Kids in the Kitchen- making fruit smoothie popsicles!

January was a rough month for our family- just a whole lot going on! I am thrilled that February is here. I know that turning a page over in the calendar doesn’t automatically mean things will change, but it felt like a symbolic fresh start for us!

So far, February has not let me down! Well, I could do without the rainy weather today, but all in all it’s been a pretty good half-a-week. More and more The Boy and The Girl are wanting to make active, healthy choices.

Showing off a new soccer shirt

They have been helping me in the kitchen every night, and wanting to play soccer, or race each other, or play Wii Fit instead of sitting and playing DS all day. We have scouts again tonight, and we are planning to get the ingredients for The Boy’s vegetable soup recipe to make for dinner, so I have a feeling this week will continue being a healthy one for us.

It’s been a good week for me, too. I really struggled with my health and fitness goals during the holiday months, but I am finally feeling more like the “old” me. The me who loves to exercise and does it whenever she can find a few spare minutes. The me who gets a thrill out of planning and cooking healthy meals at home. I missed that me. I’m glad to see her back again!

Homework done- ready for Wii Fit!!

I’m starting to get more involved in some other projects too! I’m tracking my personal challenges HERE and I have also become a little more active on the Run With Us blog. I’m also tracking at sparkpeople again, so I am feeling like I have to be accountable now! Too many people will know if I mess up!

I think that what has really turned things around to get me on track is the fact that I have involved The Husband. He hasn’t set any health or fitness goals for himself, but he knows about all my goals and he is being really encouraging and supportive. We are planning a weekend trip to Jackson next week so that I can run in my first 5k- so I am thrilled that he is willing to help me reach my goals!

Yesterday The Boy checked out a book called “Growing Vegetable Soup” from the school library. He was really excited to read it to me when he got home- and proud of himself for finding a book about healthy foods! The book was really simple, but it included a recipe for vegetable soup on the back. The Boy wants to make it exactly as they do in the book, which means growing all the veggies ourselves. We might do that, but it’s going to take awhile, and the outcome is not guaranteed since my green thumb is decidedly lacking! We’ll give it a try one day though, since it would help me with goal #58 on my 101 list!

For now, though, I think we are going to stick to buying the fresh veggies at the grocery store and making it that way! I don’t think he will mind too much, and it will be a fun kitchen project for us. The recipe is listed below…

1) Wash & Cut

1 large onion (peeled), 2 carrots, 1 medium potato (with skin), 9 green beans (ends off), 1/6 small head of cabbage, 1 stalk broccoli, 3 medium tomatoes, 1 small green pepper, 1 zucchini (5-6 inches), 1 ear corn (husked)

Slice onion and carrots into rounds. Cut potato into cubes and beans into 1-inch pieces. Chop cabbage wedge into shreds. Put in a large cooking pot. Set aside.

Slice broccoli stem into rounds, leave tops whole. Chop tomatoes into eighths. Cut out stem of green pepper and take out seeds; slice pepper into rounds, then into pieces. Slice zucchini into rounds. Cut corn off cob. Put in a bowl. Set aside.

2) Get Ready:

4 bouillon cubes, 5 cups water, 1 big handful of peas, 1 bay leaf, 1/2 cup snipped parsley, 1 tsp. dried marjoram, 1 tsp. dried thyme, salt & pepper to taste

3) Cook:

Add bouillon cubes and water to cooking pot with vegetables. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium low and summer, uncovered, 10 minutes.

Add peas. Add vegetables in bowl. Add herbs. Stir. Bring to simmer. Tastes, then add salt and pepper. Stir, simmer uncovered about 10 minutes longer, until vegetables are crisp-tender.

Makes 8 big servings or 12 small ones.

The Boy napping with his first taggy

As I posted last night, this goal was recently completed. I am not a crafty person. I cannot knit, crochet, quilt or sew. But I can tie knots! And that’s all you need to know how to do for this project. Well, that, and use scissors!

I made the first blankets back in 2005- as Christmas gifts for The Boy and The Girl that year. I learned how from a friend online (who I have since lost touch with!) For small blankets, I started with just one yard of fabric. Their new blankets have two yards.

The instructions are simple:

-Select the length have fleece fabric that you desire, and then cut it in two equal halfs.
-Line the two halves up and then cut a square out of each corner. (I found that it helped to use several safety pins to keep the two halves together during this step!)
-Cut tags (one to two inches long) along all four edges of the combined fabric, cutting both pieces of fabric
-Knot the two pieces of fabric together by tying the tags you cut!

