Freeday Friday: Juice Plus

               

  This week, I was introduced to a product called Juice Plus.  At first I had no idea what it was all about...Where was the juice?  It was difficult for me to listen to the discussion, because I had one screaming baby in my arms and a pesky husband calling, must have been a least thirty times while I was trying (and failing) desperately to listen.  From the discussion I was able to gather that the product is pills; a whole food alternative to vitamin supplements.  Juice Plus is made solely from concentrated organic fruits and vegetables  and although it is not a replacement for fresh fruits and vegetables, it is a way to bridge the gap between the actually amount of fruits and vegetables that we eat and the amount that we should eat to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
   Later that day and for the rest of the week, I began to Google Juice Plus.  This company has the support of a lot of big name doctors (both Dr. Sears; one being on the show The Doctors), a lot of research, and a ton of good reviews.  This was all great, but I wanted to hear the negative.  The biggest thing that I came across was the price.  There is a similar product for half the price, but with less research, less celebrity support,  and less certifications.  I looked for the ultimate unhealthy health food pragmatic's opinion, Dr. Mercola.  Although I didn't find anything positive or negative by the doctor directly, there was a few Dr. Mercola message boards full of Dr. Mercola followers that swore by the product.  There was not one negative comment on the boards.  Okay, so I'm having troubles finding a reason not to use this as a supplement, but I still wasn't convinced.  I wanted to hear that this product was good by someone that is not trying to sell it to me or someone that could potentially be receiving a kickback (e.i. celebrity doctors).  Yesterday, we headed over to our doctor's office for a well check. Being a D.O. and specializing in both traditional medical practices and more natural alternatives, I highly valued my doctor's opinion.  I was finally convinced that this really was a good product when he gave his okay.
  Today, the kids and I walked over to our neighbors' house so that the kids could play with their friend, Daniel, and Daniel's mommy could fill me in on what I missed at the party.  Juice Plus, of course has the adult capsules, but they also have children's chewables, smoothie mixes, and a device to help you grow your own veggies (great for people like me who have no talent for growing plants).  Even better, I found out that my kids get free chewables with an adult purchase.  So, that means that with my vitamins, my husband's, and if we can convince one more family member to take Juice Plus, our kids will have free vitamins until they are 18.  What a deal!  It cost $1.39 a day (for one adult and one child), but considering that I was spending  $30/week to make smoothies so that we can get in enough veggies it ends up being A LOT cheaper.  I also am assured that my picky two year olds and my husband (that doesn't eat the best foods) is getting the proper nutrition and I get to get rid of those horrible Enfamail drops.  
  With everything that I learned, and being inspired by one of my sister's inlaws, I decided that I'm going to casually sell this product, as well.  I'm hoping to kill three birds with one stone by doing this; I've been wanting to give back more than I've been able to, so I've decided to give 50% of my earnings to the March of Dimes (the idea that came from my sister), I want to put the other 50% towards my children's futures, and lastly, I want to entertain more at my house.  I've been thinking about throwing more parties lately and was actually thinking about making that my New Years resolution.  Now I think I'm going to go ahead and throw dinner parties, cook up  some yummy, healthy food and casually tell my guests about my Juice Plus experience.  So hopefully this will be a new and exciting chapter in my life!

Wordless Wednesday: Storytime

Teaching Triplets Tuesday: Thanksgiving

We will be taking a break from or usual lessons to focus on the holidays.  Last week I made a feeble attempt to teach the kids about Thanksgiving.  I tried to find some You Tube videos, but didn't really find anything that I liked.  We didn't do any activities, since we spent so much time with family, but here are some Thanksgiving things that I would like to do with my kids, maybe next year:

