The making of our garden…

We have been keeping busy around here with our workouts, race training, household building projects and lots of new recipes.  We are working on a grocery budget, REAL food challenge, and adapting new healthy foods into the boys’ meals.  I will be doing a separate post about the REAL food challenge…it’ll be a goodie!!!  In the meantime, we whipped out the indoor greenhouse kits and vegetable seeds, then got to work!!

We used two mini green house kits, and two large ones.  James helped us pick out what to plant (since he helped create the garden last year).  We each got to add our favorite veggie as well.  All in all we will have: carrots (Gavin’s choice), radishes (James’ favorite), cucumber, sweet peas (my favorite), lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and sunflowers (Eric’s choice).  We will be adding peppers this week!!

The boys loved helping out, and Gavin is still playing with the dirt an hour after we have finished!!

I think it is important to get them involved and excited about growing healthy vegetables.  They help care for them, tend to them, and in turn get excited about eating them!  They see what their hard work turned into and then we get to enjoy the results together!  It was so fun for them last year to pick green peppers, zucchini or cucumbers from our garden to add to our meals!  This year, I look forward to the raspberry and strawberry plants that will be added with the help of our German neighbor.  Now, Gavin will be able to eat ours instead of sneaking into her backyard and stealing all of hers!!  Until then…..we wait!!

Do you do any planting for the spring/summer?  What would be your favorite vegetable or fruit to grow yourself???

A day to celebrate my family!!!

This day was a day that really gave me a moment to see first hand what ways I can motivate and lead my children.  I want my sons to feel active, healthy and supported.  I want to show them, through my own actions, how important it is to take care of yourself, lead a healthy lifestyle, and take care of your family members.  Today really helped that message shine through!!

Our Family Fun Run today....James' first race!

We went together as a team and even had a little friend of James running with us!  We only did the mile since James is not much of a runner, yet.  We wanted to make sure he didn’t feel overwhelmed for his first race! 

Before the race

James and Charlie 🙂

James did really well.  He kept taking off at a sprint, so I was trying to show him how to slow down and pace himself a bit (a lesson I am STILL working on).  I had him holding my hand a few times along the way just to keep him at a slow, easy pace.

Hard to tell, but I am giving my "Rock On" pose...tongue out like a rock star 😉

I think James preferred holding Charlie’s hand while running!!  That and stopping for water!

Gotta love having a running buddy!

Speaking of running buddy, I had my awesome Hub!!  This poor guy came out and pushed the (non)running stroller even though he has a broken toe and busted knee!!  He was hurting bad, and I think it hurt him even more that he has been setting PR’s for the last month, and then got stopped by a handle on a man-hole during a night run!  He came out and gave Gavin some fun in the stroller, and showed how much this family run meant to him!

Small strides = less pain???? Not really, but he took one for the team!

We had a great time overall!  When we came around after our first loop (2 loops to get 1 mile) James was thinking he was done….I felt bad telling him he had another 1/2 mile loop to go!

He was sprinting to finish......the first lap 😉

We kept going strong for the 2nd loop.  I made him stick by me and continue to run/jog slowly so he could make the full loop without walking!!  We were so proud of him!!  We made sure to all finish together as a family in order to show him that we are a TEAM, we stick together and finish as one!

Yay, Groffs!!

Now come the medals and the REAL look of pure joy on James’ face.  He loved getting that medal and hearing people cheer him on…he loves the attention (not sure where he gets it….ahem….me)!

Loving that medal!

The Running Groffs post race

Our little team...Gavin was not interested in the photo op 😉

 It was a great day!!!  It was rewarding to see James accomplish a goal and I am hoping he gets the ‘running bug’ so we can do this more often!  We enjoyed some rest for the day, a trip to the grocery store to get my Clean Eating staples and then it was off to Eric’s ‘Hail and Farewell’…pictures will be posted tomorrow.  He received a nice little speech, a super cool plaque and the gift of knowing we will soon be on our next adventure together as a family.  I was presented with a beautiful bouquet of flowers for putting up with the crazy hours and work my husband has been doing for the past three years!  It is nice to get a pat on the back sometimes, military life can be tough on spouses, and just having someone acknowledge it really makes you feel better 🙂  So proud of my husband and all the hard work he did here!  In the military it is pretty well-known that the mission comes first and the family next….my husband always makes sure we feel like we are the ONLY priority, even when we can’t be!  He truly is a hero!

Proud of my Hub and all he does!

 To finish up my night of celebrating my family, I brought the kids home so Eric could enjoy/celebrate his last Beer Pong Battle with the ‘Cryo Boys’.  James and I kicked back and watched some “Jumanji”, I guzzled water and he munched on popcorn.  Gavin passed out and drooled so much I had to change my shirt (love it)!! 

Love cuddles with my boys!

Ending note: I am proud of myself tonight because there were so many yummy foods at this party, so many treats and things I would normally go over board with!  Tonight, however, I stuck to the veggie tray (no dip for me) the fruit tray (lots of fresh pineapple, berries and grapes) and the grilled chicken (no sauce).  I even had cake in reaching distance but instead of eating  the 1 inch by 1 inch pieces of cake, I took one bite only 🙂  I feel good, not weighed down and heavy, so that makes me feel good about passing on the treats!!

How do you celebrate your family?  What new things have you tried (as a family, alone, or with someone else)?  How do you feel after you stick to your healthy plan and not give into the treats?