Pool Days

Nothing soothes a boring day, bad moods, or kids driving me crazy like a trip to the pool!  It instantly turns our day better. 

Kind of like the beach.

Caroline is a big fan of it too.  She loves to sit along the edge and just splash and splash and splash.

My little Brooklynn was willing to take of the floaties today and try swimming around. One of the kids in the pool told her she should use his noodle and she was instantly in love with it.  Hey... whatever gets her to want to learn to swim, right?

Caroline and I just hang on the stairs.  She's quite happy with that.

Autumn sure is happy that it's summer time again... I don't blame her. I am too! Nothing like being able to head to the beach or jump in the pool.

Brooklynn sure is proud and excited about her new found noodle skills.  Although she could do this last summer too, but I guess since she was only 2, she doesn't remember that she could -ha!

Here's hoping this is one of the last times we need to go to the neighborhood pool next time we want to jump in the pool. Our pool is "this" close to being finished! One more week?? Maybe two??

8 Week TIU Bikini Series Results Are In!

Well, the results are in from the 8 week bikini series that I joined from Tone It Up. 

I've blogged about the journey in this series {HERE} and {HERE}.

Before I get to the visual results (pictures of my progress!), I want to share with you some NON-scale victories. Well, actually, I don't have scale numbers for you anyway. I just go by how my clothes are fitting and my measurements. And not only can I fit into my clothes again, but they are lose! Like, when you pull your jeans out of the dryer and you spend 30 minutes stretching them out to get them comfortable?? Yeah... when I pull my jeans out of the dryer, they already fit! And then later, they are too big. I love that! Except that means I need new jeans. oh darn - must go shopping!

For one thing... my eating habits.

They have changed SO much! I am a carb-o-holic! I am one of those people that would have pasta for dinner and bread, cereal for breakfast, maybe some rice or a sandwich for lunch... chips (Tortilla chips) for snacks... I LOVE me some carbs! Well, since this Nutrition plan told me what to eat, I ate what it told me to. And guess what rarely appeared in the plan??

Carbs.

Yep. And guess what?  I didn't even realize it until like week 7!  Seriously.

The other day, I was making one of my favorite TIU meals, and I noticed something... most of my meals look like this now....

LOTS of green!

This is one of the few times that carbs make an appearance... the Chili Lime Shrimp Tacos. I love this recipe - I could eat it every week.

If you know me, then you know that I've always worked out. But during this 8 week series, I really made every effort to workout every day. 

Pbviously there are just some days that don't work out that way, but I have just made it part of my schedule and it's just an automatic thing!  During the school year I workout after the kids go to bed, somewhere around 7:30 or 8:00 at night.  During the summer, I get to go back to bootcamp, which means 5:30 in the morning booty calls!

And I have also started getting back into running! I ran my first 10K on Mother's Day.... then I realized that was my new goal, so one day when I went for my run, I decided to do my route again and I ran a whole 10K without stopping!! Must be all those Chia seeds helping with my endurance - ha!

Since I've gone done some inches, it was time for updated workout clothes!

So I went shopping for a few things. Plus, I realized I needed some compression pants for long distance running... figured that out the hard way. Holy chaffing!

So it's the end of the 8 week series... and here are the PICTURE results!

This was me in February... No, it wasn't the start of the 8 week series, but it was close enough. And not much had changed since these pictures anyway.

And HERE are my after pictures!

I still have a lot of work to do, but I am way happier with this body than the other one!  I can fit into my clothes again... I can run 6 miles without stopping! My eating habits are healthier and when I crave the sweets, I know how to do it without going overboard. I can go to the beach and walk around in my bikini and feel good about it! 

I can't wait to start the next series - I'm ready to get Fit, Fierce, and Fabulous!

Friday Favorites

I'm linking up with Andrea, Narci, and Erica for Friday Favorites!

OBVIOUSLY!!

It has been beach season here for a few months now, but now that I'm on summer vacation I can make it a beach day ANY day!

And yes, that is my beach I get to go to!

Bootcamp!!  During the summers, I get to go to bootcamp! Yes, it means getting up at 4:50 in the morning, but I get in such good shape from it! I love it!

My girls. I get to spend time with my 3 girls... whenever I want. AND since Ron is home most days (firefighter schedule), I can also choose to have a me day whenever I want, usually.

Tone It Up.

I am about finished with their 8 week series. Sunday marks the day. I am excited for to see the transformation! I'll be sure to post a picture.  I am loving how many new recipes I have added to my regular repertoire! 

When I Grow Up

It's Wednesday. I know. But, yesterday was my first day of summer so I didn't do Show and Tell Tuesdays. Oops. Sorry!

