Gosh! It's been so long!!

I was debating whether or not to ever write in this blog again.. Things are happening in my life that will hopefully be good , but can't discuss now.. Please send good vibes my way!

Chase and Preston are learning to swim! I'm so excited about this. They go to  private lessons with a lady at her home Tuesdays and Thursdays..  Every time they go they get better and better. I was so scared after that first week that they would NEVER want to swim. They were soooo scared!

We are awaiting my sister's wedding July 13th in Virgina Beach. We are turning it into a family vacation. We are so excited. This will be the boys first trip on an airplane and I know they will LOVE IT! Well, maybe Chase will be scared.. LOL! They will love the beach and ocean. I can't wait to see their reaction! 

I'm so ready to go on vacation too! We will be gone 6 days, 5 nights! Then I'm taking an extra day to just be at home and get stuff back together with the house. I mean you always need that right to recuperate.. The boys are now in Pre K 4  and every week at their school they go on field trips. The boys love it! So far, they have been to Putt Putt Golf, Chuck e Cheese and this week Cowboy Stadium! They will also be going to a bowling alley, Build a bear and a Jump house place. They are getting to be so big! They also will be wearing uniforms to school in the fall. That'll be awesome because it'll be so easy picking out clothes! LOL!  Count Down to Kindergarten!!

My weight goal I had at the beginning of the year up until my sister's wedding did not work out so well. As I was recovering from my bunionectomoy surgery, I started breaking out in hives BAD and I STILL think it has something to do with the metal screws in my foot not reacting right to my body.  I may get them removed because I'm still breaking out periodically, but NOTHING nearly as bad as in Jan-March this year. It was very stressful and basically didn't motivate me to work out or do anything because they were so each and uncomfortable.  Then once they subsided to a point, i started working out at the local gym and outside, but just never got into a routine. Then my foot was still swollen and I felt like maybe I should lay off it, so it "all" the swelling could go down.. So I'm trying to eat right and yes I forget that I took steroids a lot in Jan and Feb because of the hives and that also caused me to gain weight.  So I weigh currently the heaviest I've ever weighed (besides me being pregnant) I've ever been. :(  Instead of stress, I just try to watch what I eat and hopefully I'll just fall off one day! LOL!

Work is good and busy. The two other folks in my group have now left, so I'm the last one standing and I've only been here a little over a year! YIKES! Still like it though.

My husband is working hard and spending all of his time he's not working with the kids.  He's a good dad. :)

This fall we hope to purchase another car. I'm hoping for a used cross over SUV. Maybe Acadia, Infiniti JX( is what I really wan).  Then I'm hoping to take the boys to Disney land the week following Christmas. I dunno though. Where are going to find all thsi money! LOL!!

I may start updating this blog again. We'll see.

Adios for now.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year?!!!

I can't believe its' been so long! Time has really flown by and I have not been documenting it on this blog..  Oh well... But I wanted to give a recap of 2012!  Top 10 things that happened to me and my family

1) I left an old job and found my current awesome job at a Marketing Ageny that I LOVE!! I am so happy here!!

2) Traveled with my family to Little Rock Arkansas, for a Family Reunion!

3) Boys took 3 months of Swimming lessons, or was it 2?

4) My husband had much needed elbow surgery/scope to fixed his bent arm that was stuck!

5) Went to Vegas with some friends with out my kids! First time both of us left them for more than 1 night ever!! We left them for 3 nights with my parents!

6) I Ran my first 1/2 Marathon!! Dallas Metro PCS on Dec 9th!

7) I had a bunion -removed on my right foot.

8) The boys turned 4 years old!!!!!

9) It snowed on Christmas Day in DFW Area!!

10)  WE PAYED OFF AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF CREDIT CARD DEBT!!!


Hello! 2013!!!

What's in store for the Jackson family this year?? Only time will tell! :)

 My niece and I

 At the Ranger Game

 After my 1/2 Marathon

 Pumpkin carving Day!

 Swimming Lessons

 Our weatherman and the boys

 making 7-up pound cake

 Snow day on Christmas Day!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello! I don't even know why I post here anymore. No followers, no readers. It's okay though.

Oh here I am working on Tuesday and I thought since it was slow, I would catch yal up.

