The Slimick Family

To Santa or Not to Santa?

2011-12-22T11:18:00.007-05:00

I have been seeing a lot of these posts around the blog world lately and for obvious reasons....it is Christmas time. Nonetheless, this is something that has been on our minds and a recent post by a friend of mine on her blog sparked me to write my own post.

We are choosing not to "do" Santa in our home. We "did" Santa for the first two years of Sophie's life, not that she will really remember that, but once Neal and I started to root ourselves deeper in our faith we began to realize that maybe this was not the route we wanted to take with her and any other children we may have. Since then we haven't really had to field many questions about Santa Claus, until recently. Sophie is a very smart girl, constantly asking questions and almost always remembering the answers. She pays attention, very close attention in Sunday school and preschool where she learns Bible verses, sings songs about God and attends chapel with her class. All in all the girl is surrounded by the word of God and can tell you about several people and their stories in the Bible. This is definitely not something I was able to do as a child. Sometimes I am convinced that she might know more about the Bible than me! Anyhow, the question came up in October sometime (she had been rehearsing Christmas songs in school since September for her Christmas program so the topic was fresh in her mind) "Mommy, what does Santa have to do with baby Jesus?" I was silent for a minute thinking carefully about my response, but I could tell that the wheels were already turning in her head about the truth and reality of the fat man in the red suit who magically brings presents. I proceeded with my answer, "Well nothing really, he is more like a symbol reminding us to show kindness and love to one another just like Jesus shows all of us". That answer was enough for her at the time and she remembered it when we had our more recent conversation where I went into more detail about how Santa Claus is a character based on the real Saint Nicholas, who she knows about from the VeggieTales movie, but I refreshed her memory with the story anyway. We talked more about Jesus for a while, giving to others in need and she proceeded to tell me how Jesus is real and not a character, but Santa is a character like Dora or Mickey Mouse. I ended the conversation by telling her that Santa Claus gives us gifts and it reminds us of the gift that Jesus gave us which was.......and she finished my sentence by smiling and saying, "HIM!!!!" Siiiiiigh my mommy heart jumped for joy, she gets it and she is joyful about it!

Now, we are most certainly not banning Santa. I would be quite the hypocrite if I did, telling my children that he is a make believe character who needs to be banished and forgotten and then hauling my whole family off to Disney World (which we do, often), a theme park built around a fictional little mouse! We simply want our children to focus on the real reason of the Christmas season, the birth of Jesus Christ. Focus on the true joy that comes from giving and not simply get excited about the prospect of receiving presents. To give not only material gifts to those we love and those in need, but gifts of the heart.

Christmas Stockings

2011-12-18T18:42:00.006-05:00

It's a funny thing to do a blog post on, but I love our family's Christmas stockings. They are each special in their own way. They are not your average run of the mill store bought stockings, ours are all hand knit, with love by family. Neal's stocking was made by his great grandmother on his mother's side and mine and the kids' were all made by my grandmother, Sophie.

The story of how the stockings came to be.....

Neal and I have had our stockings for as long as we can remember. When I was pregnant with Sophie in 2006, I knew that I did not want her to have a store bought stocking, but rather the made-with-love kind her Daddy and I had. At the time my grandmother was feverishly knitting baby blankets for the 3 babies that were about to enter our family (myself and my two cousins were each welcoming little ones that year!) so I thought why not ask if she could whip up a stocking too?! Much to my disappointment my grandmother no longer had the pattern for the stocking that she made for all her children, her children's spouses, and her grandchildren. She did, however tell me that she still had my grandfather's stocking up in the attic that she could simply stitch Sophie's name on. I was overjoyed not only to have a knit stocking for my new baby girl, but what made it all the more special was that it was my grandfather's who passed away when I was just 2 years old.

When Jonah came along in 2009 I knew I was going to need another stocking to keep the tradition going. Knowing that my grandmother could no longer knit one due to the lack of a pattern, my mom offered up her stocking to her new grandson. My mom lovingly stitched Jonah's name onto her stocking making it his.

Fast forward 2 years almost to the day and sweet Maisie Dorothea enters our family. We most certainly could not have mismatched stockings at this point, so my mother already had a plan in place, my father's stocking would become Maisie's.

So while the children's stockings were not made specifically for them, the theme of how they acquired them remains the same........love.

Christmas Program

2011-12-18T14:13:00.008-05:00

Every Monday at school Sophie has music class. Every Monday since September, Sophie and her classmates have been learning and singing Christmas songs all in preparation for the big day on Tuesday, December 14th at 9am when they would all very proudly share with friends and family the fruits of their labor. And man did all that practicing pay off because they all did a fabulous job! I was so proud of my little girl up there singing and doing the hand motions like everyone was there to see just her! It is so silly to say that watching my first baby up there with her class singing away, my eyes welled up with pride. I am not sure if it was all pride or a little bit of sadness mixed in my hormonal pot thinking about how she is growing up and that this time next year she will be in kindergarten, kindergarten people! My mom and dad were able to come and share in Sophie's joy and I took video while Maisie was strapped to the front of me in the Moby, and wow let me tell you how interesting that was. It was quite a feat having a 12ish pound baby strapped to the front of me who's body temp combined with mine could have melted the polar ice caps and trying to hold a very heavy camera steady. Well, I was not very successful in the steady part, but Neal got the idea and Sophie was happy I had the footage to share with him! We were all so proud of Sophie, especially Jonah, who upon seeing her up in front of everyone, proceeded to wave and shout to her, "Hi Sis-Sis, Hi" over and over again! So sweet! He had the whole audience chuckling.

Cedar Lake Tree Farm 2011

2011-12-18T08:49:00.008-05:00

It is our family tradition that every year we head out to good ole' Iron Station, NC to Cedar Lake Tree Farm to pick out our freshly cut tree. My parents and I have been going to this tree farm since we moved to NC, and then once Neal and I married we continued to do the same. It is a family run farm that is truly an awesome experience. Cedar Lake has cows, bulls, turkeys, chickens, donkeys, Santa Claus, and of course Christmas trees. Outside of all the livestock fun probably the most alluring thing is a gigantic mountain of hay bales for the kids to climb all over and perform death defying jumps from...you know the kind that give the on looking mommies a death defying heart attack!

What trip to get a Christmas tree is complete without candy canes? After eating 2 & dropping 1 he proceeded to tell me how "kicky" (sticky) he was!

His "cheese" face.

Smiles

2011-12-06T14:19:00.003-05:00

We got our first official "this is not gas" smile from Maisie on November 19th and like the pictures you see here, it was a thing of beauty. Her smiles have increased in frequency since then and now we get to see that gummy grin several times a day, she is now even attempting to make some noise!

To see my children smile or accomplish anything for the first time melts my heart. To watch joy spread over this new little person's face for the first time ever was amazing and brings my heart such joy to be the person who witnesses it, there will never be another "first smile" and I got to be the one she shared it with.....thank you sweet girl for yet another moment of joy in my life.

Magical Bobo

2011-12-02T06:37:00.005-05:00

Every kid comes up with some sort of crazy name for their pacifier. "Pappy" and "Boppy" are just two of the unique names our friend's children have come up with for their pacifiers. Jonah calls his a "Bobo", how he came up with Bobo is beyond us because we have always said Paci, which doesn't really sound like Bobo to me, but hey to each his own. Anyhow the name Bobo has stuck and now we refer to Maisie's pacifiers as Bobos too.

