a first for everything

with the start of the new year, there are all sorts of firsts happening in the house of wan.  for example, the hub, who ended the year looking like this:

busted out a razor and had his first shave of 2015, but not before having a little fun with it.  behold:

on her first day back to school, the bean also had her first cheer practice of the year and was absolutely BEAMING when she looked over and noticed that i was taking this.  her level of excitement over being a flyer instead of a base is off the charts, if you can't tell from her face here.

speaking of school, this is her first homework packet of the new year:

and her first library book.  i love how she's so excited to see what happens next that she cracks it open the moment she gets herself buckled into her seat.  this was absolutely me when i was her age, too.

and my favorite moment was hearing her jubilant squeal a few minutes later - "MOMMY!  JACK'S ALIVE!"  whoops - sorry for the spoiler.  hope you'd already read it.

although i've been good about keeping up with the workouts throughout the year, i'm still claiming this:  my first time running more than 3 miles in 2015.

along those lines, i've signed up for a 60-day challenge at barre that requires me to do a minimum of 3 barre classes a week and...uh...start eating clean.  like, i can't do any more fast food runs (thank goodness the mcrib is gone again till november), eliminate all processed foods*, reduce my sugar intake (crying), and stick to water and herbal tea, with a maximum of 2 cups of coffee per day.

* this part is where i am so screwed.  no processed foods?  shit, that's my entire damn diet.  i'm gonna lose weight during this challenge simply based on the fact that i'm basically eating nothing.  gah.

okay, but seriously - i am actually looking forward to the lifestyle change.  it's been a long time coming, you know?  my diet is truly terrible.  and it just means that i'll be doing more cooking from scratch, which i really do enjoy and have been too lazy to do recently.  i'm also starting to pay closer attention to labels and looking at local farmers market schedules for fresh produce.  also, this will be a great overhaul for the rest of the family.  the hub has been after me for years to cut down on the junk and bad stuff, not only for ourselves but for the girls.  and it really does start with me, so there you go.

this also means that we've returned to the daily fruit/veggie smoothies that we started drinking last february.  here's our first one this year:

that right there is plain nonfat kefir, organic apple juice, baby carrots, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, dried cranberries, cucumber, spinach, kale, raw organic honey and natural peanut butter.  sounds disgusting, huh?  and it really doesn't look that appetizing, either.  but honestly, it's delicious.  and filling.  and fulfills our fruit and veggie quotas in one fell swoop.  doesn't mean we won't have veggies during the day too, but at least we're covered.  and the best part to me is that the bean loves drinking these too.  

of course, with the challenge technically not starting till february 2nd, i'm still kind of eating like shit.  let's just say that i'm cleaning out the pantry, fridge and freezer joey tribbiani-style.  here's an example:  a pan of peanut butter rice krispy treats studded with crushed pretzels, leftover christmas m&ms, and chopped mini reese's cups.

so...yeah.  but hey, here's another first:  a fabulous jelly pedicure at my new favorite nail spa.

also, here's my first set of cookies of the year - party favors for a bridal shower.  the wedding is on valentine's day, so this is what we came up with:

the bean went back to gymnastics after a 2-week break and scored herself the star award.  she was mighty proud of herself.

lastly, the teen went to disneyland last night with her (apparently camera-shy) BFF for the first time since the blockout dates for our passes ended.

with all these fun firsts, 2015 is definitely shaping up to be a pretty darn good year.  woohoo!