shocking… sigh

Today the two oldest children went back to school. Isaac to middle school for the first time! I wish I could say I was handling it well but I cried as I drove away. I’ve been praying over his day and it makes me tear up more! I did not have this problem with elementary school but middle school just freaks me out. I remember how difficult those years were. Figuring out who you are and as I warned him, EVERYONE gets picked on. Kids at this age are just cruel! As I drove by the school on a second trip…trying to get a picture really … I saw a girl walking up to the school SMOKING! She’s just a kid for crying out loud! It was all I could do not to stop and run and pull my child out of there and shelter him from kids with bad attitudes and habits.

My second issue with middle school is that my son is officially breaking away from me. He is a normal, healthy boy with great self esteem and I have to hide this from him because I refuse to be one of those moms that wants it her way or no other way. But I was absolutely stunned last week when he expressed the desire to ride his bike when I told him that I knew I just had to drop him off and not get out with him. He didn’t even want me to drive him to school!!! Thankfully for me he has band this first day and riding with his saxophone is too much. So I know tomorrow he’ll want to ride his bike and as much as I hate hate hate it, I need to let him go. This to me is the first step in a series of letting the baby bird try out his wings because eventually I’m going to push him out of the nest. LOL

My kids get on my nerves with all their messes and bouncing off the walls. There are days I scream to have QUIET! They don’t behave as well as I’d like when we visit friends. They squabble, push, and Kate says stupid a lot. But make no mistake about it, I adore them! They are normal kids and I am blessed to have them. We are very bonded. When I was sick for so many years, my children were the reason I got out of bed. I don’t know how I would have pulled through that time without them. I have taken so much grief for that period in my life. Treated badly for being SICK??!?! I don’t even think people knew just how bad it was because I had to do what needed to be done for the best interest of my children. Through it all my children loved me unconditionally and I them. When I was so fatigued I couldn’t get up, they’d snuggle in and talk to me. They’d ask nothing of me. It’s an amazing thing! No matter how bad I felt, I always made sure they were clean, dressed, and fed. I was dedicated to them and they were dedicated to me. So you see, THIS is why it’s difficult to deal with Isaac’s new found independence. I’ve always prided myself on having self sufficient children but I guess I have some limits! HA HA Can’t they be self sufficient with me standing right there?!?!!!

Ok so Aleah, my beautiful, sweet, compassionate child! She has started second grade. She had a teacher change and will be placed with the same teacher Isaac had. This is really neat to me because I homeschooled Isaac up til second grade and Mrs. Jonas was the first teacher he had in public school. I believe Aleah will be a Light in her school just as Isaac is. My only concern is she needed to yell a lot with Isaac’s class. She’s just known as a yeller. Wonderful lady don’t get me wrong. But Aleah is very very sensitive. *I* make her cry just making a little joke! We have never needed to raise our voice at Aleah because just a cross look upsets her. I’ve explained to her that sometimes the class in general or part of the class is misbehaving so the teacher must yet to get everyone’s attention, and she should not take it personally. Aleah is very excited to have the same teacher her big brother has. She wanted to take her an apple but I convinced her all women appreciate chocolate! I hear she made a card for Mrs. Jonas as well. That’s Aleah, so giving!

Sorry for the long post. Just some reflective journaling on my part.

power went out… ooh 40 hours ago!

Yep, that’s right! We’ve got a strand of heavy duty extention cords going to our generous neighbors house across the street. Since I started college online yesterday, internet access is kind of important! The kids painted some crafts today, did a clean up, have jumped a lot on the trampoline and rode their bikes so this afternoon I plugged in the computer for us all to get some entertainment and I did some design things.

Wanted to let you know my grab bag has been opened and the new products are in the shoppe and on sale.

Yesterday we got bored and headed out on the town to get all three kids hair cut and they are just adorable! I can see their sweet little faces now! hee hee Then we headed to Bath and Body Works to take advantage of their antibacterial soap sale, 5 for $15. So I finally used a gift card I’ve had for three years. My kids love smelling things so this was pretty entertaining. Well wait, we didn’t check out the first time we went. Of course Kate had to go to the bathroom. So we walked over to Target to use the restroom and then picked up school supplies for Isaac and some new toy bins. Kate likes to sit in the canvas bins and the metal that holds them up gets broken. I got smaller ones this time that do not have metal. And yes, she already sat in one!!! So THEN after checking out we went back to BBW. Then we had a lot of fun clothes shopping at Kohls. Isaac was excited about all the Tony Hawk clothes. Pretty hip stuff I gotta say. I was excited about the sales. And Aleah is finally breaking out of her jeans and tshirt routine. She picked up some really cool outfits. And of course, another Pirates of the Carribean tshirt but this one was not for boys so I’m thrilled!

My laptop has no music on it so I treated it to tunes today. Current faves are:

Bubbly by Colbie Cailat, such a feel good song. Seriously, I dare you not to smile.

Big Girls Don’t Cry by Fergie

Who Knew by Pink

First Time by Lifehouse

I also love Fallout Boy’s song, Thanks for the Memories but I find the lyrics questionable. But what a cool song. I passed on downloading it since it’s not one I want my kids listening to. I shouldn’t have downloaded Sweet Escape for them because once they start singing those “woohoo weehoo’s” it’s not easy to get them to STOP. LOL

No lectures on music from my Christian friends please. If Christian music could just be cooler. I’ve worn Jeremy Camp out. Now what?!

Why does my blog double space every time I enter?! The Digi Shoppe blog doesn’t do that and it’s on wordpress too. I want to fix that. Maybe it’s a template thing? If anyone knows, please tell me.

