Our Children

As always, if you want to see the pictures better, just click on them.

SB 2 Page 96+ 97

I dearly hope that this one doesn't offend anyone b/c I found the comments made by you two that day before the wedding to be so cute. Please let me know if I got it just right or if the words were said in slightly a different way. Do you remember Racheal?

SB 2, Pages 92 + 93, Just Happy

Most Popular Gift for Mother's Day

Recognize this Mother's Day gift? All moms everywhere know what this is about. It's spring and the first of the bulbs are starting to bloom. We want to enjoy them while they are in the garden and perhaps if we are honest we want to show them off. Then one of our little ones comes in with his/her fist tightly grasping a very short stemmed bloom. Inwardly we groan b/c we know that they were plucked from our garden (and there were so few of them the way it was) but outwardly we beam at them and make a big deal about the gift that they have so thoughfully brought to us.

I'm interested in what you say to your child following this exchange.

SB 2 Page 94+95 Sisters at Bridal Veil Falls

SB 2, Pages 90 + 91, You are so funny

SB 2, Page 88+89 Motherly Love

A very small beginning of a fitness program

I've begun to workout in earnest.

Here are a few things I have learned over the years in regards to exercise and me.

1. I do not workout well alone. I love people and the more that are in it with me the happier and more enthusiastic I am about the workout.
   
   
2. I love aerobic exercises that get me sweating hard. I do not think that I would have the patience for yoga or other slower forms of exercise.



3. I can not follow an exercise book. Cannot. Enough said.



4. I don't mind exercise videos. As long as I can change it up and try new ones regularly.



5. I love best to be outdoors when I am exercising. This is not always possible in Alberta.



6. My favorite form of exercise would be a game. Tennis anyone?



7. I hate paying the huge fees for gym memberships.



8. I quickly get bored of places like Curves for Women.



9. I hate the atmosphere of the big gyms where the attitude is 'dog eat dog' and 'each to their own'. It's as if there is so much competition that no one wants to cheer when someone else is successful in reaching their goals.

With all this in mind and a determination to begin a consistent exercise program that would fit my needs and desires I began my search for the perfect workout.

Along comes Walking at Home with Leslie Samsone. Most of this video is walking in place with all the enhancing exercises that can be done will doing the walk. Leslie has been on my shelf for a few years now but I refused to look her way until a few weeks ago. I glanced at her book long enough to remember that I had one of her videos stored away and that I ought to give it a try. I dug it out and promptly fell to watching it. As I watched with nary a sweat, I became excited. I could do this. And I did. And again and again. Leslie is very enthusiastic and she has other exercising with her in the videos. She is humorous and cheery. I can feel as if I am with people to a degree and this is important to me. Now I have 4 of her exercise videos and am enjoying the ability I have to change them up. When I get bored I will just buy some more.

That is how I get in aerobics every second day. I do it in my center hall while Channie watches me and does her annoying copying thing. Every word I say, see copies. She thinks she's being cute, but it annoys me somethin' fierce.

Then I walk the road a couple times a week with either a neighbor or a friend.

And I do two weight training videos a week, at least I am trying to do two. These are not as welcome for me but I need to build up muscle in order to metabolize my foods so much better and faster. Both weight training and the walking with Leslie can be done outdoors on my deck. Another big deal for me.

Put these all together, along with the stretching and I have a program that fits many of my needs and comes close to the perfect way for me to get my exercise.

Fitness is so important for us. It gives us such a boost of energy and confidence. Tell me, how do you get in your daily quota of heart and mind-healthy activity?

updated morning stretches plus more

As I read back over some of my posts I notices that I failed to let you in on how I do those stretches I mentioned.

I DO THEM WHILE STILL IN BED!

There! now that should make more sense to those of you who were trying to follow my example and my faulty instructions.




..............And then I get up and do different ones while standing.

• Standing Stretches are as follows: (I copied these directions from the book, 8 weeks to vibrant health, but I added my own humor in italics)




• Stand with your feet shoulder width apart.




