Happy Easter

We woke up early this morning, and we gave the girls their Easter baskets. They were so happy.

The purple bunny is Adalyn's. The blue bunny is Ariana's. And the pink bunny is Samantha's.
I made the pumpkin swirl cheesecake last night. We watched Hop this morning and it was funny. I tried to make colored deviled eggs and they came out horrible.

Addy loved her basket. We got her some marshmellows instead of m&m's.

Ariana loved her basket and bunny

They were ready to dig into their candy and watch a movie

After the movie was over, we got the girls cleaned up and dress so we could go eat Easter dinner.

We had ham, mac and cheese, butter beans and rice and deviled eggs for dinner. Then we had cheesecake for dessert. After we got through eating, my mom gave the girls some bubbles that she bought them. Then we did 2 Easter egg hunts with them.

My mom madekool aid deviled eggs and they were so messy

These were the candy filled eggs that we did at home and brought with us.

 

ready for the hunt.

 

When we got home, we put the girls down for a nap and me and Cayce watched a movie. I took 2 small naps and then we went outside and cleaned out the gutters and watered our flowers. After we came back inside, it started pouring down rain.

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake

I decided that I was going to make this cheesecake again for Easter. The first time we had it, we made it for Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 box Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers, finely crushed
2 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:
1 1/2 pound cream cheese melted
1/2 cup granualted sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup pumpkin pie mix
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk chocolate baking chips

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350F. Wrap bottom and sides of a 9 inch springform pan with foil.

2. Crust: Mix together cookie crumbs, sugar, and butter press over bottom and partially up side of prepared pan. Refrigerate while making filling.

3. Filling: In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in sugars, cornstarch, and pumpkin pie spice until combined. Beat in pie mix, eggs, and vanilla till smooth. Reserve 1/2 cup of batter.

4. Microwave chocolate for 30 seconds, stir and microwave again for 15 seconds. Stir again and mix it with reserved batter. Microwave for another 15 seconds.

5. pour batter into prepared pan. Dollop heaping of chocolate mixture over top of cake and swirl. Place in roasting pan, adding enough hot water to come halfway up side of foil.

6. Bake at 350F. for 70-80 minutes until just set. Run knife around edge of the pan. Cool in pan on rack. Cover, refrigerate, overnight. Remove pan to serve.

Weekend Goals: March 30-31, 2013

I have alot to do this weekend that I didn't complete last weekend or throughout the week because of the death in the family.

Household:

• Clean out closets for spring
• Deep clean bathrooms
• Scrub kitchen, top to bottom
• Organize pantry
• Deep clean master bedroom

Personal:

• Work on cookbook
• Exceed 2,500 swagbucks
• Exercise 6-8 hours

Kids:

• Plan Samantha's letter of the week curiculum and book lists
• Plan Ariana's prepatory curriculum and book lists
• Plan Samantha's 4th birthday

Yard:

• Start picking up roots and debris
• Clean out gutters and sweep roof
• Hose down underpinning
• Plant flowers
• Finish painting front porch

Uneventful Week

This week has been slow, sad and overall stressful. Cayce's grandpa died on Monday morning, and he went back to work today. He automatically got 3 days off for funeral leave. Tomorrow is the funeral, so he won't be going in tomorrow. He has been so distant all week, and I don't like it. We have gotten into several arguments and it hasn't been pretty. We haven't worked out all week, so tomorrow when he comes home, we are going to have an early dinner and do 3 hours of exercise.

We have so much to do this weekend, so we are going to be doing some of those to-do's tomorrow.
I'm also scheduling 3 hours of exercise for Saturday, and on Sunday, we are going to do 1 hour exercise before heading to my mom's for Easter dinner, and then I might do 1 hour of walking on my mom's treadmill, or wait till we get back home.

I have been taking some time and reading some books I bought a few years ago and never got to read until now. I have read 3-4 books this month.

I will be posting my weekly goals tomorrow morning while cayce is at the funeral. I won't be going because me and his family don't exactly mesh, and I don't want anymore drama going on as there is already enough going on.

I bid you all a goodnight!

Prep. Curriculum: Week 26

This was the final week of prepatory curriculum for Samantha. The week's them was airplanes and the vocabulary word was contrails.

On Monday, she colored 2 pages airplanes.

She loved these pictures.
On Tuesday, I gave her the day off. On Wednesday, she did the letter Z.