I should probably go. I have pictures to share. Maybe if I get bored lately. I’ve been neglecting this blog all summer so I guess i have things to share now!

Day 5 – cutting out sugar

Well I’m doing really good in my efforts to cut out sugar. For two weeks I’ve been drowning myself in water. This isn’t so much for weightloss as it is for my skin. And oh boy has my skin broken out! I’m praying that it’s just detox and will be over soon. In the morning, I’ve been drinking 8 oz of hot water with half a lemon squeezed in it. It’s YUCK. I’m not going to be doing it much longer but for detox purposes I have stuck to it. ICK and again I say YUCK.

So coffee has been out. I like sugar in my coffee. Did you know there is corn syrup in sugar free creamers?! Crazy. And you might also be surprised to know that cheese puffs don’t contain sugar. Yesterday’s lesson of the day was “You’re right Jen, cheese puffs don’t have sugar but they also don’t contain anything else healthy so you better stopped tossing a few in your mouth every time you visit the kitchen and don’t cave into the kids, stop buying them! They’re gross!”

Yesterday I went grocery shopping and got some good picks. Ok, so we love bread. A piece of toast with natural peanut butter is a great snack. And there’s your pizza crusts and tortillas. Here’s the answer to cutting out sugar and not giving up bread:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve mentioned this company before when I was eating only raw foods. Great products of sprouted grains. They have an excellent website to help you learn about their products before you shop and also a listing of some of the places that carry their products. www.FoodForLife.com Kroger has a small selection. Call your local health food store first. And remember, they’ll often order what you request. AND they have tortillas that are great for your mexican foods and making little pizzas out of.

So pizza. Red sauce is full of sugar. For pasta too. That’s why it’s so good! LOL I was pleased to find Classico Basil Pesto.

Going to be great for pizza. They also have a SunDried Tomato Pesto that will make a nice light tossing sauce for pasta. Now there is a small amount of sugar in that. But for speed, it’s a good way of cutting down the sugar when you compare it to a thick sauce where sugar is one of the first ingredients. But I’m going to go back to making this recipe if I really want pasta:

In scrapbooking news, I wanted to tell you about the new designer at The Digi Shoppe. Anna Allegra joined the team. She designs paper overlays for personal and commercial use and sells them in SINGLES. Yeah! I’ve been using her templates for a month or two now. And keep watch because more designers are going to be selling in the shop soon! YAY

holding a new baby…

can melt all your cares away! Tricia gave birth to sweet Eliza on Friday and Saturday night I finally got to meet her. I was going crazy all day (which didn’t go as planned) and all the negativity I had pent up in me just drifted away as I held this little darling! She smelled so incredibly good! So soft and so tiny! WOW

My house is such a mess… sigh…

In good news, The Digi Shoppe’s August Sampler is now available and as always it is HOT! And very cool, you can purchase the mini kits and templates seperately or for the best deal just pick up the whole thing. Only $5 for it all. Wowzas!

And look out, in a couple days, some of us are going to release the ever so popular grab bags!

Oooh ohhh.. did you notice the frame on the photo of Eliza and me?! Rose Farver freebie. Thankie Rose!

Summer wrap up

School starts in less than 3 weeks now for our children! wow! The excitement is building as we start picking up supplies. Here’s the cool bag Aleah picked out from Target:

But of course! Pink and skulls! LOL   And speaking of Aleah. She lost 3 teeth this week! THREE!

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I thought I’d give a run down of some of our summer events:

1  Isaac completed summer band playing the saxophone. I’ve definitely noticed improvement the last few weeks while he practices.

2. Aleah loved art camp. She’s such a creative girl.

3. We’ve been house hunting. In general I enjoy it because I like to look at houses. And it’s nice being married to your realtor.

4. I’ve been cleaning the house out in case we do move so I’ll be better prepared.

5. On a whim we set up an aquarium. I’ve wanted to do it for years for Kate as something to soothe her. What started out as me just going to pick up a tiny cheap tank turned into borrowing a 29 gallon tank and needing a new table to put it on. Like any project, it kept getting bigger.

6. I turned 30! Whooo  About a week and a half after my birthday I went out with girlfriends for a late lunch at Applebees and mini golf. After that I walked into a surprise party that wasn’t a surprise, it was a shock! Many thanks to my family and friends! I am blessed!

7. Blessing number 2 and another big shock, my family gave me a laptop! It’s taken me a couple weeks but I’m finally caught up on all the things I’ve missed this summer while I didn’t have time to get on the pc. I looooove this lappy! Really love stretching out in bed with it! HUGE thanks to you all for this gift!!!

8 Last week I signed up to go back to school. My husband has lost his job and while he is doing odd jobs, it’s been rough. I’m trying so so hard to be positive. I know God will provide and it’s going to be an amazing testimony! But it also made me think that right now might be the perfect time to go back to school. I spent 20 minutes doing some research online right before bed about interior design. That is what I wanted to do when I graduated high school.  The Art Institute, where I wanted to go before, came up on a search for online classes so I quickly filled out a form to receive information. To my surprise, an advisor called the next day and we began the process of enrollment! It was that quick!

9 I had the pleasure of throwing a baby shower for my girl, Tricia. Love you so much Tricia! She is expecting surprise baby #3 very soon. We can’t wait to meet this new princess.  Well you know pink is my favorite color so I went all out on the pink when I heard it’s a girl. I had a lot of fun planning and preparing. Thanks so much to my sister and Jeannie for their help that made the party run smoothly!

I’m sure I’ve left things out but that’s the basics. Pshew… busy!