Arnica works.

Today Dominic was playing near the fireplace when he bonked is head against it. He cried and I thought he hit his forehead. Then I noticed it was the outside corner of his eye. So I remembered the Arnica, which is for bruises, sprains and such. Well I have it in tablet form. So I gave him some. Before i gave it the spot looked purple and was swelling up. 10 minutes after I gave it the purple was gone and it didn't look like a black eye in the making anymore. I gave it twice more at two hour intervals (as directed) and now it is almost unnoticable. It is just a small pink spot. I am impressed.

Tonight for dinner we are having Brats, Edamame and homemade Mac and Cheese. MMM!!

We watched Curious George this weekend and it was a huge hit. Very sweet kids movie. No one gets hurt or dies. My daughter was laughing out loud at the monkey doing mischeif. So we went to the library and got Curious George books. But she is asleep now.... the time change SUCKS with little kids. They got up this morning at 6am. :(

New baby

We have a new baby in our family. Simon Jude 8 lbs. 5 oz born Friday Oct. 27th. His parents are Sara and Alex (Massimos brother). Gioia and Dominic have a new cousin and I am an Aunt. :) Mom and Baby are doing good, should come home on Sunday. Welcome to the family little man!

Dominic got his first fat lip this weekend. His sister was trying to pick him up and they fell. He bit his lip and it looks like it really hurts.

Blah fall weather.

This fall rainy weather is so BLAH! The kids took turns with some bug this week. Both of them ran a significant fever for 24-36 hours and now they are fine. Weird. Dh and I managed to avoid it. I am excited about a project I am doing for Christmas gifts. I can't post what it is until after, because of grandmas and others who might read this blog. We had the Dance class Halloween party Wenesday. It was really fun and cute. Gioia was a fairy princess, beautiful as always.

The cuteness of the week is my little man giving kisses. He will kiss you, then sometimes laugh this fake laugh...ha ha ha. He also walks everywhere now and is getting pretty good at it. He also signed MORE today and NURSING/MILK yesterday.

Hey Grandpa whats for supper?

I been feeling like cooking this week. So far we have had: Homemade pizza with whole wheat crust, Spaghetti Carbonara, Veggie stirfry with Quinoa, and I made Homemade Whole Wheat bread. We get this amazing whole wheat flour from Soaring Eagles Farms, in Edgerton, KS. The couple Lee and Cindy are so nice, they homeschool and live in a Dome house they built, which is TOTALLY COOL! Anyway, they are our kind of people. We even looked at a property by them several months ago, alas it was walking distance from the train tracks. No thanks.

Things that make you go... AWWW!, AGGH!! or HAHAHA!

Some things make you laugh, scream or think AWW precious! It seems like that covers most scenarios. So I will update you all with that in mind.
1. Gioia tells her papaw "Papaw you got a big tummy! You got a baby in your tummy!" I tell her, No, only girls get babies in there tummy but papaw has a big tummy. Papaw says, "I am gonna put some beer in my tummy and see if it gets bigger!" HA HA HA!

2. My niece brings me a chunk of hair and says, I think Gioia did this with the scissors! (Definately an AGGHH!) I ask her about it. SHe says, Yes, I better do that again. (gets up to do it.) NO NO. We don't cut our hair with scissors, I say. Turns out ok, her hair is long and she is a natural at cutting her own layers.

3. Our good friends found out they are pregnant with #1. AWW!! They had a sonogram....turns out they are pregnant with #1 and #2. AGHH! or Aww!! Take your pick.

4. My sister found out she did not get accepted into nursing school (again). AGGHH!!

5. My little guy is walking! He will let go and take off. He is so happy about it, he thinks he is big stuff! AWWW! *sniff sniff*

6. My brothers H.S. Football team is undefeated. They have 2 games left of regular season. I really feel they are on the way to state! Go Bulldogs! Our family will be going to St. Louis to watch them play if they make it. WOO HOO!

7. On our way to Iowa, my husband is driving ($#%@) and we get to talking (no really?) and we miss our exit and drive 20 miles before realizing it. Which means we had to drive 20 back the other way, added a total of 40 minutes to our road trip with 2 toddlers. AGHHHH%$&@*!!!

Have a happy week everyone!

