A little catching up

Life is good. The kids are growing like weeds. Trevor is 14 (and a half--less than six months till he starts driving!), William is 13, Samuel is 11, Zack turned 5 a couple days ago, and Peter is 2 (the terrible kind).

Trevor's creativity is unquenchable. He draws and takes pictures in all his free time. Well, that's not true--he also researches trees. And then he draws them and photographs them. Aside from authoring field guides, I'm not sure what he can make of these talents? Any ideas anyone?

Trevor still does karate, and is closing in on his brown belt.

Both Trevor and William are on our homeschool robotics team. They have been keeping very busy with all their meetings. Trevor is on the marketing team (helped design the team T-Shirt, and is working on the display booth and media) and William is on the build team (crafting the robot in 3-D in a computer program). They are loving it. Their first competition is in 2 weeks!

William still loves reading. Between books, he loves making origami. He is really quite talented. He makes things very carefully and can make about anything he can find instructions for. Dragons are his favorite.

Samuel is still his sweet, quiet self. He loves playing with the little kids. He is super patient with Peter, and genuinely enjoys playing make-believe with Zack. They have roamed all over the galaxy together, and survived many apoplectic battles. He has also grown into quite the responsible helper. He gets his chores done speedily and cheerfully, and often without reminding.

Zack can most often be found sitting in front of a computer screen (school programs first--he's learning to read--and computer games last), or playing with Samuel (or Peter, or Tim, or Trevor). He has many other interests, but much prefers to do things WITH people.

Peter. Peter is adorable. And loud. He loves to talk...but it's like a foreign language. My current favorite is "chocolate". It comes out as "yot-it". And he calls himself "Peedo". And so: "Yot-it! Yot-it Peedo! In mouff! Yot-it! MOM!" Etc. All day. He loves to play with Sam. He loves to chase Zack. He wants so much to be big.

Now that I have caught up from the last year, I feel like I can share some pictures.

Some of Trevor's photos:

Zack at the playground.

Peter got out all cups and made this arrangement on the floor. I think it was a fort or something. He can and got me and led me by the hand to the kitchen to show me. I was thrilled...he usually entertains himself by shredding up napkins, or making some other sort of mess.

Tim and I took the little boys on a date to the mall. They LOVED it. Peter rode the lion on the carousel. He's in love with lions.

And Zack rode the dragon. Its name is Frodo.

Here's Zack's attempt to take photos of foliage, just like Trevor does. Not as easy as it looks, I guess :)

Trying to take a picture of a cool leaf bug in a jar. Very fun for Peter.

Looked out the window and saw Zack out gathering eggs. He's taken to carrying them in his shirt. I love it.

This is Zack and "Beaky"...but he calls her "Sweetheart".

Samuel doing his thing, and Peter doing his.

Oh my. It was clean-off-the-roof-day last Saturday. So glad we have helpers.

Samuel repotted his succulents last weekend. He does a great job taking care of his plants.

Trevor also worked on his plants. He planted one in the yard (I'm not sure a day goes by that he doesn't ask me Can we get a {this or that} for the yard? (Think, palm tree, or tory pine, or ginkgo tree...)

Went on a field trip this week to a pumpkin patch. Such a fun day.

Zack with a camel.

Peedo with a Beebee Taow (Peter with a baby cow)

Peter and Zack both did a pony ride. They loved it.

There was a cool jumping pillow that 4 of the kids played on. Some of us felt too old to jump.

Zack really liked these photo ops. We took several pictures.

Played in a corn bin.

Rode the Cow Train.

Looked for pumpkins.

Found some.

And found some pinecones. :)

Here's one of Trevor's recent drawings.

We went to Adventure Land the night before Zack's birthday. Played arcade games and mini golf. He loved it.

Birthday Donuts!!!!!

Opening presents...

Last one...Found Trevor drawing at about 11:30 last night. Had to get it off his chest :)

XOXOX
Jill

Blueberries and Our Diet

It's the tail end of blueberry season, and we took our first-ever blueberry-picking trip.  I think I'm addicted!


The boys took turn pushing Zack around in the shade.


Trevor hunted mushrooms...


Blueberry-picking beats strawberry-picking hands down.  The bushes were so tall, the lanes so nicely kept and clean, and the berries were organic and so delicious!  Warm blueberries fresh of the branch is my new favorite way to eat them.


I got over-eager when we got home, and I froze every single berry.  They were so easy to sort and freeze that I got carried away.


So William and I went back the next day, *without Zack*, and picked some more!


*****

We have been swimming a lot...it has been SO hot, and all the boys LOVE to hop in the pool at Grandmother Beth's house.


*****

Also, we have been enjoying our new microscope!


Trevor has found all kinds of things to look at.  He gets so excited about each discovery.  His favorite is finding creatures--bacteria--and watching them swim around.


*****

Zack is ALL OVER the place.  Phew!  I'm still working on getting the house baby-proofed, a little at a time.  Now that he can crawl, he is quite a bit happier--Finally!  He did cut in one more tooth before we left Nebraska, bringing the total for that trip to 3, and now he is teething again.  He is into everything, but seems eager to learn and pays attention when we tell him "no".  He eats everything we offer him:  blueberries :), cherries, kidney beans, pickles, tomatoes, taco meat, and nectarines are some of his new foods.  He is still a ton of work, but now it is mostly because he is so BUSY, instead of because he is so fussy.  Thank you God!

He loves to do what we do...like brushing teeth, and wearing a hat.  He had a ball trying on Grandpa's hat on our trip.  He would open his mouth so big, and be so excited...




He's gonna miss that Grandpa!


*****

Trevor is still doing pretty well.  His OCD did seems to flare up for awhile...maybe due to the vacation?  

I noticed something new this week:  his skin is getting smooth.  He used to have little bumps all over his arms, legs, back and face.  He hated it.  He used super gentle soaps, but we never really did anything else about it, except hope it would get better someday.

This brings me to our diet...

When we started this diet (gluten-free, dairy-free) it was largely from reading the Eat Like a Dinosaur book, written by a husband and wife (the Paleo Parents) who openly shared about their family's health issues.

One of the problems they mentioned was their son's skin--it was bumpy like Trevor's, and after being on the diet it cleared up.  That really got my attention.

Before we started the diet, I made a list of all our little (or not-so-little) problems:  headaches, back pain, skin problems, emotional issues, sleep problems, OCD.  About 3 days into the diet, I noticed Zack sleeping better.  Within a month, I realized that I wasn't taking ibuprofen anymore.  I had been taking it at least once a day for headaches.  And now?  I can remember maybe 2 headaches in the last couple months, one from sinus congestion, and one from driving in the car with 4 kids. :)  Also, William used to take ibuprofen frequently for his back...he was alway complaining of it hurting.  I was on the brink of taking him to a chiropractor.  Now he rarely mentions it.

AND, Trevor's skin is cleared up.  I am convinced it is because we have some gluten sensitivities and have gotten our diet cleaned up.

The first month on the diet was hard...we missed our old foods, and didn't know what to eat.  Now, we sometimes still don't know what to eat, but we don't miss our old food as much.  Plus, we are experimenting with how much wheat and dairy we can handle, and still feel good.  We can splurge on a pizza once in a while, and not notice the effects much.  I'm glad about that, because it is fun to eat pizza :).

If any of this intrigues you, or you want to know more, check out the Paleo Parents website for inspiring stories and nutrition help.