Adventures in Gluten Free

Recently we have undertaken a new adventure in our house.

We have gone Gluten Free.

More specifically: Cole has gone gluten free.

He has been having stomach problems and other symptoms

for quite some time.

We finally narrowed down his symptoms and decided to 

do the elimination diet to see if this was the issue.

It has been a bit of a learning curve for this ol' Mom

to figure out what he can and can't eat.

First of all, we know that gluten is the protein contained in wheat,

so anything with wheat is out:

breads and pastas are the major items.

But gluten is hidden all over the place.

I was making a hash brown casserole this weekend and found that 

my regular brand of frozen hash browns contain wheat - What?

I've begun to follow a few gluten free blogs, but as my adventure continues

I may throw out recipes that work for us on here as well.

So here goes: my adventure into food blogging.....

Who says gluten free has to taste icky?

I love fall & look forward to breaking out my crock pot.

I went yesterday to pick up our half-cow,

so now we've got a freezer full of meat baby!

This crock pot o' goodness is easy.

Toss the meat in with a little salt, pepper & chopped garlic.

Beef broth, about a cup

I use this Pacific brand because it's organic & gluten free.

Then I dump in a container of Pacific brand cream of whatever.

This time I used cream of chicken because it's what I had.

Mushroom is good too.

Then the veggies go in

1/2 onion, mushrooms & carrots.

I don't do potatoes because I think they get mushy.

You could though.

Sometimes I toss celery in, but we didn't have any today.

8 hours on low

one work day...

swimming lessons....

cross country meet

and then we come home to dinner ready to eat.

Yum.

If The Shoe Fits...

Stella has always been a big fan of fun shoes.

About this time last year she had a pair

of shiny black mary janes that she insisted on wearing

with everything. 

Dresses, yoga pants,

didn't matter.

Lately she has gotten into trying on other people's shoes.

Here are a few shots form the past couple of weeks.

Cole's shoes

2 different shoes

And Mom's shiny black shoes.

She stomps all around the house in these. 

I'm thinking she's going to be "that girl...." 

The one with all of the fantastic shoes.

Bennett's Home Makeover

This isn't so much a Cole & Stella post

as it is a Jim & Nola post.

So we bought our house in April 2011

and we've basically been living with the most

disgusting master bathroom on the face of the planet

since that time.

Other than the tile floor

it had not been updated since the house was built in 1988.

See that awesome gold shower door.

And the very nice peachy-tan counter top

and tile backsplash.

The previous owners were big fans of the peachy-tan.

Oh, and the sunken medicine cabinet.

And the lovely builder grade mirror.

Yeah, we couldn't take it anymore.

So we updated it. 

Here's our new bathroom. 

Much more comfy.

With a nice clean, white counter top

and cool glass tiles.

Jim and I are a pretty good home makeover team.

And now I don't cringe whenever I walk in here.

Oh, Hi- Yes I Still Have a Blog

 Oh, so I'm supposed to update this blog manually.

It doesn't just read my mind and immediately

post on my behalf. 

Hmmm.

Well, that's problematic because

these two

are clearly keeping me on my toes.

So what have we been up to?

Well, Cole is just wrapping up swimming season.

He has never swam (swum?) competitively before

but he has some buddies who are swimmers and they

talked him into joining the team. 

He wasn't sure how he would like it at first

but he ended up really enjoying himself

and getting a lot of praise from the coaches for his great team spirit.

He learned a lot too.

So did we. 

Like- those jammers are really tiny

and it's very strange to look at your 16 year old child wearing 

shorts that are smaller than Stella's pants.

And swim meets are really hot

And Stella sits really good for about 3 races

And then she basically loses her mind

and makes us feel like we're wrestling a monkey

for the rest of the meet.

Pretty sure next year we will all be better prepared.

I've Got Spirit... How 'Bout You?

Here we are at Cross Country Season again.

And it has been a great start to the Season for Cole.

He PR'ed at Time Trials

And has twice been selected to travel to out of town meets in Omaha-

an honor on a team of 90+ runners and one bus.

He has since beat his time trial time by almost a minute

and has some specific goals in mind.

We are proud of the boy- no doubt!

But that's not really what this post is about.

Instead it's that dilemma that faces many-a-sports parent these days.

It's the decal....

Last year we did not decal our car.

It feels, I don't know, showy, braggy, look at me-ish.

Cole knows we support him, 

and he also knows which car is ours 

without plastering his name on the back window.

But this year, in a moment of weakness I bought the decal.

Well, let's be honest, I bought two decals. 

Cole wanted one for his own car.

"All the cool kids have them Mom"

And Jim gave me a disapproving look as if to say:

"I don't even know you anymore."

So here I sit, another meet in 3 hours, decal in hand.

Do I show up like a lame-o Mom at the meet un-decal'd?

Other parents whispering and giving Cole supportive and empathetic looks.

"That poor boy's Mom doesn't have a decal, she must not really love him."

To decal, or not to decal.

That is the question.

So did I?

Heck no! 

Look at that dirty car.

I would have to wipe off a spot in order to put it on

and then I would look lame with just one little spot clean on my car,

so then I would have to go through the car wash.

Maybe this weekend...

Transitions

Today Stella begins her transition from her very familiar

Infant/Pre-Toddler room 

to the Toddler room

at daycare. 

She has been in the same room since she started daycare

back in 2010 at 10 weeks old.

She has had the same teachers and the same friends.

She has done lots of silly things

And has learned so much with all of her wonderful

teachers and friends.

She has grown up in this room.

But now it's time to move up.

They say she's ready

and that she's getting bored with the little kids.

My tears this morning as I dropped her off told me

that I'm not quite ready for my little girl to grow up.

Black Hills Vacation- Vol 3

Here we are doing the Alpine Slide

Cole

And Jim- in the stripes.

Stella had to sit this one out!

But then we ended up in her favorite place

in the world: 

Reptile Gardens

She developed a slight obsession with the giant tortoises.

This picture was taken moments before a

catastrophic meltdown when we had to leave

these amazing creatures behind.

On our last day we stopped at Wall Drug

where the kids rode the tiny carousel

Stella and Daddy chatted with Annie Oakley

And Cole made a new friend.

And in the spirit of the family vacation

Stella got right in on the action of posing with the statues.

We had a fantastic trip! Can't wait to do it again next year.