Hey Dudes! Guess who's here?!

Posted by Ethne~

I know you won't even believe it, guys, but I'm back!

Darn right!

Lori, Steve and Mur-Man are off in France and from the first pictures I've seen, it's been AMAZING so far.  She'll check in with us, probably on Fridays.  From France.  Ah...alliteration.

The girls, Shaun and I are doing pretty well.  You remember, maybe, from this post, that I had to take a little time-out from the blog so I could focus on the kiddos.  They didn't have an illness or anything, but we were having some struggles adjusting to life in school and I needed to get that figured out.  Academically, they're doing awesome.  I'd say on a scale of success, they're healthy as horses and I've lost considerable hair.  Fingers crossed that the adjustment to first grade is on pace with how far we've come.

Kindergarten graduation!

Shaun and I still have the girls following a gluten-free diet, but not for health reasons.  At this point, I'd say that using the removal of gluten to help kids (mine anyway) with focus or attention is a total bust.  But I found that removing gluten is a way to be very strict about the things we're putting in our (their) bodies.  So, keeping in mind that the GF trend doesn't mean just buying anything at the store marked GF, I've kept us on this meal plan as a way to eat as much clean food as possible.  It's kind of paleo (not all) and kind of organic (not all) and kind of closer-to-the-source/minimal-processing/natural ingredients as I can make it.  I have also recently removed artificial dyes from their diet.  That one did have a study attached to it that made lots of sense to me, in the latest Parent magazine or so.

Theodore, our cat, is still rocking around the joint.  I've had him for 12 years, and he was an adult when my sister found him.  I tell Shaun he will probably live till age 42, the oldest known cat, according to My Cat From Hell on Animal Planet.  Shaun loves this suggestion.

My sister got married and is expecting a baby, too!  We find out the gender of the baby soon and I cannot WAIT.  Lori and I are feeling PINK.

So that's the short of it.  I'll fill you in some more in future posts!  Thanks a million to Lori for keeping this blog going while I tended to my flock.