ear piercing

Reagan got her ears pierced today! she was so brave. she decided today was the day after payton was invited to a painting party at the mall and she was upset she wasn't going to it. we were just walking around the mall and she saw the ear piercing place and said, "mommy, today I want my ears pierced. For my birthday."

She has been going back and forth about getting her ears pierced for about a year now and hasn't been reay to do it yet, so today was the day she made up her mind.

The picture above was the after pic. Her eyes were red but she didn't cry, just teared up and didn't talk for a few minutes.

This was before, she was excited but a little nervous.

Good thing Jimmy was there to hold her hand.

One ear done, one to go. This was NOT the highlight of the experience.

Two ears done and still, nothing to smile about. I wonder if she is thinking, "This isn't all it's cracked up to be."

But she made it... it took about 15 minutes to see a smile after this, but seeing Santa made it all better... and the thought of wearing earrings for her birthday and Christmas!

Go Rea Rea!

ground hog or guinea pig?

nothin' like finding a dancing ground hog (that looks like a guinea pig) at the flea market. (and having your sweet brother jimmy buy it for you is even better!) i wonder how Cali will act toward her new friend?

weekend fun

It was great to spend time with family this weekend. I haven't seen my dad since march I think (?) so it was a blast to hang out with the 3H's and of course my tio joe ;0)

Door holding

Door holding, originally uploaded by frogverde.

Good start to the day when you get to hold the door!

ice skating fun!

ice skating fun!, originally uploaded by frogverde.

none of the kids have skated before except for jimmy but surprisingly they all did really well. payton was like a bull dog out there. i need to get him into hockey!

payton's turkey

payton's turkey, originally uploaded by frogverde.

Halloween Pictures

we had a class party for the 6th graders.

Need I mention I CANNOT BELIEVE MY CHILD IS IN SIXTH GRADE!!! ?

and yes, half these children are taller than me. ha.

they played games but only because it involved food.

the fairy liked it though.

as did the dinosaur. roar!

i think this is an indication of an OD on sugar.

the pop corn race was a hit with the little ones too.

What happened to all the 6th graders?

Are they really too cool to play silly games at Halloween?

one day they will see you should never grow to old to play silly games.

and the final wrap up of the Halloween whirlwind was trick or treating. this is a cool house huh?

It was cold and windy for trick or treat and Rea succembed to be a bee again.

Here it is a week later and the candy is almost gone.

1107091225a.jpg

1107091225a.jpg, originally uploaded by frogverde.

a nice surprise

i haven't had a chance to post the halloween pics yet, but yesterday when I arrived home from work I was greeted with a pleasant surprise.

these shades have been sitting in the corner since june when i painted the house. I attempted to install them myself but wasn't strong enough to get the screws into the wood. i have been 'patiently' waiting for them to magically appear in place. Now here they are in their rightful spot over the windows.

thank you jim and rea! great work!

this weekend

it was a blur of candy, hauntedness and costumed fun. we had 5 parties and 2 football games this weekend. whew. we all went to bed early monday night.

here are some pics:

reagan's preschool halloween party

reagan the cowgirl, payton the dinosaur and jimmy the vampire

payton playing 'hot pumpkin'

aj and jimmy

Playland

Playland, originally uploaded by frogverde.

No school or tumbling . Playland cheers people up!

Touchdown Soup Night

Every year the football team has touchdown soup. Each child brings a can of Campbell's soup (not cream style) and they mix all the different kinds into a large pot. When practice is over, they get a cup of soup and a cup of hot chocolate. Surprisingly, the soup tasted good and all the kids had a nice big, warm cup.

jimmy enjoying soup

payton loves his soup too!

reagan, payton and devyn

serving the soup

payton lost his 1st top tooth!

payton lost his 1st top tooth!, originally uploaded by frogverde.

Lost !

on our way

1004090551.jpg, originally uploaded by frogverde.

aruba beach

oh my... in less than 48 hours I will be on a beach in Aruba.
It's hard to get excited yet, there is so much to do before I leave, but I am getting little 'glimpses' of the beauty I am about to see.
Since the kids will not be with us, it's hard to be excited until everything is in it's place and I am on the plane. Then, there is no turning back. It is what it at that point. If something doesn't get done, then it doesn't get done and people will go on.
But, until then, it is a flurry of lists and scheduling and laundry and meal prepping to make it is easy for the wonderful grandma's, note, the wonderful grandma's, that so graciously volunteered to stay with the babies for the week.
So, on my next update here, I plan to be enjoying myself and taking time to relish in the beauty and splendor of God's creation and take time to rejuvenate and renew my spirit, mind and body.
For now, I'm off to the cleaning block...

attacked!

attacked!, originally uploaded by frogverde.

this week in my kitchen

9/21 – 9/25

Weeknight Dinner Menu

MONDAY: Pork tacos, black beans, corn tortillas w/zuchinni & broccoli

TUESDAY: Beef Stew w/ potato, onion & carrots

WEDNESDAY: Toasted English muffin ham & cheesewiches w/ broccoli & cauliflower

THURSDAY: Rice and beans & collard greens

FRIDAY: Leftovers

Breakfast

• English muffins & Cream cheese
• Cereal & Milk
• Smoothie
• Fruit
• Yogurt

Lunch

• Sandwiches
• Leftovers
• Fruit

Healthy Snacks

• Apples & graham crackers
• Cottage cheese & oranges
• Cheese squares & crackers
• Almonds & dried cranberries

