10,000 thoughts

I -We have been home owners for a year today, an entire year and we still love our home and this tiny town. What we thought we were going to buy and where we thought we would be compared to where we are now just goes to show how much more awesome the Lord's plans are than ours!

(The family that YouTubes together stays together, right?)

-Planting things. We started a garden this year and who knew that I actually enjoy taking care of it? We have zucchini, squash, cucumber, tomato, red peppers, mint, lettuce, sunflowers, cantaloupe and watermelon! We have crops, people.

-It's Spring and I love it- but it also means my babies all turn another year old starting in the Spring. By the time fall rolls around our line up will be 8,7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 1. Our house will be full of fun in ten years! At least this kid thinks so.  

- Health and fitness. You knew this was coming. I run my third 5k this weekend- and I'm even dragging along my husband to run with (he's actually been training). For years becoming a runner had been a goal of mine- and now I'm on my third race. My last run time was 36 and my goal for this weekend is to come in under 35.

-Whole 30. My newest "focus" on this journey. While my eating has been pretty clean the entire time, I still eat dairy (yogurt) and grains (ezekiel bread & oatmeal/granola) and probably splurge more than I should. I've started the whole 30 challenge, 30 days of eating whole foods. Let me give you a quick rundown if you’ve never heard of The Whole30. It’s kind of like a 30 day nutritional reset. It’s designed to put an end to unhealthy cravings, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract and balance your immune system. The Whole30 cuts all the unhealthy, hormone-unbalancing, gut-disrupting, inflammatory food groups for a full 30 days. In those 30 days, you’ll let your body heal and recover from those damaging foods.  Some pretty powerful things happen in those 30 days! I will be posting meals/plans/photos etc occasionally on here about this. Here is a face before and after, 6 month difference: 

- This chunk is a whopping 8 months old. Don't ask me where the last 8 months have gone, I have no idea. She has six teeth and two more making their way in. She started to sit up this past month, and is still not a fan of crawling or even standing. But she is a big fan of eating! All the food and milk. Biting all kinds of stuff. Jumping. Being held. Being worn. Growling. And of course smiling! Ps- she is not a fan of the beach! This is her third trip. I caught her in a good moment.

-Last year Adam and I stood back and reevaluated where we were on our walks with the Lord and what our vision was for our family and future.  We finally decided to plant our roots in a church and the Lord has confirmed this decision over and over in the past few months as we have each grown tremendously, kids including! We do believe that it begins in the home first, but having our children learn so much in just a few hours each week surely helps fill in the gaps for us and makes them all the more excited to keep going back and getting into Gods word. We are overjoyed! 

- It has taken me 5 days to complete this blog post! Five. Which is why my posts are few and far between these days, apparently seven children keep a mama busy!

Whole 30 Day Challenge Week 1

I have started the whole 30 challenge and often get asked "what are you eating?". I think the hardest part is figuring out what to eat! I'm going to be posting weekly menu plans as I finish them, I had a friend do this and it helped me tremendously with meal planning! Don't forget to check out whole30.com for in depth details of the whole 30 diet.

Day 1- 

B- veggie and egg scramble

L- spinach salad with berries, almonds and balsamic 

D- crock pot carnitas on cauliflower lime rice topped with tomatoes & avocados Recipe can be found at:  http://popularpaleo.com/2013/01/07/crock-pot-carnitas/

S- apple with almond butter, carrots

Day 2- 

B-banana "pudding" w/blueberries (really good!)

1-2 over-ripe banana(s)
1/2 c coconut milk
Combine and blend in food processor

Add 1/4 c. chia seeds and refrigerate for about an hour to let seeds plump

L- avocado, bacon, and egg salad

D-Tuna cakes made w/sweet potatoes & black olives. Recipe: http://meatified.com/tuna-cakes-green-olives/ 

S- apple and grapes, greek yogurt/plain (greek yogurt is not whole 30 approved but this is something I will not cut out as it still has health benefits and a lot of protein! ) 

Day 3- 

B- strawberries, blueberries, bananas, and chopped pecans w/coconut milk 

L- spinach salad with leftover tuna cakes, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, & EVOO

D- pork chops w/baked apples & onions. recipe: http://nomnompaleo.com/…/…/bacon-apple-smothered-pork-chops/ roasted zucchini & onions w/balsamic vinegar & EVOO, & grapes

S- banana with almond butter 

Day 4-

B-egg (over-easy), sweet potato hash w/pecans, sliced apple

L- leftover pork chops w/apples, onions, & bacon; side of steamed broccoli & carrots, warmed pear & blueberries w/cinnamon

D- lettuce wraps w/leftover pork chops w/apples, onions, & bacon (stretched to 3 meals), tomatoes, & avocados

S- broccoli dipped in balsamic, tangerine 

Day 5-

B- scrambled eggs with bacon bits, side of strawberries

L- homemade cobb salad: spinach, bacon bits, grilled chicken, boiled egg, tomato, cucumber, balsamic vinegar and EVOO. 

