Well hello stranger...

Well this is just embarrassing. I pulled up this blog and noticed the cutest baby staring back at me with his one year cake all over his face. That baby is now almost four. Yeah...I am awesome. So...this is a new chapter and I will try to stay more on top of things. I have been on an adventure health-wise over the past 4 months. I finally decided I'd had enough of being "pleasantly plump". I made the decision to do Take Shape For Life...and it changed my world. I have lost 35 lbs and gone from a size 12 to a size 4. My focus for this blog will be of course to talk about my kids and family but also to share fun recipes that I have developed or discovered in my journey to health. I hope that it is inspirational and informative--and most of all, fun. Because really, what's the point without fun right?? :) I am posting my before and after shots and some pics of the kids to catch everyone up in that area. In breif: Noelle is in first grade, loving it--and so smart and grown up. She is such an amazing little girl. Henry is almost 4, as stated earlier and is starting preschool next week. Mamma is gonna cry. Well...enough for now...will start to post recipes soon!!

Cheers,

Mamma Prodan

Halloween and Henry's First Birthday!!

So we had two fun events in a row...Halloween on Friday, and Henry's first birthday party on Saturday! Noelle dressed up like a Princess on Halloween because, as she told me, she is "always a princess". Henry was our little Tigger...seriously, so cute. Noelle got to go trick-or-treating with Grandma and Papa, mommy and auntie Linny (and Kermit too!). Henry and Daddy stayed home to pass out candy. It was a fun night...and we all slept well. :) The next day was Henry's first birthday party. His actual birthday was on Sunday the 2nd. Oh how time flies by! I can hardly believe my little baby boy is already one! He seemed to enjoy himself, but he wasn't a big fan of his cake. Instead as you will see, he put his hand in the frosting and then put his fingers up his nose. Awesome. I made a banana cake in the shape of a Monkey head. Apparently it was better than the cake at Bale's Thriftway according to Joe...and I do have to pat myself on the back for the way the monkey head turned out...it was pretty awesome. :) Anyways, here are some pics of the events of the weekend. Hope you all had fun! Cheers!

Pumpkin Patch 2008

Ok so last year I basically was the biggest pumpkin at the pumpkin patch...seeing as I was two weeks away from having Henry! This year we had fun with both kids at Leipold's farm. Noelle spent a lot of time trying to find the "perfect" pumpkin and as you can see, Henry had much fun sleeping away the day :). That is what we get for going during nap time...but he woke up towards the end for some fun family shots. It is so hard to believe that in a few short weeks Henry is going to be one! How time flies. He is getting so big and so aware of his environment...he is actually beating up on his sister a little bit. :) Here are some pictures from our fun day with the kids. Hope you enjoy! Cheers!

Reunion, beach trip, summer in general

So it has been a REALLY long time since I posted last...my apologies. We have had a busy summer! Noelle turned 3 last month...unbelievable. She is quite the little conversationalist these days, and very helpful with her ever-growing gigantic brother. Henry is getting big (as per the last sentence). We are pretty sure he is going to pass Noelle up here in a few months. He hasn't quite figured out the whole crawling thing...pretty much he prefers to roll, scoot backwards, or just lay there and look cute until someone wants to pick him up. He is saying "mamma" "dadda" and "za za" which Noelle taught him. I (Emily) had my 10 year reunion on August 9th, which was fun. We got to have an adult night out, and spend some time with old friends. This past week we went to the beach with some good friends of ours, the weather was not what was predicted...cooler by 20 degrees actually...so that kinda stunk, but we still managed to have a good time-really, the beach is still fun in the fog. :)
Also, I started back into my Mary Kay business, and it is going great! If anyone is interested in a free facial, I'm your gal!
Anyways, hope you enjoy the pictures, and I will try and be better about posting...I will try. :)
Cheers!