Fall Stuff (and lack of chocolate)

It’s been a good Saturday…a lazy family day of the very best kind. Ryan just helped Ryley and her friend solidify their blanket fort with duct tape, and they are finally tucked in for the night in their tiny, self-made home.

Today we did pumpkin stuff at our local nursery. It’s always more fun with a friend…

But instead of doing our customary carving, we decided to let the girls paint their pumpkins. This is the first time since Ryley was a baby that we haven’t carved our pumpkin. Sometimes you’re just not in the mood for the mess, you know?

I believe the pumpkins’  names are Susanna and Tasha. At least that’s what I was told.

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Almost overnight, Ryley has become gangly. I think she’s grown an inch in the last week. She is always getting hurt on our stairs, on our coffee table, in her room, outside, etc., etc., etc. Always a sign of growth. Look at those long legs….

She’s also maturing. In the last few weeks she’s been finding that we (her mommy and daddy) are funny. She suddenly understands irony and little inside jokes Ryan and I have shared all along….We’ll be talking and joking about something, and she’ll just start laughing in honest appreciation of the humor. It’s been fun. She really likes wordplays and puns.

We had her parent/teacher conference this last week, and after a tough few weeks at school, Ryan and I went in to the conference with a plan of things we wanted to address. We don’t want to be those parents who think their kid is perfect, but since we do know our daughter best, we had some ideas for the teachers. For instance, when they are constantly on her case and issuing “strikes” for talking or other negative behavior, she gradually spirals downward. She gets a lot of strikes. Whether she deserves them or not, there just doesn’t seem to be a lot of mercy, and sometimes I just want to say, “Give the girl a break!” When I pick her up in the afternoons, many times all she can talk about is how horrible of a day it was and how she just can’t do anything right. That then affects her attitude going into the next day. We know her heart, and we know that she really wants to please. So we suggested to her teachers that if they reinforce her when she is acting correctly, it might help her stay on track throughout the day. The very next day, she came home so excited (she doesn’t know that we talked to them about it) because she received so many compliments and no strikes! This continued to be the trend for the majority of the week. She’s still going to deserve strikes at times, but I think the teachers got the point. In Ryley’s case, when you encourage her, she keeps it up. There’s nothing she likes more than a compliment. I was so nervous about talking to the teachers about it, but Ryan reminded me, “They’re just kids. We’re her parents.” It seemed to work out ok. :-)

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We had our first snow of the season on Wednesday, and funnily enough, there was more snow than we’ve received in any storm in the last two years. We had five or six inches at our house. 

It’s all melted now, but there is hope for more this week. We don’t mind. :-)

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Last weekend we had our Girl Scout ceremony.

Ryley wore my uniform from when I was a Brownie. But she is taller than I was, so it is quite short on her. So instead of wearing it as a jumper, she wore it as a long shirt over jeans. It was actually pretty cute!

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Last weekend she and I also went on a little date to see Alice in Wonderland, the play. It was a children’s theater, and they only charge $6 per person, but it was so fun.

The actors involve children in their performances, so Ryley was called on stage to participate in the tea party scene.

She loved it! We will definitely have to go back there for more performances.

Then, after the performance, we also had some fun in the park, since we knew the snow was on the way….

Ryley found these leaves this way in the shape of a heart and begged me to take a picture…

Ryan took this lovely picture of Denver…

And also this one of Game Night…

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And now for a quick “wellness” update….

It’s now been 41 days, and I am getting into a good groove, as long as I take time to plan and shop for our meals for the week. One thing my nutritionist has done is equip me with dozens of healthy recipes. I think that’s key. A low-carb diet seems impossible to implement until you know exactly what you can replace your old diet with.

So we’ve tried a delicious spicy chicken tomato soup, some sweet potato fries, a not-so-delicious minestrone soup, and an interesting and colorful tuna salad:

Some recipes are hits, and others aren’t. But I’m learning for myself that it doesn’t always matter if it tastes good. Tasting good is merely a bonus these days, not a necessity.

I have lost 17 pounds. I tried to eat some McDonalds French fries a couple weeks ago, and within an hour I felt nauseated and headachy. Crazy. I was craving bacon and sausage one morning, so I got some (thinking that it would be ok because they’re protein), and I literally couldn’t finish them I felt so sick. That scares me a little, because those are things I don’t want to give up forever! But if they don’t make me feel good, I guess we’ll see. It felt good to know that my body has gotten so used to fresher, healthier items that it rejects the other stuff.

Also, we noticed such a big difference in my energy level between the Broncos game we attended in August and the next one we attended a couple weeks ago. There is always a lot of walking and stair-climbing involved, and seriously, after the August game, I was considering seeing if we could sell my ticket to the remaining games. It was so painful! But this last one was much easier for me and so enjoyable. We’re going again tomorrow, and I am excited.

So that’s the scoop. It’s been good, and I am feeling better, though I have noticed some increased irritability. I’ve been incredibly impatient with traffic and stupid people, and I even screamed at a co-worker over the phone the other day. Yeah.

I kind of think it’s the lack of chocolate in my diet, but whatever. ;-)