Happy Friday!

Ok so in going with the may day weight loss challenge...I decided to go back to what works for me. Water Aerobics! I cannot say enough about this. It is how I lost all the baby weight from my 1st and 2nd pregnancies, although I did not go back to it after I had baby #3 and since he is now 4.5 I guess I just cannot say it is "baby weight" anymore lol. Last night I huffed and puffed and squeezed my way into my suit it was late..the class I am taking goes from 8:30-9:30. :) Gee I am such a party girl. I walked into the pool and took my place on the bench with the towel wrapped around my waist...no need to gross out and scare other people with my stark white legs, and jelly roll in the middle...making it look as though my swimsuit was blousing almost. ick. When it was our turn to get in the pool I realized there is a difference between the last time I did this and this time. Last time it was in the shallow end, but this time it is in the deep end...I am guessing it is probably better for the workout because in the deepend you are always moving to stay afloat, but when they said here put these W-E-I-G-H-T-S on your ankles I was starting to get suspicious! I quickly glanced over to the instructor to see if she was the person I might have accidentally cut off in traffic while I was looking for that all important lipstick because you have to look pretty when you sweat and huff and puff. Nope was not her. It turns out these keep you from sinking in the deep end. They forgot to mention they make you float too. I get into the lukewarm water and the instructor in her cute little perky 18 year old voice says "ok lets run and punch!" excuse me? I signed up for water aerobics again so I would not have to run. Plus how do you run in water with weights on? hmmm ok I will give it a try. I did, maybe not fast but I did move eventually. at one point we were instructed to cross country ski in the water while pretending to pull a rope with our hands out of the water...oh and we were supposed to be moving during this. I vaguely remember admitting to another classmate...well I am cross country skiing but I don't know if I am moving or not...does letting the movement of the water swoosh you forward count? My favorite part has to be when I finally am able to move and get a good groove going and the perky little instructor says "ok! now turn around and go the opposite way!" of course because now all the water is comign at me and I am trying to keep my head above the water and not drown, but hey I am still moving. Finally after 9 hours oops I mean 15 minutes, we switched to a few other exercises. At the end we moved the ankle weights up to our arms and put the hand water dumbells under our knees and did crunches...ok i have to admit this is my favorite part because these are crunches I can actually do! In fact in all honesty most of the exercises I do in the water...I could never do out of it without kicking myself in the head, or passing out that is. There is something about water that makes us feel graceful, perhaps it is the wild splashing to keep ourselves afloat, or the chlorine in our eyes from the passing avid exerciser who is ten times faster then everyone else, or perhaps it is the fact that we have like zero weight in the water...that is until we get OUT of the water. When we do that it feels like we gained ten pounds. Either way although my arms are a bit sore today mainly because I overdid it myself, I do feel better after having a workout and I met one new lady who was about the only one there last night over 20 and she is actually right where I am at so it is nice to have someone to keep me going and motivated. I will still go back. My plan is to attend two days a week and on saturdays I am going to take the kids swimming. that way I get 3 days a week in the water, add that to portion control and hopefully in a couple months I will start to resemble myself again instead of the supersized me. :) I hope everyone has a good weekend and most of all a Happy Mothers Day!

The Cheerio Queen

TAGGED!

