Monday, February 28, 2011

What we're doing this afternoon

I don't normally fold laundry in the dining room, but I had a couple loads of towels ready, and Mariposa wanted company...





Bun finished school before lunch today which is amazing since we slept in and started school late. Now, some free time on the computer.


After a day with no legos, James has been going full-force today.


Gem is sleeping. Such a good time of the day for mom.


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I like books

This is what goes on at our house.








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Friday, February 25, 2011

Geocaching Newbies

Today we got to cross off NYR #1--one new fun adventure per month. Last month was going to Denver with just Bunny and Gemma, and this month it was geocaching! We had the added pleasure of taking Uncle Tony who is in town to go golfing.
First we needed some fuel, so off to the South Store we went...


Yummy roast beef sammie for me and club and tomato soup for Marcus. Then on our way to our local library to our very first cache.


We thought this was a good one to start with since was indoors (very unusual!) and it is so cold outside today! Our good luck...we ran into Meghan and Sophie and they got to join in the fun.
So once we were in the library, we were on our own. With some help from our favorite librarian we looked up "geocache" and found our cache:


It was a fake book! How cool is that?


It was filled with swag. We took a marble and left a sticker. I sure hope no muggles saw us.


Our next stop was to see the old A&W family near the SHARC. This was a fun one because it involved a secret code! We found a lockbox in the pickleball court that was set up to look like an electrical box.


We have decided that this is the funnest game ever. We took an Ironman toy and left another sticker.


Then off to our final destination of the day, the rose garden on 5th. We had the clue to look "under the green lid.". It was under a fake underground utility box!


You can see it right there near Marcus' foot. Of course at this point we were very cold so we needed to get warmed up:








This was such a fun adventure; we can't wait to go again!

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Snow Day




Yesterday was a snow day! St. Matthew School was cancelled so we didn't go to town for school Mass like we usually do on Thursdays. Instead, we stayed home and did school (no day off for us). But we did go in to town to watch a kids' production of Mulan at the Venetian Theatre on Main. The kids love seeing child actors on stage, and it was a very well-done production. After our 15-bean soup lunch we packed up to go sledding at Aidan and Lukie's house since by then the snow at our house had mostly melted. Unfortunately by then, the snow had also mostly melted at the cousins' house so we had to go higher...all the way to Bald Peak! Here are the pics of the fun:

















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Thursday, February 24, 2011

15 bean soup

In honor of our snow day, I'm making 15 bean soup for lunch, counted for accuracy.


That works out to 3 beans for each of us. Gemma can have leftover oatmeal.


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Monday, February 21, 2011

Food Rules, and food flops

Time for an NYR update. I finished my first book of the year for NYR #8! It took about 5 minutes to finish up "Food Rules" by Michael Pollan yesterday, and even though it was a cheater book for me, it was still a good read.


From the back of the book: "A definitive compendium of food wisdom. Eating doesn't have to be so complicated. In this age of ever-more elaborate diets and conflicting health advice, "Food Rules" brings a welcome simplicity to our daily decisions about food. Written with clarity, concision and wit...this indispensable handbook lays out a set of straightforward, memorable rules for eating wisely, one per page, accompanied by a concise explanation."

The basic rules are to eat food, not too much, and mostly plants. Some of my favorite "smaller" rules are: shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle whenever you can, stop eating before you're full, pay more/eat less, and have a glass of wine with dinner. I'm pretty good at my favorites, except I do tend to pay more and eat more, because the food tastes so good!

Other NYRs...totally slacked on NYR #2 and did not try any new recipes last week, although I've never experienced lobster like I did on auction night:



I did get to cross off NYR #5 today, 5 minutes of time outdoors everyday. Stop laughing; it is much harder than you think. I logged my time today by walking down to get the mail with Marcus and the kids. Of course there was no mail since it is a holiday, but it was worth it anyway. We spent about an hour outside walking the property so I am good for the week which is great since it's supposed to be cold in a few days.

Still working on the other ones, like NYR #1-- 1 new adventure per month. We'll try to go geocaching this week since it was raining when we planned to go on Valentine's Day. Geocaching will be good b/c it counts as NYR #5 AND NYR #1, and maybe #3 if I say a rosary on the way to the park, and even #6 if we lose the kids and can count it as a date.

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Sunday, February 20, 2011

Pictures from the auction

Girls' night at the auction! Saturday night's Live Auction for St. Matthew school at the Nike campus-Tiger Woods Center. Here are some pics....


Sorry this one is blurry.




This one is better! We could call this the "before" shot, as in "before we were crippled by our shoes."





We shared a table with Father Peter! Here he is ~without~ his lobster costume. ;o)







The "Marcus & Marcus Brunch" went for $800!!! We are super-excited and have already started planning our end-of-summer event...even found the perfect china pattern.







My fav part was hangin' out with the gals, but I must admit that the wine wall was a close second. I ended up with some fantastic wines, a few gift cards, tickets to some church parties, and a large package of certificates for "4 seasons of family fun.". Oh, and a guy's fishing trip this summer as a thank-you for the dads watching the kids!

Well, this post has taken me about 30 minutes, all because of this:






Gemma the Stinker!

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Saturday, February 19, 2011

time to party

The auction is over and it's time to party!

I was "in charge" of the Friday night portion of St. Matthew's auction yesterday.  Man, was it a lot of work!  Mostly this past week, and all day/night yesterday.  It reminded me of horse shows...leaving early in the morning, on your feet working all day, barely eating or getting a chance to use the bathroom, getting home late...and that great feeling of tiredness after hard work, and the feeling of accomplishment.   Don't get me wrong, there were times yesterday where I just wanted to QUIT!!! but I found out this morning that we raised $14,000 with little to no cost.  Not bad for a "community event."

