We took advantage of a gorgeous day last week to do some off roading in the mountains. It was a beautiful trail in the Big Piney recreation area.
The views from the overlook are so stunning! I cannot believe I have lived in Arkansas for all my life and haven’t seen this.
We found a huge rock on the side of the trail and of course the kiddos wanted to touch it.
All of this rain lately has encouraged us to expand and work on the pond more. The water levels were almost above the previous size of the bank.
Our 2.5 year old has been asking to do dishes and who are we stand in the way of that? Haha. As long as they don’t flood the kitchen, I am fine with them “practicing”.
This Week’s Books
Our author of the week was Jory John. His books are so funny. One of my all time favorites is “The Bad Seed”. Per our selection of his books this week, I don’t think I could choose a favorite. Ava was a fan of all of them as well.
“How Do You Wokka Wokka?” was definitely Scott’s favorite for the week. In fact, I would encourage and challenge anyone to read this book even as an adult and try to do so without laughing. It is hysterical.
Aside from Scott reading “How Do You Wokka Wokka?”, Shepard’s favorite was “Cranes”. He is VERY into construction vehicles and agricultural machines/vehicles.
Gluten Free & Dairy Free Menu
- Turkey, broccoli, sweet potato rice bowl topped with guacamole.
- Lime Chicken soup topped with avocado with a side of pizza bread and homemade marinara sauce.
- Sautéed pork cutlets topped with guacamole, mashed potatoes, and lentils.
Lots of avocado this week, but that is how we roll. It is addicting! Pizza bread made another showing this week per the kiddos request and my own want for comfort food. I will share this new dairy free mashed potato recipe that I have been trying out for a few weeks now. It is super delicious!
Farm Animals
So, on the far right is a silkie egg. It has taken us a few months to even consider cracking them open because they are just so darn cute. The middle egg is about an average size egg our hens typically lay. And on the far left is an above average size. In fact, we were feeling a little sorry for the poor hen that laid this one. It did turn out to be a double yolker.
Speaking of eggs, we had the chance to donate 54 eggs this week to the blessing boxes.
Here are our hens devouring their apples. It is amazing how quickly they can gobble down big apple slices with their small beaks. Some of our hens are getting rather broody lately. In fact, one hen gave me a bit of a battle to get her egg out of the coop the other night. Scott even came in one night after getting the eggs out of the coop saying one hen in particular was making noises like a velociraptor from Jurassic Park when he was trying to take her egg. I am thinking we are going to let them start brooding a few eggs to hatch soon especially since they really seem to want too.
Workouts
Anyone else look at their Fitbit data or just wear it to look cool? No judgment. Something I pay attention to a lot on my Fitbit is my resting heart rate. Look or read scientific data anywhere and it will tell you that having a lower resting heart rate decreases your chances of cardiovascular disease. It seems counterintuitive to raise and keep your heart rate elevated while exercising, but studies show that exercising everyday will “gradually” slow your resting heart rate. The lowest I have ever had my resting heart rate is 50bpm and then I had kids. Now, I have to fight pretty hard to keep it under 60. I definitely feel it when it gets higher. When I was pregnant with both my kids, my resting heart rate was 72bpm and I thought my heart was just going to beat out of my chest.
I imagine this is how it feels to have cardiovascular disease. I would encourage anyone and everyone if you currently have cardiovascular disease or are at a higher risk for CD to start an exercise regimen and work towards a resting heart rate goal.
On Another Note…
My new word that so explains my feelings most of the day. Ava, the 5 year old, makes up new words all the time. I always tell people I have no idea where she learned that or got it from, so the secret is out or maybe they already knew but yeah it’s from me. Hahaha.
This Week in the Shop..
The sale is still going on so feel free to check it out!
I hope everyone has a fabulous week! God Bless!
