Bike Rides

Tonight I took a bike ride. I know it’s only March, but this is Georgia and the current temperature is 57 degrees and it is almost 8pm. Since Daphne is struggling to nap these days, both girls are in bed no later than 6:30. While I miss her nap and hate her current 5pm meltdowns, I do like being free at an earlier time. Since Kelly was working on his gun, I went out for a ride (after I cleaned up and did the usual “the girls are in bed” routine). I really want to do another Sprint Triathlon-in June. The ride tonight completely spurred my triathlon enthusiasm. There is a sense of disquietude when riding. It is addicting. With a bike, one can go places a car cannot and at a speed legs are unable to. It is exhilarating! I love my bike trailer and I love taking the girls on rides, when the weather permits. They love it too. Look how adorable they are together. Tonight I learned I am much faster when not pulling a trailer and 40 pounds of cuteness. Ok, maybe only 20 pounds, depending on the day.   J

New Favorite Recipe

I really love salads. I really do. Maybe it has to do in part with how healthy they are, but they are just so good. They are fresh and big and can be made with a myriad of ingredients and done up differently every time. And they take a long time to eat too. And you don't feel guilty about having dessert, which I love to have. This is a current favorite of both me and Kelly. This is as a side dish, but you can add chicken and make it into a main dish. I took a few different versions of this salad and made this specific recipe. It is mostly inspired by my cousin, Natasha, who made a version of this in college. She used her mom's recipe (my aunt Cathy, who died almost 2 1/2 years ago) which is called "Selfish Salad". Since this isn't exactly the same, I didn't title it selfish salad, but it makes me think of my aunt, so I named it this.

Cathy's Cabbage Salad

★★★★★

Prep Time: 20 mins | Cook Time: 0 hr 0 min | Makes: 4-6 servings | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

Salad:

• 1 package broccoli slaw*
• 2 green onions
• 1 package of chicken flavored ramen
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds

Dressing:

• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 chicken ramen flavor packet
• *You may also use shredded cabbage or slaw mix of your choice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Without opening the bag of ramen, break the noodles into small pieces. Place the dry noodles and almonds on a baking sheet and roast for 5-10 minutes, until they are golden brown. Chop the onions. In a large bowl place the salad mix, onions, and roasted ramen noodles and almonds. In a small bowl mix together the salad dressing ingredients. Pour over the salad and either refrigerate or serve, depending on your chosen temperature and how soggy you like the noodles to be.

JSTARS Family Day

We FINALLY got to see Kelly’s “desk in the sky” a couple weeks ago. Robins AFB was having a JSTARS family day. JSTARS is the plane Kelly works and flies on at home and overseas. He has is very own desk and computer where he does intelligence. We got to tour the plane, look at some weapons, and eat hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch. Here are the pictures we took. For the record, that gun was VERY heavy and the picture was Kelly’s idea. J

As you can see the plane is very impressive looking.

It is a little old and 70's looking inside but better than I was expecting...Kelly doesn't talk it up too much.

Pictures

Eve is slightly worried, but still curious

More worried

Very Worried

And ahh...kiss from sister

My independent crazy girl won't let me help her with the bathroom, so this is how I found her underwear after going potty!

Daphne was thrilled to help feed Eve, and it was a huge help to me at that moment. She did a great job.

Gotta love that

Soap Box

As I posted on Facebook, Daphne had her Thanksgiving feast at her little preschool. It is a private school at a Baptist Church down the street. The meal sign up earlier in the week was for chicken nuggets, cheese, crackers, juice boxes, and grapes/apples. I was a little surprised they didn’t have real food on the menu. But then I remembered this was a meal for 2 year olds, so I didn’t let it bother me TOO much. I signed up for the grapes, of course. I walked in a little late and saw Daphne sucking a caprisun, which is NOT juice. In front of her was a plate of food hardly touched. The kid next to her had a bag of skittles open and was eating those. I couldn't believe it. It turns out each kid got a bag of skittles as a present. Daphne hadn’t received hers yet but quickly noticed the other kids eating them and asked for them. I told her to eat a little more food and then I’d get them: WRONG move mom. Serve them with the food. All Daphne took from that is once I’m “done” eating I can have my candy. So, she proceeded to pick up her plate and head to the trash. I caught her half way and tried to persuade her to eat more, aware that there are lots of other parents around and not wanting to make a big deal of anything. Daphne won, only because we were in public, something I am still learning how to deal with. I gave her the skittles and she ate them all and then wondered where her food went. So, she ate maybe one or two chicken nuggets, some fruit, a full caprisun, and skittles. Ok, so this is one meal, no big deal right? BUT, what really bothers me is that we think 2 year olds need candy! Daphne didn’t know what candy was on Halloween; she called the candy cupcakes. I know she needs to fit in with society and I don’t need to make her weird about food and all that, but why can’t society change? Why must we conform to society?  Some kids are born pickier than others, but I think we make it harder for them to choose the healthier option when we’re giving them unhealthy options from the time their tastebuds are fragile and barely exploring the world. 

Even though her mom is crazy, Daphne is pretty cute. :)

I took Daphne with me to get my flu shot and the pharmacist was very nice and great, but he felt the need to offer Daphne a sucker. Luckily he asked me first and I didn’t want to look like a bad parent so I took it. But Daphne never saw it and I put it in my bag. The sucker isn’t bad. That is not what I am saying. What I think is bad is that we feel the need to give the sucker to a kid. Daphne would love it if you have her stickers or watermelon or a high five. And why do I care what other parents think about me? I guess I don’t want others to think I am better than them because I am a Dietitian. I screw up as a parent in lots of other ways I am sure of it. I am learning so much. This is one area I feel I can contribute to Daphne and Eve's well-being. And it is still possible Daphne and Eve will prove me wrong! I’ve struggled with eating unhealthy in the past. I used to struggle with emotional eating. I just don’t want Daphne to have to do the same. But maybe I can’t prevent it. And I don’t want to make it worse by making a sucker a big deal. That is why I gave her the skittles and didn’t comment on the caprisun. I guess what I"m trying to do is follow what the Lord says in D&C 59:18-20. I hope I didn't offend anyone too badly. As you can see I feel a little passionate about this!

Three Months

Eve is pretty cute. Looking back at the time Daphne was a baby, I really loved 3 and 4 months. Five was good too, but she started getting really difficult to nurse. Eve has been pretty consistent with that observation. The only difference is she hasn't quite gotten over her colic so she is slightly more difficult. She usually has to cry herself to sleep every night. It isn't for very long though. But, while she is awake she is VERY sweet and sometimes I just want to eat her up! She smiles at everything and just loves attention, but is ok if we have to ignore her in order to help Daphne. I notice Daphne watching everything I do with Eve so I try to give her equal attention and usually include her in Eve's care as much as I can. She has proven helpful, and I can only imagine how much more helpful she will be for the next child in 10 years...ok so not that far away. As much as I love for the girls to nap at the same time, I do enjoy getting some Eve time all to myself. I usually try to see how much I can get her to smile and hopefully get a little squeal. But look at this girl, ears and all:

Eve doesn't seem anywhere close to rolling over, but she is rocking the bumbo quite well. She is sleeping longer stretches at night and going down for naps a little better. She is getting chunky, weighing in at least 12 pounds. On Tuesday evening Daphne, Eve, and I headed out to Hobby Lobby to do some returns. Kelly was out of town. When Eve cries in the car I usually say "its ok, Eve, we're almost there." While driving on this night Daphne said out of nowhere in a concerned, motherly voice, "its ok, eve, we're almost there." And then I said, "Oh no, I forgot my wallet! We have to go home." And then Daphne said "its ok, Eve. Momma forgot her wallet, we have to go home." I felt like I had an echo, a cute one at that.

Hair Mishap

Last Saturday night Kelly told me he needed a haircut before going TDY to Fairchild AFB in Washington. About four years ago ( I can't remember if it was before or after deployment) Kelly and I decided to buy clippers for me to cut his hair, rather than he pay to have it cut. He taught me how to do it and for four years I did it well, never really messing up. Well, last week I had my first mess up and it was big. I had just finished trimming his neck. When I went back to do a few more touch ups I forgot to put the clipper back on so I pretty much took out a huge chunk in the back, as seen below. Yeah....

 Kelly was very kind about it, even though he looks kind of fierce in this picture. He even had fun shaving his head off as you can see. He looks pretty cute with a shaved head, I think. Unfortunately we do have family pictures this week. I don't think I would've been so nice had he messed up my hair like that, but that is why he doesn't cut my hair. 

What I won't post are the pictures of bruises and marks he received from the training at Fairchild. He did an advanced interrogation course. He said after asking a sort of smart aleck question on Day 1 he was the first person interrogated on Day 2 and they were pretty rough. This course is required so he can deploy in March to Japan. I hate the idea of him leaving again since I just love having him home. The girls do too!