C25K Begins Here!

I just went out there and started C25K. I didn't think it through but that's ok. I strapped Maggie into the BOB stroller, dropped Molly off at preschool and hit the streets.

It was a slog. I felt like a hippo running through a swamp. I lifted each foot slower and slower as time went on. BUT I ran every run and I completed Day 1!

Maggie enjoyed our jaunt and stayed in the stroller until the last few blocks from home. I didn't quite time out the distance so C25K ended about 4 blocks away from home. Maggie walked those and got a good little workout herself.

I'm using the Run 5K app for no reason other than I think I downloaded a different app than I thought? No bother though! It worked well and that's good enough for me! The goal is to be running a 5k without walk breaks in 8 weeks. We'll see what June 1st brings.

barre3 7 Day Body Blast

photo credit: barre3

Today I started the barre3 - 7 Day Body Blast! The goal is to take 6 classes in 7 days all while eating healthy. After the month that March was, I'm ready to leap back into barre3. 

photo credit: barre3

I'm ready to take on the challenge even though I think I either have a cold (sigh) or allergies (NOOOO!). I'm not going to let either take me down though. I was excited to jump back into classes this morning. Our instructor lead us through a challenging workout which really jumpstarted my day. What are you doing to challenge your body and yourself today? 

Sunday Moment

Photo Credit: LaRue

Sometimes Molly tells me, "Mama, I can't do it! I'm just a little girl!" It is times like those that I like to remind her that she can do it. That she might surprise herself. Of course, I often find myself sharing her self doubt. "What if I stumble and fall?" I wonder. Then I stop myself and wonder, "What if I fly?" Sometimes the thought of succeeding is scarier than the thought of failing but I know that both have wonderful lessons.

So today, go out and take a risk. You might stumble. You might fall. Or you might just fly high into the sky. 

Dear Mom at Mod Pizza

Dear Random Mom at Mod Pizza,

It was a brutal week. I quit parenting at least 1000 times. My kids wouldn't let me quit though and kept badgering me to keep working and loving them harder.

We saw you on Wednesday night after a harrowing time at the swimming pool. My girls LOVE, LOVE, LOVE swim class and I think it is fun too but man, the locker room experience afterwards just wears me out. I'm going to lose my voice soon from all the yelling I do in there.

I called my husband and asked him to meet us at Mod Pizza. It's a good place to take kids for dinner. They can get their own pizza which really reduces the arguments over what toppings to get. We settled in to eat our food when you and your son sat down next to us. You quickly apologized for your son's cough and made sure we knew it was from asthma. I offered my sympathy and you said you had spent the previous night in the ER. Oh boy, I knew that experience intimately. We swapped stories of the ER and shook our heads at each other in exhaustion.

Your son decided to try to leave and as you tried to calmly ask him to sit back down, I heard the exhaustion in your voice. I heard the extreme tired radiate out of you. Then your son did what all parents fear. He puked. He barfed all over the floor.

I felt for you then. I really felt for you on Thursday night when this happened to me. You held it together though. I liked your spark. I liked how you muttered to yourself but took great care of your son. I hope your night got better once you got home. I hope you got a few moments of rest.

I just want you to know that we're all in this together through puke, yelling and laughter. It's hard, this parenting thing but knowing that we're all on this crazy ride together helps. Some days that is the only thing that helps.

Whole30 Part Deux

I had such an awesome experience doing Whole30 in January that I've decided to tackle another one in April. I've been busying pinning away on my Whole30 Pinterest Board and planning out my monthly meal plan.

I need more ideas though. I want to keep my plans simple and this time around I really want to meal prep a bit better. I have a feeling that I'll be going alone on this Whole30 so prepping my meals ahead will mean success for me.

I'm also a little nervous. I did so well the first time that I wonder if I have it in me for a second round. I am feeling more fatigued lately and my weight loss came to a standstill. I know both of those can be conquered with Whole30. 

Does anyone have any good Whole30 crockpot meals? Any tips as I dive into my second round on April 1st?

Thursday....

This morning I woke up with a spring in my step. My house was being deep cleaned after three horrible weeks of illness and other surprises. The house was really dirty and I was more than happy to pay someone to clean it for me.

The cleaners ended up coming after co-op rather than during it so that threw me for a loop. I took the kids out to lunch and then got them to take a short car nap. We went to the beach. It was a gorgeous day. In between I'd drive by the house to see if the cleaners were done. They were at my house for over three hours. YIKES!

