Family time is the best

This weekend was kind of a blur.  I just spent about 4 minutes trying to think of what I did this weekend.  My parents drove through down on their way home and pretty much their visit is dominating my memory.  I'm sure something else happened over the weekend, but I just remember hanging out with them.

They arrived on Saturday and we met them at the Italian restaurant I used to work out when I was a kid.  It's delicious but it was a crazy dinner because we met my sister's family there too.  So, picture a nice Italian restaurant with four adults (my parents, my BIL, and me - my sister was working and my hubs was at the Ravens game) and a 5 years old, 3 year old, almost 2 year old, and a 1 year old.  It went surprisingly well!  No cups were spilled, no food was flung across the restaurant, and only one child cried the entire time.  Success.

Before my parents arrived on Saturday I went to the grocery store and coached golf.  I amazingly spent less than $100 at the grocery store!!!  Except on Friday we went to Costco and spent $145...so I'm not sure if that's really a success.  On Friday we also went to the playground and for a four mile run.  Normal stuff.

On Sunday I woke up and Evan and I ran to my sister's house.  We were promised pancakes for breakfast but then when we arrived (five miles later), they had changed their minds and there were no pancakes.  :-)  We had oatmeal instead.  It was kind of chilly out and I wore capris instead of shorts.

Ok, so it was a bad choice because it was like 65 degrees so 2 minutes into my run I was really hot.  I even put Evan in pants and long sleeves. 

I'm not sure why I was thinking it was so cold!  It ended up being a beautiful day.  Notice how Evan insisted on bringing his golf club and a ball to my sister's.  He actually held on to both of those the entire stroller ride.  We went up to the golf course to watch my nieces in their golf classes and Evan played golf in the grass the entire hour.  He really does love his golf.

He also loves his Mimi and Papa.  He work up Sunday morning and the first thing he said was "Mas (more)  Mimi Papa".  Yup, before he even opened is eyes.  And my dad bought him a new John Deere tractor for his birthday and he happily played with that all day too.  He loves his tractors.

We just hung out all day chatting, playing Jewelry Store (my mom got stuck playing that with the girls), cooking, and eating.  Good times.

I brought my camera to take pics of Evan with his grandparents but then I snapped those two pictures above and the camera battery died.  Nice.

Have a great Monday!!!  It's my last week of work - I'm gonna soak it all up!

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Favorite food to eat for breakfast?

Grocery shopping: love or hate?
  -- I LOVE grocery shopping.  If I had a plethora of money it'd become my hobby!

Eating more veggies and Evan's favorite place

One of my goals these days is to eat more vegetables.  I scarf so much fruit down (last week I ate 2 pounds of grapes in two days), which I don't think is bad, but I hardly ever eat any veggies.  Like none.  Sometimes I eat carrots and I eat cabbage in my eggs, but that's about it.  I'd really like to start incorporating more veggies into my meals, particularly lunch and dinner.  Maybe eventually I'll get veggies into my breakfast, but I'm not quite ready to go that far yet.  So, my first step in this plan was to actually buy vegetables!  On Friday, Evan and I walked (or ran, since I tend to turn any opportunity into a running opportunity) to my doctor's office so I could get my TB test read (I got a TB test last week but then totally forgot to actually get it read - so this was actually my second test).  On the way out, I spotted a Farmer's Market in the parking lot.  Perfect!  Since I had been at the doctor's and needed ID, I had my money with me (normally I don't carry my wallet on runs) so I could actually buy things.

This is what I ended up with:

Instagram: @mapleandmud

Some carrots, really, really sweet tomatoes, and string beans.  I also bought an Australian Crystal Apple Cucumber, which is a rare heirloom seed.  The guy selling it said that it tastes similar to honeydew.  I haven't tried it yet, but I'll let you know what it's like.

The string beans are purple and green, but when you cook them the purple ones turn green.  It's funny, but at least lets me know when they are done cooking.

