Would you like to go for a run with me?

We have decided to stay another year in Madison, mostly because of friends and opportunities here, but also because it is just plain beautiful.  Yes, even in winter :)  Would you like to see the sights I enjoy as I run in the evenings after the kids are in bed?  Our neighborhood is especially gorgeous during the summer. 

Toy Story mania

Poor Rowan.  Not only is he the middle child, but his birthday is in the middle now too.  Ellie's is first, so I always have tons of time to dream and plan about her birthday parties.  Plus, since she is older, she has more circles of friends to invite, which makes it a bigger party.  Rowan's parties are usually just a shared cake with neighbors instead of an actual party.  This year was even more difficult - we had to have his party the day before his birthday because on his actual birthday we would be driving to Tennessee (which meant we were busy packing for that trip as well).  At least this time we actually made invitations and had dinner along with the cake. 

Ever since Toy Story 3 came out on dvd, the kids have had Toy Story on the brain.  After considering pirates, t-rex, cars, and superheros, Toy Story came out on top for the birthday cake theme.  Yes, we plan our birthday parties around the cake, for two reasons.  #1 - my kids equate birthday with cake and #2 - I equate birthday with making a cake!  It's one of my favorite things to do :)  So, I searched for cake ideas and found two great inspirations on the internet and decided to do them both.  The day before Rowan's party I started making cake balls which eventually turned into Mr and Mrs Potato Heads (Big thanks to Nina for decorating most of them - she just couldn't resist the artistic possibilites she saw when she stopped by that night).  And then the day of I made a regular cake of Andy's Bed with fondant decorations and added some plastic Toy Story figures that we bought for Rowan as a birthday present. 

We also had a make-your-own pizza on the BBQ for dinner, so I spent the afternoon prepping toppings and making pizza dough for that.  Making pizzas on the grill is always fun for our neighborhood kids, but this time it didn't work out quite as well.  For the first time we used hardwood briquettes instead of charcoal and it burned a lot hotter, so a lot of the pizza crusts burned on the bottom until we figured out how to at least semi-melt the cheese without destroying the crust.  It was still fun and pizza is always good, so the kids still loved it.

At least the birthday boy enjoyed himself

When the cake came out, the kids went crazy over the potato heads.  The time they took to make was completely worth it to see how excited they all were.  Plus they were really yummy, as was the Andy's Bed cake.  The kids started claiming each toy on top of the cake, but Rowan made sure to let them all know that the toys were his to take home :)

All the potato heads

Andy's bed

Happy 4th Birthday Rowan!

Recipes deconstructed (and reconstructed)

Usually, when people ask me for a recipe for something I made, I give them a link for the recipe I used as a guideline. But most recipes I don't follow completely; I make my own substitutions to make them healthier or to use ingredients I already have in my kitchen. By the time I'm done with the recipe, it really is another recipe altogether. For example, yesterday I wanted to make some zucchini bread. So, I searched on allrecipes.com, ranked them by rating (my highly recommended method of finding a recipe), and opened the top recipe with the highest rating. It looked like a great basic recipe to use as a base for my own version of zucchini bread. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 1/4 cups white sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Whenever I am changing a recipe for baked goods, I try to keep the ratio of liquids to solids the same in my own version.  I just swap out different sweeteners, flours, and oils.  So, here is my healthified* recipe:

Ingredients

• 3 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (aluminum free)
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup melted coconut oil  (if your house is as warm as mine, it's already melted in your kitchen)
• 1 1/2 cups honey
• zest of one lemon
• zest of one small orange
• juice of one small orange
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1 cup grated carrots

I mix all the dry ingredients and wet separately, then combine all together.  Bake at 325 - time depends on what baking containers you use.  I filled a bundt cake pan (because my kids think it's yummier if I call it cake) and a 6 muffin tin.  The muffins took about 20 minutes, but the cake was more like 45 minutes.

The result was DELICIOUS, but when I make it again I will try 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup applesauce instead of the full cup of oil.

*  As a disclaimer, this recipe is healthier in the sense that it uses more whole food ingredients and less processed ones.  By no means it is low in calories or fat :)

Magnet fun

Ellie found a new way to entertain Violet:

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Four weeks ago, Violet stopped nursing.  All of a sudden, she just refused to even try.  I wasn't too worried about it, because she has done this once before.  When she was 4 months old, she refused to nurse for an entire day, but finally started eating again once we got into the doctor's office to check her out.  So, for the first day of what I thought was something called a "nursing strike," I just fed her solid foods as usual and gave her water in a sippy cup.  When it continued past 2 days, I started to worry a little, and I began giving her my pumped milk in her sippy cup because I felt like she wasn't getting enough fluids or calories.  At that point she wasn't eating enough solid food to sustain herself. 