Yesterday was a great day! the boys both did well at gymnastics although Lucky Charms did not listen as well as normal because his coach was at nationals and the fill in teacher does not command as much discipline as his regular coach does. :) Then afterwords Trix was dropped off at the school for speech and occupation. Then last night we finally went grocery shopping. We have been going through and cleaning out our cabinets and eating the stuff that has been sitting in there awhile..some of it was pretty good and none of us got food poisining so I guess that is good. But we needed a BIG shopping trip so after daycare kids left Hubs, and kids and I went shopping and filled up our cupboards. After the kids went to bed and I had put all groceries away I looked at my full cupboards, full fridge, clean house, and happy sleeping children and content hubs and thanked God for how he has provided for us so well since hubs has been out of work. No he has not found work yet but in a way it has been good because my dad had his gall bladder out this week which kind of came up rather suddenly and hubs has been available to help out. My parents own a company and hubs has been out helping do service calls and keeping things going while dad recooperates so I know God had this in his plan. :) I do wish he would work a little more on our time as far as revealing what hubs next job will be but as my Pastor says...God works on HIS time not ours. That does not stop me from praying that he please "speed his time" up a little. However like I said if I stand back and look at our life right now I can see that he is doing a LOT of work on it and so I will continue to be grateful for what he has done so far. We are not in the streets, our kids are clothed, happy, we have groceries, a nice place to live etc. So things could be a lot worse. When I was upset about Trix having such a serious seizure a couple weeks ago I received a phone call from another mom friend of mine who is a first year homeschooler as well...when I asked her how she was doing with it etc. she said great but then she told me about one of her sons who had fallen off a ski lift 2.5 stories off...miraculously he survived, he broke his neck and is in a neck brace and has had a lot of physical therapy, a lot of doc visits, etc. But I realized then that my situation with Trix could have been so much worse, yet he was completley over his seizure etc. I prayed and thanked God for taking care of trix and of my friends son who is by the way doing much better and should be getting the neck brace off soon. :) Well i should finish up with my tag and get going...today is library day and I am thinking about the park too because we have been having some of the most beautiful weather here adn I want to take advantage of it.:) If I am feeling really domestic today I just might pack a picnic lunch too!




How cool I have been tagged by Mom Tu Tu for this so here is my answers. I have done these before but never actually been tagged so thanks Mom Tu Tu for including me lol. :) I am part of the "popular mom blog group" now! haha

7 random/weird/habits or things about me:

1. I have to sleep with my head covered in the comforter. Don't ask me why I know it is weird. maybe subconciously I am blocking out the kids? Of course I passed the habit onto Trix he does it too. lol

2. I pray every day for chocolate to become an actual food group. I am not kidding. One has to have their priorities you know.

3. my sign is cancer and hubs sign is aquarius ...according to astrology charts we are not compatible lol although I can tell you after being married for 9 and together for 10 years we are very compatible ...but I still believe in astrology.

4.this is not news to anyone who knows me but I am about the most maternal person you will find.

5. in highschool I was called "mrs. cleaver" as a nickname. I am not kidding

6. in highschool my girlfriends voted me "most likely to drive a minivan"...nice now but not the image you want in highschool.

7. I am addicted to memes/surveys. I am thinking about starting a 12 step program for them.

8. I know it says 7 random things but I am making number 8. I tag...whichever one of my readers wants to do the tag...the reason being I am still slow in blogging and have not figured out how to link anyone elses blog to mine without just putting in their URL. Like when you see other people blogs and you see them talk about another blog and so you click on their name insteaad of the url address and it takes you to their blog. If I ever figure out how watch out my blogging friends! I will be sending readers your way! ;)

The Cheerio Queen

WFMW

Hi all just a quick tip since I cannot think of any good big tips today. Lucky Charms was up last night coughing and kept me up. It never ceases to amaze me how such a little guy can cough for so long, be in a dead sleep and STILL refuse to take his cough medicine without requiring me to basically sit on him and pry his mouth open lol. I felt so bad for him though my little angel.

anyway onto today's tip. :) This one is a cooking one. When making grilled sandwiches, or quesadillas or anything requiring you to butter the outsides of the bread or tortilla before you put it in the skillet....I use the butter SPRAY instead of spreading thick messy butter on both sides of the bread. This way you still get the golden color but without getting your counter, hands, whatever...messy. I simply put the sandwich together spray the top of it with butter spray, and then turn it upside down in the skillet, then while in the skillet I spray the other side. The advantage of this is that some of the butter sprays they have out there are in different flavors like butter garlic spray. Also these sprays are easier to put on in moderation! Works for me!

