Getting In Shape

I might be skinny, but that by no means is any indication of the type of physical shape I’m in. As I get a bit older, I know my time is coming for my metabolism to slow down, I just have not had any motivation to get up off the couch and do something about it. So many of my friends have gym memberships, it seems like everyone is running these days, and here I sit with a bowl of ice cream in my lap. After seeing a recent post from Josey, I decided to accept her challenge. It was 21 days. Last time I attempted the 21 day fix I lasted three days before I gave up because I was so sore. This time I went into it hoping to at least make it to day four. I already had the Shakeology mix, and even though I was a day late getting thrown into the challenge, as soon as I got added to the FB group, I changed my clothes and headed downstairs for my first workout.

I decided not to use weights at first because I didn’t want a repeat of last time. I was definitely still sore after a couple days, but nothing like before. I like being a little sore, but not so sore that I can’t even lift my kids or walk up and down the stairs. I wish I had made it past day three because day four was pilates. It was a nice “active recovery day.” Hmm, this Autumn girl must know her stuff to realize that after a couple days, most people are ready to quit and need a reprieve from the normal cardio workouts.

Week one passed, then week two, and before I knew it we were only a couple days away from the challenge being over. And today, I am proud to say that I stuck with the program all three weeks! I have never worked out that much in my life, especially every single day. Full disclosure though, I did skip one day due to AF and being crampy and just not in the mood. What scared me though is even taking that one day off, it was a bit harder to hit play that following day for my workout. Crazy how quickly you can fall back into your old ways! And week two I added vegetable cans as my weights (yep, I sure did) and continued using them the rest of the challenge. I’ll be ready to actually use real weights for the next round. :)

I did weigh myself before, during once, and then after. It’s common for my weight to fluctuate 3-5 pounds here and there. I didn’t go into this wanting to lose weight, I wanted to gain muscle and get in better shape. I realized though that I most likely will gain weight since muscle weighs more. That’s a bit of a tough pill to swallow, but I think I can get there. I didn’t take measurements, but I wish I did. I’d be curious to see how those changed.

I loved the small group size that we had for this challenge, and I’d also like JJ to join me at some point. I didn’t track my food like I should because I don’t have the containers, but I made wiser choices and I’ve already noticed my sweet tooth isn’t as strong as before. I never thought I’d see the day!

The kids are funny too about me working out. Most of the time I would do the work outs when it was just them and I at home, usually first thing in the morning. They would see me changing my clothes and ask if I was going to do my exercises. One of the first few days, Chloe did the entire workout with me and I was blown away! She got excited about it and wanted to Drake to do it with us again, but he wasn’t nearly as into it as she was. Sometimes they will join in now, but usually they are just hanging around (asking questions and needing me no doubt) while I get my 30 minutes in.

JJ got me a fitbit type watch for my birthday, so that’s been fun tracking my steps and work outs on it as well. I don’t know how long I’ll keep this up – I hope consistently for a long time, but realistically working out every day long term probably isn’t going to happen. I’m excited to find a happy medium though to where I feel good and am happy with my fitness. 

Today starts the second challenge and I'm ready to kick some butt! 

 My before pictures (bummer they are so blurry)

And a before and after comparison.

April 2016 Video Recap

Wow I’m behind, story of my life. I have continued to take videos of the kids every month, I just hadn’t had time to put them together. I had to take one more course in order to keep teaching, plus I was teaching at the same time, so the last seven weeks have been busy with school. Now that the class I was taking is over, I have time to put cute videos of my kids together! :) Back in April we had some nice weather, so we spent some time outside, Chloe was practicing her recital numbers during dance class, and we met Sarah and her kids one day for lunch and fun at the children’s museum. We spent an afternoon at open gym at one of the local gymnastics places, we usually go once a month or so, and we also attended a chilly, but fun, birthday party at the local farmstead. The school put on a carnival and the weather was perfect, but at the last minute Chloe invited our neighbor to go and she felt sick within 20 minutes of arriving, so we booked it home and didn’t get to enjoy much of the carnival. Chloe also had kite day at school, and if you ask her, she hated it because our big kite would.not.fly. She was not impressed to say the least. We also had our first outdoor neighborhood get-together of the summer. 

