Family Photos 2012!

Awhile back I bought a Groupon for family photos at Walmart.  I've had great photos with them in the past and was tired of spending tons of money at some of the other studios I went to.  Still, I was crossing my fingers that I had a really good photographer being it was Walmart.  You can get great photos there but the photographer can make or break the quality of them. Well, I got a Groupon to where I'd only pay $35 but get a $165 package.  I'll take it!

I put off family portraits because it's so hard to actually get them done.  I knew I was gonna have to color coordinate everyone and hope that I could keep the babies happy through the process.  We were seriously stressing because last week was already really tough.  I HAD to use the Groupon because it was about to expire so I planned it on the last day.  I'm so glad I did that because it forced me to stop putting it off.

We got there right at 4pm with everyone looking gorgeous but the photographer was a half hour late.  Our little ones were starting to fuss so I was really worried and getting really frustrated.  The more kids you have in the photo the more work it is to keep everyone looking nice and happy by the time it happens.

Boy, she might have been late but she didn't disappoint us!  She cranked the photos out and kept commenting that she's never had such an easy family to take pictures of. Turns out she works for a really nice photography place in the day (and much more expensive) and works at Walmart at night.  She had us finished in a half hour.  I am going back to her in the future because we were super impressed.

Crazy photos!

When Is Our Time of Death?

Oh man, as faithful as I have been on my Paleo diet I was getting frustrated that I couldn't lose anything passed the 10lb mark.  Ohhhh, so frustrating.  The rest of my family is only half Paleo so I have been having to cook them dinners that I can't eat.  It doesn't bother me because I like being skinnier more than eating a plateful of pasta.  After I cook for them I'll make what I want and then my husband will look at my food and want to eat it.  "I told you I can cook yummy and healthy!" Ha ha.  They never believe me.  Well, I've gone a whole week being 100% faithful to my diet and not losing another single pound.  Finally today I broke that darn 10lb mark. I stopped going to the gym after Ivy got burned.  I was at the gym when it happened.  It's not that I'm blaming anyone it's just that it was such a horrible experience I just lost my taste for going.  That and I have NOT found the time for escaping to the gym.  Having 7 kids is AWESOME and WONDERFUL but I put taking care of them first so if I don't have the time, I just don't have it.

You want to know another reason why I haven't gone back to the community center?  When we first joined a nearby community center, Chaz got hurt on the first day.  This was only two months ago.  Well, Chaz was going down the slide and the lifeguard let another kid start going down right after.  Chaz got kicked in the head and got a mild concussion.  I went and got a lifeguard who is also an EMT.  He was the nicest guy and spent time with Chaz making sure he was okay.  He told me if I ever needed anything just to come and get him.  Well, he recently committed suicide and he was in his early 20's with a 10 month old son.  When we went back to the center, it just didn't feel the same.  I walked into the pool area half expecting to see him there with his kind smile but he wasn't there.  My heart just broke.  I know I need to go back.  Life moves on.  The sun still sets, but it still hurts.  That was someones boy, someones dad, someones grandson.  :(  Life is short and he took it.  The rest of us don't know when it's our time.  It's foolishness to just hope eternity will take care of itself and it's not something we should think about.  If I were to die today, am I ready to meet Jesus?  Will Pershing, a blogger, didn't know this would be his last post. The very next day he died in a crash on his way to lunch with his family after church.  Will was ready to be with Jesus.  

On a lighter note we visited the zoo this past weekend and my mom came with us.  What a treat!  We never, ever get sick of the zoo because it's full of nature and animals.  The kids can run around and we don't have to worry about being quiet! Ivy wanted to wear shorts instead of pants over her swimsuit but I said no because of her burn.  She can't expose her leg to the sun for over year.   She wasn't happy about it but she got over it.  :)

My mom playing with Juliet near the giraffe area.

All of us rode the camel.  I was a little worried about getting on because I was worried my weight would deflate his hump.  Turns out Dale is pretty durable.  Ha ha.

Hi Dale!  You are such a patient Camel.

