Mmmm K, just to let you know, there are currently 14 children in my house (5 are my own)  AND I think every single toy in the entire house is OUT!

Auuughhh!

Man.

I love all my kid’s friends and I’m glad they all like to hang out here, but I’m feelin’ a little CrAzY!  Soooo, if I start talking gibberish or don’t make any sense, you will understand.  It’s a wee bit tough to concentrate right now. 😉

Alrighty then.

I’m sorry I’ve been a lame blogger.  I’ve been busy enjoying the last little bit of summer with the kiddos.  Yay.

I took the kids to the playground yesterday for a picnic.  We had a lot of fun, but sadly I felt like an OLD mom!  There were several other moms there with 1-2 small babies/toddlers and then there was ME with my 5 huge kids and DOG!  It was a sad realization that I am not a young little mommy anymore. 🙁

I love the park we went to though.  They have one of those little merry-go-round thingys and a little horsey teeter-totter thingy that both remind me of the parks when I was little.

I made my kiddos pose for a pic on the horsey thing…even my big kids (I’m in denial that they’re getting too big.)

This picture cracks me up because NOBODY is ready.  Love it.

I brought sandwiches, string cheese, grapes and little Chips Ahoy cookies for the kids.  The Chips Ahoy were on sale and they remind me of when I was little (can you tell I’m a sentimental sap??)  Oh, and I had a FREE coupon for the Capri Suns too.

Score.

I brought a Chobani yogurt, string cheese and some Rice Works chips for me.  Yum.

We had a great time.  Next week is the last week of summer, so I’m trying to eek out every last little bit.  My kids are also getting GIANT (sigh…) so I’m trying to play with them as much as possible before they get any bigger!

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Moving on….I’ve been eating really well lately and it makes me so happy!  I just feel better AND happier.  Love it.  Whenever I’m tempted to eat (insert crappy food item here), I just remind myself that I can enjoy that food item for 3-5 minutes or I can enjoy health, happiness and fitness for a whole heck of a lot longer than that!

Makes the decision pretty simple.

Here are some of the yummy things I’ve been enjoying lately…

I’ve had either my Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal or my Chocolate Protein Pancakes for breakfast every day this week.  I love them both so much!  One morning, I turned my Chocolate PB Oatmeal into OIAJ (Oats in a Jar!)

Whenever we finish off a jar of peanut butter, I love to make OIAJ.  There are a million different “recipes” all over the internet.  You basically just make your oatmeal however you like (I stuck with my same old, same old standby) and then put it in a (mostly) empty PB jar while the oatmeal is still hot so the rest of the PB will mix right on in.  It’s heavenly and fun!

Oh, and this White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter by Peanut Butter & Co. is the best peanut butter in the world!  Oh my goodness, I LOVE it!  You can buy it (and several other yummy flavors) at any health food store or I’ve also seen it at Macey’s and Smiths.

Here are a couple yummy things I’ve had for lunch…

Apple Raspberry, Chicken, Pecan Salad

This salad was so so yummy!  It included spinach, romaine, chopped Granny Smith apples, raspberries (LOVE!), leftover rotisserie chicken, sliced green onions, pecans and feta!  I topped it all with a little Raspberry Vinigrette.  I LOVED THIS SALAD!

Oh, and I’ve been lovin’ rotisserie chicken lately.  It makes it so easy to eat well.  I just buy one at the beginning of the week and enjoy it for 3-4 days.  I love to top salads with it or just eat it plain.  I’m sure it would be good in a wrap too.  I especially love to eat it cold with a little salt and pepper.  Yuuu….ummm!

Fat Free Cottage Cheese, Rice Works chips and fresh cucumbers and tomatoes (topped with S&P and a little Balsamic Vinegar) from the garden.

This was yummy and quick to throw together!

I’ve also made a couple yummy dinners the last few nights, but I will post them separately because this post is already ginormous!  I love making healthy dinners because I love to eat the leftovers for lunch!

Well, I will stop talking now.  I’m happy to say that while I’ve been typing this post 7 of the 14 kids in my house have successfully cleaned up all the million toys that were scattered around.

Yay.  I’m happy ’bout that.  I hope y’all have a wonderful FRIDAY!