Challenge for you all....

I hereby set all follow blogger a challenge... please go through your photo albums and find the worst photo of you that still exists... (and you are not like me and destroy all really unflattering photos..) then post on your blog... I think that there is no better motivation then a photo to keep you moving... here is mine.. .

This photo was taken about 2 1/2 years ago... I happily report that all clothes are now gone... in the too fat pile. I wasn't pregnant in this photo... but most likely still breast feeding Laura.

Weight??? I went though a stage there where I wasn't weighing myself but at a guess between 85 -90kg (ARRRHHH) - see.. I feel better already!!!

have a great day...

Fantastic Phil and Photos...

Our Skinny Latte girl DID IT!!! Please go and congratulate Philippa... she is the one that keeps us motivated and she has lost an amazing 27.5kg in a year.. well done girl!!

What other motivation do we need when we see the lifestyle changes that people like Phil have made and how your life can change.. if you want it to.

And just quickly... a couple more photos. My Sugar Plum fairy birthday girl and Hugh. I am sure every mothers thinks that their kids are the most beautiful things in the world.. but don't you think Hugh could have a career as a child model.. couldn't you just see his little cubby face in pumpkin patch mags??? (I know.. I know... every mother thinks the same...) and little Laura in her birthday TuTu...















I think I have moved that goal post and heading for a lower weight.. initally I will head for 62kg... then will again review. I have also discovered the kids trampoline for exercise (A joy of living out of town.. no one will see you) - The kids also love mum having a bounce with them... So I think I will start counting points again to get there.
Have a great day!!

A time to remember....

Anzac day... It is the one and only Public holiday each year that I agree with... (besides christmas day etc...) but as I stood at the local dawn service with my family, I did wonder for how many more years will we remember... will it just become yet another day off work and school.... will my children set their alarms to wake their own children to attend a service for those who gave so much for our country??? I really hope that they do.... As we tried to explain to Emilie why we where there and what the flowers where and explained why some of the men wore metals on their chest, I do hope that she will respect ANZAC day for what it is..... not just another public holiday.

I was very impressed with the number for people attending the dawn service.. standing room only in the local hall. For the last 50 years there has been a sevice held at Sheep Hills. The local brass band also marched with the returned soliders... something that will also soon come to an end. Most of the band would be in their 70's... at a guess and some have NEVER missed a ANZAC service. True dedication...

A hot breakfast followed and time for the fellowship.... I am sure that some of the people attending only see each other on ANZAC day each year...

I hope everyone reading has had time to reflect and remember why we have ANZAC day and what all of those soliders fought for.. and to say thanks...

LEST WE FORGET...

Birthday parties....

The dust is finally clearing from the annual "Daniel girls' birthday party. As the girls are so close in age... I have one party for the two on them. It is Little Laura's birthday tomorrow.. a big three year old. She has been practicing the hold three fingers up all week.. very tricky for the first time!!

Today, we had all of the kids friends here for lunch and a huge play. About 20 kids and 12 adults... so lots of noise and food... the kids love parties and we have a huge back yard with many.. many things for them to play with.

I have two barbie, ballet, fairy obsessed girls and I really don't know how that could possibly happen... they have had tractors pushed on to them from babies... but I guess they are really girls at heart!!

Laura is often a surpise to us... firstly.. she was a surprise. A true testament that breastfeeding is not a reilable contraception. We planned to have our kids close together... but I reall ydidn't think that it would be quite that close. A surprise with her emotions. She will be the first one to come up to you and hug...tell you that she loves you 'this much" -holding her arms at full stretch... telling her big sister that she is her bestest friend. But... she also has a LOT of spirit. Some days I am really not sure what she runs on.... hardly sleeps... but just keeps going and going. She was a little bigger then Em born at 6lbs 13 ozs... with black hair that soon went blonde also. Em was only a baby herself with Laura was born (12 months 9 days between them) so life has always had Laura in it for Em. Laura caring little thing.. just this morning is was rubbing Jack's head in bed and telling her brother to be quite. But she is also the rebel.. climbing up on the carport at Mardie and Pardie's....
The little muppet wants a tutu for her birthday.. so I will post a photos once she has it on!

