Congratulations, Honey!!!!!

He did it!!!!! Allen lost two more pounds this week. That puts him at -81 pounds!!!!!!! Unbelievable. I am SO very proud of you, Allen! I lost one pound this week. That put s me at -43. I was really hoping it would be more as I have been exercising and being more careful. I have even been keeping track of my points. But then again it 'tis that time again.

Have any of you heard of the First Place program? My church is considering starting up a group. It is similar to Weigh Down, I guess.

Playdate with Cousins

Today we had a playdate with three of my kids' cousins. We got to go out to Allen's parents. Actually we were on Alan and Michelle's property. Thanks :) Here is the swingset that MawMaw and Papa have been working on ....gave it a great facelift. The kids just loved it. Thank you so much for all your elbow grease and $$$ to get that swingset in tiptop shape.

Lauren, Emily and Hannah watching the Hermann's new baby goat. We had such a full, nice day today. The weather held out for us, I was so immensely grateful!

Playdate with Cousins

The whole crew. My Joseph on the hood (the only guy....boy he needed his Caleb :P), Breanna, Sami, Emily, Hannah, and Lauren.

The crew taking a break with Papa!

All our adorable little monkeys. Hannah, Lauren, Joseph, Breanna, Emily and Sami

My beautiful niece Sami posing for her picture crazy auntie :)

Sandy and her princess Sami

Playdate with Cousins

Miss Emily watching the goats.

Hannah and her cousin Lauren.

My Hannah girl just hanging in a tree :)

Joseph playing in the tunnel

My she was eating the fence....I don't know :)

Spring Come Quickly

Are any of the rest of you sick and tired of getting sick? Now my kids have a bit of the stomach flu. We came home from the doctor's office after checking Joseph's ears...again. He still has fluid on his ears, but she said it wasn't infected. Praise!

After we got home, Joseph had a diarrhea explosion everywhere. Then Emily threw up at the dinner table. We took them outside to get some fresh air. Hannah peed her pants out there. We came in and were given them a bath. Hannah puked in the tub. Then as we were having family devotions I looked over to see Joseph's diaper spring forth once again on the tan carpet! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!! Needless to say, I have a lot more laundry to do :(

Pray for my precious babies. They are doing ok today. Hannah and Emily are complaining of stomach aches every now and again. Emily has had diarrhea and Joseph has had another blow out.

Ahhh, life with three toddlers I guess. I can't wait for the cold and flu season to be OVER!!!

Back On

Well, the wagon didn't leave me. I have slowly pulled my trampled self back on the wagon. I am praising God for a good weigh-in. I lost 5 pounds this week. So, I am back to my lowest in years and years. That also puts me back at -42 pounds. My goal is to make it a nice even 50 for the weigh-in. That is a lofty goal as it is only 2.5 weeks away, but I do better with goals.

Allen has lost 5 pounds this week as well! He has amazing willpower. I want to be like him when I grow up!!!!!! He is now at his lowest in a really long time. -79 pounds! I think he needs to get some kind of special treat when he hits that 80 mark, don't you??? I can't believe how much he has lost. I am so proud of you, Hun! Keep it up. You are my weight loss hero...well, you and Danna :)

We have now pulled back into the lead in our Biggest Loser contest barring Chris having a huge weight loss week.

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement. I feel much better about all it this week!

Update

Bishop died this morning. Though we are grateful that he is no longer suffering, please pray for my cousin Kelly and her daughter Taylor as they have a long emotional journey ahead of them.

March Madness!!!

Do any of you follow college basketball. I normally don't. I like football, not much for basketball. I am a WI fan by birth though. So, I will have to say.....GO Badgers, crush those Aggies. That is mainly for my brother in law's benefit....as he is a Texas A&M alumnus :)

Is This the Feather?

All right! I have another prayer request. I now have strep throat. Thankfully I am catching this really early (I am an expert :P). Now please pray that my family doesn't get it.

Frustrating End to Annoying Week!

Sigh....I am glad that week is over. Hopefully I won't be as annoyed or hungry. I have gained 5 pounds this week supposedly. Not sure how really accurate that is. I didn't take my pills all weekend. Yesterday morning I was up 10 pounds. So I lost 5 pounds of water weight yesterday. Grrr...frustrating, but I did eat horribly last week.

Allen lost those 3 pounds he had gained. He is doing awesome!

*****Prayer Requests******

Please be in prayer for my cousin Kelly's husband Bishop. He has advanced cancer at just 30 years old. The hospice nurses told her they would be surprised if he made it to tomorrow! He has a little girl 8 :( Very sad.

Also, please keep praying for my Aunt Annie. She is becoming more and more uncomfortable. She can't lie back and her left side is freezing because her circulation has become so bad.

Another is for Allen's job. He is not happy where he is. He needs some encouragement. I hate seeing him go through this, but I know he is growing through it.

Pray also for my sister and brother in law (Michelle and Alan). Alan is planning on putting in two job applications this week. Pray for clear direction.

Joseph is still tugging at his ear. Pray that his ear infection will go away, otherwise we have to go see a specialist :(

One more....my knee. It has really been bothering me. I am not sure if it is from the two times I twisted my ankle in the last two months or something new. I can't bend it past 90 degrees without pain. Sitting hurts as well.

No really....other than all this we are doing GREAT!!!!