D- Turkey meatballs with tomato sauce, green beans, pears, & raspberries

S- Greek yogurt with almond butter stirred in, fresh fruit 

Day 6- 

B- Banana pancakes topped with almond butter, strawberries and raspberries, side of orange slices

L- Leftover turkey meatballs on top of a spinach salad 

D-Taco salad with a side of kiwi

S- berries and almonds 

Day 7-

B- Veggie Omelette 

L- Tuna salad lettuce wraps 

D- Baked chicken with roasted sweet and red potatoes. 

S- banana with almond butter 

Top 20

One of the most common questions I get asked about health and fitness is "what are you eating?".
Food is hard, because when you are first starting out you don't know what to eat, and there are times when you have been eating this way for so long that you simply run out of ideas and/or forget about different meals and foods. Over the past week or so I have compiled a list of the top 20 healthy foods that I eat on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis.

Breakfast:

1. 1/2 cup of oatmeal with 1tbs of almond butter mixed in.
2. Eggs scrambled with tomato and avocado on the side.
3. Toasted ezekiel bread with almond butter.
4. Fruit smoothie.
5. Plain greek yogurt with cinnamon, fruit and occasionally almond butter.

(Can you tell I love almond butter?)

Lunch: 

6. Tuna wrapped in lettuce and a whole wheat wrap
7. Spinach salad with berries, almonds and balsamic vinegar.
8. Turkey and tomato wrapped in lettuce with a side of fruit or veggies.
9.  Baked sweet potato and side spinach salad.
10. Grilled chicken, broccoli and brown rice OR a sweet potato.

Dinner: 

11. Turkey burger with grilled mushroom & onion, grilled whole green beans
12. "Spaghetti" & meatballs. Using zucchini or spaghetti squash for pasta and turkey for meatballs.
13.  Baked chicken with sweet potato, squash and zucchini seasoned, EVOO and baked in one pan.
14. Taco night, lettuce taco that is! Ground turkey, black beans, salsa, avocado, lettuce, lime, greek yogurt (replaces sour cream), grilled onion and peppers.
15. Strips of grilled chicken cooked in EVOO and seasoned, over seasoned and baked red potatoes and broccoli.

Snacks:

16. Protein shake. I have one daily, and highly recommend Garden of Life "Raw Fit".
17. Plain greek yogurt with berries, nuts, cinnamon.
18. Handful of almonds and dark chocolate chips.
19. Fruit and raw veggies.
20. Hard boiled eggs.

There you have it! I don't take any vitamin supplements as I try to eat what I need vitamin wise. Drink half of my weight in ounces of water daily which I have found to be key and very important when trying to lose weight. I also try hard to eat high protein every day. On occasion I run into a really good healthy recipe and I will post it, but for the most part I am boring and eat these same foods all of the time!

Everyone has one friend who they invite over on rainy days for coffee. The friend that doesn't care if you are wearing workout clothes (that I maybe slept in the night before too) or my sticky floors and that the lid to the jelly had jelly on it (is that just my pet peeve?). They come bearing gifts, like lettuce and chocolate mint plants for your new gardening adventure. If you don't have this friend- find her. She is a keeper, I tell you. So we sit and talk about everything under the moon while our combined twelve children (bless it) keep themselves busy, and when they leave you feel refreshed and crazy thankful for that friend.  That was my day today, so it was a good one despite the weather.

This week has been a little crazy, good, but crazy. For one it has flown by, is it really Friday? I have a few kids who have been totally out of sorts this week and our days have ended with being really stressed and tired. One thing I really kick myself for not putting in place when my big kids were little: first time obedience. It's golden, people, when your kids listen the first time you say something and there is no whine or argument. Start training in this yesterday, you will not hate me for it.

So it's Friday and it is gloomy and icky again- and two of my crew need baths. We are waiting and praying for a super important phone call for my husband to come today, I need to get groceries, I have a race in the morning. Seriously I don't even know what time it begins, all I know is we meet at 7am and I can't remember the last time I was awake and functioning at 7am much less awake and ready to run 3.1 miles at 7am. I love how I get myself into these things- bless my heart. Did I mention school? Unfortunately my kids have to learn something today too. Bring it on day. God is too good to me, happy Friday!

new beginings

I am not new to this blogging game. But there have been so many directions I wanted to take with my previous blog and I feel like I was all over the place, needing a blank slate. This doesn't guarantee that I won't still be all over, it seems that may be just me. I declare this as my icantsleepitsmidnightandiwillregretthislater space, with occasional awful quality cell phone pictures of my crew. Enjoy!