Temptation

There is so much temptation around our family regarding food. It is so frustrating and annoying. But it is apart of our lives. It is especially hard when they come into our home. Last night J made homemade truffles to take the work...well they are in our house waiting to go to work and some of them have gone into my belly because I am so weak! They taste SO good. Other temptations are when we are out and about like grocery shopping and they have samples. Why can't I EVER pass up a free sample of something? UGH. Another way they creep into our homes and lives is with candy rewards at school. I really wish our school would adopt the no candy policy that all the other schools in our district have adopted. It would make my life so much easier then having to take candy away from the kids. I really don't see our school grabbing hold of that policy, bummer. It never fails to that every time I do give in to those temptations I feel like garbage. Oh it tastes good for those few seconds going down but the after affects are not so pleasant. As I sit here and think of the food temptations in our lives I am flooded with all sorts of other temptations the devil tries to throw at us using the world to do it. The definition of temptation: a thing or course of action that attracts or tempts someone. As weird as this my sound I feel like I get tempted to do housework instead of reading my Bible like I should. There is always something that is needing to get done and it is usually but not always more enticing then getting in the word. I hate that because I really do love reading my Bible. I learn so much every time and feel close to God when I do. Lord keep me from temptation.

The Baby!

I have been doing this mothering thing for the last 9 years but have had many years experience with kids previous to actually being a parent but you know what? Peanut is really giving me a run for my money or I just don't remember the other kids being this stubborn or strong willed. Here is one example of her stubbornness. She doesn't like peppers and a lot of our meals have peppers in them because they are good for you. Well she sat at the table with a pepper in her mouth for over an hour and a half. She would not chew it or swallow it. I tried enticing her with a treat after she ate all her food and it didn't work. I have given her the same meal for the next meal and she still didn't eat it. None of my other kids have done this sort of thing. Her "I do it myself" phase seems to have started way before the other kids did and the tantrums that follow if I can't let her do it herself because we have to go somewhere. I need the strength to parent this child. I love her so much but she has me in tears some days. I know that one day her personality will get her far in life but right now as her parents it is very frustrating. And here I thought this parenting thing would get easier, yeah right! I love you baby girl :)

Trying to catch up!

Peanut and I left on the 23rd of this month and took a little trip to California! It was so beautiful there. It was both of our first times there and we had a great time. Peanut got to go in the Pacific Ocean and hopefully this summer when we visit Jeff's brother she will get to go in the Atlantic Ocean all in the same year and all firsts for her. The first day we got there we shopped. My dad bought me some Ugg slippers and my feet are so happy about them! I LOVE my boots and now I am able to wear Uggs inside and out!!! That night we watched Julie and Julia, a movie I had wanted to see for sometime but J was never interested in watching with me. On Sunday we went to Disneyland and California Adventures. That we really fun. I picked out the kids each a gift from there and I got myself a new zip up hooded sweatshirt. Monday my dad and I checked out some different places around where my aunt lives. We went to one of many missions and walked around. There was a lot of history to that place and it was so beautiful. The sunshine as we walked was so welcomed :) Then we ate lunch at a harbor in Dana Point. The view from the restuarant was gorgeous. Then we drove to Laguna Beach. When we got back my dad stayed with Peanut and the 3 of us girls went to the store and got food for dinner. My aunt and I cooked dinner she has been taking classes so it was so fun to learn some techniques from her. My cousin and her husband ate with us too. I haven't seen my cousin in so many years! She leaves for Australia next month so I was glad to get to see her before she left the states. Tuesday my dad and I went to Hollywood and my aunt and step-mom took Peanut and had a ladies day together. The three of them had great fun. That night my uncle got back to town so my dad had another male to make trouble with or get made fun of with however you want to look at it ;) The last day I took a walk on the beach and wanted to get a picture of my foot in the ocean, which I got but ended up getting soaked in the process! I was a *little* wet for the flight back to freezing cold land, my wonderful uncle blow dried my shoe while my socks and pants were in the dryer. We had 20 minutes before we had to leave for the airport so they were still a little wet! I had a very fun trip and can't wait to go back to Sunny California...I'm already planning the trip to take the rest of the family.

Monday Menu January 25-31

I am still on vacation so I don't know what they will be eating but I can fill out the rest of the week!

