Cleanse Done!

Yes, I finished on Thursday at the end of the day...so Friday was my first day back to "real food" (ironic?) after 3 days of smoothies.  I was pretty nervous to eat at first and ended up starting the day with green tea and then the breakfast smoothie.  I did finally treat myself to a (decaf!) coffee with a  little half n half and then some avocado toast at a favorite local coffee spot.  HowEVER, the toast was not that great AT ALL so I ended up scraping the topping off and ditching the bread.  The topping consisted of avocado, feta, and some cherry tomatoes...all very yummy!  The coffee was pretty tasty, too, and, although I've found I really don't NEED caffeine like I thought I did (I was actually only drinking half-caff and only one cup for the most part pre-cleanse so it wasn't TOO much in the first place).  I'm going to try to just get decaf when I get coffees.  We'll see if I start making decaf here at home (I actually put my coffee pot in the garage during one of my mid-cleanse-rampage-cleaning-sessions when I wanted the counters to look less cluttered) or maybe I'll continue with the green tea and lemon in the mornings.  Maybe I could get used to that??

Avo Toast (and side salad)

The first meal back after 3 days on the dark side 

(or was it light side?)

Okay, enough about the cleanse.  So far, now that we are at Saturday night and I've had 2 full days NOT being on the cleanse, I'm still feeling really good, I have a lot less desire for snacking and I've had smoothies for breakfast both days.  Planning/hoping to stick with the good habits and continuing to be mindful of what goes into my mouth! Okay, enough about the cleanse.  Really this time!

Today: 

Chloë the super-star at basketball 

(YMCA co-ed age 6 & 7 year old team)

She scored 10 points today!  5 baskets!

Cheering Squad on the sidelines!

We are guinea-pig sitting this weekend!

For the school pets at Eli & Owen's preschool.

Chloë & Ella want to hold these guys NON-stop!

Tomorrow Myke's parents arrive back into San Diego after 2 months back at their east coast house in PA.  We're excited to have them back and even more excited that they're bringing Gram (or "GG"), Myke's grandmother, with them for a 2 week visit!  So special that the kids will get to spend time with their great-grandmother.  

Is the time change really happening tonight?!

  

Is Easter really only 2 weeks away!?  

Can we SLOW things DOWN people??!!  Where is the time going?

Day 3 Almost Done

I had intended to blog each day during this cleanse...and I guess, in the end, I only missed yesterday, so only one day... but, to be honest, it's 9:20pm right now and my body & brain are shutting down.  I'm TIRED.  I'm not sure it's necessarily due to the cleanse itself, but I do think it has something to do with it.  When I get tired at night...I'm suddenly TIRED.  Past the point.  Can barely move one more limb.  I'm getting there right now but am forcing myself to at least post a few pics and write a few words.  Overall, I have felt GREAT!  Really!!  The smoothies are pretty good.  I never got light-headed or felt famished.  When I would get hungry it was time for my next smoothie and that would do the trick...and I'd feel great again.  I was a little sluggish at times for sure, usually a 1-2 hours after the previous smoothie.  However, I was so busy (as usual) and I truly believe that helped keep me distracted enough to endure a 3 day cleanse in the first place.  I initially had thought my busy life would make the cleanse hard (no time to prep the veggies, no time for feeling sluggish when I have so much I need to be doing, places I need to go, etc) but actually it was for the better.  Distraction kept me from having too much time to THINK about food.  Though I did think about a breakfast burrito on more than one occasion, which, interestingly enough, I very rarely actually eat.  I never craved anything sweet the entire 3 days, but I did think about salty/savory here and there but usually for fleeting seconds.  Nothing enough to lure me to the dark side and quit.  After all,  three days is just three days.  So, overall, I'd say this was a good cleanse.  No coffee, no artificial sweeteners, no dairy, no gluten and simple carbs...only whole foods and healthy fats.  

One weird side-effect I noticed was that I wanted to constantly be cleaning and organizing...but at the same time my brain was a bit off and I couldn't stay focused long enough to finish one project at time.  I'm like this ANYWAYS as a default...BUT it was definitely exaggerated during the cleanse.  Here are some photos below form yesterday and the crazy messy state the house was in.  I was "cleaning out" the cabinets and drawers.  I'd go to put something back and then end up emptying the entire area, cleaning it out and rearranging it.  So for a good part of the day there was STUFF on almost all counter tops downstairs.  

Day 2 Pics:

Green Machine!

Day 3: 

breakfast on the run

Lunch poolside at a friend's house

AND, just to have a non-cleanse item in this post:

Chloë & Owen on their first day of joint-skateboarding lessons at the YMCA

Owen picked the same deck as his big sis :)

Day One: Complete!

Myke blending my first smoothie

I'm still alive!  Day one was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting.  What was I expecting?  Well, to be honest, I was expecting light-headedness, headache, starvation, irritability.  I experienced none of that.  Maybe that's more second-day symptoms.  Time will tell!  

