rachel's ramblings

week 6 in pictures

2012-02-11T23:10:00.001-08:00

lots of stuff this week that required more than one shot for the situation… so we have lots of collages.

sunday: nothing, but micah drew me a picture (lots of them, actually) to use in the slot.

monday: back for casting appointment #2. this time, it involved getting them cut off with the cast saw – interesting, but not nearly as traumatic as it sounds… then she got a foot bath (hallelujah!), and picked blue and green for her next set.

tuesday: just a little glimpse of what it’s like to eat dinner with micah. he is required to take 1 (just ONE) bite of whatever it is we’re having for dinner. this time it was some chicken soup. of course he didn’t want anything to do with it… oh the drama! yes, he eventually swallowed it. yes, he survived.

wednesday: micah and I went to a local ‘indoor playground’ at a community center. he had fun running around and playing with all the toys. he decided to try and cram himself into this little boat… notice the knees, which are turned sideways because that’s the only way he would fit…

thursday: casting #3. this time, they had layla try walking around a little bit with her casts off… that was interesting. she pretty much couldn’t because it was so weird and her muscles are all out of whack. the PT says that it’s normal. new casts this time: purple and red.

friday: these are a collection of (marginally flattering) pictures that layla took while we were at my parents’ house for dinner on friday night. shane was not with us because he went to a middle school ‘dance’ with a friend (no, not a girl!). my parents got some new phone system, and dave was setting it up for them while we were there.

saturday: dave and I took layla and micah to see ‘beauty and the beast’ in 3D at the theater. it was good, they enjoyed it, we had fun, etc. but WHAT A RIPOFF! I’ve known that going to the movies is expensive, but HOLY COW! talk about ripping off the american public! we had a bunch of gift cards, but like 55 bucks to get the 4 of us in? $7 for popcorn? that’s just nuts. NUTS! going to the movies should be something fun that families can do together, or teenagers can do with their friends, or lovers can go to on a date… without having to take out a loan! sheesh! okay, off my soapbox. we had fun. and it is pretty cool in 3D.

and the extras:

on monday, I washed a load of towels and then threw them in the dryer. it wouldn’t start. so I had them hung on the rack in the bathroom, over the heat vent, with the heat cranked up, but there was no way they were getting dry in this century… fortunately, dave was able to fix it that evening w/ only 1 trip to the hardware store and a $20 part.
a sunny day at the park – and my super tall, deformed shadow.
is that a banana in your pocket, or… oh wait, that IS a banana in your pocket.
micah, contemplating dinner…
micah, unhappy about the ONE bite of roast beef that he has to eat.
toby, contemplating my project life album…
toby, getting a closer look at pictures of his people. love it. even the cat is excited about project life!

meal plan monday

2012-02-07T15:30:00.001-08:00

well, sorta. it’s tuesday, and yesterday was a total flop… so we’re doing it today. also because I actually know what we’re having for dinner tonight, AND am in current possession of ALL of the ingredients for it. it’s a miracle!

hopefully I’ll manage to pull off cooking it in a somewhat timely fashion… my ‘good luck’ is not running high today. got a ticket this morning, and this afternoon, I plunked a whole load of towels into the dryer and tried to turn it on. key word: tried. I was unsuccessful.

so I’m hoping everything else will work tonight.

anyway…

monday: taco del mar take-out! yup, good planning.
tuesday: white chicken chili
wednesday: roast beef; carrots; potatoes (sweet, for me!)
thursday: leftovers of some sort (casting appt. #3 that afternoon)
friday: pizza; green beans (and probably a big salad for me)
saturday: paleo chicken parm; gf noodles/sautéed butternut squash; salad
sunday: scrambles (eggs, cheese, bacon, sausage, etc…)

so, I did some shopping today. still need to hit costco for a few things, but I think I have everything I need for this plan except some red sauce for saturday and sausages for sunday, which is awesome!

I need to get better about planning and cooking and… well, everything actually. I’m WAY burnt out right now. I’m not sure what it is, but my homemaking skills are in the toilet. (and it’s not even a clean toilet.) I’m so sick of everything. I don’t want to cook, I don’t want to sweep the floor, I avoid doing dishes like the plague, and the laundry is even backed up. the laundry! I love doing laundry… ugh. seriously, there is not one room in my entire house that is not a complete and total sty right now. no, I don’t like it, but that doesn’t seem to be helping me FIX it either!

at any rate, I’m trying to dig my way out of my slump, and this is a start. at least I KNOW what we’re having for dinner! that’s a major improvement.

week 5 in pictures

2012-02-05T23:12:00.000-08:00

interesting week!

sunday: dave had to go to work after church. the kids and I came home and I was all set to sit down on the couch and watch some skating. nationals was on and it was men’s and pairs that day. I was feeling sleepy, and apparently I needed a nap because as soon as I hit the couch and pressed play on the dvr remote, I PASSED OUT. woke up FOUR hours later! for real! and the kids didn’t even completely trash the house. at any rate, we met dave in redmond and went out for dinner at red robin. dave signed up for some promo thing and got a free appetizer out of the deal. shane wound up with a ton of onion rings all to himself. I can’t eat them because of the breading; dave avoids onions because of his stomach (and because he doesn’t like sleeping on the couch); and micah and layla didn’t even want to try them.

monday: I tried to burn down the house! again. we’ve lived here almost 5 years now, and I STILL can’t seem to get it straight, which knob corresponds with which burner. ugh! at any rate, I’m very thankful for smoke detectors, and I need to learn not to keep stuff on top of burners when I’m cooking!

tuesday: nothing major, except I needed a current pic of myself for the MOMS club newsletter. micah was handy, so we did a quick selfie. sadly, the iphone doesn’t much care for the poor lighting in the livingroom, so the pic is all funky and pixelated, but oh well. we’re pretty cute, I guess!

wednesday: no pic, but micah drew me a lot of little card pictures to choose from. he’s discovered my stash of 4x6 index cards and wants to draw pictures for the book ALL.THE.TIME… not quite sure how I’m going to convince him that I only need a few, every now and then.

thursday: CAST DAY! there were so many pictures involved with this that it gets it’s own 8x10.

friday: of course, the best part of having casts is getting to draw on them with the fancy metallic sharpies! she took them to school to and got her friends, her teacher, some of shane’s friends, and even her PE teacher, to sign them. P.S. do you like my rainbow? vvv

saturday: first of all, layla lost another tooth the night before. secondly, this is significant… for the last 2 years or so, layla has been a nail-biter… much to my chagrin. well, she currently has, like, NO teeth in her mouth. for real. nothing up top, and 2 missing on the bottom. how she bites anything is beyond my comprehension, but the good news is, she CAN’T bite her nails! well, she’s always after me to paint her nails, but, like I’ve told her, I’m really not convinced that ingesting nail polish is the best thing for her. it’s not exactly non-toxic. so the deal was, the next time I had to CUT her fingernails, I would paint them. well, it happened tonight! there was enough white at the ends that I felt compelled to cut them AND, paint them. she did the sparkly blue and purple to match her toes!

and… the extras:

the gingerbread cookie pop kit that aunt marge gave the kids. shane wasn’t home and I didn’t figure he’d care much, so I did his (he got to eat them). this was NOT easy and they did NOT look like the box! LOL. layla’s are on the left, mine in the center, and micah’s (he mostly just wanted to lick the frosting) are on the right.
micah, playing waiter, taking toby’s order. his menu options were cat food, yogurt, or strawberries.
micah can actually shoot baskets now!
tooth #6 (#4 in just over a month) bites the dust.
micah, climbing up the pile of snow to get into the trampoline. for some reason, he felt it necessary to wear a life vest…
my paleo chicken dinner… complete with chicken gravy! first time attempting paleo gravy. a little thin, but worked out, and it was yummy! super yummy! everyone (excluding micah, who hates everything) approved.
how we solved the problem of bathing layla without getting the casts wet. body in, legs out! (with bread bags rubberbanded around her legs!)

cast evolution

2012-02-04T13:35:00.001-08:00

what they look like now:

and how we wound up bathing her. it worked!

serial casting–episode 1

2012-02-02T18:33:00.001-08:00

I picked up layla early from school today. the long-awaited day FINALLY arrived! casting day!

today, layla got the first of at least 6 sets of casts to help loosen and lengthen her heel cords and surrounding muscles and ligaments, and to hopefully correct the toe-walking.

leg 1:

leg 2:

all done!

standing up on them for the first time.

walking – a bit awkward at first.

practicing balancing and adjusting body position and all sorts of stuff that is now out of whack.

after it was all done, we went to target to pick up some metallic sharpies for writing on the casts, and some new nail polish for the toes, which are, for the time being, perpetually exposed… sparkly purple and sparkly blue…

overall, she seems to be pretty unfazed by it… although she thinks the ‘no jumping in puddles’ restriction might be more than she can handle. she has a little speech all prepared for those who ask the inevitable, “what happened?”

we’ll see how it goes. we go back on monday for the next set.

week 4 in pictures

2012-01-30T08:27:00.001-08:00

sunday: micah has been learning the story of noah and the flood in sunday school. this is the ark he brought home.

monday: the snow is melting, but we still have a bunch in the yard. the big pile is what dave shoveled out of the trampoline last week. micah had fun exploring crunchy, slushy snow all over the backyard, and being able to climb up the pile to get into the trampoline.

tuesday: cherries can sometimes be difficult for little kids to manage, with the pit you have to spit out, and all. this is how micah solves that problem.

wednesday: after last week’s snowy, no power chaos, we are back to the normal and mundane. yup. so normal and mundane, the only picture I have for wednesday is layla doing homework.

thursday:micah’s first day of preschool!

friday: the kids had the day off of school for a teacher work day (yeah, I know!) and layla spent a good share of the day playing polly pockets. she was excited to show me that she had them doing pushups. it’s important to get a good workout in, you know!

saturday: watching prairie house, munching popcorn, looking cute. pretty typical.

I don’t have a collage of ‘extras’ this week, but I am including an 8x10 of layla’s creative endeavor of the week.

that’s it!

paleo chicken parmesan… hold the parmesan!

2012-01-28T11:21:00.001-08:00

so, I LOVE chicken parm. love love love it! BUT, it would seem that I’m kinda sorta allergic to wheat and dairy… well that messes that up…

so last night, (fridays are usually pizza night, but dave was working late, the kids had snacked all afternoon while my dad was watching them, shane had eaten about 7 slices of pizza for lunch that someone’s mom ordered for him and his classmates while they were working on a project at the library, and I can’t eat pizza.) so I was trying to figure out something. I kind of foraged for the kids, and there was a bowl of leftover chicken soup in the fridge that dave heated up. I decided to give something a try, that I’ve heard could work, while I could make it just for myself and not have a big batch of it flop and be rejected by the whole family.

I decided to try and make a paleo chicken parm.

so here’s what I did (this is the recipe, for those of you who don’t catch my subtleties..):

I thawed a few chicken tenderloins I had in the freezer – breasts would work fine too. Then I dipped them in a beaten egg, and then dredged them in almond flour which had some garlic powder and italian seasoning mixed into it. (if you don’t have italian seasoning, just use a few shakes of thyme, oregano, rosemary, marjoram, garlic, onion, basil, and sage… or whatever of that you have on hand and like, because that’s what’s in it.) After coating the chicken, I browned them on the stovetop in olive oil, a few minutes on each side, until they look like this: then, I transferred them to a baking dish and baked them at 375* for about 10 minutes or so, just to finish them off.

meanwhile, I diced and sautéed a quarter of a butternut squash I had in the fridge. I just threw it in some olive oil w/ salt, pepper, and whatever seasonings (mainly from the above list) sounded good. you could also bake a spaghetti squash and use that, or make zucchini noodles, or whatever you like. this is just what I happened to have on hand.

when both were done, I threw it on a plate, and spooned on some marinara sauce I had in the fridge that needed to be used up. you could use whatever kind you like, or make your own, or whatever you want. I don’t even know what kind this is, but it was yummy.

voilà! chicken parm, w/ no wheat, no dairy, and totally delicious! I will totally be making this again. of course, if you don’t have a problem with dairy, you could totally add some grated parm to the dredging flour, or add a slice of mozzerella to the top of the chicken, but, I will say, I didn’t miss the cheese at all! it was completely satisfying!

an artist and her… canvas.

2012-01-28T11:01:00.001-08:00

I really don’t think there’s much I can say about these. so I will let them speak for themselves…

layla was grumpy in this picture because she realized that micah’s looked better than hers. I assured her that it’s much harder to do your own face than someone else’s that you’re looking at… (come to think of it, that will change. It’s so much easier to do my own makeup than someone else’s.) and then there was this fun little surprise I found when micah was getting into the bath… I’m sure there’s a promising future in this somewhere…

micah’s first day of preschool!

2012-01-27T11:51:00.001-08:00

so, micah FINALLY started preschool yesterday! he was supposed to start a couple of weeks ago, but first, the teacher asked us to wait until the following week because her assistant was sick (and there would be too many kids). then it snowed for a week and school was closed. so he should have started tuesday, but I found out that the class (which he had never met or been to) was starting the day with a field trip to the fire station. not that micah wouldn’t enjoy the fire station, I just thought it would be a very weird way to start preschool for the very first time, AND I had to be someplace at the time I would have had to be at the fire station with him…

so, we waited until yesterday. he was very excited (in a typical micah sort of way) and was all over it when we got there. he washed his hands like he was supposed to and found something to play with. I had to force him to say goodbye to me and give me a hug… no anxiety issues there. he was not so enthusiastic about taking a picture, so this is what we got:

at any rate, he was all smiles when I came to pick him up. the teacher said she hardly knew he was there. he just went with the flow. found stuff to do, cleaned up when he was supposed to… nothing major to report! they made ‘snowman soup’ (hot chocolate mix with marshmallows), which they put in bags to take home. his siblings were very appreciative of this!

I celebrated a little by going grocery shopping alone, sitting in starbucks and reading a book alone, going to target alone… you get the idea. on tuesday, I’m already planning a trip to the post office… ALONE!

week 3 in pictures

2012-01-26T18:09:00.001-08:00

this week is pretty uniform. snow. snow. snow. and more snow. yes, where we live, this is totally photo-worthy. and even if it wasn’t, this is project life, so it’s photo-worthy anyway! there was no school all week and the kids loved it!

sunday: after I decided to see if I could do any handstand pushups, the kids decided they wanted to try. (except shane, who doesn’t like to try anything unless he already knows he can do it.) layla and micah helped each other get into hand stands. it was pretty cute. if you want to know why they both have masking tape on their foreheads, you’ll have to ask layla.

monday: layla and micah spent the day sledding with neighborhood kids on the hill. they had so much fun. I love this picture. I think it perfectly captures so many aspects of sledding. 3, unrelated, previously barely acquainted neighborhood kids, crammed on a sled which should not be able to hold that many people, the backwards lean, the looks of delight/fear… it’s just awesome.

tuesday: love this. we had a bit of a thaw, followed by a bunch more snow. I posted this on facebook, and a friend appropriately captioned it, “oops. I dropped my head.”

wednesday: this was disgusting and hilarious all at the same time. shane and micah were out in the evening, having a blast in the backyard. shane had thrown a bunch of snowballs at the sliding glass door and lots of the big chunks of snow had stuck there and were slowly sliding down. micah, resident snow-eater, started eating them off the glass. the funny part was… well, everything was funny, but the snow kept sliding around, and he was chasing it with his mouth, and then he would smoosh his face up against the glass… the whole thing had me cracking up while I was taking pictures.

thursday: we lost power several times during the week, but thursday was the day it was out all day. it was on at about 1 when I went to bed, and out at about 6 when I woke up. so I have no idea how long it was out before then. it didn’t come back on until 4 in the afternoon. layla played outside most of the day, but when she came in, we were having to dry snow clothes in front of the fire. we also cooked hot dogs in the fire, heated water for coffee and tea on the fire, stayed warm by the fire. around 2 in the afternoon, I decided I probably should take some of the stuff out of the fridge before it got too warm. so I threw it all out on the deck into the snow. good time to have a power outage. layla, was also excited to discover that, although she couldn’t watch tv, play wii, use the computer, or watch a movie, she could use her leapster! yay for batteries!

friday: after another day of playing in the (now very wet) snow, shane, micah and I played a game of sorry in front of the fire.

saturday: no more snow today! just a lot of sloppy slush and a ton of rain. I ventured out for the first time and made a crazy trip to costco (along with everyone else in the whole world!) dave stayed home and scraped wallpaper off the kids’ bedroom wall. no more winnie the pooh! next will be paint… eventually.

