Everyday Life for Four Seasons

'A' had her hair cut today! I should have done this long ago. Her hair is like mine - too full near her face. It was too thick for a clip and it needed to be thinned out a bit. It doesn't hang in her eyes anymore. She loves it!


I was so proud of her. She got out of the car, went right into the hair salon ahead of me, and when my hair stylist called her over, she just went without looking back to see if I was following. Whoa, is this my girl? She loved the entire experience. I wish I could get inside her head and see why she loves certain things but not others. She did the same thing at the gym today - she went in ahead of me and had a wonderful time in the child care room with the other kids. I'm sure it helped that Rachel was working - she and 'H' adore Rachel.

Back at the gym, did I tell you I am back at the gym? I love it! Why did I ever stop going? I love that it welcomes me back with open arms. And I'm so happy to be there.

Home.

It was a weekend full of busy-ness and relaxation.... it didn't lend itself to picture-taking.


Beach. Dinner & wine. Some whine and bedtime. A game of hearts after the kids went to bed. The game was cut short after Jeff realized we were missing four cards from the deck.


Today we went to Foxwoods, the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation. I really wanted to go to the museum but it was closed. Gosh there is a lot of gambling that takes place there!

This is NFA (Norwich Free Academy), where I went to high school. It's one of the nicest places in Norwich. Students come from many surrounding towns, and the school is composed of many beautiful building that make up a campus. We always got some fresh air in between each class because we had to move to different buildings throughout the day. Fresh air! If I knew then what I know now about the relationship between fresh air and learning, I might have appreciated it a little more.


The road home.

Cooking food to bring with us this weekend:

*Pesto, made with basil cut today from our garden and 3 days ago from Denison Farm

*Hummus, loaded with cumin and lemon juice

*Whole wheat bread with just the right amount of flaxseed added to keep us all happy and healthy

*Pecan Mushroom veggie burgers, which are quickly becoming a favorite among my extended family members!

Happy Labor Day weekend to you!

Allergist today for 'A'. Skin testing for her food allergies. Huge reactions to eggs and dairy, borderline huge for peanuts. I'm giving up hope of her ever outgrowing them.


Gorgeous weather today. While I was taking clothes down from the clothesline, I thought about moving the garden beds over a few feet and essentially switching places with the clothesline. Their current location gets great sun in the early summer but as the season is winding down I've had a chance to see that the sun doesn't stretch over my tomatoes and peppers as much as it did before. The clothesline spot is prime sunny real estate. Jeff isn't going to be thrilled about the idea of moving them, especially since he wanted the garden at the clothesline spot in the first place. I'm not either, but I have to do what I have to do, you know?


Rhode Island coastline for the weekend: sunny beach fun, non-stop chatter with family, a chance to run around after my girls in the salty air, and the promise of late-night games with my dad and Marilyn and my sister and her husband. What could be better?

I was talking to a friend the other day about how it sometimes seems that when we have busy days full of things to do, the time goes by more easily and less stressfully than when we have empty days with no set schedule. I usually prefer to have no plans that are set in stone, but sometimes when I do "run, run, run" all day long, things seem to flow magically. Like today.

We got out the door early this morning and ran a few errands before visitng my doctor for an appointment, followed immediately by a trip to the state park for a two hour "Stream Exploration" group. The park outing went better than I had hoped - the girls were on the young side, but they participated to the best of their ability and they loved wading in the stream looking for bugs and little animals. I liked it too. They made me promise when we left that we would come back again soon for more water wading, so we will!

We returned home for some quick housework, stories, a nap, and a game of Chutes and Ladders before heading to the farm for our CSA pick up. The season of bounty is upon us! The boxes are fuller and heavier now, with so much variety. The farm trip was followed by a quick dinner before Jeff and I scooted off to a meeting at our Unitarian church.

I think the reason it all flowed so well today was that I was truly invested in each thing we did. I was happy to go to the doctor because I knew my good health depended on it; I was excited to explore the stream with the girls and expose them to a new type of activity; I love going to the farm, and as I become more aware of the benefits of eating locally, I find myself more and more excited to see what's in season each week; and I was happy to journey to the church tonight. Sometimes I have to "go, go, go" all day and there's nothing terribly exciting or compelling about the things I have to do, and it becomes a drag to get through the day.

Back to eating locally: I just finished the section on "small farm organic" in The Omnivore's Dilemma and it really got my wheels spinning. Eating locally is so good for our health, our planet, our economy, and more. I can't ignore the fact that Jeff's line of work involves moving food across the country and warehousing it. The current state of America couldn't exist unless food was shipped long distances. I wonder though, what would things look like if we all ate locally? I used to dismiss that idea and say that we would be sickly because we wouldn't get all of our nutrients, that we wouldn't have a variety of foods to choose from. But now that I'm learning more about what nutrients aren't in the foods that are pesticide-grown, picked early, and stored in a cooler for months at a time, while also learning about how intensive, grass-based organic farming can produce a higher volume of food, I wonder what would happen if we all focused on a different route.

