Our School/Playroom 2013

Since our girls are only 3 and 21 months, our room is more of a playroom than a school room. And that's a good thing! 

In March, we moved into a bigger home and we are blessed to have a separate room for our playroom/school room. Yes, the toys still get taken into all the rooms downstairs but they are mostly contained in the playroom. This is good for my sanity!

You can see how we use our room in this picture, toys!

When you walk in, to the left, this is what you see. I just moved our shelving units together so all our "stuff" can be right next to one another. The white mesh shelves I've had for a long time. In our old house they were split into 6 and 6 and placed in our closets for storage. Now, they hold out of rotation books and toys, as well as in rotation toys, which is what the majority of the boxes are. I recently labeled them all so I know where everything goes. The boxes hold dress up shoes, jewelry, dress-up clothes, blocks, musical instruments, hats, birthday hats and CD's. The buckets on top are from the Dollar Tree and hold craft supplies, play doh and play doh toys and flash cards. The big metal shelf in the corner I bought at Target after we moved in. It holds (from top to bottom) extra craft supplies, the girls "work boxes" (these hold coloring books, basic art supplies, books, paper, workbooks; stuff to keep them busy for awhile) and our craft organizer, puzzles, our farm and animals and our doll house and basket of books in rotation.
To the right is the table and chairs the girls sit at. Above that is the calendar I just got done making. It's so cute and I love it. It's helping Nyla with what day of the month and day of the week it is. I know this will come into play more as the years go by.

This wall holds our US map and our twine with clips to hold the girls artwork. The top is Nyla's area and the bottom is Naomi's. I recently cleaned this off and we're starting over. :)

If you keep moving to the right you'll find the girls kitchen/food prep area. I think this area gets the most use right now; they love to cook!
The chalkboard above is where I write our Bible verse for the week.

And that's our playroom. There's not a whole lot going on as I've taken a lot of stuff off the walls and cleaned our the toys recently. It was too much and driving this minimalist crazy! Plus, I want to make more room to play "school" with the girls, which they love. It'll be fun to see how our room changes shape over the coming years!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

-Ginny

This post is linked to iHomeschool Network for the "School Room Week." Stop by and visit other bloggers rooms!

Puddle Fun

Why splash in a puddle when you can sit in one?

From the Past Week

Some pictures from the past week.

World's Best Photobomb

Oh man. So awesome.

From the Vault: Baby #2 Reveal

Two years ago this week, we found out that our sweet baby #2 was a girl. So I wrote a poem to inform friends and family of this...

Thank you all for coming to the party tonight

Seeing all of your friendly faces really is quite the sight

Before we tell you the gender of baby number two
Here's a little story – told just for you

Many moons ago in two thousand and nine
The results of that test warmed Ginny's heart and mine

As you all know, fine, fair ladies and gents
The big news was that we would become parents

And in the middle of summer, in the heat of July
We heard our sweet Nyla cry her first cry

Indeed with sweet Nyla we have surely been blessed
Even though at times, we have gotten little rest

Now here we are, gathered together again
We'd hoped this would happen but didn't know when

This next line will make you spit your drink in your cup
Because, yep, you guessed it, I knocked Ginny up

Nyla's going to be a big sister this we know
"Well, duh," you're all thinking, "Get on with the show!"

Boy? Or girl? You're just dying to find out!
This poem is going on too long without a doubt!

It's great to be surrounded by such great family and friends
As you can tell I'm stalling for time – the poem never ends

Let me pause for a moment and thank God above
For our parents who showed us all about love

Ok, enough is enough! Let's get to why you're here
I see the crowd smiling, wanting to let out a cheer

The excitement is building; you can feel it in the air
A poet of my talents is really quite rare

As I conclude I just want to say
Thanks to you all for coming today

So now let me proudly announce our bundle of joy

Is a healthy, developing, and great baby…

GIRL!

Week 1 Progress

Last week I let y'all in on my want and need to change my lifestyle (see post here) using Spark People. I am happy to report that week 1 went well!

Here are my goals and my progress:

1. Track food in SP 7 days a week--Completed! I originally thought I'd only track 5 days a week (M-F) but I decided 7 days is better, that way I can see my weaknesses and make better decisions throughout the day. 

2. Lose 2 pounds a week--Completed! I lost 4 pounds!! This won't be an every week thing. I always start out losing big numbers since I'm making an immediate change in watching my calories and getting exercise.

3. Go on a 20 minute walk/jog Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday to jump start my metabolism and get a feel for getting back into my workout routine.--Monday-Wednesday was a success. My jogging stroller tire was a little low so I pumped it up on Wednesday after our walk and it popped, boo! I have to get a new one so Friday morning I couldn't go walk. BUT, Friday night I went for a 2 mile run and walked very little! I've been keeping my hand or foot in running (see what I did there? :) ) since training for a 5k last year. I took it slow and easy and wanted to get 2 miles in and I did!

4. Do Taebo, Core Secrets or Run/Walk 4 times a week--Fail! I have decided I'm going to do my morning walks, run on the weekends and focus on eating for a few weeks. I struggle with my eating habits and I feel like I need to get them under control and work my way into a good workout routine. 

5. Measure and weigh everything I eat--Completed! I LOVE our kitchen scale. We bought it at Bed, Bath and Beyond back when we started our weight-loss journey in 2009 and it is still the most valuable piece of equipment in our kitchen! It's really helpful to see how much I've been overeating. And our food is lasting longer because I'm weighing everything and eating the suggested serving. It's win-win!!


Other notes from the week:
You can see in goal number 1 that I originally decided to only track my food 5 days a week. I'm glad I changed my mind and am tracking everyday. On Saturday we went to Wendy's and I did not decide ahead of time what I would have (that won't happen again). I ordered from the value menu and got a double cheeseburger and a small fry. I input my food after the fact and was very surprised at how many calories I consumed! I thought the smaller portions would be less but it wasn't as less as I hoped it would be! I knew I couldn't have much the rest of the day if I wanted to stay within range of my calorie goal. I do cut myself some slack on the weekends and didn't plan on staying within my given calorie range but I also didn't want to absolutely blow my week of hard work. That night we went to McAlister's for dinner and they had a "lite" menu so I ordered from that. Instead of eating 700 calories, I ate 500 calories. Five hundred calories is still a lot for one meal but I was proud of myself for making the decision to eat a little less. This immediately made me glad that I track my food 7 days a week so I can adjust on the weekends, as needed. Since I went a little crazy on Saturday I took it easy on Sunday. It's all about giving yourself some grace, as it's a lifestyle change and not a "diet." I know I'll have mess up days and mess up meals but it's about making a better decision the next meal or the next day. I also will look up the online menu of any place we plan to eat and plan what I'll have. This will help me not be tempted to eat too much. I want to make smart decisions!

What good eating decisions have you made lately?

I've got the "Spark"...Again

The SparkPeople Cookbook. I just got it today and can't wait to check out all the recipes!

I struggle with eating healthy and getting in daily exercise. Anyone else with me on that?

Four years ago Daniel and I began on a weight loss journey. We used Spark People and it was fabulous! It's a FREE site and has every tool you'd ever need to lose some weight. Check it out and you won't be disappointed! (If you want more information I'd be happy to help you).We did great all summer and I lost close to 20 pounds then got pregnant with Nyla. After I had her I started walking everyday and lost another 10 pounds and got pregnant with Naomi. Since having her I have had absolutely no desire to really do anything about my weight. There, I admitted it. I really haven't, though. From time to time I've thought I really need to eat better and throw in some exercise but I've never really made a commitment to do it. I know it's all on me, too. It starts with me and I've done nothing about it.

The last couple of weeks I've actually given some deep thought to what I want with my health. I don't like what I'm seeing.

The sermon in church on Sunday was the last thing I needed to hear to get me on the right track. He talked about Joshua and brought up the verse I'm sure we're all familiar with, Joshua 24:15, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." I say I serve the Lord but how am I serving Him by eating crap and too much of it and not getting any exercise and taking care of myself? I'm not. And that's not a servant to God. The sermon really hit home with me about serving God. Not only by serving others but serving and taking care of myself. Yes, that sounds a little selfish but if I don't have my act together then I can't be a good servant for God.

Because of all this, I'm back using Spark People and it's like I never left. I jumped right into measuring and weighing all my food and tracking my fitness. I've written out my goals and posted them on the refrigerator so they're visible at all times. I didn't make too many goals as I don't want to get bogged down in them. They're realistic, they fit our family lifestyle and I can meet them in a reasonable amount of time. And because I know things will change in a few weeks I'll go back and revisit and revise my goals. I plan to do this every 30 days.

Here are my goals:
1. Track my food on SP 7 days a week (this will help me see my weaknesses and where I need to work on my eating habits).
2. Measure and weigh everything I eat.
3. Weigh in on Saturday mornings. Lose 1-2 pounds a week (preferably 2).
4. 20-30 minute walk/jog 4 days a week.
5. Revisit and revise goals on Sunday, July 14th

I will workout more as time goes on because that's how I lose weight quicker. For now, I'm focusing on my eating habits. I need to get my eating under control. When we started this journey back in 2009 we focused on our eating and mindset for about 4 weeks. This helped us see our weaknesses and figure out our portions and get used to weighing and measuring everything. It's all about portion control!

So, now you know what I've been thinking of the last couple of weeks. I'll keep you up-to-date on my progress.


This is some inspiration I found today. It's great inspiration but a little gross at the same time. So, enjoy, I guess. :)
This is a full body scan photo of a 250 pound woman and a 120 pound woman. I'm not saying we're all meant to be 120 pounds, I know I'm not, but we are all meant to take care of ourselves. This shows me how I've not taken care of myself. It makes me sad. I'm going to print it out and post it on my fridge. Any time I feel the need to snack I'll see that and step. away. from. the. fridge. I hope I find it helpful. I hope you do, too.
250 pound woman versus 120 pound woman