Busy Busy Busy

Whew it's been hectic around here! 

Had a Jamberry party (love those now!).  

My oldest came up for Easter and we had her birthday party. She turned 10 this year. 

This weekend we'll do my son's birthday party. He's turning five, where did the time go?!?!

The biggest is we are making some health changes around here.  Hubby is going on a diet, which in our house, that means everybody is going on a diet.  It certainly can't hurt any of us to eat healthier.  

We started off by looking in Atkins, but now are wondering if we should combine Atkins with Paleo.  We're still looking into possibilities and recipes, trying to find a happy medium with all the allergies in the house-and enjoying our last month of junk food.  I went shopping right before we decided to do this, but I think I'll end up making a mini trip to get some more veggies and fruit. I was really surprised, and disappointed, to find the Atkins didn't allow for much fruit at all.  I know that fruit as a lot of sugar, but it's not processed and easier absorbed by your body than eating junk food. Fruit is not something we are willing to give up, limited as it may be with what Eva can be-it's just not going to happen. Which is why we are thinking to incorporate the paleo approach into this-that and it had better looking recipes. 

I spent yesterday looking around Facebook trying to figure out how to put homemade foods into the Atkins daily diet plan. Man was that a pain, we spent 2 hours last night doing that! We also cut a bunch of foods just from looking at that first day.  

This morning I'm looking into paleo and downloaded some free ebooks I'll print off to read as I'm able. Lots of information out there, but it seems to be easier than anything else we've looked at and a lot easier to fit into a tight budget-which is important. 

Unfortunately, school has been put on hold for a few weeks until we wind down again.  I am making notes on my calendar, so I know when to plan vacation days. (Speaking of school, Eva is sitting beside me with the Google TV keyboard copying my finger strokes as I type.) The kids love the Heart of Dakota preschool curricula, but I'm going to try putting together my own curricula for when this book is out and see if I can do it. I know I have plenty of worksheets I found for free, it's just a matter of planning.  

I have found, despite following the instructions on the seed packets, I planted way too early, so I'm hoping I can keep the plants alive until time to plant-come on spring! My broccoli seems to be faring is it came up great. My poor tomatoes have been cut in half because they molded. (who knew?) My green peppers did not take when they were transplanted to a pot and my garlic molded too. Seriously, what is it with my poor plants and mold? I'll put garlic straight in the garden soon when I plant the rest. I also bought marigolds on the advice of a friend to plant amongst my vegetable plants.  It's supposed to help with pests.  

Well I think that's all that's going on around here. Not much at all! lol. 

Tabitha

Getaway Weekend

This weekend we are attending the Red River Bible and Prophecy Conference in Moorhead, Minnesota.  Surprise! Honey, we are getting away next weekend. 

Right now, I'm just praying I will be able to hear most of the preaching. Although we will be missing one day, since it was a last minute decision, we will be there for one full day and Sunday services.  Have you ever attended a conference with three toddlers? 

Yeah. Didn't think so. I'm crazy, right? 

So. I'm planning. Today we're making cookies, then freezing them so we have them for this weekend, otherwise we'll eat them all.  Other than that, I have no idea what we're doing for meals other than continental breakfast provided by the hotel.  I think the plan is to hit up the dollar menu at nearby restaurants.   Also today, I'm putting together fun notebooks for Andrew and Eva.. Color pages, letter practicing, just some blank pages. I'll find some cool stuff for them.. That way they can't make a mess with the papers.  They'll have little backpacks full of toys, as will Grace. We'll have a backpack full of books, because my kids love to look at books.  Hopefully all this will ensure I'll be able to hear some.  

I do plan on going to the store before we leave Friday, getting diapers (I usually don't keep disposables diapers in the house) and wipes, soda, juice boxes and maybe some crackers-not positive. And water-a case of water bottles.  

For Dennis and I, I'll be taking along sugar, creamer and coffee flavoring. That way we can just get black coffee and put in the extras ourselves, that will save money-especially if the hotel has coffee makers.  I can't stand the hotel coffee black and hubby doesn't like any coffee black-thus the need for flavoring. 

To say I'm nervous about my children's behavior is an understatement.  But I'm trying not to be, because the more nervous I am, the more they feed off that energy. 

Any suggestions for keeping my babes entertained? I'd gladly take them! 

Tabitha

Gardening!

I'm still a little skeptical that spring has actually sprung for us. Regardless, I am taking advantage of the warm weather by walking with the kids and starting work on the gardens. I enlisted the help of a friend in town considering our proximity to the highway and no fences in the front yard, it's nice to have a female to talk to and having an extra set of eyes for the kids.  

I have major garden projects going on this year. I plan on clearing out the front yard gardens so we can get the saplings out of there and the dead mini trees (not sure what they are, some sort of evergreen).  I will have to have help with those-somebody with a chain saw. :)  I have on spot almost completely done and found some flowers starting to poke through.. I have to be patient to see what those are.  

The backyard will be the big project. I have to till up some ground for my already flourishing garden.  The tilling in itself will be a feat as all I have is a hand tiller.  But we will get it figured out! There is also some sort of vine thing taking over the back yard that will meet it's demise this year. Eventually in the back yard we plan to build a patio, clothesline and maybe a swing set for the kids (have I mentioned we have a small back yard?).   

