A Giggle, Some Yummy Food, and Rainy Day Entertainment

Before I get into today, I have to share this hysterical post I stumbled upon yesterday.  It seriously had me belly laughing.  I thought it was a joke at first but I'm pretty sure it's for real...

Who's going to try it out and let me know what they think??  You might end up on youtube too thanks to the people who see you doing it...haha!

In other news, that curried broccoli soup was YUMMY with my blackened pork chop last night.  So far, I don't feel like I'm missing out at all with this plan.  

The rain finally let up and we were able to get outside for a bit after dinner before the mosquitos got the best of us and we headed back inside...

Those boys sure do love their chocolate milk.  I love that I can convince them it's from Starbucks just by putting it in a leftover Starbucks cup.

Once the boys were in bed, I spent the rest of the night watching this movie...

I rarely stay awake for movies but this one had me on the edge of my seat and I thoroughly enjoyed it.   Unfortunately, I didn't finish watching it til almost 11:30 so I didn't keep with the sleep portion of the Whole30 very well...whoops.  This didn't help either...

Yep, friends, those are my boys taking up my entire bed after they woke up crying hysterically in the middle of the night.  Poor little guys!  I hope we're not getting that darn virus that's going around.  

After way fewer hours of sleep than I had hoped for, we were up and at em bright and early this morning.  I talked myself into a run this morning in hopes of beating the rain and managed to get in 4 miles close to home, with several stops to see this guy...

...on our numerous loops around and around the neighborhood before calling it quits and getting inside just before the downpours started...

We then stuffed our faces with a yummy breakfast...

...eggs scrambled with coconut oil, steamed kale and broccoli, some tomatoes with balsamic and a coffee with coconut milk.  Filling and delicious...the perfect way to kick off day 3 on my Whole30 experiment.

After that, it was time to enjoy our rainy day at home.  This is what happens on rainy days at our house... 

The boys go to town with all of their toys that they sometimes forget about on a daily basis.  We had fun going through the stash of toys while keeping an eye on the rain and hoped that it would pass....

While the boys played, I tried my hand at a batch of homemade coconut butter...

I'm convinced you can make pretty much anything in the Vitamix.  I made the mistake of putting it in the fridge which hardens it and then figured out it can be kept at room temperature...easy to fix!  It's yummy!  I can't wait to put it on my sweet potatoes that I got in my produce share today.  Speaking of produce, I pretty excited about all the berries I got today too...and the pineapple...and the cauliflower...and the...it's all SO yummy!  Annie's Buying Club never lets me down.  Good thing none of that yummy goodness is off limits on the Whole30.

I also got in a super-intense, super-short chest and back workout--one minute of each of the following exercises, without stopping with a "power-burn" minute at the end that repeated each exercise for 15 seconds each....it looked like this...

I followed up that workout with a very yummy lunch...

...leftover roasted chicken, some avocado, tomatoes, caramelized onions, and a peach.  YUM!  

Now I'm doing the produce thing, waiting for people to pick up their goodies while the boys nap.  I'm off to dig into this new book...

Life is good!

The Library, The Annoying Guy At the Gym, and Whole30 Day 2

Maybe it's a result of me sugar detox as a result of being on Day 2 of my Whole30 experiment or maybe it's just because rainy days really bring me down...who knows?!  What I do know is that I have a case of the blahs today...

When I have a case of the blahs, I tend to get easily annoyed.  One source of annoyance today the fact that I had to take my run to the treadmill today.  I hate that darn machine!  I especially hate it when there's a guy at the gym who chooses to use the treadmill right next to mine when EVERY SINGLE OTHER TREADMILL in the place was available.  Really dude??  The same guy sprayed the cleaning stuff on me while thoroughly dousing his machine BEFORE his workout.  Um, hello, they clean them a million times throughout the day...your job is to clean it when you're done which won't even be necessary because you have it set at 2.0 mph so I highly doubt you'll be breaking a sweat on that machine.   This is the same guy who told me I was doing my deadlifts wrong last week, which I wasn't...clearly, I cannot stand this old guy.  So grumpy old man, if you read this blog, take a hint and leave me alone, please!  I did try to sweat as much as possible while I was hoofing it on my treadmill hoping that some of my sweat droplets might fling on him...oops!  Enough about him.  He's sucked enough joy out of my day....on to happier things.

Like I said, I'm on day 2 of my Whole30 experiment.  Today's breakfast was a repeat of yesterday's.  3 scrambled eggs, with sauteed spinach and half an avocado with a side of grapefruit.

I also had coffee with coconut milk.  That substitution will definitely be sticking around.  I like it!