So now to the point.....I love these pacifiers....ahem....I mean Bobos. We used them with Jonah and they were awesome. I thought I would try another paci with Maisie, those Gumdrop pacis with the straight nipple, yeah no dice she was not having it. I tried them because they were readily available in stores and well priced. The Natursutten ones that I love so much are a bit pricier and you have to order online, Babies R Us stopped carrying them for whatever reason. Both the Gumdrop and the Natursutten are a one piece design, which I love so no water gets trapped with all the frequent washings therefore no bacteria grows either. So when Maisie was not digging the Gumdrop pacis and gagging every time we tried to give them to her, I caved, shelled out the cash and got 4 of them. Well, I should have done that from the beginning, because she took to them immediately and is able to keep them in her mouth a lot better, which Neal had a feeling she would. I think part of it has to do with the shape, the Natursutten nipple is the orthodontic shape and the Gumdrops nipples are straight and I think the other factor is material the Gumdrops are a silicone paci, which none of our kids have liked and the Natursutten is a pure natural rubber, so no chemicals involved huge plus! The other added benefit and maybe why Maisie took to this paci is that since Natursutten's design simulates breastfeeding in that the pacifier touches the baby's nose and chin in a manner similar to the breast when nursing.

So this huge long post about a pacifier all to say, I love them and so does my baby! They soothe her and keep her happy.

Moving On Up......

2011-12-02T06:15:00.004-05:00

.....to the next size diapers that is. At 1 month old Maisie weighs 11 lbs 7 oz, that is 1 lb 7 oz outside the weight range for the newborn prefold diapers she has been sporting since birth, so no wonder why they are a little tight and I was having such difficulty securing them!!! As you can tell from the pictures (which were taken about 2 weeks ago on 11/19/11) the diapers fit, albeit, a little snug, but I got them on her and we had no leaks, actually we very, very rarely get leaks with cloth diapers and if we do it is usually user error. Money savings aside the "no leaks" is another big lure to cloth diapers, we have yet to have a major "blow out" with either child in cloth diapers. The newborn diapers might have fit her for a bit longer if I did not have to put a preemie prefold underneath as a doubler to increase absorbency. Luckily, with a bigger size prefold, like the ones she is now, she does not need a doubler because the diaper is bigger therefore more absorbency.

Sunshine

2011-11-29T10:26:00.001-05:00

Being the good big brother he is, Jonah wanted to share his favorite song & musical abilities with little sis, Maisie.

Perfect.

2011-11-21T17:38:00.004-05:00

My sweet, sweet love.

She Is Five

2011-11-19T13:47:00.008-05:00

Last week my first little girl celebrated her 5th birthday. Wow, I have a 5 year old, wow I have 3 kids, but that is a whole other blog post! Anyhow, since things have been a little, well, busy around here we decided to keep both of the kid's birthdays low key and celebrate with just us. We started the day off for her with the infamous huge balloon and presents of course. It was a pretty low key day, she went on a nature hike with her Daddy where she climbed over fallen trees, jumped off logs, swung from vines and in general had an all out fabulous time. Neal said they probably walked for over a mile in the woods at the end of our cul-de-sac and she was sad they had to come home. She took along her camera so she could snap some photos of all the nature she saw and Daddy even entrusted her with his camera which she actually got some really good shots with. She is definitely following in Daddy's footsteps there with her love for photography. All her birthday dreams came true when after lunch we revealed to her the Silvermist (one of the fairy's from Tinkerbell) cake that she had been talking about for days. All in all even though there was no huge party this year with all her friends, we did our best to make her feel special and make the day all about her. We will make up for it next year when we will certainly have our work cut out for us when we celebrate 3 birthdays all within 3 weeks......stay tuned for that one!

Painting her toes the day before her birthday, a gift from Gigi and Papa Slimick, she was so proud of herself that she painted her toes all on her own.

A Few Firsts

2011-11-16T11:46:00.006-05:00

Maisie's first cloth diaper that I put on, the midwife assistant put the first one on after she was born.....isn't it so tiny? It is a preemie size prefold! So itty bitty! To give you an idea of how tiny, these diapers measure 11x11. She has since moved on to these AND a newborn prefold together because she is such a heavy wetter! I will try and snap a picture of that, the newborn prefolds aren't much bigger, I think they are 11x13, but a bit thicker. This is my first time cloth diapering a newborn, I did not start with Jonah until he was about 3 or 4 months old, so it was a bit of a challenge getting the hang of putting cloth on such a tiny human!
10/28/2011

First time meeting Papa & Gigi Slimick
10/29/2011

First Bath
11/7/2011

First time outside in the Moby
11/9/2011

Our midwife came back on November 10th for the second postpartum visit, everything is fabulous, Maisie looks great and since her birth has gained a whole 1 pound and 1 ounce! As of November 10th her weight was up to 9lbs 5ozs. I am certain she probably weighs more than that now since she eats like a champ!

Semper Fi

2011-11-10T16:43:00.007-05:00

Today the Marine Corp celebrates it's 236th birthday and what better way to honor his decorated veteran Marine Papa Keilty than with a spiffy new Marine buzz cut!

HAPPY

236th

MARINE

CORP

BIRTHDAY

PAPA KEILTY!!!!!

SEMPER FI

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day don't forget to thank the Veterans in your life and/or active duty service men and women for putting their lives on the line for us!

Red Friend

2011-11-10T16:35:00.005-05:00

Jonah has a new friend. He came all the from Finland and arrived yesterday courtesy of Uncle Joe and his girlfriend, Mirka. Jonah has aptly named him, Friend.

The Birth Of Maisie

2011-11-06T14:35:00.002-05:00

***This is kind of lengthy, feel free to not read it, I really needed to get her story down before I forgot all the details, since this blog also serves as my personal record keeper! ***