Treats

• Rootbeer floats
• Chocolate chip peanut butter cookies

fall is here

My Journey Back To Health - Part II

I was beginning to get excited for the Cubs game my son's class won at an auction. It was to take place in May. About a week before the game, I started to feel really tired and sore. My body ached like I was getting the flu, but without all of the other symptoms. The next day, I started to feel this subtle nerve tingling throughout the right side of my body. It felt as if an electrical current was shooting through my body at a very low voltage. It seemed like the 'current' wanted to exit my body but it didn't know how to leave. It would go up and down and try to exit at my joint areas. My ankle, knee, elbow, wrist, shoulder, neck, everything ached and began to burn. The 'voltage' grew worse as the day went on and continued in severity until I had to lay down and sleep. I remember waking up on a Friday and having the 'burning' localized to my back.
Sure enough, when I looked, there was a rash that looked like a chicken pox/ blister conglomerate on my lower back. The electrical current in the rest of my body didn't subside either. It made everything I did, from sit, to walk, to breath, painful. I thought of it as my skin being peeled back and someone blowing air onto my exposed skin.
Unbelievable!!! I knew I had shingles!
Huh?! you say, shingles? Isn't that an older person's problem? That doesn't happen to young 30 year old healthy women.
Well, it did and I was the lucky recipient.
The doctor (yes, I succumbed to the doc for this one) said it was brought on by stress and a weakened immune system. It's just plain bad luck.
I received my anti viral and painkillers and retreated back to the couch for the next 5 days.
You know, being on the couch for that long gives someone a lot of time to think, and think I did.
(For the record, I did miss the Cubs game but was happy that daddy got to go enjoy it with his son)
I really evaluated my life and where I was at, during my stretch of couch time, and was enjoying working through my spiritual, mental, physical health.
One of the things that struck me was the way that I was taking care of my body.
I wasn't in a regular exercise routine, I was eating all the foods I knew were bad for my body and I really wasn't managing my stress very well with home and work and all the pressures working mom's have to manage. I think it is known by now that everyone who lets stress get a foothold in their life is setting their physical well being up for disaster.
Well, I was my own disaster and needed to do something to fix it.
yikes!!! It looks like I will need one more day to bring the story current...
Stay tuned tomorrow...

This week in my kitchen

9/14 – 9/18

Weeknight Dinner Menu

MONDAY: Steak w/ baked potato & Broccoli

TUESDAY: Pork Chops w/ brown rice, zucchini & peppers

WEDNESDAY: Mini pizzas w/ carrots

THURSDAY: Spaghetti w/ alfredo sauce, chicken & broccoli/ cauliflower

FRIDAY: Leftovers

Breakfast

• Bagels & Cream cheese
• Cereal & Milk
• Smoothie
• Fruit
• Yogurt

Lunch

• Sandwiches
• Leftovers
• Fruit

Healthy Snacks

• Apple sauce & graham crackers
• Cottage cheese & peaches
• Cheese squares & crackers
• Almonds & dried cranberries

Treats

• Ice cream
• Blackberry granata
• Wafer Cookies

My Journey Back to Health

I am embarking on a whole new adventure in my eating and lifestyle. No gluten, dairy, eggs, HFCS, sugar, processed foods or fried foods... well, at least for the next 7 days.

Here is my story:

Back in November 2008 I took a blood test to find potential allergens. I was having several allergic type reactions to foods I was eating and unless I went on an elimination diet, I didn't feel better. I wanted to pinpoint what foods were causing me problems and when the results returned, it was confirmed.
Wheat
Dairy
Eggs
Yeast
Kidney beans
Pinto beans
The doctor said it is a small list, and the sensitivity number didn't come back as high as he had seen on other patients, but for me, it was the beginning of a whole new journey.
Now finding out these results in November posed a problem for me knowing that Thanksgiving and Christmas were right around the corner and it would be really difficult to refrain from eating the foe foods. So I watched it, and suffered a bit, but managed to get through the holidays armed with the knowledge that at least I knew the reason why I was feeling so bad all the time.
After the holidays, I did an 8 week elimination diet, excluding all of MY problem foods. I felt great, my problems, which we mainly digestive in nature, seemingly went away without a hitch. I was feeling so good about my problems, that I began to let the foe foods creep their way back into my life. Slowly at first, but with more frequency and quantity.
Before I know it, I had a rash around my neck, a ring, that would not go away. It started under my favorite chain, sterling silver, which is not supposed to cause reactions in people, but this rash got bigger and it burned and itched. Nothing I did would take it away so i resorted to one of my nemisis in life, the conventional doctor. Friendly enough, yes, but before I could finish my "I'm fine, thank you," retort to his, "Hello, how are we today?" He had two prescriptions written for steroid creams and was out the door.
Reluctently, I filled my steroids and dutifully applied my cream, know how bad it was for my body but not being able to face the rash one more day. Within a week, it was cleared up and I went on my life again without a hitch.
That lasted until May, when my body brought me back down in flames.

Stay tuned for the conclusion tomorrow...

Wordless Wednesday - all you need is love

see any resemblance?

didn't think so!

1st day of school

The boys went back to school today.

Jimmy gets picked up by the bus at the school Payton attends.

That means we have to go to the school 2x within an hour. What fun!

We're going to have an interesting transition getting back into a routine this year. Since Jimmy gets picked up an hour before Payton, the whole house is up by 6am, which means I need to be up by 5:30 to get everything in motion before they get moving. Yikes! It was a treat all summer to sleep until 7am. I guess all good things come to an end but it will be good to be up and in an early routine again. We should be pretty tired by the end of the night, going from school, to homework, to dinner, to football. Showers, a book and bed will be welcomed after a long day.

Have a great day boys~ B will miss you today.

(or will she???)

you are loved

just a little reminder that when you feel small and insignificant, don't.

your not.

people notice you and God loves you.Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

1 Timpothy 4:12