and the extras… mostly involving snow.

that’s it! week 3.

coping with snow-induced power outages

2012-01-26T12:22:00.000-08:00

so, first off, in case you’re wondering why a snow storm (or any storm, for that matter) always seems to result in a power outage, allow me to explain. this is where we live: that is the view from my front door. we live in the woods. HUGE fir trees, weighed down with very heavy snow, and see those power lines? yup. they’re up on poles, not buried underground, which would be a logical place for them, out in the woods like this. at any rate, big limb, falling or leaning, or otherwise causing problems with the power lines = broken lines, blown transformers, thousands of people without power… you get the gist.

so most of the people in my neighborhood have generators. most of them got their generators after the big wind storm in 2006. that was before we moved out here to the woods. we lived in civilization then, and were out for 4 days. out here, I think they lost power for something like 2 weeks. crazy.

at any rate, we don’t have a generator… it’s on the list.

but, we do have a wood burning stove, and a camp stove, some flashlights, a camping lantern, and lots of candles.

so we cooked hot dogs, campfire style (my absolute FAVORITE) for dinner.

and used the camp stove to boil water for coffee. look at my good son, out there in the cold, babysitting the camp stove.layla spent a lot of time, out playing in the snow, but when she came in all cold and wet, we had to dry out all the snow clothes by the fire. glad I have this drying rack! also, once the water was hot, it the stove did a good job of keeping it that way. so I had a constant flow of hot tea all day. which was great. the wood stove does a good job of heating 1 room, when there’s no electricity to run the fan, so I sat near the fire (so did the cat) most of the day. of course, the snow bird needed some hot chocolate to help her warm up, so we heated some milk on the camp stove too. and, she was super excited to realize that her leapster runs on batteries, not electricity, so she could have a little electronic stimulation! LOL! after awhile, I started to get concerned about stuff in the fridge. no worries though, we have a cooler on the back deck… it’s called snow. and last, but not least, the all important task of charging the cell phone! I just chiseled my way into the car, turned it on, and left it running about 30 minutes to juice up my phone. thankfully, the longest our power was out was about 14 hours. we had a few other 1-2 hour outages. nothing major, just enough to be annoying.

quick recap:

2012-01-23T13:46:00.000-08:00

::edit:: this is posting on the 23rd, but not really. it’s the 26th, and I’m just now getting it posted because blogger wouldn’t run on the old computer. now we’re all set up w/ a new one and all is right with the world! hopefully I’ll be caught up soon! ::end edit::

no, this isn’t last week in pictures. that would require uploading pictures, and I’m not risking that right now. the fact that I’ve even managed to get this program to open and respond is impressive to me. last week, in all of our snow, we lost power repeatedly. usually we would lose it for about an hour or two, but one day, it went out in the middle of the night, and didn’t come back on until about 4 that afternoon. really, though, I’m not complaining. some people were out for like 3 or 4 days! BUT, the result of all that on and off stuff is an apparently UNhappy computer. dave doesn’t know what’s wrong with it yet, and I’m just hoping it’s repairable.

at any rate, I’ve been doing most of my computing via my phone, which I’m glad to have, but it’s a little bit frustrating.

so… saturday, it started snowing.

sunday, it snowed some more.

monday, well, it was a holiday and no school, anyway, but I’m pretty sure there wouldn’t have been any school that day.

tuesday, tons more snow. no school.

wednesday, more snow. no school.

thursday, supposed to warm up and rain, but instead there was freezing rain and even MORE snow. no school.

friday, widespread power outages, warming, thawing, pouring rain, flooding. no school.

by saturday, the roads were sort of clear and we were able to get out. I went to costco (along with everyone else in the entire state) to restock, and then made a target run. dave stayed home with the kids (hallelujah! this was his first day off after working 12 straight days, and some of them quite long because of commuting conditions) and removed wallpaper in layla and micah’s room, and took the bunk beds apart. then we got ready, my parents came over to babysit (thank goodness they were able to get off their hill), and we headed out to dave’s company party.

so now we’re mostly thawed out. the neighborhood streets are a little covered still, which made walking to the bus stop and back this morning a little interesting, since it was still frozen from overnight. very slick. watched the school bus kind of skid to a stop and hoped the rest of the route was free of any major hills.

my yard is still completely covered in snow, but there are a few spots that the grass is starting to show through.

the kids did a ton of sledding and drank a ton of hot chocolate. there were constantly mittens and hats and snowsuits hanging over furnace vents, or on the drying rack in front of the fireplace. – btw, SO thankful we have a fireplace!

it’s nice to be back to normal, though. got back to my regular workout this morning, saw friends, moved my body. yes, normal is good. but so is snow.

I wonder if we’ll get any more major storms this year. as much as it’s fun, going to school until july really isn’t.

totally random workouts

2012-01-16T22:47:00.001-08:00

so, I like to exercise. like, a lot. unfortunately, it’s not always easy or affordable to do what I really want to do. I have a long list of all of the different activities I really want to do, but it’s not really feasible for me to do all, or even most of them at this point in my life.

yoga
ballet
figure skating
crossfit
barre 3
hiking
swimming
cycling
weight training
pilates
gymnastics
soccer
long walks
etc, etc, etc… I’m sure I could add to it.

but, even the most active person, with unlimited funds, no children, job, or other responsibilities could not make all of that happen. boo hiss, that’s life.

my main restrictions are money and kid-free time.

as much as I’d love to return to skating, money is going to be the biggest factor there. just for starters, I don’t really have 500 spare benjamins to drop on a new pair of boots that I can actually get my feet into without wincing, squishing, or swearing… that’s assuming I can remount my old blades. and then there’s awesome stuff like ice time and coaching, and I’m just not really seeing that happen. skating is not a cheap sport.

so, I do what I can do.

there’s a church close by to me that has a great workout program going on called ‘revive and thrive’. I started going in the fall because 1) it was close, 2) it was free, and 3) they offered childcare. awesome. it’s basically a jazzercize kind of class. I go now because of all of the above 3 reasons, but also because I have several friends who go as well now, and it’s fun. I enjoy the dance element of it. even though it’s one of those relaxed, as long as you’re moving, it’s good kind of situations, I like the challenge of getting all the steps right. it’s a workout for the brain as well. plus there’s some weight training and straight muscle work as well as stretching after all the dance/cardio. probably not my first choice, but super convenient, and also fun.

I also like to find different workouts on the ‘on demand’ feature on my cable. lots of times they have different barre 3 (or the like) type workouts that I can do in my living room. I had to find one today because my class was cancelled due to the snow. after I finished that, I decided to go through a series of other random body weight-resistance type exercises. planks, sit-ups, and jumping squats. threw in a few burpees as well, but one set of those wore me out quick.

but I do this all the time. I’ll just get a totally random bee in my bonnet to work a certain area, or do a certain kind of exercise. and why not? is there any law that says you have to do the same thing at the same time every day? actually, there is a lot of evidence to show that giving your muscles a little bit of a surprise every now and then is actually more effective than the same old routine. mixing it up is good!

so anyway, over the weekend, I got one of those totally random bees buzzing around in my bonnet to see if I could do handstand pushups. well, I tried it, and I guess I sort of can. I’m going to practice and see if I can get stronger to do more reps and deeper dips. it was fun though.

I’ve also been challenged to do the splits. it’s been awhile, and I’m nowhere even close right now, but I’ll work on it. flexibility is big on my list of fitness goals right now, so that works in perfectly.

week 2 in pictures

2012-01-15T13:49:00.001-08:00

sunday: yes, this is a little odd. after church, we took our FILTHY van through the car wash. I am always impressed by all the pretty colors they squirt on your car, so, darnit!, I took a picture!

after church, carwash, and lunch, we headed out to hike the pipeline:

monday: micah and I ran some errands that included grocery shopping. when we got to the car to put the groceries in, I discovered that he had dabbled in a little bit of shoplifting. apparently no one noticed the pack of gum in his hand… so I made him go back in and hand it back to an employee. **sigh**

tuesday: toby has been a little insecure lately. I think because of all christmas, company, and parade of dogs though our house. roscoe and dakota are back, and shane keeps having troubles with toby sitting on his face… perhaps the two are related?

wednesday: dave’s birthday present arrived! new oakleys. his last pair broke back in 2005 when he sat down funny on them on an airplane. he’s been without ever since. notice all the nifty customizations: black w/ orange logo (wonder what that’s for? no, not oregon), and if you look closely, there’s a SF logo etched into the lens…

thursday:well, either spring is arriving early, or the birds know something is coming… robins have been EVERYWHERE lately. one time, I looked out at this bush to see, seriously, about 15 robins on it. they love those red berries, and have completely stripped it!

friday: the final of our christmas celebrations. we got together with my auntie marge for pizza and exchanging gifts. the kids love all the fun stuff she puts in goodie bags for them – especially the staples of candy, socks, and toothpaste! all 3 kids got puzzles, and the younger two’s got done that evening. not shane’s, since his has 500 pieces!

saturday: it’s snowing! it’s snowing!!!! not a ton, but enough to go out and get good and cold and have a snowball fight!

and the extras:

micah and I went to check out a preschool that he will be starting at on tuesday.
they did a penguin craft, that micah didn’t do during class time, but wanted to do after. the teacher was nice and sent all the pieces home for him to do on his own.
roscoe and dakota being (bad) happy dogs on the couch where they don’t belong!
micah, making a playdough birthday cake.
snowball fight!
micah, making a snow angel, and layla preparing to shove that snowball in his face.

that’s it! more snow pics to come, I’m sure!

how to make a smoothie

2012-01-13T11:49:00.001-08:00

I’ve written about smoothies a couple of times before, here and here. my posts evolve, as my smoothies do. but after a discussion last night about making good smoothies, I decided to document the one I made today. (still enjoying it, btw.)

I generally make them with whatever fruit I happen to have around, and I always keep fruit of some sort in the freezer. adding frozen fruit to smoothies is just absolutely the best idea ever because you don’t have to add ice cubes if you want that cold, frothy, shake feel to it.

generally, if I’m just making a smoothie for myself, I do it in my magic bullet. if I’m making more than one, I use the huge, loud, clunky blender. their mixing abilities are about the same, and I prefer the easy cleanup of the bullet when it’s just for me.

since I found out that I have a dairy allergy or sensitivity and that yogurt and whey were very high numbers for me, I have not been able to add any yogurt. I used to always put in some plain greek yogurt, just for the texture and the protein. oh well. so now I’m a little at a loss for how to get some extra protein into it, since the obvious whey powder is out. sometimes I pulverize some nuts to add. today I did almonds and pecans.

now, the bullet does this pretty well. however, if you happen to have one of the really COOL vitamix blenders that they sell at costco and are on sale right now and come in RED, then you can do this without being left with a bunch of nut carcasses that you have to pick out and set aside since they didn’t get ground up. just sayin’… so I added that, plus a spoonful of milled flax seed to my cup. I already had half an orange (which was in the fridge and needed to be used up), and 4 or 5 big spinach leaves. then I threw in a bunch of frozen berries. raspberries from my garden last summer, marionberries from costco, and blueberries from safeway. I really really like putting raspberries in. just gives it a good tangy taste that I love. however, if you DON’T have a good pulverizing blender like the vitamix which is on sale and comes in RED, and you have a problem with chunky, seedy textures, you might want to avoid fruits with a lot of seeds like raspberries. then I add a splash of vanilla extract and fill up the cup with unsweetened coconut milk. almond milk is good too, and if you can do dairy, cow’s milk is just fine. now seriously, you don’t have to sweeten it. fruit is sweet. our society would be a lot better off if we could come to terms with this and stop adding sugar to everything. retrain your taste buds! you really don’t have to add the vanilla, either, but I like how it just seems to bring out all the flavors a little more. and then you blend. and blend and blend. until it is satisfactorily blended. hard to see, because I do not have a fabulous camera (tempted to put a plug in here for the canon rebel we really really want, but I’ll restrain myself) and I am not a good food photographer, but the finished texture is a little chunky. mostly seeds from the fruit, and a little bit of the white stuff from the orange. but really, it’s very well mixed. you can adjust the thickness with the amount of liquid you put in. I like to make mine a little less thick because when you have more liquid, it blends better and faster. I’m impatient. AND, for those of you who were panicked about the fact that I was putting spinach in there, notice the lack of big, scary, green chunks. (fyi, if you’re making this for your kids, only let them see you putting in fruit that they like. you can hide all sorts of other good stuff in there, but if they’re anything like mine, as soon as they see something ‘yucky’ go in there, the whole smoothie is ruined, whether they can taste it or not.)

so there you go. smoothie 101. or maybe 201? I don’t know. or maybe smoothie 101 with the paleo emphasis… right. I kinda want to go back to school. can you tell?

paleo blueberry muffin/bar/breakfasty-type things…

2012-01-11T13:35:00.001-08:00

so, back in november, I tried a recipe for some blueberry muffins. the experience didn’t really go as planned, as you can read about here. but I saved the recipe, because, although the weren’t really ‘muffins’, they were delicious, and made really good cereal! I just took the muffin cup, dumped it into a bowl, and poured a little coconut milk over it. delish! today, I finally got around to making this recipe again, thinking I’d love to have some more of this yummy blueberry cereal stuff again.

this time, I decided from the get go, that I was going to abandon any façade that they should be muffins, and oiled a 9x9 baking pan with the intention of dumping it all in and baking it there, and then spooning it into bowls for eating. I also decided that I was going to add a few things that might make it yummier – chopped pecans and shredded coconut.

well, I’m not sure what I did differently this time, but the batter looked a whole lot more like batter, as opposed to crumbs. but, I went ahead with my plan, and pressed it into the baking dish, baked it, and then sat there with my mouth watering as I smelled it while it cooled off some.

I tried a piece, and it is SO yummy. I actually had to cut it into a bar and it was awesome. I tried a second piece, in a bowl, poured some coconut milk over it and crunched it up a little, but I liked it better the first way, just by itself.

so, I guess I ought to share!

2 1/2 cups almond meal/flour (I used 2 and 1/2 cup coconut, because I was short on almond)
3 eggs
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries
1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup (maybe more) chopped pecans

I just mixed it all up and spread/pressed it into the baking dish (which I greased with coconut oil). bake at 300 degrees for 30-40 minutes. cool and cut!

hiking the pipeline

2012-01-09T11:18:00.001-08:00

yesterday, after church, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and go for a hike on the pipeline trail. it’s about a mile from our house, and not too terribly difficult. lots of ups and downs though. we saw horses on the trail, lots of dogs, and tons of people. it’s a popular spot. we kind of just kept going, to see how far the kids wanted to go. they decided they wanted to go all the way into town, so that’s where we went. there’s a tully’s just down the road from where the trail crosses the main road, so we stopped there and sat down for a while over coffee and hot chocolate. then we turned around and headed back up and over.

along the sidewalk near the tully’s I spotted little patches that looked like this! little green leaves from bulbs (probably daffodils or crocuses) poking through the dirt. LOVE it! spring WILL come!

the old hollywood schoolhouse is right across the intersection from the tully’s. layla wanted me to take her picture there. (I guess this is her ‘dancing on the edge of the hollywood sign’.)

the first hill back up is brutal. it’s known as heart attack or cardiac hill. we had the brilliant idea to search out geocaches on the way back. that gave the little kids (who were a little whiny) something to distract them. the sky was all kinds of crazy cool. totally awesome with the olympics off in the distance.

some various caches we found. layla wanted to write her name in every one.we were about to give up on this one when I spotted it: a weird selfie with the sun shining through my ear. nice. the final stretch. those are the cascades off in the distance. totally awesome when you can look one direction and see one mountain range, then turn around and see the other one. love it!

total we did about 6.4 miles. layla did it all on foot. micah did about half, and then half in the backpack. my legs are a little sore today, but not bad.

dave and I have plans to actually do the WHOLE pipeline trail one day. either just us, or us and shane.

not sure of the actual mileage on it, because it there are a few places it jogs off and you have to pick it up on the other side of a freeway or something. but we could do it in a day. can’t wait!

week 1 in pictures!

