2013 - Week 6

Here's to another week!!

Monday started out with a surprise ME day! I woke up tired, sluggish and just not ready to face the day. So, I dropped the girls off at my in-laws, like usual, and made my way right back home. I didn't have any meetings scheduled, my in-box was fairly cleaned out and nothing too pressing needed my attention. It's RARE, so I decided to take advantage. I spent the morning relaxing, watching some TV and being lazy. Eventually, I finally stopped being a couch potato...I finished up our weekly laundry, picked up the living room, kitchen and bedrooms and vacuumed the upstairs. A nice clean house, so refreshing! I started up a crockpot dinner, showered, and was relaxed and ready when the rest of the family got home. We had some dinner, went about our bedtime routine and called it a night. What a perfect, MUCH needed mental health day!

Tuesday was back to reality. Back to school, back to work - which consisted of several meetings. Ick - I hate meetings! The day went quickly though, so that's a plus. After work, Christian's friend stopped over to help him finish hooking the downstairs TV up to the antenna while the girls and I hung out and made dinner.

Amelia got herself all dressed up! I swear, they go downstairs to play, looking completely normal. They come up, looking something like this.

Wednesday marked the 6th straight day of snow. Never a ton, about an inch or so each day - but just enough to ruin EVERY commute. Man I hate winter driving. Today's snow didn't come until lunch time though - so at least it only slightly delayed the drive home. The morning drives after a snow are just brutal. I'm officially ready for spring! Amelia was a complete crabby wreck when I picker her up from school, and that joyful spirit stuck around most of the evening. Needless to day, it was an early bedtime for her. I [finally] started up the 60 Day Slimdown program today, and I'm SO ready to get back on track (seriously, how many times can one person say that?!?) But, really, I'm back on my mission!

Olivia wanted to take a picture with me tonight. GLADLY, my dear!

Thursday was pretty much the best day ever. As I wrote about in my surprise post, I started the day, as usual, balancing our checkbooks, only to notice that our Federal Tax Return had been deposited. So, I started the day by paying off our last, final piece of debt - our credit card. So, I was on cloud nine the rest of the day. We're in the process of closing Christian's bank account - which means moving all of our auto payments to my account, changing his work direct deposit to my account, getting him listed as a full joint member on my account and getting him a check card. I send off the last of the paperwork for this process this morning, so I'm pretty excited to only have one account to track pretty soon! I stopped into the store quick after work to grab some stuff for dinner, picked up the girls and we made our way home. They had a great week at school...I can see Olivia's "social butterfly" personality coming through more and more every day - she's been playing a lot with the other kids, and they all give her hugs and say good-bye to her when she leaves lately. She's been asking more and more about the Pre-K room this week, so I think she's getting pretty bored in preschool. Hopefully they're still on track to move her up this summer, because she's getting pretty anxious! Amelia had a great week as well, using the potty like a champ to boot! Apparently she's breaking her teachers' hearts by asking to go to the preschool room a lot. I'd say she'll definitely be moving up next month as planned - she certainly thinks she's ready! Miss Eva and Miss Judy are pretty upset about it though, which, oddly, makes me happy :) The girls have been heading down to their playroom every night when we get home. We've revoked their iPad privileges because we want to encourage them to play together, and actually PLAY, and they've been having a blast. They play dress up, pack up their backpacks (over and over again) with new treasures and it's great to see them actually being kids, rather than glued to "their" electronics. My mother in-law's birthday was today, so Christian stopped by their house after work to bring her some flowers and chat for a bit. So, it was a pretty chaotic night. I finally got my workout in after the girl went to bed and caught up on a few shows to end the night.

There's no escaping the pets...they are never too far away...

Friday started with my weekly weigh in. I knew it wouldn't be good - it's a bad week for me to weigh myself in general, plus I've been a cookie addict all week, and I JUST started my program on Wednesday. So, I was up over 2lbs this week!! SCARY! I'm back where I was after the holiday's. But, I'm not going to be too hard on myself. I'm starting, I'm motivated, and it's never too late to get back on track! Today was my Friday off, so the girls and I spent the day together. I spent the morning paying bills and doing the usual "paperwork" stuff. The girls played, watched some TV and actually got along most of the morning. YAY! They were surprisingly well-behaved all day really - they listened, they played well together, they ate all of their food at all of their meals, they took nice long naps. It was heaven. While they napped, I got my workout in, and started doing some research for our annual trip to Wisconsin Dells with the Stevesons. Man, I can't wait - for the trip, or to see our friends!!! Christian worked late, per usual on Friday's, so we ate dinner and hung out with the girls for a bit as soon as he got home. As soon as the girls were in bed, it was Coldstone Ice Cream and movies for us. We watched "Premium Rush" and "The Vow" tonight - both of them were actually really good. Even Christian liked the chick flick, LOL.  All in all, it was a fantastic start to the weekend!

Forced cuddles for Rico!!

Saturday brought us another pretty busy day. We started with a little TV, some breakfast and some play time. Then, it was time for showers and getting ready. The girls were off to my godmother's house for a playdate with her and her grandchildren. They did some crafts, watched some movies and have a pizza party. Apparently they had the time of their lives and were busy as can be. And, apparently they have deemed my godmother as "Grandma Sandy". They sure know how to suck up! While they partied it up, Christian and I were off on an early Valentines Day date! We went to a movie (I don't remember the last time I actually paid for a movie, LOL). We say "Identity Thief" and OMG, it was HILARIOUS! Seriously the funniest movie I've seen in a long time. I would highly recommend it. After the movie, we were off to dinner at Chili's (to use a Christmas gift card) and just chatted, laughed and got WAY to full. Finally, we stopped into the mall so Christian could use the gift card I gave him for Christmas on some new clothes. How romantic! After we picked up the girls, and listened to all of their exciting stories from their day, we stopped at my dad's house for a quick visit. They live right down the road from my godmother, so we couldn't leave the area without checking in with them. Of course, my stepmom had some more crafts for the girls to do and sent them home with some goody bags. They are way too spoiled!!! FINALLY, we were on our way home. The girls passed out before we hit the highway and were out for the night. Christian and I were settled into watch some Saturday Night Live, but we both passed out as well. Too much excitement for all of us!!

Here we are, ready for our big date! *whistle, whistle*

Sunday brought in a new round of storms. Rain, sleet, snow, wind, repeat. All day. Of course, I didn't get our weekly shopping done before the weather hit, so I was stuck heading out in it. JOY! Weekly chores were much easier than usual though...I managed to keep the main level pretty clean this week, so I pretty much just had to do laundry (lets pretend like the basement doesn't exist right now). I got my workout in, we watched some movies with the girls and we just hung out around the house. Nothing like some forced family relaxation!

 Olivia, looking so old.

 Amelia, what a devil!

THIS is how you color!

So, that ends another week. While Amelia stays pretty dry during her naps and bedtime - she isn't quite there yet, so we're still working on the final potty training kinks. I feel like I can officially say I'm back on track with my workout plan, and that makes me feel really good about myself. We accomplished a HUGE success in paying off the last of our debt this week, AND, started planning our 2012 trip to the Dell. Definitely a successful week!