I'm Back!!

(Traben family- November 2009)

Wow....sorry to be gone for tooooo long.

I've been so busy with the kids, dogs, work, homeschooling and posting on Facebook that I honestly forgot about my blog. I just thought about it again and checked it out and I miss posting here with longer posts and lots of stories and photos. I will attempt to keep up with it again.

Our big news now is that I am again expecting a baby....baby # 7 for the Traben clan. I am due in August and we are all thrilled and excited. Baby Elliot may not be thrilled though when baby comes, as he has become my spoiled little love.

I need to post some updated photos.

Summer winding down...

As you can see, with my lack of posting this summer...I've been VERY busy. The kids have been all involved in baseball, swim lessons and tennis. We are usually not home pretty much every night. However, things are winding down, and getting calmer. Both Jeremy and Oliver won the Championships for their baseball teams. So, we have 2 winning teams!!

Oliver's team- the Mets! They had the best record this year, with only one loss all year. They were, by FAR, the BEST team in the league!


Jeremy's team- the Timber Rattlers! His team were the under-dogs. They did not have a great record...probably middle of the road, so it was a total upset that they made it through the playoffs into the Championship game. And, then winning it was a total shocker! It was an exciting playoff season. Go Rattlers!!


Isaiah did not have a winning team, but he really enjoyed his season so much this year, and he improved so much. And, of all the boys, he probably loves baseball the most!


This week, Isaiah and Jeremy are in California! They went with my youngest brother, Brian (age 20), and they are visiting my other brother, their uncle Vince, who is a Norbertine monk in California. They are all staying at the abbey and participating in the summer boys camp there. Last update I had, they were all having a blast catching tarantulas and snakes, swimming and playing lots of sports. Of course, they are also doing lots of church activities there too, like daily mass, rosary and Catechism lessons...which are probably my boys least favorite things to do at the camp. But, it sounds like they are very happy and having a great time. They come home tomorrow night! I am soooo excited to see them both and give them big hugs. We've missed them both so much.

Also, this summer, both my youngest sister Mandy (age 22) and Ken's youngest sister, Diana (age 22) BOTH got engaged!! Actually, Mandy got engaged in May, and Diana just called us tonight...guess they got engaged TODAY! Looks like we will have 2 family weddings next year. Mandy will be having her wedding next summer on my bday (August 7th!!) I am honored!
Mandy with her fiance, Jeff.


Elliot starting walking on Independence Day- July 4th, which is pretty ironic, since now he is so independent! Well, he does still like to cling to Momma sometimes, but this walking thing is pretty great.

Elliot walking in the Lakeview Cemetary...the boys are taking an art class there. It's actually a very cool place to visit.


Have you ever been this tired?


Here's my little walker...ain't he cute!!

Summer time!

Summer is my most favorite season! To me, it seems like a long, long party where there is just a ton of fun stuff going on every day, like baseball, swimming, camps, parties, cookouts, bike-riding, walks/hikes, playground dates, dog-parks...ect ect. And, we usually do not do a whole lot of "schooling" in the summer, although this summer I would like to do some. I bought the "Math U See" program for the oldest 4 kids to keep working on their math this summer. I just noticed that 3-4 months of doing no math school work made them forget so much by September. I am also hoping to keep up with their reading this summer with some fun books. I usually have a big box of books labeled "Summer Reading", fill it with all sorts of books that we did not have time to read during the school year and whenever the kids complain they have nothing to do, we go and find a book from that box.

Most nights already we are at the ball-fields. All 5 kids are playing baseball and or t-ball this year, so we have a number of teams we need to follow, and keep track of. It's really insane. But, Ken and I really enjoy watching them all play, and they look so cute out there on the fields. This weekend, Oliver, who is also on our city's travel baseball team, had his first tournament. They won 2 out of 3 games today, so he is playing again tomorrow morning for the semi-finals. Oliver's batting average was .429 today in the tournament, and he played left-field. Good luck tomorrow Oliver!


Here are the boys' before and after photos with their "summer haircuts"!
Before.....

...and after!

Elliot's Photo Session

I just had to share these precious photos of Elliot's one year old photo session at Sears. I took him there last week and he behaved sooo well. His photos came out just as good. Enjoy!

Look at him sitting in a chair like a big boy.


They got him to actually stand...something he does not do often.


I want to eat up those chunky thighs! What is wrong with us mothers...why do we always want to nibble on our babies?!


