Horrible Blogger....To Say The Least!

I just looked back at my previous post...its date June 12!  Wow, those 2 months have flown, and the time has certainly gotten away from me.

A few things to update about:

Back to school:

Kris is going to Intermediate School.  What??!?!  We have ourselves a 4th grader.  Kristopher was 5 years old, a kindergartner, when Steven and I started dating.  Hes growing before our eyes.  I know hes grown at least 6 inches this summer.  No, I dont need a ruler....hes growing out of absolutely everything in his closet!  He has always been on the small side for his age, but I believe that when he shows up for the first day this year, he may have caught up!  We look forward to seeing what another school year has in store!

Riley Madison, what can I say?  Shes going to Pre-K this year!  Wasnt she just born yesterday?  She is the most grown up 3 year old I know.  Last week, she started telling me how to drive!  We just love watching that girl grow and learn new things.  Kara has her hands full!

Weight Loss:

What weight loss?  I had to have my band completely unfilled during the last part of June.  I got some sort of food stuck, I believe it was popcorn (I should have learned my lesson by now).  I just havent been back to get it filled.  I have actually gained back 10 pounds, which is starting to kind of frustrate me.  Its my own fault, I put the food in my mouth, no one else....
Steven and I are starting Advocare's 24 day challenge as soon as we get back from Vacation.  Im hoping that this will jump start my weight loss without getting my band filled.  Steven also hopes to shed a few pounds, and what better way to do it, TOGETHER!

I promise to be a better blogger, however with school starting for the kiddos, me going back to school for my LAST semester, and work,....Ill do my best

Hang in there with me!

Staci

Lazy Sunday?

When Steven works nights on the weekends, I try my best to stay up later than normal, so that I can sleep in with him in the mornings.  Last night, I was successful.  I stayed up, and even managed to get a couple of homework assignments finished.

So after sleeping in until 10 am, I got up, went to purchase the weekly Sunday Newspaper, and was home in time to plant myself on the couch with the laptop and remote.   I set the DVR to record my new favorite show, Hungry Girl (Cooking Show).  For those that know her, she cooks low calorie recipes, and most of them look amazing. 

Steven and I hit up my favorite frozen yogurt place!  Merry Toppins has been my little go to Frozen Yogurt joint, since it opened about 3 weeks ago.  Its probably not a good thing when the owners know you! 

So, now that Steven has headed off to work for the night, I decided to try a new recipe.  I love lentils!  They are high in fiber and protein, and "Oscar", my sometimes grouchy lap band lets them through the gates.  That on the other hand is a different story!  I had googled several recipes, but dont have a stock pile of fresh veggies in my fridge.  Why?  Well, Steven doesnt eat them, and well, again "Oscar" is grouchy.  I hate to buy food that will spoil.  We seem to never get around to eating them, and to me, thats a total waste of money.  Therefore, Ive come up with my own recipe.

I used a one pound bag of lentils
2 tablespoons of garlic (the little bottle you can buy thats already minced)
4 cups of chicken broth
2 tbsp of curry powder
1/2 tbsp of sea salt

I used about 1 tbsp of chicken broth to sautee the garlic.  I then added the curry powder.
I then put the chicken broth in, let it boil a little - then added the lentils.
Mixed it all together and added the sea salt.

I let them simmer for about 30 minutes (they are still simmering) and let me say, they smell amazing.
Ill let you know how they turn out.

Once I cool them, I will divide them out for my lunches this week.

Summertime is here!

Its summertime in Texas, and besides temperatures over 100 degrees, it has lots of fun in store!

I start my summer school class this Monday.  Im not sure that I will know what to do taking only 3 hours, but I have 13 more to look forward to in the Fall.  I guess I will enjoy the small bit of rest!

June 3rd was Kris' last day of school.  He has done exceptional this year in school.  His involvement in the Archery Team at school has given the incentive that he needed to keeps his grades and conduct where they need to be.  He was awarded medals for receiving a 96 on the Math and 98 in Reading on the TAKS test.  For third graders, that test is embedded in their brains from day one of school.  It is basically a life line that they must pass to be promoted to the next grade.  He will have to endure the test again in the 8th and 11th grade.  So, we officially have a 4th grader!

Riley had her end of year program at her Praise and Play.  Its amazing that those teachers are able to teach a large group of 2, 3 and 4 year olds songs and dances.  They were all very adorable.  The 4 year olds graduated, and Miss Riley will be graduating next year.  Time flies!

So as Summer begins, we are counting down the days until Elizabeth comes to spend a few weeks with us.  I know I say this often, but I hope this summer I am able to keep up this blog.  Hopefully we will have exciting things to share!


Staci

We are still here...

Between everything that we have going on right now, Im a horrible blogger.  Im counting down the days until school is out!  Taking 14 hours and working full time, you know whats on my mind 110% of the time.  I often think about how I need to jump on the computer and let everyone know we are still alive, so here I am.  Tomorrow, I promise to do a birthday party post.  Sweet Riley will turn 3 tomorrow, the 17th, and I will save it until her actual birthday.

Please forgive me, I promise to be better!


See you tomorrow!

Staci

Where do the weekends go?

Kristopher turned 9 on the 22nd, and since we didnt see him until the weekend, we made it a special one!  We had originally planned to play laser tag, but apparently the place that we had planned to play at has closed down.  Our friend, Thomas, also shares a birthday with Kris.  They are only a year apart.  We thought that it would be a great idea to get together with Jennifer (We missed you Kyle), and take the boys bowling.   Let me just say, I am not a bowler.  Kris, Sebastian, Tommy and Riley shared a lane, and all of them did MUCH better than me! The adults - well part of them - bowled in another lane.  My parents just sat back and watched, and Im sure got a great laugh.  Nana helped Riley get her ball going, and that 2 year old bowled like a champ!