On Thursday, she did the number 100. Now, I have no idea why in the curriculum it skipped the number 26 and went straight to 100, but I taught her the number anyways.

This was the only worksheet or coloring page I could find on the number 100.
On Friday, she had a review day and we celebrated her graduation on Saturday.

Now, she is going to have some time off before her birthday, and then we will start Letter of the Week Curriculum the week after.

Lose the Weight Challenge: Week 3

*Exercise: Pelvic floor recovery (aka kegels)
                  8 hours of exercise
*Diet: Take 2 guilty pleasures and find a healthy alternative
           Continue healthy dinners at least 6 times a week
*Attitude: Surround self with positive influences

**EXTRA CREDIT** Be a positive influence for someone else

Previous Weight: 268.4
Current Weight: 265.6
Pounds Lost: -3

I have lost 5 pounds in 2 weeks. Not that great, but it's finally coming off.

This morning for breakfast I had a pack of cheddar crackers with peanut butter filling.

For lunch, I had another pack of crackers with some tea and water

I have been drinking sips of tea thoughout the day.

For supper, I made a corn chowder with onions, green onions, turkey bacon and shrimp. it was delicious, but I think I ate more than I should have.

I couldnt make it outside today to exercise because the wind today is so fierce, that it was tryin to blow the car off the road. We also had a death in the family this morning. Cayce lost his grandfather to brain cancer this morning.
        

Weekend Goals Update: March 23-24, 2013

Household:

• Clean out closets for spring
• Deep clean bathrooms
• Wash bedding and clothes
• Dust and vaccum living room
• Scrub kitchen floors, counters, and appliances
• Clean out cabinets and pantry
• Organize kitchen shelves
• Deep clean master bedroom

Personal:

• Work on cookbook
• Exercise 4 hours (2 on Saturday & 2 on Sunday) ( I will have to add these hours to the 4 hours I will do this week)
• Finish reading 50 Shades Freed
• Exceed 1,800 swagbucks
• Movie night Sunday with Cayce ( ruined with Cayce spending time with his friends rather than family)

Kids:

• Plan Letter of the Week curriculum (Samantha)
• Work on letter book lists
• Plan Prepatory curriculum (Ariana)
• Work on Prep. book lists
• Organize Prep. posters
• Celebrate Sammy's graduation
• Plan Sammy 4th Birthday

Yard:

• Start getting rid of debris
• Pull-up roots and dispose
• Clean out gutters and sweep roof
• Hose down underpinning
• Clean out and wash car

We weren't able to go outside this weekend because it has been raining. So, all the yard work has to be pushed back to next weekend and more will be added.

Weekend Goals: March 23-24, 2013

I have alot to do this weekend and needed to put it on paper and if I lose or misplace my paper, I will have it here.

Household:

• Clean out closets for spring
• Deep clean bathrooms
• Wash bedding and clothes
• Dust and vaccum living room
• Scrub kitchen floors, counters, and appliances
• Clean out cabinets and pantry
• Organize kitchen shelves
• Deep clean master bedroom

Personal:

• Work on cookbook
• Exercise 4 hours (2 on Saturday & 2 on Sunday)
• Finish reading 50 Shades Freed
• Exceed 1,800 swagbucks
• Movie night Sunday with Cayce

Kids:

• Plan Letter of the Week curriculum (Samantha)
• Work on letter book lists
• Plan Prepatory curriculum (Ariana)
• Work on Prep. book lists
• Organize Prep. posters
• Celebrate Sammy's graduation
• Plan Sammy 4th Birthday

Yard:

• Start getting rid of debris
• Pull-up roots and dispose
• Clean out gutters and sweep roof
• Hose down underpinning
• Clean out and wash car

Food Journals

I haven't been logging my meals. I also haven't been eating alot because I have been feeling sick. I started my monthly yesterday and I am feeling worse than ever. I have been walking some and doing more housework than usual.

I am going to get up early tomorrow morning with Cayce and work out at least an hour. He has been doing good in his GED classes.

I have eaten a Lean Cuisine pizza today and a small slice of white cake.

Tonight for supper I am going to open two cans of Chunky's sirloin steak soup over some rice. I'm hoping I'll have a appetite.

Prep. Curriculum: Week 25

Week 25's theme was rabbits. Samantha knew exactly what it was when she saw the poster. She has been wanting a bunny for a few weeks now and we are thinking about getting her one when she turns 5 next year.

The vocabulary word was whiskers. I showed her Missy and Widow's. On Monday, she colored some pictures of bunny's.

