We took the family to an awesome free concert last Saturday morning. "Food Allergies Rock" by Canadian Musician Kyle Dine. Very empowering, positive, educational and fun for those who have food allergies or know someone who does. :) Kyle Dine also has anaphylactic allergies to peanuts and tree nuts and other allergies as well. He wears his epi-pens in a cool holder on his belt and his medi-alert bracelet. What a great role model! :)
I really liked what he had to say about why he entitled his CD "Food Allergies Rock:"
something like...." people might find it odd that I am calling this CD food Allergies rock, but having or dealing food allergies creates strengths and virtues within ourselves that otherwise we would not have realized..." Very positive indeed.
Click here to download a free MP3 of his song Food Allergies Rock. My kids love it.
Below are the kids dancing to the song "I wrote a song about my allergies" Parker is the dancing fool in the green. ;) Meadow was content to sit and listen but once we got home she was a dancing fool too. :)
Greg has been out of town in Milwaukee this week. Actual picture he sent me from there. No this is not what he was filming. But they did get to tour Harley Davidson and he did get to drool over his mid-life crisis motorcycle again. :) His shoot was actually pretty interesting, it was for IBM and it was about Urban Gardening in old warehouses. It's a long story.
Anyway, today after school my lovely sister in law Taylor and I took the kids up to Lassiter Mills for a dinner picnic. It was fun. And hot. But more fun than hot. :)
For the history buffs: Originally known as the "Great Falls of Crabtree," this site is one of the oldest mill sites in Wake County. Cornelius J. Lassiter purchased the land in 1908 and constructed a grist mill that operated for fifty years until burning in 1958. The site was also a popular picnic and swimming area for Raleigh residents. You can see some of the old mill stones.
You know it was a good time when you get to ride home in your undies because of all of the mud.
Liam is now 7 months 18.5 lbs and can get across a room! He loves to rock back and forth on his knees and then belly flop forwards and then army man it although he has officially crawled a step or two and has pushed up to a sit. Time to baby proof again and ban legos from the downstairs.
Site of the largest troop surrender of the Civil War.
This simple farmhouse was located between Confederate General Johnston's headquarters in Greensboro and Union General Sherman's headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 1865 the two officers met at the Bennett Place, where they signed surrender papers for southern armies in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. The simple reproduction farm dwelling and log kitchen show what life was like during a tragic period in our nation's history. A modern visitor center with exhibits and an audiovisual program help tell the Bennett Place story.
The kids really enjoyed this! Great family activity and it is free. They only have the special events with the workers pictured below every second Saturday of each month. Greg says it is best to call ahead and make sure that it is happening on the date you have if mind because occasionally it skips a month.
Bennett Place Phone: (919) 383-4345; Fax: (919) 383-4349 4409 Bennett Memorial Rd., Durham, N.C. 27705 E-mail: bennett@ncdcr.gov GPS: 36.02921538090, -78.97397083620
This morning at our activity days activity I rolled my ankle so badly. I had to sit for a few minutes and I am still limping this evening. I went and got an x-ray and it isn't broken so that's good. sigh. If there is a hole I will find it. It is astounding. The activity was so fun though and turned out well. It was a father/daughter activity. We got the idea from Sugardoodle.
So Jillian, my friend, I am just going to have to take a break from you. The thought of jumping (impossible) makes me cringe. Workouts postponed....
Here are some pictures from the fun and limpy day.
So we handed out boxes to our girls about a week and a half before the activity so that they could make cars out of them with their dads for race day. The cars were AWESOME! I was certainly impressed with the efforts!!
Then we took pictures of them together. And the leaders too. :)
Race time! We split the girls and ran the race twice because some dads had more than one daughter to race with.
There were 4 pit stops that the racers had to stop at with different tasks to complete. They had to go around the course three times and each time there was a new thing for them to do at each station.
Victory! Right before lunch Sister Sprague gave a great thought about how the race was a lot like life after you are baptised. We have guidelines and commandments to follow that will bless us and keep us safe. We are to follow the course/example the Savior set for all of us, try our best and endure to the end.
2 Nephi 31:20 20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.
Ran lots of last minute errands for Activity Days Father Daughter activity tomorrow which is going to be awesome. Did not work out - sigh. Went to play bunko with the ladies instead and ate 5 desserts out of a buffet of them. lol!! Which means I have to re-do day 12. No more re-do's missy! 2 is all you get. 2 strikes and you are out! I am making myself work out twice tomorrow. We'll see if it was worth the key lime pie, the turtle brownie, the caramel popcorn, the blueberry granola something or other and the peanut butter cheese cake. They were all small slices but still! FIVE desserts!!
Level 2 again today. Sheesh. Still very very difficult. Getting some man muscle biceps. lol. Still sore everywhere. Need to be better at counting calories maybe. How annoying that is. I didn't use to have to do that. Exercise used to work by itself. You'd think I was in my mid-thirties or somethin.'
Bust. Day 11 was bust. Does this mean I have to do the video twice tomorrow? ;) Sigh. It is very sad when you can't seem to squeeze 20 minutes in for yourself. lol. I shall have to start setting the alarm on busy days. Meadow has a play date at our house tomorrow so I spent the day catching up on overdue house cleaning stuff. Liam was a cling-on today because he got a shot yesterday, poor beansie. Then I went and helped out with YW tonight and then home to put the kitchen back together and more laundry.