My Family Monday: Everyday Life with Triplets

  Life has been good here lately.  Thursday we had a quiet Thanksgiving.  Since it was just the five of us, we decided to go out for a Thanksgiving lunch.  Our first choice restaurant was booked up, so we ended up heading over to Monument Cafe.  Anticipating the wait (they were not taking reservations), we arrived one hour before our usual lunch time, I sat and waited for a table at the restaurant while Jenya took the kids to a nearby park.  We only had to wait about 30 minutes, so everything went really smooth.  I had a traditional turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes and green beans meal, Jenya had a Reuben sandwich, and the kids had a grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich.  That day we also took the sides off the cribs off, so everybody is in a big kid bed now.  We had purchased some foam bumpers (a wedge of foam that you stick underneath the crib sheet) and so we've only had one near fall-off incident.
  On Friday, Jenya watched the kids while my mom, sister, and I went to see Breaking Dawn.  Since the kids were born, I've only seen one other movie so this was a real treat and it was great spending time with my family.  After the movie, the entire family got together to celebrate my nephew's seventh birthday.  I can't believe how big he is getting!
  On Saturday, we had a Stepanov family get together at my inlaws'.  It was fun and good food filled!
So its been a wonderful week full of family and celebrations.

Saying Sunday: The Wicker Box

“A box without hinges, key, or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid.”

J.R.R Tolkien

Silly Saturday: Dizzy

Adrik has discovered how to make himself dizzy and he has decided to do this in lieu of dancing.  Here he is 'dancing' to Bubble Guppies:

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for my family, both the five of us and extended

I'm thankful for all my friends, both old and new

I'm thankful for our house and the ability to live a comfortable life

I'm thankful that I've been blessed in so many ways

Wordless Wednesday: Fall Leaves

Teaching Triplets Tuesday: Bus

This week we continued our transportation unit with bus.  We actually didn't do very much, with holiday approaching, but I encourage you to add some bus related activities.  Maybe a trip on a bus or take your child to a school when it lets out.  I also thought about making cardboard box buses for the kids to ride in.  Alas, we didn't do any of that.  Here is what we did do:

Prayer, Calendar Time, and Weather

Songs and Videos:

We All Go Traveling By (Unit Song)

The Wheels on the Bus

Silly Saturday: Blocks

  Adrik has developed a liking for these stuffed blocks.  In the middle of the block, there is a hole to insert a toy.  Adrik has been walking around the house with these blocks around his arms for the past two days.  If you try to take them off, he gets upset.  He even took a nap with them on yesterday.

Freeday Friday: Wedding Planner 2.0

  Here I am, a mother of 19 month old triplets, thinking that I left weddings in my past to start a new life as a stay at home mother.  So why am I returning?  As a mother we always look for ways to become the best we can be at the most important job there is. That thinking led me to a group called MOPs (mothers of preschoolers).  At MOPs  the kids go and play while the moms listen to a guest speaker among other things.
  At one meeting we listened to this phenomenal speaker talk about budget and our role as wives and mothers. She mentioned something that hit a chord to me....It is every women's job to contribute in her own way to the budget.  Now that might mean different things to different women depending on what you can offer.  You can do it by saving at the grocery store, clipping coupons, our making bows to sell on Etsy.  Its about finding what you can do to contribute no matter how large or small your contribution is.  Well, I don't have time to clip coupons and I'm just not crafty enough to sell on Etsy, so I thought of what I could do....Wedding planning!
  Here's my plan; I'm simplifying wedding planning...No advertising, no wedding shows, no website, only 'month of services', and only one wedding a month.  So, what does that mean for my brides.  First of all, they only find me by word of mouth or they stumble upon my blog (austinbudgetweddingplanner.blogspot.com).  It also means that my brides get an amazing deal. Having my services set-up this way allows me to charge at the most $750.

Wordless Wednesday: Peek-a-boo

Teaching Triplets Tuesday: Airplanes

Inspired by the trip to the airshow a couple of Saturdays ago, I decided to teach the kids a unit about transportation.  The first thing we learned about was planes.

Prayer, Calendar Time, and Weather

Songs and Videos:

We All Go Traveling By (Unit Song)

Gup, Gup, and Away (here is a clip, but I used the full episode that is recorded on our DVR)

Activities:
1) Airplane coloring page (at the bottom):  We used this for our vocabulary.  I would teach them the word airplane and an explanation of what it is and, of course they colored them.

2) Airshow:  We went to an airshow and saw a ton of planes.  You could also take your kids to a nearby airport.

3)  Paper Airplanes:  We made THESE  paper airplanes and then went out to fly them.

4)  Every time an airplane flew overhead I would point them out and we would take a second to watch the airplane.

