Spring Cleaning - DONE!

First of all, I wanted to let everyone know that we're alive and doing well!! I haven't meant to be away for so long but some crazy weeks (fun and not so fun times) have passed. This particular post doesn't depict a fun experience or even offer something pleasant to share but such is life, right? I mainly wanted to record these memories for our family more than anything. Here's our story (sorry no pictures this time):

Two weeks after John started up school things around here started to get a little chaotic. With 3 days left before Aubrey's first spring soccer practice, I took her to get her hair trimmed. The hair cut process unfortunately didn't get very far as the lady said she couldn't go any further and then showed me: head lice. (found out later on that some of her friends at school and on the bus had it) GREAT! The lady apparently couldn't finish the cut so I decided to wait a few days for my sister to help me even things out. Poor Aubrey. The next two days were for sure cut out for me...CLEAN, CLEAN, and CLEAN!! Really, that feels like such an understatement. At times I thought I would cry. No. Wait. I did! I was exhausted with just the normal everyday routine doing things all on my own with John in school and treating Aubrey for head lice was over the top. I'm sure that this thought has run across many minds when life seems to become unbearable: "What else could go wrong?" I don't dare say it in the event that it comes true! The thought scares me. So, spring cleaning is basically done in our home. Not by choice. But I'm very happy it's done. The first night of treatment took 3 hours to shampoo and comb her hair. If any of you can relate to this experience, you will know what I'm talking about with all of this crazy cleaning that must be done in order to treat correctly. Wash all bedding, spray mattresses and couches, vacuum mattresses, couches, and carpets, shampoo hair on day 1 and 10, comb/ check hair daily for lice, more laundry, bag up stuffed animals/ dolls for 4 weeks, bag coats in closet for 2 weeks, etc. We have decided pulling up her hair for school on most days will hopefully cut down on the chances of her getting it again. I'm so paranoid now. If we get it again, I will surely cry my eyes out!! LOL. After this whole fiasco, a song came on called "Life Aint Always Beautiful" by Gary Allen and here are some of the words that best described how I was feeling at the moment:

"Life ain't always beautiful. Sometimes it's just plain hard. Life can knock you down, it can break your heart. Life ain't always beautiful. You think you're on your way. And it's just a dead end road at the end of the day. But the struggle makes you stronger. And the changes make you wise. And happiness has it's own way of takin' it sweet time. [chorus]No,life aint always beautiful. Tears will fall sometimes. Life aint always beautiful. But it's a beautiful ride."

And those words are so true. No matter HOW hard life gets, it IS a beautiful ride. The challenges more often than not become strengths and are worth it in the end. Hold your head high and carry on . . .

Keepin Busy

On the run with her lion - one of her favorite toys and her get-a-way car when Aubrey pushes her around the house.

Mommy & Jocelyn playing a game of Peek-A-Boo. Jocelyn would laugh as soon as she opened the door and saw me.

Jocelyn is all SMILES here! And yes, that's her holding a plastic pumpkin from Halloween. Sister's pumpkin to be exact. I know it's March but she loves to walk around the house with it like it's a purse or something. Holds her water cup, toys, and just anything those little hands can get into.

Vegetable Purees - Update

I spent this past week pureeing carrots (10 large carrots = about 3 cups), a head of cauliflower = about 3 cups, and 2 sweet potatoes = about 4 cups. I packaged them all in freezer zip locks in 1/2 cup measurements. Most of the recipes in Deceptively Delicious call for a 1/2 cup of puree so this is the measurement that I used for each zip lock. I saved out a zip lock bag of carrots this week to try and froze the rest and then made these Applesauce Muffins with carrot puree mixed in. I was impressed. They taste really good! As you can see from the photos, both Jocelyn and Aubrey were happy eaters with this recipe too. Jocelyn didn't really know what to think of at first because she's never had a muffin before but she dug in and enjoyed it. I was pleased to find out that one of these recipes so far has passed the test! (I also want to add that I spread a little remaining carrot puree from when I pureed the carrots (about 2 Tbsp) onto toasted cheese sandwiches before I grilled them and that also was a hit. They did notice the added orange color in their sandwich but the carrots only gave it a hit of sweetness to it and they kept right on eating.)

And here's a little preview of the puree process I completed. Last night I roasted the 2 sweet potatoes for an hour, threw them into the chopper and then the blender to puree (don't have a food processor - can usually get by with just the blender but the sweet potatoes were still a bit hard), and then once smooth and creamy, a 1/2 cup is then scooped into a freezer zip lock with a label of what veggie, how much and the date. Whala! One hour's work makes 3-4 cups of puree.

Milk Strike

Water vs. Milk. And the winner is.......WATER!

