Merry Christmas! It seems as though we’re in for an icy Christmas instead of a white one. It’s been non-stop crazy weather in Michigan this December. But I’m praying it settles a bit before we have to travel. As for today, we’re waiting to see if church is cancelled. Thankfully we still have power. But I know it’s pretty nasty outside.

This week will be busy and fun all rolled into one. I’m excited to celebrate Christmas with family. I’m not so excited about all of the things I need to get done in order to do so. We are celebrating as a family on Tuesday, with my family on Wednesday and with my husband’s family on Saturday. And Monday will be busy with chiro, milk pick up, my husband’s allergy test and my daughter’s check up at the pediatrician.

I did not get nearly as much done in the kitchen as I had hoped last week. On the flip side I did finish my Christmas shopping and wrapping. My husband and I also did a lot of cleaning.

So this week I have a lot to catch up on. I need to make graham crackers, gluten free bars, coconut milk ice cream, some kind of Christmas treat (probably oreos) and chocolate swirl bread (my daughter’s request). And of course more cleaning. And the dreaded pack, travel, unpack, pack, travel. I hope I can get started on some of the organizing/packing today so I’m not so stressed/anxious about it and can actually enjoy our own Christmas celebration!

No big health updates. I have one more week of my current thyroid medication dose and then I get my levels checked. And we’ll go from there.

For meals I’m just planning dinners. When my husband is on vacation I don’t plan as much and just go day-to-day with breakfasts and lunches. I pray you will have a blessed Christmas, remembering the birth of our Savior. And don’t forget to enjoy some good food! Eet smakelijk!

****MENU****

S (prep lunch, church, start packing, make cm ice cream)
  L – cp meatloaf, baked potatoes, carrots
  D – TBD

M (make chocolate swirl bread, chiro, make oreos, milk, ped)
  D – (prep ahead) – gf pizza

T (celebrate Christmas, church)
  D – ham, green bean casserole, roasted cauliflower, cheesy mashed potatoes, applesauce

W (make graham crackers, relative Christmas party, soak flour)
  D – all families contributing

Th (make gf bars)
  D – misc./leftovers

F ()
  D – roast beef, beans, corn

S (relative Christmas party)
  D – roast chicken, roasted veggies, mashed potatoes, fruit

Good morning. I’m getting a late start on my post because I got side tracked trying to pick out a theme for my WordPress site. I can’t wait for the transfer. But I do have to wait about a month yet. December is in full swing now. And I feel like I have a million and one things to get done!

This week will be another crazy busy week. Tonight is my daughter’s Christmas program at church. Monday we are getting my daughter tested for allergies. We really want to know what she is allergic to and what is causing her hives…but the test will not be fun. I also have a chiro appointment. Tuesday my daughter’s class is doing a little program, so Abram and I will go to that, in addition to their Kindermusik classes. Wednesday I have a chiro appointment. I really do need to find some time to go Christmas shopping. I might be able to squeeze in a little that morning. Else maybe Thursday. Thursday my son has to get a vaccination. And my daughter has dance. I also have a get-together in the evening. Friday I have a MomBreak steering team meeting. Saturday my husband and daughter might go to a Christmas music concert.

Another random hive…there were about five on the other cheek.

Somehow when we’re not on the go I need to work on Christmas crafts/gifts and writing a Christmas letter/sending cards.

I also have plenty to keep me busy in the kitchen. I’m bringing bars for my daughters program on Tuesday. But I’m waiting until after her allergy test to make them so that I know I’m making something she can eat. I have to bring a dish to pass on Thursday evening…which I still have to figure out what it will be. I need to keep up with snacks/safe foods for the kids. I’m almost out of my go-to bars. And I like to have a batch of muffins or scones on hand for my son.

I’m still working on figuring out my thyroid issue. I haven’t noticed any significant improvement with my medication increase. So I may have to go higher. It’s very frustrating to feel like I’ve made so much progress in so many areas. But I still can’t get my thyroid levels right…and that is what causes all of my unpleasant symptoms like leg pain and swelling, joint pain, weight gain, cystic acne, dry skin, ringing ears, cold hands (even though my body temperature is great), blood flow issues…all sorts of stuff. I’m also trying to play catch up on sleep after being up half of the night with my daughter on Thursday due to an ear infection.

