Fit Mommy Friday - Week Six

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Yes, I know I missed checking in for weeks four and five.  We were out of town for week four and last week was Good Friday so I just was not able to get posts done.

I have been doing very good though.  In fact I have lost four pounds!

I am doing pretty good at sticking to my calorie counts but I have dropped my water intake again, this seems to be my biggest downfall.  I have also been doing a really good job at exercising, in fact as soon as I publish this post I am heading out the door to go to the gym before picking the kids up at school. 

Vacations, Tornados, and Easter! Oh my!

It's been a busy month aroumd here.  I mean real busy!  We have been going, going, going.  We love to travel.  We are constantly traveling to new places, and experiencing all kinds of new things. It is because of this I have decided to start a new blog/website all about traveling. 

It's called Stress Free Family Vacations, and is all about traveling.  It is still in it's beginning phases, and I still have a lot of content to add but you should check it out.  (Hint, hint!  You might want to follow it as well because there might just be a nice giveaway coming up soon!)

So here's how our month has gone.

Four weeks ago we decided to try out CoCo Key Water Resort in Cincinnati, Ohio.  We are avid fans of Great Wolf Lodge and are always trying out new water parks.  It's a nice water park but it isn't Great Wolf Lodge.

The weekend after that we went to Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey Circus.  Which was amazing, the kids absolutely loved!  The only downside was that it cost a fortune!  The Cotton Candy cost $15, and snow cones cost $12!  Really?!?!?

The next weekend (which was the weekend before Easter) we went to St. Louis, Missouri.  I had to go there for work on Thursday and Friday but the weekend was spent as family time. 

You can read about our trip to the Gateway Arch here.

And then when we got back it was Holy Week.  We had a very nice Holy Week and an amazing Easter.

However, we have been dealing with rain and extreme severe weather ever since we got home.

Here are some pictures of some of the flooding we have been experiencing.  These pictures were taken on Easter Sunday and the water has risen significantly since then.

And with the severe weather we have been spending a lot of time in the basement waiting out the tornado warnings.  The kids are absolutely tired of getting up in the middle of the night to go to the basement.  We haven't had a good nights sleep in over a week due to the severe weather.

I have been trying not to complain about the inconvenience the severe weather has been causing us because I know many other families have lost loved ones, lost everything they own, and have been displaced from the storms.  They have lost much, much more than just a little bit of sleep.  My heart goes out to those families and they need our prayers.

I would like to say that things will be slowing down around here soon but I just don't see it happening anytime soon!

Baked Potato Wedges

Join us for Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays at Blessed With Grace.

Are you ready for a really simple potato recipe that will be great with hamburgers this summer?  This one is really easy to make and is a snap to put together.  Best of all these potato wedges are baked not fried.

Ingredients:

4 to 6 Medium Potatoes (peeled and cut into wedges)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon parsley

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon garlic

1/2 teaspoon Ground Red Peppers

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2.  Combine all spices.

3.  Coat potato wedges with olive oil and cover with spices.

4.  Place potato wedges on greased pan and bake in oven for twenty minutes.

5.  Turn potato wedges and bake for another twenty minutes.

Menu Plan Monday - April 15th to May 1st

Join us for Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend.  Last week was a horrible week for us as far as sticking to our menu plan.  It didn't happen at all.  This week will be a better week.  I am sure of it.

Here's what I have planned for us this week:

Monday - Cheeseburger Pasta

Tuesday - Italian Sausage with Green Peppers and Onions

Wednesday - Caramelized Onion Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes, Corn

Thursday - Smoked Sausage Au Gratin Skillet

Friday - Beef Stroganoff

Saturday - Eating Out Before Church

Sunday - Breakfast for Dinner - Sausage, Eggs, Biscuits

Menu Plan Monday - April 18th to 24th

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It's Holy Week!  While I am very excited for Easter I am soooo not ready for it.  I am not prepared at all.  In fact until I sat down to write this post I still had no idea what I was going to be cooking this weekend for our Easter dinner.

