Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 9/7 - 9/13)

Friday (9/7) After a fantastic night of sleep, the alarm felt early this morning!  But Adrian and I got up and moving and got AJ on the bus on time.  He left for work and I got ready to head to school.  I was subbing all day and there was a chance of rain so we drove up to school to make sure we didn't get stuck up there in the rain.  I subbed in a great 2nd grade class all day but was exhausted at the end of the day.  We all got home from school and the 3 boys headed upstairs to play video games and I thankfully got a short break to sit on the couch and watch some reality TV.  Then I cooked a delicious pot of chili for dinner before heading out to a Cub Scout Committee meeting.  It was a shorter meeting than I was expecting and I got home in time to hang with everyone for a little before the boys headed to bed.  Adrian and I were both tired so we just had a quick snack, watched two episodes of "The New Girl" and headed to bed for the night.

Saturday (9/8) Today started earlier than I would have liked but for good reason - I have another Zumba class starting at the church this morning.  We had another great group (all new people from Thursday) and had a fun and sweaty class.  After class I ran a few quick errands and then headed home since our entire day was rained out!  Since it rained all day, we just had a lazy day at home.  The boys played video games, finished all of the homework, helped with some cleaning and played together.  Adrian and I got a bunch of stuff done around the house and watched college football.  Adrian and Daniel did sneak out for haircuts this morning as well.  It was a fantastic lazy day and exactly what we needed after a super busy week!

After a delicious turkey dinner, we settled in for family movie night.  It was my pick so we finally watched "Wonder Woman."  We baked cookies for the occasion as well.  Adrian and I loved the movie!!  We thought it was great, easily the best DC movie yet.  The boys thought it was OK but a little too much story and not enough action for them.  I can understand their point, probably why I liked it so much.  After the movie, we put the boys to bed, got a few things straightened up and then were ready to go to bed too.  Unfortunately Zak was having trouble sleeping so he came down and slept with Adrian on the sofas.  He was up for a while, probably because he had a bunch of cookies during the movie!

Sunday (9/9) In addition to Zak having trouble sleeping, Daniel also had a bad dream and came into my room about 3:00 in the morning.  It was hard for me to get back to sleep after that but I eventually did.  Then we had a lazy morning before getting moving to get ready for second service at church.  I was volunteering in childcare so I headed back there while the boys went to their classes and Adrian went into service.  After service, the church broke ground on their expansion project.  Even though it was cold and rainy, we were proud to be a part of it and help them break ground.  I'm so excited about this project and all of the cool things our church is doing!!

After breaking ground, Adrian headed home with the boys while I went to work at the church as a facilities rep.  I trained a new person to help us out and then got a bunch of stuff done while I was working.  While I was there, Adrian finished up some stuff around the house and took Zak to swim lessons at the Y.  Other than refusing to dive off the high board, he did really well in his lesson.  Then we all met at Martial Arts for the boys' weekly class.  The boys learned foot strikes (kicks) and had a blast learning them!  They all did a great job during class and I enjoyed watching them.

 

After Martial Arts, we split up again.  Adrian took Daniel and Zak home to make dinner and finish up a few things around the house.  AJ and I headed to a pizza party at the church for the kick off of the youth group, One8ty, at our church.  AJ is excited to join the youth group & I will be helping lead the junior high girls small group discussion each week.  He had fun playing dodge ball, eating pizza and learning a little about God tonight.  I'm excited for this new chapter with him!  When the party was over, we headed home and I ate dinner while the boys finished up a few things and got ready for bed.  After we got them in bed for the night, we watched the recording of the Cowboys game.  I'm excited football is back!!  Unfortunately the game didn't as we would have liked and the Cowboys lost.  I'm hoping the Jets fair better tomorrow or we may be in for a long season!

Monday (9/10) After staying up a little too late watching football last time, the alarms felt early this morning.  But we got up and moving and got AJ on the bus and Adrian out to work.  Since I wasn't working, I got the other two boys up and dropped off to school and then went and ran a bunch of errands so I'm all set for the week.  I also did a bunch of stuff around the house that I didn't get to this weekend.  It was a very productive day and it flew by!  Before I knew it, it was time to get everyone from school.  Thankfully it finally stopped raining so I walked up to pick up Daniel and Zak and when we got home, AJ was home too.

I got everyone thru homework and a quick dinner before we split up for our evening activities.  I took Daniel and Zak and went to check out a life group for my church.  It is one of the things that I have been missing for the past few years and I'm excited to jump back into a small group.  The boys had fun playing with the other kids in the group.  Adrian took AJ to his Scout meeting.  They tasted all of this year's popcorn and we are ready to start selling it this weekend.  When we all got home, we put the boys to bed and then Adrian and I watched the recording of the Jets kick off game.  Other than the first play, the game was awesome!!  I enjoyed watching the Jets play and win big!  I wish it wasn't on so late because I'll pay for it tomorrow, but it was so worth it.

Tuesday (9/11) As predicted, it was very hard to get up and moving this morning.  But we did and got AJ on the bus in time and Adrian off to work for the day.  Then I got ready and dropped Daniel and Zak off at school before heading out to the Harcum Center to teach my 3 Silver Sneakers classes.  Since I get a break between class 2 and 3, I met a friend for lunch at First Watch which is right near the Harcum.  We had a nice lunch, enjoying good food and great conversation.  After lunch, I taught my third class and then headed in to volunteer in Zak's class for about an hour.  I'm glad it works out that I can come in at the end of the day to help out, even if it's just for a short time.

After we all got home from school, Adrian and I headed over to Central for parent teacher conferences with AJ's teachers.  We got all really great feedback from the teachers.  He's doing really well and seems to be adjusting to middle school just fine.  A few said in the last few days he has really started to show some more confidence and has started to participate which is great for him this early in the year!!  After the conferences we came home and Adrian had a quick dinner with AJ and Daniel and then did homework with them while Zak and I headed to his Cub Scout kick off picnic.  He had a blast running around in the mud with the other Scouts while I helped out with serving all of the guests.  It was a fun night for both of us!

