rachel's continued ramblings

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...

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...

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

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 o...

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...