lions and apes and pandas, oh my!

I'm so lucky, I've gotten to go on every field trip my boys have ever gone on.   Its so much fun to see your child with their school friends, joking and laughing and having a fun experience together outside of school. 

I love that I got to go to the National Zoo today and spend time with just Dylan and his friends.  You always get to know some of the other parents, too.   I even got to ride the bus and well, that's always an adventure too.  

Living in the DC area, I sometimes forget how fortunate we are that so many attractions are free admission.   In fact, I don't think there is another zoo in the country that doesn't charge an entrance fee.   There have been many times I've left the National Zoo feeling disappointed that many of the animals were hidden or not easy to spot.   Or that many of the exhibits were under construction.  Today, however, was a nice surprise.  It was a chilly day, and there were no crowds at all.  We got up close views of the Giant Pandas, Tigers, Lions, Apes and the Orangutans.  We saw giant tortoise, walked thru a rainforest bird habitat, saw Elephants, Snakes, Alligators and Iguanas.  We didn't get to see every exhibit before it was time to meet the bus, but the animals we did see were awesome!

Look at that sky. The oragnutans were putting on a show, and one of them had dreads!

check out the roaring!  I've never seen a lion make such a fuss!

two thumbs up for Ticonderoga Farm

The past few weeks have been a blur of doctors appointments, hospitals and waiting rooms.  With all the craziness and recovery time, we haven't yet made it to any of the cool fall farm festivals in our area.  Also, Dylan's swim team practice is on Sundays at 1:30 making it hard to fit other adventures in. 

So it was kind of nice to get a swim team cancellation notice and realize we'd have our whole day free today, wide open, to do something together.  Logan isn't 100% back to himself yet but he's much better than he was a few days ago and we did plenty of sitting and resting today during our adventure.

Typcially in pasts falls, we've gone to Great Country Farm or Cox Farm, and both are equally great. But we know what's there and they're very popular farms, with big crowds.  Several friends told us about Ticonderoga Farm in Chantilly, mentioning there was lots to do and much fewer people.  They were right on both counts.

We had a great day. The staff was really friendly. The boys got to feed the baby goats bamboo, and pet them.  The sun was shining, the air was crisp and the chickens were roaming freely.  The giant bouncing pillow and slides were a hit, and Logan loved his pony ride.  There was a fun shaky bridge, tee-pees, kid sized log cabins, and a nice long hay ride.  Both boys had their faces painted.  There were no lines to do any of the activities, which was the best part of all.

a whole new approach

Recently at Casa Lopresti, we've been making some big changes to the food we buy, cook and eat.  It can be very overwhelming (not to mention expensive) to make a lot of changes at once.  Especially when you're used to grocery shopping on a budget, as we are in our household.  There is a lot of confusing information out here, thousands of books, articles and websited dedicated to the subject of healthy food and healthy living.

For many good reasons, we've decided to stop buying so many processed foods, foods with food dyes, foods with high fructose corn syrup, and we're rying to eat more organic, whole,natural foods.  We've talked to the boys about these changes and I think its going to take some getting used to.  The bottom line is, if we don't teach our kids how to eat the right things, who will?  Its true, we are what we eat.  And we love food at Casa Lopresti.  We love shopping for it, buying it, cooking it, and we certainly love eating it.  We love growing it too (or at least Andrew does) so we're off to a good start in that department.

What I've learned very quickly is you can spend a fortune eating everything organic.  If you walk through any normal grocery store (other than Whole Foods or Trader Joe's) you'll quickly notice all the products on sale are the junk food.  PopTarts, 2 boxes for $5!  Doritos, Buy One Get One Free!  I used to know better than to buy that stuff.  But something happened along the way of having kids.....kids who in certain food phases have been known to only eat a total of five foods.  Plus, its confusing when you go the grocery store right?  All natural, low fat, low cholesterol, no triglycerides, grass fed, organic, with natural ingredients... what does it all mean?  It means in order to grocery shop and buy the 'right' things, you have to read the labels. And to read the labels, you can't have any children with you.  Not an easy task for a stay at home mom who is trying to get the hell out of the grocery store without any fruit snacks in the grocery cart before the five year old hits the wall and throws himself face down in the middle of the aisle.  I have been that mom at the grocery store, throwing the Pringles into the grocery cart just to silence the whining.  

I have at least managed to stand my ground on some things... we have never allowed sodas, we insist they drink a lot of water, and we enforce a fruit with every meal. They love sweet potatoes, and carrots with dip, and black beans and fruit smoothies.  Dylan prefers to pack his lunch (which I do for him still, so its healthy), and Logan doesn't eat lunch at school yet.  I do pack him a healthy snack everyday...applesauce, fruit leather, fresh fruit, etc.  So we're not HORRIBLE eaters, but we could sure make better choices in a lot of areas.  We have a lot of things going for us. Andrew loves to grow food and we have an amazing garden, thanks to him.  We both enjoy cooking, and we truly enjoy a variety of healthy, great foods.

