Raw Food

I have been reading a lot about raw food (I mentioned this in another post after going to hear Green Smoothie Girl & David Wolfe). I really see the health benefits, but am having difficulty grasping going even 50% raw. David Wolfe is 100% raw (he eats no cooked foods) & Green Smoothie Girl is about 80% raw. There are many, many foods you can eat that are considered raw, but there is definitely a learning curve on...recipes.:) I just reserved some books at the library on raw food recipes, so we'll give some a shot. Erik gets nervous every time I mention the word. :) He is worried he'll never get a taco or a chocolate chip cookie again! (Actually, chocolate - or cacao - is a very popular raw food, as long as it's not processed chocolate) Obviously, I like the ideas of being HEALTHY, losing weight, living longer, not having disease, pain, or other difficulties...but will I be able to give up my favorites? I don't see us becoming 100% raw (phew!), but my goal is to aim for 50% & then see where we go from there. A huge piece of this is smoothies & our Vita Mix blender. SO WORTH THE $$!!! If you are even a little bit trying to improve your health, I recommend saving your $$ to buy one of these. It makes it so easy to add fruits & veggies into your diet with very little effort. And blending is a huge benefit in absorption as it breaks down the cellular wall of many veggies, maximizing the health benefit. Also, you are able to use more of the fruits/veggies by using a Vita Mix. I leave the seeds in almost all fruits, sometimes the peels (lemons/limes), the stems (strawberries), the core in the pineapple, etc., again maximizing the nutrition. And I am able to get foods into my kids' diets that they normally wouldn't touch!

(I sound a bit like an info-mercial here...:) But we truly love this machine! And it is really superior to any other blender, with the exception of the Blend-Tec.)

Snake Lake/Tacoma Nature Center

Climbing up!

Almost there...

A nice place for a rest...

Looking for bugs, frogs, etc.

RUNNING!

Annika the skunk.:)

Kellen the owl.:)

LOL!:)

Annika the owl.

A friend recently invited us to go to the Tacoma Nature Center, & we went but her kids got sick!:( We ended up going with the kids' cousin, Kendall, who is 4.5. We had a BLAST! It was a gorgeous day, which helped, but the kids had a fantastic time checking things out (though they felt a little misled by the name 'snake lake' since there were no snakes to be found...). We started out a discovery pond where they could look in the water (which they were cleaning or something, so there were only 2 fish) & climb & slide & fun things like that. Then we went to the nature trail & they RAN it -- stopping only to look for snakes, frogs, & other exciting things.:) After that we went into the nature center where they had puppets, costumes, books, etc. + some animals in aquariums (turtles, frogs, & yes - a snake!). The kids played in here awhile too. We plan to go back, with our friend, soon!:)

Birthday pics

Kaarin was so excited that everyone was singing 'happy birthday' to her!:)

Birthday girl with her cake pop.:)

Down the slide at Charlie's Safari!

"Cooking" with one of her new presents

Buzz & the Pillow Pet

Kaarin is 2!

Kaarin is 2 years old now! Kellen summed it up nicely when he said, at breakfast on her birthday, "Kaarin doesn't look big enough to be 2. She still looks like a baby." And she does, especially since she is the smallest of the 3 kids! At her 2 yr. check up she was 22 lbs. & 33.5 inches. She is still not on the chart for weight (no one said anything about that) & she is about the 45% for height...which means she isn't short, except in our family!! Kellen & Annika were both 37 in. at 2 yrs. old! That's a fairly significant difference.

For Kaarin's birthday, we had her party on Sat. May 14th. We were lucky to have a good chunk of time to play outside & eat dinner before the rain started...& once it started, it POURED! So we had to move everything else inside, which was fine. We all had a really good time with good friends & family!

On Kaarin's actual birthday we went to Charlie's Safari, since this is one of her (all the kids, really) favorite places! However, weekends are a very different story. WAY. TOO. CROWDED. We will stick to going during the week during school hours (even though daddy won't be able to come with us :( ) from now on!! I didn't think we were going to last 10 minutes, as the kids kept getting bumped & run over by other kids. One little boy even climbed OVER Kaarin as she was climbing the ladder to the slide - she easily could have fallen all the way down. In the end, we stayed about 2 hrs. & tried to avoid the really crazy kids & had a good time. Phew. Then we came home for pizza dinner & presents!:) Kaarin got a new Buzz doll, a pillow pet, & a new (CUTE) dress.:) I think she had a good birthday!

More Funnies

Kellen, on the day of Kaarin's birthday party: "Where is Daddy?"
Mommy: "At the golf course."
Kellen: "He should have stayed home. It's Kaarin's birthday!"


At a trip to Snake Lake (blog to come), Annika was playing with some puppets. She put one on her hand that was a lady bug & showed me. I said, "Oh you have a ladybug!" She replied, "No, it a lady beetle. Penelope call it a lady beetle, so that what it is." Um, who? Who is Penelope?? No idea....

Sitting at the table, Annika says, "This is only for 3 year old girls. That what the sign says." Sign? O.K.....

Annika, sitting on my lap facing me, squishing my stomach: "Your tummy is so squishy (sfishy) because you need to go poo poo." (I wish that were the only reason it was squishy, lol!)

Kellen, at breakfast on Kaarin's birthday: "Kaarin doesn't look big enough to be 2 years old. She still looks like a baby."

