Thankful Thursday

I feel like lately I have a lot to be thankful for. I'm trying to have a better outlook on life and really try much harder to appreciate even the really little things! So with out further ado...

I'm thankful that my kids have such a big, safe backyard to play in!




I'm thankful for the new soft rug for my feet to walk on!



I'm thankful that there is at least one man in the house that helps me clean!



I'm thankful that I have these two beautiful little boy souls in my life!



I'm thankful American Idol is starting!  I really need a good laugh and this is always a guarantee!



I'm thankful that hunting season is over and I get my husband back! (Please pardon this really old deer lease picture from last year. I totally could not find this years batch!)

I realize that some of these are just purely silly things to be thankful for. But, I am truly glad that I have big things, small things, and all the in between things in my life that make me feel complete!

Love,

Hillary





Save the Drama for Your Momma... Oh Wait, That's Me!

Lately we have been having drama with Grady and his new-found hatred for his highchair. Can I say just how much I am NOT ready for him to be done with his highchair yet?? Aside from the part that he just isn't eating as much as he used to, YOU SHOULD SEE THE MESS HE MAKES AT THE TABLE!

In the good old days, pre-highchair strike, he would gladly sit in it and eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks so peacefully. I could get dishes done, floors swept and mopped and countless other chores done all while he.sat.eating.But, alas, there is no more sitting.and.eating. There is only running.and.playing.and.drama.


Exhibit A: My sparkling clean Chico highchair

Once peaceful dinner times at our table are now completely over (at least for the next year I'm guessing). My ahem sweet child now spends these meal times running, playing, singing, or whatever catches his fancy at that second. He might on a good night dash past the table where I can shove a chicken nugget in his mouth before he can escape me.

Want to see what a candy bribe can do?



Exhibit B: My son sitting perfectly in his perfectly clean highchair saying "please" as hard as he can for candy.



Exhibit C: And now here is Grady once the candy is all gone and he can't have more. If only he could eat candy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Drama Drama Drama! Thank God he's cute.

Love,

Hillary





What They're Loving Wednesday!

This Wednesday I decided to change things up just a little bit on my end when I joined up with Jaime to do What I'm Loving Wednesday. This week I am doing a blog post about what my KIDS are loving this week!

The first thing that they are both loving and in turn I am adoring is...



I am crazy about how my kids think that they are eating Popsicles and really its frozen fruit! How awesome is that! They will eat these winter or summer without complaint!

The next thing they are loving is...


Bristle Blocks! You gotta love it, old school toy in new school colors. The boys both loved them when Grady got this as a Christmas gift. It really promotes creativity and dexterity at the same time.



Graham made this creation for me. Can you see the flower garden on the left and the house and trees to the right of it?

 The next thing that they are loving is the movie...


Can I just say how much I love to see movies that entertain my kids and myself as well! Plus, Steve Carell is just the funniest man alive. Bobby and I were both cracking up during this movie. It really makes my heart so happy to truly enjoy every moment spent with my children. Movies like this that we can all enjoy together are just the absolute best!

Love,

Hillary

What the Boys (and I) Have Been Doing Lately

Warning: Picture overload post!!

Oh my goodness! How busy our little lives have been lately! I swear most of our time is spent cruising along at only 30 mph (which is fine by me) and then suddenly one day God hits the accelerator (which is also fine by me as he really is in control). We have had such a busy past couple of days that I've had trouble blogging about it all!

First things first. Saturday morning we woke up and stared getting ready to go to my nephew Colton's 8th Birthday Party. My sister-in-law Melanie plans the best parties ever. Colton's Party was from 10:30-12:30. How awesome is that? Fun for the kids all morning long and then great naps later in the afternoon! He had it at one of those super fun Laser game places. There was also a large arcade for the kids for in between games.

Grady just loved how this lit up under his feet!

I think that this was one of the very few pictures I got of Graham standing still! He was having such a good time running around with his cousins and friends!









This is quite possibly one of my favorite pictures of the entire party. Its the birthday boy Colton taking a lick of his own cake when he thought no one was looking! Too stinkin' cute!



Grady and Graham taking a break and digging into some cake!

Sweet nephew Carter

Notice that the icing on his face matches his shirt! I die!

Graham and his best buddy and cousin Colton.



After the party we all took the best naps ever! And since I am combining like 40 post into one I'll show you also what Bobby and I watched this weekend. The first one that we watched was...

We only got a chance to watch the first two episodes but I can tell that we are going to be sooo hooked! The next movie we watched and tried to not fall asleep in was...

We liked the movie "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" so much that we were pretty sad that even though this was a take-off from it, it was pretty bad and not terribly funny. Oh well, better luck next week.

Sunday was a wonderful laid back day. We got up early and headed to the 8 am service with the boys. Crazy right? We tried for quite a while to go to the 11 am service but our kids were MONSTERS at that time. We realized that as painful as it was for us to wake up at the crack of dawn on a Sunday, our kids acted sooo much better. So its the 8 am service for us from now on!

After we got home and played and ate some lunch Bobby helped me get the kids down for a nap. With that successfully done I was able to escape from my house for a little bit and do some retail therapy with my SIL Melanie. We shopped at some great places and I found new place mats for our kitchen table. What do you think?

