Over the River and Through the Woods.

To Meme's house we go!

A week ago Sunday, at the end of the Fall Festival extravaganza weekend, we met up with Meme and Papaw at Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Patty's house in Elberfeld and got to spend a little time with them.

It seemed like it took the kiddos forever to warm up that visit.  But by the end they were acting like themselves.  Tyler even hugged on Aunt Patty as we were leaving.  What a sweet, sweet, boy we are raising (never mind the fact that he never did warm up to Uncle Josh's beard and didn't want to kiss him goodbye.....but that's neither here nor there).

Lily stayed behind with Whitney to go home with Meme and Papaw to Tennessee.  She didn't bat an eye at this proposition.  She was in to it and ready for it.  

Who can blame her?  Be spoiled rotten for a week?  Be princessed to death for a week?  Sign me up!  Whitney sent this pictures over to me.  My girl looks SO GROWN UP!!

There was ice cream action and breakfasts made out of playdoh.

Shopping and movies and cooking and dress up and more Playdoh.  Lily came home with several new outfits - even some skinny jeans to match Whitney.  Talk about my baby growing up!?  Seeing her in the same clothes as an 11 year old will do some funky things to your mind!

I think Liliana had a great time visiting her Meme and Papaw.  I think she missed us a teeny tiny bit....but not really that much.  Whitney said she only got weepy once and she got over it pretty quickly.

Joel, Tyler and I joined in on the fun Thursday night....more on that in the next installment....

(You're totally on the edge of your seat... I know!.... Sorry!)

My Husband Needs to Take up Blogging.

Every now and again I get a hold of Joel's phone and see that he's taken all sorts of cute pictures which were either just not included when I first blogged about something or I never blogged about it at all.  

Several weeks ago, the Indiana Bicentennial train was parked in Columbus for a couple days so we took the kiddos to check it out.  They both thought it was pretty cool.  There were a few tents set up with artifacts and some animals pelts.  Lily was SUPER interested in that stuff.  She was asking all kinds of questions and wanted to touch all the furs and know what kind of animal they came from.  Which was shocking since she normal doesn't like to touch that kind of stuff. 

We went to my cousin's wedding a several weekends ago.  Joel got a couple cute pics of the kiddos.  The one in the dark.... that's Tyler standing out with all the single men waiting to catch the garter belt.  He stood out there a long time (it took a bit to get people gathered and go through the whole ritual) but eventually realized he was standing there without me and came running back.

One night while watching TV, Lily had piled up the couch cushions and made herself a little chaise.   It was pretty cute.   Joel tried to get her to pose and it wound up making her look a little awkward....

We had Jackson's 5th (what?!) birthday party a couple weekends.  ALL the kids were obsessed with this little electric 4-wheeler.  If I heard "My turn!" once, I heard it 345 times.  At first, I rode with Tyler because he didn't quite have the hang of the "gas" pedal.  But he eventually got it on his own and kind of had everyone on edge.  At one point he literally ran over Kenzie (she was unphased) and nearly rear-ended Mom's car.

And that's all.  For now.

Mom and Dad.

This week Lily is away on vacation visiting her Meme and Papaw.  More on her trip later....but in the meantime, we've been enjoying the snot out of Tyler-man.  He's so.  Stinkin'.  Cute.  It's been really nice to get to give him more attention than we normally do.  And frankly, there's been a lot less drama!  While I am missing Lily like crazy (especially when I heard her super sweet and super grown up voice on the phone tonight), I am relishing in the time we can dedicate to Tyler.

Here's a tickle and giggle fest these two were having the other night.  

Tyler got a "shoot gun" for his birthday and rediscovered it tonight.  It's really difficult to pull the lever out and it's really hard to pull the trigger but he loves it anyway.  Here is an alternative use for the ammunition....are these two nutty or what??

And now for the bad news.

Tyler started calling me "Mom" and Joel "Dad."  No more Mommy and Daddy.  I expect this happened because last weekend he heard Jackson calling Jenny "mom" most of the time.  But there were no "dads" present during our weekend in Evansville so I guess he figured out how to shorten Daddy to Dad all by himself.  

Well, I for one, refuse to answer to Mom.  Not to a two year old.  If he wants my attention he will learn to call me Mommy.  Cause I'm in charge here.  Right??  And what I say goes.  Right?

Please, oh please, oh please just let me be Mommy for a few more years, little man.  Ok?  Please?

Fall Festival 2014.

Welp, the Fonner sisters converged on Evansville this weekend for the annual West Side Nut Club Fall Festival.  Otherwise known as the "Eat Yourself Stupid Festival" or also sometimes referred to as the "Can you BELIEVE that s/he is wearing THAT Festival?!"

