1) Be on Pinterest!

2) Reading on my nook

3) Playing with my boys

4) Watching a movie snuggled up with my boys!

5) Online shopping

6) Surfing the web

7)   Find out how to lose weight

8) Working on my blog

9) Taking a nap

10) Reading a magazine

What are 10 things you would rather be doing than chores? I am linking up with
Moments That Define Life for her Listable Life Tuesdays. Want to join?

With all of todays gadgets we sometimes forget how much fun can be had with the
simple things in life. Things from days gone by and our own childhood. The boys
have a few modern gadgets and so do we. And while they are fun to
play with, we still love the simple things that allow them use their
imaginations as well.  I have to admit it, we are suckers for things that
we remember from our childhood. Take what Tanner and I found today while
shopping at our local craft store.    

Do you remember those?? My husband and I do. I don't know what they used to
cost back in our time but they were only $1.00 at the craft store today. So in
the shopping cart it went. Tanner was fascinated with it and wanted to know
what it did and how to use it. So after lunch we sat down and I showed him. He
played with that thing for an hour and a half straight!!! The whole time
telling me how cool it was and how much he loved it! That was
priceless. My boys have such wonderful imaginations! They are constantly
playing pretend. They never cease to amaze me, they are so creative. I love
it!! One of Corbin's favorite pass times,coloring, was one of my
favorites as a child. Oh how I loved to color! And he has gotten pretty
good at it too. Take a look at his latest masterpiece.

He loves to tell stories as well. Every night he tells a very long and detailed story
before bedtime. And the other day he drew a picture and wrote a story to go
along with it. Who knows we may have a future author and illustrator on our
hands. Tanner's favorite pass time....anything that involves balls, baseball,
football, basketball, balls, balls and more balls!

The hubby and I believe in unstructured play time. While there is nothing wrong
with having some structured activities in kids lives, we still believe they
need the unstructured time to just be kids. In today's society so many kids
have nothing but one activity after another that they are participating
in. Remember when we were younger? We didn't have a string of activities that
we were scheduled to do. We played outside on our swing sets, rode our bikes,
and played with our toys inside. Remember Saturday morning cartoons? You would
wait all week just to watch. Then at noon they went off and it was off to play.
Those were simpler times. And even though I love modern technology, I miss
those days. Things moved at a slower pace and that was just fine by me.

Today will mark my fourth day of being Gluten Free. The first two days were not as
hard as I thought, but the third day was a tough one. I almost caved, but I
stayed with it. Today I have been searching the internet for some yummy
homemade gluten free recipes and I have come across another blog I am exicted
about simplysugarandglutenfree! Her recipes look yummy and she
has put the connection of sugar and gluten together with some of her health
problems and along the way found out it reduced her sugar cravings. This is
exciting news for me!! I also found another great blog elana's pantry.  She went gluten free after
she and her son were diagnosed with celiac disease. I ordered one of her
cookbooks Friday and I am ordering Amy's Simply Sugar and Gluten Free today.


I love to bake and honestly this is my biggest hurdle. It's not something I
want to give up completely so I will find alternatives and the plus
side....they are healthier choices. That's great for me and my family. I want
my boys to grow up healthy and strong, so eating a healthier foods and
exercising is something we will do as a family to improve all of our health.
Lucky for me the boys LOVE their fruit, if only I could get them to love their
veggies. Since we have started to up our water intake  they have been eager to
follow our lead.

The reason I have decided to go gluten free and will go sugar free is my
health. I have had some issues for years and some new issues have popped
up over the past few years. I have had severe acid reflux since I was in my
early teens. I had my gallbladder removed shortly after I gave birth to my
oldest son and more recently have developed IBS. I suffered from Post Partum
Depression after the birth of my youngest son and still continue to suffer
from bouts of depression. I have suffered from anxiety as long as I can
remember and I also have a Mitral Valve Prolapse, which contributes to the
anxiety. I have had some weight issues that I never had when I was younger and
acne as well....ugh!! The big call to action for me was recently when the
fatigue and body aches have started and became more severe. I have two young
rowdy boys that I need energy to keep up with and enjoy! I have been reading
about gluten and sugar and the side effects they can cause for a few years. I
finally decided enough was enough it's time to take action. The chances of a
celiac test having a false negative is very high and you have to eat gluten to
have the test done. We don't have insurance and the cost is very high!! So I
decided to eliminate it from my diet and see what the results would be. So far
after just a few days....my stomach has not been bloated or swollen. My energy
level is slowly working it's way back.

It's a big lifestyle change and sometimes it's seems as if I am doing without.
However if this works the way I hope and think it will it won't be about me
missing anything in life, it will be about what I am gaining in life. Energy,
better health and happiness.

It's
Tuesday and time to link up to Nicole's Listable Life meme.
This week is 5 things you wish you'd known about being a parent. Oh my, what
don't I wish I had known? You think you are prepared and everyone tells you
that your life will change, but you just don't get it till you are holding that
baby in your arms. Here we go.....

1) How much my life would change! I know people told us it would and we just
laughed and said yes we know. But oh no we did not know! There is no way
to describe this to parents to be. Just like there is no way to describe what
labor will be like. Trust me I begged  women to tell me what it was
going to be like. I do not like being unprepared, but both being a parent and
giving birth are just something that I don't think you can be totally prepared
for.

2) That your kids really will grow up too quickly. Enjoy them when they are
little. Take time to snuggle them and hug them. Really be there in the present
time with them instead of worrying about tomorrow.

3) I wish I had known that my boys would have such a big piece of my heart. How
do you describe how your heart can ache for your child when they are hurt or
when you think of them being all grown up? I wish there was a way to put this
into words, but like so many things that have to do with parenting it is
something that you have to experience.

4) As much as it pains me to admit this, there is no such thing as a perfect
parent. We are human and we make mistakes. How I wish I could be the perfect
Mom and never make a mistake when it comes to my boys. But as hard as I try I
always seem to fumble.

5) Enjoy time with the hubby without the responsibility of children. We took
for granted all the times we could just get up and go do whatever we wanted.
All that changes once you have kids. We had Corbin 2 months after our 1st
anniversary.