Juice Feast: Day 6

Now you have to admit: that looks really yummy! This morning's breakfast: 5 carrots, 1 apple, 1c spinach, and 1 tomato. It actually made two of these glasses, and I drank them both. Rather full now...

Day 6
Weight loss: 7 lbs
Notes: nothing has really changed in the last couple of days. Losing 7 pounds hasn't made a huge difference, except that I can tell my jeans are a bit looser and my belly is flatter. Not flat, mind you. Flatter. And I have more energy. I'm not falling into bed absolutely exhausted at 10:00. In fact, I could have gone on for hours last night. The only reason I didn't is the knowledge that I also have to wake up with four kiddos bright and early. But my energy levels are way up. Last night I cheated. I ate things I shouldn't have. Carbs. And I felt guilty especially in light of the fact that I have an audience now, so I'm confessing it here. Am thinking that one good reason for doing a complete fast is to push the reset button on the whole gamut of eating habits, so I can build from scratch when I break the fast. Am giving some much heavier consideration to fasting completely....but do I have the courage?  I don't know.

Quotes March 17- June 25 2011

June 25

Collin, giving a play-by-play of his new pet: My caterpillar got out of his lair!

June 18

Spencer, very seriously, watching me make Vlad's Father's Day Cake: Mommy, you should travel the world making cakes! You would make millions of dollars! Cha-ching!

My arms want to fall off when I think of how many cakes that would take!

June 17

Me: Spencer, will you help Claire get her bike out of the trunk?

Spencer: How many dollars do I get?

Me: Dollars? None.

Spencer: I never get paid!

Me: Paid? To help your sister?! You've got to be kidding!

Spencer: Hey, Mommy, I'm a businessboy. I want money!

Me: Katya, you are so stinky!

Katya: I poot.

June 14

Collin, after I pinched off a bit of skin from a scrape on his ankle: Ouch! That hurted like a sheep. Now I know what a goldfish feels like......AND a sheep!

June 8

Spencer, in a tirade of outrageous behavior at Costco: You mean you're going to give [the pop] to [Claire]?! I'm eight years old, and my life is in ruins!

June 1

Collin, at the skatepark, surrounded by pot heads and one guy without a shirt: Look at all these skateboarders! Just look at them! And that guy (the guy without the shirt) is totally out! I mean, he's gonna attract a woman like that! What is he thinking?

I don't think my kids were made for the skateboarding crowd.

May 24

Me, getting into the childhood silliness when talking about Spring: I love the pink blossom trees. I love them so much I want to marry them!

Spencer, laughing: You can't marry a tree! If you did, then you couldn't have babies; you would just have wood chips!

May 23

Collin, lovingly speaking about his hamster: I named him Mosquito, because he bites me a lot, just like a real mosquito!

May 22

Me, getting ready for church: I don't know what to wear to church today.

Spencer: I know! How about your wedding gown?

Me: My wedding gown? No, you only wear that when you're getting married.

Spencer: Really? I would wear that baby!

May 16

Katya, in her sing-song voice that ends every sentence like a question, urging me to hurry so we could go outside: [C]'mon, Mommy! 'mon!

Me: I'm coming! I just have to get dressed.

Katya: Dessed? 'mon, Mommy!

Me: I'm coming.

Katya: 'Mon!

Me: In a minute!

Katya: Minute?

Me: Yes, I'll be there in a minute.

Katya: 'Minute? 'Mon!

Me: Katya, hold on.

Katya: 'old on?

Me: Yes, be patient.

Katya: pasent?

Me: Yes, patient.

Katya: 'Mon, Mommy!

Me: Katya, shhhhhh!

Katya: ssssss?

Me: yes, quiet.

Katya: Kai-et?

Me: yes, you need to be quiet for a minute.

Katya: Kai- et?

Me: Gosh, I need earplugs.

Katya: Noooooooooo? 'Mon, Mommy!

May 15

Collin, whose breakfast was interrupted when I realized he'd lost his hamster: Mommy said we can't eat until we find that darn hamster!

May 12

Collin, about his new pet hamster: I love my hamster! I love him like he's my own son. And when I'm holding him and no one else is there, I almost cry.