Monday: gone
Tuesday: gone
Wednesday: gone but they will eat at church
Thursday: Stuffed Peppers and green apples
Friday: Paprika Chicken and brown rice
Saturday: whole turkey and mashed potatoes
Sunday: leftovers and maybe a big breakfast for dinner?!

Lunches: they have deli meats like every other week with hard boiled eggs, strawberries, blueberries, green apples, kiwi, sunflower seeds, cashews, pecans, almonds, carrots, yogurt, string cheese and veggie sticks. I think that is pretty much it.

Sorry in advance!

I have a bunch of thoughts going through my head so this post maybe a bit ramble-y, I have gotten a few emails and such about our story as I haven’t put a whole lot of details on my blog. I am currently working on going through some of my older posts to see when we first started getting sick. As I blogged about it without having a connection between the toxic mold and our sicknesses.

Wednesday I took the kids to the Museum of Science and Industry. I took them out of school for the day and I was hoping that they would sleep in a bit but instead Red woke up at 5:45am because he had wet the bed. He wouldn’t go back to sleep after that and from the living room couch proceeded to make his grunting noises that he makes when he doesn’t want to do something,,,ie sleep. He ended up waking Peanut up about 6:15. So instead of getting to sleep in I got up earlier. Oh well. We ended up getting a little lost on the way there as mapquest gave us wrong directions. Though I do feel better the family we were meeting there got the same directions from mapquest and so got lost too. I just called my dad-in-law and he got me to where we needed to be. It was such a great day. For one, it was only gas money + parking (16) so pretty affordable. They had a live science experiment set up and the kids loved that. We also got to see a chick crack it’s way out of an egg. It only took about 30 minutes of watching the egg :) They climbed the rock wall, played the video games, did the car and ski/snowboarding simulators, played in the water area and got soaked! It was a wonderful day. I have pictures but they are trapped in my camera at the moment and who knows if I will get them on here ever. Ha.

I am also getting excited/nervous about my upcoming trip. I know that the kids will be taken care of while I am going that isn’t my concern I just want to make it back to them in one piece. I know it is even a horrible thought to think about but at the same time it could happen. I am writing a letter for each night I am gone for each individual kid to read before bed. J did that when he went to Canada and they loved it. I thought I should do the same thing!

Hooky

I'm pulling the kids out of school tomorrow and taking them somewhere fun. I will be leaving in a few days and I want to spend as much time with them as possible. It works out well because J has a crazy busy work week and he couldn't take the kids to school tomorrow or Thursday. So it was just the incentive I needed to keep them with me! I have our lunches packed and I have directions. I'm a little nervous because I don't like driving in Chicago but I know we will have so much fun. Thursday I am taking them early from school because J informed me that he can't bring them home like I had thought that day. It just works to all of our benefit this way! I hope my next update will be with pictures of our adventure, but I will be with the four of them by myself in a big space so who knows if I will get any pictures :) Like I said on facebook the only thing that could make tomorrow even better would be if J could come with.

Menu Monday Jan 18-24

Monday: Chicken and stir-fry
Tuesday: Homemade pizza (everyone is excited about this one)
Wednesday: church
Thursday: Asparagus soup and sour dough bread
Friday: Chicken in Sour Cream sauce
Saturday: I'm gone so this is up to J
Sunday: same as Sat!

For lunches I got deli meat (turkey, roast beef, chicken, and ham), beef summer sausage, carrots, apples, pears, strawberries, veggie stickes, veggie chips, string cheese, pecans, almonds, walnuts, granola, hard boiled eggs, sunflower seeds, and water.

Last Year of Single Digits for GG

I know I say this EVERY year but I just can't get over how old my oldest is getting! She is 9 years old today. 9 people. That means the last year of her being in the single digits. Oh I don't know if I will be able to handle next year, oy. Since we are living in a different place and our mail still goes to the other place we told her she will have to wait til Monday to get any cards that were sent to her. But we still decorated her door with streamers and homemade cards from each of us! She has already opened her presents this morning. We got her two preemie outfits for her Baby Alive doll to wear and a snuggie for kids. She loves to read and this way she can have a blanket on and still read. She wants to go to Jason's Deli for lunch so that is what we will do after church. She helped make her birthday cake yesterday I just need to frost it today. If you are wanting the recipe for the Apple Pudding Cake it is in the post below, I will let you know how it tastes but it sounds really yummy! I am going to go enjoy my 9 year old's day today!!!

This is a SIN!

