Footwear Fun

My boys LOVE footwear.  Doesn't matter if it's a flip flop...

 or a boot....

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to their footwear choices, but they have recently discovered that they prefer a shoes they can put on themselves.  Mr. Independents! Since they love those GIANT frog boots so much, which were a hand-me-down from a dear friend, I decided to get them boots that actually fit for Christmas.  I had planned to  wait to surprise them on Christmas morning with their new kicks but couldn't hold out any longer and caved this morning.  Merry Christmas a month early boys!


Check out my stylin' boys... (don't mind the runny noses)

We could all probably take some fashion notes from them and their SERIOUS style!  

Today we also learned how to say robot...fun stuff over here in Plankerville.

We also picked up our tree this morning.  I'm looking forward to decorating it a bit tomorrow once it has "settled" a bit.  Don't think I'll brave brave lights or anything breakable with my two adventurous little guys on the loose.   It sure does smell good and is helping me get into the Christmas spirit though, something I always have a hard time experiencing here in sunny Florida...not that I'm complaining.  

The boys even let me squeeze in my last workout from week 6 of the Best Body Fitness Bootcamp.  2 more weeks to go.  I'm really hoping I enjoy the last two weeks as much as I did the first 2.  Weeks 5 and 6 were NOT my favorite.   Partial reps and insane amounts of burpees...I'm over it, but still very glad I followed through and stuck to the plan.  Bring on the final phase! 

Hoping to try out these tofu and swiss chard stacks for dinner tonight....hopefully along with a glass or two of wine.  

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Happy weekend everyone!

Running = Therapy

After fitful nights of sleep the past few days, this morning was a little rocky.  I started off feeling like Alexander from this must-read children's book...

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I'll spare you all the pathetic details, but just know that things weren't going my way AT ALL.  And when my printer decided not to work, it was the icing on the cake as I morphed into wanting to be the electronics-beating character in Office Space.  (If this reference is lost on you, you MUST add Office Space to you Neflix queue NOW!)

I felt sorry for myself for a while and then decided to do what always seems to help me sort out my frustrations--I loaded up the boys and hit the road for a run.  It was the PERFECT therapy.

Running has a funny way of helping me to sort out my thoughts and get a little perspective on things.  I ended my 6+ mile run with a much better outlook on my life.  I have FANTASTIC kids and a husband I ADORE and am SO PROUD of.  I live in a FABULOUS town and have AMAZING, SUPPORTIVE friends.  I am well-fed, have a roof over my head, and had some very fulfilling small side jobs that are ideal fits for this stage of my life.  LIFE IS GOOD!  Nothing like a good sweat session to help me remember that.

Today turned out to be pretty fantastic after all and I'm so glad I didn't let this morning define the rest of the day.   I helped distribute delicious organic produce to 15 people.  I got to tutor the most amazing, sweet girl I've ever met.  I enjoyed loads of books and puzzles with my boys.  I chatted with friends as our kiddos played together.   AND I got to grab a glass of wine and dinner with some girlfriends but still got home in time to tuck my sweet boys into bed.  AND tomorrow I get to pick up my Christmas tree so I'll get to do a little twin-toddler-friendly decorating this weekend.

Silly Boys and A Yummy Smoothie

After a jam-packed week of visitors and non-stop entertainment, the boys and I have been embracing the bliss that is our simple, day-to-day life.  We had another low-key day yesterday, just doing our usual Monday stuff.  I love our simple life which gives me time to enjoy the little things, like this...

This is how I found Mason when I went in to get him in the morning.  Too funny!  Made me think of the V Neck skit from Saturday Night Live.

I seriously couldn't stop laughing.  These boys never fail me when it comes to making me smile.   With our giggle fit behind us, we were off to enjoy the day, which ALWAYS involves lots of books.

They sure do love their sound effects.  As if knowing what noise practically every animal makes was not enough, their new truck book as inspired a whole slew of new motorized vehicle noises.  It's quite entertaining.

In an attempt to jazz up breakfast a bit and put something healthy into my body after way too much indulging, I whipped up a smoothie inspired by this one from Oxygen magazine:

I modified mine to make it vegan, so into the blender went...

