Category — sharing

“No candles? But don’t those cost, like, 2 bucks?” Yeah, well so does a loaf of bread. Guess where my last $2 went.

Ah, the budget. Forever in the forefront of my mind. Always being reworked, borrowed from, stretched and sometimes broken.

Back to school and Christmas are the hardest times on the ol’ budget and I’m neck-deep in back to school prep right now. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t still very real things that need to be celebrated and done, like birthdays. 2 days ago, we had just such an event. When the budget for the 15th was written, I requested an extra $100 for the upcoming bday. My request was fulfilled. However, I had NOT accounted for some uniform items that the girls starting their Frosh year needed. So, the bday $ went to buy 2 new, white, button-down shirts and 2 pair of black flats for Dress Day Uniform requirements. *Think, think, think* What was I gonna do about the bday? I kept being asked for a Birthday Party. My blanket answer was, “well, that’ll be a tough one, but let’s talk about it”.  And talk we did. He asked if he could, “please, please, please have friends down to the beach for a beach day”. Hmmm…the beach is free. I can do that! But what to do about the food and favors? *think, think, think*. Well, we’ll forget “favors” altogether. If they really need something to take home, they can roam the beach for shells, right? Which by-the-way, 10 & 11 yr old boys really don’t care about. Now food-*think, think, think*. Well, I earned $27 from a book I sold on Amazon.com. So, $20 for a cake at Costco and $7 for a 40-pack of CapriSun juice pouches. I’m GOLDEN! I knew I had a huge bag of carrots, and plenty of celery and peppers to cut up and ranch dressing in the fridge (had to attempt to add something healthy to the mix) and there was plenty of PB&J and bread. Another mom donated bags of popcorn and pudding cups.

And we had ourselves a party!

Now, the agreement was that if I did give him a party, that would be his present. Since I got off so inexpensively I told him I’d take him to ToysRUs to spend a gift card he received and if he needs a little help with whatever item he chooses, I’ll pitch in…but not until after payday.

I’m proud of our $27 party!

Doing the Dance of the Children and Staying on this Tightrope of a Budget~

Yesterday marked the beginning of Arianna and Maddi’s High School careers and the first day of Mariah’s Senior year. I liked listening to them get ready and offer each other make-up, hair and uniform tips.

Everyone was dressed and loaded into the van to get them to school. It meant starting the day earlier than what the little kids have gotten used to over their summer break, but it’s good to get the schedule broken into. We have 2 more weeks of summer vacation for the 4 youngest kiddos and before I go back to work. So once we were back from the school, we got to decide what to do with our day.

We chose the beach!

So, onto Day 2 of the school routine. It’s 5:30 am, the lunches are packed, 2 of the 3 morning showers have been taken, the coffee is being enjoyed, bagels are waiting to be handed to the lil kiddos when they get into the van, and it’s time for M.O.M. to get put together for this day.

I think the lil kiddos and I will check out what’s happening at Balboa Park today. Do all you locals know about Free Tuesday’s at Balboa Park? Each Tuesday a different grouping of museums offers free admission. Maybe we’ll see you there.

Doing the Dance of the Children and Trying to Keep up with the Rhythm~

Here it is, the last day of Kraze Boot Camps class for M.O.M. This is the last day of the session, then it’s a week off and when the new camp starts up, I’ll be knee-deep in back to school schedules. This means no more 6 am classes for me.

I feel mixed emotions! I’m SO excited and proud that I did it! I DID it! I stopped making excuses and left some old, bad habits behind. I gained so much from these 8 weeks of classes. Seriously, I’m totally surprised! I gained confidence, better eating knowledge, lost weight/inches and showed my kiddos that it’s important to take care of our bodies. But I’m also feeling scared that I’ll lose my motivation! It’s now up to me to keep going. I have to go find a time that’s going to fit into my back to school/work schedule and commit myself to a daily workout that’s challenging and keep myself at it. I knew that going to Kraze Boot Camps was a good fit for me because of the daily motivation of a group. I feel like a baby bird that’s being pushed from the nest. I have to decide to fly!