Preston and Chase are doing great and almost 4! They love to watch Football with Daddy and play soccer.  Their favorite shows are Super Why, Team Umizoomi and Bubble Guppies.

Chase's favorite foods:
Hotdogs, pork and beans, and favorite snack is Ritz crackers as of now. It changes month to month!

Chase loves to be silly tell you stories about what happened at school and what not. He also likes to for you to tell him how to spell certain names. Its so cute. He can Spell is name and almost write his name.  He knows the alphabet, knows how to count to 30. 

Preston loves the same shows, Preston loves to count and point out letters on signs and where ever. He can also count to 30, spell his own name and other kids too, write is name.  He loves playing soccer and watching football.    He loves to rationalize things in his mind. Asks lots of questions and always says, "but, but, but, but" etc.. So cute

The both like spiderman and power rangers. Love playing together and making up games. So cute. Preston and Chase love to help mommy in the kitchen and also love to help daddy clean.  They say please and thank you all the time. 

Preston is VERY Sensitive and gets mad easily if he's not 1st! Chase is easy going and doesn't mind not being first and just kind of laughs. :)

I'm having their birthday party early again this year at a Jump House place. Should be fun!

I run my first 1/2 marathon the following day on Sunday! Can't wait!

Then I'm having foot surgery 2 weeks after that! So it's a busy December!

Anyways, enjoy some pictures!

1/2 Marathon Training

Yes, I'm running the Metro PCS Dallas 1/2 Marathon on Dec 9, in Dallas Texas. I've been trying to do this since 2006. I know, lame right? What were my excuses? Very many!!

I'm about to scratch this off my bucket list! YAY! I'm training with a Marathon/1/2 Marathon training program that meets every Saturday at 6am.  Tomorrow is 9 miles.. :)


I'm also participating in my company's biggest loser. Winners get either an ipad, iphone 5 or new ipod. % of weight with guys and girls. I'm down 8.8lbs so far and it hasn't even been a week.

Pretty crazy!

Anyways, the boys are good, life is good and I'm starting to plan the boys 4th birthday party in December. I have a couple of places in mind,  but i need to act quick b/c places are booking up fast! :)

It's crazy that they are turning 4!! Where did the time go? I loved year 3 and can't wait to see what year 4 brings us.

The question is? Do i want a 3rd baby. I want a girl very badly.. I know my chances are 50/50, but man, if only it was garunteed. I have to get through my head that a baby is a baby and if GOD wants me to have a girl, It'll be a girl...

2013 may be a year of new baby! Stay tuned! LOL!

What's been going on since My Birthday. Well....

Preston said this morning that he didn't want to go to school and I said, well I have to go to work to get money so I can buy us a new "bigger" car.. As the boys would say and that seemed sufficient enough. We recently rented a Ford Expedition to our family reunion trip and then another crossover SUV for the trip to Houston and now , all they talk about is that they want mommy to drive a 'big' car now. :( I think they like the sitting up high part, i dunno.. Unfortunately, mommy and daddy are still trying to get their finances in order so, that won't be happening until Dec or late February. Will see.

So the boys got these new bunk beds about a month ago, and yes, they are still waking up in the middle of the night and coming to find me and hubby.. Well last night both of them stayed in their beds the WHOLE night. This has only happened 1 other time, so when I went to get Preston out of the bed, he told me "no". LOL!! I ignored that, picked him up, put him on the couch where Chase was(I had gotten Chase first) and when to the kitchen to finished their pancakes and orange juice. All of a sudden I hear Preston "fake crying/whining", he gets up and walks backs into his room and gets in his bed. And all is quiet. It was the funniest thing to see him do that b/c he was walking like he was mad he was up there and rather be in bed! LOL!!

So I just fed him his breakfast in bed and then he got up after that. Preston is very strong willed...

To be continued...

We had a relaxing weekend.. You know Dallas is "ground zero" for the West Nile Virus. I heard the other day on World News Tonight. I was like "ground zero!" LOL!!  So people aren't like NOT doing outdoor activities or anything, but its kind of crazy that the Dallas area has SO many cases.. I have to say, I did go buy some OFF for the kids yesterday before they went bike riding... :)

I straightened up the "new" guest room since the boys took over the existing one.  Still need some more furniture pieces and some more organization... The boys are now playing the "Wii" gaming system. They like the sport games..

