Pictures!

I love to look at pictures. Blogs with beautiful pictures just draw me in. Photography has never been one of my strengths. I want to be able to capture snippets of our life, but I just don’t know anything about it. We have a decent SLR camera. I have never really ventured out of auto mode. Hopefully that will change.

I have found this course online today. I read through the first 8 lessons for the beginner. For some reason this is something that just doesn’t “click” for me (pun intended). Not giving up though!

Cardio Workout-Tabata HIIT

Here is a Tabata workout that I have done. The only thing you need is a watch or clock, but a towel to dry up all the perspiration might be handy as well. Kind of gross, these workouts are no joke!

A few words before you start. Make sure to work VERY hard during the work interval. Work at 90-95% of your maximum. You should be breathless and unable to talk. It might sound scary, but remember there is a 10 second break coming. During the workout if you feel dizzy or lightheaded, slow down and march in place. Keep moving and the blood flow will return to your head. These workouts are intense, so pay attention to your body and work at an appropriate pace for YOUR fitness level. Do your personal best. Enjoy!

Effective and Efficient Cardio

Everyone needs to get cardiovascular exercise on a regular basis. It can be tough to fit one more thing into our schedules. The CDC  recommends 150 minutes of moderate intensity cardio exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week. The amount of time needed to meet our cardiovascular exercise needs is directly correlated to the intensity of the exercise. Intensity matters! If you work hard, you can get your weekly cardio done in half the time. If the thought of spending less time and getting the same or better results sounds appealing to you, you need to know about HIIT.

HIIT stands for high intensity interval training. You alternate intense exercise with intervals of recovery/rest. The key is to work VERY hard during the intense intervals. You want to work at 90-95 % of your maximum. You want to be breathless and unable to talk. During the periods of recovery or rest you either slow way down to about 50% of your max or completely rest. You need to be able to get your breathing under control and say a few words.

A HIIT workout really never needs to be longer than 30 minutes. I get great workouts in 20 minutes. Always start with a 2-5 minute warm-up. Perform 3-10 intense intervals with a period of recovery after each intense interval. End your workout with a 2-5 minute cool down.

There are many variations of HIIT. You can alternate 30 seconds of intense work with 30 seconds of recovery. You can work hard for 1 minute and recover for 2 minutes. You can do a pyramid (30 seconds intense/30 seconds recovery, 60 seconds intense/60 seconds recovery, 90 seconds intense/90 seconds recovery and then work back down). My favorite form of intervals is called Tabatas. You do 20 second intervals with a 10 second rest period for 8 cycles.

This article by Rachel Cosgrove does such an awesome job explaining HIIT. She gives some of the science behind this form of cardio training and why it is so effective. She compares steady state cardio (for example 45 minutes of running) with HIIT. I was a believer in interval training before I read the article, but this sealed the deal for me.

I will be posting some HIIT workouts that can be done in your living room. Abe and I do these workouts often when we don’t have time to get to the gym. We are always a sweaty mess and so glad to be done!

Strong and Lean!

It is no secret that I love fitness. It is one of my favorite hobbies. This past winter/Spring I got certified to teach group exercise classes.

I learned a lot, and I also discovered that teaching a class is very different than exercising on your own or participating in a class. My hat is off to the excellent teachers I have had in the past. There is so much to think about and do while teaching. I am working on sharpening my skills as a teacher and hope to start teaching in the next 6 months to a year.

While trying to get my foot into the teaching scene, my own fitness was put on the back burner. I was focusing on studying and taking lots of classes. My fitness level has somewhat surpassed the strength training classes, so I decided to try out a strength training plan on my own.

This article has been my guide (please excuse the immodest pictures). There is a lot of great information packed into this article. They dispel the myth that lifting weight will cause females to get bulky. Thankfully, we don’t have the ability to get big and bulky without the help of added testosterone. No worries about looking like Arnold Schwarznegger. Weightlifting will lead to toned muscles. Who doesn’t want that!?!

