Living, Loving, Learning

Not only have I recently written a post about smoothies, but it seems to be trending right now, as I have read smoothie recipes on a ton of blogs lately. I though it might be worth sharing this idea. On alot of these snow days Griffin has asked me to make him a smoothie, but with only the 3 of us here to drink it, I had been dumping alot of extra down the drain. Then I had an idea to make smoothie pops. I poured the extra smoothie into a ice cube tray and put it into the freezer for a half hour. Then I pulled out the tray and inserted popsicle sticks into the semi-hardened cubes. A couple hours later I popped out the pops and tossed them into a ziplock and then back into the freezer. The kids love to have them as snacks and I love that they are getting more fruit and yougurt into their diet during a time of year when tasty fresh fruit is nearly impossible to get our hands on.

We have had so much snow this winter. The kids and Lottie have had a blast playing in it.

We have had 5 snow days in the last 2 weeks plus MLK day off school. I am starting to feel a little stircrazy. We've been doing lots of cooking and art projects to pass the time. One of the projects the wee ones have enjoyed the most has been painting bird houses. They can't wait for spring and to hang their houses out in the trees.

Happily, we will only have them for a few weeks. On Tuesday I read on facebook that the local Humane Society was in need of a foster family for a nursing mom and pups. I have been to their facility and know that it is not a great place for a litter and it broke my heart thinking about it. You know, when you read or see something and you know instantly, in your gut, this is something for you. Well, it was like that, and luckily, Bruce felt similarly (o.k. or maybe he just wants to keep his wife happy and if 6 weeks of cleaning up puppy poop will do it....) So, yesterday we went over to the shelter and picked them up. This is the mom, Griffin calls her Sunblossom, Bruce and I tend to call her Big Mama. She is doing pretty well, all things considered. About 10 days ago she was found in the drop box when the employees opened up the shelter. 2 days later she had 8 puppies. This is when her history starts...isn't that sooo sad. Who knows what she has been through before that....

A dear friend gifted me with a subscription to Whole Living magazine for Christmas. This is a really awesome magazine for all you crunchyhippy kin. And it's a Martha publication so you are guaranteed beautiful pictures, colors, fonts. Last months issue had an awesome recipe for Roasted Spiced Chickpeas . They are so crunchy and flavorful. A really easy awesome healthy snack that the little ones like too! I had to use regular paprika because I couldn't find any hot paprika. If you find some, I would be delighted to find a wee bit in my mailbox! ;)

Still enjoying soupy Sundays over here. I have 5 different types of soups in the freezer now. Hmmm, think I just decided what we will have for dinner tonight. This is an amazing soup, Lentil with Spicy Sausage . Besides lentils and sausage it is stuffed full with carrots, celery, onion and spinach with a chicken broth base. I think you veggies could easily delete the sausage and use veggie broth instead and still have an awesome soup. Add a delish loaf of Bruce's home made bread and you have an amazing wintry night meal.

I walk in the room and and see this scene. I ask why is Lucy sitting on you??? G: "Because I am letting her." Oh yeah, right, cool. I LOVELOVELOVE how close these two are. Not perfect, mind you. There is plenty of annoying each other and tattletaling on each other. But, most days, in most moments, they really really enjoy each other's company. I recommit myself today and everyday to nurturing that friendship.

Last months Bon Appetit informed me, much to my dismay, that cupcakes are OUT, and whoopie pies and macaroons are IN. Being a sucker for dessert trends, I knew I had to try to make one of those. There were a few recipe items I couldn't get in this town for the macaroons so I decided to take a shot at the whoopie pies. I have never really had one before but I was somewhat familiar with them as they had just featured them on my beloved Top Chef. I made them with a peppermint butter cream and chocolate ganache filling . They were a little time intensive but not that much more than pretty cupcakes. I didn't think the cookie part was moist enough, but my eager taste testers assured me it was. The kids loved them and they are not nearly as messy as a cupcake. Not a dessert I would make often, but definitely a recipe I will hang on to.

