December Cara Box

This is my second month participating in the Cara Box and I absolutely love doing it! Katelyn over at Wifessionals does a lot of work putting these together and does a great job at it also.  I am so glad that I came across it.  

This month I meant 2 great ladies! They were so much fun getting to know and they now have a new blogger friend! I had Melissa and she blogs over at melissaringstaff@avirtuouswoman.org. She is truly an inspiration to women! Check out her blog to see what I sent to her. 

Ms. Brooke had my name and might I just say she is adorable and I love her blog.  I can't wait to keep in touch with her.  My husband actually helped me open my box and thought it was pretty cool that I was doing this.  He really doesn't get why I do a blog but understands that it is something I like to do. But anywho! 

The box was so much fun to open.  My pictures are not the greatest but bare with me.  I almost forgot to take them.

I got sparkling green ribbon and polka dot ribbon!

Sunscreen for my cruise in a couple of weeks! (I will most definitely need this)

Glitter gift tags!! Can't wait to use them next year!

Christmas socks!

An adorable ornament from North Carolina!! 

Some awesome eye shadow for my trip! Already been using it though!

Her Christmas card was adorable and the note was sweet!

And then these adorable frames...

Are these not adorable! My boys loved them and put them by our TV!

Can't wait for January 2013 Cara Box!

Well, tomorrow is my BIRTHDAY!!! And I will spending it at home off work! Can't wait! 

I will be working on my goals for Operation Red Bikini and being posting it next week!

 

Everyone have a great weekend!

~K~

Finally back to my blogness.....

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and got all they ever dreamed of.  

The Holman family had a great one to say the least. 

Christmas - I have been super busy at work and have not made the time to get on my blog and talk to my blogger friends.  With the holidays and everything else going on, it just gets completely crazy.  Santa was great to my boys and they had so much fun opening presents.  My hubs got me a new camera! LOVE IT!! My parents got me a Garmin Forerunner 10! Love it too.  *Now just to figure out how to run it.  I have been to the doctor and have decided on getting a sling, so the leaking shall quit and I will be able to run!! Now I have no excuses.  

Monkey was so much fun! He would open a gift and then play a little bit and then move on to the next one. Then he got a toothbrush and that was the end of it.  All he wanted to do was brush his teeth! Jacer would unwrap as fast as possible and then ask where the rest was.  I spent about the same of money on each of them and they had the same amount but Monkey got more big things and toys then Jacer. He got a DSi and games and that is expensive.  I didn't realize.  

Food and Weight - Last week I lost. Whoo hoo right!! This week not so much.  I was down to 155.6 lbs and this week after all my Christmas, the Food WON! I am up to 158.2 lbs! I am back to it! I am determined to get back to 155 and less before we leave on our cruise.  Which is the 6th! So I have 10 days to get this done!! I am tracking on WW and drink water.  Went to the gym again. Haven't been for a week! Only did a mile today but better than nothing. Plan on walking on treadmill when I get home again or maybe I will do Insanity again! We will see! I really need to get my house put back together!

Here are some pics to sum up the last week or so.....

 My sister Katie and her fiance right after getting engaged!!

Well I have to get back to work now! More pictures to put up and tomorrow reveal of my Cara Box!!

~K~

Weigh In Wednesday

I was so nervous about today's weigh in! The scale has been up when I weighed over the weekend and I ate terrible.  But I really started watching on Monday and yesterday.  I drank tons of water!!

And it paid off......

I am down 1.2 lbs!!! I was so excited! Now to keep this momentum going! I might just hit my 10 lbs gone goal by our cruise time!

Well we have alot on our plates at work! Big things going on for our small town, so I better get more work done!

Have a great night ladies!

~K~

Weekend Rewind..

Well well!! I have been terrible with keeping up on writing on my blog lately. We are super busy at work and when I am not working, I am online shopping! I am trying to get completely finished..... I am just about there.  Just 2 giftcards to pick up and then I am done. But then there is the wrapping.  I would love to get everything wrapped and under the tree but that is not going to happen with Monkey around.  He can't keep his hands off of the tree now can you only imagine his curiousity if there were wrapped gifts under the tree!! UGGGHHH!

Friday - Rented movies and watched them with my boys.

Saturday - My boys went shopping with my mom at the Clothes Closet in town.  They were having a day for kids to shop for their parents and Jacer thoughts this was awesome. Bless his heart! So my sister and I went shopping at a few Mennonite stores in Missouri and one in Iowa. We had a great time.

Sunday - We had church dinner, which played havoc on my diet, so did the rest of yesterday. Then Jacer was in a Christmas program at another church last night.  They served the best cinnamon rolls for refreshments.

Today we had a Christmas dinner at our Courthouse and it was delicious!! But now I have got to be careful what I eat for supper! I am doing horrible on the diet this week! It seems like every week I do awesome, the next I do terrible!!

So tonight I will try my best to eat something small and probably not what my family eats.  Since they want mashed potatoes and fried tenderized steak and gravy.  I will just eat my salad.

