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I ♥ Fall

I really really like fall. Of course there’s the slightly cooler air. We’ve been seeing that in the AM but not so much yet in the afternoons when it’s still been getting above 80!! And there’s also the delectable foods that come with the season, soups, potatoes, cakes, casseroles, etc. But I think what I like the most is the sense of routine that fall brings. I am not sure it’s any more “regularly scheduled” than the rest of the year, but it feels that way, probably owing to Back to School.

All in my mind or not, I have been doing much much better at getting up early to workout. We have had dinner at home nearly every weekday evening. We have been keeping the house neater. We have been home more.

After a very go-go summer, I’m more than happy to be a home body for a while. Yay fall.

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Uninspired

The weekend whizzed by in a blur of family, friends, kids, chores, workouts, cooking, laundry and quite a bit of fun. I took 0 photos. I didn't get enough sleep.

Tabby's big day at the doctors was Friday. It was fairly hellish. Neither of us really wants to talk about it. But she did pick up some pretty good bribes, so hopefully that will blur the edges of her 3.5 year old memory.

Ben logged roughly an hour in the laundry basket/penalty box, in 1 minute increments. He was very fond of hitting and scratching and throwing this weekend. He did not get any bribes, unless you count string cheese, which he probably does.

Matt and I have been playing Civ 5 and watching some new TV. It's been a bit slower which is always nice. He's pretty fun to be with.

And that is the update on our end.

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Ben at 17 Months

Oh Ben! This little guy is every inch a BOY. His favorite activities are running, climbing and throwing … but also, happily, snuggling. The past couple of months have been so much fun with him. He can be frustrating. He loves to throw food and has little regard for the word “no” but all of that fades quickly into the background when he unleashes his darling grin on you and hugs you.

He is doing great with his gross motor skills and he still remains pretty fearless. He finally seems to have some respect for water (yay), but only after tumbling into the baby pool a couple of times. But it seems that any number of bumps on his head will not deter him from climbing anything and everything and running with absolute abandon. He’s so much fun to watch … and even when he crashes, the tears are non-existent or pretty short lived. He also loves to dance and clap and seems to appreciate music every bit as much as his sister.

He is talking some more and starting to sing (“Row Row Row!!!”). He keeps adding a word or two to his vocabulary every day. My favorite is “Cheeeee!” for cheese. It is always said as a battle cry for one of his favorite foods. I also love the way he says baby. It is very clear and done with an odd (for Ben) tenderness and he is correspondingly quite gentle with babies.

His gentleness is not so apparent with the rest of us. He throws things pretty indiscriminately. I know it’s not to be mean, but it hurts when he hits you say on the cheekbone with a dense bouncy ball. And his sister is currently sporting a 3″ (no joke) scratch across her chest from his claws. Time outs have been pretty ineffective with him, since he would just get up and be on his merry way (over and over) the second you sat him down. So now we employ a penalty box (a laundry basket) for his time outs. He can stand up, but he so far won’t get out of it and it’s doing the trick. We’ll see how long it lasts.

He still drinks his milk with great gusto, going through over a gallon a week just at home. He loves string cheese and any kind of fruit you can think of and he’s always happy to scarf down a meatball or four and the pasta to go with them. He’s trying desperately to feed himself with a fork but has issues getting the payload from bowl to mouth. The system works better when we can spear something for him to deliver, but falls apart with soup and rice. He will not allow us to spoon-feed him anything except applesauce. I suppose applesauce alone is worth the indignity.

I am constantly grateful that we get to have this amazing little person in our family. I love everything about him from his snuggles to his crazy boy-ways. He is one of a kind, my little guy.

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Tabby at 3.5

Almost three weeks ago when we were in California, Tabby crossed over into 3.5 territory. Since then she has been vociferously been 3.5, telling EVERYONE, proudly, “I’m fwee and a haff!!”

A few cute little speech mannerisms linger, but more and more are gone. Grammar and vocab wise, there is not much she doesn’t seem to know and she pulls out words and phrases practically every day that leave Matt and I scratching our heads wondering where she gets this stuff. While at IKEA in CA, she informed Matt, when he wanted to move on that she had not yet “experienced” all the kitchens and that she needed to “learn about these mattresses.” ?!?!? Also when expressing her wish to meet Tinkerbell at Disneyland she told Kelly, “She’s a famous faerie.”