They ended up looking awesome on my black table . I can not say how much I love love love the combo of red yellow and black together! After we shopped we stopped and got some yummy Starbucks!

Disclaimer: I did not eat both of these, just the one on the right (although I totally could have!!)

Monday, being MLK day, Graham didn't have school. What is a mom to do on such a day? Why head to the greatest jumpy place ever! A new place opened up in New Braunfels and my SIL and I took our kids to jump off a little energy. This place was awesome! Small enough that you could easily keep an eye on your kids but big enough that they still had tons of stuff to play on.

The three cousins (Graham, Colton, and Cooper). You can just barely see the back of Grady's little head at the bottom.:)

Here Colton is showing me how high he could jump. This child has no fear and has a future stunt man position waiting for him!

Graham being silly and getting chomped by a shark.



The one time I could even get Grady to look at me he had to smile like this. I adore my goofy little man.





Overall we have had a blessed and amazing last couple of days. Lots more fun stuff to come!!

Love,

Hillary

Prayer Cross

Several years ago my mother-in-law gave me a prayer cross that I keep on a decorative pillow on my bed. It holds a little piece of paper on the inside that says this...

The Prayer Cross

I'm your little prayer cross,

just place me on your bed.

I'll be there to remind you of the

sacrifice Jesus made.

Now, write down your prayer to Him

and tuck them safe inside.

This tiny little pocket will hold them

day and night.

When I first got this I pulled out the little note that gets held in the pocket and I wrote "A home of my own". At the time we were still in a rent house and we hated it. With time, patience, and a whole lot of prayer we have a home of our own!

Since the loss of Caroline I decided to update my prayer inside the cross. It now holds a note that says "A healthy baby". Once again, I know that with time, patience, and a whole lot of prayer  God will answer this prayer as well!

This picture is really hard to see the writing on the little note. Can you see how torn and bent the paper is? Its really nice to have place to tangibly leave your prayers and wishes to God instead of just thinking them in my head.

Love,

Hillary

Diet Has the Word Die in it for a Reason

UPDATE:
Bobby weighed himself this morning (Sunday) and weighed 261! Is that not totally unbelievable?? Go Baby Go!


So my wonderful husband Bobby has started his Nutrisystem diet. I am so proud of him for this. As a woman I think about what I eat almost all day long. That is not to say that I actually watch what I eat and do a good job of it, but I think about it A LOT. I am pretty sure that being a man, my husband NEVER thinks about it. What ever sounds good at the moment gets eaten. This is not a dig at him, just a reality and one that I am completely guilty of (and many others) too. I know how hard that it has been for him so far and I can't wait to watch him achieve his goal!

Over the past couple of years both of our weights have gradually crept up on us. As a wonderful Christmas gift, my husband's mother gave him the gift of Nurtisystem. Honestly, its one of the best gifts that he has ever gotten because it has motivated me as well. I have been trying to eat a salad or other fresh veggies along with a Lean Cuisine or something like it when he's eating his meals. And so far he has lost a ton of weight in just one week! I bet by now that its close to 10 pounds!

Bobby has given me permission to document his success! So, I am super excited to share his before pictures along with the weight that corresponds with it.

Bless his giant sized heart and his goofy grin in this picture!
This is the very first picture that we took last Sunday. His starting weight was 272.

And here he is again from the side. And can I also say WOW, I really need to finish updating my bedroom! Sorry, I just notice how yick it looks in these pictures!

Here are the pictures that I took of Bobby tonight. He laughed at me because I made him change his shirt so we could really compare from week to week. He won't weigh himself again until tomorrow morning but on Wednesday he was already 265!

Isn't this side view just amazing when you compare it to the previous side view above?? Ohmygawd if only I could drop weight as quick as he does!











I'm planning on updating his progress from week to week to inspire him and myself as well!

Love,

Hillary

Dinner Out With Great Friends!

Last night I was able to go out and meet some great old friends for dinner. And by old friends, I mean really really old friends. Not as in age old but as in omg that seems like a lifetime ago old. Like as in we still giggle because "Ohmygosh we used to be suite mates our freshman year in college"old!

I am 34 years old now and back then we were all 18 (holycrapimold) so hmmm...how many years was that ago? I can not hardly remember even being that age. We were all so young and little to no responsibilities. All we really had to worry about was maybe about making it to class on time. Alas, we are all older with jobs and husbands and babies and laundry and....

But, these girls, they make me feel young again. Even if its only for just a couple of hours!

I love you Deborah and Kim!



Kimberly and Deborah



Deborah and myself

 Deborah is the one that introduced to my husband! I owe this girl soo much. I hate to think that if she hadn't made the decision 11years that he and I would be perfect for each other I would not have the awesome life that I have now with the man of my dreams!

And of course, food lover that I am, I had to take picture of some of the yummiest food that I have had in a while! We ate at a little bar called Mozie's and had the best bar food that was kicked up a notch.



The best homemade chips!



This was the burger that I ordered that literally came on its own plate. Can you see how it took up most of a jumbo plate!? Will you be terribly surprised when I tell you that I ate ALL of it!!

 I feel truly blessed to have such amazing friends to share the evening with. I love that these girls are a part of my past, MY PRESENT, and in my future!

Love,

Hillary