Spelling and Crawling...

Elijah has been working hard on his letters, and loves reading the first two or three "BOB" books (some great books that introduce a few more short words each book). Every chance he gets he is writing an "E" for someone. He's putting together a LOT of things with regards to reading, and you can see it is obviously exciting for him!.

Nothing needs to be said. How cute is HE?!!!!

"You Can't Hide Anymore!" and "Best Friends"

This morning, while Mary was on the phone, Caleb suddenly vanished and we heard him start crying about something UPSTAIRS. He's made it up some of the steps before, but we've always caught him and brought him back. Today, he made it UP the stairs, down the hall, and into our room before we knew what had happened!

Just a few minutes later Elijah ran up the stairs and Caleb could hardly contain his excitement. He was almost hyperventilating as he starting cruising on up. We only caught the last few steps, but it is sure fun to see such an adorable kid having the time of his life!

These two little guys just can't get enough of each other. They really are best friends... (I think here in a few months we may hit an even higher level of synergistic energy. We can't wait!)

Today is Day 50!

Hello everyone! I have to apologize for being so elusive during this challenge. As I am sure many of you know, it takes so much effort to lose the weight, I couldn't really make the time to post about it a ton. I had intended to post every 10 days, but alas, it's over already!

I have a feeling I would have heard about it if anyone reached the goal of ten pounds (PLEASE MAKE IT KNOWN IF YOU DID IT!!!!), but how DID everyone do? I weighed-in today at 162.2, only 2.4 pounds from my goal, so I am pleased. In weight loss, just making progress in the right direction will get us all where we want to be eventually! I just hope this challenge made it a little more fun for everyone.

If there isn't a winner, I think I'm going to use the $50 to register for a mini-triatholon in Salem Utah at the end of May (800m swim, 14 mile bike ride, and a 5k, I think). So much exercise has awakened something in me that makes me wonder if I'm an athlete deep down! Wouldn't that be a great surprise? It's not something I ever would have guessed about myself because when I was younger (and not overweight), and attempted to get into an exercise routine, it just never clicked. I'm like the guy on the Kashi commercial that says he'd never run a day before his 30's, but he then is like this mountain trail runner in his 50's. I have a feeling my best is yet to come.

I want to give a loving and grateful shout-out to my awesome husband and boys. They have put up with a lot as I have spent a lot of time and mental energy on losing weight for way longer than the last 50 days, and it's not even over yet. Phil has done a lot of kid-patrol, dishes, meals, and especially listening as I think I barely talk about anything else (how annoying!). Elijah has let his legs go numb I am sure as we do one more, no, two more laps in the jogger, or as he watches yet another round of Word World or Bob the Builder. And poor Caleb has waited patiently from the exersaucer for his salty milk watching me be-bop to my exercise videos or run on the treadmill. THANK YOU FAMILY! It's my deepest desire to use my healthy self to serve each one of you as long as I live! I LOVE YOU!

When you tell us all how your weight loss went, please share anything you learned that could encourage us all to appreciate anything else we may have GAINED during the whole experience! I can't wait to hear from everyone!