I love this precious photo!


OK...another nibbly photo. Look at that chunky fat.

Elliot is ONE year old!!

My baby is ONE year old already! He turned one on May 1, 2009.

This first year always flies by, especially with baby #6! It seems to have gone super fast with him. I can remember so clearly everything about his pregnancy, labor and birth! My "little" 10 1/2 lb newborn was the most precious thing...and he still is. Elliot just loves his Mama. He loves me maybe a little too much. If I am in the room, he needs to be with me, in my arms, playing with me on the floor, snuggling or nursing, and will scream and fight anyone who prevents him from getting to me. Mama does not get much of a break from him, as he is quite attached, and really does not prefer ever going to anyone else (unless I am not at home...then he'll go to Dad quite fine).


Some words that he says are: "Mama", "Baa" (Ball), "Dada", "Gggg" (Jeremy), "Dddd" (dog) and "Kssss" (kiss). He loves to play with balls, go on swings at the park, hang out in my Snuggly, go on walks with Mom and the beagles and play/rough-house with his brothers. His sisters love to sing to him and sometimes they will sit and play the piano with him, which is very cute. He also loves all the dogs and hangs on them, kisses them and snuggles with Fatsy, the best beagle-nurse ever!! She still hangs out with him all the time, protecting him from harm, although Elliot is so big and strong, sometimes I worry that he will hurt Fatsy with the way he hangs on her, and grabs her. But, Fatsy does not seem to mind and lets him grab her, without running away (like many of the other dogs do!). Elliot is not walking yet, but he will hold on to the furniture and cruise around very fast. He can crawl super quick and get all around the house in a matter of seconds. We've had to block the stairs, as he can scale the stairs very quickly too. One thing that drives me nuts is that he will try and get into the dog's big water bowl (many times a day!), so as soon as I hear him scooting towards the kitchen, I have to pick up the water bowl right away, or else he is soaking wet and loving it. Sometimes we forget to put the bowl back down for hours. The poor dogs have had a few months of being extra thirsty at times I think.

People keep asking me how much he weighs. I do not have the exact measurements in ounces, but we've weighed him on our scale at home and he weighs approximately 27 lbs, give or take a few ounces. I still need to get his height as well. Yep, he continues to be a big boy.

We had a birthday party for Elliot last Saturday with the extended family...about 35 people in all. Actually the party was a triple celebration. Kateri turned 6 yrs old on April 30, Elliot turned one yr old on May 1st and Oliver had his First Communion on May 2nd. So, how's that for a lot going on at once! It's always busy at the Traben household.


We had a little party for Kateri's 6th bday on April 28th at Rescue Village, which is an animal shelter (for dogs, cats and some farm animals) near our home. It was very nice and the kids got to tour the place, play with some pooches and learn about animal rescue! Kateri invited 10 of her friends from our homeschool co-op. All the girls are very close in age (their bdays range from November- May...all turning 6!), all except for Luanna and Augustine who are both 4 1/2 (the 2 little ones in the front left and right). And, of course, Kateri is the small little fairy-creature in the center.


Kateri has been asking me for an American Girl doll for about a year now. She had decided on Julie, the 1974 hippie girl, which I thought was pretty cool, since that is the era I was born in!


Here is Kateri with the triple celebration bday/Communion cake on May 2nd.

I'm Back!

Wow...where have I been for the past 2 months, you may ask?!
I've been just busy with every day life, kids, creating tons of raw food recipes (which take time!) and taking care of the dogs too. Our raw food diet went very well. Ken and I stuck with it, pretty much 100% for the 6 weeks (except for maybe adding some maple syrup, a dab of peanut butter and some cocoa to some of the raw ice cream recipes). Other than that...we were pure raw foodists for 40+ days.

Honestly, we felt great! I lost about 13 lbs. Ken lost 18 lbs! He did not need to lose anything, since he is super skinny anyways, so I don't know how he did that. Now, I would like to lose even more. So, I am going to try and stay about 80% raw...not only for the weight reasons, but because I just felt so great on this diet. I do believe this is the best way to eat. However, I did miss some cooked foods, such as rice, soup and pasta, so I would not like to do it 100% all the time, but I think I can handle 80% overall. I think it will be even easier to go more raw in the summer with all the salads, fruits and summer harvests. It did feel good to eat some cooked vegan foods at Easter though. I've gotten into the habit of eating salads at least twice a day, so that is a good habit I'd like to continue.

