Our Journey to Heaven Continued: What's been going on & 7 Quick errrrr Long Takes

Ok, so it's been one of those days where I've let the baby tear apart a whole box of tissues and empty the spice cabinet a few times just to have 15 minutes of peace and quiet. Looking back at the calendar it's only been a little over two weeks since I last posted. Considering what my normal "break" times entail, that's pretty good. I go in spurts of blogging every day for a week and then not having a chance to blog at all. And I miss it when I'm not at it. I really do. But I guess not enough to make it a priority. When I do have a quiet 30 minutes I usually like to just RELAX and catch up on my favorite shows or listen to podcasts while catching up on house chores. So what's going on now you ask? Well, baby is prowling around my computer trying to grab my kombucha, my phone and a tissue I used to wipe his snotty nose. You see, I stayed home today with the youngest two while hubby took the rest to homeschool park day and his parents house for dinner. The babies were up most of the night with fevers, coughs and runny noses. Oy-vey. And the only reason why I can think that I'm still awake right now (even tho it is only 7:30) is because I'm on week 2 of doing the Whole 30 and it's given me lots of extra energy. Thank goodness! I don't know how I would have survived today otherwise. Child #5 is in dreamland and I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of hubby to take said baby off my hands. If you must know, I gave in and baby has happily torn apart another box of tissues and trying to sneak tastes when I'm not looking.

So here we are into the second week of Lent and it's going quite well I should say. This year my hubby gave up meat. He's been wanting to do it forever, but I have discouraged him in the past because I wasn't up to making two types of meals every day. This year we are living near his parents and they also give up meat for Lent so his Mom has been cooking him up whatever they are having and dropping it off. Isn't that great? So go him! I on the other hand, decided to do a Lenten Whole 40 (a strict version of Paleo) and it's going really well for me. I'm doing it for the sacrifice and the weight loss. So I'm eating a ton of meat all in front of poor hubby. Extra sacrificing on both our parts I guess. Him watching me eat the meat and me watching him eat the carbs. Oh, how I could go for a French baguette right now slathered in Kerrygold butter. Ummm. The kiddos are doing extra sacrifices to gain beans in their bean jars and depending on how well they do, will be replaced with jelly beans on Easter Sunday. Also giving up Wii games, and all movies other than religious or scientific ones and sweets. We have been reading Bible stories every evening and hanging out a piece on our Jesus tree also.

School has been going well. We are trying to get ahead so we can take off a week for Easter and still try and finish by the end of May. Our move West and the weeks that followed threw us off a bit. I've also been researching curriculums for next year and am planning on doing a "bits and pieces" curriculum instead of a boxed one. Really looking forward to it, but all the researching does take quite a bit of time and effort. Still haven't decided on how long of a summer break we'll have either. I feel like we finally just got into our groove of schooling and the day to day schedule and it sends me into a panic thinking about not having that during the summer. Perhaps I'll just have to come up with some type of new summer routine.

Just got word from hubby that the four eldest are spending the night at his parents. Hopefully we'll be able to get some sleep tonight. Or will we? I hear poor Connor coughing in his sleep in the other room. :( I was intending to take the day off of school tomorrow since the boys have been working pretty hard the past few weeks.

So my new favorite drink this Whole 40 is Kombucha. Yum! It tastes like sparkling apple cider and I love the fizz. It really helps take away my longing for something sweet and yummy to drink. If you haven't give it a try, you definitely should. Smells so disgusting but surprisingly tastes nothing like it smells. I might just have to try making it. My awesome friend Jennifer posted a tutorial on her blog at The Sweet Plantain. Go check it out. The only thing that might get to me a little (OK, maybe a lot) is the SCOBY. I might just gag a little making one of those or seeing it floating around in my drink.

Got to spend some nice one on one time with baby #5 this afternoon while the older kids were at the park. We blew bubbles, went for a walk, chased a beetle, and did finger painting. Aren't they the cutest?

A couple nights ago my husband set up the tent in the back yard to give it a trial run and the boys were so excited and begged to sleep out there. We brought in the younger two after they fell asleep but the boys had a great time! We were supposed to go camping tomorrow but it's supposed to snow in the mountain where we booked our campsite, so we need to re-schedule.