This week I celebrated my 25th (37th) Birthday! The day started with a fabulous walk to the pool while I listened to my latest audio book, The Power of the Extraordinary Mind. It’s a great book about challenging yourself to look at your life as it is now and assess what you need to change. One of the topics they discuss is how adopting societal rules as absolute truths can really hamper your life. Applying this concept to my own life has been really beneficial, especially when considering situations with the kids. When you let go of some “rules” it’s amazing how freeing it can be.
Next, a 2 mile swim in the outdoor pool while I watched night turn to day. Swimming has always been huge part of my life. Being in the water is truly transformative. Training in the water is a unique load that creates a lovely compression while challenging your body from all angles.
Then a short run home where I was greeted by my little artist, Cameron eager to show me what he had made me. He took an old picture of me and glued it to a folder along with his favorite feathers bordering the picture. Inside the folder he had drawn a stoplight five different arrows in his favorite colors. He also used a closepin to attach a “piece of money” from his piggy bank to the folder, which he promptly took back. Awesome!!!
I went up to greet my little loves and nurse them before heading out on our morning bike ride. The five of us completed a very sweaty 3 mile excursion before heading home for breakfast. I whipped up a breakfast for the kiddos…soaked oats for the girls and eggs, sausage and fruit salad for the boys. Next it was off to Madelyn and Annabelle’s 18 month check up. My Mom joined me for an extra set of hands while the boys hung out at home with Kevin while he worked.
As soon as we arrived home, the boys and I were off to another adventure by car to pick up some ingredients. Next came lunch and then meal prep. The kids enjoyed some soaked lentils and seed bread. After clean up, it was on to the meal prep for dinner, smoothies for the next day, veggie chopping and salad prep for dinner. The boys LOVE playing with their sisters and were great entertainers for 2 hours. I gave the girls a bath and laid them down for nap. I vacuumed the upstairs, put away the laundry, packed the boys for the beach and put away the dishes in anticipation of dinner prep.
Then, the boys and I headed out again to check out a BMX/skate school. As I described in my last post, they have developed strength on the bike. I am eager to encourage further development of that skill! Finally, off to Target for a couple more odds and ends.
The girls were awake when we arrived home and it was time to prep dinner. I had Kevin preheat the oven on the way home so all I had to do was bake the chicken wings and steam the carrots. Everything else was done earlier! As the wings were baking, Cameron and I took out the compost and harvested the ripe berries and veggies from the garden.
Birthday dinner was not my first choice but it’s ok because the rest of the family enjoyed it. Which as a Mom, at mealtime is often more important. After dinner, we all enjoyed some left over coconut milk chocolate fudge swirl ice cream. Super yummy! Overall, it was an awesome day.
