February Family Fun...

I found a clever way to get oliver into the jogging stroller with his bumbo chair

The basement... a work in progress at the moment. Did I mention we're going to be moving into our basement? Yes, I know it looks awful right now and is about 800 square feet- if that. We've talking about the concept of "living simply." A year and a half ago, when we lived in Edinburgh for 3 months we lived in a 500 square foot flat and loved it. Needless to say our plan has been to renovate the basement and then rent it out. That is until i came up with the idea of living in the basement for a year and renting out the main house. Whelp, very quickly my idea has come to fruition- friends of ours have committed to rent out our house for a year starting in May. It's kind of one of those things where i know it's not going to be easy or convenient but i think it will be good. I kind of feel like when things are less then comfortable and little more challenging is when i hear God the most, so in that respect I'm looking forward to this crazy trial and am excited to see what God's going to teach us. Another reason i wanted to do this was to save money. As Aaron's been working on his PhD we've incurred some school debt and as some of you may know- there is a burden that debt brings. Our hope is to be more deliberate about aggressively paying off these school loans. Lastly, I want to write a journal/book of our experience as a family of 5 living simply for a year... We'll keep you posted on it.

Just finished the Hunger Games trilogy- so good. Can't wait to see the movie on March 23rd- I'm going with a bunch of girls i'm in a book club with.

Grandma and Grandpa went to Hawaii- can you tell :)

I think Tally now wants to be a Hula dancer when she grows up

5 months already! Oliver is at such a fun stage he's giggling, grabbing his toes, rolling over both ways, and smiles all the time. February was rough for our little guy. He got Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease (from Tally) and passed it on to his daddy. He also got a bad Respiratory Infection that the doctor thought may have been RSV- luckily he's doing much better now.

We threw a travel themed baby shower for our friend's (The Browns) who are pregnant with twins (a boy and a girl)

I threw my 4th annual Panty party and it was a blast. About 14 ladies showed up for the super fun party- each gal bought and brought a fun pair of panties for a white elephant exchange we did right before Valentines Day. Above is my good friend Jen- We are soo like minded it's scary.

Valentines Day

We got a bunch of snow... Daddy throwing Aricin into the powder...

Aricin landing in the powder :(

Daddy throwing Tally in the powder...

Tally landing and trying to eat the powder :)

Building Ice caves with daddy in the front yard...

Fun lunch- they went fishing for their food. With a celery stock they had to dip it in peanut butter and then fish for the gold fish crackers- they loved it!

Aricin's Valentine this year.

February flew by and it seems like most of the month someone in our house was sick- I'm happy to say that we are all getting better and things are almost back to normal. I had a physical and learned that I have something called Gilbert's Syndrome- basically all it means is that i have an elevated Billyrubin- no other side effects but, when i got the blood test results back on the weekend before my physical i freaked out. All and all it was a good lesson and reminder that i need to have more faith and that God's in control. We had quite a few snow days in February and I was able to escape with a couple of girl friends and go snow shoeing on the back country trails in Highlands Ranch- soo soo fun! If you ever come visit- we have to sets so ask and we can take you. Aaron and I met with a job coach/counselor which was soo much fun. Aaron and his partners for Impact have been meeting with a job coach to try to figure out which areas each of the guys should be in charge of- anyways they decided to pay a little extra and let the wives join in the personality tests part.

I am a ENFJ (Extrovert, Intuitive, Feelings, and Judging.

Aaron's a ENTP (Extrovert, Intuitive, Thinking, and Perceiving.

It was interesting to find out that only like 12% of the population are Extrovert- Intuitives like us. We are the dreamers that tend to be optimistic. This explains a lot about us, our crazy dreams, and well just us in general. In the two areas where we differ...i'm more accepting

where he's more logical- this is typical for males and females. And in the last area where i'm more Systematic, planful, scheduled, and methodical- Aaron is more Casual, open-ended, and spontaneous. So fun to learn more about yourself. The counselor also said that these personality traits are something that we were born with and that they are hereditary- we often have similar personalities to our families. Fun stuff!

