Oatmeal Bars

This recipe makes a great snack for breakfast, lunch, or at school.  You can add different ingredients depending on what you like, and it's super easy. 

Combine:
1 1/2 cups oats
1/2 cup gluten free flour mix (I use Namaste Perfect Flour Blend)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Then add:
1 egg, beaten
3 tbsp melted coconut oil
1 cup milk or coconut milk
Your choice:  dried fruit (raisins, or cranberries, or blueberries, or all of them!), chocolate chips, shredded coconut, sunflower or pumpkin seeds are just a few of my favourite choices.

Pour batter into parchment lined baking pan.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done. 

Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This chocolate zucchini bread tastes like moist chocolate cake!  In fact I will use this recipe for my son's next birthday (he has already requested it!).

This recipe is NOT nut free!

In food processor, process dry ingredients:
1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup gluten free flour mix (I have been using Namaste Perfect Flour Blend)
1/4 cup cacao powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Remove dry ingredients, and process wet ingredients:
2 large eggs
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 cup raw honey
1/4 tsp stevia
3/4 cup grated zucchini

Add dry ingredients to processor and pulse until combined.  Pour into greased and floured loaf pan.  Bake for 35-40 minutes at 350, cool in pan for 2 hours.  I usually use a medium sized zucchini which gives me enough for a double batch, so I make two loaves at once doubling the above amounts.

Sooooo chocolatey and moist!

Gluten Free Apple Oatmeal Muffins

Yesterday my mother in law showed up with a giant bag of honey crisp apples and I needed something to do with them.  Apple muffins!

I made these yesterday, again taking an ordinary recipe I found off the internet and substituting certain ingredients to make it gluten free.  These turned out amazing!!  I will be making them again for sure.

These muffins ARE nut free!  Also, I tripled this recipe to make a huge batch.

Process dry ingredients:
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup gluten free flour mix (I have been using Namaste Perfect Flour Blend)
1 1/4 cups oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Remove dry ingredients from processor, then add and process wet ingredients:
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp melted coconut oil
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine dry and wet ingredients.  Fold in 2 chopped apples.  Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.  Bake for 18-20 minutes at 375.  The above amounts would make about a dozen muffins, I tripled it and got two dozen regular muffins and two dozen mini muffins.  Perfect for breakfasts, and for school snacks!

Amazing Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

For this recipe I simply googled a standard chocolate chip recipe and then tweaked it to make it gluten free.  I love playing with recipes and making them my own.  This one turned out absolutely amazing, with even a cookie dough worthy of licking the bowl!

I use my food processor for pretty much every recipe now because I am always experimenting with different flour/dry ingredient mixes.

This recipe IS nut free so it is perfect for school lunches!

In food processor, process the dry ingredients:
2 cups gluten free flour mix (I have been using Namaste Perfect Flour Blend with great results)
1 cup oats
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup ground chia
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

With a mixer, combine:
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
Then add:
2 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mixing bowl and combine.  Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips.  Roll into 1 1/4" balls and place 2" apart on baking sheet, flatten slightly.  Bake for 12-14 miutes at 350.  Makes 4-5 dozen depending on size.

Yum!

The Best Gluten Free Banana Bread

I finally have something I feel like posting about - FOOD!  I even briefly considered starting a new blog to share recipes but then decided against it since I've already started 4 blogs and that is enough.  This one will do fine.

Baking has been something I've always enjoyed but haven't done that much of it since having kids, mainly due to not having time and not wanting to make a mess.  I mean I did bake from time to time, but wouldn't say I was a weekly baker.  That is not until recently.  With both boys starting school full time I decided I wanted to try and make lots of baked good we can use for breakfasts, lunches, and snacks.  I was tired of constantly buying store bought cookies, cereal bars, and other snacks.  Plus I also have a wicked sweet tooth of my own, so I figured if we're all going to be eating 'treats' then I might as well be making them, and trying to make them as healthy as a baked treat could be.

My first challenge is making gluten free stuff.  My second challenge is also making much of it nut free so the kids can take it to school.  This was especially hard since my main go to for gf baking was almond flour.  I still use nut flours and butters for the treats we eat at home, but needed some nut free option for school snacks as well. 

I'm going to post my successful recipes here (individually so they're easy to search for again), starting with this gluten free banana bread recipe that I have been working on.  Not to toot my own horn or anything, but it is pretty awesome.

(This recipe is NOT nut free)

In a food processor, process dry ingredients:
1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup gluten free flour mix (I have been using Namaste Perfect Flour Blend with great results)
1 tsp each - cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder
1/4 cup cacao nibs
3 tbsp chia or hemp hearts

Remove dry ingredients from processor, then process wet ingredients:
4 bananas
1/2 cup nut butter
4 eggs
4 tbsp coconut oil
4 tbsp raw honey
1tsp vanilla

Mix dry and wet ingredients together.  Add chocolate chips if desired.
Originally I was making this recipe in my cast iron skillet, but most recently I doubled the recipe and put it in two standard bread pans (greased and floured).  When using my skillet I baked for 45 minutes at 350.  When I made it last I accidently turned the oven off at some point and had to turn it back on again, so I'm not 100% sure how long they needed to be baked for but I would start with 45 minutes and check them, then bake for longer if needed.

I tend to be experimental with my baking so it's hard to write down exact recipes, but this is the gist of it.  I have also played around with converting this recipe into a gf carrot cake one, using a similar format as above but substituting shredded carrots instead of bananas, and applesauce instead of nut butter (and omitting the cacao nibs and chocolate chips of course, plus adding extra spices).  It still needs a bit of tweaking but it did taste good!

Enjoy!

Why Don't I Post Here Anymore?

Oh yeah, it's because life is crazy busy and I keep starting blogs I can't keep up with.  But I've just been browsing through this one, and I'm thinking about posting more.  We'll see.  Keeping up with blogs are a lot of work, and I'm not a big fan working hard.  (Working hard or hardly working?  Yep, that's me).  Maybe I'll come up with an idea for a new post soon.

 

And I've always wondered why, here on Blogger, when I click spellcheck it always flags 'blog/blogs' as misspelled.  That is so weird.

 

Bookworm

I'm still reading.  Ever since starting up again last fall I always have a book on the go.  I don't always read them as fast as I'd like since I don't have much time, but I try to read a little bit every night before bed.  This means that I get less sleep and am pretty tired, but it's worth it to have that little bit of escape.

 

So the last time I posted about reading, I was just getting through The Kitchen House, which was as I suspected very sad and disturbing but a good read.  Not my kind of book but I did find it hard to put down. 

 

After I finished that I read The Book of Negroes, which was a bit slower but I did really enjoy the story.  Many sad parts as well but it was rather uplifting and it was a good book.  It was interesting to read the history that went along with it, and the main character though she suffered many hardships, was so likeable and her courage was inspiring.

 

Then onto The Help which was highly recommended by my friends and it was an excellent book.  I can see why it was made into a movie (Academy Award Winning at that).  I haven't actually watched the movie yet (I saw the first little bit at our 'girl's movie night', but had to leave because Lily woke up and I had to go home!), but I would like to finish watching it some time.  It was a great book, it touched on some very serious issues but in a rather comedic way.  The characters were fantastic.  I would recommend it to others.

 

I think the next one I read after that was Life of Pi.  It is not a new book and I had heard of it but didn't know what it was about.  Then I saw a trailer for the movie which had just come out, and I really wanted to see it but not until I read the book.  Another friend had said it was amazing, so I ran out and bought it, and it really was amazing.  I loved it.  It wasn't even that it was particularly gripping, but the main character, Pi was so fascinating and it was such a cool story which a twist at the end.  The very night I finished the book we watched the movie and I was happy with how it was adapted to the big screen.  I felt the movie did the book justice and was just as powerful and moving.  I think I would put Life of Pi right up there with some of my favourite books.

 

Finally we got our book club started, and the first book we read as a group was The Paris Wife.  It was a work of fiction based on Ernest Hemingway's first marriage to a woman named Hadley.  It basically followed their whirlwind romance, marriage, and time together in Paris.  It was good, and very sad because it shows their decline as Hemingway becomes more engrossed in his budding career and less interested in the relationship with his wife.  I was so sad for her as she learns of his infidelity and the way he treats her after that.  Even though the book was fiction, all the characters and events really did happen and I found myself a little bit obsessed with Ernest Hemingway after reading it.  My heart broke for Hadley and what she had to go through, but in the end she came out of it stronger and had a wonderful life so that made having to read her heartache worth it.

 

In between book club books I read another Margaret Atwood book called Life Before Man.  It was actually one of her works from the seventies and I picked it up at the local book store.  I don't know why I chose that one, I guess because I had like the other book written by her that I had read.  This one was ok.  It wasn't gripping, or fascinating, or particularly anything really, but it did portray a very real story about three people in a love triangle and what they were feeling while going through it all.  I didn't think it was horrible but I wouldn't recommend it.

 

Our second book club book was In Between Oceans and it was another heart wrenching story, this time about a lighthouse keeper and his wife who suffer the loss of several children (two miscarriages and a stillborn), and then one day find a baby alive in a boat that washes up on their island, and against better judgement decide to keep her as their own.  They discover their choice had devastating consequences when the child's real mother was in fact alive, and throughout the story must make the decision to return the child after raising her as their own for 4 years.  This book was very hard to read as a mother, both for the adopted mother (who suffered so many losses) and the real mother (who believed her child to be dead).  It was so sad but it was a beautiful story, and I could appreciate it very much. 

 

So many books that I have read have been so hard to read and have been so depressing in many ways.  I wouldn't normally choose books like this for myself, I tend to like to read things that are so far from reality that I can't identify with the emotions.  It's just easier that way.  That is why I like fantasy and sci-fi.  But I am happy that I have branched out and read more of this kind of literature.

 

However now I feel like I need a break from the intense stuff and so I have started the Harry Potter books, something that I have wanted to read for awhile and I know I will love.  I love the movies and I know the books will be great too.  I have read the Philosopher's Stone already and enjoyed it.  It was a very easy read (obviously since the books are for children and young adults) and pretty much exactly like the movie (or should I say they did a wonderful job making the movies exactly like the book).  I really like getting into these books because it makes me feel like I am watching the movies all over again.  I can't wait to start the next one.

 

I think I will continue with the book club selections in between reading the Harry Potter books, just to keep up with the girls.  Though we haven't picked out our next book yet.

 

Once again I am so glad I have rediscovered a love of reading, and am a regular bookworm these days!

Hoop Progress

I was in a huge hooping rut for months.  There was just never enough time, enough space, or enough energy to practice.  I was frustrated with my hoops (one too big to use in the house, and the other too small to learn new tricks with).  I was frustrated with myself.  I felt like I was in a complete standoff with my hoops.  I would watch videos and tutorials and just feel deflated.

 

But I'm past that now!  I've recently met a lady a few towns over who makes and sells hoops, and who is also a Hoopnotica certified instructor.  She has admitted that I am likely already too advanced for the classes she offers, but meeting another hooper who is somewhat local has given me motivation to get back into it.  I have purchased a couple of hoops from her.  Finally I have one that is in between my other two hoops in size which is perfect for me.  And I have also bought a couple of kids hoops from her (for my kids, who currently can't hoop, but who are trying.  Hey, I figured they could double as minis for me to practice my isolations with, win-win!).

 

So I'm back, and as with so many other things in life I have found that after this little hiatus I am better than I was before.  I'm learning new tricks and finding more flow.  The weather is nice so I can finally hoop outside where I have space to properly practice and not worry about hitting things or scaring Tyler with the loud bangs as my hoop flies across the dining room.  Slowly but surely I am getting better.

 

Now I need to find some people to hoop with.  It is surprising how difficult this has been.  I know a few ladies in Collingwood who do it, but haven't really connected with them.  The one I just met is about half an hour away or so, and while we had briefly talked about maybe getting together, that hasn't happened yet.  I am seriously considering posting flyers around town inviting people to join me.  We need more hula hooping in this town.

 

I've been back online too, watching hooping tutorials or just videos of some of the most amazing hoopers, trying to study their techniques and styles.  I find watching these talented people to be inspiring, but also a little depressing as they are just so fantastic that I can't even fathom being that good.  It also makes me wish I had started hooping when I was young, or at the very least had been more athletic so I wouldn't have to start from scratch now.  I wish I were stronger, more coordinated, more flexible, and had better rhythm.  I guess the good news is I know it is not to late to be all these things, it's just a slow process working exercise and practice into my schedule with a family and three kids.  But I know I will get there.  I also know that even though I'm not great, I'm still better than almost everyone I know, so that is something.

