Cole's Birthday Weekend!

Last night while my hubs was working, he sends me a fb message that says "you're really slacking on the blog" lol. He reads the weeks posts at once, and apparently last night, he didn't have much to read!

On Thursday, Drew got his first haircut! He looks so handsome and grown up! I didn't cry this time around, but it was close. I'm one of THOSE moms. I'm completely ok with that! My hubs had to work, so my parents went with me. My dad had to hold Drew. He was not about to sit in the chair by himself. So high maintenance. I have no idea where he gets that!

On Saturday, we celebrated Cole's 4th birthday! It's official, my baby is 4! We had a party at my parents lake house!! It was a beautiful day. We were outside the whole day! Cole was worn out, and so were his poor allergy eyes. Poor guy swells up to the size of golf balls in the spring. Can't seem to find anything that works. He's seeing an allergist soon, thank goodness.

Sunday my hubs had to work again. Cole had soccer. He scored his first goal! I was a proud Mommy!! Even if he did position the ball with his hands on where he wanted to kick it! ;) I say that's just a smart way to do things! All in all, a pretty great weekend! What did you do?

WIW and B & A

Weigh in Wednesday again! I have to be honest, I haven't been on the scale in about 4 weeks. Basically, because I'm afraid of what I'm going to see. I've gotten careless lately. Just shoveling food in my mouth whenever, and whatever I wanted. Booooo. I'll tell you....I really like when I get dressed and clothes fit better, than I do when  I eat multiple cupcakes, and drink pepsi! I need to remember that feeling! I had a Dr's appt and I told them not to tell me what the scale said, and I didn't look! She did say "it's down a little bit from last time". That was 2 months ago......the sad part is....I'd went down a lot since the last time at the Dr. but I'm fearful I've put most of it back on. Hence, the reason I didn't want to look.

I'm bored with the 30 DS, I hate the treadmill, I've been walking outside but with Cole on his bike....and as you can imagine....we're not moving very fast at that point :) But at least I'm moving right? We try to do about 2 miles a day, weather permitting. I need a good app on my phone to track how far we've gone, and how many calories. Any suggestions? I don't want to buy a fance shmancy watch. I'm not skilled enough, nor fast enough to require one of those. An app will be just fine! I'm now finding that certain parts of my body need more work than others. Arms, and Inner thighs are my issues right now. I've been looking for exercises to address specifically those issues this week.

This is a before picture in February, and a picture this morning on the right. I have a LONG way to go. That's only down about 15 pounds.....and I've gained some back. Try to draw your attention away from my giant flabby arms. I cannot believe I even posted this for the world to see, lol. It's somewhat hard to see int eh black tanktop....but I still looked pregnant in that pic! I'm happy with seeing some results....but I know that I have such a long way to go before I'm comfortable again. A work in progress. My arms seem to be getting more flabby as I lose weight. Is that common??

I haven't seen any other WIW posts yet this morning so I hope didn't mess the memo...and we are still doing this right?? :)

Need a Routine

 

I'm a creature of habit, I like routine. Lately, my routine has been upside down! I am still learning the ropes of this whole being at home ALL. DAY.LONG. stuff. Is there some Stay-at-home mom code that I don't know about?

To all of you other SAHM's.....do you have certain chores you do each day? Or do you just do things as you see that they need done? Oddly enough....now that I have all the time in the world to clean my house, I find it getting messier as the days go by! That's probably because I'm in the middle of it all day now, and things that wouldn't normally be getting messy, are. I feel a little bit like a chicken with my head cut off, running around from task to task.....and not really completeing anything!

I'm finding myself much less stressed. Before it was hurry hurry hurry.....need to get things done while I have the chance. Now it's.....eh I have all week to get that done! Umm....that doesn't always work out. Procrastination is not my strong suit! So I've been trying to find ways to get myself on a routine, so that not so many things need done all at once. My progress so far......well the only thing I've accomplished is the laundry. I do it on Wednesdays, and Thursdays. I know that my laundry has never all been done at the same time before......because I'm out of hangers for the hubs and I! haha. Sad but true.

Here are a few things I've found on Pinterest to help me with my routine issues:





I plan on checking all these things out, and hopefully something will inspire me! Anyone have an routines they follow?

