Sunday, April 26, 2015

Whole30, school, a mole and "yes" day...


We got back from our trip Monday evening and Oak wanted to help daddy clean out his car. 


The weather was so nice the kids HAD to put on their swim suits and run through the sprinkler. 


Tuesday I started Whole30. I am doing it to get control of my addiction to chocolate and bread. Diabetes runs in my family and I do not want it to end up with it. It had gone great so far. I haven't had any cravings until today (sunday) when my tummy doesn't feel very good and I just want to eat a piece of toast. 


I finally remembered to start Mac on Kahn Acadamy. He has enjoyed it.


Oak came down dressed like a cowgirl and says she is ready for preschool. She is so stinking adorable!


I asked Mac to read a chapter in his current chapter book and I loved seeing him read like this. 


Mac finished his first Explode the Code book and moved on to the next one this week. 


There was that little bit in one day where they were getting along and not being crazy.


Um, are these my kids?


Seriously. I don't think I have ever seen this from them. Mac usually wants to be in every ones space and Oak doesn't like it. So this is unusual.


Grandma taught Mac a few weeks ago how to make a fried egg. So he has been making them alot. He loves to cook. 


One morning it was 26 degrees and the kids decided they wanted to see who was tougher/stronger (crazier). Silly kids!


Oak finishing the last pages of her Get Ready For The Code book. 


She was so excited that she finished it. 


Mac wanted to play some math games on the computer. He loves this one on ABCya.


One day Mac kept on asking Oak and I if we needed to go to the bathroom. It was weird. But then I found the reason when I went into the bathroom later. 


Mac's orca. He loves to draw and he seems to be getting better and better. 


Oak walked by the back door and saw some little animal walking through our yard and asked what it was. We went out there and it happened to be a little mole. The kids were so intrigued! It was ugly and really fast. It followed Mac all over the yard. 


I wouldn't let the kids touch it but Mac really wanted to measure it.


Friday I woke up and decided to be better about saying YES. I didn't tell the kids though. I took a shower and after I got out the kids HAD to give me a "spa treathment" like in Fancy Nancy. They painted my nails, covered me in sparkly lotion, rubbed my feet and dried and brushed my hair. 


Then they really wanted to make me breakfast in bed but they wanted to make bacon and eggs and I told them I had to supervise that. So it turned into a breakfast picnic in my bed. The kids kept on saying that it was such a great morning. Unfortunately the day went down hill from there with poor behavior.


Me and my boy! He has been so good lately. Maybe it's because his sister has been a terror lately. My kids tend to tag team poor behavior so when one is having a terrible time the other is an angel. And they go back and forth. 


One of the cute picture drew this week. Love the cute little lady bug. 


Tuesday night we were able to go to a local performing theater and watch these guys. We took the kids and they loved it! Even Oak sat perfectly through the whole thing. It was so good!


My one complaint of doing Whole 30 is how quickly and dirty my kitchen gets. It's making me grumpy several times a day. I hate clutter and messy. Yet I have kids so I live in clutter and messy a majority of the time. I just had to take a picture of my super clean kitchen because I knew it wouldn't last. And it didn't this was right before dinner and by the same time the next day I was like "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CLEAN KITCHEN!" ugh!


The kids really wanted to put the couches together. Something I don't let them do enough probably. They said it was their pirate ship. 


I think this has to be my favorite whole 30 meal! Just a hamburger on lettuce leaves with homemade guacamole . SO YUMMY!



Oak has been quite the tornado lately. She always has to be doing something with her hands and her crafting is getting a bit out of hand. She leaves the biggest messes and has the hardest time cleaning them up. It's driving a bit nuts, but at the same time I don't want to discourage her creativeness. This isn't showing the mess she left at the table or on the counter. 


I wasn't feeling so good today and was snuggling up to my cute hubby before church. We had a crazy day at church today because we had a whole other ward join our ward. So we got to church at our normal time and walked in and there was NO where to sit. Then I get to primary and I had 7 extra kids in my class. YIKES! The class above mine didn't have any extra kids so I sent 3 to that class because I couldn't fit that many kids in my class room. I actually really enjoyed having a larger class. I usually only have 3 and on a occasion 4. 

