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!

2 Down 2 more to go!!

Week 2 of our diet did not go quite as well.

We did the 7 day body cleanse this week and it was awful tasting to me. I poured half into a water bottle and added a pomegranate fizzy tab. It tasted like old fermented molasses with a hint of pomegranate tree bark. The second bottle I added another half of a fizzy tab and it was just as bad. Wes thought it tasted like strong apple juice?!

This week we made the spaghetti and loaded eggs for dinner again. I'm not good at coming up with very many ideas!! Arbonne has a detox diet blog full of recipes but I can't do any of them. I mean...what's ginger root, coriander, fresh thyme, watercress, and saffron threads?? If it doesn't look like it can be made in 10 mins, I won't even try. I'm every man's dream...I know.

I did however make soup Saturday night! I used a whole carton of organic low sodium chicken broth, my frozen chicken mixture from last week, a can of organic sliced tomatoes and the rest of the black beans I made last week. I added kosher salt, cracked pepper, oregano, and cumin. I also came across onion salt and thought what the heck...throw it in. I measured nothing, just kept tasting. I let that simmer while 1 cup of brown rice was cooking. I unloaded and loaded the dishwasher, then added the rice and a can of corn. Yummy! The kids said "Ohhhhhhhhhhh maaaaaaaan I haaaaaaaaaaate soooooooooup........" but they ended up having seconds (I added cheese to theirs).

This morning I tried chocolate pancakes. Same as last weeks but used 2 scoops of chocolate Arbonne protein powder, a scoop of fiber powder, half a mashed banana, and only 1 tbls of milled flax seed. We all liked them but not as much as the fruit ones. I think I will try these again but add more banana, less flax, and little more milk and chocolate powder.

Here was my version of the chipotle taco salad that we had on Monday. We didn't have any corn or avocado at the time which would have made it much better. We made nacho's for the kids instead of on lettuce. They ate it up! This is the $8 chipotle version that we once again had after church today...

Now for the honest failures.

Saturday morning all of our magic bullet pieces were dirty and we were running late for Day in the City (our church community service project we helped with). I woke up with a headache and needed to take my medicine. I asked Wes if he could wash one real fast but he said "I'm sure they will be serving eggs as part of the breakfast, so we can eat that." He could not have been more wrong. It was krispy kreme. I had to take medicine so I ate. So did he. Oh my they were amazing. I wanted the whole box but limited myself to two!

My work also had their monthly lunch on Thursday in which I was going to request chipotle, but I really wasn't in the mood. I knew we'd be having it again on Sunday, so I went ahead and ate a turkey sandwich from Spicy Pickle.

Wes also had CPE he had to go to this week in which they served lunch. It was chicken and veggies with this sauce all over it. I'm sure that sauce was filled with stuff he wasn't supposed to eat, but he did stay away from the rolls!!

The hard lesson I learned:
On Tuesday, I made Wes a shake and used up all the coconut milk. I didn't have time to do eggs, so I just grabbed rice cakes, pb, and jelly, took my vitamins with OJ and left. By the time I got to work I was nauseated. I hurried and tried to eat a rice cake real fast but it was too late. I threw up those vitamins and boy are they nasty coming up. I drove to my sis in law's house to lay on her couch for 1.5 hours then went back to work! When the package says take your vitamins with a meal...it's for real folks. They dissolve so stinkin fast. Because of that, I was not able to drink my body cleanse, and found it hard to do so other days as well. It was a 3 day body cleanse for me. I think I'll give my extra's to Wes.

I'm not really craving pop as much anymore but can't wait to eat a whole box of Krispy Kreme now!! Wes is dying for Hideway pizza!!

1 week down 3 more to go...

Once Wes finished his chemo, I figured his body could use a good cleaning out of toxins which is why I thought we'd do the Arbonne's detox diet. He is hoping to lose the weight he gained from the medicines, but I'm just doing it to see what's it like!!

For those who don't know the diet. The main things you can't have are...
Gluten
Sugar (not even the fake crap!)
Dairy
Vinegar products
Caffeine

I wasn't sure how I was going to survive without doughnuts, taco bell, coke, or icecream. Still not sure if I can...but I've made it through a week!! Here is how.

Last Sunday I boiled 5 pounds of chicken breasts in a big pot just to get it over with along with one pound of hamburger meat. I shredded a lot of it and added organic salsa, oregano, and cumin. I LOVE this mixture. Some I left plain and chopped, and some I froze whole. I also spent time cutting a lot of peppers (I hate cutting onions, so I bought a container of pre-cut ones!) Hard stuff done.

Now for the visuals...Gfree brown rice tortilla (kinda stale and breaks easy), homemade black bean dip and guac, the chicken mix, peppers, spinach, and extra salsa. I'd skip the tortillas and just put it all on top of spinach, making a salad next time.
For a quick lunch one day I went lunchable-ish and ate Hormel's all natural, nitrate, MSG, hormone, preservative free turkey, gfree pretzels, and cinnamon applesauce which had no added sugar and yet still good!

This is a staple at my house and we were able to continue it with just a few minor detail changes! Brown rice pasta with organic speg. sauce and we bought orange flavored olive oil from Inspirations Tea to use as salad dressing. Kids didn't notice a difference and we loved the oil. I miss my rasp. vinagrette...but this was good too! We also tried it another day with ground turkey as the meat and once again kids didn't notice.

We learned you can't buy fish and let it set in the fridge for three days then try and eat it. You end up with a yucko $8 smelling salmon in the trashcan (we've never bought/cooked fish before). Live and learn. But we did not give up! This tilapia was edible!! I took this pic after I'd been eating, so it may look less than tasty, but a sweet potato with coconut oil and cinnamon is so good! The tilapia was cooked with coconut oil and I added peach preserve (Simply fruit) on the top. The kids were not excited about trying something new, but we ignored the cries, gave them speeches about how our bodies are temples and God wants us to eat healthy...blah blah blah...and they liked it!

I used the chopped peppers/onions and already cooked chicken and sautéed it in tuscan flavored olive oil from Inspirations Tea. Added brown rice, salt, pepper, and a little more flavored oil. Loved it. Again, we made the kids eat this, peppers and all. The drama all took place before they even tried it! They once again actually liked it ate it all which meant they could have....

French toast dessert!! I got Food For Life brown rice bread and used coconut milk, 1 egg, and cinnamon. We used agave nectar and we all LOVED IT!!!

Saturday morning I made some protein pancakes!! I combined different recipe's to make this version. 1 1/2 cup gfree pancake mix, 3 eggs, 1 cup coconut milk, 2 scoops of vanilla Arbonne protein powder, 2 tbls milled flax seed, and added blended up frozen mixed berries. If you leave out the berries, you will want to use less flax. The berries made it awesome though and they were so fluffy!! We used agave nectar on top and I think I ate 5. We all were stuffed and had two left over.

Again, using the chopped up peppers and onions, I made super yummy eggs with also the healthy turkey lunch meat. Just because I didn't want to waste the remaining gfree tortillas, I used them...but much better without them. I could eat this everyday and the kids liked it too! We bought another salmon but I think I cooked it to long? I dunno, it was dry. Really dry. We used olive oil and herbs, but it was so dry I added peach preserve to mine again! (That is coconut oil that ran off my potato!) Another quick lunch I've done a few times is making a rice cake pbj. It's easy to take to work...or eat while you blog in bed! The plain salted brown rice cakes actually taste just fine with organic pb and Simply Fruit strawberry preserves! I also ate an apple cinnamon one for dessert!

Other things eaten were different fruits, veggies dipped in hummus, homemade Arbonne chocolate protein bars, the protein shakes with both almond milk and coconut milk (for breakfast most days), nuts, and different rice chips, corn chips, and nut chips with guac or black bean dip. We also went out to eat at Chipotle after church and were able to eat their salad with black beans, chicken, salsa, pico, and a corn salsa mix. No cheese or tortilla but just as good!

Have I cheated?! I don't think so, but you might. I don't understand why almond butter is to be used over peanut butter. I'm assuming its because of many possibly having a peanut allergy w/o knowing. During this diet, you are supposed to stay away from all possible allergens (dairy, soy, peanuts, gluten) but there are more people I know with tree nut allergies than peanut and there are more calories and sodium in the almond butter than in the peanut butter...so I stuck with my organic pb! Also, you are supposed to use agave nectar and not honey. When I made the protein bars, I used half agave and half honey because agave gives a much sweeter taste that I found kinda overpowers my protein bars. We only buy local honey though...so I don't see a prob with it?! We did only use agave for syrup though. We also not knowingly ate corn tostitos chips before realizing you can only eat them if they are baked. Oops. Minor details in my book. Oh, we also put some banana's in our shakes. We have been doing mostly berries but since I'm not trying to lose, it's not like its unhealthy to eat a little banana/apple!! Totally stayed away from all the major things though and have drank our detox tea everyday but one!!! It's the body cleanse this week...I bet you can't wait for that blog post...

Lil Rascals

What They've Been Up To...
In Alabama, the kids made houses for their new friends. Avery and Duncan found little tiny frogs and decided they needed a house! One is in bed, one jumped off his nap-mat, and it looks like the playmats that spelled out frog, got pushed to the corner...

Woody had to have a house too!! Last Friday was the Back to School Bash. Avers had a b-day to go to, so it was all about Zane. We met the friend he talks a lot about and found out his name in not Rich, but Ridge! Crazy boys! I was a little bummed adults were't invited to try out the money tornado...Zane won a tiny plastic monster that is probably wedged in between our car seats right now, but he sure was excited about it when he won it! He RAN to hug Rascal the Raccoon. So cute!!

PS. You must remember to bring cash to school functions. No spirit store crap, no cotton candy, and no sno cones equals a very sad five year old. We had to make it up by taking him to get a Ben10 toy from McD's...

Zumba, Just Dance, Cute Cupcakes, and Cousins!

We've had a great time hanging out with Abbie (Wes's dad) these past few days!

He rocked out the Wii's Just Dance!! I'm thinking this will be our Christmas gift to the kids this year... So fun, hilarious to watch, and a great workout!

Click on this to see the Who Let The Dogs Out Video

Click on this to see the Cotton Eye Joe Video

Click on this to see the Hot N Cold Video

We also did Zumba on the Wii. Three minutes and I was pooped! I can't believe Wes got the highest score...but only by 1 point!! Anytime we are with his sister, we play scrabble...and lose...because they have the scrabble dictionary memorized... Zane loves him some tat's! He said "all rockstars have tattoo's and I want to be a rockstar!"

Gina made some cute little cupcake hamburgers!! They were a great was to say goodbye to Abbie!

Decorating/Painting The New Home

For some reason, people assume I'm great at home decorating because I'm "so creative."
Well, I promise you I'm not! There is nothing more overwhelming to me than decorating a home. I'm impatient and just end up throwing stuff together so I can be done. I start many projects but get frustrated/overwhelmed and move on to something else.

Just to prove to you all how unamazing I am at decorating...here is some proof!

I have painted our previously blah looking living room. I tried to brighten it up with a very light "popular grey" but decided to try something crazy and have a blue accent wall! We got rid of the hideous entry way wallpaper and painted it green. It looked very choppy, unputtogether, and nonflowy until I came across this awesome clock at hobby lobby. It kinda helps tie it all together, but I'm still very unsure of how this looks. Since taking that picture, I have updated my shelves a little (on one side!) but I'm worried it's starting to look like a gumball machine with all these bright colors?! On a good note, I've finally replaced a picture of me and my sisters from high school with a picture of my nephew! He has not made it onto my shelf until almost turning 6. He should feel special though, the others still haven't made it yet! haha. I'm working on it!! I also replaced our 4 year old family picture with one that is only 2 years old. Progress.I tried hanging up something in our entry way, but Wes thinks it's a flop. Is it? Would it be better if I painted the picture frame red, orange, or that same blue color? Or, should I take it all off and start over?! Because I was sick of looking at empty walls, but didn't have a clue what to do, I decided to brouse Uppercase Living and possibly went overboard (pictured above and below)?!
(Craigslist never lets us down. We got ourselves a TV the kids can actually see now. Wes just needs to get the electric outlet behind the TV working so the ugly hanging cord can be hidden!)More Uppercase Living. Would you believe I still have one more to hang up?!

This was a Ross find this week. I don't know if it looks good, but I no longer have an empty corner. This room has changed a little. We weren't crazy about the blue curtains and I wanted burnt orange. Wes said he had found some, but they are more of a brickish color!! It'll work, I guess. Yes, that was in fact a random side table with an outdoor flower pot under it. I have no idea what to do with it.

Now on to a project that is VERY SLOW GOING, but hope to have it completed sometime in 2012!! It's my craftroom/my little sister's temporary closet... I love the rug though!! Here's the other side of the room...

Just in case you feel like your decorating/unpacking/organizing skills are terrible. I've now made a tag for my House Updates to prove that you are not alone and in fact I may be worse!!!!