Family Updates!

We've just been trekking along over here. This is always the time of year where there isn't much going on in regards to holidays or vacation...we are just knee deep in school waiting for spring break to come. This year spring break is really late for us since Michael's work conference isn't until the last week in April.

Jackson is most definitely in a good spot in regards to school. He is usually finished just before lunchtime. He's also sitting pretty in regards to his senior year next year. He is most likely going to finish 2 years worth of French in this one year so he won't have to do a foreign language next year. He's also going to finish Algebra 2. Next year he will have to tackle - 12 PACE's in Trigonometry, 5 PACE's in Pre-Calculus, 12 PACE's in English IV, 6 PACE's in Economics, 6 PACE's in US Civics, 6 PACE's in Speech & 6 PACE's in Business Math.

This is Owen's spot during the day. He has been hard at work trying to finish out his senior year. It's been a struggle, but he's moving along. He only has 2 more PACE's in Trigonometry, 5 PACE's in Pre-Calculus, 4 PACE's in English IV, 3 PACE's in Economics, 1 PACE in US Civics, 4 PACE's in Chemistry and 2 PACE's in Speech. He also has to finish a little bit more that one unit in his Spanish. It's still a good amount of work, but he's faithfully moving ahead and I know he'll accomplish everything he needs to. His graduation is going to be held at our church on Friday, May 30th. I just got his Senior pictures back from Starr and can't wait to order his invitations! It's all coming together and he's so close to the finish line. 

Zeke had a therapist coming to our house almost everyday since the beginning of the school year. He has been doing so well this year. Unfortunately his therapist moved to a different job...we were so sad to see her go. However, Zeke was doing so well it seemed like a great time to try and give it a go and see how we could manage on our own. He had a couple rough weeks, but things have really turned a corner and he's been able to regulate his emotions very well. I'm so proud of him and the progress he's made. Zeke is on grade level so he's right on track to finish all his PACE's for his 7th grade year. He does have to write his State History report and that has been giving him some grief, but he'll get through it.  

This girl is so determined. She definitely does not like Math, but she's so good at it! She's working so hard towards her goal of completely 8th grade and 1/4 of her 9th grade school year before summer. I will be mailing in all her completed PACE tests on March 28th and then she'll get to take a break in Word Building and Social Studies. They will have to validate all her tests and then I can re-enroll her for her 9th grade year. My hope is we have all her 9th grade PACE's here by the last week in April that way she'll be able to finish those extra PACE's she needs to to stay on track for her goal. 

Michael has been busy in the basement. We did hire out some of the electrical work. We had our entire panel in our garage redone and then we had a separate panel installed in the basement. After the panel was put in Michael did all the work with running wires for the lights, the light switches, fans, heaters and the outlets. We had the inspector come in and the inspection passed no problem! 

Once electrical passed he moved on to hooking up all the water. He ran the pipes for kitchen...

the laundry closet...

and the bathroom. 

Our contractor went ahead and installed the tub for us since that was something that Michael was not looking forward to doing. 

Once the water inspection passed, our contractor had a few more things he needed to do before Michael could start working again. Thankfully those have all been accomplished so now Michael is able to move onto finishing the insulation. He had already been able to put some of it in, but now he can insulate the ceiling with is really going to change the look of the basement. Once the inspection for that passes he's moving onto drywall...hopefully next weekend! 

As for me...I started 75 Hard on February 7th. I had been thinking about it for a couple weeks and then I mentioned it to Michael. I looked at the calendar and figured if I was going to start I just needed to start. After I talked with him about it I started the challenge 2 days later. 

If you don't know what 75 Hard is it's a challenge that lasts 75 days....obviously! You have to abide by 6 rules each and every day...no break days! 

1. Drink 1 gallon of water. 

2. Workout out twice a day for 45 minutes each. (One workout has to be outside.)

3. Read 10 pages of a Self-Help type book.

4. Take a progress picture. 

5. No alcohol. 

6. Stick to a diet of your choice. 

I did immediately alter things to fit me and my comfort level. I do workout twice, but my outside workout is in the garage. It's not heated so it's cold like being outside, but I have to get this workout finished in the morning before the kids wake up and I don't feel safe walking around the neighborhood in the dark. 

