Resolved.

This year my new year's resolution was pretty simple: give up Dr. Pepper.


I gave up Diet Coke in the spring--aspartame creeps me out a little--and I figured since I didn't drink DP at home, one here and there would be fine. I might have had one every two weeks. So I was basically giving up something I didn't indulge in much anyway.


All in all, a pretty lame resolution.


Then two weeks ago my husband came home talking about this diet one of his friends had started. He emailed me the plan. And a sample menu. He was seriously considering starting this journey. We both had gotten sucked into watching "The Biggest Loser," and the reality of what we really needed to do--for our health, for our kids, for our overall well-being--had begun to sink in. It didn't hurt that we're planning a huge family ski trip for next December. Also on our "to do" list is baby Reed #3...and I definitely don't want to start out that pregnancy here.


But we didn't just jump in head first. We took the rest of that week to plan and think and research. The diet itself was constructed by a friend of ours who knows his stuff when it comes to nutrition. There wasn't one single aspect of the plan that seemed unreasonable. Lower calories, less sugar, more fiber, lean protein, healthy dairy, lots of water, green tea...moderation. Nothing seemed gimmicky or trendy. It made sense.


So we jumped in with both feet.


We started on Monday, before we got our own individualized plans, but we covered the basics. We cut our calories. We drank our tea. And water. I became very familiar with the locations of all the restrooms at school.


This journey has incredible promise. Until this week, I'd never put much thought into food. Eating. I've been on diets before. I've had success before. But I tried my best to take all the thought out of it. This isn't an easy fix. We have literally spent hours planning our meals. I almost did a happy dance in the middle of Brookshire's because I found a cereal low in calories AND high in fiber. I am constantly thinking about ways to vary our meals so that they are healthy AND appetizing. I find myself reworking recipes I see in magazines. Every day is like a little puzzle of food that I put together ahead of time. In order for the plan to work, I have to know exactly what I'm putting in my mouth.

We have spreadsheets.

I am embracing the sugar withdrawals. My new best friend is named Splenda.


Of course, the real moment of truth came Saturday when I stepped on the scale on Saturday.
I lost 4 pounds! Kevin lost 7!! Yea us!

I spent Sunday evening watching "Brothers and Sisters" and planning our menu for the next week. I am happy to say the process, while still quite a process, is getting easier. I don't have to plan so much for breakfast and lunch if I already know what dinner is going to be. Again, think food puzzle. Or, if you're like my husband, think competition.

Game on.

Birthday Girl!

Sadie turned 2 yesterday. The last time I dedicated a blog totally 100% to her, she was seven months old, give or take. My, how time flies.Kevin and I debated about what to do for her party all the way up to last Monday. We'd pretty much talked ourselves out of doing anything major when we agreed she needed something special. So we threw together a last-minute family party for her...and by last minute I mean I sent out a text on Monday afternoon for the Tuesday afternoon party. Lucky for us we have good friends and family who apparently have little to do the week after Christmas. Also lucky for us there was a bakery in town with very little to do on a Tuesday afternoon. I realize this is the last year I can get away with impromptu birthday celebrations...but it turned out swell.

Sadie is the quintessential independent child. Except for all the times she clings to my leg and wants to be held, that is. Her favorite words are "I did it!" which, depending on when she uses it, has different meanings. If she is in the middle of doing something and you try to offer assistance, she will say, "No, I did it!" which translates into, "No mother, I would really like to finish this task on my own, thank you very much." If she successfully completes said task, well, "I did it" needs no translation.

She spent thirty minutes today putting her pants on by herself.

Because she screamed "NO! I DID IT!" when I got within a foot of her.

But, in the end, she did indeed, do it.

She also wants to do everything Jackson does. Ev-ree-thing. Last week we went to the mall, and Jackson got to jump on that bungee trampoline thing. After five minutes of watching her big brother jump and laugh and flip, Sadie was all about the jumping. The harness was too big and she barely got a foot off the trampoline, but for those five minutes she was as big as Jackson.

She is our daredevil, our hardhead, our little charmer...the one we will probably have to bail out of jail someday. She will sweetly bat her eyes at you when you tell her to do something and say, "no thank you" before she walks away. She can stare down the best of us, and when you get that look just know her heels are firmly dug in. She is also the one who said, "thank you, momma!" about fifteen times while I assembled her baby doll bed tonight. She is our princess. Our big girl.

Happy birthday, Sadiebell!

Halloween 2009

Halloween was quite a "treat" this year! Sadie is still at that age where she doesn't really care what costume you put on her, as long as you let her join in the fun. I have wanted to dress her up as Raggedy Ann for a solid year now, and I really think her cuteness even surpassed the image I had of her in my head! Normally I would let you guys compliment my children without any goading by me, but look at this face...

Jackson opted for Spiderman this year. He is a huge fan of costumes, and loves dressing up to (and I quote) SAVE THE WORLD, which usually entails climbing on our bed and jumping into a pile of pillows. But the mask was a little confining for his taste, so it fell by the wayside pretty early. Eli and Joe were....can you guess?

Eli = ninja

Joe = turtle

GET IT?!

Those clever Carters...

They both had a great time trick or treating at our usual family stops...Nana and Aunt Robin, Mr. Bo and Mrs. Pat, Aunt Judy and Uncle Ronnie...

...as well as downtown. It is so nice of the businesses to provide a safe place for the kids to get their candy fix!

Happy holiday-we-celebrate-before-the-good-stuff-gets-started!

A Visit to Pappy's Pumpkin Patch

A few weeks ago, I received an email from my Aunt Judy about Bell Family Farm. Think small town, old school, family owned pumpkin patch. It was exactly the kind of place I'd been looking for, so we called up our buddies Janet and Clint, and Mark and Sheila, told them to load up Jackson and Sadie's buddies Reed, Eli and Josiah and headed out to Pappy's Pumpkin Patch. In a word, this place is fabulous.

It is just outside the Loop in Tyler, down a bumpy road and across the street from a new housing development...and yet, when you see the cars parked in the grass in front of the green barn, you just sortof know it's the real deal. For those of us who love those Kodak moments, this place has tons before you even get through the door.

And as soon as we made it out the back door (the barn is filled with unique varieties of pumpkins as well as other fall/Christmas gift items) the kids were in full-on farm fun mode.


Everything here is free. Yes. Well, almost. Face painting is cheap. Fish food, 25 cents. And of course, the pumpkins. But the kiddie train?

The one that made my daughter smile like this while it was STANDING STILL?

FREE.

The kids actually sat in the train for a while, waiting for the driver to fix the tractor that pulled it. But when it became clear that whatever ailed the tractor might not be fixed soon, the kids moved on to other things. Like the rubber ducky races at the water pumps.
And the play set. Let me just say that my daughter loved loved loved sliding down this slide. A hundred times.




The face painting was just too tempting to resist. The ladies wielding the paintbrushes were super talented and while we waited our turns, we watched kiddos walk in the tent and super heroes, animals, and fairies walk out. I was so proud of how good the boys were during their transformations...sitting still as rocks and doing exactly as they were told.

Jackson was super (no pun intended...oh, who am I kidding?) excited about the end result:

While we waited for the hayride to return from the pumpkin patch, we took a wagon ride to the pond to feed fish and dress scarecrows. Or children. Details.

Finally, our turn on the hayride arrived, and the kids were, well...see for yourself:

The pumpkin patch itself was its very own Kodak moment. Or two. Or twelve...

Jackson wore his John Deere boots on this excursion, which are two sizes too big. Turns out he was a big fan of that little flaw, because he could kick them off at any given moment. And apparently there's nothing more relaxing than kicking back with your buddies in the middle of a bunch of pumpkins.
Right before we headed home, miracle of miracles, the kiddie train started running. Sadie was happy to just watch, but Jackson, Eli and Reed couldn't possibly leave without taking one last ride!

This is the kind of place where family traditions are born.

See you next year, Pappy!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Our Daddy had a birthday on October 6th. We made him his favorite cake. Momma helped a little, but the secret to this cake is having plenty of holes poked in it...and we are really good at poking holes!

Daddy was really excited about his cake. We really wanted to put a snowman candle on the cake, because that would make it extra special. Momma said snowman candles are a little hard to come by in October, so we settled for Spiderman...which is pretty special too.We helped Daddy blow out his candles. It was so much fun we did it twice...birthday song too.

Presents came next. Jackson got Daddy this cool hat, but Daddy already knew that because Jackson isn't very good at keeping a secret! I got him a hunting watch to replace the one I broke a few weeks ago. Momma got him some clothes. Good thing we were around to give him fun stuff.

Our Daddy had a great birthday...but that's because our Daddy is a great Daddy!