Soooo...ummm....Almost four years

I can't even begin to imagine how to write eloquently about the last 3.5 years. There has been such a plethora of changes--some okay, some exciting, some still have me lapsing into periods of grief--in recent years, but I suppose I just described life as it happens for most of humanity.

I received a new computer for Christmas yesterday. I've been asking for one for quite some time because my other one was basically consumed by my obsession... pictures. In the days and months since I last blogged, I've become quite the fan of Instagram. And with the invention of chatbooks, I haven't missed the blogging terribly much. I can caption a picture, post it to insta, and chatbooks will instantly make me a memory book. Then I have both a hard copy and a digital file of my many memories. Yes, this probably makes me annoying to any followers I have, but if I focused on that issue I'd lose sight of my purpose in posting anyway. So I really don't care.

But with some major life changes in recent years and months, I decided to jump back on blogger and entertain my thoughts by putting fingers to keyboard. I want somewhere to vent, rant, carry on, brag, post, or whatever verb suits my many motivations... I want somewhere to document our adventure. Our life.

Since starting back to work nearly full-time--it feels like full-time, more than two years ago, I've gone through some major adjustments as have my children and husband. To add crazy to chaos, we also ventured into homeschooling/unschooling. We still soccer nearly every weekend. We spend many of our weeknights at the dance studio. We've jumped into swimming, and we still enjoy a good softball or baseball game in the spring and summer.

We still eat gluten free in this home, but I've played with my diet multiple times--paleo, aip, and now keto. Well, actually if I'm being honest right now is kind of like a "keto is coming, but I'm going to enjoy the holidays" diet. But still... come the new year (when vacation is over and life becomes so serious again, haha) I am back to tracking the number of eggs, the pounds of meat, the tablespoons of bacon grease, the slices of cheese, and avoiding as many carbs as I can. YAY! So stick around and hold me accountable.

I'm going to lay out the truth  on this page. I don't have a veil--well, maybe a thin one, but that's probably normal--so I'm going to say it, speak it, type it, and most certainly not hold back. On the internet as in life, this probably won't make me many friends, but I already know that's not why I'm here. My purpose is to share and help. If I happen to share and offend, just know that I don't intend to do that. But sometimes people don't like the truth. I've learned I don't care.

If you feel like sticking around, more power to you. If you don't then thanks for coming this far.

So if you want to read about the life of a woman who has six young children and maybe defines herself a little too much as "mother;" who likes all food but will get sick for days if she eats gluten; who wants to rid her body of inflammation by eating keto and supporting it with sleep, grounding, sunlight, stress relief, water, exercise and supplements; who loves to high dose the c vitamin; who is a former teacher--as is her husband--and has jumped into unschooling; who will pout if she has to miss one of her kids' games, who can't get enough of John Taylor Gatto right now, who explores, cooks, write, doodles, loves her friends, is conflicted by the Oxford comma, and stalls doing laundry by scrubbing counters with vigor, then I welcome you to my writings.

{{ Miss Mak has changed. One of the most obvious changes is the addition of glasses. Right when school started, we discovered her need for glasses.}}

Today is the last day of school. I've never been okay with changes, but I've learned to adjust a little over the years. I can't believe that four of my children will be away from home all day next year. It seems like I was just that mama who stayed home with her little girls watching Dora, playing outside, and enjoying impromptu trips to the park. In hindsight and with my nostalgic lenses on, those times were sweet and simple. We weren't tide to a soccer schedule, and I didn't have to have dinner prepped by 3 so we could be away from home all evening. I do know I was tied to a nap schedule and dinner was sometimes impossible to cook since I had so many little babies, but it was such a sweet time in life. And the further we seem to drift away from that season, the more I miss it. But that isn't to say that I don't enjoy this season of life.

{{ Miss KK grew some hair. She didn't stop wearing glasses, but today marks day 3 of the case of the missing glasses. She looks taller to me!}}

I love watching them learn. Seeing my children go from not reading to excelling in reading is beyond amazing. Watching them develop friendships, that I pray last a life-time, is precious. I love seeing them fall in love with their teachers each year. My children adore their teachers and I know it's because they are deserving of it. To be able to turn my most precious gifts over to these individuals each day is truly a gift. I always pray my children will end up in the classroom that is perfect for them, and I must say that has proven to be true since the very beginning.

 {{Keira's face became more angled. She just looks older!}}

So, on this last day of school, I will try my best not to shed a tear out of sadness and missing this stage in life. Instead, I will try my best to simply focus on all the fun we get to have this summer because I am BEYOND THRILLED to have my babies home all summer. 

