Luke's Construction Party

 

 

We all had a fantastic time at Luke's 3rd Birthday this week.  I thought I'd share a few highlights from the big day!  The kids "checked- in" here and picked up their tool belt ($0.71 each at Home Depot) and their hard hat.  Their tool boxes, filled with shredded CAUTION ribbon, a dollar store tape measure, truck eraser, road sign sucker and snacks, went home with them after the party.  My tool box fillers and hard hats came from Oriental Trading Company.   I wrote instructions with a black sharpie on large smooth rocks.  I love the "Hard Hat Area" signs I found on Amazon.  My wonderful sister made the "Happy Birthday Luke" sign.

 

Construction Site Cake!

 





My sweet Luke.  The plaid shirt really plays into the outfit, and I didn't even plan it.  I love that he's 3 and he still has little wrist links.

 

The Spread: brats, veggie dogs, hot dogs with wheat and white buns and the fixings, cheese, sausage and cracker tray, veggie kabobs (cherry tomato, cheese, cucumber), fruit kabobs (strawberry, mellon, pineapple), Recee's Pieces, Raisinets, marshmallow "cake" pops, lots of different kinds of chips, cheese puffs, pretzels and snacks from trader joes, pickles, apple juice boxes, bottled water, and 3 kinds of soads on ice, pickles, cake and ice cream.

 

 

The Baby Tent: I set up my EZ up (from when I sold my paintings in summer art fairs, pre-children) Pack and Play outfitted with toys and a balloon for containment while parents ate or visited, soft chairs for moms, blanket on the grass, etc.

 

 

 

Babies!

For entertainment we set up a few stations for the kids to explore.  Here is the duplo station.  I used home depot buckets with a ballon tied on each one to mark each station.  Other stations: 10 dollar store spray bottles filled with water (it was pretty hot out and I just had them all set on "mist"), a bubble machine in a wheel barrow, a tarp with a pile of imagibricks for making and smashing towers, and inside was a linclon log station and a wood block station (we love our Melissa and Doug wood blocks from Nina and Papa).

A lot of the kids actually wore their tool belts and hats almost the whole time! I added some puffy paint decorations on the tool belts of the little girls.

Opening gifts: Trucks, Trucks, and more Trucks!  Luke was thrilled!

 

 

 

 

Another sweet year has come and gone in my life as a mother.  Joel says I really make too much of a fuss for birthdays, but I'm not just celebrating another year in Luke's life.  I'm also throwing a party for me and my friends and family, celebrating the Lord's blessings through another year of parenting!  Congratulations on turning 3 Sweet Luke!  And well done Grammie and Grandpa, Mommy and Daddy, and Nina and Papa, Aunties and Uncles, on another year of raising Lukey!



Beautiful Vitamin B Complex

Our family loves to juice, mainly for the vitamins and the health benefits they bring.

What are vitamins? 

The chemist tells us they are small quantities of substances essential to life.  They are found in every living structure.  Today we’re talking about the group of B vitamins called vitamin B complex (including B1 B2 B12 etc.). 

Vitamin B complex plays a vital role in cell metabolism.

vitamin b

Cell Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life.  These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments.

Below I have listed the members of the B vitamin family and the fruits and vegetables where they are found in the highest levels.

B1 is called thiamine (kale, cauliflower, oranges)

B2 is riboflavin (leafy greens)

B3 is niacin (tomato, leafy greens, broccoli, carrots, asparagus)

B5 is pantothenic acid which improves your ability to respond to stress by supporting your adrenal glands.(broccoli)

B6 is pyridoxine which helps lower stress, decrease symptoms of PMS, treats depression, lowers cholesterol, and reduces the risk of dental cavities. (bell peppers, spinach, green peas, broccoli, turnip greens).

B7 is biotin which helps the body process glucose. (cauliflower, raspberries)

B9 is folic acid which the human body needs to synthesize DNA.  It’s especially important in aiding rapid cell division and growth, such as in infancy and pregnancy. (all leafy greens)

B12 is various cobalamins (cyanocobalamin in supplements) which plays a key role in the normal functioning of the brain and nervous system. (Vitamin B12 can only be manufactured by bacteria and can only be found naturally in animal products, however, synthetic forms are widely available.)

Broccoli has loads and loads of vitamin b.  Below is my favorite broccoli juice of all time.  Enjoy!

Broccoli Peach Juice

Serves: 2 large glasses

2 Stems of broccoli

4 peaches

3 apples

Here are some other great juices that contain the vitamin B complex, but remember, the vitamins “die” and are almost useless once heated, so juice them raw or eat them raw!

Apple Juice

Beet Juice

Cucumber Juice

Cabbage Juice

Carrot Juice

Celery Juice

Coconut Juice

Onion Juice

Parsley Juice

Pineapple Juice

Radish Juice

I am not a professional heath care provider.  My blog posts on health and nutrition are just my shared opinions and observations from my own life experiences.  Information in this post came from the whole foods website, wikipedia, the livestrong website, and the book Live Food Juices written by H.E. Kirschner, M.D.