Jeff has been tie-dyeing! I wish, wish, wish I could say that this round of tie-dyeing was a family project, but as much as I wanted it to be, it wasn't. Jeff is the tie-dyeing master and as soon as he saw me pull out the baby garments I wanted to tie-dye for the new little babies in our life (Baby Sayan and Baby Daniel), he took over, in a good way. Everything looks wonderful! I can't wait to wash all of them and hang them on the line for a group photo.


Today was a miracle day, one that I always wish for but can't ever plan. I not only got a million things done (phone calls for appointments and information, errands, cooking, bread baking and more) but somehow I got to spend so much of the day playing with my daughters. We went to the library and to the playground, and enjoyed leisurely meals and laughter the whole day through. And to top it all off, I even booked us an hour at the gym today and had a wonderfully refreshing and cleansing workout.

Today was a busy mom's perfect day. Tomorrow we're going to spend some time painting placemats for the outside dinner table, so let's hope that tomorrow is an artistic mom's perfect day!


Life is GOOD!

Saratoga Lake: this is the view from the end of the main road near our neighborhood. We drive past here every time we can - I miss "the water" so much, the water I grew up close to. The ocean. Driving past this lake is the closest I get to seeing a large, moving body of water and it feeds my soul more than most things can.

We've had a lot of in house excitement these past few days! We moved a bunch of furniture around to accomodate a "big girl" bed for 'H' and she loves it. We replaced a few "kid toys" in the play area with a table and chairs (a "work table" for the girls, for ongoing projects) and we moved the futon couch out of 'H's room and into the play space. It gives the house a new level of grown-up sophistication. And you know we can use all the sophistication we can get!

The biggest thing, of course, is that she loves her new bed! You never know how the transition is going to go. When we set up the bed for 'A' over two years ago, she opted to be tucked into it but two seconds later (for several weeks in a row), she wanted to be moved back into her crib. 'H' was excited to sleep in her new bed. I kept saying, "you can make your decision when it's time to go to bed, and whatever you decide is fine with us." Would you believe that the girl wanted to leave the dinner table early so that she could be tucked in to her new bed? She's so grown up and she knows it!

Funny how different each child is, isn't it?

'H' is still working on that ear infection. She has a fever and she says her ears and nose are "plugged". She didn't sleep well last night, and neither did I. That's okay, she's not in pain and today we enjoyed the blueberry patch. It's almost the last day of the season (I picked some of those bushes bare). We were the only people there.


I don't have any complaints about life, it's all good. Beauty all around.



Here's something Jeff and I noticed this summer - genetically modified corn has come to Saratoga County. This Pioneer Hi-Bred corn is bred to resist glufosinate, a highly toxic herbicide. Glufosinate is currently being phased out across Europe because of the health and environmental risks. It's probably already in use around here, and the presence of the Pioneer Hi-Bred now guarantees it. Good-bye butterflies and bees, hello birth defects and fertility problems.

We took a trip to my sister's home, a trip that was supposed to last a couple of days. But 'H' has a cold and is possibly on her way to an ear infection and she was not in the best mood while we were there, so I cut it short. We all went to the country club for a swim in the pool, read stories, played, and went to the aquarium together before saying good-bye. We took in an IMAX "Deep Sea" movie and as expected, it was a great experience.


Today I took the girls to a "preschool naturalists" group at the state park and we caught bugs and made bug masks. The weather is delightful and it's a wonderful day to be outdoors.


We've got more outdoor excitement lined up - in 2 weeks we'll be visiting my other sister, who raises honey bees. She's going to show us what the hive and the honey comb look like and tell us all about how honey is made. We're going to spend the night and take a trip to Old Sturbridge Village the next day. I'm excited! I can tell a trip to the library to check out books on honey bees and the "olden days" is right around the corner.

Tomorrow though, you'll find us at the blueberry patch, getting in one last good pick before the season winds down.

We made sushi at home this past weekend with Chris and Sue. Jeff and I were more than happy to consume a little fish and shellfish in honor of the occasion! My favorite roll right now is an inside-out cucumber and seaweed salad roll. What did I do before I discovered this combo? YUM!


I think I finally have late blight on my tomatoes, and I say "finally" because I think I'm one of the last to get it, and as I understand, this is the proper time of year for it to surface. I yanked the Brandywine today but am just not ready to throw out the rest until Jeff sees them.

