Way late Valentine's Day

I had every intention of blogging about Valentine's Day on the 16th.  We spent a great family day together on the 15th, since Jarrod was leaving town for a week, and I thought on the 16th, I'd get all caught up on this blog!  And then....my computer failed me.  Or should I say, my anti-virus protection failed me.  So, I was without a computer for several days and it really threw my whole week off.  Drove me nuts!  I rely on this laptop so much!

So, finally....Valentine's Day!  A simple holiday that we never made a big deal out of, but once you have kids and you see things through their eyes, it truly makes everything more magical.

I started the month by adding hearts to the kids' doors every night (well, almost every night) telling them something we love about them.  Gavin acted like it was a bit overkill, but he was the first to point out when I forgot a heart!

The kids woke up on Valentine's Day to find little gifts for them.  Riley got a new microphone, which she's in love with.  She's such a performer!  Gavin was so excited to get a new Star Wars book, a book light, and mini Lego set.  It put such a smile on my face to hear him say 'Wow, that's so awesome!' when I explained the book light.  Love our little reader!  {And yes, I've seen him up at both 11pm and 5am reading in his room since then...}
 

Since Valentine's Day actually fell on the week of Gavin's February break, we went out for donuts and then 'surprised' Daddy at work {the kids thought it was a surprise, but I had checked with him first to make sure he wasn't in a meeting.} 

The real surprise for Jarrod was that on our way out, we sneaked into his car {thank goodness he left his doors unlocked!} and filled his car with hearts telling him why we love him.  The munchkins thought that was really cool. :)

We had some homemade pizza for dinner and watched Despicable Me 2, a Valentine gift from Mimi and Beepa, since it was a Friday after all....Friday Family Movie Night!  Jarrod came home from work with tulips for me which were beautiful.

It was such a special day, full of memories!

Wordless Wednesday

What is a Snow Day?

Snow day???  What is that?  I wasn't sure when we moved here if my kids would even see snow regularly and that kind of made me sad.  Obviously, I had nothing to be sad about!  We've had snow every winter we've lived here so far, and now that we're in school, I realize just how much that snow impacts this area!  We now have ELEVEN snow days to make up.  ELEVEN!!

So, what do we do on our snow days?  Well, let's see...this past week, we had three.  So, from Sunday-Wednesday, we didn't leave the house.  I literally would go from my pajamas in the morning to workout clothes to the shower to yoga pants to pajamas....and it repeated itself for four days!  With the kids taking turns being sick, we didn't get out to play in the snow this time; just took advantage of play time, movies, snuggles, and hot cocoa.  And I finally got my camera out for the first time in ages, and captured these cuties.

Gavin rotated through Legos, Star Wars, and Angry Birds.

Riley's new favorite thing to do is flip the ottomans over so they're all over the living room and then stand on them to jump to the couch, or like these pictures, to pretend they're her stage.

 The kids pulled all their instruments out to do some performing together as the Great Pate Band.  Gavin said Riley is the singer and he plays the instruments but Riley felt she could easily do both!

 I also attempted to clean out the craft closet.  I thought I was a genius mom....popped popcorn at 8:30am and let the kids pick out movies for a movie marathon!  Surely that would keep them entertained, right?

Within five minutes, Riley was in the toy room with me taking things out of the closet as I was trying to organize them.  Needless to say, the craft closet did NOT get cleaned out that morning.

So....we've now lost pretty much all of our May break.  Kind of sucks because the advantage to year round school was all the breaks....and now he'll go from the end of March til the end of June without any breaks.  Not only that, but they're mentioning Saturday school may be an option if we have more snow days.  Luckily, we're supposed to get more snow this week and it's an off week for us.  So...we won't have to make up any snow days that occur this week for the rest of the district.  Fingers crossed we don't have any more this winter....I think I speak for MANY people when I saw we're ready for spring!

Results!!

Today marks the end of the 30 day challenge I did with Four Fit Sisters and I'm so excited with my results.  I won't post the before/after pictures here on the blog, but I'm happy to share them with any friends that want to message me about them.  BUT...I am excited to share some numbers with you!

In the 30 days, I lost 8.4lbs and a combined 18.75 inches!  I still have more work I want to do to get my stomach looking like I really want it to, but I know these 30 days got me on the right track and I'm really inspired by all I learned.  I highly recommend their website and their challenges.  They're all run similarly, but for reference, I worked with Marta, the oldest sister on the site.  Definitely worth checking out!

Thirteen Thursday

I'm getting calls and texts asking me more about what I've learned in this 30 day challenge I'm doing, so I've compiled some things to share for today's Thirteen Thursday.  {I am by no means an expert...I'm only in the very beginning of this lifestyle change!}

1. Drink a lot of water!  Figure out how many time you'd need to refill your water bottle to get at least 100 oz a day and keep track of it.  For me, I have a dry erase board on my fridge and I keep a tally of how many times I refill it so I make sure to get to five.

2. Adding in weights to my workout routine has made me feel so much stronger in just a few weeks.  Marta (the fitness trainer) wanted us to lift four days a week, so I've used my 10lb weights at home and used the machines at the fitness center for doing things I can't do at home, like my back and legs.

3. Use a program like My Fitness Pal to track your calories.  Realizing portion sizes and exactly how many calories you're taking in is eye opening.

4. You have to think outside the bread :)  I used to eat a lot of wheat apparently.  Now some favorite meals for me are:
Breakfast: Eggs with turkey sausage or Chex cereal (gluten free) with almond milk
Lunch: Nitrate/Nitrite free lunchmeat with hummus rolled up, bell peppers, and fruit or a salad with chicken breast and salsa as my dressing
Snacks: Smoothie with almond milk, a banana, a tbsp of peanut butter and a small handful of spinach (I promise, it doesn't add any taste...just the nutritional value!), carrots with hummus, an apple with peanut butter
Dinner: Turkey burgers (without a bun) and sweet potatoes, chicken fajitas with corn tortillas and rice and beans, or fried rice (using brown rice and lots of veggies)

5. The more you have something, the more likely you are to grow to enjoy it!  We tell the kids that all the time.  The first day I put almond milk in my coffee instead of creamer, I was choking it down.  By the end of the first two weeks, I could easily tolerate it.  I bought peanuts as a snack because it was on her recommended list even though I hate nuts.  I don't love them still, but can get through a small handful to get some good protein and fat in me without making a face now.

6. Find blogs or groups on Facebook that inspire you and educate you.  I really am loving all the sisters at www.fourfitsisters.com.  Marta is the one doing our fitness challenge, but they all do a little variation of it.  Check the blog to find out more about their next ones!  Definitely worth the $30 I paid for this challenge.

7. Drink a large glass of room temperature-warm water with juice from half a lemon as soon as you wake up.  It helps get your metabolism up, as well as gives you a boost of vitamin C and is supposed to help clear your skin, too!

8. Wear a heart rate monitor when you're working out.  I just got a new one and I love wearing it because it is motivating to see the number go up as you're working out.  Sometimes I'll be close to the end of my workout but I'll see I'm at like 268 calories burned and I'll push myself longer so I can get to 300.

9. Skinnytaste.com is one of my favorite websites to get recipes from!

10. Make a Motivation Board.  For me, it's a chalkboard in our bathroom.  I track my weekly weigh-ins, write out what workouts I want to do for the week, have a picture of a bikini I'd love to buy, and add an inspiration quote to it.  I like that Jarrod can see it and can ask me about it - helps keep me accountable when he says, 'How was your ab class today?' etc.

11. Share your goals with someone.  Having a goal buddy is a great way to stay on track.

12. Take measurements and photos of yourself; don't rely on the scale.  Sometimes your body is changing but it isn't reflected on the scale.  Don't get discouraged.

13.  Remember - it's not a diet...it's a lifestyle that will help you get healthier, for yourself and your family!