Pop Tarts

I just had a bite of Simon's cherry Pop Tart, and I don't care what anyone says...real Pop Tarts are better than Toaster Strudels (spelling??), better than generic toaster pastries, and certainly better than whole wheat toast with low-calorie butter-esque spread. I love the crusty frosting with sprinkles, the gooey inside, and the buttery crust. What a beautiful thing.

Allison in "Training"

Last week was a milestone for me as a new mom - 6 weeks postpartum meant I could start exercising again, so I'm back at the Rec Center attempting to get back into shape. Honestly, I'd like to get back into better shape than I was before. My goal is to someday - relatively soon - be able to run at least a 5K at an 8-minute pace. And have cool-looking biceps (not scary, like Madonna's, just muscular). And visible ab muscles. These things are all several months from becoming reality...right now I'm "running" three 10-minute miles and lifting weights as often as I can get to it - about 4-5 times a week. So anyway, I think it would help me stay motivated to track what I'm doing, plus I can never remember how much weight I lift on each machine, so I'd like to have a record of it somewhere. I looked online and found an awesome free training site, www.trainingpeaks.com, where you can track all kinds of workouts, as well as your diet (thankfully, diet will NOT be part of what I'm tracking, but it is a pretty handy tool if that's what you want to track).
You can create workout and meal plans, then compare your actuals to your plan, and it has all kinds of reporting features. I haven't really done much with it yet, but what I've seen is impressive. It has a daily calendar, with really detailed workout tracking capabilities, and a nifty dashboard with all kinds of graphs and other "pods" you can add and arrange (my former boss at AHS would love this thing). You can even use it from your smart phone (I have a dumb phone, so I will not be doing this), or upgrade to a premium version for a bunch of other features.
Here are some other online trackers I found...I didn't look at all of them, so if you check into these, let me know what you think!

• www.fitclick.com
• www.onlinefitnesslog.com
• www.freeworkoutlog.com
• www.shapelink.com
• www.myfooddiary.com
• www.etrainingjournal.com
• www.mynetdiary.com
• www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/

Baby Sling Discount Code

I found another cool baby gadget - the baby sling - and a coupon code to go with it! Here's the link: http://www.sevenslings.com/index.php/content/home, and the code is family2011. With the code, you knock the price down from $48 plus shipping (horrendous!) to just shipping ($12). I think I'm going to have to get one. I'm still debating, but I may have to do it just to figure out how they're made...how hard could it be? Between these and the udder covers, if I can actually learn to sew, I think I could be raking in the dough. Or at least be able to make cool gifts for my pregnant friends.

Bread and Invisible Men

Yesterday must have been a good day for creating things. Isaac and I made honey wheat bread that turned out perfectly (thank you, bread machine and my lovely ex-coworkers who gave you to me), and Simon created the most adorable invisible men you've ever (not) seen.

The bread

The invisible men

I made soup to go with the bread - the dry mix kind that you just add to boiling water - and it was the perfect dinner (except for the minor inconvenience of listening to the kids whine about having to eat soup and then dumping most of their servings down the drain). It will reappear for lunch today as a baked potato topper. Mmmm.

In homeschooling news, Mrs. Orlano is coming today to check on our progress, so Isaac and I created a little update report for her yesterday. Have we made enough progress? I will have to let you know. We also signed him up for Iowa Tests of Basic Skills in April (yikes!). I really do want to know how he compares to other 4th graders, and I know that he's learned a lot from our time together this winter, but I'm still worried that he'll get low scores - and that it will be my fault. That's kind of selfish, isn't it? I guess I just don't want to let him down or give anyone any reason to doubt that we're doing the right thing by homeschooling.
He'll be taking it with about 10 other homeschooled kids between 3rd and 8th grade.
Isaac is now officially a math whiz; he regularly gets 90 - 100% on his math assignments and is so proud of his work...what a transformation from a month ago! He also loves Bible study, free reading (when I read to him, not so much the other way around), and reading our daily news story. The rest of his schoolwork is less enjoyable, especially the English stuff, but I think he's realizing that sometimes, schoolwork (even homeschool work) is just that - WORK.
We're going to try to get together with his dad and future stepmom to have "conferences" this week, so my mission for today is to put together an update for that meeting. It'll be posted on Isaac's homeschool page when I'm done.

Growing Kids God's Way

Attention all parents in the Carroll area! My church (Grace Christian Fellowship - south of the Carroll Country Club on the Willey blacktop) is hosting a Growing Kids God's Way class starting sometime in April, and yours truly will be either a facilitator or a co-facilitator. It's an awesome 18-week course created by Gary Ezzo (think Babywise) and his wife Marie, which I attended through my church a year ago and absolutely loved. The course involves watching and discussing DVDs as a group, then completing workbook/homework activities as a couple, and it's based on the Ezzo's biblical principles for parenting.

We're having an informational meeting on Sunday, March 20 at 6:30, and I strongly recommend stopping out (there will be snacks). I've updated our Website (http://www.gcffamily.org/gkgw.htm) with some of the course information, as well as some links to more information about the Ezzos. I took this course as a single parent, so if you aren't married, don't worry - the course and the principles can still work for you!

This Weekend in Photos

John, the expert burper, holds Grace after achieving a very loud and juicy one. (Burp, that is.) (From Grace, not from John.)

Double Peanut Butter Paisley Brownies (good for breakfast, lunch, and dinner). Get the recipe off of a bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Chips, or click here: http://www.hersheys.com/recipes/32/Double-Peanut-Butter-Paisley-Brownies.aspx

 

 Grace's new rocker/bouncer, courtesy of our Target gift card. This beat out the crib mobile, because you can use it as a rocking chair up to 40 lbs.!

Me, sacrificing a lamb at KIDS church Sunday morning. I had some reservations about teaching blood covenants and remission of sins to a group of 4-8 year olds, but the gooey, bloody lamb definitely helped get the message across. 

Guess what else we got at Target? A hair dryer! Believe it or not, I actually do need tools to get my hair to look like this.

And that's pretty much it for the weekend. There was a nap or two in there, a trip or two to the Rec Center, and some time with our new best friend Netflix, but other than that, you've seen it all.

It's the Weekend!

The older kids are with their dad this weekend, and John, Grace, and I are trying to come up with reasons to justify a trip to Ames on $3.50 gas. Here is our current list:
1. We can stop and see older sisters Brittany and Kristin. They need to see Grace and receive a delivery of homemade cookies.
2. We have a Target gift card that needs to be spent. We could spend it online, but then we'd have to pay shipping...probably...
3. We haven't been to Sam's club in a while and could potentially save the equivalent of our gas money on bargain bulk food.
4. We could turn the heat way down in the house while we're gone. That'll save some money, right?
5. Mommy needs to leave the house and go somewhere other than Wal-Mart. For mental health reasons.
6. I haven't gotten to try out my new Udder Cover yet. It is purple and awesome looking. I think I could make one, though, and I can barely sew. Not sure they should really retail for $32.

I think we should go, don't you?

P.S. John is claiming that Grace just rolled over. Do we believe him?? Is my baby a genius?