Day 1 of 90

I have been wanting to get a gym membership for quite sometime now. For years actually but Paul said the only way I could get one is if I had someone I could go work out with. Which is understandable to give you the motivation to go. Because lets be honest having a workout buddy is so much better than working out alone. Someone to help drive you and keep you going when you feel like quitting because it's getting a little hard. Well I heard about these 3 month fitness works passes for $20 and asked my friend Liesl if she was interested in getting one with me. She said yes and in fact I think it was her nephew who sold them to us for a fundraiser. Anywho tonight was my first time in a gym in 4 years. And lets be honest I have kind of become a couch potato ever since I got married. Liesl on the other hand is a certified trainer which is great for me since my workout buddy can seriously give me some direction since I have NO CLUE what I am doing. Today we started out by doing warm up cardio. Ten minutes in the elliptical Sp? Then we did some squat things while holding weights in our hands. We did 3 different exercises 20 reps each 3 times. She was good enough to complete them all but I seriously couldn't do that many so I probably did about half that. I was really pretty embarrassed that I was that out of shape and I felt like my legs were going to collapse underneath me at any given moment. We then moved over to the machines and did 3 different exercises on the leg press with 12 reps each 3 times. I felt a little better with that one. We then did 15 min cool down cardio. I chose to do the bike over the elliptical since my legs were so wobbly and weak I didnt want my legs to give out on that machine. It felt really good to get back into a gym and I really felt a sense of accomplishment. After high school my friend tony was a trainer too and I would work out with him everyday for about 2 hours and I loved it. I hope I enjoy it this time around because tonight whooped my butt and I feel like I hardly did anything. I just kept thinking how in the world do the people on the biggest loser do this! I would die if I was ever on the show. So, I guess this little 3 month pass will be a good trial run for a real membership someday.

January

I figure I haven't blogged much for the month of January and it's going to be over here pretty soon. We really haven't been up to very much. Paul has been doing work over at my parents house doing some remodeling so most of our days are spent over at their house playing while Paul works. He also was working with his brother one week, and painting another brothers house which he still needs to finish. I feel very blessed this past month that Paul has had enough work to keep him busy. It has been pretty rough the past while and I am really hoping that he will be able to have enough work to keep him busy for a while and supply us with enough money to pay our bills.
Other than Paul working, and me trying to convince my parents of ways that I think they should remodel their house (which consumes my thoughts way too much. I guess I'm living vicariously through their remodeling wishing I was doing it for my own house. Ha if I even had a house that I could remodel. Someday...) We haven't done much. Besides Morgan getting into the 2 year old stage of throwing tantrums and crying if she doesn't get her way, we had friends over one night and I did 2 little photo shoots for my friend that just got married. It was fun doing the engagements and then my first time ever Bridal shoot. A little intimidating. I also did a nail party for another friends little sisters birthday party. That was a great way for me to earn some extra money. I also went and checked out a cosmetology school a few weeks ago. I was considering going back since I only have 640 hours left and could finish in about 5 months but I just feel like right now isn't the best time financially. Even with financial aid I would still have to pay around 3 grand to go and I don't feel comfortable taking out loans with the way our income has been. Unsteady... Lets see what else...This past weekend it was my friend Krystina's birthday. Well actually its today... Anyways My friend Whitney and I took her out to the Cheesecake factory on Friday night. It was fun to get a little dressed up to go out with good friends and just eat good food, be away from kids for a couple hours, and have good adult conversation. I feel like that doesn't happen often enough...
Next month Is going to be pretty busy with birthdays. We have Paul's brother Nick's, his daughter, my mom, my brother and last but not least Asher's 1st birthday. I can't believe in one month he will be 1.I am still deciding on what I should do for his birthday but I still have a little while to figure it out. Hopefully my next post will be something a little bit more exciting. Until then!

Walking

My little boy took his first steps yesterday. It was so exciting to see his little feet move on and off of the ground. He only would take four steps before he would fall but I would say that is pretty good for the first day. I'm sure it will be a couple weeks or more before he is fully walking since he is a pretty cautious kid but i'm fine with that. We are just having fun watching him grow, learn and experience new things!

Sunshine

The other day while Paul was working at my parents I let the kids go and play out front in the grass. The weather was so nice and the sun was shining! They love to be outside but unfortunately our yard only has rock. It will be fun when spring rolls around and we can go play at the parks!

