No Chocolate for How Long???
I am putting this out there for all to know so I will have lots of accountability wherever I go! My sister and I did this last year and I felt great, slept great, and it was nice to get back in tune with my body and what I really needed to eat as opposed to what I wanted to eat (losing 6 lbs. was pretty nice, too!). So, I am doing it again starting tomorrow - no sweets until Easter. That's 53 days to be exact. No Hershey bars, no snagging a bite of whatever treat the kids are eating, no mocha's from Starbucks. There will be coffee, though. Yes. There will be coffee.
Anyway, Jen can't do it with me this time as she will be a bit occupied with baby #2 who will be arriving any day now. I thought I would see if there was anyone out there interested in doing this with me. What Jen and I did last year was we had a consequence for cheating - you had to pay the other $10 if you "fell off the wagon." If I cheated, she got $10 every time and vise versa. Money is always a good motivator for me, so I didn't cheat once and neither did she!

So, tomorrow is the big day. I will update you as the days pass. If I remember, the first few days were really hard and after that it was no big deal. Maybe it will be that easy this time, too!

Looking for a good read...
Mitch has been studying for his LEED Accreditation (for Green building) and will be studying a lot more in the evenings as he gets closer to the test date. I am looking for something to read while he studies - something entertaining that isn't illustrated and has more than 10 words on a page:) I was thinking about reading The Kite Runner, but wanted to see if anyone had any other suggestions to offer. I would greatly appreciate any input. Thanks!

Will I ever learn that it's not the best idea to let a 1 1/2 year old eat chili all by himself?

She's Three.

Yesterday my baby girl turned three. What joy she brings to our family with her sweet little laugh, her cute comments, and her tender heart. She is so proud to be three. I am proud, too, but it's bittersweet. I love watching her grow up, but sad that she is growing so fast. Here are some pictures of our little princess as she has grown:

Three Months:

5 Months

1 year

18 Months

Two

2 1/2

THREE!!!

LOVE.
8 years ago today you told me you loved me for the first time. I never dreamed of how much that love would grow and how wonderful it would be to love you and be loved by you. You are an incredible father, husband, and best friend. I wouldn't want to take this journey with anyone other than you. I love you, babe.

Early Birthday Celebration -

My parents came in town last weekend for and early birthday celebration for Neily who will be 3 next week. My sister is due with her 2nd child right around Neily's birthday, so we celebrated early with GiGi and Granddaddy to make sure we could get in a little party before the newest addition arrives. We went to Build-A-Bear where Neily picked out a fuzzy rabbit that she named Babbit. We came home to have some yummy cookie cake (per her request) and ate until our tummy's hurt. She felt special and is enjoying the fact that we get to have another celebration on Friday. "More cake for me!" she says. Hmmm, a girl after my own heart!

Pondering her choices with Granddaddy:

Watching Babbit get puffed up:

The yummy cookie cake, which one little brother is eager to get to:

Enjoying the Happy Birthday song:

Getting a little help with the candles:

Alas, the cake...

Things I'm looking forward to in 2008 :
(Thanks for the idea Amanda!)

Getting a new computer - As I have stated many of times, my computer is the hooptiest of the hoopty. This year will be the year of the Mac and I absolutely cannot wait! Thanks to our 2 adorable tax deductions, hopefully we will get one sooner than later.

Being Greener - We are always looking for ways to alter our lifestyle to be greener in our everyday life. We bought the mesh grocery bags and are using them for all of or grocery trips. I get lots of looks at Walmart b/c I think I'm the only one who totes in 13 bags to load my groceries in. Hopefully by the end of the 2008 what I am doing will be the norm. As a plug for these great bags (only $1/each), they are so much easier to carry than the regular plastic bags!Next we will be buying these for our produce instead of the clear baggies available in the produce section. You can wash and reuse them over and over. Did you know that it takes up to 1,000 years for plastic bags to biodegrade in a landfill? I will also start transitioning all of our cleaning/laundry supplies to environmentally safe products. I will let you know what we find that works best. Just curious, what's your family doing to go green in 2008?

The Summer Olympics - We love the Olympics around here. Probably the only thing we find worthy of our time on TV in the summertime.

Getting Better at Yoga - Mitch and I have been doing the yoga thing 3 times/week for 3 weeks now and really enjoy it. I look forward to getting better at it. I think we are finally over the laughing at each other stage and are really getting a good workout.

Becoming a Better Cook - I have always been pretty good in the baking arena, but cooking creative, healthy meals (as Mitch will attest to) is not my forte'. So, this year I am setting out to find some healthy, affordable, tasty meals that will hopefully be pleasing to the taste buds.

Happy New Year!

We were greeted with a little snow on the evening of New Year's Day. It snowed for about an hour and was enough to cover the ground. We only stayed out for a few minutes because it was so cold and windy, but were out long enough to get a few pictures.

Bathtime.

Christmas 2007

We were in Birmingham for the Holiday and visited with both sides of the family. It was a fun, yet tiring visit. The kids enjoyed Christmas morning, although Neily declared after opening 2 presents that she didn't want to open anymore. The rest of her gifts travelled back with us to Nashville where she finally opened them. Who would have thought??! It was a great year for us to evaluate our traditions and think about what we would like to do different next year. The kids were still a bit clueless this year, so we feel like we still have somewhat of a clean slate to work with. I would love to hear any of your favorite traditions you have started with your family.

Here are some pictures from our Christmas!

The tricycle was a big hit!

Me and my little guy on Christmas Eve

Here is a pic of the kids with granddaddy. Not a good moment. I love the look on my dad's face...

Leaving out milk and cookies for Santa...

Celebrating the birth of baby Jesus with some yummy cupcakes

Playing with Daddy and my new basketball goal

A good time was had by all...