Merry Christmas

This is the Christmas letter I sent out ....

I hope this letter finds you well and I hope this year has been a blessed one.
This year has brought forth many things for this family and probably for you too.
In May we packed up and moved to the Central Coast. We have been so fortunate to have a great house in the country.
Eric has a great job and I am home with the kids.

Kira turned four in April and has been such a delight. She is such a learning sponge. I love it.
She can write her letters and numbers.
She is constantly asking me how to spell things.
Kira is very eager to read, so we might begin basics in January.
She is excelling in her speech class and is getting all her sounds so much better.
She still loves to draw and is an amazing artist.
She got second place in a local coloring contest!
I really enjoy teaching her and she is such a helper around the house.

Enzo had yet another amazing year.
He was able to get transferred to therapy up here (did take forever though).
He loves his Occupational therapist (OT).
Enzo was receiving In-Home therapy through the school district.
When he had his evaluation at 2 and 1/2 he scored at 3 years and above
for many of the educational skills and therefore does not need it!
He did start speech therapy with a great teacher and I can already hear a difference.
At our Mommy and Me class just last month he had a major break through.
We were peeling clementines and he held it with his right hand(good hand) and started peeling with his left side(weak side). I was almost in tears. This is the hardest bilateral movement he has done.
We have been working on taking his shirt off with minimal to no help.
Well, he can do that too! He will initiate doing it too.
I think the light bulb has gone on and it seems like he is very aware of his left side and wants to use it without me coaching him to.
Praise God, for He is good!

We as a family have had a great year with lots of change, but good change.
We hope your Christmas is super and that you have a blessed New Year.

Christmas in the Air

Oh how I love this time of the year. It is cold and all I want to do is curl up in a blanket and crochet, knit or snuggle with the kids. But I have been doing quite a bit. I crocheted the cutest slippers and hat with ear flaps for Kira for Christmas morning. Made Enzo some Spiderman mittens and hat with ear flaps. I used a red skein and a blue skein of yarn together and crocheted Spiderman type of design. I am planning on making him slippers and her mittens so they each have the same set.

The rest of the list for handmade gifts is as follows:
Pajamas for everyone
Felted Knit Slippers for Eric
Finish the Dolls for the Kids-
*Pirate (Jack Sparrow)
*Pirate (Will Turner?)
*Girl (Lucy)
*Girl (Kira doll) Last year Kira doll had a few flaws and has been so loved but has holes so I am refurbishing her.

Doll Cradle (hopefully we will get this made but if not Her birthday is in April and we will do it then)

I think I am biting off more than I can chew but we will see:)

The past few weeks we have been busy making Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments for teacher gifts. We handed them out yesterday and everyone loved them. What an easy but beautiful gift for teachers. Inexpensive too and the kids had so much fun making them.

This last Saturday we went to see our friends who are here on furlough from Kenya for a month. What a blessing to see them and hear how God is using them to minister to the people there.

My parents are coming on Friday to visit until Sunday. They got an amazing deal at the hotel and Saturday night we are staying there and having a mini vacation with the kids.

We will spend Christmas Eve with Eric's parents and Christmas day we will be home all day at our house making new memories and traditions as a family. Breakfast will maybe consist of cinnamon rolls or something yummy and probably going to make a Honey Ham and scalloped potatoes for dinner. Lots of down time.

What are your traditions? What do you make for dinner?

Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for my beautiful family.
I am thankful for our house in such a wonderful place.
I am thankful I have food to feed my family.
I am thankful for clothes on our backs.
I am so very thankful for a loving and merciful God who takes care of all of us.

When I asked the kids what they were thankful for, these were their responses.

Kira said "I am thankful for Jesus died on the cross"

Enzo said " I am thankful that Jesus is in my heart"

I could not be more blessed with those responses.
I am so thankful!

Going No Shampoo

Okay I have tried and failed before but now I am really serious. It has six weeks since I used shampoo on my hair. "Gross" some may say, but I am doing it. I knew there was a transition period of a few weeks but nothing like I have gone through. I was starting to get frustrated and I almost went back to my shampoo. But last night I had a revelation. It is the hard water! I read another gal's blog about going no poo as people call it. She was having the same issue but noticed when she stayed at a hotel her hair was soft and shiny. So she realized it was the hard water. Thank you, thank you. I used her method last night and my hair is almost perfect. I think I need more solution because my hair is sooo thick.

Here it is for you hard water folks

Boil 1 quart of water
Add 1/4 of Baking Soda (now be careful because I did not think about it and it overflowed on me, so pour in slowly)
Mix and let cool
Put it in a squeeze bottle and use like the normal solution
Get your hair wet in the shower
Saturate hair and rub in scalp and rinse
Follow with Apple Cider Vinegar solution for conditioner and rinse

My hair is soft and I can actually run my finger through it.
It looks great and I am so much happier

And it is cheaper too

Homemade Toothpaste Recipe

• 2 Tablespoons of coconut oil
• 2 to 3 Tablespoons of baking soda
• few drops of pure Peppermint extract
  

I made this last night for the kids because I ran out of the Tom's Maine fluoride free and did not want to pay $5 for another tube. Simple Mom had these recipes and more.

I used this recipe last night minus the peppermint extract, I did not have any, but the kids liked it. Cool!
I love making things cheap and natural.

Kira's Recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe
By: Kira

Step 1:
Use a mixing bowl and hundreds of flour

Step 2:
Mix it really hard and pour it into a cookie jar

Step 3:
Then put them into the oven to cool

Step 4:
Get the raisins on the cookies

Step 5:
Then you put them into the candy bowl and almost done,
then you eat them with milk and put them in the fridge

Now that is my kind of recipe!

Crayon/Marker Roll-ups

So I had theses two slings that I had bought, one for Eric and one for me, that we never really used. They had a great print and I am trying to re-purpose things. I seam ripped it and used only a portion of it to make a crayon roll-up and marker roll-up. Now the original fabric had seems already so I did not want to hassle with re-doing those so it is a little longer than the pattern calls for. I just made extra pockets. For Kira's I used a ribbon and button to close it up. Enzo can not do buttons so I used elastic to close his up. I did not take more than two hours in total between distractions and all. Fun and easy and re-purposing. So my camera is working but the dial up on my computer is taking forever to download the picture. Sorry, yet another craft without a pic. I will try to go to the library this week and use their wifi.

Sewing Machine and Sewing Kit for Kids Giveaway!

