Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 4/14 - 4/20 - Part 2)

If you missed part 1 of the week (which is basically Easter weekend), you can read about it here.  It got too long so I split the week.

Monday (4/17) started bright and early for me since I agreed to teach two Zumba classes to the teachers of our school district during their professional development day.  I had a ton of fun teaching the two classes to the teachers and they all said they had fun too.  We are going to work together to try to set up a weekly after school class for them next school year.  While I was there, Adrian was home with the boys, playing and trying to get some control over the mess that was our kitchen.

I got home and shortly after Jon, Rebecca and the girls came over for a few hours before their flight back home to Dallas.  The kids played outside while we enjoyed the perfect weather on the deck.  We all had lunch together, re-enjoying the yummy food from the weekend.  And then all too soon it was time to say "so long" so they could head to the airport to catch their flight.  It was such a fun weekend with them and our second year spending Easter together.  I think we decided to make it a tradition!

After they left, I headed out to teach class number three of the day for me.  Adrian continued to work around the house.  When I got home, I was exhausted!  We finished up with the cleaning, had more leftovers for dinner and all had an early bed time.  Back to our routine tomorrow!

Tuesday (4/18) was back to our normal routine for us.  We got up and out to work and school in the morning.  I dropped everyone off and then went to teach my Silver Sneakers class.  I picked Zak up from school and then we headed home for a quick lunch before heading back out to our dentist appointment.  Zak did great with his appointment and both of us were pronounced cavity free!  We raced back home to pick up AJ and Daniel and then I dropped everyone off at home before heading out to my Zumba class that night.  Adrian got the boys dinner and then headed to Brain Balance with all of them.  Super busy day after a long weekend!!

Wednesday (4/19) was another day of our normal routine.  We got up and out to work and school on time in the morning.  I taught a Silver Sneakers class in the morning and ran a few errands.  I picked Zak up and we went home to have lunch and play some board games.  We got to walk again to pick up the boys and then headed to the Y for my Zumba class.  We came home and had a quick dinner and realized that Adrian was stuck at work.  So I took all three boys to AJ and Daniel's soccer class.  Thankfully Adrian wasn't too late and we all got home around the same time after class.  We put the boys to bed, watched Survivor and then headed to bed ourselves.

Thursday (4/20) was another busy day for us and we were all dragging from the busy weekend before and the current week.  We got up and out to school on time and did our normal during the day things.  When Zak and I walked to pick up the other boys, he was so upset to see that his "hole" had been covered.  I'm not sure exactly what the hole was, but it's been there for about a year.  Every day when we walk, he checks on it.  Today it was covered by a manhole cover.  His disappointment is evident in this picture.

After we got home from school, we got ready for our busy night.  Adrian took Daniel and Zak to Daniel's baseball practice while I took AJ to Brain Balance.  I ran a few errands while he was at his session and then we all got home late.  After snacks and some TV it was bedtime for all of us, thankful tomorrow is Friday!

Keeping Up With...Food (Meal Plan for May 8 - May 14)

Another pretty good week in the books as far as healthy eating.  I hit a few bumps in the road but managed to mostly stay on course.  I did hit the wall on Thursday after two ridiculously busy days of running so I just had leftovers for dinner.  I just did not feel like cooking that night!  I probably could have done a pasta night since I'm usually ready for that but even that didn't sound good.  The meal I planned for that day got bumped to this week.

This week is a little crazy because we have something going on just about every night of the week.  And it's also Adrian's birthday on Weds and Mother's Day on Sun.  We're going to do our best to follow our plan and eat mostly healthy but as you will see, there are a lot of easy meals and also a night to eat out.  I'm trying to not stress myself out with cooking so I can enjoy the fun things we have planned!

I'm trying to start on the "use it up" plan this week so that is reflected in some of these meals.  Although that is hard because there were also specific requests for things this week and a few special occasions.  But I'm using up some deli ham that needs to be eaten soon on Weds, some wheat germ on Thurs and cabbage and rolls (in the freezer) on Sunday.  Next week I'll be continuing on this path, specifically using up all of the cabbage I don't use in the coleslaw and some farmers cheese leftover from Easter.

