Blocker Boys On the Go!

     I know I have been totally slacking over here.  So this post will be a run down of what is happening in our world.  We have been totally busy doing an array of different things.

     Since my last post on my birthday we have been of course tackling the normal everyday life.  We are contemplating what to do if hubby is on the ship for Christmas.  This is a huge discussion that we both sat down and talked about.  I was actually amazed by a few responses we got when people were informed of the upcoming decision.  I got several questions related to the stability of our marriage.  Really we are fine I love hubby to death, and this is just one more thing that military families have to cope with.

     With the looming holidays and no daddy/hubby we are moving all of the holidays up this year.  So this coming weekend will be busy at our house.  We will be having K2's first birthday party and Christmas all on the same day.  We will wake up as a family pretending it is Christmas morning.  Then we will roll into the first birthday festivities.  There will be tons of food and fun to be had by all.  Of course no one has RSVP'd to little man's birthday so it may just be a family event.  I think the sister-in-law and her family will be coming, but they just decided not to RSVP based on the you know we are coming rule.

     I have been following my work out schedule everyday, and I am stoked to see the results in the mirror.  Next weekend is also a measurement weekend for my fitness goals.  It will be exciting to see how much progress I have made.  I did step on the scale for my 30th birthday, and was happy with that result.  Just since I have started my Insanity program I am down 5.5 pounds.  Since I have started eating healthy, and increasing my fitness I am down a whopping 16 pounds.  The measurements will just be icing on the cake since I can already see results in the mirror.

     I think hubby is getting on board with health and fitness improvement since the Navy is evaluating him for high blood pressure.  In his defense he does work in a high stress environment, but he also has some bad habits that are not good for his blood pressure.  Hopefully he will stick with it, and reach a goal while feeling better for doing it. 

     As for the kids K1 is in love with talking on the phone, and playing all the game apps that are on my cell phone.  K2 is coming into his own little world, and trying his best to walk.  Both of the boys are into anything they can reach.  Being a good big brother also includes giving the little man anything he can not reach on his own. 

     Let me know how your family is preparing for the holidays.  What will you be doing that is special this year?  Do you have a tradition that you share with your children each year?

     You can check out my health and fitness journey at Healthy Family Fitness.

     Today I had a very productive day!  It all started when the pesky alarm went off.  Some days I just hate the alarm.  The alarm will never be my friend! Anyway hubby got up and off to work on time so it all worked out.  I smashed snooze a few times, and then I got up to workout!

     Work out complete, I fed the boys a good breakfast, and sent out some text.  A time was confirmed for our rendezvous with sister-in-law, and the niece. Quick shower, and I got the boys dressed in their special clothes for the meet up.  <---- Loving the suspense right there I know.  I have to make sure you read to the bottom.  Load every one into the van with the needed accessories, and we hit the road.

     After driving about an hour to our secret location we had to wake up K2 since the little guy napped all the way there.  There was also a little clothing tweaking to do.  I did not fully dress K2 because I did not want to have drool all over his outfit.  So we arrived , and waited on sister-in-law and niece to join us.

     Our super secret destination?  Visiting Santa at the Yankee Candle flagship store.  To my surprise K1 walked right up, and asked to sit in his lap.  Although he does not know you ask Santa for presents he had a good time.  K2 is right in the middle of that mommy attachment phase.  He was not in love with the idea of talking to a stranger, but he got over it and we have some good pictures.  Little miss princess my niece was another story.  She decided she would have nothing to so with Santa.  So we gave up, and were picking up the boy when she decided it was her turn.  So she jumped up in Santa's lap with K1 and we got a few more pictures.  We had planned to get the 3 of them, but at least we got some good pictures.

So we rounded up the kiddos, and headed to the door to go get something to eat.  On the way out there is a large snowman with a bench.  Trying for one more photo op with out the stranger Santa we piled the kids on the bench.  K2 was not letting go of his bottle so it is in all the pictures with the snowman.  Still there were a few good shots taken.

     We had a fun lunch at Olive Garden which was full of old people.  All the grandmas in the restaurant had a good time watching the kids.  I managed to eat pretty well, and only had the salad with vegetable soup, and half of sister-in-law's grilled chicken sandwhich.

     Then we split ways, and the boys and I headed to a friend's house so she could sample Shakeology! We tried the Chocolate Shakeology with mint extract.  I love that one and think it taste like Girl Scout Thin Mints.  If you are new to my health and fitness journey check out these post.

My Coach Application is Approved and Jumping in With Both Feet

Still looking for more information?  Check out my fitness blog Healthy Family Fitness  Be sure to leave a comment with what made your day productive.  Maybe it was nothing, but think hard.  There was something important that got done today.  Even if it was just regular old house work.  It needed to get done, and you were productive. Pictures from our visit with Santa will be here soon. 

     How was your Halloween?  We started out normal routine no problem.  Hubby got out the door to work on time, and I pushed play on my workout dvd.  The kids got up and we had breakfast.

     Now would be the time that I would jump in the shower while they are eating, and we would begin our preparation for conquering the day.  Turns out the water from hubby's shower has not drained out of the tub yet.  This is odd so I begin looking for a solution.  Plunger equals no real help with the matter. In comes the trusty coat hanger.  No luck with that even though I got out a large clump of hair. {GROSS}

     The weather has gotten colder here, so I was beginning to notice that the heater was not working.  We are the proud owners of an ancient heated water baseboard heating system.  Last year some one stole all of our copper pipes, so I know it has brand new pipes under the house.  I verify the pilot light is lit, and that the water is being heated.  Everything is a go there so I start googling for an answer.  I tried a few of the suggestions, but nothing really worked.  I decided that it was not an urgent matter, and went back to working on the drain.  It is cool here, but now I know the heater is not working, and I can fix that before we get to cold outside.

     My dear sister-in-law drove over to watch the kids, while I worked more on the drain.  After trying everything I could think of to not crawl under my house I gave in.  I donned one of my husbands old navy coveralls, got a flashlight, and a large wrench.  The good news is that our bathtub sits very close to the entrance to our crawl space.  So after I crawled under it was not long until I spotted the bathtub drain.  By following the pipes I found the location to remove the plug and drain the line.  I get my wrench all adjusted and ready to go.

     Finding a position where I could hold the wrench, and get leverage to turn it is a whole different story under the house.  Once I found a good position I set my wrench, and gave it a good tug.  To my ultimate surprise I broke the pipe in half.  Now I know the pipe was old and rusted, but it really gave me a start.  Needless to say the bath tub now drains, it just leaks under my house.  So now we get to call a plumber to work on these metal pipes.  If we had PVC I would attempt it myself, but our drain pipes are ancient.

     After my day of excitement I did not even take the kids trick-or-treating.  I know they really still do not have any idea what they missed, but I always had fun going out on Halloween.  So later this week I am going to dress them up, and take some pictures of them.  

     Have you ever worked on your own pipes?  Who clears clogged drains at your house you or your hubby?