Shane is Eleven

Shane celebrated his eleventh birthday yesterday!  He had two friends over and I made him a LEGO cake.  I hand frosted all those marshmallow halves because I really really love him and I wanted to show him how much I've appreciated him this past year.  The only thing he wanted was a nunchuck controller for the Wii U so Daniel could play LEGO Star Wars with him and a little LEGO set so he and Daniel could build things and play together.  When a boy only asks for things that are actually for his little brother, you know that kid has an amazing gift of loyalty.  I'm looking forward to seeing what life has in store for Shane this year.

A Week of Kai

Kai has been with us for one week now.  He is settling in to a routine and is figuring out what is allowed and what isn't.  I remind myself constantly about inner peace and the fruits of the spirit and that things are only things.  And that Kai is learning and learning fast and I need to be patient.

"Play?"

Jack mostly doesn't want to play with Kai.  Kai is much faster and has far more energy than Jack.  Plus, Kai isn't neutered and Jack has had enough of that.  Me too.  Next week, Kai is off to the vet. Even before we got Kai, Jack was only good for about three stick throws and a ten minute scamper before he was ready to flop down and pant.  He is like Gimli from Lord of the Rings: he is a natural sprinter and very dangerous over short distances.  Kai is more of a long distance runner and can hurdle right over Jack's back.

Kai is a beautiful dog; If I lived a different life, I would show him

In one week, Kai chewed up the Bumbo baby seat and two camp chairs and pretty much ruined my porch experience for the rest of the season.  I'll buy better porch chairs next spring.  He also broke two screen doors-one that was too big for any door on our house and another that was already broken by Shane.  Inside, he tries to chew up baby dolls because he loves the hard arms and legs and floppy bodies.  He came to us loving to chew up sticks, and I didn't have a problem with that until he started chewing up Lincoln Logs.  He also loves cardboard and can't tell the difference between that and books.  This might be the first time ever that there are no books on the floor.  He also likes to get into the box I'm supposed to send back to the school district to get out the paintbrushes (yes, the school wants their paintbrushes back) and as long as he doesn't chew up the Kingfisher encyclopedias, paintbrushes are fine.  Compared to what Mina chewed up as a puppy, this really isn't bad. 

We still don't let him off leash out of the fenced area, mostly because he still wants to chase the chickens.  It took a long time to train Mina to not kill them when she caught them, but by the time she died she knew to chase them out of the carport and then leave them.  Every day we take Kai out on the long leash and work at desensitizing him to chickens.  He is so good on a leash.  Once the chickens are all locked up in the yard, we let him off and he runs and runs and runs around the chicken yard and wears himself out.  After that he takes a nice long nap.  I'm sure he will kill at least one chicken, but I'll just tie it around his neck and leave it for a day.  It worked for Jack.

I made that toy for him; it has all the shake-ability of the rope toy without the concussion to small children

Kai stopped having accidents in the house two nights ago and has learned to come get Mark when he needs to go out.  I was calling the dog Kaibo for awhile (and for those who don't have sons going to Boy Scout camp, a kybo is an outhouse).  Now I just need to figure out a gate system that will keep him out of the kids' bedrooms at night, but allow him into ours.  Baby gates are cheap and plentiful, so I'm thinking I'll pick up a few more of those.  And install them high enough that he can't jump over the top...or crawl underneath them!  Dobermans are beautiful jumpers. 

Someone told Daniel that dogs don't see color, so he wanted to know what his shirt looked like to Kai.  I took the picture above to show him and Daniel laughed and laughed.  Kai listens to the kids!  This morning, Kai was up on the recliner (what is it with dobies and sleeping on the furniture?) and Daniel turned from his breakfast and commanded, "Kai! Off!" and Kai hopped right down.

"Come on, Jack. Get up and play!"

Kai has been a great distraction for me.  This time of year I tend to get cranky and anxious for the school district to get their act together and send me my school materials.  If school starts September 3rd, then by golly, I want my materials by then!  We switched school districts this year and I'm having to get used to a whole new way of ordering curriculum.  But school is a post for later this week...

My Whole30 Story

My Whole30 experience is over and I am amazed at the change in myself.  This wasn't a weight loss diet, but a change in eating habits.  Weight loss was a side effect of choosing better foods.  And not just what was on my plate, but how I consumed it.  I want to show you a picture of what I had for breakfast this morning, but remember, I am not a food photographer.  You are not going to see a plain white backdrop and perfectly arranged food on a shabby chic table.  Because guess what? I'm not a professional anything and I'm not perfect at anything.  My eating habits reflect that, both before and after this Whole30 experience.

