Mel's Box of Chocolates

Some of you may have noticed my lack of blogging as of lately...although I have at least been out visiting I have not been posting. My excuses are that for one week I had boot camp for my National Boards (maybe I will be able to talk about it after it has settled in my brain) and then this week I had a teacher's workshop from Mon-Wed. So finally today it was back to summer vacation and the kids and I decided to celebrate by heading to a water park . One of the great things about where we live are the many state parks. One of these parks, Killen's Pond , even has a small water park with, you won't believe this...are you sitting down?, admission of only $2 for adults and $1 for kids. Totally affordable!!!! There is a small pool with two frog slides for the tots, another small pool for bigger tots with a bigger slide and lots of sprinklers, and then a huge pool with a mushroom waterfall, two huge slides for big kids and adults, and a couple other little gadgets. Needless to ...

Today is week 6 of the MDWLC and it has been good and bad! The good news is that when I weighed in for my weekly Weight Watchers weigh in I was down 1.5 pounds and made my halfway goal...YEAH!!! I was so excited to see the loss and to know that I was finally getting back on the losing streak after my plateau. However, then the weekend happened and it included a trip to my parents where there was yummy food including a Friendly's trip and a peanut butter cup sundae and then a bridal shower that included chicken salad on croissants (two of them), a chocolate fountain (I was in charge of it), and scones. I have a funny feeling that my scale is probably not going to be as nice this weekend if I don't get it together! But for now I am relishing in the fact that I have made it halfway...Go Me!!! WEEK 21 / -1.5 / 30 POUNDS!!!! Weekly Goal - Veggies/Fruits and treadmill every night Short Term Goal - In the 140's before July 13 wedding!!

One of our family's favorite things to do on summer Sunday's is to hop on the boat for some fishing or just a boat ride. This morning, Dave worked for a few hours getting it ready for the season. I felt kind of bad that here he was working so hard on Father's Day, but I guess the ultimate result was worth it...

Happy Father's Day to all you daddies out there! A special wish to my own daddy though!! He is still one of my favorite men in the world. Growing up he worked hard, sometimes two jobs, in order to provide for my family and so my mom could stay home and homeschool me and my two brothers. Although he worked a lot , he knew that quality time meant far more than the quantity of time! We went on many camping trips, had baseball games in the yard, built tree houses, went fishing, played board games, and just had fun together. I was raised in a very religious home in which God was at the forefront of our lives. My father led our family in prayers, bible readings, and just discussions about how we could live our lives to honor God. Not only did he talk the talk though, he totally walked the walk too! I am very proud of my father and very proud to be his daughter...I love you daddy! *This was taken a few years ago as Dylan is now in Kindergarten Not only do I get to wish my dad a Happy Fat...

Yesterday was another beach day, but Dave got to join us so it was even better. While the kids and I enjoy going to the local boardwalk where there are lifeguards not to mention snacks and drinks, when Daddy accompanies us we drive on the beach to do a little surf fishing. It is a happy medium so that we all get to go to the beach and Daddy gets some fishing in. So we loaded up the Jeep and headed out... The first thing the boys do when we get on the beach is to unload the rods and get them in the water. We had a few bites and some bait stolen. And then the big catch...a good size sand shark! While waiting for bites, Dylan went seashell hunting and found this awesome conch shell. He was thrilled, in case you can't tell by that huge smile on his face!! After a day at the beach I had some hankering for some hot, fat, steamed crabs. Especially after Erinn talked about having some. So we picked up a couple dozen and had our own private crab feast. As you can see Dylan loves crabs and ...

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That is definitely the question that has been weighing on my mind lately. Right now I drive 45 minutes to and from work and while the drive hasn't been bad the past 4 years, this last year was the first year that I took the kids with me and let's just say it got old really fast. Since this was Dylan's first year in school I wanted him to be in the same district where I taught because 1) I love the district, 2) I wanted us to have the same school schedule (my district is the first to go back and get out), and 3) I wanted to be able to have him dropped off at my school so I could play mommy and get him off the bus and we could have a few minutes together before picking up sister. So I found a home daycare up there for him and Zoe to attend that was only 5 minutes from my school. I thought it would be a great time for me to connect to the kiddos and stay in tune with them, but after a bit I was the one crying to watch a movie (thank goodness for the DVD in my Tahoe). It w...

