i do not {heart} sugar

or more accurately, i do {heart} sugar. way. too. much.

in my quest for healthier eating for myself and family i am becoming very aware of the fact that i, and most likely several of my children, are addicted to sugar.  that white refined stuff is in EVERYTHING and in many forms.  i have already been working on knocking high fructose corn syrup out of our house (pretty much there, except for random things that are still in my cupboards and now that i know they have HFCS in them i don't want to use them but the dutch girl in me just can't throw them away cause that is wasting! reality is anything unopened will be put in a box for the next food drive i encounter)

anyhoo, my thoughts have led me to thinking that the only way to break an addiction (for me) is to go cold turkey.  no sugar (or forms of it).  at all. none.  (eek!)

this raises many issues and questions.  how long?  to what degree do i remove sugar from my diet?  just the refined stuff?  honey? pure maple syrup? what about my coffee?!?!  (i can NOT drink it black) the thought of no sugar and no coffee (ie: no caffeine) at the same time. i might not be the nicest mommy or wife would be downright mean and crabby.

i have been inspired by this particular blogger:   http://myyearwithout.blogspot.com/

she removed refined sugar from her diet as a new years resolution (for 2008 and is now in her 3rd year of going without sugar, wow!) however she still eats several natural sweeteners such as honey, maple syrup,  fruit concentrate, etc...  i'm just not sure i can truly break my addiction if i allow myself those things or food sweetened with those things (some of the recipes on her blog look soooooo YUMMY)

my plan as of this moment (subject to change at any time) is to pick one day (soon, like maybe this weekend, or maybe next week, next month? no. for sure by next week) to go without any sugar at all. any form of it. natural or refined.  (ugh, but what about fruit? dairy? so many decisions) then after that day i will decide what my next step will be.  i do plan to blog about that day (cause i know you all care! lol) before and after.

stay tuned...

oh and just for grandma.... here is a picture of one of my sugar addicted girls:

and a most likely sugar addicted girl:

overheard....

a conversation from today:

scene = my house, dd #2 at the computer in kitchen, me nursing miss baby in living room (dd#3 running around jabbering about dora, but that is neither here nor there)

i hear a truck pulling in the driveway

me: hey dd#2 can you look out the window and see if there is someone here?

dd#2: yes mom (pause) that guy helping to fix our bathroom is here

me: thanks. can you let him in the door when he comes to it?

dd#2: sure, what is his name again?

me: it's mr. mulder

dd#2: whadya say?

me (a little louder): his name is bruce mulder but you call him mr. mulder.

dd#2: oh, okay i think i'll call him steve.

WHA????

4 months

miss baby has hit the 4 month mark... and she's darn cute if i do say so myself.

the big new thing this past month (insert drumroll here):

~ she's rolling over from her tummy to her back

~ she has uber strong legs and likes to be held so she can stand on your lap

~ at EXACTLY 4 months she tried out the exersaucer (cause the box said for 4 months and older and even though she was probably big enough earlier i felt the need to follow the recommendation on the box) and she loves it.... well until her sisters come and freak her out.

~ she is a bit sensitive to yelling or just when things get chaotic and REALLY loud at home and she is tired. normally she can handle quite a bit of noise since, well, we have 4 kids and a dog, life at our house can be kinda loud.

~ she is sleeping all night... the exception is that she seems to wake up earlyish (like 6am... i realize this is not early in some people's standards, but in my world anything happening before 7:30 or 8 is early) however, if i take her into our bed and give her a pacifier she sleeps for like 2 more hours. aaahhhhh.

~ had her 4 month appointment and she weighed in at 16lb 1oz and is 26" tall (95% for both).

Snazzy Stool

I found this little stool at a local second hand store… Chad was less than impressed with my find, but I assured him that it would be super duper cute once I was done with it. He also questioned it’s usefulness in our home. I assured him it would be used. (and if not at least it would be cute, but I didn’t say that part out loud)

Here are the before and afters.




and here are the kids showing it’s usefulness :)







Does the ribbon look dumb on it? I wanted to hide my less than stellar job of stapling the fabric on. Frankly, I was being lazy, wait, i mean, pressed for time, so I just put the fabric right over top of the old, rather than doing it the “right” way and pulling the old stuff off first.

linking to....
//http://asoftplace.net/2010/04/3753/
http://

He is Risen

He is risen, indeed!

Happy Easter :)

No Foolin'

Exactly one year ago, I took a pregnancy test and it was positive.

Exactly one year ago, I had a bit of a “freak out” minute after seeing said positive test.

Exactly one year ago, Chad thought I was playing an April Fools Day joke on him after seeing said positive test when he got home from youth group.

Exactly one year ago, I learned of the blessing of life growing inside me. Praise God.

Violet Beauregard

Remember her?

The gum chewing girl from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

I do not {heart} her. Or her gum chewing ways.

Not a fan. Nope.

I have banned my kids from chewing gum for the most part. My oldest daughters at ages 7 & 5 have only been allowed to chew gum a handful of times.

Until recently. I let up on my ban of gum chewing. If they were given some, I let them partake as they wished, as they finally seemed to have mastered the whole concept of CHEWING gum, not swallowing gum.

In fact I have occasionally allowed them to take a piece of gum out of my own pack that i keep in my purse for the occasional "wow, my breath is really bad, i need some gum" moments.

I did such a thing earlier this week....

THIS was the result:

Around dinner time I noticed DD #2 was messing with her hair a lot. As we sat down to eat, I asked her why she kept messing with her hair.

Her reply in a hardly audible whisper "there's gum in my hair."

"ugh, i TOLD you to keep it in your mouth and not play with it"

"i forgot"

"no, you didn't forget, you just didn't listen." muttering under my breath and big sigh.

"are you going to cut my hair like a boy?"

"maybe"

after dinner i google how to remove gum from hair. lots of options all including a lot of time and oily messes. considering my options, i get out the scissors.

snip, snip. problem solved. the top part of her hair covers where i cut. i'm sure the next time she gets her hair cut there may be some questions.

"so why did you put the gum in your hair???"

"i put it behind my ear. to save for later"

just like Violet Beauregard in the book we just finished reading together.

i do not {heart} Violet.

and as far as gum chewing privileges? the ban is back. (especially since my brutally honest DD #1 admitted to doing the same thing and just got lucky it didn't stick in her hair)