Zoodles

I'm always thinking about ways to make my diet healthier and experimenting with different ideas, foods, fads, whatever. I recently have been experimenting with going more gluten free and dairy free. I purchased the Fresh Start 21 cleanse a few weeks ago and got 3 weeks worth of vegan dairy free meals, smoothies and snacks. I tried it out for a whole 5 days before cracking and eating pizza with my family - we had to celebrate Miles' new bike without training wheels of course. Then the downward spiral happens, a donut or two here and there, a rice krispy bar the size of my head, chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. Anyway, you see what I mean right? So anyway, during my 5 day cleanse I discovered that people following grain free / paleo diets replace pasta with zucchini and use this unique tool called a spiralizer to create zoodles. I picked one up at Bed, Bath and Beyond (thanks to my friend Jenny telling me they had them there) and created zoodles. I peeled the zucchini and didn't cook it at all and made a tomato sauce to top them with. They were good, interesting but definitely good. I will try this recipe next and I will try to cook them like Danielle Walker (Against All Grain) suggests.

The Doctors TV and Pad Thai Recipe

AUTHOR: Danielle Walker - AgainstAllGrain.com

Ingredients:

• 2 medium zucchini, peeled
• 2 large carrots, peeled
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 cup shredded purple cabbage
• 1 cup cauliflower florets (May use broccoli, if preferred)
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/2 cup fresh coriander or cilantro
• Optional: crushed roasted cashews

Sauce Ingredients:
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup almond butter (or cashew butter, or blend of both)
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1/4 cup coconut aminos
• 3 tablespoons coconut palm sugar, or coconut crystals
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger root

Instructions:

1. Use a spiralizer or mandolin to create noodles from the carrot and zucchini. Place them in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk sauce ingredients. Sauce will be thick, but will thin out after mixed with vegetables.
3. In a sauté pan, heat oil. Once hot, sauté cabbage, cauliflower and bean sprouts. When close to being done, add carrot and zucchini noodles to pan. Stir and cook until “noodles” are slightly heated through.
4. Pour sauce over mixture and toss until all combined. Garnish with coriander or cilantro and crushed cashews.

Days before Kindergarten.

I cannot even believe that in less than 2 days I will officially have a kindergartener. Sniff sniff.  Miles starts school on Wednesday August 27th. It seems so early to me, summer is still here hanging around and we are out celebrating our last days together before he is a full time little student. Last week we spent our mornings at Lake Harriet beach (twice),

Lake Harriet

we played at the park with friends, ate lunch picnic style both times at Bread&Pickle, celebrated with cake and more friends

Let's celebrate with cake! A new tradition is born.

Having a picnic with our buddies.

, visited some old friends for the day at their home out in Grant, MN,

Jennifer helping the kids pick carrots. They LOVED it!

The kids LOVED picking veggies out of Jennifer's huge garden.

and just had lots of unscheduled time together.

Walking home from Lake Harriet, taking our sweet sweet time.

It was so fun to really enjoy the free time with both kids before we have a very scheduled start to a new chapter in our lives....school. Today I took the kids to the MN Zoo for probably our last weekday zoo trip, well for awhile anyway. I will miss these days together, but I also know it is time for a new beginning. And yes, I will cry when I drop him off for the first time, and maybe even the second.

So excited!

Visiting the Big Bugs exhibit one more last time before they are gone September 1st.

Checking on his favorite animal...the Komodo Dragon.

2 Wheels!!!!

New wheels! And yes, Evie got a pink (her favorite color) strider bike.

Miles is off of his training wheels!! This is a HUGE deal for our little buddy. He's been dinkering around on a beater garage sale bike (that seriously weighs like 50 pounds) with training wheels. His beloved training wheels. When we took his training wheels off the first time, he cried, hard. He was so not into it. So we put them back on and just let it be. Then the chain on his bike kept falling off while he was riding. It was time to get him a new bike. We took him to the bike store and let him pick out a new bike. We were surprised that his little 16" bike was too small and he needed a 20" bike. Wow! Our little boy is truly growing up on us. He was excited to try his new bike without training wheels. No tears now. We are so proud of him, and boy did it give him a confidence booster. Right before he starts kindergarten too.

I ran a half marathon!?!?!?!

