www.AFarmhouseFull.com

Wow, it's been awhile since I actually TYPED a post.... LOL!  Are you missing reading things? Are you enjoying the videos more? Less? 

I thought I would do a quick post about a what I use for a natural eye makeup remover.  First off, eye makeup remover is RIDICOULSLY overpriced.  Baby oil is a cheap alternative.....BUT some people are sensitive to all the extra junk they put into baby oil.  Baby oil is essentially just mineral oil (petrolium based) that has been perfumed to smell good.  So there are some that seek a more natural recipe.  I also tend to find PURE oil a bit too heavy for makeup remover. 

Enter: Natural Eye Makeup Remover!

What you will need:

• 4 oz. travel bottle
• Liquid tear free soap (I used baby soap)
• Olive oil

I then liberally apply it to a cotton round and wipe off all my eye make up before I cleanse my face for the evening. 

Let me know what you thing of it. 

I had several people ask me to do a makeup tutorial so I shot this video this morning putting on my makeup.  Be prepared....I am on video without a stitch of makeup and with dark circles....Hey, I AM a mom of 6 kids.... I have earned those dark circles. 

The Story of MY Mom!

My tips on grocery shopping with half a dozen munchkins:

Are you guys liking the videos or do you like the "regular blogs" better?

A little vlog on where I am according to my "goal"......

In honor of our TWELFTH wedding anniversary.......

click below:

I have been trying to come up with an easy way to do "A Day in the Life of a Homeschooling Mom of 6", but doing a video just isn't going to happen!  I attempted it today and I got to about 7am (when all the kids started waking up and rallying forces) and I just didn't have the time to capture much of anything on video.

(Link to my account - click the photo)

Soooooo.... since I have just re-discovered Instagram I thought I would give it a try that way.  Next week sometime I will be Instagram-ing an entire day to give you a glimpse of what goes on in a busy homeschooling home of 8.  If you would like to take a peek inside our day just follow me on Instagram. (My handle is "afarmhousefull" and I am a public account so just hit the follow button and you will be automatically following me.)  I am hoping to do it next week so keep a look out.  I will start it out with a Instagramed note of some sort so you know I have officially "started" my day.

This should be interesting......  I will see ya there!

So....... I typed up a wonderful word post about E's schedule (requested on a comment), but lost it when my computer died......

I decided to try vlogging it instead since I was running out of "quiet time" to get a blog post out to you. 

What do you think?  More vlogs in the future?  I am kinda digging the "conversational flow" and feeling like I am sitting with a friend instead of typing it all out.

Ohhhhh, food....sweet luscious, tempting, sugary food!

I have a sweet tooth and portion problems. Now don't get me wrong, I eat very healthily actually (I love veggies, fruit, nuts, etc).  BUT.... I am also a sucker for those SUPER high calorie desserts which get me into a lot of trouble when trying to melt the pounds. I have a hard time denying myself the pleasure of yumminess.  While I will NEVER be able to be a Food Nazi (you know those people who NEVER.. and I mean NEVER allow themselves a fast food cheeseburger or an ounce of processed sugar....EVER), I did realize at the beginning of this goal of getting healthy that I needed to treat these sweets/unhealthy food items as indulgences, not everyday (okay, every MEAL) necessities.  That was step one. 

The other problem I had was eating until I was full.  Yeah, the age old portion control.  With today's foods being WAY more high calorie than ever before and the abundance of food in general, we have all become accustom to eating to satisfy our want instead of our need for food. At least I have.  I satisfy my hunger long before I satisfy my taste buds, if you know what I mean.  I have a hard time remembering that food is made to fuel our bodies.  Yes, God gave us some wonderful flavors and excess, but it shouldn't be used for gluttony......which, sadly, in many cases it is. 

So what HAVE I been eating? 

A typical ideal day looks something like this...

Breakfast

(one of the following meals with small cup of coffee and 2 T of Coffemate creamer)

• 1/3 cup oatmeal with a T of brown sugar and a splash of milk
• A individual cup of Chobani Greek Yogurt (pineapple is my FAVORITE!)
• Open face egg sandwich with 2 eggs, one slice of bread and one slice of cheese
  

Lunch

(one of the following)

• Apple slices with 2 T peanut butter and 1/4 cup of raisins (and sometimes a sprinkle of mini chocolate chips!) and a piece of homemade bread
  
• Open face egg sandwich with 2 eggs, one slice of bread and one slice of cheese
  
• Bowl of soup with a handful of oyster crackers
• Half of a (light) bologna sandwich with one piece of bread, one piece of bologna, one slice of cheese and some Miracle Whip

Snack

• Cup of coffee with 2 T coffee mate

Dinner

• Whatever I am cooking for everyone but only one plate - NO SECONDS!  
• NOTE: I like a big dinner so my portions, while not huge, are not horribly small either 
  

And in the essence of "keeping it real" for you.....I mess up ALL. THE. TIME!  That is an IDEAL day.  In real life sometimes I grab a couple of graham crackers while I am in the pantry.  Sometimes I finish off a kid's dinner to save it from the trash (bad habit, I know!).  Sometimes I have a little something before bed (again, bad habit!). But those days/weeks I make too many of those indulgences I see it at the weigh in at the end of the week.  The WHOLE month of March was like that for me!  Indulgences coupled with Easter PIE actually caused me to gain 2 pounds back and I am just now back where I was at the beginning of March....UGGGGG.... 

