Summer Belongs to You

The title is a song from one of our favorite kid cartoons "Phineas and Ferb" and it fits today!  Swimming lessons followed by a nice family outing to my husband's work picnic, tried gourmet PB&J sandwiches, gourmet cupcakes, and enjoyed street pizza and food truck BBQ.  It was pretty tasty. The kiddos enjoyed the bouncy houses and participating in the sack races.  I forgot the camera though, the only bummer of the day.

We left the picnic to go straight to a birthday party which was more yummy food and outdoor play.  Amazingly after 3 hours of fun, they do not appear tired!  I think we'll see it this evening.

Today has been a good day.  Everyone in the family slept in (very rare for our kiddos), and I was actually the first one up at 7:45am...yes, that is sleeping in for me!  I had time to start a load of laundry, a load in the dishwasher, and even make some homemade banana muffins for breakfast.  That makes me sound like Suzie-Homemaker, not my normal Saturday morning at all, it sure felt great!

We've had such a busy week that I feel like my kiddos have been pulled along behind me as I race around meeting all the many obligations screaming for my attention, so my WITH goal is motivating me to focus on that area of life. 

I've worked hard to catch up at work, and made really good progress.  It's very interesting.  The tasks that I dread to do are the ones that bring the biggest sense of accomplishment when I get them done...hmmm.  I have to remember that for the next time I'm procrastinating on something!  I'm working on finding a balance between giving my best while at work, but not depleting my brain energy so that I can still be present and WITH at home too!

Weight-loss Success?

I stopped weighing myself for several weeks, not intentionally, but out of discouragement in my failure.  My job was and remains very demanding.  Sometimes I have the energy to care about diet and other times the best I can manage is to grab something quick on the way home.

Imagine my surprise at seeing a 5 pound loss from my beginning weight this past week!  It was so exciting.  I thought back over my habits as of late.  I have continued to try and avoid excess sugar intake.  I am eating a lot more school lunches...so I am eating less because those meals are pre-portioned.  And I had been making an effort to have healthier snacks in the house. 

The little things do count.  It has been 6 months from my first goals to lose 7.5 pounds.  I'm over half-way there.  A 10 pound loss by December would be awesome, but if I can reach my goal by September I will be happy.  Happier still if I can keep it off.  I have seen my weight fluctuate in this 6 month effort and I hope I can remain steady.