Here's what we have planned this week:

links to recipes are in red

Monday - fish, macaroni and cheese, corn

Tuesday - Softball eating out

Wednesday - Softball eating out

Thursday - Cheeseburger Pasta

Friday - Ham and Potato Casserole

Saturday (our Easter dinner) - Baked Ham, Bacon Deviled Eggs, Oven Roasted Potatoes and Carrots with Thyme, Stewed Tomatoes, My Grandmother's Green Beans, Greek Easter Bread  

Sunday - Happy Easter!

Menu Plan Monday - April 11th to 17th

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I know I say it EVERY SINGLE MONDAY but I really can't believe it's Monday already.  Time moves just way too fast.  This week wasn't the best week for us as far as cooking. 

The Apple Sage Pork Chops I made on Monday using the McCormicks seasoning packet were not a big hit.  The first few bites were really sweet from the apple juice but after that it was pretty bland.  It's definetly not something we will be trying again, although I did like the convenience of having all the spices pre-measured for me.

On Thursday my husband (despite numerous reminders - but I'm not pointing fingers) forgot to turn the beans on for our White Bean and Ham Soup so we ended up hitting the McDonald's drive thru.

Then on Sunday I put our Corned Beef and Cabbage in the crockpot  before we left for church, and it didn't get done in time for supper.  So instead we had turkey sandwiches, and are having the corned beef tonight.

Not a good week.  

Here's what I have planned for this week:

links to recipes are in red 

Monday - Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

Tuesday - Slow Cooker Pork Fajitas

Wednesday - Italian Sausage with Green Peppers and Onions

Thursday - Eating Out

Friday - Eating Out

Saturday - Eating Out 

Sunday - Smoked Sausage Au Gratin Skillet

Fingerprint Friday

Beki, who blogs at the Rusted Chain, has a blog carnival each Friday called Fingerprint Friday.  It's based upon the Steven Curtis Chapman song that says:
I can see the fingerprints of God

When I look at you

I can see the fingerprints of God

And I know its true

You're a masterpiece

That all creation quietly applauds

And you're covered with the fingerprints of God

 I have been wanting to join Fingerprint Friday for quite a while but just haven't done it.  I read the posts each week, yet I don't write my own.  So this week I am writing my own Fingerprint Friday post.

 

This is my Little Man.  He has been on my mind quite a bit lately, as he is in this stage where he desperately wants to grow up but yet is clinging to his younger ways in so many areas.  He wants to be independent but yet he wants to cuddle with mama, he wants everyone to think he is strong yet he secretly is insecure, he is the center of attention in his class at school with so many friends but still is shy.  It's just such an odd mixture of feelings, and I love this stage. 

Ever since the Teenager moved out he has had a room all to himself, but yet he never wants to be in it and always wants to sleep in someone elses room.  This drives my husband nuts, but I can see Little Man's point.  My daughter's share a room, my husband and I share a room (obviously), and he is all alone. 

This has been an especially bad week for him, and last night he asked me "Can't I just lay with you until I fall asleep and then you put me in my own bed?"  Much to my husband's (and my back's) despair I agreed.  There is something so special being curled up with your baby boy (even if he isn't a baby anymore) as he falls asleep in your arms.  The smell of his hair, the feel of his breathing, and the most precious sounds he makes as he falls asleep. 

He is such a special gift from God, with the fingerprint's of God clearly all over him.

Fit Mommy Friday (Week Three)

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I think my scale is stuck.  Really, I do!  Can digital scales get stuck?  Yeah, that's it.  It has to be stuck because I have lost absolutely NO weight this week, and I have been good.

I have been eating good all week (except for last night when we ate out because we were really busy), have drank more water all week, and exercised at the gym twice. 

I still need to do more for exercising.  I have made it to the gym twice this week, and will go again tommorow.  I bought an exercise ball and some hand weights last weekend hoping that maybe I could fit in a ten or fifteen minute workout in somewhere each day.  Umm, yeah, that hasn't happened yet. 

