341. weekends with friends
342. digging deeper in His word
343. much needed Monday. a time to fall back into routine.
344. celebration of our Savior!
345. waiting on a spring thunderstorm
346. afternoon nap
347. Sunday roast at parents'
348. amazon packages at the door...=]
349. mornings at the park
350. saving money on groceries
351. rest after a long, hard day
352. feeling inspired again
353. pulling out shorts and flip flops
354. dresses...for me
355. a wonderful parent teacher conference
356. getting back on the rails
I surfed blog land a while and found some of the most fun ideas! All posted in my ever changing list of fun and inspiring things------------------------>
Tonight the boys are watching Nascar, while I retreat to my room with good books and movies!!
I have a special blog post, that I can't seem to get posted. Soon.
Tomorrow is rather busy for us. I think that's okay on occasion. I am one who purposely keeps our schedule open to practice the art of doing nothing. Slow living. But tomorrow is busy for us. *Volunteering in the nursery.* Church after that. *Jaiden's invited to a party from a kid in his class!! This is the 2nd time for him! *And possibly a Gospel Meeting with my cousins in the evening.
Monday? Date night with the love of my life!
I hope you all have a great weekend, and check out my sidebar if you need some extra reading.
Autism Awareness Month bloggers who are joining together to make you aware of autism:
I'm always up for a challenge. I hardly ever finish them, but this year my goal is to finish what I start. That's maybe why I've hesitated to actually say anything about this challenge....subconsciously I'm not sure I even want to start this one...much less finish it!
BUT after reading Meg's post this morning and the link she shared, I thought NOW is the time. You see when I think about working out, I feel I'm the only one having to do this or the only one dreading it every morning, but after reading her post and comments I realized that almost everyone feels the same as me. The difference is the ones who actually push through that and stick with it aren't the ones who just LOVE to work out, they're the ones who...well pushed through!
I want to be one of the ones to push through. To finish.
30 Days. Finish.
So here I am. April 1 (well the 2nd). I already own 30 Day Shred. So that's the one I'm using. I will wake up every morning and drag myself happily shred. And if I don't...well I get to tell you all on May 1 how I just ignored Jillian and turned the dvd over as I walked on past her every morning stuffing my face with blueberry muffins. And that would be embarrassing.
So here we go. A 30 day challenge. An opportunity to change and challenge my body...oh and ride in my handsome husband's boat while he stares at his rock star of a wife! I think I'm up for that *grin*
I haven't updated on our home school lately. Some weeks we seem to average 2-3 days instead of 4... We love spring and have been studying birds, trees, clouds, and butterflies.
We got our caterpillars in a jar and the boys just LOVE watching them and learning more about the life cycle of a butterfly. (I will take and post pictures of that next week)
While doing lessons with Tibby, I let Brighton work on trays I have with activities on them. I set up 5 trays but sometimes one just seems enough.
Using different color objects to put in our kaleidoscope.
Sharing with brother.
This is what we saw!
We read some books.
Checked on our plants.
After science, writing, and math we headed out for a nature walk.
Bella checking out the falling blossoms.
We were on a mission! The boys enjoyed searching for the items on their nature walk scavenger hunt.
All the colors were breath taking!
And a lovely pose from the nature walkn' scavenger hunters!
Having a child with autism and after much research we believe that toxins play a HUGE part in the way these children function and react to things, we have taken a big step over the past few years to live a healthy life.
We started with detoxing our home. We only use natural cleaners. We make our own using vinegar, castile soap, lemons etc or use Mrs. Meyers or Seventh Generation I've heard is good. We even make our own laundry detergent (except when I just miss the other stuff, but there are still clean options)
The next thing we did, was switching our soap, hair care, toothpaste etc over to natural products. Our favorite kids personal care is Truekid (below). They smell good and are gluten free (yes even shampoo etc. has gluten) some other favorites are listed below.
The next thing is food. This one is one of the most important to me. Being a mother and wife, I feel it is my responsibility to provide healthy nourishing food for my family.
I do my best to buy local and organic, but that is not always the case. We do a lot of our shopping twice a month at Sam's. They have some organic produce (carrots, tomatoes, salad, spinach) and milk and whole wheat bread and cheese, and we buy thick skinned produce there as well. Our children eat a ton of apples and grapes and strawberries, so those are for sure organic and purchased at a Natural Grocery Store as much as we can. We also purchase honey, yogurt, and eggs at that store.
