crunchy

Menu plan Monday

2011-01-17T10:03:00.000-08:00

We are trying to eat up what we have here this week, except for the stapes we need every week, but here is what we are trying out for dinner.

Monday: Spaghetti, garlic bread and green salad
Tuesday: Bulgogi green beans carrots and rice
Wednesday: Crockpot Shepherd's pie
Thursday: Easy breakfast for dinner, Popup Pancakes, regular pancakes or Eggs and sausage and a salad.
Friday: Meatloaf, i change that recipe up all the time and it goes over very well with everyone, or i might just turn it into burgers with a green veggie and corn.
Saturday: Homemade PIzza
Sunday: Lunch is out for Chinese (usually)
Dinner at my folks for Bible study after

Organizing

2010-06-04T09:40:00.001-07:00

So I'm in serious need of deep cleaning and organizing the house, all of it! It is frustrating, but I'm going to start and next week we are having a garage sale, so that should motivate me!

I want to get it all up to date, rearrange the living and dining rooms and maybe prepare to paint the bedrooms so we can switch rooms with the boys so they can have a bigger room and all three can sleep in there! M still sleeps in our room, in a bassinet. Which he is growing out of at a rapid pace. He just had his 6 month check up and weighs 18 lbs. He is in the 90th percentile! I haven't been really trying solids, but he seems pretty interested. I will start again. I feel like I start and stop, so I just need to keep with it, at least once a day.

Bugs first year of school is coming to an end. Monday is his last full day and then he has two half days to make up from snow! He is so glad to be done. He started his summer Tae Kwon Do class and Love went with and got to do the stuff along side Bug. They both came home so hyper, so I think it's going to be so good, for both! Bug has also started Cub Scouts. His first event is tomorrow where they learn to shoot the bb gun and archery! I'm really excited about this, I will be teaching the pack and helping out. Love just wants to be a parent this year to get the feel, I think I can talk him into helping me...

Summer begins! I'm so excited. Guitar lessons for Bug as well and I'm hoping for swim lessons. He did start riding his bike without training wheels earlier this year! So, I'm thinking some bike rides are in our near future!

Lent

2010-02-22T11:11:00.000-08:00

So it has come upon us once again. This year I thought it would be great to take part in Lent, told my husband to think and pray about what God is telling him to give up. He came home and said, Beer, which he taken to mean an alcohol. He isn't an alcoholic, nor does he choose it over his family. But he does part take every so often. I thought this was good, and I kept thinking to myself, "Why isn't mine to apparent to me?" I should give up chocolate or sugar. But I kept feeling God tell me something else, not to give things up, but to put my soul focus on Him. I have a list that I feel is what He wants me to do and refocus my priorities. For the last year I have been a say home Mom, something I don't really take pride in. I'm not great at keeping the house clean or organized, I don't always plan or even cook dinner. I have been feeling quite lazy these days. I have weight to lose and I haven't really put my whole heart into it, to take care of myself, watch what I eat or to keep myself involved whole-heartedly in all the boys' lives. My oldest, I think, has suffered the most from this, when he is home, he runs around helping me out, getting diapers or the forgotten something in the other room. I have found myself saying many times, "I'm coming". I think that has been my auto pilot.

My attitude needs to change, I may not be good at the house stuff, but I am determined to put my family first, organize papers that have been put off and look at being home with my children as my job. I haven't looked at it quite like that before. I want to be interested in what they are interested.

Pickle loves animals, we should go to the zoo once a week, we have a membership! Nugget smiles a lot and has started giggling, what a pleasant sound. I want to make toys and fun crafts for and with my children. First on my list is to make a bag out of a t-shirt for Bug, he has been asking since before Christmas, so off I go!

I will be making a list of things we should do, but I think one fun family thing out of our routine would be a good place to start and to keep God in the center of things that we do. Out youth went to a conference this weekend and the theme was LOUDER THAN WORDS. I think that we all can take something away from that. What actions have you taken today to show Jesus to someone?

This is my Lent Season...to give.

New Year

2010-01-21T07:22:00.000-08:00

Our church decided to read our Bibles together and the church got Life journals for the congregation to challenge us to read our Bible daily, something I have always struggled with. I always say that is something that I am working on. I am encouraged by my husbands faithfulness in this area. So have picked up one of these Journals. You are suppose to read the reading for the day, which can be up to four chapters in Old and New testament and sometimes includes a Psalm as well. It has been nice reading before bed. Love is taking a theology-type class and does his readings and book work while I do my readings. After you read you are suppose to get the "notebook" and write down what God speaks to you from your reading, what stands out to you the most. Observation is next, write what you have observed, next is application and how you can apply this to your daily life and lastly, prayer. Pray. I haven't been doing the whole journal thing for the last two weeks, but I have been reading my Bible and retaining what I have been reading. I have also taken my prayer life to the next level. I feel that I have been slacking as a mother. I have been diligently praying for my children and their futures, each of them. It's been exciting to see God answering these little prayers, even about the childrens sleep!
Sorry this is so long, it's really for me to look back at as opposed to reading for others.

So as my prayer list is growing and my family becomes more open to prayer for one another, it gets more exciting to see how God is speaking. I have been challenged by Him to listen to Him more. I know our future is in His hands. I am so blessed to have my family!

The Lord has been laying on our hearts what is next for us and how do we get there. I feel change is coming, in our location, in our jobs and as our children grow, our parenting. I pray for guidance in all these areas and that Love and my relationship continues to grow and include God in every step, even when we stumble, His Grace Is Enough.

A few photos

2009-12-09T19:10:00.000-08:00

Pickle with his new home made hat (my first one)
Love and Pickle having a moment.
Cousins meeting for the first time, how sweet.
The diaper cake for my sister's baby shower that Love made.
Notice the wet shirt of mine, all because Nuggets DR. can't put a diaper on properly! Thank you Dr. Kim. We still love her and all had a good chuckle. This was Nugget's two week check-up. 7lbs1oz! Wait to go!

Thanks giving

2009-12-09T18:54:00.000-08:00

We have had a crazy past month...I am trying to catch up with the blogging. Nugget has been home for just over a month now. I know that Thanksgiving has gone, but we had an exciting week then. We found out that week that Pickle was cutting 4 top teeth all at once! To make the total up to 6!

That Wednesday he (Pickle) took his first steps, and they were towards his Daddy, which made it all the more sweet. We spent time with Loves family for a nice time, especially for the kids, the weekend before. And the crazy buzz of the Gracey family for Thanksgiving at my Aunt's house. Fun and loud, as usual. Turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberries, cheesey mashed potatoes, baked brie, beer bread and Love made and brought Scottish Eggs, yum!

Sunday night Pickle decided that he wanted to walk more, so now at almost 15 months old, he is taking more steps, getting into everything, pulling things off shelves, loves to laugh at Bug and the cats playing. Pickle, we have also found out, is a lover of all animals. We have been trying to capture a photo of how he hugs the cats, practically lays on top of them, and they let him. It is quite the sight.

So we are thankful this year for a good job for Love and that I can stay home with the boys, be a part of Bug's PTA, watch Bug attend and enjoy learning different things (math, Spanish, music, memorizing scripture, playing the Wii), not have a car payment (which will probably change as we look for a mini van), and have loving family and friends that write letters, call on the phone, and those who we get to see often. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your lives.

P.S. Bug asked me when we can visit the ocean again! And we love the candy ribbons Gma K made for us, I mean, the boys!

Third boy welcome!

2009-12-09T18:47:00.000-08:00

Since I last blogged, we have a new addition to our family, Nugget. He is great, had no complications, both of us healthy from the get go. Even though my OB wanted me to get a flu shot, nothing bad happened during labor, except it was fast and furious, which is fine. All in all, we have our third boy! Beautiful and healthy. He came to us on Sunday November 8th at 11:22 am, during church, just like Pickle. We got to bring him home with us right away, even though he was 5 weeks early. What a blessing to us all.

Pickle's 1st Birthday!

2009-10-03T07:27:00.000-07:00

What a blessing to have the First Birthday of my second son! We went to dinner for Italian and had a few gifts and a few family members, we didn't want such a to-do....Bug and I made cupcakes earlier when he got home from school and had a nice time doing so. I don't think the day even fazed Pickle....but we had a nice evening with family that ended with cupcakes and lots of hugs and kisses......He eats lots of foods that we give him (pnut butter and bananas seem to be the fav right now), crawls non-stop, is "cruising", and wanting to walk more and more each day, started drinking from a cup, and says lots of fun sounds, and even seems to whistle a bit when he gets really excited about things!

To my Pickle, my Bubba...I love you, my dear sweet boy!

Internet issues

2009-09-11T07:02:00.000-07:00

I needed to post this mostly for myself so I don't forget, I haven't really kept a baby book for either one of my children, but would like to put something together in the near future with #3 on the way, no we still don't have any names picked out. Pickle got his first tooth in two days ago! What an exciting time, he started dancing and can wave "hello" and "good-bye". What a joy, I have been enjoying our time together alone, without anyone else around. It's been nice.

Yesterday a huge truck drove by our house and somehow cut our cable for t.v. cable and our internet, so I am over at my folks checking on things on facebook and email, for my sister and her family are making their way back state-side and will be coming into Chicago tonight. I have been thinking about just going out there to meet them at the airport, but we will see them next weekend and the week after. It has been just over two years since I have seen her and my brother-in-law. They celebrated thier 10th wedding anniversary this last July and had their first son in May (quite early, he was due in July). I am excited to meet Ezra Jude and hold the little guy, he weighs just over 9 lbs right now, born just under 4lbs. What a man already, he has survived heart surgery at one week old and the infection after the surgery. Can you tell I'm excited?! I don't have a clue where to go to meet them at the airport, so I'm trying to get in contact with their best friends and Pastors in Chicago. I do like the drive out there and it looks like I might make the drive by myself, if I go, with the kids! Love might like the mini break from the kids, but we still hate being away from one another. It's the way it is, we like each other. You know, some people like to have their "girl time" and "guys night out", but we would rather just have spend that time enjoying eachother, without kids maybe. We have been getting a little more of that with school nights we try to be really good about not getting Bug to bed late, actually, we have done great with that. It's nice and relaxing at about 8pm now a days!

I'm going to end for now, I seem to just be rambling...I love my family, everywhere.

Kindergarten

2009-09-04T18:25:00.000-07:00

Bug started kindergarten last Thursday. Yep. I thought this year would be homeschooling/unschooling. This summer he asked about school, and I let him choose if he wanted to stay home or go to the school. He decided that he wanted to try out school...and with baby on the way and an almost 1 year old we thought it would be best. Bug and I are so much a like that we can jump on each other pretty easy to stir the pot more often than it should. But we also have a good time with each other, we know what makes the other laugh. But I must say that him being gone for some of the day is nice, I just have one child to look after for the time being and that will be our only "mommy and Pickle time" so I am taking advantage. I do miss Bug and try to find out what "special" classes he has for each day (art, music, p.e., you get the idea), usually he just telss me that they got tplay outside today! He talks about a few friends already and has gotten into trouble a couple of times, one for playing when he was suppose to be sitting and another for hurting a girl that was an accident.

So Bug's first day was my last day on a missions trip to Mexico with our church. I didn't really pay attention to that little detail until the day we were leaving, somehow I had it in my head that I was coming back the day before, so that bummed me out, leaving Love to send him off his first day and with G'pa to help. It was nice to know both of them wanted to be a part of Bug's first day! Very cute and my only request was pictures!

G'pa walking over the bridge with Bug for the big day!

pics

2009-07-29T10:21:00.000-07:00

My first sewing project: diaper soaker for new baby!

Bug at V.B.S. painting the world to remind him of John 3:16!

Our first camping trip ended with the boys taking the canoe out on the lake! What fun!

Pickle and his new love, those blocks and the cube of fun!

Bug at V.B.S. again, doing the obstacle course. His favorite!

Pantry Budget week

2009-07-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

We will be doing most of our menu this week from the fridge and pantry, and our garden...

Mon: Dinner salads! And left-over birthday cake!

Tues: Spinach quiche! (My first one!) and Fresh bread!

Wed: Asian noodles with Sunflower seeds and any other veggies we have.

Thursday: 2 day Chicken (Crock pot for 2 days, slooooow cooking) salad sandwich?

Friday: Ratatouille

Saturday: Left-overs with Cous Cous added.

Needing to catch up.

2009-07-06T08:11:00.001-07:00

Asher in his crib, and Magnet followed. Asher loves the kitties.

Korbin took this lovely photo of John while we were out at dinner.

Asher and his new food routine! It's going well.

Korbin's new haircut. "Do you like my new haircut?" He says to all who will listen.

John's artist touch while playing cards with family and friends yesterday.

A visit

2009-04-28T06:54:00.000-07:00

Last week we were so excited to be asked to babysit! They boys' cousins came over for bit. Bug prepared for the visit. We ate grilled bean burgers and the kids had tomatoes and carrots while Love and I had grilled asparagus, which seems to be a fav right now. Here are some pretty pics from the evening! I couldn't get Pickle's pic to turn around, so it looks like he is flying! We had a nice time. Hope we can do it again soon!

Catching up

2009-04-28T06:39:00.000-07:00

Easter Family Pic at my Mom and Dad's house with all the fam. The egg hunt was at our house/yard! Lots of fun and lots of boys!

We went to a freind house to paint eggs and I love this picture of Willow with Pickle. She got right up there without saying a word as soon as I put him up there. Willow just kept giving me this look.

We made our tie-dye for our Easter outfits! Finally got to tye-dye! Perfect!

Bug and I playing Harry Potter wizard wars. Got to take time to play!

Love's Birthday!

2009-04-22T07:28:00.000-07:00

I keep forgetting to post about my love's 31st birthday. Nothing too exciting this year, but we did make him a present. I'm quite proud, seeing that I'm not artistic, I am crafty however and can make that work for me. So this is what I came up with, with help from Bug.

Love points!

2009-04-20T11:40:00.000-07:00

My Love made great points! He does like to experiment in the kitchen and makes all kinds of concoctions! It is quite fun, except when I was pregnant with my youngest. My first trimester he did not earn any points for new dishes! But now! Oh wow! We were up late the Friday before Easter having a meeting with our Pastor and after he left I had to call my sister, in the Philippines, back. Love went into the kitchen and found avocado (love them), mango and marinaded artichoke hearts, put them on nice bread and we gobbled them right up! He can make that for me any day of the week! Sweet man.

Deodorant

2009-04-19T18:18:00.000-07:00

I have thrown out the last of my secret deodorant, love the smell, and made my own, Thank you Passionate Homemaker
I found it much easier than I anticipated and after a week and a bit of wearing it, I'm so pleasantly surprised that I don't stink! All natural and no aluminum! Plus, it took me five minutes to make!
Natural Deodorant:
Equal parts of Baking Soda and Cornstarch or Arrowroot and add enough coconut oil to make it the consistency that you want. I put mine in my old dispenser and put it in my cupboard, I might need to put it the fridge over the summer though. Coconut oil becomes liquid in warmer temps, be is solid even in our kitchen. I am so happy with this, I made some for my great bff and my Mom even requested me to make it for her! Super great!

Two weeks have passed

2009-04-19T18:10:00.001-07:00

Wow! I haven't blogged in two weeks. We have had lots going on around this nutty house of ours. Many play dates, parks, Art class, meeting new friends. I will slowly blog about the last couple of weeks to catch you all up on us!
Pickle has become very interested in crinkling sounds, and yes, he is playing with a bag full of cotton balls, fully supervised! He is so happy, 9 days away from 7 months! 15 +lbs! He is growing and laughing, enjoys watching people and smiling, shows interest in our food, so we have tried bananas, and enjoy them! You can also see the mess in our house behind him, I'm not the best homemaker, but we are happy and I try not to stress when people come over. We are lived in, that is my excuse!

Sunday Times

2009-04-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

Today we had a nice day after church we went to my folks and had some friends over for lunch and games (Apples to Apples). The kids played and we had a nice time with our wonderful friends, as always. This pic is Love with Pickle after our friends had gone, a nice day to stay indoors. While church was going on (Love and I were in a short "play" at church) the snow started and it didn't stop til later this afternoon. We just didn't want to go anywhere and my folks welcomed us to stay as long as we liked!

I like this pic of them...Pickle rolled onto his back this morning before we left for church, so we need to be on extra alert!

Art into School

2009-03-28T16:36:00.000-07:00

This was the project that we did for what ended up the theme of "long" for Unplug Your Kids

It took about 2 hours for us to complete this project, a "long time". But what started out as a fun art project, that I wasn't so sure about, ended up being many different lessons in one. These are those small plastic beads that help with small motor skills and I had Bug counting how many beads we needed and what colors, it was nice. He made it educational, I didn't push it. He has been putting numbers into anything, shows an interest in measuring this with the tape measure, which we also did for the "long" theme. He really enjoyed this project and there are many other 3-D animals in the kit we got to work on this next week! Two for the price of one! I love seeing what Bug learns with every day living!

My first knit in the round

2009-03-28T16:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally got the nerve up to found out how to knit in the round...Youtube is great! This was my very first project and I am very pleased with the outcome. Pickle has a new hat!

Things I want to try with Bug

2009-03-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

I am looking for new, fun, interesting and educational things to do for "homeschool" here is my list of things I would like to get into our lives in the near future: This list was created so I have all this info in one place, but you can enjoy these things as well! What fun!

Some fun and easy art projects

Counting to 20

Writing the Alphabet upper and lower case

More Simple math adding

More phonics

Square Foot Gardening

More will be added here, this is just the beginning!

Feel the need

2009-03-23T07:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought, why not? We had a great week and weekend. We went to the St. Patty's parade. I'm not a big fan of this holiday, how it became a drinking holiday, I don't know. They don't even celebrate it in Ireland, so it makes no difference to me. I guess we should just learn about Ireland and focus that is where my family comes from. It was still fun to find green clothes, well, orange, since we are protestant, so Bug wore green, Pickle wore orange and we got lots of beads from the parade. I guess legally they really can't throw candy, they did throw some, so we got a little of that too. Bug shared his candy with all that evening at dinner. We also got to go to a farm this last week, which was really nice. Bug got to hold a baby chick, "so soft". We enjoyed the company, the chickens and the beautiful weather. Went to the library to pick up a few things.

Had a Saturday of fun with our Awana kids. They had some "Olympic games" that both of our teams got 3rd, out of 4. It was our first year and it was a stressful experience for me leading up to the event, our church wasn't organized (not my fault this time!). I wasn't in charge of that, so I shouldn't have stressed. Now I know for next time.

Sunday was nice, weather was great, Pickle is teething and a little fussy, so I did break out the Tylenol, poor guy. We went to good friends house for the afternoon and had lunch and great conversation. The men played Star Wars with kids in the backyard, it was fun to watch and hear! All in all really nice week. Today is rainy and Love took my car to work, his car didn't want to start, but that is o.k. we need a day in and I thought we might try some crafts at home! I will be looking those up today and menu planning.

Zoo Times

2009-03-16T21:09:00.000-07:00

Friday was fun! We ventured to the Omaha zoo with my cousin and his family, they have two boys as well! The boys all loved it. Pickle fell asleep in the moby while the other three boys ran ahead of everyone and tried to race to the end of the zoo! Lots of fun, lots of energy and deemed a good time for all. This photograph was taken by my four year old, Bug. He like to take pictures. The zoo has a new butterfly building, nice. I let him run loose with my camera, which he loves. He takes nice photos! He is taking after Daddy! Loves to take pics of everything and anything including his hands and feet as well as self portraits! Lots of fun living life through a four year olds eyes. I learn so much and I'm glad and blessed to have this special time to spend with my young children.

Today was beautiful, even though we spent most of the day in doors. Pickle slept more today, I think he's going through a growth spurt. We have decided to try a garden this year and this is the week to set it up. I also started a wheat bread dough and made a loaf this evening, smells great! Tomorrow will be running around day and out of the house day. Parade to see, if we get there, art supplies to locate for our block printing "class" we will be taking next Tuesday, and trying to get our things together for our Square Foot Garden. I hope all goes well, we are new to this, so if it doesn't go well, we can live with it. My love bought our tickets to visit our family in Oregon in May! We are both so excited. Bug's 5th birthday will be while we are out there and we hope to visit the ocean, this will be both of the boys' first time. How fun! I get to meet more of our family (some family of mine that Love hasn't met as well as Love's family that I still haven't met). I love traveling, so I am very excited. I have been eating pretty good the last couple of days, but I haven't worked out for a week. I did walk for five hours or so at the zoo on Friday. I hope to do something active this week, outside as well as in. My life is in a great direction and I'm so glad to have Love in my life to share it!

Night with sleep!

2009-03-12T08:16:00.000-07:00

So the last few nights I feel like I have been getting sleep. Pickle slept through Tuesday night, all the way through! Went to bed at 10 and woke up at 7:30ish! What?! Yep, that's right. You know last night wasn't the same, but still, it was nice. He didn't get up until 4:30, which he has been doing for a while. He only gets up once a night, we are blessed!

Pickle started rolling over, just a few times, but yesterday with Daddy he rolled over while he was getting his diaper changed, the first for Daddy's eyes.