May 11

Vlad: Today is my birthday, boys, so you have to treat me really good today! And since I'm going to work, I'm transferring all my birthday rights to mommy while I'm gone!

There are major perks to being the stay-at-home parent.

Me, calling to Katya after realizing the house had gone quiet and hoping that she hadn't snuck outside with the other kids: Katya? Katya?

Katya's little voice, from upstairs: What?

Me: Are you here?

Katya: Yeah. I seeping!

She is the most mature nearly-two-year-old I've ever known.

May 9

Spencer, in an unusual gush of brotherly love: Katya is so cute and so beautiful.... but she has a poopy diaper. You gotta change that, because otherwise she's the sweetest baby in the world!

Collin: I know! She's sooooo beautiful! But she's really stinky!

May 7

Vlad, to me as he went outside to work: If you can find me, you can kiss me! If you can't, I'm behind the car!"

April 30

Katya, seeing a sweater for her amid my good garage-sale finds, and picking it up to admire it: Ohh, eh doot!!

Translation: Oh, that's cute!!

April 29

Collin, with his usual pre-breakfast question, which is always followed by a complaint once he gets his answer: Mom, what's for breakfast?

Me, deciding to let him save his dignity and actually give him something to complain about: Bread and water.

Collin: What? (to Claire) She's joking, isn't she? No, seriously, Mom!

Spencer, arriving late into the kitchen: Mommy, what are we having for breakfast?

Claire, very matter-of-factly: B'ed and wahyer!

You don't want to know what followed. Evidently Spencer doesn't like being treated like a prisoner.

April 26

Collin, 20 minutes after he and Spencer couldn't concentrate on Social Studies for the day because they were so preoccupied with their new pet spider and caterpillar: I don't like that caterpillar, anyway. So i gave him to the spider!

oh. my. gosh.

Me, putting a plate of peanut butter toast on the breakfast table beside Katya: This is for Daddy. Don't eat it!

Spencer: Yeah, because she always eats Daddy's food.

Katya: Noooooo!

Spencer: Yeah you do!

Katya: Nooooo! Diego, Diego!

Because, clearly, "Diego" is the answer to all of life's little problems.

April 21

Collin, trying to get Claire in trouble by tattling one of my pet peeves: Mommmyyyyy, Claire took out her pigtails!

Me: Oh, really? Well, she didn't even have pigtails in her hair this morning.

Collin: Oh. Then what did she have? Puppy tails?

April 20

Me: Hey, Claire, do you want to help me put the trash in the trailer?

Claire, looking at me thoughtfully: "N-O 'pells 'No'."

April 18

Claire, coming to me with wide eyes and a serious expression: Mommy, Coyyin pulled down my pants and saw my bum....inreaw yife!

April 17

Katya, sitting near me when she lets one rip, then grins, enormously pleased with herself: I faht!

Obviously, her vocabulary is growing in leaps and bounds.

April 7

Spencer, bursting into tears as he took a first look at himself in the mirror after enduring a terrifying, life-endangering, identity-threatening, sanity-challening...haircut: I don't look like myself! I don't want to look like a country kid with..two teeth missing!! *sob sob sob*

Guess I should have layered in the top a little more. His haircut was quickly corrected - after I stopped laughing enough to hold the scissors steady.

April 6

Katya, after I turned off the movie she was so proud to have found on the computer: Mommmyy!! Voovie no' done!

April 3

Spencer, on a toy phone: Hello? Doctor? I need a miracle for my mother. She's a little nuts.

Katya, appearing at the top of the stairs at 7am when everyone else is still asleep: Mommyy....I da' deep!"

Me: You can't sleep?

Katya, descending the stairs for her early morning cuddle: Nope. I da' deep.

She's the earliest talker of the four, and it still shocks me the things she can say at 20 mos.

April 1

Spencer, after a collision with Collin: Ohhhh, my tarnations!!

Katya: Mommyyyyy.....(no answer)...Mommyyyy......(no answer)....Mommmyyyy....Hellooooo? Mommy!

Collin, with great warmth and tenderness after coming in from the porch where he plucked last year's wilted, brown dandelion from the melting snowbank outside the house: "Mommy, look! The first dandelion of the year!"

March 30

Claire: Mommy, tan I have new eawings?

