A Wrinkle In Time

Love. That is what I took away from this book. Laurie said that her mother use to read this to her and her siblings when they were younger. I thought of that as I was reading, thinking of why she would choose to read this to her children. I quickly learned why. There are so many lessons to be learned in this book. It teaches real self worth, it teaches family, it teaches courage, it teaches trust, it teaches faith, and most of all it teaches love. When I finished reading I realized that when I love, when I'm feeling love, I can handle anything. Happiness with Steve, patience with the kids, kindness and compassion to others, hope with myself, forgiveness, faith, all of these come so easily when I feel love. This book made me want to learn to love better, practice feeling love always. This will be a must read with the kids.

The next book I'm reading is Keaton's favorite, The Hero and the Crown by Robert McKinley.

Flowers

I love flowers! But flowers from my munchkins are the very best. To think that they go out and play, see some flowers, think of their mom, and bring them to me. These were some they brought to me this last Sunday, after a walk with their dad. Now they sit by my sink and brighten my day.

Reporting Week 3

This last week went well. I'm still following all my little rules and moving forward. I do have to say that I am getting tired of eating the same old things each day. I get bored with food, especially when I place so many restrictions on what I'm eating. I truly can eat a huge variety of food with what I'm doing, it just takes a lot of work to find new recipes and try them out. I get stuck eating the same old stuff and craving something different.

This yummy dinner is one that I tried a couple weeks ago. It was really good and I enjoyed it. It can be found here. The recipe for the yogurt sauce I made with tofutti (nondairy sour cream) and it wasn't that great. I would like to try it with the yogurt someday. Jakob was a good sport about eating it. Isabelle ate the tomatoes and the avocados. Steve said they were okay, he wasn't a big fan of the cabbage. Karter excitedly ate a whole bowl of black beans, but wouldn't touch the edamame. I love feeding them such healthy food, even if they only try a couple things, even if they don't like some things, I know that if I keep doing it they will learn to love it. Someday. Maybe.

Nighttime Visitor

We have had a late night visitor join us in bed several times these last few months. She is either scared, lonely, cold, ect. The reasons vary, but she always has one when she comes into our room.

I remember getting into bed with my parents at this age. I would go to my mom's side of the bed and when she pulled back the covers I knew I could climb in. I remember being so hot sleeping between my parents. I would push the blankets down so I could cool off. (I'm sure my parents loved that!) I remember feeling safe and happy sleeping in bed with them.

With these happy memories as my guide, I have always let my kids sleep with us when they have come into our room in the middle of the night. Well, little Miss Isabelle has taken advantage of my hospitality and joined us most nights. She is not the easiest person to sleep with (I'm sure I wasn't either) and we don't sleep that great with her in our bed. We finally had to set some limits. She can still come into our rooms, but most nights we tell her to go back to her bed. A couple times a week she gets to climb in with us. I keep reminding myself to enjoy these times. She won't want to sleep with us forever (though sometimes I wonder) and the time will come when this won't happen. So, I'm enjoying the simple moments even if I lose a little sleep in the process.

Weekend News

Every Monday Jakob writes what he has done on the weekend. This is what he brought home from school a couple weeks ago. He was reporting on the weekend he had while Steve, Karter, and I went to Las Vegas for my Grandpa's 90th Birthday. He stayed home with Isabelle and his Grandpa and Grandma Moon.

He writes,

"I had a wonderful weekend. My grammy come over. Then my mom and dad and my brother went to the temple. (??? Not sure if he thought we were going to the temple.) My mother left some presents for my sister and me. The first present was some books, then I got the last Peter Pan movie, then I got some crayons, then some paper, then some bars, then I watched The Night at the Museum, then Peter Pan, then I watched Peter Pan."

The picture is of him sitting and watching these movies on TV.

Love that he is writing and recording his own stories.

Lilacs

I have lilacs!! I grew up with lilacs in practically every house we lived in. I remember my mom bringing them into our home, putting them in vases around our house, and loving to breathe them in! In our first home in Banks we had a tiny lilac plant. I think the first year we had 1-2 flowers. I have about 10 lilac plants in my yard now, a few of them are quite a bit taller then I am. I filled my kitchen with them this last week. They are a lovely reminder that Spring is here and Summer is on its way.

Reporting - Week 1

I've been making 100% whole wheat bread and it is actually turning out!!

This week was good in the sense that I followed my plan. One of the problems I have is that I'm not really writing down what I'm eating in an organized way. I notice as I move forward that it becomes easier to not be as strict with tracking my calories and water when I'm not writing it all down. I have decided to make a simple weekly chart that I have to fill out each day. I have it in the kitchen so I can easily mark the water I drink and the food that I eat.

This last week I also had a couple days where I just didn't have a lot of food in my house. I needed to go grocery shopping and I didn't have a lot of the little things that I needed to make what I usually eat. There were a couple times I wanted to cheat because I was hungry and I had to get creative (really creative) with what I would make!!

Reporting back each week on the blog makes a world of difference for me. I feel silly typing this for the world to read, not that the world is reading it and not that anyone is reading it, but just the idea that SOMEONE might read it keeps me on track with what I'm doing. I realize that I really eat quite well, I just allow myself to cheat a bit, normally only a couple times a week. But those little bits add up to not seeing the results I want to see. It really hasn't been that hard to do what I've been doing. The hardest part is counting calories. Knowing I have to do it leaves me with no way out. I have been the master of talking myself out of doing something or cheating a little bit. This way I know I can't cheat without having to post it here and I just don't want to do that. (Too much pride, I guess.) AND, I am seeing results.