Day 14 - Make the Most of Your Mornings Challenge

I realized that updating my blog on the progress of the "Make the Most of Your Mornings" challenge is my accountability, so here is how it's been going since day 1.
You know how I mentioned that my two boys are early birds?  Well, there have been several days when I rise as early as I possibly can, only to realize one, if not both, of my boys are already up as well.  Yeah, so much for 'alone time'.  But that's OK!  I've learned that you have to roll with the punches and make adjustments, but don't assume the whole day is lost.  This also goes for 'falling off the wagon'; it really is OK, dust yourself off and start again the next day.  I think it's important to know that life is always unpredictable, especially with young children in the house, and if you can't be flexible then you're going to get frustrated and be disappointed.   Crystal has posts on her blog to address each one of these issues.  It's normal, it happens, and you can recover. Money Saving Mom - Make the Most of Your Mornings
So, what are the most important things I've learned so far?  If I don't go to bed by 10 PM I can forget rising before 6 AM the next morning.  I require at least 7 hours of sleep to function well the next day.  I learned the hard way this summer that if I let my body get run down, there will be consequences.  I have piles of hospital bills to prove it:)  After spending 4 days in the hospital and being down and out for 3 weeks recovering from PNEUMONIA, I have learned the importance of REST.  Allowing your body to get the rest it needs affects every aspect of your life.  You will be a better mother, employee, wife, friend and so on, if you make rest a priority.  What good will it do if I stay up hours at night trying to finish cleaning, reading, etc, if it means I may not be around at all tomorrow??  Yes, my illness was that serious!

Lesson #2: If you can't beat 'em, take 'em with!  If Ben and Nolan are up in the morning before I've gotten a morning workout in, I try to find a physical activity that includes them.  After this happened once I realized it's actually more fun to include them in my workout, sometimes.  Now, on Tuesday and Thursdays I load them in our bike trailer and set out for a nice ride through our neighborhood.  Tuesdays and Thursdays work best for the morning bike ride because Ben has preschool on M W F.  If you could see my neighborhood, one ginormous hill after another, and bearing in mind I'm towing an extra 90+ lbs behind me, you would probably understand why our bike rides last no longer than 30 minutes:)  On a nice Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon we head down to Grant's Trail because it's scenic, perfect for cyclists, close to our house, and it's FLAT.  Mommy can pedal a lot further and faster on the Trail.

All in all, I'm enjoying this challenge so far and really hope that I'll continue to make progress into "Making the Most of My Mornings".  When I start my day right: rested, as early as possible, with exercise, and meditating with God and his Word, the rest of my day tends to go smoother.
Things to work on:

• Meeting my 9:30 - 10ish bedtime every night 
• Keeping the boys in a good bedtime routine so that they'll hopefully sleep until 6:30, or later:)
• Really focus on exercising first so that I can shower and change before the rest of my day begins

Cheers!

Day 1: Money Saving Mom's "Make the Most of Your Mornings" Challenge

I recently started following the Money Saving Mom Blog.  This blog not only empowers and inspires women to be better stewards of their finances, but of their homes as well.  I found her recent "Make the Most of Your Mornings" challenge to be very encouraging and something that I need to incorporate into my daily routine.  (What routine??)  Exactly.  So, today is day 1 for me.  I am taking the challenge and began my morning at 5:35 AM.  Yep, you read that correctly.  And I started it with a bang: 30 minutes of cardio on the treadmill.  I felt energized and ready to take charge of this challenge, as well as my household.  If you'd like to read more about this challenge, and accept the mission, here is the link to read all of the helpful tidbits.Money Saving Mom's "Make the Most of Your Morning" 3 Week Challenge  Last night I made sure to make out my 5 'must dos' before bedtime, and although my bedtime goal was 9:30, I made it by 10.  Not bad for the first attempt.  I also made sure I had Ben's clothes laid out for his first day of preschool, and I had my workout gear laid out so that as soon as I got out of bed I put it all on.  NO excuses not to start the morning with some exercise.  My kids are early birds, always have been, so unless I'm up before dawn I will not have ANY alone time in the morning.  I liked getting my exercise out of the way so that I won't find a million excuses NOT to workout today.  It also gets my blood pumping and those feel good endorphins going.  Ben was up by 6:15 so I had to postpone my shower to whip up some pancakes for him.  After showering, dressing in something 'that makes me feel good', and downing some hotcakes myself, I sat down with my cup of coffee and did my morning devotional - reading God's word.  By this time Nolan is up and my day continues....I hope to give regular updates on how this challenging is going, not just to encourage other women to try it, but to also hold myself accountable.  Cheers, and happy reading!

