If Only the Batteries Were Not Dead

I think you would laugh with me...no, I know you would laugh with me if you could see our house right now. We are in the throws of gluten withdrawls and it is NOT pretty!
I am feeling fine and Luke only seems to feel a little crummy, but the boys....oh my!

About 10 minutes ago I was simultaneously watching Jacob on the floor throwing his shoes, banging his feet on the ground and yelling "STUPID SHOE" because he couldn't get one of them on.
Samuel was screaming bloody murder about needing to be by himself because he doesn't like anyone and didn't want to have any brothers.
Braden was throwing a fit and screaming about me not letting him put his boots on in the house and yelling "I DON'T LIKE YOU".

Somehow I found it very comical and I just stood there in the middle of it and laughed to myself. I grabbed the camera because I thought you all needed to see how much fun we are having, unfortunately the batteries needed to be charged!
Too bad!

I'm sure this "detox" phase will last for another week or more so I'll try and catch the next community tantrum and post it for you.

GOOD TIMES!

FOOD!

I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about starting in on this GF/CF diet! I knew we "could" do it and I felt like we SHOULD do it, but I didn't know if we would like it! The thought of cutting out all dairy (cheese is a hard one for Luke) and all wheat, oats, barley, and many other sources of gluten killed me! I LOVE breads and cookies and muffins and biscuits and....you get the picture!
I was particularly worried about starting this right before the holidays! YIKES! How will we survive Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie (condensed milk), or gravy on our potatoes, or stuffing, or yams with marshmallows (yep marshmallows are a no no unless I make them myself)...oh wait, we hate yams so that part is ok.
How would we survive Christmas with out all the yummy breads and cookies????

I knew our meals would remain close to the same, just a few substitutes here and there but I was skeptical about the GF/CF recipes for cookies and other goodies. They couldn't be nearly as good as there real, buttery, floury thing!

I am happy to say that we will be ok! Today I baked all afternoon, and we tasted all afternoon! I made some gingersnap cookies first. I was surprised at how good they are. I thought, if I didn't know what was substituted, I wouldn't even notice a difference. Luke took one bite and simply said, "heavenly" and they passed the boys taste test as well! Hooray!

Don't they even look good?! (this picture is for you Dad....since you can't have one!)

We also made some "Peanutbutter Frosted Panda Bombs" (named by Samuel)...basically a peanutbutter cookie with some crunchy, puffed peanutbuttery cereal in them. They too were delicious!
We are still working on the bread thing, but I'm more confident now that we can find a good substitute. I even found a pumpkin pie recipe that I am going to make in the next few weeks.....have to try it before the holidays to see if it passes! I can't serve it to company (I know you wouldn't mind Tami....but we want to be able to enjoy it with you and not gag on it) if I haven't tried it.

Really though, things are going well. We don't feel like we are missing out on anything (although I am sure Luke would love a big plate of nachos for lunch!) and we know we are healthier for it. It's been any easy transition. Everything I have read talks about how hard this diet is to get used to and I couldn't figure out why. I thought if it was so "easy" for me this week, I must be missing something. Then I realized that the majority of people writing these books and comments and blogs were going from McDonald's and Minute Marts every meal, to GF/CF foods at home every meal....YEAH, that WOULD be hard. We were already eating pretty healthy...guess that makes a big difference.


I don't want to sound like I am stretching here, but we have already noticed a few things in Samuel that have made us look at each other and say "where did that come from?" He has been asking clarifying questions. He's been more outspoken without yelling about it. Since Wednesday he has been sleeping in until around 7am (he is up at 6 am like clockwork, always has been) and this morning we even had to go wake him up at 7:30 for breakfast!
Then today, when he got home from school, the first thing he said when he walking in the door was "Something smells GOOD!" This might not seem like a big deal, but to me it was. He smelled the cookies! To my knowledge I have NEVER heard Samuel make a comment about how something smells, good or bad smells. He never seemed to notice them...or never knew how to verbalize that sense?
Anyway...just a few things we are noticing. I am keeping good notes to see if we start seeing patterns of improvement.
I'll keep you updated on anything we notice, and of course on all of our new baking experiences!

