1/2 way

I was bold enough to post my 2011 goals back in January. Now that its July I thought I'd do a sanity check on my progress. Pretty disappointing if I say so.

Amanda's 2011 Goals

• Will - Yes yell at me know, Jeremy and I have been meaning to do a Will since we got married 4 years ago. Its time we did it. Still haven't done it.
  
• Gardianship - Same story, we need to have something written out for Holden, this is a hard one for us mainly because we can't settle on who to put down. Again not done, but finally decided on who we are going to list, that was my big hurdle.
  
• 500 Miles in 2011 - Laura put me on to this goal as she completed it in 2010. We also got a Wii for Christmas and I think this will help during the winter months. I haven't run since October and my excuse has been the lack of daylight. I have not been keeping track and so this probably needs to be off the list :(
  
• Healthiness - I'm not going to put a number down because I have disappointed myself for 2 years in a row. But I really want to get rid of the baby weight I've been carrying around at a minimum. I also hope the spending freeze helps get me back on track with the lack of eating out. I want to be more diligent with our meatless Mondays and we try to follow a real food diet (no preservatives, no artificial ingredients, etc.) but it has allowed maybe a bit too much butter into the diet and I need to find a balance between healthy/low - fat and real food so I don't fall into buying "diet" food. Weight watchers has been a huge help for my girlfriend Stacey, so I have rejoined as a tracking tool and recipe source. Making progress, we joined the YMCA back at the beginning of the summer and I'm getting pretty consistent in my workouts, and the change of pace from just running is nice.
  
• Family Dinners - This might not happen until the 2nd half of 2011 but we want to push Holden's dinner time back an hour so that we can all eat together the same meal. I'm not sure if he is still too little to do this as he wants to eat at 5:30 now and its impractical to think we will all be home at 5:30 let alone have dinner made. This is going OK, it probably only happens at the most twice a week, mostly due to our new fitness schedule I don't get home until 7 some nights. A small sacrifice for hopefully healthier parents and better examples.
  
• Church - We think its time we start putting some consistency in our church attendance for Holden. This is still off the table. But I've made a big decision for myself and I think we are going to go back to the Catholic Church. I don't think we will be the "church every Sunday" kind of family, not sure yet. But those of you that know me closely know that this is a big internal struggle. However, I do want Holden to have his First Communion.
  
• Date Night - Once a Month (after the spending freeze). We are sporadic on this one but working it in the schedule.
  
• Pay off 2 unsecured loans - This is part of a larger 5 year goal of ours to buy a home in a different school district by the time Holden enrolls in 1st grade. First one paid off in July.
  
• 5K and Warrior Dash - I'm still on the fence with the warrior dash because I don't want to do it alone, but definitely going to run another 5 K once it warms up. Did a 5K in the spring and Warrior Dash is August 27th.

So not sure if the assessment means I had too lofty of goals or I'm just slacking. Guess we'll reevaluate in December.

Big Step to Big Boy Status

Holden decided Friday night that he was ready to sleep in his new firetruck bed. He did great all weekend with the sleep transition. Goodbye crib, Hello big boy room. He had a bit of a struggle laying down for his nap Saturday afternoon with all of the toys and books to distract him, but he eventually fell asleep after a couple of rounds of Mom checking on him and reminding him what he was suppose to be doing. The best thing about his transition to the twin bed, he can't open door knobs yet and he played independently for over an hour Saturday morning without asking for us to come get him. Yay for getting a little more sleep on the weekends!

Since he did so well with moving into his own room, we decided we better get the crib/baby room to a point where he can't regress back to the crib. So, I packed up all of the crib sheets and receiving blankets, etc. that were around. I'll have to admit it was a little sad, my baby is not a baby anymore.

Now if potty training would only go as smoothly.

Family Visit

My mother-in-law came to visit over the last week along with Jeremy's 14 year old nephew. We took them to Myrtle Beach for a long weekend and my MIL got to spend some much needed quality time with Holden. Of course because we were having too much fun, I don't have many photos.

Holden loved the beach, we were really surprised how quickly he took to the ocean this time. Bodes well for the week long beach trip we have planned in July, which I will say I am stoked about. Grandma got him a ring floaty that was in the shape of a tiger and it definitely helped with his courage.

On a side note, we have been in summer heat for over a month now and Holden has taken to any type of water. We started swim lessons this week with Holden's best bud, Cameron. They are going to have a great summer.

Zoo Review

We took Holden to the NC Zoo Saturday and it was all he was expecting but Jeremy and I have high expectations growing up in Omaha with access to Henry Doorly. That being said, the NC Zoo is very well laid out and I did like that the large grazing animals looked like they had plenty of room to roam. Holden got to feed the giraffes which he loved. Also, Holden was so excited about the alligators. The biggest disappointment for me was the lack of big cats, they had one cougar but no lions, tigers etc. Big cats are my favorite at the zoo, so that was a bummer.

It was a beautiful day all be it a little hot and Jeremy had a great time people watching. All in all, we will definitely go back. Holden has been talking all about the animals he got to see for 2 days straight now, so it was obviously a hit.

Holden watching the elephant drinking.

I didn't get a good shot of Holden feeding the giraffe, but they came right up to the deck to eat out of the kid's hands.

All smiles after feeding the giraffes and spotting the zebra.

Easter 2011

Our Easter weekend in photo form

Coloring Eggs

Sunday best

Hunting for Easter Eggs with Miss Cameron

Playing with their cool bubble fans that Stacey got them for Easter

Too Cute for Words

It only took 5 years

We have been accumulating the materials for a deck since we bought our house in 2006. With a bit of help from some friends and a couple of nice weekends we finally have a finished deck. Just in time to enjoy sunny evenings and lazy Sundays. We are very excited but now are in the market for a new grill since Jeremy says our old one is too ugly for the new deck.

A bit of an improvement

46.19 minutes

Ran my second 5K yesterday evening with two awesome girls, Stacey and Katie. And was able to shave a little over 3 minutes off my time from the first race. When Katie and I got back home, our husbands agreed to run with us next time. We think it was the beer that was talking but the next race is May 22 so we'll see if they have amnesia.

Not only am I enjoying the running, especially since Stacey has been my weekly running partner. But its all to gear up for Warrior Dash in August.


On another note, Spring has sprung around here and Holden was being my gardening helper last weekend. We planted our vegetable seeds and he loves using his watering can that he got from Grandma Hassler.

Planting onionsThis was taken during a father/son night but is classic on what is most important to Holden, Mr. Elephant and Buzz Lightyear