Easter 2014

We had a lovely Easter. The weather was beautiful, and it was all the more the fun with two little ones this year. I dyed Easter eggs with Samuel & we hid them in the yard. It was so much fun for me to do that with him.

On Good Friday, we went to Shaw Nature Reserve and enjoyed the flowers, and the playground.

 Easter baskets - filled with some practical goodies, like pajamas and some fun, frivolous goodies.

On Saturday, we went to the Eggnormous Easter Egg at John Weldon Elementary. It was fun - and lots of eggs. 20,000 of them!  Eva Kate is almost walking. . .

 We have the best neighbors! Someone on our street is the resident Easter Bunny, and we are all suprised to find  our front yard filled with Easter Eggs on Sunday Morning!  Samuel noticed them before we did & he started asking to go outside right after we got him up.  He had a ball & got to eat some goodies that we usually don't have on hand. Thank you so much to the Easter Bunny!

 She found a peep! The allure of these candies is lost on me. I never liked them as a kid.  They both like them, so I don't mind letting them have them on occasion.

 At church, we were blessed to witness a number of baptisms. It was a marvelous time of worship!

Eva Kate's Baby Dedication

Last Friday, we had the joy of dedicating Eva Kate to the Lord. It was a blessing to have all four of our parents here for a few days for her dedication.  

The church served dinner, and even our picky eater Samuel loved it. He ate meatballs, fruit salad, and part of a cupcake. I think the fact that Papaw was feeding him had something to do with his successful meal. 

I don't have any photos with James in them - at least not yet. There was a photographer at church who took family photos, but we haven't received them yet.  Eva was given a children's bible - which was different from the other three we already had. James and I were given a copy of the book Spiritual Parenting.  In the weeks leading up to the dedication, we had a couple of things to prepare for the night. We were asked to write out some of our hopes for our child, so we could share them with everyone at our table and pray over them.  This is what we wrote our for Eva Kate:

After everyone had read it, we all laid our hands on Eva while James lead us in prayer for her.  The church served dinner, and even our picky eater Samuel loved it. He ate meatballs, fruit salad, and part of a cupcake. He would prefer to live off of milk, and nothing else. I think one reason he ate so well was because his Papaw was feeding him, and he thinks Papaw hung the moon.

This is what James and I gave Eva:

This is one of my photos that I edited. I had a canvas print made at Walgreens. It will hang in her room. My parents gave her a book that plays "Jesus Loves Me" and James' parents gave her a copy of Longfellow's Evangeline that belonged to her Great-Great Grandmother.

The next day we went to the Cardinal's Game. They were playing the Cubs, and the Cardinal's won. We saw Wainwright pitch - and get a hit. The kids did pretty well at the game, and the weather was great. 

Samuel has learned how to say Yadi - the catcher's name. He said it all the way to the ballpark and several times on the way home. We saw a few fireworks at the game. When asked what he saw at the game, Samuel will say "Yadi. Hot" Hot is in reference to the fireworks.

My Typical Day - Snacks

This is a follow up to my last post. Hopefully this will give some of you some good ideas about some yummy things to look for at the grocery store.

I don't buy a lot of Weight Watcher's food products, but these coffee flavored ice cream bars are one thing that I keep in my freezer. They are 2PP for one bar, and they are so good.  

 I like peanut butter, but one serving of regular peanut butter is 5 PP - that is more points than what I usually have for breakfast. PB2 is what I have replaced peanut butter with, and it doesn't have a bunch of weird ingredients. All it contains are roasted peanuts, sugar and salt. It comes in a dry powder & you add water to it. I add about 1 tablespoon of water to 1/8 cup of powder for one serving, which is only 1 PP. I get this from Amazon, but I think Trader Joe's sells it.  You can cook with it too.  This is a good source of protein, 5 grams per 1/8 cup.

 These Laughing Cow cheese wedges are 1 PP each. I don't eat these a lot, but they are nice to have with crackers.

 This hot chocolate is one of my favorite things to have for dessert at night. Two packets of it mixed with water are just 1 PP. I add one jet puffed marshmallow, which add one more PP.

 For a chocolate fix, I keep some kind of little chocolates around. Everything in the photo is 1 PP for one piece, except for the Rolo - two Rolos are 1 PP.

 I really like these Kettle Brand Baked Chips. They are made with a whole potato that has been sliced very thinly. They come in several flavors, and I like all of the ones that I've tried. Two flavors what aren't pictured that I like are Sour Cream & Onion and Cheddar & Roasted Tomato. These taste so much better than the standard baked chip.

 This fruit dip is yummy, and 1/8 of a cup is 2 PP. This plus a sliced Granny Smith apple makes for a nice snack.

 Edy's makes these fruit bars in a lot of different flavors, and I usually keep a box of them around. Most of the flavors are 2 PP per bar.

I like to eat frozen cherries. They are naturally sweet, and they have kept me from eating junk food. I don't defrost them.

My Typical Day - Breakfast

Thank you to all of you for your kind words regarding my last post!  I had a few people ask for some tips, so I'm going to do a few posts on what I typically eat on a daily basis.

 This instant oatmeal is my favorite thing to have on a cold morning. It is 3 Points Plus (PP) for one serving. I usually add a sliced banana and some chopped up apple to it. I also add extra cinnamon.

