Moving Day

I've moved my blog over to wordpress. Here it is!

http://kjrowland.wordpress.com/

Lily's Growing Up...

I took pictures of Lily for her 1st Grade school pictures. She is growing up so fast. Can you believe she is already 6 1/2?! My how the time flies.

We went to the JC Raulston Arboretum here in Raleigh. It's a wonderful place to spend some time in nature.

While there was not a whole lot in bloom, the rose garden did hold some late surprises.

Those picture packages the school offers are just ridiculously priced! And there was a lot of added value we got out of doing it ourselves.

And the photo is not always that awesome. They make you pose in awkward positions. PS, Lily posed herself for the most part. She's always loved having her photo taken.

 You never get to feel like a super model. I gave her a few directions here and there. But I tried to let her run the show.

We spent a couple of hours just the two of us on a lovely fall day together. We both had a lot of fun and I think we got some lovely photos. Some of them are just beautiful Lily. And a few are silly Lily. I think we captured a lot of her personality. I also think we will do it again next year.

Join the Conversation

Hi my one lonely reader. I've created a Facebook group to talk about food. You are (all?) welcome to join me over there as well as here.

inner jogging on Facebook

...or not moving....

We did move to North Carolina, but I am not moving my blog :)

North Carolina has so many trees! Holy crappin' moly are there trees. But no wind. I think we need to work out some kind of nature trade between North Dakota and North Carolina. We'll send up some trees, if you send down a breeze. I am not joking here. It is a rare thing here to see a tree branch wiggle from a light breeze. After daily winds ranging from 10 mph to 40 mph, this is nuts! Especially with the heat and humidity. A gentle breeze down here wouldn't kill you, Mother Nature!

Side note: Currently watching Gordon Ramsay's "F Word" show from the UK. Really like him in this show as opposed to his American shows (except Master Chef, that one is good). He's not the complete jerk that he's made out to be.

Moving

I'll be moving my blog over to tumblr as it will be a better platform for the little bit i post :)  Here is the new link http://kristalrowland.tumblr.com/

And we will also be moving our household, all the way to North Carolina!

Fast and Easy Smoothies and Fruit Sauce

Need a fast, easy and fairly healthy snack? A smoothie fits the bill here. And they are pretty portable too if you have little ones to nourish.  Most people do enjoy smoothies, but don't like the hassle of dragging out the blender.  Today, I have a great recipe that fits the bill. A simple smoothie that doesn't use a blender! (One of these days I will do a better job of photographing things to share :) really, I will!)

If you do prefer to use ice in your smoothies, I highly recommend the Single Serve blender from Hamilton Beach.

It is small, easy to clean and does a good job of crushing the frozen stuff. We put whole frozen strawberries in ours and it crushes them really well.

Defining Real Food

Transitioning from American convenience foods to real foods can be difficult for some, my family included. We are still working on it. If you find a sudden switch too hard, make smaller, gradual changes that will help you to stay on track. Unlike many fad "diets", we are aiming to change our eating habits and dietary choices for life.

To begin with, we need to define what "real food" is. The most basic definition is this: anything that you can grow in a garden, or pick off a tree; food that is closest to it's original state. Processed food is food that is a product of refining or made in a lab. The nutrients have been removed while processing and may be later added back in, but in an altered state. A good tip when deciding if it is real food is would your great-grandparent's recognize it as food or could you possibly make it at home?

Below is a more thorough list of real food, as put together by Lisa Leake of 100 Days of Real Food. Another great resource on real food is The Unconventional Kitchen.

Whole Grain Banana Bread

What's better than a nice, warm, homemade loaf of banana bread? A whole grain one! And this one is kid-approved!

This is whole grain bread as we are using two different grains, wheat and oatmeal. Do not use the instant oatmeal packets.

Make sure you use a yogurt that is free of junk. I use Dannon All-Natural Plain yogurt. Be sure and read that label! You will be surprised to find out what is in your yogurt.

You can also add some chopped nuts to the batter to add a yummy health boost. Walnuts are full of healthy Omega Fatty acids!

Healthy Eating, My Way

So now we are reading labels and learning about our food. What do we do with all that information? We use it to make better choices, of course! But almost everything in the grocery store is full of unwanted additives and fillers you say! What are we to do?!