At 41 weeks I was over being pregnant, way over being pregnant. 41 weeks was October 26th and throughout the day I had experienced some random, but mild contractions, I thought nothing of it since, at this point, I had convinced myself that this baby was never coming out. So I pretty much ignored the contractions and went about my day. They eventually tapered off and disappeared. By that night though, around 7:30pm they started coming back and for kicks Neal started to keep track of their frequency, they were anywhere from 10-15 minutes apart, nothing alarming, but in the back of my mind I was getting a little excited. We continued on with our nightly routine of getting the kids in bed and having chill time together. Around 11pm or so we decided that we should head to bed as the contractions were still happening, but not as frequently and if they did happen to pick back up we would need some sleep to get through the rest of the labor process. Sometime around 2am on October 27th, I was awoken by a rock-your-world contraction and by 2:45 we were rocking a steady pattern of every 3-5 minutes. Neal and I both busily went to work getting what we could ready for the kids to go stay at my parent's house. Again the contractions, tapered and got further apart so we decided to head back to bed around 3:30am. That did not work out so well, at least for me, Neal slept fine while I writhed in pain at the non stop contractions that had me nearly crawling out of my skin. After a really hard, long contraction at 5:30am we decided that it might be time to call my parents and have them head our way to pick up the kids. The kids were up shortly after my phone call to my mom, I finished packing up their stuff and by 7am my parents arrived and you guessed it.......contractions.....not so much. We went ahead with the plan and my parents took the kids back to their house, Jonah couldn't have been more excited! Neal had a doctor's appointment that morning that we decided he should go to since the action was at a standstill. So there I was, sitting. on my couch. in a childless house. with no contractions. at all. SUCK. By 9:30am I was feeling really defeated and to be honest quite silly, like I had jumped the gun on sending the kids to my parent's house and having Neal staying home from work, I was sort of starting to get a little angry. Neal got home from his appointment at 10am we went for a brisk walk, which did nothing but give me cramps in my sides! We then decided to hit up our local health food store for some Castor oil to help really get the party started. Came home took the Castor oil promptly at 12:54pm and and felt a contraction shortly after at 1:06pm. Then for some added oomph I also took alternating doses of Black and Blue Cohosh for 30 minutes (we bowled on the Wii while I took the herbs, even with contractions I am still a better bowler!) followed by a brisk walk for 30 minutes, which this time was not so brisk due to the fact that the contractions were long and steady coming anywhere between 3-5 minutes. After the walk, contractions slowed a bit and it was another round of alternating Black and Blue Cohosh. Things really got going after the herbs were finished up and by 4:30pm it was unbearable and I thought it was time to put a call into the midwife, whom after hearing me on the phone promptly started her journey to our house. She arrived a little before 6pm, my water broke shortly after that and I climbed into the birthing pool, which almost immediately made me feel a lot better. At this point my body was completely ready to birth this baby, I started pushing a little after 6pm and by 7:13pm a beautiful baby girl finally graced us with her presence. From start to finish of the true contractions that never let up at 1:06pm until she was born at 7:13pm it was 6 hours of hard labor, a far cry from the 14.5 hours with Sophie and the 16.5 hours with Jonah! The recovery has been a night and day difference from Jonah's birth, I feel great and don't feel so out of it this time, since I managed to keep most of my blood inside my body this time.

We are now adjusting to having a 3rd little one in our home and so far so good, granted Neal is still on his 2 weeks of paternity leave, so ask me again next week how things are going! Both Sophie and Jonah love Maisie and have taken to having a new little sister very well.

Our midwife came back Saturday, November 5th, for her first follow up visit to check on Maisie and I. Maisie is doing great, she is now 8lbs 12ozs from her birth weight of 8lbs 4ozs!!

Croup is no fun on your birthday....

2011-11-06T14:34:00.001-05:00

On Monday, Halloween, we knew Jonah had croup due to the tell tale "barking seal" cough, we just wouldn't find out how bad it would get until the following day, his birthday, when he woke from his nap.

He was most certainly not himself Monday, and rightfully so, with a fever (controlled by Motrin) and a very violent sounding cough all he wanted to do was sleep. The next day, on his birthday, he woke relatively ok and came downstairs to his huge Thomas the Train balloon, of which he adored. We played and had a relatively uneventful morning just trying to keep him from overdoing it. After lunch we celebrated with a Thomas the Train cake, which naturally he was super excited about, but as you can probably see from the pictures he just had "sick eyes" and wasn't really himself, poor guy. Nonetheless he blew out his candles with a smile on his face and happily ate artificially dyed blue frosting, as did we all :) We planned on opening his presents after he and Sophie woke from their naps, however that is not how the afternoon played out. I was in the nursery nursing Maisie and Neal was in keeping me company when we heard Jonah barking/coughing over the monitor, something inside told Neal he needed to go check on him and good thing he did, because he walked in to find Jonah sitting up in his bed gasping for air, unable to get any. Neal said Jonah had a look of pure terror on his face as he looked to Neal for help. His chest was going in and out, unnaturally so, but no air was getting to his lungs. Neal took action and got Jonah into the bathroom with the shower on full blast hot to get some steam to help open up his airway, which come to find out afterwards cold air, i.e. the freezer is best, but the steam did the trick this time, enough so that Jonah could get some air. From there we got Jonah to the doctor ASAP where he had a breathing treatment and a daily dose of steroids for the next 4 days. A scary little start to our week, but it ended well and our little guy is slowly getting back to himself. We did make sure that he got to open his presents the very next morning. He was still a little pitiful, but he enjoyed his presents.

Leaves and Dry Ice

2011-11-06T14:33:00.001-05:00

The kids enjoyed a beautiful afternoon outside playing in the leaves, even Maisie got to outside for a little bit, the weather was that nice.

My Aunt, Uncle, and Grandmother sent us a very, very nice care package of assorted Omaha Steak products to help keep us nourished while we adjust to our new life. In the cooler along with the meats was a very large chunk of dry ice, which we proceeded to have LOADS of fun with in the kitchen sink! The kids got a huge kick out of the smoke that the ice produced. Sophie was a little hesitant at first but eventually came around to the idea that the smoke was not going to hurt her. Based on the pictures I am not sure who had more fun, Neal or the kids???

Well Hello There Baby........

2011-10-28T09:30:00.000-04:00

GIRL!!!!!

Meet Maisie Dorothea

Maisie was born peacefully at home on Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 7:13pm. She was 8lbs 4ozs and 21 inches long with APGAR scores of 9/9. Mama is doing exceptionally well and so is Maisie, we are so happy to have her here....FINALLY!!!

The meaning of her name is this, like her mama's name Meghan, Maisie, is a derivitive of Margaret which means pearl, child of light. Not only do we love the idea of having Maisie and mama sharing variants of the same name, but pearls have also been thought to promote sincerity, truth and loyalty, all gifts we hope fill her life. Our prayer for this little girl is that she grows to love the Lord is able to go out into the world and be a light to those in need. Ephesians 5:8 (ESV) for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Her middle name Dorothea, is after Meghan's grandmother Dorothea Loretta, which means divine gift or gift of God. That is just what this sweet baby girl is, a gift from God.

Welcome to the world baby girl, we are so glad you have come!

Bath Time & Pumpkins

2011-10-26T22:12:00.008-04:00

Thoroughly enjoying bath time.

Jonah got to paint his pumpkin and the Baby's pumpkin while Sophie and Daddy carved her pumpkin and one of the bigger ones.

Seeing as I seem to always be pregnant around Halloween time (although this time I didn't think I would make it this close to Halloween) we started when I was pregnant with Sophie painting my belly to look like a pumpkin, and we did it with Jonah which you can see HERE.

Jonah made the nose, Sophie did the mouth and the mustache, on top of the nose!

Jonah was clearly VERY upset that we were all done painting my belly.

STILL Waiting......

2011-10-23T21:20:00.006-04:00

We are still anxiously, eagerly, and very impatiently awaiting the arrival of Baby #3! Instead of hanging around our neck of the woods today wondering when this baby would arrive, we decided to load up and head down to Papa & Gigi Keilty's for the day, take a bumpy ride in their golf cart and brisk walks to help encourage Baby along.....it didn't work, but we had fun!

Jonah is convinced he can drive the golf cart.

My little girl looking so grown up.

Gigi having a little fun herself.

My incredibly handsome husband.

Hopefully our last family photo with #3 on the inside!

REALLY?!?!?!

2011-10-19T04:32:00.003-04:00

Today is 40 weeks, 40 weeks, people, that I have been pregnant. This is a new record for me, considering the first two pregnancies were only 38 weeks. So, while I know that I am completely in the normal range, especially since due dates are really only an estimate and should not be relied heavily on, I still feel like I am "overdue" for my typical length pregnancy. I guess that is why there is the saying, "every pregnancy is different". I seriously set myself up for failure in this department, I really thought, surely this pregnancy would be just like the others as far as the length of the pregnancy, if not sooner seeing as my body has already done this a couple times. Nope not the case, because here I am typing away on the computer at 4:30am, 40 weeks pregnant (I've been up since 2:31am) due to a headache, and just all around uncomfortablness (not sure that is a word, but I'm going with it).

