Fitness Fridays- Neon Splash Dash

As promised, our first Fitness Friday post!!  I realize its a little late but also as promised you will be getting the good, the bad and the ugly- and sometimes we run a little late here! Here we go….

So, fall has FINALLY hit the Great state of Texas and we were able to get some awesome weather last weekend. On Saturday, we woke up ready to run and even knowing we had a 5K scheduled that night we decided to go and do a short run at the park anyway. We just couldn't pass up the great weather and it was just a quick 2 and half miles. Well, because the weather was so great and the park was so beautiful, we just kept going ( I blame this on that runner’s high everyone talks about) .We ran 4 miles- and we felt great!! Keep in mind the Mister and I had every only run about 3.5 miles at one time, in our entire lives!- This was a total fitness VICTORY!! And we did what any hungry person would do and  rewarded ourselves with pancakes and eggs(which from here on on out will be referred to as “refueling”, heehee). Then we took a morning nap. It wasn't even noon, people. Running is legit, sooooo legit.

Saturday evening we were scheduled to run our first evening 5k, The Neon Splash Dash. The Neon Splash Dash is a wild night time 5k. You run (or dance!) through different Glow Zones, where you get sprayed with a different color of our U.V. glow water. The glow effect is AMAZING! There is also music blasted at each glow zone to keep the energy going! At the finish line there is a a HUGE after party filled with music and tons of runners sprayed with glow water- all dancing the night away! It was a blast!! Here’s a video of what running the  NEON Splash Dash was like. It was really so much fun!!!! And one of the best parts was getting to run it with my family. My sister did her very first 5k at this event and had some friends join her too. I love that my family is enjoying fitness and taking literal steps to make it a part of their lives too!!

On Sunday, we joined our local running group for one of our weekly runs to wrap up an awesome weekend. The rest of the week we were so busy with school nights, work,  and birthday preparations for our youngest  that we weren't diligent to workout the rest of the week. Honestly, by the end of the week we were dragging. Something about working out gives you a little more energy than when you aren't. We are working on ways to work fitness in even on our busy days. We are so anxious to get running again.

Next weekend I hope to update with a solution to our workout consistency & busy days.  Until then, have a great weekend Lovelys!

Fitness Fridays

Now that I am fairly comfortable in sharing this fitness journey of mine with the whole wide world internet and in an effort to keep myself more accountable I announce to you a new series on the blog: FITNESS FRIDAYS!!!

Fitness Fridays will sum up our fitness journey each week. While after a good run I might be throwing out endorphin dust like the tooth fairy during hockey season, the postings for Fitness Fridays will contain the honest ups, downs, new products we're trying, transparent beauty and ugly faces of this journey. Wins & fails. Its not new one. We've been working on this one for awhile. I've got  a few stories to share, learned a few things, stored up several shout outs to some incredible mentors and friends, and still have many, many goals ahead. Now, don't get crazy, I will not be taking weekly pictures of my scale but do I hope to encourage you and I hope you all will encourage me too. This is after all, part of my/our story. Come along with us and lets see where this takes us - Life is an adventure! 

Have you blogged about your fitness journey or have a fitness story to share? Post a comment or link to your blog post below- I'd love to follow your journey too! You can never have to many people cheering you on :)

Making School Night Meals Simple (aka MOM WIN!)

School nights are no joke at our house! Between homework x5, late night meetings, chores, last minute errands, pets, sports, music lessons, and running club, dinner is the last thing in my schedule I need to be complicated. Last night I was so grateful for Courtney's blog on quick and easy chicken Parmesan dinner at mycrazysavings.com . With it's 5 simple ingredients and quick prep to table time, I think ya'll will love it too!

(Recipe from mycrazysavings.com)

Ingredients: 

6 Tyson Fully Cooked Breaded Chicken Tenders

1 1/2 cups Hunt's Tomato Sauce

3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

6 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1 lb Spaghetti, cooked and drained

1 cup Hunt's Tomato Sauce

*I added Italian spices to give it a little more flare for my family's liking!

1. Prepare the chicken in oven according to package directions

2. Top each chicken tender with 1/4 cup heated tomato sauce, 2 Tbsp mozzarella cheese and 1 Tbsp Parmesan cheese.

3. Return to oven and bake until cheese is melted

4. Serve over cooked and sauced pasta

*We always substitute spaghetti squash for traditional spaghetti noodles to keep carbs low and add in more veggies. I just microwave it and find it easier than boiling water.