2012-01-08T00:31:00.001-08:00

here we are, 1 whole week in to 2012. I’m so excited to start my new project life album. (and to finish the last one, and the two before that…)

we had an interesting, busy week. highs and lows… the whole gamut. who would want to start off the year boring? well…

sunday: the main picture I have for sunday is layla, with NO teeth up top. but then… there’s the big collage from that day:

shane lighting fireworks at midnight.
layla and micah banging pots with wooden spoons with me.
everyone with sparklers (and layla freaking out).
micah made a little round train track and decided it needed a tree to go in the middle of it. so he went and got their little tree out of their room, took the decorations off, and stuck it in the middle.
finnigan and micah playing with the ‘to-do-do-do’.
the birthday boy, finally 30!
presenting dave’s birthday confetti cupcakes.
no teeth layla
happy birthday to you!
stories with gramma and…
stories with grandma!

monday:we all loaded up and headed over the mountains to leavenworth! we had lunch at gustav’s. I had a bratwurst and even ate the sauerkraut. then we poked around in shops and had a ton of fun seeing all the sights. then it was time to go sledding. it was getting dark, all the christmas lights were lit in the town, it was beautiful. the sledding hill was solid ice, but the kids had fun sliding down. it even started to snow!

tuesday: laurie, layla and I met my mom and dad at hobby lobby to look around. layla was IN LOVE with the crafty stuff and wanted to live in the crayola aisle. after that it was time for gramma and papa to pack up. we headed to rainforest café at south center for dinner before taking them to the airport.

wednesday: well, shane and micah were sick ALL night, and dave got sick the next day. I went to safeway for ‘supplies’. the checker took one look at my cart and said, “uh oh!” yup. not a fun day. it was the first day back to school for the kids, and dave was supposed to go to work. layla was the only one who went anywhere.

thursday: another recovery day. shane and micah spent the day swapping between the recliner and the mattress I had pulled into the living room. we watched a LOT of movies. we were also watching missy for susie and kevin, so bringing her home cheered everyone up a bit.

friday: hooray, everyone was better! shane and layla both went to school, dave went to work, and micah and I went to my exercise class and to run errands. in the evening, dave was horsing around with the kids and started using them as weights. they thought it was hilarious.

saturday: the night before, shane had been cleaning out his closet, and found this big truck and trailer w/ a snowmobile that he decided he didn’t want anymore, so he offered it to micah. the next morning, all 3 of them spent about an hour playing with this thing. first the truck and trailer were used to haul barbies. then the truck was used to haul loads of blocks, while micah used them to build houses, and layla zoomed the snowmobile around the kitchen. polly pockets were driving the truck, barbies were found on shane’s bed, and snowboards were used as barbie accessories. too funny to listen to all the different facets of the game they all invented with the truck shane ‘no longer wanted’. we spent the rest of saturday putting away christmas.

and the extras:

micah, super excited about the ‘storm’ at rainforest café.
micah, super excited about the huge fish tanks at rainforest café.
2011 project life album with ALL the pictures IN!
the first page in 2012 project life album
bouquet of tulips from my mystery MOM.
31 christmas books, all wrapped and numbered for next year. ready to be opened ‘advent calendar’ style.
missy, attacking layla’s fur real dog. it was hilarious!

and that’s that! 1 week, in the ‘book’. literally! (well, it will be as soon as I get the pictures back from costco. they’re already ordered and will be ready tomorrow! yes, I’m on top of it!)

week 52 in pictures

2012-01-02T22:08:00.000-08:00

this is it! the last week of 2011!

sunday: christmas day. I couldn’t decide on one picture to put in the book for this day, so I figured I’d use the slot for a 4x6 journaling card describing our day. but I have two big collages in the book of christmas morning, and christmas dinner later on, at barb and paul’s.

monday: just a little sampling of our day. morning technology fiends at barb and paul’s; micah at jamison’s birthday party; dave and I disagreeing about a qwirkle move followed by us simultaneously posting our disappointment (him) and triumph (me) following the wise counsel of qwirkle expert, kate.

tuesday: we had a little christmas celebration with my parents in the evening. we didn’t want to drag all of each other’s presents down to portland, so we just waited until after. the kids all got stuff for their rooms – sheets, piggy (or not) banks, and something extra. micah got some wall art, layla got a toss pillow, and shane got a pair of shoes. okay, those are for his feet, not his room. we gave my parents a new photo calendar for 2012, and a new trash can. might seem silly, but they needed one in a bad way! shane gave them a huge box of chocolates, which he had way too much fun taping up, making it practically impossible to open. he thought this was very funny… I took this photo later that night. micah was so excited about his football piggy bank! he couldn’t leave it alone, and was warned many times about it not being a toy and the possibility of it getting broken if he didn’t leave it on the dresser. well… this is what I found after he’d gone to sleep. yes, I put it back on the dresser after I took this pic! funny kid. who sleeps with a piggy bank?!

wednesday: I took a couple quick shots of layla and micah’s new bedding. the bedroom makeover gear is piling up, with more to come. I’ll post pictures of the new rooms after they’re all painted and fixed up. but this is just a hint.

thursday: this is where I was after my superfun project life all-nighter, followed by the book, completely filled with 2005 and 2006’s photos, and my neatly organized container of all the supplies I need for the 3 albums I currently have in the works. one of my favorite things about project life is all the pretty boxes it all comes in!

friday: I spent the day doing laundry and tidying up, getting ready for dave’s parents to come into town that night (and I might have spent a couple of hours filling in some journaling cards). layla has had these 2 crazy loose top teeth that have been almost ready to come out for at least a week. at one point in the afternoon, I was in my bedroom folding laundry and she was in her room reading a book or something, when she came to me, all freaked out, blood gushing from her mouth and a wad of bloody bubblegum in her hand. apparently she had put the gum in her mouth, bit down on it with her loose teeth, and knocked one of them back into a funky position that she couldn’t get it out of. so cleaned her up, (threw away the gum), grabbed a tissue, and yanked! phew! finally, it came out. what a relief! as you can see, she was very excited. of course, this left the one crazy loose top tooth that quickly moved to the center of her gums and just HUNG there, all snaggletooth-like. awesome. I was hoping for a 2 for 1 deal that day, but no dice.

saturday: gramma and papa are here! gramma and papa are here! they got in after the kids had gone to bed, and they knew that they’d be there when they woke up, so they were very excited to see them in the morning. we had another christmas morning, and opened gifts with them. laurie had planned on making curtains for layla and micah’s closet, and valances for both bedroom windows before she came, but christie’s sewing machine quit on her, so she gifted the kids with fabric and an explanation, and I quickly borrowed a sewing machine from a friend (thanks, summer!) and she got to work!

and the extras: 1. micah, and “the grinch’s dog’ watching ‘the grinch’. over christmas, he became OBSESSED with the grinch. but he didn’t call it ‘the grinch’, or even ‘how the grinch stole christmas’. no, he called it ‘the grinch’s dog’.

2. layla made superhero masks for everyone.

3. shane slept on a mattress in layla and micah’s room while gramma and papa were using his room. one morning they stuffed all the stuffed animals in the room AND micah, under his blankets, to make him ‘fat’.

4. micah and layla, enjoying some christmas color sprinkles in their oatmeal.

5. playing with some vehicles they made from the lego set that micah got for christmas from aunt marilynne. cops and robbers with legos!

6. what I did on new year’s eve while laurie was working on the curtains. getting my current pl album caught up, now that I have the extra card stock sheets from mary.

7. laurie, sewing away at curtains.

that’s it! the year is done! a picture every day (for the most part) for 52 weeks, 365 days of 2011. I’m SO glad I did this. it has been so much fun, and it’s so awesome to look back at our year. I can’t wait to do 2012!

happy 30th!

2012-01-02T11:46:00.000-08:00

in other words, new years eve and new years day.

it’s the day I’ve been waiting for since I turned 30! my husband has finally entered the same decade as me!

the birthday boy, looking very mature with his juice glass of sparkling cider…

every year, I try to convince shane to bang pots with me at midnight, and every year he rolls his eyes at me. this year, both micah and layla managed to stay up and they were willing! so at midnight, we all ran outside with our pots and wooden spoons and banged the heck out of them! shane was embarrassed.

but he was busy lighting off fireworks in the street. we had saved a few from 4th of july. and yes, those are sort of snowflakes. not sure what was going on. there wasn’t any snow to speak of, just a few frozen rain drops. and there were sparklers for all of us, except gramma and papa who stayed inside where it was warm.

next day:after church, amy, adam and finnigan came over. sometime, mid afternoon, layla’s tooth came out. micah was playing with his trains and built a little circle track. apparently it needed a christmas tree to go in the middle of it.

after a delicious ham dinner, we had dave’s birthday cake. cupcakes, this year, but still confetti cake. the birthday boy, his candles, and his head cut off in the picture. apparently shane hasn’t quite mastered the art of the birthday person POTD shot yet.

my parents came over as well, and layla got to have 2 grandmothers read stories to her. micah did not, because he was being a stinker.

leavenworth

2012-01-02T07:26:00.000-08:00

while dave’s parents were in town, we decided to take a day trip over (or into) the mountains to leavenworth. none of us had ever been there before. well, I found out later that I’d been with my parents when I was really little, but I don’t remember having ever been there, so I guess that doesn’t count. after a couple hours of very scenic driving through stevens pass, we arrived in time for a late lunch. that’s where we came from.

loved this sign on the restaurant. there wasn’t a ton of snow on the ground while we were there, but apparently this is a legitimate hazard!

shane and papa waiting for lunch, with the mountain behind them.

we were told that we must go to gustav’s for bratwursts. I was even brave and got it with the sauerkraut, although I have a history (childhood) of not liking it. I did, however, order it without the bun. when it came, I was a little overwhelmed by how much sauerkraut! it was hard to find the brat!

but I was a good sport and tried the sauerkraut. see mom?

it actually wasn’t that bad!

dave had a brat as well.

micah and layla, not so much. mac&cheese for them.

micah was showing off his grinch shirt. this year he was OBSESSED with watching the grinch, and when I found this shirt for him on a clearance rack at target, I HAD to buy it for him! it’s got max, the grinch’s dog, on the back.

the restaurant had these awesome antique skates hanging on the wall, so I made dave take my picture with them.

this cracked me up to no end: first of all, when I trek into the mountains to a touristy bavarian village, the first thing I think of is NOT wasabi.

but then, again, as soon as I saw the sign, I had pretty much only one thought:

“do not eat the free pistachio ice cream! it has turned!”

and then we went poking around in the shops. this is a gift for someone ‘special’.

in the bag shop for about 5 seconds and layla hones in on these dog purses.

and then there were the hats:

after the hat shop, we went in a nutcracker shop. we were really excited about the star wars nutcrackers. and they had more than just nutcrackers. micah was impressed by the wall of cuckoo clocks and insisted on having his picture taken with them.

after shopping, it was time to get ready to go sledding, so we headed to the car to get snow gear on. micah, reenacting the “I can’t put my arms down” scene from a christmas story.

this was still in the parking lot.

wait! POTD op! “go stand by the sign!”

gramma and papa, waiting ‘safely’ at the top of the sledding hill. it was a sheet of solid ice, with bumps in it.

seriously. ice.

as it got darker, and all the christmas lights were coming on, it was so beautiful. and then…

wait for it…

it started to snow! yup, it was pretty much perfect.

until we realized that it was really snowing, and we still really had to drive home through the mountains.

that was a little bit scary, but we made it safe and sound.

more project life love!

2011-12-29T16:38:00.001-08:00

so, back in april, I bought 2 PL album kits. the amber and the turquoise, which were the 2011 designs. my intent was to put 2 years’ worth of photos in each book. I got to work on 2007 and 2008 right away, and stuck them in the turquoise album. currently, all the pictures are in and 2007 is completely done with journaling and everything. still need to do 2008, but that’ll happen some time.

since then, the amber kit has been sitting on my shelf, unopened, just waiting for me to get my pictures together. at the end of november, snapfish offered penny prints and I went for it. I got all of 2005 and 2006’s photos edited, organized, and ordered. I knew that I would have to deal with the non-digital photos I had (we got our first digital camera in may of 2005) eventually.

well, that box of snapfish prints has been sitting on my shelf, taunting me for a good 3 weeks now. I was disciplined. I had vowed NOT to touch it until after christmas, and I didn’t. last night, however, at 10:58pm, I caved. I don’t know what possessed me, but I couldn’t hold off any longer. initially, my plan was just to cut apart the vertical pics (which I printed, 2 on a 4x6, so as to use them in the small slots). so I did that. then I thought I should sort them, roughly, by month. so I did that. then I had to sort the rest of the pictures, into those piles as well. then I had to check my files on the computer, to make sure everything was in the right month and order. so then I was sitting there, with 20 neat stacks of photos, laid out on my dining room table. it was too much. so I opened up the amber kit.

ahhh… it was glorious. it is everything I expected it to be and more. I am completely and totally in love with it.

but I digress.

so then I decided to just put a few of the pictures in. just a few. I started at the back, going in reverse from december 2006. I decided to do it that way, because I didn’t know how many pictures I had from the start of 2005. so I put in december, then november, then october… you get the idea. pretty soon, dave got up.

yup. it was 5am. I had everything in it, up through august of 2005.

oops.

I wasn’t really that tired, but the reality that I have kids who WILL get up at some point in the morning kind of kicked in. (that, and the fact that I’d been kneeling on the dining room floor for probably 3 hours.) so I hobbled off to bed (I think I finally have all the feeling back in my feet), even though I had 3 neat stacks sitting on the table, calling my name.

so, morning came. late, thankfully. vacation is awesome for letting your kids stay up late (and thus, sleep in late!). at 9am, I was a TOTALLY AWESOME MOM, turned on tangled (which they had requested the night before), and went back to bed.

when the movie was over, I made myself 2 cups of coffee, instead of 1, and sat down to ‘finish up’. hahaha!

I put the rest of those 3 neat little stacks in. but no, I couldn’t just leave it there.

I attacked THE BOX. you know the one. we all have them. the big, scary, black hole of pictures that you’re “going to do something with” someday. fortunately, my box is relatively organized, and I was able to quickly find the sections of pictures for 2005 that I wanted. several of them were repeats, because I had printed a lot of the digital stuff already (and then forgot that I did that, and printed them again), but it was fun to see some of the prints that are pre-digital. we have all of our pictures cycling though our computer as our screen saver and wallpaper, so I’m constantly seeing our pictures, even really old ones. but this was fun to see.

at any rate, I found them, sorted them, cropped the vertical ones to fit in small slots (because I’m totally anal about the vertical ones not going in horizontal slots. seriously. I couldn’t handle it.), and got EVERYTHING in! EVERYTHING! as in, it’s done!

all I have left to do is the journaling. which I REALLY REALLY want to do right now, but I’m restraining myself.

between the picture/paper mess I’ve made of the dining room with this, and the fact that my kids entertained themselves with paper, scissors, and watercolor paints today, and that my in-laws are coming tomorrow, I really need to tidy up.

and I swear, I’m going to bed at a decent hour tonight.

week 51 in pictures

2011-12-26T15:23:00.000-08:00

holy cow. we are winding down! this will be my second to last weekly post for this year!!!! wow.

sunday: finally got the kids’ presents all wrapped. 2 big fat boxes for each… what could it be???

monday: just a little random cuteness.

tuesday: on the way back from… somewhere… california, maybe? layla made a bunch of paper ornaments and I had the brilliant idea that she should make a big paper christmas tree to put on her bedroom door. she then bugged me to let her make this tree nearly EVERY day since, usually right before bed time, or when I was in the middle of making dinner. FINALLY, it happened. they painted it green, I added some glitter glue lights, and cut it out. layla cut out and taped on all of her ornaments, and then we put it on her door!

wednesday: new tragedy for our family… layla had a super loose tooth, which she managed to lose AND swallow while eating breakfast. she was quite distraught.

thursday: christmas baking has commenced! yes, I like to wait to the last minute. and every year, as I’m cursing the stress and time constraints, I vow to start in november the next year. that has yet to happen.

friday: layla and micah helped me decorate.

saturday: christmas eve: shane and layla were involved in a big choir number during the service at church. it was beautiful! (they are both on the left side of the picture.)

more christmas eve: before church, we went to visit amy and finnigan (adam had to work). while there, amy fixed a haircut botch, and finnigan became completely enamored with shane. layla and micah were ecstatic to go to “roscoe and dakota’s house”! then, at church, micah got to have his own candle during ‘silent night’. he was very good and took the whole thing very seriously. then he and layla posed as goofballs in front of the christmas tree.

and we attempted to do some decent family shots…

and the extras: 1&2. me with summer/tina and kate at a christmas party/game night dealio. yes, we get a little silly.

3. the finished paper tree on the door.

4. my traditional christmas jammies.

5. layla, wearing her favorite of daddy’s shirts.