I want to say thank you to Aaron Escobedo, for putting together such a great program with awesome people! Your dedication to your people is great and we all feel it! You let us know that we are part of something that you care about and not just a nameless body showing up to your classes. You keep the classes moving quickly and you mix it up EVERY day! I was NEVER bored with the routine, was ALWAYS challenged and learned to let go of not knowing what was coming. In the end I have to say that it was better to not know because I couldn’t dread, I could just move to the next thing. Thanks to your insistence that we could all do it, I have gained more stamina and a greater confidence for what my body can do. I no longer feel like the number of children I’ve given birth to has anything at all to do with where my fitness ability should or can be. Thank you!

So, to sum it up, in 8 weeks I’ve lost about 8 lbs, 2 1/2 inches from my chest/back, 3 inches from my waist and 3 inches from my hips. Not bad! I can run…well it really doesn’t matter how far I can run, the fact is that I can ACTUALLY run. This in and of itself is a feat! I can tackle a great number of stairs, remembered that I know how to jump rope, can do lunges and squats in a great variety of ways, found out that there are still muscles in my abs and core and no longer have to tie a sweatshirt around my waist if doing jumping jacks (this took a little knowledge of when and how much to drink and a quick trip to the bathroom before each morning’s workout ). Yea!

I may not be able join the next session, but YOU CAN! New locations are being opened up and you can take advantage of some great discounts. Message Aaron, let him know you want to get out there to give a class a try and tell him I sent you! All you have to lose is your fear, bad habits and extra weight!

A big thank you to everyone who followed along through this journey and encouraged me in so many ways! Don’t leave! I’m gonna need your encouragement through my next journey!

Somedays I feel so overwhelmed that I can’t move past the mountainous list of To-Do’s. Now that sports have started and the 3 girls are gearing up for school, there’s a constant flow to my inbox and I simply can’t keep up with the little kiddos, who are still enjoying summer vacation and the bigger kiddos whose heads are in school mode and keep handing me papers to sign and lists of needs/wants/must-haves. I end up feeling like I’m in a dark tunnel with nothing to look at or think about except the next “must do” task. AND I’m trying to do it all on a teeny-tiny-super tight budget. ~breathe~

To keep sane and somewhat on-budget today, I loaded up the 4 lil kiddos when I had to take Arianna to her tennis practice at the school, which is 15 miles away. I decided that to save gas, we would stay by the school and explore the parks available to us there. So I packed snacks and off we went. We had a little more than 2 hours to kill and ended up visiting 2 parks. One without a bathroom and one with (note to all city park planners-BUILD BATHROOMS in ALL parks!).

I also used my free drink that I’d earned at Chauo Chocolatier, that just happens to be in that area. I don’t know about you, but I try to keep *free* coupons and earned items on hand for when the budget has been emptied out. This way I always have little perks to look forward to, even when I’m out of cash. Do you guys do that too? Come on, we all belong to groups and clubs that keep us earning free items. Do you save them up for the lean times?

So there I was, sipping my spicy, mayan mocha, in a beautiful park, watching my kids run around, play games and enjoy the summer day and I realized I needed to count the good things that were going on instead of mope around about my overwhelming schedule, looming to-do list and dwindling budget. Come on! I live in a fabulous place, my kids are in great schools, I had a free drink in my hand and the gorgeous park was open to my kiddos. ~sigh~ All good! I closed my eyes, said a silent, “thank you” and soaked up a little sun.

Yep, I’m back at home, where the ever-present work is waiting, but it’s ok. I can’t change the demands of this life, but I CAN try to change the focus.

Boy do I ever do a lot of self-talk. Gets me through though. Share your tips and tricks for remembering to count your blessings and face the sun.

Doing the Dance of the Children~

Today’s lesson-
Sometimes life gets in the way of your best intentions and well-laid plans.

I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make this morning’s 6am Kraze Boot Camps class, so I had let Aaron know I’d be trying out the evening class. By 1pm, everything had changed. Mariah got called into work and Arianna needed a ride home from tryouts. So, M.O.M. had to put my plans on hold and make sure that everyone got to and from where they needed.

