1ST FEW MONTHS OF SCHOOL

First day of school...on August 2nd. That's right, I said August 2nd, people. Absolutely ridiculous.Brooke didn't want to wear a bow. I was so sad but I gave in and let her sport this headband. All the teachers were asking me if she stopped wearing bows when I picked her up. They all know who she is from her cute hair bows. Her hair was so messy at the end of the day. Grrrr!

Brooke was saying, "FIRST GRADE" in this picture. She was slightly excited.The first report card of the year...

The kids did awesome. Cole is so smart and things come fairly easy to him so, we have come to expect that he'll get good grades every time no matter what.Brooke is more of a wild card though. We really didn't know what she would do because she is so difficult to do homework with. Nathan and I quickly both get frustrated with her sensitivity and throwing a fit when we correct her work.
We were shocked and yet so proud that Brooke has already been chosen for student of the month this year. She was picked for October. Her teacher, Mrs. Isip, is so fun and sweet and, Brooke has really taken to her. Thank goodness.Cole was so ticked that she got it before he did. He got over it once he was chosen as student of the month for November. He loved his tough football picture on there. Which reminds me that I still need to mail out all of their school pictures...Oops!We have been sooooo busy with Nathan coaching Cole's football and fall baseball teams these last couple of months. Oh my goodness...Practice nonstop and 3 games a weekend. Seriously not cool.

It was pretty rough on Nathan. He almost passed out a few times because of the huge energy strain combined with the heat, medication adjustments, and not having time to eat enough in between games. We would literally run from one field the next. It was nuts.I'm sure you can imagine how Brooke was beyond fed up with the back and forth of all of it. She was yelling at me to stop taking pictures here. Geez...attitude much???That's why I got so behind on the blog but, I'm trying to catch up. I promise I am.

SOMETHING BIG HAPPENED

I really don't know exactly how it happened, why it happened, or why I waited so long to realize that it was fairly simple to make it happen. Don't you just hate it when that happens???

So what is it that happened?

Wellllllllll............I just so happen to have lost 45 pounds in the first 7 months of this year. That's right, 45 pounds that no longer weigh me down physically, mentally or emotionally. It's still unbelievable to me that I'm so close to finally looking like I did before I got pregnant with Brooke...Nearly 8 years ago. I just wish I would've found that determination to focus on myself years ago.

When you have kids and you're home with them all the time, something happens to YOU. While you know that you're doing something respectable for your children, you don't realize that you lose yourself in the process. You end up sacrificing your mind, body, and spirit for the greater good of your children. And somehow I forgot what it was like to feel good about myself.

Don't get me wrong, I'm so very grateful that my husband allowed me to stay home with my children and, I wouldn't trade it for anything, but I would have made some wiser decisions along the way. Decisions that would have undoubtedly made some of the last several years more enjoyable.

But that's neither here nor there...And life goes on.

I guess I seriously have to credit that wretched kidney stone that I got in the middle of the night of my 30th birthday. So, thank you stupid, painful, wouldn't let me sleep kidney stone...Believe it or not, you actually did me a favor. And it's changed my life for the better.

I quickly began cutting out all the soda, sugars, fried foods, and other unhealthy junk that I was putting into my body. It really just started out as trying figure out what caused me to have a kidney stone but, I was also tired of my stomach hurting with everything I ate. Suddenly, I found my jeans sagging on my butt and thighs more and more. And it just kept going.

A few before and after shots. Please excuse my stretch marks...They never go away :(
Check out my butt in these jeans. It looks like I'm holding them up but, that's just how loose they are now.

Now check out my butt...LOL! Much better!Look at the size difference of the jeans just lying there. Wow.

And what in the world do we have here??? Legs! Oh my!

I put these next two pictures side by side the other day and immediately covered my face in complete shock and disgust. I think my heart even skipped a few beats. Simply mortified.

I can't believe I'm actually putting this up here because I'm so embarrassed, ashamed, and in absolute horror of how I looked. But I want to remind myself and prove a point to all the haters out there that change is possible.

This was Christmas Eve 2009...Oh My FREAKING Gosh!!!! And this was November 1, 2010...Putting up my tree. YAY!

Can you believe that?!?!?! I never thought I was that big and never had any rude comments or complaints from my loving husband but, I wish I would have never let myself go like that. And I wish I would have snapped out of my funk years ago. I could have enjoyed many more things in life if I would have just been confident in myself and my abilities.

However, I see now why certain people were seriously in shock when they saw me and couldn't really stand to look at me. And some of those people I actually share blood with. You know who you are just as much as I do. It's ok though because I can't really blame you. I was gross and apparently my amazing personality just wasn't enough for you.

BUT...Quite frankly, I really don't give a crap what you think anymore. Sure, it would be nice for you to give me a compliment and actually look at me and speak a whole sentence to me but, I no longer need it to be happy. That's because I'm finally happy with myself. And I have been since shortly after I turned 30. It's not just because of the weight loss either since that didn't just happen overnight. It's more because I had an epiphany and realized that I deserve better.

And as harsh as it sounds, this became my motto (and Nathan's too)... If someone doesn't approve of me because of how I look or act...F*** 'em! F*** 'em all!

I know, I know. I'm sorry parentals. It sounds very hateful but I just don't have room for negativity in my life anymore. I don't want it, I don't need it, and I sure as hell don't like it.

