Keeping Up With...Food (Menu Plan 9/19 - 9/25)

It was a crazy week last week, but I managed to mostly stick to my menu plan.  On Friday Adrian came home not feeling well, so I just had leftovers for dinner and bumped one dish from last week to this week.  Our favorite dish from last week by far was the Homemade Taco Hamburger Helper - SO good!  We have a beast of a week coming up with lots of stuff going on, plus lots of make up homework for AJ and still fighting off some of these germs.

I'm mostly using up the leftover turkey from the turkey I'm roasting today.  We got another CSA bag last week with tons of tomatoes, string beans and different types of squash.  I'll be using up that stuff if I run out of turkey.  Most of the veggies will be used as I can this week and then I'll really focus on using them up next week.

Our weekend plans are up in the air right now.  My parents will be in town so I'm assuming we'll be getting together with them and my brother and his family.  But we haven't made any solid plans yet.  I'm not planning anything for Saturday or Sunday.  If we end up on our own for dinner one night, we'll have leftovers.

Here's what we're eating this week:
Monday - Tilapia Scampi with Zucchini and Ricotta Casserole
Tuesday - Taco Tuesday
Wednesday - Turkey Soup with English Muffin Garlic Bread
Thursday - Turkey Pot Pie and Roasted Squash
Friday - Tex Mex Turkey Soup and Salads
Saturday - leftovers or family dinner
Sunday - leftovers or family dinner

Water Flavor - Peach.  This is the first time I'm using peach in my infuser.  I honestly forgot about anything for it and haven't been able to get to the grocery store much the past week.  I'm looking forward to it!

Food Prep - I'm roasting the turkey today that I will use most of the week.  I have the food list made and I'm ready to shop tomorrow.  The water is set up for the week.  Fruit is cut up for snacks.  And I made protein ranch dressing and hard boiled eggs for lunches.  I'm also making Eggplant Pasta on Tuesday for lunch and Turkey Salad on either Tuesday or Wednesday for lunches.  I think I'm ready for the week!

As always, I'm linking up with Laura at Mommy, Run Fast.  Go check out the other blogs on the link up for some more yummy recipes!  Have a great week!!

Keeping Up With...Family (Weekly Wrap 9/9 - 9/15)

Friday (9/9) we woke up to rain and was expecting to have our night plans cancelled.  Luckily it cleared in the afternoon and we were able to walk home from school and then have baseball practice at night.  Fall ball is feeling more like sweltering hot summer ball, but hopefully soon we'll have actual fall weather.  I enjoy going to the practices on Friday nights and chatting with the other moms while we all melt into the bleachers.

Saturday (9/10) was a busy day!  We split up for most of it, with our busy schedule we often have to divide and conquer.  I took Zak and went to teach my Zumba class and then took him to his first soccer class.  He had a blast & did a great job!!  I'm so excited that he wants to play sports again after a brief period of refusing to do anything.  He listened to everything the coach asked him to do and was laughing and smiling the whole hour.  When he finished he said "My favorite part was everything!"

While we were there, Adrian took the older two boys and went to AJ's Brain Balance appointment then got them ready for their baseball double header.  They play two games each Saturday, usually back to back.  The three of them headed out for game one while Zak and I had lunch and relaxed.  Then we switched places & I watched game 2 while Adrian and Zak came back home to watch the OSU game.  AJ and Daniel's team won both games again this week!  AJ got a few hits, Daniel is still struggling with hitting.  They both did a nice job in the field.

Finally after all of that, Adrian and I headed out for a date while the boys stayed home with their sitters.  We were delayed a little since the OSU game was late and then was weather delayed, but we made it work.  We went to Iron Chef for dinner, then to Old Navy and Target to pick up a few things.  We finished the night with some ice cream and TV time on the couch.  What a full day!!

 

Sunday (9/11) I headed out bright and early for my Zumba training and Adrian had the boys all day.  He took them to church, then to swimming lessons and then out to McDonald's for lunch.  They spent the rest of the day trying to get the house in order, playing video games and hanging out.  We finished up the day watching football since it was kick off weekend.  Both the Jets and the Cowboys lost (by 1 stinking point!) so it wasn't a happy day for us, but we were just excited that football is back.  Hoping the season turns around for both of our teams!

Monday (9/12) started with a rough overnight.  Both AJ and Zak weren't feeling well and were up over night.  Zak has a stomach bug and a very sore bottom.  AJ has a head cold and horrible cough.  We spent the day resting, relaxing and trying not to share germs!