6. the traditional block wall at the end of the hall. dave did this one year, “to keep the kids from sneaking into the living room and opening presents before we’re up”, and now they want it every year!

that’s it. only 1 more!

christmas day at barb & paul’s

2011-12-26T15:22:00.000-08:00

(otherwise known as “ana and elsa’s” to my kids.)

after breakfast, quick showers, packing up clothes, jammies, and gifts, we loaded up in the car and drove south to my cousin, barb’s house. we got there around 3. my parents and aunt marilynne were already there, as well as my other cousins, lynne & jim. there was chatting, and munching, and drinking of spiked cider going on. soon, mike and marie showed up with baby liam, and everyone applauded! LOL. gotta love having a baby around! after that, caitlyn and her fiancé, danny arrived and that was everyone.

we had traditional hedvall family (my mom’s mom’s family) swedish christmas dinner of halibut and sausages, along with other yummy fixings. then we sang carols (which was both beautiful AND hilarious), paul lit the candles on the tree, and finally opened presents.

we got gift cards and the game, qwirkle (which I’ve wanted for the last 2 years!), layla and micah got some toys and accessories for their rooms, shane got an awesome rc helicopter (along with other BIG boys mike and danny – and when all the presents had been opened, they all disappeared outside to try them out)and the game clue. we gifted my cousins with IOUs for envirosax packs that were hung up in the mail, and the scarf and mittens I knitted for my aunt.

as always, it was a blast, and I’m excited that we’ve reinstated this tradition with my mom’s side of the family.

christmas morning

2011-12-26T14:52:00.000-08:00

so, I had a few technical difficulties w/ my pictures from christmas. turns out, my iphone camera is not quite as fabulous as I first thought. it still takes great pictures in the church, and will definitely do better in a pinch, but from now on, I’ll be sticking with my point and shoot (until I get my REAL camera!) for daily stuff. first of all, a lot of the pictures came out blurry or grainy without the flash, and with it, there’s like this light aura thing going on that totally washes out the picture. (but don’t worry, I still love my phone!) then, when uploading and attempting to edit the pictures from my phone, I discovered that my computer or the picture files themselves, or both, don’t like each other. more than half of them were unable to be edited because of something to do with the file (I’m so techie!). so I did all the editing in picassa, but now I can’t figure out how to put them in this post FROM picassa, and since I really don’t care that much and don’t want to spend all day trying to figure it out, I’m just putting in the big collage I made from them that will go in the book.

stockings were first.

in micah’s was snow mittens, underwear, chalk, a card holder, glow in the dark silly putty, and a thomas the tank engine water color book.

in layla’s was snow gloves, a new barbie and ken outfit, erasers, glue sticks, chapsticks, and a rapunzel doll.

in shane’s was snow gloves, gum, erasers, underwear, soda flavored chapsticks, and a phone.

(a note on the phone: this is not a cell phone. when we switched our cable and internet to comcast recently, we got the ‘triple play’ deal that comes with a home phone line. well, we don’t actually own a house phone. we’ve only used cell phones for the last 6 years. well, now that shane is mr. preteen heartthrob, I’m getting all sorts of calls and and texts for him. we were going to just not plug a phone into our now active jack, but decided that we could have that be the number shane gives to his friends. so he got a plug into the wall, non-cordless phone! we’ll just have to remember to turn off the ringer in the evenings during the fall so we aren’t inundated by political calls.)

after that, they did their presents to each other. layla got shane the fuzzy earflap hat he wanted, and she got micah the movie ‘cars 2’. micah got layla a tin w/ hello kitty pez dispensers, and shane a glow in the dark hexbug nano. shane got micah a pair of fuzzy slippers and (the big event!) he got layla the ‘fur real friends’ walking, barking white dog! they were both SO excited about this gift. it was fun to see shane so worked up about the fact that he was giving someone a gift he knew they’d really like. he bought all the gifts and shopped himself, so this was totally him. and it lived up to his expectations because layla LOVED it!

layla got us a new butter dish and shane got us a bagel slicer (won’t have to be hauling bagels to my parents’ anymore!)

then the kids opened their gifts from us. each got a bedspread set and a lamp. sounds kinda lame, but the big thing is that they’re getting their rooms redone. lots of relatives were in on it, so various other accessories have been trickling in, with a few more to come from gramma and papa. we’ll be painting, and rearranging and completely redecorating both bedrooms, in stuff that is, more or less, of their choosing. (I had sneaky subtle ways of extracting this information.)

then it was on to pancakes and sausages for christmas breakfast, and to get ready to head to portland for christmas dinner w/ family.

christmas eve service

2011-12-26T00:29:00.000-08:00

shane and layla were both involved in the christmas eve service at church. there was a mass choir number w/ the kids and adults. the big kids rang hand bells and sang, and the little kids looked beautiful, singing with their sparkly capes and candles. it was a beautiful number, and they pulled it off perfectly. yes, I got a little teary.

layla had a bit of a cold, which is what the sniffling and occasional nose-wiping were about. but, even so, she did great, and always loves singing in church (or anywhere, for that matter).

after that, we had the traditional candle-lighting portion and sung silent night. micah got his own candle this year.

a timeline of confusion

2011-12-20T16:20:00.001-08:00

may 2006: layla takes her first steps

january 2007: layla, in the process of potty training, decides that, not only does she not want to poop in the potty, she does not poop AT ALL.

february 2007: layla STILL refuses to poop. you can read all about it here, if you feel the need. however, in reading over that post, there was a very significant sentence: she walks around on her toes. this was in an effort to keep her poop in. this whole poop-phobia thing lasted only about a month, but apparently it was long enough to imbed toe-walking firmly in layla’s muscle memory and it became a habit.

december 2007: dave’s gramma gives layla a shirt with a tu-tued dancer on the front and the words ‘future ballerina’ because she has apparently noticed that she is always on her toes.

sometime in the general 2008-2010 span of time: when visiting layla’s doctor for well-child checkups, I ask about the toe-walking. he examines her legs and ankles, checks her heel cord flexibility, etc., and determines that the toe-walking is voluntary and nothing needs to be done about it at this point. she would probably grow out of it.

july 2011: one day, layla wakes up in the morning and says her ankle hurts. that resulted in this whole scenario, which you can read about here.

october 2011: and… it happens again, and is documented here. her doctor determines that the injuring and reinjuring of the ankle is likely due to the toe-walking, which should at this point, be addressed. so we see an orthopedics intern at childrens who prescribes PT.

october 2011: layla begins physical therapy. she goes once a week for about a month to stretch her heel cords, hamstrings, and strengthen her hips and legs. we also do a series of stretches at home, as her heel cords are very tight and her right foot cannot be stretched even to ‘neutral’.

november 2011: the PT determines that the stretching and therapy is not doing enough to help. she confers with another PT at the seattle childrens who has more experience with toe walkers. we discontinue PT with her and set up an appointment with the new PT.

december 8, 2011: meet w/ new PT in seattle who determines that serial casting would benefit layla, followed by wearing orthodics with her regular shoes for an indefinite amount of time. we went ahead and scheduled the casting, which isn’t to begin until march – the soonest they can get her in.

december 20, 2011: went to a previously scheduled doctor’s appointment with an orthopedist at childrens. the second PT recommended we keep this appointment to see what she thought. this doctor is not in favor of serial casting. does not think it helps long-term. she wants us to return to PT once or twice a week as well as continue a more disciplined regimen of stretching at home. she also prescribed orthodic braces for layla to have formed for her feet that she will wear at night, to stretch her while she sleeps. if those things do not improve the situation, she is in favor of a minor surgical procedure which cuts and lengthens the tendons, followed by a 6 week casting during healing. we meet again in 3 months. I scheduled her follow-up appt. with this doctor 2 days before she is scheduled to go in for her first casting appointment – which I did NOT cancel… PT scheduled to resume tomorrow. you know, because I love driving to bellevue all the time.

so…

can I just say the following:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

seriously. why can’t there be any clear cut direction here? one says one thing, the next says something completely different! nobody seems to agree on anything and I’m SO THOROUGHLY CONFUSED!

honestly, if it weren’t for the stupid ankle-swelling injuries, I would have just left well enough alone. she could walk, run, jump, play soccer, do whatever she darn well wanted to do, ON HER TOES, and she could do it all JUST FINE. it was only because of the injuries that I started to think that this might be a problem that should be addressed. (of course, plenty of people over the years have expressed concerns over it or suggested treatment or shared anecdotes about people they knew whose kids had been toe-walkers and what they had done about it.)

so, for now we stretch and drive to bellevue. awesome.

week 50 in pictures

2011-12-19T13:03:00.001-08:00

this week is kind of messed up. I didn’t take any pictures until wednesday, and then those pictures got deleted. so, I have a bunch of random ones from either the weekend before, or post-wednesday… but this is (roughly) how I’m going to be plugging them in to the book. I think…

sunday: layla’s FIRST ‘dangly’ earrings. (yes, this is a big deal.)

monday: my absolute FAVORITE treat right now. super awesome, high-quality, fair trade, organic, LOCAL (made right here in seattle – I’ve even toured the factory) chocolate! this is my current bar of choice, and dark chocolate (the higher the %, the better), is a totally paleo-approved treat! L.O.V.E.

tuesday: micah has decided that the best utensil for eating yogurt is a plastic fork. weird kid. in an ironic twist, I sent a yogurt in shane’s lunch that day. he came home and told me that I forgot to send him a spoon, so he had to go and find one. well, they didn’t have any plastic spoons in the cafeteria, so he had to use a fork! go figure.

wednesday: dave surprised me with my brand new iphone 4s!!!! OMG. I kinda felt really guilty about it. like I don’t really need it and it’s all extravagant and everything. but my old 3g was kind of on the fritz and my camera was falling apart, so he decided to replace both! the camera on this thing is awesome, and I totally love it! that said, we were at church when he gave it to me, and I was really excited to fiddle around with the camera. the kids were singing in the service, so I wanted to get some pics and video (this does both). done. and then… accidentally deleted. oh well. I will say that it is IMPOSSIBLE to get good pictures in our church. the lighting is funky and they always wind up dark, blurry, grainy, or everyone with demon eyes. frequently all of the above. this thing took AWESOME pictures in there! the kids are singing again on christmas eve and I can’t wait to take pictures of that so I can show off the awesome quality! (oh, and my kids singing!)

thursday: micah, playing at craft club.

also thursday (not sure how I’m going to work this, exactly): layla brought home her ‘student of the month’ award, and we decided to go out for dinner to celebrate that (and a couple of other recent family accomplishments). after, we went over to the at&t store to see if I could find a case for my phone. I was kind of in a panic, because I have a tendency to drop phones. a lot. and this thing is made entirely of glass and the cost to replace it is through the roof! so… a case was necessary. while there, the kids had fun playing on all of the various devices. layla REALLY wants an ipad. oh, santa?!! haha! yeah, right!

friday: layla made a gingerbread house at school and brought it home on friday. they went to town on it. the remains are on top of the fridge, currently, and I’m hoping they’ll just forget about it so it can disappear the way halloween candy usually does… shhh!

saturday: dave and I got to have a date! my friend, angie, had brought to our attention that the SIFF cinema was going to be showing a “quote-along” version of the princess bride. um, yeah. that’s only like the best move EVER, and I know the lines, start to finish, better than anything, so we were totally there. it was so much fun. everyone was quoting, they had these inflatable plastic swords that people were dueling with, a random person in an ROUS costume that showed up in the middle of the movie… it was awesome. I even made dave a “hello. my name is… inigo montoya. you killed my father, prepare to die.” nametag.

fun week.

meal plan monday

2011-12-12T11:07:00.001-08:00

yup. I realize that it’s getting to be a joke when I actually do post one of these. but hey, I have a rough sketch in my mind, so it might actually happen this week.

monday: beef stew (primal style, without the flour to thicken it)
tuesday: spaghetti (w/ spaghetti squash for the grownups and any kids willing to try it – veggie noodles for the kids); broccoli; salad
wednesday: dinner at church (might have to bring some back-up leftovers, just in case)
thursday: leek and potato soup (I think. I have a leek and some potatoes – will have to check the recipe to make sure there’s no dairy)
friday: pizza and beans (for the kids, and maybe dave, I guess. might have to make a different plan if he doesn’t want it. we’ll see what I come up with for myself.)
saturday: burgers and dogs (sans buns); raw veggies; sweet potato/oven fries
sunday: big breakfast scramble

planning meals lately is… interesting. on top of the paleo stuff, I have so many things I’m not supposed to be eating during these 8 weeks, so I have been making stuff that the kids will like, and then just scrounging up a salad or some meat and veggies for myself. well, now dave is dabbling in the primal side of things, too (woohoo!), but obviously, does not have the restrictions I have. so… I’m trying to figure out how to do all this still.

hopefully this’ll get us through this week w/out too much trouble!

week 49 in pictures

2011-12-12T08:05:00.001-08:00

um, really? 49? there are only 52 weeks in a year.

wow.

sunday: after rearranging the furniture in the livingroom to accommodate the christmas tree, we made a little ‘nook’ behind the couch that works for a cozy little play area for the kids. whether or not they’ll use it, is yet to be seen, but they thought it was a good idea.

monday: I met a friend a starbucks for a coffee date, and micah had to tag along. I gave him my phone to play games, but after awhile he switched to taking pictures. this is a sampling of the pictures he took while patiently waiting for us to finish with our grown-up talk. I LOVE his perspective on all this stuff that was around him.

tuesday:we got a cat tree/climber from a friend for toby. micah, guess who thought it was for him…

wednesday: don’t worry, toby likes it, too!. he actually spends most of the day up on that top spot, napping and keeping an eye on the goings on of the neighborhood.

thursday: this is shane’s little reading nook in his room. beanbag, blanket, santa hat… cat. toby likes to join him for a snuggle while he’s reading in the evening.

friday:every december, dave’s company has an open house/party that we like to go to. there’s food, santa, crafts for the kids, spiked egg nog… they also give everyone tickets for the carousel, which happens to be JUST downstairs in front of his building. shane didn’t come this year, since he was at a birthday party playing poker.

also: this = christmas for me. the BON star. I know, I know, it’s “the macy’s star” now, but that store used to be the downtown bon marche store, and every year, after thanksgiving, they would put up the HUGE star on the corner of the building. a glimpse of that, lit at night, meant it was christmastime. I wondered how long they’ve been putting that up there, so I googled it and found this seattle PI article that was published last december. apparently, since 1957! at any rate, squirm a little with jealousy, that dave walks out of his office every day to see that, right in front of his face.

saturday: after meeting my dad at fred meyer to do a little christmas shopping, I went back to their house to have some coffee and a chat. noticed this on their fridge. it’s the letter that layla wrote (and mailed) to toby when we were in california over thanksgiving. of course, it didn’t get there until the day after we returned and had picked him up, but we didn’t tell her that.

translation: dear mr. fat pants, (that’s shane’s name for him.) I love you so much and miss you so much. so, toby, I was thinking you and I could take a little time together. love toby.

only 3 more of these to go!!!!

I hate it when things don’t make sense.

2011-12-06T14:34:00.001-08:00

first off, let me state, right at the start, that this is not a post about secular vs. religious celebration and/or observation of christmas. that is an entirely different issue than what I am about to go on and on about.

I state this at the start, because I’ve posted about this very topic in the past, and all of the comments I get back are very much in the “keep Christ in christmas” and “we know what we are celebrating” school of thought. THAT IS NOT WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT HERE. but, because I’m a wordy, opinionated person, who everybody also knows to be a committed christian, that’s what everyone assumes I’m talking about, even though I think I’m pretty clear that I’m not.

at any rate… the rant of the day is an annual one, in recent years.

“HOLIDAY”

this one, single, solitary word drives me absolutely CRAZY for the entire month of december, and even before, and a little bit after.

