Apparently this is fun

Wait listed

I got our letters in the mail from Journey School yesterday: Lucy is number 10 on the kindergarten wait list; Nate is number 17 on the 2nd grade list. A lot could happen in the next couple of months on those lists, but I'm pursuing some backup plans too. I've been researching schools in our district into which we could transfer. (Our "school of residence" is relatively horrible compared to other schools in our district when you look at test scores, percentage of English vs. non-English speakers, teachers, etc.)

A first

This was the first time a child in our family has fallen asleep at dinner. Love it.

Living room update

I have never been very happy with the curtains in our living room and dining area. When we moved here, I still hadn't gotten into my sewing groove, and I just got the fabric at the local discount home decor fabric place. I also ended up disliking the fact that the curtains over the window and the sliding door were different.

Here's the first "before" picture I found:

So I replaced those with new, matching curtains for all the windows/door and made some new pillows too. I really love it all. I also realize that these pillows will never look this nice again. :)

Roasted cabbage

I made this recipe the other day, and it's really good! I added chopped Maui onions on top, lemon juice, and paprika.

Dancing

We got this kids dance game after seeing it at Virginia and Anne Page's house in December. We love it!

(I would have taken a video of Lucy too, but she has her dress tucked into her underwear. I said she needed to take it out if she wanted me to take a video, but she didn't want to. Oh well.)

No news

For those who have asked: I still haven't heard from Journey School. I might hear today... but if I don't, I'll assume we're on the wait list.

Lace scarves

Doing the GAPS diet has taken all my extra energy, so I haven't felt like doing much sewing or crafting. But this week I came up with an idea for some of the vintage lace Mama gave me when we were in Virginia at Christmas: scarves. For my first try, I stitched a bunch of strands together, and then I stitched over the whole thing with some elastic thread. This makes it flexible and ruffly.

Then I stitched some straight onto knit fabric, after seeing this picture for inspiration:

Kids' "bad words"

Mama tells us that, when Greg and I were little, she had to forbid us from saying "bulldozer." Apparently, Greg and I thought it was a bad word--which makes saying it just as bad as saying a truly bad word. (Now that I'm rethinking this, perhaps we knew what a bulldozer really was, but we had somehow turned it into a mean thing to say to each other.)

Nate, Lucy, and Levi say their share of mean things to each other, but this morning I had to hide my laughter when Nate reported what Lucy had said.

"Mama! She called me 'dumb diaper'!"

GAPS update

We're over a month into the GAPS diet, and I'm pleased overall with how things are going. The children finally got their energy back after about three or four weeks and no longer lounge on the couch all day--thank goodness. They are still eating a CRAZY amount of food. We're going through two dozen eggs a day!

We've moved to stage 6 of the intro diet, which means we can have fruits as snacks (introduced one at a time) in addition to all the other things we've been able to have. I also got a nice juicer I'd been saving up for, so we've had fun the last couple of days coming up with fun combinations to try (carrot, cucumber, radish, apple, kale, celery, blueberry). Nate isn't a fan of the juice (go figure), but Lucy and I are loving it. I've also reintroduced probiotics (stopped them when first beginning the diet) and cod liver oil.

Here are some of the dinners the kids have loved this week:
- lettuce wrap tacos (use lettuce instead of tortillas, then add browned ground beef w/garlic, tomatoes, and avocado. The boys eat all the items separately.)
- egg scramble with leftover taco meat, green onions, tomatoes, avocado
- steak stir-fry with onions and mushrooms, served with butternut squash fries

Individual progress notes:
Me - I've kept off most of the initial two-week weight loss, which is nice. Unfortunately, the diet has not helped my skin at all. I'm really disappointed about that. Otherwise, I'm feeling good, not starving, and mostly enjoying the foods.

Nate - I have noticed some really great things in Nate. First, he is eating a lot of foods that he either would never try or didn't used to like. Yesterday he ate a big leaf of romaine lettuce with lunch. This morning he had two slices of cucumber with his huge plate of scrambled eggs, hamburger patty (with cauliflower, onion, and carrot mixed in), and guacamole (mashed avocado). Second, Nate has had a huge decrease in hyper behavior. It is wonderful. Before the diet, he had a really hard time keeping his hands to himself, especially when we were getting in or out of the car (he was always pestering Levi). This behavior has now decreased 99%. This improvement alone almost makes the diet worth it!

Lucy - To be honest, I haven't seen much improvement in Lucy. She is a tough one. I'm still hopeful that her sensory issues and OCD tendencies could calm down.

Levi - Levi has been whiny whiny whiny. Some days I feel like I might scream from all the whining! I think some of his behavior has actually been die-off; perhaps he had more "tummy issues" to resolve than I had thought. He is generally eating the foods well.

Another really nice improvement I've noticed in daily life: it is no longer horrible taking all three children to the store. Checking out at the grocery store used to be the worst: children going in different directions, fighting with each other, taking things off the shelves, pushing to "help" load the conveyor, etc. No matter how much preparation I'd give or how many consequences I'd impose afterward, the store was always a nightmare. Now, with the decrease in hyperactivity, they are much calmer. They are able to stand still much better in the checkout line. I know this doesn't sound like much, but it has really made life much more pleasant.

Weekend fun

Fun with Daddy:

Then Lucy offered to pull Levi after Daddy was done. Apparently, the decrease in speed was not pleasing to Levi:

And neither was Lucy getting a ride. Here he is Bradying:

Meanwhile, Nate and our neighbor were playing a board game, which they've done for the past couple of days (yesterday was Boggle):

This game, The Allowance Game, which I got for free on Freecycle, is one of Nate's favorites. He's getting very good at counting by 5s, 10s, and 25s because of it, and he has also learned how to make change. Neysa, our neighbor, lives across the street from us and is about a year older than Nate. She came to AWANA with us for the first time this past week!

Hello

Some cute pictures Colleen took last week: