versus me and The Little Bean. Who wasn’t much help…

My opponents plotted and schemed.

But they just couldn’t pull off the win. I [...]]]> We try to have at least one game night a week. Tonight we chose Battleship. It was The Husband and The Little Guy…

versus me and The Little Bean. Who wasn’t much help…

My opponents plotted and schemed.

But they just couldn’t pull off the win. I was able to make the final hit sealing their fate.

I attempted to celebrate with my partner but he was too busy napping.

Side note: Tomorrow is Day 1 on Weight Watchers. I’m psyched! :)

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Ok, so you ate WAY too many cookies this weekend. You nibbled a bit too much on chocolate. Yea, you probably didn’t need to go for seconds or grab that third dinner roll. But do you think HE cares? Do you think he’ll remember that you felt fat? That you were disappointed [...]]]>

Ok, so you ate WAY too many cookies this weekend. You nibbled a bit too much on chocolate. Yea, you probably didn’t need to go for seconds or grab that third dinner roll. But do you think HE cares? Do you think he’ll remember that you felt fat? That you were disappointed you simply ate WAY too much? I mean really.. you did.. pregnant or not.

He’s not gonna care. You know what he WILL remember?

He’ll remember playing with his cousins…

He’ll remember being the caboose…

He’ll remember playing his first game on the iPad.

(ok.. I do love it even though I still still think it’s totally overrated. ;)

He’ll also remember opening presents for his new baby cousin. He’ll remember feeling his brother moving in Mommy’s belly. He’ll remember spending hours setting up too many Kung Zhu pieces with Daddy. Cuddling with Grandma on the couch. Watching the grinch. Reading the night before Christmas with his cousin. Drinking "wine" and toasting at dinner. Opening presents. Getting that one thing he wanted for Christmas so badly. Giving gifts he helped wrap and pick out.

Overall he’ll Hopefully remember how lucky he is to have such an amazing, loving family. Maybe you should do the same. Maybe you should stop worrying about your weight and body because at the end of the day it simply doesn’t matter.

All you need to do, all you CAN do, is wake up tomorrow and be the best you can be. Stay conscious, stay present, stay healthy and enjoy the little things. I’m pretty sure he’s not worried about how he looks in these glasses and you shouldn’t worry either. Life is simply too short.

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BUT I forged on. I don’t do well throwing myself a [...]]]> How much mucus can the human body produce? That may be TMI but SERIOUSLY?!? My head cold started in yesterday and it’s just getting worse and worse. SO not fun especially so when your pregnant. I just feel like my body is falling apart.

BUT I forged on. I don’t do well throwing myself a pity party. Little Man came and woke me up around 7AM and we hit the ground running.

oh! Before I get to our day let me tell you Ryan was punished this weekend. He brought home a not so good report from his teacher on friday so the Husband and I decided on no TV for the weekend. He asked many times to put it on, believe me, but we didn’t cave and I must say–I LOVED the TV-less weekend. I feel like we didn’t waste a minute.

At 7AM we organized the laundry then checked on our apple trees and Sea Monkeys…

I love having these little projects with Little Man and one day I hope to be plucking apples from one of those trees. :)

Soon it was smoothie time. I wanted to experiment with a new idea for GreenLiteBites…

Little Man couldn’t resist trying a frozen strawberry even though I warned him. ;)

I liked our creation, Ryan thought it was soso but, Bear was the biggest fan..

We brought our smoothie into the mess we call the Living Room. Last week it was laundry. This week it’s our Christmas mess…

But the mess is worth it when you have this to show for it…

I’m a big fan of involving Little Guy with all the Christmas preparation. He helped me wrap every gift for our family members and had fun placing them under the tree.

