Spring Break Part 1

It is only Wednesday of spring break, and we have been so busy!  We have also had so much fun!  We started the week off with Ava's room make over (see previous blog post).  Here is a run down of the rest of our week so far:

Saturday
Carol and I took the 4 kids to the Arlington park.  The weather was beautiful so it was so good to be outside.  Carol and I took advantage of the time to get in some exercise.  We walked around the walking path by the park.  The kids had a blast!

This picture of Ava kind of flips me out.  Check out her double jointed arm.

A day at the park is not complete without a trip to Yogurt Mountain.

Sunday
We went to early church because Elia had a birthday party at the skating rink.  Ava and I decided to take a walk before the rain came in.  Ava rode her ripstick all the way around the block, and Miley came along for some much needed exercise.

Monday
Kevin went to school to build some beehives.  He has decided to pick up the hobby of being a beekeeper.  I have to say that my Pawpaw Reed sure would have loved Kevin.  Pawpaw was a bee keeper for years, and he loved it.  I always remember the peanut butter and honey sandwiches he used to make for me.

The girls and I went to lunch with Grammy at Mezcal.  Then I took them to Barnes and Noble so they could get a couple of new books.

Tuesday
Kevin, Carol, and I took all the kids to Incredible Pizza.  Ava was super excited because she was finally tall enough to ride the go-karts by herself!

The go-karts were definitely a favorite, but unfortunately the line was so long so they only got to ride it once.

The kids had fun playing video games too.

Ava and Cami were so funny on the bumper cars.  They didn't ride around and bump into other cars like you were supposed to do.  Instead, they hooked their leg on the handle so it spun them around in a constant motion.  I think I would have been sick about 1 minute into it.

Wednesday
A bunch of us went to SkyZone!  We ate a very early lunch due to some confusion about making reservations.

Then we went to jump!

Ava loves to flip upside down!

And do toe touches!

The kids had the most fun playing dodgeball there.

The kids had a ton of fun!

Of course, I am still trying to figure out how I was the one who took a nap when we got home.  HA!

All week
The most fun I think the kids have had this week is building a fort back in the woods behind our cove. To be honest, I think Kevin is the one who is having the most fun with this.  He brought a lot of wood home from his dad's workshop so he could help the kids build it.

The kids have even helped him with the project.

I came out to check it out, but didn't lend a hand.  (Construction is not my thing.)

  
They have made a lot of progress on their fort this week.  They still have a little ways to go.  Kevin is getting some kind of scrap wood from his work that they are going to use for the roof.  Here is a look at the fort as of today:

It looks like we are a little more than halfway through our spring break week.  I am not sure what else we are planning to do this week but I do know we are chilling out tomorrow.  I am sure there will be some fort building and playing in the cove, but we are not venturing out of the neighborhood.  Stay tuned for part 2!

Ava's Room Make Over

Elia got to completely redo her room last summer, so I told Ava she could redo her room this summer.  Ava got a little impatient about it so we moved her room make-over to spring break.  After all, the kid has had the same comforter since she got out of her toddler bed.  She got new pictures for her room last summer, but they were the pictures that came from Elia's old room.  I asked Ava what kind of room she wanted, and she couldn't decide between a Paris room and a music room so we kind of combined the two.

Here are the before and after pictures!

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

My little girl is growing up way too fast!

March Theme Dinner- Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

It is time for our March theme dinner.  Last time we did a March dinner, we went with a St. Patrick's theme.  This time I decided to go with Dr. Seuss since it is his birthday.  I struggled to find decorations for Dr. Seuss so I decided to make some.  I bought a plain blue table cloth at the dollar store.  Then I printed off some Dr. Seuss pictures.  I even printed off some Dr. Seuss place mats.

The menu for this theme dinner included:

Oodles of Noodles

Blue Goose Juice

Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes

The most fun we had was using the silly straws I found at the Dollar Store.

Random

Every now and then you get ready to post a new blog entry and the things you want to say have absolutely nothing in common.  This is one of those posts.  

I have to brag on my girls' art work.  Ava has taken an interest in art, and I plan to get her lessons as soon as soccer season is over.  She has a very abstract look to her art.

Elia is a good artist as well.  Her art has more of a cartoon look.

