Picture Post!

Ok, it is about time that I shared some picture of the kids.  :)  These are some pics I took this last weekend while we were visiting my in-laws.  ENJOY!

Couldn't get them to walk in a straight line...sigh...lol!

 Wish the sun wouldn't have done this. This would have been such a cute pic!

LOVE this one!

Hope you enjoyed the pics.  I sure loved taking them.  I am hoping that this weekend that I can get some more of Dragonfly.  She just turned 3 months!  EEK!  :)

<3 Alison

Update time!

I think it is about time to update everyone on the goings on of our house.  :)

Butterfly is in kindy and loves it!  She is in the VERY top of her class with reading.  Her teacher is starting her on an advanced reader program.  I stopped in to chat with the teacher and come to find out that Butterfly is reading at a 3rd grade level!  OH MY!  She is also doing really well with math.  This week is homecoming so she has "spirit days" a school.  Yesterday was PJ day (she was THRILLED to go to school in PJ's) and today is Sport/Jersey day...Only thing we had that fit her was a Vikings Favre t-shirt...and if you know me you know that I am a PACKER fan!  GO PACKERS!  But oh well, she will still have a good day.

Bee started pre-school and is LOVING it.  She runs into school every day she goes.  She won't stop talking about it either.  She loves getting to hang out with her best friend Cal.  :)  I love it that she is making friends so easily...although, I didn't ever have a doubt that she would.  She is a social butterfly.  Much to social to figure out how to write her name correctly...lol.  :)

Bubby is doing GREAT!  He is starting to make 2 and 3 word sentances.  His new favorite words are Sorry and Why.  YAY!  lol!  He is as boy as boys come...loves to play with his Lego's, cars, and trains.  He LOVES Caillou (and of course..I do NOT!) and the movie Cars.

Dragonfly is doing ok.  I had been nursing her and had to eliminate dairy, soy and gluten from my diet.  With those limitations my supply declined rapidly.  This week we started to supplement with alumentium and well, that isn't going well.  I am currently waiting on a call back from the doctor to get the prescription for Neocate so that our insurance will cover it.  Her poor belly is NOT tolerating the alumentium well at all.

Hubby is home for about 2 1/2 weeks and then will be gone for almost a month.  He will first be in Detroit and then will be in China for about 3 weeks.  We are going to miss him a TON!

I am planning to go to a Hearts at Home conference for Mom's!  I am SO excited!  My in-laws and parents have volunteered to watch all four kiddos for us so that I can go and Dan can sleep since he will JUST be getting back from China...can we say jet-lag???

Well, that is us.  I am hoping to get some crafting in soon.  I have some quilts to get done and some dresses to get started.

Hope you all are doing well!
<3 Alison

An Apple Crisp for ME!

I was so excited to find a dessert recipe that I could actually eat!  I haven't had much in the line of sweets since I went dairy, soy, and gluten free almost 2 months ago.  So when I thought about a dessert that I would like to have I thought of apple crisp.  I found this recipe on the internet and am SO excited about it!  It tastes REALLY good and I can eat it!

So here is the recipe!

Gluten Free Apple Crisp

FILLING

1. 3-4 Braeburn (or similar) apples, peeled, sliced into 1/4″ thick slices
2. 2 teaspoons cinnamon
3. 2-3 Tablespoons lemon juice (I didn't use this)
4. 3 Tablespoons to 1/4 c. white sugar or turbinado sugar (to taste)
5. 2 Tablespoons to 1/4 c. brown sugar (to taste)
6. 2 Tablespoons (more or less) GF Flour mix – depending on juiciness of the apples

CRISP TOPPING

1. 6 Tablespoons butter, slightly softened (I used Earth's Balance: Soy, Dairy and Gluten Free margarine)
2. 1/3 c. GF quick oats, roughly ground almonds & walnuts, or quinoa flakes (I used GF quick oats)
3. 1/4 c. GF Flour mix (I used Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF flour)
4. 2-3 Tablespoons white sugar (to taste)
5. 1-2 Tablespoons brown sugar (to taste)
6. optional: ground cinnamon (1 tsp) and freshly ground nutmeg (1 tsp)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375*F.
2. Peel and slice apples into thin slices (1/4″).
3. Put into a medium bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice. Mix.
4. Add sugars, flour and cinnamon.
5. Mix together very well.
6. Pour into medium (for thin) or small (for deep) baking dish.
7. Put softened butter into the same bowl where you mixed the apples.
8. Add oats (or other option), flour and sugars and “squish” together well until crumbly.
9. Pour and crumble over apples in baking dish evenly.
10. Bake for 23-30 minutes.

Cool slightly before serving (5-10 minutes).
Serve over all natural GF vanilla ice cream.

I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did!  Hope there is still some left for dessert after dinner.  :)

<3 Alison

Ooops!

