The Greatest Night of the Year (It's not about candy or ghosts)

If you've read me for even a week, you know I love Christmas--my favorite time of the year but there is one specific night I dream about every year.

This night is heaven for me.

Yes, I do love taking the kids out in their little costumes, meeting neighbors and watching their excitement as they dump all their candy on the fireplace for the Great Big Pumpkin, but that is not what I am dreaming about.

No, I am dreaming of that magical night where daylight saving time ends. That silly tradition started to give us more daylight in the summer. And the night I get an entire, extra hour of sleep.

Sleep is one my favorite things to do these days and since children, I don't get as much of it. That is what makes this night so special. A whole extra hour.

When I first had Miley, I didn't know how to handle the extra hour. She was up anyway so it didn't matter and the whole thing completely messed with her day. I completely cursed dst until the next year when she slept through the night and I knew to get her ready for 'the big day'

This year, I have spent the last few weeks prepping the kids for the change. Up a little later at night, sleeping in a bit longer in the morning. Just to make sure this change goes off without kids waking up far too early on Sunday (or any day after that!).

So tomorrow while the kids are giddy with joy over Halloween, I will have my own giddiness over an extra hour of sleep!

Thank you dst---you are forgiven for causing me to lose an extra hour of sleep last spring--just don't do it again ;)

How to Get Your Kids to Give Away Their Halloween Candy

This is a repost from last year---I am on a mission to make the Great Big Pumpkin a household name ;)

Halloween is a huge event in my kids lives' --I am betting in almost all kids lives (except those who do not celebrate which seems to be more common than you'd think in Texas). My kids love to dress up--this year Miley wants to be Nancy Drew so Sara wants to be Nancy Drew; Dino plans to be Michael Phelps and Spanky may very well be Spanky from 'Our Gang' if I can find the right golf hat and pants. And then they love to trick'r'treat and bring back bags and bags of candy.

After they trick 'r' treat, we go through the bags and they tell me what their favorite ones are. They each eat one piece of candy. And then they take their entire bag of candy, dump it on the foot of the fire place and excitedly run to bed.

The next morning, the candy, except for a few of the favorites, is gone and replaced with a toy.

Confused? Let me explain. We have more than Santa, the Easter Bunny (they never fell for her), and the tooth fairy. We also have the Great Big Pumpkin.

The Great Big Pumpkin as you Peanuts fans might remember, lives in the Great Pumpkin Patch. He comes out on Halloween and searches for candy. If you leave a little bit of candy for him, he leaves a little gift. If you leave all your candy, he leaves the gift you asked for in a letter earlier that month. (Naturally, the gift has to be in reason--he is not allowed to upstage Santa so nothing to be big or special. Santa gets mad when the Great Big Pumpkin gets more attention.)

And that candy? Well, it turns out The Great Big Pumpkin has access to the conference room at a real estate office. He leaves it there. And the Very Busy House with 4 is almost candy free on November 1.

So does the Great Big Pumpkin visit you?

It's Gluten Free for This Family

In August, I was commenting on Dino's learning issues and got an email from a friend who commented that his issues sounded like auto-immune issues, specifically gluten issues (aka Celiac).

I was curious and remembered reading how dyspraxia patients had amazing results cutting wheat out of their diets. So I decided to give it a try.

He started holding his pencil with the correct grip. He spoke more in class. He began conversations (that weren't about cars!).

I was impressed and thrilled. One day, he slipped and had some cake at a party. This followed severe stomach pains and Dino now refuses any sort of cake at a gathering. I am guessing it hurt pretty bad.

At the same time Dino went off gluten, Mike did too. Within one week, the arthritis in his hands were gone along with IBS issues he had dealt with for years. I began to suspect Celiac and did some research on it.

It amazingly quite common and if a parent has it, there is a 25% chance offspring will also have it. It made perfect sense for Dino to have it. It also appears to have a major effect on muscles--this would effect Dino's muscle tone for writing and speech.

But I still wasn't sure if it was what helped his learning. When I took Dino off gluten, I also started a more intense home school day routine, he began taking fish oil every morning and he was growing up. Maybe the gluten didn't matter on the learning end.

Well a few weeks ago, Mike took Dino to the neighborhood block party. In a momentary lapse of reason, both ate mac and cheese thinking about the cheese part of the dish not the gluten heavy pasta!

Within two hours, Mike was in pain and Dino literally spiked a fever and threw up. After that, Dino felt better (no fever, no vomit) but Mike was still in pain.

I sat down with Dino the next day to do a little work. The pencil grip he mastered so well was now a struggle. Simple letter writing led to tears and Dino spoke little the entire day.

I'm not a doctor but I know my son. He was not the same son the day before the block party. Dino struggled for almost a week with his speech and learning but slowly got better. The gluten did something to him. Something that hindered him, big time.

Gluten free is anything but easy but I am determined to make it work. I believe it is truly making a difference!

I am getting a lot of help from friends. I am finding more and more gluten free products including a special gluten free area at my grocery story. I just discovered a local pizza joint with very overpriced gluten free pizza. And ya know what, it is worth every penny :)

My Most Controversial Post--It is All about the Food

This summer I heard a radio personality mention he lost all his weight via diet and without any real 'exercise'. He went on to point out an article that said the same thing. The writer had spent countless hours and money with personal trainers but saw little actual fat loss; now there was some muscle gain and overall heath but not much else. So he really watched his food intake and then magic happened.

