Weeks 36, 37 & 38

I had some pretty bad last few weeks. We had a lot of colds and flu's in our house and I just felt exhausted for weeks. Which means very little exercising occurred. I also had a very strange and strong craving for dairy. The problem is I am lactose intolerant. Lactose pills and probiotics help so I can have a little dairy, but apparently they are not strong enough for massive amounts of dairy! I ended up being bloated and sick to my stomach for a couple of weeks, which added to my general feelings of exhaustion and blah! So, no weight loss occurred. I even gained a couple of pounds (but possibly that was due to the bloating.) Anyway, I finally started feeling better last week and got back into my exercise routine. But on Friday I started getting a cold again! I was not very happy about this. It looks as though I was able to fight it off with my essential oils, netti pot and home remedies, because it never got very bad and I feel much better today. Anyway, I was hoping to have a little weight loss this week (which I probably would have had if I hadn't felt sick again this weekend) but no luck. However I am back on track to where I was before and can hopefully stay well enough to keep on track!

Something I've been thinking about the last few weeks is how in many ways I was set up for this transition to Clean Eating long before the change took place. I believe a loving Heavenly Father was helping me out to get me all set up so the transition wouldn't be so hard. For one thing we (especially Jeff) has been very interested in Emergency preparedness. So many years before I started cooking with Whole Wheat flour, we had a year supply (or more) of Wheat in our pantry. Not only that but we also had a very nice wheat grinder (that was hardly ever used) all ready for me to break out and actually use. Several years before, I was talking to a friend who has my same model of wheat grinder and she explained that it has the ability to grind wheat really fine so that it is about the texture of white flour. She also sent me an awesome wheat bread recipe that I had made a few times before my life style change. So when I transitioned over to Clean Eating, I had plenty of wheat, an awesome grinder and a yummy recipe (that I only had to replace the sugar with honey to make it clean). This made the change so much easier for me. Imagine if I didn't have wheat or a grinder and had no experience baking with wheat. I think it may have felt much more like an uphill battle for me.

 I didn't cook much with rice before the change, but now we eat whole grain rice much more often. A little before the life style change my friend just happened to give me her old rice maker. I took it thinking I wouldn't use it much, but it might be nice to have anyway. Turns out I use it quite a bit and it has been so helpful to throw the rice in and run errands and know the whole grain rice is ready and waiting for us when we get home.

My Mom has been interested in healthy eating for a while and so for many occasions has given us some really pure and healthy cooking items. I already had in my pantry before the change, Organic Virgin Coconut oil, expensive Olive Oil and other vinegars. Of course those have all been used up and replaced many times, but it made it nice when trying a recipe for the first time to have these items already in my pantry.

Jeff has been very big into gardening for many years. The Fall before the transition I finally bought a canner and attempted canning tomato sauce for the first time. Jeff must have like that, because this year he tackled the task himself making a whole cupboard full of jars of clean tomato/spaghetti sauce that will last us until next fall. It has been nice to be able to make a quick an easy whole wheat pasta dinner with this very healthy sauce.

I feel very grateful that the ball was already rolling and things were set in place for me to begin this transition. I am certainly not saying that one would not be able to transition to healthier eating without the above things already in place. But possibly for me it would have been impossible. I really do not enjoy daily cooking and spending time in the kitchen. That was the big hindrance for years on cooking healthier. So when I finally made the change and realized I already had many of the tools that I needed, the transition was no where near as hard as I thought it would be. It was a smooth enough transition that I have been able to stick with it and not feel at all overburdened by it.

I am grateful for the knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father who is looking out for me. That when it was time for me to make a change, he not only let me know, but also had made sure the transition would not be too hard for me to accomplish. My experience has furthered strengthened my testimony of  a great scripture: 1 Nephi 3:7 "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." 

I know the Lord prepared me in many ways to accomplish this change in my lifestyle prior to commanding me to make the change.  I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for all of the guidance and help and preparation that I have been blessed with throughout my life.

Talent Show

Tonight was the Ward Talent Show. When I heard about it I knew I would not hear the end of it if I didn't let Aubrey perform in the show. My friend Rachel's dad is a song writer and wrote the most fun song. He was willing to play the guitar and sing while the girls were the background singers and dancers. I decided that would be something Brooke could do as well. I'm so glad I let her participate because she was soooooo excited about it all day. It's all she could talk about - she even set up all of her toys to be in a talent show. I thought Brooke might be a little shy on stage, but I found out that she is in fact an even bigger Ham then her sister! Anyway, they were completely darling in my very unbiased opinion!!

