We will be having a small party at our house and I am planning to make it as special as I can for Miss Ava. I bought a few Minnie Mouse decorations because she is so obsessed with all the characters in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

I figured it would surprise her when she woke up from her nap!!

I don’t want to get all mushy mushy with you guys, so I’ll make this short and sweet. Having a child has kinda turned me into that sentimental women that cries a little easier then she did before, but it’s a good thing.  I never knew how much love I had to give until having Ava. These are happy tears but, Seriously can we slow down time just a little???!!

Over the last few months Ava has shown me how smart she truly is: she is super independent like her mama, she laughs at everything and makes us laugh with her, she has secret talents like jumping on the bosu ball (she’s only 2 that’s incredible), she is so gentle and sweet when she plays with Cooper, she is caring when she plays with other kids, she’s tough and persistent like her daddy, and her determination & passion for life is going to help her achieve all of her life goals.

I’m not shocked she’s already 2, she’s a big girl and she is eager to learn more and more as each day passes. She keeps me on my toes more then I thought I ever needed to be and has challenged me to be the best person I possibly can.

Not a day goes by that I don’t hug and want to squeeze her tight and I hope she lets me do that forever.

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY AVA! Mommy, Daddy & Cooper love you so much!!!! 

I love saying that, it just feels good to know free-time awaits us at the end of the day.

Last weekend we made a trip to Trader Joe’s AKA my favorite grocery store ever. I wish there was one a little closer so that I could go every day, but there’s not. It really makes me look forward to our trips and of course all the good finds from the store.

THING’S I’M LOVING TRADER JOE’S STYLE: 

There’s nothing quite like fall and knowing there are so many good pumpkin products available. I’m a complete sucker for anything pumpkin and most of the time I need to turn my head due to the pure fact that most of the pumpkin products are loaded with sugar and other crap that I don’t need. I usually try to make my own pumpkin treats but sometimes its fun to try out new products and of course share them with my family & YOU.

I found these Pumpkin O’s in the cereal aisle… 1. They are crunchy 2. They are toddler approved 3. They are a sweet pumpkin treat for 110 calories.

I also stumbled upon these Pumpkin Bars. We have had their fig bars before and we are all a fan so when I tried these I nearly died. They do have a little more sugar then I would’ve liked but it beats having a slice of pumpkin pie. You can enjoy one of these bars for probably 1/3 of the calories as that slice of pie!

We love hummus in our house, this tomato & basil trader joe’s hummus is creamy and tasty. I enjoyed it with some whole grain tortilla chips, Ava enjoyed some with her fingers, and Marc spread some on his sandwiches this week. It’s great and it’s only $1.99 per container.

Sometimes eating veggies can be challenging and there’s always days that I’m just not feeling it. Having this Broccoli slaw on hand was an easy way to get a serving of veggies. I added a simple dressing and enjoyed it with my lunch and my dinners! Ava also ate some big spoonfuls of the broccoli slaw.

Last but not least.. Trader Joe’s chicken sausage is awesomely delicious, contains no preservatives, is high in protein, toddler approved, and tastes great as is, on a sandwich or mixed with some veggies & potatoes. Some Chicken Sausages aren’t that filling but these did the trick!

I am also LOVING this end of summer weather we are having. We have been enjoying the park a ton and I’m sure we will be going a lot more throughout the fall. I’m not gonna lie, I have fun going down the slides too.

What’s your favorite Trader Joe’s Product?

Any fun weekend plans?

This was such a fast week and I’m so happy about it.  I had a lot of positive vibes this week and it really helped make each day of the week so enjoyable!

There are so many things I love each week and I feel like I need to share those little things with you.

Things I’m Loving This Week!

Honest Kids Juice Boxes my dad bought these for Ava at costco and they contain real ingredients and less sugar then most of the juices out there for kids. Ava loves them and I do too! It’s always hard to get her to drink her water & juice, she’s really just a milk drinker so these are great to have on road trips and days at the beach.

Group Power was pretty awesome on Wednesday. I mean awesome because the group was so energetic and motivating that it made the workout so fun! I got in such a great workout and it felt great to see my class smiling and enjoying themselves. Exercise needs to be fun right?

Hot days call for salads. I’m on a salad kick as you know and I’m really loving the convenience of having salad kits available to throw together in 5 minutes. I’m really enjoying avocados and tomatoes in the salads. It’s so refreshing.

