Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Brain Balance and Yoga

I've mentioned in previous post that we feel Haiden is in a really good place.  He seems like a typical child with some quirks that only we notice.  Now that we are comfortable with Haiden's progress we have been focusing on Ella and her emotional needs.  She is pretty unpredictable and can make or break just about anything we are doing.  So we have started her on the Brain Balance Program and I have very high hopes!  We went last Friday for an evaluation and the findings were very interesting.  For example, she could track objects with her right eye but not her left.  Instead of trying to explain it all to you I'm attaching two links if you are interested.  I would also recommend the book that goes along with the program called Disconnected Kids. 

I also started doing Yoga with the kids.  Haiden likes to do it every once in awhile but Ella wants to do it about 5 times a day.  She loves it!  Some friends of ours got us the book Yoga Therapy for Every Special Child by Nancy Williams.  (Actually, our friend's sister is Nancy Williams...pretty cool!)


 Ella demonstrating one of her yoga moves before bedtime. :)
 Haiden demonstrating the "table" move.

Life with three kids continues to be crazy.  I'm having a hard time balancing being a mom, wife, starting a photography business, babysitting two days a week, and running.  My husband has been so supportive and I wouldn't be able to stay sane without him!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Gluten, Dairy, Egg Free Cupcakes

I have found my new favorite Gluten, Dairy, Egg Free brand!  Cherrybrook Kitchen is great and they also make pancake mix, cookie mix, and frosting!  The kids were so excited when I told them that we were going to cupcakes!

Someone licked the batter!

 Here is the cupcake before we put icing on it.
 Cherrybrook Kitchen frosting
 The kids wanted to frost their own cupcakes. 

 Mason wasn't too sure about it so Daddy helped him.


The kids loved the cupcakes and were a little upset that I only let them have one. :)

Friday, January 14, 2011

Juicing!

There are so many health benefits to juicing.  Check out some of them here http://www.bestofjuicing.com/.  Luckily Ella and Mason LOVE when I juice.  Haiden, on the other hand, is not a big fan of it.  I didn't start making juice until Haiden was six years old so he knew that there was a difference between the homemade juice and the store bought juice.  Do you really believe that the store bought juice is "100% fruit juice"?  I sure hope not!  If so, you need to educate yourself a lot about the food you are putting in front of your children!
 My little Mason likes to sneak a few orange slices.
 Brian bought me this juicer about a year ago at Kohl's for $100.  It is one of the lower end models but works great!
 My little princess likes to take all the seeds out of the apples before I put them through the juicer.
 Voila!  Here is a carrot, apple, and orange juice!  We call it "I Love Juicy"!

 Mason taking down his second cup.
 The only bad thing about making homemade juice is that is stains the cups a little bit but to me a little stain is totally worth it!