Florida Pics

You can go check out my Picasa Web album to see the pics from our recent Florida trip. :) I never got a chance to post them up and there are too many to put on here.

So behind again

I really really meant to blog, but everything else got in the way.

My twins are back home after a weeks visit with Grandma and Grandpa. They had a blast and I wasn't sure if they even wanted to come home. Although I did try to talk Grandma and Grandpa into coming back to live with us, but they passed. ;)

My big kids are still at their grandparents house and should be back next week. Can't wait to see them and get my hugs and kisses in.

Clean Eating- I have pretty much failed at this. I have made much better choices and have been eating much healthier but I still have some food items I can't live without. Also when I start giving myself restrictions, all that I want are all the things I just can't have. So I am happy with my experiment. I have made myself much more aware of what our family eats. We are all eating healthier as a whole but still enjoying indulgences from time to time. :)

Just moved the twins out of cribs and into toddler beds. We really just took the sides off their cribs and made the conversion into the toddler bed version of the crib. Last night was not very successful. They did end up sleeping through the night but it took them 3.5 hours to go to sleep. It was actually pretty funny. All I heard last night was thump thump thump thump thump giggle, thump thump thump thump thump giggle, LAY BACK DOWN, thump thump thump thump thump giggle thump thump thump thump thump giggle squeal LAY BACK DOWN, and repeat for the next 3 hours. Ella would lay back down and pretend to shut her eyes. Beck would say "okay nigh nigh lay down" When it got too dark in the room to play, they turned the lights on and continued. I had to stop myself from giggling. I sat in the room, outside the room, sat next to them with my hand on Beck's back, etc. There was just a lot of energy in that room.

Today for nap time we went and got some blackout curtains (which didn't actually block all the light out) and layered them with the blinds and the original curtains to have a somewhat dark room. We also picked up some gates for the beds. So over all it went much smoother. They didn't realize they could get out of the beds so they went right down. Cross your fingers for tonight!

A little katie love

And the drool has begun

someone is doing such a great job at sitting!

this sweet little face melts me.

Love this face! Cracks me up. :)

My babies are all gone...

My big kids are off to their grandparents for the next 2 weeks and the twins are with Brandon's parents for the next week.

It is so strange having such a quiet house. I wasn't real sure how I was going to handle the twins being gone. They have never been away from us for more than a day or two. It was really hard to let them go. But knowing they were going with some of their and our favorite people, made it much easier.

So we are already enjoying our quiet house. But we will be more than happy to have the house noisy and full of activity again. :)

Crazy Hair!

Every now and then Ella's curls get a mind of their own. Especially the one on top of her head. Love them!

Clean Eating FAIL

Last week went down the drain. I just let it all go to crap. So new start this week. But I do have to say I still made better choices than I normally do, which would be a check in the overall positive column.

Since we just got paid, its time to do a real grocery trip. I need to look at the different recipe sites you all sent me, and make a list from that and go from there.

This last week was a cranky kid week as well. So I was putting myself in more of a survival mode. Not an excuse but I need to plan for my survival time periods better.

And sending out big hugs to my yoga crew! Kara, Jacki, Jenny, Malinda and Nancy- YOU ROCK! I really appreciate you all motivating and making the yoga process so much more enjoyable. I don't think I would be this successful without you all. :)

Eating:Day 5

I am so sucking at this!!! I need some serious motivation. And I need to stop beating myself up.

What was my goal originally? To eat one to two meals a day clean. And I have accomplished that most days. I feel like I have made "smarter choices" on all of my other meals as well. But I know I can do better.

I was just reading someones updates on facebook and they were cooking some Giada meals. She always cooks really fresh and usually pretty healthy. That is my next step tonight. To go and research some new recipes to experiment with to make this life change even more doable.

Anyone have any favorite recipes or websites they would like to share?

Eating: Day 4

Not my best day by far. We have yet to go grocery shopping and I didn't have many choices. Yoga again in the morning and my sweet hubby scrambled some eggs up for me when I got home.

It was my first day back at work since our vacation. It was so nice to see all my little students again. They are all so sweet this session. But that also meant I was totally out of energy by the time I was done working. So I broke down and had another nutella sandwich at home. I just need to get rid of it so I won't eat it.

And then my neighbor came over with cupcakes. Like really good bakery cupcakes. And I indulged AGAIN! This could of all been stopped if I would have taken care and kept my blood sugar up. I wouldn't of been so ravenous. Lesson will hopefully be remembered for the future.

So I went out to run a few errands and decided to stop by the store for some healthy food. I have read that for clean eating you should just stick to the perimeter of the store. That is usually where all the fresh and frozen food is.

I picked up some all natural hummus- no preservatives or artificial ingredients. All whole ingredients. I also picked up some sweet potato chips to dip in the hummus. They aren't totally "whole" but the ingredient list is pretty good. I also picked up some california rolls. The white rice and imitation crab wasn't ideal but not super bad overall.

So today is a new day. Trying to get through today by avoiding major temptations. Everyone else is doing such a great job out there in blog world! I am so proud of you all!

Eating: Day 3

Day 3 has gone pretty well. I went to yoga again this morning and I went and swam some laps, so that meant no breakfast. (They tell you not to eat 2 hours before to lessen the chance of getting sick in class)

I came home and was ravenous. So I went to my old stand by of cinnamon toast with aside of green grapes. Not the best choice not the worst choice, but once again I'm still figuring this whole thing out.

For lunch we had some brown rice with leftover roasted veggies from yesterday. Not a bad combo. A little bland. Could of used a little seasoning, but it left me feeling good. And guess what? I had that darn sweet craving again. Its so hard to get the sugar out of your system. So I hit another square of the hershey's bar. Once again surprisingly satisfying.

My major downfall in life is a jar of Nutella. I LOVE the stuff. Luckily it isn't super bad. I mean I know its bad but its still pretty natural, just a lot of sugar. So in trying to stay away from anymore bread I just had a spoonful of Nutella for snack time. ;) And of course that wasn't enough. So I made myself a half sandwich of Nutella and bread. Luckily Beck came by and had to have a bite which saved me from eating the whole thing.

So I consider that my unhealthy snack of the day and the chocolate my dessert of the day, right?

I think I will have the rest of the bean and corn salad for dinner.

Let me know how you guys are doing.

Eating: Day 2

So day 2 was a little harder than day 1. It fell on the 4th. ( I know I'm behind on blogging!) I started out with yoga in the morning, which meant I didn't get breakfast before hand and then came home starving.

I went for left over bean and corn salad and it tasted GREAT! I wanted something sweet afterwards (even though the corn was already pretty sweet). So B suggested that I have a small square of the hershey bar on the fridge. And amazingly enough that was all I had. Crazy I know! Like I said I am doing this in small increments. Going cold turkey is not for me. ;)

We had a party to go to that afternoon, so we (meaning Brandon) made a plate of roasted veggies (sweet potatoes, red and yellow peppers, parsnips, cauliflower, and broccoli) and some risotto with rapini, sweet red Italian onion and marscapone. It was all super yummy.

If you haven't tried to roast your veggies in the oven, you are missing out. You just cut them up into similar size chunks, toss in olive oil and and pepper to taste. Roast at 375 until fork tender. Super easy and it brings out the natural sweetness in the veggies. A great way to get the kids to eat them as well.

Now while at the party I had to partake in the french onion dip and ruffles! That was so yummy!!! I also had 2 sliders. And maybe 2 cookies with icing on them. They were hard to resist. But overall I consider the day a a success.

Also I found a new drink combo that wasn't bad and was low on the sugar. I LOVE a good margarita but as we all know they are chock full o sugar. So B made me a drink with Tequila, Club Soda, and a squeeze of lime. It tasted like a watered down rita and hit all the right spots without the multitude of sugar and calories. Always a win in my book!

Eating....

So the first 2 days have been good. I haven't totally 86'd all processed food but at least 1-2 meals a day have been healthy and whole.

Saturday- Brandon whipped together a little bean and corn salad. It was really simple, and pretty tasty!



1 can Black Beans drained
1/2 large sweet red italian onion chopped
4 ears of roasted corn kernels cut off the cob
1/4 c of a combo of nuts (we used walnuts and pecans)
1 clove Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Splash of Red wine vinegar
2 heirloom tomatoes (chopped)

Sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil first, until onions are translucent.

Then add black beans (drained) and corn kernels.

Once mixture is warm take off the heat and add tomatoes and nuts.

Put in a large bowl- add a splash of red wine vinegar, salt & pepper to taste, drizzle of olive oil.

Toss and serve.

Also, really good the next day after everything has had a chance to sit and flavors have combined.

Clean Eating

We have been playing around with the idea of clean eating for a while. After finally fully committing to yoga and finding myself feeling so good, I decided I may actually go a step further. I think I may try and change my whole eating style. Crazy I know!

You're asking what Clean Eating is right? Basically it means you stay away from all processed foods. If it comes in a box you don't eat it. If it has more than one ingredient on the label other than water, you don't eat it. So you stick to the basics. A good rule of thumb is if man made it don't eat it. Here's a link to some recipes.

Vegetables- fresh or frozen with no extra ingredients
Fruit- fresh or frozen with no extra ingredients
Nuts (raw or dry roasted)-pecans. almonds, walnuts, pistachios, peanuts
Seeds (raw or dry roasted)- Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc
Lean meats- chicken, turkey, beef, venison, etc
Fish- Fresh or frozen with no additives or preservatives
Beans- Dry or canned (make sure the canned have no additional ingredients)
Eggs

I've read several different blogs and websites about it. People do this in a totally vegan way all the way to the meat eaters. They say the best way to do it is not to have cheat days but just to allow yourself to splurge if you feel like it every now and then. This is supposed to be a lifestyle change not a diet.

So I know I can try this in small increments and build up to it. I am HORRIBLE at sticking to things. But I am also very stubborn. So hopefully if I set me mind to it I will be able to do it.

Luckily my hubby agrees with it and will help us make the change with super yummy creations. I think I can switch the twins over pretty easily. They still eat almost anything I put in front of them.

Now my big kids are going to be a whole different story.

Hannah is the pickiest eater in the world. I am going to have to make this change very very gradually with her. Basically stop buying the few things she will eat one at a time without her noticing. And giving her healthier options that she still enjoys. She hates change so this could be real interesting.

I'm thinking of having her watch Food Inc. with me so she can see what goes into all of the processed foods. That movie scared me into really thinking about what I was eating.

Ben will be much easier. He will try new things much more easily. And he loves leafy greens as long as I sauté them in olive oil and some salt and pepper. :)

The biggest problem will be what they eat at their dad's house. I can't control the food over there but they are trying to incorporate more veggies there as well.

So this week, I am going to try to replace one to two meals a day with the clean eating philosophy. I know I can't quit all my other foods cold turkey but if I do it slowly, I think I can succeed.

Anyone want to join me? I'm going to try to keep a log on this blog as to how it is going. I will also post some of the meals we make up, or I will leave a link to hubby's site that has the meal. I will need lots of encouragement. And I need people to hold me accountable. So who's in?????

Florida!

We just had a fabulous trip to Florida. And luckily had almost no encounters with Tar!!! Seacrest Beach was beautiful! And we got to fit in a quick and rainy photo session with the fabulous Deanna Devine She captured our family so beautifully. More images to come.