Whole 30

We started Whole 30  last week. Whole 30 is a more restrictive paleo- mostly meat and vegetables. some fruit and nuts. no dairy. James did it in the fall and felt and looked great. We thought after the holidays would be a great time to kick-start our healthy eating.  We're about a week into this. I wanted to share some of the shortcuts we've taken. Well, not exactly short-cuts but getting some things made at night so we're not trying to make everything from scratch right before a meal.

Here are some of the most helpful:

One night each week we've made egg muffins and baked egg cups, hardboiled eggs, and bacon. 

Another night we made Lara bars and salad in a jar.
Another night James made chicken patties and shredded lots of sweet potatoes for this yummy breakfast staple 

What I've missed the most so far is popcorn for our Friday night movie night. I missed pizza too but this super shrimp salad made me not mind.

The first few days were pretty rough- headaches, just yucky feeling- but now I feel good. I still get hungry during the day but not so many highs and lows. I'm not sure how much of this we'll continue afterwards but I'm definitely glad we've done it. still hoping to lose some weight too!

OBX 2013

We love the OBX. We've gone there a lot of years now- starting New Year's Eve 1999-2000. We did miss a few years while we were in Kansas but we've been there a lot. Our trips have changed over the years- NYE James and I, then with Janelle, Rob, and their new baby, a few more trips of James and I, then with our growing family. Here's some pics from this year's trip.

 walking around the lake

 a little cross fit on the nature trail right behind the condo

 hanging out with Papa

 It was warm enough to go out on the beach a couple times. We even got to see a migrating whale!

 We went to a new place this time Museum of the Albemarle. They had a kid's program on doctors in the early 1800s. So glad they did because we probably wouldn't have gone otherwise and it was really nice. Definitely going back sometime. The Coast Guard exhibit was really good.

 Last year we found O'Neals Sea Harvest- a small restaurant/ seafood market. We've been there 3 times now. We ate lunch there- all fried but really good- and picked up seafood to cook at the condo for dinner. Yum!

 Loved the nature trail

 Date night! The Flying Fish was super! My parents cooked mussels and clams from O'Neals that were so good that we ordered them again.

C's 7th birthday was well celebrated- Friday night at Grandma's, Monday night at the condo with rice krispy train, Friday lunch at Black Pelican, and Friday night at the condo with cake.

Good trip! Good memories!

Merry Christmas

Such a super Christmas Day. At 7:03 C came down asking if they could go downstairs yet. We played red light, green light down the stairs. They were so excited to open their stockings- Reeses' Tree, a quarter, an orange, and some other fun things! Angry Birds hand sanitizer is pretty exciting! (I like it too especially after our RSV December.)  

We had eggnog french toast and maple bacon for breakfast. Yum! After breakfast we gave a gift to Jesus first. It is his birthday! We've been saving money in a piggy bank. Christmas morning we counted it and got out the World Vision catalog to select a gift. Then we opened presents here- I love that kids like taking turns passing out and opening the gifts.