We're hoping one benefit to these dietary changes, of course, will be that we all feel better.  There have been a lot of studies regarding kids, behavorial issues, and food dyes, like this study.   If removing some of the chemicals can help all of us, including Logan, we'll never go back again.  And by the way, have you tasted organic milk?  Its totally delicious.  I'm not a big milk drinker but this could change all of that for me.

So we're trying to go back to the basics.  Healthy, all natural, nothing BLUE.  Are we going to let our kids trick or treat?  Are we going to enjoy ourselves at Disney in two weeks?  Yes. The book I recently borrowed from my friend Jersey Baby, "The Unhealthy Truth" has a ton of great information not to mention a realistic attitude towards it all.  If you can try to live an 80/20 lifestyle, you're doing pretty darn good.   80% natural, healthy, whole foods.  I think we can do that.  Also, the book scared the crap out of me about the amount of toxins and chemicals in our foods.  So we're starting to go organic with our dairy products and thanks to my sister-in-law, this great list of the "dirty dozen" fruits and veggies to try and buy organic.  Eventually we'll probably try and buy more organic meats too.

I'm thinking I'll be posting quite a bit about this new adventure with food.  As we try products that are new to us, or as I make recipes that are a hit with our family, I'd love to share them here.  Fortunately I have a lot of friends who are already helping to educate me on what's healthy.  Its not like I didn't know this, but somehow I've forgotten it seems.  I'm a little late for this party, but better late than never.

The good news is, we're living in a time of huge variety.  You can buy Gatorade with no artificial flavors or colors.  Chances are, you have a farmers market near you where you can buy straight from the source.  If you read and educate yourself, you can easily make the choice between say.. a box of fruit snacks which are nothing but corn syrup and food dye, and the delicious, all natural Wegmans Fruit Flats. 

Speaking of which, our kids are big on snacks.   They do, fortunately, like plenty of healthy snacks -- fresh fruit, cheese, popcorn, dried fruit, yogurt.  But if given the chance, they will also choose junk if its in the pantry.  I went through our pantry this week and threw out a ton of stuff I'm putting on our 'no' list.... microwave popcorn, fruit snacks, flavored chips, soups and breads flavored with high fructose corn syrup, Pop Tarts and  Toaster Strudels (yes, I'm embarrassed to say I had those things.  When you have picky eaters like we do, you'll resort to desperation sometimes just to see them eat something.)   Thanks to my friend Jersey Baby who told me about this oh-so-fun old-fashioned stove top popcorn maker.  Its in the mail already and we can't wait to cook up our first batch. 

She also is has a friend who writes a great blog called Sweet Peas and Pumpkins, written by an Ohio mom who strives to cook healthy, natural, wholesome meals for her family including her self-proclaimed two picky little boys.  Her site offers a wide selection of healthy, kid friendly recipes and its organized really well.  Lots of great photos and all around great tips for healthy eating.

I made this delicious white chicken chili earlier this week, yummy!  We topped it with fresh chunks of avocado, lite sour cream and cheese, and fresh chopped cilantro.  Logan still wasn't eating anything due to his sore throat, but Dylan did try it.  It wasn't his favorite but we'll keep trying.

This afternoon, I made Sweet Pea Chef's homemade hummus and everyone agreed, its a hit.  I can't believe how fresh, easy and inexpensive it was to make it.  Sure, a jar of tahini is about $8 but once you buy it you can make many, many batches of hummus over the months.  A couple cloves of garlic, juice from one lemon, one can of chick peas, 1 TBSP olive oil, and a decent food processor.  Coupled with Stacy's Naked Pita chips...its a delicious, natural, healthy snack perfectly fit for an afternoon of football watching.  Best of all, the kids love it, and its a much better snack choice than neon colored chips.

I may sound like I'm flipping out.  I'm not going to buy a cow or raise chickens in the backyard (not that it wouldn't be cool).  I'm not going to churn my own butter or make my own yogurt.  Well, maybe someday it would be fun to try!  But I am going to start making better choices about what foods I buy, starting now.  The light NON-GREEN mint chip ice cream for my boys, with a short list of ingredients I can read, instead of the neon green ice cream with an ingredient list a mile long.  No high fructose corn syrups in our bread or cereal.  No more sugary coffee creamers. We've changed to these sugar free syrups for our coffee, and half and half.

