Weight Watchers...here I come!

I have begun my Weight Watchers journey!  I really need to get this extra baby weight off and I am hoping this will be the ticket, along with rejoining the gym.  It is a bit overwhelming at first but I am not one to quit a challenge so bring it on!  I seem to get in this slump after every child...you know where you don't even get out of your sweats all day unless you have to go somewhere and then when you do finally put your jeans on you just want to crawl into bed and cry!  I put mine on the other day and had to lie on the bed to zip them up...that was my breaking point!  My little one is almost 6 months old and I was lighter right after I had her than I am now and I breastfed (which according to what I have read SHOULD help you lose weight).  Anyway, it has been long overdue.  I will feel so much better when I lose 20-30lbs.  I will keep you posted on my progress and let you know if its working in case any of you are looking to lose some weight as well.  And by all means if you have done it and it worked...PLEASE send me a comment and let me know about your experience!  I can always use more motivation. 
On another note... My little diaper diva is almost crawling!  I am not sure if I should be happy or terrified!  If she is anything like Curious George, then terrified it shall be!  Which reminds me of another story.  Whenever he tells me his tummy hurts, I tell him to try to go potty.  So the other day I asked him, "How many corn dogs do you want for dinner, 1 or 2?"  Curious George answered,"10!"  I said, "you'll get a big tummy ache if you eat that much!"  His reply, "That's ok, I'll just try to go potty!"  Awe...kids!  LOL  He never ceases to amaze me!  The other day he told his sister she looked Magnificent!  I was shocked first that he knew that word, second, was able to use it in a sentence, and third, that he pronounced it correctly.  They grow up so fast.
Tony and I went to the Annual Fire Dept. Appreciation Party on Saturday.  What a fun time (until Sun morning)!!  I don't know how or why but I managed to drink more than my share of Seagram 7 whiskey (only 1/4 left in the bottle over 8 hours of drinking) and surprisingly was only hung over until 1pm Sunday afternoon!  A good time was had by all, although we were sad to hear the chief will be retiring.  He has been on the dept for 35 years, done a wonderful job as chief, and we are happy to see he will have some time for himself and his wife once he retires.  Well I am signing off for now.  As always, thanks for listening and please drop me a line and tell me what you think, comments, questions, anything, always welcome!

What is your New Year's Resolution?

I love my children to pieces however, sometimes my nerves are fried, I want to rip my hair out and yell at the top of my lungs (just as they do)...my resolution this year you ask...Try not to get to this point at all or at least not so fast.  More patience is what I need.   I need to focus on the big picture and try not to sweat the little things so much ~ God, please help me to achieve this one!  And of course, my other is to lose a few pounds of left over baby weight! What is your New Year's Resolution this year?  Drop me a line and let me know.

Whirl Wind of the Season...

First, I must apologize for my lack of blogging lately!  I meant to log on and say so many things so many times but have found myself in a whirl wind of the holiday season.  I have so much to tell you, I just don't know where to begin.  I will start with the depressing news... my wonderful minivan, which I almost refused in the beginning, is dying on me.  The transmission is slipping away and I cannot drive it in overdrive any longer so we must get me a new one and soon.  It is so ironic to me that I feel so lost without it when I was so set in my mind that I would NEVER be "one of those soccer moms"  with a minivan.  But the moment my husband drove it up and I opened the back door and saw how much room there was, I have to admit, I was in love at first site.  So now it is with much sorrow that I must bring her to be turned into scrap metal!  I can honestly say I will always have a minivan at least until my children are grown and then I will be getting myself a Harley!!  Also, sadly we have learned of three families who have lost their homes to fires already this season.  I cannot imagine what they are going through and my heart and prayers go out to them.  One was a mother and her 3 year old boy and 6 year old girl.  So sad and 3 days before Christmas!  When my boys heard of this, they so generously said, "We can give the little boy some of our toys!"  So we went to the playroom and went through their mountain of toys and they parted with several things I was pleasantly shocked and very proud of them.  We also found some clothes for the little boy, unfortunately not as many as I would have liked but Curious George is still in a 3-4T.  We also prayed for their family and sent the boxes with a friend.  I so hope it brought them a little comfort.
Now on to the good news...We had a wonderful, fun filled Christmas!  My family came up to our house for Christmas so we had my grandfather, his girlfriend (yes I said my 83 year old grandfather has a girlfriend ~ how cute!), my dad and step mom, aunt, 2 brothers and their wives, and a total of 4 nieces and nephews here.  It was lovely and to top it all off, my daughters god father paid us a visit dressed as Santa for the kids!  You should have seen their faces!  I almost died.  My nephew who is 7, and was sure he was getting coal in his stocking was so excited.  He said to me after Santa left...I thought it was grandpa dressed up but then I saw grandpa sitting in the corner and Uncle Mike, Uncle Ben, and Uncle Tony so I knew for sure it was really Santa!  So adorable and when the party was over and everyone was leaving, he swore he saw "Reindeer tracks" in the snow!  The looks on all of their faces was priceless and it makes my heart happy to know that they will remember this Christmas for the rest of their lives and look back on it as such a happy memory!  All it took was a 60.00 Santa suit on EBay and a very good friend to pull it off!  Priceless! 
We also had Einstein's 6th birthday!  Gosh they get big so fast!  He got to have his first sleepover with 2 of his buddies and I have to say it went very well! 
Then I was busy planning and baking for our New Year's Eve Party which went wonderfully.  We had 9 kids running around playing tag, hide and seek, and just having a good time while us adults played "Catch Phrase", chatted, drank, and just enjoyed each others company.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family!  Now Tony and I are looking forward to next Saturday when we attend the annual Fire Dept Christmas Party!  It is always guaranteed to be a good time although I am sure I will have something ridiculously entertaining/embarrassing to tell you about when its over!  Well I am sure I am leaving out some great details but for now I am signing off.  Thanks for listening and I promise not to abandon you for 2 weeks again!  And please leave me your comments, tell me what you think, ask me a question, anything goes.

Awesome Message from Santa site

I wanted to share with all of you, a wonderful message from Santa site I found today.  I have a link next to this post called Portable North pole.  You just put you child's name, age, hair, and eye color and a few things you would like Santa to say and upload a pic if you like and Poof...they shoot you an email with the link for your child's very own Personalized Message from Santa!  My kids went NUTS!!  They absolutely loved it and I loved that I added that Santa needed to tell them to listen to their mother more!  Both of their eyes got wide when they heard that!  Love it!  Anyway, that is all I have tonight.  I have a bit of a headache and am signing off to bed!  But don't fret, you will hear from me soon.  I would also love to hear from you!  Let me know what you would like to see or hear more of....like advice, recipes, tips, questions....anything just ask!  If I don't have the answer, I can help find one!  Have a good night and thanks for listening.

Good Friends... Good Times...

We had a wonderful, wet, winter weekend.  Wow, enough W's for you....reminds me of my son's kindergarten class.  Each week they go over a new letter, this week is Mr. P so they are having a Party and eating Pancakes in their Pajamas while watching the Polar Express.  (Makes me chuckle....)  Anyway...Saturday night we had some friends over for dinner and entertaining conversation.  There were 2 couples and their children, which ends up being 6 adults and 10 children (8 girls and 2 boys)!  Talk about being outnumbered...I mean us parents, the boys loved it.  The kids had so much fun "Moonlight Sledding" in the back yard, that was the exciting name we adults came up with so we could have some adult conversations without interruption!  They did great and no one came in fighting or injured so the night went off without a hitch and my husband cooked Lasagna for dinner!  All I had to do was the Olive Garden Salad and Garlic bread, Pecan pie and of course, set out a tray of my Christmas Cookies.  We had great conversation with good friends, good food, and very well behaved kids!  What more could anyone ask for?!  Did I already mention how much I love this time of year?!  The icing on the cake...well besides my kids sleeping in Sunday morning....The Vikings winning!! 
I cannot believe my 1st born (my baby) is going to be 6 years old on Saturday! Where oh where does the time go?  If I could give one piece of advice to a new mother, it would have to be this.  "Cherish your babies, hold them tight, stare at them as often as you can, and enjoy the heck out of those quiet moments rocking them to sleep in their rooms.  Don't try to rush it because you have a load of laundry to get done or dishes to do. There will always be another load of laundry or dishes to do but those precious little moments that you will never get back, will quickly become only a memory."  Time goes so fast, it waits for no one. 
Now pray for me...Einstein is having friends stay overnight for his birthday!  First time ever, and I am sure I will have some entertaining stories for you on Sunday!  Surprisingly... nothing too terribly exciting to write about Curious George...yet.  Apparently he has been taking it easy on me the last few days or he is off his game or better yet, he is working on a doozy!  Thanks for listening and please leave a comment and let me know what you think.  Have a good one!

Little Treasures...

