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I Suck at Blogging

kidshikingWe had a lovely busy weekend. 3 days off was blissful. We had lots to do but we got a lot of rest and relaxation time in. On Friday night, my sister and I took my mom out for dinner at Devil’s Food, an upscaled kind of home-cooking place. It was wonderful and I’d love to go back any time!

Saturday we got up and got going right away. We bribed the kids with donuts and took them on a hike.

hikingflowersThere was a little whining, but it was one of our best hikes to date. We saw some gorgeous wildflowers, including what I think are wild irises – which I’d never seen before. The kids did great and Loki got a swim. What more can you ask for?

We had lunch and did some errands and then I took Tabby to a b’day party for one of her friends.

After the b’day party, I went home to finally shower and then I took off to have dinner and a lovely night out with my girlfriends while Matt hosted their husbands and kids. We were all up late!!

Sunday was more errands and naps, followed by a graduation party for 3 (!!) of my cousins.

gonnatriMonday morning I set out on my first triathalon training session with my training buddy. We did a 750m swim (less than 20 min) and a 9 mi bike ride (about 45 min). Not too shabby.

We did some shopping (we need a new mattress) and a cookout and a bike ride and a little strawberry shortcake. And the weekend was done.

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Friday Faves May 24, 2013

 

Another busy busy week! Looking forward to the long weekend. We need it!

riomaggiore

Favorite Daydream: Check out this beautiful lagoon in Riomaggiore, Italy. The Mediterranean coast is gorgeous! I could go there!

coolranchchickenFavorite Savory Treat: cool ranch, crockpot chicken. I am game to try this!

fred&georgeFavorite Funny: my HP nerd may be showing here, but I just adore this photo.

angelfoodFavorite Breakfast Nom: angel food french toast! Maybe this should be under sweet treat, but angel food is pretty healthy, right? riiiight?

chalkfairyFavorite Craftiness: I think doing these chalk drawings with the kids would be so much fun. I think Tabby would really get into it and maybe Ben if I can get him to hold still for a bit! He did pretty good on his b’day.

uphillFavorite Workout: Some great tips from Fit Sugar on running up hill. I’ve gotten lots better at this, but can definitely use some work!

blueberryyogurtFavorite Sweet Treat: check out these frozen yogurt blueberry bars – they look a little complicated but worth the effort!

penultimateFavorite App: This is an app I use practically every day for note taking at work and goofing around outside of work: Penultimate! It’s from the people who make Evernote and it’s basically a Moleskin on your iPad. It has loads of features too that I haven’t even scratched the surface on, including handwriting recognition.

MAKEFavorite Wise Words: Well Joss would know.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!!

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Field Day

1Matt and I had a great time playing with Tabby during field day at her school. In my day, field day was probably about 6 events. I think we even still did some learning in the morning. Not at T’s school. All day. 16 events. Dance music. Oh so much fun!

The first event we saw was the tug-of-war. They did girls v. boys … girls won (maybe with a little help). Then parents v. kids. Kids won, no contest. Holy cow 20 kindergarteners are STRONG.

3The day was SUPER HOT and the kids loved doing the water relays.

5The derby was kinda fun too …

6Though Tabby had trouble staying on her scooter.

4Best of all was goofing around with her friends.

7And (banana) popcicles at the end of the day!

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A To Do List Kinda Weekend

2013-05-18 10.10.54-2This was probably the most productive weekend we’ve had in a while. It started off with a bang – we hired my cousin and his girlfriend to work in our garden. They did an awesome job and our garden look faaaab. Friday I took a half-day so I could go to Tabby’s field day. This is a big deal at her school and Matt and I had lunch with her on the lawn and then I hung out for the festivities. They had 16 different events and were playing dance music outside. The only bad part is that it was HOT! We’ve totally skipped over spring this year and went straight to summer.

After field day, I got to hang out with the kids and get ready for Bunco. My turn to host. I bought quiches from costco and then turned my attention to making sangria, a nice salad, and some salted caramel pie. Everything was a hit and we had a great evening. I opened up the patio and we enjoyed the beautiful Colorado summer night.

Saturday Tabby had her last soccer game of the season. Ben would have had his too, but he went to a friend’s b’day party at the fireman’s museum. I was his escort and he had a good time playing in the gear and driving the rig. Some cupcakes and hotdogs didn’t hurt either. After the party, the kids went to my parents’ house for the rest of the day.

Matt and I had some awesome mexican food at a new place and then we went to see Star Trek: Into Darkness. I am an unabashed Star Trek fan, but I loved this movie! I never even once checked my watch – the sign of a great movie for me! After the movie, we got down to business. We commissioned and inventoried the pop-up for the summer and did our grocery shopping and some house cleaning.

