Brinley Turns 11

This year was a "family celebration" birthday year...meaning no big friend party.

 Since Brinley had been wanting to have her two best friends from school 

over this summer to play, 

we decided to combine that event with her birthday celebration.

Brinley was over the moon thrilled because not only had we decided to allow a FIRST EVER sleep over, but we were also going to spend the afternoon at our city pool, which we did not get a pass to this year because we use the Lifetime pool. 

Right before Jillian and Caroline arrived the children were excitedly running around outside with their bathing suits on, 

already sun screened up and ready to hop into the car once the friends arrived.

Two minutes before her friends arrived Brinley was running into the house and missed the concrete porch step by just a hair and slid her foot down the front of it. 

She screamed out in pain and we discovered that she had ripped off several layers of skin. 

When her friends pulled up she was still weeping on the front porch and in utter agony about the timing of it all. Once she calmed down her friends reassured her that they were still so happy to just be together, 

even if the pool was now not going to be part of the plans.

So the afternoon took a bit of a detour and we ended up doing a movie instead of swimming, 

but the event was still a smashing success.

Caroline made these fun frames with sea shells from a recent trip she took. 

Inside she put this picture from their last day of 5th grade. 

What a sweet gift from an even sweeter friend!

 

(Poor Brinley was in tears nearly the entire last day of school)

After opening gifts from Caroline, Jillian and a few other family members, 

it was time to enjoy the cake that Brinley baked and decorated by herself.  

 

It was delicious! 

Soon it was time for the younger sisters to go to bed and for the  

Brinley to experience her first sleepover. 

 Cody and I spent time in the front room while the girls 

watched a movie and chatted in the family room. 

Once they dozed off to sleep we quietly retreated for the night as well.

The next morning we enjoyed a big breakfast of Brinley's choosing:

* Hootin' Annies

*Bacon

*Fruit

We can't believe our first little baby is now 11 years old! 

She is a confident, capable, caring young lady and is a great big sister.

She has learned to choose her friends wisely and we are proud of the way she chooses the right.

She is also now fitting into my shoes!!

We love you dear Brinely and are thankful that you are the eldest child in our family.

Columbus Clippers

A few weeks ago we went to a Columbus Clippers baseball game.

It was the first time we had the entire family at a game.

After a long rain delay the game finally started. Just being at the stadium was exciting enough for the children, so the game was just a bonus anyhow.

It was sweet to observe Daddy enthusiastically teaching the girls 

all about how the game works. 

 

We hung in there for a good hour before a  

massive storm was about to roll through again.

As we were rushing to our car, along with the rest of the fans, we snapped a few parting shots.

 

We hope to make it back again when it's not pouring rain on and off.

 

**Note to self...never feed your kids at the ballpark on dollar a dog night again because 

a) they are still hot dogs even if they cost very little, b) they are slightly green in color c) YUCK!

Jason Crandell

I recently attended a three day Yoga Teacher Training workshop with my 

all-time FAVORITE yogi named Jason Crandell.

He was recently named “one of the teachers shaping the future of yoga,” 

by the Yoga Journal.

(My friend Olga assisting a pose)

When I found out he was coming to town I was thrilled! 

He has quite the training schedule that has taken him all over the world 

for more than a decade.

 It was fun to have three yoga teacher friends from Lifetime join me for the training.

(A good portion of each day was spent like this while Jason talked physiology, anatomy and kinesiology.) 

    

His understanding of the human body is incredibly extensive and his ability to teach, cue and drive home the points he is making is remarkable. 

I have never listened to someone speak with such an  

expansive vocabulary in my life!

I admire Jason for his nineteen years of  

ongoing devoted learning, dedication, mentoring, healing work.

As I was soaking in the experience of the training I kept on thinking about how expansive the opportunities in life truly are. That any driven individual, especially in the land of freedom, has limitless capabilities to learn and grow and develop meaningful talents.

It was awesome!

Quiet Time

Ever since the time that Brinley graduated from naps 

we have had "Quiet time" in our home.

Quiet time occurs after lunchtime when the youngest child is napping.

During the school year the school age kids only participate on the weekends,

but in the summer we have lots of chances to be creative 

and quiet all at the same time.

 

 During a few recent quiet times Avery and Aspen have set up "art camp" on the back porch.

Some of the fun things the girls do in quiet time are reading, playing with legos, writing letters, writing in journals, practicing handwriting, playing with playdough, working on a craft, doing yoga, writing lyrics to a new song, memorizing poems, listening to books on tape and much much more.

And as much as the kids enjoy quiet time  

(which at times is not at all so don't let me fool you)  

the parents appreciate this time even more!

Eat food, Not too much, Mostly Plants

 I grew up with a Mom who kept meals simple and healthy.

Her saying was "If you can't read it don't eat it." 

We never talked much about food, we just sat down and ate it, together at the table.

I grew up with a healthy relationship with food and I am thankful for that!

Now that I am raising a family of my own I strive to do the same.

We sit down together to enjoy our meals as a family.

We talk about lots of things, but not much about the food.

Being in the fitness industry I am often asked questions about food.

I love a phrase from my favorite foodie Michael Pollan...

"Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

Keeping in mind that "food" refers to things that grow, 
not items that are created in a factory.

Recently, we added a new morning meal to our rotating schedule...
homemade granola.

I just add a ton of oats, flax seed, oat bran and chia seeds into a huge bowl.
Then I bring some coconut oil, molasses, brown rice syrup 
and maple syrup to a low boil over the stove.

**I don't have a recipe, still playing around with it.

I pour the boiling mixture over the oat mixture, stir together and spread onto two big jelly roll pans.
Cook for 15 minutes at 350, turning once half way through cooking time.
Let it cool and add in any dried fruit or nuts desired. Add fresh fruit and enjoy!

Here is a recent meal made with salad from our garden, as show in the picture above.

Happy Helper

Reese is such a happy little helper!

Every time her big sisters are working around the house she grabs baby wipes and cleans many flat surfaces including electronic screens, windows and walls.

The streaks left from her "helper" duties are a sweet reminder that we have children in training and this means sometimes their "help" is really not that helpful at all.

The important lesson that Reese is learning, just as her  big sisters did and still are,

is that her contribution is important. 

That her efforts are noticed, appreciated and needed. 

She is learning that she is an important contributing member of our family 

and even at the age of two she recognizes that this feels good and important.

WARNING

 If you buy a dog be prepared to:

*Take him/her to the vet for regular check-ups, just like you do with a baby.

*Take him/her to the vet additionally if you detect that he/she may have an ear infection.

*Take him/her to the vet to figure out why his paws are turning red 

and he is constantly chewing at them.

*Pay a lot of money to the vet. 

*Administer ear drops for ear infections.

*Wipe his/her paws nightly due to yeast build-up.

*Discover that your lovely little dog has COMPLETELY eaten various areas of carpet leaving tennis sized circles of carpet missing. SO, be prepared to replace your carpet! 

*AND when you do punish the dog for ruining your carpet...

be prepared for your kids to cry and think you are cruel for doing so.

*To buy tick treatments, "sensitive" shampoos and special food along with chew toys, fetch toys, leashes, poop bags, etc...

*To spend a lot of money at the pet store.

 

*To check your dog nightly for ticks and pull the ones you find out with tweezers. 

SO, anyone want to buy a dog? Just let me know 

because I did my research and bought the "perfect" breed...thinking that there was such a breed.

 Did I mention that I am going to play the "worlds best mom card" 

 my entire life for giving into this one?

We had a HAPPY 4th

The big girls marched and danced in the 

Dublin parade this year with their Irish dance company.

Here is my friend Sara putting the dance school tattoo on Avery before the parade began.

We found THE MOST awesome shaded spot to watch the parade from.

The weather was AHHHmazing and made the entire day a dream.

Our friends, the Rodgers, stopped by 

our spot for a visit and  

Reese taught Bryson 

how to throw pop-its.

We were so happy to have the Kuehnl family enjoy the parade with us!

After the parade was over Cody skittered with the three big girls off to a birthday party for one of his co-workers daughters. After I got Reese down for a nap I enjoyed the most heavenly yoga practice in the backyard before getting ready for the BBQ we were hosting.

That evening we had the Kuehnl, Sharipov and Hanks families over for 

dinner before heading off to the city fireworks. 

 Sorry Hanks, failed to get a picture with you or any of our combined 1962338 children...

except for this little sweetie pie who was enamored by the sparklers 

and city firework show.

It was a grand day filled with sunshine, 

dear friends and gratitude for this wonderful country we live in!