Keeping Up With...Workouts (2/18 - 2/24 Recap)

Another week of snow and cold weather messing up my workouts.  The week started with last Wednesday being the only day the boys went to school last week...in the middle of a snow storm!  Driving conditions were horrible and I literally couldn't get to my morning class on time so I had to cancel.  I ended up getting a sub for my afternoon class as well since Adrian was really stressed out since he got to work very late because of the traffic.

The weekend was pretty awesome, I went to my first Zumba Jam session of the year!  It was so much fun to go and learn 5 new songs with a bunch of friends.  The Jammer Lynn was awesome, such great energy and challenging but fun choreography.  I introduced my first new song from the Jam this week and my classes seem to really like it.  It's a fun song called "Zumba High" which I can relate to on a personal level.  The singer is talking about how Zumba has changed her life for the better.  If you've been around for a while, you know that's true of me as well.

The whole crew of Jammers

Me, Lynn & Bridget after the Jam

Here's the quick rundown of last week:
Wednesday, 2/18 - Did a 10 minute at home total body conditioning circuit
Thursday, 2/19 - Taught 2 Zumba classes and did 10 minutes of Total Body Conditioning
Friday, 2/20 - Taught 1 Zumba class and did a 10 minute yoga YouTube video
Saturday, 2/21 - Three hour Zumba Jam
Sunday, 2/22 - Rest Day
Monday, 2/23 - Taught 1 Zumba class and did a 10 minute arm workout
Tuesday, 2/24 - Taught 1 Zumba class and did 10 minutes of Total Body Conditioning

And a quick update on my weekly goals:
1. Continue teaching at least 6 Zumba classes each week.  Only taught 5 this week due to 2 being cancelled for weather on Wednesday and then getting a sub for Mon night so I could make sure AJ got to his last hockey practice
2.  Attend at least 2 classes other than mine each week.  I'm considering the 3 hour jam as fulfilling this.  I did totally new to me choreo which is a huge challenge
3.  Do at least 10 minutes of strength training at home 5 days each week.  Done!
4.  Do at least 60 minutes of yoga or pilates each week.  Fail again.  I did 10 minutes this week.  I'm really struggling with this one.  I need to step this up.
5.  Continue doing the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans monthly calendar.  I am up to date on the Lose Your Love Handles February challenge.

6.  Make the changes in the year long challenge called A Year of Small Changes. Things I'm working on from past weeks:  sleep and being positive.  Sleep has been pretty good.  I've been great about going to bed by 11 and getting up most mornings between 6:30/7:00.  I need to figure out how to keep Zak in his own bed.  He is really messing up my sleep schedule!  I was positive sometimes this week and other times not so much.  I'm going to probably keep this all year, I think it's important to remember to always see the positive.  This week's challenge was to eat your veggies everyday.  I do a great job with this, normally getting 5-6 servings everyday, sometimes more.  And I try to eat the rainbow everyday as well.

Finally, my weigh in:
2/18 - 220
2/25 - 218
Change for the week - down 2 lbs
Change for the year - down 7 lbs of the 52 lbs I'm trying to lose (8th week of the year)

Yay for a loss!  I had a pretty good week of staying on track eating wise, except for Sunday.  And now I am back down to where I was before my two weeks of crazy eating so I'm happy about that.  I have an active month planned for March so I'm hoping for some pretty big losses.  Stay tuned!

Keeping Up With...Food (Menu Plan 2/23 - 3/1)

Last week went somewhat better than expected (menu wise at least) due to freezing cold temps and the kids having off from school every day except for Wednesday.  Ironically Wednesday was the only day we had snow, the roads were horrible!  I cooked a bunch last week and today I noticed the fridge was super full of leftovers so we had those tonight after a fun family day at Disney on Ice.  Check back for my recap on that either tomorrow or Tues!

This week is the last week of hockey for AJ and ice skating for Zak.  We are taking some time off from activities, except swimming, for the next month or so.  It has just been very hard with Adrian working so much overtime to keep up with everything.  AJ also wants a break from hockey (I don't blame him, he's been playing 3 times/week since Oct) so he'll take spring off and start again in the summer season.

