Long Time!

So it's been a really long time since I've posted and it's about time that I made up for that. The last time I posted on our blog, Selah was 2 months old! She is now almost 3 years old! It's been too long, my friends.

So much has happened in the past almost three years that I can hardly go back and summarize all of it. What I can say is that I'm dissapointed in myself. In my last posting, I stated that I was devoting myself to eating better and losing weight and I have not done that. I am the same weight that I was at that posting! Yes, I've lost weight...and then gained weight...and then lost weight...and then gained weight. It's time for it to stop. I never saw myself as a yoyo dieter but that is what I've become. I have goals and aspirations and none of them include being obese. It is time that I got on top of this for good. Four weeks ago, Lee and I started working out and eating well and we've seen amazing success so far. My goal was to lose 8 pounds a month and Lee's goal was to lose 15 pounds a month. The first month, Lee lost 26 pounds and I've lost 12. I'm pretty happy with those numbers and it only motivates me further to continue with this path. We are upping the intensity of our program this month and so we hope to see the same numbers or more in the next month. We're going to do this and I'm excited that in 3 years, when I look back at this year's blogging, I won't have to be dissapointed that I didn't keep the promises that I laid out for myself. Below are the promises that I'm making to myself and that I am determined to keep each day.

1) Work out at least 5 hours a week.

2) Be to my marriage weight (155) by Christmas

3) Be to my high school graduation weight (130) by 4th of July.

4) Run a 10K by 4th of July

5) Run a half marathon by my birthday September 28, 2014

These are the goals I have set for myself. They are fairly lofty for an almost 30 year old mother of three who hasn't been in shape for the past 8 years, however, I'm going to do them.

Today is the last day that you will see me at this weight. :)

Have a great day! I'll post some photos of the kiddos very soon. Since Wednesday was Lee and my 8 year anniversary, we are going out tonight kid free!! We don't get that very often so we are super stoked!!

Christmas 2010

Christmas! I love Christmas. It is possibly my favorite day all year, not because of the gifts although I LOVE giving gifts but there a few other reasons why I love Christmas. One it is always one of the most intimate times all year with God because every Christmas morning my Mom pulls out these boxes that she has and they say Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh and then the fourth just says Heart. Each box explains the gifts given to Jesus when the Wise Men came to see him. (Yes we all know that the wise men did not come until he was a toddler but we still do it on Christmas because it's fitting) The little booklets in the boxes goes on to explain how we can give gifts to God and what and why the wise men gave these gifts. Every time we read these boxes I feel like I recommit my heart to God in a new way. It's like a married couple renewing their vows, not because they HAVE to but because they love each other so much that they WANT to make a public statement once again that they are totally and 100% committed to each other always. I feel like I renew my vows with God on Christmas. I recommit to love and cherish Him all the days of my life and I make a statement (in my heart) that His birth will not go unnoticed or untold this year, and neither will His life or death.

The other HUGE reason that I love Christmas is because of my HUGE family! lol. I'm in love with my big, loud family and get such a kick out of them whenever we get together. SO I am posting some photos from our family Christmas Eve Party which we do at the Holiday Inn every year (because we've outgrown any one's home. lol) and hope you enjoy them as much as I do. :)

Selah was literally passed around to every single person there, I'm shocked she didn't come home with a cold since it seemed like everyone else came down with one after the party!

My Dad and my beautiful Mom!

The food is always fantastic and most of the time gone if your the last person in line (at least the tex mex is lol) so you hurry up and get your food asap with this family.

We played a game and Lily helped Grandpa with his.

Beautiful Shiela did amazing with her first Christmas with our family. lol. I think Lee had to leave the room every 10 minutes during his first Christmas with us so compared to him, she was a rock!

My gorgeous Grandmother. She was radiant that night which is not a surprise, she usually is.

The one time that I got to hold my daughter that night. lol

We always sing Christmas Carols, this year Uncle Mike and his sons created a little band and they did great!

Passing out the unending pile of gifts.

Lillian with Great Grandpa

I love this picture of my Grandmother

All in all it was a wonderful Christmas. It was Selah's first Christmas which was very special and Asa and Lily really got it this year which was sooo much fun to see. Although they both pooped out with the present opening Christmas morning and were totally uninterested by the last 4-5 presents because there were just so many of them. lol. Asa hasn't put his woody doll down since Christmas morning, Lily is obsessed with her play kitchen that she got and neither of them have stopped playing with the tent and tunnel that they were given. They love all of there toys and clothes that they got and Mom is having a blast dressing the in their new outfits. :) So ok, now it's the New Year and I have a list of resolutions that I'm going to do. The first is to become a Vegetarian and stick with it this time, the second (which ties to the first) is to lose weight and get healthier and the third is to spend as much time possible loving on my children and my husband. If this year has taught me anything it's that you never know how long you'll have some people in your life and it's worth every ounce of extra energy you take to hug and love on them over and over.

SO HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE BLANCHARDS!!!!

My Little Hoot

A while back, we took some photos for our friend, Jennie Biles, to advertise her hand made hats and bows for her new business. Asa and Lily got to do a bit of modeling for this photoshoot and so even though these are older photos taken before our move to Michigan, I thought I'd post them up anyway. You can check at Jennie's business at www.mylittlehoot.com.

Fun in the Fall!

We arrived back in Michigan after our three week trip to Austin and was a bit dissapointed that all of the fall leaves were gone and on the ground, however the benefit to this is that the kids get to play in the newly fallen leaves! So we went out to "rake" our front yard and ended up just having fun playing in the leaves together.

The kids were quite taken with throwing the leaves up in the air and having them fall down on their heads, this is the first time either has really played in leaves before so it was all a new adventure.

After the fun we tried to get them to sit still for 5 seconds while we took a few photos of them together...we got one...

and then the crying ensued. lol.

Cookies thankfully fixed the situation and they were happy to sit and eat while we snapped a few of them together in the leaves.

So we had a great Saturday morning playing with the kids in the yard. It's amazing to have a house with a yard since we've always been in apartments. It's also amazing to have a real fall and to play in the leaves like a kid again. lol. I did also take some photos of miss Selah since today is her one month birthday ;) and so I'll be posting more in a little bit to show her off as well. Enjoy!