Our First Family Trip to Walt Disney World!

We went on vacation in late May to Walt Disney World and had an awesome time! 

The Girls packing the most important things!

We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort within the Disney Parks and I must say we found it to be a very decent place to stay:)

We hit three parks in three days and the girls were total troopers! 

Monkey and Baby Red LOVED riding the buses to the parks!

Monkey wanted to do everything! Her favorites were the Dumbo ride and the Goofy Roller Coaster at Magic Kingdom.

Monkey and her Daddy in line for the Dumbo Ride.

It is hard to say what Baby Red liked the best but I know she loved the carousel  and meeting Goofy, Mickey, and Piglet. I personally loved the Lion King show and Mickey's Jungle Jammin' parade at Animal Kingdom!

We went all out and bought the dining plan and we certainly never went hungry! They give you so much food!!! It is really kind of ridiculous! My favorite meal while there was actually at the sit down restaurant located at the Caribbean Beach Resort. 

She is one Happy Girl!

We took the girls to several character dining experiences and they had a blast! We saw Pooh, Tigger, and the gang at the Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom and we dined with Minnie, Mickey, and Goofy at the Tusker House located inside Animal Kingdom.

Baby Red did NOT like Tigger!

But She LOVED Piglet!

The girls scored tons of autographs and photo ops with the characters which I loved because the one time I had been to Disney World before we hardly saw a single character...

Monkey was scared of them because she knew what they did to Cinderella!

So stinkin' Excited!

We took advantage of all the Fast Passes for rides and hardly waited in line for anything! I think the longest wait we had was about 30 minutes. The weather was pretty much perfect and we only got rained one afternoon while at Magic Kingdom and it was short lived.

Basically, the vacation was fantastic until it wasn't...


The last full day we were there I woke up to the sound of Baby Red throwing up! She had caught her first stomach virus from somewhere and was SO sick! We took turns on sick patrol and took Monkey to swim and play on the playground at the resort. Thankfully, we hit a lull in the sickness long enough to make it home before she started up again. The poor thing had the virus for about 6 days! Monkey and my husband both caught it as well but it was over quickly for them.

Overall, we had a great vacation! We of course didn't get to see and do it all but that is ok because... little did we know that we will be headed back to Disney in August! My Sister and Brother- In-Law have a time share and have invited us to come with them when they go for their summer vacation :)


My favorite part of all was seeing the ridiculously huge, cute smile plastered on Monkey's face while she was meeting the all of the characters. It was truly priceless!

My Weight Loss Journey Continues...

I am proud to say that I have been keep, keep, keeping on at the gym. I have been going to my personal training sessions two times a week and mostly keeping up with my cardio on my days at home.

Source: 25.media.tumblr.com via Lacey on Pinterest

I had another measurement check-in last week and lost another 4 1/4 inches with the biggest loss of 1 1/2 inches being in my hips! That brings my total inches lost to 18 1/4 inches since February. 


I am definitely noticing that all of my clothes are fitting better and some are even quite loose. Even with all those inches lost I still haven't gone down a pants size yet... but I do think I am close. What does that say? I'm not really sure but I think it says that I was STUFFED in my pants before, lol :)


I can tell that I am still gaining muscle especially in my legs and thighs. I feel stronger which I have to say is a very nice feeling! 

I am definitely struggling in the eating department though. I have only lost about one lb. since last I checked in with you and my weight seem to be stuck kind of bouncing up and down around the same five lbs. which is SUPER frustrating. I think the downward spiral really started when we went on vacation in late May. 

I have been not only neglectful to the blog as of late but also in keeping up with tracking my calories on livestrong.com. 

                                                               Source: beta.primal-palate.com via Lacey on Pinterest

So, to jump start my weight loss my husband and I both started on a 21 day Sugar detox. Basically, it means we are eating meat and veggies and THAT.IS.IT. No breads, pastas, beans, potatoes, fruit, dairy, or anything else that remotely tastes good! We are on day 7 and all I can say is that I want a cupcake I am really hungry! I will give a full report on the detox when we finish up in about two weeks!


I am a good American and I want it  yesterday now!I really am a bit frustrated that I haven't gotten farther than I have in the five months that I have been consciously trying to loss weight but I am not giving up and I am going to keep fighting until I win!

I'm Alive!

Well.... I honestly can't believe it has been so long since I have blogged! The girls and I decided to take a very early Summer Break and haven't been up to our usual Tot School and craftiness. Instead, we have been just chilling out and relaxing enjoying the kiddie pool, the park, the library, and the beautiful weather!

We have had an unbelievable Spring here with the weather being just about perfect! We have taken advantage of the gorgeous days and spent a lot of time by the water table, the sandbox, the swings, and on our bikes and ride-along toys.

Truth be told... I got a little burnt out on the blogging and photography end of things and was suffering a bit of blogger block!

I have really missed all my bloggy friends though and I have finally thought of a few new things to share. I also have some things about the girls that I would like to chronicle so expect to hear a lot more from me in the coming weeks!

