Good bugs, bad bugs, bugs everywhere!!

So lets face it - if there's one thing you can count on as a mom, its that things rarely go according to plan. My life over the last month is proof of this - a comedy of errors of sorts. It started with a yoga class my sister-in-law taught on Fat Tuesday. I was so excited to go spend time with my sisters-in-law and nieces, all while getting some exercise to boot. I did it, I loved it, I signed up for the long haul. C'mon, a mom of five needs a shot at some zen. I unfortunately have not been back to said yoga class since then. To make a long story short, ear infections, my husband flying standby home from Vegas during March Madness, dislocated jaws, school projects, five kids all outgrowing their shoes at the same time, and a death in the family have all prevented me from finding my zen.
But please, read on . . . there's a rainbow in my story . . . zen can be found in many places . . .
My point is that with so many things out of your control as a mom, you want to be able to have a say in your kids health. They're going to get sick from time to time, but why not arm them as best you can?
I (along with my kiddos) was lucky enough to be able to sample some great products that the fine folks at Vidazorb provided. Can I just say, this has been a good thing for us!! When they contacted me about trying them out and telling people what I thought, I figured a probiotic is a probiotic is a probiotic (do not attempt to say that ten times fast.) My kids have fairly consistently taken some sort of chewable probiotic with their slew of other daily vitamins. As a dye-free, all natural family, my kids enjoy their vitamins like other kids might enjoy Skittles or M&M's. We know about the benefits of putting the "good bugs" in your belly to help fight off the "bad bugs." But what we found with the Vidazorb was much more than we expected. We thought we'd fight off a few colds or flus, resist more germs from the dreaded doorknob or shared preschool toy. We think these things may have happened, but so did much, much more . . .


My seven-year-old has always had a very sensitive stomach, complaining at nearly every meal that his tummy hurts or that the food was giving him "icky burps." He has seen a pediatric gastro doc since age two. He's been scoped and medicated. We've done two different proton-pump inhibitor drugs, and prescription histamine blockers. We've taken them and gone off them and watched his symptoms flare up again. I am not a fan of medication. Not. A. Fan!!! Enter Vidazorb. We had just visited the doc again, been prescribed another med, and discontinued use of the med after no improvement. Our package of Vidazorb came and I thought, what the heck, lets give it a try. He started taking one Vidazorb Belly Boost Probiotic supplement with breakfast, one right after school and one with dinner. The first thing we noticed was that he actually asked for them because he loves the wild berry flavor. After a few days we noticed he was not complaining of "icky burps," his term for reflux. He was actually eating what we served for dinner, and eating snacks other than cinnamon toast (his go-to food with an upset tummy.) We asked him how his stomach was feeling and he stopped, thought about it and said "Good," as if he were surprised! This is more than I could have asked for and enough to make me a loyal Vidazorb momma!! Watching your child not want to eat because they don't want their food come back up is awful! Having found something that is naturally helping him is so awesome!
So, this blog is my equivalent of "shouting it from the rooftops!"

Why you should take a probiotic - and they're not just for kids:

• They help your body absorb more nutrients
• They support your body's immune system - fight off more bad "bugs"
• Reports indicate they're an effective treatment for a number of allergies
• There are studies showing that probiotics may play a significant role in helping the body manage its metabolism

Why Vidazorb??

• No refrigeration required
• All natural colors and flavors
• Great tasting wild berry for kids and vanilla for you! (Though I have one stubborn 5 yo who much prefers my vanilla)
• The Belly Boost for kids contain the best strains for kids - and have been extensively researched!
• They provide what they claim - all the bacteria alive and viable in the bottle on the shelf for two years!

So, have I mentioned that we've become a Vidazorb family? Okay, now here's the good part . . . so can you!! Vidazorb will be kind enough to give a free, yes I said FREE bottle of their Belly Boost to the first 5 people to follow them on Twitter (@bellytweet), "tweet" them, saying you came from my blog and telling them why you'd like to try Vidazorb. If you're not on Twitter yet, do you need a better reason than this??

If you're not on Twitter, are opposed to Twitter, have no idea what Twitter is, or aren't one of the first five to follow and "tweet," don't worry!! You can still get a whopping 40% off of the entire Vidazorb line on their website through April 14th, using the code CCC40.

Home is where your story begins

Scoutie is 9 months old today!!

The prettiest little angel in the Christmas band

The cutest goat in the manger

What we wake up to every morning in our bed

We all know that our houses are simply physical structures that are made of tangible pieces - bricks, mortar, insulation, wood, nails, shingles, etc. And we've all heard "home is where the heart is." But rarely do we, or should I say, I , stop to think, really think, about what intangible things make up a home. I started thinking about it a couple nights ago.

When I was newly married, and even more so when Piper was an infant, I spent a lot of time at my parents' house. You men out there may not understand this as well as us womenfolk, but motherhood in the early days can be quite a daunting and confusing task. Its not the basic act of caring for this new life so much as your new role. Suddenly, you are supposed to fit the bill. You will not only care for this baby, but also make it seem like you've got it all together. House clean, check! Grocery shopping done, check! Laundry clean, folded and put away, check! The wonderful aroma of dinner cooking when your husband gets home, you bet! Somehow in the middle of this though, you start wondering how you went from being a little girl to someone else's MOM!! For me, I think I blinked and suddenly I was the one in charge of all the things that my mom used to be in charge of, and let me tell you that is a scary thought!! Nearly nine years later there are still days its a scary thought :) So, anyway, I think thats why I spent a lot of time at my parents' house, because it made ME feel secure, taken care of and like everything was going to be okay even when I wasnt sure what I was supposed to be doing.

Why, you ask, did I start thinking about all this now?? Tim was working late so I took the kids to Nana and Papa's for dinner. No special occasion, no birthday to celebrate, just to be together. Okay, the crockpot full of homemade meatballs and marinara played a little part. Let me rewind just a bit and tell you that my parents moved about a year and a half ago so the house we go to now wasn't the memory making house per se. But it was when I was walking to the freezer in the basement to get another loaf of garlic bread before going home (Nana's great for carryouts) that I had a moment. I realized that even though my mom and dad have lived in this house only a short time, it has their mark on it. It has that "feeling" to it - you know the one where it's like a big hug, a deep breath, a weight lifted off your shoulders.

One of my favorite things in my home is the sign about the doorway that reads, "Home is where your story begins." My sister-in-law gave it to me several years ago, and it's so true. It really doesn't matter where you live, or how long you've lived there. Your memories travel with you. It's how you treat the people you make part of your family, the times you share together. Coming back home, wherever home is at the time, is a great feeling.

I'll probably never have it all together the way my mom did. I'm still scrambling to get lunches into backpacks when the bus is rounding the corner, my daughter ate mac n cheese for breakfast this morning and I was late turning in my kids book order forms. But, those lunches were nutritious and tailored to each child's personal tastes, the mac n cheese was organic, and I read with my kids every day. It is rare that all our shoes make it into the closet at the end of the day, they often have to be located under the chair or couch and you can usually scrounge up a full ziploc baggy of Annie's cheddar bunnies under the seats in our Suburban.

Despite all this chaos, I hope that my own family feels the same way about the home we are making together that I do about the way my parents still provide emotional comfort for me. This time of year is obviously full of Christmas traditions in our home, but we also celebrate two December birthdays. Piper turns 9 on the 14th and Carter will be 5 on the 15th. (How's that for planning???) There are three things that always have to happen on birthdays in our house. Number one, the birthday child picks the dinner meal. Number two, breakfast is ALWAYS the birthday coffee cake which is a gooey concoction of butterscotch pudding mix, cherries and frozen dinner rolls. (A huge challenge for a dye-free fam, but go ahead, challenge me!!) Yummm!!! And finally, the birthday child picks their cake. This sounds simple enough, but is apparent that my children have been spoiled with an abundance of homemade treats. No simple chocolate or vanilla here. Carter has chosen carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and Piper requested a chocolate peppermint ice cream cake. The carrot cake is in the oven for Saturday's celebration and I begin the search for all-natural peppermint ice cream free of the dreaded Red 40 tonight. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, here I come. I like to think that these simple traditions (complete with the aroma of ginger and cinnamon wafting through the house) will be part of the story I'm beginning for my kids.

