Wow it's been a week already?!?!

Gosh! I can't believe it's been another week since I last posted. Things have been crazy hectic this past week though. Either myself or the kids have been sick and we are trying to get Abby's room cleaned out and torn apart so that we can redo it and make it into my bedroom. Egan and Hunter are going to take my old room for themselves. I think that we are all so excited to have our own bedrooms, but it was bittersweet to go through Abby's things and remove most of it. Egan spent the night here last Thursday night and I got some cute pictures of the 3 kids in their red shirts for Valentine's Day. I will post more as soon as I can catch my breath.

Catching Up

Gosh! I can't believe it's been almost a week since I last posted. Crazy weekend and so much on my mind. Friday night Hailey and I went to get our haircut and to my surprise Hailey decided to get her hair cut up to her chin...I think it was about 6 inches maybe more. It looks so cute and it's even better that it was her idea. Its so much easier to take care of and now she can comb it out herself with no knots left in it. :) Hunter spent the night at his Aunt Tina's on Saturday night and Hailey went to my aunt's house to spend the night. My parents went out for dinner with the other managers from mom's work so I had a night to myself. I spent the evening with my best friend....we just got some supper and rented movies, but it was so nice to have a quiet night at home with him. Sunday I spent the day with him and my dad at the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show. My dad has called in the Turkey Calling Contest there for the last 3 or 4 years. So nice to spend some quality time with my dad doing something that he loves to do. Even though he didn't have any sons, Abby and I always tried to do some of the things he enjoyed. I will be honest, I didn't always enjoy doing them, but I know it made him happy and that's all that matters. Monday night we started a 10 week grief counseling program with Hailey. It's geared towards children who have lost a loved one, but there are sessions for the adults that bring the children to the program. Mom and dad were in a group for parents who have lost a child and I was in another group for those that have lost siblings or other close relatives. The program is amazing and I really think it is something that we all need. Hailey really enjoyed the orientation and couldn't wait until our sessions actually started.

My picture today is of Hailey in front of a butterfly display at "The Caring Place" (that's the name of the program). Hailey also has on one of Ab's hoodies that she wore a lot. I think it helps her feel closer to her. I know when I wear something of hers it makes me feel just a little bit closer to her. It was so irronic that this display was there because Abby's "trademark" was butterflies. We have all started to take notice to anything with butterflies more so now than before. I even went and got a tattoo of one on the top of my left foot 1 week after Ab died. She had a tattoo of one on the top of her right foot. I will add the picture of my tattoo as well.

Day 35

Hunter had a drs appt this afternoon to check his ears after 10 days on antibiotics for a double ear infection. His ears were fine...thank God...so after we left the drs office we ran up to his daddy's farm to see the new calves that he got. Hunter loves it at the farm especially when he can help Kenny with whatever he's doind with the animals. He just got 5 new calves and he was making partitions for each of them to sleep in. Hunter was so cute and was trying to help Kenny. He kept trying to get the calves to follow him out of the barn. He would say come calf, come calf, follow me. So cute!! I'm so glad that Kenny is finally taking an interest in being a daddy. Hunter adores him and being at the farm with the whole Johnson family. They all treat me wonderfully....I just wasn't sure what was going to happen there for awhile when Kenny wasn't showing much interest at all, but things have really changed over the past 6 months. God really does work in mysterious ways that we may not understand at the time, but he truly does have a plan.

Day 34

Forgot to post these last night, but I wanted to post pictures of all the Valentine's Day goodies I made. The triangle boxes are filled with candy for Hailey's 2nd grade classmates and her teacher, the lollipop holders are for Hunter's class at daycare (2 yr olds), and the chapstick holders are for the girls I work with. These were all so fun to make and new for me as well. I enjoy sharing my love for scrapping with those around me. Can't wait to see what everyone thinks of my newest creations.

Have a great day!!!

Day 33

My picture today is of my 3 month food journal that I fill out every day. It has now become my new little friend so that I can track EVERYTHING that goes into my mouth. I joined Weight Watchers on January 17th and have lost 7.2 lbs to date. I have wanted to lose weight for awhile now, but finally got the nerve to really commit to it shortly after Christmas. My goal weight is somewhere around 140, but I really don't care about the number on the scale. I would LOVE to be into a single size jeans and feel confident about who I am. I can tell a difference in the short time since I've joined. I already have more energy and I am enjoying trying new recipes and cooking healthy suppers for my family. I still HATE any green vegetable, but I am enjoying the foods that I do love and in moderation. I haven't had a regular soda since January 17th and I'm actually not missing it as much I thought I would. I got to my meetings every Saturday morning and they are so much fun. Everyone shares their celebrations and their trials from the week....it's actually pretty theraputic. I look forward to Saturday mornings and I don't mind that I can't sleep in with the kiddos....Hailey and my parents are my cheering squad and are so anxious for me to get home so they can hear how my weigh in went.

Days 30, 31, & 32

Well it's been 3 days since I last posted and for no good reason other than every evening I put the kids to bed and then completely forget to post anything. Friday night Hailey and I went grocery shopping. I know I know so exciting, but honestly it is starting to be exciting for me. I can walk into the grocery store now and load the cart with healthy or better foods than I used to and I feel good about it. I don't feel like I am depriving myself of anything. If I want or need some chocolate then I grab a 1 pt pudding pack and eat away!! I got up early Saturday morning to go to my WW meeting and weigh in. I was really looking forward to weigh in because I thought I had lost 2 maybe 3 lbs, but I only lost 1 lb last week. Oh well! My little monthly friend came along late Friday night so I was told that has a lot to do with your weigh in on that week so hopefully next Sat will be better. I still lost 7.2 in two weeks so no complaints here. I got home from my meeting and went to help a good friend clear the snow off the ice on the creek so that people could go ice skating. 4 hours of shoveling and pushing that stuff really wore me out. I'm definitely in worse shape than I thought I was. We went to my aunts house Sat evening for dinner and to play the Wii that my cousin got for Christmas....we were all addicted and went right out on Sunday afternoon and bought a Wii and Wii Fit for me. So much fun!!! I went out on Saturday night to hear a local band....Even more fun!!! Egan, my nephew, came to spend most of the weekend. We went bowling on Sunday after we bought the Wii then took "E" home. A lot went on in the 3 days since I last posted, but I didn't want to bore you with ALL the details.

~ Have a great week ~