Flat Feet

Taneal has flat feet. No arch. And it is really starting to hurt. I noticed her archless feet years ago. Evan has the same problem, but I thought it was from a sporting injury. The doctor informed me it is definitely genetic. And Taneal got those jeans.



Towards the end of the summer Taneal's feet really started to hurt. I got her into the pediatrician who referred us to the podiatrist. The podiatrist suggested prescription orthotics which would help her immensely.

The reason for the pain was the swelling of the tendons in her feet due to the lack of arch support. But the orthotics would help that problem. Evan wears orthotics.

Spencer may have the same problem. Darn generics.



Today Taneal got fitted for the orthotics. It was kind of a cool, simple process. And in about three weeks, Taneal will be sporting $350 shoe inserts. ( I had to put the price so that posterity will be able to look back and think, "wow, they were even expensive back then. ")








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Summer of Seals Competition

Today was the big day that I having been preparing for for 12 weeks. It has been brutal. 4 workouts a week, a minimum of 30 minutes each.

Swim 500 meters. 10 minute break. Following 2 minutes of as many push ups as you can do. Two minute break. Then 2 minutes of as many sit ups as you can do. 2 minute break. Then as many pull ups as you can do. Finally a 1.5 mile run.

Today was the final performance. To see if those 12 weeks of desperately trying to do  push ups, pull ups, and sit ups would all pay off? Two weeks ago I still couldn't do a push up. At least not any that would qualify.

But today was different.

I'm not sure what happened. I've never been any kind of athlete. I have never really pushed myself physically, other than child bearing and rearing. The last trial run through of this competition yielded very pleasing results, so I hoped to get at least as well as I had practiced. Okay, I did want to drop 6 seconds on my swim because that would earn me to the next tier. But even if I didn't drop six seconds, I would still be super pleased with how far I had come.

I couldn't swim when we started. I couldn't do any push ups when we started. And I couldn't do any sit ups with my hands still on my head. It was bad. I could run. But I couldn't do anything else in this competition. And I worked my tail off and still two weeks ago I was yet to do one push-up.

And then today happened. My best swim time had been 13:36. Today I swam it in 12:19. I dropped over a minute! I had to pass 4 people!

I took the 10 minute break and then started on the push ups. I did 10 pretty quickly and wasn't as tired out as I had been in the past run throughs. So I though what the heck, I'll see if I can push out 15 more and make it to the next tier. And for those of you who were watching, I know I looked pathetic. But my lower chest was touching the block. My mom, who was taking pictures, said it didn't look like I touched the block at all. Ever. But I did. And the kid counting them agreed with me and counted them, making them quite legal. After I had finished 25, I still wasn't exhausted, and I still had a minute left. So I thought, what the heck, just for fun lets see if I can reach 40. If he says they don't count, that's fine. But my chest touched the block and I reached 40 total push ups!

2 weeks ago I couldn't do any. And even if they were pathetic looking push ups and barely legal, I DID THEM. What an accomplishment! It must have been a high from doing so well on the swim. I was on fire!

2 minute break and then I had 2 minutes to see how many sit ups I could do. Sit ups are a bit of a challenge for me. Tail bone issues. Removal of tail bone because of tail bone issues. Still have those issues, just not as severe. At the run throughs, I was able to do 30. And that is keeping my hands on my head. That part is worth mentioning because that is a big deal. It is hard to do push ups and keep my hands on my head. And guess how many I did? 50! The most I have ever done.

I didn't do any pull ups. Maybe next year.

I completed the 1.5 mile run in 14:20. It was my normal time, no improvements there.

But look at what I did. I was so happy with my results, so happy with how far I came.

And what was even better is Evan did it with me.

And my two sisters were on my team.

Bonnie took 3rd place in women's, 2nd for today's activities (no weight loss or points for workout). And she placed 1st for pull ups (tied with 3 others).

Dorias improved in everything like I did. I am so proud of how far she came. She is a superstar to me.

And Evan is a machine! I am amazed how strong his body is. He can do push ups like it is no big deal. He swam very well and dropped 2 minutes off his best time in the run.

My team came in 4th place of 10 women's teams. Staci got 1st place for the most weight loss. She lost 31 pounds! Unbelievable!