Busy week, Grandmas House.

Whew. We have had a busy week. Can't believe I haven't had time to blog. Monday we tried a new dance class. We didn't like it. They wanted the girls (3-4 year olds) to stand on an X and learn dance steps. Then they were surprised and frustrated when the girls were bored and running around the room. That sealed our decision to go to the dance studio in Olathe. It is wonderful. I talked about it last week. Tuesday we played at home since DH is on vacation.

Wednesday we had our dance class. Gioia had a great time. Then we headed out to Grandmas house. The kids love their Grandma and Papaw. We have a baby calf that was a twin and its mama didn't want him, so he is one the bottle. They have twin goats whos mama doesn't have any milk and they are on a bottle too. They still suck their mama, so maybe her milk will come in eventually. We have been playing outside and having a great time. This weekend we are off to Iowa to see the rest of the family. So busy, busy busy.

Vacation time!

It is vacation time for my husband. He has the whole week off and will hopefull get the two Fiero's in the driveway running. He got the first one almost finished and it runs. Yippee! Now on to the second one.

Saturday we went to Arts in the Arboretum. It was really fun. Gioia painted a rock, made a pine cone turkey, a fall leaves placemate and we took a hayride. We met some friends out there as well. Then we all when shopping and I got a bra. I need a new nursing bra. However, no one sells decent ones except online. Then when I get it, it is not comfortable and has pointy 50's style cups. No thanks! So I found out how to MAKE a nursing bra. I am going to use snaps on it instead of hooks. My friend has a snap press. I went to Victorias Secret found a nice bra and I am *crossing fingers* that it comes out nicely. Then we all went out for dinner. It was a really nice day. We also got Gioia an activity book at Borders. It has numbers, letters, and all kinds of Pre-K age activites. She loves it. When we were at Borders, she went over to an Asian father and daughter, involved herself in their book reading and even climbed up on the mans lap. She is so funny, doesn't know a stranger. That is why I have to keep close eyes on her when we are out and about. Its that great Attachment Parenting. She feels safe and secure in her world. Guess maybe we need to read a few books about strangers.

DH and I continue to kick around ideas about owning an RV, possibling a huge bus one and living in it. It would be so awesome. But then you have the downside of not much room for running around and playing. Surely, there is some inbetween we can find. We will keep our eyes peeled, ears to the ground and options open. It also depends on if he could someday work from home. We would like that regardless of where we lived.

AWW what a nice day.

Today was just an all round nice day. My daughter came in bed and snuggled and woke up baby and I. Then we went and made breakfast. After that we went to my friend Mountain's house for playgroup. On the way home we grabbed some pasta for lunch. The kids feel asleep in the car, i carried them in and crawled in bed with baby for a 2 hour nap! Yeah! I love naps.

New dance class.

We went to a new dance class today and Gioia had a great time! I am so glad. It is a few dollars more each week, but worth it if she enjoys it. They have a recital at the end, but we aren't going to participate because it is 100 dollars for costume and tickets. YIKES! She doesn't even know what a recital is. Maybe we can save up and do the recital next year. Hmmm... nothing interesting today I guess. No sugar again. Still craving it. My RN friend at the health food store, said I may have alot of yeast in my body from all my sugar bingeing before so I am taking probiotics to help put back the good bacteria. Hopefully soon i will not feel like killing someone for a chocolate shake! LOL!!

Rainy Day.

Not much going on today. Grocery shopping, Health store for teething tablets, post office. It is rainy and dreary, so we turned on the fireplace and made Banana bread. MMM! Doing good with my sugar free challenge. No sugar today, made the Banana Bread with Stevia (all natural plant sweetner). My AP (attachment parenting) group is really growing and planning lots of get-togethers lately. I am so glad. Had some excitement on our AP website the last couple days. Some lady joined that was a total religious fanatic, she even said all our kids would grow up to be sluts since we wear pants, tank top shirts, makeup etc... Even worse was that she was supposedly Catholic. We told her she was not a good fit for our hippie group that lets our kids swim in the buff and have all spectrums of religions.