I still want to continue to add more water into my day.  That's my goal this week.  I am up to around 2 to 3 bottles of water a day and would like to see it closer to 4 a day this week. 

Oh, and I am really tired of salads.  That's what I have been bringing for my lunch at work, and I am bored out of my mind with them.

So now to figure out what to do about that stuck scale....

Caramelized Onion Pork Chops

This post is being linked up to

This Week's Cravings at Mom's Crazy Cooking

and

Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays at Blessed With Grace

Since I have been working my husband has taken over the weekday cooking.  By taken over I mean stirring items in the crockpot, putting already prepared food in the oven, or heating up already prepared food but every now and then he surprises me by cooking for real. 

Last week I had planned for us to have pork chop sandwiches.  Pretty simple, all he had to do was brown the pork chops when I was on my way home so that we could eat when I got there.  However this was one of those times he surprised me and came up with this little recipe all by himself.

Caramelized Onion Pork Chops

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon pepper

1 tablespoon seasoned salt

10 boneless pork chops (2 each for a famiy of five)

olive oil

1 large white onion thinly sliced

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2.  Grease the bottom of a glas pan with olive oil.

3.  Mix together salt, pepper, and seasoned salt.

4.  Brush olive oil on each pork chop, and rub seasoning mixture into each side of pork chop.  When seasoned place pork chops in glass pan.

5.  Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat.  Add onions and stir, cooking until onions are translucent (about 3 minutes).

6.  Cover pork chops with onions and place in oven.

7.  Cook for about 25 minutes or until pork chops are cooked all the way through.

Fit Mommy Friday - Week Two

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Well, this week I didn't lose any weight.  Actually it's not a suprise to me.  I was kind of slack on my eating habits, and it shows.  On Saturday we went to my grandmothers, and she had strawbery shortcake.  We ate out on Sunday, and I had some major cravings on Tuesday night.  However, I did manage to stay within my desired calorie count range on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Getting to the gym was another problem for me this week.  In order to get to the gym I have to get up at 4:45 AM, go to the gym, go back home, and get ready for work.  It's exhausting, especially with all the running I have to do after work.  I did make it to the gym on Tuesday morning with plans to go back on Saturday and Sunday. 

I have been using the Spark People phone app, and their website offers several workout videos.  Some of the beginner workout videos incorporate a balance ball, which I have never used.  I am ordering one from Amazon, and hope to be able to use it on mornings when I just can't get up at 4:45 for the gym but can get out of bed at 5:15 or 5:30.  It might also be able to sneak a workout in at night this way.

I did manage to drink some water everyday this week.  I still am not drinking solely water but feel good about slowly working it in there.  I have terrible migraines, and caffeine helps to keep them at bay. 

So that's my week, not to bad but no weight loss either.  Next week, I really hope to get some more exercise time in, and to continue to drink more water.  I also plan to really watch my calories over the weekend which is when I tend to be more laxe when it comes to counting calories. 

Menu Plan Monday - April 4th to 10th

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The few nights that we ate at home last week were some really good food nights.  On Wednesday night we skipped the pork chop sandwiches and instead experimented with some caramelized onion pork chops that were absolutely amazing.  That same night we perfected our baked potato wedges.  Wednesday nights meal was amazing, and you can look for both recipes to be posted this week. 

Once again it's going to be a busy week filled with softball, baseball, and after school activities. 

Here's what I have planned for this week:

links to recipes are in red

Monday - McCormicks Apple and Sage Pork Chops (I have never tried these seasoning packs before so I will let you know what I think), Baked Potato Wedges (Recipe coming this week)

Tuesday - Sandwiches and Chips (Softball practices)

Wednesday - Italian Sausage with Green Peppers and Onions, Baked Beans, Macaroni and Cheese

Thursday - White Bean and Ham Soup (missed last week), Cornbread

Friday - Cheeseburger Pasta

Saturday - Eating Out

Sunday - Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage, Yummy Dinner Rolls