I think I am having WAY too much fun trying new recipes and cooking the new ones we like. It almost feels wrong to be having so much fun with all of this. I just CAN NOT saying it enough at how well the kids are doing in our new "temporary" home. I love it. They are happy and healthy. I also have so much more energy too. I am looking forward to the summer and traveling with the kids. This year we are going to be taking a road trip! We are all super excited about it. The goal is to drive a few hours and then stop and camp for a night or two and then get on the road again. I am thinking this will be a two week trip. We are heading towards my bil and sil to see their new baby and their whole family. It we drove straight through it would be a 16 hour drive and I think this way is going to be much more enjoyable! The two older kids are going to be doing a co-ed away camp for a week and we are all going to go up there during that time. J and I are going to work at the camp while we are there, so excited. There is also another camp we might be going to with another family from church so that would be a lot of fun too. I know it is just January but still it is fun to plan and look to the future. Speaking of January my oldest is going to be 9 years old on Sunday. Each year seems to go faster than the year before. I am going to be making her a new cake recipe. I can't wait to make it because it sounds so yummy! Here is the recipe if you are interested :)

APPLE FILLING
10-12 apples
1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger
water to cover apples
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup butter
CAKE BATTER
1 1/4 cup almond flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons soft butter
2/3 tablespoons honey

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C)
2. Peel and slice apples, place in sauce pan, add water till it cover apples a quater of the way.
3. Cook over medium high heat untill apples are very soft and mushy.
4. With a laddle or a large spoon drain excess liquid into a bowl and set aside to use in cake batter.
5. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, honey and butter; stir and simmer while preparing cake mixture
6. In a bowl take a cup of the nut flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda; blend with your hands until all lumps are gone add butter, honey and the reserved juice from the apples stir.
7. Batter should be smooth and pourable if it seems to thin add the extra qaurter cup of almond flour.
8. Pour the apple mixture in a greased baking dish, stir cake mixture into the apples.
9. Bake at 350 F (180 C) for 45min. to an hour.
10. A knife or toothpick should come out cean yet this is not a firm cake. Cake will be soft and juicy.

See doesn't that sound yummy? I can't wait to make it too much fun I am having I tell ya, it really should be a sin ;)

Oh yeah P.S. today is Delurking Day so if you read this please comment :)

Is it working?

So many people have asked me if this new super restrictive diet is working. Well let me see I haven't had abdominal pains in at least 2 months. I would say that is a huge YES! Though I am far from being completely better as I still have some of the other not as painful symptoms I can tell I am slowly getting better. Not only can I tell a difference in myself but the kids too. For starters my oldest (GG) who used to get between 4 and 5 headaches a week and 1 to 2 what we call threw up headaches (migraines) a month, now gets maybe one head a week if not every other week or longer. To add to that the last time she got a threw up headache was after she ate a piece of pie that was in no way apart of our new diet and she did throw up! Here is another example that I know this is working...we have recently gone to two different parties and Red has eaten the food there which was processed and so not apart of our new diet. Both times he threw up the next morning. Never got a fever or any other symptoms and didn't threw up after feeding him "our" food. Monkey and Peanut are just pretty healthy and straying from the diet hasn't been too hard on them but I can tell they do much better on it! Also two of the kids have had friends in their classes with the H1N1 and they never got it. Not only is this diet good for detoxing mold but it is also a great immune booster! This is by far the healthiest winter we have had.

Menu Monday

I thought I would try something new and have a way to look through my posts to see all the different meals we have tried over these months. I know that I should have started a few months back but this will have to do!

Monday: Texas Chili and organic crackers and fruit smoothies
Tuesday: Spinach Patties with mashed red potatoes and blueberries
Wednesday: We eat at church. (I bring something for me because I usually can't eat what is on the menu)
Thursday: Spicy Chicken with brown rice and green apples with yogurt sauce.
Friday: Turkey Meatloaf with lettuce salad, fruit salad and a dessert. (our small group is coming this night so I only make the meatloaf)
Saturday: Vegetable Medley Beef Stew and fruit smoothies.
Sunday: Country Breakfast (eggs) and Breakfast fruit salad. (This is GG's birthday so we will have gone out for lunch which is why the dinner is a light one!)

**oops I forgot lunches**
Lunches: Deli meat (turkey, ham, roast beef, and chicken) sunflower seeds, pecans, almonds, walnuts, hard boiled eggs, spinach salad, string cheese, granola, green apples, and carrots.

