Slightly Obsessed

I can’t believe it’s been exactly (well, sort of) a year since we moved into this house.  Thanksgiving day of 2007 was nearly a blur amidst the unloading of a U-haul and probably my tears over watching the Lord’s hand work in our lives.  (You can read the whole story here)

One thing that stands out to me about that day, though, was how frustrated I was with Benjamin…and everything he ate.  I didn’t want him to have any food, because none of it was good enough, I just didn’t know why…

This year, we ate a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, and it was all gluten and casein free.  There were a couple of extra “regular” dishes, but the gfcf stuff was so yummy, I didn’t even try any!  Benjamin and Kaiya loved everything: turkey (yeah, the $30 12 lb turkey), wild rice with gravy, stuffing, pumpkin pie…the whole shebang.

Ahhhh…

So much to be thankful for this year.  Even though the transmission just went out on our new(er) car, my job isn’t bringing in enough money to make ends meet, and it costs a lot of money to eat gluten/casein free…..  We have 3 other vehicles to use while we figure out what to do with the car.  Jarid’s basketball season just started and he’s already got a full schedule, so that’s extra money we can definitely use.

Mostly, this year, I’m thankful that Benjamin is doing amazingly well on this diet.  It brings me to tears to think how far we’ve come with him, and how our friends and family have supported us in this whole endeavor.  Even our friends and family that don’t understand or don’t necessarily agree have been such a source of strength and encouragement.  I still have days that I wonder if it’s worth it to keep going, but all it takes is one smile from Benjamin or a pat on the back to keep me going.

I really wish you all could be here to see the difference.

We tried raw cheese this morning.

I’ll keep you posted on the outcome.

We love you all and hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

1 Chronicles 29:11-13

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power 
       and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, 
       for everything in heaven and earth is yours. 
       Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; 
       you are exalted as head over all.

Wealth and honor come from you; 
       you are the ruler of all things. 
       In your hands are strength and power 
       to exalt and give strength to all.

Now, our God, we give you thanks, 
       and praise your glorious name.

but we’re gonna try to make it feel that way anyway, until we get to Colorado.

Last night, I was able to convince Jarid to let us put the up the Christmas tree and decorations.  I’m really not a “Christmas-trimmings-before-Thanksgiving” kind of gal, but I’ve really felt like the holidays were going to empty.  I think I’m just a little unsettled and going stir-crazy (having not been out of the state of Arizona for a year and a half!).  Anyway, I really think it was Kaiya that convinced Jarid…you should have seen him melt when his little girl got so excited.

So, we started the adventure off right, with a trip to Chipotle.  Jarid had a coupon for a free burrito and some extra money from tips, so it seemed like a perfect way to start the evening.  Besides, you can’t put up the Christmas decorations when it’s still light outside.  If it’s dark, I can at least pretend there is snow falling outside!

We stopped at Sprouts to get a few necessary ingredients for hot chocolate and headed home.  Hot chocolate this year was made with coconut milk.  As you can see in the pictures below, the kids hated it.  :)

The only thing I can’t portray here is the Christmas music in the background.  Ahhhh…it’s starting to feel like Christmas now.

1.  The holidays are upon us and that means it’s time to start begging Jarid to let me pull out the Christmas decorations and music.  Of course, he’ll fuss and I’ll whine and he’ll win.  I tried using reverse psychology on him, pointing out that he’d be outdone by our dear friends Mark and Brandi.  It didn’t work.  I’ll just have to load the music onto the ipod, I guess.

My favorite Christmas albums are:

• “A Christmas Album” by Amy Grant (Tennessee Christmas is by far my favorite song on there)
• “Brand New Year” by SheDaisy (there is a hidden track that has an exquisite showcase of the sisters’ harmony!)
• “Christmas Offerings” by Third Day (this one could honestly be my all-time favorite album…Christmas Like a Child brings tears to my eyes every time)

2. Since the holidays are upon us, that brings a new set of food challenges.  This will be our first year gluten-free/casein-free.  Can you believe that some turkeys contain gluten?  In order to enjoy the Bird, we may have to spend upwards of $60 to ensure it’s “all-natural, no nastiness-added”.  How ridiculous is that?  Nonetheless, we will enjoy a fabulous Thanksgiving Dinner (just tested a yummy pumpkin recipe) and we will even enjoy some of my personal Christmas favorites in Colorado.  Mmmm…..the Christmas wreaths (“snow-covered”, this year) and sugar cookies are calling my name!

3.  The last of our visitors have left and the house is quiet.  Yeah, right!  We had a blast with Kelli last week, spoiling her and never mentioning that she had turned THIRTY.  Ben and Kaiya were the beneficiaries of Kelli’s discount at the Children’s Place.  We came home with a huge sack of clothes for under $60, much needed.  (Did you catch that we got several items of clothing for the same price that it will cost my to buy a turkey this year???  Sheesh.)  Kelli got to “enjoy” some gluten-free/casein-free cooking…I think she found that, for the most part, it’s not all that different!  Anyway, we had fun when she was here and can’t wait for the rest of her family to come visit!!

4. I guess that’s all for now.  I’ll just leave you with a few pictures of Kelli’s visit..and a few of some cuties to entice y’all to come visit!

I really can’t believe it’s already November.  As much as I love Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’m not ready for the holidays to begin.

Eh.

1.  Jarid’s Grandma Mary is still in the hospital here.  We are expecting her to be discharged tomorrow, but please keep her in your prayers.  At this point, she will most likely not be going back to North Dakota.  At all.

2.  My sister will be coming to visit this weekend.  I haven’t seen her since July of 2007.  So it’s been way too long.  I would say that she’s just coming for a visit, but I’d really like to point out that she’ll be here on her birthday.  The big THREE-ZERO.  That’s three decades.  Wow.

3. Jarid’s first JUCO game is tonight.  Grandma Julie graciously agreed to come watch the kiddos so I could go to the game.  I’m so stinkin’ excited.  This is the reason we came to Arizona!  (Well, part of it, anyway.)

4. Last Sunday was my first time singing on the worship team at our church.  What a blessing!  I didn’t realize how much I missed singing until now.

5. Benjamin continues to amaze me.  He is doing very well sounding out words and writing them.  The other day, after a visit to see Grandma Mary, he said, “Hey mom!  I spelled hospital!”  When I looked at what he’d written, my jaw dropped:  HOSPTL.  The ’s’ was backwards, but I was floored.  We talked about vowels the other day and it’s awesome to see him apply what he’s learned.  His math skills (for an almost-5 year old) are incredible, too.  It’s not just memorization like “2+2=4″, but figuring out how many more almonds he needs if he has 5 and wants 8 almonds.  Might not be a big deal to a lot of people, but I’m a super proud mommy!

My mom came to Phoenix for a quick visit this week.  It’s been way too long since we’ve seen her.  We figured out that the last time we saw her was around Christmas last year.  A visit long overdue.

She arrived on Halloween, and in typical Staci-fashion, I had not even thought about what we would do for the evening.  In case y’all don’t know, I do not like Halloween at all.  So it didn’t really occur to me that I should think about what to do with my kiddos.  Fortunately, my wonderful husband saved the day and decided we should go to Chipotle.  Yep.  That’s the way we roll down here.  You see, if you dress up and go into Chipotle for dinner, they were giving free burrito bowls.  In case y’all don’t know, Chipotle is one of my very favorite places to eat.  Especially since it’s one of the few places Ben can eat.  So…we pulled out a princess dress for Kaiya and Ben’s costume from two years ago that still fits, and off we went.  For three adults and two children, our dinner cost $4.32.  (Thanks mom!)

Anyway, it was so fun to have my mom here.  Benjamin and Kaiya loved all of the attention and digging through Grandma’s suitcase for more toys.  My mom and I talked a lot about our diet and daily routine, so hopefully when we go up for Christmas, it will be a breeze with Ben’s diet.  It was really nice for me to have someone see exactly what we go through, with food, discipline, behavior, etc…  There are so many facets to this whole thing, and it was nice to have my mom as a sounding board!

Thanks for everything Mom.  We had a blast and can’t wait to see you and Dad at Christmas!  There’d better be snow!!!