I also want to share my own personal experience with this program.  Everyone is different and has a different lifestyle.  Parts of the Whole30 program were easier for me to "get through" and that probably ties into the huge success I've had.  I didn't have to go work or homeschool or even leave the house for more than a few hours at a time.  I could really just focus on the basics around here plus eating.  For thirty days, I said no to grains, cereals, seeds, legumes, sugars, oils (with exceptions), and some other stuff that I can't remember now.  I ate eggs, vegetables, some fruit, a few cashews or almonds, and meat that looked like meat (like not lunch meat or cured meat).  I didn't worry about whether or not my meat was grass-fed or organic, but I did have to worry if it was cured or prepared with sugar.

Does it look appetizing? Ummmmm.... the jury is still out on that!  Satisfying? YES. I was full after eating only half.

The first five days were uncomfortable.  I would say "hard" but the creators of the Whole30 say that fighting cancer is hard, having a baby is hard, but quitting sugar is not hard.  I've had seven babies, six of them au natural, so I knew I could quit sugar.  Quitting sugar is very uncomfortable!!!  The easy part for me was 1) I already drink my coffee black, so not putting cream and sugar in my coffee wasn't a habit I had to break  2) I don't drink alcohol, so quitting alcohol for 30 days was not a problem 3) I already can't have dairy, so I had already quit cheese and yogurt and other creamy goodness.

The habit changing part is what blew me away...  I stopped eating mindlessly in front of the computer.  The rule about sitting down in a chair and looking at your food while you eat it was a real eye opener.  I found that I stopped eating earlier when I could see my food instead of a screen.  I always ate my breakfast and lunch in front of the computer.  Now I don't.  The other bad eating habits I had seems to slip away as I started eating food that left me satiated.  The snacking stopped when I realized it was okay to be hungry between meals.  And then I stopped being hungry between meals.

The thought that I didn't have time to chop vegetables went away when I realized that I actually have more time in a day now that I'm not peaking and crashing on sugar all day.  I'm not eating for as long during the day; it really only takes me about 15 minutes to eat, so my meals take less than an hour for the entire day.  I wake up with more energy so I don't have to linger in front of two 16 ounce cups of coffee each morning.  It really did take me one whole hour just to wake up each morning before I changed my habits and started chopping vegetables for breakfast!  And now I'm good on 8 ounces of coffee with none in the afternoon.

I no longer get immediately crazily hungry.  Now I feel a subtle signal that tells me I will be hungry in about an hour and it is time to start prepping.  I've never ever felt that signal in my life.  It was almost as awesome as when I first felt the urge to push when Fiona was born.  It was a sign that my body was working the way it was created to...wow!

I used to gag when Mark and his dad ate something weird for breakfast.  Tamales, chili, leftover spaghetti... what the heck? Normal people eat eggs, oatmeal, pancakes, and muffins for breakfast!  This morning I had leftovers for breakfast.  And it was leftover lunch from yesterday mixed with leftover dinner from last night.  And it was gooooood!  Imagine starting your day with tomatoes, red peppers, onions, mushrooms, green zucchini, yellow squash, eggs and ground beef. 

I have no immediate plans to return to easy eating.  I'm not quite sure that I would just slip right back into my old habits.  Sure, beans can't be too bad for you and I love chili.  But I don't like chili unless I add some grated cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and dip it all out with chips.  So I'll just not eat beans.  It would be easy for me to say, "Oh a little sugar in my teriyaki can't be too bad..." and then find little excuses here or there to keep slipping sugar into my meals.  I'm just like that.  I'm good at bending rules.  That is why Weight Watchers never worked for me; there were too many ways to break rules and cheat/reward yourself for your good eating by getting to eat badly.  I'm not going to be "Paleo" because there are way too many dessert recipes with Paleo-friendly ingredients that are still not good for me or my eating habits.  So for now, it'll be just meat that looks like meat, veggies, and fruit.

Kaiser

I've decided Kai's full name is Kaiser.

He and Jack has the best playtime yesterday.  They ran and jumped until Jack couldn't run anymore.  I have never seen him so tired.  He couldn't play for the rest of the day!

Kai doesn't sleep at night.  He can also jump over all our gates.  He wants to sleep in Lula and Daniel's room, all curled up on the clothes and blankets they throw on the floor (that I haven't gotten around to picking up).  I blocked the gate with a high chair; Kai moved the high chair and jumped over it.  We added a bar stool and a plastic bus and gave him an extra blanket.  By the time Mark had a Kai-proof barrier, I felt like I was in Les Miserables.  Mark had to sit out there with him for awhile and then go back again early in the morning.  I'm not laughing, really I'm not!