After locking up the house, we headed to visit my Mom and ready her apartment for her arrival tomorrow. She's getting out of the rehab facility and going home! She's still improving from her hip surgery and hoping being back at home will be helpful.

I decided that I didn't want the kids to dirty my clean house and called Scott to meet us at a local brewery for dinner. A mere four blocks from the restaurant, Molly became Mt. Molly and puked everywhere. It was horrible. I was retching and practically crying as I tried to help her. I am not a good barf helper. I got her out of her clothing and realized I couldn't put her back in the seat. It was just not possible. So I broke the law and all safety decrees and buckled her into the middle seat in the car. Then I drove 15 mph home on the side roads. Luckily we were about 3 miles from home but I was a nervous wreck.

Scott arrived home shortly after us with take-out (because people still needed to eat) and just started laughing. Both kids were running around the front yard in just their skivvies and I had emptied the backseat of everything. The car will need to be shampoo'd tomorrow but both car seats have been cleaned and the covers washed. Luckily we have another car with car seats that we'll use tomorrow. What a day!

Scary Women, Confident Daughters and Things I Thought I'd do make up this week's Wednesday Links From Around The Web

Women are scary Other Mothers are terrifying. I remember Mom Dating when I first had Molly. I was so aggressive but I now have an awesome village of Mom friends. Sometimes you have to be the aggressor to get a great community.

Raising a Confident Daughter I hope I'm raising two very confident children!

Easy Home Upgrades My house would appreciate a few of these upgrades.

Coloring Books for Adults I kinda like these. a lot.

Facebook Lies It sure does. I try to keep it real on there but I know I make things look way better than they actually are.

Things I thought I'd get done Oh boy is this ever true! And this post made me really miss my Dad. I loved it when my parents took Molly for the weekend. Those were some sweet times.

Molly's First Movie Theatre Experience

On Saturday, I took Molly to see Home. I had some free screening passes and after talking to Scott, we decided it would be a good risk. I told Molly that we were going to the theatre and that she'd get popcorn. I think that was the one thing she remembered because as soon as we arrived, she wanted to know where her popcorn was. She also wanted to know why the lights were dimming when the movie started. I told her it was all part of the experience.

The movie was super cute and the alien is played by my favorite tv star, Jim Parsons. The only downside was that it was in 3-D which meant we had to wear 3-D glasses. Molly would not keep hers on and kept telling me that the screen was blurry. I kept telling her to put on the glasses. 

Our movie experience went better than I honestly expected. Molly sat in her seat and only had to go to the bathroom once. She did want to talk throughout the entire movie but so did the other kids in the theatre. She got scared once and asked for a cuddle on my lap. When we got home, she excitedly told Scott all about the movie. Scott asked if he could take her to a movie in the near future and she said, "No. Mommy takes me to movies." Well, Daddy is actually more the movie person so I think they will be checking out a movie together in the near future. We'll see if it goes as well the second time.

Spring Gardening

After weeks of planning, I finally got my Spring Garden in. I had planned to plant everything in early March but that did not happen. On Saturday afternoon, I had a few hours free so instead of cleaning the house (because that is never fun), I decided to spend that time digging in the dirt.

Molly and I headed over to Swanson's to gather plants. I may have gotten a bit out of control but I love plants! I also stocked up on fertilizer, compost and a few other gardening tools. Molly loaded everything up in the red wagons they provide for the kids. I ended up dragging the wagon through Swanson's along with the cart I had gotten for the heavy stuff. Needless to say, I was less than amused at that point.

After we arrived home and unloaded all our goodies, Molly lost interest in gardening and went inside. I headed to the backyard and started planting. I did a bit of garden bed clean-up as some weeds had trickled in since I did the initial garden bed clean-up. After visiting Swanson's, I changed up some of my plans. I decided to focus on more leafy greens and root vegetables and nixed the cauliflower and broccoli plans.

I ended up planting the following:

Box #1 - Black Magic Kale, Lacinato/Dinosaur Kale, Blue Scotch Vates Curled Kale, Renegade Spinach and Miners Lettuce

Box #2 & #3 - Australian Yellow Heirloom Lettuce, Red Leaf Lettuce, Lollo Rossa Leaf Lettuce, Buttercrunch Lettuce, Golden Beets, Cylindra Beets, Walla Walla Onions, Tadorna Leeks, Rainbow Chard

Box #4 - Parmex Carrots, Circus Circus Carrots, Thelma Sanders' Sweet Acorn Squash,  French Petits Pois Heirloom Shelling Peas and Sugar Snap Peas

I also planted two strawberry plants in some empty pots and another rosemary bush in the herb garden section on the side of the house. The herb garden needs some serious weeding and some more herb planting/planning. I also noticed that the Rhubarb is coming up on the side of the house which is exciting. Now to sit back and watch everything grow! Spring is exciting that way, everything starts coming back to life after the Winter and I can't wait to see what happens.

Sunday Moment

Image Source: Steph Says Hello

I don't have much to say today except that Today is a Good Day! The sun is shining, everyone is healthy again at my house and most of the laundry is done. That is a very good thing. I hope everyone else is having a very good day too. 

Fifteen Months with Mag-Pie

Dear Maggie,

Whoa! This past month has been insane and you've grown insanely. You are starting to lose your baby face and starting to look like a little kid. I'm not sure that I'm a fan of this. I love my squishy little baby.

I am however enjoying seeing the lovely little kid you are becoming. You are full of spunk, sass and joy. There is always a smile on your face and a giggle upon your lips. You have such joy for life and I love living in your world. 

You are becoming opinionated which is awesome but kinda hard. You see your sister is also opinionated so there are clashes that happen almost every minute of every day. It's going to get loud around here with both of your opinions but the air is also filled with laughter from both of you and that is the good stuff. 

We went on a hike to Discovery Park a few weeks ago and it was awesome. I look forward to more hikes this summer. We'll hit up all the city parks for all the hikes. You had a great time and were so tired by the end of the hike. 

We also started swim lessons this month and you are a water baby! I'm taking lessons with you while your sister takes lessons on the other side of the pool. I did parent/tot lessons with your sister and while this feels a bit like an old hat to me, it's brand new to you. I try to take time to take in your joy when we are in the pool together. You love the water. You especially love the hot tub time we get after swim lessons and often point to the hot tub when we are in the big pool. You've been building some great swim skills and I can't wait to watch you improve on those skills this summer. I plan on spending a ton of time in the water with both of you this summer. 

This past week has been rough for us. You had your first and second ER visit due to dehydration from what we think was the flu. It totally sucked. You have been sick for most of this month but we are on the upswing back toward health. You have your well-child check in another week but I know you've grown taller, gained a few lbs and a whole lot of attitude! 

Coconut Lime Cilantro Rice

I've been making this rice for some time. It's super simple, yet packed full of flavor which in our house is a winner. I use this as side for most any meal. It pairs well with tacos, adds a punch to a chicken dish and is a show stopper in a rice bowl. I love making rice bowls for dinner. Everyone gets a bit of what they like and I feel good serving a dish packed full of veggies. 

This isn't a dish that one waxes on about for thousands and thousands of words but it is a dish that will quickly become a staple in your meal rotation. One can always leave out the cilantro if they find it soapy tasting but just know I feel sad for you because cilantro is one of the best herbs around. 

Coconut Lime Cilantro Rice

by Rebecca Mongrain

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 60 minutes




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Ingredients (6 cups)

2 Cups dry rice
1 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
1/3 Cup Unsweetened Coconut Flakes
1 Cup Coconut Milk
2 Cups Chicken Stock
2 Tablespoons Lime Juice
Zest of one Lime
1/4 cup chopped Cilantro




Instructions

Mix everything but the cilantro in a rice cooker and cook for 60 minutes.

Once the rice is cooked through, add the chopped cilantro to the rice. Mix well.


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In Sickness

This past weekend, the flu hit our household like a tornado. I did six loads of laundry on Saturday after spending most of the previous night in the ER with Maggie. The poor thing was super dehydrated. Scott stayed home with Molly. They spent the night cuddled together on the couch.

As I drove Maggie to the ER on Friday night (and then again on Saturday night), I thought about how different it is for the second kid. The first kid gets both parents to drive them to the doctor. The second kid doesn't get that luxury because someone has to stay with the first. Maggie didn't get the panic that one has with first children. I knew she was sick. I knew she needed fluids but wasn't in crisis. I was able to calmly drive her somewhere that she could get the help she needed. I felt terrible that she was so sick though.



Maggie found our second visit to the ER to be of great entertainment. I found our 5 hour wait to see the doctor to be long and arduous.

One thing I learned through this long, sick weekend is that my family really pulls together when we are all sick. Scott and I did what we could to keep afloat and the kids recognized that they needed to rest. We spent all of our very rainy Sunday in our PJs lounging on the couch with books, lots of liquids and blankets. If we hadn't been sick, it would have been a great day. Maybe someday soon we'll have another rainy day inside with books, blankets and treats but without any sickness. 