Here's what we're eating this week:
Monday - Pizza Chicken Casserole (carryover from last week)
Tuesday - Taco Tuesday
Wednesday - Subs as Salads at soccer and then ice cream cake to celebrate Adrian's birthday!
Thursday - Breakfast for dinner - Chocolate Chip Pancakes with fruit
Friday - Pasta night - Gnocchi and Tortellini Alfredo with salads for the adults
Saturday - Jets Pizza!
Sunday - BBQ of hamburgers, hot dogs and brats.  Plus homemade potato salad and coleslaw

Water Flavor - Strawberry Mango (again) - it's so good and mango is so cheap right now

Overnight Oats Flavors - Original, Chocolate Peanut Butter, & Banana Chocolate Chip

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 4/14 - 4/20 - Part 1)

Friday (4/14) was the boys' first day of a long weekend so we all slept in.  Adrian actually ended up with the day off as well thanks to some comp time and a late night earlier in the week.  We started our day with haircuts for the boys at Great Clips and then our free dozen of donuts at Krispy Kreme for good report cards.  We also grabbed a quick lunch of McDonald's for Daniel and Zak and Taco Bell for the rest of us.

After that running around, we came home to start preparing for our weekend full of company.  Adrian set up the pizza crust for dinner tonight and I did the sauce and chopped all of the vegetables for the pizzas.  I also started prepping for Easter breakfast and Easter dinner.  The boys spent some time playing video games and anxiously waiting for the cousins to all get here.

Jon, Rebecca, Luci and Antonia finally got here around 4pm and the kids immediately ran outside to play.  The girls loved checking out our toys, both inside and out.  Carl, Sarah, Isabelle and Vinnie got here closer to dinner time.  We ate pizza, colored our Easter eggs, had ice cream cake and played.  It was a really nice family night together!  Here are just a few pictures from that night.

 

 

 

 

Saturday (4/15) started early for me because I was up early cooking kielbasa and baking bobka for tomorrow's breakfast.  Adrian also took AJ to Brain Balance because we didn't want to miss his session.  The others all decided to go to a Spring Fest in New Albany but we decided to sit that event out and meet up with them a little later.  We had leftover pizza for lunch at home and then met them all at Easton for some Jeni's ice cream.  It was a gorgeous day and very crowded so we didn't stay long at Jeni's.  We got our ice cream, picked up the boys free Cheryl's cookies for their report cards & got my wedding ring cleaned and inspected for my warranty before heading out.

We went over to Carl's house for the rest of the day.  The kids all went to the park for a while to play while Carl and I prepped dinner.  Then they came home and played upstairs for a while so the adults could relax and then set up the egg hunt in the yard.  The kids loved searching for the eggs in the yard, especially AJ and Luci who found the golden eggs and got giant chocolate bunnies as a reward.

 

After the egg hunt, the kids spent the rest of the day playing together, eating candy and running around both inside and outside.  The adults enjoyed a delicious dinner, drinks and lots of adult conversation.  It was a fairly relaxing evening, which is great when you have 7 kids together!  We wrapped it up fairly early as I still had lots of prep for the next morning.

Sunday (4/16) Happy Easter!!  I started the day by heading to the church early.  I was asked to be part of the sermon today for both services.  The Children's Ministry pastor Andre was speaking about "Jesus for All People" and we had about 12 of us on the stage with him speaking in different languages.  I was representing American Sign Language.  It was a very moving experience to be up there sharing the word in ASL.  We did a reading and sang a song for both services.  Everyone came to the 9:30 service and then headed back to my house to wait for me.

The kids did their second egg hunt at our house while I was at the second service at church.  Thankfully the predicted rain held off so they got to search for eggs inside and in our yard.  When I got home, we had the traditional Polish Easter breakfast - kielbasa, eggs, farmer cheese, rye bread & bobka.  I also made a cinnamon bun coffee cake which the kids loved!  When we finished eating, we were all in need of a nap!  Some of us did nap, some of us just rested on the couch, some of us (the kids) played video games.  It was a relaxing Easter afternoon.

