Sugar, Gluten and Dairy oh my!

Our house has been sugar, gluten and dairy free since Mid August. 

Maylin has what one might call a sensitive tummy and we have been desperate to try to find a diet that doesn't hurt her belly. While on this diet her tummy has been doing much better but we aren't perfect just yet. 

Yeah, if you are thinking "what's left to eat?" You aren't alone. We eat a lot of berries and granny smith apples (other fruits are too sugary), green veggies (no carrots, peas or corn) organic chicken and or grass fed beef and some raw nuts (a few other things here and there).

              So... Monday when a nutritionist told us to eat what we now call 'junk' food for the next week (so that when she gets her blood work the ingredients that potentially bother her are in her system)  you have never seen Pierson do the happy dance so wildly! Maylin went back and forth between excitement and nervous questions like, "Am I going to be sick from this?"  "Mom, do you think this will hurt my belly?" 

 I let them pick a few things that I wouldn't have even bought pre-tummy troubles.

 It was extremely difficult to choose. (Pierson didn't stop dancing through the entire store)

 She went back and forth and back and forth trying to decide what type of cookie to get.

 ICE CREAM!

"Do we want this one? Or this one? Or this one?  Mom can we have all of them?"

We are two days into 7 days of 'bad eating'... So far it hasn't been too bad on the belly...
May all your grocery shopping experiences be as exciting as ours has been this week!

It is a good day when the Millers are in town

 7 little monkeys swinging in a tree!

The painful "serious" picture. It forces them to appear like calm, sweet angels.

  But the truth is...

we're all a little crazy!

Crazy little Angels that is! :)

walk, play, eat

Our family loves the beach. Not just being in the vicinity, but the actual beach, the sand, the waves, the wind. It has always baffled me to hear that some people go to the beach to shop, or swim in a pool, or those who only actually touch the sand once or twice during their week... To me that is just weird. ;) 

Our family is the type to get on the beach in the morning and stay until 4:30, 5:00 or sometimes later. Even then it isn't unusual for us to go back to the house, shower, eat dinner and head back to the beach for an evening walk or meal.  

 We walk in the moonlight.

 We wade in the waves.

 We play in the sand...

 We play in the sand...

 We jump in the waves

 We skimboard

 We play in the sand (did I say that already?)

 We 'surf' in the waves.

 We dive like dolphins.

 And we play in the sand.

When we're done with all that we go back to the house to shower... and sometimes we head back to the sand to eat diner. 

And play some more!

So even with the "shark" days this summer we never even considered doing anything but 'stay on the beach.

  

Here's to the beach. I hope you enjoy it as much as our family does! 

Sunset at Sunset Beach: White Pictures

7 kids, 8 match-y outfits, 9 thousand pictures!

Ok. Maybe 9,000 is an exaggeration but we do take a lot of pictures! I mean... who wouldn't with this crew?!  

Yep. My sister and I are that silly. We still try to color coordinate the kids outfits each day. Here is a shot from each evening of vacation.