This was a great accomplishment for many of us. It is all over. Now what to do with these muscular arms of mine. A few weeks ago I was mindlessly rubbing my arm and noticed a bulge. It caught my attention and after further investigation I realized it was a new muscle that I didn't know I had. I had developed my triceps. And I think I will continue with the push ups and sit ups and see if I can get at least on pull up. I won't have access to a pool this winter, but I plan to keep those muscles growing so I can do even better next summer. Maybe give my little sister some competition. I doubt it, but it was a fun thought for a minute.

 

Imperfections

I bet you never realized that I was only human. I know, I know, it's hard to admit. But sometimes life happens and I loose it. The occurrences are rare a far between. But unfortunately they happen. I can usually contain these burst of emotions, keeping them bottled up inside until they subside. But not the other day.

There was a whole sting of events that happened. I was emotional. It wasn't necessarily anything in particular. I was trying to make Nathan's birthday cake. He wanted a black truck cake with fire on the side. I googled a truck cake, found one that looked very doable. Supplies needed: cake and black fondant. So I decided to make my own fondant, because I'm like that. I would much rather do without or make my own than drag 6 children to the store in the scorching heat. And how hard can fondant be to make anyways?

I thought I made fondant. It was a lot of work. A whole lot of work. It looked and felt like fondant. Yah, don't make your own. It didn't work.

So I baked three rectangular cakes. Staked two, frosted them.

Camie walks in and says, "How hard can a truck cake be to make anyways? What's the big deal." 

It was about that time that I was rolling out my homemade fondant and realizing that it wasn't working. Her comment just added to the frustration. It was noon. I should have had the cake made the day before. I couldn't go to the store very easily and buy fondant, color it BLACK, and still get this cake made in time for this party where I was feeding 20 people.  

And then I examined the cake. It didn't look quite right. Taneal offered some suggestions which would not work without making more buttercream frosting and even then, it would probably destroy the cake trying to fix it. I told her thanks for the idea, but it wouldn't work.

I was already emotional.

I was examining the cake, trying to figure out what was really wrong and how to fix it without ruining the cake. And then Taneal repeats her suggestions that really would not work. I told her that I could not do that, but guess what I could do.

And I took that three layer cake and slammed it into the ground.

It splattered all over the floor. All up the front of the fridge. All over the cabinets, and flew onto the counter. I think my children just froze because they weren't sure what to do. They had never really seen me behave like this. And quite frankly neither had I. I had felt emotions like this many times, but never had I really reacted like this.

There was no yelling. No crying. Nothing. Just Silence.

After what seemed like minutes, I grabbed the cake board and started scooping up pieces of cake and frosting. I was thinking about if Gavin came crawling into this mess it would be all over the place. I quietly cleaned up the mess. Camie was almost in tears and I asked her if this was her fault. She said she didn't know. She knew the comment she made had not been very nice.  I then asked her if she was the one that threw the cake. She said she wasn't. Then I told her of course it wasn't her fault because I was the one that had thrown the cake. I did it, not her. Yes, she may have said something that I didn't like, but I threw that cake, not her. I was responsible for my own actions.

It is amazing to me how children really believe things are their fault. They are only children. We are adults with years of practice controlling our emotions. I lost it. She may have contributed to my emotions, but I am the one who acted on those emotions. I am the one who lost control.

And now Nathan did not have a cake. Not just a truck cake, but a birthday cake. What do I do?

So I went to Costco and bought him a birthday cake.

It was so easy. It was colorful. And he really didn't care that it wasn't a black truck cake with fire on the side.

What am I going to do with this new information? I'm afraid Costco made it too easy. I'm afraid my days of cake decorating might just be over. I liked the no stress, no work. It was so perfectly perfect.

Costco, you might just be my new birthday cake friend. If only you had balloons.

Nathan Turns 3!

My rough, tough, silly, moody, crazy, dirty, funny, loud boy just turned three.

I have some pretty great stories to tell of this little character. Still trying to figure out how to appropriately tell them to an audience that could be underage. They will make you laugh.

So for now we will focus on this boy's birthday. All he wanted for his borthday was a black truck cake with fire. He didn't care about anything else. I tried to make the cake like that, but that is a different story for a different time. Taneal made him the cutest and coolest shirt and NAthan agreed.

