BBQs, Birthdays and Boats, Oh My!

Well I have been MIA for quite some time now, so this post will be epic in order to catch up on all of our happenings (for the two, maybe three people that are still interested). :)

April - my baby girl Ellis turned 4 on April 11 and to celebrate we had a fantastic tea party at this gorgeous Tea House in West Seattle called The Tuscan Tea Room. All the little girls and boys got dressed up in their finest and I provided boas, pearls and bracelets for the girlies and fake moustaches for the boys. It was adorable. I think she had a great time - she even got her own little cake to eat.

A little about Ellis at 4:
*She is very curious - she asks questions about everything and will make up an answer for herself if I tune her out too long
*She is very, very caring to her little sister, but also can be a little pill when she doesn't want to share
*She is a great arguer for what she wants - she will bargain with me to make deals, but often times she will bargain in the opposite direction of what she really wants (ie: I ask her to eat the rest of her food and she says "okay mommy, I will eat 11 more bites of my food [when there are really only 3 more bites left]
*She L.O.V.E.S the boat - she is constantly wanting to go out on it, play on it, talk about it - anything.
*She loves to read. We now go to the library and get books about every two weeks and each night we read one (or two) books before bed. She loves it.
*Each night she asks me to sing her a song before bed time and she will dance around in her pajamas (usually consisting of an old T-shirt of Loni's, a tank top of mine, or an old dress of mine) on her bed while I sing her a song (usually Tinkerbell or the Teddy Bear picnic or a church song)
*She loves running and playing outside. Everyday when I get them from daycare the first question out of her mouth is "can stella and i play outside while you make dinner?"
*She listens really well when she wants but seems to have an aversion to picking up her toys by herself (she says she constantly needs help)
*She loves writing and spelling things. She can write every letter in the alphabet (and it is getting straighter and straighter each time) both upper and lower case. She is starting to sound out words and is going to be picking up on things very quickly.
*She starts a real preK class at SouthShore Elementary in September. She will be going to school from 8:30-2:30 every day - I am getting a little anxiety right now.
*She is a great kid, a wonderful big sister and an all around amazing little girl. Loni and I love her very much. <3!

May - Loni and I started another round of HCG and just completed the Phase 2. We have had such great success on this and Loni looks really great. I just had to post this pic of him (doesn't he look SO good) and the girls on the boat. All three of them love being on the water - his girls are just like him.

Memorial Day this year we went and visited the Fortney side of the graves. We missed having Lanae there this year, but I am happy we continued the tradition of visiting the graves. Traditions are amazing for families - I am glad my girls will grow up doing this.

Ellis and Stella at Loni's Grandparents graves

The Weaver Generations: [Back row L-R: Pasha, Staci, O'Reilly nephew, Joe, Sefa, Marie]

[Front Row L-R: Loni, Stella, Donni, Malia, Ellis, O'Reilly niece, Feki]

June: For Loni's birthday this year (the big 3-0!) we went to my friends wedding over at the Alderbrook Resort for a much need R&R session together. The wedding was beautiful and Loni and I were able to relax and have an enjoyable time together. On his birthday (June 5), we checked out and went for a drive on the Peninsula. We stumbled upon this quaint little town called Port Gamble and they were having a Renaissance Festival! We went to that and walk through this town (which i would visit again for a day trip) and then took the ferry back home, and had a family dinner to celebrate his birthday. It was a great weekend.

(us on the sidewalk in Port Gamble)

Birthday Round II: As a second part of his birthday celebrations, I had arranged a big surprise dinner for him and some of his good friends and family. He even had two REALLY good friends come into town and surprise him (thanks again Ben and Aaron). It was a great weekend with friends we hadn't seen in a while and family together. I am glad we were able to celebrate Loni together - he really is an amazing person.

(Ben Candland, Loni, Jershon, Marie, Amanda and Chantelle at our house bonfire Friday night)

(one of the two tables full of people to help celebrate his birthday. His treat was a deep fried banana - it was totally worth cheating on the diet for. We were all singing happy birthday - I think its funny how uncomfortable Loni looks with all this attention on him!)

As I stated before, both girls LOVE the water and they love standing on the back of the boat and putting their legs in. Thank goodness for the handle strap on Stella's life jacket or else she would have fallen in a couple of times. She just has to do EVERYTHING that Ellis is doing - she is going to be very driven and opinionated.

June 21 - I have always wanted to have a summer solstice party and this year we did. To celebrate, we had a play date with a good friend (kylie), played in the pool and lake, decorated sun rocks, learned about the solstice and what it was, decorated sun cookies, went out on the boat and danced around the maypole. It was a lot of fun!

To end June, I just have to say - We sold the boat. :( We are moving out of here this month (and hopefully into our new house), so we put it up for sale Saturday, had a call on Sat night and the guy bought it yesterday {sunday}. Kind of crazy, but it is the first step in moving on with our lives and growing up. haha.

Hoppy April!

I took the girls to Yuen Lui today to get their pictures taken with a live bunny. It was super cute and the girls loved it, though all Stella wanted to do was run around the 'stage' and not take good pictures. But we were able to get a few in there. Haha. Anyways - here are some of them. Hope everyone has a great April!

Poulsbo

We we first moved here when I was 4, we moved to a little town called Poulsbo on the Kitsap Peninsula. After we moved from there and throughout my childhood we would return there at least once a year just for a little trip to get away. Well this last Saturday, Loni and I wanted to get away for the day so we decided to go to Poulsbo. I really didn't remember what a cute little town it was. Although it was COLD, it was still fun to get away and go visit another beautiful area of our lovely state.

Ellis and Stella on the way home - all tuckered out!

Playing in the FRIGID wind and still loving it!

Eating at a restaurant

Time Outs and Tantrums

We moved to a new daycare recently up in the Renton Highlands and it is a SAHM who watches both Ellis and Stella. Well Stella has recently been into throwing tantrums and full-on fits when she doesn't get her way. Me, being the softy mom that I am, won't do anything about it but ignore it, but one day I got to daycare and Laura told me she had to put Stella in a time out for pushing (yes I am raising a bully). Well, to keep it consistent I decided to try time-outs at home and see what would happen. And I just have to say it has been SO funny to see Stella in a time out mainly because she STAYS in time out until we let her out. I never would have thought that timeouts would have worked so well on a 15-month old. But they do. And to prove it is this picture we took - I had to take Stella out of the bath bc she was throwing a FIT in the tub bc Ellis wouldn't give her the toy she was playing with. So funny. She just sat there and put her face in the towel - but didn't get up. Haha.

HCG & ME

Over the course of the last four years I have gained more weight than I have ever gained in my life. I used to use the excuse that kids were what made me gain the weight and I never was able to lose it but what it really came down to was laziness, lack of discipline on my part and no real desire to change. With working full time and with the girls being so young still, I have also been unable to commit to a time to attend the gym. So it created a recipe for gaining weight - and while I didn't have a desire to change, I can't say that I was happy with myself.

Then around Christmas-time we ran into my sister-in-law who has been doing the HCG diet for about a year now and has lost close to 100 pounds. I don't know if it was seeing the success she had on the diet, or if I was just ready to start changing, but both Loni and I decided that starting on Dec. 30, we would change our lives. We started the HCG diet on December 30 and ended it on Feb 7 - and the transformation has been amazing. I dropped 22lbs and Loni dropped 35lbs - all by watching what we ate, eliminating sugars and startches and by following the HCG protocol. I know there are a lot of skeptics who are critical of the diet, but both Loni and I are proof that this does work - it's actually quiet incredible. We are currently on the maintenance phase of the diet and plan on doing another round of the diet to help us reach our goal weight. This is the part that scares me the most because this is when your body is supposed to stabilize at this new weight - I am excited to see it work.

I know that this is not for everyone because it is a HARDCORE diet, but it really does work and has inspired both Loni and I to change our lives. We now eat at home every meal, cook with very little added oils and butter, eat fresh vegetables and fruits (and this is an amazing feat for Loni, hahah) - it has given us the boost we need to change our lives for the better. I have always wanted my girls to see me as a healthy role-model for them and I am re-inspired for them. I want them to make healthy choices, grow up active and use Loni and I as examples of how healthy they want to be when they get older.

I just wanted to share with everyone for nothing else than to maybe inspire someone else out there. You can DO - you can change your life; whether it is by dieting or exercising, the time will pass anyways and it is better to start today then keep putting it off. :)

Here are some before and middle pics of us (I still need to get the actual after pictures - these were taken about 3 weeks into the diet). I can't wait to start the other round before summer!

Before (Christmas Eve and New Years Eve - our heaviest weights ever):

January 15, 2010

Loni looks even better now - I tell him he looks like the little boy I married 7 years ago!

If anyone wants any information on the HCG diet, email me at kristyw67@hotmail.com.

xoxo - me

Santa Pics 2010

So I know I have been MIA for the past year, but I am making an (early) New Years resolution to at post at least once a month. Now to some of you bloggers who put me to shame, this might now seem like much, but it is a lofty goal for me right now. :) Anywho - here is our latest pic of the girls - Ellis had tons of fun, but right when I started walking towards Santa, Stella gave my arm a death grip and started clinging to me (she knew where she was going to have to sit), and the pic speaks as to what happened when I actually set her in Santa's lap. Haha. Sorry the pic is so crappy - this is an iphone pic of the actual picture. Anyways, enjoy and Happy Holidays!