January {LOVES}

this book

this album

this recipe

this show

this article

January 2014 Learning Highlights

January was full of fun learning when the boys weren't sick. 

We had a rough couple of weeks, but thankfully they seem to be much better. 

Here's a look at some of our learning...

We introduced some simple addition this month.

 

We've practiced adding with Duplos...

  
and with a few board games. 

We did a few snowman crafts.

We learned about hibernation and migration by reading several books. Some of our favorites were When It Starts to Snow and Is this Panama?: A Migration Story. One day the boys pretended they were hibernating animals and searched for seeds that I hid in little bags around the house.

 

After they had enough "stored up" they pretended to 

hibernate in a "den" that we made using a small table and blanket.

  
We also did an experiment with Crisco where the boys learned how
fat can help animals stay warm in the winter. (This was very messy!)

We read The Mitten and practiced lacing a mitten I made out of construction paper.

 

The next day we retold the story and stuffed our

 mitten with the characters from the story.

 

 I also picked up a few learning mats from Mighty Dollar 

last month and we've enjoyed using those.

 

We've also experimented with ice.

We've watched ice melt. We've had races to see if water freezes faster in the freezer or outside. We've tried twice to blow frozen bubbles (this didn't work for us either time).

 We've also just had some fun playing in the snow.

We've also been reading lots of books about community helpers and transportation lately. We haven't done too much with those specific themes, but we have in the past. 

Next month we're looking forward to Groundhog's Day, Winter Olympics, Valentine's Day, and learning about the five senses.  

{Gratitude} Lately

Every day I look around in amazement at all the 

beautiful, yet simple, things that I'm so thankful for.

 

Lately I've been grateful for...

a fun night bowling with the boys

a sweet little beehive box and a beautiful cotton boll grown in BG 

a husband that fills my vitamin box each and every week

a rocket at a rest area to add excitement to a long road trip

the healing properties of the Slippery Elm tree

 

 and for the beauty of eggs in a basket 

with a backdrop of snow

 

every 28 days

 

first infusion: December 20, 2013

Every 28 days medicine is pumped into my vein. 

It was something I tried to avoid for as long as possible. 

But, it was time.

 And now I'm adjusting to what needs to happen.

Let's hope it helps.

The Accidental Consumption of Gluten

A few weeks ago, I picked up a package of Bob's Red Mill gluten free waffle mix (or so I thought) from the store along with a couple of other things. It was one of those just-run-in-the-store for just a few items kind of grocery visit. The boys LOVE waffles and using a gluten free mix is cheaper and quite a bit easier than the cashew butter Paleo waffles I used to regularly make. One weekend, I made the waffles for lunch. I remember Bryan commenting on how great the texture was for gluten-free waffles. I just said thanks (not that I really had much to do with it) and didn't think much about it. Just a few minutes after eating the waffles I felt like I needed to lay down. I was not feeling good at all. I felt so tired. I felt so sleepy. I stayed in bed asleep for the rest of the day.
We gave up grains in April of 2012, and after nearly a year without those foods, we slowly added foods back into our diet. We have a good understanding of the way our bodies react to various foods. That's one nice thing about drastically eliminating so many foods from your lives for quite some time. Because I had made waffles using the Bob's Red Mill gluten-free mix several times before and had no effect, I did not even consider something I had eaten for the reason I was so extremely tired.
About two weeks later, I pulled out the waffle mix to make the boys some waffles again. Something caught my eye in the ingredient list. It contained wheat! I turned the package around and it was Bob's Red Mill waffle mix, but it wasn't gluten free. I nearly had a heart attack. How could I have made such a big mistake?
All the details started coming back together. A quick trip into the store must have attributed to grabbing the wrong package. The nice texture comment made more sense. The extreme fatigue and a day in bed must have been because of the gluten.
You know, I've been asked several times during the last couple of years what happens when I eat gluten. I could never answer that question before, because I wouldn't eat gluten. It's something I avoid like the plague. But now I know. If I eat gluten, a bed better be nearby because I'm going to need it. It should be noted that Bryan has eaten gluten a few times at work related events. He doesn't have the extreme reaction I had, but he does feel terrible, too.  Maybe if we did eat gluten more often that wouldn't be the case, but it was just a little confirmation that how we eat and how we live maybe isn't such a strange idea after all.

Happy Places

There are some places that just make me so happy.

a market that I love

where friends converge and cobwebbers are made

 a new vintage-retro store

 

where inspiration abounds

 

 a library, 

which makes the to-read list longer and longer

and my favorite reading spot 

in the comfiest spot in the house

{Gratitude} Lately

 Every day I look around in amazement at all the 

beautiful, yet simple, things that I'm so thankful for.

 

Lately I've been grateful for...

play dough and the hours of fun it provides for the boys

 
a well seasoned skillet,
locally grown and processed non-GMO cornmeal,
 and cornbread that is almost as good as my daddy's

 

nightly reading rituals and favorite classics

 

a new Highlights calendar that includes hidden pictures each month

 

 playtime in the snow

 

and a new-to-me bag of clothes

 from a fun evening at a Clothing Swap Party

Good to Be Back

Looks can be deceiving. This photo was taken right before Bryan's company Christmas dinner/party. We got all dressed up for a fun night, but I still could not walk by myself and behind that smile, I felt pretty miserable. The entire right side of my body was tingly and still on the verge of numbness. My eyes were working together slightly better, but I was still so dizzy. I had just finished 5 days of intravenous steroids to help with this most recent flare-up and my body was tired and aching.

Slowly over the past few weeks, the tingling has subsided to just my fingertips. My eyes are pretty much back to as normal as they were to me, and I have had no additional vision loss. The dizziness has stopped. I still have weakness in my right arm and leg, but it's not noticeable to anyone but me.

This morning, I took care of our chickens in the frigid cold, the boys and I did our learning time, and then we baked a pumpkin pie along with several other things. It was the first morning in well over a month that I have felt back to my old self again. Thank you for the prayers,  kind words, and love these past few weeks. It feels so good to be back!

Welcome, 2014!

I used to not make resolutions. And while I still enjoy the unexpected,  I feel like I have really thrived the past couple years having a few goals to accomplish. 

Last January I set out to...

• Read at least one book a month. (I definitely fulfilled that one!)

• Try to be more intentional about all of my purchases by buying used, local, fair trade, etc. (see more here)

• Write to our three Compassion sponsored kids at least once a month. (I failed at this one. I only wrote to them four times each.)

• Run in a Color Run. (done.)

• Be more hospitable by inviting people into our home more often. (We were, but we can always improve on this one.)

Here's what I'm looking forward to in 2014...

• learn to play more than Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Mary Had a Little Lamb on the dulcimer
• crochet (an acceptable to me) Granny square
• finish touring the distilleries on the Bourbon Trail (we only have two left)
• read more books than I read last year
• harvest honey from our own bee hive (which means we are going to start keeping bees!)
• grow a successful crop of brussels sprouts
• bake a delicious gluten-free bread from scratch
• go backpacking
• make kimchi 

It's going to be an amazing new year!