Snow

I must say it was so excited to actually get snow today!!

I woke up when my alarm (aka Jakub) went off and looked outside and only saw rain, I thought well typical Pennsylvania, say we'll get snow and it looks like we'll just be getting more rain so I got ready and headed to the gym. Half way through my work out I looked outside and there was the much anticipated snow! I was so excited. I actually had to use my bare hand to scrape off the snow from the back window before leaving the gym.

I had a few errands to run before heading home but one of my stops included Target to my surprise the bread wasn't completely taken off the shelves although I gave in and purchased a loaf myself. I truly didn't have any bread though.

When I got home it was pretty much time for Jakub's nap so I put him down and got some much needed catch up time with my bestie, an hour and a half later, little man was up and I wasn't completely done talking but my family told me otherwise.

The power was an issue all afternoon, it would go off frequently for a few seconds at a time so it literally took 3 hours to dry one load of laundry. It seems like everything is back on track though and hopefully I can get a few more loads done before bed. I also got caught up on cleaning out a cupboard. I must say that felt pretty good.

Shanon took Jakub outside while I was working on the kitchen and it got my thinking, what the heck am I doing, I'm going outside to play outside with the boys. We had a huge snowball fight and it was so much fun, I even got tackled in the snow which was equally fun, we all had a good laugh before heading in to warm up.

Shanon and I decided it seems like a perfect night for pizza so I said I would order online, I noticed Papa John's only charged $2 for delivery so we decided that was a deal, it meant we didn't have to clean off the car or worry about the roads. An hour later the pizza was here.

After dinner I said to Jakub do you want to go back outside to play, he said yes so we headed back out for another half hour.

It sure has been a great day.

Catching Up

This past Monday ended my first session of weight watchers and I'm over the moon happy with a total weight loss of 27 pounds. With the weight loss I am now down one more point for food so now I can eat a total of 34 points a day. The good news is this is easier then ever right now! I had a really hard time going from 36 to 35 points so I was dreading losing another point but so far so good it's not even a challenge I'm hoping it continues because it's only Thursday! The next session starts on Halloween which is probably going to work out well with the added temptations. I'm finding that the gym or walking has been a huge help because I don't want to eat junk to mess that up. I have about 6 more pounds to go before I hit a major milestone for myself.

Halloween this year has been over the top exciting for Jakub. He is so excited about it. Today is his preschools Halloween parade and my supervisor was nice enough to let me come into work late so I can see it. I can hardly wait to see his smiling face beam in his costume. It's raining right now so we'll see about actual trick or treating tonight, it's not looking so good. Jakub said on Tuesday his preschool went through a corn maze in the cafeteria and he had to search for his pumpkin then he is telling me how much he wants to carve a jack o lantern to not to mention I would like to roast some pumpkin seeds, yummy!! Jakub and I went for a walk Tuesday evening and the entire time he wanted to talk about different things associated with Halloween like pumpkins, bats, witches, etc. It was cute.

In other news my my anticipated iPhone 4S should be arriving at my house today, I'm going to leave a note with FedEx to drop it at my neighbors house she said she would be happy to get that for me. I'm so thankful we have a good neighbor. Well the little man is stirring so I've got to wrap this up and hit the shower. Off to Jakub's Halloween Parade :) Pics to follow later.

Applefest

Today was an over the top great day!! We had such a nice family day I'm excited to share with all!

Friday night Shanon and I decided we were going to go to Biglerville for the annual Apple festival. I told Shanon that I wanted to get up, hit water aerobics then we can head to Applefest. He said well we should probably go early so with some complaint I agreed. We decided to let Jakub have a sleep over with us Friday night so of course Shanon and I didn't sleep and the lil man was up at 6! Needless to say I was tuckered out early today!

So we left for Applefest at 7 am and got there a few minutes after 8 when it opened. There isn't a whole lot to do there it's mostly vendors selling any kind of apple whatever you want and then it's a huge craft fair as well. We had fun eating our way and browsing at all the crafts. We took about 2 hours to go through it.

