Ponderosa Sunday

It was so much fun! Jeff came up with the title. He wanted us to have an old-fashioned, cowboy type Sunday at church. It turned out great. We met outside that night by the fireplace in our picnic pavillion and had a chili cook-off afterwards. We had a blast picking out our outfits. Who knows....it might become our new look!

Happy Birthday Joshua!

My baby boy turned 2 a couple of weeks ago. I can hardly believe that two years have passed already. We are so thankful for little Josh. He is the silliest, smiliest, sweetest, craziest, most energetic, demanding, intense little guy I've ever seen! We love him to pieces!!!

So Behind!

I am very behind on my posting. I have tons of pictures ready to go, but it seems like no time to do them. 3rd trimester fogginess is abounding, and the fall has gotten really busy! Soon I'll get on here and post pictures from Ponderosa Sunday, Career Night, Fall Festival....etc. etc. But at this point, I usually drop off to sleep somewhere the minute the kids are down for naps or bedtime. Hope to be back soon!

New Favorite Spot

I am constantly amazed at my husband and his abilities! We had a wasted space in our kitchen, and he transformed it into what has become one of my favorite spots in the house. Here is what it looked like before.

The picnic table was nice for the kids for awhile, but the new spot works for the whole family. In case you can't see it very well, he built a bar under the kitchen window, tiled and painted it.

I absolutely love it! We eat there, use the computer there, do homeschool there......it just makes me happy! I'm so proud of Jeff!

Recipe Update

Here's the green smoothie recipe that has stuck for us:

1 banana (in chunks)
about 1/2 cup of apple juice
as much raw spinach as you can fit into the blender.

Blend until smooth.

Add about 1 cup of strawberry yogurt (preferrably organic)
and about 5 ice cubes.

Blend until smooth.

This one is really good! We also plan to add a little coconut oil due to its anti-viral, anti-fungal etc. value. And this one has a much prettier color! It reminds me of the Shamrock shakes McDonalds comes out with on St. Patricks Day....very pretty green. Kaylie even knows there is spinach in it and loves it! I have to make a bigger batch because everyone keeps drinking it up before I get mine poured! :) Joshua cries when his is gone. Abby's not a huge fan, but overall I'd say it's been a successful experiment. We hope to keep it going!

Green Smoothies

We are really making some progress on our journey to natural, whole food eating. I'm so excited about it, and Jeff has caught the bug with me! I plan to post more about it soon.

I've read a lot lately, and I must admit, with skepticism, about green smoothies. There are a ton of recipes out there, but I was having a hard time finding one I thought my family would like. Until tonight. Abby is really sick....I'm thinking it's the swine flu since one of her friends had it, but that's another story. But I decided to try out a green smoothie recipe with my own twist! It was so good!!! and she drank it right up! Please don't ever tell her what's in it. Here's my little concoction:

1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1/2 cup of grape juice
about 1/2 cup of organic smooth strawberry yogurt
a handful of raw baby spinach
a splash of honey
a few ice cubes

Blend until smooth and a horrible color. ha! It really did have a horrible color, but I put it in a cup that she couldn't see through! Now I just have to try it out with the rest of the family, and then see how brave I can get with my ingredients as time goes by. Fun times! Should I mention the fudge brownies we ate last week with spinach and blueberries hidden inside....or the kefir that we were drinking that I plan to make from scratch soon.......I'm loving my new "hobby"!

Mornings!

I didn't used to be a morning person, but then I married Jeff who was. I adapted and started to love early mornings. Then came kids. Mornings got a little harder since we were often up in the night. But things evened out again eventually.

Lately, however, we are having issues again. All three kids are waking up very early each day, and somehow mornings have turned into our most emotional time of the day. I've tried getting up before they do in order to get a head start, but they always beat me since they seem to get up earlier and earlier each day. Then everyone starts fussing, whining and bickering all the way to breakfast and all the way through breakfast and chore time. All I know is that we need to find a better system soon, because whatever we're doing now is not working! Hopefully it's another one of those phases that will pass soon, because I miss our cozy little morning/breakfast time!