I tried to keep the menu easy this week as we have something every night and 3 afternoons.  We still have a decent amount of leftovers and some freezer meals so while this is the plan, I may switch it up a little as the week goes.  We have very little planned next weekend and I really want to take the weekend to catch my breath and get caught up on the giant to do list I have been ignoring except to add more items to it.

Here's what we're eating this week:
Monday - Black Bean & Butternut Squash Enchilada Casserole (carry over from last week)
Tuesday - Taco Chicken Zoodles for the adults & chicken tacos for the kids.  Our PTO is also feeding the teachers for conferences that night so I'm making Broccoli Cranberry Salad for that.
Wednesday Lunch - Avocado White Bean Salad
Wednesday Dinner - Sausage with Broccoli & Fennel
Thursday - Tomato Ricotta Pasta
Friday - Freezer Meal or Leftovers - I have a meeting in the afternoon then training at night.  No time for cooking!
Saturday - Crockpot Chili - AJ has an all day hockey tournament, not sure what me & the other boys are doing.  Then I have an oils class at night so I wanted something easy for this day.  I'm also making guacamole with lime and cilantro essential oils.  I'm excited to try it!
Sunday - Steak & Baked Potatoes - Adrian asked for this.  I'm hoping since it's March 1st he'll be able to grill (HA!)

Water Infuser Flavor - Fruit Salad.  I have some leftover from last week so I'm going to throw it in the infuser.  I am behind on this and probably won't get it set up until tomorrow, boo!  I also learned last week that I don't like the citrus flavors for the infuser, I pretty the sweet flavors!  I'll stick with my citrus oils & do more berries, melons, etc in the water.

As always, I'm linking up with Laura at Mommy, Run Fast & Jill at Fitness, Health and Happiness.  Go check them out for some more yummy recipes!  Have a great week!

Keeping Up With...Family (Birthday Parties)

This time of year is so busy for us with Zachary, Daniel and my niece Isabelle all being born within one week of each other.  And throw in Valentine's Day that week too just to make it more interesting.  I feel like we've been celebrating forever!

We started the celebration on Sun the 8th, Zachary's actual birthday.  We did chocolate cupcakes with lots of icing (his choice), Jet's pizza and presents for both boys.  They didn't get much from us, we are buying all three boys new bikes for their birthdays this year.  We did a small gift for each boy & they bought for each other as well.  It was a nice relaxing family night at home.

Gifts for the boys

Zak enjoying a cupcake

Tuesday the 10th was Daniel's actual birthday so I took Superman cupcakes to school so he could celebrate with his class mates.  It was fun to be in class with him for a little while.  Then we had mac and cheese for dinner and ice cream cake (his choice) for dessert that night.

Superman cupcakes for the class

Oreo cake for the family

Thursday AJ and Daniel had Valentine's parties in their class rooms.  Each boy brought a Valentine for each kid in his class and got a card/treat from each kid.  I was thrilled that their teachers made their Valentine's bags in class during the party, I'm not creative and hate doing that kind of stuff at home.  The boys had special treats and stories during their parties then got to come home and enjoy a 4 day (that turned into a 5 day) weekend.

Saturday the 14th we had the boys' joint party at World of Bounce.  I'm not sure how many more years we will get away with having one party for both boys but we will be trying for as long as possible!  Daniel invited his whole class (thankfully only 2 came!) and a few of his other friends.  Zak invited his two buddies as well.  We had a great group of kids and they all had a blast bouncing, eating pizza & cake and opening presents.

Friends!

Birthday Boys

Finally on Sunday the 15th we headed to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate my niece Isabelle's 3rd birthday.  You would think the boys would be partied out by now but they were SO excited to play.  They also each made a Valentine for Isabelle which was super cute.  We enjoyed lots of video games, skee ball & time in the play area at the party.  We also had pizza and delicious icing cake.

Birthday Girl!

Now we are all partied out and hoping to find some normalcy in our lives again.  The next birthdays are spaced out with almost a month between mine, Adrian's and AJ's so we have time to recooperate between each one!

Keeping Up With...Workouts (2/11 - 2/17 Recap)

As I mentioned last week, I have been taking a break recently.  Life keeps happening and I have had a lot more on my place recently so I've had to miss a few workouts.  That's no excuse for my bad eating, that was just bad choices.  I've gotten a handle on it the past two days and am motivated to get a pretty long stretch of good days in a row.

