Gingerbread Houses X 5 !!!

The Boys get to work.

Amy helping the girls get started.

Zanna made a tidy roof and Sarah wanted grass.

Leah's first whole house-last year she shared with Jake, but actually, she shared with me this year.
Perhaps she will share with Gabe next year when he joins the gang!

Jake loved squeezing the frosting and only used red & green Decos!

Dan did a very TIDY job this year (compared to last year)  He even had a great time doing it!

Lovin' making a house, lovin' the gap in her teeth!

The yard and fence complete, she is ready to start on the house!

The kids await the verdict of who won for the competition!
They ALL WON!!  We came up with a category for each.

Leah's: Best Mommy Help award

Jake's: Most Coordinated (all red, white and green!)  Looks like a marshmallow world, too!

Dan's: Best use of every kind of candy available!!

Lizzy's: Best Use of Color-She made it very colorful!  I love the hearts on the tree!

Sarah's: Most realistic.  Nice yard!

More of Sarah's.  We loved her roof decorations and fence with "snow" on it!

Weight Watchers Week #11-12

     Hi there!  It has been a very busy week!  I traveled to California last Friday to surprise my brother with a Christmas visit!  I also surprised all of my dad's side of the family, but really, I was most excited to be 3,000 miles closer to my brother and sister in law and nephews!  I took Gabriel with me and we flew all day Friday.  Saturday we relaxed with Dad and Mom, then headed off to the annual Floyd Family Christmas Party.  My brother was surprised speechless when I hopped out of the car and my sister-in-law indeed looked pleased!  We had a great party at their house with about 60 FLOYDS!!!  It was crazy loud for a good 6 hours, but Gabe slept through most of it!  On Sunday we had a bridal shower for my cousin's fiance and finished the day with a nice visit with my brother's family, my aunt and cousin on my mom's side and then a visit from another cousin and his daughter!  What a weekend of visiting!
     Despite it all, I was concerned about my weight loss this week.  I would have to track my points AFTER I ate everything and pray I was close.  I tried to eat a lot of protein if nothing else and was conservative with the yummy Floyd traditional appetizers(artichoke dip with corn chips and bacon-wrapped water-chestnuts with sweet bbq sauce).  I had several mochas given to me that were NOT no-fat, but in the end, I still managed to lose 1.5 pounds!  All that and I even had a piece of cake, cookies, etc!  See!! Dieting can still include yummy treats and work!
     I never posted about the previous week, so I need to mention here that I lost exactly 1 pound the week before.  For my 10 by Christmas goal, I need to loose 2.5 more pounds in less than 2 weeks.  I am on it!  The weeks I eat more I actually tend to lose more, which goes against everything i've ever heard about dieting, but when you eat the right things, I guess it works!
  Look for a post soon with gingerbread house pictures!

Weight Watchers Week #10

     Thanksgiving!!!  Yep, we geared up for this big event for 3 WHOLE WEEKS at our Weight Watcher's meetings!  I am happy to report I preplanned my plate, stuck to it, and enjoyed the holiday without guilt of overeating!  For the FIRST TIME I had one little tumbler of Apple Cider-usually I could drink a whole bottle!  I passed up the pumpkin cheesecake and enjoyed my own homemade Butter cookies with vanilla frosting-so yummy!  I was nervous about my weigh-in, though, because we also ate at California Pizza Kitchen for my birthday lunch, and PF CHangs for my birthday dinner two nights later.  At CPK I had my new usual: Thai Linguini with Chicken, which I haven't looked up, but probably isn't TOO bad.  But AFTER eating at PF Changs, I looked them up, and that did NOT look so pretty!!  YIKES!!  All things considered, I was happy to lose 1.4 pounds over a holiday week!!! I have officially hit 20 pounds lost!!
     My mom rarely dreams.  She considers this a blessing, though I personally think dreams are hilarious and enjoy them!  However, a couple of nights ago she had a dream about herself and me being on a diet together.   It was called the "Butter Diet" and we could only eat things dripping and oozing with butter!!  She said in our dream diet we felt quite sick!  I LOVE IT!!!

A Wonderful Article About My Life

     A friend sent me this article from Veritas Press.  I hope it is not a bad thing that I am passing it on here, since it is from an email newsletter.  This about sums it up!

