We're so glad when daddy comes home!

Ryan has been gone a lot more this spring with business then I am used to. He was only gone for a few days this week, but it seemed like forever. He gets home tonight from Atlanta, Georgia. One thing is for sure, when Ryan is around, we all are SO happy! The kids (and me) can't get enough of him when he's home- if you can't tell by the picture. He is pretty much a kid-magnet in our home. : )

 He is such a hard worker at his job and being a dad and husband at home. I could honestly go on forever. He is just wonderful.

 We love him!!!!!

Biker gang and dosing off

Colie-bear (a nickname I have for him) can ride that bike like nobody's business!

These pictures were from yesterday. We were playing out front while waiting for Tucker to get home from school off the bus. He loves playing outside!

I honestly don't like playing in the front with the kids because Mackenzie thinks it's a funny game to run into the road. I think it is more of a test to see what my maximum heart rate actually is.

Hahaha i love that face of hers.

The big boy himself home from a busy day of learning!

His school's theme for this year was "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"

On Wednesdays they wear their school "pride" shirts. : ) Oh, and he wears his cleats everywhere. He has even worn them to church before! That kid is awesome.

Mackenzie's new thing is climbing out of her crib. You put her in her crib, and no lie, approximately 4 seconds later she is down and out of there and pounding on the door. We have a love seat couch in her room that I lay on sometimes with her to snuggle her to sleep at night. I have tried to see if she will just lay on the couch by herself to fall asleep and then once she is snoozing, I will put her in her crib. Three out of the last four nights she has fallen asleep on either the floor or the couch once she has escaped her crib. We have just listened for her to quiet down, and then I put her in her bed. Yesterday, I took this picture of her sleeping on my lap because it was SO random! Just before lunch, Cole, Mackenzie and I were just watching an old, OLD cartoon dvd my mom sent Tucker a few years ago. She kept laying her head on my lap but I didn't think anything of it. I thought she was just being touchy. The next thing I know, I look at her and she is knocked out! She looked so sweet. I love that little lady. It was such a tender moment to have that wild child just snuggle and fall asleep so peacefully in my lap. : )

Tucker turned 6!

On April 27th my sweet first born babe turned 6!! Whaaaaat!? That is very hard for me to comprehend. Such a beautiful baby boy has turned into my spunky, crazy, funny, busy, handsome, smart, athletic, talented little man!

One day old

1st birthday

2nd birthday

3rd birthday




4th birthday

5th birthday

6th birthday!!!!




Some more pictures from his birthday:
*My parents were able to visit from Alabama over his birthday weekend. We loved having Nana and Papa here!!

Tucker had a "just friends" and grandparents birthday party this year. We limited it to just his friends that were boys. He would invite the whole school if he could. : )

Me and my birthday boy!

Since it was raining outside, we did the pinata inside with a shower curtain rod. Ryan and his dad did get hit every once in a while. : )

Yummmmy

 My mom and Tucker

My dad (smiling like Cole, hahaha) and the boys.

My mom with Cole and Kenz

 My dad and Kenzie



My mother in law made the pinata and I got to decorate it. It was fun! And you can always add glitter, even if it is for a boy... and ESPECIALLY if it's on a fish! : )

Tucker's 6th Birthday Survey:

-How old are you? Six

-Who is your best friend? Kasey

-What is your favorite thing to do? Ride my bike.

-What is your favorite color? Red

-What is your favorite food? Um...taco.

-What do you like to do with your family? Go on walks.

-What is your favorite toy? Hot wheels.

-What do you want to be when you grow up? A fisherman.

-What makes you happy? When I am with my family.

-What makes you sad? When I get boo boos, and when you (mom) aren't here.

-What is your favorite show to watch? Wild Kratts and that movie where uncle Doug makes those cars and they race and they were in second place.

-What is your favorite book? my favorite book... Crocodiles.

-What do you love to learn about? Sharks, and lizards, and frogs.

-What was the best part of your birthday? Ummmm...getting to hit the pinata and almost opening it.

