Our kids started school this week and that means the rest of life is slowing down. We tried to pack as many things into the summer as we could and, as much fun as that was, I was happy get back into a regular rhythm again.

Snapshot of our children

Everyone in my circle of friends posts pictures of their kids on Facebook on the first day of school. Do yours too? Maybe it’s just phase of life I am in, but every August my newsfeed blows up with cute pics of all my friend’s kids with your backpacks on. We always try to get in on the fun. I make the signs the kids will hold in the pictures and my husband takes the pictures and shares them on Facebook. Yesterday he posted something that I wanted to share with you to give you an idea of what phase of life we are in right now.

Ever since our oldest child (now ten years old) started kindergarten we have been doing this tradition of taking a picture of the back of our three kids sitting in chairs as they wait for the school bus. Now our oldest is in fifth grade so we have six years of this picture and it is precious to see how our kids have grown over the years.

We are hoping to continue this tradition for as long as they will let us, or until the chairs break. Whichever comes first. 🙂 My favorite is seeing how tiny our youngest was in the original picture (in the top left corner) compared to now (bottom right corner). He was just a baby then and now he is a big first grader!!

Love these kiddos.

Reliving my high school years.

Speaking of school, I decided to do something these past two weeks that I have not done since High School. I played softball! This may not seem like a big deal to some of you, but for me it was huge. My friend reached out to a group of her friends (myself included) and asked if any of us would be willing to play on a co-ed team that needed an extra female player. When she asked I thought it could be fun so I said yes. . . and then about two minutes after saying I would do it panic set in.

What am I doing!? I don’t even have my cleats anymore!

What if I am terrible? I haven’t thrown a ball in over 20 years!

I might make a really big fool of myself! In fact, I’m sure I will!

What if everyone else is REALLY good?

This is probably a REALLY bad idea!

All of these thoughts were running through my head. I still had a couple of hours before the game was going to start so I dug up my glove from our basement and went in the backyard with my kids. I wanted to throw the ball just to see what it would feel like. My throwing was ALL over the PLACE, which just made me even more anxious. My kids were happy to see me trying and were encouraging me. They were eager to get to come to the games and watch me play which made me feel just a tad bit proud that I would get to show them that “mom plays softball”.

My “good old days”.

I played softball in High School. When I wasn’t warming the bench I was usually in right field. I wasn’t great, but I wasn’t completely horrible either. I may not have been the MVP, but when it came to team spirit, I was top notch! 🙂 All in all, I had a lot of fun because I was doing it with friends.

So I played each Wednesday the last two weeks, in spite of the butterflies in my stomach and at the end of each night I was really happy I did. Everyone on the team had lots of grace for me. Cheering for the team brought back good memories. Whether it be dropping the ball in the outfield when a pop-up ball came my way, hitting foul balls that counted as strikes, the excitement of getting three outs when playing on defense, cheering for the player that dove to catch the ball for an out, all of it reminded me of the “good old days.”

Exercise. . . 

even if you are not amazing at it.

So why I am telling you all of this? In all the excitement of the game I was not considering all the fit “points” I was getting in because, for a short while, it wasn’t the point. I played twice and both times I was sore the next day. It dawned on me that I was using muscles I haven’t used in (literally) years. When it comes down to it, my muscles don’t really care if you win or not. The benefits of muscle activation apply whether you are good at a sport or not, which is great news for anyone trying to lose weight.

I was glad my friend asked me to play because I certainly would not have had the courage to join a team if she hadn’t asked. Is there something you enjoyed when you were younger that you have forgotten about? Maybe you can find a friend to go out and throw a ball with, kick the ball around with, or shoot some hoops? Maybe take your kids out and play for a bit. Just something to think about. Be brave and surprise yourself. Who knows? It might be fun!

Okay now, on to this week’s meal plan. Here are the recipes for this week:

Beefy American Goulash
Emily Bites
Makes 8 servings
8 SP per serving

Korean Grilled Chicken Breast
Skinny Taste
Makes 4 servings
3 SP per serving
(Can be served with rice. Smart Point total does not include rice)

Slow Cooker Summer Vegetable Soup
Simple Nourished Living
Makes 8 servings
3 SP per serving

Salisbury Steak Meatballs
Skinny Taste
Makes 4 servings
6 SP per serving
(Can be served with mashed potatoes. Smart points total does not include potatoes)

Ham and Cheese Twists
Emily Bites
Makes 12 twists
3 SP per twist

Turkey Taco Salad
Meal Planning Mommies
Makes 5 servings
3 SP per serving

 This week’s Meal Plan

Click on the picture below to be taken to a PDF of this week’s meal plan that you can print off or save to your computer. The name of each recipe has a hyperlink that will take you to the recipe when you are ready to cook it. If it is more convenient you can also come back to this post each day and click on the hyperlinks on this post above.

This week’s Grocery List

Click on the picture below to be taken to a PDF of this week’s grocery list that you can print off and take to the store with you. As usual each recipe has a number. Each ingredient that goes with that recipe will have that number in parenthesis next to the ingredient. For instance, the Ham and Cheese twists are recipe #3 on this grocery list so anything with a (3) next to it goes with that recipe.