It's that time again...I weighed in on Saturday and am thrilled to report that I am down 1 pound!!! Go me! As you know it has been slow going the past few weeks between the wedding and my birthday so I am excited to get back in control. I am hardcore recording my points online and using my treadmill everyday which feels empowering. Drinking my water is pretty easy especially now with summer vacation and me being outside a lot more. So I am going to keep plugging away this week...2 more pounds and I will be over my halfway mark for my original goal weight!! YEAH!!! WEEK 20 / -1 / - 28.5 GOAL: Water, Exercise, Fruits/Veggies & get over my halfway hump by next Saturday (24th)!!

Last Monday was Dylan's last day of Kindergarten. I remember his first day of school like it was yesterday. I couldn't believe that my baby was old enough to be starting school *sniff*sniff* and then like a blink of an eye his first year is over and he is heading into 1st grade. His first year was a success and I am very proud of all he accomplished. He brought home his final report card getting straight S's! He is such a great reader and told his teacher that reading was his most favorite thing about school. I greatly enjoying reading and as a teacher it is also my favorite thing to teach, so I am thrilled that he enjoys it so much too. This year has brought many "firsts" for Dyl and hubby and I too. I have enjoyed the journey and can't wait to see what God has in store for us in the coming years. But for now I am going to enjoy summer vacation and being home with my babies who all to soon will be grown up!!!

Last week I decided to go ahead and post on Tuesday, or Thursday :-), from my Weight Watchers weigh in on Saturday. This way I was not so down when I hadn't lost weight from my Saturday post until Tuesday's post if that makes any sense. Anywho...since I was away on Saturday I actually did weigh in today and I am happy to report that I have maintained my weight. Now usually this would make me frustrated as I did not lose anything, but considering the large quantity of food and drink I consumed at the weekend wedding and then at my birthday I am pretty darn happy that I stayed at the same weight. So now that things are back to normal I am going hard core back to counting my points. I promise to... 1) Count and record everything I consume 2) Drink even more water than my 8 glasses!! 3) Eat lots of veggies and fresh fruit!! 4) Walk/Jog on my treadmill every night. My next wedding is in the middle of July and my goal is to be in the 140's before then so I have 7 pounds ...

Of course I don't have the picture of them crashing when the grandchildren finally leave their house!!

Our niece, Haley, came to stay with Tut and Sally (Gram and Grampy) for a couple weeks and Dylan and Zoe had so much fun playing with their cousin.

cause everybody loves me!!! My birthday was yesterday, the 5 th , but I feel like I have been celebrating since Friday. Part of my birthday present was that Sally and Tut watched the kiddo's so Dave and I could attend my friend's wedding which started the week off perfectly. When we went to pick the kid's up on Sunday afternoon my mother in law had a little birthday party for me. I had lamb (something I had never had until I became a Tuttle and now love it), mashed potatoes (those of you who know me well, know that mashed potatoes are right up there with chocolate), asparagus, green beans, and a variety of cheesecake for dessert. Of course, I chose the chocolate!! Then on Tuesday, for my actual birthday, one of my girlfriends invited my family over for a barbecue. Karlin is probably the best cook out of all my girlfriends so I new I was in for a delicious meal. She had pork tenderloin that melted in your mouth, green beans (can you tell it is a fave), and Denver potat...

As the school year comes to a close and summer evenings are here, I have been a little slow on posting some happenings. For memorial weekend I had the nice 3 day weekend so here is how we spent it... Saturday morning began bright and early as we headed to the soccer field to watch Dyl . Of course nothing changed with our losing streak, but he is getting better. He absolutely loves to play soccer and I absolutely love being a soccer mom!! After soccer, we made our Saturday lunch stop at McDonald's and went home to change before heading to a birthday party, however this happened before we got there... Of course I did not have a clue how I was going to get the mammoth of a tire changed so called Dave panicking. He finally said he would leave work and come change it for me. Keep in mind that my husband works at a boating store on Memorial weekend in our beach resort town...I am sure his boss was less than thrilled (although thankfully it is a family company so they are very understandi...