-Where do you like to go? Go to maine.

-Who is your teacher? M for Mrs. Robertson.

-What is your favorite treat? You know what my favorite treat is! cookies! (what kind?) Chocolate chips with peanut butter.

-What do you think about before you fall asleep? Jesus. (you do? what do you think about him?) I'm not telling you!

-If you could meet someone famous, who would it be? You know, YOU KNOW. (I dont know.) Yes you do. uhhh the person who makes those racecars silly. (uncle doug?) Yes!

-What was your favorite birthday present? THE LEGOS.

-What is the color of your hair? Ahhh, gray.

-What color are your eyes? Blue spells blue, blue spells blue, high ho did you know, blue spells blue.

-What is your favorite drink? D-iet coke. I love diet coke in my wyatt wyatt coke. and dr. pepper.

-What is your favorite fruit? A for apple! Cause thats my bapple, smapple!

-The coolest person on earth is? Hmmm... jesus and heavenly father.

-The thing you do most awesomely is? I did it and you didn't even see me, and it was.... it was over there in that tree by the fence...and um I climbed up to the top.

-The thing you like to do most with daddy is? Is go fishing, muahaha!

-The thing you like to do most with mommy is? Is.......when you pick me up from school.

-If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? The ocean, hehehehe. I'm swimming, I'm swimming.

-What is your favorite memory? All the way from back then? When... I was at Annie's house and I was playing with her. I remember that still. (where is annie's house?) In utah.

Some things about Tucker right that I want to remember:

-He LOVES to tease Cole and Mackenzie. Actually, really anybody... : )

-I just found out he is getting the Character Kid of the month award at school! His teacher emailed me and told me the word for this month is "dependable," so Tucker represents that word well! : ) We are very proud of him.

-He is getting really, really good at riding his bike on just two wheels now. Ryan is even teaching him how to make skid marks with his tires. : )

-He loves doing math (addition and some subtraction).

-He loves playing with other kids, especially our neighbor kids.

-He loves saying hi to the elderly couple across the street from us.

-He loves to draw pictures for people.

-He loves movies.

-When he gets in trouble and has to go to time out, he usually yells, "everybody hates me! everybody in the family hates me!" to which I always reply, "nobody hates you Tucker... you know that. You know that I love you, that daddy loves you, and that Cole and Mackenzie love you too."

-He is STARVING every time he comes home from school. He has breakfast, lunch, a snack at school, and then as soon as he gets home, he acts like he hasn't eaten in years! He gets on the verge of tears with a dash of crazy in his eyes begging for another snack. After I get him and the other two kiddos a snack, he is a completely different person, so happy and smiley. : )

-He is wearing socks that honestly I could wear.... he is growing so fast!

-He loves giving hugs to Mackenzie, to the point where she gets frustrated now. : )

-He will sometimes hold Cole and Mackenzie's hands when they walk around outside.

Tucker is such a silly kid. Ryan and I love all of his crazy expressions, dance moves, and funny things that he says. The other day he asked if he could have a yogurt, and I said no since he had already had one that day. He replied, "How did you know that!!.....(long pause) OHHHH I know how you knew that. Jesus told you." He is always so much fun and he is growing up so fast! Sometimes I forget how little he is still though, so I kind of like seeing his little tantrums he randomly throws, because then I get to see again that he is still my little baby. : )

We love you TUCKER!!!!

Maternity Monday: 16 weeks

So first of all, I am pretty pumped because a week from tomorrow we will be getting the ultrasound and hopefully finding out what we are having!!!! AHHH! I can't wait! They scheduled it for 17 weeks, and I asked them if they knew that they had scheduled it early and they said it was fine! And so then I am fine with it too! : ) When I was pregnant with Tucker, I didn't know how far along I was, so at my first appointment at 14 weeks and 5 days, we found out that he was a boy!!! I am pretty excited to find out soon with this wee lil babe too- if he/she decides to cooperate. : )

I am still going with my phone for maternity monday pictures, even though quality is quite blurry. It is just the easiest and fastest way to snag a picture when I have a few seconds.

