He is turning ONE!!

Can you believe it? I know, I know I have said many times before...but really? Where has the last year gone? We are getting ready for his first birthday party. It is going to be bear themed. His nickname is Brother Bear. We thought that it would be a great theme for our little "brother bear". I will talk [more about our little man when it comes closer to his actual birthday. Watch for birthday pictures. I am sure there will be tons.

Happy Easter!!

><

We had our family Easter Egg hunt this afternoon. It was stormy, but the storm let up just enough to have a quick hunt and then back inside. The kids were so cute this year. We let DS#1 go out first and grab a few eggs and then DD#2 came out on her own. My kids were the youngest out of all the grandkids there. DD#1 came out with the other two five year olds. They were able to be out for about 15 seconds before the rest of the crew came out. It was a lot of fun for the kids and they came home with their buckets full. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Oliver for a great day.
We stuck with our tradition and got them matching outfits. DH picked out DS's and forgot to match it to yellow. Oh well...we were ready to get out of the store. We had 5 kids under the age of 4 and it was crazy. We got in and out quickly and forgot to match his outfit to his sisters. They are still cute, though. We went out tonight to try and find Sunday outfits for them and there was nothing. I guess we waited just a little too long to do that. There were plenty of sleeveless dresses, but we have the girls wear sleeves. All the cardigans were gone.
We are so grateful for the Savior who made it possible for us to return to our Heavenly Father. We are grateful for this special time to remember what he sacrificed for each of us. We hope that all of you have a very special Easter this year.

Healthy Habits Challenge.....who's in???

I found this challenge on another blog and wanted to start it up. This is a 12 week challenge. I have needed some motivation lately. With DS not nursing as much, and the eating of sugar again, I have needed some help to get back on track. This seems like it would really be great! Not only physically, but spiritually as well. If you would like to join, please leave a comment or you can email me at amiracleatlast @ yahoo . com.
I want to start on Monday, April 13th. This allows you to enjoy those Easter treats that the Easter bunny has left you! :) Email your email address so we can get a weekly email sent on points. We all have to have accountability you know.


Here are the rules:
You have been challenged live the following habits for the next 12 weeks! The idea of the Healthy Habits Challenge is to motivate each other to develop 10 healthy lifestyle habits.

To participate you score yourself "on your honor" every day and then each week send in the number of points you have earned to me. I'll send out a weekly email with point totals for all participants. You can earn up to 10 points per day. Sundays are days off- you get to take a break with no points earned/lost. The person with the most points in the end wins a small prize! (C'mon- do I look like I'm made of money?)

Daily Habits (1 point each)


1. 7 hours of sleep: naps count

2. 30 minutes of exercise: doesn't have to be all at once, taking a walk counts


3. No sweets/unhealthy snacks: you know what "sweets" are to you. This one gets most people nervous, but remember that you have Sundays to have dessert and this will only last for 12 weeks. If you stick with this one you will be surprised by how you lose the desire for sugar and junk when you've been off it a while.


4. 64 oz. of water

5. 3 servings of veggies, 2 servings of fruit: or whatever combination of 5-a-day you get! If you are concerned about knowing what constitutes a serving- click on the "view food gallery" here for vegetables and here for fruit.

6. No soda: the aim is to avoid sugar, artificial sweeteners and caffeine


7. No eating after 8:00 PM: unless you are pregnant or nursing, in which case you can eat healthy food after 8:00 if you have or have had and extra serving of veg/fruit.


8. 15 minutes of scripture reading


9. One journal entry in the journal type of your choice: you can make this as short or long as you want! Blogging, letters to missionaries, gratitude journal, whatever else you do to keep a record of your life counts.


10. Choose your own habit: this is something that you will work to do daily. Another 30 min of exercise? Service? Eat breakfast? Flossing? Whatever you want to work on personally!

Earrings

I asked the girls what they wanted for Easter a few weeks ago and was shocked to hear the answer. Both of them excitedly wanted earrings. So, after much talk about it, we decided to take the girls to the mall and get their ears pierced, so that the Easter Bunny can bring them earrings.
DD#1 had here ears pierced before. When she had her tonsils out, we had to take her studs out and DH lost them. We put other earrings in after the surgery, but her ears got really infected. We let them grow back in and had to get them done again. They both did good. DD#2 went first and had a great time holding onto the bear and having the girls draw dots on her ears. You should have seen the look on her face after it was all over and she realized that it really did hurt. She cried for about 5 minutes (she holds onto things longer than DD#1). DD#1 went next and jumped right up into the seat and was extremely excited. We had warned her, but it happened and she was in tears. She only cried for about 2 minutes. They are in love with them today and are doing really well not bothering them. We think they look great.




A BIG shout out to my mom. It is her birthday today. I love her so much and I am so grateful that I can call her MOM. Happy Birthday MOM!!