Pizza night!

Lazy snow day = call to Papa John's delivery.  Scott and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner with a princess and a crust-muncher. 

It's a Dog's Life

Butch has been limping just a little bit lately.  He seems to be favoring one of his hips and Scott made the comment that he thought sleeping on a bed might help him, instead of the floor.  This makes sense to me only because I had to lay down with Elizabeth on the floor ("Mama, yay down...") during our recent trips around the world and my hips hurt when I got up.  

We have dog beds in the garage, but I am grossed out by the thought of bringing them in, so I put them on my list of things to look for.  When I was at Kohl's on Saturday (with the crazies!), they had large dog beds on sale for $11.  Awesome!  I bought two.  

That night, we set one of them up in the living room when we let the dogs in.  Butch sat on it and it looked like a little throw pillow underneath him.  He looked at me like, "What do you want me to do with this, mother?"  As soon as he got off, Tina ran over and mauled herself all into it, so Scott and I decided to take the other back to Kohl's and get a bigger one that I had seen at Target.  

The hard part came when we couldn't tell Butch that.  Poor buddy...there was Tina all warm and cozy on her new bed and he was still on the floor.  He looked at us like, "So Tina can sit on the couch and jump on the big bed and now she gets her own little pillow??!!  What gives?"

Sunday morning was too cold and windy to take our snot nosed, sick kids to church so I ran to Target to get diapers and Butch's new bed.  Yesterday was so cold that they stayed inside all day, even with our heathen children running around.  He must like it!

Oh...and so does Tina...much better than last year at this time.

Merry Christmas, Butchy...

Rachel's Up!

Rachel up??

Cry!!

*Looking for Elizabeth*

Rachel??

Mama!  Rachel up!!

 

Cheese!!

Little Talker

So I have to admit that Elizabeth is a completely different animal now that she can talk.  Scott and I both are amazed at the conversations we can now have with our daughter.  I may be crazy, but I swear her behavior has improved now that she can tell me more about what she wants or needs.  Well...at least we're back to even-keel after our post-traveling-and-getting-spoiled-by-every-relative-that-sees-us behavior roller coaster last week.  

Anyway, last week, we had gone to the store and one of the things I picked up was ice cream.  Elizabeth clearly noticed, asking me for it through most of Kroger.  She is a sucker for sweets (gets it naturally!).

So that night at dinner, I can't remember what we had, but Elizabeth did a pretty good job eating and we were getting up to clear the table.  My child barely glanced in my direction and turned to face Scott head-on.

"Dada, ice cream?"

Scott didn't answer, but looked at me with an expression that both asked if we even had ice cream and expressed disbelief that she had asked him without consulting me.

Before he could answer, she decided to give it another go...still looking at him, expectantly...

"Babe?**  Ice cream??"

I'm not sure who shot water out of their nose further, but regardless, it was her daddy that said, "Of course, honey, you can have some ice cream."  And went to fix it.

Pulling out the bowls, my dear husband asked me if I would like some too.

"Well sure, babe, if you're fixing it, I'll take some ice cream too."

And our little girl was very happy. 

**We have tried to explain to Elizabeth that when we call each other "Babe" or "Baby" it is just another nice name that mommies and daddies call each other.  It's been pretty confusing for her to comprehend and pretty confusing for us to explain as well.  Therefore, I completely understand why, on the Swiss Family Robinson, they always referred to each other as Mother and Father...ha!

21's!

Patience is not my strongest gift...especially when I lift biceps.  I have to admit that time-and-time-again, my arms have suffered simply because I "don't have time" to alternate curls...I would rush through three sets of quick curls and move on.  

And I would have flubby arms.  (The same holds true for lunges and my wobbly "tookus".)

So, I figured it was as good a time as any to refocus my workouts - especially on my dreaded biceps and triceps day.  My tool?  21's! (Which my husband informs me have been around forever, but they were new and exciting for me.  ha!)

You can really do 21's with most lifts.  Choose the exercise and take it through the full, first half of the concentric movement.  Then, bring it half-way back.  Then, back down.  Repeat this lifting of the lower part of the movement seven times.  Then take it back to the half-way point and go to your beginning point.  Back to half-way and back to beginning (seven times).  Then, do seven of the full lift...equaling 21 movements total.

I like to do these with single-arm cable bicep curls.  So I curl the weight and then bring my arm down half-way and then back up for seven.  Then all the way down and to the center for seven.  Then full curls for seven = dead in the water.  

