Ahhh, there's nothing like spending quality work time with the fam...

Our family "work in the yard" day consisted of Mitch and Luke constantly battling over the trimming shears and the loppers...Mitch would decide that the one Luke had was the one he wanted, so he'd persuade/threaten/use physical force in trying to get his way, only to discover that once he got what he wanted, he really was better off with what he originally had. Then the process would start all over again in trying to get it back. And of course the things that they would be the most helpful at, they weren't interested in doing. We just set Mitch and Luke on trimming the tree in the back, and I just had to tell myself that whatever damage is done, it will all just grow back!

And then Elise, who was supposed to be taking a nap, was everything but helpful. When she wasn't crying about not being able to do what I was doing, she was crying about not being able to use the camera. Of course she had to top it all off by peeing in her pants.

Calling me Silently

Does anyone else get excited about the weird, obscure produce at the the grocery store? I've gotten into the habit of doing all of my grocery shopping at Wal-mart, so whenever I venture over to Winco, I love lingering in the produce section and checking out all the stuff I've never eaten or cooked with before. And I decided the other day that a new goal in life is to try, at least once, everything offered in the produce section. I tried mustard greens a long time ago, and used them in a dish with orzo and mushrooms...they were kind of bitter and didn't go over too well with the fam. Earlier this week I tried red chard. I remember eating and liking chard from my Grandma's garden when I was growing up, but I couldn't remember what it tasted like. I also tried buying tomatillos for the first time too. Actually, it's kind of funny why I bought those. Okay, so I love salsa verde and I thought, hey, I could grow some tomatillos in my garden and make salsa with them. Well, it seemed like the plant grew well, and there were tons of tiny tomatillos that were growing...the funny thing was I had no idea when to harvest them or what they were supposed to look like when they were ripe, or even what they were supposed to taste like. Unfortunately it froze before any had a chance to get very big. But I still wanted to make salsa verde, so I just ended up buying some tomatillos.

Anyway, I want to hear what everyone has tried. So tell me what you've cooked with and if it was edible. I've been eyeing a few things for future trips to Winco: leeks, fennel, turnips, cactus pears (?!), rutabaga, bok choy, plantains, endive, etc.

Oh yeah, and the chard was really good! Well, I'm the only one in my family that is eating it, but I like it! It mostly just tastes like spinach, but with a little milder flavor. And of course, anything with a little butter and salt always tastes better!

What?! No party?

Last year we planned a big party for Loren's 31st birthday, complete with Guitar Hero, karaoke, dancing to Michael Jackson, blindfolded pudding feed, and all sorts of cut-throat competitioning. It was a blast! Loren informed me the other night that I don't need to worry about planning a party for him this year...I think he's so afraid I might try to outdo myself and he's afraid of what that might entail! (Don't worry Loren, I'm saving all of my good ideas and energy for the big 4-0!) Anyway, here are some fun pictures from the party last year.

Do you ever wonder...

I find myself, all the time!, comparing this year to what was going on this time last year. I can't believe how fast time has flown by this year, and thinking about last October makes me wonder where the time has gone! Here are some fun pictures of what was going on last year for us (lots of birthday celebrations of course: Luke, Elise, Loren, and my dad).

Super Soccer Stars

Mitch is just finishing up his fourth season of soccer. He loves it and ranks himself as the third best on the team. It's fun to see him play and have fun with his teammates--they already show this cute team camaraderie, slapping each other and giving hugs after good plays. Mitch picked up this habit almost from the beginning, of falling down every time he kicks the ball...kind of like a slide tackle. The problem is though, when the ball only goes a foot or two, and all eight players on the field are within a five-foot radius around the ball, it's a little important to be up on your feet to keep playing the ball. A couple of weeks ago Mitch had an awesome goal where he kicked the ball from way back and off to the side of the goal, and the ball just caught the corner of the net.

Luke was finally old enough to start his first season of soccer...and he loves it! (A friend took pictures of his team, I haven't gotten copies yet...) He gets so into the game, he really has a lot of drive, which is so funny because to me, Luke has always seemed really passive. He told me once that he just focuses on the ball, and wherever the ball goes, he goes. He's really fast and actually scores several goals a game. It's so fun to see Luke emerge from the shadow of his older brother and be involved with something he's so good at!

Yeah, I have high hopes that my boys will grow up to be soccer hotties! :) I can't convince them to be in dance (holy cow, if they only knew how much they'd be thanking me when they got to college and girls lined up in droves to dance with the "dance stud!!") so I'll just have to settle for soccer hotties. But please don't categorize me as a soccer mom...I'm not sure I'm ready (or ever will be) for that title!

It's a beautiful Day, Don't let it get away

Wow. Can I just say that I realized my kids have grown up all of the sudden? So this is what's happened in the last few days to make me feel...well...a little nostalgic. My brother Ryan and his wife Kim were in town last weekend, and Friday afternoon we picked Mitch up after school. There was a book in the car and I told Mitch to start reading to Ryan and Kim to show them how well he read...but he ended up astonishing me at how much he could read! I had no idea he could read so well, we're talking hard words that he read or sound out easily! I probably should be a little ashamed by this admission, I mean, I should be perfectly aware of his reading abilities, right? Yeah, I need to better about sitting down and doing homework with him. Anyway, I was really proud. It's amazing how enabling the ability to read is, there is so much he can now figure out for himself. In fact, just at FHE tonight, he was reading the words to the song we were singing, instead of just trying to go off of memory.

My other proud moment is I think I might officially be able to say that Elise is potty trained. And we're only on Day 4! I've tried before, a couple of months ago, but neither she nor I were ready for it. She couldn't quite make it to the toilet, and I couldn't quite handle all of the accidents. :) But I decided last Wednesday we were going to try again. She did really well, only a few accidents (and it was my fault, I forgot to remind her). Saturday and Sunday I didn't even try underwear, but this morning we were back at it. And except for an accident at nap time (I wanted to put a diaper on her, but she insisted on underwear), she's been dry! She insisted on no diaper again tonight...I'm sure I'll be changing sheets in the middle of the night, but oh well. If I can get her night trained now, she'll be the first of my kids to wear underwear at night.

My Running Fiend...I mean Friend

Oh yeah, so my wonderfully, generously loving sister who claims she is in birthday present debt to me for the past two years, signed me up for my race. So I'm official now, October 25th is the day! (Thanks again Amy!)

Holy Cow, so I went running with my friend who also has been training for the half marathon coming up. It's awesome because she is a real runner who actually knows how to train for things, so whenever I go out with her, she times our laps and pushes us to do tempo runs (yeah, I feel cool because I'm learning the lingo). Anyway, this morning we did five miles in 38 minutes!! And the middle three miles we averaged 7:25 minute miles! I never thought I was capable of that! I barely made it though, heaving and dragging at the very end. Wednesday we're supposed to do hill repeats since we discovered that mile 12 of the race course is a serious hill. Great...there goes my under-two-hours goal.

This has been really fun, having something to shoot and train for. It will be weird to go back to running just for exercise.

Feliz Cumpleanos a ti

Elise is now a big three-year-old! Friday was her birthday and we had a raving party with the fam (my parents and Nate and Michelle and kids)...cake, ice cream, presents, egg races and playing with the new toys.


I have this plastic egg relay race game...it was a big hit among the old and young alike!
Nate and Loren going at it.
Elise got this doll set thing, complete with toilet for the doll...fake toilet paper, soap dispenser, and even a flushy sound when you push the handle. Yeah, only the best for Elise! Hey, maybe if we can potty train her doll, she might take an interest in doing it herself!

Ah yes, the fake lipstick. But to be honest, I think Luke had more fun with it that night than Elise! He kept asking me if his lips were getting red, even though I repeated to him that it was fake. :)

Stop the madness!

She's growing up too fast! I knew that trying mommy's shoes on were normal happenings for a toddler...but a bra?! And can you tell how proud of herself she is? Next thing I know she's going to be sneaking out of the house wearing these things...

My mom was watching Elise, and when I came home she was wearing this shirt. It's actually a doll shirt, but my mom insisted that she couldn't find any other shirt to put her in. Kind of cute though, huh?

I'm on the lookout

I'm on the search for good quotes...send me your favorites, K?