So during September, I ran. I ran all the time. And when I ran really well, I let myself have those cheddar fries with bacon and jalepenos. I felt great and felt more muscle but not much change in my jeans or my scale.

Then for the past two weeks during my kids' crazy production schedule of the Halloween play I had zero time to exercise. I decided to test the diet theory and ate very carefully. Annoying myself looking at calories, fat content and making sure a portion was a correct portion.

I have to admit, the food lover in me hated doing this. I did have a very small treat every three days so I wouldn't go crazy but overall, I stuck to whole grains, protein and very little fat and of course plenty of fruits and veggies. I quit snacking and cut out most my coffee.

Two weeks after the show, three pounds lost and loser jeans.

So as much I dread writing it, diet, at least for me, plays a bigger role in weight loss.

But does this mean no more running? Absolutely not! Exercise is invaluable for the heart, mind and soul. I truly believe that. It also gives your body muscle which in turn gives a better shape, even if you do have a few pounds of that high volume fat on your butt!

I just won't use a long run to justify a hot fudge sundae.

Diet and exercise work together to make a more fit you. Diet just has a bigger say in your pant size.

At least for this girl ;)

Randomness by Spanky

Every morning, Spanky asks for breakfast. His siblings ask for bacon, sausage, eggs or waffles. Spanky tends to wake up and say 'how about pizza?' or 'do we have french fries?' and my favorite 'we have hot dogs' --uh no honey we don't 'oh, but we have hot dogs'--no hot dogs all gone 'OK. Can I have one (puts up a little finger) hot dog?'

I am pretty sure he thinks if he says asks for it enough, we will suddenly have it. Wish it worked that way.

And then just yesterday at dinner, we were talking about the day and after we asked him about his, he said 'I'm going to be Spider Man and then go to Whole Foods and get a brownie.'

OK then.

And I said 'Spanky, can I have a million dollars? We have a million dollars. Can I have just one million dollars.'

He said, NO.

Can't Sleep

I am not usually the type who can't fall asleep. Seriously, I am that person who falls asleep before my head hits the pillow.

But not tonight.

And I don't have a clue why.

I had my last cup of coffee around 2 pm so I can't blame caffeine.

I had a full day. I should be tired.

I am tired. I just can't sleep.

Anyone else ever get this? And if you do, how do you fall asleep?

Weekend Story Part 4 (A Couple Whipper Snappers)

Start from the beginning.....

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

So all in all, London was perfect, amazing and everything else :) We did as many touristy things as we could. Riding the top of the double decker tour bus, visiting the Tower, Big Ben, Scotland Yard, Harods and a dozen other things.

And then it was time to move on to our tour. Before we got married, Mike and I met with a travel agent that convinced us joining a tour was the way to go for our first (and so far only) European adventure. We wanted to see the castles, specifically the castles of King Ludwig. There was a tour that featured the castles and visited Munich during Oktoberfest. We thought this would be perfect.

We landed in Zurich, Switzerland and immediately noticed a distinct difference no other city could compare. It was clean and by clean, I mean you could lick the trash cans clean. Even the toilets were spotless; after you flushed a mechanical arm attached to the seat and cleaned it. I was a very relaxed germaphob.

The hotel was nothing too special. It was incredibly modern with a giant life size chess board at the entrance (yes, we did play a game!). We looked around the hotel and then waited on the rest of the tour group.

I was a bit nervous. The hotel was almost empty, save a few older people with canes and us.

"What do you think the tour group will be like?" I asked Mike over a traditional fondue meal.

"I'm guessing honeymooners like us. Maybe some just married couples," Mike shrugged his shoulders and cracked some fresh pepper over the cheese pot.

I popped some bread covered in cheese in my mouth and nodded.

"Yeah, I bet it will be fun."

"I wonder if all of Europe is this clean?" Mike mumbled.

*********************

The next morning, we packed up and got ready to visit our tour group in the clean, sleek , lobby. As we got out of the elevator, we noticed a sharp contrast to the modern surroundings. Approximately 35 'older' people we congregated on the sofas and chairs. Was this our tour group?

I scanned to crowd and noticed a younger than high school boy calling a woman next to hime grandmum and then a younger couple with the buttons given to us in the tour guide. Were we supposed to wear those?

Naturally, we went beside the younger couple.

"Are you with the INSIGHT tour?" the girl from the couple asked us.

We nodded and introduced ourselves.

"Thank God, you're here," began Scott, the boy from the couple. "Everyone here is OLD. I mean dinosaur old."

Tracy, the girl, nodded. "If we didn't put on these stupid buttons, we would have left."

"It can't be that bad, hee, hee" I giggled looking around knowing it could be that bad.

Suddenly a younger, like in his thirties, man stood up and spoke. His name was Lars from Norway and he would be our tour guide. He briefly discussed the tour and then asked if anyone would need handicap assistance. Half the group rose their hands.

Mike and I slowly began to realize we would be spending the majority of our honeymoon on a giant bus with people almost four times our age.

I turned to our new friends. Our best friends for the next two weeks.

"Want to get a drink before we get on the bus?"