Resurrection Day

"Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen."  Luke 24:5-6

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ brings hope that we do not deserve. We are all born into sin and all are in need of a savior. We are only justified based on Jesus Christ's righteousness, not ours. Through His grace by faith we are able to seek and follow God. (Romans 3:22-26)

While the egg hunting is fun and I think it is fine to do that with the kids, I don't ever want to take away from the true meaning of Easter. It's not about me being perfect, because I am far from it and fail often, but believing that Jesus is all we need and repenting of (turning away from) our sins. Earthly treasures will fade away, the newness of toys {cars, homes, house decor, etc} will fade, but the word of God will last forever. (Matthew 24:35). Simply sharing my heart with you.

Out of the three pictures taken, Jase and I are the only ones looking at the camera in all three. Haha!

We enjoyed our afternoon at home together as a family. It was a nice time.

Egg Hunts

Finn wakes up in the best of moods, just babbling away. It puts the biggest smile on my face to hear his sweet voice. I had to capture it Saturday morning.

Later that morning we headed up to Church for our annual Easter Egg Hunt. The kids enjoyed finding eggs and spending time with friends.

Here is some footage of the younger two finding eggs.

Later that afternoon we headed over to Aunt Alisha and Uncle JoJo's house for some relaxation and family time. I brought eggs over there to hide for the kids. I always remember finding eggs in the backyard and loving it! The kids were excited while they waited inside while we hid the eggs. I enjoyed watching the kids hunt the eggs in the backyard and it was definitely more relaxed with only three of them finding them. I was a little anxious watching Finn put the hard boiled eggs in his bag...crack! Haha!

 
Here is some footage of Finn hitting the crawfish!! He was too funny on Saturday. And really everyday!

I am not exaggerating when I say that Finn is completely obsessed with sports right now. I mean, he is constantly wanting to hit a baseball off the tee or shoot a basketball. What has become really funny is that after he hits the ball off the tee, he has a little celebration he does. He is such a mess!

Here is Finn earlier this month inside the garage. This is Jase's t-ball bat he is swinging! He might be our baseball star!

Wild Flowers

I promise, I have not been eating Cheetos on the couch everyday since my last post! Ha! One day after another passes and life doesn't always slow down for me to write a blog post. Plus, it hasn't helped that my phone has been at max storage for forever now and that is mainly where I capture most of my pictures. I ended up chatting online with Apple for 2 hours last week and they could not figure out why it was showing so much storage in my text messages (even when they were all deleted), so I ended up having to wipe my phone completely blank and start anew. Glad to have free storage available and finally take some pictures.

A week and a half ago we drove out and met Shawn for lunch. It is always nice to see him during the day. After lunch Shawn headed back to his office and me and the kiddos went on a little country ride out west of town. We stopped in one neighborhood and there were flowers all over the open lot. I just had to stop and take pictures of the kids in it. Ally was in heaven! She has never met a flower she didn't like! {Even last night at t-ball practice she was picking Shawn flowers...her Field of Dreams does not include a diamond, but flowers!}

I get the two little ones out of the car and let them run wild.

I turn around to find Jase, my outdoors man, and he is stuck at the truck! He was worried about getting a snake bite!! I had to reassure him that he was completely fine!!

See anything wrong with this picture?? 

My three sweets!! Just LOVE them!!

I'm not sure when they got so big! Jase is about to turn 7 in less than a week, Allyson is 4 1/2 and Finn will be 2 this summer. And now a little one on the way! My heart is full! I go tomorrow for my 12 week check-up and am looking forward to hearing the heartbeat!

Of course, she was the last one to the car! She picked some pretty fuchsia ones to take home!

Confession & Eating

The morning following my Cheetos obsession post, I received an e-mail...a confession e-mail. It was from none other than Nanny herself. She actually titled the e-mail "Confessions of a Nanny"!! In this e-mail she explained how she has bought Finn some cheeseballs before. Haha of course! No worries, I forgive you.

We, well I, am still struggling to find a happy balance with eating here at our house. I've briefly mentioned words like Paleo and Whole30 on the blog in the past few months, but just haven't had the time to sit down and blog in full detail like I wanted to. Paleo is basically the consumption of whole foods without grains and legumes -- no processed foods (like Cheetos), no refined sugars. Some people eating Paleo will also cut out dairy as well. Below is a guideline that basically sums up what you can eat. Source

Okay, so if we cut out the grains, almost all processed foods, and dairy, you’re left with only things that occur naturally:

• Meat - GRASS-FED, not grain-fed. Grain causes the same problem in animals as they do in humans.
• Fowl - Chicken, duck, hen, turkey…things with wings that (try to) fly.
• Fish - Wild fish, as mercury and other toxins can be an issue in farmed fish
• Eggs - Look for Omega-3 enriched eggs.
• Vegetables - As long as they’re not deep-fried, eat as many as you want.
• Oils - Olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil – think natural.
• Fruits - Have natural sugar, and can be higher in calories, so limit if you’re trying to lose weight.
• Nuts - High in calories, so they’re good for a snack, but don’t eat bags and bags of them.
• Tubers - Sweet potatoes and yams.  Higher in calories and carbs, so these are good for right after a workout to replenish your glycogen levels.

