Wordless Wednesday: Lyric Opera of Chicago

Lyric Opera of Chicago

Days 3-9 of #NamasteStrong Yoga Challenge

Another week of yoga poses as part of the #NamasteStrong yoga challenge.

Day 3 of #namastestrong  yoga challenge, outside our house is chaturanga. This one I feel I have got pretty good, but they are only getting harder from here.

Day 4 of the #namastestrong yoga challenge is a crescent lunge . I have a hard time getting the backbend in this as I lose my balance and backbends are not easy for me either.

Day 5 of #namastestrong yoga challenge is boat pose I can't get my legs very straight, it's as good as it gets rt now. On my back deck of our house.

Yoga inside on this rainy day. Feeling very humbled seeing this photo of me. Not as flexible as I thought. Day 6 of #namastestrong yoga challenge is salabhasana Gotta keep working at it.

Day 7 of #namastestrong yoga challenge was a yoga pose I have never done before and a little difficult. I did the prep stretches that @happybettyann posted in her video. Those were helpful. Then I tried the pose. Then I grabbed my yoga block and tried it a few times under my extended leg. That was helpful. Then I did it a couple of times without the block this is the result.

Day 8 of #namastestrong yoga challenge is camel pose or ustrasana. I had a chance to go to a yoga class today too! Kids are back in school, so time to get back in to an exercise routine again.

Day 9 of the #namaste yoga challenge. I like to support my back doing this pose, but you can also put your hands on the ground. I can do that, but it has been quite a while since I have done this and wanted to be careful as I am a little sore from doing a boot camp class on Wednesday night.

10 Book Series at the 6th Grade Reading Level (AR, Accelerated Reader)

We are out of school for the summer now, so I wanted to have a list of book that are in series at the 6th grade level for my daughter to consider reading this summer. She has already started some of these series, but I know she will be looking for more ideas soon!

6th Grade Reading Level

• A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
• All Four Stars by Tara Dairman
• Cecelia and Kate by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
• City Trilogy by Laurence Yep
• Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
• Keys to the Kingdom by Garth Nix
• Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke
• Mandie Series by Lois Leppar
• The Borrowers by Mary Norton (5.3-6.4 levels)
• The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Wordless Wednesday: Build-a-Bear Workshop (Chicago)

There are Build-a-Bear Workshops all over the country, but we decided to let the kids go to one for the first time when we took out trip to Chicago. I thought it would make the experience even more special to them and then they would have a pretty awesome souvenir to take home. They really did love it and doing it on a trip was a nice way to make it special for them. We did it at Navy Pier in Chicago.

Happy Labor Day!

Yoga Challenge I am doing this September #namastestrong

I decided I needed to do something to get me working out more and doing yoga more, and since I had seen this yoga challenge on Betty Ann's Instagram, I thought I would follow along and participate.

I am not familiar with the other two yogis, but I am sure after a month of following them through these daily challenges, I will be. Check out their websites to learn more about them and their practice: Matr3Moni and Gina Heminover.

Below are my pictures for the 1st 2 days!

Be sure to FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM so you can see how I am doing this month and other stuff I am up to. Some of these poses look tough, so we'll see how well I can do.

Cheers to Labor Day Weekend

It is our final holiday weekend of the summer. Happy Labor Day!

It's easy to make your drink look festive by throwing in some blueberries and raspberries in some white wine, or some lemon-lime soda and you'll have a fun red, white and blue effect.