Clean

It has been on my heart for a very long time that my family and I need to be healthier.  It has been on my heart since the 3rd grade.  Now, as a mom, I really want to encourage healthy eating habits and being physically fit.  I truly feel that each month that passes I learn something new.  With each new month we are becoming healthier as a family.  I want to take that to the next level. Honestly, it is no secret that I desperately need to shed a few pounds.  My son, Jacob is already struggling with acid reflux.  My husband, as thin as he is, still needs to eat healthier.  He struggles with acid reflux as well.  My objective is to nearly eliminate fast food from our diets.  I don't want to simply be cooking more at home.  I want to be cooking clean and eliminating processed foods from our house and lives.  Does that sound like a lot?  It does to this girl.  I know with every ounce of me that we will accomplish this as a family.  I want a clean, active lifestyle without calorie counting.  I am not going on a diet.....ever again.  This is a journey that will last a lifetime.  I am ready.  Most important that anything else is I know God is with me on this journey.  I can feel his hand on me saying the time is right.  A lifetime of mistakes and learning has led me to where I am today.  Today I met with an incredible lady to help me start this journey.  People don't just fall into our lives.  God places them into our lives with a purpose.  This lady I met with has so much information.  She is passionate and has the heart of a teacher.  So, for now on I am using this blog as my place to talk fitness, nutrition, and all the struggles that come with making these dramatic changes to our simple little family.  This morning I left that lady's house feeling inspired, excited and my head was swimming with all the info!  Some of my major concerns that immediately pop into my head (I am sure there are more that will come along) is my major addiction to sugar, especially my afternoon stops at Starbucks, determining when I am going to workout and more importantly sticking to my plan and what the heck am I going to make for dinner.  I was going to title this post 'Day 1'.  However, that couldn't be farther from the truth.  These changes have been a long time coming.  And honestly, I have already been making many changes to our diet slowly, little by little.  Meeting with someone face to face and asking for help was a huge step foward for me. 

Welcome Race Fans!

It's race weekend in Indy!  Get your coolers, sunscreen and those crazy hats that hold your beer and get to the track.  Sounds like fun. That is not my agenda, but it could be yours.  We will be having our annual cookout at my parents house.  This weekend is going to be busy.  We will be celebrating birthdays, end of school program, helping with some major landscaping projects and trying to relax.  Oh, and I am planning on having a garage sale tomorrow.  That last one really stresses me out.  In my lifetime I have probably had at least 20 garage sales.  I still absolutely hate them!  It should be so easy.  Get yo stuff, put yo stuff on the lawn, people give you cash, the end.  Geez, but I feel like it needs to be organized, and marked with prices that are easy to see.  And should this event include baked goods?  Maybe, that's just me.  We have the boys' last soccer game of the season this weekend.  I love soccer.  I think that is my favorite sport to watch them play.  They are really getting involved and loving it.  Well, Jackson isn't playing.  This time it was just Jacob and Jonah.  I can't believe how aggressive Jacob has become.  I am thrilled and proud.  When Jonah isn't distracted by the dirt and rocks he is doing awesome too.  I used to get so frustrated with Jonah.  He is easily distracted by random things, like rocks.  But that is just Jonah.  Jonah's personality is amazing for me to watch.  At soccer a couple of weeks ago he was playing in the dirt.  The coach was telling him something.  Finally, our coach says, "Jonah, what did I just say?"  Jonah turned around and repeated everything single thing word for word.  It's almost like his brain can not do just one thing at a time.  He needs to be doing multiple things.  But I do wish Jackson would have played something this spring.  We gave him every option we could think of.  Now, he is regretting his decision.  Every week he has complained that he made the wrong choice.  The kids are growing so quickly.  It is easy to get sad thinking about how quickly time passes.  I try to focus on how blessed I am getting to watch them grow.  I haven't included pics lately.  Over spring break April and I took the kiddos bowling.

 This pic is just funny.  Walking past the bathroom I saw Juliet doing her business while on the phone.  I don't know where she would have learned this!  It cracked me up.  She will probably kill me one day for posting this.  By the way, this was taken after we brushed her hair.  I really don't know what happens.

Spring? Break

I am sad to say it is still very much winter in Indiana.  Last night it got down to a brisk 18 degrees!  This afternoon my car said it was 27 outside.  Not exactly spring weather.  Tomorrow at 3:40p spring break officially begins for us.  I asked all the kids if they could do anything at all on spring break what would they choose.  Jonah said stay home, play with his toys and go to Toys R Us.  Jacob said watch movies and cuddle with mommy.  (He is so sweet!) Jackson said he just wanted to stay home.  My boys are so adventurous, but I love their low maintenance, just content being home attitude.  My daughter said she wanted to go to Disney Land and then Disney on Ice.  She is not so low maintenance.  They make me smile so much.  We had planned on going camping.  That is in the past tense.  With the frosty temps we have decided to wait until summer.  For the next 24 hours I am going to planning and preparing for two weeks with four kiddos home.  I am excited!

One big item on my agenda for spring break is lots of exercise.  Exercise for the whole family.  I really want to instill healthy habits in my kids while they are young.  I am hoping and praying as they get older exercise won't be so much of a chore.  It will just be the norm thing you do.  For me exercise is something I have to be intentional about.  Recently, we put our Y membership on hold.  I adore our local Y.  We have spent countless hours there.  Since we are really knuckling down on our finances we chose to forgo our membership.  Speaking of saving...we are still sticking with our plan.  We have had some set backs (eating out) but we are very determined.  The next two weeks will be challenging.  I love splurging with the kids while they are out of school.  I want to plan lots of activities.  Jeff has next week off work as well.  Sticking to our budget will be especially challenging.  I am secretly in love with challenging myself to see how far I can stretch a dollar.  During Fall break and Christmas break we really spent a lot of money.  Well, a lot of money to us.  We did so many fun things.  I will be posting how we stay frugal during spring break later.

Yucky winter blues

I am very much struggling today.  In all honesty, I have been struggling for the past couple weeks.  I feel like the weather is to blame.  I don't remember a previous winter that lasted so long.  I think this might be another side effect of getting old...older.  Every time I go outside I want to cuss.  I seriously can't stand this cold weather.  I have two kids home sick today.  What have I accomplished today??  Ummm, not a lot.  I just want to lay in bed and hide until Spring has arrived and I bust out my flip flops.  As I type this I am watching the snow falling down outside by the truck load.  My darling daughter is playing Christmas music on my phone!  Lord, how I want to escape.  Ever feel that way?  Spring break is 4 small weeks away.  We plan on going camping...in Indiana.  Yikes, I am wondering if we will make it.  I am not up for camping when it is freezing.  We have to come up with a plan B.  I informed Jeff tonight my plan B is just get in the car and drive south until I am warm.  His response was for me to go to the tanning bed instead.  I reminded him we don't have the extra money for me to go tanning.  Then, he gave me the look.  The look that says, 'oh, but we have the money to drive south?'  Since we have been married we have been on a budget of some sort.  I know our family and friends get sick of hearing us say, 'sorry, it's not in the budget' or 'soon we will be debt free'.  But I am saying people, we are almost there!  We are so close.  We are so close to being debt free.  I am so focused, pumped, determined and filled with gazelle intensity to reach our goal.  We are living on beans and rice, rice and beans.  Well, not really rice and beans.  Last night I made a quiche with some old ham in the fridge.  I made gluten free pancakes.  My sister gave me some gf stuff after she did a diet.  We are not a gf family, but I never pass up anything free.  I filled the pancakes with some fresh blueberries that were past their prime.  My family loved it.  I made an oatmeal bake for breakfast this morning.  It literally costs probably under $2 to make.  It was delicious.  I am really enjoying making meals out of nothing.  The last two weeks my grocery budget was $75 for each week.  That is tight!  We are a family of six.  Did I mention we are not eating out?  We made it over 3 weeks before I caved and ordered pizza.  But I had a coupon.  This week our budget will have to be incredibly more.  We are out of everything.  I was explaining to the kids that our food light is on.  Much like when the fuel light comes on in the car (something my kids are way too familiar with), our food light is on in the house.  I could take the money to stock up, but I would rather watch our savings grow.  Plus, we haven't gone hungry.  Tonight we are having rice with chicken and veggies.  While the weather is so undesirable I really feel the need to declutter and eliminate the unneccessaries.  I just need to locate the motivation.  I think I am just having an undesirable week.  I started Monday morning off with my annual and a mammogram.  I had so much anxiety.  When I sat down with the lady who does the mammogram I said to her, "I just really feel too young to be here."  Her reply, "Yeah, well you are not!"  She was so sweet and kind and too honest!  It makes me laugh thinking about it.  I was leaving the appointment and I thought to myself "that was so easy.  I can't believe I was so nervous.  I would rather do that than get my teeth cleaned."  Right at that moment I received a text message from my dentist reminding me I have a cleaning in the morning.  Ugh!  I also have two sick kids at home.  And we are in the middle of a snow storm.  But God is good!  I am still filled with love and gratitude to God for this amazing life.  I am so blessed that I get to watch the snow from the comfort of my home, instead of driving in rush hour traffic.  My kids will return to school tomorrow.  I did enjoy spending the day with them.  Jonah said to me today, "mom, you know what would be sooo cool?  If we had $100!!"  I burst out laughing.  He said, "or maybe a one million dollars!"  Juliet is going through all my accessories right now.  She just came up behind me and put a lei around my neck.  I think she is ready for summer too.  And doesn't everyone have a lei in their accessories!?  Jeff has been working his tail off working overtime so we can reach our financial goals.  He does so much for us.  He never seems to stop.  I think I just found my motivation to get up and be productive.