 

I'm getting pretty decent at the on the body hooping, and better at off the body stuff.  What I am finding particularly challenging are the different kinds of isolations.  I'm hoping that by working on strengthening my arms will help me master some of these moves.

 

Some of my favourite hoopers right now are Breken Rivera, Hoopalicious, Babz and Katie Emmitt.  I've watched some truly amazing videos from all of them, and I'll leave with you some now.

 

 

 

Update from the Moody Laptop

As usual I have been seriously slacking in the blogging department.  This is not helped by the fact that my laptop seems to be dying a slow and painful death.  This always happens to us, because we usually cannot afford to buy anything better than the cheapest laptop available at the time, and therefore it usually has a short life span.  This one is only three years old (and the battery itself died ages ago, it only works when plugged in).  I have a feeling it will not last much longer.  It is very temperamental and I never know when it is going to work.  Because of this, I figured that I had better write something since I don't know when the next chance I'll be able to post is.  I do have my tablet but it's not exactly great for typing long posts, so you won't catch me writing from there.  Luckily we do have another computer.  It's set up in the basement, aka the cellar, aka the dungeon, so you won't find me going down there where the house centipedes live to use it.  But we are brainstorming a way to somehow fit a mini 'office' into our living room and bring it up, so as soon as we figure out how to cram a small desk and chair into our already crowded upstairs, we'll move it.

 

It is February, and as with every other February in the history of my life I am starting to get tired of winter and feel ready for spring.  I don't mind winter, I really don't.  But it gets old around February.  Not helped by the fact that we just got buried in snow this past week.  Snow that will not likely be gone until May.  Woo hoo.  But on the upside the kids love it, and it's been great for playing in and skiing.  Yesterday I participated in the Romp to Stomp out breast cancer snowshoe walk for the second year in a row and it was amazing because of all the fresh snow.  So I guess I shouldn't complain.

 

We had the most perfect day for the Romp to Stomp and it was fantastic.  It was sunny and warm (well, warm for February).  We did the 5k walk at the Scenic Caves.  I loved it, but it seemed a lot harder than I remember from last year.  And last year I was 4 months pregnant.  I swear I'm in much better shape this year so I'm not sure why I found it so hard, but it was a good workout.  I think I should take up snowshoeing every winter, as it is a lot of fun and great exercise.  I think the kids would enjoy it, especially Tristan.  I'm thinking of trying to take him snowshoeing soon, maybe at the farm.

 

The Romp was the only exercise I got in last week (except for a bit of hooping at home here and there) because I had somehow managed to injure my shoulder.  I have no idea how it happened.  I woke up Monday morning and my shoulder hurt a lot.  I muscled through the day thinking it wasn't anything major, but around 2am Tuesday morning when I woke up to feed Lily I was in so much pain I had to go get Tylenol before going back to sleep.  When I got up that morning it had worn off and I was in much more pain, so I took some Ibuprofen.  I have been trying so hard to avoid painkillers all week but it's been so hard.  Just when I think it's getting better, it gets worse again, usually towards the end of the day.  The problem in my shoulder spread to my neck and has been affecting my arm as well.  I know it is related and aggravated by carrying Lily around on my left side.  My hip has been hurting as well.  My whole left side is a mess.  Now my shoulder seems better, but my neck has been in a lot of pain and very stiff.  If it's not one thing it's another.

 

I also got a cold last week.  It's been mild, but combined with my shoulder/neck issues it's been a rough week.  Plus Lily hasn't been sleeping well so I'm tired.  Plus Tyler has been working extra long hours trying to get work done before the rented equipment has to go back, so he has not been around.  Plus he is also sick, and his gut problems are flaring up, and he is tired and cranky, and spends all day huffing and puffing.  He still works hard and helps out, but I am annoyed.  Annoyed because just for once, I would like to get sick and/or injured on my own, and not have to 'share' the misery with someone else.  Seems like whenever I'm ill (which is rare), Tyler has it worse and then it's all boo hoo for him and no sympathy for me.  Bah!  I'm just being a complainer though.

 

Ranting aside, I do spend most of my days feeling incredibly thankful for the family I do have.  Tyler, sickness aside, has been the world's best husband this winter.  He has been around a lot and helping with the kids a lot, especially getting up in the mornings with him on really rough nights so I can sleep in (but only just a tiny bit, heaven forbid they let me stay in bed past 7:30am).  My kids are amazing and I am so grateful to have them here.  The older the get, the more things I hear happening to other people, the more thankful I am for my children.  Thankful that I got pregnant easily with them, that they arrived safely, that they are healthy, and that I have them to share every day with.

 

We have been doing a whole diet overhaul for the family this year.  Once again Tyler had had enough of his gut issues, and Finn had been suffering from awful eczema.  Determined to get to the bottom of all of this once and for all, we have been meeting with a naturopathic doctor.  She has agreed with Tyler's existing candida diagnosis, and as well has suggested a diet free of any foods he might be sensitive too (with his leaky gut, that means he is likely sensitive to almost everything under the sun).  She has put him on a strict paleo/candida hybrid type of diet for several months to get back on track.  For Finn she has agreed with my suspicions that his eczema is caused by a dairy intolerance and has recommended a dairy and gluten free diet for him.  So with Tyler and Finn's diets taken into consideration, we have been working hard as a family to eat healthier as a whole.  The paleo diet is made up mostly of meat, followed by vegetables, then fruits, then nuts.  So no dairy and no grains.  The candida diet is free of all starches, yeasts, and sugars which means that in addition to the restrictions of the paleo diet, Tyler can't have anything sugary as well (which includes most fruits). 

 

This all sounds very overwhelming, but we have embraced it and are actually finding it quite easy, and enjoyable, to eat this way.  Any other person in the world would be moping over the fact that their diet is so restricted, but Tyler has seen it as a new challenge.  He is always trying to come up with new and tasty paleo meals, and everything he has made so far has been amazing.  Giving up things like pasta has not been as hard as I thought.  If we want a pasta dish, we use zucchini sliced up like spaghetti, or spaghetti squash.  If we want something with 'rice', we use grated cauliflower.  We have done cauliflower mash instead of mashed potato.  We've had waffles and pancakes made with almond and coconut flours.  Everything has been fantastic.  We all feel healthier.  Finn's legs are slowly getting better.  Tyler feels better than ever.  And the best part is, the kids are eating better than ever.  By removing almost all carbs from their diets and most dairy as well, they are not filling up on that stuff and so they are eating all of their protein and vegetables at mealtimes.  It's brilliant. 

