March 2017 Update

Okay, I know...I'm a month behind. It's okay. I'm still here.

I know you've probably been wondering about how the #deannosoda17 challenge is going. I have to tell you....I am so impressed! No one is out yet. Everyone has seriously committed to this challenge and we are still going STRONG! Today, Raiden said, "I can't wait until next year when I can drink a soda again...well, unless we do the no soda challenge again." We are on day 83, getting ready to wrap up our third month. I have to admit that I drink tea a good bit when out and about now because I don't always want to drink water. I do still have dreams where I look down and I'm drinking a soda and I totally freak out and get really upset that I have messed up the challenge. Thank goodness I always wake up and realize I'm just dreaming!

Let's see, what else is new? Life has been super busy. Without as many snow days this year, the school year has seemed extra busy. Of course, it could be that we have two toddlers running around that exhaust us as well. I have done much better about going to bed earlier, and that has helped in having more energy to survive the busy days.

Roman and Raiden are starting soccer back up. They are looking forward to the Spring season. This is Raiden's last season in U10 on the smaller field, so he is looking forward to trying to score a few more goals before the field gets really big.

Teagan has started taking karate at daycare. She is very excited about wearing her "unicorn" each Tuesday and kicking and punching. I'm not sure how much karate a 3 year old really learns but we thought it'd be great exposure for her. Ryker is getting to that age where they say all kinds of funny things. He talks in complete sentences and it's really amazing what he says. He is a very empathetic little guy. Tim has been sick today and he was asking him, "You feel better, Daddy? You still sick?" Tim told him yes and he said, "I love you very much!" It was just the sweetest thing ever!

We are a little behind inviting people over to eat with us. We had some great company at the end of January and enjoyed some also fellowship and spaghetti, but then February and March have just been so very busy. I'm sure we can catch up this spring/summer. At least I hope so!

....until next month!

January 2017 Update

I promised I'd update once a month this year so that gives you one update on my awesome goals. The others, Let's see, how are the other goals going?

1. The #DeanNoSoda17 is going pretty well. It's been much easier than I thought. Of course, we're only on day 14, but usually it's breaking the habit that's hard right? Roman's teacher rewards his class with soda when they have good behavior. He is a little sad that he won't get to participate in the reward and has asked the Family Committee to convene and decide if this might be allowed. I'll keep you posted.

2. Paleo, Power cooking, and eating from our cabinets all kind of go together. Paleo and power cooking will begin in February because we've been eating from our cabinets. In fact, we were snowed/iced in for about 5 days and we REALLY ate from what we had our our cabinets. It's a blessing to have enough food that we can just eat what's been piling up. I think we all should be thankful to have food in our cabinets. Not everyone in our country, and definitely not our world, can say that.

3.  I did pretty great the first week back at school with the 10 pm bedtime on Sunday-Thursday, but then the ice/snow came and we all know how that is. We sleep later and watch movies later, so that got me and even more importantly, the littles off track. In fact, I fully believe they were the last ones awake this past Thursday night at well past 11:00 pm, tucked safely in their beds of course.

4. The snow/ice have delayed our dinner guests but I'm glad we started this monthly tradition of having guests over for dinner. I'm looking forward to a great year with friends in our home.

5. Reading more for purpose has probably been the least of the goals so far, unless you count the 130+ transcripts I read through during the ice/snow break. I know its going to be a busy next few months so I've been trying to get ahead of the scheduling snowball that's heading my way. Hoping this work now will free up my schedule to be able to do some more purposeful reading soon.

6.Finally, I have found contentment this month in our ability to make do with what we have. Eating what you have instead of eating out  or buying more, really makes you realize how much you already have. It's been a great experiment to see what we have and how we can live in the temporary with less. I'm looking forward to the upcoming months, finding contentment in other things. This month's sounds really simple, and it was, but it's really given me a much better outlook on what we often take for granted.

#DeanNoSoda17

I thought it'd be a great time to tell you more about our no soda challenge, how it came about, and how it's going.