Neal, along with my midwife, both keep reminding me that this is not about me or my timing, that it is about the baby entering the world the when it is ready and it truly is all God's timing. So, I will wait, and attempt to be patient in doing so. I am so anxious and excited to meet this baby and see just WHO is in there!

Our Weekend In Pictures

2011-10-17T10:43:00.003-04:00

39 Weeks

2011-10-14T05:55:00.001-04:00

A Girl and Her Tutu

2011-10-09T22:20:00.007-04:00

In an attempt to be frugal, and my oh my was it a frugal (and simple) little project, I made Sophie a tutu for her to wear for Halloween. She loves her new rainbow (her request, girl is into rainbows!) tutu and has worn it everyday since I completed it. It started off she was going to be a ballerina for Halloween, but has quickly turned into a ballerina butterfly fairy and whatever else that sparkles costume! Such a girly little girl, however not too girly that she couldn't catch bugs and ride her scooter down the street to play with her buddy Brakian and climb trees! Love it!

She is wearing shorts underneath the tutu it's just hard to tell under all that fluff!

Yes that is a very large praying mantis on her arm!

Pumpkin Patch 10/2/11

2011-10-07T22:14:00.005-04:00

35 Weeks

2011-09-13T13:48:00.004-04:00

Today was my 35 week (almost, technically it is really 34wks 6days, but who's counting) appointment with my oh so fabulous midwife. The appointment went well for the most part. The positive first...I am now measuring right on at 35cm, whereas the past two visits I was measuring 2cm smaller than I "should" be. So that is good, I was glad to hear that since I really don't want to cook this baby any longer than I have to and a smaller baby might mean it would want to stay in there longer......not part of my plan. I have only gained 3lbs since my last visit, guess that means I can keep on keeping on with my level of ice cream intake! ;) And no I am not willing to share exactly how much weight I have gained, let's just say it is enough! I am 2cm dilated, there are a few other positive details to go along with that, but might fall into the TMI category so we will just leave it at that.

Now for the not so positive. Apparently I have a problem with iron absorption. My midwife checked my iron levels today and to quote her "your iron levels stink" I think she was just as disappointed as I was. It was really disheartening to hear since I (along with Neal aka the "Iron Police") have been so diligent about taking all my supplements to boost my iron intake along with cooking everything possible in our cast iron skillet. My iron levels dropped this appointment and typically at this point in a pregnancy is when the iron levels should start to increase again, not the case for me. This happened with Jonah which explains my inability to bounce back very quickly, I felt depleted for weeks after his birth and I do not want a repeat this time, so I think that is why this time I am so determined to bring my levels back up. So we will continue to supplement with any and every herb that we can and do it with natural supplements, none of that nasty artificially man made stuff that your body has no idea how to process not to mention constipates the heck out of anyone who looks at it!

My thyroid........ahhhhh my lovely little friend who just likes to mix it up and give me grief. I received a letter from my Endocrinologist the other day stating that my levels remain elevated at this point, but he is still not pursuing any course of treatment, since the baby's thyroid is functioning all on it's own and is in no danger. The levels that are elevated (TSH) he is really not concerned about, my Free T4 levels are fine which are what he would be alarmed and seek treatment for if they had been abnormal. I am very aware that my "not so positive" issues could be a lot worse and there are many women who have a lot greater issues than I do, I am just thankful that my issues are what they are...........this too shall pass.

Suffice it to say that with super low iron levels, a thyroid in overdrive, two kids running around and a mini acrobat growing inside of me..............I AM EXHAUSTED!

LOOOOVE THIS!

2011-09-13T06:58:00.007-04:00

So most everyone knows that I use cloth diapers on Jonah and have since he was about 3 months old and that I plan on using cloth on the newbie arriving soon (we hope!). Usually when asked about cloth diapering I am so excited that someone is interested that I have a hard time answering all their questions in a concise manner and end up doing the opposite of what I intended....overwhelming the said inquisitive person! Upon reading one of my favorite cloth diaper blogs, The Cloth Diaper Whisperer, this morning THIS is the post that greeted me! I was pretty excited because it pretty much sums up what I always want to share with inquisitive mamas, but never seem to be able to convey!

This is what currently makes up my stash for Jonah and the Newbie:

Thirsties Duo Wraps and Thirsties sized covers, pretty much in every color and print (except the girly ones).

Prefolds (these go underneath the wraps/covers)

Bottombumpers All In Ones (the absorbent part and waterproof part "all in one) makes cloth diapers easier/quicker for others changing the baby's diaper. Right now I only have these for Jonah.

These are just a few things that if the budget allows I would LOVE to have for the new baby because they are just so stinkin' cute!

Weehuggers Diaper Covers

Grovia Newborn All In Ones

Did I mention I LOVE cloth diapering?!?!?!?

I Blinked and This Happened........

2011-09-09T08:02:00.002-04:00

Maybe We Are Slightly Hippie-ish.....

2011-09-09T07:57:00.004-04:00

Little Chicken Lovers

2011-08-25T15:07:00.004-04:00

The kids had a little extra energy the other night before bed, so in order to burn off their extra "crazy" we let them run around the yard and chase the chickens.......good times.

29 Weeks

2011-08-03T22:23:00.003-04:00

Dessert Fun

2011-08-03T22:11:00.005-04:00

Dessert is not really our thing around here. Don't get me wrong, we LOOOVE our sweet treats, all 4 of us, especially me these days! However, we try not to keep much of the sweet stuff stocked in the pantry or make dessert after dinner a nightly ritual in order to establish healthy eating habits for the children. That said we do indulge from time to time and last night we had some fun with it. I found the recipe here and was totally inspired!!!! I highly recommend testing this out with your kiddos! It was a big hit all around!

Home Birth Hits Early Morning TV!!!

2011-08-01T10:34:00.005-04:00

I really can not add anything else to what was said in this piece that aired this morning on ABC's Good Morning America . I did not personally see the original airing of the piece, but my dad did and let me know about it. Thanks Dad! I certainly don't believe that home birthing is for everyone, and I respect other women and their choice to birth in the hospital and maybe this will help others respect and understand my choice TO birth at home and not see it as such a "strange" option.

Hippies Aren't The Only Home Birthers........

2011-07-23T15:18:00.008-04:00

I wanted to share this article about Home Birth from a website I frequent, because not only do I think Home Birth is an awesome thing, but also just to show others that is not some crazy choice that only super crunchy or "granola" type families choose. It is a fabulous choice for many and not that my motive for choosing home birth was based on a celebrity endorsement (nor should anyone else's), but funny thing about celebrities....they tend to bring more awareness to certain topics and make things more acceptable to the mainstream public. The article isn't ground-breaking or supremely written, but viewed from the eyes of someone who oft gets gets strange looks or comments about my choice to have my second, much less my third child at home, it is fun to see an article like this that isn't bogged down with negativity.

Celebrities and Homebirth

by Monica Beyer

With the arrival of daughter Maxine on May 1, 2011, 311 frontman Nick Hexum not only witnessed the homebirth of his child; he was actually the person who delivered her. He and his wife, Nikki, had arranged for a homebirth (their second) with a midwife present, but baby Maxine’s arrival took less time than anticipated and she made her presence known before the midwife’s arrival. Even though the delivery wasn’t without a few tense moments, the proud dad reported that the experience was overwhelming and incredible.

