To All the Stubborn people out there!

Did you know that February was Heart Month.  I think I heard a little bleep at the beginning of the month but it was quickly over shadowed by the blizzard, groundhogs day and Egypt.  So do yourself a favor and pass this on to anyone that is stubborn- that would be anyone in the Czech heritage, Polish, German, English, Irish, Scottish, Hispanic, African, French okay you get the idea.   But this is really important!   Check out the Warning Signs of a Heart Attack  then check out  CPR  .  Because my dad didn't do any of these. 

 And because he didn't do any of these things and go to a doctor when his symptoms were present.  He gets to miss out on these...Its all about choices.

PS-  IF you can't get someone to go to the doctor, give me a call.  I have a big truck, rope and duct tape!

Do Your Ears Hang Low?

Do Your Ears Hang Low?

 Do they wobble to and fro  ?

 Can you tie them in a  knot?  Can you tie them in a bow?  Can you throw them over your shoulder like a continental soldier?

 Do your ears hang low ?

" Are you finished yet"  I need a bath and bacon....slurp

The Middle Child

This is what the middle child did to me.
This is what a 9, 9-er looks like from the outside. 
He made my belly stretch beyond anything normal, its never been the same. I jiggle!
I'm smiling because my epidural is on the way.

This is a 9 lb, 9 oz baby just born, 2 weeks early looks like.    TWO weeks early people! If this guys came when he was due, I would be in bad shape!

This is what he looks like today, 6 years old.... 

 I can say yes, colic does end.... eventually. 
 He hasn't stopped eating.
He loves his mama's cooking.
He hasn't stopped, EATING
He will probably be a test pilot or a storm chaser.
He loves his Lego's, secretly he places them where we might step at night (this place is booby trapped). 
He is my early bird, never does he sleep past 7 a.m.....ever!
However he will be in bed by  8:00 p.m.and asleep. 
He's hungry!

 He loves his Kolache Cake!  The Czech is coming out of him in more than just one way.  He is slightly stubborn, persistent and can hold a grudge FOREVER!

And I have come full circle as to why I jiggle...the end!

The Baby!

The baby turned 3 on Feb. 1st, she was by far the easiest pregnancy ( I only puked for 20 weeks instead of 40) and the easiest delivery ( labored for 4 hours and 3 pushes, done).

Their is a whole chef salad incident there as well. I will say it was added to my hubby's wall of shame. He only has 2 so far, the first was the truck incident of 2005...

Andy was suppose to deliver Katie ( it was one of his crazy bucket list, EMT items he wanted to do), but there was meconium present once my water broke, so NICU had to be called in and the doctor had to do the delivery. She came out screaming like a banshee and NICU was called off, saying her lungs were fine.

All of this on Feb. 1, I denied I was even in labor when I got up that morning. I was scheduled for an induction on the 7th. Such a whirlwind day, I didn't have a thing packed, I still had 2 little boys to deal with and prepare for. I had to make phone calls...all of this was so not me. I'm a control freak, I have plans and organization and plans. I know where, when and how things should be until one teeny, tiny little girl said otherwise.

Here she is 3 years later and I can see the fingerprints of God all over her... She is getting so big. I rejoice of the small glimpse of baby left in her. The quiet time at night when she might fall asleep on me and Andy scoops her up to bed. She still sucks her right thumb when she gets tired, and she always has to have her blanket...

She is sugar and spice and everything nice until this....

She turns into the cupcake made by the devil. And then she does this...

She goes all Chuck Norris on her brothers and they just lay there and play dead.

And then she dreams about shoes....because she is a girl!

Our Trip to Illinois

This past January we were invited to go to Illinois with some of our sweet friends. Being that we live here in Texas and rarely get to see snow, we thought it would be a great adventure AND we could cash in some time with our timeshare. If you are interested, get a timeshare that allows you to travel the WHOLE planet earth, not just one spot every year. Since our children are small, we just stick to the good ol' U.S. of A (for now). Since we are not locked down with a calendar we homeschooled on the road. One of the many reasons why I ♥ homeschooling my 3 pack, FREEDOM to choose where, when and how!