We finished up our Easter celebration with a big dinner.  I did a ham and a bunch of sides.  Everything came out great and we all ate a ton!  We had cheese cake and leftover ice cream cake for dessert and the kids attempted to watch "Sing" together but were too distracted by each other and the desserts.  We called in another early night since Carl, Sarah and I all had to work in the morning.  Plus we were all really tired from an amazing weekend together.

This post is getting pretty long, even though it's mostly pictures.  I'm going to end this here and finish it up in another post.

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 4/28 - 5/4)

Friday (4/28) started rough when no one wanted to get up and moving again.  We barely made it to school on time but we pulled it out.  I dropped everyone off and then ran to get the oil changed in the van before heading in to Zak's preschool class to volunteer for a while.  His teacher wanted help making shirts for the kids to wear during "Camp Week" next week at school.  So I helped each of the 12 kids make a shirt using fabric paint.  It was a lot of fun but also exhausting!  It was also cute to hear all the kids calling me "Zak's Mom."  I'm always called "AJ's Mom" or "Daniel's Mom" so now I added a new title.

After we finished up at school, Zak and I came home and played a little before getting a few things done and then heading to pick up AJ and Daniel.  We lucked out again with the weather so we were able to walk up to pick them up.  We came home for a short time and then headed to the Y for my barre class.  I had to return a movie to the library after class and the boys decided they wanted to go in and pick some new books & I never say no to books.  After we picked a bunch of new books, we headed home for dinner and then family movie night.  We watched the new Ghostbusters (AJ's pick) and all really enjoyed it.  It was similar to the old one but different enough that it felt like it's own movie.  And I always enjoy seeing Thor!

Saturday (4/29) started a little later for me than it was supposed to because I forgot to set my alarm to get up and help with the PTO, oops!  We all slept in and then Adrian and AJ headed out to AJ's last session at Brain Balance!  He will have a final evaluation in about 3 weeks to see how he is doing and if we need to continue going, but for now we get a break for close to a month and we couldn't be happier!!  While they were there, I took Zak and Daniel to Zak's soccer class.  He did a great job with all of the drills today and had fun playing in the scrimmage.

After all of our morning activities, we ran home for a quick lunch and then headed out to COSI for their Maze & Mindbender exhibit.  We had a great time exploring that exhibit!  AJ and Daniel (with a little help from Adrian and I) did all of the mindbender puzzles to earn a spot of the wall of fame.  It was a great way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon.  And by the time we finished up, the sun came out and we were able to come home and plant our flowers and grill our dinner.  We were all exhausted after all of that so we mostly watched TV, played video games and did a few things around the house before calling it a night.

 

Sunday (4/30) started with us all being lazy and not wanting to do anything.  We missed church this morning, but did motivate ourselves to get a few things done around the house and then get the boys to swim lessons.  Zak had a rough time, he is all of a sudden afraid of the water.  I'm hoping swimming all summer will help with that.  Daniel dove head first into the water for the first time & I was so proud of him!

After swimming, we were slightly more motivated.  Adrian and I got a bunch of stuff done around the house while the boys played video games and Pokemon cards.  They also spent some time outside, although it was really humid!  We had an early family dinner of meatball subs before Adrian took Daniel to baseball practice.  We finished up with chores around the house and headed to bed to prepare for another busy week!

Monday (5/1) was back to our normal routine except that Daniel woke up with an upset stomach and wasn't able to go to school.  I juggled my morning around to get everyone else to school and then be home with him.  He took a nap and woke up and was completely fine.  I'm thankful it wasn't anything serious!!  He and Zak hung out and played all afternoon while I got a bunch accomplished around the house.  Then we picked up AJ and headed to the Y for my Zumba class.  When we got home, they ran outside to play while I got dinner ready.  Adrian ate and headed to his final basketball game of the season.  We watched a little TV, did a little prep for tomorrow and headed to bed early before a busy few days ahead.

