Keeping Up With...Food (Meal Plan for July 26 - Aug 1)

We had another really great week following our meal plan last week. We decided to buy dinner at Zoombeezi Bay on Friday night so I made the Thai Chicken Salad over the weekend so I'll have it ready for lunches this week. I enjoyed a few days off in the kitchen this weekend since I didn't cook Friday night and then Sunday I was out most of the day so we just had leftovers for dinner than night too. It was a very nice break from what feels like constant cooking!!

This week is the week we should have been finishing up what we have in the fridge and heading to the Outerbanks. Instead we aren't going anywhere this summer. My parents are planning to come in this weekend and my mom will stay for just over a week between my house and my brother's house. I'm glad they are coming, but I am bummed that we didn't get the big family vacation this year.

We continue to get delicious fruits and veggies from our CSA and I'm continuing to base my meals around them. I'm taking another trip to Costco this week so I'll restock us on some chicken and pork and we should be pretty set up for the rest of the summer. I'm sure I'll still need some filler trips, but hopefully they won't be very big. I'm not sure what we're doing after the summer since we're still waiting for a decision from our school district. As soon as we decide what the boys are doing for school for this semester, then I'll figure out if I'm going back to work or not. So much that we still don't know, I'm trying really hard not to stress about it!

Here's what I do know, what we're eating this week:
Sunday - Leftovers
Monday - Air Fried Salmon, Corn in the Instant Pot and Sauteed Zucchini
Tuesday - Tacos (beef for the kids, shrimp for the adults)
Wednesday - Parmesan Garlic Chicken & Zucchini and Kale Chips
Thursday - Kale and Bean Soup and Green Bean Salad
Friday - Out at Zoombeezi Bay again
Saturday - Out at my brother's house

Water Flavor - Strawberry Pear. I still have an overabundance of pears so I'm using them up in the water. One pear isn't always enough so I cut up 2 strawberries to complete the sweet flavor for this week.

Baking - I'm making white chocolate cranberry scones for Adrian and I for breakfasts this week.  I'm also making lemon blueberry bread at the end of the week using the last Amish Friendship Bread starter that I had in the freezer. I'll probably keep all 4 starts this time and freeze them all.

Other - I'm hosting my parents for lunch on Friday so I'll have lots of different meats and cheeses to make sandwiches. I'm also going to use some of my fresh cabbage and make an Asian Cabbage Salad for a side. And I'm going to use up some of my beets to make Beet Hummus to pick on Friday and all of next week while we have people in out and all week.

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 7/17 - 7/23)

Friday (7/17) We all slept in this morning and got a late start on everything. I was very tired and unmotivated today, I think the stress of the week really caught up with me today. I did what I could to get a few things done this morning and afternoon but I really struggled. I did get the boys thru their stuff for the day and we're pretty much done everything for them for the week. Late in the afternoon AJ and Zak had a med check at the pediatrician so we grabbed our masks and headed there. They are both doing great and we can continue doing what we're doing. We got the pediatrician's opinion about going to school in the fall, but I still don't know what we'll decide to do. After the appointment, we ran to the library to return a few books and pick up a movie and a few new books.

We thought about heading to Zoombeezi Bay tonight but it was SO hot and it was pretty late after we finished up at the doctor so we decided not to head out there this week. Instead since I was still struggling with my motivation, we decided to head out to dinner for the first time in probably 6 months. The boys have been asking to go to Red Robin since my birthday so we decided to head there for dinner. We had a great time and enjoyed our mac and cheese (Daniel & Zak), pizza (AJ), burgers (Adrian and I) and bottomless fries (all of us!) When we got home, we had family movie night and watched Adrian's pick of "National Lampoon's Vacation." Zak was not at all interested so he went upstairs to play video games, but the rest of us all enjoyed it. After the movie, we got the boys to bed, watched an episode of "Parks and Rec" and also headed to bed. Hoping for a better weekend!

Saturday (7/18) I got a great night of sleep even if I had to get up and moving a little sooner than I wanted to. I headed to the church to teach a small but super fun Zumba class this morning. It was great to start the day with some movement and some great conversation! When I got home, Adrian and I decided we didn't want to do anything all day except play games, so that's pretty much all we did. We played: Agricola (I won), Potion Explosion (Adrian won), That's So Clever (I won), Pandemic Legacy for July (we won), Sushi Go Party with the boys (I won), 51st State (Adrian won) and Roll for the Galaxy (Adrian won). We also enjoyed a nice bottle of chardonnay and a few TV shows in between all of the games. The boys played video games most of the day and had a great day. We again let them stay up until midnight, as has become our tradition since all of this started. When they went to bed we tried to watch a little more of the episode of "This is Us" that we were in the middle of but we were just too tired so we headed to bed too. It was a great recharge day!!

Sunday (7/19) After another great night of sleep, we got up and moving this morning and finally headed back to live service at church. We've been "going" online for the past few months, but it's just not the same! It was great to be in the same room as other believers to worship and hear a great sermon. It was only Adrian and I this morning since the kids' services haven't started back up yet so it almost felt like a date for us.

When we got home, we got right to work on our to do lists. After a full day of fun yesterday, we were ready for a full day of work today. We were super productive and got a ton of stuff done. Adrian and the boys finished their stuff in the afternoon and had time to have some fun playing board games and video games. Adrian also made a quick trip out to Target to pick up two new games for us since he saw they were on sale this week. We cooked dinner together tonight and even though we spent most of the day working, it was also a very relaxing day together and it passed very quickly. Tonight we watched another episode of "The Floor is Lava" with the kids and then got them down to bed. Then Adrian and I finished up the episode of "This is Us" that we were watching last night and also watched an episode of "Parks and Rec" before also heading to bed. Ready to make it a great week!

