Category Archives: Project 365

Daily Life, Project 365, Rachel

P365 – Day 136 (Rachel Speaks)

24 Comments

Rachel would like to join us today on the blog. She has some thoughts on healthy eating, vegetables and whatnot. Here she is:

rachel

Hi everybody! How are you? I’m here, sitting in the famous orange chair, dictating my thoughts to Mom. :)

First, I have to defend my taste of mushy broccoli. If you have to eat broccoli, the only way to possibly enjoy it (choke it down), is to have it cooked until it is soft and tender. Besides, Dad agrees with me. So there, Josh.

A note to Samuel – I happen to like salad (better than broccoli) so to think that it’s rotten lettuce is rather disturbing.

Anyhow. I like the exercise program even though it bugs me that Daniel and Joshua usually get ahead of me. Last night, Joshua, Mom and I went to the Y. There is a new family exercise room where kids and grownups can work out together. There are 2 treadmills, 2 elliptical machines, and 6 bikes. They have a table with coloring books and other toys.

We rotated from the elliptical to the treadmill to the bike, ten minutes each. Thirty minutes total. This is worth five points. I liked the elliptical the best. It was the easiest, in my opinion. I dreaded the bike because the 10 minutes seem to go on forever. I got cramps on the treadmill from going to fast. This doesn’t happen all the time.

rachel on the treadmill

Here I am on the treadmill at home, not the Y.

We started to do another half an hour when we decided to go home instead. Mom had a few errands to run.

The main things I have trouble with is getting in enough water and vegetables. I don’t drink that much water. I forget to drink extra water during the day. I think I drink a lot of half glasses, though.

rachel thinks

For vegetables, the only ones I really like that are mostly available are carrots, lettuce and broccoli (we only have broccoli at dinner time). I get sick of carrots and I’m not that interested in eating five cups of salad a day. I’m the only one in the family (besides Mom and Dad) that likes cucumbers. Mom says I need to try some new vegetables.

What’s your favorite vegetable? Give me an idea of what to try? What do your kids like to eat? How many servings of vegetables do you think you eat a day? Have you ever counted?

As for measuring, I’m really good at that as I don’t eat that much. Weight training is hard to remember to fit in during the day. When you do do it, your muscles hurt really bad. When you’re done using the weights, it feels so good to lift up your arms and not have weights in hand. Push ups are not my strong point. I can, however, do sit ups.

All for now, see you later. Thanks for letting me blog.

rachel outside

Rachel

Share or follow
Share

Related posts:

Joshua, Project 365

P365 – Day 135 (Joshua Speaks about Health, Fitness and Broccoli)

14 Comments

I’ve asked Joshua to come and share his thoughts on our first week of Healthy Living. Please give Joshua, age 13 and oldest of our five children, a big welcome.

joshua

Our guest blogger.

Water - Easy, I drink that much water anyway (1 points for 16 oz, 3 pts max)

Fruit - Trickier than I thought. It turns out I don’t eat that much fruit. Tonight, for example, I was determined to get all 50 points but I hadn’t eaten any fruit. It killed me to think I would only get 48 points. Mom said a bowl of applesauce (a generous bowl) could count as two fruits. Whew. 50 points! (2 points for 2 fruits)

Veggies - An annoyance. I just shovel in the salad. I usually have at least three servings of salad a day. I tend to eat a good helping at lunch (or else you get behind in vegetables). I don’t really like cooked vegetables. Rachel and I disagree strongly on how broccoli should be prepared. I say crispy, stir-fried. Naturally, as everyone would agree, crunchy and close to raw is the only way to enjoy broccoli. Rachel and Daddy, in their confused state of being, like them mushy. Yuck. (Veggies bring in a lot of points as they are rated on a graduated scale; 1st serving = 1 point, 2nd serving = 2 points, and so on up to 5).

Measuring - Another annoyance. Worse than the vegetable requirement. Measuring implies NOT eating, at least the vegetable one lets you EAT. I disapprove of programs that want to restrict that glorious activity known as eating. I am growing 13 year old, after all. It’s especially sad on weekends. I don’t like having to limit my bowls of cereal on Saturday; since that’s when we are allowed sweet cereals. (4 points per meal for measuring, ie limiting quantities).

Desserts - This one is not too difficult although it is a bit worse on weekends. One sweet treat a day is fine during the week. On Sundays, there are delicious goodies after Sunday School as well as treats at Bible study. How am I supposed to limit himself to just one dessert, may I ask? This week they served ice cream cake, Hostess fruit pies (which Mom absolutely forbids/detests), and chocolate cake. All at the same party. Torturous. (1 free treat a day, -2 points for additional desserts).

joshua and his bowl of applesauce

Joshua enjoys his bowl of applesauce.

Exercise - I’m spending a lot of time running on the treadmill at home. I think the treadmill will be very happy when we finish this little month long plan. Since we’ve started, I find my endurance is improving. The laps we run at the YMCA aren’t as difficult. We are granted 10 points for our time at homeschooling PE. I have a new appreciation for the PE program. (5 points for 30 minutes cardio, up to 1 hour).

Weight Training – Push ups and sit ups are both getting easier, though I still don’t like doing them much. I feel stronger which, I guess, is part of Mom’s devious plan. I’m already working up to the heavier weights in my weight training. (4 points for 15 minutes wt training or 50 push ups and 50 sit upts, up to 8 points).

