Daddy Lets Me Get a Little Crazy

Fun with Grammy :)

 Here's some interesting pictures I found on our camera after Maryn and I were at church....

Fun with Anna

Grammy and Auntie Anna Visit!

Pretty girl

 Grammy and Aunt Anna (John's Mom and Sister) came to visit this weekend!  It was kind of a last minute visit. They drove all the way from Minnesota so that they could visit us and also so Anna could visit U of L!  She has been accepted there, so let's hope that maybe she'll be here next fall.  Wouldn't that be aweeeesome!!!!!

Stories with Grammy

Just hanging out with Auntie Anna and Grammy!

Maryn made this penguin for Grammy :)

The kids had so much fun hanging out with them and wearing them out :)  I sure hope this means we will see lots more of them in the next few years.

The Healthy Eating Plan...

pumpkin spice creamer

Well it's been one week since we decided to really buckle down and start eating healthier.  We have been trying to basically eliminate most sugar and really limit our carbs, our fake stuff, and eat more real, clean, organic and healthier food.

We have had some failures and some successes.  I'll tell you about the failures first.

One of my first missions was to eliminate my coffee creamer.  This is a problem for me because I need to avoid dairy in the mornings because I'm a little bit lactose intolerant, especially on an empty stomach.  So I can't just use milk or half and half.  There's a bunch of weird stuff in non-dairy creamers, so I set out on a search to find the healthiest substitute I could.  First, I made this pumpkin spice creamer with almond milk.  It was disgusting.  Almond milk is disgusting.

Then I tried coconut milk creamer (So Delicious French Vanilla Coffee Creamer) and it's pretty good on its own, but once it's in the coffee it just doesn't sweeten it enough for me.  So I have been using a little coconut creamer and a little real maple syrup....and a little fake creamer too (shhh).  Baby steps, people.  Baby steps.

I tried a few other recipes from that same website (The Gracious Pantry).  All the recipes were just awful (honey almond cookies, gingerbread oatmeal...).  I've basically decided that if we ever make, like, a lot of money, we are gonna march our little hineys to Trader Joe's or Whole Foods and buy frozen meals and things that are pretty much made.

Here are some winning snacks and things we liked.

Low Sodium Sea Salt Pita Chips (Trader Joe's):  These were such a yummy snack for me and very filling.  SIGH but I need to find some hummus or something to go with them.  Gross.

Homemade Clif Bars:  I tried substituting 1/4 cup of maple syrup for the honey, and WOW, it knocked out the weird honey taste that I don't really like.  So good!

Corn Tortilla Chips and Salsa:  John's favorite snacks

Melange a Trois Pepper Mix (Trader Joe's):  Frozen, julienned peppers that were so cheap and easy to add to basically everything.

And I love having this protein bread I got at TJs as a nighttime snack!  With nothing but real butter on top.  I wouldn't really like it with a sandwich.  But maybe someday...

Steel Cut Oats are really yummy but kind of WEIRD.  I like them with just a bit of cinnamon and of course, maple syrup.  I guess I need to eventually cut back on maple syrup.

I've been drinking chamomile tea at night with local honey...and maybe some syrup...

I drank tea without sugar or sweetener!

I think I'm supposed to drink green tea on this diet.  Not sure...not sure I'm convinced it's magical.

Thank God for Trader Joe's.

The kids are loving this new style of eating.  They are hilarious.  They love that they can have fruit or veggies basically whenever they want.  They're shocked that I let them have so much honey drizzled over their fruit.  Josiah was hugging and dancing with the jar of honey in the kitchen.  They just can't get enough.  And are loving veggies more than ever.  It makes me realize their sugar addiction was really more about me and my self control than it is about them.  I'm so glad the tantrums are at a minimum as they're not getting so upset about being denied sugar!

John lost 8 pounds.

I have only had one can of Coke in a week!  And I had a Coke at a restaurant too.  :)

I really did feel better when I had lower sugar days, and didn't crave sugar unless I cheated.  I didn't lose any weight of course, but that's no surprise.  ;-)  We didn't cut out cheese and dairy but I did cut back a good bit.  Baby steps!

Second Kid Potty Training Day Two

Josiah and Potty Training:  Day one was such a huge success potty training Josiah.  He's much better at holding it than Maryn and has a bigger bladder, so it was just a lot less messy.  He was excited, cooperative and maybe a little overzealous.  John was home, which helped motivate him immensely I believe.  Today has not been as much of a success. Actually it hasn't involved a single "success" and has been rather exhausting.  I'm taking a break by 1.) blogging and 2.) bleaching our kitchen.  If our bathroom can't be clean, at least our kitchen will be.  The top of our fridge was dis.gust.ing.  I know for a fact I cleaned it a month ago but yuck, yuck.  How the heck does it get like that in a matter of four weeks?

