Rainy Day Fun!

It rains here a lot more than we were used to living in California so we are making the most of it. Personally I love the rain but it can make it difficult to get the kids outside to release some energy when everything is wet. It dried up enough to go out and have a little fun and I got to take some cute pictures.

Of course she found mud as soon as we stepped outside.

We love our rain boots!

Although it can be hard to get these kids outside every day, I certainly try. Sometimes its too cold and sometimes its too wet but when the sun comes out and the kids are hyper, we are sure to head outside. We are slowly but surely figuring this cold-weather thing out.

How Essential Oils Changed Us

I started using essential oils back in July when my kids were getting sick ALL THE TIME! I was sick of them getting sick and since they are so young, traditional medicines were out of the question. My friend from college had been posting about essential oils so I finally asked her about them. Little did I know, I would be hooked and they would have such a huge impact on our lives.

To start, here is a little information about Essential Oils in general. What are they: essential oils are oils derived directly from a plant source. Sometimes its the leaves, sometimes its the seeds, sometimes its the bark. They are potent liquids that are all natural and have MANY uses. How do they work: In nature, essential oils protect the plant. They help to rebuild an eaten leaf or they play a role in pollination. They help people in the same way. They help to regulate a digestive system, heal wounds, rid of aches and pains, boost the immune system, etc. How are they used: there are three main ways to use essential oils: aromatically, topically and internally. Aromatically is simply smelling the oil. Topically is putting in on your skin. Internally is taking it in either through a drink, food or in pill form. (For more information on what essential oils are and how they work, visit www.doterra.com.

Here's how essential oils have helped us:

-Getting Sick: like I mentioned, my kids were getting sick every other month. Fever, congestion, cough. The whole shebang. Since using essential oils, especially the immunity booster OnGuard, they are sick way less often and I think Brayden has had ONE fever. Even if they do get sick, or I get sick, we can get rid of it in just a few days by using a combination of OnGuard, Breathe, and Oregano. I feel so much better knowing I am not giving them medicines that will have adverse affects.
*Note: it is VERY important to always dilute essential oils when using them, especially on children. Use Fractionated Coconut Oil to dilute the essential oils before putting them on children. 

-Headaches: I used to get headaches all the time and it wasn't because I was dehydrated or hungry. I would either suffer all day and be in a bad mood or I would take Ibuprofen. I threw away the Ibuprofen and we have replaced it with Peppermint oil and the roll-on blend PastTense. Both are amazing for headaches and I haven't taken any type of pain reliever since starting oils.
*Note: Again, you will want to dilute the Peppermint oil. It is very potent and it can cause your eyes to sting and water if placed on your forehead without diluting it first.

-Mood & Energy Level: As a sleep-deprived mom, I am often tired, sleepy and sometimes grumpy. That is not how I want to spend my days with my kids. I want them to know me as being happy and energetic. I used to pump coffee in me all day long but caffein is just a temporary fix and would actually give me those headaches I mentioned above. I started diffusing the oil blends Elevation and Citrus Bliss and putting the Lemon oil in my water every morning. I find myself to be happier and more productive all day long. If I start feeling tired or I need an extra burst of energy to get the house cleaned, I put some oils in the diffuser and get to work.

-Stress: By the end of every day, I was ready to bite someone's head off. I was stressed and beyond ready for the kids to go to bed so I could sit in silence. That doesn't exactly make for a fun bedtime routine for the kids. After dinner, I started diffusing Lavender or Serenity and it has made a huge difference for us. It not only calms me down and reduces my stress, but it calms the kids down and gets them ready to go to sleep. Going to bed has become less of a fight and therefore, less stressful for me. The kids are calm and ready to lay their heads down. And once the kids are sleeping, I can just sit in the silence with the diffuser running and get myself to a calm place. It has been amazing for the whole family.