I am not opposed to holidays. I like holidays. usually, holidays mean that my husband gets the day off of work, the kids don’t have to go to school, we do something different from the norm, the day is somehow “special”.

it is not the word, “holiday” that bothers me. it’s the blatant and nonsensical use of that word, this time of year, that makes me want to scream!

someone (the media, I guess) has decided that “christmas” is a bad word and should not be used to describe the holiday that many people celebrate on december 25th every year. it’s as if a bunch of people got together and collectively decided that americans should deny that that particular holiday has a name. we’ll just call it “HOLIDAY'’ why? is it because the NAME of the holiday has the word “christ” in it? I suppose that might be offensive to some people, but hey, that’s the name of the holiday. if THEY are that offended by it, then THEY should either not celebrate it or THEY should choose to call it something else. why the whole country has to go along with this is beyond me.

but really, that’s just the start of it. apparently, what is behind this whole “christmas is a bad word” movement, is the fact that we don’t want to offend anyone. we don’t want to be so narrow-minded that we assume that everyone out there celebrates the same holidays as we do. that’s fine. I’m all for not offending. I don’t particularly like to be offended, and I feel terrible if I find out that I have unintentionally offended someone. I have also learned throughout my life, that a lot of people think and live a lot differently than I do. that does not offend me. it makes life interesting. if it did offend me, then I have a problem because they are living their lives and that is their business. I hope the fact that I think and live differently than a lot of people does not offend any of them. if it does, then I think they have a problem, because I’m just living my life, same as them.

so apparently, the blatant celebrating of christmas is offensive to some people. I guess. I’ve never met anyone who was offended by people celebrating christmas, but apparently they are out there, because we are pussy footing around the issue now like we’re going to get sued if we mention the word christmas. and really, that’s what it comes down to. the word.

according to the media (and anything involving retail), christmas DOES NOT EXIST. now this is interesting to me, because if you open any grocery store ad right now, you will find that stuff like candy canes and gingerbread houses are on sale. hmmm… interesting. walk into any mall, and you will be affronted with christmas trees towering to the 3 story-high ceiling; lines of well-dressed, impatient kids and their parents waiting to see santa claus; department stores selling bad christmas sweaters and naughty santa lingerie. go to target or home depot, and you have a whole section devoted to trees and lights and wreaths, and all sorts of ways to ‘deck your halls’. turn on the radio, and you will hear traditional christmas music. turn on the tv, and you will see “miracle on 34th street”, “how the grinch stole christmas”, “a charlie brown christmas”, “it’s a wonderful life”, and countless other christmas movies.

so what I’m gathering, is that we’re not supposed to STOP celebrating christmas. we’re just supposed to stop calling it christmas.

THAT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE!!!!!!!!!

this is where I just go nuts!

if someone is offended by the christmas tree in the mall, are they going to cease to be offended if I call it a “holiday tree”???

really?

if the media and retail operations are THAT concerned with offending people, then the only logical way to go about ensuring that that does not happen is for them to not observe it. they shouldn’t sell christmas trees, or christmas cards, or christmas lights. they shouldn’t show christmas specials, or christmas movies, or christmas concerts, or christmas-themed cooking or game shows. they shouldn’t play christmas music.

can you imagine?

I mean, really, that’s the only way to not impose a holiday that some people don’t celebrate (and are apparently offended by) on everyone.

because people don’t put up holiday trees in their houses. they don’t string holiday lights on their roofs. and I’ve never gotten a holiday card from anyone, unless you count one that wished me both a merry christmas AND a happy new year. and I’m sorry, but “miracle on 34th street” is a movie about christmas. there is no way of avoiding that. you can call it a holiday movie until you’re blue in the face, but the holiday it’s about is CHRISTMAS! why are we required to deny that? it’s stupid! it doesn’t make sense!

the one that really gets me are the commercials that tell me I have X many days until december 25th. have I done my holiday shopping yet?

um. no, I haven’t. I don’t usually do any special shopping for memorial day, and the fireworks stands won’t open for at least another 6 months.

just admit it. you mean christmas. if I don’t celebrate christmas, I’m probably not concerned about getting any shopping done by december 25th. calling it ‘holiday shopping’ does not make it inclusive or any less about christmas. we all know what you are NOT saying.

but we all know that no retail establishment is going to deny that christmas is coming. are you kidding? they stay in business, based on the sales they make this time of year.

maybe the media doesn’t want to impose christmas on those that don’t celebrate. but nothing has changed except one word. that changes nothing.

it’s just stupid.

I don’t care about traditional greetings like “happy holidays” or “season’s greetings”. those are fine. they have been around forever and have never been used, until recently, as an attempt to NOT wish people a “merry christmas”. they used to be interchangeable, and as far as I’m concerned, they still are.

so there. that is 2011’s version of rachel’s annual HOLIDAY rant! hope you enjoyed it! blah blah blah.

week 48 in pictures

2011-12-05T15:09:00.000-08:00

sunday (actually, saturday evening): micah likes to take pictures. he took this one the night before we left CA, and I think it’s awesome. papa gary, in his recliner, reading the paper. I love that the angle on it is low – from his perspective. it’s his papa, through his eyes.

monday: dave took the day off of work, since we arrived home LATE the night before. shane was up and off to band earlier, so layla was the only one to take to the bus stop in the morning. she wanted daddy to walk with her. awww…

tuesday: apparently shane had some styrofoam packing mold stashed somewhere in his room. micah found it and created a little snow storm for himself! UGH! I hate styrofoam! yes, we vacuumed him.

wednesday: the kids had been looking forward to this for weeks! school skate night at skate king! (btw, locals, skate king is EXACTLY the same as it was when we were kids. exactly.) this was layla and micah’s first time EVER on roller skates and did great!

thursday: my child does not know how to sit. this is her, cross-legged, perched on one knee on a 1 inch square corner of her chair, working away on something, happy as a clam. crazy.

friday:someone (won’t mention any names, but he’s the one wearing shorts in the background), thought it would be a good idea to zip his siblings into their father’s coat. just a little big.

saturday: getting out the tree!

and the extras:

last in-n-out burger stop in redding on the way out of town. no bun, cheese, or sauce on my double-double (so I guess it’s just a double). super yummy!
the little mountain just west of shasta, near the freeway, “diet shasta”.
the tree, up, lit, and decorated from the waist down! ah, little helpers.
see 5.
lacking a proper tree skirt, we use a plain white sheet to wrap around the bottom of the tree. or in this case, around the kids, toga-style!
holy bags, batman! one of the bottom drawers in our kitchen is ‘the bag drawer’. I noticed lately, that I was having trouble closing it, so I decided to do a little organizing. I pulled everything out, shopping bags, paper and plastic grocery bags, old bread bags, produce bags, even a reusable grocery bag. pulled it all out and still couldn’t close it. then I pulled the drawer out and found about 30 more bags, stuffed behind the drawer, plastered to the back of the cabinet, and up behind the drawer above it! phew. so all are sorted, stashed, appropriately folded, etc., and I can close the drawer!

that’s all for this week!

week 47 in pictures

2011-11-28T14:11:00.000-08:00

sunday: our church was a drop-off location for ‘operation christmas child’ this year. we did 3 boxes, one to correspond with each kid. so micah chose stuff for a boy around his age. layla, for a girl her age, etc. they had fun choosing fun little toys and socks and pencils and toothbrushes, etc.

monday: another example of how micah learns. first time I’ve ever seen him write a number, and he covers a page with them, all the way up to 16. once again, no one taught him how to do this or even suggested that he should do so. just sat down and did it.

tuesday: my cranberry muffins I made in preparation for the trip to california.

wednesday: we were actually in the car all day on wednesday, but this is the pile of laundry I did in preparation to leave.

thursday: the post thanksgiving dinner lounge.

friday: lunch with grandpa dick in oakland. I think some of micah’s facial expressions were directly handed down from him!

saturday: abby’s first birthday party! we were so lucky to be in town and get to be at the party to watch this pretty little girl smear green and blue frosting EVERYWHERE! after that we joined our older 2 kids, who were at the hughes’ house, and we all went down to watch the parade. THEN, dave and I met up with nolan for some drinks and a late dinner.

and the extras: hanging around at gramma and papa’s over the weekend.

friday’s extras: a walk around lake merritt with grandpa dick resulted in a tree climbing competition between shane and dave, and a crunch leaf fight.

eventually, we made our way to the playground where kids swung and dug and spun until they felt sick! oh, and I took a picture of a blimp. that was a first for me!

how to cook a turkey–by shane, age 12

2011-11-23T21:51:00.000-08:00

“you get the turkey from a farm. there are a lot of ways you can get it, but the easiest is with a shot gun. then you skin it and take out the guts. you cook it in a big roasting trailer, starting at 4:30 in the morning. we don’t stuff. you make the stuffing separately. then, you take the turkeys in the kitchen and cut all the meat off the bones to serve.”

so, shane has a little bit of experience with large-scale community thanksgiving dinner operations… they really do use a roasting trailer and start at 4:30… I’ve never seen them use a shot gun, though…

how to cook a turkey–by layla, age 6

2011-11-23T21:13:00.000-08:00

“you get the turkey from the wild, where the wild turkeys are. you catch it with a net. to prepare it, you cut off the legs and the bones, and the beak and the eyes, too. you can stuff it with stuffing that is made of chicken. then, you put it in a big pan and stick it in the oven. you cook it at 4 to 5 degrees for 11 minutes. then you serve it by taking it out of the oven, cutting it up a little, and putting some spices on it. then you put it on plates and people can dish up all the other food, too.”

how to cook a turkey–by micah, age 4

2011-11-23T13:27:00.000-08:00

“you get the turkey from school. you catch it like this (demonstrates running) and you GRAB IT! then you smash it, and stuff it with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. you cook it with a taco at a restaurant. put it in the oven for 1 minute and you eat it for dinner tomorrow.”

paleo cranberry muffins and other, completely unrelated, ramblings…

2011-11-22T16:35:00.001-08:00

so I’ve been busting out my susie homemaker all day today, in preparation for our trip. odd little tidbit about me: I am incapable of leaving on a trip, no matter how short, if every laundry basket in the house is not empty.

so I’ve been doing some laundry. some. just a tad. and for the record, this does not include all of my shirts, my jammies, dave’s shirts, or dave’s socks and underwear which all went directly into their respective closet or drawer, nor does it include the shower curtain which got rehung in the shower, the set of sheets that is still in the dryer, or 2 pairs of shane’s ‘skinny jeans’ which are being hung to dry so as to avoid being ‘too skinny’.

I am aware that I have a problem.

not sure there’s a support group for that kind of problem, though…

moving on.

then I peeled and sliced about 10 apples which are now in the dehydrator. so if you notice that my house burns down at some point in the next few days, it’s because I forgot to take the apples out of the dehydrator before we left… ahem! (note to self…)

I also made a quick trip to the store for some things. my dietary restrictions are a bit daunting right now, so I wanted to be prepared while away from home. around here, I have my stashes of go-to meals and snacks if what everyone else is eating is not something I can have. so I wanted to do some baking so I could have some snacks and breakfasts on hand, and not have to be a pain in the butt guest!

in my veggie box this morning, I got a pint of fresh cranberries. (complete side note here: shane and layla came home from school, saw the box of cranberries, and were possessed to try one! I warned them that fresh cranberries are a bit tart, and then I about fell over laughing as I watched their faces contort as they ate them! wish I’d had a video camera handy! here ends the side note.) hmmm… that says ‘cranberry muffins’ to me, so I looked up a recipe, and I declare it to be a success! in fact, I’m trying REALLY hard to not go and eat a second muffin right now. I want to have them for the trip, and I want to be able to share them with my family… clearly, I should have made more. geez. I already doubled the recipe!

I found the recipe I used here, but of course, I messed with it a little. not much. obviously, I doubled it, and I also threw in about a 1/4 cup of almond meal/flour at the end because the batter looked too soupy to me. that was a good call, so I highly recommend adding that. the other thing is that the baking time was for mini muffins, and I did full size muffins, so I had to add a few extra minutes. not sure how many. just keep an eye on them. haha! I know there are specifics-loving people out there just cringing right now!

is it time to go to california yet?

2011-11-21T07:42:00.001-08:00

so, we’re planning a trip south to visit dave’s folks down in california. poor micah is having trouble with this concept of planning.

almost every day, for the past week, he’s asked, “are we going to california today?”

layla, on the other hand, has just been pestering me as to when she can start packing. she’s got it written (and illustrated) on the calendar, and has become an expert in counting down the days.

micah, not so much.

it doesn’t occur to him that we would, perhaps, put suitcases in the car before we left. the fact that I’ve told him over and over again, that he has to sleep * * many more times in his bed before we go… irrelevant.

if we are all in the car at the same time, “are we going to california now?”

nope. sorry.

“aaawwwww.” (pouty face)

yesterday morning, we were in the car, on the way to church, when all of a sudden micah yells out, “we forgot to bring our swimsuits!”

we were all kind of confused as to why we needed to bring our swimsuits to church, but he’s micah, and frequently says random things that don’t make any sense. so we all chuckled a little and went on. and then we got off the freeway at the exit for church, and he pipes up, “hey! this is the way to go to church!” and we were like, yeah, cuz that’s where we’re going.

“oh. (pouty face) I thought we were going to california.”

and that would explain the swimsuits.

(the fact that it’s november, and we won’t be swimming anyway, is also irrelevant…)

week 46 in pictures

2011-11-21T06:17:00.000-08:00

sunday: when dave went in to wake up layla, this is how he found her. face, essentially, smooshed between the bunk bed rail and the mattress, and the covers pulled up over her head.

monday: roscoe, chilling on the pooh couch. dakota figured out how to get it to open up to make a nice little doggy bed. roscoe just took advantage when it was vacated.

tuesday: my 2 pages of allergy test results. the red ones have to go!

wednesday:micah fell asleep during quiet time, snuggling a domino. he had been pretending it was a phone or a video game and insisted on taking it in with him for quiet time.

thursday: the missing lug nut.

friday: crazy busy day. kids had half days at school because of conferences. I has my workout in the morning, then came home and tidied up because tina was coming over at 11:30 to cut my hair, shane’s hair, and my mom’s hair. I even went to the bus stop w/ part of my hair clipped up because she wasn’t done drying it! then I had to run off to do back-to-back parent-teacher conferences at the school. I was supposed to be taking layla to PT after that, but her therapist has since sent us off to a new therapist in seattle who has more experience with toe-walkers, so her appointment was cancelled. my parents stayed for the afternoon, since it was friday and our turn to host pizza night… which brings me to the picture. since wheat, dairy, and green beans are all on the ‘red list’, pizza and beans were out for me. so I made one of my big fat salads. (I love these SO much!) this is no ordinary salad. mixed greens, spinach, radishes, tomatoes, snap peas, red cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, cucumbers, carrots, BACON, and sliced turkey. for dressing, fresh squeezed lemon juice and EVOO, with a sprinkling of paprika, garlic powder, and fresh ground pepper and sea salt. serious yum factor.

saturday:

no pic, no idea. guess layla will have to draw something.

favorites right now

2011-11-20T21:50:00.001-08:00

micah, age 4:

favorite game: hungry, hungry hippos
favorite color: green
favorite book: trashy town
favorite tv show: phineas and ferb
favorite movie: mary poppins
favorite food: pancakes
favorite dessert: ice cream
favorite thing to play: trains
favorite friend: ella
favorite animal: dolphin
favorite sport: table tennis (wii) – except he calls it “tennis table”

layla, age 6:

favorite game: hide and seek
favorite color: pink, red, and purple
favorite book: henry huggins books
favorite tv show: martha speaks
favorite movie: 101 dalmatians
favorite food: baseball game hot dogs
favorite dessert: chocolate popsicles
favorite thing to play: barbies
favorite friend: makenna
favorite animal: guinea pig, hamster, bird, dog, cat, kitten
favorite sport: soccer
favorite subject: music and art

shane, age 12:

favorite game: unblock me
favorite color: yellow
favorite book: I max
favorite tv show: america’s funniest home videos
favorite movie: transformers
favorite food: doughnuts
favorite dessert: ice cream
favorite thing to play: work
favorite friend: kaleb
favorite animal: mr. fatpants (AKA toby, his cat)
favorite sport: soccer
favorite subject: p.e.

lug nut fail

2011-11-17T15:23:00.001-08:00

notice anything odd?

no, it’s not that my wheel is very dirty. that is not odd…

yup. missing a lug nut. actually, not just the nut. the whole bolt.

last night, dave set out to replace the front brakes which were in dire need of replacing. apparently, in the process of getting the wheel off, the bolt in question BROKE OFF, rather than just releasing the nut. hmmm…

needless to say, I did not drive anywhere today!

paleo muffin fail

2011-11-17T14:31:00.001-08:00

so, I finally decided to enter into the baking sphere. paleo, that is. I bought some coconut and almond flour and decided to give it a try. since I have a bunch of blueberries in the freezer, I thought that blueberry muffins would be a good place to start. so I searched some recipes and found one that called for ingredients I had on hand, and was JUST blueberry muffins. found a lot of banana-blueberry muffins and the like, but I wanted straight blueberry. so I went for it. I was a little skeptical as I was mixing it up. even though it called for 3 eggs and a 1/4 cup of honey, it seemed very short of liquid. but the comments on this recipe mentioned how good and moist they were… so I figured maybe it would all ‘bond’ when baking and all would be good.

well, not really…

as you can see, these are not exactly ‘muffins’. they are more like a ‘crumble’ of sorts and I’m a little bit at a loss as to how we’re going to eat them. maybe put it in a bowl and pour a little coconut milk over them. maybe I invented some new cereal! who knows.

at any rate, I have no idea what happened. maybe they left out an ingredient when they posted the recipe or the measurement of the flour was posted wrong. who knows.

