A lot has gone down in the last 2 weeks

Well lets see its been since before Christmas the last time i updated. In my defense i had some time off work and had to spend a lot of that doing my second job of crocheting. Since then:

I now have a nephew Hunter James, he sure is a handsome little fellow.

We had Christmas, she looks so precious in her Christmas dress and she actually cooperated for a picture.

We did some shopping. She didn't want to walk or sit in the cart but i refused to carry her. We are at the point where I am tired of carrying her and she needs to walk. I am all for this but she doesn't feel the same.

I am caught up on crochet orders for now. I do still have a few but i am not so overwhelmed that my life completely revolves around it which is kind of nice.

It has been 3 weeks since i have been to the gym (minus the 1 day i got to go last week). I am so ready to go back! I still have a little ways to go to reach my goal and want to continue on my fitness journey. However what i am not looking forward to is the hoards of people that are going to be there working on their New Years resolutions. Unfortunately for me 5pm is the ONLY time that works for my schedule for me to go to the gym, it also happens to be the busiest time of day there.

We are making progress on the house. I have had to make threats about sending in formal complaints (which we are going to do no matter what at this point). But if all goes according to plan we should be finished with this all very soon and finally be able to move into our house. I cannot even begin to explain how frustrating this whole situation has been and how hard it is to be patient but it will work out in the end if it is supposed to.