Some things I want to get caught up on are Monkey's birthday, our vacation, my weight loss journey, and some of our plans for the new school year!

So glad to be back!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day is always a bittersweet celebration at our house. I lost my Dad to a sudden stroke in 2004 just one month before my graduation from college. It was a huge blow to me because my Dad and I had not always gotten along... However we had just started to become close shortly before his death. We would talk on the phone with each other for hours about nothing really. Just silly stuff like t.v. shows, the weather, his baby calves, politics, my school and work. In fact, I talked to him on the phone the night before he died and he seemed to be so happy and in such great spirits. He told me about his doctor visit and how his heart test results had come back really great.


He told me after my niece was born that he was ready to be a grandpa again and wanted to know when I was going to have kids...

My Dad as a little boy

It really stinks that he never got to meet the girls because I know he would have been head over heels in love with them! He would have been such a great grandpa and my heart still hurts every time I think about the memories my girls will never get to have with my Dad...

My Dad

My Dad was passionate about things he believed in and often wrote letters to his congressmen and other officials. He believed in aliens, loved the history channel, and watching wrestling. He was an entrepreneur and was always getting my Mom and I caught up in the middle of his next project. I spent one horribly, hot summer as a teenager serving up waffle dogs to people out of a food truck at festivals and carnivals and another time I spent hours at the flea market helping my Dad sell purses and carved wooden animals!

My Dad was into the couponing and the sweepstakes craze way before it was ever posh and he was always waiting by the door for his million dollar check to show up. He would actually slick back his hair, get dressed up, and make me get dressed up too on the day that Publishers Clearing House was supposed to be surprising one lucky family with the big check. We never won big but he did win about forty boxes of cereal one time...


The year before my Dad's death we lost my husband's Dad to a long slow death from a disease that causes all of your vital organs to harden. He slowly wasted away enduring countless days of pain and misery. He was only 42 when he died...

He was one of the most charismatic men I have ever encountered. He could light up a room in two seconds flat and could turn anyone's frown into a smile. Everybody loved him and I know the girls would have been crazy about him! He was a hard worker and he loved fishing, hunting, and causing mischief!


A year after my Dad past away I lost my Grandpa R. He was eaten up with cancer inside and they didn't find it until it was too late for treatment. He lived only a few short weeks after they diagnosed him with the cancer...

My Grandpa R.

I have so many wonderful childhood memories tied up with my Grandpa R. He was always so fun and he and I were the best of buds! I loved when he would make me sausage and biscuit sandwiches for breakfast. He always kept extras in the freezer for anyone stopping by. He helped teach me to drive by letting me drive his car in loops around an old airport hanger and he taught me how to play tennis. He always smelled of onions because they were his favorite food!


After he retired from his state job he became a teacher and one year our school got out before his school did and my sister and I got to go to school with him for a week. I remember being like seven or so and thinking I was so cool because I was sitting in class with a bunch of 8th graders! 


In 2006, the week I was supposed to start my first real job as a First Grade teacher I lost my last Grandpa. He was my Dad's Dad and it really hurt because He and my Dad had always been so very close. In fact, my Grandma and Grandpa had always lived with us off and on and when I was a teenager they put in a house right next to ours and so I was only ever a quick walk down the driveway from them.

My Grandpa S.

My Grandpa S. was a man of many words and a great story teller. He had so many fascinating stories to tell to anyone who would listen and even a few stories for those who didn't want to listen! He had been to all fifty states and had run away from home at the age of 15 to join the circus! He was trained to take care of the horses and soon he had learned to ride bareback and could make a horse do just about any kind of trick such as counting and rolling over. Later on, he became one of the main acts in the circus and could spin three lassos at once, use a bull whip to cut a cigarette in half out of someone's mouth, and threw knifes at my Grandma! He was all cowboy and he had two great loves old Western movies and Wrestling! He was once asked to star in a Western film when he was young and he turned them down because he thought he wouldn't get paid!

My Grandma and Grandpa in their Western Gear

In later years, he was awarded a big recognition by the Chicago Zoo for being one of the first people to effectively raise Chimpanzees and Orangutans in captivity. The girls would have loved his stories...


Thankfully, we still have both of my husband's Grandpas and both of the girls adore their Papa Y! He is a real cowboy, smart as they come, runs miles every morning in his cowboy boots, and has such a powerful love of God that I have rarely witnessed in a human being. We have tons of great pictures of him but I won't post them since I did not ask permission.


I couldn't write about all these Fathers without mentioning my husband in there somewhere too! He is a great Dad and the girls are extremely blessed to have such a loving Father in their lives. He doesn't embarrass easily and would do just about anything for his girls.

Monkey in the Ergo with Daddy

With all that said... We are going to enjoy Father's Day by making a picnic lunch for my husband and the girls and I have worked hard the last few weeks creating a few fun homemade presents for him.


Here are a few pictures that we did as two of our projects... Enjoy and I hope you all have a wonderful Father's Day!

Wearing Daddy's boots

Wearing Daddy's Boots