Turkey Trot

When I was in high school, various members of my family would run a 5 mile Turkey Trot Thanksgiving morning. We also had a Friday morning Turkey Carcass run that we participated in. I actually missed the first Turkey Trot I signed up for because I got hit by a van while doing a quick run the evening before. No broken bones, but I certainly wasn't in any position to run a 5 mile race the next morning.

In any case, I graduated and moved half way across the country to go to college, and with one thing or another I haven't run a Turkey Trot since my senior year in high school. A few weeks ago I googled local races and found a 5k that's just 10 minutes away. Even better, they allow jogging strollers!

It was on the cold side Thanksgiving morning, but the race was fun. It was the first time I ran a race pushing a jogger, but I didn't do too badly. The first half of the race was nice mixture of flat and downhill. The second half was a lot of uphills, so I had to do some walking then, but I still managed to finish the race in 35:05. Not the best time I've ever run, but really good for pushing a 4 year old in a jogger up a bunch of hills.

LMS had fun, but kept asking to get out and run. She's been riding in that jogger since she was 3 or 4 months old. I think we're approaching the end of its usefulness. Next year she'll be old enough to participate in the half mile kids' fun run that's before the 5k.

Do you run a race on Thanksgiving?

Gluten free, dairy free, soy free ice cream

That's actually yummy. Hard to believe, but it's true!

I've found two brands that fit the bill: Luna and Larry's ice cream and Tempt ice cream.

Luna and Larry's ice cream has a coconut milk base. The texture is very thick and creamy, very similar to Ben and Jerry's ice cream. They have several flavors, though our local Whole Foods only carries a couple of the very basic flavors. The vanilla ice cream has a faint coconut flavor, but it's not unpleasant. The coconut flavor is barely noticeable in the other flavors I've tried. This ice cream is sold in pints and ice cream bars (which we like for Friday night movie nights).  We really like this ice cream!

Tempt ice cream has a hemp milk base. And no, hemp milk will not make you fail a drug test :)  This ice cream is also very thick and creamy, not crystal-y like a lot of ice creams. Its texture is also reminiscent of Ben and Jerry's. They only have a few flavors. The chocolate is very good, but the coconut lime was weird.

It's nice to have ice cream that tastes good and doesn't make my stomach hurt. Luna and Larry's has a couple flavor combinations that almost make you think you're eating some Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Since that's no longer in my future, it's nice to have a good substitute.

Sunday Funny: Legos and Little People

Unpacking the Christmas things includes the Little People nativity set, which LMS loves.

The day after I unpacked it, I found this:

That's Mary sitting on a chair at a table, with a basket of food next to her.

The sheep are having a chat over flowers (lunch?).

There's a lego staircase so the angel can get to the roof   :)

And the kitties are safely in their cages.



Love it!

The New and Improved Little Miss Sunshine

Last week I was getting my eyes checked and I felt impressed to make an appointment for LMS to get hers checked. I talked to the people at the doctor's office and they were very supportive of me bringing her in. So  Monday I took LMS to the eye doctor and it turns out there was a reason I needed to bring her in. Her left eye is worse than either of my eyes. Her right eye also needs some correction, but isn't nearly as bad as her left eye.

We ordered some glasses and they came in last night. Isn't she cute?

(at the eye doctor's last night)

(the red spot on her forehead is from leaving a bandaid on for too long)

 (at home this morning)

They're purple princess glasses!

I sure wish there was cute glasses around when I was a kid and got my first glasses.

(I so am not posting pictures of me back then- glasses in the 80s were just wrong!)

LMS thought Lambie needed some glasses, so I made some from pipe cleaners. She then decided that a bunch of her other animals also needed glasses, so we made some for them too.

LMS will have to wear glasses the rest of her life, but in the meantime we're working on strengthening her left eye. This means we patch her right eye for two hours each day, five days a week.

I talk this up by telling her she gets to be a pirate every morning.

This worked until Thursday morning when she was wearing her purple fairy costume. Then she came to me and told me she wanted the patch off because she was a fairy, and fairies can't be pirates  :)

LMS wasn't super cooperative for this photo (hence the expression on her face). She's got a Jasmine bandaid under the occluder patch.

 It's hard to tell (LMS took this photo), but Lambie has a Jasmine bandaid over her eye too :)

Our Thanksgiving meal

I survived Thanksgiving without eating something I shouldn't. How can I tell? I had a very productive Friday.

Unfortunately, Saturday afternoon I ate some gluten free crackers that contain soy and corn. Derailed the rest of my day.

