September is coming!

I'M NOT READY!!!

It's that time again. The mid-August panic is starting to set in. I'm fighting it with all of my power but it feels a little bit inevitable. The stress dreams haven't started yet but they will. Soon.

As a parent, it's the school supply lists that stress me out - seriously, I feel like I lose a little bit of my life every summer at Target looking for the exact right size, color, style of binder or pencil. It's stress that I just don't need, especially as I'm in denial about my own summer break coming to an end. And don't get me started on the summer math packet that I somehow block from my mind every year. I don't know how it happens, but it does and then all of a sudden it's late August and we're in a panic and the school year hasn't even begun. 

Add in the fact that I've been enjoying my own summer break, as I should, but that also means I haven't put a lot of thought into my classes, those recommendation letters I said I was going to write over the summer to make life easier in the fall haven't been written, and at some point soon I need to go in an set up my new classroom. 

So yes, the school year is coming. Whether. I. Like. It. Or. Not.

In anticipation of the inevitable, I'm putting my planning hat back on and setting myself up for success this fall and I would love to help you do the same. HOW you ask? Well, read on! We've got options a-plenty!

Busy Families' Back to School Survival Group

It blows my mind to think that we've got a 1st, 3rd and 5th grader this year. People always used to tell me it would get easier and harder as they got older and I didn't totally appreciate what they meant until now. Life is a whole different kind of busy than it was when they were toddlers. Instead of spending the whole day wondering when I could fit in a shower, endlessly cleaning up toys and having conversations with myself to keep myself sane, I'm keeping BJs in business with our grocery bills, running to and from soccer practices, school, helping with homework, and trying to get my kids to eat more vegetables (that one apparently never changes!) Add to that both Andrew and I working full-time and you have a whole other layer of madness.

After a few years of feeling like a hamster on a wheel during the school year, I'm on a mission to do whatever I can to support my family and yours in staying sane. To that end, I'm going to be running a back to school family health and fitness group for men and women. We'll share recipes for those busy nights, tips for getting in a workout around the crazy that is kids, definitely mixing in tips on getting our kids eating healthy - kind of a full family focus for a healthy fall.

It's easy when life gets busy to make excuses, to shortchange ourselves in favor of our kids' needs, and to take shortcuts in the interest of survival that may help in the short term but that don't get us to where we want to be in the long term. When you're part of a group with others are in the same boat, facing with similar challenges and pushing through them, it's really encouraging and a great way to keep yourself accountable to your goals.

What will we be talking about in the group? 

• how to avoid being a short order cook in your own home. I'm definitely a fan of meals that work for everyone and figuring out ways to have all of the pieces of meals become dinner for the whole family. 
• crockpot or 30 min. meals for busy weeknights 
• healthy snacks that work for everyone 
• 30 minute workouts that you can do in your home. We will work on figuring out a fitness plan that suits your interests/needs. For some that may be a Beachbody program like the 21 Day Fix or T25, for others who like to run it might be doing some combo of running while the weather cooperates and then some strength training or yoga other days. We'll figure it out!
• finding balance amidst the crazy the best we can.

Teacher Back to School Survival Group

The kids aren’t the only ones heading back to school this month. And just like our kids, a lot of us aren’t ready either! I get it! I’m heading into my 15^th year in the classroom and as much as I LOVE my job, I’m kind of dreading the busy pace that comes with September.

As you probably well know, Sept. is insane for educators. Even more so is we also then have kids ourselves who are heading back to school. I tend to get into a better, healthier routine in the summer with my sleep, fitting in my workouts or at the very least, staying active and getting outdoors. I'm also always better with my eating in the summer since it's all fresh produce all the time. Come fall, those pieces seem to slowly slip away as life gets busier, work gets more stressful, and as we juggle the home/work/kids balance. The ball that tends to drop first, for me at least, is my own health (#1 being workouts & sleep.)

So, instead of starting off with this mentality of it being inevitable, I'm hoping to go in with a plan to start off prioritizing our health. It's so much harder to do on our own - we create outs for ourselves, talk ourselves out of working out because we're busy, don't plan well enough for our own meals and it becomes easy to lose all those good summer habits too quickly. When we're stressed and tired, our energy drops and things go downhill fast. But when we're exercising, eating well, and carving out a little space in the day for us, we're naturally going to feel better, be better, more patient and happy teachers/parents/people. So I'm trying to create a support system to help us do the latter. We're more apt to do those good things with support and accountability than we are just saying we'll do it on our own.

I totally get that Sept. is totally insane - it is in my house too. Yes, this is another thing to throw into the mix but my hope is that it is a commitment that feels worth it to people and that if made, will help to make other areas of your life better. In my experience, I'm better able to handle stress when I'm taking a little time for me, even if it's only 25-30 minutes a day.

So what’s this group about? 

Think accountability group but one with a total teacher/school focus. We’ll keep each other accountable to getting in those workouts, share easy breakfast options that support you getting out the door on time AND still eating a healthy breakfast. We’ll share snack ideas for school, focus on easy-to-make dinners and even more than that, dinners that yield leftovers that can be reimagined into delicious lunches for the next day.

My goal is to not only for us to survive September, but to really work on good, healthy habits so we are able to be our best, healthiest selves in what arguably is one of the most crazy months of the year.

And, coming soon for my runner, obstacle course loving, biking friends, a challenge group to support you in reaching your fitness goals. As you well know, part of training for racing season is the runs/rides but it's so much more. We'll start mid-Sept. and spend the next 60 days training, talking about nutrition, sleep, cross-training, and more. Details to follow soon - they're in the works!

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