Fulfilled and Grateful

It's been a whirlwind the last couple of days.  I'm still on my early morning workout kick...which means I was at the gym at 5:10 am yesterday to make sure Mickey and I both had time to get our sweat sessions in.  The fun didn't stop there...it was my turn to work at the play group yesterday morning.  That's always a wild ride, especially when I "get" to be in charge of the craft.  Let's just say things didn't go quite as planned, but some of us did end up with some cute little monsters...

The highlight of my day was getting to meet up with my book club...and it was fabulous as always.  We discussed this fabulous book...

...the beginning is a bit slow, but stick with it.  You won't regret it!  

I always walk away refreshed, grateful, and with my head full of lots of thoughts after book club.  I love it!  Last night, we were talking about our roles as mothers, and how fulfilling or unfulfilling that role is.  I'm one of the lucky ones, I realized--being a mom is COMPLETELY fulfilling to me.  Staying at home with my boys is a dream come true for me.  Don't get me wrong, it's not all butterflies and roses all the time, in fact it's by far the hardest job I've ever had, but I am so grateful that I get to be able to do it, even if I have to remind myself to be grateful from time to time...

This led me to another realization...a big one that I had to express to my husband this morning.  If it weren't for him and all the hard work he does, I would not be able to occupy my stay-at-home mothering role that I find so fulfilling.  It is because of him that our family is able to have the majority of what we have, even if it is a bit more limited after eliminating a salary and adding two children to the mix.  (My beloved story time and tutoring gigs don't exactly pay the mortgage...) I aim to make more of an effort of letting him know just how grateful I am that he does what he does so that I get to do what I do.  I am a lucky girl!!  

It got me thinking...chances are, if you're involved in something that's making you really happy, there's someone behind the scenes helping to make that happen that probably needs some recognition and love once in a while.  Most of the time, good things don't "just happen."  I'm going to jump on the Thanksgiving bandwagon a little early this year and make an effort to let the people behind the scenes know just how appreciative I am of all that they do to help enrich my life.  I am grateful.

This morning kicked off with a good 'ol run with my good 'ol running buddy.  We did our usual 6 miles.  It was busier than usual out there this morning...is the morning thing catching on for more people than just me??

Today was also Story Time day.  Today's features were...

and

I highly recommend both.  Zoozical is full of fun rhymes and animals...a double whammy for preschoolers.  If You Give A Moose A Muffin is a silly book of one thing leading to another...kind of like how I feel some days.  It makes me smile :-)  You know what else makes me smile?!...all my story time friends, old and new.  What a gift you are to me!

Our next stop after Story Time was Music Class, which was fabulous as usual.  Our music skills just keep getting better and better...

...2 1/2 year old learning music theory--AWESOME!!!  We can't get enough!

We managed a quick stop into the library to refresh our book stash and a quick stop in the Fresh Market to restock our chicken stash (hello $2.99 Tuesdays :-)) before calling it a morning and heading home, where we plan to stay for the rest of the day.  

Time for some Tabata biceps, triceps, and shoulders...

...before the boys wake up then this momma's ready for some playtime with her kiddos.  Enjoy your day!

Boredom Buster Upper Body Workout

I feel like I've been in a kind of rut with my workouts so I've been trying to change things up a bit in order to hopefully get me excited about working out again rather than just going through the motions.  Signing up for the half-marathon at the end of October was the first step.  I am already excited to start my training plan for that on Monday.  I am really hoping to PR in the race and that should help keep me focused.

We got in a nice family run this morning and I also came up with a new upper body workout that kept my interest this morning. It focused on the back and chest, the fat-burners as Jackie Warner calls them, but didn't neglect the arms completely.  It looked like this:

Some friends of ours are getting married this weekend so I'm not sure how much working out I'll get in, but I hope to squeeze in a quick run or two if nothing else.  A weekend of with a little rest wouldn't be too terrible either, especially since it's go time on Monday.  

I can't leave you without pictures of the boys and their crazy antics.  Colton's favorite thing to do these days is to climb on top of Mason.  Needless to say, Mason doesn't love it as much, but it does make for a cute picture every once in a while.

Happy weekend everyone.  Make it great!

Upper Body Blitz Etc.

