The Toy Box Years: 21-Day Fix Reset

The Creators of the Toy Box Years

The creators of the Toy Box Years are my two beautiful daughters and wonderful, handsome soldier husband.

"Nani" (our oldest) is a 11 year old 6th grader who loves Taylor Swift, ballet, books, fashion designing and sewing. Ask her what she wants to be when she grows up and it changes daily to anything from "an artist" to "a teacher" to "a singer/dancer". Nani is also currently fighting a battle against brain cancer -- recently diagnosed in June 2016.

"Nudgie" (our youngest) is a very smiley, very happy, very giggly, very spirited 8 year old 3rd Grader who's favorite toys are anything that gives mommy an anxiety attack - ladders, stepstools, the climbing wall at the playground. Like her sister, she has a love of reading and coloring, loves gymnastics and still provides mommy lots of snuggle time!

"My Marine" is my high school sweetheart. We've been married over 20 years and met when we were 17. (You do the math....) His favorite toys are Blackhawk helicopters, the lawnmower, our steam cleaner, and microbrew beer bottles. My husband is also my hero in that he proudly serves his country as a Blackhawk crew chief (hence his favorite toy!). And need I say that there is nothing hotter than my man in uniform!

All About Me......

Once upon a time I had a career and worked in the corporate world. Once upon a time, I dreamed about leaving that all behind to follow my true calling -- being a wife and mommy.

The first part of my calling was fulfilled in 1995 when I married my Marine (now soldier) and my love. Little did I know that being a military wife would change me in so many ways and that because of that, I would have an extended family all over the world from Japan, to California, to North Carolina.

The second part of my calling took a little doing, but I finally achieved that dream in 2004 with the birth of our first child, followed 4 years later by her baby sister.

So now, when someone asks me what I do for a living - I simply smile and say proudly that I'm following my calling - I'm a mommy and a wife -- and I couldn't be HAPPIER -- I'm living in the Toy Box Years!!

Back in March, I received the 21-Day Fix. I was super excited to get started and see how easy it really is to use. I was not disappointed! It really is super easy to use and the workouts are challenging, but effective!

This week, I decided to do another round. I have a vacation coming up in July and still feel I need to a little extra "oomph" to get back into shape. I'm not where I was last summer and that makes me sad -- but it's my own fault. Just sheer laziness on my part. But the good news is that I KNOW it can be done, because I DID IT BEFORE! I know I can do it again!

I did a lot of prep work this time around too. I went shopping at my local Sprouts Market, stocking up on good, healthy foods -- fruits, veggies, lean meats.

I took all my fruit, cut it up and made individual fruit baggies for my Shakeology. I used the purple container to make sure that I was getting the right portion size too.

With the leftover orange I had, I cut it up into a pitcher of water.....squeezing in some juice from the orange too. So YUMMY!

The one thing I love about the 21-Day Fix is the color-coded container system. It really makes it easy to portion control! And since I'm a visual person, this really help me a lot. To help me a little more, I color-code my meal plan too.....but then I added an extra layer. I have a magnet board hanging in my kitchen. So I took some magnets and colored them to match the container system. It makes it easy for me to see how many containers I have left after each meal.