Skip to My Lou is having a super giveaway. An ALEX sewing machine for kids and a sewing kit. I have been teaching Kira how to sew using yarn and those plastic cut out shapes, like a star. She has been using a plastic needle and loving going down the rows and doing it right. Well I have wanted to get her a sewing machine because she constantly asks if she can help when I sew and she wants to know how it works. Here is my chance and yours to try to win a sewing machine or sewing kit from ALEX toys. Go to Skip to My Lou and either leave a comment, add her on Facebook, add ALEX toys on Facebook, add either of them on Twitter for entries. I hope you enter but I hope I win....haha! I really never win anything so I am hoping this is the one!


Good Luck All!

Library

I went to the library on Saturday after Farmer's Market with the kids and got some great books for the kids and a couple movies. My sister, the frugal expert, was the one who turned me onto checking out movies from the library. They usually do not have really recent releases but I can often find movies that I have wanted to see but forgot about. I got for the kids
"Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too",
"Toy Story 2",
"Arthur's Pet Business"
and one of my favorites
"Wallace and Gromit in A Close Shave".

I love the whole series of Wallace and Gromit. Enzo cracks up about Wallace and his silliness. I mean a true belly laugh that is contagious. He thinks Wallace is hilarious.

Then for Eric and I,
I got,
"Penelope" PG
and
"Popeye" PG

Well I guess those are for the kids too but I was thinking about us.

Penelope is so sweet and funny. It has a great cast and a sweet lesson too. It was produced by Reese Witherspoon and she has a little part in it too. Penelope has been cursed with a pig nose and the curse is only broken when a blue-blood agrees to love her till death do they part.
There were two little parts that were a little scary, just the image of the witch and a scary pig faced flash back. I like to be sensitive to images with the kids because I remember really having a hard time getting them out of my head. Other than that it is an entertaining movie and we all enjoyed it. I think the PG rating is for some adult humor, that went right over the kids head.

Popeye, with Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall, was just as I remember it. I did not know Disney produced it either. It is a musical and just like the old cartoons. When I told the kids we were watching it they were not too happy because they had no clue who Popeye was. After we watched they were happy we watched it. It is a little slow but they stayed entertained. We had to put the subtitles on because we could not understand all of Popeye's mumblings. There is a little language at the end, another word for rear end, but on the whole it was a good movie.
I am excited to watch the old cartoons now with the kids. We found a DVD of old cartoons like Superman, Felix the Cat and Popeye at Wal Mart for a buck each forever ago.

We got books too of course! The big surprise book was "Backbeard Pirate for Hire" by Matthew McElligott. Truly one of the best children's stories I have read in a long, long time. It is really funny. If you have a pirate loving kids in your house like we do they will love this book.

I just love the library and the fact that I have to get them back by the due date really forces me to schedule time to go to the library to return them and get more books and videos for free.

Vast Wisdom

So we are down in Southern California dealing with what is left of my grandparents estate. Long story and too tired to write about it :)

As I went through their house I found what I thought was her bible. In the bible was a written note, with no date, but the most profound amazing words of wisdom I have heard in a long, long time. Take some time, read it over a couple times. I did. Enjoy this and I hope it blesses you even 1% of how it has blessed me today.

******************

Bible

By Clara Ann

This book reveals the mind of God
The state of man, the way of salvation
The doom of sinners and the happiness of believers
---------------------------------------------------------------
Read it to be wise
Believe it to be safe
Practice it to be holy
--------------------------
It contains,
Light to direct you,
Food to support you,
Comfort to cheer you
---------------------------
It is the travelers map,
Pilgrims staff,
Pilot’s compass,
Soldier’s sword,
And Christians charter,
Here Heaven is opened and gates of hell disclosed.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Christ is its Grand Subject,
Our good its design
And the glory of God its end.
------------------------------------
It should fill the memory,
Rid the heart,
Guide the feet.
Read it slowly,
Frequently,
Prayerfully.
It is a mine of wealth,
A paradise,
Glory in river of pleasure.
-------------------------------
It is given you in life,
Will be opened in the judgment,
And be remembered forever.
It involves highest responsibility,
Will reward the greatest laborer,
And condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Owned, it is Riches.
Studied, it is Wisdom.
Trusted, it is Salvation.
Loved, it is Character.
Obeyed, it is Power.

Reuse, Recycle and Renew

For sometime now I have really been trying to make each dollar go extra long. Even if it does not save money but is good for the earth than I am trying to do that too. I have not always been on board with the whole "Save Mother Earth". But if I think of it as taking care of what God has given to us, then it is makes more sense to me. I use my reusable bags for groceries and am trying to remember them at other stores too. I have been saving my coffee grounds for compost and plan to get a composting bin too. I have been saving tanks and tees that have a small hole or stain and I am planning on making either doll clothes or even flour sacks for my gluten free bulk flours.

My newest favorite recycle idea is making a jean skirt out of old jeans. My jeans seem to constantly be shrinking, getting shorter. So I took this great pair and cut them off and made them into a jean skirt. I love it. I have been looking for a jean skirt that is the perfect length, either right at my knees or just above. For some reason clothing companies are only selling hoochie momma skirts that barely cover your tush. I am sorry, I am a mother of two, devoted wife and I do not need to show off my assets to anyone other than my husband. (No pun intended).

This one is just right at my knees and not too tight or too lose. I feel so girlie wearing it and I have been loving wearing a skirts lately. I have been reading this book called "For Women Only" by Shaunti Feldhahn. It is about the inner lives of men. There are seven basic ideas as women we need to understand about the men in our lives.
Men need Respect.
Men are Insecure.
Men are Providers.
Men want more Sex.
Men are Visual.
Men want Romance.
Men care about Appearance.

The last one is the chapter I am reading right now and it basically says that your husband cares about your appearance, but different than we think. I knew this to a degree and I remember Elizabeth Elliot writing about how she would fix her appearance up before her husband got home. I have been trying to shower and at least put a little makeup on before he gets home. I may keep pj's on during the day somedays and get things done around the house. But I am trying to dress cute for him and look presentable for him. I have noticed a difference in his countenance. So the skirts have been easy, cute and comfortable too.

Recycling has been a great idea by going to the Goodwill or the local thrift store. I asked Eric if he wanted anything in particular from the store and he asked for popcorn. Well we sold our popcorn maker and microwave before we moved. So I went to the Goodwill and found a Whirly Pop. It goes on the stove and you turn the hand crank and it moves the kernels around in the pot and it pops wonderfully. They normally retail for about $20 and I got it for $2.25 including tax! I have been also making my own gf bread instead of buying the rice bread from Trader Joe's. It is $3.99 a loaf and we have been going through three loaves a week. That is $12, so instead I have been making my own and I have not yet figured out the cost but I know it is cheaper and it tastes way better. So I found a bread slicer, it helps you make even slices out of homemade bread. Because I was getting all of these obscure size bread slices. I got it for $2.00, sweet normally probably $10 to $15 at least. I also got videos for the kids there for a buck each instead of $5 to $20 for new ones. Plus I like the older movies instead of some of the junk that is out there now. So I have been thrifty and it has been fun. What kind of deals do you get?