I really like Kashi cereal, but it is a little on the pricey side. Luckily, Sam's Club sells this flavor, and it's a little cheaper to buy it in bulk.  It is 5 PP for one serving, which is one cup.  I've been eating this for over a year, and I still measure it out every single time I eat it. I don't trust myself to estimate portion sizes. I have to do a little guesswork when I'm at a restaurant, and I'm bound to make mistakes sometimes. So, I would rather measure when I'm at home and take the guesswork out of things.  I have all but quit drinking cow's milk because of the sugar content in it. One cup of skim milk has 11 grams of sugar and it is 2 PP. I switched to almond milk months ago, and I love it. We even cook with it. One cup of unsweetened almond milk has 0 grams of sugar, and it is 1 PP.  I use just half a cup of almond milk on my cereal, and I don't have to count the one point.  Fresh fruit is zero points on Weight Watchers, so I try to have some with every meal. I usually have a banana and sliced peaches or berries with my cereal.  If you use frozen fruits, make sure to buy unsweetened fruit. The only thing that should be listed as ingredients in the fruit is the fruit itself.

 These Kashi granola bars are great for a quick breakfast. I'll eat these on hectic Sunday mornings with a banana and coffee. These come in a number of different flavors, and most of them are either 3 or 4 PP. This one pictured is my favorite, and it is 3 PP. My grocery store doesn't always have it in stock, so I set it up as a subscribe & save order with Amazon. I get six boxes of it every 6 months.

This is what I put in my coffee. Note that it is sugar free. One serving (1 tablespoon) is 0 PP. I also put a packet or two of Splenda in my coffee.  This comes in several flavors, and as far as I know, all of the sugar free flavors are 0 PP.

I don't have a photo of this last item, but I really like Chobani Fat Free Greek Yogurt. It is available in a variety of flavors, most of which are either 3 or 4 PP per 6 oz. Sometimes I will add a banana and 1/4 cup of the Kashi cereal pictured above to the yogurt. Adding the 1/4 cup of cereal adds 1 PP.

Weight Loss Goal Met!

Today is a day that I have been waiting for and working towards for 17 and a half months. I stepped on the scale this morning and I saw this :

I weighed myself like four times to make sure it wasn't a fluke! Same exact number all four times!  I entered my weight into my Weight Watchers app, and I finally got to see this screen: 

I asked James to take a few photos of me when he got home from work today., but before we get to those I have a "before" photo to share with you from 2011.

I'm note sure what I weighed in that photo, but I think it was between 245 and 250 lbs.

And today:

 These boot used to be so tight that I could barely get the sides of them zipped up. Now there is room to spare.

 Those are an old pair of my jeans. They used to fit comfortably. They are a size 20.  I am going to save these as a reminder of how far I've come.

James watched the kids for me this evening so I could got clothes shopping. I've been putting up with jeans that are so loose I can take them off without unbuttoning them, and I was itching to get some that fit.  The clerk at the store asked me what size I wanted to try on. I told her maybe and 8 or a 10. I hadn't bought pants in a while, so I didn't know what size I would need.  I was surprised when the size 8's were too big. I wear a size 6! I've never worn a size 6 in my life!  The last time I bought jeans at that store I was in a size 16.  I bought a few shirts, some were small, some were extra small.  I also went to Victoria's Secret and got some much need things there, which were also way smaller, but that's a bit much to share. Some of my flats are too loose to stay on my foot now, but that isn't an urgent need - so no shoe shopping today.

Here's a breakdown of how my sizes have changed:

pants: from a 20/22 to a 6

shirts: from a 2x to a small

ring fingers: left hand size 8 to 6, right hand hand 8.5 to a 6.5

Thank you to all of you who have been such an encouragement to me these past months! And a big thank you to Gina at Skinnytaste! It was her delicious Weight Watchers recipes that convinced me to give the program a try. If you are struggling on the same kind of journey, do not give up. There were days when it was hard. There were times when I prayed for self control. God heard. If I can do this, so can you. You might find that a different program suits your needs better, but find something that you like and stick with it. When you fall of the wagon, get right back on it the next day. 

Mardi Gras 2014

On Saturday, we hosted our annual Mardi Gras party.  We both really enjoy hosting this party. By the time Mardi Gras rolls around, I am fed up with winter and homesick for Baton Rouge. This party takes the edge off my homesickness. I didn't get any pics from the party because I was too busy talking, but I did get some pics of the decorations and the kids before the party started.

 I embroidered the kids' shirts and James' shirt. The design for James' shirt was my favorite of the two. The kids' shirts came out cute, but the design was hard for the machine to handle. I threw one shirt away because the machine chewed the fabric up when it got to the Mardi Gras beads. I left the beads off of Samuel's shirt because I was afraid of the same thing happening.

 We took our baby gates down for the party and Samuel had a blast getting to run around where ever he wanted. He fully embraced the spirit of Mardi Gras and dumped a cupful of Hurricane on himself.  He is also ready for a parade now. His daddy taught him how to throw doubloons.

I got my mask at a local costume/party supply store called Johnny Brock's. We took the kids in there with us. It is big store. James says it is like the Wal-Mart of costumes. They have a huge assortment of merchandise, some of which nice and some of which is, well, just party junk. When we walked out of the store, Samuel said, "Junk, junk, junk." He was polite about it though. He waited until we were out of earshot of the employees. Haha. We got a big laugh out of that.

I made jambalaya for the first time in a couple of years. It came out pretty well, except that the rice was a little gummy. James made some delicious red beans & rice, but I didn't get a photo of that either.

We had a great time catching up with our friends, some of whom we had not seen in quite some time. Thanks to everyone to joined us!

A note to your protestant self: today marks the first day of Lent. Do not try to eat at a seafood restaurant on a Friday night until *after* Easter. There will be a two hour wait for a table. We seem to forget that every year.