I think people had fun, got some great deals.  I know what I would (will?) do differently next year.  Marcus was great with the kids and the kids were great without me (is it OK that I have mixed feelings about that?).  It will take at least this whole next week to get the house/laundry/schooling back in order but that's OK.  I am wondering, though, why did I schedule the kids' dentist appt. at 8am for Monday????

Here's a random picture--from Meghan and Sophie's birthday party 2 weeks ago.  I thought it was really cute, the two cousins sitting there together.  :o)

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Dancing with Cinderella


Earlier this month, Marcus took Bunny to a daddy-daughter dance at St. Matthew, and it was such a wonderful experience! The dance was a sign-up event at last year's auction, so we kinda forgot about it until I saw it on my calendar, so it was a nice surprise.

Bunny and I spent the afternoon washing her hair then blow-drying and curling it, choosing the perfect outfit, and painting her face (just a little!). She was beautiful, see for yourself. **side note...while getting ready and admiring the results in the mirror, she looked at me and said, "you know, mom, it isn't THAT hard to look just a little nicer....". I took a look at myself in the mirror; I wasn't feeling well that morning so I had just thrown on some sweats and a tee, thrown my hair back, and barely brushed my teeth. Not so hot. Thanks, Bun.

Bunny was the perfect age, and had the perfect attitude, for the dance. She loved being with her daddy and wasn't self-conscious about dancing or that she was the only home schooled kid there. She just danced, sang, and had a blast! She recognized the other girls from when we go to school Mass and other activities, but didn't worry about being different or trying too hard to be part of the crowd.

She came home with her face painted "I love my daddy.". They are definitely going again next year!






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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Monday, February 14, 2011

Trendsetter

I just saw that Roseanne Barr has a new reality show on Lifetime called "Nut Farm." What? I thought of it first!!!! This is just like when they came out with Barbie Mariposa right after my redhead was born. Maybe I'm just a trendsetter.


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Valentine's Day

Just trying out my new blog app on my iPad (thanks, Justin, for finding it!). Now my blog can be like twitter on steroids. Or is that what facebook is?

Baby on my hip, preschooler singing "Ring Around the Rosie" in the living room, kinder. playing legos, and an 8-yr old changing into dry pants after playing outside.

Husband at a romantic Valentine's lunch date with his work-husband, ha ha ha. I not-so-secretly hope that it's an excuse for him to get out of the house and buy me a V-day present, maybe even jewelry. Or at least a cupcake.

We're planning a nice dinner tonight, an annual event featuring steak, 2x baked potatoes, green beans, and salad, with individual molten chocolate cakes for dessert. Too bad no new recipes for NYR #2 (2 new recipes a week). Probably some TV-watching then a romantic night of auction work.

We hope you have a Happy Hearts Day!


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Saturday, February 12, 2011

New Year's Resolutions

I imagine that a portion of this blog will be devoted to the progress of my New Year's Resolutions 2011, since that's something that will be occupying my thoughts this year.  We decided to go with a "top ten" list of manageable and measurable goals for the year.  Notice I said "manageable"...I decided against "clean the barn storage" (too lofty), "fix my Mustang" (never got started), and "go through old-house boxes" (let's keep a lid on it).  Also "take a shower everyday" may be measurable, but not realistic, so that didn't make the cut.  Besides, people would know when I broke that one, and call me out on it.  That would just be embarrassing.  At least now no one points out when I smell like baby vomit and unwashed hair.


But I digress.


So as we go along this great year of 2011, let's see how my NYRs come along....


First update: NYR #8: read 8 books this year.  Ok, stop laughing, this would be a major accomplishment for me seeing as how I've tried to do the library's summer reading program (5 books) for about seven years now, and have not once completed it.  I'm more of a magazine reader, so to read 8 books this year will be great.  Last week I have finished one book, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson, but unfortunately it doesn't count since I started it in 2010.  This book is a writer's memoir of growing up in the 50s and is hilariously funny.  I especially liked how he researched topics outside of his own little world in Des Moines, so I felt like I was actually learning something about the times back then.  Marcus thought it was funny when I would laugh out loud when reading it (something I only do when people are around, oddly) and then read him the passage.


From the foreword of the book:
"My kid days were pretty good ones, on the whole.  My parents were patient and kind and approximately normal.  They didn't chain me in the cellar.  They didn't call me "It."  I was born a boy and allowed to stay that way.  My mother, as you'll see, sent me to school once in Capri pants, but otherwise there was little trauma in my upbringing.
   Growing up was easy.  It required no thought or effort on my part.  It was going to happen anyway.  So what follows isn't terribly eventful, I'm afraid.  And yet it was by a very large margin the most fearful, thrilling, interesting, instructive, eye-popping, lustful, eager, troubled, confusing, serene, and unnerving time of my life.  Coincidentally, it was all those things for America, too."


Now I am working on Michael Pollan's book Food Rules, which is sort of cheating since it is such a small book and I already know the lesson.  It takes about 30 minutes to get through (really) and I've put in about 20 so far.  But I really need a "win" right now, so Food Rules will be it.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Our Life on the Nut Farm

Friday night, warm stove-popped popcorn, 4 crazy kids dancing to the "Amazing Race" theme song as we try to catch up on last season before the new season starts on 2/20.  This is "our life on the nut farm."