Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter together as a family, although we continue to miss our extended family, especially on days like today.  But we celebrated and made it a fun day for the kids.  We woke up to Mya joyfully saying, "It's Easter!!!!" We tried to contain her excitement a bit so the other two kids would sleep longer.  Once they woke up we had breakfast and got everyone dressed for church.  Dan really wanted to do the egg hung for the girls outside, despite the cooler weather.  It was sweet because he had a whole plan in his mind of how he wanted it done and exactly where he would hide everything.  He took off with the eggs and easter baskets and made a trail of hidden eggs leading to the playground.  Then he hid the easter baskets at the playground.  A few minutes after he left I took off with the girls and had them follow the trail.  It worked out well, although it took a while to follow the trail because Chloe wanted to eat everything in every egg that she found.  We finally made it to the playground and the girls got their baskets.  Then we rushed back to the apartment and loaded up for church.  We went to church and then to our friend's house for Easter lunch.  We had ham, potatoes, spinach salad, homemade bread and fruit salad.  Yummy!  The kids played together and had another Easter egg hunt.  After the hunt we read the story of Easter from bible verses that were in some of the eggs. What a nice day!

Redeemed

I have to share that I just got the best Easter present. Do you remember when I posted about my dry, cracked feet that were really bad? Once I bought the Merrell glove bare foot shoes I committed to wearing them everyday. In just two weeks my feet look almost 95% better. I can stand on them without any pain and I am not embarrassed to show my bare feet. So, since I bought the bright blue ones I was telling Dan the other day that they don't match with all of my clothes. I jokingly said that I needed one more pair, a neutral color, so I could alternate shoe colors according to my clothes. Well, he went out to get a haircut this afternoon and came home with a pair of shoes for me for Easter. Aw! I guess I can forgive him now for forgetting my birthday last August. Just kidding!

Green Smoothies

We have officially completed our first month of drinking green smoothies everyday. Since I have had time to perfect the recipe that works for our family, I thought I would share what I have learned. I read a few books and websites on green smoothies and then did my own thing in the kitchen. I have had some mess-ups along the way, but am having fewer of those. I make Dan's smoothie every night and store it in a mason jar with a lid. That way when he wakes up in the morning it is ready to go for him and I don't have to get out of bed to make it. The girls and I drink ours for breakfast too. Although it is a bit costly to keep fresh fruits and greens for the smoothies, we have cut cost by not buying cereal anymore. The smoothie filled us up for hours. Dan and I drink 4 cups and the kids drink 2 cups daily. I don't force the kids to drink all their smoothie in the morning, but they know that if they want a snack later then their smoothie must be gone. We haven't had any fights over drinking them...because honestly they are very yummy.

So let's start with the basic recipe and then I will tell you what I add-in/sneak in.

The "Dannyboy" Smoothie
(we have a 6 cup blender)

2 cups water
Fill the rest of the blender with greens (I use approximately 2 cups spinach and fill the rest with kale, red chard, and sometimes romaine)
I blend all of the greens first....only for 3 seconds because you want to keep the nutrients in there
Then I add fruit (1 cup frozen strawberries and 2 bananas...sometimes I add kiwi or apple)
Blend

Daily add ins: 1 Tbsp coconut oil, 1 tsp stevia

Other occasional add ins to change recipe (only small amounts): dates, apricots, flaxseed, agave syrup, yogurt, almond milk, unsweetened cocoa, natural peanut butter, cinnamon, pure maple syrup, vanilla

Dan the Man

Dan has had quite a week with starting a new job and learning a whole new commuting system. Thank goodness he is able to come home and sit in the hot tub with the kids in the evening. When he showed up to work on Monday he was surprised to be working in a skilled nursing facility again. But as the week unfolded he discovered that this facility has friendly co-workers and much better patient care. The facility is clean and the nurses have been welcoming. Right away he was very honest with his director about his take on the billing issues. They have respected his stance and are supportive of him. They are not as strict with his productivity level and are accommodating with patient refusals and other factors out of his control during the day. The facility in Stockton actually docked his pay one week because his productivity level wasn't at 90%...which unfortunately happened because of things out of his control. All that to say...this is a much better placement and I can see him relaxing as the days go by. Thank goodness!

Easter Dresses

I took the girls outside for a photo shoot today in their Easter dresses (thank you Gigi and Poppo!!!).  Getting all three of them together for a photo shoot is very interesting.  I have great admiration for photographers because it is tough work just using a point and shoot camera.  But we did get some good ones.  The last picture is of Chloe.  We came inside, I fed her and she begged to lie down in her bed to go to sleep. So cute!

