Happiness....

My husband and I were chatting over supper this evening about the wonderful people that we have had the amazing pleasure and privilege of having pass through our lives. As we talked and reminisced one thing was evident in each and every person: The Happiness that virtually radiates from their very beings.

Some of these wonderful people have done absolutely amazing things throughout their lives, whether they are just starting out on life's journey or are looking back on a good portion of their lives filled with thousands of events, milestones, and exploits. Some have battled odds stacked so far against them concerning anything from health to financial struggles that it almost seemed hopeless and futile for them to even try rise above. Yet they battled on with the most cheerful, positive outlook on life imaginable.

As I think about the many friends and family members sprinkled throughout my life that exude Joy and Happiness I am reminded of how beautiful each and every single one is. I'm reminded how much an "outlook", and quite possibly an "inlook" can influence so much about a person physically. I'm reminded of the sincere positive energy that is so very pleasant and nurturing to be around.

Interestingly enough, our Assistant Pastor used Colossians 3:12 & 13 as part of his text today in teaching about a "Spirit Thing" (The Holy Spirit).

So, as those who have been chosen of GOD, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

Ironic? Doubtful. Ninety-nine percent of the people drifting through my mind this evening have, or had, hearts filled with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience that can only come from one place, a relationship with Jesus Christ and the effects of the Holy Spirit shining throughout them.

My goal is to be an "energy giver", a positive light, a reflection of The Spirit in me to each person I come in contact with and to hopefully share that Light in the hopes that others will see it and want it in their own lives. My hope is that someday each and every wrinkle on my face will be laugh lines and giggle crinkles while my frown muscles, worry furrows and scowl creases will be neglected from none use. Sounds like a great beauty plan and a positively amazing way to live out my days on this lil' green earth. :)

Sensory FUN!

As mentioned in last night's post I have been perusing all kinds of fabulous blogs and today A4, C3 and I had a blast experimenting, playing, and having a great, sometimes messy, time doing it!

Our first project was "Moon Sand". A4 and C3 helped measure 4 cups of corn starch, 10 cups of play sand, and 3 cups of water into a tote. Mama added a splash of green food coloring and began the mixing process only to realize I "should" have worn gloves, woops! (Thankfully 10 hours later my hand has lost it's Hulk Green hue!) Our batch of "Moon Sand" was a little on the wet side, but they

LOVED playing in it. A4 enjoyed filling his cup to overflowing and watching it expand back out, "It's lava Mama!" C3 loved adding grass and other green goodies to his Moon Sand. Mixing, playing, and storing the Moon Sand in the storage tote makes it an easy, almost mess free activity!

After an hour or so, the Moon Sand had lost it's appeal and Mama popped the lid on for more play tomorrow or the next day. The boys popped inside for a snack and Mama grabbed some goodies for building a "snow-globe".

Supplies: Water bottle (or any plastic container with a screw lid that you can securely tape closed), a collection of glitter, micro beads, cut up colored straw bits, glitter glue, colored rice, water, and apricot oil. I let the boys choose what they wanted to put in their bottle which was already half full of water. They had a great time choosing and pouring in their chosen ingredients as we discussed what items float, which ones sink, and why. Once we had sprinkled all of our ingredients into our bottles, we added a touch of food coloring (green is the color of the day it seems), added the oil, and Mama taped the lids on. They were SO excited about their "Sparkly Globbly Goop Bottles" they bolted upstairs to wake Daddy from his Sunday afternoon nap

and show him, then out the door they shot to Gramma's house to show her too!

Note: the glitter glue makes some pretty interesting globs in the bottles and the ridges of the water bottles will hold some of the oil as you slowly tilt the bottles upside down and right side up and gives a "lava lamp" look as they slowly make their way up. At bedtime I showed the boys how to hold their bedtime flashlights behind their bottles and watch the glitter and goodies float and morph around in the bottle. Another fun and successful activity!

With Daddy awake, Mama could run to Lowes to buy some pea gravel (was going to use aquarium gravel for our next project, but at $3.98 for a wee little bag at Walmart, I decided to pop into Lowes and snag two huge bags of pea gravel for 3.68 each-no brainer!) Popped back home, snagged more of my empty totes and went to work rinsing

the gravel and putting a nice thick layer in

each of two totes. (I used to sentimentally attach myself to stuff and stored everything. With a recent move, I let go of a lot of clutter and in return have a collection of empty totes-it's rather freeing and quite handy to have all these empty totes laying about)

-"I'm going to see if this grass floats!"