Oh What a Night!

Me on the gurney

It has been a little crazy around here. We had a great visit down south for the most part, a little drama but all is well. Here is the down low on last Sat night.
Jenny, Amber, Donna and I went to Nick's restaurant in Laguna Beach for a mom's night out. Everything was great until we got our dinner. I told them about my gluten allergy and they accommodated me nicely. I had a couple bites of veggies and then took a bite of chicken and it started. What I thought was the beginning of an allergic reaction. I excused myself from the table and went outside because the restroom was full. I have had these reactions before and I am usually home, and it goes away in about 15-20 minutes max. What happens is my throat closes up a little and I have a hard time swallowing, talking etc. I seem to accumulate a lot of mucus and have to throw it up and it eventually goes away. However this time it did not go away. I came back to the table and the girls were of course wondering were I went and what was going on. It continued for about a half hour. The girls were done with dinner by this time and I just went back outside because I needed to keep calm and have space.

Amber got her car but as she was going to get it I knew I needed immediate assistance. Jenny called 911 and the Fire truck came within a minute and started me on benadryl and oxygen. They then transported me to South Coast Medical to the E.R for further observation. I felt better but it was not going away completely. The doctor gave me an adrenalin shot, prednisone and something else. Needless to say I was looped. But it was not getting better. I explained what was going on with the mucus and such. She came back and said that she did not think it was an allergic reaction because it would have gone away by now with all the medicine.

She then told me she thought it was an esophageal spasm. What happens is if you eat something too hot, too cold, too acidic, too fast, not chewed enough a reaction occurs. Your esophagus starts to contract and it feels like your throat is closing up. It can take up to thirty minutes for it to relax but past that you need to see a doctor. So if I think back to all of my "Allergic Reactions" this is what has happened. Because there was nothing in the chicken that I was allergic too, to my knowledge. This has happened since 1994. So for the past fifteen years what I thought were reactions were actually spasms, but this was by far the worse one.

The doctor finally gave me a sedative to relax my esophagus and it finally went away. Needless to say I am a little gun shy with eating, I mean too hot, too cold... really?!? I just have to think about the foods that have triggered it in the past and I am trying to stay away from them. I am eating slower and smaller bites, thoroughly chewing each bite and taking my time eating. It is amazing how fast I am getting full, haha. I have to find a doctor up here and then get an referral to a gastrointologist and see how I keep this under control. So I am okay, had a little craziness and I am thankful that I now know what is going on :)

Train Ride

So yesterday Kira, Enzo and I got up at the crack o dawn and got on the Amtrak in SLO. We rode it all the way down to San Juan Capistrano. I packed snacks for a year; smoothies, toast, coffee, granola bars, sandwiches etc. Books, movies, coloring books and toys all in tow. I braved the train with two kids and we had a ball!

The best was when the conducter called out
"Next stop Grover Beach, Grover Beach next stop folks."
Enzo looks at me and says
"Grover Beach? Not Grover Beach! Elmo Beach!"

I did not get it at first, but as soon as I related that he meant Grover from Sesame Street, I was almost on the floor laughing. The best part is that he was chuckling to himself over it too. What a quick wit.

I survived almost seven hours on the train with only one meltdown. We are here to visit and go to Enzo's Orthopedic appointment on Monday. My mom will drive us up on Tuesday and get to see the house finally. Good thing I cleaned it before I left :)

Nice to be out of 105-110 degree weather but not loving the humidity down here so there you go, never quite perfect.

By the way Eric loved the granola bars and I think they are better when kept in the freezer.

Settling, Baking and Traveling

Here is the view from my kitchen!

Well I finally feel 95% put together in our house. I have four boxes that I really can not unpack until we get our desk moved in and get another shelf. Three of them are the pottery that my dad made and a Russian Tea set. I got the kids room situated with all of their toys in it. Let me tell you I love having them play in their room and not having all of their toys all over my living room. I have organized all of my craft/sewing stuff pretty good. I am excited to get the kids quilts started. I did my first official cleaning of the house with everything in it on Monday and it was not too bad. I think our square footage is about 850 maybe 900. I do not think I would want any bigger of a house, too much to clean. The nice thing about when we did move in I was able to throughly clean everything before I even unpacked one box. It was nice knowing that things were clean when I put things away.

Eric is loving his job and God is definitely providing wonderfully for us up here. I am doing my best to keep our bills down. I have been shopping at the Farmer's Market and loving it. As I had mentioned I started reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and I have been very compelled to buy local even more than before. I have really been away of where my food is coming from and it is causing me to make more of our breads and things. The Health store in SLO has a large bulk food area with good deals. I bought about $20 worth of flours and I made a tasty fresh peach crisp, two loaves of GF bread and granola bars. I know that I am saving money, supporting the local community and eating better too.

The best was that Eric really liked the bread and said that he would love his sandwiches on that bread! He will now be GF at home. Bread was really the only thing that I was buying for him that was not GF. He eats everything else that I make for dinner which is GF. So he will be GF with everything he eats at home, which I know will be better for him in the long run. I am also trying to go dairy free with the kids and I. Corn and eggs seem not to be a problem with them but dairy definitely seems to cause problems. The bumps on Kira's arm are back so I think it might a calcium deposit or something.

I made the best granola bars that taste the closest to Nature Valley Honey and Oats crispy bars.

Super easy and yummy. Kira called the Oatmeal cookies.

Here is the recipe

GF Granola Bars

4 cups GF Oats

2 cups GF Flour mix

1/4 cup Packed Brown Sugar

1 cup chopped Raw Almonds

1 tsp Xanthan Gum

2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

3/4 cup Canola Oil/Vegetable Oil

3/4 cup Honey

Mix all the dry ingredients. Add oil and honey mix well until totally coated. Spread out on a baking pan/sheet to the thickness desire. Press to compact. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes for chewy or 20-25 for crunchy. Cut immediately while soft and let cool and will crisp up.

Depending upon the thickness 30-40 bars.

Kids loved these and Eric liked them too for his lunch!

Well we are taking the train down to OC to visit and go to Enzo's Ortho appt. We leave tomorrow morning and it will be a long trip but at least the kids will be able to walk around and not have to be in car seats. I plan on packing a boat load of food, videos and stuff to do.