But the lesson in it is to not get discouraged and to start right back into it again tomorrow. Starting this program meant breaking old habits and starting new/healthier ones and in the past, if I got out of a routine, it was always hard for me to jump back into it. I’d feel like I might as well expect for things to come up and just not plan time for myself. So, in keeping with my better/healthier attitude, I need to wake up tomorrow morning and jump right back in.

Tomorrow, I do believe it’s abs/core & cardio. Gettin’ ready!

It’s the last week of this session and the thing I was most looking forward to today was FINALLY trying out my post workout shake! I went to the Kraze Boot Camps/GNC Happy Hour event on Friday and finally found out exactly what I needed AND got a great discount on it! If you missed out on this great event, there’s another Happy Hour tomorrow evening.

Today was a total body work out, complete with running zig zags up and down the Convention Center back stairs, jumping rope (hey Dawn-I counted my jumps, but I really didn’t get very far before having to start over again. I can’t jump like I could when I was 8!), an obstacle course, lunges, push-ups, burpies, inch worms (Yea for me, I can actually do these now!) and several other exercises that I either don’t remember or have blocked out

I’m actually really excited for this week to be over because I want to be remeasured. Yep! I WANT to be remeasured! Can’t wait! But even with my enthusiasm to see what my results are, I had a tough time getting out the door this morn. I sure had a million excuses for why I couldn’t possibly go. I bickered with myself over each excuse and found a solution for each “reason”. I hope I don’t have to fight with myself tomorrow!

Whoo hoo! Session 2 is almost done. I’m feeling proud!

Remember last week, when I asked about anyone who had a child with a friend that blames your child for the bad behavior that the other child is actually responsible for? Well THIS week I ask you to share your experiences of YOUR child allowing their friend to take the blame for the bad behavior that your child is actually responsible for. And how was it handled when you found out?

Doing the Dance of the Children, one day at a time~

Today marked the end of week 3. I’m super excited about the end of this week because it means that tomorrow is the special event at GNC for all Kraze Boot Camp-ers and those who are thinking of becoming Kraze Boot Camp-ers. I’m finally going to get the RIGHT protein powder so that I can start making those post-work out shakes! And the BEST part is that I’ll be getting a great discount on it!

If you want to find out what products to use and how to use them or if you already have a favorite product, come out tomorrow from 10-12, do a little sampling, meet other Boot Campers and let the GNC staff know you’re part of Kraze Boot Camps (even if you’re thinking about trying a class out) to get in on this great deal!

I’m going to repost Aaron’s invite so that you can have all the correct info!

Time
Tomorrow · 10:00am – 12:00pm
Location GNC in Hillcrest,
658 University Ave SD, CA 92103
San Diego, CA

“I am PROUD to announce that KRAZE Boot Camps has officially partnered up with 7, GNC (General Nutrition Center) stores throughout San Diego!

That being said, we will be having our FIRST, promotional event with the store off of University Ave, THIS Saturday, August 14th, from 10am-12pm, IMMEDIATELY following Beach Boot Camp!!!

Please come and support your BOOTCAMP Program, and stop by for some FREE samples of products, and the opportunity to LEARN about the benefits of proper supplementation! TAKE ADVANTAGE!!!”

So, there you have it! Come on out! Hope to see you there!

Yesterday afternoon we packed up and headed over to the New Children’s Museum. We decided to take advantage of the Target Free Second Sundays.  Every second Sunday is sponsored by Target and admission is free.  What a great place!  7 of the kids came along, ages 4 yrs.-16 yrs. and everyone had a great time.  There was truly something for everyone to enjoy!

Max had fun trying on silly appendages.

Luke-Xavier tried riding the chariots (he had more success going backward than forward!)

Tristan making a clay creation

Mariah and Maddi didn’t hesitate to get into the paint.

After we’d spent awhile exploring the museum, we decided to go across the parking lot to the playground.

Gabi trying out the climber.

Mariah, Maddi and Gabi used team work to have fun on these pieces of equipment.