Blog Friends Rock, and Our Weekend

Today, I thought I'd share a little bit about the struggles I've been having in the weight-loss world. The past month, I have mentioned that my life has drastically changed. I cannot go into much detail but I can tell you that I am now a true stay-at-home Mom. No babysitting on the side anymore. Since all that has happened.....I'm a lot less busy. (Although I shouldn't be, my house needs scrubbed from top to bottom) There have been a lot of changes for me. I now have access to food all day long, I didn't before. I am now bored, again shouldn't be....but what did old Kristen do when she was bored?.....yep, EAT....oh and since I was depressed a few weeks ago...I had my hubs pick me up a 12 pack of pepsi, and I've been drinking one everyday! Lots of bad habits that I had kicked 4 months ago, have been coming back the past 4 weeks. I also used to blog everyday. I looked forward to it. But, lately I haven't made time for it, I have felt like I don't really have much to say. I'm disheartened about a lot of things in life right now. One being, why doing good things for people, most of the time end up biting you in the ass. I guess you could say I've been in  hibernation somewhat.

Something hit me last night when I was scanning through instagram pics that all you girls have been posting. What has changed with me that I don't care what I eat, I'm not working out, and feeling the way old Kristen used to feel? It's the fact that I haven't made time to blog with all of you, and make myself accountable. Although we don't see each other everyday you blog friends were/are my inspiration and when I'm not involved, or not talking with you everyday.....you start feeling alone again. Overwhelmed in the whole process.....again. The cold hard truth is, when you eat crap, you feel like crap. When you don't move your body.....you feel like crap....when you let yourself feel like crap.....you becoming an even bigger pile of crap. lol. I try to make light of it, but it's the truth! So my blogging is going to become a priority of mine again. It really does help.

I've gotta kick this feeling. When you feel like life is a mess....you become like your surroundings. I'm a firm believer of that. When my house is a mess, I feel a mess. I know that sounds crazy, but it all adds up to not feeling in control. I've always been like that. When studying for a big exam back in college....I would have to clean my room first....because I didn't have a clear head for studying in a messy room. A little crazy I know! But, it is what it is!

Alright, on to some brighter news!

This weekend, Cole had his first soccer game. I was nervous. Last year we signed him up for tball. It was a disaster. He wanted nothing to do with it, and wouldn't leave Randy's side. Granted, it was at 9 am on saturday morning, outside in the dead of summer. It was so hot. There were 40 kids on the "team" so you had to wait 20 mins to bat, 20 mins to field, and you get the idea. It was a disaster. So I can't blame Cole for not liking it. But soccer? He loved it, and did amazing. I was so proud of him. It's indoor, and there are 3 coaches, he did so great.

Cole is the 4th kiddo in from the left, in a light blue shirt



We also celebrated Cole's 4th birthday with his friends this weekend! We had a bowling party. His first ever "kid party" His bday is April 27, we will do just immediate family on that day, but had a great time with his friends this weekend!

And yesterday, before heading out to my friends little boy's party....my hubs made a comment that it takes me forever to get ready. Not gonna lie, it does when I have to start from scratch. That, meaning I take a shower before going somewhere instead of at night when I usually do . So when I have to start with a shower.....it's a long haul. So I sent him this pic yesterday of why it takes me a long time.....

Hopefully now he understands! lol. Yes, I realize my hair looks super dark when it's wet. Weird. There you have it......another great weekend with my boys in the books! Have a great day!

School Picture Link Up

To me, this is the world's best linkup! I love pictures, and I love seeing what everyone looked like when they were little! I couldn't pass it up! Luckily, I have one of those Moms who keeps everything! I am one of those moms too :) This was easy for me to do because my mom literally has a school book labeled by year with all of my school pics, and about 1000 additional albums of just me. Yes, I'm an only child, lol.

I had to cut myself off, I wanted to post every picture in the book because they crack me up....but I stuck with the most embarrassing ones! haha.

One year I was Pippy Longstocking for Halloween. Those are wire hangers in my hair!

 

My Mom was all about the ribbons and bows! I don't recall a time that my hair wasn't in a bow or a ribbon, until I started doing my own hair! I hated it. I always cried when she brushed it, that stuff gets tangled up like woah!

