Family Night

Last night was Family Night at our house.  We normally do this on Thursday nights, but Kim has a concert tonight to play in (clarinet), so we moved it to Wednesday for this week. 

We keep a jar filled with activities to share together on family night. Some examples includes bowling, crafts, spades, watching a movie, dinner at a restaurant.  For the things we do at home we usually include a special dessert.  Last night we had coke floats.

This is something new for us. A night that brings us all together usually without video interruption.  My hope for these evenings is that it will keep us together as a family and maybe give the kids a relaxed time when they might share concerns they might not otherwise.

Last night we watched "A Wrinkle in Time" and afterwards we sat around and talked and laughed.  I told them about the ultrasounds I had done with each of my pregnancies.  They loved hearing about those early days, when we were still waiting to see who would be joining the family.  We laughed and shared.  I told them about the names that we had picked out ahead of time.. how if Kendra had been a boy, her name would be Fletcher.  And how if Mackenzie had been a girl, we'd have used "Rose" for his middle name.  The kids laughed so much when I told them about Kim's ultrasound, she was so tightly wrapped upon herself there was no way she was sharing her sex prior to birth.  And how Mac was an exhibitionist during his ultrasound... legs splayed and his penis whizzing all over the place.

The evening really was a success as far as bonding together goes. :)  It made my heart sing to see them laughing all together and being in harmony for a few hours.

Another sleepless night

It's 5:45 am here and the kids are still sleeping. I couldn't sleep last night.  I had a headache, I've actually had this one now for over 24 hours.  I 've taken pain relievers and sudafed, but still no relief.  I actually almost fell asleep about 10 pm last night, but then I heard the cat tossing up a hairball and all I could do was think.. sheesh, now I have to get up and clean that up.  All sleep fled with that action.  I laid back down about 3:00, but my alarm was set for 4:30 this morning because I needed to do laundry so the kids would have something to wear this morning.  I normally don't leave off my laundry so long, but yesterday was just that kind of day.

I imagine today is going to be another such day.  We are having our family evening tonight.  I have some errands to run in conjunction with the plans for tonight.  We want to have rootbeer floats for our treat while we watch dvd's.

I think dinner tonight will be something simple and easy like macaroni and cheese for the kidlets.  I think I'm going to need to fit a nap in here somewhere.

Taking on a new challenge

Well, I've decided I need a serious physical challenge, one that is attainable, but broken down into easy enough steps for me to handle.

The April issue of Prevention has a 26 week training program for walking a marathon.  I have decided that this is the challenge for me.  Everything is laid out so very nice.  I just have to glance at my book and start my walk.  I am hoping that at the end of this training challenge I can find a marathon here in Europe to participate in.  But if I can't there is one in Surprise, AZ in Feb 2006 which I might be able to make. 

Early Morning Routine

My day starts about 530 every morning.  I get up, fire up the computer and spend about a half hour reading my email and looking up things for my dieting.  Then about 6 am I wake up the kids. Some mornings they bounce out of bed ready for the day.. other mornings, they grumble and pull the blankets up over their heads and procrastinate for another 1/2 hour before rising.  This morning it seems I have a mix response.  My oldest, Kendra, is going on a field trip with her school today and she's pretty excited about it. So she bounded out of bed.  Mac and Kim are not as excited, for them it's a regular school day.. they are lagging today.

Once I get the kids in motion and they seem to have hit that auto-pilot setting, I get ready for my day as well.  Most days starts with me doing a workout.  Usually a two mile walk, followed by strength training for one part of the body or another.  I'll be doing that today in a bit.

When they are all out the door, if things have gone well, my exercise is finished and I can hit the shower and then go take care of whatever business I have.  Today I have to go to Bad Windsheim, a small town near us and pick up my apothecary cabinet that is being repaired. The cabinet was a gift my hubby brough me back from Korea, the move to Germany caused some damage to it.  It is my sincere hope that they are able to repair it well. We'll see.

Checking in

Hi Everyone, I'm Estela and this journal is meant to document the next 365 days.  I live in Germany and my husband of almost 23 years is currently serving a tour "down range."  I'm holding down the home fort with three kids in tow.  This is also the year I intend to get back into shape and lose as much as I can.  I follow the weight watchers flex point plan for my eating and for exercise I use "Power Half Hour" for strength training and "Walk Away The Pounds" for my aerobic conditioning.

The pic here is me on February 22, 2005 while I was visiting the Wax Museum in London.  My starting weight for this program is 209.6.  My goal is to lose 1-2 lbs a week.

Hubby arrived down range on March 17 (more or less).  He's an Apache pilot and has already been up and flying for convoy protection.  Well, I guess that is all for this brief intro.