Fitness Frenemies, Anniversaries, and other Adventures in the Last Week

Trying to blog more than once a week, I'm sneaking in a post at 11 p.m. on Thursday, a mere 6.75 days after publishing the last one! Let's seen what's happened since last Friday.

On Saturday, I woke up and dragged myself to Orangetheory for the first time in 18 months. I've gained a stubborn and clothing-size-significant 12 lbs. in those last 18 months and after spending 6 months vacillating between a resigned "the nachos are worth it" acceptance and a dark spiral of self-loathing when something new didn't fit, I decided I needed to step up my diet and exercise game.

Hello Old Frenemy

I always enjoyed the OTF workouts, it's a well-planned and intense hour, goes quickly, and is the only way I can make myself run or lift heavier weights, adding more cardio and weight-bearing exercise that I need. I'm now on the 2x/week plan and regardless of the superficial, it already feels so good to be pushed beyond my comfort zone again, even if I did have to go buy new running shoes because all my workouts have been barefoot for the last 18 months.

Speaking of my barefoot workouts, my 3rd Yoga Club Box (affiliate link!) arrived on Saturday too!

I continue to love the surprise and value of each box and the little monthly boost to my exercise drawer. This time I decided I didn't want the tie-back tank (I lay on my back a lot when I work out with yoga and barre and I don't like feeling the knot) and it was super easy to switch it out for a top I love (the same one I got last time in a different color; it's my absolutely fave) that will ship out with my next box along with a bag to send back the one I got this time. So that was nice and easy!

I'm tweaking my diet in addition to shaking up my exercise routine. Nothing crazy, but I do well with guidelines and, nachos notwithstanding, whole and healthy is my preferred way of eating. I just need to be more purposeful about all my meals. Apparently, this is 36. Ugh.

Also on Saturday, Maggie got to go to the vet! All three kids came along for emotional support, regardless of the fact that Maggie adores the vet and likes to go as often as possible.

This time it was for a goopy eye and major skin itchies. She's now on medicated eye drops and a steroid/antihistamine pill.

Oh Mags.

Then, still on Saturday, James and I went out to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary! I had fun with Urban Decay palettes and a youtube video for my eyes and wore a bright pink dress and a necklace James gave me for Christmas several years ago.

It was the 18th anniversary of the night we met, now exactly half my life ago, which seems both impossible and exactly right. It's so amazing to sit next to a person you've been with for that long and enjoy every moment of your fancy night out.

On Sunday we were determined to reinstitute a family tradition of Sunday morning togetherness. Now that the kids sleep in, get up on their own, eat something, and watch a show together without any adult supervision, we've gotten WAY lazy about getting up to do our usual family adventures. And that's been fine- wonderful even- but we miss the purpose to our mornings, so this Sunday we were in the car and on our way to the park at 9 a.m.

It was already 90 degrees and the bulldog was panting after a few minutes, but what a lovely few minutes it was!

Looking forward to much more of this in the fall when Maggie can go on long adventures with us without a risk of instant heat stroke.

On this round she took one trip down the slide took the rest of the day off to recover.

The rest of the holiday weekend involved some workouts (OTF again!), card games, reading, movies (finally saw Avengers Endgame!!), and lots of cooking.

Landon is continuing his diligent work on Don Quixote. In his usual Landon way he's quietly going about it, armed with a plan and set pace (200 pages/week, apparently), interspersing it with shorter books of his choosing. I found this on the kitchen counter and he said he's writing major plot points so as not to forget them when it comes time for the test on the 1,000 page novel. The quiet, self-motivated, practicality of it is just 1000% Landon and it made my heart squeeze.

Tuesday was our actual anniversary and we exchanged gifts and cards at 7 a.m. while getting the three kids off to school and joining efforts to get 2 eye-drops into our objecting bulldog before I ran off to work, armed with a giant cup of hot tea and my workout bag to teach at TCU on my way home. It felt exactly right for 14 years.

James delivered flowers to my office which were a beautiful and cheerful surprise, and then I set up our "fancy picnic dinner" (as the kids have dubbed our traditional charcuterie) post-barre class and before everyone got home from swimming.