 

Tyler is also waiting on blood tests to see if there are any indications that he has celiac disease.  I really hope not, but there is a chance and so we need to know.

 

So it has been a rather exciting year so far, and we're only a month and a bit into it.  We're doing great and we're looking forward to so much in 2013. 

To be great by April

Today I was walking into the Y and one of the instructors was walking out.  She stopped me to ask if I'd be interested in hooping again at the Y ride like I did last year.  Um, yes!  To be honest, last year I was 6 1/2 months pregnant and probably looked like a fool.  This year I fully intend to look like I somewhat know what I am doing. 

 

This is great, it gives me a goal to work towards!  I mean, I have already been working towards getting better anyway, but now I have more motivation to practice practice practice!  I'm learning lots of new tricks every week and just have to keep working at perfecting them.

 

I've gone and made my first couple of hoops the other day.  Ok correction, my husband made them.  He had some extra irrigation tubing at the farm anyway so he just bought some connectors and cut them for me, and fastened them together.  They're not great, the tubing is too thin and flimsy, but I think they will work well for working my hand, arm and off the body tricks.  I got some coloured duck tape too to make them look funky.  Would still like to buy another new hoop though, if that lady in town that sells them ever gets back to me! 

 

Now, if only I had more time and space to practice!  I do what I can at home, but I have had very little extra time lately.  And I do what I can at the Y, but I haven't even been getting there as much.  I just have to try harder!

My Goal for 2013

Happy New Year!  My new years was not terribly exciting.  In fact we spent it at home, like we always do.  And I spent pretty much the whole evening watching hula hooping tutorials on my new tablet. 

 

Which brings me to my goal for this year:  To become a great hooper. 

 

Bet you thought I was going to say something like, to lose weight, or to eat better, or to be a better parent.  Here's the reason why I didn't mention those as my goals - I already feel like I've got a pretty good handle on that stuff.  Of course I'll continue to work on it, but I don't feel lacking in any way in those departments, only that I will continue growing forward.

 

But hooping, that is something I really want to get good at.

 

So for Christmas, I got some money.  I decided to register for some online hooping classes with Safire from Hoop City.  I have been working on my Hoopnotica stuff and have found it really helpful, but Safire's tutorials are really great and the unique part about taking her classes is that you can ask her questions and post videos to get feedback.  It's very interactive. 

 

I noticed that she had a boxing day sale and classes were 30% off, so I thought that was the perfect opportunity to sign up.  I registered for Seeding 1 & 2, and got a bonus class (Planting) for free.

 

Now I spend any spare minute I have watching all the videos.  There are tons!  The Planting class was more just information on hooping.  It was rather boring but I wanted to make sure I got it all covered, so I read all the information and watched the videos.  Now I am working my way through Seeding 1.  I already know how to do pretty much everything covered in this class, but again I like to be thorough so I don't want to skip anything.  Besides there may be some stuff that even know I already know how to do it, it could use some fine tuning.  Or I might hear of some little tricks I didn't know before.  It's also reminded me that I need to work on hooping both ways.  I have only been hooping and learning tricks with my dominant side, which is really not good because when the time comes to do reversals or when I get good enough to properly hoop dance, I will be limited because I won't be able to do things both ways.  It also keeps my body balanced if I can work both sides.  So even though I don't enjoy hooping my less dominant way, I have been forcing myself to do it and to practice the tricks that way as well, even though it's like starting from scratch because it's so much harder in that direction.

 

I'm really excited, and I've already learned how to do so many more things and am getting so much better.  Still a long way off from being able to properly hoop dance, but I am getting there.  I often feel like I'm never going to be that good, but when I look at where I started I know I'm already better than I was. 

 

I love the feeling of nailing a trick for the first time after trying for so long and not getting it.  It's like all of a sudden something click and my body and mind go, "Ah ha!!!"  I can do quite a few tricks now, and it's just a matter of putting it altogether and making it flow.

 

I just need to practice practice practice!

 

I think I might start making my own hoops as well.  I wanted to buy one but the lady who makes and sells them hasn't gotten back to me (and the ones online are just too expensive!).  It looks easy enough to make, I just need to get the right irrigation tubing and some tape.  Hoop tape isn't really cheap either, but I figure I could start small and build my collection of tape, and then I'll have lots of make as many hoops as I want.  For now I just want to make one simple one that is in between the sizes of the two I already have, and I'd like to make a couple of mini hoops as well so that soon I can start experimenting with mini-hooping off the body, because it looks so cool.

 

For now I'll just leave with a video of Safire hooping with mini-LED hoops.  I thought it was pretty cool, and I love the music too.

 

 

 

Looks easier than it is

I've managed to get my hands on the Hoopnotica instructional videos and have gotten back into hooping.  I try to get in a little bit of practice every day, though it is hard at home with my limited space.  When I can, I go to the Y where there is more space to practice some of the stuff I can't do at home.  But I find it hard to practice at the Y as well, where everyone is able to see me and I'm not able to just let go as much as I can at home.  So I make my best progress in the comfort of home.

 

These videos have been so helpful!  I was feeling a little bit in a rut as far as hooping was concerned, because I had learned a lot of new tricks and then hit a wall, and had no one around to teach me more tricks to work on.  Hoopnotica has not only brought some more new stuff for me to learn, it's also helped me refine all the stuff I already know. 

 

I tend to learn things really quickly, but breeze through them and don't always practice the individual moves until perfection.  I realized I had done this with a lot of hoop tricks, I had learned them yes but was too eager to just hoop that I didn't spend time practicing all of them properly.  After watching the Hoopnotica videos, I was really able to fix some small problems I had noticed. 

 

And I've learned so much new stuff!  I can hoop on my waist, hips, chest, shoulders, neck, and have finally got the hang of leg hooping (remember this post?).  I can do corkscrews with both hands, up and down and I can do hand off corkscrews which make it look like the hoop is a cyclone around me.  Most recently I have figured out angle hooping both forwards and backwards, and now I'm trying to figure out how to do a 180 turn with it.  I'm also working on ways to move through the hoop.