Instagram: @mapleandmud

I sauteed the string beans in coconut oil, salt, pepper, and garlic.  They were pretty tasty.  I even cooked extra and brought some in my lunch today.  The tomatoes are good to snack on because they are so sweet, but I've also been eating them in salads too.

After the farmer's market we headed to the playground, of course.  The playground is always on our agenda when we are out for a run.  I feel like it's only fair that after sitting for an hour in the stroller Evan gets a bit of time to run around.  He loves the playground, until someone else shows up.  It's funny really - he'll be playing and running around and then the second someone else shows up he wants me to pick him up.  Randomly, our friends came to the playground while we were there and he totally clammed up.  After about 15 minutes he got enough courage to go play though, so that was good.  He loves this little yellow car.

He rocks it back and forth so fast.  I love this playground because it's fairly simple without too many large structures that he could fall off of.  Plus, it's often completely empty.

The see-saw or teeter-totter (not sure what the appropriate name is) is a great thigh workout for me because Evan likes to go up and down but I have to be sitting on the seat or he gets mad.  I tried to just push one side down, but that didn't work.  Of course not.  I need to be sitting and working my thighs.

The rest of the weekend was spent teaching golf, watching my nieces again, and getting household chores done.  While watching my nieces we made Power Packed Fruit and Veggie Muffins.  I found the recipe on Pinterest and decided to try it out.  They turned out really good and all the kids liked them, even though they saw me put broccoli and zucchini in the batter.  The only problem was they really stuck to the muffin baking cups.  The recipe noted this and suggested using parchment muffin baking cups, but the girls really, really wanted to use pretty baking cups.  So, we used the pretty ones and all the muffins stuck.  I did notice that when I put all the muffins in a zip lock baggie and the moisture kind of built up a little, the paper got damp and peeled off much easier.

Yesterday I didn't get a run in because it was pouring out in the morning.  I may have gone in the rain, but I wasn't going to make Evan go in the rain.  I was bummed because on top of running, the hubs and I had a date to go golfing together.  Oh well, hopefully we'll go next week instead.  Instead we put our bed back together, cleaned out a few closets, and did a lot of laundry.  Fun times people!

That was my weekend - nothing spectacular but still a good time.  This morning I got up to do PiYo Sweat but the DVD machine wasn't working very well so I only go 15 minutes of it done.  I guess better than nothing - but, I could have used those extra 15 minutes of sleep!

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What was your best moment this weekend?

Do you say see-saw or teeter-totter?

A Weekend of Food and Running and Food, of course

Every weekend I think maybe I'll blog so that Monday isn't just a recap of my weekend.  But then I can't find time to do anything on the weekends, so it never happens.  So then I am left recapping the last three days on Monday.  Oh well.  I'll get back to my Vermont recap soon.  Maybe tomorrow.  I did remember to take a few pictures this weekend, so at least you don't have to just read a bunch of text.

On Fridays I work from home most of the time and Evan hangs out with me.  Usually he plays by himself while I get work done until my husband gets home around 10am.  This past Friday I decided rather than just eat our lunch together we would take it outside and have a nice picnic.  So, I packed our lunch into a picnic basket and we put a blanket out in the grass on the side of our apartment building.  It was so fun!

Evan had pizza (his new favorite food) and rice.  He ate his pizza and then my yogurt, but wasn't so into the rice. 

Then he was up and running around.

He's really into throwing sticks these days and was so excited to find a bunch hiding in the grass.

Then he realized that he could wander around and I'd stay sitting on the blanket.  He was thrilled not to have me following him around.

He kept walking around and looking to see if I was coming.  Then he'd come back and eat some yogurt and pizza and then go for another "walk".  I was fine as long as he didn't try to go into the street.  It turned out to be a great lunch.  I think we'll do these little picnics more often - it beats sitting inside all day while I work on the computer.  Plus, it tired him out so he went down for his nap really easily!