Tuesday (9/13) Zak was feeling better but AJ was still not 100%.  However he begged to go to school because he had decided to run for the school's leadership board and he had to give his speech today.  He worked very hard on it all weekend and was very excited to give his speech.  So I sent him to school with a horrible cough.  He was really tired when he got home so we spent the rest of the night watching TV and playing with cars.  He will find out later this week if he won or not.

Wednesday (9/14) AJ is still sick.  He stayed home from school again.  I honestly think he was sick yesterday but was determined to do his speech.  I'm proud of his determination!  The other two boys went to school, but we did all skip baseball practice tonight.  I'm hoping all of this rest will get us back to our normal, healthy selves quickly!!

Thursday (9/15) AJ was home sick again today.  He woke up coughing really bad again and is just really worn out and struggling to kick this.  He did seem to be perking up some later in the day, even asked me to email his teacher for his make up work.  He did his Math (of course!) but then seemed really worn out at the end of the night.  We'll see what happens tomorrow morning.

Keeping Up With...Workouts (Recap of 9/7 - 9/13)

What a fantastic Sunday at Zumba Basic 2 training!  I'll be honest, I wasn't super excited to go to the training.  I felt like I already knew a lot of the rhythms that they teach there, I've learned a lot of them at jams and am using some of them in my classes.  But I still learned a ton!  And had a blast.  We learned six new rhythms, and even the ones I'm already using I was able to improve on.

I also got to spend the whole day with great Zumba instructors.  Here are some of them, there was about 20 of us in total doing the training.  We talked a lot about other things to do with instructing, not just learning the rhythms.  One thing we talked about was the burnout cycle.  I think I was definitely on the down swing in my teaching career.  The summer really burned me out with low class attendance, the boys complaining about going to the gym and just general life business.  Now that the boys are back in school, my students are all coming back (and some new ones too, yay!) and my schedule changed for the better I'm back on the up swing.  Plus I did this training, have a jam this weekend and caught some of Beto teaching a class on the live stream this past week.  I'm back on my Zumba high!

The other big news from this past week was last Thursday I taught 5 classes!  This was a big deal to me.  Most of them were lower impact, but I'm still really proud and impressed that my body was able to handle all of that exercise.  Sometimes I get frustrated by the scale not moving, then I have a day like that (or the 8 hours of dancing on Sunday) and think how my body could not have handled that a few years ago.  I also listened to my body and took Friday morning off to rest.  I did teach my class but didn't go to Relentless or PiYo since I was a little sore and tired and knew I had a busy weekend coming up.  I'm getting stronger and smarter!!

Here's what I did last week:
Wednesday - Taught 2 one hour Zumba classes
Thursday - Taught 2 one hour Zumba Gold classes, 2 one hour Silver Sneakers Classic classes and 1 one hour Zumba Toning class
Friday - Taught 1 one hour Zumba class
Saturday - Taught 1 one hour Zumba Toning class
Sunday - Danced for about 8 hours at Zumba Basic 2 training
Monday - Taught 1 one hour Zumba class (my morning class was cancelled because AJ & Zak were sick)
Tuesday - Taught 1 one hour Silver Sneakers Classic class and one 30 minute Zumba Gold class

All in all a pretty great week of workouts!  I was a little disappointed the scale didn't move much, I'm still where I was.  My eating was pretty good, although we did eat out twice over the weekend.  I know I was over calories on Saturday, but Sunday I burned a ton and was not over the calories.  But as I just wrote, it's not only about that so I will continue to be positive and continue working hard!

Keeping Up With...Food (Menu Plan 9/12 - 9/18)

I'm not sure what I was thinking when I planned last week, but I had a really busy week and wasn't able to do a lot of cooking.  I stuck to the plan the best I could, threw in a pasta day for a break and survived the week.  I also forgot that we had a sitter last Saturday so we went out to dinner instead of me cooking.  I'll be carrying over the few meals from last week that I didn't get to cook.  That's a nice way to start a week when I had very little time to think over a busy weekend!

The meals I did cook last week were awesome!!  We are loving all the veggies from our CSA and I have been cooking a ton with them.  I made Homemade Tomato Soup last week that was excellent!  I am planning on making another batch this week to stock the fridge with some lunches.  Adrian told me it was better than Campbell's!  We also really enjoyed the Lasagna Pepper Boats and are thrilled that they made so many so we have lots of leftovers!

This week is slightly less busy.  Plus I'm actually writing this on Monday, which we spent at home due to AJ and Zak not feeling well.  They seem to be on the mend so it should be back to school for everyone tomorrow.  I'm very glad I have everything I need for the next few dinners since I probably won't get to the store until Wednesday morning.  I'm also trying my best to eat food that we have in our freezer downstairs as we really need to defrost it.  I've cleaned 2 shelves out so far, 3 more to go!