Alongside a tossed salad made from our bountiful basket pick up over the weekend and we were all set with a quick and healthy meal that everyone LOVED!! We are definitely qualifying this meal as a MOM WIN!!

Unplanned Utopia

We are having so many adventures this summer & really having a blast with each other. Secretly, I was so apprehensive of this summer because I decided not to master plan it this time. If you've known me for any length of time, you know I am a p.l.a.n.n.e.r. In the past I have either had summer classes, part time or full time jobs, and 4 kids to keep busy. I HAD to plan it all out well. Every detail. Every meal & every activity. Since we recently unleashed our business to other avenues, I get to spend this summer focused on my family. It really is a wonderful thing but a mental adjustment for me nonetheless. This summer, I didn't know what to expect, it was going to be a new season for all of us. I really didn't know how to plan it this time. I decided we would just roll with whatever we decided to do. IT.HAS.BEEN.A BLAST!

Since half the kids got out almost 2 weeks before the others, we started off the summer with a countdown of activities, canvas painting, terrarium building, summer movies, played in the rain, just little things so we could save the real fun for when we were all together. Also everyone was still accustomed to getting up early and going to bed at a semi decent hour. This has since drastically changed and we are staying up late/sleeping in all morning- hey, its summer, right?!

 

 







Randy & I celebrated our 11 year anniversary June 21st. Oh, how I adore this man! He is still my best friend and love living life with him every day. Usually I  plan some sort of trip for our anniversary but he had work travel the next day so we needed to do something local. Hmmmm, it had to be fantastic....with the help of my sister, We got to take a private flight over the city of Dallas! And a 3 course dinner after. It was such an adventure!!

We have also had 4th of July family visits, summer camps, golf outings/tournaments, summer trips. unexpected kittens, hero moments, kayaking, camping, and more. Sometimes the unplanned life really is a sort of utopia.

Summer Bloggin'

Yesterday was the last day of school for 3 of our 4 kiddos. Its always bittersweet. We had some great teachers this year and our kids even earned some awards for all their hard work. Its hard to believe next year we will have 2 high school students, a 4th grader, and a 2nd grader. 

Well...Let's face it. I've been supa lax in keeping up with my blogging- which I love (when I do it). I'm going to try to make sure I'm blogging more, even just little posts. To keep up with all the memories this summer will hold. I will also try to incorporate some throwback post from all the things I've been meaning to blog about over our adventures the last few months.


Our big kids have camping plans this weekend for Memorial Day. Saturday we will participate in Bountiful Baskets, our local food coo-op I help coordinate, and then I see some house projects and even some swimming in our future. We'll shall see. ;)

While we may be playing the weekend by ear  and relaxin all summa long, there are some things we will not be letting slide. If you have known me for very long, you know I'm a teeth Nazi. I have famous tooth fairy tales and we are never without a toothbrush.  Brush, brush, brush. Floss, floss, floss. So although the kiddos are encouraged allowed to sleep in all summer, they must never skip a brushing or a flossing. Thanks to How Does She & Chickabug for an awesome post and free printables to keep us on track this summer. Check them out and maybe you'll find them helpful too!

It's good to be back friends- I've missed you.

love,
Alice

Just an Ordinary Day

Well, kids..... the day has come. The day I have finally completed college, 11:54 pm April 18, 2012 to be exact, But who's counting. ME! While there is much to blog about and reason to celebrate, we shall save that for another blog. Today I want to talk about the day BEFORE the final day.

Perhaps that seems cryptically peculiar, what relevance could that ordinary day hold in comparison to the final day.  You see in the life of a Chase, no day is ordinary. (No, really. If you know my family personally, Can I get an Amen?)


Let's recount the days events: 
7:00 drag myself out of bed searching for the coffee pot, exhausted from a week or more of late night studying
7:15 throw lunches and in backpacks and get dressed.
7:30 alarm sounding like an old car horn announces that is time to leave the house.
7:45 Drop big kids off at Jr. High
7:55 Drop littles off at elementary.
8:30am-2:pm write papers, take exams, blah, blah, blah
2:05pm (here's where it gets interesting) receive text from my best friend. The message goes something like this:
BF: Am I picking up the children today?
Me: No, I can get them but I have a little adventure to go on. Wanna join? It's a local adventure.