I usually try and get a run in Friday evening, but Ivan wanted to go out to eat.  Ivan and I have had a few "talks" about how I veto all his ideas without considering them...like when he suggests we go out to eat.  It's not like I don't like his ideas, it's just that I'm cheap and don't like wasting our money on going out to eat. However, when he suggested we head to his favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner...I agreed instead of saying no right away.  That definitely doesn't make me wife of the year or anything, but I'm trying!  So we called up some friends and met them for dinner.  We hadn't been there in over six months or so.  A long time.  We really don't eat out much anymore (probably because I veto the idea all the time).  It was fun though.

Saturday I was back at golf, after two weeks off.  Summer classes are always a lot smaller and I enjoy them a lot more.  The girls are so adorable.  And sweet.  It does make my weekends go faster though because by the time I get home it's the afternoon already.  I made it to the grocery store though and even made it for a short three mile run with a stop at the playground.

instagram: @mapleandmud

We got home really late (well, late for Evan).  Sometimes I feel like the only mom that has no schedule for their child.  I left for a run around 6:30pm and texted my friend to see if she wanted to meet me at the park and she said they were eating dinner, then it was bath time, and then bed time (for her daughter, obviously, not for herself).  I had a twinge of guilt because here Evan and I were heading out for a run, then a playground trip, and we still hadn't dinner yet.  We got home around 8pm and I gave Evan some of the spaghetti Ivan made.

He loved it.  Ivan makes "Honduran" spaghetti - which means he melts a stick of butter into his sauce.  I tend to not eat it because I don't like a bunch of butter in my spaghetti.  However, Evan loves it...probably because he LOVES butter!  He was shoving spaghetti into his mouth like crazy.  After dinner, he took a shower with Daddy and was in bed by 9pm.  Not too horrible, right?  And we had a fun playground date.

Sunday was a bit hectic, like it usually is.  I woke up and made 5-Ingredient Peanut Butter and Banana muffins.  It was a Pinterest find and I thought they would be good muffins to take to LA this week.  They aren't good muffins to send with Evan to daycare because my niece is severely allergic to peanuts, but it didn't make too many.  They were super easy and quick.  I had them mixed and made before Evan even woke up. 

After he did wake up, we changed and headed out for a five mile stroller run.  It was around 9am and it was already HOT and HUMID.  Ugg.  We did about four miles and then stopped at the playground.  We had brought Evan's new tractor that his Papa had bought him (Evan calls it Tractor-Papa) and I thought it would be fun to play in the sand pit.  Unfortunately, the sandpit was filled with a million bees.  Boo.  So, we just put the tractor down the slide and played with it on the ground.

Evan thought it was fun to just push the tractor around.

And yes, Evan went to the park in his jammies.  No one was at the park anyway.  We stayed for an entire hour and not a single other person showed up.  I think people sleep in on Sundays or go to early Sunday church services or something.  Evan loved having the playground to himself (except for having to share with the bees)!  Then we ran the last mile home.

After we got home it was cooking, cooking, cooking.  I had a lot of things on the menu to make: vegan lasagna, zucchini tots, shrimp-stuffed shells, tres leches cake, shredded chicken, and black bean burgers.  I didn't get all of it made - just some of it.

I wanted to make Vegan Spaghetti Squash Pesto Lasagna for my friend Allyson.  She was doing a crazy big two-day bike ride in Colorado (like 130 miles each day, over three mountains) and I thought she'd like something in her fridge when she got back.  In Honduras, when I'd go out of town my neighbors would clean my house the day before I returned.  It was so nice arriving home to a super clean house.  I used to do the same thing for my sister - I'd always scrub the floors and toilets and vacuum, etc. before she came home.  I feel weird cleaning my friend's house though (and it looks pretty clean anyway), so I figured food was the better way to go.  So, I whipped up this crazy complicated lasagna.  I am not vegan and had never made vegan cream sauce.  I've made lasagna with tofu before, but nutritional yeast was not really in my pantry.  All in all, it turned out pretty tasty.  I hope she likes it! 

I also made zucchini tots for Evan - they were delicious and Evan ate three of them after dinner.  I wanted something new to put in his lunches and saw these on Pinterest.  They were super easy to make and turned out to be a winner.  I got the shrimp-stuffed shells made for Ivan - I've made them many times before and he always loves them.  They are a bit time consuming, but I felt like I was making a bunch of other complicated things, so why not add something to it.  I also got the chicken cooked - I just put it in the slow cooker with some water for four hours and then shredded it.  I don't need it until Wednesday to make Easy Chicken Flautas (another Pinterest find), but wanted to have it already done so that the cooking process didn't take as long.

I ran out of time to make the tres leches cake and black bean burgers though.  Maybe I'll have time this week before I head to LA.  Otherwise they'll have to wait until I get back.  I can only make so many things in one day!

I crawled into bed around 12am - yikes!  I seriously need an extra weekend day to get all my stuff done!!

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Did you cook anything fun this weekend?

What types of things do you "pin" the most, if you use Pinterest? 
      - I mostly pin food and clothes (for my Stitch Fix stylists)

Slides and Tears

I am working from home all week so it's been difficult to find time to blog.  I don't have a 1.5 hour bus ride in the morning, so my routine has been thrown off schedule.  For two weeks in April every year Evan's daycare is closed and I have to find someone else to watch Evan or take vacation.  Last year it worked out well because I had a work trip to Birmingham and my aunt meet me there and watched Evan for a week and I was able to shuffle him around between friends for the other days.  This year, not so much.  I've taken a lot more work trips and both my aunt and my sister have already done (or are signed up for) two trips, so I didn't want them to ask for another favor.  So, I found another daycare to bring him to for a week and then I'm taking a week of vacation.

The daycare was recommended by a friend of mine and we went over to visit and the woman seemed nice.  Evan has other thoughts though.  The first day he was ok and I snuck off when he was outside playing.  Yesterday he was a bit more clingy but I snuck off while he was chasing after a ball.  Today?  He refused to be fooled and grabbed a hold of my hair and hung on for dear life.  The woman took him so I could leave and Evan screamed bloody murder.  It was very painful.  I thought that each day would get better but it seems that each day is worse.  Now that he knows I'm going to drop him off and leave he gets all panicky when we get there.  I really hate it.  It took all my self control to not burst into tears and drag my little baby toddler back home with me.  I think we avoid this situation normally because my husband usually drops him off and he tends to be less clingy with his dad.  Plus, I think he was familiar with my sister when we started dropping him off there so he's never cried at all (and maybe she smells like me or something so it's not quite as scary).  Boo.  It makes me sad.  And I miss him 10x more when he's at this new place than when he's at my sister's.  Just one more day and then our vacation starts and I can make it up to him by spending every second with him for the next week.

We did have a good weekend though.  It was SO beautiful out that I wanted to spend every second outside.  And so did Evan.  He has even learned a new word: slide.  That is a clear indication of how much time we spent at the park.

He had a new love of slides and can go down all by himself (if it's not too steep).  Sometimes he'll just perch on the top and enjoy the view though!

This was the perfect slide for him because he could get to the top and slide down all by himself.  Then he found the other park for the older kids and decided he liked the steep slide too.

This slide was much steeper and he had problems getting on it.  I usually caught him half way down and would have to reposition him - he would be head first, on his back, on his belly, etc.  Luckily the park wasn't really crowded so he had time to explore without fear of being knocked over.

He has also now developed a "smile" face, which is weird because I don't usually make him smile when I take photos and I don't feel like I take a TON of photos of him.  But somehow he learned and now sticks his head out and makes a goofy face.  Here are some others.

He likes to get as close to the camera as possible (and yes, I realize he needs a haircut).

Here he was eating his Sunday breakfast of pancakes dipped in maple syrup (although he didn't eat the pancakes, just sucked the syrup off of them), eggs, and sausage.  He is a sausage fiend and gobbles it up first.

Alright, I have to banana split and get this posted so I can get some work done.  I am a bit exhausted because I was up until after midnight getting work done and then had to get up early this morning to get Evan to daycare.  Since we only have one car I've been running (literally) Evan to daycare in the morning.   It's a nice and easy way to get a 4 mile run in, but today it was only 31 degrees out!  I had to dig my winter running clothes out again.