I like this method of doing things. Not forcing or compelling us to work out or eat healty but setting goals and let us meet them (or not). I like the challenge of trying to get all 50 points a day. 50 points = 1 chip and 1 chip = $1.

There you have it. Words of reflection from Joshua. No doubt he wants to earn money because my birthday is just around the corner. He’s a very generous son. :) I’ll see if some of the other children care to be guest bloggers and join us next time.

Kathy

Share or follow
Share

Related posts:

Daniel, Project 365

P365 – Day 134 (Daniel’s Dinner Duties)

4 Comments

This is Daniel’s week to be in charge of the dinner dishes. The older three children rotate meal assignments. Right now Daniel has dinner, Joshua has lunch and Rachel has breakfast. When I considered homeschooling, I never really took into account the impact of the ‘home’ part of the homeschooling. Although we are busy and have several activities that take us out and about, for the most part we are here at home. Living and playing and learning and MESSING UP THE HOME!! This holds true for the house and especially the kitchen, since we eat all three meals together.

daniel cleaning

Daniel takes his kitchen KP duty seriously.

The fact that there are three older children makes the delegation very tidy. :) The kitchen/meal work required involves clearing and setting the table for your assigned meal, helping to serve people during the meal, and doing all clean up afterward (including putting food away, washing and loading dishes, and wiping down the table, counters and island). Breakfast comes with the added responsibility of unloading the dishwasher. It’s countered by the fact that the dishes are minimal (usually just cereal bowls or a few plates) and the only thing to put away are some boxes of cereal. Lunch is usually the easiest assignment as the dishes are often light (the kids vie for paper plates as much as possible) and there isn’t a lot of extra time for lingering. Plus you can have two directions to hand the work off -you can blame breakfast for leaving dirty dishes around or “forget” to finish the lunch work and hope the dinner slave, I mean laborer, will take care of it for you.

beating that surface into submission

The island is going to get clean, by golly, if he has to beat it into submission.

We’ve tried several variations of meal chore assignments and this one seems to work the smoothest. The kids are very proficient at their KP duty. They know how to bag or box up leftovers. They wash pans and load the dishwasher like experts. They each have their own style and pace at which they like to work. They still grumble and drag their feet at times but mostly they are cheerful, hard workers.

Really, who wouldn’t want this young man helping in the kitchen?

clean island

Kathy

Share or follow
Share

Related posts:

Events, Kathy, Project 365

P365 – Day 132 (A Mother’s Day Gift)

6 Comments

Tim and the children went off for the day, the whole entire day, leaving me alone. Alone. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Sorry. I’m still a bit giddy with the luxury of it all. So I spent most of the time working on laundry and cleaning, it was quiet. If it wasn’t quiet it was because I was listening to music or lectures or sermons on my new, super cool Mother’s Day MP3 player.

Did I mention I was alone all day?

Here are the sweet kiddos who made me a Mother.

picnic

Picnic lunch out on the property.

There was a work party and board meeting out at the Retreat Center. The logs and stone are slowly being added to the building. It’s very exciting! The new, hand crafted, door is gorgeous!!

logs

door

Is there something wrong about celebrating some of the Mother’s Day weekend totally alone, no children in sight? Thankfully I have a wonderfully understanding and supportive husband who knows I rarely have any time to myself and is thrilled to give me the gift of time. Since, tomorrow we are hosting a party for our Small Group and I will surely be busy with cooking and cleaning duties, Tim was pleased to let me have today “off.”

Ah. I washed laundry, swept floors, organized and put away clothes and papers, read e-mail, talked to one of my brothers, sorted Polly Pockets and Playmobil, did more and more and more laundry (I still have at least 5 loads before I’m all caught up), listened to an excellent talk on evangelism and 2 long sessions on parenting and even had time to begin one of my dad’s sermons (I am crazy about this new MP3 player). Some people might think this sounds like a work day but I was alone and didn’t have to take care of anyone but myself. I didn’t have to go anywhere or make any significant decisions (other than ‘Polly Pocket in this bin and Playmobil into the other’). I ate lunch at 2 pm and dinner at 8 pm. I stayed in my sloppy clothes the whole day (never did get a shower).

Truly a day for the special pages. :) I hope your Saturday was just as lovely.

Kathy

Share or follow
Share

Related posts:

David, Events, Project 365

P365 – Day 131 (David’s Great Loss)

5 Comments

Ah, it’s an emotional day in a parent’s life when their child (be it their first or their last or somewhere in between) loses his first tooth.

david's first tooth

Last week David bumped into a boy in his swim class and came out of the ordeal with a loose tooth. It was his first one and he was rather worried, distracted and excited about the whole thing. He wiggled it and even tugged on it (when asked) but basically waited patiently for it to fall out. Yesterday a soccer ball connected with his face in a rather friendly way, no doubt trying to help the loose tooth on its merry way.

Today, in the bathtub of all places, the tooth fell out! I don’t know how David managed to keep hold of the tooth in the midst of all those bubbles, but he did.

got a tooth

Later on, dressed with hair brushed, David told me, “And I’ve got another one loose right here.”

Sniff. In the middle of all the chaos and busyness which is our life, I am sometimes awestruck that the Lord gave me these precious five children. That He lets me walk through their days, their accomplishments and failures. That He lets me share in the shaping of their lives.

I love that this blog has become a regular part of our family journey. What a gift to have a pictorial journal of this year – everything from silly to spiritual, serious to sadness.

Happy Tooth-Losing Day, David!

Kathy

Share or follow
Share

Related posts: