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!

So much to be thankful for!

So it seems it's customary to profess what you are thankful for on Thanksgiving. I feel that it's a little odd that you only say the one day a year when you're supposed to...to me these are the things you need to let people know ALL year! It's kind of like Valentine's Day for me. I feel bad for boyfriends and husbands that are being trapped into finding a fancy and expensive way to tell you that they love you. Shouldn't they do that all year 'round???

With all that being said, I AM going to give in and profess what I'm thankful for....because I AM thankful.... and I'm a very lucky girl! It's not just today, but always....

I'm grateful for my little mischief makers

for my husband who puts up with me and my craziness

for my parents who may live across the country but never let a day go by where they don't let me know they think of me....

I'm thankful for my health...and I try not to take it for granted and keep it going!

and for my friends - for the ones that have given my children some of their best friends....

and have given me a great group of friends too!

 and the ones who have become more like family!

There are many more friends I am so thankful for - and so many other things, this list could go on forever!!

I'm thankful for nap time (for children AND HUSBAND) so I can cook Thanksgiving dinner quietly...hehe

I'm grateful for all the friends I have made through my life of my teacher blogging - they are some of the most kind hearted, giving, funny, awesome group of ladies!!

But most of all, I'm thankful for everything God has blessed me with!!

So today, and EVERY day, I am thankful and a VERY lucky girl!!

Life is a Roller Coaster

Five years ago, I married my best friend....

We "eloped" to Jamaica to get married. Everyone knew we were going, it was planned, but I just didn't feel like planning a wedding and stressing out. No one came with us, we just went on vacation and got married. It was WONDERFUL. I am still so happy that's what we did.

We SO want to go back....

We came back and did a photoshoot at home.... these are some of my favorite pictures.

Fast forward 5 years.....

A lot has happened...

two beautiful girls

new house

deaths in the family

grad school

The last month has been one of the most stressful times in our marriage. Between the passing of my husband's father (and the leading up to it) stress at my job, we really just needed a day to be free....

So I took the day off of work, we dropped the girls off at our FABULOUS sitter's,  and we headed to Islands of Adventures...

so we could go to Harry Potter World!

We relaxed in Margaritaville (one of my FAVORITE places...I just love Jimmy Buffett)

And we rode all the roller coasters....it has been about 7 years since our last roller coaster, I think. We were thinking we could go in, ride all of the rides 2-3 times each, so we bought the express pass - UNLIMITED.  HA!  well.... we did ride ALL the rollercoasters and rides, but ummm.... our bodies can NOT handle roller coasters like we used to. Our first coaster was the Hulk....which, if it's your first time back in the coaster-saddle, then whew! It's a doozy...lol. 

As we were leaving the park today, I thought it very apropos that we chose to go to a theme park...life is such a roller coaster, especially the last month. We rode those roller coasters, we screamed we laughed, we got a little queezy. But we survived, and we're ready to take on the next ride.  

Life has its ups, it's downs, its twists and turns. Scream, cry, laugh, it's all part of the ride. And if you have a friend by your side, you'll make it out alive.

That's the lesson I came up with today, and I'm so glad that I have my best friend to share life's roller coaster with! Here's to many more rides!