 

When we got home, Zak was super dirty so he headed straight to the bath.  Then we did our normal night routine of snack and show and then bed for the boys.  After we got them down to bed, we finished up a few things around the house and then watched two episodes of "The New Girl" before we headed to bed too.  We're enjoying the show more now, it's getting better as it goes.  But we would like to find something else to watch too since we have another two weeks before our shows come back on the networks. 

Wednesday (9/12) After a great night of sleep, we all got up and moving early as usual.  Adrian and I got AJ on the bus and then he left for work for the day.  I got ready for a full day of subbing and then got the other boys ready for school.  We headed in to school early so I could get ready for my day.  I had an awesome day subbing in kindergarten!  I've been so lucky with the classes I am subbing in, they have all been fantastic.  The only downside of the day was that Zak forgot his book bag in the car when we got to school.  Thankfully the teacher I was subbing for was in school doing testing so I ran to the car to get it to him.  We had a long talk about how he has to take his book bag to school every single day!

After school, I ran home to drop the boys off and change clothes and then headed to teach my Zumba class at the Y.  It's getting a lot harder to get to that class at 4:15 so I may need to either change the time or give it up next session.  We had a great, sweaty class and had a lot of fun dancing and laughing!  After class I headed back home and we had a rare night with nothing going on.  We enjoyed dinner together as a family and then got thru the boys homework together.  Then the boys played for a while and Adrian and I got caught up on a few things around the house.  After we got the boys down to bed, we decided to look for a new Netflix show to check out.  We tried "Atypical" and I loved it!!  Unfortunately as we were getting ready to head to bed, Zak came down and wanted to sleep downstairs with Adrian.  So they camped out on the couches and I headed to bed.

Thursday (9/13) Zak wasn't the only one who had trouble sleeping last night.  Daniel came into my room at about 3am and said he couldn't sleep.  Thankfully once he crawled into bed with me we were both able to fall back asleep for a while.  I did not want to get up when the alarm went off but I did.  We got AJ out and on the bus on time and Adrian off to work.  Then I got ready and got the other boys up and ready for school.  I dropped them off and headed over to Harcum for another long day.  I taught three classes there and ran errands on my break between class 2 and 3.  All of my classes were fun and had a lot of students in them and we all laughed a lot.  After class, I went home and relaxed for a little bit before I had to get everyone from school.

The bus dropped AJ off and I walked up to pick up Daniel and Zak.  When we got home, I gave them all 30 minutes of free time and then we got to work on homework since we had a busy night.  When homework was done, we all had tacos for dinner and then split up for the night.  I dropped Zak off at soccer practice and headed to the church to teach a very hot but fun Zumba class.  Adrian took Daniel to practice and then picked both Zak and Dan up when their practice was over.  AJ stayed home and made sure to hold down the fort.  When we all got home, we got the boys thru their night routine and cleaned up from the dinner mess.  Then we checked in on the game and saw it wasn't close so we watched the second episode of "Atypical."  After that we were exhausted so we headed to bed for the night, hoping everyone stayed in their own beds tonight.

Keeping Up With...Food (Meal Plan for Sept 9 - Sept 15)

Last week was the longest short week ever, ha!  I constantly felt like I was on the go and also felt like everything kept changing.  We did an OK job of sticking to our meal plan but we do have a few carryover recipes from last week.  On Monday we were supposed to spend the day at Zoombeezi Bay but apparently all of Columbus decided to do that so we left and went to the downtown fountains and out to lunch instead.  We had such a big lunch at Red Robin that we didn't feel like eating much for dinner so we just had leftovers.  Then on Thursday the boys asked if we could please have pasta for dinner and that sounded quick and easy to me so I bumped the chili to Friday and the chicken to this week.  It's kind of nice that once again this week I don't have to do a lot of shopping to be ready for dinners, although I am starting to run low on staples so I'll need to do more shopping than last week for sure.

This week continues to be busy and that will probably be the theme for at least the next two months.  We have soccer two nights each week and Scout two nights each week.  Throw in me working a few nights and Adrian's small group and we have something just about every night.  Our weekends are jam packed too!  I'm doing my best to make sure we stick to healthy eating and not eating out but it is getting harder.  I am making sure each week to have stuff to make pasta, salad and sandwiches so worse case we can have those for dinner.  I also always have eggs so that is another good option for a quick dinner.

The other thing that is working really well for us is having the one built in leftover day each week.  It really helps to clean out the fridge and give me a day to catch my breath.  Most weeks it will be Wednesday since we almost always have either Adrian or I out Wednesday nights.  This week we are moving it to Tuesday because Adrian's group is not meeting this week so we will both be home on Wednesday.  He's actually going to grill our chicken that night, hopefully the rain will end by then!  He's grilling on Saturday too since I'll be out all day at Zumba events. 

Here's what we're eating this week:
Sunday - Dr Pepper Ribs
Monday - Dr Pepper Meatballs - carryover from last week
Tuesday - Leftovers
Wednesday - Dr Pepper Chicken - carryover from last week
Thursday - Taco Thursday!
Friday - Black Bean Chili
Saturday - London Broil on the grill & whatever veggies we have left in the fridge

Water Flavor - I have used up all of the apples and didn't think far enough ahead to buy something for this week.  So I'm using frozen strawberries for this week.  Anyone have any experience using frozen fruit in your infuser?  If this works, I will be doing it for the upcoming weeks as I have a ton of frozen fruit that I need to use up.

Overnight Oats - I only had enough Greek yogurt to make one batch this week so I made one of pumpkin chocolate chip.  I also had 3 flavored yogurts that I have gotten as freebies so I used those as well.  I'm hoping we make it thru the week on those but if not, I'm shopping early in the week so I will buy Greek yogurt and get some more set up during the week.