Anyway... I have been thinking more about my weight again... after weighing in at 65kg... I think I need to lose few more kg's... Is that wrong? Am I becoming obessed??? I can imagine what someone reading would think that wasn't at goal weight would say...I too had those thoughts when reading blogs of people that would just want to lose those extra kgs..... "she is heathly... what more does she want..."

It is such a warm fuzzy when you are losing weight... the positive feeling you walk away from weigh ins... clothes fitting better.. feeling like you have so much eneregy... but I am not totally happy with my body still... it's stil bumpy... thinking.. .thinking ... thinking...

My WW buddy Janita cracked those bloody 80's this week... I had a lump in my thoat when she yelled out that she had cracked it. She has been been hovering around it for a couple of months.. so it was a Huge milestone to cross...

Well... I best go and have a coffee with my husband. He is about to go and shoot some foxes... Sheep are about to lamb.

Hope that you are all having a great weekend!

Weddings.. parties.. anything...

I have just drawn breath.... after nearly 2000 kms done over easter break and all of the washing done since arriving home... just now have sat down in front of the computer to give you all an update!!

We had a wonderful easter... We headed north of Paringa on Wednesday.. left the girl with Jack's folks and Hugh cam eot Adelaide with us on Thursday. We had to pick up Jack's suit and make sure that is fitted etc... so we met all of the wedding party Thursday Lunch time. Jack and the boys then headed off for lunch while Hugh and I went shopping... 40% of espirt was very attractive lure... but only brought kids clothes there! I brought myself a pair of size 10 sportsgirl drill pants and the rest was for the kids...

It took FOREVER to get out of the city and by the time we arrived back at Paringa jack was suffering from a very bad case of 'RR' (Road rage) - It took him at least an hour to get a sentence out of him that didn't contain an explictive... It was amazing how busy the city was... there where thousands of school kids.. fights... then it took over and hour to just get out of the city! The caravans are the real cause of jack's RR...

Friday was Emilie's birthday. My little bubba turned four.. Born 5 days early at 6lbs 4ozs.. with no hair. Being out first child, after losing three babies.. so was very, very precious to us.. and still is!! Now.. we have a very bubbly four year old, that is so much like me it is a little scary at times. She loves her family... looks out for her sister and brother... says the right thing at the right time... who can also share in a joke and tease you when she sees the need!




We had a little party for her on Friday before we left to be at Clare by 2pm. I was a little sad leaving Em on her birthday... but she really didn't care. She had her presents and cake.. her cousins from Adelaide where there to play with. She had a great day. The baby photo i think she was about 3 weeks old and the other is on her birthday. She really wants to be a cow girl!

Clare is a beautiful little town and if ever in Sa.. you should visit. I think it is only 90 mins from Adeliade!

All of these boys met at Ag school 20 years ago and have alwas been as thick as thick... They are spread out from us in Vic to almost the WA boarder in SA. The five of them are so different.. but the have been the best of mates now for so long. I am a little envious of them.. they don't see each other for years on end... they get together and it is just like it was 20 years ago. Not many people have that sort of relationship. I think the years have made them all a little wiser and I think they are now only thinking about why they have stayed good mates and the core of it seems to be that they have the same core life values... They muck around like school kids most of the time... but when it comes to the crunch... they have always been there for each other!

So a night of catching up on Friday then on Saturday morning our ute was one of the weddng cars (Funny hey!!) so Jack tricked me into washing it. It was before 7am... and just above 0 degrees and I was washing the ute! He told me that he was going to take me out of Breakfast... but nothing was open!!




Did a little shopping and headed to the wedding which was held at a homestead outside of Clare... beautiful.. very Pride and predjice.. rose arches.. very casual and relaxed!



The reception was a blast. I am sure we all have been at weddng where you have been sitting there waiting to the food.. bored... just to pick holes through the food. This wedding wasn't like that. It was a pain in the arse to stop and eat. We had the best time. the speeches where so funny. Danced all night. Got home at 2am!

Slept in until 7am... (Believe me this is a sleep in) packed up and had breakky at the Caltex road house with everyone. It was the fattest breakky that I have had in years... but i really needed it!