After the first day I did listen to my body since I was experiencing symptoms of hyponatremia by drinking so much water. I looked up online for a water intake calculator and for my body weight and height I should be drinking 79oz a day. I rounded up so I drink 80oz a day. After my body got used to that I did try to increase it up to 96oz a day, but after doing that for 2 days I started having symptoms again so back down to 80oz I went.

My typical day is like this....

I wake up at 6am and workout for 45 minutes on the elliptical. Michael takes my progress pictures before he leaves for work around 7am. Right after lunch is usually when I have time to read 10 pages in a self help book. I've finished Atomic Habits and have now moved onto Emotionally Healthy Spiritually. In the afternoon anywhere from 2pm - 4pm I will do my second workout of the day. A few times I've had to workout after dinner, but that is rare. That workout is done up in my room. I use the app FitOn and I usually pick a strength or Pilates workout and then after that I do a yoga or long stretching session to bring my time to 45+ minutes long. Of course I'm drinking lots of water throughout the day. I try to be finished with 40oz by 1pm and then I fill my tumbler up again. I don't finish my water until right before bed when I take my nighttime pills. (Man that makes me sound so old!) 

As for alcohol...it's not something I usually drink anyway. I'll have a drink every now and again when we go out on a date, but mainly I only drink at Michael's work conferences because the drinks are super watered down and they are free. I'm so cheep when it comes to paying for alcohol. That ones hasn't really been a struggle at all. 

The diet I chose to stick with is I'm not eating any desserts. No cookies, no cake, no ice cream, no donuts, no pie, no milkshakes, no candy, no chocolate...nothing that would be considered a dessert. Before this I was eating a couples pieces of chocolate after lunch and dinner. Surprisingly it hasn't actually been that hard. There have been a few times that I've struggled like at Ella's birthday party when the girls were having mini chocolate chip cookies and ice cream....I walked out of the room so I couldn't see them. I also had to make Ella her cake and that was tough. I did have Ella and Justine make brownies one day for The Chosen group because brownie batter is my favorite. I know my limits and I'm just choosing to walk away when I'm tempted. In all honestly though I haven't really missed it that much. 

Today is Day 36 and I'm feeling great. A bit tired because of stupid daylight savings time, but my clothes are more loose and my body is getting stronger. I've already talked with Michael about what's going to happen come Day 76 and I'm going to keep going. I doubt I'll do all the rules....bye bye daily progress picture. I'll probably just take one once a month or so. I also might not be as strict with the 45 minute workouts in the afternoon. There are plenty of great workouts that don't take that long. We'll see though. I'm going to continue to not eat dessert and only save it for special occasions. One of the reasons I started this when I did was because Michael's work conference is coming up on April 28th. I'm finishing my 75th day on April 20th. I plan on working out at the hotel in the morning while he's in his classes. I will also probably have a couple drinks and enjoy dessert when we are taken out to dinner. I'm not going to freak out about it, but then when we get home I'm going to get right back into the good habits I've created. This was never meant to be only a 75 day challenge it was supposed to kick start me into a new way of life. 

I want to be healthy and strong and able to move and not hurt myself. I want to live a full life where my body does not betray me and I can be active into my older years. That kind of change happens now while I'm still young! I also wanted to do this so my kids could see that mom can do hard things and if mom can do hard things than so can they. 

Maybe when I'm finished I'll post my Day 1 pictures with my Day 75 pictures....maybe! ;) 

Ella's Birthday Party!

On Friday, February 28th, we had a small party with Ella's girlfriends. All the friends that were coming over go to choir with Ella....well Anna & Addison usually go to choir, but they are taking this session off. Christina did drop them off at choir so they got to chat with their choir friends and then I came and picked up all the girls. We stopped at Costco first to get pizza for dinner and then we headed to our house. The girls enjoyed pizza and salad for dinner and then had mini chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream for dessert.

After the girls had been hanging out for a bit they wanted Ella to open her gifts. She got money from Owen with a birthday poem that Gemini helped him write and money from the Storer's. From Jack and Zeke she got a vest and a sweatshirt. Anna and Addison got her a make-up bag with an E on it, a hair clip, a turquoise bracelet, lip gloss, nail polish and chocolates. June got her lip mask, coloring book, sweatshirt and chocolates. I gave Ella an envelope with a birthday poem that ChatGPT helped me write! :) I was laughing so hard when Ella was reading Owen's poem because I knew that AI had to have helped him and then I laughed even more since I knew that I had AI help me. Anyways the poem that ChatGPT helped me write explained that since Ella's phone has seen better days she was getting a new to her phone. Michael and I decided to get new phones even though there is nothing wrong with them....they are paid off though. Michael's giving his phone to Owen since Owen's screen is all cracked and I'm giving my phone to Ella. She's also going to get to pick out a new case for my phone so she can make it her own. She's pretty excited and keeps asking when my new phone comes since she can't wait to get my old one.