I might be smiling a little though.  Although I woke up every time Kai did (and when Lula sleep walked down the hall and crashed into the barri-KAI-d) so many other good and funny things happen in my house it just balances out my day.

Kai

Mark brought home more than just fencing yesterday...

...but I wasn't surprised.  We went down to meet Kai on Sunday to see if he would be a good dog to add to our family.  Yes, yes, I know.  Me? Willingly add another pathetic doberman not even two months after we lost Mina?  I don't know what to tell you; God must have had His hand in my heart because I felt no trepidation or annoyance about the whole thing.  Plus, I got a fence out of the deal although no deals were made.

As you can see from the picture above, Kai shows no aggression whatsoever toward people. He just flopped down and put his head in  Heidi's lap.  He came from a home that had two boys (3yo and 5yo) and was well socialized at the park.  They had no fence and not enough time to dedicate to such an active dog, so they needed to find a new home for him.  We were chosen because we are home all day and won't crate him, we have lots of kids to love on him, and 15 acres to run.  He was very excited to explore every nook and cranny in the house yesterday and we were exhausted by bedtime, but today he has relaxed and is sacked out in the living room with Jack.  He and Jack had some territorial issues to work out, but it looks like Jack holds the beta position after Mark's alpha.  Kai's ears have those bandages because his crop job isn't quite firm yet.  We'll take them off in a week, but for now he can look like a bunny hopping through the grass.

The only problem so far is that he is curious about which toys belong to him.  Baby dolls are not his.  Balls of yarn are not his.  Lego men are not his.  And chickens are not his.  He loves to tear up cardboard boxes and chew up sticks and we have plenty of both.  He is at the perfect age to start real training and already knows many commands.  He is awesome on a leash with a regular collar and is even better when he gets his "working collar" on.  He choked himself one time going after the chickens today and stayed within leash length for the rest of the walk.  Do I blame him for being interested in chickens? No way! He's never seen or smelled them before.  Bringing Kai home is going to be great for both Mark and I.  This is the first time we have brought a dog home together and not just me giving in...

I'm already so happy to have him because this morning he barked at me when I sneaked into the dark kitchen to make coffee early this morning.  I want a dog that will bark at sneaking people, but also love kids.  Everything else is a matter of training.

To Build a Fence [Before Dark]

Lula has been found in the chicken yard, bathing in the nasty chicken water, completely naked.  She has been found down the driveway, picking blackberries, completely naked.  And worse, she has been found playing at the pond, alone.  And sometimes naked.  She is the first of the Downen kids to be so naughty.  And I can tell you why.

1. She is naturally independent and fearless
2. She can open the sliding glass door in the schoolroom
3. There is a porch outside the door instead of a drop off (like there used to be).
4. She hasn't met an outfit she cannot escape from.

We've all had enough of the, "Where's Lula? I thought you were watching her! I got distracted!" conversation.  So Mark built a fence around the play area.  Lula prefers the chickens/driveway to the pond, but the pond could be a deadly choice.  A few hundred dollars for a fence is a much better deal than losing Lula forever.

As you can see from the angle of the sun, we got a late start.  Yesterday was Sunday and Mark had an early morning meeting in Olympia today, so he raced the sun to get the fence done.

Hard work is good for the (pre)adolescent male, so Ian and Shane did a lot of the work Mark usually does alone.  Mark has an injured elbow, so any work that involves twisting his arm is quite painful. 

Lula had a great time opening and closing the gate and saying, "Bye-bye!"  Oh, if she only knew!  I helped dig one of those post holes and I helped place both posts.  Because I have new energy, y'all.

"Move that pick axe!"

I tried to do the work for Mark so he wouldn't keep injuring his elbow.  Really, I did try.  For the last few days, anytime I heard him start up the brush mower, I would run out of the house and say, "Stop! Let me do it! I want you healed!"  But as Mark likes to tease...

...his non-dominant hand/arm is still stronger than my dominant, so he keeps on mowing, rototilling, and digging.

Daniel is very good at finding projects he can work on.  He has his own plastic tool bench with plastic tools, but it isn't as good as a real saw or real clippers.

The sun is going behind the trees! Will the fence be built before it gets dark???

The path to the pond is successfully blocked, as is the path to the carport/chickens/driveway.  It's ugly, but a necessary and temporary fix.  We will have our view back (and repurpose the fencing for a large deer and chicken proof garden).