The Girl cuddling with her first taggy

That’s it! It takes awhile, but the blankets hold up forever! The only reason I replaced the origional blankets is because I noticed that The Boy and The Girl had both outgrown their old ones.

They loved this project though. They got to go with me to JoAnn’s Fabrics and pick out whatever pattern they wanted, which was a lot of fun for them. The Boy wants to be just like his Daddy, so it didn’t surprise me at all that he wanted camoflauge. The Girl loves daisy’s, so she found a pattern with rainbow colored flowers that looked enough like daisy’s to make her happy.

We chose a great time to get started on it, too. The weather had gotten really cold, and it was nice to have some fuzzy fleece blankets to cuddle up with in the evenings. It’s not as cold now, but they still like them. The Girl has started taking hers to school with her as her nap time blanket- and The Boy walks around the house with his wrapped around his shoulders. I even bought several extra yards so I can make some for The Husband and I. I haven’t gotten around to making them yet, but I think I will try and get started on them this weekend.

Rainbow daisys. And turtles!

Just like Daddy

I can’t really call myself a Mommy in motion if I’m not active I suppose! The good news (in my opinion, anyway) is that I have been staying active. Not just busy- but really making the time to workout, exercise, and generally move as much as possible. I just have been too busy to post about it!

Most of my health and fitness updates are being moved to my other blog- which has undergone some changes. Instead of being a blog for the Small Changes, Big Results program (which I will complete one day!) it has become a blog for all my personal health and fitness goal. So check out Mommy in Motion: Challenges for any of the “in motion” updates!

Lately I have been really focusing on my running- so there are a few updates on that one. I have also posted a little about a weight loss contest going on at work right now. I am starting the 100 push ups challenge as well, so I am planning to keep that blog pretty busy!

I was reading this post on the blog Your Successful 101, and I was really glad I came across it! It has recently come to my attention that some of my goals will not be able to be achieved! I was feeling a little guilty about wanting to change my list once it was already in progress but, life is about change!

Goal #39-  Help Delta Gun set up a gig in Meridian can no longer be achieved. Why? Because Delta Gun is no longer a band! I did not forsee them breaking up before my goal was met, but such is life!

I am changing that goal, which alters the order of my entire list! I am adding instead another local life goal. My new goal will be…

Goal #79- Take pictures of all the carousel horses in Meridian. The kids and I see these horses all the time, and I thought it would be fun to start making an effort to photograph each one. I think it would make a pretty cool scrapbook one day! Here is a little bit of information on this new goal, from the City of Meridian website:

Around Town Carousels Abound is an amazingly fun outdoor public art project. There are over 50 brightly decorated carousel horses created by the talented hands of local and regional artists each with their own theme and story. The horses have been sponsored by businesses and individuals and placed in prominent locations around the city. All proceeds from the project benefit Hope Village for Children. The location and description of each horse is available at the Meridian/Lauderdale County Tourism Bureau, 212 Constitution Ave. or by calling 1-888-868-7720

As with my previous post- first the goals that were already in progress…

12) Participate in at least one school fundraiser (per child) (1/2)17) Send thank you cards out within one month of occasion/gift! (1/6)
18) Send birthday/anniversary cards to family and friends
31) Read (or re-read)  all the books on THIS list (8/150)
46) Start a bi-monthly family game night (10/12)- 2 family game nights in Jan. makes 10. Just 2 more to go!
52) Pay at least $3,000 extra towards principal payments on the mortgage ($75.00/$3,000.00)
55) Run a 5K race- 1st race scheduled for Saturday, February 14th, 2010.
60) Try at least one new recipe a month (6/12)
100) Keep a journal (pen and paper!)
101.)  Keep up with this list and track my progress until each goal is completed! (16/101)

And now the newly “in progress goals”…

8.)Get promoted from Sales Manager to Location Manager: in progress as of January, 2010. I don’t know how to measure this one, exactly. But, I have been promoted, I guess. I have gotten a raise, anyway- so that’s something!
32) Watch (or re-watch) all the movies on THIS list (8/100): Movies watched (or re-watched) so far, in alphabetical order: Fantasia, The Graduate, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Philadelphia Story, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, Star Wars, and The Wizard of Oz
67) Have paintings made of The Boy and The Girl as small children: My sister began making paintings for me in the later part of 2009. They aren’t completed yet, but I am anxiously awaiting them!
69) Organize the filing cabinet- I have begun this project. I am not satisfied with it yet, but I have started at least!