These girls are so sweet and silly! 

Caitlynn was there too, but I didn't get a picture of her! :(

It was supposed to be a girls only party, but due to a medical situation the Storer boys came to our house instead of my boys going to their house. 

Ella wanted to have a sleepover and then have all the families come over the next day for a luncheon. June, Anna & Addison slept over. Caitlynn needs more sleep so she headed home with her brothers around 9pm after the girls finished watching High School Musical. 

 

Ella and I went shopping on Thursday afternoon to get all the food for her party. She wanted to have croissant sandwiches, chips and dip, veggies and fruit. For dessert I made a vanilla cake.  

June had to go home on Saturday morning and Caitlynn came back. Also Aidry joined the mix so we still had the same number of girls we started with. 

So happy to have Micah at the party he was in a bike accident on Thursday night and had just gotten released from the hospital the day before. He still has some medical concerns, but he's taking it easy and following doctors orders. 

My sweet man and I worked together that morning to get the food all ready. Normally we don't have parties at lunch time so I have all morning to do it myself, but since we were having lunch I needed another set of hands. It was nice working with my hubby! 

Ella put her hair in her new hairclip and it looked so cute especially with her curls sticking out. They didn't even curl her hair that's just from all her natural curls! 

Cute girl looked a little feisty to me in the above picture so I told her to smile better and now she looks a little less irritated with her mother! 

Time for the second round of presents! 

The OJEZ box made it's appearance! 

Since Pa wasn't giving Ella her birthday money until 2 weeks after her birthday he actually pro-rated the amount. So instead of it being $115 she actually got $115.60. He did round up a bit since it was actually supposed to be .57. We did ask him he was going to subtract that amount from her birthday money next year and his response was "Well...let's not worry about that" or something along those lines. She is Pa's princess after all! 

From Papa & Ruth she got this yummy smelling lotion that smells like lemon and coconut! 

I really enjoyed having a lunch party instead of a dinner party. It felt like people weren't in such a rush to get home and just wanted to stay and visit. It was so nice! 

In fact since I'm doing 75 Hard, Christina was all for helping me get my second workout done for the day so her and the girls and I drove over to the middle school track to get our workout done outside in the nice weather! 

Aidry had already gone home, but I was going to drop Ella off later at her house so they could have a sleepover, but once everyone left I could tell that Ella was spent. It was 5pm so she had been around friends for over 24 hours and the girls stayed up until 1:30am! Her voice was so tired from talking and she just needed some time to herself to be able to reset and rest so she ended up staying home instead! 

Ella's 15th Birthday Pictures!

On Saturday, February 22nd, Ella and I went to JCPenney's to get her birthday pictures taken. When I got the confirmation call earlier in the week I was so excited to hear Pooja's voice. She's been taking the kids' pictures for years and I just love her. She's such a happy, sweet person. She knows that I use a Groupon and I never buy additional pictures, and she never tries to pressure me to do so. She has to do her whole spiel and we're happy to listen, but then she just jumps in and says...I know you normally just use the prints from the Groupon so let's pick the ones you like best. She did tell us this time that she is looking for another job, but she might still work there part-time. I really hope that she still does...she's amazing! 

Ella used some of her own money recently to buy herself this shirt. I love this color on her. She's also wearing the shoes we got her for Christmas....they are her favorite and she's nutso about keeping them clean. 

I can't believe my baby girl is 15 years old!!! 

She's such a beauty! 

She told me that these are the first pictures that she's had taken at JCPenney's where she really loves them. Her outfit was cute, her hair looked good and was in the right place and her make up looked nice. She was just overall pleased with them. 

Ella's Birthday Weekend!

Leading up to Ella's birthday weekend I had been talking with Jen (Logan's mom) about Logan coming out to visit Ella as a birthday surprise. Logan ended up flying in late on Friday night and surprising Ella by calling her at 10:15pm. We don't normally let the kids stay up that late, but I started that new documentary on Gabby Petito and we were really interested in it so the kids didn't ask questions. Ella got a call and was like why is Logan calling me so late. Then there was a knock on the door and that's when I started recording. 