Juliet is 4 months now!  She is very social and likes to be part of the action.  If I try to put her in the baby swing she only stays happy for about 5 minutes.  She has to be sitting straight up to see what everyone is doing.

The kids checking out an exhibit

Surgery Scheduled for Caleb

This time in our life has been such an incredible challenge.  Just when things look up I feel like my feet get kicked out from under me.  I have to keep getting back up though because I have a life to live, kids to love and care for, a best friend to have fun with, a husband that is amazing, a ministry to serve, and so much more.  God has somehow brought us through.  I'm amazed.

Caleb showing Nana his new car through the phone

Several days ago Caleb was having trouble going potty so we had to take him into the ER.  He was screaming and nothing would come out.  He would have bright red blood in his diaper.  Turns out, he needs to have a dilation done as it's very difficult for him to go and getting worse from irritation.  They don't want him potty training at all until he's healed and it's approved by the doctor.  He's scheduled for surgery on Wednesday.  It was Caleb's 3rd birthday when we brought him into the ER.  Thankfully, that day we had a fun day with him by taking him out and letting him pick out a toy.  I'm just sad it had to end bad but he's getting help so that's good.  Chaz will be getting an EKG soon to make sure everything is okay.  He's complained about chest pains and his heart pounding even when he's resting.  I'm gonna wait till we get done with Caleb's surgery so we can focus on that first.

Happy birthday, Caleb!

Ewwww.....

Well, this place kindly gave me two lobsters to bring home and cook.  I NEVER buy them and thought maybe it'd be easy.  Well, I unwrapped them at home and couldn't believe what I saw...  Yuck!   It had eyeballs and everything.  I had thought maybe they gave me parts, I don't know.  Now I know why I never buy these because they are so gross looking.  I was being a total wimp and asked my husband to put it in a pot for me.  We looked up a video online on how to cut apart a cooked lobster.  By the time it was done I'd gotten over my fear of these mini monsters and we ate it just fine. Still, I won't be buying one of those anytime soon.  

Learning How to Live Gluten-Free

Oh my goodness, life has been incredibly busy.  I don't mean to but I do tend to make my life harder.  I wish I could do it ALL but I just can't.  I decided that since I have an overload of non-food items from couponing, I'll only be couponing in the summer.  Seriously, I think my 40 deodorants will last me for a year or two that I've acquired over the summer.  Ya think?  Ha ha.  I don't want to be a hoarder.  Well, that frees up time for me to learn other important things.


My friend and I have spent HOURS learning about how to eat gluten-free.  I mean, we've spent HOURS.  While the kids went to their one-day-a-week school today, we went around looking for gluten-free bakeries and finding healthy stores.  Um, it's really expensive to have food made for you that's gluten-free.  It is so much better to learn how to make it all on your own.  I got a book awhile back from Future Horizons that is a recipe book for gluten-free cooking.  Special Diets for Special Kids.  Over 200 revised and new Gluten-free, casein-free recipes.  It's a fantastic book because the recipes are for kids in mind.  What can we make that's healthy, doesn't have a million ingredients, and kid will love?  Even better, it's not gonna hurt them if they have an allergy because substitutes were made.  Well, it's not nearly as hard as I thought.  Michele and I went to Whole Foods and had so much fun sampling everything.  I think I sampled the mangoes so much that it equaled just eating a whole mango.  So funny.  They had this machine that had peanuts in it and you can grind it.  Guess what comes out?  Peanut butter of course!  No yucky preservatives in it, just good ol' fashion peanuts.  Nothing needed to be added to it.  I'm in loooove with the store.

at least I try to convince myself... haha

Tonight Michele and I made Chicken Curry and some drink smoothies.  I called it Hulk Juice because it was tons of different fruit, kale leaves, and amazingly healthy for you.  The kids downed it.  We proved to them that great juice doesn't have to be about drinking Koolaid.  :D  Why does healthy food have to be more expensive?  Whyyyyy?  It's so much easier to go into Fry's (Kroger) and just snatch up $1 savings here and there but if it's bad for Chaz, My Aspergers son, and ADD son and daughter, I'll take that extra steps to help them.  I think Michele and I just have so much fun learning about all these interesting things and we tend to venture off into new things together.  I love having a friend like that.  Makes it so much more fun to explore when you're laughing half way through it.  :D

