Wednesday weigh in...

Since I said I would give an update I figured I had better post today about the first official weigh in for our company's version of the Biggest Loser. Mostly I wanted to post because I wanted to specifically thank some people for their motivation and support. First and foremost, I couldn't do this AT ALL without my wonderful husband. He has really been supportive to me and been great about giving me the time I need in the evening to get a workout in. I have posted before about my schedule but suffice to say that the first chance I have to exercise during the week is at 8ish in the evening which is inconveniently also the time when the kitchen needs cleaned, the kids need bathed and put to bed, and preparations need to be made for the next day. I just can't thank him enough for the extra help. Also I know that there are those out there (and you know who you are) that are praying for me everyday and have sent me encouraging emails or called me to pep me up. There is nothing as motivating as having your own cheering section and knowing that there are people who will be excited for you when you succeed and there to motivate you to continue when the chips are down (ahhhhh....chips - sorry I think I just drooled a little). So it is with humble thanks to others that I tell you that I lost 8.5 pounds! I don't expect to have these same results every week (anyone who watches the real Biggest Loser knows that the first week is always big because of water weight and other things which include your body saying "what in the sam dickens are you doing for pete's sake!"...at least that's the way mine talks to me) but a loss is a loss and I will take it! Hopefully I will have more good news - no matter how small...or big...or - well you know, to report next Wednesday.

A Family First!

Well this weekend we finally finished Jackson's first school project. And in a very poignant stroke of fate, my mom and dad ran into my grade school "gifted program" teacher at a football game. I remember her as this wonderfully creative, supportive, and high energy person and apparently she is still exactly the same. Sometimes I just have to marvel how life can be so full circle. Before I get too "Lion King- the circle of life" on you, I will get back to the real purpose of this post which was THE PROJECT! The assignment was to create an "All About Me" poster complete with cut out pictures, personal drawings, and writing. It was given as a family project but I did my best not to"take over" and resisted the urge to really display my creative prowess to the teacher (do we ever grow out of that need to impress the teacher - I guess not....and yes my gifted teacher Ms. Gilcrest would have been proud). I did however let Jackson use my new Cricut machine which he now thinks is "Awesome"...to which I responded "isn't it?!?...be sure to tell daddy you think so". He was really proud of his poster when it was done and to be quite honest so was I! Not just proud of the end product but more proud that I managed to keep him focused on completing it. I mean seriously people, the attention span of a 4 1/2 year old could be tested by this kind of thing! The other great thing to come out of this little venture was an appreciation by my son for the experience that is... Hobby Lobby. Again, I got the retort "This is awesome" since he got to pick out a set of colored pencils, a glue stick, and even a spare piece of poster board (simple pleasure people, simple pleasures). It is by far the best $9.72 that I have ever spent there and I even managed to come up with a reasonable explanation as to why you need something "just for decoration" and why fake flowers don't have a smell. Anyway, in case you are actually still reading this long-winded introduction, here are the pictures!

Jackson and his finished product!

A close up...

The "stats"... with blanks as instructed.

His picture of a football helmet, football, and field ("even though ours just has one goal post momma, I want this one to have two"). And yes, (gag) the middle of the field has an OU.

I had to keep him from cutting out the entire "pink side" of the catalog...but honestly, we really struggled with the "not like" list.

Okay now don't ask me where he came up with these, I just wrote them down exactly as he said them...

Unlike the "not like" category, we could have filled a whole page with the "like" category!

D-Day

So today is the day. Things at work have been pretty busy (hence the lack of posts) but aside from my engineering tasks, today is D-Day for a program my company is doing that I'm sure you've all heard of - "The Biggest Loser". As many of you know, I am not a huge reality TV buff but I do love a "feel good" story as much as the next person so that show is one that I watch from time to time. I have decided to participate in our company's version since I need to lose weight/get in shape and as one of my dear friends put it - it appeals to my competitive nature. We will have weekly weigh-ins on Wednesdays so I will try to remember to do a quick post then to update you on my progress. You can do your part by praying for my progress and also forgiving me for the longing stare at your pasta and drooling over bread if we are eating dinner together. Otherwise, "I'll see you on the beach"! (sorry - I felt the need to quote the movie Saving Private Ryan since the title of my post was D-Day....and no thank heavens you will NOT catch me on the beach any time in the near future unless they are filming some sort of documentary called "Beached Whales - and the People who Look Like Them").

On a side note, I had lunch with my sister on Monday and can I just say - I love her. We have never done that before that we can remember but she was in town "on business" (don't get me started people - she was here to take clients to the Monday night football game I mean seriously - she gets PAID for this!!) and it was so refreshing to have it just be the two of us...no kids, no spouses, no parents (although we did have to call our mom twice to share a laugh). We sat on the patio (in 80 degree weather) at Cafe Express for two hours and even though it felt like five minutes...it was heavenly!

A perfect day for football

So just to further solidify our family as official sports geeks (as if "Huffman Field" wouldn't do that all by itself!) I wanted to post some pictures from our Labor Day weekend in Kansas. My parents have season tickets at KU, thanks to their wonderful friends the Magnusons, and thanks to a few more of their friends, they were able to score tickets for Gavin and I as well. Now don't get me started on why a 10 month old who is sitting on a lap the entire time has to have a ticket because I could do a whole post on that!! We participated in the pregame tailgating at a booster tent and then enjoyed the pregame rituals like the band's march down Campanile hill, a visit with the Big J and Baby J, the cheerleaders, and the players entrance. This was Gavin's first game and he did awesome! He took a quick cat nap before the festivities began and then dutifully sat through all four quarters without so much as a fuss - a TRUE Huffman!! The weather was fantastic and our seats were in the shade...all in all, a perfect day for football!