Easter

I have been meaning to write about Easter for a few weeks...we have been in California for the last few years on Easter, so we haven't really attended church. It's always hard to take the kids to a new place, so we just haven't done it. This year, since we didn't go to California, we were home. I had the privilege (yes!) to sit through all 3 of our Easter services, & I have to say I was absolutely blown away!!!!! It was one of the best -- no, probably THE BEST Easter service I have ever attended. The choir (of which I was a part of, but let me tell you, I really had nothing to do with it) was AMAZING -- we have a fabulous new soloist who brought the house down! People were literally jumping out of their seats by the end of the song -- all 3 services! It was fun to watch. I was in tears by the end of the song, all 3 services. Powerful stuff. The music was great. The sermon was GREAT. Our pastor did a fantastic job. And to coordinate with his sermon, several people from our church put together an AMAZING video -- it is now on youtube & you can watch it by clicking on this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrXs5HiYmC0 (If that doesn't work, go to youtube.com & search for Tommie Dochran - it should take you to the video by Jeremy Evarts). This was written, produced & acted all by people from our church, but if you didn't know that, you might think it was professionally done! Very well done. So, it was absolutely amazing to be a part of such a great outreach service, & I bet a church Easter service unlike many people had ever been to! It was not traditional. But it was Christ-centered & spoke of the HOPE we have because of Him! He is risen, indeed!

Kid Funnies

Here are a couple of recent funnies:

A couple of weeks ago Kellen said he didn't want to take a nap (he is not required to sleep of course, but he & Annika have to stay in their room for a 'quiet time'). I told him that next year, when he is in Miss Mary & Miss Jessica's class, he will go to school after lunch, so he will not have to take a nap then. He thought for a minute, then said, "But I will be so tired!" :)

Yesterday we went to Cabela's down in Lacey for the first time. The kids had a great time, looking at all the stuff. Annika & Kaarin spent a long time looking at the boats, & there were ladders for them to climb up so that they could see the boats better. (These were speed boats). Annika & I had this conversation:
Annika: "When can we get one of these?"
Mommy: "We probably won't."
Annika: "But when can we?"
Mommy: "Maybe when you have a job. Do you have a job?"
Annika: "Yes."
Mommy: "You do? What is your job?"
Annika: "The silverware..."
Mommy needed to specify that she have a job that earns $$!:)

Kellen has been saying 'butt' a lot lately, so finally I asked him who says 'butt.' Kellen replied, "Josh. He's a butt-saying guy."
And Kellen has also figured out that 'but' means "I was going to say something else, too." So now when he is reprimanded for using the word 'butt' that is what he says.

Kaarin doesn't have a lot of funnies that are easily rewritten, though she talks up a storm.:) The longest sentence she has put together so far in her short life came yesterday: "I want my Woody!"

Strange Things

For the last 16 years, I have had a cat. And for the 22 years before that (give or take), minus 4 years for college, I have had a cat. When Buster Brown died 11 years ago, I still had Mookie, & though it was sad & strange to have Buster gone, I still had a cat. Now, I have cat things. I have a cat condo with no resident. I have cat food with no one to eat it. I have 2 litter boxes (that need to be cleaned out). Kaarin goes out into the laundry room, looking for Mookie: "Itty? Itty?" During the day, I can tend to forget. Mookie usually hung out in the laundry room until nap time, so I don't miss him before that. Every once in awhile I think I hear him meow at the door to come in. It is strange to go to bed without putting him in the garage. I still want to block the cat door with the box (since Mookie was too smart & could unlock the cat door to sneak in). I forget that I don't have to remember to look for Mookie under Kaarin's dresser when I put her to bed (a favorite place for him to sleep). I don't have to worry if I leave clean laundry in a basket in the laundry room that he will climb into it & sleep... It is these times that I miss him the most.

The kids have been really cute about Mookie. Kellen & Annika understand that he died & is not coming back, but that he is in heaven waiting for us. On Tues. a.m. (the day after) Kellen woke up singing a song about Mookie & how we will miss him but we'll see him again.:) Cute. He later told me, "I should have gone to the Dr. for Mookie with you, that's what I was thinking about when you came back." I'm not sure why he was thinking that (probably curiosity about what Mookie looked like when he died), but I am going to give him a little benefit of the doubt & say that he was thinking of me.:) Today while we were outside playing, Kellen gave me instruction on how to stand on your tricycle to reach the mailbox (which he was doing) without falling off...because if I were to fall off I might fall on my head & get a big owie & get dead & then they wouldn't have a mommy anymore.:( I told him that would be very sad. And he said, "Yeah. But then you would be with Mookie!" Can you tell he grasps the AWESOMENESS of heaven??

Of course, the first question the kids asked when I got home from the vet was, "When can we get another kitty?" All in good time.:)

Mookie

We said goodbye to our beloved Mookie today (sniff). He was 16 years old & just a fantastic cat. He was always gentle with the kids (though he did his best to hide from them) & was pretty patient with them. As a younger cat, he was an excellent mouser, though sometimes too good. He brought me many a rat, mouse, bunny....yes. Too good. He loved being outside. He loved to sit on your lap & be petted. He loved playing with his brother, Buster Brown, who died of cancer at the young age of 5. Mookie also had a lot of character. He was not quiet. He yowled. He tried to sneak into our bedroom. He hated sleeping in the garage. He loved to cuddle. He loved to play. He. will. be. missed.