This is when you decide for yourself how much time and effort you are willing to devote to eating a healthy, well-balanced, real-food diet. I shoot for the 80/20 mark. That's 80% real, whole and healthy foods and 20% whatever. I attempt to keep that 20% as minimally processed as possible, but hey, who doesn't make a quick fast-food run every now and then? And by allowing yourself to not be 100% committed will make it way easier to stick to it. There is no guilt because there is no wagon to fall off of!

Mug Brownie Trial and Error

I do love me some Betty Crocker Warm Delights bowls. Mmmmmm..... And the husband loves brownies, but only when they are fresh from the oven. And he wants more than just that little bowl. He eats a few brownies, then I eat the rest of the pan over the next two (if even that) days. We're talking a 9x13 pan here. Not the little one. Nope. That would be just too easy.

So I saw this great idea that you could put brownie mix in a mug and add some water and you could have an instant brownie from the microwave. Well, yeah. That didn't work out so well.

Two of the three mugs there have been in the sink all day soaking trying to get the hardened mass of burnt sugar out of them. One of them still has the fork stuck in it! And the third, well, that was a darned good brownie from the microwave.

To eat, or not to eat.....

That is the question on almost everyone's mind these days. Whether they are on the latest fad diet or just trying to eat more real, whole foods, eaters are faced with this decision every day, at each and every meal.  One thing that brings me a little bit of inner peace, is educating myself and others on healthful eating. Now, I am not a Dietitian or Nutritionist nor have I been trained in any such thing. I am just a wife and mother of two looking to keep my family well nourished.

Let's just pause for a moment here and define "diet". Many people hear the word diet and assume it is some kind of crazy plan to lose weight. When I say diet, I am using it as a noun as defined in the dictionary: the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.

Whether you are looking to change your eating habits to lose weight or to just eat healthy, the first and most important step is to read. That's it.  You have to read those food labels. There are very few regulations as to what manufacturers are allowed to put on a food label. You cannot trust the front of the package. You have to read the nutritional information box and the ingredients. It may look good up there in the nutritional info, but the ingredients tell a whole other story.

Sensory Processing Disorder. What the?!

Earlier this year, our daughter was diagnosed as having a Sensory Processing Disorder. So we have been throwing ourselves into the world of Sensory Integration. I had no idea what any of this was. Not a clue. Slowly we have been mucking through various books, websites, thoughts, and everything in between to find out what we can about this so that we can help our Noodle to live a less frustrating life.

Her life is very frustrating for her since she cannot get enough sensory input to meet her needs. She has a Sensory Modulation Disorder with a sub-type of Sensory Seeking. Basically, her body's systems are not reading the sensory input that she receives so she craves more in order to satisfy those systems. So talking ends up being shouting as she tries to give her auditory system more input and she is constantly talking, singing or making noises. (We have not known silence in our house in at least 2 years now!) She has an uncontrollable urge to touch everything she encounters to add that extra sensory input about the item to her system. She still tends to put things in her mouth even at 5 years old.

At the same time, some of her systems get a bit overloaded and it causes a complete and utter catastrophic meltdown/freak out. This is mostly an auditory issue for her. So you can no longer make loud or unexpected noises in the house or it sets her off. She usually handles it okay if she has a warning and can leave the room first. Makes using a public restroom with the automatic flushing toilets a bit awkward since she is trying to race out of the stall and pull her pants up at the same time :) Lily has gotten very good at getting across the stall with her pants around her ankles before the toilet flush hits its peak!

We are not sure really where to go with this one. I have signed up for the Sensational Brain website and we are going to start using the recommendations from there for some occupational therapy for her at home next month (after we have finished moving). We will give her a few months to calm down from all the moving and schedule changing (preschool is over next month too!) and see how she is doing then.

Poor vision woes

Not everyone is blessed with 20/20 vision. Some people can't even get their peepers corrected to 20/20 with glasses (I am one of those!). While sometimes blurry vision can be a good thing (bokeh photography anyone?) it's not always all it's cracked up to be.

I don't wear contacts because they do not improve my vision any better, I have dry eyes, and they require more maintenance than I am willing (or have) to give them. This makes a lot of things that some take for granted very difficult for me.

Nurtured Heart Parenting

A therapist turned us in the direction of the Nurtured Heart approach to parenting and I don't think we will be turning back any time soon. It's not wild or radical or complicated. It is simple, straightforward and it works. It was almost like a miracle with our oldest child. We have barely started to implement the technique and we have already seen a major shift in her actions and attitudes. Of all of the things we have tried in the last 4 1/2 years, this one is actually continuing to work also! Our daughter is asking for the recognition when she is doing something good. She is more helpful, considerate, thoughtful and even focused. She still receives consequences for bad behavior, but we have to give them less often.

