You Are What You Eat

Well, I guess they were right...  Indeed, you are what you eat.

Why do I say that, you might ask.  In mid-July, with the help of my chiropractor/nutritionist/friend, I found out that I have been allergic to nearly everything I've eaten for the last, say....30 years.  These low-level but ever-growing reactions to food had my body inflamed and HUGE.
I was miserable and I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know what it was.
Thankfully after a simple blood test, it was apparent.  I was allergic to MANY things, including gluten, dairy, eggs, tomatoes, and all sorts of things. I spent 12 weeks eating a diet free from allergens.  I called it the Everything-Free Diet.  :)  I also ate the foods I was NOT allergic to in a 4-day rotation, so that I only got the same family of food once in a 4-day period.  Then, slowly, I have been attempting to add foods back into my diet, waiting to see how my body reacts.

The results have been nothing short of amazing.  First, the physical changes:

This photo is from the end of May,  but its also representative of how I looked in July:

And this photo is from October:

I've dropped 2 sizes and 20 pounds, and haven't been starving myself AT ALL!  There was no change in exercise level (practically none, other than shlepping my kids around), and no counting calories.  This is purely the result of removing allergens from my diet.

The other side-effects have been a drastic drop in stress (with no corresponding drop in stress at work!), as well as the sensitivity to touch going away.  Gary used to try to massage my neck from time to time, but it just sent me through the roof.  Now it doesn't hurt anymore.

It's really amazing the part nutrition plays in your well-being!

Baby Mine

So, since this summer we've been "in" to Dumbo, probably because we had a circus birthday for Dane, and probably because Mommy likes it, too.  :)

I've used that story/movie as a way to introduce the lullaby Mrs. Jumbo sings to Dumbo while she's locked in the train car. The song is so sweet, and the boys started requesting it as their "goodnight song". 

Well, I recently found that, in fact, the boys actually know the words and the tune, themselves!!! I got their permission to film them singing the song back to me. So THANKFUL for little ones and lullabys!

 

 

Me Ra Koh Workshop Family Pictures

A month or so ago we had the opportunity to be models/guinea pigs/whatever for a photography workshop given by Me Ra Koh.  It was VERY exciting for me because I just adore Me Ra (and she's quite famous, to boot!).  So we dressed up in our coordinating (NOT matching!) outfits and headed downtown to have Me Ra's students (lots of them!) take pictures of us for an hour or two.

We eventually got the files from the shoot, and I have made them into a couple of scrapbook pages.  This first page is one where I tried to get in all of my favorite photos, and to balance the page with one of each of the boys, one of them with Daddy, one of them with Mommy, etc.

And this second page, well....there is only one word I could come up with for it.  Priceless...
Jacob and Daddy were joking around, and out of the blue, Jacob LICKED Gary's nose!  It was HILARIOUS!!!!  And wouldn't you know it, one of the photographers managed to catch the shot at that very moment. 

I plan to put a few more of the photos into scrapbook pages, which I will share later.
Enjoy!

My Little Princes

WOW!  I have been TERRIBLE about posting recently!
Well, today is worth the wait, as I have an adorable picture of the boys for you.

When we got the invitation to the princess birthday party, I declared then and there that we could not let the girls have all the fun! So I found some examples of prince outfits on the web, and Grandma Merry & I got started on the costumes.  Taking our cues from the recently wed Prince William, we went with a red jacket with a blue sash. Grandma made the gold trim and I made the medals and the crowns. When we arrived at the birthday party, you could see the delight on the  guests’ faces.  Everyone loved that the boys had dressed up for the party. They were SO CUTE and Mommy was so proud of my little PRINCE(S) CHARMING!

Here's a scrapbook page I created about the event:

And a CLOSEUP of the boys!

Enjoy your weekend!

Happy iNSD!

iNSD?  What's that, you ask?  Happy International Scrapbooking Day!
(You didn't even know this was a holiday, did you?)  When I mentioned "iNSD" to my husband, he said, "That sounds like a disease!"  I told him, "It IS a disease!  And the only cure is...MORE SCRAPPING!"  Hahahahahaa! :)

To those of you who have joined me from Kelli's blog, welcome!
Glad to have you!