After a week of absolutely no breastfeeding, I started to doubt that Violet would ever want to breastfeed again.  She was still showing no interest in wanting to even try to nurse.  At that point, I went through a grieving period.  It was a little heartbreaking during the middle of the night when instead of searching for my chest, she patted down my arm to my hands to see if they contained a bottle (and heaven forbid I picked her up without a bottle in my hands, or a screaming, writhing, toddler-esque fit would ensue!).  I had planned on breastfeeding Violet as long as she wanted to, so her quitting so unusually early was hard for me to accept.  And I guess I can announce this now (even though I wasn't planning on doing so):  Unless God provides us with a miracle, there will be no more Tatum tots for us. So, the unexpected realization that I would never again breastfeed a baby was a little devastating.  In fact, I am getting a little teary just thinking about it. 

After almost a month without breastfeeding, Violet still has absolutely no interest.  Our baby that refused bottles until this point is now enthusiastically lunging to bottles now.  I am beginning to accept that this is probably not a nursing strike; it is most likely a complete (too early!) weaning.  I have no idea why, but I just have to accept this as part of Violet's admirably strong personality.  Although it makes me a little sad still, I do have to admit that it has it's benefits.  I am no longer restricted in how long I can be apart from her.  Jason can easily grab some breastmilk from the fridge if I am away.  Also, on our recent trip to TN, Ellie was able to feed Violet bottles while they were both still strapped in their carseats.  That was really convenient!  And the best change of all is that Violet is sleeping beautifully at night.  She often sleeps straight through until morning, but I keep a bottle of water near our bed in case she wakes up.  She'll take a drink of water and go right back to bed.  Yes, it is a big hassle to pump 4 times a day and wash everything involved in pumping, but I can handle that for a few months.  Thankfully a great friend lent me an electric pump, or I wouldn't have lasted longer than a week. 

So for now I have come to terms with our baby growing up so quickly.  It is definitely bittersweet.  Who knows how long I will continue to pump milk for her bottles, but it will be at least until she is one.  And maybe she will continue to surprise us and actually want to nurse again.  But I won't hold my breath :)

Madison Mud Run - 2011

Back in the beginning of April, I saw an advertisement for what looked like the coolest race ever -  Madison Mud Run.  It looked like a mix between a run and an ultimate Survivor challenge.  Now is the time that I should probably point out that I have never, ever wanted to be a runner.  Running was not even remotely fun.  The few times that I had to run to catch my bus, I would be so embarrassed as I entered the bus gasping for air.  But, I have been looking for something new to drop these last 10 pounds from having three kids.  Something that did not require scheduled classes, since I never know when I will have free time.  So, I decided that I would do it.  I would sign up to run this almost 5 mile race, with less than 6 weeks to train, with absolutely no running experience.  Crazy, right?

Luckily I convinced (which actually took absolutely no convincing at all) my wonderful friends and husband to join me in the race, which made it 100x more fun!  Even the training was fun since the three of us girls did it together.  The theme for the race was superheroes, so we made these wonderful costumes to race in. 

From left to right the shirts say, "It's Mommy's turn to play in the mud"  "I have 3 boys, I know MUD!"  "Faster than a speeding toddler"  and "My kids think I'm a superhero"



And the super capes

The two dads who were not running in the race were in charge of watching our kids for us while we crawled through the mud.  On race day, it was CRAZY windy and cold, which was unfortunate since there were a few obstacles involving water.  But we were determined to finish the race no matter what.  It was so much fun, and we felt so proud of ourselves after completing (even if we did finish in the bottom 25%).

Starting the race -  Go Team 406!

Crawling through the mud pit at the end

We did it!

All our late night runs paid off

Now here is what you don't see captured in the pictures:

Only days before our big race, Pa sliced her leg open and had to get many stitches.  The doctor warned her to not run in the race, mostly due to risk of infection.  But Pa's (doctor) husband found some magic bandaids that covered it well and Pa defied doctors orders to run.

A few days later, Nina dropped a razor blade on her foot.  Luckily it was a small, manageable cut and she was still able to race.

The night before the race, Jason couldn't sleep because he got a stomach bug.  But he still ran/walked the race with no sleep and no energy.

I battled a knee injury for the weeks prior to the race, but luckily had no problems running that day.

The driving force behind my run that day was a determination to get back to our kids.  I was so worried that Violet would be screaming for me the entire time and that Rowan would be lost in the crowd by the time we returned.  Of course when we returned, all the kids were just fine.

There were many obstacles throughout the race, including climbing walls, a bouncy house, a giant slip and slide, and monkey bars.  When we arrived at the monkey bars, Pa was hesitant to do them because they were ridiculously high off the ground and the bars sort of twisted as we went across.  Well, when her turn came, she flew across those bars like a little monkey - with her own awesome style too.  I grabbed onto the second bar and fell flat on my back.  :) 

All in all, it was an incredible experience, and I know there are more races to come in my future :D