After about an hour of bowling, we took the party to Cicis.  That place has alot of business, its hard getting in the door during lunch time.  We waited out the crowd and ate lots of pizza....well they did!  What is Cicis without the kids playing in the arcade.  The adults chatted alittle, at least during the time we could actually hear each other.  To end the birthday, the birthday boys wanted Marble Slab.  We walked next door.  Most of us were so full that we had to share with our significant others!

Since Thomas had plans for the evening, and will definitely get to spend the night next time, Sebastian and Kris had a sleep over in our living room..  I love having kids around!  I got up Sunday morning and got them donuts.  Its such torture buying donuts, fresh ones at that, and not being able to eat one.  Just to clarify, I could eat one, but my lap band would NOT be happy. 

We spent Sunday afternoon in Corsicana.  The Cinergy Cinema is a really neat place.  The boys played putt putt, rode go carts and played video games!  Im pretty sure they had a great time!  We stopped at Old Mexican Inn.  We love their food! 

So the weekend came to an end, and here we are at Monday again!

Until next time...

Staci

Week in Review

This has been an interesting week by far.  Last weekend we were wearing short, having a picnic, and playing at the park.  This little girl was loving it!

On Saturday evening, my Mother in Law called and suggested that we take Kris to the NFL Experience.  It probably is a once in a lifetime experience, so we decided to brave the crowd, go out and see what the hype was about.  We were even more excited when Amber and Caleb joined us.  Kris loves Amber, he would probably talk her ear off! We got some pictures of us in uniform, Kris playing a game or two, and some of the atmosphere.  If you ever get a chance to go, you should!

I think we all look much better as Dallas Cowboys!

Has anyone noticed that there is not one, single picture of Steven?  Im not sure how that happend!

Then of course, Amber and I need a picture with the "team"....well, at least one member of the team!

Us with Tony Romo

After the fun of the weekend, we settled back in to the work week, or what we thought would be a work week!  Monday was a fairly decent day...except the fact that I started feeling pretty crummy.  By Monday night, the winter weather had arrived. ICE, and lots of it.  I had already decided to call in sick, but with the roads as icy as they were, I probably needed to stay home anyway.  Wednesday was not much better, but I was still feeling bad, so I slept in....All Day!  Thursday, I felt better, and the roads were on their way to looking better as well,  so I headed to work.  I had my appointment for my lap band fill that morning, so I decided I would make the trek there, and it took me 3 hours round trip. Im sure it will be worth it.  We had heard that we would possibly have a "dusting of snow" overnight on Thursday into Friday morning.  This is what we woke up to....

Front Yard

Backyard

I would say, this is a bit more than a "dusting"

Since Kris was with us Thursday night, we got up and decided to "shovel" some snow.  We had to have him in Ennis by noon, so we headed out about 11.  Even though its only about 15 miles, we made it with about 3 minutes to spare!

So far this weekend, Steven went back to work, and I havent done much.  I have been doing lots of studying, and trying to keep up in all of my classes.  So far so good!

Well Im off to get a few chores done, go pick up the birthday shirt that I bought Riley (more in another post), and make some fried pickles for the SuperBowl Party.  Its really hard to believe that the big game is being played about 20 miles away.  We will be cheering on Graham Harrell and the Packers!  Graham is an Ennis Alumni - and his dad was head coach for the last 10 years for the Ennis football team.  We would love to see Graham win a Super Bowl Ring!

Toodles until next time-

with Love!

Staci

Feeling Human Again

After sleeping about 36 of the last 48 hours, I have started to feel human again!

I have called in sick the last 2 days, and with the roads as nasty as they are, I probably killed 2 birds with one stone.  I finally got out of the house today and went to walmart to pick up a few things.  As I walked out of the store, the wind gust was so hard and cold, it took my breath away.  I guess I havent missed too much while Ive been cooped up in the house.

I also attempted to "ice skate" on the back porch.  After about 3 minutes, I came back in the house - much warmer in here!

Also, tomorrow, I have an appointment with my surgeon..  I think its about time for a fill in my lap band.  Im only supposed to be able to eat 1 cup of food in one sitting.  Over the last couple of months, my meals have started to get larger.  Basically what happens is, all of your organs are surrounded by a layer of fat, even your stomach.  When the band is placed, there may be a layer of fat just below the band, like a cushion between the band and my stomach.  As you lose weight, well in my case I havent lost much since my last fill (13 or so pounds) - that fat shrinks, making the band looser, causing me to be able to eat more.  850-950 calories and about 60 grams of protein is my target, and Ive found that this range is my weight loss range.  Anything over or below this causes me to plateu.  As of today, when I woke up, I weighed 235.0.  I cant remember the last time I saw that number.  My starting weight before surgery was 296.4.  That makes for a total weight loss to date of 61.9 pounds.  I hope the Dr office scale cooperates with me, I hate getting there, getting on the scale, and seeing the number I had hoped for. 

The baby journey has begun and is in full swing.  I currently have birth control implanted in my arm, but that is at the advice of my surgeon.  He does not want patients getting pregnant less than 18 months post op.  Since I plan to down to 175lbs before getting pregnant, I have 60 pounds to lose.  I will have the birth control removed in September (I will be 18 months post op), and hopefully the last of the 60 remaining pounds will be gone.  I cannot wait to expand our family, and see what is in store for us.

Love you all,

Staci