We have field trips scheduled for the next few weeks to go Letterboxing, to Moon Marble Company, and possibly a Post Office tour. It is really great having other families with preschool and kindergarten age kids to do this stuff with. I think we have close to 10 families just from my AP group. Not everyone comes to everything, but we usually have at least 5 come. I think we are planning a rotating meetup, possibly with a theme, craft and snacks for the winter months.

The weekend!

The weekend flew by! So fast I totally forgot to post. Saturday we went on a hayride. My dad was rolling his eyes that we had to "pay" for a hayride. While we were in the city taking a hay ride and campfire, Mom and Dad were baling hay and taking the Orginal Hayride. LOL!

Sunday we went to church. We love our new priest. Then I was held hostage by the Kirby vaccuum salesman. To be fair, he did shampoo my living room carpet and deep vaccuumed my stairs. I have to admit, I am sold on the vaccuum. Just didn't have 1500 dollars to spend on a vaccuum. I am thinking that our vaccuum is 6 years old, the carpet 5 years. In a few more years both are going to need replacing, so we will get the new carpet and vaccuum. It will give us the time to save the money.

Dominic had a horrible night. He is cutting a top tooth, and his molars. Poor baby. I am exhausted, but its temporary. At least I feel good knowing that I helped my son all I could while he was hurting. I didn't leave him in a crib to cry. I don't know how people do it with cribs. Getting in and out of bed, standing and patting backs, etc... It was bad enough laying next to him in the family bed snuggling him and nursing him. Guess that is why so many crib users resort to the awful Cry It Out. Which in my opinion is horrible and abusive to a poor baby.

My sugar free thing is not going well. It is all my husbands fault. We went out for dinner last night and he ordered dessert. BAD!! Ok it is a new week and I am starting fresh. So far so good.

21 day sugar free challenge.

I am inspired by some fellow online mothers in the Mothering Community . We are all doing a 21 day sugar free challenge. Some are taking it very seriously and cutting out natural sugar (like fruit) as well. I am cutting out all refined sugar, white flour (which we do anyway) and sugar in foods. I am still going to eat fruit, just limited for this detox. Here are a couple interesting articles on why sugar is bad. Dangers of Sugar, Killer Sugar. Here is a quote from one article, "Because it contains NO vitamins or minerals it must rob them from the body in which it is assimilated, (like a parasite leaching the "life" from its victim)." A little dramatic but the point is still true. Sugar is one of those cummulative things. We are a pretty healthy eating family, but I can think of alot of things in my kitchen right now with sugar in them. Peanut butter, mayo, tortilla shells, bread, honey, maple syrup, cereal, the canned soup, ketchup, BBQ sauce. So it is a build up effect. It is not just candy and ice cream.

I know my kids may eat junk when they are older, or go to McDonalds (which we boycott). But my hope is that if they are used to eating this way, white flour free, sugar free, organic mostly, then they will have a firm background to come back to when they are parents or adults. Just maybe the McDonalds will make them feell crappy too.

On another subject, my "girl doggie" decided to drop her pants and pee outside last night. Like a good doggie should. Although, she really isn't a dog, she is a 3 year old. My husband started to flip out, but we took a moment and when she was done I told her that yes, doggies pee outside, but I would like it if she tried to use the potty. Then we laughed in private.

DH(dear husband) got pulled over last night. Our headlight was out, then he couldn't find the current insurance, oops...it was home on the counter. It started to get a ticket, until he found the insurance card that just expired a few days ago. So the cop let him go with no ticket. WHEW!

Indian food and scary teachers.

We had our MNO (Moms Night Out) last night. It went really great. 13 moms showed up. The mom with twins and two toddlers came and her husband made it just fine with all 4 kids. He deserves a hand for that! We ate Indian Food. It was a first for most of us. Me and 2 other moms split a family meal for 3 that came with appetizer and 3 different small portions of meals. We had Buttered chicken, Lamb, and Goat curry. OH MY! I have eaten goat now. Hmmm. I didn't really care for it. 50% was the taste, it was tender but fatty and 50% was mental. Ok maybe 80% was mental. But HEY! I did try two bites of it. My sister would be proud. The lamb and the chicken were wonderful and the service was the best I have had for a long time. All in all an A+ for the Indian place. Afterwards, me and my two good friends went next door to Applebees and had a drink. It was fun. We are plotting for a Karaoke night. That would be really fun.