Here it is: Gonna Build me a Rainbow by Larry Krause

Could there be any cuter background singers and dancers?!

Enjoying every single minute of dancing on stage!!

Singing their little hearts out!

Brooke was the only one who remembered to bow at the end and then she didn't want to leave the stage!

 

 The "Rainbow Singers"

Sweet little sisters!

It was so much fun tonight, not only watching my girls but seeing all of the performers. Aubrey was mesmerized the entire time! Brooke liked it too, but got tired half way through. I always loved being in ward/stake shows when I was a kid and now it's even more fun watching my girls enjoy performing!

Whole Wheat & Clean French Bread

Last night I was making spaghetti for dinner and decided it was a must to have french bread to go with it. A few weeks ago I found a whole wheat french bread recipe online, but it didn't turn out that great. (Probably because it took hours with multiple rises and I didn't have enough time. So I took some short cuts and it didn't turn out so well!) Anyway, for years I've been making my Mom's really yummy white french bread recipe. I decided to convert it myself to a whole wheat and clean recipe, since I now know enough about clean eating to do so! It turned out absolutely divine and the house smelled delicious! The recipe makes 2 loaves, so one loaf I made into clean garlic toast to go with our spaghetti!

Whole Wheat & Clean French Bread

2 loaves

2 1/2 Cups Warm Water

2 Tbsp Yeast

2 Tbsp Honey

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Sea Salt

6 Cups Whole Wheat Flour 

(Consider using whole wheat pastry flour if you do not have a grinder that can grind the wheat really fine.)

1 Egg White

Sesame seeds (optional)

Dissolve yeast and honey in warm water. Let sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. Add oil, salt and 3 Cups of Flour. Mix well. Add the rest of the flour and mix well. Let rise for 10 min. and then punch it down. (Do this 6 times which makes a total of 1 hour rising, punching down every 10 min.) Roll into 2 long, thin loaves. (I just form the loaves with my hands covered in wheat flour.) Let rise for 30 min. covered with a towel. Carefully cut 3 slices on the top with a very sharp knife. If you are not careful your risen loaf will fall. Baste the top of each loaf with egg white. Sprinkle on sesame seeds if you like. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 min.

Clean Garlic Toast

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

1 Garlic Clove minced

1/4 Parmesan Cheese finely shredded

Mix all of the above ingredients in a small bowl. (I estimated the amounts because I did not measure when I made it. Add more garlic if you like a stronger garlic flavor - this version was more mild.) Slice your French Bread and baste each slice of bread with the mixture. Place on a baking sheet and bake in 400 degree oven until the cheese has melted. (I didn't time it, but I believe it was about 10 minutes.)

Our Valentines

 We had a very nice family Valentine's Day.

Several months ago I found heart shaped molds and small heart gift baskets, so decided we'd make heart crayons for Aubrey's preschool valentine exchange.

A few days before Valentine's, the girls had fun making the crayons. 

Here the girls are taking off the papers and sorting the colors.

Here are a few of our crayons.

The night before Valentines Aubrey said, "Mom I remember last Valentine's we had heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. Can we have them again this year?" That girl forgets nothing! I make a yummy and really filling oatmeal, whole wheat pancake. Here's a link to the recipe.

Here she is happy to have her heart pancakes. While we were eating breakfast Aubrey asked, "Do we celebrate anything about Jesus on Valentines?" I answered, "No not really". Then she replied, "I know, we can celebrate that Jesus loves us!" What a little sweetheart she is!

My winking Brookie bug!

Two happy girls! They just LOVE special days!

Aubrey had a preschool Valentine party and Brooke and I went to a toddler art class at the museum.

Afterward we stopped at the store to get the ingredients for a Clean Chocolate Cake I wanted to try out. I found it in my Clean Eating Cookbook, but also found it posted on the web. Here's the recipe. 

Here's my finished cake. It turned out divine!! I didn't get a chance to go to my health food store and the regular grocery store did not have real coconut extract or unsweetened flaked coconut. So I just left those ingredients out. For the frosting I used the recipe from my favorite Clean Cupcakes. You just melt some bittersweet chocolate with milk. I just winged the amounts. I'm pretty afraid to weigh myself tomorrow though because I ate most of this cake myself, since the rest of my family got other Valentine treats they were eating!

 After Brooke's dance class the girls helped me make a scavenger hunt for their Daddy's presents and they also hid the several valentines they had made for him. (Have I mentioned how much my girls LOVE to make valentines?!)

Then they made their heart shaped pizza. This is the whole wheat pizza crust recipe that I use and it is delicious! I forgot to get a picture of my pizza, but this is the recipe to my Spinach and Chicken Sausage Pizza. 

