Halloween Candy Workouts

Here we go! CANDY-PALOOZA! Saturday is Halloween. How many of you are excited to get dressed up and go trick-or-treating...with your kids I mean! Come on with your kids! I love Halloween. I love dressing up. It is the one day I can be whatever I want to be. And now I get to see Mason's face full of excitement as he goes and knocks on a stranger's door asking/begging for candy from said complete stranger! (How is this legal!)

But still creepy stranger factor allowed, it is still fun! It is still magical for kids, and I want it to be that way for as long as possible. With that being said, how many of us eat our kids Halloween candy??? Cue Jimmy Kimmel!

Well, if you want to avoid the temper tantrums from the kids the next day and not gorge on their sacred candy, check out these charts on what and how many exercises you need to do to negate all those sticky sweets!

So Snickers is my favorite candy and you better believe that in the past I would dig those out of Mason's bag and claim them for myself but not anymore. I WILL NOT BE DOING 50 BURPEES to burn off 1 tiny little fun size bar! 50 BURPEES! What is your favorite candy and how many exercises will you be doing? Comment below. I wanna hear what your favorite Halloween Candy is! 

And, of course, be sure to like our FACEBOOK page and follow us on PINTEREST for motivation, clean eating tips, and healthy lifestyle resources.

October is Infertility Awareness Month

I was reminded that October is Infertility Awareness Month. I have been through my own battle of infertility, which you can read about here, and it seriously saddens me how many of my friends are having infertility problems too. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy!

It is so hard to want and wish for something that is so profoundly right and good, to want to have children and not be able to have them. Often times I found myself comparing my situation to others or question what is going on. "Why can she get pregnant and I can't?" "She is only 16. Why is she able to have a baby?" "What did I do wrong?" I know and believe that it is truly God's timing in all things. And that if it is right it will happen.

I know it is so hard to sit and wait to be blessed with children. I did it for 8 years, trying, praying and hoping. Honestly, the best thing we can do as women with infertility is to work on us and be as healthy as possible so when it is our time to have a family (however that happens either through natural pregnancy, fertility treatments, surrogacy, or adoption) you are ready and prepared and HEALTHY. And someday, our families will grown and the sound of little feet will pitter and patter in our own homes. Stay strong! Don't lose the faith and believe!

Want to take that first step to getting healthy but don't know where to start? Follow me on FACEBOOK for daily motivation and tips. Send me an email or comment below and we can talk about how you can start. It is never too late to work on you. Use it as your outlet to help yourself feel better. But do it for your body so that it is working the best that it can. I blamed myself for my past miscarriage, saying that I wasn't as healthy as I should have been. And it was hard on me mentally. So put your body first. Babies will come. But you need to work on you first! 

And, of course, be sure to like our FACEBOOK page and follow us on PINTEREST for motivation, clean eating tips, and healthy lifestyle resources.

10 Perfectly Spooktacular No Carve Pumpkins

Time to start decorating the house with autumnal inspired foliage and gourds! I hate carving pumpkins because it is slimy, messy and the smell! Can't stand the smell! So I thought I might try something different this year and still decorate the pumpkins but without carving. Here are some great ideas I found!

Corn Husk Covered Pumpkins - By Midwest Living

Glitter Pumpkin Topiary - By A Diamond In The Stuff

The Tangled Web Pumpkin - By Buzzfeed

The Glitter Pumpkin- By the SITS Girls

The Lacey Pumpkin- By Better homes and Garden

The Painted Pumpkin - By Lil' Luna

The Plaid Pumpkin: By Real Simple

The Mumkin - By Circa Dee

The Patterned Pumpkin - By Country Living

The Pumpkin Family - By blue i style

And, of course, be sure to like our FACEBOOK page and follow us on PINTEREST for motivation, clean eating tips, and healthy lifestyle resources.

Hungry For Change

Weekend documentary, I found a NEW ONE (new to me) that I haven't seen! You can find it on Netflix, Amazon Prime Videos, and on Hulu! Check it out and let me know what you think of it! Have you already seen it? Did it change the way you look at what you eat???

Check out the trailer!

And, of course, be sure to like our FACEBOOK page and follow us on PINTEREST for motivation, clean eating tips, and healthy lifestyle resources.

Dreaming

You all know I am all about following your dreams, but I feel like I didn't get any sleep last night because all I did was dream! Anyone else having a rolling movie going on while they sleep to the point they feel like they never slept??? Today is going to be a long day! 