Here is the smoothie we made tonight.  See?  Not difficult at all!  Was yummy too.  :D

Click to enlarge picture

Today is a Brand New Day

Ohhhh, yesterday was a bad day.  I had a really bad headache from the time I woke up and it only mildly went down before bedtime that night.  It got so bad I had to just go in my room and sleep during the day.  Charles was home so I was able to.  I got up around 5pm only to find out that Charles now had a bad migraine and had to lay down.  His was really bad and he couldn't get up till night time several hours later.  Poor guy.  :(  Needless to say we had to miss church and our sleep schedule got all mixed up.  I dislike days like that because we couldn't homeschool or do chores.  Looking at my work load and not feeling well made me eventually cry. Not like crazy crying, just sit-on-the-bed-and have-one-tear kinda cry.  3 year old Caleb walked up to me and asked really sad, "What's wrong, Mom?  Did Daddy give you a spankin'?"  Oh my goodness, that was so cute I smiled, gave him a big hug, and was back on my feet in a jiffy.  Kids are so cute.

Do you know what it's like to have a large family and not do chores on a DAILY basis?  I bet a lot of you know!  Ha ha.  Lots of kids makes for LOTS of messes.  Since everyone was thrown off their time schedule we were all up at midnight.  Charles actually called for all the kids to do their chores.  I had to chuckle because who makes kids do chores at midnight?  They were happy because they were full of energy and mommy always blasts fun music when it's chore time.  I'm sure if the neighbors heard music blasting, kids laughter, and a mom's voice singing loudly, they would wonder why in the world there is so much racket at midnight.  Oh well!  

Whenever I've had a really, really bad day I always tell myself that this is a day all in of itself.  The bad does not have to bleed into the next.  Every morning I wake up and say, "This is a brand new day!"  It is!  Let the worries from yesterday stay in the past and let tomorrow take care of itself.  Today is a new day.  Today I will once again pray that work comes into my husband's office so Charles can go in.  Today I'm grateful that my kids have not yet grown up and moved out but they are still under my wings.  Today I still have my girls that love to twirl around in their costumes and my boys that still like to play soldiers.  I still have my baby that smiles every time mommy walks into view.  Thank goodness.  Today is a brand new day.

Shortage on Clean Tween Entertainment

My kids were big... or I should say HUGE fans of Veggietales back in the day.  It was fun.  Then they were big fans of Bibleman when they were about 8 or 9 years old.  Well, I have a couple of tweens and they just don't have any type of Christian entertainment for their age.  I'm sure there is some available out there, just very little.  Our childrens church shows many of these shows or movies but they don't have any like this for the tweens.  I don't know about you but I sure would like to support something like this that brings clean entertainment to our kids without the filth of Hollywood.  It doesn't just bring entertainment, but deals with real life situations that they can relate to.  Well, for them to be able to successfully push it forward, they need our support!  Lets give secular Hollywood a kick in the butt by showing we care for some moral and clean entertainment.  I know I do!

My Unpredictable Life

Wow, life has been crazy unorganized, stressful, surprising, painful, and yet it still a good life.  :D  Here is why.

Well, my husband is on his fourth week of no work.  He is a contract worker so if there is no work, he doesn't go into the office.  Yep, every day we are all PRAYING that work just comes flooding in to the office.  It's actually there waiting for signatures to be released.  This is typically a slow time of the year for the company but we didn't know in advance and found out when it was too late.  We would love your prayers!

It's been painful because I've been waking up with headaches almost every morning and pain in my feet when I walk.  It's only for a bit after I wake up but it's like the joints are hurting.  I wonder if I'm missing some sort of nutrient that I need in my body?  I don't know.