I hope you have a good Wednesday!!

Weekend Recaps and Good Morning

I think I went to bed close to 10 pm last night, a small miracle.  So I feel a smidgen less tired this morning.  Don't think that means I won't sleep in a few minutes, I just might be a but more coherent while writing this.  Except I just tried to spell writing with two t's in the last sentence (auto correct wouldn't let me though), so maybe I am less coherent than I think.

Sorry I wasn't around yesterday.  It was my niece's bday so my sister had to volunteer at her preschool, which meant the daycare was closed.  So I worked from home in the morning and then took the afternoon off.  You will be shocked to know what I did in the afternoon.  Put your seat belts on or you will be blown away!  I went for a run!!  I know, pretty monumental, right.  And not just a five minute run down the street...nope, I did a full 5.5 miles.  Amazing, right?!?!  I took two and a half months off completely and then last week I did a three mile run and a four mile run and then I managed to get a five and a half mile run in without falling over.  And it was hilly!  My legs were tired but I made it.  We'll see what I feel like today but hopefully I will recover.  I will admit my recovery fuel was not stellar...some chips and frozen yogurt...but I will try and work on that.  I have today off and then I will try and do four tomorrow.  I'm not sure it't the brightest idea to jump right into the middle of my training plan pretending that I have been running for the past few months, but I'm not sure what other options I have...the half marathon is a short five weeks away!

These past few weekends have been lots of fun but I was busy posting delayed holiday posts so I will tell you about them now.  Last weekend we actually did something fun and this weekend we didn't, but for some reason it was still a good weekend in my eyes.  Last weekend we FINALLY used our membership to the aquarium.  We got it for Evan's birthday because we thought it would be a fun activity to do in the winter but then with the move and the holidays we never made it downtown.  However last weekend we went with some friends and it was a lot of fun.  I'm not sure who liked it more, Evan or Ivan! 

It's hard to make us out but there we are in front of the Amazonian mangroves.  My parents and I actually went on a mangrove tour in Honduras and it was amazing, so this was fun to look at.  That tour seems like years ago, and actually it was seven and a half years ago so I guess it was years ago.

Our attempt at a family selfie

One of my favorite parts of the aquarium is the rainforest.  You get to walk through it and I think it's so fun.  I guess it might seem odd since it's not underwater, but I like it anyway.  We saw a sloth sitting on a tree which was fun, although I have seen a sloth in Costa Rica in the wild so this was a little less amazing.  Ivan wasn't a fan of the rainforest exhibit because it was hot and by the time we left the rainforest he was drenched in sweat.  I made him pose for one more family photo though.

His favorite thing was the sharks, of course.

We didn't see everything so we want to go back soon, maybe next weekend or the weekend after.  Since it's free with our membership all we pay for is parking.

This weekend we went shopping for some rugs to put in the house but were unsuccessful.  We ended up going to Kohl's and JCPenney's but Kohl's was way too expensive and JCPenney's didn't have many in the store, so we ended up buying one online.  We still need on to put in the dining room and kitchen because it's just too loud with the dog and Evan that we are afraid the neighbors will complain.  I wasn't willing to shell out $100 bucks so we only bought one, and the one we bought is for the living room.  We needed one to put in front of the couch so when Ivan puts his boots on he doesn't stain the carpet.  It's really annoying renting sometimes - you have to constantly think about what the place is going to look like when you move out...and dirt stains on the carpet can be a problem.

On Sunday we tried to go to church but failed miserably.  Evan is just so talkative that it was a nightmare.  Everyone kept giving us the Look and even though I tried to be strong and kept telling myself that the Catholic church is against abortion and birth control and that children are the future of the church and they should be welcome...Ivan still ended up spending 98% of the time in the hallway with him.  We may not go back for a while.  Then we went to Panera and ate chocolate chip bagels and coffee and played on the mall playground.  They have a little play area inside and during mall hours it is crazy with kids jumping wild and large kids (who are too big for the playground anyway) pushing the little kids, etc.  However, the mall hadn't opened yet so there were only a few other kids playing around.  Evan loved it.