Jack and co had to go to the grooms house to collect their bag that was left there.. so we did their house over.. you know all of those little things.. like remove the labels from the tinned food.. glad wrap and food colouring in the toilet... and so on and so on.. very harmless fun!

Got back to the kids at about 4 on the Sunday. They behaved!! Came home late on Monday!!

This weekend is the girls combined birthday party. Laura turns 3 on Sunday so we have one party in the middle!! so will post some more photos of the party.

I jumped on mum's scales yesterday and I was still under 65 kg... but TTOM arrived yesterday so when I weigh tonight I do expect to see a gain.

BTW.. hair was fine. Very happy with new hair dresser.

Things will be a little more quiter here from now so I promise more focus on my healthy lifestyle and more posts!! Thanks for popping by!!

So many hours in the car...

Hugh and Kingley - giving his cousin some love...
My Kids and Amelia eating (Amelia is the same age as Laura - 3, but she is SO tall )
First photo is of Theresa and Bryan (Theresa's 30th Birthday speeches)

We have spent so much time travelling over the past few months... it would be interesting to see how much time was spent in the car! The kids do travel well.. well the girls travel well. Hugh gets sick of it and starts to annoy the girls.. so we do have the odd screaming match in the car... it not the kids yelling at each other... usually me telling them to calm down and it isn't much further...

A quick trip to Finley, NSW this past weekend... and a tour of SA this weekend... many more hours will be spent in the car.

Finley is a very nice little town.. reminds me of Warracknabeal in many ways. Often, when we aren't home, once Hugh is up (Around 6am) instead of waking everyone else in the house we head off walking. Finley has a lovely man made lake with a walking track around it.. very pretty and quite. Hugh loves this early morning walks... sometimes I think he wakes early when not home just to go out with me!! So, after a lap around the lake, and around town.. you get to see mcuh of the town. Lots of dairy cows and irrigated crops... rice, armonds etc... My brother-in-law works on a Armond grove. Bryan is from Zimbabwe where he was a tabacco farmer and they have been back in Australia for around 18 months. Theresa, Jack's sister met Bryan in Ireland while overseas and moved to Zim and has since had two children (Amelia and Kingsley) To say that life in Australia is different to Zim is a huge understatement... amazing...

Sorry... back on track. It was Theresa's 30th Birthday and we went to help her celebrate!! Had a great time!

Tomorrow night we are heading to Paringa, Thursday Jack, Hugh and myself are then heading to Adelaide to pick up Jack's suit (He is in the wedding party) and for me to try and find some clothes!! The girls are going to Stay with Mardie and Pardie. Back to paringa Thursday night then Friday is EMILIE'S 4TH BIRTHDAY!! so lots of presents and cake on Friday for Emilie at her Grandparents... late on Friday we are heading to Clare so Jack can be there for the rehersal of the wedding... Saturday in the wedding.. Sunday back to Paringa and Home again Monday... Puffed, just typing all of that!!

Now.. weigh in results. I only put on 200 grams... I am good at this maintaining thing... But this week will be the first week since i started WW that I will miss a weigh in... I guess it isn't going to kill me. But I know I will still be careful and make wise choices and plan for those snacks...

Getting my hair down tomorrow morning..A little nervious... last two hair colours have been very bad.... Developing a phobia of hairdressers. One to my third salon since November. One of my good friends owned a salon in Horsham, but she sold it about 2 years ago and changed professions... so it was great until then! I will post photos of me in my new dress, shoes.. handbag and coloured hair after the wedding.

I wish I could stay here longer.. but I have SO much to do before tomorrow night.

Take care everyone over easter!

Love Kirstyx

Playgroup..

I am sure most of you have been to a playgroup session or two... or at least heard of 'playgroup'. I have just about over dosed on play dough and paint this morning... so much for a 'nice quite' play... no such thing when you have three kids that all all pre-kinder age!

The kids run into the building and they don't stop until I pull them out kicking and screaming 90 minutes later.... a few clix biscuits and a glass of cordial is just enough food to keep them going until we get home and all of them curl up into bed for a nap. So.. is it worth it? Paint and playdough everywhere.. at least one comfort cuddle required per child.. singing song off key with the other mothers..eldest child discovering that she paints much better with her hands and fingers then brushes, diplomatically taking other people kids off a bike after they have rammed two other kids... enough biscuit crumbs on the carpet to keep all of the mice in town feed for a week..

