Time to be a Butterfly!

One of my favorite saying is "Sometimes you just have to be a butterfly." I actually LOVE butterflies! You know why?? Because they CHANGE from a caterpillar. To me, they are a symbol of life... because life is ALWAYS changing... whether you planned it that way or not. And even if you didn't plan it...if it's an ugly situation, it'll turn out ok! I mean the butterfly isn't pretty as a caterpillar, is it?? But after it changes, it's beautiful.. just like life. you have your ugly moments.. and your beautiful moments...but nothing every stays the same. And here's just a little snippet of how my life's been like a butterfly.

Life's been a *little* crazy lately.  Things are definitely changing around here.

First... there's the BIG news of the BUMP!

YEP! Baby C is on its way!!

We're not really sure when C is due...but according to size, sometime around Thanksgiving.

I think my first reaction was "Oh, boy!" (or girl...probably), but then I got to thinking.... Life's already chaotic, how much more could it really get? lol

Blooper from the photoshoot.... just to prove that kids make everything so much more fun. 

So, that's the one thing...

the other thing is that I'm moving schools... and grades! eeek!!!

I've called Turner home for 10 years of my 11 years of teaching. It's bittersweet to leave. I will miss a lot of my friends there...people who I've known for the last 10 years.  But I'm so excited to be starting this new chapter of my teaching career. It'll be a whole new world to me.

So I've been doing a lot of purging... and packing....

I've already taken 8 large tubs to a storage unit... and I've packed up ONE of my filing cabinets...

The other filing cabinet will take probably 8-10 boxes because it is SO jammed packed, I can't even get things out of it! lol

I've also been PURGING!! This is only the pile I had after one hour of purging... I have TONS more... I sent an email out to my school telling them to come grab what they wanted... the rest was going to go in the trash! Yep... I'm one of those... I don't have the time or patience to sell things. Just want to be DONE! lol

Anyway... the THIRD thing that's changing is that my parents are moving back!!! 

It's been 7 LOOOONG years since they've moved out to Colorado. And gosh darn it, I'm SO ready for them to be back!!! Especially with baby C on the way. wooo!! I can't wait to hang out with my parents again, and the girls just LOVE them!

Time to be a butterfly!

Missing Socks Dilemma

Today, I had a meltdown....over socks.

Yes. 

I know, it sounds lame. But if any of you are OCD like me, then you'll appreciate the fact that it took me THIS long to finally go off my rocker about it. lol. 

So, I finally did something about it!

(sorry about the lighting...the light is RIGHT over that spot and there was no way to get a good picture)

I went to the store, got some fish-eye hooks, clothes line, and clothespins and hung up a clothesline....

Then I took it step further and busted out my black vinyl and my cameo.

The font I used was called Impervious, from Kevin and Amanda

The letters (the tall letters like the Ts and Ls) were 4 inches tall. I just googled "sock svg" and found this one...well, actually it was a PNG that I had to turn into an SVG.... and voila! Missing socks floating around the house issue is done!

The Dreaded Scale

I must admit, I'm OBSESSED with the scale. I weight myself EVERY day. I know..it's not healthy. I don't do it to obsess about my weight...I really do it JUST to make sure I don't go over a certain amount.

BUT, I can't help to obsess about my weight when I see my weight go up. I literally fluctuate between 4-5 pounds within a DAY! It's crazy! Like Monday morning I'll weigh THIS, and then Tuesday morning, I'll weight 4 pounds MORE. HOW in the world is that even possible!? I have to admit. It ruins my self-esteem.

BUT, I have to remember, my STRENGTH is really growing. I can SEE the muscles in my arms and legs (and BUTT! hehe) without even flexing. So I know that I have muscles, which we all know weighs more than fat. And my clothes still fit...which is good.

My friend posted this picture on her wall the other day. No, it's not me. and No, it's not her....but is a GREAT reminder to not take the scale so seriously!

This girl weighs almost 10 pounds heavier and is clearly in better shape. 

So, just remember....the scale is NOT the end all be all. 

Now...if I could take my own advice!

Daddy Love

I know I do a lot of complaining.... of all the things laying around the house, of all the things that don't get done while I'm at work, of all the things that I feel I do on my own. 

But, I need to remember that all in all, my husband sure does love his kids!  And it is VERY apparent that his girls love him SO MUCH! I can already see that they view him as their "hero" or "super daddy!"