We went to the playground by our house yesterday too and no one was there so Evan had a blast walking from one play thing to the next.

He loves these cars but there are two so you put him in one and then he points to the other.

So then you put him in that one and then he wants the other one.

And then he just wonders off (that's the dog's leash in the bottom of the photo, in case you were wondering). 

After my run we went and got Evan's haircut.  It's very cute.  We had the same woman who cuts Ivan's hair cut Evan's and she did a good job.  He was so well-behaved and just sat there the entire time...completely unlike church.  Then we headed to my sister's for cake and ice cream to celebrate my niece's birthday.

Now it's back to the bus and work.  And my nap!

Christmas Vacation Part II (and lots of photos)

Before I get started I just have to mention that it is 3 degrees out and with the wind chill it feels like -14 degrees.  I thought I was going to freeze waiting for the bus at 6am but Ivan nicely waited at the bus stop so I could stay in the warm car.  I was very appreciative.

Now, back to pretending I am still on vacation and enjoying life in Vermont.

You would think that a nice storm was adventure enough and that the rest of the trip would be smooth sailing...but you would be wrong.  This year my younger sister and her family came up for Christmas and my older sister stayed in Texas.  Usually it is the other way around, but we had fun my my younger sister and her family...although we missed my older sister and her boyfriend.  

The babies eating breakfast - they are only 3 months apart

Due to the large amount of ice on the trees, they were getting heavy and many branches were breaking and trees were falling.  It you went outside you could actually hear sporadic crashing in the woods.  Unfortunately, one or two trees looked like they were going to fall right on the house in the direction of the guest bedroom!  And they weren't little trees.  My Dad called some tree people to come cut it down but they couldn't come until the next morning.  The tree looked so precarious that my sister and family ended up sleeping in my parents' room and my parents slept on a mattress in the living room.  Ivan, Evan, and I were fine because we always sleep in the basement because it's much easier down there with Dolce.  So we were safe from falling trees.  Luckily no trees fell and the tree guys came on Christmas Eve and cut them both down (they were each 88ft tall!!) for a hefty price.  

What an adventure!

Then it was Christmas!  

My parents' tree - it is so pretty, I love it.  They've had the same
tree for 23 years or something.

We have a Christmas tradition were Christmas morning we wait until everyone is awake and then we munch on Panetone (an Italian fruit bread) and open presents.  My Dad is responsible for handing out the presents and we open them one at a time.  I know it seems slow and arduous but I love it.  That way you can thank the person who gave it to you, see what other people got, and watch people open your present.  Plus it prolongs the gift opening session.

Getting ready to open presents Christmas morning

This year Ivan and I didn't buy anyone presents.  We sent out an email in advance so people would know and wouldn't think we had forgotten.  We just didn't have the money after moving and putting down our deposit and everything.  That put a small damper on the holidays because we love gift giving and we had great ideas for people's gifts this year.  And there is something extra special about buying Christmas gifts during the holiday.  Plus, people still bought us stuff and then we felt bad opening things from people we didn't buy anything for.  Such is life though and we'll just have to make it up next year.

I got some great gifts like a Barnes and Nible gift card, new clothes, a Peace Corps calendar, a teapot, tea, Christmas ornaments, a necklace, a big blanket, a cookbook, a microwave popcorn maker, new sheets.  I loved everything.  

Evan looking at the tree...before Santa came.

Evan got lots of fun gifts too.  We gave him a wooden train and a piggy bank (we had purchased the two items before we spent all our money on moving).  He also received some clothes, some ornaments, some little cars, books, a hammer type toy, a puzzle, some bath toys, and other things I can't remember this early in the morning.

