Spring is in the air!

We have had some wonderfully nice weather this week.  It has been awesome to get the kids outside and we've gone on a nightly walk after dinner.  Led to some great sleep for both kids last night as well as solid naps today.  I'm looking forward to not needing to work tomorrow afternoon so we can head to the park and maybe just take a walk after naps.

Monday was "U" day, a difficult letter for cooking.  We ended up making upside down pizza.  We used the cheese and cream cheese crust.  I baked that, we let it cool for a while.  Then I cooked the sausage while Carolyn cut the mushrooms.  I took the crust out of the dish and put sauce down, James helped poor and spread with a spoon.  Then I sprinkled on the cheese, and the kids put the sausage and mushrooms on top.  Then I put the crust on top of that and baked again for about 20 minutes at 375.  Let cool for 10 minutes and had a wonderful lunch.  Ate the leftovers for lunch today.

Nothing new for dinners lately, had grilled porkchops and hot dogs with veggies on Sunday.  The kids and Jon has quinoa with that.  Did turkey soup last night from last week's turkey bones.  And tonight with did the Irish corned beef and cabbage with red potatoes in the crockpot.  Everyone is eating well and I think the fresh air has something to do with it.  I'm itching to get out garden going!

Both kids are learning amazing things every day.  Carolyn is starting to sound out written words and she won't be 4 for another month!  James is following directions better and beginning to ride a bike.  I love spending time with these kids lately and watching them grow while letting them choose what to learn each day.  I am going to start putting together some preschool lessons to start working on so we can do science, reading/writing, numbers, and history/maps.  I figure if I let her pick which topic she wants to work on, she could learn some really cool things between now and kindergarten.  And James will probably pick up a lot along the way too.  Such sponges at these ages!

My Different 3 year old

My kids' eating habits are quite different from the typical child.  Carolyn's memory for McDonald's is playing in the playland while Jon and I had hot chocolate.  We went there once last winter so she could play.  Neither child gets juice very often, James none so far.  Before we started this journey they already loved fruit and veggies. 

But just how different my kids are has become more apparent this week.  Carolyn's choice for lunch today... green beans with last night's sauce.  That sauce was pretty much tomatoes and cheese.  She ate a full plate and asked for more.  James a little of everything - green beans, sauce, cheese, and tuna salad.

I do wonder how this will change as they start school and are around others more for meals.  But that's looking to be about 18 months away at this point.  By then the no wheat will be just normal to them.  And James will never have really known anything different.  I don't want to raise the "weird" kids, just healthy, smart, and as well adjusted as possible. 

About time to go enjoy the snow with these kids.

Feeling Better

I honestly am starting to feel better.  No headache this morning, and James slept much better last night.  He was up around 1, nursed, and put himself back to sleep after rocking for 2 minutes.  I think he had a bad dream because he wrapped his arms around my neck and wanted to rock upright.  What an improvement though!  Something really cool is that I'm no longer starving when I wake up in the morning.

I got caught up with work yesterday, so didn't have a chance to post about lunch, snack, or dinner.  So I'll combine them all here this morning.

Lunch:
Tuna salad - tuna, mayo, celery
Cheese
Carrots
Apple
Almonds

I hadn't planned to have the almonds with lunch, but Carolyn insisted.  She didn't seem interested in eating much else.  Glad she likes them, but they're expensive so we need to ration until I find a cheaper source!  We'll find out today if she truly didn't like the tuna salad or just wanted the almonds.

Snack:
Green pepper slices
Almonds
1 piece of chocolate

The kids had their snack while I was tutoring.  Carolyn was super hungry because she didn't eat much for lunch.  I told her that she needed to eat more for lunch in the future because she doesn't get to spend all afternoon eating.

Dinner:
Chicken
Tomato Paste 6oz
Tomato Sauce 14.5oz
Garlic - 3 cloves minced
3 T water
2 t oregano
1 t sugar
Mozarella cheese
Frozen green beans

Place chicken in bottom of crockpot.  Combine other ingredients except cheese in a bowl and then dump over chicken.  Cook on low 4-6 hours.  Too much longer and this will burn.  Remove chicken and stir in cheese until melted.  Serve with veggie side.

Both kids were a huge fan of this as usual.  Carolyn was asking for her noodles, since we haven't had any in quite a while.  I will need to find alternative ones to keep everyone happy.  I also need to find a cheap source of almonds and a way to grind them in order to make some baked goods.  The trickiest part of this whole change is going to be staying in budget each month, at least until we get settled into the new routine.

Lunch success!

So this isn't something they'll likely eat daily.  But I found a lunch that both children gobbled up, amazing for James especially.  Since they're children, they get to eat more fruit to acount for a higher carb need in their growing bodies.  So here's what we ate today:

Chicken Salad - leftover chicken from last night, chopped, mayo, chopped celery, a sprinkle of dill weed
Cheddar cheese - I used mine to spread the salad on and used each slice as kind of a cracker
Carrots
Apples (by request, a few slices/child)
Strawberries (2 for me, as desired for the kids)

So far, no post-lunch headache as I have been getting for a while.  Earlier this morning we did all have some string cheese as a snack.  It's going to take some time to determine whether the kids eat their snacks because they are hungry or they are conditioned to do so.  Carolyn is easy to figure out because I can ask her.  But James is tougher since he doesn't have a full vocabulary yet.  Plus his sleep is so erratic that it's hard to know if his crankiness is hunger or being tired.  I'm thinking snack this afternoon will be ants on a log, something I'm almost ashamed to say I've never fed either child, lol.    Almost nap time here!