Have you ever had this nemesis that you can never seem to defeat? Maybe it has so much control over you and you can't figure out how to shake it? Well, if so, then you understand the relationship I have with Soda/Soft Drinks/Pop, whatever you call it. Growing up, Friday or Saturday Nights were often the night that someone came home from the store with a big 3-liter of delicious, sweet soda. We mostly drank tea and kool aid, but for movie night (courtesy of the local GO video rental store) we'd splurge a little and have Coke or Dr. Pepper and some popcorn. By the end of the weekend, the soda would be gone and back to drinking the traditional refrigerator stocked tea or kool aid. As I became a teenager, I eventually found a love for Mountain Dew, although I distinctly remember not liking the taste until I was at least 14, maybe 15. Anyway, the obsession began and although I didn't drink too much more as a teenager, as I reached college and it's availability became ever so prevalent I began to drink it morning, noon, and night. For the next several years, I went through bouts of trying to cut back and then back to addiction, so on and so forth. Fast-forward to July 4th weekend 2008...Tim and I decided to drop soft drinks with caffeine. I had never really gone without them for more than maybe a month, so I thought, maybe I'd try it. It seemed easy enough. We thought we'd try from July 5 to get to the holidays. And try it I DID! I lasted from July 5 through Thanksgiving weekend. I was so proud of myself. It wasn't easy, but it was a challenge and it was motivating.

SO....why NOW? and Why the whole family? and Why an entire YEAR?

First, why not? Like I said, it was EXTREMELY motivating to have a challenge to it. Tim participated for a few months before he gave in, but I still felt motivated and it was fun to keep going even when he was out. I've learned that I function much better without caffeine in my system. It's easier to sleep, my digestive system works more properly, and I don't have those up and down bursts of energy. So, why the whole family? Because the easiest way to succeed in this task is to eliminate it wherever you can. By not having it in the house, takes out the temptation to drink it. Not only that, but the food budget really likes it when we drink WATER, because it's FREE. Roman has become much more of an addict than Raiden, but it's good for both of them to take a break from soda. Not to mention the havoc it wreaks on their teeth. So, when Tim and I started talking about it, the boys wanted in, pretty willingly. So, why an entire year? Well, probably because I've done the 6 month thing before, so I wanted a greater challenge, but also because a year seems like it will help make it a more permanent change. It also helps that the New Year was approaching, so that made the terms easier to decide.

If it's just a challenge, why a reward?...and why can everyone win?

Well, you know as well as I that challenges with rewards are just more fun. Originally, I pitched the idea without a reward. Just to challenge each other to see who could do it longer, but then I realized that a reward might sweeten the pot a little and make others want to win. At first, it was just going to be a challenge with just one clear winner, but then I realized that because I've done something similar, and because not everyone in my family is as competitive as I am, they might just give up as soon as we started. So then I thought, if there's a reward for everyone, maybe each person would find their motivation to complete it. $100 is a lot of money to pretty much anyone (well, maybe not if you're loaded, but we are definitely not rich). In our family, Christmas is the only time you get anything that costs close to $100. Since we have an entire year to plan, we thought $100 would be a great reward, not to mention, we'll probably save about $100 per person over the year if we don't drink sodas.

What are our starting thoughts?

We are using this as a great experience to talk about setting goals. We've talked about how we are going to reach our goal and what barriers we might face. For example, we all agreed that not having them in our house will take a HUGE pressure off of us, but our biggest obstacles will be when we are on the go. Think about all the times you stop and get a drink at the store, that's how many times we'll have to be vigilant to choose something other than soda. Another big barrier that I ran into last time, that even the boys have already mentioned is when you go to a party or over to someone's house and all they really offer to drink is soda. I'll admit, we've been those people. Thankfully, more and more people are becoming more health conscious and we suggested to the boys that we can always take a bottle of water when we are heading to a party or to visit someone.

