Under the Sea: The Octopus and Me!

School is in session and let the kiddie crafting begin!  To explore some of the fun places people go in the summer why not learn about some under the sea animals?!  What might you see if you lived under the sea?  What do you see at an aquarium?  What sea creature has the most legs that you've seen?  All are great questions to spark learning and crafting is a great way to back up those valuable lessons and explore problem solving with a dash of creativity!

#Beetastic Face Paint Kits for Kids Review

Tis the season to start thinking of things to do while the kiddo's are home from school!  Why get a little silly and have yourself a day of carnival like fun?  Bust out the face paint and see what you can think of!

Fall Tree Handprints

 Fall is such a great time to make memories.  Football games, sweaters, hot cocoa, apple picking, pumpkins, falling leaves, the list of ways to make memories goes on and on.  So, what about those days when going outside to make a few fall memories isn't possible? Why not make some inside that you can bring out each year?  

FatCats Review

We wanted to have one final fun filled day before my daughter started her first day of school.  One of our favorite things to do as a family is to go bowling.  So, we headed out to the newest place to bowl, FatCats.  Check out our trip!

First week of Fitness program is over! Shoot me now!

So, we are on day 9 of my push-up a day plus one New Year Resolution challenge that I've assigned myself.  For the past 3 days I have failed to get past 7.  It sucks, but was expected.  I knew my challenge was potentially unattainable, but that isn't going to stop me in trying to get their.  I may plateau at 7, but eventually that will lead to another climb in numbers.  So, while I'm behind the year isn't over, even if my arms are feeling like they may be over the push-up challenge.
I've also been doing the Bikini Body Mommy 90 day work out and have stayed committed to this weeks video's.  Some days I've literally taken the entire day to do a video, stopping between each exercise to do something with the kids.  Some days I have not even done the work out until 10 or 11pm, but even with the exhaustion and late hour I wouldn't let myself fail and miss a day.
My body is screaming at me.  My jiggles are developing jiggles, which is a good sign that its working and loosening that fat up!  I also had a huge set back in my numbers or "scores".  I realized about 2 days in that I was pushing my body to just do the motions and not to do them correctly.  I was dropping my chest in squats, hunching over between touching the floor, raising my bottom during plank or other exercises involving the plank position and worst of all I was abusing my yoga form during stretches.  Shifting weight to compensate or appear to have a deeper stretch, not listening to the order of stretches my body was asking for, and generally allowing it to cheat to get comfortable and not healthy were all abuse of the yoga form I once had.  So, I've done less reps, felt more discomfort (pain is bad, discomfort is normal for me), and altered the cool down to go chaturanga to cobra, or bhujangasana, back to down dog repeat, then put the childs pose where she does the downward dog later in the cool down sequence.  My body was feeling uneven and with the lack of proper form I was feeling it in my back so I listen and straightened myself up.  I still did all the moves and only changed the cool down sequence to match my needs using her poses.  So, I'm put up less scores, but I'm competing with myself and for me it's about getting back to healthy form, not having the highest score.
We have the weekend off, well as much as we can have it off with kids running about and the home remodel still going on, DIY unit!  I'm sure my body won't notice we have 2 days without the program and will make sure to scream at me each day, but I'm going to let it scream.  It isn't the healthy me's body that is screaming, its the bad habit out of shape me that is screaming, the fat on my body is screaming at my muscles freaking them out because the fat knows it's days are numbered and what my muscles don't yet know is that this is their big come back year!  So, I'm going to let it scream a little and I'm going to learn to love the sound of that scream as I find the fit me once again!
I hope your sticking to your plan for the year, adjusting where you see the need, and not letting yourself excuse away your goals.  Its not easy, this week has had a lot of crappy feelings come to surface and times where I just wanted to give up or slide back, but I've pushed through.  It won't be the last week that sucks, but it will lead me to more good weeks when it is over than I would have if I don't do this for myself.
PS. Something that I need to remind myself is that I need to eat more banana's, my body will probably scream less if I do!

Light up the Holidays

 I love decorations!  I love the holidays and making a home look different than it normally does.  It creates a sense of fun and excitement that fuels smiles and laughter.  What I love more is decorations created from the heart that leave you with a great memory and story!  

Tree of Growth Autumn fun!

Kids grow up so fast!  Each season it seems like they have already changed so much that the moments I just had are already being replaced with new moments.  Trying to capture those moments can be hard, but with some kid powered imagination it can also be a lot of fun!

