7/13/12

DULUTH DAY! DULUTH DAY!! So excited!!!

First of all, it’s Friday, so weigh in day. I lost 5lbs this week…FIVE POUNDS! I don’t know how that’s even possible, but it feels amazing! I passed the 30lbs lost mark, for a total of 31.8 lost to date. I’m already gearing myself up for a bad week next week – that’s a HUGE loss, and we’re going on vacation, so I need to think realistically, but it feels so great. I’m so anxious to hit the halfway point – 35lbs. Then I’ll feel like I’m heading downhill on this journey, instead of fighting my way uphill. So close!

We were up bright and early today. Christian was off to get an oil change on the truck. The girls and I ate some breakfast, and I started packing up. I got them ready, showered and got ready and got everything ready to go. Christian ate quick when he arrived home, got ready and started packing up the truck. We stopped for some gas and ice, and were on our way. YAY, we’ve been waiting for this day for a year! We got to Duluth around 2:00. We ate some lunch while they finished getting our room ready, checked in and unloaded the truck

We made our way down the boardwalk to the lighthouse, fed the birds and relaxed for a little while.

It started sprinkling a little bit, so we hopped in the truck and drove up to the little ice cream shop that we love. It stopped raining by the time we got there, so we sat out on the bench and ate our ice cream together. So relaxing, and so yummy!

After dessert, we dropped off the truck, walked around Canal Park, including a fun horse drawn carriage ride around the park, and finally made our way to Grandma’s for dinner. I splurged on a big, delicious, horrible-for-my-diet Buffalo Chicken Sandwich, and man did that taste good. I haven’t eaten something like that in a LONG time.

After dinner we made our way back to the hotel. The girls had been asking ALL DAY to go swimming, so we hit up the hotel pool for a while, and they had a blast.

 

The hotel we are staying at does s’mores on the beach every night. The girls were so tired by the time we finished swimming, so we decided to do that tomorrow night instead. We made our way back to the room, the girls fell asleep pretty well on their own, Christian and I watched a little TV together, and then called it a night. Looking forward to a fun filled day tomorrow!

7/12/12

Today was my Friday at work, YAY. Even better, tomorrow we head out on our Annual trip to Duluth for the weekend, Double YAY!!

Work was good – busy tying up loose ends before the weekend, like usual. Christian has been putting in some OT, which is always welcomed. I’ve permanently taken on the duties of picking the girls up. I actually love picking them up, so I’m happy to do it. I love seeing their excitement when I come in, and all of the stories they have to tell me and checking in with their teachers. All of the little kids in their classes are so funny and outgoing…I usually get rushed by a few in Olivia’s class with some stories while I make my way through. It’s cute.

I’m feeling like I’m back on track now. I’ve been working out well, and getting into a routine again. Now, to stick with it (though, our little vacation probably won’t help, but it’s only 2.5 days!). I’m excited to weigh in tomorrow, the results should be good.

Christian went out for dinner and a beer with some guys from work, so the girls and I had dinner, hung out for a while, played with the babies and princesses and had a good night together. After they went to bed, I got my workout in and started packing up some of our stuff for the weekend. CANNOT WAIT TO HIT THE ROAD!!

Also, “Big Brother” returned tonight, so I was on pins and needles until I could watch it. LOL. It’s the small things in life!

I got a quick phone pic of the girls tonight. Well, it was really supposed to be of Amelia - she wasn't really cooperating, and Olivia was photobombing. My girls.

7/11/12

Today was quite a chaotic day!

First up, as I was watching the morning news like usual…they were talking about a dead body found in St. Paul…I glanced at the TV and noticed the video footage was from a little church (abandoned I believe) right across the street from my work. I know I’ve talked about it before, but the area I work in (also, where I grew up) is not a good area….a lot of crime and just pretty dangerous. Not a comfortable place to be, and I hate walking to and from my car if I ever have to do it alone. So, this wasn’t a huge surprise, but really disturbing. They didn’t have a ton of information, and didn’t release the cause of death, but just said that this man they found has been involved in an altercation on a city bus, and all involved were kicked off of the bus, and that’s the last information they had available. Disturbing to say the least really.

Today also marks Christian and my 11 year dating anniversary. 11 years…never a break, no breakups, nothing of the kind. 11 straight years, day in and day out. It just sounds like a really long time (well, maybe not to some, but for a 28/29 year old, it’s a LONG time). It’s amazing to think back on our life together…dating for a little over 6 years and all of the drama, chaos, fights and growing up we did in that time. Nearly 5 years of marriage…more arguments, greater stresses, buying a home, 2 kids, pets and so many stories to share. We’ve lived an exciting, fun, busy life together, and I can’t wait to see where our future brings us.

Work went well today, another quick day. I picked up the girls and we made our way home. However, Amelia did have ANOTHER incident report in her file today…she was bit, AGAIN. I don’t know what to do. I’m getting really frustrated with it, and it stresses me out. I know biting is super common, and the big issue in daycare/preschool is that they learn it from each other. It’s always that Amelia has something one of the other kids wants, and they bite her to get it from her. I can deal with that side of things…but she’s been starting to bite Olivia at home when they’re fighting, and that’s my big fear…her picking up the habit. I really hope it stops soon!

Once home, I started dinner and let the dog out. A little while later I heard a knock at the door…it was one of our neighbors, with the dog. Ugh, he still gets out all the time…I can’t wait until we have a weekend to spend taking care of that problem (collar, tags, chicken wire along the fence). They said they found him on the block over, but the fire, and he was scare. Fire?!? What are you talking about?!? I had heard sirens a little earlier, and they sounded really close, but I didn’t think much of it. They told me “Yeah, head out on your deck and you’ll see it”.