Other big news is that I got a job. I am the Director of Children's Ministry at our church, Adullam. It's only 3-5 hours of work a week, which is perfect for me. I've had a blast creating a handbook on our policies and procedures, starting a check in system, and shopping for the nursery and toddler rooms. As much as I love being a mommy, I love this new job and am excited about this new role because i get to use my brain in different ways.

Aricin said to me the other day "Hey mom i have a sling shot like David." I looked at him and said "you don't have any friends named David. Do you mean Davis?" He said "No mom. David. In the bible that took down Goliath." I love the way he puts me in check. He's also been asking a lot lately about his Grandma June that's in Heaven. I love to tell him about her as he fires back theological questions that i'm not always sure how to answer. He still loves pre-school, we are looking at putting him in a music academy once a week this spring. I actually just found out next year he will go Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays while Tally will go Mondays and Fridays- this will be a nice break for mommy. Tally just finished her second round of her Toddler Tumbling class and soon i'm going to be enrolling her in a ballet class. We've been swimming a lot at the rec centers and now that the snow is melted (for now) we've been hitting up the parks again. We've also had lots of trips to the Denver Aquarium. Aaron continues to stay busy with Valor and Impact. Big news for him is that he flew to Edinburgh for his progression board- this is where he has to present his work thus far and the direction he wants to go in with his research and dissertation. He passed and is now officially ABD (all but dissertation). I imagine he won't officially be done with his PhD for another couple years. While he was gone my mom came out and helped with the kids- it was soo good to have her out. I loved hanging out and talking with her while the kids loved getting spoiled by her and they way she reads to them all the time. Do you ever wish you could push a button and slow life down? I feel like we're not that busy but as i look back just a few months it's amazing to see how much our kids have grown and developed. As challenging as it is having 3 kiddos 3 and under- i really do love this toddler phase. I love the giggles, the chubby little hands, the hugs, the random comments, slurred words, baby dolls everywhere, stepping on matchbox cars, and the curiosity and questions. I won't deny it's chaotic but it's also so fun.

Jumping into January...

We finally had to tell Oliver the Niners lost...

He really hoped this was going to be their year

He's still recovering from the loss

Tally loves to sing.. in her tutu... with her crown... and guitar :)

Our little engineer loves to teach me things

Whenever it's time to feed Oliver it's also time to feed her dolly

4 months old already!

Yes, chicks do love philosophers... it's why i married your daddy

Tally's attempt at a Tebow

Aricin Tebowing

Oliver getting attacked by a Zebra... just another day

Football fans

Smiles

Another month has come and gone. Not much new this month. Talia's back in tumbling which she loves, Oliver is now rolling over and giggling which is soo fun. Aricin's learning about Dinosaurs in pre-school. Aaron's busy with Valor, Impact EdVentures, and Phd work. He'll actually be heading back to Scotland for a week in early March. And I started a new bible study on Wednesdays on parenting- something i could always use help with. Our Wednesday night small group has grown from 4 couples to 7 which is Awesome and crazy- we all do dinner together at our house and the kids play and be crazy. Big news for January is we've continued in our let's be healthy movement- have gotten rid of all the teflon pots and pans and have transitioned into only stainless steel. We've also said goodbye to all canned foods and i've started buying frozen veggies as well as making my own beans and freezing them. Next two goals are to make my own healthy salad dressings, get rid of most condiments, and make the switch to natural peanut butter. Another thing we did this month was our first Detoxifying Cleanse... I'm a nerd and kept a journal of some of the experience...

PREFACE...So the reason we're doing this detox is... well we saw a documentary- ok have seen several documentaries on food/health and as a result we've tried to make changes in our diet to eat more healthy. We've also heard it's beneficial to do a detoxifying cleanse at least once a year along with colon hydrotherapy because on average we have about 10lbs of bile clogged in our colons- gross I know. In addition both of my maternal grandparents died of colon cancer- so that makes me want to have a clean colon. I saw an add in the Whole Foods Newsletter for their Cleansing Detox for $12- a 14 day box of vitamins to cleanse your system.

