We're not Moving!-at least for now!

In August, Dillon and I went to look at a house...for fun...and fell in love with it, well most of it.  There was a lot of things we wanted to change.  The neighborhood, the room sizes, the countertop colors, etc.  We're picky.  Nevertheless, it got us thinking about moving.  So, we decided to put our house up for sale, by owner-since we weren't in any big hurry and since my dad always was in the Real Estate business, I don't think I've EVER had a realtor sell anything of ours. Plus, I already had all the paperwork so I wasn't worried about it.  We had tons of interest, one offer-we countered, and  lots of open houses.  The problem we started to realize was, if our house sold we had no where to go! We didn't want to just buy a house b/c we had to, we wanted to buy our dream house so we could stay there for awhile and have the kids grow up in the same house (like we both did).

Well, we started talking last week and decided not to move just yet.  So, we took the sign down, took the house off of MLS, and called our contractor.  You see, if we're staying here for another few years we want to finish off our house so there is nothing more to do!  We're getting our master bath re-done! YAY!!!  I cannot even explain how excited I am.  Our bathroom is still stuck in the 1960s while the rest of our house is completely done!

 We just re-financed so, now we're on a 15year mortgage which puts us in a great position to get the house paid off in a quick time--we make extra payments as often as we can, which knocks years off the mortgage.  Hopefully we can have it completely paid off in 7 years! (But we'll probably be gone in 4-5)  Just so we don't have to send the kids to private school...but who knows if the house is paid off we may not care! We're going to fix up the backyard and give the dogs their own "space" so they don't ruin our oasis out there.  We have a great view of Lake Hefner so we want to enjoy our time outside-with our dogs but without their slobber on our all our furniture and let Kenwood play in the backyard without picking up dog poop!  I'm thinking about getting a pooper-scooper company to come tend to the yard---anyone have one of those?

So, soon we'll have a new bathroom with a BATHTUB and double sinks and new tile (a complete re-do like most of the rest of our house)-right now I have to bathe in the guest bath b/c we only have a shower in our master.  It took lots of different options to figure out how we could layout the batrhoom and get a tub in there....so we are going with a pedestal tub rather than a built in jacuzzi and I am giving up my HUGE vanity for double sinks---the bathroom will have chest height wainscoating with light tan travertine-like ceramic tile...and vintage fixtures---a nice classic clean bathroom to enjoy!

We are keeping the guest bath pretty much the same, with white tile and black granite, we are just changing the paint to a dark charcoal or light grey and getting a new shower curtain and making it a black/white bathroom.

 Our new backyard oasis-with a new fence so we can have a place for the golf cart we bought that is currently taking up a parking spot in the garage since we were planning on a 3car--and a poop-free yard!  We are going to use the brick from our current fence to make a driveway for the golf cart and a patio for the shed.

I am so excited now that we're staying! This house has so many memories, and a few more years will do us good! Plus there are 2 new babies on our street, and one on the way.  And of course two of our best friends, The Lawrence's, are around the corner with their 2 boys.  We have tons of fun younger couple neighbors so block parties are for sure in order this summer...when we have a good yard to do them!

5babies=5 times the FUN!

Thursday a great friend of mine called me to invite Dillon, Kenwood, and I to their lake house for the weekend with some of our other friends...and Kenwood's friends.  We gladly accepted and were thoroughly excited. Then, of course, Mother's Day Out calls me that afternoon because my little angel was running a fever and "was just not himself".  I rushed to pick him up, called the doctor and went straight to the doctor's office.  Kenwood had his 1st ear infection :( It was seriously the saddest thing I have EVER seen...he felt worse than he felt with the FLU last November...it was pretty obvious that we probably weren't going to the lake-but the doctor told me the medicine should make him feel better within 24 hours, especially since it was his first one and that he wasn't contagious so if he felt good it'd be good for him to have the interaction with all the other kiddos.  Well, Friday he was a completely different person than Thursday.  He felt better, he was laughing and running around the house and so we decided to try to go to the lake.  We figured, if he started to feel crummy again, we'd just head back home.

Well, we had SO much fun.  First of all, the house was basically a dream home with plenty of space for all of us and more! All the babies played and played and played until they just couldn't play anymore out of exhaustion. Oh, and Kenwood played so hard that he got a BIG bump smack dab in the middle of his forehead...it was the WORST!