What a crazy night at Awana.(Love and I had a stupid fight yesterday and then I went to Awana, still a little upset.) I have come to love my kids at church, very much. We have split the boys from the girls for most of the night with the 3-5th graders. It's really been nice. But for the last month or so the girls have been giving each other bad looks, calling each other names and some small threats have been going off. I have been disturbed by this and decided to confront all of them about it. It was a good thing, after some of the girls came to me to let me know the behind the scenes at home and that spills over into live outside! Man, my problems about who cleans what at home and what chores go to who really pale in comparison to the problems I hear from our girls at church. Most come from broken homes, one lives with Grandma and recently watched her uncle (that was living with them) get taken away in handcuffs. Her parents divorce is recently been final and her mom is re-marrying some guy. Another girl just found out that her parents are getting a divorce after so 10 years of being married. It breaks my heart to see the girls go through this. Our society has just decided that when things get hard, we can just call it quits. I don't believe that. I believe that you can marry anyone, you are going to have your ups and downs, but when you are down, it's that the person you want to share your inner most thoughts to? I think that marriage is sacred and today, to most people, they think they can just split when things aren't going their way. It hurts. I have a hard time looking at these situations. I know, some may say, well, you have been married before and now you have only been married for just over a year. I do know that. My life has changed so much in the last 5 years that it makes my head spin. But I have come away with knowledge. I have always thought that God taught me so much through my experiences. I know that I could marry anyone, as long as they are willing to work on the marriage with me. That was the problem in my first marriage. I wasn't important enough to fight for, and I have accepted that (not that it was easy). But this time, God truly blessed me with my life partner, my soul mate, my best friend. How wonderful! Being obedient has really been the way to go! It is really easy being married to someone who shares the same spirit, the same goals, the same values and the same dreams.

Back to what I was saying, some of my girls have a hard time at school and some of these girls have a little violence that has been accepted into who they are. we have been taking about when we don't like someone, what should we do? "Walk away, keep your distance and pray for them". Something that also surprises me is that most of my girls go to church, have been to church, are saved themselves. Most of them have some knowing about church, the Bible, God. But they haven't been taught the basics. We have some girls learning the books of the Bible and I have found out that they don't know how to look up verses in the Bible. So for the last three weeks we have been looking up scripture. If they don't get that at home, we have to teach them. I want to give these girls the tools they need. Reading the Bible has been on my mind for weeks now, how do I get the girls to know how important it is to read and memorize for the future. One day they will look back and now that God was guiding them into the lives He designed for them. i don't care if they remember me. I want them to have good memories of church, not being bullied while they were there. My whole thing about being in Children;s ministry (not my calling, really) is that I don't want someone telling them about God being in a box, that God has many sizes and shapes, colors, smells. I want them to know when you read and study your Bible, it's OK to highlight or underline it! Live can have so many more colors and smells for us to enjoy if we just let God work and let ourselves get out of the way.

I know this post is long and kind of a tangent, but it has been on my heart and mind and it needed out. Maybe someone needed to read this, I don't know. Maybe I'm just needing a cleanse of my heart. Thank you for taking the time and reading this, or just skimming it. It's not for everyone, but the ones close to me know how I feel, and sometimes this is just my diary. I feel safe here and I can share my heart. Please pray for the girls that I have a influence on and I have a heavy burden for them, I have a hand in the molding and pray I can be a good guide for them to look at in my life.

Meal plan

2009-03-09T19:11:00.000-07:00

My bff and I making Spelt Pizza Last Saturday Night! Pickle is enjoying the Moby!

Or Menu Monday, is what some people call it.

Breakfasts: Pink smoothies/frozen waffles, cereal

Monday: Dinner; Salad/pink smoothie

Tuesday:Lunch; Salad or green smoothie and grilled cheese

Dinner; Ratatouille

Wednesday: Lunch; Mexi Egg wrap

Dinner; Crepes and salad

Thursday: Lunch; Salad/ green smoothie

Dinner; Cous Cous Soup

Friday: Lunch; left over soup

Dinner; Going out for pizza!

Saturday: Lunch; fend for yourself

Dinner; Quiche

I have some bread to make, I made my first loaf yesterday and it was great! I'm so excited! Can't wait to make more! I have been convicted about eating my green smoothies, I have been craving too many sweets, kick that feeling out. And I need to workout, I have a sinus infection, the second one in a month, so I need to get my body moving to get it out, get a massage or acupuncture done and exercise, that is my solution! I downloaded more pics that I will post here. I printed some pics of the boys and sent them off to family a far. I picked up the house some, still needs more attention, but getting there. Pickle is teething, so drool has become the norm and fun gas that you would think came out of a grown person, man can he fart!

Back to the sinus infection, I have been reading my Alternative Medicines book for school, and think that I have chronic sinusitis. We are going to see if we can have to dog out of the house for a couple weeks to see if that might be a factor in my sinus issues.

We got together with our really good friends over this last weekend, which was great. They guys mudded the addition to their home and us ladies made spelt pizza, which i have come to love. Then we went over worship music for Sundays set that we were all a part of. It was nice and relaxing. Sunday we went back and my Mom made lunch for all of us and we played Apples to Apples. Good times!

We also enjoyed going to our first official "Park Day" with the local unschooler/homeschoolers group that we have come to enjoy being a recent addition. We have met up with them at a couple of events this winter, so "Park Day" is other events when the weather isn't fun for the park. I'm very grateful to this group of wonderful and supportive women. I look forward to more of the weekly meet-ups!

Tomorrow we are going over to another friends house, without the kids, to have craft night of our very own. I believe Love and I will be doing some knitting and our friends will either be knitting or doing some macrame, it will be nice. I am looking forward to having more creative thing in our house to share with out children and so that the t.v. isn't on as much. Bug did ask to learn how to knit, we have tried once and he lost interest within the first 5 minutes, we will try again later.

Early morning

2009-03-04T03:24:00.000-08:00

It is early, thought I would blog since it has been a while again. Bug got to spend time with is biological Dad the last couple of days, very emotional for everyone. We are now recovering and going to get back to normal.

I made a great dinner of Cous Cous Soup and apple/brie with a reduced balsamic vinegar sandwich on nice toasted bread! I really love cooking, when I have the time. I made our menu for this week, got groceries and went thrift shopping yesterday with a friend that I haven't seen for a couple months now. Nice time catching up.

I have been back on pink smoothies, but still am trying to get back to green ones too. I haven't gotten back into working out again since I was sick over Valentine's weekend. Oh well. I have been keeping busy and reading, need to sign up with my new CSA for this year! I'm really excited and need to plan out our garden, Bug wants to help! Love has been taking a theology course at our church (I took this a year or so ago), it's good and keeps you reading the Bible and memorizing scripture, which is always a good thing. I might pick up my book and go through it again while he is taking it!

We have also started knitting, Love has made two scarves and I have made a scarf and a pair of fingerless gloves that Bug decided were for him! I want to learn how knit socks and Love wants to learn to make a hat, which I would like as well. Oh what a fun hobby for us to do together and make stuff for each other! I guess we need to learn how to knit in the round! That will be fun. Bug has decided he wants to learn to knit as well, it's not going well for him right now with that, but I will try if he wants to keep on!

I have been reading blogs and enjoying my friends in conversation lately. I hope tomorrow is more of the same, I mean today!

Good Tuesday

2009-02-24T22:33:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed the sunshine today. Ran a few errands and went to the park. We met up with friends at the park, nice to chat and figure out what to do about our share garden and local CPA. I am looking forward to fresh local veggies with no pesticides or hormone growth injections! I feel like I have been so blind about the foods we eat, but the light is dawning. The boys stayed with Grandpa G this evening so that Love and I could attend a DIY/Craft group that was teaching knitting! It was great, coffee and knitting with great company. Love's best friend was their and another of my new friends was there with her daughter and sister. It was a nice get away. I am excited to say that I will finish my new scarf hopefully tomorrow if all goes well. I really enjoyed this and hope that we will continue to do fun things like this, a kind of date night. Really relaxing.

Tomorrow will be nice again, so I hope we can go by the park for a bit. Bug does have art class and we have Awana in the evening. I do like seeing my "kids" on Wednesday night. And tomorrow is Ash Wednesday.

I have already stayed up later than I wanted.

I have to say that Pickle has been grasping for things lately, toys, his bink, blankets. It's really fun to see the growth that you forget about. The little things...all blessings.

Short and Sweet

2009-02-18T02:44:00.000-08:00

"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, ever atom in me a magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days to prolong them. I shall use my time." ~Jack London

The thought of myself, but also a great descrip of a spirited child. I love my Bug.

Pickle

2009-02-16T20:10:00.001-08:00

This is Pickle, he is now 4 months old, almost 5 months! He looks at you with those big blues! This was last week sometime driving around in between being sick, running errands and a funeral. You can't see his hair so much here. He doesn't have much, but what he does have is very light, not sure how it will turn out. Bug was just like this for a long while and now his hair is so thick, I'm not worried about Pickle's hair at all. Just fun to know if it will be curly...inquiring minds want to know.

Recovery/Catch up

2009-02-16T19:40:00.000-08:00

Last week we went roller skating with the local Homeschooler/Unschooler group. Bug's first time at the rink and with real skates. (We went around once, yes WE. I had to get skates because he was scared, so was I!) We went around once and that was enough for him.

Recover/Catch Up
That was what today was all about. I was sick from Friday evening until Monday morning I had a fever, my body ached everywhere, my head throbbing with sinus pain and headache/migraine. Lots of fun! I had to call into work on V-day! Bad day to call in. I got a text saying that I had to show up or they would have to let me go. That wasn't too hard of a decision, I had a temperature of 100-102 that day and didn't want to get clients or coworkers sick, so I stayed home. All is good in that decision, I would have gotten complaints about how bad my massages would have been anyway. I could barely walk to the bathroom at home. Love had to bring Pickle to me to nurse and then put him back into the crib, so sad. Love started feeling yuck Saturday afternoon, but got better later in the day, just some stomach weird. So I can't remember all that happened. I do know that we got a few valentines in the mail. How sweet there were. My Mother-in-law sent cards and sweet treats for the kids! Yum! "Dairy Cream" is what Bug calls it, we only live two blocks away from our favorite and we walk there in the summer quit a bit! And my sister-in-law also sent a homemade card with family pics all over it, very cute! We want to say "Thanks"

Bug has had a cough the last few days, so tomorrow I will give him ear drops, he seems to get ear infection after having a couch. I want that to stop. He hadn't been sleeping so great and then was sick one night last week, slept on night for 14 hours straight and then 12 the next night. It's been weird though, all of us having different symptoms. I didn't go to the Dr, but maybe I should have. I don't think they could have given me anything anyway because I'm nursing. No big deal, my immune system needed to work through it on it's own this time. My throat is still sore and I'm snoring when I sleep, I am told. And my head hurts a little off and on. I am trying to eat well and drink lots of water. Water and my honey made me milk tea, which was nice and I kind of got a secret crush on now, very soothing.