Prior to going, we planned our vacation around the Chicago area. Simply because we wanted the children to visit 2 of the many museums in the city. My country kids and hubby also needed to experience a real, live city.

And to eat PIZZA. I have been told many times we chose the wrong place... However the pizza was fabulous.

We also went snow tubing and traumatized the 6 year old.

The Field Museum was first up on the trip. The kids got to see a real mummy and lots of Egyptian artifacts.

And like any smarty pants homeschoolers, they walked like Egyptians on out of the exhibit.

Sue was next, she is the oldest T-Rex ever found. So we took in a little paleontology as well. Then proceeded to get lost in the world of animals (literally). Because at the Field Museum they have a real taxidermy world of animals. I'm not talking about a sampling of species, we are talking the whole-wide-world of every type of species known to man. Its HUGE, because we were looking for these guys....

A guess, anyone. These are the Tsavo lions from Africa. Rephrase that: they are the man-eating lions from Tsavo, Africa. And they were on my hubby's bucket list. WHY? Who knows he saw the movie and then had to meet the lions. I would have preferred Val Klimer, pre-crazy when he made "The Ghost in the Darkness" myself. But here they are stuffed and everything!

The Museum of Science and Industry was the other museum we chose. They had a wing/floor/section on weather, which included this 40 foot tornado. My guys loved making this thing go. Yes, the majority of exhibits the kids get to run...

Then we learned about fire and combustion.

And then electricity

The museum has this 3,000 sq. foot model train station. This is how the middle child enjoyed his lunch. He would still be there if we didn't pry his little hands from the rail.

Thank goodness a cow, oh how we miss the country...

The submarine was pretty cool, it is the only German U-boat captured by the U.S. Navy during World War II
Unfortunately with both museums we only saw a small fraction of the exhibits, just do to their shear size. So we can't wait to get back there and check out the rest.

Somewhere in our travels we got to sneak in a hiking trip to Starved Rock State Park to see the bald eagles and the frozen waterfalls. See the eagle in the tree, right there in the middle, that's right get the magnifying glasses out. He really is there, maybe one day I will figure out how to put the better cropped shots in. The point is we got to see many flying around and though we aren't great a capturing those type of pictures, my kids got a great adventure to the top of the rock to see them. And Andy got a back ache from carrying Katie up the mountain.

Then we saw this guy...He is huge, magnificent and truly a work of God. Gorgeous!

The is how we traveled up and down the canyons and mountains. Andy in front with Katie, usually the boys are in the middle and I bring up the rear. This was our check system to keep everyone accounted for and out of the canyon bottom.

Here is the last morning of our travels, bedhead and everything ready to do it all over again.
Let's recap what we learned on this trip: weather, geography, paleontology, anthropology, biology, math, history world & cultural, physics, geology, orienteering plus much, much more....beats the heck out of sitting in a class all day.

20 things about Andy

20. He was once a fireman, EMT and a sheriff

19. He was only a sheriff for 10 minutes maybe 20

18. I once saw him eat his body weight in chocolate. He didn't gain an ounce

17. He fell asleep in the movie theatre on our first date.

16. His favorite condiment is Ketchup

15. He has had a goatee for over a year now

14. He took a test for the Mensa society and passed and yet still can't find his socks.

13. He only wears wrangler jeans

12. Secretly he wears reading glasses

11. He takes guitar lessons and has a voice of an angel when he sings

10. He can figure out how to run the Hoover dam in less than an hour

9. His dream vacation would be the Hoover dam

8. His real name is not Andy

7. He made me change a tire in the middle of August while he watched and instructed

6. He loves roller coasters

5. He can solve a rubics cube in under 3 minutes

4. His waist size was once a 29, now its a 33

3. He is 8 years older than me

2. He almost got to deliver Katie, he was bummed that he did not

1. He is hands down the best husband and father in the whole wide world!

Happy, Healthier New Year!

