We "Did the Puyallup"

Such a great fair. Thank you to the Kent School District for sending us free tickets. All I had to do was Declare my Children and put myself slightly under the thumb of the Education Dept. in the state of Washington. It was worth it...I think.

Just Because

Apparently the only way to get comments on my blog is to post cute pictures of little kids. So, here is a picture of us from yesterday. We took the kids for a walk around West Seattle because it was a beautiful day and they needed to get out. (o:

Here's Another One..A Better One

Here we are at the Providence Regina House. Really the video speaks for itself. Can you find the token fat chick? (o: I pulled this video off of Weight Watchers.com. (o:

I'm Getting Famous...sorta...not really.

My involvement with Weight Watchers just keeps on getting more...involved. (o: Today my leader asked me if I would be willing to talk to the Corporate people about my experiences the past few years with the Lose for Good program...before it was the LFG program. She asked a couple of other people, and took all of our numbers. I said sure, thinking, she's taking tons of names. So, I gave Debbie my number and came home. An hour later I get a call from Debbie. She talked to the Corporate person and they were interested in ME. They wanted me to send in a short written statement about why I like the program etc. and she said they would contact me if they decided to use me. So, I typed it up and sent it to Debbie, who just emailed me that she sent it off. We shall see where that leads. But, hey...Corporate was interested. (o:

Plus, I am in 3 seconds of a video on WeightWatchers.com. Wahoo! Go here... http://community.weightwatchers.com/Challenges/ChallengePage.aspx?sid=1156867

I am towards the end of the video titled "The kickoff for the LFG"...after the 3 guys (they are all in my class). Don't blink or you'll miss me. 3 seconds is all there is. Elizabeth is with me. Kathy, our official blog person that is at the first of the video, said that she didn't put it together, and had wanted more of me, but I think they didn't put me on as much because Lizbet...BELCHED...half way through the interview. Yah, nice.

Anyway, in the 3 weeks since I started, I've lost 5.4 pounds, so I am pretty happy with that. Here is a picture of my food shrine as of today.

Lose-A-Palooza!

Today is Weight Watchers Losa-A-Palooza! Every blog entry that says "Lose For Good" today "donates" a dollar toward ending childrens hunger. So, I'm doing my part...even though I have a blog entry that talks about Lose for Good already. (o: It really is a great program. In 2 weeks I've lost 2.4. I have 2.4 pounds of food sitting on my tv stand. That food will be donated to a hungry child. What a good feeling! So, like I said before, if you need to lose weight and want to join WW, now would be an awesome time to do it! Or, if you don't need to lose weight, but want to help, get in contact with someone you know that is a member (like me) and they can bring your food in for you.

This is my leader, Debbie, and Jenny McCarthy. Lose for Good was all Debbie's idea. We'd been doing it for years before the CEO heard about it and decided to incorporate it Nationally. I explained more about it on September 10th....so scroll on down. (o:

Joseph's Birthday

Here's a couple of scene's from Joseph's birthday. Thank you to all that sent him cards and gifts! He had a great day!

This is Little Miss checking out the guinea pigs. She first played in the food pellets, and then tried to take their water. It was pretty cute.

Happy Birthday Joseph!

Happy 9th Birthday to my Joseph! We love you!!!!

Today I turn 35...

...do I look that old? (o:

Actually, I went and got my hair cut...gift from my in-laws. She actually didn't take too much off...mostly cut the damaged stuff off and gave me some layers. She suggested that as I lose weight, I could go shorter. I liked that idea.

Speaking of weight loss....

Yesterday I went to Seattle with my WW leader, Debbie and a couple of other people in our group. We went to Providence Regina House to help pack food for toddlers that WW has donated. If you have heard anything about the Lose For Good program...that was my leader's idea and I have been a part of it since it's conception back in 2003. It went National last year. This is the 2nd year and is going strong. The press was supposed to be there, but didn't show. That's okay with me since I jokingly called myself the "token fat person" there and Bob was the "token dude". (o: I was the only one that is still working toward goal (most of the others were leaders) (darn Elizabeth! pregnancy + too much christmas baking=go back to start card~almost) But...it was a wonderful experience and I have now found a new place that I want to donate all my stuff to. D.I. usually gets my stuff, but this place needs it so much more...and they don't charge the people. We donated 1,000 pounds of food and stuffed over 100 bags for little toddlers. if you want to know more about the Lose for Good program you can go to the WW website or ask me. I'll try to get more info on later, but Spencer is standing over me waiting for his computer turn and Elizabeth is on my lap~I've typed this whole thing with one hand. (o:

Here's our part of the group. There were about 8 more people, like Debbie's boss and some other leaders...but these guys are Debbie's folk...we were there from the beginning. (o:

l.to r. Bob, Barb, Kathy, Debbie the Great!, Me, and Jo.

