August 2019 Fitness/Wellness Update

Welcome to my monthly recap where I share my fitness and wellness updates. Overall I have still been able to stay super consistent with my workouts. My nutrition could have been better.

Eating

With school staring up I have found it a bit more challenging to make sure I am actually eating enough food throughout the day. Several mornings I have gotten in the car with all 4 kids on the way to school drop-offs only to realize I didn’t actually eat anything for breakfast. For September I would really like to dial in my nutrition to make sure I am eating enough food. It is crazy what a change of schedule will do if you aren’t planning ahead.

Workouts

I started my new training plan this month and didn’t think I would love it as much as I am. For three months I am only going to be using kettlebells. For years this type of training didn’t interest me at all and whenever I would use ketllebells I would always feel strained in my lower back. A little over a year ago Josh and I scheduled a personal training session with a local kettlebell instructor and he helped me so much. Sometimes you need to find an expert to help you figure out what you are doing wrong.

With the knowledge from working one on one with a trainer I have greatly improved my form and confidence with this type of movement. In case you are wondering I am using the Strong Program from Fit Women’s Weekly . I am loving it so far! August was all clinic type workouts to make sure you have the main kettlebell movements mastered. I have been so sore! This week was my first full week of workouts and I love it!

Wellness

Here are a few bullet points from August:

  • I had a horrible sinus infection that took me out for a day before the meds started kicking in and I also lost my voice. That is hard when you are a mom with little kids. Thankfully I am on the mend!
  • My grandma treated my mom and I to manicures and pedicures which was super sweet and much needed. It was my first time back in a nail salon in over two years! My feet and hands felt and looked so good afterwards.
  • I am almost finished with the Old Testament for this year. I have the Psalms and Malachi left. Woohoo!

Thanks so much reading and following along on my wellness journey this year!

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Piña Colada Smoothie

This healthy piña colada smoothie is a refreshing treat. With added protein and healthy fats this will keep you fueled and hydrated on a hot summer day.

I have been making this smoothie on repeat over the last few weeks. It has quickly become a family favorite and is now the only smoothie that our kids are requesting. I made them the Tropical Green Smoothie the other day and they took one sip and said “we want the white one”.

We have been trying to buy more products unflavored lately and adding stevia to sweeten, which is what I used for this smoothie. If you have vanilla flavored protein you can easily use that instead.

INGREDIENTS: 

DIRECTIONS: 

Add ingredient to blender and blend until smooth and creamy. (We have a Vitamix Blender and love it!)

This recipe makes enough for two adults to share or for the 4 kids to each have their own. Enjoy!

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3 Ways We Glorify God On The Car Ride To School

Between elementary school and preschool drop off last year I started to wonder if I could be making better use of my time in the car with the kids. A few months into the school year we began to implement these 3 things on the 15 minute car ride to the elementary school: singing, catechism, and prayer. With all 4 kids in the car it has become the perfect way to start the day for all us.

SING

We love singing together as a family and singing about God to glorify God is the best way to start our drive to school. Here are a few of our favorite albums that I highly recommend:

  • Seeds Family Worship: Seeds has many albums that will help your entire family memorize scripture through song! This is a great resource!
  • Sovereign Grace Music: Another great resource to speak God’s Word into your family via song. We like the albums Walking in the Wise, The Ology, and To Be Like Jesus.
  • Shai Linne: The album Jesus Kid is our current favorite. The song Gotta Know The Books helped our 6 and 4 year old at the time learn all the books of the bible. If you want to introduce your kids to good and sound theology that will be easy for them to remember and understand start here.

CATECHISM

For reference we are using New City Catechism. Today many churches and Christian organizations publish “statements of faith” that outline their beliefs. But in the past it was expected that documents of this nature would be so biblically rich and carefully crafted that they would be memorized and used for Christian growth and training. They were written in the form of questions and answers, and were called catechisms.

Using this question and answer method the catechisms explains clearly what the gospel is, but also lays out the building blocks on which the gospel is based, such as the biblical doctrines of God, of human nature, and of sin. It also helps to address false beliefs of our culture so that believers can reflect the likeness of Christ.

You can download the New City Catechism app on your phone. We love this app because it is free and we also have easy access to the songs that make it super easy to memorize each question/answer. There are 52 questions and every week we do a new question. Our kids enjoy the songs and it is amazing to see how much they are learning. We also have it in book format as well which can be purchased HERE

We usually will review a previous question that the kids have already learned and memorized and also the current question we are working on for the week. I get just as much, if not more, out of learning these alongside my kiddos.

PRAY

About 5 minutes before we arrive at school we start praying for the day. We will pray blessings over our children and their school as well as the staff. We also ask each off our school aged children to pick a friend in their class that we can also pray over. By the end of school year each child in class will have been prayed over by our family multiple times. Our morning car ride concludes with praying that our kids find a way to encourage that person during the day. 

These are super simple and easy ways we have found to place the gospel message in front of our kids. Plus when they are in the car they are strapped in and can’t go anywhere ;). If you have children I hope your family has a blessed, safe, and happy school year.

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