Valentines Dates at home! - free workout included

Valentines Day is rapidly approaching and while I know for my husband, that means he will stress about what to get me, if we're even exchanging gifts and what I got him. But Valentines Day doesn't have to break the bank.  I want to give you 5 ways to celebrate at-home and on a budget!

1.  Rent a movie and pop popcorn - If you have kids, do you even watch movies anymore?? We don't!  So renting a movie and popping some popcorn can recreate the movie-date scene in your own home without spending over $10/person at the theater.  

2.  Cook a meal together - We love making up meals of our favorites at restaurants.  Decide to plan the  menu together and cook it over some wine!  Our personal fav is buffalo chicken horseshoes over sweet potato fries.

3.  Play a game - ask each other questions or play a board game.  When is the last time you did that?!  We've even had a nerf gun fight!  Do something out of the ordinary.  I printed off these questions for a date night and they would be perfect to read and reconnect at home with on Valentines Day - Questions for Date night

4.  Workout!  - Those who sweat together, stay together, right?!

Here’s your “Cupid’s workout” or perform with a friend!

2 sets/14 reps with or without a partner!  Complete 1 set of each exercise then start again for the second set!

Pushups

Squats

Mt. Climbers

Plank jacks

Burpees

High knees

Tricep dips

Ab crunches

5.  Involve the family - You might have 4 little ones so the above are not possible.  Get together as a family and make your own tradition!  Get ice cream or watch a family movie.  Learn how to cook a new dish or do a family Valentines craft.  You can get super creative here!

I hope you have a great day with those you love and you can create a new tradition with some of the above!

Post 4 of 4: Meal Prep

Here is my last post on how I budget, meal plan and grocery shop and now prep.  This step can be the most time consuming, but if you are organized, you can do it right and still have the rest of your day.

Steps:
1. Pick a day to prep: My day is usually Saturday or Sunday b/c those are the days of the week I am most likely to be home and have at least 2 hours.

2. Look at your menu for the up-coming week and decide what you can make ahead of time that won't spoil and will still taste the same =)

3. Block off time - you may not know how long it will take you the first go-round.  I usually plan on 2 hours or less.  And this can be intermittent.  I personally like to knock it all out at once, but that doesn't always work for people.  

4.  Multitask - Look at your meals...can you pre-cook your pasta for a dish?  Can you slice up green peppers for salads for the coming week while the pasta is cooking?  What can be done in the oven?

5. Package and prepare - put meals or food in containers that are easy to grab for lunches or on the go leftovers.

Tips:  I love to make an easy breakfast for Nathan to have for Liam for the week.  Part of my meal prep involves making a bunch of pancakes and egg and spinach muffin bites. 

I also make sweet potato fries because we will inevitably have burgers and fries sometime through the week so I don't have to wait on fries when that time comes.  

Most of my prepping involves slicing vegetables and there is almost always something in the oven.  Another great idea is if you can make a crockpot meal for the week.  It can sit all day, then be put in containers for the week ahead and you have just cut down on your meal prep.  This definitely doesn't happen every week for me.  If I have a free hour on a Tuesday, I may do pancakes then or Paleo dessert balls.  I love looking around our house and creating a new dish.  Just this week, I had frozen chicken breasts and pesto sauce so I cooked it up with some gluten free noodles and 1 yellow and 1 green pepper.  Perfect lunch on the go or dinner if we've been out and running around.  It's all about trial and error and spending a short amount of time that will save you tons later!  It took me about 3-4 months to get my system really perfected where I felt like I still had most of my day to relax.  Don't give up and get your spouse to help!  It can be a family event!

Good luck!  What tips do you have on meal prep?

February Cardio Fitness Challenge

February is Heart Health month so what better way to celebrate then to do a cardio circuit throughout the month.  I chose 3 exercises to get your heart pumping: jumping jacks, mt. climbers, and burpees.  I love them b/c they each work a different plane of your body.  Jacks are standing cardio, mt. climbers are on the floor and burpees combines the very best of both!