Use it Up - I'm still working on that open bottle of Dr Pepper this week since two of the recipes got bumped to this week.  I'm also using up black beans in the chili on Friday and pumpkin in the oats.  Finally, I'm using up some of the meat and fruit in my freezer as well as the fruits and vegetables in my fridges.

Lunches - Since I made a 12 pound turkey yesterday, we have a lot left over.  We'll be using it this week for sandwiches, salads and I'm making this turkey salad either Monday or Tuesday for us to eat as well.  I also have a few hard boiled eggs that I need to use up this week so I'll either do a lot of salads or eat them as snacks.

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 8/31 - 9/6)

Friday (8/31) We survived the week - just barely!  And today started way earlier than any of us wanted it to when the boys had us up at 4:30am.  Both Zak and Daniel were up around then for the day.  We had a rough time getting AJ out the door on time, probably because there were so many distractions with his brothers up too.  But we managed to get him on the bus and get Adrian out to work on time this morning.  Then I got the other boys and myself ready to head into school.  I was subbing all day so we walked up early so I could be there and be ready to start my day.

I had a great day of subbing and really had fun with the students in the class.  When the day was over, I had a quick meeting with the speech therapist about starting Zak in speech and then we walked home ready to start our long weekend.  The boys immediately started playing video games while I relaxed and got dinner ready.  Adrian had an eye doctor appointment so he went there after work and the came home to have a quick dinner before heading out with AJ for the night.

AJ's Boy Scout troop had been asked to raise the flag at the home opener for the Licking Heights High School football team so he went and did that tonight.  He and Adrian had a great time watching the first half of the game and especially watching the halftime show with the bands.  AJ was really excited and said he wants to join that band in a few years.  While they were there, I hung out here with the other boys.  Daniel and I played two games of Machi Koro and he beat me at both.  It was a nice relaxing night here.  When everyone was home, we all had snacks and then we got the boys down to bed.  Adrian needed to fix his car so he worked on that and I went to bed super early because I was exhausted.  So ready for a long weekend and lots of rest!

Saturday (9/1) We all got to sleep in this morning!!  Then we had a lazy morning of TV and coffee before we got ready to head to my brother's house for Vinnie's birthday party.  The boys had a great time running around with all of the kids and Adrian and I had fun watching the OSU game and chatting with the other adults.  We were there way longer than we expected because we were all having a good time.  Unfortunately when we chose to leave we drove thru a horrible storm on the way home and it took us forever to get here.

After a quick stop at Jets for pizza, we finally got home and were ready to start our night.  We enjoyed our pizza together and then the boys went to play upstairs for a big while I got a few things done downstairs.  Then it was time for family movie night.  This week was Zak's pick and we watched "Wreck it Ralph."  It was a great movie!!  I'm surprised I haven't seen it before.  We all enjoyed it and are excited for the second part in a few months.  After the movie, we got the boys to bed and Adrian watched the end of the Michigan game while I got a few more things done around the house.  We finished our bottle of Coopers Hawk sweet red and headed to bed before a busy day again tomorrow.

Sunday (9/2) Today we got to sleep in again and it felt great!  We were planning on heading to Zoombeezi Bay for our last time of the summer, plus it's Zak's pick for this week, but Adrian woke up having some serious stomach issues so swimming was not a great idea.  Instead we kicked it into high gear and worked on our giant to do lists.  Our plan for this weekend in addition to having some fun was to finish everything on our lists so we are caught up and ready to go into a super busy month.  We did a great job of getting stuff done, including rearranging a few things and getting the loft to finally look like we wanted it to as the boys' video game room.  It was not a fun day, but it was super productive!  We finished almost all of our items on the list and I think I'll be able to finish everything else tomorrow after we go to Zoombeezi Bay for a while.  We did have a surprise fireworks show in our front yard before the boys went to bed.  Our neighbor does one every year and we thought we missed it because we didn't see it around July 4th.  Thankfully they waited until today and we got to see it.  Such a fun ending to a not super fun night!

Monday (9/3) We all slept in again this morning!!  I did set my alarm to get up at the normal time... but when it went off I turned it off and climbed back in to bed.  I'm sure I needed the rest!  When we all got up we got ready pretty quickly to head up to Zak's pick for the weekend - Zoombeezi Bay.  Unfortunately when we got there, we saw there were a TON of people there.  We decided not to bother fighting the crowds so we turned around and headed downtown instead to play in the fountains for a little bit.  The boys had fun playing and when they were done we got to walk across the bridge to get to our car.  The boys loved seeing downtown and Dad's office from the bridge on our way across.

After playing for a bit we went out to lunch at Zak's pick, Red Robin.  We all enjoyed a delicious (and huge!) lunch and the boys had fun doing the games on the kids' menus.  It was a great meal out, I'm so thankful it is getting easier to go out to eat with them!  After lunch we came home and the boys played video games while Adrian and I got the last few things on our to do lists done.  Then he headed out to a new board game store in our area to check it out.  Around dinner time I finally crossed everything off my to do list and feel ready for the week, well at least for tomorrow.  We spent the rest of the night relaxing, playing and watching TV.  It was a really great 3 day weekend and I'm glad we were able to be productive and also have a fun time!

Tuesday (9/4) It was rough getting back to our routine after the long weekend, but we got everyone up and out on time today.  We really struggled to get AJ out on time so we decided starting tomorrow he'll get up a little bit earlier to make our mornings a little less stressful.  After I got AJ on the bus, Adrian out to work and dropped Daniel and Zak off, I headed over to the Harcum Center for my Silver Sneakers classes.  Today I started a new schedule and now teach there classes every day there.  My classes have become so popular that we need to spread the people out more so we added an afternoon class in hopes of doing that.  We also changed the middle class to a little bit more cardio than the other two classes since people were asking for that as well.