The house is coming into silence with both boys sleeping and both of us tired, trying to get more sleep. It's nice to not have to be anywhere at any certain time, i love seeing Bug learning every day, from me, the Internet, his clever numbers and letter games. We have a great time. Tuesdays usually end up being some kind of music day, we listen to, dance around and sing along with different types of music, educational, just for fun, techno and classical. Bug loves to dance to techno! He is getting quit the love for music, I'm so proud. He will be taking Hip Hop Boys dance class this summer, all boys! He says he can't break dance, but then you will see him get on the ground and try to move around like he knows what he is doing, or has a picture of it in his mind. What a cool kid.

Pickle is desperately trying to turn over, if he could just get his feet to go with his body, soon. I told him today he can wait as long as he likes, I'm in no rush for him to be mobile!

Off to bed

2009-02-11T20:45:00.000-08:00

Before I retire for the evening I thought I would stop by with a few thoughts. I have not been keeping up with my new workout routine, bad me. Tomorrow is a new day. Love has been offered a new work position and isn't sure he should take it, insurance might not cover the old house's water damage, I'm not happy at work.

Bug got sick last night so we stayed home, he had a fever (can't remember the last fever...never gets them) and stayed on the couch majority of today. Watched a few movies and then by 4:30 or so he felt much better, not eating much at all today but he wanted to play the WiiFit. I told him tomorrow he could, today was kind of a rest day. We missed Art Class and he stayed home from Awana. I went, I love my kids. They are so much a part of why I even teach there. I have a great relationship with most of them. Two of my kids have my cell phone number and text me during the week, it's kind of fun. One of the girl's mom may let me color her hair pink! That will be fun! Then we will match. I love my pink hair, I'm still not sure about the blue right now with the pink. Oh well, it's still fun.

I work tomorrow and hope to work out. I made the smoothies for tomorrow, Love likes to take them to work with him and I don't get up before him much any more, I feel lazy.

I'm off to bed and Thank God that Bug is better! And that we all are healthy other than the last night throwing up! I'm tired and want to read a bit before bed (The China Study) .

He's BACK!

2009-02-08T22:09:00.001-08:00

My wonderful husband has made it home! Safe and sound. WE have tried talking a lot since we laid eyes on one another while he tries to stay awake. We had to be at church early this a.m. for worship practice and then had a taco dinner after for the youth fundraiser. So we got home, tried to sleep and ended up talking most of the afternoon, in bed. Trying to catch a nap. He says he will go to work in the morning, we will see.

I have been trying to figure out what I want...in church in my calling to Asia/China, in my role as a mother, as a homeschooler, as a more natural approach to health and home. It will be interesting to see where I am on all these things in six months from now.

I haven't had a smoothie or a couple of days, did have salad today. Only worked out on e day last week, oh well. I can't beat myself up over that, I need to just move on. This week will be better. We all have to figure out our routine again. Fun times here on our home front. I am enjoying the stories and want them for myself.

My last night alone

2009-02-06T21:00:00.001-08:00

At least for a while. I am so excited. I don't think I will sleep well tonight. I have to go through all of tomorrow to get to see my Love around 10pm! My life is great. We had an o.k. day. Pickle had a checkup today...all is well. My chubby little guy, he has remained on the same growth curve. 13.9lbs. 24" long! 4 months old. 23% for his weight and height. His head circum is in the 3rd percentile, but continues in the same curve. All good news! He also got his lovely shot for RSV prevention. I really hate to see him go through that, but only two more of those and we are done. He didn't even cry for 5 minutes! He ate right away and that calmed him. We are now on cloth diapers full time! It's going very well. I am so surprised. Nights and everything! This makes me feel good, less to no chemicals on my son, no having to forget the diapers at the store or run out last minute!

Alright I have a massage party to work at tomorrow. I love those, and hate them, but it's nice to make new connections and talk about holistic health at the same time. I just wish I didn't have to leave the boys with someone (tomorrow it's my mom). They have fun though and need a break from me as well. So it is nice to have that, thanks mom.

I didn't eat very well. I didn't work out like I thought today, oh well. i got some errands done, washed the car (not that that lasted) and found out that i need an eye exam, my stuff has expired. So, yeah, that's about it for today. I did do some laundry and fold diapers!

Thoughts today

2009-02-05T21:30:00.000-08:00

So I have 48 hours until I see my Love!!!!!!! What a great time that will be! I will probably cry. I miss him, if you didn't notice.

Today was kind of boring, I worked. I don't know how I feel at work. It's almost like I don't want to be there, I'm not happy there. So there may be a change in my near future with work. We will see. I said I would try this for a month and see how it goes. I had a nice time hanging out with the girls at work. We talked about the usual. Men, shoes, pregnancy. We have one gal who is currently pregnant and one who is trying to get pregnant and me, who thinks about when we should get pregnant again. I'm always thinking about that. I think it will just happen when it is suppose to happen.

I didn't workout today, should have, I had one client at work and could have worked out. Today was suppose to just be ab work, so it should have been easy to do at work. Oh well. I will tomorrow for sure. I didn't have a smoothie or salad, but I did eat a full container of plain organic yogurt, it is so good, all 24oz in almost one sitting! Yeah, I know, not the most wonderful thing for me to devour, that is what I did.

I am planning on waiting until midnight and then going to bed. Love left a new pic with text every day he has been gone. I think I have gone to bed once before midnight since he has been gone. Just to see what he says to me. I can't get over him, I miss hims o much. I miss talking, it's been a week since we spoke. The longest, for sure, since we met.

I enjoyed watching nothing on T.V. this evening, should have cleaned and read a book or knitted, but didn't. The end of Iron Chef America is on in the background and the judging is about to begin. I guess I will watch who wins and then venture up to the bedroom. Oh, both boys have been going to bed around the same time the last two nights now. And cloth diapers are going over very well! Thank you!

Up Late

2009-02-04T23:22:00.000-08:00

So I talked on the phone tonight with my bff for an hour and a half! Can you believe it! we just saw each other today for a couple of hours! It was nice. I don't think there will be many more late night phone calls when Love returns, but it has been nice to connect and really enjoy ourselves. I found some fun crafty DIY groups in town that I'm looking forward to joining in the near future. It seems like something I'm looking for in my life right now. I want to connect with more people, outside of my church. I don't get the opportunity at work to just talk and become friends with most of my clients, it's a professional relationship. I need some sort of creative outlet that helps me relax. I get all tense and can't put my tension anywhere except for own body, which is just horrible. I work tomorrow. I have decided to see if I can have Reiki done tomorrow if we aren't busy. i need to replenish my chi! I am tired now and want to go to bed. Love will be home on Saturday night! I'm so excited, I need to do something during the day on Saturday to keep me busy. Maybe I will knit his scarf!

I am wanting to make crepes and I found a recipe that sounds good. Soon, I will try it. I didn't work out today, but I will tomorrow. I drank lots of water and ate pretty good, no meat, but lots of protein! I love eating like this. I had a huge salad for lunch that would knock your socks off! I love avocado, yum with salt and pepper! super yum!

Not much longer

2009-02-03T21:44:00.000-08:00

Another night alone....

Bug slept in today, as did the rest of us. I got a load of laundry done a load of dishes and put Pickle back in cloth diapers today. It is going better today. I think the diapers were a little tight the first couple of times I put them on him. I will pick up my next purchase of cloth diapers tomorrow. I'm excited to see how tonight will go, first night with them. I was afraid of him not being able to sleep, but it has been about 2 plus hours now. I think he will transition nicely. I have been thinking a lot lately about no vaccinations and less meat in all of our diets. More fine arts in our daily lives and more exercise for me.

Today I had two pink smoothies, a large salad for lunch. Hot chocolate and ice cream. I can't remember the last time I had ice cream. It was o.k. I keep thinking that all sugary things tasted better before now. What is going on? I'm really loving that the sweets aren't what I really want anymore. I am really enjoying putting together new meals without meat. I think our life is more interesting this way, and I feel so much better in general. My head is clear, most of the time. I have lost 2.5lbs in the last week! My skin is clearer, I have more energy and don't crave the sweets as much. And when I give into the sweets, they don't taste nearly as good as I remember.

I have 4 more days without my Love. I am really excited about seeing him. Today's present from him was a Star Wars spaceship for Bug. He loved it! Bug thought it was so cool that Dad left presents for him to play with while he was gone. He can't wait to see Daddy at the airport and tell him "thank you for Bumble Bee and the Star Wars spaceship". That is what he told me today. Bug likes to hold Pickle's hand and talk in a really high pitch voice to him. Pickle is Bug's number one fan! He can make him smile in a flash. It is so nice to see them interact already. Bug is great with diaper duty. Always helps getting diapers and trying to sing to Pickle when he cries, it's very sweet.

I am counting down the days. See you soon, my Love.

Easy

2009-02-01T21:07:00.000-08:00

It was easy today. Boring a bit. We went to church, ate over at my aunt and uncle's house, yummy quiche! talked and went home for a nap, well, watched 4 hours of "Anne of Green Gables" on IPTV. I love that movie, series, you know. Bug took a long nap, got up ate dinner and watched "Star Wars:Clone Wars". Then took a bath and went to bed after story! I am enjoying my evening. I made chocolate mylk from Ani Phyo's book, Ani's Raw Food Kitchen. I'm letting the dates soak in for sweetness overnight. It makes the mylk sweeter! I hope that Bug will try it! I work in the a.m. so I am looking forward to some sleep. Pickle was up most of today and fell asleep around 5 or so. I hope he still sleeps through the night. He usually only gets up once in the night, but he is still sleeping. Please God, help him sleep through the night still. Sometimes he just wants to see what everyone else is doing and doesn't sleep until later in the day.

I am counting down, 5 more days until Love comes back. I am so excited!!!!!!! I work only two days this week, but I am going to a friends house on Saturday for a massage party, she has invited 5 of her friends to get massages! Go me! I will bring my business cards. I love doing things like that! I used to do that for a couple of people, they would have four or five of their friends over once a month for massages and i would give a nice discount to the host on their massage! It is tiring, but lots of fun and totally worth it! I'm excited.

I didn't work out again, or have any smoothie today. I am making lentils for my lunch for tomorrow, I think lettuce wraps are in order for something different. I know, today was a boring blog. Maybe something exciting will happen tomorrow!

One week left

2009-01-31T21:26:00.000-08:00

A week from now I will be in the arms of my Love, the one thing I need the most. I have decided, and after talking with he, he agrees, we will never spend this much time apart if at all possible. I need him and he needs me. I miss him. I think this time has been valuable in many aspects. We have gained our new perspective of looking into the mission field overseas more seriously and when Love returns we will discuss how and when we can plan out our life in another country in our not so distant future. I get excited thinking about this plan we have. I pray that God will lead us in every step, that we will hear His voice amongst the chaos of our every day lives.

Love really is enjoying the work they are doing, building a church. He called on Thursday and it was so nice to hear his voice. I still think about the words we used and how much we are each a part of a whole.

Today was loooong. I worked 9-well, 3:15. It was suppose to be 5 but there was a cancellation, which I was happy about. I picked up the boys, dropped off Bug at a friends house to play "Star Wars" and take the baby with me to Girl's Night at a local church with my best friend. We had a cheap, not so vegetarian meal, looked a glasses frames, found a few long-lost friends, found out our personalities by our kiss marks from some Mary Kay ladies, waited in a long line for Godiva chocolate, bought 2 chocolate covered strawberries for $1 each! Nursed Pickle before leaving and enjoyed a cup of lemony tea that she got from a friend this week at her house. All in all a great day until it all hit the fan as it was after 10:30 and needed to get Bug to bed, he threw a fit! BIG time. Sorry friends. I think he didn't have enough for dinner and was tired, not having a nap today. Other than that, it was enjoyable. I love my friends, they love me and we all miss Love. They don't call him that.

No workout, no smoothies, but mostly raw today. I did get to sleep early last night! Before midnight is good at this point! I'm going to try for two nights in a row!

My First Anniversary

2009-01-29T21:46:00.000-08:00

So one year ago today was my wonderful wedding on a very windy and bitter cold day. I remember it fondly and only regret that we didn't have more of our family and friends around us. I finally found the man of my dreams, my best friend and my life partner in crime! He makes me a better person, so needless to say that I miss him. I don't feel myself. Today was the first time I felt we got into a rhythm without Love here. It is the half way mark until he gets back! He did call from Africa today, what a nice surprise! He said that he wished we would have arranged for me to get flowers today, but he has given me the best present. I can't tell you what that is...

Enough about that. It was a boring day without the kids, I was working. I had no clients, but got to chat with my co-workers: always talking about giving birth, food, exercise, food, more food. You get the idea, we all have great ideas, but we don't all practice what we preach. I think that most of us eat right in front of one another at work, it's a kind of pressure. And we all know that we are all trying to eat better in general. That was what my day was.

Actually, it started off great. Bug was nice and Pickle let me sleep in a bit. I worked out again, three days in a row. I had half of a pink smoothie and a green smoothie. For dinner I had carrots and pnut butter, a pickle, some cheese and drank some water.

Bug stayed at gma's house this evening and Pickle fell asleep early, about 9ish. So I have been reading my new books (my order from amazon came today). I'm so excited. A raw foods book, a square foot gardening book, and i started my China Study book a few days ago. I'm not a reader, sad to say, but I like to learn and cook (or not with the raw foods). So I have some work ahead of me. I read a little of each of those books. I also got a book for my honey and a book about raising my child's i.q. before kindergarten...we will see.

I am glad to have tomorrow off and I have a full day of clients on Saturday. Next Saturday I have off! I'm wondering about working less already, I miss my boys while I am at work, especially when I'm not busy! I am going to bed. I'm not very exciting today, sorry about that.

Pleasant

2009-01-28T21:11:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed my day, mostly. I am ready for bed. I had most of my pink smoothie, not much of anything else, oh wait. I did have a beef burger at church tonight and a few almond/caramel/chocolate treats. They were good. I worked out, not really sure how long, but I already feel it in my muscles. I decided to start this week my Yoga Booty Ballet dvds that I got three years ago. I will follow their plan for 10 weeks and maybe continue after that. It's nice to have a plan. I made a chart for myself so I can look at it and see how well I'm doing! Go me!

We were going to get haircut/color extensions in today. Bug needed a trim and so did I. We were late and rescheduled for later today... That's o.k. My girlfriend has been talking about this wonderful art class she takes her boys to on Wednesdays, so I thought we might try it out. This lady is great she teaches any age different medias for teaching art, or creating. Whatever you want to call it. I'm really excited to see how he progresses. He hasn't really been interested until recently about these things and I'm not really great at thinking about what activities would be good for him in this area, not my forte. So, that is exciting, he said he really liked it today. Meanwhile I got to hangout with my girlfriend and a very recent friend that I have met after reading her blog off and on for a while now. It was nice. Chatted about cloth diapers and tea and pastries.

Then we got home to rest of a while before hair appointments. I wasn't going to miss this, it has been almost a year since I've had my pink hair and I have been waiting for this. So I got my pink and decided to mix it up a little and put some blue in as well, perfect! Looks great, as you can see. Bug got his haircut and found a present from Daddy, a Bumble Bee Transformer. Which took me three tries to put back into a car form. I drank lots of water today and took a nap before church. Awana was o.k. we had 23 kids on my group, they were a little talkative, but it worked out well in the end. I was tired after and came home to find out Pickle (who was with g'ma) hadn't eaten much, was on his third diaper and was fussy most of the time. So off to bed with us all. Got Bug to bed, no bath (he was not listening to me) and fed Pickle a few times before he fell asleep and got to talk with my little sister in the Philippines, we don't get to talk often, she is really busy. I guess I am pretty busy too. It was nice, she sounds good and happy (but has a cold) and excited about her first pregnancy, I'm excited for them. It will be fun to see her and her hubby as parents after 9 years of just them. They will come to the States for a while after baby is born this summer. I'm excited and it will be nice for our children to be around each other for a while.

I have been looking a mission stuff overseas again. I really want and fell God calling me to China still. So I looked and found a Drama Instructor in Hong Kong through the mission group my sister went through. I also looked into visiting the Jesus People in Chi-town. I would love to take Bug there and show him how to help others in different ways. The community living, the shelters and Elderly living homes they have, thrift stores and handyman things they have set up. I was excited to find out that they can house a family for up to a week! I think that when Love gets back that we should look into something like this for this year or next, even if it's just a long weekend sometime. I know we are planning to go out to OR in the spring, I believe. Loves family is there.

O.k. so I am rambling....I need to sleep. I work tomorrow and need to take the trash out, do laundry and dishes are always there. I love my friends a family. It's nice to be loved. Pray.

Tired

2009-01-27T19:47:00.000-08:00

I'm super tired. Yesterday was really draining for me. I did get to talk to Love last night only 5 minutes afert nursing Pickle. It was a very broken conversation that I had to use my Folks' land line to call back when it got lost. It was nice to hear his voice and to know that he didn't feel like he had to come home early. "We will deal with it when I get back" is all he said. I have been praying ever since. I've gotten lots of email, facebook messages, texts and phone calls to make sure we are doing o.k. Thank you for your thoughts, prayers and support in every other way. We have the best family and friends.

On to other things. I picked up my trial cloth diapers today, we will see. Pickle didn't seem too excited as his clothes don't fit as well now. I will have to fix that and within the first 10 minutes of wearing his first cloth diaper he pooped! Oh yeah! It was fine. I am excited to see how this goes. I only bought a few to see if it would be for us, I really hope so. It is so nice that we have a local gal that makes them from her home. I have been reading her blog for a while now and finally got to meet her. That was really nice and she offers to walk you through anything you want about the products. Great support, and there is a local cloth diaper support group that meets monthly!

I didn't get much sleep last night, so I'm going to go to bed early tonight. Not much else, but I did workout today for almost an hour. Had a pink and green smoothie! Feel good about that. Did a load of dishes and still need to look over the lesson for Awana for tomorrow.

Just a really bad day, Please Pray

2009-01-26T18:31:00.000-08:00

It is as simple as that. A very bad, no good day. I found out while at work that the water company was trying to get ahold of us this month, all month long. It seemed to them that a water pipe at my husbands, year ago bacholer pad, not occupied house on the east side of town burst. I won't go into too much detail right now, I'm exhausted by all the commotion while my honey is away. Thankfully we have great friends and family that kept me sane today. I was able to get off work early and meet people at the house so we could turn the water off. That's all we can do. My name isn't on anything for the house so we kind of have to wait for Love to get back or he can call them every day to give them permission to talk to me while he is gone. Either way it's going to be a long process. I was told the water company had been trying to call since Jan. 5. I'm not sure about that and I will be calling to get to the bottom of this and if needed, I will ream someone. It will be a long few days to get things organized and trying to get ahold of love in the middle of a dead zone for sure. I guess God has some kind of plan, just not sure what it is as of yet. I did take some pictures, will share later.

I'm simply tired and ready for bed. Maybe Love will call in the night! That would be the up side, I get to talk on the phone with him!

Pray the Insurance company covers it all and the Water company is compassionate. Pray for the right turn of events in our future.

Lonely

2009-01-24T22:08:00.001-08:00

Tonight I am lonely. I miss my Love. I want to sit down and cuddle with him...

2009-01-23T21:02:00.000-08:00

Today was o.k. I had the boys, I slept in, well, after everyone was up I went back to sleep for a while, maybe half an hour or so. Bug has so much energy, but he was great this a.m. entertained himself quietly. One BIG thing for today. Pickle decided to laugh today! How very exciting! Bug was playing with him in his exersaucer and there you have it! I was upstairs and as I came down I heard this high pitch giggle...then realized it was Pickle laughing at his big brother...I think this is a great relationship already. It was precious. I grabbed the camera and put it on Video mode for a little bit. What a pleasant sound in this house.

So, I admit that I don't have a clean house, hardly ever. To help myself along I invite friends over to make me clean. Well, I did some of that today. Then when only one of my girlfriends ended up making it, I asked her to help me organize the place while Love is away! She did! We got started, well, she did.

I am tired and don't really want to work tomorrow, but I will. I will be happy when I get there, I just wish I could take the boys with.

I found out that my husband was leaving behind presents for me today. He put together on the computer an icon that changes every day while he is gone. A picture and some text, as he put it. But today I found out that in these pictures are random things that had gifts hidden in them. How sweet is that?! It made me laugh, who thinks of that! What a small thing to look forward to while he is away. I have been staying up a little later than usual because a new one appears after midnight. I'm silly, I know.

I had a pink smoothie today, didn't exercise, drank plenty of water. Made bean dip for my dinner and finished the Snobby Joe's from a different blog that I made a couple days ago. YUM! Go vegetarian! I love this no meat thing I'm trying. It feels so good.

I love my life. Tonight I seem a little random in my thoughts, but you get the idea. Night!

25 Things

2009-01-23T09:22:00.000-08:00

So I was reading some one's blog and they put up the challenge of writing 25 things about yourself...this might get a little too revealing, so watch out!

1. I am a massage therapist that loves helping people get healthy.

2. I have two wonderful boys. Ages 4 and 3 months.

3. I recently decided to homeschool.

4. I have been intrigued by green smoothies and eating more raw foods. So I have been embarking on a new food lifestyle.

5. Tried knitting a scarf for my husband while he is away.

6. Live in a nice house next to my parents. Which I enjoy very much.

7. Think outside the box.

8. I love tattoos and piercings, have a few of each. My back tat is my favorite, and it's almost done!

9. Love to sing, not great at it, but I do love to.

10. Work really hard at teaching my kids at church about having a relationship with Jesus and not to judge others or shove it down people throats.