Aunt Becky found him a black truck that had fire on the sides, so he got his black truck. I got him a pair of boots, except I didn't check inside the box very close and after he opened them and tried to put them on, we realized we had two left boots both the wrong size. That present didn't work out so well.

He had fun blowing out his candles and didn't mind that Gavin kept grabbing handfuls of frosting.

He wanted a certain piece of cake and it was so funny to watch him lick the top of the cake like you would an ice cream cone. He was such a cute boy for his birthday and we sure had fun celebrating this special day.

Last Day Being Shark Girl

We are headed to the dentist. They are going to remove the baby teeth whose roots never disolved. She is in 2nd grade and has never lost a tooth before. I wonder if the tooth fairy will come? This will be a new experience, never seen teeth pulled before. Adios, baby teeth!

I Warned You!

Here is that post that I totally deserve. I really have to brag about myself because I am seriously awesome. I have made the biggest accomplishment this summer and I have to share. I warned you here. I said if I could pull this off that it would deserve a post all of its own. And I so pulled it off. It wasn't easy. And that is why I am so excited to share.

I learned to swim.

What's the big deal about that? I have tried to swim over the years, never been able to. I could doggie paddle, float on my back, but I could not swim. I have watched my children for the past four years in swim team accomplish something that I could not do myself. And I was so pleased with how well they did.

This spring I signed up for the Summer of Seals competition. I knew I was crazy when I did it. It required swimming 500 meters in under 17 minutes. Following the swim was 2 minutes each of push ups, sit ups, and pull ups. And then to top it off, a mile and a half run completed in under 15 minutes. And all that was the minimum.

Let me break it down a little more. I couldn't swim. Push ups? Not even the girly kind. Sits-ups? I've had 6 kids in the last 10 years. Think those muscles still exist? I couldn't do even one while keeping my hands on my head, yet another requirement for this competition. And the pull ups? That would require lifting all my body weight. I can lift a baby, not a full grown woman. And the run? I can run. But in under 15 minutes completing a mile and a half after just doing all that other stuff? That'll be pushing it.

Crazy me. Why on earth would I sign up for something as ridiculous as this? Because I wanted to. I wanted a challenge, something to break up the monotony. I wanted to force myself to do something that would be healthy for my ever weary body. And I really wanted to push myself to accomplish something hard. I figured I could end up doing the sit ups, push ups, and pull ups. But the swimming? That in itself would deserve a blog post all to it's own.

And now I can.

I learned to swim.

It started by doing laps at the pool at 5:30 in the morning. I will never forget that first morning. I left the pool crying. I showed up with all these novice swimmers that were parents to the children on my kid's swim team. they were doing lap after lap after lap. And here I was choking on water, trying to kick my feet while I held onto a kick board and attempt to reach the other end of the pool and still leave some water in the pool, not drinking it all. I had the head swim coach in the lane next to me giving me pointers. Everyone was being so kind and trying to help me, but I simply did not know how to swim or even where to get started.

But I didn't give up. I came back the next morning. And I put my face in that water, blew some bubbles, took my face out, took a deep breath, and repeated. I did this for a few weeks. Still no progress. And then a beautiful thing happened. I was at our neighborhood pool and my friend, Megan, who also joined Summer of Seals, had me watch her children while she did a few laps. And she did this stroke that my children did and almost always got DQ'd on. I thought I could try it because the rules to our swimming competition was that any stroke goes, just don't walk it. So after she finished, I gave that stroke a try, and it worked!

I can swim the breast stroke!

I could breathe, I could swim. It was a beautiful combination. I had Taneal give me some pointers. I worked this stroke for a few weeks, alternating between this and back stroke. And I could complete the 11 laps required to make 500 meters.

I finally decided to time myself. And this is where it gets even more exciting. I was swimming the 500 meters in 15 minutes. The minimum was 17 minutes, so I was well under that time. I couldn't believe that I was actually doing it. I really didn't believe it, so I timed myself again the next day and I really was doing it.

I still haven't given up on the free style stroke. You know the one where you put your face in the water looking down at the bottom of the pool and only come up for a breath about every ten minutes and then quickly put your face back in the water looking down at the bottom of the pool for another ten minutes while you hope you don't die. I can do that stroke for 50 meters and then I have to switch to the breast stroke. But I can swim. And I can swim sort of fast. I still plan to accomplish and master the freestyle. But for now I am so proud of myself because I can really swim.