Tuesday (5/2) was the big election in our district.  I got the boys and I up and dressed in our "We Believe" shirts so we could do a little campaigning for Licking Heights.  I got everyone to school and went to do a few errands before teaching my Silver Sneakers class.  I picked Zak up from school and he helped me vote for the school district.  Then we ran a few more errands and came home where I started prepping for our busy night.

 

Both Adrian and I had to work and Daniel had a baseball game so my mother in law came in to help us with the boys.  I got everything set up for her so that she could feed them dinner, get them dressed in warm clothes and get them to the ball field where I would meet her.  I also set up my dinner so I would have something ready when I got home late after baseball.  She got them all to the field, I taught my class and got to the field just in time for the start of the game.  Daniel's team did great, they run ruled the other team in a few innings but they kept playing just so both teams could have some practice.  Daniel is still struggling to get a hit, but he is SO close.  He did great in the field and is having so much fun!  Two of my good friends from church were there so I got to chat with them the whole game which was so fun.  All of this took my mind off waiting for the polls to close and get the election results.

We finally got home, got dinner for me and Adrian and snacks for the boys and got them to bed very late.  Our plan was to hang out and watch TV and then check the results but we instead obsessed over the election page and Facebook to get the results.  Shortly after 11pm our superintendent was live on the news when the results came in...WE WON!  And by over 800 votes.  This was a huge win for our kids and stopped us from having to make some very difficult decisions.

Wednesday (5/3) I was tired after being up late for the results plus Zak waking me up in the middle of the night but I was also excited to celebrate with the boys.  I got them up and ready for school and told them the news.  They are very excited for the new high school that they will all get to attend!  I dropped Zak off at school and was excitedly chatting with other parents for so long that the other two boys were late to school.  Oops!  I was going in to volunteer in their classes anyway so we all just went into the office together.

I spent the morning doing subtraction facts with Daniel's class and working on math books in AJ's class.  Everyone in the school was in such a great mood, it was so fun to be there!!  I also saw the bus drivers later in the day and they were possibly the most excited of all.  They would have suffered a huge loss - lots of busing was going to be cut if the levy failed.  I finished up in the school in time to go pick up Zak and then head off to run some errands with him.

It was another busy afternoon of prepping for a busy night.  I had to go to the Y for my Zumba class and then head to double soccer classes for the boys.  I got dinner packed up for everyone and headed out to pick up AJ and Daniel.  I had a great time dancing in Zumba class and then we headed to soccer.  Zak played first and he did awesome!  I think he may do better in this class than his regular class on Saturdays.  Then AJ and Daniel had their class - they are still the only two in the class so it's like private lessons for them.  After all of this, we finally headed home for the day.  The house was a mess after two crazy days and I just ignored it, watched Survivor (poor Zeke - loved him!) and headed to bed.  

Thursday (5/4) was another rough morning after another rough night of sleep.  Both Zak and Daniel were up last night so I got very broken sleep.  I did not want to get up and moving but I forced myself to.  We got up and out to school and then I went to teach my Silver Sneakers class.  I picked Zak up from school and he was an angel watching TV and helping me get control over the dishes and laundry that had piled up over the past two days.  I also rested as much as I could.  It was raining when we had to pick up AJ and Daniel from school so we drove up and then ran to Kroger to buy flowers for their teachers for the last day of teacher appreciation week tomorrow.  We got home and I was really exhausted so we had leftovers for dinner, finished cleaning up the house and called it a night early.  I'm really hoping I get a full night of sleep tonight!

Keeping Up With...Fitness Goals (April Recap & May Goals)

Much like I talked about in my family goals recap, April flew by in the blink of an eye and I'm in total denial that it is May.  I truly feel like I "lost" most of the past month.  I didn't do very well at all on my fitness goals but really the month was more about survival than bettering myself.  I ate badly for almost entire month which started the cycle of not feeling well, not sleeping well, not exercising a lot, etc.  I know this happens, I just keep doing it.  I've recommitted to healthy eating and healthy goals for May and I'm hoping it continues thru the summer.  I know the summer is always tough since we don't have a set schedule, but I'm determined to make it work.