I'm still working on the decluttering process in my house but it's a slower process this time because we are pretty busy.  I wish I just had hours to do it really fast like last time but I don't.  I just want a simple, simple, simple house and the TIME to make it that way.  I don't need a lot.  I'm not into figurines and collecting stuff.  However, when you have 8 other people in the house saying they want this and that, it's harder to rid of it.  Ivy likes to have her 5 backpacks and 7 purses.  

Homeschooling has been going well!  Ivy has really struggled in the past but she is picking it up quick now.  I really have finally accepted the fact that my kids are staying home with me.  You have no idea (well, Christine does) of my ups and downs with wanting to homeschool.  I remember my first try back in 2005.  It was the worst 5 minutes of my life.  Later on I tried again. I would homeschool one year and then put them in school the next year.  I've finally gotten used to the idea and truly love having them at home, EVEN THOUGH I have two boys right behind me arguing as I'm writing this.

Good news!  I've lost 10lbs in two weeks!  Whoo hoo!  I'm really loving the Paleo Diet.

The Ultimate Guide to Cloth Diapers

I got a chance to read and now review the ebook The Ultimate Guide to Cloth Diapers.  This is FANTASTIC and saves me so much time.  You have no idea how many hours of searches I was doing for every little question I had (Not fun considering misinformation I had to sift through). It's ALL in this book.  Throughout the ebook Autumn Beck gives you links which is really helpful.  I honestly wish I had found this book before my first day of using cloth diapers on the baby because I had no idea how to prep them for first use.

This ebook is not just a little booklet with some information, the name says it exactly.  There is a ton of money and time saving tips to help you.  If you are thinking about cloth diapering your child, think about purchasing this book first.  

-Autumn Beck

Questions I had answered:

1. How to prep diapers BEFORE their first use.

2. Is there anything dangerous about disposable diapers?  (This one will shock you).

3. Can you try out cloth diapers before you buy them?

4. There are soooo many different cloth diapers out there, which ones to buy and why?

5. How do you strip diapers?

6. Which diaper rash creams are safe for cloth diapers?

7. How to make your own fitted diaper (whoa, that's awesome).

8.  How to diaper your baby with prefolds and flats.

9. How to wash cloth diapers.

Oh my goodness, there is just soooo much in the book and this is just a tad.  I know you'll love the book!  It really is the ULTIMATE guide.  The book isn't cheap but if you consider how much money is wasted on buying the wrong cloth diapers, buying disposables, or not knowing how to care for cloth diapers properly, then it is really worth it.  

*You can visit her blog at http://allaboutclothdiapers.com
*Or click HERE to buy the book

Diaper Rashes & Dinosaur Food

Wow, I have gone through a horrible battle with my baby regarding diaper rashes. I've only talked a little about it but it had gotten so bad that I was getting up every hour of the night to change her diapers. When I was nursing her I never had that issue.  Unfortunately, because I switched her to formula and also changed her brand of diapers at the same time, I didn't know the cause.  I wish I could have kept nursing but it just wasn't possible since I ran out of milk.  I tried eating more, which is why I gained weight.  I tried drinking tons of water and even took Fenugreek pills that lots of moms were telling me about.  Nothing worked and I hesitantly did what I always end up having to do.  I had to switch Juliet to formula.  Well, her bottom started to get really pink and it gradually got worse and worse.  Eventually I had to take her to the doctor and get a prescription.  When that didn't work I tried all the different brands of diapers, including switching to cloth,  then tried different formulas.  I've spent so much money buying one here and there, using it only one time and then having to find another.  Then I tried all the sensitive ones.  By now her bottom was bleeding and she was pooping almost every 15-20 minutes.  After being up with her all night to keep changing her after every poop, I had enough and was calling the doctor again.  That's just not right.  The nurse was perplexed since they originally said it couldn't have a link to the formula.  They called a meeting and then called me back to tell me to switch her to soy.  By now I've spent a lot of money on finding different brands of diapers, cloth diapers, switching formulas without even using most of it.  I had recently discovered a hidden shop inside of a church that is majorly discounted so I paid a visit and found 3 cans of soy formula and spent a total of $8.  That's my kind of deal!  Well, she no longer has a rash.  She's happy and mommy is happy having some sleep at night.  :)