I had a great time teaching all three classes but I was beat when I finished!  But I didn't have time to rest because I was scheduled to go in and sub for the last hour and a half of the school day in a 1st grade classroom.  Thankfully those kids were amazing and we had a great afternoon together!  Then I picked up my boys and we headed home to get ready for a busy night.  We had a minor bump in the road when I got home to find out that AJ lost his phone on his bus.  Thankfully his drive had it and it only required a trip to transportation to pick it up!

After we got back from that craziness, I got all of the boys thru dinner and homework and then headed out to be Uber mom for soccer practices.  I dropped Zak off at his practice and then drove across town to drop Daniel off at his practice.  Then I had to fly back across town to pick Zak up from practice.  And all of this in 100 degree heat!  Finally I got to head home and eat my dinner and Adrian ran out to pick up Daniel.  When we were all home, we got the boys thru their nighttime routine and everyone went right to sleep, clearly worn out from the day.  Adrian and I watched the last two episodes of "American Vandal."  It was a great show, I recommend it if you haven't seen it!

Wednesday (9/5) Today we got AJ up about 10 minutes earlier and the morning went so much better!!  Of course his bus was late again this morning but at least we were all calm when we were waiting for it.  Then after I got him on the bus and Adrian off to work, I got myself and the other boys ready.  I walked them up to school since it wasn't too hot yet this morning and then I headed out to run a bunch of errands this morning.  I got a ton of things crossed off my list today and it felt great!  I ran errands out of the house all morning, then got stuff done in the house this afternoon.  I'm still caught up for this week and I even got a few things done that I planned to do tomorrow.  It's a great feeling to have the time to do what I need to do.

Before I knew it, it was time to get AJ off the bus and pick up the other boys.  I walked up to get them since it was cloudy, even though it was still very hot!  We got home and I got everyone set up with homework before I headed out to the Y to teach my Zumba class.  It was a small class and I was off the whole class but we still had fun and boy did we sweat!  After class, I ran back to the church to work as a facilities rep for the night while Adrian hung out at home with the boys.  When I got home, we got them thru their night time routine and again everyone went right to sleep.  Adrian and I finished up a few things around the house and then watched a few episodes of "The New Girl" before heading to bed too.

Thursday (9/6) We got AJ up early again today and again our morning went way more smooth!  Adrian and I got him on the bus and then Adrian left for work.  I got ready for my busy day and got the other boys up and ready for school.  They asked to walk to school and even though it's still super hot I said we could walk.  After I dropped them off, I headed over to the Harcum Center for another full day of classes.  I taught my three classes there and they all went really well again.  After class, I ran to the church to make sure everything was set up for my new Zumba class that starts later tonight and then headed home to get everyone from school for the day.

I got AJ off the bus and walked up to the school to pick up the other boys.  We got quickly thru homework and then I made pasta for dinner since Daniel and Zak requested it.  After a quick dinner, I headed out and dropped Zak off at his soccer practice, then headed to the church to teach my first Zumba class there.  It went awesome!!  I had about 17 people there and everyone loved it!  I'm so happy it went so well.  While I was there, Adrian dropped Daniel off at soccer, picked Zak up from soccer and then picked Daniel up.  Our Thursdays are brutal!  When we all got home, we got the boys ready for bed and then came down and finished cleaning up from dinner.  I was exhausted so we had snacks, watched a little of the Eagles/Falcons game to kick off the NFL season and then I headed to bed.  Adrian stayed up until the end of the game but I was just too exhausted after the long, but fun, day!

Keeping Up With...2018 Goals (Aug Recap & Sept Goals)

August was another amazing month for me and my family.  It started with a fantastic trip to the Outerbanks with my entire extended family and ended with us starting to find our way in the new school year.  We packed a lot into the month and also had some changes with the transition from fun summer to back to school.  I can truly say this was a summer I will always remember and I hope the boys do as well.  I said yes to a lot of things and we did a lot of fun things over the past 3 months.  We have decided we don't want the fun to end so we're continuing with picking activities into the school year.  Each week one person will pick a movie and an activity so that we keep having fun even though we are busy with our routine.  I'm going to add that as a goal for the rest of the year.

Now that we are back to our regular schedule, I am back to focusing more on my goals.  I did a pretty good job of still staying focused over the summer while having fun but I did push a few things to the back while I was busy with the boys.  I'm happy with where I am so far this year and plan to finish this year strong!  I know things will get crazy again at the end of the year with the holidays and Adrian's busy season at work but I'm going to do what I can to stay on track.  Same as I did last month, I will talk a little about how I did with each of the 10 goals last month and then talk about my plans for Sept to stay on track. 

1. Lose 50 pounds (Lost 8 pounds this year, Grade for Aug: C)

• Meal plan each Sunday starting on 8/19 - I did the 2 posts and stuck to the plans
• Count calories for 15 days this month - I counted for 8 days this month.  I got a slow start because vacation hangover and a stomach bug delayed my start.
• Go to three classes this month that I am not teaching - I went to a Zumba jam and Denise's Cardio Fit class.  I skipped some other classes that I planned to go to because I had so much to catch up on around the house.
• Maintain my current weight - I'm up 2 lbs for the month.  I gained 5 lbs on vacation but I'm proud that I worked 3 of them off in the last two weeks of the month. 

2. Read 20 books again (Read 13 books this year, Grade for Aug: A+)

• Finish 1 book - I blew this out of the water and ready two books "How to Train Your Dragon" and "A Tale Dark & Grimm."  Plus I started "First Comes Love" and read about 25% of it before it was due back and "Beloved" which I read about 13% of at the end of the month.
• Read 10% of  "The Beauty Myth"= Done!  I read 10% and am 29% done with the book.

3. Watch 25 50 movies (Watched 34 movies this year, Grade for Aug: A+)

• Watch 4 movies - Done!  We watched "How to Train Your Dragon," "How to Train Your Dragon 2," "Psych," and "Indiana Jones & the Crystal Skull."

