Oliver's Drive-In Themed 3rd Birthday Party

Oliver's Drive-In party was today.  He chose four friends to come celebrate with us.  We had a great time!!  We had lots of drive-in style treats and the movie of choice was Planes.  Oliver wore his "Sly as a fox" shirt to coordinate with his awesome fox cake that Aunt Libby made.  We LOVED it!  Of course we also had a "What Does the Fox Say?" dance party (down in our recently tidied basement!!).  

THANKS, Aunt Libby!!!!

Their "cars"

Ta-da!

I don't want to know how many cookies, lollipops, cupcakes, cake, chocolate, etc Oliver had today...

Too bright for a pic

This lasted about as long as their bags of candy...

Ollie didn't want his picture taken

Closest we have to a family pic! LOL!!

Christmas Day in Pictures

Christmas 2013

Christmas 2013

Why, donuts for Santa of course! 

Love this one!

Baby's 1st Christmas!

Julianne and Joy her first Build-a-Bear

New vacuum 

Anything can be a pacifier 

Car rug!

He LOVES it!

Ikea finds! 

New bedding

Oliver's Bedroom Facelift 

Pretty pumped about his new train! 

He's a good man.

Kurt and I have been together 8 years this month.  We started dating my freshman year/ his senior year of college.  In a way I feel like he has always been in my life.  I am blessed to be his wife.  He is a good man.

Let me explain why he's a good man. 
Do you know his work schedule?  He wakes up at 3 in the morning.  Every.single.weekday.  He gets up in the middle of the night.  He has been working this schedule since before we had Oliver.  Since having Julianne he takes her to bed at night so Oliver and I have some time.  He does this without complaining the vast majority of the time.  I know I could not keep up that schedule.  If I did, you would not want to know me; I would be a wreck!  Kurt is tired a lot of the time- due to his schedule- but he still plays with the kids- is a loving husband- and a present father.

You know why else he's a good man? 
He supports my desire to be a stay-at-home-mom.  OK, sure- a lot of his crazy schedule might have to do with the fact that he does it because he's the bread winner.  He makes our only income.  Sure, we could be making a lot more money if I were teaching. I do have a Master's degree that is not being used.  He doesn't make me feel guilty for that.  He values what I do in our home as my work.  He knows it's a job in itself.  He compliments me for making delicious food, keeping the house, and doing the kid stuff.  He doesn't throw it in my face that I make.no.money.  He doesn't treat me as a lesser spouse because 'all' I do is stay home.  He doesn't make snide remarks about 'what I do all day'.  It makes what I do all the more rewarding because I know, no matter how my day goes, or what society says about me; I am doing something meaningful and important and valued in this home.

He's also a good man because he's cute.  He's funny.  He loves me.  He stands by my decisions to go sugar free.  To nurse my toddler.  To birth like a rock star.  To leave our son intact.  To decorate for Christmas right after Halloween.  To shop on Black Friday just because it's my tradition.  You know what else he does?  He makes my coffee every morning after he finishes his, at 3 in the morning.  He sets my coffee so when I get up with the kids- all I have to do is turn it on.  Coffee is important in this household, in case you didn't know.

When I put it all in one spot, it makes me wonder?  Am I as good to him as he is to me?  I hope he knows how much he means to us.  8 years baby! <3

Thank you, God for this wonderful man you have blessed me with!

xoxo,
Riss

THM Update

We've been doing Trim Healthy Mama for about 4 weeks now.  So far we are loving it.  We are eating yummy food, feeling satisfied with our food choices, definitely not starving ourselves, AND I'm losing weight! I am down 15 pounds since cutting sugar.  About 5 of those have come off after starting THM. The inches have been falling off too.  2 inches off my navel, 2 inches off my hips, and 1 off my thigh just in the last 3 weeks!  Sunday I was over joyed and a little shocked when I tried on my pre-pregnancy jeans.  They were one of my first goals in my weight loss and they FIT!  My Lucky Brand, Levis, and 9 West from after losing Oliver's baby weight fit me again and I'm thrilled!  I still have about another 15 pounds to lose to be back to Julianne's pre-pregnancy weight.  I have given myself until her 1st birthday as a goal to lose her baby weight and I think I'm on my way there!

I am feeling much better.  Life is busy and things can get crazy around here with an infant and a 2 year old, but overall we're doing well.  It feels good to eat good, healthy food and to know that I'm doing something great for myself and my family.

Some of my favorite foods this week have been-- Chocolate Peanut Butter Dessert Shake, Rooibos Tea (I drink mine hot w/ a cinnamon stick in it), and Bulletproof coffee-- I make mine w/ coffee, 1/2 a scoop of Swanson's Whey Protein Powder, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and organic heavy cream.  Add some pumpkin pie spice for some fall flavor, or make w/ flavored coffee and you'll love it!  These drinks and shakes have been so yummy and filling!  The PB Shake feels way too decadent to be healthy and on plan.  It totally feels like I'm cheating!

So far this journey has been totally worth it and has kinda become a hobby.  My Healthy Life Pinterest board has new followers everyday and is one of my favorite things to browse when I'm nursing Julianne.  Who knew eating would become a hobby that could make me lose weight!?  :)

xoxo,
Marissa

Trim Healthy Mama

Well, I've been a little MIA lately.  We took a trip to DE and had a fabulous time visiting with family.  My kids loved the beach, Funland, fishing, and shopping just about every Goodwill in the state of DE. ;)  Of course we also hit Ikea and I stocked  up on toys for my babies Christmas!!  Fun, fun all around!