Tomorrow is a new day fresh with no mistakes. ~ Anne of Greene Gables.
Wow. I did this at 9 after the kids were in bed and I really didn't want to. It was terrible to begin but feeling good to be done! I think I'll start weighing myself at the same time everyday. There is a 1-2 lb difference from morning to evening. :) Feeling stronger.
Alright friends. Feeling better today. Take that strep! Parker got strep again a couple of weeks ago and if someone has strep and looks at me, I get strep too. But 4 days of antibiotic later and 3 days off of Jillian and I am doing better! I'll be ready for Monday!
Ok, two days off was terribly ambitious of me. I think I'll consider workin' out again on Monday. I bet I'll have to start on level 1 again, lol. Have a great weekend!
101.5 fever today. Had 0 energy. Doctor put me on an antibiotic. Still considered doing the workout but decided that was crazy. lol. See Mim's comment from Day 1 of the experiment, lol. Woah. So I don't know if this a coincidence or if Jillian really does almost kill you. (hee-hee) I am determined to only take 1 or 2 days off. We'll see though. Maybe that is her plan to make people sick enough that they can't eat cupcakes and therefore lose 20 lbs... ;)
So I've been doing this just over a week now and it feels like a lot longer. Level 2 again today. Just as hard as the last time. Jillian needs to hold her stretches longer at the end and do a longer cool-down for killing us.
I tried to convince Greg to do this experiment with me but he said no thank you... I think this workout would be great for/kill anyone.
BEAUTIFUL FOR ME Lyrics Nichole Nordeman Every girl young and old has to face her own reflection Twirl around, stare it down What’s the mirror gonna say With some luck, you’ll measure up But you might not hold a candle to the rest “Is that your best?” says the mirror to the mess But there’s a whisper in the noise Can you hear a little voice and he says
Has anybody told you you’re beautiful? You might agree if you could see what I see Oh ‘Cuz everything about you is incredible You should have seen me smile the day that I made you beautiful for me If it’s true beauty lies in the eye of the beholder What my life and what’s inside to give him something to behold I want a heart that’s captivating I wanna hear my Father say
Has anybody told you you’re beautiful? You might agree if you could see what I see Oh ‘Cuz everything about you is incredible You should have seen me smile the day that I made you beautiful for me Close your eyes Look inside Let me see the you that you’ve been trying to hide Long ago, I made you so very beautiful So I ought to know you’re beautiful
Has anybody told you you’re beautiful? You might agree if you could see what I see Yeah ‘Cuz everything about you is incredible You should have seen me smile the day that I made you beautiful You’re so beautiful Beautiful for me So beautiful for me Has anybody told you?
So this morning I decided to do level two even though I am not perfectly awesome at level 1. I just needed a change and a new challenge. I got it.
Jillian - "You should feel like you are about to die."
Check.
It was a really good workout.
So the only downside that I can see to this video is that she is two for two for saying "ass" one time in each workout. Level 1 - "We're gonna kick ourselves in the ___. Level 2 - "This workout is gonna kick your ___." She's not lying, however not very good when there are kids coming in and out of the room. ;) I'll let you know about level 3 in a few days.
Simple Solutions: Turn the volume down and turn on your own music. Or you could use it to teach them that we shouldn't say that word....
I am diggin' this workout. I love that I can commit only 20 minutes and I feel tired and that I worked every body part when I am finished and that I am still sore. I love that I have to grit my teeth and hold my breath to finish these dang shoulder exercises. lol. I also like that it is not as taxing on the knees as running. Still down one pound but I can now wear a pair of shorts that I could zip up but that were obscenely tight. Now they are just a little tight as opposed to obscenely tight. These are ok to wear in public now...with a longer t-shirt maybe. lol. I should have started out with measurements maybe. That would have been a better sign of progress at this point in the game. I can tell the biggest difference in my arms so far but I think that many times women lose weight from top to bottom. Looking forward to the bottom. ;) I can totally tell that my abs are getting stonger and my baby belly is pulling in a bit. Puffing down as Meadow says.
When Meadow was a baby she fell in love with purple blankie. A lady in our ward made it and Meadow loved to work her little tiny fingers in and out of the crocheted holes and it helped her self soothe. She was my easiest baby to get to sleep. Short cuddle and a kiss and tuck her in on her side with purple blankie. I fell in love with purple blankie too. As a toddler, she walked around with it everywhere. We called her Purple Blanket babushka. During this time purple blanket was accidentally left under a table at a disney world. It was gone when we went back for it. :( We checked and called the lost and found daily. Left our name and number when we left incase it ever turned up. Meanwhile, I commissioned lovely lady in our ward to please make another one as soon as possible! We had it 5 days later. During this time Meadow grudgingly slept with white blanky (also crocheted) and the only one she would even consider. On our recent beach trip the kids and I were checking out the hotel gift shop while Greg and his parents were checking us in and purple blanket accidentally got dropped and left there. We didn't know that it was missing until later that night and we didn't know where it could be. The next day on our way down to the pool, Parker spotted purple blanky up at the front desk! Yes! I quickly went and retrieved our old friend. Pictured below is Meadow crying tears of joy. I have since learned to make these blankets. I think I will be making a twin size purple blanky for her to take to college one day. :) We love our precious Meadow girl.