Me: New earrings? No.

Claire: But deese ones ah not pe-fect!

Whoa.

March 29

Katya, charming us all with her favorite new phrase: Chitta-chitta boo-boom! Chitta-chitta boo-boom!

Spencer: Holy Crackup!! The wax beans are growing like bananas and look like Venus FlyTraps!!

Just imagine!

March 28

Spencer, after being traumatized by the clown at a birthday party where we spent the afternoon. Evidently, clowns are the enemy: I hated that clown! And he tried to make me smile, and he almost got me, but he didn't. And then I just turned around and made a face that people wouldn't like.

Me: Nice, Spence.

Spencer, happy and content in his sense of vindication, completely missing my sarcasm: Thanks!

March 27

Claire, while the kids were arguing/discussion which songs I should sing for bedtime: I wan' you to sing "Twintle Twintle Widdle Stah!"

Spencer: Noooooooo, Claire! What's so special about it? It's just a star that looks like a diamond!

March 25

Spencer, with the other kids in the kitchen, guiding an impromptu science experiment: Now let's put this in the cup with water, and add some salt...Now let's shake it up all together!

Collin: What's going to happen?

Spencer: I don't know. That's why it's interesting!

For the record, they were mixing hair with shampoo, and salt. Nothing explosive!

Vlad to Collin after Collin had a hard time sitting still for morning reading: Do you know who succeeds in life, Collin? Those who have a sharp brain and a flat bum. You have to be like a pyramid, sitting still and applying your mind to things if you want to succeed. If you have a sharp bum and can't sit still, and you don't apply your mind so it is just flat, you'll be like an upside down pyramid, and you'll fall over easily in life. So you be like a pyramid, ok buddy?

March 20

Katya, pointing to the kitchen: Mommy, mesh!

Translation: Mommy, mess!

Me, looking in the kitchen to find one of my "nice" plates crashed on the floor. So that's what the loud sounds and squeals 10 minutes ago had been about: Oh, Katya! You did make a mess! The plate broke, huh?

Katya: Mommy, mesh. I wowwy, Mommy. I wowwy.

Awwwww.

March 18

Collin: Mommy, do you know that some dinosaurs have brains like green beans?

Me, thinking hard: Um.....green beans? Do you mean that they have brains the size of peas?

Collin: Yeah!

March 17:

Spencer: I can't believe I have to dust your bedroom! It's nasty! It's disgusting! It's not what kids are supposed to do!

Me: I can't believe I have to do your laundry! It's nasty! It's disgusting! It's not what moms are supposed to do!

Spencer: Sorry.

Collin: Mommmmmmmy! Spencer drew half a moustache on me with permanent marker!

Me: Let me see........(looking at the half-moustache over my son's lip)......here, let me draw the other half!

Yes, I did draw it. And yes, it is still there.

My Birthday 2011

Saturday was my birthday. I turned 33 years old. It started out as a huge bummer. Vlad is gone, and I was stuck at home with the four kiddos, who were sweet about their birthday wishes, but were not exactly planning a surprise party. But we remedied the situation with an afternoon out. I rounded up the kids, and one neighbour friend, and we took off for the zoo. But first, a stop at the steam train! 

This is the best shot I got of everyone together. Seriously, I'm awful at taking group pics of my kids. 

But train robbers...now THAT is a pic I can take! :)

What's a train robber without a Sherlock Holmes to solve the crime? 

After the train we headed to the zoo. We got rained out after about 20 minutes, but it was a sweet little stop. Too bad my camera battery ran out at the train! :) We hurried on to the movies, where we had a great time. No one even left their seats. 5 kids, and one mom who thoroughly relaxed at the movies - I call that success. It turned out to be a fun birthday after all, despite the lack of adult conversation.

