So I’ve been reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollen. I would highly recommend the book. His premise is; Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants. Having a bit of science background myself, although none of it in nutritional science unless you count that bloodroot experiment, I was impressed by his research. It makes good sense to me. I see sick overweight people with heart disease, diabetes and cancer everyday. I don’t think that’s it’s fair to assume everyone with the above conditions got them by eating poorly, but there are trends. I can feel a difference in myself based on the foods I eat.
For myself and my family I have some food goals. I honestly don’t think we do too bad, but there is always room for improvement, and I’ve reached a point where I’m willing to focus on that and devote a little time to the matter. So, my goals, in no particular order are:
- Frequent the Farmer’s Market weekly
- Look into those baskets of fruits/veggies from local farmers. I’ve known people who’ve done this for years. It would be a great way to experience produce we’re not accustom to eating.
- Limit HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) and other mega-processed foods. I’m not going to anti-HFCS, but if I can find brands that don’t have it and we still enjoy, we’ll make the switch
- Be realistic. I’m a working Mom, and my priority is my kids. I cannot spend hours a day cooking everything from scratch, and we do have that little issue of Harrison not eating anything that resembles a vegetable. Although, he will eat any fruit, and he did chow down my home-made veggie pizza today. So, maybe there is hope for him…
I want to be healthy. I am so grateful for the eating habits my parents taught me. I want my children to be strong and active and to take excellent care of the bodies God has given them. Food is basic. We’ll see how it goes.
Filed under: Family
Grandpa Russ has a sailboat, and he let us check it out over the 4th. Harrison is still asking to “go to Grandpa’s house” Sorry Mom!
We watched the fishing competition for a bit, clowned around with the nautical-type lawn ornaments, and walked the dock. The dock walk took a loooong time as the boys were kept busy watching baby ducks. Noah was nearly over-excited.
Grandma Carol met us down on the boat, and took the boys so Dad and I could go sailing. What a day it was! We hit 4.5 knots, no bugs, beautiful sunny not-too-hot weather, and only a couple of obnoxious fishermen from the aforementioned contest. Just look at the shades of blue in the sky and the water. Oh, how I love the lake! Only God could have designed something so awesome!
Filed under: Family
Meet the newest member of our family. My sister Anne delivered him on 7/7/09. I’m over-joyed for her and Bob.
It’s different than having your own. I don’t have to lose sleep, but I don’t get to hold a new sweet-smelling baby for hours a day either. I was only jealous for about 30 seconds. That brief jealousy has been replaced by excitement for Anne and a desire to watch she and he interact and bond.
He is a blessed little boy, and I’m sure he already feels loved. If the amount of onsies the child has been given is directly related to the number of people who love him – he is truly blessed!
Did I mention he has red hair? Bob has claimed just about every other feature, but the red hair is straight from Grandpa Russ.
Congrats Anne and Bob and Joey. You are your own family – enjoy every second!
Filed under: Family
This year everything is different. Rob left us to go celebrate the Fourth with his brother in DC. He’s always wanted to be in the capitol on the 4th, so being the kind and considerate wife (that blessed man) I agreed to the trip.
While Racine’s 4th traditions are awesome; they are crowded and not something a single Mom wants to navigate. We opted for First Fridays, then Sturtevant Fireworks, followed by Union Grove Parade. We had so much fun, I may consider starting new family traditions.
We headed downtow with Aunt Cat and our first stop was the hotdog cart. I love that Racine has a hotdog cart. The dogs were yummy! We ate them while looking at and smelling the horses per Harrison. Noah climbed on the Monument and the cannons; but for Harrison it was all about the horses.
After dinner, we sauntered down to the fountains. Noah stripped down and made one brave run. Turns out the spray comes out kinda hard for a 3 year old, and that one run was to be the only of the evening.
Uncle Russ and Desi met us at the fountains and we heard all about their recent NY trip. When I couldn’t keep the boys corralled any longer, we headed back to the a party.
After a little more fun on the Square, we walked up Main street to check out all the people, bands and chairs.
Then it was time to head to Aunt Anne’s for the fireworks. We went with Anne, Bob, Cat, Spencer, Vinnie and Xander. I brought frisbees and balls, so the boys ran around for an hour before the fireworks began.
