Saturday Weekly Weigh-In

I LOST 2 pounds this week!!!! I was so excited! I think the Boot Camp is really helping me work out much harder than I do on my own! Yay for the scale going DOWN!!!

Boot Camp!

I had plans tonight of doing a more lengthy blog, but by the time I sat down to write this, it's almost 10:00 and I'm about to go to bed, so I'll give a quicker version...

Boot camp last night was a blast - one of the BEST workouts I've ever had! I even took ibuprofen when I gor home to help ease/prevent soreness! I've done boot camps before when I was a member at 24 Hour Fitness, and really didn't like it. They were more of athletic drills where you need more grace and athleticims, and if you know me well I think you know that grace and athleticism is not me :) But I had researched this ahead of time, and that didn't sound like what this boot camp was going to be, so I signed up in good faith. There are women in this class of all ages (in fact, I'm pretty sure I'm the youngest!) and of all fitness levels. Our instructor was incredibly fun, energetic, and motivational! She pushed us to do more than what I would have ever done (which was my main reason for wanting to do this class). One of our exercises was running with the weights that we had brought in our hands around the permiter of the parking lot. I brought 10-lb weights with me, so it was definitely a challenge, and exhausting, but I felt proud that I could do it! We worked every single millimeter of our body and every muscle group, and it was great! We meet every Tuesday/Thursday from 7-8, and every Saturday from 8-9, so I'll look forward to 12 more weeks of really great, intense workouts!!

Oh, and one of the coolest parts of it was that it's Christian-based (which I was unaware of when I signed up), so we do a quick 10-minute devotional at the end of each workout. That's definitely not something you expect from a great workout, but I loved it :)

First Day of Boot Camp!!

 

Tonight is my first class with Texas Boot Camp!! I'm really excited to try this out! I was offered a good deal online for 12 weeks, so I decided to take it! I can't wait for the new challenge! I'll post later (either as a blog if it's blog-worthy, or a status on Facebook) and let you know how it goes, but I really hope that this gives me the push that I've been looking for to get my butt in gear!!

Meal Planning Monday

I'm short on time to plan my breakfasts and lunches, so I foresee a lot of cereal for breakfast and ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch, but here's our dinner plans for the upcoming week:

Monday:
Tuna Helper, green beans, milk, chocolate banana smoothie

Tuesday:
Tuna Helper leftovers (we're not very exciting this week!)

Wednesday:
Lean Cuisine pizza, salad

Thursday:
Easy Chicken strips, baked potato, broccoli

Friday:
Leftover chicken strips

Saturday:
ABF Fun Day out!! Looking forward to this :)

Sunday:
???

Easter Weekend!

This weekend, Michel and I drove to Longview to spend Good Friday and Saturday with our family (well, most of our family - my parents didn't drive down until Sunday and we weren't there anymore). Anyways, I had Friday off of work, and Michel had Friday and Saturday off of work, and his parents had invited us down for an Easter celebration with Michel's grandparents, so of course we said yes!

While we were in Longview, we had to go visit my sister and her family! Uncle Michel and Aunt Julie just love our niece and nephew so much that we have to go see them any chance we get! (Of course, we love my sister and brother-in-law, too!)

Zane's at a fun age (almost 4 months old) where he's laughing a lot - at absolutely nothing at all - so I got some pictures of him smiling and laughing with Uncle Michel while I got Karys to pose for the camera with me :)

Cute smile from a cute boy!!

I love this little girl so much!

Awww...I love this little boy, too! (And the big boy!)

Being an aunt to these two little kids has been more fun than I ever thought it could be! Michel and I had just started dating when Karys was born, and he had never been around babies before, but it made me so happy to see how comfortable he was around her, and how quickly he loved her, too! We're blessed to be an aunt and uncle to two amazing little kids :) 

My students better love me!!

Why???

Because I've allowed the following two creatures into my home until I can take them to school tomorrow:

Just in case you can't tell what they are, I have a tarantula and FOUR cockroaches (the other three are buried somewhere in their cage) in my apartment!! 

This week we are studying bugs in my classroom - all kinds of bugs. My kids learn best when visual props are present, and because I love my kids and I love to see them learn, I got real bugs for the classroom for this week. 

Just so everybody knows, I HATE spiders of all kids, but tarantulas are way worse than a regular spider because they're hairy and just really scary-looking! And cockroaches are just disgusting! That being said, I'm not excited to have these things in my possession. In fact, the entire time I was carrying them up my apartment stairs, I was so scared I would drop one and the critter inside would be let loose. I was even more scared that I would get in a car accident after I picked them up and then they would be let loose in my car - ewwwww!! But like I said, I love seeing my kids learn, so I know that this will be fun and exciting for them.

In case you're wondering where I got these disgusting creatures, Plano ISD has this fabulous Outdoor Learning Center where you can "borrow" animals and critters of all kids - from birds to mice to insects. Elementary students take field trips to the Outdoor Learning Center, and you can even have someone come to your classroom to do an animal demonstration, so that's where I got these critters, and I'm thankful that they're so easy to borrow because I would NEVER pay money for these things! But they still give me the willies, and I can't wait to get them out of my apartment!

Meal Planning Monday

Monday:

Breakfast - Scrambled egg and egg white with ham and cheese, banana, coffee
Snacks - yogurt, almonds

Lunch - Hot chicken salad sandwich, chips, carrot sticks, grapes

Dinner -Leftover baked mac 'n cheese, salad, ice cream bar

Tuesday:

Breakfast - 2 slices toast w/jelly, 2 slices turkey bacon, banana
Snacks - yogurt, almonds

Lunch - Hot chicken salad sandwich, carrot sticks, grapes

Dinner - Helper meal (chicken fried rice, tuna tetrazzini, or cheeseburger mac - we're short on time this week!), ice cream bar

Wednesday:
Breakfast -1 1/2 c. Cheerios, banana, coffee
Snacks - Strawberries
Lunch - Hot chicken salad sandwich, carrot sticks, apple
Dinner -Date night with the Hares and Howards! (McAlister's Deli)

Thursday:
Breakfast -Strawberry banana smoothie, coffee, NutriGrain waffle
Lunch - Hot chicken salad sandwich, celery sticks, grapes
Dinner -Leftover Helper dinner

 Friday:
Breakfast - Scrambled egg w/ham and cheese, banana, coffee
Lunch -Ham and cheese sandwich, chips (if we still have any), fruit, carrot sticks
Dinner -We're hanging out with our family in Longview - I don't know what we'll be eating!


Saturday:
Breakfast - In Longview
Lunch - In Longview
Dinner - In Longview

 Sunday:
Breakfast - 1 1/2 c. Cheerios
Lunch - Easy chicken strips, oven-baked potato fries (recipe coming at the end of the week!)
Dinner - Lean Cuisine frozen pizza (it's crazy, but I love them!) salad, pudding