Here's how I did with my April goals:
1.  Lose the 5 lbs I gained in March (5 lbs for the month) - So I actually ended up going higher in the first part of April and then losing a huge chuck the last week of the month.  I didn't end up losing all of the 5 lbs that I gained in March, but I'm on the downward trend right now and I'm really hoping to keep this momentum going.  Adrian and I are both committed to eating better and I'm moving a lot, especially with the nicer weather coming.
2.  Do measurements at the end of the month & lose 1 inch total from my body (1 inch for 2 months) - Our tape measure broke so I can't measure right now.  But based on the results of number 1, I'm going to say this didn't happen either.  I'm leaving this a goal for next month and will for sure do measurements on June 1st.  A new tape measure is on my shopping list this week!
3.  Exercise a minimum of 30 minutes 27 days this month - I finished up with 24 days this month.  Not bad considering all that was going on.  This will continue to be a top priority for me for the next month and beyond.  I know that exercising each day leads to better choices for me all around.
4.  Go to one class that I'm not teaching each week (4 classes for the month) - 0 classes again this month.  It stinks that I can't make time for this but it's also the season of life that I'm in.  My kids are busy and they are my number one priority right now.  There will be time for other classes for me when they are all teenagers and want nothing to do with me.
5.  Learn 3 new Zumba songs to add to my classes (3 songs for the month) - I did this one, just barely!  I learned "Another One Bites the Dust," "Aqui Nadie Toca" and "Sugar." I'm still missing a few changes in "Aqui Nadie Toca" but if I just keep moving no one notices.
6.  Figure out which Zumba jams and/or events I will be doing in the next few months - I basically figured this out.  It doesn't look like I can do any of the events in April or May because of our busy schedule.  There are two different jams in June and one in July.  I'm hoping to attend two if not all three of those.

And here are my goals for this month:
1.  Lose 8 lbs this month, which is 2 lbs per week.  This is a big goal with a few celebrations thrown in this month but I'm hoping I can do it! (8 lbs for the month)
2.  Do measurements at the end of the month & lose 1 inch total from my body (1 inch for 2 months)
3.  Exercise a minimum of 30 minutes all 31 days this month (31 days for the month)
4.  Go to one class that I'm not teaching each week (4 classes for the month) - One of these months I'll finally do this, right?
5.  Learn 2 new songs to add to my Zumba classes (2 songs for the month)
6.  Switch up some of the weight exercises for my Silver Sneakers class

Keeping Up With...Family Goals (April Recap & May Goals)

I can't believe April is over.  I feel like I lost the entire month.  For most of the month I was running like crazy, either catching up from something or getting ready for something else.  I have seriously spent the last week in total denial that May starts this week.  I know it often feels like time is flying by but this month really did fly!

My goals didn't really go as planned either due to lots of craziness.  I'm not upset that I didn't do everything I wanted to, I'm honestly just happy that we survived the month!  I'm not looking back (except to do this recap), I'm only looking forward.  I'm sure that May will be a calmer month and then it will be summer with little schedule and lots of fun!