Yes, yes I did!!! With 2 5k's under my belt from over a year ago, I decided it was time to kick it up a notch and sign up for a half marathon back in March. I found the shortest training program I could and focused on getting my weekly long runs in. I discovered that my friend (and neighbor) Jenny was the BEST running buddy ever during these long weekend runs. She's training for a marathon in June but decided to do the half with me. She ran the whole thing with me never leaving my side, even though I was a pretty sad case starting around mile 9. Mile 10 things got even harder and by mile 11 I was digging deep to get to that darn finish line. The course was super hilly for me, I have never run hills or farther than 11.5 miles ever, but I stuck it out and made it to the end in 2 hours and 26 minutes. Now I might have to try to do another one faster. But for now, I'm taking some time off and enjoying a week of rest and pizza, lots of pizza.

Post race smiles with our coffee cups.

And just like that he's 5!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MILES!!! What a great birthday week for our 5 year old. Miles got to celebrate his birthday 3 times this week and it ended with his big birthday party with all his little buddies. It was a great success and somehow all of the kids behaved and did so well. I cannot believe my baby boy is 5. FIVE!!! Where does the time go?!?

Happy birthday Miles!!

Cheeeeeeese!

  

Playing parachute games

Bowling

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Miles & his buddy Charley from school

Cake time!

Lots of fun in the gym with the parachute.

Making a dome for the kids to sit under - Miles said this was his favorite part.

Our little runner.

Miles ran his first official race! Our kids talk about running a lot. It's fun to see them pretending to run "marathons" around our basement, and how excited Miles was when we asked him if he wanted to sign up for a race. It was cold and windy, but we got him to the start line at the Lake Harriet Bandshell, and he did it. Tim got him his first pair of running shoes, and they came in the mail that week. He was so excited to try them out. He ran the whole .4 mile and was so proud to cross that finish line. Tim stayed with him the whole time (hey we are new with this?!?!) I had no idea what to expect, and it seemed strange to just send him off on his own. He is still my baby you know. I hope our kids grow up to be runners. I started running 2 years ago and it is so hard starting in your 30's but hey, you got to start somewhere right?

Easter

The Easter bunny came and brought all kinds of goodies for the kids. And thankfully no sugar treats...well besides a few tiny chocolate eggs. The kids enjoyed finding their Easter baskets stuffed with sidewalk chalk, gardening gloves and tools, new water bottles, and a fun shirt for Miles and sparkly gold shoes for Evie (she loves her shoes). We had fun watching them go through their baskets, and then we headed to Grandma & Grandpa Vedder's house for the annual egg hunt and large Easter lunch. It was fun for the kids to catch up with their cousins and play and play and play. We celebrated Miles' 5th birthday with them and the Despicable Me 2 cake he has been wanting for about 9 months (seriously, every single time we went to Target he would want to go see it and would declare that that was the cake he would have for his 5th birthday). He was spoiled with all kinds of fun birthday presents and got his very own Sonicare toothbrush for kids. He truly is growing up on us! Sniff sniff.

Finding time to read.

There is definitely not enough time in a day. I feel that way pretty much every single day being home with 2 young kids. Morning starts abruptly, kids are constantly requiring my attention and when Evie finally does decide to take a nap, I have a huge to do list that seems more important than some 'me' time, not to mention now that Miles is done napping he is usually up requiring more of my attention. And it's great and  I know what some day my kids will be able to do things for themselves and not want old mom around trying to get them fed, dressed or buckled into car seats. So I try to just go with it, and save my 'me' time for after they are tucked in sweetly in their beds. This is usually where Tim and I find some mindless thing to watch on TV or find a good movie off of Netflix, but lately I have been really getting into books. I have had the Goodreads app on my phone for years and usually it sits with a long 'books to read' list but this year I have been getting some books checked off that list, and it feels great. We live really close to our local public library and the kids and I visit weekly, I've been able to get some great books there lately and these have been my favorite recently:

All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood by Jennifer Senior
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
Wonder by R.J. Palacio

And soon to be added to this list And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

I usually have to really make reading a top priority when I have library books checked out because almost always they are due back with no renewals due to others waiting for them.

Now if only I could learn to read while running on the treadmill, though watching previous episodes of the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon will do just fine.