Here's hoping that all my friends and family get a chance to come back home this holiday season, wherever home may be. May your holidays be filled with old memories and plenty of time to make new ones.

Apple of My Eye

Its fall and I find myself humming a little tune as I make my way through the day. I LOVE Fall! I love the colors outside, the cooler temperatures, the smell of leaves burning, the fact that there's no chance of it being so hot that the back of my legs stick to a lawn chair as I try to stand up. These are valid reasons, okay? With fall comes my insatiable need to create in the kitchen! I think no matter how technologically advanced we become we still have a little Flinstone in us! I'm stocking up for the winter here (Tim is a happy man when I go into this mode!) I love all foods fall - soup, chili, pumpkins, apples, cranberries, you name it! We spent a lovely 39 degree day on Saturday at our favorite orchard in Malta. After making three bottles for Scout, spilling an entire one on the floor, cleaning it up, forgetting the other two in the fridge, and making a bathroom stop halfway, we finally arrived at the orchard. We watched the temperature on the rearview mirror in the burbie drop degree by degree as we got closer. We were so unprepared for how cold it was, we put on every remotely warm article clothing we had brought along, it was reminiscent of Clark Griswold locked in the attic in Christmas Vacation, minus the turban! Our comedy of errors continued as we waited in line for tractor to take us to the pumpkin patch, got too cold, went into the "Country Store" to warm up, saw the tractor coming, ran back out (as fast as we could with five stay-puff marshmallow children, 4 pecks of apples, a gallon of apple cider, a diaper bag, a camera bag and two strollers.) You know where this is going, don't you? The tractor was filled up by the time we got back out there. So, as Finley's running nose actually began to freeze on her face, we decided to call it a day. After packing up, driving 10 miles down the road, realizing Tim forgot one of the strollers, turning around to retrieve it, and finally getting home, we just bought some pumpkins and gourds from a nice farmer in Monee. But, I did have an amazing variety of apples and a hankering to do something with them. So here is my creation . . .

Crockpot Apple Butter

Start with about 18 apples

(I used a mix of Jonathan, Ida Red and Stabrite, I like mine more on the tart side)

Core, and slice apples (Leave peel on)



Add 1/2 cup apple cider and 2 tablespoons mulling spices to crockpot. Cook on high 3 hours and you will end up with this:



Here's where you need the best kitchen tool ever - the food mill. Mine was purchased from a hardware store for under $20 dollars. Nothing fancy, but it does the job!



Working in batches, run apple mixture through food mill, you will end up with an applesauce like mixture. All the seeds, peels and whole spices remain in the food mill.



Return apple mixture to crockpot, add 1/4 sugar, 1 tablespoon good cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/8 teaspoon each of mace and cloves. Cook two more hours on high.



Now if you're a fan of apple butter, you know what makes it different from applesauce is its richness and velvety texture. If you have an immersion blender (got mine for $9.99 at Jewel,) here's where you use it. Put that bad boy right in the crockpot and make some apple butter!! This makes all the difference in texture, believe me!! Now taste your creation. If you like more sugar, now's the time to add it. Then finish cooking another hour or so, stirring occasionally.





Your house will smell so incredible when you make this (if you had a scratch-n-sniff computer screen, you'd understand!)

Crockpot Apple Butter
18 apples
1/2 cup apple cider
2 tablespoons mulling spices
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon mace
1/8 teaspoon cloves

Enjoy!!