Sharing the Love

Today, I wanted to share a different type blog because I have come across a hair product that I just love and feel like I need to share with everyone. 

If you have had the pleasure of seeing me lately you would know that my hair is the longest it has ever been.  Normally, I end up cutting it way before it make it to it's current length.  Now, my relationship with my hair for the last 6 months has been very much a love/hate relationship.  I have such fine, thin hair that it gets knots almost immediately, and for the past 6 months I have absolutely dreaded washing my hair because combing through it was just ridiculous.  I have tried the dry shampoo and will admit that I do love being able to go a few days without washing my hair.  Styling seems easier and the styles/curls seem to hold better as well.  But washing your hair is a necessity, whether it be every day or every three days. 

I have tried so many shampoo and conditioners over the past 6 months.  I have bought the most expensive shampoos, weekly deep conditioners, leave in conditioners, etc. but nothing was helping and I hated the mess of knots that I seem to be cursed with. I have always wanted long hair and I just didn't want to give up so easy.  Well, low and behold, I have found a fabulous, amazing, makes me excited to wash my hair product. 

It is not expensive.  I had seen the commercials and always thought "there is NO way that brand will make a product any better then the expensive products I have already tried".  I finally gave in and purchased this new product line.  And from the first time I used the shampoo and conditioner I was sold!

What is this awesome, wallet friendly product you ask??

Suave's new Professional Moroccan Infused line.  I purchased the basic shampoo, conditioner and the oil.  Initially I used the oil every day and applied to both my wet and dry hair. Sometimes wet, sometimes dry, depending on the style.  I have been using all three products for about a month and it was been about two weeks since I even used the oil.  I have never had smoother, shiny hair in my entire life.  And it smells good, which is always a plus!! 
Along with being much less hassle free, the past few days I have looked at my long knot-free hair and actually questioned if I wanted to got through with the hair cut  and style change I had booked about two weeks ago.  I have pretty much decided that I am going to go through with the style change but keep it a tad bit longer then I had originally planned.  Right now, my hair is all one length so I am going to add layers and some coloring.  It has been way to long since I cut my hair last and it is always good to trim off the damaged ends, so that is what I will do.  And as for now, I might be sporting a slightly different style but I am going to continue to grow out the length. 

The fourth product in this line is a shine mask, more along the lines of a deep conditioner.  I haven't had the need to purchase this product yet but if I do I will update you!  If you want to check out this new product online, visit The Shine Suite. They have a bunch of styling tips, especially a bunch of different options for the Moroccan Styling Oil. Also, while your there, register to win a chance at all of their giveaways!! I know I have!

I hope if you are struggling with unmanageable hair like I was you will go purchase this new line and have the same success that I have had.  Now everyone go out and purchase this new line! READY, SET, GO!!!!

Now, as promised, as small dose of Avi and Addlee!



Addlee excited and happy while eating dinner



Avi practicing her shapes with mommy

Have a Great Thursday!

A Yummy Tuesday

So far I have still been successful at replacing my morning coffee with a bottle of water, and I am still able to function and make it to work, so I decide that I would work on my morning breakfast next.  Normally, I grab a banana as I walk out the door and then snack throughout the day.  Well, like always I grabbed my banana for the ride into work and I also grabbed a dozen eggs, a can of Rotel, a loaf of 100% whole wheat bread, butter and strawberry preserve. A bunch of random stuff, I know. When I got to work, I beated three eggs with a dash of water and microwaved them for three minutes then added a dash of salt, pepper and a few spoonfuls of Rotel and WHA-LA, a yummy breakfast!

I felt good about my breakfast and decided that I will fix this each morning.  



Tuesday was another day of Grocery Reports with a few chat breaks with Beth mixed in.  She will be going out of town next week and I don't know what I am going to do!  I will be lonesome! :) But she is getting to go see her brand new baby niece and sister in FLORIDA so I am excited for her. 

