Crispy Walk

The weather was crispy, which is more than I can say about the lettuce in my burger. OK. To be fair, I had refrigerated the sandwich after buying it, forgot to take it out when I nuked it, so it was really limps by the time I saw it.

I was bundled. I did have to shed off my parka for this walk. An extra 50 pounds is quite handy this time of year. In fact, I was just thinking that it would be great if I get fat in winter, and thin in the summer. I can save on heating bills, then on cooling bills respectively. Isn't that a brilliant idea? I think that was one of the times I was grateful to be fat.

It was 33F yesterday, and still it was a perfect day for walking. The sun was bright, and with bundles of clothing, it was like walking inside a refrigerator. The DS4 refused to be bundled, when I got him out of his stroller, his little hands were freezing a bit. DS3 was sleeping for a good 3 miles under tons of cover, so he was nice and toasty. The baby threw off his blankets, so he was cold, but happy.

DS3 here gleefully celebrating his freedom. I can't even take a decent picture, he was jumping all over the place! He fell in love with the pebbles above this thing. I don't even what that is, only that it really fascinated him no end. DH had to peel him off it with lots of offers about chocolates.

It's never boring when we walk. DS4 loves to stop and smell the roses, or examine anything for ages. DS2 loves to speed skate. Between the two of them, We are either picking someone up and running after another. Like I said, fun exercise. I don't think it has occurred to DS2 that if he really cranks it up, we'd be in the dust. I can't wait til I can take up running again. I could do a good 6 miles per hour with the way my kids are skating. I'm reminding myself that I am holding off because I'm still on milk-delivery duties. I love it, but doesn't mean I can't want the running too.

Below are DS4 and my DH. You can see he's kinda cold, but he keeps tossing off his covers.

We did 6 miles in two hours yesterday. And I get to spend time with my favorite people. :) I really like doing this. It takes commitment, and it takes time, but I think it's time well worth it.

Extra counters

There She Goes

My daughter got a play date on the last day of the year. She's so happy she could burst! Sometimes, I forgot how much she needed a friend her own age, and a girl at that. I have grown up with two sisters, so I forget that angst and longing of one who hasn't got a single one. I did gave her 4 little brothers, but it is just not the same. So here's hoping she get many more play date. Lots of restriction though. If you have 5 little children, you'll understand those. Unless you're of the braver constitution, in which case, you won't.

There were lips colors, and nail polish, and picture taken by a camera-mad Mom, that's me. There were Build-a-Bear stuffed toys and long conversations, and some snacks made of spaghetti, butter and meatballs. Not my choice, they fixed themselves some. I just watch them. Parting is not as dramatic as the previous play dates, but they burn hours on the phone each week. My daughter has a life of her own!

Lots of events for our last day of the year.

DS3 had the worst constipation in ages! I used BabyLux by Fleet and still it took him hours to get it out. It reminds me of being in labor. How the pain ebbs and flows. It just breaks my heart. He's so exhausted, he falls asleep in between bouts of pain. We were ready to do some enema, when he gave birth to a golf ball-sized thing. No, it's not golf ball, but it does tell me that I need to sneak some prunes in his diet. Maybe a chocolate brownies with prunes instead of butter, or both! I'm making it in the next two days. He loves chocolate recently.

Here we are below after our walk. We managed to ambush an unsuspecting shopper to take a picture of us. DS3's asleep, but all of us are in it. I've been hankering for a decent family shot. Not giving up yet. Just because the kids' portrait is not at all going well, is not reason to give up on either. I am going to be stubborn about this one. In the meantime, you can see on those links about that it's really going to be an interesting journey.


Just so you know, we hardly let DS3 walk because of his inability to stay to the course. He likes to follow the bee pathway. If you have no idea what that is, just sit outside on some beautiful spring day and watch the bee fleeting among the flowers. You'll see what I mean. Still not picturing it? Here's another image for you...figure 8! We do let him walk sometime, in fact, this day he walked approximately two miles. He's a fantastic walker for his age. He's also obsessed with chocolates. I wonder if it's the chocolates he's been hunting and finding all over my house these last few days which exacerbates his constipation.

I'm getting ready to take my family out and walk in the mall. It's 33F outside, a degree short of freezing...so I better start bundling them up one and all. My heater seems to take a significant amount of time before heating up, and I promptly forgot to tell the mechanics when I had it in the shop on Saturday. Perfect!

Still, a little creature kept mumbling about "chocolate, Mommy!" I'll give you two guesses who!