My Family Monday: Everyday Life with Triplets

  The most of this week was rather ordinary; full of playgrounds, playgroups, and stroller walks.  On Tuesday, we celebrated my birthday.  Jenya was wonderful enough to pick up Macaroni Grill on his way home from work and we had a coconut cream pie to  mark the occasion.  On Saturday, we had the MOPs chili cook-off.  I had volunteered to give a testimony and had entered a chili into the cook-off.  I didn't win a prize, but I heard positive comments about my chili and there wasn't very much left.  I figured that's a good sign.  The testimony went great, but the kids were horrible.  In our church, there is not a lot of adornment, but there is a stage and Charli Kate was not happy unless she was on stage.  The other two were fussy and bored, so Jenya ended up taking them home right after dinner.  Although it didn't turn out perfect for me, it was still a great event, a huge success, and I had a good time.

Saying Sunday: Potty Training

"Please. I was an anomaly. I self-potty-trained."
Manny on Modern Family


Today Charli Kate pee-peed in the toilet!

Silly Saturday: "Guyths, Guyths!"

  A lot the times I refer to the triplets as "guys" when collectively speaking to them.  For example, "Come on, guys."  Well, Charli Kate picked this up, but in her own way.  We had just finished eating lunch and we went outside to play before they took a nap.  Charli Kate was super excited about this and as soon as we got outside, she started running around and yelling, "Guys, Guys!"  Except she has a cute little lisp so it sounds like, "Guyths, Gyths!"  Here she is in action:

Freeday Friday: My Groupon Birthday

  Tuesday was my birthday and a couple of months ago, I decided I wanted to celebrate my own way.  So, I became Groupon fanatic and decided to have a Groupon birthday.  I wanted to have one day that I could be pampered and get dressed; actually feel like a woman instead of a mommy.  I already had a Groupon for a massage so I spent September and October checking Groupon everyday for great beauty deals.  I ended up adding a manicure, a hair blow out, and a dress to make a wonderful, relaxing day of beauty.  I couldn't find any make-up services on Groupon, so I went ahead and had my makeup done (just no discount), as well.  So here's how my day went:
10:30am manicure at Aziz Salon (Groupon deal $15)
11:30am hot stone message at Work Well Austin (free as a gift)
1:00pm   makeup application at MAC (free with $50 purchase of makeup)
2:30pm   hair styled at Blo Blow dry bar ($17 Groupon deal, although I spent an extra $170 on extensions)

Also, I got a Von Vonni Transformer dress for $60 on Groupon and with all that, I was ready for the March of Dimes Gala.

Thursday Threes: Time Adjustment

  I can't speak for other mothers, but day light savings is a difficult time in our household.  It seems like I had just managed to get the triplets to sleep until 6:30am, sometimes even 7:00am, and now we went back an hour.  My first attempt at adjusting them was to just get them used to the new time and hopefully they would go to sleep at the new 8pm and wake up between 6:30 and 7 (like their previous schedule).  That didn't happen...They ended going to sleep at 8pm and waking up between 5:50 and 6am.  That made it difficult for me.  I was exhausted by the time I got the kids to bed and up early (5am) to get ready for the day before the kids woke up.  Now we've adjusted a little bit.  The kids are going to bed after a bath; between 7:00pm- 7:30pm.  They still wake up early, around 5:40am, but the earlier bedtime allows me to get some stuff done before I head to bed myself.  So this is how are days are looking, schedulewise:

5:00am   I wake-up
5:40am   Kids wake-up, bottle
7:30am   Breakfast
8:00am   Lessons
8:30am   Get the kids dressed
9:00am   Outing
10:30am  Snack
12:00pm  Lunch
12:30pm  Free play
1:00pm    Nap
2:30pm    Kids wake-up, bottle
3:15pm    Jog/Grocery shopping
5:00pm    Free play
6:00pm    Dinner
6:30pm    Bath
7:00pm    Bottle/Bed

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Birthday, Mama. Love, Adrik, Tali and Charli Kate

Teaching Triplets Tuesday: Halloween

Last week wee continued our Halloween lessons (up until Wednesday):

Prayer, Calendar Time, and Weather

Songs and Videos:

Bubble Guppies Haunted House Party

The Kingdom of Witches (I read the poem out loud while watching the video)
The History of Halloween

Activities:
1) Jack-o-lantern carving:  We carved a Mr. Grouper (from the kids' favorite cartoon, Bubble Guppies) jack-o-lantern.  Template found HERE.

