Watch out...Grandma's in town.

Fit n" Fun Mama has been on a little hiatus so that I could launch my new blog Driven.  Getting back to my family blog is long overdue.  There is so much that has happened I really would not know where to start, so I will start fresh  and go with the arrival of grandma.

Grandma Zadine is from Arkansas and comes to Pennsylvania and lives with us from June to August. Things get a little perkier when she gets to town.  She is 83, a world traveler, and I like to brag, still has all of her teeth in good order.  She is quite the celebrity here, people in our usual haunts start asking for her around May, church, the pool, Hinkles, etc. When I was preparing her room for her, I caught myself singing the Santa Claus is Coming to Town Song, only it was Grandma is Coming to Town. The lyrics fit perfectly because you don't get nothing by on Grandma, she knows EVERYTHING!  She gives out 20 dollar bills for birthday gifts every year.  I secretly suspect that these 20 dollars are based on good behavior and I have not received one for at least 10 years. She claims I am too old but I am pretty sure my cousin Eric still gets them.

I appreciate my grandmother when she comes here, she reminds me of how I want to be when I am 83, young at heart, bubbly...just enjoying her life.  She is a great help when she is here, she does my laundry, does dishes, the woman just wants to be needed and boy is she ever.  She has a compassionate heart and has sat with so many sick folks until they have passed on.  She has been with every one of her family members, close friends, and even people that just need someone.  If someone has fallen ill, she gets in her car and goes to them, no questions asked.  This is her gift from God.  I feel as though I have a heart after her, maybe not taking care of the sick but in a different way.  I am extremely grateful that she has passed that gene on to me.  It is better than any heirloom or prized possession she could give me.  She sure is opinionated though...whoo whee.  :0)

The kiddos are all in swim team and they are not really happy about it.  They hate practicing 5 days a week, but I don't care.  I am a heartless mom when it comes to this.  This  is one of those things where I know better than they do.  It is like naps when they are toddlers, they throw a tantrum but you make them do it anyway because you know their body needs it.  They are doing swimming until they graduate college, no if, ands, or, buts about it.  My husband tried step in and sign David up for something else during this time....he learned really quick...you don't mess with swimming.

We are continuing our family activities by taking the kiddos with us on our runs to play at the park, we are going on different hiking trails, the girls and I did a Zumbathon, the kids are signed up for basketball camp, and going to the pool for a minimum of two hours a day.  We are going to a christian resort called Sandy Cove in Eastern Maryland for Father's day.  This resort offers so many activities we are sure to keep up our fit and fun lifestyle.  I will be sure to post lots of pictures.

Check out Sandy Cove HERE!

On a super cool note, my husband and I are training for the Philly rock and roll half marathon on September 18.  Honestly if it were not for my husband's motivation, I doubt this would happen.  I am so weak at follow through.  I have grand ideas, but when it comes to execution, I need major help.

We have cut WAY down on eating out and that is amazing.  I am glad that we are following through with this and making it a lifestyle.  The kids do not even ask anymore.  We do go to the pool almost everyday and the snack bar is a major draw and battle but I try to pack a variety of fruits and whole grain crackers so I can at least of them an alternative when I say NO! I treat them once a week.  This week it was on my birthday.  I have missed you guys!

Mama Out!

Driven.

I want to introduce you to Driven, a collaborative blog that launches on Monday April, 25, 2016.  The blog focuses on 6 women that share one common thread, they are DRIVEN.  They are driven to change into a better version of themselves.  The group is very diverse in their stages of life, background, objectives, motivation, and plans.  We invite all of you to follow these beautiful ladies on their journeys of transformation from the beginning for 60-90 days. The one goal that I KNOW we all have is to impact and inspire you!  We hope in turn you will impact and inspire us with your support.