**update**

I did try a muffin. my hunch was correct about them being like a crumble. a VERY good crumble, actually. I dumped the muffin over in a small bowl and poured just a tad of coconut milk over it. it was delicious!!!! in fact, after finishing that one, I rinsed my bowl and spoon, and put them in the dishwasher. about 15 minutes later, I walked into the kitchen, grabbed another bowl, another muffin, and did the same thing! YUM! I wouldn’t want it with a LOT of coconut milk on it because I think then it would be soggy, and I ate it pretty fast, to preserve the crunchy, nutty thing that was going on with it. seriously yummy. might even post the recipe, but NOT as a muffin recipe!

the results are IN!

2011-11-15T14:37:00.001-08:00

and not exactly what I expected…

which, I guess, is the point of actually having the test done in the first place.

so, I have been anxiously awaiting the results of my food panel blood test, to find out what, if anything, I’m allergic to or somehow reacting to. I met with my dr. today to go over the results. which look like this:

basically, the ones in red caused some sort of reaction when tested on my blood sample. each also has a number, showing the degree of reaction. then, based on the number, it is given a class (1-3). those marked 1 caused a lesser reaction, and those marked 3, caused the greatest reaction.

so, for the next 8 weeks, I have to avoid ALL of the things in red, and then, after meeting with my doctor again, plan to add those things back into my diet, one at a time, to see which of them cause a recognizable reaction (stomach, sinus, migraine, etc.), and which seem to pose no problem to me. when they have been absent from my diet, my system will be more sensitive to them, and make a reaction more pronounced and obvious.

so for now, I will be avoiding:

green beans
pinto beans (2)
cantaloupe
cottage cheese (2)
swiss cheese
chicken
crab
cow’s milk
white potatoes
shrimp
swordfish
wheat
baker’s yeast
brewer’s yeast
yogurt
amaranth
red beans (3)
blackberries
casein (3)
blue cheese
cottonseed (2)
cranberries
dates
goat’s milk
papaya
sugar beets
whey (3)

I indicated the ones that rated 2 or 3. everything else is rated a 1. red beans brought the highest number, which is interesting because I had to think really hard to even remember the last time I’ve eaten red beans. not really a part of my diet. but good to know, as I will definitely avoid them in the future. the second highest numbers went to casein and whey. (if you’re unfamiliar with casein, it’s a protein found in milk.) several of the 1’s had very low numbers, so my doctor felt it was okay for me to have them, but maybe only about once a week for now. these include chicken, cranberries, dates, sugar beets, papaya, and blackberries. the only ones I really care about are the chicken (for real?) and the dates (because they are in my favorite grab and go snack – larabars). I could live without blackberries except in the fall, when they’re dripping off the bushes everywhere you walk, I really want to be able to eat them. sugar beets, I never eat; papaya, VERY rarely; and cranberries, well, I’ll have a small helping at thanksgiving and call it good.

interestingly enough, gluten didn’t show up, but wheat did.

somewhat related to that is the 2 types of yeast. the biggest issue for me with those is not the bread issue, as it is the ‘fermenting’ issue. so, for vinegars, I have to stick to distilled or apple cider, and for alcohols, it’s all tequila and rum! no wine. boo hoo! beer, vodka, whiskey, etc. all out as well, but I can live with that pretty easily… (although, now that I think of it, what are the ingredients of a duck fart??? aagghhh!!)

and, it seems pretty obvious that I will need to give up my yogurt, cheese, and other milk products, including the half and half in my coffee. WAAAHHHH!!! but I have some good leads on acceptable alternatives that I will have to try out and report. I’m also glad I have had a couple of eggnog lattes already this year, because those are out too. boo.

but, with all that said, I’m very much excited about all of this. yes, it seems like a pain, and some of you are probably wondering why the heck I even care about this. it’s not like I break out in hives or have to carry a vial of benedryl or an epipen around with me. I don’t have VIOLENT allergies to anything, that I know of. but, if changing my eating habits could mean I get to say goodbye to the migraines, headaches, stomachaches, wheezing, and chronic sinus congestion I deal with WAY more often than I care to, then it will be TOTALLY worth it.

I’ve already seen improvement with the paleo-influenced changes I’ve made. bloating and lower-digestive tract issues are absent, as well as the random fatigue. I have way more energy, it’s easier to wake up in the morning, and I don’t have that slow, sluggish, weighed down feeling, that I used to have so often. if I could get rid of the rest? holy cow! I think I’d be unstoppable!

so… this will be interesting. the part where I have to feed myself, and still feed the rest of my family, and stay within a reasonable budget is intimidating me a little bit, as are the impending feast-focused holidays. I will definitely be updating on how this whole thing goes, and how I feel!

week 45 in pictures

2011-11-14T15:13:00.000-08:00

sunday: layla’s fancy play-doh pie.

monday: the dogs have arrived!

tuesday: peanut in the ‘pile’.

wednesday: the fascination with the dog kennels continues. layla did her homework in here.

thursday: layla tossing leaves at the park.

friday: no school. so layla and I played a game of battleship. first time she’s been old enough to really understand the grid and guessing system.

saturday (not really): from earlier in the week. my first ‘red cup’ of the season.

extras: a big collage of all things DOG-related.

and another big collage of some pics I took at the park. love fall colors!

fall at the park

2011-11-12T09:28:00.000-08:00

on thursday, dave took the day off of work and the kids had the day off of school for veteran’s day. it was a gorgeous day, and after some housecleaning, watching a cement truck back down the neighbors’ driveway and pour cement for a greenhouse foundation, we (and the dogs) headed off to the park.

layla, the dogs, and I left first, as micah still wanted to watch the cement truck excitement.

check out that blue sky and those great fall leaves! seriously, gorgeous!

under those trees was a great assortment of leaves, all nice and dry and crunchy! that really only means one thing… layla took great care in assembling her leaf pile. like really. sometimes selecting only one or two leaves at a time… sigh…

but finally it was done to her satisfaction and she got to jump in it!

dave and micah finally showed up… shane much preferred the cement truck action to the park, so he stayed behind. after jumping, it was time to toss! love it!

and then we decided to race over to the playground. apparently, this made her hot, all bundled up in winter gear. it really wasn’t that cold, but she insisted. this resulted in me carrying a pile of coats and hats home. of course.

fun trip, and resulted in the need for ice cream (coffee for me!) afterwards. so a trip into town included a stop at starbucks, TCBY, and then over to molbaks (a big local nursery) to browse all their christmas decorations and all that fun stuff that is out now.

needing a little something

2011-11-08T18:27:00.001-08:00

a couple of my friends, who have also converted to a primal or paleo diet/lifestyle, have gotten very excited about the cooking and baking of all things paleo, and are posting constantly about their latest recipes and giving rave reviews to most all of the stuff they’ve made. for some reason, I haven’t really jumped on that bandwagon. I’m not really sure why. maybe it’s because this isn’t really a whole family effort over here (I have hope, but I’m not holding my breath). or maybe because I have a ridiculous apprehension about cooking things I don’t already know how to cook. or maybe it’s because I’ve been perfectly happy just eating things, for the most part, as they are, or modifying stuff, already in my repertoire so as to serve it without any grains or sugar. the baking thing hasn’t really appealed to me. for one thing, it’s rare that I crave sweets, and stuff like cakes or sweet breads have never had that big of an appeal to me. for snacky stuff, I generally look for something salty, so my big jar of nuts and raisins is what I usually turn to. or sometimes I’ll go for some dried fruit, or even some slices of meat. but, in general I really haven’t had a situation where I’ve been attacked by a case of the munchies.

but today, I got close. I ate a bowl of leftover soup for lunch, and I wasn’t really hungry. but I kept finding myself in the kitchen, opening and closing cupboards. really, what I wanted was something chocolaty. lots of times, in the past, I have solved this problem with a cup of hot chocolate. that is something that, as the weather has gotten colder, I’ve started to miss a bit. so I was poking around on the internet and found a couple of paleo hot chocolate recipes that looked promising. of course, they all called for coconut milk, which I don’t happen to have any of. but the search put an idea into my head. I decided to make an almost paleo version of what my MIL likes to call a ‘ghetto mocha’. I made a cup of coffee, and prepped my mug with a spoonful of cocoa powder and a little shake of cinnamon I added my coffee and stirred really well, then I added a little splash of vanilla extract, about a teaspoon of honey, and some half & half (that’s the ‘almost’ part, since I still eat dairy). it was really quite good, and did satisfy my chocolate craving. it was also a lovely, november day, companion to cuddling up with a book!

I had to chuckle after I set it down on my book, which happens to be ‘the primal blueprint’.

sad day

2011-11-08T18:00:00.001-08:00

discovered this in shane’s room today.

it seems that peanut has joined the ‘pile’. I cannot tell you how sad this makes me. it’s actually quite devastating. I might take him to bed with me.

the ‘pile’ itself has dwindled significantly recently, with only a few very special animals making the cut. over the years, the whole ‘pile’ system has been an interesting dynamic. shane has always been a big fan of stuffed animals. loved them. several have found their way into his collection by way of him ‘rescuing’ them from whatever horrid fate he thought awaited them at the store where they were currently residing. dave and I will always remember the infamous ‘canada bear’ incident that needed to come home with him…

at any rate, there has always been a ‘pile’. and then there were the ‘elect’. the members of this group has varied a bit throughout the years, but the 3 constant members were PB, peanut, and cocoa. (peanut is the blue elephant, PB is the yellowish bear, and cocoa is the reddish-pink bear.) those 3 were ALWAYS in his bed, usually with many others, but peanut was always the favorite.

and then there were just those 3.

and then there was just peanut.

and now…

excuse me. I think I need to go get a tissue.

dogs!

2011-11-08T17:50:00.001-08:00

well, we’re dogsitting again, this time for amy and adam’s two dogs, roscoe and dakota. the kids are beside themselves with excitement. I have to say, I enjoy having 4 legged friends of the canine variety around again… well, until the first time I opened the slider and a bunch of muddy doggy prints appeared on my dining room floor. ah yes, forgot about that part. BUT, really, they’re so fun to have around, and they are definitely making life interesting.

as soon as the crates were in the house and assembled, this happened: layla, especially, is beyond excited about this particular aspect of having dogs around! poor guys. they seem really confused about this. for those of you who don’t know roscoe and dakota, they are brothers. they are a mix of labrador, basset hound, and corgi. just looking at the two of them is a GREAT example of the genetic lottery system, and it cracks me up constantly. meet roscoe: the basset/corgi really shows up. he’s got these short little legs and this awesome barrel shape that’s just fantastic. his lowrider tendencies result in a wet belly every time he goes out in the long grass of the backyard. so shane was drying him off. dakota, on the other hand, has the body type that is all lab. long legs, sleek, slender body, and his tail is about twice the length of roscoe’s. seriously, it’s hilarious to see them together.

something about this dog, just makes me want to take pictures of him sleeping. dakota seems to like being wherever I am. like, RIGHT there. nope, the crates never get old.

never.

micah and I took them for a long walk today. forgot how much I love walking dogs. it was so nice today too. not to cold, no rain. still a lot of beautiful fall leaves out. I have to admit that the dogs listen to me much better than micah does… hmmm. that’s humbling.

pie face!

2011-11-06T14:50:00.001-08:00

for some reason, this afternoon, the kids decided to make pies out of playdough and then chase each other around the house in order to smash the pie in their faces. don’t ask. I know I have weird kids.

at any rate, eventually, layla sat down to make a ‘fancy’ pie, and this is what she came up with:

I was definitely impressed with her crust. not sure where she picked this up, since we are not generally pie-eating people, and I haven’t MADE a pie since… well, before shane was born, I know that much. it might be hard to tell, but she spelled her name out on the pie as well.

red cups!

2011-11-06T10:01:00.000-08:00

yeah, I know this is kinda silly, but I was very excited about my first red cup starbucks drink of the year.eggnog latte! (yeah, totally NOT paleo!) I had them cut the eggnog with 2% to cut down some of the sugar. it was SOOOO good. I know I’ll have to have a few more of these before the season’s out!

week 44 in pictures

2011-11-06T06:05:00.000-08:00

sunday:pumpkin carving in the garage!

monday:happy halloween! I’m also including a collage of some pics I took at layla’s class halloween party… and shane, missing his party.

tuesday:micah, modeling his new 49ers footie pajamas that he got for his birthday.

wednesday: layla, sick. she looks so pathetic. she really didn’t feel well. but toby has been great about keeping the designated sick person company. sweet kitty.

thursday:after dinner and jammies, we had a little family wii fest. we had time for some bowling and baseball. btw, I SUCK at baseball.

friday:another family night of pizza and beans. layla and my mom had a puzzle to work on together.

saturday:so, I totally thought I would be using a picture from the birthday party layla attended for saturday’s picture. but, that situation got trumped by the dynamite WINNING their first game of the season!!!! so we had a celebratory dinner afterward at… red robin. of course.

so I’ll be using the party pics for a big collage sheet in the middle.

gymnastics party

2011-11-05T22:51:00.001-07:00

layla went to a classmate’s birthday party today, at a gymnastics center. so much fun! of course, it has minorly derailed her plans to do ballet next. not that she doesn’t want to do ballet, she just wants to do both. sigh… if only we were made of money…

anyway, a few (not very good) pictures from her super fun day:

and a little video I shot of her going through the obstacle course.

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!

2011-11-05T22:36:00.001-07:00

DYNAMITE WINS! DYNAMITE WINS! DYNAMITE WINS!!!!

if you’re just tuning in from a year ago, you probably have no idea why this is significant. they win all the time, right?

well, they used to. and then the team, more or less, disbanded. we retained 7 players and dave as coach. we lost our head coach, along with 2/3 of the team to select soccer or other sports…

so we have a ‘new’ conglomerate team, made up from a lot of the remnants of other teams, also in that situation. the only reason this is bad is because the level they are slotted to play at is based on their previous year’s record.

well, last year, we were undefeated in the regular season, and came in 3rd in state…

and so, thus far this year, we have been the opposite of undefeated…

but no more!!! there is 1 game left in the season and the boys no longer have to sport a goose egg in their record!

I hear there are several ‘celebratory’ photos of the team after the game. I wasn’t actually able to be there, as we were practicing ‘divide and conquer’ parenting today, and I was at a birthday party with layla. hopefully someone will post one of those so I can swipe it and add it here.

so, we had a celebratory dinner out at red robin – the champ’s choice (whole heartedly supported by his siblings). yes, this is the best picture I could get of him. I kept trying to get him to smile and he wouldn’t, but I managed to get him laughing about the fact that he wouldn’t smile. hey, you take what you can get.

he really was VERY happy about the win. when I pulled into the parking lot, he walked up to the car, TRYING to look cool and nonchalant, but was totally unsuccessful because he could not seem to put away the HUGE goofy grin he was sporting. this win has been a long time coming and I’m SO happy for them, and for dave, as their coach!

