The State Fair!

Alex has been asking about the State Fair since the day after we went last year.  I'm not exaggerating when I say he asked about it once or twice every month for the last 12 months! 

We were in countdown mode a little over a week out.  Alex would come to breakfast and announce how many days were left until we got to go to the fair.

Finally it was time to go!  We loaded up some snacks and packed a lunch and started driving.  The whole day was certainly not disappointing!

One of our first stops was to visit the animals.  We only made it to see the bunnies and many different birds, we never did get around to seeing the pigs, sheep and other big animals.

The rides were calling out to the boys so we quickly traded our pre-purchased ticket receipt for actual ride tickets.

Daddy's shoulders always offer the best views.

Ajay and Alex tried this min-roller coaster first.  We quickly realized they had outgrown this particular ride.

Despite his "less than thrilled" expression Aren loved this ride and kept asking for more.

Biju and the boys braved this ride together.  The whole thing spun in a big circle and you could spin your little pod as well. 

After our lunch break the boys went to see some of the cool equipment that was set out.  This was a pump.  The boys were able to pump the handle and see the water come pouring out into the big barrel.

On this one, the farmer (or a kid) put a dried cob of corn in one end, the boys cranked the wheel and saw the corn kernels fall into a bucket beneath the contraption, then the empty cob popped out the other side.  You can see an empty cob in Ajay's hand.  (I tried to upload a short video clip of Alex taking a turn but Blogger wasn't playing nicely.)

 

This ride is always a favorite.  Shoot up into the air then come down a bit and then shoot back up again and again.

This ride was incredibly tall.  After Biju rode it he almost had me convinced to try it out but I just couldn't bring myself to get on.  I'm a bit of a chicken.

Right before we left we took some time to watch this guy.  He's a chainsaw artist.  We had a great front seat.  As soon as he started, though, the wind blew the sawdust straight into our faces and we quickly moved to the back. 

On our way to the car we stopped to grab the boys a funnel cake.  It was the only food we purchased  that day (unless you count the honey sticks - which are not vegan, by the way).  We drove home and let the boys eat it at the table.  We did this last year, too.  We've decided that next year we're going to buy the treat before we're headed to the car because it just doesn't taste right after it's gone on an hour long ride.  Next year the boys will get to indulge in a FRESH funnel cake!!
And yes, we will be going back next year!

Birthday Girl!

In the first week of September my niece, Kyleigh, turned 7!

My sister invited us over to help celebrate this vivacious girl.

We had a great time!

Trains!

Aren has been on a train kick the past few months.  Anything with wheels, really, makes him happy, but trains are his go-to toys.

September - Vegan Month

September turned out to be a hard month for our Vegan Challenge.  Of course, any time you choose to drastically change your diet is going to be a hard time, right?

We happened to have two birthday parties right off the bat and we knew we would be going to the State Fair, plus our church was having it's big festival at the end of the month.  AND - Subway was having it's famous $5 Footlong deal.  But we did the best we could. 

We got started two days later than we had planned because we still had food in the fridge and freezer to finish off.  We had already cleared our our cabinets and Lazy Susan of anything non-vegan.  We went shopping for new ingredients and looked up recipes.  I found some great ones online (thank you, Pinterest) and even a few in a book by Chef Chloe I had checked out from the library.

I also remembered that our good friends had switched to a vegan diet about 6-7 months ago.  Angie became a great resource for me and I asked her a lot of questions. 

We allowed the boys to go ahead and eat the cake and ice cream at the birthday parties.  There were a few other "cheats" along the way, too, but overall I think it was a great challenge to undertake.

Bunco night was particularly hard on me.  I failed to eat before going and I knew that would mean making a big decision.  Do I skip dinner entirely?  Do I try to scrape off any meat and cheese that may be served?  In the end I ate what was offered and that actually threw me off for 4 days afterwards!  I'm just glad I eventually got back into "the zone."

You might be wondering why we chose to do this.  Over the last 5+ years we've been watching some great documentaries (most recently "Vegucated" where 3 omnivores took a 6 week vegan challenge) and doing more research into healthier options.  We figured we already do a lot of meatless meals why not take it a step further? 

As previously mentioned, I have found some fabulous recipes.  Now that the "challenge" is over I am still eating basically the same as I did throughout September.  I might take a nibble from Biju and the boys' dinner but I stick mainly to my own dishes.  Sometimes it seems like "leftover night" is every night around here.  We make up a few different meals at once and then we can all take our pick of what we want over the next few days.

Are you wondering what type of results we got from this diet?  I noticed a bit more energy and if I happened to overeat a vegan meal I still didn't feel miserable afterwards.

Biju lost about 6 lbs. and I lost almost 10.  I can't say it was specifically because of the vegan diet that I lost that amount but it was the catapult.  I was being extremely careful not to overdo it on bread and pasta.  I had either steel cut oats for breakfast or a smoothie and I didn't eat anything once dinner was over.  Plus, I aimed to work out 2-3x each week.  I know, not much, but it was more than I was doing previously.

I'm hoping to stay on this path for quite awhile.  Mostly vegan/vegetarian with the occasional non-guilty bite of meat thrown in.  It seems to work for me!

I'll share more results as we go along.  And if you want to know my favorite recipes, just ask - I'll be glad to share!

I had a big baking day a couple of weeks back.  Top left - Granola Bars (which were actually no-bake), then bread crumbs set out to dry for a recipe, tortillas, two loaves of bread + rolls, hamburger buns and finally, banana muffins. 

Health boost!

We all can do with a little health boost, am I right?  Lately we've been trying to take a step or two towards better health.
We bought this VitaMix (super-blender, amazing speed) and it has led to even more smoothies than we usual. 

Getting ready to blend up some coconut chutney!