If a picture could say a million words this would be no exception! Monday Jocelyn started getting a cold. She also chose this day to no longer take her milk from a bottle. I'm happy that she has finally put the bottle behind her. It was definitely time. My little girl is getting so BIG right before my very own eyes! The downside to her being completely weened off the bottle is that she no longer drinks her milk at all. Whether she refers to a sippy cup to "only water" as she has had it that way since 6 months old or refers to the bottle as "milk only" or whether she's just being a stinker and on a milk strike. (I'm guessing the later one!) I still offer milk in a sippy at every meal but don't force the issue. She loves water and I love that she loves water because if she was on a water strike too...we'd be in trouble! So just to be sure that she was getting enough calcium with not drinking milk anymore I took her into see the doctor today and she said for a child at this age, they need about 3-4 servings of dairy a day. Jocelyn loves (and eats) string cheese and yogurt every day so this was good to hear. The doctor also said this could be a stage or that some children just decide they don't want milk anymore or no longer like it. A multivitamin in liquid form was suggested to give daily. (This topic could be a post all on it's own!) Also to try Pedisure, smoothies, or milk shakes. This past week I've exhausted myself trying to figure her out and even offered her milk by warming it up like she used to have it in her bottle. That didn't work either. Children also at this age and stage like to be in control - or think that they are. She could be testing my limits. In any case, I'm doing what I can do to offer her the 3-4 servings a day of calcium rich foods and a vitamin and sitting back to enjoy the rest of being a parent. It's hard enough being a parent alone without these road blocks. The vegetable this is exhausting by itself. :) This battle I'm afraid is not mine to win. I'll be interested to see what becomes of this stage down the road.

Getting Creative!

For a little while now, Jocelyn has been refusing to eat regular vegetables. I completely stopped the puree baby foods a few months ago because she's too old to be eating them. And they are really expensive. She's more independent now and she's old enough to eat foods that we eat as a family - on a limited scale obviously. I've been having a hard time knowing what to do to get her to eat vegetables. She LOVED the purees. I made a call to her pediatrican today and told the nurse my concerns. She has her 18 month check up in 2 weeks but I just couldn't wait until then to do something about this. They referred me to this book called Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld.

We are in luck!! The book was already sitting on my shelf next to the other cookbooks. I bought it a few months back "just in case." The idea this book gives to parents is to "hide" the vegetables into the foods they already eat and enjoy. I don't really like the word "deceptive" because I don't agree with using that approach on my children. But if this helps her to finally eat some vegetables when she won't eat it them alone, then I'm up for the challenge! I want to do whatever it takes to contribute healthy foods to her diet. This book offers recipes and how-to's on how to puree your own fruits and vegetables that can then be cooked into their food. A lot of the recipes sound and look good too, such as: french toast (with butternut squash), applesauce muffins (with carrots), banana bread (with cauliflower), pancakes (with sweet potato), and chicken nuggets (with broccoli) just to name a few. Tonight I'm starting on carrots and cauliflower purees. Hope this goes well. First time doing this. Wish me luck! And luck that she eats it too! :)

Okay Let's Face It

There just aren't enough hours in a day sometimes to get it all done. And there are many days that I'm fine with that. But this past week has been a struggle to get even HALF the things on my list done while doing a lot of it on my own. I have to remind myself that the kids are healthy and happy and that everything else will work itself out somehow, someway. So I need to rely on that faith I suppose or I think I'll go insane if I don't. HA! So to those of you who have written and I have not replied PLEASE don't think I forgot about you. I promise that I will get in touch with you very soon. I love you all. If it makes you feel any better to hear just how tired I have been lately (that may not sound right, again, I'm tired) - I put hair conditioner on my face the other day instead of face wash. I was so dumbfounded with myself. That's when I knew that I had to write this. I have a million and one things to do and on that list is to catch up or even just write something in Jocelyn's baby book to keep things current. Um. Good intention and a very good thing to do but, well, typing is faster at this moment in time. So I'm running with it. (You can stop here if you wish to not read any further. It's nothing too personal so those that do want to read on, be my guest.) :)

"After sister got home from school today I thought it would be fun to go to the nearby playground for a little while. It was beautiful today. About 72 degrees, windy, and blue skies. Perfect weather I think. Aubrey brought some bubbles she got from school with us and while you were swinging, she blew bubbles near you and you just cracked up laughing the entire time. It was so much fun to watch you guys play. What a great sister you have! Then she put the bubbles away and climbed onto the swing next to you and you both swung side by side for a good while. You would see Aubrey swinging higher than you with her head back looking up at the sky and you started copying her doing the same thing with your head back. You really have a great sister to look up to and you both play so well together. Then...you two were off to the slides! Even mama went on them with you guys. I have to say it was fun feeling like a kid again. I don't think you're ever too old to be a kid. The playground is for everyone! :) You sat on sisters lap and went down with her on the slide a few times. One of those times you two went on a really curvy slide that made you go real fast and you both hit your bottoms on the bark dust. You were both fine-I had to hold in the laughter though. (Your sister was more worried about getting the bark dust off of her.) It was very windy out today but that surely didn't stop you from having fun. While I pushed you in the swing, I asked you if you felt the wind moving your hair and you put your hand up on your head and started to swish your hair all over the place. What a silly girl you are. At least I know that YOU know what I'm saying for the most part. Every day you seem to know more and more. It's incredible how fast you pick up on things. Great sense of humor you have too. Today you've started getting cold symptoms so we didn't stay out too long this afternoon. Glad you guys enjoyed yourselves. I forgot to bring my camera with me but I'm almost glad I did because it gave me more time to watch you play and get in and have some fun with you both. We should have more days like today. To take a break from the fast passed world of life and take the time to embrace the most important thing: family! You heard me right. No, the most important thing is not your favorite blanket that you got mad at me washing today. You and Aubrey are my Angels. I love you so much!"

