Eating Healthy...With TIU

Every time I go grocery shopping, I have the same thought. So I thought I'd finally blog about it.

Do you ever stop and look at your cart as you're shopping??  I have a system of shopping. I do all the aisles first, then I do the perimeter and produce and deli sections.

And when I'm finished going through ALL the aisles, this is usually what my cart looks like:

Yes, shopping with 3 kids is always fun. lol

Really, the only thing I ever get in the aisles are canned veggies (like corn and diced tomatoes), beans, quinoa, spices, and such...

But after I go through the perimeter??

Yep... my cart overfloweth!  And that's really how it should be. Load up on meats, seafood, veggies, fruits, yogurt (I get big tubs of greek 0% fat) and milks...yes milks... we have regular milk, and 3 different kinds of almond milks. 

So this is my fridge when I get home...

Jammed pack! We actually don't even have enough room for all the fruits and veggies...and we have a fridge in the garage for our overflow of milks and veggies and meats.

If you follow me on FB or IG, then you know that I started the Bikini Series from the Tone It Up girls.   

(that's their mermaid workout.. how perfect for me!?)

They give you 8 weeks of meal plans and recipes... I am loving it!!

Here are some of my favorites so far...

The Root Down Salad (minus the beets)

The Spicy Shrimp Tacos - so YUM!!

Quick Bean Salad

And I start my morning with the Bombshell spell... EVERY morning.

 This is the Baja Burrito Bowl... oh my lanta. So good!

And this is the Breakfast Banana Bowl... or was. Haha

I'm going to be honest here. I do NOT like spinach. I have tried it every way possible. I WANT to like it because I know what a superfood it is. The Breakfast Banana Bowl calls for spinach to be blended in the yogurt. I was going to bypass this recipe. So glad I didn't! ! It was so good! 

After 2 weeks of doing the TIU Nutrition Plan I can feel such a difference in my body from eating the RIGHT way...things I never would've tried on my own. AND I can see a difference in my body. My tire is slowly shrinking...but the amount of "grab" I have on my sides is significantly smaller and my stomach is tighter! I love it!

Of course I'm still getting in my workouts when I can. I try to go running at least twice a week and run at least a 5K.  I try to do yoga at least once, if not twice and the other workouts I like to do weights. LOVE Pump from Beachbody!

Just remember...  if you don't try, you're going to get the same results you've always gotten. And my friend posted this on her FB the other day, and I think it's so perfect!

So now, I must go and meal prep what I can for the week!! Kia Kaha!

Just Another Day

I'm just not sure I can ever have enough beach pictures!

Life Lately

So life lately...

It has been CRAZY busy. I don't know how...or why, but it has. 

But that doesn't mean you can't take an hour out of your day to go fishing with the kids, right??

Brooklynn has finally gotten to the point where Ron can take her fishing and she won't jump in the water immediately. lol

And, my gosh girl. She is just too stinkin' cute! Even at 5:45 in the morning when she wakes up WAY before she should...but then she puts on her favorite Minnie dress that my BF made for her for her birthday and smiles her big smile...

And my Autumn.... just so creative. She was building a campfire with her Lincoln logs... she was very taken with her camping trip with my parents.  And WHY does she look so old here?

Oh, and I found this FABULOUS tank top.   My favorite girl...wearing glasses! It's like we're a mirror. haha

This may be one of my new favorite pictures... my goofy girls and my sweet Caroline.

So, my "mermaid sister" and I started doing the Bikini Series challenge from the Tone It Up girls.  We bought their Nutrition plan....because well, I just couldn't get over that "hump" I was at after the baby and she's getting married. 

(their doing the mermaid workout in that picture - I mean, COME ON...how perfect is this plan!?)

It's probably the best investment.... I love the meal plan and all the recipes!  It has really opened my eyes to how I should be eating and broadening my recipe repetoire. I love most of the recipes too!   Week 2 I was so busy that I didn't get to make a lot of the dinners on the plan, but I had a great "file" of recipes I had as backup from their plan. 

And after 2 weeks I've already lost around 6 pounds!! No pills, no gimmicks...and it's a plan that you can continue on... you can actually live like this.  It's healthy eating and working out. These red pants were ONE of my goal pants and now I can wear them! yay!

5 Month Old Caroline!

So this girl...

This girl that just lights up my day.... who gets this HUGE smile when she sees me for the first time that day or morning....

She's 5 months old now.

Seriously.  I can't believe it. But she is.

So what is Caroline like at 5 months old???

She smiles A LOT.  When I get her out of her bed or come home from work, I get this HUGE smile from her and it just brightens my day.  She loves her sisters too. When they went camping for the weekend and came back after being gone for 2 days, Caroline just got the biggest smile on her face when she saw Autumn. Just makes my heart smile!

She is ALMOST rolling over from her back to her stomach. She's been rolling from stomach to back since the day she was 4 months old.

She's scooting on her back now. Ready to move!

She's BACK to sleeping all night again! YAY!! There was about 2 weeks where she was waking up multiple times a night. She has NEVER done that...and let me tell you, that was NOT good for me...or my kids. lol  But it must have been teething or growing pains because she's back to normal now.

She is STILL spitting up...all.the.time! 

She's wearing 6 month sleepers because she's so long, but her shorts and shirts are still really lose for 3-6 month clothes. 

Life is so crazy with these girls... never clean, never dull, never calm.  But when you look at them like this, in all their goofiness, sweetness, and cuteness.... how can you not love them!?

Happy 5th birthday my sweet girl!!

Weekend Water Life

On the news reports, we keep hearing about all these horrible storms that are coming our way. Every day. Well, the days come and go and no storm!  But this is typical Florida weather. The mornings are bright and sunny and blue...and then the showers come in the late afternoon.  That's just what it is during the summer. So I guess our summer weather has started.  That's fine by me! Because just look at this view!!

The sweet baby girl doesn't hurt the view either.

Look at those baby blues!  They just melt my heart.

Her fingers are constantly shoved in her mouth. It's usually just one, which is just so darn cute. But I think it's safe to say that baby girl is teething. She's fine though...except at night of course - ugh!

The waves were actually really good that day... but of course i was at the beach with no board.

That's ok. The girls and me were having fun on the sand. I mean, how can you go wrong with just being at the beach??

These silly little girls always make me smile....even if it's a seaweed smile!

Another weekend Funday activity we seem to make a constant is on Sunday mornings going paddleboarding with my parents. They switched church services to Saturday night so that we could have fun Sunday mornings.

This time we took the dogs with us. We want to get them to be board dogs.

 They are definitely water dogs!

I think Pete is too old to try something so new and hard on his body, but he sure was loving the water!

My parents brought their dogs too.

Champ was just jumping on all the boards; paddleboards and surfboards alike.

Autumn practiced her surfing skills. My dad just can't wait to get her her own surfboard and start teaching her in the waves.

Champ was doing really good with it! It took a while to teach him how and where to get on the board and where he needed to be, but he did pretty well for his first time...and for being such a puppy.

Autumn started paddling him around too.

Here's all the small dogs... paddling around with Autumn and my dad.

And then when it comes to doing errand like grocery shopping, their just so tired from all of our fun in the sun...they crash in the cart, face down.... in the Pirate's Booty! haha

BUT, I'm ok with them crashing in the cart from having fun being kids. Better than them becoming couch potatoes, right?!