With full bellies, we hit the road for the library's story time.  We needed a dry destination on this rainy morning.  The boys had fun with the alligator vs. crocodile theme...

Our next stop was the gym.  I did get in a decent workout even in my annoyed state.  I started off with a lovely 2.5 miles on the treadmill (before the guy came to "keep me company")...those first couple of miles actually flew by while I chatted with a couple of trainers about my new experiment and the knot in my neck...exciting stuff!  It was nice to have company while I did my time on the dreadmill.  For the next 1.5 miles, I alternated 1 minute runs with various shoulder, biceps and triceps exercises.  In order to keep from having to restart the treadmill each time, I had to limit my weights activity to 30 second increments which worked nicely--30 seconds weights alternated with 1 minute runs for 2 miles.  I had hoped to go a little longer with my circuits but my annoyed state got the best of me and I ditched the treadmill for the free weights section where I finished up with some additional arms work before calling it quits.  Hopefully I can return to the roads tomorrow...

We came home to a lunch that had been slow cooking while we were out...roasted chicken and roasted carrots.  I also enjoyed some leftover broccolini and a mango as well as the rest of my avocado from this morning.  Filling and delicious!!  

Check out this carrot I discovered while prepping them to cook...

The boys got a kick out of it.  

The dinner plan includes pork chops and curried cream of broccoli soup.  I think I'll set aside some steamed broccoli for the boys since I doubt I'll win them over with soup.  We've got some juicy peaches to enjoy as well.  Yum Yum!  I'm definitely not starving on this little experiment and it's forcing me to be a little creative, which is always a plus.  So far so good...

I have about 10 pages left in this book...

..so I'm off to tackle that now before I put my freshly laundered sheets on my bed.  I LOVE freshly laundered sheets!  Gonna be so snuggly tonight.  What should I read next???  Decisions, decisions...

Whole30 - Day 1

This weekend, I spent every free minute reading this book...

I was captivated with the ideas and theories presented in it.  You can read more about it at their website.  I've found lots of great info on their to supplement what's included in the book.  

The book includes a 30 day challenge, called Whole30 where you go 30 days with no grains, no sugar, no alcohol, no legumes, no white potatoes, and no dairy--very similar to the paleo diet, only a bit more strict.  There's no paleo-ified junk food replacements allowed.  It encourages you to stick with 3 big meals a day centered around meat, produce, and fats.  

The ideas that appealed to me were the opportunity to "reset" my body and digestion, a chance to balance out my hormones, the opportunity to get in touch with my hunger signals again rather than my all-day graze-fests, and eliminate the junk from my diet...I was getting a little carried away.  I decided to go "all in" and start the challenge today.  It's only 30 days...I can do this!!  I'm curious to see how my little "experiment" works out. 

Breakfast included 3 eggs scrambled with a giant handful of spinach and half an avocado, diced and topped with hot sauce, of course.  I had half a grapefruit on the side too.  

It was filling and delicious...but I was hungry again by 11.  Hopefully that improves...but in the meantime...I downed lots of water and planned a very big lunch.

For lunch I had a turkey burger, some broccolini sauteed in olive oil, and a tomato, avocado and balsamic salad.  I also ended up eating most of the boys' leftover mango too.

I'm planning to go out to eat for dinner but already have a game plan in mind for the greek restaurant--greek salad, skip the feta, olive oil and vinegar for dressing, topped with a piece of grilled salmon as long as they don't marinade the salmon in anything crazy.  Maybe I'll throw a can of tuna in my purse just in case...haha.  Just kidding!  

Enough food talk.  We've done other fun stuff besides eating today...

We kicked off our morning at Story Time where we were supposed to have a special guest but our firefighter got called into duty so we stuck with Firefighter books instead. We read...

...and...

Both were big hits with the kiddos.  I especially liked Tony Mitton's rhymes and Ant Parker's illustrations in Flashing Fire Engines.

We hit up the gym after Story Time.  I was feeling pretty un-energetic so I took my legs workout over to the elliptical for some circuits.  Usually the speed of them keeps me from feeling too tortured.  I warmed up for a mile before alternation quarter miles on the elliptical with the following legs circuits using dumbbells.  I repeated each circuit 4 times.  

Circuit 1:

Squats - 20

Deadlifts - 20

Lunges - 20

Circuit 2:

Squat with Side Kicks - 10 each

Side to Side lunges - 20

Curtsey lunges - 10 each

I finished up with another mile as my cool down and called it a day.  Hopefully I'm feeling more energetic tomorrow.