Have a great week!

Connected Finally!

Okay after waiting over a week for a silly phone connection and then they did not even connect it to the house, luckily Eric does that all day long and connected us back up, we are now back in connection with the world. Although I must say that I have throughly enjoyed not having tv, phone or internet for two weeks. Oh course it was hard with checking emails and doing online banking at the library with two kids. But on the whole I have been more productive than ever. We got dial up and it does take a while to do stuff but I think it will hinder me from just surfing the web while I am supposed to be doing other things. I had over 140 emails to check this morning from not been online since last week. With that I am going to try to post weekly for sure and maybe one other post a week.

Our house is amazing. It is a single wide manufactured house with two bedrooms and two baths about 850 sq ft. It is situated on about 50 acres. It is pretty hilly, at the base of the property the landlords live in one house. Drive up a little hill and our pad is situated among a couple of trees with a old jacuzzi, horseshoe pit and shed for storage. There is enough room for Eric to put a carport and use it a workshop for him and his cars and projects. We are going to start a garden in a little spot out on the hillside and we have a great front porch that is buzzing with hummingbirds that are not shy. I am surrounded by God's beauty and peacefulness. I have really enjoyed sitting on my porch in the mornings and having my quiet time...it is like I am on a retreat every morning. It does not get any better than this, I think. Yes it is a little hot, try 105 degrees the last few days, however we have a swamp cooler and it feels so much better than air conditioning because you are not all dried out. I love the temp because I can line dry my clothes! Talk about being energy efficient. Now you are probably thinking that I have gone totally white trash or hick on you. I think of it as being aware of my resources and using them. We shop at the local farmers market for the majority of our food and the taste is amazing. I started reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and I am amazed at what our food culture has turned into, that is a whole different post all together.

Anyways we are blessed beyond belief and so very content where we are for now!

Moved!

Hey real quick we moved to a house and we do not have internet so i am posting this from the library. When we get hooked up I will tell all about the great house we have. It is Pink inside, just what Kira was praying for!

Happy Father's Day

At church in Kira's preschool class they filled out a questionaire (the adults wrote it down)

I love my dad because-I love to hug him when he goes to work

I love my daddy because- he loves to hug my mom

I love my mommy because- my mom loves me


I thought I would ask Enzo the same questions.
Enzo was a little harder.

I love my dad because- he works

That was about all I could get out of him, still pretty cute!

Mimi is Coming!

Yeah, Mimi is coming to visit! The kids are so very excited and so am I. I know it may sound silly but I miss my mom. We usually talk at least once a day if not a couple times a day. We are going to take her to our stomping grounds and hopefully go swimming at the hotel too. Well she just got here so I will write about her stay later.

Pancake Saturday

As you might have guessed it we love our Saturday morning panckaes! I try to make them every Saturday morning as a tradition I wanted to start with the kids. Once we went gluten free it took many, many recipes to find the best GF pancake recipe in my opinion and many others in our household that were not gluten free. They were great. But then sadly we went into allergy mode again trying to figure out what the kids are now allergic too and have gone off all dairy, eggs and corn. The last few Saturdays have been back to the drawing board and many mishaps of egg free pancakes. :(

They are definitely not the same without egg. I found one recipe online and I changed it drastically to make it GF and DF (Dairy Free). It was the probably the second best but nothing in comparison to my favorite and as Eric told me his too. I tried using a 1/4 cup of mashed bananas as a substitute for each egg but it of course was too banana-y.

I have been researching all of these possible allergens and what kind of symptoms and degrees of intolerances. Now allergic reaction is different than intolerant, which I knew but not the degree of difference. Allergic means an immediate reaction to the food. Whereas intolerant is more a slow effect, maybe an half hour after you eat or so or even maybe later that day depending upon your intolerance.

I did not know this but as I was researching egg allergies/intolerance I found out that you can be allergic to the gas that is let out as the egg is being prepared! Meaning if I am scrambling eggs for Eric's breakfast I could get a hay fever reaction! What?! How crazy is that, just from the gas of the egg.

It has been since the 19th of May since we have been off Dairy, Eggs and Corn, a little over three weeks. I pretty much know that the kids and I are intolerant if not allergic to dairy and I am okay with that. We have made subtle changes in order to make it work. I was looking for a butter replacement. Well all of the vegan butters had corn in them and I tried goats milk butter which was not bad but oh so expensive. It was about $7 for two cubes of butter, Ouch! I even tried making my own olive oil and canola oil butter. It was not hard at all. All you do is mix a small amount into a ziploc container, I used the 1/4 cup size, the smallest one, put it in the freezer overnight to solidify it and then you keep it in the refrigerator after that. The only thing I did not like was the harshness of the olive oil. I mean we really only need butter for our toast and pancakes everything else I have substituted cold pressed oils for. Then I started thinking what about Coconut oil...it is always in a solid form, Ah ha! By George I think she has got it. So a bought a jar of coconut oil from New Frontiers the health food store in SLO, which I love, it is like Whole Foods but smaller and cozier with a great deli. The coconut oil is perfect and you hardly need any in order for our rice bread toast to be buttery. Kids did not even think twice about it...sweet.
Butter dilemma solved.

Now to the eggs, so today I decided to make our beautiful pancakes with eggs. I made those pancakes with oil instead of butter and put in the eggs required. Oh did I miss them, they were so fluffy and light and airy..as the kids say now "yummy in my tummmmy!" Now I was not quite sure how the reaction be, would it be like the Wahoo's incident last year when he had gluten on accident and projectiled vomitted everywhere? Would it be later on in the day with his first bowel movement? Nope, it was about a half hour after we ate and his nose was running like a faucet! I mean uncontrollably running. Clear snot coming out ALL day long. Poor bub, he started saying, "momma, nose, nose, runnin, help me." I would not have even thought it was the eggs except for reading about the hay fever reaction, are you kinding me. Clearly he is not allergic per se, but why would I torture him with a runny nose because I need my fluffly pancakes. Yet another wah wah Wahaa.

Of well so much for that experiment, on to the next Corn!
Wish me luck!

***As I was proof reading this Enzo can storming out of his room with his fireman's hat on and knight sword looking for me (it is 11:30 p.m.) I love that he takes the time to get ready to look for me even in the middle of the night. Too cute!

Yeah, We Love the Dentist!