While daddy deliveries are still somewhat rare, celebrity homebirth is becoming more prevalent. Here are a few examples:

Jennifer Connelly’s daughter Agnes Lark was born at home on May 31, 2011
Gisele Bündchen delivered her son at home in her bathtub in December of 2009
Nelly Furtado experienced a homebirth in 2003 with her daughter Nevis
Cindy Crawford had two homebirths — son Presley and daughter Kaia
Pamela Anderson’s two sons were born at home
Kelly Preston had a baby boy at home in November of 2010
Erykah Badu birthed all three of her children at home

Mothers choose homebirth for a number of reasons — a desire to avoid the unnecessary medical interventions that often accompany hospital births, a sense of empowerment and ability, and a wish to be at home, in comfort, surrounded with the ones they love.

Giselle Bündchen has become one of the most outspoken celebrities on homebirth. She has openly talked about blogged about the experience. She said, “It was the most amazing experience of my life, feeling him come through my body. And once he was born, I never felt so empowered as looking at him and thinking, Oh, my God, we did it together!”

If you are considering a homebirth, you are in excellent company. Not only will you join the many celebrities who are keen on keeping the birth experience natural and at home, but the countless couples worldwide who are hopeful to allow their bodies to do what nature intended in the best environment possible.

About Monica: Monica has been writing professionally since 2000 and has two published books — Teach Your Baby to Sign and Baby Talk. Her writing appears in a number of websites. The mother of four children, Monica is a cloth diaper and natural parenting enthusiast. She also sews custom fleece soakers at Mama Bird.

I Heart........

2011-07-14T06:59:00.004-04:00

Cloth diapers....this is actually laundry I don't mind doing. Can't wait for the little bitty diapers too for baby #3!

Beach Bump.......21 Weeks

2011-06-11T22:06:00.003-04:00

Hilton Head 2011 Sneak Peek

2011-06-11T22:03:00.003-04:00

16 Weeks

2011-05-23T20:16:00.005-04:00

I have finally gotten around to posting the pictures we took almost 3 weeks ago now. Yes, things are a little behind as I am just now getting to post the 16 week maternity shot, even though if you look in the right hand side bar of this blog at the pregnancy ticker you will notice I am fast approaching 19 weeks! Life just gets crazy sometimes, I don't know how all these people with Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and whatever else there is keep up with it all, I have a hard enough time keeping up with one blog, texting, and actual people! Not to mention I rely on someone else to edit my photos, who is a very busy, husband, father, hard working editor/producer, and photographer so things get a little delayed and that's ok. But nonetheless we always have pictures it is just a matter of sharing them with you all!

Smoothies, Protein Balls and Crayons

2011-05-18T14:23:00.006-04:00

Smoothies are a fan favorite around here so while there has not been much happening blog worthy lately, I thought I would share my recipe for the one I make pretty much on a daily basis for the the kiddos and myself. If there is left over smoothie I just put it in popsicle molds for an instant sweet treat later on, Sophie especially loves it this way!

Smorgishborg Smoothie

For the frozen fruits I just sort of eye up how much I want in there but if you need some sort of measurement I would say it is at least two good sized handfuls of each.

Frozen Mango
Frozen Strawberries
Frozen Blueberries
2-3 Kale leaves (stems removed)
1 whole Banana
1 tsp Alfalfa powder
2 TBSP Liquid Chlorophyll
Orange Juice (enough to make it all liquidy and smoothie like)

Blend until smooth!

Why I use the ingredients I do:
Mango - improves digestion, lowers cholesterol, improves concentration and memory, helps clear pores, rich in iron, helps fight diabetes, high in antioxidents which are known preventors of cancer and heart disease.

Strawberries - high amounts of dietary fiber, antioxidents, anti-inflammatory, loaded with Vitamin C and Manganese and the Potassium, Vitamin K and Magnesium help build strong bones.

Blueberries - highest antioxident capacity of all fruit, neutralizes free radicals which can affect disease and aging, improved urinary tract health, aids in better vision and brain health, high fiber content.

Kale - full of Vitamins A,K, & C, antioxidents and anti-inflammatory properties help fight cancer, high fiber is heart healthy, aids in digestion, lowers blood sugar and curbs overeating.

Banana - good source of potassium, minimizes the risk of kidney stones, highest source of naturally available Vitamin B6 which helps your body to make hemoglobin a crucial ingredient in blood.

Alfalfa - contains 8 essential amino acids, rich in calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and zinc, a good source of beta carotene. This superfood provides a plethora of other AWESOME health benefits....just Google it and see for yourself!

Liquid Chlorophyll - cancer fighting, high levels of Vitamins A, C, & E making it a strong anti- inflammatory and antioxident, binds to and removes toxic heavy metals (like mercury) from your body, aids our bodies tissue in fighting germs, rapid delivery of magnesium, contains Vitamins K, C, folic acid, iron, calcium and protein which are all essential in building and repairing red blood cells and boosting our immune system.

Another new favorite I tested out recently was a recipe I found for protein balls. It had chocolate in it so I figured all members (myself included) of the Slimick fam would enjoy!

No Bake Protein Balls

3/4 cup Truvia ( I do not use Truvia so I just used my Demerara sugar, but any pure, natural cane sugar will do)
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup coconut oil or butter (I used coconut oil because of it's benefits)
1/2 cup vanilla or chocolate almond milk ( I used unsweetened unflavored)
1/2 cup NATURAL peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups chocolate whey crisps (ok I really have no idea what these are so I went to the health food store and bought a healthy non-high fructose syrup containing brown rice crisp cereal I figured it was close enough, just thought I would include what the recipe actually called for in case anyone actually had whey crisps on hand!)

1 scoop chocolate protein powder, the recipe did not call for this but I added it anyway.

Combine first 4 ingredients in saucepan and bring to rolling boiling for 1-2 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and drop by the tablespoon onto wax paper. Let cool and Enjoy. As a side note, I had to put mine in the fridge and store them there to help keep their firm texture.

They came out really good and were a HUGE hit with the kids and Neal. My mom even enjoyed them.

We have a lot of broken unused pitiful looking crayons around here, as I am sure many households with young children do. Not wanting to be wasteful these poor excuses for children's art supplies lay hidden away in our dark art closet, feeling inspired and on top of my game yesterday I enlisted the help of my ever willing husband to help me tear off all the little itty bitty stuck on like glue paper from ALL of our children's broken crayons so that Sophie and I could make recycled muffin crayons today!

Recycled Muffin Crayons

Lots of broken crayons with the paper peeled off
Muffin tins
Cooking spray ( I don't use cooking spray so I opted for a bit of vegetable oil on a paper towel to coat my muffin tins with)

Spray or rub oil into muffin tins, break up crayons into smallish pieces so they fit in the tins. Combine like colors or combine non like colors, make 'em funky and fun!

Bake in a 275 degree oven for 8 minutes. Ours took longer not sure if it was the type of crayons we used or what so just watch yours until they are melty. Take them out of the oven let cool you can put them in the fridge or freezer to speed up the process if you have eager excited children! Color!

A Long Overdue Post.....