Happy Monday!

~~~Added in i forgot to mention that 2 sets of our friends got engaged! Our friend Kim proposed to her BF Matt (Jason's current roommate) on his birthday. There is a long story behind it but i videod it and am so grateful that they asked us to be involved in non only the day they got engaged but I am also going to be in the wedding.

The other being Jason's old roommates Tim and Robyn got engaged on New Years Eve at the get together we were all at. He proposed right at Midnight and it was very special :)

I am so very happy for all of them!

Fingers and Toes

Who doesn't love festive nails!

This was super easy to do. All you do is take a bobby pin and dip one of the rounded ends in polish and put your dots where you want them. The end of the bobby pin i used wasn't super round so i didn't get perfect circles but you get the idea. 

Its easier then using the brush, where you know in the back of your head you are just going to end up with a blob instead of a dot, but you do it anyways.

I am officially done with crochet orders for before Christmas, I have a lot of spare time now so i will probably end up working on some of the others i have to do just so i am really caught up on things. It was a little scary there for a few days and i didn't think i was going to finish, but i did and it was a huge relief.

Kendall is so excited for Christmas and i really can't wait either.

Merry Christmas Friends!

First time Auntie!!!

Today in the next few hours (hopefully for my sisters sake) I will become an Auntie. My older sister Prairie Princess and her hubby made their way to the hospital last night around midnight to start preparing for Puppy Marshmallow's big arrival.

Puppy Marshmallow is the name Kendall gave to him because they are keeping his name a secret until he is born.

I so wish i could be there for her and even make a trip in the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately due to work and time off it will be a couple months before we get to go :(

I am so anxious and excited that i can hardly contain myself. I got lucky with only 5 hours of labor before Kendall was born and i know that is not the case with most first time labors. This waiting game is hard though. It is driving me crazy but i know soon enough that sweet little boy will make his appearance. 

Happy Thursday Friends, I hope you are having a Merry Christmas season and that you are all getting your shopping done.

Mission Almost Accomplished

This is what a typical work week looks like for me. This was last week. It only lasted 2 days and ya there are a lot of people here but when someone brings in food people chow down. This is also why i didn't reach my goal by Thanksgiving. There is always snacks here. One of the ladies likes to go to the grocery store before work and you can tell when she is hungry when she goes cause she brings back Puffcorn (which is AMAZING by the way) those are oreo marshmallow squares you see on the side, then some peanut butter fudge, butterfingers and whoppers. This week there are turtle pretzels, peppermint oreo white truffle bark, sugar cookies and truffles.

This was our Thanksgiving spread. We like to have potlucks here and they definitely don't disappoint. When you have 15 people each bring something different in large portions. It usually results in almost everyone leaving early to go home and take a nap. Every couple of months we will do this to just reward everyone for the hard work they have been doing and its a great way to socialize with the other workers on a different level instead of only chatting while we work.

These are reasons why i have struggled to reach my goal. However as of today i am only 3 lbs away and i am determined to get there by the end of the year. Which means it took me almost a whole year but i lost 20 lbs, WOW, i am more then happy with myself for this.

I have been so busy with crocheting that i decided until i am caught up i am going to take some time off from the gym and will most likely start going back after Christmas. I have however been going to a pound rock out class twice a week and it is awesome. I have never had my whole body worked so hard in 45 minutes before. I am literally sore for days after and even though i have only been a couple times i can definitely see a transformation in my body from using my muscles differently.

That is one of the things that is the hardest for a lot of people who get into a consistent routine. You do the same thing over and over and over and your body gets used to it, that is where i am at right now with the gym. But since adding in this pound class i get a good cardio and muscle workout. It has been a nice change. Best part about it is the whole month of December the pound class is FREE.

Happy Tuesday Friends. Only a week until Christmas and i haven't wrapped a single present, oops.

Such a sweet face

Last night after i finished a couple more beanies and was cleaning up i looked over and saw this sweet face just staring off into space "thinking" of course then she saw me taking her picture and had to ham it up for a few more until she wanted to do the picture taking.

It reminds me, that even though she may drive me crazy with her nonstop talking and constantly asking why, she is still my sweet and innocent little girl and i love her so much!

And she now lets me do her hair, FINALLY!!!! She was bald until she was over a year old so we never had a reason for bows or headbands and she hated when i did try to put headbands on her so we opted not to. Then she went through a phase when she finally had hair that she hated having it messed with. I finally managed to talk her into letting me at least brush her hair everyday so it wasn't a tangled mess. We were constantly battling with her hair being in her eyes and getting food in her hair.

When i picked her up from school Monday she had pigtails in and she left them in ALL DAY until i took them out before bath. Which is a huge accomplishment. Usually as soon as you mentioned how cute her hair looked she would rip out the pony tails. Every day this week we have done her hair. She can't just have 1 pony she has to have 2 ponies. So I pull the front into a small pony and then bundle it all up in the back for one big pony and after i finish i have to take her hands and let her touch where they are so she knows there is 2.

Its been nice actually getting to do her hair and i noticed recently it is starting to get pretty long. She sat still and let me snap a quick picture of her this morning right before we were on our way out the door for school we will see if she leaves it in all day again. Whats really cute though is when she asks Jason to do her hair for her.

Happy Thursday Friends!

Stocking

This is the first year Kendall will have a stocking. We didn't do one last year because she was still too young to really understand presents and a stocking and she was pretty overwhelmed with the amount of presents she got. It took her almost all day to open everything.

This year we intentionally are keeping Christmas smaller (she is still getting a ton of stuff though). There is just going to be a few of us and instead of doing Christmas Eve with Jason's family we are going to go spend Christmas afternoon with them.

Anyways, back to the original topic. The stocking! Walmart had them for $1.98 which is great, i picked one up last week when i finished my Christmas shopping. The lady who babysits for us in the afternoon is a big crafter and has all sorts of sewing stuff so i took it over to her and she put Kendall's name on it.

Kendall is very excited about Christmas. Every day when we get home the first thing we do is put a cotton ball on her little advent calendar and she says "Ooh Santa's beard is getting bigger so Christmas is getting closer."

We have been working with her and talking about why we celebrate Christmas, and she will yell "It's Jesus' Birthday!" 

I am very excited for Christmas as well. I need to wrap all my presents still but there is plenty of time! I have seen the Christmas Eve gift lots of places so we are going to start that tradition this year with one present to open on Christmas Eve. I got a Christmas book, Christmas jammies and I am going to get a snack to put in with it. I can't wait to see how excited Kendall is Christmas morning when she wakes up and sees what Santa brought her.

Her future career

Kendall loves to use my phone. She is constantly asking if she can look at pictures or take pictures.

She is getting a little better at it.

Usually i get my phone back and have to go through and delete them because she takes so many.

These are the few that have still survived. Look at those cute little feet :)

Oh there i am just working away. Do you like my Minnie Mouse ears?

She must like taking pictures of feet, she has a few of those.

Happy Monday Friends, hope you all had a nice weekend. We are over her in the arctic trying to stay warm. Hoping that maybe we see double digits today that are not on the negative side of the thermometer.