• 1/2 scoop vanilla brown rice protein powder
• 1/2 scoop chocolate brown rice protein powder
• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 small banana
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp groung ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 2 big handfuls spinach
• 1/2 cup ice cubes

It tasted just like the name implies, like a gingerbread cookie.  I will definitely be repeating that concoction again this week, hopefully multiple times.  

In workout news, I'm on week 6 of the Best Body Fitness Boot Camp challenge.  It was another burpee circuit workout day.  You know me, I avoid burpees, so I put yesterday's workout off as long as possible and ended up finally fitting it in right before dinner.  I had to do some fancy footwork to avoid hitting the boys while I jumped around since they wanted in on the action too.  Push-ups sure are challenging when you have two toddlers trying to sit on your back while you crank them out.  I'm trying to not let it bother me so much when I have to adapt my workouts to their silliness, and rather be grateful that they want to hang out with me and for the opportunity to set a good example for them.  Hopefully they will grow up thinking exercise is cool.

Have a fantastic day!  It's good to be alive.

Beach2Bar

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Yesterday afternoon, the boys and I competed in the Beach2Bar5k.  It has become an annual tradition for us, 2 years in the running for the boys and I so far... If you're local, I HIGHLY recommend you check out this race next year.  You won't be sorry.

Thanks, Steve, for the photo.

I had considered not running this year, but once I saw the addition of the stroller division, I knew I had to make a showing.  Running with that stroller is getting tougher and tougher as the boys continue to grow, and I've tended to shy away from running the bridges lately, but there was no way around them in this race.  Those babies are killer when you're pushing over 100 pounds of stroller.  All that hard work sure did make the beer at the end taste that much sweeter, though.  And...I am happy to report that I took first place in the stroller division.  My time was a slow 25 minutes 17 seconds, but all things considered...bridges, stroller, a VERY CRANKY Mason...I'm happy with my time.

To celebrate, we ate pizza, stayed up later than normal, and slept in this morning.  Nice!  We've had a pretty lazy day again today other than running a couple of errands.  

The boys are moving up in the world and are finally big enough to enjoy this fine shopping cart.  It was a JOY to push...actually, it was much better than telling the boys to sit down every 5 seconds.  They just need to improve the steering capabilities of that limo.  

It's my week for snacks at MOPS so I busted out some cookies and chocolate covered pretzels to share with everyone on Wednesday.  

They're still drying so all those drizzles will look a bit better once they're lifted off the waxed paper.  

Vegan molasses cookies--just substituted coconut butter for the butter and a flax egg for the eggs.  YUM!   

I also made a big pot of pumpkin soup.  I made this recipe on Thanksgiving and loved it so much I decided it was time for more...and I had a pumpkin just begging for something to be done with it.  I think I'll be eating pumpkin soup all week...good thing it's yummy!  Nothing like keeping busy in the escape from reality a bit...

The boys are stirring so it's time to load up the stroller and hit the road for a nice, easy recovery run.  It's too gorgeous outside to resist getting out on the pavement. 

Happy Sunday!

Goodbyes, Turtles, and SANTA

We bid goodbye to my parents yesterday.  I was sad to see them go after such a great week.

I'm TERRIBLE at goodbyes, and sometimes even get a little depressed after people leave, but I've learned over the years that the best way for me to deal with those situations is with some fresh air and some exercise.  We had a pretty fun day making that happen.

We kicked off our morning yesterday with some veggie-scrambled eggs before hitting the road along with my parents.  They were off to Birmingham and we headed to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Jupiter.  I love that place and used to take all of my out-of-town guests there.  It's that cool!  I am embarrassed to admit it was the first time I took the boys to check it out.  They were celebrating "Blue Friday," which in my opinion was the PERFECT alternative to Black Friday shopping and we decided to join the fun.  I'm so glad we went!

We had hoped to see a Tropical Santa there but apparently I got the wrong information.  Good thing I remembered santa was going to be downtown later in the afternoon.  In the mean time, we headed home for naps for the boys, and a workout for me.  I'm still muscling through the Best Body Fitness Bootcamp plan and had switched up the order of the workouts for the week, attempting to avoid the burpee workout, but had to bite the bullet and finally tackle it yesterday.  I ended up doing 158 burpees in that workout.  OUCH!  I'm pretty sure I reached total muscle failure with that one.  Now I'm really dreading week 6, since it includes 2 more burpee workouts as well.  I have a love/hate relationship with those things.

Once the boys woke up, we headed downtown to track down Santa.   We ended up running into a friend who detoured us into the Arts Council for the Tykes and Teens Festival of Trees.  There were some gorgeous trees in there!   Guess who else was in there---SANTA!  Thankfully Mrs. Claus was kind enough to give up her seat so I could hold the boys for the photo.  There was no way Colton was getting anywhere near him without me.  Poor guy!

Maybe we scarred him last year...

What a difference a year makes.  That Santa really is a great one!  (So much better than the one we ended up finding downtown--creepy!)  Hope we can track him down again every year.  

I rounded out my day with a very sad, but good movie and a glass of wine on the couch.  

Not a bad day at all...much more eventful than today.  We've had a cozy day at home today, lounging in our jammies til  at least 10 and playing with just about every today in the house and the yard.   I love hanging with my little men.  

Turkey Day Thoughts

I love Thanksgiving.  It just might be my favorite holiday.  A day completely dedicated to food, family, and counting your blessings--sounds like a winner to me!  It's easy to get caught up in the holiday rush without stopping to recognize all that we have to be grateful for.  Even the "poorest" Americans have far more than most others throughout the world.  It's good to be alive and we have so much to thank God for.  Makes me think of this song...

Not to say that we won't have hiccups and frustrations along the way.  There's a lot of things that easily get in the way of us having an attitude of gratitude.  But, if you're like me, when you look at the big picture, LIFE IS GOOD.  Just remember....

It's empowering to get through tough stuff.  I feel stronger every day and I couldn't do it without God's guidance and encouragement. We all owe everything to Him.

Enough about that...Thanksgiving is all about counting blessing, and I could fill a book with my blessings, but I'll save you the boredom and just give you my top 10...

1.  God.  Enough said.

2.  My husband and best friend.  I am so proud of him and I love him more every day.

3.  My boys.  The best thing that ever happened to me.  They make me smile every day.   

4.  My family.  I wish I had photos of them all.  I have amazing, supportive, inspiring parents siblings,  in-laws, grandparents, and aunts and uncles.  I wish we all lived closer together.   

5. My fitness.  That 7 mile run was a JOY this morning.  It truly is a gift.

6.  My friends.  I would not survive without them, especially in this crazy world of motherhood.

7.  My community.  I love this town!  Check out the view on my run this morning. 

8.  My country.  USA!  USA!

9.  My home.  It may be small but it sure is cozy.  

10.  My life!  It's good to be alive.  

Off to enjoy some more family time and some turkey.  Hope the dry rub on the turkey doesn't disappoint...  Enjoy your day!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Eve Fun

We have been loving our time with Mimsy and Grandpa.  The boys got their computer fix this morning as Mimsy introduced them to the world of YouTube videos.  It was no surprise to discover they loved any video with an animal in it.

I'm getting a jump start on my Thanksgiving dinner this morning.  I used my favorite recipe for cranberry sauce.

Yummy Cranberry Sauce

Combine the following in a large saucepan:

• 14 oz fresh cranberries

• 1/4 cup maple syrup

• 1/2 cup apple cider

• Splash orange juice

• 1 tsp vanilla

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for at least 15 minutes.  That's it!  So easy, and SOO yummy.

I tripled the recipe because it's soooo good.  I plan to put some on waffles, in smoothies, and even on the boys yogurt in the coming week.

Garlic and pumpkin just finished roasting in the oven.  Those babies will be going into the garlic smashed potatoes and pumpkin soup.  Now, I've got the sweet potatoes roasting to speed things along for the the whipped sweet potatoes with banana and honey.  I'm planning to make the maple pecan pie today too.

I still can't make up my mind as to how I want to flavor my turkey tomorrow.  Any suggestions??

Speaking of food, the holidays give us lots of opportunities to indulge in our favorite goodies but there are also plenty of opportunities to help out those less fortunate than ourselves.  I think the challenge from Peak313 fitness is a great way to handle both situations.  Check out her challenge for all the details.  You know me, I love a good challenge, so I'll be tackling this one along with Clare starting on Monday.  Let me know if you decide to join me.

Enough food talk.  The rest of my day is dedicated to a quick Best Body Fitness Bootcamp workout (after Monday's crazy Burpee workout, I'm avoiding tackling today's workout just a bit...), lots more family time, and a visit to PABbq.  My parents have been wanting to try it since I moved here more than 8 years ago.  I have a groupon and I think it's time they get to check it out.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!  Celebrate your blessings and the sacrifices others make, like being away from their families for the holidays, so we can have those blessings.  Say an extra prayer for them!

These guys rock and I am SOOO proud of them!

A Weekend Of Quality Time

After a LONG weekend of wonderful quality time, doing nothing but soaking up every single second, it was back to reality today with our typical Tuesday fun.  Here's a photo recap of our weekend fun...

The boys got new boots and felt cool like Daddy.  Great Aunt Peggy and Great Uncle Lon stopped by for a visit.   Oma visited too and now we're enjoying Grandma and Grandpa's company too.

This morning's story time was great.  We're loving this cool, crisp weather.  Today's features were...

I love the message in I Love You More by Laura Ouksta.  It would make a great bedtime story.

You know how much I love Karma Wilson.  Never Ever Shout in a Zoo was a hit this morning as well.

We wrapped up Story Time with some DELICIOUS mochas, thanks to Abby's amazing barista skills at Coffee Bar Blue Door before heading to music class.  It was fabulous as always.  Since Thanksgiving is Thursday, our produce delivery was moved to today.  Check out the yummy organic goodies we'll be enjoying on Thanksgiving...

Thanks to Kim for the photo.  I can't wait to cook for my parents and boys on Thursday.  

Now it's time to get in a run before getting the rest of the groceries for our upcoming feast.  I love this time of year.

I'll leave you with this message posted by Macaroni Kid this morning.  It was a great way to start my day...

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I'm trying to step out of my comfort zone a little bit more each day and I'm finding it to be very rewarding. I have to remember to trust God every step of the way.  He's always there to protect and guide me.  What a comfort that is!

Getting Things Done

I had a million things on my to-do list yesterday and actually got all of them done...except blogging.  I can't remember the last time I stayed up til 11 just so I could get things done.  Usually I'm over it by the time I put the boys to bed and call it a night shortly after they do.  It felt good to be productive but I'm glad the only major things on the to-do list today are Laundry and Produce.  I love produce day!  I'm especially excited for all the Thanksgiving goodies that are coming next week.   Organic cranberries--score!  We're supposed to be getting the BEST POTATOES EVER, buttercream fingerling potatoes, today.  Good think because one of  Mickey's favorite foods is potatoes.  I even switched my share so he could have them.  I see mashed potatoes in his very near future!


Before I tackled my to-do list, I did enjoy 2 lovely cups of this yummy coffee.  I highly recommend it...

It probably tasted especially yummy because it was BOGO at Publix and I had two coupons so I got each bag for $2.50.  Gotta love Publix and their wonderful coupon policies and sales.  

While I was busy getting things done yesterday, this is what my boys discovered...

They have just discovered how to make silly faces on windows and were really cracking each other up yesterday.  I love when they get the giggles like that.  It reminds me to stop and enjoy the moment as well.

We had a million errands to run including a stop at PetSmart for cat food.  No trip to PetSmart is complete without checking out the current rodents for sale...

Have you ever seen one with such geometric shading.  Crazy stuff!  It looked like he had been stamped. 

This was the boys' favorite.  He was VERY interactive...and actually kind of cute but still a rodent, nonetheless, and therefor never allowed in my house.  I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to convince the boys that we are not a pet family...

They LOVE every animal they meet and make it their mission to learn the sound that every animal makes.  I'm amazed by how much they already know about animals.  The animal sound of the week is "ribbit ribbit."  LOVE!

We also swung through BJs for some goodies and Mason spotted these lovely boots which he had to try on.  I think we might have to go back and get them.  We are traveling to the midwest this winter and need something besides flip flops to put on our feet, especially if it snows which I hope it does.  He'll fit right in with these boots...

The crazy thing is, if I buy them, I'm pretty sure he will actually wear them.  In fact, he'd probably never want to take them off.  They love shoes.

We also squeezed in a trip to the mall for a MOPS playdate in the food court.  That play area really is great.   All the kids had a blast.  My boys took a 3 hour nap after all that running around.  I hope everyone else's kids did too.  

The boys let me squeeze in some cardio at the gym too right before dinner time.  I had wanted to go for a run but the weather just wasn't cooperating so the elliptical became my workout instead.  I started our new book club book, which was my choice, and I am LOVING it so far.  We're reading The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver.  

I know it's not her latest, but I hadn't read it yet and love her other stuff so wanted to check this one out as well.  I hope it continues to be great and everyone loves it as much as I am so far.

The busy day left me with little energy to object when Colton wanted to wear his boots to bed, so rather than fight him, I gave in and now have one of my favorite pictures of him so far.  Like my friend Dana said, "choose your battles."  It just wasn't worth fighting him on it and I'm so glad I didn't.  Look how cute he is...

 ...and he fell asleep reading his books.   I hope they never lose their love of books.  We read every chance we get.   I love this quote that just happened to be on Macaroni Kid (which is a great resource for finding things to do with your kids, by the way) this morning.  Says the reading teacher..."Read to your kids as much as you can!"

 ...and don't forget to make time for play too.  You won't regret it!

(I couldn't show you that cute photo of Colton without showing off Mason's block building skills as well.  He's really getting the hang of stacking.

What a Morning!

Tuesdays are my busiest day of the week.  I was a little nervous going into the day after a restless night of very little sleep, but so far things are going smoothly.  Nothing a little coffee can't help, right?

Every Tuesday morning,  I lead Story Time at Blue Door...

Thanks, Elizabeth, for the photo

...we had a great turnout this morning.  There was no wind so the bubbles were PERFECT if I may say so myself.  The kids were great listeners for our two stories as well.  We read...

and...

I love the rhyming and the compromise message of Catfish Kate, by Sarah Weeks.  Baa-Choo is a silly story about a sheep that's having trouble sneezing.  With lots of colds going around, it seemed fitting.  It's pretty silly too.  It seems like any book that involves great rhymes, dynamic pictures, and animals is a winner in these kids' books.

After Story Time, we head off to our music class with Miss Rabe.  The boys are really getting comfortable with music class and I've been amazing with their progress.  They have learned so much is just a short time.  I can't say enough good things about Miss Rabe and the class we are involved in.  I think I might love it even more than the boys do.

Mason couldn't get enough of drumming on the tambourine.

Lizards in the boxes.  SO fun!

Colton has his lizard crawl up the wall, just like the song says.

After music class, it's lunch time!  The boys devoured chicken, apples, mac 'n cheese and brown sugar carrots.  They are definitely going through a growth spurt!  I was doing pretty good on my vegan kick but I did indulge in the exact same lunch they did.  I was too lazy to prep something different for myself.  I'm not gonna lie.  It was YUMMY!  I can't be perfect all the time. At least it was all organic...

Next up on the agenda is tutoring.  The boys played so well with their blocks while I taught a little math.  Now it's nap time for the boys and it's blog and study time for me.  I'm loving my fitness nutrition course but am glad I got my degrees done before kiddos.  Balancing mothering and studying is tough!  All you mommas who work and go to school too are AMAZING!  I don't know how you do it all.

I'm hoping to squeeze in my best body boot camp workout later this afternoon.  I'm not gonna lie...I'm dreading the isometric holds.  It's my least favorite exercise technique from the challenge so far.  At least this is the last one...I think.  I'm actually a little tempted to save it for tomorrow and spend some more time with these cool dudes...

Mason

Colton

We'll see what the afternoon brings.  Looking forward to some fun with friends tonight...

If you haven't already, check out my friend's blog-- mrs.not.so.perfect.  She's got some awesome insights on there...completely different than my journaling style.  Hope you enjoy it; I sure do!