Finally Dad decided to grace us with his presence. I’ve learned to just let him sleep in. He’s just NOT a morning person. When he got up I made a big late breakfast. For him the traditional fried eggs, bacon and toast…

For me, a messy western omelet with a side of grilled ham slices…

Little man had some leftover blueberry pancakes. He’s gotten out of the egg habit. I miss our Mommy and me Omelets. :( But enjoying breakfast with my boys is still one of my favorite parts of the day…

After breakfast Little Man and I ventured out to shop for the Husband’s birthday. It’s Tuesday and he’s gonna be the big 3-5. We’ve been having many a "wow we’re getting old" conversations lately. He’s 6 months older then me so now I get to kid him about being an old man. I can’t wait until he’s 40 and I’m 39. ;)

After shopping I decided to take Ryan to a local Indian place for their lunch buffet…

I’ve been craving Indian for months. I had it for the first time a few years ago and simply fell in love. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever eaten before and something I now enjoy every now and then.

I’m on a mission to expose Little Guy to different foods. He’s normally game even though his tastes are pretty simple. He tried everything once but really only stuck with naan bread and some plain rice. The way I see it, it’s all about exposure and experience. Everything is a learning opportunity. We used our trip to the Indian restaurant to explore India on the map. We talked about how he like Chinese and Japanese food and simply had a wonderful time.

Oh! And I got to indulge in something I rarely get to eat. :)

After lunch we hit the grocery store and stocked up on a few things. I came home and took a break before putting the groceries away. By this time the head cold was really throwing me for a loop and all I wanted to do was crawl in warm bath.

After about an hour later I put the groceries away, made Ryan’s lunch for tomorrow, cleaned up the kitchen and just relaxed a bit. Hubby has a Monday deadline, which is why he was working all day but I also had an article for write for a project I hope to tell you about soon. (I got another blog side job!) So the hubz and Little man played while I got some writing done. Before too long it was dinner time. I had the foresight to KNOW I was going to be in no mood to cook. So I had the crockpot working for me all day. :) Dinner took about 10 minutes..

I made The Simplest Slow Cooker Beef Ever and shared the idea on GreenLiteBites since it was such an easy crowd pleasure.

After dinner I took a bath when Little Guy did. I stole his vapor bath and read a chapter in What the Dog Saw. The husband is a HUGE Malcolm Gladwell fan so we have all his books and I’m finding this one interesting. I may start to read his others although you guys know how bad I am in the reading department. :)

Post bath I read the Little Guy a book before bed and then settled into blogging in front of the TV for the first time all day. I enjoyed the finale of Survivor even though I didn’t watch it all season. Somehow it sucked me in.

Right now I’m watching poker on ESPN with a tissue hanging out out of my nose and a cup of hot green tea by my side which is my attempt at trying to sooth the soar throat. Ugh. I HATE being sick but I still took control of my day. Nothing makes me feels better then being productive. :)

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Let’s start with Saturday morning. Little Man came with me to boot camp (they are now involving kids for the first half of class, VERRY COOL) and then we raced thru Trader Joe’s picking up just a few supplies. We [...]]]> We’ve had quite a weekend. Just craziness! I’m not even sure where to begin.

Let’s start with Saturday morning. Little Man came with me to boot camp (they are now involving kids for the first half of class, VERRY COOL) and then we raced thru Trader Joe’s picking up just a few supplies. We had to rush home to get ready for his first school concert!

His elementary school was having a winter jubilee where all the kindergardeners had to sing carols on stage. It was precious! And such a fun way to kick off the season. We had a blast getting ready for the event. Everyone was in a goofy mood…

As punishment for gloating about finishing the Christmas cards I took the most perfect family shot AFTER they were done. DARN IT…

Ahh well. We still have the picture at least. I think I print one for us. :)

The Christmas concert went off without a hitch, My Little Man looked so good up on stage! It was so fun watching him.

Afterwards we headed on the road to PA. It was my nieces 7th birthday and we decided to take the drive up and celebrate. After the long car ride I crashed around 10PM. It was the earliest I’ve gone to bed in months and I felt wonderful this morning. WHY don’t I go to bed early ALL the time? I mean really. You’d think I would have learned my lesson by this point. Anyway, we had a pretty lazy morning hanging out with my parents before heading to Chuck E. Cheese. The kids were great. Just look at these two goofballs…

We were there for 3 hours riding rides, playing games and eating pizza. Yea.. I ate more than my share. I don’t know what it is about bad pizza but I have a hard time stopping myself at 1, 2 or even 3 slices. I swear pizza in any form gets me every time.

