Staying Active During the School Year

I do a fairly good job every summer of working out consistently. Then school starts and I am entirely too exhausted to do anything when I get home and then I lose my momentum from summer and... I could list all the excuses I have for not being active, but I am not letting myself use those excuses this year.

My goal this year is to work out 3 times a week and to be active any day that I don't work out-either a walk or playing outside with my kids.

Usually my goal for working out is to lose weight. While that would be a nice side effect, it is not my main goal. Any one else feel the effects of aging? I feel like I am still young at 32, but...I am so tired at the end of the day and I wake up with sore muscles. I realize that taking care of myself now is important for my health in the long run. I also want to set an example for my children.

Here is how I will stay active this school year.

1. Remember my WHY? (See above)
2. Make a plan for the week. Look at my and my husband's schedules and plan which will be work out days. 
3. Change into my workout clothes as soon as I get home. 
4. Do something that I don't hate doing. (See below)
5. Repeat

Now, sometimes I really hate working out so if I force myself to do something I hate, it won't last long. I don't have a gym membership and I have two small children at home. I also hate running.  I also cannot wake up early in the morning. I have found a few things that work for me.

• Blogilates
• Cassey puts out a new short work out video every week and she has a huge library on her YouTube Channel. She has a lot of other resources that I haven't used yet. What I like most is the song challenges. These are 3-4 minute videos (the length of a song) where she focuses on one exercise. I can convince myself to do 4-5 videos. I always say I'll just do 3, but then what's one more?
• These are some of my favorite ones. Shape of your Thighs, Sore-y Not Sorry Abs, Inner Thighs Workout, Ab Climber. 
• She also has workout plans for the month. I love that she puts a video out every week because it is usually what convinced me to work out on Mondays. 
• Jillian Michaels (Amazon Affiliates Links Used Here)
• I had some old work out DVDs that I found while I was decluttering this summer. I like the Shed and Shred and Ripped in 30,  and Killer Buns and Thighs. These workouts are hard, but she has modified version of some of the moves and I always feel like I did a good workout afterwards. You may need weights for this; I only have 5 pound weights. 
• Yoga
• This is something I just started. This will be for the days when I can fee like I am too exhausted to get a workout in, but I still want to try something. I am not good at yoga yet and I am not flexible. I downloaded a few apps on my phone that go through a program. Daily Yoga, and Yoga Studio. 
• I did this on the first day of school last week. I had spent the day running around the school and I was exhausted. Also, my kids expected dinner! So I was laying on the couch and decided my body needed something. I downloaded the Daily Yoga App and did 15 minutes of the Stiff Joint routine. 

There it is. My workout plan. Next thing I need to get down is eating better. I will not do supplements or any multilevel marketing thing. My problem is eating too much, but that's for another day.

How do you stay active during the school year?

Hiatus--A New BABY!

 I have been horrible about blogging since LAST APRIL.

Why?

Because I was PREGNANT and had felt so sick and tired all the time. It took a lot of energy to do anything.

And I realize now that I am not pregnant, how tired I felt the entire time I was pregnant. Even though the longest stretch of sleep I have had in 2 months is 4 hours (only 2 times), I am not as tired now as I was then.

So, those are my excuses. So let's see a picture or two!

This little boy is a bit more temperamental than his older sister and is not sleeping through the night like she did at 2 months, but he is still freaking adorable. 

I have 5 weeks of maternity leave left. I am trying to cherish every moment I have with him. So when I spend the whole day on the couch because he wants to be held and my house is a mess, I remind myself that in 15 years, he isn't going to want to cuddle with me! 

That's what is up with me! I am making a commitment to blog at least once a week. I did a lot of awesome things in my classroom since I got pregnant that I need to share (all my energy went to teaching and my toddler). 

2016 Resolutions

I LOVE making resolutions/goals. I do it every year and spend too much time thinking about them. I thought about not doing it this year, or just making a few, but I probably over did it.

Teaching Goals

• Ask a few students every day about their life outside of school
• Be better at classroom management
• Call parents several times a week for positive reasons

Personal Goals

• Read 25 books
• Stick to a budget--My husband and I will be doing the envelope method.--This has a whole bunch of mini goals inside of it. But the overall goal is to not overspend. 
• Go. To. Europe. Finally.
• Run a 1/2 marathon--Maybe, I am still trying to decide if I actually want to do this
• Study scriptures daily--better than I have been
• Compliment more people. I always think them but never say them out loud. 

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving.

I hope you will have a relaxing day today.

I am sure that I am not alone is saying this: I love this time of year. I love the smell, the weather, the time off school. It is the time of year when all my brothers and sisters come on town...its amazing. It is 6 weeks of awesomeness.

I have so much to be grateful for. This has been a great year. I graduated with my Master's and moved into our new house. I got to spend time with my little girl and husband.

When I was a teenager, I had teenager problems (who didn't.) To make myself feel better, I would list everything I was grateful for. I haven't done it in a while because while I have adult problems, I have a better perspective of what life is about. But I still have much to be grateful for.