I also want to mention that I typically make fruit smoothies with dinner so that I can put the kids vitamins in them. The bottle of power I have is almost gone and then we probably won't have them for a while :) It was a trail vitamin!

2 year old on something?!

MRI

Yesterday I had an MRI done on my brain. I think that is the most uncomfortable test. My head hurt so bad from laying in one spot with no pillow for 45 minutes. I wish I would of known they would like me listen to music. I totally would have brought my own CD instead I had to choose from one of theirs and there was NOTHING in their selection that sounded appealing AT. ALL. You are probably wondering why I had an MRI done. Well for about 5 years now I have had random eye pain. My last doctor sent me to the eye doctor who told me that my eye doesn't have feeling and that it wouldn't be causing me pain. Well over the last few months I have had random blurry vision and one day I couldn't see for about 10 minutes. It was just weird. My doctor didn't think there was anything wrong but just to be sure he wanted to do the scan. The office called last night with the results and the nurse told J that everything looked fine. He was outside shoveling and didn't bother to come get me so I could ask questions. I am going to be calling today to get some more details of what was seen. Like how did my optic nerve look and so forth. Things that could be causing the pain. But for now I know there is no tumor or any other weird thing going on in my head at least structurally ;) I will update with anything new after I talk to the doctor that is if there is anything new to report!

Modesty and my almost 9 year old.

A few weeks ago I noticed that my almost 9 year old daughter had started doing these goofy poses with her body where she kind of sticks out her butt. I was not liking this so last night I took her out just the two of us to have a talk about modesty. Things I brought with were a Bible, a People Magazine, and a necklace. I started the conversation talking about some of the things I noticed her doing and that is why I felt it was important to have this talk. I gave her the definition of modesty from the dictionary which states; Modesty: behavior, manner or appearance intended to avoid impropriety or indecency. I then expounded on this definition with the definition of impropriety and indecency. I talked to her about what modesty looks like in each of the three areas stated above and how it pertains to her as a girl. Then I had her open the Bible to 1 Timothy 2:9-10 which says, “I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.” I’m sure there are other verses that talk about this subject but I choose to go with just this one. We then talked about what this verse says and how to live it out. Then I gave her the People and told her to find 5 people dressed modestly and circle them and find 5 that were not dressed modestly and cross them out. She had so much fun doing this she went way above finding 5 of each. Then we kind of went through the rest and talked about why some of the clothing was not modest. Then I briefly touched on only her husband seeing her naked body didn’t want to go too far into THAT subject just yet. Then I pulled out a mother and daughter matching necklaces and asked her if she was willing to commit to being modest in all these areas. When she did I gave her the necklace to wear. She was so excited. This necklace will be a reminder to her that in all things to be modest. I also told her that she was my daughter but above all things she was God’s daughter and now she knows what her heavenly father says about this subject. When we got home I told her to go take a shower. Before our talk she would forget her towel in another room and walk through the house naked to get it. Last night she made sure she had her towel with her and then wrapped it around her to come ask me a question before she showered. I praised her for being modest. I know she understands the concept so I pray she is able to be successful at continuing to be a modest girl in all areas. I just pray for her so much in this area because she is a really cute and loving girl and I don’t want to squash that but I do want to protect her from any bad people that might take her the wrong way, you know. But for now we are working on modesty mostly in appearance and behavior but manners too.

This New Year

I don't really do New Year's resolutions but I am really hoping that this year will be a really healthy one for our family. We did have one kiddo throw up today but no fever so I'm not really sure what that was all about. They didn't even act sick either so who knows. Tomorrow my hubby is going to be ordering a product he read about to help detox us from this nasty mold. I really hope and pray that it works like everyone says it does. We shall see. If it does then we are going to be buying cases at a time since the bottle is 32oz and there is 6 of us. I hope this year is full of encouragement though I know I will get discouraged in this journey to being healthy. I am just so thankful that my hubby is right along side me cheering me on...he tends to say the right thing at the right time just when I feel like giving up.

I am just so amazed at what my kids eat for dinners. I know I have said this before but they truly surprise me. Tonight I made a beet soup. It was bright red with carrots, onions, celery, and beets. They ate it right up. Praise the Lord!

Another thing I want to do is see where all our money is going. I'm not going to do a budget per sa I just want to see where it is all going and then we can talk and make adjustments if needed. That's all that is on my mind. School starts back up tomorrow so I need to go to bed.