Back to Nature Animal Crackers. Ava eats a very healthy diet just like her mom and dad, but just like us there are some convenient snacks that I like to pack in the car and to keep on hand for when hunger strikes! A hungry kid is not a happy one so keeping crackers and snacks in my purse is a must! These are organic animal crackers that are lower in sugar and contain some healthy ingredients. I’m a huge fan myself

Fudgy Protein Bites I made a double batch of my Fudgy Shakeology bites on Wednesday and because they were made with love they came out EXTRA tasty. Even my mom & dad loved them! If you are looking for a satisfying snack check out the recipe.. it only takes about 5 minutes to make.

Larabars. I love snacks, and although I should take some more time to make these myself they are just too darn good to pass up in the store. I love the peanut butter chocolate chip cookie one. It’s even better when it sits in your car in the hot temps and gets all gooey and chocolatey. YUM! One of these days I’m gonna change my blog name to Peanut Butter Lover.

Night Night Mama. For the first time ever, Ava said “night-night mama” to me. I nearly melted and I came downstairs with such a smile on my face. She has been sleeping like a champ this week and super easy to put down, so what’s not to be happy about? But seriously, she’s too darn cute and I loved it.

Okay well this list could go on and on but I’m gonna end it on a good note. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

What’s something you are loving this weekend?

Are you a big snacker?

Today I am launching the new Group Power workout at 730am. To say I don’t get nervous would be a lie. It’s incredibly hard to remember every move for an hour straight but I do feel confident about it and I really do like this workout.

Lets back up a bit and chat about my weekend.

Friday night was a low key night, Ava had just went to the Doctors for her 18-month check up (a little late because she’s already 19 months) she had to get some shots so we opted for a lazy night because she was tired and drained from her appointment. Saturday morning we woke up took Cooper and Ava for a walk, played in the pool, did some grocery shopping and I had a work obligation in the afternoon.

I also managed to get in a Pull-up workout that I will recap tomorrow.

Saturday night we ordered take out food from and Italian restaurant down the street called Bella Nonna. I got Chicken Francese with veggies & potatoes and we split some Mussels Fra Diavolo to start. It was pretty good.

We spent the rest of the evening on our porch hanging out with our neighbors while Ava played with her friend Ella and our dogs wrestled until everyone was tired!

Sunday morning I headed to the YMCA to support my Co-worker Michelle while she launched the first Group Power workout.

It was a packed house and we barely had enough equipment to go around.  I didn’t have a step box to use so I really think it made some of the exercises a little more challenging, but I took one for the team

The rest of my day was spent doing coaching work on the computer, food prepping in the kitchen and playing with Ava outside in the pool again.

Ava and Cooper had a blast and it was really cute to see them playing together in the pool.

It was a lovely relaxing weekend and now I get to go pump some iron with the New GP workout!

Did you do anything fun this weekend?

What’s your favorite italian dish?

It’s much easier to get together with my friends at someone’s house instead of a restaurant because they kids are able to entertain each other and they aren’t forced to sit in a chair for more then an hour! It works out for all of us.

A few weeks ago I had mentioned that I love Chicken Marsala. Actually I love when my mom makes it and I get the leftovers, because clearly moms make the best dinners!

I attempted to make my own using Rice Flour, I’m not Gluten Free but ironically that’s the only type of flour we had in our house at the time, so I went with it. I’m not against white or wheat flour, I actually enjoy all different types of flour but in moderation.

If you want to replace the Rice Flour with your choice of flour I think the recipe would still turn out healthy & tasty!

CHICKEN MARSALA RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

2 Boneless Chicken Breasts (about 1 lb)

1/2 cup Rice Flour

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

1 tbsp Whipped Butter

1/2 Cup Marsala Wine

1/4 Cup White Wine

1/4 Chicken Stock

2 tbsp Whole Milk (mixed with 1 tbsp Rice Flour)

1 teaspoon dried Parsley or 1 Tbsp chopped Fresh Parsley

Salt & Pepper

DIRECTIONS:

• Cut Chicken breast into 4 pieces. Place plastic wrap over them and pound each one to about an inch thick.
• Place Flour on a plate and dredge each piece of chicken in it. Sprinkle with salt, pepper & parsley.
• Heat Oil over medium heat and once oil is hot, fry each piece of chicken for about 3-4 minutes on each side (until golden brown). Remove chicken and place them on a plate.
• Reduce heat to medium and add butter & mushrooms.
• Salute for 4-5 minutes. Add both wines, milk, & chicken stock. Let cook for 4 more minutes. Return the chicken to the pan and reduce the heat to low. Mix all the ingredients well.
• Serve with potatoes, broccoli or salad!

I love the fact that I was able to put a healthier twist on the chicken marsala recipe without sacrificing flavors.

You don’t need a ton of cream, milk, butter, oil to make a recipe taste good, but I do believe that you need some!

Have you ever tried cooking with Rice Flour? Did you notice a difference in taste?