Once we had our fill of pizza and cheap plastic toys we headed back on the road to head home. It’s a 3 and half hour drive but we made the best of it. Little Guy had a new flash light and a coloring book to help keep him busy while the Husband and I chatted the whole way.

It was a wonderful weekend but there’s something about the travel that just wipes us out. I did come home and make lunches for tomorrow but other than that, I have a lot of work to do to catch up for the week. Tomorrow with by my catchup day. But only AFTER my hit the gym. I’m having fun following my new pregnancy training plan. It’s just the shot of motivation I needed.

Well that’s all I got in me tonight. I hope you had a fabulous weekend!

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Then we got right to work cleaning in preparation of Christmas decorating. We had quite a mess on our hands from Thanksgiving. I didn’t think to snap [...]]]> Today was fabulously exhausting! A true Sensational Sunday. Little Man and I woke up early and made a fabulous breakfast. Blueberry pancakes to be exact..

Then we got right to work cleaning in preparation of Christmas decorating. We had quite a mess on our hands from Thanksgiving. I didn’t think to snap a before picture but it wasn’t all that different than about this time last year. After an hour or so we not only had a clean kitchen but a spot for our christmas tree. :)

We had a blast pulling everything out of storage and traveling down memory lane. Little man was ecstatic. He just loves the holidays. Even Dad got all festive and stuff. ;)

Once the tree was up we made sure to clean everything and put it all away. No sense leaving a mess after we just cleaned. We blasted the music and had fun jamming out to Christmas songs. As you can see, Little Man was really into it.

I mean REALLY into it.

Yes that’s a toilet brush (it was cleaned and unopened) and yes we listen to some non-traditional Christmas music. I believe he has jamming to Father Christmas by the Kinks.

Soon it was lunch time. What was on the menu except turkey leftovers! My homemade turkey soup…

I made the broth similar to this and added some brown rice, carrots and leeks.

I paired it with a turkey sandwich on dark rye and some carrot sticks.

Afterwards I had a meeting about the cookbook. Yes.. the GreenLiteBites book. I’m hoping to have it available this January on Amazon! It’s nothing special, Just 60 or so of my favorite GreenLiteBite ideas. I’m super nervous about it but decided to just take the leap. I’m hoping it gives me the confidence to pursue a "real" cookbook one day.

Once the meeting wrapped up I took Little Guy to a paint your own ceramics place to make some Christmas presents. We had a blast chatting and painting and let me tell you my boy can TALK!

Hmmm wonder who he gets that from. ;)

When we came come we helped the husband finish up the outside lights.

We are working on getting those inside window lights as a finishing touch.

Before I knew it, it was time for dinner. I decided to have a little fun, turning leftover turkey into fun enchiladas!

Total YUM!

Right now, at this very moment, I’m watching Walking Dead and dreaming about a piece of that berry pie. :)

Not to mention, I’m EXHAUSTED.

yea.. I gotsta go! Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

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There’s only one problem… I’m so exhausted after my awesome day [...]]]> I have the most amazing Sunday EVER! I know I say that a lot but you have to remember I make an effort to set the tone for the week and seize my Sundays. It’s a tradition I started a long time ago.

There’s only one problem… I’m so exhausted after my awesome day I don’t have the energy to tell you about it! So you get the bulleted version. :)

• It all started with this "genius" idea I had to make a new breakfast sandwich. :)

• Then I went for a run. I could not get over how gorgeous it was outside. Just a stellar day and I felt great the whole run.

Chart taken from Nike+ web site after sync. Click here to see how I did it.

• When I got back I started the laundry and got Little Guy ready for our hike. We had an amazing time on the trails. Here’s some pics from Little Guy’s (my old) camera.

He was all excited to take his camera and snapped this one of me when we were getting ready.

Once we got there we explored our options…

… hit the trails and…

… had our first casualty. :)

Little Guy had some fun learning the camera. These are his shots…

We really did have a blast and I enjoyed my alone time with Little Guy in nature. :)

• We came home and had lunch. I finished the Deep Dish Crescent Pizza Casserole. Sad to see it go. :(
• The husband got home from Gaelic Football, helped me fold laundry and them we went out for…

It was so stinkin’ nice out we just wanted a reason to go back outside. :) We strolled around the outdoor shopping center and enjoyed our ice cream.

• One the way home we decided it would be a great day to wash the car. I told you.. SO nice out. We just looked for reasons to be outside!

• Then I made dinner (pasta with homemade sauce and a side salad), finished the laundry with the husband, put everything away and paid all the bills (that we could. We are feeling the one less paycheck. yikes.)

Anyway.. I am READY to start this week. I love momentum. :)

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I was having fun on facebook tonight looking through old pics and I put these two together. What do you think? 20 years make a difference? :)

Overall, I had a lazy Sunday and it was AWESOME! Lots of naps, relaxation and hanging out with the little guy. This morning we made these [...]]]>

I was having fun on facebook tonight looking through old pics and I put these two together. What do you think? 20 years make a difference? :)

Overall, I had a lazy Sunday and it was AWESOME! Lots of naps, relaxation and hanging out with the little guy. This morning we made these Pumpkin Oatmeal Cups…

…painted a pumpkin, watched Ghostbusters, visited a local farm and went out to dinner (something we are doing less and less now that I’m not working so it was a treat.)

Right now I’m losing a battle against the Combos the husband is munching on. I would never buy these things but when they are right next to me I have a hard time saying no. I’m not even hungry. Actually, I’m quite full. I hate that I’m a proximity eater.

Anyway.. just wanted to pop in and say "Hi."

Oh! and I wanted to let you know I ran my October run yesterday for my 2010 Running Goals! I was so excited to come in under 30 minutes! Not too shabby for this pregnant momma. :)

Hope you had a great weekend!

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This weeks Thursday Thoughts posts is devoted to my dirty kitchen. The other day I tweeted…

"I would rather have a dirty kitchen and a heathy diet the a crappy diet and a clean kitchen."

It was trying to make myself feel better becuase I didn’t feel like cleaning up before [...]]]>

This weeks Thursday Thoughts posts is devoted to my dirty kitchen. The other day I tweeted…

"I would rather have a dirty kitchen and a heathy diet the a crappy diet and a clean kitchen."

It was trying to make myself feel better becuase I didn’t feel like cleaning up before bed or should i say before I fell asleep on the couch. ;) I’m sure you know cooking your own meals, mostly from scratch does cause quite a mess. Especially if you are a sloppy cook like me. I swear I can’t stir a pot of sauce with having drippings all over my stove top.

Would it be easier to buy dinner in a box and pop it in the microwave or pick up the phone and get a pizza delivered? Sure. And I do that now and then but overall, day in and day out, I make an effort to cook for my family. That’s why I’m devoting this weeks Thursday Thoughts to eating at home.

• Let’s start with a blog post outlining 8 benefits of Eating at Home. The articles highlights saving money as the top reason which I totally agree with. It’s amazing how expensive eating out can be especially when you already bought groceries for the week and are simply too lazy to cook. Which is what usually what happens to me.
• In case money savings isn’t motivation enough just think.. do you REALLY know what your eating when someone else is cooking? ewe.
• If you take the leap to brave your own kitchen you may want to make sure it’s helping and not hurting your efforts.
• And I thought these tips to help stock a kitchen with healthy food while on a budget were wonderful.
• Ok, so you decided to eat at home, you’ve set and stocked your kitchen now you what do you cook? How about some help from a magazine I recently found and fell in LOVE with. Have you seen Clean Eating? So awesome! I want to work for these people! Such simple recipes using basic whole foods. Exactly my goal on GreenLiteBites.
• Since I’m on the food topic, as always, I’ll share my GreenLiteBites posts this week. First I made a new couscous salad on a whim and totally fell in love. Then I stuffed and baked some peaches, DIVINE! and tonight I ate a leftover Apple Chutney Turkey Burger for dinner. I guess you can say I’ve been having fruit cravings recently. ;)
• I’ve also been making progress on the FitBloggin’ planning. Reaching out to speakers, working on the schedule, and making buttons. I’m also happy to announce Jen and Mandy’s feature, Fit4FitBloggin’ which is going to be a ton of fun!
• Let’s see… other news…. Hmmmm… Oh! I recorded an "I Breastfeed because video" for the Ameda campaign. Click here to check it out but give it a second, for some reason it takes a bit for my video to load. I breast fed little guy for almost 8 months and I’m planning on doing it again with number 2. :) Maybe I’ll even re-record my long winded breast milk storage video. ;)

ok, I think that’s all I got in my tonight. I’m going to try to record a podcast tomorrow. I would have today BUT little was home from school so I took him to the Visionary Arts Museum instead. SO fun. :)

He had a blast!

