My Little Helper

Sydney and I made brownies today...isn't she cute in her apron?
This might be her favorite part!

MY NEW WEIGHT LOSS PLAN!

I am so excited about something I just came up with on my own! I've really been struggling with the weight loss challenge. I did really good last year and lost 20 lbs, and then I've slipped back struggling with it. After some soul searching I realized that I think I struggle because to get results you have to make several good decisions, and then you're not even guaranteed a reward. So I need immediate rewards or at least I need to know that if I make a good decision, or do something good for my health that I'm getting closer to that reward. I just wanted to share this with everyone and if you're interested you can adapt it to your own situation (even if it has nothing to do with weight loss).

By making good decisions or doing something good...I get rewarded with points.
Exercise = 2 points

Refusing some kind of bad food = 1 point (for instance if I refuse a dessert at a church function, or ice cream when we take the kids out, or if I make cookies for the family - and I don't eat any of them.)

Drinking 6 glasses of water in a day = 1 point

Counting points perfectly all day = 2 points (I'm still following the weight watchers plan)

Lose 1 pound = 3 points

Then I came up with some rewards to work toward, where I can spend my points:

Trip to Portland, $25.00 for fabric depot = 100 points

Pedicure = 50 points

New Clothing Item = 50 points

New Make-Up Item = 25 points

I'm really excited about this...it reminds me of trying to get the kids to do stuff at home. But hey, whatever works. I figure I'm not perfect, but doing a few good things to work on my health is better than doing nothing at all and just being discouraged.

Katie's 7th Birthday

Today was Katie's 7th birthday. I can't believe she is this old. It seems like yesterday the doctor handed her to me and I thought this had to be the most beautiful little girl I'd ever seen!!! Tonight David and I took her and her friend Mya to Marie Callendar's for dinner and then she gets to have her spend the night! I think Katie just might be in heaven!

This morning Audrey, Sydney and I took treats to Katie's class. We had to leave before they ate them, but at least I got a picture of her at her desk. The festivities will continue tomorrow!

Halloween Night

Halloween night was a blast...usually we try to fit in too much, but this Halloween we just went trick-or-treating!

We had a Hippie Flower Power Girl!

Velma from Scooby Doo!

A Ninja!

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of Audrey alone, but she was a ballerina!

Here are all the cousins at Emily's house...

We are so excited to have a little cousin!

Pumpkin Carving Party!!

The week before Halloween we went to a pumpkin carving party at a friends house. They have this party every year. This below is a picture of the winners of the three categories ... kids, stenciled, and free hand. I think it's safe to say that our family took this competition by storm!!!Sydney is cleaning out her pumpkin. Her and Charlie were actually gagging!!

Charlie won first place and the girls were runners up. (They happened to be the only kids at the party). When they announced their names I said, "Katie and Sydney you won!!!" When we got home that night as I was carrying Sydney upstairs to bed she looked at me with a funny face and said, "I don't know how I won." I asked her what she meant and she said, "my pumpkin was not good." We walked a few more steps and she said, "I mean, it really wasn't good!" Our family laughed about that for a couple of days.

This is Katie's pumpkin. Pretty good for letting her design and cut, huh?

Charlie did not enjoy cleaning out his pumpkin....again, he was gagging the whole time.

Katie really didn't mind the yucky stuff, she just a great actress!

Babysitting

We get to babysit Rory every other Friday while Amanda goes to school. Katie is our best babysitter and Rory LOVES her....here's our perfect example! We visited Grandma's after we went to the pumpkin constest and she taught all the kids to knit (well she taught the older kids, Audrey just sticks the needs in and out of the yarn).

This must have been after one particular hard day. A lot of people may say they've never seen Sydney sleep. This is such a rare occasion that we had to capture it on the camera.

Massive Pumpkins!!!

I'm a little behind, so there should be a few posts in the next couple of days. In the beginning of October we went to a massive pumpkin growning contest in Gervais, Oregon. David's friend Brian participates and so we decided to go see what it was all about! They had these swings that we made out of old tires, shaped like a horse. Audrey thought they were pretty cool!

Scary Spider!

I loved this sign...

This was Brian's pumpkin. It was huge. He got 3rd place and

I think it ended up weighing about 1350 lbs.

All the huge pumpkins lined up to be weighed.