good bye summer

ALL of my electronic devices appear to be working properly, which has previously been a source of great frustration for me. Yay!

My kids will all be in school in 2 days. And life will get busy and scheduled again. In a way, I am looking forward to it. But until then, we are enjoying these final days of summer vacation outside in the gorgeous weather. Bike rides and picnics, our favorite. I will miss these days.

Having 3 kids in school is expensive! Yikes! Buying clothes, shoes, backpacks, school supplies, activity/sports fees, etc x 3 - cha ching! Sometimes I think the best way to preach birth control is simply to put all the bills on display. I thought babies were expensive, but the older they get the more they cost. And the busier you seem. Until Hanna drives (God help us all), I'm still going to be chauffeuring her to practices and games. Sunday will literally be the only day there isn't an activity to drive to. But I am really excited for this new season of swim meets. I've never been to one. Also, Eden will be in volleyball. Her first year. She did a week camp at Courts Plus last February and loved it, but I think it's mainly because she gets to wear short little spandex. Her favorite. Her love for extremely short shorts worries me a bit. At the risk of sounding old fashioned.....have you noticed how short shorts have gotten for young girls?? Tweens and teens in particular. I've even seen women my age wear shorts that barely cover up their ass cheeks. Ew. In my opinion, the only woman that can get away with this look are bodybuilders who don't have a saggy butt or an ounce of jiggle on their thighs. Everyone else....put 'em away. You're not 12 anymore.


As far as "fit me" goes, I'm not nearly as gung ho as I usually am. I've reeeeeeally relaxed. And do you know what? My body is exactly the same. All that time that I was so afraid of missing a day of working out or cheating on my clean diet one too many times, was really just added stress. Because I haven't changed. Once school starts and I go back to the gym for my workouts, I'm sure I will be my 'normal' self again. But it sure was great to put fun before my body goals for a while.

My family has really been into eating toaster strudels lately. This is something I NEVER buy. And the proof of this is the fact that Hanna - age 14 - just had her first one at someone else's house this summer. Not that I'm above stuff like this, I mean, we have been known to eat donuts around here. But I know they are horrible for you. Processed junk. So I don't buy them. On one of the last shopping runs my husband went on with Eden, they brought back Boston Cream Pie Toaster Strudels. And they have been addicted ever since. Despite my constant reminders of how unhealthy they are. One day, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, so I tried one. Oh. My. Gosh. It was delicious. Just like pastry. Why oh why do things that are bad for us have to taste so dang good??

So I have to prepare my own yummy treats to keep myself out of the junk. Last night I made protein pudding, although it turned out just like frosting in consistency and taste. Needless to say when the kids saw me with beaters full of what appeared to be chocolate frosting, they were all over it. And ended up finishing the bowl. And if protein powder frosting is THAT kid approved, you know it has to be good! I think I'll try to frost my healthy chocolate microwave cake with it and see what that tastes like. I'll let you know how it turns out and share the recipe.