My zucchini and squash plants aren't producing tons of fruit since I sliced them open and removed the borers but they're producing enough to keep us happy, so I'm pleased about that. I'm making Ratatouille (again) tonight for dinner with squash and tomatoes from our garden.


Today we have an apppointment for An Adventure in Parenting at the pediatrician's office. 'H' has been holding her breath more often lately and passing out, and I want to have a talk with our doctor to make sure it's nothing more than breath holding spells. My gut tells me there's nothing more to it, but I would like to be sure. If it is just breath holding, we'll be talking about management of the spells. Meaning, even though she "comes to" very quickly when I promise her a popsicle, perhaps I shouldn't keep up that behavior. I actually stopped promising popsicles a while ago and this new round of fainting is just occurring despite what I might do or not do. I don't know what to do!

Speaking of 'H' and her health and what to do... I do know what to do about her chronic constipation issues and now that I've been doing it, we're sailing along very smoothly! First I omitted all dairy from her diet and after a few months, she was feeling significantly better. Then I noticed that if I didn't load her up with magnesium every single day, she'd have trouble again. Her favorite magnesium-rich foods are prune juice (the girl loves the stuff!) and ground flaxseed, which I usually bake into bread, muffins or cookies. So, the recipe is: No Diary + Lots of Magnesium = No More Constipation, and best of all, no more Miralax! That stuff is poisonous and I cannot believe all the doctors recommend it.


Some things we're looking forward to in the next few weeks:

*A trip to my sister's home in Connecticut, with a chance for all the cousins to play together.

*The 232nd Anniversary of the Battle of Saratoga will be held in September and this is what we are excited to see: 18th century American, British, and German soldiers set the 1777 scene with tents, campfires, musket and cannon firings. Discuss strategy with officers, judge a court-martial, go on a "reconnaissance" party, learn about open-fire cooking techniques, see a dramatic performance of British Colonel Bannistre Tarleton or take part in mock musket drills.

*The Peace & Justice Fair in Saratoga Springs on September 20. The goal of the fair is to show people ways that everyone can have a hand in peacemaking, whether it is through buying fair-trade goods, lobbying the government, or something more.

Rain today.

I'm so happy and relieved to finally use up some of the veggie burger vegetables I've been getting from the farm. In process are two recipes: beet-jalapeno-mushroom burgers and swiss chard-mushroom-pecan burgers. I love taking burgers out of the freezer on busy days and having dinner ready in no time flat.

I've been thinking about parenting lately, more than I usually do. It seems that 'A' used to be so steady, but when I take a closer look, she has so many ups and downs and different cycles she goes through, it's hard for Jeff and me to keep up sometimes.

She - and the rest of us, for that matter - made it through the "I am an independent grown-up and I want to live on my own, without anyone telling me what to do" phase intact. She now wants to live here with us, help out, and interact without an attitude. It's so nice to have her back. There are other things about our relationship that I work on, like hugging her more (neither one of us likes to hug all that much, so it's lacking. 'H' on the other hand is a wonderful hugger and she's always running toward one of us with her arms wide open...). I'm really looking forward to this next year with the two of them.

As the start of the school year draws near, I'm finding that I'm more happy than ever with our decision to keep the girls out of preschool this year. Sometimes I make decisions that I feel are right but part of me wonders how I'll really feel when the time comes to carry it out. It's hard to ignore the school chatter - it comes from other parents, from the media, and from my own Pavlovian associations with this time of year. It's going to be fun to be with them and let them do what they want and need to do as the year goes on. One thing in particular I won't miss: getting up and getting out the door on time. Ugh. I have never been one to arrive at school or work early or on time in a relaxed manner. No matter what personality traits my kids have when they get older, they aren't capable of getting up and getting ready on time at this point in their lives. And when you have someone like me in charge of the situation, it degrades quickly. It's not as if we sleep late or anything. We just like to let the day unfold in a civil and slow way. It causes us so much stress to get out the door when we're not ready. I can't stand the sound of myself, "Just about ready to put your shoes on, please make sure you go to the bathroom before we leave... Did you go to the bathroom yet?... Time to put on your shoes, do I need to lead you to the bathroom?... Could you work on putting on your coat?... Were you able to get your coat on?" I'm learning that if I take myself and my family out of situations where I act like a nag and a bitch, we're all happier.

Sometimes I think about what my cousin told me. She said she didn't send her kids to school until third grade because that was the point at which they were ready to "take on" school. They were excited about getting up and getting ready, about learning the things they were taught, about doing their homework. They didn't need to be herded through the day - they were old enough and excited enough to do it on their own, because they wanted to. Her boys are teenagers now, ready for college, and they have a wonderful family.

I wonder what the future holds for us?