December...Memory Lane

Merry Christmas one month too late.

December brought holiday cheer, cookie baking, and time with almost all of our family.  We are truly blessed.

Here we are a few days before Christmas.

And here are the kids Christmas day sporting some of their Christmas gifts.

I think we are up to date on blog posts, or as up to date as we are going to get.  Thank you for sticking with us during our sporadic, inconsistent blogging.

Happy New Year!!

November...Memory Lane

My JuJu bean turned 2 this month.  And she is a chatty, passionate, expressive little thing.  Have you ever heard of the Five Love Languages?  Julia is hands down our touch baby.  She is the one I pick up from school, and right when she sees me she yells, "MOMMY!" and comes barreling to me for the biggest of hugs.  When she loves she loves, with everything she is made of.

For her birthday, in our attempt to get back to eating right (lets just say Florida was about a hundred and two steps backwards in our grain-free, refined sugar free lifestyle) we made a Vanilla Bean Cake.    When Derek swung home from lunch the day of Julia's birthday, I had beans cooking on the stove.  A little insight into our conversation.

Me: "Did I tell you I am making Jewels birthday cake from beans?"

Derek looks skeptically into the pot cooking the white northern beans for her cake.

Derek: "Do I need to pick up a real birthday cake on the way home?"

Me: "What do you mean?  This is going to be a real birthday cake, just made of beans."

Derek is looking at me like my head is detached, and I can see him churning his wording around in his head as to what to say without offending me.

Derek:"Yes, but it's her birthday.  Don't we need her to have a real cake to put candles into?"

Me: "It is a real cake, just made of beans.  Do you want me to show you a picture?"

Derek: "yeah."

I show him the picture, and he starts laughing.

Derek: "Oh I see.  I thought you were just going to spread beans on a plate, layer it with cheese and sour cream and put candles in it."

It did look like a real cake, tasted like a real cake, and was devoured by all of us like a real cake.  The frosting was a mess, but it tasted great.

Julia even helped me make her cake.

At the end of the month, at Thanksgiving we attempted to get a cousin shot.  With seven kids ranging from 11 months to 8 years, it is near impossible.  But we gave it a go.  This is the best I got, not sure about the others :)

Cracks me up Julia is talking on a phone.  Cole's eye is a little puffy, because there was a little cousin rough housing, and Cole got an elbow, knee, or head bump to his eye.  We just called him Spot for the next couple of days.

One more month, and then we enter the New Year!  Whoop Whoop!

September/October...Memory Lane

Where were we??  Ahh yes, school pictures.  Would you believe it has taken me this whole time to find them, and that is the reason for the delay? Well either way I am really going to make an effort to keep this up.  2013 here we come!

September came with a Labor Day Parade, and more time together outside.

We ended September by road tripping down to Florida for a week.  It was awesome.  Relaxing.  Perfect.

Here is our week in a few snapshots...

To end October we took the kids trick-or-treating in Derek's old neighborhood, covering the same ground he did as a kid.  

Derek as Shaggy, Cole as Scooby Doo (yes this is the third year Cole has sported this dog costume) and Julia as the cutest little nose picking ladybug I have ever seen!

2 Hours 15 Minutes

Is how long it took me to complete my first half marathon.

13.1 miles.

The weather was perfect.

Mile 11 was terrible.

Crossing the finish line was awesome.

(Derek and I after the race.)

Derek finished in 1 hour and 56 minutes.

Doing Things the Natural Way

Or at least trying.  I think it all started with the birth of Cole.  One of the things I really wanted to do was nurse him.  At the time my goal was three months.  Then he was born.  I had him, nursed him throughout my hospital stay, and then was sent home.  He was a feisty little guy, all eleven plus pounds of him.  

(Cole a few days old)

Those early weeks when I was getting up in the middle of the night, having trouble getting him latched were tiresome.  But I plowed forward, and we were successful.  Until he was around 3 1/2 weeks.  After another surgery for me, and an extended hospital stay I was forced to stop, and was too tired to pump and dump.  I accepted our fate, focused on healing with the help of family, and that was the end of it.  Or so I thought.