Quick update, the dentist appts went wonderfully. My experience was superb and I could not be more pleased. I do not know if it is because we are out of Orange County and the vanity thing is not as prevalent but there was no pressure for anything, no one asked if we wanted to whiten our teeth, nothing like that. We were in and out and the dentist was great. He actually is from Lake Forest down south, how funny is that. No cavities or anything and they said to see them in a year... none of this every four month crud.

As for the kids, they were peaches! Kira was such a big girl and got her x-rays, teeth cleaned and had the dentist exam them throughly and not even a blink or wimper from her. Enzo was a little more cautious and it took a little more coaxing to get him in the chair. But as soon as he saw how Kira, big sis, did then he got right up there. It helped that I bought two Thomas the tank engine trains, Rosie and Rhenas for bribes too. But on the whole they were great and will be back in December for another checkup!
Praise the Lord!

Dentist

Okay today I am going to the dentist and tomorrow the kids are going. It is hard to tell your kids not to be afraid of the dentist when you are...not really afraid I just prefer to stay far, far away from them. So I am trying to be brave and tell them that we are going to get our teeth tickled.

Now I never used to have any fear of the dentist, in fact I was his best client. Not because of cavities but because my teeth were so slow coming in that they were slow coming out. I had ALL of my baby teeth pulled except for ONE! That is right folks I was a pro at going to the dentist. I then followed that with SEVEN years of braces and you guessed it headgear!! But today I must admit I am oh so thankful for the fine dentists and orthodontists that made my smile what it is today.

Eric on the other hand has never had a cavity, never needed braced and really has no teeth or gum issues. I pray that the kids get his genes when it comes to their teeth. Please God, please!

So I do not know what happened, it must have been the hygienist that ripped my gums up that one time...or the fact that the last time I went to the dentist they sucked almost two grand out of my pocket for what was supposed to be a cleaning! Hum, well today I am going to suck it up and be a good patient even though I REALLY do not want to go.

Anyone else not like the Dentist? Or is it just me?

Things to Do in the Central Coast With Kids

I feel a little scattered brain still trying to get as situated as possible for our a stay with my husband's family. It is hard living out of some boxes and 97% in storage, but we are making it work. I realized I am so blessed with so many great things to do up here. My Mother in Love bought us a membership to the Atascadero Zoo as well as a membership at the Children's Museum in Paso Robles and we all love them both. I am trying to get us out of the house and out more. I am such a home body but I know the kids do better when we are doing things. Plus we do not have any therapy yet because they are transfering all of the paperwork up here. So it is nice not having a set schedule to follow too.

A mother of twins that we met at the zoo told us about this gymnastics class that is twice a week and only $5 a session without sign-ups and you show up whenever. So we are trying that out today. I researched other gymnastic programs and all of them are about $60 to $80 a month plus registration fees. Plus they are more scheduled and I would hate to miss one and loss money.

We also took advantage of the Drive In Theatre in SLO. There was a double feature of "Up" and "Night at the Museum Part 2" Kira could not wrap her mind around the idea of watching a movie in the car. I think she was thinking we were going to watch the little dvd player in the car. So when we parked and opened up the back of the van, I made a bed in the back. The previews started and she was amazed to see the big screen. I think she liked snuggling in the back watching it. She of course stayed up and watched both and Enzo looked at me within ten minutes of the second movie and said "night night" and laid down. I nursed him for about a minute and he was out. For $12 we had a great fun night with the kids and a fun memory.

That is all they are letting me write, as they are now both awake. I will have pictures as soon as I find my wire to download.

Homemade Gluten Free Rice Torillas

Made rice tortillas last night so that we could have Tuesday taco night.
They were so good! I ran out of rice flour so I ground a rice mux my Father-in-law hade made of brown rice and wild rice. I found the recipe on Gluten Free Cooking School blog. I changed a few things but the idea was the same.

GF Flour Mix
1 c. Brown rice Flour
1 c. Tapioca Starch
2/3 c Garbonzo Flour
1/3 c. Potato starch

2 c. Gluten Free Flour Mix (a little different from the one I used for pancakes)
1 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. salt
1 c. warm water

I mixed the dry together and then add the warm water, mixing until everything was wet. Then I scooped out about a 1/4 c or so onto lightly sprayed canola oil aluminum foil (out of wax paper) and topped it with plastic wrap and rolled it out. Then I got my skillet on medium heat. I carefully removed the plastic wrap and flopped the foil on the skillet tortilla down. I waited for it to cook a little and carefully removed the foil. Cooking about a minute and then flipping and cooking until little brown spots appeared. Now here is the trick! Once they are cooked youplace them in a plastic ziploc and keep it slightly open. This will keep your tortillas soft until you eat. So while one is cooking you can roll out the next one and repeat.

Yummy yummy. These turned out good and I made meximelts for the kids, I took Goat gouda cheese and turkey meat and made a little melt. They loved them.
I do not think it was that time consuming. it probably took me about a hour for everything. cooking the turkey, making tortillas and chopping all of the goodies for the tacos up. Not bad.

Casein, Corn and Egg Free Update

Alright, it has been almost two weeks off of casein, corn and egg. I actually feel really good and the kids seem better too. Eric and I had a date night on Friday and went this great restaurant in Paso Robles. Grandma Gigi watched Kira, Enzo and cousins Hobie and Zoe. They all camped out in the trailer. I did eat cheese and butter at dinner and I paid for it the next day. I had a food hangover! I felt like a bomb had gone off in my tummy all the next day. Needless to say I do not think I should eat dairy either. Enzo's BM's have been better and so have Kira's. It has made me get craftier with our menu and we are eating more whole foods than ever before. I made the tastiest Mac n Cheese yet. I have heard to use butternut squash puree in it but it was missing something. Here is my recipe for the best yet.

Best Ever Mac n Cheese
Gluten, Casein, Egg and Corn Free

One bag of Rice Noodles
1/2 can of Organic Butternut Squash Puree
2 Tbl Goat Cheese
Dash of Nutmeg
Dash of Dry Mustard
Salt and Pepper

Make the noodles as directed on bag. Drain and place back in pot. Add Butternut squash and mix until noodles are coated. Next add the goat cheese and mix until melted and blended. Add nutmeg, mustard, salt and pepper to taste. My kids loved it and even Eric said it was the best I had ever made!

I have actually lost four pounds this last week? Now that could just be the move and such, but I will take it. I am feeling healthier and not a cloudiness if that makes sense. The kids are not asking for cheese all the time. Kira actually prefers avocado sandwiches now!

We are getting situated at his parents house and hiding our niche there. I love seeing the kids with their grandparents and getting to know them better..

Moving Day!

