Fitness Friday {10.14.2016}

Baby Sam doing his ab workout:

Isn't Sam a cutie!? Leg lifts and crunches are his new favorite thing to do. I wish I had his determination.

My fitness journey has been a rollercoaster. ...a rollercoaster that I am so ready to get off of. However, I still have another 15-25 pounds I'd like to lose, I've been trying through trial and error (lots of error it seems) to figure out what works. Unfortunately, diet wise, low carb seems to work the best for me. It sucks, It really does. Carbs are so tasty but I need to do what works, right? That's what I did this past week and today's weigh in revealed 1.6 pounds lost!! Yay!!

The other part of this equation is working out. I actually have not lifted weights in a few weeks. Mostly b/c I'm having a hard time with motivation to get my butt to the gym in the time I have with our crazy schedule. But also because I'm not sure what I should be doing....bodyweight, light weights, or heavy weights....low reps or high reps...mostly weight lifting or mostly cardio...etc. What I have been doing is practicing yoga regularly and doing more cardio (running and walking)....and of course 2 dance classes a week.

This week's plan:
-Continue with the low carb (with a cheat meal once a week)
-Do something active each day: dance class, run, walk, and/or yoga
-Figure out a workout plan

Lastly, check in again here next Friday. See you then!

Please comment below! I'd love to hear from you! 

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Resolutions Revisited {Reevaluated}

1:Reading and learning more sign language: Fail...no reevaluating this one. I just need to try harder.

2: Crochet a granny square a day for my blanket: So-so...I've missed a couple of days but then made them up...until I missed yesterday.
{Reevaluated} I will crochet or knit everyday it just might not be a whole square or a square at all. One of the days I didn't do a square was b/c a knitted a hat. Also, I contacted the local children's hospital and found out that they take handmade items (wasn't sure since they don't take stuffed animals). I want to start making hats and baby blankets to donate.

My blanket so far and the squares I made last week but haven't attached yet.

3: Fitness:
*eat right and log it: check! I've been good about this everyday: MyFitnessPal
*weights 2-3 times a week: uh....needs work lol I did make it to the y once and did weights. I have plans to go twice this week.

 {Reevaluated} I'm bumping my weights goal down to 2x a week. Once this becomes routine I may add the 3rd day.

*30 Days of Yoga: check! I haven't missed a day! I am absolutely loving the 30 days of Yoga with Adriene  Yoga makes me feel great and I'm seeing progress in my flexibility already. I had planned to do the daily video in the morning but I like sleep too much to get up earlier than I need to. I've been waiting till the kids go to bed and am loving it. It's the perfect way to end the day. I have noticed that I need to lock the dogs out of the room while I practice unless I want them to participate. 

Downward dog = kisses from the dog

Please comment below! I'd love to hear from you! 

© Mama Dani's Musings

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School Update: Jan. 2015

We're about halfway through what the normal school year tends to be so I thought it would be a good time for an update. Over all I say things are going pretty well. Sean and Maddy are both ahead of schedule on math and language arts. They worked faster than I had thought so I think we'll slow it down a little for the second half of the year. We're unfortunately are behind with science and history. Part of it was illnesses (like me being sick most of December). We also never got into a good routine and that was my fault. This will change starting this week. One change I'm making is only concentrating on either science or history per week instead of trying to do both each week. I think this will be the key. With only one of those subjects to concentrate on, it should help me stay more organized and make weekend lesson planning easier.

Mr Skeleton from one of our science lessons

Speaking of organization, this morning while browsing pinterest I found Amongst Lovely Things' post: How I’m Using Spiral Notebooks to Simplify Homeschooling. I thought it was a great idea and since I had some notebooks lying around, I decided to give it a try. I'm hoping it helps keep us organized and on track. Sean and Maddy both seem excited about it.

 Sean and Maddy's notebooks and the basket to hold the notebooks and the day's school books. 

Self care is referring to things like brushing teeth, brushing hair and such. the first page of their notebooks has a list of what they are to do. Sean has laundry on his list b/c today is his laundry day. Maddy's was yesterday. Our laundry schedule is another new thing I'm trying out to keep myself more on track.

 

I even have a notebook of my own. Those items under self refer to things I'd like to do for myself. Today they are all some of my new year's resolutions: 30 days of yoga, crochet a granny square a day, read more, and a reminder that I'm going to go to the gym tonight and lift weights.

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Good Bye 2014, Hello 2015!!

It's that time again! Time to say goodbye to the old year and hello to the new year. I like to say goodbye to the old year by reminiscing.

In 2014:

• We begun the new year will lots of new life in our little suburban homestead ...and more in February! ...and more later in the year that I didn't blog about, including hatching eggs under a broody hen for the first time.
• I focused on my crafty side and opened up my Etsy shop: Made by Mama Dani
• I started the year having just lost a few daycare kiddos but have ended the year with a full house and a nice wait list for my home daycare.
• We said goodbye to our beloved Dachshund Annabelle.
• And said hello to a little firecracker Boomer.
• We started a new school year with Sean in the 1st grade and Maddy in kindergarten.
• I brought back Fun Lunches for the kids.
• The kids had a fun and busy year with Maddy continuing dance, Sean continuing soccer, and Sean starting scouts, and we all started going swimming at the ymca: update post #1 and update post #2
• Maddy turned 5, Sean turned 7 and Emily turned 3 this year. ...my my have they been growing!
• Richard and I celebrated 8 years of marriage! 
• I became serious about bettering myself. I logged my food and made better choices. I worked out regularly with cardio, weight lifting, swimming, and yoga. I've lost about 14 lbs!