Monday (7/20) Back to our normal schedule today! Adrian and I got up and moving and were suprised to find Zak sleeping on the couch downstairs. He said he got bored of sleeping in his bed and moved down there at about 3am. He joined Adrian and Rocky on their long walk this morning while I got logged on and ready to kick off week two of Zumba's jam program celebration. Today started with a Zumba Gold jam this morning and then a salsa jam this afternoon. Both were great and are in my gigantic pile of choreo notes to learn. I'm not going to need choreography for a long time!

In between jams I got a ton of things done around the house and also helped the boys get thru their daily stuff, including reading, riding bikes and doing more work on our space camp program. The day passed super quickly with me busy downstairs and Adrian working upstairs. Before long it was time for me to get dinner together and leave to teach my Zumba class tonight. We had a great group at the church and had so much fun dancing to my "Best of Christa" playlist to celebrate my 7th year anniversary of becoming an instructor. After class, I came home and took Rocky on her nightly walk and then we got started on our night routine. We watched "Holey Moley" with the boys and then got them down for the night. Then Adrian and I watched two episodes of "Parks & Rec" and then also headed to bed. The week is off to a good start!

Tuesday (7/21) I slept in a little until Adrian came in to get started at work. Then I headed downstairs to start my day as well. I was very productive this morning and got a ton of stuff done as well as getting the boys thru their stuff. We finished up the 4th day of our week long day camp that we started in June and have one more day to finish up, hopefully next week. Then after a quick lunch, I headed to the dentist with Zak and Daniel. AJ was supposed to have an appointment with us but I had cancelled it since he was going to be out of town. It was weird going to the dentist with all the new protocols but we appreciate them keeping us safe!!

While I was in the chair, an appointment later in the day called and cancelled and they asked if we wanted to move AJ back to this afternoon. So when we finished up, I ran back home and switched kids and headed back to the dentist with AJ. All four of us were declared cavity free and I'm so thankful to the staff for keeping the four of us on the same schedule! While we were out, Adrian worked from downstairs to be there for the furniture repair guy. We finally got a few small things fixed on our new sofas and the lights work on the boys' sofa again.

The day flew by with all of that going on and when I got back from the dentist it was time to get ready to go teach my Aqua Zumba class tonight. I grabbed a quick dinner and then headed out to my friend's house for class. Thankfully Adrian was able to cook dinner and feed the boys while I was gone. My class was super fun but unfortunately it started raining at the very end and I didn't get to have my weekly swim and chat time with the ladies. When I got home, we cleaned up from dinner and then got ready for family movie night. We watched Daniel's pick of "Captain Marvel" and caught a few things we missed last time. When the movie was over, we got the boys down to bed and then watched one episode of "Supermarket Sweep" before also heading to bed.

Wednesday (7/22) We got up and moving early today so we could get Rocky dropped off at daycare for the day. Adrian dropped her off and then headed upstairs to work for the day. I got my day started with a Zumba jam with one of my favorite jammers and also learned a little about the Zumba Kids program during her jam. When that was over, I started working around the house since I didn't have Rocky here distracting me. I also got the boys thru all of their stuff for the day including finally doing one of Zak's optional activities from school, making a solar oven. We weren't able to use it to make anything since it was cloudy today but at least it's made and ready to go when the sun does come back. The day passed quickly and before long it was time for me to pick up Rocky and get ready for our evening.

After picking up a super tired dog from daycare, I came home and cooked dinner for us and ate quickly before heading to the church. When I got there I realized that due to a schedule conflict I wasn't needed to be there tonight but decided to stay anyway and take advantage of the quiet and finish a Zumba training, Cue Like a Pro. When I finished up my training, I went to pick up my weekly order from Kroger then came home and the boys helped me unload and put it all away. While we were doing that, Adrian was on his Zoom call for his Bible study. When everyone was done, we took Rocky on a quick walk and then called the boys down for their night routine. We watched another episode of "The Floor is Lava" and then got them down to bed. Then Adrian and I watched another episode of "This is Us" while having some snacks before we also headed to bed for the night.

Thursday (7/23) We all slept in again today and had a late start to our day. Adrian headed to our bedroom to work and I alternated between doing stuff around the house and doing stuff with the boys.  We crossed another thing off our summer wish list since Zak has officially learned how to tie his own shoes!! We finished their daily stuff and then they headed upstairs for the day while I worked downstairs on stuff around the house. I had another jam this afternoon and learned super cute choreo for both land and aqua Zumba to the same song. I can't wait to practice it and add it to my classes! After the jam, I started getting ready for my evening. I had a delicious early dinner and then headed to the church to teach my Zumba class. We had a great time dancing to some of my favorite songs and laughing a lot. While I was there, Adrian and the boys had dinner and cleaned up after it as well. When I got home, we took Rocky for a walk then played a family game of "Just One." We had a great time playing and laughing together at some of the clues. Then we watched last week's episode of "Don't" before getting the boys down to bed. We finished our night with another episode of "This is Us" since we've hit the binge watching portion of the season and can't wait to see what happens each episode. We stopped after one episode and headed to bed even though we really wanted to keep watching the next episodes.

Keeping Up With...Food (Meal Plan for July 19 - July 25)

Surprise!! I know I said last week that I wasn't going to do a meal plan blog for this week because Adrian and AJ would be away, but our plans have changed. Monday when Adrian logged in for work, he found out that one of his co-workers is leaving and this is his last week. Unfortunately that means a lot more work for Adrian so he was not able to take the week off. AJ decided he did not want to go camping alone so they are both missing the Scout camp this week. I'm bummed that AJ is missing the experience but thankful Adrian has further job security and promise of overtime for the foreseeable future. So since he's here this week, I threw together a meal plan for us.