One Year

He made it. We made it. Still standing together – in this for the long haul. I love him and the commitment he’s made to our family. 

My Brother Got Married!

We had a wonderful weekend in the middle of Missouri celebrating my brother and his new wife. They have been dating five or six years now (I don’t remember for sure) and got engaged on New Year’s Eve a year and a half ago. They had a pretty long engagement compared to others. They asked Chloe to be one of their flower girls and Drake to be their ring bearer. Leading up to the day, Chloe has been so excited to wear her big fancy dress and cowboy boots, and I was just hoping like hell Drake didn’t ruin their big day somehow.

JJ took off the whole week so we’ve had some nice family time, and even a day date, thrown in before we left town Friday afternoon. It was a three hour drive so we decided to go straight to the venue for rehearsal rather than driving an extra hour out of the way going to the hotel first. The kids did great in our (new SUV!) and were ready to stretch their legs once we arrived. The venue was in Hermann, MO at a very pretty, rustic lodge. The grounds included a main house for the wedding party all weekend, a covered outside area for the ceremony, an uncovered outside area for the ceremony along with a lake, and then a building for the reception. 

The few ceremony pictures I took with my cell phone.

 I just realized my brother and Cassie stopped for a kiss in the background. Cute!

The pastor did a talk through, a walk-through, and then a run through of the ceremony. During the talk through, they mentioned that Drake would walk down by himself first and the flower girls would follow. I can’t tell you how many different scenarios went through my head of how this could go so very wrong, ha! It was quite a long walk from the main house to the ceremony site, which included a cobblestone walkway the entire way, and several sets of stone steps that were uneven. Just picture it – my klutzy boy walking SLOWLY down all of that?! Once he finally started walking down, he saw me at the bottom of the hill and took off running. His shoe fell off, and he didn’t skip a beat sitting his little bum on the ground trying to put it back on. As he heard other people calling for him telling him to hurry, he got shy and didn’t want to walk the rest of the way. Great…

Before the run through, they decided to have Drake walk between the flower girls and all hold hands. That time went much better, but I knew the next day he’d be holding a box and they would be tossing flower petals, so again, I wasn’t too confident. Because his shoes weren’t fitting right, he kept them off and some of the kids were chasing each other around as we waiting for dinner to be served. Right as I had my hands full with two plates for their dinner and JJ was just starting to get his own plate, we all heard a smack and then cries. Drake had fallen and scraped up his toe. It was bleeding pretty good, and he wouldn’t quit crying. After getting him all cleaned up and calmed down about 10 minutes later, we were able to go on with dinner, but my nerves were pretty well shot by that point.

 

This little stinker would not cooperate and stand up for a picture. He is so independent these days. Have you seen the commercials for the sour patch candy? Sweet one minute, ornery the next? That is Drake to a T! 

 Finally got him to stand, but he doesn't look too pleased.

 

We decided to call it a night shortly after dinner because we had a 30 minute drive to the hotel and two kids who hadn’t napped all day. The attempt at having both kids sleep in the same bed and JJ and I in the other quickly ended because the two little ones were having too much fun playing, so once Chloe and I switched, everyone was out within a few minutes.

The next morning we went downstairs for breakfast and realized my aunt, uncle, and cousins were there. It was fun to get to eat with them and catch up. After breakfast we got the kids in their swimsuits and all went swimming together. Once they were done swimming we went back up to the room to relax a bit before getting ready for the 3:00 ceremony. I could tell Drake was getting tired, but again, there was no time for a nap. I decided to get Chloe dressed at the venue and at the last minute decided to do the same with Drake because I didn’t want his clothes getting wrinkled. Mother’s intuition or something, but thank goodness I did! He fell asleep for about 20 minutes on the way there, and when I went to get him out of the car he mentioned changing his diaper. I didn’t realize what he was talking about, but he had had an accident during that short nap. He’s never done that before! (He’s potty trained during the day, but still naps and sleeps in a diaper or pull-up). His ceremony clothes were unscathed though, but he did have to go commando. :)

My dad with Chloe and I.

My brother and I.

