Nothing Short of a Miracle!

KC is going to be the only one that truly appreciates the miracle.

Woke this morning and started making today's new meal :) I had lots to do, so I picked a slow cooker meal . . . ribs. I have never ever made my family ribs. They have ordered them off a menu and love them but never from my kitchen.

Until today :)

Slow Cooker Barbecue Ribs

That's eight pounds of meat . . . I didn't want to be short :) We have enough for lunch tomorrow too! My family gave it 6 and 7 stars (I think they wanted to let me know that I should make it again). I'm just happy when they eat :)

Zoe also made her Cinnamon Sweet Potato Chips again.

This is the third time we've made these. Emmitt devours them :)

Today was a two workout day. I decided that I was never going to do them back to back again. So I took advantage of the boys one hour morning nap today. They went down at 10:00, I gave Cam his morning snack and turned on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and started the Legs & Back workout.

Done.

Woke the boys up at 11:15 and let them play in their room for a bit while I picked up the kitchen and made lunch.

Sat the boys down for lunch and the phone rings, caller id said "Centralized Showing" (In my head I'm thinking please be for tomorrow, please be for tomorrow) but of course they want a 3:30-4:30 showing.

I requested a 3:45-4:45 because of the girls coming home from school. Since I didn't make any plans with them I could just leave them.

So I'm cleaning the house . . . and I haven't had a showing for over a week, and I let the house go a bit. "A Bit" is the understatement of the year! My living room had become an eBay store and my family room had become the storage room. This place was project city . . . not show worthy.

Cleaning, stuffing, moving, vacuuming, out to the garage, in the attic, laundry, sweep, mop, pick up toys, toys and more toys. The whole time yelling at myself for letting it get that bad.

I was concerned when I didn't hear back from Centralized Showing to re-confirm the time, so I called them. She said "no news is good news, they didn't cancel it so it's on". So I kept cleaning.

I got it done, still not sure how (again, KC will be the only one the truly appreciate the transformation of our home today).

At 3:20 I woke up Cam and told him to get his shoes and jacket on and made his bed. Emmitt up, jacket on, into the car. Made Emmitt's bed, got Castiel's jacket on, made his bed, opened the curtains and what do I see in front of my house?!?

Two cars pull up, of course, they are early . . . 

Run out of the house with Castiel in my arms and she says "you running a little late?" I just answered "yes, sorry" knowing she never got a call to change times "I need to stay here, my kids aren't home from school, please take your time". Turned "Ice Age" on for the boys in the car . . . not 5 minutes later, they were gone, I was back in the house with the boys and the girls came home from school.

UGH! SO MUCH WORK FOR LESS THEN FIVE MINUTES.

KC's came home early tonight, what's why it was New Meal night.

I have decided that Ab Ripper X will not be happening today. I'm not too disappointed, I still got in an hour workout. Getting the house ready for a showing was my second workout for the day, seriously it was that bad.

With the house this clean again, I just hope that the realtors keep calling all weekend!

The family is playing the Wii and I'm enjoying a pomegranate margarita. I know that it is Friday night, but I think everyone in this house will be going to bed early :)

Castiel Won This Round :)

I put the boys down for their naps and started my Yoga X workout immediately. I wanted to be done before 3:30 and the workout was 1 hour and 32 minutes long. Yoga made me sweat the most so far.

About 25 minutes into it, the guy says "clear your mind" and right on cue I hear Emmitt start screaming. I let it go on for a couple minutes, then hit pause.

I go into the twins room and Castiel is actively pulling the last of Emmitt's blanket into his crib. Castiel has 2 nuks, 5 blankets and 2 pillows in his crib. Emmitt, yup, left with nothing! He looked at me and threw his head into his hands, very dramatic . . . poor guy, all he wanted was to sleep.

In my head I thought, what a picture moment, Castiel smiling his evil smile surrounded by everything and Emmitt crying his eyes out with nothing, but I thought it would be kind of mean. And I needed them to go back to sleep.

I kind of wish I would have snapped that photo :)

I put everything back where it belonged, laid them both back on their pillows, shut of the light and shut the door, and thankfully they both went back to sleep.
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Zoe had a field trip today to the Science and Industry Museum. She didn't like it. I reminded her that it was better than being in school and she shrugged.

We went there with my parents to see the "Harry Potter" exhibit, which was amazing. My dad is the biggest Harry Potter fan I know, and Zoe seemed to like that exhibit as much as he did.

It's definitely a "learning" museum, which I guess didn't live up to the "fun" factor that a field trip should be.

Her only comment about today was "I got to see a baby chick hatch out of an egg". I think that in itself would be worth the trip.

She looks tired. I'm sure they did lots of walking.
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Since she doesn't have homework, she came home and started working on her artwork for the Gallery Walk at school in a few weeks. We've all decided to do a little art project.

Zoe's after Day 1

Audrey's after Day 1

Cameron's after Day 1

Mine after Day 1

These are colored pencils on wood, inspired by the art show that we just went to. He did wildlife drawings, so we all decided to do the same :) I love when kids are inspired!

I'm trying to teach "taking your time" with the kids. They will usually rush through and finish an art project too fast in my opinion. Especially Zoe.

It's the bossy artist in me.

We have a few weeks and have told them to do their best and when they need a break . . . stop. Instead of finishing quickly and messy up something that could have been really nice.

I know, bossy artist, but I can't help it.

It takes everything in me not to "fix" a project . . . I'm always making "suggestions", I'm horrible, I need to cut it out.

This is her project and I'll do my best to let it stay that way :)

I Hate Drey!

So "Drey" is in the P90X video and she does everything perfect and extreme. I don't do any of it near perfect or extreme. I just have to say that the "Dreya Roll" is impossible! I have to focus my pain on something, and I have chosen her, as fair or unfair that it is :)

I am definitely "feeling it" in my tummy and upper arms . . . but it's not as bad as I thought. I wasn't sure if I would be able to move at this point.

But I'm still going!!!

Day Two and Three are COMPLETE! - - - only 87 days left

Yesterday was Cardio X, and I enjoyed it.

So far, this workout is working for me. As soon as I get tired and can't do an exercise anymore . . . he moves onto something else using a completely different muscle, so I find it completely do able.

Also . . . LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the countdown clock in the bottom corner. It actually has a countdown for each individual exercise too. I can look at that clock when I am feeling like I want to stop and see 15 seconds and push through.

Today was Shoulders and Arms, I actually didn't mind it. I was worried about this one, the push-up hater that I am. Shocked! No push-ups :) Weights and bands, and I found it kinda fun.

There were actually two workouts scheduled for today. I finished the first one and felt pretty good, so decided to do them back to back since I knew that I'd be too busy the rest of the day.

I looked at the time for the Ab Ripper X workout, 17 minutes, so I thought, that shouldn't be too bad.

I was wrong. Very, very wrong!!!

Each exercise had to be done 25 times, it wasn't a timed thing. And the people did everything so fast that I ended up, watching how the exercise was done, pushed pause, struggle through my 25 and then pushed play to watch the next one.

This easily took me 45 minutes, I thinking maybe an hour. I had just enough time to shower before the girls got home from school.

It hurt yesterday to sneeze . . . and laugh. I just pray for no sneezing for the next few days, because I'm sure it'll bring me to tears!

I'm still going strong :)

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Audrey had a school music concert tonight. Isn't she cute :)

I took pictures of her before, because taking pictures of her from where I had to stand with the boys, I knew it would be like a "Where's Waldo". Can anyone find her? LOL.

KC had a late night at the shop, so I taped it the best I could. I was also feeding the twins animal crackers to keep them happy and had to put Emmitt's shoe back on 3 times. So the video will be very shaky, but it won't effect the sound quality.

Audrey got a white rose from a neighbor after her performance :) The first thing she says to me when we got into the car "I need blue food coloring, I'm going to turn this rose blue." Blue is her absolute favorite color, so we are giving it a try.

We'll see in the morning. I think it will work, but not sure if it'll be blue by morning.

I'm gonna stretch, take a couple Advil and go to bed :) KC's advice, thanks hun.

A Happy Belly Button

I am not over-weight.

That is not the reason I am doing P90X.

I'm actually 20lbs thinner now than on my wedding day.