Here's what we're eating this week:
Monday - Pork Chops in Mushroom Soup & Pierogies
Tuesday - Chicken Caesar Salads with English Muffin Garlic Bread
Wednesday - Italian Turkey Zoodle Bake with Roasted String Beans
Thursday - Zucchini, Tomato & Feta Omelettes with English Muffins
Friday - Homemade Taco Hamburger Helper
Saturday - Tilapia Scampi with Zucchini and Ricotta Casserole
Sunday - Turkey (to use it up) with Mashed Potatoes & Veggies

Water Flavor - Watermelon

Food Prep - Zero.  We had a super busy weekend and I was barely home.  I set up the water today, have some snacks ready to go, and have shopping done for meals thru Friday.  Next weekend I will do more because I plan to use up the leftover turkey for most of our dinners next week.

As always, I'm linking up with Laura at Mommy, Run Fast.  Go check out the other blogs on the link up for some more yummy recipes!  Have a great week!!

Keeping Up With...Family (Weekly Wrap 9/2 - 9/8)

Friday (9/2) was a busy day!  I got everyone to school (yahoo, we survived a full week & everyone was on time!) and then went to work out.  In the afternoon, Zak and I had a bunch of errands to run together.  Then we picked up the big boys and got ready for their baseball practice.  It was a gorgeous night at the ball field, what a difference a week makes!!  We ended the day with a family movie night watching Zootopia which we all really enjoyed.  We were all exhausted from the week so it was an early bed time for all of us.

Saturday (9/3) we had planned to go to Zoombeezi Bay one final time this summer, but we were all just really tired and wanted to chill out at home.  So that's pretty much what we did.  We watched some TV, including the Buckeye game, played in the yard and had a relaxing and fun day.  In between that, Adrian and I took turns sneaking out to go to the hospital to meet our newest nephew, Vincent, who was born yesterday.  He is so precious and we are so excited he is here! 

Sunday (9/4) was a jam packed day!  We went to church as a family in the morning, then I stayed to volunteer in childcare.  After a quick lunch, the boys had swimming lessons at the Y.  From there we split up for a few hours.  I took AJ and Daniel and we headed downtown for a Children's Theater production of James and the Giant Peach Jr.  It was a fun play, we all enjoyed it.  Adrian took Zak and went to play mini golf, then came home and played video games with him.  We finished up the day with another movie night watching a classic, Ghostbusters, and eating junk food!  We were also treated to an awesome fireworks display in our driveway!  One of our neighbors put on a great show that we could watch from our house.  The boys were so excited.  I'm not sure which was better, the fireworks themselves or the boys yelling & giggling with each one.

Monday (9/5) was our bonus weekend day since it's Labor Day weekend!  We got up early and got an early start on the giant to do lists.  After working for a bit, we took a break and headed to COSI to see the Game Masters exhibit before it closed.  It was fun to play old school video games on the arcade machines!  We also played some Mario on a huge screen and some Rock Band.  The boys want us to set ours back up so we may pull that up this winter.  We finished the day with some time at home getting ready for a busy week ahead!

Tuesday (9/6) we got back to the grind today.  It was a rough day, everyone was out of practice going to school and following rules.  We also had both the chiropractor and Brain Balance in the evening so there was a lot of rushing around.  We did have a fun time singing songs in the car ride back & forth from the appointments.  We have recently found Kids Place Live on Sirius XM and we love it!

Wednesday (9/7) I got everyone to school and ran some errands.  It amazes me how much I can get accomplished when I'm by myself.  I got everything done, went and visited with a friend for about 30 minutes and was still on time to pick up Zak from preschool.  In the afternoon Daniel had a dentist appointment to get sealants put on his molars to prevent cavities.  He did great during the procedure and earned the "great patient" trophy.  He was very proud of himself, and so am I!

Thursday (9/8) started off very rough for us (again!)  I think it's the short week, everyone has just been out of sorts all week.  We got everyone where they needed to be and I got some of my stuff done.  I guess that's a successful day.  The boys had a good day at school, which I always like to hear!  And AJ leveled up in two different things at Brain Balance tonight, he's been moving up pretty much every time he goes which is great news!  I'm glad to see our hard work finally paying off.

