Cleansing for the Love of Food

Pin It Now! On Friday, my girlfriend and I finished a seven day cleanse. We were so STOKED when we went off the cleanse. We had a veggie soup making party to celebrate. Here is how we rolled:

My first sip of orange juice. Oh so good. (Marissa's daughter Emmy was there to asssist.)

Marissa choppin' up the veggies.

Some veggie action. Of course there is a pacifier and sippy cup on stand-by. Life with young children, people. Get used to it.

These are all the veggies that went into Friday's soup.

Saturday I made Black Bean soup. So good.

Sunday I made a veggie egg scramble.

Whether you are a cleanse advocate or participator or not, I would argue that they at least provide a jump start to some healthy eating. Three cheers for an abundance of vegetable!

(That was clearly the cleanse talking. Give me a few weeks and I will post photos of the home baked, sugar-filled, fatness that I will be eating . . . in addition to my veggies.)

And lest you think this day was pure veggie bliss, keep in mind we were working around 5-9 young children at any given time. There was no shortage of children dancing, singing/screaming, and crying in the background. There were injuries, un-sharing moments, dirty diapers, and babies woken from their naps by the mayhem. We got the job done (veggie soup), but it was madness. Don't be deceived by the playpen. No one would go in it without screaming at the top of their lungs. At one point (when both Jordis and Emmy were hanging on our legs crying while we were trying to cook) Marissa and I had to laugh . . . and pull out the video camera. But because there were unnamed boys dressed in princess outfits I have been banned by the Dad Police from airing that footage.

Gotta love the motherhood. It's always action packed. Crazy and chaotic, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Well, maybe sometimes I would. It would be nice to have a drop-in nanny on days like these.

Pin It Now!

Be a Fan

Welcome Back to Work

Pin It Now!

Have you ever had one of those days where you want to scream at the top of your lungs? Consider this my SCREAM!!! Oh, that felt good. Kind of. I really would like to go out into the middle of the street and scream, but I have neighbors am more mature than that.

After a wonderful day off yesterday, I went back to work today feeling refreshed, renewed and ready to face another day of motherhood. Until I woke up. Or rather, the kids woke me up. The good news about daylight savings is that I no longer have to set my alarm to wake Elijah up for school. Now he wakes me up even earlier than my alarm would have.

Before I was even out the door with the kids for school, I discovered Lydia had peed her pants. (Lydia who has been technically "potty training" for four months - on her own initiative. She had been doing pretty well for the last few weeks.) Outfit change #1.

After listening to Lydia whine about not wanting to eat the cream of wheat that Daddy made her for breakfast and hearing Jordis scream because she wanted more cheerios we headed out the door. Upon strapping Jordis into her carseat I realized she had junk in her trunk. No time to change it because our 3 mile drive to Elijah's school usually takes about 15 minutes because of traffic. We got there in time for me to change Jordis' ... blowout pooper. Down the leg, all over the pants, etc. Different child, but still: Outfit change #2.

Dropped Elijah off and stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few items. Fortunately, this grocery trip produced no bloggable activity. We left the store and headed back home. Lydia peed her pants again. Outfit change #3. I had one goal today (besides feeding the kids and keeping them alive and stuff like that): vacuum the whole house. While I was vacuuming the living room I stepped on a sewing needle that happened to be sticking straight up out of the carpet. The eye of the needle end was sticking up. It went into the bottom of my foot. A Scooby Doo bandaid was used for blood management. I don't usually use my living room floor for a pin cushion. I have no idea how that needle got there. Probably from when I was sewing Lydia's Halloween costume. Oh wait, I have mistaken myself for somebody else. I don't sew. Perhaps we picked it up at McDonald's while playing in one of their ball houses. Despite the hole in my foot, I am thankful that one of my kids did not step on it or eat it or pick their nose with it.