So, on New Year's Eve, just minutes before the ball dropped to celebrate the new year, each of us took our last sips of soda or maybe some of us chugged it, but either way, we savored the last of them and after midnight we threw away the last of the soda in our house, and our CHALLENGE BEGAN!

Raiden has already asked me twice today what was in the cup I was drinking. I guess he has become the new drink police. The boys seem really excited about the challenge. I know the excitement will fade but hopefully, the routine will set in and they will feel good about the healthy changes they are making. Maybe the enticement of the reward at the end will also help them make it to the end of 2017, we will see. This morning the boys asked if the littles were participating as well. At first, I said no, but then I realized that they are participating just as much as we are. They only drink soda when they steal it out of our cups, so I guess they are playing along as well. Best of Luck Dean Family! I hope we all win (even though I better start budgeting NOW, if we're going to pay out $400 in one swoop).

2017's Awesome Goals

Do you know what my FAVORITE number is? Wait, do you have a favorite number? If not, you need one. I'm not sure exactly why, but I LOVE having a favorite number. It helps when you're deciding things like, how many M & M's should I eat? How to randomly pick something out of a list? Things like that. Anyway, my favorite number is 17. It has been my favorite number since, hmm....Actually, it's funny, it became my favorite number when I was 17. So, I'm thinking that this year is going to be OFF the charts AWESOME! I can't wait! I came up with 10 super awesome goals for 2017, and I'm hoping to update you on those goal this year.

Alright, here's my new awesome goals for 2017.

1. Complete the #DeanNoSoda17 Challenge.
This one is going to take the WHOLE year to accomplish! Tim, Roman, Raiden, and I are challenging  each other to go without soda/soft drinks/pop, whatever you call it for as much of the year as possible.The only exception is one drink on your birthday, other than that, NONE! Everyone can win by remaining Soda-free all year or the last one standing wins. Any winner will receive $100 to do as they wish. It will be a fun and healthy challenge, we hope.

2. Get back to the Paleo lifestyle.
Paleo is a lifestyle, not a diet. It's a way of eating, and a plan to be physically active and get more sleep.We switched to Paleo back in August of 2015 and maintained it until about Mid-December. I lost about 25 lbs and 2 pants sizes, but more importantly, I felt better. This time I'm hoping to have similar results. I'd also like to be more physically active to help make these dietary changes more sustainable. I'd also like to strive for the 80/20 lifestyle, so that I don't beat myself up when I'm not eating 100% Paleo. Just 80% is the goal. It's also, like I said, not just eating, it's about living the lifestyle. Being more active, getting more sleep, just being more healthy.

3. Go to bed by 10 pm Sunday-Thursday.
If you know me very well, you know I'm a night owl, but being nocturnal is not effective during the school year with 4 kids, a full-time job, and trying to be healthier. So Friday and Saturday Nights can be all-nighters, but during the workweek, I'm striving for more healthy sleep decisions.

4. Weekly "Power Cooking" Hour.
This one goes along with Paleo, but it will also go along with another goal coming up. One of our biggest obstacles for Paleo is the prep work and cooking for weekly meals. Between schools, scouts, sports, camps, the gym, church, and everything else we are doing or are involved in we often get caught up in the hustle of the week and want to swing through a drive-thru or order pizza. We did a little meal prep last time when we were doing Paleo before, but I want to dedicate one hour each weekend to meal prep. I got most of my inspiration from here. I know some weeks will be tougher than others but I know it will be so much easier and better for us during the week.

5. Invite at least one family over for dinner each month in 2017.
Let's be honest, we're busy. We don't spend enough time with other families because we let time/no planning get in our way. So this year I'm writing it down as a goal. I must also confess that when I mentioned this one to Tim, he said, "Ok, so who's eating bologna sandwiches with us in January?" Don't worry, he's just kidding. So if you are just dying to be on our guest list, feel free to comment your month. That would really take the leg work out of this goal. Hee hee.