I am insanely proud to be a part of this group and to know Debbie. Best of all, because of my extra involvement with this program...my weight is goin down! Woohoo!

A New Week

This week is going to be a busy week. Today we have already had school. I am going to be going to get my hair cut and then we are taking Grandma Deone shopping with us. (we really need some groceries) Then we will come home and clean up the place a bit cause tomorrow we will be having a guest. Our friend Jake is going to be coming over every Tuesday to stay with us for the day. His parents both work on Tuesdays, so he needs a place to go...what funner (yes, it is a word at the moment) place to be than the Nelson's???? (don't answer that) (o: He will be here bright and early so we need to have things ready for the day before he comes.

Then...on Wednesday I am going to Regina House in Seattle with my Weight Watcher leader and a couple of people from our meetings to help out packing packs of food for toddlers and helping promote the Lose for Good campaign that MY leader dreamed up years ago. The WW CEO liked her idea so much, they turned it in to something national. I was there the first year she did it and I was there when the CEO came and heard her idea. I'm so proud to be a part of it. I'll post more about it all after Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, Travis is going to do his first ever radio blogcast! He'll be talking about politics mostly. If I remember tomorrow, I will get the listening info for you. If you are on facebook, you can get the info there.
Okay, I need to get going. My place is a mess...no...it's a MESS!!! So, I leave you with a picture of my kids being cute.

Silly Baby Girl

This is for all those who just can't resist a good laugh by a baby! Joseph was pushing the Sunday paper around on the floor and she thought he was hilarious. I do see that my carpet under the little table is in serious need of vacuuming though. Yikes! But Elizabeth is beyond cute here. (in my humble opinion) (o:

A New School Year

I started our new school year yesterday. The teachers in our school district are on strike, so our kids are having to do school while listening to their neighbor friends play outside. But, come end of the school year, our kids will be playing and their friends will still be in school, so it will all work out. The kids have done well so far. I'm way more organized this year than I have ever been. There is a lot to keep track of having three kids. I turned in my intent form for both Joseph and Spencer this year, so I've got a lot more accountability for them.

I think it will be a really fun year. We are using Magic Tree House books and their research guides for History and Geography (mostly), and have some fun story books in line for reading. We actually just finished reading "The Boxcar Children". It was a great story and we plan on reading more of their adventures. Actually, it was such a fun story that we got more involved than we normally do when reading a book. The children in the book eat blueberries and milk for dinner one night, so we went down to the fresh market and bought fresh blueberries and had blueberries and milk while we read. Then, the children made a stew, so we picked carrots from our garden and got fresh potatoes and onions from the market and made a beef and vegetable stew in the crock pot. The kids loved it and loved feeling like they could relate more closely to the characters.

Anyway, I got a tad off topic there. I found some great ideas from an LDS homeschool book. Her best advice was the way she schedules. It seems to fit my family, so that is what we will be doing. It's a very simple layout....basics like math and language arts every day and then special topics that I can adjust to make sure Connor's involved once a week...example...Monday-Science, Tuesday-Art/Music, Wednesday-Composition/Creative Writing, Thursday-History, Friday-Book of Mormon/religious studies. I work with Connor on his reading while the older boys do silent reading and he does coloring and letter practice while the older boys work on math and LA etc. It's working so far. We will do field trips whenever we feel like it.(o: Mainly, though, when Travis has the day off so he can go and enjoy the fun, plus help me with kid control.

Tuesday's we will be watching a little boy named Jake. He's just a couple of months younger than Connor, so I will be planning some things for him to do while we have school on Tuesday's.

That's about it for now. I wanted to just get this out there so if I can't remember when I started school, or lose my way, I can return to this post and get my head on again. (o: I'll leave you with some cute pictures.
Group photo. Connor is such a goof ball.

Joseph-3rd grade. Age 8. I have a couple of photo's of just Joseph's face, but he insisted I have a picture of him with Baby Doggie. He's had that dog since he was 3 months old. It's his oldest and best friend and comes to school every morning.

Spencer-2nd grade. Age 7.

Connor. Kindergarten. Age 4. I think he looks so old in this picture!

I installed these shelves in our entry way. Each boy has their own shelf with their own bin of crayons and stuff. It also holds their books that they need daily. On the right we have history books, science books, and chapter books. It's pretty organized for now. I hope they keep it this way cause it's working well for them so far.