Lazy, rainy Sunday:)

Today it started raining early this morning on our way to church & hasn't stopped since! Looks like we could get rain for 2-3 days straight so we came home & I made potato soup & "grown-up" grilled cheese. It was the perfect lunch for this kind of day. Below is a pic of the kids I took while sitting on the couch...this has pretty much been my view all day:)

"Real Food" lifestyle

In the past couple months I have really gotten into making everything we eat. And when I say "making" I truly mean most of the food we eat is totally from scratch. I stumbled upon another blog entitled 100 days of real food. It's great!! There are 5 "rules" to follow & it's a lot like reading labels or knowing what you eat as if you were on a diet except a lot easier than counting calories & fat grams. You can't eat fast food, no fried foods, anything pre-packaged must have 5 ingredients or less, only whole wheat or whole grain, & try to avoid refined sugars. It's a whole lot simpler than it sounds. Except you do have to cook most everything you eat so it can be trying at times. I am absolutely loving it! I feel like everything we eat is food that I know exactly what it is. You can also pretty much eat anything you want but you cook it differently or substitute normal ingredients for a new real ingredient. Such as honey or maple syrup for sugar or syrup on your pancakes/waffles. I make a huge batch of banana pancakes on Mondays (my cooking day) & freeze them. I just take a few out, put them in the microwave & voila the kids have a very nutritious breakfast which was quite easy to make & they're getting a serving of fruit:) I will continue to post updates & recipes for our new food lifestyle as well as updates on the kids! This has really become a new passion of mine & I really love cooking good, healthy things for my family but not going overboard as some are doing now a days & cutting out what seems like everything they eat!! We still eat very well & lots of it! :)

Wow! Almost 9 months since my last post! I could have had another baby! Thank the good Lord I didn't:) Anyway, I'm back on the blog scene to try and keep up with the comings and goings of us and our kids and anything else that comes along.
So, I was reading the last blog I wrote and it was about G sleeping in a big boy bed...boy does that seem like a long time ago! Time sure does fly as a parent, doesnt it?? So..what's new you ask?? Well, let me begin with an update on my baby girl. Avery is doing phenomenal. Last year we had ups and a lot of downs as far as Avery's behavior and learning skills. Chase and I (& Avery) went through so much to try and figure out if there was some underlying problem with her mental growth. Long story short, after dragging her from therapist to therapist and always feeling like it wasn't really working she started the 5T class at Hope. She has done a complete 180! We spoke with her teacher, Ms. Jennifer on the day of orientation and Chase even took off work to meet with us because we both thought it was important that she "understood" Avery. It was this long meeting that was basically pointless. Even a couple weeks into class and hearing "she did great today!" or "she was wonderful!" and seeing her sticker chart continue to be full day after day I looked at Ms Jennifer and said "I guess you think our talk was kinda crazy, dont you?!" She laughed and nodded in agreement:) Apparently, it was a whole lot of hub bub for nothing. She's wonderful. Not that she always wasn't in my eyes but you know how a parent thinks. Always wanting each child to be perfect and when something seems not right, you freak! Now about our son. Oh my son. Garner is hilarious, the center of attention, all boy, and can make anyone fall in love with him in a moments time. He's full of energy and I'm quite sure there are days his teachers, although they love him, are glad he's going home:)  He keeps us on our toes and as I said before makes us laugh at least 100 times a day.
Chase and I are doing well too. He is looking at a potential promotion with raise that should happen within the next couple of months so I am very proud of him and know he fully deserves it and that all his hardwork is paying off! I am going to back to school. I will be going to Ole Miss-Desoto in January to finally finish college and get my degree. And of course there is nothing better than graduating as a Rebel:) So, I guess that catches us up and hopefully I can get back in the blog groove!

All grown-up!

Well, my baby boy is growing up and is now sleeping in a "big boy" bed! Last weekend we bought him a full size mattress/box spring set to go with the back of his crib (which turns into a headboard) and re-did his room with a very cool, big boy theme of firetrucks :) My very talented friend Kristy painted the canvas' we hung on the wall (I'll post pics soon) and it looks great!! It's amazing to me how much things change and how different my kids are from day to day. I was at my in-laws this morning picking the kids up and I was watching her digital frame and there were (of course) several pictures of Garner when he was a baby. All I could do was just look at them and smile. Now dont get me wrong, there will be no more babies for us! I am actually enjoying watching them grow and become more and more independent. Plus, they are hard enough work without throwing a newborn in the mix! God knew what He was doing and He gave me a perfect little girl and a perfect little boy and even though I thought I wanted more He reminded me everyday in the midst of the chaos that our family was complete! Last night we did get to take a break from the wonderful chaos and go out to eat. My most wonderful hubby surprised me yesterday and told me his parents would be there soon to pick up the kids because they were spending the night out so that we could have a Valentine's date night! Now, for those of you who know Chase he is not the most romantic, spontaneous person so for him to plan all this AND keep it from me was huge! I was so excited and ready for my night out! We went to Spindini which is downtown on Main St and it was incredible food. Possibly the best filet I have ever eaten! I would recommend it to anyone! Happy Valentine's Day!! 

One week down and I'm voting no weeks to go!

Ok, 7 days with a guinea pig is about 4-5 too many. She's cute and sweet but poops EVERYWHERE! I cant handle it! They say you have to give guinea pigs a lot of attention and that they're not like hampsters where you can just leave them in the cage all the time. I think whoever came up with that is sick minded and thats their idea of a joke because everytime you get her out to play or just pet her she poops all over you, the couch, the chair, the blanket, whatever is around! The person who came up with the "love your guinea pig" idea is the same person standing in the pet store snickering as you walk out the door to take one home as your new "pet". But of course after a week Avery's in love with her. (Why? I dont know. I'll never understand most of the things that go through a 4 yr olds mind) So it looks like she's here to stay. Oh Yay. All I can say is I never really wanted the thing to begin with so I'm going back to my original thought process. Rodents are rodents and they live in the wild or in pet stores. What happened to my mind for the few days before and the few days after we got her I'll never know. Maybe Chase put a spell on me....