Yay for YummyHealth!

Right now, my kids are playing in the back yard. I put a jug of my famous watermelon water (water with a bunch of frozen watermelon chunks floating in it to keep it cool and tasty) and a handful of mugs on the deck. They love the stuff.

And I love that they love the stuff.

You see, we try our darnedest to be extremely careful with what goes into their little, and not-so-little (the almost 10-year-old is getting huge!) bodies.

Our garden, planted in organic mushroom compost, is coming along great and will soon be supplying us with tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, onions and beans that will be about as fresh and clean as you can get. It takes time and effort and money to plant and care for a garden like that. But it's important for our health and our health is important to us.

We sacrifice to be able to shop at a more expensive grocery store where we load up on organic fruits and veggies, grass-fed beef, and things without the hormones and corn syrup and insane amounts of non-food items on their ingredient lists that you'd typically find at other grocery stores. Yes, I cringe a little when the cashier announces our grand total. Yes, I remember the good old days when our bill was half that at our old grocery store. But, I'm also happy knowing that we're trying our best to do what we can to get our kids off on the right (healthy) foot in life.

So when the people at YummyHealth contacted me to see if my family would like to give their Yummy Snack Chips and Yummy Snack Bars a try, I was so excited! From what I quickly read on their website, I saw that all of their products were right up our alley:

 ...you won't find gluten, hydrogenated oils, trans fats, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, artificial flavors or preservatives in any of our YummySwap products.

Yippee! We try our best to steer clear of processed food, but sometimes having a bag of chips or a candy bar is really handy and a nice treat for the kiddos, too.  Still, I was a tiny bit apprehensive. Would my kids actually like the taste?

I decided to test them out at a weekly outdoor concert we go to during the summer where we listen to music, kick around a soccer ball and, when the kids get worn out, enjoy some snacks on a blanket in the grass.

Well? Did they like them? No. They LOVED them! Each bag of Yummy Snack Chips (we had one each of nacho, cheese, and pizza flavors) were devoured in nano-seconds. We concluded that the nacho flavor was our family favorite. And the chocolate blast snack bar? I saved that one for myself. So! Good! Dark chocolate filled with yummy coconut bits, all gooey and delicious and wonderful... it was a tiny mom-dream come true in a yellow wrapper.

Be sure to check out their website, and see for yourself why these snacks make better options than conventional chips and candy bars.

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Yep, they sent me the stuff. Nope, I wasn't paid. Yep, the opinions are all mine. Nope, I don't like pina coladas or getting caught in the rain.

Homeschool Mom Confession

It's coming. Summer break. My kids are ready for it. My oldest, the awesome fourth grader, is the only one with a little bit of 'school' left to do.

Visions of days spent romping in the yard, hiking on trails, bicycling to papaw's and sprawling on blankets at our town's outdoor concerts and movies are flashing in front of our eyes. We can't wait to have even less on our normally itty-bitty to-do lists than usual.

But there's one catch.

The local schools have two more days. Two more days until all those wonderful kids run screaming from the school bus one last time, ready to soak in the sweetness of summer freedom for a few months. Ready to rollerblade to the park, go fishing in the neighborhood ponds, throw towels over their shoulders and head to the pool.

Ready to... (Oh, do I dare say it? Here goes....)

Ready to pop our magical, wonderful, majestic homeschool bubble.

Don't get me wrong. I love the all the traditionally-schooled little sweethearts. I really do! We have some of the most wonderful little neighbor-kids you could ask for. The share toys with my kids, play basketball with them, come lend a helping hand when we try to completely cover our driveway with sidewalk chalk.

It's just that, well, all of our places are suddenly overrun with all these newly-released tiny people.

Our once quiet weekday library where my boys and a couple of homeschooling friends spend hours in the military section, drooling over tanks and rocket launchers, will now be filled to the brim with eager summer reading program members.

Our quiet park picnics where I can chat with a fellow homeschool mom without fear of losing track of a child because, well, no one else is at the park at all will become frenzied outings consisting of me counting five little heads over and over and over and every few minutes muttering to myself, "Where's Sunshine? I can't see her in this sea of children. I think she was wearing a blue dress. Or was it a yellow shirt with purple shorts? How in the world do 18 kids fit on the monkey bars at once?"

A rainy weekday lunch at Chik-Fil-A won't offer my kids a playground to themselves while Mama sips on lemonade after walking from the car right up to the counter. Instead, we'll be fiftieth in line, there will be no empty tables, I'll lose a child in the playplace, someone will have to pee and the bathroom line will be so insanely long that we'll risk an accident on the way home instead of waiting and everyone will cry because "We only got to play for 4 minutes and I want my brother back!" and I'll scream "Well, your sister has to pee and only losing one out of five ain't too shabby! Your little brother will find his way home someday!"

My kids? They love the extra play buddies all over the place during the summer months.

Me? I don't do crowds. They kind of make me hyperventilate.

Happy summer break, to you. I'll be hiding in the basement until September.

Sun-kissed Cheeks and Sweaty Hair

Today was good. The past couple of days, too, as a matter of fact.

 

It could have something to do with the fact that we can enjoy our dinners outside in the shade of a blooming tree again. Or that the swings on our swingset haven't stopped swinging accompanied by an oscillating flow of laughter. Or that I've decided that at this moment in my life, my house just won't be clean all that often. It just won't.

 

 

Today the boys took library books about ninjas, black holes, and a haunted house out to their clubhouse while Sunshine and Little Mister kept those swings going. I sprawled myself in the sun on the deck, a pillow behind my head and a book in my hands. (This book, if you're interested.) Little Mister eventually got brave enough to try the slide and Sunshine ventured off to fill a jar with dandelions.

 

Everyone came in with sun-kissed cheeks and sweaty hair.

 

I can't guarantee that the library books will make it back into the library basket, mainly because I haven't seen it in weeks. And I'm not making any promises that those sweaty heads will get any where near shampoo tonight.

 

But we do have steaks ready to go on the grill and a few more hours of daylight.

 

And all of that sounds fine to me.

 

 

I Need A Cabin

Ahhhhh.......

I miss this space.

Inhale.....

Hello, readers.

Exhale....

I keep feeling like I have nothing to write, but I'm going to do what all the wise Bloggy Swamis say to do. I'm just going to start typing and see what spills out.

So, here's the thing. Skinny jeans. I'm the last human on the planet to jump on the bandwagon. And I haven't even jumped yet. I mean, I feel kind of like jumping. But then all I can think about is Holy moley, those things look like sweat machines! I mean I think I can pull them off because I'm pretty darn happy with my weight and thigh circumference. But I just think I'd actually die if I wore them on a hot day.

I think I'll just pick up a few maxi skirts instead.

Anyway...

I spent last weekend with the girls of my family in a cabin in the woods. And it was glorious! There were lots of fun beverages, a hot tub and a fire in a fire pit that I spent hours upon hours just poking with a stick. Poke, poke, poke.

I did miss my babies and Mr. Ordinary.

And my b00bs missed Little Mister. He's 16 months and still nurses like crazy. I'm OK with this. Someday, even though it really feels like never, but someday he will stop.

Anyway, back to the cabin. There was a little bit of hiking, some board games, ghost stories and then some more poking the fire with a stick. Blissful, I tell ya. Completely and utterly blissful.

Ugh. I need a cabin. Don't think for a second that I didn't check the real estate listings as soon as I got home.

Now I just need to win the lottery.