So...

I totally have at least 4 partial posts sitting in my drafts box. I can't seem to come up with the time and wit and words to finish them off to actually get them posted. I have a recap of the past few weeks, but want to add pictures, and don't seem to ever remember to dump my camera onto my laptop to get that one done. I had another started to talk abotu my Bootcamp progress. And a few others have been in the ol' drafts list for a while, more timeless, philosophical ones...maybe someday.

But today was the last official day of my Bootcamp Insanity; we ran thru the same set of tests we did on the first day.

My results?? I have a lost a total of 4 lbs, and 2 points off my BMI, (but somehow my body fat percentage was the same(?) I did 7 more push-ups in 30 seconds than 4 weeks ago, and shaved one minute off the running test. I am feeling really really good, the crazy insane o'clock in the morning thing HASN'T been the death of me. I no longer have the stiffness and pain in my lower back and hips that I frequently woke up with, and have more energy overall.

Boot camp ROCKS! Shelly, Shawn and Chris are great at encouraging us without pressure. All the women are so encouraging of each other. I am signed up for another 4 weeks. I am going to try to be much more focused and intentional on the nutritional aspects this month and also try working out on my own on the "off" days more regularly, with hopes of losing at least another 4 pounds by the end of July. Wish me luck!

Happy Father's Day...

to my most dear, most lovely husband, who truly is a most amazing father to our 4 children.

We aren't ones to make too much of these overly commercialized, consumer driven holidays. And we have been so busy with the prep and execution of our family reunion (which was this weekend and is now over!) that we haven't had time to think about much else. But I figured the least I could do was write a little something here.

We had a wonderful breakfast with some lingering post-reunion family including Greg's parents, his brother and family, and one of his cousins and her family who were still in town this morning and that was nice.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, playing outside with the kids, and watching a movie; I spent the day lounging and napping on the the couch, watching some of my favorite cooking/travel/decorating and gardening shows on PBS. It was a perfect end to a couple of really crazy and stressful weeks. And then this evening we met my parents for a nice casual dinner out.

To my dearest husband, I love our beautiful, crazy and patience testing children. I love the home and family we've created together. You're a great dad and I love you, so very much.

Happy Father's Day!

Bootcamp Insanity

So here I am....sitting here after Week 2 -Day 1 of Bootcamp.

Yes, this crazy bootcamp fitness class - moment of sheer insanity thing - that I signed up for.

Last week was week 1 (duh) and 33 women of all ages, shapes and sizes are meeting three days a week from 6-7am on a school playground for some serious fitness. Yes, I drag my sorry butt out of bed at 5:15am (otherwise known in my world as o'dark hundred hours) to go and be run thru the ringer by our drill sargeants leaders, Shawn and Chris and Shelly. Running, push-ups, ab work, cardio, agility it's all there. It's painful and hard, but in that "feel-the-burn-it's-a-good-thing" kinda way. They are kicking our butts...and quads, and hamstrings and triceps and biceps and muscles I had long forgotten even existed in my mother of 4 "core". Uff.dah.

But boy does it feel good. And the crazy o'clock in the morning thing isn't killing me either...which is actually a huge shock for me. I originally signed up just for the 4 week session for June thinking I can do ANYTHING 12 times, but then last week I signed on for July too. Gotta whip my tail in gear here and I am hoping this is just the thing to do it.

And to top it off, my lovely amazing husband is totally supportive of me and is even getting up at 5:30 to go running himself. Love him!!

Stay tuned for more Bootcamp Insanity updates. Or check out my friend Wendy's take on things here and here. Maybe I'll even try to snap a couple of photos sometime soon just for y'all's enjoyment. heh.

All things...

IKEA!!!

I love anytime I can spend browsing thru IKEA. Surprisingly, it does not feed into my feelings of discontentment - rather it feeds my inspirations.

The Hubs called me up mid morning yesterday and said he was tired of working and did I want to play hooky and do our IKEA "run"? The answer of course was a big fat YES!!!!

See, I have been contemplating filling one whole wall of my living room with brown/black Billy bookcases....to create a built in library look and have been waiting for a free day when I could make the 70 minute drive and and back myself...but this was even better. My favorite store with my favorite people!

Our living room has been kind of the "catch all" multi-purpose room since we moved into this house nearly 8 years ago, housing a desk for the kid's computer, misc art, a bookcase with toys, puzzles and games and a hodge podge of furniture. And I am ready to start moving forward to make it look a little more "intentional".

So we did our part to help stimulate the economy and bought ourselves a van full of bookcases...along with cushions and pillows for our deck furniture, a bunch of kitchen trinkets, and all sorts of other goodies!

It was a great day together....I love short road trips with my husband...and Jaxon was along for the ride and was an absolute gem the whole day. We had lunch (Swedish meatballs of course!), browsed the whole store, filled my big yellow bag full of all sorts of goods, and then made our way to the warehouse to load the cart with 2 talls, 3 shorts and a whole mess of doors. I am so excited!

Before and after pictures will be posted as soon as they are all assembled!

All things busy...

here are a few glimpses of the past few weeks....

My Mothers of Multiples Club Sale...this is what 140 people look like waiting to get in the door before we even opened. Acck!



And here is the insanity of it all....


And 2 tired chicas....me and one of my fellow sale co-chairs...we ROCK!!! (imho of course)


It was 72 hours of sheer madness. My back still isn't back to normal after being on my feet on a solid concrete floor for most of it.

Then, our oldest "stomped" his way thru church one morning here...(that's him in the skeleton shirt..yes at church). It came off the heels of our opening worship set which ended with the song "Indescribable". It was really cool.

The next week, our girlies performed an original song they wrote themselves for their school variety show....(Jewels is singing, Wren is on piano)



And my baby boy graduated from pre-school....



Since then, (I don't have any pictures to document most of this) we had a little Happy Hour Party with a few friends (and tequila) on Saturday night of the Memorial Day weekend. My brother and family were here for an overnight Sunday to Monday to celebrate my dad's birthday.

Last week was filled with piano lessons, field trips, classroom volunteering, a fun brunch with fellow 2nd grade moms, and a little furniture shopping thrown in for good measure.

This week is supposed to be filled with crossing things off lists. See, we are hosting the Hinterland Family Reunion in less than 3 week! We have huge long lists of things to do, mostly cleaning and organizing, a few big things left to do outside in order to be "ready". The lists are overwhelming for me, since lately I have a hard getting motivated to do much of anything at all, esp when I am home during the day with Jaxon.

The biggest hurdle I have to overcome in all this list making nonsense is my own "it's not good (pretty, clean, organized) enough to have people in my home" complex. I am constantly plagued by it. We live in a nice home. We are blessed...I know. I have some very nice things and for the most part, we really lack for nothing. But society tells us otherwise.

I can't keep myself from getting caught up in the "if onlys" ...if only my carpets were clean, if only I had new furniture for that room, if only our deck was bigger, if only I could re-paint this wall, if only my kid's rooms were cleaner, the guest bathroom could get tiled etc. It's a heavy dose of discontentment, mostly stemming from reading decorating blogs and magazines. I can get caught up in dreams and wishful thinking of how I think things could be and look, and I lose sight of all that is good and wonderful right now. I have neither the resources, creativity or time to make most of it come to fruition all at once and that frustrates me.

So I will spend the next 3 weeks trying to talk myself down from this sense of discontentment and find that place of contentment once again. And realize and thank God for all I do have and be at peace and feel blessed once again.

'Cuz I know (really I do)...that when it comes to parties, happy hours and family reunions, it's not about clean carpets, perfectly decorated rooms, decks filled with pretty potted flowers or landscaped yards, it's about the time spent together.