The Future Mr. & Mrs. Goates

annie and alex became friends when we moved to omaha. (alex's dad and derek are in the same class at school. alex's mom and i have become best of friends.) their friendship has grown into something "more". they are in love and not affraid to show it!! they really are best friends. when annie lost her first tooth she had to run over to alex's house right away and show him. alex always talks about someday he and annie will get married after he gets home from his mission to canada! on saturdays another one of my friends teaches a little cooking class at her house. i'm a retard and have forgotten every time. this past saturday the kids learned how to make spaghetti. when we got home from running errands that afternoon, and the girls had missed the class, alex came running over and told annie she had forgotten the class. derek started joking with alex and said, "way to go alex, you forgot to remind annie about the cooking class...now when you guys are married she won't know how to make spaghetti." without missing a beat alex said, "that's ok...i learned how to make it." AREN'T THEY CUTE?!?!
P.S. they were not coached to pose like this...they did it all on their own!!

day in the life of a cripple

so today has been pretty boring. it's really cold and off and on rainy so the kids have been inside all day. luckily derek is such a good sport and is going to take kate, ann, and sam to HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3!!! he so awesome...i don't know many dads who would take their daughters to a movie like that without mom. he went and bought the tickets early during lunch. the lady at the theater told him that he should come back at 5:30pm to get a good seat for the 7:30pm movie!! anyway, the girls are super excited. i'm really hoping sami doesn't have a potty accident while they're gone.

anyway, here's an updated pic of my ankle. i can walk on it ok...but it starts hurting after awhile, so i've been trying to get some things done in between putting it up.
another exciting thing about today...
a few weeks ago my really good friend had a family emergency and she packed up and left town really fast. anyway, we live far from our families, and so we've had to adopt our friends as our family out here. when my friend was hurting so much i realized how much i really care about her and my other friends here, and how luck i am to have such great friends. anyway, she is coming home today, and i'm really excited to have her back.

Jewlery Give Away

http://rhbdesigns.blogspot.com/

check out this blog. she doing a giveaway of some jewelry she makes. it is SO cute.

my week so far

first of all i have decided to weigh in on saturday morning. i take sunday off, so i feel like monday isn't that accurate. and saturday is after a week of working out!! so from now i will be posting my weight loss on saturdays.

sunday i finally put a headband on alexis. it the first time she's "had her hair done". i have to admit...it looked pretty cute.

we have a reward/punishment system set up in our house for katelyn and annie. i bought a bunch of those rocks you put in a fish tank, or in a hurricane lamp etc, and i got each girl a jar. whenever they do something helpful on their own, or if asked they do it without whinning they get X amount on rocks. it works really well. they girls both make their beds every morning and help out with chores around the house without TOO much complaining. anyway, when they get their jar filled to the top they get something. 2 times ago they earned new razon scooters. the reward is usually something really good because it takes them a long time to fill up the jars. oh, if they are really bad the jar gets totally dumped out. example...i told annie it was time to come inside and she stood on the porch (where all the neighbors could see her) and yelled, no screamed, "NO, you're so mean, nobody else has to come inside. i hate you." ya, that was a time annie's jar was about an inch from the top and i dumped the whole thing out. she hasn't done that again!! anyway, the reason i'm telling you all about this is #1 a friend asked me to post a picture of the jars. #2 the girls both filled their jars last week and they wanted MP3 players. monday night i was up until 1am putting music on the MP3 players for them.

earlier on monday i went to the church to play ultimate frisbee with some of my friends. holy cow that is a killer work out. and it's SO FUN. my plan is to play that monday, wednesday, and friday. well, it was my plan...unfortunately on wednesday i went to play and seriously 30 seconds into the game i jumped up to catch the frisbee and when i came down i landed on another girls foot and SPRAINED MY STINKIN' ANKLE. holy cow that hurt...it was SO painful, but i didn't say one swear word!!! i tried so hard to be tough...i got a little teary eyed when i started thinking about my girls though. i was feeling overwhelmed thinking about all the things i need to do, but couldn't without being able to walk. like take sami potty, and carry the baby. i have such a great friend here who brought me home, got me situated, changed alexis's diaper, took sami to her house and fed her lunch, and then luckily derek was able to come home from work. he is so fabulous. i seriously only got off the couch 2 times the whole day, and derek took care of everything. he did make me put my foot in a bucket of ice water 3 times every 4 hours. that doesn't feel good at all, but it totally helps with the swelling. now today i can sorta walk on it. i look seriously handicapped, but at least i can get around. derek had to go to work today, so i had to be able to walk. luckily katelyn and annie don't have school today or tomorrow. usually i wouldn't be excited about that, but they are such good helpers so it's been really nice. and they feel bad their mom's hurt, so they're being really good! i'm pretty annoyed about this whole situation, because working out is out the window now for a couple weeks. i'm going to have to be so good about what i eat. sheesh!

sami found this box in the store room, and it seriously kept her entertained for hours. if i would've know she would play with it for so long i would have given her a box forever ago!!