DAY 1...I’m soo excited to start this detoxifying journey. We started the day with our vitamins and a blueberry, raspberry, and orange smoothie. At 10 I got a massage that was awesome and then I scored a LuLu Lemon workout tank for $4 at a thrift store. Aaron took the kids to the Zoo for the morning. On our way back I was telling Aaron how I had found 14 detox smoothies online and I planned on having each of the smoothies for each of our 14 detox days for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Aaron said that doing all meals as juices or smoothies might be really hard. I said “Pssshhhh. Whatever I have great self control.” And likened it to running a race in that I didn’t want a crutch like walking during a half marathon. I told him I wanted to do this whole 14 days with smoothies. Again he said that he thought it might be hard because I hadn’t prepared my body or practiced. “Practiced” I said as I rolled my eyes at him mockingly.

3pm… I’m in the kitchen steaming beets- I’ve never bought beets in my life and the last time I remember eating them was when I was five and my grandma made them. Did I mention I’m steaming the beets to put in a smoothie? I chop off the stems and leaves and am about to throw them away when Aaron says I bet you could use that. “Seriously?” my resourceful hubby then tells me he read online you could sauté the stems with garlic and eat them. At this point I’m really hungry so I decide to try it… I sauté my Beet stems with garlic and lets just say it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. I was so hungry for real solid food. I also made the beet, carrot, pear smoothie and have to share that it was disgusting! I was gagging trying to drink the last bits. By the time 6 rolled around I was hungry again and caved… I made a salad- so much for the smoothie only diet- I decided that since the Whole Foods Box doesn’t say anything about altering my diet that smoothies and salads will be good for the next 2 weeks.

DAY 2…For breakfast we made a almost yummy honeydew, mint, and cucumber smoothie. I think just straight honeydew would have been more satisfying. We went to church and volunteered to help out in the nursery for a meeting that was going on after the service- in return they got us subway sandwiches… Alright I know it’s not a smoothie or a salad but I was soo hungry and it tasted truly divine. From now on I’ll avoid all white flour and white sugar all animal products including eggs, milks, and meats and stick mostly to smoothies and salads. For dinner another salad.

DAY 7…I’ve been feeling pretty nautious and achy the last few mornings and I’m HANGRY- A state of anger induced by Hunger. But I should say that I’m less hungry then I was a week ago- it seems like by cutting down my portions/caloric intake I’m less hungry or fill up faster on these like a smoothie that wouldn’t have satisfied me before.

There is a hungry fat girl trapped inside that wants out! As I was shuttling Aricin to preschool and Talia to tumbling I was fantasizing about mashed potatoes-mmmmm. Forgive my Homer Simpson like fantasy. I have a confession… yesterday I had a handful of pretzels and put cheese on my beans at lunch and dinner and today after my salad for lunch… I had a heavenly spoonful of penut butter. Oh penut butter how I have missed you! Yesterday as I was making a smoothie the kids asked if they could have some I told them sure and they jumped up and down in anticipation… little did they know it was a spinach, parseley, celery, and cucumber smoothie. The looks on their faces was priceless as they took big gulps- I laughed- I laughed hard and then remembered I needed to drink my green smoothie then I gagged.

All and all week one I was way more disciplined and healthy then week two. Like i said the box didn't say you had to alter your diet- i was just trying to be uber healthy for 2 weeks and dang it was hard! I lost 5lbs in the first week and another 3 in the second week. We are now done and i do feel a little more healthy. I've stopped buying chicken nuggets for the kids and have instead switched them over to breaded mushrooms that look like chicken nuggets- i found them at Whole Foods. Yesterday was the first day of the switch with the kids- Aricin's response was "These taste funny- what was wrong with the other nuggets were they unhealthy mom?" Ha! Fun times at the Marshall Casa.