Her behavior is mostly very nice, but she has days where our patience is severely tested. She suddenly loses any memory of manners or even reasoning and we have to take away books and put her in time out. But on most days she is polite and helpful. She likes to help out with chores around the house, particularly setting the table. She loves to select the perfect cloth napkin for every member of the family “except Ben because he’s just a baby and he throws them” and put around silverware. She is getting quite adept at folding small towels and washcloths as well.

In addition to her household chores skills, she’s making great strides with her artwork. I can really recognize what she’s drawing now be it people or houses and it’s awesome to see how happy she can be for such a long time with just some paper and crayons. She’s also getting more and more of her letters down.

We’ve been impressed as well by her new physical skills. She is getting very good at kicking a ball around as she runs and climbing everywhere and riding her bicycle, though the small hills in our neighborhood freak her out. Her biggest liability is her somewhat timid nature. But of course I love the timid nature when it comes to crossing streets.

Miss Tabby is truly a delight to have in our family and I feel so lucky each and every day to be the recipient of her hugs and kisses and get to hear all of her cheery chatter.

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Pickles!

Tabby and I both LOVE pickles. Dills only, thank you. And that little beauty next to my little beauty is a vintage pickle container I picked up on Etsy for $8. As you can see it handily separates pickles from juice for easy snacking. Tabby and I both love it.

In non-pickle-related news … there is not much. Matt and I are planning to rip up the carpet in two of our bathrooms and lay down tile, yet there is no Saturday that is entirely free until … late October. What? Yea, I don’t know either. I’m sort of glad because I really don’t want 1. spend the $$ and 2. actually DO it. But I still want it done.

I just ordered the kids’ Halloween costumes. They are going to be very cute. I can hardly wait for them to arrive. And that’s all I’m saying.

I need to do update posts for both of my children. They have no baby books and I can’t even do them on time here. There goes that Mother of the Year trophy. Again.

My adorable son has a huge goose egg in the middle of his forehead from falling at the playground last night. His forehead will soon be nothing but scar tissue, I’m afraid.

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Fish Tacos

 


A looooong time ago, bloggy buddy Kjersten, who I got to MEET just a couple of weeks ago, wanted to know more about my fish tacos. I am happy to spill!

 

The fish I use in fish tacos is one of two things: either white fish from the freezer section at Target. Yes, that sounds sketchy, but it’s great fish and it comes in individual fillet portions, ready to cook up as desired (I get their salmon too). The other source I use is (don’t laugh) fish sticks. Fish sticks require just slightly less prep/thought and I keep a bag of them in the freezer (Target again) to have on hand. I honestly cannot say I like one more than the other … both good, just depends what you’re in the mood for. The fish sticks somehow seem more like comfort food. My kids eat both and don’t whine about either.

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To make the white fish, I heat the oven to about 400, put the fillets on a baking tray and cook them for a couple of minutes to start the de-frosting. Spices stick better when they’re not bricks.

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Then we sprinkle on garlic salt and chili-lime seasoning (my mom brought that back from Mexico, but I’m told you can get it in the grocery store too, spice or Hispanic foods aisle). This is what we use, but others simply opt for salt and pepper sometimes with olive oil, which is very tasty as well.

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Then I continue to broil them until they’re flaky as fish should be. To assemble, we use small flour tortillas, beans, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, sour cream, etc. etc. and a squeeze of lime. The lime is particularly important to me and to Tabby as well (go figure). … we serve Ben’s in the same manner, just deconstructed a bit.

 

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Weekend!

• berry picking with friends on Friday
• wore kids out so they had good naps and so did I
• jewelry party Friday night
• joined a new gym on Saturday
• where Matt and I had 2 hour workouts
• and took the kids swimming afterward
• hosted my parents, sister and g’ma for dinner (Clam Chowda)
• I went to bed early
• up early for a 12 miler with the girls
• that I totally punked out on (9.72 miles)
• thank God for nice, understanding friends
• awesome lunch with my sweet family
• equally awesome 3-hour nap
• Broncos won
• while we did housework
• kids went to bed early
• answered email, web-surfed
• watched Top Chef: Just Desserts with Matt
• blinked and the weekend was over

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I've Got a New Attitude

So I've got another half marathon in just a few weeks (Denver's Rock 'n' Roll Half on 10/17!!). I am looking forward to it … we should have a pretty good group there, including my hubby and several friends. I am hoping to match my pace from Disneyland where I had two advantages: 1. altitude (I train at high and that was at low) and 2. elevation change, i.e. hills.

The altitude is out of my control, but the hills are NOT. So I have been doing hill work all week. And saying that I've been doing it all week is something new for me. There was a time not too long ago when I'd start each and every day with a workout.