-Nausea and Stomach Issues: Hubby always seems to have a stomach ache and he used to use Pepto Bismol to help. It never really helped enough and so I was thrilled to learn that doTERRA has an oil for just these specific issues. DigestZen is awesome! You literally just rub it right on your stomach and in just a minute or two, you start feeling better already. Hubs has felt so much better by using this particular oil and it's definitely one we always keep on hand.

So those are the main reasons we use essential oils and how the oils have helped us. I have no doubt they can help ANYONE with practically any issue you can think of. The reason I love essential oils so much is that 1) they never expire 2) you can use all sorts of combinations to combat whatever ailment you are experiencing 3) they work wonder for kids that can't take traditional medicine. Just remember that essential oils, while all natural, are still very potent and should be used with caution. You'll want to test them on your skin (diluted) to see if you react well to them. Obviously if you are allergic to grapefruit, you don't want to use grapefruit oil or any blend that has grapefruit in it. Oils still need to be treated like medicine and it's especially important to dilute them when using on children. They have more sensitive skin than adults and therefore need less of the oil to do the job.

This is the Family Physician Kit which is what I started with. It includes the membership so you get the oils at wholesale price (25% off retail), the introductory kit, 10 5mL bottles of the most popular oils, bottle stickers, and a bottle of Slim n' Sassy. It's a great way to get started using oils!

These aren't the only products I use either. I use the OnGuard toothpaste and house cleaner, shampoo & conditioner, face products and I continue to find new products that I love and use daily.

Have you used essential oils? What is your favorite?

If you're interested in learning more about oils, just let me know! I would love to share my knowledge and get you started on a medication-free life. You can also visit my personal doTERRA office at www.mydoterra.com/stephaniesentelle to order products at retail price if you aren't interesting in becoming a member and getting 25% off the products.


Disclosure: I am not a medical professional and I am not giving any medical advice. I am simply stating what has worked for my family. I suggest asking a doctor before starting any new medical routine.

In the future, I plan on posting recipes I use for oils like the kid-friendly OnGuard roll-on bottle of oil I use on the kids daily. I also have a few recipes for relaxation and one to kick a cold in it's butt.

Resolutions for 2015

With the new year just a day away, I thought I would share some of my resolutions for 2015. I am really going to focus on a few areas of my life that I want to improve so here we go!

-Reduce debt and save money: this is probably the most important one for me. We don't have much debt so it shouldn't take too long to get rid of it but I hate having that looming over us. Especially since we are going to be buying a house, I want our smaller debt gone. Along with that, we have spent so much money getting our family out to Alabama that we need to build back our savings account. I love to have a cushion of money for emergencies like medical issues, car problems, house repairs, etc. I like to have a good amount of money aside for those things so we don't get ourselves in a bind if something happens.

This is the 52 Week challenge but I am doing it backwards so I only have to save $10 in the month of December so we won't have to worry about saving a ton of money and buying Christmas presents in the same month!

-Weight loss/healthy lifestyle: I am really striving to get back to eating healthy and feeling better. Since moving out here, we have been indulging in stuff we hardly ever ate in California. I have been feeling heavy and sluggish and I want to get back to feeling energized. I am hoping to start the year with a detox boot camp (don't worry, I still eat real food!) and I know that once we are in our own house, we will be eating much healthier because I don't buy the crap. I will also have a better opportunity to work out since our neighborhood will be nice and I can go on walks with the kids. Until we get the house though, I need to start things off with workouts I can do in the house while the kids are napping.

Arbonne Detox

-Activities with the kids: I mentioned in the last post about my preschool plans with Brayden and that will definitely contribute to this resolution. I want to focus the kids more on learning activities and make sure we are turning the TV off and staying away from the screen. I haven't been very good at monitoring their screen time and I know Brayden watches too much TV and doesn't play enough. That is going to change for sure! Again, once we are in our own house and the kids have all their toys back and things are organized, it will be easier to manage activities. I will also have our art supplies back (right now they are in storage) so we will be able to paint and color again.