And now since I have finally got it set up for people on other blogs to reply back to me by email, I got an email from Mama Laughlin!! I was so excited!!!! It made my day!

Well I better get more work done!!

~K~

Weigh In Wednesday

So I have signed up to do the Holiday Weight Loss Challenge on DietBet through Courtney at Journey of a Dreamer!

It is an awesome idea.  You pay $20 to get in and everyone that loses 4% of their weight splits the pot!

The pot is at $6260 right now!

I just ate a mini cupcake but I wrote down the points and should be fine.  I had to or it would of been bad. 

I have learned not to deprive myself of everything!

Today was my weigh - in for Weight Watchers and my challenge over at MLFitCamp! I was so excited that I almost kissed my scale this morning.

Down 1.6 lbs this week!! Happy Dance!!

Then before I kissed the scale, I decided against it because that is my doing not the scale.  I am the reason that scale number is going down! I am working my butt off to get to my goal weight and I am getting there a week at a time! It is the holiday season but I am determine and see skinniness in my future!

~K~

Exciting News

So I wrote last week that I had exciting news and news that makes me really need to work get more weight off!

In January, my hubby is turning 30 and I wanted to do something fun! 

So we are going on a cruise!!

I can't wait! We are going to be gone for 7 days with stopping along Mexico ports.  We are going to spend a couple days in New Orleans when we return from the sea!

We are so excited!

Nervous about leaving my boys for so long but already figured out where they are staying and all that fun. But I am sure going to miss them.  Thank goodness for Skype and internet.  I will be able to see them some.  

The hubby is excited but I think a little worried about being gone so long also.  He is not much on traveling. 

But he will be fine and we have to be together 24/7 for those 7 days.  It is just the two of us going.  But we should be fine! LOL!

I also don't have my ass in the shape and size that I want to be but am hoping to lose at least 10 more pounds by then.  I think I can handle that.  That would put me in the 140s!! 

I want to wear a swimsuit like this and look good in it!

So now that I have told you my exciting news!
My weekend rewind is pretty much the same thing. 

BASKETBALL, BASKETBALL, BASKETBALL!

 Monkey cheesin' at big bro Jacer's bball game

 They got a medal! Jacer is in the light blue shirt

Again! They did awesome!

It was so much fun to watch them at this age. 

But I was at the tournament all weekend! It was the PTO 5 on 5 tournament and went Saturday all day and Sunday afternoon!

We had a great turn out and everyone worked so hard! I just never realized how serious the older kids get in tournaments.  At some points I thought I was at a Varisty championship game, not a 5th/6th grade semi-final game!
I guess I better prepare myself for when my boys get older. Also, I have determined I will never yell at a ref's call again no matter what or do I ever want to ref a game at any age! Bless all those ref's hearts out there that do that job and put up with us mouthy parents! LOL!!

Everyone's work was greatly appreciated!

Now everyone needs to check out what these following ladies are doing, Mama Laughlin, Holly, and Aly they are doing:

They had people submit stories of people in need and then they read through them all and chose an amount of them and are posting them on their blogs daily and you can choose and help donate to one, five, ten or all of them! Just click on their names and start reading! Their are people always in need and it is time we start helping them and even if you don't help one of these stories, maybe you can help someone you know in your community during this holiday season. 

Now I have a questions for any blogger or blog reader out there that has Google+. Holly who has an awesome blog and I post comments on, let me know that I am not linked up for her to email me to my comments and for the life on me I cannot figure it out and neither can Ms. Holly.  Bless her heart she even tried for me.  If anyone can help me, please comment!! 

PLEASE HELP!! I want the novels back from these other awesome ladies that I post comments on their blogs because they are awesome, funny and I want to get to know them even better!

~K~

Blog Swap!

Ok first I had to share the following pictures of my boys! Here is Monkey the first night in a booster at the big table! 

He thinks he is big stuff now!

 Since Monkey had a picture at the table Jacer needed one too!

 His daddy gave in to him and got him basketball shoes for an hour game tonight! 

I wouldn't...

So I love little Miss Kassie over at Southern Girl Gets Fit! She is adorable and her blog is awesome! Well she did a Blogger Swap. Love this idea and it was so much fun.  I had a blast doing it.  I hope she does another one.  Great way to meet other bloggers and get fun stuff in the mail.  

Well I was matched up with Erin. Her blog is called Homemade Happenings.  Just click on her name and check it out. It is adoable and she is pretty crafty! Love it.  She is stupid sweet and I loved getting her package in the mail. 

So without further ado, here are my goodies Erin sent me...

 I had to get the knife out for all the tape! My boys thought it was funny that I couldn't get in it. LOL!

She wrapped each one individually and attached a note about each one

 Here they all are!

 A Santa Ornament, she collects them.

The Caramels (because she remembered that I said I love caramel)

They were so good. 

A little magnetic notepad! Because she is forgets like me sometimes. 

 Homemade scrub!! Can't wait to use

 A washcloth she knitted herself!

My little Monkey!!

BIG NEWS MONDAY!!