On Tuesday, we didn't do school. We talked more about bunnies and counted.
On Wednesday, she learned about the parallelogram. She says it so funny, but can pronounce it right.

I gave her Thursday off because I had to tend to Widow, and I was upset about her kittens.
On Friday, we had a double lesson. Letter and number worksheets.

She learned the letter Y and the number 25. She is getting the 20 numbers down pat, but we will have to do review on the teen numbers.

Lose the Weight Challenge: Week 2

*Exercise: 1 hour of exercise 3 days a week.
*Diet: make dinner 500 calories or fewer 6 nights a week.
*Attitude: Have a quiet moment and focus on positive things in life.

**EXTRA CREDIT** Add in 1 more hour of exercise

Starting Weight: 270
Current Weight: 268.4
Pounds Lost: -2

Only losing 2 pounds this week is kind of disappointing, but it's a start. Just seeing that -2 makes me smile.

Yesterday's food journal will be posted tonight along with today's.

Food Journal: Day 4

I knew today was going to be a bad day. Cayce kept the air off all day and it was very nice outside. I ate 3 times today.

I had the rest of my mac and cheese this morning for breakfast and the rest of my hot chocolate I made last night after my blog post.. oops.

It started getting warmer in the house and I started drinking alot of water.

Around 3:00, I made tuna fish sandwiches on honey wheat bread and duke's light mayonnaise.

I continued to drink water and started have little panic attacks because I was so hot.

Around 6:00, Cayce and I started cooking dinner. I made a crunchy onion potato bake and Cayce and Bud grilled hamburgers.

I feel so shaky and tired. I'm going to go to bed early tonight.

Really not happy about my food intake today.

Food Journal: Day 3

I haven't eaten much today. When Cayce left for work this morning, I made me a hot chocolate with two scoops sugar and probably 2 tablespoons white chocolate caramel latte creamer.

For the girl's lunch, I made them salads, and I had some ham and turkey that I had cut up and put into the salad, not enough to make me full or to make a snack. I still had my vitamin water from yesterday and I finished drinking that today.

For a snack around 3:00pm, I ate 4 to 5 grapes, and I drank my vitamin water.

At 6:00pm, I made a box of macaroni and cheese. I put 1 and a half spoonfuls in my little black bowl, and Cayce grilled hotdogs and I had two hotdogs with 1 tbsp. ketchup.

Now I am drinking a seagram's escapes strawberry daiquiri, and it will be one bottle of water for the rest of the night.

I wieghed myself this morning, and I weighed 267.4

Food Journal: Day 2

This morning we woke up around 5:30. I had some diet pepsi and went straight back to bed.

After Cayce got back home from the vet, we slept until 10:45. I made us protein shakes with some strawberries.

At 12:30, I did 30 minutes of zumba.

At 1:30, I had 2 lean cuisine garlic chicken spring rolls and a pack of Ritz whole wheat crackers (to go pack) and the rest of my diet pepsi.

When Cayce got back home with Widow, he brought me a dragonfruit vitamin water.

At 5:00, I made a family stouffer's meal. It was chicken alfredo. I had one bowl. At 7:00, I took 5 more bites, and drank more vitamin water.

9:55pm, I'm drinking my vitamin water and regular water.

Widow's Surgery

When I woke up this morning, I was exhausted, but happy because I knew that I wouldn't have to worry about my fur babies becoming mamas. When Cayce grabbed Widow's carrier this morning, she was so scared. She peed all over herself. So, Cayce had to clean her up.

Around 11:30 this morning, we get the call that Widow is out of surgery, and that we would an to pay an additional 15 dollars. That's when we found out that she was 3-5 weeks pregnant with 4 kittens. My heart was broken, and I started crying. Then I knew that's why she was so hysterical last night and scared this morning. By the time Cayce got her back home, all she did was root around and sleep.

I immediately started looking for information on what happens to the unborn kittens during and after a spay surgery. I started crying even more. I wish I would have known that she was pregnant. I would have rescheduled her surgery and found homes for her babies. But there is nothing I can do now except tell myself that it wasn't an act of animal cruelty because I didn't have a clue.

Cayce didn't get any pictures of her this morning. I will have to take some new ones of her after she recovers. I'm hoping that my fur baby is not going through a heart break.

Little Exercising

I haven't been exercising like I wanted too, but I am watching what I eat. I didn't write my food intake down yesterday, but I know what I have eaten today.