Tuesday night we had a delicious smoked pork shoulder smoked by the One-and-Only Jacob and it was so yummy once again! Along with the BBQ we had coleslaw, potato salad and bake beans.  It was perfect.. Jacobs cousin brought his kids over and Avi was just beyond excited to play with them! I will say that I have never met two picker little girls and I truly appreciated my little munchkin Avi and her love of ALL food! :)  After the family left it was bubbles time and bed time for Avi, Addlee and ME! Once the girls were asleep I laid in bed a finished the first episode of the new season of Housewives of Orange County...don't judge! All the housewives are a serious guilty pleasure for me and I enjoy each and every episode! :) 

Here is to a great night sleep and a fabulous Wednesday!!!

Monday already..

Well, as sad as I was for the weekend to end and my alarm to go off Monday morning yesterday was quite a pleasant day! I am certain that Miss Avianna was more upset then me to have to wake up Monday morning.  She was what I call a GROUCH! :) Once the girls got settled in at daycare, I headed out on the road towards Mayfield with my trusted banana and a bottle of water.  I have made the decision that in order to get more water into my daily diet, because I don't drink nearly enough, I have replaced my morning cup of coffee with a bottle of water.  Surprising, I have not had any early morning-crazy person-road rage!!

Monday at work was just like all other Mondays-sort, sort, sort and more sort! But I got to catch up with all my lovely co-workers and hear all about Beth and Rylans Easter weekend!! I was glad to hear that their weekend was just as fantastic as mine.  Now, Beth is my "Cardio Queen" co-worker and she ran in the Color Run this past weekend in Nashville and said that there were a TON of runners and even if cardio isn't your strong suite the Color Run is perfect because it is just a bunch of friends out having a fun time while helping out a great cause! So if you ever thought about running a 5k but are afraid due to the "running" part, the Color Run would be great to try!! :)

Product Update: This Flavor is Yummy! :)



I also wanted to share a post by one of my greatest longtime girlfriends, Ashley Beeman.  She posted this on her Fit and Fabulous Fitness Fitness Business page and I thought it was great! And true...

If you are looking for a good motivation fitness page, Like Fit and Fabulous Fitness on Facebook.  Ashley always keeps you updated on the latest and greatest workout DVD promotions, great recipes and clean eating tips!

Nate is on spring break so he went to work with one of Jacobs good friends, Dade.  Dade is in the business of cutting trees and Nate loves helping him and getting his hands dirty.  We are glad and proud we are already instilling a good work ethic in him (when he wants to)!  After a long hard day of work, Dade wanted to take Nate to eat dinner, so it was just me and the girls for dinner.  Addlee enjoyed some squash and cereal and Avi and I shared some Velveeta Cheese and Broccoli...actually, Avi was kind enough to allow me to have a few bites! lol She loves her food!! After dinner and bath time we played in the girls room and Avi helped momma get herself and her little Sissy dressed for bed..

<--  Avi is putting on her PJ's all by her big girl self!!

After we got dressed, we all settled downstairs with Bubba and watched The Voice.  First was Avi snuggles before she went to bed...

After Avi went to sleep, I did a little picking up while Bubba chilled with Addlee.  I am also excited to announce that Miss Addlee Jean said her first word last night and it is...{insert Drum roll here}... Bubba!!!Then it was Addlee's turn to cuddle with Mommy {which should be her next word! ;) }

 The girls will be all rested and ready for Tuesday for sure! Just hoping momma feels the say! Hope everyone had a good Monday and are getting back in the weekly grind! If Tuesday goes anything like Monday, I should be off the a great start of my week!!!

Great Easter Weekend

 I felt like this weekend flew by.  Friday, I spent the whole day being lazy and playing with the girls until about 4 pm and then we got dressed and went to visit my parents and have dinner.  Saturday started slow but the girls and I went back to see Grandma and Grandpa and to see the Easter gift they got the girls.  The look on Avi's face was just priceless when she saw her very own SLIDE!! :) She laughed and played all night climbing up the stairs (or slide), sliding down the slide and shooting hoops. :) I left the girls there while I finished up my Easter errands and then went and had an enjoyable dinner with some great girlfriends! Dinner at Whalers Catch was super yummy and their Shrimp and Crab Tortallini was delicious. 

