Decisions

The past several months, husband and I have spent MANY hours and MANY conversations talking about the future. Which, looking back on it is kind of funny since at one point we had our future figured out and God said, "no ya don't!!!" :)

We have talked about school for Jaxon. This seems like such an easy decision for so many but for us, it has not been so easy. Granted we have another year before Kindergarten, but that year is going to fly by! I think one of the reasons it has been so hard is all the pressure. I can't tell you where this pressure is coming from, but it's there ;). Pressure to homeschool because I was a teacher--trust me, NOT AT ALL THE SAME!!! Pressure to send him to public school because that is what everyone does. Pressure to send him to private school because...

Another reason it's so hard is because I taught in the public school, and WOW, did it change my view of education. Thankfully, we have another year to pray about it, but I am afraid I am going to wake up tomorrow and that day will be here!

We have also been hashing out what to do with our house. We LOVE our house, neighborhood, neighbors, but there are a few more "things" we would like. It's hard because we want to be content and really, we have learned to. And what a learning experience it has been. Most of our dear friends live in big, new houses. We have never looked back on our choice for a smaller house, but did have to learn contentment along the way.

So, we had a big plan for the house in place and were ready to get started and then that just fell through. We have another plan, but then it involves all those unknown future things that we can "plan," but really have no control over. You know, like school, that other thing we have been conversing over for what seems like FOREVER!

What have I learned?

Being a parent/being an adult=LOTS OF PRAYER!!! 

Back in the swing of things

Our summer officially ended tonight! And we went out with a bang!

Pizza and monster cookies:) The kids were thrilled with my choice for dinner.

"Twas the Night Before School"

Jaxon starts PreK tomorrow!!! It is so weird that he is the age of the kids I used to have in my classroom. (but so fun too!!) We plan to do a very small amount of homeschool this year too. Not much, but just a few additions to what he is already learning. 

Tuesday is play day!

We start BSF Wednesday and I cannot wait!! I love the accountability, but love what God teaches me even more. I learned so much last year! A lot about myself, my faith, God, Jesus, the Bible, and so much more. I wish I hadn't waited so long to go! One of the biggest things that I heard (my first week there) that has stuck with me was something our speaker said. "Don't let those little people God has given you be an excuse for not being in the Word!" Those words hit me so hard because that is exactly the excuse I was using. I wanted something "easier/lighter" because life was so busy, but I was clearly wrong! All that to say, I am SO excited about starting back. And several of my dear friends are coming with me!!!

Jaxon has a 1 hour class he is taking each week on Wednesday afternoons. Last week was his first week--we shall see how it continues. I may write more about it once we have been a few more times. :)

Thursday is another school day for Jaxon!

And Fridays are play days!!! Our playgroup actually meets on Fridays, but it seems that has taken a turn for what it looks like. Not sure what what everyone else will be doing, but we will definitely be playing all day on Fridays!!!

We are ready for our schedule to start and get back to a routine!

When your children are at grandparents' house, you...

play on the new (to us) mini trampoline that is really supposed to be for the kids. 

do LOTS of laundry.

go on a double date with friends! 

 

work on JBF.

eat pizza,

 

while watching a movie in the living room,

and then go out for dessert. It was so odd to leave our house to get dessert at 9:30!

go shopping by yourself at Target and don't have to rush:)!

go get a massage,

and starbucks, 

and get your hair done!

work on getting ready to homeschool. (on a very small scale for Pre-K)

go on lots of dates with the husband!

miss your kids like CRAZY!!!

So thankful they got to spend time with Coach and Dede, and so thankful to have them home!

New Orleans!

Husband and I had the fortunate opportunity to spend several days in New Orleans recently. He was given an award and they presented it to him at a conference there in NOLA. 

We arrived on Tuesday and got to spend the day exploring.

It is hard to see in this picture, but the street was blocked off for a film they were shooting. 

 

We took a bus tour of the city. Not the best tour we have ever been on, but a good way to see a lot of the city in a short amount of time.

Husband took some pictures with a few of the many characters in the city.

We visited Cafe Du Monde for the beignets--so good!!!!

Ended our first day with a yummy dinner at Sylvain. It was recommended by someone husband knows and did not disappoint!

While husband spent the next couple of days at the conference, I killed time by walking around the city. I tried not to stay out much past lunch because it was so hot!!

street band

 I went to the French Market and found the booth of Lego mini-figures. Jaxon would've loved it.