Of course I'm struggling today because I cancelled both of my Zumba classes and our swimming outing due to bad weather.  So now I have to find the time to exercise in the house, which you all know I'm not very good at.  I also have pasta cooking for dinner because I thought I would have 2 Zumba workouts to counteract that.  I'm doing the best I can today, not pigging out and hoping to at least be close to my calorie goal.

Here's the quick rundown of last week:
Wednesday, 2/11 - Taught 2 Zumba classes and did a 10 minute arm workout
Thursday, 2/12 - Taught 2 Zumba classes
Friday, 2/13 - Taught 1 Zumba class
Saturday, 2/14 - Did a 10 minute arm workout and successfully threw the boys a birthday party
Sunday, 2/15 - Rest Day
Monday, 2/16 - Taught 2 Zumba classes and did 10 minutes of PlyoFit class
Tuesday, 2/17 - Taught 1 Zumba class, did 10 minutes of Total Body Conditioning and took Zak ice skating for 30 minutes

Showing off my new Zumba wear after a class last week

And a quick update on my weekly goals: 1. Continue teaching at least 6 Zumba classes each week.  Taught 8 this week, WOW!!
 2.  Attend at least 2 classes other than mine each week.  Fail.  I didn't get to anything.  I subbed on Fri in my normal time to take another class & my weekend was ridiculously busy.
3.  Do at least 10 minutes of strength training at home 5 days each week.  I made it to 4 times this week, not too bad.
4.  Do at least 60 minutes of yoga or pilates each week.  Fail again.  I didn't do any.  Maybe I need to do that to kick start my day today.
5.  Continue doing the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans monthly calendar.  I am up to date on the Lose Your Love Handles February challenge.

6.  Make the changes in the year long challenge called A Year of Small Changes. Things I'm working on for this:  sleep, track food, being positive and taking a probiotic daily.  This week's challenge was to set up a place to leave stuff when you come in from outside and I already have that.  Sleep has been better, helped by NyQuill a few days.  I need to get better at getting up in the morning, I need that time to myself.  I'm tracking food again so I think I have that under control.  I added a probiotic starting on Monday & I think I have that under control as well.  Being positive is up and down.  I was pretty good this past week but had my moments.

Finally, my weigh in:
2/4 - 218
2/18 - 220
Change for the week - up 2 lbs (for 2 week)
Change for the year - down 5 lbs of the 52 lbs I'm trying to lose (7th week of the year)

I'm actually pretty surprised this isn't higher considering my diet has been mostly pizza and cake the past 10ish days.  I'm a little disappointed that I'm no longer on track for my 52 lbs this year, but there is still plenty of time to get it done.  My current goal is to go full force until I go away for a long weekend in March then take a few days off while I'm away.  Working hard to make that happen!

Keeping Up With...Family (Daniel's 6th Birthday!)

Happy 6th Birthday Daniel!!  Like I did with your brother last week, I reread your blog from this time last year and cried through the whole thing.  So much is still the same this year.  You continue to surprise, challenge and amaze me everyday!!

You had some big changes the past year!  One of the biggest was graduating from preschool and moving on to kindergarten.  You were upset at first to be going to school every day, but you seem to have adjusted well.  I know you would still rather be home with me, but you never fight me in the mornings and always have fun learning at school.  You will face another change in about 6 months when you go from half day to full day when you start first grade.  I know once again it will be an adjustment for all of us, but you will do great!

Another big change for you has been your friends.  You had most of the same kids in your class both years at preschool and now your group is scattered all over different schools and classes.  You also had two of your best friends move away, one across town and one to Texas.  But I have been amazed at how social you have become!  You make friends wherever we go.  And you do a great job of playing with other kids in your class at school.  Everyone loves you and I'm not surprised!!

You are excelling in school as well!  You are fantastic at math, and you love practicing it every day.  You have also started reading and are already at the highest level you should be at by the end of this school year.  You love reading to your younger brother and he loves to listen to you.  Your handwriting continues to be the one area of struggle, but I know it will come.

Outside of school your favorite thing to do is have play dates with all of your friends.  You would play with different friends every day if I let you.  You really enjoy bowling and have won the league with your brother the past 2 seasons.  We are taking this spring off but you're anxious to get back to it this summer.  You tried art lessons and really enjoyed them as well, but they were a little hard with being in school everyday.  You also really enjoy golf, especially when you can go with Daddy & Grandpa.  Hopefully that will be often this summer!