Keeping Up With...Workouts (Recap of 8/31 - 9/6)

I was so overwhelmed with all of the changes going on to my teaching schedule last week that a milestone came and went without me noticing.  I hit my first goal on my exercise streak - I went longer than 112 days!  Today is actually day 121 of me doing at least 10 minutes of exercise in a row.  I'm still aiming for 365 days in a row, but am setting these smaller goals along the way as well.  My next goal is 200 days in a row, which will be the beginning of December.

I think this goal is very attainable.  I am now teaching 6 days/week (Mon-Sat) and have 3 or 4 different classes that I'm able to take as a student in that time as well.  Sunday will mostly be a rest day for me, except for 10-15 minutes of either walking or practicing Zumba.  The boys also have swim lessons on Sunday and enjoy swimming together as a family after lessons so that would count as well.

This was a pretty exciting week with me starting my new classes.  I'm so excited for the opportunity to help develop the Silver Sneakers program at Brickhouse, hoping I am able to bring some new people in for them.  I'm also looking forward to Zumba Basic 2 training this weekend with some awesome friends & the fantastic Kelly Bullard!  Look for a recap next week.

Here's what I did this week:
Wednesday - Taught a one hour Zumba Gold class and a one hour Zumba class
Thursday - Taught 2 one hour Zumba Gold classes, taught a one hour Zumba class & walked back and forth from school
Friday - Taught a one hour Zumba class, took 45 minutes of a Relentless class & walked back and forth from school
Saturday - Taught a one hour Zumba Toning class
Sunday - Walked around downtown with AJ and Daniel for about 20 minutes
Monday - Walked around COSI with the family for about 2 hours
Tuesday - Taught a 45 minute Silver Sneakers class & a 45 minute Zumba Gold class and walked back and forth from school

Another pretty good week of workouts in the books!  My eating wasn't on point this weekend, I just decided to take the weekend off from following the plan and counting everything.  We had take out and junk food.  It was fun.  I didn't lose any weight this week and I'm not surprised by that, nor am I upset about it.  I'll get it next week...maybe.

Keeping Up With...My Fab 40! - Aug review

So I feel like I just did one of these updates (probably because I just did) but I wanted to stay up to date on them so I'm doing August too.  I didn't get much accomplished in August, it was a crazy month between vacation and going back to school.  I'm trying to catch my breath now and then make a plan for the rest of the year so I can accomplish most of these goals.

Here's how I'm doing after 8 months.  I have broken them down into three categories (on-going, one time and finished) so it's easier for me to update.  The goals are in black and my current month comments are in red.

On-Going
1.  Lose 40 pounds - one for each year - Lost 11 of the 40 lbs.  I am back to pre-vacation weight and accomplished my goal of maintaining over the summer.  I did really well with my eating and working out the second half of August and am hoping to continue this for the next 3 months, until I hit the craziness of Nov/Dec.
2.  Read 12 books - I was so close last year! - Read 10 of the 12.  I finished 1 book this month, "A Visit From The Goon Squad."  It was just an OK book.  I didn't think the story pulled all of the characters together very well, but some of the individual stories were interesting.  I'm continuing on this list of 50 books this month and am excited to be re-reading Anne Frank's diary.
3.  Go on 12 dates with Adrian - Went on 12 of the 12!!  We had one date night in Aug, we went to see "Wicked" for our final Broadway show of the season.  I'm excited that we already hit 12 and still have 4 more months in the year.  I'm hoping we get 4 more dates.  I'm also a little sad that we don't have guaranteed dates next year since we cancelled our Broadway season tickets.  But it was for the best.  We're not interested in most of the shows coming next year.  I'm excited to be able to do some new things in the next few months!
4.  Get rid of 12 bags of stuff - I got rid of 1 bag of clothes this month.  Before school started, I went through all of the boys clothes and got rid of a ton of stuff.  I also cleaned up their homework/art work area and got rid of a bunch of stuff.  Next month I tackle the play room!  10 of the 12 bags are gone.
5.  Take 1 picture every day for the year - Up to date on this 244 of 366.  You can see them here.
6.  Go on 2 special dates with AJ - Went on 1 out of 2.  I took AJ & Daniel to see Snoopy: The Musical at the local children's theater in April.  We had so much fun!  We stopped at Krispy Kreme for donuts on our way home too.  I'm counting this for both boys & may aim for 3 dates each, another together & one alone.
7.  Go on 2 special dates with Daniel - Went on 1 out of 2.  See above
8.  Go on 2 special dates with Zak - Went on 1 out of 2.  Zak and I dropped the boys off to school one day and went to Zoombeezi Bay alone.  It was so much fun to have some one on one time with him away from our day to day life!!
 9.  Do a 365 day exercise streak - 114 days of 365 for take 2 at this streak.  So far I've exercised every day from May 10th through Aug 31st.  I hit a mini milestone in this goal by going longer than I did during the first try this past week.  No plans to slow down!
10.  Finish the 30 Day Shred - Did 0 days of 30 - I need to get started on this one!
11.  Attend one class each week that isn't mine - Did this 15 weeks out of 52.  I have been going to at least one class that isn't mine every week since the boys started school.  Check out my weekly workout recaps for more details.
12.  Teach an average of 5 classes each week - Did this 29 weeks out of 52.  I missed a week in Aug since I was on vacation, but since I've been back I've been a teaching machine.  I'm doing at least 8 classes each week & they are getting bigger since everyone is getting back to their routine with their kids in school
13.  Menu plan and prep our dinners each week - Did this 28 weeks out of 52.  I planned every week this month except for the week we were on vacation.
14.  Go to church every Sunday - Did this 25 weeks out of 52.  I missed 1 week in Aug because of vacation.  I also volunteered in childcare every Sun this month. 
15.  Do one blog post each week - I did 11 posts in July, easily one per week.  I hope you're enjoying all of my posts! 
16.  Pay off our Best Buy card and not incur any new debt - The Best Buy card is payed off!!  We bought the new car so that counts as new debt and we invested in a costly (not insurance covered) therapy for AJ so that also created some new debt.  We have a plan for paying the therapy off and I feel good about where we are.
17.  Have a family board game night once per month - Did this 8 out of 12 months
18.  Have a family movie night once per month - Did this 8 out of 12 months (Inside Out, Charlie Brown Valentine's special, Justice League Frost Fight, Big Hero 6, Star Wars, Avengers, Pokemon movie, Back to the Future)
19.  Have a family video game night once per month - Did this 8 out of 12 months
20.  Go to 4 Zumba jams this year - Went to my 2 out of 4 and I loved every minute of it! 
21.  Make one homemade breakfast for us each month - I did not do this again in Aug.  I'm slacking on this goal, probably because we're so rarely home for breakfast.