This Past Weekend

While we were waiting for Allen to get done with his conference we went up to visit MawMaw and Papa. They were nextdoor visiting Gamma, Gampa and Sami. That was super because we got to see everyone and the kids got to play on Sami's park :) This is our cousin Sami. Love those sunglasses, girl!!

Gampa Bob is awesome with flowers. This is one of his very first ones to break through this season. I just love it!

A Day of Play

We took a walk at JB park. We being me and the kids as Allen had his stupid...I mean very useful convention this weekend. The kids played so well. I was soooo proud of them. Hannah was pretty creative here.....pushing her sister and getting a ride herself.

Joseph thought the park TASTED awesome! He ate a rock, bark and various park vehicles :)

More Play

Look at the crazy hair on this child. Allen won't let me cut it yet. He says I have to wait until after his 1st birthday to see if it curls up like his did. I am not sure I can wait that long :)

I had to show this one as you can see Emily's hair is really growing and curling in back :)

Another Potty Story

As we were just leaving downtown St Louis Emily yells "potty". Sometimes they do that just to get of the car or because they recognize one of our usual spots. Well, she said it a couple of times, so I made Allen pull over to the nearest parking spot. That happened to be right next to the plaza where they hold all the sports rallies. Well, she gets going on the van potty as there are no bathrooms in sight not to mention she doesn't even have shoes on anymore (hillbilly)...well, she not only had to pee, but she had to pooh. Ugh yih! Allen was dying of embarassment, especially when we looked and there were two cloth napkin and tablecloth restaurants facing our direction. Then Hannah had to go. She had to go both as well. Not to be outdone, Joseph poohed his diaper. Unbelievable! Thankfully I had a couple of plastic bags to dump it all in so I didn't have to bang the seat on the neighborhood garbage can :)

Here she is thinking this was funny....everything is funny to that girl!

10 months old! I can't believe it. He is growing up too fast. He is cruising on furniture, crawling up steps, is getting his 7th tooth and is starting to talk. Last night he called Hannah "Nah" and this afternoon he said "Bah" while holding his bottle. What a smarty pants. I love you little man!!!

????

Are your eyes getting tired or your hand from having to scroll through all these pictures yet???

Various Pics

Emily holding my mom's dog, Lucy. This is a miracle. She is soooo scared of dogs. I was so proud of how brave she was at my parents' house! This picture is so frosty because I had just come inside with my camera :P

The girls jump into bed with Joseph as soon as they hear him make a peep. This is them last week for Jammie Day.

Kissing cousins: Joseph and Julianna ;)

Here is a classic Emily moment. She got into the fridge while I was answering the door. If you look on the floor you can see all the baking soda she spilled first. Then she got into my salad. What a weird kid. If you raid a fridge never go for veggies. That has to be in some kid handbook somewhere!

Happy 50th, Mom!

We went up the weekend before last to WI to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday. Yes, she had me when she was very young :) The kids have such a great time being with family! Well, we do too of course

Hannah went shopping for Nanny herself. She bought her a hair package. Who couldn't use a giant blue pick to stick in a nonexistent fro? Emily bought my mom Bert hair pretties and Joseph bought her sponge rollers (you can't call yourself a real grandma if you don't have sponge rollers) and gardening gloves ;0)

Here are the guys. My dad, my Uncle Mark, my brother Chris, Allen, and Jason (my cousin Amanda's boyfriend).

50th Birthday Weekend

Dana and Joseph. I can only imagine him thinking "yeah the only reason you are smiling is because I am the one in this hat"

Aunt Annie even made it to the party. She is NOT doing well. Please pray for her. She is having trouble walking unassisted and is so very swollen. She can't even lie back otherwise she can't breathe.

My thinner man with my little man!

Thinner Dana and me

50th Birthday Weekend

Always chewing on something! I guess that is how it is when you get 7 teeth in 4.5 months :)

I LOVE this picture. Emily put on my dad's boots and said, "Me, Bumpa"...ok it sounded much cuter and less Tarzanish coming out of her cute mouth :)

Hannah loved my mom's new dog, Lucy. She played with her as much as possible. Lucy used to be really afraid of everyone. I guess we broke her in good. Now she thinks if she could handle all of us, normal people are no big deal :)

I know, I know. I hate when people dress their animals up too. But I couldn't resist this pink raincoat for Lucy's dog warming shower :)

Hannah is such a Nanna's girl! When we are up there, she never misses me :) I am so grateful my kids love my family so much. I worried about that living so far away!

50th Birthday Weekend

When we went up to WI we actually got to play in snow!!! Hannah is convinced that the only place that gets real snow is WI :) We took the kids sleding in back of my old high school (Chris' too). It was sooooo cold. With the wind chill it was well below zero. Watching them go down the hill literally gave me brain freeze. Man, I am getting to be such a woos living down here. Here is Dakota. He actually slid down on that! Funny kid

Mom and Hannah tripping their way up the big hill. I think Hannah would have done better just doing it herself ....ha ha !

You know you live in WI when......the only snow pants you have are blaze orange...those also work great for going to see Packers games. Allen laughs at how the people are dressed at Lambeau all the time. That ok, his team plays in a sissy dome :P

Dana almost having a heart attack trying to pull Gavin and Hannah up the hill.....I am not sure where Gavin went on this picture. Perhaps she left him at the bottom :)

All you people who live down here by me...this is what snow looks like. That is my footprint. It sunk down at least 18 inches. Awesome! Now I feel like I have had a winter and can enjoy the upper 70s weather we are having here.