This was the first Easter that we got to hide eggs and let Avi hunt them. She had a blast and did so good. She wanted to hold her basket and pick up the eggs all by her big girl self! Addlee, took a fabulous nap while Avi hunted her eggs and indulged on her new favorite candy, jelly beans! :)



Avi eating her yummy Jelly Beans :)

Once Addlee woke from her afternoon nap we headed back over to Grandma and Grandpas to get their Easter Baskets and for Avi to go on her SECOND  Easter Egg hunt of the day!





 If you think that I forgot about little Miss Addlee or if you were wondering what she spent her day doing these picks about sum it up...

Laughing and being her happy, sweet selft

AND



Watching her big Sissy run around in excitement

OR

Napping with Grandpa

AND

 

Napping on Bubba :)



We wrapped up Easter Sunday with a delicious dinner of ribs, squash, my famous Cheesy-Bacon-Ranch Potatoes and finished up with a delicious Orange Cream cake. Followed by an epidose of Walking Dead and Kourtney and Kim Take Miami! :)

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend filled with lots of family, friends, food AND candy!

Run day, Fun day

So today has been pretty great.  I am very proud to say that I ran today for the first time outside in years!! Beth, my lovely co-worker, runs regularly...3 MILES! Yesterday we decided that we would work through lunch and go run later in the afternoon. So this moring I gathered all my running gear and headed to work. Deep down I was dreading the time to go run because I was extremely nervous about what I would or wouldnt be able to do. She runs three miles but I thought FOR. SURE. I could run at least two.  I have ALWAYS loved to run and cardio was my strong point. I actually had a little anxiety as we pulled into the park because I wanted SO badly to go at least two. 

 The park had a lovely course and today was absolutely beautiful outside. Perfect running weather...not to hot, not to cold.  Beth has a high tech running watch that tracks everything so I knew she would keep my up to date on the distance.  When she yelled out "HALF MILE" I was DYING!!! But I kept on running. I ran a mile. Only one. Deep down I felt major disappointment because I just knew I could run two. NOT! So while she finished running, I walked the path. 

Now I have to talk about this awesome running path we were at.  They had everything mapped out so you would know exactly what you needed to do and the mileage.  They also had work out stations placed along the course.  So you could run for a bit and stop to work your quads, then run some more and then stop again and do chin ups.  They honestly had a station to work just about every body part.  They also had a stair climer, so I did that for a bit while waiting for Beth to finish her 5k.

After the nice workout, we both decided we would meet at Noble Park with our kiddos and have a nice play date.  I got the girls and I have to brag on Avi for a moment.  Mrs. Sherry is usually in the nursary with Addlee but today she got the pleasure of working with the one-year olds.  I was such a proud mommy when Sherry complimented on how smart and advanced Avi is for her age.  She said they were learning body parts and Avi knew almost all of them and was showing all the other kiddos where their nose, mouth, ear, head, hand, foot, etc. were! I love it! And it makes me so proud of my little-big-princess! :)

Now on to the park...

Avi was so excited when we pulled in. She started going "quack, quack"  because she loves the duckies!  When we got to the play ground Avi and Mr. Rylan met and both headed for the slides.  I am proud to announce Avi went down the slides all by herself for the first time today!

Ready to go down the slide

 

"WHEEEEE!!" 

Her fearless self also likes to climb back up the slides!



While Avi was playing on the slides Miss. Addlee was having a blast talking to everyone from her stroller and laughing at her big sissy.

After playing on the slides, Avi made a pit stop on the bouncy four wheeler as we worked our way to the swings...

Addlee had her first swing experience today! And she loved it!!

The sun had started to set so we called it a night with Beth and Rylan at the park and we headed home to eat, play in bubbles, and snuggle while watching American Idol before bed time! :)

I hope to run again tomorrow.  I will say right now that I am very sore! I hope everyone had a great humpday Wednesday! I am gonna finish American Idol and relax.  Ready for a great Thursday!!

Goodnight everyone!

Oh Chocolate Covered Honey Bunns.....

Where to begin.. I am a few days behind. So I'll give a short recap of the weekend.  The plans were to get my hair done by Miranda on Saturday night and then have pictures taken Sunday, but her weekend was super packed as she celebrated her youngest sons 1st birthday and the weather was just nasty, so we postponed everything till next weekend.  So instead it was a lazy weekend filled with pajama pants, messy ponytails and lots of playing and reading books! :)

Last week was a rough week for Avianna because she is getting her 2 year molars and they make her so sick, but one of the bottom molars broke through and she was feeling much better all weekend. Saturday we went to Grandma and Grandpas for a little bit so they could get their Princess fix! :) So we dressed all matchy-matchy for their little visit.

I have such gorgeous babies!



 Saturday night I made deer stew and it was super yummy.  Although deer does have a different taste, it is still delicious and very lean!  Sunday I woke up sickly so I was especially lazy on Sunday.  Jacob grilled out a juicy Pork Roast but I couldn't eat much because I definitely wasn't feeling well.  Thankfully, I woke up Monday feeling 100% better...although my house was a disaster since I wasn't able to follow everyone around and pick up after them! ;) 

We got a new drink product in at work and I was the guinea pig...

It was pretty good and has ZERO calories, which is always fabulous! I will definitely be giving the other flavors a try and I will let you know which ones are worth your time!

I will not go this many days again without posting. I will say today my absolute weakness has been Chocolate covered Honey Buns.  I refuse to eat another one tomorrow.  Also, tomorrow the plan is to run at lunch with Beth.  She runs regularly so I hope I can keep up!!!  Wish Me LUCK because this momma is out of shape!!  Tonight I am going to definitely do some crunches and push ups...gotta work those arms! :)



Sicky Icky

Wednesday started off just like every other Wednesday, except my trusted-ol' faithful banana wasn't ripe enough yet and I was unable to eat it.  BOO!  Then when I arrived to work I found out that I was going to be the only one in the office.  After I got everything open and coffee made, I sat down at my desk about 7:50 and got an unexpected call from the daycare...Miss Avianna had thrown up. After some discussion, we came to the agreement that she might have gaged herself because she has been keeping her hands in her mouth due to teething. I told them to call me if it happened again and I would be on my way to get her.  I checked at lunch and they said she was doing just fine, so I finished my work day and headed to pick up the girls at 4:30.


Avi was happily feeding her Cheerios to the doggies! ;)



They were right, Avi seemed just fine when I got there.  She was so excited to leave she walked right over to her sleeping sissy and woke her right up... Ooops! Nathan went with his Great Grandmother to church tonight so it was just the girls and I this evening.  I decided to get my work out in IMMEDIATELY because both girls seemed to be in great moods.  I picked a workout from my "Body After Babies" board on Pinterest.  The lucky winner was Tank Top Arms .  So I got the girls settled..

After two sets of my work out, Avi had caught on and decided that she wanted to join in..



So I attempted to do the third round but Avi was determined to be on my lap so we had a little photo shoot instead...

 

The many faces of Avianna! <3





Avi seemed to be getting very sleepy and seemed to have an upset tummy so we took a quick bath and went down stairs for a few minutes of snuggles.  After Avi laid down I fed Miss Addlee and snuggled for a bit. I love that time!! :) Now comes the sad part....

Avi got so sick Wednesday night.  Right before bed I checked on her and she had gotten sick again, so I cleaned it up and she continued sleeping.  At 2:30a she woke up again and had gotten sick, so daddy gave her a bath while I cleaned up her bed once again.  She just cried and cried so we both agreed to try teething tablets. That did the trick.  I am almost certain that this upset tummy is due AGAIN to her two-year molars.  We went through these same issues a few weeks ago and once her two top molars broke through she was just fine.  I feel so bad because she obviously doesn't feel well! :( Any tips on how to help her are all very WELCOMED! This sickness just seems so extreme to be just teething... I am at a loss. I sure hope Thursday is better to my little Avi-baby!

Tomorrow is my Friday at work, and I have plenty to do before I can call it a weekend.  Not looking forward to the cold snow forecast though, I was really hoping for another beautiful Friday like last week...oh well, cant have it all! :)

My Song of the week is.....

