The Longs: January 2019

Sunday, January 27, 2019

Follow me on Instagram!

@allaboutthelongs

I’ll be posting “a Day in the Life” pictures all day tomorrow!🙂

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

BASKETBALL {2019 OUR 1ST YEAR!}

We are SO excited to kick off our first season of basketball! Both CJ and Raigen are loving basketball!

Raigen was the only one on her team to score (twice!) and CJ did great too!

I can see a lot more basketball playing in our future!

Friday, January 18, 2019

The Longs go ICE SKATING!

I'm a bit embarrassed that this was our first time taking the kids ice skating.

BUT, in my defense this is the first time they have been truly interested and it was the perfect time!

Both Raigen and CJ got roller blades for Christmas, so when they found out we were headed ice skating they were stoked! Ready to put all that roller-blading practicing to the test! HA!

They both did so good, too! The other four of us... not so good.

We ran into some of our favorite people there, too!

Check out Ryker- one EXCITED kid right here-----

His excitement was short lived though, ice skating was too much for him. He was so mad that he couldn't skate. He watched with me from the sidelines.... with the skates on.

BECAUSE HE WAS NOT TAKING THEM OFF! HAHA!

My Josh is a trooper, ya'll!

Can you spot him trying to ice skate with a toddler! Haha

And that wraps it up! We had so much fun!

Glad we were able to cross that off our Christmas-break bucket list!

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

HANGRY ROXIE UPDATE #9

After a holiday break I am back doing low-carb.

Its week one, and I've lost 5lbs, wooo-hoooooo!

I also got a new swimsuit!

Excuse my messy mirror- thanks, Ryker! Also, the before picture isn't recent, but I wanted to show how far I've come.

Ya'll that is a huge milestone for me to post a swimsuit picture on social media.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know I'm doing a 30 day challenge since I have 30 days till my cruise! YAY!

(If your not following me, you should! :) @allaboutthelongs)

Over there I'm documenting what I eat everyday and some other fun low carb recipes, too.

My goal is to lose 10lbs before my cruise and I'm excited I'm half way there!

Let me just add this:

If you are doing low carb and getting discouraged with the slow weight loss, be patient this has to be the hardest lesson to learn.

Last time I was really strict with low carb, and for the first couple of months (before the holidays), I lost hardly anything. That was so hard.

I am losing weight now, but slowly.

Just keep reminding yourself that your way of eating now is so more nutritious than when you ate carbs and processed foods. The weight WILL go, you WILL gain control of your appetite, and you WILL succeed. There are so many benefits (in addition to weight loss) that eating low carb brings.

Happy Tuesday!

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Our Cozy Spot

This month I'm linking up to show you the coziest spot in my house!

By far- its my living room!

It's where we all hang out.

It's where you can always find a basket of blankets.

And it's always where all the fun happens!

It also opens right up to the kitchen, which is probably my favorite thing about our house!

My special people can make anything pretty cozy!

Especially in Christmas PJ's!

My favorite!

And because Christmas décor makes any room cozy!

#HEARTEYES!

Annnnnnd........

I'll leave you with this cutie in his batman undies... just because!

Monday, January 7, 2019

"The" Santa Picture.

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, isn't it?

I loooove, love, love it and NOTHING makes it more special that a toddler.

I, mean, he is just SO into it. He loves everything. He's stoked about Santa. And he loves talking about "the newborn King".

He wont let us call him baby Jesus... he said Jesus is dead. So he is only the new born King. :)

(And in our defense we have been trying to teach him how Jesus DIED for our sins.)

Kinda-sorta back fired when we volunteered at Bethlehem in December when he yelled, "the newborn King is dat way... he's dead!"

And I'm all like who's kid is this?..........

So in midst of all the Christmas festivities....a few weeks ago one of our elementary schools hosted a North Pole Breakfast with Santa.

It was SO cute!

I took Raigen and Ryker.

We had so much fun and the highlight was definitely Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Raigen said she is SURE they were the real thing because you almost never see Mrs. Claus with Santa.

Everything was great until this.......

Let me explain... Ryker is obsessed with Softball (and baseball) and wants nothing more for Christmas then to get a ball, bat, and bag like his big softball playing sister!

So- when they asked Ryker what he wanted for Christmas here was his reply:

"I want a bat like Raigen's, she can hit dat ball like this POW! And it goes to the grass! I want a bag like her too, with wheels."

Then he adds, "Raigen is a pitch!"

The 'er' suffix has never been more important.

I'm sure I don't have to tell you what they thought he said.... but it was not pitch.

And what he meant is Raigen is a pitcher!

And that my friends is how Ryker made the Naughty List 2018! :)

Friday, January 4, 2019

Christmas 2018

Christmas 2018 is done and gone so I thought I'd pop-in and recap while its still fresh on my mind!

This year we had my in-laws and Josh's grandma over early for Christmas with them on Saturday. I also got to babysit my sweet niece, Adalynn!

And as always- Lubby brought a Christmas Craft for the kiddos!

***

Christmas Eve, we drove to Spring to my SIL's house and spent the day, eating, swimming (only in Texas, haha! It helps A LOT when the pool is heated.), playing Cards Against Humanity, and taking ridiculous pictures in our new matching PJ's from Aunt Sarah!

***

THEN.... finally Santa came!

CJ got a water-proof Go-Pro Camera.

Raigen got an Ipod Touch

Rilyn got a Sony Camera set. This was NUMBER ONE on her Santa list since she wants to get into photography.

And Ryker got a GIANT dump truck!

The kids and especially Ryker were so excited for Santa to come this year!

We love the joy and excitement of the season. But Santa doesn’t leave the moon under our tree (or spread across our living room), and I wanted to take a minute explain why.

When Josh and I had kids, we had a talk with Santa and decided he only brings one gift for each kid and a stocking full of small gifts and candy. We (mom & dad) give each kid between 10-15 gifts each under the tree. (And we always make sure each kid has the same amount!)

Why doesn’t Santa bring a bunch of stuff?

Because Santa has millions of kids to buy for around the world, and his sleigh, while super magical, can only hold so much. Plus, Santa doesn’t like making differences amongst kids. He doesn’t like to bring one an iPad, trampoline and Xbox and one just candy.

And plus, he’s always watching, so he knows kids talk.

I don’t ever want another child to feel like less because our kids got 75 gifts from Santa and another child didn’t.

Those who believe in Santa should feel all the magic of the season, and not feel like they are somehow less because Santa didn’t leave as much under the tree.

As parents, it’s our job to manage our children’s expectations, not just for the holidays, but for life, too. If you want to buy your kids tons big gifts (and that’s cool—we do!), then give the gifts to your kids yourself.

Santa doesn’t have to leave a ton under the tree for Christmas to be magical and full of wonder.

Speaking of magical- our elf, Holly, left a special note

AND

A SCAVENGER HUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CLUE #1

When they turned the pages over and pieced them together the message read:

LOOK IN THE COUCH!

CLUE #2

I have a video, but not photo, sorry! This one was super comical though! CJ danced and the girls sang. And of course Ryker slept through the entire scavenger hunt because it was 1:30AM!

CLUE #3