We got our promethean boards at school, and they are so much fun!

Ava won the first math fact queen of the year!

Elia had her 2nd soccer tournament of the year.  It was another very cold weekend!  We are ready for spring weather so we can enjoy these soccer games a little more.  Her team is now playing 8v8 instead of 6v6.  The fields are so much bigger so the girls look so far away in these pictures.

Ava was worn out on her way home from the tournament, and she wasn't even the one playing in it.

We woke up to a little snow this morning.  It was pretty exciting considering it looks like it is all we are going to get.

We went to Jake's birthday party at Crossfire Commander.  Too much fun!  Happy 9th birthday Jake-e-Boy!

Poor Ava didn't get to go to the party.  She has been running a pretty high fever for the past 3 days.  I am ready for her to get better!

We are counting down the days until spring break!  Only 5 more school days!

Healthy Eating

For those of you who know me, know how much I used to love chicken strips.  I would go to any restaurant (Mexican, pizza place, Chinese, etc) and end up ordering chicken fingers.  Well,  any desire for something that moos, clucks, or oinks came to a screeching halt a little over a year ago.  I watched a documentary called Food, Inc. and that did it for me.  Honestly, I think I have always been a vegetarian and I just now did something about it.  I have never eaten anything from the ocean, and it has been years since I would eat eggs.  I went for about a 10 year period of time where I wouldn't eat hamburgers.  It was like a light bulb went off when I watched that movie that eating animals is just nasty.  The ironic thing about me becoming a vegetarian is that I don't like vegetables.  HA!  The first year I became a vegetarian, I ended up making up for the missing meat with pasta dishes.  This year I realized I have to eat something other than all those carbs.  Thanks to Adina Wiseman with the Belly Blast, I have found so many vegetables I LOVE that I never dreamed of even touching.  This whole thing has been a learning experience for sure.  I didn't know where to find half the things I was looking for at the grocery store.  HA!

Here is just a sample of the delicious and healthy foods I LOVE to eat now!

I started with carrots and broccoli.  I still cannot stomach raw veggies so I have learned it is all in how you prepare them.  I roast mine with a little sea salt, garlic salt, and olive oil.

This meal has become my all time favorite!  It is "fake chicken" which is really a fungus (think mushrooms), eggplant, and tomatoes!  I can tear up some eggplant and tomatoes!

This would have to be my 2nd favorite veggie meal.  It is squash and zucchini with olive oil, sea salt, and cajun seasoning.

This one is a soybean sandwich with roasted broccoli with the cajun seasoning.  I seriously prefer broccoli over french fries now.  Crazy stuff huh?

This meal took a couple of tries for me to get down.  I bought the wrong kind of squash.  This is spaghetti squash and it is so good.  It is seriously not that different from eating regular spaghetti, and it is so much better for you.

I know this does not look healthy but it really is.  It is Ezekial bread with bananas, and PB2.  The Ezekial bread is more natural than regular bread, and the PB2 is a powder you mix with water until you reach a peanut butter texture.  YUM!

Hold on to your seats for this one.  I actually made and cooked and ate and loved brussel sprouts!  Once again, it is all in how you prepare them.  They were delicious!

This is a great healthy treat.  These are energy bites made with flax seed, honey, oats, peanut butter (or PB2), chocolate chips, and vanilla. 

Another thing I have cut out is real milk.  I won't go into details about the reasons, but I seriously don't think I can drink real milk again.  Now I drink Almond milk which is better for you and tastes better.  I have not gone to the extremes to cut out ice cream yet though!  HA!

I also make myself a green smoothie every morning.  I make it with spinach leaves, bananas, PB2, and almond milk.  Good Stuff!!!

I never thought I could drink my coffee black.  I was always one of those girls that had a little coffee added to my cream and sugar.  Now I drink it black every morning, and I don't think I could ever go back.

I do splurge a little every now and then.  I use Mondays as my cheat day.  I usually treat myself to Yogurt Mountain which is my all time favorite! You do have to enjoy the little things in life!

I have found this new, healthy way of eating so much fun and so much better for me.  I have truly surprised myself with all these new foods!  I have more energy than I have ever had, and I have lost 12 pounds since the beginning of January!!!