Just For Fun

Just a few pictures from the last couple of days




Braden has learned well from his big brothers that you NEVER smile in pictures!


I only put this in here to show you the boots. B insists on wearing these zip up snow boots EVERYWHERE and with EVERY outfit! We call him Napoleon Dynamite!


This is the fort that Luke helped them build in the basement with our moving boxes. It goes all the way under the stairs and out the other side. There is enough room for all three of them and the dog to move around and stand.


Zoe is lucky that she is allowed in the entrance because this is a very exclusive club that meets in this fort. They are called "G.R.O.S.S - Get Rid Of Slimy GirlS" (taken from Samuel's favorite reading material....Calvin and Hobbes) Mommy isn't even allowed in!


That's ok, as long as I get to enjoy shots like this one! I am content to listen to their giggles and talking from upstairs in the kitchen. I love my boys!

When You Turn 8, You Get A 3 Day Party!

I can't believe that Samuel is now 8 years old! So often when I check on him at night, he still looks like that tiny 5 lb 15oz baby that we brought home from the hospital, I guess he always will!
It's been a busy week for all of us. I'm glad to finally have some down time to post these.

Samuel's "3 day birthday party" (that's what he told everyone) started out on Thursday. There was no school on Friday (his actually bday) so he got to have a birthday snack/party in class on the 9th. He chose to have Dad pop some kettle corn and we took one small bag for every kid in class (and a bunch of big bags to hand out to teachers and staff...Luke got carried away). It was a small little celebration, but fun none the less. The best part was when his teacher said they were going to sing the happy birthday song to Samuel. He stood up and got right in her face (he's almost as tall as she is) and said, quite loud "I SAID NO! I DON'T WANT IT!"
Any of you who have ever been with Sam on his birthday will know this....he HATES the birthday song! We don't know why, haven't ever figured it out. It's a funny quirk of his. Well, we sang anyway and he was ok with it.

Day 2

Nana and Papa had time off from school so there came for a long weekend. We took advantage of no school for the boys and did a little sight seeing. On our way to lunch, we stopped and toured the Rocky Reach Dam, fish ladders, and museum. Lots of fun!

Samuel really wanted his picture taken by this particular scarecrown at the entrance of the dam.



Nana, Papa and the boys on the top of the dam, on our way to check out the museum


Swimming in the bypass pipe like the fish do on their way downstream to the ocean



Checking out some of the huge fish swimming up the ladders. I think we saw steelhead, rainbow trout, and sockeye??? I don't remember, but some of them were really big!


You can faintly see one of the big fish in this picture



Jacob and Braden trying to steer the steamboat up the Columbia in the museum



After lunch out, we came home and Samuel opened gifts. He got a bulletin board for his room, a new watch, socks (he was NOT happy that those were the first thing he opened), books of course and some other great things.





Day 3

On Saturday, Samuel had invited a few boys from church over for a little party (he didn't want anyone from school this time).

They played bop-it balloon boxing for almost 30 minutes!


Then they went outside and covered the yard with 6 or more cans of Silly String





Then it was time for a treasure hunt.
Luke helped them make pirate hats from newspaper. He had taped clues up all around the house and church property, so he had them back and forth a lot...wasting energy.


It didn't take them long to find the treasure box. Inside there were lots of fun little dollar toys and treats.

Samuel is really on board with this Gluten Free/Casein Free diet, and even though we hadn't officially started last weekend, he wanted a GF/CF chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I found a chocolate zucchini cake recipe to try. It was pretty heavy and broke into 3 pieces when I took it out of the pan, but I managed to get it all on the plate to frost it. I think it turned out ok for our first GF/CF recipe, although it had a little orange peel in it and I think it would have been better without.


Saturday evening after the party, we took Nana and Papa into Chelan to walk around downtown. Typical boys, they can hardly take a picture without making silly faces now!



We had pizza at a great place in Chelan...one last pizza out treat because all that cheese is off limits now. Samuel ate almost 5 pieces!!! I actually think we noticed it affecting him the next couple of days...he had a hard time at school and lots of meltdowns at home....no more!