I'm ready for the game - check out my new jersey!

Me with my two biggest fans - Grandpa & Grandma!!

The Ladies - they love me!

I like this Big J - what about you Grandma!?

Baby J is my favorite!!

Go Jayhawks!

Hey there's the quarterback - #5 just like me!

Grandma's arms - the perfect place for a quick nap!

ROCK CHALK!

Happy Anniversary!

Today my husband and I celebrate our 9th Anniversary. He is my perfect partner in so many ways and I truly can't imagine life without him. Our marriage has weathered storms like graduate school, surgery, difficult pregnancy, parenting two kids, moving, starting a new business, and the pulls of extended family. These storms though did not leave us hail damaged or wind worn, instead they left in their wake a flood of commitment, respect and love. I found the words to the closing prayer given at our wedding and was amazed to find that even nine years later the words rang so true.

"O God of Love, You have established marriage for the welfare and happiness of all. It was Your plan and only with Your help can we work it out with joy. You were the one who said "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." By bringing us together as husbands and wives You have doubled our joys since the happiness of one is the happiness of the other and our burdens now are halved since when we share them, we divide the load.

Bless Eric and sustain him in all the responsibilities and pressures of daily life. May he find strength in knowing You intimately and may his strength be Kara's protection, his character be her boast and pride. Dear Lord enable Eric to love in such a way that Kara will find in him an example of Your love. A giving, self-sacrificing love; full of strength and honesty tempered with compassion.

Bless Kara, give her a tenderness that will make her great, a deep sense of understanding & a strong faith in You. Give her that inner beauty of soul that never fades. The unfading beauty of a gently and humble spirit, which is of great worth in Your sight.

Preserve them from expecting that perfection which belongs to You alone. Enable them to minimize each other's weakness, by learning to praise and magnify one another's strong points and gifts. Help them to see each other through a lover's kind and patient eyes. Give them enough tears to keep them tender, enough hurts to keep them human, enough failures to keep them constantly dependent on Thee, and enough wisdom to humbly see You as the source of all their success. Make sure they walk with You. May they never take each other's love for granted but always experience that breathless wonder that exclaims "out of all this world, you have chosen me."

And when life is done and the sun is setting may they be found then, as now,hand in hand, thanking God for each other. May they serve You happily,faithfully, together, until the last one shall commit the other to Your eternal care, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

I love you Eric, and I look forward to what God has in store for our next 9 years and the 99 more after that! I hope you look at the verse engraved in your wedding band (Philippians 1:3) and know that it is truer today than yesterday and even more tomorrow.



Our Honeymoon in the Canadian Rockies, Sept. 1999

Are you ready for some football!?!?

In case you haven't noticed, the college football season is under way! If you have been reading in my blog for very long, you know that my family is certifiable when it comes to sports. (SIDE NOTE: Case in point of this sports obsession was yesterday when I was at the store with the kids and my four year old pointed out this teeny tiny picture on the cover of one of 20 some magazines at the checkout stand and said "hey look Momma - it's Michael Phelps". Okay so maybe we had the TV on a little too much during the Olympics but oh well.) Yes we love our sports and according to my husband, there is none more sacred than college football...oh yes and let's be more specific...Oklahoma Football - because (prepare to gag) "There's only 1 Oklahoma"...and with that the brainwashing begins. So after saying all of this, it should be no surprise that two weekends ago (sorry for the late pictures and posting) in preparation for the opening weekend, we (and of course that means Eric and Jackson) built what we now call - HUFFMAN FIELD. The field made its inaugural debut last year and has KU at one end (for my alma mater) and OU at the other end for my husband. You will notice this year's obvious additions of a longer and wider field, goal post (constructed of PVC pipe and painted yellow) complete with wind direction flags, and pads for the goal post and surrounding trees. Overboard....probably. Impressive....could be. Fun for the kids....absolutely. Satisfying the kid in my husband...most definitely. It is the kind of harmless fun that comes when a shared passion emerges between generations in a family. MY contribution you might ask....well aside from taking video (behind the yellow "media line" of course), cheering while my 4 year old kicked an actual field goal (5 to be exact)... I did the lettering on the goal post pad. This only proved to demonstrate to my husband the "need" for the Cricut lettering machine I have been wanting - score for me! Anyway, here are the pictures...I give you - HUFFMAN FIELD!!

Daddy outlines....Jackson fills in

The finished product!

The OU endzone, goal post and pad, pylon, etc.

Credit where credit is due...

I've been out of town and have LOTS to post about the comings and goings at the Huffman House but I will save that all for later (since I have over 100 emails currently in my inbox - that's what you get for being gone from the office for 3 days I guess). What I did want to make a quick post about is THE NEW LAYOUT! I have to give credit where credit is due and tell you that a "friend of a friend" named Tracy did the layout for me. I was excited to finally have a blog space that did a little better job of reflecting the Huffman House! You like????