Gluten Free Rice Krispies

Ya, so I was all excited when I first saw these. Grabbed a box for almost five dollars! I assumed they must taste like the "real" Rice Krispies, if they had the same name! No. The similarity ends the moment you taste them. The gluten free version has a grainy texture (it does still pop tho!) and has a rather nasty aftertaste. Nothing about the taste screams YES IT'S AWESOME! I still miss Rice Krispies. My mom (who does not eat gf) tried a bowl and said the same thing - the texture is off and the taste is far below Rice Krispy standards. I even tried making Rice Krispies Treats with them, and even that couldn't hide the funny texture! Anything drowned in marshmallows should taste good, this just didn't pass the test.

Sorry Kellogg, keep looking on that one! I am guessing that a lot of people who have eaten gluten free their entire lives would enjoy the cereal, not knowing what they're missing. I sometimes wish I was one of those people, who had no clue better tasting food was so readily available to non-celiacs... my expectations would be much lower than they are :(

Septic Field Leak.... ew.

We noticed a part of our yard has been wet for a few months, and even last year the clover grew amazingly thick in that area. We're killing the weeds this year, and apparently the clover was covering up the leak in our leach field. We had an inspector come out, he stuck a metal pole into the ground where the wet grass is and black "liquid" came squirting out... less than 8 inches down!!! His advice was to pump our septic tank and wait to see if the wet area dried up. If it doesn't we'll be installing a new leach field in our backyard. The wet area is really really far down our leach field, so it doesn't smell and he said it was not a threat to our neighboring kitties - but who wants a puddle of "effluent" in their yard?!!

I was so proud we were able to afford our new air conditioning unit out of pocket, felt like we were ahead of the game. Not anymore! There's always something when you own a house, isn't there :(

Turbinate Surgery!!

Big Kid has been snoring for about a year now, and I could slap him across the face and he wouldn't even move while asleep (seriously, I did it once and he wouldn't believe me until the pink cheek showed up!). He had a sinus infection that was so awful it gave him ear infections at 12yrs old... and the sinus infection lasted about three months. The ENT immediately said he has a severely deviated septum, and his turbinates were very swollen. He had lost 75% of his breathing capacity in one nostril, 50% in the other. Wow, no wonder he snored! He was at high risk for sleep apnea, which no mom wants to see her child go through.

After trying nasal sprays to make darn sure it wasn't allergies causing the swelling, Big Kid had his turbinates surgically shrunk last week. The first night he was home he slept all night, and breathed through his nose for the first time (while sleeping) in at least a year! SUCCESS!! I wake him up every morning now with just a touch, it's so nice to not have to shake him for ten minutes to get him up. He has had no pain, there was no packing or anything involved, and he's almost completely healed already. The surgery took fifteen minutes, I'm so happy he had it done!!!

We had so many pre-0p appointments, and throw in Thing One getting his cast off (FINALLY!!!) we just gave up and canceled school for the week. It was really nice not having to worry about getting this or that done for school, but I'm honestly ready for the routine again. Feels strange to just be cleaning the house, running errands, and being with the twins. Is that weird?

Chinese Fringeflower Bushes (lorepelatum)

We found these in various places on our property when we bought our house, and two years ago moved them to our foundation planting. I know they'll get big, that's ok! Right now I'm trying to trim them so they will thicken then they can get all "army" and pretty :) I looove these bushes! They bloom like mad in the spring, and then again a few times between now and fall. The leaves turn a deep purple on and off, and never fall off - so I have purple or green bushes out front throughout the winter. They happily bake in the sun all day long, just the perfect low maintenance plant for me :) They look really nice as a backdrop for my daylilies too!!

Mangos and Kiwi

Ok so I love kiwi. The crunch of the seeds with the sweet/sour fruit itself is just divine!!! It's super easy to peel once you get the hang of how to - I took a knife and cut either end off, then slid a spoon just inside the flesh. I went around the kiwi like that with the spoon, just inside the flesh, and bam I had a skinned kiwi without wasting any yummy fruit. I'm hooked!

I like the mango too, but it was a more tropical flavor for me, so I mixed it with strawberries and bananas and ate a fruit salad of sorts with a bit of cool whip. Mmmmmmm!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Our boys love Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Dad reads it like a rap, and they just eat it up. I read it like I learned to do teaching preK, and they love that too. They read it to each other, in sing song voices, and laugh and laugh. I saw a really cool blog that inspired me - both about the Ikea bookshelf and making a tree on the wall! So now we have our own version of a coconut tree on the wall - and it's a big hit! I ordered it online and laminated it with contact paper. I love it!

Bookshelf in the school room!!

I drove all the way to Ikea (ew) and bought the bookshelf I have been drooling over. I had no idea we had so much "school related items" until I had to empty a bookshelf to make room for the new one! This is from just one of our bookshelves...

Who knew three kids could "need" so much for homeschooling? I sure didn't but I promise we use it all or I wouldn't keep it. I have most of Big Kid's curriculum for the next year or two, because I fell across it at a homeschool book store that was closing. That takes up space. I have some K and 1st grade curriculum for the twins, someone gave it to us, and who knows when they will actually start using it, so I keep it handy. Everything else is used on a regular basis - wow!!


I love the new bookshelf - it brightens up the room and stores everything we need in that room! I have a bit of extra space on the shelves, hopefully we can keep it that way. I honestly don't have to buy any curriculum for Big Kid until 9th grade, but I really don't know what I'll need for the twins as they grow because I have never homeschooled a child younger than 6th grade! It's an adventure :)

New Fruits to try

Our family is trying new foods. So far we're taste testing fruits we have never tried, then we'll move on into veggies. I don't like many veggies so this is going to be difficult for me, and I have to set a good example!

Have you ever eaten a pluot? They're really yummy!! A pluot is a mix between a plum and apricot, but is mostly plumlike. It's got a smooth skin and a sweet taste. There are many varieties of pluots, we have tried a few and our favorite so far are the dinosaur eggs and the flavor grenades.

The skin has that bit of tartness to it like plums do, we find these to be a very satisfying treat! We also like to add it to our gluten free chex cereal to jazz up the same old breakfast :)

How about a star fruit? This one didn't go over quite as well as the pluot in our house. It's citrusy, is a bit lemony and doesn't have a burst of flavor like you would expect from fruit. However we all tried it, which is a step in the right direction! To prepare it I washed it, and sliced the brown edges off of the "star points", then sliced it. It has seeds similar to apple seeds, so I flicked them out as you can see in the photo. All in all it wasn't a bad taste, but we probably won't be buying it again... unless we make a citrus salad, then it would be great! Or maybe I'll try it with a little grenadine... I wonder if it has any good vitamins in it?