I look forward to seeing how you continue to grow and change this next year!!  We got you a new bike for your birthday and will hopefully be riding without training wheels by the end of the summer.  You are also working hard at swimming lessons and I'm sure you'll be swimming on your own by the end of the summer as well.  I'm so proud of how hard you work at everything and how you always try your best.

I hope you enjoyed celebrating your birthday this year, I know I did.  Stay sweet my dear boy!!  I love you tons!!  Happy 6th Birthday!!

Keeping Up With...Food (Menu Plan 2/16 - 2/22)

Life has been happening over here.  Things have not been going according to plan.  We have been dealing with some sickness and very busy schedules for the past few weeks.  We were supposed to have a four day weekend this weekend to catch up on everything and sort of push the reset button. 

Then my husband had to work all day on Friday and he pulled a muscle in his back so he can't help me with anything.  I have been single mom-ing the entire weekend, which included our boys' birthday party and my niece's as well.  And I am still not feeling well.  Needless to say we are still very behind on everything.

We have another hectic week coming up and a super busy weekend.  I'm really going to focus tonight and tomorrow to try to get as much done as possible.  And that will be the theme of the whole week.  I'm hoping to get a little caught up and if nothing else I'm hoping to not fall farther behind.

OK, enough gloom and doom.  Some positive things...we had a great time celebrating two of our three boys' birthdays the past week.  Watch for a recap coming very soon!  And while I didn't cook a lot this past week, we didn't eat out at all either.  We ate what we have in the house so no extra money was spent.  And we have a lot of cake left over from the party so when all else fails, I have a piece of cake!

Here's the plan for this week, with lots of carryovers from last week. 
Monday Lunch - Bangin' Good Chicken Salad - hoping to finally make this one!
Monday Dinner - Spicy Chicken Meatballs and Loaded Cauliflower Mash
Tuesday - Cheesy Taco Skillet
Wednesday - Crockpot Tortellini
Thursday - Freezer Meal
Friday - Garlic Rosemary Zoodles with Apple Pork Meatballs - I didn't make Zoodles at all last week, I may be in withdrawals!!  ;-) 
Saturday - Chicken Zucchini Baked Ziti - I have Zumba events all day so I'm hoping to make this during the week so we only have to heat it up.
Sunday - Black Bean & Butternut Squash Enchilada Casserole

Water Infuser Flavor - Lemon/Lime.  I have been eating horribly for the past 10 days.  I'm back to healthy eating tomorrow and I'm thinking this will help flush out my system.  I'm also helping it will finally help me kick this sore throat!

As always, I'm linking up with Laura at Mommy, Run Fast & Jill at Fitness, Health and Happiness.  Go check them out for some more yummy recipes!  Have a great week!

Keeping Up With...Workouts (2/4 - 2/10 Recap)

Don't I look cute and ready to tackle anything last Weds after class?  My hair was dripping with sweat after yoga and Zumba.  You'd think this was a good week with a start like this right?  You would be wrong.

The stress of everyone being sick, Adrian working a crazy schedule, 3 birthdays, Valentine's Day, a shoulder injury and everyday life caught up to me on Friday.  And I did what any good overeater on a diet does, I ate.  And it didn't really stop all weekend.  Or this week.  And since we have parties until Sun afternoon, it's not going to stop until Monday.

And you know what?  That's OK.  It's the season I'm in right now and I'm owning it and enjoying every bite that goes into my mouth.  I'm also cutting back on exercise a little.  Not because I don't need to exercise, but because I am sick and very busy and I need to make sure I am resting enough to get thru my everyday life.  I took a pass on the scale this morning.  I know it's higher and I don't care.  I'll see where it is next week.