More women die from heart disease than any other diseases....combined.  I would love to see this stat go away in my lifetime.  We have to change our mentality.  We have to change how we eat and what we do in our free time.  We have to CHANGE OUR LIVES.  Let's decide to be PRO-active with our health and get moving now.  These moves are tough but can all be modified to be more intense or for beginner exercises.

To increase intensity:
Jumping jacks - hold light weights
Mt. Climbers - do double the amount listed for the day.
Burpees - add push-ups and a star jump at the end

Beginner version (work your way up):
Jumping Jacks - stay stationary and step out right foot with right arm going up in a jack, step foot back in to the center then repeat with the left foot out and left arm out.
Mt. Climbers - step foot in to tap slowly instead of fast feet.
Burpees - squat, step feet back in push up, step forward, and stand.

Get that heart pumping!

Printable Version 

5 Winter Workouts

Thank goodness this winter wasn't like the last one.  I spent most of my time on a treadmill 1 year ago, waiting for the feet of snow to melt outside.  Lately, I've been staying in by choice to switch up my routine.  I still love to run outside, but circuits inside are sometimes all I can fit in with Liam!  Some of these involve weights, some don't and some use your own furniture or favorite television show!

Some of my favorite moves can include soup cans, paper plates and dishtowels!  Be creative with your fitness!

Enjoy!

5 At home workouts

Post 3 of 4: Grocery Shopping

In my 4 part series, this one can often be the one that takes the least amount of time (other than making the trip there).  Luckily for me, I live about 5 min from our Aldi, Schnucks and Target so all my bases are covered.  Here are my tips on making grocery shopping effortless, affordable and fun!

1.  Write out your list as you plan your meals - Remember your calendar?  I like to shop 1x a week if possible so make your list with the ingredients you need for your up-coming week's dinners. I make my list on a dry erase board b/c I'm OCD and don't like a list I might have to cross off or change.  Then, when it's time to go to the store, I take a photo of it with my phone.  That way, I'm not wasting paper!  

2.  Arrange your list based on your go-to store's layout.  If produce is first, write those items down first so you aren't scrambling all over the store.  This is a HUGE time saver.

3.  Go to the store - haha, this one is seriously a step b/c I really only have time for 1 store.  Most of what I need can be found at Aldi or if they don't have it, I'll swing by Schnucks.  But since I have become very familiar with their inventory, I will likely only make meals with items I can get there.  Or pick them up at Target b/c all my other shopping needs seem to be met there =)

4.  Stick to the list!  (sort of) - 90% of the time, I stick to my list and do not sway from it.  This saves me time, money, and from buying junk or something that "looks good".  Here's my exception for the other 10% - when they have seasonal items on sale (like .99 pineapple or .99 strawberries) or a buy in bulk item that won't go bad (like sweet potatoes or onions).  Nobody wants to go to the store 2x a week because you forgot onions=(  I recently went and Aldi had grass-fed beef for $3.49/pound.  This is the cheapest I would find grass fed beef so I bought like 15 of them.  So my budgeting may have been off for the month, but over the course of 2 months, that would even out.

5. Buy what you NEED for that week - We do prioritize some food items organic, so our bill can be expensive.  It's been through trial and error that I have figured out about how much we spend.  It can get easy for me to stock up on TONS of items that I really don't need b/c they are seasonal, etc.  If pineapple is on sale but you don't have any ideas for it, nor know how to cut it, then don't buy it!  Even if spinach is on sale, I can't really stock up b/c we can only go through 2 containers a week.  The rest of it will get wilty and I hate throwing away spoiled food!  

6.  Look for substitutes - Sometimes, my store of choice is missing 1 thing off my list.  I will not drive to another store for 1 thing.  I have before and I end up with a cart-full (hopefully you feel me on that one!).  So I will look around for an alternative.  Maybe brussel sprouts as my side instead of asparagus or using almond milk instead of whole milk.  This doesn't work 100% of the time, but it gives you some ideas. 

I hope I gave you some tips for how to navigate your store of choice and plan out your trip. I seriously love grocery shopping now b/c I have made it not so daunting.  Let me know if you have any tips to share!

