Wordless Wednesday

Seena's picked out outfit for the next morning. Little Ms. Hannah Montana in the making!

Our Own Food Revolution

Ever since Seena was born I would like to say that I've been conscience of what types of food I bring in the house. It really started with simple things like not buying foods that had a million ingredients, I tried to keep things a bit more "natural".

Now a days I've become consumed with trying to educate myself and my kids (hubby is a alot little tougher) on what is best for us to eat. I am soooo fascinated by the power of what foods can do for your body, your overall heath and everything in between. I understand what NOT to eat....that's easy but trying to figure out AND remember what does what is a bit of a challenge. But once I slip in a "goodie" into the kid's diet AND they like it...MAJOR SCORE!

I keep a list of all of the "Super Foods" on our refrigerator so I can try to eat those on a regular basis. We're doing pretty good except for the salmon...Teen hates it of course. She wants me to load up on all of the bad stuff but I just can't. I've agreed to some things like Hot Pockets, brown sugar pop-tarts and sugary cereals. I don't buy sodas and I only have one option of cookies in the pantry. I know my kids, especially Teen, would love it if our pantry was filled with processed food yumminess but I just can't do it to them. Bad health (disease, cancer, sickness, etc) is one of my deepest fears and I want my kid's bodies to be tough, bad-health fighting machines.

In my quest I've definitely had some major crash and burns...like the Spinach Soup. Other times I soar. One of my latest triumphs is yogurt and granola. I know it almost seems silly that kids wouldn't like this combo but you just never know...at least not with my kids. I thought for sure at least AJ would like the Spinach Soup.

Anyway, the granola is packed with all kinds of goodness. The yogurts good too, as long as it's a low sugar kind, but the the granola is the big winner here. I've found granola that has flax seed, pumpkin seed, tart cherries, almonds...all super foods. It's almost the perfect food except for the darn fat content (which I learned the hard way...thanks).
My latest, latest find was a "healthy" tortilla chip. I don't buy chips or cheese puffs or regular tortilla chips but when I saw this and tasted it I was sold! Plus it's organic and has flax in it. So awesome!! And it's awesomely delicious and the kids like it. SCORE!

And for even more interesting food revolution news:

Recently I found an article in a magazine for belly-busting foods. These are foods that actually eat away/reduce/get rid of belly fat! How awesome is that??? And it's easy stuff to eat; berries, dairy (whey), green tea, grains - LOVE me some quinoa, lean meats, etc. Since reading this article I've tried to eat as much as these certain foods as I can and I think I can tell a difference...(that is what I'm telling myself).

I even have a great visual for this wonderful belly-busting fat "diet" - little tiny belly-fat-eating piranhas nibbling away at my belly fat. I know it's gross but the visual works for me. Makes me feel like my belly is getting flatter! (ha!) I totally get that sit-ups would accomplish the same thing but since when did sit-ups become more fun than eating....anything period?

Favorite Quinoa Recipe - has replaced my morning oatmeal

2 cups milk (skim or 1%)

1 cup quinoa rinsed

2-3 T brown sugar

cinnamon

Bring 2 cups of milk to a boil. Add quinoa. Lower to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring often. Add 2-3 tablespoons (to taste) brown sugar. Add cinnamon (to taste). Cover and cook another 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Split into bowls and eat immediately or save for leftovers.

A+ in Writing

Seena has come such a long way since she started Kindergarten. By the first interim we had a conference with the teacher and she was concerned with Seena's progress on learning her alphabet. So much so that Seena got extra help at school. We also did extra things at home like tape letter labels for items around the house, we "quizzed" her on her ABC's as often as we could get away with and we looked for "letters" when we ran errands.

All of these efforts worked beautifully and Seena is doing awesome. Just like her teacher said, it would just "click" and it did. Now the class has progressed to reading and writing and it's one of the most magnificent things I've ever seen. My girl is reading AND writing! And SHE LOVES TO WRITE! She writes any chance she gets. By no means is it perfect but I can actually understand 90% of what she is trying to write.

Just this past Friday, Seena's teacher told me that Seena did an "AWESOME" writing sample. So awesome that it was read out loud to the class. That was my girl! Seena is not a star athlete or a gifted musician (yet -ha!) so I'll take these "star" moments and shout it out for all to hear. That was my girl! I couldn't be more proud!!

The assignment was to write about a special moment they had with a parent. Seena wrote about our "date" to the "theater" to see Aladdin.

"I went to a show with my mom and they plad Alanid. Wen we wr (were) weying (waiting) in lin we desded (decided) to get a drek and chips. I at (ate) cookes at hom."

Today I told Seena to grab daddy to come out and help me with the picnic table I was building for her. Apparently Daddy was taking a shower so Seena left him a note:

"Mom needs help with my bench pieces come and help mom"

It's so great! This is my girl! She's writing!