(Cole visiting me in the hospital.  God bless my mother-in-law, she brought me a pillow from her house, and it had the smurfs on it.  I am sure it was Derek's when he was a kid, haha.)

Once I got home, started to feel like my old self again, completed my antibiotics, I realized I missed it.  I missed being able to nurse my child.  So, I decided I would try to get my supply back.  Derek was a champ through all of this getting up in the middle of the night to feed Cole, so I could rest and heal.  Once I decided to get my supply back, I started pumping when he was fed.  I met with a lactation consultant, and with the help of my mom, Cole being an awesome nurser, a ton of water, and supplements to increase my supply, I was nursing him again.  He was being exclusively breastfed by the time I returned to work, and I new at that point I would try to make it six months.  After I met that goal, I was determined to make it a full year.  And we did.  

(Cole 3 months old)

But anyway, back to doing things the natural way.  Breastfeeding led to making my own baby food.  Baby food making, turned into cloth diapering.  Cloth diapering lead to drinking organic milk.  And so on.  


Now I make our own laundry soap.  Clean with natural products.  Use chemical free soaps for the kids.  And use cloth napkins.  


Currently I am working towards improving:

1.  Eliminating all plastic kitchen items, and using all glass.   
2.  Using my own shopping bags, really trying to do this 100 %.
3.  Switching to chemical free soaps, toothpastes, etc.  We are replacing things as they run   out.
4. Buying organic food.

I just shopped for the first time today at Vitacost.  It was super easy, and I found the prices, on most items, were less than what I have paid for in stores.  Especially the organic unsweetened coconut.  

By clicking this link, you can save ten dollars on your next order.  I used a link from my sister-in-law and the redemption code was in my inbox within a minute or so.  I already used it :)

I think the next time I need to make laundry soap I will buy the castile soap from here.  

That is how we are doing things in the Dreher household.  Still lots of ways to improve, but we will take it day by day.

Randomness

We are back to wearing coats, and hats.  Not quite our winter coats, but still.  

Julia is looking super cute in one of the hats I made her back when she was just a wee little one in my belly.  At the time I thought it looked so big.  Now it is just right.

We played outside for a bit today, but the wind was too strong for Julia.  So we headed inside.

When Derek got home I went for a run.  At times it felt like I was just running in place.  The wind was that strong.  

I recently read Sarah's Key.  It was eye opening.  So good. Humbling.  Warning:  Do not read when around others.  You will cry, maybe even blubber.  Just saying.

We are going to Chattanooga this summer.

Julia is the messiest eater ever.

Do not say the word "butt" around Cole.  He will correct you, like he did my mom tonight.  "Don't say that word Nana, it is a bottom."  She apologized.  Funny how kids make you follow your own rules.

Julia loves the word "cow."

We went to the library today.  Then to Lowe's.  We left with mulch, and lost a pacifier.

Nana made the kids blueberry pancakes for dinner.  She rocks.  My kids love her.  Just ask Cole.  

Cole:  Mom?

Me: Yeah?

Cole: I love Nana.

Me: That is great.

I love that my children love.

  

Sharing

Sharing, a photo by

This one in an oldie from my phone, but makes me smile when I see it.

Julia has a cheerio hanging from her mouth, Cole may or may not have put his underwear back on, and there is no way Julia will be able to push him.

This is the beginning of them learning to share with one another.

Unrestrained

It only took eleven and a half months, but we finally have a family snapshot where we are all looking at the camera, and no one is restrained.

Now if only I can manage one where we are all smiling...

This moment

We did it....

48 days ago I committed to running.  A few days later I mailed in Derek and I's registration forms for a 5k on May 28th.  I have NEVER been a runner.  I was that girl in elementary school who walked when the teacher wasn't looking for the presidential mile.  Running just to run had no purpose to me.  I played sports in school, but track and field was not one of them.  My new years resolution was to start running, and as of April 11th I still hadn't started.  But with support from a woman named Krista, and my husband helping to make it possible for me to have time to work on this goal, I started.  