I have about 6 more weeks to go and then I can celebrate. Until then I hope I do not jinx our family, I've knocked on a lot of wood to prevent it! But I can't help but say our family has been Allergy free for a year. Can you believe it, here in Central Texas the capital of allergies, we have yet to suffer. Sure the kids had a cold, and we did pass the stomach bug around, but that is all. As you know for the past 6 years we have battled with pollen, unsuccessfully. Many, many trips to the doctors for meds, many trips to wal-grens to get refills and clear liquids. Many dollars wasted....What changed last March, well I will tell you I got a revelation that medication was not working for my kids and I need something new. So I started taking the kids to a chiropractor, yes a chiropractor. The first thing he informed me was to take my kids off ALL dairy. What all dairy are you crazy, this family drinks 2 gallons a week, not to mention all the cheese consumption. How would we live... Well the truth be told after doing much research, dairy is one of the worst things for you. I challenge you to do the research yourself or go to naturalnews.com and start your own research. Natual News is not the only place, but its a good start. As I dug deeper in my research 4 out of 5 of us have the blood type A, therefore our bodies can't handle the casein in dairy. SO you put that all together, and your body is busy fighting the dairy off, it can't handle the pollen. Somethings got to give and it was our sinus and respiratory system. This was the start of our Healthy Lifestyle.

How we do it NOW:

Dairy has been replaced with rice or almond milk, which tastes very good and can be used in a lot of recipes. I do not use Soy, it will break down your immunity and cause chaos in your body.

We upped our vitamins and supplements. All of us take Juice Plus for our multi, I can't sing more praised for this whole foods multi vitamin that is 100% absorbed in your bodies. Plus you get ALL your servings of fruits and veggies.

We also take Tuna oil, which is better than fish oil due to the fact is has a higher omega 3 and is least likely to go rancid as fast as others. IF you are burping up fish oil, that is a sign of old and rancid oil.

Calcium is taken also but that is in whole foods form, not dairy.

All refined "white" produces have been thrown out, sugar and flour they have been replaced with Natural sugar or agave nectar as for the flour I use many different kinds.

Coconut oil is one of my favorites to replace butter, plus you get the great added advantage of a natural anti-viral med. If you buy it make sure it is Organic Extra Virgin Coconut oil, tons of great benefits. I also use olive for cooking.

Apple cider vinegar is also on our must have list, it increases the acidity in your system making it harder for virus and bacterial infections to live. My kids have it in their juice, and they don't know it!

Juice, Juice, Juice it is so worth the investment to buy a juicer. You can't have too many fruits and vegetables in your diet. God put Adam and Eve in the garden for goodness sake!

Where's the Beef, not here. Rarely do we eat beef, unless it is organic grass fed. Again it has something to do with our bodies and our Type A blood. Plus it isn't good for you. Yes, we do get cravings for fajitas and a good ole burger, but we pay for it later. We stick with chicken and fish primarily.

Does this cost more??? No, plan your meals in advace (a menu) , buy in bulk (fruits, veggies and meat)and don't eat out! Take advantage of your farmers market.

All of my cleaning products are by Melaleuca, yes I order them. They are natural, safe and cheaper than the store. Everything from toothpaste to detergent I love and will not use anything else.

In a nut shell, if Man has made it, We don't eat it!!! I have done things over time, not all at once. My poor family would have gone into shock! Now over a year these things are normal for us. Do we splurg and have ice cream or pizza, yes we do. I keep things normal for my kids, But on a day to day basis we do not. This is not a fade or what's in fashion right now, this is simply PREVENTION for the future. This world is simply crazy with greed, and if it is cheaper, faster and easier we as Americans will buy it, and consume it. This also goes for the big pharma companies as well! That is for another soapbox moment. You can not replace what GOD has given us. Get educated and informed about the world, it is changing and we have to stick to what is right. And that means getting back to our roots of simplicity.