Coming back out the line of people waiting to get it was probably a good 50 people deep so we got there at the perfect time. We didn't have any traffic on the drive in either but on the way out it was miles and miles of cars backed up trying to get to the parking lot! It sure was a beautiful day though. Below are some pictures from Applefest.

 On the way to Applefest we saw a sign advertising a corn maize, I had told Shanon for years now that I wanted to do one so he said maybe on the way home we could do it so after applefest that is where we headed.

 Before entering the maze, we were told that the back of it is a little muddy. We said we should be fine but we have been having tons of rain the last month of so, so we figured it would be muddy, I must say we weren't prepared for how muddy it was!! Take a look at my shoes and pants below, Shanon's shoes above aren't much better!!

 It took us about 40 minutes to make our way through the maze so we were pretty proud of ourselves considering it takes most people an hour to an hour and a half. After the maze they had a corn box (instead of a sandbox) for kids to play in. I've got to say I liked it better than sand and Jakub had a lot of fun in there as well. They also had a hay ride which took us to a pumpkin patch where we could pick out pumpkins. On the hayride Jakub says to me Mommy, I have corn in my shoe can you get it out. It made me laugh, just like a sand box corn got in his shoe guess that was better then sand. Below is what Jakub picked out!! He really broke the bank with it too. The pumpkins were $.50 a pound Jakub's pumpkin ended up costing us all of $1.22, Shanon and I had a pretty good laugh about that.

 Jakub wasn't ready to leave though and they still had several other activities he wanted to do but he had a hair cut to get to so we figured we better call it a day. Shanon and I needed to get a shower, before his hair cut, because of all the mud! So we rushed home, took off all the muddy clothes shoes and socks and we each grabbed a quick shower. As soon as we were dressed we rushed out the door for Jakub's hair cut, below is a picture of the new cut!

We finished out the day with some Halloween decorating outside, blowing bubbles then we headed to Wegmans for some pizza and grocery shopping. Needless to say I'm beat!!!!!

Weight

For me my weight has always been a struggle. I have a sweet tooth, like most people but I've also learned that I am a stress eater. As a result I have hit my all time highest weight ever! I was starting to have medical issues including problems with my hip so I finally have started to do something about it. I joined weight watchers.

A couple of weeks ago we had a meeting that hit home and really has been a good reflection back for me. The question was posed why did you join weight watchers and you didn't have to give an answer you could just think of it too and one person said health issues, I had to shake my head yes for this, another person said pictures and I had to shake my head for this too but there are many other reasons why I joined as well.

I keep thinking about pictures being such a motivating factor. Earlier in the spring Shanon took some pictures of Jakub and I and I thought this can't be me, I'm not this large because I didn't see myself that large looking in the mirror but truly I was!! So in May I joined weight watchers and to date I have lost 25 plus pounds. Family and friends are starting to notice and I'm getting some great feedback, however, pictures are still an issue!!

Jakub and I went home for a week a few weeks ago and we went to the beach, my Dad took a picture of Jakub and I and I thought for once I'll be happy with the picture, so when I got home and looked at it I still can't help but be disappointed because I'm still not looking like I thought that I looked. Sure clothes are bigger and I can even move down a size but it's so shocking to see pictures and still not be happy!!

Another thing we talked about was the mind. People would complain oh weight watchers doesn't help because I've joined and only lost 20 pounds and can't loose any more. Well, I'm thankful that my mind is in the right place because I have a definite goal in mind and I'm not stopping until I lose everything I want to lose. This does go to prove how powerful the mind is though!!

I've been so fortunate to have such supportive people in my life and am getting itchy for the end of this road. I'm really close to my first major goal and once that happens nothing will hold me back!

Flood

It seems as if the "Great Flood of 2011" has been consuming our lives for the past 48 hours. It started this week with a little bit of rain by mid week we had a LOT of rain. By Wednesday meetings were called in my office and it was time to plan in case the flood happened. Thursday morning we woke up and didn't get word that Harrisburg was closed so Shanon and I showered as usual, got our lunches together, got Jakub out of bed and got ready to go, I got the phone call about 6:20 that all Non Essential State employees were authorized not to report to work. By midday Thursday we also got word that the office would be shut down today as well. I was so relieved it has been nice to be home with the family the last two days glued to the TV in between Jakub's shows trying to find out when the river was going to crest.

Now you may be wondering how we are doing through all of this, we are doing GREAT!! My area wasn't hit very hard at all, we got the rain but we sure didn't get the flooding like Harrisburg and Hershey got. I would say the extent to water accumulating was on the golf course. We overlook a golf course which has a sand trap, the sand trap is now a water hole but even that was has been receding and probably by the end of the weekend it should be a sand trap again.

Poor Hershey though, it was hit so hard that the park is unable to open this weekend, the roads surrounding the park remain closed and I've never seen anything like it to put things in perspective here is a picture from inside the park:



I feel so fortunate that we have made it through this without any problems.

A good friend of mine wasn't so lucky though. She got a call at work on Wednesday with the news that her basement was rapidly filling with water so she rushed home to save what she could but it was too late it was already 8 inches deep. I ran into her this evening and she shared some of her basement pictures and was shocked at how much she lost, she lost her girls toys (they are 8), her washer and dryer, Christmas decorations and the list goes on and on. She also found out rather quickly yesterday that the mess wasn't just the rain water is was actually raw sewage that backed up into her house. Thankfully she has flood insurance and a company is coming Sunday to do the cleaning. She even had a puddle of water in her dryer!! I couldn't imagine.

On brighter news I'll be heading to Oceanside on Wednesday and can hardly wait. Jakub and  I will be traveling alone so I hope for smooth sailing but I'm anxious to get home to see my parents and my grandpa. He recently suffered a fall and broke his pelvis, he is doing pretty well with his recovery but it could be a long process, he isn't getting any younger, in fact he is 97!!

Garden

This weekend was the weekend, Jakub and I finally got our garden planted.

We started our plot looking like this:

With some fun in between:

 and some hard work:

 Of course we couldn't forget the water:

It was a really hot day, so it was fun spraying Jakub with the hose! He enjoyed himself as well. We planted corn, zucchini, carrots, lettuce and green beans! With a little bit of luck I'm hoping we get some nice vegetables!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day

Sunday I woke up to a cute little boy that was standing in front of my with the sweetest smile and so I picked him up and put him in bed and Shanon said to him, tell Mommy Happy Mother's Day so he did and then ran to the living room to get my present. Jakub got me a necklace for my Troll Beads and a new bead. He loves looking through the beads at the store so I know he took the time to pick something special out.

Then the boys ran and got me a hot chocolate and a breakfast sandwich which was just enough time to read the Sunday ads and when the got home and after we ate we decided to better get a move on because we had lunch reservations at PF Changs. I must say that is one of my favorite restaurants! After lunch we decided to take a stroll around the mall because PF Changs is about an hour away for us so we did some shopping and headed home.

On the way out of the mall we got rear ended, thankfully no one was hurt and it didn't do any damage so we just headed on our way.

Sunday night we picked up a pizza and took it over to my mother in laws house and spent a little bit of time there before heading back home. I can't say the day was overly eventful but it was a nice day!

Ice Skating

Well last night at ice skating it happened. Jakub is in the very first beginners class and so his class was particularly small yesterday, the class consisted of 4 kids and me and two other mothers because our kids won't skate without us so we were about to start class and I was talking to the two other Mom's and Jakub's teacher said we can go, we don't have to be on the ice, they will be fine without you so we all looked at each other and headed off the ice! Jakub did FANTASTIC!!!!! I think he skates better without me! I told his teacher that I think I'm done with skating lessons which is fine with me because in all honesty, I know how to skate so it's somewhat boring for me standing around waiting for Jakub to skate wherever he wants to go. I always try to get a game of tag going with him but he doesn't seem to have the interest and it's hard because he can't keep up. I was so proud of how he excelled! He loved skating on his own he even practiced the entire extra half hour so next Monday I guess I will not be lacing up the skates!