It was intimidating to go out onto the floor with all of the muscle bound dudes. I put my headphones on, turned on Pandora, and went to work. Now I am not bothered at all.  Here is the schedule from the article:

Weeks 1-4

During weeks 1-4, you will be lifting in the 8-12 rep range. What this means is that you want to complete at least 8 reps but no more than 12 reps for each set. If you cannot complete 8 reps, then the weight is too heavy and you should decrease the load. If you can complete more than 12 reps, then the weight is too light and you should increase the load.

Weeks 5-8

During weeks 5-8, you will be lifting in the 6-8 rep range. What this means is that you want to complete at least 6 reps but no more than 8 reps for each set. If you cannot complete 6 reps, then the weight is too heavy and you should decrease the load. If you can complete more than 8 reps, then the weight is too light and you should increase the load.

Weeks 9-12

During weeks 9-12, you will be lifting in the 4-6 rep range. What this means is that you want to complete at least 4 reps but no more than 6 reps for each set. If you cannot complete 4 reps, then the weight is too heavy and you should decrease the load. If you can complete more than 6 reps, then the weight is too light and you should increase the load.

This phase of the 12-week program is going to be very challenging and produce accelerated results.

Here are a few thoughts about the program. I am in week four and I LOVE the workouts. The results have been pretty awesome. Each strength portion takes about 30-40 minutes. I don’t always take the full minute rest. I let my heart rate regulate a bit and get back to work. This saves some time. If you are beginning your fitness journey, you will probably need the full minute. I have been tracking my reps/weight on the notes app on my phone. This helps to see where I left off and track progress. I do the strength portion and then a 22 minute interval workout. With cardio, my workouts take about an hour. I do Upper and Lower A on Mondays and Tuesdays, Cardio Intervals at the gym on Wednesdays, and Upper and Lower B on Thursdays and Fridays. One tip for the Dips/Pull-ups portion of the Upper B workout. You will more than likely want/need an assisted pull-up/dips machine. These moves are very strenuous for even very fit people.

The recommended cardio workouts in the article are really great; however, I have been working off another schedule and taking my favorite class at the gym for my cardio.

I hate pictures of myself, but I will have to take some to track the progress. It is unfortunate I didn’t take them at the beginning. Better late than never. Hope others give this strength plan a whirl. You will not be disappointed!

Heaven

Last week my dear Aunt Karen lost her battle with cancer and she is now with her Lord. She was diagnosed on February 6th of this year, and it was a hard, painful fight. We are told in God’s Word that there is no more pain or tears in Heaven. That is so comforting.

However, I am really struggling with imagining her in Heaven. In so many ways Heaven is unknown. We aren’t told that much in Scripture about what to expect. I think my fallen nature is not allowing me to fully appreciate the fact that being in the Lord’s presence brings unending peace, joy, and happiness. I can read it and know it in my head, but I just have no idea what that will be like. I am asking the Lord to build my faith in this area to know that He who has given me so many good gifts on this fallen earth is the same God who sits in Heaven. Heaven must be marvelous!

In so many ways I have been spared from deep grief and sorrow. God has been abundant in blessings to me. This is the first family member that I have lost. We don’t mourn without hope. Nevertheless, she is gone. I loved her deeply and it hurts to have her ripped away from us. I can’t imagine the pain of losing someone without hope. The Lord is by our side and especially with Karen’s dear husband and children. May God continue to pour out His presence upon them.

Way too long!

It has been so long since I have written a blog post. The thought has crossed my mind many times to get back to writing, but I get overwhelmed by how much time has gone by and don't write. A vicious cycle! Life is mostly good, but we have been struggling with some illness in our extended family. Nothing like a dear loved one(s) battling with illness to bring perspective to life.

I can't wait to write some updates about the kiddos, post some craft projects, and even throw in a workout or two that I have done lately.

Mom jeans!?!?!

Last Fall I was so excited to find some jeans at Old Navy that had a higher waist than the extremely low rise jeans sold in most stores. They really helped this girl with a super long torso that shirts often don’t cover. I got tired of my shirt rising up and my back and “other” areas showing.

Well, I came home one day and caught a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror. I couldn’t believe it. I was wearing “mom” jeans. It was not a flattering look at all. I was covered, but not in a good way. Ugh! I stopped wearing them, and went back to my lower rise jeans.

