Oil Painting

As I mentioned in the update I took an oil painting class this past weekend. I am not a very artsy person (yes I can be creative but I really don't have the patience to actually make art). But I needed a new hobby and this sounded like fun. So here it is, my painting, "Rocky Mountain View". The class was about 4.5 hours and it was a wet-on-wet oil painting technique.

Just waiting 2-3 weeks (or longer) for it to dry so we can get it framed and then hang it up somewhere. I can take 1-2 classes per month (I'm thinking 1 since it's not super cheap) so soon my house will be filled with my own art work.

My First "Mom Knows" Review!

I mentioned about a month or so ago that I was one of 100 people chosen to be on the sheknows.com "mom knows" review panel. I have already received 2 shipments of products to try and review. They have both been full of Wild Harvest Organic products. You can read my first review (a yummy pasta dinner) here: http://talk.sheknows.com/f1172/wild-harvest-organic-pasta-dinner-788922/#post7977251

We need to be healthier

That is what I have decided. We have all been so sick this winter that I think something needs to change. Now if only I knew how to go about making a major lifestyle change. Two problems I run into are that I am very LAZY (yes I freely admit that) and that I am a super-duper picky eater. I'd love to say that I can today just start making all our food from scratch and get an hour of exercise daily and get a full night's rest, etc but that's just so unrealistic. So I am going to attempt to make some goals to follow. The things we do aren't limited to these and this will not be an overnight change, it may take years to reach the desired outcome but these are some things we will be working on.

Sleep:
Kids in bed by 8 and Jon and I in bed by 10:30
Wake up by 6:30 daily (even on Saturday...ick), Kids up by 8
Kids afternoon nap/quiet time from 12:30-2:00 (Emily other naps as needed)
I get a short daily nap as well during the kids' nap time
Sunday naps for the whole family

Exercise/screen time:
With the weather warming up we should spend at least 1 hour outdoors playing everyday
Nathan may watch 1 movie per day or 2 TV shows (when there is nice weather)
No TV during the hours of 8-4 daily (when there is nice weather)
Limit mine and Jon's computer time to 1 hour per day

Food:
Buy natural and organic when possible
Prepare 1/2 our meals from scratch each week
Limit eating out to once a month
Increase intake of fruits and veggies
Increase intake of whole grains
Limit meat and dairy intake
Increase amount of water we all drink daily
Limit juice to 1 cup per day of 100% juice mixed with water
Limit sweets to one (serving) per day
Make homemade bread regularly
Buy a wheat grinder and wheat

Health Care:
Avoid unnecessary medical intervention to allow immune systems to strengthen
Learn to identify when medical intervention is necessary
Regular chiropractic care

Give away!

I was #3 to respond to the very creative Ann's give away so now I must pay it forward!

The first five people to respond to this post will receive something made by me. HOMEMADE! The item will be my choice made just for you!


Restrictions and Limitations:

1. I have complete creative freedom
2. What I create will be just for you
3. It will be done sometime during 2009
4. You have no clue what it will be. It may be a personalized note cards. I might bake something. I might not think of anything until 6 months from now...


The catch? You must re-post this on your own blog and offer the same giveaway to 5 people who comment. The first 5 people to leave a comment telling me they are in, will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift from me! Be sure to post a picture of what you get!


Here's to creativity!

Wow it has been a while and some tag

Lets start with the tag which oh my, I have to list 10 things I like starting with the letter U...thanks Tia (and if you "tagged" another Michelle to do this and I didn't have to grrr!). Yes, I admit some of these are a stretch but I gotta get creative here, it's U for crying out loud, lol. I actually can't go for the obvious Umbrellas because I actually hate them and I have never been to Utah so that is out too.

1. University of Detroit Mercy Pep-Band Director...that would be Jon :)
   
2. Unicorns
3. Underwire bras
4. Understanding the things Nathan says more and more everyday
5. Unaccompanied choirs (aka a cappella)
6. Unbraided hair...when it's all wavy after having braids in for a while
7. Undercooked brownies and cookies, so they are still a bit doughy
8. Unguarded sweets, especially chocolate
9. US government and history courses (yup I'm a dork)
   
10. Ultraviolet lights that make your white clothing glow

WOOHOO! I did it. Now as for who to tag (and I apologize if you have been tagged already)...
Mel...letter P
Becky...letter H
Stephanie...letter J

And now for the "it's been a while" part of the post. I have been a bad blogger with this blog and both kid's blogs. So consider me lashed 50 times with a wet noodle. I guess a quick update for each family member is the best way to go.

Starting with the youngest.

Emily- She is going to be 7 months on Sunday, can you believe it? She is working hard on sitting up and she loves to roll all over the place. She grabs at anything in her reach. She finally started eating solids yesterday. We were trying every week or so to see if she was ready but she has had the tongue reflex up until yesterday. She loved eating carrots. We were gonna try peas tonight (she's had carrots before as part of our weekly test so we know they are safe and we can move on) but she fell asleep early. Thankfully she is still not close to crawling (imagine mommy doing a happy dance). She still doesn't have any teeth but she's been teething for months. At her 6 month appointment she was almost 17 pounds and 26.5".

Nathan- Oh this child, words just can't describe him. He is all boy and so full of energy and the sweetest, cutest boy ever. He is so smart too. He sings songs and says nursery rhymes. He knows all his letters and their sounds, all his colors, several shapes, speaks in sentences, counts to 10 (although not always counting objects properly), and can usually recognize his name when written. He loves to play in water and swim. He loves to be read to and play the drums. Unfortunately Nathan does have some trouble with hitting and being disobedient, but we are working on it. Today at the mall he only hit once at the play area and that is a huge improvement (considering he's now been kicked out of nursery at church 3 weeks in a row for hitting).
Nathan had an interesting week last week after having a febrile seizure (seizure brought on by high fever). Nathan woke up and came to our bed in the morning like he always does. He and I were cuddling while I tried to get just a few more minutes of sleep. I heard him coughing and that woke me up a bit and I realized he felt hot and before I could even sit up to further examine him he was having the seizure. After two ambulance rides (one after calling 911 and one to transfer him to our Dr's hospital) and 2 days (one night) in the hospital he is just fine and now we know that he is prone to febrile seizures and can be even more vigilant in preventing them. For those unfamiliar with febrile seizures, they are fairly common in small children and a child who has one has about a 50% chance of having another at some point. By age 5 or 6 they typically don't happen anymore.

Michelle- I have been keeping busy doing the mom thing. Not too much to report about me. I am going to an oil painting class on Saturday and if I like it I may have a new hobby.

Jon- He has been doing some extra U of D stuff because of the Final Four. U of D is actually the host university so he is involved in several events. We even had the chance to buy great tickets pretty cheap but we still couldn't afford them so we offered them to family. Jon's brother took us up on the offer and he should be enjoying the games this weekend. Spring break is just a week away and we are all looking forward to having Jon home for a little over a week.

And some general family stuff- The kids are both enrolled in a swim class so Friday afternoons the whole family (since it's a parent/tot class) gets in the pool for swim class. We took family pictures yesterday and I will post them when I can. They turned out great. We are still waiting to finalize Emily's adoption (we are hoping that will happen in June). Once Emily is finalized we will decide what our next step is in regard to having more children, we think we have it figured out but we want to wait to be sure. Stay tuned to find out what our next plan is. Michelle's cousin is graduating from HS so we will be heading to NJ to visit family and celebrate the graduation in June as well.

So there is a basic update.