Life at the moment ...

Things have been pretty busy lately and can you believe it ... summers almost over!

Where the heck has the last 2 months gone??

Yesterday marked 200 days of using MyFitnessPal to both loose weight, track progress and maintain my motivation.

I had a lot of pictures to keep me motivated in the right direction!

I'm 32lbs down & a heck of a lot more healthy. Not healthy because I WEIGH less, but the way I eat and live is healither which has caused the weight loss.

I'm not going to feel bad about the weight I put on in the past. I was stressed with lots of changes (ie moving, having a premature baby, endless appointments, scary surgeries, etc) ... I allowed my stress and worries to consume me. My body reflected it.
     I've learned. I've grown. I've evolved.
          No shame in that.
               Thankful for God's saving grace. In all areas of my life.

With Justin being gone at Annual Training right now, Jocelyn and I have been getting down and dirty, working hard and filling the days with lots of good stuff.

Even though he's only been gone a few days so far, I have managed to complete my preschool ideas for Jocelyn for the next year.

I've been working on it here and there, pulling ideas from the Internet, other homeschooling mamas, etc to make things our own (which no joke, is harder than it looks ... well, at first). I don't have the entire year exactly planned, but I have August done solid and a game plan for the other months.

I even came up with a stellar name for our homeschool that makes it seem more official and I smile every time I say it.

"POWERful Beginnings Academy"

Has a nice little ring to it doesn't it?
It OF COURSE had to have a portion of our last name it?
I'm mean ... duh right?!? :)

A few weeks back my friend Peggy, which is Jocelyn's Hippotherapist who just so happens to have homeschooled her own daughter, came to our house for nearly THREE HOURS to observe what we've been doing, offer advice, show me ways to tweak things for Jocelyn's skill level and basically encourage me that I'm on the right track.

          Sometimes you just need to HEAR that.

I managed to make and complete all my forms to help me stay focused, on track and be able to look back and see "Wow, we really have done a lot." I'm sure my forms will change as we do, but for now, I won't have to feel scattered-brained and try to figure out what to do on the spot.

I came up with measurable, focused objectives.
A quarterly academic planner.
     (This will be for a quick glance at what our focus is regarding colors, shapes, letters, numbers, personal information, memory verse, manners/self-care, books for the week, etc)
A monthly & weekly academic planner.
     (This is more detailed with hands-on/art projects, Ipad activities, gross & fine motor tasks, therapies, songs/music, field trips, etc)
And I also made sure I have slots for things for me: workouts, blogging, appointments, etc.
     (I have to continue to provide for me, so I can provide for Jocelyn and Justin)

I also figured out a way to make getting our reading material easier. I found out this past Saturday morning that a book mobile comes right near our house and all I have to do is reserve books to that location ... hellooooo EASY! Now I can ensure I have the books we'll need a month in advance!! I've even ordered a few starter supplies on-line to make things a tad easier than having to make/print everything. On occasion, its just easier to buy things. :)

Needless to say, I feel empowered, motivated, excited and positively focused on our new adventure. NO MORE wasting time thinking this isn't best, listening to others that Jocelyn NEEDS public school. I don't have to fight that fight anymore and all my energy can be focused in the RIGHT direction.

BY GOD I FEEL AMAZING!

 

Make no mistake, I KNOW this is an adventure that will at times seem like a struggle, but its an adventure I'm welcoming with an open mind and open arms. We will adapt, adjust, learn, grow, love, live and thrive through it all.

 

That's a promise!

 

Seriously, I could just burst with my plan -- so stinking EXCITED!

Oh, if any of my teacher friends:
     Emily Gibson, Carrie Raymer, Sabrina McAdoo, Melissa Tanking, Nikki Moody, Kirby McDowell, Sadie Camac, Ceri Goulter, Laura Piland, Kim Riffel, Karen Trible, Rebecca Sander, Kimberly Donathen, Catherine Smith, Jane Hoff, Maggie Vinduska

or my therapy friends:
     Tamara Dody, Sarah Dahlstrom, Joyce Trower, Allison Krone, Erin Schneweis, Jami Merlau, Kim Coker

(These were off the top of my head, so if I forgot anyone, so sorry -- but as a side note -- hot dang I know a lot of people who are teachers &/or therapists!!)

But if ANY of you, have ANY ideas, suggestions, websites, pointers etc that you think might be useful -- I'm all ears :)

 

On a different note, somehow, someway, I've managed to complete all this, still take care of the house, be a wife and mother, workout and read not one, but TWO books in the last two weeks!!!