The dancer and the musician…this picture really captures my kids’ personalities 🙂

On to this week’s menu. I did my best to plan safe, easy meals. But they might all change after my daughter’s allergy test tomorrow. I hope it doesn’t eliminate much from our options. But we’ll figure it out whatever the case. Eet smakelijk!

****MENU****

S (prep lunch and dinner, church, prep smoothies, puree vegetables, Christmas program)
  B – egg potato casserole, grapes
  L – grilled cheese, salmon, roasted vegetables
  D – (prep ahead) – cp roast chicken and vegetables

M (allergy test, bake bars, chiro)
  B – smoothie, TBD
  D – spaghetti, peas

T (AKM, KG program, RKM)
  B – yogurt, granola, fruit
  D – (prep ahead) – cp pork loin w/ sweet potatoes, beans

W (chiro, shopping?, soak flour)
  B – smoothie, TBD
  D – taco potatoes, roasted vegetables

Th (ped, shopping?, dance, MB party)
  B – baked oatmeal, yogurt
  D – (prep ahead) – cp herb chicken w/ vegetables

F (MBST)
  B – baked oatmeal, yogurt
  D – gf pancake and sausage muffins, broccoli, applesauce

S (shopping?, Christmas concert?)
  B – pancake muffins
  D – pan seared salmon, baked sweet potatoes, peas

Homemade gluten free pumpkin pie with fresh raw whipped cream and locally made apple cider.

Welcome to December. This month sure snuck up on me! I just realized I completely forgot to do a November recap…or set any December goals. Be on the lookout for both in the next few days. I guess I was enjoying my long weekend so much that it didn’t even cross my mind. We did have a nice Thanksgiving weekend. It was great to have so much family time. And we had a fair amount of snow. So the kids got to play outside a lot.

Now it’s back to the usual chaos. This week we have church, Christmas program practice, chiro, grocery shopping, Kindermusik, milk pick up, a nursery committee meeting, dance, MomBreak, and Rebecca and I are going to see The Nutcracker. I hope I can stay sane this week.

The tooth fairy made her 6th appearance this week.

I was able to get some baking done last week (apple pie, pumpkin pie, two batches of graham crackers), but there is plenty more to do. I still have to make a batch of coconut free granola, a new batch of cheese crackers, soaked gluten free bars, muffins and mayo. Plus our usual smoothies and vegetable puree.

I finally started my Christmas shopping yesterday. I was able to get quite a few things. So maybe I’ll have time to start wrapping presents this week. And I need to start working on homemade gifts. We are also getting a bunch of ground beef this week. So I should do a good freezer clean out/inventory. I’ve needed to do it for quite a while.

Our Thanksgiving feast.

I’m still making progress with my health. I’ve been making sleep a priority and taking naps when I can. That really helps. I am also getting to the real root of my swelling, pain, major weight gain, etc. that I’ve experienced over the last 6 months. I’m very excited to be making progress on it. It will take time. But I’m on the right path. I will give more updates later…after I see some good results.

So now I can get my focus back to the food and nourishing my family 🙂  What’s on your menu? Eet smakelijk!

A trip to the farm to see my grandparents.

****MENU****

S (prep lunch, church, Christmas program rehearsal, prep smoothies, puree vegetables, soak flour, make granola)
  B – toast w/ pb, granola bar, clementines
  L – cp roast beef with vegetables
  D – TBD w/ leftover turkey and chicken

M (chiro, Meijer, make gf bars, soak peas, clean freezer)
  B – smoothie, TBD
  D – pork chops w/ apples over rice, peas

T (AKM, bake muffins, RKM)
  B – granola, yogurt, fruit
  D – (prep ahead) – cp pea soup w/ ring balogna, muffins

W (milk, chiro, boil eggs)
  B – smoothie, muffins
  D – tacos

Th (nursery mtg, dance)
  B – hard boiled egg, toast
  D – (early/separate) – cp 7 layer dinner

F (MB)
  B – hard boiled egg, toast
  D – gf pancake and sausage muffins, broccoli, fruit

S (Th Nutcracker)
  B – pancake muffins
  D – beef vegetable soup, crackers w/ cheese

Happy Thanksgiving! I’ve been looking forward to this week for a while. My husband just got home from a week in India yesterday (which means I have help again). My daughter only has two days of school. My husband is only working for two days this week. There is no dance class. Soccer just ended yesterday. And we don’t have to travel! All of this means we are going to RELAX! That is something to be thankful for.

