Heiner Hullabaloo

So, couponing, again.

Milk= Free
Cereal= $0.99 up to $2 each
NV Oatmeal bars= $1 each
Ghirardelli Brownies= $1.75
Pillsbury pancakes= $0.50 each
Pickles= $0.80 each
Mustard= $0.50 each
Strawberries= $2

Some of the prices aren't really that amazing but the total before coupons and sales was $91.52.  Total after sales and coupons is $32.71.  About a 64% savings.  Not amazing but still pretty good.

Children's Museum's are the best.  Well, except they can cost a bit but luckily this day was half off, or something like that.  It was just me, by myself, with all the kids.  We spent about 3-4 hours there and were able to make it home in time to pick up Benjamin from work.  We really had a good time.

Okay, so I'm a bit behind.  I wanted to post the cute picture I took of the kids for Benjamin to take to work.  It came out funny looking but cute...just take a look.

It's not like we did anything fantastical, but Entegra and Bracken were very excited so we wanted to write it down.

We had quite the busy day.  Actually, a busy weekend.  I'll just start with the one day.

We started the day by enjoying breakfast at our Church Breakfast.  The kids put on their 4th of July shirts they had made, mostly by themselves, and off we went.



While we were at the breakfast we learned where the local parade was and followed a couple of people and enjoyed that.  Talk about candy!  Those parade people threw TONS of candy.  Some passed out water and one even passed out popsicles.  It lasted for about 2 hours but it was worth it to see one of the Young Women's group float.  They made a temple on their float and passed out "Pass Along" cards.





After the parade we went home to cool off and try to get Bracken to take a nap, which of course didn't happen and instead he fell asleep in the 5 minutes before getting to the place for the fireworks.  We found a perfect place to sit and wait for the fireworks and this year we were there for about 5+ hours.  We always enjoy that though.  This year was the easiest we've had for waiting for the fireworks.  We have this half tent thingy that provided shade, we brought blankets, food and water in our cooler, a soccer ball, glow sticks and sunscreen. Plus the weather wasn't too bad.  It was mostly sunny but not too hot and a nice breeze would blow through now and then.  As always, our fireworks were spectacular!

Recently on Facebook I posted a question about lunch, specifically, When you make lunch for your at home kids, do you make one thing and say, "Here it is, eat or starve." Or do you let them have say? Anyone have yummy vegan kid friendly meal ideas?

I think the Vegan part threw a lot of friends and maybe some family.  No, we are not "tried and true" Vegan's (Ben would never go for that).  We are Vegan-ish.  It would be more correct to say we're Nutritarian at home.  What in the world is a Nutritarian?




Nutritarian is a word coined by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.  It is a nutrional way of eating.  I read a book by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, which was referred to me by a friend whom suddenly looked healthy thin and great after having a baby the same time as me, 2 1/2 years ago.  The book was Eat to Live.  I tried the plan for a day and nearly passed out and was horribly sick.  I tried again 2 years later after having Braddock and it has mostly stuck.

Basic idea:  
*Eat all the veggies you want (especially greens with limited sweet potatoes and white potatoes)at least up to one lb of raw veggies a day- wow that's a lot.
*Eat at LEAST 3-4 fruits a day
*Beans at least 1-2 cups per day
*Limited grains about one cup per day (I only do this when I'm on the diet part.  I don't limit whole grains regularly, just breads or processed grains.  On top of that, the scriptures tell us "Grain is the staff of life".)
*Next to no oil (your veins need oil though, so we sub with ground flax seeds, chia seeds, and nuts).
*No added sugar or processed foods (I have not succeeded with this one yet, sugar is my...there aren't even words to describe it)
*Little to no animal products about 1-2 servings per week (the book says eggs are okay because they're the least polluted but poultry if you must)
This is basically a nutritarian way of eating, yet very similar to vegan-ism.




Sorry, I'm not the vegan that is changing the way I eat to save the animals.  Good for those that are, but for me and mine, I see things a little differently.  Anatomically, we have canine teeth not meant for plants.  Physiologically, we need a B12 vitamin that plants are lacking, but animal products are not.  Religiously, Heavenly Father asked that the best ram be sacrificed, that lamb's blood be smeared on the door posts, and that man have dominion over the beasts.  I don't think He has a problem with animals being killed but EVERYTHING IN MODERATION.  I'm not a big fan of how most butchered animals are raised but I am not about to raise my own cow and I don't want to deal with chickens.  :)

So, at home, we try to avoid bringing home sweets, processed foods, meat, and dairy.
When we go to a friend or family's home, we enjoy the beef tacos or pepperoni pizza.  I'll enjoy the 3 different small slices of cake at the Relief Society event (church), and practice self control all day with other sugary temptations.

Has it actually done anything positive for our family or do we feel wanting of cheesy goodness?
I'll be the first to admit cheese and sugar have been the hardest to let go of at home.
I wish we were more strict, honestly.