 

When I watch the videos on how to do all these cool moves, it looks so easy.  My brain watches and all the while it's saying, "I can totally do this!".  And then I go to try it and it's a whole different story.  I used to feel the same when I'd watch bellydance videos.  I'm trying not to get discouraged that I don't look like the girls in the videos (who have obviously been hooping for years).....yet.  Actually I should be impressed with myself for practicing so much, and I am mastering new tricks very quickly.  At this rate, I'll be a great hooper in no time.

 

Getting the Hoopnotica videos has given me lots to work on for now, but once I've gone through those and learned all I can I'd like to start purchasing the tutorials on Hoop City.  There are tons of classes there and the great thing is that you can post videos of yourself hooping plus questions and get them personally answered by the instructor.

 

I need to get a new hoop though.  I have two, and one is too big (great for learning new tricks, but too big for me to do angle hooping because I'm short and the hoop hits the floor) and the other is too small (good for high cardio hoop dancing, but not so good for practicing tricks).  Maybe after Christmas I'll buy a new hoop from my friend in town who makes them.  Though what I'd really like is a travel hoop.  Maybe in the new year!

 

I love hooping!

Crunchier by the Day

The word 'crunchy' gets tossed around a lot these days.  Especially in this little town we live in, people seem to gravitate towards healthier lifestyles, more natural diets, and living green.  It's nice to see the effort the whole community puts into these endeavours.  In the big city sure there are crunchy people, but there are just as many non-crunchy people so it's easy to blend in with the pack and get away with not trying so hard.  It doesn't make you feel so bad to not live healthier and greener when so many people around you aren't doing it either.  Here on the other hand, there's almost like a bit of 'pressure' to live a crunchy lifestyle.  It's not a bad thing in many ways, though I'm not a big fan of being pressured into anything.  Still, seeing the people around us make positive changes has helped us get on the bandwagon as well, and make more positive changes in our own lives.

 

When I look back to how I have lived my life over these past 31 years, I can see a definite upwards slope in the right direction.  It has been gradual though, the change has not happened overnight.  I think back to how much fast food we used to eat, and how much we used to eat at restaurants.  Then I think back to how much processed food we used to buy, and I would tell myself that we were 'eating healthy' because we were eating at home and not out at a restaurant, but the truth is all that boxed and packaged stuff was just as bad. 

 

It's hard to pinpoint such changes when they happen gradually, and only looking back can I really see how far we've come.  I know the first thing many people think of when they're faced with making  huge lifestyle and diet changes for the better, is that it is too overwhelming.  And so they do nothing at all.  I have felt that way too, I have felt that it is easier to stay on the path I'm already on than to tackle all these changes.

 

The thing is, you don't have to change everything at once.  Start small with just one thing, whether it is changing your household cleaners from chemical to natural ones, or cutting out one item of junk from your diet.  Then when that becomes second nature, make another change.  You'd be astonished to realize how much change can happen in a short period of time if you just take it one step at a time.

 

For quite awhile now I have been wary of calling ourselves 'crunchy'.  There are so many variations and levels of crunchiness out there, and it seems that the extreme people who run the pack set very high standards.  While we had done so many things to improve our life and try and leave the world a little greener, it always seemed like we still could not match those who went all out.  It can be a little discouraging to be trying as hard as *you* can and yet someone else is still doing so much more.  I have learned to use those people as a motivation to keep striving to be a better, healthier, greener family but not be setback because I'm not doing all the same things as them.  I am also happy and comfortable with all the positive changes we have made as a family, and I know there are still lots more to be made but like I said we are making them one step at a time.  Rome wasn't built in a day, as they say.

 

So I am going to do it, I'm going to officially say we are a 'crunchy' family.  And I'm proud of it.  We may not be able to tick off every single checkbox yet, but we can tick off more than most.  I'd put us on a 7 out of 10 on the crunchy scale.  Hey, that's not half bad!

 

I don't really believe in living in extremes, so we may never be there 100%, but I'm ok with that.  Extreme diets, extreme opinions, that kind of stuff isn't for me.  I just want to do what's right for my family.  And we'll continue to do more.  Like I said, when I look back at how our lives used to be, even just a few years ago, I can't believe how far we've come. 

 

We use cloth diapers, which I wish I had done from the start because I now cringe at the thought of all those disposibles lying in a landfill.  I try to hang all my laundry year round to reduce the amount I have to use the dryer.  I am very conscious of energy and water use.  We're working on buying more locally, and buying healthier food.  The amount of food that we buy organic has increased a lot over the years.  Most recently we have cut out about 95% of packaged and processed foods we were buying.  We have been doing well with avoiding junk food in general but were still buying a lot of packaged snacks like cereal bars, granola, crackers, and chips (sticking to natural and organic brands, but the bottom line is organic junk food is still junk food).  Now we are making much of this stuff our own.  The only thing I am still really buying in a box is cereal, just to have something on hand.  But I am ok with that. 

 

Next step is I want to look into the Collingwood Food Co-op that has been in the works here for a few months.  I've kept an eye on it with interest and I think it's something we will join in the not too distant future so that we can continue to buy locally.

 

And of course we have been growing a lot of our own food, and continue to do so with winter crops in our hoop house.

 

Let's not forget my ongoing mission to lead a more active lifestyle through daily fitness.  I want to be a role model for my kids so that they see how important exercise is to overall health.  I want them to grow up enjoying being active, and not being couch potatoes. 

 

Another aspect that has really brought us around to this whole crunchy lifestyle, is taking a very holistic approach when it comes to our overall health.  Over the past few years we have started using more natural health practitioners like chiropractors, osteopaths, and naturopathic doctors to help us with our goals of becoming healthier individuals.  We have learned so much about what it means to be healthy from the inside out, and now I am such a firm believer in taking care of your body and treating it with respect.  Too often we see the situation of people going to their doctors with problems and the doctors are treating the symptoms and not the causes, and therefore people's health issues are never really resolved.  This is what happened to Tyler with his digestive issues, for years doctors dismissed him and treated the symptoms, when the solution really came from within:  a better diet and taking better care of himself altogether.  And too often still I see people who suffer from multiple issues that they treat as separate problems, when really it is one big problem, for example a food allergy or intolerance.  But they refuse to believe that the problem could be the very food they are eating, and still seek medical advice and then are given medication after medication to treat the problems.  It actually makes me quite sad.