Sleepy Girl

It's amazing to me how kids can literally fall asleep doing anything, anywhere. I have always seen pictures of kids passed out while eating, and the other day Morgan experienced it first hand. We were just sitting there eating dinner and I look over at her and she was totally passed out while sitting up. I had to hurry and snap a picture before she fell out of the chair. She kept drifting over. My tired little girl sure did go to bed early that night.

New Years...

We had a pretty low key new years this year. Paul worked over at my parents some and then we went to Fuddruckers with the kids and my brother Brandon. We had a good time visiting and eating good food. Then we went on a trip to good ol Walmart to get some necessary ingredients for a good treat! Once we got home we got the sparklers out and let Morgan have some fun! She was a little nervous at first, but she soon got the hang of holding the sparklers and had a blast. We went through 3 packs of them. We then put the kids to bed and relaxed and watched a movie... I hope everyone had a good new years and we are excited to see what this year has to bring!

Christmas

This year we had a pretty low key Christmas. We generally have a little family Christmas party with Pauls family but because of wedding stuff we didn't have one this year; and we always do Christmas Eve with my family and have my Aunt Linda and her family over for dinner but both my kids were sick and all of my family as well so we decided to cancel it this year. Instead we hung out with Pauls family. His parents and brother Matt came over about 3:30 and we had Venizias party pizza for lunch and for those of you who don't know these pizzas are huge. The slices are a foot long and the pizza is two feet wide. After we were done eating Paul, Matt and his dad played called of duty for several hours and Pauline and I just hung out and took Morgan to the park. We decided it would be fun to go and see a movie so we went to see True Grit at the 8:00 showing hoping no one would really be there. Boy were we wrong. The theater was packed. I was seriously so nervous the whole time that it was going to be a disaster with the kids there. The last time we tried taking them to the movies it was a DISASTER! But that was about 6 months ago. Morgan fell asleep not long after the movie started and Asher fell asleep close to the end. He did pretty good but did get a little restless. He was tired and is used to just being layed in his crib to go to bed.
To be honest it really didn't feel much like Christmas this year. I think for me so much of the fun is going a getting gifts for people and this year we just didn't have the money to get each other gifts or the kids. On black friday my mom had given me some money to go out and get the kids some winter clothes for their christmas, and of course they got their gifts early so that they wouldn't freeze their bums off this winter. But with a little of the money she gave me I picked up a gift for Asher and one for Morgan at the Disney Store with the sale going on. So at least the kids had those two things to open up on christmas morning. Pauls parents gave the kids their gifts on Christmas eve. They each got two really cool books. Morgans was an I spy and I can't believe how good she does at finding everything.
Here is Morgan and Asher opening their gifts Christmas Morning! They are in their cute Christmas jammies that my parents gave them on Christmas eve. They also got to wear them to the movies. That might be a fun tradition!




Morgans new suitcase with a princess pillow and blanket for when she has sleepovers at Grandma and Grandpas house.
Asher playing with his new toy story figurines.
After we opening their gifts we got ready and headed over to Pauls Parents house for Christmas Lunch. We had a good Prime rib, potatoes, and green beans. The adults just sat around and talked while the kids played. We then went over to my to open up some presents. Most everyone got their presents in advance this year from my parents. Paul got some new hiking shoes and I got a new(but used, but new to me!) coffee table that matches my kitchen table and I love it. My dad also got me photoshop. I got their expecting to just open a couple gifts for morgan but to my surprise there was gifts for everyone. Morgan pretty much opening everyones gifts and she loved all of hers. I got a 3 tiered buffet server thing so I don't have to steal my moms anymore and some cash to go buy some new clothes with and paul got some emergency kit for the car or something like that and some cash for whatever and we also got some movies from my brother and of course paul got his call of duty black ops game. We really could not have been more blessed with the generosity of our families this year for Christmas. I am thankful every year for the gifts both our parents gave us but I think the fact that this year we could not afford any gifts it made them even more special.
Morgan conked out after playing hard with her cousins.


Poor Asher got some poop on his jammies over at grandma and grandpa Holgates house and I didnt have a change of clothes for him and on our way over to my parents he fell asleep so I didnt change him into his clothes I picked up at the house and he woke up in the middle of opening presents and that is why he has no clothes on.
We had a very nice Christmas this year and we hope that everyone else did as well! I am so excited for next year now that Morgan is grasping onto the concepts of everything! And Asher will be old enough to participate some as well!