How to make the most of your dinner time

I recently read someone else's blog post on how their family dinner's go and how they invest in one another and spend that quality time.  We are one of those families who isn't always together for a formal, sit down dinner each night.  Nathan is typically home between 6 and 7pm most nights, except Wednesdays and Sundays.  I now lead a bootcamp workout for a local business from 5-6 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays so Liam has dinner with a babysitter those nights unless Nathan is home.  My struggle was always, "How do we have family time when we aren't ever together?"  I have always had big dreams for what I wanted our time to look like - Liam loves and eats everything we fix.  The table is always set and uncluttered.  The 3 of us are together at least 6 nights a week.  We share about our days or read a devotional. We say a prayer before we eat.  

I think none of this has actually happened for 1 full week.  I finally realized that is no excuse for me to not set up some traditions and make something work for our family.  Really, we aren't that abnormal.  I'm sure if you're reading this, you don't always sit down with everyone in your family every single night. And if you do, more power to you.  Here's my tips for making the most of those precious times together and what has worked for our family of 3.

1. Put the phones away...but keep them handy - Nathan and I are making it priority to really listen to one another and not have our heads on our phones during dinner or after for family time.  But, there are always those funny Liam moments that I want to be able to capture.  So I keep my phone on the ledge leading into the other room.  It takes some effort to get it and it's not at my fingertips but is there if I want to take a picture.

2.  Read The Bible to your kids - We love the Jesus Storybook Bible.  Liam doesn't really care for it before bed because it's a bit too long for his age and over his head.  But I desperately want to pour these stories into my son.  At dinner, he's locked in (literally) and will actually pay attention.  During mealtime is when I taught him who Jesus was and where God is (points to the sky).  

3.  Connect with your spouse - Nathan and I will share our days with one another but if it's a Saturday and we've been together all day, there isn't much sharing to be done so I printed off some relationship questions to read to one another to answer.  Some are funny (favorite ice cream flavor or childhood memory) and some are serious (Do I need to seek forgiveness for anything?).  So be prepared and feel free to skip if you're just not feeling it.  We also take them on longer car rides =)

Here's the link to what I printed:Date Night Questions

4.  Turn the TV off - We recently cut cable and that has changed our family dynamic.  We used to always sit in front of it for dinner.  We'd feed Liam then go sit in front while he played.  While we still do it occasionally if we want to watch a show or it's the weekend and Liam is in bed, but I am thankful we aren't setting this example for him.  And I love TV, so this is hard for me, but I've gotten so much of my day back by leaving it off.  

Hope this helps you develop a better dinner time routine and don't get stressed by having an unconventional schedule.  I feel like we all do these days.  Decide what will work for your family and try it out.  Come up with your own tradition!

That one piece of advice from my parents that always sticks with me

Both of my parents have given me great advice through the years.  Of course there was always the "Because I'm the parent" moments and "You'll understand when you're older."  Those, I could do without.  My mom is an abundance of knowledge, wisdom and faith.  I look at her whole life and know that I can glean so much from it.  How she forgives, how she loves, how she speaks in love...she gives great advice, but her life speaks through her.   But the advice that I'm thinking of in this post came from my dad.  He was a man of few words, but when he spoke or wrote, you knew it meant something.  He spoke from experience and all the times he felt he missed an opportunity or he messed up.  He wasn't perfect, nor claimed to be, but continue to try and try again. 

One thing he told me in a letter as I was going to college was this: "You have been given so much and those who are given much, are asked much."  

To me, this is a life verse.  My dad was big on making a contribution to society.  Making a difference to the least of these.  To be a blessing to others whenever possible.  My dad didn't have much growing up, but he made the most of it and gave of himself to his family and his friends.  

Sometimes I HATE that I have to help.  I want to lay around and maybe complain about my circumstances, often forgetting how blessed I am.  I'd rather see the negative.  But dad's words remind me to go out and help someone else with all that I have been given.  Sort of like, God has entrusted me with much and it's my job to share and give that others.  This could be monetarily or through service or going out of my way for someone who give you nothing in return.  Have you given this week or this month out of the abundance of what you have?  If you don't know where to start, ask God to reveal those opportunities to you.  Believe me, he will.  Just be ready to act and give!