But what dreams you have to pursue, follow those with a passion and determination stronger than anything else and magic will happen!


And, of course, be sure to like our FACEBOOK page and follow us on PINTEREST for motivation, clean eating tips, and healthy lifestyle resources.

It's OCTOBER!

I love October so much! Growing up it was the month that we could start wearing sweatshirts in the mornings because it was actually a little chilly. In high school it was also the month where in marching band we actually opted to keep our band jackets on because it was a little cold at the football games.

It is all about warm cozy fires, apple picking, corn maze fun having, pumpkin everything (though I am not a pumpkin fan, the hubs sure is!), changing leaves, foggy mornings, hot apple cider, tricks and treats and of course my favorite thing of all, HALLOWEEN! It's my second favorite holiday next to Christmas. It is the day that I can be anyone I want to be! A princess, a pirate, a maiden. Anyone! You all probably know by now that I love to dress up every year, and finally we are doing family themed costumes! (Thanks to Mason joining the family!)

2 years ago we announced our pregnancy with this...

Last year we were a family of pirates! Isn't that parrot cute?!?

And this year...we are already in charge of a small herd of dinosaurs might as well make the kids dress the part! I am so excited and Mason CAN NOT WAIT for his costume to get here. Every day he asks, "is my costume here yet???" Collin's arrived last week so Mason is super jealous!

What fun halloween things do you do as a family?

Also if you are ready to get fit before the holidays even start and want to join me for the October health and fitness support group, fill out this form HERE! I am going to have fall specific clean eating recipes, fun Halloween activities to help you stay healthy before the hoards of ghouls and goblins knock on your door this year! Let's slim down before the holidays together!


And, of course, be sure to like our FACEBOOK page and follow us on PINTEREST for motivation, clean eating tips, and healthy lifestyle resources.

You Are Not Weak For Crying

Yesterday was a really powerful day for me. It started as any normal day. Getting up and getting Mason ready for preschool and breakfast made. I needed onions for my breakfast and started cutting into a nice huge onion. And then that familiar burning and stinging and crying happened from the onion. I finished chopping, washed my hands and just felt empty and hallow. And the tears kept coming and coming. I just felt drained. On the way home from dropping Mason off at school again I felt empty and hallow. I was grieving knowing that my due date was any day and it wasn't going to happen.

I knew this day was going to happen. At some point. I didn't know when or how or anything but I knew I would have a breakdown day. The tears kept coming and coming. Those hot and heavy tears full of sorrow and pain. I called Matt and told him I was having a bad day and I couldn't stop crying. 20 minutes later he walked in the door with a flower, strawberries and of course chocolate! (I have done pretty good though not eating the chocolate!)

He held me as I continued to cry. Normally when I am in pain or sad or crying I push everyone away. But not today. I let him hold me. Counseling has helped. I am letting people in! The tears didn't stop. I just kept crying. Anytime I thought I would be done I wasn't.

Matt picked Mason up from lunch and we had lunch. Kids went down for a nap and Matt sent me up for one too! Thankfully it was a Wednesday and I had my weekly counseling session. I didn't get ready. I didn't change clothes. I just went puffy swollen face and all. Talked through it. And felt lighter and so much better. I finally stopped crying uncontrollably after my session. Matt and I talked about my session and we just grieved together yesterday.

So thankful to my husband for just dropping what he was doing to take care of me. His work is so important but he still took care of me. I also realized that yesterday that I hadn't let all my feelings out. That I was still bottling them in and they just exploded yesterday. and it is okay!

Crying is not a sign of weakness. And for years I always thought it had. For me it just meant that I was holding too many things in at once and something had to give!

Hope

This past Saturday I finished my fourth piano solo composition. Bet you didn't know that I have actually dabbled in writing music? I am not a mastermind at music composition but I just write what comes to me and take it from there. Sometimes I hear a melody and I can get swept up in it and write a decent amount of music in a day, or sitting and that is really what happened with this one. It has been on my mind almost every day since I started it. I started writing again, a brand new song, on the 30th of August. And now less than 30 days I have completed it.

I have titled it Hope, or A Mother's Hope (still deciding). It really is about my roller coaster of a ride with having babies. All the struggles and joys I have experienced.

