Food makeover

I have been working on making over what our family eats for a few years now. For several reasons: health issues, wanting healthy eating kids, and to be good to our God given bodies. It has been a few years because ITS HARD! Really, to eat healthy we have had to ignore advertising and resist most of the food we have eaten (and like!) our entire lives. Granted the info on healthy eating changes daily it seems. I obsess a little over doing everything perfect or not at all so that is were Nate comes in and says "We just do the best we can with where we are." I play that over in my head every time I start to get overwhelmed with maybe not making the perfect choice.

Anywho, I say all this to let you know that I will be posting some of our successful family dinners. It will be a good journal for me, so that I can look back when I am stuck. Paper recipes just don't work for me. I would rather find it electronically:) One major encouragement for our progress was that Nate said his throat hasn't been hurting for the last week or so. Which is great cause it has hurt probably the last four years nonstop! The other encouragement was that the girls loved this dinner! I haven't dropped any lbs yet, but I am feeling better :)

I got this at a site called Healthy Eating made easy .

Veggie Stir Fry

3 bell peppers of different colors

a touch of sliced red onion

fried together in a little bit of coconut oil

add a bag of spinach

stir until wilted

add leftover chicken pieces, stir till warm

while cooking that I had some brown rice going and it all finished at the same time.

You can add salt and pepper to taste. Just don't let your 3 year old salt hers :)

Happy Day!

Front Garden coming along

Here are several pictures of the progress we have made in the front of the house. We will start with something that is actually blooming. Just to make it feel happier. Not looking at so much dirt is happier to me. These are violas. They should come back next year. It would please me immensely if I didn't have to re pot these two pots in the front of my house each spring. I think this is my favorite thing I have had planted in them. Ms. Squirrel is happy too :)

On the left is a close up picture of some of the plantings. Got the best ferns from a place online called greenwoodnursery.com. They came healthy and starting to grow green in the bags. Ten for about $25 or $30. I ordered a bag of Ostrich Ferns and a bag of Christmas Ferns. Hoping the Ostrich ones grow tall and the Christmas ferns stay green until... Christmas.

Turns out I ordered so many plants that I am hoping I didn't over crowd them! Some of my Astibles are starting to grown too. I got lavender ones. Did I mention that I wanted all the plants to be purple, green, white or blue? I think other colors clash with our orange brick. Another plant I am super excited about is my white bleeding hearts. I put one on each side of the porch. My attempts at growing these before have never made it :( This time will be different!

This is our wisteria vine on the west side of our house. It is romantic, eh? We planted three more in the back. Of course they are just sticks right now, but so was this one 3 years ago. The smell and aurora of it is giving Nate vision for the whole romantic garden plantings in the front and back. And he is excited about the next three growing big. Hopefully this is the year for them.

Here is the east side of the front. My big strong man moved these boulders to make a seat for the girls right next to their swing. In a few years it should be surrounded by ever blooming hydrangea bushes. There are two planted at the corner, near the girls bedroom window. I want them to bloom blue, not pink. So I am supposed to make the soil acidic. Right now I am watering them with the coffee we don't drink. (coffee makes your body acidic too :() Saving coffee grounds and digging them into the dirt around them too.

That is all for now...it is time for a date with my hubby! Happy day!

Ava update

Ava will be 15 months on Monday. This video is of her jabbers. It was a full 5 minutes, but I cut it down some :) It is so funny to us because the other girls went straight to saying words or signing, no jibber jabber. It sure is cute, but we have been working on more signs this last week. Today, she signed kitty for the first time. She also said "Mama" when we asked her to! Other than that her words are "uh oh" and "ouch." Walking is also what we are working on with her. It is hard for her to get her right foot moving, but we think she is real close to taking a step on her own. She has incredible balance and muscles. We frequently find her sneaking outside down the bigger than normal steps or quickly climbing the bunk bed ladder to play on Naomi's bed.

The three together before Easter service. Even in the hats and only one with no shoes!

Ava contemplating what this thing is and why she keeps picking it up and putting it in her basket.

Nate never misses a chance to ride bikes with all the girls. Naomi got a new (to her) one so the other girls did too :)

Just having a snack and playing peek a boo. I love the little smile she has.

Pray for your Husband

Here is a prayer that I found somewhere on the web that I have been using to lift up my husband every day. It has helped me to have it posted where I get ready in the morning. This way I can pray for the most important person in my life and get ready for my day at the same time. Multitasking! It is a must as a mom :)

Dear Lord, I pray for my husband, from head to toe.

His Head - That he will look to You as Lord of his life. (1 Corinthians 11:13)
His Mind - That he will have the mind of Christ and think as the Holy Spirit would lead him and not the flesh. (1 Corinthians 2:16)
His Eyes - That You will keep his eyes from temptation and that he will turn his eyes from sin. (Matthew 6:13, Mark 9:47)
His Ears - That he will hear Your still small voice instructing him. (1 Kings 19:12, Psalm 32:8)
His Mouth - That his words will be pleasing to You. (Proverbs 19:14)
His Neck - That he will humble himself before You and be strong, courageous, and careful to do everything written in Your Word so that he will be prosperous and successful. (James 4:10, Joshua 1:8-9)
His Heart - That he will love and trust You with his whole heart. (Deuteronomy 6:5, Proverbs 3:5)
His Arms - That You will be his strength. (Psalm 73:26)
His Hands - That he will enjoy the work of his hands and see it as a gift from You. (ecclesiastes 3:13, 5:19)
His Feet - That You will order his steps and that he will walk in Your truth. (Proverbs 4:25, Psalm 26:3)

If you want to use this print it out now! If you are anything like me you will forget as soon as you are done reading this! Make sure to pray for your husband every day. You can add specific areas to the bottom of this prayer and it will keep your husbands prayer needs before you on a daily basis. This has been so good for me to see every day and to lift him up.