How was Driven. born?  Fit n Fun is a huge reason for our success during our family health transformation.  The support, research, writing, and accountability, has all contributed to any woo-hoo moments that we have experienced.  I, however, am not experiencing the success I would like as an individual.  I wanted to figure out how I could do the same thing for myself, but a blog all about me?....BORING! So my brain started churning, what motivates me? I like fitness magazines, especially success stories.  I also like diaries that follow women for a period of time journaling their successes, failures, progress, and fitness/diet plans.  I wanted to reach a diverse audience, so I enlisted 5 women who have inspired me in some way during my life.  One blog + 6 inspirational women + an amazing audience = phenomenal change. 

How have these ladies inspired me during my life journey?  I will share a few reasons below, but I do not want to steal their thunder. 

Chanon- I have known Chanon since I was 5 years old.  She and I continue a friendship that we have had for 33 years.  She has inspired me many times through the years.  She is a prayer warrior, a wonderful mom, and we share many of the same values.

Abby-My sister is my best friend.  She is the one I go to with every single problem in my life.  There is not anything she does not know about me and she still loves me...that is pretty inspiring. :)  Really this is the most loyal, toughest, loving girl you will ever meet, ever.  I love her with all my heart!

Denise-This is most vivacious, beautiful, organic cousin I have ever had.  She is my cousin but she is also a mentor to me. She has a way of life that is loving, free of judgement, filled with forgiveness and understanding.  She inspires me every time I see her, which is not nearly enough. 

Donna-Donna is my Texas girl.  We were stationed together in Italy for 3 years.  We did everything together, everything!  I think most of the things falls under 'what happens in Italy, stays in Italy".  There is no closer bond than the sisterhood in the Navy, we were a family.  We still are!  She was there for me through lonely nights with out my family, difficult days after work, broken hearts, and she got me through it.  We also worked out together, inspired each other to work out and be in shape.

Amy-Amy is my newest/oldest friend.  Amy is the friend you just meet but you have known your whole life....you just click.  She takes on a tremendous amount of responsibility on any given day.   I respect her fortitude, could not live without her friendship (she would do anything for me), she is a selfless mom, wife, and friend. 

Libby-That's ME! 

As you can see these ladies are A-mazing, follow them, their journey, get to know them.  It is not easy letting people into your world.  It is a special calling to want to share, impact, and inspire.  Lets do this-TOGETHER! 

How does the blog work?  Each day will feature the same blogger, she will always blog on this day.  The initial post will describe their current situation, their future goals, and an introduction.  Future blogs will include an update on their progress, any goal changes, and a blog about their journey on a weekly basis.  The hope is that you will be inspired, laugh, cry, and enjoy success with these ladies as they write about them. 

I hope you enjoy this as much as I think you will!  Look for Driven. on Monday at faithintheprocess.blogspot.com or Facebook.  Remember if you enjoy the blogs, share them. 

Mama Out.

Couch and Pillow...STAT!

Just like there is a promise of two scoops of raisins in Kellogg's Raisin Bran; my days also deliver a promise of two scoops, two scoops of Stress. I used to teach a career success class and I taught two types of stress: eustress, good stress and distress, bad stress.   My eustress was just at the tipping point at the end of the Lacrosse game today to distress.  If I did not hit a couch in the next 30 minutes for a much needed nap my distress was going to spill over onto innocent bystanders in the form of "if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy". 

My husband recognized the signs of my distress and reacted swiftly.  We were all on the couch in no time watching some kid-friendly TV and taking a much needed nappity-nap.  I woke up to a mowed yard (awwwwww honey) and my little Ava made me a cup of coffee (Keurig) with an apple slice garnish.  I am so glad I did not go into banshee mama mode on them before I got some rest in.

My weekend and a few days preceding up to it were the usual sports related running around obligations.  The new agenda item this week was my husband taking on the responsibility of organizing a father/son day at church.  It was called Soldiers for Christ.  The theme was putting on the full armor of the Lord to fight against the enemy's schemes.  He collaborated with our amazing event planner, Janet and they really did an amazing job.  There were a few of us behind the scenes taking directions and were happy to help in anyway.  I was super proud of him for taking on this leadership role and making it a successful day for God, the dads/grandpas, and the sons. 

Pictures of Soldiers for Christ:

Castle Door with sconces and seal

Castle wall with chandeliers, sconces, flags, etc.