All the while Lydia was whining about how hungry she was ... because she didn't eat breakfast. I told her she could eat from her snack pack (pre washed and cut veggies), but she wasn't hungry for that. I believe it was while I was vacuuming the stairs (one of my faves) when Lydia went into her room and then emerged with a bewildered look on her face, "Mommy, I want to be a baby."

"Why? Did you pee your pants again?"

"No. Poo."

UGH! Outfit change #4.

Into the bath she went. All this awesome action and it was only 10am.

Shiloh came home at 10:30am to watch the girls so I could volunteer in Elijah's class for 40 minutes (that's all they want). Came home. Fed the kids. Put Jordis down for a nap. Put a movie on for the big kids. Lydia peed her pants again. Outfit change #5.

Elijah didn't seem quite himself at school and had to blow his nose a lot. I think he is getting sick and will be staying home tomorrow. At 3:30 I packed all the kids in the car to go for a drive. Sometimes I just need to have my kids strapped down for a while, you know? Nevermind that Elijah was playing with his snot in his car seat and I could see a two foot long strand of loogie dangling - about to hit the floor of my precious ... dirty minivan. I about lost it on him. Or maybe I did. "ELIJAH! THAT IS GROSS! STOP THAT! GET A KLEENEX!"

Enough bodily fluids for the day!

We picked up dry cleaning and stopped at Shiloh's office for a few minutes. When we got home I got dinner going and looked at the clock every 42 seconds to see how much longer until I could put my kids in bed. Is that so wrong?

Just before bed, I put some water in a sippy cup so Elijah could keep it in his bed. Jordis hovered while I gave it to him and did her "I want that" grunt. I told Elijah to keep it away from her. He had a few sips and two seconds later it was in her mouth. "Sorry mom. She just grabbed it from me." And with that, I fell face down on the couch and laid there for a few minutes. While Jordis came over to me and shouted "MAMA! MAMA! MAMA!" for no apparent reason. Maybe she knows she is now going to get sick in a few days thanks to Elijah's poor "keep away" skills. Although if the sippy cup was candy I can guarantee that he would not have let her get within three feet of it.

All that being said, does anyone else find motherhood to be hard? Thankfully, not all days are like this, but even still ... hard. Tomorrow is a new day. And I am praying it is a better one. Praying for strength from God. Praying for laughter and enjoyment. I really am thankful for being able to stay at home with my kids. It's just days like these where I entertain thoughts of being a janitor in a prison cause I think it would be a lot easier and a little more fun. Can I please get an "amen?"

P.S. I got the downstairs vacuumed, but the vacuum currently sits mid stairs on the landing. I'm guessing it will remain there for at least three days.

Pin It Now!

Be a Fan

A Comedy of Errors

Pin It Now! Friday started like any other day. Me waking up and realizing that I had forgotten to do something the day before. Like transferring the $40 worth of food (chicken, salsa, beans) from the crock pot into the refrigerator. "It's okay - it's only time and money. Something that we all have plenty of these days." I reassured myself as I said goodbye to the failed burrito components.


An hour later Jordis pulled the pyrex casserole dish out of the cupboard and onto the floor. According to the Pyrex webiste, "This bakeware was not only sturdy, it was nearly unbreakable, eliminating the hassle and cost of replacement. " Jordis was looking to challenge the "nearly unbreakable" part of that statement. Well done, child.


Fortunately, no one got hurt, except my schedule as we were supposed to be packing up the car and heading out to Lydia's ballet class. Instead I was vacuuming and mopping the entire house - because you know how broken glass travels. Three days later, I am still finding shards of glass throughout the house.

We picked up Ava (my babysitter/helper) on the way to ballet. The plan was to drop her, Lydia and Elijah off at ballet so I could run to Trader Joe's with Jordis. I was hosting a baby shower the next day and needed to get some stuff. When we rolled up to class I saw another kid's grandma. And then I saw all kinds of friends and family going to watch their little ballerinas. Normally, nobody gets to watch the girls get their groove on. This was the last day and I knew they were having a tea party but...
"Mom, today's the last class so all the parents get to watch. And you're supposed to invite family and friends, too."
"Elijah, how do you know that?"
"Because they told us that on the first day of class."
Huh, sounded vaguely familiar. I called Gma "What are you doing right now? Are you at the office? Can you come down to the community center for Lydia's ballet extravaganza...5 minutes ago?"
She came. I threw Trader Joe's out the window and was thoroughly entertained by the "dancers" and all of the princess underwear hanging out of the leotards.