I forgot.. what was my questions?? That's right.. is it worth it?? Yep.. you bet!! Apart from the fact that all of my kids sleep afterwards... the kids LOVE it!!

So.. that was my morning.. the rest of the week has been much the same.. cleaning.. washing.. running kids everywhere.. organsing the girls birthday party... just same stuff..

Weigh in tonight and that is why I am posting now... so I don't want to report a huge gain to you all. I have hardly been outside this week to exercise. But I went to our local basketball courts while in town yesterday and they have some gym circuits stuff there that you can use for a fee of $150 a year!!! They give you a key to come and go as you please and two nights a week they have someone there setting circuits going.. still thinking about it. It is so cheap but I would like to go three times a week, but to fnd the time with no kids might be hard. Will decide after easter. But I am thinking that it might just be what I need now...

We are all heading away again this weekend.. Jack has so much to do here but it can't be helped. His sister Theresa is turning 30 and we are heading to Finley in NSW to help her celebrate. So, that will be the weekend.

So.. I hope that M3 had a greatNAAFKA day went well (check out her post.. piss funny and I think we all should make our own)... and I want to wish LMS all the best in her new job starting next week....

Catch you later

Kirsty x

I am still here....

Just downloaded photos from camera.. this first photois Hugh just after we got back from Hospitial... just swollen at this stage.. did go blue! The other photos are from the wiggles....

I can't believe how quickly time goes between posts.. and it is not like nothing is happening to tell you all about... so much is happening that I am finding it hard to sit down and write with a clear head.. I have still been reading everyone's posts but commenting not quite as much... so sorry and will promise to try harder....:)

Weight - weighed in at 64.2 another loss of 500 grams... Happy happy... food has been great but ever since I completed by 6 week challenge I have had a bit of a pedometer burn out and I haven't been wearing it. So I haven't walked as much, but I still aren't just sitting on my arse as much as I used to...

The wiggles last weekend in Melbourne was wonderful. The kids just loved it. They just sat spell bound for the first part of the show then got up and danced. We are very lucky to be able to take our kids to see such a show.. many kids never get to the big smoke. Took lots of photos for the kids also. They had a train ride into the city from my brothers.. then a tram ride from southern cross station... that was just as exciting for them!!

After the show we met my sister and her boy friend at the cafe in the middle of the Fitroy gardens for lunch - which was also great to catch up. Sally only moved to Melbourne this year and I am a bit funny about my little sister moving away.. big sook... I know.

It took the kids a few days to recover from the weekend and they where back into day care on Wednesday with the new care provider. I was initally a little worried when I pulled up at the kinder and saw her car... it had a sticker on the back "Back off... the bitch bites" I thought that kids might be coming back home again with me. But she is lovely and the kids had a wonderful day.

Thank you for your concern about Hugh's head.. pleased to report that although there is still a bump there... you can hardly tell! He has since fell numerous times and has grazed his head again... boys!

I swear that boy will become a water deviner (i think that is how it is spelt) have you heard of the people that walk around with a stick or a piece of wire and they locate underground water... I swear that Hugh can sniff out water for miles... comes back wet from where ever we go!

I have so much more to tell you all but will try and post again in the coming days. I have just finished reading Dan Brown's Deception Point - very good book. I think I have read them all and can't wait for the Da Vinvi Code to hit the big screen. It was a fantastic book... just hope the screen version is just as good for those who don't pick up a book!.

I had another of those 'cliche' WW moments the other day... at the park with the kids... I was climbing up the big slide to help Hugh and a slid down after him. There would be no way in hell my arse would have fit a few months ago!!

Anyway... hope that all is well and it sounds like some of you had a ball at the Melbourne Bloggers dinner... great to see these get togethers!! I have a indian curray simmering away for tea.. yum...

TFTD - You are braver then you think (Barbie)

TIAGF - The end of day light savings and a extra hour sleep this morning!!