And I will walk 10,000 steps…

Working out has never been “my thing,” and I so want it to be. I would love to be a runner or a weight lifter, but alas I am just a lazy, homebody.

A few months ago, more than I would like to admit, Lord Awesome Pants bought us both fitness trackers. I was very excited. I thought that this would be THE way for me get in shape. I would get in my recommended 10,000 steps every day, I would count every calorie, and I would weigh myself frequently and be amazed at my results.

Lord Awesome Pants completely embraced the fitness tracker life. He started walking to work everyday, he tracked his food, and he participated in competitions with his friends to see who could walk the most steps. No big surprise, he started losing weight.

I, on the other hand, had a different experience. Much to my dismay, I discovered that even though we bought the very best fitness trackers available at the time, a fitness tracker can not MAKE you walk, nor can it prevent you from eating all those delicious chocolate covered ice cream cones sitting all alone in the freezer while the kids are at school. It can, however, make you realize just how much food you eat and how little you walk everyday. Sadness.

Now that the weather is getting warmer, the time has come to embrace the fitness tracker life. No more excuses! This woman is getting in shape!!

Getting ready to work out with 120+ other women.

So, like any other reasonable woman, I signed up for a group class to help me jump start my fitness journey. It was advertised as a training challenge, but how hard could it be?

(*FYI. Pretty hard. Those trainers are ruthless.)

I also started walking to class and participating in those step competitions that keep my husband motivated to work out. Judging from the amount of walking our friends do, it will be awhile before I’m really in the running to beat anyone but it’s a start.

Here’s to better health in 2016.

Also, check this out:

Boom! More than 10,000 steps!

 

 

“The days are long, but the years are short.”

As a mother of 2 teenagers, a pre-teen, and an elementary school aged child, I can tell you that Gretchen Rubin quote is absolutely true.

When you are in the thick of changing diapers and waking up every hour to console someone, you start to feel like your child will never grow up. But then you blink and they’re in kindergarten. Then in the next moment you are driving them to the DMV to get their permit to drive.

*Sigh* I miss my babies’ baby days.

Since I can’t slow down time, I will just share pictures of their cutie pie baby faces.

 

This is Willy, the oldest. In this picture he is 3 years old. I sure do miss that gap tooth grin. Fortunately for him, gaps in baby teeth lead to almost perfect grown up teeth.

When he was 3, Willy loved cars, building, cartoons and playing with his brother.

Now Willy is a freshman in high school. He is my thinker. He likes school, reading books about mythical gods (his favorite author is Rick Riordan) and playing on his computer or Xbox.

This is Mike, the middle son. In this picture he is about 2 years old (sorry for the bad picture quality, but it’s a picture of a picture.) Oh how I miss that cute baby belly.

When he was 2, Mike loved to play with Willy. They never had the knock down, drag out fights that people warned me about when I was pregnant with Mike. They were a team.

Now Mike is in 8th grade. He is all teenager. He is all about being cool and having good friends. At home he usually has his headphones on and is listening to music, playing online games, or both.

This is  Jacob, the youngest son. In this picture he is 4 years old. Yes, he really is that silly.

When he was younger, Jacob loved to sit behind me or his Grammy on the couch, suck his thumb, and twirl our hair until it was in knots. He loved his older brothers, but preferred the company of adults.

Now Jacob is in 5th grade. He still likes to hang out with the adults. He loves to tell stories, read, and collect Pokemon cards. He also gets up early to snuggle with mom for a few minutes before breakfast.

This is Amelia. She is the very youngest and the only girl. Talk about lucky!!

When she was 3, Amelia loved snuggling baby dolls, nursing whenever she got tired, playing with her best friend, going to gymnastics, and playing outside.

Now Amelia is in kindergarten. She is all about drawing, planning sleepovers, and creating art to give her friends at school. She still loves playing outside and asks to stay late at school every day to swing on the swings or build trenches or castles under the playground.

Those are my “babies”. I can still usually coax a hug and an “I love you” out of the older two at bedtime, but most of my snuggles come from the younger ones and Lord Awesome Pants (he’s a cuddly guy). I try not to embarrass any my kids with public displays of affection, but it’s harder than it looks, because they will always be my babies.

Chinese Easter Dinner

This year Easter is in March. I am never prepared for Easter when it is in March. To be completely honest, even holidays that are on the same date every year tend to sneak up on me, so really I have no chance of remembering a holiday with a changing date.

March is usually not spring in the last frontier. This year was unseasonably warm, but there are no flowers blooming to remind me that I might need to go buy some of that pastel colored candy covering the end caps and shelves of the grocery stores. In my defense stores put holiday candy and decor out so far in advance that by the time Easter rolls around I am completely obvious to the fact that the candy isn’t a normal decoration of the store. That’s right, I’m the victim here.

This is why I foolishly planned for us to eat ham a little over a week ago, making it less appealing to make again for Easter brunch or dinner. Plus my sister and her family, my dad, and my brother are all out of town this weekend, so it would just be us anyway.Don’t get me wrong, I love cooking huge special meals for my family and extended family, (it’s my love language) but I prefer to have more people to cook for in my marathon cooking and baking sessions.

My oven also decided last week was the perfect time to crap out. I had noticed that it was not coming up to temperature quickly around St. Patrick’s Day, but chalked it up to using a new recipe for corned beef (an amazing and easy recipe from my hero The Pioneer Woman) until I wanted to make fish sticks for an easy quick dinner after a long day, and ended up baking them twice as long as usual. Lord Awesome Pants decided that ordering the part to fix said oven online would be much better than finding it locally. That means about a week without an oven. But we don’t have to buy a whole new oven.

Go team Awesome Pants!!

The original plan was to make a Cheddar Ham soup for us. But after a lazy day of lounging around, halfheartedly working on homework, and doing laundry, when Lord Awesome Pants asked what I wanted to do for dinner, cooking was definitely not my first response. Chinese food to the rescue.

I love Chinese food. I can make a pretty tasty chicken fried rice, but having someone else cook it, who knows what they are doing, is my preferred method of obtaining the deliciousness. And today did not disappoint.

We ordered the regulars along with a few new dishes, and everyone ate their fill with a smile on their face. While it wasn’t a traditional holiday dinner, it was definitely a tasty one.

After each picking one last piece of candy to munch on for dessert, we’re all winding down and preparing for another week of school and work. I’d say it’s been a pretty darn good Easter, even if there wasn’t ham and cheese potatoes.