 

We love our chiropractor.  We really believe it is part of helping our bodies be healthy.  A healthy body doesn't need medicine to heal itself, it is perfectly capable as long as we take care of it and let it do it's job.

 

I'm so happy to say that since we have started living this way we have had far less sickness in our house, and when a bug does pass through it passes quickly and without much issue.  My kids get the sniffles and that's about it.  None of them have every had a vomiting or gastro bug.  I know kids that are sick all the time, and even Tristan's teachers have commented on how he is rarely sick compared to other children.  Some people may say we are lucky, I say luck has nothing to do with it.

 

When it comes to products in the home, whether they are cleaning products or health and beauty ones, I used to feel so overwhelmed at the thought of changing over to more natural brands, especially because of the cost.  But again, we started changing one thing at a time and now we pretty much exclusively use natural products in our home.  When it comes to cleaning, I am far more afraid of chemicals in cleaning products than I am of germs.  When it comes to beauty, I believe less is more.  I used to buy and wear so much makeup, and buy so many skin care products.  Now I have hardly any.  I have stopped using nail polish because I can't see how having that toxic stuff around is any good.  I use very few skincare products compared to the past, and rarely wear makeup anymore.  And I'm ok with all of this, I'm comfortable in my own skin.  Even for my children, I put very little on their skin.

 

I think I could sit and think of lots of little changes we have made that I am proud of but I'm just about out of time for now.

 

Obviously I've had a lot to say on this topic, and I say it not with the intention of trying to change other people's minds (I actually don't care for people who go on and on about their healthier choices with the obvious intent of guilting others into doing the same), but because I am proud of what we have done for ourselves.  And I look forward to more 'crunchy' choices that we will make in the future.

I Miss Naptime

Ok, following up on my last post, now that I have actually stopped to think about it, I am really really missing the two hours in the middle of the day that I used to have while the boys napped.  I hadn't really thought that I missed it that much before, maybe it's because I'm just too busy to stop and think about it.  But now that I'm bombarded with all the stuff I want to blog about, and I sit here at night with my brain full of mush unable to put together anything that makes sense, I am mourning the loss of  the afternoon nap in this house.  I will never get that back.  Tristan is done with napping, and Finn is napping less and less.  Until both of them are in full time kindergarten, I will never have an afternoon to myself, and even by that point I will still have Lily and knowing my luck she will be done napping.  And then by the time all three kids are in school full time it will officially be time for me to get a job so I won't be able to relax midday and do what I want, like writing.  Boo hiss!

 

Even when it was just Tristan not napping and having 'quiet time' I could maybe find a bit of time to sit and do something quiet, like writing.  Usually during that time Tristan would be interested in just sitting on the couch with me, and we'd watch a movie while I would write.  We both liked the downtime.  But there is no such thing as downtime with Finn.  When he is up he is just a whirlwind of energy, he never stops getting into trouble and therefore I never get a break.

 

So when am I supposed to write all my wonderful thoughts?  I want to blog about hooping, and our new attempts to be healthy, and exercising, and the holidays, and probably a million other things that I think about on a daily basis.  I'm beginning to realize that evenings are not an option.  I just cannot function long enough to write anything worthwhile, nor do I want to.  I just want to shut down and veg out before bed.

 

Oh naptime, how I miss you.  I never thought I would, but I do.  That is all my brain can spit out for now.  Bed.

I Want to Write More

So the other day I had a browse back to the beginning of this blog.  April 2011, right after I started it, has 25 posts.  Twenty-five.  That might even be more than I've written in 2012 altogether.  I remembered what it was like to be so keen on writing all the time.  It's a shame I don't write to the same extent.  I do always think about things that I would like to write about on a daily basis, but never get around to doing it.  I think the biggest thing is, I used to write a lot in the middle of the day while the boys were napping, and now one or sometimes both of them don't nap anymore.  So I don't have any downtime to blog during the day.  I find that I can't write well in the evenings.  By the time the kids are in bed I'm just too tired to string together any thoughts that make sense.  Even when I write on my other blog, I find I just sit here staring at the screen struggling to find the words for what I wanted to say. 

 

I would like to find the time to write about more things again, even the boring day to day things, because I like to go back and reread them like I did the other day.  It takes me back to another time and place and it's nice to remember.  It's not likely that I'm going to find much time in the middle of the day to write anymore, not while the boys are up and about.  Usually even if I do manage to find a little time to myself, I need to get housework done or I want to use it to practice my hooping (a hooping post coming up soon, hopefully).  But maybe soon I'll be able to focus more in the evenings so that I can enjoy writing again.

 

But not tonight, I'm already having trouble putting together this post even though I've thought of it in my heads many times.  Plus I'm not feeling great.  And I still have laundry to hang.  Never.ending.laundry.  So I'm off.

My New Favourite Food

We have newly rediscovered quinoa.  A few years ago I learned about this superfood, and Tyler attempted to make it and then quickly decided he didn't like it, so aside from using quinoa flour in some baking we never tried it again.  He was convinced it wasn't any good.  Lately I have really wanted to try it again, so I bought some and looked up some recipes.  I started with a simple quinoa and vegetable pilaf, and voila!  We loved it!  Now we have replaced rice with quinoa in all our meals.  Not that I felt unhealthy from eating rice, but it doesn't get much healthier than quinoa so I feel really good about eating it a few times a week.

 

So far I have mainly been doing the same pilaf style dish when I make it, using whatever vegetables we have in the fridge.  I also like to add various nuts and seeds to give it more oomph.  Since it's rather bland on it's own I also add herbs and a touch of whatever salad dressing we have on hand.

 

A few weeks ago we made it to go with cashew lettuce wraps instead of making plain white rice, and it was fantastic!  I didn't even bother putting it in the lettuce wraps, rather I just mixed it up with the cashew and chicken and ate it more like a stirfry.

 

I'm finding new ways to incorporate the quinoa into many of our regular meals.  Last night I made homemade macaroni and cheese which I added quinoa to as well.  I like how it immediately ups the health content of any meal, and I also like how I can use it to get all the elements of a complete protein without having to eat meat with every meal.