 

The last few days were amazing, productive, and I was asleep before my head hit the pillow at night.  I will tell you though, when I hit that wall today, I did not see it coming.  I was working the concession stand, getting dogs, slinging candy (against my better judgement), and taking money; talking people up...ya know just loving life.  Once I was done with concession stand duty, it was like I powered down like a video game console (key in power down sound).  Moral of the story is we make commitments, show-up for life, push through the tired...but when that wall pops up and you crash into it, get a couch and pillow...STAT!

 

 

Mama OUT





Sleepy Penguin Saturday!

Change. Inspire. Faith. Process. Success. Fail. Accountability.

These are words that stick in my mind throughout our family journey to get healthy.  I hear and say or write these words on a regular basis.  Friends (old and new), family (local and across all states), and people I have never met before have reached out to support our transformation  by sharing their stories, saying inspiring words like the ones in the title, and providing advice. All of their efforts are woven into the progress we are making.  All of this encouragement, as well as the hands-on support of grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, etc. have really made all of our efforts successful.  It is working. We are changing. Everyday.  I am not saying we are on easy street, not even close, but the proof is in the shift in attitudes. Old habits don't fit into our lifestyle anymore.  Healthy habits are ingrained.  We are seeing the fruits of our endeavors in our lives; not just physically but emotionally and spiritually.  This overhaul on health came with a benefit we didn't expect, an even closer family bond than we had before we started this.  

Just as an example of change; recently my girls THOUGHT they got some candy passed the ole mama radar, oh no, no, no ,no! They saw me, I saw them see me, and they saw me see the candy.  The jig was UP!  The finger was crooked in the come hither motion.  I said, "give me half of whatever  candy you have and you can have the rest for some other time."  "OK", they said, CHEERILY!  This was Saturday, it is now Wednesday, candy is still there.  I know what you are thinking and it is TRUE!  I remembered it was there on SUNDAY, MONDAY, TUESDAY, and TODAY, but I did not eat it, pinky swear.  Attitudes changed. do-duh-do-do-doooo I'm lovin' it!

I have a bit of fun to share with you.  I had some long overdue girl time with my very close friend Lisa.  Lisa and I met a few years ago while our kids were on swim team.  We clicked and I started taking my kids to her home-based art classes. My girls absolutely loved and absorbed all of the art mediums, artists, and styles she was exposing them to.  

A sample display of their last art project is below:

Ava's is the kitty on the left and Bella's is the bunny on the right.

Back to our coffee date, well, to my super duper satisfaction it was a healthy, gourmet, breakfast date, with coffee.  I crossed Miss Lisa's threshold to her fabulously decorated home and it was like no time had passed, we quickly picked up where we left off. I have experienced this before with close friendships and it made me think what was it that made Lisa and I part of this club?  I came up with a few things that made us fall into the awkward moments?...what? what are those? category of friendship.  We both have really laid back personalities, we both seek out genuine friendships and people, and we share a common faith in God.  I think that if I asked her these things she would agree, at least I hope she would. Lisa text me if you agree...:)

One more thought on this topic, Lisa and I had not gotten together in some time, too long. I know busy schedules get in the way, good intentions turn into cancellations.  I have to tell you though, that when I make these dates a priority, I am never ever more encouraged or satisfied than after the times that I spend with my close friends and siblings.  Get that girl time on the books!  For guys...rekindle that bromance! 

John 15:12-13 "My command is this: Love each other as I have Loved you.  Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friend."

Fabulous friendship date picture below:

Libby and Lisa

Wonderful not to mention Gorgeous breakfast with recipe:

Oatmeal Pancakes Recipe YUMMMMMMY

Speaking of girl power...I am starting a new collaboration project with 5 other ladies.  It is called Driven.  The web address is faithintheprocess.blogspot.com    I plan to share all of the details with you on Friday...You will not have to wait long!

Mama Out!

