Morning Runs Are the BEST!

Yesterday, we kicked off our day with a run.  Thank goodness for a running date with a friend to get me out the door and for chatting with me the whole time to help the 6+ mile run fly by.  It's nice to be able to chat with a friend AND get a workout in at the same time once in a while.  The boys were great company too...

Colton's ready to party but Mason's still waking up.  Haha!

There's something about starting your day with an early morning run that just helps the rest of the day to go better.  We had a fun, productive day after getting that run in.

After breakfast and a shower, our next stop was Publix...

Like Mickey said, the boys are going to have their drivers licenses before we know it.  Watch out!!  

Shopping was definitely a pleasure at Publix.  We love it there...cookies, balloons, good deals...what's not to love??  

We got home just in time for a special delivery...

15 bottles of yummy red wine delivered straight to my doorstep is definitely a cause for celebration.  The boys did a little happy dance on top of the box.  Who can blame them??  When I opened up the box to put the wine away, they said "Look, Mom!  Lots of red juice!!"  Yes, son, that is indeed a lot of delicious red juice!  I think I'll be saving it all to share with a certain someone this fall...not all in one sitting of course.  Can't wait!!

The box gave the boys lots of entertainment while I did my Thursday thing of sorting yummy organic 

 fruits and veggies.

We got another GIANT pineapple I can't wait to cut into and I finally got smart and ordered a different combination of shares to get us extra berries.  Hopefully our stash last will at least last us through the weekend.  We sure do love our strawberries around here.  YUM!!!  I'm excited to make another batch of zucchini enchiladas with my zucchini too.  My plan is to add chicken to the mix this time and leave out most of the cheese to amp up the protein and cut back on the dairy.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.  

We had some good friends over for dinner last night and I tried out this recipe for chipotle sweet potato black bean burgers.  I thought they were really yummy.  They were a little mushier than I would have liked but the flavor was great.  Maybe I need to dry the beans after rinsing them next time???

Thank God for friends who put up with my quirks and hold me accountable.  I treasure friends who help me to be myself...friends who are EASY to be friends with.  I am learning what a blessing true friends are.  Good friends are HARD to find and I'm so blessed by the friendships in my life, especially in my life as a mom.

Last night, while eating dinner, we got to talking about fat loss and how there seems to be a different equation that works for each person trying to achieve it.  I told her about a book I've been reading that's been really intriguing to me along those lines...

As someone who's trying to find a healthier workout/eating/rest balance, this book peaked my interest.  After being pregnant with and nursing twins, I was able to be an eating machine.  While nursing I could eat ANYTHING and still lose weight.  Now that I've stopped, I'm having a more difficult time remembering what it's like to eat "normally" for an active person.  I'm also trying to adjust my diet to meet the needs of my weight-training body since that has been more of my focus lately.  The information in this book, combined with the knowledge from my fitness nutrition class has been helping me learn some things about myself as I slowly tweak things to try to figure out what works for me.  It's really an interesting, and sometimes frustrating, process.  Not enough protein -- too hungry.  Too much fiber -- you can guess.  Waiting to long to eat -- poor choices made out of hunger.  Lots of snacks in the house -- poor self-control.  I'm a work in progress... 

I'm always intrigued by the people who say they can go all day without eating.  I feel like all I want to do all day is eat sometimes.  I used to work with a lady who would forget to eat.  I'm the type of person who's thinking about what I'm going to have for dinner while I eat my lunch.  Some people struggle with limiting salty foods, and others, like me, have a weakness for sweets.  Some people feel better when they eliminate meat and seafood from their diet whereas I feel so much better when it is part of my diet.  We're all so different!  I think it's pretty interesting stuff.

I stumbled across this interesting article on thier facebook page this morning to add to the interesting factor.  It talks about the differences between males and females.  This article linked from Peak313, a favorite fitness-minded blog of mine, also caught my attention.  No wonder this has been on my brain so much lately...it seems to be everywhere I turn.  

Enough food talk!

Today's plan is to hit the gym for an upper body workout and a little time on the elliptical.  Then we have a play date with a friend before lunch and nap time.  Who knows what the post naptime will bring...hopefully something fun.  I hear my munchkins calling...

Party Day

It was a BEAUTIFUL out night last night, so I decided to take the boys on a walk down to the river.  They love watching for boats.  Too bad we only saw two, but we did spot a jumping fish that was pretty cool.

The fresh air must have worn them out, because this is what I found when I went to tuck them in...

It used to be that Colton who threw everything into Mason's bed but now Mason gives all the goods to Colton.  They really do flip-flop all the time.  I slept equally as good and was ready to hit the road this morning for my easy 5 mile taper run.  After a month of long runs on Saturdays, today's run felt like a breeze.

We met up with some friends after my run to participate in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk but only lasted about 2 miles before I knew I had tortured the boys enough and decided to take the shortcut home.  We got desperate and split a zone bar I had brought along...

2 1/2 hours in the stroller is LOOONG enough.  They were happy to stretch their legs and play while I ate a yummy breakfast of roasted green beans topped with dippy eggs.  I got the idea from PBFingers and it was delicious.  The runny yolks make a yummy sauce for the beans.

Then it was time to head off to a party.  Our twin friends celebrated their first birthday with a festive Halloween-themed party.  We had a great time!

Mason found a holster he enjoyed wearing but their favorite piece of entertainment was the storage box.  Those boys are strong enough to push each other in it.  They had a blast!  Hope we didn't give any of the other kids any crazy ideas...woops!  What can I say, I've got some busy boys.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

As I was checking my emails once I got the boys down from their naps, I stumbled upon this little nugget from Peak313.com

source

She has a brutally honest blog post today that I think most of us married folks can relate to.  Marriage isn't always easy but I think some people expect it to be.  It's reassuring to know everyone has their struggles and obstacles, even when they're not visible to those of us on the outside.  You just have to remember you're a team.

On that note...go let your your significant other know how much you love them.