Create a Plate Review

I'm always looking for new ways to create memories and keepsakes for my kids.  I love idea's and products that can be created for any holiday or simply just because.  I was very excited for this review and so were the kiddo's!

Fall Festival Deals!

It's about that time for you pick veggie's   I love picking my own produce.  It means a day out with the kids doing something new, plus a good price on food for my family!  I'm ready for the cooler weather and fall veggie's   Are you ready for some Fall Festival Deals?  

#BarbieIsMoving Check out what is going on in Phoenix this weekend!

Did you hear the news? Barbie is moving!

KidKraft Pirate Sandboat Giveaway! Ends 7/20

My kids are loving pirates!  They recently got a new game for their leap-pad based on Disney's Jake and the Pirates and are hooked (pun intended) on Pirates!  They would love this prize wouldn't your kids?!  Check out this awesome giveaway!

Feeling Heavy today? Blame the sun!

Feeling heavy today?  Blame the sun, literally!  Right now between 11 and 1 pm the earth is at the closest point to the sun!  This means that the gravitational pull is the strongest during this time.  This affects the laws of gravity.  At least that's what legend tells us.  Which is why the kids and I were able to do a fun experiment!

The Bummer at Bisbee

The weekend of April 14th we took a trip and stayed in Madera Canyon.  I have heard about the shopping down at Bisbee and wanted to take the opportunity to check it out.  Lucky for me, my husband indulged this desire of mine.  We got down there and things started off well.  We got out of the car and then my husband spotted a trolley tour of the town, so we hoped on!

Killer Time at Kubo in Madera, AZ

The weekend of April 12-14 2013 we went down to Madera Canyon in Arizona.  We stayed at Madera Kubo, you can check out my review HERE.  It was a great place to stay.  While we took a day and headed South to Bisbee and then to the Miller Canyon area we really enjoyed checking out the birds in Madera Canyon as well.  We had some surprise sightings while staying at Madera, Kubo!

Kubo's Cozy Little Cut-away!

The weekend of April 12 through the 14th the hubby and I decided to take a much needed break.  My parents watched the kiddo's and fur-babies while he and I headed a few hours south.  We decided to book a room/cottage in one of the canyon's we like to hike in, Madera Canyon.  We were calling around and finding most the rooms booked for the weekend!  Luckily for us, the people at Madera Kubo, called us back to say they would be willing to let us stay in their recently renovated "Tree House".  They have a house they are slowly remodeling into places for people to stay.   It is unlike their normal adorable cabins, they built those from scratch themselves, as it is a property that is being remodeled.  I wasn't sure how to picture it, but having met the owners before and enjoying their feeders before decided to take the change and stay there.  My husband had reserves as it wasn't a cabin on their site and recently remodeled can mean a lot of different things.  Still off we went....

Best Selling Women’s Yoga Gear at Under Armour

Whether you are wearing it to the gym or lounging around the house, yoga gear has been one of the hottest styles to rock in the year 2013. Now you can get your hands on some of the greatest yoga attire possible by shopping at Under Armour. They have it all- from hot yoga pants to sexy bras to keep everything in order during strenuous exercises. Plus, when you use Under Armour promo code UAGEAR, you can save big on your purchase with this Under Armour free shipping coupon. Just spend over $45 and you’ll be on your way to free shipping!

AMF Bowling Review

Family night and we are facing another night of Finding Nemo or Cars 2, awesome.  As good as those movies are when you've seen them a million times, they can loose their luster.  So, looking for something fun we can all do I hit the internet!

Shark Week at Sea Life!

Do you have an ocean lover in your house?  Why not take a trip or suggest a field trip to Sea Life?  Especially with Shark Week activities are available August 12^th-19^th at Sea Life!  Also, I wanted to let you know that SEA LIFE Arizona is now on Pinterest and Instagram, in addition to Facebook. Sea Life will be doing some neat Facebook posts during Shark Week, so be sure to “like” Sea Life if you don’t already J

Puppet Theater

 Some days it is just to hot to go outside, so what do you do with a bunch of toddlers, preschoolers, and babies?  You get creative or you go crazy!  I had a large thin box that hadn't yet made it to the recycle bin yet so with a thought and a box we started down the path of imagination!

Xbox Kinect Bundle Giveaway

Mommy Moments with Abby loves to play video games!  Why not get active while doing it?  We are happy to offer our readers this giveaway!