Everyday life

I thought I would give our loyal readers (aka family) a peak into everyday life with us.  We have been busy doing lots of school work lately and it has been really fun! Savannah loves to learn and has been really excited about science and history lately. We are using Apologia's Swimming creatures of the 5th day for science and she loves it. It is awesome to be able to teach science and be able to tell our kids truth while using God's Word. Don't get me wrong, Savannah has had her fair share of days where she hasn't wanted to do school but it is usually because she would rather read or as of late draw. She has really loved drawing and coloring lately.

We have been spending more time outside lately, it is still in the 80s each day but I am hoping that breaks soon! The kids and I went to the beach a few weeks ago and are planning another trip this Friday. Daddy was able to join us at the beach this past Sunday and fun was had by all. Tom has been playing in an adult soccer league on Sunday nights and his team didn't have a game this week which was why we were able to hit the beach Sunday. The kids love to go to daddy's soccer games!

We went on our weekly trip to the library today and stopped at goodwill first in search of an old suitcase with wheels. Why you may ask, well because our days of checking out 30-40 books a week are way behind us. We are pushing 70-80 books each week and I can't carry them (and a screaming toddler) anymore. Ellie melts down almost every time we go to the library. She usually just wants to take books off the shelves, play with the computers or run the isles of adult books. It is hard to help the kids pick out good books and keep up with her. The woman behind us at checkout asked if we homeschooled, ummm yes we are that family!

Ellie is such a funny child. She spends her time most days following her brother and sister around and getting into everything she can. Right now she loves to get into the silverware drawer and "help". We couldn't find her pacifier last night so she went to sleep last night and nap today without it. I guess we are starting the process of getting rid of it. That makes me a little sad because she still usually wakes up 1 at night to nurse and last night it was twice. I am tired!

I decided this week that I am changing the way I eat. I am giving up refined sugar. If you think that sounds easy think again. Sugar is in everything! I haven't eaten or had anything to drink with artificial sweeteners in a while because they might be worse for you than sugar (ok they are both really bad so its hard to tell which one is worse!) If it is packaged at all it probably has sugar. We have been eating more and more whole and real food the last 6 mo. to a year and it is awesome. I finally decided to cut out the things I was indulging on like cherry coke, pumpkin donuts and ice cream.

I like to read a blog called 100daysofrealfood.com. You should check her out. The woman and her family took on a journey years ago now to eat real food only. Nothing that has more than 5 ingredients and nothing fake (artificial sweeteners, dies, preservatives, etc.) They are pretty strict and eat all organic with only grass fed and free range chickens and pork. I would love to be able to do that but we are on a tighter food budget and it wont allow. Anyway, I am still in the sugar detox faze and feeling ok, kinda tired, slight headache. Yikes, when I look at how much sugar I ate, it is crazy. I am trying to make better choices eating whole foods, nuts, cheeses, eggs, fruits, veggies, etc. . Just think about what you ate today. Did anything you ate have more than 5 ingredients??? Was sugar, high fructose corn syrup or corn syrup one of the ingredients. It is everywhere!!!! I can't lie, I have wanted to head to sonic for a big coke with chocolate a few times but I have a good friend who has been very encouraging and she reminded me that I have to think about what I put into this body that God has given me and I have to honor Him with those choices. If I happen to loose some weight (Tom has reminded me that I can't blame Ellie anymore), then great!!!

I also started trying to run again. Ok I have run twice. But that is more than zero right! Finding the time is really hard to do with 3 littles home all day. It is too dark for me to get up and run before Tom has to leave for work and I have to cook dinner at night and eat with the family so time seems limited. I took all the kids up to the park with me to run the other day and it was really fun (not sure how far we ran but at least 1/2 to 3/4s of a mile). Savannah and Isaiah ran with me while I pushed Ellie.

That is about it for us this week so far. Life is fun, frustrating, busy and crazy and I wouldn't trade a minute of it for anything else. I am blessed to be able to enjoy all day with these kids (even if our house is always a crazy mess!)