Did I tell you I switched my family over to the Paleo diet?  Basically we are meat and vegetable eaters now.  I do have some compassion about it and haven't forcefully taken away all pastas.  My husband and kids are lovers of it.  However, I have GREATLY reduced it.  Last night I made homemade chicken noodle soup and it had mostly the meat and vegetables in it.  I personally didn't eat any noodles at all but I added a tiny bit for the ones that insist they have to have it.  I asked them for a compromise on it and told them I'd at least like to get them special noodles that are high in protein.  I hope to eventually win them all over.  :D  I feel fantastic and I don't have sugar crashes in the day from so many carbs. I will be making visits to meat markets and to the farmers markets on the weekends.  Should be fun.  ;D  Because of this new way of eating my couponing is definitely being cut in half.  Most of all coupons are about bad foods so I won't be couponing for food anymore, only for toiletries and stuff.

Yeah, I know.  I make everything hard in my life rather than taking the easy route.  Lots of kids, cloth diapers, chickens for fresh eggs, couponing for deals, healthy food planning and homemade meals every day.  It'd be so much easier to just go pick up a pizza.  But... it's a good life.  :)

Safe Detergents for Cloth Diapers & Safe Foods for the Body

In my quest for learning more about cloth diapers, I'm discovering how icky most laundry detergents are.  I had no idea there were so many tricks companies use to give you the illusion of brighter or cleaner clothes.  I also discovered that I cannot use my homemade laundry detergent on my cloth diapers.  There are enzymes in it that breakdown the fabric.  That will eventually cause the diapers to leak.  Well, always trying to be frugal minded, I then wondered where I can go to buy some of this all natural, no enzymes, no dyes, no brighteners, no fabric softeners, no scents detergent.  Well,  I found Sprouts has their own detergent with none of the harmful ingredients in it.  This week it was buy one get one free for $14.99 and since I have a front loader, that's 200 washes.  Good deal!  I need to go back and buy more of them.  This detergent isn't even mentioned on the list so I had to just check it out for myself.  If you'd like to see a list of safe detergents, here it is. :)  This is good for allergy issues too.

Detergent Choices

Also..

Safe Diaper Rash Creams

I went ahead and made my own cloth wipes because I figure if I'm already doing a wash for cloth diapers, might as well add in the cloth wipes rather than go and purchase them every week.  That cuts out more couponing for me.  

Apple Cider Vinegar

Sooo, I started my calorie diet but then switched over to The Primal diet (mostly meat and vegetables and keeping carbs low) a week and a half ago.  8 lbs lost so far and I'm finally able to start fitting into some clothes again.  I know it seems nuts but the primal diet just doesn't feel like a diet to me.  I'm having crazy amounts of energy without crashing and dealing with exhaustion.  I've always preferred meat and vegetables so it's perfect for me.  My husband really likes Italian food so I made that a lot for him.  Yeah, um, not as much anymore. My pastor's wife went out and bought me Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar with the mother in it and I'm excited to read all of the things it can help with your body ailments.  Let me tell you now though.  GROSS taste.  I take a teaspoon with every meal and thankfully that really, really, really bad taste disappears in about 5 seconds when you wash it down.  Ohhhhh, I shudder.   Pick a strong juice like Orange Juice to wash it down.  Eek!  By the way, it can also help baby's diaper rash problem as it kills the fungus.  

My Big Fat Mistake on Healthy Diets

Whoa! How could I forget the documentary called Fat Head? I searched for it today to watch it since it's been about a year and I forgot just about everything. I found it and watched it after I had already written yesterday's blog on calorie counting. Well, I feel sheepish. How could I forget? It's way too complicated to explain so if you have the time and you want to learn about healthy weight loss, watch this video.  I am busy adjusting all my Sparkpeople settings since it allows me to. I'm such a meat and vegetables person so this diet suits me fine. I'm HAPPY! Whoo hoo!  