The parents played, and relaxed, and chit-chatted, and ATE until we could barely move we were so exhausted. Saturday night was probably the most fun.  First, we had a dance party in the living room with all the babies, the babies were the highlight of the dance party.  Later that night, we played the Michael's brilliant game of "celebrity".  It's too hard to explain in writing, but it was HILARIOUS and quite competitive!  When you play wives versus husbands, there will always be some healthy competition and more often than not, the husbands will find a way the cheat :) Or, at least we like to think they cheated since they completely dominated the game. Then, the boys of course had to gamble a little so they got a poker game out of their system.

Weekends like that make me look forward to Kenwood growing up with all these kiddos and our many more family "vacay's"!

All 5 babies-they are best friends

Here are some more pics of our weekend:

Hanging out in the play room!

Miss Emma Sue on the train!  The train was a      BIG hit!

The hubs playing cards Saturday afternoonGirls relaxing in the sitting room

New Year's Resolution

Almost a week after 2010 hit, I decided to make a New Year's Resolution.  I guess with all the hustle and bustle of things around my house I just plain forgot.  Not that I've ever really stuck to a New Year's Resolution all that well.  Last year, I decided I wasn't going to drink soda anymore-I was in shock at the weight I kept on after Kenwood and since I was nursing I couldn't really be on a STRICT diet because I needed the calories.  So I figured soda was a good option!  I actually stuck to it until May, except for a few slip ups here and there.  But for the most part, I stuck to it until May.  Now, however I have gone off the deep end and can't get enough Diet Coke.  Oh well.


This year, my resolution is a little more realistic.  I'm resolving to get and stay organized and to live a healthier lifestyle.  The first resolution came to me when I absolutely 100% could not stand the clutter and paper stacks in my home office anymore.  (I am a property manager for some family real estate as well as a manager for just about anything and everything my dad left behind) So, I have stacks of files and stacks of bills and stacks of mail.  I just could not take it anymore. Did I mention the office is also my "craft" space and also Kenwood's "play"room?  There's a whole lot of everything going on in that room.  It drives me bonkers just thinking about it.


So, I started from square one and cleaned everything out of the closet, the cabinets, the files....organized, donated, and trashed what I didn't need anymore.  And put everything back together.  I realized in this 4 day process of re-organizing and cleaning out my office that organizing can become very expensive if you don't have the labels, bins, cabinets, etc. that you need.  Those little plastic bins add up! But, it is totally and completely worth every penny for me to work in a clean and organized environment!  Next up, my kitchen.  If anyone has any brilliant ideas on how to store kids plates, sippy cups, lids, etc it would be greatly appreciated.


Resolution #2 was kind of a spin-off of every other year I've ever made a resolution to "lose weight", this year I decided to live healthier, which in turn will hopefully cause some weight loss.  Like I say, it's easier said than done!  I have absolutely no enjoyment in working out...quite frankly I think it's torture.  The only point I see in running is calorie burn...which in my mind could be accomplished doing just about anything BUT running.  But I started running anyway...slowly...one small step at a time.  And I'm getting better...but I still don't like it.  I've convinced myself that it's okay if I don’t look anything like the happy runners I see in commercials or in magazine ads. In fact, I would wager that I look exactly the opposite when I'm struggling for breath and swearing myself and thinking I'm literally about to pass out. Those people are not normal and those "happy runners" should have their smiles and perfect bodies and rock hard abs knocked right off of them. But rest assured, as soon as I catch up to them I'll do us non-happy runner's some justice!  Sorry, I'm babbling.  Oh, did I mention I love Wii Fit? I'll discuss that new love interest later.  

You know you're a SOONER when....

I read this today and was cracking up! The majority are SO true....see for yourself!  BOOMER SOONER!!


You obviously went to OU if......