• Inhale and slowly begin to raise your arms in front of you and straight up over your head. Except for mom, we will be holding up the ceiling




• Sssstrrrreeeeetchhhh as tall as you can.




• Breathe deeply and move your arms as if you are climbing a ladder, hand over hand.




• Keeping your arms over your head, exhale and press your pelvis forward, arching your back and bending backward as far as you comfortably can. Keep your eyes open for this part.




• Take a breathe or two and inhale back to vertical.




• On the exhalation, slowly begin to lower your arms, and , with your back straight, bend forward and reach your toes. Or your knees in my case. Truly, can any of you actually touch your toes?




• When you are reaching down as far as you can, round your back and relax it in this forward-bending posture. Breathe deeply. Do not bounce. Hold for about thirty seconds.




• With your back rounded, inhale and slowly curl back up to a standing position.

Aaaahh, this feels so good. Give it a try and let me know whether or not it makes a difference in how you spend the next few minutes and what kind of food choices you make. Personally, I find that I am more cheerful when I get the kids up and I choose a healthier breakfast then I otherwise would.

If I get a positive response I will post two more morning stretches to round this one out. So be sure to do it tomorrow morning and let me know. Seriously girls, you all need to be doing this. Lets get healthy together.

The story behind the pictures.

At the time it was tragic. Now I laugh. Isn't that the way it often is with life?

We had gone to Vancouver Island with the family in 2008. It was a BIG deal. We flew the whole family out there. You ought to have seen the faces of some people at the airport. I know that they were just dying to ask, Are they all yours?

We did loads of sightseeing, two of the places being Cathedral Forest and the Nygard Lighthouse.

I mention these because I had definite plans for these places. It was here that I as goin' to take the perfect family pictures and use them as Christmas cards for the coming Christmas season.

The kids were in a great humor as we pulled up to the first stop. The Cathedral Forest was completely breathtaking. I didn't talk much because I spent much time standing in awe, beholding the majesty of these giant trees. The thought that God was so much more mightier then these trees, in fact, making them appear as wisps of grass when compared...and so much more...that I was in a state of worship. Therefore I did not notice when a fight broke out amongst the kids. When they rudely interrupted my thoughts, I snapped. This made everyone grumpy.

They say, if momma ain't happy, ain't anyone happy. Well this was the case this time. We were almost finished the walk when we came to THE Tree where I planned to take the photo. It was hollow at the bottom and I could fit everyone in it for the picture. Most of the children were cooperating but BREANNE! No way was she gonna look at the camera and she was NOT goin' to smile, no way!

So we took the pictures anyway and all of them showed a very angry Breanne glaring at the camera. At least we convinced her in the end to look our way.

So much for that! I put the camera away, comforted with the idea that we would get a good one next day at the lighthouse. I would do my best to keep the kids friendly with each other, not hurt any ones feelings and be happy and enthusiastic myself.

When we arrived at the lighthouse things were looking great. I knew we would be successful. The weather was perfect, like I love it. Not too hot, nor too cold. The kids were playful and full of energy as they ran from underground hideout to lofty lookouts. When we got to the lighthouse something terrible happened. We lost Channie! I was frantic! So much ground to cover and no idea of where to look first. And as it always goes, the minute she showed up there was intense relief followed by furious emotion. Angry. And I took it out on the kids, Gideon in particular, who had promised to watch her for the time.

Big Bad mistake. After I calmed down, which was right away because I can never stay mad for more then 2 minutes, it was time to take the picture. I put on my most cheerful attitude and got them to line up like I planned.

Yep, you guessed it! Gideon would not cooperate. Not, not, not. Look close at the picture. Although he finally turned his head to meet the camera, he looks miserable. I feel sorry for him as I look at it. I was too hard on him.