I know you may be thinking that is too expensive, but that is why we took baby steps to get here, and after our shelter we spend the most on food. It's what is most important to us. I can't describe the feeling I have when I purchase food and prepare meals for my family with the healthiest and most fresh ingredients I can find. I enjoy that so much.
I will give you some examples of how we eat, and some of my favorite reads on healthy living.
Breakfast:
granola
fruit
smoothie
grainy cereal with fruit toast with honey and slivered almonds toast with basil pesto and an egg topped with parmesan cheese
blueberry pecan waffles
Snacks: popcorn homemade smoothie pops tortilla chips with homemade salsa or guacamole fruits or veggies chocolate chips with walnuts or pecans (for your sweet tooth)
Lunch: leftovers rice with tomatoes, beans,cheese strawberry spinach salad avocado chicken salad sandwich (shred cooked chicken with a mashed up avocado, salt and pepper, and garlic salt. I like it on a crescent roll...yum! veggie or chicken nachos (i like to bake up a whole chicken or whatever I have and use throughout the week.
Dinner: Burritos (with whatever you have on hand) chicken, beans, rice, cheese, lettuce, tomato, avocado, salsa, corn) there are so many ways to make these we have this often. My favorite rice recipe.
Spaghetti can be made several ways too. You can bake it with red sauce topped with cheese. You can make it with just a red sauce, using tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, peppers, italian spices pureed. Or you can make a white sauce made with cream, butter, garlic, and lemon topped with parmesan cheese.
Soup. There are so many ways to make soup, but a fast simple one a friend shared with me a few years ago isTomato Basil Soup: Start with tomato soup, add about a cup of milk, a cup of cream, 1/4 c of basil, 1/2 cu parmesan cheese.. Let simmer on low as long as you need (an hour is good, but longer if wanted) Before serving add fresh basil and parmesan cheese.
Okay, so I hope I got you started on some good ideas for healthy living and some good simple food. I just basically use the same ingredients all the time, adding only a few extras here and there.
So our main grocery list looks something like this:
granola
fruit
bread
eggs
milk
tortillas
flour (whole wheat)
veggies (including tomatoes, onion, and garlic for salsa, soups, and pasta sauces)
chicken
pasta
beans
herbs (unless you have them growing in your kitchen, which I just started)
cream
rice
cheese
honey
yogurt
nuts
olive oil
We are still on steps. Some day I'd like to bake more bread or make my granola or yogurt. But for now this is what we are doing.
Enjoy the process. Might as well. It feels wonderful to know that you are giving your family the best you can. Start slow and with what's most important to you. It can be such a blessing!
So crank up some music, put on your apron, and get to work ;) OR if you're like me...do a bunch of planning and list making first....
I liked to make our boys' playdough when we were trying gluten free (because regular contains flour) and we use regular ol' art supplies, but I just LOVE to look at these and maybe one day, Ill buy some for their birthdays or something.
Yesterday was my precious husband's birthday. We celebrated all weekend. He is such an amazing man, I can hardly stand it! He loves his family and it is truly a love that everyone feels. He is fun to be around, goofy with the boys, plays basketball with them and their friends, helps others, cuddles with me at night, helps clean the house, and loves to provide for his family. He is a true example of a godly man, and leaves us feeling loved and protected.
I am so honored and blessed to call him my husband and my best friend! Happy Birthday baby!!
We grilled out back, had some presents, and played ladder ball. Not that it matters or anything, but I whooped him in that game! *grin* My mom brought over a wonderful cake. It was such a lovely weekend!
Tristin took this picture of us. We don't get many!
This is one of my favorite pictures. It just shows us. The way we are.
Our Bella...I coundn't get a great one of her looking up.
Handsome boy. This is my "sun my eyes guy" I was so happy to get this picture!
Last night after the boys went to bed, I stayed up snacking on putting these little treats together for the boys.
They woke up this morning and quickly put on green. I noticed as I took Jaiden to therapy that no other adult had green on. Being a mom with a house full of little boys...wear green or hide cause they REALLY wanna pinch you. I love that.
They were pleased as punch to get their treasures.
Yes, we're missing a boy...the "sun was in his eyes" ;)
This is the face Brighton made everytime I asked him to show me his treat....not sure ha?
This made me laugh. Her nose was sticking through the hole, but I wasn't fast enough to cacth it.
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