Whole30 is basically an eating program for 30 days that follows the Paleo eating format. Shawn and I did Whole30 from Dec 28, 2013 - Jan 26, 2014 and we followed these program rules and used this shopping list. It was pretty straight forward on what to buy. Now, we did have some cheese from time to time, but we did cut out milk and I bought almond milk during that period and even made a batch once- it was a little watery, but a neat experience and I got some almond crumbs out of the deal. I also made our own mayo (which I hope to continue to make), dairy-free ranch dressing (all of us loved it), and paleo-friendly chocolate syrup (mainly for Jase- he loves it and I hope to never buy processed chocolate syrup again). There were several other items that we made that were healthier alternatives.

While I was super busy in the kitchen that month, I loved it because I knew exactly what we were putting into our bodies. No chemicals from the processed food or mystery ingredients. Usually whatever we had for dinner, I would have for lunch the following day. We may have went out to eat 2-3 times in total during that 30 day time frame, which was nice.

I did keep a journal of all of my meals for those 30 days, which helped me meal plan as well. I did not limit myself on fruit either, whenever I was hungry, I ate. I found myself snacking less since I was eating heartier meals. We did not take any measurements before or after, but I could definitely feel a difference in my arms, thighs and waist. I lost 7 lbs and Shawn lost 11. We did not purchase any additional supplements, we simply followed the eating guidelines from Whole30. And I did not workout any during those 30 days either.

After typing all of that I am wondering why in the world I am still not doing it. Ha! It was a great cleanse for us and I hope we can get back on track and continue to eat more whole foods. {Some pregnancy cravings may have entered the picture and that's ok.} I have incorporated whole wheat bread back into our normal routine (and mainly for convenience if I'm being honest), but from everything I have read on gluten, I am not a fan. And I have been buying organic whole milk (or 2% when they are out). Now, my brother-in-law just dropped off a few gallons of Grade A Raw milk, unpasteurized, straight from the cow. It is honestly not much more than the organic milk I was buying and nutrients have not "cooked" out of it during the pasteurization process. Here is a good article to read when comparing raw vs. pasteurized milk. Call me crazy, but the closer to nature I can get products, I'll take it. And some people following the Paleo lifestyle will have continue to have dairy, if it raw, pastured, grass-fed and full-fat.

With all that said and after doing the Whole30, it has been a huge eye opener on food for us. At the end of the day, we want to eat what's best for our bodies! We are not perfect by any means and are not in the best physical condition whatsoever, but we can definitely attest to the Paleo lifestyle...that it works and can be done.

Some resources that I love:

Pinterest - Paleo recipes

Wellness Mama - Great all-around resource for natural living

Whole30 - How to execute a Whole30 day challenge

100 Days of Real Food - Really where I first started reading about cutting out processed food last year. She does not eat Paleo, but only buys "real food".

New Obsession

Since I have found out I was pregnant, my eating habits have went downhill pretty quick. We have tried to cut back on going out to eat, because that was killing us in the pocketbook and waistline!

Well, yesterday afternoon we were at a party and they had Cheetos Cheese Puffs there. I gave Finn a couple of them and he gobbled them up and was an immediate fan. I started thinking about and I think this may be his first Cheetos product! I'm pretty sure I have not bought any since he has been born and he acted like they were heaven!! I may have enjoyed a few myself. So much so, that we might have a bag in the pantry now.

Just look at my little blondie...what a handsome little man!

April Fools' Joke

When you see a bag of hair like this, you think April Fools', right? I wish I could tell you that was the case.

Sunday evening Shawn and I were upstairs putting Finn's clothes up and laying him down. Ally comes upstairs with the above bag of hair and proceeds to tell us that she cut her hair. My response  was "YOU DID WHAT?" I don't know if Shawn thought it was an early April Fools' joke, but all he could do was laugh. 

Before I went upstairs she was at the kitchen table with colors, paper and scissors. This the norm for her. She is always crafting and has never said anything about cutting her own hair or anything. Well, she cut it. I'm so thankful that her hair was still pulled back from the day. No major damage was done, but she cut quite a bit off in the front. She told me she wanted a haircut, so she cut it. I tried to explain that she cannot cut her own hair, that we will go to someone who knows how to cut hair. She told me she knows how to cut hair...obviously. I'm not quite sure if she understands that she is NOT a certified hairdresser, but she does understand that she better not cut her hair again.

I took her to Hair Palace yesterday morning to get it fixed. I thought she would be a little excited about getting her hair cut at a "palace!" I asked her if she was excited and she said "yes and a little nervous." She moved a little, but all and all she did great. 

When we got out to the car I asked her if she liked it and she was so giddy...she absolutely loves it!

And here she is from this morning; still pretty as can be. I'm not going to lie, it was definitely time for her first haircut, I was just not envisioning it to go down like that. Her hair looks and feels much more healthy and maybe it will thicken up some.