I was inspired to finish it when my sister in law had her baby. A red headed little girl. Which is what I always imagined my baby girl would be. I am not going to lie. I am jealous, I am sad. My due date was actually this coming Saturday on the 26th. My sis-in-law and I were both expecting at the same time. And it is hard knowing that she has her little girl and I don't... yet. I know this might seem petty, and I am not writing this to get pity or make my sister in law feel upset for having her baby, or anyone else for that matter. I am saying this because it is normal and natural to experiences these feelings of jealousy, anger, frustration, and sadness. It is ok to feel these things. And don't let anyone tell you different! It is also about how we express those feelings. Being angry at our family or anyone because they have something you don't is not the best right. The feelings need to be talked about, expressed and released. I needed to get those feelings out and I did it through my music. I was bawling my eyes out when my music took a turn I wasn't expecting. Mimicking the sadness and grief I felt when I lost her. But the end is so hopeful. I know that someday when the time is right she will join our family. This is not in my control. I am on God's timeline and at this point, I am hopeful that someday she will be with us. When that will be? I have no idea but I have hope that she will be here when it is her right time.

I am thankful that I have the talent to be able to play my feelings out. Holding them in is the last thing I want to do. I have to let them out. In any way I can. Music, art, dancing anything creative that you can do to help you express those feelings so that you can feel free, lifted and just at peace with what is being thrown your way. Trust in yourself and in God that you can get through this and you will. I am so happy for my sister in law and her family for her little girl making it safely here. Babies are a miracle no matter what! It is hard work making a baby!

Food Volume Matters!

Why are we encouraged to eat veggies and fruits with our meals? Yes we all know that eating our veggies is good for us because they contain vitamins and minerals in them that might not be found as easily or easy for our bodies to process but there is a whole other reason to it too! VOLUME! Veggies fill up our stomach and trigger that signal in our brains that tells us "HEY YOU'RE FULL! STOP EATING!"

The whole point to adding veggies, a cup or two at a time, with our meals is to add volume to our meal. Check out the picture below to see what I am talking about! Think about it. When you eat the "recommended" serving size of pasta you are still hungry and want more. Why? Because the pasta alone is not enough to fill you up. (Anytime we went to Olive Garden I would always get the salad for me and eat half the bowl and I could barely eat any of my actual pasta dish. This is why. I didn't realize what I was doing at the time but this is why.) Or sometimes with meats I still feel hungry. Yes the meat is a heavy thing to eat but I also tended to over eat on the amount. 

When you are making a sandwich, don't just add lettuce. Top it with bell peppers or have them on the side. Get more veggies in your diets so that your body will trigger that I'm full signal and you will feel satisfied longer and more sustained until your next meal! 

A typical breakfast that I have is 2 egg whites (now whites to clean up my nutrition) and 1 whole egg. And 1 cup (or 1 green container for all you fixers out there) of bell peppers and onions. Plus I have 1/2 cup of oatmeal (2 yellows) with 1 tablespoon flaxseed (blue) (and just a

touch of honey to help with allergies), and an apple (purple). VOLUME! I am satisfied to full when I eat my breakfast!

And I am not talking about adding a salad to your dinner or lunch. I really dislike salads! They make me feel like I am dieting too much. I am talking adding in bell peppers to dip in hummus, or adding in caramelized onions on top of or with your chicken. Roasted butternut squash as a side sprinkled with cinnamon. Check out these Apple Cider Brussels Sprouts by Chef Chloe! These look awesome! Need helpful side dishes to get more veggies. PINTEREST is the best! Just go looking and you will find it! 

(Chef Chole's Apple Cider Brussels Sprouts)

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free daily advice, support, motivation, encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey! Are you following my INSTAGRAM yet? Check out my stories and feed to see how I fit a healthy lifestyle into my busy mom life!

You Never Know Who You Are Inspiring!

I hate to admit it but I am kinda of digging my new morning schedule. I am 4 for 4 this week on getting my workouts done early in the morning. I am waking up at 6am. Rolling out of bed by 6:30 and busting out my workouts first thing. 

Mason says every morning now, "I wanna workout with you mommy!" Music to my ears! Today though, he was holding my legs during one of my ab exercises (ouch!) and I asked him to stop. He said no. I said, "Do you want mommy to be healthy?" He said, "YEP!" and let go of my legs and sat on the couch and watched me. This kid wants his momma to be a healthy mom and I think he sees the importance of if! 