Of course there is still plenty to be done. But at least we don’t have to be on the go every day. I still have my two chiro appointments. The kids do have Kindermusik. And I need to do some shopping – craft store and health food store. We are actually just staying home and celebrating Thanksgiving as a family this year. We might visit my grandparents (and possibly some other extended relatives) later in the day.

Dress up clothes from India.

Last week I was on my own since my husband was out of the country. So I tried not to do too much. I focused on getting the house clean (since we had a playdate) and keeping up with the kids. Of course that means that I have a list a mile long of things I want to do in the kitchen this week. I would like to make pumpkin pie and apple pie for Thanksgiving. I need to make a new batch of graham crackers, granola, gluten free bars and possibly muffins (for my son the muffin monster…I’m thinking about making all of his meals into muffins since he loves them so much). I’ve already made two batches in the last two days…but there are only a few left. I might make yogurt if we have a lot of milk left.

In addition to food projects I want to get started on making Christmas presents, planning presents, making Christmas lists and ordering our Christmas cards.

Toys from India.

In health news, we seem to be staying on top of things with my son’s allergies. Overall he’s doing very well. And I keep doing my best to get him to eat nourishing/healing foods. Unfortunately my daughter has had on and off hives for about 6 weeks now. And I’m wondering if it is from coconut. If so it means my cooking/baking job just got ten times harder. I pretty much use coconut oil or butter for everything. And my son can’t have butter. Now if my daughter can’t have coconut oil I can never make them the same things. So this should be interesting. It will be a challenge, but if it means keeping my kids healthy I’ll figure out a way to do it. Even if I do have to make two of everything.

Not much to say about myself. The last couple weeks I had a big flare of inflammation. I think I was trying to add too many things into my diet and experiment too much. It backfired big time. I hope I’m finally getting back on track now, eating the foods I know my body handles well. I did get around 8 hours of sleep a night last week. That really helped. And I’ve been able to exercise a little more. As always I keep researching and finding new information. It’s often confusing. But I’m trying to sift through it all to figure out what will work best for my body. For now it’s plenty of quality sleep, moderate exercise (including weight bearing exercise) and a good balance of protein, fat and carbohydrates that my body tolerates, consisting of enough calories to support my activity level.

Meal planning was harder than ever this week, adding the coconut factor into our long list of restrictions. But I think I got most of it planned. I might have to fill in a couple breakfasts as the week goes on.

What is on your Thanksgiving menu this year? Have a happy holiday. Eet smakelijk!

****MENU****

S (prep lunch, church, prep smoothies, puree vegetables, soak flour)
  B – scrambled eggs, bacon, toast
  L – bean and vegetable soup w/ bacon, muffins or crackers
  D – sweet and sour meatballs over rice, squash

M (make yogurt?, chiro, shopping?, make gf bars)
  B – smoothie, TBD
  D – goulash, corn, peaches

T (AKM, RKM, co-op)
  B – yogurt, granola, fruit
  D – quick prep/separate – leftover goulash, peas, peaches

W (chiro, shopping, bake pies)
  B – smoothie, TBD
  D – salmon cakes, sweet potato fries, beans

Th (Thanksgiving, visit grandparents)
  B –
  L – roast chicken, turkey?, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole or mashed potatoes, stuffing, applesauce
  D – leftovers/misc.

F (make graham crackers, make granola)
  B -granola w/ milk
  D – pancake and sausage muffins

S ()
  B – pancake and sausage muffins
  D – chicken noodle soup

Daddy’s orchestra concert.

It’s the start of a new week. I’ve got plenty to do as always. And I want to get some extra rest. My body is a bit out of whack again right now. So I need a little reset. I’m starting it with a decent sleep last night and salted ice cream for breakfast today. Hopefully that will help.

This week we have more chiro appointments, grocery shopping and a playdate.

I’m hoping to spend most of my extra time cleaning the house. I also want to make yogurt, gummies, broth and crackers. I already made a batch of coconut milk ice cream this morning. And I plan to puree the vegetables I have in the crockpot to add to various meals this week so I can get my son to eat them…without him knowing. We might try to start some Christmas crafts as well.

No real updates on my health. I’m just trying to figure out the right balance of everything – food, sleep, exercise. Some days I feel like I’m getting there. Others I feel like I’m back at square one. Today I feel like I’m in a hormone nose dive. So I’m not feeling very encouraged. Not to mention it comes with a host of unpleasant symptoms. Hopefully it will turn around quickly.