Onto the new year! My intentions for 2015:

• As cliche as this is, I plan to continue working at bettering myself. I will work on the last 20-30 lbs I want to lose. I will continue to make good food choices. I will continue to work on making exercise part of my routine. I plan to lift weights 2-3 times a week, have regular swim time with the family, and regularly practice yoga. Join me on my facebook group Girls Rule {Boys Drool} Fitness and/or on MyFitnessPal
• I will be beginning the year with 30 days of Yoga with Yoga with Adriene. I'm going to give morning yoga a shot, wake up and get on the mat before I do anything.
• I will find more time to read. I am working on Wicked and then plan to read the other 3 books in the series.
• I will learn more sign language and share it with the children I care for. I will start this with one of my Christmas gifts this year: Sign to Learn: American Sign Language in the Early Childhood Classroom
• I will expand my butterfly garden this spring. I need to add more nectar plants to attract more butterflies and need to replenish the Milkweed that did not return this year.
• I need to remember to write down all the cute kid moments I want to remember years from now: with my Kids Say series
• And lastly, I will continue with my creative outlet: knitting and crocheting. I have started a stack of crocheted granny squares. My goal is to continue at least 1 square a day until I have enough for a patchwork blanket for myself.

© Mama Dani's Musings

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The Big Announcement!

I'm so excited to make this post tonight. The big announcement is... I have opened up an etsy shop! I've been working on it for a little while now and today I opened the doors to Made By Mama Dani. I decided to open Made By Mama Dani to help fund my craft hobby and to supplement my home daycare business income, especially during times like now when I have openings. Currently I have a few hats and some soaps (goats milk and shea butter, both scented with essential oils). I will definitely be adding other knitted products; I'm starting on one tonight! I also have some ideas for other items to make. I can't wait to make them all and then blog about them here!

Here's a look at my current listings:

My hats:
I love making these. They are the perfect craft for when I'm sitting around watching tv.

   

My soaps:

I have recently fallen in love with essential oils so I thought, why not make soap with them! I plan on getting some other molds though. The flower/leaf ones are a hard plastic that makes getting the soap out difficult. I want to get some silicone molds like the one I used for the mini soaps. 

 

So, there you have it! I hope you take a moment to check out Made By Mama Dani, share it with your friends, and maybe find something you like!

© Mama Dani's Musings

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Good Bye 2013, Hello 2014!

Holy moly am I late with this post. It's almost February! But then again, how long has it been since I wrote a post!? Too long!

I like to begin the year by looking back at the previous year. In 2013:

• Maddy turned 4 and had a mermaid party. 
• I lost count of the butterflies we released.
• We added to our flock and hatched eggs for the first time.
• Our rabbits had successful litters.
• We kept 2 female and 1 male rabbits to expand our rabbitry.
• I processed my first rabbit.
• Maddy preformed in her first dance recital. She did beautifully!
• Sean started playing soccer. Maddy joined him later in the year.
• We're officially homeschoolers. According to our city, Sean's a kindergartner but he's more on the first grade level.
• Richard and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary. 
• We added a house rabbit to our homestead; a lionhead named Thumper.
• Sean turned 6 and had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles party.
• Emily turned 2. She just had a family party but had a Dora/Minion/Thomas the Train cake...her favorite things.
• Our does (minus one that was too young) had another litter in December.

Now to look forward to this year. In 2014, I plan:

• I plan to do monthly photo shoots of the kids.
• I plan to blog more.
• I plan to use natural options more when it comes to medication and cleaning.
• I plan to eat dinner at the kitchen table more...we've become too lazy with this somehow.
• I have something else I plan to do but I'll make that announcement later. ;)

I will post a couple of update posts with more pictures this week.

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No More Excuses

One week ago I decided to quit making excuses about exercising. Time was my biggest excuse so getting up early to exercise made sense...just hard to do. I decided that I would start first thing the next morning b/c there was no reason not to. So, I set my alarm and set out my clothes, shoes, phone/headphones, and dog leash....might as well walk the dog at the same time, right? I had no problem getting up the next morning; I was pumped. I walked about 1.5 miles in about 30 minutes. I felt great!! I had a few hiccups the rest of the week: being sore, baby toddler wanting to nurse when alarm went off, being tired, warm bed seeming better than the chilly outside... but I did it anyways. My excuses didn't seem to be as big once I got outside and once it was all done, I felt amazing! The biggest obstacle was getting up and out the door. As I mentioned earlier, I was also bringing the dog, our pug, Gizmo. She's a crazy dog that has way too much energy. Another bonus is she's starting to be a little calmer and behave a little better! She gets so excited when she sees the leash.

I've been using an app called RunKeeper to track my walks...maybe one day I will actually run. RunKeeper is pretty neat. It uses GPS to map my walk and keeps track of my time. It then calculates my pace and how many calories I burned. I have it let me know when every 10 minutes passes. That helps me keep my pace up. Once I'm done it reads my stats to me and I share it on Facebook. There I've received lots of likes and comments and that has helped motivate me. If you're one that's liked my posts or commented on them, thank you and please keep clicking that "like" button! I'm motivated right now but I know my own motivation will eventually start fading.

But for now, I feel energized, happy, proud, and just all around great...and that is quite motivating!

Check out my stats for this week!

I know I haven't blogged in forever. I guess I need to make a no more excuse promise on that too. I'll work on getting a few update post up soon!

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