We got everyone dressed and where they needed to be. Of course we were worried about the threat of rain for the outdoor ceremony, but it ended up being pretty warm that afternoon and the sky was filled with white, fluffy clouds, perfect for wedding pictures. I came armed with suckers and bribes to get Drake down that aisle and it worked. They were so cute walking down together and he walked right towards me and sat down. Chloe stayed standing with the rest of the wedding party. Of course about 10 minutes into it, Drake said he had to go potty even though I had just asked him before we started and he said no. My fault, I shouldn’t have asked. So JJ had to get up in the middle of the ceremony and walk him back up the hill to the bathroom.

The ceremony was very nice and simple, my brother got really choked up when it came time to him saying his vows which was really cute, and they ended with a sweet kiss and everyone clapping and cheering. In the middle of trying to get the kids dressed I forgot my camera in the car. I was so bummed I didn’t have it for the ceremony, but it allowed me to really focus on the wedding and what all was being said which was nice. I’m excited to see the professional pictures once they come back. Once the reception started, it took quite a while for us to get through the food line, so by the time the kids were done eating, JJ took them back outside with a few others to play. I stayed for the toasts and the cake cutting, and decided to go find them to take some pictures. After about 10 minutes, I heard my cousin yell for me that they needed me. I had no idea why, so I was trying to book it down the gravel hill in my heels without falling. It was a surprise for my brother – since our mom passed away, the bride surprised him with a first dance with her mom- and me – and I was nowhere to be found. I felt awful. I still don’t know exactly how it played out, but it was announced that anyone close to Blake could come up for a dance. Once I finally got in there, everyone got out of the way so I could get to the front of the line, and he was up dancing with the soccer moms. I know I’ve mentioned them before, but my brother has THE BEST core group of guy friends that go way back to elementary soccer days. We would travel together, celebrated birthdays together, had graduations, deaths, all of it they were there for. When my mom passed away, all of the families came up to the hospital that morning and have never left our family’s side since. So when the moms were up dancing with my brother, there was not a dry eye in the house, and once I joined them, that’s when I finally lost it too. I had been good all day, and that’s what did me in. They all stayed for another minute and then stepped away and let my brother and I dance. We cried, said that mom was there that day and that we loved each other. It was a very special moment. 

My best friend Mel and I.

After that, things lightened up a bit, the music got a little louder and faster, people could go wherever on the grounds – to the lake, or on the hill to play horseshoes or ladder golf, some stayed inside to dance, while others came outside to make s’mores on the fire pits. We called it a night around 9:00 (I know, we’re crazy aren’t we?) and headed back to the hotel. Drake was out in a matter of minutes, but then got a second wind once we ran into our cousins in the hall and had to go have a dance party in their hotel room. We all slept better that night, except Drake rolled out of bed. Poor kid had something happen each day we were gone, but honestly that doesn’t really surprise me. 

This would be an ornery moment, haha!  I thought it was too funny not to snap a picture though.

 And one with just the sweet, well-behaved flower girls.

Our last morning there we all went down to breakfast and ran into my family again along with my best friend Mel who came up for the wedding. Again, it was so special to see all the people who travelled into town to see my brother’s wedding. It was a three hour drive for all of our family and friends back in KC, and two of his groomsmen were a plane ride away, but they wouldn’t have missed it. One of the soccer dads came down for coffee and joked with me, he is like my second dad, and I told him I was having flashbacks from 15 years ago when we would travel for soccer tournaments. The only thing missing was my mom, but I know she was there with us.

We headed home shortly after breakfast and got in just in time for naps. All of us but Chloe passed out for a bit, and JJ and Drake took a three hour nap while I worked on some homework and Chloe caught up on play time with the neighbor girl. This may be our only vacation this summer since JJ is out of PTO for work, and although it may not have been our ideal location for a vacation, it was a wonderful weekend celebrating the new husband and wife. JJ joked about what the venue was going to look like, but it was beautiful and a perfect setting for my brother and Cassie. I wish we could have stayed longer and gotten to spend more time with everyone. This morning they are off to Costa Rica for their honeymoon!

  Kisses for daddy

 Ring bearer out! Party's over.