He's on the...ROLL!

Parker rolled over 3 times today!! wow! I put him down on his tummy to play with some toys, and over he went!

Parker is three months old!

This is Parker Allen Greven's first appearance on this blog!

It is hard to believe that he is already 3 months old-wow! He is such an easy going happy little guy, and we love having his as a part of our family. The only times you hear a complaint from him is if he is hungry, sleepy, or being picked on by someone ;) He is a very smiley, happy baby-he is such a joy! He has just recently started laughing when you do silly things with him, or tickle him. He loves sitting in him bouncy seat and kicking his feet to get the toys to move! He also loves to grab at toys now. He isn't rolling over yet, but he holds his head up strong when he is laying on his tummy! He loves to "talk" to you, and to be talked to. He is gooing and cooing all the time. Blow raspberries are also one of his faves :)

Parker is doing really well developing a schedule to his day. He is sleeping 12 hours at night, waking 1-2 times to eat. Going to bed between 7 and 7:30 p.m., and waking in the morning between the same times. I am thinking of starting him on a little cereal at dinner time in a few weeks to see if we can get that solid 12 hours going soon!

We just love him so much and we are so happy that God blessed us with him!

Here is our sweet boy!

I'm Back!!

Due to Cooper's baby book that I had created a while back on iphoto being totally DELETED-I have been frantically trying to piece it back together. I remembered my blog, and how good I use to be about it! I came to check it out tonight, and was so relieved to see all the detailed posts about the kids and all the memories I kept on here! Whew! I can put Cooper's baby book back together! yay!!

So, in an effort to help me treasure all of these wonderful memories we are creating with our kids, I am going to get back into this blogging thing!

Here goes nothing.....

Training Update-5 Weeks Today!

5 WEEKS!!! Yikes!! I feel like my competition is getting so close, yet still feels so far away!

This week I am changing up my workouts. Going to half-body splits, trying to trim some fat. Here's what the split looks like:

Monday: Upper body, teach kickboxing

Tuesday: Lower body, metabolic circuits

Wednesday: Off weights, metabolic circuits

Thursday: Upper body

Friday: Lower body, metabolic circuits

Saturday: Off weights, teach kickboxing

Sunday: Off (for now)

Diet is pretty bland, and very strict-especially now, as my carbs are getting cut a bunch. The carbs cycle through the week, 1 day is all the way up to 155 grams of carbs, and goes as low as 50 grams of carbs on the days I don't lift.

Here is what a basic meal plan looks like for me right now:

Meal 1: Oats, egg whites

Meal 2: Oats, egg whites

Meal 3: Chicken, green veggie, fish oil

Meal 4: Lean ground beef, green veggie, almonds

Meal 5: Chicken, green veggie, fish oil

Meal 6: Egg whites, and peppers and onions

not too bad, but definitely no fun food in there! Good news though-now I can add in a 1/2 grapefruit at some point during the day-so that is nice!

Posing practice is going great and is a lot of fun! My posing coach is super nice, and great to work with. I practice with her once a week. I really feel like it is going to give me a lot of confidence on stage, which was one of my main goals in doing this competition.

I am going to attempt to put the crystals on my posing suit by myself! It's very expensive to have someone put them on for you, so I thought "I could do that!" So, I have the crystals ordered and the tool that helps you put them on. I also have my design all sketched out. I will post pictures as I get it done!

No pics yet. I think you are going to have to wait until competition week! I will post before and after pics then.

Easy Smoothie Recipe

Hey everyone!

Just thought I would post something quick-I got this idea off a friend's blog, and just kind of changed it up a bit.

Cooper is not a big veggie eater-let's just say, the only thing he likes is northern beans and freeze dried corn *Sigh*. Ella was (and is) always such a great veggie eater, so this is a change for me.

Here's a good way I found to get some veggies in Cooper!