Never give up. Workout, exercise, eat clean in front of your kids. You never, ever know who you are inspiring!

Potty Training Tips For Preschool

Well the day is here! Mason has started school! And HE LOVES IT! Everyday since the first day of school he has come running up to me thanking me for taking him to preschool and that he loves me so much! It just melts my heart!

Yesterday he did have a little trouble getting his jean shorts pulled up after the potty. They had just had play time at the playground and he was all hot and sweaty, but just in case, I ran out and got him some elastic waist band shorts to make it easier on him and the teachers.

So one of the rules at this preschool is that he has to be completely and totally potty trained to attend. That is he do it all on his own. EVERYTHING! We worked all summer for this. Mason knew to go to pre school he had to be able to do it all. And when he finally did start using the potty full time after he did he would ask, "Can I go to preschool now!" and here we are. AT PRESCHOOL!

Here is what we did to help potty train Mason over the summer.

We have been trying since 2.5 years to potty train him. Started with just letting him walk naked and tell us if he needs to go potty. Didn't work. I set a timer to go off every 20 minutes to sit on the potty. That didn't work. We gave up a few times. Then tried again. Gave up and tried again. Fast forward to February when I told him he had to go on the potty. He still didn't want to. By May he was wearing underwear (or naked) and would go pee on the potty. But when he had a diaper on for mommy quiet time or night he would go poo! He was holding his poop for the diaper!

The end of June I had enough of that and just let the chips fall where they were. I told him "NO MORE DIAPERS!" And I hid his diapers. I told him that he is in underwear all the time and that we couldn't buy more diapers. He would respond. "The super market has more diapers!" Smarty pants!!! Finally just a few weeks before his 4th birthday he couldn't hold his poop any more and I saw it in his eyes. (cause they about bugged out of his face! He had to go poo!) He ran into the potty and went poop on the potty for the very first time! He then knew he was ready to go to preschool! We have been in underwear 24X7 since the beginning of July! And we are saving money not having to buy him diapers anymore! YEA!

So...
1. Bribing didn't work.
2. Sticker charts didn't work.
3. Songs didn't work.
4. Happy dances didn't work.
5. Apps didn't work.
6. Reading didn't work.

Telling him (fibbing) we had no more diapers and just not putting him in them any more worked! Mental note has been made for child #2, but Collin is not as strong willed as Mason is! (speaking of child #2 I keep asking for my phone so I can get a picture for this post off of it and he keeps fake handing it to me and runs away! LITTLE STINKER! Oh yeah, I just totally made him cry!)

13 LUCKY Years!

This past Saturday the hubs and I celebrated our 13th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! Crazy huh! 13 years I have been with this guy and I love him more than the day we married. It is totally possible to find bliss and happiness! 

We have had an amazing roller coaster of a marriage! We have had great years and years that were not so great but we got through all of them together and stronger. We had so many years, and still dealing with it, the whole kid thing. We were ok with having kids right as we got married but when it didn't happen, and a year went by, then 2, 3 and up to 8 we struggled. I pestered Matt. It was what I wanted but we didn't know what to do because it just wasn't happening. 3 fertility doctors, 54 shots in my belly and 2 IUI's and we finally got Mason. Now we are dealing with miscarriages that have been so hard on me mentally and stronger. But we are doing this together. Matt is there for me and has been there for me every step of the way. I love though that during those years we were able to still travel and spend time together! We had 9 years to get to know each other and build a strong relationship and a great friendship!

Marriage takes work. Even though you love someone you can still get mad at them. But you have to take that effort to talk through it. Forgive and work through any struggles that you might be having. If you are having an argument just holding hands while talking through it helps to not stay mad at them. It helps you stay connected it helps you forgive! It is worth it. At one point in time you fell in love with your partner. Just remember why you did! Check out this awesome video of Chalene Johnson giving relationship advice. It is pretty funny and so true! Check it out. Comment below what you think about it. What you took away from the video! 

I am one lucky lady who married such a great role model for his boys who is strong in his faith, devoted to his family and dedicated to his work!

Thanks hubs for picking me and for going on this crazy life journey with me. 13 years out of forever is pretty sweet!

Preschool Lunch

Mason is starting pre-school in 2 weeks from today! YAY!!!! (I may be just a little bit excited for that fact!) He is one picky eater thought and I would much rather him take the option on the left more than the option on the right. I am a clean eater. My son, IS NOT!