4. Go on 12 dates with Adrian (6 dates this year, Grade for Aug: A+)

• Book our babysitter for a night so we can go out - We booked a sitter last minute and went out to dinner and some shopping one Friday night.  It felt great to finally get out alone again!!  We're still behind for the year but with our plays starting again we will hopefully catch up.

5. Pay off 1 credit card and my student loans (Grade for Aug: A+)

• Help Adrian work at least 3 hours of OT each week - Done!  Adrian worked about 10 hours of overtime over the last 3 weeks of the month.  We're committed to him getting his overtime and it's easier now that we're getting up early with AJ again everday.
• Start subbing after the first three days of school, sub at least two full days this month - I did sub 1.25 days this month.  It was a slow start but I'm OK with it as I had a lot to do around the house this month.
• Spend as little as possible - We did OK on vacation, but our credit card bill this month was super high because of vacation and back to school shopping.  But thankfully we had the money in savings to cover it all.
• We paid off my student loans this month!!!!  It is an amazing feeling to have that taken care of!

6. Finish my CEUs for my YMCA certification new requirements for Silver Sneakers training for water aerobics

• I'm taking the summer off from this goal, it will be back on in September

7. Clean out the house (Grade for Aug: A)

• Clean out the spare room and turn it into Daniel's room - We've done OK with this but didn't do as much as we would have liked this month.  We did lose two weekends while on vacation so it's OK that we only made slow progress.

8. Keep up an active blog (Grade for Aug: A+)

• Meal plan posts every Sunday - 2 posts done!
• Week in review posts every Friday - 4 posts done!
• Monthly goal posts the last day of the month - Done!

9. Play more board game (Grade for Aug: C+)

• Have one family board game night - We didn't have a dedicated family game night this month but we did play a lot of games on vacation with the family.  And I have been playing Machi Koro with the boys in our free time.  I'm still calling this a win because we are using the games.

10. Improve my classes (Grade for Aug: A+)

• Attend one Zumba jam session - done!  It was an amazing Cumbia jam session and I can't wait to add all of the songs to my classes.
• Research Aqua Zumba training - done!  Unfortunately it's not something I can do right now but I have an alternate plan in place.

11.  Have an amazing summer! (Grade for Aug: A+)

• Have an awesome vacation in the Outerbanks! - Done!
• Finish up the few activities we want to do here in Columbus - Done!
• Have a smooth transition back to school in mid - Done!

And here are my goals for Sept:

1. Lose 50 pounds

• Meal plan each Sunday
• Count calories for 26 days this month
• Go to four classes this month that I am not teaching
• Lose 6 lbs this month, the last 2 I gained last month & then 1 per week

2. Read 20 books again

• Finish 2 books - "First Comes Love" and "Beloved"
• Read 10% of  "The Beauty Myth"

3. Watch 25 50 movies

• Watch 4 movies

4. Go on 12 dates with Adrian

• Book our babysitter for a night so we can go out

5. Pay off 1 credit card and my student loans

• Help Adrian work at least 3 hours of OT each week
• Sub at least two days each week this month
• Spend as little as possible

6. Start my CEUs for Silver Sneakers and do the online training for water aerobics

• Do the online Silver Sneakers Classic training
• Do the online Silver Sneakers Circuit training
• Do the online Silver Sneakers Water in Motion training

7. Clean out the house

• Clean out the spare room and turn it into Daniel's room - I'm hoping to finish this month!

8. Keep up an active blog

• Meal plan posts every Sunday
• Week in review posts every Friday
• Monthly goal posts the last day of the month

9. Play more board game

• Have one family board game night

10. Improve my classes

• Attend one Zumba jam session
• Start a new Silver Sneakers cardio class at the Harcum Center
• Start 2 new Zumba classes at Eastpointe Church
• Do my water aerobics training online

11.  Continue the family fun of the summer

• Do one activity each week that one family member chooses
• Watch one movie each week that one family member chooses
• Keep up with school work as well

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 8/3 - 8/9)

Friday (8/3) We were up and moving early this morning to hit the road for vacation!  Zak had us up at 6am and he was ready to go!  We packed all of our stuff up for the week and hit the road around 11am.  Zak talked non stop for most of our drive and drove us crazy.  He kept asking "How much more longer?"  Other than that, the boys did pretty good on our drive down towards North Carolina.  I was excited to see Sheetz on most of our route so we stopped there for both lunch and later for dinner as we drove thru West Virginia and Virginia.  The boys even found stuff there to eat so they had lunch with us and then we got them McDonald's (which has Mario toys with their happy meals, yay!) for dinner.

We made great time and hit no traffic on the whole ride down.  We did hit some bad rain in Virginia for a while but it didn't slow us down too bad.  Adrian drove almost the whole day as I was doing fine as the passenger and was enjoying reading my book while he drove.  We finally decided to stop in Chesapeake, VA for the night, about 90 minutes away from the Outerbanks.  We could have kept driving but hotels got significantly more expensive the closer we got to the island so this was a good compromise.  We got a suite with 3 beds for the night, got everyone situated and pretty much went straight to bed.  Hoping to be on the road early in the morning!

Saturday (8/4) We were up and on the road early this morning, eager to get to our house and family in the Outerbanks!  We made great time getting to the island and only hit a little traffic crossing the bridge to the island.  We went to Kill Devil Hills and met up with my brother Jon, his family and my parents for a few minutes.  They were going to head up towards the house and grab lunch and do some grocery shopping.  We decided to do the Wright Brother Memorial and grab lunch in Kill Devil Hills and then head north to the house in Corolla.

We got to the park and decided we wanted to start by climbing to the top of the sand dune that the brothers used to try to figure out flying.  It was hot but we managed to climb up without much complaining from the boys.  We hung out on the top cooling off for a while and then noticed that the sky was getting really dark and that we should probably head down the hill.  The sky opened up and we got drenched on our way back to the car!  Unfortunately it rained pretty steadily for the rest of the afternoon so we weren't able to see any more of the memorial, but we'll have something to do now if we go back to that area.