Isn't he cute!!! It was a good birthday!

I Got Flowers

No, not flowers from Luke. And not a rose that Jacob cut from the bush out front. Either of those would have been a beautiful addition to my kitchen windowsill or dining room table.

We had an older couple attend church on Sunday after not having been here for months. They live in Chelan and had been going to a church there partly to save on gas money. They are a very nice couple (we met them when we were here for the interview in Jan and I guess they stopped coming shortly after that). She has a VERY hard time tracking conversations and her short term memory is almost nonexistent. It is funny to hear him getting on her for repeating things or taking the sunday school lesson in another direction.
Anyway, she LOVES thrift stores and kept telling me about the wonderful jeans that I could get there and that I should never be ashamed to shop there. It made me wonder what kind of impression she had of me!
Well, she put a little flower arrangement together as a welcome gift for me. Please know that I am not ungrateful for this gift and I think that it was very kind of her to think of me and put this together.....but.....

Any suggestions on where this might look good in my house? And yes, incase you aren't sure...that is a beaded fairy want in the center!

I suppose I should hang on to it, incase they ever come over. Then I can put it out for a few hours. Then again, maybe she won't remember that she gave it to me and I could give it to her as a gift someday!

Kung Fu Panda

Last night the boys were playing Kung Fu Panda and showing off their moves. These aren't just regular kicks and jumps though. They were attempting to do those slow motion, fly through the air moves that we've all seen in the movies. Pretty impressive!
I hope it's not inappropriate to post pictures of Samuel in his underwear. I asked him if I could put them on here and he said yes. Besides, if I didn't post pics of him like this, there wouldn't be many to show you...the boy is ALWAYS undressed! I wonder if that will change in the dead of winter when it is 9 degrees outside and this old house gets a little cold?


If I remember correctly (these are the movie characters), Jacob was the praying mantis, Samuel was the leopard and B was the panda.


My timing wasn't the best, so most of the pictures took just as they were landing from their big jumps, kicks and spins.


I love the intensity of Jacob's facd in this one!

I did it! I caught him mid air....this is my favorite one. Partly because it actually shows that they were jumping, but also because it is Samuel...a leap in the air with a kick???!!! That takes some coordination and balance!

Yard work

Saturday, I spent the day cleaning the house while Luke and the boys worked outside (where I really wanted to be!). The boys raked up the few leaves that had fallen out of the tree while Luke tilled up the garden spot for next spring and worked on building some yard compost bins.




Hard at work, or something like that!

Ok, so I don't think they actually raked a single leaf...I never saw even the beginnings of a pile but they were enjoying themselves.


I was trying to get a picture of how big this garden will be, but I couldn't get a good angle on it. The majority of it is flat, but you can't see that it goes downhill a little (towards the other house) where we will plant pumpkins and raspberries. Somehow tilling up the ground makes it seem a lot bigger than it looked when it was grass. I hope we are not overdoing it! The ground is basically like the beach....all sand. So, next we will add some stuff (compost, manuer, soil, or something) to it and then let it sit with snow on it all winter. It should make pretty good soil for next spring!

Family Picnic

Two weekends ago, we went with another family (THE Family) for a picnic and "hike" up on an old forest service road. It was kinda like a tail gate party in the mountains. We ate off the back of the pick up, the older boys threw the football while the adults stood around and visited. The three dogs and younger boys that were there had fun hiking up and down the little stream...ended up soaking wet and freezing cold, but they had fun none the less!
I didn't get many pictures, but here are a few.

Braden ADORES this boy! His name is Joseph and he is 12. He is the oldest boy in the church by several years, but he is so great with the little kids. B followed him all day, and Joseph patiently waited for him.


These boys had to stop and climb every open spot on the hill as we were hiking. They had dirt/sand ground into every inch of their clothes by the time we left.


Braden with his big walking stick. One of the other Dads found walking sticks for all the boys...I think they got used as swords more than anything (at least by this little guy).

Bald Eagle

The boys and I were sitting at the table doing homework this afternoon when Samuel said "what's that soaring in the sky? I think it's a Bald Eagle"
Sure enough, it was! Right across the road on "our mountain" there was a bald eagle. It landed on the top of a tree and perched for quite a while. We all watched it intently. It was huge, and beautiful, and SO close!
I finally thought "I should get a picture of this" I walked away to get the camera and when I got back to the window, it was gone! (so this picture is not "our eagle" but looks just the same).

Just another reason we love living here! SO much nature.....I didn't even know these gorgeous birds lived in this area!
It turned out to be fun little side lesson for the boys too. After he flew away, we did some research on them. Kinda fun!

Correction

As I was fixing dinner and still thinking about all of the information in my previous post, I realized that I may have worded things wrong.
For those of you who we don't talk to on a regular basis.....Samuel has NOT been diagnosed as autistic. We were never given a diagnosis from any doctor that we saw, and truthfully we are glad....it doesn't matter if there is a name for his struggles, we just wanted to know how to help him.

I mentioned the book by Jenny McCarthy and her son who is autistic and I think the way I was writing made it sound as though this was the case for Samuel.
What I was trying to say is that yes, he struggles with some of the same things that autistic children do, (really who doesn't) and the resources that she lists in her book are helpful not only for parents working with autistic kids, but kids with ADD/ADHD, immune disorders, chronic ear infections, epilepsy....on and on.

Ok, we are clear now. Back to fixing dinner

My brain the past few days

At one of our REACH appointments (maybe 6 month ago or more), I had some questions about diet and how that affected brain development, allergies and some other related things. We had already been doing the whole, organic, fresh, local thing and trying to be good about limiting sweets. But something in the back of my head kept telling me there was more to it than that...at least for our family (and especially for Samuel). I asked Charlie to tell me what he knew about gluten and casein (dairy) allergies. He gave me some great information and I thought a lot about it on my way home, but never followed through with more research.
Over the next several months, the idea of learning more about these allergies and alternative ways of eating, would cross my mind but I would only go as far as mentioning something about it to Luke.

Then I came across a book written by Jenny McCarthy. I am not a big fan of hers (as an entertainer)...she comes across and cruel, harsh and obnoxious, but this book caught my eye. She has a son who was diagnosed with Autism and she wrote the book to share her journey through Autism with other parents. She took a very natural approach to "healing" her son.
So, I bought the book at Target on Monday night.....I was finished with it by Tuesday early afternoon! This might not seem like a big deal to some people, but to me it was. I have to say that Luke was shocked too. I am not a reader...I don't just read for personal enjoyment so you know this book HAD to have been good!

Anyway, she has an amazing story and shared a lot of information on the gluten free/casein free diet she put her son on, and I have been sucked in! My brain is in overdrive and I can't stop thinking and processing through this! I've been researching and reading anything I can find on the internet so that I can make an educated decision about this. From everything I have seen, I can't help but believe that this would be a good thing for Samuel (and the rest of us....we couldn't sit around eating cheese and bread and not let him have some).

Something else I've been learning about is the effect that candida (yeast) overgrowth in your intestines can have on moods, digestion, nutrient absorption, sleep and so many other areas of life. I am convinced that Samuel has an overgrowth! There is an easy way to fix this problem too and we are looking into it. Again, we will probably all do this as well. I learned of a simple "spit test" you can do to see if you possibly have too much candida. I tried it on myself this morning and sure enough....too much!

I am amazed at some of the personal testimonies I have read in books and online regarding these things. The improvements that parents have seen in their children's overall health gives me even more hope for Samuel. I have that gut, motherly instinct telling me that I am on to something (the same way I felt when we started looking into the REACH program).

Enough rambling! I haven't posted for a while simply because of the business of life and I thought I would sit down and quickly share my latest idea and "obsession".
I have some pictures from a picnic/hike we went on with another church family last weekend. When I sat down to upload the pics today, the batteries were dead in the camera. When they are charged, I'll work on getting those up for you to see.

Thanks for reading my nonsense! I'll keep researching and of course I'll keep you posted on anything we take on and the progress we continue to see in our amazing little Samuel!