Ivan was most excited about a gift certificate to his favorite Chinese Buffet.  The gift certificate was for $60.00 and the buffet only costs $5.95 a person.  Super cheap, right!!  So he went twice and treated the entire family one time.  He still has almost $20 left for when we return.  That man loves his Chinese buffets.  He also got a Honduran soccer scarf, new socks, clothes, and some other things I can't remember because I wasn't able to pay attention while I was opening mine and Evan's gifts.

The rest of the trip involved lots of time hanging out with Evan and my sister's girls, chatting with my mom, sledding in the woods, hanging out at my Aunt's house, and drinking lots of tea.  

Evan had a great time playing with kitchen items!

Evan dancing in his Christmas outfit.

Getting ready to go sledding!

Playing with Mimi on the kitchen floor (we spent a lot of time in the kitchen).

Evan in his snow outfit - coat, snow pants, snow boots, and all!

The trees were still frozen days later - this is the view from
the living room window.

Evan loved taking every item out of the drawers and playing with them all over the kitchen floor.

Playing in the little rocking boat my parents had - so cute!

Cousins happily playing in the kitchen - check out the doll stuck in the basketball hoop!

An attempt at a cousin photo in front of the tree - complete failure!

Hanging out with Papa (ignore the opened pantry in the back)

The weekend before we left we headed into Burlington to go to the Echo Center, which is a lake aquarium geared toward kids.  Evan loved looking at the fish, playing in the water, and playing in the kids room which had a boat and a little slide.

He could have stayed here forever!

Looking at snakes.

I had to take a photo of Evan in his shirt next to the Caution Wet Floor sign - that shirt is so special beause
my friend made it for me because I have that same tattoo.

It was a fun place.  Afterwards we headed to dinner at the Skinny Pancake where my Dad's second cousin works and enjoyed yummy crepes.  They were really delicious.  

And that my friend is my recap! 

The only other adventure we had was coming home from an attempted trip to Burlington (we turned around because it was snowing too much and we passed three accidents in an hour) we went to drive down the street my parents' house is on, only to find out that an electric pole had fallen and there were downed wires all over the street.  We called the electrical company and headed to Chinese Buffet to wait while the wires were removed.  It turned out that they were cable wires instead and we could just drive over them.  Which is what we ended up doing the rest of the time because the cable company never came out to fix them.  Luckily they weren't the cable lines to my parents' house so we still had TV and internet. 

We had an uneventful drive home and came home to find our house ransacked.  Oh wait, no, it wasn't ransacked.  We left it looking like a disaster because we hadn't had time to unpack anything.  I spent the rest of the week trying to get things organized and figure out how we were going to fit everything in our new place.

I'm still working on that.

I sure miss vacation. I really miss sleeping in until 8am and not having to commute into the city everyday.  And getting home so late.  But at least I don't have class this semester, so that's a big positive.

And as far as my half marathon training goes - it isn't going anywhere.  I had all these plans to run in Vermont and half my suitcase was filled with running clothes - and then the ice storm came and the ice never went away.  I was too nervous about slipping and spraining an ankle so I didn't go.  Plus, there are no sidewalks where my parents live and I have to run on road that have a speed limit of 50mph but no shoulder - with a snow-packed street it just didn't seem like a smart idea.  Of course not training for my half marathon doesn't seem so smart either!

How's the weather where you are?  Are you suffering from the Polar Vortex too???  Have you ever run a race with little to no training???

Strange pizza, hide and seek, and next semester

So of course I had two posts yesterday, which is nothing short of a miracle, and then today I've got nothing for you.  Such is life, right?  Jam-packed one day and then empty the next.  At work I am trying to create an online learning course...I am a bit under-qualified for this and it is taking up all my brain energy to try and do it.  I feel like this happens a lot.  Anyone out there a Lectora whiz?  Wanna take a stab at designing a course for me for free?  Haha.

Since starting Chemistry our family dinners have gone down the drain.  I just don't have the time nor energy to cook a lot of meals.  Plus, Ivan annoys me and eats a big plate of food right before I get home and then isn't hungry for dinner.  Yesterday I made Evan a can of soup and some rice and I ate a pizza.  I had gotten some stone-cooked pizza crusts from Costco and decided to pop one in the oven for me.  I didn't want the plain tomato sauce with cheese though.  I wanted something different.  Enter my new pizza creation.

