Zevia Giveaway!

So as I promised in our last post, one of our awesome new sponsors, Zevia, is giving FIVE of my readers a FREE 6-pack of Zevia. 

But first, what is Zevia and how did they come to be a sponsor?  Well, Zevia is a soda brand that uses no refined sugars, but sweetens with stevia instead.  Stevia is a plant and the sweetness garnered from it's leaves does not affect blood glucose levels or insulin levels.  This soda has 0 calories and is shown to be safe for diabetics without containing yucky chemical sweeteners made in a lab.

I was curious about Zevia when I saw it at a Target store about a year ago.  I confess, I am a soda lover.  When I was a kid I often had sore throats and the fizziness of a Coke would help my throat feel better.  As an adult I became a die-hard Dr Pepper fan and since our family has changed our eating habits, we typically only indulge in soda that has been made with pure cane sugar every once in a great while.

Last month, I attended the WOW Summit through Mom's Meet in Philadelphia.  (You can read about it HERE) There was a super-fun room for all the Mom-Ambassadors that had lots of sponsors with samples and coupons and information.  The girls from Zevia were one of my favorite booths!  They were so much fun I had to give up my reluctance and taste the soda.  I took a couple cans back to my room and though I only "liked" my can, the kids were ga-ga over it!  Everytime I went back down to the Summit, they would hound me for more.  Over the course of the Summit I did end up finding a couple flavors I really do like a lot, my favorite so far is Ginger Root Beer.  The kids love Grape and Orange and Cherry Cola and...oh, they have loved every flavor they've tried!  We are ALL looking forward to finding and trying out Strawberry.

Yummy mixed drink made with Zevia at the Summit

I took a class with the Zevia girls about blogging with brands and later shot an email out to see if Zevia would marry my blog and VOILA!  Here we are!  Being on the road, sometimes the best part of our week is getting something fabulous in the mail (who am I kidding, I was a mail spazz before I was on the road!) and Kipling over at Zevia surprised us with a multi-flavor 6 pack when we finally got back to Kansas.  It was one of the highlights of day for the kids (recall that was the day of the autism assessment) to find the box of colorful cans and then talk half the day about which one they would drink while they watched their movie. 

Enough about all that, though, let's get on with the winning!  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Diagnosis and Down Time

Today we had Violet's autism assessment, which was one of the big reasons for us coming back to Kansas.  We left early to make sure we could find the clinic.  We needed to score some lunch and check our mail, too.  I didn't exactly know where we were, so I was very pleasantly surprised when we made 2 turns and found the mail facility and Trader Joe's.

Next it was off to the assessment.  The determination? PPD-NOS (High Functioning Autism) with Sensory Integration issues.  What does this mean?  Really, nothing new.  Violet has always been Violet and she always will be.  The only thing that changes is our ability to get the training we need to help her grow into exactly who she was made to be.

So her diagnosis is good news.  But the appointment flat wore me out.  3.5 hours of talking and watching and thinking and prodding will fry a brain.  Thankfully the kids had a blast, they didn't even want to  leave.  Violet really attached herself to the doctor...literally...I had to peel her off the doctor to leave.  

I had dinner to consider, but couldn't bring myself to actually use the mush between my ears, so we stopped at Chick-fil-A so the kids could play while I had some coffee and sent an email to daddy about our girl.

I initially wanted to go to Target afterwards, but it was rainy and already getting dark so we came home instead. The kids have been begging to see The Croods again, so tonight is a family movie night complete with popcorn (stove-popped in coconut oil with lots of butter, Real Salt and nutritional yeast) and a Zevia soda, which was waiting for us as an awesome surprise at the mailbox! (Keep an eye out, because they are going to give 5 of my readers a free 6-pack of their own 0-calorie, smarter soda!)

I'm really grateful for this much needed family night and a few days with no doctor appointments or bills or anything except settling in, getting some school done and learning what it really looks like to do life without Allan.  There will probably be some tears, but hopefully there will be a lot of love, too.

I'm wishing you all some rest of your own in this season of go-go-go.