For Jeff and the girls pizza I buy a organic, sugar free pizza sauce at the health food store. Then they top it with mozzarella cheese and turkey pepperoni. 

Here they are with their finished pizza ready to cook!

After Daddy got home and while the pizza was cooking I ding dong ditched the girls valentine presents (as is tradition.)

I got some killer deals at Ross so the girls got a lite bright, (a blast from the past!)

And a Zooble nursery with a Mom and two zooblings. I couldn't decide which to give to which so they were presents for both to share.

 Then the girls gave their Daddy his clue to his scavenger hunt.

After several clues, he found his present.

The girls are always happy to help Daddy open his gift!

Then I hid the treat Daddy brought home and a little treat I had picked up with some homemade Valentines Jeff and I made for the girls. I sent them on their scavenger hunt to find them.

We ate our yummy heart shaped pizza, fruit and heart shaped chocolate cake.

Brooke had an awesome chocolate goatee!

Then we all played with the girls new Valentine toys for a bit.

We played a couple of games and then sent our little ladies on to bed. What a nice Valentines we had.

A few days earlier Jeff gave me the best Valentine's present ever. He took me to a ballroom dance class. We learned the Tango. I absolutely love to dance and Jeff absolutely hates to dance :(. So we have never gone dancing - ever. I had lost all hope, until Jeff shocked me by saying he would take me dancing for Valentines!! Yipee! He also brought me home a rose bush and he and the girls planted it in the front yard. I love flowers and am excited to see the roses growing in our yard!

It's nice to have special days to celebrate with our families. I know people complain about the commercialism and that it is superficial to have to show your love just because the calendar says it's valentines day, but personally I feel those people are missing out! It's so easy to get in a rut in our routines and to take our loved ones for granted. Having a day set aside to do something special and to show our love to those we care about only makes life more meaningful. I don't like to miss out on any opportunity to make life just a little more memorable and to participate in important traditions that bring us closer as a family. And sure I could pick any day to do that, but it sure is nice that there is a day already scheduled on my calendar!

Preschool Letter L - Love, Ladybugs, Letters

 Since this month is the month of Valentines, I decided to do the Letter L for Preschool.

First we read: "Love is a Handful of Honey"

Then they painted Love frames to give to their mom's. I had fun with these. I bought some clay at the craft store and then used my cookie cutters to make little plaques for the kids to decorate. I found pictures of each of the kids that I glued behind the "heart/O" on the plaque.

Here are my girls finished plaques.

Next we learned about the life cycle of a Ladybug. This is a really cool book I checked out at our library with good information for preschoolers and actual pictures. The kids were all very interested.

 Then they made some Ladybug Love Letters for their Dad's.

 Next the kids made some clothespin lambs. I had Lions all ready for them to make as well, but we were running short on time, so I saved it for later.

Here are my girls completed lambs.

 I loved how Aubrey added a nose!

  Last I gave them some play dough and a sheet of Uppercase Letters. They were to make snakes out of the play dough and form them into letters. Here's this little guys A.

For a snack we had sugar free, whole grain Lemon bars. They turned out pretty tart, so I think next time I would use a little less lemon.

Makin' Valentines

 Aubrey has loved making valentines since she was 1 years old. I remember that I helped her make some valentines that year and then she continued on throughout the whole year making valentines. She loves making things for people.

 

 She was very happy to find out that it was that time of year again!

Brooke is taking right after her sister in the crafts department. She had a ball too making her valentines!

Little Ladies hard at work.

I had to throw this picture in from last week. I found Aubrey fast asleep with a book firmly held in her hands. I took it out of her hands and went to the computer (it's directly across from her room.) Her hands were in the exact same position as they had been when the book was in them for about an hour! She was fast asleep and not moving an inch!

Week 35

I lost 2 pounds this week. Woo Hoo! I was wondering how the scale would read this week. I was sick this week so I hardly ate anything for 2 days, but then I ate more then normal this weekend when I started to feel better. (Of course it was all clean food, just an over abundance!) So I figured it could have gone either way. I'm glad that it went downward! I needed a good pick me up this morning!

Total weight loss = 53 pounds!

Brooke Learning her First Dance

Brooke has loved watching Aubrey learn her recital dances. I take videos for Aubrey to practice at home and Brooke loves to join in and learn the dance too.

She was so excited when she started to learn her very own dance! She looked absolutely adorable following the teacher and doing her dance.



I sure hope she loves performing on the big stage like her sister, because that will be so adorable if she doesn't get too shy!

I'm so glad that my girls love to dance - cause I sure do love to watch them!