Worth More than Gold

Jacob has a sly sense of humor and it comes out it in his schoolwork.  His teacher says that he doesn't say much at all during school, but his creative writing is full of surprises.
It's evident they've been learning about comparisons (metaphors, similes, etc.) lately.
Here is one of his recent creative writing assignments.

What is worth more than gold?

"My brother Danny is worth more than gold because he puts a roof on my head.  He gave me an awesome cardboard box to sleep in.  He gives me really good comments on my food like he says this popcorn is saltier than a jackrabbit on Thanksgiving Day.  He plays Madden with me on Saturdays.  He also plays football with me.  One of his good qualities is his muscles are bigger than a bear.  He sacrifices so much for our room to be sort of clean.  This is why he is worth more than gold."

His essay is full of half-truths, but the truth is Jacob does sleep in a cardboard box!  When we got a new dishwasher last month and the delivery man asked me if I wanted him to discard the box for me I thought of my dad.  When he was selling office furniture occasionally he'd bring home a giant cardboard box for us to play with.  We would load it full of blankets and pillows and toys and it became our play house in the unfinished basement.  At one time I remember having multiple boxes connected like tunnels  When it got so beat up that the house walls were falling down, we'd flatten it and use it to slide down the stairs with (despite my mom's protests).  I think we even turned one into a sort of human hamster wheel to roll around the backyard in.  So of course when the flood of those memories came to my mind, I told the delivery man that I'd keep the box for my kids.  Alyssa and Emily used it in their room as a hut for a few days.  Then supposedly Jacob made a deal with Alyssa that he'd give her some money or treat if she'd give him the box.  He put it on top of his bunk bed and has been sleeping in it ever since.  Jacob also is our designated popcorn maker (and tv tech guy) when we're watching a family movie.  He takes pride in adding the perfect amount of salt and butter and figuring out how to use the remote when the rest of us are struggling.  They say that the person of least interest has the power and when it comes to keeping their room clean, Jacob has the power.  Daniel's desire to play with friends and go on outings is usually the highest in our family, so he's willing to sacrifice to do more than his share of cleaning up the room so he can earn the privilege of playing, although Jacob is close 2nd in the room cleaning department :)

Birthmarkups

Jacob decided to spice up Joshua's birthmark (mole) by adding some extra features :)
It's amazing to see the contrast between my slender little Josh (who has fallen off the growth charts) compared to Daniel's chubby baby pictures who was off the growth charts on the other end.  It's hard to believe my little guy will be 2 this week.  I love this age when they are learning to talk rapidly. 
He gets so excited to make animal noises when I read him stories. 
Today in Relief Society when the Young Women were dismissed and Becca handed him back to me, he protested and begged for his "CaCa" so loudly and broke down into tears when she left so I had to take him out.
He has figured out how to open doors, so when they're locked, he knocks and in the cutest little voice says "Le' me in."

Silly Sisters

 Emily and Rebecca share a room and for the most part they love it.  These pictures remind me of the close relationship I had with my sister Melinda growing up when we shared a room and would stay up late at night giggling together, making crazy faces at each other in the dark.  Several times I've offered to Becca that she can have her own room and Alyssa and Emily could share a room, but she protests pretty vehemently every time.  She doesn't want to be alone and would rather put up with a few messes than have privacy (and isolation) in a smaller room of her own.  I love that they get along most of the time and still have fun together making artistic paper chain room decorations (a  LONG countdown to next Christmas that they started a few days after Christmas).  Lately I can hear them through the heat vent singing to Emily's "Frozen" CD which she earned the money for on her own by passing off 14 new piano pieces in less than 2 weeks!  I'm so thankful that my kids have siblings to be their best friends.

My Healthy Top Tens

Over the past year my family has made some gradual changes towards a healthier lifestyle.  Jared was the main motivation, and I have kind of been dragging my feet, but I know that eating better makes me feel better, even though I will never go to his extremes of giving up all candy and sweets.  I love my chocolate too much and it makes me feel good (in moderation)!   I've learned a lot from and been encouraged by our good friend Nancy.
My 10 Guidelines for Healthier Eating
1. Replace Processed Foods with Whole Foods
  (Cold Cereal vs. Cracked Wheat, Oatmeal, Bob's Red Mill hot cereal, white flour vs. corn tortillas).
2. Replace Refined Sugar with Honey, Stevia or natural sugars from fruit.
3. Replace White Flour/Bread with Whole Wheat Flour/Bread.
4. Replace Vegetable Oil/Crisco with Coconut Oil or Butter.
5. Replace Starchy Pasta, Potatoes or Rice with Sauteed Cabbage or Quinoa.
6. Replace Fruit Juice with Water or whole fruits.
7. Pair carbohydrates with protein (apples + peanut butter, oatmeal + slivered almonds, wheat thins+mozzarella cheese stick)
8. Don't eat late at night.
9. Sugar is more of an enemy than fatty natural foods like butter, nuts and eggs.
10.  Shop the outskirts of the store - whiz past the ice cream and candy aisles.
 I don't follow all these rules with exactness.  I think mashed potatoes, white rolls, pasta, sugar and juice are just fine occasionally, even though I know the "real" food provides more "real" fuel for my body.  And I will never give up chocolate, although I know it is best in moderation!