Last night I did a run through of the competition. Want to know how well I did on my swim? Yah, I nailed that thing at 13:36 minutes. If I drop 6 seconds, I will move to the next tier and earn 4 points instead of two. I think I can accomplish that.

Did I mention I learned how to swim?

Pizza Parties

My children's swim team rewards them for beating their swim times at the swim meets by giving them a free kids meal at a pizza place here in town. The only way we will take them out for pizza is if they have their free pizza pass. And when each child can swim up to four different strokes per swim meet, they can earn lots of those passes. The coach rewarded Spencer with TWO coupons when he finally swam 25 yards unassisted. They are a big deal to my children.

We have had a plethora of coupons this summer and got to visit the pizza place on many different occasions. It is pretty cool to walk into a pizza buffet and feed 6 children and 1 adult for $10. Of course I give my children the option of the drink or the dessert pizza, and they always choose the dessert pizza, making the trip even cheaper. Yes, I am cheep. I am a stay-at-home mom, I have to be!

 So here's a funny story that didn't end quite so funny. Taneal is such a big helper to me. When I take the kids for pizza without another adult, I have to have Taneal really step up and help me. I grab the drinks while holding Gavin and she helps Nathan at the salad bar. She loads him up with the lettuce, cucumbers, olives, croutons, and the things he really likes. Then we all sit down together and Taneal and I take turns watching Gavin while the other helps the younger kids.

Well, at our last visit, Taneal automatically loaded Nathan's plate up. I did my normal routine. All were happy eating. All of a sudden Nathan starts spitting. He was spitting everywhere. He wasn't making any noise other than the spitting noise, so I didn't think much of it. But we were in public and I really didn't want him spitting. Then I realized he was also wiping his tongue and the expression on his face was pain. I then noticed on his plate a pile of jalapenos that Taneal had served up to him. And because they were on his plate and Nathan will try anything, he had helped himself to a mouth full of those burning hot peppers. He was spitting trying to get the burn off his tongue.

I helped him get a drink, and he still kept spitting. Not the little spitting, but the spray type spitting that flies EVERYWHERE! I finally shoved a brownie in his mouth and told him to chew. That really helped. Then I looked over at Taneal to see why on earth she had piled those jalapenos onto his plate, and she was laughing uncontrollably. She had pulled a fast one on my poor, helpless three year-old.

I have to admit it was funny. So sorry, Nathan, but she got you good.

But then she pushed it a little too far. About 10 minutes later she asked if she could come sit next to Nathan, that she would help him finish his food. I didn't think much of it because Taneal is a great helper and really does do nice things like that. Next thing I know, Nathan is spray spitting again and grabbing his tongue. She had slipped another jalapeno into his mouth without him knowing it.

Once was funny, twice, no way.

So I made her eat a jalapeno.

I don't think she enjoyed it.

Danielle turns SEVEN!

My little princess had a birthday. She had it all planned out. Muffins from Costco for breakfast and chicken patties with mashed potatoes for supper. No vegetables. And she wanted this cake. And presents. Oh, and don't forget the balloons. She knew what she wanted. Of course the way she presented her wishes was anything but demanding. It was sort of like, wouldn't this be the coolest birthday ever if I could have all this? And so we did all that and it was the best birthday ever.

Last year was her friend party, so this year was a family party. Troy and Becky were out-of-town, so they couldn't come. Bonnie and Jarom were around, so we got to have them come. Danielle also wanted a family from our neighborhood to come over, so I agreed as long as she knew it wasn't a party and we weren't playing games. That was all agreed upon and then Danielle decided she really wanted her friend Porter to come. And since I am good friends with Porter's mom, I thought it was a great idea.

One of the presents I got for Danielle was so lame. The girl really likes Mac-n-cheese. I don't like to make it because it never fills the kiddos up, half of it ends up getting wasted, and it really isn't healthy. Danielle asks for mac-n-cheese quite frequently and I almost always say no. So for her birthday I bought her Easy Mac. She can pour the contents into a bowl and put it in the mocrowave and wah-la. Her own bowl of mac-n-chesse. I;m not quite sure if she was embarrased or totally excited. But a week later they are all gone.

She found her cake and this was the cake she really wanted. I wasn't too happy with the way it turned out, but Danielle was happy and that is what counts.