Breakfast smoothie in the makes.

Our poor Magic Bullet has worked hard for us the last 5+ years and it was starting to show.  The motor is still fine but many of the cups were missing their little tabs that are key to making the blender work.  We still can use it but just not as much.

Our tomato plants that Biju's dad planted in the spring have been very prosperous.  We're loving the fresh tomatoes and have even had the ability to share some with neighbors.

The tomato plants as they were starting to grow their fruit.

Aren with the tomatoes.

Aren amongst other greenery.

At the end of August we started getting prepared for a month long challenge.  We had decided to make September "Vegan Month."  We wanted to see how what would happen if we stopped eating meat, dairy and eggs.  We stocked up on a few necessities to make our month go smoothly.

Lentils, chia seeds, flax seeds, quinoa, sesame seeds, nutritional yeast, almonds for almond milk, tomatoes from our garden, etc.

I'll be sure to write up a post or two about how our challenge month went.

Here was a smoothie taste test - one of the first times we had ever used kale.  Did we like it??

Yes, we did! 

Final summer sleepover!

The boys enjoyed a couple of sleepovers during the summer and they begged to have a final round before school started. 
Alex went over to one house while two other boys came to ours.  The boys live in our neighborhood so it made it easy to get parental permission and pack overnight bags.  Sometimes the boys don't' even pack bags.  They take showers at their own house, put their jammies on and then come over.  In the mornings they just walk back home to brush their teeth and get dressed.

The next morning at breakfast time!  Alex and Eli woke up and ran back over to our house before they ate breakfast so all the boys got to eat together.

 Before the boys left our house they took advantage of the cool morning temperatures and went out to play.

The family down the street bought a pogo stick from a garage sale - and it seems our children are on it more than theirs!

They were very helpful when Aren said he wanted to try.

They waited patiently and took turns while each other jumped.  They were aiming for new records!

Ajay wanted to look up world records for the pogo stick.  There are some amazing records!  Pogo sticks underwater?  Crazy!  I've been trying to find a record for kids but haven't found anything official.  Ajay said he's done over 1,000 at one time.  That is a lot of jumping!!

Yay for books!

Reading books at bedtime has been part of our routine since Ajay was a wee babe.  All three children cherish their snugly story time. In fact, just this week I've started reading The Indian in the Cupboard to the older two and they always shout "No!! Read more!" when it is time to go to bed.

Aren getting ready for a nap.  He's got a buddy, Milo Monkey, and some books!

Also a tradition is signing up for the summer reading club through the local library.  Even when Ajay was just a year old he was allowed to sign up - as long as someone read to him and wrote down a list of books, he got the prize at the end of the summer.

This year, the same as last year, the boys all got to choose a book to take home in addition to the coupons for fun freebies.  

Here are the boys enjoying their free ice cream cone.  I also let them have an Oreo so they could crumble it up as a topping!

I'm throwing these next two pics in because, even though it doesn't involve books, it does involve creativity.  :)

I got out the dry erase boards and dry erase crayons.  This was the first time Aren got to play with these.  Alex wanted to play a game of UNO so we also did some of that.  He's using an old egg carton flipped upside down with slits cut in, every other one, to act as a card holder.  Thank you Pinterest!

Of course... everything has to go into his mouth.  I didn't realize these type of crayons would be so .... melty!

Road Trip!

 Last year we took the boys to an amusement park.  It was far enough to feel like you were going away for a bit of fun but a short enough drive to not go insane.  (Less than 3 hours.)

We enjoyed last year so much we decided to do it again!

We gave the boys a bag full of goodies to keep them occupied.  Paper and pencils, books, yarn and hook to crochet, etc.

Last year it took us most of the day to realize there was a kiddie area.  This year it was the first place we hit!  (But we found plenty of big kid rides, too, later in the day!)

If look up in the window you can see Ajay and the top of Aren's head.

Aren got to go canoeing this year!  He loved helping move the boat along with his oar.

Since Aren and Ajay rode together that meant Alex got to go on his own!

Big play area.  You can gather balls and shoot them out of air cannons.  Aren is crossing a log on the second story.

All three together on a fairly gentle ride.

Alex really enjoyed his day.

What did you do?!

I think almost every kid does it at some point.  I do believe it is a right of passage. 
They find the scissors and go snip snip!
Ajay did it TWICE.  Once was even in kindergarten class.
Alex did it sometime in the last year or two.
And now Aren has gone and done it.  He found the little hair trimming scissors. 
But he didn't cut where kids normally cut - you know, front and center, usually bangs.
This kid went for his eyebrows.

It was barely noticeable but something just didn't look right.

 Luckily everything has grown back in!

Hello, Good-bye

If you regular readers remember, I took some time back in August to post about the boys first day of school.  A couple of weeks before school began I took the boys to get a trim.  Our neighbors had told us of a barber they used and that he was reasonably priced.  Not really reasonable, in my opinion, but downright cheap.  We will be going back to him for sure.  He did a great job on their hair, was a great price and sprayed their hair with color!  He didn't spray Aren's, though, and I'm not sure why not.  Maybe I'll ask for it next time.
Hello handsome young fellas! 

Alex chose green, Ajay chose deep purple.

Biju has been growing his hair out lately.  But when he gets tired of the longer locks he'll be headed over to the same guy.  Some of you may be surprised to know that Biju had shoulder length hair when I met him.  Wish I had a photo to share with you but the only photos I have are in a photo album out in the garage.
I am pleased with the above snap of the boys but let me share a couple of the outtakes...

Biju recently traded in his old car for a newer one.  It took awhile to figure out what he really wanted but I think he's happy with his purchase.  We wanted to get a couple farewell shots with the old car.  Here's one....
Good-bye old car!