PICTURES

alexis and samantha are my little buddies. the past few weeks have been a little trying. nursing a baby and potty training do not go hand in hand. especially when you're trying to potty train samantha. BUT...we have made leaps and bounds. she hasn't pooped her pants for 2 days, and she only had one accident today (she was here with derek... ha ha ha totally joking honey!) we went running around town yesterday and today, and she did great. and she's sleeping through the night in underwear too. i called my mom the other day freaking out because i wanted to put sam back in diapers...i'm so glad she talked me out of it. anyway, she can be so sweat too..i mean, just look at her. what a cute, funny little kid!! and alexis is an angel. she has slept through the night every night for a week now...AMAZING! some nights she doesn't go to sleep until midnight, but midnight until 7:30am is sleeping through the night if you ask me. tonight she went to sleep at 9pm, so i'm curious to see if she wakes up in the middle of the night or not. oh, and she's been smiling alot more. anyway, i love my little baby girls.

annie went to a princess birthday party, and while she was there she got her hair done. i thought it looked so pretty. i need to learn how to do it like this.

Good Little Climbers

today we all went to the mall and there's a dick's sporting goods store there. in that store there's a big climbing wall. every time we've gone there we've asked katelyn if she wants to try it, but she has always said no. today the guy who works there measured annie, and she's finally tall enough. she was all about climbing the wall. i offered to climb it too if that would help katelyn want to do it. after i said i would do it too katelyn decided she would...plus, she wasn't about to let annie show her up!! so, i wonly made it half way before i was way tired!!! both girls made it to the top! it was awesome! the pix aren't the best because derek took them with his phone, and there were huge windows behind the wall and the sun was shinning in...but you can get the point.

samantha was a good little cheerleader.

annie ready to go.
katelyn getting her gear on.
annie getting some instructions. i was a bit nervous...i didn't want to look like an idiot!!!
katelyn reaching for a hand grip...she did so good!
katelyn got to the top and hit the button...a really loud tarzan yell announced she reached the top!!

ya...annie kicked my butt!!
that's annie at the top...when she hit the button a really loud song played out, but i can't remember what it was.
ya, annie really kick my bootie...this is about where i stopped!!!
cute seesters!! they are brave little girls. a boy was watching, and when he saw both of them reach the top he had to do it too!! he didn't make it to the top though!
striking a pose!!

week 6

ok, so i've been dealing with some mental problems!!! i handle every emotion with food, but luckily i've gotten on my treadmill and some how i still am down 3 pounds. this is what i needed to get super motivated again. my friend christina is helping me with my food situation. she gave me a menu that tells me exactly when and what i eat. for me...that's what i need, because i have no self control if it's left up to me to decide. with her menu i don't have to think...i already know what i'm supposed to eat. i know weight watchers works really good, but instead of eating 6 points of something healthy for lunch, i eat 2 oreos (or more and don't count the points accurately)! another mental problem i have is that i sabotage myself. i'm scared to lose the weight. which makes no sense at all, because it's all i want. i'm not exactly sure why i'm scared...like i said...it makes no sense. so i'll get down to a certain weight and then eat like a pig, or stop working out so i don't go down anymore. i'm refusing to do that to myself this time. well, that's now true, because i already did it last week when i gained 2!! i'm refusing to do it again!!! so anyway, here's to a good week. thanks to everyone and your support!

61 - 3 = 58 lbs to go!!

week 5 (didn't post week 4)

alright everyone...there's no putting this off anymore. i'm +2 this week so i have 61 lbs to go. i have loads of excuses, but i've always made excuses for myself in the past. it's a really lame way for me to justify not getting to my goal weight. SO, no excuses this time. i have to admit...this is torture writing. i really considered lying, but that's not going to help me, so here i am...totally exposed!!! i have to say i'm really glad i got the battery in my scale changed...it really helps me stay motivated when i weigh myself everyday. AND thursday is my 6 week postpartum mark...which means i can officially start working out. i can't wait to get on my treadmill, and start doing bizillions of stomach exercises!!!! the muffin top has got to go!

Alexis Baby Blessing...in random order!

derek's parents, grandma helen, jace, jeff, kristina, elea, and my parents all came to omaha for alex's baby blessing. it was funny having everyone there. we really appreciated everyone traveling to be with us.

kristina and elea came a week early for the baby blessing. it's hilarious how two babies who have basically the same genes (moms are sisters, dads are brothers) can be so completely opposite! we were all having a good time comparing them. (just so you all know...alex is the bald one!!!)


(giving each other "rocks"!)

on september 28th it was alexis's baby blessing. it was a crazy morning because the omaha marathon was that morning and the city had the only street out of our neighborhood blocked completely off. it was very frustrating, and the police officers finally let us drive pass the baracades after much whinning and complaining!! it was hilarious when we got to church...after the sacrement was passed there were about 30 people in the foyer! the blessing itself was beautiful. derek did a really great job. the guys in the circle were derek, his dad and 2 brothers, my dad, and 5 of our friends.