This morning we cleaned out the garage, got the photo booth stored and did some laundry. We picked up the kids and Tabby and I went to b’day party #2 while Ben and Matt got Ben a haircut. During the party, Tabby started feeling crummy with an upset tummy. Luckily my friend had a tums with her and that seemed to do the trick!

Around 3:30 after the party was over I finally got my run in … just a few miles … before I showered for the day and we headed to The Kitchen for Matt’s very belated birthday dinner. A yummy time was had by all.

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Friday Faves May 17, 2013

Another busy Friday! Tabby has Field Day today, so I am spending half my day at her school, playing tag and giving out popcicles and the like. Should be fun! On to another round of Friday Faves.

attictheatreFavorite Daydream: check out this awesome attic movie theatre. I think what really appeals to me is the soft surfaces and cave-like look of it. I think I could watch movies or just sleep or read in here for hours.

caramelcrunchFavorite Purchase: I tried some of this ice cream at the Mother’s Day Race I ran on the recommendation of my girlfriend. Man, she was right. I am not sure I’ve ever had better ice cream. Sweet, salty, creamy, crunchy. AWESOME.  Not sure how widely available it is, since they’re a CO company, but if you can find it, BUY IT!! Coconut crunch is great too.

orangechickenFavorite Savory Delight: This orange chicken with asparagus looks awesome. I think we’re heading out of asparagus season, but I want to make some next week.

samethingFavorite App: This game’s a little hard to explain, but easy once you “get” it. You and a friend both say a random word, then you both try to find something in between your two words. Then again with the next two words you come up with until you both say the same thing. It’s also great because you can get it on Android and iOS. Interesting side note, it was developed by the band OK Go! (a personal fave).

tapeFavorite Craftiness: Just saw this great article on how to make your own paper tape!!  You just get some double-sided adhesive and put it on wrapping paper or whatever you like. Such a fun idea.

faroeFavorite Destination: This is Faroe Islands in Denmark and it is definitely going on my must-visit list. So beautiful.

bobFavorite Workout: Bob Harper’s 20  minute crossfit workout is all things I love: Bob Harper and Crossfit. All you need are some dumbells and this little vid.

avalancheFavorite Sweet Thang: Check out these avalanche bars. One of my favorite candy stores, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, sells something pretty similar. It won’t happen soon because I’m trying to behave myself vis-a-vis sugar, but I will have to try these out!

sofaFavorite Funny: bwwaaaahahhahahah! His expression says it all!!!

inferiorsFavorite Wise Words: yep … well said, Sirius.

bfastpizzaFavorite Breakfast Nom: I am constantly on the lookout for new breakfast ideas because while I could (and do) happily eat the same breakfast repeatedly for months, the kids like variety. This breakfast pizza looks great and has the protein that is hard to fit into a quickie breakfast on the way out the door. Going to try it soon – maybe for camping!

And that is it! Hope you have a great weekend!

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Weird Science

1About 13 years ago, I met Matt at Vanderbilt University. We actually had a couple of classes together, but we didn’t know that. We actually met each other because we were both part of a volunteer organization called “Vanderbilt Students Volunteer for Science” where we would take cool science experiments into Nashville inner-city schools and get the kids revved up and interested in science. That’s where we met and the rest, as they say, is history. But throughout our time at Vandy, we were always involved with VSVS and when Tabby started school, Matt wanted to bring some of the magic of science to her class. So he took the most favorite VSVS lesson plan about states of matter and adapted it to kindergarteners. This lesson plan hinges on the use of dry ice and liquid nitrogen and he found sources for both in Denver and got permission from her teacher and principle and then took his show on the road.

Well not quite. First, we had some friends and their kids over for a trial run. It was a success and he learned some things … more importantly, our friends loved it!

3So Matt and I went to Tabby’s class last Friday to give the states of matter lesson.

7First he taught them all about atoms and the states of matter (in a kindergarten level way of course). Here they are being a cold solid, all huddled together for warmth.

4Then he demonstrated changing matter from one state to another, first with water (an ice cube melting in your hand) and then with CO2. He let dry ice melt into a balloon and fill it and then he poured liquid nitrogen on it to

2Re-freeze it. We cut the balloon open to show the kids the dry ice dust.

5We froze lots of things… like a flower an a banana. Matt showed the kids how to hammer a nail in with a banana. You can do it if you freeze it rock solid first. The big finale was ice cream making. At school we used the kitchen aid mixer to keep from having to stir and stir.

6At home we used a bowl. Either way, this is about what it looks like: kinda soft servy. But very tasty.

The kids had fun and I honestly think they learned quite a bit. Tabby had retained most of what she’d learned from the demo at our house and I heard some other kids talking about the different states of matter. It was fun for us too and I know Matt would love to give it another go!