However here's the thing about this week, I was not planning on going to the grocery store this week. I am trying to plan far enough ahead to only go every other week. So when I planned and shopped last week (early on Monday) I thought I had everything for this week. Then I got home and Adrian told me all that had happened. So my challenge for this week is to figure out meals with food we already have. It hasn't been super hard since we still have so many veggies from our CSA to use up, and we're still working on our meat stock up that I did earlier this summer. I actually think we're going to have a pretty delicious week this week!!

Here's what we're eating this week:
Sunday - Buffalo Chicken Zucchini Boats and Kale Chips - this is a carryover from last week. I ran out of steam on Friday and didn't cook that night (we went out as planned) or Saturday night (we had leftovers which was actually good because we had a ton!)
Monday - Shrimp over Zoodles Alfredo for the adults & Pasta Alfredo for the kids
Tuesday - Taco Tuesday!!
Wednesday - Asian Pork & String Beans (repeat from last week because it's so good and we have a lot of string beans to use!)
Thursday - Everything Bagel Chicken with Kale Chips and Air Fried Squash
Friday - Thai Chicken Salad
Saturday - Grilled Steak with Squash and String Beans

Water Flavor - Apple Mint. I have an apple that needs to be used up and the other half of the mint from last week. If I need a little more to fill the infusor tube, I'll add some strawberries.

Baking - I'm baking another batch of these chocolate chip muffins because they were delicious! I'm going to make them triple chocolate chip this time because I have milk chocolate, semi sweet and white chocolate chips all opened. We enjoyed them last week and can't wait for another week of them!

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 7/10 - 7/16)

Friday (7/10) We all slept in a little today and then woke up to not great weather. We were supposed to do Zak's pick of Zoombeezi Bay today but they were forcasting thunderstorms on and off all day, and especially during the time we wanted to bed there. So we decided to scrap the trip this week and schedule two for next week instead. We had a lazy day at home instead today. We did a few things around the house, including opening up and washing our tie die shirts that we made last week. AJ's and Zak's came out great, the other three are just OK. We took a break in the afternoon to head to Orange Leaf for our weekly ice cream trip out. It was different than before COVID, but they did a good job of getting us our ice cream and keeping us all safe. After we got home from there, we spent the rest of the day working around the house, watching TV and playing board games while the boys played video games. Adrian and I played this month's Pandemic Legacy game and we lost again. We also played Hanabi and lost, maybe today wasn't a good day for cooperative games. I wasn't feeling great so I headed to bed early tonight to be ready to get up early for training tomorrow.

Saturday (7/11) Today started super early for me since I signed up for Zumba training today. They offered us "Virtual Pro" for free and we could take it with any trainer we wanted. I picked one of my favorites that I have been dying to take a training with, Steve Boedt. I signed up for the training weeks ago, it said it was 12:30pm. It was...his time, which is in Brussels. So I had to get up and be ready for training at 6:30am. Yawn. It was fun though because the training was good and I learned a few new tips. I also had my friend Chris come over to do the training here with me so we got to catch up on all the things we've missed over the past few months. And it was done by 11am so I had the rest of the day to do whatever I wanted.

After training, the boys and Adrian were finally up and moving and we headed out to go on a walk with Rocky. We were supposed to go to Blendon Woods, but we had a few errands to run in the other direction so we went back to Quarry Park instead. We had a great, long hike in the beautiful park and Rocky enjoyed every second. Then we ran a few errands and finally came back home. We played our last family game for the week, a new to us game called 7 Wonders. We all enjoyed it but thought it was a little confusing. I pulled out a win at the very end!!

After that, the boys headed upstairs to play video games and Adrian and I got to work around the house since we have largely been ignoring everything around here. After working for a few hours and making pasta for dinner, I was pretty tired so we decided to play a few game. We played Castles of Burgundy and Roll for the Galaxy and I won both! I was really on a win streak today with our board games. When we finished playing, we watched an episode of "This is Us" and then all 5 of us headed to bed for the night, exhausted after a full day!

Sunday (7/12) Today we all slept in since it's our last official day of vacation. Things won't change too much tomorrow but Adrian will be back to working from home everyday and I will go back to teaching 4 Zumba classes each week. We are also trying to finish up a few projects around the house and will be figuring out what we're doing for the school year next year. It's pretty stressful around here right now and I'm thankful we had a week off to just relax and enjoy being together. We will probably do this again around Christmas time.

Anyway, today was not too exciting. We got a lot of work done around the house all day. Adrian and I were supposed to go out for date night, but he has been coughing and sneezing a lot the past few days & we just don't feel comfortable going somewhere and not wearing masks just in case he is sick. I've also been coughing and sneezing but mine has been ongoing since May so I'm assuming it's just allergies. We got just about everything done around the house that we needed to get done and I even sneaked in a little nap this afternoon. We had leftovers for dinner to keep it easy for all of us. We finished the night by watching "Holey Moley" with the boys before putting them to bed at a normal hour again. Then Adrian and I relived my youth and watched "Supermarket Sweep" on Netflix. So much fun to watch that show again, great memories of watching it with my family!!

Monday (7/13) Back to reality today! I got up and moving early because I had an appointment for my annual mammogram this morning. Adrian got up and moving and headed back to work in our bedroom. I headed out to my appointment and to pick up a few groceries on my way home. The day didn't really go as planned with lots of things not going smoothly, but I made the best of it as it came. It wasn't anything big, just a lot of little inconviences. And I honestly think part of it is that I haven't had to be many places on time for the past few months so it's weird to have to stick to a schedule. After I got home and situated after my errands, the boys and I got back to their normal daily stuff for the summer.