 The first couple of weeks were kind of rough, and my body felt more like a golden girls than a 20 something year old's.  But pretty soon I started looking forward to Derek coming home so I could actually do something just for me.  3 days a week I was guaranteed 45 minutes of doing something for myself, by myself.  I want my kids to live an active lifestyle, and hope we can be examples to them to be healthy.  

After a couple weeks I made it my goal to finish the race in under 34 minutes, but never accomplished that on the treadmill.

Today was the big day.

Here we are before the race.  My mom brought the kids to cheer us on.

About a minute in.  Derek is behind the lady in yellow.  I was all smiles here, and it only lasted about another minute.  Derek left me in the dust right after this. 

Here we are finishing, I really thought I was dying.  When I passed the timer it said 37 minutes and something, and I thought "WHAT?!"

We wore timers on our ankles, to time us.  I turned mine in, and a bit later they had our times posted......

My time was really 32:24!! I met my goals! I was so stoked then. The 10 and 15K people started 5 minutes before us, and that is when the clock started, I didn't realize that until later.  Derek's time was 26:47.  His goal was to finish in under 28 minutes.  Derek and I both want to continue running, and are already setting new goals for ourselves. 

Thank you to those that have supported and encouraged us along the way!!

Embrace the Camera ~ Family Pic

By the time we got around to taking a family picture on Easter, Cole was way past nap time, Julia was exhausted, and my hair had started to look much like a comb-over.  But we plopped down on the same bench we sat on last year, when Julia was just a little peanut in my belly, and Cole needed the same amount of restraint on one of our laps.  This year Cole looks like this is some kind of cruel and unusual punishment, and Julia is zoned out about to fall asleep.  Derek and I just start laughing at the circumstances, and a photo is snapped.

This is our Easter picture of 2011.

Now head over to Emily's blog and embrace the camera.

Easter Recap

We had such a nice Easter weekend.  It started off by going to see the play, "Passion of the Christ."  We walked through the play, and Nick played Judas.  The play was so crowded, but the resurrection was awesome. 

After the play we celebrated Easter at the Dreher's.  Cole liked the tree decorated with Easter eggs.

Sunday, after church we went to the park for a while. Then went to my Aunt Beth's annual Easter egg hunt in her nice big yard.

Derek is lifting Cole to reach an egg in a tree, he is so happy.

Little Miss Julia got some love from her Great Grandparents, and Papa. She was so tired, but still so good. Loved being passed from person to person.

Isn't my Grandma lovely?

After the Easter egg hunt we went home and took a nice long nap.

I am so thankful Christ died on the cross for us, and we are able to celebrate his life.

Embrace the Camera ~ Easter Eggs

The other night we decorated Easter eggs.  I really enjoy festivities, but am bad about being the one to enable them.  The whole time I had to remind myself that this is suppose to be fun, life is about experiences and creating memories, breathe it's okay if some of it spills, he is two, etc.  The whole experience started by me realizing I didn't know how to hard boil eggs. Dumb right?  After asking my mother-in-law, and referring to Betty Crocker, I successfully hard boiled eggs.

Point for me.

Next thing I know I am adding lemon juice to these little tablets, adding water, and dunking the eggs.  Cole was not into having his picture taken, so it looks like he didn't enjoy it, but he did.  I think making a mess, and hearing me gasp when some dye spilled was more fun to him than anything else.  And come to find out Cole really likes to eat hard boiled eggs.  Live and learn.  

This is my favorite picture of the evening. I love this moment between father and son.

And just to prove my mom and Julia were there, here is a picture of them.

Memories were made, eggs were eaten, pictures taken, and besides a few colorful dyed fingers, nothing was ruined :)

Oh, and thank you mom for being there and taking pictures :)

Embrace the Camera

As much as I would love to get in front of the camera with my kiddos, I have not because I have been sick.  I can tolerate the no make-up, lack of shower look, but puffy eyes, and a bright red nose, I'll pass.  So you will have to endure looking at some pictures of my handsome husband and little miss Julia again this week.

 

If your wondering, Derek dressed her and put her headband on her.  Oh and ignore the cookie crumbs, Cole was sitting there earlier :)

 "Julia can you smile for dad?"

Here face says it all...

Derek, "I know you want to... go ahead. Smile."