Till next time,

The Cheerio Queen

May Day Weight Loss Challenge

Ok so I am hopping on board for this one. It is good to have motivation and other success stories or "been there done that " stories are always helpful. :) Let's see they said we are supposed to give history so here goes. My history with weight actually did not start until after I had kids. Before kids...my youth etc. I was one of those "never worked out, ate anything she wanted" people. Don't hate me it was just my metabolism I guess...and besides boy did I pay the price after my first child was born. For the first time i was in a size 12. Now before you club me over the head and tell me how many people would love to be in a size 12 you have to remember that when your a size 4-6 all your life...going to a twelve is a BIG deal. (pun intended) lol. I am only about 5'4 which is not super short but it is not tall either. After I had my daughter I joined water aerobics and for me that was the ticket. I had tried walking, running (what a joke I run a block and need oxygen plus it blows out my knees) sit ups, yoga etc. But I joined water aerobics and in the water I felt graceful and I know that there is no way i could do half of what I do in water that could be done outside of water lol. Anyway within about 2 to 3 months I was back to pre-pregnancy size and shape. I even was in Parenting magazine by the way. I was renewing my subscription online one day and they had one of those surveys asking how you lost the baby weight so I typed in water exercise. They thought it was cool and asked me to write a small story on it and sent me a camera to take after pics. Trouble was...just as I hit that perfect size and weight I got pg with Trix. lol But I sent them in anyway and I have a cool article with a pic of me and Honey nut for her baby book. Anyhow after I got pg with Trix I went from regular water exercise to a prenatal water exercise class and worked out my whole pregnancy. I did not want to make the same mistake I made with Honey Nut thinking that since I had always been able to eat whatever and not work out and gain an ounce that I would only gain "baby weight". Besides in the prenatal water exercise class they had a pregnancy safe hot tub and since us ladies could no longer fit in our bathtubs we used that as our motivation to go to class twice a week. :) You should have seen the water level in that hot tub rise as we all eagerly dove head first in it after class. After Trix was born the weight just shed off. When he was about 7 weeks I went back to working part time at night and had no time for the water exercise class but tried to watch what I ate. Then I got pregnant with Lucky Charms. I tried to do the water exercise with him but again I was working at night and made excuses not to go during the day. After I had him I lost some weight but not as much as I wanted to but I did not try that hard either. I reasoned that I had 3 kids in 4 years and they were all under 5 so I was too busy. I was also to busy to eat right too. Trouble is by this time I was pushing 30 and once I added the third child into the mix it shot my metabolism to crud. So I could not longer eat anything I wanted without paying the price. I also added heartburn to that too so the spicy foods I liked so much were not sitting well. Hmm who knew finishing off the kids mac and cheese and dinosaur chicken nuggets would not help with my weight LOSS??? Now I am faced with the fact that my "baby" is 4.5 going on 45 and I can no longer call it "baby weight" with a straight face that is. Also another motivator is my well meaning mom who recently lost a bunch of weight on her own by joining and training for a body building competition for women over 50 (no i will not say her exact age if she reads this she will die just knowing I said she was over 50..she looks like she is in her early 40's), I say well meaning because as she was losing weight and could not longer fit into her larger clothes she was giving them to me! I know she meant well but I did not want those clothes and took them to be nice but even more loathed the idea when I realized I FIT those clothes. uggh. So anyway my pity party is over and I realize that I am the only one who is responsible for my health, and weight. I eat pretty well especially since I have been trying to keep candy away from my house. I am home all day with kids so it is easy to just run to the kitchen when it is right there next to the table we home school at. I usually take recipes I like and try and find ways to cut the fat out of them. I have added a lot more whole wheat to my diet etc. I thought about following the south beach diet because I have a friend who followed that and she looks AWESOME (yes Jess I am talking about you :)) but she also works really hard at the gym too. Since I have a home daycare I cannot go during the day but for me since Water aerobics has worked so well (the resistance of the water and all) I am going to go back to that starting Thursday. It is on Tues. and Thurs evenings however tonight I have a brownie meeting for Honey Nut and since I am one of the leaders it is not fair to just ditch them lol. My goal is to lose about 25 - 30 pounds to be healthy and fit into my clothes. It would be nice to open up those vacuum sealed bags I just put all my cute thin clothes into. :) I will go ahead and post here on Tuesdays with every one else to let you know how I am doing. oh and GOOD LUCK to the other participants! Don't forget to stop by and check out the other stories or join up at : http://www.talesfromthescales.net/

Hopefully thinner,

The Cheerio Queen

Recipe and silly boy stories...