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly between working with them, getting dinner ready and getting ready for Zumba tonight. After dinner, I headed out to the church and my bad luck continued when I realized I forgot the tripod at home. Thankfully I was early enough to run back home and still start class close to on time. We had a super fun class and it felt great to be back to teaching after a week off!! While I was at class, Adrian took AJ to Scouts and then worked on cleaning up our back yard a bit. When we all got back home, we watched last week's episode of "Don't" and then got the kids to bed. After they were in bed, Adrian and I watched another episode of "This is Us" and then we also headed to bed for the night. It was exhausting getting back to our regular schedule!

Tuesday (7/14) Today I got up and moving a little earlier than I wanted to because there was a Zumba mini jam at 9am that I wanted to watch. It was such a great jam, the two jammers are awesome and I loved both songs! After the jam, I got the boys started on their day including getting thru our normal daily stuff this morning instead of the afternoon like we normally do. Soon after lunch, Zak had one of his friends from school over to play for a while. All 4 boys enjoyed playing together and did a great job of playing video games and playing outside. I barely even knew there was another kid here, although they were a little loud and disrupted one of Adrian's conference calls. Oops!!

After he was picked up, I got tacos together for dinner for everyone then continued working around the house. I was supposed to teach Aqua Zumba tonight but no one signed up for it so we decided to cancel it again this week. I got a ton of stuff done around the house and also got a Daily Burn workout done for the first time in a few weeks. The afternoon and evening passed quickly and I was super productive. Adrian worked late and then helped me get cleaned up from dinner when he was done. We finished the day with a family movie night watching Zak's pick of "Antman & the Wasp." We are nearly done rewatching all of the Marvel movies! After the movie, we put the boys to bed and watched a quick episode of "Parks and Rec" before we also headed to bed. We have an early morning tomorrow so I'm hoping we all get a good night of sleep.

Wednesday (7/15) We were all up and moving early for a bonus vacation day today. Zak's pick for last week was Zoombeezi Bay. He wanted to go and do a bunch of the slides and we planned to go on Friday for a few hours before they did the movie, then stay for the movie. However there were thunderstorms forecast for the time we were planning to go, so we bumped it to today. Adrian took the day off of work and we dropped Rocky off at daycare, got our swimsuits on and our stuff together and headed out. We got there around 10:30 and quickly started playing in the water. We had a great time in the wave pool, babboon lagoon and riding a few of the bigger slides. We were there for just over 3 hours and it started to get really hot and crowded so we decided to head out for the day. We stopped at Sonic on the way home to grab lunch and shakes and then retreated to our air conditioning. It was a little shorter than we thought it would be, but Zak did everything he wanted to do and said it was an awesome day so we accomplished what we wanted!!

We got home just in time for me to tune in to today's Zumba jam session. Everyone else headed upstairs to shower and play video games while I jumped online and learned two new choreographies. After the jam, I got my shower and started getting ready for work at the church tonight. Adrian and I had a delicious dinner together before I headed out to work at the church for an hour. I love having that hour to dedicate to working on my Zumba classes while helping with worship practice as well. While I was there, Adrian did his weekly Bible study over Zoom from our bedroom. When we were both done, we cleaned up from dinner and took Rocky for a walk. Then we checked out a new to us show "The Floor is Lava." The boys loved it and we were all cracking up and cheering on all of the teams! After the show, we got the boys down to bed and watched an episode of "Parks and Rec" before also heading to bed because we were exhausted after the day outside.

Thursday (7/16) We all slept in a little bit this morning and I got up just in time to jump online for another Zumba jam. I loved all of the songs and choreo from a very talented jammer! After the jam, I got the boys ready for their day and started working on a bunch of stuff around the house. AJ had a Zoom call with his merit badge counselor this afternoon and officially earned his Art merit badge! He did a great job talking to the counselor and explaining all that he learned, I was very proud of him. When he finished, I got the boys thru their daily stuff and then continued working on my stuff. I recorded two new Zumba classes to use on their new Studio platform today and I'm glad I finally made the time to get that done!

I was supposed to teach a Zumba class at the church tonight but I didn't have enough people register so I opted to cancel it. I took the extra time to get caught up on stuff around here and enjoy an extra long walk with Rocky and Adrian. Adrian worked pretty late today since he took yesterday off and there is some urgent work that he needs to get done over the next week or so. After dinner and cleaning up, we watched another episode of "The Floor is Lava" with the kids and then got them down to bed. Then Adrian and I watched an episode of "This is Us" from last season and then headed to bed as well. We were still pretty tired from yesterday, it's been a long & somewhat stressful week!

Keeping Up With...Food (Meal Plan for July 12 - July 18)

We had a great time last week on our family vacation! We ate a ton of junk food and while we enjoyed it, we're definitely feeling the effects this weekend. It's time to get back to healthy eating in this house for sure!! We are backed up on our veggies that we have delivered, mostly because we didn't eat many veggies the past week. They are all stored and I'll be using them up this week...just in time for another delivery! Here are a few pictures of our food and our CSA delieveries over the past week or so.

This week will be lots of veggies for lunches and dinners, as well as some leftovers of the stuff we cooked this past week. I won't be doing a blog post next week because next Sunday AJ and Adrian leave for a week at Boy Scout camp. Since it will just be me and the two younger boys, we'll be having lots of simple meals and leftovers. I'm planning on salads, sandwiches and breakfasts for dinners while we're here alone. I'm hoping we all have a good week while we are separated for the first time in months!

