Fun Filled week full of torture and mayhem!

I've had a fun week, filled with torture and mayhem! I've been Subbing and I've been experimenting...not sure which one was torture and which one was mayhem though!

Monday and Thursday found me Subbing, 2-half days in Pre-K and a 1/2 day in 3rd grade. Wild little monkeys, they were! I think this was more along the mayhem line. Don't you?

Torture had to be Wednesday and Friday at the YMCA...experimenting! Took a "Body Sculpting" class on Wednesday, between the squats, the weights, the little rubber band they tie your legs up with...torture! I came out of the experience tired, sore (still today, 2 days later), but proud of myself for completing the entire 55 minutes. Today wasn't as torturous...took orientation for all of the equipment in the fitness room. Spent an hour going over and practicing all of the muscle working equipment (not difficult, and maybe a little fun), and then spent 1/2 an hour on the treadmill walking. I was sweating when I got done, also not all that bad since I could watch the History Channel while I walked. :-)

Going to spend some more time at the Y tomorrow. My husband has his orientation scheduled, my Oldest wants to run the track, my Youngest gets to go to the Fit'N'Fun class and play and then we'll all take a dip in the pool, which for us is exciting! We're also going hiking this weekend (even if it is raining!) so we can check out the park I want to take my Tigers to in a couple of weeks. Sounds like a plan!

1st Tiger Den Meeting!

We had our 1st Tiger Den Meeting last night! My Youngest has been ready for this since he was a baby, so now it's his turn to be a Scout! I think I'm crazy...don't know what made me want to be Den Leader again! Maybe it's the smiles, or watching the boys play, or knowing they're learning something and becoming responsible and courteous and all around wonderful young men! Maybe I'm just crazy?!? At least I have my Hubby! I get to order him around at least!

This is such a busy week! Baseball practice and baseball game, Pack Scouts and Troop scouts, Troop Leader's meeting and Pack Leader's meeting...OH MY!

I love Scouts though! It was a wonderful place for me to grow up and it's been a wonderful place for my Oldest to grow up and it will be a wonderful place for my Youngest to grow up and we're all dragging Dad along for the ride! He gets to have as much fun as we do, so here is to another happy year in scouts!

This weeks menu!

I had a productive day! This is going to be a busy week, my Husband or I or Both of us have something every night this week and I've started scheduling Substitute jobs for the days, so I needed to prep my food for the week.

The menu:
Monday---Hamburger Nachos w/Salad
Tuesday---Clam Linguine w/Bacon & Peas, Biscuits
Wednesday---Chicken Potpie
Thursday---Mongolian Beef w/Snap Peas & Carrots, Rice
Friday---Honey-lime Grilled Chicken w/Rice & Stir-Fry Veggies

I've had my menu planned since last week when I went grocery shopping on Friday, but I took the afternoon and got this week all ready to go.

The hamburger/bean combo is cooked and ready for my nachos, and the lettuce is chopped and washed. Bacon is cooked and crumbled for the Linguine and I even reserved the bacon grease for cooking the onions. Chicken is diced and cooked, ready for the pot-pie, and the honey-lime chicken is de-thawing in the fridge (I'll add the marinade on Thursday). I was going to slice the mongolian beef and marinade it in the fridge, but that is the one thing I did not get done.

In addition to all of this I made a roast with potato and carrots for supper tonight...Yummy! I'm ready to go for the week, so...BRING IT ON!

YMCA!

My weight loss isn't going so well at the moment...I've plateaued...Bummer! At the end of May, this last spring, I had lost 40 lbs. in 9 months and was happy, although I had already slowed down on the lbs. lost by that time. I didn't exercise at all this summer (my excuse was that the boys were home and I couldn't leave them alone and couldn't take them with me and it was toooooooooo hottttt!), so I gained back 15 lbs over the summer. I'm very disappointed with myself, so I asked myself what would help me get back in the groove and my answer was...the YMCA!

I'm looking forward to the machines, classes, swimming, weight lifting, etc. that I did not have before. It's new and different and I'm sooooo excited about the new venue! We joined as family and the boys are looking forward to year around swimming, my Oldest will be able to start lifting weights for baseball, and my husband won't have an excuse not to be active too! This is great!

Stay tuned for (hopefully) many more goals reached!

DIY Pizza Lunchables

I found a recipe for a Do It Yourself Pizza Lunchable at this site:

Mommy's Kitchen: DIY Pizza Lunchables {Another Back to School Lunch Box Idea}

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to since my boys love lunchables, and they look mega easy to make. This is a great site to surf through...she has a lot of fabulous recipes...and I've tried a lot of them.

A New Book Series

My boys love being read to in the evenings and I love sharing different books with them. Some books are old friends of mine and some books are new and exciting that we can discover together. New and exciting is where we discovered are newest series: The 39 Clues.

This is a series of books, each written by a different author, but all covering the exciting adventures of 14-yr old Amy Cahill and her 11-yr old brother Dan. Orphaned at a young age and recently losing their beloved Grandmother, they attend her will reading and are handed a choice: they could accept 1 million dollars each or gamble that money and search for the 39 clues. The 39 clues that lead to the greatest Cahill treasure of all time and might bring them ultimate power, or cost them everything.

They are competing with other Cahill cousins, since only 1 team can win, but during this journey they will not only learn to depend on each other, they will also learn about the Cahill family...they will find famous cousins from the past (like Benjamin Franklin) and secrets (like what really happened to their parents) along the way. It's going to be an exciting trip.

We've finished the first 2 books: The Maze of Bones by Rick Riorden and One False Note by Gordon Korman. Our current book is The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis and I can't read it fast enough for the boys. They get a chapter a night and once that chapter is done they always beg for another! I love reading to them and they love being read to...even my 13 yr old! If you don't already do this with your children you should try it! You will love it as much as I do!

1st Day of School

The boys have started another exciting year of school! I have a 1st Grader and an 8th Grader...it's hard to believe that they are growing up so quickly!

They are soooo excited to get back to school and back to their friends.
1st Grade: Reading, Language, Math, PE/Music, Science/Social Studies, Computers, & Writing

An emphasis is placed on reading with some spelling and beginning grammar thrown in, math and writing. It's going to be a fun year with a brand new 1st year teacher!

8th Grade: Biology, Band, Home-Ec (unless it's changed to Debate), 8th Grade Science, Plane Geometry, Language Arts and Social Studies (US History to the Civil War)

Biology and Geometry are both High school level classes, he tested into Geometry and Biology is a class his school offers to 8th graders during 0 hour, which means he has to be there an hour before school starts to take the class and he still has to take the science for his grade level.

So cheers everyone! Have a Happy New School Year!