11. I strive to love people and accept them as human, not as perfect.

12. I have a passion to travel. I have been to lots of places around the world, well, a few anyway. My favorite was China for 18 months.

13. I feel I will live in China again with my wonderful family in the near future.

14. I like to drive my car. During the day is better, my night vision is getting bad.

15. I love to watch my boys watch one another, it makes me happy.

16. Hate to clean my house, it's usually a mess.

17. Enjoys my Wiifit and other Wii games.

18. Am organizationally challenged! I need help!

19. Hates to admit I need help, like most women. We can did it ourselves.

20.Am a devote Christian and tries to read my Bible everyday.

21. Loves to dance for my workout! Dancing is so much fun!

22. Orders fun things off of Amazon.

23. Doesn't like to run for a workout at all! Or really walk. I don't get it.

24. Has made my own yogurt this year.

25. Is excited to celebrate my first year of marriage in 5 days! But am sad because my honey will still be out of the country! At least we made the first year! I love being married!

Hope you enjoyed this. Challenge yourself today!

Sweet memory

2009-01-22T21:51:00.000-08:00

This was also a nice pic of the boys from today. Good friends!

Good Day

2009-01-22T20:52:00.000-08:00

This picture was one of my favorites of the day that I took. My first time using the "moby" in public! Go Me!

Ok, so I was having issues with my four year old. I was worried he wasn't feeling well and couldn't get him into his dr. until today. So I called into work and arranged for him not to go to day care. I know, I've only been working for the last week, but I had a feeling he might have something. We found out he just has an ear infection, while they are very painful, he NEVER complains his ears hurting, never has. He doesn't run temperatures, but acts out. I thought he might be acting out because Dad was gone, nope! It's his ear. So I did get the medicine for him, but I'm going to treat with ear oil instead. Yes! This is my moment of change. I feel freeing in not using conventional medicine. He has been on antibiotics already this year and now we are back to having another infection. The antis kill the good bacteria in the intestinal tract that helps prevent sickness, but takes 30 days to rebuild after medicine. So no more medicine. I will be back at the dr. in a month because his immune is down from the stuff. So no more for ear infections.

So I didn't go to work, found out my friend was going to a homeschoolers/unschoolers outing today and decided to tag a long. What a nice group of women there, I felt comfortable and accepted. I know my son is only four, but most of my friends think I'm weird for taking my son out of "normal" preschool. My son has been doing better since we don't go to school. No more strep or lice scares, all on our time. He still needs a nap, most days. He loves to places and do things, we paint at home and I did sign up for a homeschooling website, just to check it out. Sometimes we need some structure. That's o.k. I want to make sure that he is learning things. So it was nice to be around women that didn't think I'm off my rocker. We also chatted about pediatricians and movies, tattoos, elderberry extract and extended breast feeding. I really felt like I'm not the only one out there that really wants the best for my children. I can do it. Even if I'm working three days a week.

After this "meeting" of sorts, my girlfriend and I took the kids for "mom time" at a coffee shop. We had a good time eating Cod Salad with grilled chicken, and a spicy black bean burger, one of my favs! The kids had grilled cheese and chips, oh, and some carrots. It was nice while we drank some lovely Roi boos Vanilla tea. Good conversation, good food and they didn't kick us out for having kids with us. It wasn't the best place for kids, but they did fine.

I thought about how Love would feel if I stayed home more than we initially planned when I went back to work. I really enjoy my children and staying home. I'm really blessed by that part of my life. I couldn't ask for a better husband, because I know what he would say. "Go for it." What a blessing.

Not much

2009-01-21T22:34:00.000-08:00

I don't have much to say right now, but I wanted to put something. I love my best friend, she makes me feel like I really can make choices about my life that aren't mainstream and it's o.k. We talked for over 90 min, as my phone will tell me. It was nice. So let me start with yesterday. My 4 year old wet himself, very unlike him. And he pooped in there as well. Last night he wet the bed, moved to my bed and then wet my bed and pooped in his pants again. I know that he misses Daddy, but really! I mean, I have been doing laundry non-stop all day! AHHHHHHH!

Ok, that's over. I hope tonight will be better. I have a headache for now, hope that sleep will get rid of that, and I'm taking Bug to the dr. tomorrow just to make sure things are o.k. in the ears and throat since this potty thing is really out of character for him. I think that work might be on hold tomorrow. I'm sure I only have one client that can be moved anyway. I will post some pic later. Pickle was great today, has been sleeping in his crib this week and last! Not that I don't like to co-sleep once in a while. I like my children to have their own space, I need mine. Pickle's crib is in our room for now, so it's easy at night. I love having my boys while Love is away, they are more cuddly now as well. I like when they are cuddly, but Bug isn't usually cuddly unless he doesn't feel well. I hope it's nothing.

I love my life, but without my husband, I'm not myself.

Note to self: Husband doesn't travel without me for long time frames and vice versa! I'm so in love with him, aww.

Day 1

2009-01-20T21:37:00.000-08:00

I had to wave good-bye to my honey as he went to his plane for Africa. I was sad. Today I cried, can't tell you the last time I did that, maybe a year ago? I spent most of today in tears, Love is off to help build a church in Africa along with 40 other men from around The States. It will be great for him and hard for me. Ok, so maybe leaving your "new" wife and 4 month old isn't going to be easy either. By the time we got to the car in the airport parking lot Bug was already saying that he missed Daddy. It was nice to hear that. We kind of had a rough day because Bug did want to go with and not stay home with mommy. Sometimes life is not that exciting when we stay home. He did get to have bbq riblets for dinner! One of his favorites!

We mostly kept each other company today and I tried not to be sad. I will be more productive tomorrow. And it's church night tomorrow as well. I love Awana, but it takes up so much of my time. I am in charge of the 3rd-6th graders. Writing lessons every week is time consuming and good for me. I enjoy the kids so much, it's great to see when they get something new!

I am off to bed, all by myself. Oh well, I guess that will change in 18 days. Wow, that is a long time to be a single parent to a 4 yo and almost 4 month old! God help me. Thank you.

Sweet Success!

2009-01-16T21:49:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe it! My son enjoyed his first greens! In the form of a popcycle and didn't even know it! WHOOO HOOOO! I have been trying to get him to eat salad and more green veggies for months now. Then this great idea of a blog I read was talking about this Green Lemonade. Well, I thought, he is not going to drink that. So I decided he would love a popcycle of his favorite color! It worked! That makes me happy. I got lots of domestic things done, groceries, dishes and such, but not much cleaning around the house, like I thought. That's ok. I did get some of the kitchen cleaned a bit this evening.

We went to some friends house this evening that we love to just relax and enjoy each others company and play games with while our boys run around in Star Wars costumes and play with Light Sabers. It really is nice to sit and relax and enjoy our friends. My son refused to eat what was put in front of him tonight for dinner, so he went without. I'm not worried about his weight, he eats when he is hungry and sometimes will eat 4 eggs in one sitting for breakfast plus toast and bacon or sausage if it's around, so he will make up for it in the morning.

Moving on, I didn't have any smoothies (did buy stuff to make them) or workout. Oh well. My husband thinks it's funny that I write those things on here, I think it just makes me accountable somehow. He doesn't understand, but that's o.k. by me. It makes me feel better and after all, that's what counts.

The pic at the top is my best one of the boys so far.

Movies

2009-01-15T20:48:00.000-08:00

I've got to say that I love movies. I just do. But every once in a while my movie list doesn't match to others. Like some of the movies I have not seen are: Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, Annie Hall, American Graffiti, Animal House, Blazing Saddles, Cape Fear, Fatal Attraction, Vertigo, Taxi Driver, Private Benjamin, Tootsie. The list just goes on. But I am a fan of most genres (mostly I don't like gruesome horror flicks) I will give a shot to most anything (documentaries, thrillers, kung fu, now 3-d, foreign films, french musicals, love stories, comedy, dark comedy, anything thought provoking). Ok, so maybe not George Cloonie, not a fan at all. But most other movies I will attempt. We watched Wall.e this weekend at church. We have a Free Family movie night once a month that I started at our church with free popcorn and pop/soda is $.50! We have fun. I started it to hang out with my son and see a movie. Kids are not always into watching movies when they are that age so I thought, bring 'em to church. The kids can sit still or not. Be quiet or talk, it really doesn't matter, the whole family can sit together and the parents don't have to worry about their kids, see a free movie that maybe they didn't get to see in the theatre and have a theatre-like experience for the kids. I wanted families to do something together, even if no one else showed up this last week. Our family had a fun time watching the movie on the projector in our "Cafe" at church and eating popcorn. We all like movies.

Today I had a pink smoothie. Didn't workout, but did go to work. Ate healthy with a few m&ms. Enjoyed getting back to work and sharing my raw food ideas with my coworkers and discussing workout routines and kids. We always talk about kids at work, I mean, details of life with kids, being pregnant, labor, that kind of thing. People don't talk about those particular things in detail. It's nice to know that sometimes poop is the main topic in most houses, not just mine!

Tomorrow I have the day off. I hope to grocery shopping. Clean more of the house, workout and drink one pink and one green smoothie! And Big salad for dinner! I do want to do some more knitting, making a scarf for Love.

A side note to some of the movies I do like and have seen: Kung Fu Hustle, Grease, Global Rx, Pan's Labyrinth, Darjeeling Limited, Slumdog Millionaire, Wall.e, Lars and the Real Girl, Clue, Mixed Nuts, Gone in 60 Seconds, The 5th Element, The Big Lebowski, Love Actually and Kill Bill Vol. 1&2.

Sweet Music

2009-01-14T20:44:00.000-08:00

The look on my face says it all. I'm head over heels for this wonderful caring man of my dreams. As I sit here thinking of what I want to say, I listen to him play his guitar in his beautiful way of expressing himself in the distance. A passion that seems to go on into the horizon. I long to have that desire. He means the world to me. I think of how my life has changed since I met him only just over a year ago...six weeks after meeting devoting our lives to one another and soon after becoming pregnant. I am blessed, in many ways. I must say I never thought I would marry again, but it happened, to me! I wasn't looking for my soul mate, just someone to spend some time with that would be interesting for a time, but there he was...coffee drinking, music making, juggling, book enthusiast, Bible reading and thought provoking man. He took me from the first day we met, I wanted to know more about him. Soon it will be our first anniversary and he will be many miles away, thinking of me. I will be thinking of him and awaiting his safe return. I'm looking forward to hearing what God will do in his life while we are apart.

Today was soooooo cold, I hope our furnace doesn't go out tonight. It does that every once in a while, at random. Today I didn't workout. I watched my cousin's 17 month old, adorable. Made Ratatouille and used my Jack Lalanne juicer for the first time! I made green Popsicles for Bug, he was excited and doesn't know that it has greens lettuce in it! I hope he likes them, I used a Green Lemonade recipe that was great and thought I could just freeze this for Popsicles! I hope it works, we will see tomorrow! Bug loves lemons and lemonade! I did have some m&ms and a pink smoothie today, no green smoothie for myself.