Goals For 2008

This is being posted a little later than I planned but I've justified it since it's still in the early days of 2008. There have been a lot of random things that I have been been working on. Last year was a very busy and paper-piling, clutter-everywhere kind of year for us and so these random things I've started putting to use will hopefully bring us a better year. I also found out last year that I have high cholesterol. I did find out that one of the culprits was that it's in my family history. Over the past couple of years when I was working full time and going to school part time on top of raising our children, I don't think I made my nutrition a priority as it should have. So last year, I made some immediate changes in my diet. I didn't have to do a whole lot --- just drink more water and eat more veggies and fruits and less eating out and making more homemade meals. I told myself to start out in baby steps because I know that if I do too much too fast, I get burned out and my changes cease. Well, even with these changes and a little exercise (still working on that part!) I'm proud to say that I've lowered my cholesterol by 70 some points without medication. I still have about 30-40 points to go but I'm really happy with my progress. So...with this year, I honestly feel that 2008 is going to bring great results in many areas!

1. GOAL: Lower cholesterol & continue healthy eating habits.

As I said, last year was a changing time with my diet. It was also a good change for the whole family. With John and I as parents, we are to set the example as our children often look up to us and for the most part, eat the things we eat. I looked and searched for many healthy recipes to make for our family meals and with these lovely items given to me this past Christmas from my step mom and hubby, I know I'm in for a TREAT! **THANK YOU!!**These gadgets seriously make me want to cook all the time!

2. GOAL: Form and maintain a healthy lifestyle of exercising - for myself and for my family. I think this goal is more geared for me but again, I help by setting a good example for the rest of my family. This goal also coincides with my goal of lowering my cholesterol. My doctor told me that increasing my activity level will help push out the bad cholesterol and raise the good cholesterol. And lets face it, I want to be around in my children and their children's lives as long as I possibly can. I personally don't like the atmosphere that the gym brings to me. I suppose it's a little intimidating. Been there and done that so I work out in the mornings from the comfort of my own home before the girls wake up and the daily activities begin. I'm still in the beginning stages of this but I'm coming along and enjoying it. I have found that I have more energy and it helps me stay on track with my healthy eating habits. Okay, okay - getting new aerobic shoes also seemed to help in the motivation department. No complaints here! Also, when it's nice outside (above 50 or 60 degrees) our family likes to go on walks around the neighborhood and take a trip to the local park/ playground.

3. GOAL: Organize! As I mentioned, we have had some organizational issues since moving to our home here in Virginia. One being that we have gone from a garage, to no garage. Makes things hard to store our seasonal stuff like we used to. So we've had to be creative as well and donate the things we absolutely don't need and can live without. It's a great feeling to live with less. Less is more sometimes, right? Sorting papers, shredding what is no longer needed, and filing what we need to keep has for sure been a task! And a continual task at that! It's in fact, still in the works and probably always will be but I had to recently put my foot down. I'm beginning to stress out over paper. PAPER!?!?! I want to live a simpler life so this task MUST be tackled. I don't want to stress over paper...I want to instead enjoy spending time with my family. Too bad we no longer have a dog. The shredding process would go a lot faster!! :)

4. GOAL: Projects I've been anticipating for quite awhile. Not too long ago, I finally broke out my sewing machine and have some projects lined up waiting to be made. Haven't sewed since my high school years but I'm bound to learn and get back at it again. My list of projects include: finish family name sign, 2 hand bags (see picture), quilt & shams (see picture), napkins, pillows, place mats, and a baby quilt (see picture). I also have a few cross stitches that need to be completed and my long list of books to be read. I don't know if I'm going to get to all of my projects in 2008 but I sure am going to try!

{Pretty material scraps for a future project. A pillow maybe? Haven't really decided yet.}

{I made this wooden house late last year at a women's church activity but wanted to show you how cute it turned out. It also has a light attached to the back that lights up the windows and door when it's plugged in.}

5. GOAL: Remodel our home to prepare for a possible move in a year or four. LOL When we moved into our home, the backyard was without a fence. With the spring and summer coming soon, we'd like to have one up so the girls can play freely and we can have some privacy. And BBQ's hopefully! We also want to gut and redo the kitchen and bathrooms entirely, install hardwood throughout the main level, and redo the front door frame (dry rot) and install a new door with a peep hole preferably - note to my dear hubby! :) We know that the market is slow and unpredictable right now. But we hope these changes will add a lot of value and hopefully attract many potential buyers when the time is right. By then, the market should be better. (cross fingers!)

{Don't have any pictures of this goal yet, as it hasn't begun. Will post before and after photos for you to see when this process starts.}