Sooooo, you might as well be happy with me and for me because if not, I'm more than fine being happy without you. And that's all I'm gonna say about that. Maybe I'll fill you in on a few of the things I did to lose weight later on since this is rather long :-)

CAMPING AT THE RIVER SAY WHAT?

Over the summer we have become really good friends with Mac and Sara and their 3 boys. Mac was Cole's baseball coach in the Spring but, we didn't really even start talking to each other until the end of the season baseball party. Mostly because I thought Mac was a jerk (that's putting it nicely) and, Sara was usually very busy keeping score and chatting it up with the hoards of people that know her in this small city. Plus, I was also always off to the side with a camera in my face taking pictures and videos of the games.
Since the baseball party we started hanging out more and more and somehow ended up getting talked into going camping and canoeing with them and 2 other families.

What's that?! Yes, I'm just as shocked as some of you are that we went, too. I went canoeing several times when I was a teenager and somewhat liked it but camping...Uhhh dislike. Especially when the weather is absolutely disgusting outside. I sweat bad enough as it is and prefer not to be all stanky and drenched in my own body odor when I'm eating meals and supposed to be relaxing. Just a personal preference I guess.

I failed to take a picture of the actual campsite but, this was our practice set up at the house before we left.
We drove the 1 1/2 hours deep into the boonies and camped 2 nights right on the Buffalo River. I won't go into full details of the trip...Mainly because I just don't feel like it since I have many more posts to do but, I will say this...I may canoe again but the chances of me camping again are very, very slim.

Packing all the food, cooking, sleeping, and living necessities SUCKS, setting up everything on the campsite SUCKS, breaking down the campsite SUCKS, and floating down a dirty, non current river for 10 miles with a child that is miserable almost the entire time SUCKS. And Nathan would probably add that being told by his wife to move from the back of the canoe to the front because she can steer way better than him thus making him the only man on the river with his woman in control SUCKS.

But I don't care because I didn't enjoy having to slam flat on my back to avoid having my face roughed up by these trees. Just look at them. Yep, the ones right after that giant log. Thank goodness I have skills and we miraculously didn't flip over.
We stopped way too many times to look at cliffs, jump off cliffs, swing off ropes, splash around, eat a snack, pop another beer, and pee in the water. Not necessarily in that order but, YES...It was definitely as white trash as it sounds.Dain, Cole, Nathan, Devin, Mason & Drew at the very top of the waterfall.Sweet Drew helping Brooke down the slippery hillside that I didn't even attempt climbing.The water was actually very cold for August. Not really refreshing...More like bone chilling.
Drew chillaxin on the floaty being pulled behind a canoe. Hard to believe he's 16, huh? All of the kids took a turn on there. Brooke unfortunately had a near death experience on it and will probably choose to never talk about it again. Stupid turtle.
She did have an excellent time with an empty beer can though. I was just glad that she wasn't complaining for at least a good 20 minutes.
Oh my...Just look at her cooling herself off. What are we in for when she's older???
I love how Brooke has the Livestrong bracelet on her ankle for her Daddy.

Drew spent many hours talking noise to Nathan about this super high cliff called Chimney Rock and how he absolutely MUST jump off of it or else. Of course, Nathan couldn't lose face and agreed to do it. See that little speck of a man on the highest peak on the right? That's the jumping off point. Yikes!

Come on, Dad! JUMP!!! Don't be a chicken!
Ugggghhh...Still waiting on them to jump.

Once they were up there, smack talker Drew kept trying to talk Nathan out of jumping because he was scared and didn't want to have to do it himself. Drew kept saying, "Don't do it, man! You have a beautiful wife and two kids. Think about your beautiful wife. Think about your kids. Don't jump!" Bahahahaha!

It took a whole lot of courage for Nathan to finally jump off that cliff but, he did do it. And it was awesome! It was so cute to see how proud the kids were of him! He was badly bruised up for weeks on his inner thighs and under his arms where he slammed in the water but, he was glad that he didn't have to face the shame of chickening out and having to climb back down the cliff.

There were a handful of fun moments but not near enough to make it worth all the hassle. Oh, and don't get me started on the hassle of the moist and muddy mess on everything that had to be dealt with once we got home. Grrrr! Makes me really appreciate the fact that I live indoors. The kids said they don't want to go camping or canoeing again. Ummm...No argument here!

CHEESY FOOTBALL CAMP

We heard about this football camp that was being held by our city's new semiprofessional football team...The West Tennessee War Eagles. That sounded pretty cool for Cole and we figured it might help prepare him for his first time playing football in the fall. We should have known it was going to be pretty cheesy since it was only $25 for 9 hours over 3 days and that included lunch and a t-shirt. That's alright though because I'm not going to argue with affordable entertainment for my energetic and often irritating with his nonstop ball tossing, catching, flipping, flopping on the floor, flying onto the couch son. I did take some videos during the tournament on the last day but they were really pretty lame.

He thought he was Mr. Cool with his shirt off. Hellooo, ladies!Seriously, where does his milky white skin come from???

Cole did have a really good time and didn't mind the heat one bit...Even when he got badly sunburned during the shirts and skins games. Maybe next year it'll be even better and they'll actually get one of the players from the Tennessee Titans to visit the camp (so I hear).