I've been paying closer attention to how I feel when I eat food. I'm constantly checking to make sure I'm eating safe food, or what I think is safe food. Lately the biggest indication I've eaten something unsafe, aside from the stomach pains and swelling throat, is massive mental fog. My brain checks out and I'm too blotto to get anything accomplished. And I feel like crap.

I've been quite successful at avoiding triggers lately and have been getting a lot done, which feels so good. It also makes it much more noticeable when my brain checks out. Not sure that knowing how much of a space case I can be is a good thing.

What did we eat for our gluten, oat, corn, dairy, egg, soy free Thanksgiving meal?
Roasted cornish game hens (yum!)
Pecan crusted sweet potatoes (double yum!)
Mock cornbread- made from millet (not cooked all the way unfortunately, but I've since made them as muffins and they were very good)
Green salad with pecans, cranberries, apples, and a cranberry vinaigrette (very yummy!)
Orange jello with mandarin oranges (yummy!)
Vegan pumpkin mousse tarts (not so great,  but that's ok)
Luna and Larry's Coconut Bliss Vanilla ice cream (soooo good!)

Most of it was good, and we didn't get any stomach aches, so it was a success :)

More pictures from our walks

Little Miss Sunshine loves collecting leaves, especially the red ones.

 Same walk, different day. We went with some friends and made it all the way to the top. It's a beautiful walk, about 2.5 miles one way.

LMS showing off the skirt and leggings I made her.

More pretty fall foliage

I took these photos while out running in our neighborhood.

I love all the colors the leaves change, and I love the crunch of stepping on fallen leaves.

And here's a shot of 3 hot air balloons near our house one morning not too long ago.

Pretty fall foliage

We went for a walk on a path out by the apple orchard, and it's very scenic.

LMS found some large leaves that she called feathers. She held them on her head so she could be one of Cinderella's horses. We discussed the fact that Drusilla and Anastasia also had feathers on their heads, but she didn't want to be one of them.

Then it was my turn. LMS took a pretty good picture of me :)

Blurry action shots of LMS running down the hill on the way back to the car.

Listening for a baby critter (ala Wonder Pets).

Flying down the path.

And yes, she is wearing her Aurora dress from last Halloween. She would wear that or her Cinderella dress every day if I let her :)

Food issues and why my posting is so erratic these days

On LMS's last day of soccer we skipped the "banquet" (pizza and cookies), since we couldn't eat any of it. I should have had something prepared, but I've been off my game lately. There's still something that's making me fuzzy headed and messing with my energy levels and attention span.

The supposedly "safe" candy I bought to trade out the unsafe stuff LMS got turned out not to be safe. My stomach's been killing me and LMS has yucky poopy again.  Which means that no store-bought candy is safe.  Grrrrrr. What are we going to do for all the candy-centered holidays? It's easier to downplay it now while she's young and at home so much, but what about Christmas with family, or other times where other kids are eating stuff she can't? 

I've been hoping it wasn't going to be an issue for her, but the week of Halloween has shown that I do have to be careful and not get sucked into the mindset of "it's just a little bit" or "one piece won't hurt". It does have an effect on her, and it's one that neither of us enjoys, especially since it takes so long to clear up.

Since we'll be spending Christmas with her grandparents (and all her cousins on daddy's side) I'm going to have to think of things to put in our stockings so she doesn't feel left out. It'll probably be small toys, nuts, oranges, and some vegan candies. I've seen some recipes for vegan candies, so I'm going to have to try some of them to see if they'll work (translation: edible and yummy).

For the most part, I don't mind not eating what everyone else does, but I'm a grown up and I can be rational about it. LMS is just a little kid. She usually does very well, but there are times where I've had to tell her she can't eat something and she gets upset. I don't blame her- I like m&ms too. That was her favorite part of going grocery shopping: getting a package of peanut or peanut butter m&ms and sharing them with mommy. Ok, the sharing part wasn't her favorite, the m&ms were  :)   I do miss peanut butter m&ms....

Last week we cut out soy, not that we actually ate much soy, mostly just soy sauce (gluten free, of course). It's rather discouraging though: there's only a few things left that we could cut out. Of the major allergens, we're only still eating peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish. So I guess we've only cut out half the list, it just feels like more.  We've cut out gluten, corn, oats, dairy, eggs, and soy. Every time we eliminate a food, I feel better for awhile, then start feeling crummy again. Eliminate another food, and start the cycle again. I'm really hoping this is the last time we have to go through it.

In the meantime, I'm trying to get stuff done while feeling crummy, and a lot of things are being left undone. Hopefully things will improve soon.

