Mommin' It Up!

January 24, 2014

Making it Count in 2014

togethercounts (1) — This post is sponsored as part of my duties as a Together Counts Energy Balance Ambassador. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Just last week I told you how my family and I had a great year making family meals and active time together COUNT with help from my role as a Together Counts Energy Balance. Well, I am thrilled to announce that my partnership with Together Counts will be continuing this year!

With temps below zero this week, we can't WAIT to get active at the pool this summer! — With temps below zero this week, we can’t WAIT to get active at the pool this summer!

Perhaps you remember from my previous posts, but let me remind you what Together Counts is all about: It’s an initiative of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation that encourages families to eat meals together and be active together. But it does more than just exhort and encourage. Together Counts also provides corresponding tools and resources to teachers and school nurses to help teach kiddos how to have a healthy, active lifestyle. PLUS!! They have numerous opportunities for you to win grants for your child’s school as well. Don’t miss out, make sure to check out their blog, subscribe, and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

In 2013, I really focused on eating together as a family, staying active together, and as an added bonus – serving the community together. In 2014 I want to do all those things and take them up another notch. We have some additional dietary challenges to work around as Jonah has recently had to go dairy-free as well as gluten-free, but I am confident we can conquer that new eating challenge – and still get out and play together no matter what the weather (well okay, we’ll keep active indoors during this crazy wind chill advisory!).

This year we did three different service-type projects or fundraisers as a family as well – two of which also required us to stay active and work on our energy balance! So we will do those again and make our efforts even more successful this year.

Joshua and me at the Shoes 4 the Shoeless Walk. Giving back and being active!

joshuasophiebuddywalk — The big kids at the Buddy Walk for Down Syndrome

We had a great year focusing on our family and our Energy Balance – calories in, calories out – and I can’t wait to do it bigger and better together this year with Together Counts!

What are your family’s togetherness goals for this year?

January 22, 2014

A Chipmunk with Bell’s Palsy

Yesterday Emily let you all in on the fact that while recovering from having all four of my wisdom teeth removed, I wasn’t posting any selfies or #doyourmakeup posts on the interwebz.

All I can say is…you’re welcome! I mean, I really don’t think anyone wanted to see me with both cheeks swollen and stuffed with gauze, no makeup on, and barely conscious from anesthesia on day one. Or, with both cheeks swollen, no makeup, and face contorted in pain from the vicodin making me puke (all over the dining room floor, YAY hardwood floors! I now have more sympathy for my kids when they can’t make it in time.) on day two.

But day three? When I was still really swollen on one side of my face and couldn’t move it very well? Couldn’t really smile? Looked like a chipmunk with Bell’s Palsy had a stroke? And put makeup on because I had to take Jonah to speech?

I thought you all might want to see that. But I was saving it for a special occasion.

Like now.

Ok, so I added the crazy eyes in for fun.

Is this the best day of your life OR WHAT?

But wait, there’s more!

Like A Human Chipmunk with Bell’s Palsy sits for Andy Warhol:

and

A Human Chipmunk with Bell’s Palsy goes to the masquerade:

and finally:

Old-Timey Human Chipmunk with Bell’s Palsy:

Oh, and I can’t forget about this one:

Oh wait, that’s not me. Let’s pretend it is. Don’t you owe me that?

And once again…you’re WELCOME!

January 21, 2014January 21, 2014

Selfie-less

Last week, Jenny had her wisdom teeth removed, and shockingly, she wouldn’t share pictures of her self-described chipmunk cheeks. (Although she did update us every hour on the hour with the State of Her Face Address).

Knowing the world might not survive without Jenny’s famous selfies, our dear friend Andrea decided to enlist some of our friends to show support for Jenny in her time of need – and to make sure Facebook wasn’t selfie-less for 48 hours.

Andrea’s request? Well, she said it best herself in her emergency group facebook message.

I’m coming to you with a very serious request. For the love of God, do not leave this group message or mute it!

For the past 2 days, Jenny Rapson has been unable to provide us with our daily (sometimes several times a day) selfie. It’s as if the internets feel the disruption and are crying out because the selfies are missing one 30-something adult. WE CANNOT LET THE TEENAGERS SENSE THIS IS HAPPENING! Luckily, they have all been tweeting about their long weekends to notice.

But THERE IS NOT MUCH TIME!!

While many bloggers are out there raising money for starving kids, building wells, dental hygiene, sex trafficking, real food (and other noble causes), this cannot go unnoticed.

Here is what I’m asking you to do.

Please take a selfie today (Friday) and use the hashtag #JRapFriends and #JRapSelfie. Either leave on IG or send to Facebook. We need a balance in the selfie interwebz if only for today until Jenny is back well enough to give us our daily dose of her selfies we all love!

Do this for the children.

Being the kind, caring group that they are, the selfies came pouring in.