Ok...so the other day I wrote a post on Gooey Gunk that the kids played with and in one of those "fried mommy brain" moments I forgot that most people might want the recipe for that DUH! lol

I got this from a magazine like book calle "The Fantastic Book of Kid Concoctions" by John E. & Danita Thomas. What a great book...they even have recipes for sidewalk chalk in there. :) how cool i sthat?

Gooey Gunk
Solution A :
1 cup water
1 cup white glue (not washable)
2tbs. liquid tempera paint or 7-10 drops of food coloring (I used food coloring it worked great)
Solution B:
1 1/3 cups warm water
4 tsp powdered borax laundry booster

1. Mix ingredients in solution A together in a medium bowl.
2.In a second medium bowl, mix the ingredients in solution B together until the borax is completely dissolved.
3. Slowly pour solution A into solution B (DO NOT MIX!)
r. Roll solution A around in solution B 4-5 times.
5. Lift solution A out of solution B and knead for 2-3 minutes.
6. Store Gunk in an airtight container or plastic ziplock bag.

Note: when I made this...the reason they say don't stir is because as soon as you put solution A into solution B it will gel up. Also I store mine in a ziplock back but if you have old playdough containers this gunk stores very well in there and if you have boys they will love it stored this way because as you pack it back in the playdough container...it "farts" or makes a noise just like that. My brilliant geniuses just love playing with it by putting it in and out of the container to see who can make the loudest noise. lol So comforting to know these guys will someday be taking care of us and choosing our nursing home isn't it??

On that subject..boys...they are adorable but G-R-O-S-S. It is no coincidence that the saying goes "boys are made of frogs and snails and puppy dog tails" lol. My boys fit this description to a T. I wrote earlier this week about how touched I was that my older son who has sensory issues was actually playing the "big brother" part and reading to his younger brother and younger daycare boy...and how they were laughing and then I realized why...not for the joy of the book but for getting to talk about dog poo, dirty diapers, and ugly underwear. Well just when I thought they could not top that they did.
They were out on the trampoline pummeling...oops I mean playing together when I noticed they were playing what I thought was tag...one of the boys would reach out and try and touch one of the other boys on the shoulder but the other boy would run away...upon looking closer I realized they were not exactly playing tag...I leaned out the door to listen closer and realized they had declared Booger war on each other! They were actually trying to wipe boogers on each other and the funny thing is even though I was trying not to toss my cookies while informing them that this was NOT an appropriate game to play...they really seemed surprised they were having fun and not hurting anyone or anything, they were also laughing those full belly chuckle laughs that boys get when they are having a blast with no cares in the world. They had no idea Mommy was trying to save them from G-E-R-M-S. But hey maybe they are onto something who knows lol. Afterwords I checked on them again. They were back to laughing as well and having fun and i kept hearing a noise (this was while i was making lunch) ..I checked outside to see them blowing raspberries on their arm to see who could make the loudest fart noise again. I give up.
I just have to accept that my sweet baby angels who cuddle up to me when they do not feel good, and even sometimes ask me to marry them, are still gross little boys who like gross things, and nothing I do to "head it off at the pass" is going to change that lol. I love them anyway they are and can be icky, gross, have bad habits etc. but they are mine and think they are talented, creative, incredibly funny, and charming. I can hardly wait for the undewear on the head dancing to start...I just hope it is at least clean.

till next time
The Cheerio Queen

WFMW (birthday edition)

Good morning! I have 2 tips to go into this.