I posted 2 book lists that I have recently come across in the links I love section, I'm going to try to get more books read off these lists, especially some of the classics that I have never read before.

It's funny how once you have kids you have all these hobbies and things you want to do, yet when you were single and childless with all the time in the world (and had no clue about all this free time you time you actually had) you did nothing. That is how I feel anyway!

Birth Stories

Something about hearing a birth story makes me so excited. I love birth stories. Any time I get a chance to hear one or read one, I'm all about it. I read a great one the other day, made me a little emotional and it got me thinking that I posted my birth story with Miles but never my story with Evie. I have written them both down in their baby journals, but wanted to share both of them on here so I always have a place to remember them. I don't think I will ever forget the birth of my 2 children, especially being that they were both as opposite as you can get, but my mind is full of so many to-do lists, ideas, memories, whatever, that I feel foggy on certain memories and there are some I'd always like to remember and be able to tell my children when they are older. I remembered that I had written my story of having Evie to Blooma, a very special yoga and wellness center for mothers and mothers to be, so I dug it out and am posting it below. Miles' story can be found here. Brings back so many memories and emotions. Ahhhhh. Amazing. Now if only 2 year old Evie were as easy as her birth. Hmm.

Dearest Sarah and all the wonderful women of Blooma,

I cannot even thank you enough for being my biggest support through this pregnancy. Being a stay at home mom with a 2 year old son made it harder to focus on this baby girl that was growing inside my belly. I found the special time I needed to bond with her at Blooma through all the prenatal yoga classes I went to - thank goodness for the great childcare!

Recently, I have been hearing stories of women who've had very long labors with their first that had been having very short intense labors with their second babies and barely making it to the hospital in time, but I never thought that I would be one of them. My 2 year old son was born posterior and over 9 pounds and I had a very long exhausting labor and delivery with him (26 hours and 5+ hours of pushing). I was successful in getting my unmedicated birth but it was NOT easy and thank goodness I had such an amazing midwife to trust my body could do it, as I was told many times by the nurses that I should have just been a c-section!

The morning of September 6th I went to my 39 week appointment with my 2 year old son in tow and was told by my midwife that my cervix was still closed and very thick. She sent me home and told me to plan for a week or more.  Well imagine my surprise as I sat down for dinner at 6pm and my water broke right there on the kitchen chair. Contractions started slowly around 8pm and they were very inconsistent but quite strong already and after they hung around for an hour or so I decided maybe I should call. My midwife wanted me to come in since I had tested positive for Group B Strep and since my water had broke she was a bit concerned to make sure I could get the antibiotics I needed. We made arrangements with a friend to come watch Miles and I felt silly running off to the hospital so early since it could still be false labor and possibly just me peeing my pants. We got in the car a little after 10pm to drive up to Maple Grove hospital and the second I got in the car contractions kicked in so strongly and came right on top of each other. Sitting in the seat was killing me, I wanted to be on all fours so badly but we had both carseats in the back and I was stuck in the front seat for the 40 minute drive. I have to say, I moaned, and sighed, and opened my jaw and yelled "open" and "out" that entire car ride. I kept picturing Sarah saying to let it out, make noise, and it helped so much, I felt like she was in the car with us! My husband didn't say a word and just kept driving faster and faster. We pulled into the parking lot at 10:50pm and when they saw me on the sidewalk crawling on all fours and moaning they tried to get me in a wheelchair and I told them I couldn't sit since it hurt so much, and two security guards chuckled at me. After about 5 contractions on the floor I made it to labor and delivery and told them I couldn't get on the table to get checked because I had to stay on the floor on all fours. I also told them I was going to poop right there and that I was sorry. Well turns out I wasn't going to poop, I was fully dilated, and ready to push my baby girl out since her head was right there. They got me up on a stretcher, and literally ran me into a delivery room, where the second I got in there, I gave 4 good pushes on my hands and knees and met my baby girl at 11:12pm! Right after giving birth I walked with my placenta and baby girl still attached, to the delivery bed to get some skin on skin time with her while I delivered the placenta. I didn't even have time to change my clothes or get admitted to the hospital (we also had all of our bags and camera in the car). And here I thought I was going to get sent home or have a long labor in a tub to try for my waterbirth, but baby Evie had other plans. My midwife was happy I had tested positive for the Group B Strep since that is why she had me come in, otherwise I would have had the baby at home with a very scared husband!