By all means my children are my little treasures, however, this post is not about my little treasures, well to a point.  Our front entryway closet is a bi fold and has seen the wrath of my boys.  There is a hole where the handle used to be and today I noticed a toy tweezers (from their animal hospital kit) sticking out of the hole.  I twisted and tugged and finally got it free only to notice several colors further down inside the bi fold door which of course, I could not reach.  So after disassembling the door from its runner, shaking it, and prying in the 1 1/2 inch hole, we had found several little treasures and some gum.  I knew without a doubt, this was the work of Curious George.  I decided to ask him if he was indeed the one who placed all of the trouble game pieces plus a few extra trinkets in the door and  his answer was simple, "Yes".  I asked, "Why?"  and got the answer I hear all the time, whether the boys are fighting, hurt, or into something they shouldn't be...."I don't know".  Then later, he told me he was "saving them for later".  I chuckled, I guess he is not only like a monkey but also a squirrel (in the wintertime).
Back to my fascination with the Christmas season, I was wondering what traditions, if any, you and your family have.  Are they passed down from generations before or have you started you own?  I am always curious what traditions others have.  In my family, we always celebrate Christmas with my brothers, step mom and dad, mom, grandfather, aunt, and all my nieces and nephews the week before Christmas.  My husband, kids, and I always go cut down our tree (we plant one in its place in the spring) and decorate it the weekend after Thanksgiving.  We also always have a huge Italian spread for our Christmas with my family.  These are things that I grew up doing and continue, however, I created a new tradition with my kids.  They get to open one present on Christmas eve each year.  They know what it is before they even open it because each year I get Tony, myself, and the kids a new pair of pj's.  Then we all wear them to bed that night.  It works out great for pictures on Christmas morning (as long as we don't have any accidents!) and it's always fun to have a fresh new pair of jammies!  So shoot me a comment and let me know your traditions, even if they are a little off the wall....I would love to hear them and may even post a few of my favorites in a later post.  Thanks for listening!

Full Circle...

As I write, my boys are downstairs watching an old Christmas classic, the same one I watched as a child.  Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer...had a very shiny nose... Awww... one of my favorites.  It is such an awe struck moment for me, shows me how my life has come full circle.  And knowing that the memories that I create with my little ones will last long after they have their own children, is just exhilarating.  This time of year is an especially wonderful time to make lasting memories and an excellent time to create new traditions or pass on family traditions.  I have so many happy Christmas memories from my childhood, from my Uncle dressing up as Santa (which I didn't figure out until about the 4th year), my grandma's delectable Ham dinner, my brother and my excitement on Christmas morning (and my parents lack there of since it was 5am and only now do I realize why), and the warm fuzzy feeling the season brings.  Don't get me wrong, I know there is a lot to do and families aren't always perfect or in the best moods around the holidays because it can be stressful but for me, this is the time of year I love! 
Now as for Christmas Shopping, I usually avoid at all costs, the dreaded Black Friday!  I have never gone...until this year!  My good friend, whom I do not get to see enough due to distance apart and 3 kids like I have, asked to meet me in the cities on Black Friday.  My first thought...Hell no!  But they do have some good deals and I would love to see my friend, plus drinks after shopping were included which sweetened the deal as well as the thought of getting away from home life for a day, so I said "I'm in."  I did my homework before going, I looked up all the stores I wanted to visit for their Black Friday ads on the Internet and marked down everything I saw that I had planned on buying, just to save some time and money.  Otherwise, it gets overwhelming running through a store without a list wondering what you've got and who you still need to shop for after you've been to 50 stores already. It really wasn't that bad except the line at Kohl's that strung its way all the way around the store!!  I left home at 6am, started shopping at 8am and finished at 5:30pm.  Then we were off to my favorite place to eat, DeMori's Italian Restaurant!  We met a few other good friends for dinner and drinks and ended up staying until bar close!  I never do this!  Needless to say we left my minivan and got a ride back to my mothers house, where we were staying for the night.  We woke up in the morning to go get my van and I called my mom on the way back to open the garage for us so we could pack up all the gifts. Now my mother lives in a kind of townhouse.  There are 3 buildings on her side of the street and each one has 4 units (two upstairs and two downstairs).  I pulled in from the opposite way I usually come, with my friend following and backed up to the garage and noticed the garage door still down.  I got out of the car, as did my friend, who then asked, "did you call her?"  I said "Yes" and went around to the door and noticed the screen door locked.  I chuckled and said, "what is she trying to steal our gifts and not let us back in?"  Just then, my friend says, "Are we at the right one?"  Well duh...she's only lived here 10 years I think I'd know where my mom lives... then I glance up above the garage at the address and cringe...Just then I hear this piercing voice from behind, "Nikki, you're at the wrong one!"  It's my mother out in front of HER garage one building down.  My friend looks at me laughing hysterically and says, "Are you still drunk?"  Yep, never gonna live that one down, now I know why I hardly ever drink or stay up until 3am willingly!
Have a good night and thanks for listening!  Oh, any ideas yet for a survey question?  Leave me a comment.  Love to hear ideas.