This week has been busy-busy. Story of my life! :) Monday night Miss Avi was very upset.  My final conclusion, 2-year molars. After a few teething tablets the crying subsided and it was a peaceful 30 minutes before she went to sleep.  I followed shortly behind!

Tuesday moring came very quickly but Miss Addlee is sleeping for longer intervals which makes this mommy super stoked. Although, she is still in our bed... . Tuesday was lovely P& L monthly meetings all day so besides our quick lunch and pinterest date, Beth and I didnt get to catch up very long.

When I got to the girls daycare, Miss Avianna was dancing around her classroom with Mrs. D. AND having a ball! Addlee was in an equally good mood, so we headed over to Kroger where we met Jacob to grab something for dinner.  Avianna loves the grocery store and she loves pushing the shopping cart. Although, Im not sure the employees appreciate her driving skills! Hahaha!!

I already have my workout picked out for Wednesday night. I am going to do it first thing after Avi gets to sleep! No excuses.  I must tone up before Ashleighs wedding in JUNE! :)

I did try and take a few pictures of the girls but I was not successfull and keeping Avi still long enough to get a good picture! I promise more for Wednesday!

So, I my favorite song of the week is Lady Antebellum- Downtown.  If you were to pull up beside me in the car when this song is on you will most definitly witness me jamming out with Avianna! :) So I thought I could share the song so you too can enjoy it!!

See you back here soon to catch you up on my Wednesday work out!

Busy Bees

So I am a few days behind but we have had a busy couple days in our household! Thursday at work completely RUINED my healthy eating. I refuse to even post about all the sweets Beth and I indulged in! But I have done very well since then with food choices. After the girls and I got home and caught up with Nate on how his day was, Nate played with Avi for a bit while I got dinner ready.

Avi helping out with getting dinner started



Avi having a blast being pushed around by her Bubba!
 

After eating and bath time we played in the girls room and Skyped their Aunty Melisa! We love Skyping and we LOVE Auntie Melisa! Jacob informed me that Friday's forecast was set for the 70's so I KNEW my Friday with the girls would most definitely include the park!!!

I got to sleep in on Friday while Jacob got up with the kiddos and this is what I walked down stairs to...

HOW PRECIOUS, RIGHT!!

 

I felt completely refreshed and I couldn't wait for the girls to wake up from their afternoon naps to get outside!! While they were sleeping I made egg burritos for Jacob and I for a brunch. They were delicious with a little avocado!

 

When we got the park, IT WAS PACKED!! I had to park pretty far away from the big playground so I loaded Addlee into the stroller and Avi and I walked around the lake for a bit.  Avi loves to push her Sissy...

I LOVE THAT HER HAIR IS LONG ENOUGH FOR PIG TAILS NOW! :)



Avi loves the park and she LOVES to swing.  When she finally say they playground she literally squealed with excitement and took off in a sprint to play with the other kiddos!

First we went down the slides.

Then we enjoyed the swings for quite awhile


 

Now, little Miss Addlee Jean was sleeping for most the excitement but she eventually woke up and enjoyed the park from the comfort of her stroller in the shade.

Bubba holding Addlee while she naps wore out from the park

After the park, we stopped and said bye to Daddy before he went to work and then picked up Bubba to head out to their cousins house to play for a bit and to let Mommy enjoy a little adult company as well! We love Halley, Hannah, Luke, Carrie and Logan! :)

Avi being her silly, goofy self! :)

Friday night for dinner I made chicken tacos in the crockpot. They were delicious as usual. There were left overs so I saved them for breakfast in the morning! Jacob and I started a movie when he got off work while laying in bed with Miss Addlee, but Addlee and I both were OUT before the credits rolled!!

Saturday has been very relaxing and lazy. Which has been very much enjoyed by all!! I made egg burritos again but added in the left over chicken and they were DELICIOUS!!  After a few hours of playing with the girls Avi and Addlee both took a naps. For dinner I made a roast with potatoes, carrots, and onions in the CrockPot and it was so yummy! I made my self only eat ONE bowl though!! 

 

I hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend so far.  I am about to start a movie and get some rest before a busy Sunday filled with some unpacking, organizing and LOTS of playing and a good workout!!

 

Goodnight Everyone!!