2011-05-09T21:01:00.005-04:00

No, I did not fall into a deep, dark black hole......I've just been pregnant with two little ones running around trying to keep up with life that just seems to be whirling by me at rapid speed! Imagine how crazy it will be with 3 children, ahhhh yes I can hear the sound of crying now, me that is, not the kids........just kidding. It was a rough first couple of weeks with the pregnancy, feeling like well, you know something stuck to the bottom of your shoe for about 13ish weeks and having to care for two little ones was not really my idea of fun, but we roughed it out and came out relatively unharmed! Now the daunting task of just making sure I get a enough rest and have enough pep to get through the day is my challenge, I am a night owl by nature, but I pay for it and hate myself in the morning when I hear a chubby little red head quacking like a duck over the monitor at 6:30am, followed shortly after at 7am by quiet unlatching his older sister's door wondering if in fact Daddy has yet left for work.

We have been busy to say the least, just doing life and living it up. We have indeed added two more chickens to the Slimick Farm, they remain unnamed at the moment, but we are working on it. Once they stopped getting picked on by our other 4 chickens and they get acclimated to their new surroundings we will be sure to share some photos of our newest feathered family members.

Until then enjoy some random photos of our crazy adorable children on an outing we had last month to our local natural history museum, and yes after actually viewing these pictures and seeing how long our son's hair was we cut it soon after. Rest assured Jonah now looks like a little boy who has parents who love him.

CHICKEN LOVE

2011-03-14T14:47:00.003-04:00

Our girls are growing up and getting big! We really can't believe how much they have grown and it really is evident when we look back at the pictures of when we first brought them home, click HERE to see those pics.

Sophie and Jonah seriously love the chickens. Sophie truly asks to go outside and "play" with the chickens, which really involves her just chasing them around the backyard. Really though, it is no longer a chase since the chickens have sort of given up on running away from her, they have realized that she is RELENTLESS and will not quit chasing them until she has gotten to "love" one of them. Now they see her coming and just squat down prepared for the loving that is coming their way! Jonah, well, he just wants to hug and kiss them..........my tenderhearted little man.

Now that we are getting 4 eggs a day, Neal has made it clear that he wants more chickens, at least 2 more he says. We'll see what happens! Who knows the Slimick Farm could be growing folks!

Butterfly

Roxy

Mabel

Betty

THAT ONE'S MINE

2011-03-01T21:04:00.006-05:00

YUP......THE ONE BEHIND THE PLATE WITH ALL THE FOOD IN HIS HAIR........THAT'S MY SON.

MATH

2011-02-20T20:49:00.006-05:00

ONE

PLUS

EQUALS HAPPY, EXCITED, AND VERY BLESSED PARENTS!

Welcoming Baby #3 sometime in mid October!

GRATEFUL

2011-02-11T14:17:00.006-05:00

Yes, very, very Grateful........

Grateful that the Lord was with my husband when this happened to him yesterday on his way home from work.

Grateful that the only real damage done was to my husband's now (more than likely) totaled Jeep.

Grateful that aside from some manageable aches and pains (Thanks to Dr. Layne) Neal is ok.

Grateful, when I think of how much worse it could have been.

Yes, even Grateful that the man who made an unyielding u-turn out in front of my husband causing this accident was not seriously injured either.

FIRE STATION VISIT

2011-02-11T14:11:00.005-05:00

Today my friend Heather and I took the kids to the Fire Station near her house. We have been talking about doing this for some time and have finally gotten around to it. As you can see from the pictures the kids had a blast climbing around inside the fire truck and 'driving'. I honestly think they were a little sad to go home! Thanks Heather for bringing your camera so we could capture the fun memories!

CHOCOLATE PUDDING WITH A TWIST

2011-01-31T07:19:00.005-05:00

I love chocolate, therefore so do my children! I LOVE this chocolate pudding and I don't feel too guilty about eating it or serving it to my kids. As you can see from the pictures it was a huge hit with Jonah.......no pics of Sophie since hers was GONE before Neal could bust out the camera!

Chocolate Pudding

1/4 cup butter

1 cup avocado puree

1 cup confectioners sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 cornstarch cup (you can use less, but your pudding won't be as thick)

In a medium saucepan melt butter over low heat. Stir in avocado puree, sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla. Cook mashing well with a spatula to smooth out any avocado lumps, until the mixture thickens, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and gradually stir in cornstarch. Serve warm.

Like father like daughter......

GONE.......I think she liked it!

In the bathroom for clean up since he was a chocolate mess!!

THE FIRST EGG

2011-01-31T07:16:00.003-05:00

Sophie was pretty darn excited when Neal came back from the chicken coop with an egg! This particular egg is from Roxy, she is the oldest, therefore the first to start laying eggs, the other 3 , Betty, Mabel, and Butterfly should follow suit in the next few months. As it stands Roxy gives us an egg a day!

FINGER PAINT - A MINI SCIENCE LESSON

2011-01-20T12:47:00.006-05:00

We don't exactly have a curriculum that we follow, but we do "lessons" here and there. So, whether Sophie is assisting me in the kitchen or we actually sit down and work on numbers, letters, reading books or her Bible, we are always learning something around here, whether she knows she is learning something or not ;)

Today we did what you could probably consider a science activity - we made our own finger paint. Sophie called it goopy stuff and made more of a mess than a work of art, but hey with kids it's all about the process rather than the end product! I got the recipe out of my multifaceted book, Super Baby Food, this book is great not only does it have a plethora healthy foods and recipes to make for children, but it is full of resourceful crafts and other great ideas using a lot of what you have on hand at home, so it is frugal too!

This was a great activity Sophie really enjoyed it and although it was a tad bit messy, the clean up was pretty easy!

Finger Paint
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 cups cold water
food coloring

Combine cornstarch and water in a saucepan and boil until thick. After the liquid has reached the desired consistency remove from the heat and add a few drops of dish washing liquid to make clean up easier. Pour into separate containers and add your food coloring. The mixture cooled relatively quickly and our "paint" was cool to the touch once we were done adding our food coloring and was ready to be used. You can use this as traditional finger paint on paper or with a brush, or on a smooth surface like a cookie sheet or counter top. This is a great sensory activity!

Mixing up "Watermelon Red"

Adding the food coloring to make "Jungle Green"

Practicing her sad face that Neal taught her.

Loving her "goopy stuff"

JONAH'S FIRST ICE CREAM - BEN & JERRY'S

2011-01-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

BED HEAD

2011-01-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

CRAZY KIDS

2011-01-13T08:00:00.001-05:00

SNOW DAY - DECEMBER 26, 2010

2011-01-12T14:09:00.005-05:00

What happens when...........

2010-12-16T20:43:00.005-05:00

Mommy leaves you in Daddy's care for 5 minutes

Daddy hears the crinkling of plastic and wonders what it could be

Mommy comes back down stairs and asks where the boy is

Mommy and Daddy enter the play room to find......

the boy has made off with a candy cane from the Christmas tree

and is thoroughly enjoying it

at least until Mommy takes it away

moving on to watching chickens instead

Little Ninja

2010-12-16T20:11:00.005-05:00

Friday December 10th, Sophie had her belt graduation for Karate. So, now instead of just a plain old white belt she is a Yellow Stripe belt! Basically, the graduation is a way of showing parents, grandparents etc, what the kids have learned, accomplished and gained from the classes, it is not a test they have to pass, to put it in her instructor's words, "they have already done all the work". Neal took off from work a little early and Gigi and Papa Slimick came too and Sophie was so proud to show us what she could do. It was so great to see a sense of accomplishment on her face when she got her new belt. Those Little Ninjas (that's the name of her class) all worked hard and their new belts were well deserved.