If I do these on my first lift, then I know I've given it my full effort and all other bicep efforts afterward will be gravy.  I am trying to work up the guts to try these with squats...but I would just hate to fall-out at the Y!  For the record, I've been doing these for biceps for the past three weeks and can really feel a difference!  

Here was my bi's and tri's workout today  (all done in super-sets)

Warm-up 5 x 10 pushups alt. with 5 x 12 ab wheel (WEEKLY CHALLENGE!)

3 x "21's" single-arm bicep curl

3 x 15 over-head tricep press

3 x 12 cable bicep curl - with long bar

3 x 12 tricep press with rope

3 x 15 bicep cable curls with rope

3 x 12 single arm tricep pushdown on cable handle

Speaking of Breakfast...

Mama E got me thinking about breakfast foods after the shake post and I have to admit that I get in a huge breakfast and lunch rut with the girls.  I still look back at my mom and think she was brilliant for having a different, hot breakfast scheduled for every day of the week.  Thinking back, I never remember it changing.  

Mondays - poached eggs and toast
Tuesdays- pancakes
Wednesdays - oatmeal and cinnamon rolls
Thursdays - omelets
Fridays - cream of wheat or cocoa wheat
Saturdays - waffles
Sunday- Dad cooked

We always went to school with breakfast in our bellies and I now look back and admire my mom for getting up, getting ready, and preparing this for us before she went to work.  I even have friends who ask if we still have waffles on Saturdays (memories from spending the night) and my dad even made breakfast for my bridal party the morning that we got married (it was a Saturday, so he made waffles, of course!).

I feel so fortunate that I get to stay home and raise my girls...therefore, I really don't have any excuse that my breakfasts and lunches are so...boring.

This morning, I was cooking and Elizabeth peaked over the counter and yelled, "Yay!  Toast!"  

hmmmm...

Which leads me into the fact that I am eternally fired up for the $5 dinner mom's NEW breakfast and lunch cookbook!  I LOVE this woman and found her through a link for her baked oatmeal (which was a lifesaver during a particularly picky eating spell by my daughter).  I have learned so much through her shopping and cooking tips and have really saved our family a ton of money.  I use her meal planning calendar and probably reference her dinner cookbook at least twice a week. 

She is easy to read and has a great sense of humor.  I don't think the cookbook will be out by Christmas, but here is the link to pre-order it and you could always print off the picture to stick in a Christmas card for someone.  Or you could order the dinner cookbook, which I highly recommend.  

Shake it, baby!

I was talking to a good friend of mine the other day who was telling me that she wanted to start making smoothies for breakfast but didn't like yogurt.  She was looking for some healthy options that she could try.  It's really no surprise to our friends, former athletes, or the Fed Ex guy that we would suggest making a shake.

Our supplement delivery - Christmas once a month!

My husband and I are big believers and partakers in shakes and supplements.  A very easy way for my friend to make a shake would be with whey protein.  Whey is an easily digestible protein source that is derived from milk.  You can find it almost anywhere - normally it comes in a 2 lb. tub and runs between $15 and $20.  I tend to be a brat and only drink things that I like the taste of so I normally stay towards the chocolate end of flavors and stick to brands that I know.  (Right now, we have Pure Protein - which you can find at Target or Walmart.)

My husband has a lecture that he gives on the importance of eating protein as soon as you get up, accompanied by a little voice he gives to muscles that yell, "I'm starving!"  If you're interested, I'll get him to chime in on my blog one day.  But for my purposes, I know if I don't eat protein in the morning, I don't lose weight.  Therefore, I make sure I either eat eggs or have a shake.

So...back to our shake.

Get out your blender and decide what kind of shake you want.  Throw in a scoop of your whey and some skim milk (or rice milk or 2% or soy...whatever flips your skirt)...just be sure to measure your liquid with the glass you're going to drink it in.  Now your additions are up to you.  If you like chocolate, be sure you get chocolate whey.  Add some fruit (a banana or some frozen strawberries).  Maybe you want to skip the fruit and make your liquid half milk, half coffee (like a little whey mocha).  

If you want something that sticks to you, throw in a little oatmeal.  If you want something totally fruit flavored, then I'd get vanilla whey.  I've seen some shakes brewed with vanilla whey, milk, brewed green tea, apple sauce and a little cinnamon.  Yum!  I would steer clear of adding peanut butter or something with a higher calorie content unless you're making a post-workout shake (which we'll talk about at a different time).  We normally sprinkle in a little ground flaxseed to get a dose of Omega-3 fatty acids as well!