Once a tradition started before we could afford a sitter or fancy foods, the meat and cheese night is now one the kids get to join because we can have a separate fancy night out just for us on an adjoining weekend. We get a good bottle of wine and/or champagne and toast to another year, telling the kids stories of when we were dating or our early married years.

Fall 2002, the college dating years

We found our wedding DVD and fired it up for the first time in forever. The kid had never seen it and it was so fun to hear their commentary (like, "Mom! Your voice is different and so is your face! You're so beautiful!"). Fourteen years is enough time for everyone involved to look just a little different...

And so the rest of the week continued, with far less wine and cheese, and more work and the kind of busy that now feels pretty mundane. On Wednesday I bought a piece of art of our neighborhood buy/sell page and Maggie rode along to keep me company. Her little face trying to stick up to see out the window never fails to make me smile.

#ShortLegsBigHeart

Tomorrow my mom comes to visit for her birthday (yay!) and I'm taking off the afternoon to take on our local clearance Dillards with her leading the way. We have some birthday surprises for her at home and are super excited she'll be here to celebrate. As the birthday girl she'll get to pick our dinner (which will almost certainly be Mellow Mushroom pizza), but here's our other meals for this week! Hope you've had a great one!

Sunday: Crockpot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup (SO GOOD; the easiest version of this I've made and the best. I added extra carrot and cut the roux mixture in half and it was still plenty creamy.)

Monday: Oven Jambalaya

Tuesday: Fancy picnic dinner!

Wednesday: Vegetable Chow Mein (Delicious! I doubled the sauce, tripled the noodles, and added tons of extra veggies, and served it with an over easy egg on top of each bowl)

Thursday: Easy Crockpot Creamy Chicken Enchilada Chili

Week 2! Rain, Rocks, and Don Quixote

Apparently we're back to weekly updates. I attempted to write one multiple nights this week, but TCU is back in session which means I'm teaching barre 2 more times/week, James is back in session which means he's not home until 7 each night, I had a PTA work night for my membership data entry, and Ilona Andrews released a new book, the first of a spin-off trilogy in the Hidden Legacy series, on Tuesday that I vowed I would not start until the weekend- an astonishing feat of self-control which lasted for exactly 24 hours when I read until 1 a.m. Wednesday night/Thursday morning. So I'm tired, but I got off 2 hours early today and I have sangria marinating in the fridge and friends coming over to drink it, so I'm feeling perkier.

Let's go back to last week. On Friday we hosted a pool party for our group of close friends which somehow turned into 55 people because we all have too many children but that's fine because we have the pool and a big backyard and everyone was bringing something to the potluck food table and I had a very large quantity of frose spinning in the margarita machine, but then it RAINED.

It thundered and lightninged and so many people were inside my house wearing swimsuits.

Maggie LOVED it.

And we were able to kick the kids out for parts of it where we didn't think they'd be struck by lightning.

But it was perhaps not my most successful party.

It was still great to get together and I think everyone had fun, but there was a lot more indoor mopping than we usually have in our post-party cleanup!

On Saturday, it rained more, so we headed to the climbing gym. Normally this is a thing James does with the kids, but I decided I should join this time. I mean, I'm pretty strong, I can have a long reach, and how hard can it be? Landon climbs up those walls like a little monkey- surely I could do some easy routes for an hour or two.

Um, it's SO HARD. I am strong, really quite very strong! and yet, holy crap, holding yourself against a wall that doesn't seem to want you there while keeping your legs on tiny bumps and your hands on grips that are never quite where you need them and then looking around for the next one while debating with yourself if you reallly want to move your hand off the perfect good grip you're clinging on to with all your might is VERY HARD. It's a bouldering gym, so no ropes, and the fear of falling was a also a bigger factor than I anticipated. I did several white routes and two yellows (the two easiest categories) and decided I'd had a very good time but was now quite done and I will happily wave to my family as they head out for their Saturday climbs while I go get a pedicure or watch a dance movie.