So it’s been awhile since I updated this, huh? I am still working on this project though. Just really bad at blogging!

First update- completed goals! These are the goals that were previously on the completed list- along with links to where they were first posted about.

15) Volunteer at the church: Goal Completed 9/17/09
30) Get library cards for our family: Goal completed 8/17/09
34) Get a record player: Goal completed 8/15/09
36) Read for pleasure at least 10 minutes each day: Goal completed 10/20/09
45) Create a chore and reward system for each child: Goal Completed 9/23/09
48) Go walking/hiking as a family: Goal Completed 10/24/09
51) Create a budget for our family: Goal Completed 9/22/09
62) Keep a food journal Goal Completed 9/18/09
71) Go see the Highland Park Dentzel Carousel goal completed 9/5/09
95) Take The Boy and The Girl to the Agricultural Museum in Jackson Goal Completed 9/12/09
99) Meditate at least once a day for one month Goal Completed 9/17/09

These goals have not been posted about yet, but here are the updates on them!

14) Participate in Toys for Tots: Goal Completed 12/19/09

I thought that we might be hosting a Toys for Tots drive at work, but that didn’t happen this year. So, instead, The Boy, The Girl and I shopped for some toys to donate on our own while doing our other Christmas shopping. I’m really glad we did this one, because it helped both children really understand that the spirit of the Christmas holiday season is about giving, rather than getting. They had a lot of fun picking out toys to donate, and I was a very proud Mommy watching them smile as they placed them in the donation bin!

41) Re-instate bi-monthly date nights at home with The Husband: Goal completed 11/??/09

I can’t remember the date that we actually completed this goal, but we have been setting aside at least two nights a month to have dinner together (without the kids!) and watch a movie, play a board game, or just hang out and talk. I am really glad we got back into this habit, and we are definitely continuing this one!

42) Spend at least 5 minutes of one-on-one time with each child: Goal completed 11/14/09

This is another goal that I have continued since completing it. The official 90th day was on November 14th, but I have set aside at least 5 minutes with each of them since first beginning this goal. I am really thrilled that I did this. It’s nice to take a break now and then, and really just enjoy my kids!

49) Pay off the credit card: Goal Completed 01/29/10

Ok, it won’t be officially completed until 02/01/10. BUT, today I scheduled the final payment. I set the transfer online after 5pm, so it won’t go through until Monday morning. But it will go through! We are now officially debt free (with the exception of the mortgage, of course) and I could not be happier. We had to use the credit card quite a bit during the week from hell, so it’s a relief to have it taken care of.

66) Make new blankets for The Girl and The Boy: Goal Completed 01/23/10
I started working on this project during the severe cold snap we had, but several delays came up to keep me from finishing it right away. But it is done, and the kids are really excited. That makes me feel pretty good! I am not a crafty person. At all. But even I can make the no-sew taggy blankets!

I thought it was time to update on some of The Boy’s Cub Scouting adventures. Most of the meetings aren’t anything worth really posting about- but we did have a great field trip in November, and a really good meeting last week too.

In November the theme for our meetings was “heroes”. Our little den of two certainly knows something about that! The Boy and Other Scout have a lot in common. Both of their fathers are in law enforcement, and both are military men as well. So discussing heroe’s in our lives was an easy topic!

We had to plan a trip to a local fire or police department and decided to go see the Meridian Police. It was a cold night, but we bundled the boys and their little sisters up and walked over there. Both boys had a great time! They got to see the cars, and walk all around the inside. They were particularly impressed with the interregation rooms (with handcuffs attached to the tables!) It was especially exciting for The Boy, because it was the night before we went to see The Husband graduate from the police academy.

We didn’t do a lot of scouting in December due to school plays and holidays, but we did resume in January. The theme for this month is health and activity-which is one I have enjoyed doing meetings for! Last week we focused on the MyPyramid for kids. They got to make a collage of healthy foods, they talked about the foods they ate that day and broke them into the categories they fall in, and they got to play tag because we were discussing how important it is to fuel our bodies with healthy foods so we can be and stay active.

All in all, I am really enjoying being involved with Tiger Cubs with The Boy. I am looking forward to some really fun activities for February (when the Boy Scouts celebrate 100 years!) and the rest of this year. In April the Boy Scouts are hosting a 5k run, which is open to older scouts, family and friends, and people in the community. There is also a 1 mile fun run for the younger scouts. The Boy and I are both really excited about it- we are both planning to participate!

