Honesty Time

Shame, shame on me.

Did you know this week was St. Patrick's day? Yeah, the holiday where you traditionally ... um ... I guess you wear green, pinch people, and drink beer with food coloring in it?

I know it's the same day every year. March 17th. When I was a kid I always made sure to wear green because pinching the snot out of each other in school was a national past time.

This year? Nothing. We didn't wear green on purpose. We didn't pinch anyone. I never drink beer no matter what color it is. It was just Thursday. We did our make up lesson for the boys music class that their teacher had to reschedule from Monday.

Want to hear a worse confession?

Until I spoke to my mother-in-law about a completely unrelated topic, I forgot Easter was just around the corner. My memory was triggered when she was subtle saying to me, "so, what are the plans for Easter". My eloquent response was, "ummmmmmm". Yeah. That one makes me feel far worse.

The problem is, Easter is weeks before Passover. (4/22) This confuses me even more. The "last supper" was Christ's celebration of Passover. So, how is Passover nearly a month AFTER Easter? Maybe I am not the only one who is confused here.

So, we forgot to wear green and made no plans to dye eggs. I am pathetic. The plans for Easter I can fix. Unless I forget again. Which could happen. Only time will tell. I could be that person showing up at my inlaw's home at the last minute because they called me when we got home from church saying, "where are you guys".

Happy Hanukkah

Tonight, at sundown, begins the beautiful Hanukkah season.

Happy Hanukkah. "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12

We celebrate not because we are waiting on Messiah to arrive, but because we know He has. On this day our family... wants to wish you all the blessings of Hanukkah and we pray our Lord, Jesus Christ, will bless you during this season.

Over 2,000 years ago God blessed His people with a miracle that lasted 8 days. Tonight, and for 7 nights afterwards, we remember that miracle and worship the one who created it.

After we light the Shamash (the candle that lights all others, it means helper), and hold it with the single flame, we will say three blessings before lighting the first Hanukkah candle. This is the first of the three: "Barukh attah Adonai. Blessed art thou, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has given us holidays, customs, and seasons for gladness, for the glory of the Lord our Messiah, the light of the world".

Happy Hanukkah.

Catching Up

Sorry I was gone a few days. Being Thanksgiving week, having a nasty storm, and crazy doctor appointments, and it made for me missing being here.

We traveled to my Mom's for the holidays and came home the Friday after Turkey Day in order to have a day of rest before going to my in-laws on Sunday to celebrate with them. We got a call Saturday morning that, due to the rain, the road to my sister-in-law's was flooded and there was no way we could get in and the day was canceled. Sigh.

Sunday evening we packed up and went to my Mom's again because she's very close to our sons biomedical doctor. It takes us 2 hours to get to her home and, since our appointment was at 9:30am the next day, we didn't want to get up before sunrise, drive to her home, drop off the kids, and then head to the doctor's office in time to make the appointment.

From here

The day of our appointment came and I was excited. I love our doctor. He's so kind, warm, and smart, smart, smart. I mean, he makes smart people look mildly intelligent. I went in with my notebook of test results (I always take them with me so I can refer to them as he speaks and make notes on them), a spiral, and a few pens (you never know if one might die and I take a lot of notes when he's chatting). We sat down for what would be a 2 1/2 hour long chat. I didn't realize he had blocked off so much time for us.

The Good:

• We have a whole new protocol.
• He saw our sons issues very clearly.
• He knew what to do about them. 
• He thinks he knows why our younger son won't sleep alone at night due to night time anxiety.
• He thinks he has identified our younger son's eating issue.
• He saw where our other doctor lacked in testing in order to get a full picture on our older son. 
• He saw where other doctors had made mistakes in what they thought the issues were in a few areas and got us on the right path. 

The Bad:

• Melatonin is now in the trash. A major sleep issue we were having was being caused by a side effect of Melatonin. We caused what we were fighting. I mean, we didn't know, we were told to use it, but it was not a good thing for our younger son. 
• The frustration level we had at being misdirected for so long by other doctors was high. But we let that go because it does no good to anyone. 
• We have a blood test that needs to happen for our younger son. Oh, gee, how I look forward to that... (read sarcasm)
• I have stool sample to collect from our older son, the kid who never poops. Still waiting. 
• SLEEP! We have none. Since pulling the Melatonin the kids aren't sleeping. We have something new on board, but it will take up to two weeks to see results. So I am working each night to get our younger son to sleep and just waiting out our older son. This means I am up very late (1am or so) and then getting up early because my younger son gets up early. Come on 14 days!!!

And now I am back. I am not sure how much mental clarity I have, so if my posts make no sense, just keep reading, shake your head in pity for me, and know in 14 days it will hopefully go back to normal. 

Talk soon

Thanksgiving Week Hodgepodge

Joyce, at the blog, "From This Side of the Pond", didn't skip this week just because it was Thanksgiving. Oh no, she let us have fun with another round (so happy she did). Check out my answers and then click the link or picture above to head over to her blog so you can read her thoughts and look at other fun blogs. 

1. What's something you wish you knew how to do, but feel it's too late to learn?

Piano - I always wanted to learn how to play and now I simply do not have the time to do it. Maybe when my kids are successfully on their own I could take lessons. 

2. Your least favorite thing to shop for? Why?

Toilet paper - if I have to explain why, I might want to pick your brain over how you can LIKE shopping for it. 

3. How has the celebration of Thanksgiving today changed from when you were growing up?

It is very different. It used to be my entire extended family coming together at my grandmother's home to eat, talk, catch up, and give thanks together. My grandparents passed away, there was a family conflict between two major parts that hasn't healed, and now it's very fractured and I miss how it used to be. 