I did get a whole new level of appreciation for Landon's climbing, he's incredibly good and fast and sure. Claire is also amazing! She was my coach and so patient and encouraging. It was also Cora's first time ever climbing and she scampered up routes far quicker than I did and took her "how to fall" lessons very seriously. James is also great, particularly given he has over 200 lbs. to hold up on those little grips. I am by far the worst, but my middle baby cheered like I'd one the Olympics anytime I made it to the top of a route and I must admit, I was just as proud of myself each time.

Other mountain-top moments of my Saturday: finding this collection of OXO storage containers for $20 off the already excellent Costco price!

Is there anything more soothing than cleaning out your pantry, pouring things into bins and then labeling them?

There is not.

On Sunday I had my Yoga Teacher Training class over for a pool party in which my children were the only ones in the pool while we chatted and caught up on each other's lives. After spending 9-12 hours a week together all summer, 9 days apart felt like forever!

The week kicked off and it feels like we've been back in the school routine for ages. The girls love their classes and Cora LOVES Kindergarten, she doesn't even seem put-off by the fact they were doing far harder work at her Montessori school. She's just here for it- the routine, the teacher, the little tables with tiny chairs. She had a project to create an "About Me" mini poster and she did it all by herself and took it all seriously.

Maggie was first assistant.

Cora also got to bring home the class dog over the weekend and it was VERY BIG DEAL. Hearts (whose name might also be Patches? unclear) joined us in all our adventures and Maggie tried to play with him twice.

I think Maggie wants a fur sibling very badly. She's submissive and needs her pack so she doesn't have to pretend to be brave when scary things like trash cans and squirrels approach.

Landon's reader teacher made a challenge to the accelerated class to read Don Quixote for AR. It's worth 92 points, is 981 pages long and contains nearly a million words, and in her many years of teaching only two 6th graders have done it. Obviously Landon immediately raised his hand. He's on page 150 and claiming to enjoy it.

In equally important news, my Brazilian blowout continues to make me ever so happy. See this hair? I had taught barre the night before, slept on it sweaty- which normally means SUPER curly and messy, and then just did a little blow dry and brushing in the morning. What is this magic?

It is especially handy now that I'm back teaching at TCU 2 nights a week, which I love. I had nice big classes this first week back and they're so fun. I also had lunch with the owner of my beloved studio where I teach my Sunday barre class and we are working on some super exciting yoga class news for me! I already miss my yoga instruction and practice teaching so much, I can't wait to sink into it as a true instructor.

And finally, we've arrived at food. Here is my lunch today (I love working from home because I get to make tasty, hot food right when I want to eat it). I'm very into bowls right now: brown rice, quinoa, black beans, tomato, avocado, and an over easy egg. So filling and so delicious, I make extra of the quinoa and just keep it in my fridge for lunches over the weekend.

Monday: Oven Baked Greek Chicken Thighs, Lemon Orzo, sliced tomato and cucumber, feta, Kalamata olives, and this Greek dressing. And naan! This was a delicious recipe, but for a slice of reality, I thought I'd show my kitchen counter when I was done with the marinade:

But I like the two steps because while the chicken was marinating, I cleaned all this up, changed out of my work clothes, and got the rest of dinner ready. So it works for a weeknight dinner, but only if you have time to spread out the steps over 90 minutes like I generally do. (I get home about 5:30 and we eat at 7.)

Tuesday: Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas (total pain in the neck of a recipe I will now reserve for weekends, but freaking delicious and the crisping of the shredded pork at the end was KEY), served in a bowl with brown rice, black beans, avocado, sliced tomato, and an over easy egg with Cilantro Vinaigrette on the top.

Wednesday: Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce and sauteed zucchini, squash, carrot, and spinach.

Thursday: Leftover Carnitas in soft tacos, standard taco toppings, with black beans, brown rice, and corn on the side.

Friday: Black Bean Burgers, Honey Mustard Broccoli Salad (SO GOOD), Tortellini Pesto Pasta Salad, Chips (and Sangria!).

Saturday: Crockpot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup (Yes it's still 100 million degrees outside, but I realized I'd really been missing soup and on the last day of August, we're going to pretend it's fall.)