6. Eat more meals from the food in cabinets and refrigerator.
Let's face it. Some months we feel like we can splurge a little more on food because "we don't have time to cook." REALity is, we don't plan or make time. So we are going to start the new year off with a new trend. Something my parents always called "Cobbs' Kitchen".  Growing up in a house with 3 kids, it was expensive to eat out a lot. So when someone asked what was for dinner, the answer was often "Cobbs' Kitchen". That just was fancy talk for "We're finding something to eat at home." Dollar menus have come along and my last name has changed, but the cost of eating out is not only a food budget killer, but it's also a waistline killer. 2017 will hopefully help us find more change at the bottom of our pockets while we look into the cabinets and the refrigerator to feed our bellies.

7. Read more for purpose.
I'll be honest. I read a lot. I love to read. I have spent hours of my life buried in novels, magazines, and on websites. I've read less the last few years from books because of the littles, but probably just as much from Facebook, Twitter, Google, and search engine finds. I just haven't been spending enough time reading for purpose. For example, I need to find myself more in love with reading Scriptures instead of a few lines for a short quiet time each day. I need to make sure that the reading I am doing is purposeful and valuable. I've began exploring the idea of minimalism, which to me, ties very close to my spiritual beliefs about following and having a relationship with Christ. I want to explore these things, but wasted time on articles about the top 10 things NOT to wear this Spring is just not going to cut it.

8. Date nights each month with my sweetie.
Tim and I have always tried to have time together. We lead super busy lives and our kids are part of the busyness, to be honest. We often have to ask others to watch the kids for us to do things with our other kids or for work, which leaves us with (a) little time to do things for just us or (b) guilt over asking for another night of babysitting. Our other issue is always the money factor, but this year, I'm not going to let either of those stand in our way! We are going to make it happen! It might be popcorn and a movie when the kids are tucked in bed (on a Friday or Saturday if it's after 10 pm of course), but it's going to happen!

9. Update my blog (at least once a month).
I know, it seems pretty impossible for this one to happen, but come on, once a month?!? You can do this Renata! Ok, so this one is already requiring a pep talk. I'm going to try! Every time I look back at this thing, I'm amazed at everything I've written and what I was thinking at that point in time. I also love the idea of a journal for the future me to look back on. So I'm going to add it to my list and see what happens.

10. Finally, my WORD for 2017 is CONTENTMENT.
As you can tell, many of my goals have to do with consuming less, finding more in less, doing things with purpose. This year I want to focus on CONTENTMENT. I want to be more content with the things I have. I want to plan my food choices and routines better so that I can be content with the meals that I have on hand to prepare and feel good about spending time with others, going to bed early, dating my spouse, sharing with others how life is going. No matter where my goals take me, I want to find contentment in my year.

Teagan: End of Summer Update

What a great summer for Teagan! Soon to be two year olds really do a lot of learning and growing in just a few months. At the beginning of the summer, Teagan was using short sentences. Now, it seems like she completes paragraphs (well, maybe they aren't that long). She's also discovered some new things along the way. For example, POPCORN! Teagan absolutely loves in and can be found eating it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...not the same day of course.

When I decided to take the littles to SMBC with me, I thought it would be hard. It turned out to be not so bad. First, I had a lot of really good help from a good friend, my brother, and my dad. They were really well behaved at chapel. They only missed one service (lunch time chapel on the last full day...they slept through it!). They actually slept pretty good as well, although Teagan napped very little. The biggest issue was just the whole concept of going places. Hills, especially steep ones, aren't made for 2 year olds. We did make it to the pool just about every day, even though Teagan just wanted to play in the puddle on the cement. She did however, LOVE the creek.

Our other big adventure this summer was camping at Kerr Lake. We had a lot of fun playing and swimming. Teagan even took Deuce for a walk one morning. We celebrated Teagan's birthday on Tuesday of the lake trip with homemade ice cream and chocolate cake. She blew out the candles on the first try!


