Moving...

Since I'm now more than just 'Livy's mommy', I decided to move my blog.  :)

The new address is eternalandeveryday.blogspot.com.  The idea of balancing the weight of eternity with the mundane aspects of every day home with my kiddos has been on my mind lately, so I thought it was a perfect title.

Maybe I'll blog more often over there.  But maybe not.  ;)

W.O.W. Fitness and Temple Building

Probably about a year and a half ago, I posted on Facebook about going to yoga class. A friend commented and said, "Hey, there's free yoga classes at a church in Fayetteville!" She had my attention with 'free'! :) I checked out their FB page and joined the group. Never did go to class, though. I got all their posts and read them, but didn't attend any classes. In January, the group administrator posted an event called Temple Building Informational Meeting. It was described as a 12 week healthy eating and exercise program. Still struggling with baby weight (so worth it though, right??), I said 'sign me up!' Now, if you know me, you'll know that's weird for me. I'm not the type to go to an event where I know NOBODY at a place I have NEVER been. God was definitely at work there, because I never wavered from saying I was going (even when it was cancelled and rescheduled due to snow!). So I went to the meeting, joined up with that round of Temple Building, and now am a healthier me! :) I've now done two rounds of Temple Building, lost about 30 pounds and lots of inches, lost two (sometimes three) pant sizes, and am wearing a medium shirt for the first time since probably high school. Oh, and did I mention I feel so much better?? I actually have the energy to run after my kids, and that's worth way more than anything else. I told a friend today that this is the first time in my life that I actually like myself. I love these programs so much, and I would love for you to come along! Temple Building is about to start again! There are informational meetings on Tuesday, August 23 and Thursday, August 26 at 7 pm. Meetings are held at the church on the 2nd floor of the Activity Center, which is at the back of the church campus.

W.O.W. Fitness is a ministry of the Trinity Fellowship Assembly of God in Fayetteville. All classes are free and only for women. There are women from age 65-ish to teenagers there, all fitness levels. There are different types of classes on different days of the week, and multiple times each day. My favorite classes are Pump it Up and Cardio Groove (who doesn't love to dance?!). From the website: "WOW Fitness classes are about so much more than just working out! Women are building self confidence. They are getting stronger and healthier. But most of all, we are bonding and building new friendships. If you want to be encouraged, come join this wonderful group of ladies for an awesome workout. – Director Tammy Hill"

Temple Building is NOT A DIET, just to be clear. It is a lifestyle change. It's about eating healthier and being conscious of what you eat and how active you are. From the FB site: Temple Building is a 12 week healthy eating & exercising plan. It is about getting as healthy as you can in the body God gave you. You do not have to attend W.O.W. Fitness classes to be a part of Temple Building. You do NOT have to sign up for Temple Building to come to one of the meetings!! Just come hear what it is all about & decide then if you are interested. There will be A LOT of information given out that can be useful to you whether you sign up or not. You DO have to come to one of the meetings to sign up for Temple Building!! There are 2 opportunities. You will get an invite for both but you just need to attend one. Feel free to invite your friends!! Women only!!

I hope you will give it some thought and prayer. These programs have literally changed my life, and I want it to do the same for so many other people! To close, how about a little slide show? ;) Chronological order, of course!

If you have any questions or want me to meet you outside for the Tuesday meeting, just let me know!

May 2010 - Keegan is 1 year old

December 2010 - before starting Temple Building

March 2011 - 1 month into Temple Building, down 1 pants size

May 2011 - After 1 round of Temple Building, down almost 2 pants sizes.

July 2011 - After 2 rounds of Temple Building, down over 2 pants sizes (and wondering why Keegan is digging in the dirt! )

August 2011 - Down 3 pants sizes (depending on the brand) and feeling pretty darn good! :)

Knot Genie!

Head on over to http://bibsandcribs.blogspot.com/ to enter to win a Knot Genie hairbrush!

We saw these at Pigtails and Crewcuts a few weeks ago when we took K-man to get his bangs trimmed out of his eyes. I wanted to get one, but hubs said no. :) Maybe it would help the "what a beautiful girl!" comments. Well, maybe not, but a girl can dream!

Better late than never...

With Love Chartreuse Christmas 5x7 folded card

Click here to browse hundreds of Christmas card designs.

View the entire collection of cards.

We wish you a....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

It's a little early for some of you, but I think it's never too early to start thinking about Christmas. :) (Well, as long as it's after Halloween!) I'm actually somewhat on top of gift buying this year, surprise, surprise! There are some pesky recipients who are always hard to buy for, but surely I can think of something... Aaaaannnndd, we've got an anniversary coming up too. Why did we get married in December?! Dumb, dumb, dumb. Okay, not really dumb- just crams a little more into an already busy season. But I digress... Do you give out cards and/or other personalized items for gifts? Ohhhh, we do and I looove it. It makes it easy to buy for family members; who doesn't love that? :)

Before we had kiddos, we didn't send out Christmas cards. Who really wanted to see another picture of us? ;) Pictures of kiddos, on the other hand, are always welcome we have found. After Olivia was born, we send out simple photo cards with one picture of the three of us. The past few years, we've gotten a little more creative (we even did a Christmas letter one year, cheesy as it is!). This year, I'm planning on doing it up a bit fancier, maybe with this one - I just LOVE all that lacy design and the crisp, white background. But then, I also like this one, so elegant! And I'm really digging the different shapes that are coming around, the squares especially. Shutterfly is doing a blogger promotion, so here I am blogging about Christmas cards! You could go and sign up, too. You know you want to... Everyone else is doing it...