But that has NOT been the case for quite a while. Sometimes I'd get one or two morning workouts in in one week, but more often than not, I'd hit the snooze button too long and just blow the whole thing off. Then I'd run out of time in the evening and skip it again. Not that I didn't train … I did! But I had this stupid mentality that unless I was doing at least 5 miles, there was no point, which is ridiculous.

So I have turned over a new leaf. My new motto is that anything is better than nothing. I've gotten up in the morning three days in a row now and worked out. I love being done with it when I get home from work. I want to do a bit more as time goes on, but for now, as I'm getting back into the swing of things, it is enough. And I have learned (once again) that getting up is never as bad as I think it's going to be AND I'm always glad I did it.

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Wherein I (Mostly) Avoid Talking About Our Trip

Reentry back into “real life” is kinda hard. I have been exhausted. But for the past two days, I have actually gotten up early gone running. Just short ones, mind you, but I've been working on my nemesis: hills, so they need to be shorter. It's a good sign in any case.

It is starting to feel quite fall like here now, especially in the mornings. The afternoons still get to be pretty darn hot, but the trees are turning and my morning commute is once again clogged up with tons of kids and parents off to school.

We've been trying to hang closer to home this week, cooking at home and letting the kids play with their toys. But last night we had to go out to check out a couple of gyms, namely the YMCA and our local rec center. They are some of our closest replacement options for our beloved gym. They are nice enough and cheaper and have pools but their locker rooms are more like a high school gym and their facilities are older and there is not enough cardio equipment. But we may join one of them … or we may not. The rec center at least has punch cards and we may use those for a while while we decide. Blah.

So far our weekend is pretty clear. The one thing we had planned was canceled and now my biggest ambition is to make a butternut squash lasagna … mmmm.

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Travel Wrap-Up

I have to confess that my slightly obsessive nature really doesn’t enjoy traveling with kids. I always enjoy the being there part, but the getting there bit unnerves me. There’s so much effort that goes into planning and packing and lugging through the airport. It’s exhausting. And it seems like I always end up with way too much stuff.

But like anything else, the more I do it, the easier it gets. I learn something new every time I do it, little tips and tricks that make it more simple. And of course I learn some things to work on for next time:

Wins:
• The church van!! We had 7 people in our initial group and 9 once our friends joined us, so we rented a 11-seater “church van.” We might have been able to make it with a mini-van, but luggage was going to be a problem and no one relished the idea of a 1.5 hour car trip (to San Diego) wedged between two carseats. It was big, but very very nice. We could even load the stroller without folding it up.
• We bought cheap ($20) luggage carts from Wa*lmart to wheel the (huge!) carseats, and occasionally the kids, around on at the airport. They easily stored on the plane and at our destination. BIG win. And as an added bonus, we could check the stroller.
• Of course just taking the carseats along is a huge pain in the rear, but it’s the third time we’ve done it and I’m always glad, especially with Ben who has NO desire to sit in one place unless it’s mandated by straps.
• We really successfully pared down our carry-on luggage. We had a (small) backpack for each kid, our camera bag and a small suitcase which held our running gear, laptop and a few other cannot-get-lost-in-baggage items plus my (very small) purse.
• Renting a house: love this since we can get up in shifts, eat breakfast and dinner at home, pack snacks, do laundry and have most of the comforts of home.
• Disneyland! I knew Tabby would enjoy the big D, but I had no idea how much Ben would. Excellent place for little kids.
• Story-teller Cafe – great food, cool characters, fun time. Would do it all over again.
• Thunder Mountain Ranch – great food, very reasonable prices, fun atmosphere and near Ben’s petting zoo.
• Sprint Navigation – we used the navigation app on our Sprint Phones to get us everywhere. It was really accurate and so easy to use. Just remember to bring a car charger – GPS eats battery!

Losses:
• World of Color: the show was cool enough, but their “preferred viewing” was a joke. No one under 5’6″ could see a thing. And you can’t call it a World of Color Picnic when you have your picnic in a completely separate space. Boo.
• Ariel’s Grotto … food was OK, but we all felt like the experience was a bit over-priced. Tabby loved meeting the princesses of course, but you can do that at The Princess Faire too.
• Food over-buying – we got a little too carried away at Costco and had too much left over at the end. I think we over-estimated how much we’d be at the house and that accounted for most of it. We did donate the excess to a local food bank, though.
• Chillaxing – I came home absolutely exhausted, something hard to avoid in any case, but I do wish I’d spent a little more time sleeping and not running all over the place. This is a lesson that we are really bad at learning.

All in all, wonderful trip.