"In the Rock Tumbler" from Loving the Little Years   I remember a time when I used to be much godlier. It was sometime in junior high and my room was clean. It must have been beautiful weather outside because the lighting was very nice in my room where I was reading my Bible every day and feeling really good. It was quite clear to me that my sanctification was progressing very well. As the feeling wore off, I remember looking back to that time as a high point. That was really living the Christian life. The truth is my Christian life then was like a rock being refined by a slow river in a quiet place. It wasn't as though I wasn't growing spiritually, but my word! So easily! And so little! But God took me out of that life and threw me into the rock tumbler. Here, it is not so easy to feel godly, because we spend our days crashing into each other and actually getting our problems addressed. Here there is very little time for quiet reflection. I do a lot of on-the-job failure and correction. Repenting and forgiving. Laughing. Lots and lots of laughing. Because if there is anything that life in the rock tumbler will teach you, it is that there is no room to take yourself seriously. Like trying to strike "cool" poses on a rug that someone is continually pulling out from under you, self-seriousness in mothering is totally pointless and probably painful! The opportunities for growth and refinement abound here-but you have to be willing. You have to open your heart to the tumble. As you deal with your children, deal with yourself always and first. This is what it looks like and feels like to walk with God, as a mother. God treats us with great kindness as we fail daily. He takes the long view of our sin-knowing that every time we fail and repent, we grow in our walk with Him. It is easy for us to accept this, because our sins are, well, ours. But our children sin against us, annoy us, and mess up our stuff. We want to hold it against them, complain about them (if only to ourselves), and feel put upon by their sin. We have a much harder time accepting that every failure from them is a wonderful opportunity for repentance and growth and not an opportunity for us to exact penance. It is no abstract thing-the state of your heart is the state of your home. You cannot harbor resentment secretly toward your children and expect their hearts to be submissive and tender. You cannot be greedy with your time and expect them to share their toys. And perhaps most importantly, you cannot resist your opportunities to be corrected by God and expect them to receive correction from you. God has given us the job of teaching His law and demonstrating His grace. We are to be guides to our children as they learn to walk with God. Sin is just a fact of life. It is the way we deal with it that changes ours. Rachael Jankovic   Rachel Jankovic has five children under the age of 6, including a set of 2-year-old twins. Loving the Little Years is a slender book of short essays that presents an honest and sometimes funny glimpse into her life and the wisdom she's learned in the trenches.

Sarah Turns 11

Sarah and Elizabeth 

Pouring tea-looks like she has a little halo!

Sweet decorations and tea pots for the party!

Besides having High Tea, the girls decorated cupcakes for an activity.

Lizzy and Zanna went all out with their decorations as 6 & 7 year olds do!
 I love that they both have chocolate on their face, too!

The girls at the tea room!  THey were all so lovely, polite and sweet!


Sarah turned 11 two weeks ago!  She is growing up so fast!  We had a very sweet week celebrating her birthday with Papa and Grammy in town.  The day before her birthday we had high tea at Teapots and Treasures with 4 friends, 1 cousin and 2 sisters!  Oh, and Mom, Grammy and Aunt Amy!  Grammy had made Sarah a dress just like the Elizabeth American Girl Doll from colonial times!  She looked spectacular.  Her siblings gave her a "Sarah" necklace as seen in the  pictures!  On her actual birthday we went to Sea World in Orlando where Marc and I made her ride the Manta.  We made her cry on her birthday-sorry, Sis!  She had a wonderful two day celebration for her last birthday in Jupiter!

Weight Watchers Week #9

     1 pound!  I lost 1 pound this week, although I DID NOT deserve it!  While we were in Sea World I indulged in a big fat piece of the most delicious chocolate mint cake. This is actually OK in WW world because you are given 35 extra points per week.  However, on Saturday while in Venice, we ate at both the Cracker Barrel AND IHOP, this was too much restaurant eating for this WW chick!   I ate over my points, but I still lost a pound!  I am so thankful and I will not look this gift-horse in the mouth!
     The great news is that we got a Wii today and decided NOT to save it for Christmas.  Marc "gave" it to ME for my birthday = ha ha!  I am glad the kids will be able to play it during the "vacation" month of December before I drag them back seriously to the books in January(although I will be packing then, too. . . .)  Anyhow, with the Wii, I will be able to do the Wii Fit exercise program and not have to leave the comfort of my own living room!  YEAH!!
     I am praying that between the brand new WW program they are rolling out next week AND a new exercise program, that I will start to lose more than 1 pound in a week!  My goal has me at needing to lose 7.2 more pounds by Christmas to hit my 10% goal-which is 1/3 of the total weight I need to lose!!

Weight watchers Week #8

2.6!!!!!
I was SO surprised!  Last week I was excited to check in and it was only 1 pound.  This week I was less hopeful and it was so much more than I expected.  Marc says to keep my expectations low and I should do great!  Ha ha ha!  So I am at 17.6 pounds lost!  Maybe this week I can hit that 20 pound mark!

Changing Times

     I have been so busy tracking my Weight Watchers life that I realize it might be boring some of you!  There is so much more going on in my life that I have barely even mentioned here!
     First of all, Marc has a new job.  Yep, he is officially a pastor to a wonderful group of believers in Venice, Florida.  Venice is 3 hours away, however, so he can only be a pastor two days of the week.  The other 5 days he works as Chief of Staff at a medical billing company and does some IT work still for the law firm.  Oh, and yes, he still owns a landscaping company.  Oh, and yes, he is daddy and husband around here!  He is one busy guy!  The kids and I are pressing on with homeschooling, discipline, chores, playing, piano and Latin and art lessons, cleaning, cooking, holidays, birthdays, and all the rest.  Marc leaves us on Saturdays at noon to drive the 3 hours to Venice and returns late on Sunday afternoons.  On the weeks we don't all go with him, he takes one of the kids-usually Daniel or Lizzy.  Sarah prefers to only go when I go.
     In the meantime, our house is on the market and we are scanning the market out there.  It seems to us that we will likely end up renting this house and renting a house out there until we can build up enough for a down payment, but God is in control and it is also likely that He will amaze us.  I put full confidence in the knowledge that he led us to this position and He is faithful to complete all the little details surrounding it!  We plan to move over around the end of January and Marc may need to keep working over here just a handful of days a week.
     For Christmas we will be staying in a hotel suite with the kids for 5 nights.  I bought a little 4 ft tree that we can have up here and then pack back up to take to the hotel! :-)  I am looking forward to getting to visit our new flock in their homes and have more individual time with the ladies over the holiday.
      It is quite an adventure, and the kids are thrilled.  They are making friends in Venice and sharing that joy with their friends here.   It is a bittersweet time, to be sure.  We have made many friends here in Jupiter in the 6 years we have been here, but it is time to stretch our wings and fly.  Pray for us!

At a park social in Venice with Linda and Mary.  It was a surprising cold weekend in Florida!

  

Marc in his happy place: Preaching, teaching, shepherding.
This is our current "church."  It is the music/art/cafeteria building of the local Christian School!  

 

Weight Watchers Week #7

   Wow!  Week 7 already!  That means next week will be two whole months I have been at this!  I have to admit, I have gotten slow in my food tracking and I need to do better.  I am still doing it everyday, but sometimes not till the end of the day, and my memory isn't so sharp anymore!!
     So my loss for this week amounted to an even 1 pound.  Twice as much as last week!  This wasn't a great food week to be honest.  We had travel and pizza party and potluck and for the first time I had 2 Starbuck's in one week.  (Granted one was a non-fat, but that isn't even worth drinking!)  I also had some Costco muffins around which are yummy, but way too many points.  The GREAT thing about WW is that I can eat my good food and have my cake(and Starbucks) too and still lose 1 pound!  This is what makes it livable!  It would have been nice to lose even more, but this week should be more conducive to that since I will be home over the weekend.
     My goal is 10 more pounds by Christmas, so I am 1 pound down and 9 to go!  I truly believe I can do this.  It is not typical to lose 15.2 pounds in only 7 weeks, so I am doing great.  I have not GAINED weight since being on the program and my poor friend Cindi regained 6 of her 9 lost pounds early on in her journey.  She is now past 40 pounds and cheering me on!  She and I are both committed to losing 10 more pounds by Christmas, as well as my friend Kristen in Venice, so I have encouragement on both coasts!  However, I must request that Kristen not make any more chocolate mint cookies when I come in 10 days . . . it isn't helping either of us :-)

Harvest Festival!

"Salem Poure" of the Revolutionary War.  His costume was the highlight of my year!  15 minute run through Goodwill with 6 kids and the PERFECT jacket, lacey shirt, hat, belts and "breeches!"  I only had to get him new boots at Walmart!

Mr. Puffy-potato Robot!!  My discount steal from The Children's Place!!

Miss Sweet Cowgirl who has outgrown her boots!  She loves her new jean-skirt!

Isn't this a Ballerina pose???  Ha ha!  She wore this same costume last year, only this year,
SHE asked to wear it!! (She wears it at home DAILY!!)

Darth Maul from Star Wars Episode 1.  Yeah, he was a bad guy.  Sorry!

Speaking of bad guys.  Here I am as biker-chick, complete with tattoos!
My "church-famous" costume!

Beautiful Geisha Girl!  Her favorite part was the chop-sticks in her hair!

"Um, Mom, this hat is killin' me!"

"Mom, are my eyes red?  Darth Maul has red eyes!"
I offered to spray his eyes with hair spray to make them red, but he wouldn't take me up on it!?!

My Crew!

Sarah's greatest fun was helping out in the "fishing" booth behind the cubby puppetshow wall!

Sweet girlie cousins: Zanna and Lizzy
Zanna was a broken-wristed princess since she broke her SECOND wrist this week!

"See mom, not enough!  I need more!!"

Lizzy was thrilled to have a flower on her cheek and cried heartily when it smeared and I wiped it off!

The BOYS!!  Dan and Jake with cousin Isaac(clone warrior)

Weight Watchers Week #6

     After my 4 pound loss, anything would seem trivial, but I am happy to report a 1/2 pound loss!  Better than gaining!!  I was really tired this last week and was trying to get the house whipped into "model home" shape to be on the market.  I also made our favorite Butter Cookies and had the girls decorate them with frosting (just powdered sugar, meringue powder/water, but there was plenty of butter in the cookies).  We cut them really thick and juicy with fall cutters and they were phenom!!  Anyhow, after enjoying 4 of them over a couple of days, I had a NIGHTMARE that I had gained 5 pounds this week.  In the dream I knew I had eaten 5 cookies and figured I had gained 1 pound per cookie!  UGH!  Now I am having food dreams!
      So, my newest goal is to lose 10 more pounds by Christmas.  12 would be good because it would be my big second goal I am aiming for!  That is about 2 pounds per week, so I'd better be a better girl.  Goal:  eat smaller big meals and more variety through the day. (it is hard to eat variety when so busy all day!)  MORE FRUITS AND VEGGIES!!!

Weight Watchers Week #5

It is here!!! Weigh in day!
     Did I mention I had a super busy week??  Planning, decorating and running the Women's Conference for our church-whew!!  If you really want to know, I can tell you what that entails, but it is pretty tiring!  HOWEVER, God has such sustaining grace to heap upon us and I truly ENJOYED the conference and rejoiced every time God showed Himself to me in the little details AND in the big ones!
     All that to say, it was a hard weekend to track my every point!  Not only that, but Friday night at the conference is DESSERT BUFFET!!  When I went to a luncheon on Friday to meet the speaker, we were served Pumpkin Cheesecake (big birthday favorite!!) but I was such a good girl and only ate 1/2!  Our in house chef (YEAH MIKE!) did such a great job with the food and it was totally WW conducive!  I had some pumpkin pie and a chocolate chip cookie, but Saturday I had yummy egg casserole and fruit, whole wheat wrap with turkey and swiss, sunchips and salad, and for dinner, a lightly breaded chicken breast, sweet potato and green beans!  I ate my piece of pumpkin roll with relish after all that good food!! It really was a pretty healthy weekend!

    Monday night I was slightly hungry later in the evening, but I had a date with the scale tonight, so  I pushed through it and didn't indulge!  I love that accountability of the SCALE!!

    SO HOW MUCH DID YOU LOSE?? You are asking.  I am just so proud I am rambling!!!
    4.4 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I reached my first goal, too, which means I have to lose a point a day, but I am ready!  I told you last week I was determined, and I still am!  I have lost a grand total of 13.4 pounds in 5 weeks!  It is so incredibly awesome, and not incredibly hard!  I just needed to pay attention to what I was doing.  I haven't done that in the last 11 years-I've been paying attention to the kids wholeheartedly.  Certainly there are days it is still hard to eat well, but I am improving my choices a LOT!  I found out how many points are in boxed Macaroni and Cheese and prefer to avoid it now. However, I simply didn't have time to make 2 lunches today, so I had exactly 1 cup of it and was satisfied for 3 hours-along with a very tall cup of water and a banana.  I hate bananas, but I am willing to eat one if it will fill me and help me lose weight!!  I hope this is an encouragement to you if you are working on weight loss, too!  It took me 12 years to put on all this weight, but it certainly shouldn't take that long to get it off with Weight Watchers helping me out!

