One year later ....

It’s hard to believe that a year ago I made the decision to change my life forever ….. A decision I will never regret.


Though the year has been filled with ups and downs, I have overall enjoyed the changes happening in my live. I have lost 129 pounds (and counting ....) and feel healthier than I have ever felt. I am able to actually enjoy my life and I try to live it to the fullest each and every day.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I think the biggest struggle during this past year was finding my true identity. Who would have guessed that losing weight would actually change more than physical appearance? I can’t say that I have actually discovered my true identity yet … it’s an ongoing journey.

Thanks to my family and friends who have been my support throughout my life. It is such a blessing to have a great family and friends who loves me for who I am.

Happy New Year 2010!

As we rang in the New Year, I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on our lives in 2009. The year was full of ups and downs. But when I think about all that we have gone through, I am so blessed that the Lord has truly blessed us.


So just a few highlights:

*We rejoined Hamilton Reformed Church and became official members. I have recently become the Nursery coordinator. I look forward getting involved in any way that God leads me.

*Matthew and Madison celebrated their 2nd birthday. They both are growing up so quickly. They are talking all the time now and always getting into things. They bring so much love to our family. They are both gifts from God.

*We replaced several windows in the house this year. We are slowly remodeling and upgrading our home. I look forward to removing the wallpaper in the kitchen and painting later this winter. We have many years of remodeling ahead and look forward to making this house our home.

*Holly had a medical procedure to help with weight loss. It has literally made me feel 200% healthy and more self-confident. To date, I have lost 75lbs (and have about 50lbs to go).

*Brianna turned one. We are so blessed to have her in our family. She brings us so much joy. Another beautiful gift from God.

I am excited for the New Year and what it will bring! So stay tuned ....

Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed year!

As summer comes to an end ...

Wow. It is hard to belive that we are so close to the end of summer. To celebrate the offical end of summer, we packed up and headed to the beach. This was the first time we took the kids to the beach and they LOVED it.

After a few hours playing in the sand and the water, we decided to head home. Matthew and Madison were exhausted. They didn't even make it out of the parking lot before they drifted off to sleep ...

I was so happy they had a great time. I can not wait until next summer so they can play some more.

We made some good progress in updating the house this summer. I re-landscaped the frnt of the house and in front of the barn. It really looks nice. I hope to be able to do more next year. We just finished replacing the basement windows. I am glad we were able to do this before winter. We are almost done with the entryway and hall way remodel. Just a little bit of drywall touch up and painting and we will be done!!

This fall we will be re-painting the pool. Hopefully this will be an easy project. I will leave that one to Bill to do. We also hope to get the pool fence re-painted.

Brad is playing freshman football this year. We all enjoy going to the games and watching him play.

Summer Update

Well it has been awhile since the Fales Family has updated .. but there are so many thing to update on. This summer so far has been quite eventful in the lives of our children.

Matthew and Madison have officially hit the 'terrible twos'! They are so interested in the world around them and want to explore and get in to everything! Thank goodness for the invention of the child safety gate! Not only are they explore but they are talking soooo much now. They are both talking in complete sentences and sometimes have conversations with themselves! I think the cutest thing that Matthew has picked up is a saying from Dora. If any of you are familiar with the cartoon, Swiper's favorite saying is 'oh man!'. Matthew will say that when he is in trouble or is told no. It is kinda hard to discipline him because he is so darn cute!

Brianna is growing and hitting many milestones of her own. She is now crawling all over the place. She loves to crawl to the her brother and sister and play with them. She also has 4 teeth already!! She has her 2 bottom front teeth and 2 top eye teeth. I call her vampire .... just because she has only her fang teeth up top. She is such a cutie!

We are trying to enjoy the pool as much as possible this cold summer. Matthew and Madison now get in by themselves (with swimmies). They are going to love water ... I can already tell it. Madison hears pool and starts searching for her bathing suit. We have struggled with the upkeep this year. We have had a hard to get rid of algae and we have sent a lot of money on trying to clear that. We anticipate emptying the water this fall for a new paint job. That should be fun!