 

 

We grabbed a quick lunch at Food Dudes Kitchen and then headed to our house.  The traffic was horrible by then and what should have taken us about 45 minutes took us almost 2 hours.  It was pretty miserable but we made the best of it.  Zak had a bathroom emergency and had to get out and go on the side of the road which gave us all a good laugh after it happened.  We finally got to the house and while Adrian and I unpacked the car, the boys headed right to the pool with their cousins.  We spent the rest of the night swimming, in the hot tub, visiting with family, eating and relaxing.  We're ready to have a great week!

Sunday (8/5) We all got a great night of sleep after all of the outdoor activities yesterday and were up and ready to go pretty early today.  We had a big breakfast of pork roll, egg and cheese on bagels courtesy of our NJ family and then headed out to the beach for the morning.  We spent a few hours there playing in the sand and the water and having a great time.  The boys loved playing in the waves, especially AJ.  Daniel got a little nervous when he got knocked down by a wave but he still had fun playing in the sand and hanging out with his cousins.

After a few hours we were hot and hungry so we headed back to the house for lunch and some more pool time.  I took some time to unpack and organize our stuff in the house for the week while the boys were busy playing.  The day was fun and it passed quickly with lots of laughter, food and fun.  The boys are super excited to have a pool in the back yard and cousins to play with all the time.  They are also excited about the play ground in the back yard.  They spent some time out there tonight as well.  It was a pretty perfect vacation day!

Monday (8/6) Today looked almost exactly like yesterday.  We all got a great night of sleep and then had a big breakfast together.  We again got ready and walked up to the beach for a while.  We met up with my Uncle Tony, Aunt Joan, Aunt Sue and cousins David, Ksenia, Sophia & Mateo who are staying at a house down the street from us.  All of us spent a lot of time playing in the water, digging in the sand and chatting to catch up.  I was very proud of Daniel today for getting back in the ocean.  He didn't really want anything to do with it after falling over yesterday.  But he came to the beach because everyone else was going.  After some convincing, Aunt Sue got him to give the water another chance and he loved it!  He and I stayed out in the waves for around two hours.  It was exhausting but so much fun!

After all of that sun, water and sand we were hungry and wiped out so we headed back to the house for the rest of the afternoon.  We got some food and swam in the pool to cool off.  We pretty much spent the rest of the day eating, swimming, drinking, chatting and laughing.  We had delicious smoked pork for dinner with lots of salads for the sides.  The kids had fun playing together while the adults chatted and relaxed.  It was another perfect day of vacation!!

Tuesday (8/7) We started our day with a four wheel drive on the private beach that was down the road from our house.  We had a great time driving on the beach and relaxing.  And we got to see the wild horses that live on that beach.  It was so cool to see them just walking around and hanging out on the beach.  There were a lot of people there though so after we got a few pictures, they got spooked and ran off down the beach.  On the ride off the beach, we let all of the kids ride in the bed of the truck with us to the air station for our tires.  They all loved being in the bed of the truck!!

 

 

After the drive, we decided to come back to the house and relax for pretty much the rest of the day.  We spent the day at the pool, playing board games and eating and drinking.  I did a few loads of laundry so I don't have to worry about it the rest of the week.  Adrian went golfing in the afternoon with my brothers, my dad and my aunts.  They all had a great time and the rest of us partied in the pool.  When they got home, Carl built a fire and we all had smores for dessert.  The kids were super excited to have smores with their feet in the pool.  When the kids went to bed, the adults hung out in the pool until it was time for us to head to bed too.  Another great day in the books!!

 

Wednesday (8/8) Today started a little rough for me.  I may have drank a little too much last night and then didn't get enough sleep to feel better today.  I decided that I would just spend the day relaxing by the pool.  AJ was also having a rough day so it seemed like a good idea to let him lay low for the day too.  A few people from the house went down to the beach, but all of us except Daniel stayed home and at the pool.  After their trip to the beach, the rest of the family who was in town for vacation came down to hang out with us.  A few house down my aunts, uncle and cousins are all staying for the week as well.  It was great to have my whole family together for the day!!  We talked, swam, ate and drank.  They all headed out before dinner and those of us at our house continued doing the same.  It was an early night for me since I was so tired from the previous night.  I'm hoping for a great night of sleep tonight!!

Thursday (8/9) After a great night of sleep, I felt much better this morning!  We got up and got moving and headed to Duck Donuts for breakfast with Melissa and Tyler.  Then we headed to the Currituck Lighthouse to climb to the top.  The five of us climbed the 221 stairs to the top and were rewarded with beautiful views of both the ocean and the bay.  We spent a little bit of time up there and then headed back down to get into the air conditioning.  We enjoyed learning a little about the lighthouse on our way up and down.

 

 

When we got home we were super sweaty so we decided to jump in the pool for a while.  We spent the rest of the day swimming and hanging with family.  It was a little less humid than the past 2 days so the boys played volleyball and basketball with their cousins.  We also did family pictures on the front porch to remember our trip.  Uncle Tom made us all cry right before the pictures by pulling out a picture of Nana & Pop to add to the picture.  It was a very sweet moment.  Adrian and I also got away alone for a little bit for a walk on the beach at dusk.  Again we pretty much swam, ate, drank and chatted.  It's been a lot of the same things every day this week and I wouldn't change it for anything!!  One more day of this amazing vacation!

Keeping Up With...Food (Meal Plan for Sept 2 - Sept 8)

Last week was a tough week and we had some struggles with getting up, getting thru homework and finishing things we needed to get done.  But we made it thru and are enjoying the long weekend!  We mostly kept to our meal plan for last week.  The only meal we didn't make was the one we had planned for yesterday.  We stayed at my brother's house for Vinnie's birthday party a lot longer than we were planning so we just picked up Jets pizza on our way home.  The boys were so excited!  It's been a while since we treated them to Jets.