 {{This girl chopped a bunch of hair off and grew taller. Where did my little baby go?}}

Happy Birthday Miss Mak!

Sweet Mak turned five years old recently. I don't really think I've processed this yet. That means I have to process the fact that she is starting kindergarten in a few short months, and I'm just not ready to do that. Frankly, right now I don't have an extra three hours to cry my eyes out. I don't have the emotional stability it takes to be a mom sometimes--and moving a baby up to kindergarten is one of those times.

But before I get too far ahead of myself, let's talk about her birthday.





This sweet baby turned five!

The night before her birthday, Daddy decorated our breakfast nook. We like to make the birthday person feel special.

Here she is sitting in her decorated chair!

 Her goody bag came with plenty of treats. HK bandaids, a swirly straw, safe gummy bears, GF Graham crackers, a T&J movie, some pretty bracelet making material, a pkg of Annie's bunnies, and some blocks of sidewalk chalk.

 I think she enjoyed it all!

 All ready for her special day!

This straw has magical powers!

I'm not sure what they were talking about, but I think Keian was making a point of some kind.

Sweet Peach game Mak some very nice gifts. She wrote to her and also made her a HK doll out of paper and stuffing. 

She went to school and celebrated with her friends there. She brought juice pouches and chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. I got to stay in her classroom and watch for little bit. I can tell just how much her friends mean to her. I'm so glad she has a wonderful preschool to go to every day!

I can't forget to mention this dress she's wearing. Mak is a fancy girl and she likes to look fancy. This is a dress we call the princess dress. She looked very princess-y in it!

For lunch, Grammy took us out to eat. The Birthday Girl chose CFA--of course! Thank goodness they have gluten free nuggets and a safe fryer!

When everybody got home that night, we ate a special dinner that was requested by Mak. She wanted my homemade gluten and dairy free mac and cheese, fish sticks, and fruit.

 She chose a no-bake cookie for dessert. These are pretty easy to convert so my whole family can eat them (taking everybody's different dietary needs into consideration, these are made with almond butter, gf certified oats, flax milk, & vegan butter). And even with all these changes, they still taste really good!

And of course we opened presents. Can you tell my girl likes HK?

That thing called Thanksgiving

It was a long time ago. But I wanted to share so photos for the memory books. We went to my mom's for turkey dinner. Apparently people were tired. But we had good food and some traditions. Some of my favorite traditions are related to this time of year.

The kids' school always has a Thanksgiving lunch right before the holiday. We always try to make it to all the lunches.

Most of our kids can't even eat the actual lunch, but I'd hate for them to feel left out. And we enjoy spending the time with them.

On the Thanksgiving Eve we always bake pie crust. This started because we always took pie to Thanksgiving dinner, but now it's turned into a time to bake crust just so we can sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on it and eat it.

 We made three different Gf/Df crusts this year in order top pick out our favorite. I actually don't even remember which one ended up winning, but we had fun--that's for sure.

It's tough work, as you can see. 

We had to think up new foods and new ways to make favorite recipes this year. Thanksgiving was right at the same time we had some major diet changes. Brownie is completely gluten and dairy free--as is Keian (who has other foods he can't eat as well), and a couple other kiddos are also off gluten. Anyway, this is all my contributions to our dinner... cranberry/orange sauce, mashed cauliflower, stuffing, sauteed onion topped green beans, chocolate chip pumpkin cookies, and cranberry orange cupcakes.

I thought the cupcakes were simply and pretty, so they got their own picture.

As I said earlier, we spent the holiday with my mom and sister. Hunk thinks feet should be on the menu!

And people were tired. Scrunchie couldn't even finish dinner.

These guys finished eating, but it was apparently draining!

 Wishbone, anyone?

We don't go shopping on Black Friday. The whole concept drives me nuts--not to mention the lines and attitudes of everybody around. I'd much rather spend the day with my family, and we have made it a tradition to spend this day getting our tree. We've had a few tree farms over the years, but we only switch when one closes down. This was our second year at this particular farm, and it was so fun!

We always take lots of pictures. I love the excitement of this fun day.

 These are just a few of my favorites.

 Before or after the tree hunt is completed, we always let the kids do some crafts. They have a cool barn that is nice and warm--it provides some great comfort for us since it's always freezing outside.

 We also like to have them pose at the warming station that's out in the woods with all the trees. It's a cute picture spot.

 And of course there's the obligatory--pose with our new tree--picture.

 And the big red barn--it's a nice back drop!

 The kids always make these sweet pine cone angels and decorate paper ornaments.

 Santa also comes to visit, but it's always the day after Black Friday. Luckily we see him around town quite frequently during this time of year.

I think Boushka was excited!