For Vim, Vigor, and Vitality

"LEAVE YOUR DRUGS IN THE CHEMIST'S POT IF YOU CAN HEAL THE PATIENT WITH FOOD!"  --Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine.

Live Food Juices was written in 1957 by H. E. Kirschner, M.D.  It may have been written 55 years ago, but the wisdom it holds is just as prevalent today as it was back then.  Fruits and veggies are still fruits and veggies!  In the coming weeks, I will be sharing posts about juicing in my own life as well as including great facts and info from this book along the way.  I have been inspired by several true stories of medical healing found in this book.  Kirschner also teaches about vitamins, their sources and how to use them to heal different kinds of ailments.

Vigor and vitality might be words we recognize, but what is vim you ask?

Vim-- lively or energetic spirit; enthusiasm; vitality 

I am always looking for more vim in my life, that's for sure.  My son, Luke, has loads of vim.  We should have considered naming him Vim.

If you appreciate vintage reading material, and are interested in reading more about juicing, Live Food Juices is a must-read.  I have never seen a new copy for sale, but used copies are readily available on Amazon and half.com.



Questions are Coming!!!!

"Let's see what the Word of God says today mommy!"

I almost burst with joy when I heard Luke say this two days ago when we sat down to breakfast to continue our 8 Year Bible Journey.  After Sophia and Luke and I are all settled in at the breakfast table with the sun streaming in through the glass sliding doors, I always say, "Let's see what the Word of God has to say to us today!"  Two days ago, Luke beat me to it!  He honestly is starting to look forward to hearing the Bible read to him every morning.

We are reading about Joseph now; one of Jacob's 12 sons.
Jacob had singled Joseph out as his favorite son and gave Joseph a multi-colored tunic or coat as a gift and symbol of his affection.  Joseph's brothers became jealous.  They took Joseph's coat, dipped it in blood and gave it to Jacob so Jacob would believe that Joseph was dead.  In reality, the brothers sold Joseph as a slave.

I took this photo from the Jesus Storybook Bible.  We read this after we read from my NIV Bible.

This is such a fascinating story.  If you haven't read it, go find a Bible and crack it open to Genesis chapter 37 and read all the way through to chapter 50.  You'll love it!

Here is what Luke and Sophia and I read together two days ago that sparked so many questions!

The Cupbearer and the Baker

Genesis 40

Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. ² Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, ³ and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. ⁴ The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them.

After they had been in custody for some time, ⁵ each of the two men—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison—had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.

⁶ When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?”

⁸ “We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.”
Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

⁹ So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, ¹⁰ and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹ Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup and put the cup in his hand.”

¹² “This is what it means, ” Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days. ¹³ Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴ But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. ¹⁵ I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.”

¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given a favorable interpretation, he said to Joseph, “I too had a dream: On my head were three baskets of bread.^{[a] 17} In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸ “This is what it means,” Joseph said. “The three baskets are three days. ¹⁹ Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and impale your body on a pole. And the birds will eat away your flesh.”

²⁰ Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials: ²¹ He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand — ²² but he impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation.

²³ The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

"Mommy, what is a prison?"
"Mommy, what is a baker?"
"Mommy, what is a vine?"
"What is a Pharaoh?"
"What is a king?"
"What is a country?"

I can't say that I had very good definitions to all of those terms, but I did my best, and I was so thrilled to be having this kind of conversation with my 2 year old!  (He'll be 3 in a month, but I'm keeping him 2 as long as I can *sniff* )  It took 40 days of reading before Luke started asking solid questions about what we were reading, but it was worth the wait!  I knew God's Word would start to click with him in a very concrete way.

A few chapters later, which was a few days later in Luke's studies,  Joseph's brother's unknowingly come to see him in Egypt.

"Do you remember Joseph's brothers?", I said. 

Luke said, "They like the rainbow coat and they killed him in a hole with an animal."

The details came out a little fuzzy, as you can see, but it made for a great conversation!

I highly recommend the Jesus Storybook Bible as an accompaniment to reading an adult Bible.  It has such engaging illustrations and the simplified wording can clarify what you've just read in a standard version.


Do you have a favorite children's Bible that you like to read from?

Juice Fast Anyone?

Joel and I love to juice fruits and vegetables in our Breville juicer, almost every day of the week for the past year. (Our juicer is really amazing, even after so much heavy use...in case you're shopping for a juicer)  Once last year, in July, and again this July, (last week actually), we have done a complete, three-meals-a-day nothing-but-juice-from-the-juicer-fast.