Sunday Funny

As I was fiddling with this photo, LMS looked over my shoulder and asked:

"Why don't I have any arms?"

"You put them behind your back."

"Oh."

Presenting my craft cabinet:

Goal #10 is finished!

If you missed the pictures, go here and here.

Pumpkin Waffles

Gluten free, egg free, dairy free, corn free, oat free.

The weather has gotten cooler, the leaves are changing (must take lots of pictures very soon!), and fall is here. Fall makes me think of pumpkins- I love anything flavored with pumpkin- pie, cookies, muffins, ice cream (so yummy, but I won't be eating any this year unfortunately), and waffles.

I followed the recipe here, and I have to say her website is a goldmine of recipes I can actually use (ie, eat without getting sick).

I used the smaller amount of salt in the recipe, but should have used more- the waffles were a bit bland. Howevere, we put unsweetened applesauce on top, and they were yummy!

I had a brain fart and had the first batch cooking in my Belgian waffle maker before I realized this wasn't actually a Belgian waffle recipe. I've made waffles several times since then, using the regular waffle maker, and they've turned out better. They were just too thick and dense to make a good Belgian waffle.

The picture is from the first time I made these waffles, and we used store-bought applesauce. The last two times I made them we used the applesauce I made a couple weeks ago. Sooo yummy!

It's hot air balloon season

Last Sunday I was putting stuff in the car before church when I heard a loud noise. I thought it was just a car being turned on next door. Then I heard the noise again, only it was above me. I looked around, then finally looked up, and coming through the trees next door, right above our house, was a hot air balloon! I ran in and got LMS, and she was very excited to see a hot air balloon.

Saturday morning I was laying in bed, telling myself I needed to get up and get moving, when I heard the noise (the burner) again. I raced downstairs, grabbed my camera, and stood on the front porch and took some pictures.

To give perspective, that's our flag that hangs on the porch and the trees are between our house and the house next door.

I need to find out who's running the balloon rides- I would love to take a ride in a hot air balloon. My sixth grade science project was on hot air balloons, and I've been fascinated with them ever since. LMS keeps talking about going for a ride, too. Though I think she expects to go in a pink princess balloon. Haven't seen any of those around...

Backyard photo shoot

Saturday before we went to the mall for trick or treating, LMS and I headed out to the backyard for a quick photo shoot. We were trick or treating when I finally realized we'd forgotten to put on the black necklace. Oh well.

inspecting the flora and fauna

twirly

twirly

  

love the smile

the dimple!
Saturday she was looking at her face in the mirror, and she said "Mom, I have a hole in my face!"
"Nope, it's just a dimple."
"Oh."

cute kiddo

chasing leaves
(time to rake again, ugh)

trying to catch leaves

still trying

more chasing

waiting

success at last!

Last day of soccer

It's hard to believe soccer is over already, but it was short to begin with since we missed the first couple weeks, and several practices were canceled due to rain, making it even shorter.

LMS is on a 3-4 team, and the last few weeks they've been splitting them up and having the 3 year olds continue doing drills while the 4 year olds (try) to play a game. It's hilarious. They have no clue what they're doing :)  For some reason they had 4 kids guarding the goal (maybe playing defense?) while the other 5 or 6 kids on her team played offense. What do you do when the ball isn't nearby? Why, you show your teammates the Hello Kitty bandaids you plastered on your legs (never mind that there's no sores under those bandaids).

 LMS did really well, and I'm hoping that in the spring they'll do more games and less drills- they only had a couple weeks of trying to play an actual game. Next fall she'll move up to the 5 year old team, and they were playing games from the get-go.

After the game they had the end-of-season "banquet" (pizza and cookies), but we just grabbed her trophy and skipped out. She's been doing well with not eating what everyone else does, but I thought the banquet might have been a bit much, especially since I dropped the ball and didn't have anything for her to eat instead of the pizza and cookies.

with her trophy and dog tag necklace

While I was making breakfast before soccer, LMS was supposed to be putting her shoes and socks on. Instead, I heard a crash, followed by a scream. LMS somehow managed to trip/slip/fall (while barefoot) into the edge of the bench that holds our shoes, and had a big dent in her forehead to show for it. I immediately put ice on it, and it never swelled up too badly. The bruise is just starting to show, and in a few days I'm sure it will be very obvious. Strangely enough, after icing it and taking some ibuprofen she was rarin' to go to soccer (not the reaction she's had the last couple weeks).  I kept an eye on her all day and thankfully she didn't show any adverse effects.

poor kiddo- it'll be quite a bruise