2 c. fresh baby spinach
1 3/4 cups frozen fruit (I used a bag that had strawberries, mangos and pineapple)
Juice from 1-2 oranges
Water

Blend in the blender, and VOILA! It looks really gross but the taste is really yummy! He drinks it right up, and I know for sure he is getting good couple servings of veggies per smoothie! I have been giving him this for a mid-morning snack.

Cooper is Ready for the Super Bowl!

Always with a ball, this boy!

Figure Competition: Training Update

Well, next week starts a new phase in my training! Next week I go to two-a-day workouts! One weight session in the early morning, and one after the kids are in bed. Should be interesting, and I should start seeing some serious results.

To give you a little update, a few weeks ago me and the girl training for the body building portion of my competition, Courtney, started training together! We were not happy with the trainer we were working with, so we decided just to start training together. Well, in the three weeks we have been working together we have seen a great deal of results-it's been awesome! We also have started working with another trainer who is awesome! He's got our first phase of cutting diets dialed in, he is keeping track of body fat, and starting next week he is designing our workouts for us-awesome! Exactly what we need!

So, I am about to embark on what is going to prove to be a very tiring, strenuous, SORE, yet exciting portion of the process in preparing for a figure competition! I will be sticking with the first phase of my cutting diet for one more week, then the week after that it changes again.

My goal is to be ready for the show by March 28th-which gives me two weeks before the show to tweak things, and hopefully come in totally lean and ripped! :)

For those of you interested, here is what my diet looks like right now-everyday! Apparently, diets are the opposite of workouts. With workouts, if you are doing the same thing week after week, you are going to stall out and not see progress. Diet works the opposite-if you eat the same thing everyday, your body gets more efficient at processing it, and burns it up-like gas on a fire! So, hence the reason I have to stick with the same diet for two weeks, then he is going to switch it up.

Meal 1: oats, protein shake

Meal 2: oats, eggs

Meal 3: tuna, 1/2 banana

Meal 4: tuna, 1/2 banana

Meal 5: Chicken, green veggie

Meal 6: Chicken, green veggie

Meal 7: cottage cheese, whey protein shake

Meal 8: casein protein shake

So there's the latest! I'll keep you posted on how the two-a-day workouts progress. I am sure I am in for a SORE week this week!! yikes!

Cooper's 15 month check!

Cooper had his 15 month well baby check today, and he is doing so well! Still 50% for both weight and height-23 lbs. 14 oz, and 31 inches long. He is above average with the amount of words he can say! The doctor said they should be saying about 5 words right now-Cooper is saying: Mama, Daddy, Ella, doggy, cheese, ball, night-night, hi, snack, lunch, eye, yeah, all done, down, no, ...that's all I can think of off the top of my head! So, he is doing really well in that area. Meeting all his milestones in all other areas too. She said he looked great! He had to get two shots today, to stay on the Dr. Sears alternative vaccination schedule. Poor little guy cried and cried, until we got out to the car! :( So, hopefully we can stay out of the doctor's office until his 18 month check in April!

Our Pastor praying for Barak Obama today at the prayer service!

OUCH!!

Here is what happened to my poor baby today!!

Ella and the Mixer

Happy 2009!!

Wow! Another year come and gone. Yes, I am still here!

It has been a crazy past couple of months. Thought I would post an update for those of you who still actually check my blog. There won't be any pictures until I can get my hard drive cleared off-hence the reason I haven't been diligent to keep this thing up!

We had an awesome Christmas this year! We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day with my family in Alpharetta just taking it easy and hanging out! We made appetizers for dinner on Christmas Eve for dinner and watched movies-it was great! Christmas day we spent a lot of time in our Pj's just taking it easy and enjoying our time together, and of course our new gifts! That evening my Aunt and Uncle and their kids came over for dinner. My Dad grilled the most amazing beef tenderloin EVER on the green egg. It was so good! The day after Christmas we headed to Nashville and spent the week with Reid's sister and her husband, and Reid's Mom and Dad. We had tons of fun playing games, eating way too many goodies, watching movies, some fun shopping, and we even took Ella to see the movie "Bedtime Stories" (which was so cute by the way!)