This week starts slow since everyone is off on Monday but then we pick up super busy as the week goes on.  We have lots of soccer this week and I add four new classes to my teaching schedule.  Subbing in the schools is also picking up for me so that is taking some of my time during the week as well.  I will need to be very disciplined to stick to our meal plan going forward as I will have very little time to get dinner on the table most nights.  We are really trying to continue to eat healthy though and it is so important to have a plan to maintain that.

I am continuing to use up things that we have in the freezer and pantry as well.  Last week I used up a lot of things including a box of frozen cookies, chocolate syrup (in our overnight oats), chicken thighs (for our tacos) and all of the frozen broth that I had.  Unfortunately the pulled pork I made last weekend has created a new thing to use up - an open bottle of Dr. Pepper.  You will notice that I am making multiple meals using that as a base this week.  I will make that with vegetables for just about every meal this week.  I'm also trying to use up all of the pulled pork I made last Sunday.  It sounded good in theory to make that huge amount but we have a lot leftover now.  I see lots of pork tacos and nachos for lunches and leftover night this week!

Here's what we're eating this week:
Sunday - Kale and Red Pepper Frittata - carryover from last week & using up egg beaters I have
Monday - Dr Pepper Meatballs - using up the Dr Pepper & a quick meal because we'll be out all day
Tuesday - Southwest Pulled Pork Bowls - using up the pulled pork
Wednesday - Leftovers
Thursday - Dr Pepper Chili - using up the Dr Pepper
Friday - Dr Pepper Chicken - using up the Dr Pepper
Saturday - Turkey - I have 2 in the freezer so I need to make them.  Our menu next week will revolve around leftover turkey.  Yum!

Water Flavor - Apple again until they are all used up.  They are nearly gone, this will probably be the last week for them.  I will need to think ahead for next week to make sure I have something.

Overnight Oats - I have like two days already made from last week and I'm sure we won't eat them tomorrow.  So I will probably only do one double batch and see where that gets up.  I have some pumpkin that I need to use up so I'll be using that and chocolate chips to flavor the oats until that is used up.

Use it Up - Again, I'm focusing on the open bottle of Dr Pepper for sure this week.  I'm also still using up some veggies that I have in the fridge.  And I plan to make a second box of cookies from the freezer for our movie night this week.  We're watching "Wonder Woman" and I have Justice League cookies.  And I'm still working on the frozen meat in the freezer, the apples, the pumpkin and the pulled pork.  As of now I barely have to do any shopping for this week which is very nice since I'm using everything that I have!

Lunches - My lunches will mostly be salads because I need to use up some lettuce and avocados.  I also may have pork tacos or nachos if I am home for any of my lunches this week.  My new schedule will have me eating on the go on both Tuesdays and Thursdays and then any days I sub as well.  Lots of sandwiches and salads on the horizon for me!

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 8/24 - 8/30)

Friday (8/24) Whew, we survived our first full week of school!  We got AJ up and out on the bus on time, although he was tough to wake up this morning.  Daniel woke up a little early so he got to hang with me for a bit before getting ready for school.  I got Daniel and Zak dropped off to school and then I came home and worked like crazy around the house.  I have been feeling a little out of control all week so I decided to take the day today to get myself together.  I finished a bunch of things on my to do list and even had a little fun with some Beverly Hills 90120 reruns on in the background.  Before I knew it, it was time to pick up the boys from school.  They were excited to get home and play video games since they haven't had them most of the past week because of school and homework.  Although before they started on those, AJ got out his new trombone and showed it off to his brothers.  He is very excited about learning to play it!

When Adrian got home from work, we fed the boys a quick dinner and got ready to go out on a date night!  We haven't been out in a while due to schedule conflicts so we were excited to sneak away for a little while tonight.  We finally went to Frontera's, a new Mexican restaurant near us.  It was really good, especially their margaritas!  We had a nice relaxing dinner of fajitas and margaritas and then did a little shopping looking for a new book shelf for the boys' books.  We came home pretty early because we were both tired after the week.  We watched an episode of "The New Girl" since our DVR is cleared off and then headed to bed for the night.

Saturday (8/25) We all got to sleep in a little today since we didn't have much going on today.  We had a slow start to the morning and then I got ready to head to the Y to teach my Zumba class.  We had a great, sweaty time dancing to all of our class favorites one more time this summer.  After class I ran home and grabbed a quick shower and lunch before heading back to the Y for my 8th jam session of the year.  I had a blast learning 4 new cumbia tracks from a very talented jammer!  I was super tired but I powered thru and got a great workout and learned a lot.  I can't wait to add the new songs to my classes!

While I was dancing all day, Adrian hung out at home with the boys and got a bunch accomplished around the house.  The boys helped him with some of the stuff and spent the rest of the time playing.  They had a relaxing day which was probably best for them after a busy week.  They were supposed to go downtown to the fountains for Daniel's pick for the week but the weather didn't cooperate so we will do that next weekend instead.  When I got home, we all had dinner and then settled in to watch Daniel's movie pick "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull."  It was pretty good, not one of my favorites but the boys loved it.  When the movie was over, we put the boys to bed and checked out a new Netflix series "American Vandal."  We watched the first two episodes, it's pretty good.  We'll bounce between this and "New Girl" until our normal shows come back in the fall.

Sunday (8/26) Today everyone else was up pretty early and I accidentally overslept.  Daniel had a bad dream so I had to go sleep with him in the middle of the night and I did not get good sleep while I was in there.  Unfortunately I slept just late enough that I was not able to get to first service at church.  So we all went together to second service where I served in childcare.  I switched classrooms this week and taught in Daniel's classroom.  It was an interesting experience and confirmed I prefer the younger elementary (K-3rd grade) kids.

After church, we came home and had lunch together.  Then the boys went to play while Adrian and I got some stuff done around the house.  We were all supposed to go swimming but AJ and Daniel both decided they didn't want to go.  So I stayed home with them while Adrian took Zak to his swim lessons.  He did great swimming and had a lot of fun!  After they got home, I got dinner set up in the instant pot and then got the boys ready for Martial Arts.  I enjoyed watching them practice and was super proud of AJ for finally being able to do the rolls (somersaults)!  He has been struggling with them and it finally clicked today.  I'm proud of him for keeping with it!