On the left is my Preschool picture.....I guess I didn't want to show any teeth. It was probably because I was wondering why in the hell I borrowed a dress from an amish girl....on the right, my first day of Kindergarten. I was thrilled, in case you couldn't tell. I can't help but notice the giant scrunchie on my head, with like one strand of hair pulled through it. Way to go, Mom!

Oh yeah, you're right. That's a sweatshirt with "Nelson" on it. I was lookin good in my Star of the Month picture that hung in the hallway at school for EVERYONE to see. Yikes! I think the yellow turtleneck adds a nice touch. Apparently, I missed the memo on the correct way to wear a hat. You'd think that crazy Mrs. Armbruster (school secretary) would have helped me out with that before taking this awful picture! And then there's the school pic. All I can say is that my Mom and I BOTH obviously forgot it was picture day, and I apparently had started getting ready by myself at this point. I should have smacked her for letting me out of the house like this! She was probably running late too!

I guess, when I was in elementary school, I thought band was cool. I also thought  the clairnet was the coolest instrument since poptarts. I had a crush on a boy in my neighborhood who was in 9th grade, I was in 5th at this point. He played on the HS soccer team, hence the ADIDAS soccer shirt. I thought this would make him love me for sure!  Remember when silk shirts were cool? Yeah, me either. They were probably only cool if you had a silk bow to match it perfectly. Oh, and don't forget to button that thing up till you can't button no more! I think those are skeleton earrings in my ears. Again, where was my mother?!?! :)

This was when the "Rachel" from friends haircut was popular. I had to have it. And, honestly I think it looked pretty cute! I'm not complaining about this pic too much.....except for yet another turtleneck...but this time, it's short sleeved, I think that might actually be worse! Ahhhh....my 9th grade school pic. Enter braces. Yikes. I have never once worn my hair behind one ear like that, and I remember when the stupid photographer did that for me, I was thinking WTH....yeah should have went with my gut on that one. ugh. I hope you are all taking note, at the bangs that have shown up in every picture.

I skipped ahead a couple years. Two of my senior pics. Again with the bangs, AND a turtleneck! Hey, at least I was consistant right?

And finally on to College Graduation. The bangs are GONE, and I'm not wearing a turtleneck! Maybe I did learn something in college!

This was the most fun linkup! I want more like this! Ready....GO! PS.....Yes I blamed my Mom for a lot of my wardrobe problems! I'm not even kidding when I say she now buys MY KIDS turtlenecks too!!! AHH. She must be stopped!! :)

My First Trip to Ulta

The highlight of my weekend was that I FINALLY went to the new Ulta store that opened about 15 minutes away from my house! This could be dangerous!!!!! I did good, this time though. I went with a specific purpose, and I left with what I set out for. Good job me for not buying the WHOLE STORE.

I went to Ulta looking for foundation. I've had it with drugstore foundation. I've tried Cover Girl, Loreal, Revlon, Nutragena, and even NYC (because it was cheap, and I was sick of spending money)nothing lasts. 5 hours later it looks like I didn't even put makeup on. I even tried two types of Loreal. I tried the mousse first. I liked it for the first 2 days, then the third day I started noticing bumps on my face. I thought it was odd, because I usually have pretty good skin. I don't normally break out. So what do you do when you are questioning something? Google it! I found a bunch of reviews of women reporting the same thing....bumps on their face after about 2 days. Well, I was done with that. Then I saw that Mama L was using Loreal True Match. I thought "wow if Mama L is using it, it has to be good right?" WRONG. Either I didn't have the right color, or I just can't use loreal foundation. I didn't have bumps....but that stuff would not blend on my face. I had streaks everywhere, that I couldn't correct.

So after doing my homework on the Ulta website, I found out that the Ulta brand foundation is the same price as drugstore foundation, and 1. They have testers for the right color, and 2. you can return it! SOLD. Off I went to Ulta with both kids in tow. Taking a 4 year old boy, and a 1 year old boy into a cosmetics wonderland was a little scary. I bribed Cole with a DQ blizzard after, if he promised not to touch anything in the store. We were in an out in about 15 minutes. Mission successful. I cannot wait to go back alone though! I have a whole list of other things I want now!

