Missing Louie

It has been over a month since we had to say goodbye to our beloved lab Lucas. While our hearts do not ache consistently as they did that first week he was gone, we still miss him and think of him often. Over 12 years of memories with that big ball of love, I know we had a great time with him, I hope he felt the same.

I am thankful Stephen agreed to adopt Lucy last fall. While it did take her a few months to settle in, she is doing so well. And she really helped fill the void we felt losing Lucas. She didn't replace him by any means, but I think having her around for all of us to love on really helped. She really is such a great dog and so much fun to have around.

Father's Day

I heard from the one who mattered most yesterday, "I had the BEST Father's Day!" So glad we could make it such a special day for him.

We packed a lunch and enjoyed the day exploring Harper's Ferry National Park. This little gem is about 40 minutes from our home and while Stephen and I enjoyed reading all of the historical background and taking in all of the old buildings, the kids enjoyed swimming in the river.

Telling me of his days gone by tubing with friends on this same river, I could tell he really enjoyed introducing the next generation to this beautiful, peaceful place. 

He may be dying but he hasn't changed his ways.

Our twelve and a half year old black lab has lymphoma. His lymph nodes are swollen and rock hard and the tumors seem to be growing leaps and bounds every day.

We decided to forego any treatment, he is a big, old dog and his time has come. He has led a happy, albeit, gluttonous life and we are sad to watch him go, but happy he has been such a part of our lives for so many years.

He was my first baby. Well, the rottweiler we had to give away was our first, but Lucas is the first baby that we kept. We picked him out of a litter of 9, all black. We drove home with him at eight weeks and raised him day by day.

We moved with him. And moved, and moved and moved (there are still not enough 'moves' in that sentence!). He was my walking buddy, I took him

summer projects

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Insert blushing face now. 
The last month of school activities were crazy which left me little time to do much else including updating the blog. Which is unfortunate because the kids had some great achievements, funny quotes, fantastic photo opportunities. But I refuse to beat myself up about it. I do enough of that thinking about their baby albums...let me rephrase, their unfinished baby albums for my children who are now 8, 6 and 3.

We had a fantastic spring break. Which lead me to believe summer was going to be a lot of fun. Yet there was still some fear that the fighting, whining and "I'm bored" comments would begin within moments of packing away backpacks for fall retrieval.

Our first week of summer break has been very successful and I attribute its' ease to having a plan. As summer approached I sat down with a friend of mine and we planned our summer. We planned our days, which turned into weeks which made it look like summer would actually fly by faster than we would like.

So far the kids have really liked their scheduled days (Monday through Friday). On that schedule, I have picked a big craft for the kids and I to complete each week. This week included tooth pillows! Each child helped make this adorable soft place to hold their loose teeth (in the tooth's mouth!) in anticipation of the tooth fairy. The idea came from this lovely book I received as a gift for my birthday.

Yes, we have only completed week one. But I am hopeful our plan will be a continued success, especially with fun crafts like this one.

Big week for C-Note

C-Note is now a red belt, two belts away from earning his black. He did a great job breaking his boards sparring and showing his forms. He is so focused! He is really looking forward to his tournament in May.

He also lost his first tooth! Eating dinner, he asked me why there was red on his quesadilla. Excited, I jumped up and told him it was his tooth coming out. I then grabbed his very wiggly tooth and pulled it before he could say no. For two nights he waited for the tooth fairy. And for two nights, the tooth fairy was a no show. Quite the slacker. Last night he finally left the lid off of the glass gift box, which is the tooth box in our house, and she deposited $5 in return for the tooth. More than she gave for oldest's first tooth, but oldest also was visited the first night.

Oldest told C-Note that the fairy probably came the two nights before but due to the fairy's tiny nature, she couldn't lift the lid. It is hard to tell if Avery believes or not, so it is always cute to hear her take on the situation. I was just so relieved she had an explanation.

Getting off the sugar train

A few months ago a friend told me about the Clean Program. It is a 21 day cleanse created by a cardiologist, eating approved foods and supplements to rid toxins from the body.

I have wanted to do a cleanse for awhile now, but was never satisfied with the approach. Until this one. I didn't want to starve myself, I like food too much. And although this program does sell supplements to buy, you don't have to. I read Dr. Junger's book, Clean, which this program is based upon, and bought the recommended supplements at my local health food store.

The book, website and blog all have approved recipes created by a wonderful chef which is so helpful. But this is where my fear kicks in. There are numerous ingredients 1) I have never heard of, therefore 2) have no idea where to find them in my grocery store and 3) some of the ingredients I have heard of I don't necessarily like. Beets are one that come to mind.

But as much as the cleanse is physical, it will also be a mental cleaning. I don't feel healthy with my current diet (pizza for dinner last night, toasted salt bagel with cream cheese and a coke for lunch, insert eye roll here) so the point of this cleanse is to be open to new ideas, new foods, re-try foods I have tasted in the past that I may not have liked. I desperately want to change my cravings and palette, so I will face my beet hurdle and I am sure other food hurdles to come.

I imagined myself wandering around the grocery store, asking an employee to be my personal shopper hoping they would know what these elusive (to me) products were and where they would be located.

Thankfully another friend told me about Wegman's online shopping list. After I planned my weekly menu, I entered my items into the website and not only did Wegman's website show me a picture of the product, it also told me what aisle to find it in!

I spent 80 percent of my time this morning in the produce aisles. I learned that a daikon is a Japanese white radish, that there are many variations of kale and cabbages (of which I needed three, regular, red and napa), that Tahini is a sesame based paste, that chick pea miso has to be ordered online and so much more. 90 percent of my grocery bill was produce, green produce, and it felt good spending money on things that are nourishing and wholesome.

There is so much natural color in my refrigerator and fruit bowls. I am armed with all that I need for week one of Clean. I know the cravings for sugar and dairy will be strong, but I am keeping my eyes on the prize. I want to feel better and this will help me achieve that goal. Whether I find that I have food allergies when I re-introduce foods, or I curb my cravings, or I just start eating clean foods more often, it will be worth the 21 days of Clean.

Clean's motto: Address Root Causes of Poor Health Cleanse the Right Way
(I have linked to the actual manual that describes the cleanse instead of the website where the products are sold.
http://cleanprogram.com/files/clean-program-manual.pdf

no surprise

We picked up her glasses yesterday and not only does she love how well she can see with them, she looks great wearing them. It really is no surprise that one, if not all three, will need corrective lenses.



She picked a pink case that closes in the shape of a heart and she loves the little 'bling' on the sides of her frames. The optician gave her a few lessons about the general care of glasses and she is taking this new responsibility very seriously.
"Mommy, can I wear them in the bathroom?"
Me: "Well you need to see what you are doing in there, so yes."
"Mommy, do I take them off to shower?"
Me: "Yes, they will get too wet and then you won't be able to see out of them."
As she packed her glasses case in her backpack this morning she told me she would take them off for gym and recess. I told her to do what she thought was best, but that they are for her to see more clearly, so the more she wears them the better for her eyes.