I'll be honest. I don't have as many pictures from the summer that I thought I'd have, especially since I spent the whole summer with the littles. But I feel like I spent a lot of quality time with them, not just playing paparazzi. Two kids under two is a challenge. Most days we do well just to be fed, changed, and rested, anything else is a bonus. But I will always remember this summer, and the special time we spent together. I can't imagine life any other way.

Raiden: End of Summer Update

Raiden's summer has been just as busy as Roman's, although his has been busier here at the end of summer, where Roman's was busy at the beginning. Raiden went to Cub Scout Day Camp at NC Wesleyan this year while Roman was off at YMCA camp. He really enjoyed the camp there. He has been to the twilight camp in Pitt County and the Wilson District's day camp at Camp Charles, but he really liked this one the best. This year's theme was space so he enjoyed making a bottle rocket and a spaceship, but as always, his favorite things were the shooting and archery range as well as playing football with his den.

Raiden had a great week at SMBC. He really enjoyed the pool as always. A few weeks after camp, Raiden said, "Mom, how old do you have to be to work at South Mountain?" I told him at least 16, and he said, "That's what I want to do when I turn 16." It melted my heart to hear the love and passion he has for a place that is so near and dear to my heart. I don't know if that will ever become a reality, but it made me feel good to know that he values camp as much as I do.

Raiden and Mom selfie

I'm not sure if you know that Raiden is our first family comedian. Until Teagan came along, he was the only comedian, so he has been making us laugh by himself for years. I can only imagine what it will be like when Teagan gets a little older and they can double team us. Anyway, these are a few photos from when Raiden and I went to visit the boys at Scout Camp. 

Raiden was excited about his dew rag

Of course, I have zero pictures of Raiden at the lake. I promise he was there, and we were all there together. It's just much more difficult to take pictures with two littles running/crawling around.
Raiden spent more time this year riding his bike around the campground instead of swimming like he did last year, but he still had fun.

Raiden in his practice uniform

The biggest event of the summer that Raiden counted down to was football camp, followed by tryouts. He was so excited about starting football. We weren't sure if he would like it because of the hard hitting, but so far, so good. The first day he got his pads he wore them ALL day the next day.

So long summer...

Roman: End of Summer Update

It was a summer of firsts for Roman. He went to summer camp in Greensboro all by himself. I think it was mom and dad who worried the most. It was the first time they went several days without talking to him. But Roman had a TON of fun. He rode a horse for the first time. When he left for camp, he wasn't even worried about packing long pants for the horseback riding. When we picked him up, he said it was the thing he liked most.

Roman at Camp Weaver YMCA 

Roman spent a few other weeks at camp as well. Camp Weaver was followed by a week at South Mountain Baptist Camp. Although this wasn't Roman's first trip to SMBC, his 4th in fact, this was his first time with Mom in tow. I got to share a very special place with him. A place that I have loved for so many years. It's so fun to see how much Roman loves South Mountain and how his experience, although different, is very special to him.

Roman and Ryker in Chapel at SMBC

For his final week of camp, Roman got to spend the week at Camp Boddie Boy Scout Camp with his dad who is taking over as the new Scoutmaster for Troop 16. I'm not sure which one was more excited when they left, but they had a whole lot of fun. Roman enjoyed the first year Scout program and earned a few merit badges along the way. 

Tim and Roman at Camp Boddie

We did spend a few weeks at home before heading to Kerr Lake for the week which has become an annual tradition. Another first for Roman, he learned to ride his bike for the first time this summer and has been riding around the neighborhood. On a first full day at the lake, Roman was riding around the campground when he had his first bike wreck. He scraped both arms/hands, chin, and his left knee pretty good. It didn't keep him down for long. He still enjoyed his trip to the lake and was back riding his bike by the end of the week.

Tim bandaging Roman up after his wreck

As summer comes to a close, we can remember all the fun times we had. It was a really great summer with friends and family. Roman is looking forward to heading to middle school this fall. It seems so hard to believe he will be in 6th grade.

