7QT: EMT Rides, Great Wolf Rides, and Clean Rides

These summer weeks are flying by, how is it already the end of July?  I'm a poet and I know it, cuz my mad skills show it.  

1)

JP started his ride-a-longs as an EMT!  How crazy that if you live in our town, and you have to call 911...it might be my 18 year old son that comes to save your life!?!?  He is loving it so far, and though we never doubted a medical career for him, it's nice to see him enjoying the practical side of it, and not just studying it. 

Alexander Turns Ten

Alexander Blaise is now DOUBLE DIGITS!

Which, in this house means...your own tablet*!

*with plenty of rules and restrictions and passwords and blocked access to all the bad things

Even though it was not a surprise, he was still very excited to get it into his hands :)

Our Week at Catholic Family Land 2021 and When Can We Go Back?

Hello!  We just returned from our one week family retreat at Catholic Family Land in Bloomingdale, Ohio, and IT.WAS.AWESOME!

Yes, there was camping involved.

Yes, we had some stormy weather.

Yes, we had to drive 11 hours each way with 7 kids who mostly get carsick.

Yes, the devil tried to keep us from going under the guise of a cancelled camper.

But also, yes, IT WAS SO WORTH EVERY MINUTE!

We were very excited to see our three neices who are working at the camp all summer.  Bridget will be a freshman at Franciscan in the fall with JP, and happened to catch a butterfly on our first day there like a modern St. Francis(ca).

We had ordered grocery pickup from Walmart in Steubenville which was a smart move because I could plan meals and only get exactly what we needed.  Plus, no trudging through the store with all nine of us, asking for treats.  Oh, your kids don't do that?  Teach me your ways!  Then we headed to the campsite about 20 minutes away, and set up our amazing camper that we had rented:

7QT: Busy Busy, Mom Guilt, and Camping for Nine

 1)

Summer time is supposed to be a slower pace of life and lots of time off, but it sure hasn't started out like that.  After last summer of doing nothing, the kids were excited to get back into sports and activities so we have been watching a lot of outdoor basketball games, tennis lessons, swim lessons, and track and field meets.  It's equal parts adorable, exciting, and exhausting.

Just look at my little guy trying to jump hurdles :)

2)

Both Phil and I work all summer, so there is a constant juggle between the big kids of who is working and who can babysit and who can drive who where.  This makes me  have major mom-guilt that the big guys have to step in for us, and that our littles don't see us as much as I'd like.  So on days off, we try to have some fun, like bumper boats, and cousin sleepovers, and ice cream trips and friend hangouts.

Our June Whole30-ish: How We Cheated and Still Succeeded!

For the month of June, Phil and I decided to complete a Whole30 diet with some modifications to make it more doable than the last time when we followed the Whole30 rules 100% and hated life the whole time.  Nobody wants to hate life, so we decided to make it work for us while still getting the benefits of weight loss and less inflammation and better sleep, etc.  

We have tried going Keto a few times when we want to lose some weight, but I realized that each time I ate Keto, my cycle would become irregular.  I know that's TMI, but it was enough to make me realize maybe it wasn't the best diet for my body.  I wanted to add in carbs, but only healthy ones so I thought the Whole30 would be a better choice for me.  

The basic premise of the Whole30 is that you cut out a lot of foods that potentially cause your body inflammation and give digestion troubles and are not nutritious.  

You can NOT eat:

Sugar

Gluten

Grains

Dairy

Legumes

Alcohol

Preservatives/MSG/other additives

You CAN eat:

Fruits

Veggies

Meat/Seafood

Eggs

Nuts (not peanuts)