Catch up again!! Some Tot Food too!

(sorry....the tot food is further down in the post if that is the main thing you wanted to see)

Okay....sorry! I have just not made time for the blog lately. We have been so, so busy with life! Where do I start? Well, my boys have been active in the local children's theater the past month. Cullen enjoyed his first theater camp and it was fabulous. It was a week-long camp that focused on 8 and 9 year olds. Cullen loved it and it inspired him to write his own story. It was exciting to see him get so involved and enjoy every aspect of it. I did not get a lot of pics but here are a few....He was Officer Hairy Legs! =D He did an awesome job and we could not be more proud of him!

The next week Christian started Mulan Jr. It was a job in itself but worth it!! He had to practice for 2 weeks from 6-9 in the evenings and towards the end they practiced until 10. He played Yao and he was EXCELLENT if I do say so myself!! They then had performances on Friday night at 7, Saturday at 2 and 7, and Sunday at 2 and a cast swim party after that. I apologize for the lack of pics lately. We were not allowed to take pics of the performance b/c of copyright laws so I stole these from Candy after the show. Christian is giving PawPaw& Meemaw his autograph. I forgot the little dragons name but here was her costume. They really did an excellent job with sound, lights, and the actors were fabulous!! Way to go Christian....we are proud of you as usual!!

Since posting last we have still made big changes around here in our eating. Clara and I are eating vegan (no dairy and no meat). I have lost 12 lbs and will be trying to weigh in every Monday. I lost most of my weight on the vegetable juice and water fast I went on prior to this change for 7 days. It has been over a month since I have had any soda or caffeine. I don't plan to pick anything like that up again or will try very hard not to. I know if I have one I will probably not stop there....sooooo no more sodas for me! To be honest, I have not missed them one bit. Besides some mild withdraw symptoms of feeling crummy and mild headache I have had more energy and feel so much better!! =D God has truly freed me from the addiction I had with food and caffeine/aspartame! I was drinking close to 6-8 (if not more) diet sodas a day before I started this lifestyle change. God changed my way of thinking....just as I would not smoke a cigarette anymore I have chosen not to put the harmful chemicals in my body that are in sodas (especially diet sodas). I am trying very diligently to make decisions with my eating that would glorify God.

I have always loved cooking and made it a focus of my life. The love of cooking is not gone but it has definitely changed and is not my main focus. It is tough to change your complete grocery shopping list and ingredient list when I felt so comfortable before. The kitchen is a comfortable place for me to be in and I always knew what to substitute for what....all that has now changed. I am reading, reading, reading and trying to educate myself on the nutritional needs for myself and for a toddler to maintain a healthy vegan lifestyle. Clara is drinking fortified orange juice with calcium. I am also going to look into soy milk that is fortified also. She is easy to adjust as I have always made it a focus to try and feed her healthful foods. I am experimenting with my recipes. We had spaghetti last night but I used organic sauce and did not add meat. I did cook Bison on the side for the guys. I threw in some shredded carrots to saute up with the fresh garlic and onions. I also threw in baby portabellas for a more meaty feel. We like our sauce sweet and spicy so like usual I also added some red pepper flakes and honey. We had brown rice spaghetti noodles and you would never know it was not the bleached, non-nutritional regular old spaghetti you get in the grocery store. Clay said he thought it was the best spaghetti I had made and I could try it next week without the meat on the side. I might double the mushrooms for their need for a "meaty" feel. We love 'shrooms anyway. It was a hit. Today for lunch we had Ezekiel sprouted tortillas. I will be honest and say I was kind of dreading these a bit. I figured no one would like them. We were not too thrilled with the Ezekiel bread. Well....we LOVED them!! They were very hearty and heavy. I made Clara's with homemade refried beans I made in my NEW VITA-MIX blender!! This machine is AWESOME!!! (on a side note...we also made mixed berry sorbet in the Vita-Mix before lunch for a cold, sweet treat. I added frozen mixed berries, 1 c OJ, & a little bit of Agave syrup...Yum-O!) Okay...back to the burritos. I made Clara's burrito with the tortilla, beans, shredded carrot, and spinach. She ate almost a whole burrito dipped in the hummus she LOVES!! Here are a few pics of her plate and then her licking it clean. I added some videos at the top right of her licking her plate clean (and climbing out of her crib). Her plate consisted of frozen blueberries, roasted red pepper hummus with zuchini sticks, extra shredded carrots, and her bean burrito.

How great is that!! The boys really liked the burritos too....so that is what is for dinner. Save me some time too. There is a great feeling within knowing you are feeding your kids foods that will heal them and not make them sick!

I will try to update more often...I got behind and dreaded writing this book but it came easy today. Sorry it is so much!

This weekend Clay and Christian are going away on their Passport to Purity weekend getaway! They will head out Saturday evening and spend quality time together learning together the Godly principles of sexuality to protect Christian and his future wife! =D How exciting is that! I cannot wait until Clara and I get to share in our weekend together. Cullen is ready for his weekend too which will not be too far behind Christian's. They are both really looking forward to it!

Well, hopefully this time it will not take so long to post more. I need to get together a Tot School post too! Maybe tomorrow!