 

Next I'd like to try some different kinds of quinoa salads.  I've also been meaning to try it as a breakfast dish, done up kind of like oatmeal with maybe some cinnamon and maple syrup.

 

There is a book called Quinoa 365 that I've got my eye on.  It's filled with recipes for adding quinoa to all different kinds of meals, even desserts.  I've baked with quinoa flour before with good results.  I will have to try using it again!

 

I'm so excited to be on the quinoa bandwagon and I'm hoping this is just one step closer to a healthier diet.  Now, if only the kids loved it as much as we do.....

I Have a Problem

So I don't bother posting in ages and then when I do it's about my obsession with baby things.  Yup.

I have a wee bit of an addiction....

And these are just the clips, never mind the hairbands!  Thank goodness my girl has enough hair to wear them all.  But really, does she wear them all?  Not even close.  I just like buying them.  And everytime I go to buy one more thing, I come away with a bunch.  I can't help myself.  Especially when my 'baby hair accessory' dealer is also a friend of mine and lives around the corner.  It makes it all too easy to keep buying more from her when I can just pop round her place instead of going to a store or ordering them online.

 

See anything you like?  Sharon at Luv Maizie Bow-tique handmade almost every item in Lily's collection.  She makes fabulous stuff, and as long as she keeps making them, we'll keep buying them!  I don't know which are my favourites, they're all just so cute.  But I think I'm leaning towards these bows with the tractors.  They're just so appropriate.

I'm also still obsessed with cloth diapers.  I have a pretty good stash going, but that doesn't stop me from spending way too much time 'window' shopping for more online.  There are just so many amazing kinds to choose from, and I'm really wishing I had spent the money on getting some nicer brands than the cheapie pockets I did buy (which are ok, but there are nicer ones!).  Bum Genius, Thirsties, Grovia, Rumparooz, AMP, Motherease.  Pockets, AIOs, fitteds, wool covers.  My mind is just spinning.  But right now I've got my sights set on some more AppleCheeks and some of these really cool looking earthLINGZ diapers.  I got one Apple Cheeks diaper from a friend to try out and review for her, and it's much nicer than my cheap pockets.  I'm thinking of getting more for overnight since my cheapies leak if Lily is up to eat more than twice a night, and I don't like having to change her if I can avoid it.  The earthLINGZ diapers just look so incredibly cute and I have been hearing good things about them, so I'd like to try those too. 

 

I should just open up a cloth diaper store in town, and that way I can have as many as like.  But by the time I would ever be able to do that I'd be long past the baby stage, so I'll just daydream instead.

 

Why is baby stuff so addicting....I spend so much time looking it at it online, even if I don't need it.  Strollers, baby carriers, I love it all!  I've entered dozens of contests to win free baby stuff.  Surely if I enter enough contests I'm bound to win something right?

 

I better get a job to support my habits.....

Cottage Weekend 2012

Last year we had such a great cottage weekend that we knew we wanted to do it again this year.  My dad had once again offered to rent us a cottage, as a birthday present for both me and Tyler.  This year I figured it would be better to go away as late as we could get away with before the weather turned cold, for one because I wanted Lily to get past the newborn stage, but also because I wanted to see the leaves changing.  Since my birthday is at the end of September I thought that would be a great time to go.  Tyler was a little worried that we would be taking a gamble with the weather and that it might be really cold, but I thought it would be the perfect time.

 

After checking out a few places I decided that Woodland Echoes Resort looked like a lovely place to spend the weekend.  It was in Magnetewan, a town that we had often spent time at as children because my dad had a friend with a cottage there.  It was about a 3 hour drive for us which was a little farther than I would have liked given Lily is still not great in the car, but I wasn't too worried about braving the drive.

 

Actually the drive up wasn't too bad.  The boys were fine, and Lily mostly just complained loudly as opposed to full out screaming.  She did manage to nap a little bit which was encouraging.  Even with a stop for lunch we made good time and managed to get up there by mid afternoon on the Thursday.  That gave us plenty of time to get unpacked and settled, and to wander around and scope the place out.  We had a nice dinner, and afterwards Mike and Renee came up to join us.

 

The cabin was small but cozy, and right on Ahmic Lake with our own private dock.  It was a tight squeeze with all 7 of us, but we didn't mind.  The resort was lovely as well, with cute little cottages, beautiful gardens, a mini putt course, a park area for the kids, a recreation cabin, a beach and swimming area (which obviously we wouldn't be needing!), and a campfire pit. 

 

We had a wonderful weekend.  The weather was actually perfect, cool at night but crisp and sunny during the day.  We got a bit of rain but it wasn't a problem.  The guys rented a boat and went out fishing a few times, catching some stuff but no big prizes.  Tristan still had a great time fishing.  Finn caught his first fish off the dock with Daddy.  For my birthday a lady came to the cabin to give me a massage and reflexology which was amazing, while everyone else went out exploring.  We had good food and lots of fun.  My dad stopped by for a bit on Saturday, and my aunt, uncle and cousin did as well since they have a property in Magnetewan and were nearby anyway. 

 

I had a lovely birthday with my family, except for the part where Finn whacked his head on the bed frame and split his eyebrow open.  Since it looked pretty ugly we decided he should go to the nearest hospital for a look, which unfortunately was about 45 minutes away.  It happened at dinnertime, and Tyler and Mike packed him up and took him.  Turned out he did need some stitches.  The doctor gave the option of stitches or glue, but we decided to go with the stitches to minimize the scarring.  I know it wasn't fun for the little guy, but he took it like a champ.  Tyler and Mike said he was a star and even the doctor commented that he was the youngest child that he's even stitched up who was so good.  A few hours, four stitches, and a popsicle later and they were on their way back.  He was asleep when he got back and went straight to bed no problem.  He's such a tough little guy!

 

Aside from that we had a great time.  I was worried it would be stressful for me and that I wouldn't have much fun having such a young baby there, but it was fine.  The boys were amazing, they both napped every day and slept well at night.  Lily did great too.  We brought her swing so she was able to nap there, and she went down for bed each night easily.  She slept fine through the noise in the evening, and although she did wake a lot during the night she went back to sleep easily.  All weekend she was in good spirits.

 

We stayed 3 nights and packed up to leave on Sunday morning.  It was a nice morning, we took our time packing up and enjoying every last minute before heading back.  We were on the road by 12 which gave us plenty of time to get home.  The ride home was a little harder than the ride there simply because Lily slept less and complained more, but it wasn't too bad and again we made it in good time, with plenty of time left in the afternoon to get settled back at home and have dinner and bed at their normal times.

 

I'm loving that we've done this two years in a row now and look forward to many more years of family cottage time to come.  Here are some of my favourite pics from the weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

Can't wait for next year!

Reading

I've actually had lots of stuff I've wanted to write about lately.  What I haven't had is lots of time.  And what little left over time I do have these days has gone to my new hobby.  Or should I say my newly rediscovered hobby:  Reading.

 

Once upon a time I enjoyed reading and read quite a bit.  Especially throughout my young adult years.  I wouldn't say I'm anything of a literary snob, mostly I enjoyed fiction and a good story.  Things that were easy to read, and entertaining.  Nevertheless, I read, and I often read a lot.  But not so much since having kids.  Aside from pregnancy, baby and parenting books, I think I've only read maybe one other book since becoming a mom.  Shameful!

 

I hadn't really cared though that I never read anymore.  That is until all my friends starting discussing all the books they were reading and I had nothing to say during the conversation.  So I figured I better get reading again.

 

In the past month I've read 4 books and am a good way into the 5th.  I started off with the Hunger Games Trilogy, which I knew I would like.  It was an easy read and a fast paced story, two things that I really like.  So it took me exactly 3 weeks to read all three books.  Of course I loved them.  Not exactly what one might consider great literature, but definitely a gripping saga.

 

My friend H reads a lot so while she didn't think much of the Hunger Games, she did recommend a book for me based on the fact that I like that sort of science fiction stuff.  The next book I read was Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.  Definitely better literature than the Hunger Games (which I still liked better by the way), and a great read as well.  It had that similar disturbing post-apocalyptic feel with much better writing.  I finished that book in only a week as well.

 

Now I'm onto the Kitchen House, by Kathleen Grissom which has come highly recommended by all of my friends.  I've heard it's sad, which I'm not too keen on.  But so far it's really good.  I'm not sure exactly what to think of it.  I'm really into the story so far, but I don't know if it's my type of book.  I have a feeling it will be disturbing to me in other ways.  My friend C has described many of the books H recommends as intense, and I can see how this one would be considered that.  I have a feeling it will only take a week to finish this one off as well.

 

We're trying to establish a book club amongst the 5 of us, but so far have yet to all read the same book to discuss.  Once I finish the Kitchen House we'll all have read that one, and once S finishes the Hunger Games we'll all have read those as well, and then we'll have stuff to talk about.  After that point we've decided we have to get more organized and pick one book a month we can all read.

 

While initially I only started reading again to be included back in the conversation, I'm now happy that I have for my own sake.  I had totally forgotten what it's like to be so engrossed in a book that I'll sneak in any time I can to read it.  Which means that blogging gets pushed aside.  Oh well, it can wait!

The Big 3-0 (But not mine!)

Nope, not me.  I crossed that bridge in September last year.  It wasn't terribly exciting, much to my disappointment.  But Tyler made sure to make up for it with some fancy jewellery and a mini shopping spree, so I got over it.

 

This time it was his turn, and I spent a lot of the year wondering what I was going to do for such a big event.  At first I figured a party was out of the question, since I hate planning parties and everyone I would have invited was from out of town.  It's never a good idea to rely on your whole guest list to drive in from hours away.  But as the time got closer and we started to become good friends with other couples in town, I figured that there would be no harm in throwing him a surprise party. 

 

Over the summer we have started hanging out with our new friends more as couples, which has proven to be a lot of fun.  We've got a nice little group going with a good mix of people.  Some of the husbands have even started hanging out for 'guys nights' and going on what I like to joke are called 'man-dates'.  Having these new friends gave me the confidence to throw a party, knowing that there would be people who would show up.

 

I'm not a huge fan of playing hostess.  I'm usually self-conscious about the state of my house or the fact that I don't have any fancy stuff for hosting parties.  But this time I tried to push all that aside, reminding myself that people come over to see us and not our house or our stuff.

 

Of course it was stressful trying to plan and prepare for a party with 3 kids to deal with, especially when trying to keep it a secret.  My plans for the boys were up in the air because my mother in law was supposed to take them for the night but had warned me that she may have to leave to go to California at any moment because her mother was not well, so that meant I had no idea if they would be gone or if I'd have to deal with them at home.  Lily was of course going to stay here and I was counting on her sleeping well for the first half of the night as she usually does, but in the back of my mind I was always worried she's had a bad night and be waking all evening.

 

Add to that stress the fact that I seemed to catch some kind of tummy bug in the week before the party, and it was not exactly a stress-free week for me.

 

But everything came together in the end.  My awesome friends helped out by bringing some food and drinks.  My brother and his girlfriend came up before the party to help get ready and keep Tyler out of the way.  Laurie didn't have to run off to California which meant I was able to drop the boys off at her house for the night.

 

So what I told Tyler was that I planned for him and Mike to go fishing for the evening while I took care of the kids and put them to bed, to give him a night off from that stuff.  Then Mike and Renee would babysit them so we could go out for a nice dinner.  It took me ages to come up with a plan to tell him so that he wouldn't be suspicious, but it was the perfect one.

 

I sent him off fishing, packed the boys up and took them to their grandparents, put Lily to bed, then finished the preparations with Renee's help.  Our friends all showed up and hung out while we waited for his return.  They were such good sports, hiding in the dining room to surprise him.

 

And surprised he was!  I must of pulled it off because he seemed to genuinely have no clue what he was walking in to.

 

We had a lovely evening of food and friends, and I was so happy to play hostess for one night.  It's funny because a few of our friends have had us all over for dinner already, and just a few weeks ago Tyler had said to me that we'd have to apologize to everyone for never having them over.  Little did he know that I was secretly planning the next fun evening for all of us.

 

It was nice to surprise Tyler for his big 30th.  Of course we were all in pretty rough shape the next day, but it was totally worth it.

 

Now I have 10 more years before I have to plan another one for him.  And luckily that one will be easier because I'll have a bigger budget, and the kids will be much older and will hopefully be out of the way a bit more!