7 years old!

We almost always rent a place out for birthdays- it's really easy and not stressful. But for some reason I've been a bit ambitious of late. Ninjago is a really popular thing with little boys right now so there was tons and tons of free stuff online. So I went for it. I made these little treat bags for the boys. The Legos were in the dollar bin for $1 at target. I got a Lego mold from Amazon and made all the kids crayons and I printed them each a free coloring book. 

I made cupcakes with fondant precolored from Walmart. So easy! 

This banner was also a free print. 

We cut out cardboard swords and used duct tape to reinforce them. The boys gotto paint them and use stickers to decorate them. (It kept them from hitting each other hahaha)

13 used ninja stars made by me from cored paper origami to pop balloons. 

We played relay races with Legos and also had an obstacle course. 

It was really super fun- and kindof crazy. 

We took a break and watched ninjago. 

He got lots of new Legos for presents and we had fun with them. 

I think it was really fun to have the party at home but it was also really stressful lol. Especially JUST coming home from keystone right before! We have another birthday coming up in May so we will see what excitement it holds!

Program

Miras program was Thursday night. She had a little speaking part. Finally the programs are getting better and not so painful to sit through! Haha. 

I don't have a ton of pics because I won't be that person blocking everyone's view. I hate our schools program setup, but as it's the one single bad thing about our school, I can deal....

Keystone

This year I got picked to go to the annual ECMO conference in keystone for work!! It was amazing! We were supposed to leave at 9 on Sunday but Denver was being pounded with snow so we got delayed until 8 at night. That started our trip out kinda rough. We finally arrived at our condo at 145 am! We were up again at 6 for the conference. Coffee became my staple...

Every day we had class early until 10 and then we had free time until 4. The keystone conference is different than other conferences bc they assume you want to do winter sports which can't be saved for evenings. We went to lunch. 

The second day my friend Michelle and I went up the mountain to explore and go tubing!!

They had a snow fort. 

It was SO FUN and really inexpensive. 

The gondola rides were amazing. 

It snowed nearly every day we were there. Gorgeous. 

I was ready to come back and see the kids- the conference was an amazing opportunity and so much fun! I came home to a whirlwind of activity with miras school program and Griffins birthday prep, but we made it! 

It's been busy.

Awhile ago we went to the aquarium and I actually let Harry walk. Let me tell you, he thought he was a BIG DEAL. He had a great time.

Sully usually wants to RACE through but this day we spent lots of time looking and playing. It was great.

He loves the sand at the end. That's him and his friend Lili.

H wanted me to take a picture of his new Ninja Turtle.

We've had some nice weather off and on these past couple of weeks. Lots of outside time which really makes the winter so much more bearable. It's funny how quickly you forget about the good weather when there's bad weather.

This is Harry's new spot. He thinks it should be ok for him to sit here all the time. Call  it his "chair."

Harry had his yearly eye check up. Everything is fine of course. With his defect he is at risk for some fluid behind his retina so we have to have yearly checkups. No big deal- except he is NOT a fan.

He's been sick a fair amount. This last time has been tough, and of course, I've been working a ton of it. He always looks so awful with his eczema as it gets worse when he's sick.  I finally took him to the doctor Monday- he has a bilateral ear infection and pus on his tonsil. Well, that's awesome. he's feeling much better now that he has some antibiotics.

I have some lofty financial goals for the start of this year. I've been working at least full time, sometimes more lately.  It will ultimately be worth it, but I think we all may be getting to a breaking point. Sully was screaming and grabbing for me as I left for work tonight :(. I've almost met my goals already so things should slow down after a couple more weeks thank goodness. I want to be able to stay home all week in the spring and summer and not work any extra so I know I will be glad I did it. 

Soy Milk update (cause I know you care)

So, I had decided on Edensoy milk. I was a little annoyed that I would have to buy it online, and it kinda weirds me out that it's not gluten free, so I've just kept looking and looking. I found this:

http://www.cornucopia.org/soysurvey/

EXACTLY what I needed. As I already knew, Edensoy was the highest rated soy milk in the country. But then I saw this organic valley listed right under the formula we had been using. I searched for where I could buy it. Since it's refrigerated it becomes trickier because I can't buy in bulk.  Well, Natural Grocers in Shawnee carries it. But then I realized that Hyvee and Sprouts carry their dairy milks, but no one carries the soy. So I gave it a go. I went to sprouts and asked if he would please please carry it for me. By the time I was ready to check out Sunday morning he came and found me and said it would  be on the truck Monday. WHAT?! So I waited til Tuesday and went back. He told me he didn't think he would have it on the shelf yet so I nervously asked for it. It was there!!!! He came out and asked how much I wanted every week. He said it comes in a case of 6. Well, I have to take one a week to school, and he drinks about 24 oz a day, so one carton will get us 3 days max. So that's 2-3 for at home, one at school, and one at grandma's house. PERFECT. I can't believe this guy at Sprouts. He's going to order me a case every week. Then he asks me how much I want to pay for it!! HA! So he charged me the same as sprouts brand I think. Wow. This place is amazing. This milk tastes great, is free of the nasty additives that bothered me in the silk, and has an amazing rating. I'm in love. With sprouts AND Organic Valley Soy. 

I think I will still order a case or 2 of Eden. It would be good to have if we go out out of town or something where taking refrigerated stuff or finding soy milk may be complicated. But I am SO excited to have a good milk for H right around the corner. Whew.

Not much

Nothing too exciting happening here. We finally got our closet redone and it's SO much more functional! 

It snowed here this week a couple of times and then today and his weekend 50-60. Oh MISSOURI. It's nice though to have some reprieve from winter now and then. Be able to get out and about some. 

Whole30 take 2 in the books!

So after the holidays I decided to jump back into whole30. My body needed it.  I had several people interested in trying it with me, so I decided I had to do it full on in the spirit of doing it as a group. Well, it's day 32. Done. After my first whole30 I fell HARD. It was fall, and then it was holiday time, and man, it was like whole 30 never happened. This time I want to reintroduce foods systematically as recommended and really reap more of the benefits of the program long term.  So far it's been good.

One friend asked me today, "Why do you do this food torture thing again?" But that's just it- it doesn't feel like food torture to me.  Sure, I miss some things. I do get tired of the planning, the chopping, the washing, etc. But there's this amazing benefit. I feel good (digestively speaking) nearly all the time. I eat til I'm FULL. Like really full, at every meal and still I lose weight. I eat too many calories and fat grams for this to be true, but it is.  I eat things that taste delicious, like comfort foods.  Filling big meals and still I become leaner as time goes on.  And for someone who LOVES big huge plates of delicious food, this is good news, and VERY appealing.

I don't plan to do another whole 30 though. It IS really restrictive. I do plan on though to make it into more of a lifestyle thing.  From here I need to find the ideal diet FOR ME and follow it from here on. No more crash diets to maintain my weight then falling off the wagon and dragging behind it for a few months only do do another crash diet.  Whole 30 can be used that way. I've recently read a few articles about this and it really hit home.  I need to learn how to make treats just that. "Treats" In one of the articles I read it talks about being an adult and how if you really want it, you need to admit that your diet needs to be good- like 90% of the time. And yeah, it sucks. Suck it up, buttercup. A treat shouldn't be something you indulge in more than once a month or so. ONCE A MONTH. Not handfuls of m and m's every single time I enter my mother in law's house.  So we'll see how I do. I don't expect it to be easy, and I DO expect to fail. I'll pick myself up and start again.