BF: Does it involve butter?
Me: Nooooo


BF: Squirrel hunting? (she is merely joking. Its not like these things have actually happened. well....maybe)
Me: Noooo. But this one may top them all.

BF: Okay, you got me. I'm in.(side-note: neither of us can pass up a good adventure. "Adventure is out there"-Up)
Me: Ok, I'll tell you where we're going when I see you.



10 mins later----
BF: So where are we going?
Me: The cemetery.

BF: What?
Me: Yep. Its research for a paper. Death, Grief and Dying class. (no, no that's not a joke)
BF: reading my paper assignment :" Research in a manner that an anthropologist or private detective would...."Wait! Let's be detectives! We are going to need more time. We'll get the kids first.

The rest of the day goes something like this:
Remove baskets from back of van to allow room for people. Chase baskets that roll out of back of van when opening van trunk. Grab healthy snacks from home. Pick up littles. Help do littles homework in the van,. Pick up big kids. Take them to church to volunteer. Submit camp applications.Talk to various persons interested in Bountiful Baskets. Talk over new business idea with husband on the way.Take littles BF & husband to cemetery to do research.

It was a lovely day for a stroll through the cemetery. There is actually a lot of history to be learned there. However, it only occurred to me on the way there that the littles had never actually been to a cemetery or had we ever discussed what a cemetery was for. Now seemed to be a good time to bring that up.

Well, conversations with my littles are always colorful to say the least and this conversation would provide to be no less entertaining. We recapped our beliefs on where soul vs body goes, why we were going today, and what could be learned, and proper cemetery etiquette.

Some questions that arose were:

So, Why I can't jump rope in the cemetery? Are we going to dig them up? You men, they are ALL dead? Are we going to die too? Are they going to come alive one day? (yes we covered the rapture) Which person should I wish to come alive? Why can't I? Is that how we get zombies?

All was going well until....."Oh oh look they're just doing some work out here...no no...that's a grave". Yep, my course did say not to neglect exposing children to death. I'll just put a check next to that one. 

What I really want to be doing......

This season of my life is filled with lots of pressure. Timelines and stress. All good, well mostly good, things going on in my life. This is my last semester of college, WooHoo! It is something I have been working to complete since Sebastian was 3 months old. Nothing like taking 15 hrs and completing an internship in one semester.

Then there are the usual mom duties with 4 children. To-From school pickups, homework- theirs and mine, meal planning & dinnertime, bathtime & bedtime, stories & prayers, lunches to be packed and laundry to be completed. In my spare time, (ha), I like to schedule CPR classes and plan our annual booth arrangement at our local Home & Family Expo. Well, that and SLEEP. I love sleep. Trying to be better about doing that on a regular schedule too.

All of this said not to brag on what I am "busy" with but really to reflect on what my heart longs to do more of. Those things that are painted on sign like "I'd rather be" fishing".  Today, I'd rather be reading books to my littles like How I Became a Pirate or using my extra thoughts to think up healthier "fun" lunches   packing them in cool lunch boxes, instead of the boring sandwiches, carrot sticks/apple slices, & water bottle combs that are occurring almost daily right now.  I would also rather blog more. I have lots of thought and happenings in my life that i would really like to get archived somewhere. I'm sure some of it is interesting ;).

 And I want to plan more parties. I LOVE planning parties, mostly kids parties. Although any party will do. I love the theme planning, all the little details, the cupcakes, the favors....Ahhh just everything. I would spend my time throwing my kids and their friends and mine parties, play dates, etc. I love celebrating the moments of everyday life.  Now in my life there is ALWAYS celebrating, don't get me wrong, but there would certainly be more of it.

 

In a few more months, 2.5 to be exact, this is what I will be doing. When people ask me " So what are you going to do after you graduate?' My answer will be " I'm gong to read more books with my kids, make funny shapes out of food, blog more, and throw more parties. & take a family vacation to Disney"  Oh yea, I also want to go to Disney World. I'm going to do that after I graduate too. Seems normal right?

Until next time friends :)