I just wanted to post a quick Thank You to Tara for my new header. She worked really hard designing this for me several weeks ago, and I finally got around to updating the look of this blog. So, a great big, long over-due THANKS is headed your way!

Check out Tara’s blog here, or, if you want your own super awesome header- visit TSG designs!

And the updating continues. I believe I left off with the Christmas parade December 5th. Which means I skipped over my birthday entirely. Mainly because, at this point in my life- birthdays are not too terribly interesting. I worked. Although- there were some definite perks to the day.

1st- my mother surprised me by driving an hour and a half to come see me at work for 10 minutes- and to bring cupcakes. My husband surprised my by picking the kids up from school and meeting me at work to take me to dinner. Ok. So all the perks seem to involve food. BUT- my mother and father in-law surprised my by getting me a kickass new treadmill. And that is a NON-food perk. And it’s been great. Especially since it has an i-pod player built in, which means I don’t have to deal with headphones (which I hate). And it’s pretty (which I love)

The rest of December pretty much flew by in a blur of business and cold. Lots and lots of cold. Bear in mind that we live in a very old house and said house does not have a working heater. Space heaters and a fire place can only do so much. So we ended up investing in some very fuzzy blankets, pajamas, and slippers. And for a person who enjoys hibernating in blankets and general fuzziness as much as I do- this was great.

Christmas kind of snuck up on us though. Having two large extended family’s to shop for really puts a huge dent in financial planning. I don’t feel that we did too much damage to our budget, though, and te holidays were a lot of fun. We spent Christmas eve with my parents, and Christmas afternoon with The Husband’s family. Christmas morning, though, was the best.

It was the first time we have spent Christmas in our house. The last two years, we were in between houses (moving to Vegas and then moving home from Vegas). The Christmas’s before that were spent in base housing our rented homes. This was the start of some new traditions for us- so it was a lot of fun. Plus, the kids got spoiled rotten- which was a lot of fun!

This was also the first year that we let the kids do their own shopping- and that was just exciting to me! The Boy’s school had a Secret Santa shop- so we sent him in with some money and he picked out gifts for The Girl, The Husband, and I all on his own. So we gave The Girl the same budget and took her to the Dollar Store so she could do her own shopping too. I really enjoyed having them more involved in the gift giving process, and I think it made Christmas morning more exciting for them too.

Once the holidays were over and New Year came upon us, I figured things would slow down a bit. But, this is because I am not much good at “figuring” and didn’t account for the fact that I work in a gym, thus, life got busier! And, January introduced “the week from hell” The week from hell went as follows…

• Tuesday- The Husband is informed that he has to go to Arkansas for training for four days on Thursday. Panic and cleaning and packing ensue.
• Wednesday- One of the gym owner’s is supposed to come to town, which leads to a very late night at work and not getting to spend time with The Husband before he leaves.
• Thursday- The Boy’s school is canceled due to forecasted weather (snow and ice which never came!) The Girl greets me in the morning by throwing up on me. And then in the store when we went to get medicine. And several more times just for good measure.
• Friday- temperatures reach the low teens. School is canceled again. Work is not. Two very cold and cranky kids spend seven hours being extremely bored in the office.
• Saturday- wake up to discover that all upstairs plumbing has frozen during the night. Plus, it’s my Saturday to work, so we experience “cranky and bored children at work, volume two”
• Sunday- Now that all the laundry from Thursday is finally washed, cleaned, and put away, The Boy gets sick. It’s Thursday fun all over again.
• Monday- come home from work to discover that the pipes are no longer frozen. They have now burst and it is raining in the kitchen. The Boy and The Girl find this exciting. Me, a little less so. But, The Husband assures me that once I turn off the main water valve, he can fix the problem.
• Tuesday- The Husband discovers that he can’t fix the plumbing problem. And we can’t get a plumber to our house for “a day or two” And I can’t make coffee because there is no water!! This is a huge problem for me.
• Wednesday- still no water. Running out of clean clothes and food that doesn’t need water to cook. Plumbers are tearing our house apart- so we move into a hotel. At least there’s heat!

So, as you can see- January was a little busier than anticpated, so I didn’t get around to updating as soon as I wanted too. I am trying to make time for the blog again though! Coming soon… fitness updates, cub scouts update, and 101 in 1001 update!