Fortunately, my mom stayed with the big kids and me and Jordis ran to TJ's after class. Then we went home for lunch. Third child then took her "first nap of the day" in her "second nap of the day" time slot. Meanwhile, I burned the sugar nuts I was attempting to make for the salad for the baby shower.

After Jordis awoke we headed to Babies R Us to pick up the group gift for the baby shower. When we got home from wandering aisle to aisle at "Mom's Nightmares R Us," where they were out of everything on the registry, I noticed that Jordis was warm. Because that's what fevers do to people. The thermometer confirmed it. (I have take Jordis to the doctor whenever she has a fever because of her Kidney Reflux.) So I loaded all of my kids (and Ava) into the car and headed to the pediatrician. Wanted to be sure to get there before closing. I called them on the way. Sorry, they could not fit her in. She would have to go to the after hours clinic that was 45 minutes away and not open for another hour and a half. Dropped off big kids at Ava's house, grabbed a High Tech burrito and went to the doc.

Doc checked her. She didn't have a fever. Doc said if she didn't have a fever then she definitely did not have UTI (which is the concern with Kidney Reflux because it can cause kidney damage). No need to cath her then. Back home.

Up until 12:30am making a new batch of crockpot burritos and preparing stuff for baby shower. Looked online and found moms who had kids who had UTI's with an "off and on" fever. Huh, sounds like it could be a UTI with a fever that comes and goes. That night and in the middle of the night and in the morning Jordis did have a fever in the 102 range.

Saturday morning I went back to the after hours clinic and this time they had to cath her (sad). Good news - no UTI. Bad news - was supposed to be at girlfriend's house at 10am to prep for 11am shower. Also was supposed to pick up balloons, stop at store and several other things that morning. Life happens. Kids happen. Fevers happen. Crock pot operator errors happen. Thankfully, others picked up the goods for me, Shiloh wrapped the group gift (and did a WAY better job than I ever could have) and I got to the shower at 15 minutes before it started.

After the shower I left the kids (yes, including my fever ridden daughter) with Ava and her Mom. My Dad picked me up and we headed to San Francisco to meet up with Shiloh, 150 other people and $50 hotel valet parking.

Pin It Now!

Be a Fan

Raw footage of the Desperate Mom

Pin It Now! I got a new camera a few hours ago. My maven man Shiloh did a ton of research and then came home from Costco with the Canon PowerShot SX200IS. Thank your sir. But why do they call it that? Shouldn't camera's have names like "The Mom Camera" or "Awesome Shooter" or "Easy, but Good" or "More Features Than You'll Ever Use?" The letters and the numbers are just so lame. Oh well.

My other camera broke. It gave me the lens error, restart camera for no reason. That camera should have been named "Lens Error After 3 Years" because I found many other peeps online with the same problem. Anyway, Shiloh wanted to give this baby a test run.

So here I am. On the spot. Raw. Untouched up (clearly). I have a straggle hair down my forhead (baby bangs?). A princess crown clip in my hair. Shiny face (leftover sunscreen from earlier today and barely any makeup) highlighted by a significant red spot on my nose. Red spot is from Monday's biopsy of possible skin cancer. Wear your sunscreen fair maidens. Wear your sunscreen.

And here I am. One hot Mama. Sorry that the story of my day was cut short. The camera guy got bored. But believe me, I had a lot more to say.

Shiloh just walked in the room as I am typing and said, "You're seriously blogging about your camera story?" Where is the love? I'll keep him for his research abilities.

Pin It Now!