Friday Night Leftovers

• I think I have mentioned on one or more occassion how much I dislike wasting time. Today, I got off "work" early and decided to take advantage of the hour I had before picking up Seena to go for a much needed run. Afterwards, the plans were to pick up Seena, get her haircut, shop for Friday night dinner, movie night and Elena's b-day party. None of this involved any rushing. There was ample time..until I somehow, somewhere lost my only spare key to the house while running. Do I really need to tell you how badly this sucked!! I had to call my brother to come pick me up and he drove me around while I looked for my key. No luck...didn't find it. So then, I had to bother my husband on Friday afternoon (uh, happy hour) for his key. Needless to say my afternoon was ruined, there was no haircut and the rest of the evening was spent rushing.
• I'm trying to decide if I should take AJ to the circus this week. I definitely want to take Seena but he's 2. Is he too young?
• I'm in a cooking rut. I don't want to cook, I don't know what to cook and I've even managed to avoid the big grocery shopping day. I think that is part of the problem, or really, the main problem. I only buy groceries that I need for a day or two, telling myself that I'll do the "big" trip later. Well, I never go and then I stress about what I'm going to make for dinner. I used to prepare menus for the week and post them so that the family wouldn't ask me 50 times a week "what's for dinner"...I haven't done this in so long but maybe it's time I go back.
• I took the trampoline down (yeah!) and I'm anxiously waiting to build the big play gym set I bought for the kids. I secretly bought this for myself because now my kids will play IN our yard (instead of the neighbors 3 doors down) and I can also hang out IN my garden yard.
• Need to call it a night because AJ has somehow manuevered himself behind me on my chair and has fallen asleep.

Goodnight Blogger world! Visit Danifred for more leftovers.

Open Doors

Ever since our restaurant closed we've been cruising along a ride of uncertainty. G was unemployed for forever and I was (still am) working a job that was (still is) just a job. Neither one of us knew where we were heading or what we really wanted to do. The silver lining of it all was that G got to spend (and make up) for a lot of missed kid/family time. But either way, our direction in life was uncertain. I prayed and prayed for God to open doors for us. I also prayed that God make sure he threw brick at my head so that I wouldn't miss the door once it opened!

And little by little I think our door(s) are finally opening. I don't want to say too much just in case things don't go the way we want them too, especially since a big chunk of it relates to G, but for me, possibilites are opening up for me too. A dear friend of mine encouraged me and even fronted money for me to take a training course for a certification that once all is said and done, could double my salary. I am nervous about taking on something else on top of my already heavy "work load" but I am excited about the possibilities this could open up for me. Even though I've enjoyed my flexibility IMMENSELY, I've been feeling like I'm missing something. I'm no longer the career driven woman I thought I was prior to having kids, but I certainly do think that I need a job that has some meaning to me. I need this for me and my kids. Right now, Teen has no idea what I do....quite frankly, I don't think anyone really does. I know she knows that I don't like my job and that bothers me. I want to be a good example for her, especially now that she's in High School and college is right around the corner.

So, here's to open doors and hopefully new possibilities....Cheers!

Family Time

When I was growing up 5:30pm was dinner time, no ifs ands or buts about it. It was the same everyday. My dad wasn’t always there but for sure the rest of us were.

Fast forward 20+ years and I’m still doing the same thing but only with my own family now. Our dinner time is 6:30 but our “family time” is from 5:00 to 7:00pm. This means we’re all suppose to be hanging out together in the same room. I allow the TV but definitely no computers. This was certainly a lot easier when G wasn’t working and fortunately our extracurricular activities are not so crazy (yet) that we can’t keep to the 6:30 dinner time most of the time. When G is home, it’s one of my most favorite times of the day. It’s great listening to Teen and G banter back and forth. They are both so alike and Teen, as I’ve mentioned before, is picking up his humor so they totally feed off of each other.

Now that G is working 6 out of 7 nights maintaining this sacred hour is much tougher but we’re still trying to stick to it as much as possible. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not always peachy king here in the Juno household; most of the time Seena is whining over something, AJ is trying to break into the pantry and Teen sneaks off whenever things get a little “much” BUT sometimes, the good times, it’s fun. It’s funny. It’s memorable.

Tonight G surprised everyone with WII Fit. He bought it for himself primarily...so that he can exercise *insert raised eyebrow here*. But nonetheless it’s a new toy for the house and Teen was all over it. Dinner was simply pizza – nothing fancy but conversation was funny and fun. Teen and G did their usual banter and the two younger ones played nicely for the most part. I just sat back and watched and listened. It really was family time.

BUT the night got even better when Teen broke out the Wii Fit! What a hoot! I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in a very long time. Teen chose to do a “Head Butt Soccer Ball” workout. The gist of the “workout” was that she had to “head butt” approaching soccer balls from little WII soccer players. So not only was it hysterical watching her “head butt” the air but these little WII guys didn’t just kick soccer balls. They kicked their shoes too! Obviously you were supposed to avoid those but if you were so unlucky to not dodge the flying cleats they knocked you smack on the face! Between the graphics of the “character” being knocked in the face with a flying shoe and Teen trying to dodge AND head butt was just too much!! Hysterical!

It’s nights like these that make me so grateful that I have enforced the family time rule, even if I get a few eye rolls from time to time. We haven’t quite got to the point where we’re having family game nights, I hope we will, but for now I’ll take just hanging out.

How do you spend family time?

Quiet

Quiet.

That's what it is right now. No TV, no kids, not even music. It's so nice. I haven't had a quiet day like this in a long time. I forgot how nice it is. I can actually think clearly, I think? And I'm not rushing or trying to multitask a hundred things. Sure, I got a bunch of things to do. The hubby is home too. He's sleeping but inevitably he will end up adding to my "things to do" list in one way or another. But for now, I'm enjoying this quietness guilt free.

And it's going to rain.all.day...even better...