$12.50! So far, I'm loving it. I can already see that this new Ulta love may be a problem! Can't wait to go back!

Since it's Monday, that means Dallas is on tonight! My obsession. Right up there with Duck Dynasty. I put my kids to bed 20 minutes early on Mondays so that I can get ready to watch Dallas! I'm not ashamed, lol. I look forward every week to that little piece of "me time" Just me, the tv, and John Ross. If only the TV didn't stand between my John Ross, and I  :) I have a few friends that I facebook with during the show.....It takes me back to my highschool, and early college days when my friends and I used to talk on the phone, and Instant message through Gilmore Girls, and One Tree Hill! haha. those were the days!

See you tonight....yum!

I'll be getting my school pics together tonight for the linkup tomorrow! Holla!

Crazy Baby

Well a late blog post is better than no blog post right? Things have gotten ever crazier here at the Porter House. You didn't think it was possible did you? Drew still ISN'T walking! Cole walked at 10 months, so the fact that Drew turned 1 on March 17, and is still not walking is making me crazy! I've heard it many times from others...."you don't want them to walk, then they're into everything" Well....let me tell you I couldn't wait till Cole walked, and I can't wait till Drew walks! Drew has hit that stage of wanting down all the time, but depending where we are, a lot of times that can't happen. Why? because he CAN'T WALK! For example, last weekend we Randy cleaned out the garage. Cole was running around playing, and Drew wanted to join in on the fun. But, I didn't want to let him down on the garage floor. After about an hour of trying to get his attention turned to other things, and being completely unsuccessful, I decided to just suck it up, and let him down. He was filthy, and I cringed everytime I saw his little hands hit the garage floor to crawl to another location. I hated every second of it!

It seems that Drew is turning out to be quite the opposite of big brother Cole. As Cole got older, things got much easier with him. He wasn't "into" as much because he could get around on his own and he was completely happy with that! With Drew? Not so much. Things seem to be getting more, eh..umm...difficult? as he gets older. We use the term "ornery" a lot, but really the kid is a hellian! He was a late bloomer in that sense. A much easier "baby" than Cole....but now he's become crazy! He is constantly climbing on our fireplace hearth, and then standing up! He is great at getting the gate away from the steps. Our stairs are weird. They go out at the bottom, and on one side there are wood spindles, so you can't attach a gate at all. We have one of those giant outdoor gates rigged around the bottom, tied to the spindles on one side and we thought we had the other side blocked to where he can't move it. WRONG! He just moves that gate right out of the way, and heads up the stairs. By 10 am the kid had me worn out!

It's so funny to me how two siblings can be so different! I love it. They keep me on my toes, and keep me exhausted, that's for sure! That's pretty much what's going on with us for now!

Purse Party Linkup

Today I'm linking up for the Purse Party! I love purses. I have about 5 favorites that I go back and fourth with. I don't own any really expensive purses. Sadly, I don't even have any coach purses. My personal faves are "Kathy VanZealand" I have 5 of those.

The purse I'm using right now isn't designer. It's actually from Sam's Club! I thought the color was "springy" and my hubs surprised me by buying it when I wasn't looking :) Can't beat that!

At the beginning of the week I cleaned out my purse. That's probably a good thing or else I would have been very embarrassed when I showed you what I was carrying around! It consisted of about 30 pounds in change, 3000 receipts, and a ton of wrappers! I'm kind of a hoarder when it comes to junk in my purse! My purses are known to weigh about 10 pounds, lol. Now, I feel like I'm carrying nothing!

The purse breakdown: Fruit and Veggie melts, for Drew, a 31 wallet that is absolutely empty (thought it was a change purse when I bought it, huge waste of money) My wallet, (also Kathy Vanzeland btw :) 4 highlighters, an excavator, a plane, a truck, a pen, and some teddy grahams. Pretty boring! An odd combo! Anyone else have the bad habit of using your debit card, and then just throwing it back in your purse? I never put it back where it goes, then when it's time to use it, I panic and frantically throw everything out at the store! It's kind of a nightmare, and my heart stops for a minute that I don't have my card with me! lol.

