Tour de Christmas Part 3- Pepe Family

Christmas Eve is when my family celebrates. We usually have a snacky type meal and then open gifts. Molly made out like a bandit with clothes, teething toys, and puppets. Rustin and my dad went out to the garage to "open" his gift, a hydrolic press. I got the greatest gift of the year, a NEW CAMERA & a photography class!!! I'm so excited I can't wait to take some really great pictures! After we got home from my parents we laid out the cookies and milk for Santa & hopped in bed for a good night sleep.






After our Christmas Morning clebration as a family of three. We got dressed and headed back to my mom's for lunch. It was wonderful to just spend time with family and celebrate the birth of Christ.

Tour de Christmas Part 2- The Mahan Family

After a good night's sleep we woke up Christmas Eve Day to head over to Rustin's dad's home for lunch. We had a delicious turkey dinner and then opened gifts. Molly got some adorable new outfits and other assorted goodies. Rustin opened a couple really nice shirts. I got a great book & other fun goodies. Molly opened her first Christmas gift and she did a great job!

Tour de Christmas Part 1- Moos Family

Friday afternoon we loaded up the car and headed to San Antonio to celebrate Christmas with Rustin's extended family. We had lots of yummy food and played some fun games. Then we headed for Aunt Mel's house for Maragritas and hangin' out with cousins.

Month 5

Molly,
This month has been such an adjustment. You spent 3 weeks with daddy at home this month while mommy went back to work.

You're wearing size 2 diapers. Your clothes are mostly 6 month mostly because we don't seem to have a wide variety of 3-6 month stuff. They're still a little big on you but if we roll up the sleeves they're great. You've still been drooling like crazy but we've yet to see a tooth. So you wear alot of bibs now.

You've gotten so much more active this month. You've figured out how to spin around in your excersaucer. You don't have any problem at all rolling front to back or back to front. You chew on her hands alot, but I think it's 'cause most of the teething toys are too big for your mouth. Yesterday you sat up all on your own. You've done this before but you usually end up leaning forward to play with your feet, which have become your all time favorite. You love to laugh and do it much more than you have in the past. During bath time you love to splash in the water and like to have mommy sing you the rubber ducky song.

You were sleeping through the night perfectly until mommy went back to work. Then you started to wake up around 2:30, but we're workin' on getting back to through the night. You tried cereal for the first time last night and didn't seem to mind it. The spoon method wasn't your favorite so we switched to the bottle and you ate it right up.

This month you met the rest of the Moos family along with Miss Jodi. You celebrated Christmas with lots of family and really liked pulling open your gifts. I honestly cannot believe how much you changed and blessed my life. I love you so much, Peeps.

Love Mommy

The Bucket List

This is a different kind of bucket list. This is the list of things I need to get into Molly's Bucket for her first day at Miss P's house. I can't believe I finished putting her bucket together without more than a few tears.



Other than the usual diapers & wipes, I packed her bibs, bottles, changes of clothes, blankets, teething toys, her 4 favorite books, pacis, tummy drops & tylenol. Miss P has everything else she'll need.
And since the time is coming so quickly that she'll be spending each day with Miss P I made a point to put other things asside and focus on my family for these 2 weeks. The proof:


Sad part is those clothes are clean

Nudist Colony

Yesterday our home turned into a nudist colony....well maybe colony is a strong word since we've only got one nudist. She screamed for a solid hour at the top of her lungs fussed for an hour and nothing helped, which is very unlike her. She wasn't hungry, or sleepy, she didn't want to play, she didn't have a dirty diaper. The only thing that made her stop crying was when I took off her clothes to make sure she didn't have a rash. So I kept her clothes off & now she's as happy as can be, bein' naked and playin' with her toes.

My So Called Life

I came across this book on Pinterest (where else) and was intrigued so I downloaded it on my NOOK (along with the new James Patterson, Janet Evanovich & Hunger Games) with a giftcard from my students.

OH MY GOODNESS, it's awesome!! I've never experienced a "can't put it down" feeling with this style of writing. It is quite possibly the best book I've ever read (and I read ALOT). It's all about one woman's journey to become a better wife and woman of God. The best part is that she actually makes this HUGE journey seem like something anyone could do. So maybe instead of making my traditional new years resolution of loosing weight (which has been the same resolution I've made for 10+ years now) I'll resolve to become more like "Martha 31", the wife from Proverbs 31. And if you're a wife or mom on my Christmas List you will might just find this in your stocking.

Christmas Bells are Ringing

I'm a day late but I'm linking up with Faith at her Christmas Card Carousel to share our Christmas card! So pretend you just checked the mail and opened this!




Merry Christmas from The Mahans

Spreading Christmas Cheer

The neighborhood that I work is pretty affluent. My students always have the coolest & newest phone, gadgets, and toys. So before our annual Holiday Party where they'd open gifts, play games and eat sweets I wanted my students to take the opportunity to serve others first. Here's a quick re-cap of our "Pre-Party" Service Project Party.

First we built blessing bags for one of the churches in the area. ( I know you can't see their faces but they have such big smiles on them) We included things like tissues, soap, shampoo, razors, tooth brushes & a snack.

Then we wrote letters to the troops.

I'm blessed to have the opportunity to serve these kids daily.

Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:28

The New Kid on the Block

After my fabulous Scentsy party last week I earned enough in free goodies to get Molly a "Lenny the Lamb". I think they'll be the best of friends!

They meet

Hugs

Kisses

Wednesday Weigh In

Well instead of sharin' with you all the things that helped me fall OFF the wagon this week (ie: christmas cookies) I'm going to share with you the things that I should have done to stay on track and not gain that pound this week.


My week goes so much more smoothly if I plan my menu for the week on Saturday morning and follow it up with grocery shopping. My Saturday shopping time was a little different than normal this week so I was out of sync for the rest of the week but I wrote out my menu for the next few weeks and I feel much better about it. Plus it is so much better on my budget!


Tracking is such an easy thing to do. You can do it from your phone for goodness sake. But it's also easy to put it on the back burner. I need to make sure I'm tracking everything I eat even if I think I have it all pre-planned.


When I'm having one of those stressful days and really just want to sit and have a beer with the hubby then I should grab for one of these. They're half the points of a Miller Light and they taste pretty good.


Recipe for the Week
Slow Cooker Breakfast Casserole


2 lbs frzn hasbrowns
3 C Egg Beaters
1 C Shredded Cheese
6 oz diced ham
1 C FF milk
Mix all in crock-pot and cook on low for 8-10 hours. You can do this overnight even! It serves 10 people for only 6 points per serving. Hello easy Christmas morning breakfast.

Stats for this Week
(feel free to leave yours in the comments section if you want to have another source of accountablilty)
lost this week: +1 lb
total loss in 11 weeks: 9 lbs
Lbs left til Pre-Molly Weight: 11
NSV (non scale victory): I fell off the wagon but I didn't go on a binge so I guess thats good. Plus I've still passed up that drive thru on the way to work! So that counts for something.

And the Winner Is...

ROBERT GRIFFIN III

Molly's vote was in early!

But we took our bath and put on PJs before the announcement so we showed what spirit we could

Our house looked/sounded much like this only with less beer and people.

That good old Baylor line!
That good old Baylor line!
We'll march forever down the years,
As long as stars shall shine.
We'll fling our green and gold afar
To light the ways of time,
And guide us as we onward go;
That good old Baylor line!

Plus here's my super cute T-Shirt

" the hotter the heat, the harder the steel. No pressure, no diamonds. We compete, we win. We are Baylor. Baylor we are, Baylor we'll always be"- R.G.III

Santa Claus is coming to Town

Today we visited Santa at the mall. We got there about 15 min. before Santa was scheduled to arrive. I thought we'd be one of the first few people in line....That wasn't the case. We waited our turn and Molly was so well behaved.

We made friends with the sweet people around us who were visiting from Houston. They were kind enough to take our picture.


After about an hour it was our turn. Molly did so well with Santa, and he was so kind that he didn't even flinch when she pulled his beard. I'm sure she's not the first.


Before we left we stopped to mail her letter.


I'm so looking forward to the holiday season with this sweet little girl!

Weigh In Wednesday...on Friday

This week it def. feels like the holiday season is upon us. Parties and Christmas cookies and dinners out etc. Here are the few things that helped me stay on track this week


These bagel thins are better than the Thomas ones IMO. They actually taste like a real bagel that they just trimmed down. There's no funky after taste or anything like that so these are my new fav. bagel thins!


We had Chili for dinner TWO nights this week and this 97/3 ground beef is def. makin' the cut around here. We usually use deer meat for anything that calls for beef but Rustin still hasn't got his deer yet this season.


If you know me you know I don't eat salad. I just dont care for it. If it's the only option I might but it's a rarity. Well let me tell ya this dressing makes a bowl full o lettuce into a ROCKIN' salad. I dont even really care for anything tomato-y but lemme tell ya it's awesome!

Recipe for the Week
PUMPKIN SPICE CREAM CHEESE SPREAD
8 oz Philadelphia 1/3 fat cream cheese
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin (canned is fine)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp agave nectar
Combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl and beat until smooth. It's supper yummy on the above mentioned bagel thins!


Stats for this Week
(feel free to leave yours in the comments section if you want to have another source of accountablilty)
lost this week: 1 lb
total loss in 10 weeks:10 lbs
Lbs left til Pre-Molly Weight: 10
NSV (non scale victory): I'm looking forward to having enough energy to work out again. I haven't been at all the last few weeks and I just feel like if I'm home I need to be spending time with my family. I'm planning on taking Molly for walks every afternoon after work next week.

Tis the Season

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, Scentsy warmers. I don't ever worry about them catching fire because I've left them on or anything silly like that. I have a dear friend, Mitzi who is like the QUEEN of Scentsy so I decided to have friends over for yummy food, drinks, and some holiday cheer. I baked Christmas cookies that actually turned out as good as the ones I saw on pinterest (WHOOOO!!)

We had some yummy Chili that Jenny and I tried at Christmas Affair (it's not homemade gourmet but it's pretty dang awesome!)

Molly was dressed to show her Christmas Spirit in this cute little outfit I made her

I'm usually not one thats in these parties for the free goods but this time I'm in it for this; and wouldn't it just look fabulous with a cute little picture of Molly in it!

More than anything I was happy to get into the Holiday spirit with good friends and family.