Chuck and Kelly send the boys some really cool birthday gifts! Jimmie got a plane, runway and airport. He has been playing with it non-stop. He even takes it to bed. Thank you guys, you really know what the boys enjoy!

Richie got a camera so we can video conference with them. Yeah. Coolest gift ever. Too cool for us. We had to have Richie's cousin Joel install it. So we are that far. When we first got it we were going to be all cool and video them to tell them thank you. We suck. How the heck do you do this? Chuck and Kelly....do you Skype? Cause Joel set that up for us too....but we've yet to figure that out!



There was a picture of both boys opening their gift....but poor Richie looked a mess with squinty eyes and a goofy look on his face. So as he's a teenager now, I spared him.

Thanks again guys...they really appreciate their gifts. And I promise we'll figure Richie's gift out soon!

I can't believe I've updated two days in a row now. Today makes three!! This may just be a record.

I am off of work until Tuesday. I am probably more excited about this than I should be. Tomorrow Mom, Richie, Jesse,
Jimmie and I are going to Genesee Country Museum to see the Spring Fling Salamander Shenanigans. Info is here http://www.gcv.org/programsAndEvents/calendar.shtml. Yeah!!

The rest of the weekend is devoted to Chuck. We are all so excited for his arrival. Jimmie has been talking about it for weeks. I think he might self destruct before Saturday actually gets here. Truth be told, I might too!

It's Earth Day. I've been reflecting on what we've done here at home to be more earth friendly. Here are a few of the things we do:

• Recycle all that we can
• Turn lights off when we leave a room
• Use florescent bulbs
• Pay bills online
• Wash in cold water instead of hot or warm
• Turn of water when brushing our teeth
• Load the dishwasher fully before running it
• Switched to propane from oil heat
• Installed all energy efficient appliances
• Use on demand hot water tank instead of traditional
• Installed new triple pane windows
• Take reusable bags when grocery shopping
• Keep heat at no higher than 65 degrees
• Purchase as few single serve items as possible (ex yogurt in large containers instead of many small)

We have a couple more things to work on this year:

• Start a compost pile - really why haven't we done this yet?
• Switch to all natural cleaning products
• Get the pool on a dependable timer

What things are you doing to be more earth friendly?

Anyone that knows me knows that as a rule, I love to cook. I especially love to cook healthy meals for my family. A funny thing has happened lately. Life. Most of you also know that I work roughly 8-4:30 while Chris is 10-6:30. This means evenings are on me to get the boys picked up (one from Hamlin and one from Kendall), homework done, dinner on the table, and baths started. On good days, the boys and I would arrive home around 5:35 or 5:40. Add to the mix that Richie now has baseball practice that starts at 6pm in Hamlin (20 minutes away)....it's a sure recipe for dinners on the fly.

Until our life got this crazy, I could never understand why people stopped at drive thrus to feed their family. It's just NOT.REAL.FOOD!! I didn't get it. Now, before you think I've gone off the deep end, I haven't resorted to that, yet. Instead, I've had to plan WAY ahead to get a good meal in the boys. We've been having meals like rice and beans on the weekend, and beans, rice and cheese stuffed tortillas on the weeknight. We've also had quite a few salads and sandwiches. I never thought much about sandwiches for dinner. I'm changing my mind, QUICKLY!

So now for the fun part...what types of things can you recommend that  I can make ahead for dinner that can be heated in a flash or stored in my work fridge until I leave to pick up the boys?

Our family has had a switch up in our normal fare. Don't tell my family, but they have become Flexitarians. The wheres and hows can be found in a book that Mom gave me for Christmas. Basically, our meals are plant based with very little, if any, meat. In fact, last week we have five of seven completely meat free meals. No one noticed.




There have been many times in my life where I have been totally vegetarian. I have had 'issues' with meat my whole life. I go on and off being able to stomach it. I went about it differently this time. I didn't tell anyone. Instead, I just started making more and more meatless meals for the whole family. Those meals that warranted meat, I did so and just found a protein substitute for myself. Except on big salad night. I even had turkey bacon that night. Somehow super processed meat doesn't seem like meat. Wrong? Yes. Good? Heck yes!

I think it's time to investigate substitutes for those processed meats I love. In the meantime, here is an example of how we are mixing it up. This is our dinner from tonight. I made homemade veggie burgers, rice and beans, and a generous salad with peaches. Yummy!




I actually made grilled bbq chicken to go with this. Richie ate it, but Chris has one small piece and THREE veggie burgers. I don't have any plans to make the family vegetarian. I had a violent stomach bug about a month after Chris and I married. For the next six months, I couldn't stomach meat. I did cook meat for Chris and Richie the whole time. Chuck even threatened me one day. He said "you know, if you don't feed Chris meat, he WILL leave you." I did. I will this time too...just not as much

We are all healthy. This is huge since from the time of the last post until now SOMEONE in our household has been sick. We have been through a stomach bug (over Christmas, thank you very much), pink eye, cold, pneumonia, mono, THE FLU, and more. Poor Jimmie had every one of those and is our most likely culprit for infecting us all. Chris and Richie were out of commission for a full week with the flu alone. Just awful. Richie thought he was dying. He couldn’t even go to the bathroom unassisted…Chris had to hold him up.

We are hopeful that it is all behind us now and we are moving on. We have aired the house out every time the temperature even approached 32 degrees. The whole day on Saturday we turned off the heat and had all the windows open. We’ve shampooed the rugs, bleached countertops and bathrooms, and Lysoled the heck out of anything that doesn’t move or breathe (some in our house breathe, but don’t move much).

We are hopeful that spring will bring a bout of good health for us and everyone else around us. We have unfortunately also infected Mom and Dad during all of this because they have been kind enough to watch kids while we worked. I’m not sure we’ll ever get over THAT guilt.

I promise to update more regularly. I’ve got big plans to change up the format and add more than just general family activities….so stay tuned!

In the Scroger household we had a record that had the song "The Day Before the Night Before Christmas." Chuck and I believe that means the day BEFORE Christmas Eve. JJ thinks it means the day OF Christmas Eve. Any thoughts on that?

As usual, Jimmie was up at the crack of dawn this morning. He gets that from my Dad. Fortunately, so do I so it works out OK. Here he is having breakfast. Notice the candy cane in the Cheerios...



And poor Teddy...he has resorted to laying on a blanket in the living room. We had to move his bed out to fit in the Christmas tree.





Here are Jimmie and Jesse making Christmas cookies on their snow day on Monday.










Merry Christmas!

So this...




Is why we have an artificial tree this year that still looks like this...

How cool is that? Chuck made this from a photo taken of Mom last April in a poppy field in California. WOW!

"Who am I now?

That has been an ongoing question in my brain. Who am I now? What is going
to happen now? What do I want out of life now? How much time do I really
have now? How do I plan to live now?

The way I used to see the world and the way I used to live in it has changed
for me. It's kind of hard to explain, you see life unfolding around you but
the way you perceive it, interact with it, and relate to the events are so
different from the way you used to. It's hard for family and friends to
understand that, as you "look" like the person they knew. They can't "see"
these profound changes within you.

I have this ongoing chatter in my head... what's the most important thing
you need to learn "today"? How's that going to happen? What actions will you
take? And so on...

I feel a little bit like a preschooler asking myself all these questions
that I don't have the answers to. Right now I am a "seeker of life." I am
looking to make the best choices for me. I am seeking a better me, a better
quality of life, better relationships with others, etc.

I know that this is a significant period of change for me, because I am
questioning so many things that surround me.

Hmm... Let me ask you, what can you live with in your life? What do you need
to enhance? What do you need to let go of? So many questions... so many
questions. "

I found this on besthealthmag.ca. Funny to have just stumbled upon something that captures EXACTLY how I feel.