Even I got into the fun. Mariah and I had fun trying this one out. It’s not often M.O.M. gets to play too!

It was a beautiful San Diego, summer’s day and thanks to Target and their dedication to supporting the arts and to the New Children’s Museum and all the wonderful things they have to do and explore, we had a great afternoon! If you haven’t had the chance to explore the museum yet take a few hours and go have some creative fun! If you’re on the lookout for inexpensive or free family fun, head over there on the Second Sunday of the month!

Doing the Dance of the Children and trying to keep summertime affordable~

Over the last couple of days I’ve had 2 questions on my mind. I’m hoping to hear what your experiences have been (if any) with either or both of these-

1) has a child of yours ever had a friend who repeatedly blamed them for things they didn’t do?

2) Have you ever been at a playground (or in a shared playing experience) and had and unpleasant parent ruin the experience to the point that you felt that it was time to leave?

I can’t wait to hear how you’ve dealt with these things.

Doing the Dance of the Children and always looking for the best Dance steps~

Today was full of writing, but I realized that none of it actually covered the busyness that’s happening within these walls.

All this week we are making sure to have “spread out” dinners, which means that everyone is sitting together and eating together while all the food is “spread out” on the table. The extra effort to get everyone together is because it’s nearing the end of the summer, Kateri is leaving for school in a week and a half and she has a visitor for the next week. This has sparked us to open the door, set the table and have meals for 12-14 people each night. Unfortunately JJ isn’t here to enjoy them with us. He left for France, yesterday morning. He’ll be working for a family for the next 3 weeks and then traveling to Portugal to visit with my sister. There’s a possibility that he’ll be able to visit Italy and/or Germany, as well.

On top of the full dinner table, we are having to prepare for Mariah to get her license, everyone to go back to school and 2 other big changes that I haven’t discussed yet, but that you’ll here about soon.

Gosh I’m tired! There is WAY too much going on and WAY too much to think about!

But for tonight I’m going to sign off, go pick Mariah up from work and get some rest. That alarm rings pretty early each day so that I can try to stay healthy and energetic enough to keep it all happenin’.

Doing the Dance of the Children~

Instead of writing a lengthy post about all we’ve done and the great people who have shared their time, homes and meals with us, I’ll tell the story of the last couple of days in pictures.

Jen and I had a birthday lunch at one of my favorite places in Old Town Auburn

We were invited to spend the afternoon at this beautiful pool with one of my closest friends from high school and her daughter.

At my Aunt and Uncle’s house the kids felt right at home. Gabi found a story doll and told us all the story of Little Red Riding Hood

There were lots of animals for the kids to “love”

Lex chased chickens. It not everyday a Lil Beach-Goer gets to even SEE chickens, let alone catch them! The boys loved it!

Then there were the goats! They spent plenty of time feeding and riding them. These kiddos smelled like livestock by the end of the evening. They couldn’t have been happier!

The boys, heading off to the water slide at the Roseville Aquatic Center

Lex and Alex have been so cute playing together. We’ve found them quietly in the sandbox or making up games. They enjoyed the Aquatic Center together.

Gabi’s been surrounded by boys this whole trip. She’s done a great job of just going along with the boy’s games and getting along with everyone (ok, there have been a few instances of girlyness with her brothers. But mostly she’s done really well).

It’s been a great trip! Today I get to visit with one of my closest friends from school and to meet her children. It’s been so nice to visit with people I shared parts of my life with and to watch our children play together. Today we’ll visit another new pool and soak up some more sun while catching up on the lives of the people who I’ve been away from for so long. Living the life of the Military Family has really kept me away from so many people. Along the way I’ve gotten to meet so many wonderful people who I hope to keep close to, but it’s really good to go “home” for a little bit and to share it with my kids.

Doing the Dance of the Children~

Back to Kraze Boot Camp class!

This morning was the first one that you could tell that the sun was going to come out and the sky was going to be blue. It felt GREAT to be out early in the morning and to start the day with the breeze off the water and the sun beginning to shine. The feeling has carried me through the day, so far. I feel like I was plugged in and recharged and can take on the world. Seriously! It was a magical combo for me!