Everyone couldn't believe how fast she came, and I came out with a 7lb 2oz perfect little baby girl, and not a single tear or much soreness afterwards. I feel like a million bucks and credit the smooth delivery to all those prenatal yoga classes, squats, and goddess poses! I'm going to miss those special classes so much but look forward to bringing baby Evie to some BYOB as soon as I can.

Much love,

Oona

Tiny Tiger strikes again!

Miles passed his second level Tae Kwan Do test last night! He earned a new orange belt (belt stays the same color I guess) and an orange head band with a tiger on it, along with a tiger patch. Last night was his last class of his second time taking the Tiny Tigers class with Lakes Martial Arts.

My Little Picassos

The kids really enjoy making art lately. Especially Miles. He has really turned into quite the little painter. He paints every week at preschool and all last year the paintings were pretty much the same. A few lines of different colors painted here and there. Well this year he's really stepped it up a notch in the old painting department. He still paints every week but they are actually real pictures of things! I love seeing what he creates and the pile of 'art to keep' is getting a little large. In fact, I really need to start photographing some of these pieces and saving them because I want to remember them forever!! They are adorable. Last week he brought home this little number. The teachers posted this picture on Facebook of him painting a Valentine picture of his dad. For his dad and of his dad. Love it!

Miles painting his "Dad" for Valentine's Day at school. It is a Valentine that "looks like Daddy."

I also started buying canvases on sale at Michaels along with some not washable paint. Yes, I now realize this was a bad bad decision as Evie loves to get paint on everything, and who buys paint that is not washable for a 2 and 4 year old. Seriously. Anyway, we pull off the table cloth, put on some music, old rag shirts and smocks and create art. The kids really get into it. It keeps them occupied for at least 10 minutes, and we have some fun wall art to hang up.

Evie making her abstract piece.

Miles painting "The Backyard".

8 Miles

Alright, so I know I have some catch up posts to do and I will maybe get to some of those at some point this week (why is it so hard to sit down and download pictures and update this blog!?!?) but most importantly right now I need to document something that happened today. Something that has never happened in my life, and I am so happy and proud of myself.  I ran 8 miles today!!! 8 whole long glorious miles. The farthest I have ever run ever, and on a treadmill (I hate the treadmill).  I have been really trying hard to get back into running and have been committing to running 3 times a week and doing at least one longer run on the weekends. I started running for the first time in my life after Evie was born. I decided that it was time to find a workout that I could do anywhere, anytime and preferably with her. We have awesome running strollers and she never liked the childcare at the gym, so the winter of 2011/12 I downloaded a couch to 5k training program and religiously followed it. I spent many evenings at the gym on the treadmill after the kids had gone to bed. It was hard, and I wanted to quit several times as I usually do with most things but I stuck it out and was able to run an entire 5k by spring. After that I was addicted. I started running outside pushing the kids around in our double Bob while we lived in the rental house over the summer of 2012. I'd run the paths along the creek and got up to running about 3-4 miles a day with that thing. Then we moved into our new house and chaos took over. House projects ruled and my running went by the sidelines. The thing with running for me is that I have to stick with it or I lose it quickly. It is so damn HARD! Then I threw my back out lifting weights in May and was totally unable to run or do much for the entire summer. It was depressing.  We live blocks from our favorite lake that has a great 3 mile trail around it, and I had all these dreams of running the lake all summer long and getting more races under my belt. These things never happened and then winter hit again. Evie started loving the gym's daycare and I decided a couple of months ago that it was time to start running again and once again I got on the treadmill and it was a slow slow process. But a month of running has really paid off because TODAY I RAN 8 MILES!! No walking, all running. And it was awesome. I felt fantastic afterwards (usually I get horrible stomach cramps after a longer run).

The only bad thing about running is afterwards you decide it is totally fine to eat a huge helping of spaghetti for dinner, a glass of wine, a bunch of thin mint girl scout cookies and ice cream with chocolate syrup. But hey, I ran 8 miles today!