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A Fake Post

benatsprouts

I need to sit down and write a real post pretty soon (er go this is a fake post). Lots of cool things have been going on, but all those cool things have been taking time and energy. So I haven’t been able to sit down, pull photos off the camera and reflect on things. Maybe tonight. For now, teasers. Just a sampling of things going on at Casa de Nichols:

  1. playing with liquid nitrogen
  2. running races
  3. getting our art on
  4. soccer!!
  5. birthdays!
  6. school stuff, including …
  7. homework!!
  8. grocery shopping
  9. me going insane and signing up for a big race

…. and much much more. Stay tuned.

 

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Friday Favorites May 10, 2013

I am taking a half day today in order to play assistant to my awesome hubby’s mad scientist. Should be a good time! Fridays are fun.treehousesFavorite Daydream: Loooove me some treehouses. This is a very cool collection with a few I’ve never seen before.

lightupconstellationFavorite Craftiness: Look at this great light up constellation! A fun piece for your wall and so adaptable to other ideas.

turkeyburgerFavorite Savory Delight: Grilling season is upon us and I cannot wait to try out these mushroom crusted turkey burgers with Havarti. Bring it on!

skortFavorite Purchase: I bought a new skirt at Athleta this week … this one in black. It’s super cute and great for everything from work to play!

paradisecoveFavorite Adventure: And speaking of play, I saw this amazing swimming hole not to far from us, Guffey’s Paradise Cove. Can’t wait to explore it. It never ceases to amaze me how many amazing places are right in our backyard.

friedicecreamFavorite Sweet Treat: SkinnyTaste’s Unfried Ice Cream. Tasty and lighter. Yum.

7minworkoutFavorite Workout: 7-minute, research-based workout that exercises your whole body. We do a lot of these in bootcamp.

pocketboothFavorite App: This is fun … Pocketbooth does photobooth style photos on your phone.

 

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Happy Birthday Matty!

mattandkidsMy main squeeeeeze and numero uno Dad of the Year is turning 33 today. I truly appreciate him EVERY DAY, even when I’m giving him crap about not rinsing off his plate of mustard (don’t ask), but especially on this day, I want to reflect on his awesomeness.

We have had a crazy month or four. Big decisions. Extra work. Crazy schedule. He has been there right by my side, my equal in every way (probably my superior, honestly), supporting, picking up slack, working hard and doing it with his cute Matty grin (most of the time anyhow). Just for fun, I’m going to list 33 things that are awesome about Matt:

  1. He is always thinking of cool things to show the kids and wants them to learn and experience.
  2. He can seriously rock a woodshop.
  3. He likes good TV.
  4. He is an excellent date.
  5. He is a super hard worker.
  6. He cleaned up two episodes of puke in the middle of the night and didn’t wake me up.
  7. He can knock out an IKEA build in record time.
  8. When I leave him with the kids, I have no doubts that they will be well taken care of and happy.
  9. He does laundry.
  10. He gets along well with my family.
  11. He is responsible with money.
  12. He is tall dark and handsome.
  13. He is an excellent friend and I love spending time with him.
  14. He always goes the extra mile.
  15. He loves Colorado.
  16. He is a grill master.
  17. He is very social and loves to have people over.
  18. He never begrudges me a girls night out.
  19. He researches every purchase to the nth degree.
  20. He loves to travel.
  21. He takes and picks up the drycleaning … there are donuts involved, but he still does it.
  22. We have a great time talking together.
  23. He is an excellent teammate and partner.
  24. He has loads of enthusiasm.
  25. He is very generous.
  26. He loves a good road trip.
  27. Ben and Tabby adore him.
  28. He has the dubious task of taking the kids to school every morning.
  29. Even without training, he can usually beat me out in a race.
  30. He is always keen to try something new.
  31. He is always keen to learn something new.
  32. He places no restrictions on Tabby because she’s a girl or Ben because he’s a boy.
  33. Life with him is never dull or ordinary.

We don’t tend to do major gifts for each other and since he recently got his mountain bike fixed and bought a new mobile phone – both of which were big ticket items – I’m doing something smaller.

After school and work today, Ben and I will be making him a lovely Victoria Sponge cake, filled with lemon curd along with a nice dinner. There may also be one or two other little surprises in there.

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Geeking Out

GeekI like this quote. I like that we are in the age of the geek. I like that it is cool to be excited about things again. I like that my kids are growing up seeing people getting into things … and I don’t mean TV and popstars. I mean cooking great food, making amazing and beautiful creations, reading wonderful books, learning to play the hell out of the bassoon. And there’s nothing wrong with getting into TV and popstars. I’m just glad that it’s (mainstream) cool to be into OTHER things too now.

This has changed since I was a kid, I think. It’s a good change. I would be happy with some more changes. Strong and fit can replace skinny. Tolerant can replace narrow minded. Home cooked food can replace fast food and junk food. Recycling and conservation can replace mindless consumerism.

It could be awesome, right?