Here I am in Week 4-it’s the last few days of this session and I’m feeling great! My stamina for the exercises has grown, my soreness is almost non-existent, my clothes are fitting better, my skin is clear and healthy looking, my shoulder and back pain are almost completely gone, my energy is up, I’m sleeping better, my caffeine intake is WAY down, my water intake is up, my food choices are healthier…Ummm, I can’t find a downside to working out! This is GREAT!

Honestly, I have only positive things to say. Aaron has been positive and encouraging. The rest of the Boot Campers are upbeat and happy to start their day with the class. If I could bottle this feeling I’d send you each a lil bottle to try!

If you’re local and can find a day or time to come on out and give a class a try, I encourage you to do so. Join me for the next set of classes! I’d love to see more friendly faces! Take a look around the Kraze Boot Camp website or contact Aaron for locations and times. This feels too good not to share!

Mommy of Many™-Doing the Dance of the Children with a Spring in My Step, Thanks to Kraze Boot Camps~

I am a creature of habit. I work best when I know what’s in front of me. I think that’s probably the same for most of us. Surprises in our routines make things a little harder.

When I got to Kraze Boot Camp this morning I saw Aaron setting some things out and I realized that the routine that I thought I had learned to expect, yesterday would be different today. ~Big Breath~ To myself I said, “it’s ok! You made it through yesterday, when you didn’t know what to expect and you’ll make it through whatever is coming your way today. It’s one hour. ONE HOUR! You can do this. Go!”.

And so I did.

Day 2 was a success. I’ve decided that it’s important to measure success in the small things. I’m not looking for grandeur and I’m not setting huge goals. I just want to motivate myself to get to class each morning and commit to the hour. Today’s successes were-1) I showed up with my gear, on-time and was ready to TRY whatever was thrown at me. 2)I RAN 1 1/2 of the 2 laps for our warm-up. I had told myself that I would run 1 lap and if it became too much, I’d allow myself to walk the other. Yea for beating my own expectations! 3) I remembered my important rules about water and the sweatshirt. The sweatshirt was brought, but was not needed Surely a success! 4) The abs part of the program was, again, the simplest part…not easy, but the simplest. Must be all those years ago that I worked so hard to Cher’s abs workout. I guess they’re remembering.

I am sore. Kateri is sore. But we are looking at each day and moving forward.

A few things I noticed-1) I did not want to have a glass of wine last night. Not that I rely on a glass of wine each evening or that I even have 1 every night. But last night, when I thought about it, I just really didn’t want it. 2) I normally have 2 cups of coffee in the morning to get going and out the door. I drank 1/2 a cup this morn and headed out the door. Wow! 1/2 a cup?! ME?! 3) I am fairly flexible. Stretching is one of the things I look most forward to and it feels amazing. I can stretch farther than I would have thought. 4) My poor heart and lungs have been ignored! Cardio is hard for me. Gotta work on making it easier!

So, Day 2-Done! Looking forward to Days 3 and 4, mostly because I’m goal oriented and I know that after Day 4 there’s a 3-day break. I am NOT looking forward to what next Monday is going to feel like!

Thank you for all the encouragement I’ve received! It definitely helped. Let’s do this!

Have a great day~

I am a 38 yr old woman who’s given birth to 9 children. I’ve watched my body change many times. Some changes were great and some I was totally uncomfortable with. Over the last 2 years I lost 35 lbs. I attribute the weight loss, in part, to having my youngest child getting older, no longer breast feeding and making a few changes in the choices I made when eating. I didn’t adopt an exercise plan or a strict way of eating. I started to feel GREAT. I loved the fact that I went from a size 14 to a size 6 and had to buy all new clothes! But over the last couple of months I let stress bring some old and unhealthy habits back into my life and I’ve watched 10 of those lbs. find their way back to my body. I hate the way it feels and, frankly, I know it’s just time to TRULY ditch these bad habits and ways of thinking and get into a better frame of mind. SOOOOO, I decided to join Kraze Boot Camps and let the energy of a group and the commitment of blogging the journey, carry me through to a point where I can make a healthier way of living and feeling more energetic, MY way of life.