Ready Stance - ready to learn
(Mr. Mike will call out the stances and the kids have to get in the correct stance and say what it stands for making sure they always say "Sir" at the end.

Self-defense Stance - common sense before self defense

Guard Stance - never give up

Bow - courtesy and respect

One, two punch

Slip, Slip, Roll

Snap Kick

Side Kick

Her main instructor and gym owner, Mr. Mike.

How We Decorate......

2010-12-14T06:47:00.004-05:00

Sophie wanted to help in every capacity!

Naturally, Jonah is fascinated with the tree and lights. He keeps trying to blow the lights out and stick my cooking utensils on the tree like ornaments.

Jonah enjoyed rolling around and breaking ornaments.
(Luckily they were ornaments we don't use)

She was quite into decorating this year

She was SO excited to put the star on the tree.

it's a wonderful life.........

2010-12-07T22:15:00.009-05:00

A couple of weekends ago we set out for a family photo shoot to get some pictures for our Christmas card and to document our ever changing children! I have to say that I was pretty pleased, actually overjoyed with the way they turned out. This is the way we will be doing photos from now on, just us and Neal's trusty tripod and keen eye for style and design. Here are a few of my favorites from the day........there are many more favorites of mine, but I figured posting all of them would get a bit redundant! Enjoy my beautiful family and the talent of my husband.

A Throwback to 1982

2010-12-07T21:18:00.004-05:00

Aside from giving birth to him and his red hair (mine was red as a baby and my birth father had red hair) there is not much about Jonah that I can claim. He looks just like Neal, he even looks like Neal as a baby, in fact Sophie actually mistook a baby photo of Neal for Jonah!

Then my mom brought over this photo, sorry for the quality folks, apparently 1982 was big on Polaroids. Now, I am not saying that he looks just like me, but there are some similarities, Neal and I have settled on the fact that we think he has my mouth and nose, but was blessed with Neal's ears, because to quote my loving husband, "you have big ears, babe". Thanks honey.

Celebrating Sophie

2010-12-02T21:48:00.010-05:00

Sophie's birthday was celebrated over the course of several days and two parties, well three actually if you count the trip to the Tea Room! My grandmother, who Sophie is named for, my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Chris came for a visit and timed it perfectly to celebrate both of the children's birthdays! My aunt and my grandmother LOVE the Tea Room, so we have to go when they come and Sophie is very much into tea these days so we all got dressed up for tea complete with hats and went there on Sophie's birthday, it was lots of fun. Then she had a party with 4 of her friends where they dressed as their favorite princess, colored their own tea cups, and frosted and decorated their own cupcakes, just two words for that one.... SUGAR OVERLOAD literally, but it was fun. Then we ended the birthday celebrations with a nice family party with Neal's parents, my parents and Uncle Joe. All in all let's just say that November is a pretty busy month for us, with birthdays right in the beginning and then followed up by Thanksgiving and then we dive right into Christmas! Come January I'm going to need a really long nap!!!

Posing with her presents on birthday morning.

So excited about the color your own Kid Robot cupcake

Another Kid Robot figure, this one is a Bunny Pirate, named Clutter. They are little figures that vary depending on the artist who designed them, Neal and Sophie collect them together and are fans of Kid Robot's designs.

Ready for the Tea Room.

I had to get her a little cake for the actual day of her birthday, you can't go with out cake on your birthday!

Auntie Nancy, Uncle Chris and Great Grammy Sophie.

Princess Sophie

Princess Claire

Princess Madison

Princess Morgan

That mountain of blue and green on top of her cupcake??? Yeah that's sprinkles.

Loving her Toy Story cake.

I am now the proud Mama of a 4 and 1 year old! Man time flies!

Meet The Girls

2010-11-23T16:28:00.003-05:00

I would like to formally introduce you to "the girls" as we so affectionately refer to them. Roxy, the Barred Rock, the stripey looking one, she is Neal's chicken. Betty, a Black Sex Link, the black and amber one, she is Jonah's. Mabel, an Amber Link, the one in the back who sort of reminds me of a toasted marshmallow, she is mine. And finally, Butterfly, another Amber Link, the little cream colored one in the front, well she is Sophie's, I mean didn't her name give way to who her owner was?

They love to hide out under the shed, we finally had to cut off their access under the shed for fear they would feel too safe under there and start laying their eggs there.

A better look at Mabel, seriously though does she not remind you of a perfectly toasted marshmallow?

Celebrating Jonah

2010-11-15T17:07:00.012-05:00

Phew.....I feel like we have been celebrating birthdays in this house for 2 weeks.....oh wait we have! I have finally had a chance to sit down and upload the maaaaaaany pictures from Jonah's days of celebration. Stayed tuned for the pics of Sophie which are soon to come.

Birthday Morning/Afternoon November 1, 2010

Up bright and early at 6:45am.....the norm around here!

So excited about his own chair, no more having to sit in sister's pink one!

Birthday Party November 6, 2010

Waiting for everyone to arrive.

Loving his handmade blocks from Papa Slimick!

So excited about his car he couldn't even wait for the wheels to be put on!

FREE, who doesn't love FREE?

2010-11-15T16:45:00.008-05:00

Thanks to my friend Kelly I learned about an awesome giveaway that Shutterfly is doing. If you simply blog about their website and all the great products and services that they offer you get 50 FREE holiday cards!!! I am truly excited about this folks especially since we have so many photos to come by around here with the talent of my awesome hubby! We have not used Shutterfly for holiday cards in the past, but we have enlisted their services several times to order prints and my mom uses them quite often for her prints and in my opinion the print quality is great. I really like the fact that they offer a matte finish option on their prints, since I really, I mean really dislike a glossy finish on my prints and some places don't give you the option they just offer glossy. Anyway back to holiday cards I have been browsing Shutterfly's site lately trying to get a feel for what the Slimick holiday card might look like this year and I have to tell you Shutterfly has some pretty nice looking cards, it may be hard to choose! I really have not narrowed down my decision quite yet, but the two below are just some examples of the cute designs they are offering this year. Oh and they offer other great personalized photo gifts as well! To sign up and get your 50 FREE cards just go HERE!

nothing we do is normal......

2010-11-06T16:24:00.001-04:00

For our children's birthdays we got them chickens, that's right.......chickens, 4 of them to be exact. We took them to our farmer friend, Michael, over at his farm, The Poultry Junction to pick them out. Sophie did her very best to wrangle a chicken for her and one on behalf of Jonah, who, is clearly too young to wrangle his own chicken, but I imagine he is not far behind in his wrangling abilities. Anyhow we went with the intention of getting 2 maybe 3 chickens, but ended up with 4 because we thought it only fitting for each member of the family to have their very own chicken, who wants to share a chicken anyway. The chickens are not quite old enough to lay eggs I think two of them will be old enough in about a month or so, and the other two in January/February sometime. I like to think of our new chicken friends as pets with purpose. Here is a look at our day at the farm.

running down to the coops, she could not get there fast enough.

itching to get inside and pick out her chicken.

trying to catch one.

caught. except this one actually got put back because she saw a "cuter" one she wanted.

this is the one she caught for jonah.

helping daddy catch his chicken.

watching all the action.

telling me she would really like 2 chickens for herself.

i wonder if he is thinking "hey, we have the same hair color"

trying to decide which one i want to take home.

her "cuter" chicken.

of course what is a visit to the farm without saying hello to the turkey.

one.