This is one of the sweetest pictures EVER to me. Autumn was so excited that he stopped by when he was in the area while at work. 

It's just amazing to me how much Autumn loves her daddy, which is the way it should be! A father's love for his daughter, in my eyes, is so great! I am so thankful to have found a man that really does love his girls and would go to the moon and back for them!

Get Your Fit On!

So, I am lucky to have a lot of friends who are into eating healthy and working out. It helps keep me in my "mojo" of healthy living. And if you know me...(or "know" me) you know that working out has been a part of who I am for about the last 12 years.

We all know how EASY it is to just NOT think about what we eat...and take the time to workout.  If you've been following since I started this new blog, you'll know that I started T25...even posted about it. HERE,  I'm not going to lie. I didn't finish the program. I did really well for 2 months...even though you couldn't tell from my lack of blogging about it. BUT, I realized I just couldn't do it anymore. It was really hurting my neck from all the bouncing. I have a dislocated disc in my neck, so this really is a bonafide reason! lol

Well, I reverted back to my "roots"....what helped me to lose the original 40 pounds I lost many years ago (I'm only about 15 lbs from that weight...and I've had 2 kids since then, so I shouldn't be TOO hard on myself....right?! I went back to my Firm workouts. I actually really love them!

But I was wanting something a little more intense. I wish I could go back to my bootcamp, Wendy. She was so awesome! The times just don't work for me -boo! And I wish I could afford her as a personal trainer - that would be "tres" awesome!!

But, I can't.

So I went back to p90x. I really do like it! I like using weights...I LOVE strength training. I love strength training WITH cardio.

So I got P90x3. I love it! I totally feel like this afterwards....haha!

And then THEN I was talking to a few friends and I got THIS beautiful thing....

It's a PolarFT4. I LOVE it!

It measures my heart rate....and tells me how many calories I've burned. 

I don't know about you, but I'm a goals-kind of girl. So I REALLY like seeing those calories being burned. Keeps me motivated to keep going. 

Even when I have to START working out at 8:30 at night - blah!! 

Some days are just so crazy, full time teacher, full time blogger/creator, full time mother and full time wife. That doesn't leave a lot time left for my workouts....but I KNOW I feel so much better when I get it done, so I get off my couch and put on my shoes....and push play... or go for a run...or do some yoga (man, does yoga do a body good!).  So I leave you with this picture for tonight....yum!

Wild Things Party!

Today was my baby girl's birthday. My little Brooklynn Wynter turned TWO years old! Sniff, sniff! Although I have LOVED watching how she has just grown into such a cute (albeit, SPUNKY) little girl. Her giggles and laughs are enough to just make your heart melt.

The theme was "Where the Wild Things Are" 

Here is the cake and cupcakes I made. I'll get to the cake later :)

For the Wild Rumpus, I had a few things for the kids to play...first up, was a silly string fight! We had a break in the rain, so we headed outside to do that first.

I think even the adults had fun doing it :)

Then it was "Pin the Tail on Max"

And some balloon popping fun!!

Then it was cake time!

The cupcakes were just vanilla and chocolate, but the cake was zebra striped!

All you do is have 2 different batters, and then just add the batter on top of each other, one scoop after another. Don't play with or help the batter, just let it spread on its own. I used the left over batter for the cupcakes, so I had about 24 cupcakes too.

When you cut into the cake, it looks like this...

Happy Birthday to my little wild thing!!

Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate!

Supplies I ordered for this party

Getting Ready for Christmas!

We've been getting ready for Christmas in the Ross household.

Autumn wrote her first letter to Santa - I am so excited to keep this memorabilia! 

She asked for an airplane, beads, and a Strawberry Shortcake Doll.

If you'd like a letter writing template, I shared a freebie on my teaching blog, you can get it {HERE}.

She even sealed it, addressed it, and stamped it with a heart!

I've been told that our post office will actually write back so I'm going to make a copy of the letter (so I can keep the original) and then send it out tomorrow. I am excited to see if she gets one back!!!

We also made the first batch of Christmas Cookies!!

These are TECHNICALLY called Frosted Nutmeg Logs, but I call them Yule Log Cookies....they are some of my husband's favorite cookies!!

I found the recipe MANY years ago in a magazine that I ripped out to keep - but I found the recipe online. Click {HERE} to get the recipe!

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving break!