We got a DOWN POUR of rain FInaly this weekend, so that was nice and our temps this week will all be below 100. It's nice to have 95 degree heat. Makes a difference.

A new outlet mall just opened this past weekend in time for "Tax Free Weekend" here in Texas.. They have everything I every wanted! :) I bought me a cute purple Kate Spade wallet with some birthday money I hadn't used yet. I am in Love with it. So maybe I'll get a purse to match.. One day..


Work is getting busy.... The boys start a new school next Monday. Same Daycare, just different location. This one is pretty much in my neighborhood and right down the street where the boys will be going to Elementary school.. So it all just works out. Hopefully. Tonight is meet the teacher night. I'm excited and I hope the boys will be excited too! I kind of mentioned it this weekend and this morning. Maybe once they see it, they will understand what's going on...

Birthday

Just in case I don't get a chance to post tomorrow because it's my birthday, I wanted to post today.

So I made it another year! I'm 33 tomorrow! I went out with a small group of friends Saturday to this awesome restaurant called Eddie V's. It was a LOT of fun... Good food and great atom sphere..  Here at work tomorrow, my team is taking me out to lunch to my favorite place! You know it! Benihana's! Who hoo!! Then later my husband is getting a small cake from Kroger and him and the boys will sing happy birthday mommy and help me blow out my 33 candles. I might just put like 23.. We'll see! 

I ordered my new kitchen dining table last thursday from Ashley's Furniture. It's a Dark expresso type wood table that has "red" leather chairs. Trust me , its awesome! I got 6, because I just didn't want 4 because we always have company and our family my "grow" one day and where would the other child sit! We got a 5 year protection plan on it too! It'll help with these boys! It protects, pen marks, finger nail polish remover, any type of hot ring marks from hot food, cup rings, scratches or tears on the leather chairs... etc... It seemed actually worth it now than before with NO kids.. I'll love it and will post a pick when it gets delivered in two weeks! Hopefully sooner! :)

Hmmm.. What do I want to accomplish at 33?  I want to run a half marathon with my sister in December, I want to continue to be "conservative" with our money and NEVER go back to credit cards, I want to be a great teacher to my kids.. I want to be a more understanding wife with my husband, I want to be a great employee at my job, I want to continue to eat healthy and exercise regularly and I want to join a new church and start my boys in Sunday school.  Hopefully, I'll accomplish all these things..

I'm leaving you all with a photo of me before the dinner Saturday.. I got this dress at BCBG in Dillard's at their extra 40% off sale this past weekend. I'm SOOO glad I went in there b/c I haven't shopped at Dillard's in awhile, but I was destined to find this dress! It's so simple and I can't wait to wear it again! Oh and was a very affordable price if you've ever seen BCBG's prices.. Have a great week! This is before Eddie V's in Dallas Saturday.... Babysitter took the shot!

Okay, so Insanity DOES work? LOL!

Okay, so I decided to weigh myself this morning after not doing so for 3 weeks, due to NOT seeing the fast results I thought I would. (ha ha to myself), and I've lost 5 lbs!!!! May NOT be a lot to you all, but its just enough for me to stick to my life style eating change and continue, my hard workouts with Shawn T of Insanity! I also have to give credit to the Tropical Shakelogoy meal replacement shakes in the mornings..  So these next 4 weeks of Insanity get really tough (as I hear) with all the MAX interval training that I'll be doing.. So staying off the Sodas, sugars and carbs is working plus exercise, who would have guessed!? LOL!!

Today is a Happy Friday for me... I feel great, I've lost weight and its the weekend!! :)

The lesson I learned today is, don't be easily discouraged if stuff doesn't go your way as fast as you want it. It all takes work and motivation and just keep at it... It'll pay off!

Yal have a wonderful , safe weekend and until next time................................

Insanity

So this is my 5th week of Insanity... Check back with me after the next 4 weeks to see hoefully good results.. I'm sticking with it and now drinking the Shakeology Shakes they recommend with the program.  I've lost only 2 pounds, but probably some inches.  They say the real weight lost happens in the 2nd month... I'm committing to 6 days a week now. Before I was only doing 4-5 and maybe running on the days I skipped. I've incraesed my water intake that had been lacking.. We'll see.