To my friends and family who normally read this blog, welcome back!
You are getting a small peek inside my digital scrapbooking world, that place that sucks me in for hours at a time! :)

If you're here from the blog train, then no doubt you've seen the Timeless Collab by the ScrapMatters Design Team.  One of the themes of the kit is "vintage".  Now, when I think of vintage, the first thing I think of is not an antique shop.  It's wine country!

In 2005 my husband and I went to Napa with some friends of ours for a couple of days.  If you've never been there, I can tell you that it is some of the most beautiful country there is.  Even if you're not into wine, you can enjoy Napa.

When we went, one of the things we were advised to do was to go on the Twilight Tour at Robert Mondavi Winery (by reservation only).  We arrived at 4:30, just as the winery was closing down for the day.  This was a semi-private tour, limited to a small number of people.  As it turned out, our friends and the two of us were the only ones on the tour that day.  We basically had the whole winery to ourselves!  The tour guide took us from place to place in the winery, stopping to sample various wines along the way, working from the whites to the reds.  We got to taste a cabernet that was not finished aging - right out of the oak barrel! We even got to try a rare, experimental pinot noir that they hadn't even given a proper name.  They referred to it as Pinot X.  I LOVED it.

Our last stop was a gazebo out in the middle of the vineyard to taste the last of the reds.  The tour guide (who I refer to as David, though I think his name was really John...) brought crackers and figs and other lovely things to eat with the wine.  The photo below was taken as he poured one of the last AMAZING red wines for us to taste.  As the sun set across the vineyard, we soaked in the earth, the life in those vines, and the comfort of friends.  It was a fabulous trip and a fabulous evening in the vineyard.

And, now - a freebie!  I made these wine glass name tags with you all in mind (well, you AND the wine), using the Timeless Collab by the ScrapMatters Design Team. I hope you enjoy them!

(Hurry - Download expires on the 14th!)

Okay, Blog Train passengers - Next stop: Crystal's blog!
Thanks for stopping by!
LeAnn

Because You're Mine

A few days ago while the boys and I were getting ready for work, I looked up at them sitting at the breakfast table and said, "OH, do I LOVE you boys!"  Entertainingly, Dane responded with something that sounded like, "Why??"  So I rolled with it...  I told them, "I love you so much because you're MINE."  Their eyes widened and they sat there for a few seconds soaking in what I had said.  Not knowing if any of it had "taken", I continued on with preparations for the day.  Shortly I heard Jacob say from the far end of the table, "Mom, I love you, too," and I thought that would be the end of it.  But he continued, "because you're MINE."  What a sweet boy!

And because very few blog posts should ever go without a photo...  :)
here's one from Easter.  They are creating some piece of art on Grandma Merry's chalkboard.  I just giggle when I see this pic.
Have a beautiful day!

Happy Shamrock Day!

Just a quick pick of my little "charmers" from this morning:

Cute Buns

"Hey Momma - Wanna see my cute buns???"  It's a phrase I hear almost daily these days.  It never fails to make me smile.  It comes from Momma telling him how cute his buns are a few too many times.  :)
Today Jacob was playing with his measuring tape toy when he had a bright idea.  "Momma!  I'm gonna measure my cute buns!"  I laughed at the idea while he turned around and attempted to measure his buns.  He struggled, and I decided to help.  Holding the measuring tape on one hip and stretching the tape across him to the other side, I said, "Seven and a half inches of cute buns!"  "Let me see!"  We examined the measuring tape, counting out the seven and a half inches.  "Now let me measure your cute buns, Momma!"  I decided there was no harm in that, so I turned around and handed him the tape.  He followed the method I had used to measure him, and when I asked what the measuring tape said, he exclaimed, "It went all the way to zero, Momma!"  I laughed wholeheartedly at the idea of the tape going full circle (like a scale), and replied, "Well, you're probably right."  So cute, buns and all.

Mater undies, compliments of Grandma Merry.  :)