Here are some photos of the raw food recipes we came up with during Lent. Maybe they will inspire you to make some of these recipes and get healthy too!!


Date Balls- very easy to make. Just blend raw nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans, cashews) with dates and raisins. It will ball up into a stiff dough. Roll into balls and dip into shredded coconut. Deeeelicious!!


Apple/Strawberry Pie- The crust is made out of dates and nuts...and press into pie pan. The filling is basically raw applesauce, mixed with a few dates, and topped with strawberries.


Sweet Potato Cookies- You need a dehydrator for this one. Mix sweet potatoes (I used frozen ones, which are softer) with raisins, cinnamon and honey. Drop spoonfuls on to the dehydrator at 105 degrees (which does not constitute cooking if less than 107 degrees) and let it go for about 12-15 hours. They have the consistency of thick, chewy cookies. Ken loved these.


Cabbage Rolls- One of my favorites! Very simple...just make a chunky salad (peppers, squash, zucchini, onions, corn, cabbage, spinach....), pour olive oil and Braggs Liquid Aminos (combined) over the salad. Let it soak for an hour or so. Then, put the salad into the cabbage leaves. If the cabbage leaves are just way too hard, let them soak in some warm water for an hour. I added some more salad on the side with avocados...mmmm!


One of our many salads, topped with some of the dried Carrot Burgers I made with the dehydrator. They are just dried carrots, onions, celery- dried to look like a veggie burger. We topped our salads with them...kind of like croutons.


Oliver loves to help out in the kitchen. Here we are drying some delicious fruit with the dehydrator. Honestly, I think I love the fruit better fresh, but if you are going to go on a trip or just want dried fruit...this is how you do it.


Yes, we made RAW ice cream!! One of my best inventions with this diet. Here we have banana/maple syrup ice cream. It is sooooo good! You need an ice cream maker for this. I used raw cashews, combined with water to make cashew milk. Then I added the bananas and a little maple syrup. Then, put it all in the ice cream maker and wait about 20 minutes for this creamy dessert!


Here is another of our delicious salads. I'd make these about twice a day...lunch and dinner. I tried to mix things up with different veggies and different raw dressings to make sure I did not get tired of salads. There are many ways to make salads, so there are enough choices out there. Just seeing these salads now, makes my mouth water.

2 days!! Countdown to Raw Food Diet.....

For Lent this year, Ken and I have decided we are trying a Raw Food Diet. This is something we have been wanting to try for years! We've done our research and have seen many speakers on this, as well as having a Juicer, Food processor and a few good Raw Food Books to go by. Lent officially starts on Wednesday, Feb 25th and will go to Easter, April 12th...so 6 weeks of RAW! I am not doing this because I am super religous or anything like that. On a more selfish level, I know this is the healthiest thing I can do for myself, and plus I have been wanting to shed this extra, baby fat weight for some time now. Here's hoping this diet does the trick!!

For those who are not familiar with a raw food diet, what we are doing is basically eating all raw vegan food, which means vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts and seeds. We will be doing a lot of juicing, which is super healthy. Our goal is to be 100% raw for the 6 weeks, so we are also going to be making all our own dressings, almond milks, juices, salads, puddings and even making home-made, raw crackers and granolas. I will probably go out and purchase a Dehydrator. I am borrowing a friend's dehydrator this week and have been practicing making crackers, cookies, veggie burgers, and dried fruit...all raw. They are coming out pretty good, so I will probably buy one. I saw an inexpensive one at Bed, Bath and Beyond for only $60. Dehydrators can run into the $300's, so I am starting with a cheap one, but it should be fine.

Ken and I will be doing this diet, but the kids will be eating their regular Vegan diet, with both cooked and raw foods. We figured it may be too difficult for them to try right now, esp since Ken and I are still novices at this whole thing. But, I'm sure the kids will get their fill of many, new, raw dishes, and I am excited at introducing them to more raw vegan options.

I will probably be posting photos and recipes of the foods we will be eating, so as to maybe inspire some of you to try some of these recipes. They really are delicious!! Going raw does not have to be boring! There are a lot of creative, delicious recipes out there and I hope to share many of them with you all.

Here are some links to check out:
http://www.rawfoodlife.com/
http://www.rawfoodinfo.com/recipes/main_courses.html