This morning, I ate leftovers of a chicken broccoli pasta bake. I had a cup of hot chocolate.
For lunch, I made a TBLT( turkey, turkey bacon, lettuce and tomato). It's what the girls and Cayce had last ngiht for supper. I have drank water till 5:30pm.
I made a honey mustard chicken salad for supper. It was delicious. Right now, I'm going to be drinking water.

I'm going to make some wildberry muffins later to have tomorrow morning for breakfast. Widow has her spay surgery in the morning, and so we have to get up around 5 to have her there for check in. I'm hoping that Cayce will get back at a reasonable time tomorrow morning, so we can do some Zumba or go walking at the local track.

Lose the Weight Challenge: Week 1

I have been disappointed with my wieght and appearance for a long time. I'm tired of procrastinating, and having excuses. NO MORE!!!!

I'm going to be keeping a food journal, this will be my 3rd attempt. I will be blogging it daily after I write it down so it will be my second copy. I will start writing tomorrow. I will begin my 30 minute exercise after this blog post and then 30-45 minutes of Zumba tonight when Cayce comes home.

Staring weight: 270
Goal:145

It's a long shot, but I don't remember the last time I was this weight.

Wish me luck!!!!

Prep. Curriculum: Week 24

This week's theme was about dogs. I focused on the bulldogs because that is one of my favorite type of dogs. When I showed the picture of the bulldog to Samantha, she screamed Go Bulldogs.

On Monday, she colored a picture of some bulldogs.

On Tuesday, we had the day off. We had some mommy-sammy time. She helped me clean the house and we relaxed.

On Wednesday, I helped her learn about the color tan. It was a little difficult seeing that the only tan things in our house are the walls.

On Thursday, she did the letter X. She was excited to learn another letter.

On Friday, I was saving the number 24 for cayce to do with Samantha when he got home from work, but it was really late when we got through eating supper. So Sammy did the number 24 yesteday with her daddy.

 

 

Cayce's TABE Test Day

When Cayce and I met, I was a junior in high school and he was a sophomore. We moved in together the summer before our new grades. I got pregnant with Samantha the month before the start of my senior year. He ended up dropping out of school to support me and the baby. He helped me with school and he got a job at the local grocery store. It wasn't much, but we managed. We went days with little food and I got 2 lunches at school. We have been talking about when he would go back to school. While we were in the process of buying this house, he was going back for GED classes. He didn't complete because we had Sammy and Airy to move in and settle and get ready for Addy to make her big appearance.

A year after moving in and being settled, he finally has the time to go back. Today, he went to go register for classes and take his test to see where he needs improvement. He's got 8 weeks to learn and take his test, and hopefully he can graduate this summer.

I know this will lift alot of weight off of his shoulders and be happy that he has this accomplishment under his belt.

Missy's Surgery

Today was Missy's surgery day. We had to have her at the humane society at 7:15 to get checked in and prepped. We woke up at 5:30, and Cayce got ready and I had to hold and keep Widow calm and to keep her from following Cayce and Missy.

Cayce took these pictures of her this morning before she got checked in.
She was done with her surgery right when Cayce clocked in at work, and he went and got her at 3:30.
Widow was so happy to see that Missy was alright and back home. Now she is in her carrier and sleeping. I'm hoping that she isn't in any pain because we couldn't afford pain medication but I paid for her rabies and distemper today.

Now we have to help her heal and get Widow ready to have her surgery.

Unexpected News

This morning around 7:30, Cayce and I woke up to a text message from his aunt, saying that his grandfather has stage 4 brain cancer and that he will be in the hospital for the next 4 months. It hit Cayce so hard and I haven't seen him cry in months. He also learned that his aunt has stage 4 cancer in her kidney, small intestines, lungs, and it's in her bloodstream. It brought back so many memories for me because when I was 14, I lost my grandpa to lung cancer a few months after they found it. It's also really hard to deal with because my great grandmother is have heart problems and my great aunt had a stint put in the other day because she had a 99% blockage.

It changed our whole day. Cayce went and spent some time with his aunt and grandpa and I stayed home with the girls because they wouldnt understand what their great grandpa is going through at the hospital.

I wish that the girls got to spend some more time with him, and wish that they met my grandpa.

But on a better note today, we got the front yard cleared. Most of the roots and trees have been knocked down and we got a bigger hole dug in the backyard, so we can start burning the debris.

I'm hoping for a better day tomorrow, and that we don't get anymore bad news.