We even shared the most AMAZING chocolate cake for a treat. :)

It was a great day.

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The secret to changing your life is in your intentions. Wishing, hoping and goal setting cannot accomplish change without intention. What is needed is a shift from the inert energy of wanting to the active energy of [...]]]> This weekends quote is a bit deep but don’t worry I make up for it with pictures….

The secret to changing your life is in your intentions. Wishing, hoping and goal setting cannot accomplish change without intention. What is needed is a shift from the inert energy of wanting to the active energy of doing and intention. —-Wayne Dyer

It’s the middle of the day on Saturday. Today I already worked my butt of at Boot Camp class and went for an hour hike with the family. Now we are getting ready to make some homemade pizza and watch the Notre Dame game. Afterwards, we are heading to PA to spend some time with the Grandparents.

It’s a great day and I plan on making it an even better weekend! I’m actively living my life. I’m done talking about what I want. Wishing for a different body. Hoping one day to achieve some ridiculous goal of "skinny" I set for myself.

Nope, no more. Now I spend my energy doing instead of wishing. Playing instead of hoping. And I set goals that I actively work towards not just daydream about.

Today we had a blast having a fun active morning. Here’s some pictures from our 3 mile hike… Goal Accomplished. :)

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This may have been the most active, most [...]]]> It’s our last day here in the Outer Banks. It’s been an amazing week! We hit the beach, walked, rented bikes, flew kites, hung out by the pool and ate some wonderful seafood (more on that in a bit.) I even ran 21 miles since Sunday!

This may have been the most active, most fun, most relaxing week ever! I’m thinking the fact that my last day of work was the Friday before we left has something to do with it. ;) Regardless we have a blast and today was the best day ever!

It started with a short bike ride to return the bikes we rented. I didn’t get a picture of us but little guy and I raced around on a tandem bike like this one. We rode about 14 miles total yesterday just cruising around. It was AWESOME!

Once the bikes were returned we put a 6 hour shift in at the beach. The water was PERFECT minus a few jellyfish but we braved it. We played paddle ball, took the boogie board out and built sand castles. Little Guy was having a blast…

He even just chilled and people watched with us for a bit…

While on the beach I was reading My Two-Year-Old Eats Octopus: Raising Children Who Love to Eat Everything. What an amazing book! I’m only a few chapters in but I’m loving the stories and advice. There’s even a chapter on pregnancy and breast feeding. How fitting. ;)

Even though I’m not finished with the book it has been inspiring me. Tonight we went out to dinner and I excitedly ignored the children’s menu ordering Ryan a steamed veggie platter…

He also spilt the husband’s steamed crab legs and shrimps. It was so nice seeing him eat such great food and I was proud that he was willing to try everything. Although.. the ceviche didn’t go over to well but the husband loved it. ;)

After dinner we strolled back home stopping for our last bowl of ice cream. It definitely put me over the feeling full edge but it was worth it. We were having a good time trying each others flavors and just spending quality family time together.

The day has now come to an end. Little guys is in bed and I must help the husband pack. We need to head home and I have a busy week ahead even though I won’t be "going to work." FitBloggin’ planning is in full swing. GreenLiteBites is in desperate need to some new food ideas and I FINALLY will have time to initiate some new challenges on BlogToLose. It’s work but it’s my work and there is something amazingly empowering about being my own boss. Oh! PLUS it’s little guys last week before Kindergarten!! So many fun things going on!

OK… I really need to go. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite pics of the day. We were having fun trying on hats at the gift shop. :)

I hope you have a great week! Enjoy your weekend!

Oh! and I have a few more vacation pics over on RoniNoone.com click here if you are interested.

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