Be a Fan

Hot Chocolate Disaster

Pin It Now! I like hot chocolate. I got some fancy hot chocolate for Christmas. It seems no matter how hard I try, I can't get the shavings and chunks of chocolate to completely melt. This morning I tried really hard. A little too hard.

AND THE CHOCOLATE CHUNKS STILL DID NOT MELT ALL THE WAY! Any suggestions? And this does not count, "I just add hot water to mine and it's done. What with this milk business?" Thanks Dad. Your powdered hot choco mix from 1976 is not gonna do the trick this morning. 

Pin It Now!

Be a Fan

I made an alternative to "The Wiggles"

Pin It Now!
Today we went to my girlfriend's house for breakfast and egg decorating.


The Moms discussed various "sayings" or bad habits our kids have picked up from various children's television shows. I mean, I thought "The Bachelor" was strictly educational. Apparently not. Even the most seemingly harmless shows have taught our kids some inappropriate sayings and behaviors. As I have mentioned before Lydia likes to roam around saying, "What the? What the? What the?" Not so cute.

My friend Danika finally figured out where Owen learned to say with full on dramatics, "I will NEVER play with these toys again!" Hello "Super Why". They teach your kids to read... and have full on drama queen/king outbursts. We all know Calliou is a total disobedient whiner with no consequences. And Thomas the Train has a total rude tude (beside the fact it is so completely boring). So what's the alternative? The Wiggles? Do you really want you kids idolizing four dudes wiggling around singing lame songs, pointing their fingers, talking about Captain Feathersword and yodeling about fruit salad?

I think the world is ready for an alternative to that action. And this morning I decided to be the alternative. Clearly, I have thought long and hard about this and I fully mapped out this morning's performance beforehand. I am ready to make millions off of this so please do not use this without my authorized permission. I know Disney is going to call me in like 5 minutes and offer me millions for this because it really is much better than what's out there. Please have your children leave me some comments (i.e. "What the...?") after they view this incredible new children's program called "Wacky Wendy."

And here is what the critics are saying:
My Dad: "Okay, I now believe you've totally lost it! I think you should look for an MA group (Moms Anonymous)"
My husband: "Honey. That wasn't your best work. Outside of me and possibly your Mom, there is no way anybody would watch that whole thing." (He was so wrong. My Dad totally watched it.)

Okay, I admit it. This is really quite a stupid video. Crap, I can't say "stupid." That's a bad word in toddler land. Shoot, I can't say "crap." That's a bad word in toddler land. Dang it, can I say "shoot?"
See how hard it is to provide family entertainment? Good thing kids are entertained by just about anything... except their toys.
AND for the record, I think I have lost "it". Whatever "it" is. Just wait 'til you see my fashion post tomorrow. Some pretty serious confirmation of the whole "Wendy's losing it" theme.

Enjoy?

Pin It Now!

Be a Fan

Now a DWM, but a clean diaper

Pin It Now! I told you there would be a picture of my now DWM (dirty washing machine). Relax people. It was not a poop diaper. It was only the guts of the diaper (looked kind of like icy snow) and pee that were used to wash my clothes. Everything is under control here.



Now that I have made you all feel better about yourselves time and time again, how about throwing me a bone? Come forth ye who have also washed a disposable diaper in the washing machine. I know you are out there. Fess up. Boost my self esteem. This has really crushed me. Seriously. But not really. Pin It Now!

Be a Fan

After a tiring day with the kids...

Pin It Now!

This is actually a post I wrote in November, but never posted it.  I figure I should post this before Elijah starts reading.

When Shiloh came home from work today I got dinner on the table just for the two of us. He said, "What about the kids?"
I replied, "I'm not a big fan today."
He said, "I meant, what are they doing for dinner?"
"Oh." I replied honestly. "They already ate."
Well, I guess that sums up my day.

