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!!!