Spicy Seafood & Udon Stir Fry. It’s a recipe from my best friend  and it was so  yummy (all her recipes are!). I will have the recipe up for you in the next few weeks. The best part is that it’s loaded with vegetables!

Fish Tacos with Creamy Chipotle Sauce. I was feeling a little adventurous and was trying to recreate the tacos we had on our date in Austin. It came out pretty good and Ben was impressed with my sauce. I like it when I impress him! I want to tweak a couple things, but if I get it just right, I will share the recipe with you. We evened added carrots to our tacos; I think we will be adding that to our fish tacos all the time. The more veggies, the better!

Tilapia Ceviche on Wontons. One of our Friday night date-in dishes. It’s the perfect way to end our week and start the weekend.

Week of 1/20 – 1/24
Monday: Chicken Enchiladas
Tuesday: Korean Pork Roast Lettuce Wraps
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: White Bean Chili
Friday: Sushi/pizza night

I want to be sure to make this the following week. I need to remember to pick up some fontina cheese!

A little snippet of Soul and Glow’s room. We’re about do some bed switching around since True got a big girl bed, so Soul will get her little bed. I can’t wait to start getting their rooms figured out again.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

Glow pronounces S words with an H, so Soul is “Hole,” sock is “hock,” and Spider-man is Hider-man. It’s so adorable!

I want to make this muffin.

Thankful for restored friendships. Sometimes we let minute things ruin a friendship.

These two posts encouraged me (via the Girl Talk blog). Comparing and envy doesn’t get anyone anywhere. It’s bad for the soul.

Thankful for quiet meditating and prayer times this week.

The girls and I are obsessed with the Frozen soundtrack; we sing “Let It Go” at the top of our lungs! Brings me back to my childhood Disney days of listening to the music (on cassette!) over and over again.

Love this DIY on how to make a journal from Lemonhead Press.

Having a budget feels kind of like playing a game. I like the challenge!

It’s been warm and summer-like here lately, so we will probably spend the weekend outdoors. What are you up to this weekend?

I can’t believe half the school year is done already; we just hit the end of the semester. I feel like there’s still so much to do, but when I step back and see where the girls are, they have grown and learned so much from September. I find our days go much more smoothly when schooling gets done in the morning. I feel when we get started after breakfast, the girls are much more focused and I’m more focused too. We’ve had a couple late starts this week and I was just totally thrown off (and so were the kids, since at that point all they wanted to do is keep playing). Thankfully, we still buckled down and got through what needed to be done, but late starts definitely come with more challenges for us.

I’ve always been a get your work done first and then play later kind of person. In college, I would wake up, do my studying, clean the house, and then spend the rest of the day having fun. I hated (and still hate) the feeling of procrastinating. I also usually still get dressed first thing in the morning, even if I have no where to go. Just in case I do end up having to go somewhere, I’m already dressed and ready to leave the house. I feel it takes more time getting ready in the middle of the day. I know, I’m totally silly, aren’t I?!

As much as I prefer doing school in the morning, I am thankful that homeschooling has the flexibility that lets us kind of go with the flow (as long as we still get work done). I have to constantly remind myself to stay flexible because that doesn’t come natural to me. I’m a planner and definitely not spontaneous. Last week, I had a moment of spontaneity, and after swim classes decided to take the girls to the park. The girls were so surprised! I need to plan more moments of spontaneity for them. See, I need to plan that in too! Yup, I’m definitely silly. Anyone else silly like me?

We made a trip to the San Diego Zoo to see their Christmas decor and the polar bears. For some reason, I had it stuck in my mind that they went all out for it. Nope. I was totally wrong. They did have some lights strung up and bells, but the park closes at 5, so by then no one is around to enjoy the lights. Anyhow, we still had a wonderful time and checked out all the exhibits we weren’t able to see the last time we went. Our Glow is such an animal lover that she was just completely enamored with all the different animals she saw. It’s Ben’s dream to move down to San Diego, but even though that hasn’t happened, at least not yet (you never know!), it’s nice that San Diego isn’t that far from us.

We travel these days with a light umbrella stroller, we ditched our double stroller awhile back, but I still bring around my sling in the case that Soul really needs to sit and I can still wear Glow on me.  I have so many good memories of baby wearing. I’ve used the same sling (from this company) for all the girls and it is just so much more convenient sometimes, especially when there were teeny tiny.

We recently watched the documentary Black Fish and Ben and I were absolutely shocked. Then, I started questioning our zoo passes (we have it for a year, so we will probably be back). Kids love going to the zoo and supposedly the zoo does a lot of things for the conservation of animals, but I can’t help but be a little skeptical now after watching that documentary. Technically, animals at the zoo are in captivity too, so I don’t know. It’s something we have to keep thinking through and find more articles on, and make a decision on what we learn and feel is best. Have you watched Black Fish?

P.S. I don’t think it’s wrong if you still continue to go to Sea World or the zoo. We all just make the best decisions based on our convictions. We all learn, grow, and change, so that’s part of it too.

***
Alex, a reader, kindly left a comment sharing about the discrepancies that may be presented in Blackfish. You can read about it here, here, here, and here. I think it’s good to read these things alongside watching the documentary and make the best informed decision for you and your family. I started researching articles on zoos and animals in captivity there, but I admit I didn’t research anything regarding the documentary, so it’s a good reminder to always do so (and to always hear both sides of a story). I think both the documentary and the articles against it are very interesting.

