Animal Party, Pumpkin Patch, and Storybook Forest

Wow. I'm Behind.
Warning: Picture overload

The kids went to their very first exotic animal birthday party. I have no idea how much it is, but it sure did keep the children's attention and the birthday kid got to take all sorts of fun pictures with the animals. I secretly wanted to get a Britney Spears snake picture taken, but unfortunately I was not the birthday girl.
They sat in a circle and got to touch several different exotic animals
and ride on a big turtle

and hold very long snakes.

We also checked out Storybook Forest for the first time. If you don't like sitting your car waiting in line for 30 mins only to get out and stand in line for another 30 mins, this may not be your cup of tea. If you don't mind...have at it! I think it was worth it and the kids seemed to enjoy it. It seems like it's best for preschool age. Since mine are older, we probably won't go again, but glad we went once!!

We walked around the forest looking at different storybook/nursery rhyme characters. Pretty neat I must say.

There was a hayride. Little chilly but enjoyable! I had crazy envisions of it being similar to the Silver Dollar City train ride of many decorations and scenes to look at on your ride, and it was just trees. Ha. Not sure why I had that expectation!! We all still had fun though! We skipped the games with really long lines and went on to cook our hotdogs

and listen to stories being read. Zane LOVED this. I loved being able to write down 30+ mins on his school reading calendar!!

Lastly, we checked out Parkhurst Pumpkin Patch for the first time.

(Wes and Zane went off to buy dirt bikes...which will be blogged about soon)

Enjoyed some rope swingin'

Tire swingin'

Baby pig pettin'

Pony ridin'

and Hay Jumpin'. The only thing missin' was chicken pluckin'. I failed to mention we went with a friend! They went through the hay maze but we skipped the corn maze. They also had a non-scenic but enjoyable hayride! We ended with roasting some hotdogs and marshmallows for some smores.They picked out their pumpkin and took a goodbye picture.

We will definitely be coming back to this one again, especially since Wes and Zane missed out. The kids can burn a lot of energy and stay entertained easily over here. There wasn't long lines (and we went on a Saturday) which is a bonus!

Yay for FALL!!! Yay for HOLIDAYS!!
PS. What is this annoying photobucket pop-up showing up on my blog that says I've exceeded my views and to upgrade to unlimited or something? How do I get rid of that??

Detox Diet: The final two weeks...

IT'S OVER!!

Not sure why it took me three weeks to figure this out, but mandarin oranges and strawberries blended together make a great salad dressing!! We tried a packet of herbs that was specifically for seafood (but of course I don't remember what it was!) you were supposed to put it in melted butter but we used coconut oil and olive oil. Very delish! Baked sweet potato fries were interesting. The sweetness is not what you expect when eating fries, so it was odd at first, but they grew on me after eating a few! PS. Skip the special organic ketchup and eat plain or cheat a little with the good stuff. It's not enough to hurt ya! I thought I'd try my own thing. No recipe, just figured it may be good. Tilapia, Gfree flour, coconut milk with an egg, and coconut flakes. It was actually good! I loved the crispy coconut!

Here was the same thing but baked and with milled flax seed added. I think I liked the pan seared burnt coconut better.

We had a bunless burger with a lot of avocado. Very messy but very yummy.

I have to admit I enjoyed this diet more than I thought. I learned new things to cook and how to tweak "staples" into being healthier. It was also very eye opening to see that we could do it. We did in fact have time. With Avery in gymnastics 3 times a week and Zane in soccer once a week, we often stated "we don't have time to cook." We do. Wes did great helping with the cooking and I realized that I won't in fact fall over dead if I have to wait to eat until after 7:30pm! (In the rules you actually aren't supposed to eat after 7, but that doesn't really work with us on most days!)

After two weeks, I stopped craving Coke but still craved my sweets. I was super pumped to go to church and scarf down a couple Krispy Kremes when it was over!!