Now with all that being said, it actually wasn't a horrible week of workouts for me.  Here's the quick rundown of my week:
Wednesday, 2/4 - Taught 2 Zumba classes and did 30 minutes of Core & Flexibility class
Thursday, 2/5 - Taught 1 1/2 Zumba classes (ice/snow shortened my class) and did 10 minutes on the bike
Friday, 2/6 - Rest Day (I hurt my shoulder overnight)
Saturday, 2/7 - Taught 1 Zumba class, took 1 Zumba class, practiced Zumba for about an hour and did a 10 minute yoga video from YouTube
Sunday, 2/8 - Rest Day (ran around all day celebrating the birthday boy, Daniel!)
Monday, 2/9 - Taught 2 Zumba class and did 10 minutes of PlyoFit class
Tuesday, 2/10 - Rest Day (ran around all day celebrating the birthday boy, Daniel!)

And a quick update on my weekly goals:
1. Continue teaching at least 6 Zumba classes each week.  Made this one again this week, yay!
 2.  Attend at least 2 classes other than mine each week.  Did one full class, my friend's Zumba class and a few parts of other classes.  I keep having to miss the Fri morning class so that is making this goal very hard to achieve
3.  Do at least 10 minutes of strength training at home 5 days each week.  I made it to 4 times this week, not too bad.
4.  Do at least 60 minutes of yoga or pilates each week.  Fail again.  I got to 40 minutes this week which is an improvement over the past few weeks.
5.  Continue doing the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans monthly calendar.  I am one day behind in the Lose Your Love Handles February challenge.  I plan to catch up on the rest day this weekend.

6.  Make the changes in the year long challenge called A Year of Small Changes. Things I'm working on for this:  sleep, track food, being positive and (new this week) taking a probiotic daily.  Sleep & track food have been horrible with sickness.  I have noticed these 2 go hand in hand (not shocking!)  I've been much more positive this week than last week, although with 2 birthdays to celebrate & my hormones not raging this one was definitely easier.  I need to get to the drug store to get a probiotic to take daily.  I've been thinking about adding this for a while so now seems like a good time.

And again, I skipped my weigh in today.  I'll update the numbers next week.  Have a great week!!

Keeping Up With...Family (Zak's 3rd Birthday!!)

Happy 3rd Birthday Zachary Christopher!!

I just read over the post I did last year for your birthday and while a lot has changed, a lot has stayed the same.  You continue to be a big boy, weighing in at nearly 50 lbs now.  You are in clothes the size below your big brother Daniel and I'm afraid you might pass him soon.

You and your brothers are still very close, when you aren't fighting.  You finally moved into your big boy bed this year and we moved you into the room with your brothers.  We were nervous to have all three of you in the same room, but most nights you all go to sleep with no problems.  You have developed the habit of waking up in the middle of the night and climbing into bed with Mom & Dad.  We don't know why you keep doing this, and don't have it in us to fight with you over it.  I'm hoping you grow out of it soon.

You are still a ton of fun to be around!  You laugh all the time and cause all of us to laugh with you.  You still talk a ton, your vocabulary seems to grow every day.  You are still very stubborn which we are seeing a lot of now that you are a three-nager.  You love to play outside and have recently discovered playing in snow and muddy puddles.  You are excelling in swimming lessons and will be moving out of the parent child class next month.  You also enjoy playing Angry Birds on our tablet and now on the XBox thanks to a birthday gift from your big brothers.

This year you will start preschool and I am both excited and terrified.  Of course if you don't figure out potty training soon you will have another year home with me.  You are also very excited about learning how to ice skate and following in big brother AJ's footsteps of playing hockey.  You are also very interested in bowling like your big brothers so I'm sure you will be learning that this summer.

I continue to be amazed by the little man you are becoming!!  I can't wait to see how much you continue to grow and learn in this next year, even though I know from experience there will be some rough parenting times for me.  I love you with all my heart Zachary!!  Happy, happy 3rd birthday baby boy!!

Keeping Up With...Food (Menu Plan 2/9 - 2/15)

Just popping in quickly to share my menu for the week.  We are busy celebrating my baby's 3rd birthday today!!

Last week was a very easy week and I was very glad it worked out that way.  We had more sickness, more overtime and more of our crazy schedule.  I am always glad when the plan I make works out perfectly with the way the week goes.  Adrian even cooked one of the Hello Fresh meals since everything is together in a bag and they send step by step directions.  It was nice to come home after 3 hours of Zumba yesterday to a home cooked (not by me) meal.