Yesterday I got in a killer arm workout that has my arms still feeling the burn in a good way.  I knew I wanted to focus on my chest and back, but didn't want to leave my arms or core out in the process and I came up with this nice little workout that I will definitley be repeating again.  Hopefully it gets easier each time I do it because my arms were screaming yesterday as I tried to eak out the last reps of each superset.  My workout looked like this:

• Back Giant Set using bent over narrow rows, bent over wide rows, and bent over renegades. 
• 3 rounds:
• First round: 20 reps of each exercise followed by 100 reps of various biceps curls
• Second round: 15 reps of each exercise followed by 100 reps of various triceps exercises
• Third round: 10 reps of each exercise followed by 100 reps of various shoulder exercises.
• Chest Giant Set chest press, chest flyes and renegades, all done on an stability ball.
• 3 rounds:
• First round: 20 reps of each exercise followed by 100 reps of mountain climbers.
• Second round: 15 reps of each exercise followed by 1 minute plank with forearms on stability ball.
• Third round: 10 reps of each exercise followed by 2 minute plank.

I used 15 pound dumbbells for the back and chest exercises and 8 pound dumbbells for the arm exercises. Success!

Today's workout focused on legs.  I wasn't feeling too creative so I used the old standby--a Jackie Warner circuit workout which banged out the workout in 15 minutes.  Cardio included 40 minutes on the elliptical so I could finish up my book for book club tonight.  I highly recommend The American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld. 

Tomorrow I'm due for another run.  After a 5k on Saturday, where I got a PR by the way, and a 10 mile stroller run on Sunday, my legs needed a couple of days off from running but they're ready to go for tomorrow.  Haven't decided where, how long, or whether I'll bring the stroller or not.  I guess we'll see what tomorrow and my two teething toddlers brings...

Make it a great day!

Arms and Core and Plyometrics, Oh My!

Yesterday was one of those days where there wasn't really all that much going on, but the day got away from me nonetheless.  I found myself at 3:00 realizing I hadn't accomplished much that day other than taking the boys to the doctor, eating, and playing around in the kitchen so it was time to get motivated.  I turned to my workout binder for a little inspiration and stumbled upon a jump rope circuit I had printed off of another blog I love reading and decided to give it a try.  I changed it a bit from her directions in that I didn't take the 30 second breaks in between each exercise so instead of it taking me 30 minutes, I was able to finish in 20.  It was a good sweat session.   Here is the workout I took from pbfingers blog:

Upon completion of that part of my workout, I was ready to fire up my arms and core.   I did a heavy chest/back workout earlier in the week so I decided to take this workout a little eaiser and completed the whole routine with 8 pound dumbbells.  I did arms, core, and plyometric moves circuit-training style, doingeach exercise for a minute each with no rest in between.  I loved how just when my arms felt like they couldn't take any more, it was time to move on to my core, and when it started screaming, I could switch to some plyometrics before hitting up each targeted area again.  Time flew and the workout felt great.  It looked like this:

• hammer curls
• up-down plank
• jump squats
• tricep kickbacks
• plank with in and out knees
• bear crawl
• overhead press
• heel drops on back
• skaters 
• chest renegades on mat
• knee fallouts
• upright mountain climbers / army march with dumbbells
• bent over renegades
• plank with leg raises
• box jumps
• cross-body bicep curls
• plank rows
• overhead tricep extensions
• ball roll out on forearms
• cross jabs with dumbbells
• arnold press
• pushups
• dumbbell chest flyes with leg drops
• wide rows

My day went from ho-hum, lazy dazy to very productive thanks to getting my body moving which helped me to feel more energized.  Give it a try the next time you're feeling a little lazy and see if it doesn't put a pep in your step for the rest of the day.  You won't be disappointed.  Today I'm getting my workout in earlier to hopefully feel the effects the rest of the day. 

Today's plan:

• 10 minutes of various squats and lunges to hopefully give my mommy butt some lift
• 10 minutes of core exercises to keep working on my mommy gut
• EASY 4 mile run to get my heart pumping and my lungs chugging some gorgeous fresh air

I saw this on pinterest yesterday and HAD to share.  I love it!  I printed it and hung it in my kitchen.

Fitness is a CONSTANT work in progress. You never "arrive."  You always have room to improve and grow.  Keep progressing!  Make it a great day!
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