Flamingo Fun Wednesday

  

Roses and Thorns

I was in my kitchen this morning spouting off all of the healthy breakfast options there were for the kids to choose from.  I started swelling with pride at the homemade banana muffins made with greek yogurt, the upside down peach cake made with only eggs and almond meal(protein packed), and whole wheat bagels with turkey.  I was like who's awesome.  Oh yeah that's me, I'm awesome.  I had many reasons  other than food to celebrate but I started thinking am I giving credit it to where credit is due?  The sad truth was, for a minute, I was not.  When I got myself in check, I did a quiet "Thank You" to God and then looked around at my family.  I was gushing with pride for them and their commitment to our new lifestyle.  I am not doing this, I only provided the path, it was up to THEM to walk down it.  I have so much to share with you I am bursting at the seams...

My daughter played her best soccer game on Saturday.  She was filled with confidence.  She played offense the entire time because she had endurance.  She could keep up.  She was in shape.  I was so happy for her.

David is finding his footing in Lacrosse, he moved up to a new age group so he is the young guy on the team.  This held him back at first, but I growled at him a few times, yelled a few inspirational verses at him, oh and his daddy is the coach and now he is scoring again, playing like a champ.  Our nephews were also gun-shy when they started lacrosse and they are naturals.  Mitchell is picking up the game, getting aggressive and scoring multiple goals in a game.  Cool, huh!

In the evening Bella, soccer girl, and David, lacrosse boy, competed in a triathlon. They swam 50 meters, biked 6-8 laps, and ran 1/4-mile.  They did an amazing job. Their father and I helped them through it and they were so pumped after it was all over.  We were a small community that was there to participate, my neighbor and her girls were there and so was my sister and her boys.  It was a cool "bonding experience".  I have several pictures to share with you..

The participants and Cheerleaders from l to r: David, Conner, Bella, Mitchell, and Chase

 

Chase and his Mama

 

Ava cheering her BFF Jenjo

 

Bella, Eva, Jenjo, and Ava

 


David in the bike portion of the TRI

 

Bella after its done!

 

Chaser

 

D-money crosses the finish line

 

The three amigos: Chase, David, and Mitchell

 


Jenjo and Ava

 

Me and my Bestie BillieJo

 

 

Rocking Ritas after the TRI

 

David cooked the ENTIRE peach upside down almond flour cake with me!
Wait....What?... David?! Yes=Happy Mama

 

My Chef Bella cooking with her Daddy

I have shared with you my struggle of sticking to a fitness routine on my own.  In my head I think things like, "fitness, shmitness", or its 80% diet/20% fitness, or I'll start hardcore tomorrow.  They are ALL excuses, reasons to not get sweaty.  I KNOW I feel so GOOD when I do it.  I am making you a solid, not kidding you, it's going down promise....I am starting a consistent workout........tomorrow! :If I took an honest assessment of my fitness situation last week it was not that bad.  I swam on Tuesday, did a 10-mile bike ride on Thursday, and I watched a lot of sports this weekend, in person.  (that last one doesn't count does it?)

IF we ate out it was super healthy, like cheese, apples, and pretzels or a turkey and cheese sandwich. We ate all dinners at home and they were also of the healthy variety.  I made various protein enriched, au natural, low-sugar baked goodies.  We DID eat Rita's after the triathlon, but come on, it was a triathlon!!!

We do this ritual at dinner time, it is called roses and thorns.  We go around the dinner table and everyone gets an opportunity to tell their rose (best part of their day) and their thorn (worst part of their day).  I would like to share my rose and thorn of this past weekend with you.  There were lots and lots of roses but I will pick the brightest, biggest, and best bloom to tell you.  My daughter Bella, came up to me Saturday evening after the triathlon and said, "Mommy I Love You! and Thank You so much for signing me up for all of these fun things, I love it"! I said, "Oh Bella, it's my pleasure, I love that you love it".  Lotta love going on....pretty cool. As for my thorn, wellllllll that was when the guy yelled at me for David running into some expensive timing equipment, that was for the adult triathlon the following day.  Hello!...kids?, expensive equipment?, Me, not getting it!



                                                                      Mama OUT!

BlackWater Down!!

Well, well, well lots to tell.  We are back from our little anniversary getaway in Cambridge, MD.  Three days is the perfect amount of time to get some quality time with the hubs and just enough time for me to miss the kids, pack it up, and head home.  I can NOT report good news on the eating front.  We had wonderful intentions, oh I can't do it, I can't lie to all of you.  I personally knew in my heart I was not going to deny myself any food.  I had a sensible breakfast, ice cream for lunch, and dinner was usually shared appetizer, and a salad with a protein.  Desserts were the downfall.  I subscribe to the bliss point.  It is the perfect combination of sugar, salt, and fat to make our brains emit endorphins or feely goods.  I felt good after every dinner :). 

The food was not the health success of the getaway; the bicycle adventure that I am going to share with you was.  We scoped out nearby biking trails and found a really cool nature preserve only a few miles away.  It is called the Blackwater nature preserve.  Once we found out the name of the preserve, in my head I kept thinking BLACKWATER DOWN! BLACKWATER DOWN!  you know, like in the movie, Blackhawk down, I know weird.  We hit the trail at 1000 hours on Thursday.  There are two options, the 20 mile loop and the 25 mile loop. We decide to do the 20 mile loop.  At our first intersection, I realized I forgot the map, what???? Rookie mistake.  We just went with our gut and continued on...It was so beautiful.  My hubs and I were riding along, talking, sharing a beautiful moment...until...he turned into a 16-year old.  About mile 6 he just takes off, well I just let him go.  He shoots right past the turn we should have taken and we end up on this narrow road off of the bike path, he finally stopped and waited for me.  I was not happy.  We turn around, I show him the sign, stop at the car, and say, "We are at least riding 10 miles and ending on a good note".  We got back on the bike path and did just that.  What happened to 20 miles, I don't know.  I should definitely, always remember the map. 

Here are a few pictures of the Blackwater Wildlife Preserve:

There were many different bird species just hanging out.

 

The bike path was like an island, one false move...

 

Hubs

 

Whoa hair!

That was definitely outside of our comfort zone but something we will do again.  This is definitely worth the drive.  It is about 2 hours away and only costs $1 per bike, crazy awesome.  Just do it!

The first day the kids were here without us, it was supposed to go like this...They were to take the bus home, meet the sitter at the stop, come to the house, do homework, and whoever had practice, get ready for practice.  It was picture week so their forms were all filled out, ready to go. 

3:25 I get a phone call, Bella took the wrong bus...WHAT?  She has taken the same bus for 4 years!!! Initiate mom fix it from Maryland mode.

3:35 I get a call from the sitter,"I cant find the kids I missed them coming off of the bus".  I told the sitter, "don't worry, they are down at the house".  Nope not at the house, hit panic button!!  Calling all neighbors...Where are my children?Yep at the neighbors!  Whew, ok fast forward to 5:00pm.  My mom picks up the kids, one of them heads to practice and remember it's picture day.  5:35 I get a phone call, "David left his picture form at home".  Ummm clearly these children hatched some sort of evil plan to stress their parents out on their STRESS FREE vacation, yeah it worked. (Key in My Kid's Evil Laughter)

I almost did not write this post today.  Residual consequences from bad decisions that my husband and I made when we were going through our rough time last year surfaced.  It was a heavy blow and we are both sighing a little heavier today and feeling regret.  There was a time, it was very short, that my husband and I were very self-centered.  We always tried our best to stay focused on our family and each other and well the world got the better of us.  We turned our backs on the ocean and boy did a tidal wave come and rock our world.  We turned our eyes quickly back to God and focused on our family.  WE are doing amazing but we have to deal with the small waves that come after the tidal wave until our ocean is calm again.  I want this blog to represent a genuine life not a highlight reel in the hopes that if any of you are going through a difficult time you are not alone, not even a little bit. 

Life Happened, Fell Hard, Help!

OMGoodness!  Life just got real!  We have fallen off the bandwagon folks and trying to hoist ourselves back on.  There are several reasons why we are in this predicament; but mainly because we lost focus, tasted some success, and got complacent.  I think that in this journey there are bumps in the road and this is one of them but it feels like a mountain.  Did it completely undo all of the progress we made, thank goodness, no. However, it was a hit and I feel defeat and embarrassed to publicize my failures; but decided facing it was the only way to overcome the hopefully TEMPORARY setback.  So, what threw us off our game?

1.  My husband being gone-This is my support partner. When I am weak, he is strong and vice versa.  When we are both weak, well, we just eat cake.  :)  His absence also limited me because I had to do the job of two people leaving me tired, less resilient, and downright vulnerable. 
2.  Sickness-Whenever a serious, stay-at-home, I need my mama, sickness rocks our house, stand by for nothing to get done.  This really got me, I had to make up for lost time and house work so meal prep, monitoring the kids' activities and food choices fell low on my list of priorities.
3.  Stress-Our routine was so out of whack that I started to feel off kilter.  I knew my choices were leaning more toward our old lifestyle and I started to panic making me want to eat bad foods, NOT work out, zone out on TV, basically de-stress in all the wrong ways.  Once I fall into this rut it takes me a little while to get out of it. 
4. Busy-Since I was unprepared for the weekend food-wise, we did not eat well.  We ate out at Mission Bar-B-Q.  I did not behave and I did not really enforce any of our good eating habits either.  We pretty much ate out all weekend, old habits were back in play.  I felt miserable and defeated.  I had several opportunities to work out and I did not take advantage of any of them. 
Fitness-Bella and Ava had plenty of activity.  They did not sit around the house watching TV except for Saturday morning because of the weather.  One thing that has taken root is playing more and having more energy.   David had several lacrosse games and he played hard. Miguel and I did not do well with fitness except for housework and running kids everywhere they needed to go.  The hubs did not work out while he was away.  He looks back on his time and determined the slices of time where he could have fit in his workouts.  I also need to rededicate myself to fitness, this seems to be my biggest struggle as of late.

We have an upcoming anniversary vacation so the trial is not over. There is something I AM excited to tell you.  For the first time, Miguel and I are including fitness in our vacation schedule.  We are taking our bikes to ride on the nature preserve.  This is exciting and I think this is something we never would have done before. 

Nana is onboard with the healthy eating and has lots of yummy, good for you foods, stocked in her fridge for the kiddos.  She is ALL about it, the kids will be super sad.  I have to say the grandparents are really supportive, I could not do this with out them, it takes a village, people.  What I am really saying here is that I have no control and am relying on other wonderful people to continue what we are doing until the end of the week.  Once we are back on our normal schedule I want to focus on cleaning up my eating and getting back on my workout track.  The one  thing I notice is when mama is motivated so is everyone else.  Realizing that I am responsible for these little human beings' welfare escapes me sometimes. When I regain my perspective, pull myself out of my rut, and grab a hold of that passion again I feel like I can do anything, oh wait, I can! 

The one thing I KNOW I am doing wrong is taking this on by myself.  I talk a big game about praying and the power of prayer but I am not doing that in this area. I think I am setting myself up for failure not inviting God to give me a hand on this journey.  I know you all are shaking your head like, you know that's right! 

I know the pics are lacking as of late, but I will have PLENTY of sharing to do when we get back from our little Vacay. 

Until then I need LOTS of prayers and support to get us back on track, WE are having lots of success and I do NOT want to go back.  I can NOT let this negative experience become a U-turn. 

Summing it up:

1. LOTS of prayer
2. Regular workouts
3. Clean-up eating
4. Family workouts/outings
5. Allow some grace when error occurs
6. Reestablish moderation/portion control
7. Regain passion about those healthy recipes/new foods
8. Incite passion in the kids
9. Don't give in so easily
10. U-TURNS are not an option..EVER!

If you think of anything you have experienced throw it out there, we sure could use the advice/support right about now. 

Prayer: Please Lord help me remember Matthew 7:7 in my journey.  I need your help and guidance to be successful and will fail with out you.  I am so thankful for my wonderful family and friends that support me and I would ask that you please help me to follow your path to health and happiness in my home.  In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

I will check in with you in a few days, until then...

Mama Out!