Maryn has been such a great help and encourager!

Maryn and Charlotte Mason:  I am reading a book called "When Children Love to Learn."  There is so much truth in this book.  I am learning a ton about myself, education, God and my relationship with him.  I'm learning a little bit about why I have such a works-righteousness mentality, and I'm learning why FlyLady has been so successful for me (it's about learning good habits, not completing a to-do list or getting a reward).  I've learned that I really have to work on 1.)  Being sweet to my kids and 2.)  Not trying to manipulate them with my looks, my sarcasm or whatever.  I'll be officially homeschooling in just about a year and a half (that's when we will have to register with the state), so I gotta get mySELF into these routines and habits if I expect the same from my kids.

We were outside and Maryn said, "Mom look!  I wonder why the ground is all cracked?"  I looked and it was clear that after the rain we had the other night, the dirt was then drying in the sunshine and cracking.  Yay!  I was so excited she was making these observations in nature (Shutup!  I know I'm a dork:))!  But instead of a big lecture I just asked her why she thought it might be cracking, and was it wet or dry?  She said it was wet but it was drying in the sun.  I stopped myself from going into a big "lecture."  I'm so glad I did, because instead of listening to me ramble, she continued to venture around the yard looking for cracks.  She ended up seeing a place where a groundhog had made tunnels and she and a friend had a little adventure looking at things on the ground.  The Charlotte Mason method is a lot about not spoon-feeding and lecturing our kids, but in exploring the world for themselves and making more of their own connections, doing their own research, asking questions, etc.

Owen and Milestones:  Owen has been hitting a lot of milestones lately.  It's even more exciting with the third baby when they get new toofers, learn to sit up, wave, clap, etc.  It seems not long ago Maryn learned to do these things and this bittersweet reminder of how quickly they grow has been making John and I hold on to her a little tighter.

On Christmas Eve, Owen learned how to clap.  He did it for a few days but seems to have forgotten about it.  But he has been waving consistently and I swear it's the cutest thing I have ever seen.  lol okay, I say that about everything, I know.

He is getting interested in crawling and pulling up on things but HAS NOT done either yet (thank God...just kidding...sort of...).  He's not totally back to himself since our illness.  He had a terrible ear infection and is on antibiotics now.  He's feeling so much better but I think the antibiotics make him feel yucky.

Sleeping:  The kids have been sleeping better.  We had a great night last night.  And by "great" I mean, I woke up with Owen to nurse at 12:30, 3:30 (and changed his poopy diaper!), and 6:30.  Josiah was up at 6 and I made him go back to bed.  But after I got Owen back down, everyone slept past 7:30!  Meaning...wait for it....I TOOK A SHOWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I also read my Bible!!!!!  And I made the bed, got dressed, and had a cup of coffee with my handsome manly man!

Family Picture :)

Maryn learning to twirl her spaghetti

Shootin hoops!  He's such an all-star.

Spaghetti Face

We have been playing pirates all day.  Here's Maryn with her scary pirate flag.  Arrgghh!

winter fun

We've mostly recovered from our illnesses...I think...and here are a few things we've been doing, trying to pass the time, stay busy, and not go crazy.

Maryn's beautiful penguin picture.  Penguins are her favorite animal!

Josiah's adorable penguin.  He did a great job gluing and putting it together!

We made "chocolate popcorn" which we will post on our cooking blog soon.

Maryn's coloring has really progressed. Notice how she colors things the "right" colors now,
as in she colored the outline of the wings all blue and the middles all yellow.  I think it's pretty impressive, lol.

Maryn's been such a great helper, and she's been  more interested in reading and finding information.  She loves "The Blue Fairy" book we got at the library, which is a collection of old fairy tales.  A FANTASTIC read.  I hope we can buy all the "Fairy" books someday.

Maryn also made a fairy house and is hoping she gets more fairy visitors.  A fairy named Blossom even mailed us a letter to say she had visited and sent us a few pictures to color, like the one above.  And some fairies have also left behind fairy dust.  Hmmm....but we haven't actually seen any fairies yet.

The fairy house

complete with fireplace, furnishings, curtains 

Our living room today, after getting out some baby toys that were in "rotation."

We also made hamburger buns, which wasn't all that much fun, but I just posted that on our cooking blog as well.  :)  Happy 2013, everyone.