The other day my friend posted a blog about Old Navy/Gap jeans. I was seriously laughing out loud. Her claim was that these stores sold “gateway” mom jeans and that some styles were straight up mom jeans. She went to the store and took pictures of herself in the different style jeans. She compared the pictures to herself wearing designer jeans. The contrast was striking. It was amazing how much more flattering the designer jeans were on her body.

I had to laugh when I found my Old Navy “sweetheart” jean in the post. That was the style she mentioned as being straight up mom jean. Oops!

 

She mentioned Vault Denim. I think I am going to look into ordering some jeans from them. Owning a  few pairs of nice jeans rather than lots of unflattering pairs of pants seems like a much better idea. The Vault Denim consultant will come to your house with 120 pairs of jeans. They are sold for about half the cost of store prices. Anyone up for a GNI to try on nice jeans!?!?!

Blogging…what is that?

Long time no blog! It has been busy around our house with Summer time activities. I am way behind in blogging, but we have had a great time together. I have been focusing on just being with my family rather than documenting everything. I might catch up and I might not.

Chase starts school next Monday. He has morning Kindergarten which I am THRILLED about. It really is the perfect schedule for our family. School, chores, and a little preschool (taught by me)  for Parker in the morning, and our afternoons are open for activities and naps .

I am starting to think about my homemade Christmas gifts. I am going to make an apron, 3 superhero capes, and a few other small things.

I am looking forward to going to a Giants/Braves game next week with my hubby. It will just be the 2 of us. Can’t wait!!

The following weekend my cousin is getting married in Half Moon Bay. We will be going down just the 2 of us and leaving the kiddos home. I am looking forward to celebrating with the happy couple and our family!

We feel so busy all the time. However, we don’t do much out of the ordinary. Our kids, work, school, church, and our family keeps our schedule full. We are tired. Life often feels out of control. Our home is LOUD and ACTIVE. I should be used to it by now, but I am not. Probably by the time I am used to it the kids will be grown and moving out . I am holding on for the ride!!

Happy Independence Day!

Wishing you a wonderful time with friends and family! So grateful we are able to enjoy the freedom for which so many have fought and given the ultimate sacrifice. May God bless them!

 

Parker is 3

3 years ago the Lord blessed us with a 7lb sweet, little boy.

 

Here are some things that come to mind about Parker at this time in his life:

*He has a wonderful imagination and loves to pretend

*He finds a toy and will bring it with him everywhere we go (his yellow and blue pens, sunglasses, wallet). If you look at his cute little hands often he will be holding something

*He is a tad dramatic and very sensitive

*He is a little timid and shy especially with new people or an unknown situation

*His favorite hymn is There is a Fountain

*He loves chocolate milk

*He LOVES his Daddy

*His favorite TV show is Curious George, but isn’t really that into watching television

*He has an imaginary friend Marisan that he met at Burger King

*He loves to swim, ride his bike, and kick a soccer ball

*He is very quick to share in others’ joy

*He is always hungry

*He likes to come in our bed in the early morning

*He has a hard time falling asleep for naps and bedtime and takes a while to wake up

*He can be stubborn, but I would not call him strong-willed

*He has dreamy blue eyes and cute blonde hair

*Every owie needs a band-aid

*He loves to change his clothes

*He loves his brother and sister very much

*He easily entertains himself for long periods of time

 

Our prayer for our sweet boy is that he will grow up to be the man that God intends HIM to be. Not living in anyone’s shadows. We pray that he will have moral courage and be able to stand alone for what is right and acceptable in God’s sight.

His babyhood was cut short by the addition of his sister. He also follows a brother with a very strong personality. That I am sure will shape who he is to some extent, but I really do hope that he can be secure in who God made him.

I love his satisfaction with simple things, and hope he is able to keep that with throughout his life. I can learn from him.

Parker Robert, we love you!

New “toy”!

After shopping at few stores and trying a few different brands, I finally bit the bullet and purchased some new shoes for x-bike. We went to Mike’s Bikes downtown. We received great customer service. They even noticed our stroller tire was about to come off the wheel and fixed it for us. We probably could have found a better deal online, but it was nice to support a local store. If you are in the market for a bike or bike accessories or need a repair, head over to Mike’s Bikes.

