All Our Kids

Well, as you can imagine, life has been busy over here. My last post was the 15th and that feels like about a month ago!

That Friday, I had a slumber party with three little girls. We had an absolute blast. I had been wanting to have my 4, 6 and 8 year old grand daughters over for a sleepover, but my body kept getting in the way of doing that. Finally it happened and we had so much fun. These are truly three of the sweetest girls I know.

After dinner that night, the four of us went to the exercise room here at our house. I don’t remember how this ever got started, but these girls love to do Yoga together in my exercise room. I get out the Yoga mats that I have, and we grab towels for extra mats if needed. I teach, they teach, we all take turns teaching at the front of the room and they simply love it.

After Yoga, the girls took a bubble bath. They are ecstatic that Papa got the bathroom done as they have really missed bubble baths at our house. After the bath, they all rinsed off the bubbles in the new shower. More bliss.

Then we all piled on the couch with blankets and popcorn and watched Coraline. Bedtime came late, but we had such a great evening.

Saturday I made breakfast while they all danced around the house listening to Alexa play Disney songs.

The four year old….”Gigi, can we listen to some God music?”

I was cracking up. Her mom typically listens to Christian Rock, so I asked Alexa to play some Christian Rock, and she did.

We had more fun playing around the house, they all accompanied me to get a haircut, we played at the park for a bit that afternoon and then we went to see the new Grinch in 3D.

After they went home, the house was quiet and I was a little bummed but I was also exhausted.

After work on Sunday I picked up Tess and Manuel at the airport. They have been here for the last eight nights. Now ya know why I’ve been away for a bit. I always think we will have so much down time relaxing when they are here and I will blog, but we kinda go go go when they are here. We cooked, we had lots of wedding details to discuss, we had friends over to watch the Monday night Chiefs game (even though we lost, that was an amazing game to watch!), we had breakfast out with my dad one morning, Tess and I had breakfast out with some of my Friday WW friends, Tess and Manuel and Mike and I went to an annual Thanksgiving Eve party at a friends house on Wednesday, we had Thanksgiving number one on Thanksgiving Day at my in laws, and on Friday I prepared for Thanksgiving number two at our house for Saturday so my parents could see everyone. We had all of our kids and grandkids under one roof twice in one week! Such a happy and fun few days. Oh, and Thanksgiving Day was also my 52nd birthday so we went to see A Star is Born that night, then met some friends at a Sports Bar. Thursday was a really long day. I loved it!

After work on Sunday I spent the rest of the day finishing decorating for Christmas while huge snow flakes fell from the sky.

At some point over the weekend, the puzzle came out. Let the late night hours begin!

Today, Manuel and Tess (and Tucker) headed back to Dallas.

Did I say it’s been busy here? Well, it has. I’m a little pooped.

I really will get some before and after photos of our master bath. I still have a few details I can’t decide on to finish things up.

These girls were so happy just to use the tub!

 

Thanksgiving Eve Party

 

Thanksgiving Dinner number one at the in laws.

 

It was beautiful here so we spent Thanksgiving afternoon outside playing catch and tag and Mike’s mom was doing races with the kids. She’s 80 ya’ll!!

 

Thanksgiving Dinner number two at our house on Saturday. Also beautiful outside. We had the doors open and sat on the deck for a bit.

I switched things up this year for our second Thanksgiving Meal with a nice healthy tray of fruits and veggies, then I tried to see how many carbs I could serve up by making two enormous pots of Chicken and Noodles (love that I have my grandmas big pots to cook family meals in) with Mashed Potatoes and Rolls on the side. I thought it was delicious!

 

This second Thanksgiving Meal is becoming a tradition as we spend the rest of the day hanging the Christmas Stockings and putting up the tree. This is one of my favorite days of the year!

She was so focused and shoved 10 or more ornaments into the tree in the same spot. Not hung, but just nicely pushed them in there into the branches. It’s hilarious. I can’t bring myself to move any of them. She worked really hard!

 

18 and counting. No expecting moms in this photo, but I know there will be more babies in our future!

 

 

I love these crazy people.

 

Sunday….this. We were siting here the day before!

 

There is a puzzle yet to complete.

 

Now, I’ve got some work to do this week. Meal plan for the next few days. Make activity a priority. Keep all trigger foods out of my house. Christmas shop.

We are going into that busy time of year when it is really easy for me to let my food intake get out of control. The sweets in particular are hard for me to resist or eat small portions of.

I stopped eating sugar on November 1st in an attempt to get my joints to feel better. Particularly my knees and hips. Well, it worked. I was feeling really great. 

Two days of sugary foods over this Thanksgiving Holiday and my knees are killing me. No sugar since Sunday (yesterday) and I should be feeling better again before the end of the week. Knowing how sugar makes my body feel will make it much easier for me to stay away from it this December. One would think.

We have been talking a lot in the WW Studios (formerly called meetings) about mindful eating, so I’ve been trying to eat my food with more appreciation. I tend to get busy this time of the year scurrying around the house completing task, then I open the pantry or fridge door and eat a few bites of something several times a day without even thinking about it. Mindless eating.

I am trying to eat slower and pay attention to each piece of food that I put in my mouth. I’m asking myself if I am actually hungry and then what it is that I’m enjoying about the food I choose to eat. Is it creamy or crunchy? Is it salty? It is sweet? I’m really trying to appreciate each bite. It is a whole new way to eat for me because I have always been a fast eater. I truly love so many foods, so why wouldn’t I take the time to eat them slowly and really appreciate them? Sounds silly maybe, but I am eating slower and thinking more about every bite. This doesn’t mean I have not over indulged over this Holiday, but I’m certainly much more mindful. Food for thought anyhow.

Do you eat mindfully? In what way? I would love to know how many of you do this.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that the world is giving you many things to be Thankful for.

My heart aches for all of those experiencing the deadly fires and losing their homes and loved ones.

I’m feeling extremely thankful right now for my family, the roof over my head and the food on my plate.

Love this sign in my kitchen.

 

“love the life you live, live the life you love”