The best advice I can give to anyone who is starting is just STICK WITH IT.  Had I just gotten back on the "wagon" of not treating my pie-hole like a garbage disposer after the first or second episode of eating poorly at the beginning of March, I would have likely kept my slow and steady weight loss and would have been a couple pounds lighter (even with the Easter Pie Episode) instead of struggling back to the same weight at the beginning of April. "Coulda, shoulda, woulda......what good are they?  Sooooo.....I am am getting back on the wagon.  I actually paid some money for some health shakes to do a "re-start".  While this isn't needed, I thought the idea of spending a little extra money for something and having a plan with "rules" it would require the perfect amount of self-disciple and accountability I needed to confidently move forward again.

Updated weight loss:

Pounds lost: 12

Pounds left until goal weight: ONLY 6! (YEAH!)

Things that have blown my mind:   I am fitting into a junior size 5!  But even more amazing is my energy levels have skyrocketed and I am able to do things (weight lifting wise and endurance wise) easily that were SO HARD to do at the beginning of this year!

What the struggles you face that keep you from reaching your healthy weight goals?

Wow, 2 months since and "actual" post......that is record of no-activity for me.....I think?  Even if it is not, it is still a long time to keep y'all hanging.  I apologize.  Life has been busy. Priorities were shifted.  As I mentioned before, writing about my life in this blog, while fun, takes a back seat to actually living my life with my kiddos.  And we have been doing some living lately.  You have probably guessed that a "Random Recap" is in order.   So here is the condensed version of my last two months:

   My baby is SIX months old!  Say whaaaaa????? Yeah, I know, right?!  Mike's super sperm has proven to produce super babies because "Little E" started army crawling at about four months (NO joke!), by five months he was lifting his tummy off the floor practicing his "baby push ups",  and at six months (the first half of six months) figured out how to put it all together and is full-fledged crawling now.  Lord, help me!  No, really.....please help me keep up with 6 mobile children on a daily basis! 

{Yep, that is the end of the non-mobile stage}

{He can't get enough of his siblings!}

  My youngest son is a spitting image of my oldest son. Don't believe me, look for yourself!  I think I had the same baby twice!

{AJ on the left in early 2003, Ezra on the right in early 2013!)

  We FINALLY had a little bit of snow this year.  Right when I was SO ready for winter to be over we got 12" of the white fluffy.  It was followed up by almost 60 degree days and it was a weird phenomenon being able to have a snowball fight while wearing a T shirt.  Really weird!  We took advantage of it and made a huge snowman, snow ice cream and enjoyed far too many snowball wars.

{Snow Ice Cream (and yeah, we added chocolate syrup!).....Thank you, Pinterest!}

{Just the beginning of our 12" March snowfall!}

  Two of my children received glasses.  Both are doing really well with them and I am thinking after Maddie goes in for her consult, she will end up needing some too. Esotropia runs in our family BIG time.  Half of our kids have been plagued by it to one extent or another.  My oldest had surgery at the age of 3.  He may need it again.  We will find out in May.

  Although I have been continuing to loose the baby weight, I am starting to get lazy on the clean eating because I am growing content.  I am only 3 pounds away from my High School weight and 7 away from my goal weight.  I need to push through and finish so I don't drag it out indefinitely.  I am so proud of myself for finally putting my treadmill to GOOD, HARD use. 

{photo taken to text to my acountablility partner, Lauren so she is certain I my butt was on my treadmill.  Lauren, BTW, is doing AM-AZ-ING!}

{a couple of weeks ago, with about 11 pounds left to loose}

  School is going GREAT this year and it has probably been one of my most productive years thanks to the planning I so diligently accomplished last summer.  It has worked so well that I am convicted to do the same this summer and have already started to get our supply list and curriculum choices pinned down. I will do another post on this in the future.

{Maple Sirup Days (yes, that is spelled right...google it!).  We were blessed to have Papa H. come along!}

  I have TOTALLY given up on "a picture a day".  We have just too much going on. Sometimes I remember and other times (okay, most times!) I forget.  Again, priorities.  I am not going to stress about tossing that to the way side. 

  I am starting to toss around some blog post ideas for you all.  Some will be done in video format, because, honestly, sometimes it just faster for me to video tape something then to have to type it all out (and inevitably misspell every other word, leave out complete phrases and completely botch punctuations solely because my brain runs 25x faster than my mouth can even keep up, let alone my poor typing fingers. Some ideas I have stirring in my noggin are:

• Homemade eye makeup remover (LOVE this)
• Schedule update
  
• My chore pack system
• Curriculum contenders for 2013-2014
• School budget for 2013-2014

Any other topics you would like to hear me rattle my jaw about?