Sure enough, a house on the block behind us was on fire. Flames coming from the roof and everything. I got really emotional just seeing it. You can just imagine what it would be like to go through that…to lose everything, the danger, the fear. It’s terrifying. After dinner, we took a family walk around the block to check it out…see how bad it was, make sure everybody was safe and OK (it was really consuming my mind). The whole living area of the house was pretty much destroyed, definitely not livable. I would assume they’ll have to demolish it and rebuild. The owners were home, but did get out safe and sound, thank god. There was little damage to the house next door to them, but luckily it wasn’t a windy day or anything, so nothing spread. So glad it wasn’t any worse. My heart just aches for the homeowners.

All in all, it was a chaotic day, with a lot of bad news. No fun at all. Here are some pictures from the fire scene.

7/10/12

Today was a pretty low key day. We were both busy with work, especially Christian after being off yesterday. I spent my lunch break making some plans for our vacation this weekend. I’ve decided our big adventure this year will be a ride on the Pizza Train (a train ride, where you get pizza for dinner, LOL). I’m excited to see what the girls think.
We also weighed in for the new biggest loser contest today. I wore jeans and a regular shirt for some extra weight (cheating, yes, but I’m OK with that), and it was at lunchtime so I had already eaten breakfast and had some water. Even still, I was only up 1lb from my final weigh in for the last contest, so I’m happy to see I’ve at least maintained during the break.

When I picked up the girls from school, the teacher said they’ve still been working with Amelia and the potty here and there, and today she actually went #2 on the potty! Whoa, that’s exciting!!! We did bring the potty at home out of storage tonight so she could get used to seeing it around, and maybe sit on it before baths and stuff, but I can’t wait to really kick it in to gear and get her trained later this summer. I do think she’ll be ready, and I will enjoy the break from diapers, that’s for sure!

That’s really all I have to share today. Nothing too exciting, pretty low key. Definitely welcomed!

Here is a completely in appropriate shot of Amelia trying out the potty tonight. She was so excited!

7/9/12

OK, Monday’s are rough as it is. Monday after a concert, torture!

Christian was home with the girls today. He informed me last night that his mom had to work today (seriously, so freaking annoying), but apparently he had taken the initiative to take the day off and didn’t even bring it up to me. I’m sure his bosses are really happy about that since he’s also off on Friday for our trip, but whatever. I guess that’s his problem to deal with. Again, this is the reason I can’t wait to have the girls in daycare full time. I’m so sick of this…ONE DAY a week, that’s all we need out of his parents. And this happens WAY too often. Of course, after their naps, he took them over to his parents’ house to visit and eat dinner. I welcomed the rest after the late night yesterday, but I wasn’t really happy about them spending time with the girls after backing out on her day to watch them.

We finally had our biggest loser ceremony for the winners. In all, I ended up winning $42.50. YAY, so exciting. We start up our new, 6 week round of the contest tomorrow. Ready to get back to it!

The family arrived home in time for baths and bed. School tomorrow, and I’m hoping for a week of happier mornings, so we’re trying to be really good about getting then down on time. I got my workout in and headed right to bed myself, time to catch up on some lost sleep!

I did snap this cute picture of Olivia before bed tonight. Love!

7/8/12

CONCERT DAY!!! I’m so excited, today was the big Brothers of the Sun concert, yahoo!

The girls actually slept in this morning, which was nice. Christian did some work in the yard and cleaned up the garage a little bit while the girls and I had breakfast and hung out. I got them down for their naps, showered and started getting ready. Oh boy I was so anxious…and, knowing it would be pretty hot, I broke down and wore a dress. Me, a dress. I was nervous about it all night, but it felt good to wear something girly!

I left the house a little after 3:00. I picked up my friend Kelly, and we made our way. It was chaos all around the stadium, there were SO many people, it was crazy. We made our way to our seats, and settled in right as the first act took the stage.

First up was Jake Owen. I love his voice, and he has a couple of really great songs that I love, so it was fun to see him.

Next up, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. Wasn’t a big fan. She had a great voice, but I didn’t care for their style or songs.

Finally, Tim McGraw took the stage. OMG he was so good, and looks so yummy in all white. He puts on a great show…perfect mix of classics, older songs and some of his new stuff. Sounded so great. It was really exciting to see him.

Next, Kenny Chesney took the stage. He also played a really good mix of his songs. Tim is definitely my favorite, but Kenny put on a really great show too, and also sounded really good.

After his set, Tim and Kenny took the stage together for a few songs, which was really good to hear. They looked like they were just having a blast together up there. They signed autographs for people as they were performing, they signed some guitars and handed them out. They seemed like they were just having fun and really appreciated their fans. It was really great to see.

In the end, it was all that I hoped for sure. The stadium was great, everything sounded perfect in the outdoor atmosphere. The weather was warm, but we were in the shade and there was a nice breeze, so it was the perfect day to be outside. It was a great vibe, fun night and just perfect. So glad we were able to go!!

The concert ended around 10:30, and it took a while to get out of the stadium, ramp and Minneapolis. I stopped into Walmart when I got close to home to grab a little something to eat, and some food for work tomorrow, ate and watched a little TV to wind down, and finally passed out around 1:00. I knew I was in for an exhausting Monday, that’s for sure! At least I don’t have to get the kids up and dropped off…SURPRISE, my mother in law has to work tomorrow. Ugh.