I do need to report on the actual dining experience though. the last several times we’ve eaten at red robin, I’ve been really disappointed in the food. just kind of ‘eh’. at any rate, I had my first experience of ordering my burger ‘bunless’ tonight. honestly, it was awesome! I had a bacon cheeseburger w/ all the fixings, but no bun and no condiments. it was a little messy near the end, but I’ve eaten plenty of burgers WITH buns that were just as messy. it came wrapped in lettuce, so I had something to hold onto that wasn’t slimy, which is good because I would have had a hard time eating it with a fork and knife, out of a paper-lined basket. I really, honestly didn’t miss the bun AT ALL, in fact I was loving the fact that I was able to eat all of my burger without feeling crazy bloated-full. I feel better about having ingested real nutrients from the meat, cheese, and veggies ON the burger, rather than filling up half-way through because of a bunch of white bread that provides very little for me. the other thing is that red robin now has sweet potato fries! they’re skinny, like shoestring fries, and SO good! yeah, I’m pretty sure they’re fried and not baked, and the oil is probably not the best choice out there, but hey, they’re sweet potatoes, and they were good!

official halloween photos

2011-11-01T16:44:00.001-07:00

the ‘official’ one:banana; wonderwoman; mario.

the ‘silly’ one: banana vs. cat:

even though shane stayed home from school, he wanted to come over to grandma and grandpa’s with us for dinner and trick or treating. I wasn’t sure if we should let him go trick or treating, but he said he felt okay, and I felt bad making him stay home. it might be his last year!

it was fun. no rain. lots of fun decorations and costumes. everyone thought the banana was cool! everywhere we went, we heard people shouting “BANANA!!” wonder woman must have been in her invisible jet because she was FLYING around the neighborhood. we kept having to make her slow down and wait for her brothers.

we also found it humorous when shane was walking behind micah, it was like mariokart! mario had his banana behind him, protecting him from flying shells! well, okay, it’s kinda dumb, but dave and I had a good chuckle over it.

layla’s class halloween party

2011-11-01T15:43:00.001-07:00

well, monday was supposed to be different than it was. I was intending to have to find childcare for micah for the entire afternoon while I attended back to back class parties at the kids’ school. but instead of going to school, wearing his banana costume, and bouncing off the walls with a bunch of other 6th graders hopped up on sugar, shane spent the day doing this: yes, that’s a blanket, a recliner, a bowl of chicken soup… and a cat. yup, shane got ‘the heinous cold’ and had to miss school.

but, because he was home, and not asleep or terribly miserable, I was able to leave micah with him and attend layla’s class party.

first off, I’m furious with myself about the crappy pictures. I left my camera at home, and had to use my phone. ugh!

here was the list of what everyone in the class was: layla is #13!

they had different tables set up with crafts and fun stuff for the kids to do. it was so much fun. it’s the first time I’ve managed to be in her class this year.

this was a bouncy, gumdrop/pipecleaner spider craft. her spider is the grean and orange blur in the middle. and of course, cookie decorating. the whole class: and a fun little tidbit I noticed at the top of the bulletin board:

when the party was over, school was over, so I brought her home. she was very happy to be “parent pick-up” instead of bus, because the bus riders had to change out of their costumes and she didn’t want to. it was a super fun time with just layla!

pumpkin carving!

2011-10-31T15:16:00.000-07:00

so… I’m kind of a bad mom when it comes to stuff like dyeing easter eggs and carving pumpkins. I really just don’t like to do it. I really don’t feel that bad about the easter egg thing, but I do feel bad about the pumpkins. but, nonetheless, I think the last time we carved pumpkins in our family was when layla was about 2. pathetic. BUT we had 4 big pumpkins growing in the garden and we (and by ‘we’, I mean shane and layla) were determined to carve them!

well, I guess I haven’t been checking on the garden so much after everything else quit growing or got eaten by deer, because when we went out on sunday evening, to harvest them, we were surprised to find them all still in varying shades of green! oh well, we brought them in and decided to carve anyway.

after I clipped them on the vine, shane basically took over the whole operation (score!). he grabbed the wheelbarrow and brought it around, loaded the pumpkins in, brought them over to the hose and washed them off, and then we brought them into the garage, where we weighed them (all between 11 and 17 pounds), dried them off, borrowed newspapers from the neighbors, and set to work. initially, we had grand plans to carve all of them. layla chose the smallest and orangest pumpkin to be hers. of course she decided she was scared of the knife, and later, the guts, so she basically told shane what she wanted and where, and he carved it for her.

repeat with the largest, greenest pumpkin for micah! after those two, we took a break to eat dinner, with intentions of shane carving his own pumpkin.

well, he was coming down with ‘the heinous cold’ and wound up losing his motivation. so, we had 2 jack-o-lanterns, which we brought with us to my parents’ house – where we traditionally spend halloween. I thought they were pretty darn cute.

week 43 in pictures

2011-10-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

sunday:we finally had a little party for micah on sunday evening. a couple of families from our church came for some burgers, dogs, snacks and cake. I’m putting this big collage in the book for that ‘day’, and in the sunday slot, I have an envelope from the card that his little friend, ella, (who I managed to not photograph at all) decorated for him. super cute, and of course I have to save it, because they are going to get married.

monday: I brought home a ton of golden delicious apples from off of my dad’s tree and prepped them for drying. I borrowed my mom’s fancy corer/peeler/slicer thingimajig. this thing is so awesome, and cuts the apples perfectly for drying.

tuesday: shane ‘won’ this ridiculous inflatable bowling pin at an arcade we went to during the soccer tournament last december in vancouver. every now and then it resurrects in the house. micah, especially, who is obsessed with bowling, LOVES to play with it.

and this is where the week kind of derails. dave and I both got sick with this heinous cold, so we really didn’t do much of anything. I also didn’t take pictures of us doing nothing, so I have nothing to show for the nothing we did. so I’m filling in the wednesday and thursday (as well as one of the smaller center slots) with some awesome pictures I took of fall leaves on saturday when I was at shane’s soccer game.

friday: well, dave and I pulled ourselves together enough to go out and buy costumes for layla and shane, who were all excited about the ‘monster mash’ halloween party at their school that night. then we pulled ourselves together enough to feed the kids cereal for dinner and head out to make an appearance at the party. the kids had fun, and it would have been a great opportunity to take awesome pictures of them and their friends, dressed up, but I obviously did not pull myself all the way together because I forgot my camera. so instead, we have a picture of layla, reading a book to micah on the couch.

saturday: layla’s final soccer game of the season and this was the final huddle of the game. this is such a fun team. we really hope this core of 6 girls will stick together.

what I ate yesterday

2011-10-25T12:33:00.001-07:00

breakfast:

smoothie – banana, plain greek yogurt, unsweetened almond milk, cocoa powder, milled flax seed, tiny drizzle of honey, splash of vanilla extract.

lunch:

2 roll-ups – 1 leaf kale, 1 slice cheese (swiss or cheddar), 1 slice meat (ham or turkey) in each.

dinner:

beef stew – stew beef, carrots, celery, onions, a little bit of peas and corn (to use up some I had in the freezer). the broth is just water added and simmered after browning the meat, plus a little salt and pepper. (in the past, I thicken the broth w/ flour to make it more ‘stew-y’, but left it out this time. it was just as yummy, so I think I’ll continue to leave that out.)

snacks (at various times throughout the day):

cherry tomatoes
celery sticks w/ almond butter
dried nectarines
sliced apple
mixed nuts and raisins

beverages:

coffee w/ honey and half & half (one cup in the morning, one in the afternoon w/ my mom)
water (and more water!)
water w/ a slice of lemon

the winds of dietary change…

2011-10-25T00:49:00.001-07:00

well, hopefully not THOSE kind of winds! LOL!

so, I thought I should come out in the open with this. not that it’s a really big deal, but it’s one of those things that I’ve kind of kept to myself, for the most part, just because it seemed like the right thing to do while I was figuring some things out for myself. in the last several months I’ve become, more or less, a closet paleo dieter. if you don’t know what that is, google it. there’s a bazillion sites and blogs and books and what have you that will explain it to you. I have several friends who also follow this diet, openly. LOL! you can read about their adventures here or here!

BUT, I feel the need to give you MY personal take on it.

first of all, I hate the word ‘diet’. if ‘diet’ meant what ‘diet’ really means, I would have no problem with it at all. a diet is simply what a person or animal eats. that is their diet. but, in 21st century america, a ‘diet’ is something you do in order to lose weight. there are 4 million and a half patented ‘diets’ out there, guaranteed to do whatever it is the media is telling you you should want. most are fads, most won’t work, some are quite expensive, some require counting this, that or the other thing, etc. etc. etc. but, for the most part, when people think of a ‘diet’, they think of something temporary which is designed to help someone lose weight. you are “on a diet”.

2 things about this bother me.

first of all, the whole idea seems highly illogical. if a person weighs more than they want to, and the reason is because they eat too much of the wrong stuff, then how is dieting for a few weeks or months going to fix that? if, after losing the amount of weight they deem acceptable, they return to eating how they did before the diet, then how are the results going to be any different?

secondly, when someone my size throws around the word ‘diet’, people get a little weird. I either get accused of being anorexic or I get eye rolls and snide comments. not exactly fun situations for me.

so, let me lay it out here, right at the get go. I am not trying to lose weight. the end. let’s move on.

I have wanted to change my diet for a number of reasons.

first and foremost, I just didn’t feel as healthy as I knew I could be. I wanted to have more energy, I wanted to lose that heavy, slow, weighed down feeling, the bloated feeling I would sometimes get after eating, and just a general inkling that something wasn’t quite right.

my other point of motivation was long-term health. I watch so many people around me dealing with stuff like cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, depression, anxiety, fatigue, migraines, various other unexplained, unpleasant symptoms, and all sorts of other not-so-fun stuff. I’m not sure I know anyone over the age of 50 who does not take a handful of prescriptions every day. I don’t want that. now, I’m not, in any way, saying that every single thing out there can be ‘fixed’ or even ‘prevented’ by a change in eating habits, but we all know that a LOT of that stuff is brought on by a person’s diet and/or activity level. ideally, I want to live a very long life. I don’t know if that’s what God has planned for me, but if I am blessed with a long life, I want to be happy, healthy, and able to enjoy all of it. I want to be as absolutely free of hospitals, surgeries, doctors, pills, pain, and everything else as I can possibly be, and if I can do something about that, you had better believe I’m going to do it. I also know that I am 35 years old and I’m about 35 years late in deciding to care about this.

but, better late than never.

and so, with all of this in mind, I did what I always do… I went to the library. LOL! okay, I used the internet some too, as well as friends, and my doctor.

this is what I have come up with is this:

I have to eat. the food I eat keeps me alive, and the quality of that food is what determines the quality of my health, and therefore, my life. God (and, in some cases, scientists) has given us a wealth of food to choose from. some of it is highly nutritious. some of it is kind of neutral. and some of it is downright BAD for you. my goal is to take every opportunity that I have to put food in my body, and use it to put in that which is the best possible fuel for me.

the basis of the paleo diet (in my words and generalizations) is this: meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds. the end. no grains, no dairy, no legumes, no sugar, no starches, no processed anything.

yes, that sounds pretty restrictive. I do not follow that strictly AT ALL.

I am avoiding the grains because 1) they are bulk which fill you up but do not offer a lot of nutrition. 2) I am highly suspicious (and currently awaiting test results) that I have an allergy or sensitivity to wheat/gluten/or some other related grain. there are a lot of recipes out there for paleo baked goods which are made using almond or coconut flour. I haven’t tried any of these because I really haven’t missed the breads or baked goodies. but maybe I will in the future because they’re loaded with good stuff and not with the bad.

I do eat dairy. I love cheese, I put a big ‘ole scoop of plain greek yogurt in my smoothie every morning, and when I get a latte at starbucks, I want actual milk in it. the whole concept of soy milk creeps me out a little bit. assuming my tests do not come back showing a dairy allergy, I intend to continue eating limited dairy products. oh, and I can’t forget the small splash of half and half I put in my morning cup of coffee.

I do eat legumes. not a ton, but I eat peanuts and peanut butter (the kind that is just made out of peanuts – you know, the kind you have to stir!), green beans, snap peas, lentils, and various other beans. apparently legumes contain some anti-nutrients. I am not overly concerned with this because legumes are NOT a large part of my diet, by any means.

I do not eat sugar. believe it or not! at first I thought this would be impossible. BUT, with not eating grains, I eat virtually no baked goods, which eliminates the main source of sugar in most people’s diets. I also don’t eat cereal (not that I ever really did), which is another common source of sugar. I use a tiny bit of honey in my coffee. I do get a little sugar when I go to starbucks (which is once a week, at most). I tried doing just a plain latte, but it was a little boring, and if I’m going to spend actual money on coffee, I’m going to enjoy it. so now I’ve taken to getting a 1/4 pump of vanilla in my latte. that’s the great thing about starbucks, you can customize EVERY aspect of your drink. I use plain yogurt in my smoothies, and if I want to eat it straight, I add some fruit or sometimes a little bit of pure maple syrup. there are a few acceptable sweeteners, but mainly, the idea is that we (collectively) use WAY more sugar than necessary and we’d all be a lot healthier without it. one of my main inspirations in this department was a you tube lecture on the subject of sugar. it’s called sugar: the bitter truth, and if you’ve got an hour and a half to spare sometime, I highly recommend watching it. it gets a little scientific in the middle and some of that part of it was a little over my head, but the information is somewhat critical. at any rate, I’m training myself to enjoy things without them being saturated in sweetness. it’s really not that hard, once you are not regularly eating it, which just makes you want more.

as far as the starches go… this is mainly stuff like potatoes. I’m not super-overly concerned about this either. I eat white potatoes, maybe once a week. and it’s not like they’re devoid of nutrition. sweet potatoes are better for you, and, while I’ve never really liked them, I’ve discovered that I LOVE sweet potato oven fries. I also eat popcorn. this is one of my family’s favorite snacks and I am no exception – especially if we are all sitting around watching a movie or a favorite show. we make our popcorn in an air popper and use real butter and sea salt on it, so no fake chemicals or stuff like that. still, it’s kind of nutritionally barren.

I really don’t eat processed foods all that much. I don’t buy frozen meals, or packaged meals really, I don’t eat cereal or crackers, and given that I don’t eat bread or baked goods, I avoid a lot of that stuff. I also don’t drink soda. I’m still looking for a good source of sandwich meats and bacon that tastes good and isn’t full of preservatives like nitrates and nitrites. not costing a fortune would also be great. I’m also looking for a good salad dressing, and I’ll probably wind up making my own. my biggest deterrent right now is that I don’t have an appropriate bottle or decanter to put it in. lame excuse, I know. I also like to have larabars on hand for snacks. BUT, they are real food, minimal ingredient bars, made entirely of various fruits and nuts. I love them. they are filling, yummy, and I recognize and can pronounce the names of all 3 or 4 ingredients listed on the wrapper. my biggest issue right now is pizza. friday night is pizza night in our family. that’s just the way it is. I had originally figured I would just chalk it up to letting go that one night and enjoying pizza with my family. however, I’ve been having stomach discomfort after eating it, so I might have to rethink that…

so yeah, that’s my synopsis.

I’m not doing this because it’s a fad. I’m researching. if I’m going to cut something out of my diet, I want to know why. and I have to be convinced that there is more harm from it than good. (and no, “because it tastes good” is not considered ‘good’.) I am revamping my whole approach to food and eating, and so far I love it. I do feel better. I do have more energy. I don’t have that groggy, foggy, hard to get out of bed in the morning feeling. I am becoming more in tune with the way my body reacts to the food I put into it. and there’s a very BIG mental connection between feeling good ABOUT the food I’m eating, as well as feeling good because of it. and most importantly, I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself. I’m not hungry. I’m not concerned with counting calories. and really, I don’t miss much. it sounds crazy, and like I’m probably lying to make it sound like it’s not that bad. but I’m being totally honest. I really can’t think of much that I miss. maybe sourdough bread. (and if I’m not allergic to wheat or gluten, I will probably eat a little of that here and there because I love it so much!)

so why am I ‘coming out’ about this now? well, I think it’s good information and I’d love to share it with people who might be interested. I also am starting to feel kind of conspicuous when I avoid the cookie table after church, or when I don’t eat the cake at the birthday party, or eat my hamburger without the bun… it is a little bit weird, and I don’t want people to think I’m being snobbish or worse, that I “don’t eat”. yes, I’m probably overly concerned about this, but I’ve been accused of being anorexic a number of times in my life and I really don’t want to give people that impression. I just try to eat healthy food, that’s all. but trust me, I eat. but this is my own, personal decision. I do not judge anyone else because of what they choose to eat. that’s not my business. I am doing this on my own. I’m not imposing it on my family. my kids take sandwiches in their lunches and I’m not forbidding them to eat sweets or anything like that. I’ve always tried to keep that stuff at a minimum anyway, and also to explain why it’s not a good idea to eat too much of that kind of food. but I’m also touting the specific nutritional value of whatever good food they are eating. I don’t want to force something like this on my family, but I do want my kids to be aware of what is good and what isn’t. ultimately, THEY will have to make their own decisions about what kind of ‘diet’ they will hold to when they are on their own. I consider it my job to educate them so that they will be able to make those decisions without ignorance.

so, will I ever eat junk again? sweets, ever? probably. once I get the whole allergy thing cleared up and have a better idea of what stuff really is toxic to me, I’ll assess it again. but I’m sure that every now and then I’ll indulge in some good chocolate, maybe some ice cream, and I can’t turn down really good cheesecake. BUT, definitely in moderation.