I work tomorrow, but doubt I will be busy. This Saturday might be busy. I hope so. I had lots to do today, I think about 6 loads of laundry and one load of dishes.

I was reading the Daily Bread for today and it was talking about God loving us and keeping track of us, He will not lose us, no matter what. It amazes me that no matter how many times I look away from Him, question Him or forget about Him, He never forgets me. I am at the forefront of His mind. I know He loves me, made me unique, wants the best for me. Yet He still allows me to be me. Knew that what I was looking for just over a year ago even when I didn't. He blessed me beyond what I expected and gave me what I needed and truly desired in my heart, the match made for me.

Thank you for listening. I guess today was for the love of my life and best friend, John. I love you. I am blessed by you every day.

Weird Science

2009-01-13T21:33:00.000-08:00

Fun Day

2009-01-13T21:13:00.000-08:00

I had a fairly nice day with my boys! They are great! I slept in a little after Pickle's schedule went askew from Day Care yesterday. That's ok. We went to the Science center and met some friends there with their kids as well. It was nice to meet up and have fun. We had a incident and one of the boys had to leave for being mean, Good Job mom! That was nice to see and she was great about it, very direct and loving.

I got the stuff ready for Awana for tomorrow. So that is pretty much it. I read a few blogs, looked on amazon for some books I would like to get sometime. Nap tip was hard to get to today. Both of the boys were fighting the sleep, but it was obvious nap was desperately needed. Finally they got down, I got a few things done on the computer in time to start dinner. I made TLT Salad. I marinated tempeh, our first, roasted tomatoes and plopped it all down on some spring mix greens! topped with avocado and parm cheese! yum!

I didn't have one smoothie today, I will get up early to make one for me and for Love, he deserves it! I didn't workout today. Love got me a new pillow for my ever hurting neck. I will get a massage soon, I'm sure of it. "I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes...."

Tomorrow, workout and have two smoothies! I will also make ratatouille for dinner! yum yum! I think. I get to watch my cousins 17 month old for a few hours tomorrow as well. I hope that goes well.

A new day

2009-01-12T21:22:00.000-08:00

A bunch of news, Pickle went to Day Care for the first time today...he did well, ate, slept, pooped!

Perfect! Bug played and ate and I'm sure pooped as well. He had fun with his old buddies. I enjoyed a snow day at work! We had no clients, which is fine. I moved my stuff into a room to call my own, for now. I cleaned out my junk that had been left behind there, it was fine. Wrote a few clients to let them know I was back, it felt good.

Tonight Bug had a meltdown and I ended up feeling like I should end it and rock him to sleep instead of dad cleaning up my mess I made with him. It ended nice, so I can sleep tonight as well. Trying to teach a spirited four year old good choices in food is a difficult task. I am trying and sticking to my guns, not always an easy task. Good first day back. After Bug went to sleep love and I watched some more on IPTV about India, which has kind of been our theme for almost three weeks now. Played a few games of WiiBowling! and bought Wii World of Goo. Love had to try it out before we go to bed, looks addictive. I might be in trouble tomorrow.

I need to get Awana ready for my leaders to teach and myself prepared. We are also going to the Science Center tomorrow with some friends, that will be fun!

Weekend of fun!

2009-01-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

We had a great weekend. Love took Bug sledding for the first time! They had a great time, except being underdressed. I wish I could have gone, but Pickle wanted to sleep and I thought it was best to keep him home this time. I did get some laundry and dishes done this weekend. I made no-meat chili again. We also had movie night at church, kind of a flop, we were the only ones and stayed anyway to enjoy our movie and popcorn!

I will make this post short, it's my new bedtime for tomorrow I am working, I read my Bible and church was nice today. God really filled the hearts of the people there! We found out that good friends of ours are going to be grandparents to twins, with a little help from science, but mostly God! We have been praying for them for a couple of years now! Yeah for answered prayers.

I need to post some pics, Love took some great ones of them sledding, very enjoyable. My love leaves for Africa a week from Tuesday and I will be home with our boys, kind of lonely for me, but it will be good for him to experience God in a different way and in a different place. I'm really excited to see what God does while they are there doing some kind of building project. My Dad will be with him and I hope this will be some bonding time for them as well. It's nice that they work well together on house projects and live well next door. We are blessed. Pickle went into the church nursery today for the first time, I bought some bottles to take to his first day of day care and got my pump ready for the travel. I pray this all works out and Pickle doesn't have too much anxiety tomorrow about a new caretaker. I'm glad she is so good with Babies...

I need to sleep. Good night.

Hungry

2009-01-09T14:03:00.000-08:00

The hunger strikes again. Ok, so I didn't blog last night, I feel asleep before I got the chance. I have noticed in my foods, some reactions my body is having towards sugar, the processed refined sugars in processed foods. I thought I was doing ok. But three nights this week I had these yummy frozen coconut bars that claim they are all natural, come to find out HFCS is in them and half an hour after eating these I have been crashing. I ate one more last night, just to make sure...yep. So, I guess those as out for me!

I'm hungry right now.....Oh, this week I made raw Avocado soup and today I made raw Carrot Soup, both yummie. I think I liked the avocado better, not really sure. They were both so good. Yesterday I made turkey loaf, my first meat product of the week. Not bad, but I couldn't eat all that was on my plate. I need to get to the store, we need some fresh ingredients. I made almond mylk for the first time today. Now I have something to work with. Thank you Ani Phyo and my good friend Angie, for introducing me to her! I think this will be a nice change, and cheaper for our family, which is double good. Now maybe I need a nut mylk bag, our blender isn't that great. I have been wanting to borrow my Mom's magic bullet to see how it would do with some nuts and things...I do like our blender and we don't have $400 for a Blendtec, one day we will. I have to save up for that.

I haven't workout since Tuesday, and Pickle got a shot on Wednesday so yesterday was crazy with him. Bug has been really fun this week, we watched Harry Potter on the couch yesterday, he has been making up songs, which are adorable. It's so fun to see his mind and imagination go. We also listened to music yesterday. Imagination Movers and Choo Choo Soul are the new picks for now!

I haven't read my Bible in a few days so tonight I need to check out Daily Bread, that really helps me out, keeps my on track.

I am wanting to try a Chocolate Smoothie, one with greens in it...I will let you know how that goes.

Confession

2009-01-08T03:19:00.001-08:00

It is now 5am. Yep, I fell asleep before I got to blog last night. I didn't think I was that tired. I recently decided and was inspired to pick up knitting. I taught myself a few years ago, made a scarf for my cousin as a present and then forgot about it, kind of a "I've done that, now moving on" type of thought. So as I was at the local Stuff Mart yesterday I picked up some yarn and needles and decided to start over and make a wonderful scarf for my Love, he needs one and I thought it would be a fun project to work towards. I haven't failed so far and keep flipping through this book to make sure I am doing the stitches correctly, I have already started over once, but there is already a challenge, I'm knitting with two colors! What was I thinking, but it has been fun trying to get my fingers moving like that again.

Last night was Awana and we are teaching the ids evangelism, which I think is very important, but I'm not sure this the right time for my kids to be doing this, it is just part of our yearly calendar. They like it though, so that makes it fun. The kids like all the details of the stories and I can see by the questions that they ask about the Bible "stories" that it has a new meaning for them. My girls in particular are so much fun, we had 23 kids in the 3-5th grades, T&Ters (truth and training, as they are called) are my kids that I'm in charge of. Recently we split the boys and girls until our Game Time. So while we have our "Council Time" the girls and boys are in different rooms, that seems to have been working really well. The girls don't seemed as distracted. I think the boy leaders like it too, the boys were trying to show off for the girls.

Today was day three of keeping my Bug home from school. We had a good time, went out for lunch and took him food shopping, which he loves, but stills asks for something while we are there, in the toys. Right now we just can't get him new stuff, especially after Christmas. I spent more for him than I normally do, so he will have to wait. He does like to use his money and brought $.75 with him. He tried to give it away to whoever that would listen, it was funny. In the car today we were singing a song that I made up about Pickle to the tune of Are you sleeping? Bug decided that he was going to tell mommy he loves in this new song, then made it for Daddy and then Tess (our dog) and continued fro Grandma and Grandpa. It was sweet. His first real song with a tune. I was very proud. Today I will call the school to let them know BUg will not be coming back this year.

To be honest with you I just read my devo for yesterday and nothing really jumped out at me. I will write more devo stuff later tonight. At least I wrote about my day.

Food

2009-01-06T21:44:00.001-08:00

All I can think about some days is food. I start looking at blogs that are vegetarian or vegan and then I come to raw foodie blogs. They entice me into wanting know more, and then 2 hours later I'm still looking at recipes or reading the blog of how they got to where they are....it's all very addicting. I want to know more, what is the perfect balance in that structure so I get all the protein I need and have enough energy to breast feed and to do household chores and workout and keep up with my four year old. AHHHH, very overwhelming at times. I want to get more organized, I need that to happen. That's all there is to it. I am consumed by my house and all the clutter. I need some help. I need to throw away things and give away things...I just have to or my house will explode.

Now that that is out, I can breathe. I'm not sure how well I am currently spelling. I am tired and I'm typing with one hand at the moment.

Bug had a good day, for the most part. We played and I made him a lunch he had never had, I'm proud he tried one almond and took a single bite of cucumber sandwich! Success! THen asked for real milk when he tasted the vanilla rice milk, oh well. I will keep trying. He was fine. He went to Grandma and Grandpa house for dinner and a little play time before bed. Bedtime went well, my Love went to jam with some friends, which I found out they all three play guitar. I thought to myself, how boring, but it's good for him to keep in touch with his friends. So encouraged it. It was nice to have the boys to myself this evening. I used to do bedtime, but my husband took over so he can spend that time with Bug since I stay home during the day with him. It's really sweet. It's a good deal, but I usually go up afterward and get to sing to Bug (don't know how long that will last, but it's great now!)

Tomorrow Pickle gets his monthly shot, I'm not sure about it but since he will be going to daycare two days a week I think it's a good idea. I plan on still nursing as much as I can and pumping at work, I haven't figured out where yet, maybe in my car for now. It will work out. I'm having a little anxiety with leaving Pickle so soon, but it's been such a blessing that I could be home this long. Financially right now I need to work, and maybe down the road my business will be enough that Love will stay home with the boys. I think that would be great for everyone. I love my work and Love could care less, would do it from home if he could. But he does get better benefits than I ever will. Oh well, there is some trade off.