Thursday at lunch I was able to attend the award presentation and hear husband give his speech. It was such an honor to be there and we were able to meet and chat with the mother and sister of who the award was named in honor of. 

We spent that night and our last night in NOLA celebrating. Husband was told about this certain dish which he gave a try. They gave him a bib because it was so messy and thankfully we sat near a sweet couple that gave him a few tips on the best way to eat his meal;).

So thankful for our time together and am thankful and proud of this hardworking husband of mine! 

DETOX!

Several months ago I read a blog post by one of Mark's cousins (2nd, I think??) about a detox through Arbonne. She had recently become a consultant for Arbonne and her and her husband decided to give the detox a try. You can read about their experience here.

 

After reading her blog, I told the husband about the detox and how I would like to do it. A lot of people control their lupus through their diet. I have looked at several different ways to change our eating and have been so discouraged because their are SO many opinions of what is the best way to eat. To quote Aubrie, "the plan was not a diet, it was about healthful lifestyle changes." Needless to say, husband was not as excited about making some changes as I was;).

 

Aubrie called me one day in May and told me they were running a "special" in case I was interested. I asked husband if he wanted to do it, which he replied, "I don't want to make the decision, say yes for us or say no." Of course I said yes, (!) and was floored that he was willing to do it with me, and so thankful!

 

We decided we would hold off and start in June as it would be a little easier with our schedule. The detox is basically a clean eating plan but has a few more restrictions as it is detoxing your body.  For example, no dairy, no gluten, no sugar. But you could eat all the veggies you wanted:)! There were hard days and easy days, but overall, I think we are both thankful we did it. We didn't get some of the energy boost that we were hoping for but overall it makes me think about what I put in my mouth before I do it. Before, I didn't even question it!

 

We didn't do it for the weight loss, but that was an added bonus. Husband lost 13 pounds and almost 10 inches. I lost just under 8 pounds and just under 7 inches. We haven't stuck to the clean eating since we have finished, but do make healthier decisions about what we eat and have been working out almost daily. In fact, husband signed up for a half-marathon in October!!

 

If it comes down to needing a more restrictive diet, I feel confident that I could do it, although, I am not ready to give up my ice cream just yet;).

 

Let me know if it is something you are interested in or have more questions about. Many people have gotten off medications they have been taking for 10+ years, and seen major health benefits. I would be happy to answer questions or point you in the right direction!!

Starting again!

I am gonna make a very strong attempt to be more regular about updating this blog. I am so overwhelmed about catching up, but am determined to. I figured I would start now and then go back and catch up as I can. 

So, for my first post in ??? months, I thought I would do a product review on

The  Veggetti!

I know everyone out there wants one of these so I will give you my opinion on it so that you can all rush out to buy one immediately...or not!!

I have seen this kitchen contraption on Pinterest for several months now. Not sure why it has peaked my interest, but it had. Husband and I recently did a 28 day Clean Eating Challenge/Detox (a blog post to come), which has definitely changed my approach as to what I put in my mouth. Carbs are on thing I am trying to cut down on. Not out, but just trying not to eat a large amount of them at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and in-between! 

I thought the Veggetti would be a great way to try to cut back on my pasta carbs. Before I replaced a full meal of pasta with "veggie noodles" I decided to give it a try one evening as a side dish with our dinner. I love zucchini so I started with that veggie. I cooked it in a little olive oil with salt and pepper in a saucepan. And to my surprise, it tasted just like zucchini. Ok, so maybe not a surprise, but I did have this small hope that there would be a hint of pasta taste. Nada!!! It wasn't awful to eat, just a very different way of eating zucchini. But I will do it again!

As far as replacing my pasta with zucchini noodles--I don't know if that is going to happen. May try more of a stir-fry dish. 

The contraption itself was easy to use and not too difficult to clean. It was a $14.99 purchase that will if nothing else, give us another way of eating our veggies. Although, getting the husband to try zucchini noodles may be a challenge. He would rather not eat zucchini in the first place, but happily does so for our kids sake. So I will take what I can get ;)!

And just because this is a cute picture! And let's face it, my parents are probably the only ones who still check the blog and the littles are who they really want to see ;).

  

Bluebonnets 2014

A couple of weeks ago we went bluebonnet hunting. We found a great area with a lot of bluebonnets and the sun was shining brightly above (as you can tell from our squints)!