-"These are dangerous meat eaters mama!"

The result? More hours of play, experimenting with items that float and don't float, searching for hidden "jewels" and planting sea weed in our pond box. A menagerie of critters in our dinosaur box along with branch trees and boulders. The lion even rescued a "long neckie dinosaur" who got stuck in a tree!

I simply adore watching them play together!

Really....must.....blog......

I really need to blog much more regularly! I must create a schedule that I can stick with....and stick with it. Not something that would regulate and take away from the creativity or make it forced, but something that would get me in the habit to blog more than once every three months.

Last night I spent a wonderful evening (hours and hours I'm sure) hopping about and perusing various blogs, mainly Play Create Explore and The Imagination Tree where I found a plethora of wonderfully fabulous ideas for kids play and development. My first "experiment" was "Treasure Rocks", aka Coffee Playdough. My boys LOVED IT! I had to tweak the recipe just a touch and use rice flour as we don't have wheat flour in our house (gluten allergy). But it worked great and I enjoyed playing with the dough as well-being it smelled like my favorite drink.

My boys spent hours with their cousins playing with the "Treasure Rocks". Hiding them, breaking them open, discovering their treasures, hopping about in joy, asking Mama to put the treasures back inside the rocks and hide them again. Thankfully even after baking, the insides were still soft enough to remold for hours and hours of play. Also, one of the girls scooped some water from a nearby puddle and softened her rock to make it even more malleable, so it is very easy to re-soften (much more successful than trying to soften playdough ;) ).

Snagged some used coffee grinds from Mum this afternoon (why do people look at you funny when asking for used coffee grounds?), I'll drink a cup or two of joe' this evening and have enough grounds to make another batch of dough tonight so then can play with the raw dough tomorrow and see where their creativity takes them! Creativity! The name of the game these days! :)

Gluten Free...

I keep hearing people say they wish they could "go gluten free" so they could lose weight easily. Makes me giggle at the thought. Eating gluten free isn't a "diet", it's a lifestyle. You can lose weight with almost any lifestyle change, it's simply the fact of sticking with it.

The "easy" or what my optimistic attitude has seen as a huge benefit in a gluten free diet, is the strictness with which one has to adhere to because of the scarcity of "gluten free" foods. Before my hubby was diagnosed as gluten intolerant we ate fast foods entirely too much (even as a wife/mom trying to get into a good/organic food lifestyle). With cross-contamination and gluten being found in most prepared foods it was simply unsafe to breeze through a drive through or simply grab whatever prepackaged/convenience food was on the first shelf. BLESSING IN DISGUISE!

Fortunately, we have found restaurants that have food that is safe for my hubby and truly enjoy a wonderful dinner out and/or a yummy pizza delivered a time or two a week. Even in our home, the pantry choices are different than before his diagnosis was given (thankfully I am generally, but not always, wise enough to not buy the pack of Oreo cookies because lil' ol' ME will be the only one eating the entire package).

Over the past five years the "gluten free industry" has grown tremendously and we have been very fortunate to find more and more advice, products, and support. But at the same time, what has been a very "healthy diet" due to most products being made with whole foods and healthy nutritional values, now is very likely to become a sugar laden, overly processed, prepared food industry all it's own with very few of the health benefits of the original gluten free lifestyle. I for one intend to be scrutinizing labels and companies in order to keep our diets (what we eat, not an attempt to lose weight) on a healthy road. Just some food for thought. :)

Article that prompted this late evening blog :) : http://health.yahoo.net/rodale/MH/is-gluten-making-us-fat

Making Do....

We've been trying to figure out what we want to do with our bed, inability to find a headboard we like, and a HUGE bedroom wall. The lamps were originally bought for our previous home and were used as bedside tables. The console table is also a piece we had bought for the living room in our last home, but it hadn't found a good place in our new place.

Now, I just need to get some extra pillows to give the whole thing a touch of "finish".

Even Surrey the cat gives his wandering approval.