Belated Anniversary

On October 16 my hubby and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary. I can't believe it has already been 9 years. I feel like we were just married. We have had a great 9 years together. We have been by each others sides through all of our ups and downs. Life is great when your best friend is walking beside you through everything. We went out to dinner that night just the two of us, which if you know us is huge. We hardly ever get to go out just us. We also went to a friends wedding on Saturday afternoon without the kiddies. So after the wedding we went and grabbed a quick dinner together and did some window shopping. This past weekend was also his first days off in 34 days so we all thoroughly enjoyed having Daddy home. I love my sweet, caring, loving, hard working man. Here are a few photos from our wedding and also from when we went to the wedding this past weekend.

This picture is probably about 12 years old. Oh we were so young :)

Belated birthday

I feel so bad that I am writing this post so late. My sweet baby turned 5 on the 15. We had a great lego birthday celebration for him. He had a wonderful time, and so did all of his guests. I even made a homemade lego piñata for him. He is the sweetest, most unique little man I know. He knows what he wants and will not change his mind for anything, which can sometimes be frustrating :). He loves his brother and sister more than anything in the whole world. He will be the first person to tell you that you look beautiful, or you are cool etc... He loves giving people compliments and he genuinely means it. I can't believe my little baby boy is 5 now. Here are a few photos from his special day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry for the MIA

Sorry for being MIA this month. I have been in a little bit of a "funk" this month, and have not really felt like updating my blog or Facebook page much. Which also means I was not keeping myself as motivated, and not working out as much. I have gotten myself out of my funk, and am back. I think we all need to take some time off. We did celebrate my beautiful sons fifth birthday, I will post some pictures in another post, and also my 9 year wedding anniversary. So things have been pretty busy here. I hope everyone is sticking to their healthy lifestyle. I know it is tough this time of year. So hopefully I can continue to be some motivation for you during this holiday season.

Calendar

The holiday season is beginning as is the months of sweets!! Halloween candy, big Thanksgiving meals with lots of yummy desserts, Christmas candy and baked goods the list goes on and on. So trying to stay on track is very hard this time of year. I think it is necessary to live a balanced life. So it is ok to partake in some of these treats, but do not overdo them, but also try to maintain a healthy lifestyle. You should keep doing your fitness routines as well as trying to maintain a healthy diet with the add ins of your favorite holiday treats. So here is a calendar we are doing in our Mommy group. Feel free to follow along with us. We are starting it today.

Motivation Monday

Yesterday was my birthday. I spent a wonderful weekend with my awesome family. Which was exactly what I wanted. I tried to find pictures of my 30th birthday to look at, and I could only find about 2 of them. I guess I was not really into taking any pictures then. I remember having a great time at my 30th birthday with my wonderful family. They are always so great to me. This year was even better than last year. I really was not that upset about turning 31, okay maybe a little. I can tell you I was happier at my 31st than I was at my 30th. So I am looking forward to my 32nd being better than my 31st. This gives me some motivation to keep going and make this year better than last year. So here are a few pictures from my fabulous birthday weekend with my family.

Throwback Thursday

I am going to an orchard tomorrow with a pumpkin patch with the kids. We are so excited about going. The last time I went there I was 8 months pregnant with my son which was 5 years ago. I was looking back at the pictures. I am very excited to go with them and get some new pictures with all the babies. So here are some photos of our last trip.

Tasty Tuesday

Today's post is about snacks. I think this is one of the biggest areas I struggle with. In the past I have fallen into eating all of my kids bag of goldfish and wash it down with a soda and a box of little Debbie's. Sounds great, but I felt terrible afterwards. So if you are eating good meals all day do not waste that with a few bad snacks. I have found it easiest to buy the kids snacks that I also will eat. That way I am not tempted by their snacks into something bad for me, which I feel better giving them healthy stuff anyways. Now I am not going to lie here, my kids do sometimes get special treats that I do not really partake in. I think yes we should eat healthy foods, but it is okay for my kids to occasionally have little treats. So anyways back to our healthy snacks. For my snacks I of course like something that I do not have to put a lot of prep into, and are both health and cost effective. A few clean eating snacks that I enjoy are as follows:

* A slice of pumpkin bread (I posted the recipe the other day), I usually will have a glass of water with it, but a cup of hot tea is also very yummy with it. Most of the time if I have this I just eat this, but you could add maybe a handful of nuts (if you did not put any in your bread) or a piece of fresh fruit.

* 1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt (I like Stonyfield) with a drizzle of raw honey or agave, 1/2 cup of granola (you can do homemade or an organic one that does not have a lot of added sugars. I like the ones from KIND. There are a lot of different flavors that are good), mix with some fresh fruits (strawberries, blueberries, banana whatever fruit you have on hand)

* 1/2c unsalted nuts (cashews, peanuts, almonds, walnuts whatever you have), string cheese (get a brand that is real cheese not processed), and a piece of fruit (pear or apple is my favorite)

* 3-4 celery sticks with organic peanut butter, string cheese

* Fruit/Veggie protein smoothie (use whatever fruits/veggies you have with some organic peanut butter or protein powder)

* Organic carrots, cherry tomatoes, celery sticks and cucumber with 2tbsp fresh hummus

* 1 slice whole grain bread with 1tbsp organic peanut butter, 1 tbsp. fresh jam (grape, strawberry etc...), whole organic carrot

* 1 hardboiled cage free egg with a little pepper, handful of fresh berries

* 1c no salt added cottage cheese with fresh fruit (pineapple, strawberries, blueberries whatever you have), 1/4c unsalted nuts, 1tbsp chia seeds

* 1 apple (I like honeycrisp but whatever you like) cut into slices, 2 tbsp. organic peanut butter

* 1c fruit salad (grapes, oranges, kiwi, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, pears, peaches, strawberries whatever you like) a drizzle of agave 1/4c chilled quinoa

These are just a few of the snacks I enjoy. What is great is all of these are also kid friendly. There are a lot more, but these are all very quick, easy, healthy and cost effective snacks. I usually drink a glass of water with all these snacks as well. What are some of your favorite healthy snacks.