Since we've been back I've been feeling a little behind.  This week I've worked on getting my act together and it feels good!  Our journey to healthier living has taken another turn that I wanted to fill you in on.  A friend told me about Trim Healthy Mama.  I had never heard of it before but she has been doing it with great results since May.  I was curious so I asked her more about it.  I joined the facebook group for THM and was quickly sold.  The ladies were dropping pounds like nobody's business!  My book took awhile to arrive so I didn't get to read it until I got home from our trip to DE.  I jumped in reading and started the plan as much as I understood last week.  I'm still learning as I go but so far I like it!

The meals are labeled by "S"atisfying and "E"energizing.  The thought behind the plan is to separate your fats and carbs so your body can burn through your foods energy source and get to burning your stored body fat.  "S" meals are the meals including butter, coconut oil, bacon, eggs, any meat, non-startchy veggies, and so forth.  These meals are EASY for me to LOVE!  This was the way we were eating after watching "Fathead"and following a low carb lifestyle.  "E" meals are a little harder for me which is kinda surprising because I'm a recovering Carb-a-Holic! "E" meals can have up to 45 grams of carbs but less than 5 grams of fat.  1 tsp of butter or oil is allowed in an "E" meal.  Of course sugar is a no- no in case you didn't pick up on that so we're still sugar free!

The authors of the book are sisters.  They are both mothers to large families and they are Christian women.  I love the way the book feels like you're just chatting with a friend.  They took 5 years of research to write the book.  A large portion of the book is comprised of recipes that are THM friendly.

I lost 1.5 pounds in my first few days of THM and I think this lifestyle will work great for us.  A dear friend has also purchased the book and is doing the plan.  It has been great to discuss and learn together.  We even got to go out for a wonderful "S"atisfying dinner, THM style the other night!  I am confident this is a fabulous, healthy, sustainable lifestyle for me and my family.  Oliver has actually GAINED 2 pounds and I think he's benefiting as well!

I look forward to posting updates along this journey and sharing my progress with you! And keep an eye out for Trim Healthy Tuesday posts.  I'm planning to link up next week!  :)


xoxo,
Marissa

Hello Cauliflower!

It's Saturday night and I'm sitting on the kitchen floor nursing Julianne.  Kurt and Oliver have destroyed the kitchen made a black bean chocolate cake.  We're one week into our new lifestyle and I'm down 5 pounds!  I'm happy to see those numbers dropping.  This week we've tried several new recipes and have pretty much enjoyed all of them.  

Today we went to the Farmer's Market to check things out and we're considering doing the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for meat and maybe dairy?  Do you drink raw milk?  We've never tried it but are curious.  We have so much to learn about healthy/whole/raw eating and have enjoyed reading and diving in to learning these things.  We plan to join 3 Rivers Market (our local co-op) to get a membership rate and will look around at meat at Earth Fare, Kroger, and Trader Joe's to make a decision on how to start buying grass fed, organic meat at the best price. 

We've had cauliflower breaded and fried in coconut oil, baked in a cheesy casserole, and mashed like potatoes (aka fauxtatoes) all in one week.  I think it would be safe to say that before this week we hadn't had cauliflower our entire married career.  It is the starch substitute in the low carb world so we've jumped in and have been pretty happy with it.  

I started thinking about changing the way I ate because I had baby weight to lose.  I didn't realize Kurt would jump right on board with me and make this a family affair.  I'm so thankful he's making these changes with me because it makes it so much more of a lifestyle change than a diet which would be a temporary change. 

These are all good changes and we're feeling good.  We are happy to keep this up!

xoxo,

Riss 

Bye Bye, Sugar!

Guess what?  We're making some changes around here.  What kind of changes you ask?  Well, we're saying "Bye BYE!" to carbs and sugar!  No more bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, sugar, artificial flavoring/colors, and dyes.  I really thought we ate pretty good, healthy meals because I was making so much of our things from scratch.  Well a friend turned me on the the movie "Fathead".  Have you seen it?  It's free on Hulu, so go watch it.  It changed my mind on food and got me moving in the right direction.  Kurt is excited.  He's ready for bacon and steaks.  I'm ready to lose my baby weight and to feel better about myself.  So, we're doing it.  We're diving in to make a change and are pretty excited about it!

I'm going to keep a food journal so I can look back at what we ate over this first month.  We are trying tons of new recipes that we are excited about.  Today we ate romaine lettuce wraps with cream cheese and chicken inside.  They were good!  And satisfying!  I will share the recipes we enjoy.  We shopped at Aldi's yesterday, and found some pretty awesome things so we'll be going back.  I think the biggest struggle will be our morning coffee.  Full fat half and half is a GO but SUGAR is a NO- GO.  So we are trying Stevia in the Raw right now and it will take some getting used to.  It's kinda funky.  :)

I'm excited to be healthier and hopefully thinner.  I'm excited to get my family more healthy and to cut out the junk that has crept in.  I want my children to be healthy and strong!  And Julianne will be eating solids soon too so it's a great time to start this new lifestyle.

We've also organized some major things in our life this past week.  The coat closet was horrific and it's now accessible without cursing, the desk in our kitchen had become a catch all for mail (that never got opened), and all kinds of junk, receipts and coupons, and, and, and.  We cleared that out along with our "junk drawer".  Those small things feel so good to get under control, don't they!!??  The biggest thing we got ahold of this past week was our finances.  We had really taken a break from tracking our purchases which is just awful.  We got it all figured out and are excited to keep track again-- one week at a time!!

So August is a new month and we've got big plans for it!  Pretty exciting things around here! :)  What do you have going on?

<3
Riss