We also do a photo calendar every year for our families. The first few years we used some local places, and the finished products were okay but nothing really to write home about. The past two or three years, we've ordered our calendars from Shutterfly and could not have been happier. I love all the background options and the different layouts. I probably spend waaaay too much time making these, but they are so fun! I even got my friend Hannah to order 3 this year. :)

We've ordered other photo gifts before from local places also, and I was not that impressed. The mug we have has faded around the top, so much that you can hardly see Olivia. Boo. We haven't ordered any of that stuff from Shutterfly (although I've got my eye on some personalized stationery!), but we have ordered 4 or 5 photo books and they are super cool! I would post a pic of what we already got this year, but I don't want to spoil anyone's surprise. ;) The last one I made, I used the Simple Path option at Shutterfly and it was so much easier than trying to place the pictures myself. My stress level went waaaay down and the pictures were in the order they were taken. Score!

Now we just have to find a few good family photos, right? Here are some excellent options...

Rabid dinosaurs? Baby birds?

I know you're jealous of our cat with chicken wing arms.

You can steal this for your Facebook if you want. I won't mind.

Horrifying, isn't it?

Spaghetti night. Mmmmm...

Polly Pocket binoculars are not functional. Who knew?

Enjoy your holidays!!

"One and done"?

I've heard that phrase a lot lately and it makes me sad. Now, I'm not knocking it or trying to offend anyone, so don't get your hackles up. :) I read this article in Time tonight and thought I would share.

I'm an only child. My parents tried for almost 2 years to get pregnant with me. They were on the verge of starting fertility treatments (no small feat for a young couple in the 70's) when they turned up prego with yours truly. After I was born, my mom became pregnant 3 more times and miscarried all 3 babies. Devastating for her, as you can imagine.

Growing up, I wanted a sibling soooo badly. I didn't even care if it was a boy or a girl. Granted, we lived out in the country (and I mean, OUT- my school, grades K-12, was housed in a series of trailers). But I had close friends and we saw them a lot. I just wanted a brother or sister. BAD. As I got older, around 10 or so I imagine, I decided it wasn't so bad to be the only.

Now that I'm much older, I long for a sibling. It can nearly bring me to tears. Does that sound silly to those of you with siblings? Well, here's my thought. When my parents are gone, it's just me. Yes, I'm married to a wonderful man. And yes, I have two beautiful children who are the light of my life. But they don't know the me that was 7 and crawled in the dog house with Brandy and her puppies. They don't know the me that moved to AR and cried for weeks. They don't know the me that almost didn't make the cheer squad in 8th grade. They don't know the me who hated high school but cried through the entire graduation. They don't know the me who made so many mistakes and had so many good times and cried and laughed. A sibling would. And a sibling would know what I'm feeling when my mom and dad are gone.

Do I sound morbid? I'm not trying to, I promise. My parents have both had serious health problems. My mom cannot do anything about hers. She can manage it, but no cure. That means a shortened life span. My mom and I are super close, and I can't even think about that.

I'm tired from leading 11 kindergarteners around VBS for 3 hours this week, so maybe I'm just feeling extra emotional. But when am I not? ;)

I would love to hear your thoughts, even if they're different than mine!

While you're on a blog roll, check out Megan's post on friendship. I haven't commented yet, I'm still fermenting mine. :)

Have a great day!

Ta-daaaa!

Before = BORING. Our entire house, with the exception of the playroom, was this boring off-white color. Ugh. It's just like living in a cloud, except not soft and squishy. We picked out some paint for the dining room in December, when we painted the kitchen. So we finally got around to it.

After = EXCITING! I am so happy with how it turned out. And no, I didn't feel the need to clean up before I took a picture for you. That's how we roll. I loooove it, don't you? ;)
One of my favorite parts is this ledge thingy above the bar. I have big plans for it, but that will have to wait for another day. :) Incidentally, you can see the kitchen paint from this angle also. I have been looking high and low for a 'before' kitchen picture, but I think I deleted the one I am thinking of since I looked like a whale in it. ;) We took down some hideous fruity wallpaper and painted it that wonderful berry color. We also got rid of our stainless steel side-by-side fridge that couldn't open all the way due to the wall directly next to it. We got a french-door, bottom-mount black fridge instead. I love it!

On a side note, my birthday was this weekend. Yep, I'm the big 3-1. Woo! We had a good weekend. Saturday, I spent the day with my mom and my aunt. We got pedicures, ate lunch at PF Chang's, and did some shopping. I just let myself enjoy being out and didn't worry about what time it was. Consequently, I got home at 6! Sunday, Livy and I were going to go to Different Strokes, but they went out of business! Who knew?! So we just ran around and hung out. It was nice, just the girls. :) I didn't get many pictures, but here are some from birthday dinner at Noodles. Hope you had a great weekend, too!