Life Lately...

I thought about doing a holiday recap, but our Christmas was pretty much the same as it always is. We argue with the ex about what time we're picking up the boys, run the kids back and forth, eat, open gifts, run around some more, open more gifts, eat again.... pretty standard stuff. 

I will say this: I'm really so sick of arguing about the pick - up time every. single. year. "The agreement says 11 am. No you cannot have an extra hour. IMO, 11 is already too late as it is, considering you live an hour away and especially since you refuse to ever compromise and let them stay with us on Christmas Eve."  
That's right folks, my daughter has never woken up on Christmas morning with all four of her brothers. Not one single time. Every year we ask and every year she says no and then expects Jay to go out there later than the scheduled time to pick them up so her parents can have breakfast with them. Ummm, no. They just saw them at Christmas Eve dinner 12 hours ago. Give me a break. For once. 

I would just love to have at least one picture from a Christmas morning where I have all 5 of my kids together. Is that too much to ask???

Okay.... end rant. Now for a couple of cute Xmas pics before I move on to 2015 :)

Me and my love <3

Being goofy with my sis and nephew :)

This is the scene every Christmas morning. Baby M opens all her gifts by herself and when R is with us (not at his dad's) he has to wait until his brothers arrive. This is by far one of the things I hate most about the blended family. I do not like to share, and I hate that my kids are missing out on these priceless moments with each other :(

The gang's all here... even the dog! Love my family :)

We've been pretty busy since the start of the new year. Jay and I kicked it off with a trip to Walt Disney World, where I ran the WDW Half Marathon!!!! It was our first real vacation without the kids since our honeymoon 5 years ago. It was AMAZING!!! We had the best time and the RunDisney experience was beyond my wildest dreams. I will be doing a whole separate post on that shortly. 

Baby M started dancing lessons 2 weeks ago, which is also super exciting!!! She had SO much fun and is already talking about the recital :) I can't believe our baby girl is growing up so fast!!! 

As many of you know I have been a Beach Body coach for a little while now, so I've also been working on growing that business (if you have any questions regarding Beach Body you can check out my link or email me at DeeRoeTonesUp.com). With that also comes more work on my own healthy lifestyle, especially since I've been having a bit of a hard time with that after the holidays and our vacation. The winter always depresses me. I feel more hungry and less motivated to work out and get moving. I also don't run outside in the very cold temps because of my asthma, and I really miss running! 

2 of my favorite clean meals: spinach salad with cut up lean beef burgers and rotisserie chicken
with 1/2 baked sweet potato and steamed or grilled veggies!

Post InsanityMax 30 Sweat Intervals

One last major development... we got a new addition to our family!!! We rescued a kitty from the animal rescue shelter that my mother-in-law volunteers at. We thought maybe a friend would help Guinness come out of his shell a little and help him feel better. It hasn't really helped too much in terms of him making a mess, but he does seem to be happy to have her and more interactive with the family again. She is so sweet and cuddly and so great with the kids! They all love her so much already! 

Meet Miss Lily

She loves her new girly bed <3

... and her new brothers and sister, even the feline one!

One last thing.... This guy made his violin debut last week at his very first orchestra concert!!!! We couldn't be more proud of our little budding musician! Now we've got one violinist, one drummer, one guitarist, and one singer... Maybe they'll form a band and make us rich!!!

Stay tuned for D & J take on WDW Marathon Weekend & Happy Wednesday Ya'll!