June Days

This June has been the best June I have ever had - weather wise. It has been mild with lots of rain. I LOVE rain in the summer time.

My 5yo has been playing kickball. His personality is such that if he gets his feelings hurt (which happens easily) by a teacher/authority figure then he will NEVER return to where it happened, church, sports, a friends, you name it. He is also shy in new situations - to the point that he refuses to emerge from hiding behind my legs - unfortunately I give him better coverage than I'd like. :) Anyway, I talked one of his friends to sign-up for kickball with him, Korbin Anderson in hopes that Porter would actually participate. (He wouldn't participate when we put him in soccer.) Anyway, the first day of kickball my hubby took him. P. said, "I'm not going to play." But before he could hide his bubbly, happy coach says, "Who is this!?" She acted so excited to see him and from there on out he has loved to play. His coach made all the difference. He is intense on the coach and since he is tall, he is about a head taller than everyone else. He runs and almost gets every ball. His new trick, since he figured out that most times he has a lot of time as he runs from base to base is to run in pretend slow motion. If the ball gets close though, he hustles to safety. It has been so nice to see him so excited to participate in something. We will request his same coach for soccer. She was super surprised to learn that he is often hesitant and shy in situations like this. She brought out the best in him. Who knew that a kickball coach could do so much for her players at such a young age.

My 8yo has been playing baseball. He loves to participate in most things and be in the middle of the show. He has already moved on mentally to football. He loves to practice throwing the football with his dad. Football is his dad's sport. His twice a week games will be over tomorow and we will have almost two months break from sports.

We have had a huge crop of cherries. Something that has kept my boys busy these last few days is selling cherries on the corner. They made $21. They also had lots of adventures including being caught out in a downpour and having to hide under a tree for safety. I happened to be with them at that moment. Ahh, the adventures of childhood.

Our neighbor doesn't have kids and has allowed my kids to have free reign on his tramp. We have never had one so they spend a lot of time bouncing, playing games and trying new tricks. Sometimes our neighbor is dog watching and brings out the little dog, Marley, and the boys spend lots of time running with the dog.

Another adventure we had one day this month was finding dogs. Early one morning a little gray dog showed up. The boys spent the morning with the neighbor, Brooklyn Day, playing with the little dog. They fed it in hopes that it would stay around longer. Then they took off in search of it's home and found the owners. Then after lunch a large golden dog showed up. They played with that dog too when they realized it had a collar. They called the owner. He said it would come home on his own. I should have told him, "Not if it's tied up in my backyard." smile. They sadly snet that dog on his way too. They love dogs and my 3yo still misses Suey, the little gray dog.

It has been a full month. We have also been going to karate at a neighbor's house. 5yo and 3yo love to go to that. 5yo also made better friends with a neighbor named, Tate Gifford.

8yo still waits for the time he can play with his best friend and fellow homeschooled child, Dylan Jones. He also has a new love for Harry Potter. He watched his first one this week and that is all he thinks about. I'm hoping it will get him to want to read more. I let him watch 3 of them and told him he needs to read the books now before he watches them. We'll see.

Focusing on me, focuses on them

I have four boys under the age of eight.
We are building a new home and are acting as our general contractor.
My husband sold his business and is now starting a new job at a start-up company.
My one year old still does not sleep through the night.
I home school our children.
I eat when I'm tired, stressed and overwhelmed. (Things that happen often.)

So that is where I'm starting.

I am 5'6" tall.
I weigh 170lbs.
I want to weigh 140.

I want to eat more healthful foods.

The reasons I want to loose the weight are...

1. There are not many people around here that homeschool and they have a preconcieved idea that homeschooling moms are frumpy and weird. I would like to look good so I can be an example that home schooling is do-able and we're not weird.

2. When I eat under control I feel better about myself. When you feel good about yourself you are more patient and kind to others.

3. I love fashion and I would like to wear cute stuff that looks cute on me.

Here are the ways I plan on achieving this goal.

I need to be more regimented - this is something I did very well until I had children.

Each Sunday I will plan what I will eat for the next week (Saturday is when we do our shopping so I have to plan in advance).

I will also plan on the calendar -
weekly out time: visit the library and read, shop, shop on-line, blog on-line, go with friends, etc. (this helps me want to be thin - even if I'm shopping for books, kids clothes, or home decor and even if I don't buy anything - just regrouping)

weekly date: I long for a good relationship there - connection helps me not eat to try to get that.

monthly temple: this always makes me feel good

Each Morning-
I will exercise
Read Beck Diet Solution tips, blogs and response cards
Write down my food for the day
Get Ready for the day

During the Babies Nap-
Response cards, goals and pictures
I will read scriptures (20 min)
clean the house
do the laundry
cook dinner
then if there is time I will work on my 'to do' list and alternate it with
organization (10 min)
blog journal (15 min)
scrapbook (10 min) I put pictures in slip covers and every now nad then I type a story to go with a picture.
email
write - either for my blog, journal or scrapbook (20 min)
visit other blogs (10 min)
Read - if there is any other time which there usually isn't.

After dinner is reserved to do outside cleaning and tidy
Around 8:00 I will get myself ready for bed (teeth, face, pray). Then I will read or spend time with my kids. At 9:00 we will pray and get the kids ready for bed. Then I read my book of choice (10 min) and then my response cards, goals and reasons.

If I eat what is on my card I know I will lose weight. Dr. Beck says to weigh yourself every day, but I know that I work better if I don't weigh, but just follow my plan.

My goal is to be 145 by January 1st.

I have to do these things. I have to be strong. I have to be selfish. I have to look out for me. I don't want to be a fat person - that is not how I pictured my life.