If we're dying of hunger, we'll eat raw fruits and veggies to get us by. We just finished our latest juice fast last week and it went really well. We feel great and our bodies are a few pounds lighter (Joel is 10lbs lighter and I lost 6lbs). Our 2 yr old, Luke drinks some of the juices and eats three big meals a day of only fruits and veggies for the week. He loved it. He's a fruit and veggie man. He acted like he was getting cookies for supper! He was so excited at all the multi-colored produce he got at each meal.

The juice fasting does so many fantastic things for the body. Here is some incredible wisdom on fasting from the Prescription for Nutritional Healing Reference Guide by Phylllis A. Balch, CNC and James F. Balch, M.D.

"Over time, toxins build up in the body as the result of the pollutants in the air we breathe, the chemicals in the food and water we consume, and other means. Periodically, the body seeks to rid itself of these toxins and releases them from the tissues. The toxins then enter the bloodstream causing the body to experience a "low" or "down" cycle. During such a cycle, you may suffer from headaches, diarrhea, or depression. Fasting is an effective and safe method of helping the body detoxify itself and move through this low cycle with greater speed and fewer symptoms. In fact, fasting is recommended for any illness, as it gives the body the rest it needs to recover. Acute illnesses, colon disorders, allergies, and respiratory diseases are most responsive to fasting, while chronic degenerative diseases are the least responsive. By relieving the body of the work of digesting foods, fasting permits the system to rid itself of toxins while facilitating healing."

"But fasting is helpful not just in times of poor health or during the body's low cycles.  By fasting regularly, you give all of your organs a rest, and thus help reverse the aging process and live a longer and healthier life." 

During a fast, the following happens:

• The natural process of toxin excretion continues, while the influx of new toxins is reduced.  This results in a reduction of total body toxicity.
• The energy usually used for for digestion is redirected to immune function, cell growth, and eliminatory processes.
• The immune system's workload is greatly reduced, and the digestive tract is spared any inflammation due to allergic reactions to food.
• Due to a lowering of serum fats that things the blood, tissue oxygenation is increased and white blood cells are moved more efficiently.
• Fat-stored chemicals, such as pesticides, and drugs, are released.
• Physical awareness and sensitivity to diet and surroundings are increased. 
• You can heal with greater speed; cleanse your liver, kidneys, and colon; purify your blood; help you lose excess weight and water; flush out toxins; clear the eyes and tongue; and cleanse the breath. 

"It is recommended that you fast at least three days a month, and follow a ten-day fast at least twice a year.  Never fast on water alone.  An all-water fast releases toxins too quickly, causing headaches and worse.  Instead, follow a live-juice diet, as this both removes toxins and promotes healing by supplying the body with vitamins, minerals, and enzymes."

I am not a professional heath care provider. My blog posts on health and nutrition are just my shared opinions and observations from my own life experiences.

We were inspired by the documentary, all about juicing, called, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. You can watch the video on Netflix or currently you can watch it on the reboot website. They call it "rebooting" your body when you flush it with live fruit and vegetable juices. Visit their website, http://www.jointhereboot.com/ to learn more about "rebooting" your life with juicing.

I really really love it.  Do any of you do fasting for healing your body?  How do you do it?

Our Love of Juicing

Joel bought me a Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite 1000-Watt Juice Extractor
for my birthday in April of 2011, and we've been juicing all kinds of fruits and vegetables almost every day since then!  We've given our Breville quite a work out, and it is still as slick and powerful as the first time we used it.

I want to start today's post with a quote from a book by Dr. Bircher-Benner-- "The Essential Nature and Organization of Food Energy," published in 1936.

"Absorption and organization of sunlight, the essence of life, takes place almost exclusively within the plants.  The organs of the plant are therefore, a kind of biological accumulation of light.  They are the basis of what we call food, whence animal and human bodies derive their substance and energy.  Nutritional energy may thus be termed organized sunlight energy.  Hence sunlight is the driving force of the cells of our body."

How fabulous is that?  We are eating sunlight when we eat raw fruits and vegetables, or drink their juice.  Joel and I juice mostly because we love eating healthy foods that heal our bodies, but we also love Starbucks drinks and cookies and deep dish pizza.  Our juicing balances our nutrition.  We drink a vegetable/fruit juice 3-4 days a week, year round. Every now and then we'll do a one week juice "fast" where we only drink juiced fruits and veggies for breakfast, lunch and dinner to "reboot" our bodies. Check out www.jointhereboot.com for lots of great ideas and recipes for juicing.

Here are our two favorite juicing recipes:

Mean Green
Serves 2
1 cucumber
1 bunch of kale
1 bunch of celery
3 green apples
1 inch chunk of raw ginger root
1 peeled lemon


Apple Carrot Ginger
Serves 2
5 apples
2 bags of carrots
1 inch chunk of raw ginger root

Do any of you juice?  What are your favorite recipes?  I'm always eager to try new ones!

I am not a professional heath care provider. My blog posts on health and nutrition are just my shared opinions and observations from my own life experiences.