Juice Feast

A few days ago we watched the documentary "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead." Sounds enticing, eh? I didn't think so either. Just know that the guy who did the documentary is an Aussie, and has a great sense of dry British humor. Thus, the title.  Well, the documentary is basically about a man who was very overweight and had some serious health problems as a result. He decided to reboot his system and his life, and give a new start to his body. How was he going to do that? He decided to do a juice fast (which I shall hereafter refer to as a "juice feast"). Basically, he travelled the US for 60 days, talking to people about their diet, effects of diet, and about his juice feast. For 60 days all he ingested was fresh squeezed vegetable and fruit juices for meals and snacks. Why juice? Because you get all the nutrient available immediately to your body without the need for digestion. Basically, it's super healthy, and you can get so much more nutrition than you can get through eating vegetables throughout the day. At the end of his feast, he had lost nearly 100 pounds, and had completely recovered from his health ailments (free of pills after over 9 years). He rebooted his life entirely, and went on to help others do the same thing. It was very inspiring. I have been thinking about doing a serious detox for my body. It's no secret that I'm overweight, but I have become increasingly concerned for my health over the past year. Not because anything awful health-wise is happening to me, but because the extra weight brings extra potential for problems. So after watching this documentary, I've decided to follow suit. Problem is, it's sort of hard. I'm used to eating all the time. It's sort of strange how much we become attached to our rituals of eating food, whether it's just eating healthy food in healthy amounts with the family at the dinner table, or whether its overeating on the wrong foods. I'm not sure I can go completely off of food altogether, so I'm making allowances for fruits and vegetables, along with the juice at every meal. So far, I've been at this juice feast for four days. I have not been a model student. But I figured I'd sort of ramp into it. Today, day four, has been a good day for one reason only: I decided to tell the world about my juice feast. The extra accountability really keeps me going. This a shot of our breakfast table. The kids were eating cereal. I was drinking my juice. It's kind of pretty, don't you think? 

 It's a mix of lots of greens: green apple, cucumber, kale, and kiwi.  So every second day I'm going to pop in and give an update on how it's going, no matter how much I hate how it makes me feel like an old woman to tell about my body and the state of my health.
This is my first update:
Day 4
Weight loss: 4 lbs
Notes: ankle swelling going down. Didn't realize they were so swollen until I saw them shrunk down today. This is probably due to losing water weight. Had a bad headache for the first day and a half, probably due to detox from coffee. Feel like it was a good decision to "ramp in" instead of going cold-turkey. Not sure I could handle that headache for too long. Headache still lingers on and off, but not so bad. Was terribly cranky the first day - also probably from detox. Eating some fruit seems to help the crankiness. Maybe I was just hungry. Got seriously hungry today at lunch for the first time. The nice thing was not having the panicky feeling, because I didn't get shaky with hunger as usual (suspect low blood sugar?). That's a big change! Fruit and juice were enough, and kept me going all afternoon. I'm still amazed at how the body goes and goes on just vitamins and minerals in the juice. I didn't know it would be so easy to live on (mostly) juice.

And, because I can't do a post without pics of the kids, here are the girls enjoying their breakfast:

Happy Birthday, Katya!

Hey, Katya, how old did you turn yesterday? 

2? That's right! And approximately what time in the afternoon was it when Mommy realized that she had forgotten it was your birthday?

2  - right again! (Very handy place for that thumb, by the way! Good thinking!) And so how many presents did you get to pick at Toys R Us, to make up for Mommy's guilt? 

2! Right again! Was that loads of fun? 

 Katya?.......are you listening? Don't you want to help Mommy with her blog post by telling all the people how you tried to buy out the store with your one little Toys R Us gift card? Don't you want to tell them how you scolded Collin that it was your birthday and then proceeded to point to every toy in the store and say "YES!"?

 No? Alrighty then, we'll just skip to birthday pics.

It's true. Mommy forgot a birthday for the first time. I'm sure it won't be the last, knowing me. Thank goodness Katya had already picked out a doll this weekend as her "birthday baby," whom she carried and "shshes" and kisses constantly. And thank goodness  for wonderful neighbors who came over on the drop of a hat (no pun intended) and had a quick little celebration in the front yard with us. This pic below is precious. Katya loves her friend "Nina," (which isn't her real name). She lives two doors down, and is mother to the other three kids who our kids play with from 8 in the morning to 8 in the evening. When Katya is mad at me, she cries for "Nina." She sings "Nina's" name, and when she's going through her list of favorite people, "Nina" is in there at least three times. Nina is her favorite person. And you can see why.  It looks like she is adored right back. The birthday hat? Supplied by Nina. When I was a little girl I loved the neighbor lady whose  last name was Jones. I loved them so much that my parents started calling me Carmie Jones. And it stuck. I'm still Carmie Jones when I go home. It looks like Katya is following suit .