14 weeks prego

on my way to the gym

15 weeks prego

getting ready to go out to dinner with the family

16 weeks prego

DOCTOR APPOINTMENTS: I had one at 13 weeks, and everything was great! I love hearing the baby's heartbeat. It is always a relief. It was 160 I think? And the nurse practitioner measured my fundal height over my clothes, so I didn't even pay attention to the exact number she said, I just know it was normal.

**UPDATED:CRAVINGS: I thought I had no cravings over the last few weeks, cause nothing really stood out. BUT, my awesome sis-in-law helped me remember one. hahaha. After Tucker's birthday party (still working on that bday post interview), there were some potato chips left over. I never buy potato chips unless it is for a birthday party or for another kind of gathering. They were soo yummy and so I wasn't about to let the last little bit in the bag go to waste. Here is the recipe : I love dipping my potato chips in ketchup, but the crunched up chips were too hard to grab, so I just poured them in a little bowl. Then, I squirted some ketchup into the bowl and stirred. Then I ate it. That is the end of the recipe. : ) Very healthy, very good for you. And I am being very sarcastic right there. I still am not a huge fan of sweets right now though. Sad, sad, sad. But it is most likely a good thing that I am not wanting sweets right now otherwise I would be 20 pounds heavier at this point. : )

SICKNESS: I think I am finally done with morning sickness! Yay! I haven't really felt sick at all over the past several weeks. I also have been able to go longer between meals and snacks instead of eating every 2 hours on the hour. Now I am able to go 3-4 hours between meals. I still get headaches almost every day, so I am still trying to figure that one out.

EMOTIONS: My emotions have been up and down and up and down again. Some days I feel great and other days I get super emotional- sad, grumpy, irritated, and overwhelmed with just about anything. That is when I just need to go take a nap! Our Missouri weather was reallllly crazy for a few weeks, which affected my mood I think as well. Lots and lots of rainy and cloudy days. Ryan was in and out of town several times over the last several weeks, so trying to take care of the kids at home by myself when it was sleeting and even SNOWING in MAY (and we are stuck playing inside) proved to be a bit difficult. I am very excited the sun has come back out!

WEIGHT GAIN: I have gained 7.5 pounds so far in this pregancy. I am content with that!

EXERCISE: Over the last 3 weeks, I have still been teaching bootcamp twice a week, doing strengthening exercises at home with free weights and body weight, the firm DVD, running, walking, elliptical machine, and weight machines at the gym. Not to mention, PUSH MOWING THE YARD! That can definately be a good workout!!! : )

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Some awesome old cell phone pics that I just love!

I wish this one was bigger! I don't know why it is so small. This was after we went to a baptism, the boys were racing in the grocery cart at the store. : )

Ok, this one was typical Mackenzie for like, 3 months. If you left anything on the table, she would get ahold of it. One morning, after I sent Tucker on the school bus, I went to the bathroom and when I came back, she had gotten ahold of Tucker's breakfast leftovers. She had knocked it over and was just sitting on the ground eating the spilled milk and cereal! I couldn't stop laughing but at the same time I was SOO grossed out.

Fit n' Firm Friday: Nutrition with kiddos Part 1

Fit n'Firm Friday: Nutrition with kids Part 1

I am always surprised at what my kids will eat. It never ceases to amaze me! That is why it is so important to provide healthy choices for your children starting when they are babies! You can't force your kids to eat something they don't want to, but, if it is available, and they see other people eating it and they in fact are not dying, they get curious. Case in point... about a week ago I made pesto angel hair pasta with steamed broccoli and parmesan. My kids all SCARFED it all down. That was only my second time ever having pesto, and my husband's and my kids' first time. I didn't even tell my kids what it was. I just dished up proper serving sizes and their plates were clean within a few minutes! Tucker and Ryan even had seconds of the pasta! I honestly think that the kids thought it was probably just bits of the broccoli that fell off in the pasta, and so they didn't even question what the green pasta was all about.