With three children who go to parties all the time it gets expensive not only for the gifts but for the wrappings too. Whoever invented gift bags is an angel sent by God strictly to Mom's! lol Anyway I do two things to make this easier and more affordable. The first tip is during the year especially after xmas and other holidays I pickup toys on clearance...usually I get some that i know are hits for the year and for both boys and girls and I have an actual "toy space" in my closet so when we get those invites I don't have to break the bank running out to buy a gift at regular retail. I usually pick things that can be used a lot and anything that encourages "family time" such as puzzles, games, movies (I have been known to make movie baskets) etc. This way I know it is something the birthday child will love and can use. ;) My 2nd tip is one of my favorites. I not only reuse the gift bags (come on we all do lol) but instead of wasting money on tissue paper I actually use empty grocery bags to fill in the gift bag. It is cheap and also helps out the parents of the birthday child by creating a "self cleaning" gift. The kids can take out the grocery bags after taking out gift and use the grocery bags for cleaning up any bows, wrapping paper,empty card envelopes etc. Or they can use it to hold the "little parts" of gifts, or one to hold the gift cards. I found this tip by mistake when I ran out of tissue paper one year and was in a panic so I stuffed it with that and was about to apologize to the birthday girls mom for such a tacky filler when she got all excited and realized how she could use them. She still thanks me for that "tip". Little does she know it was my blunder lol! I do it all the time now.

Works for me!

The Cheerio Queen

Gooey Gunk and other stuff...

Happy Tuesday everyone. I know your curious about the title with "gooey gunk" in it. This is a silly putty like product I made for the kids to play with. It is similar to playdough except it feels like jello but does not stick to your hands. In fact it is a cross between playdough and silly putty. I LOVE this stuff! It is great sensory for the kids to play with, and it does not stick to the floor like playdough does either. The cool thing about this stuff is it reforms itself after you play with it. like if you cut it with playdough scissors and then stick it in a bag in pieces it will reform itself to one big glob again. Very science like if you ask me. ;) I got the recipe from the childrens director at church and finally got it made up. The kids are having a blast with it...especially since it is called "gooey gunk" hehe.
Today we did school and Honey Nut finished her 3 pages of math right away first and then moved on to spelling. She is loving the webpage "spelling time" that I posted about earlier. If I can ever remember which blog I read about that on I will give proper credit where it is due. I am eternally grateful to the other blogger who mentioned it. I read too many blogs I think. haha.
The boys are doing great with their handwriting and picking it up fast. I also figured out with the right books and especially if they are from the library the boys are getting more into reading. Who would have thought that the book has to come from the library to be "cool" . Hey I am just happy they are getting into it I come from a family of hardcore readers. I LOVED reading when I was little and still do. I also love reading to the kids. Honey Nut and I have been reading "Little House on the Prairie" lately and she loves it. Right now she is more of a "want to be read to" reader but I am hopeful. I think I need to dig out the pizza hut coupons I got for reading. I am also thinking about making an incentive chart as another alternative. For every so many pages she reads she gets a point and when she gets say 15 points or so then she can do something special. For instance she wants desperately to go to the dollar tree and pick out some more special girly makeup with her Nana ...she has her own makeup bag at nana's house and they do makeup when she is there. So I am thinking of making it so she can earn that trip.
The boys are into this book called "I Stink"...I am not kidding. It really is called that lol. It is by Jim Mcmullen and it is all about a garbage truck. I was touched this morning when I saw my older son who usually uses books only to whack his younger brother with...actually reading it to him this morning and they had one of the daycare kids up there too. I thought oh how sweet he is reading and they are laughing. ...but then I heard him naming the stuff off that the garbage truck in the book "eats" and realized the reason he was so eager to read it was so he could talk about the dirty diapers, and puppy poo the garbage truck takes away along with the ugly underwear . No wonder he was so eager to read...but hey it is a start and if he can find joy out of a book even if it's main content is about gross boy stuff well then so be it. :)
Today has been good so far...hubs is on another interview...please keep him in your prayers. One of the jobs he was hoping to get a call back on called today to say they hired someone else which was a little discouraging but I know it will happen when it is supposed to. :) The kids are done with their schoolwork and are upstairs watching a movie for quiet time so the little ones can take their naps. Pretty soon I am going to get off here and start dinner prep so when my afterschool daycare charge gets here I can give him my full attention. I don't know if I ever mentioned this before but he is special needs..he is such a great kid and so fun to have but he does require quite a bit of attention for the hour he is here and it make it hard to get dinner on the table on time if I don't do prep work. Plus I just realized it is super quiet upstairs and even though my little ones are watching a movie supposedly I think they need to be checked on. :) Hope your Tuesday is going great!

The Cheerio Queen