For the last week Kira has asked are we moving yet? Last night as I was putting them down to sleep, I told them "Guess what? We are moving tomorrow" and Kira simply replied "Thanks Mom, you are a nenius (genius)!"

Well it is about time for the actual move, we have packed and packed some more and we are finally out of the house today! The largest Uhaul available, two car trailers and a small trailer later and all of our "stuff" is going to be up there. How did we accumulate so much? I mean when we moved out of our apartment last year we had three weekends in a row of moving sales and sold a boat load of stuff. I could not imagine what we would have if we did not sell all of that stuff too.

Anyways I am looking forward to purging even more when we get our own place. For now we are going to stay with Eric's parents for about a month. Get jobs and such and find an apartment/house without rushing into anything.

Anyways I will write after the oh so fun drive. Thank goodness for the portable DVD players!

Food Update and My Last Night of Work

So we have been Casein, Egg and Corn Free since Tuesday at lunch. Five days basically. It has been hard. I am so surprised how many things have corn in them. Well not just plain corn but corn syrup. Ketchup! Heinz Ketchup and Hunt's both have Corn Syrup in them. Trader Joe's has a ketchup with cane sugar instead but it definitely does not taste that same as my faithful old friend Heinz...oh well. Not that I drink a lot of soda but 90% of sodas are made with High Fructose Corn Syrup. Hansen's soda are made with cane sugar and I do love those. Then I came to the realization that most chocolate, hence the name milk chocolate has milk or if it is not milk chocolate it has you guessed it High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Needless to say, I am giving up a lot right now and I think I am having a few withdrawls. Because I am cranky, or it could be that there are a few things going on in my life and I am starting to feel even more overwhelmed, hum, maybe both:)

Last night was my "official" last night at the restaurant, whatever that means. I am still available if people need shifts covered in the future. It is such a small restaurant and there are no extra people around to fill in if anyone wants the night off.

It was a pretty uneventful night except for training the new girl and watching the Lakers kick some butt in the last two minutes as usual. The owners opened a bottle of Schramsberg Blanc de Blanc Sparkling Wine and we all toasted to my move. Yummy. I am sad because they are family but I know they are always there for me no matter what. Five years I worked there on and off between two pregnancies and such. They are amazing and I am going to miss them dearly.

The restaurant was sort of my escape from the kids in a way eventhough I often found myself talking about them the entire time I would be working. I think it is good for mom's to have a little job that a couple hours a week they can get away and sort of recharge and appreciate their family more and vice versa. Do not get me wrong I love my kids but there is not a mom out there that doesn't like even the alone time of grocery shopping by themselves I am sure. It is good to have a little time away.

Anyways I was so excited to wake up early and make it to first service this morning at 8:45. I dropped Kira off at the preschool class and them tried, key word "tried" to drop Enzo off at the toddlers room. He would not do it, he has not wanted me out of his sight for the last month because of all the changes. I tried sitting in the back with him but he was smacking on his veggie chips so loud I know it was distracting. Then we went back to the classroom and I tried to leave him, that lasted about eight minutes. I heard him crying all the way from the room to the sanctuary and then when I got paged I heard him all the way there. I know it is a season and I remember Kira going through the same thing but I really need to go to Church and hear a service people! I have not sat through a full sermon for two months. Mommy needs it!

So hopefully after the move I will sit in the new classroom two Sundays, maybe three and he will let me go into church.

I can not wait for our move and neither can Kira. She keeps asking are we moving today? Are we moving yet? Can we move already? I keep on answering, "Soon sweetie."

Casein

I guess it would not be life if it was not crazy. So the last few days besides packing and dealing with the idea that we are moving this weekend!!! I have been dealing with Enzo and his poops again...wah wah WAH! I know he has not had any gluten and yet he has been pooping right after every meal and not normal poops. This is not good. So I begin thinking what if it is dairy, we do not eat that much but we have been eating more lately. I decided to search Casein in google. Casein is a milk protein and after a few google searches I found on a Celiac website a forum of GF people complaining of similar symptoms but with Casein. Oh wait it gets better. As I read on I found out that most likely he has a casein, egg and/or corn allergy too. We basically have corn tortillas everyday!

Well, it makes perfect sense after reading these comments. Basically when you are consuming gluten your body does not absorb nutrients properly. So his body has recovered and now after about a year he is actually absorbing these other possible allergens and I am seeing reactions with him and Kira.

Now what!!! I am going to take all three of us off dairy, corn and eggs for three weeks and then slowly reintroduce each seperately to see if there are reactions. Cooking is going to be so much fun(Not!). This is going to push me to find even better recipes now more than ever.

For instance, today for lunch we had rice bread avocado sandwiches, apples and grape tomato halves and yes, Kira actually ate a tomato and liked it. For dinner, I made rice noodles with a tomato basil sauce. Now, normally I would add parmesan cheese and a little dollup of butter to my sauce at the end to make it creamy. Instead I added a 1/4 cup of raw cashews to my sauce in the vita-mix and blended it until it was creamy. It was soooo good. I also had to make garlic bread without butter. I broiled the bread until it was a little toasted and then sprinkled garlic and sprayed canola oil on top for a little buttery-ness. It was pretty tasty considerering the alternate of just not having it.

I am going to have to perfect my pancake recipe without eggs and butter now :(

I think it is a good thing though. I know we do not eat that much processed foods but we eat our fair share. I want to eat more whole foods and I think this is the pushing limit to make me come up with better even more healthier recipes. I will definitely post them as they flop or taste good.

We Are Moving!

Okay, it has been officially decided that we are moving in two weeks!

I gave my notice at the restaurant and we told my parents we were packing it up. I am happy. I am sad. I am excited. I am nervous.

I am uncertain about alot of the details.

I did send out my resume to quite a few restaurants in the area yesterday. One emailed me back wanting an interview which is exciting. It is very similar to my restaurant now. Thankfully most of our stuff is already packed and in storage and all I have to do is pack up our room and the living room with my sewing stuff and the kid's toys.

Kira asked me if we were taking her Jesse and Enzo's Woody dolls with us with a very serious look. I told her yes and that we were taking all of her toys and things. She was relieved and all of a sudden excited about moving.

Enzo does not even get it I think, I know he will hate the ride up in the car. The last trip up and back he pretty much cried the last 20 minutes each way.

So on another note, I took the kids to the nurse practioner on Thursday. I have done all of the homeopathic stuff I could think to do and the cough was not going away. So we went and it turns out Kira had double ear infection and Enzo had a sinus infection and it was turning into an ear infection. No it was not Swine Flu..haha. The kids are now on antibiotics. I hate giving them antibiotics but I realized I don't give it to them all the time like most parents. Enzo has only had antibiotics once because of pneumonia after his M.R.I. . Kira has taken them two other times, basically once a year for them. I really try to do everything but that, but what are you going to to?