Wine for Breakfast

As the kids are getting older they are really saying some funny things.  This morning I was cracking up.  I wanted to jot some of these things down before I forget.  I gave the boys grapes for breakfast.  I walked into the kitchen to find the boys smashing the grapes.  In unison they yelled, "Mom, we are making wine!"  Oh my!  I told Jeff I really hope they are trying to be like Jesus and not Mommy.  I couldn't stop laughing.  How could I be upset about smashed grapes?!

Last night I was reading in bed.  The whole family was sound asleep.  (btw, reading Dave Ramsey's Entreleadership and it is awesome!)  Without opening his eyes Jeff yells, "Get out the kitchen....NOW!"  Geez, even in his sleep he is disciplining the kids.  I didn't even wake him to let him know he was sleeping...and so were the kids.

I was dropping the kids off at school this morning.  Jonah says from the backseat, "I am going to pop this door open like a soda can!"  He says it with so much enthusiasm.  This is a quote from the movie Rio.  Jonah has had strep throat for the last two days.  He has spent all that time watching Rio over and over again.  Literally when the credits begin to roll at the end it starts it over again.  It is his favorite.  Jonah makes me laugh so much.  You never really know when he loves something or not.  His expression never changes.  When Jackson or Jacob (or typically anyone else) love or enjoy something they get excited, smile or sing along.  Not Jonah.  He has such a poker face.  He never really likes music.  Me and the other kids love playing music and singing along.  Jonah just gets so annoyed.  The other day we were listening to Jason Aldeans song 'The only way I know'.  When the song ended Jonah yelled, "play it again!"  I was so excited.  If you listen to the lyrics it is so Jonah.  Jonah is all about working hard.  I recently overheard him call his boss on his phone.  He said, "Boss, I gotta go to school tomorrow.  So, I need the day off.  Is that okay?  Okay. I be back at work later."  Yesterday I caught him with a screw driver trying to disassemble his bunk bed. 

Right now I have to go make necklaces with Juliet.  She said, "Mommy, today you only play with me!"  I think she was ready for Jonah to go back to school.

Weekend Fun

Juliet turned 4 on January 10th.  This past weekend we continued celebrating.  My sister and I took both our girls to see Disney on Ice.  My niece's birthday is in a few days.  It was so much fun!  My mom came with us.  It was a great girls night out.  Juliet yelled for Barbie when she made her appearance.  It was really cute.  While we were at Disney on Ice the boys were having their night out too.  Jeff and my brother in law took the boys to Monster Jam.  They really loved the monster trucks.  When the boys got home late at night they were so hyper.  Each of them couldn't talk fast enough as they described the evening.  It was awesome!

Girls Weekend

Over the weekend I had the great pleasure of traveling with my sister to Minnesota.  She had business on Friday there.  We made a girls weekend out of it.  Most of the weekend was spent at Mall of America.  That place is so much fun.  The biggest pleasure was being able to enjoy meals without kids.  We did enjoy every meal.  The food was definitely awesome.  It was great to spend time with my sister.  We haven't travelled anywhere together since before getting married!  I love to fly.  So, that was a special treat.  I never really get out.  I know that sounds funny.  When we arrived in Minnesota I was reminded how ginormous this World is.  People, construction, buildings and more people everywhere.  Sometimes I, and maybe you live day to day not thinking of this.  I am so grateful to my sister for the amazing weekend, for the opportunity to step outside my little box.