Me- being the hoarder that I am- still had the other half of the pesto sauce sitting in the fridge a week later. I knew I wanted to use it up before it went bad. I also knew I was too lazy to make pizza tonight, so we had pesto pasta again tonight! This time I did the pesto pasta sprinkled with mozzarella, steamed broccoli, poached eggs, and a fresh strawberry and banana fruit salad. My fabulous older sister Jacquie taught me the egg with the pesto pasta deal! I was a bit nervous the first time I had it, but it is actually a very good combination!

Cole was a little more shy about eating it tonight, but he still ate some, which is always a good sign. I actually made a little deal with the boys at dinner. Tucker ate all of his fruit salad and eggs, and was scarfing down the pasta. I knew he was going to want more of the pasta, but he kind of ignoring his broccoli. Tucker eats veggies sooo good, so I wasn't going to force the broccoli tonight. Cole ate his eggs, a little bit of his fruit salad, only a little bit of his pasta, but pounded down his broccoli. I told Tucker he could switch his broccoli he did not want to eat with Cole's pasta, so they both could fill their tummy's with what they were craving. : ) It turned out to be a good deal. I am actually not quite sure how much of anything Mackenzie ate tonight at dinner because it was all over the place...

A few nutritional pointers for those with children-

With my exercise science degree, I took several nutrition classes, but I am not a registered dietician or nutritionist. The following is my personal opinion aligned with things I learned while in school and post-graduation.


*Fill your kitchen with healthy, yummy foods and your kids will eat them! Obviously if they have the choice of a cookie or an apple, most kids will pick the cookie. But if you give them the choice of either an apple with some peanut butter or some carrots with ranch, they will pick one of those options if they are really hungry! For snacks, give them two or at the most three healthy options and let them decide!

*Stick to the Food Guide Pyramid, it is really how the body needs to be fed! Check out choosemyplate.gov for more tips.

*There are so many fruits and veggies out there, as a family decide to try one new fruit or vegetable a month! It can be exciting!

*Choose whole grains over refined bleached flour. We have always used 100% whole wheat bread ever since we got married. I don't even think my kids know that there is such thing as white bread or potato bread? Only kidding, : ) at family gatherings or if we go out to eat, we try to eat the healthiest option, but whole wheat isn't always an option- which is fine with me. I don't know if I would appreciate the Olive Garden's breadsticks as much if they were whole wheat. ; )

*Have your kids help you plan meals and if you have the patience of an angel, have them help you cook!

The three amigos watching me cook. I was too flustered that day to actually let them help me. But I was more than happy to let them watch. : )

* Life is meant to have balance. Yes, we all should try to eat as healthy as possible and stay physically active, but is that always going to happen just as perfect as we would like it to? No, not always.  And you can't beat yourself up over it. Just keep trying to live a healthier life. Things happen, life situations change, and you just need to try your best to keep you and your family healthy and happy. Not to mention, life is also meant to be enjoyed. God wants all of us to be happy. He wants our families to be happy. Great food-healthy and non-healthy- is a fantastic way to bring people together. So sometimes, eating a Little Caesar's hot n' ready pizza with your kids while watching Wreck it Ralph is one of those times where you just gotta enjoy the cheese, white flour, grease, and the sound of laughter coming out of your kids' pizza-sauce smeared faces. : )

*Remember that how you feed your kids while they are young, and how you teach them to interact with food will last them a lifetime! It breaks my heart to see unhealthy lifestyles passed on from one generation to the next. YOU be the chain breaker! YOU need to make a difference. YOU can be the one to start making healthy choices and help your family make them as well!

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I have been rereading a book from college that we had to read in a chronic disease prevention class.

Buy HERE

It is SUCH a good book! It is extremely easy to read, and not super long, but it is full to the brim of valuable information. I completely recommend reading this book! This book always inspires me to try harder to be a little healthier. So, after our Wendy's dinner last night on the way to the grocery store, I felt like tonight's dinner was a total win! : )