     Have a GREAT HARVEST WEEK!!!

It's Pumpkin Time

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Weight Watchers-Midweek Check In

   I am not even to weigh in night, but I am hopeful.  I think I was so busy running around getting the conference ready and running it that I used up lots of calories-expecially the pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin roll desserts that I had over the course of 2 days.  BUT, I didn't eat all of them OR I only had a little piece.  Changes are afoot!!  More on this Tuesday night after class!

Weight Watchers Week #4

    Super busy week with chairing Women's Conference this weekend!!  I did NOT lose weight this week!  Bummer!  However, I didn't gain either!  I am not going to be discouraged!  It has been a super busy week, a bit stressful(not too much, don't worry!) and I had Leah's birthday-super yummy cake!!  So, I should be thrilled.  Isn't it amazing I could stay on the exact 10th of a pound, too?  That is crazy!  Both my friend Cindi and I came out dead even from the week before!
     I stayed late to talk to my WW leader and she evaluated my food choices.  Apparently I really HAVE to eat 5 fruits and veggies a day.  She wants me to add variety to my daily diet and not have 3 big meals-which is me-I am not a big snacker.
     I heard at class last night that it takes most people 6-7 weeks to meet their first goal.  I have only been trying for 4 weeks, so I am on a good track!  Like I said, I am very determined and not discouraged!  If you are doing this too, keep up the good work.  I remind myself all the time, it took 11 years and 6 kids to put this weight on, it won't come back off overnight!

Leah is turning 3!!!

     I can't believe my baby girl is turning 3 tomorrow!  I am glad we are done with being 2 though, she was a tough nut to crack.  We still have our moments, but she is coming along just fine!  Leah is my personality plus girl!  She is full volume, full smile and full hair!!  I love my little LeLe, and I think everyone in the family does--or else they wouldn't give her what she wants when she screams at them. :-)

Leah is having a "Double Delight" birthday party on her special day with her favorite cousin, Rachel!  They are 3 years apart but they love each other so much!  We are combining Rachel's love of flowers and pink with Leah's love of The Little Mermaid(Nername she says) and the color orange.  Since there are two families throwing the party, it seemed like a cheaper way to invest in a bounce house, so we are having one of those, too!  It should be a little girl's dream party!  I am so excited for her!  

So my little Leah-girl will be three, and I think it is going to be a GREAT year!!  

Thank you, God, for our Leah Abigail Wragg!

Weight Watchers Week #3

   I am throwing out my scale this week!  It is such a liar!  I would have been OK with this week's weight loss-because it was LOSS-but my scale at home said I lost a lot-like 5 pounds-and when I got to WW, it was only 1.8!  I felt a little ripped off, but then I said, OK, what can I do to lose more?   I will NOT let this get me down!! I lost almost 2 pounds!  
  So, it is officially time to MAKE time to (I hate to say this) EXERCISE!!  So, I will bump the school schedule even later and start getting 7 pairs of shoes into gear every morning and walk the 2 blocks to the park.  The kids really do love to run around the park while I walk AROUND it!  It will make ALL of us happy.  Dan will just be doing his math until 4pm, but he never really complained about that before anyways! :-)
   Grand total: 9.4 pounds.   HOORAY!!  Next week will certainly be my 10 pound goal!

Civil War Thoughts

 Sarah was telling her siblings about the good and bad of the Civil War, then asked them if they were Yankees or Confederates. Jacob said he wanted to be a Cardinal. . .

Gabriel's First Birthday!

Gabriel is yelling to Dan at his party at the Ocean Cay Park

This is the first birthday cake I have ever bought.  I thought Costco did a FABULOUS job!! It is adorable!

The cake I made personally for Gabriel.  Inside it was red velvet!

Gabriel starts dipping in to the frosting!

I don't like feeling goopy!!

He wasn't too happy about it all!  He had a double ear infection that day!

Examining the Crab pinata with Mommy.

On Gabriel's ACTUAL birthDAY we were in Key Largo at Marc's employer's condo!
We got a little ice cream cake that day!

Trying out the ice cream cake!