Magnet fun! Can't wait to have these back.

-Expand my Essential Oils business: I have been using and selling essential oils for about 6 months and I am seriously obsessed with them! They have helped my family so much and I am so passionate about them. I want to work on selling more so I can help bring in some money. Since I don't have a teaching job and I stay home with the kids, this would be a nice way to bring in a little money to help out. Look out for a post coming up about essential oils and how they have helped us so much!

This is the Family Physician Kit which is what I started with. Changed a whole lot about my life!

So those are my resolutions for 2015 and I really want to make sure I stick to them. They are not really HUGE changes in life so I think it will be easier for me to make sure they get accomplished. I have already created a plan to save money (the 52 week money saving challenge) so I just need to make the necessary cutbacks in our current budget to insure we save the money each week. At the end of the year we will have saved over $1,000 so that will be a nice little amount to add to the savings account. I also have my detox boot camp package coming from a friend that sells the products so I am ready to start the year off right!

What are your resolutions and what are you doing to make sure you succeed?

Homeschooling for Preschool

Since we moved to Alabama, Brayden hasn't been in preschool like he was in California. I want to get him started in one but we really need to wait until we get a house so we can enroll him in a school close to the house. In the mean time, I want him to still be using his brain and working on skills that will help him grow and become a smarter little boy and be ready when he does start preschool again.

As I was thinking about this, I came across a pin on Pinterest about this exact topic. It had a ton of ideas and would really work for us since the writer of that post is also a mom of two and she does the learning activities while her younger child is napping.

Here is the link to the post I read: 37 Ways to Stay Sane at Home with Your Preschooler

As I get going, I will keep you updated as how things are going. I would like to make each week a theme and then do activities based on the theme like the farm, insects, transportation, etc. Hopefully Brayden enjoys most of the activities and actually participates. I will try to include short videos from youtube to make things interesting and then I would like to find activities that make him move his body. He is such a mover and doesn't sit still for almost any length of time so I don't expect him to sit still for a lesson. I am really excited to start this with Brayden and I think he will really like learning about new things.

Although we will be homeschooling for a while, I still think it's very important for kids to attend a preschool with other children and a teacher other than a parent. Children need to learn to follow directions from others and the social skills learned at school are vital to a healthy, well-rounded child. I know some people choose to homeschool and I think that's great. They find other ways to get their child to socialize but that just isn't what we are going to do. Brayden will go back to preschool in the fall when the new sessions begin.

For now I think doing the homeschooling will just help keep his brain sharp and ready to absorb new information. Hopefully it goes well!!

Christmas Festivities

This year was different than years past for one reason. It was our first official Christmas as residents of Alabama. We have been here for a Christmas before but it was just a vacation so this was new for us. It was the first year we didn't get to celebrate in person with my side of the family and that was pretty hard for me. Every single year, we have celebrated with my family. We spend the night at my parent's house on Christmas Eve and we spend the whole day together. Since it was all new territory for us this year, this is how it went down:

Christmas Eve was spent here at my MIL's house (aka our house too) and we Skyped with my family while the kids opened their gifts from them. The kids (and us) were spoiled like usual and it was a great Christmas Eve. I opened my one present, Christmas pajamas that us girls get every year from my dad, at the same time as my mom and sister over Skype. We all put them on and took our traditional picture in our new pajamas.

A few days earlier, Brayden helped make gingerbread houses!!

After Skyping with my family, we set out the milk, cookies, and carrots for Santa and his reindeer and the kids were off to bed. They looked so cute in their new pajamas and we got to read their new Christmas stories.

Life is hard when you open presents, get new pajamas and eat a cookie before bed. Oh toddlers!

Once the kids were sleeping Chance and I put out all their gifts and we headed to bed ourselves. It was an early morning since I needed to prep my traditional breakfast sticky roll. The kids were up around 7:00 and they were so excited. Well actually Madison wakes up excited every morning but Brayden was extra excited. We opened gifts, Skyped with my family again, ate breakfast, and played with their new toys. 