Here's what we're eating this week:
Monday - Chicken, Sweet Potato and Kale Stew
Tuesday - Pizza Mac & Cheese and ice cream cake - it's my middle boy's 6th birthday so this was his pick
Wednesday - Freezer Meal
Thursday - Spicy Chicken Meatballs and Loaded Cauliflower Mash
Friday - Pasta Fagiole - boys are off from school and Adrian is trying to get the day off.  If he can we will be bike shopping (each boy is getting a new bike for their birthday this year) and may grab dinner out.  If not, this is super easy to throw together.
Saturday - Pizza at the boys' birthday party at World of Bounce
Sunday - Crockpot Tortellini - we are at Chuck E Cheese all day for my niece's birthday party so this will be good to come home to.

Water Infuser Flavor - Strawberry Mint.  Every time I go to the grocery store, Zak asks me to buy strawberries and since they are on sale (and he eats them like crazy) I have been saying OK.  But today I realized I had a bunch of berries about to turn, so they are going into the water and the freezer.

As always, I'm linking up with Laura at Mommy, Run Fast & Jill at Fitness, Health and Happiness.  Go check them out for some more yummy recipes!  Back to our birthday celebrations!!  Have a great week!

Keeping Up With...Workouts (Recap of 1/28 - 2/4)

Yeah, another rough week for me.  My workouts were pretty good, but that food part is killing me.  I had a really rough week last week (sick kids, ice/snow, husband working a million hours, etc) and instead of finding a good way to deal with that, I ate a lot of Friday.  And Saturday.  And Sunday.  I had planned to eat a little more than usual on Sunday, but not the other 2 days.

I did have lots of schedule changes to contend with between the sick kids and the husband's schedule.  I am proud that I did what I could and most days I got a pretty good workout.  YouTube has become my best friend, I search for "10 minute workout" and get a slew of videos to use.  I also did an arms ladder set in my friend Beth's class the other day that I loved so I've been doing that a lot as well.  I'm trying to build my arm muscles before Zumba Toning training in March.


Here's the quick rundown of my week:
Wednesday, 1/21 - Taught 1 Zumba class, did a 10 minute Yoga video from YouTube
Thursday, 1/22 - Taught 2 Zumba classes and did a 10 minute arm ladder workout
Friday, 1/23 - Practiced Zumba for 10 minutes (did 2 new songs - yay!)
Saturday, 1/24 - Took Zak to his 35 minute swimming lesson
Sunday, 1/25 - Did a 10 minute ab workout from YouTube
Monday, 1/26 - Taught 2 Zumba class and did 10 minutes of PlyoFit class
Tuesday, 1/27 - Taught 1 Zumba class, did a 10 minute arm ladder workout and took Zak ice skating for 40 minutes

And a quick update on my weekly goals:
1. Continue teaching at least 6 Zumba classes each week.  Wow, I'm surprised I made this one this week!  My class at the YMCA was cancelled on Wednesday because the building was being used for something else.  I'm shocked between weather & sick kids I didn't miss another class!
 2.  Attend at least 2 classes other than mine each week.  Fail again this week.  I didn't get to any other classes other than the first circuit of PlyoFit.  I had planned to go to classes on Friday & Saturday, but the sick kids and other commitments derailed those plans.
3.  Do at least 10 minutes of strength training at home 5 days each week.  Got this one in!  I actually feel like I did 6 days of this because swimming with Zak is strength training.
4.  Do at least 60 minutes of yoga or pilates each week.  Fail again.  I started great with a 10 minute workout...then didn't do it again all week.  Must stretch more!
5.  Continue doing the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans monthly calendar.  I finished the squat and pushup challenge from January!  That was my 13th monthly challenge in a row.  I have started and am up to date on the Lose Your Love Handles February challenge.

6.  Make the changes in the year long challenge called A Year of Small Changes.  Last week our challenge was to track our food.  I did OK, tracked 4 of the 7 days last week.  This is an ongoing challenge for me so this and sleep will be continuing challenges.  Sleep last week was rough with lots of wake ups from the kids.  This week's challenge is to be more positive.  I've been off to a horrible start on this one!  I'm working on changing my negatives to positives, but this one may be on here for a while.