One excellent fact is that we are all on the mend. We're getting better and putting this all behind us.

Edit: I'm excited to share my first article with Seattle Refined with all of you - A beginner's guide to Barre ! Fun fact, I wrote this over the weekend while in the depths of illness. Luckily I had already done all the research. 

Artwork, Cookies and Spring Cleaning are this Week's Links Around the Web

5 Wallet-Friendly Ways to Create Big, High-Impact Art I'm studying this article intently based on some plans I have for decorating our living room. 

Fine Art Show Features Lego Mini-Figures I love this! 

Spring Cleaning: 10 Things You'll Forget Anyone else getting the urge to start some Spring Cleaning? 

On Honoring Your Truth Sadie Lincoln, founder of barre3 was recently interviewed and her words really resonated with me. 

A Stay-at-Home Parent Is Not a 'Luxury' We all make sacrifices for the choices we make in life. We all make different choices. My family has chosen to have a stay at home parent. It's a choice we've been able to make and embrace. 

Slamdunk birthday presents for kids Where was this article a few weeks ago when I was in the midst of the birthday party circuit. Well at least I have my plans ready for next year!

How to make perfect chocolate chip cookies I think Molly and I will need to test out this articles advice just to see if we can make perfect chocolate chip cookies. 

25 apps to make your everyday easier I like anything that makes my everyday easier.

The Film Project

Way back in January, I decided to take out my Dad's Yashica camera and see if it still worked. I grabbed some old film and started shooting. The kids and I went to a park where they ran and played while I snapped some photos.

I was transported back to high school when I shot with this camera. I could hear my Dad's voice in my ear telling me what to set my aperture at, where to focus and what to watch in the view finder. I was also reminded of taking pictures with this camera of my baby cousin, Peter who is no longer with us. He was my first kid model. He was such a delightful sport and a fun little guy. While I didn't always get all the technical parts right, I think these photos came out pretty awesome.

I have a bunch of expired film languishing in my linen closet and a film camera that reminds me of my Dad so I'll be trying to shoot with it at least once a month. My current stumbling block is the development of the film. I get it developed at the drugstore down the street but they like to put electronic files on CD which is difficult for me to access. I'll make it work though as I love how the film captures these memories.

Chore Charts for Littles

I've been working with Molly to develop a more cohesive routine with some simple chores. I went to my favorite place on the web, Pinterest and found a ton of chore charts. I selected two to get us started. One is a Morning/Evening routine chart and the other is a true chore chart. We'll see if these work for us. I suspect that they will.

The goal of these charts are to help Molly create a routine while developing some personal responsibility. I would also like to stop nagging her about doing certain things and honestly sometimes I need to be reminded to brush her teeth, etc. I don't expect 100% success and I know I'll have to remind her a lot in the beginning.

Molly helped me put these together and then I asked her where we should hang them for best results. She announced that she wanted them on the bathroom door so that is where we put them. We'll put stickers on the chore chart when she accomplishes her chores. If she fills up most of the sheet with stickers, she'll get a prize at the end of the week. She's asked for a trophy at the end of this week. So yea, a trophy. OK I can make that happen. 

Molly is so excited about her new chore charts that she dragged Scott out into the hallway to check them out. He got a bit excited watching her excitement. I hope this helps us with some of our nightly tantrums about picking up toys, brushing teeth and putting clothing away. 

Sunday Moment

My 6 a.m. workout is my time. It's the one time of the day that is solely for me. It is really the only time of the day that I am the star of my life. I've found that taking that one hour in the morning for me makes me a better Mom, better Wife, better person. 

What do you do to be the star of your life? 

Happy Pi Day!

It's Pi Day and I had big plans to celebrate with a Pie Crawl across town. Instead the entire family is sick with possible flu so I bought a pie at the grocery store, at the request of Molly with a solemn feeling in my heart.

I also thought I'd share my favorite pie recipes with you so I can live vicariously through everyone else who isn't sick. Tell me if you make any of these awesome looking pies!

Chestnut Cream Pie This looks so good! 

Black Bottom Oatmeal Pie This just screams, GET IN MA BELLAH!

Apple Pie with Cheddar Cheese Crust Kate McDermott really knows the art of the pie and makes delicious ones. 

A Mile High Lemon Brown Sugar-Meringue Pie! This has been on my to-bake list for years.