~K~



My mother in law makes the best cherry delight and we have it every year at Thanksgiving! I mentioned it in my Thanksgiving Link up! A few of you have asked for the recipe...so here it is!

CHERRY DELIGHT

 

 



Things You'll Need
-1/2 cup butter
-1 Can of Cherry Pie Topping
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
-1 container of Cool Whip
-2- 8 ounce packages of cream cheese
-1/3 cup sugar
-1 pie tin
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla

Instructions
1 Make the graham cracker pie crust. Take ½ a cup of butter and melt it in your microwave or on the stove. Crush up approximately 8 whole graham crackers. It should make approximately 2 cups of crushed graham cracker crumbs. In a bowl, mix together the 2 cups of graham cracker crumbs and 1/3 cup of white sugar. Make sure it is evenly mixed. Add the melted butter slowly to the graham cracker mixture and stir. Continue to stir until the mixture is the same texture.
2 Put the pie crust together. Take the graham cracker mixture and press it into a pie tin. The pie tin should look like it is coated with the mixture. It should look like it’s adhered to the pan. Bake the graham cracker crust for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Once the pie crust is done baking, allow it to cool for approximately 30 minutes.
3 Make the cream cheese filling. In a bowl, mix together the container of Cool Whip and the 2 packages of cream cheese. Once the mixture has reached an even consistency, add in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
4 Put it all together. Continue with this step only if the pie crust has completely cooled. If the pie crust has not cooled off completely, allow it to cool off and then proceed. Take the cream cheese mixture and pour it into the graham cracker crust shell. Spread the mixture so it is evenly leveled. Top it with the cherry pie filling.
5 Allow it to cool. Once you’ve put your Cherry Delight together, allow it to cool in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Once it’s cooled completely, dig in.
I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I do!

Enjoy!

I am exhausted and ready for bed!

Come back tomorrow.....I have exciting news that means I need to get my ass in gear and lose this weight and also I got my Blogger Sway Swap items today!! Can't wait to post about it!

~K~

Cara Box...and Everything else thrown into one post!!

Ok, I am so behind on posting and I am sorry for that!! With the holiday and shopping and then having no internet service at home all weekend...... UGGHHH that was very irritating! Then my cell phone quit went kapoop!! So I have a loaner phone at the moment and hopefully will have my new one tomorrow! Which I can then have instagram back! I am missing it alot!

But onto the good stuff! I participated in this month in a Blog Swap called Cara Box!

It is with Kaitlyn over at Wifessionals! Love her blog and I will be linking up with her today to show everyone what I got in my Cara Box!! It is super cute stuff!!

I was partnered up with Emily, our theme was childhood and she sent me a super cute Cara Box! She does not have a blog but she is super sweet and a nice person and very creative!!

I opened my box and this was inside! I thought it was a journal...

 But then I opened it and low and behold it was filled with stuff!!

Old Maid cards cause she remembers playing that with her mom! 

So do I! I can't wait to play with my boys! 

Then a Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books along with some 

stickers that reminded her of Lisa Frank !

 Flarp!! My Boys are going to love this!!!!

I can't wait to sign up for December's Cara Box! It was so much and I love getting to know people and getting stuff in the mail! My son always gets the mail and was so excited when there was a package in there! He was excited to help me open it!

 My Thanksgiving was great this year! We ate my husband's mom's and she is a great cook and we didn't have to wait on any dinner rolls Darci!! I loved every bite of it! I ate in pretty good small portions and then we stopped by my Aunt's to see my Grandma but we didn't eat there! Then we went home and it was my baby sister's 20th birthday Thanksgiving day and we had prime rib and baked potato and salad and it was delicious!!! Best Thanksgiving meal ever!! Totally beats turkey out!!!

Here Amber is with her nephews!! Best pic we could get! LOL!

Friday shopping!!

Well as everyone else got up or never went to bed... I slept and 

then got up at 7 a.m. and was shopping my 9 a.m. 

Got some of the deals! 

Got alot done for Christmas and birthdays in the month of December!

Just have my boys and the hubby left to buy for!

It was a fantastic day with my sister-in-law/bestie Krista! 

We live for that day and getting to spend time together.

She is in nursing school so I have missed her tremendously!

Then our husbands met us for supper!

The weekend went quickly and like I mentioned above no internet and then no phone service

starting Sunday!

I do not like not having technology around! It drives me nuts. 

On top of not working Thursday and Friday, I had to take Monday off since I had no daycare!

I am not going to complain!

But I am now back in the saddle at work and swamped as I type away on my blog! 

HEHEHE!!

Now for the weigh in today! 

I didn't think I ate terrible on Thursday but I didn't stop then Friday, Saturday or Sunday.  

I didn't track very well for Weight Watchers!

So I am still proud of only gaining .2 lbs over the week! 

I will take that and be happy with it! 

It could of been alot worse.

I am determined to lose at least 10 more by my husband's birthday on January 12th! We are going on a cruise then and want to be in the 140s. I doubt I make to the 130s by then! But I am going to work my ass off to get there! I want him to be proud of me!