Saturday I also got to go to our Stake Relief Society Conference. It was most of the day and it was so wonderful to have a break the whole day and I learned so much. I went to a class on simplifying, organizing, marriage, and writing your family history. 

Hubs has spent a lot of the week studying for an important exam to get a special certification that will help their firm. 

Mac got to go to a friend's birthday party. They always make me nervous especially now that he is old enough to be dropped off. His tree nut allergy can make me a total wreck sometimes. I have to always check the parents about treats and plan on taking a special treat for him if I don't confirm whats in the treats.  

Sunday Gratitude...seventeen...


I am grateful...

...for my health. And for The Word of Wisdom. How lucky we are to know what is good and what is harmful to our bodies and minds. 

...for a new day to start again. To make a change, to be better and do better. 

...for my hard working husband who wants nothing more than to provide for our family. He is so good to us!

...for the opportunity to go to our Stake Relief Society Conference yesterday. I needed the break and it was very inspiring.

...to have the opportunity to learn and grow from all of my life experiences. 


Thursday, April 23, 2015

Post tax season trip...(from my phone)

So we usually try to take a trip after tax season is over. Sometimes it's just Hubs and I (since our anniversary is the day before tax day) and sometimes we go as a family. This year we went as a family and we chose to go to our families Lakehouse and the coast. On the way we decided to stop and see Hubs' grandparents. 


First stop was Grandpa Curt. The kids love his dog Maggie. They spent a lot of time picking flowers and throwing them to her because she liked eating them. 


Hubs spent almost 3 hours talking with his grandpa. Thankfully his grandpa was in a great mood and very talkative. 


Anytime the kids would get down on the floor, Maggie would come and start licking their faces. The kids thought it was hilarious.



Grandpa Curt lives on his son's property. So we went and checked out Aunt Cindy's pond. The kids discovered and tried to catch salamanders and frogs.



Grandpa Curt lives near Hubs' other grandparents. So we stopped to see them too. 


Oak was bored in the car so I started giving her words to sound out and spell on her own. She loved it!


After a quick stop at Walmart to get food for us and the fish, we finally got to the lake house to fish.


While the other three fished I started dinner. 


The next morning, more fishing!


In the afternoon we drove about an hour to a really cool wild animal place. Where the kids could pet some animals. It was fun. Oak's dream came true to get to pet a real live baby bear. 


She held a farret.


Mac got to pet a fox. And if your wondering, it didn't say anything. 


A white tiger.


There were goats wandering around everywhere waiting for us to feed them. 


And donkey and deer roaming around. 


This bear was so cute! It would wave to people if they had food to give him. 

Baby goat that wouldn't go near anyone. 



Tortoise


A wallaby.


Then when we got back to the lakehouse we did some more fishing. 


The next day we went to our favorite beach. The kids spent at least an hour playing in the water, soak and wet. They loved it!



When we were getting ready to leave and I was helping Oak change her clothes, I found a tick stuck to her hip. It totally freaked me out!


We went to these gardens not far from the beach we went to. We usually let the kids pick out a keychain only. No toys at the gift shop. Mac saw this car kit thingy and just HAD to have it. Dad told him that he knows we only get keychains. And Mac did what he does best and doesn't take no for an answer. He spent our entire tour of the gardens throwing a fit because he wanted it so bad. He made the tour so miserable. Dad finally made a deal with him that he would take the cost of the keychain away from the kit and then Mac owed him the difference plus interest (dad's an accountant). Mac took the deal of course. I am glad dad handled it because I would have dug my heals in too and I would have flat out left with Mac not getting anything. That's why Hubs and I are a good team. 


Mac is allergic to mosquito bites. His arm looked like this the whole weekend after getting bit. It looked much worse than the picture shows.


And then there was one more time fishing before we had to leave the next day.



Oak bating her own hook. 





Mac found these blocks and made his lego guys a place to play. 


The next day we went to church on our way from the lake to my in-laws. The weather was so beautiful that we spent most of the time just sitting outside. The kids loved getting to run around. 




Grandma let them play with her legos outside. 



The kids found Grandma's hat collection and they kept coming out dancing in different hats. It was pretty funny!



Oak attached herself to this tiger while we were there. I found this when she was in the bathroom. 

It was a nice trip. And much needed.
More pictures coming from my DSLR.