 

One thing we've figured out from this is that Ella does not really like surprises. It takes her a minute to get her emotions to catch up to the situation. She was super confused and trying to process through what's going on. At first I was like is she happy that Logan's here, but she definitely was it just took her a minute. 

Later than night I walked into Ella's room and found them face to face just chatting away like the besties they are! Love these girls and I love their relationship and I love that Logan gets Ella....her weird moods and all! 

On Saturday we just binged watched romantic comedies all day long. We kind of had an Adam Sandler / Drew Barrymore theme going on. First we watched 50 First Dates and then they watched Blended. We wanted to watch The Wedding Singer, but it was rent or buy. 

The girls always have such a great time chilling with each other. 

Sunday was Ella's actual birthday and I'm absolutely sure this was part of why Ella was little thrown off with Logan coming. She was going to get to spend the day with Justine and she had it all planned out in her head how that was going to go and now with her bestie here she wasn't sure how that was going to look. Ella and I had a chat on Saturday and she got her feelings out and I told her that it would all work out just fine. We had to drive two cars to church that day so it worked out perfectly. The boys drove home for lunch and then Michael and I took Ella, Logan and Justine out to Circo Circo! 

They make these faces at each other all the time! 

Oh that's sweet! 

Sitting next to the dad....scary! :) 

I wanted to get a picture of Logan with Ella and Justine so Logan came around and just plopped her head right between the two of them. Then she started laughing and then she started coughing and it made Justine laugh. He doesn't normally show his teeth when he smiles so when I capture and open mouth smile I love it...he has such a nice smile! 

Once they got their giggles out we got a normal picture! 

 

I was there too! 

Logan and I shared my favorite dish....Pollo A La Crema and Ella and Justine shared one as well. Michael got something else I didn't even pay attention. All my focus was on getting this yumminess in my tummy! 

Since Valentine's Day was on Friday and they weren't able to see each other they decided to exchange gifts on Sunday. Justine wrote Ella a letter....they haven't been exchanging letters since their 6th monthsarry. He did buy her a few things as well, but they didn't arrive in time so he gave her those gifts later.

Ella and I went shopping on Friday so she could pick out something for Justine. She also got him a card...which was actually the most expensive part of the gift! We were going to go to The Dollar Tree, but she didn't want to make an extra stop so she picked one at Wal-Mart. 

We found these super cute coffee mugs that hug each other! It's hard to shop for a guy for Valentine's Day, but these were truly adorable! 

Justine was having the mug that represents Ella hug him! 

Aren't they so cute!!!

 The one that's Justine is the one on the right because he's hugging over the top because that's how it's supposed to work. The taller person's arms go over the shorter persons. Also I think it's ironic that his mug is the darker of the two. 

Logan wrote Ella the sweetest Valentine's card. They really are the bestest of friends! 

Look at these cuties! 

Logan was also so super sweet....her and Ella talked about how Ella wanted to spend some time with Justine on her birthday and Logan was totally cool with that. She just went up into Ella's room and watched a movie on her phone. Later on she told me that it was really nice for her to have some alone time too. She feels so comfortable at our house it's like it's hers and I love that. We all need a little reset time when we are around a lot of people. 

Ella was getting girlfriend love so Justine needed to have some bro love. 

Then for some reason it turned into Logan and Justine tickling Ella. 

Later that night we had The Chosen group and even though Logan hasn't seen any of the episodes she joined us. Ella and Justine usually sit on the couch behind them in this picture, but some other kids got those seats first so they had to sit on the ground. 

Charlie was being very social during group so Justine scooped him up and held him.

After group was over Justine and Ella had a little bit of time to use his Valentines gift. I made them hot chocolate with whipped cream. 

At first the whipped cream was nice and fluffy and tall and looked like hair for the huggers. It was cute, but the cocoa was so hot it melted really quick. 

Birthday hugs! 

Just like last year when we flew out to see Logan and had to drive back that's exactly what happened with Logan. The flights were so full she wouldn't have gotten home for days. We ended up driving her to Aunt Becky's house and then Aunt Becky drove her to meet her mom in Ellensburg. 3 day holiday weekends are just not good when it comes to flying standby! It was so great having Logan here and it definitely made Ella's birthday weekend extra special!