We've spent the rest of our day around the house, getting some chores done...while keeping an eye on last night's episode the bachelorette.  The first episode doesn't require your full attention anyways :-)

Memorial Day Weekend Fun

We had a fantastic Memorial Day filled with lots of family fun.  The only thing missing was this guy....

We're so darn proud of him and can't wait til he's back home with us.

Our Saturday revolved around the 8th grade graduation of the boys' adopted big sister and the most inspiring, spiritual student I've ever worked with.

She's an amazing gal and we were so honored to be included in her celebrations...it was fun to get dressed up too.

The boys especially loved the psychedelic carpet at the party...

Sunday included a full day of play time and pool time.  We never even left the house....I actually think we were in our jammies til about 10.  It was GLORIOUS!!

After staying home all day Sunday, we were ready to get out again.  We hit the road running early in the morning for a stop at the park before the parade...

The parade was FULL of fun vehicles that the boys thoroughly enjoyed...

It was a great way to honor our Veterans and remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.  

We spent the rest of our morning poolside, enjoying the gorgeous weather.

I caught up on some reading during naptime and got to indulge in a little two hard break post-naptime, thanks to a friend who offered to come over and watch the boys so I could have a break.  I took care of my errands faster than I ever could have with the boys in tow and I'm certain the boys had more fun not having to be lugged around.  While I was out, I also indulged in a little treat...

You know me....I'm a sucker for those darn frappuccino lights. 

Once I got home, we had more fun outside...

 

The boys even pitched in with a little yard work.

We admired some of the flowers while we were out there too...

Look how big the boys look in their swings...it might be time for an upgrade...

We finally had to call it a day and go inside for dinner.  The boys have been doing quite a bit of pretend play lately.  Tonight featured Mason pretending to be a baby and Colton pretending to be the Daddy who had to feed his baby...it was pretty entertaining.

The boys are sleeping soundly and now it's my turn to call it a night.  Counting my blessings on this holiday that has become much more significant to our little family recently.  

Crammin' In Some Fun Today

At the end of the day yesterday, I realized I hadn't spent much "fun time" with the boys and was feeling kinda bad about it.  This might have been the most excitement they had all day...

These little gems are at the place where they go to their play group.  Some of the moms got together for a deep-cleaning of all the toys in the room before we take the summer off and the boys lucky enough to get to come along with me for the task.  I never let them get on them because it's darn near impossible to get them off but I caved yesterday and they were pretty excited.  It's the little things...I think I should probably give in more often.  They were in heaven for those 3 minutes.  Now I just need to figure out a way to get them off the toys and into the car...

We swung by the grocery store and the gym yesterday too.  The boys made me these adorable flowers while I worked out...

We love our gym!  It's hard to get them to leave the play room there too...I need to work on that it seems...

We spent the rest of the day doing the produce thing.  We are finally restocked with yummy fruit and they boys already devoured a melon and two containers of strawberries.  I have to sneak my share before it's gone.  I never seem to order enough...

We tried out a FABULOUS recipe inspired by Budget Bytes' maple dijon chicken last night.   I just subbed pork chops for the chicken since that's what we had on hand...YUM!  Colton was especially with the bone which he kept telling me looked like an alligator...

I pretended to see what he was talking about...haha

We ended the evening with a wagon walk before a little downtime on the couch before bed...

They hardly ever watch TV so when I let them, they TOTALLY dig it!  I love their amazement at Curious George.

To make up for our somewhat lame day for the boys yesterday, we packed in extra fun today.  We kicked off our morning bright and early with a run that included a LONG stop at the park....

They are in love with this park and call it the wobbly bridge park.  I love that it's within running distance and has great shade and a waterfront breeze.

We've got quite the little climbers...

They're getting interested in learning some tree-climbing skills too... 

This was our turnaround point for our run...

Being the multi-tasker that I am, you know I had to squeeze in a stop to the bank and a trip to the library as well on our outing.  I love being able to get lots of things done on foot.  The boys had a great time with Miss Lisa at the Family Place...

We swung in the Fresh Market on our way home for some 2/$12 chickens...the good ones!  Needless to say, the boys passed out on the way home from all that fun...

We spent the rest of our afternoon poolside once they woke up...

The boys are a little scarred from swimming lessons but we worked our way from the baby pool to some fun in the big pool later.  We ended up having a lot of fun...thank goodness!

Time for some A/C and snacks before heading off to take care of some other errands this evening, including a stop by Red Box to pick up this movie...

If it has Matt Damon in it, it's gotta be good, right???  Looking forward to putting my feet up tonight.    We were beyond due for a day like this.  What a fun day!  Here's to hoping the fun continues all weekend long.