A Disney December

WARNING: This post has a lot of pictures in it...

Oliver has started smiling...

Tally and Oliver watching Aricin sing and play his guitar

Dude?

Our little Rock Star loves his new guitar

Aricin and his buddy Jovie in Visalia (They're 3 months apart)

Tally and Beckham (They're 3 weeks apart)

Evangeline Apple and Oliver Finnegan or Eve and Oli

(They have the same birthday) It was soo good to hang out with the Blairs while we were in Visalia.

Grandma Julie brought them to get gold fish for the big fish tank at her house

They loved naming all the fish

3 months old already!

Our sweet boy

How many kiddos can you fit on a kiddie couch

Sword fighting with Grandpa Rick

Playing in Grandpa Rick's truck

The girls and the kiddos

Great Grandma Alicia and the kiddos

Christmas Morning at the Ramos house

The kiddos and Grandpa, I mean Santa

Tally in her snowboarding chick outfit

Hanging with the uncles

Oh Trader Joes

It's a small world after all

Aricin watching the Disneyland Parade

Tally watching the Parade

Oliver watching us

Fun with Grandma Diane and Grandpa Bob

Sticking your tongue out always helps me focus too

The Princess Castle

Disneyland!!!

Daddy teaching Aricin how to swing properly???

Peek a boo

Rock Climbing in California

Hanging out

Watch out he can climb anything

Tally and Grandpa Bob

Aricin as a Shepherd for his pre school performance

Bath time... love baby buns

Fun dry erase project i found on pinterest

The aftershocks of "No Shave November" Aaron having fun with his facial hair.

We'll call this one "the pencil stache"

More remnants of "No Shave November" this one's just scary we can call it

"The Crazy Cowboy"

Funny faces at dinner time

Ewww Gross i know!

And like that 2011 was done. December was so fun. From Christmas parties to catching up with friends and family I didn't want it to end. We drove out to California this year and the kids did surprisingly Awesome and by the grace of God we didn't encounter any snow. (Big praise after last February's roll over on the black ice) We started our trip in Glendale- spending a few days with Aaron's dad and Diane. They brought us to Disneyland, the kids had a blast and liked the finding Nemo ride and small world the best. I of course doubled Aaron's score again in the Buzz Light year shooting game (He claimed a faulty gun- maybe next year hunny). We then trecked to Visalia and hung out with the fam for a couple days before heading to the coast to hang out with Aaron's brother Andy and his wife Star and their kiddos Attison and Ayla. It was great for the kids to play together and fun to hang out before we headed to Santa Barbara. In Santa Barbara we got to catch up with our friends the Bancrofts before celebrating Christmas Eve with Aaron's grandma and the family. We were also able to visit with my old roommate Zoe and her hubby Jason. It was soooo good to be back in SB and see the sun go down over the ocean. We still want to move back someday but for now really feel like Colorado is where we're supposed to be. I told Aaron if it weren't for our friends and church in Highlands Ranch i'd be tempted to want to move back. Darn you Colorado friends! But really i was reminded of how special the community we have here is. The depth, vulnerbility and intimacy in our small group is pretty amazing and I can't imagine leaving it. We were able to stay in Visalia for another week or so before we took off. Which reminds me, Visalia is like twice as big as it was when i grew up there- it's grown so much and yet still smells the same (from all the local diaries) The kids got spoiled for the 2 weeks we were out by all of their grandparents and other friends and family.

Now we're back home which feels nice. Jeremiah managed to cut his lip while we were gone and as a result stole all of our christmas money. Silly dog. I'm getting back to a somewhat normal routine with the kids, we're still trying to get over colds and Aaron has dove back into school mode teaching Spiritual Formation and the Life of Christ this semester. He's also busy trying to finish a progression paper as he's hoping to fly back to Edinburgh next month to present it to a board.