- You wear flip-flops in the rain
- You walk through one or more major intersections to get to class
- You’ve wasted your meal points at the end of the semester because they don’t carry over from spring to fall
- You give up beer pong for lent
- You go to the library just to people watch
-you have no idea what the spoon holder on the north oval is actually there for
- You know at least 5 different versions of that game where you throw a ball into a cup (i.e. beer pong)
- You are sick of the mascots boomer and sooner (not the real ones, they're legit)
- When you walk into crossroads and see a toga, a hooker, and golf pro, you know it isn’t a joke….only after hours
- You or someone you know swears they have seen the underground tunnels
- You were almost hit by a car on Lindsey
- Or anyone on a bicycle
- Your bursar bill was higher than your credit card bill
- You are a novelty if you are not from Oklahoma, or Texas
- You know what a sorostitute is
- You've never been in the honors dorms, and plan to never go
- You were pre-med first semester freshman year
- You know that guy that wears shorts and a visor, EVERYDAY
- You’ve seen your TA in class in the morning and at the bar at night
- You’ve seen herding sorority girls
- Sorority girls complain about rush…frat guys complain about pledging
- Pilates, or Renaissance Fencing fulfill the gym requirements
- You have ever gone to the Huff just for the smoothies
- You've gotten up at 7:30am for enrollment, but couldn't log on until 7:37 and ended up with all 8:30 classes
- You’ve woken up and cried
- You’ve woken up and thrown up
- You’ve woken up and remembered the night before and realized it was all worth it!
- You own a North Face jacket
-You start to worry when you haven't seen Preacher Bob in a while
-You know to be suspicious of older men in Hawaiian print shirts hanging out at parties
-Scandals & U-Sing mean more to you than politicians having sex with interns
-You've realized that OU vs OSU is not a rivalry. It's a domination
- You owned a total of 11 shirts. 9 of which were from date parties. 2 of them weren't yours.
-You understand that the dorm elevators are not to be used by anyone on floors 2,3, or 4. seriously
-if your dorm room meets the requirements for your church's next local mission site
-if you dont ever fear playing Baylor. In anything. Ever
-if you smell that god awful smell on highway 9
-If your football team has an 8-4 season and you're dissapointede
-You know every beer special at every bar, pub, or taverna in Norman for every night of the week
-You have a favorite napping couch in the library
-You skipped class on a Tuesday to sit on the Mont's patio and get drunk...on swirls.
-You've ever gone to the gym and given up because of the line for the treadmills
-If you know what a TBS is. [Pizza Shuttle]
-If you wake up at 8am to drink for a 12:00 football game
-If you know about La Luna's swirls!
- If deep within your heart you want to ban Boren...not booze
-If you have ever gotten a sun burn on only one side of your face at an OU football game
- If your weekend begins on Thursday
- Or Wednesday
-Or any day people with "real jobs" dont get drunk on
- The President of the University knows damn well the Head Football coah holds more sway than he does
- And makes more $

Easier said than done!

Well, as I have known for a year (since Kenwood was born) it is alot easier to WANT to lose weight than it is to actually lose the weight!  Dillon and I kicked off our Biggest Loser competition with a 48 hour fast (it was recommended by a weight loss physician to my dad in order to get the full benefits of starting a diet).  So we did! It really was not that hard, I was actually really surprised.  I always hear people talking about the importance of a support system when your losing weight, but it is SO true! It's alot easier to eat healthy when I know my husband is going to come home and say "what did you eat today?" and since I am a terrible liar...I'm held accountable!  It's wonderful.  I'm hoping this weight loss process isas easy as possible! 

We have decided the best solution for us is calorie-counting.  I've tried diet after diet and I've had the results, but this time I NEED to keep the weight off!  I think calorie-counting will be best because, we can eat what we want--as long as we know our portions and calories and then we burn the calories we need to!  Which, in turn, forces us to excercise--which we don't enjoy (at least at this point).  But, I hear exercise is kind of an addicting habit that I'm hoping to get addicted to!! (but I'm not gonna hold my breath on that one!)

The greatest thing about calorie counting?! 100 calorie packs!!! Just about every snack food you enjoy comes in a 100 calorie pack-what a brilliant idea. So I went to the grocery store to stock up.  I hope it actually helps curb those cravings in the near future! Cheers to a new me!

Biggest Losers

Biggest Losers. Literally.

On Christmas, my brother informed us that his wife had signed him up for a half-marathon.  If my husband did that, I would gladly withhold lots of things he wants.  But, my brother is not me, and he proudly got on the bandwagon to start training for this half-marathon.  Good for him.  Post-marathon conversation we then proceeded to get competitive..and by we I mean my entire family, spouses included (if you read my Wii blogpost, you already know about my competitive genes).

The Competition: Our family is doing our very own Biggest Loser- starting today (the premiere of biggest loser is tonight).  Each of us paid a $50 participation fee and the winner gets the pot...while 2nd place gets their money back.  Did I mention my in-law's are joining the competition too? That's $450 buckaroos people. Which is almost better than a tummy tuck because when I win, I get skinnier, I get the money AND I get the bragging rights....which the latter is the most intriguing in our family I do believe.   Dillon and I have been strategizing by eating every meal out since the competition came to light, just so we will be heavier today and have more to lose! Which means more pounds to lose, but whatever...it sounded like a good strategy..and it sure was fun to eat!

I am particularly excited about this biggest loser because I'm hoping that a year after having Kenwood (when I gained 65lbs in my pregnancy--I was an Elephant) that I can finally get the last of the weight off and I can be NORMAL again and maybe even SKINNY! ohhh that sounds so nice. So, you all have to hold me accountable.  I'm off to workout! Here goes nothing.