So that's the story behind the pictures. I never did use them for cards. I am ashamed of how I acted. These pictures remind me of just how human I am and that I always have so much room for improvement when it comes to mothering these precious souls.

A bit of advice...do not attempt to travel with 7 young kids for 10 days while sleeping in hotel rooms and driving two separate little cars all over your vacation destination. Choose to take a camper, a LARGE one or to at least rent a house while there, for the cramped quarters add greatly to a mothers stress.

SB 2, Pages 82 + 83, Welcome to our campsite

SB 2, Pages 80 + 81, Bass Pro Shop

Believe it or not...

...but I am making supper as I post these. It may seem like I must be spending hours of my day on blogger, but truly, this is not the case. The scrapbook pages load up while I do other things and the posts that are mostly words come so fast and easy for me that I have them done up in a few minutes. Really! If I have the words already in my head before I start and I refuse to let my perfectionism take over, I can do it in a few minutes.

Here's the supper I made for myself tonight. The others have to eat B.B.Q. cheeseburgers. I hog the salads. Yep. I admit it. I added a bit of poppy seeds and blueberry dressing. Just a wee bit!

Doesn't this baby gift look just like you want another baby. Or for Katrina and Racheal, that you want a girl. I am going tonight to visit a friend that just had her baby girl. Called her Talitha but they pronounce it Tah-Lee-Tah with the Lee accented and no th sound.
The kids are all out with Brian as they stock up on birthday gifts for me. You should have seen my wish list! Long and full of expensive things. Poor kids! :)

The weather is..........brrrr..........cold. See Channie shiver. Hey, a tongue twister. Say that 6 times fast.

Four more scrap booked pages and then that'll be it, for a bit! I have caught up to where I left off with converting my 12x12 pages to 8x8 and now I have to start up my old computer and find StoryBook 3 because it is not on this computer and yes, I HOPE it is on the old one, otherwise...(insert scream of despair here) Once I find them and get them to this computer then I can start uploading them again. I will be back on blogger sometime next week. Please feel free to comment back and forth with each other like you did with the post about the birthday invite.

I like to think that I have my own 'e-mail' service for you gals. ;)

But for now...toodle-ooo TTYL

R, IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE SCRAPBOOK PAGES BETTER, JUST CLICK ON THEM AND YOU WILL GET A LARGER SIZE. INDEED, BIG ENOUGH TO READ THE WORDS

SB 2, Page 78+79 Good Things Grow

SB 2 Page 76+ 77 Family

SB 2, Pages 74 + 75, Last day of school

Smocking

When I was at the quilting class last night, my eye catch sight of a pattern book for smocking. Immediately that little spark for someday learning this craft burst into flame. Here I was at a quilting class, trying my hand at this equally beautiful craft and my thought are being tugged to this instead. Its like going out with a amazing guy and then having your eyes drawn to another equally amazing guy the whole night long.



Really! I do so want to learn how to do this. Years ago I thought I would take it up but life happened, as it always does, and I forgot about it. Now I can't stop thinking about bonnets, and little girlie dresses and lovely childrens coats all smocked up. I asked around at the sewing places here in Lethbridge to see if they taught people how to do smocking but no one knew of a class. They told me that I should just buy a pattern book and follow the directions. Arggg. I like best to watch people doing it. Then I can try it myself.

Anyway, here I am, dating a quilt but in love with a smock.

SB 2, Pages 70 + 71, Summer Rain

Give your Metabolism the Gift of Time

We can all work on slowing down and relaxing when we are fueling up our bodies for our next meal and every meal thereafter. It's such a simple move we make that makes all the difference to our nutritional metabolism. Remember that the slower you eat the faster you metabolize and the faster you metabolize the sooner you will lose those excess pounds.
Lets commit to giving ourselves the gift of time at each meal, knowing that our to do list and the rest of the world can wait while we take a few extra minutes to enjoy our meals.

Here are a few back to basics that I have been reclaiming. We all used to eat like this...when we were children. It's time to take back this healthier way of eating.