Roman jumping in the pool at the Zipko's

Smoothies...Pineapples...Porkchops...Oh MY!

I have learned a lot just in the 5 days I have been on this new Paleo diet. For one, I've learned that cucumbers and zucchini look ALOT alike. I'm such an idiot. If you look back at my post from Day One, you will see that I clearly used cucumbers instead of zucchini. What a dummy!

Anyway, if you can't laugh at yourself who can, right? Normally, this time of the year I make lots of milkshakes. I'm not sure what inspires me to do that, but I always start making milkshakes during school breaks and as summer breaks grinds to an end, it's just what I do. Well, milk is a Paleo no-no, so I have been on a smoothie kick. I honestly have never been good a smoothie making until I realized last night what I had been missing all along. HONEY!! It is the ultimate sweetener. So, now I just throw some frozen fruit in the blender with some fresh fruit maybe a little apple sauce and a tad of honey. YUMMY!

I have to confess...I've never cut a pineapple...until today. I admit it. I watched a guy on Youtube show me how to do it. It worked. I still don't like pineapple, but I threw some in my smoothie and I used them on our VERY VERY awesome porkchops. They were so yummy...I should have taken a picture. We sprinkled them with ginger and paprika and glazed them with minced garlic. Then, we put pineapple on top about halfway through and they were AWESOME! Definitely going to make those again. 

...and on a side note, the scales went down 2 more pounds. I know, water weight, but that's 7 pounds down in 5 days, and that makes for an excited Renata! And I've never eaten so much and stayed so full in my entire life!

Everything is ok...until dinner burns!

Paleo truly makes you plan ahead. It makes you realize how convenient life has become, and with that convenience, lots of carbs and sugar. Tonight, we had planned on having chicken wrapped in bacon, one of my favorites, but the grill had other plans. It burned it all. So there we were, 30 minutes before we were to leave for football practice and a meeting with nothing to eat. At first, we thought, "Ok, we'll grab something." Of course, quickly we realized there was nothing to grab. There was nothing to eat at a fast food place that will work with Paleo. So we fed the kids, and we agreed to fix dinner after practice. I grabbed a half of a banana and a glass of water.

I have to admit though. Dinner turned out great, even though it was a little late. Hamburger steak with onions, gravy, and bacon over spinach. YUMMY! (I never thought I'd use the word yummy to describe spinach.)

Day 3...It's so tempting!

Today we went to the movies. Let me first just say, we only go to the movies, maybe 3 times a year. It is a really big treat to go to the movies for us. We were going to go into the dollar tree next door for snacks and drinks, but the store had closed. So we were stuck with buying snacks at the movies. I admit it...I ate popcorn. A LOT of popcorn and I drank some Sprite. A LOT of Sprite. It is what it is. I got back on the bandwagon with tacos on lettuce boats for dinner. Tonight as I was showering, it was just too tempting not to step on the scales. Low and behold, I am down 5 pounds! Oh my! That's just crazy! I know it's probably water weight and it will probably fluctuate back and forth, but it was very exciting to see it drop. Woot Woot!

Day One...Always the easiest

The first day of a diet is always the easiest right? I think that's pretty true and runs across the board. I felt good today. For breakfast, I had...

Spinach and egg omelet with bananas and strawberries. It was AWESOME! It was a great way to start the day. I had lots of energy. At lunch, we had a salad with spinach and salad greens, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, and ham. I used balsamic vinegar for my dressing. Again, so very delicious.
For dinner, we had...

Flank steak with onions and a sweet potato. Again, so very yummy. I was so very full when we finished. Tomorrow brings a different challenge. We will head over to my mom and dad's house for lunch. The kids love mac and cheese and mashed potatoes so those will be on the menu. I offered to make some veggies and came up with this...

Squash and Zucchini salad and I made some dressing to go with it made of lemon juice and vinegar. Can't wait to see how it tastes tomorrow.