Finally, my weigh in:
1/28 - 218
2/4 - 218
Change for the week - maintain
Change for the year - down 7 lbs of the 52 lbs I'm trying to lose (5th week of the year)

I was pretty surprised to see this number again this week...and thrilled!  I'm still ahead on my goal for the year, but I'd really like to see the number change again.  This week will be hard with two of my three boys celebrating birthdays.  We are having cake on Sunday & Tuesday.  Plus Jets pizza.  Yikes!  Have a great week!!

Keeping Up With...Family (2 minute drill)

In honor of the Superbowl this weekend (which we watched at home - no party for us) I thought I'd do a quick two minute drill of what's been happening here the past week.  Plus it's been pretty random stuff, nothing real big to write about but lots of pretty cool stuff.

Sickness
OK that's not cool, but I figured I'd get the icky part out of the way first.  Zak, AJ and Adrian all had a head cold last week.  Lots of coughing and snots all around!  Then today AJ and Adrian had a stomach bug.  That seems to have been short lived so I'm crossing my fingers it's back to healthy normal life tomorrow.

Haircuts
Adrian and I both made time to get our hair cut last week.  He has needed one for almost a month now, just had a hard time finding the time.  I haven't had a haircut in over a year.  It kept getting pushed off and my hair just kept growing.  Then I decided to keep it growing so I could donate it.  I cut off just over 8 inches and will send it out to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. 
I went from this:

To This:

The Color Purple
Daniel has been working super hard on his behavior at school and has been trying to get on purple (the highest color) for the whole school year.  His behavior is honestly near perfect in school, but his teacher doesn't believe in handing out many purple cards.  He finally got his first one last Wednesday and he was thrilled!!  Great job Daniel!

Teeth
AJ lost tooth number three!  Well, not so much lost as yanked it out at school while waiting for me to pick him up.  He has a gap finally since his adult tooth isn't in yet.  And the tooth fairy successfully came last night!

Potty Time
Zak is finally being forced learning how to use the potty!  He is great when he is at home and naked, no accidents.  But as soon as I put underwear on him, he goes.  We started working on him with underwear on Saturday.  It's been up and down, but I think he's getting it.  I've put my foot down (no more diapers!) so until he gets it I'll have a little bit more laundry.


I think that's about all from here.  Hope you enjoyed catching up (and that you were able to read it in 2 minutes or less)!

Keeping Up With...Food (Menu Plan 2/2 - 2/8)

We didn't have the best week, we dealt with sickness, snow & ice, lots of overtime and lots of schedule changes.  We got thru it and everyone is healthy now (and I didn't get it - thank you essential oils!) but I have been worn out all weekend after dealing with everyone.

Last week's meal plan went great until Friday, then it pretty much went out the window.  Thankfully we had a ton of leftovers so we ate those on Friday and Saturday.  I also forgot when I was planning last week that I was hosting an essential oils class for a few friends this weekend so I had to figure out a few snacks for that.  I made delicious guacamole, taco dip and yummy cookie brownie bars (thanks Aldi!)  That may have been my dinner last night.

I wasn't sure what to do for today for the Superbowl and my husband decided to make his awesome homemade pizza.  I don't have to cook and I get to eat amazing food?  I'm in!  Actually it was pretty easy for him too, we had 2 balls of dough and some sauce frozen from when we made it at Christmas so he just had to put it together.

So this week is a lot of leftover meals from last week.  Plus I got a box of meals from Hello Fresh for half off so we are having those three days this week too.  It will make for an easy week which is good because we have two of the three boys' birthdays coming up on Sunday and next Tuesday.  Lots of baking in my future!

Here's what we're eating this week:
Monday - Shrimp Pesto Zoodles with Caesar salads
Tuesday - Turkey Meatloaf Muffins with Garlic Parmesan Potatoes
Wednesday - Sweet Potato & Sausage Hash with Loaded Mashed Cauliflower
Thursday - Hello Fresh Meal
Friday - Hello Fresh Meal
Saturday - Hello Fresh Meal
Sunday - Jets Pizza to celebrate the birthdays!

Water Infuser Flavor - Strawberry Kiwi (again)  This was amazing and I still have both fruits so I'm repeating this flavor

As always, I'm linking up with Laura at Mommy, Run Fast & Jill at Fitness, Health and Happiness.  Go check them out for some more yummy recipes!  I'm back to watching the commercials...I mean Super Bowl.  Have a great week!