51, 55, 56, 60 

Perspective

Let me first start by sharing about Dan’s job.  On Sunday he figured out all the train stuff and bought his ticket.  The plan was for him to board the train with his bike, arrive in Hayward and bike two miles to his work.  When he went to buy his ticket on Sunday he figured out that bikes are not allowed on the train during high traffic times…which is when he would be boarding in the morning and coming home in the afternoon.  He asked around on Sunday and was given the advice to go ahead with his bike because everyone else does it.  So on Monday he boarded the train with his bike and had no problem with it.  However, the process of riding the train and riding his bike takes over an hour.  That is unfortunate, but doable.  We have decided to have him commute by car maybe three times during the week so I can have the car a few days a week to run errands.  On the off days he can ride the train.  His recruiter was very specific to tell Dan that this new facility was an outpatient clinic.  But when he arrived on Monday he discovered that it is definitely skilled nursing only.  So he is back in the same predicament as Stockton, but knows how to work around the billing issue.  He says it is just something he can tolerate until the contract is done.  I can tell that he is more comfortable with the employees at this one, though.  At the last place they were not quite as friendly. 

We had a very interesting experience last night.  We took the girls to the pool, which is becoming a daily routine.  When we arrived, we noticed that there was a dog right by the hot tub.  I could tell right away that the dog was “working.”  His owner appeared to be blind at first glance.  We all got in the hot tub and I noticed that the girl sitting beside me appeared blind too.  We continued to play with the girls. I had a feeling that the girl was trying to get her bearings on where she was in the tub.  So I moved to the other side of the tub to sit with Dan.  Right away she felt her way around the pool and located the guy with the dog.  She was elated and expressed pure joy at finding him.  She stood up and kissed the dog many times.  And then I watched as they signed in each other’s hands.  Clearly they were deaf and blind.  I was overcome with emotion.  I watched as they communicated and I saw how easily the girl expressed her delight with finding the guy.  I watched as she caressed the dog with such sweetness and gratefulness.  And then I watched as she found her way out of the tub and out of the gate towards her apartment.  My perspective on life quickly changed at that moment.

Our Last Apartment

Mya gauges when we will be going home according to how many more apartments we will be living in.  She was excited to find out that this was our last apartment before heading back to Ohio.  We have arrived and are finally settled.  Let me tell you all about our moving day……

We took one load up on Thursday and that went just fine.  Our friends helped us move and we were able to enjoy a nice dinner with them before we parted ways.  We headed back to Stockton for one more evening because the furniture couldn’t be moved until Friday.  We woke up pretty early on Friday morning and packed up the rest of the apartment (basically bedding and kitchen stuff). We cleaned every inch of the apartment.  I have to say that it was a completely different moving experience this time because Dan loaded everything up while I cleaned.  Last time he was working while I did all of that by myself with the three kids.  So this was much smoother.  Until……we started waiting for the Rent A Center van to arrive.  We were told they would arrive between 10 and noon.  We started waiting around 10 and waited and waited and waited.  Of course we had to wait outside because the apartment was clean.  And we couldn’t do the final inspection with the apartment complex until the furniture was moved out.  I went and got everyone lunch and we ate outside.  And we waited and waited and waited.  Unfortunately Chloe is not at the age of waiting….she would rather just cry and cry and cry.  She is in a very tough stage right now with her behavior.  It was a miserable morning and afternoon with her.  Finally, the moving vans arrived around 2:00.  It took them two more hours to load everything up…not because we have a lot of furniture…but because they had stripped screws on the bunk beds (the fault of the Rent A Center when they set it up) and couldn’t get them apart.  At one point they had Dan drive to Home Depot to get some tool, but then called him back because they finally figured out how to get them apart.  Meanwhile, all three kids were getting a bit crazy from being outside for almost 6 hours. Dan rode up with the movers while I waited to have the inspection done at the apartment and turn the keys in.  As if we hadn’t waited enough, the leasing office made me wait almost an hour before they met me at the apartment.  I think they don’t like us…maybe because we aren’t agreeing to pay their fees.  In all seriousness, I have learned the employees of a rental company will treat you very nice when you are going through the process of renting an apartment…but as soon as you are living there they aren’t so nice anymore.  I have experienced this at all the places we have lived.  It is sad.  And seems unfortunate when we are people who treat their facility nice and take care of things well.  I am sure they are used to having renters who take advantage of them, but it isn’t fun to be put in that category right away before they know what kind of renter you are.  Anyway, our final inspection happened and she told me that the apartment looked amazing…so that was good.  But then she told me our fee and I told her that my husband would be talking to a lawyer about the situation.  Her demeanor changed right away.  Yucky…I don’t like those situations.  But we will pray on it, seek advice from the lawyer and do what is necessary and right.  We are on the homestretch now….three months and heading back to Ohio.  Yeah!

 The first picture...my fixed hair.  Ugh!  Now I get to let the top part grow out again!

And now for pictures of the apartment/resort that we are living in.  This is our large kitchen.

Our porch that the kids can play on anytime because it is blocked in by cement walls. Awesome!

Living room

Two bathrooms

Laundry

Girls' bedroom

Front door and stairs leading up to our apartment

The front of our apartment complex

And the pool and the park