I followed the plan to a T.  The smoothies were not too bad (breakfast was best).  I felt pretty good all day...tired now, but it's 10:30pm and past my bedtime, so I don't blame the cleanse for that.  Just wanted to post a quick review of Day One before I nod off.  

I'll attempt to update more tomorrow...

Morning green tea with lemon

Lunch: before blending

Lunch: after blending

March Cleanse

AGHH!  Did I really skip the entire MONTH of February on this blog?

So much for my New Year's Resolution.

 Doh!

Oh well, moving on.  February was SUPER busy with a birthday celebration happening basically EVERY weekend of the month.  Ella turned 3, Myke turned 37, Kyla turned 9, and Chloë turned 7.   Plus we had two aunts, an uncle and cousin all come into town.  So busy busy busy...that's what we were.  Such a fun month though...if not exhausting at the same time!

Group shot- Christine, Ken (my mom's brother) & Tina (my cousin)

with the kiddos

My handsome hubby on his birthday 

So, I wanted to post here today for one reason: to hold myself accountable in some for or another...because TOMORROW I'm starting a THREE DAY CLEANSE!!  My very first detoxing/rejuvenating/re-engergizing (whatever the reason a person does a cleanse) cleanse! I'm just tired of yo-yoing up and down within the same 5 lbs and I need something to give me a clean slate to continue/re-start eating healthier.  Plus, I've always been curious about cleanses.  I first checked out local juice bars that offer cleanses...but it's insane how pricy they can be!  Plus, I don't have the time to go pick-up my juices every morning.  I'm not sure I have the time to make them myself, either, but we'll see!  I went to Sprouts (grocery store) today and picked up all that I need.  Here are some of the items:

Some of the cleanse ingredients

'

Here was my final real meal for the next few days: cheese enchilada and Mexican rice..and a spinach salad with Olive Garden dressing...yummy!   And wine.  Indulging 'til the bitter end! 

(it might not look like much...but I totally had seconds)

I'm terrified of being light-headed, having NO energy, having a pounding headache, STARVING etc...None of those are fun on their own, and they are ESPECIALLY not fun when you have to deal with 4 kids while experiencing any, if not all, of them!  

So we'll see how it goes.  I"ll report back tomorrow!  Adios! 

Birthday Month is Upon Us

Disney was great...amazing...perfect...everything we had hoped, I must say.  The day went off without a hitch.  Ella was great...though very quiet for the first few hours.  I guess she was just taking it all in.  It can be an overwhelming place for a young child, I'm sure.  On top of that, she had both mommy AND daddy's attention all on her.  That might have thrown her off a bit ;)  She had a great time though.  It wasn't too busy, the weather was mild, the lines weren't too long, and overall the day went great.  Not much else to say about it!  But I will say this--Ella rode on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!!  It's a pretty decent roller coaster.  That's my girl!  She was tall enough for it and we didn't know what it was going to be like.  I'm not sure who was more nervous during the ride, Ella or Myke.  Probably the latter :)

Ready for the parade 

A little unsure about Elsa & Anna

Tea cups were her favorite ride--we rode them 3x

Tinker bell

Minnie Mouse

Minnie Mouse's house

Goofy!

We met a lot of characters, which was fun.  Got all the photos for Ella's photo book (now I just need to print them out for her...).  She was very shy to meet each of the characters and insisted that either Myke or I go up to the character with her.  The line to meet Anna & Elsa was LONG, probably the longest line of the day, and as soon as it was Ella's turn to meet them she became completely mute.  It was cute though.  They spent a few minutes with each child (hence the long wait) and really made each one feel special.  Ella had a birthday pin on (given out by Disney) and the princesses asked her all kinds of birthday-related questions in which Ella responded with nods or head shakes only.  

In other Hines happenins': 

We put on our "nice clothes" and took the kids to dinner at one of our favorite Thai restaurants.

No, the dog did not go with us.  Yes, Owen did put on shoes before we left.

This is us testing our camera tripod & delay timer.

blondies

First experience with mango sticky rice.

It was a hit!

Heading to gymnastics.

Picking out birthday items at Party City.

 "Sofia the First" is the theme of choice for Ella.

The "princess-thing" still makes me cringe a bit...

but I'm not AS anti-princess as I was with my first.

I'm just going with it...

The visit to Disneyland was Ella's "party" (I'm sure using a lot of "" in this entry) so we aren't doing anything official as far as a birthday party.  However, I'm sure we'll be having cake on the 13th of February when it's Ella's actual 3rd birthday.  Then we have Myke's birthday on the 20th.  Then Kyla's (the dog) on the 27th.  Then Chloë's on the 28th.  February is a busy one in this family!

Disneyland Here We Come!

We are headed to Disneyland tomorrow!  Just myself, Myke and the littlest Hines: Ella.  To celebrate her 3rd birthday.  We've made it a tradition (of sorts) that we take each of the kids to Disneyland for their 3rd birthday.  We took Chloë back in February 2012...and we actually took her ON her 3rd birthday 2/28.  I was so paranoid that she'd tell someone she was 3 years old and we'd be charged the $100 ticket to get in that I wouldn't even let anyone TELL her that it was her actual birthday until we were through the gates.  (Kids under 3 are FREE at Disneyland).  Silly, I know...but she was VERY verbal and vocal and I was SURE they would ask her her age and we'd have to pay $100 that we wouldn't have had to pay just a day prior.  In the end we just wheeled her in her stroller and no one even blinked an eye, let alone question her age.  As soon as we got through the gates I stopped the stroller, got down to her level and said, "Chloë!  Guess what day it is?  It's your BIRTHDAY!!" :) She got to wear the birthday pin with her name on it so all the workers and staff would say "Happy Birthday Chloe" all day long.  It was great.

With the boys we had a last minute change of plans due to Myke's back being out of whack-- my parents were in town for the boys' 3rd birthday and had planned to watch the girls while we took them to Disney...but instead my Dad went with us.  We had a great day with the boys- we ended up doing California Adventure instead of Disneyland as the boys were really into the CARS movies and there is an entire section of the park dedicated to those movies.  Fabulous time!

Now it's Ella's turn.  Our last baby.  Our last Disney trip with our 3-year-old.  We are doing the trip earlier than planned (her birthday isn't until 2/13) since my mom is in town this week and can tend to the older 3 kiddos while we are away.  Ella isn't as verbal as Chloë was at this age (no where near) but she does KNOW and has been talking about it for awhile--the fact that she is "going to Mickey Mouse's house" when she turns 3.  I don't think she knows what's about to hit her.  I'm expecting a VERY different experience than our first time around.  Chloë loved all the rides and all the characters...She had no problem posing with them for photos with a giant grin on her face.  Ella is much more shy and timid in that aspect.  She's also more into the princess thing than Chloë ever was (doesn't take much to out-do Chloë there;)).  She's not SUPER into it...but she has more of the typical girly-girl interest into some of that stuff.  That said, she's never really seen any of those movies (besides parts of Frozen and Peter Pan)...so she has limited knowledge to work with.  She definitely likes Tinkerbell and the "Frozen girls", though.

I'm definitely looking forward to this time with just the three of us.  It's especially special because it's something she NEVER has really had.  Time with just her mom & dad.  We haven't had it really either.  I have time with her on the days the older three are in preschool & elementary school, but this is different.  This will be focused ELLA time.  I'm so looking forward to seeing Disney through the innocent eyes of my sweet baby girl.  Off to bed so I can be rested!  Good night!

Christmas & New Years Re-Cap

Merry (Belated) Christmas!  

Well, here I am 8 days later and putting in another blog post.  That's a good start, right?  Better than 3 months or however long it was between the last post and the one before that.  I haven't done any running since my previous post, either (one of my plans for "reflection") but I have worked out, so that's good.  Operation: Reverse-My-Five-Pound-Holiday-Weight-Gain.  At least it was only 5 pounds this year. 

The holidays were great- we spent Thanksgiving with Myke's family (his parents, sister, her husband and 3 kids) and then Christmas with my family (my parents, brother, two aunts, an uncle and two cousins and our friend, Heather).  We stayed here in Encinitas for both.  We have not yet braved flying anywhere with all 4 kids, but thinking we'll go somewhere this year.  Where that place will be is yet to be determined!  Ideas are Wisconsin for a family reunion in July, Richmond in October (when kids have a 2 weeks Fall Break), and now we've been invited to Denver for Christmas 2016.  So we'll see where we end up!  

As usual, my time here is limited and I've been called to do something so I have to go.  I'll throw a few pics up (need to find the ones from Thanksgiving, but here are a few from Christmas and just after):   

Christmas Eve- Secret Santa gift exchange

Ugly Sweater group shot :)

(not everyone is in an "ugly" sweater...or are they?)

Two days after Christmas my parents celebrated their 46th wedding anniversary. We went out for brunch and then for a nice coastal drive here in North County.  

Brunch at Solace

46 Years!

On Monday (before New Year's) I saw that there was a snow forecast in the local mountains so we ended up jumping in the car and heading to Lake Arrowhead so the kids "could see real snow coming out of the sky" (versus seeing snow at Legoland in their "snow play" area).  This may have been more for me...I'm a big kid about the snow and it's one of the things I miss most since living in San Diego (vs east coast).  The snow definitely was coming down and snowed the entire couple hours we were up there.  It was beautiful!  Luckily, it wasn't cold enough to stick too much and the roads stayed safe for us to drive back down the mountain that evening.

hot cocoa!

Yum!

Lake Arrowhead 

Brrr!  Bundled up!

New Year's Hike at Batiquitos Lagoon: