Eleanor

Oh, my sweet Eleanor (explanation follows)

Last night during FHE (BTW: We have had family night regularly for the past 5 weeks now, which I am very proud of!) Anyway, last night our lesson was on Easter and what Christ's death and resurrection meant for us. I was explaining (very excitedly to keep the girl's attention) that people who didn't like Jesus decided to kill him and they hung him on the cross. After he died they put him in a big room with a big rock in front of the door and 3 days later he was resurrected.

Mom: "And Jesus was resurrected very first, and because he was resurrected, that means WE can be resurrected after we die too! Hooray!"
Eleanor: "Hooray! Yeah! Rock off, Mom!" holding her arm out straight in front of her with her hand in a fist.

Yeah, I rocked off my 3 year old in celebration of Christ's resurrection and the atonement.

I've tried to post video to our blog about 6 times now and it always is "uploading" for close to 6 hours before I finally give up--- so either I'm doing something wrong, I'm just impatient, or its just not meant to be. Sadly I'm much better at posting on facebook that I am on keeping our blog up to date-- so sorry if you've been left out of the loop just because you're not a facebook fan.
Last week Brandon spent hours and hours serving in the jury box in a unpleasant case in the Provo City courthouse. The girls were happy to be able to spend time with some very kind friends-- Grandma, Kristen, and Sarah while I worked and Brandon "juried"- I don't envy Brandon's experience a whole lot!
Brandon took the kids down to Cedar City for the weekend and I had the opportunity to stay home and get done some long put off projects-- I (with some SIGNIFICANT help from my handy-man dad) replaced the broken fan in our bathroom and was finally able to scrub off the mold from the ceiling with greater assurity that it wont be able to grow again! (Hooray!) I also plastered some holes in the walls, changed out some plumbing underneath the kitchen sink that was leaking, and other "not very easy to do with children in the house or while they are sleeping" tasks. It was fun to be able to spend some time with my dad too-- I used to be his "helper" when I was little and he would work on various home improvement projects...."helper" being a very relative term. :)
Today I was finally able to meet with a pulmonologist for my sleep study results. She told me I had mild obstructive sleep apnea but did not require a CPAP machine right now-- other than that, she basically said that one major contributory to my constant sleepiness was my work schedule and the other was my weight... it didn't seem to matter that I have had very successful weight loss for the past 2.5 months.... she recommended I lost another 35 lbs and I could be sleep apnea free forever-- Believe me, I would LOVE to be 35 lbs lighter, it was just kind of a damper on the amount of success I've had so far-- I guess just the reminder of HOW MUCH overweight I am. So.... I guess we'll keep working on it.
Quincy and Eleanor still love their dance class through Hale Center Foundation. Benjamin is growing up like crazy and starting to take a few "stumble/run before I fall down" type steps. He's an absolute joy-- even though he is a little sick.

Kind of newsy, and nothing incredibly exciting, but at least it is up to date!

Progress

So I know I haven't posted for quite awhile. Most of it is that it is faster to post short blurbs on Facebook-- I know, lame excuse. Things have been busy though. As far as an update to the previous post Brandon has done very well, lost close to 25# and I am fairly close behind him having lost over 16#-- in 6 weeks, I'm pretty happy about that!! I fit into the pants I bought nearly 3 years ago to go on our cruise- so hooray! And I'm under the benchmark weight I set last fall-- so I get to reward myself with a massage ASAP! :)

Time for some lifestyle changes

Brandon and I have decided that we are way past due some lifestyle changes and have signed up for a "free trial" exercise/nutrition program for the next 8 weeks. We wont gross you out by posting our "before" pictures, but hopefully we will see some significant results in the next 8 weeks. So far we have found quiet a bit of frustration with figuring out what to eat. We are supposed to eat 200-300 calories every 2-3 hours throughout the day with a fairly even proportion of carbs, proteins, and fats-- have you ever tried to do something like that? Brandon and I have been eating fairly non-cohesive things throughout the day. Any suggestions for meal recipes following the requirements would be gratefully accepted. :)

Sledding

Poor Benjamin was SO tired. He fell asleep in the first 5 minutes!
We had fun sledding today, with just a few minor casualties. It's always nice when you can find snow gear on sale early in the season in anticipation of snowfall. (that and buy big, so hopefully it will fit next year!) Happy New Year!

Dance Lessons

For the past few months Eleanor and Quincy have been taking dance lessons through Hale Center Theater. They seem to really like it. Our little ballerinas?





(p.s. I love the panty lines visible through their tights.... hahahaha!)

That Shouldn't Happen When You're In Time Out!

When I got home from work the other day Brandon told me to go look at the coin on top of the bookshelf up in our living room. Curious, I went upstairs and to my surprise found this.... Apparently while in time out, Quincy had decided to find out what happens when she puts a penny between the outlet and her night light while it is plugged into the socket.... We're lucky she didn't get shocked real good and that the house didn't burn down!