Where I've Been

Phew! 2011 was a busy year! Of course, you have no idea what I was up to since I didn't blog about anything :) Oh my! Here is a quick recap:

• Charles got hired by the company he was contracted to work with. He is almost working his dream job. He's working on getting them to do more 3-D animation.
• We moved into a townhouse from our apartment.
• Major flooding in North Dakota. We had no problems from the flood, but my sister in Minot did. Britt and Chad are real troopers!!!
• We had water problems in the basement of our townhouse from all of the groundwater. There was mold and mushrooms and a lot of yuckiness.
• Lily (Noodle) started preschool! When did she get so old?!
• I quit my job to be a stay-at-home mom. We felt Lily needed more of her parents than both of us working full-time allowed for.
• Ethan (little guy) arrived on his own before my due date. He is almost the total opposite of Lily.
• I finished my Associate of Science degree. Finally!
• We found out that Lily has a sensory processing disorder. We start occupational therapy later this month.

2012 is going to be a busy and quick year also! Lily is going to start kindergarten in the fall. (I am totally terrified!) Ethan will probably still be laid-back like he is now; he might learn how to be louder than his sister :)

Right now, our main goal is to try and be the best parents that we can. We have started using the Nurtured Heart approach and it has worked wonders on the defiance and general misbehaving! It has also improved her focus and listening. We will be starting occupational therapy later this month which should help with the sensory issues she is having. I will post more about her issues later. I see the little guy stirring across the room, so it must be time to eat!

German Russian Easter Bread aka heaven!

Sorry, no picture as there are many viruses out there attacking flicker feeds. If you google "russian easter bread" and look at the images (don't click any!) you can see what the glory looks like! Although, i would recommend a thin, light frosting unlike some of those pictures that look like they have a cup (literally) of frosting on them. yikes! A traditional decoration in our family was jelly beans, cut in half and they will stick right in the frosting. This particular recipe is from Janice Hegel.

A few notes: you can use regular water instead of potato water, you can use milk instead of cream and there was no cooking time listed in the recipe. I would say probably at least 30 min maybe? To get the domed shaped loaves, you would use metal coffee cans :) You can also add a few drops of yellow food coloring to achieve a more festive looking loaf.

Mommy, can we make a cake?

Well, of course we can! But, I'm not much in a mood to make a cake, so let's make a quick one. Boy, do I love it when Lily asks to bake. At 3 ½, she's already found her inner Betty Crocker. She even insisted we both wear our aprons. Don't worry. I've also taught her the most important part of baking. Licking the spatula ^_^

So we mixed and stirred and whisked and poured. And then we licked. Of course, we made a mess! But then, we had cake.

Reflecting on 2010

A lot happened in my little world this past year. A lot of bad and a lot of good. I think it is safe to say that we are ending on a good note. Although, we did think we were starting on a good one. In the end, here I am in eastern North Dakota with my video game junkie husband and smart and sassy little girl. We are both employed and Lily still likes to sleep in everyday. Things are pretty crazy around here at times, but then when they slow down, I feel restless and bored.

I came across a very moving blog post this weekend that really made me stop and think for a moment. You can read it here: Life in Grace. It really brings into perspective all of the good that has happened this past year. I don't think we can ever adequately thank all of the wonderful people who helped us when the going got incredibly rough. So, once again, thank you to everyone for your support and understanding! We may never see any money from the man who ripped us off, but we at least have the state of North Dakota attempting to make him pay. I would like to be able to say that I do not hate that jerk, but it may be awhile still.

buns

I made buns! And I finally figured out how to make my dough smooth and elastic.  Who knew I was using way too much flour? And that the dough will not stick to the table when it starts to get tacky while kneeding? Oh! I love bread. LOVE!

yummy balls of dough

the *best* banana bread ever!

Lily and I baked banana bread tonight. Yum! She, of course, wanted to lick the beaters immediately after I got them out of the drawer.  I have taught her well! ^_^   We adapted a recipe we found over at Food Network from the Two Hot Tamales (if you don't know who they are, then you have not watched enough food tv!).  Here's the link: Banana Bread at Food Network.No pictures except from the other website since the camera is in need of batteries again.  Darn Lily! 

We made two smaller loaves so that I could pop one in the freezer for later.  Here is our yummy goodness: