Mama and Me Journal

I found this AMAZING idea on mama-jenn's blogspot

& using her idea, I created a mama and me journal. 

of course... I made my own label adding Adrianna-style.

What exactly is a “Mama & Me” journal? Well, it is basically a journal for my daughter and I to share. We write letters back and forth to each other…kind of like being pen pals (without the envelopes & stamps). My hope is that these seemingly simple letters to one another will become a book of memories to treasure for a lifetime!

Below is the intro letter that Mama Jenn used to get started...

Dear KJ,

Would you like to be my pen pal? Instead of mailing letters to each other, we can keep them here in this notebook. Does that sound like fun?

I will write to you and then leave the notebook on your bed. Then, when you want to write me back you can begin writing on the next page and leave the notebook on my bed when you are done.

You can write about anything! It can be funny or serious! Just write about whatever is on your mind! :-)

I am so excited and I hope that you are excited too!

Love,

Mom

P.S. Write back soon! :-)

I really am excited!

 I made a journal for Andrew & me too.

He can't read/write yet but loves drawing me pictures!

 

Happiness

My AMAZING Trainer, Robin Dayer, sent me this email today and I had to share with you...

"My opinion is that you never find happiness until you stop looking for it" ~Chuang-tzu

This is so true---happiness lies within ourselves. No matter what external circumstances arise, we have the choice of how we make it. You choose to be happy or not. Bottom line.

In your quest for fitness, which should be never ending--it is a lifetime commitment because you are constantly making progress, always--------DO NOT fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others. We all have our own journey, our own limits, our own bodies. Its a slippery slope when you have an internal dialogue that sounds like this: "If I could look like her/him I would be so happy", " I am so out of shape and de conditioned, look at how many pushups he/she is doing", or the worst "If I would just loose 20lbs I would look fabulous and I will finally be happy".

Believe me, this is a slippery slope that only ends in one place---failure. You will quit before you even start.

Happiness and love of your own body and its marvelous capabilities lies within YOU. You wont be a happier person because you loose 20lbs. You will just be a thinner,
unhappy person (and NO, I can hear you
 right now, that is not better)!

Until you learn to accept your own body and love it for what it does for you EVERY WORKOUT, you will continue the awful cycle of negative and punishing thoughts during your workout, which only leads to failure and honestly will make your workout 10 times harder.

You are strong, healthy and beautiful! Repeat, repeat, repeat

Mosaic Art

Adrianna had to create mosaic art for a history project.

rather than using pieces of colored stone or glass, she had to use paper.

 This was the most creative project & I LOVE how cute it turned out! 



{close up}

I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!

back on track...

The holidays were wonderful but I must say I am rather excited to get back in my daily routine.
I won't lie... I enjoyed sleeping in late, eating junk food and wearing cozy pj's all day but it was making me feel sluggish.

***
I am happily back to my routine which consist of going to bed early {I need my full eight hours} waking up at 6 a.m. & drinking a cup of french vanilla coffee by 7 a.m. If I don’t follow this routine then my whole day is off.

Also, I jumped right back into my exercise routine.

{note to self, never take off an entire month again}

I train with Robin Dayer, she is tough but she gets results! It is amazing to me that it takes months to gain strength and endurance and then just a few weeks to lose it all.

I struggled as I made my way back into the fitness world after a LONG month break. The first week was horrible, I felt ill during the workouts, my legs and abs were hurting. My heart was racing and my breathing was labored. I wanted to quit but instead kept thinking of Robin's quote.
"Dont quit! Your already in pain. Your already hurting. Get a REWARD from it!"

I am struggling with cooking healthy too. Not only do I want to eat healthy but I want my family to eat healthy as well.
Jeremy & I both were raised on "comfort foods" and have no clue how to cook healthy... I finally found a promising website For the Love of Cooking  

Do you have any tried and true healthy recipes?
I would love for you to share
 

Cousin Sleepover

A cousin is a ready-made friend for life.

We had a blast playing with my sweet nieces & nephews over Christmas break. Adrianna & Andrew just LOVE them!


We squeezed in a GIRLS NIGHT
{Andrew was present however he played his
DS & didn’t pay any attention to the girls}


Our girl’s night included, LOTS of desserts, sparkling grape juice, green clay masks, manicures, pedicures, movies, girl talk, staying up late & lots of giggling!
***
We slept in so we had a VERY Late brunch… bacon, waffles and eggs {yummy}
***
Before taking the girls home, we went downtown Russellville for a quick photo shoot since I don't think they have ever taken a group picture together

These girls {heart} posing for the camera!

 

These were my favorite... reminds me of mardi gra!
they didn't have any music, but made their own & had a little dance party!

—

Sweet Kenzie Nicole

"Cousins are those childhood playmates who grow up to be forever friends!"

NYE

I spent NYE in Hot Springs with my amazing husband.

Have you ever been to Hot Springs on NYE??

The streets roll up and EVERYTHING shuts down... well everything except Oaklawn.

We drove downtown & we literally were the only ones on the road. It was absolutely beautiful! I love looking at the historic buildings & hotels... they were lit with Christmas lights and truley were breath taking and since there was no traffic, I could really take it all in.

We thought the movie theater was closed but luckily it wasn't... there just wasn't anyone there. Jeremy must REALLY love me because he took me to see BREAKING DAWN and didn't even fall asleep

{well maybe just once or twice}  

we both agreed, the movie was not that great however i am dying over the Cullens home in the movie. it’s def my new dream home.

if i could just re-locate that house to Arkansas on about 10 acres… ahhhhhh, that would be the life!!!

On the drive home, we made our first New Year's Resolution ~to go on more dates in 2012

We started working on Jeremy's NYR as soon as we got home
~ spend more time hunting/fishing in 2012

a few more of my goals for 2012:

I am going to love every second i get with my husband & kids, whether it’s preparing their breakfast, lunches, dinners, driving them to activities, snuggling at bedtime. i’m constantly overwhelmed with gratitude for the beautiful family i’ve been given.

I am going to continue focusing on being healthy. no extreme weight loss plans, just training with Robin - balance what i eat, enjoy the outdoors & exercise – i plan on running a 5K this year!

*****

whatever your new years resolutions are... i wish you great success and hope you find what it is that you love doing…and do it!

 

goodbye 2011, hello 2012!

this year was a great one! so many amazing memories, experiences and adventures. this post could be incredibly long if i were to name them ALL so instead i will just highlight a few…

i happily turned 30...

 since my incredibly amazing husband took us to DISNEY WORLD to celebrate! here, here, here and here... he even drove two hours out of the way so I could spend the day at the beach here!

we experienced  "Monster Jam" for the first time!

Andrew is finally potty trained!

Adrianna celebrated pre-teen style for her 12th birthday!

Adrianna started jr. high!

 in early december, our baby boy turned 4! it’s crazy that our youngest is not so little anymore. makes me a little sad. {but i also love the freedom of having kids grow-up!} He requested a super hero party and had a blast flipping and jumping with friends!

an amazing year indeed. heres to making 2012 even better!

 Wishing you all a beautiful new year & lots of good luck