We decided not to go to dance class today. I haven't paid for this month yet and I am thinking of switching to a different studio. My daughter has told me a few different times that the teacher is scary. I have no idea where this comes from but if she feels that way then we need to find a different arrangement. This morning she said she didn't want to go. SO we went to the park and rode bikes. She had a wonderful time.

I am planning to paint and wallpaper my half bath, maybe this weekend. It might have to wait until next week though depending on cash flow. Wallpaper is stinking expensive. Bah! The excitement is killing me though. I love to do home improvement things and this is going to make a huge difference in there.

Beautiful Day.

Today was a beautiful day. We met some friends for playdate at Antioch Park. Then the kids napped. Later we had dinner and went grocery shopping. Sounds really exciting right?? Funny, thing is I remember when we were in college and shopping was fun. We would go at like 11pm or 1am to Food-4-Less (aka Beer-4-Less) and buy groceries. We were about the only ones there and it was fun. Gioia is getting really good at riding her bike. She can pedal and steer now by herself. Tonight she was helping her brother walk. She would hold his hands and off they would go. It was so sweet. I videotaped it of course.

A lady I know had a baby today by C-section. They are both fine and I wish them the best but it really makes me sick about it all. She of course, was induced. The ONLY reason they induced her was because she was a couple days past due. Baby was fine, weight of baby fine etc... It was her first baby and the doctor talked her into inducing, which didn't work, which led to C-section. So basically, they ended up cutting her baby out of her because her doctor, not mother nature, decided it was time. GRRR!! I get so upset about it all.

Natural body care.

Our family has been working really hard over the last few years to get rid of chemicals we put in or on our bodies. I mean, why do we feel it is ok to lather ourselves with lotions or soaps that have all these preservatives and chemicals in them you can't even pronounce? The thing is that its totally unneccesary. There are tons of companies out there that offer natural body care products. I think we are finally switched over to all products that are good for us and rid of the other stuff.

For example we use shampoo bars and vinegar rinse for the shower. www.prairielandherbs.com We use lotion, shaving silk from my friend's company. www.naturalnewborn.com I use deodrant and facial products from this company. www.terressentials.com AND! My triumph has been that I am using mineral makeup and eyeshadow so that is switched over too. I got them from www.everydayminerals.com. Of course, you can also go to Wild Oats or Whole Foods to get these kinds of things. Also Burts Bees is pretty good stuff too.

It is true that it is a little more expensive, but I have found that the products last a long time and it is worth it in my opinion. It also makes it a little harder for people to give gifts, since we don't want a litaney of bath and body work baskets or things of that nature. But I say, I don't need gifts, just take me out to eat somewhere. :) Preferably somewhere with Cheesecake! LOL!

Small farms and RV's.

There was an article in the KC Star this weekend about small farms. How 80% of americas farms are these small farms. People from the city or big towns that move out to the country for some peace and quiet. I can relate. I love lots of things about the city, convience, activities, but I would also like a little square of my own for growing food and things like that. The article said that small farms can make $10,000 per acre growing organic food and specialty items like one man makes Goats milk cheese on his farm for gourmet stores and restaurants. AAH. I could go on and on about this subject.

We watched the little known movie RV this weekend. Starring Robin Williams. Man, it was pretty funny. Very "National Lampoon".We dream of hubby working from home, having an RV and traveling around to see the country. Go somewhere warm in the winter, Colorado in the summer, East in the fall to see the New England states trees turn colors and all that jazz. It would be pretty cool. Old folks got the right Idea. I hope I don't have to wait till I am old to do it.

Renfest and cooking.

This weekend was filled with family fun and COOKING! Remember all those apples I got. Yeah. I finally got them all done up into apple sauce. It was hard work for 3 quarts and 2 pints of apple sauce. I also made 5 batches of Beef and Veggie soup for cooking club.

Saturday we went to the Reneissance Festival with the kids and it was really fun. Gioia and her dad rode a camel. We ate a turkey leg, rootbeer float and saw all sorts of cool costumes. A funny lady gave Gioia a "dragon tear" green jewel when we first got there and it was the highlight of her day. Here are some pics of it all. And finally a picture of the "Fat toad" being himself! HA!