2010-11-05T16:03:00.004-04:00

he is one.

he is all boy.

he has so much love to give.

he is so loved.

he is one amazing little boy.

happy first birthday jonah michael.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-04T15:01:00.008-04:00

What an eventful Halloween weekend! Saturday we went to my parent's neighborhood and did the whole "Trunk or Treat" thing. Since my parent's live in what is considered an active adult community (55 years and older) they don't have any trick or treaters so their neighborhood held a Trunk or Treat for all the grandkids, it was a blast and our kids had a good time, although all Jonah wanted to do was "drive" the golf cart (their neighborhood is so large most of the residents own golf carts to get them from point A to B). It was a good thing that we trunk or treated on Saturday because we did not go trick or treating on Sunday at all. Our friends who live about two house up the road had a block party for the entire neighborhood complete with a mini bounce house......Sophie was in heaven she could have cared less about more candy! The girl jumped her little heart out!

Super excited about eating candy at 10:30 in the morning!

Doing a little yard work after Trunk or Treat

On our way to the block party.

Pumpkin Painting

2010-10-29T08:26:00.005-04:00

Just as we did last year, we painted our pumpkins for Halloween. Well, Sophie painted pumpkins and the baby, that we now know and love as Jonah, got painted. As you can see not much has changed from last year, Sophie painted her pumpkin and well, Jonah got painted.....again, only this time he was the one doing the painting! He had such a blast he ate quite a bit of paint, but have no fear it is non-toxic. He kept squealing with delight as he painted the pumpkin, then put a little on himself, dunked his foot in the paint tray and put a brush full of paint in his mouth. Silly Boy! We had lots of laughs and even more clean up, but it was worth it for all the fun we had! You will notice there are no pictures of Sophie with the exception of the last shot which is of her hands and her fabulously painted pumpkin, the reason for this is is she is going through a, "I am not going to look at the camera" phase, not to mention she painted in her underwear to avoid paint on the clothes and I really did not want to post my 4 year old in her underwear for all the blogging world to see! Click HERE to see last year's painting fun.

Oh The Places We Have Been..........

2010-10-24T19:48:00.016-04:00

So my husband was kind enough to take the time out of his rather busy schedule to edit all of these lovely photos so that I could share them with all you lovely folks!

Here is a run down of what we have been up to and the many many places we have been!

****No pictures yet (soon to come), but Jonah is WALKING!!!!! He took off last week and hasn't looked back since!**********

Starting with the most recent and working our way back:

The Pumpkin Patch 10/16/10 (which was also our anniversary......yay 6 years!!)

Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia 10/8/10-10/10/10

The water was a bit cold for swimming so we made use of the water trampoline!

Yes, she is in her underwear, the water splashed up through the trampoline and soaked her pants!

My stud of a husband!

Uncle Joe and his girlfriend Mirkka who was visiting from Finland

Jonah's first ride on Papa's boat!

Sophie starts Karate 10/4/10

She broke her first board in order to earn her white belt!!!

A Day Out with Thomas the Train 10/1/10

A fun day at the NC Transportation museum where we got to take a ride on Thomas the train!

Disney 9/19/10-9/26/10

Proving that she is in fact tall enough to ride the rides!

Riding Thunder Mountain, AKA her favorite ride!

Jonah's favorite ride, Buzz Lightyear!

Jonah WAS NOT a fan of the characters.

Phew! I think we are to speed on pictures now! Now hopefully I won't get that far behind again!

FRESH

2010-10-14T14:15:00.006-04:00

We have sort of gone hippie, I am sure some of you are saying......sort of?!?!?! I mean after all my son was born in our living room! However, I only say sort of because there are folks out there that definitely walk off the beaten path waaaay more than Neal and I, which someday I sincerely hope we can get there, not crazy hippie, but more along the lines of living off our land.....lots of it. My passion for whole living, real food, natural products and just all around awareness of what I put into my body (and my family's) started soon after Sophie was born and I had a new little life to care for, nourish and help guide toward healthful eating. It was a slow journey, after all I married a man who, when I met him his diet consisted of peanut butter and jelly.....on white bread and sodas.....Mountain Dew...ewwww. So I had my work cut out for me trying to woo my husband with health food......a daunting task I had before me, but with effort and slowly weeding out the bad and replacing it with good, I have totally gotten the both of us to a place where we most definitely make better and more healthful food choices. Now, that is not to say that we don't enjoy the occasional "bad food" as Sophie calls it, because we do, we just aren't pulling up to the McDonald's drive through everyday like some folks! Actually, McDonald's is something that we avoid like the plague, LIKE THE PLAGUE people! Sophie told one of the farmers today at the Farmer's market, "This is good food, McDonald's is bad food, we don't eat McDonald's" ahhhhh sigh, my heart smiled! If we are in a pinch we will do fast food, but the only fast food chain we will visit on occasion is Chick-Fil-A only because the chicken served is actually a chicken breast, not mechanically separated pieces all smooshed together, like some places. We are by no means purists, but we do our best to put the best into our bodies, but no one is perfect!

What sparked me to write this post was that we buy our chicken and eggs locally from a farmer about 20 minutes away, Sophie, Jonah and I took a trip out there today to make a purchase, which I should have called ahead because the chickens won't be slaughtered and ready until tomorrow, so back to the farm tomorrow to pick up our farm fresh chicken! Anyhow Sophie had a blast watching the chickens eat and petting them, she is definitely my little nature girl! There was even a turkey there that she got to pet, along with a bunch of ducks, who Sophie said looked like Mr. Mallard from Make Way For Ducklings. I braved it and touched the birds too, who knew turkeys and ducks were so soft! While there I was able to score a 15lb turkey for Thanksgiving, I was super excited about this since our farmer has been sold out for a while, but someone just canceled...Yay! So who knows we may be eating Sophie's new friend for Thanksgiving dinner! I did explain this to her, but I think I will have to continue to reiterate this point! I managed to snap some pictures on my phone, so sorry about the quality, but you get the idea! Neal and I are actually seriously talking about buying our own chickens from our farmer friend so that we can have our own fresh eggs!!! How awesome is that!!! I love it!

Anyhow I wanted to shed some more light onto the epidemic of this fast, cheap food nation that we live in and how it really and truly is affecting us, our children and that it IS in fact making us sick!!!! The notion of cheap food is appealing because you can feed a family for little to nothing, I get that, but why, why fill your child's body with such poor food choices that are doing nothing to nourish their minds and bodies, this is why our children are failing in school, are overweight and have early onset childhood diabetes! Alright I have managed to get on my Soapbox.....stepping down now. Check out the newest film, FRESH, it actually reminds me a lot of another film called FOOD INC. which came out in the summer of 09, I put up that trailer too! Enjoy! I really hope this sparks some interest and gets some folks a little more curious about what is in the food you are putting in your body!

FRESH

FOOD INC.

Shameless Plug

2010-09-13T22:44:00.004-04:00

I have to brag on my husband for just a minute. I was one man down yesterday while Neal was in Virginia photographing a wedding on the most picturesque Lavender Farm. I can't even begin to describe the amazingness (if that is even a word) of the pictures he took. Sometimes, well most of the time really, I am just blown away by his talent and eye for things. Here is a quick preview, but to see more amazing shots click HERE to go to his blog.