I have never really exercised.  I eat what I want, but always try to do it in moderation.

Most days, my life is exercise enough.

But, I want to see if I can do it.

Laugh at me if you want, but my only goal is . . . a happy belly button.

Four pregnancies and five children, I'm just a little soft.

Today was just the start, I just finished Core Synergistics . . . I feel a little flushed . . . but I also feel great!

I did it, not with perfect form, not as fast, not as many, but I did it and plan to improve :)  (thanks for the advice Tracy, a P90X-er and my wonderful sister-in-law)

My start date is April 4th so I should finish this by July 1st . . . if I do it in the 90 days. I am giving myself a 90 day buffer, because I can, so I have to finish this thing by September 30th, at the very latest. It may seem to defeat the purpose of P90X, but I figure if I keep moving, it's better than not :) And if you didn't notice . . . I renamed this thing P180X in my goals :)

To those familiar with the program, there are 3 choices . . . I'm going with the "Lean" version . . . which is a little less arms, I am a pushup hater! But I still did more pushups today then . . . probably ever . . . and that is ever combined :)

Week One, I am determined to do all 6 days in a row, to kick-start my butt into doing this . . . or maybe I should say, get it over as fast as possible!

Week 1, 2 and 3

Monday - Core Synergistics

Tuesday - Cardio X

Wednesday - Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X

Thursday - Yoga X

Friday - Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X

Saturday - Kenpo X

Sunday - Rest or X Stretch . . . most Sundays, yes, I'm sure I'll be resting :)


Really, I'm feeling great . . . mostly proud of myself, I'm just hoping not to be too sore tomorrow.


LOL, I don't remember the last time I did more than 25 jumping jacks in a row . . . I did 45 today and was shocked at how much work it was . . . seriously, try it . . . or am I really that out of shape?

Zoe's Gotta Go Back To School Before She Makes Me Fat!

Weather hasn't been the nicest for our Spring Break . . . but not horrible either.

The kids have definitely spent their share of time running around outside . . . but not in the 60 degree weather that I had hoped for.

We knew that the weather wasn't going to be ideal, so Zoe's plan was always to cook and bake a lot. And that's exactly what she did.

Julie, she lived in this apron all week . . . seriously!

First, Whoopie Cookies . . . from scratch!

All I helped her with was thinning the batter and pulling the hot pans out of the oven. Other then that . . . I walked away and let her do her thing. She is my little Ms. Independent.

Look at all those ingredients, I found a recipe that used Devil's Food cake mix, but she preferred the list of ingredients, exactly the opposite of how I cook :)

I also told her that she'd be in charge of clean up this time. I have always let her bake and walk away, but she always makes such a HUGE mess. I thought if I gave her the responsibility, somehow she wouldn't make as big of a mess . . . but she did.

She didn't like it, but she did it :)

And if you aren't familiar with Whoopie Pies . . . they are basically giant Oreo cookies . . . but again, my brilliant little 10 year old's mind at work decided there would be twice as many if she made them iced cookies.

She named them "Whoopie Cookies", which she was very proud of and they were delicious!!!

And Zoe continued all week . . . very happily :) Monkey Bread, yummy!!!

Deviled Eggs, that Audrey turned her nose up at, but then realized she loved them :)

This doesn't include pictures of the carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Yes, she made those too :) My favorite!!!

She had more on her list: Fat Bars and Rice Krispie Treats and Apple Pie . . . but I had to say "enough"

Yesterday morning she made a pile of French Toast, seriously, she's so happy in the kitchen. But I think I gained five pounds this week!

So guess what this week has inspired?!?!?!?

P90X TIME!

If I'm not complaining about my entire body aching on Monday evening, I want everyone to yell at me to get my butt moving . . . please . . . I may need some yelling . . . I mean encouragement :)

Also, I have to get down on my hands and knees and scrub the kitchen floor, between Zoe's baking and the Aqua Sand, it needs it.

I better do that before the P90X :) Otherwise, I may not be able to.

Today's their last day off and I have approved handmade ice cream (in the ball . . . gift from Tracy and Mike) and personal sized pizzas . . . each kids gonna make their own for dinner :)

This week has definitely not felt like a vacation to me . . . but it never does with 5 kids :)