4. What's something that when other people see it, reminds them of you? Explain.

People share memes about homeschooling or super moms saying they remind them of me. I get the homeschooling jokes but not the supermoms. I am only doing what any decent mom would do for their children. 

5. If you could guest star in a TV show, what would it be and why?

I would want to be an the Andy Griffith show. I just like it so much. My family and I watch it on DVD often. If I couldn't be on that, I would like to be on Leave it to Beaver. 

6. Have you ever farmed or spent any time on a farm? Are there farm stands in your little corner of the world and do you make it a point to shop there? If so, what item do you particularly like to buy from roadside stand or farm shops?

We live on a 400 acre cattle ranch. My mother-in-law (who lives across the pasture) has a huge garden. We have a small garden, though it's getting bigger. There are farm stands where we live. I do not stop at them. I will stop at a farmer's market if it has local growers with organic produce. But I am very picky with what goes into my family's mouths. Many times what's on the side of the road isn't any healthier than what's in the store. Many times, unless you get to the know the seller, it's not even local. Farm stand doesn't equal local or healthy. You have know who you are buying from. Our local stand isn't at all organic and the woman selling the produce smokes the entire time. No thank you. 

7. What's something you've experienced recently that made you feel a sense of awe or wonder?

I am in awe and wonder as we are working closer to the Hanukkah season. I am starting to see the beauty of worshiping our risen Savior through holidays He personally celebrated. If you want some serious awe, look at the passage in the NT where Christ says He is the light ... that was a Hanukkah celebration he was taking part in during his life. 

8. Insert your own random thought here.

This has been a nuts week. My uncle and cousin came in for the opening weekend of deer season. We love having them down each year. Our older son had a few medical issues. We are gearing up to leave to visit my Mom for Thanksgiving, coming home for 2 days, going to my sister-in-law's for my husband's family's celebration, and heading out from her house back to my Mom's for a big doctor's appointment that Monday. I will be so happy to be home with no where to go and nothing to prepare for ahead of me. 

Talk soon - Gobble gobble

Candy and Treats

It's that time of year when candy is on the brain of every child in the nation. Yes, ever doctor's nightmare and every dentists bad dream. But, the fact is, unless you celebrate nothing in October (Halloween, Fall Festivals, Harvest celebrations, etc), you are going to run into candy this week.

So, what's a parent to do when you don't want all that junk in your kids or at least want it to be healthier? What about if your child CAN'T have those items? It's just hard. This starts the 3 month food fest in our country and that means 3 months of reading labels even more than we ever did.

In our home we have found a few substitutes that are working for us. We have ground rules and we use candy and such as a treat, as it should be. My kids don't lay around in a sugar coma for 2 weeks after this weekend.

We let our kids go to the Harvest festival and then we did a candy trade. Here's what made our cut this year. Some are pretty straight forward, some are unique.

First up, carrots. My kids love carrots. I mean they LOVE them. But, I can't just give them a boring orange carrot in place of a Tootsie Roll. I found organic, non-GMO, heirloom baby carrots. I package those up and the kids get them as a treat. Afterall, they do cost more than their orange relatives so we don't get them very often.

I mean, come on, those are just pretty.

From here

Next up is cookies. Finding cookies that are safe for our sons and also taste good is hard. So far I haven't found an organic one, but I am still on the hunt. So, what do I choose? We like Cybele's Free to Eat Cookies.

They are soft, actually taste good, and are gluten free and top 8 allergen free. They are also vegan if that is a concern to your family.

From here

For a more traditional treat, we like Surf Sweet Organic Spooky Spiders. They are gummies that are not artificially flavored or colored. They are in the shape of, surprise, spiders and are a few different colors. My kids love them. They are big enough that they don't balk if I say they can have only one.

From here

Our last candy treat is from Glee Gum. Now, this is not organic and I use it as a rare treat. But, my kids know what Tootsie Pops are and this is as close as I could find to that. It's a sucker with gum inside. Gum, in our home, is a big deal because it's so very hard to find in a safe form. The only thing we have to watch out for is the green suckers. They are apple and our youngest can't have apples at all.

From here

That's what we do in our home. We use these items as a rare treat so I don't have to feel guilty about the sugar content and other ingredients that aren't awesome. But I also refuse to give up our basic standards just for a fun event. We have worked so hard to help our kids have healthy bodies We don't want to blow it in one evening.

Talk soon.

Fall Candy That's Less Junky

OK, is junky even a word? If it wasn't before, I officially declare it is now.

From here

Who doesn't remember candy corn from their childhood? It was like a right of passage for children. I remember eating them color by color. They were bite sized but I made it much more of a chore. I ate the yellow, then bit the orange, then the tiny white. Yep, that's how I roll.

But, with our kids, they are a huge no-no. There is no way our younger son could even lick one without repercussions. Candy is pretty much impossible to find that fits into our variety of food intolerances and allergies. So, what's a Mom to do?

A Mom is to get creative and find a recipe for some favorite candies out there. And, now I have one for candy corn. Yep, CANDY CORN. And, yes, it's colored.

Five Little Homesteaders has a recipe for candy corn and even shares where to buy safer food colorings.

But, if you don't want to use a store bought pre-made coloring, you could use the suggestions Bioray has for the needed colors.

"Some ideas: Use saffron or turmeric powder OR juice some yellow bell peppers (yellow) Use carrot juice (orange)"

So have a bit more fun this fall and try some new candy recipes. Just make sure you aren't replacing junk with more junk. Buy real foods, use organic if possible, read labels (read labels, read labels, read labels) and, even with the homemade variety, don't go overboard on servings. 

Talk soon.