My small family of my husband and daughter
My big family.
The gospel of Jesus Christ
My house
My career
Books
Television
Internet
A community of teachers
Christmas
Sleeping In

I could keep going, but it is time to get started for the day. To end, here is my little girl.

What are you grateful for today?

I Read Books

I have hobbies. 

One of them is reading. I love a good book and right now I am on a reading kick. And I want to share the good books I've read.

Here are some books I've read this year that I would recommend. 

I saw the movie poster, my cousin said it was good, so I read The Martian. In 24 hours. I really liked the science and engineering in it. It was a realistic book. Then I watched the movie which I really enjoyed, but my husband did not. 

Astronaut Mark Watney becomes standard on Mars after his crew thinks he is dead. He has the science the crap out of the supplies he has in order to stay alive until he can (maybe) get rescued. I was on the edge of my seat reading this. 

I think this is THE mystery book of the year. I was number 250 on the library wait list so I was surprised when I got an email saying it was ready for pick up. I was expecting to have to wait a year to read it. 

Rachel takes the same train every day and every day she sees the same couple in their house. She has created a story around this couple; she's named them and begins to feel like she knows them. Until she sees something about them that she only could have noticed. She goes to the police and become entwined in their story. 

This is like a Beauty and the Beast retelling. The dragon comes once every 10 years to a village and takes one girl to live with him. The dragon is responsible for keeping the dangers of the Wood away for the price of one girl who will serve him for 10 years. Agnieszka fears her best friend will be chosen, but is surprised when she is chosen to leave her family, friends, and village to serve the Dragon for 10 years. 

I cannot say enough how I LOVED this book. It is very fantasy, which is not usually what I like, but this was so good. 

I love Mindy Kaling. Of the few TV shows I keep up with, The Mindy Project is one of them. I loved her first book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? and I've been excited to read this book since I heard she was writing it. I think she is funny, down to earth, and honest. I love the message that she gives about being true to yourself and not taking constant reject as a finality. 

What books have you read would you recommend? I am always adding to my ever growing to-read list. 

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And become this is too short, here is my now two year old. Today is her birthday and we are off to a day of celebrations.

First Day of School 2015

The day went by so fast that I didn't get any pictures during the school day. One students asked "Why is today going by so fast?" Because we were so busy. Bell to bell we were busy getting to know each other, organizing supplies and talking about classroom expectations. 

This is our pre-school family pic. Baby girl started day care last week. It is not going so well. The day care is great but she is still getting used to everything. 

This is one school day, plus 12,000 steps later. I literally had that many steps by the end of the school day. I need more comfortable shoes. After 5 years of teaching, I still haven't found super comfortable, non-ugly, dress shoes. Can't wait until tennis shoes for Friday. 

It was the best first day of school ever. I like that I can say that every year. It must mean that I am getting better. I over planned for the day and didn't get close to finishing everything. 

How was your first day?

New Plan and New House

I thought I had the first few weeks of school planned, but then my district released the scope and sequence for the year.

They changed the first unit to the third unit, so now I am behind.

Now to more planning! But this is my favorite part of the new school year. Not decorating or setting up my classroom. (Anyone want to do that for me?)

This is all in the middle of me packing to move into our new house!

It was supposed to be ready in a week, now it will (hopefully) be two weeks. Right in the middle of inservice. It can't be later! Mostly because our lease is up and we will have no where to go.

Who doesn't like a challenge?

If you have any ideas for teaching decimal operations, send them my way! 

2014 Books Read

I am a reader. I have been since as long as I can remember. My siblings always made fun of me because I would have my nose in a book instead of being outside playing. I begged my parents to take me to libraries and still visit a library at least once a week. I love taking my daughter there. Even though she is only 1, I want her to love libraries as much as I do.

So, here are the books I read in 2014. I had a goal to read 25 and I read 26.

The Cuckoo's Calling, Robert Galbraith (really J.K. Rowling)

The Song of Quarkbeast, Jasper Fforde

The Abundance of Katherines, John Green

Death of a Maid, M.C. Beaton

A Hat Full of Sky, Terry Pratchett

I Shall Wear Midnight,  Terry Pratchett

The One, Kiera Cass

Wedding Night, Sophie Kinsella

Wintersmith, Terry Pratchett

The Bride Wore Size 12, Meg Cabot

Nation, Terry Pratchett

The Thousand Dollar Tan Line, Rob Thomas 

The Elite, Kiera Cass

The Woodcutter, Kate Danley

The Selection, Kiera Cass

Under the Dome, Stephen King

Reached, Ally Condie

Promised, Caragh M. O'Brien

The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman

The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion

Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn

The Saber-Tooth Curriculum, J Abner Peddiwell

The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

Cultural Politics and Education, Michael W Apple

As Texas Goes, Gail Collins

The Fault in Our Stars, John Green

The books in blue are the ones I would recommend reading. Looking at my list though, I finished all of these books so...they weren't all bad. Some years I have books on my list that I read because its there and I am holding out hope that it will be good. Not this year. If it didn't grab my attention in the first 5 pages, I didn't read it. Not something I would tell anyone to always do. But all of these books grabbed my attention really quickly.

What books should I add to my to-read list of 2015? I love finding obscure books that few people have heard of.