I now don't remember the day at all or why my kids were buggin.' But it could have been an MBD (mental breakdown day). You know when kids cry over not wanting to wear socks when it is 45 degrees outside. And they fight about nothing and everything. "STOP IT ELIJAH! STOP BOVERING ME!"
"Elijah, what are you doing to your sister?"
Elijah (now crying) "MO-OM! I was just singing."
Or the other version is Elijah responding without crying but with a twinge of sarcastic evilness in his tone, "Mom, I was just singing." which really means - "I found out that my singing bugged my sister. So I just kept doing it. More and more. Because I like to bug her."
And it is like this all day long. Thus, constituting an official MBD. Husbands might be called. Crying may take place. Questioning of your ability (or desire) to be a MOM likely ensues.


The other day my girlfriend, Heather, had one of these days. Her husband had been out of town (that always helps escalate the frequency and intensity of MBDs. Toss in a little sleep deprivation and you are golden. Good to go for that MBD). Heather talks to her husband on the way home from the airport and he realizes Heather is in serious MBD mode. He calls shiloh to cancel their discipleship group that night. I overhear Shiloh talking to him, "I'll have Wendy get on her prom dress and meet Heather outside." Shiloh fills me in on the state of affairs. Me and Heather are going to go out for hot chocolate.
I took Shiloh seriously and put on my prom dress.

Heather picked me up (and felt underdressed) and laughed (my goal) and off we went. Picked up Danika and headed out... to Target. As per Heather's request. And yogurt. Good times.
Thank God for new beginnings with our children each and everyday, right? Because it really is such a blessing to be a parent, but sometimes it's just pretty tiring and challenging.

Pin It Now!

Be a Fan

Am I A Soccer Mom?

Pin It Now!
So much to post, but so little time. Lucky for you. Let the photos do the talking. However, I must pose the question: Am I now a soccer mom? I got a minivan for Mother's Day. We were going to need one for the next kid. Speaking of the next kid, we don't really have an update on the adoption. We are just plugging away, doing our part. We had our first interview with the social
worker, went to an all day seminar on attachment, filled out a ton of paperwork, got fingerprinted, passports, etc. No news on Moses being officially adoptable yet or the agency in Kansas getting licensed by the Philippines.
Okay, back to minivans and soccer.
Wikipedia says regarding the soccer mom,
"In North American social, cultural and political discourse, soccer mom (and less used soccer dad for the male equivalent) refers broadly to a demographic group of women with school-age children."
Hey, that sounds like me. But wait, it also says this:
"and is associated with modern material conveniences such as the SUV and cell phone."
Not me. No SUV. Maybe that is the cooler soccer mom car. Hmm...
And Wiki fans, there is more,
"The term can carry pejorative connotations, where the soccer mom may denote a woman who is aloof and has little responsibility or occupation, other than providing basic transportation for her children.
HEY, that's me! Just the wheels! My kids affectionately call me "Driver lady." Actually, that would be kind of cool if they did.

"In feminist circles, the soccer mom may refer to a woman who has given up on a promising and successful career, particularly after having some early aspirations and achievements." Oh yes, gone are all aspirations and achievements. Children are simply worthless commodities! I guess the people who connotated this have never seen the fruits of my labor. TWO WORDS PEOPLE: PINK EYE!


And lest you think that my current career isn't challenging, Elijah has pink eye too.
And this next part is my favorite.
"In this context this may carry the meaning of someone of diminished individual character. However, the word is not entirely negative, those described as soccer moms sometimes take pride in the term as affirmation that they are dedicated to providing attention, recreation and positive social contact for their children."
Basically it is says, soccer Moms are not complete losers. They still have some character left. Just ask them. They affirm themselves. "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough... I think I can." That's the mantra I say as I chuck all aspirations, achievements and character out the window... of my minivan.

Okay, I wrote more than I had ASPIRED to write. I must have dug deep for that.
Here are some pics from Mother's Day. Went to my parents' house.


Many of you know about the peacocks that roam freely around our neighborhood. This dude came by to wish us a Happy Mother's Day.


Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I signed Elijah up for soccer this summer. Pin It Now!

Be a Fan