So, I have been B.O.R.E.D. with them menu here at the Gasthaus , which tells me it's time to switch it up. I have been making a ton of new recipes and I will share some with you. We received a new blender for Christmas, YEAH, as we have a bad habit of blowing up blenders. What can I say, we like our pureed vegetable soups! ANYWAYS, Griffin loves smoothies so that was the first thing we blended up. We used this smoothie recipe , and we all, except Lucy for no understandable reason, love it. It's kind of our little taste of summer in the throes of January and a great weekend morning treat. Now, I am ready to move on to different kinds of smoothies, but I think that won't start in earnest until the summer fruits start becoming available. If you have a favorite smoothie recipe for us to try, leave it in the comments.

I have recently had the pleasure of getting to know this amazing woman, Holly. She is one of those ladies, filled up with ENERGY that I recognized immediately upon meeting as a Friend. And although I've know her only a short while, I will miss her presence immensely. You see, today she moves back to Australia. So friends, say a prayer, light a candle, send easy traveling juju her way today! This is our meditation posse (missing our fearless leader, Hilary, due to a family emergency). We spent Monday night enjoying quiet and peace and mindfulness one last time as this group. Being thankful for what has transpired, making room for new experiences and relationships. So Holly, I wish you safe travels and an amazing journey, dear friend. "My desire to slip away from the stories and the choices we make to secure our identity in everyday life has borne fruit again and again. To go on a pilgrimage, I discovered, you do not need to know what you are looking for, only that you are loo...

Griffin's new season of basketball started on Saturday with his first game. Griffin assures me that his team "smoked" the other team, so I have got to trust him. To tell you the truth, I had my hands filled keeping Lucy occupied for an hour by myself and have no idea what the score was. Unfortunately, Bruce had gotten called into work shortly before we had to leave for the game. I LOVE watching him play and he has a really great time doing it. One of his best friends, Jacob, is on his team and they have a great time together. Also, one of the perks of living in a small town is that by now, we are never on any team for any sport without at least one kid we have already played a season with. This is so nice for the kids and the parents to always have familiar faces around. Carlie sat with Lucy and I for the second half of the game and that helped me sooo much. They were able to entertain each other and I got to watch the game! Yeah for impromptu playdates!!!

Lucy was absolutely miserable a few days last week with a nasty cold. We spent a lot of time sitting around reading books. In one of her new favorites the little girls puts wings on her dog, and that got Lucy thinking.....

There was a beautiful sunset last night...

We are all bundled up here! I don't know why it surprises me every January. I guess because May - October are so wretchedly hot and humid. That reminds me....I need to enjoy this now!

Bruce and I have been loving this band, Sweet Sunny South. We especially love song #12 I'm Satisfied. My goal as his wife is to keep Bruce humming that song for the rest of his days. This song doesn't have a youtube video *GASP*, so this is the only way to share it with you. Hope you are having an awesome week. We are recovering from colds and are looking forward to the weekend. Big love to you!!

Griffin has been asking ALOT to go bowling so when we woke up to a dusting of snow and found that his first basketball game was cancelled on Saturday we decided that would be the day! This is the most run-down, dirty, low-tech bowling ally that I have ever been too, but folks, it's all we got for many many miles and we've learned to put up with such establishments. It has the first computerized scoring system ever made, so for the kids it is kind of like being in a museum of early 80's technology! None the less, we had a really great time. Griffin and Bruce were super into talking stratedgy and form and I loved watching them interact on this level. We tried to help Lucy roll the ball but she was so not interested. She loved pushing the buttons on the scoring machine though!!! This only caused the worker to have to come help us discombobulate the thing like FIVE times...I am sure he was stoked. Griffin loved that he beat me in the last game. So young, and already r...

We had soooo much fun yesterday. Our friends, Cassie and Ava came over to dye silk scarves with us. A few months ago, Cassie and I had purchased 100% silk scarves for another possible project that never happened. Cassie told me about a tutorial she had seen that told one how to dye silk with kool-aid. I am not going to re give the tutorial here, but I will give you some hints that we figured out. We watched a few youtube videos to learn some new ways to fold the scarves. While this produced an interesting pattern, in the end there was a lot of white left showing...that could be good or bad depending on your desired results. We used rubber bands to hold our scarves in the desired folds. We used large Ziplocs no matter what size scarf we were dyeing. Our first scarf turned into a smoldering plastic/silk mess in the microwave. We found that if you lower the power of your microwave to 5, use the bigger size bags and add about 1/2 cup of water into the bag before sticking it...