Anyway, here's what we're eating this week:
Sunday - Leftovers for our last day of vacation
Monday - Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls and Kale Chips
Tuesday - Queso Chicken and Air Fried Yellow Squash
Wednesday - Asian Pork, String Beans & Snow Peas over Rice
Thursday - Buffalo Chicken Zucchini Boats and Kale Chips
Friday - Out at Zoombeezi Bay!!
Saturday - Frittata and English Muffins - I'll probably sub beet greens for spinach since I'm almost out of spinach

Water Flavor - Cucumber Mint. I'll be using one of the cucumbers from our CSA and some mint that I got from the store last week. It's SO refreshing for the summer months!

Baking - I'm not doing much baking this week after a ton of baked goods last week. We still have some left over and I think we're all in a big of sugar shock. I will be making chocolate chip muffins for us for breakfasts this week, but that's all the baking I'm doing for the next two weeks.

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 7/3 - 7/9)

Friday (7/3) - Happy 1st Birthday Rocky!! We all started the celebration by sleeping in a bit this morning then she went on a nice long walk with Adrian. Once we all got up and showered, we played a few games together as a family including Just One and The Mind. We did pretty good on The Mind this time, we made it to round 6. Then we gave Rocky her birthday presents so she could play with them today. We got her a frisbee, balls, rubber chicken, tug of war rope and fuzzy squeezy animals. She seems to really like them all!!

The rest of the day passed quickly with us mostly relaxing and taking the day off. Adrian played video games with the boys since they've been asking all week and I finished watching "Dirty John." Adrian and I also played some board games including Roll for the Galaxy (I finally won!) and Wingspan (Adrian won). We had a delicious dinner of grilled steak, potatoes and roasted brocolli. After dinner, we had birthday cake for Rocky and cupcakes for us to celebrate her birthday. She loved eating the cake, finishing the whole thing very quickly. After the celebration, the boys headed upstairs to play video games and Adrian and I watched "Hamilton" on Disney+. While it was obviously better in person, it was still great watching it on TV. I especially enjoyed seeing the original cast!! And I caught things I missed the first time, that's what good theater is all about. I'm sure I'll watch it again! After the play was over, we put the boys to bed and headed to bed too since it was pretty late.

Saturday (7/4) Happy 4th of July!! We slept in a little this morning and then hit the ground running to get a few things done around the house. We were super productive this morning and got a big chunck of stuff done. Shortly after lunch we took a break to play a game as a family and played Space Base and I won big! Then we spent most of the afternoon getting stuff done around the house again. We took another break late in the afternoon and played Roll for the Galaxy and Adrian won in a very tight game, he beat me by just 1 point. Then we cooked a delicious dinner and took Rocky for a walk. After cleaning up the kitchen, we set up the Jones drive in for the night. We were going to go to the drive in tonight but it was super hot and we didn't really feel like leaving the house. So since we had both movies on our streaming services, we pulled out our junk food here and did a double feature in the comfort of our living room. We watched the live action "Jungle Book" and "My Spy" both of which were really cute! We took a break during the first movie to go out and watch the neighborhood fireworks shows. Our neighbors really outdid themselves this year, there were a ton of great shows to watch! After both movies were over, it was really late so we all headed to bed together. It was a really great night!!

Sunday (7/5) We accidentally slept in this morning and missed live church services. So we had a lazy start to our day, then started to clean up and get the house ready for company later this afternoon. We got the food prepped and got some cleaning done and were ready when Carl and his family arrived in the early afternoon. We spent the afternoon hanging out with them. The kids played upstairs together most of the day, occassionally going outside to play but it was SO hot they didn't last long. The adults hung out in the living room chatting and enjoying adult beverages and the new recliners. The dogs hung out together and mostly got along, although there were a few dust ups as the day went on. It was a great and much needed day with family!! After a delicious BBQ, they headed home for the night and we cleaned up a little here. Then Adrian and I played a game of Takenoko and he won. We got the boys down to bed a little earlier than we have been since there have been so many late nights. Then we watched two episodes of "Parks & Rec" before heading to bed too. Happy to not have to get up and moving tomorrow since Adrian is on vacation all week!!

Monday (7/6) We all slept in pretty late again today, I think all of the late nights this week have caught up with us. We had a super lazy morning for Adrian's first day of vacation this week and then finally got moving around lunch time. We each planned a day for this week and today was Daniel's day. We headed to Big Bounce this afternoon for an hour of trampoline jumping as a family. We had a great time and had the place pretty much to ourselves. When we finished jumping, we ran two quick errands and then headed home for the afternoon. The boys had some free time and Adrian and I played Castles of Burgundy which I narrowly won.

Then we cooked dinner together, Daniel's choice of gnocchi and alfredo sauce. After dinner, I headed out to teach my Zumba class at the church. I had a smaller group than usual, but we still had a great time and got an awesome workout! While I was there, Adrian took AJ to his Scout meeting which was at one of the leader's houses that has a pool so they could work on swimming and water rescue requirements. When we all got home, it was pretty late so decided to postpone our family movie night and instead enjoyed our brownies for dessert while watching the first season finale of "Lemony Snickett's Series of Unfortunate Events" as a family. After we got the boys to bed, we watched an episode of "This is Us" from last season and then headed to bed as well. It was a great first day of vacation for us!

Tuesday (7/7) We were up a little earlier than we wanted to be today, but that was OK because we were having a relaxing day at home. We had a lazy morning of coffee, breakfast and TV and then Adrian ran out to Lowe's to get all of the supplies we need to complete our 2 home renovation projects this fall. While he was there, I did a few things around the house and baked some Amish Friendship Bread to enjoy over the next week. When he got home, we played our next month of Machi Koro Legacy as a family and Zak won in a close game! AJ is the only one of us who hasn't won yet, but he's been so close each time.

