutely love getting these fun boxes delivered to my doorstep.  And I just put the things I decided not to keep into the provided mailer and dropped it off at the post office and I'm done!  So fun.  Have you tried Stitch Fix?  I'd love to see what you got, what you thought about the process, etc!  And if you want to try it, click {HERE} to sign up, fill out your account info/preferences, and schedule your fix!

PS: Next time I will aim to get pictures maybe outside or something - not with dog toys all over the background :)  Thanks for stopping by!  And Happy Friday!