I've always wanted a coach purse. My birthday is in July. The big 3-0! Maybe my hubs should buy me one! Hint hint ! ;)

I feel this way on a daily basis. I have random thoughts that I text my hubs about...and then later I forget what I even told him! My mind is always going, and I think my hubs should be able to keep up! He disagrees, lol. But, one thing I won't forget, is that I want a coach purse for my birthday!! :)

WW: The Reese's Rabbit Incident

Weigh-in Wednesday!! Yikes!!! All I can say is that Easter candy, and pop are NOT my friends!!! Really regretting those choices now! Up 3 pounds!! Noooo!!!! I guess that gives me the motivation to quit the bad habits today!

I'm not surprised that I've gained. I guess when you eat an entire Reese's rabbit in one sitting , you're gonna gain! What makes it worse, the rabbit didn't even belong to me!! Lol. I stole it from my hubs baskets while he was at work :)

I have to get back in a workout routine, like yesterday! Burn some calories!!! Hopefully the Reese's rabbit incident is enough for me to start moving again!

I'm a stress eater, and within the past two weeks my world has turned upside down. Lots of changes, and my eating habits are paying the price! Gotta kick that bad habit now!!! Old habits are the HARDEST habits to break!!!

Misery loves company, so I'm anxious to see if anyone else has gorged themselves with Easter candy?!? :)

Drew's 1st Birthday Party

I'm a little late, but here are the pictures of Drew's party! It was on March 16. Wow that seems so long ago now! He ended up having an ear infection that we didn't know about until the next day, and his very intelligent mommy scheduled his party right during naptime! I always do that....not sure why I haven't learned yet! So needless to say, Drew wasn't a very happy camper! Luckily, his big brother was there to help him open all of his presents, and to play with all his new toys when we got home too! That's what older siblings are for, right?

Since Drew's actual birthday is on St. Patrick's Day, we of course had to theme his first birthday in honor of that! I figured this may be the only year I have that chance. Next year he'll probably want some character that I will loathe, but I'll do it anyway. For example, Cole will be 4 in April. He's having his first "friend" bowling party. Not much decorating to do, but he's requested Batman invitations, plates, and cups. Yay......in my most sarcastic tone. But I have already gotten his Batman invitations, and we'll bowl it up Batman style, just for my most favorite 4 year old! The things we do for our kids right? haha :)

Kids goody bags

Gift table, but before there were any gifts

Grammy and Drew

Cake table

Ready to party!

Eating pizza

Drew's smash cake

 

During this party, I realized yet again that it's really hard to be the photographer, videographer, Mom of the birthday boy, and the hostess! I'm relying on my family memebers to have hopefully gotten better pictures that I did, and most of it is on video, like opening the gifts, and that kind of thing. But you get the idea. It was a shamrock kinda day!!

Easter Weekend

Hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Easter! We did for sure. Spent the day with our family. We laughed so much, my cheeks hurt when we left. I love days like that. We all had so much fun. My cousin and his wife have a 3 month old daughter, my other cousin has a 7 year old daughter, and then of course my boys, almost 4, and 1. It's so great seeing them all together. Warms my heart. I can't wait for this summer when we all spend lots of time together at my parents lake house.I apologize now for all the photos. Wait, no I don't, I love pics!! :)

I'm still sick with this sinus mess after 8 days! I'm looking rough in this picture! But, I usually stay away from the camera as much as possible. I'm just proud of myself for being in one of the pictures for once! haha.
I think my boys had an excellent Easter. They are worn out after a weekend full of fun! Beautiful weather on Saturday. We spent it at our neighborhood egg hunt, and then riding bikes outside. A great day, and excited my hubs got to enjoy it with us. Been missing him a lot lately. He's working a lot, but I love him for it. :)

I have mentioned a few times this past week, that I've been going through some things. Days like yesterday (Easter) remind me of what's really important. It reminded me to let all my worries go. Give them all to God, and he will lead me where I need to go. Sometimes it's hard to do, to just let go.....but there are also times when that's all we can do.So that's what I intend to do. I just have to let go for now, and see what happens. Thank you to all of you who have offered support, it means a lot :)