Here's how I did with my April goals:
1.  Finish "Love the One You're With" and "Hungry Heart" - I did finish "Love the One You're With" but only read about 25% of "Hungry Heart."  I had some timing issues with borrowing the books from the library and ended up on the wait list for both of them with nothing to read.  So I started another book that I own "We're All Damaged" which is a really fun & quick read.  I'm about 50% thru that one so I got pretty close with this goal.  And I'm back on the waiting list for "Hungry Heart" so hopefully I'll finish it in May.
2.  Have family dinner every Sunday night and use AJ's conversation starters - We did this four times this month.  We didn't really do it on the 2nd since we were driving back from NJ, but we did have a lot of time together in the car and did a lot of chatting the whole week we were in NJ.  The things we talked about this month were:  our favorite part of Easter weekend, something we learned the past week, our plans for the summer and something we saw that day.
3.  Continue doing my week in review blog (4 posts for the month) - I did 4 this month which was the goal, but I'm actually missing one about Easter week.  I wrote it this weekend and just need to polish it up and publish it this week.
4.  Continue taking one picture each day and posting on Facebook (30 pictures for the month) - I did all 30 pictures this week.  Love this goal and how I have to look for the good in just about every day!
5.  Watch a movie every Friday night (4 movies for the month) - We only watched two movies this month:  "The Peanuts Movie" and the new "Ghostbusters."  We missed a week because of Easter and another week because of bad planning.  I'm hoping to get back to this goal this month.  We recorded a bunch of movies before we have to turn off our movie channels for our DirecTV subscription.
6.  Have one family board game night (1 special night for the month) - We did have a family board game night and have actually been playing a bunch of board games this month.  It has been a lot of fun!
7.  Have one family video game night (1 special night for the month) - We didn't do this during April.  I honestly didn't make any effort to do it.  The boys wanted to do this but they play a lot of video games on their own (while we are working around the house) so I like to do other things during our family time.
8.  Enjoy Easter weekend with my brother, sister in-law and nieces here visiting - We had a great visit with Jon, Rebecca, Luci and Antonia!!  It was a great weekend with family and lots of great food.  Look for my recap of that week in the next few days!

I didn't do that bad with my April goals.  I accomplished the big ones and at least made progress on all of them.  I'm really glad we had an awesome weekend with family for Easter - it was so nice after having the not fun time with all of them at the funeral.  We have spent the past two Easters with Jon so now we're thinking this should become our new tradition.  Now it's time to look ahead to next month.

Here's what I'll be focusing on for May:
1.  Finish "Hungry Heart" and "We're All Damaged" (2 of my 14 books for the year)
2.  Have family dinner every Sunday night and use AJ's conversation starters during in (4 dinners for the month)
3.  Continue doing my week in review blog (4 posts for the month)
4.  Continue taking one picture each day and posting on Facebook (31 pictures for the month)
5.  Watch a movie every Friday night (4 movies for the month)
6.  Have one family board game night (1 special night for the month)
7.  Have fun during our family camping trip in Hocking Hills

Keeping Up With...Food (Meal Plan for May 1 - May 7)

I did a great job of eating healthy and sticking to my calorie goal pretty much every day last week and I'm really proud of myself.  I didn't stick 100% to my menu plan but that's OK because it made this week very easy to plan and shop for.  I didn't know that Adrian had a happy hour one night so I didn't cook what we had planned that night, the boys and I ate pasta.  Then I forgot we had ham leftover from Easter so I used that to make soup for one night.  The soup was awesome, we enjoyed it for dinner one night and lunch the next day!

My plan was to start cleaning out the fridge this week but between carrying over three meals from last week and going camping Saturday night, there isn't a lot of wiggle room this week.  We also fixed our grill, filled our propane tanks and are planning on grilling out at least once every week.  I am not buying any new vegetables this week as I have a bunch to work with from last week.  Next week I will hopefully get back on the clean it out, use it up train!

Here's what we're eating this week:
Monday - Cauliflower Soup with Baked Kale Chips (carryover from last week)
Tuesday - Chicken Enchilada Casserole - we'll be eating at different times because of my work schedule and Daniel's baseball game.  Love the crock pot for nights like this.
Wednesday - Steak Salads with the leftover london broil from this weekend (eating on the run due to double soccer classes for the boys)
Thursday - Pizza Chicken Casserole (carryover from last week)
Friday - Chicken Sloppy Joes and salad (carryover from last week)
Saturday - Camping with our Cub Scout Pack
Sunday - Grilled Chicken with whatever veggies we have left to finish up

Water Flavor - Strawberry Mango (Yum!)

Overnight Oats Flavors - Original, Chocolate Peanut Butter, & Banana Chocolate Chip - it was SO nice to get back to eating these every morning this past week.  I have fallen into the habit of just making these 3 flavors.  Maybe I'll research a new one or two to try next week.