Last night Sara went to Gram's for her first solo sleepover. She was a bit sad about going without Syd at first but then got really excited when I let her pack her own suitcase. She had a great time. The girls were so sweet and hugged each other goodbye. That night Syd came into my room and said it just wasn't the same to go to sleep without Sara talking from the bottom bunk. I love that these girls are truly friends to each other.
I bought the girls some new nightgowns. I don't usually do the matching thing but these little frog PJs were so cute. Here is one for Dad: Sara sings "Lets go fly a kite"

Daddy is at CWU this week. So I am sending him some cute bath pics. I suppose they will eventually reach an age where it isn't so cute to watch them take a bath. Nor will they let me. Well, they aren't there yet. So "smile".

We are doing great on our own but we miss Pat very much.

Syd says "Dear Daddy, I love you so much. You are a very good daddy and you love me. You are pretty. I hope you will come back some day. I miss doing dot to dot with you, that was really fun.

Love Syd

Sara says "Goodnite Dadda. I think that is all"

We had some fun washing the car today. Filled up a bucket with warm soapy water and the girls were thrilled to give the Prius a bath.

AHHHH...THE SUN

Well the sun FINALLY has decided to come out for a couple of days. It was glorious. We spent every minute outside.

The girls wanted to paint. So...we painted outside.

The girls wanted to eat. So...we ate outside.

Pat went up to our property to pour the concrete and dug post holes for our cabin. I am starting to be able to envision our cabin being in that lower flat spot.

We got some new neighbors and they have 4 kids. One of them is atalie (now this is completely misspelled but it sounds like Natalie without the N so...). She is 5. Sydney is in heaven. The look on her face describes it perfectly. They are the nicest kids and we are happy to have them in our back yard.

I am on day 12 of my eating plan. I can truly say that it feels good to know that I have survived 12 days on food and no animals were harmed for my benefit. Now that being said I am really looking forward to a big juicy burger. I will make it the 28 days with no problems. However I am a bit afraid to eat sugar again after that 5 day headache. The whole goal was to eat more consciously and I can say that this has definitely increased my awareness of what goes in my mouth and why.

Day 7 on The Cleanse -
Well here I am on day 7 of this really interesting way of eating. I can't believe I have gone this long without sugar or dairy or meat or bread or pasta or coffee or wine.....yahoo!
I am doing GREAT! For some reason this cleanse is really easy to stick to. I think it is because of how curious I am.
I had a headache for 5 days and then my muscles were sore for no reason. To be honest it kinda freaked me out. It was weird to think that the foods I eat have ability to make me feel that bad. I have done some research and the headache is due to coming off of refined sugar. I have to say, I will think twice before I mindlessly toss a sugary treat in my mouth again. That headache was a lesson learned.
Besides all that I feel great! I had the experience of getting a total energy boost out of a pear the other day. It seems like the food I eat turns into instant energy. It is the kind of energy that puts more bounce in your step.
My workouts have been interesting too. I have way more stamina!
I have not been hungry throughout this whole experience. Sometimes it is hard to find something to eat. But luckily I live with a PCC and a Trader Joe's close by. I haven't had any cravings. In fact I crave junk food less than when I was eating it. Very strange. I have surely consumed some stuff I had never even heard of like Hemp Granola with Hemp Milk. It is actually kinda good.
So, so far so good.
I would recommend this cleanse to anyone. It is a very interesting experiment to do with yourself and find out what the impact is of what you eat.

Fun on a Rainy Day

The weather outside is still rainy so we have opted for some in door fun again today. This little gave of beanbag surfing was invented by Syd and Sara. They are thrilled with their invention and have had non stop laugh.....and some bumps and bruises.

Sara's turn

Good times!

Well, Baloo found a new home. He has been adopted by a friend of JJ's. They have a huge german shepard named Taku that he gets to play with now. I am so relieved. Our cats are back out and living with us again.

Day #2 on the cleanse. Lord, the food choices are crazy but it is a fun experiment. I have had a headache since yesterday morning. I have been told this is a refined sugar headache. Yikes! Guess I have been eating a lot. Went to PCC today and got a few more crazy things that I would never eat under normal circumstances.....like Tapioca bread. Eeek! Can't wait!

Trying Something New -
So I have been introduced to this book called Quantum Wellness.
The book seems very interesting and I haven't read it completely yet but I have decided to try one of it's suggestions. A 21 Day Cleanse -
So .....for the next 21 days I am going to avoid the following:
Sugar
Caffeine
Gluten (Wheat)
Alcohol
Animal Products (That means meat, dairy, eggs, etc.)
I just turned 38 and I can think of no better time to take my self care up a notch.
Today is my first day and so far so good. I just needed to make a trip to Trader Joe's and I was all set. I am amazed by the abundance of food in our world. Once you take the time to look around it really IS amazing all that is available to us.
I'll keep you posted as to how I am doing.
I am going to take it one meal at a time. My goal is to bring my conscious awareness to what I put into my body and see how I feel. I have always eaten pretty mindlessly so this will be a fun experiment.
What I have eaten so far today:
Breakfast:
steel cut oatmeal with frozen mixed berries
Lunch:
brown rice cakes with cashew macadamia butter
a kiwi
green beans and carrots
Snack:
Cucumber slices and hummus dip
Dinner will be:
tofu tacos (my kids are going to have a fit!)
Weee!