We’re finally feeling like home is HOME now.  Our patio is in, the grass and landscaping are all in and we are now “allowed” to walk and play on it.   I don’t think I’ve ever spent more time outside this time of year than I have this year! 

We got some “grown up” pots from Gerten’s finally (not the cheapy plastic ones that we’ve always had) and I’m really loving how the front of the house is coming along!  And it’s all painted too, I love the color.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’ve also decided since every person in our neighborhood seems to be a size 2, that it’s time for me to crack down and lose this darn baby weight that’s been hanging around.  It’s embarassing once you have a one year old and still look like you just gave birth a few weeks ago.

I’ve attempted many different approaches to doing this, but I know that I like food to much to really do some crazy sort of diet.  So, I’m attempting a combination of excercise and just making better choices when I eat.  This means less buying breakfast and lunches at work and more of brining leftovers and other things to eat for lunch.

Like many other busy moms, I have NO time to get to the gym during the week.  A friend of mine from ScrapGirls has been doing some of the BeachBody workouts for the last few months and she looks AMAZING!!!  So, I decided to give one of their programs a shot.  She recommended the ChaLEAN Extreme to start out with.  I’m only on Day 5, but I LOVE it so far and it’s the longest I’ve ever stuck with a “workout program”.  It’s definitely more strength training focused than just doing a 40 min DVD of pure cardio, which really doesn’t do much for me these days.

The awesome thing about ChaLEAN is that it comes with all the DVD’s that you need for the entire program, as well as the resistance band and the leg band, a nutirtion book and a complete guide and journal to track your progress.  But, I really wanted to get a set of adjustable weights to use to maximize my workout, so I’m going to give these a try.  I’ll let you know how I like them.

They also want you to take before pics, so I need to get around to doing that one of these days…I promise I won’t share them here. 

Finally, I feel like I can breathe.

The last month has been such a whirlwind in our lives, but a wonderful one.  When I look back at the last few weeks, I wonder how we survived, but we did, thank God, and we’re all settling in.  We couldn’t have done it without the help of our family.  We hired some amazing movers as well to help.  If you are in need of a moving company, I highly recommend Two Men and a Truck.  They were A M A Z I N G.  The best money we ever spent.

We officially moved into our new house on the 26th.  It’s been a little over a week, but now it’s beginnging to feel like we’ve been there MUCH longer than that.  I drive by Tyne Lane every day and wonder how our cute first house is doing.  I’m sure the new owners are loving it, but part of me does miss it just a little.

We also had an awful decision to make about a week before our move.  Our dog, Zeus, was 9 years old (that’s senior for a Doberman) and his health had been declining pretty quickly over the last few weeks.  We knew the time was coming, as horrible of a decision as it was, we made the choice to put him to sleep and let him cross the Rainbow Bridge.  It was a very sad day for our family, but we knew in the long run, it was the right decision. 

We’re now getting settled into our new home.  I have been taking a few pics here and there, but it’s been such a mess with boxes and unpacking, that I’ve been holding out on taking too many until it’s all prettied up.   So, when it’s all nice and pretty for B’s party this weekend, I’ll be sure to take some new ones.

Speaking of The Princess, can you believe she’s turning ONE on Sunday?  I know I sure can’t!!  We took her one year photos on Sunday and did a cake smash.  Stay tuned for those, but here’s one of my faves of her laughing at her brother.  And I LOVE my new natural light studio in the house!!  I can’t wait to use it over the coming years!!

While I’m on the subject of photography…I’m having an amazingly fun contest over at the Ten Tiny Toes Blog.  Definitely go and check it out and I’d love to have you join in the fun!

is shopping for stuff for the new house!  We’ve been using an old kitchen table that we got from a family friend for $5 for the last 7 years.  It worked well, but I can’t wait until our new table arrives.

I’ve also been drooling over a front loader washer and dryer for MONTHS now (maybe if I love my washer and dryer I’ll love laundry more?)  We just ordered these today!

Now, to just get them all delivered and installed…think that could go off without a hitch? 

The packing continues…good thing boxes make fun toys too.   New pics of the house coming soon!  We were over there yesterday and I took some of the main level.  Stay tuned!!