I’ve taken to writing down what I eat throughout the day, so I can see if I’m short on vegetables or fruits or something. it’s usually pretty obvious if I’m short on protein, because I will feel tired. I’m thinking of posting it here, just because people ask me, “well then, what DO you eat?” a lot. so maybe that’s an idea.

one last thing is that my perspective on the whole paleo thing is probably a little different than that of most people who follow the diet. a lot of what has driven the ideas behind this way of eating stems from a macroevolutionary standpoint. as a christian/creationist/young earth/God created… kinda gal, I spent a LOT of time pondering how the basis of the diet could mesh with my beliefs without compromising them. I could write a whole reflection on that whole process and how I came to terms with the diet and related literature, while still within the framework of my beliefs. maybe someday I will, but not today. mainly because this post is already heinously long and it’s past midnight. but rest assured, I have not entered this lightly, be it from a dietary, lifestyle, OR religious standpoint!

week 42 in pictures

2011-10-23T22:07:00.000-07:00

sunday:a little blurry because it’s practically impossible to take good pictures inside our church… and also because I felt that it might be a little bit odd that I was taking a picture in church… and also because if shane knew I was taking the picture in church, he would have confiscated it… at any rate, shane was the acolyte at the 11:00 service. I felt I should document it, since I spent most sundays of my adolescence doing this exact thing. except I got to wear a groovy white robe with a hood. they still use those at 8:30.

monday:micah’s 4th birthday! these are the balloons daddy brought home for him. yes, we are still, very much, stuck on thomas.

tuesday: love trees putting on their fall colors. I especially love they way some trees seem to do it a branch at a time.

wednesday:dave was sneaky and took this pic of shane playing with micah’s new birthday present. he likes to claim he doesn’t like toys anymore, but I think he really likes having a little brother so he can get a fix in every now and then.

thursday:at a MOMS club function, micah spent about 15 minutes under this plastic bin. not sure why. every now and then, he would reach out and grab a small toy that was within reach and haul it under there with him. sometimes moms would lift it and check on him. sometimes other kids would sit on the bin… he was happy as a clam.

friday: this was layla’s physical therapy appointment this week.

saturday: just some more fall gorgeousness in the library parking lot. something about these magical colors makes me suddenly want to become bob ross. sadly, I know nothing about painting happy trees, so I’ll let God continue to wow me with stuff like this, and I’ll probably just keep taking pictures.

physical therapy

2011-10-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

layla had her second PT appointment this week, with a little more involved in it, than just gathering info, measurements, observations, etc.

she started out by having her calves and feet thoroughly massaged. while she was having that done the PT asked her to help draw some pictures for the front of a thank you card that they were making for “a professional baseball player named tim, who was donating a signed jersey to the clinic.” you can bet that caught my attention. yes, of course, that’s tim lincecum! one of the pictures she drew was a baseball with “go giants” written below! she was very excited!

after that, we played some connect 4. yup. she and I played connect 4. I got to sit in a chair and sip my latte, but layla had it a little rougher. she had to kneel on 1 leg with all of her pieces on the floor next to her. she had to get her piece off the floor, raise herself up to standing, and balance on one foot while making her move. after that she had to do it with an extra cushion under her to make it even harder. it was quite amusing. but she did a great job.

and then there was the obstacle course. lots of balancing and stepping on and over and such. (all with flat feet, of course.) her PT is great and layla had a lot of fun doing it.

and a little video I shot to see her in action:

PT obstacle course

next week, I guess she gets to try out some orthotics to see how those feel. when her feet are flat, she pronates some, as do I, so these might help with that, and also encourage heel-down walking.

micah’s birthday

2011-10-18T16:34:00.000-07:00

warning: photo heavy!

micah flashing 3 for the official ‘last day to be..’ picture the night before his birthday:showing 4! after my exercise class, he wanted to go for some hot chocolate, so we had a little starbucks date:after that, he wanted to go to the park. we ran into some friends there:then it was off to mcdonalds for lunch:daddy brought home some balloons for the birthday boy after work:grandma and grandpa came over for birthday dinner. layla and grandpa, fooling around:grandma, working on her new knitting project:a little birthday skype w/ gramma laurie:time for dinner. pancakes and sausages, his choice. we put the candles in his pancakes and sang, since we won’t be having his actual cake until sunday:officially 4 years old:present time! layla picked out this shirt for him:and, she made him ‘a computer’. I think he was more excited about this than the actual present! LOL.super excited about the play-doh ice cream maker from grandma and grandpa. he’s had his eye on that for a long time.some monster trucks and a shirt from auntie marge:along with some bubble wrap!and then there was “all the jammies”. I thought I was being clever by killing two birds with one stone. he needed jammies for winter. he was having a birthday. so I made them a present. he was less than excited with “all the jammies”, but mostly because he wanted to get to……this one! the BIG present!this one was met with a little more enthusiasm!and then everyone had to help put it together… micah was ready to play, even if it was just with one ramp and a car:putting on the final touches:layla, showing grandpa how to play the “perry the platypus game on her cardboard DS”. grandpa is such a good sport!and then we had some ice cream. so did toby:well, he got to lick out the bowls. so funny.micah, grandma, and all the jammies!all in all, a successful birthday!

happy birthday to micah!

2011-10-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

micah, 4 years ago on the day he was born. he weighed a whopping 7 pounds, 15 ounces!

october 17, 2008: we had some family friends over for a little party for micah’s first birthday. look at those curls!!! waaahhh!

october 17, 2009: another little party of family friends. this was the year we had to bring the cake to him, because he was unwilling to stop playing with his new trains!

and, october 17, 2010: we had a joint birthday dinner for him and grandma at red robin, followed by presents and cupcakes at home.

and, october 17, 2011: micah is a big 4 year old today! he had his candles in his birthday panCAKEs (we’ll be doing a little party on sunday, with the REAL cake – pics to come). yes, he was very excited about the sausage and never did put it down the whole time we were singing to him! his choice of birthday dinner was blueberry pancakes and sausages.

I cannot believe my BABY is 4 years old. yes, I cried a little last night as I was saying good night to a 3 year old for the last time… waaaaahhhhh!!!!

week 41 in pictures

2011-10-16T14:58:00.000-07:00

sunday:well, I made waffles for dinner. when I was getting out the ingredients to make them, I discovered that I had only 1 egg. the recipe calls for 2. I didn’t want to go to the store OR bug the neighbors (again), so I decided to throw in milled flax seed and water as a substitute. the back of the package has measurements for using it in place of stuff like eggs or oil in recipes, so I figured I’d save myself a trip and try that. I didn’t consider the fact that, although the waffles didn’t taste any different, the waffle iron was less than willing to release them… lesson learned.

monday:gramma laurie supplied us with these great rolls of white drawing paper. layla, devastated that she had reached the end of a roll, made the best of the situation by doing something SO typical of her. she turned the tube that was on the inside of the roll into a project. I’m pretty sure this was a bucket (notice the paper taped over the bottom end) which she drew various pictures all over – inside and out.

tuesday: we had missy staying with us again while her people were in paris. she and toby… well, that whole cliché about cats and dogs… yup.

wednesday:layla’s orthopedics appointment at children’s.

thursday:we have several hummingbirds that like to visit the fuschia basket I have hanging right outside of the slider to the backyard. I love watching them come and take their little sips. one day the came and then flew off real quick, but I had a hunch they might be back, so I stayed by the window and got the camera all ready. when they came back, I snapped a bunch of pictures. most were bad, but I love this one.

friday:my mom’s birthday was actually the day before, but they were coming over this night anyway, so we had a little party then. we’ve been alternating friday pizza nights at each other’s houses, which is super fun. I love this picture of her w/ her grandkids (too bad micah was looking at the dessert and not the camera). she looks so happy and healthy now, which is a BIG deal after the ordeal this summer. LOVE you, MOM!

saturday:a pair of deer were visiting my across the street neighbor’s tomatoes and flowers. good neighbor that I am, I snuck out and took pictures, rather than chasing them away. (yes, I felt guilty about it, if that means anything.) layla was leaning against the post, watching, still dressed from her soccer game earlier. love it!

that’s it! more birthday stuff next week!!!

pizza night and happy birthday to my mom!

2011-10-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

I inherited a tradition from my parents. every friday night (since I was a kid) has been pizza night. every now and then we have varied it because of different things, but for the most part, we eat pizza, at home, on friday nights. the second part of this tradition is that we eat green beans with our pizza. apparently this is weird. honestly, I find it weird to order buffalo wings with your pizza. or breadsticks. pizza is mostly bread. why do you need MORE bread??? but I digress. we eat green beans with our pizza. when I was living at home and would have friends over for dinner on friday nights, they learned to expect green beans with their pizza. I imagine my kids’ friends are in the same boat.

at any rate, over the last month, we’ve been getting together with my parents for pizza night. I can’t even remember why it started. we just decided to invite them over one night, and then they said we should come over the next friday to their house. so we did. and now we’ve gone back and forth a few times, and we all love it! I can’t think of anyone I’d rather eat pizza and beans with!

so anyway, thursday, the 13th, was my mom’s birthday. since they were coming over on friday anyway, we had a little party for her.

shane, lighting the candles on her birthday dessert.

the kids were very insistent that the lights had to be turned off. this picture makes it look like there are a LOT of candles on her cake! hahahaha!

grandma, with all her grandkids!

and, with toby, who looks HUGELY fat in this picture. he’s really not.

oh, and if you look up in that picture of my mom w/ all the birthday candles, you can see a little knitting project off to the side. that one’s mine, but I gifted her with a snazzy new project (identical to what I’m working on there) made with ‘flounce’ yarn. check it out here on kate’s blog! I’ve since finished mine, and will have to take some pics and post about it soon.

orthopedics @ children’s

2011-10-13T13:29:00.001-07:00

yesterday, I had to take layla out of school early so I could drop micah off at my parents’, run to her dr.’s office to pick up x-rays which were supposed to be ready and waiting for us, but weren’t, and head over to the brand, spankin’ new children’s hospital on the east side. why? because last week, her ankle decided to look like this again: so, with a referral from her doctor (which I got to take her out of school early on monday to go see, without the foresight to drop off micah, which was less than fun as the appointment got longer and longer and longer…), we were heading to see a pediatric orthopedist.

first off, the building itself impressed me. second, the parking garage (which was FREE, btw!) gave me a big chuckle. I wanted to snap a picture, but didn’t have the chance, of the signs I encountered just past the entrance to the garage. but they looked something like this:

cracked me up. this is SO seattle! hahaha. so I navigated my gas guzzling minivan past those spots… the waiting area was awesome. there are crayons and coloring pages, plenty of tables and comfy couches, even a tv with a wii, and PRAISE GOD, a starbucks! (and yes, I realize that I am SO seattle as well.)

once in the exam room, layla did this: long story, short: the toe-walking is a problem (which is likely leading to her putting unnecessary stress on her ankle) that needs to be addressed, first with physical therapy, hopefully to retrain her to walk correctly, while also loosening up her VERY tight heel cords. hopefully.

so, we get to go back on friday to start PT, and then probably twice a week after that. we did stop and have a little warm treat on the way out the door. not a bad place to HAVE to go!

note to self:

2011-10-13T11:35:00.001-07:00

for future reference, the appropriate pixel size is 800. do not forget this!

improvements on the picky eating front

2011-10-11T15:00:00.001-07:00

everyone knows about micah and his “I hate dinner” stance. the kid won’t eat anything for dinner unless it’s a hot dog, chicken nugget, or breakfast food.

he will not eat regular chicken, beef, pork, seafood, soup, casseroles, pizza, rice, most vegetables except carrots, peas, corn on the cob, and sometimes green beans.

he still will eat almost any fruit, but gets most of his sustenance from eating yogurt or peanut butter sandwiches.

everyone also knows my stance on the whole ‘alternate meal option’ thing. as in, I’m opposed. I make dinner. I serve dinner. food is on his plate. if he chooses not to eat it, too bad for him. so far, he has not starved, but neither has it inspired him to expand his horizons any.

micah is also EXTREMELY stubborn. he cannot be convinced or bribed threatened or forced in any way, to eat. no way, no how, not happening.

but recently, we have had 2 MAJOR breakthroughs on this front. MAJOR!

1. about a week ago, we were having chili and cornbread for dinner. as usual, I put food in front of him and he ignored it. originally, he had said he wanted a piece of cornbread, but once he got it, he refused to eat it. at some point, when he wasn’t paying attention, dave pulled off a small chunk and popped it into his mouth before he knew what had happened. he started to proceed with the usual ritual of freaking out and then spitting out whatever had been placed in his mouth against his will, when…… GASP… he stopped. said, “I like it!” and… wait for it… chewed it up and ATE THE REST OF THE PIECE OF CORNBREAD! huge, people! huge. (of course, he still refused to touch the chili, but we still called it a victory and high fives were passed between parents.)

then,

2. last night we were having pork chops. he had some on his plate, along with potatoes and vegetables. he was eating his vegetables and ignoring everything else, as usual. dave busted out a bag of frozen blueberries and told micah that he could have some if he tried a bite of pork chop. he pointed to the smallest piece and told him that all he had to do was try that smallest bite to get some blueberries. and micah said, “I don’t want that bite. I want a different one!” again, GASP! assured that he could choose whichever bite he wanted, we all held our breath as he… took his fork, speared a piece, and PUT IT INTO HIS MOUTH!!!!!! you could tell he was trying desperately to like it, it was a little spicy, and he wound up not liking it. he even tried another piece, but he didn’t like that either. he got 3 frozen blueberries out of the deal and we all clapped and cheered.

it has been 2+ years since micah has eaten like a normal person and in that time has NEVER, not once, allowed himself to be bribed or tricked into eating something. NEVER. I thought my other kids were stubborn, but no one holds a candle to micah.

so there’s a glimmer of hope!

week 40 in pictures

2011-10-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

sunday: quite possibly the longest carrot I’ve ever seen!

monday: we had a LOT of laughs when we discovered this fabulous trick that micah can do with his nostrils.

tuesday: dirt of any sort is magnetic for this kid. magnetic.

wednesday: looked out the front window and this lovely lady was walking across the front of our yard. she was headed toward the garden… not that I care much anymore. the only thing left out there is pumpkins and they actually leave those alone. ran back to our bedroom to get a better view as she moved toward the garden and discovered this little one, already over there. aww… mom and baby. at this point, layla freaked out into complete hysteria over the idea that there are hunters out there who might shoot them. I had to assure her that hunting is not allowed in areas where people live (it’s true! there’s a “no shooting” sign at the end of our street! yes, we live in the boonies, why do you ask? haha!) and those deer live around here so they will be safe. sheesh! so much drama from that one now. she has an amazing grasp of the WORST possible situation that could arise and likes to latch on to that. anxiety anyone?

thursday: a visit from the fire department at our moms club meeting. fireman david and his truck were a big hit!

friday: every friday, I go to the kids’ school and sort trash. okay, well it’s not that bad. we participate in a program through terra cycle that ‘recycles’ unrecyclables. we collect caprisun pounches and chip bags, which we send them and they make them into nifty stuff like backpacks and purses. somehow my helium hand got me in charge of this, so now I go every friday and empty the collection bin, bagging the chip bags together, and making sure all the caprisuns are empty and strawless before bagging them. fun fun!

saturday: layla’s ankle, swollen again. searching for answers. we have an appointment at children’s to see an orthopedist this week. will update!

visit from the fire department!

2011-10-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

our moms club had a fire fighter from our local fire department come and give a demonstration for the kids at our meeting! micah was very excited when the big fire engine pulled up out in the parking lot.

fireman david ran through your basic demonstration of talking to the kids, while there in his regular clothes and then, one by one, putting on pieces of his gear, and explaining what each piece was for. indoor pics are a little sketchy. couldn’t use the flash because of all the reflective strips on his stuff, so some are kind of blurry, if someone was moving. micah was not one of the brave ones who went to touch him in full gear. micah is absolutely typical of all of my kids in a situation like this. never says a word during the demonstration, never asks or answers a question, seems almost glazed over and checked out and you wonder if he’s even getting any of it, and then goes home and chatters all afternoon about fireman david and all the stuff he learned about!

after that demonstration, we got to go outside and check out the truck! I thought this symbol on the truck was really cool!micah, driving! I made him stand next to the wheel to show how big it was. he did not get why I was taking this picture at all, which is evidenced in his face… we didn’t get a demonstration of the siren, but he did spray a hose for us, and the kids got to help! and of course, every one got a plastic fire hat and a badge!