Sunday: Out for our 14th wedding anniversary! The kids will eat something here, probably Trader Joe's finest organic spaghettios, that I'll pretend they ate with a vegetable side. We will all be happy with our choices.

It's the First Week of School!

My favorite week has come and almost gone! It's the first week of school!

Uniforms were laid out with care, bows were painstakingly selected, brand new backpacks that had been hanging in cubbies for a month were finally used. Traditional pictures were taken, first day handshakes attempted (we need a better 3-person handshake method) and poppyseed bread was consumed.

(Flashback to when our 6th grader was a brand new baby Kindergartner and the handshake tradition I stole from my childhood friend Meg began!)

This year we had two kids starting at new schools: Cora in Kinder and Landon in Middle School! Claire is in 4th and Maggie remains home schooled.

It's so crazy to me that I was pregnant with our current Kindergartner when we took our original Kindergartner to his first day of school. Cora's in that picture, we just hadn't met her yet. And now that Kindergartner is a MIDDLE SCHOOLER. This picture is 6 years old. Six years from now Landon will be a senior in high school and Cora starting middle school. All the cliches about time flying by are true.

Cora the Kindergartner was calm and confident as we walked to her classroom. She got a daddy hug because he needed it and then marched into class and didn't look back. She's been ready for this moment for years.

Claire, always one for additional parent-time, requested a walk to her classroom and so up the stairs we went to drop of our big girl 4th grader who loves the first day of school as much as I do.

Landon's new school starts crazy late (first bell at 9:15!), but he got up for our traditional pictures and to walk the girls to his old stomping ground.

A million years later (like 60 minutes) it was time to meet Landon's crew at our friend's house who lives near the middle school. They were all excited and adorable. James joked about piggy-backing Landon to school, but Landon called his bluff by declaring it a GREAT idea.

But we sent our little ducklings off on foot all by themselves like the big kids they are. We yelled "make good choices!" and took pictures of their backs as they turned the corner and went out of sight.

Maggie found the excitement of the first day prep exhausting and slept through all her lessons.

I was excited all day at work, looking forward to hearing how their days went. The girls had gymnastics at 4, so James took them (he always closes the swim school the first week of school and it's the BEST because he gets the download each day direct from the kids and we figure out our routine before the after-school nannies begin, plus he loves getting to see them at a time of day he's usually in the pool). Landon got dropped off at home by a friend's mom about 5 (normally he'll ride his bike to/from, but we wanted to drive over on the first day) and I skipped yoga on my way home from work in lieu of hearing about his day.

And OY did he have much to tell me! I pulled up in the driveway and closed the gate behind me. I looked in the rearview mirror to ensure the gate was closing and see Landon SPRINTING out of the house, his mouth already moving. He bounded over to my side of the car and as soon as I opened the door, the stream-of-conscious hit me mid-report:

“...so art was great [art is 2nd period, so apparently I'd already missed the discussion of 1st] and we had to direct someone else to draw a picture with a blindfold and I was the director and I picked a unicorn because it was the hardest and this boy from [other school] was my partner and we won a lollipop! He drew a nice unicorn. In social studies we had to organize by birthdays and as soon as she said it I jumped up with two other kids and we got everyone organized REALLY FAST. In math we get extra points on our birthday but since I already had mine I can use my points whenever so I’m going to use them when I just don’t get a topic you know? And reading is going to be GREAT. My teacher has a 1,000 stories and said we won’t learn anything if she tells them all. The AR Word Count Record is 9 million words and it hasn’t been broken in NINE YEARS and I’m going to break it. We have to read one million to graduate the class but we can read ANYTHING! She likes ducks and I forgot to give her the post it’s you bought but I will tomorrow. I think I want a binder? It’s a lot to keep track of in all the classes. No one i know is in my lunch table but Caden sat behind me at a DIFFERENT table but we can still talk because he’s behind me, you know? So I can hear him. Recess is good but I wish all my friends were in it. I have homework but it’s for you and not for me. I gave Caden a pizza roll because he was hungry; no one saw. OH! Computers was easy but probably because we didn’t do anything yet. It’s my first class. Oh, Mom! what are we having for dinner?”