Derek, "Go ahead Julia give me a big smile."

Derek, "There it is!! There's your beautiful smile!"

Hope this made you smile :)

Yogurt Face

 I said yesterday Cole is a character, and makes us laugh everyday.  It was no lie.  The other day Cole was eating yogurt with Derek at the table.  I walked out of the room for all of 2 minutes and came back into this....

\

When I asked Derek what happened, I got a story that involved Derek trying to make Cole eat the yogurt, it flipped in his face, and then Cole flipped it in his own face.  We were laughing so hard.  Derek grabbed a towel, I grabbed the camera, and Cole high tailed it out of the kitchen.  Cole was running, and yogurt was dripping all over the floor.  Oh, the joys :)

P.S.  That is a chuck of either strawberry or raspberry on his cheek, not a wound. 

Embrace the Camera

We are a day late here, but here is some daddy daughter love.  

She is really starting to fall in love with her Daddy, and I think he is doing the same with her...

New Beds and Fat Lips

We finally put Cole in a twin bed.  He was looking WAY to big in the toddler bed.  Instead of putting the bed in a frame, we just put the box-spring and mattress right on the ground (less distance to fall if he fell out of bed).  I should also add that we are in the midst of potty training, and Cole has been sporting some cool Cars underwear.  While I was reading stories Cole was a little wound up, and climbed on top of his bed, applied the underwear to his head (covering his eyes and all), jumped, fell off his bed, and bumped his head.  All I heard was a thump, and Cole peaking up from the other side of the bed, still with the underwear on his head, crying.  The poor guy hit the side of his face on his chair.  He must have bit his cheek or tongue because he was bleeding.  After some snuggles he was all better and ready for bed.  Once we realized Cole was alright, Derek and I snickered over the fact that he put the underwear on his head.  The next morning Cole woke up looking like this...

(sorry for the blur)

 

 

The next day we had a discussion on not bouncing on his bed.  Since then he has not jumped on his bed, but he is still putting underwear on his head!  Derek and I get the biggest kick out of him.  He is so funny and animated these days :)

Oh Sweet Smiles!!

My little Julia is such a smiler, until the camera comes out.  I get so many sweet smiles throughout the day.  The poor child smiles and squeals when I sing to her, and I am COMPLETELY tone deaf.  Derek just grins and bears it while I sing.  Unfortunately for him I love to sing along with any music.  That is one of the reasons why I love him though, he does not make fun of me when I do this.  Cole will sing along with me know too :)   Anyway, in order to get a smile from Julia on the camera, I had to focus the camera on her and then look around it, and sing and talk, to get her to smile.  And I was successful!!

First check out these BEAUTIFUL baby blues...

I would say she is growing just fine

I love her smiles

 

  

There's a Snowstrom Uh- Comin

Ever watched Golden Girls?  I love the episode where Sophia (the cute older lady with the straw bag) senses that there is "a Hurricane uh-comin", no one believes her, and they make fun of her for saying "uh-comin" ha!  Well, here in the Hoosier state we have a snowstorm uh-comin.  Of course, I planned on going to the store tonight when Derek got home from work, and it looks like I will still be going.  Cole loves milk, and I do not want to be stuck home for a couple days without it.

I am not used to the little ones napping at the same time and have some random thoughts (read only if really bored):

Cole has a pink mustache right now from trying my crystal light.

Julia and Cole are both napping at the same this afternoon. AMEN!

I own every season of Golden Girls.

 
Physically on Golden Girls I resemble Dorothy the most. ha!

We clothe diaper 60% of the time, and trying to increase that daily.

I sometimes miss working...sometimes I don't.

We are a one car family.

Derek turned 30 yesterday, and I did not take one single picture.  Lets just say it was one of those days, but we did have a really nice dinner at home.  

I am currently reading House Rules by Jodi Picoult.

Tonight I might just curl up on the couch, put in Golden Girls (which I have not watched in ages), and finish making this incredibly cute owl hat for a silence auction :) 

If you made it to the end, I am sorry I am not more interesting. ha!

Stay warm in the cold,

allison

Florida in Pictures

Our Trip to the Zoo



Great times, Great people, Great fun