If you normally eat breakfast in 10 minutes, bump that up to 20 minutes and continue to increase it to up to a 1/2 hour. No kiddin'! we need to give ourselves this time. We don't need to be shovelin' the whole time, but we need to be more aware, we need to put our forks down regularly between bites and we need to visit with each other. This takes time.

If needs be, rearrange your schedule to make time for these longer meals. Even if the rest of your family has to run off you can still allow yourself extra time to sit and finish your meal. It's O.K. Really!

Try to get everyone in on this new way with you. Make mealtime special by coming up with interesting topics to be discussed together.

Have your own private game, you win if you're finished last.

Remember that I am not perfect and that I do not always want to follow my own rules, but these are the things I have been trying and I am having a fairly good measure of success.

I'm Ready for my first Quilting Experience

I purchased the fabric and the pattern yesterday. I got the fat quarters (squares of pre cut fabric) in colors to match my family room, blue and brown with a touch of green and rust. It's to be a lap quilt and I am to start cutting out the pieces tonight at the Fabric Addict. 6:oo sharp!



I'd say I am just a wee bit....hmmm......apprehensive.

SB 2, Page 68+69 Happiness is...

Lifestyle Inventory

It's time to recap.
This is my morning schedule so far. This is how I have been incorporating the 52 lifestyle changes into my day.

I stretch,

I Breathe

I do my morning routine,

I drink my lemon water,

I take my supplements,

I make pour my water allowance (8 glasses) for the day into a jug and alkalize it, I drink some and put the rest in the fridge.

I slowly eat a bowl of oatmeal or drink a smoothie, relaxing while I sit down at the dining table.

I think about my posture and correct it if necessary.


The picture is just for fun. Good Memories!
Sentences in italics are those that I have not purposly made into 52 lifestyle changes...yet.

Morning Stretching

I need to start stretching in the mornings. Exercising the first thing in the morning is the most convenient time for me but not always the most welcome time. I am not one of those people who wake up fresh and energetic in the morning, ready to dash out into daily living with oomph. I am very slow at getting going in the morning and need a few minutes to really wake up.
The thought of indulging in a few hard core exercises upon awaking is enough to discourage me. But to try a simple stretch a few times and perhaps see a difference might be enough to motivate me to continue.



Why stretching in the morning?

With three to four minutes of easy stretching in the morning my energy will come surging in and I will feel as alert and as full of energy as I might normally feel at mid-morning.



How to stretch in the morning
1. Stretch hard 5 times, maintaining “stretch” for 3 seconds and relaxing for 2 seconds
2. With elbows tucked in beside body and legs together, arch back 3 times
3. Tense all leg muscles hard and relax. Do this 12 times
4. Do 2 sit-ups reaching as far as I can to my toes.
5. Raise bent legs over my head and reach as close to my ears with my knees as I can 3 times.
6. With palms pressing each other, hands close to front of chest, push hard to one side and then the other, resisting with the other arm. Do this 10 times.
7. With fingers flexed, grasp hands and pull apart, first to one side and then the other. Do 10 times.
8. Place hands on abdomen and push vigorously while resisting by tensing abdominal muscles. Do this for 3 seconds and then relax for 2 seconds. Repeat 10 times.


The time required for these stretching in the morning exercises, once I get the hang of them, should only be two to three minutes. When I really get the hang of them and can breeze through this series in less time, then I will do it twice.

I believe that, at most, five minutes is sufficient to get me started in the morning.

Fathers Day Gift

Channie's First Day of Big Kid's School

I 'bing'ed it!

I decided to keep a list of things I Bing (google) throughout the week.
Here's what was on my mind last week.
Below you see the sentences as I entered them into the Bing seach bar.

How to use leeks
The importance of correct posture
Natural remedies for headaches
Muscle Testing
How can I get my almond shrub to bloom
Changing bed linens
boot camp

SB 2 Page 56+ 57 Motherhood