365 days of Florida

0-365....its here....its over and I can not believe it at all. Today is the day we officially moved into our apartment in Florida just 365 days ago! I can not even count the accomplishments, the dreams, the ups, the downs, the support, the struggles we have had to get where we are right now. I am so proud of this family you have no idea. We have kept fairly busy the past two weeks. Its so hard to enjoy summer knowing the fall is looming. I am still a very new teacher and honestly am not sure where to start come fall, how to set up my new room what kind of projects to start how to get organized, make sure I do everything right. Start my new position also as a trainer for PCM, and also continue all the classes and training I have for being a new teacher. Not only do I have all that on the plate but I am also needing to start my Autism Endorsement since I will be flagged come fall for having a completely autistic classroom. Oye Vey. My head is reeling. But apart from that, we have discovered new places around here we would like to live in the future and are going to have a fabulous summer! So far we have gone to Fernandina Beach and adored the area, been to the zoo several times, the pool of course, and as usual the base pool. Which brings me to my next paragraph...
Today was a hard day for me as a mom...I had to watch my daughters swim 50 yards in a humongous swimming pool ten feet deep in order to pass a swim test. While both girls are excellent swimmers only one apparently had the stamina to not only swim it, but also tread water for 60 seconds. The pool had to change there rules as of Monday because a child was hurt going down the water slide in a life jacket. The strap caught and he was clothes lined and smacked his head backwards and was seriously injured. So therefore, the new pool rule is no life jackets on the slide....and no swimming without a life jacket unless you pass a test. Baleigh did fabulous, swam down and back using all the different strokes so she wouldn't get tired. She then tread water for a full minute and was rewarded with a slip of paper to put on file so every time she goes to the pool she will get a special pink bracelet. Payton also swam down and back beautifully...but when it came time to treat water she couldn't quite do it and kept resorting to floating on her back. I find this highly unfair because she has proven she can swim...But rules are rules...and my daughter had her first real broken heart. As did MANY other children. The pool was filled with the misery of distraught children and the over zealous excitement of those that had proven themselves worthy. My heart is torn in both directions. So with that being said...I leave you with pictures from the past 2 or 3 weeks since the previous post....and consider this post blog closed.

365 ... over and out...

Our new pool...thanks Debby

Flooding from Debby

examining the flooding


Josh took this...

Downtown Riverside

Fernandina Beach...amazing

Coconut and Pineapple on ice....ahhhhh

Pip on the left...Bay on the right lol

Red sky in the morning.... and then Debby HIT

The love dresses and sunglasses...alot

ZOOOO

Bottom middle teeth about to fall out...new tooth already almost fully grew in behind it!


So pretty!

What about me mom!

Got a little Capn in ya?

I bang on this pink piano with a hammer and it sounds awesome!

Debby kept us indoors for almost 5 days!

Don't be jealous :)

Pip getting stitched after a minor...sister squabble involving a bear


My gorgeous men

at the zoo water park

playing with my man

Look whose ONE!!!!!!

The END...

well here it is mid June 365 days ago we were moving here to Jacksonville Florida. Do I love Florida .... yes... Jacksonville?... still haven't made that decision yet. We have learned to make it our own though, (with lots of help and support from Nana Babs and Rooster.) We have learned to survive on our own and love life as a family. After I had jasper there was no question that I struggled to get rid of the stomach that he caused. Let's go back even further to be 4 I had jasper and was living a weight watchers/crossfit lifestyle. Fine ... lost some weight but I was always hungry and always miserable thank you dairy grains and sugar. Then that fall that I got pregnant with Jasper I started portion control and the zone. It wasn't until January 2011 that I decided to live a paleo lifestyle. In 1 month I lost all the baby weigh I already gained and was starting to weigh less then when I got pregnant. When I had jasper I weighed in 15 pounds less than when I got pregnant and was ready to walk out of the hospital...full of energy!! Three Weeks later we moved here. I have not lost a lb since we moved here my stomach has been about the same no matter how many situps I've done...no matter how much crossfit I did...nothing changed. My arms and legs are serious rocks, not an inch of fat on them, but nothing short of surgery was making this stomach budge. It seriously made me question paleo lifestyles and what I was doing wrong. It is no surprise a rum and diet coke is my weakness... and my water of choice. Actually I literally hate drinking water and have to force it down my throat. So when yet again Cait recommended another way of eating I was leery at first because booze was a no go. Eating the whole 30 is basically a very strict paleo including no booze no dairy no grains no sugar of any kind... artificial or real. It is a way of resetting your metabolism and only putting food in your body that you are MEANT to eat. Do you have any idea what it's like to drink coffee without splenda... honey ...Stevia coconut sugar? DO YOU?! Nasty.. that's what it's like. However I did get use to it and was thrilled when the book said that I could put coconut milk in it. Now...I love it. My husband and I learned how to cook fresh from the farmers market plan our meals weekly and live off the foodee project website. A total life saver! Apart from eating this way over the past month we spent so much time with each other and have learned to appreciate each other more. Not dealing with Facebook on a daily basis was wonderful. I did not find that I had to mark every moment down or take a picture of everything... we just got to live our lives plain and simple. I have recently found out that my presence was not lacking on Facebook and some people still decided to post about our lives and pictures of us and the kids. Oh well. Not much I can say about that. This past weekend proved to be the most interesting. I walked into the front office to fax a piece of paper for Josh and we were told a 3 bedroom came available. Does it overlook my beautiful pool ... no... does it overlook a parking lot and some grass that leads to the pool .. yes... is it spacious roomie and beautiful .. of course. Until we can decide where exactly we want to live and where exactly we are going to move in our surrounding areas this is what we need. So within 1 day we completely moved our 2 bedroom over to 3 bedroom and are so happy. And on that day I also managed to burn my arm...like really bad. On the heating element in the oven....awesome. This entire moving feat could NEVER have been done without Nana Babs. You know living with your mother in law doesn't seem like it could ever be easy. I am truly blessed to have Barbara....we can bicker like any other but we make a great team wrangling kids and we have been so fortunate to have her watch the kids until the end of school year. Speaking of which... school... we have been out of school since last Thursday the sixth I had to go in on Monday and Tuesday just to finish cleaning up the classroom and hand in paper work. We are done... until August 13. Bay and Pay go to Saint Pauls Catholic school starting August 15th and Jasper goes to the Chapelle school around that time. We are ready to start the summer...which I thought ( and hoped) would begin with a trip to RI. That may be on a back burner since.we moved into the three bedroom...not sure. So here are the stats for the past 30 days. Josh looks amazing...and was so supportive. I lost a total of 14#. 4" off my waist 3" from hips 2 1/2" from each arm 2" from each thigh. All of this just by eating the way that we were bred to eat. Put the cookie down people... this summer will be spent converting the most difficult child Bay to paleo, Payton already is and loves it. Jasper too. And lucky for us all three love to workout and run hard so they are on track to a healthy lifestyle!!! So without further adieu....pictures. Let's get right to the heart of the matter....the weight/inches lost.