Hope you all are having a wonderful summer!

What a night ...

So I want to first start by saying that I love my family and would never change who I married for the world. But I need to vent and express how very difficult it is to be a part of a blended family and step-mom. Ever since the day my step-son Brad moved in last year, we have clashed. Part of this issue for most of last year was pregnancy hormones (that's my excuse and sticking to it).

But since Brianna has been in our lives, I have made every attempt to make the situation livable. I think that I am very supportive and have allowed him to be a part of my whole family, including my parents and grandparents.

After a few good weeks and moving a few steps ahead, we took 10 steps back. This has been the cycle in our household for the whole year he has been living with us.

It started out as a discussion of taking things with out asking permission. By mid-conversation he felt the need to call me a racist. If anyone knows anything about me and my family, I am far from racists. I have dealt with this concept most of my childhood. I grew up with a grandfather that was not accepting (and I would call him a racist) of people with a different ethnicity or race. Through out my childhood, I felt that I was judged based on the beliefs of my grandfather. As I grew into adulthood, I knew what was right way to treat people. People of all colors should be treated as equals. I do not judge people by the color their skin but by whats inside them. I would hope that I am not judge by the way I look but how I treat others.

So going back to the argument tonight ... I don't know where this came from. Brad does not know anything about me besides the fact that I married his father. How can teenagers these days be so disrespectful. I think that all of the issues that we have had boil down to disrespecting your parents/step parents because of the sacrifice that they make to provide for them.

I just hope and pray that as he grows into adulthood, he will see the wrong he has done to me and regret the way he treated me.

Here is to a better tomorrow ....

2 years ago today ...

Today we celebrate the birth of our twins, Matthew and Madison. I have spent most of the day reflecting on what a blessing they have been to our lifes...

I am so blessed to have these 2 wonderful children. They love me so much and I love them twice as much in return. I could not imagine what my life would be with out them.

There are days I wonder why the Lord has given me such a handful. How can I handle 2 infants at the same time while working a full time job? Many days I thought I would never make it to the next day. It has not been an easy 2 years. Not only have we had to care for twins, but we have gone through a lot as a family. I think that all of our struggles have made me a stronger wife and mother.

We spent the day together just like every weekend. We really did not do much because Bill was working this weekend. We are planning a birthday party next weekend with our family. We will have to go shopping for them some time this week. I am not sure what we will be getting them. I think we were going to be looking for some thing they can play with outside. Maybe a scooter or a sand box. I guess we will have to see.

We have had an eventful yet stressful weekend. We are starting to make some adjustments as the kids get older. We have officially moved Brianna into her own crib. She is sharing a room with Madison. it actually went very smooth. Brianna slept most of the night. She wok up around 6:30am on Saturday. Of course that woke Matthew and Madison up, so it was an early morning for them. It will only get better as they get used to her up there.

Another step we made last night was putting Matthew in a big boy bed. We converted his crib into a day bed. The first time we brought him up there, he got out and actually fell asleep right in front of the door! But after I rocked him a bit he fell back asleep and stayed in his bed the remainder of the night. I am hoping that he will get used to this quickly.

These changes have been tough on mommy as well! I am happy about the changes but I worry about my babies and how they will adapt to the change.

I thought I would also include a few new pictures of my munchkins.

Here is Madison enjoying the bath tub. She loves the bubbles!

Matthew loves the bubble too but he has more fun splashing the water out of the tub and picking on his twin sister.

Bill made sure that I took pictures that didn't show too much of my babies. Who doesn't have a picture of them naked in the tub!

We are still loving our life, even as crazy as things get some times. We are coming up on our 5th wedding anniversary and 10th year together. It is truly amazing how fast time flies when you are having fun.

Lastly, our latest edition is 4 months old today! She is getting bigger every day. She is beautiful, especially when she smiles. I can not wait to watch her grow up it to a little girl. I wonder what her personality will be.