I don’t really dread Mondays at all, but I don’t like ending a weekend of fun. Do you feel the same?

Friday in the late afternoon my co-worker Stephanie dropped her Dog Barley off for the weekend.  They had a weekend trip planned for a wedding, and Barley was ours to watch and care for. I have to admit I was overly excited to dogsit Barley because Cooper absolutely loves her.

They play/wrestle with each other for hours on end and it definitely makes taking care of a dog and a toddler 100x easier.

Ava got to play in her new sandbox that her Grandpa bought her. She was not happy when it was time  to get out and had so much fun playing with the toys.  Covering them with sand entertained her the most.

Friday night was a nice low key night for us. We hung out at home and grilled an easy dinner and relaxed. We all woke up early Saturday morning, ate a quick breakfast and then took Cooper & Barley for a 30 minute walk and let them run around the field for 30 minutes.

When we got home they were both exhausted but I know they had fun.

I’m glad we got their exercise in early because it started to get pretty hot. We decided to take a ride over to my parents to let Ava splash around in the pool. I enjoyed having my feet in their too!

Ava is learning how to blow bubbles in the water.

After lunch, I decided to take Barley for a run. She is super behaved on the leash I figured I would let her get some alone time. I think I may have had more fun then she did. I hadn’t run in a very long time and it felt great.

Around 2:45pm I left for my friends surprise baby Shower in Hamden, CT

It was such a lovely shower for my friend Kelly, with just her closest friends.  We had fun playing some games and eating delicious food!

This game was interesting. We had to guess who each of these famous men were in the pictures. It was surprisingly hard!

Sunday we basically repeated our Saturday morning with a big breakfast and a long walk with the dogs. It was so humid out I was sweating within the first few minutes!

Ava was straight up relaxing in her stroller.

Since I was all sweaty I wanted to do a quick Insanity Max30 workout before I showered. I popped in a cardio challenge DVD and started working hard. At about 13 1/2 minutes into the workout my upper inner thigh started bothering me so I stopped.

I felt it after my run Saturday but didn’t think anything of it. I was so MAD I had to stop the DVD because mentally I wanted to keep going but I wasn’t going to push myself and cause a minor pain to become a more serious injury.

It kinda dampened my mood but I got over it quickly. Marc made some delicious grilled chicken for lunch.

His grilled chicken is always amazing.

In the afternoon we went to Greenwich Ave in attempt to let Ava play on the playground and let the dogs run on the field, but there was a soccer game going on so we just walked with them around Greenwich Avenue until we were all too sweaty and hot.

For dinner we got take out Thai Food. I loved every bite!! Ava ate all the carrots out of my Brown Chicken Dish but I’m glad that she at least enjoyed part of it!

That pretty much wraps up our weekend!

 What did you do this weekend?

Have you ever cut a workout short because of a muscle strain?

It always feels nice to get a great workout finished early in the morning!

We had new neighbors moving in Saturday so we spent most of the afternoon hanging around the house and helping them move a washer/dryer in.

Our dinner came on the early side because we didn’t really eat much in the afternoon. I grilled up some Pesto Chicken, zucchini, and we had some sweet potatoes with it.  Pesto is my best friend in the summer time and I’m pretty sure you will be seeing a lot more of it, so get used to it!

Once Ava fell asleep for the night (7pm woohoo) Marc and I sat on the Porch and sipped on a glass of Cabernet, it was quite delicious and nice to relax such a beautiful night!

We also snacked on some popcorn and finished our night with the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy which was GREAT! I’m slightly obsessed with that show, if I haven’t told you that before.

Sunday started off a little slow in our house. Ava got to watch some TV for a while because I woke up with a migraine. I get them from time to time and this one was pretty brutal. I initially started thinking that my day was ruined and I really didn’t want to be stuck inside on such a sunny day.

I decided to take some medicine and within an hour I felt like a million bucks. I’m always hesitant to take medicine but I’m super thankful I did! I felt like a normal human being again!

Around 9am we took Cooper and Ava for a walk on Greenwich Avenue and then let them both run around on the field. It’s so fun to watch Ava chase Cooper and let her explore the park on her own.

We dropped Cooper off after the walk and headed to the beach, we didn’t want to waste any time! Ava loves playing in the sand and she actually sat on the beach towel for a solid 20 minutes straight. It was nice to just relax and watch her pile sand on my legs.

There weren’t that many people on the beach so that was pretty awesome too. Ava started getting fussy and threw a small tantrum so we new it was time to get her lunch and a NAP!

Ava took a fairly long nap in the afternoon, and while she slept Marc headed to a friend’s Birthday BBQ.  Around 3pm we all went over to my parents for a BBQ. I love BBQ food and I think it’s because the foods are so simple and extra tasty when they are grilled. We had hamburgers, corn on the cob, salad, and potatoes!