Today's Devo is from Matt. 18:1-5 Verse 3 "Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

I think about my faith and my kids that I teach on Wednesday nights and how open they are and the questions that they bring, what they deal with at school and home (most of them from broken families) and yet they still come and believe God will move and perform miracles. This last Sunday was eye opening, why don't we expect miracles to happen on a daily basis? Are they happening and I just don't see them. I know the expect the sun to come up and set and the moon and stars, but what if God stopped all that? What if the earth did stand still. Science says that if that were to happen we would collide into the sun. Would God stop that from happening? I think so, He loves us. Deeper than we can imagine, with more passion than I can fathom. Why are we the planet He visited? There are so many other planet out there? Why were we given free will? We have the freedom to live for Him or ignore Him....

"Faith shines brightest in a childlike heart." -Daily Bread

Last night Devo

2009-01-06T09:01:00.000-08:00

Last night I read the Daily bread and here it was in a nutshell: Read Proverbs 10:11-21. First of all I hate Proverbs, well, it's better now. But when I was in Youth group we studied Proverbs for our Bible Quiz, so I was burnt out for along time on Proverbs, now it's getting better, it is so wise....

The verse they concentrate on is: Proverbs 10:19 "He who restrains his lips is wise."

The thought that went through my mind is to be more kind to my wonderful loving and caring husband, because he's not going anywhere. He will be there for me, just I am there for him. Love him more. Be kind with what I say. I love you, honey.

At the end the little phrase that has kept with me still is: "The tongue is a small organ that creates either discord or harmony."

It is up to me to make that choice.

Tired today

2009-01-05T19:41:00.000-08:00

So Pickle didn't sleep as usual last night, so here it is 9pm and I feel as if it 11:30! My bed is calling, but I had a great day! I worked out with fittv, belly dancing! then the wiifit for about 15 minutes doing stairs and boxing! I just love that thing. I had a pink smoothie and a small green one for dinner with couscous soup for dinner...I did eat M&Ms today, my downfall, oh well, tomorrow is another day. I can't beat myself up over little things. I still don't have my car, getting brakes worked on, so maybe tomorrow I can get it?!

Pickle is restless tonight, eating not much and falling asleep just to be moved and wake up again, ahhh, a little frustrating. I guess a couples bad night of sleep can't be all that bad. I'm glad I worked out, ate fairly decent, got a load of laundry done and made a food menu for this week. Not too bad, but more organizing to be seen.

I did have a great conversation with a good friend of mine today, I call her my bff. that makes me laugh and think I'm still in 3rd grade. She home schools and is very encouraging in that area that I am contemplating for our family. Thank you!

I bought the lovely laptop lunch box for my son and we used it for the first time today, it went over really well. I'm hoping it will help him be more adventurous in his food choices, maybe he will try something new this week!

I was told today that I can start working three days a week starting next week. I'm excited and nervous. Baby Pickle is only 3 months old and now I'm taking him to day care two days a week. I hope he adjusts well and Bug loves it there, so I'm not worried about him. It will be good for both of them to have other people to interact with. And for me, I enjoy my career choice, not many people can say that, I have missed it and now I can go back to my regular clients! I hope it's busy enough to make it worth my time.

No more to say, bed is calling.

Relaxing Sunday

2009-01-04T21:24:00.000-08:00

Today was nice. Church was sooooo good, I haven't felt that way about church in a while. God was there, His presence evident. I was prayed over (my husbands old house to get rented out soon, me going back to work, homeschooling for my four year old). Many things to mull over this new year!

We went to my aunt and uncle's house after church for brunch. It was nice and the food was great! Then we watched "Darjeeling Limited". A perfect relaxing Sunday movie. I enjoyed spending time with my hubby, as usual. We came home and all took a nap! Woke up to my honey making dinner, salad, as usual for dinner in our house. Bug had eggs and garlic bread. I have such a hard time getting him to eat veggies anymore not from a can. I guess we should have corn on the cob more often, but the greens are what I'm concerned about right now. See, my Love and I are doing more raw foods in our eating (diet isn't the right word) lifestyle. Drinking green smoothies and the like, my four year old on the other hand hasn't been impressed. Maybe we can make his starting with strawberry kefir, banana, and see if I can get some spinach into it. He loves cashews and peanut butter, just got him eating carrots, raw. maybe steamed might be the way to go. I need to make a list for him to try this month, and maybe take him with to pick out a veggie he wants to try!

My list for Bug:

mushrooms

spinach

red peppers

green peppers

kefir

couscous (didn't touch it all summer)

noodles (we keep trying)

tacos (veggie style)

falafel (baked)

green salad

beets

broccoli

almond/hazelnut milk

my homemade yogurt

That will be it for now, I will let you know how it goes. My love and I got to watch one of my favorite movies tonight while we relaxed on the couch,"Clue". Cracks me up...

no longer tired. so i'm

2009-01-03T21:21:00.001-08:00

no longer tired. so i'm up and playing with my blog and still figuring this all out since i am new to this stuff! sleep well all.

today continues

2009-01-03T20:34:00.000-08:00

o.k. here is the day in short:

found out my car needs some brake work done

worked out

played wii boxing with my dad

had vension chili

played scrabble with Love and my folks

won a scrabble game!

found out my old recorder days in elementary school came in handy

did some laundry

took the christmas tree down

put most of the christmas stuff into "the box"

sang to Bug at bedtime

had a fight with Love

All in all it's been a day. My arms are tired and my legs seem to be as well. It's a good tired. I didn't have any smoothie, did have a Big salad for lunch! And had my first Kefir (not bad)! Can't wait to read my Vegan Lunch Box book. Read some of the recipes, can't wait to try them!

I'm tired and feel like cleaning, I didn't get done with as much cleaning as I wanted to today....there is always tomorrow.

Not over

2009-01-03T13:41:00.000-08:00

So I'm just looking at other blogs and listening to my dear husband playing his beautiful guitar in the basement, Bug is napping, we think, and Pickle is to. All of us in different rooms. I think will start to clean the living room and take down the tree decor, my folks came over for a bit for Bug to show them how to play wii sports. Bug lost at bowling, which was sad, he usually wins every time to Love and I! Maybe he was just off his game today. I workout for 30 minutes on the wiifit! Go me! I'm sure I will write more later....

tired

2009-01-02T21:50:00.000-08:00

So I met with my boss to discuss me coming back to work and we worked up a three day week schedule! I was hoping that all would go well. I didn't have any smoothies today, did take both my sons to my meeting and took them to MD's, yeah, i know, but it was fun, they have a great place for Bug to run around, we invited my cousin's girlfriend and sons as well, nice time. Then I took the boys back to my folks for my mom to watch them so I could get groceries! It seemed to take forever! I cam e home and fed Pickle, put food away, and went back over to get the boys. By the time we came home it was time to have a social life. We took food to a friend's house that just had a baby, then went to my cousins (they have two boys as well) they all get along so nicely, most of the time. We watched "Chocolat" and had juice, popcorn (lime and salt flavored), and what I call kid mix (cashews, raisins, cheerios, and of course m&ms!). It went over well. They boys fell asleep, except our oldest, whom threw a fit when we said it was time to go. Oh, well, I got to sing him to sleep, which I love to do and now I'm ready for bed myself as my honey awaits me upstairs while I finish closing up the house. Oh, I almost forgot, I got a book that I've been waiting for, Vegan Lunch Box. I can't wait to read it, I skimmed through some of the items....

NEW YEARS DAY

2009-01-01T20:15:00.000-08:00

Today was very nice and relaxing....

slept in, all of us!

started my calendar of birthdays and anniversaries!

dropped the kids at my folks'

watched "Slumdog Millionare"

ate buttered popcorn and chai

played scrabbled with my honey and my parents and had a nice salad for dinner. we came home, put Bug to sleep and Pickle fell asleep in my arms during that time after nursing, the i cuddled with my amazing, funny, and loving husband and we fell asleep on the couch. woke up about 10pm! and realized we were falling asleep and are going to bed for sleep earlier then either one of have in a long time. i need to go get groceries tomorrow!!!!

Fun times...

2008-12-31T15:08:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I made yogurt! Really easy! Tastes great! A must from now on. My Love worked today, and then we took the boys to Imagine Eve where we met another family whom we like to spend time with. After the kids got to play on bounce castles and inflatable courses we went to their house for yummy homemade salsa and some bean dip with chips! Nice raw dinner for us. We played Wii, Guitar Praise (kind of like guitar hero) and scattergories. A nice time with good friends and good food and lots of laughing!

I have a bread starter that I need to use and I haven't been to the grocery store in a while, we need some stuff...today I had two smoothies, one pink and one green, they were good. I didn't workout for the second day in a row, but I might tomorrow, or clean some of the house. I am looking forward to a restful sleep for all of us and then a movie or two with my love, we got a sitter!

Now, I'm off to bed and will fall asleep in no time, I'm sure.

The Start

2008-12-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

I have lots of things going through my mind recently. I have a four year old, whom I call "Bug" as in "Love Bug". He has been my world until this last year I met a wonderful man and added him to our life. Then shortly after we found out that we were going to have a wee one! We will call him "Pickle". My wonderful hubby, "Lover", and I have been recently turned on to the idea of eating 60-80% raw foods in our eating habits. I was great at the beginning and lately I have just been so tired and worn down, I feel like it's too much work. This week, I am back on! I am on here to get my thoughts out of my head and I hate writing in a notebook, I think I can keep this up much better. I have random thoughts going through my head these days: homeschool next year Bug, no more vaccines for the kids, my daily devotional needs to happen, exercise daily at least 30 minutes, organize my boxes in the basement, going back to work, staying home, pulling out of church activities, finding a different church. As you can see, I am going through a lot right now. My 3 month old was a preemie and that seems to make things a little more complicated for our family as well, I don't want him in any daycare or nursery until after this cold/flu/rsv season. My Love has been so good about all of this, I think he has made the most change in his life after meeting me only a year ago. We got married, moved into my house, got pregnant and had a preemie, he adopted my Bug and now we are trying to get a routine that is comfortable for all of us and is affordable. I like to surf the net on other blogs and find vegetarian recipes and some even vegan. I'm not either, but I'm getting close. I eat red meat VERY rarely an more. I am on green smoothies and this really great hot pink smoothie! And then we try to have a big salad before anything else for dinner. I'm trying to make plant-based meals more and more. My Love just thinks this is fun...which is great! He supports whatever I do! Today I'm trying my hand at making yogurt and I have my own sourdough bread starter going, getting ready for making my own bread in the next day or two! I plan to keep you updated if I find a great recipe or if my daily devotions move me. That is what I want to do on here. So, to start off with a recipe:

My Green Smoothie for lunch and afternoon snack:

2 cups of water

fill spinach to the top of blender

1/4 lemon (including peel and rind)

flax or hemp oil

1 avacado

1 banana

1/2 bag of frozen fruit (mixed berry, my fav; blueberry, love's fav)

You can also add any other fruit to this you want or a sweetener, stevia or agave

For the greens, you can use any greens you want, kale, beet greens, collards, the darker the better for you! If you drink a quart of this a day you get 15 servings of fruits and veggies a day...no more V8!