The fireworks were awesome. Harrison kept saying “pop, pop” and both boys shouted out the colors. Harry fell asleep during the fireworks, Noah made it almost home. Those boys have NEVER been up to 10pm before.
We slept in til 7am and raced to get ready for the parade. We had all the same group with the addition of our friends Megan and Sarah. The Union Grove Parade rocked. The candy, of course, was a big hit, but so were all the tractors and mini-horses! I think we might try it again.
Poor Anne. Today is her due date. How fun it will be to meet that little firecracker!
And poor Aunt Cat; I think my boys and I wore her out!
Happy Fourth of July!!!
Filed under: Kids
So weird! The local zoo has fake rock walls by the tigers, and the boys think it’s fun to “get stuck in the crack” Noah will say, “Mom, I’m stuck, take a picture”
We are all about animals this summer. Harrison knows at least 50 by name and sound. And he will make up a sound if he doesn’t know.
One of the highlights of our zoo is the new train. For $2, a 5 minute ride. Way more for your money than that 15 second slide I’m still not over!!!
We went strawberry picking with aunt Anne this week. Most of the berries were as ripe as they could get. They literally melted in your mouth, and down your shirt, and all over sticky hands and legs.
Turns out 10 pounds of berries is acually kind of a lot. I froze nealy half for smoothies and such, I made freezer jam (it better be good for how much sugar is in it), strawberry pie with home-made whipped cream (Noah, Rob and I all ate 2 pieces!), and tonight we will feast on turkey roll-ups with strawberry salsa. We are in strawberry bliss!
Filed under: Family
5 years. Not really that long. 1/6th of my life. Seems like life before then is a distant memory. Of course, I’ve known him more years then I haven’t…
I am truly blessed to be Mrs. Robbie.
We took 24 hours all to ourselves this weekend to celebrate 5 years of marriage. We took the train down to Chicago, checked out the view from the Sears Tower, went out to a fancy dinner and Broadway show, walked around Navy Pier, and rode the water taxis. So much fun!
We decided that we have to get away more often than just every 5 years. The boys did fine! In fact, Harrison slept 8pm to 5am WITHOUT waking up. He’s never done that before.
Filed under: Kids
We didn’t let the rain get us down in the dumps. We started the morning by frog hunting and puddle stomping all over the neighborhood. It was a no frog day, but we did find dozens of puddles.
We napped during the brief rain and had cousin Nathan over to play. The boys pulled out the sprinkler for it’s first use this year.
Harrison mostly watched, he worked up the nerve to run out there with his older cousins. He lasted about 2 seconds. Harry and I just watched.
The boys got pretty filthy by adding sand and home-made water slides, so they NEEDED a bath.
Take a look. I’m really pleased, I didn’t dare hope it would have turned out this good. But, it’s darn cute!
I took pictures and enlarged them on Word, printed them out, traced them on stencil paper, cut them out carefully. A lot of work, but didn’t cost much at all. Everyone got involved with the painting, and we’re all so proud of our family project!
Filed under: Uncategorized
Our best days are when we explore the city around us. Today we went to River Bend. We got lost. It was not planned, but we took our time and discovered some treats. Noah’s new interest is birds. This week we’ve been reading about birds and identifying them in our backyard and on family walks. It was fun to show him actual trees with woodpecker holes. He thinks it’s too funny that they have long sticky tongues to grab bugs out of the holes they make in the trees.
My summer philosophy is going to be simple fun. The boys get great socialization and learning at daycare 2 days a week. Last week, Harrison’s class did colors. We’ve been working on them, but he has them down pat now, even weird one’s like orange and purple.
I used to try to fill our days with activities and group outings, but I’ve come to realize that sometimes it’s just too much stress to rush to get out the door, and then make the kids attend to the task at hand and behave. Also, my kids, like me, don’t do groups well, and prefer just a few people to interact with.
It’s more fun to take what the boys are interested in (or what I think is cool) and run with it. If you want to hang with us one-on-one-ish let us know. We’re gonna enjoy a simple summer, at the beach, the park, the zoo – exploring all Racine has to offer!