Day 1-I’m glad Kateri has decided to join also. I’m glad there will be a friendly and perhaps sympathetic face in the group! We leave later than I wanted and I’m tense. I miss the turn and we have to call for directions. We’re nearly late…this also makes me tense. Grrrrr….I am not the best with new things and I’m nervous and tense and I don’t know what to expect. I have my hand-weights, my mat, water and am dressed for the occassion (though I’ve decided I’d like pants w/ an elastic band instead of a tie-had to retie the stupid pants twice…GRRRRR!). We find places for our mats and it all begins.

Warm ups-By the 2nd repetition I realized 2 things #1-I am woefully out of shape. I can’t actually remember when the last time I was “exercising”.  I mean really exercising, not just picking the kids up or being on my feet all day. Truly! I know I took some step classes at the YMCA, but that was probably around the time that Luke-Xavier was a few months old because he was in the class with me and happily stayed where I put him. Long time ago! #2-I can not and should not drink much water BEFORE the class. I have a M.O.M. bladder. This is not a good thing. I should probably be doing more (many more) kegles. I had to leave for the bathroom and figure out the best plan of action for what was happening when I participated in the Jumping Jacks. I opted for the old “sweatshirt around the waist” look. You can bet on 2 things-I will not drink much water before tomorrow’s work-out and I will ALWAYS have a sweatshirt with me. ‘nuf said!

After my 2 important revelations, I went back and joined the routine. The final part of the warm up was a 2-lap run. I don’t run. I wasn’t even sure if I COULD. The closest I EVER come to running is screaming at one of the older kids to HURRY and get Lex out of the street before he gets hit by a car. I walk. I bike ride. I NEVER run.

I ran…more than once.

After a bunch of stuff, we were pointed toward stairs and told to run to them. Yep *run* to the stairs. Under normal circumstances I would have looked at those stairs and heard the music playing and envision Rocky as he tackled step after step. These were not “normal” circumstances and I didn’t think of Rocky-not once. Tells you where my head was. Instead I was glad for a visual marker of how far I needed to run and I hoped that the black dots that had started to form in front of my eyes wouldn’t hinder me or make me fall DOWN those stairs. With encouragement I did, in fact, run to those stairs. I could not, however run up them, instead I walked, 3 times. But each time I was leery of going down because of the black spots. The good news is that I neither passed out nor fell. Success!

Then it was back to our mats for ab work. This was the simplest part for me. THANK YOU LORD for a simplish part. Notice I did not use the word “easy”. That would be a lie.

So, I successfully completed day 1. I know that this week is going to continue to be challenging. I know that I’m going to want to quit. I know that I’m going to be sore (starting in my bum and one calf, already). But I also know that I’m going to continue because I want to know what it feels like by week 3 and then I want to know what the last day of week 4 feels like.

I’m thankful for a program that I can do that’s early enough in the morning that it doesn’t hinder my family’s day. If this was not happening at 6 am I’d be hard-pressed to figure it into my day. Seriously!

When I got home, around 7:30, I had just enough time to shower, get dressed, apply make-up, fix my hair, make sure the 4 youngest kiddos were fed and dressed, pick Kateri up from her apartment, get her to work and get the lil kids to VBS by 9am. Whew! Then is was off to the high school to pick Anna and Maddi up from summer school, take Mariah to work and get back to the lil kids to be picked up by noon. I then handed them to Maddi to be fed lunch while I ran a couple of errands. Then off to the park for some fun time. My point?…

If I can find a lil time in my days of Doing the Dance of the Children, I’m pretty sure anyone can. I’m here to encourage you to join me and step out of your comfort zone and find a little time to get in a healthier place. The better shape my mind and body are in, the more natural energy I’m going to have (hint, hint on trying to drink less caffeine).  It’s a good goal!

Doing the Dance of the Children on Day 1 of Kraze Boot Camps~