It would be way, way, way too embarrassing to recap everything I ate.  So I won't go there.  But rest assured the only part of my "diet" that made it to Franklin street was my portion control.  As in, we shared everything we got so my portions of each thing I had were in check.  Unfortunately, I did not then take it one step further and limit the number of things we got.

Saturday morning we caught the Pet Parade.  As per usual, the parade is advertised to begin at 9am.... but it doesn't start until 10.  At least this year, we've finally figured that out and didn't get there quite as early as we have in years past.  But there was still enough time before the parade for 6 out of 6 kids to have a meltdown.  At one point, Tyler is dragging me down Franklin Street and Lily is following behind crying at the top of her lungs.  It was awesome and not at all embarrassing. 

"Hey kids, let's get a picture of you with Grams!"  Bahahahaahhahahahahahaha.  Sometimes I have THE BEST ideas EVER.  

I did manage to get a decent shot of me and the kiddos before the meltdowns intensified too much.

 

Then the parade finally started and then you remember why it's worth the meltdowns and crying and fighting.  "MOMMY!  Mommy, look!  Look, Mommy, look!  LOOK!!"  Their crazy excitement over seeing some dogs wearing costumes is totally contagious and I find myself hollering, "LOOK, Tyler, LOOK!  A PIRATE DOG!!  Lily, look, Lily, LOOK!  An Elsa with her OLAF BUNNY RABBIT!!"

 

All the yummy goodness at the Fall Festival and I wasn't successful at getting the kids to try much of anything.  Lily got cotton candy (which Tyler enjoyed too) and that was it for her.  The only other thing I got Tyler to try was the Monster Ear.  I told him it was like a cinnamon roll with syrup on it.  He was all over that.  

That concludes Fall Festival 2014.  Good thing too cause my pants are cutting off the circulation to my brain.  

Besides eating until we busted our guts, Mom graciously offered to watch ALL SIX GRANDBABIES (plus Jason) by herself on TWO separate occasions so Jenny, Katie and I could shop til we dropped.  I don't think I've ever spent that much money in one day shopping in my life.  Having your sisters, who have very honest opinions, coupled with the freedom and options that come with weight loss was a very bad combination for my wallet....and my closet.... It was awesome.  And now I'm cut off.  

The kiddos played pretty well together though 6 kids and 4 adults in one room is enough to test anyone's sanity.  We are slowly working on getting the older kids more comfortable with playing in the basement (by themselves) in order to preserve what's left of our wits.  At one point, they were playing hide and seek.  Jackson was counting while Lily, Tyler and Ayden "hid."  Check out Lily and Tyler's hiding spot.  Cause if I can't see you, you can't see me, right?

Hunting for Jackson..... he is just GONE.

Oh wait!  There he is!

Kenzie may not have gotten in on the hide and seek action but she definitely did get her turn on the big wheels.

Here's just a few more random shots of the babes.....

Goal. Of a Lifetime Kind of Magnitude.

I did it y'all!  I met my weight loss goal and I maintained it for the last six weeks, achieving Weight Watchers "Lifetime" status.

Say WHAT?!  Yes.  That's right.  

For the first time in my entire adult life, I am not obese.  I am not overweight.  I am in my healthy BMI range.  I never dreamed I would be able to say that.  Not in a million years.

So here's the skinny (!) on the data.....I've clearly had my ups and my downs over the last 15.5 months.  But every time I had an up, I got right back on the wagon and followed it up with some downs.  I never had two up weeks in a row. 

Are you ready for this?  Are you?  I can't stop being impressed with myself - yes, it sounds like I'm bragging a bit.  And I am.  But I earned it.  See?

 

By the way, thighs and arms.... that's per EACH thigh and EACH arm.  Just to be clear.  

On average, I lost 1.4 lbs/week.  No "Biggest Loser" style weight loss here.  Slow (sometimes achingly slow) progress, but hopefully that makes it sustainable and manageable going forward.  A real "lifestyle change" as they call it.

It feels so strange to be "done" - I think it's going to be a rough road for a bit as I continue to make the mental adjustment into maintain mode.  Being ok with tiny upticks and tiny downticks - allowing myself a few more luxuries now and again, but watching that slippery slope and not over doing it.  I have to keep myself accountable which is why I will still be counting my points.

I have dreamed about posting these pictures for a long, long time.  These are the pants I'm wearing in those before pictures.  HO-LY HELL.  You can almost fit two of me in those things.  I swear I never saw how big those pants were at the time.  I truthfully didn't.  Denial is an amazing thing. 

But, seeing as how I'll be celebrating my success by eating myself stupid at the Evansville Fall Festival over the next several days, I may need those pants again before the weekend is over!  Monster Ears, corn dogs, catfish sandwiches and deep fried EVERYTHING - HERE.  I.  COME!