Alas, we are about 12-15 feet short of fencing, even after Mark salvaged the fencing from the quarantine area of the chicken yard.  Nothing bothers Mark more than unfinished projects.  I didn't see him before he had to leave early, early, early this morning.  He might surprise me.  He might bring home more fencing and finish the job...

Little Adventures

Nine days between posts is a bit much, eh?  And this is my best picture:

Standing: Heidi's new favorite past time

My only excuse? No adventures.  Just day in and day out.  But not really.  I have a new day in and day out, thanks to better eating.  I'm having little adventures.  I've stepped outside my comfort zone and joined a Bible study where I didn't know a single person.  I even took the five youngest kids with me.  Last night, I went to a barbecue held by a group of families that live near me and also attend the church I go to (when I go).  I brought the three youngest kids with me.  I've been getting out of my house with little kids, going to houses I've never been to with little kids, and surviving the experience with little kids.  It's almost like going back in time when Ian, Shane, and Evie were my little kids and I felt trepidation about going places.  But the little adventures have been so good for my spirit and the better eating has been so good for my body.  And both combined have been so good for my mind!

Summer

How about this hot, dry weather?  August is my second least favorite month.  The kids love it though!  When I'm not hiding from the heat, I'm working on my lesson plans for the school year.  This year, I have five kids to juggle plus two babies.  I'm trying to be cheerfully optimistic, but I think this (slight) disaster might be a bit prophetic:

I was brainstorming ways to keep him from destroying our homeschool (he struggles with being alone, yet he cannot behave himself with other people around).  I was sitting out on my favorite porch while Daniel played in the sprinkler.  I had to walk away (probably to find Lula) and I came back to a soaking wet notebook.  Daniel picked the sprinkler up and soaked my porch and the side of the house!

I am also challenging myself to follow a Whole30 program.  I am fifteen days into eating only meat, vegetables, and fruits (google to see what else I can and won't eat) and I can honestly say I have never felt this good.  Ever.  In my whole life.  I spend more time chopping vegetables and I actually sit down at the counter and eat instead of just grabbing a quick sandwich and sitting in front of the computer.  Whole30 is more than just a change in diet, but a change in habit!

The kids, of course, are loving the pond in this heat.  They go down and swim and throw mud at each other.  Ian and Shane don't need me to be their life guard any more, so I just watch from the house.  The little kids just play on the side and dig holes in the mud.

We took a trip to the Point Defiance Zoo last week so Shane could pet a shark.  The sharks are very small, but Shane enjoyed himself immensely.   Daniel was afraid the shark would grow big teeth and bite him, so he didn't touch the shark.

My favorite part of the zoo was taking a picture in  the jaws.  But the jaws are GONE! They have been there my entire life!  Now they have these old megalodon jaws.  Fine, they are cool.  But I like the old ones! 

Because Grandma and Grandpa came with us, the kids got to ride on the carousel!  See, I was raised to be a penny-pincher and I never let my kids do fun things.  Ever.  (Wait a second, since it was my mom and dad who never paid for fun things like carousel rides when I was a kid and now they are paying for things like this....does that mean they have seen the error of their ways? Or does it mean that it is a grandparent thing and I will pay for carousel rides for my grandkids?)

Evie had a great time at her summer camp last week.  She had to get up early every morning to spend eight hours riding, swimming, playing, and singing at Miracle Ranch.

 The above photo is from the local paper and shows Evie's dance class performing at Key Fest.  That was another hot miserable day!

And what would summer be if we didn't have a hike up Mount Elinor?  This hike is easy for Ian, Shane, and Evie, but this was Fiona's first hike! 

 She was so excited to be included on an adventure!

 You may think the picture above is the kids on the summit of Mount Elinor, but it is actually a picture of my hiking boots at the summit of Mount Elinor (on Ian's growing feet).

We are on the downward slope to September...

Feeding Heidi

It took me seven kids to figure out how to feed a baby on a schedule/routine.  For the first time, I have actually looked at the Recommended Daily Allowances for feeding infants and have created a balanced daily meal plan.

Heidi gets baby cereal mixed with baby fruit and flaxseed or coconut oil for breakfast, baby food meat mixed with a yellow or orange vegetable and cod liver oil for lunch, and baby food meat mixed with a green vegetable and cod liver oil for dinner.  Her snack is baby fruit and a pediatric vitamin with minerals included or Cheerios.  Why the added oils and vitamins? Because I want to quit pumping bottles.  If she is getting all the vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids in her food, she won't have to drink soy formula (which no baby will) and I can give her straight rice milk.

She's pretty cute when she wants another bite.  She makes a little taekwondo ki-yap!