The vegetable challenge

I acknowledge that I like to be in control of what my kids eat at home. I think this is normal and ok while I'm the one shopping and cooking for them. I know that outside our house, its not all in my control. They go by taste, not nutritional content, and our environment has so many 'super foods' aka fast food and packaged foods, that they don't understand how easy it is to get sick by eating that food to often too long.

We parents often get frustrated that their kids won't eat what they make, which for us often includes vegetables. So, last year Siri and Jane took up my 'Vegetable Challenge' for them: Eat your vegetables whenever we have them at meals (including breakfast, lunch and dinner) for a year, and you get $100. Siri has until the end of September and Jane the end of October. It's ok if they don't want to eat them, I tell them I'll clear their place if they're done. But, if I clear it, they will lose money. So far, and with much patience and second chances, they are still going to reach their goal.

I'll add pumpkin puree to the pancakes, shredded carrots to their yogurt parfaits, spinach in the smoothies, but they generally eat their veggies cut up and raw, maybe with dip. Ruby's favorite is plain cooked broccoli, Jane loves Mark's sauteed green beans, and Siri is a straight up raw carrot/cucumber kind of gal.

As for a Ruby update, nothing new :)
She goes for scans in July, just as a precaution. The genetic test to see if the gene mutation they found in the mass is in every cell of her body is still not complete, or at least we haven't heard back yet. I'm not anxious as there is nothing we can do to change it, but it will help us to know what to do going forward.

As for me-I had a phase of I'm-getting-old-itis. I saw a podiatrist-I have a bunion on my left food, but its not painful so he said to wear orthodics and that's about it. When we got back from Jamaica I needed a detox so I did the diet of the book I read, The Fast Metabolism Diet. I could do a whole other post on that! Maybe I will...but I got a physical after the 28 days and all my numbers, including blood sugar, thyroid and cholesterol, were good.

Non scale victory? Fitting (just barely and with very shallow breaths as not to split the fabric so that your daughter can wear it one day) into your wedding dress.

Out of curiosity, I saw a chiropractor. I've had some random back pain, but nothing I thought was serious. I got a 2nd opinion to see what they'd say. I have mild scoliosis in my back, the curve of my neck is non existent, in fact it slightly curves the wrong way, and some of my discs in my cspine and lumbar are squished-thus the back spasms. Anyway, I'm not about to pay $3K and go 4x a week to 'fix it'. But I have tried to do more yoga and swim. If nothing else it made me so much more aware of my posture and the impact and stress I put on my body. So yes, I am getting older, and I'm kinda glad about it. It's nice to take it easier :)



Siri got a hair chop!




She LOVED Kindergarten but is happy for summer! I am too...loving being all together before she's gone all day for 1st grade!