Smoothie King

My family has become addicted to Smoothie King. The kids love it and the best part is it is very healthy. But the down side to enjoying a good smoothie is the place is expensive. So, when we went grocery shopping this week I bought the stuff to make our own smoothies.

It is so fun, the kids love it. I researched and found some great recipes. I would however like to find, and have not been able to, smoothie recipes with vegetables added. If you have a recipe or know where I might find some, please let me know.

The smoothie has also been a great way to add some much needed protein to Jude's diet. He is not a meat eater, which is fine with me and I do not force him to eat meat. But he still needs a way to get some more protein in his diet. Plus I put little extras in for added nutrition.

Our first night making them the kids were very proudly sporting their smoothie mustaches.

Jude is also doing much better with the allergies. We put him on bee pollen and elderberry juice and they have helped tremendously.

The Big 4-0

A big milestone was reached in our home on Monday. My wonderful, extremely handsome, loving, God fearing husband turned 40. No big deal to him, honestly I may have had more thought of him turning 40 than he has.

Be it vain, here is my fear. I really don't want to be aged with him. I will say my husband does not look his age, he has very good genes. His mom and dad both have aged very well. My parents have both aged very well too.

For this big birthday I wanted to do something really special. He insisted on not having a big party and preferred a quiet dinner with just the two of us. So, I called our very best, favorite friends, Gary and Lynette, who we have not seen in way too long and asked if there was a day they had available to meet us for dinner. We were able to have a date that worked and so they showed up surprising Todd.

It was a great time with great friends and they even tried sushi for the first time that night with us. Todd chose the restuarant, Umi's. We had many laughs and, as always, was reminded why we are such close friends. Our hearts, desires, and ideas are so similar, they refresh us.

It meant a lot to Todd to have them celebrate with us and I couldn't imagine celebrating him any other way. Over a wonderful meal with wonderful friends.

Us enjoying our yummy sushi.

He really was having a good time.

Not a Great Week for the Boys

The poor Wallace boys. This has not been the best of weeks for them. It started off with Jadon having a dentist appointment on Monday. He's been complaining of a toothache off and on for a couple of weeks. This was the first chance I could get him in.

He was not happy to be going, but go we did. We got the verdict that he did indeed have a cavity and not just one, but three. This was hard for me, we brush teeth every day, we do not eat a lot of sugar in our house, we don't even keep juice or soda in our home. So, I felt bad. To make it worse the dentist strongly suggested pulling one of his molars. He said the x-ray showed it being abssessed.

Jadon not happy at all about the suggestion was finally okay with it when he got to pick out a container to carry his tooth home in to hide under his pillow. In return he would get money. The tooth was numbed and he lost his tooth. I was very proud of him and he was very brave. Hopefully we never have to do that again. The other two cavities can be cleaned and filled. Thank goodness.

To top off his week Jadon woke up yesterday morning with his front, top tooth loose. Not counting the one pulled by the dentist this will make his third lost tooth. He's going to have all his adult teeth by the time he starts kindergarten.

I have never been one to suffer greatly with allergies, neither is Todd. It never even crossed my mind that our kids would be dealing with allergy issues now. Poor Jude has them and has them bad. I keep hearing on the news how bad the pollen count is right now. Well, pollen I ask that you just pack up and blow away somewhere else and leave my poor son alone.

I noticed an increase in rubbing the eyes and being kind of grumpy. Then on Monday evening when I got home from the dentist with Jadon I saw the most pitiful looking little boy. He looked like he had been in a horrible fight and he lost.

His eyes were so red and swollen. He kept rubbing his head and went around saying in a weak whimper, "eye hurt, head hurt."

Another feeling of helplessness. I don't want my boys to hurt. We are working on getting him taken care of, but in the mean time the boy has been sentenced to being indoors. He spends 5 minutes outside and his eyes are swollen shut. He doesn't understand either, which makes it so much worse. He would live outside if I would let him. Pray for us and especially him.

This was after the swelling had gone down a little.

Ballerina Haven

Oh sweet, little ballerina. The day finally came for our little ballerina's first official class. She was in love, prancing around as she watched herself in the walls of mirrors. She was a seed that became a tree and blew in the wind. She loved every minute of it. And quite honestly I loved every minute of watching her.

There was a great sense of love and pride in my heart as I watched her and then when she would turn and look at me with a huge smile on her face after every move she did. It was pure joy for me.

Here is our little ballerina enjoying her first class.

He Is Risen

He is risen indeed!

We taught our kids this greeting from early Christianity. We would say to them, "He is risen!" and they would respond, "He is risen indeed!" It was so fun when they would greet us and we would respond. I received a text from a number I didn't recognize saying, "He is risen". Even though I didn't know who it came from I couldn't pass up the opportunity to respond with "He is risen indeed."

We had a great Easter weekend. Our church held The Big Hunt, with food, inflatables, massive egg hunt, and an illusionist. We have been praying for this event for months and had high hopes of having maybe 500 people show up. The Lord is awesome and we had around 1,200 people there enjoying the beautiful day.

On Easter morning Todd fixed us cinnamon rolls for breakfast, a very big treat since we never have them, and then the kids went on a hunt for their Easter presents. Then we had an awesome worship service at church and headed to my parents for lunch. Worship Sunday was amazing, there were 8 people who now know they are a child of God. Wow!

Here's a little photo montage of our weekend.

We don't tell our kids about the Easter bunny, there is nothing about the bunny that points to Jesus. So, for us we choose not to teach our kids about the bunny. But at The Big Hunt a guy was dressed up for anyone who wanted pictures. My kids were more entertained by the fact that someone would dress up like a big rabbit. Jadon and Kylah are checking him out.

The massive egg hunt.

Enjoying our Easter morning cinnamon rolls. This is a huge treat for the kids.

The kids chasing Papa's chicks after Easter lunch. Jude kept catching them and throwing them back in the hen house, to which I am pretty sure they were very thankful to get away from him.

Week in Review

I don't have one thing in particular to write about this week, I can think of several little things. So, I thought I would just recap our week. The little joys in the lives of the Wallace family.

* Signed Haven up for ballet. She has been wanting to learn ballet for months now and we finally got her  signed up. She is beyond excited.

* Scheduled Jadon's Kindergarten screening. I can not believe he will be in Kindergarten next year. He too is beyond excited.

* Jude has now graduated to his big boy bed, the bottom bunk. We no longer have a need for a crib, which has been a long time since that need has not been there.

* The weather has been absolutely beautiful this week thus allowing us family walks every night. The kids are always full of interesting conversations during these walks.

* Jadon and I sat and stuffed about 200 eggs with candy for our big Easter Egg Hunt at the church on Saturday. I loved watching him work so diligently and we had amazing conversation about God. His heart for others continues to amaze me every day.

* Jude's little legs are an absolute mess, after only 1 day of wearing shorts. His knees all the way down to his ankles are bruised and scraped.

* I found my old Breyer collection of horses I had when I was a little girl and brought them home to Haven to play with. Oh what sweet memories it brings back and I enjoy so much watching my little girl play with them.

* Todd brought home a bouquet of tulips for me and a bouquet of calla lilies for Haven. She walked around carrying them for the longest time. When we finally put them in a vase she had to have them put right in front of her chair at the kitchen table so she could look at them while she ate.

I love being a mom and wife and weeks like this, where nothing big is happening just being with each other, is the very reason why. These are the weeks that I find out the most of what is going on in each of my children's minds and hearts. Yes, these weeks are my favorite.

Jude sleeping in his big boy bed and his pile of books beside the bed. That is so much like his daddy.