So he had a good day! The girls got home and also reported good days, though in significantly less detail than their brother. Cora learned about raising her hand and thought the rule to be the greatest addition to her life. We are all now expected to raise our hands at dinner. Claire reported that Cora apparently hadn't enjoyed the game played in P.E.:

Claire: "Ms. Luna said that Cora did not like being It at tag in PE."
Cora, indignant: "I was just not playing that game Claire! I didn't understand the rules. I was just playing with Scarlett and I was not ever It!"
Claire, gently: "It's PE Cora. You play the game as a big group."
Cora: "No, Claire, I just decided I was not playing. I did not know the rules!"
Me: "Weren't they explained to you before the game started?"
Cora: with a sigh, "Probably. I just decided I was not going to be It, so I played my OWN game with Scarlett instead."
Claire, to me: "I see why she was a problem."

After Cora received clarification that PE was not just an indoor version of recess, she apparently got on board, but it is extremely Cora to observe a group at play and decide to opt out. She LOVES being in the classroom and doing the work (she noted it's a lot of coloring and not a lot of "hard work" so far; she's hoping it picks up soon) and has made several friends, though she doesn't know any of their names. As she pointed out to me, "I don't need to know their names to play with them Mom."

The week progressed, everyone cheerful and uniformed and absolutely loving school. Landon pooled all his birthday money together and bought an electric scooter. It was delivered Monday night and he was up at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday morning to practice using it so we'd approve his riding it to school.

We did. It's equally strange and amazing to wave goodbye to him from the front porch at 8:30 and then have him scooter back home around 5. It's like sending him off to work each day.

Maggie went with me to drop off the girls on Tuesday, and despite wearing her finest PTA spirit shirt, she couldn't figure out why we were all awake and driving somewhere at 7:30 a.m.

I don't understand the school carpool line and the thought of breaking the rules I don't know is paralyzing, so I always park at our friend's house and walk over.

Maggie, used to picking up the kids, but never involved in drop-off, was horrified when we left the children behind and felt very strongly that we should go retrieve them before leaving.

Also on Tuesday I took the whole day off work to spend the day with James in celebration of being done with my yoga training and him having me back at night. We went out for a fabulous brunch and just enjoyed hanging out in an empty house.

Then I used a groupon for a Brazilian Blowout. I'd always wanted to get one- my hair, when left to dry on its own, is an awful, unworkable mix of frizz, half curl, and floating fine hairs. Blow-drying takes too long and then I still have to straighten it, so I pretty much just wear my hair in a wet ball on top of my head like the professional attorney I am.

But now, it's straight! And not frizzy! It dries in 5 minutes with a blow dryer and I don't have to straighten it at all! I went to hot yoga yesterday morning before work, did a quick partial blow dry so it was no longer dripping down my back, and let it AIR DRY at work and it looked good! Insanity.

Not that you can see it here, but it's straightish!

The family-chosen meals were much enjoyed. Last night was James's at HG and it was delicious. Particularly the dessert he apparently needed two spoons to eat.

As noted in his first-day rapid-fire-report, Landon has decided he's going to break the 9-million word AR reading record that is 7 years old. We'll see about that, but what's important is it finally enabled me to convince him to read Harry Potter. I googled the word count for the series (1.08 million!) and bam, FINALLY, he cracked open The Sorcerer's Stone.

And Claire is finally reading Little House in the Big Woods! I've owned these series to read to children since before my children existed and they are finally being read! I had no chill about any of it. (#HarryPotterFangirlForLIFE)

The only person possibly not loving this week is Maggie who has expressed her displeasure at the tiny humans being gone by pooping in the girls' room three times.

Obviously, she feels terrible. Particularly when James had just rented a Rug Doctor and steamed the rug and then she did it again.

Her guilt is eating her alive and interrupting her sleep, but we've told her that we know she's trying her best.

And so we've made it through the first week! And we're celebrating with my chosen dinner- a big pool party with friends! An accidental tradition started last year, the frosé is about to get spinning in the margarita machine and then I'm making 5 lbs. of pasta salad and picking up a giant Costco cake. Let the splashing, chatting, and frosé-ing begin! (In 5 hours!)