We got back home on Thursday evening, and I am just now starting to get the house back in normal working order. The Christmas decorations are down (with the exception of the outside ones since it hasn't stopped being wet outside since we got home), the new toys are slowly finding places to be, and the suitcases are just about unpacked.

School starts back up this coming week, along with our normal everyday activities! It will be nice to get back to our regular schedule. There is something to be said for a reliable schedule, isn't there?

As for the kids....

Ella is getting to be such a big girl. She is a huge help to me, and she loves her little brother. She is high energy, and loves to go and do. This past week visiting family was definitely a highlight for her. She sure does love to visit! :)

Cooper is learning and growing by leaps and bounds! He's pretty fast at walking now, and of course still climbs on anything he can! He is starting to talk a lot now! Some of his vocabulary includes: Papa, Yaya, Nana, Pop, Ella, Daddy, Mama, snack, pizza, doggy, eye, and YEAH!! His newest thing is to respond to something that he wants, or wants to do with: "YEAH!!!" It's so cute, I need to post a video of him saying it. He also loves a good snuggle if you can get him to hold still for long enough! :)

My figure competition!

Training for my competition is coming along GREAT! I am in the last few weeks of my "bulking" phase (aka trying to put on some solid lean muscle mass). I should be meeting with a nutrition coach in the next week to see when I need to start the cutting phase (aka getting rid of the excess fat to see the nice lean muscle!) My posing suit is purchased, still need to get shoes. This month I will be contacting a posing coach to help me with my posing routine. Every day I think that I am crazy for wanting to do this, but I know I will be very proud of myself in the end!

Alright, so there is a little catch up for you! Hopefully we will be getting the hard drive situation fixed soon!

Gingerbread House Party

Yesterday at Ella's school, the parents were invited to join their child for a gingerbread house decorating party! It was a blast, and the kids got all sugared up to boot! ;)

This Year's Christmas Cards

Due to increasing age, forgetfulness, and my decreasing ability to send cards on time, here is my card to cover every Holiday.



Happy Friggin' Everything....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow!! I have totally been SLACKING on my blog lately! There has been a lot going on, so really it's been the last thing on my mind-sorry 'bout that!

Anyway, we had a GREAT Thanksgiving at my parents house this year! Saw a few movies, put up some Christmas decorations, had some chillin' out time, and ate a lot of yummy food! Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving day.

Cooper's first Thanksgiving dinner!


Helping me make a pecan pie!

The finished cherry and pecan pies!

Pilgrim Ella-for her school Thanksgiving program

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So Funny

I forgot this picture was on the camera. Can't you tell from his face that he loved sitting in this chair? ;)

My Beautiful Autumn Girl-Having Fun in the Leaves!

Today's the day!!!

Get out and VOTE today!!! Don't be one of "those people" who doesn't vote. JUST DO IT!!!


GO MCCAIN!!!

Halloween 2008!

Here are just a few pics from our Halloween! I posted a ton more on Facebook, so request to be my friend and you can see more! we had a great Halloween weekend! After Ella's Halloween parade and party at school, we headed to Nashville to spend some time with Reid's family. Ella and Cooper got to do their trick-or-treating there with some friends that live next door to Reid's sister Ashley and her husband Michael. We had a ton of fun!

How Tall This Fall?

Every year we go to "Uncle Shuck's Pumpkin Patch", and every year we have to get the "How Tall This Fall?" picture-it's a must!! Here are the pictures from over the past 4 years. I thought it would be fun to compare :)
Ella-2004-5 months old: What a peanut!

Ella-2005

Ella-2006

Ella-2007

Ella-2008! What a big girl!


And here's Cooper!
Little 2 week old Cooper! 2007

Cooper-2008-This is the best picture we could get. He wasn't too happy about standing there ;)

Spaghetti: The After-Math

(Sorry it is sideways-I did it with the digital camera, and didn't realize that I wouldn't be able to rotate it)