Day 8: New Boots!

I'm actually surprised that I didn't have to move this to one of the earlier days in our advent calendar, but thankfully...not too much snow yet!

Day 8...


Owen is really starting to love the advent calendar. I'll ask him what today's will be, open the day, and say "Do you want your paper?" He'll run over and grab it, to carefully "read" what we're going to do that day




Off we went to Walmart to find something stylish, by practical, and within our budget. One thing about kiddos, they aren't cheap!



Nice! Score for $20



If it gets much colder than that, we're hibernating.

Day 7: Build a Fort

I did this on a rainy day way back in the spring when Owen was still crawling and thought that it might make for a fun activity during the Christmas holiday

Day 7...



And we did just that! All you need is your kitchen chairs, a bed sheet and your imagination!





Time to play trucks in the fort!



I'm excited for tomorrows adventure as it will be out and about, and will mean I can pick up a new memory card for our camera! Yay, no more blackberry pictures!!

Workin' It 12/7

Another crazy insane week - seriously, whose idea was it to sell our house before Christmas with a toddler and a busy home business!? Oh wait...

Anyway, welcome back!

<a href=" http://www.theszems.blogspot.com/"><img src=" http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c91/zippinviolet/workout.jpg " /></a>

This past week, on Wednesday to be exact, I only got to the gym once. I did a fast round of cardio though, and was pretty pleased with myself since I went home all sweaty and gross!

1 mile treadmill
4 miles bike
1 mile treadmill

6 miles

SIX!

And in only about 25minutes, so I was going at a pretty good clip! I think i got to about 80rpm on the bike? I felt like jello when I was done! While it's hard to find time to go to the gym after a long day, when i get there I just feel....free. Like...Supermom!

I want to talk today about snacking - something that I feel needs me to approach it headon, especially with the holidays around the corner.

To the point, I'm busy. I eat what's left on Owen's plate far too often (which usually isn't alot! Have you seen my kid!?) and I snack...all day...and on whatever's in the kitchen. Bananas are a constant go to (good) but so are gingerbread cookies (bad) and buttercream frosting (bad-er!)

How do you snack healthy? Do you choose things that will help boost your metabolism? I found this on Mrs07c's Pinterest board and thought I'd share it!



I mean...how east would it be to make a soymilk smoothie with apples and cinnamon? Or maybe just snack on some broccoli? A breakfast of grapefruit, almonds and a green tea? It's such a no brainer...but why aren't I doing it?

Habit. Pure and simple...habit. I need to change it and step one is getting some of the items from the list above to make it easier for me to change it here at home. It's been difficult, since we never know when we'll have a showing, so we can't really cook and dirty up the whole kitchen but it needs to change and FAST.

Then I figure once the habit is there, it'll be easier to avoid temptation while we're gone for 3 weeks on vacation.

Day 6: Christmas Movie

Needed to take it easy after all of the excitement last night, so today's advent calendar was...



And for that, we chose the story of Saint Nicholas...Veggie Tales style



It was a git from Auntie S and Uncle Bry last year and Owen LOVES it!



It was nice to just sit and snuggle together



I'm sure he thought that it was just another day, since usually Shrek or Rataouille is on the TV while we play but it was still pretty awesome.

I'm excited for tomorrow...because I can't remember what it is!

Day 5: Christmas Party

I had to blog about this one on the morning of Day 6 since we went out of town yesterday evening for Day5!


Very carefully opening our Day5 paper...



So! Right after naptime, and a quick diaper change, we set off in the freezing rain (bad news bears...) to hometown for a Christmas party with MommaT, Miss O, Mr. A, Godmomma, J and T!



Owen and Mr. A!



Miss O and the boys...sneakily trying to get at the gingerbread cookies



Eyeing Miss O's eggnog...I don't think so, buddy!



Owen was having NONE of a group picture...



Hey...what's over there??

It was a great party, and huge thanks to GodMomma for hosting it! I think Mr. A especially liked the fruit (the kiddo turns 1 in just a few weeks!! He'd take a chunk, suck all the juice out and then spit the melon on the floor. Hilarious!), Miss O was a fireball as per usual, and Owen just wanted to chase the cats.

Stay tuned for another blog post later today for Day6!

Day 4: Gingerbread Cookies

Happy Sunday! We're over at Nana and Papi's (and missing you, Nana!) for the afternoon while there's an open house going on over at our place.

Today is Day4 on the advent calendar!





I love this recipe! I made it a few weeks ago for some holiday baking to send to Baby Shmizz and they turned out so well that I figured it'd make a good advent calendar activity.



Thick and gooey batter!



A whole tray for the open house!! And our snowman is stuffed to the brim with cookies to take for our activity tomorrow!



Owen wasn't much help. He was much more interested in watching The Polar Express! (can you really blame him??)

Day 3: Lunch with Daddy

Mama had a very busy day today...I was hired by a local photographer to style a photo shoot!! It was my first one, and it went so amazingly well!! I love working with her - she has great vision, and my creativity just add to her already amazing talent. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to work with her today!

Anyhow, knowing that I'd be away for the entire day, I wanted to make sure that C and Owen had an extra special day with their advent calendar activity

Day 3...



But, since I had the car...lunch was ordered in!



Springrolls and french fries from Swiss Chalet...such a lucky kiddo he is!