Our 'hood

I'm kind of obsessed with our neighborhood. I never dreamed I'd have so many great neighbor friends. Especially after living in our old house for 4 years without ever knowing anyone besides the guy who lived right behind us. This time in our new house it is so different. We've been here for about a year and a half and I feel like we've hit the neighbor jackpot. So many young families in the same stage of life as us and such nice people. The women usually try to get together monthly, for a night of wine and catching up, but we also try to include the families as everyone has young children. On Saturday one of our neighbors hosted a little cookie decorating party and had all of us over for cookies and lunch. Evie was sick so her and Tim stayed behind to work on a new house project Tim decided to start over the weekend (fixing all our trim) but Miles and I went to visit and eat cookies. It was really fun and I loved seeing all the little kids get together. Looking forward to the warmer months when everyone is outside and we don't all have to be cooped up in the house.

February cookie party at Angie and Seth's.

Little Friends

These two have been playing an awful lot together and getting along!! Evie even played her first game of Candyland and Spiderman Match game without destroying the game and without Miles freaking out. It is nice. They play a lot of little pretend games together too, usually on the weekend mornings when the pace of life at our house slows way down. Some of their new favorite games are pretending it's Christmas Eve and Santa is coming - they drag their blankets and pillows out into the living room and make a bed on the floor and read books and hang out together. Another is playing school and Miles is the teacher of course. I love it when they play these little games together without noticing that I am listening and watching. Evie just has stars in her eyes for her big bro. And he is pretty good at protecting his little sister too.

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R.K.T. Class

I signed up for a new class at the gym that I have always been intrigued with. It is a Ropes/Kettlebells/TRX class that meets every Wednesday morning for 45 minutes at the gym I belong to. The best part is that my neighbor Jenny and my friend Terri both decided to try it out with me. We met this past Wednesday for our first class and it was awesome. I'm hooked. The instructor is amazing and there is only 4 of us total in the class so I feel like we get a lot of instruction personalized just for us. I'm hoping it gives me a little extra motivation to get to my workouts in and help me get those buff arms I have always dreamed of! ;)

Meal planning success!

My first week doing The Fresh 20 was a total success!!! I loved it. I loved not having to think about dinners and not having to go to the grocery store even once (well once for coffee). But seriously, it was like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders not having to think about what we would have for dinner. The biggest surprise from the week was that my entire family ate vegetarian all week (we signed up for the veg plan) and that the kids ATE ALL THE MEALS!!! It was like an adventure we were all part of. I prepared foods I have never prepared and even eaten and we were all part of this little food adventure team. Eating new foods together was fun. We all discovered that parsnips and portabella mushrooms are delicious and are excited to try more foods. All of the dinners were jam packed with veggies and felt very balanced. I liked it so much we signed up a 3 month subscription. I look forward to more healthy meals in my future without even thinking about it.

The Fresh 20 Night #1

So I heard about this meal planning service from my sister whose friend has been on it for many months now and really loves it. She claims that they have really started saving money on groceries, wasting less, and looking and feeling healthier. I looked it up and immediately became intrigued. It looks quite simply like the answer to my "I'm so sick of figuring out what is for dinner" prayers. And it looks pretty darn healthy and right on track with my wanting to eliminate as many processed foods as possible. Plus now with the addition of our Vitamix, anything seems possible. I know, I know, we are crazy. So before I commit to it fully, I decided to sign up for the free week and do it exactly as they plan it out and make my decision at the end of the week. I picked the vegetarian option as we eat mainly veggie in our household and the classic plan was way too meat heavy for us. Plus, I feel as a vegetarian (mostly) I need to venture out and prepare and eat more foods at home that I would never consider (parsnips). We need to break out of the stir-fry, pasta, pizza rut we are in. And it is 2014, a new year, why not?!?! So I gave it a go. I printed my week off, headed to the store on Sunday and got my week full of dinner ingredients.

Night #1 - Lemon, thyme, potato pancakes with homemade applesauce and plain greek yogurt, with sauteed brussel sprouts. It was easy to prepare, made from scratch and pretty darn good. I'm already ready to sign up for 3 months. I loved not having to think about what was for dinner, and it felt really balanced and healthy. The ingredients and flavors went together perfectly. And it was something I would never ever think about making. Miles ate the brussel sprouts and Tim cleaned his plate and had seconds. We also had some pancakes left over for lunch today.

Fresh 20 Meal #1