2) We colored THESE Halloween place mats.

3)  We went to our church's Halloween Fall Festival

4)  We went trick or treating in our neighborhood.

I wanted to do more activities with them, but since they were sick last week we didn't get as much done..

My Family Monday: Everyday Life with Triplets

  Another busy week...Every other Monday, the kids and I started visiting my grandparents after their nap.  We then head over to my parents house for dinner.  We did this last week and had a great visit.  On Tuesday, we had a cleaning company over.  We've decided to invest in quartlery deep cleanings,so we have Power to Scour come out and clean, clean, clean.  Boy do they do a great job too!  My house hasn't been this clean in about a year.  For Halloween, we went to our new church's Fall Festival.  Although they were too young for a lot of activities, they did enjoy the pony rides.  I let them pick out their own costumes, so Adrik went as a blue monster, Tali as a pink monster, and Charli Kate as Minnie Mouse.  After the carnival, we went trick or treating in the neighborhood.  During the day, we had Jack O'lantern homemade poptarts with pumpkin filling and for lunch we had Creep Crawlers Mac and Cheese.  On Thursday, the kids spent the day our friend Ronnie and their Babushka while I had beauty appointments and Jenya and I went to the March of Dimes Gala.  On Friday, the kids and I went to MOPs.  Saturday we went to an air show (more on that next Tuesday).  And we ended the week with church.

Silly Saturday: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

  While I was getting beautiful for the gala on Thursday, a dear friend, Ronnie, watched the kids.  In between appointments, I received a text with a video of Charli Kate singing and motioning Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Although this is not nearly as cute as the original video, CK has still been practicing:

Freeday Friday: Prematurity Awareness Month

 November is Prematurity Awareness month and last night Jenya and I were honored to volunteer as a mission family for the March of Dimes Gala. For those of you that don't know, the March of Dimes is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping premature babies and to put an end to prematurity.  While we were in the NICU, the March of Dimes lended their support to our family.  With that in mind, I decided I wanted to attend their gala for my birthday.  I was devastated when I found out that the tickets were $500/person; just a little out of our budget.  After informing the coordinator that we would unfortunately be unable to attend, she asked me how I found out about the event.  I explained to her our association with the March of Dimes and she then informed me about the volunteer position.  As mission family, Jenya and I greeted our six tables, welcomed them to the event, and thanked them for their contributions.  Previous to the event, we provided our story which was on the table for the guests to read.  It was wonderful success and Jenya and I got to enjoy the most magnificent food from many renowned chefs.  Below is our story that was at each place setting:

 The Stepanov Family

                Welcome to the 2012 Signature Chefs benefiting the March of Dimes.  We are the Stepanov family and we will be your table hosts for the evening.  If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.

                We would like to take a moment to share our story.  In September of 2010, four weeks into pregnancy, we were told the exciting news that Rachel was pregnant with triplets.  The first thought that came into mind was of prematurity; the average triplet pregnancy lasts 32 weeks and we began to do everything we could to prepare ourselves for a NICU stay.  When Charli Kate, Adrik, and Tali arrived after only 29 weeks and 5 days of gestation, we discovered the hard fact that nobody can be equipped for the testing and emotionally draining experience of having a premature baby, let alone having three.  Through the worst times and all the ups downs, the March of Dimes was there to lend their support.  During the triplets’ two month plus stay in the NICU, the March of Dimes provided Rachel and other NICU mothers the opportunity to step away from their babies bedsides and to get their minds off of the constant monitors and alarms signaling that their infant was yet again having another Brady episode.  Programs such as creating scrapbooks for their newborns and Mother’s Day mini-makeover allowed the NICU mothers to have some normalcy and bonding that is desperately needed.  Without the care provided by the March of Dimes our time in the NICU would have been unbearable.

                We are here tonight supporting the March of Dimes as they once supported us in our time of need, in hopes that through their Prematurity Campaign we can grow closer and closer to ending premature births through research, education, and legislation. 

                We thank you so much for your support of The March of Dimes and the Signature Chefs auction.

Sincerely,

Rachel, Will, Charli Kate, Adrik, and Tali Stepanov