Here are my new shoes, and I can’t wait to try them out next week.

Recovery Drink

A few weeks ago I did a post about exercise and adding a recovery drink to my diet. After some research, I decided to go with a different drink than I originally posted. My instructor recommended the p90x recovery drink. I took a look at the website, and found it to be very expensive.

A search on Amazon (we are doing a TON of shopping on Amazon lately) led me to Mike’s Mix.

 

I looked at the ingredients and the nutritional content. They are pretty much identical. The only difference was that the P90x drink had some creatine. I really don’t want to ingest creatine, so that is actually a good thing for me. The biggest difference between the 2 drinks is the price. Mike’s Mix is less than half the cost of the other brand. It received great reviews on Amazon about its effectiveness and that it tasted great as well.

We ordered some of the chocolate flavor, and the reviews were correct about the taste. It tastes like a huge glass of chocolate milk (you can mix it with water or milk and I choose fat free milk). I do a half serving after my workouts. My workouts are never longer than an hour, so the half serving is sufficient.

After using it for about 3 weeks, I can actually feel a difference during my workouts and throughout the day. I have noticed that I am able to work harder during my spin classes, and use heavier weights in my strength training. I also notice that I feel like a could workout twice in a day. Whereas before, I felt like I could hardly move after my workouts and felt very fatigued throughout my day.

I am sold! I was a tad skeptical at first, but after reading the science behind it and trying it out for myself I really believe it helps. It looks like it is cheaper to buy it through the actual Mike’s Mix website. Even with shipping you pay about $.86/serving as opposed to $1.20/serving when purchased from Amazon with free shipping.

Give it a whirl and see what you think

DIY Play Kitchen-Finished Project

This post is long over due! My grandpa did an amazing job. The kids love playing with them.

Before:

After:

Sewing is on this week’s agenda

I have to get 3 sewing projects completed in about a week. 2 dresses (for Maggie and Bridget) for the 4th of July and 1 superhero cape for Parker. He requested a cape for his birthday.

Here is the cape tutorial I am going to use.

 

Here is the dress tutorial I am going to use. I am a little nervous about the dress for Bridget. I am going to have make adjustments because she is almost ten and needs a much bigger size. Hope it turns out

I am going to get to use my craft table for the first time. I will actually get to leave the sewing projects out and not have to clean them up every night.

This table is made from the same barn wood. It is super heavy duty. Perfect for my craft projects.

Parker wanted in the picture

Our “new” headboard

A few months back when my Grandpa and I were collecting wood from the collapsed barn we collected enough wood to make quite a few pieces of furniture. I think we made a total of 4 trips, and we came home with AMAZING wood. There are some HUGE beams left that are probably 10x10s or 12x12s. I am keeping my eye on them and trying to determine if we should go get them and just save them.

After the light fixture and coffee table were completed, we moved onto some headboards. One for our room and one for Maggie’s big girl bed that she will use down the road (no where near ready to let her out of a crib).

I found a few examples of barn wood headboards online and on Pinterest. This one was my favorite and it came with some pretty good instructions:

My Grandpa, Dad and I brainstormed. We chose our wood, and pieced it all together. My dad had the idea to use the two posts we had chosen and route out some grooves for the headboard to slip into. It worked out perfectly. My grandpa put it altogether, and then we gave it 3 coats of Minwax Polycrilic (Satin finish).

Here is our finished product. The pictures really don’t do it justice. It is beautiful!

Up close:

Post:

I am looking forward to using Maggie’s twin headboard. It turned out just as beautiful! The wood is simply amazing, and is a piece of art all by itself. We enjoyed changing the bedding and some decorations to compliment the new headboard. It really brightened up our room. A much needed redo of our room!

Fathers

This post is a day late, but I don’t want to let Father’s Day pass without mentioning the dads in our lives. This weekend we spent time with my grandpas, our dads, and our brothers. These men are not perfect and they would be the first to admit that fact. However, they are present. They play a role in their children’s lives. In this world, where so many men choose to leave off their responsibility as fathers we are truly blessed to have dads that have made the hard choice to stick it out and take up the responsibility of fatherhood. God bless them!

