Anyone notice a theme?

These are a couple of pictures I took during Sarah's ballgame last Saturday.

She's in second grade so she can totally do this on her own.   I think she just likes to be waited on! 

What we mothers must suffer for our children.

We have been enjoying Cuties since before Christmas.

Cuties are, as their website puts it, Mandarin oranges that are super sweet, easy-to-peel, seedless, and kid sized.

Last week I ran out of Cuties and swung by the grocery store to pick up another bag.  But they were out!  No biggie, I thought.  I'll just grab a bag of tangerines.

The next day, I sent one to school with each of them as usual.  When they got home, they both started in on me.

"Were those Cuties? I don't think those are Cuties?  The one you sent me had SEEDS in it!  Those things aren't as sweet as the Cuties."

Message received. 

The next day, I went to Wal-Mart and stocked up on Cuties for the kids.

So guess who's been eating old-fashioned, seeded, not-as-sweet, tangerines?

Beth's Spicy Sausage Lentil Soup

If you've been to Carrabba's then you've probably had their sausauge and lentil soup.  And if you've had their sausage and lentil soup then you probably love it.  And if you love it then you probably want some more of it!

I took a recipe that I found online at Food.com and made a few changes based on what I had in the pantry.  We love it!

Beth's Spicy Sausage Lentil Soup

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup onion,chopped
• 3/4 cup carrot, grated
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 lb. Italian sausage, mild and in bulk
• 1/2 cup ham , diced
• 7 cups water
• 5 cups chicken broth
• 1 lb lentils, rinsed
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chilies, drained
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

Directions:

1.  Heat olive oil in large soup pot.  Add onion, carrot, garlic and sausage.  Saute for 8 minutes stirring frequently. Break up the sausage but not too small - be sure to leave some large chunks. 

2. Add ham and cook for another minute.

3. Add the remaining ingredients to the pot and bring to a boil.  Then reduce heat and simmer for an hour.

4. Before serving use an emulsion blender to puree the soup. Do it long enough so that about half of the lentils are pureed and the other half are still whole. (I do this because we like a smoother soup. You can skip this step if you like your beans whole.)

I served this with bread that was fresh out of my bread maker. All you need to make it just like being at Carrabba's is the oil and vinegar and spices for dipping - and I've got a recipe for that too!  I'll try to post that later on in the week.

Pin It

I really should consider saying "yes" more often.

My best friend, Jennifer, invited us over on Friday night after dinner to roast marshmallows around a bonfire.  Well, actually Jennifer's girls invited us over on Friday night after dinner to roast marshmallows around a bonfire.

They invited us on Friday afternoon while they were over at our house playing.  I told them they needed to call their mom first to make sure it was okay.  I just love how kids make all these plans without ever even thinking about asking their parents.  And my kids do it all the time too.  I don't remember ever doing that as a child. But then again, I don't really remember anything about my childhood except that I was perfect. ahem.

So the girls called their mom and she said, "of course!".  Which I knew she would.  She's a good mom that way.  Whenever my kids do something like that to me I am full of excuses and reasons why we can't do it. 

And when people invite us to do things, I'm also full of excuses and reasons why we can't do it.

But I'm so glad Jennifer isn't that kind of mom. 

We walked over there, with gloves and hats and flashlights, around 7:30. The moon was full and bright and the sky was full of stars.  The kids were excited to be doing something different and to be spending more time with their friends.  I was just excited to be out of the house. 

When we arrived, they already had a big fire going in their fire pit and  had marshmallows, graham crackers, Hershey bars and roasting sticks laid out on a table. 

I pulled up a chair, sat by the warm fire, ate gooey marshmallows and enjoyed the company of my best friend.

I really should consider saying "yes" more often.

7 Quick Takes Friday - Running Down a Dream

After a two week running hiatus I am back on track.  Get it?  Back on track? I crack  myself up sometimes!

Anyway, I thought I would do my 7 Quick Takes about running since it is the new year and it seems that everyone loves to talk about exercise in January.

1. We don't normally exchange gifts but my husband surprised me with one of these for Christmas:

It's a GPS watch!  I run laps through the neighborhood and now I don't have to count them anymore!  I can just hit start and the GPS tracks my miles for me and tells me how fast I have run each mile.  I can also download the information onto the computer and track it that way but I haven't done that yet. 

It's a little big - I guess because it has a GPS in it - but it feels very light on my wrist so I don't notice it when I am running. 

2.  One of my running goals for this year is to run a 10k.  I've done 4 5ks since I started running almost 2 years ago. I regularly run 3 miles with no problem now so I have decided it's time to set another goal.  So, next up, 6.2 miles. 

3.  Last year, I stopped running after Thanksgiving and due to cold weather and using that as an excuse, I basically took the winter off and didn't start running again until last March.  During my running "vacation", I gained 5 pounds.  I stepped on the scale right before Christmas and have finally, finally, gotten those 5 pounds off. 