After class, we drop home thru a horrible rain storm and then got home to have delicious pulled pork for dinner.  After dinner the boys finished up a few chores I needed them to finish and then had about an hour of video games before they are done for the week.  Adrian and I finished up a few things around the house including some food prep for the week.  After their snack and show, we got the boys down to bed and came back down to watch the Cowboys preseason game.  The game got boring fast since the Cowboys looking horrible so we also headed to bed early since we have an early wake up call tomorrow for school. 

Monday (8/27) The alarm went off bright and early this morning for school.  Adrian and I got AJ on the bus on time, which is now 10 minutes earlier than last week.  Then he headed to work and I relaxed a bit before getting the other two up and ready for school.  They wanted to walk again so we did even though it was already getting very hot that early!  After I dropped them off, I came home and did a few things before heading to the Y for my friend's Cardio Fit class.  I was still pretty sore after the jam on Saturday so this was the perfect shake out for my muscles.

After the fun class, I came home, grabbed a quick lunch and changed to head into the school to sub for the first time this year.  I did a quarter day this afternoon for one of the 3rd grade teachers and had a very easy afternoon.  It was a nice way to get my feet wet again after the summer off.  When school was over, I came home and dropped the boys off and then headed back to the Y to teach my Zumba Gold class.  We had a sweaty fun time in class!!  Then I headed back home to do dinner and homework with everyone.  After dinner, Adrian and AJ headed to his Boy Scout meeting where he continued to work on his first aid badge.  I hung out at home with the other two boys and got the house back in order.  When everyone was back home, we got the boys to bed, had a snack and watched another episode of "American Vandal" before heading to bed.

Tuesday (8/28) We got everyone up and moving and out on time to school this morning.  Adrian and I got AJ on the bus, then he headed to work.  Then I got the other three ready for school and dropped them off before heading to Harcum to teach my two classes.  My first one was full so we started early and I had a great time in both classes.  After the classes, I ran a few errands and then came home to grab a quick lunch before heading to the school to volunteer in Zak's class for the afternoon.  I did sight words with most of the kids and had a fun time seeing all of them.  Even though it was super hot, we walked home from school which is always a fun time!

From there, the day got really hard.  AJ had a tough day at school and we had a horrible time getting thru homework.  I barely got dinner on the table for the boys before we had to leave for soccer practices.  Adrian took Daniel to his practice and I took Zak to his while AJ stayed home to continue working on his homework.  When we got home we finally finished the homework and fought with the boys to get thru clean up.  The only bright spot in the evening was our dinner - amazing jerk chicken tacos in the slow cooker that were ready when we got home from soccer!

Bedtime wasn't much better.  Everyone was cranky but didn't want to go to bed.  We finally got everyone down and headed downstairs to finish cleaning up and started an episode of "American Vandal."  Zak came down three times complaining that he was scared and couldn't sleep.  We finally agreed to let him sleep on the couch, so we had to switch over to "New Girl" since he was there.  He still refused to sleep and kept screaming that he was hungry.  We gave him another snack and attempted to go to sleep.  Finally after one more snack around 11pm he finally went to sleep to we could as well.  Tomorrow is going to be an early morning!

Wednesday (8/29) As expected this morning was rough!  We struggled to get up, AJ would not get ready and the other two boys didn't want to get up either.  We did barely manage to get AJ out to the bus stop on time and then his bus was 20 minutes late!  I know this happens but today was just the worst day for it to happen.  When he finally got on the bus, I headed in and got ready for my day.  I got the boys up and ready and we walked up to school for the day.  Zak was really upset and crying that he hated school and didn't want to go.  Good times over here!

When I finally got back home and had a quiet cup of coffee and some encouraging texts from a friend, I was ready to start my day.  I got caught up on some stuff that I didn't get to yesterday and made a plan for the rest of the week.  While I really want to be subbing more, it is nice to get these big chunks of time to get things done.  The day passed quickly and before long it was time to get AJ from the bus and walk up to pick up the other boys.  I got them home and settled and then I headed out to the Y to teach my Zumba class.  As always, I felt better after dancing and ready to face the evening.

I was on my own for the evening because Adrian is checking out a new board game club that meets every Wednesday night.  I made it easy and had leftovers for dinner for everyone and then we got thru our homework.  I baked Avengers cookies to try to put everyone in a better mood and it seemed to work!  We got thru everything we needed to do tonight with time left to play quick game of Machi Koro.  After the game, we cleaned up and then the boys watched a show and had a snack before I put them to bed.  When I came down from putting them to bed, I finished up a few things, made my snack and sat down to watch mindless TV before heading to bed too.  

Thursday (8/30) We did a little better getting up and moving this morning but we are still struggling.  I hope we can all get good rest this weekend and have a better week next week!  Adrian and I got AJ on the bus and then he headed to work and I got the rest of us ready.  I dropped Daniel and Zak at school and then headed to Harcum to teach my two Silver Sneakers classes.  I had smaller classes today (only 19 people in each, lol!) because lots of my students are traveling for the weekend.  We had good classes and lots of laughs as always.  When class was over, I ran a few errands that I needed to get done to be ready for the long weekend.

I got home in time to get AJ off the bus and walk up to pick up the other boys.  Then I came home and got ready for a busy night.  I fed the boys and got Daniel ready for soccer practice.  Adrian took him to practice while I stayed home and ate dinner before heading out to help at the Cub Scout registration night.  We had a lot of new Scouts come and register and we are excited about the new year.  I was exhausted by the end of the event and headed home as soon as I was able.  When I got here we put the boys to bed, finished cleaning up and watching the season finale of "Younger."  It was really good and left a lot of questions for next season!  After that we went to bed because we are exhausted and struggling thru this week.