Wes lost around 10 pounds and it mainly came off these last two weeks. I think we realized we were snacking on things that were "legal" but not the best option (rice chips, baked corn chips and salsa, and nuts). One person going through a large container of nuts and two bags of chips after just two weeks isn't going to lose weight...who knew! So the last two weeks we said no nuts or chips but only snack on carrots or berries...and he lost! He's planning on doing it again really soon to lose more. I'm all for the healthier foods, but I'm not giving up my sweets so soon!

All Things Girl

We went to a mother daughter banquet this week, which meant we could spiral curl hair and try on lots of matching accessories. I could not believe she didn't have a matching necklace. She has one that's blues and browns but no blues with black. I almost whipped one up real fast but realized that was just plain ridiculous. We went to listen to one of her church friends speak at the banquet (the cute fancy dressed gal in the middle). It was great food and a good talk about cleavage and other important stuff like that...good times.

I decided it was time to make another outfit. Halloween can totally handle pink alongside the orange and black. Inspiration came from her sheets/curtains. I just now realized the zebra print eyes look sad. I should have cut from an area with more stripes. I love the bling of the ghost though! I made some matching pants and the original plan was to make two ruffles. One with zebra and one with the stripes fabric. It was late and I was ready to lay in bed, so I just went with zebra. I'm thinking it really needs more pink and orange though, especially since you can't even tell the eyes are zebra print. Avery wanted me to make her a ring like I've been making lately. These are so quick, cheap and fun. Here is her's... and here are the two that we made for some friends... Here is another version of the shrink-a-doodle necklace with the letter actually cut out. I really love this but it was a birthday gift for a friend. We'll have to make another one for Avery! Then she'll have a matching necklace for her new black and turquoise dress!!! I'm a huge crafting nerd. I know. I think I get more excited about her necklaces than she does.

I HAVE LOVED THIS MONTH!!!

This diet is not the only fun thing going on over here.
I'm finally getting around to blogging and I don't recommend having non-cable TV on as background noise. I've already bought something off an infomercial and I'm really thinking about another thing as well. Somehow they get me EVERY TIME!?!?!

Moving on...
We made a pile of Henry's barf, or was it his poo after he ate blue, yellow, and brown M&Ms? Can't remember. I think it was supposed to look like this...those lying bleepity bleeps... Avery always wants to paint the nails of whoever comes through our doors. I'm thinking she could start charging!!? This was one of those "Oh let me get my camera....YOU ARE NEVER SUPPOSED TO PAINT NAILS ON YOUR CARPET AND YOU KNOW IT..." one of moments.

We participated in A Day in the City with our church. This is my children high off Krispy Kreme (you know those ones Wes and I weren't supposed to eat?!)

This is them messing around waiting to eat, snacking on bagels.
(Yes, they had bagels as well, which would have been the better option to cheat on our diet with, but if you're gonna cheat, by golly make it worth it!)

I promise we did indeed work this day, we just stayed too busy to snap pictures! We hauled a TON of branches and filled up several bags of leaves...and the kids made mud and rock cakes.

We've been enjoying Zane's soccer games and are really having fun watching. I think it's all clicking and he made his FIRST GOAL!!!!!
(Of course it was during the ONE game I didn't bring my camera).
Here he is being a little defender... Almost scoring, but big legs beat him... He got passed this little booger and almost scored again here as well.
(I might be making my child sound like a super star. I'm pretty sure everyone else has scored several goals already!!) Avery is really enjoying gymnastics this year as well. They had a "get to know everyone" pizza party this week after practice and got a locker...which is I guess a really cool thing.
We have officially decided to make the switch to Golds and we love it. The previous Gold's coaches went over to Dynamo and our favorite Star coach came over here...so we followed!! I'd never been to Golds Team gym, only the rec. Pro: Awesome sweet coaches. Con: Hot viewing area with non-backed stools. Before coming here we tried Dynamo for the first time. Pro: They can produce an Olympic gymnast by age 12. Con: All work no play and you can't watch your child practice once they are on team. Here is the new trick Avery learned...

and here is Zane's version!