So I'm linking up with Andrea for Show and Tell Tuesday on Wednesday! Show and Tell Wednesday :)

So this one is what we wanted to be when we grew up.

I've only ever wanted to be two things.

One was a detective.  Yep.

I used to watch Murder She Wrote while others were watching Real House of...(you fill in the city)

I have also been watching L & O shows since I was a toddler I think. haha. Not really, but for a long time!

This one was my favorite cast - still is even though most of them are gone now.

BUT, I realized I was going have to be a "cop" first and I didn't want to be a cop - I wanted to go straight to being a detective. 

So that was out.

And then I decided that I wanted to be a teacher.

It was because of my 3rd grade teacher - Miss Driscoll. I wish I could find her and tell her.

But I also had an awesome American History teacher and English teacher in high school. They really made an impression.

So that's what I set off to be!

Where else do you get to be in control of every one and every thing but still have tons of fun!? haha!  My mom says that teaching is the best job for me because I get to be the boss of people and have a creative outlet. It's true. I'm not going to deny it.

I just finished up my 12th year of teaching. How crazy is that!? 

I still love it. To this day.  

It's one of those jobs that if you had a bad day, when you come in the next day it's going to be different! And in 1st or 2nd grade (which have been my most recent grades) the kids really do love being there. And their joy for learning and having fun makes me want to keep teaching!

PLUS we get the summers off! Well... not really, but we don't answer to an alarm clock during the summer at least!  

We might get slightly excited for summer vacation! ha!

I have a teacher blog, too, if you want to follow my journey over there!

And my most important job of course...

Mommy.

I never in my wildest dreams thought I would have three girls, but I do. And I love them. They drive me crazy, they make me laugh, they make my OCD come down a few notches - eh...who am I kidding? My OCD can't even exist anymore!  

So that's what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Here's what she's doing for the rest of the Tuesdays in case you wanted to join!

First Day of Summer Vacay!

I'm officially on summer vacation!! I'm pretty excited. We get two full months of "relaxation," Yeah. Right. Teachers still do stuff in the summer.  But that's another post.

Anywhos.

I started my first day of vacation waking up BEFORE the sun came up! I know. Call me crazy. But the summer time is when I get to go back to bootcamp! I wake up between 4:30 and 4:45 to get to bootcamp by 5:30. Some mornings I have to leave early because Ron has to leave by 6:30ish, but that's ok. I get most of the workout and then I can do something later to "finish" it up.

I love starting my day off with a workout. It really gets your day started off the right way..and makes you really think about what you're putting into your body for the rest of the day.

Seriously.

So then I came home and hung out with the girls for a bit...

That smile.  

After Caroline got up from her morning nap, we headed out to finalize Brooklynn's registration for school next year! She's not old enough for VPK, but she's going to a 3 year old class. She's super excited. She might be excited because she walked Autumn to school every day last year. Or maybe it's because she checks the mailbox every day for her lunchbox that I ordered. Who knows. Both are equally exciting I think.

 Then it was home again for lunch and more quality time.

Something was so funny - she is just too much!!

If you're wondering why, of all people, did I not spend my first day at the beach?? Well, that's because it was raining all day.

I also did some yoga. See?? During the summer, I get to workout twice in one day! Amazing.

Most of you know that I love doing BeachBody workouts. In fact, I'm thinking of getting another one! ha!

But I also do a lot of workouts from Tone It Up. They have a lot of YouTube videos. I've saved some to my Tone It Up Channel on my YouTube, if you want to take a look, it's {HERE}.

So what does one get to eat while she's home all day??

Well, after I came home from my morning workout, I made a shake (Shakeology) and a few hours later, I had one of my favorite breakfasts from the Bikini Series (from Tone It Up).

Breakfast Banana Bowl

And for lunch, I made one of my favorite go-tos....

Tuna salad - it's basically whatever you want, but I use the 100 calorie tuna pouches (the lemon pepper and the hickory smoke are my favorite flavors!), tomatoes, scallions, celery, cucumbers, sea salt and pepper, and a tiny bit of mayo...just to moisten it up.  So yum.  I could eat it every day!

I also made this yummy snack..

It's peanut butter, honey, chia seeds, and cinnamon. Yum!

Who knows what tomorrow will bring!!

But it's the last week of the Bikini Series from Tone It Up!  I'm kind of excited to see the results from the 8 week series! I'll be sure to post pictures.

And then it's on to the next TIU venture!

It's time to get Fit, Fierce and Fab!

A photo posted by @jrossgetsfit on May 31, 2015 at 10:38am PDT

By the way, if you didn't know, I started a separate instagram for my fitness journey. So now I have 3 different accounts - haha.... @teacherbythebeach for my teacher blog, @jrossgetsfit for my fitness journey, and @jenross1018 for my "everything" else!