Fat Head

I watched the documentary awhile back called Supersize Me. I didn't really agree with it and hated the whole veghan thing that was pushed. But it did worry me and I did start going on a calorie diet. Never was I more starving and had less energy than ever before. Also, the company that did Supersize me will not release records of his actual complete diet. It is obvious that he ate in between meals not shown because according to what he ate, he did not eat 5,000 a day like he said. Anyway, it's hard to explain. BUT, if you watch this new documentary, it'll explain the epidemic of diabetes that has been rising more and more. Even in young children. It explains why lowfat diets are not good and we it's more important to watch our carbs. Boy, Atkins sure was attacked for something that was scientifically correct. The government, however, pushes a diet that is actually not healthy for us. Just watch the documentary and it'll explain it so much better. It's REALLY interesting and an eye opener. This documentary is a MUST SEE for people that have health issues and are tired of struggling with their weight. It even goes into scientific specifics on how your body works and why certain diets work against you.



My Kind of Weight Loss

I started my diet one week ago and I'm relieved.  It's getting a little bit harder to lose weight since I had my 7th baby.  Okay, okay I know I hear comments like, "you aren't big."  I'm big to me so that's what counts.  If I feel uncomfortable then I need to do something.  I just want to be the size I was around baby number 5.  I usually won't drop weight till I'm done nursing and I quit nursing about a month ago.  I didn't want to, I didn't have a choice because I ran out of milk.  Phooey.  The doctor told me she thinks it's because I'm too active.  She mentioned I should sit down a lot more. Ummmm....I can't do that.  LOL.  I have a lovely family to play with!

Every time I diet I use Sparkpeople since it's always worked for me.  It's basically using portion control.  That's what I love about Sparkpeople.   After baby number 4 I just needed a booster to lose weight and it just stayed off after that using that method.  So I found this recipe that is actually Weight Watcher friendly and I made it that very day.  Oh my gosh... so good!  Unfortunately, I didn't have the mozzerella cheese so I used regular chedder cheese.  

Want to know how many calories you ate today? Use this quick search!

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Chicken Parmesan MeatloafSource: adapted from What’s Cookin’ Chicago?

Ingredients:
1 ½ lbs raw ground chicken breast (if you have trouble finding ground chicken that is breast meat only, do what I do and throw the same weight of boneless, skinless chicken breasts into the food processor and run until ground)
1 large egg
1 egg whites
6 T dried breadcrumbs
¾ t dried basil
¾ t dried thyme
¾ t oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ a small onion, chopped small or grated
¾ t salt
1/3 t black pepper
¾ cup Parmesan cheese
¾ cup pasta sauce
¾ cup 2% reduced fat shredded Mozzarella cheese
Optional: dried parsley, oregano or basil for garnish

  

Directions:
1.    Pre-heat the oven to 350. Lightly mist a muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.
2.    In a large bowl, combine the ground chicken, egg, egg whites, breadcrumbs, basil, thyme, oregano, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese and lightly mix together. Do not over handle.
3.    Form the meat mixture evenly into the 12 cups of your prepared muffin tin. Spread the pasta sauce evenly over the tops of each muffin. Bake for 20 minutes and remove from the oven. Top each muffin with about a tablespoon of shredded cheese and then return to the oven for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is melted. Garnish if desired. 

Yields 12 muffins. WW P+:  4 per muffin or 7 P+ for 2 muffins (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
Nutrition Information per muffin from myfitnesspal.com: 147 calories, 6 g carbs, 5 g fat, 18 g protein, 0 g fiber

What so awesome is the portion control factor.  I know when I get one exactly how many calories, fat, ect. that I'm eating.  Awesome, huh?  Yeahhhhh, was so good too.  My husband and kids loved them and devoured them.  Portion control was not exactly on their mind but it worked for me.  :D