These kids are a ball of energy. It’s been almost exactly 4 years since I started working out consistently. It was a month after I had Soul, I was just feeling kind of blah, and I was hoping exercise would change that. Having the girls back to back to back at that point made my body just feel out of it and I needed something to boost my energy levels. I know it’s going to sound cheesy, but I started doing P90X. Yup, those informercial workouts! Ben bought it several months prior and I figured this was as good as I was ever going to get to having a personal trainer.

This was back in the day when True and Brave used to nap too, so I would put them and newborn Soul to nap, and I would pop the DVD in and start working out. After a consistent month of working out 6 days a week, Ben decided he wanted to join in, so we both started waking up early to do the workouts together. That was 4 years ago and we’ve been doing it like that ever since!

I did get pregnant with Glow after almost exactly a year of consistent exercising 6 days a week, and since my body had been used to such rigorous exercise, my midwife said it would be fine to continue while pregnant and I did! I think I missed about a month during the first trimester due to feeling sick, but as soon as I was feeling well, I was back to my morning workouts with Ben. I continued to exercise 6 days a week my whole pregnancy up until I gave birth. You should have seen me, I was full on still doing jumps, pushups, and (assisted) pull-ups with this ginormous belly! I am sure if my mom or MIL saw me working out, they surely would have made me stop (and freaked out!). We wished we would have taken a picture of it then, but we didn’t even think about it. It would have been fun to look back on the picture and just laugh at how ridiculous I looked. I took another 6 week break after I gave birth, but once I was cleared, I was back at it.

Exercise gives me the energy I need throughout the day. I don’t drink coffee or soda, so this is my boost to get me energized to deal with the demands of the girls. Ben and I do the exercises together still and we wake up to do it before the girls wake up. Of course, he wakes up first and then he wakes me up, and I still always have trouble getting out of bed, but I just have to remember how good it feels after.

Four years later, I’m thankful for the time we have invested to strengthen our bodies. If you been following here for awhile, you know how much I love doing the “fun runs,” especially with obstacle courses, and it really has helped us in all we do in our garden. All that shoveling, digging, and maneuvering around really requires muscles, so I’m glad to have strengthened them over the years.

I must also mention that along with working out, I generally eat pretty healthy. I say generally because I do have a hard time saying no to desserts. Moderation is hard when cakes and chocolate is involved (like yesterday’s post), but otherwise eating healthy is not a problem. Being married to a dietitian makes this lifestyle of making good food choices kind of easy. Have I ever told you about how when we started dating I lost 15 lbs?! Usually, the opposite happens when a couple starts dating, but not in my case.

If you ever think you can’t ever possibly get to a place where you’re consistently working out, I’m proof you can! I was never an exercise person prior, but I knew something had to be done to prevent my body from feeling sluggish. The first 2 months are tough, but you just have to keep pushing yourself. Once you get those couple of consistent months in, you’ll be motivated to keep going. It also helps to get your spouse (or a friend) to do it alongside you, it really helps keep you both accountable.

A little disclaimer though… my body looks nothing like the informercials talk about. After 90 days, I didn’t have abs of steel  (and after 4 years, I still don’t!), but I definitely feel stronger and healthier, which really does feel so good. I have more to say about it, but I will save it for another post since this one is long enough already. We’ve moved past P90X and have done a ton of other DVD workouts, so I will have to do a breakdown of each one we did and my pros and cons of them.

So yes, it’s doable to be active and have 4 kids! It takes time and dedication (and someone who will wake you up in the morning to do it), but seriously, if I can do it, you can too!

on me: vintage style shirt, c/o old navy. sweatshirt, c/o old navy. active compression capris, c/o old navy. shoes, new balance. on true: shirt, mightee kids. dolman sleeve hoodie, c/o old navy. pants, molo kids. shoes, new balance. on brave: striped sweatshirt, c/o old navy. active jersey pants: c/o old navy. shoes, nikes. on soul: dress and pants, old navy. shoes, new balances (she’s way into sneakers right now!). on glow: dress and leggings, misha lulu. sweater, vintage. shoes, freshly picked.

This post was sponsored by Old Navy. Check out Old Navy’s latest fashion lineup in store or online at oldnavy.com. Thank you for your continuous support of this space and my sponsors. xoxo

I love chocolate. I have an unhealthy love for chocolate. Actually, for anything sweet really. It’s a dangerous thing for me to have at home. I get weak and I can’t resist. So when it’s birthday or holiday time around here, I get nervous because I know there will be an influx of sweets galore. Moderation, what’s that?!

This cake was made for Soul’s fancy fourth birthday, and since it was “fancy,” I felt a good chocolate cake was needed. I pinned it here, followed it to the recipe and made it. It’s basic and easy and I definitely give it a two thumbs up. My change is that I separated the batter into two smaller ones so that we’d have a double decker chocolate cake. The best way to eat this is to warm some up with the gooey ganache goodness, and maybe if you’re feeling wild, pile a scoop of ice cream on top. It’s dangerous, but it’s okay to live dangerously once in awhile, right?!

What’s your go-to chocolate cake recipe?