It really just boils down to making better choices.  Avoiding preservatives, additives, and chemicals whenever possible.  Teaching our kids how to make good choices about what they put in their bodies.  Food has gotten so convenient and processed during my lifetime.  What will food be like twenty years from now, when our boys have to shop for their families?  Its a little scary to think what people could possibly be eating by then if we all don't make some changes now.

I'm looking for any and all food ideas, recipes, products and information to embrace this healthy food overhaul.  If you're reading this and would like to share anything your family loves food-wise, please do. I've gotten so many great ideas already from friends and family.  We all want to feel good about what we eat, and we want to feel like we're making the best choices for ourselves and our families. 

I know I'll be spending a lot more time in the aisles of Wegmans reading labels, researching recipes, and bringing more whole foods back into our lives.  Life is sweet, life is short, and we are what we eat.

7 days later...

This has been the position my poor baby boy has assumed for the entire week.  It turns out the first couple days after tonsil and adeniod removal are nothing compared to the pain that comes on days 4, 5, 6, 7...  

Its been rough for us both.  First, he hasn't been able to sleep through the night, even on hydrocodone.  We've been making journeys to the kitchen at 2 am for popsicles and ice chips.  He hasn't eaten a single solid food since his surgery.  Its been hard, even, to keep him drinking (which is most important). 

They warn you post-op their breath will be bad.  Bad isn't the word, its horrible. All the tissue in the back of the throat is healing and no amount of teeth brushing does a single thing.  So while its been nice to have him cuddle up, the breath has not been pleasant.

He has not gone back to school yet.  I keep waiting for him to turn the corner and at least be able to eat something solid, and/or drink without crying in pain. At this point, we will probably just wait until Monday to send him back.   No t-ball again this weekend and we'll have to see about Tuesday nights' game.  And he's on a break from taekwondo.

He has a birthday party to attend Saturday, so I hope he can at least make that, at least for a little while (I will stay to make sure he's okay).

Its been a long week. But on the bright side, I've cleaned out several closets (including our pantry which I did an entire junk food overhaul and got rid of foods we are eliminating from our diets to try and live more healthfully), cleaned the heck out the house, made homemade bread, macaroni and cheese and white chicken chili, and wrote copious thank you notes for all the meals people have sent our way these past couple of weeks.

Tomorrow marks the two week countdown until our long awaited trip to Disney World.  I have to think he'll be back to normal long before then.  Andrew is almost back to normal, having almost fully recovered from his back surgery.  My Stepdad had similar back surgery with the same surgeon two days ago and is overjoyed with how great he already feels. Thank goodness for modern medicine.

But back to Logan... I know in the long run it will all be worth it. This will help him get much better quality sleep and will even likely cut down on throat infections.  As a mom though, its hard to watch him cry in pain and have very little I can do for him.  I'm really ready to put this behind on and have our normal life back.

Homecoming Parade

Yesterday afternoon, Dylan got to march in our high school Homecoming parade with his Cub Scout den.   He was super excited, and had a giant bag of candy to throw out into the crowd along the route.  It poured almost all day and cleared up just in time.  The parade takes place each fall and we've always just been spectators, so it was fun to actually watch for Dylan and lots of other kids we know from the boys school.

I'm not exactly sure why his hat has mouse ears stapled to it, but it had something to do with the theme of the parade.

Logan, sore throat and all, waiting patiently for some candy to come his way.   And you know he doesn't feel good when his whole bucket is still full today.  At least he had fun collecting the candy.

Its a pretty big parade for a high school homecoming.  I watched and watched for Dylan..there were so many Scouts.  And then suddenly he was right in front of me.

And then he was gone.

There were a couple of make-shift floats but nothing like what I remember constructing in high school for our homecoming parade.  I remember (vaguely) spending hours and nights in someone's barn gluing tissue paper on a giant paper mache eagle.  And then during the actual parade, a large empty bottle of rum rolled out from under the eagle as we made the turn onto the football field.  I have absolutely no idea where that came from.

fear the Storm

Although I haven't posted anything about it with this crazy fall we've had, Logan is playing his second season of t-ball. This time his team is called the Storm, and they have super cool logo.   There's been a lot of rain this fall, so the schedule has been hit or miss.  And now with his surgery recovery, he has to sit out sports for a couple of weeks.   He'll hopefully be back in shape to join in for the last one or two games of the season.  

He still loves it, and he's really good.  Its fun to watch him play and I'm sure he'll want to play again in the spring when its a bigger season and more activities surrounding the team.

goodbye t & a

Logan did great today and it all went very smoothly.  We left his tonsils and adenoids at the Fairfax Surgical Center at about 10:45 this morning.  He stayed in recovery, sleeping in my arms, until about 1 pm.  

Now for the tricky part.  Keeping him subdued and resting for the next several days.  They told me not to let him outside, no running, no jumping, and to just keep him on the couch with movies and cold drinks.  Umm, yea.  They don't know my child very well.   He's already arguing with me to go outside and ride his skateboard which he will "only ride in the garage...he promises".  He has a giant bottle of hydrocodone so maybe that will help keep him still.   He wanted a cheeseburger on the way home, and a milkshake.  Its like it never even happened.

Andrew is upstairs resting.  I think in a few days he'll feel so much better.  I've been battling a head cold throughout this whole ordeal and truth be told, if I could crawl into bed right now and sleep for two straight days I would.

Here's my little bear prior to surgery this morning.  The nurses gave him a new little buddy to keep him company.

And here he is, snuggled in my arms post-op.  Friends of ours were there with their son, having the same procedure, and she took this photo.  Logan was so quiet, and so didn't cry or flinch even one time.  Such a brave boy!

one down, one to go

Andrew had back surgery yesterday.  We found out this was going to happen five days earlier.   And Logan's long awaited tonsillectomy and adeniodectomy is tomorrow.  To say things have been busy... well, that doesn't quite cover it. 

Lets back up.  Years ago, Andrew started having back pain.  We think it kind of started back when Dylan was a baby and had chronic ear infections.  He couldn't sleep laying down at night, so Andrew would carry him up and down the hall all night.  Anyone whose ever held a baby can tell you five minutes of that can hurt your back, let alone months on end.   His back pain has come and gone thru the years, and when it flares up he goes to our chiropractor a few times and she fixes him right up.

Two weeks ago, it started hurting again, but in a MAJOR way.  In a there-is-no-comfortable-position-whatsoever kinda way.  Last Tuesday he hobbled in the front door with a look of sheer pain on his face, and then was not able to position his body to get into the car and take Logan to t-ball that night.   Nor was he able to sleep.  No amount of medication or adjusting at the chiropractors was helping.  We went for an MRI Wednesday, the MRI results were shared with our chiropractor immediately, and the very next morning we had an appointment with an incredible back surgeon a couple of towns over.  We were just going to talk to him...let him see the MRI and get some information on the surgery, and think it over.  After hearing that the surgery would dissapate the pain almost immediately, that the recovery would be very short, we were signed up before we left the office that day. 

We had to cancel a major fall camping trip with a lot of good friends, which made us sad.  But all the lifting and bending and carrying camping requires, not to mention sleeping on an air mattress... it just wasn't going to happen.  He spent the weekend resting his back and we geared up for the event.

The surgery went very well, although the disc herniation was a little more than the MRI showed.  The doctor had to scrape at the affected spinal nerves quite a bit, and there will be some tenderness for a few days. But the pinching, numbness Andrew felt was gone the moment he woke up from surgery. They kept him overnight last night, and I brought him home today.  He has some great medication, and we'll be taking it easy for several days at least.  By this time next week, he will be a new man.

I took the boys to visit him last night, and they were showered with attention from the nurses.  They now have a years supply of surgical gloves, and they got all the ice cream they wanted to eat.

I'm glad the surgery could happen so quickly, and I'm glad he has relief.  My Stepdad has very similar back issues and is going to have surgery with the same spinal surgeon next week.

We're very thankful for the outpouring of support, playdates, well wishes, dinners and goodies people have been kind enough to offer.  The thoughtfulness and generousity is so wonderful.  The staff at Reston Hospital was simply fantastic.  Every nurse, every doctor, every single person we interacted with was friendly, humorous, thorough, accomodating and nurturing. Every single one.  It could not have gone any better.

So, one down.

Tomorrow, Logan will undergo his procedure.  Its at a different facility, with a different doctor.  We have experience with this doctor though.  He's the ENT who put in Dylan's ear tubes when Dylan was 10 months old.  He's fantastic as well, and I know the tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy are going to help improve Logan's quality of sleep.  We've been told Logan will have lots of discomfort for at least a couple of days. Hopefully he'll sleep a lot, and I can keep him resting and comfortable.  We're stocked up on popsicles and fruit smoothie ingredients.  I think it will be several days, though, before he can chow down on his beloved Cinammon Toast Crunch cereal again.  He will go back to school sometime next week.

We also celebrated my Mom and Robby's 20th wedding anniversary this past Sunday with a big family party, since Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bill are in town. Lots of good photos from that party, but they're still on my camera and will have to wait for another day.

Again, thanks to all our friends and family for thinking of us and helping us get through this time!

blue ribbon at BeST

I've always been so proud of our elementary school, and have felt so fortunate that our boys are having such an amazing start to their educations.

Our school has just won the National Blue Ribbon award, placing it in the top 1% of schools in the entire country.  Its such an honor, and such a testament to the incredible job the staff and teachers do there.

Congratulations to the school and everyone who made this possible!