Old Friends & Apple Pie

Raelyn & Ben @the Lion King

Over the Labor Day holiday, we had a fun filled weekend packed with family time and catching up with old friends.  Saturday night, Eddie, Benjamin and I met up with my best friend, Rhiannon, her husband, two children, and her parents, niece and nephews.  Rhiannon and I have known each other since junior high, after I moved to Buffalo, Mo, and started attending youth group at Calvary Chapel.  However, our friendship didn't blossom to the deep connection we have today until after high school.  Through my close relationship with her mother, Shirley, the former youth leader at Calvary Chapel; and similar life events, not to mention our mutual appreciation for Aerosmith, Cher and chocolate, Rhiannon and I bonded.  The bond hasn't been broken and continues to deepen as we've married, moved several hundred miles away from each other, celebrated and sympathized with one another through the pregnancies and births of four children (two for her, two for me:), and encouraged each other through our spiritual walk with Christ.  Needless to say, seeing all of them this weekend was revitalizing, to say the least.  We attended the Broadway production of Disney's the Lion King at the Fabulous Fox Theater, this is a MUST SEE, and the theater itself is breathtaking.  On Sunday we survived a family trip to the Magic House, (note to self: holiday weekend+rainy weather+free entry with school supplies=MADNESS at the Magic House).  We concluded the day by unwinding and refueling at one of our favorite St. Louis pizza places, Fortel's Pizza Den.
On Monday, Eddie, the boys and I met his parents at Suson Park for a family picnic.  Eddie's mom insisted on not just bringing the meat (fried chicken), but the sides as well.  She told me all I needed to bring was the desert.  Of course, I must go all out and bring one heck of a desert if she's doing the rest of the work.  Homemade apple pie sounded appropriate, so I sat out to find the best homemade apple pie recipe possible.  I had two requirements: it must use a double crust recipe, and it has to include fresh apples, not canned.  It wasn't hard to find a tantalizing recipe via Pinterest, and below is a link to the recipe as well as a picture.  I made only a few modifications: I added a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon (can't have apple pie without cinnamon in my opinion), and I used salted butter and butter flavored shortening in the crust recipe.  The family was impressed and I received rave reviews.  I'll definitely file this recipe away to use at Thanksgiving.  Thank you, Pinterest, and CountryLiving! 


Apple Pie Recipe (Country Living via Pinterest)

Pastry:

• 2 1/2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
• 10 tablespoon(s) cold butter (salted) or margarine, cut up
• 6 tablespoon(s) vegetable shortening (butter flavor)
• 6 1/2 tablespoon(s) ice water

Apple Filling:

• 2/3 cup(s) sugar
• 1/3 cup(s) cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon(s) nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon(s) salt
• 3 1/2 pound(s) Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, and/or Braeburn apples, each peeled, cored, and cut into 16 wedges
• 1 tablespoon(s) fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoon(s) butter or margarine, cut up
• 1 large egg white, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon(s) sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

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Directions

1. To prepare pastry: In food processor with knife blade attached, blend flour and salt. Add butter and shortening, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle in ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each addition, until large moist crumbs just begin to form.
2. Shape dough into 2 balls, 1 slightly larger. Flatten each into a disk; wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes or overnight. (If chilled overnight, let stand 30 minutes at room temperature before rolling.)
3. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place cookie sheet on rack in lower third of preheating oven to bake pie on later. To prepare apple filling: In large bowl, combine sugar with cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add apples and lemon juice, and toss to coat evenly.
4. On lightly floured surface, with floured rolling pin, roll larger disk of dough into 12-inch round. Ease dough into 9 1/2-inch deep-dish glass or ceramic pie plate. Gently press dough against bottom and up side of plate without stretching. Trim dough edge, leaving 1-inch overhang; reserve trimmings. Spoon apple mixture into pie crust; dot with butter.
5. Roll remaining disk for top crust into 12-inch round. Center round over filling in bottom crust. Trim pastry edge, leaving 1-inch overhang; reserve trimmings. Fold overhang under; bring up over pie-plate rim and pinch to form stand-up edge, then make decorative edge. Brush crust with some egg white. Reroll trimmings. With knife or cookie cutters, cut out apple and/or leaf shapes; arrange on pie. Cut short slashes in round to allow steam to escape during baking. Brush cutouts with egg white, then sprinkle crust and cutouts with sugar.
6. Bake pie 1 hour 10 minutes or until apples are tender when pierced with knife through slits in crust. To prevent over-browning, cover pie loosely with tent of foil after 40 minutes. Cool pie on wire rack 3 hours to serve warm. Or cool completely to serve later.

Not bad for my 1st homemade apple pie

New and improved?

Over the last two years life has changed dramatically. I went from a full-time working momma of a sweet two year old boy, to a stay-at-home / work part-time from home mother of TWO beautiful boys; survived a major home remodeling project, and celebrated two more years of marital bliss. As I'm still adjusting to my new lifestyle and routine, I've found more and more people use blogging not just to inform, but to inspire, encourage and entertain fellow friends, family and perfect strangers. Writing has always been my 'creative outlet', (well, that and cooking), so I'm dedicating my former "All About the Benjamin" blog page to a new attempt at venting, sharing and hopefully uplifting anyone who happens upon my humble, but newly renovated blog. Cheers, and happy reading!