Only two candles on this little cake! But it's twice as many as last year!

There they are - the whole gang!

 Blow, Katya, blow!!

Milk and cake on the warmest evening of the year - YUM!

 It turned out to be a really lovely evening, and a great time catching up with friends and neighbors. But most of all, Katya was celebrated. I can't believe my squishy, gushy, teasy, giggly, cuddly, waddly, adventurous, fun, loving, sweet, kissy baby is already two! 

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl! May all your dreams come true!

Bathtime!

Katya has a removable cast, so now she can take a real bath! 

 I gotta say, being back in the water and suds was so much more fun than bathing in the kitchen sink.

Some more of Claire's strange sleeping spots

I found her here a few weeks ago. I thought it was hilarious, with her amid all our laundry that was on the stairs. She even took the time to cover herself up with her special blankie! 

This is where we found her this evening. It beats them all....

Slingshot

What's the upside of your little sister having a broken leg that has to be wrapped with an ace bandage all the time? 

You have the material for a perfect slingshot!!

 One..... Two.....

 Three!!!

(No children were harmed in the making of this blog post, even though it looks like my daughter has fallen to the floor after being hit with projectile object).

My kids are crazy! I came out of the office, to find very guilty faces and long sideways glances to the ginormous slingshot they had rigged with Katya's ace bandage.  They were hurling thing across the room....namely, DVDs. They thought I'd be upset, but instead I ran to grab my camera. Moms are so unpredictable! You never know what they're going to do next!

The Zoo, with friends. :)

About two days ago we met some friends from our church's moms' group at the zoo for a quick run around to see some animals and have lunch in the presence of some very aggressive prairie dogs. The boys were super-excited, since they'd been asking to go for quite a while. Especially Collin. 

My boys are really starting to get attached to their little friend, Nathan.

The bird house was really beautiful! 

Collin exploring in the bird house. I think he may be playing "cat," which is why he is licking his lips with a smile on his face. 

 Katya getting around in her little purple cast.

Having a look at the antelope.

I'm so impressed with Little Miss Claire the older she gets. She is such a determined little thing, so sturdy, and so sure she has already conquered the world. And yet, she's such a little cuddly bear.  I love her spunk and her personality.

A pair of bald eagles.

Look! An albino buffalo! (No, I'm not joking).

Love this lucky shot of Claire!

Our friend and her little boy, who was very keen on chasing the peacock.

The peacock.

Our boys were feeding him our friend's snacks. Thanks, Martini!

Snakes are serious business! Lots of fascinating fun...

 ...but also sort of scary!

Too bad we had to cut our visit short for a doc's appointment....Maybe next time we'll see more.

The Long-Awaited Trip to the Manitoba Museum

This year we got a membership to the Manitoba Museum. I haven't regretted it one second. It's the perfect place to go on a winter's day, or any other day when you want to get out of the house and have a change of scenery. They have a very fun science room in the lower level next to the planetarium with all sorts of hands-on stuff for kids to do. My kids especially love the water table, the little aquarium, and the race car table. It's easy to kill an hour or two there on an afternoon. Then the upstairs is where things REALLY get interesting....so much great stuff to see! The kids wanted to go about once a week for a while, and I did take them about every other week for a little bit, but then decided that familiarity would breed contempt, so we had to cool our jets. They still love it, and have been begging for a trip for a while. This week we finally got there. 

Claire and Collin went straight to the aquarium. 

 Katya went straight to the water table.

Then Claire joined her.

Katya was fascinated by the fish too! I love watching their little faces light up with wonder.

Spencer, following in his dad's engineering footsteps, went straight to the table for building cars.

The pulleys are great! You have to feel the difference in the different pulleys that employ one, two, or three pulleys. You sit in a chair and hoist yourself up.....

 Then take a ride down...

Katya never left the water table. She was having such a great time!

I love how these two are sticking together more and more all the time. I don't even think they realize it, but they are becoming great buddies!

 Too bad we didn't have time to explore upstairs.....maybe next time I'll get pics of the old settlement town, or the giant ground sloth skeleton!