My Top 10 Healthy Snacks
1. Berry Frozen Greek Yogurt/Smoothies
2. Cabbage Sauteed in Coconut Oil sprinkled with seasoned salt
3. Sliced Apples w/ Cinnamon cooked in the crockpot (applesauce)
4. Cuties (little oranges)
5. Microwaved String Cheese
6. Smoothie Popsicles
7. Pumpkin Coconut Muffins
8. Steamed Spinach with Parmesan
9. Popcorn
10.  Sweet Potato "Fries" baked with coconut oil & seasoned salt (inspired by this recipe for Yummy Yammy Tacos)

My Top Ten Healthy Meals
1. Veggies Sauteed in Coconut Oil paired with scrambled eggs +cheddar
2. Pumpkin Pancakes topped with yogurt and fruit
3. Oatmeal topped with a little milk, frozen blueberries/raspberries, honey
4.  Quinoa Topped with Crock Pot Cream Cheese Chicken + steamed broccoli
5.  "Tanner's Soup" Hamburger +Vegetables w/ Beef Broth Base
6.  Sauteed Cabbage topped with spaghetti sauce or slivered almonds
7.  Beef and Cheese Corn Enchiladas (w/ a little spinach)
8.  Tortilla Soup
9.  Black Bean Soup
10. Peanut Butter & Honey Banana Sandwich on Whole Wheat Bread

Berry Frozen Yogurt
Using nearly equal portions of liquid and solid I mix together in my Blendtech:
milk and or greek yogurt
a handful of spinach
different combos of frozen fruit (strawberries, blueberries, bananas, Costco Tropical mix of mango, pineapple, strawberry)
1 or 2 packets or drops of stevia (natural sugar replacement that doesn't spike blood sugar levels)
 Note: Before getting a powerful blender, I used a $20 Osterizer blender for about a year and it blended frozen blueberries and small chunks of banana up fine.  Larger chunks and frozen strawberries made a terrible noise and didn't blend well.  Eventually I burned up the motor after 1 year of making "ice cream" nearly 3 times a week.  I believe in the old adage, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without," so before getting the expensive blender my husband wanted, I decided to wear out my old one first!  But now that I own a blendtech I think it is one of the best purchases I've made.  My kids now know that the "healthy" smoothies taste so good, they are even begging to eat my brown colored concoctions that look like puke (due to the added spinach).

When mom's on the phone...

 Yesterday I made a quick phone call to make a payment.  It was probably less than a 2 minute conversation!  Josh came waltzing in with a "black eye."  He thoroughly covered his tracks by putting the mascara back in my makeup bag and shutting the drawer and door without leaving a trace.  Alyssa later added a little "face paint" on her self so she could jump in the picture.  I'm glad that he is finally starting to gravitate to a few normal toys too rather than so many forbidden items.  He loves to climb up in the rocking chair on his own and look at picture books or run around the house chasing his Shake-n-go Lightning McQueen car chanting "Speed, Speed."

22 Days of Wellness

I am not a fitness buff.  In fact I really despise exercise and am only consistent because I have a great friend who comes to my house 5 days a week who I love to socialize with and get some early morning inspiring conversation as we do our "Walk away the pounds" video.
The past few weeks I've joined with some other ladies in my neighborhood to do a 3 phase wellness challenge and  have loved the feeling of conquering myself and also focussing on spiritual elements.  Everyday I track my points for drinking water, eating healthy meals, at least 2 servings of fruits and 3 veggies a day, limiting to 2 healthy snacks, 30 min exercise, 5 min abs, spiritual enrichment, 10000 steps, no pop.  One of my favorite parts is focusing on one  of 22  things happy people do each day (see below).  I'm less tempted to eat sweets when I know I have to lose points, although going without treats for 22 days was a serious challenge for me. I "celebrated" last night on my free day by making some mint chocolate hot fudge pudding dessert with vanilla ice cream. I've always been a listmaker, goalsetter, tracker personality so this worked perfectly for me.  I lost 7 lbs in 22 days ( of course 5 of that was the results of all the extra sweets I totally indulged in over the holidays).  I took first place!  Of course, next round I don't expect things to happen so quickly, but I love feeling like I'm accomplishing something each day and it has totally helped me feel less depressed.  I've pasted the 22 Day Focus items below.

we are just going to print a gazillion of these for (you know who)