Ben and I lost 10 lbs the first 3 weeks and haven't gained it back several months later (that was back when we were being more strict with the plan above, we need to do that again).  I have more energy and I don't need a nap in the middle of the day.  I was barely able to go 3 hours with out eating.  I was shaking, cranky, and would eat the first easiest thing I saw a.k.a. a candy bar while in line at the grocery store.  Now I have 3 meals a day and one green smoothie between lunch and dinner.

Entegra has been a pretty good eater since she kindergarten.  She loves broccoli, oranges, strawberries, and blackberries and just about any smoothie we put in front of her.

Inara, whom was previously eating mainly bread, milk, cheese, and chicken, now eats apples, carrots, bread, and oatmeal.  Previously, she hated PB&J sandwiches, now she'll eat it but only wants the PB on her sandwich.  Also, she'll drink water a lot more often then before when she only wanted milk.  She's like me and has a major sugar tooth that we're working on together.  A few medical things are much better for her, too.

Inara drinking a fruit smoothie and eating a Peanut butter sandwich on whole white wheat bread (is that bread actually healthy?)

  
Bracken wanted milk all the time.  He still would love to drink tons of Almond or Soy milk but is content with water.  He's more willing to try other foods and recently has decided to like grapes, raisins and broccoli.

I'm hoping to feed Braddock right.  I would love to be able to convice at least one of my children to eat salads.  I'm feeding him fruits and veggies as often as I can once he's old enough.  He, so far, is the first to actually enjoy learning to eat solid foods.  He's tried and liked, oatmeal, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes.  

Back to Benjamin.  He is NOT thrilled with the lack of cheese or red meats in the house.  I'm able to make up for it with different kinds of meals, the more spicy and flavorful the better- however, that makes it harder for the kids to like.  There's no winning.

So, we still eat meat on occasion.  Eggs are the main animal product in the home but still not consumed more than 2-3 times per week.  We love cheese on our pizza, but soy milk is so tasty.  We try to avoid red 32 or yellow 98 (made up but you get the idea), and have found turmeric turns food SUPER yellow if you need that color.   Basically, we went Vegan-ish to add more veggies to our plates and live a healthier lifestyle.

The more veggies I can get into my kids, the better I feel about doing my mommy job.

We always enjoy our 4th's of July.  We enjoy taking our dinner with us, scouting out a spot hours early, sitting in the sweltering heat, and figuring out what to do for those many hours.  Eventually, someone always has to use the restroom and it's our great excuse to buy a soda and sit in the air conditioned restaurant for as long as we can.  This year, our brother-in-law came with us.  In the morning, we attended our church Scout group breakfast.  In the afternoon, we went downtown and listened to some live music, visited booths and went on a "hay ride".  Entegra enjoyed playing card games with Daddy and Uncle Jon or as they've been calling him, Uncle Jonny.

The fireworks were great as usual.  They were probably a little too much this year.  I think it went on for over 20 mins!  Bracken was scared most of the time, which makes sense since the fireworks percussion sound ricochet through our bodies.  If I'm remembering my years correctly, Bracken even managed to fall asleep while I was holding his ears.

Our fourth child was born September 17th, 2012 at 5:16pm.  I'm going to tell his birth story so if you don't want to know (it really isn't graphic) then I'd suggest just skipping down to the pictures.

We found out about 3-4 weeks before his due date that he was frank breech meaning his head and feet were up in my rib cage which is not the correct way.  Doctors are hardly ever taught how to deliver breech babies any more and besides it's suppose to be insanely painful and more risky to deliver breech.  My options were a c-section or they could try to turn the baby around manually on my stomach.  Our previous baby, Bracken, had also been breech.  We choose to do the ECV, turning baby, with Bracken and were successful so we decided to try the same with this baby.  This time was much more painful.  It took a lot longer to turn him around.  He was far to content being wrong side down.  But he did turn!  It was decided that I would be immediately induced to reduce the chance of him turning back around.

We had wonderful friends taking care of our kids for us.  Inara and Bracken stayed with my visiting teacher and her kids while Entegra was at school most of the time but then went to a friend's house after school.  Entegra and her friend were absolutely thrilled about.

For the first 2-3 hours after being induced, I slept and Benjamin watched his cartoons.  After that things got more painful and I eventually asked for pain killers.  I don't do epidurals because they scare me to death, but if I'd known he wanted to come out ear first, I would've given it more consideration.  Yeah, the Doctor said, "Oh wow, baby wants to come out ear first!  He must have a flexible neck." Ugh.

After about 3 more hours of labor, it was time to push.  That was horrible.  Worst then all the other babies, or at least it seemed that way.  I'm so glad Benjamin was able to be there.  I really needed his support this time...and his fingers, I think I crushed them.  Finally he was out and I was done pushing...THANK GOODNESS.  They plopped him on my tummy and the first thing I thought was, "There really was a baby in there," the second thing was, "He's so small."  I know, I'm a goof ball.