(source)

He can eat gold fish till the cows come home. PB&J every meal. No more eggs for him, no more oatmeal. "EWWWW!" is what he says now to that. Pasta, yeah right. And if we tell him he can't have anything else, he would rather not eat at all. (like last night.) He will do hot dogs, without the buns but only if 5 Guys make it. (yeah, at a lost on that one!) No string cheese, no meat, no anything that resembles the color GREEN!

Last night we made these pocket sandwiches (just like in the picture which he said looked good by the way!) And he refused to eat it! He picked out the bread, meat and cheese for it all by himself. And wanted nothing to do with it. He wanted to eat more chips and grapes.

So moms! I got these recipe books from 100 Days of Real Food for help and inspiration. The food looks GREAT! Does anyone out there have any help for me. Tips and tricks. I want him to want to eat healthy foods, and a variety of foods too, not just the same thing over and over. (At least when I do it, is is something more substantial and healthy!) I am at a loss and I really need some help!

I did find this site by Keeley McGuire yesterday for 20 non sandwich lunches while searching. Cute ideas!

(source)

My 5 Biggest Weight Loss Secrets

I am coming up on 20 lbs lost since mid May. In 3 months I will have passed the big 20 pounds loss mark and almost 10% of my starting weight is GONE! THAT IS HUGE! And it is seriously just hitting me how huge that is! I have no idea why I didn't realize it earlier but I didn't!

So would you like to know my secrets??? And guess what, there is no pill, wrap or anything else I do. This is what I am doing to get my results!

1) Decide! The biggest factor to why I am finally losing weight is that I am determined to do this. I have decided that this is the time that I take back my life and I want to be as healthy as possible for the next time that I do get pregnant. And I will get healthy because this is my time. I decided that it was my time and I am DETERMINED! (Even my parents know that when I am determined, nothing will stop me!)

2) Clean eating! You can workout all you want and still get results. But if you combine clean eating with working out the weight will just fall off of you! I am living proof of that. It has happened now more than once in my life that when I start eating clean my body just sheds what it doesn't want which happens to be the excess fat on my body.

3) Exercise! You need to add exercise to your daily life. Even if it is just 30 minutes a day. Combining exercise with your clean eating allows you to build muscle which means you will overall burn more calories during the day because muscle is a CALORIE BURNER!

4) WATER! Drink lots of water! Our bodies need water to survive. It is 0 calories and you can drink as much of it a day as you want. And you can put fresh fruits in it to flavor it up naturally and it tastes so good! It also helps to flush our stuff from your system. Feeling bloated, drink more water! Stopped up, DRINK WATER! Stay hydrated and cut the sugary drinks. Those are not what our bodies NEED!

5) Stay determined! You have decided and you are eating clean, adding in some exercise and putting down the water, now what?!? You have to stay committed and give it everything you have. You have to really want it or else you are going to make excuses and just give up after a few days because you are going to miss your other foods. This isn't about missing foods or feeling like your are depriving yourself. It isn't about punishing yourself or dieting. This is about putting you first. This is about taking back your life. This is about you taking care of you. This is so much more than just the food. This is about you being here for your family. This is about you being able to play with your kids. Run after your kids. Getting up and down off the floor with your kids. This is about you being a good example for your kids. This is about bringing good eating habits into your house so that your kids learn it to and that they won't be one of the statistics of obese children in this country. Find your reason why you have to do this for you and you will be determined and you will stick with it.

My reason why I am doing this. I firmly believe that our baby girl sacrificed her time now to be with us. She saved my life because had the pregnancy continued there could have been other complications that could have done a heck of a lot more damage than what was already done. I also believe she did it so that we could both be healthy, together. If it continued and I made it out ok, she probably would not have been. I owe her  to get as healthy as possible now so that her sacrifice isn't wasted. And I firmly believe that I will get as healthy as possible now because I know I will. I believe in myself that I will.

All you have to do to believe in yourself is to start believing. You can do this. I know it is hard. I know that it might seem impossible but it isn't. You just have to decide, and stick with it and stay determined! You can do this.

Need daily motivation and one on one support? Let me know. We can do this together because you are stronger than you think! I know you can do this!

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here to join my private online community where you get free advice, support and encouragement + a free gift with tips to help you get started with the right mindset for healthier nutrition choices!