 

 

The greatest gift I ever had
Came from God; I call him Dad!
~Author Unknown

Featured!

 

Well, I received a a fun e-mail this morning. Knock-Off Décor is featuring our light fixture tomorrow evening. It is exciting!

I love this website and I am currently working on a project that was featured last week. Lots a great DIY ideas in one place. Really nice things that you can make at for the fraction of the price you would pay if you purchased it from the retailer. You should take a look!

Some things I want to remember

My kids are young. They are needy, whiny, naughty, very active, and pretty much all-consuming. Every day there are mountains to climb all day. It is hard to take care of them. Keeping track of their eating, safety, laundry, playing with them, educating them, teaching them about the things of God, disciplining them is exhausting.

However, the cute little things they do and say in a day are so rewarding and special. It keeps me going. It is so special to see how God designed them so differently and individually. It is fun to see them interact with one another.

It is amazing to me how much I don’t remember about when the kids were younger. I have a pretty good memory, but I am forgetting things. It makes me kind of sad. I want to be more deliberate about writing things down. I want to remember this really special, exhausting time of life. It really is so short! People say I will miss it. Right now I don’t feel like I will miss a lot of it, but they are probably correct.

Some things I want to remember:

• when Maggie and Parker get hurt, they immediately look for their blankies and run to be held
• Chase loves to count money
• Parker likes to have wooden gun with him when he watches Swiss Family Robinsons
• Helping me clean the fingerprints off the windows is a real treat. They like to spray the Windex.
• Maggie loves to smash her nose up against the shower door and smile. It shows her top 2 teeth and she looks like Mater from Cars
• The boys love for us too lay in bed with them at night and listen to music. They fight over who gets to lay with them.
• Maggie shows us her nose by crinkling and sniffing. Hilarious!
• Watering the plants and trees in the backyard is a huge treat
• They love chocolate milk
• Everything is a treasure-a rock, a nuts and bolts found on the ground, old soda bottles, etc.
• Chase loves to sort things by color or size
• Parker loves to change his clothes (I don’t think this is cute now, but someday I might )
• Maggie gives kisses and makes the “muah” sound. Abe takes her on the kissing tour at night where she gives each family member a kiss.
• The boys like to watch the same movie over and over.
• The boys like to wear just shorts and no shirts.
• Parker pronounces”th” as an “s” sound. Think sounds like “sink.”
• The boys think imaginary friends are called “ordinary” friends.
• Maggie loves to look at pictures.

I am sure there are more, but that is what I can remember now. My life is so blessed, even though my attitudes and thoughts don’t always show that. Thank you Lord!

Me and my loves!

Boy Subway Art

Here are some boy subway art printables that I created for some shower gifts. Happy printing!

This is the Navy/Green/Grey version. Please feel free to download here.

This is the Navy/Orange/Grey version. Please feel free to download here.

Last Day of School

Chase had his last day of school on Friday. They had a fun week which included some movie watching, school assembly, and a picnic. He is excited about Summer, but he told us that night that he misses school. He said he will miss his teacher and his friends. It is actually nice to hear that he enjoyed school.

Thankfully, some of his friends (especially his BFF Roberto Carlos) belong to the same gym. We are going to meet up for swimming and maybe some park dates. He really did enjoy meeting some new people, and I enjoyed getting to know their moms.

This year has brought about many changes in Chase. He is much more able to focus, he has learned some self control, and is just easier to be around in general. So grateful!

It was an emotional day for us-exciting and kind of sad. It is hard to have something come to an end. I went to thank Chase’s teacher and totally started crying. We both cried and hugged. She really was the perfect teacher for Chase. Strict and tender all at the same time. We are looking forward to wide open days that include lots of playing, movie watching, naps, swimming, crafts. That night we went to dinner and rented a movie in celebration of the beginning of Summer break.

Here are some pictures from the first and last day of school. Parker was being a punk, so I just used what we could get from him.

Comparison Pictures

The Big Boy

The kiddos with Daddy

Chase with Miss. H