Also, my sister wants to do the White Rock 1/2 this year with me. She said she'll fly down in December and do it, but won't by her plane ticket until I register! LOL! I've been wanting to do a 1/2 for years, so since she's motivating me, I'm going to suck it up and start training in July like most training programs for the White Rock which is now actually called "MetroPCS".  So that's that.

One bunk bed is up, but realized we will have to move rooms in the house for both beds to fit better. So we have to take part of it down and move it and then build the 2nd one. It'll be a moving room weekend... Along with my husband playing golf Saturday and me taking the boys to ANOTHER birthday party... 

Other than that, Mother in Law left last weekend, but nothing too big going on. Preparing for my Dad's side of the family's reunion in Little Rock the following weekend... Road Trip with the family. We are renting a suburban with my mom, dad, and 15 year old niece and nephew and maybe my Brother! HA!!  Luckily, its only 6 hours tops!

Should be fun to see some of my cousins....

Although, I may be taking a short Vegas trip for a friend's husbands 40th. We'll see! Have to find the cash......

Big overtime check hopefully coming in soon next week , you know from the strike that my husband worked. Should help bunches!

Today at work , I lead my 2nd call to the clients (AT&T). Wish me luck! I was so nervous 2 weeks ago and then we had July 4th break, so now hopefully, I'll be more relaxed! Love it though! :)

New Beds - New Room

Happy Friday!! My husband is finally done with the strike! It's over!!  Now he's back home in the evenings! Hallajuah!!  The boys really miss him.

 I've been consistent with my Insanity workout and eating plan over these last 3 weeks. I've haven't lost much weight, like 2lbs, but I think i've lose inches, hoepfully! I am going to stick with it b/c I KNOW it will pay off. I've stopped my sodas and other sweets and I've tried to drink more water.

I finally got the Tropical Strawberry Shakeology Shake to taste good and not SO grainy, so I'll be using that now for meal replacements :)

T-ball has been going alright, they just need more practice hitting off the T.. We need to buy one at home, but hey, it's their first time ever playing, so I will cut them so slack. :) 

So we are getting the IKEA bunk beds for the boys next weekend. So, you can flip it over to be a high bed, or a low bed until they are age appropriate! We are also getting the cute tents that go over it. Can't wait!  It was supposed to be this weekend, but my stupid Passat window broke and now is sliding down automatically. It won't stay up, so now we have to get that FIXED TOO!!! Along with the Catalytic Converter.  So ready for my new/used car in December.... So over it, but I still love that car despite its flaws!!! LOL!

I'm also going to decorate their room in a Spider man theme. That's what Preston and Chase want. They said, they want a spider man bed, tv, rug, sheets, pillow and clock! So hilarious!!!!

So that's my next product once I get some more money! :) Other than that, just trying to survive the 102 degree heat and go swimming as much as possible. I did recently pruchase 2 new swimsutis from TJMAXX , Score!! So I'll be wearing one saturday at a friends daughters water park birthday party on saturday.

And tonight is all about MAGIC MIKE with the ladies! :)

Have a great weekend!! :)

Vacations-Workout-Random

Hello Blog world!

Family Reunion July 20th - I started a weight loss challenge with my 2 sisters and mom. Winner gets $$$$... So I borrowed Insanity from a coworker. I start tonight. Started eating right today.. I HAVE to stick with it.! :)

Weekend- Went swimming at the community pool with my 14 year old niece and my boys. Had a great time! We also took them to see Madagascar 3 and they actually watched it the whole time. :)
Got a pedicure, went to the boys T-Ball game and got them haircuts Friday night

Work-- Good. Still training per se. I lead a call starting June 28th. EEEK!!! Reporting on sales of the marketing division. Nervous, but this is what I wanted to do, just got to get through the first time.

Workout/Eating- Chicken Fruit Salad from Panera and soup, Oatmeal for breakfast and Yoplait LIGHT yogurt for snack. Crystal Light and Water ....

That's all for now. Stupid post. It's like bullet points