So far I have planted green peppers, garlic, tomatoes and broccoli. The green peppers and garlic came from what i had in my kitchen, I'm hoping the green peppers survived the transplant they endured.  The garlic is flourishing as is the broccoli. Still waiting for the tomato to sprout, but then it hasn't even been a week since those were planted.  So being patiently and keeping the cat away.  

Time to get your garden going so it's ready to transplant in May! 

Yummy Recipes!

Dennis has been wanting some new snacks, so I took to Pinterest and have been testing some out. 

The thought of Cinnamon Sugar Almonds really appealed to him. So I found a recipe for the crock pot. Yeah. That didn't work. I found another for the oven and oh my. They are good. It's going to take all I have to not eat them all. 

Here's the original recipe. 

Cinnamon Sugar Candied Nuts
1 large egg white
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups almonds

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. 
In a small bowl, whisk together egg white an 1 tablespoon water until frothy (about 2 minutes). 
In a medium bowl, combine sugars and cinnamon, set aside. 
in a large bowl, combine almonds and egg miture until well combines. Stir in brown sugar mixture until evenly coated. 
Spread almond mixture onto prepared baking sheet in an even layer. Place into oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring at halftime. 
I also stirred when they were taken out of the oven, then 5 minutes after sitting out. 


The kids (even Grace!) absolutely LOVE this one. 

You can find the original recipe here

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup honey
3 cups old-fashioned oats

melt peanut butter and honey
stir in oats
press mixture in 9x9 pan 
cover and let harden overnight


Have fun making yummy snacks!

Naturally Cold Remedy and Road Trip

Many things going on this week, we'll see what gets done with the impending snow storms-those always throw a wrench into things. 

Grace had her birthday on the 17^th. How can my baby be 1 already?  The cake was just a regular box cake, I substituted the eggs (called for two) with two 4 oz jars of banana baby food, each jar was mixed with 1 teaspoon of baking powder.  Tasted pretty good. 

We went car shopping and got a new van. It was time, it's nice to have one reliable car in the house although the payments mean more penny pinching until we get it paid off.

(excuse the messy garage...)

 I love it, although I do feel very small (like I'm driving a truck) and have a feeling I'm going to making a pillow to sit on so I can see out the rear window properly.

Grace caught a bad cold. She's been raspy and lost her voice for three days now (writing on Monday). Nothing touches it. Nothing. I have tried everything I can think of, not even commercial cold medicine could help her sleep. It seems the only thing that does help is eucalyptus oil, even if it is briefly. Eucalyptus helps break down mucus so you can breath easier (along with many other things). I have some mixed in coconut oil with lavener and peppermint for a homemade vapo rub (2 drops of each per 1 tablespoon of coconut oil), which she gets lathered in every diaper change, much to her dismay. I hav also been dripping four or five drops on a towel and keeping it close while she nurses. She is still coughing some, but is able to sleep on her own with no medicine with an end of the crib mattress elevated (I put the boppy pillow under there). 

We are hopefully going to Nebraska again this weekend to see Adrianna and my parents. This will be the first of many road trips in the Sedona.

What I do to prepare for road trips with a 4 year old, 3 year old and 1 year old.

Prayer

Food

Kid Songs

Leave in the middle of the night

LOL That about sums it up. I have my MP3 player loaded with kid songs, but we also have a trial of Sirius XM in the van that I will be using. :D

I make cupcakes of some sort for breakfast, make sure the kids have a bottle of water (Grace still gets cheerios), I get coffee and also have extra snacks of whatever is around the house for later and extra water.

We leave early, then hope the kids go back to sleep.  Both us and Nebraska are set for winter storms this weekend, so the trip is up in the air. 

Ads Are out! Shopping Trip 2/12

Whew! Ads are out again! And I'm very happy to say my shopping is (at least for this month) back to early Thursday morning. Stores won't be as busy. I'm happy about it. :) 

Enjoy your ad shopping. 

Hy-Vee
Fareway
Sunshine Foods

 My menu plan isn't so grea this month, in fact, I only have half my meals planned-but I'm getting plenty of yummy meat so it shouldn't be a problem.  

For Breakfast: Eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, toast, pancakes, waffles, oatmeal, cold cereal 

For Lunches: Tuna (of some sort...), salads for hubby, mac & cheese, quesadillas, cheese sandwiches and chips

For Suppers: tacos, chili, Creamy chicken and broccoli, lemon mustard chicken, pineapple chicken stir fry

One of our supper meals is birthday dinner for Grace (she is turning one on the 17th!!!) and for Hubby.. Since Grace is too little to really care what we do, we are doing the meal that Dennis wants (his mom bought steak) and the cake for Grace. I'm also going to get Dennis some GOOD ice cream (all we have local is Blue Bunny and limited flavors) and pray it doesn't melt on the way home. 

I just finished my list and am pretty sure I am not missing a thing, I'm set to be right around $303 again.  I figured high on the chicken, because I never know how many pounds whole chicken or chicken parts are until I'm at the store. 

No Egg Recipes

My mother in law was kind enough to make my cake, so I had to change my blog post for this week. :) 


I've discovered more allergies in our family. Grace is having issues with eggs, so I'm looking at alternative recipes and egg substitutes.  

With pancakes, I can just leave the egg out and they turn out perfectly fine.  

I attempted waffles. That didn't work out so well.  I tried again today and they turned out better, but the recipe still needs something.  I have a friend who has offered recipes, so I'm messaging her today for help.  

Not too much is going on around here.  Going a little stir crazy in the house, but we are geting through it. 

Have a good week! 

~Tabitha