What a beautiful baby he is.  His brother and sisters took to him instantly.  Bracken was constantly looking into is hospital bed to get a better look at him.

The kids all enjoyed their Valentine's Day.  Inara was able to pass out valentines this year and thought it was the best thing ever.  Bracken bought the girls flowers, Carnations, sadly I never got the picture taken.  Bracken handed the flowers to them really fast and I couldn't get the camera out fast enough.  Inara had a huge smile and a, "Aww, Thank you, Bracken."  Entegra thought of me during her class party and brought home a cookie.  She said, "I didn't like it, but then I thought about you, Mom, and thought you might like it."  It was really nice of her to think of me during her party. :)

This St. Patty's Day, we decided to enjoy pancakes, but not just any pancakes.  Rainbows, pots of gold, and 4 leaf clovers.  We also enjoyed green smoothies made with collard greens, a banana, half an apple, and a bunch of frozen pineapple. YUMMY!!


Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Many people make new goals for the New Year.  This year I decided to give it a try.  I usually don't participate because there are ALWAYS things I have goals for throughout the year.  This year, however, Ben really wanted designated goals and steps on how we were going to achieve those goals (he went to a seminar and came home really pumped about the lecture, something about attainable goals).

I keep trying to do new things, which is not a bad thing but it can cause a lot of confusion, stress, and then I have the whole- other people think I'm crazy because I start and stop whatever that thing is fairly quickly.  I've noticed that I'll tell someone in my family, "Oh we're trying this new thing because of all these great reasons," and then a month later I've stopped.

Now, I just need to put it out there that it isn't always because I'm lazy, although that has been a reason, I won't deny. :)  A fair amount of the time I stop because it didn't work for us.  It took too much time, energy, money...whatever.  Other times, it just failed.  I tried, it failed.  Other times, it's too hot, too cold, something came up (like becoming pregnant and having a new baby).

So, now I'll attempt to do what everyone is always saying.  Don't worry about everyone else's opinions. How are you going to know if you never try?  Just because one way works for one family, doesn't mean it'll work for mine.

Some fails:
http://heinerhullabaloo.blogspot.com/2011/08/35-challenge-redo.html
   *yeah right, who can manage $35 per week with 5 people, well good for them!

http://heinerhullabaloo.blogspot.com/2011/07/evening-schedule.html
    *Chore lists and evening schedules are constantly changing now we have a new one that is a little more            permanent only because it's screwed into the wall and not falling down and getting lost.

http://heinerhullabaloo.blogspot.com/2011/05/great-cloth-diaper-change-for-our.html
    * We still use cloth diapers but it's an on/off thing and we've learned so much about what works and doesn't work for us.

Some successes:
http://heinerhouseholdhappenings.blogspot.com/2011/09/dinning-room-chair-project.html
    * This was a fail and success.  The table cloth covers easily tore but I've since recovered the chairs with a more sturdy wipe off-able fabric.

http://heinerhouseholdhappenings.blogspot.com/2011/09/home-made-baby-food-pears.html
    * I make most of the baby food and it is always successful.

http://heinerhullabaloo.blogspot.com/search/label/Family%20Outings
    * Our family outings are always a success, because we have fun.  Just because someone fell down or was super cranky from being tired, does not make it a failure.

With all this in mind, I plan on shutting down the Heiner Household Happenings because why shouldn't I put all my stuff on one blog as though it's a family journal of all or most things that go on.  I enjoy hearing peoples responses to things we've done and tried.  I like a visual place for me to see what we've done.  It's so much easier than having a million journals lying around or printing out pictures, cutting, pasting...blah, blah, blah.

Alright, now I'm babbling.  So, in honor of our favorite book The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales...you can stop reading this now.  Really, there isn't anything left here but a bunch of filler.  I'm just writing more to make me look smart.  I only had 2 paragraphs and that is hardly worth a post.  Besides I didn't say anything more than what I've already said (you know, the links, because I already wrote those).  So, stop reading now.  Seriously.  There isn't anything else to see here folks. :)

It has finally snowed!  Thank goodness because it was starting to get really cold in just the last few days and I hate cold weather with bright sunshine.
Inara woke up first and loudly proclaimed to the rest of the house, "IT SNOWED!!"
Entegra could barely wait until after breakfast to get out in it.  As soon as Bracken saw the girls playing in the snow, he had no problem keeping his clothes on and putting on the snow suit.
A BIG thank you to Benjamin's co-worker who gave us the snow suits and some coats.

Well, Bracken may have Strep throat, Inara may be coughing and getting a rash from a runny nose, and Entegra may have a cough, sore throat, and missing school because of it but that doesn't stop them from finding ways to deal with their boredom.
After cleaning their room they played some kind of boat game.  Riding a yoga mat boat, paddling with a wrapping paper roll, "eating" health treats as they rafted down a rapid river.


A little while later they decided to push each other over.  See movie to understand.  I've decided they are crazy-silly!