We all had fun being outside for the majority of the day and seeing Cooper & Ava smile!

My dad bought Ava a big pool, so she had fun playing in it while he set sit up. She clearly couldn’t wait for him to put water in!

Now I am heading to the YMCA to teach an early Memorial Day Group Power class before we attend our last BBQ of the weekend at the beach!

It’s easy to forget what Memorial Day is all about so lets take the time to remember those people who died while serving in the country’s armed forces.

What fun things did you do this weekend?

What is your favorite BBQ food?

]]> http://thefitskool.com/?feed=rss2&p=6761 0 http://thefitskool.com/?p=6449 http://thefitskool.com/?p=6449#comments Mon, 27 Apr 2015 13:17:10 +0000 http://thefitskool.com/?p=6449 Continue reading →]]> I planned on posting this sooner, but I got so sidetracked with my weekend! In case you missed the First Part of our vacation, check it out.

The second part of our vacation was just as great as the first part. We spent more time by the pool, which meant more running around and chasing Ava. She enjoyed looking at the birds & ducks in the pond behind the condo.

So basically she didn’t sit still for more then 5 minutes.

She has actually been able to make some really good “quack-quack” duck noises on her own. I’m pretty sure ducks are currently her favorite animal besides dogs.

We had a couple nice meals outside at restaurants where we sat overlooking the beach.

There’s something so enjoyable about sitting outside at a restaurant.

And of course having a cocktail on the beach. I ordered a Mojito without added sugar!

I’m not gonna lie, eating out with Ava isn’t easy but she was such a trooper and impressed me with her great behavior at the table. I think we also timed everything perfectly and avoided times where she would have probably through a tantrum or have been fussy!

I wish we could’ve stayed in Florida longer!

One of my friends watched Cooper for us while we were away and we received tons of awesome pictures of Cooper having fun playing with his girlfriend Barley. I’m pretty sure he had a fun vacation too!

This is a picture of Marc and his family outside Sandbar Restaurant on Anna Maria Island which is only about 10 minutes from the Condo.  While we waited for our table Ava playing with her cousin Natalie in the sand. This is probably the whitest softest sand ever and I wish I could have brought some back with me!

When Ava wore this hat, my heart almost melted.

I know she’s my daughter but the hat was just too cute on her!

If I could pick a second home away from home it would be Florida. I love the beach, and I love that it’s a hop skip and a jump away from Connecticut.

This vacation was the break I needed from work & life, and I honestly felt rejuvenated once I got back!

Whats your favorite thing to do on vacation? 

Are you a beach or pool person?

Vacations are much different now with a toddler that doesn’t want to sit in one place for more then 5 seconds so I can’t say we sat a lot this trip but I’m not complaining because our bodies weren’t meant to sit.

 

HAPPY FRIDAY

What is your favorite part of vacation? swimming is my favorite part, I love the water! I also love the relaxation part

Yesterday was a complete day of rest for me. It was about time that my overloaded schedule caught up to me.  I don’t have time to be sick anymore, we leave for Florida tomorrow morning and this cold just needs to end!

I was on the couch for most of the day yesterday and I stepped outside to get fresh air when I could.

Thank goodness I have family in town that loves to spend time with Ava.

My mom helped me a ton! It’s a good thing she likes Cooper because he loves hanging around too!

So as much as I preach as a trainer/instructor to “listen to your body” I have realized that as a Mom you sometimes that doesn’t happen.

I had to put my game face on and change diapers, feed Ava and keep her occupied all while trying to get myself better. I didn’t have time to kick my feet up and take a nap or close my eyes.. I’m sure all you moms out there know what I’m talking about! Taking care of a sick baby is hard, but getting yourself better while taking care of kids is even harder.

Last week I pushed my body a little too much. It wasn’t with exercise it was with studying for my CPR course and staying up super late night after night, spending time with my family after my grandma passed away, I did extra coaching last week, and did an extra 2 fitness classes on the weekend. Eventually my body said enough is enough and I took a seat on the couch.

I’ve been loading up on fruits & veggies though and it seemed to help a bit.

So while I had all the warning signs of being fatigued and run down I still pushed to get things done because I had no choice. 

I ended up having to find subs for a handful of my classes this week because I had no voice. That was so hard for me to do, but I needed to get healthy for myself and for my family.

On a positive note.. I am feeling 50% better! I’m almost there and that makes me feel soo good.

This time tomorrow I will be in Sunny Florida and I’m sure that will make everything better

I hope you all have a great day!

If you have kids, how do you get yourself better when you are sick?

Do you ever know when you are pushing your body too hard but you don’t back off?