I went away!  The last month has been CRAZY!  Butterfly started kindy, Hubby went on a business trip (and is consequently gone this week too), I was prepping for a garage sale and much, much more.  I got so busy I forgot to update here!  So sorry!

Well, we are starting to get into the groove of things.  We get Butterfly off to the bus by 7:15 each morning and then Monday's and Wednesday's we take Bee to pre-school for a couple of hours.  Then Bubby and Dragonfly and I do our errands.  We go to the bank, post office, and the grocery store.  Now that the weather has cooled off we are hoping to be able to go apple picking and put up some apples for the winter. So excited about that! :D

Hubby and I are once again involved in our church and it feels so good to be involved!  We are teaching middle school Sunday school on Sunday mornings.  We just started but it is so nice.  I am SUPER excited about the study we are going to be doing with them.

I have also become a Sparks leader at our church's AWANA program.  I have my own little group of Sparkies who play together, sing songs, learn Bible verses and have a good time.  I hope that this year will be a great year for my kiddos.  Butterfly and Bee are both involved in the AWANA program and Bubby and Dragonfly are going to head to the nursery during that time when Hubby is away (like this week).

I am hoping to get some crafting in this week while Hubby is away.  With any luck I will be able to blog about them too!

Hope you all have a great week!
<3 Alison

Here we go!

Today I start being a single parent for a week.  Hubby is off on a couple of business trips and won't be home til Friday.  I told him last night that even though I don't like that he is going I am not feeling as nervous as I normally do when he leaves town.  That is HUGE progress.  It is what it is and there is nothing I can do to change it.  All I can do is take it moment by moment and day by day.

Today is going well so far.  I got Hubby and Butterfly off this morning and then hit the ground running.  I have 2 of the 3 beds changed that need it and am on my second load of laundry.  I got the house cleaned last night so that is all set to go too.  With any luck I will have a few spare moments to go through some more boxes in the basement to get things ready for our garage sale in a couple of weeks.  It is time to purge things that we are no longer using.

I am hoping that in the coming weeks I will be able to get a book shelf for the girls' room and get all of their toys in the basement play room.  That way we have a "quiet area" and a "play area".  I think that will help ensure the naps that are still needed by my kids.

Over the last month I have eliminated dairy, soy and gluten from my diet.  I am very pleased with how I feel and pleased that Dragonfly seems to be doing ok too.  I still wish I could figure out why she is still super gassy and fussy at night..every night.  Since Hubby is gone this week I think that my kids will be eating more like me as well.  I will be cooking much less pasta and using breads less as well.  The kids actually like salads so we might have those for lunches.

Well, I am off to go fold some laundry!  Hope you all are having a great Monday!
<3 Alison

A moment is too long...

...when you have a 2 year old and a blue sharpie pen in the same room.  :(

I had been marking some clothing to give to a friend when the baby started to fuss.  So I set down what I was doing, apparently not thinking, and went to the baby.  I was calming her down and as I turned around to find out what that "weird sound was" I saw him.

He had laid his cars down on the couch, picked up my blue Sharpie and started to draw.  ALL OVER MY COUCH!  Sigh.

My face dropped.  I said his name.  He dropped the marker.  He went to his room.  Sigh.

My couch cushion may never be the same again.

After contemplating what to do and after asking my gal pals from one of my FB groups what to do, I realized that I got rid of many of my fabric cleaning products during our move.  Sigh.  But then I remembered.  I have Rockin' Green!  I use Rockin' Green on EVERYTHING else...so why not this.  I created a paste, grabbed a toothbrush from my stash (I *LOVE* couponing!) and went at it.  After much elbow grease and some good ol' RnG I have a pretty good chance at only having minimal damage to my couch cushion.

So once again it was Rockin' Green to the rescue!!!

<3 Alison

Butterfly is off to Kindy!

How can it be?!  I just put my first baby on the bus and sent  her off to kindy.  Wasn't it just yesterday that Hubby and I brought her home from the hospital?  We were just snuggling with her and admiring how beautiful a baby she was?  And now she is almost 6 and off to kindergarten.  She is a fabulous little girl.  I can't wait to hear how her first day goes.  I am most nervous about her on the bus but we have great neighbors with older kids who are going to make sure that she gets on and off at the right places.  *fingers crossed that she does ok*  I have been praying that she does well today.

Bee, Bubby, Dragonfly and I are all going to go to the grocery store today.  I need to pick up a few things and I want to try out having 3 kids again...lol.

Naptime is going to be so quiet...with three kids that actually nap (or have rest time that turns into naptime) my house will be nice and quiet.  Maybe I can actually get the curtains done for the girls' room!  Wouldn't that be great?!

Off to go get ready for the grocery!
<3 Alison