On another side note, not sure if it is the sick thing or the fact that Enzo is two now but he has a new habit. He likes to tell me no repeatedly (that doesn't bother me so much) while hitting me or attempting to hit me (that bothers me). He will cry or scream "No, no, no, mama" and throw his fist at me for ten minutes at a time. How do you discipline this? Anyone?????

Depending upon the situation, I mainly tell heim he can not talk to me that way and I put him in a time out until he calms down or I just ignore him if it has only been a few minutes hoping it will stop without attention.

Can anyone help me please? I hope it is the fact that he does not feel very good and that is it. In the mean time enjoy a picture of him in his new tantrum pose!

Encouragment, a Uhaul and Sick Kids

Deuteronomy 31

8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you;
he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Do not be afraid;
do not be discouraged.


I so needed to be encouraged. Things are progressing to our move. We are looking at possible living situations. Eric is most likely getting a Uhaul this weekend and moving all of our stuff (90%) up to a storage unit in SLO. I know it seems silly to move things twice but storage up there is about 2/3 the cost of storage here. We will save in the long run.

I am picking up every shift that I can at the restaurant. God is definitely blessing the restaurant right now, we have been really busy, surprisingly.

The kids have been sick with coughs, fevers, and now ear infections....so much fun. So needless to say I have not had more than two hours in a row a sleep since last week.

Last night while I was working Eric said she was in a lot of pain but snuggled right in and just wanted to be held. I came home and I put the little acupressure seeds behind Kira's ears and rubbed the swollen glands on her neck and it relieved alot of pressure for her. At first she was very upset with me but then she felt the relief and thanked me.

She feels better today and we just have runny noses. We will see the nurse practioner today to make sure things are getting better and not worse.

I Want to be a Lily

You know how sometimes when your read the Word it just speaks to you or you hear a sermon and you are certain the pastor wrote it just for you? Well it seems clear to me that Our Daily Bread is pretty much writing all of their daily devotions just for me. Because every time I have read it in the last couple weeks I have been encouraged and blessed. I get the the daily devotional through my google reader and threrefore I do not have any excuse to not read it before I read my other blogs....right! A good little trick I use so that I at least read it and have a little quiet time during the day. Here is today's scripture, hello could He be talking to me anymore....I will do my best not to worry today :)

Matthew 6:25-34 (New International Version)
Do Not Worry

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.

29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'

32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

So Thankful!

Psalm 107:1-16 (NIV)

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say this— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

3 those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.

4 Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle.

5 They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.

6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

7 He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.

8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,

9 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

10 Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains,

11 for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High.

12 So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help.

13 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

14 He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains.

15 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,

16 for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.

What an encouraging Psalm!

I have been feeling like those wandering in the desert with no place to go.

But God found them a place and He has found us a place as well.

I would have put the whole thing in bold because it all spoke to me but the part I put in bold is especially true. We have been crying out to Him and He has answered our prayers, maybe not how we thought He would but He answered.

We are moving as you know but after this last weekend up in SLO county, we feel that God is leading us to the Central Coast. Eric's parents live there, that is where we met, I went to school there and we love it up there. I have been a bit frazzled about the decision because we have lived there before. I have been reluctant to tell people because I feel like we are being back and forth about it. However if I think about it we have moved each time following God's direction and then circumstances out of our hands change and we need to move.

Eric and I feel confident that we have everytime prayed and sought out God's will and have peace about that. But realize that things out of our control change and the plans change and then we have to seek His will again. So we are there again, at a crossroads and needing direction. We know with the way the economy is we are not able to live in Orange County with the cost of living. I mean if most people looked realistically at the cost of living in Orange County and the choice not to use credit to survive, they would realize that they can't afford to live here too. However I think people do not live realistically and spend unrealistically using debt, just to keep up with the Joneses. I know I used to do that. I acquried the debt that I had because I had a empty spot in my life and I tried to fill it up with things. As soon as I came back to the Lord, I stopped feeling the need to spend aimlessly. I definitely still struggle with spending but more out of habit not out an emptiness. God has filled that void in my heart and I am so thankful.

God has provided in so many ways for us and He is continuing to provide. We are blessed and excited for new opportunities. Thanks for your prayers too. We are still not quite sure when the moving date is but it will most likely be in a month or two.

Then you might be asking well how does this effect our move to New Zealand. Well, we have known for six years we are supposed to move there, but last year we actually started talking about it with family and friends. We started to pay of debt when we moved into my parents house. With the way the economy turned my income decreased about 30-40% and we were no longer paying off debt at a higher rate, we have been keeping a float. With all of the changes in our income we knew we needed to live in a more affordable area. So we have actually been praying about our living situation and jobs for over six months and God has answered with this new living situation and new opportunities.

Exciting times!

Finding Our Way

Today I had an interview at a Montessori School for a teacher position.

Drove around and looked at rentals.

I am trying hard not to feel defeated....

I know God has this all worked out

But being in the middle of it I can not see.

I am holding on to the hope that He has promised.

Holding on to His hand as He leads me.

Hope

Isaiah 40:31

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles:

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not grow faint.

I have to cling to this truth right now. I want strength because I feel defeated. I want to feel above my situation like a eagle soaring not like a little bird flittering and fighting to fly. But with the strength of a mighty eagle. I want to know that in this season of uncertainty that I did my best to hope in the Lord. I know I am human, I know that I am weak, we were made this way so that we would rely on God for strength, His power and His might.

What Have I Been Doing?

Sorry I have not posted in awhile, I am in a funk. We are going to have to move but we do not know where. I doing my best to have faith the God has a plan and that we will be okay but I think it is a daily if not hourly reminder that I am not in control.

I would love prayer for direction, thank you.

So I have been kind of busy figuring out what we are doing. :)

****

On a happier note:

We were able to go to Disneyland with Eric's brother's family.

Hobie is almost 6 and Zoe and Kira are two days apart.

All the kids looking at the Disneyland map

Zoe, Kira and Hobie in line for Toy Story 3D


Auntie M

Kira Turns 4!

Four years ago Kira was born! My sweet little girl.

After 2 1/2 hours of pushing, we found out you were sunny side up!

My life would never be the same
I remember being so scared when you were having weight gaining issues,
God is so good.
We found out it was GERD and you got better


You love your Winnie the "Dooh"


I always loved that hat

Look at that belly, no problem gaining weight now

Yee Haw

Growing up to be a swimmer like mom and dad

Got into mom's makeup

So stinkin cute

My little mermaid



Happy Fourth Birthday Sweet Girl!

We love you

Clayton's Life

I saw this on my pastor from Calvary SLO's blog and was moved my this young man's story! It makes total sense with what he has to say and I think anyone and everyone can learn from this young man's story.





I hope this blesses you.

My Name is Inigo Montoya

photo by www.buzzsugar.com

There is nothing worse than waking up in the middle of the night with one of your kids sick. However after all of the clean up and finally getting some sleep, then next day I think it is only right to watch the best movie ever made to watch when you are sick.
The Princess Bride.

The kids had never seen it and Kira was a little skeptical when I showed her the video case. Enzo did not care because I told him there were pirates. A hour and some change later the kids loved the movie.
Kira thought the Rodents of Unusual Size were funny and said
"Them hungry, they just need some cheese."
Enzo spent most of the movie dueling with his sword.

Thankfully I think Kira just had a little stomach bug. She did not get sick again and we laid low all day. She seems just fine. Even though the circumstances were not the best I was happy to introduce the best "sick day" movie ever. I am glad they liked it as much as I do.

Two Years Ago

Two years ago at Midnight my water broke and thus the labor begun.

Nine hours later, ten minutes of pushing out you came

Your big sister, who you call "Ra Ra" is holding you for the first time

I can't believe how small you are 6lbs 15oz.

Kira was not quite sure of you

But I know she loves you so much

You are my momma's boy

My crazy monkey

At your baby dedication

We are so blessed to be your parents

You getting acupuncture, you were and are a trooper

You love Ra Ra
You love your food

And we love you Mr. Man

Happy 2nd Birthday Enzo!!

Oh How I Love Mondays

No really I love Mondays. I work Friday and Saturday. Sundays are usually filled with church and family. So Mondays are just for me to catch up and rejuvenate in a sense.

I finally put all of our laundry away after having to refold it all. I cleaned up our room and that always feels good. I tutored my high school student. I had a nap with the kids. They both napped for two hours at the SAME time. I made a tasty Chicken Satay with veggies and rice. Yum. I bought stuff for Corned Beef and cabbage for tomorrow. I might even make green bagels or pancakes tomorrow.

This morning I ran with my friend at the beach and it felt so good to get out and exercise. I have not wanted to exercise but I am in dire need to exercise. I am at my heaviest ever (about 15 lbs over my realistic weight) without being pregnant, at least being pregnant you kind of have an excuse for extra weight. No this is plain laziness and pure apathy for any kind of good eating or exercise. So today I drank water like no tomorrow and ate really good. I think if I do not eat after 9:00p.m. it should help a lot. I definitely find myself snacking late night and that is never good.

My realistic weight is a weight that I can comfortably keep without starving myself or being too neurotic about everything I do. All of my clothes fit perfect without any binding but they are not falling off. If I just exercise on a regular basis I usually do not have a problem with my weight. But it is the regular basis that needs help.

I am going to put together a fitness schedule for my next race. I am planning on running the Half Marathon in October at Long Beach with my friend again. We want to shave off some serious time of our last race. This means serious training and discipline. I need it.

What do you do to get motivated to exercise?

Aaron Roohk June 6, 1972- March 7, 2009

Today with a conflicted heart I said goodbye to a dear friend. Aaron was 36 years old when he passed away on last Saturday morning after a nine year battle with Brain Cancer. He had three tumors over the course of his sickness. He was a fighter. Today was the Celebration of his life (memorial service) at Rock Harbor Church up in Costa Mesa. I know without a doubt that today he is dancing and singing in Heaven with Our Savior! The celebration of his life was beautiful and full of laughter, talk about cars, computers and a person so full of God's love and happiness. No matter what pain he was in, when you went to see him and encourage him, you left having been encouraged. He was always giving everything he had, whether time, money and ear to listen or a shoulder to lean on.

I will remember Aaron for always telling it to me straight. He always knew how to talk to me with truth and love in a non-judgemental way. He would have no problem calling a spade a spade, but with a sweet smile that you could not deny. His smile, was big and bright and it matched his big blue eyes. Even though Aaron and I did not see each other for sometimes years at a time, we were always able to start where we left off with our friendship. He knew me through bad boyfriends and even worse hair. I remember once he met Eric, he pulled me aside and told me I did a good job picking him out and that it was about time I found a keeper.

My sweet dear friend called back in in the winter of 2008 and told me "I have not got enough attention lately so I thought I would get another tumor so that people would pay attention to me." That was Aaron always laughing and joking about his condition. When I saw him at the hospital later that day he did not want to talk about him He wanted to know what I was up. I shared with him about my family and gave him my blog. He immediately accessed it on his phone and gave me a hard time for not formatting my photos correctly. He told me when he got out of the hospital he would show me. He was the computer pro, gadget guy and a connoisseur of cars. He had over 21 cars in his 20 years of having a drivers license.

I thank God that I knew him and because I knew him I am a better person. He was selfless at all times and truly live with God's purpose.

I will miss you my dear sweet Aaron, but I know this is not goodbye but rather just like the other times in our friendship that I won't see you for a while, but we will pick up our friendship in Heaven and sing and dance together in Our Wonderful Father's House.

Aaron's favorite verse

Isa 40:31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew [their] strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Phil 1:9-11

And this is my prayer:

that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,

so that you may be able to discern what is best and

may be pure and blameless, until the day of Christ,

filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through

Jesus Christ—

to the glory and praise of God.

Ballerina Tutu

Easy Fun Ballerina Tutu

Materials:

I bought two spools of tulle at Tall Mouse, but you could get them at any craft or fabric store.

A pink and purple each about $4.99,

I had thin ribbon at home (thanks mom) in the same colors.

I had plenty of elastic at home, I would recommend a 1/2 inch wide,

I used 3/4 or 1 inch and I think it was too wide.

All I did was measured Kira's waist about 22 inches.

She does not like things too binding, so I made it a little loose,

so definitely measure for your child.
Measure elastic out for 23 inches and connect end by sewing together..okay a little sewing
Then I measured out tulle, about arms length.

Fold it in half

Bring the loop under the elastic, I chose this because I like the look of the finished knot

Bring the rest of the tulle through the loop

Pull until snug

Next I cut a few long ribbons and short ribbons and

just tied them in knots around the waistband too

This was the easiest practically no sew tutu

Kira was so excited, she played Angelina Ballerina all day

Enzo and Kira posing like ballet students.

Enzo saw Kira getting her picture taken and got in the shot.