Cheesecake...and a new plan for how we eat

Yep, cheesecake...that's what was in my refrigerator the day I realized I was tired of being tired. It was my 35th birthday and we had a cheesecake chilling for the celebration. My hubby had been suggesting that I watch "Fed Up", a documentary about child obesity and the massive amounts of sugar consumed by Americans. So, I watched it, and my whole world was completely changed.

Tim had been on the Paleo diet last fall and lost 20 pounds and felt better than ever, but the holidays came and he just got back to eating carbs. So when I watched this documentary and had my mind blown by the concept of not eating sugar, he suggested that we go Paleo again.

So, that was 2 weeks ago, and we are on the eve of day 1. I thought it'd be good to blog about our journey. I know that I will not be able to post every day, and I may even get lost in the real world as I go back to school, but I wanted to at least try to blog, for as many days as I can to get started. Maybe I can at least look back at it and see where I started and where I'm headed.


Goals for our new diet:

1. I don't want this to feel like a diet. I want it to be a lifestyle change. I want to begin to embrace this new diet as a lifestyle decision that I can keep. I want to eliminate sugar until I get down to the size that I want to be and then slowly add some carbs to my diet from time to time.

2. Speaking of size, I don't really have an ideal size I see myself in, I just want my clothes to feel comfortable. I want to put clothes in my closet on and feel okay in them.

3. I want to be present in my holiday pictures. I don't want to hide from the camera because I'm fat or I don't like the way I look.


So here I am, at the beginning of this journey...hoping to get to a better me by the holidays. Goodbye Cheesecake!

The Summer Lag

First of all, I'm not promising that I'll get back to blogging everyday, because we all know where good intentions fall. I'm just going to post because I feel like it and we'll see where is goes from there.

SUMMER LAG...Do you know what summer lag is? If you aren't a teacher or a stay-at-home mom/dad, you might not. Summer lag (as defined by me, because it's my blog, take that!) is that time of summer toward the end of July, sometimes the beginning of August. It's time can usually vary depending on how busy your summer has been and how often you've looked at the calendar. Mine usually takes place after my birthday (the 15th of July, if you forgot to tell me Happy Birthday), but usually before August. It's about the time you realize the summer is over halfway over,there will be an end to these blissful days of doing nothing, and right before the Back to School items line the aisles. (Wait, who am I kidding? They started putting out Back to School stuff on July 5th.) It's that time when your brain is tired from too much TV or internet, you are starting to get a little annoyed that you never know what day it is, and your sleeping patterns are so out of whack that you are thinking that maybe, just maybe, getting back on a schedule with something productive to do could be a good thing.

But then you think, NAAAAA!! I wait all year for these days and weeks of summer. I'll try to savor every minute for the next few weeks, because we all know it will be another 10 months before this time come around again!

Oh, and just to make this post interesting, I'll add some pics.

Raiden with his VBS headband and Darth Vader

That's their super hero t-shirts. The latest craze at the Dean house.

Landed in a New World

So, life has changed. Tim has a new job working in mental health, I am teaching middle school Social Studies, Roman is in Kindergarten, and Raiden is in a GREAT child care center learning all kinds of things.

Suffice it to say that although we have moved back to Rocky Mount (well, at least for me it's back), we have definitely landed in a new world!

I promise I'll try to update more!

It's been so long

It's been so long since I've posted. BUSY BUSY and more BUSY is the best way I can describe it.

I wish I had something really interesting to post, but honestly I don't. We are actually in the middle of a whirlwind of a Family Crisis, but I can't really go into the details quite yet.

I will try to get something posted in the next few weeks but I make no promises.

In the meantime, I'll post a few pics of what we're up to...

E-Mealz

Okay, I know it's been a LONG time. That's the life of a teacher. The Spring Semester always FLIES faster than I want it to and I never have time to get everything done.

This week I have used 5 new recipes! I think that's more than I have used in our entire marriage combined! We have discovered the art of E-Mealz!!!

I recently got into Dave Ramsey material and have really been trying to find ways to save money so we can be DEBT FREE! With that, we have learned that we need to cut back on eating out. The problem has never been that we can't cook, but that neither of us can ever decide what to make. We spent a lot of time staring into the pantry thinking, "What should we fix?" And we are not too creative, so the weeks we did a menu ended up being a repetitive cycle of tacos, spaghetti, baked chicken, or steak. I love all of those, but they get REALLY old!

WE'VE FOUND OUR SOLUTION!! E-mealz is a cheap, easy way to get a balanced menu on your plate! Basically, you sign up, visit the site once a week, download the menu and shopping list, go to the store, follow the isle by isle/section by section grocery shopping list, go home, post your menu, and each meal follow that step by step instructions. The meals are EASY to fix and most are pretty quick! They are GREAT recipes that are very filling! We are pretty picky eaters and have loved most of the meals! We even crossed one off this week that we didn't like, and it was simple to mark off the grocery list what we didn't need.

It is really awesome! It's only $5 a month and the groceries run about $75-80 a week! There are all kinds of menu choices: meals for 4, meals for 2, low-fat, low-carb! It's GREAT!!! And the best part is we haven't went out to eat in over a week! YES! Think of the money we are saving!!!

Check it out and make sure you give me referral credit! deanfamilync@hotmail.com The link is on the side bar!

What we're here for...

I've been spending alot of time in prayer lately for some little boys who I've never met, but who've stolen my heart.

I began following a blog last summer of a little boy named Stellan. MckMama is a mother of 4 whose youngest has a heart condition. Although he was not expected to make it, he was born fully healthy with no problems. Recently, he is back in the hospital with a heart rate off of the charts and his poor little body is starting to have problems. This little 5 month old has captured my heart, not only because I feel for this family, but because his parents are such Godly people. His mommy bears her soul and tells of her deepest thoughts on a blog that reaches MILLIONS of people. She never loses sight of God and his purpose for us. Her honesty and deep relationship with God is truly inspirational.

The other little boy is a sweet little guy named Jonah.I used to work with his mommy and since then we have moved in opposite directions. This family was touched with tragedy when their first child, Gabe was stillborn at 37 weeks last year. Jonah entered the world in February with a skin condition called EB. His poor little skin cannot be touched because it flakes off. There is a lot of uncertainty about his future, but his family pours that heart out to readers in a way in which we must ALL look to Jesus. They are so thankfully each day with Jonah.

I also follow a few other blogs, including one of which an 8 month old little boy recently passed away from SIDS. We've also experienced our own loss from SIDS with our niece, Bailey, at 7 months a few years back.

So why am I writing this? All of the troubles, trials, and grief lead me to just one conclusion about life. We should never take for granted each day with our loved ones, especially our little ones. We should live each day for the reason that we are here. That one reason is to spread the love of Jesus and await his arrival or calling of us home. We shouldn't waste a single minute of this precious time. For very soon, we will be rejoicing with Jesus in Heaven!

Pray for Stellan

I can't put it all into words right now, so please go to the site and PLEASE pray!!!

www.mycharmingkids.net

Pray for Jonah!!!

Jonah Alexander Williams, son of Matt and Patrice Williams, was born February 27, 2009. Jonah is a welcome blessing after the loss of Gabriel Matthew Williams, their first son, who was stillborn in April 2008.

Jonah is afflicted with what doctors think is some kind of rare genetic skin disorder called Epidermolysis Bullosa. There are two degrees of this: severe and mild. The doctor said from looking at Jonah's lesions, he guesses he has the severe version.

Please continue to pray for their strength, that Jonah is the toughest baby ever, and for a miracle. Our God can do all things.

You can read about it at www.patriceandmattwilliams.blogspot.com

Play Time

Here is a cool idea we took from MckMama, the author of my favorite blog, www.mycharmingkids.net

Some indoor play with shaving cream and cars! It's like playing in the snow!