Show off

I went to the gym with Kolby this weekend so he could show me some of the stuff he's been doing with a personal trainer.  It was all going pretty well, I felt like I was getting a good workout and learning some new things.  

Then he picked up a big leather ball and said, "Okay, we're just going to throw this medicine ball back and forth.  It's heavy, so get ready."  

"OOOOOOF!"

Once I was able to inflate my lungs again, I picked myself up off the floor and we found something else to do.

Trick or Treat!

We survived Halloween. I worked on parties for both girls' classes all week, so I spent most of the day getting ready for those. At 2:00 the kids had their costume parade through the school, and then class parties.  (I only worked in Amelia's).




Some knucklehead decided it would be fun to pull the fire alarm, so we could all stand outside in the mud and rain for the last 15 minutes of school.  

We were debating all day where to do our trick or treating because of the rain.  Microsoft has trick or treating and parties around campus, but we were told you should choose either the neighborhood or Microsoft because traffic was insane getting off campus.  After school the rain stopped and skies cleared a bit, so we decided to stick around the neighborhood.

People at school had warned that we get lots of trick or treaters.  I had already bought 6 bags, but asked Kolby to pick up a couple more.  He came home with 6 more bags, which I thought was a bit extreme.  He headed out trick or treating with the girls and  I never got a chance to sit down.   We went through 12 bags of candy in two hours.  When Kolby and the girls got home, they even dumped their Mounds and Almond Joys in the bowl (big sacrifice) so they could keep handing out candy, but eventually we hit the bottom of the bowl and had to just turn off the lights and stop answering the door. 

And now we're gorging ourselves on candy.

Pumpkin Party

Last night was the third grade pumpkin carving party at the school.   Have I mentioned how much I love this school?   This is the first time the girls will get to wear costumes to school on Halloween and have a real costume parade and class party like we did growing up.  I'm ridiculously excited about it.

Last night we carved pumpkins in the cafeteria with all of the third graders and their families, and then lined all the jack-o'-lanterns up along the walk outside the school.   We went to the classrooms for a delicious buffet of high fructose corn syrup in every form imaginable, while someone lit all the pumpkins.   And then we did the pumpkin walk--went outside and walked past all the jack-o'-lanterns to inspect the handiwork.

 And then the sugar-rush kicked in and all hell broke loose.  It was Lord of the Flies--crazily clad third graders running and screaming all over the hillside.

Mr. Elms, Madeline's teacher who started this tradition 17 years ago, was standing next to Kolby observing all of this.  He said calmly,  "Now this right here is a great example of the difference between last year's class and this year's.  Last year I told the kids they weren't allowed on the hill, and they all stayed down.  This year...."  And there was Madeline right in the thick of it,  running and cackling in the forest like a crazy person, with her spiderweb cloak billowing behind her, acting like she's been at this school all her life.

New Recipe

Last night we had such a yummy dinner.  I got a recipe for Feta Chicken from a friend (she got it from Cooking Light, which means you need to use more butter, olive oil, and salt than the recipe calls for).  And I winged it for the rice and veggie side dish and it turned out great.  Rave reviews from all four of us.  The girls almost never eat meat, but they loved the chicken.  They even at the spinach salad.  

So this is the chicken recipe, but I didn't really measure anything.  I'm sure I used more butter and  feta than the recipe called for.  

Feta-Stuffed Chicken

4 skinned, boned chicken breast halves

1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs

1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese with basil and tomato

1 1/2 teaspoons of butter, melted  (Seriously? How do you measure that little butter?)

3 cups torn spinach

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

1 T. balsamic vinegar

1 tsp. olive oil (again...seriously?)

1/8 tsp pepper

Pound the chicken to 1/4 inch thickness.  Dredge in butter and then breadcrumbs.  Spoon feta onto one half of each chicken breast, then fold the breast in half.

Place halves in a baking dish, and bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until chicken is done.  

Combine spinach and basil in a bowl.  Add balsamic and olive oil, sprinkle with pepper, and toss to coat.    Serve chicken over salad.

Brown rice with zucchini and carrots

1 1/2 cups brown rice, cooked according to package directions, substituting water for chicken broth.

2 small zucchini, shredded

2 carrots, peeled and shredded

1 T. olive oil

1 T. butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper

lemon

feta

While rice is cooking, saute the shredded vegetables and garlic in the olive oil and butter for about 5 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.  When rice is done, add to vegetable mixture in the pan, and mix together.  Add a squeeze of lemon.   And since the feta was sitting there on the counter, I threw in some of that too.  Wise choice.

I just ate the leftovers for lunch, and it might have been better than last night.

Fill or Lube? (Edited for clarity)

The other day the girls were in the car with me and I said, "Oh, I need to stop and get some gasoline."

From the backseat  Amelia asked, "Why?  Does your bum itch?"

I had to explain that GASoline is what we put in the car.  VASeline, on the other hand is what one might put on one's bum when it itches, or in some cases, if one has balls, one might put Vaseline (not gasoline) around those balls if there is chafing.

Actually, I didn't say the part about balls.  But I also didn't think I'd have to explain to ya'll what confused my daughter in this scenario.  I thought Vaseline was the universal cure-all for, as my sister put it, "all things bum-related."

Fall and friends

So we've had two weekends in a row with friends in town, and it's been great!  Burrells came up the weekend before last.  Emily was feeling under the weather, and since it was cold and rainy out we just hung out at our house most of the weekend.  We had a great time catching up, playing music, talking politics, and I think all of us just enjoyed the down-time.

And this weekend Nelsons came to town. (That's Cooper with Madeline in the first picture above).  We explored Capitol Hill and Madrona with them, and found two great places for breakfast, and some great places for shopping too!  Kolby, Alex, and Nellie went to the football game at Husky Stadium,  while the rest of us went to the pumpkin patch.  It was a GORGEOUS day, and the kids had a great time.  We sent them into the huge corn maze with Zoe and her cell phone, and they not only found their way through, but also found all the clues so they got a free baby pumpkin at the end.

And today it rains.  Spent too long at the dentist's office today and he's telling me I need braces.  At 33 years old.  My sisters will be laughing their asses off when they read this.

Bunny ears

Mia's learning to tie her shoes right now, and in true Mia form, she's extremely focused and determined.