My traditional breakfast sticky roll. It was delicious!!

Checking out Santa's footprints!

Officer Brayden.

 Later we headed to hubby's grandma's house for the family celebration. We ate tons of amazing food, the kids got spoiled AGAIN and they played for hours outside in the fresh, crisp air.

(We did not get her a bike. This is a cousin's bike that Madison clearly enjoyed sitting on.)

It was seriously an amazing Christmas even though we weren't with my family. Next year we will most likely be in California for Christmas and try to switch off so everyone gets to spend the holidays with us.

Pigs Flying?

Wow. I have neglected this little blog of mine for WAY too long now. Life got pretty crazy with Brayden in school, Madison's first birthday and then a pretty huge change for our family.

We moved across the country!!

Thats right. Hubby got a job, the job he has been working so hard for, and it happened to be back in his home state of Alabama. This Cali girl packed up the apartment, quit her job, said goodbye to her WHOLE family, and headed for the South. We are finally adjusted, although that will change when we get a house of our own and we have to pack/unpack all over again.

For now we are doing great. Its been almost two months since the big move and we are all adjusted, finally sleeping normal again and as you can see, I can finally get back to my sweet blog! I have missed it so much!

I know I have a lot to catch up on with you all but I will start with getting back to the daily, normal stuff. Right now, since its just DAYS before Christmas, thats what I will be posting about. And probably for the next week or so.

The kids saw Santa a couple of days ago and this year, like every year in the past, turned out a fantastic photo.

Poor Madison did not like Santa AT ALL but for the first year, Brayden LOVED him. He was so excited to see Santa and tell him what he wants for Christmas this year. He literally ran up to Santa and hopped right up onto his lap. I had to rip Madison's fingers off my sweater and walk away to get the photo. She was pretty devastated. The photo couldn't be any more perfect though!

Thankfully, I have all my Christmas shopping done and everything that has been delivered is wrapped and ready for Christmas morning. I still have a few more packages coming by Christmas Eve so those will still have to be wrapped but other than that, I am ready for Christmas. I can't wait to see the kids' faces when they wake up Christmas morning to see all the presents under the tree.

On a side note, I promise to be back at least once a week with an update about us!

Madison's First Birthday!

It's been a while since I have blogged but I am hoping this is the start to blogging regularly once again.

I am back with a super fun post...MADION'S BITHDAY PARTY!!

My sweet baby girl turned one over 3 months ago and we had an awesome party to celebrate her officially becoming a toddler.  I will get to the party in a second but for now I want to share some details about my crazy girl!

Likes:
-avocado
-being held
-playing peek-a-boo
-trying to keep up with her brother
-nuzzling her face in pillows and blankets
-chasing after Brayden while I hold her
-baths...pretty much any source of water (including the dog water!)
-dogs and cats
-fruit
-books
-knocking down stacks of blocks
-digging in the trash

Dislikes:
-being strapped down
-long car rides
-things being taken away from her
-getting out of the bath
-

She is FINALLY sleeping through the night. Whew. Seriously, for a minute there, I thought it was never going to happen. I weaned her off breast feeding (well, she pretty much weaned herself) and then she stopped waking up at night. It has been amazing to finally get a full night of sleep again! I forgot what it was like for a while!

She is still small for her age...weighing in at only 17 pounds, 15 ounces at her one-year check-up. Her doctor wasn't too concerned but if she doesn't gain a good amount of weight before she is 15 months, she will have to go on a high-calorie diet. I have been giving her so much food in hopes that she gains weight and her next appointment goes well! She still wears 9 month clothing and I have so many cute clothes for her when she finally grows into 12 months.

Now onto the fun stuff! I threw her a Watermelon Picnic party and it was so fun!

It was a perfect party and I can't believe it took me so long to post about it! Oops! More updates coming soon!!