I’ve planned a simple menu as usual. As long as my kids will eat it, simple is fine with me. Eet smakelijk!

****MENU****

S (make cm ice cream, prep lunch, church, puree vegetables, make gummies, make broth)
  L – cp roast chicken and vegetables
  D – leftover corn dogs and brats, TBD vegetable, fruit

M (make yogurt, chiro, make crackers)
  D – veggie noodle mac ‘n’ “cheese” w/ chicken

T (AKM, clean, RKM)
  D – salmon/salmon salad, chips, peas

W (chiro, Meijer, clean)
  D – meatloaf muffins, broccoli

Th (clean, dance)
  D – leftover meatloaf, corn

F (playdate)
  D – pancakes, bacon, beans

S (craft store?, soccer)
  D – bacon, scrambled eggs, gf muffins, peas

Veggie Tales Live

Good morning. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Time for another busy week where my goals are to catch up and rest as much as I can. Somehow that seems to always be my life. Lately the rest is first priority. Although it’s tough on nights like last night where my son didn’t fall asleep until after 10! Crazy kid. And I think I just heard him now…at 6:30 am! Not good.

This week I have my usual two chiro visits. We have milk pick up. I have a MomBreak meeting. My daughter has a doctor appointment. And my husband has an orchestra concert. We are going to try to make it to that…should be interesting since it’s at nap time. And if you’ve seen my son recently when he is low on sleep, it’s not a pretty sight.

I managed to go through more of our apples last week. But there are more to go. I want to do at least one more round of applesauce. And I’d like to make dried apples and apple crisp. I still need to make a batch of cheese crackers. I want to make some safe crackers for my son. I’d also like to make a batch of granola, muffins and cook some dried beans for easy lunch components.

I am also hoping to make some vegetable purees this week. It is becoming so tough to get my son to eat any vegetables. About the only ones he’ll eat are the ones he reacts to. So it’s time to start hiding purees in our food. I don’t really like to do that. I like kids to eat their vegetables and taste them. But for now this is what I have to do to get him to eat some good stuff. I already made gluten free, rice free, dairy free chocolate cupcakes yesterday that are filled with squash. He loves them. And I added chicken broth and squash to our taco meat last night. He cleaned his plate.

In addition to food stuff, I want to get going on Christmas planning this week. It’s time to plan gifts and get started on our Christmas cards. I’m really going to try this year to be on top of things so I’m not doing all of the shopping last minute.

And of course I need to sleep whenever I can too. My goal is to be in bed on time every night. And push myself to sleep in a little more. Then I won’t need a nap and can hopefully get a lot done during the day/during nap time.

Lots of coloring and reading over the weekend.

I really hope to get some posts up as well this week. I have several that I’m working on. I just need time to finish them. And I’m hoping in the near future to focus a little more on my blog. I am no longer a part of Village Green Network. So I can now make changes.

On to the menu. I think I came up with meals that most of us can eat most nights. It’s the best I can do. I might start meal planning for every two weeks or maybe even a month at a time. Maybe I’ll try that next week. But I’ll still do my weekly posts. Enjoy your week. Eet smakelijk!

****MENU****

S (church, prep smoothies, make/can applesauce, soak quinoa)
  B – apple cinnamon yogurt, banana bread
  L – cp chicken and veggies
  D – (separate) – crustless cheese quiche, banana bread, beans, applesauce

M (chiro, make dried apples, make gf apple crisp, roast beets)
  B – smoothie, banana bread
  D – chicken and broccoli stir fry over quinoa

T (make yogurt, AKM, chop veggies, RKM, CCS practice)
  B – banana nut yogurt, lemon poppyseed muffins
  D – packed dinner for Justin, misc. for the rest

W (soak beans, milk, chiro, boil egg)
  B – smoothie, banana bread
  D – hamburgers, fries, roasted cauliflower

Th (cook beans, Dr. M, prep dinner, dance)
  B – quiche, muffins
  D (early/separate) – cp chili, garlic bread

F (MB, make chocolate sauce, make sour cream)
  B – granola w/ milk, banana
  D – gluten free corn dogs, broccoli, applesauce

S (soccer, CCS concert)
  B – corn cakes w/ syrup, fruit
  D – prep ahead – TBD