It was butternut squash, deli ham, and cheese.  I was afraid it was going to be gross but it was actually really good.  Evan liked it too.  He wasn't into eating too much last night because he saw the dog playing with a toy and got jealous.  The toy was Dolce's but Evan thought it was his so he was a little perturbed that Dolce was playing with it while he was trapped in a high chair.  Yeah, so dinner was super short.  

Then we played hide and seek.  I hid and Evan looked for me.  It was really funny and Evan loved it.  I love playing all night with him and not having to go to class.   Ugg, not too many more classes and then I have to decide what to do about next semester.  Do I just relax with no classes or do I consider taking a Spanish class or something.  I don't know what I feel like doing.  Or what I want to pay for.  Decisions, decisions.

I brought my running stuff to work today, I am determined to get in a few miles during lunch.  We'll see if that happens or not.  I was up until 11:30pm completing an online Chemistry assignment, so I am a little drowsy today. I hate running when I'm tired - except I am tired a lot these days and I have to get these runs in sometime or I'll never be ready for the half marathon!

A Long Weekend

I guess it's been a while since I last posted.  I tried to write a post on Thirsday but I just wasn't into it and didn't have much to say.  So I didn't post what I wrote.  Then yesterday was a holiday so I had off, which would seem like a perfect opportunity to post except I try not to be on the computer or attached to technology when I'm home with Evan.  And when he was napping I did the responsible thing and watched NCIS and Parenthood.  I can proudly announce that I finished the entire season 4 of Parentohood already and am tempted to watch the live version on TV this season, but am not 100% sure.  I just don't know if I can wait an entire year...but then I hate waiting in anticipation each week because they end each show on a thread.  And now I have to choose another series to watch.  Any good suggestions out there?  I don't have a lot of options because I'm watching it on Amazon Prime.  I really wanted to watch Call the Midwives, but it's not on Prime.  Oh well.  I can watch Friday Nigh Lights or Downton Abby or Covert Affairs, and maybe some others.  I will have to see.  I need something good that entertains me while I wash dishes and fold laundry.

This weekend was pretty low-key, which was nice.  After a couple of go-go-go weekends it was nice to stay in the house and chill.  It rained a lot all week and even on Friday night.  That didn't stop us from heading to the football game.  We just put our rain gear on.

On Saturday I went grocery shopping and took Evan to the park.  The park wasn't that fun because he's a bit too little for the big slides and there were no swings, but it was nice to be outside.  We also went to Red Robin, which I love, and had some hamburgers and spent some money at Target.  I bought candy corn M&Ms, but they aren't that tasty.  A bit too sweet for me, but that hasn't stopped me from eating a bunch of them.

Sunday we went to my sister's for dinner and I actually went for a run, by myself.  No baby, no jogging stroller, just me, my shoes, and the pavement.  It was nice and I went 4.5 miles.  I was just gonna do 4 miles but the run felt so great the I ended up doing an extra half mile.  Then I walked the dog to cool down.  

I don't know what's up with his hair.  It is always looks like he just woke up.

Yesterday was beautiful out so Evan and I took Dolce for a nice walk, played on the swings again, and hung out waiting for the dryer guy to come fix the dryer.  I made some bread but I forgot to add the water so it turned out a bid solid and dry, so I threw it out.  I also made salsa chicken in the crock pot and crepes.  In the evening my sister invited me over for hot apple cidar, so I took Evan in his truck and we walked over there.  It was definitely a commitment pushing him in the truck, but he managed just fine.  I read a few books to my sister's kids and drank cidar before walking back home.  Then I ate dinner, cleaned up, did a chem assignment, and went to bed.

He looks so chill...hopefully this isn't a preview of his driving style.

Now it's Tuesday and it's back to work.  Fun times!

How was your weekend??!