One Time

22.  Go zip lining
23.  Go on a family hike in Hocking Hills
24.  Host an alcohol exchange with my girl friends
25.  Power wash and stain our play set
26.  Renovate our downstairs bathroom
27.  Conquer the Lynd's corn maze in the fall
28.  Renew our Zoombeezi Bay passes and go at least once every other week over the summer - I renewed our passes this summer and we went four times so far this summer.  There are about 12 weeks in our summer break so my goal is to go 6 times.


Done

29.  Go to Dollywood - We will not be doing this one.  We decided between the heat, the cost and the fact that there was more than enough to do in TN we would not invest in this on our recent trip to TN.  It will stay on the bucket list for another year.   
30.  Go on a family trip to Tennessee - Done!!
31.  See 2 movies that aren't animated - Done!!  I've actually seen 3 - "Star Wars:  The Force Awakens," "Ant Man" & "Avengers:  Age of Ultron" 
32.  Go on family camping trip - Done!  NJ was a camping trip and we survived 8 nights in the tent.  Not sure if we'll get to do another one or not this fall, will have to see how our schedule pans out.
33.  Go on a family trip to NJ - Done!!  You can read part 1 and part 2 of the recap and part 3 should be up this week.  Spoiler Alert - It was an amazing week, we had a blast!! 
34.  Go to Six Flags Great Adventure - Done!  I rode El Toro & The Joker, I was a happy ride warrior. 
35.  Do something special to celebrate mine & Adrian's 10 year wedding anniversary - We bought a new car.  :)  We also had a very nice date night where we bought new dishes and went back to Carrabba's, the restaurant we went to for our first date.  We were hoping to do something a little bigger, but 3 vacations & a new car in the same year seems like enough.
36.  Go on a family trip to Dallas - Done!  You can read about it here, here, here and here.
37.  Get 1 fitness certification - Done!!  Got Silver Sneakers Classic & Silver Sneakers Circuit in March.  Also got Zumba Gold in May.  Going above & beyond on this goal.
38.  Go to the doctor for routine check up and tests - Done!  Did my physical, pap, blood work & mammogram in March.  Everything looks great, I'm supposed to keep doing what I'm doing! 
39.  Tour Dallas Cowboys stadium - Done, sort of.  It was actually closed for the guided tours while we were there.  But we drove around it, took some pictures & went in the Pro Shop.  I'm considering it done.
40.  Go to Six Flags Over Texas - Done!  Also hit Six Flags St Louis, loved that park