Monthly Archives: August 2016

Atlanta Trip

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Ok I was going to post this last night but I was so tired I didn’t have the energy to write yesterday. Soooo here it is! Josh and I had been wanting to go to a baseball game for awhile and finally made it happen on Saturday! We went to a Nationals vs. Braves game which was so much fun because Continue reading →

Living a Healthy Lifestyle

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I have always been built smaller but that doesn’t mean I’ve always been in shape. I was a size 0 and around 110 pounds before Avery was born. Now I am a size 2 and 117 pounds and I feel better than ever! I didn’t really have any muscles before Avery was born but now my arms, stomach and legs are getting more defined. I feel strong and I love it! I also have struggled with my sides holding all my fat and I hate it! I thought I would have it forever but now that I’m really focusing on doing side workouts 3 days a week  they are going down finally! In the past few months I have really been working on making a few changes to my lifestyle, exercising and eating habits and it’s crazy how much better I feel!

Some changes I’ve made are getting up earlier and drinking a whole glass of cucumber lemon water, working out in the morning and not putting it off, working out longer and making sure I sweat each workout I do, and eating a lot better.

I probably will never give up eating what I love but I can improve little things about my eating habits. Like instead of the normal sandwich I now do lettuce wraps with turkey breast, cheese and cucumbers. I also do flavored water like lemon and lime, just lemon, just cucumber and lemon and cucumber. This helps me make sure I’m drink enough water. We also try to eat fresh and organic as much as possible. We always buy organic fruits and veggies when we are eating the skin. Especially strawberries! Please please please don’t eat non-organic strawberries! The chemicals on them are crazy! Also getting Avery and Josh to eat vegetables is not always easy but I continue to try New recipes until I find one they like and will eat (if anyone has any recipes that make veggies tasty to those who don’t normally like them please comment below!) I also try to limit my treats to 1 little treat a day. I can’t say I don’t eat after 8pm because when Josh gets home from work we like to watch tv and snack together but if I eat a lot of junk food at night I feel it in the morning so I try to eat better at night and lots of portion control! I try to eat small meals more often too. I eat breakfast at 8am, snack at 11am, lunch at 1pm, dinner at 6pm, and a snack at 9pm. I am always doing research about the best foods for our bodies and things to look out for. In the last couple months I have taken a big interest in healthy foods and ways to take care of mine and my family’s bodies.

My workouts have also changed a little bit. I workout Monday-Friday in the morning and take the weekends off. Monday’s I do abs, Tuesday’s I do butt and legs, Wednesday’s I do abs and arms, Thursday’s I do butt and legs and Friday’s I do abs. The workouts I do differ from week to week. Sometimes I use Pinterest workouts, the app called Sworkit, YouTube videos, Alexa Jean workout plan, and going on a walk while making up new exercises to do at each mailbox. And making sure I sweat each time I do a workout helps me know that it is actually doing something. And my body differs from day to day. Some days my stomach is flat and looks great and other days I could pass for 10 weeks pregnant because I can bloat so much! I also love when Avery joins in and copies whatever exercise I’m doing. And at night if I don’t feel sore I do another short workout! It is great to be in the best shape I’ve ever been in. Not having a set weight to be at helps me to focus on just taking care of my body inside and getting more and more muscle. (My right arm is way more toned than my left because I always carry Avery on that side. I need to work on my left arm more!)

A healthy lifestyle for my family and I makes me happy!! If anyone has any tips for living healthier I would love to hear them!

20 Summertime Activities

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Summertime is so much fun! There are so many fun things to do with your kids during this time. Here in Tennessee the weather is MUCH different than in Washington which is where Josh and I both grew up and lived until about a year ago. Adjusting to the weather was at first hard but I think we are starting to get the hang of it. The humidity and heat don’t make us instantly sweat like it did last summer. Here it feels like winter time is really from the end of December until February, spring is from March until May, summer is from June until September and fall is from October until December. This isn’t correct school wise because summer for kids in school is all of June until the beginning of August. Summertime is also when the biggest thunderstorms happen. When it rains in the summer is a hard rain but doesn’t last too long. There can be weeks when there is a thunderstorm every day for like an hour though. So when planning our summer activities I have to make sure there are things for being outdoors in the morning when it’s not too hot, being outdoors when it’s really hot, and being indoors when a storm is happening. I have listed below some of my favorite things to do with Avery in the summer so hopefully this inspires you because we most likely only have 18 summers with our kids and that’s nothing!

  1. Finger painting outside. (Get a roll of paper and go crazy!)
  2.  Camping in the backyard. (We tried doing this Fourth of July weekend thinking it would be fun but in Tennessee July is way too hot to sleep outside but Avery still loved watching a movie in the tent and getting it all set up)
  3. Farmers market. (You can’t ever go wrong with some fresh produce and baked treats!)
  4. Painting pottery. (On those stormy days)
  5. Go to an arcade. (Avery LOVED this! She got the most tickets at the end of it all on her own!)
  6. Go to the Fair. (Rides and treats! Yum!)
  7. Find a free kids class at Home Depot, Lowes, Michael’s, etc.
  8. Photoshoot. (Find a cool location and play dress up!)
  9. Go to a bookstore and read every book your kiddo finds!
  10. Build a fort and sleep in it. (Letting go of our sleep routine every once in awhile is fun!)
  11. Go to swimming pool or splash pad. (In the South this is a must!)
  12. Make a hand print stone and letting your kids decorate it.
  13. Lemonade stand. (We build our own for Avery and she loves it! She uses it for pretend store all the time too)
  14. Go to a baseball game. (We are taking Avery to her first MLB game in a couple weeks!)
  15. Make a pouring station. (It’s so fun for kids to play with water and pour it in all sorts of containers)
  16. Berry picking (messy but fun!)
  17. Drive-in movie (this has to happen at least once a summer!)
  18. Make yummy recipes. (Avery’s favorite is homemade banana pudding!)
  19. Go outside! (Anything outside is Avery’s cup of tea! Going on a walk, getting the pool out, read outside, play barbies outside, rock on the rocking chairs, ect. ANYTHING outside!)
  20. Crafts! (We love doing crafts in our house. We make our own binoculars, paint rocks, paint wooden things, make windmills, make paper and popsicle stick butterflies, make sensory jars, etc.)

And that’s 20 things we love to do in the summer time!!