I am determined not to let that happen this year so even though it was 23 degrees on Tuesday morning, I ran anyway.  And even though it was 19 degrees yesterday, I ran anyway.  So this morning, when it was 33 degrees, it felt balmy and I didn't even need to wear a jacket when I ran anyway!

4.  The following items help me to stay toasty when I am running in the cold weather:

 

The Champion running hat has a little hole in the back for my pony tail.  How cute is that?  And usually after about 2 miles, I am ready to rip the hat and gloves off because I am so warm.  However, on the 19 degree day, I was wishing that I had a ski mask!

5.  I am a very slow runner.  When I am doing my morning runs through the neighborhood, I do about a 12 minute mile.  However, when I do the 5k races I usually run about a 10 minute mile.  Not much better but it is still an improvement.

During the races, my adrenaline is pumping and I just automatically go faster.  Also, there are always slower people ahead so I spend a lot of time speeding up to get past them.  And then, there is the fact that it is a race and I want to post a good time.  

I know that I can do better. If I am going to do a 10k without being the last one to cross the finish line, I need to work on my speed.  According to what I've read, running sprints (speeding up and then slowing down, speeding up, slowing down, etc). is supposed to be a good way to train your body to get used to running faster.  I'm giving that a try to see if that works.

6.  I saw this on Pinterest and this is my new running motto:

(photo courtesy of www.lifes-a-journal.com)

7.  And as a little inspiration to run or to work out or to eat healthier foods, here is another great thing I saw on Pinterest:

(photo courtesy of muffintop-less.tumblr.com)

No excuses! 

For more 7 Quick Takes please visit Jennifer at Conversion Diary.

Good job kid!

Yesterday after school, guitar, lessons, and allergy shots, Peter came right in and did all of his homework. 

Immediately. 

With no prompting from me.

And with minimal complaining.

He usually starts his homework right after school and it is my goal for him to finish it every afternoon before he plays.  However, he has a lot of homework every day so I typically let him take a break before he has completed it all.  So the fact that even though we didn't get home until 5:15 and he came in and did all of his homework (it took him an hour) without stopping was huge!  I was very proud of him.

Dan is always telling Peter to do his work first so he can be free to play without anything hanging over his head.  Yesterday he said he wanted to be "just like Daddy".

This is a trend that I would love to see continue! 

Lexington and Concord - Where it all began!

While we were in Boston last week, we also visited Lexington and Concord.  There is a new visitor's center in Lexington with some good exhibits according to Uncle Bob but it was closed.  So we proceeded to Concord and the North Bridge.

The North Bridge was the site of the first battle in the Revolutionary War.

Grampa and Sarah outside of Buttrick Mansion which is the Visitor's Center  at the Old North Bridge.

Peter in front of the Hancock Cannon.

 Can you see the Old North Bridge in the background?

 Better shot of the bridge from the distance.

 Me in front of the bridge.

 Sarah on the bridge.

 Me and my little people on the bridge.

 Peter on the bridge.

 The Minute Man statue.

It was a chilly day but the kids had fun running around the bridge and learning a little about the start of the Revolutionary War!

(And don't you just love my eloquent descriptions of all the pictures?  Seriously, I think we all could have figured out the pictures without them!)

Jellies? Nope. The newest style from Crocs.

This new style from Crocs look shockingly similar to a pair of red jellies I had in 1986.

 Next thing you know, perms and banana clips will be all the rage.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

We took the kids to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston last week.

Back in the early 90's, I was a huge fan of Claude Monet.  I even had a framed print of The Artist's Garden at Giverny that hung over my bed for a long time.  What can I say?  I went through a lavender phase.

I was very excited to discover that the MFA had several of Monet's works in their collect.  While the didn't have the Artist's Garden, they did have Water Lilies which is probably the next best thing!

They also had paintings by Rembrandt, Renoir, Manet and Van Gogh just to name a few.  I was thrilled to be able to see so many great works of art.  The kids didn't understand the significance but we can always go back when they are older.

Does this look familiar?

This is the painting done by Gilbert Stuart which he used as a model for the painting he did that would ultimately be used on the dollar bill. 

When we walked into the museum, Peter approached the large statue that greets you upon your arrival in the museum's foyer on and exclaimed, "Look! It's Orpheus and Cerberus!" 

Thank you Percy Jackson! Peter now knows more about Green mythology than I do.  (Let's add that to the growing list of things he knows more about than me!)

They had several Greek exhibits that we spent a lot of time viewing thanks to Peter's new fascination with Greek mythology.  I think he was a little disappointed that there were a lot of statues of the Greek gods.

This is a picture of Peter under a bust of Zeus.

 And this is Sarah in front of, well, I can't remember what exactly but I guess it's a lion!

And this is a sign that it's time to go.  The kids were tired and making silly faces. 

It was a great museum.  The kids got to go in for free because it was a holiday in the Boston public school system.  Adult tickets were $22 each but I think it was well worth it.  We  only saw about half the museum in the 3 hours that we were there but the tickets also allowed us to go back again for free within the next ten days.

The museum also offers lots of free programs for the kids - there were groups of kids all over the museum creating their own little works of art.  If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend it!