After that family game, the boys headed upstairs and Adrian taught me the game he's wanted to teach me since his conference, Trickerion. It is really complex and while I got it eventually, I didn't love it. Adrian won big, but I did pretty well for my first time. I don't know that I'll want to play too often, but I know he loves it so I'll play again for him. After the nearly 4 hour long game, we made Zak's pick of tacos for everyone for dinner. Then Adrian and I played a quick game of Roll for the Galaxy and I won big! We finished up our day with Zak's dessert pick of cookie pizza and Daniel's movie pick of "Infinity War." It was another great vacation day!

Wednesday (7/8) We again started a little earlier than we would have liked, but we had to make sure we dropped Rocky off to day care before 9am this morning. While she was gone, we had another great stay home family day and it was AJ's game picks all day. Before we started playing games, we each made a tie die shirt to remember this summer. Then we played a great game of Clue and Adrian got super lucky and won one turn before AJ was going to win. Then we played Shapes and Beats as a family and had a ton of fun laughing while playing that.

We took about an hour break to each do what we wanted, including Adrian going to get us Starbucks drinks. Then we played AJ's second game pick of Super Mario Brothers Level Up. We had a great time playing, it was our first time and a super fun game! Zak pulled out the win and did really great with his strategy. When we were done with that board game, we headed back upstairs and played Mario Cart on the Switch and once again had a ton of fun laughing while we played that. After about an hour of playing that together, we took a little break so I could cook dinner and Adrian could go pick up Rocky.

We had a delicious dinner of meatball subs (and kale for the adults) and then played AJ's final board game pick of Fortnight Monopoly. It's a different and fun spin on Monopoly and plays way quicker than traditional Monopoly. I was the first person eliminated and Adrian eventually pulled off a super close win. Then the boys had some free time and played video games while Adrian and I cleaned up from dinner and took Rocky for a walk. We played another quick game of Roll for the Galaxy and Adrian won by 1 point! We finished our night by making our own sundaes and watching "Holey Moley" together as a family. When we got the boys down to bed, Adrian and I watched an episode of "This is Us" and then also headed to bed. It was another fantastic vacation day for us!!

Thursday (7/9) We got up and moving pretty quick today so we could head out on our adventure. We were supposed to go to the zoo, but it was SO hot that we knew that wouldn't be a good fit for us. So instead we took Rocky to the dog beach in the area to go swimming. We had so much fun watching her swim in the lake and run around with the other dogs. Zak and AJ got in the water a little bit with her, but Daniel wasn't a fan of it. We spent about an hour splashing around with Rocky and then took her to the dog park right there to run around and dry off a bit. It was a fun morning out together!

When we got home, the boys headed upstairs to play video games and Adrian and I played some board games. We had a few that we each wanted to play this week so those are the ones we did today. We played Lords of Waterdeep (Adrian won), Back to the Future (we lost, but just barely) and Viticulture (I won). In between the games we also made homemade pizza for dinner and our first ever dessert (smores) pizza. It was all delicious and we ate too much!! It was a fun day, somewhat relaxing after the morning. And Rocky spent most of the afternoon sleeping after so much excitement the past few days!!

Keeping Up With...Food (Meal Plan for July 5 - July 11)

We did great sticking to our meal plan last week and made everything and it was all delicious! We are getting vegetables quicker than we can use them, but thankfully we're storing them correctly and we'll be able to still enjoy them all. I will continue to cook around the veggies that we have and the ones we get in upcoming weeks. I know very soon we'll be getting melons in our share so we'll have more fruits than veggies and we'll be caught up.

This week Adrian is on vacation so we are having a fun staycation week. We've decided not to travel this year and instead save our money for two trips next year. We're each planning a day of activities as well as dinner and dessert this week. It's a lot of junk food this week and we're all excited. We're heading out a few days and staying home a few so we have a nice balance. I'm looking forward to some rest and some fun family days.

Here's what we're eating this week:
Sunday - Ribs in our instant pot with Pierogies and Kale Chips
Monday - Daniel's pick of Gnocchi with Alfredo and Brownies for dessert
Tuesday - Zak's pick of Tacos and Cookie Pizza for dessert
Wednesday - AJ's pick of Meatball Subs and Make Your Own Sundae for dessert
Thursday - My pick of Homemade Pizza and Smores Pizza for dessert
Friday - Out to eat at Zoombeezi Bay!
Saturday - Adrian's pick of Pasta with Vodka Sauce and Cookies for dessert

Water Flavor - Kiwi. This finishes off the kiwis that I bought. It is delicious and I need to remember it for the future to buy some kiwi and use it in the water.

Baking - I'm doing a ton of baking this week! I'm making the brownies on Monday, from a box, but adding extra chocolate chips. I'll be helping bake the Smores Pizza on Thursday and will make the M&M cookies on Saturday. I'm also making Cinnamon Buns for breakfast one morning and Amish Friendship Bread with oreo pudding. I'm excited to make (and eat!) all of these things this week!!

Keeping Up With...2020 Goals (June Recap)

June is the first month in a really long time that flew by! I think it's because we were actually busy most of this month. We added some outings back into our lives and I went back to work teaching Zumba in person. We celebrated AJ's birthday and Father's Day. And Adrian attended at virtual board game convention and I had another two weeks of the Zumba virtual convention. The boys had a few friends sleep over and Zak learned how to ride his bike! Add all of that to our normal busy schedule and you have a month that (finally) flew by!

I didn't really focus on my goals this month, it's hard to stay motivated on them especially since so many of them are dependant on being able to freely leave the house. There are also days when the stress gets the best of me, mostly the stress of not knowing what's going to happen with school in the fall and knowing there is nothing I can do to control it. I'm trying to stay positive in front of the kids, but it's not always easy to stay motivated and on task. I've gotten better, especially with my daily to do list, and I'm hoping to stay up on things that need done around the house this coming month. But we have a few other things on our schedule this month too so we'll see how it all plays out.

Here are my goals for the year and how I'm doing on each of them. The crossed out ones are the ones I have revised and the red ones are done.

• Lose 25 pounds - Gained 0 lb this month, down 3 for the year. This has been a huge struggle for me. At this point I will honestly be happy if I don't gain this year. July will continue to be a struggle for this one, hoping to get my butt in gear though!
• Exercise for 20 minutes every day - I exercised all 30 days this month, 164 days so far this year!! Some of the days were just walking with Adrian and Rocky, but every day I did something that got me moving and I'm proud of that!
• Finish 12 exercise related calendar challenges - I did not finish my challenge for this month which was to do the Daily Burn workout every day. I started strong but ran out of steam at the end of the month. It was just too much with also teaching 4 Zumba classes each week and trying to take Zumba livestreams. I did finish 20 days this month so I'm proud of that accomplishment!
• Do 30 40 Bible Plans in the You Verse app - I finished 4 plans in June, and have finished 25 so far this year. I think I'm on track to finish this revised goal.
• Read "A Little God Time for Women" - I've read all 181 days so far this year, I'm on track to finish this goal too.
• Read 20 books - I've finished 6 books so far this year.  In June I finished "Becoming" which was fantastic! I really enjoyed reading it and learning a little more about the Obama family.
• Read the 12 How to Train Your Dragon Books - I finished 8 books so far.
• Read "Feminine Mystique" - I have read 26% so far this year. I have been on the wait list forever for this book, hoping I'll get it sometime in July.
• Write 45 meal plan blogs - I did 2 posts this month, 15 blog posts so far this year.
• Write 52 weekly summary blogs - I did 4 posts this month, 24 blog posts so far this year
• Write 12 4 9 goal recap blogs - I've done 4 so far this year so this goal looks doable. I have revised it again in hopes I will be able to keep up with this  goal.
• Pay off $5,000 of credit card debt - We paid off $600 this month, $1,200 so far this year. We're a little behind on this goal since we bought our couches and added them to our debt. But we've been able to keep up the high payoff each month even though I'm not working so I'm really proud of us! If we keep it up, we'll pay off $4,800 for the year which will be amazing!
• Renovate the boys' bedrooms kitchen - We didn't make any progress on this during this month. Adrian needs to go and get all of the paint supplies for us and he hasn't made it to Lowe's yet.
• Finish my daily to do list every night - I did this 26 days in June which is by far the best month this year! I've been really good about finishing up everything, or maybe leaving one thing but then doing it first thing the next morning. 
• Watch 50 movies - We've watched 30 movies so far.  Our June movies were "Stand By Me," "Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2," "Spiderman: Homecoming," "Goonies," "Thor: Ragnorok," "Black Panther" and "Abdominable." They were all really good and fun!! 
• Go on 12 dates with Adrian - We've gone on 5 dates so far this year.
• Sub 80 days in the schools - I've subbed 21.5 days so far since January.  Unfortunately this goal is on hold until schools reopen, or possibly next year.  
• Go to 6 Zumba jam sessions - I did two virtual jams this month and it solidified that this format is not for me. During the first one, I was distracted thru the whole session and kept getting interupted by the boys. I also had some internet issues which made it tough to stay connected. The second one went much better and I learned all of the songs for that one and will be adding them to class soon. It still wasn't ideal, I prefer them in person but I'll take what I can get!
• Clean out master bedroom - Done!!
• Play 1 game with Adrian each week - I have done this all 26 weeks so far! This has been great for us while we're staying home so much!
• Play Pandemic Legacy: Season 2 with Adrian once per month - We have played all 6 months so far.  We once again just barely won June, almost had too many outbreaks. We also played a lot of Pandemic this month because we were in a tournament during his virtual board game conference. It was a lot of fun, even if we didn't do very well!!
• Play Machi Koro Legacy with the boys - We have played 5 months so far and are having a great time playing this game as a family!! We didn't play this in June but it's only a 10 month campaign so I'm not super upset about missing one month.
• Have 6 nights out with friends - I've had 3 nights out so far.
• Go on an awesome family vacation to the Outerbanks - We have decided to cancel this trip due to the uncertain nature of travel right now. We debated about doing something else as a family but decided to just stay home for the summer instead. Adrian is taking a week off in July and we'll do a few day trips but that's all we have planned for the summer now.
• Do 100 fun family things (one thing each week during school & one thing per person each week over the summer) - We did 29 fun things so far this year and obviously this is a little different right now.  We are still having fun, it's just a different kind of fun right now.  This month we did trips to Donna's Donuts, Graeter's, Krispy Kreme and Cones & Concoctions, hiked at Quarry Park and Huber Park and went to Game Stop, Urban Air, Zoombeezi Bay, Hannah Park and a drive in movie.
• Go on 2 family camping trips - Same as with vacation, we went back and forth and decided not to do this but instead save our money and energy for a few fun day trips and invest in one or two big vacations next year.
• Deep clean the whole house - Done!!  We only have the basement left, but that is on hold until we renovate the kitchen.

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 6/26 - 7/2)

Friday (6/26) We all slept in very late today, it has been a busy week and we were all exhausted. When we finally got up, Adrian got moving pretty quickly to start working. I had a rough time getting moving and tried my best to get stuff done. I did a few things, got the boys thru their stuff and then spent the rest of the day reading and watching TV. Sometimes you just need to throw in the towel on the to do list and relax!! After a relaxing day and a quick dinner, we packed up the car and headed to Zoombeezi Bay for our first trip of the season. It was not very crowded at all and we had a great time riding the big slides, playing in the wave pool and otter banks and watching part of the movie (Detective Pikachu) they were showing. It was a really fun family night!! When we got home, it was late so I got the boys to bed while Adrian hung out with Rocky for a bit. I headed to bed soon after the boys and then he came up after a little more time with Rocky. It was a weird Friday but I'm glad we had a great night together!

Saturday (6/27) Today started a little earlier than I wanted it to when the alarm went off for me to get up. But I got up and moving anyway and had a great time dancing with friends at Zumba at the church this morning. We got a great workout to start our weekend! When I got back home, Adrian was already attending virtual sessions for his board game conference. I got the boys breakfast and showers and then we all basically split up for the day. The boys played video games, Adrian played board games virtually and I worked around the house trying to get caught up. The day passed quickly and was both fun and productive! Adrian had a big break around dinner time so we all had dinner together and then played a family game of Castle Panic, which we once again barely won. After dinner it was more of the same, video games, board games online and work. We pretty much did our own thing until bedtime tonight. It was a fun and also productive day!!

Sunday (6/28) We all slept in this morning after the late night last night and it felt great! We had a bit of a slow morning and then got some work done around the house. In the afternoon, we all split up again. I did an awesome Zumba jam with friends and learned choreo to 5 amazing songs. Adrian did his final virtual board game conference session. AJ had his friend Landon come over so all of the boys were hanging out upstairs playing video games. The day passed quickly and everyone had a great afternoon!!

In the evening, we all had dinner together and then the boys headed back upstairs to play. Adrian and I got a bunch of stuff done in the house in like two hours and then called ourselves done for the weekend. We played our monthly game of Pandemic Legacy and thankfully just barely won for the month. Then we played a game of Roll for the Galaxy and Adrian won, again. He keeps getting really good started cards and then is able to build on them and I am not getting that lucky. When we were done playing, we watched the next episode of "This Is Us" from last season and we headed to bed. The boys stayed up and put themselves to bed by (hopefully) our agreed on time of 2:00am.

Monday (6/29) We all slept in this morning and Adrian told me that he woke up around 2 and did make sure all of the boys went to bed last night. He and I got up earlier than the boys so he could get to work at a reasonable hour. I worked around the house until the boys got up then made them all pancakes breakfast. After a little more playing together, Landon's mom came and picked him up and the boys and I got started on our week. They got showers and then we made our plans for the next two weeks so I can get all of the grocery shopping done this week and have fun staring on Friday when Adrian is off for 10 days.

After getting our stuff done for the day, the boys headed back upstairs to play and I got dinner ready. After dinner I headed out to the church to teach my largest Zumba class since quarantine started and we all had a great time! I think I finally have everything figured out to have a smooth class both in person and on the internet...until something else changes, ha! When I got home, we took Rocky for a quick walk and then watched "Don't" with the boys before getting them to bed a little earlier than usual because they were exhausted. Then Adrian and I finished cleaning up from dinner and watched a few comedies before also headed to bed for the night.

Tuesday (6/30) I got up and moving a little earlier than I wanted to but I had an appointment for Adrian's car so I needed to get out on time. I headed over to Madza and got the oil changed and a 40,000 mile check up on Adrian's car while reading my book for about an hour. Then I ran a few errands before coming back home around lunch time. I got the boys started on their day and hung out a bit with Rocky as well. The afternoon passed quickly and soon I was getting our dinner ready for taco Tuesday. The boys and I ate because Adrian was stuck on a work problem and then I headed out to teach my weekly Aqua Zumba class. I had a great, but hot, time teaching the ladies and then got to swim and hang out with them for a little bit. While I was there, Adrian cleaned up from dinner and got us ready for our evening. When I got home, we had family movie night and watched my pick of "Abominable," which was super cute! After the movie, we got the boys to bed, watched two episodes of "Parks & Recs" and headed to bed too. It was a full and productive Tuesday!!

Wednesday (7/1) Once again I got up and moving a little earlier than I wanted to, or actually needed to. Adrian was up really early and dropped Rocky off at daycare before I even woke up. Then he headed upstairs to work while I got ready and headed out to finish my grocery shopping for the next 2 weeks. I got a ton of stuff done in just under 2 hours and the boys helped me unload and put it all away when I got home. After a quick lunch, we got started on their daily stuff which today included making catapults to launch marshmallows. We had a fun time doing that this afternoon, as well as eating a few of the marshmallows.

After the boys were done, I recorded a new class for my students and then took a Zumba livestream with an awesome instructor from New York. After that I was a sweaty mess so I grabbed a quick shower then headed to pick up Rocky from daycare. When we got home, I cooked a quick and delicious dinner and then headed out to work at the church for an hour where I got a ton of stuff done. When I got home, we finished cleaning up from dinner and then headed out to see the Patriotic light display in Westerville. It was cute but a little underwhelming. But we still enjoyed a nice ride out together as a family and some nice conversation. When we got home, we put the boys to bed and then watched another episode of "This is Us" before heading to bed too.

Thursday (7/2) We slept in a little today and hit the ground running on our day. Adrian headed in to work his last day for the next 10 days. I'm excited he'll be off for a little mini staycation here in Ohio. I started working on stuff around the house since I was a little behind after having so many errands to run the past few days. The day passed quickly as I got stuff checked off my list and got the boys thru their daily stuff, including AJ having a counseling session for another merit badge for Scouts. We are very proud of how hard he's working to do finish a few badges while we're staying home so much. I cooked a delicious pot of chili for dinner and then headed to the church to teach my Zumba class. It was a smaller class, but we still had a great time and got an awesome workout. When I came home, we took Rocky for a walk and finished cleaning up after dinner. Then we watched another episode of "Series of Unfortunate Events" with the boys before putting them to bed. We finished up the night with another episode of "This is Us" before heading to bed too. Excited for no alarm for the next 10 days!!