I don't know where all this good mojo's coming from, but I don't ever want it to stop!

When Justin is so busy with work, it makes having reading/alone time much easier. Television can really get on my nerves (its more the noise than the shows I think), but when Justin's not here, I get more time for me which has allowed lots of read time. Don't get me wrong, I like a good show or movie (I watched the Titanic yesterday on TV ... I can't help it ... I fell in love with that movie a long time ago ... the love story behind it ... can't help myself).

The books have been SO GOOD!

The first one: "Hungry Like a Wolf" by Christine Warren
The second one: "Witch & Wizard: The Fire" by James Patterson & Jill Dembowski

First, I love books about vampire, wolves, witches and all things mystical.
          Always have.
It's the best escape and a way to let my mind go crazy!

My parents use to try to deter me because they thought I'd be a little weirdo or not believe, love and follow God, but sorry folks, you can have a love for this kind of stuff and still be a believer in Christ.

Anyways, I won't get on that soapbox! ha! Just goes to show that what a child is interested in at a young age, often times follows them through adulthood.

So, the first book was pretty good but the author didn't really have an extensive vocab or develop the characters as well as I would've liked. She repeated herself a lot. Seemed a bit lacking, but better than the Twilight series in that department. It was a love story about two Lupines, Honor & Logan (which are both wolves), from two different packs, their love quarrel, leadership, loyalty and so forth. It had a few steamy scenes which caught me off guard because I don't really read those kinds of books, but ah well. A different change of pace and spiciness never hurt anyone :) Besides, its my imagination anyway.

The second book. Totally up my alley. Love the way Patterson writes. Its like the words jump off the page ... seriously like a movie ... only better! It was about a brother and sister, Whit & Wisty (the brother is a wizard and the sister is a witch), how they are trying to build a resistance against "The One" who has banned books, music, art ... everything found enjoyable in life. They face a lot of battles, death and victories. The chapters are short too, there were a lot of them, but it makes stopping and starting easy. The only problem? This is the 3rd book of the trilogy -- dang! Wish I would've know that.

And I'm not a book junky or anything, just haven't gotten to read in a while, and man ... I enjoy it so much!

Okay, so I'm feeling awfully chatty, but I must go because well, nap time won't last long. I'm sure there is laundry to be folded & put away, rooms to be cleaned and soon I've got a little girl waiting to be played with and her mind enriched! :)

Off I go!

My Grandma

My grandma, Dolores Schneweis, passed over a week ago now, and somehow that is all I continue to think about. Oddly enough, even though she is constantly on my mind, I'm having a really hard time talking and blogging about her.

I keep thinking about her, the memories, my grandpa, my dad, her other sons, her other sisters (my grandma was actually a twin) ... family in general.

Once a person is gone, you always wish you had more time with them. Or I should say, that you MADE more time for them. Called more often. Had more lunch dates. Had more family gatherings. The list is endless.

The truth is ... there will "never be enough time" with a person you love.

I've been pretty fortunate to have went this long in my life without losing anyone really close to me.
          Many are not so lucky.
                   
I realize, without a doubt, that we are ALL going to past away. Eventually we do. Of course we do. But for some reason, its always a shock.
          A surprise.
And even though I know in my heart, I truly know in my heart, that I will see her again in heaven ... those thoughts or statements made by others rarely bring anyone any comfort.
          Or at least not much to me.

My grandma passed away on Saturday, July 13th, early in the morning while sleeping comfortably in her favorite recliner. It was her birthday. She turned 84 years-old.

Her and my grandpa, who is still alive, and both hurting and lost, were married May 27, 1953 in Great Bend, KS. They've been married FOREVER!! I pray this will be true for my own husband and I.

I simply can not imagine living each of my days with my husband. The million memories made, all the laughter, struggles and children created; then wake up one morning, and my beloved is simply gone.
         Gone forever.

My grandparents had eight children.
         Seven Boys: Leon, Richard (my daddy), Mark, Alan, Paul, Tony and Mike
         One Daughter: Bernadette (who passed as an infant)

My grandparents were blessed with a large family of their own kids and as a result, were further blessed with seventeen grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren.

My grandma loved everyone so much, and she indeed was loved in return.

My grandma always wanted the family together for holidays, events, etc. What grandma doesn't? I think it makes ANY grandma's heart soar to see her children, their spouses, their grandchildren, all laughing, eating, talking and enjoying themselves together as a family.

I always loved how much my grandma spoiled me when I was a child. I don't know if it was because of all the dirty, stinky boys she raised; if it was because she loved a house full of chaos and laughter; or if it was because she missed her own daughter so much and displayed that with and through me.
          Perhaps all of the above.

My grandma was a phenomenal cook. Her cooking skills later declined as typical when we grow older, but I clearly remember her delicious cinnamon rolls, kolaches, plum coogan and many other recipes. During the vigil service, many of the boys talked about how hard grandma worked to ensure there was food on the table for all of them and how much they would miss her good cooking.

There were a lot of wonderful stories told about my grandma during the vigil service, and I so badly wanted to get up there and talk about her from my perspective, but it was hard to even think about actual words coming out of my mouth.

I loved how my grandma seemed to have endless patience with me. I clearly remember running amuck in her house and she never seemed to yell at me. She would let me help her cook and bake which was a total messy disaster yet she never acted annoyed or inconvenienced. I always felt loved, wanted and never like a nuisance. She let me get into everything. I was a tornado with the toys she kept upstairs, she let me bang on the piano for hours because "I wanted to practice," she tirelessly put those little pink foam curlers in my hair so I could have the cute perfect little curls even though I screamed and cried the whole time (I wanted the dang things, but I was inpatient as any kid, and they weren't comfortable!), she would let me play with her embroidery stuff and use these fancy paint sticks to color my own tea-towels ... and although I am no longer a practicing Catholic, we even said the rosary together which I loved. She got me my very own rosary and we would spend what felt like hours cuddling next to one another simply reciting the verses. I know that sounds awfully boring, but at the time, it seemed so special.
         ... She simply embodied everything a grandma should be.

How lucky I knew my grandma ... that she was MY grandma!

Here's a picture of those curls I just haaaaad to have!

I wish I could find more old pictures with my grandma. Here's one of my sister and I with her and grandpa when we were younger.

I'm thankful that my grandma had the chance to meet my own daughter.

 

I've learned through the years and when I was working for the Kansas Department on Aging, that as a person ages, its easy for the people around them to forget that they once were in their 20's and 30's. That they were once wild and crazy. Had dreams. Made them come true. That they drove cars, had opinions, were flexible and agile ... that at one point in their lives they weren't so dependent, didn't hurt so much, didn't sleep so much ... didn't have their memory fail them.

 

My grandma suffered from Alzheimer's which was worsening and deteriorating her overall health. Alzheimer's is a horrible thing for the person that has it, the care-takers and the family around them. I know over the years my grandma's personality and demeanor were changing, but I will ALWAYS remember the woman she truly was.

 

I love you SO MUCH grandma -- what a God-fearing, faithful, beautiful woman you are!

 

Even though my grandma's passing has been painful, it was nice getting together and seeing everyone at her funeral to celebrate her life.

 

I got to see my sister, Cindy, and my brother, Jon, as they drove up from Florida together.

 

And I was even fortunate enough to see my nephews, Donnell and Tristen!

{I can't believe Donnell is taller than me!! They grow too fast!}

After my grandma's funeral, we all managed to remember to get photos together.

 

{We even managed to get a picture with my mama and soda pop! We also were able to steal my other brother, Matt, long enough to actually get him in the picture as well. I'm missing a brother here though, him being in the pic would've made it perfect. Well, that and if my grandma was in it. I know you couldn't come brother, but we missed you and please know we love you so very much!!!}

And maybe my favorite picture ...
My grandpa with his seven sons and my grandma's twin, Sister Mary Lawrence.

 

Thank you grandma for loving all of us like you did. For loving me. For being a tremendous example to everyone.

 

I love you dearly!!

First Garden

Some time ago, Justin and I used miniature "greenhouses," a plain cardboard box lined with a trash bag and silk cartons to get a jump on our first garden.

Hahaha yes, we used those things -- don't judge! ;)

While Justin was in Alabama at another school for his military career; our seedlings grew wonderfully. Once the weather was right, I transplanted them into our garden outside.

I made perfect little rows of everything. Watered them. Gave them lots of love. Sunshine. Then waited.

Sadly, I did something wrong. We all concluded I planted everything too deep into the ground. Everything died.
          EVERYTHING!
                    Oops! haha

When the in-laws came to visit over a month ago now, Kathy and I went shopping for herbs and more plant supplies. With her help, we re-planted the garden. She's got a green thumb for sure. Her words of advice were the following:

"Its not rocket science ... plants will grow in nearly anything."
"It doesn't have to be perfect"

(I'm not sure if she was saying I try too hard, or that I'm making things too difficult? Hmmmm)

And since I didn't want to use pesticides, she said to "Plant extra. Enough for the ones that won't grow or will die, enough for the bugs and enough for us."

Genius! :)

My herbs took off instantly and are still growing strong. I use them nearly everyday and have become totally hooked!

With watering once a day, this garden (I guess you could say this is our "second" garden) grew with ease.

Today at lunch, we enjoyed our FIRST veggie!!!

It.was.DELICIOUS!

 

I was a little excited to say the least! What can I say -- It doesn't take much to make me happy & I got nothing but love for all things good! :)

 

Can't wait for more!!!

Military Ball 2013

This past Saturday, Justin and I attended the 1-108th Aviation Military Ball.

 

It took place in Wichita, KS at the Marriott Hotel that was complete with drinks, a nice meal, lots of beautiful fun people, but no real "ball" portion. I was disappointed that there was no dancing portion because the last military ball we went too (which was over nine years ago!), Justin and I actually got to dance together.

Its always nice to be twirled around like a princess by your one-and-only!! :)

Here was us nine years ago. I just can't believe its been that long ago! The photo's a little damaged, but still so precious to me. In fact, we used this photo for our wedding invitations.

Here were the photography pictures. Its like prom, only more fun and with a better date! haha

 

 

We booked our room at the Old Town Hotel there in Wichita and got one for my parents as well as they were the ones who took care of Jocelyn so Justin and I could have a night out. Thank you SO MUCH mom and dad. We love you!

My dad showing off his photography skills. I'd say he did about as a good job as the "real" photographer. :)

We started the evening out with social hour which included drinks, picture taking, checking out all our well-dressed friends and chatting.

It was fun getting to relax and be silly.

I got to see and take a photo with some of my girls Ashley, Cherry & Tammie.

 

After the meal and a very long, long ... LONG ... award ceremony portion, we all headed out for a night out in Old Town. It was a fun way to end the night :)

 

Let's Talk Vacation...

Finally, we took a vacation this summer -- our FIRST family vacation -- to Galveston, TX. None of us had ever been to Galveston and it was the closest drive to a beach, so we thought "why not?"

I wish I could say that we took a lot of fun pics -- but we didn't.
I wish I could say that we did a lot of awesome stuff -- but we didn't.

          But what I can say, was that we thoroughly enjoyed a much needed get-a-way!!

Forewarning, Galveston was NOT all its cracked up to be. It was not just dirty ... the whole place was flat out FILITY!! Insert "this would be the why someone shouldn't go to Galveston."

This was definitely a vacation of eating, lounging and not doing much. Its okay though, for it being our first vacation with juggling all of Jocelyn's stuff, etc? The vacation was a success! With that said, I took a lot of food pictures haha. What can I say, I'm a sucker for food, and if you are my Facebook friend, then you already know this!

We decided to drive to Texas because until Jocelyn can tell us otherwise, we don't want to risk a shunt failure from flying in a plane like so many others have experienced. Hopefully one day we can fly as a family and there will be no mishaps. But for now, seeing how we've had FOUR brain surgeries, we are not willing to risk Jocelyn's shunt failing again and being high in the sky and helpless.

Regardless of the long drive, Justin and I were ready to eat lots of good food, throw back some nice cold drinks, get some sun and enjoy some family time. :) Boogie however, was already game for a nap.

Seeing how we had quite of bit of driving to do, and frequent stops to make to stretch Boogie and to make sure my grandma bladder didn't explode (I know I drink a lot of water, but geez, a gnat has a bigger bladder than I do I swear!), we were prepared to make the drive down there as part of the vacation!

We were successful in making simple gas stops fun!

And we used rest areas for some play/stretch-time. Thankful for the super nice weather!

Justin is SUCH a wonderful daddy. I love that he sings with her!!

Jocie sure does love her books!

 

The first day, we stopped and had lunch at a place called Stables in Guthrie, OK which was an old BBQ place with a fun, but over decorated interior. From the reviews the place was suppose to be incredible, and when the food came out it did look really tasty, but I suppose we've been spoiled with the Naughty Nurses BBQ which is pretty damn hard to beat. And I'm not just saying that because they are my in-laws! :)

{Found these pictures online so you can see the clutter - made me a bit claustrophobic - but the picture on the left is actually a view from the table we sat at while we were there.}

 

Stables BBQ sauce did receive the "Boogs Approval" award so they should feel honored! haha

One of our stops included a place called Peaches in Fairfield, TX. They had incredible looking produce there (I know, I sound lame, but I get excited about that kind of stuff), homemade ice-cream, salsas, wines and apparently their infamous fried pies!! I paid the price later (several hours of being nausea), but we indulged in homemade apricot and coconut fried pies. Even Jocelyn thought the pie filling was delicious!

 

After a good day of driving, we stopped for the night in Lewisville, TX and got seriously THE BEST suite at the Holiday Inn Express. The room was crazy huge, fancy and surprisingly felt luxurious. We live large ... we know. haha

 

Anyways, we were all so tired but after getting cleaned up, we went and ate at a place called Chaucer's where we had our first taste of raw sushi. Justin is such a good sport for doing things I want to do. It was instant love for me. For him? He choked it down with a beer! haha

 

Here was our combo dish of a spicy tuna roll and a panic roll.

{The simple-looking 8 pieces you see is the spicy tuna which was Justin's choice and the fancy one was mine! It also had spicy tuna along with fresh sliced jalapeno and sriracha on top! Holy mother wow were both hotter than hot!!! Our mouths were flamin' afterwards, but I loved it!}

I was really surprised how well the sushi tasted considering when we walked in, the place was completely empty. I always feel like if its supper time, and the place is empty, then that's a bad sign. Not to mention that the place felt like an upscale restaurant, night club, hula bar all wrapped up into one. It was really weird. As we were looking around the place, we kept seeing these little cubby's, or small raised dance floor-looking areas around the restaurant. Then we started looking at all the waitress and their attire and thought "hmmm, those are outfits are awfully revealing." No sooner did we say that, then a girl walks in with a Superwoman looking, blinged out outfit with white platform hooker boots. Come to find out, this place had "Go-Go Girls" and the night we happen to come, was the night they danced.

 

Parents of the year to have Jocelyn there? Oh yea.

Needless to say, supper was cut short.

We went shopping instead haha

 

The next day we made it to Galveston, checked into our hotel room and got settled-in. I'm not sure if it was because we were right on the beach, or because it was the July 4th holiday, but our room was DEFINITELY not worth $200+ a night. We did have a balcony and that was nice, but the rest of the room? Socks were mandatory and I didn't want ANYTHING touching the floors, counters, etc. I seriously felt a little OCD, snobby and high-n-mighty I guess. I should say "we" felt that way because Justin sure had his own set of similar opinions. Kind of felt bad about our up-turned noses towards the room, the beach itself ... all of Galveston ... but we couldn't help it. At least we had a nice view from our room though.

 

Over the next few days we visited Pleasure Pier (although we never actually walked on the pier because we didn't want to pay $25/person to walk on a pier when Jocie couldn't even get on any of the rides anyways, so we viewed it from afar haha). It did look pretty cool though! I didn't snap a good picture, but here's what it looks like.

 

We enjoyed morning jogs on the beach and the beautiful sunrises. I would've loved to have run ON the beach, but the sand was cluttered with debris and forget about actually swimming in it -- GROSS! Guess I've been spoiled by Florida and Australian beaches??

 

We checked out The Strand district and even visited the Pyramids. We only visited the rainforest pyramid (there are three different ones: the rainforest, aquarium and a discovery one) and Jocelyn slept through the entire thing.

          Little turd.

 

The whole place was literally a gigantic rainforest and most of the animals and plant-life had free range which was nice and made it more "real."

 

They had kissing parrots, bright colored attack birds and pretty waterfalls.

 

Boogie woke up towards the end and was a cuddle-bug, but she did get to see a few things.

 

Justin said one of his favorite parts of the trip were the beverages, 

 

and watching me eat DEVOUR 60 crawfish! (It was my first time having them -- I'm HOOKED!)

{We ate SO MUCH seafood and that's all I seem to want. Justin had hoped that I would get my fill of it but sadly, it only fueled my seafood cravings even more. Crawfish, seafood, boudin, oysters ... you can't eat that and then be like "Bam! Now I want a slab of fat cow" ??}

I'm so thankful that we finally took a trip together. If we would've tried to vacation a year ago or so, our routine wouldn't be as good as it is now, and it would have been far too stressful to enjoy. And so even though there was a lot of driving that we did in a short amount of time, Jocelyn seemed to enjoy herself ...

 

While Justin and I got to see and do something new and different! :)